Yrba's Travels Pt. 10

The training! I should've trained much more! Oh heavens, come on, jugs! Heel! Halt! Stand down! Don't do that to me! You grow any bigger, you drag me over the balcony!

Mirca panted heavily, interspersed with holding her breath. Her breasts quivered and trembled, caught between the flesh's overwhelming urge to burst forward the whole twenty yards, and the blonde's zeal to master it. The skin throbbed and rushed forward again and again, only to get sucked back in, slowly and troublesomely.

She finally managed to rein her breasts in for good and keep them at watermelon size, though it was a close call. Feeling the pressure subside, she straightened and gave the witch a short nod.

Yrba exhaled and cast furious glances at Carwon, who stared in awe at Mirca's heaving bosoms. The crowd below was beyond ecstasy. Their screams and chants of "All hail Mamaria!" were a solid wall of sound. Just when it seemed the noise couldn't grow louder, Mirca triumphantly raised her arms over her head and shook her shoulders, making the heavy breasts swing. Now the whole ground seemed to shake under the deafening applause and trampling feet.

The maids and Carwon retreated back into the palace and let Mirca bask in the admiration. The witch was dragged along by the group, and she slowly pushed and shoved her way through the crowd towards Carwon.

~

Yrba was pinioned with her back against the wall. Five of the maids had her squirming in their strong grip.

"Let mego, you crazy bitches!" she hissed.

Instead of an answer, they grabbed her harder. She groaned through clenched teeth, as did Carwon who was struggling to his feet. He wiped blood from his busted lip.

"I don't understand — what wasthatabout? Why did you hit me?" he asked her in wide-eyed disbelief.

"You assault my friend with a dagger, andyouhave thenerveto askme?!" Yrba screamed. "Pray those girls hold me forever, because the moment I get my hands on you, you'll wish you weredead!"

Mirca stepped back inside from the balcony, still proudly bare-breasted and dwarfing any girl around with both height and sheer boob flesh. She wiped a few white drops from her nipples and giggled, "Wow, have you seen how they got mad when the milk sprayed—?"

She blinked. "Hey!"

A split-second passed, and then the strapping young woman came down like a fury on the maids restraining Yrba. Her fists and elbows distributed big helpings of pain, and one of the girls even caught a heavy breast to her head as the milky mountain swung about. The poor lass almost somersaulted from the forceful blow while a brief shower of white liquid spurted about. Seconds later, the floor was covered in moaning, sobbing women, holding bruised arms and heads. The blonde knelt protectively in front of her beloved witch, snarling like a one-headed cerberus at the retreating maids. Her big hands, raised and clenched into fists, trembled with anger.

"Carwon!" Mirca's thundering voice echoed through the hall.

He threw himself to the floor, as did all the others in the room who were still standing.

"Forgive us!" he wailed. "It was a misunderstanding!"

She relaxed a bit and turned her head halfway to Yrba, snarling "He tellin' the truth?"

Yrba calmed down and rubbed her aching arms.

"Maybe," she hissed. "Ask him what this knife stunt was all about."

"Caaaarwoooon —" Mirca straightened, stood akimbo and drew the vocals long and deep, curling her lips. He squirmed on the floor and seemed to try to dig himself through the marble.

"It is part of the ceremony! The goddess is expected to burst out of her clothes, and I wanted to make sure —"

"Idiot!" barked Mirca.

"Mistress, I meant no —," he cringed.

"I can burst out ofanyclothes you want me to! You just would've had to fuckin'askme! And don't you ever againdareto lay hands on Yrba! She's my friend! She's smarter than all of you! I trusther, and nobody else! And so help me, I've had it with the crazy lot of you! Go find yourself another goddess! We're leavingnow!"

Yrba exhaled deeply with relief. Mirca grabbed her arm and pulled her along as she stamped through the maids towards the stables. In front of her, the girls backed away, bowing and wailing in a chorus of "Forgive us!" and "Don't abandon us!"

~

"Where's our wagon?! We've left it right here!" Yrba cast frantic glances around the stables. One of the maids had been busy cleaning the floors and now retreated in fear back to the far wall. Yrba's forefinger shot out straight at her.

"You! Girl! What happened to the wagon?"

The woman threw herself down into the straw and glanced at Mirca, who nodded.

"Go ahead, answer her. Her question is as good as mine."

"We've taken it to the blacksmith! The wheels were all loose and about to break apart, so we thought —"

"Great! Just great!" screamed the witch, raising her fists over her head. The maid winced and fell silent, shivering in fear.

