Noble Beasts Ch. 05

The early April night was unseasonably warm and slightly humid; not enough to drive true discomfort, but enough that Hortense felt plenty ready to remove her dress and shift as the ritual would soon demand. She surveyed the castle rooftop upon which the conspiracy's, and indeed the province's, destiny was to be made. Torches ringed the rooftop, nestled neatly in brackets within sturdy crenellations. Six braziers, filled with some kind of scented oil, were placed precisely at equidistant vertices between a great circle and the spokes and semicircle flourishes which defined the ritual site. Painted in a full red, more horn-like half circles bounced off of radiating circles along the spokes of the wheel- like inscription in the stone. The center held a round dias carved in unusual runes which made Hortense a little bit uncomfortable.

How quickly things had escalated for the so-recently normal Vicomtess! Mere days ago, the auburn-haired lioness had sat in her parlour, dreading another dull social engagement, exciting only as a break from her husband's lukewarm marital embrace. Now she stood proud, if fearful of the professional army camped outside, her erstwhile allies preparing to launch great stones against the curtain wall.

It was lucky indeed that the Duke, several days march away, had chosen to refrain from immediate decision and action on the Seneschal's accusations. He alone reserved the right to train flying cavalry within the province, a lance of which would spell immediate ruin for this rooftop ritual.

Hortense made steadying eye contact, first with her new Dominess, her once subject, Lady Vivienne, and then with the five other women of the circle. Elise had assured the women that seven was the most auspicious number for a ritual of this sort, and so the conspiracy had recruited several of the women most enthralled by the orgy of the previous night. Raven haired, blue eyed Anais, looking surprised but pleased to be treated as equal by her powerful co-conspirators. Loyal Lisette, the dexterous brunette who had been unfastening Hortense's outfits for years now. The competitive Brielle, a fiery redhead who had dared to grab a guardsman's cock right out of Lady Sama's hand. Each wore a matching white linen wrap, and a matching expression of determination. Only Vivienne's outfit differed, a crown of antler resting upon her regal brow, no linen covering her nudity. Elise wore a hooded sackcloth robe of brown, covered but for her face, as she wove around the rooftop, making slight adjustments to the preparations.

The twang of ballistae could be heard in the distance. The soldiers would be on a rotating schedule; they were required both for the ritual and for the defense of the keep. It was the answering boom that drove Hortense to anxiety.

It was immediately obvious that the Baron Geravian had thought ahead and had a powerful enchantment cast upon his trebuchet. The rumble of stone on stone shook Hortense's teeth, and the curtain wall, proof against days of normal bombardment, shuddered in agony. Hopefully it would last through the ritual.

Aware of the urgency, Vivienne signaled, and each woman took her assigned circle, each standing a few feet behind a brazier, and drums began to beat behind them, slow and steady. Each woman took a silver knife, and cut their clothing open to the beat of the drums. Vivienne and Elise began to chant in turn, speaking in a harsh gutteral language, though Hortense found herself understanding their intent as clearly as her own native tongue.

Twice, Vivienne implored the eyes of the Great Prince, and Hortense felt a stirring presence; a languid mind oozing sensuality, causally watching her with a voyeuristic energy equal to any she had so recently felt. She unconsciously widened her stance just a little, opening her bare legs to the obscene gaze.

As one the six women surrounding the Dominess plunged their white linens into the scented oil braziers in front of them. They had received no instruction on the particulars of this part of the ritual, but the obscene presence within them knew what was expected, and seemed not to mind her access of the knowledge. Each dipped fingers into the oil and began tracing sigils with it upon their bare flesh, each stroke timed to the slightly accelerating drum beat. Twice more Vivienne called upon the Prince, and the presence within Hortense woke up further. Sleepy sensuality was replaced with a rude interest and amusement at the new playthings being offered to this dark god. The sensation of being watched intensified, and Hortense held her breath, just a little.

Elise moved from the outermost circle to the middle, as she continue pacing around the ritual space, now carrying a torch. Beginning with Aurelie, she lit one brazier alight.

