Daughter of the Witch Wood (pt. 01)

Author's Note: as this setting and story involves multiple genres, I've resolved to put it into the Novel category. To eliminate confusion, included themes are: fantasy, incest, bisexual, masturbation, and non-human. Please refer to the story tags for each chapter, if needed. Thank you!

-rb

01.

Dreams and Fantasies

Yasemin was running. Her black hair was loose, and the ground looked like a blur under her bare feet, as though she was flying. More than that, Min was watching

herself

running, which meant she was dreaming—her mother, Erden, said to pay close attention to her dreams:

what whispers to us in dreams may be louder than any waking memory,

she would say. As if

that

made any sense.

Still, it was a surreal experience to watch from overhead as Min's dream-self ran, arms pumping, legs an ochre-colored blur. From on-high, she recognized where she was: it was part of the forest near the home that she and her mother shared, sometime in the twilight of the year, given the thick green color of the leaves and the standing pools left over from heavy rains. Min was sure that if she could've looked back, she might have spotted their little hut amidst the dark trees, nestled in a sheltered bend of the little river that cut through the woods.

The dream-Min looked over her shoulder, and the dreaming-Min saw her face: tear-streaked, panicked, terrified. It was a disturbing thing to see, and even more-so to see such a look on her own face.

Then she heard the source of that fear: a bestial bellow, a roar so loud that should have split the tree trunks around them—if she could have, the dreaming-Min would've covered her ears. The dream-Min did so, screaming in terror, and tried running even faster.

There was a crash behind them, and now the dreaming-Min, from overhead, saw a huge black bear push through the undergrowth as he gave chase. His fur was missing in places, with the bare skin pockmarked and covered in thick pustules of green and brown, hideous and awful to behold. What sort of illness had taken hold of the beast she didn't know, but the look on the monster's face said that it didn't intend to let her get away.

The bear gave chase, breaking the distance between them so fast that, from above, Min gasped and shouted—

at herself—

to run faster. But the dream-Min tripped after jumping over a narrow ravine, and the bear caught her from behind, growling like a mad thing.

It was over in moments. He tore the young woman to pieces and gorged himself on her flesh.

Min awoke with a cry, a sheen of sweat on her bare flesh and the taste of blood in her mouth. She dabbed at her lip, pulled her finger back and saw the stain—she'd bit herself while asleep. Unable to stop herself, she bent over in bed and cried, her body shaking with fear, with the terrible memory of her own demise.

"Yasemin?" Erden soon awoke, sitting up quickly on the bedroll next to her daughter. The rustic little hut they shared was dark, the firelight long gone out.

"Oh, Mother!" Min turned and wrapped her arms around the older woman, caring little of the evening heat; she needed comfort, and only her mother could provide that.

"Shhh," Erden cooed, curling her soft arms around Min, pressing tender kisses to her face, brow, and the crown of her head. They were two of a kind, although Erden had a faint touch of grey in her hair; she was half a hand taller than her daughter, and her body had gone softer in places from age, but she was still a beauty. Min cried for several moments, overcome from the power of her own dream, but the touch of her mother's fingers in her hair and the gentle warmth of Erden's body soon consoled her. A blessedly-cool breeze blew over them on the simple mat they shared, and soon Min managed to finally repress any further need for tears.

The older woman kissed her daughter again, sliding a hand up and down Min's bare back while pushing the single sheet away, baring them both to the air. It was the rainy season in those parts, so the night was a touch cooler than usual.

"Tell me," Erden said, not needing further explanation. She lay back down and urged Min to do the same, bodies curled up close together, resting in the dark.

Min shuddered. "I could see..." She licked her sore lip, staring up at the night sky through a gap in the trees—the moon was full and heavy, an ill omen. "I could see myself. Running."

Erden brushed her own hair back, swiping a sheen of sweat off of her neck. She nodded, not speaking.

"It was close to here," Min said, resting a hand on her mother's stomach. She felt a thin layer of sweat between her cheek and Erden's shoulder, but her mother's arms felt so good she didn't want to pull away, even for a second. "I was running away from here—from home."

Erden nodded again. Tenderly, she gathered Min's hair up, baring her shoulders and neck for the next breeze as it fluttered over them. Min closed her eyes, sighing with relief and thankfulness as the cool air soothed the sweat away.

