Witch-Goblin

Rose couldn't recall a lantern or a candle in her grandmother's old cottage. She couldn't recall how her grandmother got all the logs she needed for winter, even late into her life. She couldn't even really recall how her grandmother got enough food. That's why Rose baked bread, so that Grandmother would always have it. And wasn't there that one raven that always hung around?

No, she still couldn't believe it. But it WAS true, wasn't it? The rest of Amplestand never talked about it, but they may never have known. Grandmother was a Witch.

Rose looked at the dough. She had kneaded it far enough, perhaps a bit too far. In fact, it looked a bit discolored. Wait, dough shouldn't be discolored now, should it?

Before Rose's very eyes, the dough began to shrivel and blacken. Plump, pale uncooked dough curdled and shrunk, its flesh cracking and drying up. She tore her fingers away from the vulnerable blob, and the cracked blackening slowed and stopped.

The unnatural withering was centered on the dimples where her fingers had been. In those pits, there was the white spiderwebs of mold.

Rose looked at her hands. Her fingers and wits were shaking. The tips of her fingers were untouched and clean, but there was an awesome tingle there. Her grandmother had been a witch, and it may very well be that Rose herself was one as well.

***

It was getting well past dinner-time by the time Rose saw the Witch-Goblin's cottage again. She had rushed right out of town and straight through the forest, trying to remember as best she could how she had come upon the curious cottage. She walked right up to the door and knocked heavily on it. As before, it opened of its own accord. The fireplace was lit, its warm light glancing across the untold strange bottles. "Kryss?" Rose called out.

"Just a moment!" Kryss called out. Within a minute, the towering pointed hat came tottering out of the door behind the counter, and Kryss popped into view.

"Back for your basket?" Kryss asked, "I'm afraid that Squeakums has eaten most of the contents, the furry little glutton."

Rose felt the weight of idiocy fall upon her. She had left her basket behind, food and all. Well, that had already happened. There were more pressing things right now. "Kryss,' Rose said, "am I a witch?"

Kryss looked thoroughly puzzled. "You better explain. Come on in, I've got tea."

Kryss passed through the door, and Rose followed her, ducking to avoid a knock to the head. The room over was small, but filled. A bookshelf was pushed against a small bed, its shelves containing only a few odd volumes, but making up for it in strange knick-knacks. The wooden floor was covered in a large old rug, its edges frayed and torn. A squat little table occupied a corner of the room. The fireplace also opened into this room, and a tea kettle was standing on a metal stand over it. A squat little table occupied a corner of the room next to the fire. Rose's basket had become part of a nest under the table and she could see a crumb-laden snout poking out of it.

"Right then," Kryss said as she took two cups from the bookshelf, "What's this about?"

"Things have been happening down at Amplestand. Strange things that no-one can explain. We found out about you, and Mr. Clarker, he's the burgomaster, asked me to find out about you. But when I got back to the village, I was kneading some dough, you know, just to calm down about my grandmother, and it dried up and got moldy underneath my very fingers!" Rose found her words tumbling out of her mouth, "Is being a witch hereditary?"

"I think so?" Kryss said. She put the cups on leather pads on the table and picked the tea kettle up. "Well, my mother was a witch, technically, but she never went that rout in all her life. My grandmother was a witch, but from all accounts she went at it half-heartedly. Beyond that, though, everyone in my mother's line had to have been a witch. It's part of this hereditary knowledge thing my family has going. But I'm not a good example because of that. I think Witchery is something you can be good at, but it's not dependent on who your ancestors were."

Kryss poured out tea into the two cups and offered one to Rose. The cup was puny in her human hands. She stared into the murky, steaming liquid. "Am I a witch?" she asked again, her voice shaking.

Kryss slurped noisily from her tea cup and looked at Rose. "I got a feeling that way, but I'm not going to call it definite."

"Why not?" Rose asked as she looked up from the tea cup.

"I've never met another witch. I just know that they exist, and where some of them were," Kryss said with a shrug. "I mean, yeah, I'm good at this stuff, but I've got the knowledge of generations behind me. I lived in the city all my life, and that's not where you find witches. Wizards, perhaps. Maybe sorcerers and warlocks and mages and mystics and whatnot, but witches are people who live out here!"

"What can I do? Is there any way to stop it or put it on hold?" Rose begged.

