The Assassin and the Sorceress Ch. 02

Adrielle followed Morgana up the stairs of her castle. Adrielle knew the sorceress was going to punish her for her second attempt to escape. After the first time she had been left floating a foot or two off the floor overnight, stark naked and flailing to grab ahold of anything but finding nothing in reach by which to move herself. That hadn't been so bad, but she had a feeling this time would be worse. She wanted to run, but it would have been hopeless. Morgana could lift her off the ground from across the room just by thinking about it.

Morgana led her into a hallway on the fifth floor. This was the same floor she had entered through, the one with Morgana's bed chamber. However, she didn't lead her there. They finally stopped in a nondescript hallway

"So, Adrielle," Morgana began with an eager grin, one that said she was going to enjoy what came next. "Do you remember what I said would happen to you if you tried to escape again?"

"I think you said you would... stick me to a wall. You didn't really elaborate."

"Oh, but I did say one other thing. What parts of you would I stick to the wall?"

"My... my nipples... I think."

"Good, you do remember! So tell me, Adrielle, have you ever had your nipples get stuck to a wall before?"

"Uh, no..."

Adrielle felt herself shudder. So Morgana had actually meant that silly-sounding threat literally. It sounded painful. She imagined her nipples being skewered by jagged hooks or crushed in tight clamps. Despite how brave she was known to be in battle, Adrielle didn't do well with pain, ironically.

"Well, then aren't you in for a treat! I don't want to spoil too much, but one thing you might find is that it'll be a good deal harder to escape. But enough talk. Go touch your nipples to that wall over there.

Adrielle hesitated for a moment. She looked towards the wall where Morgana had pointed, but saw nothing adorning it. It was just a blank wall. Of course, this was a sorceress that could make things appear out of thin air, make scars on her body vanish without a trace, and God knew what else? There was no telling what might pop out of the wall and grab hold of her as soon as she approached.

"What... what's going to happen?" She could hear the fright in her own voice.

"There's only one way to find out! Don't worry, it won't hurt a bit. Though I might remind you, pet, that you can do it willingly or I can make you. If you don't want this punishment, I'm sure I can think of something much less pleasant. Believe me; it's in your best interest to do what I say."

"Yes, Mistress," she squeaked, defeated.

She walked towards the bare stone wall in front of her. The stones were polished smooth marble, quite in contrast to the rough stones on the outside of the castle. She could almost see her reflection in them... almost.

She reached out and felt the wall with her right hand. She felt the cool, smooth stone surface against her fingers, but it was still just an ordinary wall. Or at least it felt like that. Her heart was beating quickly. She was rather afraid to continue.

She knew she had to do it. She rested her other hand against the wall and slowly thrust her chest forward. She watched as her large, pointy nipples inched closer and closer to the hard, smooth surface. Morgana's promise that it wouldn't hurt helped her a little, though she still had horrific visions of the wall suddenly growing jagged mouths and clamping down on her sensitive flesh, and other horrid things.

At last she felt the tips of her nipples press gently against it. She gritted her teeth and waited for something to happen, but nothing did. All she felt was just her nipples touching the stone wall. Was the sorceress even going to cast a spell, or was she just messing with her head?

She mustered the courage to pull back ever so slightly. She felt a gentle pull on each of her nipples!

"Ahh!" she gasped in shock. She could feel the tips of her nipples clinging to the stone! Slowly and cautiously, she pulled back a little farther. The soft, supple flesh of her nipples began to stretch as she pulled. It make Adrielle think of licking a lamppost in the dead of winter, except there was no biting cold: just her nipples mysteriously clinging to the bare stone. It wasn't nearly as horrific as some of the things she had imagined, but it was a very weird feeling none the less.

She kept pulling until her breasts were lifted up and pulled out in front of her. She felt her breasts pull taut at last, as far as she thought they could stretch. She gave a few quick jerks in a last effort to pluck her skin free of the wall. The tips of her nipples wouldn't budge! Lord, they were stuck fast!

