Noble Beasts

Once again, the conspiracy sat in the Vicomte's audience chamber frightened for the future, and yet resolved to protect their new way of living.

"The Seneschal is returning with Baron Gerevain's army, as well as Baron Cevais' and Margrave d'Graison. They are only a day's march out, which, given the distance, implies that they have hired strong wizards to help with the attack."

Vivienne nodded grimly. "This is about the worst case scenario the snake could have managed. Luckily, I think our own people are behind us. After last night, they have little desire to be penitents."

"The curtain wall is strong," Hortense promised. "We can hold for a few days even against trebuchets.

"What of the ritual?" Lady Sama asked, "will it help us to hold out?" Without reinforcement, what we truly require is to drive them off. Its early enough in spring that stockpiles for siege will be low, but that doesn't help us if our husbands return to prove us all liars, will it?"

"I wouldn't worry about that," Elise intoned. "After the ritual is completed, you should be on strong footing even against those three forces."

Nods of agreement slowly spread around the table, Vivienne last of all.

"We are in agreement then." Elise said, satisfied. "Just one more issue to sort. A binding like this requires an undisputed magical focus. A Dominess, if you will. The energies must flow from the center, and you must agree in heart, as well as head, who that center will be. Simply yielding for the sake of expediency will not suffice."

"You mean..." Hortense asked, "between Lady Vivienne, and myself?"

"I do. In my culture, when people wish to perform important magic, they form circles, and the first thing a circle must know is who the locus is. Sometimes, it is obvious. Times like this, it must be proven."

"Would it not suit for you to be Dominess? You have experience that we do not! Neither of us have so much as cast a spell before!"

"I can guide you in what you need to do. You will find it easier than you think. But it is not in my nature to lead. This is a dragon's tear." The unusual woman pulled out a small sparkling stone and set it on the table. "It will help crystalize your will and thought, so we can know shortly what some circles take years to decide. Thread your hands together.

Hortense and Vivienne did as Elise told, interlocking their fingers, palms up. It wasn't till now that Hortense noticed just how similar Vivienne's eyes were to her own. A bit cooler in tone, more grey-blue to Hortense's green blue, but equally penetrating. At Elise's direction, both women focused their minds on the tear now set in their palm, and suddenly found themselves together in a cool, blue world. They also found themselves nude.

Hortense fought the urge to cover herself, thinking, perhaps absurdly, that it would be a sign of weakness, and was pleased to see Vivienne fighting the same impulse. These two nights' freewheeling excess aside, and determined as they were to explore more freedom yet, these women had been raised as aristocracy, as stifled as they were sheltered. Embracing the new paradigm was not effortless. Hortense masked her own insecurity by focusing on Vivienne's body before her.

Vivienne carried herself upon long, slender legs, shaved to the most recent fashion. Her hip bones were prominent, if not quite as much as implied by her shaping garment, and she had a flat stomach, but not a washboard, leading down to a cute black tangle of pubic fur. Her waist was as narrow as implied, and contrasted further with generous breasts topped by large, soft, pink nipples. Black, straight hair hung down past her collarbone, and neatly framed a face slightly more rounded than the classical statues. Cheekbones of the sort that an admirer might call angelic, a self-depricator cherubic. Jaw just angular enough to keep her face feeling sternly adult despite the cheeks. A flush was just slightly escaping Vivienne's control, though Hortense doubted her own flush of embarrassment was controlled any more successfully.

They stood in silence just long enough to feel awkward before Elise's voice gently impinged upon their minds. "This place is an abstraction of your will. Both of you still sit at your chairs, and neither of you can be harmed by whatever happens here. You can control your surroundings and possessions by will, though you may find it challenging to do so if your rival presses a different concept."

"You can leave at any time, simply by drawing your will away from here, but if you leave without knowing who rules, the ritual will be impossible."

Elise's presence withdrew, and the noblewomen stared at each other uncertainly. I" suppose we can test this.", Vivienne ventured, and a sinuous black dress seemed to grow from her skin.

