The Rescuer's Perspective-Part Three free porn video

Part Three The Whore's Escape Rowena awoke in the darkness. During her sleep she had removed her hand from between her legs. She felt the dried juices matting her pubic hair and wondered when her customer had left. Her belly rumbled and she slowly shifted herself up into a sitting position. The light above her flared to life filling the cage with trembling light from the oil lamp overhead. She had always been ill-favored even as a child. Her hair hung thin and oily its dull length framing her pinched narrow face. Her small eyes perched over thin lips and a prominent nose. She rose and stretched her scrawny arms. Her tiny breasts barely moved as she did so. When she stood her bony frame with its narrow hips and sallow skin were more likely to inspire the viewer's eyes to be averted rather than to linger. From the basket of clothing she had found yesterday she took a simple dress and slipped it over herself. Most of the clothing she had found in there was better suited to women with more feminine assets than she possessed. That was nothing new to her. She had long since accepted that she was a dull skinny thing that was barely good enough to be the whore she had been ever since her father had sold her to Peyotr when she turned fourteen. Her father had little use for her even before that. Her first memories were of learning to avoid attracting his attention as much as possible. Her better looking sisters at least warranted occasional words of praise from him, usually tied with the understanding that their marriage would improve the lot of the family. But there were never such words for her; not even when Peyotr came and suggested that she may still prove of some value in this way there was little objection from him. When they came to an agreement and she was told that she would leave now with Peyotr she could see relief in his eyes that she would be leaving in a way that had benefited him. For her it was almost a welcome chance that Peyotr was taking her away. She knew what he was even at that age, but she thought that perhaps even leaving for this would be better. He took her through the village and as he did so she saw the passing looks that others gave her. Some of them were pity, others were looks of contempt, but most paid her no more mind then they had the day before. She was ordered to clean herself when they reached the tavern Peyotr sold his girls from. Afterward she stood looking at the floor while Peyotr and Donkey, his enforcer looked her wet naked body over. "That skinny bitch won't earn you much," Donkey said "No one wants to fuck a stick." He reached out and pressed her left breast flat against her chest. "Look at that," he said. "Nothing there, the only thing she has going for her are big nipples and a hole she doesn't know how to use." "Don't worry about that I know how to make her earn," Peyotr answered. "If you mean to auction off her cherry, don't count on it," Donkey replied. "She's still a stack of bones that doesn't know anything about beginning to please a man." "Not quite what I had in mind," Peyotr answered. He motioned Donkey over and began detailing his idea. Donkey looked up after a moment and smiled. "That'll work," he said. The tavern was more crowded tonight. Peyotr's establishment was the main watering hole for several villages around as well as the small town that lay outside of the lord's keep. The week leading up to tonight had been billed as a special occurrence and even though most of the men who filled the walls tonight knew what it was they still came. Peyotr stepped to the center of the room and banged his wooden mug down on a table several times to gather the men's attention. The men and several of Peyotr's other girls continued on with their business paying him no mind. Peyotr rapped the mug again. "Mate's," he said. "You think you know why you're here but you're wrong." "I thought you were auctioning off first crack at that skinny whore's twat." Someone in the crowd shouted back. "Not worth it," another patron answered back, "You'd like as break your yard off trying to fuck that one." Most of the men in the room laughed. "Mate's...mate's that's only part of it," Peyotr said. "Yeah, the worst part of it," someone shouted back. The men laughed harder. Rowena hung her head lower as the men began competing to see which of them could top the last one's insult. Peyotr held up a small bag and shook it gently. The men began to quiet down. He shook the bag again. "Five silver in there lads," he said placing it on the table in front of him. He placed a dice cup next to the bag. "Five silver gets you into the game. More silver keeps you in it. When the last two reach the last match the winner of the last throw pays me for the game and gets the rest of the cash." He nodded in Rowena's direction. "The loser gets her." The men in the tavern started laughing but they reached for their silver anyway. She watched them as they crowded around the table. Each of the men at the table was jostling for a better place or view. The pile of silver began to grow as the players began to drop out one by one. As the game began to slow Peyotr would join it and raise the stakes before dropping out again. The last two left playing managed to drag out the game by matching each other roll for roll. From the groans and shouts several men were more interested in the outcome of the side bets they were making. The final roll caused a clamor of shouting as the lucky man began sliding the large pile of silver into his waiting hand. The loser looked over at Rowena. "I still don't want to fuck her," he said. The other men laughed. "If you want you can buy your way out," Peyotr said as the winner was counting his percentage into Peyotr's outstretched hands. The loser flipped a single copper at Peyotr. "That's all its worth," he said. "That won't even rent the room," Peyotr answered. "Then have Donkey fuck her right here," the man answered. The other men laughed at the suggestion and began chanting Donkey's name over and over. Peyotr looked over to Donkey and nodded. Donkey swept the mugs of ale off of a table. "Stretch her out here lads," he said. The men laughed and picked her up. Rowena started to struggle as a dozen hands lifted her overhead and carried her to the table. More hands stripped the cheap clothes from her and deposited her naked on the heavy wood. Donkey dropped his codpiece. "First lesson time girl," he said while the men laughed and jeered. She shuddered, took him in her hands and clumsily tried to remember what some of the other girls had told her to do. Eventually she succeeded in getting him hard. When he was standing out fully she was pulled back onto the rough wood and felt the hands grasping her wrists and ankles holding her down on the table. She squeezed her eyes shut as she felt Donkey's prick began moving into her. She yelped in pain as her maidenhead tore and he slipped further into her. She knew she was whimpering as he began thrusting. Her body reflexively began trying to move away but the hands wouldn't let her. Donkey kept driving into her until he finished. As he pulled free from her he slapped her thigh. "You should have taken her," he said the game's loser. "For me at least it was a tight fit." The man shook his head. "Still not good enough," he said. Rowena was dimly aware of one of the girls helping her to her feet and taking her out of the room. Each night after that the Donkey shows became a regular feature in Peyotr's establishment. Rowena was compelled to demonstrate her skills each night as the men crowded around and shouted suggestions and criticized her performance. It was weeks before anyone other than Donkey paid for her. Even after that Peyotr mainly sold her to those who were deep in their cups and didn't care about her looks. Each time she performed the men shouted for more. The show expanded to tying her and beating her in various ways. Some nights she ended with nothing but