Disclaimer: All characters in this work are over 18.
NB: in early modern English, 'thou' and 'you' have about the same connotations as 'tu' and 'vous' have in modern French, indicating intimacy, rank, and respect.
Despite the whipping, the horses of my carriage would travel no further. My two guards scouted the forest which bordered the path, but could find nothing which justified the horses' fright. I banged my white knuckles against the seat, as my breaths hissed between my teeth. Did not these foolish beasts know a human life wavered between this world and the next, the life of my greatest friend and equal, Lady Katherine of Chirenshire? When we last parted she told me that should she not see me in a month's time, then I, and only I, was to search this forest.
'Whip the horses,' I ordered my two guards, 'till they fear thee more than the air!'
'It willn't work, Lady Haversham,' said a guard from outside my carriage window. 'The horses obey neither word nor whip.'
'Then make them obey, sirrah,' said I. 'It is the world's way. As I obey my husband, and he obeys Queen Elizabeth, and she obeys God--so shalt thou obey me, and, in obedience, make thy horses obey thee.'
'With due respect, milady, philosophy can-nay sway the beasts,' said he, with a tone I would have to discipline later. Later, when Katherine lay safe again.
'We must go by foot,' said the other guard.
For Katherine's sake, I set my feet upon dirt, and trekked forward, my guards on either side of me. After the path had eroded from stone, to dirt, to nothing, we spied a manor, not palatial, but large enough to please a comfortable merchant. But what kind of comfortable merchant would make his home in the least travelled pit of a forest? Who, but some abductor who did not want to be found? Katherine lay manacled and abused within, I was certain.
I ordered one guard announce me to the master of the house. An hour passed without his return. I ordered the other guard enter, and after hesitation, he did. He did not return.
As I stood there, I realised that a noblewoman in a forest, with no one around to respect her position, and no guard to defend her person, is just a morsel for wolves and brigands. To go inside the building seemed little wiser than staying put, for whatever detained my guards could incapacitate me. The carriage awaited a few yards behind, but I had no skill at horse driving.
What doubts divert me from duty!? Am I not a noble Christian trying to save her bosom friend? We explored each other's souls so oft, slept beside each other so oft, kissed so oft--what were these friendly testaments worth if, at the slightest threat, I scampered to my horses and away from her. I went to the open door of the building, and peered in.
Something large crawled up my back to lay on my shoulder. My fear erupted into a scream. A black cat leapt from my shoulder into the entrance hall. Like a haughty squire, the cat looked over its shoulder as it trotted, gesturing me to follow it. The cat led me upstairs, down a windowless hall. We stopped at an open door.
Within was a dimly candle-lit room, with two chairs facing each other in its centre. There was a cough, and I realised that on one of the chairs was not shadow, but a black-robed figure. From its size, it must have been a withered stump of a man.
'Sit,' said the figure with a crow's croak.
I did not obey. Was this offal of humanity Katherine's abductor?
The figure repeated its order, and at my silent refusal, it said, 'Slaves, make my guest comfortable.'
From behind, on either side, two men hoisted me up by my arms, dropping me into the chair opposite the dark figure. Once I was seated, the men held my forearms down to the armrests. I looked at them both, at those who had the plebeian temerity to manhandle a Lady of the Realm. They were my guards, blank-eyed. I yelled at them to come to their senses, but they made no response.
Again, I looked to the dark figure opposite me, and realised I faced a witch.
Seeing my squirming fear, the witch tittered, chuckled, then guffawed. The black cloak burst open, like a rose blooming all at once. Brown-skinned feet hit the floor, as a black head shot up, revealing (far from a shrunken crone) a beautiful Moorish or African girl, not much older than me. Spare the cloak flowing behind and beneath her, she was naked, bountiful breasts bare, and full thighs spread to reveal her, her, Nothing.
If I was to descend to Hell, let it be by torture and not temptation. This witch had read my mind, my tossing dreams, my wandering fantasies about dalliances with my own sex, with servant girls, with noblewomen, with Katherine, Katherine, Katherine!
'State thy purpose,' said the witch, in a deep, commanding voice.
Her impertinence tamed my fear by prodding my anger. 'Thou dar'st to "thou" me!?' said I, struggling against my traitorous guards. 'It is I who "thou"; thou need'st "you" me, thou Medean cur!'
The witch cackled. 'I shan't "you" thou, but I shall "use" thou. And thou shalt call me, "Mistress Lorelai".'
'I shall call thee what thou are: Witch! Witch!'
'Thou speak just like Kitty spoke.' Lorelai clapped. 'Mead, Kitty!'
From the darkness, a woman wearing a cat-masque emerged with a platter holding two mugs. I knew she was a woman, for her servant's livery concealed none of her feminine attributes, bearing all, spare her face, shoulders, and feet. She knelt between me and Lorelai, gave her mistress a mug of mead, before holding the other mug beneath my nose. As the guards did not release my arms, I could only smell the mead's thick, warm odour.
'Kitty,' cooed Lorelai, before taking a gulp of mead. 'Reveal thyself to my guest.'
Kitty removed her masque. Despite the darkness, despite that face's bovine blankness, I knew it was Katherine's face.
'Thou ensorcelling slut, thou diabolical trull, thou deceiving putana, thou, thou, witch.' I meant to yell at Lorelai, but the mead Katherine wafted into my nose eroded all my vigour. It was some witch's brew, made to degrade me to Katherine's state. 'I, I can resist thy spells.'
'Thou could'st,' said Lorelai, 'but why resist a spell so sweet?' She poured her mead down her face and chest. She pushed Katherine away, and bent over me, her mead splattered breasts, her mead suffused breath hazing my mind.
'Thou, like Kitty,' said Lorelai, tousling Katherine's hair, 'shalt rejoice when thou soon shalt kneel.'
'I will never submit to thy charms,' I spat.
'Mine eyes are up here.'
When I shifted my eyes from her breasts to her eyes, I regretted it immediately. Her breasts were full, but her eyes contained stars.
'Won't, won't break,' I protested.
'Silly girl,' said Lorelai. 'I shan't break thee. I shall bend thee, take thy mind, like hot iron, and bend it round my wishes.'
She had cast devious witchcraft upon me. Why else would my lap stir so, and my mind yearn so, to let my will bend in her hands.
'Close thine eyes.'
No, no... I am a Lady of the Realm, obedient to her husband, her Queen, and her God--not to a sensual, dominating beauty. I won't let her control me, I'll just blink to freshen my eyes, blink slowly, slowly, closed, mmm. And now I opened them, feeling refreshed, and, and, this was not the room I closed my eyes in. I was in a bedroom fit for nobility.
And I was naked.
I wanted to cover my shame, but my hands refused to move from my armrests, though my guards were nowhere in sight. The air surrounding my wrists and ankles had the strength of iron.
'So vulnerable.' Lorelai spoke from behind my chair. 'So powerless.' Her breath on my ear sent shivers down to my Nothing.
'Witch,' said I, remembering my place in the hierarchy of creation. 'I give thee this chance: obey and release me, else I shall send merciless knights to thy hut.'
