Interception
Complete Version - by Nessa
(Printer Friendly Version)
February/March/June 2003____****____
The fire was at a perfect heat for cooking. Coals glowed red under the flame. Tris turned the handle of a spit that Nessa forged for the outings they used to go on together. The rabbit was nearly done. The young woman smiled as she thought of that first time she trapped a rabbit just over a year ago. It was the very day that she met Nessa, the Celtic lord who tamed, named and claimed her, only to set her free among the Kindred.She was escaping from her whole life when she met Nessa. Starving and filthy, she faced Death in a forest and welcomed Her. Up to then she knew only cruelty from others. She was passed on from one pair of lecherous hands to another. Rape and whipping were daily events, endured as precursors to any food or water. Manacles and chains were her wardrobe.
Then, at about her 19th winter, her drunken owner passed out on top of her after a clumsy attempt at satisfying his lust. She squirmed beneath him, attempting to avoid the slobber dripping toward her face. The movement somehow pushed keys loose from a pocket. Tris was able to free herself and slip into the dark forest on a run for her life.
The events after that ran through Tris’ memory. She learned so much and gained so much skill this past year. Killian was her dearest friend. She was the one who first taught her of love because Killian was the one who truly loved her. Her dear friend taught her to sew and soon she was the seamstress for all the Kindred, making her own way independently among them. Nessa was mostly kind and wanted what was best for her. It was the warrior who taught her the skills of living in the forest. As she roasted this rabbit in the dark forest, she thought of Nessa. She missed the incredible touch that only the warrior had. How she would love to have that touch now.
Not entirely lost in these thoughts, the senses of the young woman bristled. There was something walking the parameters of her camp. It was four footed and large. Tris slowly set the spit and rabbit down on a flat stone and rose to her feet. She was never much good with a sword and little better with the dagger that hung on her belt. She moved to draw it when the largest cat she ever saw emerged boldly into her camp.
Eyes and teeth glistened. This was the killer cat that the Lodge crier warned about. But that was days ago. Everyone thought it must be on the other side of the mountain by now. It’s taste for human flesh flashed obsessively in those crazed eyes. Tris tried to keep thinking so that fear would not paralyze her. The animal crouched smoothly in readiness for the spring and the pounce on this easy prey.
Tris reached in her pocket for a handful of sulfur, grateful that she kept it handy for other reasons. She tossed the powder down on the fire. A huge spurt of blinding flame burst up. The cat swayed quickly away allowing just enough time for the lass to jump to a low hanging branch overhead and swing up. She scurried higher up while the huge predator blinked to recover it’s sight and senses. Sulfur burned his nose and hung heavily in the air.
Tris hugged the trunk in the darkness and looked down, barely breathing. The animal was confused and furious. The flash of light and fire blinded him. He did not see his victim disappear. He opened his cavernous mouth and heaved a deafening roar. Tris felt the tree shiver. Silently, she watched the big cat pace around the campfire, sniffing and searching. The roasted rabbit was all the food left in sight or scent. The cat stood over it panting in disappointment. He opened his jaws to clamp onto the savory hare when a zipping sound met his ears and a cross bow bolt broke into the skull between his eyes.
Tris was amazed to see the huge creature drop to it’s belly and keel over in shuddering death. But more amazing was the sight of a stranger dressed in black silk and leather walking into the camp from the forest, crossbow in hand. Tris could tell it was a woman by the grace of movement, the curve of the shoulders and the small size of the black-booted foot placed on the head of the cat. The stranger reached down and brought up the spitted rabbit. Tearing a hunk of meat away with white teeth, she looked down at the dead beast and said while chewing, “I’ll take the rabbit.” Then, looking straight up into the dark tree she said louder, “And the wench.”
*******
Tris knew their eyes were not really meeting. The stranger may have seen her leap to the tree but no one could see through the dark branches while standing next to the fire. Why then, did she feel so seen? It seemed as if the deep gaze of the stranger reached into her soul. She felt it piercing through her. Without a first thought, her hands and feet began a slow decent from the leafy heights. Tris felt a panic but her body moved surely from branch to branch. She told herself to stop… she screamed at herself to stop, but it was nothing more than an echo in her mind. Her body kept moving as if it was disconnected from her will.
At last, Tris stood on solid ground looking up into intense eyes, one shade lighter than coal. Her throat was too dry to swallow. Words formed in her mind but would not make the distance into speech. Her heart pounded with fear. She could not, for all her screaming senses, move her feet. She was trapped under the hypnotic gaze of this dark stranger. Suddenly the spell was broken as she watched half the roasted rabbit coming at her. She moved to snatch it out of the air before it sped passed.
“Eat wench. You are already too thin.”
The voice and accent struck Tris like a slap. Dalton! The crazy Dane who stayed on the peripheral of the Lodge, lurking about and watching for the Lady Aria, now stood towering over Tris, appearing no more sane than she ever did. Tris would not forget the pre-dawn morning last Spring when she was in the garden cutting flowers and secretly witnessed the dark Dane riding into the courtyard holding Lady Aria, unconscious and naked in the saddle before her. She would always remember the welts and bruises covering the beautiful Lady. More than that, she would remember the gentle way in which Dalton lifted Aria from the stallion to the courtyard bench and brushed a kiss across her lips in silent farewell.
Tris felt her fear kick in. She tried to leap back to escape Dalton’s grasp but it was too late before she could move an inch. She was jerked hard by one arm and held still to feel Dalton’s hot breath against her face.
“Do you think I am less sly than a hungry cat little seamstress?” Dalton purred. “I told you to eat. If I have to feed you, you may find yourself nursing a broken jaw. Do you get it?”
Tris could feel the danger from the Dane. It rippled out in waves. She could see it shining from those slate eyes. She lifted the rabbit meat to her mouth and began to eat. All her survival skills came into play. She forced herself to calmness. She smiled seductively and said, “Yes, I get it Mistress. I would not be able to serve your desire with a broken jaw.” The moment hung frozen between them.
Dalton eased her grip and smiled. “When you are finished with your meal, we will sleep. We will be moving on in the morning. You are my little bitch now. Try to leave and I will kill you.” The words were harsh but the voice was calm. Dalton let go of Tris and turned to unsaddle her stallion.
Tris was amazed at what she heard. She dropped the remains of the rabbit along with her still unbroken jaw. When she finally allowed herself to breath again, she moved about the camp as if all that had just taken place was quite normal. She would have to play along until she saw a chance to break away. Between now and then, she would have to sleep with the deranged Dane.
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Disclaimer: Dalton loses reason and has no boundaries. If you have issues about battery and violent sex, please don’t read this. Domestic violence and battery are not acceptable and I do not condone such behavior in the real world. This story does not take place in the real world however, and my own dark thoughts must be expressed. It is purely fiction. (This disclaimer is for you, young friend and for those who have suffered with you), Nessa
Dalton never did know how to give love. She knew only wanting to receive it from another. No part of her ever felt the warmth of it, only the need of it. Try as she did, no amount of kindness or cruelty gained her admission into the realm of the loved. She decided that she at least got sexual satisfaction and response out of cruelty. That is what she opted for. Otherwise, she would live a blank existence with nothing but herself to hate. Sanity lay in a chasm of quiet boredom. She preferred to live on the edge.The beautiful young seamstress would be perfectly delightful. Dalton’s mind played images of the girl’s naked body tied and stretched out for her pleasure. The thoughts sent fire to her center. She intended to own the girl. She would see to it that Tris obeyed her. If not… she would deal with her, forcefully. Three nights now the little wench played her, worked her. She knew the girl was waiting for a chance to bolt like a deer in a forest fire. Dalton would be mindful of that chance. The sadistic part of her hoped for it, and soon. She thought she would invent something herself. Not that she needed a reason other than her desire to see the girl hurting and afraid.
