Cursed in Darkness Ch. 01

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Kourtney encounters a witch who curses her.
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Part 1 of the 4 part series

Updated 06/07/2023
Created 09/09/2013
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Once upon a time in the small Village of Neverwell there lived a girl. She was not powerful, or beautiful. She wasn't anything remarkable really. She was a simple plain girl. Her name was Kourtney, but often times she refused to go buy her full name and requested that those around her call her Kourt. There weren't very many people in the village, there were at least two hundred. Kourtney was complacent with her small lifestyle. She enjoyed visiting the Town well or talking to those being punished in the stocks. There were three guards who worked the town, but there wasn't really a need for them. There was only one man who was known for being locked into the Stocks. His name was Johnny, and there was always something he did that would make Kourtney blush or shy away from him, but she always had to find out what it was that got him locked up in the first place. He was probably one of the real friends that she could consider she had, though their friendship was rather awkward at times. She lived a few streets away from the business part of the village where the stocks and well stood. She worked with the cobbler near her home. Jensen was a rather inviting man who had large tufts of grey hair that donned his head. He was more of a father to her really. When Kourtney was little her parents had died while trying to protect the village from the river overflowing. It flooded large parts of the city and they had drowned in the process. That same river that now babbled gently outside her house reminded her every day of their sacrifice. The rains that year were far too heavy, and since then the town had never been the same. At least that is what Jensen said to Kourtney almost every day. His mind was starting to fade with his old age, and Kourtney had practically taken on the entire workload of the cobbler all to herself. It didn't bother her; in fact it kept her mind busy and prevented her from idly sitting by and waiting for life to happen.

She yawned and stretched as she looked out the wooden shutters that hung off the edge of the small house she lived in. Her parents had a very small amount of money they left her with. She never had Godparents, so she was left to survive as a small child moving from place to place. Luckily everyone got to know her, and she was an accepted part of the community now. It bothered her at first when she attended classes and the other children mocked her for being alone, but she grew used to their teasing and took it quite well. When she finished with studies like all the other students she moved on to start her lifetime job. She had been with the cobbler now for almost nine years. The boys her age didn't even seem to notice her anymore. Once again this little gem wasn't overly beautiful, but she was cute with small freckles across her nose and shoulders. She hardly wore dresses that exposed her shoulders, but every so often the Cobbler would find a gown that he had wanted to get his now deceased daughter. She had drowned in the river a few years back. The pain of him losing his daughter had brought the two of them closer together. The Cobbler and Kourtney both shared tragedy with the small body of water, and they both had a mutual distaste for it. So when he would smile up at her and call her Lindy and hand her a new dress, she felt terrible to turn him down. She would put it on and parade about the shop for him bringing tears of joy to his eyes. After a few hours she would change back and he would have forgotten about the whole thing.

Kourtney wiped her hands on her eyes trying to get rid of the dream that had overcome her while she was sleeping. Her mind was racked with horror when she realized what had been going on. She dreamed that one of the people in the town had tried to seduce her and she was then put in the stocks in the center of town completely nude for ignoring the man's requests. The dream wasn't normal though, normally when someone is put in the stocks they make fun of them or throw things at them. This time the people in the town caressed her skin, and touched her making her moan out in pleasure. Kourtney's face flushed and she quickly stood up from her bed. She had avoided sexual activity at all costs. In Neverwell if a child was caught touching herself, she would also locked in the stocks for a day. She would then have to wear a sign around her neck for a month that made her stick out as menace to society.

