Niala of the Flame

Niala loved the flames of the temple, the way that they flickered across the stone walls, exposing her path as she wound her way through the dark passages. Fire was sacred, the priestesses told her. Fire was life to man.

Fire was to be treated with respect, to be kindled in the hearth and at the altar. Fire was the property of the king, as was all life that flowed forth from that heavenly ruler.

The stolen flame leapt merrily from the torch that Niala carried, making her way back through the secret passages that she had discovered one night after hours of cleaning duty for blaspheming against one of the minor temple gods.

Priestess Alrena had set her to work then left her alone, something that had proved to be a mistake. Niala had immediately set about discovering the secrets the temple held, and these back passages were just one of the ways she had discovered of getting up to more mischief and not getting caught.

A small smile curved at Niala's lips as she thought of Alrena. Her long silky black hair was combed daily by supplicants and treated with scented oils that kept it in the most marvellous condition. Niala ran her hand through her own tousseled short brown crop and frowned. She wished she could have hair like Alrena's. Perhaps if she made it to Priestess herself she would be allowed to grow it.

A cool breeze had sprung up, indicating she had almost reached the end of the tunnel system and was about to break out into open ground. She almost skipped with glee, imagining what Alrena would say if she knew. Niala could imagine her brown eyes, normally warm becoming stern, and in her minds eye she could see her reach for the switch she used to discipline the disobedient novices and initiates.

Alrena said she was getting too old for a switching now. Which Niala supposed was the reason that she had been sent to clean last time Alrena had caught her misbehaving. The image in her minds eye of the statuesque Alrena, switch in one hand and the other on her hip and looking down at her dissaprovingly sent butterflies through her tummy.

She emerged into the half light of the early morning, clutching the torch in one hand and the other protectively covering her behind from the memory of the switch. The entrance of the tunnel system was fairly well obscured by undergrowth, but a burning flame is always noticeable. Niala suddenly wished that she had thought this through better.

She peered cautiously out from behind the relatively thick cover of the ferns that surrounded the entrance of the temple and looked around. It was still and silent, perhaps everyone would still be asleep. She could only hope.

Pulling her shawl around her shoulders and over her head, she stole out and raced towards the outskirts of the city. The temple stood up on a hill, overlooking the great city with its fine buildings and jewel of the world, the royal palace nestled at its centre. Niala was bound for much less palatial dwellings though, and dewy wet grass soon gave way to packed dirt as she arrived at the narrow paths that wound between the peasant dwellings.

Winter was coming on soon, and not everyone could afford to pay the fire tax the king had imposed upon his people. These peasants would have nothing to keep them warm except the sacrifice of their family members. Knocking surreptitiously on a rickety old door, Niala was admitted into a small one roomed house. There were holes in the walls and the roof, and she could see bugs scuttling about, running from the illumination of the flame.

Several people greeted her almost in silence. A wife, a husband, their four mournful looking children, who gazed at the flames, mesmerised, and an old woman who had not appeared to notice Niala's entrance at all. They were all dirty and all looked hungry. Niala felt a sudden rush of anger that any should live this way whilst the king bathed in waters laced with gold.

The wife cried out with gratitude and excitement as she saw the fire that Niala bore.

"Oh bless you! Thank You!" She exclaimed, clasping her hands together in joy, then impulsively hugging Niala. Niala blushed and handed the husband the torch, which he took with a grateful nod.

"Just make sure to share it." Niala said, drawing her shawl back over the simple yet embroidered robes that marked her as one of the temple virgins.

"Of course, may you be blessed always!" The woman enthused as Niala let herself out of the house and stole back towards the temple. A few people would find warmth at least this winter, perhaps if they were careful to guard the flames, all the peasants might survive. The fire tax was a cruel way of keeping down the peasant population, letting the old and the young suffer and die. Niala's deep green eyes flashed with fury as she thought of the regime that allowed that to happen.

The sun was up fully now, and Niala realised that she was late to the morning ritual. Perhaps she could sneak in. She could hear the chanting from the temple already as she skirted around the outer buildings, avoiding the guards with a practised ease.

The door to the temple was ajar, and as the high priestess lead the morning prayer, Niala said a little one of her own and slipped through the great doors as innocuously as possible. The last row of initiates was only a foot from the door and Niala slid in between two, her head bowed in pious supplication, fingers crossed for good luck under her shawl.