Tris was tired of traveling this forest. She was tired of the days of silence with the brooding Dalton, tired of the nights of fucking without pleasure, tired of being careful of every movement and tired of the Dark Dane. Tris wanted to go home now. Dalton was very handsome, yes. She did look good in her black silk shirt and leather pants. She was even desirable. But Tris needed conversation, stimulation and variation. She was actually bored, even with her nearly constant fear of making a mistake. She obviously hadn’t made one yet and she was beginning to wonder if Dalton was really all that dangerous. Under-estimating the mercenary, of course, turned out to be her first mistake.
Dinner was over and camp clean-up was finished. For the fourth evening in a row, Tris sat across from the maddeningly silent Dalton, waiting for the nod that would give her permission to spread the big bedroll out. The Dane seemed lost in deep thought, her slate eyes riveted to the flames of the campfire. Tris decided that she would try something and if she could pull it off, she may be able to escape. Suddenly she stood and stretched then cast her eyes haphazardly on the poorly stocked woodpile. “We are nearly out of wood. We won’t have any for the morning fire.” She said. “I’ll go gather some now before it gets too dark to see.” She turned toward the forest calmly and matter-of-factly enough to have made it seem ordinary for her to step outside the camp without the Dane. She heard what sounded like a word of assent in the language of the Vikings and a short grunt. Her steps carried her beyond the first few trees and still no sound behind her. She bent to pick up pieces of wood and worked her way further, step by step gathering as she went, until she was sure she was out of sight and earshot of the campsite.
Once more, Tris bent down. But this time she allowed the kindling to roll out of her arms. Standing quietly now she listened. She could hear nothing but the rustle of the wind in the tree tops above her. She broke into a run. It was still light enough to see the small trail that led to the stream. She would follow the stream to the clearing where she could pick up the road to the Lodge.
She heard the sound of the stream splashing as the light of the day faded. Tris stopped and leaned against the trunk of a large tree. She stood there for a few moments and allowed her breathing to become easier. She felt elated at her success thus far. Tris had every intention of moving on but her feet would not move. Her heart flew into a panic when her back pressed against the tree trunk as if some giant pair of hands held her. She figured Dalton would come after her but she hoped that she could stay hidden in the roadside brush. She forgot how the dark Dane could hold her captive just by thinking. After all, she was hidden in the dark tree tops when Dalton first captured her. Her need to escape clouded her memory.
The struggle was furious and it all took place within the girl. Her body was motionless there against the tree. Her ears heard the low laugh and the booted footsteps coming toward her. Tris lifted her eyes and met the flaming slate gaze of Dalton. She was suddenly filled with regret. She felt waves of sickness come over her, instinctually knowing the intensity of what was coming. She had no alternative but to wait for the blow and it came smashing into her face, knocking her from the mental hold and onto the ground. She rose to her hands and knees in a daze. Her vision cleared in time to see Dalton’s black boots in front of her. She felt a hand gripping her hair in a wad close to her head. She screamed in pain as she was suddenly pulled up to her feet.
Dalton looked fiercely into the sweet face of the little seamstress. “So you thought you would run away little slut… Hmm? I suppose I knew it would happen. I am just going to have to teach you to mind me.” she growled. Too many tried to get away from her. Nothing made her more furious. She let it be the reason for many a sweet thing to become painfully aware of her power. Again she slapped Tris hard but held her on her feet. She watched the immediate swelling at the edge of that pretty little mouth. “Do you think you can learn little bitch?” said as she shook Tris harshly by the hair.
“Yes I can learn!” Tris screamed and went into a wailing cry. “Please my lord, don’t do this. I don’t know what you want from me… please don’t” she pleaded. Her words were barely audible through the sobs but Dalton understood and backhanded the girl once more.
“What I want from you is to own you and I do!” Dalton screamed and shoved the crying girl against the tree. She let go of that long dark hair and stood back watching Tris struggle to stay on her feet. “Stand there slut. Don’t move. Just fucking stand there.” The dark Dane drew her dagger. Tris saw and rocked from side to side in agonizing fear, crying some incomprehensible pleas. Dalton was thrilled. She loved how it made her feel to frighten a young girl. She slipped the blade into the front of the girl’s shirt and pulled down cutting the fabric apart. Little by little Tris’ clothes were shredded off her body. Dalton only had to yell twice when the girl’s knees buckled in fear.
Naked now, her clothes in strips of cloth at her feet, Tris tried again to talk to Dalton. The swelling of her upper lip made it hard to form the words. “D…Dalton, you don’t have to hurt me. I… I mean please don’t.” But that was all she was able to say before the leather strap came slicing through the air to strike against her breasts. She let out a scream and hunched forward to guard her breasts from the belt. But every way she turned the belt hit on bare flesh.
Dalton struck down hard again and again. She would show this little slut all about belonging to her. She wanted to hear the screams. They were like vehicles to ecstasy. But the screaming stopped. The welts on the naked girl were swollen and showed a bright red even in the moonlight. Tris was moaning in a stupor of pain on the ground. Her naked body was delicious to look at like this. Dalton felt a driving lust to fuck her beautiful round ass. She dropped the belt and reached down wrapping a strong arm around the girl’s waist and brought her up, arms and legs dangling own. The dark Dane rammed fingers up into the little pink anus and got the scream she wanted.
Tris pleaded for an end but Dalton continued. The Dane fucked hard. Tris hated that she was getting wet. The whipping was hard but it was what always made her hot. She stopped pleading and started to moan, “Oh, fuck me, yes, fuck me.” She began to move her naked ass in rhythm with Dalton’s fingers. When she felt Dalton press against her clit she screamed in sheer ecstasy. It was probably the hardest orgasm Tris ever had.
Dalton held the shuddering girl and felt as close to bliss as she could get, knowing the girl was cumming. Then because she was nearly at a peak and could not wait much longer, she dropped Tris to the ground. “Get up on your knees!” Tris scrambled to obey. Dalton opened her leather trousers and pulled them down. “Take me in your mouth slut!”
Tris worked her mouth over the Dane’s folds. She sucked and licked earnestly. Pleasing Dalton was all that mattered to her now. She heard the Dane howl in ecstatic pleasure. In the silence that followed, Tris allowed herself to drop to the ground. She was a sore and bleeding mess but she was unable to move to take care of herself. She was only half conscious of being wrapped in a warm blanket and being held in strong arms.
*********
Killian sat on the edge of the bed. Her sleep would have been deep and restful after the glorious lovemaking between her and Caitlin the night before. But it was restless and filled with troubling scenes of Tris held captive and suffering. Killian loved Tris as much as any sister. She thought about the dreams and concluded that they were not so clear that she could determine the exact nature of the trouble. But they were clear enough to thrust her into action. The young psychic always worked from her feelings. She looked over at her sleeping lover and smiled at the miracle that brought them together. She remembered that her whole being was filled with feeling Caitlin as a living woman, struggling to stay alive and wondering why. She felt it from across the sea in the strange land of Persia. She saw her lover in her mind as clearly then as she saw her now in the flesh. That is why she trusted her feeling now… her dream was a vision.Killian dressed in her deerskin halter and short wrap-around skirt. She donned the high-top moccasins of the Amazons. Armed with dagger and staff, the young Amazon stood at the bedside and whispered into Caitlin’s mind, “I must go to the forest my love. Please trust me and do not follow. I am seeking my friend, Tris. She is in trouble and I can best help her in my way. You will no doubt punish me for this. I will accept it willingly as you know. I love you.” The psychic smiled with this last thought and moved silently out to the dim corridor, heading straight for Aria’s room.
It was barely a tap but the blonde assassin had acquired keen senses through years of training from former instructors and sometimes intense experience. Her responses had often saved her life. Aria was on her feet in a split second watching the shadow move under her door. She listened with that extra sense of knowing. It was Killian alone. ‘Odd’ she thought. Killian had not been seen without her warrior since she came to the Lodge weeks ago. Aria pulled the door open so fast, Killian’s knuckles landed in the middle of the assassin’s plump cleavage instead of on the door.
