A Tale of Revenge Ch. 04

But then a sharp pain tore through the haze he had created. She cried out, in surprise as much as pain. It felt like something small and hard was crushing her nipple. She wanted to scream at him, to beg him to remove it but she held back. She knew he could sense it, that the pain was working its way deep inside her, fanning the flames that never should have been there in the first place. Why did this affect her so? She felt her core clench, her arousal cooling against her intimate flesh as it met the night air.

His mouth descended on her other nipple. She wished she could stop her body from responding, but it felt so good. The warm, soft, wet caress on one breast stood in clear contrast to the aching pain in the other. Another moan escaped her as the coiling pressure settled in her lower belly. His mouth disappeared and she braced herself uselessly. The pain shot through her again, this time straight between her legs. She felt the pressure rise, her body calling out for release.

For a moment she hung there, the pain in her breasts throbbing with her overly fast heartbeat. It seemed to pulse through her, straight to her core. Oh gods she wanted him to touch her, to fill this void she felt opening up between her legs. She felt perched on the edge of a cliff but he left her hanging there for a long moment.

Fingertips traced her inner thigh. She bit her lip to keep from calling out with relief. She needed him to touch her again, as he had before. He continued unhurried up to her core.

"My, my,' he said as he stroked her lightly, too lightly. "Aren't we a greedy little girl?"

Please! She shouted in her head, knowing he could hear her. He just chuckled and withdrew his hand. She groaned in frustration.

Pain flared across one of her breasts coupled with a sharp slap. It happened again on the other before she could even understand what was hitting her. With the third strike she realized he was whipping her. The leather straps came down again on her breast and she whimpered. The pain wasn't terrible. In comparison with the whip he had used on her back this was barely a tickle. But her overly sensitive skin meant each strand left a fiery strip of skin beneath it. She tried to twist away, to stem the onslaught. He struck her almost gently, her breasts, stomach and sides kissed by the multi-stranded whip.

Just as she felt she could handle the sensation, the straps came from below and slapped at the flesh between her legs. Then she did cry out, from surprise, pain and, gods help her, relief that something had finally made contact with her throbbing core. Again he hit her right breast, and then again between her legs. The straps struck the wet skin and it stung. She almost sobbed. Again her left breast, flicking the nipple clamp, making her moan. Again against the heated flesh of her core. He alternated, keeping her guessing where he would strike next, the soft leather meeting more and more sensitized skin every time. Finally it seemed like her entire body was calling out for release, for someone to release the pressure that had become unbearable. Anna thought she might go insane if he struck her again, or worse, if he didn't.

The flogger struck her hard between her legs, hitting her clit and making her shriek as the pain shot upwards. Twice more he hit her in that spot and she screamed her release. All the prickling and burning in her skin seemed to wash over her in a great wave, sucking her under as her body released the pressure into spiraling pleasure. His hand was between her legs, stroking her, driving the sensations further and harder. She thought he might be speaking to her but she could hear nothing as she began to feel lightheaded. A hand on her breast released whatever had been clamped onto her and she screamed again as pain blossomed through her orgasm. His mouth was back, soothing the tortured nub. His hand between her legs kept working and she thought she might die if he didn't let her be. Her peek went on, buoyed by the release of her other nipple and his soothing mouth. The pleasure became painful until finally his hand slowed and stopped.

Anna was limp in her binds, her muscles watery and her head spinning. The blindfold was gone and so were her restraints. He caught her before she fell, holding her to his chest.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" he said, scooping her up off her unsteady feet. She looked up into his face, too caught in the afterglow to feel the usual self-loathing that came with finding a release at his hands. He looked back at her. She couldn't tell if he actually wanted a response but she had none to give. She closed her eyes and mumbled something, her brain jumbled from too many sensations. She heard him give a self-satisfied sigh before she felt squeezed by his magic and he was placing her back on her bedroll, somehow back in her discarded garments.

This time it took less than a moment to fall asleep.

*

Anna felt jolted awake. She looked around at the unfamiliar campsite feeling discombobulated and exhausted. Why was she awake? Her body felt sore and oversensitive. She was dressed again in her shirt and undergarments. She looked down her shirt at her breasts, which were still aching. The skin was normal but her nipples were a decidedly darker shade than they had been yesterday. Don't let Dev catch you staring down your shirt, she thought to herself, looking around for her missing companion.

It was then that her tired mind registered what had caused her to wake up so suddenly: the sounds of a fight not far off. Cursing as violently as she knew how, Anna stumbled to her feet. She grabbed her bow and quiver and was about to pull on her pants when a cry of pain cut through the trees. All thoughts of modesty forgotten, she ran in a mad dash towards the sounds.

She notched an arrow as she ran, praying she wouldn't be too late. Cruel laughter grew closer. Up ahead she could just make out a man laughing and raising his sword, below him Dev held up a bloody hand, as if that would ward off the blow. Anna raised her bow. The man's laugh was cut off by her arrow in his throat. She dashed towards Dev, emerging from the trees at his side, facing the nine remaining men, a second arrow notched and drawn.

Their laughter died as their companion fell and all eyes went to the girl standing before them in a man's shirt, her hair in wild curls and dark eyes flaming with anger.

For a moment, all was quiet. Then three of the men leapt towards her across their campsite. Three arrows found three targets, though with enough foresight to make them non-lethal. They each lay on the ground, howling in pain. The others started edging in, swords drawn and ready. Anna drew three more arrows, keeping two in her hand as she notched another. She could hit them all before they got to her but something made her pause. This didn't have to be so hard, and surely one of them would die from his wounds.

"Stop," she said, pulling the dark fire inside her to the surface and weaving into her word before it left her mouth. They all halted, compelled to stillness. Their faces were frozen but their eyes danced wildly. She felt a smug sense of success. She lowered her bow. Time to change the fates of others.