The temple was warm as always, and her late night had taken a toll. She soon found her eyes closing, and she wavered on her feet. If she hadn't been wedged in between the others, she might have fallen. As it was, she managed to doze off leaning against the shoulder of the young woman next to her.

A sharp smack to her bottom brought her awake sharply. Her resultant yelp brought many quizzical stares as everyone began to file out of the temple to begin the days activities. Jumping around, Niala found herself looking at not one, but three Priestesses.

Groaning inwardly, Niala realised that she hadn't been nearly as stealthy as she had hoped. Priestess Kyara fixed her with a look, she was a sour old woman and Niala had never liked her.

"And where were you this morning?" She rasped nasally, her voice tainted by years of leaf smoking.

Niala put on her most innocent and penitent expression. "I am sorry Priestess, I awoke late. It won't happen again."

"Late for the service of the divine, girl." Cut in Priestess Hannia, shaking her head. Niala shot her a pleading look. Hannia was a decent sort, one of the tutors who had taught her over the past years.

It was the last Priestess who Niala was really worried about. Alrena stood behind the other two, her superior height allowing her to study Niala carefully. Niala felt Alrena's eyes search her face, and then travel down her body. With a blush, she realised that her nipples had grown hard, and the tingly sensation that ran through her body whenever she was in the woman's presence had returned.

"Clearly Niala and I have much to discuss." Alrena noted dryly. "Thank you, my sisters for bringing her tardiness to my attention."

Hannia and Kyara nodded and took the hint to leave. The temple was empty now, the only sound the receding swishing of the departing Priestesses' robes as they took their leave.

Niala had her fingers tangled together protectively in front of her body, twisting in position uncomfortably as Alrena just looked at her for a long moment.

"I am curious as to how you became muddy whilst oversleeping." She said, finally breaking the silence.

Niala looked down and saw that her feet and the hem of her robes had indeed picked up the dirt from the peasant quarter.

"Interesting too, that you managed to get dirty with a kind of dirt that isn't even present at the temple." Alrena continued, crossing her arms across her chest and looking down at Niala with a kind of indulgent censure.

Damn. Niala realised what she was talking about. The hill was sandy and tinged red with ore that had lead the founders to build the temple in that location. The red hue of the ground had inspired the first Preistesses. The dirt which clung incriminatingly to Niala was a muddy brown.

Alrena raised an eyebrow. "Do I even want to know what you've been up to now, Niala?" She enquired with a tone that said she probably already knew very well exactly what Niala had been up to.

Taking a step closer to the girl, she sniffed delicately. " And how, my dear, can you explain the air of smoke that hangs about you? Were you sleeping on a pyre of ash wood torches?"

The expression in Niala's eyes gave her away completely, and she shook a little. Alrena knew what she had done.

Alrena was still just looking at her, eyes hooded, the expression in them almost unfathomable. Niala looked around desperately over her shoulder towards the open door of the temple. Maybe she could make a run for it.

A hand on her shoulder both stayed and calmed her. "Follow me." Alrena ordered gently. For some reason, maybe years of trained obedience, Niala did as she was told and followed Alrena numbly from the temple and across the courtyard. They seemed to be going to the Preistess' quarters.

Novices were not allowed to approach the Preistess's quarters normally, and even Niala had observed the rule, fearing the combined wrath of all the Preistesses. On this occasion however, Alrena simply took her by the hand and lead her up the steps, nodding at the guards who stood at either side of the entrance way. They looked at Niala curiously, but did not say anything.

Alrena ushered Niala ahead of her through the main chamber, her her hand sliding down from Niala's shoulders slowly as she walked, all the way down to her bottom, cupping her cheek as she walked and giving her a light slap as they continued down a passageway of doors.

"Here." She said, indicating a door on the right for Niala to pass through. Niala obeyed timidly, pushing the ornately carved door open to find herself in a room that seemed to be all soft silk and pillows.

With a gasp, she realised that she was in Alrenas bedchamber. She would have turned and rushed out at the impropriety, but another hand joined the one that carressed her cheeks and she felt herself being steered by her hips towards the bed.

"I've been wanting to do this to you for a very long time."Alrena said, pressing up behind Niala, her full breasts and swelling against her and her hips grinding into Niala's ass.

"Wanted to do what?" Niala squeaked, then yelped as Alrena pushed her forward over the bed.

Behind her Alrena smiled a most unholy smile, running her fingernails up Niala's back and down over her trembling little ass.

"Wanted to punish you as you should be punished, and take you as you should be taken." She slapped Niala's ass lightly as she spoke.