pain. Peyotr told her over and over that when she developed enough skill he would let her slip into the background with the other girls and it would end. But she didn't believe him. When the shows began Peyotr began making much more from the other girls and Donkey liked hurting her. She remembered hearing about how, months later the gypsy conjuror tricked the lord's daughter into following him. When after years of failure the lord called for his banner men to lay siege to where the gypsy had taken refuge, Peyotr and his girls had followed as well. War camps were good for business and she and the other girls were soon busy catering to the desires of bored soldiers. It was only a few weeks after they were there though that she overheard Peyotr talking with Donkey about restarting the shows every night. She couldn't face that again. After the weeks here with only having to pleasure a few in the dirty tent she occupied instead of being displayed as before the thought of going back to that was more than she could bear. She had seen the barrier grow solid and the ruins disappear each time someone entered and late one night after the others were sleeping she slipped away into the brush near the entrance and waited until nearly dawn for it to appear again. She moved as quietly as she could toward the walls. She had seen the battered triple gate from a distance every day since she had arrived with the others. As she passed under the arch she felt hands seize her. She started to scream but a plug of braided leather was forced into her mouth stifling it. A hood dropped over her head and she was thrown over a shoulder and carried deeper into the compound. She went limp in her captors grasp. No matter what they might do it would not include Donkey and that was all that mattered to her now. She could feel the difference when they went inside one of the buildings. The sounds of night grew muted and she could hear the hiss of burning torches. The sound of her captors walking on stone echoed in the room. They stopped and dumped her on the stone in front of them. "What is this?" she heard a soft piercing woman's voice say. "This one entered the gate just now Master," a rasping voice answered. "And my father sends a waif to do his work now?" the woman said. "This one entered unarmed Master," the rasping voice said. "She appears to be running away." There was a long moment of silence. "Place her in seclusion. I will speak with her in the morning." She was sure that she had only slept a few hours since she was placed in this cage. The oil lamp that had sputtered to life shortly after she had risen, cast a dim light that did not extend far beyond the bars. A faint blue light was moving around the single barred door. She didn't want to touch it. Something inside of her told her that the light would be painful if it did touch her. She looked in the other baskets and found there was a supply of food there. Her belly rumbled louder as the smell of it wafted in her nose. Hurriedly she took some of the food out and quickly began to eat it. Peyotr had not neglected his women but he also had never given them much more than he had to either. And Donkey had made it clear that she did not deserve more than what was given to her. Even though she was confined she still felt it was better than being in the camp facing what Donkey would do to her. "Why did you come here?" she heard the soft piercing voice from before. She looked up. A tall woman with a pale completion and braided honey gold hair stood there. Rowena turned her face away. "I had to," she said softly. "I couldn't do it again." "What could you not do again?" she asked. "I couldn't let Donkey do what he was doing before." "Tell me," the woman insisted. Her words were spoken gently but it was a command still. She started telling her. The woman quietly listened as she detailed what Donkey did to her, what her owner Peyotr had him do to her. While the woman stood outside the bars she spoke as much as she could of what her life as Peyotr's whore was like. The woman listened until Rowena collapsed into uncontrolled sobs on the bed. Then she walked away without saying anything. Rowena cried for a while after the woman left. She was left alone the rest of the day and the day after that as well. The woman returned the following morning and opened the door to the cell. Rowena hesitantly followed her out. They walked out of the doors at the far end of the room. Rowena watched as the woman paused and began speaking silently. To her surprise she saw thin filaments of blue fire arcing between her outstretched fingers; filaments that danced between her hands while she silently spoke. She watched the fire coalesce into a small ball and then lift skyward before dissolving in the morning light. "What did you do?" she asked. "I spoke with those who dwell in the nether." the woman answered. She resumed walking in the gardens that Rowena could see circling the white stone of the temple. "I am Nalice," she said as they passed through the sculpted hedges. "I am master here." Rowena cast her eyes on the ground and walked quietly behind her. "Come and eat with me," Nalice said gently to her. They crossed the garden path and entered a small building. Rowena could smell the smoke from the cooking fires wafting down from a hole in the roof. It carried the smell of bread and roasted meat. Her mouth watered as she breathed in the aroma. They entered the building. Around them the kitchen stood empty of people but it seemed as though they should be stepping into the building in moments. Meat of different kinds slowly roasted on spits, bread baking in open stone ovens and pots of vegetable dishes bubbled. Nalice motioned for her to take what she wished. Rowena found a small wooden bowl and filled it with the contents of one of the pots. A small knife cut some of the meat onto a flatbread. She filled a cup with wine from a jug on one of the tables and followed Nalice outside again. She was very nervous. She knew she should not be daring to eat with one so high above her but she had been told to do so. She ate quietly, looking around the grounds of the compound between bites. She kept looking at the gates not far away. Nalice followed her gaze with her eyes. Rowena finished eating and sat quietly. Nalice had already finished and was slowly drinking her wine. "Why did you come here?" she asked. "You said you were in the camp outside the walls. Surely there were other places for you to go to?" "No my lady," Rowena answered. "Why do you say that?" "Anywhere else I would go to, Peyotr and Donkey would have found me," she said. "This was the only place I thought they would not come." "Tell me more of these men," Nalice said. "They are both cruel," she said "Donkey more than Peyotr." "How are they so cruel?" Nalice asked her. Rowena took a deep breath and told her of her first night in more detail. She told her of how Donkey had started with just the rape, but that afterward he would look earnestly for some way to increase the pain and humiliation to a higher level each night until finally she was being lasted to a special frame and slowly tortured for the pleasure of the crowd. She told her how Donkey was trying to train her body to only respond sexually from those things that caused the greatest pain. She spoke of how for a month the frame had been hung in such a way that weights would hang from her nipples to increase her small breast size while he lashed her with a cowherd's short whip. How the nights would end with Donkey hanging a sign that said piss hole around her neck and having each man in the room pissing in her face from a distance and gambling on which one would put the most in her open mouth. Afterward they would file past Donkey and stand in line as they forcing her to clean them. One of Donkey's favorite tricks was to use his cock to beat her in the face to start the show each night. He always focusing on hitting her open eyes before forcing her to beg him for whatever struck