The Assassin and the Sorceress Ch. 06

"By the Lord, her tongue is loooong!" one of the boys jeered. The others laughed.

"No, she's just tugging that hard," a girl responded. There was more laughter.

Now it was Susan's turn to taunt me.

"Wow, Morgana! That's a stretchy tongue you have! How far can it stretch? Can it go any farther?"

I felt her mitten-clad hands grasp the sides of my head and pull backward. By now, my tongue was too numb to feel much pain, but I shrieked in protest all the same. She would have ripped my tongue off! She ignored my garbled, wordless pleas, and continued to yank my head back, one tug after another. By some miracle, my flesh stayed intact.

"Damn, Morgana. You're really stuck! I don't think there's anything I can do for you, but that's what you get for licking random lamp posts in the middle of winter like a fool. I guess we'll see you again in the spring. I'll have someone bring you food and water."

With more laughter, they began to walk away from me. I wanted to plead for one of them to help me, but I was so ashamed of myself right then that I didn't utter a single sound. I wanted to sob, but I was too ashamed to do even that. I just stood there against the pole with my trapped tongue stretched out of my mouth.

Then it was silent, and I was all alone and helpless. I knew Susan had finally fooled me with the ultimate trick after all those years. She had me completely stuck, and I couldn't think of a single way out despite all my cleverness.

When they were good and gone I finally work up the courage to shout a few desperate cries for help. After several of the longest minutes of my life, I finally heard a response.

"Oh my God, Morgana! What happened?"

It was Joseph, and I could hear actual concern in his voice? I tried to mumble a reply, but I don't think what I would have said would have mattered.

"Shit, Morgana, did you seriously lick that thing?" he asked when he was closer.

I mumbled another reply, probably just as unintelligible as the last.

"Okay, never mind. Hold tight, I have a fire going. I'll be right back." I could already hear his voice getting farther away as his boots hit the snow with heavy thuds. I tried to protest, to beg him not to leave my like the others had, but he was gone.

Much to my relief, he returned a few moments later with a pewter stein, steam rising from it in the cold winter air.

"Here, just hold still," he said, trying to comfort me as he poured the hot water slowly down the lamppost. I didn't even feel it at first as it poured over my frozen tongue, but eventually some of it spilled down my face, and it was uncomfortably warm, but not hot enough to burn. Very quickly my tongue came away from the post. I dropped down to my knees and cupped my mouth with both my gloved hands. I can't even describe how good it felt to finally have my tongue back in my mouth!

My relief was short lived. Over the next few seconds, as feeling returned to my tongue, the tip of it came alight with such agonizing pain as I had never felt before! I gritted my teeth and groaned painfully, but that wasn't even what I cared about. I was still humiliated. I felt so stupid for falling for Susan's trick. Even worse was that they had all seen me like that. I started to sob again. I started to blabber about what had happened, but between my burning tongue and my hysterical sobbing, I don't think he understood any of it.

I felt his hands on my shoulders. "Morgana, come inside. Please. You need to get warmed up, and I want to make sure you're okay. You can stay over for a little bit and have some tea. Would you like that?"

I nodded. He helped me to my feet and let me inside his house. There didn't seem to be anybody else there. He took my wool cloak and let me warm up by the fire. He sat down on the stool beside me and looked into my eyes.

"Morgana, let me see your tongue."

I was embarrassed to show him, but I did as he asked. I opened my mouth and let him look. He held a candle up to see.

"Well, a little blood, but otherwise okay. You're damn lucky, you know that? Why in Hell did you do that, anyway?"

My tongue still tingled, but at least the pain was subsiding, finally. I did my best to answer him. I told him about Susan's trick and about everyone's laughter. I told him that I had no idea what Susan had done to that pole, but that my tongue had clung to it like glue the instant it touched it.

He snickered when I said that. I must have given him a hurt look, because he apologized immediately. He explained how my freezing saliva had stuck me in place, and I supposed that made sense. I felt a little ashamed that I hadn't thought of that on my own. He said he thought that everyone knew what happened if your tongue ever touched metal in the winter, but then said that if nobody had ever warned me that it wasn't my fault.

