Brightthorn Ch. 01: Ritual

Quick Author Note! This series is going to get pretty weird so it might not be everyone's cup of tea. I'll put specific warnings at the beginning of each chapter.
*****
"You really are a bother, you know that?" she murmured. The witch glanced back over her shoulder at him. Her hand was in front of her, lightly tapping along a series of jars and pouches searching through them. "Everything would have been much simpler and gone so much easier if you adventurers just kept to yourself."
From across the room, Leoric glared at her. "Do you really think you kidnapping and murdering women from Fendrel would go unnoticed? And I take being a pain in the ass to monsters like you a compliment." His cockiness returned slightly towards the end. It rang hollow though, things weren't looking good for him. Leoric had found himself in plenty of troublesome circumstances before, but this was up there for the worst, right next to the time he had fallen into the crypt with the ghouls. "You still have time to make this easy, Yenel and Winry will be here any moment, we already found you once, how long do you think it will take to find you again?"
"Your companions might very well find this location, but it won't be soon enough." The witch began selecting out several different ingredients and carrying them over to a rugged table in the center of the cave. "You may have slowed my plans, but you have failed to stop them. I will merely have to improvise." She looked back up to him, her dark lips curling into a smile. "You don't really think I went through all of that trouble of kidnapping them to just kill those girls, do you? They were a very important part of my plan and you three denied me them, but I at least managed to get you." She moved across the cave, her tattered black robes dragging along the rock floor as she retrieved mortar and pestle and began combining ingredients.
That struck a blow to Leoric's confidence. The three of them had gotten out of plenty of dire situations together and he had thought that they had already foiled the witch's plan. If it was still in motion then things were worse than he had thought. The motivation of witches was rarely of concern for the adventures sent out to dispose of them. They were usually reclusive and kept to themselves and their magic, wondering the places between villages for ingredients and reagents for their potions and spells. If that was all they did they wouldn't need to be hunted down, the 'ingredients' they required often ended up being humans, alive or dead.
Leoric, and his guild-mates Yenel and Winry had all been dispatched to find this witch and kill her after a trio of women had vanished from Fendrel over the last two weeks. They had managed to track the witch down after a few days, finding the sunken mill that she had repurposed as her home. The witch had been nowhere to be found when they arrived, but they managed to find the three women, bruised but as of yet unharmed. With the women rescued they just had to deal with the witch, no easy task but they confident they could handle her. Unfortunately, she had gotten the drop of them when she had returned. The fight had barely lasted a moment before he had been hit by a spell. The last thing Leoric remembered was being consumed by a cloud of black smoke and then waking up here.
He had regained his senses quick enough but found himself bound upright to a log wedge between the cave's roof and floor. His armor and weapons had been stripped off of him and were thrown in a pile to the side. That left him in just his trousers, boots, belt and undershirt. Leoric had been an adventurer for a few years, and a member of Brightthorn, a guild with about thirty members for the past two. Combating monsters and fighting evil was routine for him, although that didn't stop it from being dangerous. An adventurer's life was a short one, and one mistake, like him getting captured by a witch, was often deadly. Without his weapons and armor, he was practically helpless before her, all he could do was hope that his companions reached him in time.
The witch set a bowl to the side and began mixing something else, before going and retrieving a heavy pouch from alongside one cave wall. Leoric had little idea of what she was preparing, spell work was complicated and those not versed in the rules of it had little chance to follow it. Witchcraft was especially difficult to decipher given how closely the sisterhoods kept their secrets.
"So what is your plan then, hag? Why haven't you killed me yet?" Leoric said, trying to stall her if he could. Winry was also saying how annoying he was, perhaps he could distract her.
She dropped the heavy sack onto the table, looking up at him for a moment but it didn't stop her from continuing her work. "You will see soon enough, adventurer. The time is almost right, and I can begin the ritual soon." She pulled back the hood of her tattered robes, giving him another look, her dark lips curling into a yakacık escort smirk. "You have made a difficult task more bothersome, but I merely need one more ingredient and everything will be ready."