"Being a witch? I'm sorry, but if you're as much of a witch as you think you are, the only thing you can do is learn! That will teach you about what you're doing, and ways to stop doing it, but the only way out of this rabbit hole is further in," Kryss admitted, before taking another sip, "And your tea is getting cold."

Rose sighed and took a drink. The tea's warmth poured through her, carrying with it the prick of peppermint and tangs of sweetness. She stopped, basking in its taste, and took another, deeper drink. It flowed through her like the spring wind. It was as if flowers bloomed to the tea!

But... what should she do now? Rose didn't ever think that she could be the root of the town's plagues! It shouldn't be her! She was just a bread baker! She'd get married, and have children, and... and be like everyone else! She'd keep on baking bread until she was, what, 80?

Her mouth suddenly soured. It didn't take witchery to see her future. An indistinct husband she never would really love. Children she'd bear because it was demanded of her. She didn't know why, precisely, but she'd seen other young women, older than her but quite beautiful, get married and have children. They just became trapped, like being stuck in a bog.

The bread would always be there for her, thankfully. Rose couldn't think of any reason to abandon baking. It was part of who she was! The flour, the dough, the kneading, the rising, the baking, the final loaf, it actually mattered! It helped people out in a way that getting married wasn't.

Still, being a witch. No, becoming a witch. "What do witches do?" Rose asked.

Kryss had finished her tea while Rose was thinking. The cup clinked as she set it down. "Well, anything you want to, really. I mean, everyone's heard of the wicked witches, and I'd never even dream of becoming one of those bitter old crones. You also got your good witches, who help people. But I've always been me. Never quite helping people for one reason or another, but I'm not going to hurt them, either. Being a witch is just like being a goblin or a woman. You can be anything you want to be, even if other people say otherwise."

Rose looked back into her tea. It had cooled off now, unfortunately. She could see herself reflected in the small cup's contents. 18 years old, responsible for uncounted trickeries and blights, yet capable of taking her life into her own hands. She took a sip of the now-tepid tea, sifting its sweetness over her tongue. "Can you teach me to become a witch?" Rose asked, her voice shaking slightly.

Rose smiled, her eyes gleaming with delight under calico hair and wide hat brim. "I was hoping you'd ask."

"Where do we begin?" Rose asked.

"Well, with you going home, for starters. What do you think would happen if a young woman visited the 'Witch-Goblin' and didn't come back? Telling people that everything's going to be all right from now on is the most important thing," Kryss stated.

"I guess you're right. What if it gets worse? The excess witchery, I mean," Rose said.

"Then you come right back here. Besides, you should come as soon as you can, or find convenient. I'm in these woods now, and they'll always do good by you," Kryss said.

"Thank you," Rose said. She got up and left the cottage.

Kryss waited a few moments, her ears tracking the creak of wood, then the click of stone, then the fading rustle of grass. After Rose was out of earshot, Kryss shot her hands up in the air and let out, "Whoo! I'm not alone out here!"

Squeakums popped one irritated beady eye out of her nest.

"Sorry, Squeakums. I'm not going to forget you," Kryss hurriedly added, patting the oversized rat on her head. Squeakums popped back into her nest in a huff.

***

Warm lines like strings of fire stretched through Rose's hands into the web of thread and stones she had woven between her fingers. She was sitting on the floor of the back room of Kryss' cottage, just a week after Kryss had agreed to teach her. Kryss herself was sitting on a stool a bit too tall for her, munching down on a cake Rose had brought.

"Yup, just like that! You got it down pat!" Kryss encouraged Rose.

In Rose's hands was a visualization of flowing power. Her fingers and the stones tied to it anchored the display into shape, but it really didn't resemble anything. It had taken her days to figure out how to both feel and then project the warm lines that tied her to the string construct. "What is this supposed to be?" Rose asked.

"It's your magic!" Kryss cheerfully said.

"My magic? It kind of looks likes a spider's web!" Rose scoffed.

"Trust me, it's the shape your magic naturally wants to take. It exists in you and around you, like many crisscrossing streams in and out of the forest." Kryss clarified. "Everyone's got some kind of invisible magic web like this, but they aren't very strong at all. We were right to teach you about this stuff!"

"What can I do with this?" Rose asked. She played with the web in her hands. No matter what she did, it'd slide back into the same crossing pattern! She could feel the string tug at each other to realign itself though the warm threads she projected into the web.