He asked me about Susan, and why she would do such a mean thing. Normally, I am a girl of few words. However, when he asked me about my troubles with Susan and her friends, it was like opening the floodgates. I talked and talked, and he listened. Nobody had ever listened to me like that before, and I loved it. I had never been happier in my life to finally have a friend who cared about me for my own sake. It had even been worth getting stuck to that lamppost, if this is what it had let up to. I think I was crying again before I was done. Talking to Joseph was healing me. And he actually cared! He cared that I was in pain!

But soon it wasn't about the incident just then, or even about Susan and her friends' cruelty towards me through the years. I talked about my mother. I said how horrible she had been all my life, never loving me, abusing me and even my father. I told him that maybe if she hadn't scared Father so much, maybe at least he would have been there for me sometimes. I told him about my isolation, about having nobody in all of Ash to turn to for help, nobody who really cared about me for my own sake. I told him about how many times I had thought of just walking away from it all, that I was happier in the woods with no other people to bother me. I stopped short from telling him about the cave, but I don't think I had ever spoken so much in my entire life before.

When my words stopped, he didn't seem to know what to say, but his looks told me all I needed to know. He felt for me.

"I'm so sorry," he said at long last. "Look, I can talk to them if you need. I know you're a wonderful young woman. You don't deserve this treatment, and it doesn't have to be this way. I'll see if I can get them to ease up for you."

I thanked him, though declined, and he continued.

"Look, if you need somebody to talk to, you can come over here, I suppose. I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind if you visited for a little. Maybe you can help us slaughter a cow, if you don't mind a little blood. It's a bit of an unusual job for a woman, but I don't think the cow will notice."

He paused, then added "Maybe you can pretend it's Susan."

We both chuckled a little, though a guilty look soon replaced his laughter.

"Sorry, I probably shouldn't have said that," he admitted.

I looked him deeply in the eyes. "Thank you," I said. "Thank you so much." Tears were still running down my face, but I felt myself actually smiling. I never smiled. I also noticed that his eyes were brown. I had never really noticed eye color before. At that time, I couldn't have told you my own father's eye color. Unable to restrain myself anymore, I wrapped my arms around him and held him as tightly as I could. I didn't want to ever let him go.

Eventually, he felt like he wanted to pull away from this endless hug. I figured it was now or never.

"I love you. Joseph, I love you so much!" I whispered into his ear. When had I ever said that to anybody? I didn't know if I had ever said those words to anybody before in my life.

He pushed himself away from me right then.

"Morgana, I..." He sounded confused, like he was about to protest, but didn't have the heart to do it. He bit his lip for a few moments, looking like he was contemplating something.

"Oh, what the hell..." he whispered, then leaned in to kiss me on the lips. My arms were instantly back around him. I kissed him back deeply and eagerly. I let my instincts take over me. Kissing was strange to me, but I loved it and my body seemed to know what to do. I tried to suck his lips and tongue into my own mouth, but he pulled back, snickering.

"Geez, Morgana, take it easy now," he teased me, but it was a loving tease. "Here, like this." He kissed me a few more times, and I tried to do the same to him, just how he did it.

"There you go. That's how you do it. You're actually kind of a fast learner."

"Thanks!" I giggled, with what must have been the stupidest looking grin in the world. He didn't seem to care or notice, and kept right on kissing me like we had been doing this our whole lives together.

Very soon I found myself breathing heavily. Embarrassed, I tried to suppress it, but only succeeded in making my breathing sound even more deliberate. I noticed a wetness down between my legs, the same wetness I had found myself with when I would think of Joseph or Sarah at night or out by myself in the woods. The next thing I knew, he was nearly on top of me and we were sprawled on the Butchers' bearskin rug in front of their hearth. My womanhood felt a warm ache that caused me to rock my hips against him absentmindedly. As soon as I was aware of it I made myself stop, but he had already noticed. The look in his eyes told me I didn't need to be ashamed of what I had been doing.

He smiled at me and laid his hand on my side, right against my ribcage. Slowly, he brought it up my torso, caressing me lovingly. I gasped with just a bit of a whimper. He leaned in close and whispered to me.

"Let me know how you like this. If you don't, I'll stop."