Killian jerked her fist back in rapid withdrawal. “My intention was to go for solid wood, Aria. But this is a nice way to get your attention. I don’t mind… really.” she smirked as she walked passed her friend and into the warm, lilac scented room.
“Oh, you have my attention, darling.” Aria said dryly. “Why are you dressed like a daughter of Artemis ready for the hunt?”
“Because I am a daughter of Artemis and the hunt is urgent.”
“Again? Who are we saving this time?”
“Tris.”
Killian gazed steadfastly into her best friend’s eyes and was rewarded with the concern and sharp awareness she saw there. “She is being held against her will somewhere in the forest” she said.
Aria asked questions while she pulled off her dressing gown and dressed in her own hunting clothes. “Who’s holding her? Do you know?”
“I am not too sure” Killian hedged.
Aria stopped in the middle of pulling up one soft leather boot top and glared at her young friend. “You are not too sure?” she queried. “Does that mean you are a little sure? Come Clear with me Killy.”
“I think it’s Dalton” Killian ventured. She understood that Aria had dealings with Dalton that were extreme and dangerous in the past. She also knew, along with every other Lodger, that the Dark Dane had been stalking Aria for months but the assassin would not allow interference from anyone for some reason unknown to Killian. Every Warrior in the Lodge would offer their sword to Aria’s protection.
Aria finished dressing in silence and then turned to face her friend. She was matter-of-fact and serious. “Well let’s get moving then. If Tris is in Dalton’s clutches, there can’t be much time to waste.”
She moved with such grace and lightness, no one could have guessed how hard her heart pounded at the prospect of facing off with Dalton. Her feelings were not mixed about wanting to rescue young Tris. She was not even having a second thought about killing the Dane if need be. She just didn’t want to look into those black eyes. Aria was sure that she would feel too much if that happened and feeling for Dalton would be far too dangerous.
*********
From their vantage point on the high branch, Killian and Aria could see much more than either of them really would have desired. They watched mesmerized, while Dalton pulled a red hot firebrand from the fire and laid the glowing end of it on the tender inner thigh of Tris, the friend they came to save. They saw Tris throw back her head and scream forth all the unbridled intensity of her fear and pain. The whole forest wrapped itself around that scream in chilled silence. Killian started instinctually. Her Amazon training told her to remain motionless while her love for her friend was urging her to act. Feelings were winning out when Aria grabbed Killian’s arm from her own precarious position and stuck her mouth to Killian’s ear and whispered. “Wait, Killy. Do you see that Tris is not bound and yet makes no move to stop the torture?”Killian stopped short of an Amazon leap from the precarious height. She drew her brows together in wonder. Something unseen was holding Tris in a vicious grip. Killian knew about the unseen psychic realms. She was forced into developing her own capabilities as a psychic when Nessa required help retrieving the Sacred Stone of the Faery. Then the development just snowballed. She could not deny her gift when Caitlin came through the underground passages of the psyche to meet up with her from the land of Persia. Killian thought the moaning from Tris would help cover the communication she needed with the assassin. She looked at Aria and risked a whisper. “Can you Kill her from here… with your Dagger?”
“Of course” Aria mouthed.
Killian explained as quietly and as quickly as she could that she would have to enter a psychic battle with Dalton to release the Dane’s hold on Tris. If Dalton died before Tris was released, Tris would be doomed to living out her life in the invisible fetters that held her now. She instructed Aria to wait until she saw Tris moving on her own before throwing the Dagger into Dalton. Aria understood the strategy and trusted that her friend was capable of fighting this battle for at least as long as it took to break the psychic hold on the little seamstress.
Aria watched Killian lean against the tree trunk and close her eyes. The change on Killy’s face caused the blonde to look to the ground to watch for her cue. The battle began. The assassin witnessed Dalton twisting her body around in confusion and then stand very still. The Dane’s face was rugged and handsome but showed no emotion. It seemed like a long time before Tris dropped to the ground and began to wrestle her painful way to some sort of distance between her and her tormentor. It was a small distance but it was clear to Aria that the girl was now released and moving on her own. Aria lifted her dagger from it’s sheath as she drew a bead on the Dane’s heart. Some feeling moved inside her. She didn’t want to kill the Dane just yet. She was too angry to just kill the bitch and be done with it. For herself, she needed something more. With lightness and speed Aria moved down the tree to the ground and crept silently behind the occupied Dane. She raised her hand and brought it down full force, smashing the butt of her dagger hilt into the back of Dalton’s head. The taller woman dropped to the ground in a swoon.
Before Aria reached Tris a few paces away, Killian was at her side, jerking her back by one arm. “What the fuck are you doing! Why did you do that?” she spat. “You were supposed to kill her.”
Pulling out of the young Amazon’s grip, Aria leveled her gaze on deep brown eyes. “Listen to me now Kil” she said. “We are going to do what we came to do. Tris is hurt and has to be taken out of here fast. I don’t want you to argue with me about why I didn’t kill Dalton. You just have to trust me.”
“Trust you to do what?”
“To take care of my own business with this crazy bitch and to know what I am doing.”
“Does that mean you are not going to tell me exactly what you have in mind?”
Both women were pulled away from the discussion by the sound of moaning. Killian dropped to the ground beside the wounded Tris. She had more wrong with her than a burn on her thigh. Apparently, Dalton had been abusing Tris for all the time she was in her clutches. Bruises and welts, old and new, covered the sweet young body. Killian worried that there might be internal injury from the daily beatings. There was a bump the size of a hens egg just over the girl’s right eye. Concussion was more than possible. She did hate Dalton fiercely but could not focus on that just now. She looked up at Aria. “Help me get her to Flame. Stay and do what you have to do but know this… if you don’t kill Dalton yourself this time, all agreements are off. I will lift the ‘don’t kill Dalton’ ban and tell every warrior at the Lodge what has happened. Dalton will die one way or another.”
Aria helped lift the half-conscious Tris onto the black Friesian. She waved off the look of concern she saw in Killian’s face. She felt that she had to deal with Dalton once and for all, and she had to do it alone. When the last possible sight of the trio was hidden by the forest, Aria turned to gaze at Dalton. She went to her horse and uncoiled the braided rope from the saddle. She had her own fury, her own needs and her own ideas on how to satisfy those things. The Dark Dane would soon understand that she went too far. She would find out now, if she didn’t already know, that she had more than met her match.
********
After the surprise attack in her mind by that little Amazon of the Lodge and then a blow to the back of her head that felt like it could have split her scull, Dalton wasn’t altogether sure she wanted to wake up. But she woke, in spite of any hopes of blissful unconsciousness. The light that met her eyes brought searing pain with it. She slammed her lids down quickly and kept them still until she felt the breeze brush up against her naked skin. She had to open her eyes now. She needed to believe what she felt by seeing it. Dalton lay naked and spread-eagled, face up and tied to stakes driven firmly into the ground. Finding herself in this position was amazing enough. But more amazing was the sight of Aria, the beautiful assassin and sole object of Dalton’s mad obsession for love, standing over her, smiling wickedly and slapping a thick strap against a palm. The vision was enough to send her through the rest of her life without ever having to dream again.Aria’s own dreams often gave her the upper hand but never had they felt so satisfying as this reality. Perhaps it was the anger she felt or the need for vengeance that compounded her joy. The look of shock on Dalton’s face was priceless. Aria licked her lips provocatively and spoke in a low sultry voice. “Got a headache Dal sweetie? Want Mama to make it all better?” Before the Dane could think through the stun, the stiff strap slammed down across her naked breasts. The assassin pulled back and watched the welt raise while the Dane heaved and yelled. Aria smirked, “Oh come now, Dal. You can take it better than that. I mean a big ole brute like you ought to be a bit tougher, don’t you think?” Aria brought the strap down again.