Kryss finished off the cake and brushed off her fingers. "Well, it gives you an idea of yourself, and if magic needs anything, it needs you being you."

"So, if I concentrate," Rose began, "I can eventually do something with this pattern?"

"You can extend it and shape it, but it'll always come snapping back to that position," Kryss said, motioning at the pattern. "From what I know, that's the most basic level on how magic works."

"Hold on, this isn't making much sense. How does Witchery work?" Rose asked.

"That's all connection-based," Kryss said, "If you get your magic to touch another thing's magic, you can do things with it. There is, or at least, used to be, a lot of witches out there with not a lot of magic, but who were very good at talking with things."

"Connections? How will I know what it feels like?" Rose asked.

Kryss concentrated for a minute, then her eyes lit up. She jumped off of the stool and ran to one of the shelves, taking out a pair of necklaces. "These necklaces," Kryss said as she held a set of necklaces up, "Are magical! It allows its wearers to feel what each other is feeling!"

Each necklace was made out of beads line up on string, with a carved stone in the middle. The stone looked rather ghoulishly like an elongated skull.

"Why is there a skull on it?" Rose asked.

Kryss shrugged. "I dunno. Some things just have skulls on them. Something about duplicating the connection between people. You want to try it?" she offered.

Should she? What would she feel if Rose slipped it onto herself? What would it lead to? It was tantalizing to just... put it on. It'd be something completely new and different. Rose held out her hand. "Sure."

One of the necklaces pooled into Rose's open hand, beads falling like raindrops before the weight of the stone. Kryss undid the back of the necklace and slipped it around her neck. She tied a new knot back behind her neck, and smiled gregariously at Rose.

Rose shrugged, and slipped the necklace over her head. As it settled on her, the stone took on a warm quality and pulsed quickly through her body. Rose gasped as something changed about her body. She couldn't quite put her finger on it; it was something subtle that had been added.

"It's quite something, isn't it?" Kryss said cheerfully. She hopped up onto the bed, and it struck Rose like a thunderbolt.

As Kryss hopped up onto the bed, Rose felt the texture of wood leave her feet and her buttocks being smothered by her weight and the bed, but all of that was in addition to her sitting down! She could feel two different bodies! One hers, one Kryss's!

Rose looked at her hands. They were quivering in shock. She touched her lips gently, and she saw Kryss bring a hand up as if her own lips had been touched. Their eyes momentarily locked together in a moment of panicked confusion, before settling down in realization.

Slowly, as if she was dreaming, Rose knealt up and shuffled to Kryss. She pointed a finger out and poked Kryss in the shoulder. She felt her shoulder, a third shoulder, get poked, as well as the brief touch of smooth skin under her fingertip. "Oh, my god," Rose slowly mouthed.

Kryss's eyes were wide and bewildered. "Yeah, to be honest? I've never actually tried this out myself!" she piped up.

Rose gaped. "You haven't?" she blurted out.

"We-ell, I've always been by myself. I've never had anybody to share this with," Kryss admitted sheepishly.

All while Kryss was talking, Rose became more and more acute of their bodies. The feel of air across the skin, the touch of teeth against a tongue, how much bigger everything else felt on her second body! It was strange, yet also wonderful! "This is Witch's Magic?" Rose blurted out.

"Eyup!" Kryss chirped, "These were actually being sold separately in a market stall. I don't know who made them, but they screamed 'Witchery' and I took them away before anybody figured out what they did."

Rose wanted to embrace the magic more. She just needed to feel what these strange connections were like! She started reaching for Kryss's ears, before halting and asking, "Uh, mind if I...?"

Kryss blushed, though still smiling. "Sure, go ahead!" she said.

Fingertips brushed large, pointed ears and Rose could feel it all. A soft touch enclosing oddly-sensitive skin, and smooth skin running along fingertips. She could even feel a second set of cheeks burn up as Kryss blushed! There even was the ghost of a sensation, a small ball of warmth in her stomach. It was impossible to believe, but it felt very, very real!

The dual sensation was almost hypnotic; Rose just couldn't stop herself! She let go of Kryss' ear and brushed the underside of the goblin's feet. The light, feathery sensations Rose and Kryss shared made Kryss break out into a girlish giggle. Rose's hand immediately flew away from Kryss, more than a little shocked at the reaction she had elicited.

"No, no, go on! I'm loving this, actually," Kryss admitted.

