The Assassin and the Sorceress

We are nearing the end of my story now. You already know how it ends. There will be no happy ending. Just tragedy and ruin. Are you sure you want to hear the rest, dear Adrielle?

Very well. Then I will tell you. All of it. But once you know what I did, if you decide you cannot love me anymore, if you despise me for it...

...I will understand.

1

Verus' words hung over me for a long time after that. Everything I accomplished would come tumbling down, he had said, if I neglected justice, if I allowed people to wrong me without repercussion. Though every decent part of my told me such a cynical view of the world couldn't be true, on some level I believed him. But if it was true, it was the hardest truth I had ever faced. I was finally happy with my life; I finally felt like I belonged somewhere! I didn't want revenge anymore. Why couldn't I just be happy?

Even so, after giving it some good thought, I realized certain aspects of my new life were more precarious than I had originally thought. I was now seeing two men, and to my knowledge neither knew about my deeds with the other. Also, what if my father did soften up against my mother, as Verus had warned? Yes, these things might be precarious. However, rather than strike out at enemies I wasn't sure were enemies, I decided to reinforce the walls of my fortress, so to speak. I would defend what I had, but I would not be the aggressor. Not on suspicion alone.

The next day, as my father and I were back in the fields, I decided to speak to him when I figured all the other workers were out of earshot.

"Father, how are things coming along with Mother?"

He sighed, seeming to think of how to respond. "Not much change," he said at last, then continued swinging with his scythe. He continued speaking as he labored. "She doesn't say much to me, even less than before. I've heard her praying, though. Asking for forgiveness, asking for guidance. I think she regrets what she did to you, and she's trying to come to terms with it."

"When do you think we should tell her we've been working on the Adenson's field?"

"What? Oh, I don't know. She's still mulling the more important things over."

"It's been quite a while, now, since you, well, made your point to her. How much longer does she need to 'mull things over' before we can talk to her? About our freedom?"

"You think it's time we sat her down and had a chat with her?"

"I think the sooner we can be honest with her, the better. What if she finds out tomorrow what we've been doing? What if we are forced to press the issue now, rather than once she's come to terms with whatever it is she's praying about? Are you going to stand up to her like you did before?"

"I..." He paused. He had been about to take another swing with the scythe, but he lowered his arms and turned to look at me. "I hadn't really thought about that. I mean, when she ever leaves the house, she's either at the market, at the church, or talking with those two old bats she spends her free time with. She's not going to come over here. I think she assumes you are getting yourself lost in the woods by yourself and I'm spending our last penny at the tavern."

"People gossip, but never mind how. What

if

she finds out? What then?"

He sighed, and thought of what to say. "Then I guess we press the issue right then. And hope she doesn't get irate."

"And what

if

she gets irate? What

if

she screams at you like she used to and forbids you from ever returning here? Are you going to give in and do what she says?"

"I'm not going to hit her again, if that's what you're getting at. THAT time was a matter of your safety! This isn't so dire."

"That wasn't what I was getting at, but fair enough. No hitting. I agree with that. Then

what

? What are you going to say to her?"

He turned away from me and held his hands up in a frustrated gesture. He had no idea how to answer that question. Words seemed to be amassing on his tongue, but no complete idea emerged.

"Oh, look!" I said in a mocking tone. "Here comes Mother right now! Oh no! She's found us, and by the Lord does she looks angry!" Then I did my best satire of Mother's angry voice. "John, I thought I commanded you never to engage in rewarding work, just as God commanded Eve not to eat of the forbidden fruit! Yet here you are doing honest work for honest pay, getting exercise and fresh air and... and... spending quality time with your own daughter? Debauchery! Scandal! I forbid it! Go home and never return here, or I'll... grunt at you disapprovingly as you pass by me in the house! I'll gossip about you to all my horrible friends! I'll tell the reverend you've been disobeying your controlling wretch of a wife and acting like the man of your house!"

I had to stop right then. Father was laughing so hard it was making me laugh right along with him. And so, we just laughed, the two of us, until tears were rolling down our cheeks. I don't think my impression of her was really all that comical, but the problem of what to do about Mother had been quietly stressing both of us for so long that we just needed to laugh about it, and I had provided the opportunity. It was almost therapeutic.

