The Assassin and the Sorceress Ch. 10

"Oh, so this is what you do in my absence."

It was Morgana. Apparently, someone had been made jealous after all. All nine women, startled, turned to look. Or they tried to. Adrielle's lips suddenly refused to part from Sasha's breast, as if glued. The next moment, she found her hands had similarly clung to Evelyn's pussy and the inside of Lucilla's thigh. One by one, there came the muffled cries of confusion as each participant realized her predicament. Fina and Evelune, who had broken away from Adrielle's nipples for a moment, suddenly found themselves stuck lip to lip in a kiss they could not break. The tip of Elswyth's tongue was stuck to Sasha's plump butt cheek like a tongue stuck to a lamppost, with each of her hands glued fast on either side, and Aldith suddenly found her pussy lips inseparable from Genevieve's.

"Mithtreth! Whah ha we done wrong?" Elswyth pleaded, her words somewhat garbled by the state of her tongue.

But the sorceress ignored Elswyth's plea. "Adrielle, you're buried under so many women I can barely see you, but I know it's you in there. I thought there was something special between us! All this talk about trying to save my soul, all your promises do whatever you can for me! And as soon as you're out of my sight, you have fun with my people and leave me out. What do you have to say in your defense?"

Suddenly, her lips unsealed themselves from Sasha's breast. Everything else remained clinging. "But..." she muttered, and stopped. She had no idea what she was even beginning to say. She was thoroughly confused. Wanton orgies were what went here in her castle. Morgana had never seemed like the most level-headed, rational woman, but she had never once mentioned wanting to be monogamous with her. This sudden anger was unexpected, even from such an unpredictable woman.

"We're not cutting you out! You can jump in, you know!"

"I think if you wanted me, you would have invited me! Fine! Have each other! Stay like that forever!"

"Morgana!" she pleaded.

But the sorceress had already turned away from them. She stormed away from the courtyard terrace so briskly her cloak fluttered behind her. The heavy door to the castle interior slammed shut with inhuman force, leaving the courtyard once again in silence.

Adrielle tried to tug her hands free, but, of course, she was completely unable. Several other odd bits of skin clung to where her partners had been touching her. She knew Morgana's glue-like spell was unbreakable, certainly by human strength.

From their side came the sounds of struggling. Cateline appeared to be trying to get up, but her bare butt was stuck to the stone bench. After giving up on that, she tried to pull her hand away from her privates, but it was similarly stuck. She had two fingers inserted deep into her vagina, and as she tried to pull them out, her labia clung fast around her knuckles. As she tugged, her pussy lips stretched out with her, only to pull her hand back in a second later. She tried to close her legs, but enough of her thighs were stuck to the stone bench that she could not move them very far.

"Cat, are you okay over there?" Adrielle asked.

"I guess," she grunted as she continued struggling against the magic binding spell. She was holding her wrist with her free hand and yanking hard with both hands. "I'm stuck... I thought these temper outbursts of hers were going away."

Suddenly, there came the sound of muffled laughter to Adrielle's side. Sasha, with her mouth sealed tightly around Lucilla's vagina, seemed to find this hilarious! And why shouldn't she? Morgana would probably unstick them once her mood had passed. She would also probably apologize with shame, and they would have a good heart to heart. But how long would Morgana's mood last?

Then, Adrielle felt fingers tugging at her labia and clit hood. Fina's fingertips were each stuck to various parts of her vulva. But those fingers weren't struggling to pull free. Rather, they were taking advantage of the sudden attachment to rub and tug at her pussy in stimulating ways.

"Ooohhh!" she moaned in pleasure.

All at once, the joined women continued where they had left off. Fortune had been with them, as they were stuck in positions that allowed each woman to be finished. Though the interruption had taken them back somewhat, they were quickly able to get back to where they had been and beyond. Soon, they began to have their climaxes. By the time the last of them had finished, several of them were already on their second or third orgasm.

Unable to disengage, or even shift positions, they had nothing else to do but continue on. Orgasm after orgasm, this continued for another hour, until each of them were so exhausted they could barely move. But they were still stuck fast, so they were forced to stay in that awkward position as they tried to regain their strength.

