Disclaimer: All characters in this work are over 18.
NB: in early modern English, ‘thou’ and ‘you’ have about the same connotations as ‘tu’ and ‘vous’ have in modern French, indicating intimacy, rank, and respect.
Despite the whipping, the horses of my carriage would travel no further. My two guards scouted the forest which bordered the path, but could find nothing which justified the horses’ fright. I banged my white knuckles against the seat, as my breaths hissed between my teeth. Did not these foolish beasts know a human life wavered between this world and the next, the life of my greatest friend and equal, Lady Katherine of Chirenshire? When we last parted she told me that should she not see me in a month’s time, then I, and only I, was to search this forest.
‘Whip the horses,’ I ordered my two guards, ’till they fear thee more than the air!’
‘It willn’t work, Lady Haversham,’ said a guard from outside my carriage window. ‘The horses obey neither word nor whip.’
‘Then make them obey, sirrah,’ said I. ‘It is the world’s way. As I obey my husband, and he obeys Queen Elizabeth, and she obeys God–so shalt thou obey me, and, in obedience, make thy horses obey thee.’
‘With due respect, milady, philosophy can-nay sway the beasts,’ said he, with a tone I would have to discipline later. Later, when Katherine lay safe again.
‘We must go by foot,’ said the other guard.
For Katherine’s sake, I set my feet upon dirt, and trekked forward, my guards on either side of me. After the path had eroded from stone, to dirt, to nothing, we spied a manor, not palatial, but large enough to please a comfortable merchant. But what kind of comfortable merchant would make his home in the least travelled pit of a forest? Who, but some abductor who did not want to be found? Katherine lay manacled and abused within, I was certain.
I ordered one guard announce me to the master of the house. An hour passed without his return. I ordered the other guard enter, and after hesitation, he did. He did not return.
As I stood there, I realised that a noblewoman in a forest, with no one around to respect her position, and no guard to defend her person, is just a morsel for wolves and brigands. To go inside the building seemed little wiser than staying put, for whatever detained my guards could incapacitate me. The carriage awaited a few yards behind, but I had no skill at horse driving.
What doubts divert me from duty!? Am I not a noble Christian trying to save her bosom friend? We explored each other’s souls so oft, slept beside each other so oft, kissed so oft–what were these friendly testaments worth if, at the slightest threat, I scampered to my horses and away from her. I went to the open door of the building, and peered in.
Something large crawled up my back to lay on my shoulder. My fear erupted into a scream. A black cat leapt from my shoulder into the entrance hall. Like a haughty squire, the cat looked over its shoulder as it trotted, gesturing me to follow it. The cat led me upstairs, down a windowless hall. We stopped at an open door.
Within was a dimly candle-lit room, with two chairs facing each other in its centre. There was a cough, and I realised that on one of the chairs was not shadow, but a black-robed figure. From its size, it must have been a withered stump of a man.
‘Sit,’ said the figure with a crow’s croak.
I did not obey. Was this offal of humanity Katherine’s abductor?
The figure repeated its order, and at my silent refusal, it said, ‘Slaves, make my guest comfortable.’
From behind, on either side, two men hoisted me up by my arms, dropping me into the chair opposite the dark figure. Once I was seated, the men held my forearms down to the armrests. I looked at them both, at those who had the plebeian temerity to manhandle a Lady of the Realm. They were my guards, blank-eyed. I yelled at them to come to their senses, but they made no response.
Again, I looked to the dark figure opposite me, and realised I faced a witch.
Seeing my squirming fear, the witch tittered, chuckled, then guffawed. The black cloak burst open, like a rose blooming all at once. Brown-skinned feet hit the floor, as a black head shot up, revealing (far from a shrunken crone) a beautiful Moorish or African girl, not much older than me. Spare the cloak flowing behind and beneath her, she was naked, bountiful breasts bare, and full thighs spread to reveal her, her, Nothing.
If I was to descend to Hell, let it be by torture and not temptation. This witch had read my mind, my tossing dreams, my wandering fantasies about dalliances with my own sex, with servant girls, with noblewomen, with Katherine, Katherine, Katherine!
‘State thy purpose,’ said the witch, in a deep, commanding voice.