Rose reached out for Kryss's creamy brown skin, but flinched back. Her hands were shivering just slightly; she was nervous. "I've never done this -- anything like this -- at all," Rose conceded.

"Neither have I, but this is awesome! Do you want me to take the lead?" Kryss asked.

Rose nodded.

Kryss hopped up onto the bed and seized Rose's shoulders. With almost no warning, Rose found her lips embroiled in touch with Kryss's. Soft, yielding flesh versus soft, yielding flesh, doubled by the power of the necklace. It was shocking! It was sensational! It ignited a heat inside Rose that made her tremble, her voice squeaking out past the rushed kiss.

"Mwa!" Kryss exaggerated as she broke the kiss, "There. That enough of a lead?"

Rose's face felt like it was on fire, and her head was spinning. "Wha-what? Where, wha-why?" she mumbled.

"Uh, maybe I should've given you some warning?" Kryss said as an afterthought.

Delirious thoughts ran through Rose's head. She just kissed another woman! A goblin! AND a witch! All at the same time! What was she doing?! And... didn't it feel good?

"Hello? Sorry?" Kryss said, "It's just that you're the only one who comes to see me, and, well, I developed a bit of a crush, and...."

Rose let Kryss prattle on; she was too preoccupied with her own head. Did she enjoy that kiss? It came out of nowhere, but it was sweet! Would she do it again? Why did it ignite something in her, and what did she truly think of the adorable witch-goblin?

Adorable. Rose just thought of Kryss as adorable. And she was! She was also smart, knowledgeable, and helpful! There was nobody else in Rose's world that was like her! Oh no, had she fallen for Kryss?

"It's all right!" Rose blurted out. Kryss stopped and blinked a few times, and even Rose caught herself off-guard with that admission.

"Please, um, continue. In any way you wish," Rose said, admitting defeat to herself. She blushed horribly. Her face felt like it was on fire!

"Careful what you say around a witch," Kryss cautioned as she grinned wickedly. The witch-goblin brought a hand to her own breast and began to massage it through the fabric. Rose gasped as she felt silken cloth on the palm of her hand and her breast tingle as fingers pressed against it.

Gnawing her own lip, Kryss slowly brought her other hand up to her spare breast. A delighted glint shone out of her eyes as she began to slowly rub the palm of her hands across her still-covered breasts. Palms rolled round and round on her glorious bosom, and Rose was subject to every drop of it.

Kryss slipped her hands under her dress's cloth. The simple touch of fingers on breasts caused both of them to gasp in unison. Trickles of warm bliss trickled into Rose's body even as she felt breasts that weren't hers be felt by somebody else's hands.

Fingers squeezed flesh, creating a buzz that hummed in the young women's bodies. Through Kryss's hands, Rose felt the surprising firmness of Kryss's bust. Large, full, wondrously round and smooth to the touch, Rose was awed by the small woman's incredible breasts.

Hands rolled over stiffened nipples, and bliss burst into the women's bodies. Rose's knees shook. She kneeled down on the floor, her body hot and quivering. She could feel a burning call of desire warm her core. Kryss, licking her lips and eyeing Rose with mischievousness, fell to her knees herself.

Warm flesh rolled in skilled hands. Fingers sunk into yielding flesh. Palms weighted and squeezed breasts, bliss blossoming all the while. "Ooh, it's good, isn't it?" Kryss moaned.

Rose nodded, her eyes affixed on the witch-goblin. She could feel Kryss' arousal! It was like two campfires next to each other, sharing each other's heat! Desire looped back into her, and she could feel her wet, aching sexes.

Sexes! The thought made her blush with giddiness. It was forbidden, it had to be! There was no way that any normal person, no, any non-witch would look at this and leave it be! Was Rose really doing this? She could ask Kryss to stop at any time, but it was just so tempting to let Kryss continue.

Kryss pulled her fingers out of her top and reached around her neck. She fiddled with a knot there and came away with two ends to the dress' neck-line in her fingers. Slowly, Kryss let her fingers sink down lower and lower, further and further. Her wondrously round, perky, full breasts relaxed as their prison loosened around them, the tight feeling of cloth disappearing from Rose's chest.

And there they were. Rose wasn't aware of how eagerly she was looking forward to seeing Kryss' unbound nipples. Dark brown circles on her breast, with a hard, erect peg, each like a beautiful eye. Kryss giggled and said, "I can feel you getting wetter from here."