[Author contact/feedback info: Rapina(followed by the circle "a" at sign)GameBox.net Sorry to be a little cryptic with the email address but the ASSTR site seems to be a favorite for virus programs to scan for email addresses to send themselves to. This way a real person can figure out how to send feedback but a virus will not see the typical person@domain.com pattern and send itself to me. Maybe I should include YouHave@virus.com here so that people getting return to sender mail will realize a virus is using their email.] -------------------------------------------------- Welcome to the Rapina swords, sorcery and lust serial. Rapina should be pronounced just as the word "rapine," is but with a soft "a" at the end. Rapina has never had anything to do with Rap music since hers is a medieval tale that takes place in a period long before the advent of Rap. Rapina was originally a character on the collaborative writing newsgroup, Alt.dragons-inn but she was far too adult due to the talents she inherits during the first chapter of her saga. Originally a full and a PG version of each chapter were written and the PG version was posted to the newsgroup. That was too much work. Later just the full version was posted to a geocities web page and occasional notifications of new chapters were posted to the newsgroup. Geocities was a fine home for a long time but their obscenity rules became a concern. A reader suggested ASSTR as a way to spare Rapina the danger of censorship or deletion. This prompted the move. For quite a while the serial had a second author (Brian L. chapters 3-26) but eventually real life took him away from writing. The early style of the story reflects the fact that there were two authors. The format used to reflect that as well. Alt.dragons-inn format includes nametags in the dialog so that a reader can easily identify the character speaking and thus the author of that character. At first the story was told, in my opinion, from too many points of view, but instead of trying to rewrite the entire serial for its move to ASSTR, it received a light edit. The Alt.dragons-inn nametags were removed and the names of the speakers were imbedded into the dialog as is normal for stories. The dialog was "polished," in some places but no major alterations were made. Starting with chapter 54 the story will be written without conversion from the original Alt.dragons-inn format. --------------------------------------------- The Chronicles of Rapina, Chapter 1 [Rapina]001 PENANCE The belt stung for a fifteenth time, and Brianna's red- faced father stamped away without a word. Brianna let her dress slide down over her high, beautifully rounded alabaster rump and shapely legs. This was not the first time she'd been caught enjoying herself with a boy, it was the fourth or fifth, and she was always so careful to avoid getting caught. If her father knew how bad she really was, he would have died long ago from the stresses. Her mother said she took after her evil Aunt Audrey who had been a petty sorceress, herbal healer and seller of curses until three years ago when the parson had the constable hang her for cursing him with warts and many other afflictions over the years. He had deserved every one of them, of course. The parson was a lecher of the first degree, but only a few mothers with pretty daughters knew it. Aunt Audrey had been their only recourse, for the men and the old women of the town hung on the parson's every word. Aunt Audrey's secret nick name for Brianna was Rapina, and that was the name Brianna thought of herself by. (Rapina: similar in pronunciation to rapine, but with an "ah" at the end.) Rapina asked her Aunt why she called her that, but Aunt Audrey only said she had dreamed it, which told Rapina nothing. Rapina had been to visit her Aunt many times when she was a little girl. Auntie had taught her some things about plants. When Rapina was eleven, and Aunt Audrey still lived, she had taught Rapina about the plants that controlled a woman's menses and fertility. By then, Rapina had to sneak out to see Auntie at her hut in the forest because Rapina's mother had been convinced by the parson's sermonizing that her sister was not a person children should be around. After Auntie had been killed, Rapina and her girlfriends had used the ruins of Auntie's hut as a secret gathering place. When she was nearly twelve, Rapina had found a polished agate beneath the hard- packed earth of the floor of her Aunt's tumbled abode. Since agates were reputed to bring restful sleep, Rapina had put the agate under her pillow and she began having dreams, they were not exactly restful, but they were a lot of fun. If father knew what lustful things she'd done in her dreams he'd have given her a lash for each of her birthdays with a bull whip instead of a belt. Rapina liked enjoying herself and didn't care for the dishonesty of others. Some people were truly chaste but many, like the despicable parson, were lustful but hid it behind false holiness. Were it not for the lash, Rapina would have been content to openly enjoy her lusty body. When she was twelve and her friend Avaine was fifteen, her friend had told her what the parson had done to her against her will. Rapina had been furious with the man for what he'd done to Avaine, but had hidden it. This was why Auntie had sold so many curses against the man; he deserved every one of them. Avaine had not been the first young girl he had victimized. Rapina brewed some herbs for Avaine to bring back her menses. Avaine had