A Fox Hunt Ch 01

This is my first attempt at a lesbian erotica since coming out, so I'm very proud to present this first chapter to you all! Fair warning: the grammar will not be perfect since this is not a final draft. Constructive criticism is always welcome, especially since it's hard (And a tad confusing) to write about two women from 3

rd

person POV :)

Note: this chapter contains elements of Sadism and masochism including

consensual caning, choking, face slapping, edging etc.

***

The scent of smoke and the sensation of the world spinning still lingered in the back of the mind, the dancing circles and the way infinity came to meet her in wild arrays of shells and sand, light dancing like torches and music so strange and haunting yet familiar like her mother's old lullabies. All she had to do was close her eyes and she could experience it all again.

Dawn walked in the woods near her home, thinking of the dream she so vividly experienced. It had to be an omen, a sign of some kind of completion or a beginning of a journey or something. The world was speaking to her, she was sure of it.

But what in all hell was it trying to say?

She sighed as she picked odd herbs, trying her best to pluck them by the root so she could replant them in her own garden now that things were actually starting to grow again. It had been a somewhat mild night, and the snow had officially run away for the season, although it was still cold as all hell if you asked her.

A shiver went up her spine to remind her of that, her breath crystallizing into a small phantom for a moment before she got up with a rather unattractive grunt.

"Christ." She was way too stiff for a 24-year-old.

But her hearing was at least on par for her age. She stilled when she heard the faint sound of galloping hoofbeats, dogs barking wildly as the noises bounced off the trees and hills of the woods. It was a hunting troop. How obnoxious...

She hoisted up her thick skirt to walk around the brush and sprouts of plants that had popped up, intending to go back home and avoid the huntsmen all together when she stumbled across one of the very men's traps. A poor half frozen fox was lying on its side, leg caught in a foot hold that seemed to have sunken a good way into its ankle.

Poor baby

... She thought to herself as she stooped down, putting her basket of herbs to the side for a moment to see if she could possibly get the trap off of the little thing's leg. It managed to crack a silvery eye at her, closing it slowly and giving a soft chuff of defeat. She felt her shoulders sink a bit. This wasn't hunting at all. They'd throw away the meat and use the skin as a trophy, their traps were painful, sometimes they'd just leave the animal to bleed out and never collect it at all... it was just cruel games at the animal's expense.

"It's alright little guy, let me see if I can help you out here." She looked over the trap closely. It was biting into him pretty hard, no blood at least, but she wouldn't be able to tell if it was broken until she got it out of the trap.

The contraption was pretty simple to figure out, two little levers to push down and it was open. The fox weekly pulled its leg from the contraption but didn't seem to have the energy to run. She hoped he hadn't been there for too long. He might not be able to use his foot anymore if he had.

Dawn heard the huntsman approaching, apparently coming to check the now empty fox trap by how close they were getting. But with how rotten their prize looked she decided it was safest to just pick him up to make sure they wouldn't find him, swaddling the little fox in her shawl before collecting her basket and walking away. Hoping the huntsmen might just leave her be.

"Dawn!" A familiar voice called to her.

Shit!

She wondered how she might get out of this without a quarrel. "What do you want?" She barked back, walking away still and trying to conceal the small animal in her arms as the single biggest blowhard in town approached her.

"My darling Dawn, what are you doing out here at such an early time in the morning?" One of the men rode up on his monster of a brown horse so that she was cut off from her path, absolutely chipper at the sight of her despite her obvious attempt to escape his attention.

She petted the chestnut fondly despite hating its master with a passion he'd never understand.

"I'm not your darling, Gustav." She tried to go around him but he just laughed, thinking she was playing hard to get as he dismounted his mare, pushing his thick black hair back as he checked his trap. It was obvious it had been set off.

"Not yet my love, but you will be." He teased as he reset the trap, covering the old iron in dirt and leaves once more in hopes to catch something else, standing once more to trot into the rabbit trail she had found to walk on, blocking her path again knowing that she had stolen his game. Cheeky thing she was, always toying with him.