She brought her hands up to her breasts to feel what was going on. At least her hands hadn't gotten stuck. She pinched her nipples between her fingers and tried to work them loose that way. It didn't work; her adhered skin wouldn't even begin to peel away from the stone. She tried to work her thumbnail into the junction between her nipple and the stone, but nothing would give.

"Well, sweetie, what do you think? Do you like having your nipples stuck to the wall?"

"No, Mistress, it's... weird," she said meekly. Adrielle was blushing so much she could feel the heat on her own cheeks.

"Ah, well that's too bad. But I'm still not going to let you loose. I'll tell you what: we can play a little game. If you can manage to get unstuck all by yourself, I'll let you go. It'll be your strength against my magic. Of course it won't be easy, but you might win. Maybe I'll lose you, but at least I'll get to watch a good struggle. What do you say to that?"

"Oh... okay, I'll try."

Adrielle started pulling again, though she wasn't surprised she had no more luck than before. Maybe the sorceress knew it was impossible. Why else would she make such a promise? She was just toying with her, giving her false hope. Perhaps it was time to fake submission again, to tell Morgana that her magic was too powerful for her. Maybe another opportunity to escape would present itself at a later time.

Then, a horrible idea occurred to her. Horrible, but still the best option she had. Her nipples might be stuck to the wall with cosmic force, but her nipples were only so strongly attached to her. In truth, her struggles hadn't been limited by her strength, but by what she thought were the limits of her own flesh. Oh, she could escape; but she might have to leave her nipples behind. It was horrible, but would it be worth it?

A bigger question was whether she would be able to do it. She would whimper like a little girl when the town physician wanted to bleed her, so how would she ever inflict this on herself? In the midst of battle it was different. When lives were at stake and she was in her battle rage, there was nothing she wouldn't put her body through in exchange for simple survival. But in situations such as this where she was relatively calm, and when she had time to anticipate the pain, she broke down into a nervous wreck.

But no, this was a life or death situation! Or close to it. She forced herself to think of what was at stake: her freedom, seeing her home and her family again, everything she ever loved about her former life would be taken from her! She might never see the outside world again! Yes, she had to do it. She would do it.

And there was the small hope that Morgana might magically heal her up out of sympathy. She had made her scars vanish, after all.

She gave one grim, defiant look at her mistress, then took in a deep breath to prepare herself for what might be the worst pain she had ever felt in her life. The quicker she did it, the easier it would be. She clenched her teeth and quickly counted down in her head, trying to ignore the fear as it multiplied drastically with each passing count.

Three, two, one, PULL!

She screamed and threw herself backwards with all her strength, all of her weight behind it. She felt the strongest yank on her breasts she could have imagined, but the next instant she was pulled violently back towards the wall, just as stuck as before. Her flesh had held up to all that! Even stranger, the sudden, excruciating pain she had been preparing herself for never came. She had felt that pull like nothing else, but it hadn't actually hurt. Not a bit!

She heard Morgana chuckle. 'Yeah, laugh to your heart's content, bitch,' she thought inside her own head.

She tried again.

And again.

She struggled like an animal in a trap. She used every last bit of her strength, violently throwing herself backwards with all her weight. It was all futile! With each pull, her soft, sensitive breasts stretched farther than she ever imagined they could stretch! And each time, her flesh returned to its natural shape, no pain, and no worse for wear.

It had to be more of Morgana's magic. Adrielle's flesh was unbreakable! Not ready to give up, she clawed at her breasts with her fingernails. Her desperate clawing didn't leave a scratch on her soft flesh.

It was back to pulling next. Instead of thrashing around, she leaned back and pushed off against the wall with all her strength and held it for as long as she could. Adrielle's muscles tightened, making bulges that moved and flexed underneath her skin. Her breasts were stretched out into elongated cones, while the nipples themselves looked like taut ropes of pink flesh, with the tips still adhered to the bare stone wall.

She stubbornly held the pull. "Hrrrrrrr... ERRRRRRRR!" she grunted through clenched teeth. She managed to get one knee up in front of her, and was able to push off with that, too. She managed to stretch even farther away from the wall with the added strength, but still nothing gave.

All the while Morgana had been speaking to her in some combination of encouragement and mockery.

