{"sf1_id":914925,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Witch Blood 17","author":"Little Red Wolf","words":3339,"posted_at":"2015-09-26T20:24:00.000Z","tags":["No-Yiff"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/914925-witch-blood-17","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/914925","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=914925\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"A startled gasp came from the other\nside of the door when Rhea knocked. \"Anna! Anna! It's me!\" The door opened and the\nroom's shapely occupant looked up and down the hall before ushering her friend\ninside.\n\"What are you doing here?\"\nAnnabelle asked with anxious irritation. \"Are you skipping your lesson again?\"\n\"The Baron's servant is here!\" Rhea\nhissed. \"He did some sort of magic to me and it made him pass out! Then Madam ...\nuhm ... your mother showed up to scold him and he agreed to do ... something. I\ndon't know ... I felt like there was a whole conversation going on there without\nthem saying a word.\"\n\"The eerie boy with the pale skin\nand the intense blue eyes?\" Annabelle asked with concern in her face.\n\"Yeah,\" Rhea said with a nod. \"How\ndid you know?\"\n\"I pretty sure he's not human.\" Anna's\nexpression was tinged with fear as her deep blue eyes focused on some far away\nmemory. \"I first saw him when I was ten years old ... and he looked like we were\nthe same age. When I saw him five years later ... he still looked the same.\" She finally\nshivered. Shaking off the worst of her fear, she firmed her expression before\ncontinuing. \"I don't know what he is but he's ... he's-\"\n\"Wrong,\" Rhea finished and her\nfriend nodded emphatically.\n\"Yes. Wrong. Just wrong.\"\n\"Yeah, I got that too.\" Rhea shook\nher head as she tried to recall the details of her encounter. \"He moved me\naround like a doll and then put his fingers into my mouth to check my teeth. He\ntreated me like I was an animal he was thinking of buying. I wasn't a person ...\nI was just ... just ...\"\n\"Property,\" Anna finished bitterly,\nand both women nodded. \"I don't understand how anyone can be property, but it\nhappens all the time. Servants and slaves ... it's monstrous but people do it all\nthe time. Mother's always buying girls contracts so that they can get away from\nthat sort of life ... but it's everywhere.\"\nThe rant seemed to have released\nenough pressure for Rhea fall into a chair. Anna let out her breath too and sat\nat a desk with several crystals and some maps on it. \"Looks like you were crystal\nscrying,\" Rhea said with a motion towards the maps. \"Any luck?\"\n\"I think so,\" Anna said with a look\nthat said she was grateful for a new conversational topic. \"The church has\nsomething of yours but I don't know what it is. Maybe it's the stone or maybe\nit's something else. I don't know. I only know that something is there.\"\n\"Well, we have to get it tonight,\"\nRhea told her.\n\"Not a chance,\" Anna said with a\nshake of her head. \"Now that he's here, do you think she'll risk you running\noff now?\"\n\"Well ... maybe ... uhm ...\" Every\nthought that Rhea could gather was a horrible one and they would likely get her\ncaught by one group or another. Most of what she thought about saying would\nhurt her friend and so she chose silence. Anna took a breath as if she planned\nto speak but she too let it out without words.\nShe\nknows I'll fight if she tells me no so she's letting me figure it out. Curse\nher, but she's right! Predictably, her mind began to spin. Potential courses\nof action came and went. Too many reasons against stacked up and she clenched\nher jaw in frustration. All of her plans were tipping over the edge of a cliff\nand the last of her options were tumbling after.\n\"Once I go over to this ... master,\"\nRhea said with bile in her throat, \"I don't know what's going to happen. I'll\nprobably never see you again. I don't think I'll ever make it home. I ... I want\nto save Lyle ... but I don't know how.\" Tears formed in her eyes and she grew\nangry at their presence. \"Anna ... what do I do?\"\n\"Maybe,\" Anna began but then she\nstopped.\n\"What?\" Rhea asked, but Anna shook\nher head. \"Tell me, Anna! Even if it's a stupid idea ... tell me!\"\n\"Beorgas might ... well ... he might be\nable to help.\" Anna hesitated, but then her voice grew stronger as she\ncontinued. \"He's a noble warlord, and he plays games of power with others like\nhim. Faeries, trolls, ogres ... all of the monsters we heard about in stories are\nreal ... and their nobility is always trying to one-up each other. Beorgas calls\nit The Great Game and if he helps you\nout then you owe him a favor ... and so do I.