"Dreams of home, of fleeing this place..." The older woman grunted, gently wiping more sweat from beneath her breasts with her long fingers. "That is troubling."

"It gets worse," Min said. She licked her bloodied lip again, rolling over to look away—in shame, fear, or something unnamable, perhaps. Hugging her legs to her chest, she stared into the twilight of the trees beyond the safety of their little home, eyes blurred over. "Some...

thing

was chasing me—I saw a bear, diseased or sick. I don't know. It caught me, and...and it..." She shivered, unable to finish her own sentence.

"A bear, too." Erden sounded worried.

"What is it, Mother?" Min said, looking over her shoulder. "What does it mean?" Her heart was pounding; her hands were shaking. Just the memory of the beast catching up to her—

"Child, child." Her mother's voice was gentle as she leaned over, squeezing Min's shoulders, kissing the back of her neck through a mess of tousled, black hair. "Your dreams may be frightening, that I understand—I was never given the gift of dreaming as you have. But they

are

still dreams."

"It still felt so

real

," Min said, shivering again.

"And real it was, for a little while," Erden said. "But now, it's over. Come now. Rest a little longer with me." With gentle urging, she coaxed Min closer again until the younger woman's head was pillowed once more on the elder's shoulder. The single blanket over them felt less smothering than before, and Min pulled it up, desiring warmth for a few moments to drive the bad memories away—between her mother's soft body and the covering over them both, she found it, for a little while.

"Mother?"

"Yes, girl."

"Will you...help me sleep? I don't want to dream anymore tonight."

Erden's smile was unseen, but Min heard it in her voice. "Always, my love." Turning in bed, the older woman pressed a kiss to Min's temple, a touch of love and affection that made her heart quicken.

Then Erden pressed the palm of her hand between Min's breasts—it was only lightly touched with sweat, and thus not uncomfortable. As her mother began to hum a soft, slow melody that Min recognized from her childhood—a song about the goddess Mylan watching her lover bathe in liquid moonlight—Min felt a sense of warmth flow down from Erden's palm and into her chest.

Min and her mother were witches, outcasts from other human kind. Magic flowed from four primal sources:

dun

, the physical world;

aku,

the mind;

vuk

, the body, and

rou

, the spirit. While Min was a witch of

aku,

the mind, Erden's magic affected

vuk

, the body—already, Min could feel her breathing slow, feel her heart do the same. Her breasts rose and fell, and the cool air tasted just a little sweeter; she smiled as her eyelids felt heavier, and the bad dream floated away on the wind of a sigh.

"Thank you, Mama," she whispered, her tongue thick and ungainly in her mouth.

"Sleep now, little one," Erden whispered with another kiss, and a hand resting on the lowest-most swell of Min's belly.

Darkness came, and Min didn't dream again.

—

Life during the rainy season was damp, sweltering and uncomfortable, and not necessarily in that order. The little home that Min and her mother shared was well inside the borders of the huge forest that humans called "the Witch Wood," a vast swath of trees and living things that normal humans stayed well away from. It was a world unto itself, and most people did not go into it willingly.

But Erden and Min weren't welcome amongst others of their kind—humans mistrusted witches, as well as anyone either cursed with or touched by magic. Humans either killed those people afflicted by it, or drove them into the forest to die. Erden wouldn't speak about Min's father, or why he'd driven them away. Eventually, she learned to stop asking. Min still wondered, but decided it was better not to know than to endure one of her mother's harsher tongue lashings she always got for asking.

Some witches banded together, forming little communities of their own, away from the humans that had banished them—there were more dangerous things in the woods than witches, after all. Erden didn't want such a life for her child. After Min was born, they came to the forest where the girl had grown up, slowly learning to control her psychic gifts by way of Erden's tutelage. That hut was just the latest in a long line of them, each one built deep inside the Wood than the one before it—mother and daughter would find a suitable place, build a shelter, live there for a time and then move on.

Their latest home was a simple place, a thatched roof over a fire pit and their sleeping mat atop four long stilts with rolls of wide, flat

aontra

tree leaves bound with vine that could be unfurled and tied down to block out heavy rains. Both women preferred to keep it open if possible, all four sides exposed to the elements—the Woods were a warm place year-round, so any breeze that came along made that heat a little more bearable.

