Chapter 19
They didn’t find Uncle until they looked through spy holes into the great hall. Uncle and the priest sat together before a group of men loyal to him. They were discussing a punishment for the woman already judged a witch, Isabelle the castle manager.
“What are they doing?” Isabelle asked.
“Something really bad,” Evan growled. “We have two alternatives. We, you and I and my people need to leave immediately…or we need to take this place from your uncle. He plans to have you killed. I KNOW that’s what he plans for you. He will not allow any opposition to what he wants. He wants revenge.”
“But I didn’t do anything to Angela. She was sick when she got here,” Isabelle said.
That fact doesn’t matter to your uncle,” Evan said. “He doesn’t want to take responsibility for what happened to Angela so that means someone else must…like you. You have run out of time. We must act and immediately. I…we can prevent him from hurting you and intend to do so. What do Earthlings do to women designated ‘Witches’ traditionally?”
“They usually burn them at the stake,” Isabelle said. “Some cultures stone them, but they are usually not cultures of European descent. All of them blame women if things don’t happen the way they want or plan. It’s the old patriarchal religion thing. Everything bad comes from women.”
“This is very bad,” Evan said. “This planet will never prosper until they learn to respect women and the Goddess again. It’s a very primitive thing for people to do. It must be motivated by fear, yet I know you would not deliberately set out to harm someone short of self defense.”
Isabelle was annoyed and badly frightened and showed it, saying, “Oh, right. I’ll just run down there and let them know. I’m sure it will change their minds and they will not kill me. Give me a break. Uncle always gets his way when he starts thinking of ways to entertain the troops in some salacious manner. You cannot even imagine how primitive some people here are. They would probably buy tickets to watch me burn.”
She started to cry. It was so unfair. She was exhausted from working herself to death for years…mostly for the man who was planning to kill her. She had also tried to protect many of the locals who were defenseless. Of course, Uncle had not included any of them, the people who loved her and depended on her, on his tribunal. All the people who disliked her were there and eager to see the end of her…and make money selling tickets to those who wanted to watch, too.
Evan simply picked her up and wished her and some of his people including Brian some distance away to a cave they had selected for just such an event. They were and always had been in communication through the mind connection with Evan.
“I think it might help you to understand what we can do…all of us together,” indicating her and the others with a circular motion of his large and capable looking hand.
She rarely gave in to her emotions as she did when she saw what Uncle was doing. It hurt her…perhaps irrationally. He didn’t really care for her, she knew, but sometimes people cling to what they know and hope for far too long against all evidence. She plucked a handkerchief out of a pocket and mopped up her face and turned her attention to Evan.
“In this kind of situation we would normally communicate without speaking, but as a courtesy to my wife we will go the verbal route and map out a strategy to oust her slimy uncle from power. We need suggestions from the group for how to get the job done. We also need some healing for this planet and other issues that have been an unfortunate result of the disasters the rulers have brought here,” Evan finished.
A very tall and well-armed woman stepped forward and spoke.
She looked at Isabelle and introduced herself. “I am Ana, first officer in charge of strategy for the Goddess.” She was almost as tall and strong looking as Evan. She had a remarkably peaceful and gentle demeanor for a woman wearing weapons. She continued in her statements without pause. “For the terrible damage that this planet has suffered we will have to consult with both our Goddess and God for the proper procedures to bring harmony to this very unharmonious place. We have never seen this much damage on our own planet even in times of war with other planets. Most people who are left here are ill and the planet itself is also.”
Another person, a man stepped forward as if in answer to some signal Isabelle missed. He nodded toward her and introduced himself as Wynn before addressing the group. “We have detected considerable opposition to your uncle’s ideas and plans even among his own soldiers. Isabelle’s ability to grow food is of enough strategic importance that even the men who are loyal to him are concerned about how they will eat if she is gone. They hope the workers who are doing the agricultural tasks know what to do and when to do it, but they are not convinced.”
Another woman came forward. “Call me Dru,” she said with a smile. She continued, “From a business standpoint the food growing capabilities make this place more successful and profitable than any other place anyone knows in this area and maybe on the whole planet. The profitability depends in part on the food production and the available comforts that would be hard to duplicate without Isabelle’s expertise. Many of the people who support Uncle know at least some of this and are concerned about what will happen without her.”
A small, tough looking woman moved a bit restlessly.
“What, Daria?” Evan asked.
“What makes this place so attractive…so important to Uncle is that it can be defended. It’s partly the building that makes it so valuable.”
“There are things Uncle does not know about the building…things only Isabelle knows,” Evan said. He almost smiled and then looked at Isabelle, waiting for her to speak.”
“This is difficult,” she said. “No one except Evan knows what I am about to tell you. My father and grandfather told only me the secrets of the castle.”