Her impertinence tamed my fear by prodding my anger. ‘Thou dar’st to “thou” me!?’ said I, struggling against my traitorous guards. ‘It is I who “thou”; thou need’st “you” me, thou Medean cur!’
The witch cackled. ‘I shan’t “you” thou, but I shall “use” thou. And thou shalt call me, “Mistress Lorelai”.’
‘I shall call thee what thou are: Witch! Witch!’
‘Thou speak just like Kitty spoke.’ Lorelai clapped. ‘Mead, Kitty!’
From the darkness, a woman wearing a cat-masque emerged with a platter holding two mugs. I knew she was a woman, for her servant’s livery concealed none of her feminine attributes, bearing all, spare her face, shoulders, and feet. She knelt between me and Lorelai, gave her mistress a mug of mead, before holding the other mug beneath my nose. As the guards did not release my arms, I could only smell the mead’s thick, warm odour.
‘Kitty,’ cooed Lorelai, before taking a gulp of mead. ‘Reveal thyself to my guest.’
Kitty removed her masque. Despite the darkness, despite that face’s bovine blankness, I knew it was Katherine’s face.
‘Thou ensorcelling slut, thou diabolical trull, thou deceiving putana, thou, thou, witch.’ I meant to yell at Lorelai, but the mead Katherine wafted into my nose eroded all my vigour. It was some witch’s brew, made to degrade me to Katherine’s state. ‘I, I can resist thy spells.’
‘Thou could’st,’ said Lorelai, ‘but why resist a spell so sweet?’ She poured her mead down her face and chest. She pushed Katherine away, and bent over me, her mead splattered breasts, her mead suffused breath hazing my mind.
‘Thou, like Kitty,’ said Lorelai, tousling Katherine’s hair, ‘shalt rejoice when thou soon shalt kneel.’
‘I will never submit to thy charms,’ I spat.
‘Mine eyes are up here.’
When I shifted my eyes from her breasts to her eyes, I regretted it immediately. Her breasts were full, but her eyes contained stars.
‘Won’t, won’t break,’ I protested.
‘Silly girl,’ said Lorelai. ‘I shan’t break thee. I shall bend thee, take thy mind, like hot iron, and bend it round my wishes.’
She had cast devious witchcraft upon me. Why else would my lap stir so, and my mind yearn so, to let my will bend in her hands.
‘Close thine eyes.’
No, no… I am a Lady of the Realm, obedient to her husband, her Queen, and her God–not to a sensual, dominating beauty. I won’t let her control me, I’ll just blink to freshen my eyes, blink slowly, slowly, closed, mmm. And now I opened them, feeling refreshed, and, and, this was not the room I closed my eyes in. I was in a bedroom fit for nobility.
And I was naked.
I wanted to cover my shame, but my hands refused to move from my armrests, though my guards were nowhere in sight. The air surrounding my wrists and ankles had the strength of iron.
‘So vulnerable.’ Lorelai spoke from behind my chair. ‘So powerless.’ Her breath on my ear sent shivers down to my Nothing.
‘Witch,’ said I, remembering my place in the hierarchy of creation. ‘I give thee this chance: obey and release me, else I shall send merciless knights to thy hut.’
‘Thou shalt what?’ giggled Lorelai. ‘How shallt thou help thyself, if thou canst not even–‘ She snapped. ‘–keep thy legs closed.’
My thighs spread open, revealing my womanhood. Some debauched part of me wished she would give me more orders, so I may obey without question or thought.
‘Kitty, Kitty,’ called Lorelai. ‘I’ve laid out a saucer for thee.’ A meowing came, followed by Katherine crawling towards me. Just as the blushing heat of her face radiated upon my burning thighs, Lorelai grabbed Katherine by the neck. ‘No, no, Kitty. Thou mayn’t drink the milk whilst the table is dirty.’ Lorelai licked my neck’s nape. ‘Let us clean.’
Lorelai lunged for my chest, and, as I half-expected fangs, her soft kisses doubly thrilled me. She kissed like a mad portraitist stabbing her brush above my breasts, too, too far from my hardening nipples. I needed to preserve my noble dignity by at least a show of displeasure, but I feared any such show would make the kisses stop. But- but of course, I wanted them to stop! I readied a scream, but a bolt shot through me, from the sole of my right foot, melting my scream into giggles. Katherine lapped at my foot, the centre of my sole, and between my toes. (Even as a cat she remembered my ticklish areas.)
