Jessamy Beech Ch. 03: WHW

All around, hundreds of hungry eyes watched her. With curiosity, with lust and with something else. Something unspeakable. Something inhuman. She focussed her attention on Rab ...

"When I became leader," continued Rab, "I declared that captives would have the chance to fight for their freedom. Single combat. And so we're here again, to witness ..." he turned to Jessamy and stage whispered, "what's your name, girl?"

"Jessamy. J-jessamy Beech."

"... to witness Jessica Beech ..."

Jessamy didn't think it was an appropriate time to correct Rab's mistake. Laughter rippled through the crowd, peppered with lewd and unsavoury comments about her being 'just a girl' or 'I've got a fuckin' big sword you can use.'

"... take on our very own Flaps McGregor ..."

A wild applause erupted from the Reivers as Flaps shouldered his way into the circle. Jessamy hadn't even considered who she'd be fighting and now that her opponent was known and facing her, an icy finger traced a course up her spine.

"Flaps has killed over fifty men. He's not even going to break a sweat over one little girl," Rab paced backwards to the edge of the circle, "so, without further ado, to the death ... BEGIN!"

. . .

Jessamy had expected a gradual beginning to the combat. She'd expected Flaps to circle, appraising her, sizing her up. She tensed and let her attention stray to Merida and Ewan. Was Ewan waking up?

Almost a fatal mistake. She glanced up just in time to see Flaps bearing down on her. Without her even realising, he'd snatched a sledgehammer from the pile in passing and was swinging it even as he charged.

Jessamy ducked, feeling the shaft of the sledgehammer pass inches above her head. A wet crunch and a warm spray of red announced that one of the watching crowd hadn't been so lucky.

Jessamy scuttled across the cracked tarmac on all fours as Flaps hefted the sledgehammer again, "Keep fuckin' still you little bitch!"

Halfway to the weapon stash now, she instinctively rolled to one side as the the sledgehammer thunked into the blacktop beside her. She had to arm herself. She'd have no chance of wielding something as heavy as a sledgehammer so she prayed there'd be something lighter and more suitable for her physique.

She ran, just as the sledgehammer gouged out more tarmac at her heels.

A grunt of exertion behind her preceded a jarring impact as something grazed her upper arm and knocked her off balance. Flaps McGregor's sledgehammer skittered across the road beside her. He'd thrown it, hoping to pulverise her head.

The crowd laughed. They were enjoying this. For a little girl she was actually putting up a bit of a fight. But their champion wasn't used to being made a fool of. Jessamy knew that if the Reiver caught her he'd most probably tear her limb from limb.

Hearing the Reiver's heavy footsteps behind her, Jessamy reached the weapon stash and snatched up the first thing she could lay her hands on, turned and stood her ground.

Flaps halted and smirked, "Isn't that a bit big for you, little girl?"

He snatched up a morningstar studded with rusting coachbolts from the weapon pile.

Ignoring the throbbing pain in her arm, Jessamy glanced down at the weapon she'd grabbed. A six foot long shaft of curved wood, topped with a wickedly sharp four foot long steel blade. A scythe. Unwieldy in the wrong hands, she'd used one of these implements for years to clear scrubland and heather on the island of Mull. She'd used one until her blistered fingers had bled and formed callouses. No, it wasn't a bit big at all. The balance was a bit off but other than that it was just right.

Jessamy grinned at Flaps with clenched teeth and took a step forward as she adjusted her grip on the scythe, "You're going down, fucker ..."

Something flickered across Flaps McGregor's eyes. Something that no-one else in Tyndrum had ever seen in that craggy, scarred face. Fear.

Like an Olympic shot putter, Jessamy Beech nimbly spun around to build up momentum as she danced towards her opponent. From the corner of her eye she noticed Merida helping a groggy Ewan to his feet. But none of the Reivers had even noticed. They were too busy watching the spectacle unfolding before them.

Flaps began to turn away, to run, as the blade of Jessamy's scythe sang through the air and with almost no resistance neatly sliced through both his legs just below the knees. Flaps screamed and thudded to the hard ground even as Jessamy continued to spin, bringing the bloody scythe blade up over her head in a sweeping arc before bringing it straight down with a wet crunch, embedding it in the centre of his chest. The Reivers' champion died instantly.

Shouts of protest erupted from the crowd as Jessamy tugged the scythe blade from the body at her feet, "And the name's Jessamy."

Despite their leader's assurance that if she won the fight, they'd be free to go, angry Reivers started advancing towards her on all sides. Jessamy glanced around. She could hold off some of them for a while but she was already surrounded and massively outnumbered.