Dalton could barely see the leather strap, it was moving so fast. Her breasts and upper thighs were covered with screaming red welts and still Aria whipped her. The braided rope that held her wrists and ankles rubbed viciously into her skin. She thought if she could only get a moment to think without pain, she could wrap her mind around Aria and capture her. But Aria would never be as easy as Tris. The Dane hated her vulnerability more than anything else. Even the pain of the strap was far less than the pain of her pride. How could she have allowed anyone such a position with her? But Aria was not just anyone. Dalton wanted the assassin to belong to her for months now. Each time she had the beauty it felt like more than she ever had before but still was not quite enough. Aria was like a drug to Dalton… seductive, pleasurable and addictive.
Aria dropped the strap and pulled in a breath. She looked down at this moaning woman on the ground. She felt her sex kick at the sight of the whipped woman, made helpless by her, made to suffer pain by her. Suddenly Aria dropped to her knees beside the writhing Dane. “Well, aren’t you going to say anything Dalton?” she asked. “Don’t you want to know what is next and why I am hurting you? Hmmm?” The blonde slapped Dalton hard. The sound of it and the sting on her hand felt like a small balm of vengeance. “Who say’s revenge isn’t sweet?”
Dalton saw bright spots in her vision from the jarring slap. She blinked them away and gazed up at the blonde. “I always thought it was sweet, Lady Aria. I know why you hurt me and I don’t really care what happens next.”
The smile dropped from Aria’s beautiful face. She stood up, still staring into those gorgeous dark eyes. “Really? Perhaps I can help you care” she said dryly. She threw a kick into Dalton’s thigh that would have broken the femur of a weaker woman. She pulled her dagger casually from it’s sheath and carefully laid the blade on the burning embers of the fire. “There now, when that is just hot enough, you will begin to care.” She moved back to the Dane and looked lovingly at the reds stripes on the strong, lean body. Aria’s gaze traveled to the patch of black hair so sweetly settled between those muscular thighs. Kneeling down, The Lady rubbed a hand over sore breasts. She squeezed hard until she heard Dalton cry out. Then, she caressed the hairs on the bound woman’s mound… rolling her fingers, she twisted the curls and yanked. Again she heard Dalton yell in pain. Long fingers worked slowly down to the Dane’s folds. The wetness there surprised and delighted the assassin. “So, you feel more than pain then” she said softly.
“For you alone, do I feel more than pain milady.”
Aria frowned at the unexpected reply. She rammed her fingers into Dalton and held them still inside the hot, throbbing flesh. She wanted to hate this twisted woman. She truly did try. She pulled back her hand enough to fit all of the fingers into Dalton’s wet opening… then her thumb. Her whole hand was sopping with Dalton’s cum. She shoved her fist up into the hot cunt, stretching it. Dalton stiffened and wailed in pain and ecstasy.
“Aaahhh… riaaaah!”
Aria fisted Dalton for just long enough to bring the Dane to the edge of climax and then drew her hand out. She wiped her wet hand on Dalton’s black hair. Memory of how this woman nearly tore her hair from her scalp jolted Aria. She gripped the tresses in her fist and jerked hard. The scream from Dalton was just perfect. The assassin leaned down until her face was an inch from the Dane’s and said. “My dagger glows red. Are you ready to care?” She looked into slate and bloodshot but saw so much more than color there. Drawn by an intensity of feeling she did not recognize and could not name, Aria fused Dalton’s mouth with hers in a deep, long kiss. Was she really in control? She began to wonder.
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Disclaimer: Dalton loses reason and has no boundaries. If you have issues about battery and violent sex, please don’t read this. Domestic violence and battery are not acceptable and I do not condone such behavior in the real world. This story does not take place in the real world however, and my own dark thoughts must be expressed. It is purely fiction. (This disclaimer is for you, young friend and for those who have suffered with you), Nessa -- As an addendum to this, Aria is turning on the Dane in this part and has little remorse for her actions. It is revenge and not too pretty.
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The blonde jerked away from the kiss. She would not betray her anger by melting into the lust she had for this possessed woman. Aria tapped her memory of her encounters with the Dane. She remembered the abductions, the whippings, the incredible indignity of being left naked and bleeding from Dalton’s whip only to survive and be raped another day. She remembered Tris and felt a sting of betrayal and guilt. Especially because she contracted with the half dragon to keep the Dane alive in secret when Ikarias would rather have sliced the bitch’s throat the instant she saw that Dalton’s fall on her own dagger did not do the job. Now Tris was the victim. Aria’s rage was renewed with these thoughts.Dalton lay bound securely by a woman whose skills she underestimated at least once before. Her mind swirled with images of a childhood filled with heinous abuse and neglect. Being tied down and tortured was not new but it was remote until now. As soon as she was old enough to become the abuser, she went into it with a vengeance. But that was so long ago and now the tables turned again. Dalton’s body had it’s own memory of the pain. She burned all over from Aria’s strap. She thought her scalp must be torn loose. Her insides felt bruised from the fisting. But she was incredibly confused by her feelings of desire. She nearly met with a booming climax at Aria’s hand. Why? The answer stampeded in on her already broken mind. It was because it was Aria. The Dane’s desire for the beautiful assassin never waned. She always twisted love and abuse together into one mass, impossible to define. Dalton watched Aria’s strong sweet body move to the fire. She saw her reach for the white hot dagger. A fear she never wanted to show crept up into her now.
Aria stooped at the fire and wrapped her hand around the dagger hilt. She glanced at Dalton’s face. She thought she saw a trace of fear in those slate eyes. She smiled and decided on a little interrogation. “So, why Tris, Dalton? Surely you could have picked on someone more challenging.”
“I was not looking for a challenge, Aria.”
“Oh? Then what? A rescue party perhaps?”
Dalton caught the insinuation. “You flatter yourself milady.”
“You misread me. Since you are the one who would prompt such a rescue, it is hardly flattering.” Aria spoke with distain. “It is Tris I cared about… not you.”
“Then why didn’t you kill me when you had the chance, assassin?” Dalton countered.
Aria came back to kneel beside the Dane. She brought the calescent blade close to Dalton’s face. “Because I am curious. I want the right answers now, Dal. Again, what did you want from Tris?”
“I wanted to own her. I wanted to claim her as mine… to fuck and to hurt and to kill if I wanted.” Dalton felt the heat on her face. “Will that answer do?”
Aria knew it was true. The Dark Dane was without conscience and rationalized her actions with explanations from her irrational mind. The assassin was too angry to have pity. She had her own capabilities for cruelty and a need to satisfy her vengeance. She brought the blade down to just above Dalton’s right breast and said coolly, “Hold tight sweetie. Mama’s going to own you now… gonna claim you, gonna fuck and hurt and kill you if I want to.” The dagger was razor sharp so the cut was even. The red heat cauterized while the blade sliced. Dalton screamed out with abandon while Aria carved a perfect “A” into the quivering breast flesh.
Screams and sobbing filled the forest air. The trees seemed shocked by the sound. Birds and squirrels were silent. But Aria was unmoved. It was done. She stood, gazing down at the now unconscious Dane. A dark mass of hair fanned out around Dalton’s head while little wisps stuck to the sweating brow. The blonde one allowed her gaze to linger and travel over the beautiful body. The angry “A” was swelling along with something inside the assassin that she could hardly stand to feel. That something was that Dalton the insane Dane held a place in her heart. It wasn’t love but it was something close to it. She wanted to remember this day, this hatred and this satisfaction. Aria pulled her shirt open and put the dagger blade to her own skin. Quickly and with teeth gritting stamina, she managed to carve a small mark of remembrance above her left breast. She lay over the Dane and pressed her wound on that of Dalton’s, mixing the blood. She did it without reason. In any case, she would not kill Dalton. She sliced through the braided rope at Dalton’s wrists with the cooling dagger. Aria mounted her horse and trotted into the forest toward home, leaving the unconscious Dane to suffer and contemplate. Once again, Aria did not count on Dalton’s insanity or the rage that came with it.