Not a dress that would be accepted in court, by any means, but suddenly Vivienne was clothed, and Hortense quickly followed suit with a purple silk wrap. It even *felt* real. What a strange place. Both took several moments to play in this mind space, laughing at the miraculous abilities they had here, and forgetting just for a moment, their purpose in coming. Vivienne rode a Pegasus up into the air, Hortense made herself a throne of pure emerald. Vivienne moved them to a tropical island, and Hortense served them both glasses of fruit drinks. Within the space of minutes, They sat in chairs along the shore and watched a volcano harmlessly erupt into the distant ocean, and then the subject came up."Perhaps we play cards for it?"

"When you can change the cards in your hand at will? Perhaps we duel like men would do!" Vivienne summoned a blade and Hortense followed suit.

Neither had any practice in swordsmanship, and it was not long before Hortense's blade protruded through Vivienne's back. Strangely though, apart from an initial shock of pain, Vivienne seemed hardly effected, and smirked before stabbing Hortense right back.

The shock of pain was indeed very real feeling, but very brief. Hortense did not really conceptualize herself as stabbed, and when she pulled the blade out again, even her purple sash was untorn. "Ok, so we can't hurt each other, at least not really. How does one of us prove themselves Dominess?"

The two thought for only a moment before they agreed almost simultaneously on an idea from a story they had each once read. "Wizard's duel!"

"Like Morgana!"

Hortense was caught by surprise at how quickly Vivienne acted once they had decided. The woman waved a hand and sand from the beach swirled up and around Hortense, before melting into solid glass. The Vicomtess felt an instant of agony before her mind protected her, but stared at her opponent through the glass and focused her own will. Vivienne, probably expecting Hortense to pound her will against the reality of the glass, was caught by surprise when the latter began a hailstorm of sowing needles, clinking harmlessly off the dense glass, but stinging painfully into her new foe.

A giant ball of yarn appeared in the sky, snapping yarn tendrils into the needles, which swung ominously, but harmlessly suspended, as Hortense summoned a squadron of dwarfs with pickaxes to shatter the glass. The glass began to crumble in earnest, but Hortense felt Vivienne's will struggle against her own, and two of the six dwarfs became orcs, determined to kill the short miners. Hortense summoned an earthquake which promptly showered her with the remaining glass, but as she drew focus away, the remaining dwarfs became orcs who turned on her.

Rough green arms quickly grabbed her from either side and pulled Hortense's clothing to the side. Large yellow teeth grinned lewdly at her, as the orcs began prying at her limbs and pawing at her. In wild panic as she fought back, Hortense thought for an instant of leaving the arena, but her pride would not be tamed so easily, and she lashed back wildly instead. All of the clothing around, including her now orc-held wrap and Vivienne's dress, became chains and manacles, which clamped to her foes and tightened, giving Hortense a moment to think. Her heart beat wildly, but she steadied her mind with noble discipline

"We cannot harm each other physically here, and I feel more shaken by the orcs than by the molten glass. This is not a game of rape, though. That is too crass, and I would have simply withdrawn from the arena had the orcs gone that far. If I am to be Dominess, I need to find her place of willing vulnerability, and I need to guard against my own. What is it that I need to guard against?"

The downside of stopping to contemplate, during a battle of thought and will, is loss of momentum, and Vivienne easily freed herself from her chains and dismissed the distracting bound orcs from existence. The tide gently lapped at her opponent's feet, like a goddess fresh birthed from the foam, as they paused to size each other up again. It seems Hortense was not the only one who stopped to think, and the Vicomtess pulled herself from thought to try something new.

Hortense's own husband, not as he was, but as Hortense wished he was, along with Vivienne's own appeared nude on the beach next to the upstart who would challenge her. Hortense was surprised to find that, having never seen Vivienne's husband nude, she simply had to will the concept into existence, and Vivienne's own mind filled in the details. The man was surprisingly hairy, and had strong legs; a bit more of a paunch than Hortense had imagined. If she had hoped to seduce Vivienne into submission so easily though, she clearly chose the wrong carrots.

Vivienne shuddered and the sand beneath the men's feet turned to quicksand, trapping them as she strode forward. She smiled oddly, anf Hortense searched for a better route of attack, only to be caught flat-footed as Vivienne's Pegasus rammed into her from behind, pushing her the twelve or so feet to stumble into the shallow water.