\"\n\"Oh no, Anna,\" Rhea whined as she\nput her head in her hands, \"I don't want to get mixed up in the games of any\nnoble ... much less monstrous ones!\"\n\"Rhea,\" Anna said sternly, \"you\nhave been sold to a baron. He has a creepy not-quite-human servant. What do you\nthink the baron is?\"\n\"Uh ... I have no idea,\" Rhea admitted,\nand then she thought about it. \"Oh sheep-turds.\"\n\"Yeah,\" Anna said with a smirk at\nthe curse.\n\"He's one of them,\" Rhea said as\nher eyes went wide. \"One of them! Anna!\nWhat am I going to do?\"\n\"You're going to play The Game,\" Anna told her with a spark of\nmischief in her eyes. \"I'll be one of your allies, but you need to be ready to\nplay.\"\n\"But ... you think ... uhm ...\"\n\"Stop,\" Anna told her. \"Don't\npanic, just face one problem at a time or they'll overwhelm you.\"\n\"Right,\" Rhea said with a nod. She\ntook a deep breath and then focused. \"Alright, first we need to make it so that\nyou can actually help me. We need to do the ritual right bloody now. Once\nyou're gone, I'll clean up and then we can meet later.\"\n\"Okay,\" Anna said with a smile.\n\"What's the baron's name ... White?\"\n\"Yeah,\" Rhea said, \"I think that's\nit.\"\n\"Okay, I'm sure Beorgas will be\nable to tell me more about him.\" Anna's eyes began to burn with the intensity\nof a player at a game of stones.\nShe's\ncalculating her next move, Rhea realized. I hope I can learn enough about this game so that I don't get knocked\noff of the board.\n\"Your mission is to find out all\nyou can about your baron,\" she continued. \"I'll find a way to visit you or make\ncontact through letters. I'm so glad you're literate. This would be so much\nharder if you were just a bookless sheep herder.\" Rhea shivered at the thought\nbut said nothing about it. \"Okay. That'll work. Let's get started.\"\n\"Okay,\" Rhea agreed and the pair of\nthem set to work.\nMoving through the halls to gather\nup their ingredients took more time than Rhea was initially prepared for. The\nnight's first customers were all being seen to and several of them were already\nin bed with their mistress. Rhea still blushed a little as she passed the rooms\nbut she was amused to discover that she was perversely excited by the sounds.\nShe had seen every one of the other women naked and watching them bring strange\nmen to completion no longer shocked her. Still, she was not sure she was ready\nto do the job herself.\nThe supply closets held everything\nthey did not have already stashed away, and both were able to return in good\norder. Rhea set herself to chalking symbols, while Anna filled bowls and set\nout the appropriate items in the correct places. Once the two women were\nsatisfied, they knelt on opposite sides of the circle and began a deep\nbreathing meditation.\nAll magic required a power source,\na guide or channel for the power, and then a goal. The power source could be a\nperson's personal life energy but that was dangerous, and it was better to draw\nin power from the environment or to summon it to a caster through the power of\nhuman emotion. Anger, joy, sorrow, and laughter were all good sources of power,\nbut it was difficult to maintain any of those for long. That was why Rhea\nmeditated on clearing away such emotions and all of the stray thoughts that\nwent with them.\nThe pair of young women had talked\nat length about this spell and the ritual they would need to bring it to life.\nIf they channeled the power through themselves then their seals would flare and\nthe pain could shock them unconscious or kill them. All of the power would need\nto come from outside of them and they would need to guide the energy into a\ncircle where they could work it at a distance.\nAnother complication of the spell was\nthe people involved. Magic is a personal thing an a spell wrought with another\nrequires a personal bond. To Rhea, this type of weaving was like stripping\nnaked and slipping into a bedroll together to share body heat. She knew she\nwould not mind slipping into a bedroll with Anna but they had to keep their own\nenergies separate from the magic and it would be difficult if her own lust was\ntrying to get in the way.\n\"Are you ready?\" Anna asked in the\nfar away tone ritual.\n\"I am ready,\" Rhea responded as\nthey had practiced.\n\"Focus on the circle,\" Annabelle's\nvoice echoed. \"We are not the vessels of the spell, only its guide. Let the energy\nflow around us and let the circle gather it in. We shall only guide ... we shall\nnot channel ... we shall only guide.\"\nA chanting rhythm was quietly\nspoken between the pair of them and the energy around them began to move. The\nbuilding, the grounds around them, and every person inside resonated with carnal\npower and the pair of them directed that energy like shepherds corralling their\nflock. This particular sheep, however, had a will all its own.