"And that's when I asked her what is the cucumber for?" The man reached his punchline, receiving a barrel of laughs from the whole group, applauding him for his funny story.
"Another round of ale for the guardsmen, and a wine for the lady." The server woman addressed us when she reached the table, handing down each jug to a different man, stopping finally at the witch that sat beside me at the table. The server received a hard slap on the ass from one of my men. "What time do you get off, love? Come join us at the table." He offered, and to my surprise she giggled in response and walked away, not actually declining his offer to her.
"If you are going to torture me, I'd rather you do it sober. Otherwise I'm going to escape and you will be too drunk to stop me." The witch suddenly muttered beside me when I took a swig of my ale, this brought my attention solely to her. She hadn't spoken a word since the cottage, and only now as I begun my second jug she was talking to me, trying to barter with me.
"You won't escape, those cuffs are made from cold iron. Your magic won't work and any injuries you acquire will take a lot longer to heal." I informed her, taking another swig of my drink.
"How do you know that my magic won't work? I could kill everyone in this building if I wished it upon myself."
I scoffed at her, turning to look at her finally beside me, we had put her cloak back on to cover her torn clothes so that no one else would be suspicious of this woman with a group of men. "Even the strongest of witch's magic is repelled by this metal, and you're one of the weakest I've met. You are completely powerless right now. You cannot cast magic because you are chained by the hands, you cannot run away because we will catch you before you make it to the door and you cannot hide either because those red locks of yours aren't seen very often around here, you stick out like a wolf among sheep."
"I am not weak, at-least I am not a human hunter that attacks women in their homes. You are weak, you are not as manly as you try to look with all that armour and weaponry." She argued back with me, still leaving her cup of wine untouched at the table.
Her words irked me in an odd way, how was I the weak one? I had overpowered her, captured her and taken her hostage all without using my gear, I used my body instead.
"I can promise you, there is no woman here amongst this group. Just a group of huntsmen and a nasty witch that they found." I took another gulp of my ale, wanting to drown myself in the alcohol so I couldn't feel the rising pressure of being boat disgusted and intrigued by this witch.
Her cuffed hands came forwards towards my lap and landed heavily against my groin, grasping its length with both hands. "You're very aroused for someone that found a nasty witch." She teased, now noticing the dark glimmer behind her gaze. Seduction. This witch was trying to seduce me, and I was ashamed to feel as though I had already been seduced by her appearance.
I grunted and stared her down, understanding the game she was trying to play, but I was willing to play along with her. If I fuck her may tell me all the information she knows about their magical realm, but if I fuck and she still doesn't tell me anything, at least I get to know I fucked this beauty before the king. "I thought you were quite handsome before I realised why you were at my cottage, I could have killed you straight away but- I played a dangerous game of curiosity." She added, her palms feeling around my member in a daze, I wanted to shudder under the touch of her soft hands but I will myself not to, knowing full well that this witch was trying to make me put my guard down.
I put my jug down on the table and leant in closer to her. "We can go to my room and be curious together, play a little game." I murmured, looking her directly in the eyes.
I noticed her gaze shift to my lips momentarily, but it was only quick when she looked back up at my eyes and feigned a smile of agreement. It was only then that I latched my hand over her wrist and stood up from my seat, yanking her to her feet with me. "I'll be back men, me and the witch are going to go and play a little game." I dismissed myself from them, they all cheered and whistled at us as I led her away towards my assigned room, my plan was coming together just as I had expected.
We entered the hired bedroom that had been assigned to me, the large bed laid a purple bed spread, some sunflowers in a vase on the beside table. I closed the door behind the witch as she stepped into the room, the shackles of her cuffs making sound as she took the opportunity to adjust her wrists. "What game did you have in mind, hunter?" She began, choosing to take a seat on the side of the bed, her eyes stared at me lazily with a tight smile on her lips. She'd pushed the cloak further behind her shoulders to exposed the tattered clothes underneath.
"I thought we could play a bit of a gamble, we take turns asking questions, if we don't like the answer that's given we take a piece of clothing off." I suggested, closing the door behind us firmly and leant my body against it as a barricade, if she tried to escape now she would have to go through me to get to the door.
The witch cocked an eyebrow at me and leant her arms back on the mattress, sitting casually on the side of the bed. "I will not tell you anything." She responded, the same words she had used back in the cottage. What a stubborn woman.
"The game goes both ways, I'm sure you have questions about me. You can start, ask me anything." I urged, crossing my arms over my chest patiently. One way or another I was going to get some information out of her, I just hoped she would play along and make it easy for me.
The witch narrowed her eyes at me, as if trying to catch my bluff. I had no problem telling her anything about me, it wouldn't matter much after she is given to the king anyways, there was no one for her to tell my information to. "Who sent you?" She asked me, beginning the game, I smiled.