When both of us could speak again, I asked him once again. "So? What will you say to her?"

He sighed. Suddenly, he found the words to say. "As you so eloquently put it, I guess I'll just have to be the man of the house. You're right. What could she do about it if I defied her? Not beat you again, that's for sure. I'll

make

sure of it. No, if she finds out and tries to forbid us, I'll look her in the eye and tell her 'no.' That's it. I don't need to justify it. I don't have to win an argument with her. I just have to not heed her words. And if she gets bitter about it and tries to make our home life as unpleasant as she knows how, I can bear it, because I have all of this to look forward to the next day: the warm sun and an open field, and the company of my daughter and my best friends. And if she threatens to leave us if she can't have her way, well... then I will choose you over her. If she makes me pick between the two of us living our lives free and happy, and keeping her in the family, I'll pick us anytime."

It lifted my heart to hear those last words of us. He would choose his daughter!

"Do you promise?" I asked, hopefully.

"Yes. Yes, Morgana, that's a promise."

We went back to work before any of the Adensons could chide us for sitting down on the job. It didn't matter. Father and I kept talking as we worked, and as we talked and worked the scythe felt lighter in my hands than it did before. As grueling as that work could be, the day went by faster than I realized, and before long, Father looked at the position of the sun and excused himself from work for the day.

"There are almost two hours of daylight left."

"Yes, but remember that I am still a stable hand. I have other work I need to do."

"Why? Wouldn't you rather do this with me? Out in the sun? And not smelling horse shit all around you? It even pays better!"

"I have to."

"But... I thought you were done with that... done with being what Mother tells you to be. You know, I've been thinking about this. I know why she forbid you from doing work like this. She

wants

you to be a lowly stable hand, and nothing more. She

wants

you to stay poor, unskilled, and unaccomplished. And do you know why? Because freedom lifts people's spirits, and people with good spirits will stand up for their rights. Because if you should become self-sufficient and independent, what would you need her for anymore? She wants you to feel like a worm, because a worm is the only thing she knows she's better than... the only thing she's stronger than. She'd rather be the master of a poor and broken family than share power with anyone in a well-off and happy one!"

"Huh. Well I never thought about it that way, and I won't say you're wrong. It makes as much sense as any explanation for her stupid rules. But that's not why I'm going to the stables."

"Oh? Why?" I was sad to see him leave me, even for the evening, and sad to think of him still shoveling manure for a job.

"Because, well... Sometimes we don't choose our lot in life based on what we want. Sometimes we do the things we do simply because they need to be done, and there's no one else who will. If I don't show up tonight, the stables won't be cleaned and the horses won't be cared for. Ash relies on those horses for several vital things. If the horses get sick, all of Ash could suffer. I suppose I could have them hire someone else to do it, but what would I do for money after the harvest season? I've been doing this for years, so I might as well keep on. Besides, it doesn't take me as long as I tell your mother it does. I'll be home in time for supper. I promise."

"Very well, do what you have to do," I conceded. "But you meant what you said, right? About standing up to Mother if she finds out? You'll keep harvesting with me, won't you? No matter what?"

"Yes, Morgana. That's a promise. She won't rule either of our lives anymore. Not one more day."

...

With Father's influence over Mother now rooted in place, the next precarious area of my new life that needed attention was this love triangle I had gotten myself into. I doubted Gaius would care whether or not I was exclusive to him, but Matthew was another matter. I was worried that I had accidentally done to Matthew the same thing Joseph had done to me when he had taken my virginity. If I crushed this poor kid's heart, first, he would never be the same toward me. Second, Magdalene would likely neither forgive me if I hurt her dear brother. And if I turned both of them against me, I couldn't imagine I'd keep my place in my new circle of friends.

Matthew came to me more and more. 'Hey, Morgana, can you... um... show me your vagina again?' he would say, bashfully, whenever we were alone. The way he said it couldn't have been less romantic, but that didn't bother me in the least. In fact, I enjoyed the attention, so I happily obliged him whenever he asked. I enjoyed even more what usually came after: us tossing our clothes aside and playing with each other's bodies in any way we felt like.

