Thrall of the Warrior Witch

Chapter Two-2

The girl shuddered and took a fortifying sip.

“I was traumatized and terrified. How could such a place even be? Descriptions do not do it justice. The Sisters supported me however and I recalled my mission. I moved in on a populated area but the people of this world are so incredibly numerous and densely packed that they were as the swarming of ants. There was nothing to distinguish one from the rest. Finally however I sensed a focus of extremely intense abstract involution, a lowering of mental barriers that led me at last to the cowardly fat one.

“His deep preoccupation left him vulnerable and we claimed him. Everyone celebrated and rested. Encouraged by my success we tried again. The second attempt was different however.”

Jia leaned forward, her own spiced cider forgotten.

So far everything Elia said jibed with the Sisterhood’s communal experience – except for the ease of the girl’s access to America. What had changed for her then?

“Again I put on the Seer’s Stone. Again it was like a wonderful lens, empowering my sight and might unimaginably. This time there was no dallying. I found my way back to that disturbing reality instantly and effortlessly: America. I could feel the Sisters’ astonishment at my discernment. They could not have picked it out without costly searching.

“Again I encountered poison and emotional commotion beyond bearing. There were more humans than grains of sand in a desert, all howling in a gyre. Yet this time one stood out almost immediately. There was an intensely potent energy presence that I could sense but not define.

“I sought it out easily. It proved to be a rather small man.

“He had none of the extra flesh we’ve come to expect. I could feel the supporting Sisters’ perplexity. But he was exquisitely defenseless mentally. And on some level the others were unable to share, he stood forth like a cynosure to me. He burns with a keenness of purity. I can’t put it any better than that because I don’t really know what I mean. I only knew he was very special compared to the others and so we took him.’

“Very easily too,” added Mina. “He came right through.”

“You felt none of this difference, this burning purity, even sharing her vision?”

Jia felt a tingle of awe as Mina shook her head.

No Sister could conceal perceptions from another adept while sharing the vision trance. That was what she’d meant about the bond of unavoidable honesty. The child was truly unique. “And so you tried a third time?”

“It went like the first attempt, mistress. I found America with ease, but no other anomalies arose. After a struggle I isolated and secured the third. But I was greatly weary by the end.”

“No doubt, brave Sister!” Jia leaned in and kissed her on the brow, right where she hoped to place her fillet some day. “Again I say: wondrously done!

‘I don’t understand your achievements either, though I can certainly appreciate them. The next time you try, I will participate in the vision as well, share and support and see what I can perceive too. Let me study up on the matter, and drain these three thralls.

“As you know, I often absorb memories or impressions along with everything else. If the small one is as special as you suspect, he may be able to supply me the insight we need, provided the answer is not right here in the archives. Let us spend this week preparing to try again.”

Mina was already nodding.

“I recommend we remain here another ten days anyway, mistress. Hanging the fanatics to rot along our road in has stirred up more discontent than expected. There will be further death-seekers to deal with. We should allow them time to gather and organize before moving in to wipe them all out at once.

“In the meantime, we can hold a complete ascension ceremony for our special Elia here. I know we hardly ever bother with it these days. But not since the Empress herself has anyone been made a full Sister at only seventeen sun-cycles. What say you, Sister Jia?”

“I say to go ahead and make the arrangements. Adjust our travel schedule. Deal with the elimination of fanatics. Plan to gather the Seers again once I’ve exhausted all resources here. And by all means, let us measure Elia for scarlet and have a suitable party!”

‘It will be done, Empress!”

***

“Ohio.”

“Columbus.”

“Vermont.”

“Montpelier.’

“Ouch. Thought I might get you there. Okay then…Alaska.”

“Juneau.” Drake didn’t even hesitate and Jeff threw up his hands

‘Juneau. D’you-know, this game is stupid. I can’t stump you on a single state capital. Let’s go back to playing paper-scissors-rock for the Stanley Cup Championship: four-round tournament, best out of seven series.”

“Forget it. That much repetition will put me to sleep. I like to stay up at night.”

It was their second one incarcerated in the depths of the huge fortress. No one knew how many they had left. And here they were wasting them: playing silly games to pass the time and keep from dwelling on Bill’s empty cell – and their own impending date with fate.

No one did them the benefit of leaving them guessing.

On arrival they were ushered past a guardroom and into a tunnel-like corridor with a succession of further branching halls all blocked by more barred doors. Clearly these led to communal slave quarters, for chained men gathered to hoot and point at their groins and otherwise mime f*****g and dying. The men in line ahead of them were sorted into these chambers, until the three thralls were led alone to a last aisle of six individual cells.

Three on a side, these were the size of a narrow closet, their stone walls and iron bars as inescapable as any death row hell-hole. Each American was installed in an adjoining cage, where in addition to their existing shackles a heavy iron collar and chain secured them to the wall.

Bread and water waited and a woven mat on the floor was the only comfort. The bald guard, clearly part of a special cadre, teased them too some more before leaving. She did so again less than an hour later, after Bill was dragged away blubbering and raving.

No one needed to tell them he wouldn’t return. Jeff and Drake were left with nothing to do but try and prepare for their own impending ends.

Unsurprisingly Jeff tried praying.