____****____
The cool stream swirled around Aria’s shapely thighs. One hand held her skirt bunched up and above the water while she cupped her other hand and filled it to splash the cold water over her face and shoulders. It felt refreshing. Water drizzled down her open shirt to wash over the wound on her breast. She stiffened at the sting and wondered what she could have been thinking. After all, she was aware that Dalton was not only crazy but that she had a darkness deep in her… a place where no light or vision could go. Aria determined that she suffered from her own temporary madness and now it was too late. How very right she was. Just as she brought her hand up again for another cool dose, her wrist was caught in the tight hold of the end of a whip that wrapped around it. Aria was yanked back and pulled to shore before she was aware of what had just happened. She scrambled to her feet and sputtered stream water. Dripping from head to the hem of her skirt, the drenched assassin blinked and unwound the whip from her wrist. She looked up into the burning eyes of the outraged Dalton.There was not a moment to run or to think before the Dane pounced on the disoriented bather. She grabbed blonde hair in one hand and the pretty throat in the other. She pulled Aria’s face close to her own and spat, “Oh little bitch, you should have killed me.” Squeezing a little harder on Aria’s throat, Dalton lifted the small woman off the ground. She turned around and tossed the beautiful assassin down. She watched as Aria clutched at her throat to gain breath and then attempt to get up only to slip on the gravel and fall again at her feet. Dalton grabbed Aria up by an arm and back-handed her hard enough to split the skin on a cheek-bone. Aria flew back and twisted around with the force of the blow. She landed face down on the gravel.
Without another second of hesitation, Aria’s fighting skills came into play. It was instinctual. She lifted her body up on all fours and threw a vicious kick into Dalton’s groin. She knew she hit the mark when the Dane yelled in pain. She pushed herself forward and into a run for the trees. But the whip curled around her again. This time it coiled at her waist and brought her to a stop that doubled her over. She felt a chill in her spine when she heard Dalton’s voice crooning, “Why do you run from me little killer? Don’t you want what I have to give you?” A swift pull from Dalton’s end of the whip bought Aria back to the ground and rolling.
Aria tried to remember where her dagger was, but she didn’t really have time. She felt her body lifted at the waist by one incredibly strong arm wrapped around it. She kicked and flailed wildly as Dalton took her to a clearing inside a circle of trees. She yelled obscenities at the Dane. She sprang to her feet in the instant Dalton threw her down. Twirling on one foot, she swung a bare heel into Dalton’s solar plexus. But Dalton was relentless in her fury. The next time that deadly foot kicked at her she grabbed it and twisted. She heard a satisfying snap as Aria’s ankle dislocated. Aria’s scream spurred the impervious Dane to further action. She took the advantage when Aria grabbed at her ankle in pain.
Dalton moved in and slipped her arm around Aria’s waist. She lifted her like a rag doll and pulled the wet skirt up to expose a beautiful panty covered ass. Tossing Aria over a very conveniently placed log, she drew one of the woman’s small wrists behind her and held it down hard at the small of her back. “You have been a very bad girl little bitch! You will be punished. This is just the beginning too. What was the order we agreed on? Let me see, I think it was to fuck… then hurt… then kill.” Dalton’s voice shook with rage. She put herself between the assassin’s legs and slammed her free fist onto Aria’s sweet panty covered cunt.
Aria felt like and infant under the strength of this dark woman. She realized by the mushy feel of her panties, that she was wet down there. Her assailant realized it too, because she ripped at her panties, clawing them to pieces. Suddenly she was being crammed full, opened terribly wide. She was lifted off her feet by the force of the fucking. It hurt so much and for so long, she came several times.
Dalton loved how Aria cried. The sound of it drove her lust up. She rammed hard again and again. Just before she hit her peak she stopped fucking and held the huge phallus still. “I don’t want to stop feeling this way little one, and I am sure you don’t want me to but… oh well.” Dalton pulled the phallus out with speed and force. She grabbed Aria and slung her off the log and onto the ground.
Aria’s head hit a stone. She was out cold for a while… she didn’t know how long but when she opened her eyes she was in the same position on the ground as when she fell. Her ankle throbbed and hurt like hell. She saw Dalton putting wood down on a fire and shut her eyes again, hoping the Dane didn’t notice. After a minute, Aria realized that her hands and feet were free. She would have expected that Dalton would have her trussed up from a tree limb by now. She heard boot-steps behind her. Opening her eyes she spotted her dagger, not more than three feet from her face stuck in the sheath where she left it before she entered the stream. The sound of boots stepping on twigs and earth faded behind her. Rising up on an elbow, she turned enough to see Dalton walking the peripheral of the clearing picking up pieces of wood. Aria acted. She scrambled to her dagger and pulled it from her sheath in time to draw back and toss it at the now advancing Dane. She was quick but sharp pain, the position of where she was and aiming at a moving target, caused the mark to be way low.
Dalton took the dagger in the muscle of her right thigh. She howled in pain and went down. But that was only for a second. Aria’s ankle was displaced and impossible to walk on. She was up and hopping toward her horse but Dalton was there first. The dagger was now out of Dalton’s leg and dripping with her own blood as she held it menacingly toward Aria. But instead of plunging it into the assassin, she leaped in front of her and punched her full force in the stomach. Aria doubled over. Breathing was not an option. She passed out again.
This time when Aria awoke, her hands were tied behind her back. Dalton was screaming at her. “I DO NOT BELONG TO YOU. YOU BELONG TO ME!” She felt a hard smack to the back of her head. Through her dizziness she heard more. “I WILL KILL YOU! YOU BRANDED ME.. I WILL KILL YOU!” The Dane pulled Aria over to lay facing up. Aria’s vision blurred with a renewed slapping of her already bruised face. The slaps stopped at last. She felt her shirt pulled open and then nothing. She shook her head to clear it. Through burning tears she saw Dalton’s raised hand curled around the dagger hilt, poised to plunge it into her heart. Aria pulled in a breath at her impending death. Then she moved her eyes from the blade to the dark slate eyes of her insane Dane. What she saw was a stunned animal, trapped in the cage of her own confusion.
Dalton was hell unleashed. She took many a wench to the whip and to bed. She killed her share of them in lust haze and walked away without remorse, never thinking of them again. But Aria was different. She wanted Aria more than any other. She was consumed by this little bitch and could never get satisfied. She walked like a phantom in the night waiting for a glimpse of the one who spurned her. Now she was scarred and branded by that very one. She was ready to kill Aria for the relief of watching her die. Then when she pulled the shirt away from the beauty to stab a naked breast, her eyes met with the mark that Aria cut into her own flesh. Dalton froze. The sight rushed up at her, nearly knocking her over with the force of realization. She lowered the dagger slowly.
Turning Aria on her side, she cut the ropes at her wrists. The hurricane was stilled. No force was left. Gathering the stunned and battle-worn assassin into her strong arms, Dalton carried her to the waiting horses. She lifted Aria up to the saddle with unbelievable gentleness and said, “You have much coming and you will get it. But for now, you must heal that ankle. Go home to your friends my Aria. You will remember what you have coming when you look down and see the mark on your breast. I will appear when you least expect me.” Aria was speechless. She might have found words if she tried but regarded her situation as a gift of the fates. Also, knowing the unstable state that Dalton was so often in, she thought it the better part of wisdom to be silent at this juncture. Dalton slapped the hind quarter of Aria’s horse and watched the bruised and beaten woman ride away.
Dalton opened her own shirt and looked at the “A” carved above her breast and cherished the sight. She never knew a woman to do such a thing. She had no formed idea of what it meant really, just that it meant something was between them that was somehow set and unchangeable. Did the “D” carved permanently into Aria’s flesh and the “A” carved into Dalton’s mean that the two were somehow bonded in some strange dark way? Dalton thought so. She would have killed Aria in an instant if she had not seen that mark, obviously done deliberately. If it was a moment of madness that compelled the assassin to cut herself in such a way and blend her blood with the blood of the Dark Dane, it was the moment that saved her life.