been a week late and terrified that she was pregnant with the Parson's child. Thankfully, the potion worked, and Rapina hung on to the learning she had from her Aunt with renewed vigor. During the summertime hours she spent at her Auntie's ruined hut, Rapina and her friends had found that one of the stone seats by the fire pit had a flat, polished underside with symbols and letters stained into it. There was also a piece that could be removed from the side exposing a compartment that contained a piece of wood that sat on slippery-stone legs and had a pointer and a hole in the middle of it . The large stone was a spirit board. Rapina and her girlfriends had regularly snuck from the houses of their parents and spoken to the spirits on summer nights. Many spirits had spoken to them, including Auntie. One lustful spirit Rapina had recognized. It was the one who came through the agate, the dream stone she that she'd found in Auntie's floor. The girls were always taken aback by its words, but after a while Rapina had become able to tell in advance what it was going to say on the spirit board to make the girls giggle and eventually tell it, "begone lustful spirit." After a time, Rapina found she could talk to the lustful spirit of the dream stone in her mind without the board. At first she'd kept the stone under her pillow, but When she was twelve, not so long after she'd found the stone, Auntie's spirit had spoken to her and Avaine through the spirit board, and had told them where she had buried a cache of coins. A gypsy train was in town then and one of the gypsies was a jeweler. Rapina used Auntie's money to have the agate set as a pendant in a light cage of silver with a silver chain. She'd had no breasts then, actually she'd been a tom-boy and not considered particularly pretty. As a child, her face had been perpetually dirty and didn't fit her head. Or at least that was what she'd been told. Rapina looked down her blouse, and smiled. Of late, now that she was fifteen nearing sixteen, it was difficult to see. Between the glorious swells of her lush, growing breasts, hung the dream stone, the agate she'd found in the floor of Auntie's hut. The spirit within the stone was now largely silent. For years it had treated her with lustful dreams and promised to make her into the most beautiful woman in Claremont. Rapina had flirted with it a lot. The spirit had promised her great powers if she would take it deep into her mind, but she was a headstrong, contrary child. She didn't believe all its rants about powers and so on. Her line was always, "show me, then we'll talk." It insisted it could do so much more if she would let it in, but she would not. She told it that it would have to prove itself first by making her the beauty it claimed it could. Perhaps it was the dream stone, but puberty had brought auspicious changes to Rapina's whole body. In the last four years she'd gradually grown exceedingly comely, people even told her that her face had changed. About half a year back, the dream spirit had been courting her with tremendous zeal, arguing most convincingly that it was the reason why she was growing so beautiful and wanting her to take it into her mind now that it had delivered on its promises, but Rapina had always maintained that at age 15, she was not yet fully a woman, so its work turning her into the most beautiful woman in Clairmont could by no means be finished; its show of power was incomplete. Three months ago the stone had stopped its flirtation and manipulative arguing and begun to beg. It said that its world was in the chaos of war, that its lord was losing, and that it might be killed. It needed Rapina's mind as a safe haven. Rapina had told it that it had not done what it promised to do, but said that it could make its home in the dream stone if its world were truly so horrible. Two and a half months ago it screamed and screamed as if in agony, the stone had pulsed with new energy but was then mostly silent. Now the lustful spirit awakened only when she had just been with a man. Its personality had grown flat and Rapina found herself supplying the empty meanings it sent her with words and emotion, and its mind with personality when she communicated with it sometimes in lust's afterglow. In a way she missed it. It had taught her many delicious things about lovemaking in the dreams it had brought. It had been a friend of sorts, though obnoxious at times. Now Rapina knew that the part of it that was personality had largely faded away. "Brianna! That is the fifth time you've been caught with a boy." Rapina's mother screamed as Rapina entered the kitchen. "You're totally out of hand. I've just come from the Thompson's house and Thelma and I agree, you're too old for us to handle, and Edward's belt hardly seems to make an impression on you any more. Thelma dug what happened out of Raymond. Brazen hussy! You ought to be ashamed of yourself! Well you've gone and brought it down on yourself this time. Thelma and I went over and had a consultation with Reverend Evangeline. You are going to do penance young lady. You are going on retreat. The reverend has set up a chapel for you in the church basement. You're going pray and fast for as long as it takes to get this lustiness out of your system! Rapina froze. "Not the reverend!," she thought. Realizing what she must do, she waited until her mother looked away and ran out the back door. Skirting the back yard she ran through the woods along the road. When she was about 300 yards away from the house