his fancy that night. She told her that when Donkey was talking about resurrecting the shows in the siege camp he was discussing the use of cutting her this time. "And Peyotr?" she asked. "Peyotr's cruelty was limited to allowing Donkey to do as he pleased as long as it made him rich. But the worse Donkey got, the happier Peyotr was because it kept the money flowing." "And why is he called Donkey?" "Because he hangs to his knees and he is Peyotr's loyal beast." she answered. "Did you never try to resist them?" Nalice asked. "Never, I have known mostly fear since Peyotr bought me." "And what do you think of them?" Rowena glanced at the gate again. "I hate them. I hate them both and everyone like them. I wish they all had one throat so I could cut it and be done with them all." "Did none of the men who bought you show you any kindness?" "No, they watched and jeered and pelted me with refuse while Donkey used me. The ones who bought me later...I was just a hole for them to fill while drunk. You are the only one who has shown me kindness and I am your prisoner." "You do not need to watch the gate," Nalice said as her eyes drifted to it again. Rowena looked back from the gate to her. "They'll be coming. I know they will. They come as soon as one can pass through the barrier. They've been doing it for weeks. I've seen them do it." "They come when I allow them to enter." Nalice said "Come with me, I will show you something that may ease your mind and give you understanding." She rose and took Rowena's hand. Rowena followed her back into the kitchen. "Look around," she said. "Look carefully." Rowena slowly looked around the empty kitchen but she could not understand what she should be looking for. She tried to understand but it was beyond her. Everything looked the same, nothing had changed. "How can nothing change?" she said after a moment as she thought she had a hint of understanding. Nalice was watching her closely. "You see it, don't you?" "I-I think so," Rowena answered. "What do you see?" Nalice asked. "Nothing has changed. Everything is as it was when we first came in. How can that be?" "It is as I will it." Nalice said. "Within these walls are stolen moments in time, plucked from their place and kept here because I wish it." She swept her arm to encompass the room. Each part that you see is a single moment I have taken for myself. I keep it this way because it pleases me to do so. And just as easily I can return those moments." She gestured and Rowena felt a surge of dizziness. The light changed in the room. She blinked and the room was different. The remains of the roof stood fallen in around them. Fire blackened walls and charred wood from timbers long collapsed. The cooking fires were long cold. Everything stood in broken pieces and covered with dust. Rowena felt the waving of grass touching her ankles; grass that had overgrown the doorway over the course of years of abandonment. Nalice gestured again and Rowena stumbled from the return of the dizziness. She blinked again and the kitchen stood as she had seen it at first. Nalice led her outside again. "Each part of my world is taken from a cleaner unspoiled time. Each part of it held in a single moment that the past will never miss. While I will it within these walls the fountains dance, the flowers do not wilt and time stands still. It is held in place unchanging. Only those who dwell here are moving in time." "I saw the ruins outside," Rowena said. "I saw them for weeks. I watched them disappear when someone came in. I saw them come back the same." "You saw what those outside my walls are allowed to see. You saw what is here in the now. But I do not live in the now. I folded time like a sheet of paper back on itself and bent it to suit my will." She motioned at the gates again. "Time bent into and folded onto time itself is stronger than walls of stone. It bends where needed and holds firm when commanded. It opens and closes in accordance with my rule. You have nothing to fear from those outside. What they see is not what is." They walked toward the open gate. She pointed to the camp just out of sight; the stands of trees blocking a clear view of the earthworks and the camp behind them. "Even within their walls they see what I wish them to see. They think they are walking here but they are still. They greet each day and think it unchanged but I shape it anew." She moved her hands again and Rowena saw the trees fall away leaving bare earth revealed. A single man stood still, frozen in mid-step. She waved again and the trees returned to hide him. "That one, as do the ones who see him, believes it is only a moment since he passed through the barrier." Nalice said. I will allow him to enter at a time of my choosing." "What do they say in the camp about this place, about me?" she asked as they began to walk away from the gates. Rowena breathed slowly in not sure what she should say. "Tell me what you know, it will not anger me," Nalice said softly. "They say the lord's daughter ran away, that a gypsy bewitched you into following him. They say that he uses his power to make you his willing slave. They say he takes pleasure in taunting and defying your father frequently." "And what do they say of those who enter?" "They think them either dead or bewitched themselves." Rowena answered. "Would you like to know the truth? I'll tell you for no reason other that it pleases me to tell another." Nalice said. Rowena quietly nodded as they slowly walked back up the paving stones between the columns lining the path. "He was no gypsy. He was not Romani. He was the apprentice of an extremely potent magician. Just before the magician died, after living for centuries, he released his apprentice. His apprentice's name was Philamon and he came from far to the south; from a land that rarely saw snow. He was a wanderer who passed from land to land showing true magic to those who thought him a clever fraud. He was kind and I loved him the moment I saw him." "I would wait for him to return each year when the troupe he accompanied would pass through our lands. Each time I saw him my heart would pound so hard I thought it would split my chest. The last time he came I could not bear to watch him. My father had already arranged a match with some other lord whose support he wished to buy. I knew that in but a few days he would be here to finalize the details of my betrothal. When I saw Philamon walk through the gates of the town around our keep with the others I knew I had to run away." They were walking up to the stairs now. Ahead of them the broad altar stood in the morning sun. "He and the others left after a few days as was their custom; I slipped out of my father's gates as if to go riding. In the bustle of preparing to receive the visiting lord no one noticed me. I found the troupe not far down the road, but Philamon was no longer with them. They told me he had left them as he often did shortly after they passed out of the gates. I turned my horse in the direction they told me and followed after him." "I finally caught up with him as dusk began to fall but he saw me and immediately said I should return. I fell to my knees and begged him to take me with him. I told him I could not face life without him. He told me that he was too low for one such as me and the danger was too great. That already if we were seen together he would be killed on sight. He told me to remain by the fire for the night and return to my father in the morning. Then he picked up his pack and walked into the darkness leaving me behind." "The next morning I turned my horse loose and began following him on foot. I had no choice; I knew that I must let the horse lead any that followed away from my path. I had to be with him or I was sure I would die. All through the day I trailed behind him but I was unable to catch up again until after dark had fallen that night. When I walked into the firelight he bade me stop and demanded I tell him why I had followed him still. I told him of