Min wore nothing but the hair on her head, and often tied that back with a thick strand or grass or vine to keep herself cool. Her mother wore a long necklace called a

kollik

around her neck, the sign of her status as a witch; it was made of polished wooden beads and smooth, pink stones that looked lovely against her dark skin. The only cloth they owned was for the bed mat they shared, the same bed Min had used her whole life.

The Witch Wood itself was under control of the goddess Mylan, matron deity of love, sex, fertility and magic, and it was she that granted her power and protection to the Wood's inhabitants. Min was taught that those who called the Witch Wood home always lived naked in the same manner that she and her mother did, as that pleased Mylan most of all. The Witch Wood was a wild place, untamed and primitive, so why should they need to cover themselves?

The day after Min's dream was hot even before the sun came up. After a cool bath in the little hand-dug pool fed by the stream behind their home, there were chores to be done before the heat of the day picked up—gathering fire wood, milling, tending to the garden, checking the traps out in the woods, things of that nature. But around Noon when the heat of the day arrived, they stopped their labors to rest and relax until the cooler, evening hours.

Erden said she hadn't slept well the night before, and so went back to bed. Min was invited to go with her, which was a tempting proposition, but she begged off and returned to the pool instead. She'd always liked the water, and soon was lounging in her favorite spot, a seat she'd dug out of the earth for herself. Lying back, letting the water pool and lap at her collarbone and across her breasts, Min closed her eyes and sighed, trying to relax. Life with her mother wasn't always easy, but it became easier once her menses had come in, years before—once her mother thought of Min more as a woman, a fellow companion rather than an obligation, some of the familial enmity between them had lessened. Min was quite fond of her mother, and was glad they'd found some equilibrium in their relationship.

But Min longed for something more—for a different kind of companion, whatever that meant. It was a weird sort of quasi-loneliness: she loved her mother with a fierce, desperate love, and had always loved her that way, but Min wanted something more than what Erden could give her.

In the shade of their little hut, Min could hear movement, heard the blanket rustling and her mother moan and whimper to herself. Min turned her head and looked over her shoulder. She saw the familiar shape of her mother's body lying on the bed; the sun and warm breeze was caressing every bit of naked flesh it could touch.

Min watched Erden enjoying a private moment of pleasure: as one hand lingered between her open legs, another hand was wrapped right in her hair, mouth opened, eyes shut tight. The long fingers that had helped coax her daughter to sleep the night before were now rubbing at her clit with a driving need, a regular swirling motion, desperate for relief. Erden soon let go of her hair and reached down, sliding a pair of fingers in and out of her pussy, pumping and thrusting, grinding at her sweet-tasting pink flesh, needing the pleasure and release she craved, but having no one there to help her claim it.

It wasn't a difficult choice to make, truly—Min didn't want to be selfish. Standing up, she climbed out of the pool, wringing her hair out as she walked. The soft leaves crunched and grumbled under her feet as she approached, and Min felt a familiar, welcome warmth blossoming in her belly as she drew ever closer to where Erden lay.

Her mother looked surprised when she opened her eyes and saw Min, slowing her caresses but not stopping them entirely. "I...was hoping you'd change your mind," she said, sounding a touch winded, but with a smile on her face.

"I didn't want you to be alone," Min said, sitting down between Erden's opened legs while matching her smile. She pulled her mother's hand up to press a tender kiss to her knuckles, then brushed the other's hand out of the way and began giving quick, loving touches to the moist, hardened clit with her fingers. Min knew just the sort of touch Erden liked best: a circular motion, giving extra attention to the tender underside, taking a fast pace and not stopping or slowing down.

"Ohhhhhh," Erden moaned. "That's...

yes

, right—r-right there!" Her warm, pink tongue slid across her lower lip, like tasting something, or swirling her tongue about a piece of fruit to lap up its oozing juices. Her legs tensed up, muscles tightening, breaths coming faster and faster.

"Isn't that good?" Min cooed, speaking in soft, loving tones. "Doesn't it feel good, Mama?"

