Moonlight Temple: the Coven

Note: This is not the first part of this story but you don't have to read the previous entries to understand this one

"You do know where we're going right?" Asked Aphrodisia, her voice filled with an annoyance that would have made sense if she was the one carrying all their possessions. "We're only a short distance from Hornbarrow hill" responded Alexios suppressing his irritation.

He sat down heavily on a rock, letting go of the backpack which landed behind him with a thud. He had been walking for hours, his feet were blistered and his whole body ached. "We..." Alexios said in between deep breaths "...should make camp here." In addition to being too tired to continue the trek, they were on decent camping grounds. They had left the beaten path some time ago, relying instead on a compass to direct them. With it, they ventured into the untouched vastness of the Southvale forest.

Now they sat in a clearing at the bottom of a hill. In truth a clearing was not an appropriate descriptor, they were simply in a small stretch where the foliage and trees were less thick than anywhere else. Aphrodisia lay down on her back on the dirt floor, placing a hand behind her neck as a pillow.

"Very well," she said with an undeserved sense of superiority. "Get a fire going, I'm going to have a nap." Alexios knew a great many varieties of insults he could throw at her, some vulgar and some more cerebral and may take a few moments to grasp their implications but as he had done for the two weeks they had traveled together he kept them to himself. In his mind, he told himself he was too tired to start an argument but deep down he knew it was because he was intimidated by the larger and stronger woman.

Despite this, he would not start his task until he had rested. The time for a retort to Aphrodisia had already passed as she was now audibly snoring. After five minutes of enduring her bear-like rumbling, Alexios got to his feet and headed off to find firewood. As he scavenged for dry-looking twigs Alexios could not help but reflect on the degrading situation he had found himself in.

His ordeal began a month and a half ago when he stole something from his now-former master, an eccentric old man who claimed to be a practitioner of dark magic. It was a medallion of a crescent moon carved with runes unlike any he had ever seen.

The medallion was said to grant access to a temple in which any wish can be granted to those who enter. Alexios had lived his life in service to one master or another, that was his past and it was to be his future till his death. He didn't agree with that fate and instead stole the medallion and began hunting for the temple himself.

Now his master sent others to find him. He was almost slain by one of the master's minions if it had not been for Aphrodisia. But like all good things in his life, Alexios found that this came with a cost.

Aphrodisia agreed to protect him while he searched the lands for the moonlight temple, in exchange he would carry their equipment and satisfy her in any way she chose. Now he found himself not just her servant but concubine as well, a position he resented greatly.

Alexios sat down under a tree still spent from his exhausting walk. He retrieved the medallion which he wore around his neck but under his gray tunic. Running his hand over the golden moon he wondered what it would be like to live a life where all others served him and he was subservient to no one.

He did also realize there was a sense of irony to his situation. He knew people who would gladly kill for a slight chance to sleep with Aphrodisia. Despite her size, she was far from unappealing. She was tall with a wild beauty to her, she had blonde hair that fell past her shoulders and mischievous green eyes that could steal a man's breath.

The fact that she had a tattoo of a stylized wolf on the outside of each of her log-sized thighs and a tattoo of an ouroboros on each of her biceps did nothing to detract from her stunning beauty but only somehow accentuate it. She had a strength to her that made her seem unattainable and thus all the more desirable.

Most men, and from the stories she had told many women, would gladly throw away any personal liberties in exchange for the opportunity to lay by her side. Alexios on the other hand had had his fill of servitude and found his circumstances as vexing as they were degrading.

She was as lazy as a corpse and seemed to take pleasure in humiliating him, refusing to do even the most basic of tasks. Every single thing around the camp was done by Alexios. From cooking to cleaning to pitching and tearing down the tent to everything in between. The only thing Aphrodisia did was hunt for animals as Alexios had no idea how to even approach the subject. She hunted but he cleaned the hunt and cooked it.

His former master was quite possibly as old as time itself but he was always far more active. He requested Alexio's help frequently but that was simply because he was a very busy old man.