Kourtney climbed off her bed and quickly donned her dress, smoothing the ruffles over her middle. She was thin and small; her chest didn't fill the garment out nearly as well as Missie's did. That girl was always wearing low cut dresses that exposed her shoulders. It wasn't practical for work, though Missie would never have to even lift a finger to get anything. Most of the men would fawn after her and give her the world if they could. Missie was a year older than Kourtney, but the two didn't care for one another. Kourtney was always more willing to fix it herself and not rely on others; also Kourtney had caught Missie with two different married men on different occasions. It wasn't shocking to Kourtney that she saw the woman kissing a man behind the pub at the north side of town, but what was more shocking was when she saw the woman performing fellatio services for the local blacksmith. He was a big man and from what she could see Missie had difficulties with pleasing the man all the way. Kourtney slapped a hand to her head trying to knock the image out of her mind. Why was her mind suddenly riddled with thoughts of perverse actions? She shook her head back and forth and quickly slipped her feet into the soft worn slippers she had by her door. The cobbler had offered to fix her a new pair almost every day, but she didn't want to distract him from his small amount of work he could perform.

He was far more talented than she, but with his mind slowly fading he could only finish one pair of shoes a day. She had put herself in charge of mending shoes that customer brought in. Often times she would find herself among a pile of at least fifty or sixty pairs that she had to have done by the weeks end. The townsfolk never complained about her work, aside from Missie. That damn girl always thinks that she can get whatever she wants by the wave of her hand, Kourtney thought to herself angrily. She looked back at the room behind her and admired the soft blue walls. It was a very small space. There was a small copper wash basin that she had to fill by hand when it came to cleaning herself up. Her bed was small and made from goose feathers she had collected herself. The ropes were sagging under its weight and she decided that she would have to fix up the bed in the next couple of days. She stepped out and grabbed the basket hanging from a hook on the front of her home. The light spilled gingerly on her soft warm skin and she firmly pulled the door closed behind her. She wasn't wealthy enough to afford one of those fancy locks that some of the richer people were starting to put on their houses, but most people left her place alone. She had only caught one person wandering about touching the walls saying how they missed her parents.

Kourtney turned on her heel and made her way toward the city center. It was shaped like a large wheel, each street was like a large spoke on a carriage. She lived on the west side of town, and the cobbler sat within at least one hundred paces of her place. She had decided to buy a few things before she began mending shoes this morning. As she walked she got a few nods from her neighbors that were sitting on their small stoops smoking their pipes and sharing wines. It was early morning, but most of her neighbors were well enough to do that they didn't have to bother with work until later in the evening. Some of them even had children that paid for their lifestyle. Kourtney would give anything to live wealthily. She had heard of the Castle that lay north of their village. There was a king and queen that ruled their country, but she had never seen the palace walls. She had actually never seen anything further north of the city than the bridge that crossed the small river that she so despised.

She gently made her way along the path, trying to avoid the small clusters of people that were out and about. There were a few couples holding hands and walking the streets together talking with one another in soft whispers. A couple of girls giggled and kissed the shoulders of the men escorting them.

"Well well, if it isn't our little lost one." A familiar smoky voice sounded from the edge of a house. Kourtney already knew who it belonged to. She didn't want to look the girl in the eye so she kept her focus straight ahead and kept her pace, "Looks like someone is in a hurry today. My my, how rude is that?" She said laughing. Kourtney turned her chin up to the sky and gripped the handle of the basked in bother her hands angrily.

"Good morning Missie." She said through gritted teeth. The girl nestled up next to Kourtney's shoulder pressing her ample bosom into Kourtney's view.

"Have any big plans today?" She asked. Her voice hinted at some impending arousal that made men fitfully bite at their mustaches or cover their faces as they blushed. This woman was insatiable, "I know that something... big is going to be coming up for me later." She said airily giggling to herself.

"Plan on visiting the smith again I see." Kourtney said poignantly. Missie lifted a hand to her bare cleavage as though she was shocked.

"Why I would never in my entire life, you little tramp." She made a sound of disapproval and turned on her heel walking away proudly from Kourtney. A few of the passersby had heard Missie call her a tramp, and they gave Kourt a few feet distance. Her face went red with anger and embarrassment and she tilted her head back down to stare at the cobbled path in front of her. She nearly tripped twice from being so titillated by that horrible woman. Kourtney's hands began to wring back and forth and the handles of the basket and she heard an audible squeak of protest rise from the wicker. She rounded the corner and found herself standing in the Villages center. It wasn't a large village, but normally it took her longer to get from her house to the center of the city. She walked towards Maurice's. The man had a small farm up north, and he would bring a wagon load of produce and eggs in every morning to sell. He worked with three other men, and each of them was as filthy as a pig. Luckily Maurice was a businessman. He didn't like to chit chat much, aside from keeping a good face with the public.