"When hell freezes over." She scoffed, pushing her hood back to expose eyes as black as charcoal in hopes they might burn a hole in his very skull. "Now get out of my way, I need to get home before these herbs die and I have to find and pick them all over again."

"I'd be happy to let you carry on your way if you'd hand over the fox you're carrying under your blouse..." He leered down her shirt with his lips pursed smugly, sad that her bosom was covered by the fur she was hiding.

She counted to ten in her own mind, realizing it was useless once she hit four and spouted out impulsively "Fuck off. you can't have him, the forest gave him to me today." She hiked her skirt again to get around him when he grabbed her firmly by the shawl, chastising her as though she were a child who knew no better.

"I set that trap myself Dawn, I caught it and it's mine." His gaze was patronizing but she knew she wouldn't have to put up with it for much longer since he'd let her get away with murder if she batted her eyes at him right.

She decided to utilize that now, pushing out her lower lip and looking up at him cutely, "You snooze you lose. Guess you should watch your traps more closely shouldn't you?" she winked for good measure before pulling herself away to end the god-awful conversation, knowing she'd won when she saw the yearning in his eyes.

He shook his head silently, tongue in cheek as he grabbed the reins of his horse and jumped on its back to join his fellow hunters. "Ill tame that fire in you one day yet Dawn, I swear it to you."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." She waved her hand at him, gods how could one man be so stupid?

He shook his head again with a sigh of desire and frustration, god he wanted her... yet she'd never have him. Always rejecting him even though he was the only man in town who showed an ounce of kindness to her. He even went above and beyond, offering her a higher class, wealth, comfort, the pleasure of being his wife! The town might not refer to her as the local spinster, or the midwife hag anymore. But she still refused to play her games with him.

He would just have to pursue till she changed her mind, she was something wild that needed to be tamed, like all of his horses and the game he caught, it was a challenge. And no one else had been able to make the cut. But he would. He was sure of it.

He said nothing as he kicked his horse in the side, racing off to search for his other traps that may have turned up fruitful. At least she was only able to be in one area at a time to steal his game.

****

"What a pretentious asshole." Dawn cursed as she closed the door to her home, a small cottage in the woods outside of town. "Thinking I'm some- some-

thing

he can just own!

Ugh

!" she tossed her basket on the table as she cradled the fox she'd rescued, gazing at its squashed looking face, silver eyes blinking slowly. "Well, let's hope you make it after all that effort, huh?"

She placed the small creature in front of her dying fire, bringing in more wood and stoking the flames so that there was enough light and warmth to actually help the sick animal she'd brought into her home.

It yipped and sat up angrily as she prodded its visibly swollen ankle, feeling around and covering its eyes when she tickled its paw, glad when she saw it twitch in response. The nerves weren't dead after all, and there didn't seem to be any breaks. He'd be limping for a while and was probably ill after being fully exposed to the cold of the night, hungry too by the looks of him. But he'd be just fine after some TLC.

"Ok, ok, ok." she cooed, letting the aching part of the fox's body go as she went to her shelves of herbs and concoctions. "I think I have something that'll make you feel better."

She pulled down two jars, one with black seeds the size of pinheads and the other full of green, goopy looking paste. She took some dried meat off of its hook, folding the black seeds inside to feed to him, laughing as the fox gobbled it up and almost choked in the process. When his head slowly sunk to the floor in exhaustion is when Dawn took the chance to rub her salve onto the short fur of his leg, hoping it might go down to the skin since she had no means, or patience, to shave the animal's paw. But it seemed to do its job since the animal calmed down noticeably, but that could have been the poppy seeds. Either way, the fox had been oddly calm this whole time, maybe he'd had contact with humans before or was just that exhausted before she drugged him.

"Alright baby, you should be good to go. You can sleep by the fire for a while and when you're ready to go I'll let you back out." She pet its head lovingly, the silver eyes gazing up for just a moment as though in thanks. They seemed so knowing, staring directly into her own pupils before slowly blinking shut, a soft snore ensuring that the little creature was fast asleep.