"Oh, that's the way, Adrielle! Oh, those nipples are so, so stuck! But you'll get it. Pull hard enough, and you might just get your nipples unstuck. I'm sure you've almost got it, just a little harder."

Her strength had been running out as it was, but Morgana's jeers made it even harder to concentrate on her struggle. She finally gave up and eased herself back towards the wall. She leaned her forehead against it and panted, trying to catch her breath. It was hopeless! Yes, she would have to fake submission again until a better chance presented itself.

In a few seconds, she realized she wasn't the only one breathing heavily. Disgusted, she looked up at the sorceress to find her eyeing her lustfully. Both her hands were against her torso, rubbing herself, sensuously. Her hands weren't on her breasts or her vagina, but Adrielle judged it would only have been another minute or two. She knew what that rocking of her pelvis meant.

Apparently Adrielle's shocked and disgusted look said all she needed to say. She immediately removed her hands from herself. Morgana actually looked a little bit ashamed.

"I'm sorry," she said. "You must be so embarrassed to be seen like this."

Morgana had to have been mocking her again, except her tone actually sounded sincere, oddly enough. Adrielle assumed humiliation was the entire purpose of this weird punishment. Had she had a sudden change of heart? Perhaps Morgana really did feel sorry for leering at her like that.

"I could leave, if you would prefer it," she continued. She took a couple steps backwards, then started to turn away.

"Wait, no! Mistress..." Morgana turned back toward her.

"Oh? So you don't want me to leave?"

"How long are you going to leave me like this?"

"So you don't like it, then? Not a bit?" Morgana asked, sounding rather disappointed.

"It's a little embarrassing." That was an understatement! She was absolutely humiliated right now!

"Oh, that's unfortunate. Part of my hoped that you might enjoy it."

"Enjoy this? Morg... Mistress, you've got me stuck to a wall by my private parts!"

"Well, sometimes my servants and I play little bondage games. This is just one of the many spells I use on them for fun. Sometimes on myself when they want to play the dominant role. I let them ask me requests."

So this was more than a punishment. Apparently, this was one of the sorceress' kinks she was being subjected to. Adrielle felt so awkward right then. She couldn't bear to look at her anymore. Thankfully, the sorceress seemed to pick up on this.

"I can see you don't want me here, so I shall leave you. But the offer for freedom still stands. If you can pull yourself loose, you may leave. I'll give you twenty-four hours."

"Twenty-four hours?" Adrielle shouted at, shouting with disbelief.

"I thought it was a generous amount of time. Is that not enough?"

"What? No, that's not what I meant! I... I can't get myself unstuck in any amount of time, and you know that!"

"Nonsense!" Morgana replied with a teasing smile. "You and I both know how stubbornly determined you can be. If there is a way, I think you'll find it. It's your freedom we're talking about! Don't you want to go back home? You have twenty-four hours."

Morgana turned and started to walk away from her, but Adrielle shouted after her in a panic.

"Wait!"

Morgana stopped and turned towards her again.

"Why does it have to be my nipples? If this is only to keep me from escaping, can't you just stick my hands to the wall or something instead?"

"No."

With that, the insane woman turned and walked off. Adrielle thought of begging not to be left here like this, but held her tongue. She doubted begging would work. She was happy enough to see the perverted woman go, and the last thing she wanted to do was to keep her around any longer. At least alone, this was just an uncomfortable position to be stuck in. There was no humiliation while there were no other eyes to see her like this.

As soon as the sorceress' footsteps faded off around the corner, she looked back to the wall. She gave a couple more tugs, though they were half-hearted, as if to pointlessly check if her breasts were still stuck to the wall. They were, of course. All the fight was gone from her by now.

She stood there motionless for a minute, standing straight, arms hanging at her side, with only her breasts touching the wall. She took in a deep breath to calm herself. Her rising chest pulled at her nipples annoyingly.

Twenty-four hours? Was she seriously going to be left here for twenty-four hours? She had a feeling that day was going to feel like an eternity before too long, especially once she got drowsy. She certainly wouldn't be able to sleep like this. What could she do but take it an hour at a time.