She approached the first man who looked at her stricken from his frozen face. She placed her hand on his cheek in a tender gesture. She used her sight to see his past deeds. "You like stealing more than killing, skulking in the back while others do the dirty work and you get the first chance at ransacking the dead's belongings. From now on when you touch another's belongings in ill intent it will cause you pain. You will never be rich and you will live the rest of your life begging for the mercy of others as you so often ignored the pleas of those around you. When you sleep, it is all you will hear and you will wake knowing why you are condemned."

With that she bound the man to her curse and turned to his companions, she could feel them fighting against her magic, struggling to move. She simply clamped down on the threads of fire holding them in place. Anna set off again, cursing them each in turn, judging their deeds or inactions and finding appropriate sentences. She left her arrows in the men who had earned them.

As she reached the last man his eyes burned in hatred. His face had been the most cruel, the most menacing of the attackers. Her arrow still stuck out from his inner thigh, blood seeping from the wound. She crouched slowly so they were eye level. She didn't touch him as she had the others but looked into his eyes. She had barely begun, being overwhelmed at his crimes—murder, rape, rampaging through children and the elderly with gleeful satisfaction. She looked at him in disgust.

"You are the hardest of all. I can't seem to think of a punishment that would answer your crimes." She looked directly into his furious eyes, reveling in his anger and powerlessness. "You will never raise a hand against another in violence. You will be defenseless and impotent." She could almost feel the rage coming off of him. "You will be compelled to tell the truth and when asked, you will confess your most hideous crimes to be dealt with as the local justice sees fit. You will have no haven, no safe place. All who see you will know what you are and all will despise you. And I will take your anger," his eyes softened even as she spoke, "and replace it with the gnawing emptiness you left behind you."

Feeling satisfied, she turned back to Dev, intending on helping him back to their camp. She was met instead with his wide, frightened eyes as he tried to crawl away from her. Her head started pounding from her new use of magic, making her short tempered with his discomfort. She approached him and knelt at his side. He raised his arms to shield his face as if she were going to curse him as well.

"What are you doing?" she hissed at him, not wanting the frozen soldiers to hear her.

"Please," he whimpered.

"Please what?" she snapped, her anger getting the better of her.

"Please don't hurt me," he said from behind his arms.

"Don't be an idiot." She had lost all patience with the boy's fear. She turned back to the soldiers. "You have a day to remain like this. When you can move again your fates will be forever changed. You will never be able to speak of us or what happened here." With that she grabbed Dev's arm and lifted him onto her shoulders. He groaned in pain and fear as she bore him back to their campground.

Anna dumped him unceremoniously on his bedroll when they reached it. He curled up around a wound on his side. He was pale with blood loss but still trembling in fear more than anything else.

She took a few moments on her side of the fire, putting on the clothing she had discarded in her haste. Her hands trembled with frustration at his reaction to her. Had she not taken him on when she didn't want to? Had she not promised to help him avenge his family as well? Some part of her understood his fear at her unprecedented display of magic. He had thought himself rather worldly from his travels but he had never seen anything like her. At the same time, she couldn't help feeling hurt at his fear and mistrust. She steadied her breath and noticed her hands were still shaking.

She turned back to Dev, whose eyes were now closed, his hands red with the blood from his wound. She cursed again and knelt at his side. She hadn't noticed how badly he'd been injured. She put her hands over his chest and reached into his body, feeling the extent of the damage. She could heal him but it would deplete her completely. She would be dependent on him to move them today. This brought her pause. Could she trust him? Should she? He thought she was some kind of monster now. She couldn't be sure he would help her anymore.

Bandage him and leave him, a voice inside her head said, he won't help you now that he knows what you are. But something deeper held her there. Anna didn't want to be alone. Dev seemed to be her connection with people. Though he was bent on the same path of revenge that she was, he also grounded her firmly in the world around them, keeping her from getting lost in her own head. How could she run now when she finally had the ability to save him?

"Dev," she took his face in her hands. "Dev!" she said louder when he didn't respond. She shook him. His eyes snapped open. He focused on her face; the look he gave her went from relief to fear under her watchful gaze. "You are badly hurt. I can heal you but it will drain me completely." His eyes rolled closed, she shook him back to wakefulness. "You need to promise me that you will get us both out of here when I am done." He kept looking at her like he didn't quite trust her. "Please, Dev," her tone changed from her usual hard edge to something one might almost describe as pleading. "Promise me, so I can heal you."

Dev looked at her again, searching silently. He licked his dry lips, as if trying to say something but he gave up. He simply nodded his head. That would have to be good enough.

Anna placed both of her hands over his chest and drew on the black magic inside her. She pulled it through her hands and forced it into his body, willing it to heal his wounds and restore his strength. At first it happened slowly, but as she sat there the fire rapidly began to spread through him, licking his wounds till they closed, flooding his veins and bringing his mind back to full wakefulness.

Anna felt herself growing constantly weaker as he grew stronger. By the time she had finished, the world was swimming and blackness was edging in on her vision. Finally she broke the connection with a gasp and sat back from him. Dev sat up, eyes level with hers, no longer pale and weak. She attempted a small smile but what she saw was not the face of a grateful friend, rather the look of someone whose fear was rapidly becoming a much uglier emotion.

"Who are you?" his voice was harsher than she'd ever heard it.

"I'm Anna," she said, her head starting to pound so loudly she was having trouble hearing.

Dev stood up and began to back away from her. Anna couldn't even find the strength to pick her head up to look at him. "Dev, don't," she started but the darkness closed in, the pounding got too loud. She felt her arms give out beneath her and the forest floor met her face. You idiot, the voice said as she faded away.

***

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