What did annoy me was that he was starting to follow me around like a lost puppy, like I was now his only friend in the world. Matthew wasn't a bright or engaging boy by any stretch of the imagination. He was great as a friend, and I did enjoy playing with him in secret like we did, but I didn't love him. Not like that. What we did was, as I saw it, just for fun. In fact, Gaius came to me a few more times as well, and it was also amazing! He said I was the tightest he had ever had, and he couldn't get enough. I didn't squeeze his penis anymore to the point of trapping him inside me. I told him he must have stretched me out a little, which he seemed very fine with.

Unfortunately, Gaius was very focused on the act. He fucked me with the singular objective of ejecting his seed, and then his endeavor was done. Yes, he'd fondle me and squeeze my breasts a little, and he did say he loved how big they were getting, but once he began thrusting, thrusting was all he would do. I can't describe how amazing his girth felt inside of me, but there was definitely something lacking. And that very thing that was lacking is what Matthew offered me. Maybe I wouldn't call it love, or romance, or anything like that, but perhaps intimacy is a good word. We got to know each other.

Laying with either of these men was exhilarating in two entirely different ways. I wanted to continue what I was doing with both of them, but what would happen if either found out, Matthew especially, was an unknown risk. I needed to do something.

And so, the next time Matthew and I were alone, I intended to talk with him and work out exactly what we were to one another. I remember this meeting well. It was one of the better ones. We started off like we often did. I found him in town and invited him to disappear into the woods with me. He agreed as enthusiastically as always.

As soon as we were safely away from the village, we shed out clothes and frolicked nude through the wilderness like wood nymphs, laughing and playing. When we couldn't bear the anticipation anymore, I collapsed onto a tuft of grass and let him have his way with me.

He sat down beside me and wasted no time at all reaching right for my pussy and grabbing a fistful of my plump labia. He kneaded those folds of skin like dough between his fingers, exploring them with the utmost fascination, until he was rock hard! It didn't take him long. And it was doing good things for me, too. I loved it when he would play with my body like that, and it didn't take much longer for me to dampen up nicely.

Deciding to return the favor, I reached forward and stroked his penis. I wrapped my fingers around the shaft and slid them outward, eventually converging on the tip of his protruding foreskin. I pinched the tip between my thumb and forefinger, getting a good grip. I gave his foreskin a tug, watching, delighted, as it stretched a good two or three inches out past the round head of his penis.

He grunted, pleasurably. I could feel his fingers clench tightly on my lips, an almost involuntary reaction. He loved it when I did this to him! It was a fun game to play for me, too!

I pulled a little harder. He grunted more loudly. I eased up, then tugged again, and again. Not long ago, when Matthew had really started to trust me, he had admitted that he had first learned to masturbate by tugging rhythmically on his foreskin, and I suppose that made sense. Each time I pulled, the skin slid over the head of his penis and pulled taut, then slid back as I eased up. Having that skin pulled up and down over his glans must have felt like sliding in and out of a vagina.

But that was only the first part of this game. The next was a test of delicate balance. I pulled again, but this time kept pulling, ever so slowly increasing the tension. I loved watching how far his foreskin could stretch! But I also looked up at his face. As I pulled harder and harder, I watched his expression. After some experimentation, I had learned to recognize when Matthew was near his pain threshold. And the game was this: Matthew liked me to pull as hard as he could bear, and just so: right on the brink. This, he said, gave him the greatest amount of pleasure possible.

Matthew was now up on his knees to give me the best angle. And as I pulled forward, he pulled back ever so slightly. Finally, I saw it. He raised his upper lip in the slightest grimace. That was the critical point of perfect balance! Any harder would hurt him. Any less would be giving him less than he wanted. At this point, I could start jiggling my hand slowly. With all the tension on his stretched-out foreskin, any motion at all had a large effect on his sensitive glans underneath.