Having now seen her face, calling her a hag was a bit of a stretch. From what Leoric could tell she wasn't actually that old, perhaps half a decade older than him. He had faced witches who were nothing but skin and bones, their flesh seemingly melting off of their frames. This witch was nothing like that, her skin was pale, and her eyes and lips both dark. Her short white hair was messy but not unreasonably maintained. She was actually quite pretty and under different circumstances, Leoric would have been attempting and likely failing to charm her. The layered tattered robes still hid most of her from view as she came around the table, walking slowly towards him.
"What would that be?" he asked nervously, he didn't like the glint in her eye. With witches it would always be blood, guts, or bones, or if he was particularly unlucky all three. For what seemed like the hundredth time he strained against the bindings that were holding his wrists behind the log. The thick rope bound him absolutely and it seemed like the witch had done a thorough search of him, and even found the two knives he had hidden.
The smirk on her face only broadened as she got closer to him, looking up at his face. "There is no reason to be so nervous, foolish man, it isn't nearly as horrible as you think it is." She raised a hand, a long fingernail tracing along a scar he had down his forehead and running through his eyebrow. There were few adventurers who weren't decorated by them. She seemed slightly distracted as her fingers moved lower, lightly pressing along one that ran across his chin. Her touch wasn't as unpleasant as he had feared, but nothing good came from contact with a witch. "I'm curious to how the change will take you."
"Don't touch me," he growled I'll see you dead once I-"
"Hush, none of that now,' she pushed a finger against his lips. "And I'm afraid what I'll need from you will certainly require touching you. Because of you and your companions interference, I have to adapt my plans to use you instead, so I have to work a spell to make you more suitable for the ritual I have in mind."
She didn't even need to cast a spell to make Leoric reluctant to speak after being told to be silent. He was at her mercy at the moment and he couldn't try to stop whatever it was she was going to do to him. Melting him to a pile of muck was likely within her means.
She took in his silence, nodding slightly and dragging her finger back down to his chin. "It will be best for you to cooperate, or I will have to get unpleasant with you, understand?" He nodded. "Good, at least you know how to follow directions." Her hand dropped down from his chin, running along his brown undershirt her fingers tracing along his toned chest before her nails clicked against his belt buckle. "As I said, it won't be as horrible as you think, I need you alive and intact for the work to come. I just need one thing from you and if you don't struggle you might even enjoy it," the witch finished, beginning to undo his belt.
Leoric's jaw dropped open, and despite her command, he couldn't help but speak, "You can't be serious," he said slowly, looking down at her as she deftly finished her task and pulled his trousers open.
"Of course I am. The last ingredient I require is your seed." Her dark eyes looked up at his light grey ones, the smile returning to her lips at his reaction. "Be a good man and stand still and let me get what I need." Her hand disappeared into his trousers, her cool palm pressing against his length and wrapping around it. "You should be thanking me honestly, isn't this something you usually pay for?"
He had heard horrible things about the sorts of ingredients witches used, the dead, the still-beating hearts of their victims. Those thoughts had horrible images flashing through his head. She said she needed him intact though, so perhaps he would remain in one piece. He desperately held onto that thought as she continued.
"If you do not find me pleasant enough to gaze upon then close your eyes and imagine your companions, the pretty blonde, or dark haired one with the scowl. Anything to make this finish faster. I'm sure you have spent plenty of time trying to bed one or both of them," she taunted. The witch fished his cock out of his pants and into the torchlight, beginning to stroke him slowly. Leoric could feel the blood rushing downward, even as he tried to fight the reaction.
The witch was right about his companions. He had done several contracts with the two women before and had of yet kept things professional. That wasn't entirely by choice, he certainly wished things played out differently as they were camped out, just the three of them. Guild work was mostly traveling and that meant time spent with yakutiye escort your companions. Yenel had never seemed to pick up on any of the hints he dropped and Winry would smack him even for thinking such things about her. She had made it very clear the first time she had seen him checking her out that she wasn't interested.