No, no, I am a Lady: I do not just laugh when her bewitched best friend debases herself licking my feet, while a foreign-witch–Ah! Oh! Lorelai’s tongue circled my nipple, lapping over it, sucking on it. Giggles and moans jostled for passage through my throat. A tantalising helplessness overcame me, the helplessness of being weaker than my own sensations. I had to resist, but as I was helpless, I submitted, submitted to ride in my deliciously disobedient body.
Katherine’s tongue moved up my calf, tickled the back of my knee, before reaching the region where all laughter turned to moans. From her tongue circling my dampening O, Katherine stoked a blaze, a blaze which fed itself. If this Inferno be my punishment for succumbing to temptation, then let me burn, burn, burn-
‘I don’t deserve to cum!’
Their tongues retreated, with my orgasm in tow. When I cooled, I realised the scream was mine, or, at least, from my throat.
‘Mistress,’ the word tumbled from my lips.
Lorelai cupped my chin. ‘Good girl,’ she cooed. ‘Thou knew’st such treats are for good pets, and thou have been a rude, disobedient beast.’
‘I have been a rude, disobedient beast, mistress,’ I could not help saying. The shame that inflamed my cheeks, I wish it arose from being forced to say something so humiliating, but, no–I felt shame because I wanted to be meek and compliant, not rude and disobedient. More words came, but these were only half-unwilling, ‘Please make me a good pet, mistress.’
‘Then swear obedience to me,’ she said. ‘Obedience more than thou grant to thy husband, thy Queen, and thy God.’
That was too much. But, but if I abandoned my home, my nation, even my God, how good a pet will Lorelai value me? With just one ‘yes’, I’d have the blissful life of a pampered poodle. No! I was not some wanton whore, who would burn the earth to stoke her lascivious fire.
‘No,’ said I.
Lorelai smiled as she stroked my hair. ‘Shall I show thee where I put girls who chose as thou chose?’
She ordered me march, and I could not but trudge to my own scaffold. Down the corridor we marched, with Katherine crawling and mewling behind. Lorelai told me to stop before a large door, which she heaved open. Powerless to even shut my eyes, I had to watch my purgatory reveal itself.
A large, fenced paddock, so large it took me time to realise those creatures inhabiting it were not animals. Crawling about, frolicking, barking, mooing, hollering, rolling in puddles, eating from troughs, snoozing on bellies, chasing each other, were girls of my age.
‘Have fun.’ Lorelai slapped my arse.
I waited for my body to move, only to remain stood still. My fingers, my arms, my whole body, moved at my will. I had broken the spell! I turned to Lorelai, and bellowed, ‘Does thou think a ruff-ined lady will lowerrr herself to beastliness. That arf-ter my resistance I would bark down. I defy thou to make, mark, m-arf, arf, grrrr.’ My legs wobbled. I tumbled to my hands and knees. I wanted to hurl abuse at Lorelai, but all that came were more barks.
I could have barked all day, but something brushed my bum. I spun around to see a dog-girl, nose extended. The indignity of having my arse sniffed stunned me such that I could not recoil when she licked my face. A hiss sounded from behind me, as Katherine slashed her paws at the dog-girl. The dog-girl growled and bared her teeth. She and Katherine circled each other, hopping and feinting, readying for the battle which would decide who’d get me as mate.
The other beast-girls grew curious. A crowd thickened around the battle, with some cat-girls, dog-girls, tiger- and monkey-girls joining the melee. As I had no desire for a mate, and less for an injury, I crawled into the crowd of spectating beasts. A hefty, oinking girl stopped me, head-nudging me back into the fray.
Well, if this be my destiny, I would take it like a noble bitch. I barked at the lot of them, which cowed some, but fuelled others. Three piled on me, but Katherine aided me in batting them off. I pinned a tiger-girl, and readied to scratch her face off, but found my hands curled into fists. I tried to punch her unconscious, but when my fist reached her face, I could only brush her cheek. I bared my teeth, but my lips shut, and I ended up kissing her ear. All attempts at violence became playful intimacy. As I looked around, I realised, the battle was a tussle, a play-fight between pets. Their howls and growls did not betoken anger, but a sport-man’s passion.