she slowed down to catch her breath. She would have to run away. She knew about the reverend. She was glad he'd left her alone so far, probably because he had killed her Aunt, but now he had the perfect set-up. Her mother had been so stupid. Rapina sped up again, walking rapidly, covering as much ground as she could. Suddenly Blitz, the constable's dog came running up barking and growling. Rapina ran as fast as she could but the dog was too quick. He chased her up a tree. Constable Rasper Grayton arrived a few moments later chuckling heartily. "Thought you were gonna escape penance did ya? Well, we couldn't let that happen." The constable pulled her down from the tree and marched her to the church. Before she knew it, Rapina was in the basement of the church. The constable opened up a door in the back of the basement and pulled Rapina in. He herded her down the stairs into the church wine cellar. Beyond it the constable opened another door into a storage room. "Back when this church was built, there was no constable's office and no jail. They used to keep the occasional criminal down here. The constable lifted a heavy oak panel from the floor then unlocked an iron grating beneath it. It hinged open. The constable pulled a wooden ladder from the wall and slid it down through the open grating. "Down you go young lady, and may the lord have mercy on your soul." Rasper shook his head as he closed and locked the grating after her. The room below contained not just a cot, but a bed with a sturdy oak frame. The floor was stone, but was strewn with straw. There was also a dressing table with a metal mirror, and a small bureau with a decanter and basin sitting on top of it. Light emanated from the mirror, bathing the room in a soft glow. Rapina shuddered, the reverend must have magic. On the wall opposite the bed was an alcove with an icon of the vindicator. Below it a cushion sat on the floor. Rapina searched the room for a weapon. The decanter and basin were thin hammered copper, too light to serve. The dressing table's chair was a flimsy folding stool made of light wood with a canvas top. The other furniture was put together too well to disassemble. The bottoms of the drawers were thin and the icon was anchored into the stone of the alcove. The drawers were presently empty save for a small leather-bound prayer book, a brush, a comb and an acolyte's robe. Even the chamber pot could not be used. It was a wood frame anchored to the floor containing a thin hammered copper pot and lid. Nothing! Rapina paced the room. The reverend was well prepared for, no, practiced at, this game. Rapina pushed her fingers between the fullness of her breasts and felt the dream stone. There was still power there, but the spirit was more like a seed than a being. So much of it was lost. Rapina walked to the icon, faced it and fished the stone out from between her breasts by its chain. She concentrated hard on the stone, trying to thrust her mind into it. Damn! It was like a hard, dry seed that refused to germinate. The only time it stirred anymore was when she'd been with a man. Perhaps since it was a lust spirit, lust brought it life. Rapina grimaced. Were the reverend a man she desired, perhaps she could bring the spirit back to life and use its power, let it join with her mind as it wished, if necessary, but if the reverend were desirable, she would not want to activate the spirit in the first place. She felt caged. Rapina put the stone back down her blouse. The ceiling of the dungeon was about fifteen feet high and after about six feet the stone walls canted towards the grating which opened above the center of the room and was about five feet square. The room itself was roughly fifteen feet square. Presently, a ladder stretched from the floor to the grating. Rapina tried to pull the ladder down, but the top of the ladder stuck through the closed grating and the top rung was held by two prongs of metal that projected through the grating slightly and were anchored in the stone beneath the grating like iron tusks. The ladder could only be freed if the grating were opened. The constable had locked it and secured the ladder just after she had climbed down. Rapina felt so trapped. She knew the reverend's game; he was a consummate lecher, dishonest about his lusts to a degree undreamed of by most. He controlled the town with charisma and guile while he preyed on its most beautiful young women. Rapina looked up at the grating. The reverend smiled down at her from above. She did not know how long he'd been spying on her, but imagined that no matter where she went in the room the reverend could see her from above. Rapina willed herself not to grimace as she looked up. Instead she smiled wanly. She decided that somehow she would get through this, somehow. A key turned in the lock and the grating opened. The reverend moved the ladder off the metal prongs, stepped down onto it and closed the grating after him. Rapina was silent as the reverend climbed down the ladder, slid it down and put it against the far wall. "Now then, do you know why you are here Brianna?" the reverend said. Rapina was silent for an instant, then smiled, "Because I am a very bad girl, and they've caught me a few times. This time mommy got especially angry with me, so she asked you to help." Rapina looked at the reverend in his priestly robes. Though she could not put it in words, she came to realize that this man's game was power. He liked to rule the town, he enjoyed wielding his charisma and his lies, like a