A staccato burst of automatic weapon fire stung Jessamy's ears and almost as one, the advancing Reivers turned to locate the source.

"LEAVE HER BE! SHE WON FAIR AND SQUARE!"

It was Ewan. Using the confusion he'd somehow overpowered one of their guards and seized his weapon - a pre-strike SA80. A Reiver spotted him and drew back an arm holding a throwing axe. Without hesitation, Ewan shot him through the neck, "JESS! COME ON, WE'RE LEAVING!"

Jessamy swung the scythe menacingly from side to side as she advanced towards the others. The Reivers had seen what she and it were capable of and kept a respectable distance but it would only be a matter of time she thought before a volley of crossbow bolts or bullets came her way.

Ewan covered her with the SA80 as she reached them, still blinking blood from his wound out of one eye, "You okay?"

Jessamy nodded, "You?"

"YOU AREN'T GOING TO GET AWAY WITH THIS!" shouted a voice from the crowd behind them. Rab.

"We better hope," said Ewan, as he backed away from the advancing horde of Reivers, "that one of those vehicles is actually running or we are fucking dead. We're never going to outrun this lot."

Jessamy hoped for another weapon, but apart from the Royal Marines Commando knife stuffed into the cuff of her walking boot that she'd completely forgotten about, the scythe was all she had. She swung the blade to and fro in great sweeping figures of eight as a warning to the Reivers.

Chips of tarmac suddenly leapt violently into the air as bullets impacted at their feet.

"SHIT! RUN!" Ewan gave up all attempts at an orderly retreat, grabbed Merida's wrist and tore off across the road to the filling station where the vehicles Jessamy had noted earlier still sat.

"Can you drive?" Ewan shouted as he wrenched open the Humvee's nearest door and unceremoniously pushed Merida inside.

"A t-tractor," Jessamy exaggerated. One of Mull's crofts had had a decrepit antique of a tractor that she'd once sat on while the engine was running. She'd learnt the controls and what they did but she hadn't actually driven the thing. Now wasn't the time to admit that. She had to learn - and fast.

"Good enough! Get it going while I keep these assholes off our backs."

Realising the SA80's magazine was exhausted, Ewan threw the weapon away and clambered into the back. An instant later his head and shoulders reappeared through the circular hole cut in the roof. He swivelled the mounted machine gun towards the advancing Reivers, "Hope this thing's loaded!"

A crossbow bolt embedded itself in the driver's side door as Jessamy swung it open and climbed in, followed by another and another - their steel tips poking into the cabin mere inches from her thigh.

A deafening blast of noise erupted just above their heads as Ewan opened up with the Humvee's machine gun, instantly decimating the front ranks of Reivers. The Humvee vibrated around them, forcing Merida to clamp her hands over her ears. Jessamy turned the key in the ignition and stamped her foot on the gas pedal.

The windscreen shattered into a thousand glittering fragments as a shotgun blast glanced across the front of the Humvee. In a series of jarring lurches and bumps, Jessamy finally got the vehicle to move forward, twisting the steering wheel towards a clearer path where the Reivers weren't so concentrated.

Again, Ewan blasted away with the machine gun as bullets, rocks and arrows from the pursuing Reivers bounced and pinged off the Humvee's bodywork, "JESS! FLOOR IT!"

Jessamy realised what Ewan had been shooting at as the nearby campervan's tyres exploded and large calibre bullets ripped holes in the big John Deere's engine block.

Aiming for a clear stretch of road signposted 'A82 Crianlarich' Jessamy stood on the accelerator and the Humvee roared southward leaving Tyndrum behind them in a cloud of dust ...

. . .

Leaving the wreckage littered A82 behind, Jessamy steered them onto the wide footpath of the West Highland Way, her hands shaking as the effects of adrenaline gradually wore off. While Ewan watched behind them for any sign of pursuit from the Reivers, Merida rummaged through the Humvee's cabin.

"No weapons apart from the bad boy on the roof," she reported, "and not even Ewan is going to be able to tote that for long. No food ... not that I'd want to eat anything the Reivers have touched and no ..."

"Are you alright?" Jessamy asked her suddenly.

"Who, me? Course I'm alright. I'm alive! Ewan's alive!" Merida's eyes sparkled, "and it's all thanks to you for giving us a chance. Where the hell did you learn to do that?"

"Clearing scrub," answered Jessamy.

"Clearing ... Jess, I've never seen anyone with moves like that. You felled that guy like a tree!"

