Nuana's Crucible - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Charles:

Our scout has returned with news, he tracked two farmer's daughters all the way to the witch's house, she calls herself Nuana, elven for maker of hope, she has been turning the commoners against the church of Ka, her cheap cures against the blight and other ailments have made people stop coming to the church for aid and they do not even come to the ceremonies anymore, the high priest of Ka decided against making examples of the people going to her and who do not show up in the church anymore, and instead ordered me and some more holy paladins of Ka to track the witch down and capture her, so we can make an example of her. The scout is now guiding us to the witch's home. In the dead of night, we are wearing our silenced full plate with protections against magic, all eight of us, except the scout who is a local hunter who converted to the faith after we promised to cure his beloved of the plague and set them up with their own farm and enough coin to live a life of comfort if not luxury, if he would help us track down the witch, his people apparently dislike her for some reason, I do not really care though, he seems to have done his job, as we reach her home. I bring out my lens of scrying and look at the tree. I can see powerful wards that will keep any of her enemies out. No way we can break through those, but I get an idea, with some hand gestures I tell the others to hide a short distance away from her home and I activate the invisibility of my armour and head right up to the edge of the ward near the door and I focus my mind and body on Ka's watch stance and I wait, watching through the lens as Nuana violates the farmers' daughters, all three of them are beautiful women, but I push those thoughts aside and wait for my moment to strike.

The sun rises and the farmer's daughters put on their wool dresses and Nuana follows them to the door kissing them and they leave and walk straight for me giggling and start skipping then they come just close enough and I unerringly and swiftly grab their throats with my plate gauntlets as the invisibility breaks and I pull them close and Nuana's eyes go wide as I appear "Nuana, you will surrender to us or I will choke these defiled women to death." my men move up to surround the tree "and if you do not care about them I will also set the forest ablaze if you do not surrender." then I start squeezing and the women whimper and to make it look a lot more dramatic I lift them up so their legs are dangling and kicking.

Nuana's eyes fill with tears and she steps out of the door and it closes behind her and she points at me and a brilliant violet bolt of energy flies from the tip of her finger and impacts my armour and fizzles, the armour tells me that if I was wearing regular plate I would have exploded into a cloud of ashes and my armour into rust.

"Last chance, they seem like they will die soon" I say and squeeze a bit harder and shake the women who are getting blue in the face, one of them is starting to hang limply, but I can tell they are still both alive, not that I care, they are just farmer's daughters, they can be sacrificed to capture this witch Nuana.

Nuana closes her eyes and tears roll down her cheeks and she steps right up in front of me and kneels and holds her hands up and together in front of her wrists up "I surrender as long as you let them go and let them live their lives in peace."

I ease my grip a bit on their necks and nod and the scout hurries over and grabs her arms and pulls them roughly behind her and tie her elbows together and then braids the rope along her lower arms and then he takes the collar from his belt and slip it around her neck and it clicks into place containing her magic.

I gently set the farmer's daughters down "run home" I say to them "and remember this, justice finds all enemies of Ka."

They look at Nuana and she looks up at them "do as he says, run home, live your lives." she sounds like she really cares about them and also very defeated and sad, but I hear no fear in her voice. The farmer's daughters run away and I turn to look at Nuana and I grab her hair and lift her by it until she is face to face with me and she whimpers and look with her rage filled violet eyes into mine. "You will be punished for luring people away from the church of Ka." I say to her.

"You mean killed" she says "know this paladin of Ka, I was not luring people away from your faith, you were doing that yourselves, by not helping the common people, and if you do not help them now, and I can't help them, they are doomed and so are the rest of you, when all the farmland becomes blighted you will all die, or at least you will live much less satisfying lives without the productivity of the common people to feed you."

"I said punished" I say and slap her with my gauntlet covered hand and she whimpers and swings by her hair her face is really red and has several small cuts from the edges of my gauntlet "you will wish you were dead long before we finish making an example of you witch." She stares at me with rage filled eyes and blood drools from her swollen lips "good you have learned to be silent." I motion to the scout and he gives me the chain for the collar and I attach it to the ring in front of the collar and grab the handle and toss her onto the ground and pull the chain to get her on her feet "you better keep up or I will drag you by this chain." I say and then start marching back towards the church, using the Ka marching focus my men and the scout forms up around her and we march tirelessly without break for two days, she manages to just barely keep up even if she stumbles at times, she also stays deadly silent but I can tell from her gaze she hates us and is not broken, but she is hurting, she leaves bloody footprints on the steps up to the church doors her feet having been worn raw enough by the rough cobble stone streets.

I take her to the dungeon below the church of Ka and go to report to the high priest that I captured her.

