Grim Tales; the Witch's Lair

Note: this one is inspired by classic folk fairytales. All characters are above 18 years old and entirely fictional. It contains depictions of sadism, non-consent, kidnapping, restraints, and mention of war. Enjoy!

---

Once upon a time, back when wishing still worked, in the depths of a forest so deep and dark that even the bravest explorers had left it unmapped, lived a witch. The witch was older than the forest itself, and wiser than all the owls and all the trees that inhabited this peculiar place.

No living being had approached the witch for a long time; the birds made sure to fly much higher in fear that they would meet the smoke of her fireplace, and the insects preferred to dig deep into the earth to get to the other side of the hill, rather than passing through the witch's lair.

Therefore, it was a surprise when, one morning, the witch saw the exhausted princess climbing directly towards it. She was a tiny thing, bruised and pale, with twigs and dirt all over her golden hair and stretched-out holes on her silk dress. She seemed like she would soon collapse, so the witch abandoned the massive pot of stew that she was stirring and ran to help the girl. The only word that the princess managed to mouth before she fainted on the witch's wrinkled hands was "please".

When the princess woke up, she was dizzy and disorientated. She could no longer feel her ragged dress on her skin, and the twigs on her hair seemed to be gone. She smelled of soap, lavender, and smoke. The sound of a fire burning was the only thing that she could hear. She could hardly remember what had brought her there; some soldiers of a foreign kingdom bashing into her home palace; her mother screaming for her to run; her slipping into the darkness of the forest that she never dared approach before; it was all a blurry haze.

As she tried to lift her hands, she realized she was not able to. A strange panic washed over her and she mustered all the energy that she had left to lift her head and look down on herself.

Her silk dress was indeed gone, but there was nothing to replace it. Well, almost nothing; her limbs were spread outwards into an X shape, and they were secured on the wall not by metal shackles, nor by rope or fabric, but by the thick roots of a plant that were tightly tangled all over her exposed body, her wrists, her legs, her breasts, and her neck. She was rendered completely immobile and helpless, as if the plant's roots were iron shackles heavier than the ones they used at her home palace dungeons. She tried screaming for help, but only then she realized that her mouth was filled with a cloth that she could not push out.

"Oh look, my new ornament is awake".

The voice was silk and soft, almost ethereal; there was no way it belonged to the wrinkled, heavy hands that were now stroking her hair.

"You know, I haven't had a visitor here since the trees on this hill were still seeds in the river. Not one. I have wished and wished to have a pet to play with, a companion. The most I hoped for was maybe some frog that lost its way to its pond. But, you... I would never have imagined that I would be sent such an exquisite little thing to play with, so small and so fragile. "

A pet? A thing? To play with? Does she even know who she is speaking t-

The princess's thoughts were cut short as the roots of the plant that kept her strung up suddenly started to tighten and bite into her pale skin. She bit into her cloth and started pleading incoherently for the witch to help her, screaming in pain and fear. But the witch was only smirking as she wiped a tear away from the girl's face.

"Your screams are the most beautiful melody that has ever touched this forest, my little thing. Your tears are more refreshing than the river's clear, cold water. And your pain, your suffering, will be a blessing larger than the one all the spirits, all the god-like creatures that govern this forest can ever bring."

With these words, the witch covered the girl's eyes with a second piece of cloth, gently stroked her golden hair, and cupped her cheeks with her hands so she could absorb the vibrations of the princess's terrified shaking screams. She had another two eternities to live in this forest, and she smiled when she thought that she would never stop hearing this sound, she would never make it stop, for as long as she would be there.