____****____
She was slumped forward in the saddle, rocking with the movement of the walking mare beneath her. ‘She must be unconscious’ Killian thought. ‘But at least she is alive.’ The ankle was swollen and bruised, that much injury was obvious. Killian couldn’t tell what else until the blonde lifted her head and the Amazon saw a face so battered, she hardly recognized her friend. “Aria!” she breathed aloud, breaking the psychic vision.
Killian rose up from the fur pallet she sat on in Nessa’s cave. She leaned down and pulled the blanket up to cover Tris and waited until she saw the lids flutter open to reveal clear hazel. She spoke softly, “I have to go for just a little while Tris. You are safe here.” Tris mustered a brave, faint smile and drifted back into healing sleep. The cave was the only respite Killian could find. It was impossible for her to continue on to the Lodge. It was just too far. Tris showed signs of internal bleeding and could not continue on horseback. Killian remembered this cave of Nessa’s and settled here for the rest they both needed. She thanked her Patron Goddess, Artemis that Nessa kept a store of healing herbs here. There was a small supply of dried meat and fruit and several full water-skins to sustain them for as long as they would need.
Killian left the cave and called for Flame. The Friesian mare trotted into view within the few seconds it took for Killian to center herself and get a psychic fix on Aria. They came upon the white stallion as he grazed in a clearing. Aria was sitting, propped against a large Cedar a few yards away. She looked ghastly with black and blue swelling over one eye, a swollen bottom lip, split open and bleeding. Her clothes were torn and she was without her boots. Killian walked up to her friend and shot a gaze to that swollen ankle. She determined immediately that walking would be out. Before anything, she wanted to be assured that there would be no more danger to deal with. She spoke loudly to the barely conscious Aria. “Honey, did you finish Dalton?” She watched her best friend attempting to register her question and then give a slight nod. Killian emanated psychic feelers all around… no Dalton. ‘Good’ she thought and set about getting Aria to her feet to mount the stallion.
Aria was so grateful for Killy. But she was weak from the beating and would have to thank her friend later. Her head hurt horribly and her vision was blurry. Sound came distorted through a tunnel so that when Killy spoke the injured woman could barely make it out. “Honey, who did this? Dalton?” She managed a nod and felt herself lifted. She didn’t remember getting on her horse or how they got to the cave. All she could remember was the soul-ripping pain when Killian re-located her ankle. Passing out was a blessing.
What would she do? Nothing. Killian asked and answered her own question. She could not leave these injured friends but they needed to get back to the Lodge for clean sheets, someone to spell her on the watch and food. Dried venison would sustain her but Aria and Tris needed broth. She doubted if Aria could chew at all with her mouth so swollen. Killian was in this thing to far. Without help, she could do no more than this. Damn that Dalton! It was easy to see that killing the bitch was hard. Aria was a talented assassin but Dalton was just plain crazy and mean. Tears came to her eyes when she thought of how hard Aria must have fought to get these injuries. She saw the “D” branded above her friend’s breast and thought, ‘It’s a good thing Aria already killed that inhuman bitch. I would be doing it now myself.’ Killian looked down at her two friends… both of them wounded to the point of incapacitation at Dalton’s hand. She knew Dalton was hard to kill. Hadn’t the Dane been left for dead before, only to appear again, wreaking havoc? Killian’s mind lingered on these thoughts as she stared into the tiny fire. It was all she had to warm them through the night and the only light in the cave. Suddenly the fine hairs on the back of the Amazon’s neck rose to the sensation of a presence in the cave.
As casually as she could, Killian wrapped a hand around the hilt of her dagger. Shadows danced against the cave walls from the flickering fire, making any movement impossible to detect. Her throat was dry as she slowed her breathing. Lifting her dagger out of it’s sheath, the Amazon stood and turned in one motion. She tossed the dagger toward the cave opening with all the force that was in her. Her heart sank as it pounded when she heard her dagger clink and clatter against stone. Holding her body in defensive stance, Killian waited.
“Not too friendly now is it little girl?”
The voice came rippling across the cave as a soothing gift. Killian took in a huge breath and cried, “Caitlin!”
____****____
The tall warrior caught her lover up into her arms and held her there for several moments. She was filled with gratitude and joy at finding her. Caitlin needed to be sure that this was real and that her Killian was unhurt before she allowed herself to feel or express the anger that seethed within her. Years of separation from the one who held her heart brought darkness to her life. Then to find each other again and have the bliss of their love restored, gave Caitlin a new sense of hope, a renewed love for life itself. When she awoke the previous morning, knowing Killian left on a quest that would no doubt be dangerous, she felt a fear unknown to her before.
She waited in anguish for a day and then alerted Klancy and the Kindred that she was setting out to bring Killian, Aria and Tris back.
Caitlin was tracking in forests and plains long before she ever started trading with the Amazons. She was expert at reading signs of travelers through the trees or on the trail. So then, it was not by accident that she found Killian’s black Friesian mare and Aria’s white stallion grazing outside the entrance of the cave.
Killian felt Caitlin pulling out of the embrace. She stood back, gazing into the blue eyes she loved. “I am so glad to see you Caitlin. You have come at the very best of times.” She said.
Caitlin looked down at the two injured women on the floor of the cave. “It looks like I could have been more useful if I had been with you from the beginning” she said firmly.
Killian caught the resonating note of anger in her lover’s voice. She knew all along there would be explaining to do. Still, she felt justified in every move she made thus far. She was sure Caitlin would understand and once they were out of this cave on their way to the Lodge, she would explain. But at this moment, she could only stand in silence under Caitlin’s imposing gaze.
“Tell me what happened Killian. Who did this to Aria and Tris?” Caitlin could see that the injuries to both women were serious. “How badly hurt are they?” she asked as she leaned down to get a better look. Aria was blinking in an attempt to regain consciousness. Her face was horribly swollen and bruised. Caitlin shot a look up to Killian. “Well? Answer me!”
The young Amazon stepped back as Caitlin rose to her full height and moved toward her. Those blue eyes blazed. Killian knew the look. It was anger and it was relief and some deep lust brewing in her tall lover. Killian caught her breath with the swooping thought of what was in store. Her whole body shivered with fear and anticipation. How she loved this fabulous woman whose presence made life exciting and full. She loved her own ability to submit… to assent that Caitlin was the boss. She could make that agreement precisely because Caitlin allowed her so much independent thought and action. But this was a line crossed. Leaving without Caitlin to rescue her friend was not a decision that set well with the taller woman. Killian thought she was sparing the warrior any more fighting or bloodshed. She decided that it was too soon after Caitlin’s own horrendous rescue to ask that she rescue someone else. Besides, Killian felt quite capable. Now she saw that deciding for herself was fine, but deciding for Caitlin actually took something from the beautiful warrior.
Caitlin saw the intake of breath and watched the sparkle in her young lover’s eyes shift from joy and relief into acquiescence and recognition of her mistake, along with it’s consequences. Caitlin softened. “We will wait until our friends are back at the lodge and healing between clean sheets before you answer to me. But make no mistake my lass… you will answer to me!” Her voice shook with the emotion she felt. Just then, the keen senses of the fighter rose in Caitlin. She swung a foot out and tucked it behind Killian’s knees to lift the lass off her feet and send her falling to the floor in one swift move. Caitlin dropped down as Killian fell in the split second that the dagger flew over, missing her head by a breath. Unsheathing her own dagger in a lightning flash of speed, Caitlin twisted around to meet the foe. But what she saw stopped any movement.
Aria struggled to get up on one knee when she heard the threatening tone of the warrior. Her delirious mind translated everything into another time and another reality. She saw Caitlin as a brutal fiend who could not be trusted with her Killy. Killian’s blindness in love would only get her beaten and possibly killed. Aria’s own state of being was most certainly less than able at this point. She missed with her toss somehow. She thought, “Fuck! I never miss!” She mouthed Killian’s name as she saw her friend melting into the blurring of everything and then nothing.