Jessamy gripped the wheel and stared ahead through the shattered windscreen, "I killed a man. Another one. Is this how my life is going to be?"

Merida regarded her for a moment, "It only becomes a problem when you start to enjoy it Jess. You've killed out of necessity. Each time you've killed because you had to."

As the Humvee trundled southwards along the rutted track, Jessamy felt tears stinging her eyes. Merida touched her shoulder, "You killed to save your friends Jess. And from now on, either of us will do the same for you. Okay?"

Jessamy turned and through a film of tears, smiled, "Okay."

. . .

By the time they reached the northern end of Loch Lomond, the Humvee was running on fumes. They pushed the vehicle off the track at Glen Falloch and into some bushes, to continue south on foot.

As night fell they came across a small abandoned hotel set far enough back from the road that it was almost hidden as the darkness gathered about them. With Ewan in the lead they conducted a quick search of every room and were relieved to discover the whole place was empty. Long ago stripped of food and anything else useful. They gathered wood and kindling, built a small fire in one of the rooms away from the road and settled in for the night.

"How's your head?" Jessamy asked Ewan.

"Fucking sore," Ewan answered, but smiled.

"You best get some sleep then," suggested Merida.

"Yes doctor," he said, "uh ... thanks for looking out for me you two."

Merida kissed his forehead, "S'what friends are for."

Ewan lay back down on one of the room's single beds and closed his eyes, "You hear anything outside Meri, wake me, okay?"

"The Reivers are miles back," countered Merida.

"Wake me. Okay?" Ewan reiterated.

"Okay. Now get some sleep," Merida rolled her eyes and smiled at Jessamy.

. . .

Jessamy was too hyped up to sleep. She ran over the events in Tyndrum again and again in her mind, trying to find justification for taking another life. Saving her friends was certainly a good enough reason but part of her conscience still argued otherwise.

Moonlight cast a pale blue light across the stained walls and the firelight flickered and danced across the ceiling, the only sounds the gusting wind outside and Ewan's snores.

"Jess?" whispered Merida from across the room, "are you awake?"

Jessamy nodded, then realising that Merida probably couldn't see her in the darkness added, "Yes."

"I can't sleep. Every time I close my eyes I imagine what the Reivers would've done to us."

"D-do you want to talk about it?" Jessamy asked. She realised that her heart was pounding in her chest.

There was a few seconds' pause from Merida as if she wasn't sure exactly how to proceed. Then, "Yes. But not here. We'll wake Ewan and he needs to rest. Let's find another room."

Quietly, Jessamy eased herself off the bed and crept across the room towards the door where Merida was already waiting ...

. . .

Jessamy followed Merida through the bowels of the abandoned hotel, feeling the warmth of the redhead's fingers seeping through her. A couple of times her resolve almost crumbled and she was glad that she was hanging on so tightly to Merida's hand. She knew that Merida had more in mind that just talking over the events in Tyndrum. With Ewan sound asleep it might be the only chance they had for a while.

What would it be like with another woman? Apart from Beaconsfield's attempted rape back in Torosay Castle, she'd have nothing to compare it to to.

Merida poked her head into one of the few other rooms that still had a door. It appeared cleanish with no corpses or mounds of rubbish. She led Jessamy inside and pushed the door to. The mortice lock had crumbled long since.

She dropped Jessamy's hand and turned to face her, "Now," she said, sitting on the edge of the king sized bed.

Jessamy felt hesitant as she had back in the flat in Oban, nervous, "I th-thought you wanted to talk."

"No you didn't," Merida smiled, "I think after today we both need something. Something to remind us that we're still very much alive."

Jessamy felt terrified. And something else. A yearning, aching feeling in her belly and down between her thighs. She squirmed, "I d-don't know what to do. I'm scared."

Merida smiled, "But scared in a good way, am I right?"

Jessamy nodded.

"Just do whatever seems right. It's your first time and no-one's going to judge you."

Jessamy stepped forward and sat next to her, marvelling at the contact even through layers of clothing as she pressed her thigh against Merida's. Tentatively in the gloom, she searched for her lips and instinctively pushed her tongue into Merida's mouth, probing deeply, almost as if she were a man, and it made her shudder.

In return, Merida moaned and pushed both hands deep into Jessamy's long blonde hair, forcing her lips away.

"Wow, slow down," she said, "are you sure you've never done this before?"

"Did I do something wrong?"

Merida laughed quietly, "Most definitely not."

"Merida, I'm so ... I want ..." Jessamy whispered, "I can't wait any longer, come on, please."