There was one silver lining, the sex which was mandatory for their little partnership was phenomenal. Alexios never had a great interest in women and until he had met Aphrodisia he had no experience with any. But almost every night since they had met he found himself engulfed in carnal ecstasy. But that was small comfort to everything else in his life.

Some hours later he had started a fire and was cooking some soup over a pot. Aphrodisia eventually woke from her dead like slumber to thanklessly eat most of the food available, an event that went uncommented on by Alexios. "Where are we going anyway?" she asked in between shoveling soup into her mouth.

"I told you that we're looking for the witches of Hornbarrow hill," he said, not hiding his annoyance. "They may know where..." He stopped himself "the temple is" He had been economical with the truth about the temple. Alexios had not told his mistress what lay beyond its doors, only that finding it would be a great archaeological discovery.

As far as Aphrodisia was concerned he was a studier of ancient civilizations and she cared for little more about his personal history or motivations. She only had half of the story, Alexios did have a fascination with old civilizations. Even so, he was not used to lying and somehow found it hard to articulate the story every time he brought up the temple, leading to consistent awkward pauses.

If she had realized that he was hiding something then she was doing a good job of not showing it. "And how far away from them are we again?" she continued to talk. Alexios was reflexively about to tell her that they were close and she should be patient but then his mind began to settle on the scenario. They had already passed eagle rock, a large boulder decorated with paper birds that served as a landmark for that area; they should be very close to Hornbarrow hill as long as they kept heading eastward.

"Not far actually" Aphrodisia put down her empty bowl. "Then why don't we head there now? If they know something about your little ruins why wait?" She leaned forward and smiled in a way that was both condescending and arousing "unless you're too tired."

"We can go as soon as you're ready" Alexios congratulated himself for putting the challenge on her shoulders even though it was a petty and hollow gesture.

The sun had begun to set when the two travelers had reached what they assumed to be the entrance to the forest lived in by the witches of Hornbarrow hill. Very little was known about the coven of witches but what Alexios had gathered from books stolen from his master was that they descended from the same civilization that created the moonlight temple. And if anyone could tell them where it was hidden, they could.

They had left the camp behind instead of venturing eastward through the thick foliage, their only sense of light and direction coming from the orange glow of the setting sun. Alexios stepped past a tree and stopped. Something came over him, a sense of intense dread. It felt as if he was about to meet a terrible fate like walls of death were closing around him. Despite the warmth of the forest, his blood ran as cold as a winter stream and he found himself rooted to the ground.

Aphrodisia must have noticed the fact that he had paused and the fact that he had turned as pale as snow. "Is something wrong?" she asked with a sense of genuine concern. As quickly as the sense of dread had set upon him it was gone. So fast he wondered why it had been there at all. "No," He stammered, "I'm fine I just..." He didn't even know what was wrong or why he had been gripped with such terror. "It's nothing, let's keep moving."

The two continued to march through the forest and soon the strange event had been quickly forgotten. Something else quickly caught their attention, a creaking ahead of them. Both travelers looked up in the direction of the noise. Ahead was what looked like a figure, but it was far off in the distance. Neither could make out meaningful details of what they were looking at, not helped by the mist that obscured it.

It took both Alexios and Aphrodisia several seconds to notice that the mist had a queer green tint to it and seconds more to realize that said mist not only surrounded the figure but had suddenly surrounded them. By the time they realized something was wrong both their heads had begun to spin.

They were flies in a trap they didn't even comprehend and before any plans to escape or response could be made both had slipped into unconsciousness, ambushed by a sudden wave of tiredness that neither could have fought off even if they knew it was coming.

*****

Alexios began to slowly drift back into consciousness. The sounds of crackling fire filling his ears, and the feel of bright torchlight stung his eyes. He tried to move his hand to shield his sensitive eyes from the light but found strangely that he had no arms to move. Slowly as his senses came back to him he realized that the problem was not that he had no arms it was that he could not move them, where ever they were they were numb to the rest of his body.