"Maurice, I need a few eggs and some tomatoes." Kourtney said looking up and down at the fresh food he had lining the wooden table. It wasn't quite a building that he worked out of; it was more like a moving cart that he would let sit in the city center. During feast day festivals at the palace he would round up the supplies and head north for a few days. The city had to plan accordingly for the change of supply. Kourtney had learned to live off of very little, and didn't keep extra food at home for fear of someone stealing it from her while she was away. Instead she would take moments like this to prepare a small meal for Jensen while he idly told her stories about his daughter. He had a great deal of stories about how she used to love to play with homemade dolls that Maurice would bring in from the palace. Jensen was careless with his money, and didn't put much back into his business. That is probably another reason Kourtney wasn't very rich. Jensen would miss paying her two or three weeks at a time because it had slipped his mind.

Kourt handed over a few copper for the food and made her way around the well that stood proudly for all to see. It was always rich and full of water and, according to legend and stories from older townsfolk, it would never run dry. It had been there for at least two hundred years, and, once again according to the older townsfolk, there had been a drought that caused the servants of the kingdom to collect water from its depths. Kourtney found that ridiculous. Often times the men would say it was cursed to be ever flowing by a witch.

"Curses are used for bad things, why would a witch curse a well to never run dry?" Kourtney questioned out loud as she watched it from the corner of her eye. The entire thing was preposterous.

"Why do people always think that the word Curse means it is bad?" A man's voice said from over Kourtney's shoulder. She nearly dropped the basket she was carrying and turned to see who had spoken to her.

"Oh Lem you nearly scared me half to death." Kourtney said raising a hand to her chest feeling her heart beat against her hand furiously. Lem was the healer in town; he had cured hundreds of people from a very bad fever that ran through town a few years back. That helped him set up shop and buy a plot of land to build up a new business. He soon after built an attic and he moved in upstairs. He said he didn't want to waste precious space, and so he lived conservatively for the other villagers. He was a handsome man, in his late twenties. He had thick brown hair that fell over his forehead and covered the tips of his ears. Kourtney had to look up at him because he was almost a head taller than she. He wasn't muscular, but he had a sturdy build.

"It's good to see you Kourt. How are you fairing this morning?" He asked Kourtney helping her with the basket that hung limply in her hands now. She reluctantly gave it over and he started to walk with her toward the cobblers shop.

"I am fine, and you dear sir?" She asked, adding a fake formality to her tone that made him blurt out a sharp laugh. He was handsome, but Kourtney didn't have time to spend frolicking off with men. She had to help out poor Jensen. He was old and frail, and losing Kourtney would probably send him into a depression that not even Lem could cure.

"Thank you for that jest, I needed something to pick up my attitude this morning. You see I had to evaluate Johnny this morning. He is back in the stocks, and this time for something extremely peculiar." Lem said touching a hand to the small patch of hair that tufted out under his bottom lip. It was probably by far the man's most unattractive feature, if he would just shave it.

"What happened this time?" Kourtney found herself asking idly watching as Lem twisted the hair in his fingertips gently.

"He was caught..." Lem looked around as though what he was about to say was truly terrifying. Kourtney's heart began to race and she felt her face grow white with discomfort, "He was caught fondling himself in public. He claimed that a witch had helped him become more..." He cleared his throat, "more of a man if you understand what I mean." Lem said raising his eyebrows and rolling his eyes down to his waistline.