With most of them unable to speak clearly, there wasn't much conversation. They just waited. In time, they began tugging on their stuck parts again, more out of boredom than anything else. Cateline was picking at her labia with her free hand, as if still hopeful she could peel them free of the right hand, two fingers of which were still trapped inside herself. In time, they began stimulating each other again. The next wave of climaxes wasn't nearly as powerful as the earlier ones, but at least they had used up another hour. Now it was back to boredom.

As the morning became noon, they finally heard new voices approaching the courtyard. Adrielle wasn't sure if she was happy to have someone to help them, or embarrassed to be seen in this helpless state. Hassan and Michael walked in to the lower section and plunged into the bath, one by one. As they entered, Hassan waved at the pile of women up on the terrace, but otherwise paid them no mind. Several women in an orgy was nothing unusual here, after all. But he did a double-take a few moments later when he seemed to realize that they were just sitting there, not moving.

"Um... are you ladies all right up there?" he asked, still half smiling, not knowing if he should be concerned or not.

Lucilla muttered something Adrielle didn't understand.

"What?"

"Morgana stuck us like this," Cateline admitted, sounding perfectly humiliated.

There were some soft snickers from the two newcomers beneath them.

"Oh dear! What did you do to vex her this time?" asked Michael.

"Have sex, apparently," Lucilla mumbled.

"I... thought that was allowed here."

"Yeah, for like the past few hundred years," Aldith agreed. "Oh, I do hope that hasn't changed. I don't know how I'd deal with morality rules all of a sudden."

By now, Hassan and Michael were already ascending the stairs to the terrace overlooking the bath, seemingly to be entertained by the predicament they had been bound in. They seemed to find it quite amusing.

"If you're going to be there for a while, can I get you anything from the larder while I'm up?" Michael offered, teasingly. "Water? Ale?"

Cateline scoffed, clearly annoyed. "No, though maybe you could find Morgana and ask her to please release us already. We've been trapped like this for several hours!"

"Ah, right. Well, I've been on her good side lately, so I guess I'll do it," he agreed, and walked off.

A few minutes later, the women came free of each other, all at once. They slowly picked themselves up and stretched out their aching limbs. Whatever Michael had said, it seemed to have worked.

"That woman..." Cateline grumbled as she finally stood up and pulled her fingers out of her vagina.

Lucilla and Sasha, however, only started giggling again, as if they had found the whole ordeal hilarious! Adrielle, however, was more worried about Morgana. Whatever mood she had been in, Adrielle probably needed to go talk to her about it.

"Thanks for keeping your lower parts so clean, Lucilla," Sasha thanked her, giggling almost uncontrollably. "That could have been a lot less pleasant for me!"

Any other time, Adrielle might have laughed.

***

Some time later, once both of them had had some time to think and cool off, Adrielle found Morgana in her chamber, fully nude again, sitting motionless on the edge of her bed. Had Adrielle's pensive hours of thinking served any purpose? She still had no idea what to say.

But it was Morgana who spoke first, without looking up or even turning her head.

"I'm sorry I left you like that for so long. I meant to release you: after an hour at most, but I..."

"Michael reminded you. That's okay, I'm not angry at you. You know I still love you, right?"

Morgana didn't respond.

"I started an orgy without you, didn't I? That's okay, you can punish me now!" she said with mock humility, as she poked her long nipples against the wall. She held them there for a few seconds, waiting for Morgana to cast her signature spell on them.

Morgana gave Adrielle a quick glance, but returned her attention to the floor in front of her.

"You don't need to be punished for anything," Morgana muttered, distantly. "If you want something from me, I'd rather you just ask directly."

"Not really. I'm just trying to get a rise out of you."

Adrielle gave up on the wall and sat down next to her, letting their skin touch. She dared lay a hand on Morgana's thigh and stroked the soft skin up and down. Morgana didn't move. At least she hadn't turned away from her, which was probably a good sign.

"What's wrong? You've never talked about wanting us to be exclusive before. You don't seem like the going-steady sort. So, maybe there's more troubling you than just what you caught us doing. Can you tell me?"

Morgana remained silent. Adrielle sat patiently and waited, giving her the time she needed to respond. She was thinking about what she should say next when Morgana finally spoke.