Killian and Caitlin rushed to Aria who lay in a slump, again unconscious. Together they worked to settle her into a comfortable position on her back. Both women kneeled on either side of the loyal assassin. They looked up from the beautiful face made grotesque by Dalton’s pummeling, and glared at one another in silence. Killian spoke first. “She will be someone to reckon with, Caitlin. She hasn’t trusted you since that night on the clipper when you lost your reason. She doesn’t believe that you would not ever really hurt me. She doesn’t know you as I do.”
Caitlin had no response. She already sensed Aria’s distain for her. She did understand it but knew of no way to change it. Just as she knew of no way to change the heart of Nessa who accepted her but stayed at a distance. Caitlin rose up and stood gazing down at the sweet face of the woman she loved more than life. She said softly, “We can ‘reckon’ with all that later. Right now, we have to get these women back to the lodge. I’ll make some litters and rig them to the horses.”
Killian watched Caitlin disappear from the cave and looked down at her two injured friends. She shook her head in silence and thought, “What will I have to do to fix this?”
____****____
Tris woke to the sound of some kind of soft scraping. She opened her eyes to rays of light jabbing through clusters of tree limbs above her as she moved. But how could she be laying on her back and moving too? Slowly, she lifted her aching head and got a glimpse of her own feet merging from under a fur coverlet. Rising up just a bit more she saw the source of the scraping sound in the two branches dragging at the end if her litter. She felt a cool hand on her face and looked up into Killian’s dark brown eyes. Killian’s soft voice urged her gently back down. Tris turned her head to see a twin litter beside her with someone else hurt and unable to do more than moan. She looked again at Killian. “Who is that Killy? What happened?”
“It is Aria, Tris. Be still now, we are taking you home to safety and rest and good medicine.” Killian answered.
“And food?”
Killian smiled. “Yes, of course sweet one. But it will be no more than soup for a few days” she said and thought Tris must be healing from the worst of her injuries to be thinking of food.
Tris delighted in the thought of chicken and vegetable soups. But back to the here and now, she wondered what happened to Aria. She had been unconscious for so long. Questions loomed in her eyes for the walking Amazon to see. Killian did see and talked to the injured little seamstress as she walked beside the two litters. She explained to Tris how she and Aria came to rescue her after the psychic vision that came to Killian when Dalton held her captive. Tris trembled with the memory of her time of torture and fear with the dark Dane. She listened quietly and then asked, “Did Dalton do this damage to Aria?” She knew it was true even before Killian told her. “Will she be alright Killy?”
“Yes. She is strong and one hell of a fighter. No one else could have killed that horror and come through it alive herself.” Killian said just as she looked up and gazed on Caitlin, riding ahead, leading Flame and Aria’s white stallion. The two horses were rigged with the litters that carried the precious cargo back to the Lodge. Killian watched how Caitlin’s straight, strong back moved with the gentle sway of her walking mare. She felt bone tired. They would break the forest soon and come to the meadow that surrounded their beloved home.
Tris settled back into sleep and dreamed fitfully of Dalton. The way she moved and talked was branded into the girl’s mind. But more than that was the look of mad fury in the Dane’s eyes.
Dalton’s Fury
Aria could only open one eye since the other one was swollen shut. Klancy’s voice came through the tunnel of her consciousness. It was strong and gentle, in the exact way she had come to know the courtly warrior. “Alright lass, I’ll be carrying you to your bed. We’ll get ye some clean bed clothes and hot broth. You’re safe now lass.” Comfort and a sense of safety washed over Aria. Suddenly the fear and the pain and the deep sadness within her welled up into tears that spilled down her face. She nestled her head into Klancy’s strong shoulder and sobbed. Never had home felt so good.Caitlin carried Tris to Nessa’s room and stood cradling the lass while Killian knocked at the door. They waited only a moment before the door swung wide open. Nessa ushered them in and directed Caitlin to her big feather bed where Caitlin laid the girl gently down. “What in Brigit’s name?” queried the Celt.
“Dalton” Killian answered simply. She watched Nessa’s grey eyes go dark and quickly said, “Aria saved you the trouble Nessa. She killed Dalton.”
Nessa swept her gaze down at her sweet Tris and back to Caitlin. “Thank you for bringing her home.” She felt the tension between them but couldn’t change it just yet.
“You are most welcome.” Caitlin said graciously. She scooped Killian’s hand into her own and led the way out of Nessa’s room and down the corridor to the room they shared. Killian had some explaining to do and Caitlin was ready to hear it. She wondered if the wide leather belt was still hanging on the back of the door.
____****____
Just as she came up to their door, Caitlin felt the little hand slip from hers. She turned around to face the anger that sparkled out of Killian’s eyes. They stood in silence looking at one another there in the corridor, both women feeling the air between them vibrate with emotion. The hours of traveling through the forest and the hard days before that, wore deeply.
Killian felt like she was about finished with Caitlin’s punishing silence. She hated the silence more than a whipping. She wanted to know what was jabbing at Caitlin that made the warrior brood like a sullen child. The silence just left her to guess. Plus, she didn’t like being pulled along the corridor like a dog on a leash. She made the first move, reaching around Caitlin and shoving the door open. Sarcasm sprouted from her being. “Let’s both walk through the door like adults, shall we?” She stepped in first, leaving Caitlin to fend for herself.
Still standing outside, Caitlin watched Killian tread to the middle of the room and turn around. The Amazon was a storm brewing in a beautiful body. But it was a storm Caitlin would quiet. She was curious to see how far her lover would carry the insolence.
Killian folded her arms in front of her and said. “Alright. You haven’t said one word to me since we left the cave, Caitlin. Oh, and how dare you pull me by the hand like a child? Why do you think you can act like such a bitch and not explain? Why are you so angry?”
Caitlin stepped into the room. Pushing the door behind her, she stood leaning back against it. Her voice was softer than she felt. She chose her words. “I have always known you to ask multiple questions before getting even one answer.” She moved slowly toward Killian as she spoke. “First, I think I can act like a bitch without explaining anything because you think you can leave me asleep while you go off on some hair-brained rescue mission that turned out to be more danger than you could handle by yourself. So then I pull you by the hand as if you were a child because your behavior was childish. And last, I am angry because you did not consider me or what I would go through when I woke to see that you were you gone.” She stopped moving and stood looking down into Killian’s face and waited.
After the emotional mountain climbing of the last three years, staying above a depression that would have sunk anyone with a weaker heart or a lesser faith, Killian felt a caving in her soul at Caitlin’s words. The floodgates to everything she held back was about to break. Soft brown eyes turned hard. “Try to think back Caitlin, I know this may be a strain for you, but try anyway” she said without hiding the invective tone in her voice. “When you were the object of rescue, was it hair-brained then? Was it childish then? I was not by myself then and I was not by myself this time. Aria is the best assassin alive. She was hurt badly but she is going to make it. I left without you because I was thinking of YOU and all you had been through. Once again it is all about you and what you need and how you feel and what you want and how upset you are! And by the way, you have no idea how much danger I can handle!”
Killian rose with her rage, a rage she wouldn’t look at until now and now it was too big for her. It expanded with every word she spoke as the volume got higher and higher. She felt like she allowed some hellish part of her to take over. She never would have dreamed of smashing her fists into Caitlin’s chest if she was in control of herself.
Caitlin was astonished at the intensity of emotional pain and the fury that came from Killian. Why didn’t she realize before it came to this that her lover needed healing and understanding? Why did she think the trials of the past three years were hers alone? She realized at that moment that this was not just ranting. Killian made sense and Caitlin would have some real listening to do. But now the Amazon was in a frenzy of rage which was whirling out of control fast. Caitlin fell back from the force of pounding fists. She caught Killy’s wrists and held them but the screaming continued. She had to stop it now. She let go of one small wrist and slapped the love of her life.
Killian’s head reeled back. The slap had a sound that cracked through her own yelling and seemed to echo through the silence that followed. She was stunned but she felt herself shaken at the shoulders and suddenly Caitlin’s face came clear and close.