thug enjoyed wielding his blade, but he was less honest about it. He wanted people to bow and scrape as though he were some mighty nobleman, he reveled in it, and like a robber-baron, he ruthlessly removed any who stood in his way, just as he had removed Auntie. Young women like Avaine he easily silenced with threats of violence. He had his little kingdom and he was its "legitimate" ruler. "Now, I want you to tell me just exactly what you've done and with whom so that a suitable penance can found." the reverend smiled with a magnificent facsimile of piety. Rapina smiled back with an equally magnificent facsimile of innocence. You mean just now, or for my whole life? "All of it, every lusty thought," The reverend said sternly. Rapina pushed a lock of fine, jet black hair back from her face. "All of it? It's a lot to tell. The reverend sat down on the chair in front of the dressing table. "All of it." Rapina smiled nervously and looked self-conscious. She did not mention Auntie, or Avaine, or the dream stone but started with her first innocent experience with boys as a child and went on from there. Rapina talked for over an hour, she sat on the bed, or paced a bit and She made her descriptions more and more graphic as she related her experiences. The reverend looked so placid on the outside, but Rapina suspected he was not so placid inside the confines of his loose robes. If he insisted on playing the role of a pious priest instead of the lustful tyrant he was, he would pay a price for his performance. "Your sins are grave for one so young, but there is always hope. You must strip yourself of all vestiges of your old, sinful self and be born anew, Brianna." "Yes reverend Evangeline." "Start with your old clothes. You can put them on the bed." "Oh what a clever snake you are reverend," Rapina thought to herself as she bent to take off her shoes and socks. She took her dress off next, taking the time to turn around and carefully fold it before placing it on the bed. She turned back and faced the reverend as she unbuttoned her blouse, then turned and folded that as well. Turning back to the reverend she unbound her high, lush breasts. The reverend reached up brushing one of her nipples and pulling the dream stone up. "What do we have here?" he asked. "It's a pendant, the silver makes the symbol of the vindicator several times, and the stone is said to help bring good dreams, but I never noticed that it worked. I think because I was supposed to have it blessed. Would you bless it for me reverend? It would mean so much to me. I've wanted it so, but was afraid it would be improper to ask you to bless what had hung between my breasts since I was a child of twelve." "Certainly Brianna, you should have come forth sooner. Earlier I saw you pray to the vindicator with this in your hand. Your breasts are nothing to be ashamed of, Brianna. The vindicator has bestowed on them the blessing of bounty." The reverend reached around her neck and unclasped the dream stone. He took it up, encanted holy words and moved his hands in ritual for several minutes, and as he finished, the room filled with light. "There you are my child." Rapina looked on with awe, "truly you must be a priest of the most noble birth to have such powers," reverend. The reverend smiled with mock piety. "Birth is not important Rapina, it is the calling that matters. True, I was of gentle birth, the third son of a worthy lord, but for several years before I found my true calling, I served as an officer in the Marquis' army. Praise the vindicator I was called away from that thankless vocation to become one of his chosen. Now, your holy symbol is properly blessed. We must continue with our holy work. Rapina nodded and took off her panties, turning to fold them and put them on the bed. She could feel the reverend's gaze on her high, rounded bottom. "I see the mark of a belt." "Yes reverend, my father beat me for what I did. It hurt so bad." "Pain can be cleansing, my child. It is the first step of penance. It instills a certain obedience and seriousness of purpose." "Yes reverend," The reverend took a thin willow switch from within his robes. "Now, we must begin your penance, first pain, then purification. Your sins are grave, and we must resort to strong methods. You must tell no one of these methods, they would not understand. Should you slip, you will be punished severely for breaking your silence. You may even sicken and die like Sarah Brailings. Such a shame. I warned her about the seriousness of keeping the vindicator's silence, but she did not see the light. May the vindicator have mercy on her soul." Rapina froze, she'd heard the rumors about Sarah being beaten and raped by the reverend. Had he poisoned her or used some foul magic to inflict on her the disease that had claimed her? Evangeline was a cruel lord who cared only for power and lust. He was all too intelligent also. Rapina realized that the switch would make no wound that would not heal by the end of her two weeks of "retreat." Rapina shuddered, she had no weapon with which to fight him, only dreams of power stored up in a worthless stone. "Lay over the chair, and receive penance," reverend Evangeline commanded. He started on her buttocks. Soon she was screaming but he would not quit. After her back was a ruin of welted red lines, he made her turn over. Her breasts jiggled just a bit as she turned over and the reverend's pious expression flickered momentarily, briefly replaced by an expression of lust. Rapina's legs were spread