"Mmmmm, it is... It is! It's so good, Yasemin! Help me! More, please!" As that moment stretched on endlessly, it seemed like her climax might never come, leaving the woman in a state of sexual frenzy, poised on the edge between torment and delight.

Min licked the tip of one finger and slid it effortlessly inside the tight, flexing heat of her mother's cunny-hole before pushing up. Erden mewled like a newborn and then cried out with new pleasure. She pushed up on her toes, stretching her legs opened as wide as she could, grinding herself on Min's finger. "Ahhh! Goddesss,

mmmmm!

I love it!"

The moment itself felt endless, but the end did come, finally. When she came, Erden grit her teeth, arched her back and shuddered, legs opened so wide Min could see her gaping cunt, glistening and pulsing like an open mouth as it tried to devour the finger pleasuring it; the delicate bones of Erden's hips pushed tight against smooth skin and tightened muscles. As she withdrew her finger from it, Erden's pussy still looked so hungry, and Min knew that one climax wasn't usually enough to satisfy her mother for long. It was a reminder to her of just how beautiful a woman that Erden was, how much Min didn't deserve her. She watched as the older woman slowly came down from her pleasurable high, sighing with relief and satisfaction.

"Goodness, child," Erden said with a shivering sigh. "Thank...thank you..." Already her voice was softening, fading, as the sleep she'd originally sought was beginning to catch up with her.

Min bent down, pressed a kiss to her mother's temple. "Sleep well," she whispered as she crawled off the bedroll and stool up. Erden slowly rolled to over to rest from her exertions, not bothering with the sheet in the heat of the day. Min could see the curves of her mother's calves, her hip, her bare shoulder; the tanned seam of her ass was upturned, kissed by the sunshine. After a few moments, Min was certain of it: her mother was asleep, and the rise and fall of her shoulders and back proved it. It seemed that one climax really would be enough on this particular day.

But now a familiar appetite stirred in Min's breast and she wanted relief as well. She quietly slipped away, returning to cool herself in the water again. She lay back with a satisfied smile, resting her head on a smooth, curved stone she improvised as a makeshift pillow. Half-closing her eyes, Min took hold of one breast in her hand, while sliding the other down the smooth slope of her belly and across the muscles of her thighs, which she clenched tight for a moment. Dabbing her tongue across the sore spot of her lip, Min swallowed a sigh before she could let it go as she opened her legs, pushing her hand down between them.

She loved her mother, craved her love and affection, but Min wanted the one thing her mother lacked, the thing she could never give to her daughter: a man's cock, hard and ready, driving up between her aching thighs. Min slid a finger into the waiting heat of her quim and bit the inside of her cheek as she stoked her inner softness, stroking a fingertip across the uppermost wall behind her clit. With her other hand, she pulled at her nipple, gently twisting and teasing it, pinching until it almost reached the point of pain, then held it until her breath came out in a shuddering gasp and she had to let go.

Letting her body become buoyant, legs outstretched, breasts upthrust, she rose up in the water until her belly broke the surface and her pussy followed; the sparkling, cool water tingled against her engorged, swollen lips. The tiny nub at the tip of her cunt was throbbing for attention, floating just above the surface of the pool, and Min gave in with a slow, deep sound of relief and desire as she swirled it round and round.

Continuing to pleasure herself, Min switched hands to torment and tease her other nipple, pulling at it, feeling it tighten and ache; her breasts were sensitive and she enjoyed prolonging the bits of pain to make the pleasure between her legs feel stronger still. Flicking her little bud, back and forth in the familiar way she liked best, Min had to fight down the urge to moan again at the last second.

Daring to slow down, to look over her shoulder, Min saw her mother was still asleep, lost in dreams for the time being. Min was focused on her own dreams at that moment—the man she fantasized about was faceless, yet he was handsome; dark, yet his hands were pale and large; voiceless, but she heard him moan and say that he wanted her. Min knew what sex was, had watched animals rutting in the woods, had listened to her mother describe men and what they looked like—she wasn't some ignorant maiden. She wanted to feel her lover's weight on top of her, pinning her down, his hard flesh thrusting inside of her like a beast. She wanted to slide her fingernails down his back and know that she had pleased him when he came, just as she wanted to climax with him and for him as well.