"I'll never be free of him, will I?"

Adrielle had no doubt who she was talking about: Verus.

"I don't believe that. I promised I'll find a way to end that horrible deal he tricked you into making, and I mean it!"

"Why? It's pointless!"

"What do you mean? You seemed hopeful the last time we talked about this."

"I think I was just happy for the kind gesture. I know what you and Hassan have been up to: tearing through every book in my library looking for some way out. I'm touched you care so much, but all those hours, all those days, and you've come up with nothing. It's wasted time. If there were an answer in there, I would have found it myself long ago."

"I..." she began, but stopped. Morgana had been right about that. After scouring hundreds of old tomes and manuscripts, she didn't feel any closer to an answer than when she had started. Suddenly, Morgana's recent mood change started to make sense to her. What was Morgana's life of constant debauchery but a distraction? But unlike Cateline's distraction from earlier today, Morgana's had been going on for centuries. All her long life, she had been running from the reality of the pact she had made, and Adrielle's efforts, well-intentioned as they were, had served no purpose but to remind Morgana of the grim reality she had been trying to forget.

"No, the answer doesn't seem to be in there. But that doesn't mean there isn't one."

"THEN WHERE?" Morgana yelled, startling Adrielle with the sudden raising of her voice. "I've been all over the world, Adrielle! That library is the culmination of my search for the very same answer!"

She let out a long sigh, and again her voice was quiet... desperate and forlorn. "Where else can I search? If the whole of human knowledge doesn't possess the answers I seek, where else can I search?"

"Maybe the answer isn't out there in the world, either. Maybe it's inside you. Or between us."

"What does that even mean?"

"It means maybe you have the power to see through Verus' trickery by yourself. Maybe I just need to help you see it."

"And what if the answer is that it's impossible?"

"I don't believe that."

"How? How could you possibly know that?"

"Faith."

"Please. Believing something doesn't make it so."

"No, it's so much more than that. My mind just can't accept that it's possible to sell your immortal soul. It doesn't make sense to me. Your soul belongs to God. How can the devil have so much power over something that doesn't belong to him?"

"He created the magic power I now wield! Untold power, the likes of which man has never seen before, and he made it like a blacksmith can hammer out a sword! He seems plenty powerful to me!"

"But that's just power over the physical world. You've already told me this power can't affect the mind or the soul."

"The power he gifted me can't, but he can! I've already seen him do things I cannot! He lives without physical form. He can speak directly into a person's mind. He can influence your emotions: kindle your rage like bellows on a fire, and turn you against your own friends!"

"But does he have the power to imprison your immortal soul against your will? Against God's will?"

"I DON'T KNOW! And I know even less about what God wills. Does God even care? Does he even want my soul after all the horrible things I've done?"

"Of course, he does!"

Morgana didn't even reply. She just looked at her with a disbelieving look. Adrielle knew she needed to make a better case than just that.

"Morgana... love..." Adrielle spoke softly into her hear. "During your story, you told me about the lowest moment of your life. After you attacked Ash and realized what you had done, you didn't even have the will to get up off the ground and escape the approaching fire. You told me you intended to lay there and wait for the flames to surround you. But then, you told me about a voice you heard: a benevolent voice, not a proud, wrathful one like Verus. 'The Voice from the Rain,' I think you called it. The sudden rain shower calmed the fires, as the voice told you to get up and continue living your life. Even after everything you had done, God himself told you it wasn't over for you. He created a miracle to show you that he wants you to keep living! You told me all this yourself!"

Morgana inhaled deeply, and sighed, pensively. "The truth is, I don't know what that voice was. I was getting into the story, and calling it a 'message from God' just felt like a good thing to say at the time. But for all I know, that voice could have been nothing more than the manifestations of a desperate, suicidal girl losing her grasp on reality. Besides, a rain shower hardly counts as a miracle. Certainly not around here."

But something in her voice sounded like she at least wanted to believe there was some meaning behind it. Was Adrielle making progress? She knew she needed to keep going, but what should she say? Of everything she and Hassan had read in the library, not a single thing seemed helpful. And so she just opened her mouth and talked.