Despite his numbness, he still felt the cold breeze on his skin and quickly realized he was completely naked. As his eyes adjusted to his environment Alexios began to realize where he was. He sat on what felt like a large wooden throne. He was propped up with pillows and cloth, whoever had placed him here and robbed him of the ability to move had made sure he was comfortable.

The only thing not frozen was his eyes which Alexios used to scan his surroundings. He was still outside, his throne was at the edge of a clearing, well lit with bright orange torches. In the geometric center of the clearing was a rectangle stone altar, about six feet long and four feet off the ground. There was someone on it.

As his eyes continued to adjust he was hit with a bolt of shock. The person on the altar was Aphrodisia! She too was completely naked and her arms and legs were bound to stakes planted at each corner of the four corners of the altar. She too was unconscious but seemed to be coming back to the waking world.

The sounds of crunching leaves and snapping twigs began to fill Alexios's ears, multiple people were approaching him. Whoever approached soon came into Alexios's limited vision. They were women, five in total came into view. They were beyond beautiful, tall, pale as the moon, and like him and his companion completely nude.

Each had different colored hair. Blonde, red, black, brown, and white. But each wore a crown of twigs of a sort upon their head and strange necklaces of twisted grass. All of them also wore streaks of paint across their bodies, a different pattern and design for each woman.

They each gathered around Alexios, each looking at him with a look he had never seen. In truth, he had never been looked at in such a way. Their eyes were not just filled with lust and hunger but with awe and admiration. They looked at him like he was a god in mortal form.

"He is the one," said the woman with white hair with almost a moan of ecstasy. "After all these years he has arrived! He has graced our presence!" said the one with dark hair. They reached out towards him, never touching him but clearly wishing they could.

"She told us not to lay a finger on him," said another with a sense of immense disappointment. "Not yet at least, but the woman" They all turned almost in perfect synchronization to Aphrodisia on the altar. "But she can satisfy us for a bit," said the blonde as they all began to move towards her.

Aphrodisia had fully regained her consciousness and was now beginning to regain her senses. "Who are you?" She said groggily but angrily. "Release me now!" One of the women, the one with red hair shoved two fingers into Aphrodisia's mouth producing a surprised gargle. Alexios was certain his eyes were still waking up as he could have sworn he saw a glow around the red-haired woman's fingers.

When she retrieved them Aphrodisia attempted to speak again but nothing coherent came from her mouth, just a muted gurgle. It was as if her tongue was now as numb as Alexios' body. The women of the forest wasted no time exploring her body. They were not afraid to touch and squeeze her large breasts, running their hands across her heavy thighs and tracing the contours of the muscles in her arms.

Aphrodisia let out a lewd gasp, she was obviously trying to speak but whatever spell had been placed on her made her unable to speak in anything other than erotic moans. The woman with brown hair grabbed Aphrodisia by the jaw and turned it to face her. She thrust her tongue into her mouth making the lewdest sounds that Alexios had ever heard.

By the time she broke off the kiss, Aphrodisia was panting and red-faced. If she did not like the attention she was getting she did a poor job of showing it. Alexios had experienced sex with his mistress in almost any way possible, he knew her body as well as she did and he knew that she was definitely enjoying her captivity.

She arched her back and let out an excited yelp when someone bit the inside of her thigh. Alexios had never thought to do that nor had he ever seen such a reaction. Two of the women worked her breasts and nipples, mashing and molding them like dough occasionally broken up by running their thongs around them, flicking and playing with them.

Two others focused on her thighs, nibbling and biting

At her flesh. The last remaining woman, the one with brown hair had transitioned from kissing to licking Aphrodisia's ear lobe, running her tongue around the edge and occasionally flicking the inside.

Aphrodisia was reacting violently to the attention; however, she had very little room to move or writhe. Her limbs were bound tough and all she could do was clench and unclench her hands and feet while she whelped and gasped with ecstasy.

The two women who were once focused on her thighs had transitioned to teasing and licking her vulva. All of them eagerly licked, kissed, and flicked her body causing her moans and gasps to become louder and more frequent.