“It will be an honor to learn your secrets that you have guarded so carefully and unselfishly for the good of your people,” Ana said. “The Goddess made you both wise and careful and the God represented by your father and grandfather clearly agrees. We will support you with their blessings. It is the ultimate good scenario for our efforts.”
Everyone seemed to agree with her and it encouraged Isabelle.
She and Evan told them about the tunnels. “If you can come in through the tunnels and the dungeons you can appear everywhere at once without using our mind driven powers until it’s necessary,” Evan said.
Brian claimed the attention of the group, saying, “Glory, the woman I have been with since I got here is a strong telepath. We can communicate without talking even though we are not yet mated. She believes she is unworthy because she has been a sex worker. I wish her to be my mate. I have seen her in my dreams, but I did not expect to find her here during this mission. I thought she was dead in the wars, but she just shut down emotionally. I need help to convince her that we will be a match.”
Evan turned to Isabelle and explained to her, “Mated couples on Terra spend weeks in uninterrupted seclusion when they first get together. Our circumstances have made us be constantly taken out of our intimacy in order to fulfill all your responsibilities. I have been careful to accompany you everywhere so that our bond can grow in spite of the less than ideal conditions.”
“I realize now that we have never been apart since I first met you,” Isabelle said. “I never questioned it. I felt so connected to you that I was glad to have you near.”
Ana spoke up. “It’s normal that you would feel this close tie even though your circumstances are much different for most people in our world. The Goddess has already started to bless your union. It is as it should be for you both.”
“We need to make our move on Uncle,” Dru said. “Nothing here is going to go as it should until he is neutralized. We may not need to kill him, but I think that nasty old priest is definitely going to have to cease to exist. Why he views himself as holy is beyond comprehension. He’s just a dirty old man who hates women.”
Ana added more. �
��Uncle and his cronies will definitely have to be neutralized. Precisely what happens to him will depend on how far he pushes his agenda against Isabelle. He may or may not condemn himself but he will be given the chance to change his mind. It is our way. For a man to kill a healer and a person who grows food and offers it to anyone who needs it is a very bad thing. It indicates that he may be beyond redemption. Many people here are also. The way he has forced people here to make money, by selling sex is also undesirable. Isabelle’s efforts to prevent people being forced involuntarily to be sex workers, is part of the reason he has survived so far. But she wishes everyone here could live differently. Additionally, this planet is dying because they have forgotten or hidden the importance of the Goddess for far too long. We must bring her back to restore the magic that was here in the beginning. It’s like a conspiracy to minimize women and diminish their importance and contributions. Children have suffered more even than women. Now all who are here are struggling to survive.”
Dru said, “Can the planet be healed?”
“It’s a really big job,” Ana said. “Probably the biggest we have ever attempted, but I think we should try anyway. What do all of you think?”
No one actually spoke, but even Isabelle realized they were going to make the attempt. It was clear in their looks.
Chapter 20
Evan took her into his arms and wished them and Brian back inside the castle. Isabelle asked him, “Why do your people think Uncle has to make his move on me before they move against him? It seems like giving him enough rope to hang himself.”
“That’s literally true in a way,” Evan agreed. “In our society it is considered criminal to impede or hurt a healer or anyone who grows food and helps to nurture children. You do all three. It would mean you would be considered a priestess in our world, a very important job with huge responsibilities. So far Uncle has taken stuff from you and allowed Luther to hurt you. He also took over your home and started a brothel, another huge mark against him. Now he is in some trouble but he could come back from it. If he threatens your life, it’s different. He may change his mind but if he doesn’t he might bring down the ultimate punishment on himself. It’s our way to let him decide for himself how bad he will be and how bad his punishment will be, too.”
“But he doesn’t know what might happen to him,” Isabelle said. “He really doesn’t know the consequences of what he and the priest are plotting.” Isabelle was envisioning something bloody and violent and worrying about it, too.
Evan looked stern and rather grim. His hard face looked very unforgiving. “He chose his path,” he said. “I think he’s going to go even farther. I would never let him hurt you. It’s why I am here at this moment in time. I came here for you and I will be with you for as long as I live. We live longer than Earthlings, too, because our planet is healthier and less polluted than this one.”
“How much longer?” Isabelle asked. It was intriguing and she wanted to know.
“About 500 years, on average,” Evan answered.
“I’m an Earthling,” Isabelle said. “Our union might be pretty sad for you. Few of us live longer than 80 to 90 years, max.”
“We can heal you and extend your life to a similar time as ours. Your healing has already begun. It’s part of the reason you are looking so great,” he answered. “We have been working on Glory, too, but she is more difficult. Her spirit is at least as wounded as her body and Brian needs her whole, again.”