"A client."
"Who?" She cut me off rather quickly, but that wasn't part of the rules.
I shook my head at her. "That's my answer, if you're not happy with it you can remove a garment." I offered her teasingly. I was willing to give her information, but that didn't mean I had to give her details.
She stared at me for a moment, as if challenging me on this matter. But after a moment, she reached up and unhooked her cloak, it fell slump behind her body on the bed and sat there patiently. It was my turn.
"What kind of witch are you?" I asked her. I had met many witches in my lifetime and they were all pretty much the same, but this one was different, in both appearance and personality. Even now after discovering her truth my mind could not process that this was not a woman but a monster, a monster that kept herself very well hidden.
"A healer." Came her response. I was a little shocked by the answer, I had never met a witch-doctor before. Essentially that's what they were, they were environmentalists, creating and reducing bad omens, but they specialised in the anatomical health of living creatures, able to manipulate their life force. They were rare but they were dangerous, this one however didn't seem all that threatening.
"Aren't you going to take something off?"
I shook my head at her and chuckled. "Your answer was fine. It's your turn."
"After tonight, are you going to kill me?" Came her question. I wanted to laugh at her but refrained myself, this witch would be better off dead than where I was taking her.
"No, my client wants you alive." I answered truthfully this time, maybe if she knew she was going to live she would be more open to talking about why she came here in the first place.
She nodded her head slowly, taking in the new information that she was going to keep her life for now, but she didn't make any move to discard another clothing item. "It's your turn now." She told me.
"What's your name?"
To this she stared straight into my gaze, a hard look of retaliation for a moment until she dropped her head. "They call me Lady Light." She finally spoke.
I was dissatisfied with this answer, this wasn't a name this was a title. I sighed and uncrossed my arms, reaching down to my belt and unhooking the loop, swinging it around my body and dismantling the sword, my first piece of garment gone. "Not much of a name but it'll do." I responded slightly disgruntled, I placed my sword next to the doorframe and I noticed her eyes follow cautiously, making a mental note of the discarded weapon.
"Why does your client want me?"
"That's none my business, but you can assume for yourself what you will be used for." Came my answer, to this response she began undoing her leather corset, it was laced together with notches that she only had to untie and unhook, it didn't take her long to remove it. I smiled knowing she was growing more frustrated with my lack of information.
"Why didn't you use magic when we captured you?" This question had been reoccurring in my mind for hours, she hadn't tried to cast any spells or set off any traps in the cottage, and it made me wonder whether she even knew how to cast her own magic.
She got up from her place on the edge of the bed and sauntered over to me at the door, her hands coming up and grazing lightly over the framework of my armoured chest plate, I stood cautiously for the moment she attacked me, but it never came.
"I don't like hurting people, even people that deserve to be hurt, even people that try to hurt me. It is not in my nature." She finally answered, her head lifting to look up at me and I couldn't help but find myself lost in her gaze, the expression of innocence that pooled in her dark eyes as she looked up at me, if I wasn't a trained killer I would have dropped my guard straight away. But her words filled me with rage, spell casters wreaked havoc in the world, destroying homes and families, stealing food and resources, letting cattle loose and attacking any intruders to the behaviour, this witch had already turned a man into a frog, she could have done worse.
I grabbed ahold of her hands and used them to push her away from me, throwing her wrists out of my grasp in the process. "You mutated creatures do nothing but cause trouble, you destroy lives, you create fear in people. Your nature is to see the world burn around you, and you will do anything in your power to see that happen. Don't lie to me." I bit back, to this she only gave me a sweet smile and raised her hands up in surrender.
"It seems you didn't like my answer hunter." She teased me, but she was right, and now I had to take another piece of armour off.
I shot her a glare before bending down and reaching for my armoured leg brace, un latching the straps and pulling it off my left leg, dropping it to the floor below me in a clattered chaos. I had more layers on than she did, it would take me longer to undress for this titular game, and I think she had realised this too.
"It's my turn now." She chirped, her hands coming together infront of her. "Are you going to fuck me hunter? Because if that's what you would like to do with me, we can stop playing this silly game and you can join me in the bed." She followed up, this time walking back over to the bed and laying her body down on it. The loose fabric of her gown revealing the curves of her body as gravity forced the cloth against her skin.
My guard was still up, but her offer intrigued me and I found myself walking over to the edge of the bed, my legs only centimetres away from hers.
"No." Was my only answer as I will myself to stare down at her. A beautiful creature she surely was, but a vile creature is all I could see underneath. A vile, beautiful, smart creature that was successfully seducing me.
"Looks like I have to take this gown off now, would you like to do the honour?"
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