slightly. The reverend put lines on her inner thighs, and her nether lips as well. He struck lines across her belly and three across each breast, making her scream with pain and torment. "You understand the seriousness of the situation?," The reverend remarked. "Yes reverend, yes," Rapina said through tears. "Good, then you have just a taste of the pain you will suffer if you go against the vindicator's will," the reverend laughed evilly. "You should lie only with the man the vindicator joins you with in holy matrimony. Now your body has been sullied, but there is a way to purify it. I will lie with you and lend you my purity. It may take much work on my part to reverse all that you have done, but I will prevail. "Bastard!," Rapina thought to herself, somehow she would make him pay for Sarah and Avaine and all the others... somehow. Evangeline smiled evilly as he removed his robes, exposing his naked lust. Rapina grimaced as the reverend threw her on the bed and entered her roughly. Rapina cried as he did to her what he had done to Avaine and so many others. Desperately she thrust her crying mind into the dream stone. With all her will she tried to join the spirit in the stone, far away from the torment of her body. The reverend smiled, such a prize, and she'd fallen right into his hands. Intense pleasure welled up from his loins as he prepared to seed the fallen wench. His mouth opened to voice his pleasure, his moan became a roar as his mind disintegrated with pleasure. The dream spirit stirred and Rapina's mind enveloped it with a power borne of desperation; she screamed with agony and ecstasy as thunder roared in her ears, lights blasted her vision and her mind was consumed in electric flame. Some hours later, Rapina awakened. She hurt everywhere and felt so weak she could barely move. What had awakened her was a throbbing pain in her head. She tried to think. Had the vindicator purified her, or had she merged with what was left of the spirit within the dream stone. Certainly something had happened, though she could not say exactly what. Whatever had happened, it had sapped every reserve of energy she had, but if it was the dream spirit, little of what it had been remained. It's otherworldly knowledge, its perpetual flirtation. Its entire personality was nothing more than a few shreds that may have joined with hers, changing it only subtly, or had the vindicator's grace wrought the subtle changes she guessed might have taken place? Rapina realized the dream spirit had originally sought to dominate her mind, to possess her with its will, but it had fallen on bad times in its own world and by the time she called on it, little or perhaps none of it had remained. If it had a will it had broken against her own like water against stone. Perhaps she had gained something deeper, better protected, and more basic from the spirit, or perhaps her experience had been caused by the reverend's magic. She could not say. The reverend was gone and the ladder had been drawn up. Rapina pulled a blanket over herself and fell back into an exhausted sleep. When she woke, she felt a little better and was able to stumble to the dressing table. Rapina looked at her face, abuse, terror, exhaustion, all were written there. She felt sick, dirty, used. The wash cloth and basin cleansed her body, but little else. The welts from the willow switch still smarted badly. Her body was dotted with tiny scabbed-over sores, a few more serious than the others. Rapina looked up at the grating in the dim light, then back at the illuminated mirror. He had left her face, neck and even the upper curves of her breasts untouched. The lines on her lower breasts and nipples were mostly gone now. He'd swung the switch with more wrist and better aim so as not to mark her body above her nipples. Rapina cupped the fullness of her breasts. Perhaps if she had not found the dream stone and not listened to its promises and bid it prove them, she would have grown up plain and safe and would now be whole. The reverend was too careful, too experienced. He had made the marks on her body so that no family member who insisted on a visit would be able to see his handiwork as long as Rapina was wearing something. He was too practiced a victimizer, and Rapina was at a loss as to what to do. She had kept the dream stone by asking him to bless it, but she wondered if it had done her a whit of good. He had used his snake's tongue to put her in this prison for two weeks, and there was no telling how long he might extend that if he had a mind to. Rapina did not bother to put on the acolyte's robe that was in the drawer. She exhaustedly dragged herself back to the bed, climbed in and slept despite her roiling mind. When she woke, she guessed it was morning because she saw a light and heard the constable opening the grate. "Brianna, it's time to change your bed, the chamber pot, decanter basin, towel and wash cloth." The constable lowered a crate secured in a cradle of rope and bid Rapina load her bedding and the other things in turn. Rapina got out of bed, cold air hit her body, reflexively she reached for a blanket, then realized the bed was to be changed. There was the acolyte's robe in the drawer, she realized. Rapina got out of bed and was about to glare up at the constable. "What was his part in this anyway?" Rapina thought. She didn't glare, nor did she bother to dress. Instead, she walked over to the basin picked it up and put it in the box. She arched her back and looked up at the constable with a steady gaze