The witch was wrong about her not being a pleasant enough view though, given a bath and clothing that wasn't dirty and she would fit right in with his companions. It was a struggle to deny her what she wanted, but it was the only way he could put off this ritual of hers. Despite her demeanor, she was stroke his shaft at a pleasant pace and her expectant look up at him and the curl of her lips was hard to fight. He had to repeat it like a chant in his head, 'Don't give her what she wants' over and over again, and despite that, he could feel his cock stiffen to full mast in her tight grip. He knew he should close his eyes and turn away from her, but he couldn't.
"I'm flattered that your mind is on me," she teased, "Is it that you find me more attractive than either of those women or that you can't imagine either of them actually touching you like this?" Leoric didn't answer, keeping his face as blank as he could, and gritting his teeth as her soft touch continued to torment him. His silence didn't stop her from continuing to speak, "You don't need to fight me, you know. You are going to lose anyway. How long do you think you can hold back? I can pleasure you in so many ways, I doubt you could hold back for more than a moment in my mouth." He still didn't speak, but she could feel his cock stiffen even more at the thought and her smile widened. "Did you become an adventurer to safe fair maidens? Or to be the victims of monsters that take them? You'll hardly be the first adventurer to fall into the hands of their target." Her smile was even broader now and she gracefully began sinking down in front of him, her tattered robes splaying out on the floor and her eyes never leaving his.
Again she wasn't wrong. Among the monsters and creatures that roamed the world, there were plenty of breeds that were attractive or as some of the veteran male adventurers put it 'built to be fucked'. He had heard all kinds of stories from them, how vampires weren't only good for sucking blood you just had to be careful, that there were charms to make banshees and spirits corporeal. Goblins were the perfect height to service a man and were surprisingly durable. Orc woman could ride you in ways you didn't know were possible, you just had to make sure they didn't break your hip. That wasn't even to mention the creatures that prey on men, luring them away to feed on their spirits. Sirens, dryads, nymphs, succubi all used those tactics. It was easy to lose yourself in them, one grizzled veteran had told him, but if you kept your wits about you it was the best fuck you could get.
Leoric had little experience with monsters as far as sex went, with the one exception of falling into the trap of a dryad on one of his early training missions. It had been Winry no less that had saved him, he had been a blubbering mess, immediately giving in and trying to please the forest spirit in any way he could at what would have been the cost of his life. It had taken over a year to live the shame down and Winry was quick to tell anyone she could about it.
The lore on witches was hardly Leoric strong point, he spent more time training than reading. They were as human as he was but were usually from a bloodline that gave them access to their magic. The vast majority of witches were women, and the rumor was that they reproduce by charming men and using them to breed. Was that what this witch was doing? No, it couldn't be, she wouldn't have needed the kidnapped women then. He couldn't think straight, and more and more of his mind was being filled with the sight of her on her knees.
He had kept his expression blank so far, but as the witch leaned forward, her tongue slipping from between her lips and licking the underside of his shaft he couldn't help but hiss out in pleasure through his teeth. She grinned up at him, her tongue moving again and flicking across the head of his cock. Her hand stopped pumping his shaft, instead, it was just wrapped around the base, holding onto him as her tongue lapped along him.
"I admire your control," she murmured between licks. "I am actually impressed." The witch moved in closer to him, her lips pressing along the side of his cock, and she moved along it towards the tip, planting wet kisses against it. "It's unfortunate I didn't capture you under different circumstances." She began stroking his cock again, her tongue making small circles around the tip. "I think you would make a wonderful thrall, handsome enough, with a fine cock, but also not the brightest, that makes it easier to keep you. Some dumb muscle is always useful, and I've been told that I'm positively insatiable. yalova escort But now you'll have to serve a greater purpose. If there was another way I would still keep you I think." The witch never stopped attending to his cock, her lips, tongue, and hand continuously working him, she seemed to enjoy tormenting him. "I was never much for sucking cock, although yours does taste quite good." A kiss against the tip of his shaft continued, the witch opening her mouth and gliding her dark lips along his taking more and more of his erection into her mouth. Her eyes still hadn't left his yet, keeping the two of them linked all the while. As she bobbed up and down his length her short white hair bounced along with her movements. Leoric's hands were balled up into fists behind the log, not in an attempt to escape but as a sign of his struggle to remain in control even as he let out another gasp of pleasure.