The flame was like none Hortense had ever seen. Less like a smoky hearth, and more like glowing honey. Aurelie responded to the lit brazier with a low moan, and began caressing herself impatiently. Hortense watched the blonde shudder and circle her sex with delicate fingers, slowly working toward frenzy, as Elise slowly paced the circle, lighting each brazier in turn. Lisette, Brielle, Sama, and Anais slowly followed Aurelie into her trance of lust, as two more calls to the dark god from Vivienne made the paint of the ritual circle start to glow a dull purple. At last, similar purple eyes bore into Hortense, as the torch touched to the brazier in front of her.

Bathed in the warm honey light, the first thing Hortense noticed was scent. More pleasurable than any herb a priest had ever placed in censer, and more alluring than a feast to the famished, it overwhelmed the Vicomtess. Her manicured nails traced sharp pathways into her naked, goosebumped flesh while she reveled in raw sensation. The watchful presence within her became an expectant audience, and Hortense wanted to show off; she would describe her performance as pornographic, had she been familiar with the word. She caressed, pinched, and gyrated for beat after beat, until she lost track of time

At some point, the drums settled into a steady beat, and Hortense's awareness surfaced just enough from the trance of lust to realize that she was on all fours, waggling her sex enticingly towards the outskirts of the circle, and she looked briefly around, to see her compatriots all in identical poses. The ample chests of Anais and Sama swung in hypnotic counterweight to the swaying beat of their hips, as the faces of all six women began to reflect entranced anticipation. Hortense noticed the first group of men lining up behind the other women, and her wanton sex stirred at the idea of the man behind her watching the dancing vulva he was about to claim.

Some distant part of Hortense's mind registered the booming thud of another enchanted stone against the abused curtain wall, but the rest of her consciousness was subsumed as Vivienne cried out the seventh and final call to the Prince. The dull purple of the circle lines flared to a bright glowing pink, flecked with the richer dark gold of the glowing braziers. The presence within her engorged to full attention and delicious focus, as all conscious thought gave way to indiscriminate lust. Elise threw off his cloak and lay on the dias, as the illusion of a purple-eyed woman dispelled to reveal a white-furred beastman of wiry strength, grippable handle-like horns, and a thick, knotted erection. Vivienne seemed unsurprised, and positioned herself above the beast, shouting one final, triumphant incantation before impaling her dripping sex.

The several short measures of waiting between the Dominess beginning the ritual and the time that Hortense was expected to follow could not have lasted more than ten seconds in real time, but they felt like lonely eons to her singularly focused mind. The muscles of her aching sex rebelled beneath the gaze of the dark master, grasping and squeezing around despairing emptiness as her need grew beyond measure. Her hands slapped the ground, unaware of their perfect rhythm, and she let loose a moan of longing and desperation that might almost have sounded like grief, as her Dominess rode cock to the heady beat of drums.

At last, when Hortense could bear no more, and was tensing to turn and pounce like a jungle cat upon whatever man stood behind her, the correct beat struck, and the noblewoman was flooded with glorious cock. She knew not and cared not who drove the perfectly hard appendage into her, only that he slammed in fully with each beat of the tuneless song, and that the magical light of the circle pulsed a little brighter with every thrust. The pace was perfect; it was neither the careful thrusting of a conscientious man avoiding injury to an acclimating pussy, nor the arrhythmic punches of a man chasing down a fleeing orgasm. The steady rhythm spoke of supreme confidence, a cock unselfconscious of its impending explosion, as it knew exactly what its sheath desired. Hortense surrendered to the sensation, waves of pleasure nearly resembling a small orgasm with every thrust, transported to a realm of pure divinity. She could almost see the approving smile of the dark one behind her eyes as she slammed her haunches against the stallion behind her.

She bore no mind to drawing out or delaying the orgasm of her first soldier, and in other contexts, might have been disappointed by how quickly she earned his shout of exultation. Instead she squeezed the bursting cock inside of her with all of her pelvic muscles, and triggered a powerful orgasm of her own, the magical light pulsing and popping in her eyes. The rush of fluid, a volume which would normally come dripping out of her used snatch over the course of minutes, instead seemed to absorb magically into her walls, and she felt a rush of power rejuvenating muscles that had already been beginning to tire. She growled in triumph and presented her ravenous maw to the next man in line, who hastily lined up to continue the celebration.