“Uncle intended for me to end up much like her,” Isabelle said. It was all too true. Uncle had intended to harm her, abuse her much like the sex workers had been hurt. The miracle was that Uncle had chosen Evan as her mate. He had intended that she would be in an unhappy union with a hard faced stranger instead of forcing her into the life of a sex worker, but he had still meant to hurt her and make her unhappy, even more unhappy than she already was running a brothel for him. Oddly he still believed she was unhappy with Evan. He could not grasp that it had turned out well for her. She liked Evan and she liked his ways.
Uncle would be even more resentful when he figured it out…finally. She was ready to quit the brothel business and leave her home. It had not felt like home even when her father was alive. It had not been a good fit for her, especially since Uncle came. Many of the workers understood too well how she felt. She had as little choice as they did in what happened. Her Uncle took all the power as well as most of the money and her home, too.
Isabelle was still in Evan’s arms. He ducked his head and kissed her.
She kissed him back. It distracted her from the danger she was facing and she wanted more of it.
“I want to make love to you,” he murmured against her lips.
“What a good idea,” she said smiling. She was in the mood to take all the pleasure she could and she no longer felt sore. Plus she needed distraction. Her life was in danger and her only available release was being with her new husband.
He set her on her feet and began to strip her of her clothing, first of her tunic and then of her pants and shirt. Her feminine body emerged from her disguise to his pleasure.
She reached for him and started to remove his clothing, too. They were becoming used to each other and knew they were of one mind in their desire for each other.
Isabelle loved having a man, a love, that was hers that she could see and touch anytime they had the opportunity. She pulled him to her bed and encouraged him to recline. Climbing in next to him she began to explore his muscular body. He was flushed with arousal and his organ was hard but he did not rush her. “I love your hands on my body,” he told her.
“I want to be on top,” she said, climbing aboard and stroking his chest. He touched her, holding her waist and testing her arousal with his fingers.
His touch in her most intimate folds thrilled her and she gasped with pleasure.
She reached for him and rubbed his hard organ where it could do the most good and where his hands had just been. They were becoming very excited and she wanted him to come inside her. As though he read her mind he held his organ and she sank onto him as far as she could go, and then farther.
He shivered in pleasure and held her around her waist, encouraging her to rise upward and then sink back down onto his hardness. His large hands almost wrapped completely around her waist. His face and shoulders were flushed with arousal. She found a rhythm and began to move. He touched her with his fingers at the perfect spot to help her have fun. “Don’t come yet,” he suggested roughly. “Try to make it last.”
“I’ll try,” she said breathlessly, “but this feels really good.”
They continued to move together and she did try to make it last, but finally she screamed, “I’m going to come.”
He squeezed his eyes shut and worked to give her his best moves as she began to orgasm, waiting until she fell over him until he allowed himself release. He filled her with cum just as her last spasms gripped him tightly in a pulsing climax.
He rolled until they fit together like spoons and held her while she slept for a while in delicious satisfaction.
Finally she woke and turned to look at him.
“It gets better and better,” he said in a musing and deep voice. “It’s something I did not expect. This learning to pleasure each other is very nice…very motivating. I am having a very good time.”
“Me, too,” she said. “I didn’t expect it either. Romance, true love seemed like the worst type of foolishness when I thought of it before you. Sex seemed demeaning to me, especially for women. In a world where men have all the power love gets really risky for women. It doesn’t seem worth it to marry some guy. Being independent seemed like the smart thing for me to do, but being with you is good. You love me so well and let me love you, plus you act like my best friend. It’s…something I never expected.”
“Friendship is part of what we look for in our marriages,” he said. “Without it our monogamous and very long marriages could never succeed. We are told this from birth and we look for it w
hen we come together. It is part of our relationships to help us through all the things that people go through in their lives. The emotional support of a loving partner is something we both seek and cherish.”
“That doesn’t happen much here,” she told him. “Nearly as many women broke their vows as did men before the wars. Now marriages…if they happen at all…are purely based on money and security and food, not love or even friendship or anything resembling either.”
“Your uncle seemed surprised I wanted to marry you,” he told her.
“Uncle only believes in either sex workers or alliances that are based on couples using each other for whatever they want or need. No one has contracted a marriage here since the wars. Uncle has had lots of women and even the occasional man, but he never had a dedicated relationship with a woman even before the wars. He never mentioned marrying Angela and he had sex with others even after she came here. She remained faithful to him but she had a lot of men before she came here. I think she liked her position as Uncle’s woman and tried to make it more exclusive. It made her feel good to be the leader’s lover. Looking back I think she was younger than she appeared and that she had been abused because of her physical attributes…those big breasts. They are often a double-edged sword for women, attracting the worst quality men and much too soon. As for Uncle, I’m not sure he even likes women as much as he likes men, both in bed and out of bed,” Isabelle said. “He and the priest often spend time together and have sex, too.”
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