Emily:

Lyssa ran with me back to her farm and then I ran as fast as I can back home, tears in my eyes, why would they treat Nuana that way, she is doing no harm, but I can't do anything about them, they have armour and weapons and I am just a young woman. I hurry to the well and drop the bucket back down the well I hope it won't break on the way down as I really want to hurry to get the cure for the blight done. As I hear the splash I undo the leather cord and remove the stopper from vial of still violet glowing fluid and I stretch as far as I can to try to make the drops really fall into the middle of the well rather than risk them getting caught by the walls and I pour the content of the vial down the well and I feel a thud in the ground and air and intense purple light shines up out of the well illuminating my hand and I stay there waiting until the glow fades away and I hurry over to the crank and start pulling the bucket back up with a heavy load of water, the water is colder than usual and I taste it and it tastes better than usual too, very clean and I feel a tingle flow through me as I drink of it, I grab several tin decanters and fill them and I decide to try the water first on father's tobacco plants I pour some on the patch of soil they grow on and I feel the red spores touch my skin and it shimmers violet while I am exposed to the spores. Only a moment after the soil gets wet with the water from the well the plants all glow faintly violet and the red spots and tendrils between them fade away and the leaves become vibrantly green I giggle with relief and hurry to the door and knock on it hard "mama! papa! I have the cure for the red blight!"

I hear the things blocking the door move and the door opens and mama looks at me and I hand her the decanter "drink the water it will cure you, and give papa some too." she looks so worried for me but she drinks of it and she shimmers briefly violet and her skin becomes less pale and she lifts her skirt to look at her leg and the red blight is gone she opens the door wider and hugs me and then we go to papa and mama has to help him drink as he is much worse off. It only takes moments after the violet glow envelops him for all the scary red blight to fade away from his skin, and the spores in the air gets destroyed by the glow as well. We hug each other and then get to watering all the farm and animals on the farm to be sure everything is safe and cured. I tell my parents about Nuana and what she said about helping the spirits of old, of the forest and nature, and what things they like. Then I break down in tears again as I explain how Nuana got taken away by the paladins and how they choked me and Lyssa to make her surrender. Papa gets a really angry look in his face and he says he is going to go to Hans farm and then to the other farms and spread the word about what happened "nobody chokes my daughter and those greedy priests of Ka can't be allowed to take the only person who can help the common people away from us, it is just not right."

Nuana:

I am brought down into the dungeons and my chain is hung up in some sort of infernal mechanism and they rotate a wheel until I am forced to stand on my tiptoes or hang by my neck, my feet are already bleeding from the rough stones and hurting a lot, I am however suppressing my tears, I am not going to cry for them, they would enjoy that. My shoulders hurt and my arms as well as they are restrained tightly behind my back. The paladin leaves me there. I see some others chained to the walls around me, most of them are so far gone that they do not seem to actually see me, a few start crying when they see me, they seem to recognize me, so I think their tears are for me so I say "please do not cry for me, instead try to stay strong and hope that one day we will all get out of here." I do actually have that hope as for some reason I am still alive, and while I am alive there is the chance I can get myself free.

"Is that so" a man says and laughs evilly and the laughter spreads to several guards who step up to me and start groping me, not in a gentle and romantic way, but intended to make me feel violated, I think, humans, elves, orcs, dwarves I think they all see sex differently than we fey do. Although their touch is unwelcome because I have not invited them, I actually, despite the collar, can draw some slight energy from their lust for me, and their rough worshipping of my body, if they will sacrifice their seed on or in me I could possibly even heal my injured feet and face, they squeeze my breasts and nipples really hard and stick leather gloved fingers into my pussy, I was not ready for that, not even slightly wet so it really hurts, but I do not whimper or cry, I simply focus on standing there and all they get for me is very angry and disapproving gazes, and they laugh me in the face as I do so. The most well clothed guard with the keyring whips his cock out and just as he is about to shove it in my pussy the door opens and I see the paladin enter and he roars out an angry "in the name of Ka stop!" the guards pull away from me quickly as if I was burning or something "when the high priest is done with her maybe the rest of you will get to play with her, but she must be turned over pristine to him." he kneels down and roughly probes my pussy and ass and satisfied I am clean he smiles up at me and stands up and pulls my chain out of the mechanism.

I am hauled on my bleeding feet in front of the high priest of Ka, I am not sure how he can move with all the jewellery he is wearing, I guess they roll him when needed as he is nearly spherical, I guess he can't get all those rings off his fat fingers even if he wanted to, I can see a very scary mixture of lust and hate in his eyes, I really do not like when I see that combination, I can handle people lusting for me fine, it is even good, but the hate, it scares me. As I was first taken from my home I thought I would be taken to my execution, but as I see the high priest's lust I think maybe it is more likely I will be made into a sex slave, I would rather live and retain hope that I can escape than be killed, but I really do not want to even think sexually about this high priest. I would rather be gang fucked by all the paladins or something, I am sure that will happen when he is bored with me though, my arms and feet hurt so much right now, but I do not show it, I stand proud, maybe a bad idea, but I am not going to cry for them.