Merida smiled, "Relax. We've got plenty of time. Ewan'll sleep until morning," she kissed Jessamy on the lips, a quick kiss, and then reached for the zip on her softshell. As she slid it down, she let her mouth rest on the creamy skin of Jessamy's neck as it was slowly uncovered. Jessamy shivered and let her head fall back, hearing the rustle of the fabric and the persistent sound of the wind outside gusting against the grimy windows. Her softshell was open and Merida slowly pushed it back, exposing Jessamy's shoulders and her sensible sports bra.

Jessamy arched her back to push her breasts forward, eager for Merida's attention. The bra was made of soft cotton and her small tight nipples stood up through it almost as if she were naked.

"That's a helluva bruise that Reiver gave you."

Merida kissed the greenish purple mottling Jessamy's upper arm, "Your skin is so pale," she spoke almost in a whisper, "you're as pale as milk, like me."

"We tended to stay covered up working on the crofts."

"I like it. And your hair ..."

Merida slid one hand under the fine blonde mass and lifted it and Jessamy arched her neck, "You're like a lesbian's wet dream."

Jessamy wasn't sure what that meant, but she was sure it was supposed to be a compliment. She reached down and pulled her bra off over her head, then blushing, pushed her breasts towards Merida and whispered, "Kiss them. Like you did before in Oban ... please, kiss them."

Jessamy sincerely hoped that Merida would be pleased with her meagre offerings. She knew men back on Mull that would've been overjoyed to get their hands on them. She prayed that Merida would be the same.

"God, they're gorgeous," Merida said, in what sounded like genuine admiration. She stooped and cupped Jessamy's breasts in her hands and lifted one pink nipple to her mouth, extending her tongue and just touching the aching peak with the tip of it. Jessamy gasped in frustration and pushed forward, wanting to feel Merida's sucking mouth fastened to her.

But Merida smiled and ignored her, turning her head so that she could lap at the point of the other nipple, flickering between them until they were deliciously cold with saliva and stiff and aching and Jessamy was grinding her thighs together, moaning with pleasure and eagerness.

"Okay," Merida whispered, and at last Jessamy felt strong fingers unfastening her Craghoppers, dragging the zipper down, pushing pants and panties downwards in one quick motion and, although she was hobbled by the trousers around her ankles and by her heavy walking boots, she cried out as Merida suddenly lowered her face between her thighs.

"Unhh ..."

Merida explored until she found Jessamy's swollen clitoris and flicked the tip of her tongue against it. Jessamy whimpered and fell slowly backwards onto the bare mattress, moaning for Merida to carry on. This was what she'd been waiting for. What she wanted since Oban. What she deserved.

"Fuck, these boots," Merida hissed, fumbling with Jessamy's laces. She tugged the boots off, dragging Jessamy's Craghoppers, panties and socks down her pale thighs and tossed them to one side.

"Lie back, Jess," she said.

"But ..." Jessamy hesitated, one hand scrabbling beside her for her clothes.

"Don't think. Just lie back."

She knelt between Jessamy's feet and leaned forward to push her back until Jessamy was lying naked on the cool mattress. She smiled nervously and parted her thighs.

Merida purred, "Wider ..."

Jessamy closed her eyes with a long breath of delight and opened her legs ...

Then Merida suddenly stopped.

Jessamy pushed herself a little more upright, very aware all of a sudden of her nakedness in this strange place. She felt alone, exposed, cold. Had she misjudged Merida's intentions? Had the pretty redhead had second thoughts?

Merida was after all still fully dressed, and it was making Jessamy feel vulnerable. Merida was breathing quickly, watching her. Although Jessamy was no expert, she looked thoroughly aroused but was for some reason looking not at her but at the doorway.

In the gloom, Merida smiled and spoke, "Ewan? You're awake."

Jessamy gasped and tried to sit up, but Merida leaned forward and put her hand on her belly, holding her down. Unbelieving, Jessamy craned her neck and saw Ewan behind her, upside down in her vision, approaching slowly with his hands in his pockets, "Meri. I uh ... wondered where you both were."

"How's your head?"

"Not as bad."

From her position Jessamy couldn't see how Ewan looked, if he looked angry or shocked or what. She tried to wriggle free to grab her clothes and at least pull them on top of herself. But Ewan came closer.

Jessamy twisted round so that she could make sense of his expression. He looked flushed and his eyes were unreadable. He licked his lips as he approached and suddenly she recognised the look and realised he was turned on. But Jessamy glanced up at Merida and saw her smiling and suddenly she wasn't scared any more.