"I thought I was too old for switching." Niala yelped more in surprise than anything else.

"Oh you are dear. You are well past your eighteenth year." Alrena replied, lifting the hem of Niala's robe and slowly beginning to slide it up over her calves, thighs, watching the young woman's legs squirm and kick a little as she felt herself becoming exposed to the Preistesses gaze. Up slowly over her little bottom, and the cutest little pussy lips peeked out. Alrena couldn't help herself, trailing a finger ever so lightly over Niala's slit.

Ths sound the girl made was as delicious as her little cunt, a cross between a yelp and a moan. Alrena smiled, her deep red lips twisting in anticipation of lustful pleasure.

On and on she raised the girls robe, the swell of her breasts visible clearly from the side as the material continued its ascent. Reaching under the girl, Alrena gently cupped her breast, grazing fingers across Niala's nipples. They were allready hard, and the wriggling motion of her hips had changed to more of a gyrating motion.

A gently touch of Alrena's finger against Niala's tight little entrance confirmed her suspicions. The girl was wet allready.

"Arms up." She commanded softly, stripping the girl entirely of her defences. Niala now shivered over the bed, her little pussy pressed against the silk of the coverlet and leaving a small damp patch allready as she ground against it.

Her skin was so smooth, so creamy, and Alrena's lips left a faint trail of color across her back and her cheeks as she leant down and trailed her lips and tounge over the girl. Niala whimpered with pleasure, Alrena's beautiful hair falling like a silk curtain over her head as she moved. It caressed her with the softest of touches, and she did not resist as Alrena tapped her bottom and indicated for her to slide up the bed and turn over.

She lay there, helpless and naked, looking up at Alrena. Her dark hair was flowing loose and the make up which highlighted her eyes made them seem to go right through Niala. Slowly, smiling reassuringly Alrena slid down over her, parting her own dark red robes to reveal a gorgeous body. She was more tanned than Niala, and the nipples of her full breasts pressed against Niala's as she covered her body with her own. One strong thigh spreading Niala's legs and she felt the unfamilair sensation of Alrena's bare pussy pressed up against her own.

Instinctively she moaned and ground up against Alrena, their clits sliding against one another, lubricated by their shared juices.

"Oh god yes girl." Alrena moaned, brushing her lips across Niala's gently, nuzzling at her before taking her mouth in a deep kiss. The girl sighed into her mouth so sweetly, her tonge responding to her Preistesses as they massaged and slid over the others.

Sliding a hand between their bodies, Alrena stroked along the lips of Niala's cunt, breaking the kiss for a moment, and curling her fingers in Niala's short hair, holding her firm.

Her green eyes were so sweet, full of trust and lust as Arlrena toyed with her wet folds, beginning to slide the tip of a finger into her pussy, feeling it clench and pull, moving in and out slowly.

"Naughty girl." She chided, gazing her lips down over Niala's neck, biting down gently as she pushed into her cunt. The girl yelped and bucked, squirming her tight little cunt all over her fingers as Alrena claimed her, took her. First one finger, sliding deep all the way, then two as Niala stretched to accomodate her.

"Now you're old enough for a good fucking when you're naughty." Alrena growled before taking Niala's mouth in a rough kiss and shoving her fingers in deeply, starting to fuck her nice and hard now. Nice hard thrusts, joined by a third finger that stretched Niala wider than she'd ever been stretched before.

Niala's eyes flew open wide and she squealed into Alrena's mouth, the touch of cruelty in the woman's eyes sending her little cunt spasaming harder around the fingers that took her mercilessly.

The fire was in her now, deep in her tummy, building between her legs, and she could not contain it. She saw it in Alrena's eyes, felt it build and leap inside her with every thrust. All around her and in her, filling her up. Alrena's thumb slid over her clit, stoking it further, sending her shuddering into its embrace

Alrena broke the kiss to hear her scream. Niala's cries echoed through the silk as she clutched wildly at the coverlet, her entire body shaking and spasaming. She was close, so close, as Alrena flicked her nipple with the tip of her tongue then slid it inrto her mouth, sucking at it.

Over, all over, it was too much and Niala was consumed, she came whimpering and crying, tears running over her cheeks as she shuddered in the embrace of her Preistess. The fire ran through her and left her ravaged.

"Try stealing that flame, little one." Alrena purred into her ear, wrapping her arms around Niala's still shivering frame and holding her close.

Niala smiled and turned to nuzzle into the comfort of Alrena's body. She had every inention of trying that soon.