This man preferred a slightly different angle, and the Vicomtess was happy to oblige. One hand gripped her hips, and the other her neck as the rough soldiers filled the Vicomtess, angling the underside of his cock snuggly against the front wall of her sex. She moaned in rapture, and her eyes feasted on the sight of her circle-sisters sharing in her joy. Aurelie's face pressed against cool stone as her partner held her hips up and she used both hands to spread for him. Lisette's face filled with a manic grin as she flicked her hips slightly to the side with each filling thrust. Sama dissolving into a near limp puddle of bliss as her soldier, slightly bloody and fresh from the battle line, plowed into her with both hands on her rounded ass.

At the center, Vivienne radiated supreme confidence as she rode Elise in half time; one cataclysmic pump of her hips for every two in the circle. Hortense knew innately that the ritual would release as soon as Elise did, so her heart applauded the measured confidence, as her pussy applauded the second orgasm approaching to fill her, as well as the hand that had moved to rapidly circle her clit while her soldier pumped. She poured more power into the circle with an insensate cry, and again felt the usual fatigue after a good fuck dissipate like fog on a warm morning.

A much closer boulder slammed into the wall, but Hortense moved with the impact, rolling onto her back and kicked her heels to the air, as the powerful smith she had tried to bed the previous night literally fell upon her. She devoured the thick head of his cock within her hips, thrusting upward to take what was hers. For his part, the smith braced his hands behind her shoulders, magnifying the depth of each drive from his own ravenous hips. Again she had no time for teasing or foreplay, determined to draw as much seed within her as possible before the end of the ritual, and in short order, another orgasm of hers was followed quickly by a pulsing flood of seed from the virile smith. She kicked him off as a a soldier with one arm in a makeshift sling hurried forward.

Unwilling to risk losing the perfect rhythm of the drums to her next partner's injury, she rolled him to the ground, quickly pulling his pants off so that she could straddle the man, much as Vivienne was her partner. In a moment of camaraderie, she blew a kiss to Aurelie, who was being filled by Aloise at the very moment. Sama seemed to have found the time for her own favorite, and was groaning in satisfaction as Emile accompanied the thrusts of his cock in her pussy with a thumb pressed two knuckles deep into her ass.

The pulses of light suddenly increased as Vivienne increased from half time to normal, and then to double while crying out in orgasmic bliss. The beast that was Elise began panting, and it was clear time was running short. The heavy thud of a battering ram at the door of the keep below kept unintentional half time, as Hortense raced to milk just one more cock before ritual's end.

Hortense's eager hips pumped desperately of their own accord as she groped her breasts and her mind cried out for the lurid attentions of the Dark One. She felt the cock beneath her start to stiffen further in readiness and picked up to an unsustainably fast pace within the rhythm, desperately trying to stay ahead of Elise's bucking hips. She crowed inarticulate triumph as she caught the spurting wave from her injured lover, and collapsed face down, sex raised in tribute, as Elise's monstrous brays signaled the Transformation.

A delicious heat suffused the Vicomtess' body, as she felt the seed she had absorbed come to life and burn changes into her. Short stubs of horns pressed their way out of her Auburn curls, and coalesced into pleasantly firm rounded tips. Her pubic fur spread, skipping the remaining uncovered parts of her vulva, but populating the sides of her legs in even fur, which now culminated in strong hooves. A short puff of tail explicitly did not cover her asshole, and her cheeks remained free of the fur which spread down her legs.

And by the Prince, she was strong. Hortense felt as though she could trounce Aloise in arm wrestling, except that Aloise now looked more minotaur than man and like he himself could arm wrestle a dragon

Around the circle everyone who partook in the ritual had experienced some sort of change. Aurelie looked mostly the same, apart from golden fur beginning at her mid thighs, and cute little markings that look suspiciously like clitorides accentuating her collar bone, hip prominences, and inner elbows. Sama bore cat-like ears and sharp looking fangs and claws, alongside soft fur to march her lustrous hair. And Vivienne...wow

Vivienne had a satyr look similar to Hortense and Aurelie, leg fur matching the fur of her snatch, but she bore two more grand mutations. Unlike Hortense's soft nubs, the horns atop Vivienne's head looked very male, sturdy, and curving into wicked points. She had also grown seven tentacles; six extended from her back, making her look somewhat like an obscene spider, and the seventh extended between her legs like a mighty tail. The others, men and women alike, bore changes which Hortense would grow to know and love in time. For the moment, she was distracted by the sound of splintering wood from the keep beneath.

Bestial grins spread ear to ear across the roof of the keep. The hunting would be good tonight.