As Hortense came up sputtering, her heavy head of curls clinging damp to her sculpted face, Vivienne's true plan presented itself in the form of grasping tentacle, pulling Hortense toward the water. Soon she dangled obscenely, partially submerged, as the sea monster held one ankle above the cresting waves, and held her neck and shoulder with another two. She felt a gentle restriction of her airway, more threat than act, emphasized by the waves cresting just below her, as an unusually shaped sucker on one of the monster's arms sucked on a nipple.

The real nature of advantage in this challenge became clear to Hortense, as a second nipple was latched and her legs spread toward her rival. Vivienne was undistracted, free to focus all of her will and energy on maintaining the reality of this lewd cephalopod, while Hortense was unavoidably distracted by the myriad sensations of her predicament. Even the water was pleasantly warm. If Hortense was to escape, she could not simply will the octopus out of existence. She had to attack from another angle, where Vivienne's will was less focused.

As a tentacle, blessed with that same pleasing mix of unyielding firmness and spongy softness that characterized a perfect erection, began circling the pleasure center above Hortense's rapidly lubricating core, she knew she was out of time. She moaned a little as another wove itself gently through her wet hair with light tugs, but then gritted her teeth in determination, and sprung into action

First, Hortense summoned a little swarm of crabs to attack Vivienne's toes, then, while her rival was distracted by the pinches, she-Fuck!-got interrupted by the insertion of a strong, pulsing tentacle. Her resolve threatened to give way beneath determined pulses, and the crabs were quickly dissipating. Hortense knew she was made of sterner stuff than this, Damnit!

With a swipe of her hand, and a shaky moan, Hortense unravelled a palm tree behind Vivienne, like a tunic with a loose thread being pulled, and clamped her opponent's arms and legs to her side with rings of strong wood. A strip of palm frond fashioned itself into a blindfold, and Vivienne toppled over, at the mercy of the pinching crab swarm.

Determined to capitalize on what might be her last chance at Dominess, Hortense pulled the shoreline back, causing the aquatic monster to drop her in panic, as it found itself floundering in the sand. Wasting no time, she sprinted up the shore, scattering her own summoned crabs just in time to catch Vivienne freeing her arms from the wood rings. Acting more on instinct than thought, Hortense summoned ropes to tie Vivienne's wrists to the remaining trees, and sat her wet pussy firmly on the blindfolded woman's mouth.

Vivienne instinctively tried to kick out with her wood-bound feet, or to push off with tightly tied wrists, but Hortense held firm, clamping slick thighs, and giving the bound woman only just enough space to breathe through her nose. She had to prevent a reversal like the one which had put her in this position, so she set most of her will to maintaining the bonds while trying to focus on possible angles of attack. Still, she couldn't resist a little victory lap, and ground her hips slightly, literally rubbing Vivienne's nose in her impending defeat.

She did not expect her captive to start licking. A slow, broad lick from just in front of Hortense's asshole, all the way past her opening and to that sensitive area beyond, where Vivienne's tongue gave a little flourish. Hortense gave an involuntary groan as Vivienne paused, and then repeated the exact motion. She repeated several more times, each time shifting the pressure slightly further towards the tip of her tongue, broad licks slowly articulating toward pinpoint focus.

She is trying to distract me. I must not lose control. It was easier thought than done, though. Hortense's long-denied pleasure centers had not been in agreement with her breaking free from the cephalopod, and were quickly becoming insistent. Well, surely, Hortense rationalized, nothing is more dominant than taking my pleasure from her this way. I simply must protect against her attempts to reverse.

Protect Hortense did, first against a charging bull, which she granted a cow to rut, then against tickling feathers which she forced into the shape of a songbird. She inadvertently let the warm tide sweep close again, gently bathing her feet and Vivienne's ribcage with each wave, as a tide of her own began to sweep closer; a sensation so long denied her, but starting to become frequent.

Vivienne's captive tongue worked in a frenzy, firm repeated strokes across the underside of her pleasure bud creating a sense of inevitable victory as Hortense began to tense, the tide drawing back again in preparation for a tsunami of....Pain!

Soul-shattering mind splitting pain, as, instead of the orgasm Hortense's body was promised, it was attacked with a sudden and vicious bite from beneath. Vivienne spat blood out as Hortense fell off of her presumed conquest, the latter hardly noticing the blindfold transfer itself to her eyes, as she lay for a moment in shock.