how I needed to be with him. How I could not think of returning. That loving him was the only way I could continue to live." "Instead of accepting it as it was he started muttering to himself about his dead master, compulsions and geas. It made little sense to me and I did not care what he said as long as he was speaking to me. He told me to come closer and I gladly did. He reached for me as I longed for him to do and touched my head; in an instant we both stopped moving. Around us both grew a heavy mist that smothered the light. All I could see was the light that outlined Philamon. As I came closer I started hearing another. His voice was old. He spoke first as man then as woman and never the same way twice. I tried to move closer to Philamon, to hide from it but the voice kept speaking." "At first I feared the voice and did not listen. But it told me that my love for Philamon was true. He told me that he had bound Philamon's heart for me years ago and sent him to seek the one that held all the potential within her to stand beside him. She said that her magic had told him that Philamon had been set on his path by him to seek his yin and together they would build something not seen in ages. She told me the nature of the spell that bound him would keep him wandering, carrying it with him as it sought his match. It said that when it touched me his first time beneath our roof the magic had marked me and drawn him back over and over. As my natural power grew raw and untapped it touched me again and I understood that I must be with him no matter the cost." "It asked to show me a taste of what I had within me and if I did so he would show me how to release the chains binding and keeping Philamon's heart from me. I was never more certain that it was true when I gave her my assent. I felt the touch of those astral hands on my eyes and for the first time saw the ebb and flow of time itself. I understood that Philamon's touch had been what had released my most natural skill. It had broken through the last restraints holding it within me and that it was my ability that held us now and linked us in the nether of the astral plane." "She showed me where the chains that held his love for me prisoner were and bade me touch them. When I did I felt them crumble like dry sand between my fingertips. He told me that was enough for now but we would need to travel here to a distant temple to be safe. I saw this place as it was and as it should be. She whispered that within these walls we would both grow strong until we were ready to begin our real work together." Nalice paused in her story. She turned toward the heavy stone two-story insula standing to the right and just behind the temple. As they walked from the gardens into the long archway she bade Rowena to follow her. "I heard her tell me that we had little time remaining before we must flee again down the long road but that I would hear him speak with me as would Philamon now that the way was opened. Its voice faded and I touched the strings of time that bound us and they fell away. As the threads of time fell so did the mists. Philamon's eyes grew bright as he saw me. He moved toward me and embraced me so tightly I thought my heart would burst from joy. His kisses rained like fire on my breasts and neck and lips. As I kissed him in return, I let my garments flutter to the ground until nothing stood between us. As we joined that first time I touched the power inside me again and felt the world slow around us. Within that small bubble we had eternity to spend our first night together while the world outside slowed to a crawl." The arched passage opened into the atrium that formed the center of the building. A pair of stairs led up to the second floor on each side of the passage. Marble benches lined the perimeter of the open space, while flowers and other greenery were planted around the shallow pool in the center. Nalice picked up the hem of her long dress and lifted it as she began walking up the stairs on the left. "I wanted it to last forever, we both did. But we knew that we needed to leave as well. Philamon was right; my father would send men for me. They would kill him or worse and the place we would be safe was still far away. I told him what the voice had said to me. And then I showed him with a drop of water that fell lazily from my fingertip until I released it to hit the ground. He took my hand and led me away. As we walked I let time slide freely along the road and the world blurred beside us." "Each day we walked the roads with speed I did not think possible before. Philamon said that I must have the blood of Mercury in my line but until he told me more I did not understand who that was. Each night we would make our camp knowing our pursuers were farther behind. Each night our lovemaking would last for decades and each night as we slept the master would come and instruct us in the nether realm." They reached the top of the stairs. A long exterior hallway ran around the interior of the insula. On the left doors opened into it at regular intervals. On the right the columns marched around the outer edge with a low marble wall rising to waist high overlooking the atrium. They began walking down the stone their footsteps echoing crisply in the silence. "Even with our speed it still took many days before we saw this temple. I remember how we both dropped to our knees once we passed through the gates and stood within these walls the first time. I wept that first day because I could see it as it should be. Philamon held me and promised we would see it that way again." They paused in front of one of the chambers. The single chamber held a bed and little else. The bed was wider and of finer make than the one that Rowena had slept in since she had come here. As with the cell, baskets stood against the wall holding clothing and other belongings. A small single window looked out under the overhanging roof tiles to the temple and gardens below. Nalice slowly turned and looked at Rowena. "This was our room when we first came here. Perhaps it was always our room. We passed decades together in this place. Perhaps longer but it was not long enough." She sat on the bed and slowly ran her hand over the bedding. "Even now I feel his warmth still." Rowena did nothing but stand quietly. There were no words in her throat that would answer so she remained mute. Nalice stood and walked out to the walkway, placed her elbows on the marble banister and looked down into the atrium below. Rowena followed just behind her. Nalice turned her head to look at her. "I don't come back here often. I may not come again for some time," she said. "It took many days but the men my father sent came here eventually. Each day before that we spent practicing what we learned each night in the astral realm. The kitchen was the first place that we returned to its proper form. We spent many days there sifting through what was and binding it here in the now. I was like a child beside herself with joy when it slid back into its proper shape and the smoke from its fires began to rise. My happiness did not last though. We saw them that evening as we watched the sun set from the north cliff. Every evening I would lean into Philamon and he would hold me. We would watch the sun fade as we had for centuries. We almost missed them as they made their way along the road and for a little longer I hoped that they were only travelers." Nalice rose from the banister, her arms falling to her sides. She began walking slowly down the long veranda again. "That night we both stood before the master. We told him the ones who followed us were at our gate and asked what we should do. The master agreed it was time. He took our hands and led us through the astral realm. We saw the familiar buildings of our little world race and flow around us as we walked. Ruins shifted to stone half built to what you see now and back again. We walked through the past present and future as we made our way to the gates." "The