\nLust is one of the great forces of\nthe world. It could grant courage to those who are normally weak and drive wise\nrulers to hideous acts of unconscionable stupidity. Lust was the driving force\nto create, a desire for pleasure, and love's unruly cousin. Tapping into the\nbrothel's reservoir of sexual energy was like trying to grip a slithering eel\nmade out of fire. Rhea had to suppress giggles as the power wriggled around\nher. She was careful not to let the power into her but some of it always bled\nthrough.\nRhea held tightly to the idea of a\nsheep herding shepherdess, and gradually the energy began to pool into the\ncoral. Salacious desires bumbled about in a haze of organic hind-brain\nactivity. Men grunted and strained with enthusiasm, but they were prey. The brothel\nand its women sheered them of coin, bled them of energy, and guarded their animals with the fever of\nterritorial wolves. All of that passion flowed around them ... and the witches\ndirected it into their circle.\nCandles burned down to nothing but\ntheir glow was replaced by the light of the symbols etched in chalk, filled\nwith magic, and resonating with barely contained readiness. Rhea fought against\nher desire to reach out and touch that power. Channeling energy like this would\nfill her with an ecstasy so pure she was certain she would orgasm herself\nunconscious. The temptation to embrace that teased her for hours but she knew\nher seal would not let it be so. If so much energy came at her she might burst\ninto flames ... or her heart might stop from the shock of it all. Whatever\nhappened, it would be horrible ... and she didn't want to die yet.\nFocus ... stay the course ... focus ... let the\ncircle flow.\nAgain and again she turned the\npower like a great wheel. Round and round until the ball was big enough for\ntheir purposes. The shift came on suddenly but she compensated. Anna was the\nskilled crafter. Rhea was the steady anchor. Together they worked until the\nportal took form. \"Good-bye Rhea! I'll\nfind you!\" Anna's voice split through their world and then there was a\nflash of light. Everything rose to a fevered pitch and exploded in a crescendo\nof light and sensation. Rhea grit her teeth as the seal on her chest sensed the\nenergies but she managed to push enough of it away to avoid a flare of agony.\nThen everything went quiet.\nUnquenchable desire slid along her\nsurface and pulsed through Rhea's veins. She curled into a ball, clenching\nherself tight in an effort to burn off the access tension. More than anything\nshe wanted to thrust her hands between her legs and touch herself like some\nmindless beast. She wanted to stomp down to the second floor, kick open the\nnearest door, and slide herself between a struggling couple. She wanted to\ngather up two or three men and have them penetrate all of her parts. She wanted\nten men, all in a circle, pleasuring themselves as they watched until they covered\nher in layer upon layer of thick hot seed. She wanted ...\nSqueezing herself into a tighter\nball did not help. Even if I did all of\nthat, the seal would burn me before I could cum. The body still wanted,\nthough, and she could feel the distant throb along her chest with every beat of\nher heart. Enduring the residual power was not quite agony but it went on for a\nsmall eternity of unquenchable desires and needs not completely her own.\nThe night moved well past the hours\nof common revelry and stumbled towards the last stretch of mindless passion.\nThe sooty stink of burnt out candles teased her nose but the other senses\ndetected little. On hands and knees, Rhea felt her way through the dark until\nshe managed to draw back thick curtains and push open the window. Real glass\nhad been brought in and the simple country girl wondered if she would ever take\nit for granted.\nThe night was clear and the moon\nwas bright. \"Light be with you, Annabelle,\" she told the wind. \"I'll see you on\nthe other side.\" Rhea inhaled deeply and let the night fill her. Then she\nturned to the task of cleaning up all traces of what had happened here. Wax was\nscraped into a pile and water was pitched out the window. Salt was recaptured,\nfor it was too valuable to discard, and the floor was scrubbed, first with sand\nand then with soapy water. Distant squeaks and grunts carried on through the\nnight but Rhea focused on her work with a will.\nEventually the first glimmers of\ndaylight peaked in through the window and Rhea was able to look upon her work.