She pulled back from him with a smack of her lips, some spit running down her chin and more dripping from her tongue and linking her to his cock. "You know why I don't usually suck cock?" she teased, licking him again. He didn't answer, unwilling to give her a single inch if he could help it. "It's not that I don't enjoy it, I do love the reaction it gets from a man, every touch and flick of my tongue, the soft feeling of my lips against him." She didn't need to tell him twice, he could attest to the torment she was inflicting on him. If she wasn't a witch and his life wasn't in the balance he would have been doing anything he could to have her continue, but as it was he was desperate for her to stop. Her words as much as her touch were melting his resolve. His only hope was that Yenel and Winry show up in time to rescue him, even if it did mean Winry having another story to hold over his head.
"The reason I don't suck much cock is because I prefer to fuck," she purred, her hand pumping along his spit-slick shaft. "You like that idea don't you? I can feel your cock twitch when I mentioned it," she teased. And she wasn't wrong. He had no idea she would go so far to claim his seed for whatever nefarious purpose she had in mind. As soon as she said it through he couldn't help but imagine it, and what she would look like naked and on his cock. "I would enjoy it too," she smiled up at him, lightly kissing his shaft. "I haven't ridden a cock in weeks. I've been out here all alone, with nothing to fill me up but my own fingers, and that certainly isn't a sufficient replacement for a thick cock." The witch pumped him again and again. "Do you want to fuck me, brave adventurer? Have you ever been taken by a witch? Do you want to be buried up to the hilt inside me?" The witch's lips wrapped around the crown of his cock again, her hand stroking the shaft as her other hand disappeared into her robes. "I've gotten so wet, tasting your cock and thinking about fucking you." Her hand reappeared from inside her robes, showing the dampness along her fingers. "You already know that you're going to lose. You've put up a brave fight, adventurer, but you can't last much longer no man could, we both know it."
Leoric was loath to give up ever, especially to a monster, but as always the witch was right. He had barely been holding on up to now, everything about the witch was turning him on, the way she moved, her voice, her words, her mouth. He couldn't win against her, whatever she had planned was going to happen. So why not enjoy it?
Something in his expression must have given away his change in resolve because she grinned up at him victoriously. "If you want it then you're going to need to ask for it. No more remaining silent, brave adventurer. Beg for it." Her hand slipped off his cock, and her lips left him. His entire spit soaked cock was hanging right in front of her and was currently being ignored. The instant he had given in she left him alone and desperate for her touch.
He swallowed, more unsure of himself than ever. He had never been in this circumstance before in any way and was completely out of his depth. She was easily the most confident woman he had ever been with, and the most powerful, not to mention he was tied up. "I..." he fumbled, "Witch, I want to have sex with you." He barely managed the words out, and even with the circumstances blushed at the poor execution.
A silent moment passed between them and then the witch burst out laughing, genuinely amused at his attempt. Leoric turned even redder, completely unprepared for the sudden change of tone from her. She shook her head, a smile still on her face. "That was really pathetic, truly. Do you ever have any luck with women?"
"I manage," he quickly retorted, not believing he was having this conversation with a witch while he was tied up.
"Do you?" she asked skeptically, "It seems unlikely, given your way with words." The witch rose up from the ground, standing half a head shorter than him and looking up at him. Her right hand moved up and tapped against his chest. "If you want to get into my robes you're going to need to do better than that." Her other hand moved to his cock, absentmindedly stroking it. "You should try again, and this time do better." Her grip around him tightened, it wasn't painful, yet, but the threat was clear.