No, there had to be something she could do. Clearly, the sorceress had meant to her an impossible challenge, something to give her just enough hope to dash to pieces. Adrielle was resourceful, though. Yes, she would do her best to think of a way to get free. She might just be able to outsmart her. Brute strength clearly wasn't working, but what other options might there be?

So she couldn't break the bond and she couldn't break her flesh, but could she chip away at the wall? She was doubtful. The stone was completely solid with no cracks or signs of erosion. She looked around for anything within reach she might be able to chip away at the stone with, but there was nothing in reach. Even just out of reach were some harmless decorations such as a tapestry on the wall and a vase. Even if she could devise a way to get them, they wouldn't be of any help. And even if she'd had a pickaxe, Morgana could have made the stone indestructible just like her flesh.

Pulling the whole stone out wasn't much of an option, either. The stones in the wall were huge, and the one she had chosen to stick herself to had to be two or three-hundred pounds, easy. She was a strong woman, but even if she could slide it out of the wall, there was no way she was going to make it the fifty miles back home with that thing stuck to her chest.

Maybe she could soften the bond somehow. With nothing left to try, she pursed her lips and spit onto each of her nipples, then tried to massage the moisture in with her fingers. She worked the tight junction between her flesh and the stone with her thumbnail, but it wouldn't even begin to peel away. She spat again and tried for a few more minutes, but the bonds weren't loosening at all. She wasn't surprised, though. Maybe that would have softened glue, but she doubted there was glue or any other physical substance between the stone and her flesh. It was pure magic. Did moisture dissolve magic? She knew nothing about magic, but she still doubted it.

Well, that was it. She had no other ideas. In frustration, she put her hands against the wall and pushed off one more time. She cursed, then gave up. She let her hands slide down the wall and dangle at her sides, then leaned her forehead against the wall with a clunk. Twenty-four hours, she thought with grim acceptance. And what would come after? What would the sorceress do with her in the long term?

She wondered about the sorceress and her often contradictory mannerisms. She would seem to go back and forth from vicious to accommodating, and back to vicious again with no warning. The strange thing was that when Morgana had been acting accommodating, Adrielle found herself feeling strangely sympathetic to her. Was this madwoman really so good at manipulation that she could get Adrielle to feel anything but contempt for her?

As she had expected, the hours passed extremely slowly. She had no way to gauge the passing of time. She was far enough inside the castle that no daylight was visible. There were only the torches that had been left in sconces along the wall, making day from night indistinguishable.

Every now and then she heard noises, other people in the castle, but none so close she could hear what they were saying. At one point she heard footsteps and saw a woman round the corner and walk down the hallway towards her. It was a young-looking woman with blond hair and a youthful bounce in her step, though certainly not Gwendolyn. She was fully nude just like Adrielle, and hairless from the shoulders down. Adrielle gasped when the girl saw her, ashamed at being seen like this by a stranger. The stranger only gave her a knowing giggle, as if she was already familiar with Adrielle's situation, and quickened her pace until she had disappeared around the next corner.

Once, Morgana returned to offer her some food. It had been hours, and Adrielle was starving by now! All she had brought were some dry bread, a boiled turnip, and some water. It was the least interesting meal she had eaten in years, and certainly a far cry from the stuffed bun that Morgana had willed into existence, seemingly without cost or effort. She ate most of it, regardless.

"Still stuck to the wall, huh? Well, keep trying," were the only words that were exchanged.

After some more time, she did keep trying. She gave one yank after another, each as futile as the last. She really wasn't hopeful she would pull herself free, so why was she even bothering? Was it to fight the boredom, or for exercise? Or was it to trick herself into thinking she had a fighting chance? She didn't know or care. It was no worse than just standing there. Once she was exhausted, she gave up and leaned against the wall again.

How much force would it take to pull her off the wall, she wondered? Her own strength certainly wasn't enough. Would a team of oxen even be enough? She had no idea. Even if she could pull hard enough, would whatever was holding her flesh against the wall give first, or her magically reinforced flesh?

She had nothing but time, so she took advantage of this time to work out a plan. Though her mind had wandered down several dead ends, this was what she ultimately came up with.