and pulled twice on the rope while saying, "okay." The constable stared down at her naked body. Something tickled Rapina's nose. She could not say exactly what it was but there was a feel to it too. "You haven't got a stitch on, Brianna." "I've cast off my former self, and I'm not about to put on a new one until the reverend tells me to; he's very serious about his penances." "Yes, he is," constable Grayton nodded. Rapina retrieved the chamber decanter and put it in the crate. "What about breakfast?" "Reverend Evangeline has you on a fast. It's part of your penance." "Oh wonderful. Can't you see, I'm a growing girl? I need food." "Sorry Brianna, reverend's orders. Like you said, he's serious about his penances." "But you're the constable." "I know that, but the reverend is high- born. Evangeline is just the name he took on for the priesthood. He's the authority in this town. Just keep following his orders. Things will go lots better for you if you mind, understand?" "Yes sir." Rapina scowled, even the constable was under Evangeline's thumb. Rapina sent up the chamber pot and then the bedding. Though she'd never experienced the feeling and the tickle in her nose before, she realized what it was from the constable's expressions. "You want me, don't you, constable?" The constable reddened, then looked around. He knelt to the grate and whispered, "Well, I wouldn't be much of a man if I didn't notice a woman like you." Rapina smiled. Lust, she could feel it, smell it, almost taste it. Funny, she had never noticed it before, at least not like she did now. It was a palpable force, and her body responded to it despite what she had so recently been through. The constable next sent down replacements for all the items Rapina had sent up. As the last item came down, Rapina looked up and whispered, "food" rubbing her hands over her belly and up to cup and massage her breasts. The constable said nothing, but Rapina could feel his lust swell. The following day went uneventfully. The reverend appeared briefly from time to time. He had her don the acolyte's robe and helped Rapina read prayers that she was then to pray over and over until she had them memorized. The prayers gave her a chance to exercise the thin grasp of reading and writing she'd been able to get from a woman who helped with the children at Church on Sundays and later from Raymond, who's father was teaching him letters. Ever rebellious, Rapina spent more time reading prayers than repeating them, but she remembered them as well as a girl of lesser talents might have had she repeated them a hundred times. Her performance seemed to satisfy the reverend who believed that women's minds were weaker than men's. Rapina's Aunt Audrey had stressed how important being able to read magical writings was, and how much she was unable to do because she had never learned letters. Rapina had tried to learn so she could help her Aunt, and after her Aunt had been killed, she continued in memory of her Aunt's wise counsel. Now the reading helped her; it took her mind away from what the reverend might inflict on her next. Rapina could not fathom what might have happened to the reverend when she passed out beneath him, but she felt only a little lust from him when she saw him on this day. Saturday morning Rapina was awakened by a tingling in her nose. She sensed lust, and she responded even before she was fully awake. She could hear the constable rush into the room above. The morning before he had said nothing, but had smiled lustily down at Rapina who, because of her rebellious nature and her enjoyment of her nakedness had decided, as a rule, not to don her robe until after the Constable's morning duties. This day was a little different. The replacement chamber pot, the decanter and her new bedding were all heaped on the crate as the constable rapidly lowered it, whereas he usually waited until after receiving the old things before he lowered the new, one by one. Rapina smiled, took the things off the crate and managed to squeeze the old decanter and chamber pot into one load. She smiled nakedly up at the constable as he heaved the load rapidly up. Rapina stripped the bed and tossed the old bedding into the crate before it hit the ground. When it came down again she was ready with the basin, cup and towels. She heard the ladder come off the wall and saw the constable lower it down. There were no weapons on him. He shut the grating and climbed down, whispering as he did, "It's Saturday, reverend Evangeline does a service out East at the farmer's grange hall. He left word you were to work on the next two prayers in the book for this evening. I brought you some milk. Best I could do. The reverend keeps careful tabs on this town and there are all too many snoops and gossips among his flock. The maid who empties the wastes might notice something in the pot of a girl who's supposed to be fasting, but she won't notice this." Constable Grayton handed Rapina a quart of milk. "The reverend will probably let you eat on Sunday; this should help until then." Rapina had been fasting for nearly two days and wasted no time uncorking the milk and drinking ravenously. A bit of the milk ran over her lips and began to run down her body. "Hold on girl, you're spilling, don't want to leave any evidence the reverend might notice." Rapina stopped for a moment and smiled, "you can sip up what I've spilled." The constable stared, smiled, then started at Rapina's belly and licked upwards. The lust tingling her nose and mind burned through Rapina's