Slowly, he brought his hand up until he had his fingers just under my armpit and the palm of his hand over my left breast. I didn't stop him. I liked it. I thought of telling him to please keep going, but I remained silent. Thankfully, he didn't need to be told. Soon, both of his hands were on my breasts, strong but gentle. He massaged the sensitive flesh with his thumbs, rubbing up and down, telling me with sensations instead of words how much he loved me. I laid back and graciously accepted everything he did to me.

"Well?" he asked after a few minutes of heaven.

"Hmm?" I asked wordlessly, looking back into his eyes.

"Does this feel good?"

I nodded.

"I might know what would make it feel even better."

I was silent, and waited for him to tell me.

"All this winter clothing is quite the barrier between us. Wouldn't my touch feel better on your skin?"

He reached around behind me and found the strings that fastened my wool shift. I waited for him to untie them, but he paused. I looked at him again and found him gazing deeply into my eyes. I realized he was waiting for my permission. Damn him! I was still shy. I knew he wouldn't mind, but something held me back, kept me from asking him for the things I wanted even as they were being offered to me.

"Or not..." he said to me as he began to slide his hands back to the front of my thick wool shift.

"Wait!" I pleaded. "Yes, you can do that."

"Do what?"

"Untie me, please," I said. He did. I felt the top of my shift loosen around my upper torso. Slowly, he began to slide the collar of my shift down my shoulders, baring some of my skin. It was a thick garment, and he seemed to be having a bit of trouble removing it all my himself.

"Here, let me help," I said. I eased him off of me temporarily to give me some room to move. I sat up and pulled the entire shift up over my head, throwing it onto the floor. Keep in mind that undergarments weren't much of a thing then. After that, I was left in only my wool stockings that went up above my knees. I laid back down on the bearskin rug so we could resume where we had left off. My skin felt such wonderful sensations! I felt the coarse bear fur underneath me, scratching and tickling me, the cool chill of the winter air on my left side and the dry warmth of the fire on my right.

Then, finally, my bare breasts felt the warm, loving caress of his fingers. There wasn't much for his hands to cup, but he worked what flesh there was skillfully, rubbing his thumbs underneath them to move them around in circles. Then, he brought his fingertips down from my armpits and inward. My nipples grew erect in anticipation of being touched, but he stopped short just before he touched them. He did it again. I caught myself whimpering again. He was teasing me! He brought his thumbs upward from my ribcage, slowly upward, upward, towards my eager nipples. Again, he stopped just short, and brought them back down. I groaned with dismay like a puppy dog that was being ignored.

"Oh, is there something else you would like?" he asked, teasingly.

"Up more..." I suggested with a smile.

"Oh, of course." He brought his thumbs up towards my nipples again, then grazed by them just outside the areola, never touching them. His thumbs were at the top of my breasts now.

"No, more inward. Please." With a sly grin, he brought his hands inward, but again missed my nipples, above them this time.

"Come on, you know what I mean!"

"I'll touch you wherever you want, My Lady. Just name the part, and it will be done."

I realized what he was doing. He wanted me to be direct and tell him what I wanted, even though we both knew fully well. This clearly wasn't his first time. He wanted to coax me out of my shell. I loved him for trying to help me, but at the same time it was difficult to force myself past my shyness.

Giving in, I took my hands away from his amazing flesh and cupped my breasts. I pinched my nipples between my thumbs and fingers and stretched them towards him. "Right here, silly!" I whispered to him, then grinned shyly and looked away from him.

His hands were on my ribcage again. "Right where? You can just tell me, you know."

"Damn you..."

He grinned.

"What part of you do you want me to touch? Name anything and I will. Anything for a beautiful lady like you." Even he couldn't keep a straight face anymore. He was playing a silly game, and we both knew it.

I let out another whimper, one that conceded defeat. "Touch my..." I tried to work up the courage to say it. Those pink nubs of flesh were right in front of both of our faces, fully exposed and unashamed. We were looking at them. Why couldn't I say what they were called to him? I looked at him, and his eyes helped me to find the courage to say what we were both clearly thinking.

"Touch my nipples, please," I whispered to him. I may have cringed a little. I had just said something I had been trained my whole life to never say. Yet at the same time I was proud of myself. I forced myself to keep eye contact with him, and when he smiled back at me, my fears that I had gone too far vanished without a trace.