\nNot a trace of what they had done here could be seen with the naked eye and the\npsychic residue would be difficult to trace. When she was satisfied, Rhea went\nback to her bedroom. She flopped onto her bed with a feeling of true exhaustion\nin her bones. A moment later there was a knock and she mumbled incoherently as\nthe door opened.\n\"Wha-phor-morum-pa?\"\n\"It is time,\" replied the intruder.\nRhea pushed herself into an almost sitting position and then realized it was\ndark outside ... and Annabelle was standing at her door. The surprise of it\nbrought her the rest of the way into consciousness and she suddenly realized it\nwas Venita, Anna's sister.\n\"Time ... yeah ... right.\" Rhea finally\ngot to her feet and looked around her small room. \"There really isn't anything\nhere that's mine.\" Her comment had not really been a conscious one but the\nwoman at her door let out a non-comital grunt. Rhea looked back at the other\nwoman and saw a storm of emotions on her face. She knows something is wrong. Is Anna missing yet? Will there be\ntrouble?\n\"Come on,\" Venita grumbled. \"I've\ngot things to do.\"\n\"Alright,\" Rhea said as she went to\nthe mirror and made a disgusted sound. \"Uhm-\"\n\"Hurry up and bathe,\" Venita told\nher harshly. \"You're someone else's problem now.\" Rhea blinked in surprise at\nVenita's anger. There was something else going on that she did not yet know\nabout and she had a terrible feeling that the young woman would explode in a\nfit of rage if she pressed.\nGathering up a few objects and a\ndress that she liked, Rhea was escorted to the baths. She went through her\nusual routine, scrubbed herself thoroughly, and then settled into the tub.\nClosing her eyes, she tried to order her thoughts. There was so little\ninformation about what was to happen next but she knew it would not be\npleasant.\nThe door opened and someone\nentered. Rhea opened her eyes and balked at what she saw. The overly pale\nservant boy stepped into the room wearing a towel and nothing else. He carried\na large bucket which contained a pile of things half as large as he was. The\nfloor caught the bucket with a loud -thunk- and the towel was tossed away.\n\"Uhm ... excuse me,\" Rhea said, as he\ndumped the contents into a pile and began filling the bucket with water. \"I'm\nkind of naked here.\"\n\"Mmhmm,\" the boy grunted without\nlooking at her.\n\"Uhm ... privacy?\" Rhea told him a\nlittle more sternly.\n\"Why?\" he asked as he began\nlathering up his body and running a brush across his skin.\n\"Because I'm a woman and you're a\nboy!\" Rhea scolded him. \"Because it's inappropriate for you to see me like this!\nBecause-\" she stopped suddenly as her eyes landed on several bruises on his\notherwise flawless skin. Two half-circles were bruised alone his neckline and\nseveral other wounds were on his back, arms, and legs. The wounds caused her to\nstudy him further and she recognized the long thin strips of knife scars which\nran along his arms and flanks. \"Nathaniel, right?\" she asked, and the boy\nnodded. \"What did you do to repay Madam Bellisa?\"\n\"Only what she desired,\" Nathaniel\ntold her unhelpfully. The brush never stopped working and he managed not to\nwince once as rough bristles rolled over swollen skin.\n\"Can you tell me what she had you do?\"\n\"No.\" The word was plane, short,\nand final. The angles of his face sad there would no more discussion on this\ntopic.\n\"So ... when are we supposed to\nleave?\" Rhea finally asked when it didn't seem like she could avoid the topic.\n\"After this bath we shall have a\nmeal,\" Nathaniel told her flatly. \"After that meal we shall leave.\"\n\"What?\" Rhea asked in a start.\nNathaniel repeated himself in the same dull tone as if it was common for him to\ndo so. The sounds of his scrubbing filled her ears. Water poured over his body\nand all that had been there before seemed to wash away. The bruises were not so\nbad, the scars were difficult to see, and all of his wounds were suddenly days\nold. \"So ... that's it? No party, no goodbyes, just ... gone?\"\n\"Did you waste your day?\" the boy\nasked and his shockingly blue eyes turned to look at her. Rhea sank in the\nwater up to her neck and gripped the side of the tub. She still felt like he\ncould see her but there was something else in his eyes as well.\n\"No,\" she insisted. \"I was busy ...\nbut then I fell asleep! I've been forced onto a night schedule, you know!\"\n\"That is good,\" he told her as his crystal\neyes continued watching. \"The master will require you to tend to him at night,\nso you will sleep during the day.\"\n\"You can't be serious,\" Rhea\nscoffed.\n\"Very serious,\" Nathaniel spoke\nwithout inflection. \"Now, if you are finished. I would soak before having a\nfinal meal.\""}