body like a torch. When she finished the milk, the constable had already run his mouth from her belly to her neck and now seemed to be trying to get additional milk from her breasts. Rapina's whole body was flushed. She reached for the buttons on the constable's pants and made quick work of them. When Rapina touched his manhood an energy she'd never noticed before crackled up her arms. It addressed a hunger that resembled the lust she had known before the dream stone but was now somehow much deeper. Rapina let her hips hang over the bed so as not to soil it with lubrication. She pulled the constable down on top of her. As he plunged into her, Rapina moaned. There was something subtly different about her sex. She had greater sensitivity and greater control inside her. She grasped him as he thrust, devouring him. She felt his energy, she could let it flow into her, or draw it into herself, pulling it gently or forcefully. It was all so new to Rapina, yet so much a part of her. When she came it was so powerful her entire body shuddered, and she squeezed the constable with such powerful contractions that he gasped and thrust with greater vigor. There was an instant during her peak that her mind touched the constable's; she left a message of lusty happiness there. As she came down from her peak, Rapina felt the constable's erection strain to its largest as it prepared to fountain into her greedy loins. The energy was intense, Rapina drew on it gently. The constable's eyes bulged and his mouth opened. A long grunting moan came out as energy and hot seed exploded into Rapina's body. Rapina's skin flushed red, her whole body tingled with pleasure. The constable collapsed onto Rapina's body and panted for breath. After a few minutes he recovered himself. When he pushed himself up there was a huge grin plastered across his face. "Brianna, I have never been with a woman who was even half your equal, and I was a bit of a roust-about as a young soldier, so I've had a fling or two. Whew, you really take it out of a man, but it sure is worth it!" Rapina smiled, looking at the constable she realized something. "You were a soldier in the reverend's unit, weren't you? The constable smiled, "but I never told you that," the constable winked. "Evangeline doesn't talk much about his days as a young lord, maybe he's got a reason for that," Rapina frowned. "Could be," the constable nodded. "Wish there was something I could do to ease your situation, 'fraid the reverend's a little outta my league where brains are concerned. Whatever else he might be, he isn't stupid, and he's as unforgiving a man as I've seen." The constable grimaced. "I understand, the reverend has more than just me trapped in his web," Rapina observed. "You'd better go now before some gossip decides you were here longer than usual and tells the reverend. The constable got up as if stung. "Thanks for the reminder," the constable said putting himself back together. "Thanks for the Saturday service," Rapina grinned, still tingling. "My pleasure," the constable chuckled and went up the ladder. In a few moments he was gone. Rapina put her room back together. One of the blankets brushed a thick scab from her leg. Rapina wrinkled her brow and looked at her leg. There had been a few wounds from the reverend's willow switch that were quite deep, and this was the worst of them. It was completely healed. Rapina checked her remaining wounds but found she no longer had any. Rapina smiled, she had inherited a few powers from the dream stone after all. Her body could use a man's energy to heal itself. Her own climax had brought her in contact with the mind of her lover. Rapina wondered what influence that contact might bring her and how she might use her powers to extricate herself from the reverend's web. Evangeline saw her only briefly early Saturday evening, for he had to prepare for the next day's service. He found her practice on the prayers satisfactory and promised her that she would have food and a visitor the next day as long as she promised to behave and to study two more prayers he assigned her. She did. When her mother visited the next day, Rapina remembered the constable's warning and tried not to let her pain show too much. She stressed that she was just a little weak from the fast the reverend was using to help her purge the poisons of sin from her mind. The reverend had captured her mother's mind long ago, Rapina doubted that she had so much as a clue. Sunday night a light shown above the grating and soon the reverend was descending the ladder. He looked enormously pleased with himself as though he had deluded each and every parishioner with his silver tongue and wily wit. Rapina hated him, but she refused to show it. She knew getting herself beaten would not help her. She was already helpless enough. Her nose prickled and she blinked. The day's sermonizing had evidently restored the reverend's evil lusts to full fruition. Something within Rapina hungered for him despite her hatred. It was as though his lust were food, and although she hated the cook, she hungered for his wares. With him the reverend brought a magic light, a crystal that he hung from the grating, and a cloth bag containing a bundle of clothing. He pulled the ladder down and smiled. "Kneel before the vindicator and recite today's prayers, Brianna." the reverend said, the elation of the day evident in his voice. "Yes reverend Evangeline," Rapina curtsied and knelt before the icon. Today she had done a little better studying the prayers