"More of a man. That is disgusting, and fondling himself in public..." Kourtney said trailing off thinking back to her dream of being locked in the stocks in the nude. Her face reddened and Lem looked down at her.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have shared that information with you, it isn't something a woman with your composure should hear." He said straightening and handing her the basket. He gave her a brief farewell and made his way back to his shop. Kourtney felt her cheeks still glowing red from the shock of what she had heard. Johnny wasn't mentally unstable, so why did the guards have Lem examine him. She felt her heart leap into her throat. She turned and made her way towards the stocks. They couldn't be planning a lobotomy or something of the sort to cure him could they? It took her a few minutes, but Kourtney arrived panting a bit from her quickened pace. She tried to catch her composure before walking up the stone steps to the platform where the stocks sat. She wiped her brow, pushing her brown hair from her eyes. She gently walked up to the stocks and saw Johnny looking at the ground entirely defeated. He was groaning with each breath he took. He legs danced back and forth and he wiggled his elbows as though it would help him get free from the hunched position he was forced into.

"Johnny?" Kourtney asked stepping up beside him. The man tried to look up but couldn't from the wood pressed against his back. She stepped back off the platform and tried to get at his eye level. The villagers seemed to be avoiding the stocks this morning. Anytime someone was locked in they would instantly come and see what was going on, or they would find time to ridicule the person locked inside.

"Ah it's you Kourt. I'm glad to see yer around dis parts again." He said with his rough accent. It made Kourtney feel far more sophisticated than he. That didn't matter to her though. Johnny was one of her friends. He was a good man, but because of how poor he was he had a hard time staying out of trouble. People just misunderstood the man. He had curly dark hair that fell shaggily down his back, and grey stubble was donned by his sturdy shaped chin. Clothing was torn and ragged, and his feet were bare covered in the filth of the streets. She tried not to make too much effort to look him over, but she felt herself blush when she thought about what it would be like to wash him clean and dress him in proper attire.

"Why are you in here Johnny?" Kourtney said reaching into her basket to see if there was something that she could offer him. She reluctantly grabbed out a stock of Celery she was going to save for her luncheon stew that afternoon, but Johnny looked as though he was starving. She broke off the leafy part of the stock and made her way up on the landing offering him a piece of the vegetable, "I know it isn't much but you should probably eat at least something."

"Yer always a good person there Kourt, I am glad that we be friends." His eyes were a rigid black and his brow was in a constant Furrow. The man was like a stone, so strong... so powerful. Kourtney felt herself shudder and she leaned against the stocks holding the food for him to eat. He took a few bites and quickly swallowed trying to get more of her offering into his body as he could. She smiled to herself as she looked across the hub of her Village. It wasn't the most fantastic life, but it was something else wasn't it? When Johnny finished with the stock of celery that Kourtney had offered him he let out a long sigh of relief, "It has been a while since I was able to get somethin in me stomach besides some bloody berries. Thanks lassie." He said trying to lift a hand to shake Kourtney's. She placed her fingers gently against his and he closed his thumb. It was a gesture they had grown used to using since he spent so much time locked up.

"You still have yet to answer my question..." Kourtney reiterated sitting down on the edge of the landing.

"Ah... yer want to know about me foul deed... I can promise yer it don't be very pleasant." He said closing his eyes and hung his head low in the stocks.

"Its okay Lem told me some of it; I just want to know why you did it Johnny." She said leaning back and patted his calf reassuringly. His muscles were tense and Kourtney could feel the thick grooves that made up his muscles in his legs. She felt herself blush again and quickly released his leg. Why was she getting so flustered today? She had always avoided things like this and wasn't some giddy girl.

"Ah... the good doctor. Okay well here goes. Yer see I was havin troubles with me downstairs recently. I've been... unable to raise the flag if yer know what I mean." Kourtney's face went crimson and she nodded not looking back at Johnny, "Anyway I was followin the trail that do be down along the south part of town. While I was wandering around lookin for things to eat a lady with dark black hair dressed in black walked up to me. She talked about how the weather was so hard on such a fair skinned woman. I then noticed her eyes. They were white. I mean... all eyes are white, but the color part was edged in black and covered with a white. It do be hard to explain." He said swinging his head back and forth.

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