"So, my father has a way of explaining things that I always found particularly beautiful. He can be a bit of a free-thinker, to put it in a nice way. Mother always said his head was so far up in the clouds that sometimes his feet didn't touch the ground, but he has a certain wisdom about him. I remember once he told me about his idea of how being judged by God actually works. I don't know where he got it from, definitely any passage of the Bible I've ever heard."

Morgana sighed, annoyed. "Very well, let's hear your father's musings, if you must."

"Quite simply, standing in judgement before God is a gift, not a punishment. It's nothing to be feared. When you finally stand before him, all he does is show you your life through his own eyes. You get to see the objective truth of the rights and wrongs you have committed, with all ambiguity removed."

"Is this going somewhere?" Morgana asked, annoyed. "I'm already quite aware I've committed wrongs in my life!"

"But that just means you're already prepared for judgement! Because to be forgiven for your sins, all you have to do is acknowledge the truth you can plainly see in front of you. 'Yes, I committed wrong there, and this is what I should have done instead.' But some people would rather deny what they can see with their own eyes than be forced to believe something they don't want to: that they made a mistake or that they weren't perfect. That's pride, the sin that begets all other sins. And it's the only thing that can bar someone from salvation. God doesn't decide your salvation: you do!"

"Pretty sermon, Adrielle. I have to say, I like it better than anything a priest has ever said to me. But what does this prove? How does this affect the pact I made with Verus?"

"What I'm trying to say is that's how Verus' trick... how his LIE works! He's convinced you to fear judgement, and that your sins are too great to deserve forgiveness. He has no power over your soul, whatsoever! He knows that the only way he can keep you from salvation is to convince you to not even show up for it. That's why he manipulated you into burning down Ash: so he could trick you into thinking you were unsavable! That pact he made with you is based on a lie, Morgana! It's not binding at all! You can just walk away from him anytime you want!"

"Hmm," Morgana grunted. She was staring up at the ceiling, with just the slightest hint of a smile on her face.

"What do you think?" Adrielle asked, after a long silence.

"I think it's a very beautiful idea. I even want to believe it. But..."

"But?"

"As we seem to agree, wanting to believe something doesn't make it so. And I have no idea where to even begin trying to prove your idea right."

They sat in silence for a minute. Adrielle tried to think of more to say, but nothing came to her.

"Although..." Morgana muttered at length.

"Although?"

Morgana stood up and began pacing. "Neither can I prove Verus' claims true. Maybe you can't prove he's been lying to me, but maybe you've at least shed some doubt on what he told me."

Adrielle stood up. "If nothing else, if God himself can forgive you for the things you've done, maybe you can forgive yourself, too."

"I'll try. And thank you. Thank you for thinking about me. If you don't mind, I'd like to be alone for a while. You've given me a lot to think about."

Morgana leaned in and kissed Adrielle on the lips. Then, she held her tight and rested her chin on her shoulder. It was unlike Morgana to show affection without some sort of sexuality involved. Maybe she really had gotten through to her!

***

Later that night, Adrielle lay on her bed, staring up at the ceiling, deep in her own thoughts. Morgana had made a brief appearance at dinner, and though she had said little, she seemed oddly at peace with herself. Maybe the time to ask her about her freedom was almost at hand! Not to mention, she might finally finish her mission by dragging Gwendolyn back to her father.

But Adrielle found it difficult to find peace herself. As she lay there, trying to sort everything that had happened that day, her thoughts turned dark. Morgana's temper tantrum from earlier was hard to put out of mind. Sometimes Adrielle found it hard to remember why she was trying to saving the soul of such a difficult and troubled woman.

She remembered their first meeting when she had snuck into Morgana's castle that fateful night. Morgana had done terrible things to her. She had stripped her naked against her will, locked her in the dungeon, and done all sorts of things to humiliate her. Morgana had acted like a tyrant! Maybe she was a fool for ever falling in love with someone who had once treated her like that. And even now, when Morgana seemed to regard Adrielle as the love of her life, she still forbade her from leaving the castle.

She clenched her hands into fists as she remembered all of Morgana's misdeeds: what she had done to Susan... what she had done to Guarin and Cateline! Did this woman even deserve salvation? Was she even any better than the jealous young girl who had burned the entire village of Ash?