"Animal handler extraordinaire." Dawn patted herself on the back. She did good this morning.

It was when there was an excessively loud knock on her door that she knew her work was not over for the day. "Midwife! Midwife, it's happened!" there was a strangled cry of a woman that could be heard as well. Guess that Mrs. Knightley was ready to have her baby. The fox was out cold at least, they didn't need to traumatize the thing anymore.

"Be right there!" She opened the door to see the rather thick and red-faced woman and her ginger husband stare back. They were the bakers of the town, a lovely couple who had grown on her as she monitored the life they had created together. "Come in, come in." She hustled them inside excitedly, taking them to the greenhouse room she and her mother had built onto the back of their tiny cottage for just the purpose of midwifing.

"When did your water break?" she asked as she brought out a rather large reclined chair with a hole in the middle that made the seat bottom look like a horseshoe.

"About six hour ago, we waited like you said until the spasms were about five minutes apart." Mrs. Knightley spoke in a thick Scottish accent, standing there with her husband fretting over her as they both waited to be instructed on what to do.

"Good!" Dawn chimed as she placed a large dark cloth on the floor with a thin metal pan, scooting the chair over both and instructing the woman to strip down and sit. She was squeamish to do so but Dawn gently took her hand. "Ma'am, your husband will be right here to hold your hand and make sure you're safe, and trust me you will want those bottoms off if not the whole outfit." She laughed. "This is your first baby yes?"

"Yes ma'am." she cried again as her body spasmed wildly, her husband waiting to catch her if she fell.

"This will take a while, and it will be strenuous and messy, I'd recommend it to keep your clothes and everything else clean so I can help you as best I can."

"Dear..." Her husband coached softly as the spasm subsided.

"Oh, oh alright!" She conceded as she took off her bottoms, sitting down spread leg, much to her embarrassment, as Dawn inspected the heartbeat of her and her child, checking over her body to see that the worst of her labor would start within the next two to three hours.

In the meantime she offered her and her husband tea, coaching them through the process of birth and the things to expect in the weeks after, the two listening intently to her every word until Mrs. Knightly knew well that it was time.

There was quite a bit of shouting and cursing which was encouraged, Mr. Knightley just about passing out himself from the excitement of becoming a father. Dawn was just glad that there were no complication, it was an easy baby, although by the look in the new parents' eyes even it had been long and hard, there would still be the same amount of joy at having their first child in the world.

"Oh, he's beautiful." The new mother cooed, gently brushing a wet rag over her baby's head to clean him up. Tilting her head back in the chair to rest as the new father touched their babe like he would shatter if he were too quick or too eager. She let him linger and coo as long as he needed before telling him to go fetch a horse from town. "She'll ride side saddle, no galloping or trotting, you walk her and this babe back to town. this was an easy birth but if you're too rough with her she could develop problems still." Dawn warned him. "Now go tell the town your good news."

His face lit like a winter bonfire, bright and warm and so happy he could hardly stand it. He hugged her hard enough that the room heard her back pop and creak in protest before he ran out the door full throttle, almost skipping with joy as she heard him cry out "I'm a dad!" loud enough to scare away the birds nesting in a nearby tree.

She smiled warmly, her duty to the town was one of the hardest, but certainly the most rewarding.

Dawn sighed and shook her head, walking to the nearby spigot in her yard, filling a jug up with the water in order to bring a cool rag to dab at the face of her exhausted new mother. "You did very well Mrs. Knightley. There were no problems and the baby hardly needed any help from me, he's going to be a tough one."

"Oh my dear, you've been up close n' personal with me for the past four hours, call me Sylvia." She paused a long moment to look at her child and then to her midwife. "Dawn...would you please tell me more about his life." She looked up at her knowingly, her eyes soft but determined as she expectantly waited on her answer.

"How would I know of his life, he's just been born." Dawn chuckled a bit nervously. Shit... her secrets were getting out.

"I was told by the blacksmith's wife that even when you were just a babe yourself you could predict the lives and nature of the children you caught." She insisted gently. "I promise we won't say a word about it to no one, not even me husband..."

