(Author's Note: This is my first attempt at erotic writing, I hope you enjoy it! If any of the tags make you uncomfortable, this story is unlikely to please you, so please check the tags carefully)
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It was not much of a siege, not in the way her father had described them. From humans she might have expected trebuchets and catapults, a sustained assault upon the great doors and a bridging of the moat. They'd have camped at the edge of the forest, troops of foot soldiers sitting about fires and sharpening weapons as their leaders spoke in the cover of tents, plotting the assault of that keep that had not fallen to invasion in six centuries. Yes, that was how men waged war, but these were not men, and they came in instead by means of magic.
Talora was in the kitchens when it began, overseeing the preparation of the feast for the equinox. Betrothed and soon to be wed, it was her duty now to learn the management of a large household such as her own. She was in her oldest gown of faded homespun, long auburn hair bundled into a scarf as she toiled with the keep servants, her skin growing flushed with the heat of the great kitchen.
Talora listened closely as Ona, the cook, explained her reasons for ordering certain ingredients from the market. Talora's parents were visiting family in the north, and for once the servants were deferring to her as lady of the house. The two women had their heads bent over the piece of parchment, Ona fanning herself as she pointed to the items and the numbers that accompanied them.
'It's always seven bushels of the kalawort, even when the keep has no guests,' she explained. 'We use what's left for the easing of difficult births, and to bring in the milk, though you'll see it often enough as an ingredient in bitterbean soup, too.'
Talora blushed at this. Her mother had been forcing her to drink a tea of kalawort for months now, believing that it would aid fertility. Her wedding was still three weeks away, but her mother was taking every precaution; her parents had struggled to conceive for many years before the goddess had finally granted them Talora.
Talora had little doubt in the plants' supposed abilities; already her breasts were swollen and tender with milk, ready for the child that she and Lord Rusten would conceive, perhaps as early as their wedding night.
She was about to ask about another herb on the list when the sound of men's voices came from outside. There was a strange thrum in the air, and the hairs at her nape stood on end. Through the back entrance she saw a flash of blue light and someone screamed, and in instant mayhem ensued in the kitchen as all recognized the sudden stark reality of a siege. For the first time in centuries, the walls had been breached.
'Quickly, child!' Ona cried, her hands digging into the pale skin of Talora's wrist. 'Go to your room,' she said, but then thought better of it. 'No! Go to the chapel, you'll be safer there. They will hide you! Go! Go!'
And Talora fled from the kitchens and the terrified faces of their servants, bumping into footmen and maids as she hurried along the passage, hearing screams now behind her. Someone shouted the word 'magic!', and a shiver traveled down her spine, for no humans possessed such forbidden powers.
At the very end of the western passage, the carved doors to the chapel stood open, and Talora rushed into the welcoming glow of the candle-lit chamber. For a moment a pair of frightened eyes regarded her from behind the stone altar atop the dais, but then the small acolyte fled through a low door in the corner, and Talora heard the unmistakable sound of that passage being locked and barred from the other side. Talora ran to it and hammered on the door, desperate for admittance.
'Priests!' she called. 'Help me! We are under attack!' Only silence greeted her words, and the door did not open. No one would come to her aid. Feeling like prey chased into a trap, Talora turned back to the entrance through which she'd arrived, then drew in a hissing breath of horror.
In the passage, slowly making his way towards her, walked a thing of nightmares. She knew it instantly for what it was; the long arms hung low, reaching to its knees, the back was stooped, the nose a long jutting appendage in its ugly face. Its hair hung in a tangled mess of green and black, a shade similar to the putrid grey-green color of his flesh. Here walked a troll, a being of fireside tales and darkest dreams. Its eyes were blue and devoid of the human blackness of a pupil, so that only two glowing orbs regarded her from the hallway, utterly inhuman.
She had seen sketches once, in the library, of such creatures. Always they had carried clubs and worn simple rags to cover them, but this one's long, gnarled hands were empty, and its hunched form was covered in a robe of silver. The stories had made them out to be creatures of the basest kind, their intellect no greater than that of the animals that graced her plate at supper, and yet she saw a keen intelligence in the gaze it fixed on her.
It stepped into the chapel with languid movements, and though her body screamed for her to flee, Talora remained before the barred door, her back pressing into the hard wood as her limbs froze in fear. The troll closed the doors at the entrance with a sweep of his hand, never taking his eyes off her. When that clawed limb lifted again, he drew a symbol in the air before him, and blue light dazzled Talora's eyes. Darkness swept her into its embrace.
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