“Killian, that’s enough!” Caitlin barked. She watched out for more movement or yelling but all she saw was her beautiful Killian’s face reddening from the slap and a look of muted agony from tearing brown eyes. Quickly she pulled Killian close and held tight. She spoke into her ear softly now. “Killian I understand. You are right.” The smaller body collapsed against her in relief. Killian cried for a long time as they stood there.
Caitlin knew what Killian needed to purge this pain. She made the decision that they would sleep first, talk second and then she would assert her position with her partner. She would do it with love, a firm hand and a belt.
____****____
After the slap that broke Killian’s hysteria, Caitlin held her precious Amazon for a long time. Kisses and wiping away tears and more kisses and soft talk from Caitlin calmed Killian enough for sleep and then to wake agreeing to civil conversation. They sat together, face to face and talked about the events and the feelings each of them had since that life-changing day when Caitlin was captured by the Persians who enslaved her for three long years.
Caitlin learned how Killian found her beloved horse, Dancer lying wounded in the forest and how she had to end the faithful animal’s misery with Caitlin’s own sword left bloody on the forest floor. She learned how Killian searched for her and how the young lass’s hope bled from her with each empty step. Killian talked to Caitlin about the fear and the faith that stayed with her throughout the years.
Then, Killian spoke about the peace and the love she found at the Lodge. She told of the acceptance she found there. Killian left out nothing. She talked of Klancy as a mentor and a champion and a friend. She talked of how she covered her loneliness and pain with the antics of a sprite for a long time and that it worked well for her until the untold grief that lived inside her was seen by one who saw her as the woman she truly was. That one was Nessa.
Caitlin had to hear this. She had to hear about the friendship between the two women. She had to hear about the warlord, Tantalas who attacked and whose henchwoman, Slaid, held Killian captive, raping and torturing her until Nessa could get there to save her. She had to hear that Nessa told the lass that she was in love with her. Caitlin did not doubt Killian’s love for her but it did feel like a pebble in her boot that another held a part of her beloved’s heart that she could never have.
Killian could see the hurt wavering in Caitlin’s eyes. She lifted a strand of hair away from that beautiful warrior face and said softly, “Caitlin, you have always been my heart… finding you again was all that mattered to me. Nessa knew this and even through her own desire to have me, she risked her life to help me get you from the hands of the Persian dogs.”
Caitlin smiled slightly and said, “It is easy to see why you would love her, Killy. She is loyal and true as a friend.” Then she leaned down to kiss the soft lips she loved. After a moment she pulled the lass’s shirt down over her shoulders and away from her arms. “I want you to stand still for me while I undress you. We have talked and understood each other. Now it is time for me to do what I must and what I want, so that I may show you my place with you. Do you understand?”
Killian did understand and said so. She had some hope that this might be delayed until the morning but knew it was inevitable. Excitement pounded inside her as Caitlin slowly stripped her. She stood naked and waiting obediently as Caitlin walked around her, taking in every beautiful curve. She lost a little of her resolve to be quiet when she saw Caitlin head for the door and the strap that hung there. “Couldn’t you just spank me Caitlin?”
“Yes. I intend to give you a spanking. But the strap will be handy for the whipping.”
“No, Caitlin.”
“What?” Caitlin turned her tall body back toward the naked girl and raised a brow. “’No’ is not acceptable Killian. “Now you will be whipped twice before I put you to bed.” She watched as Killian held back a retort she was sure to be sorry for. “Want to try for a third?”
“No.” Killian’s eyes were glaring at the floor. She stood like that while Caitlin strode to the wooden chair with the tall back and sat.
The taller woman dropped the strap to the floor beside her. She felt a surge of heat when her young lover jumped at the sound. “Look at me Killian” she said firmly. “You are mine, but you are not my slave. Come lay over me now, I want to redden your bottom and don’t hesitate.”
Killian felt the slick juice between her inner thighs as she walked and stopped at Caitlin’s side. Without a word or a look at her lover she laid across Caitlin’s lap and offered her hand for Caitlin to hold down at the small of her back.
It was too compliant somehow. Caitlin always knew her girl to be more resistant than this. She held Killian down and quickly pushed two fingers up into her sweetheart’s center.
“Aaaah!” Killian yelped in joy and surprise. It felt so good to have Caitlin pushing her fingers into her. “You like this don’t you baby?” Caitlin crooned.
Killian felt such heat. She rocked her ass up to meet Caitlin’s fingers “Oh yes Caitlin, yes” she panted. This position always seemed so naughty for getting fucked. Disappointment flooded her when what she thought was the beginning of another thrust never came and Caitlin pulled her fingers out. “Aaahhrrrrr! Groaned the naked lass. “Why did you stop honey?” She said.
“Because you have to earn your fucking.” With that Caitlin slammed down hard on Killian’s perfect round ass again and again. She was never one to count how many slaps to give or to worry about the yelping that came from her Killy. “You want to be fucked, Killy?” she asked as she spanked.
Killian was in an ecstasy of pleasure and pain. She loved how she could give herself over to Caitlin. “Yes please, Caitlin.” She cried. She felt the slapping stop as Caitlin’s big hand rubbed all over her sore bottom.
“Ooooh baby, your ass is so red for me. Does it hurt sweetie?”
“yes” Killian sniffled.
“But is it enough?”
“Yes, it is enough, Caitlin… please fuck me now.”
“No” Caitlin said simply and resumed the spanking. “You are to understand that I can say no to you, but you will not defy me.”
“I understand Killian wailed. Please stop!”
Caitlin stopped and looked at her beautiful love laying so submissively over her lap. The red bottom was going to be scarlet before she was finished with it. Killian lay sobbing. Caitlin reached down for the strap on the floor. “It is time for your first whipping, Killian and this one is to teach you that you do not make decisions without me again.” The lass began to protest but the strap was whipping on her ass before she could finish a sentence. Caitlin whipped and instructed Killian at the same time. “Open your legs baby girl, I am going to whip some tender parts to make your fucking feel even better. Come on now, open up or it will be worse.”
“Ah, no please don’t!” pleaded the naked lass but she opened her legs as instructed. All down her thighs, inner and outer were welted now from Caitlin’s strap. The wetness between her legs made the sound of the strap hitting her skin seem even sharper.
Dropping the strap Caitlin pulled Killian up and sat her very sore bottom down on her lap. The lass wriggled but Caitlin held firmly. “Put your arms around my neck and keep them there,” she instructed. “I am going to fuck you right here and your sore bottom is going to be rubbing against my leather pants as I do it. Now open your legs baby.”
Killian tucked her head down into her warrior’s shoulder and opened her legs. Her bottom was on fire. She held her arms tightly around Caitlin’s neck at the first feel of strong fingers entering her. One strong arm held her around the waist while At least three long fingers pressed into her and began to rock her back and forth. The effect of this was exquisite. The soreness of her bottom rubbing against leather and the thumb of Caitlin’s fucking hand pressed on her clit, brought her to a height she had only known with this one woman. Caitlin moved her arm and lifted so that Killian’s breasts were close enough to her mouth tho suck them. Hard nipples got harder as the warrior sucked and fucked her darling at the same time.
It was all too much for Killian. “Caitlin, I have to come, I have to come” she cried.
“Who do you belong too?” Caitlin whispered.
“I belong to you, Caitlin! I do, I do…. Aaaaaaahhh… aaahhhhaaa!” The climax was intense enough that Killian lifted her whole body up as Caitlin’s fingers held still and hard up into her. Killian’s body went limp and Caitlin removed her fingers. She cradled her naked lover in her arms and stood. She carried her precious love to the bed and laid her down. Killian was barely aware of Caitlin undressing. She was in a swoon of ecstasy seldom known to her.
Caitlin climbed in next to her lover and whispered. “You are tired now and so am I, but do not forget my love, You have another one coming.” Caitlin held Killian close all through the rest of the night. She pleasured herself and demanded pleasure from Killian. No one would ever be more to Killian than she. She would be talking with Nessa soon, that much was sure.
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The End - Interception - by Nessa