Like the sword wound before, the damage was not lasting, and as Hortense gathered her wits again, she realized that the intense pain of physical harm dissipated as suddenly as it had arrived. In its place was a tumultuous storm of emotions; the hot rage of her orgasm denied, the ringing slap of betrayal in her ears, the longing insecurity of refusal. Hortense had no idea how she was going to focus to regain control, and as she belatedly tore the blindfold off in frustration, she saw what Vivienne had arranged.

The two of them were in a large, colorful pavilion, the sort that traveling fire spinners and acrobats would use to entertain each town they traveled through. Vivienne herself wore a gaudy ringleader's outfit. Hortense was simply naked, apart from some leather cuffs around her wrists and ankles. The Audience...oh Gods, the audience.

Vivienne had found it. Hortense's particular kink, the crack in her armor, that break that would make it impossible to win, and yet impossible to turn away. The audience was filled with every man or woman Hortense had ever imagined or dreamed to be naked, but now they were clothed, and it was she that was bare. A bold peasant farmer with a full beard that her husband had once whipped for staring too long at her. A handsome young sellsword that Hortense had met when she first became aware of attraction, and had not yet known what to picture. Several of the people Hortense had cavorted with last night. A sneering old merchant who thought little of women, who Hortense had once imagined being humiliated and made to kiss her feet. A stern priestess that had once publicly threatened to spank Hortense for poor behavior, when Hortense was a grown adult! The crowd was full of men and women that Hortense, wanted, or hated, or both, and she was at their mercy.

Vivienne took Hortense's attention with a crack of her whip, a whip which then looped itself through the rings on the cuffs of her wrists and ankles and bound all four together. Hortense collapsed into a humiliating position under the bonds. Her cheek pressed against the ground, cool air tickling her slightly spread ass, her sex forced up into the air by her hand-to-ankle bindings. Hortense's face was turned to look directly at a scarred brigand who had tried to request "the Vicomtess' wet cunt," as his final meal before hanging. And her cheeks flushed in knowledge of just how wet it was.

Vivienne slowly circled the helpless Vicomtess as the brigand licked his chapped lips, and then Hortense was turned with a tug on the whip, turned to face away from the audience. Or perhaps more accurately, her privates turned to face the crowd. "See how the ravenous lioness hungers for a meal!"

Vivienne stepped a boot to either side of the "Lion's" head, and traced the head of her short cane along it's supposed "mouth." Hortense burned with humiliation, warring with an intensity of arousal she had not known herself capable of.

"The beast drools with dangerous hunger for meat! Will one of you satisfy it's craving?" Laughter mingled with the shouts of eager volunteers, as Vivienne added in a voice only Hortense could hear, "You almost had me. Now I have to make extra sure you know."

Hortense made a desperate attempt to summon some kind of response. She cast her mind wildly searching for literally any idea to save her among the infinite possibilities of this limitless place, and yet her mind kept blanking curiously at the thought of all those eyes hungering for her. She summoned crabs again; so out of place and feckless here that they almost dissipated even before Vivienne swept them aside with a swat of her will.

Vivienne called again to the crowd. "What adventurer is bold enough to place their head inside it's terrifying maw? Oh, too many volunteers? What shall we set the price at?"

Hortense felt the hunger of the crowd, as a few tossed coins smacked lightly against her legs and ass. One even hit squarely upon her lips with a slightly wet impact. As with the randy orcs before, Hortense thought of withdrawing to the real world, and almost did. The circus almost faded to the familiar sight of the audience chamber. This time, however, it was not Hortense's pride which stopped her.

Hortense realized, with alarm that could not quite be described as horror, that she did not want to leave. Humiliated as she was, her body sat safe, and the hunger she felt from the crowd, the raw need to claim her, was intoxicating. If she left, this would never happen again, and she couldn't bear to play what if, her whole life. The worst part, as the circus snapped back into firm existence before her eyes, was looking up at Vivienne, and knowing that Vivienne knew Hortense was staying.

The Dominess winked at her, before declaring to the crowd, "A proud beast such as this must be tamed before she will accept a head into her maw! First we must beat it, just a little! No, not like that, sir! Save it for her mouth!"