"That's what the blacksmith's wife said..." She sighed as she put the rag back into the cool water she had collected. "If you really wish it, I can. But know that asking for my practices can get you and your child branded and in the stocks if anyone were to find out..." Her words were a genuine warning, but also a slight threat to let her know that if she were to be exposed and burned, then Sylvia and her child would also be punished in the process.

"I swear on the success of my bakery Miss. Dawn." She traced her finger in an X over her heart. "You've been nothing but kind to me and my husband, I wouldn't wish ya any harm."

Dawn sighed again heavily. "Come on, you're done in here so we'll go outside and get you cleaned up. I'll tell you about your son's fate then."

"Oh thank you! Thank you, lass!" Her voice broke but she didn't care much in her excitement. Dawn just shook her head as she set down the jug to help the woman stand, picking up the clay again as she waddled behind her to sit on the front porch.

"This will be cold." Dawn warned, pouring the contents of her pottery into her guest's lap and watching the woman jump and then sigh, chuckling lightly at her relieved expression, handing her the rag once more and holding the newborn that she had swaddled herself.

"So..." She trailed, looking from her to the baby and back again.

"Don't rush me." she teased, looking into the baby's dark brown eyes and then to the sky.

It was afternoon now, the sky overcast and the humidity so high from the impending rain that even the sound of the wind was muffled. No birds cried, but small blossoms were about to bloom given the right conditions. Spring was just on the horizon on the wheel of the year.

"He'll be calm..." She began softly, looking into the wrinkly pink face of the babe again before continuing with more certainty. "Strong for certain, but still soft and probably reserved. His affections will show in small but meaningful ways so you'll need to look closely. But he has more potential than I've seen in a babe in quite a long time. He just needs to be given the right support from you and your husband. Trust him when he wishes to make a decision once he reaches the right age, in the interim you'll need to be steady and firm with him and his learning, patience will be an inherent quality that he has so he won't be fast in his growth, he'll take his time. Don't smother him or be worried if he speaks or walks late. He'll let you know when he's ready to grow, all you have to do is listen and provide." She kissed the baby's head, listening to him fuss for a short moment before calming down again and giving him back to his now clean and awestruck mother.

"You can tell all that?"

"I don't know, ask the blacksmith's wife if I was right about her child. I could just be talking out of my ass." She smirked, Sylvia's chest bouncing with her laugh.

"From what I've heard? I'll take your word on it love." she stared lovingly down at her child one more time, totally entranced by its small squinched face. "How can I ever repay you for this? We have the money you asked for but I feel that your fee is hardly enough."

"Then just give me whatever leftover bread you can spare from now on, maybe a pastry or two set aside when you're doing particularly well." she got up to get the woman's skirt, trading it for the baby once again as she begrudgingly put it back on.

"That my dear I can do." As she sat back on the wood porch of her home and reached for her child she asked. "So...livin' out here all by yourself, don't you ever get lonely? Or at least afraid?"

She paused as she thought about it. "No, I have all the visitors I need as a midwife. And clothes are completely optional." They both giggled. Even Sylvia had to admit that being able to walk around without the weight of clothes would be nice, but modesty was not an option for her at this point. She couldn't wind up like Dawn as nice as she had found her to be. She'd never be able to survive.

"But never afraid?" She repeated. "Of the things that lurk in the woods or the strangers that might come by?"

"Oh no, not at all." Dawn waved her hand. "I am quite the fighter, and to be honest I don't own enough for someone to come in and rob me. And I have my cat to tell me when something, or someone, is coming my way, a sort of feline alarm system." She stopped and waved as Sylvia's husband approached on horseback. "Now remember what I told you, not a word about what we discussed for both of our sake-" She changed her tone as her husband got closer, a little louder and more chipper. "And absolutely no strenuous activity, Tom here will have to cater to your every need for the next week at least."

"You don't have to tell me twice." The woman looked at her pointedly, her husband helping her onto the horse that she rode with both feet to the side, the two of them thanking her profusely, handing over a small pouch of coins before making their way back to town.