master had been one of those who first laid these stones so long ago. This was one of the places that had felt her power before. He guided me in summoning the dormant power he had left there. The stones have long memories. I knelt on one knee with my palm on the earth as the master told me to do. Stones are stubborn and they did not like being forced from their rest. They fought me as they would not have fought the master. Philamon stood behind me, his hands on my shoulders lending me his strength as I fought the stones. In the astral realm the stones fought back. They reached up through the earth and released the power I demanded from them. They lashed us with it; sliding us both along the stream of time. I saw my arms and hand wither and grow knotty and liver spotted and frail. Strands of my hair fell grey and brittle around me. I felt my heart slow and try to cease. The flesh fell away from my fingers but my yellowed bones still clutched the earth and demanded its obedience. I felt the weight of Philemon as he leaned his stoop shouldered weakened body on my young shoulders. I felt the ashes of the dust he became fall on my sagging withered breasts and I reached deeper into the earth and bent it to my will." Nalice stopped walking again. The hall continued on to the far wall, opening into a large window facing the cliff with the valley lying below. A pair of smaller rooms faced into this balcony. Both the women stopped and leaned out looking at the distant valley. "I felt the earth bend deep below us. The stones groaned and the earth in the astral realm moved against me one last time before it submitted and did as I bid it. I drew the time trapped below up until it stood higher than could be seen. I shaped it and bound it here, folding the layers one by one. When it ended we left the astral realm. It was all we could manage, Philamon and me, to trudge to the temple and fall helpless to the stone." Nalice motioned for Rowena to enter the small room on the left of the balcony. There was a smaller single bed against the inner wall. Two windows, one facing in to the courtyard and the other out over the valley, pierced the walls. Nalice turned and faced Rowena. "You have been treated badly by those you've known. As you spoke your aura gave me more than your words. It showed me how deeply each has wounded you. You have no place to go so I offer you this place." Rowena fell to her knees. "I'm just a whore," she wailed. "A prisoner. I don't deserve this." Nalice took her cheek in her hand and raised Rowena's eyes to meet hers. "Serve me loyally and faithfully and you will be neither ever again." Rowena buried her face in Nalice's palms. "Of course I will. She sobbed. "Always I will, my lady." Nalice pulled her head close to her and held her while the girl sobbed in gratitude. Nalice continued holding the girl and without her looking began spreading further the span of years in her understanding; when the girl had calmed herself. Nalice raised her to her feet. "When night falls you know must remain within these walls. You understand that you are not the only one who serves me. You've seen my guardians walk free while the moon reigns. They will not harm you but you should not distract our protectors from their role. Each night they lie in wait for those serving my father to come. They came in a different way before you, but you chose to flee here long ago and you serve me now; rest well tonight. I will come for you in the morning and we will speak again." Rowena fell to her knees again and began kissing Nalice's hands while over and over she said yes. Nalice guided her to the bed and laid her there. She pulled the curtain across the door opening. "In the morning," she said turning away, her eyes hardening to an icy glare as she walked from the room. The girl slipped into sleep and Rolf felt the spell binding his consciousness as a helpless observer slacken and release him. The twisting mist that surrounded him whenever he was not trapped as a passenger in his mutilated and twisted body rose once again to billow around him and block everything that may be beyond it from his sight. He was still held as he had been since that demon of a woman had forced his mind from his body after tearing his manhood from him. His arms were still bound with chains of blue energy. They held him securely to whatever it was that lay beneath him. He had just enough space to raise himself slightly a few inches. He rested on his bent knees with his feet splayed out behind him and when he tired of the effort it took to remain upright he could only bend forward and touch his head on the unseen surface that held him. Each time he did so he was forced to stare at the gaping empty hole that marred his groin. The terror he had felt before as he lived the life of that pathetic thing that dared use his name plagued him still, now that his mind was his own again. The most terrible thing for him was that while he was locked in the vision he was one with it. Each experience, each memory, each action taken and received battered him like heavy surf once he was himself again. The first time he was freed from the spell he had knelt, nearly catatonic feeling every detail of the lie he had been forced to endure. Every false memory stung him as he emerged from it. He shuddered in disgust remembering how it had felt to be so weak, so insignificant. All of his life he had been strong, been admired and looked up to. To be plunged into such a thing. Worse still, a thing that was not even a man at all; just playing at being one. Stealing an identity it had no right to claim. The revulsion at every detail of that thing's life that he had experienced made his skin crawl with disgust. But even as the memories made him alternate between fear, rage and wanting to retch there was a nagging familiarity that plucked at his mind. Deep in the lie somewhere was a truth, he was sure of it. Perhaps even a clue that could allow him to turn on the witch and yet gain the victory he was entitled to. There was one thing he could see in the mist besides the false vision. When the sorceress had released the blue sphere in that vision he had seen it vanish. When he had fallen free of the spell he had seen it circling over his head. As his mind was returned to his control the sphere ceased to circle and slowly sank into the mist to his right. He was unsure and fear rose rapidly in his soul as from the mist long wicked looking spears of the blue energy began rising from the misty surface to disappear into the solid darkness above him. As they rose and thickened smaller branches grew toward each other binding the spears into a barred wall and then ceased just inches away from his chained wrist. No matter how much the details of the lying life plagued him the part that his mind kept circling around was her final violation of the thief. That experience was now reverberating in his mind and in his body as well. The mockery of his mutilated groin felt the ghost of the unwelcome intruder moving inside him constantly. Even if he could move more than the chains allowed, he could not be sure that the feeling would ever leave and that feeling, more that the sight of the empty hole was what left him feeling filthier and more tainted every time his mind returned to him. When he felt the thief awakening again he braced himself for whatever animal the witch had fused him with. He hoped that he would retain the power to speak enough so that when, if all he could do was escape, he could speak to someone with the power to break this enchantment. His mind began to settle into the vision, as the rising thoughts submerged and imprisoned him the horror he felt that she had made him one with the lowest of animals battered him until the ability to be separate vanished. His woman's eyes closed and Rolf's consciousness flooded back into his astral body. "God no. Not that, anything but that Lord." He pleaded to the indifferent heavens. The thief had been bad enough, but to be