"Anything you wish..." I felt his fingers and his thumbs finally converge on my nipples, pinching them, stroking them, pleasuring them.

"Ohhh!" I moaned out loud, then sucked in a deep breath of air between my teeth. My hips were rocking against him again, but this time I didn't hold back. I knew I could do what I wanted around him.

"Oh, so you like that?"

I nodded.

"So do I. Your nipples are beautiful! Just like the rest of you."

"Will you kiss them, too? My nipples, I mean?" I had said it again, and I wasn't even embarrassed about it this time! Yes, I was a fast learner, indeed!

He didn't reply with any words. He just smiled at me, then lowered his head to my chest. I felt his breath on my right nipple, then his lips tightened around it. He sucked it deep into his mouth, then pulled his head away until my nipple popped out of him with a wet slurp. I gasped with pleasure. He did the same to my other nipple.

Then he pulled away from me. "Look at you, so beautiful like that. You're making me feel overdressed. He pulled off his clothes until he stood as naked as the day he was born. I looked down between his legs. I hadn't seen a penis since I was a small child: when myself and the other children were too young to understand why you weren't supposed to run around naked. And I had never seen one erect. I knew how it worked, even as sheltered as I was, but actually seeing it did hold some mystery to me.

I realized I wasn't completely naked yet, that there was still more skin I could bare. I slid my stockings off my feet, leaving both of us completely nude at last. He knelt down in front of me and put his arms around me, hugging me tightly. I felt his warm skin against mine, his hard penis pressing against my belly. The feeling of naked skin against my body was such a wonderful sensation! The thing I had fantasized about so many times was finally happening to me! I didn't want to let go of him, but even so, there were other things I wanted to do than hug.

Still feeling the effects of the courage he had instilled in me, I took the incentive to bring my hands toward his penis. I wanted to touch it, but I hesitated.

"Yes, you may," he told me, tenderly. With my mouth agape like a child in wonderment, I wrapped the fingers of both hands around his warm, hard penis. The course hairs I found a little gross, but I didn't really mind. I massaged the skin, finding it surprisingly loose around the shaft of his penis. I moved one hand closer in until I felt his testicles. I played with them, feeling their consistency though remembering to be gentle on a man's most sensitive parts.

"I like that," he whispered into my ear. His breathing was as deep and heavy as mine now.

"Here, let's try something else. I sucked on your breasts, maybe you'd like to do something for me?"

"Of course, what?"

We were both on our knees at this point. He started to stand up. I could feel his penis rub against me, up my stomach, between my breasts, and finally rub against my chin. His penis was right in front of my face. He put his hand gently on the back of my head, coaxing me towards him. His penis had a smell I didn't like. Instinctively, I pulled away. I felt sorry for shying away from him again after all he had done for me, but he wasn't offended.

"Oh, not to your liking? That's all right. We don't have to do that. How about this, then?"

He brought his hands down, letting his right one slide down my lower belly and over my crotch. I could hear the wet sounds my lips made as his fingers caressed them. It was different than how I had always played with myself, but it felt amazing! I felt his fingers slide further back along my vulva, down and down, until they found my vagina. He slipped two fingers inside, and they went in with no resistance at all. They were so much thicker than my own fingers, and it felt so much better!

"Oh, you are ready!" he exclaimed with eagerness, as his fingers probed around, giving me sensations that even my own fingers had not learned how to create in me yet. My legs suddenly felt weak. I was still in a kneeling position, so I let myself collapse onto my butt, and worked my legs out in front of me.

"What do you think, Morgana? Do you want to have sex with me?"

I thought for a minute. I wanted to more than I had wanted anything in my life, but I knew what sex was really for. What would my mother say if I conceived a child outside of wedlock? But if I did become with his child, I supposed we would have no choice but to get married. He would be mine forever! I would be his! That's something I would risk my mother's wrath for.

I smiled warmly at him. "Yes," I replied, then remembered his earlier game of making me say the names of the involved parts. It came so much easier now. "Make love to me, Joseph. Put your penis in me! Put it in my vagina! My vagina wants your penis so badly!" I wasn't embarrassed anymore, in fact it aroused me even more when I said it, to feel my mouth pronouncing these formerly vulgar and forbidden words.