Was this my punishment? Was this a punishment? I looked to Lorelai, who was grooming the hair of a monkey-girl. Lorelai smiled at me, knowing I’d discovered the obvious truth: this was fun.
The tiger beneath me flipped me over, and pawed at my tummy. I gave mock groans of anguish, before turning the tables and nuzzling her neck. For the next hour, or day, or instant we played.
‘Menagerie!’ Lorelai called. Our bodies knew what she meant, for we trotted into a line. After kissing us each on the lips, Lorelai said, ‘Thy rest has ended. Wash and dress thyselves, and get thee home. Until next we meet, dream of thy mistress.’
All the girls, spare I and Katherine, departed into the building. I did not move, could not. It didn’t matter, for she had not told me to move, and if I was to do anything, it would be in obedience. Lorelai called us over, and we, like affectionate cat and dog, rubbed our heads against her legs.
‘Thou sweet pet,’ said Lorelai, tickling my chin. ‘Thou likest being called “thou” now.’
I growled in pleasure.
‘Good pup. Kitty knew thou would’st like this as much as her. After all, she suggested thy taming.’
My eyes, lidded with pleasure, snapped open. Blushing Katherine averted her guilty eyes. My best friend had betrayed me into a witch’s clutches. A beautiful, dominating, intoxicating witch, but, but, oh, God, Lorelai was a witch. Had I failed a divine test?
Lorelai ordered me stand, and said, ‘Thou are thinking unpleasant thoughts. Pour them into my ear, and out of thy mind.’
I looked into her brown eyes, not wishing to displease her, but I had to ask, ‘Won’t I go to Hell, for succumbing to thy- your witchcraft?’
‘Witchcraft!’ laughed she, a lovely melody which melted my taut muscles. ‘I admit I masquerade as Hecate, but just to make thy mind ripe and ready for picking. An facilitating ambience, but entirely natural.’
‘But my horses,’ said I, ‘your cat familiar, your transformation from crone to beauty, and the control you have over me.’
‘I grow herbs horses hate,’ she said. ‘I don’t want just anyone trotting up and disturbing my maidens.’ Her hand wandered from neck, over my breasts, to between my legs. ‘For those I do want trotting in, comely lasses like thyself, I keep a trained cat ready to guide them. And I know its cruel, but I do like seeing a bit of shock and awe on thy faces, so I curl into a ball, speak in a funny voice, before revealing my lovely self.’ She rubbed my Nothing, and I didn’t bother containing my mewls. ‘And as to how I’m controlling thee, well, think of it like medicine: thou may’st not understand it, but trust that thy doctor knows what thou need’st.’
From the way she kneaded and explored me, she certainly knew what I needed. Her free hand wrapped around my neck and pulled my forehead to hers.
‘Thou need’st rest,’ Lorelai said. ‘Thy type, a perennial portion of those with power and privilege, can only rest when made weak and servile. Thou deserve rest, and–‘ Her nurtures quickened, grew firm, liquifying my legs. I clung to her as she pushed me towards orgasm’s cliff, pushed, pushed, till I toppled off.
I groaned into her neck, shuddering away a day of cumulating arousal, exploding like a match had hit stockpiled gunpowder. When the mind-obliterating pleasure passed, I found my head in Lorelai’s lap, looking up into her eyes.
‘I tempted thee earlier, offered thee this consummation,’ she said, massaging my temples, ‘if thou renounced home, country, and heaven. But thou refused. Good. I have no use for disloyal dogs.’ She smiled, so I did too. ‘Thou need’st better guards. I but kissed their cheeks, and they promised to lick the devil’s backside. Such half-rate men shall remember none of me or my home.’
‘Will, will I remember?’
‘Oh, of course! How else could’st thou return in a moon’s time?’
I was about to thank her, but she pressed her finger to my lips.
‘But! if thou try’st to speak of me to any one, then thou shall forget the way to me, and all of me, except that thou did lose a loving mistress.’ Her stern face softened. ‘If thou wish, however, to invite another overstressed maiden, then ask thy mistress first.’
Oh, I knew so many friends, and relatives who needed relaxation, perhaps even a Queen.