"This is Nuana" the paladin who threatened to kill the two young women who came to me for help says.

The high priest looks me over from his cushioned seat "Nuana" he says with deep contempt and disgust in his voice, yet he licks his lips as he takes in my figure "you are to be made an example of, for practising witchcraft, for corrupting and turning people away from he one true faith, for creating the red blight and spreading it in the kingdom to make people come to you for help against it and start worshipping the false gods of the old religions."

I nearly manage to just listen and not say anything, but when he claims I created the accursed red blight when that is completely false I can't help myself "high priest of Ka, I did not create the red blight, the red blight was created by Ak, sister of Ka, after her brother mortally wounded her, she put her hurt feelings for him and her last dying divine power into an act of malicious creation, the red blight. It only affects people who are supposed to be under the protection of Ka, but whom has not been truly protected." I remember long ago, while Ak and Ka still walked the mortal lands, with their father Ak'Ka all three of them powerful human mages that knew how to draw upon divine power in their magic, when Ak'Ka ascended he helped his daughter and son ascend too, Ka killed his father and stole his power and Ak split from him trying to keep him in check, until he killed her too, and refashioned himself as the one true god. At first the red blight had not spread since she was killed deep in an old abandoned mine, far from anyone and the blight could not spread from there, but then people managed to find a method to refine the bad ore that existed there into useful metals, and started mining again, and so the red blight, still dormant, got released upon the world, it activated during a very hot and wet summer and now threatens to end this kingdom of humans.

Then I see that this comes as no surprise to the high priest nor his paladin and the high priest looks even more dangerous now "so you know our secrets, whom have you told them to?"

I answer truthfully "I have not felt the need to tell anyone about it, it is not a secret among the fey, but we do not tell mortals about all things we know. I just thought you should know that it was a false accusation, I also feel it is wrong to call what I have done corrupting or turning people away from your faith, I have only provided the cure you would not provide, saving their lives and in so doing saving your kingdom from famine, and death by the red blight, you may call that witchcraft if you want."

"If I or any of my priests or paladins hear this secret spread among the people we will cull the population until the secret is rooted out, starting with those who have been in contact with you or the other fey and we will burn your old forest down." the high priest says "then plough the ashes into the ground and make it into useful farmland." he then pauses a brief moment "kneel and suck my holy sceptre." he says and opens his robe to reveal his folds of fat and his cock that he could not possibly even see it does not even get past the lowest of the folds of fat of his belly.

I make no move to kneel and then I feel a sharp kick behind my knees and two plate clad hands on my shoulders and my knees are slammed into the stone floor hard and despite not wanting to show any emotions I whimper from the extreme pain in my knees, I am dragged up to the high priest and he grabs my hair "if you do not want to have your skin flayed from you, you will do a good job." and with that he shoves me down between his legs and I open my mouth and take him into my mouth and my face is covered with his folds of fat. He stinks of expensive spices and perfume and soap and dead flesh, he tries to clean but he seems to be very old and decaying. I however imagine one of the young men who came to me for a cure a few weeks back and start sucking the high priest's cock as if it was that young man, I very nearly manage to trick myself into believing it is him I am sucking again and the high priest does not last long at all groaning loudly as he cums into my mouth, old man cum, tasting as bitter as he seems to be. "Swallow" he says and I do and my stomach rumbles at the disgusting taste.

"Have all the priests and paladins have their way with her tonight, then heal her and have the nuns clean her and put her in the market square spread eagle and sell a thousand turn tokens on auction during the day, then after the day long auction, then she will be put in the arch of suffering and used by those who bought the turn tokens. Then I will use the rod of banishment on her and send her where she will never trouble us again." the high priest says and shoves me away from him.

I had heard but not seen this arch of suffering, supposedly it is an arch with sharp spikes that dig into the spine of the one in it, and their legs and arms are spread and restrained and the person is helpless to resist anything her or his captors want to do, often the spikes can cause paralysis or even make people bleed to death. "Please, don't put me in the arch of suffering, I will make as much of the cure for you as you want to call your own and help your people."

"I do not think you understand Nuana" the high priest says "if the people suffer and die, they will come back to the church and worship Ka, begging for his aid, and if a lot of them die and their farms die too, the land is freed up, we go in and purify it and the nobles who can pay for the land can send their children to live there and work the land. The church will get richer. Now that is another secret for you to keep unless you want me to undo your saving of people by ordering their farms burned and families slaughtered."

"I will keep your evil secrets" I said and the paladin forces me to my feet by pulling my hair and my knees shoot pain into me as they are forced straight and they snap loudly and I whimper again, and the pain is so intense that I get tears in my eyes, I channel the slight energy of the cum I consumed into healing my knees, but I can't fully heal them, but at least I get them to function enough for stumbling as I am pulled by the chain to the barracks.