Carwon turned the corner into the stables and threw himself on the dirty floor again.

"Goddess, have mercy upon us! We didn't know better! In the lone year since you left us, we must have strayed from your will! We are ready to obey and learn! Teach us anew, don't punish us!"

Mirca looked at her friend. Yrba exhaled and shrugged.

"Looks like we're not going anywhere soon.Again. Your call."

~

Chapter 52: Starting Over

~

"Oh bugger me!" hissed the witch as they walked back to the throne room. "I thought you'd just point to one of the girls and say 'Here be my successor!' or something like that — not 'Okay, let's try this one more time.'!"

"Yrba! What's the harm? They're fixing our wagon for free, they bow to us — doesn't that feel great? Not being pushed to the edge of the town, not sleeping in the woods — they might even have warm food every evening! And thebath! Didn't you see it? Oh, I want to try it!"

She lowered her voice and leaned to Yrba as she whispered from the corner of her mouth.

"Besides, what's a suck-ass-sore, and why should I show it to them? I'm quite sure Idon'thave one of those, because I always make sure —"

"Successor, Mirca. Next in line. Young lady, we'll spend the next year on your vocabul— on new words, all right?"

The witch cast nervous glances around.

"If we make it out of here, that is. I still say they've got us trapped. It's just too much luck. Those things always come at a price. Keep your eyes open. Remember what happened at the wizard's tower!"

~

The dinner passed in awkward silence. Mirca and Yrba sat side by side on the divan while a huge table filled with lots of common and uncommon foods was rolled from the kitchen and placed in front of them. Carwon stood by their side and every now and then explained the dishes they didn't know. They ate, but not much. Yrba's share wasnot muchin the true sense of the meaning, and Mirca's — well, by her standards, it wasnot mucheither, but it kept the maidservants on their feet.

After sunset, a couple of the maids lit candles and torches around the walls of the hall. The young vizier tried his best to lighten the mood, but the witch cut him short more often than not whenever she felt his curious questions were a littletoopersonal, and the uneasy pauses in their talk grew longer as the evening went into the night. Finally, Yrba gave in to her body's demands.

"Well, kudos to the kitchen and all, but I'm off to bed," she yawned and stood up. "Mirca, you coming?"

"The goddess sleeps here," Carwon answered instantly.

Yrba stared at him and replied sternly, "No, she doesn't. Mirca!"

"Oh come on, Yrba! It's not so bad here. I'll sleep on the divan. It's comfy."

"All right, all right," Yrba sighed, returning her gaze to Carwon. "But I sleep with one eye open, and my hearing is fine. And I have other means to keep my eyes on you. So you better not try anything, with neither her nor me, or so help me —"

She left the rest of the sentence hanging in the air, turned and walked out the hall. One of the maids guided her to a chamber. It was pretty large, and pretty nice, as was the bed. After the weeks in her narrow berth, Yrba grinned widely as she splayed herself out on the flower-scented sheets and soon fell asleep.

~

After the witch had left, Carwon leaned in to Mirca. "Your servant seems a tad overbearing to me, goddess," he whispered in her ear.

"Yrba? Yes, she's alwaysdo thisanddo thatanddon't do thisanddon't do that. But she's really clever. I'd listen to her if I were you. Because I listen to her, and I am me. SoifI were you, then, uh ... then I'd listen. Which I do."

Carwon recoiled in shock. "Goddess! I supposed you keep her around because she amuses you! You really bow to the will of a mere mortal?"

Mirca reached for another dish and frowned at the vizier. "She's not ameermo tale. Doesn't sound nice. Whatever that is. Don't ever call her that again. She'sYrba. Ooh, what arethose? They looknaughty." She giggled. "My, I'd never have thought I'd laugh aboutnaughty."

"These are called asparagus. I believe the cooks have wrapped them in bacon and added a dip of butter sauce."

"Mmmh. Delifiouf!" Mirca mumbled with her mouth full. "But I've gof fo ftop now." She gulped the food down and patted her belly. "Really, that's delicious. But I'm not used to eating this much. How do you manage without turning into blobs of fat?"

Carwon still stared at her mouth. He shuddered under his cowl. The way the girl's tongue had snuck out, and out, and out, and then wrapped around the whole bunch, and how her mouth had gobbled up the juicy helping, with the butter sauce dripping down her chin before her tongue snaked out to clean it up, and her delighted smile as she sucked the long stems through her pursed lips — it could give even the most chaste manideas...