I kept this up, but after a few minutes a problem started to arise. The other challenge to this game is this: after a short while of tugging and stimulating him, pre-cum starts to come out. I have to keep the tip of his foreskin pinched tightly shut the whole while, or the pre-cum will leak out and make his foreskin too slippery to hold onto. This time, I had failed to maintain that perfect grip, and after a few minutes of tugging and stretching, I felt the tip of his foreskin start to slip out of my grasp.

"Aww, well I think that's over," I said, disappointed, as I let go of his foreskin. It immediately snapped back to its relaxed position. But it didn't matter. There were plenty of fun games we could play!

Matthew gasped for breath. It seemed I had done a good job! "That's okay," he said with a grunt or two. "That felt so good! I think my penis needs something gentler now, though. It was starting to feel sore. You were doing so fucking good! I'm so close to cumming!"

Matthew so rarely used language like that. I must have done a good job! What to do now?

"Matthew, would you lay back?"

"Sure," he obliged me. As soon as he was on his back, I straddled him on my knees. His erect penis, now noticeably red from all the stretching, was inches from my soaking vagina. I noticed him looking down at our private parts, so close together.

"I kind of want to touch them together," I admitted. "Is that okay?"

"I guess. Just don't stick it inside."

"I won't."

"Or get it too close to the tip. There's a little cum on it already."

"I'll watch it."

He really trusted me, and I like to think he was right to. I lowered my vulva down, then thrust it forward until it came into contact with the bottom edge of his penis. The length of his shaft lined up perfectly along the deep crevice between my outer labia. I rubbed them together, savoring the skin to skin contact of my vulva to his penis. I wish I could have lowered myself down around him, but a promise was a promise.

Instead, I did the next best thing I could think of. With my fingers, I pulled my labia apart and let his shaft fall into the vestibule. It was such a perfect fit. I slid my slit up and down his shaft a few times, making sure the tip of his penis never got buried. It rubbed against my clit and the other sensitive areas in there, which did such wonderful things for me!

Matthew groaned. I think he liked that, too. On a whim, I reached down again and grabbed each of my outer labia with my fingers. I stretched them outward, and was easily able to extend them past his penis. When I brought my lips back together, they easily touched each other on the other side of his penis. My plump labia now formed a fleshy ring around his penis. I suppose I had finally wrapped my vagina around his penis, though maybe not in the same way as I had been begging him. It was still something, though.

Matthew looked down, and when he saw what I had done he laughed amusedly. "That's a good idea!" he said. "Oh, that feels really good! Your vagina lips feel so soft and warm!"

I pinched the ends of my labia together with one hand to tighten the ring around him. Rocking my pelvis, I slid that ring of flesh up and down his shaft. With how wet I was, I had no trouble sliding my flesh over his. He groaned in pleasure again. In turn, his shaft rubbed firmly against my clit, and I was gasping as well. In another minute, he was ejaculating all over his belly!

I felt proud of myself! I had done a similar thing several times by getting him off between my breasts. I already knew he liked tit jobs from me, so now we could add labia jobs to the menu. It was the closest I was going to get. I rubbed his still firm penis against my clit until I was also cumming a few seconds later. That had been fun!

When it was done, and we had cleaned ourselves up, we laid down on the forest floor and enjoyed the fading light of day. I lay on my back with one leg draped over his bare chest. He laid down, half on his back and half on his side, and using the soft flesh of my opposite thigh as a pillow. His face was inches from my vagina, which he was gazing at as one might take in the beauty of a sunset on a mountaintop. Even after he had been thoroughly satisfied, Matthew could still stare at my cleft for hours! He said it was the prettiest thing he had ever seen!

We had been silent for several minutes, just listening to each other's soft breathing and enjoying the contact of our bare skin. I had been thinking very hard about how to start this conversation, and no way seemed like a good way.

"So, what do you think we are, Matthew?" I said at long last. It had been a mistake, I realized as soon as the words were out of my mouth and irretrievable. It seemed to imply I was hoping for the opposite answer to what I actually wanted.

"Huh? What do you mean?" he answered, all the while keeping his gaze centered on my lovely vagina.