Ignoring the patrolling guards he knelt in a corner and picked up where he’d been interrupted. Drake on the other hand pursued interaction. He spoke to everyone that passed. While a few of the turnkeys knew a word or two, only the bald, bare-breasted women in authority had enough experience with his kind to really communicate.

They were remarkably eager to do so.

Like the slaves in the wagon, they wanted to expand their horizons. In return they enjoyed hinting about the s*x-death upcoming even to the point of flirting some. One who named herself Nala (the first to recognize Drake’s arousal) had actually sat chatting with him through many of the long dark hours while Jeff and the rest of the dungeon slept. While improving her English she actively encouraged Drake’s perverse excitement and urged him to indeed make the most of Jia’s feeding. Wallowing in willingness was so much more rewarding all around. Nala only wished she knew how to drain a thrall…

“What did she tell you?”

“Huh?” Drake was stirred from recollection to find himself swelling again.

“That guard you were talking to all night. The one with the t**s who keeps teasing you. She’s getting into your head isn’t she? You’re actually starting to look forward to this aren’t you?”

“Maybe.” Drake squirmed a bit, rotating the heavy collar where it pinched.

“So what’s the story? What really happens to us up there?”

Now it was the other iron pinching him again. Drake cleared his throat and shared what he’d learned. It didn’t help that pinching.

“Apparently this witch can absorb some kind of energy from our emotions. Pain, lust, awe, excitement, any strong passion in her presence strengthens her. So we can expect both torture and relentless s****l stimulation. But that’s merely foreplay.

‘She can also use ejaculation to somehow siphon off our very vitality. She can artificially prolong orgasm for that purpose. It takes three or four occasions, but seldom more than a night or two to irreparably drain the life from a man. That’s how they get the power to rule this world.

“For whatever reason, we Americans seem to provide more energy, or at least last longer, which is why they go to the trouble of abducting us. But like they told us in the wagon, whatever she does to them, no one brought to the Empress’ chambers ever returns.”

Drake heard the ache in his voice and stopped. Jeff heard it too and shook his head.

“Okay, impending death has a way of making you face uncomfortable facts. I’m finally ready to admit to being a hundred-percent gay. But I don’t get it, Drake. What’s the appeal of dying in any fashion?”

“I don’t want to die.” Drake looked over through the bars. “Who does? But if I have to check out at twenty-three, I can think of about a billion worse ways to go. It’s almost fitting for me. I’ve been seeing this girl…”

“Yeah?”

“Well she… I mean we…” Drake stumbled to a halt, his face heating uncomfortably.

“Listen, why don’t you tell me your story while I think of how best to put it. I bet I can guess most of it already. You chose the priesthood as a way to make celibacy a virtue rather than a necessity.”

Jeff snorted. “I’m not a potential pedophile if you’re wondering. It’s not that kind of deviance I’m suppressing. I’m just a garden-variety gay guy brought up to believe buggery’s a sin. My family, my whole peer group would ostracize me if they knew. So I choose a life without s*x entirely instead of being repudiated by everyone I value. Only I quickly discovered half the guys in the seminary are trying the same dodge – and failing.

“It didn’t take me long to fail either.

“People just aren’t meant to live without intimacy. So this other novice and I, we kissed a bit and traded blowjobs. A direct violation of our vows, not to mention Holy Scripture. I couldn’t believe I’d done it. So there I was, praying for forgiveness, guidance, punishment or something. And the next thing I know…” He shook his head again. “Women do absolutely nothing for me.”

Bolstered despite the other’s despair, Drake finally found himself able to discuss his own recent unconventional lifestyle.

“All right. I met this girl Shanelle at the health club.

“I’m a huge endorphin fiend, and we pumped a lot of iron together. She talked me into letting her whip me as a way to get an even more powerful rush. She said it was much better than running or weightlifting and she was right. It was awesome, well worth the hurt. In fact the hurt made it feel earned, like getting over the wall in a marathon only ten times as intense. I couldn’t get enough of it. Soon I was letting her do other things to me too, giving me colonics and stuff, just in exchange for continuing to whip me. And I have to admit, every bit of it turned me on.

“Femdom, she called it. Female domination. There’s a whole kinky subculture out there that she was a dedicated member of. You know, real Marquis De Sade s**t. She was constantly trying to coax me in deeper – and f**k me wobbly, but she was succeeding.”

Drake had to take a steadying breath. Damn, his c**k hurt again.

“Unfortunately I mean that literally.

“A little perfectly natural c**k-sucking aside Jeff, this girl liked nothing better than to strap on a dildo and butt-f**k me! And a hundred-percent hetero or no, I was actually getting addicted to that too. So I’ve been trying to resist temptation as well, you see. Now I find myself trapped in the ultimate female-dominated universe, about to be sexually victimized by its figurehead.

“It’s like the epitome of where my ‘Goddess’ was leading me. I had just refused to take the next step on my own. So frankly, my friend, I’ll accept my deity’s twisted sense of justice over yours any day of the week.”

They laughed ruefully together.

Quiet fell as they listened to clanging doors signaling the coming of night. Soon most of the magical fires would go out as mysteriously as they ignited.

“Well, I’m going to pray anyway, brother,” sighed Jeff. “I don’t know what else to do.”

Atheist Drake refrained from comment.

He was considering meditating after all. Whatever gets you through the night was more than just a cliché on death row. Calmness eluded him however.