All the men are called in and they start my torment, the knight starts by taking his clothes off and sitting in a massive chair and then shoving me down on his erect cock, then his men start taking turns fucking my ass without any lubrication, just forcing their cocks into me making me scream in pain as they brutally fuck me and while they do they keep slapping me, pulling my hair, also pulling my restrained arms back spitting in my face and hitting me, it feels like they are trying to rip my breasts off, as one guy finishes in my ass he pulls out and grabs my head and forces me to suck his cock clean this continued until all the priests and paladins and everyone else with a cock in the church has fucked my ass raw, the pain in my knees are much less bad than the horrible pain in my ass, and all of my skin feels bruised from being pinched, slapped, pulled and beaten, I have to channel all the energy I gain from their cum to heal the more serious injuries they inflict on me, but slowly the injuries outpace the healing I can do. I start to become genuinely afraid that I am going to be brutally fucked till I die. As the paladin finishes in my pussy I am put over a huge barrel of ale, shoulders nearly broken as I am forced to wrap my spine over it and my arms around it while still being restrained and my legs are tied around it to my wrists with a rope and they start fucking me in my throat and pussy several times I black out as they shove their cocks deep in my throat and don't pull out on time. I finally blissfully pass completely out, I had by that point been hoping I would just die, I can't survive this kind of treatment mentally, so much hate, fucking me more to hurt me than because they want to get pleasure out of it.

When I wake up I am being dried and I smell of soap, nuns are around me brushing my hair, my arms are actually free, and I almost attack the nuns, but I see then the dead sad eyes they have, they must know what happened, maybe been subject to it themselves, so I just let them do their job, I feel healed too, and I suppose I am clean. The paladin who captured me comes in about an hour later and ties my arms again and marches me over to the market square with four other paladins, I am brought to the twin pillars of punishment in the centre of the market square. My arms are untied and I am chained up between the pillars spread eagle and my supposed crimes and my punishment are announced to the crowd and during the day people are allowed to come up to me and examine me and bid on the turn tokens. Each token has a number and the one with the lowest number gets to punish me first, be that fuck me or whip me, everyone gets up to an hour with me, but they do not have to use the whole hour, and they may share that hour with me with anyone else with a token. I feel such immense disgust at how much people are willing to pay to punish me. I memorize every face who bid on me, most people who grope me do so very roughly, there are a few however that I see no disgust, no hate, just lust.

The auction continues for a whole day and night, and the bids are sorted and money collected in exchange of the tokens, in all this time I am only given some stale bread and stagnant water during all this.

They bring out the arch of suffering and I wonder what evil person came up with this thing, it is much like it sounds an arch, for the spine to lay on, with two lines of short sharp spikes or thick needles, designed to sink into the flesh both sides of the spine to keep the person from falling off the contraption and to cause pain. I can see a hole made for the collar chain to be threaded through. Attached to the same base of the arch are five arms that have cuffs to hold arms and legs and they can be repositioned, my arms are untied and the four paladins that handled auctioning the tokens off grab me and carefully position me over the thing, threading the chain of my collar into the correct place and turning the collar around my neck so the chain is right behind me, then they attach the cuffs and use the mechanism of the arms to position me exactly and I am forced down on the arch and feel the spikes bite into my flesh scraping against my vertebrae and holding me in the arch and I cry out in pain and tears start streaming from my eyes, this hurts a lot more than I even could imagine "please, no please take me away from here, I will do anything, just please make the pain stop!" I whimper.

The man with the first token arrives and he collects my hair up in his hands caressing my cheeks, but I can tell this is going to be bad with the cold stare he gives me and then he shoves his cock down my throat and starts fucking me hard, making the spikes scrape against my spine each time he slams my head and neck and spine into the arch, intense horrible pain making me barely feel his cock and balls slamming into my face. Then I feel him start whipping me "you fucking bitch, this is for my son, he died to your accursed red blight!" I feel warm droplets of blood slowly form along my skin in each place he whips me, I feel someone else shove their cock into my pussy and start fucking me hard, still the whipping and fucking are barely perceptible over the pain along my spine. I can not even fully perceive anything except that pain, burning, stinging, scraping I am so scared they will damage my spine more than I can heal.

The torment blurs into what feels like a never ending torment that just gets more and more intense, and something is preventing me from simply passing out, some horrible vile magic, but I can't sense where from, but it would not surprise me if the arch of suffering is cursed to prevent its victims from passing out from the pain.

I just barely perceive a change from the leers and curses thrown my way, panic, screams of pain, weapons clashing and then I see the high priest point a rod my way and then I slam my head against some very solid stone and collapse on my back against stone, right above me stone, I feel my blood seep along the stone below my back and I pass out.

Continued in Chapter 3