trapped in the body of a woman, a whore no less was so much worse. He saw his heavy muscles and could still feel the bony sticks of her arms in their place. He felt nauseous as each action that creature performed reverberated in his mind. Nothing such a woman did was unusual for her, it was her place, her duty under God to serve as such; but he was a man. He was not low enough to stand in such a place. If he had been then God would have made him a woman in the first place and not raised him and blessed him as he did when he decreed this soul belonged to a man. His body was shaking with revulsion. He could feel the ghost of the woman's breasts on his chest. The craven, subservient feeling she labored under still gripped him. He was not meant to feel this. The empty hole in his loins felt the ghosts of the whore's memory in addition to the thief's violation. He wanted to retch but even starting to do so it forced him to recall when she had done so and why. His need to kill the sorceress warred with his growing dread of her. And then there was the sphere. As he rolled forward bathed in his visceral loathing of what she had made of him; of what she had forced on his mind there was the second sphere he saw her release. As he regained his equilibrium he saw as second set of bars forming a wall like the first growing from the ground behind him. They rose and intertwined and joined with the wall that was already standing. The mist in front of him pulsed with movement. He raised his head to see the shifting cloud part just as Nalice stepped from it and stood over him. He lurched forward, half rising; his arms straining against the chains. Even as his muscles flexed and strained against the restraints he could feel the weak muscles of the thief at the same time as the spindly limbs of the whore within him. She looked down on him, trapped helpless and unable to change it no matter how strong he was. Never more had he felt more like the weak woman he was forced to be when the spell plunged him into her stolen life. She stood there as he railed against her, cursing her and straining against the chains all at the same time. She gestured and he saw the blue power manifest and wrap around his mouth gagging him. She looked down at her prey. "I told you, I've heard it before," she said enjoying his impotent rage. Nalice raised her palms above her head. The chains rose up snapping his arms vertically and lifting him up to dangle above her. His ankles were lashed to the surface beneath the swirling mist. She came closer to him. She reached up to his broad chest and lightly dragged her nail down it. "Such rage," she whispered coldly. "I feel it like a bonfire in winter." She locked his eyes with hers. "It warms me so." She turned around and walked away a few steps before turning back to him. "Each moment they live is yours to have; to own as you feel you should. Each thought, each pleasure, each pain." She gestured and the chains lowered him closer to the hidden floor. She walked behind him. He could feel the mist behind him moving as she passed through it. Her hands grasped his head and pulled it back sharply. "But you are not pleased I see. Such generosity I have shown you, so many things that are yours now and still you are not pleased." She leaned close to his ear. "You are so greedy, aren't you? You want it all and more. All you had. All you see. Everything they have, you see as yours to grasp and make disposition as you see fit." She pushed his head forward roughly and walked around to the front of him again. He slowly raised his head to face her. She clasped her hands together and began slowly sliding them away from each other. The mist glowed and he saw his penis manifest in her hands. His eyes widened. She looked at him. "I told you what was yours belongs to me now. But I will give you the chance to reclaim it soon. If you do so the chains binding you will break and you will return to the physical world. Your body will be under your rule again. I may even let you leave unharmed." Hope rose inside him even as he did not trust the words she spoke. "You think I speak falsely now, yet in a short time I will place this in your bodies hands and if you have the will... you only have to claim it." She moved her hands back together and his manhood vanished again. "I will not even move to stop you," she added almost mockingly. Rolf felt the chains began to slowly lower him to the floor and then stop. Nalice stepped closer. She leaned into him. "I've been so neglectful though. I do apologize. It was so cruel of me to leave you so stunted." He felt her cupping him and then heat flowing from her palm inwards. "Someone so greedy for all should receive the full measure I think," she said as her hand fell away from him. The chains began slowly lowering him until he was returned to how he was when she came through the mists. She walked around behind him again. She tapped occasionally on the bars of the two walls. "Such fine work don't you think," She said. "Of course beasts should be caged." She walked slowly around into his field of vision again. "But you have so little for you to occupy your mind with while you wait for your eyes to open. I must remedy this." She walked into the mists and vanished. Rolf hung against the chains. He felt different in a way he could not recognize. As he was puzzling it through Nalice returned from the mists. "I have a gift for you," she said smiling brightly. "I have brought you someone, someone to help you ease your solitude during the long hours until your eyes open and you join me in the physical world again." She clapped her hands and a small figure walked from the mists and stood by her side. A peasant boy, frail and slender stood partially behind her. Nalice looked down at him and he hesitantly reached up to take her hand. Nalice crouched next to the boy. "Do you see the big man there?" she asked him. The boy nodded. "He is waiting to leave here. But until then he is all alone. It's so unpleasant to be alone isn't it?" The boy nodded again. "It would be so nice for him to have some companionship don't you think?" The boy smiled and nodded again. The boy looked from Rolf then back to Nalice and hugged her. "Good boy," she said. "I know you will help him ease the time while he is here." Nalice stood up and watched the boy move through the mist and stand next to Rolf with the bars to his right between them. The idea that he had seen the boy another place tickled his memory, but Rolf paid it no mind now. "Remember what I said to you," she said, the ice returning to her voice. "Very soon you will have what you want returned in your hands. Succeed in taking it and you will leave the astral plane and return to the physical world." Nalice vanished as the mists swirled up around her and was gone. In front of him the mists began to clear. He tensed. The whore was waking up. Once she did he would be forced to submerge himself in her identity, to be subsumed in her existence. He averted his eyes. Doing that was the only way he had found that would delay that horror. But when he did the chains binding him began slowly pouring the pain he recognized from when she first captured him into his arms. It would spread across his body increasing in agony with every pulse until he faced the open screen in front of him and surrendered to what she had made of him. He thrashed his head back and forth as the pulse began growing in intensity. He would not be the whore. He would not be that weak inferior creature. Not again, he would endure the pain as a man should this time. He would triumph, not her. But as he tilted his head towards the bars the pain lessened briefly. He held his head there and it receded. Usually he was only himself while his corrupted flesh slept but he began to think that this was perhaps what she had meant when he had a chance. If he could maintain his control when the time came it would be him who guided the hands. Even if those hands were warped as they were now into an inferior form. He began to see the chance she had foolish given him in her arrogance for the first opportunity to escape he had since he was bound as an observer in his own flesh. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her eyelids began to flutter open as she woke. He willed her hand to rise and move the hair off of her face and felt his heart leap in excitement as it moved and did as he bid it. He turned his eyes slightly toward the screen keeping as close to the wall as he could. Still he was not drawn into it as before. He commanded both of his hands to rise and rub his face. He could see them coming closer. He sensed the palms touching the skin but for the first time did not feel it on his own face. As he focused on the first control he had exercised over his body he felt the boy's hand as it reached through the bars and touched him lightly. "Remember me." The boy said softly, earnestly. Rolf blanched, his jaw fell slack and every muscle he possessed knotted as he spasmed and thrashed. He looked at the boy in wide-eyed horror and then quickly averted his gaze and pulled as far away from the bars as he could. His head faced into the vision and he desperately, gratefully sank into the waking woman's consciousness. He recoiled away from the reaching hand and felt the mist fall away. He felt himself submerge into her control and was thankful for anything that would get him away from the touch of the boy's soft hands reaching through the bars. Rowena woke as the morning light slowly crept under the curtain and spilled across the floor. As in the cell there were clothes in the basket against the wall. She slowly pulled them out one after the other and laid them on her bed. She looked around the room and felt gratitude anew for Nalice. Even in her father's home she never had a room of her own. And when she had a bed in Peyotr's brothel it was no more than a workbench. The clothing that lay spread across the bed was beautiful but unfamiliar from the designs she remembered as a girl as well. She finally chose a grass green robe from the many outfits she kept there. It was one of her favorites she loved how it bound her tightly around her waist and breasts; the remaining material hung down and ended mid thigh. It had long open sleeves that hung loose over the wrists and a train that trailed behind her to billow around her ankles. The pair of sandals with long leather laces that reached mid way up her calves took her several minutes to finish tying but she learned to tie them quickly long ago and in moments she stood ready. She reached behind her and had just finished returning the other clothes to the basket when the curtain moved to one side and she saw Nalice looking in. "I would have you share a meal with me this morning and continue our talk," she said looking at the girl. "Go to the kitchens and bring food to where we ate yesterday." Rowena bowed her head deeply. "At once, Domina," she said and moved quickly down the veranda on her way to the kitchens. Nalice watched her moving until she disappeared down the stairs at the far end of the insula. She reached out to her and began again adjusting the time that flowed around her so each action she took would echo in hundreds of variations in her mind. She smiled to herself at Rowena's unthinking use the Latin word for mistress and began to slowly walk down to meet her. Nalice was sitting on the bench where they had passed the previous morning. As Rowena approached with the tray she had long ago found in the kitchen Nalice held out her hand. She took the cup of wine that Rowena placed there and slowly raised it to her lips. Carefully Rowena set the tray down next to her and stood off to one side waiting for Nalice as she had done every morning. Nalice finished drinking and placed it beside her. She slowly looked over at Rowena standing silently waiting on her. "You need to sit if you are to share this meal with me," she said quietly. "Domina, I serve you." Rowena said awkwardly. "I can't serve you as I should, if I sit like your equal." Nalice cocked her head, looking at her. "There are many ways you will yet serve me," She said. "Right now you will serve me by joining me." Rowena eased herself onto the bench. "Yes, Domina, I'll do it at once," she said. They slowly ate in the morning sunshine. Rowena ate carefully according to her careful habit of not wanting to have the food fall on and stain her dress after having nothing but rags in the years before she came here. Nalice pointed at the towering main archway. "It was from there that Sir Cade came." The name sounded vaguely familiar to Rowena but she could not place it. She considered that he may have been one of the many men that she serviced as a whore in Peyotr's brothel years ago and that could be where she knew the name from. "Who is Sir Cade, Domina?" she asked. Nalice turned her face back to Rowena. "He was a trusted dog of my father's kennel," she said. He was an enormous man with a quick temper and quicker hands. There was nothing he loved more than having the chance to use either. Other's pain pleased him." "He sounds like Donkey," Rowena said with a shudder. "We barely had strength to rise when he reached the barrier. We watched him draw closer as he marched across the open ground there. Until he passed into it we were waiting, anxious and still very weak. He passed into the barrier and we saw light spread out in long ripples that traveled across it. Sir Cade seemed to stop like when we had made water quickly freeze. We breathed in relief. The master had spoke with us as we slept and told us what it would do. We had time now; time to recover our strength and increase our skills." "We watched him slowly pass through. Each foot fall seemed locked until you looked later and it had moved. We practiced with each other. Weeks passed." Nalice picked up a slice of apple from the tray and bit into it. She turned away to look at the ground in front of the open kitchen door. "He passed through in the evening. We had misjudged thinking he would not pass until the next morning. Philamon was coming out of the kitchen door. He was looking back at me. He was about to say something when Sir Cade seized him by the neck and slammed the side of his face into the outside wall. I only heard the crash and then I saw Philamon thrown through the door and smash against the wall. Everything there collapsed and fell over onto him. I saw Sir Cade come in and before I could even think he had grabbed me by the shoulder and pushed me violently into the hearth; I slumped to the floor." "He stunned me when he did that. I could not think, I could not move. He stepped over me and pulled the wreckage off of Philamon like a bear catching fish. He seized him by the neck and raised him halfway up and then let him fall again. One of the long knives on the shelves had stabbed deeply in his belly just below his ribs. Sir Cade tore the knife out of him leaving a great gaping wound and Philamon coughed a mouthful of bright red blood. Sir Cade kicked him in the gut. He coughed again gasping for air between the screams and the gouts of blood while cradling his torn wounds. Sir Cade walked away from him, grabbing hold of me as he passed and began dragging me from the room by the hair." "As he dragged me out I reached out for Philamon. I could feel his heart slowing with each jet of blood. I reached for him and felt time begin to slow around him. I struggled against the pain to lock him into a single moment. I felt his heart slow and stop mid-beat. That was when Sir Cade lifted me in the air and struck me twice; once with his callused palm and then with the back of his hand. He dropped me to the ground and drew his sword. He told me not to move while he collected Philamon's head." "I punched my fist into the earth and screamed. Deep underground the stones heard me call. I raised my other hand in the air and felt the stones erupt beneath his feet. I felt my stone fingers form, rise, close around him and