After only a few moments of starting Alexios watched his mistress erupt into a violent shaking orgasm. The forest women continued to tease out her rease for several seconds, squeezing out every drop of pleasure from the moment.

By the time they were done, she was a panting mess of ruffled hair and blushing skin. Her tongue hung out of her mouth like a dog and her chest raised and lowered in rhythm with her heavy breathing.

Suddenly something caught all the women's attention. Adjacent to the throne and the altar, the same green mist that had ambushed the two travelers manifested in a large cloud. It dissipated as if blown away by an unseen breeze and in its place stood a sixth woman.

Immediately it became clear to Alexios that she held authority over everyone else. She was older than the other women but that did not mean she was old or ugly. Without a shadow of a doubt, she was far more beautiful than any woman on or around the altar.

Her hair was a bright red, more fiery than the other red-haired woman. Where the other forest women seemed to have haphazardly splashed different collared paints across their bodies, her body pain was far more elaborate and complex consisting of mesmerizing patterns and provocative shapes. Her eyes were ringed but with dark eyeliner and not exhaustion.

Alexios had found his penis very hard from all the acts the nude forest had performed on Aphrodisia but one look at the woman who had emerged from the green mist and he was sure he had been brought to the brink of orgasm.

The other forest women left Aphrodisia where she lay, walking to their leader's feet and kneeling. She walked past them like they did not exist straight toward Alexios. "He is the one" in a voice that sounded like honey to his ears. She reached out and ran a hand on his cheek. "At last the time has finally come," she said. "Theodora, Luliana take him to my hut."

Two of the women, The brown-haired woman and the white-haired one got up and moved to Alexios's throne. To his surprise they picked him up, brown hair held him up by his shoulders and white hair held his ankles. "What about her?" one of them asked, Alexios couldn't see who. "Do as you please with her" said the leading woman.

The two women carrying Alexios began to take him away, in the corner of his eye he could see the other women return to their stations at the altar, their hands rousing his Aphrodisia for a second go. Unable to move his head, Alexios could only stare at innocuous things like the tree canopy above him as he was moved deeper into the forest, where he was going he knew not.

A door was opened ahead of him and he was brought into a structure. The women, who had carried him with no effort the entire trip, set him down upon a soft bed. It was pillowy and felt like silk. The beautiful leader came into his limited vision which at the time consisted of the rafters of the building. She gently placed two fingers on his forehead.

A bolt of electricity ran through his body and suddenly Alexios had control over his entire body. Instantly he sat up with a jolt letting out a short but loud shout of surprise, followed by several seconds of deep ragged breathing. "It's all right," said the leader in her deep and very seductive voice as she cupped his cheeks "no harm will come to you, you have been chosen."

Finally gaining access to the rest of his body, Alexios looked around his environment. It was a rather large room, its walls covered by lit candle stands. Despite its size, it looked comforting and welcoming possessing shelves, cupboards and many other things. Calming down Alexios set his eyes on the fiery-haired leader. "Who... who are you?" he stammered. "My name is Demetria, I am the appointed high priestess of Gaia." regaining his composure Alexios gave his name to Demetria. "You are a very special man Alexios, you are the first man in over one hundred years to pass into this forest and live.

"What do you mean?" He asked, confused. "Horn barrow hill is protected by a spell, according to the great Gaia no man shall pass through the barrier she has created, no man but the chosen one." She reached out a hand to him, in it held his moon medallion. "Perhaps this is why it has a strange aura around it which seems to negate magic." Alexios reached out towards the amulet but Demetria moved it away out of his reach. He realized that despite regaining control over his limbs he was apparently very groggy.

So many questions floated into his head. "Why did you bring me here?" he asked in an almost slurred voice "why am I chosen?" Once again Demetria cupped his cheeks. "That doesn't matter right now," she said slowly but gently pushing him back onto the bed. She hovered over him, her bright red hair dragging across his chest till her face was level with his.