He gulped.

"We — we don't get so much to eat. This is the goddess' share, you know? You're expected to eat all of it. You know, the rules —"

"Yeah, rules this, rules that. Really, it's the same wherever I go."

The maids gasped. "But the rules—," uttered one of them, a handsome blonde. Mirca beckoned her with her forefinger and, as the maid leaned in, grabbed the girl's neckline and pulled her close to her face. The poor lass shivered with fear.

"Me Goddess. Me. Make. Rules. Now.Okay?" hissed Mirca.

"Y—yes, goddess."

Mirca let go. "Good. Very good. Here, have an apple." She sighed and looked around. "Okay, so y'all want me to clean the plates. Oh my. I'll need a little help then. Now listen, you, yes you by the door, raven hair, you go down to the blacksmith. Go to my wagon. There's a box in it, painted red, with a picture of a skull and bones on it. Bring it to me, and hurry."

Minutes later, Mirca rummaged the vials and muttered under her breath.

"Dammit, it can't all be gone! I know it's Yrba's best-selling trick, right next to the tit-grow juice, but I'm sure I saw a few vials when last —"

Her face brightened. "Ah, there it is.Relocaresomething something. All right," she snapped her fingers, "you, the brunette, bring me a bowl of wine. You, raven, put back the box where you took it from. Andnot a wordto Yrba. She doesn't like it when I pilfer her potions."

"Oh goddess, what is that?"

Mirca put a few drops from the vial into the wine and downed the mixture. She shivered.

"Brrr. Ugh. Ick! This? Just makes sure I don't put on weight where it don't belong. All right now, on to the next round."

She hesitated, looked at the overflowing table in front of her and then at the vial again. Shrugging her shoulders, the blonde emptied the rest of the liquid straight into her mouth.

"Yech! Yuck!" she uttered and her face contorted in disgust. "All right, now I guess I really need to eat all that to get rid of that taste. Okay, girls, you asked for it! Let's start with that dish over there, and try to keep up —"

~

The next morning, while Mirca was still sound asleep on her lone divan in the throne room, Yrba ran into Carwon right outside her room's door. He was already waiting for her, and he didn't beat around the bush.

"I think you should leave right away," he declared with his arms folded over his chest. "Go away! You're a bad influence on the goddess. You're holding her down. I don't know where you've picked her up, or what vile kind of magic you've wielded on her to make her your toy, you crone, but I'm not going to just watch while you enslave this gorgeous creature to be nothing more than your stupid little servant!"

Yrba stared at him. Her face twitched with anger. Then she burst out:

"Youaccusemeof exploiting her?You?!Oh boy, now you're in for a pummeling you'll not forget in a hurry!"

He looked around at the half-circle of maids that had gathered around them. They were not as tall as the witch, but they were of the stocky kind that could wrangle and lift a pig, if necessary. Yrba was hopelessly outnumbered.

"I think not," he replied. "And before you start with claimingpowers— now, I think, if you really were able to use magic on us, you'd already have done so. You're just one of those lowly potion-brewers. And," he leaned in to her, "you feel pain and you bleed like us, don't you? You brought her here, so I'm willing to cut you some slack. Take your wagon and your belongings, and leave to never ever come back! I'll even give you a bag of gold for your troubles. I'm not completely heartless, you see? But you'retrouble, and I won't have that in my realm!"

Yrba breathed heavily but finally lost her challenging stance. Her shoulders sagged. She threw him an icy glance.

"All right, I'll go. But listen up, the lot of you! I'll be back at the gates in seven days. And I tell you this: you'll begladwhen I come back and you'll bow to me and invite me in. Just you go and tell your goddess that you've driven me out of the town. See what's going to happennextand let that be a lesson to you!"

"Enough! Don't think we'll be swayed by your threats and lies! One more word, and we'll have your tongue!"

She opened her mouth, only to close it again as the women inched closer. She snorted and spun around, stomping into her room.

She didn't have much to pack. Five of the maids kept around and escorted her in silence down to the stables where her wagon stood ready. And the bag of gold turned out to be a handful of coins that she had to pick from the soiled hay after they threw it to her in disgust. Yrba took them anyway. No point in rejecting it in a vapid gesture that nobody cared for.

~

Chapter 53: Under The Cloth

~

"Mmmh, what a great dinner that was! Yrba! — Yrba?"