lift him high in the air. I squeezed and heard his armor crack like a beetle's shell. His booming scream echoed throughout the walls and as much as it pleased me I ignored him. I left him there caged and pinned between the stone fingers and crawled back to Philamon. I crawled through the lake of his blood. I held his head in my lap and begged him not to die. I could feel him locked half a heartbeat away from his last. And through it all he felt the pain frozen and stretching out for eons. All I could do was reach for him desperately touching his screaming mind to beg him to sleep." "When I stepped out of the kitchen Philamon's blood had soaked through my clothes and spilled all down the front of me. I touched Sir Cade's armor and watched the millennia pass as it crumbled to dust. I stripped him of everything that he wore until there was only earth and flesh. I bid the earth cover all of him but his face and then had it slowly crush every inch of bone in his body. I rolled back the earth and let time dance over him one body part after the other as he watched. Through it all I kept every part of him that would ensure he felt pain untouched and in perfect working order. He may have screamed when I crushed his bones but not as much as he did when he felt pieces of himself aging and then rotting into stinking leathery flesh; or when he saw his bones bleach and fall to powder." "I don't know how long I took with him. Over and over I shifted him back and forth from dust to screaming bloody pulp. He stopped begging me after the third day. I tortured him for days after that until he was nothing more than a mewling wreck. Then I froze him locked in agony and walked away." "I walked into the wrecked kitchen and dragged Philamon out into the sunlight. I ordered my new golem to carry him to the temple. I had it lay him on the altar and sent it for water to wash him with. After that I clothed him and had the golem carry him inside. As we passed through the doors I saw the next one already moving through my barrier." Nalice set down the wine. "Take this away Rowena," she said. "Yes, Domina," she answered, picking up the cup and scurried away to the kitchen. Nalice waited for her to return. When she did Nalice rose and began walking to the temple. Rowena fell in walking a pair of steps behind her. As they passed the parallel row of columns she pointed to the broad stone road between them. "When Sir Tyler came it was through those columns. He was not as much of a brute as Sir Cade, but I had time to think about what I would do with him. Each night while the golem labored for me I met with the master. He promised me my fill of revenge. When he asked what would satisfy me I told him only one name. He promised I would have him, but said that many would stand between me and the name I wanted. She began teaching me many new breeds of magic from that night on." "The moment Sir Tyler stepped into my realm the golem was waiting for him. I had uncovered Sir Cade's face and allowed him to scream again. I spent the days before reaching deep in the earth for the hardest stones I could find and layering them over the stone skin. I allowed the golem to beat him senseless at first and after that I broke him and bent him to my will as well. I made sure that I took a long time doing it." They had reached the open doors of the temple now. Nalice paused before they went in. "Do you know why I have told you these things?" she asked. "No, Domina. In all the time I have served you, you have never spoken of that day." Rowena answered. "I don't tell you to frighten you. Once you said to me that you wished all of the men like Donkey had a single throat for you to cut. Many more like them will be coming here in the days to come. Many more will face my punishment." They walked up to the dais and began climbing the stairs. Philamon was still motionless in his chair, his eyes closed. Nalice knelt beside him and held his hand against her face. "Men like your Donkey took him from me; they took my love...my Philamon and broke us to flinders. Centuries we had together and they took him and forced my hand to be the one that locked him into endless pain." Her eyes burned with rage as she looked past Rowena's eyes. "I will make them scream." She hissed in a voice of iron. "We...will make them scream." Rowena smiled a slow cobra grin. "Domina," she said, "I want to hear Donkey scream." They stayed there, silent together, until the sun had risen to its zenith and begun dropping lower in the sky. "Rowena," Nalice said in a whisper "I have another way for you to serve." "I will do anything for you, Domina," she answered. "Each night the master shows me new paths for my powers. Tonight is a special conjunction in the stars. If the ritual is done the proper way, that power will aid me greatly in healing my love's wounds without awakening him. But to do it I need someone who willingly gives themselves to me. I'm not asking for your life, just your cooperation." "What must I do Domina?" Rowena answered immediately. "We must summon a deep magic...a healing magic; one that draws from the primal act of creation. But it must be willingly done by all who take part to allow me to draw that power inside of myself and use it." "I know no magic, Domina, but the years I have spent here I can never pay you for. You gave me the only kindness I have ever felt. You gave me safety and a home. You gave me a purpose. Of course I will do this for you. I am yours, now and always." Nalice took her by the shoulders and looked deeply into her eyes. "When the Dog Star rises tonight and crosses the Twins you must give yourself to me as a woman gives herself to a man. Only once that has happened can I reach deep into the primeval well for what I will need." "Rowena shifted nervously." Domina, it's been many years since I was Peyotr's whore, but I fear I may not be able to do what you ask properly. The men often would enjoy shows where women pleasured each other, but Peyotr never chose me for that." She started to cry. "I don't want to fail you Domina," she said. "That you did not do this before does not matter," she said drawing her close. "All you need to do is what I have said and my magic will do the rest." Rowena closed her eyes and nodded. It had been ages since Rowena had walked beneath the stars. She had seen the shadows of the guardians moving so many times in the darkness. On the clearest moonlit nights she had seen many of them in every detail when shadows fell away. Nalice held her closely by the arm and led her through the gardens. "We will not be disturbed tonight," She said leaning close to Rowena. "The golems stand by each gate waiting. Each of the other guardians stands waiting in their places as well. We will be well protected and have all the time we need to complete the ritual." They came to the reflecting pool. It was broad and shallow. Nine small pedestals were mounted along the ring surrounding the water. Rowena looked down at the placid surface and saw the perfect echo of the heavens above spreading out at her feet. She watched Nalice stop at each pedestal. As she passed them she summoned the elements to witness what was to be done here tonight. The first three of them held dust, earth and stones slowly rotating after she called them. The next three held small whirling cones of wind that she formed with her hands and set free to dance on the pedestal. The last three sparked and blazed into life with a flame that shifted between red and gold. Nalice nodded to Rowena and they both let their clothing slip from their shoulders to crumple softly to the ground. They each stepped naked onto the raised dividers that split the pool into a quadrant for each of the directions of the world. Rowena watched Nalice begin to weave the energy she summoned from her fingertips. The threads grew thicker and began to gather in the center. They became a ball that hissed and crackled above the water. She watched the ball as it began to flatten and broaden until