Mirca opened her eyes and looked around. Two maids pushed a new table out of the kitchen, again stacked with all kinds of food. She groaned. "Breakfast? All that?! Hey, listen, girls. That's not going to work, okay? Would one of you run over to the guest quarters and wake the witch? There are a few new rules we need to set down, and she's just so much better than me with the words and thinking stuff."

The maids exchanged fearful glances. Mirca's eyes narrowed.

"What? I'm the goddess, m'kay? So come on, bring Yrba. It's not that hard, right? You go down the hallway, turn left, knock on the door. She won't bewitch you. And don't worry, she curses every morning. Does no harm. Look at me!"

The girls avoided her stare. Mirca furrowed her brow and stood up. They immediately fell to their knees and then threw themselves on the floor as she pointed at them.

"Okay, something's fishy here. Icommandyou to tell me what's going on."

"Oh goddess, while you were sleeping ..."

Seconds later, Mirca's voice boomed through the temple:

"CaaaaarrrRRRRWOOOOOON—!"

~

As he hurried through the door, he was greeted with a flying bowl of wine that soaked his clothes. The next quarter of an hour he had an unexpected chance to learn all about the curses of the common folk, while red wine dripped from his cloth. His ears still ringing, she finally sent him away to clean himself up. Mirca's eyes followed him as he sneaked like a beaten dog to a small door frame near the rear end of the hall. The blonde, still angry, wiggled her rear on the throne. Her fingers drummed on the armrest.

"Stupid priest! A whole week! Damn! You, girl. Where did he go, what's behind that door?"

Mirca pointed at the rather small, nondescript wooden door that wasn't fully closed. A little candlelight shone out.

"Goddess, that is —"

"Shhhh. No need to talk so loud."

The girl leaned closer and whispered: "It's the priest's dressing room, where he keeps his private clothes and all the ceremonial dresses."

"Ah. Well, let's embarrass our overzealous priest a bit more, shall we?" she whispered back. The girl lifted her hands to her mouth, giggled and nodded. Mirca raised her eyebrows.

She stood up and gestured to the maids, indicating they were to stay quiet while she tiptoed to the door. Quite a few of them now giggled as well as Mirca's intention made the rounds by whispered word of mouth.

Mirca peeked into the room. Carwon was just about to slip into a rather plain frock and stood naked, blinded by the brown cloth wrapped around his head and arms. He struggled with the recalcitrant article of clothing, unaware of her presence.

She noticed he was in prime shape, and — she stared at his groin for a long time —impressive.

Oh, how I could use that tool. If only that dolt weren't attached to the other end.

Finally she straightened up, leaned against the doorway and slowly pushed open the door. It made the drawn-out creaking sound she'd hoped for.

"Who dares enter —"

Carwon pulled at the wrap around his head until he finally saw her standing there, pouting her lips, with one raised eyebrow and smirking down on him.

"Goddess!" he exclaimed and tried to curl up, mortified, all the while struggling with his cloth. "You're — You're not to come in here! It's unseemly for you to gaze upon naked men, especially upon those of your order!"

She shrugged, smiled and licked her lips, slowly.

"What, and missthatsight? Who came up with that rule?"

"The goddess once said —"

"See? Am I not the goddess now? So what, I changed my mind. I can do that, I guess." She took a deep breath and added, "I may need to assign somespecialduties to the High Priest, it seems. Would be shame to let something likethatgo to waste. May take his mind off of bothering poor witches."

He blushed, crouched deeper and tried to cover his nakedness with his hands. She laughed, turned and walked back to the throne.

~

Chapter 54: Unexpected Decisions

~

A week later, Yrba was welcomed almost as if she were the goddess herself. Carwon threw himself down before her the very moment her wagon rolled into the forecourt. She gave him a condescending nod.

"Didn't I tell you?" she greeted him.

"I'm sorry. I'm so terribly sorry! Forgive me! I only wanted the best for the goddess!"

"You and me both, boy. You may know how to run a country, but I know more about how peopletickthan you. Well, let's see whether your goddess prefers your golden cage or the freedom of my roads."

~

The answer came as a surprise to the witch.

Mirca beamed. "It's so great around here! Did you ever hear of 'moo-sage'? They pour warm oil over you and knead and rubeverywhere!" She leaned in to her friend and added in a whisper, "Well, almost everywhere. They're still a bit shy when it comes to myfunparts. Pity. I'll teach them yet!"