he bid her. She had studied one of those assigned after each time she rebelliously read some other unassigned prayer to herself. She stumbled on a few words but her performance was much improved over the previous days. "Better, the reverend chuckled, much better. The lord's day has been profitable for you as it has for me. Delivering the words of the vindicator has a great purifying effect on a man," the reverend grinned. "I had an inspiration concerning you today. I have an exercise, a ritual we can perform together. I want you to put these clothes on. They were left here by a harlot who saw the light and shed her evil ways. Much as I did for her, I will help you shed these clothes and purify your body with the light of the vindicator." The reverend smiled egotistically. Rapina could feel and smell the reverend's lust building and her loins began to respond without her volition. "What is wrong with me," Rapina thought; "this man is a monster, and his lust is twisted." Nevertheless, Rapina knew the evil Reverend would have his way, so she tried to forget about the reverend and joined with her errant body in concentrating on his lust alone. "First I will shave your legs, you must hold very still and put your feet in the basin. The reverend took a straight razor from his pocket and a leather strap from the bag. Rapina grimaced as he stropped the blade. The reverend grinned, knowing the young woman would be at his mercy. He seemed to have a certain look in mind, however, as he carefully shaved Rapina's legs. Sweat rolled from Rapina's brow as Evangeline shaved. "This is the difficult part," Evangeline grinned evilly as he shaved Rapina's vulva. Rapina grimaced but did not cry out as the reverend cut her slightly. "Oh, how unfortunate, I had been so successful up until now. There now, you are all finished." The reverend rinsed the razor, closed it and deftly tossed it up through the grating. Rapina heard it land on the floor above, well out of her reach. Now take off the robe and put it in the drawer and don these clothes. The reverend thrust the bag into Rapina's hands. Some of garments were unfamiliar to her. She looked a bit confused as she held a lace and elastic arrangement with hanging clips. The reverend chuckled. "A bustier, the clips hold up the silk stockings. Put the scarlet panties on first." The silk of the panties felt good against her skin, though she felt a sharp pain every now and then when the cut on her vulva was disturbed. "Now the bustier." the Evangeline commanded. Rapina complied. "Turn around and I will help you lace up the back." Rapina did as she was told. The reverend pulled the laces and tied them in a bow. Your waist is so beautifully small for a girl your height," the priest smiled. Evangeline pointed out the stockings that looked a little like fish nets and seemed to be designed to cover almost an entire leg each. "Those next, careful, they are delicate. You must roll them on." Rapina rolled on the stockings and clipped them to the straps hanging from the bustier. Next she was instructed to don a scarlet dress. It's skirt barely made it to her mid thigh. "Splendid, you make such a beautiful harlot," reverend Evangeline chuckled throwing a mink stole around Rapina's shoulders. A wealthy man might give you a gold imperial, maybe even a gold dragon but you'll have to spend the night. From a commoner, don't settle for less than a silver eagle or two. Unless your customer's a common soldier, then the best you're likely to get is a few silver sparrows. Rapina looked a bit confused. She was out of her element, but Evangeline obviously was not. "What am I selling?" Rapina asked. The reverend laughed, "your body Brianna." "I am a slave?" Evangeline laughed. You are selling sex. If a man pays your price, you let him have his way with you." "Oh," Rapina said, she could not quite imagine a man would give her money so that he could give her energy, but then she realized that most women were not able to draw a man's energy as she now could, so the exchange made marginally more sense. "Now you must solicit me." "Solicit?" Rapina asked. Evangeline snickered, "act sexy, try to get me to buy your services." Rapina lifted a long, shapely leg and set her foot on the chair, she gave the priest a demure look, and caressed her hands up her leg. Without realizing what she was doing, Rapina took a hold of the reverend's lust and tugged on it as she thrust out her chest and cocked her head back. "Care for some fun, reverend?" The reverend looked amazed for a second then smiled greedily in spite of himself. "Sinner! I am a reverend of the vindicator! A pillar of purity, you must repent your sins and give up your evil ways!" the reverend replied. "You are a man, how do you expect me to believe you are different than other men?" Rapina tilted her head and opened her mouth mockingly. "Would I know the difference in the dark?" "I am touched by the vindicator!" "Hmmph, is your touch more potent than that of other men?" "Huh! It is! It is indeed!" The reverend nearly screeched. There was a crazed look in his eyes. "What scene from his life am I replaying?" Rapina thought to herself and shuddered. "I will show you harlot! I will show you!" the reverend shouted with conviction. "My price is a golden crown," Rapina smiled; "but I'll give it back if what you say is true." "The reverend looked a bit non-nonplused as he dug in his pockets. "A gold imperial, no more." Rapina put her hands on her hips and stood up straight. "No more if you don't mind me keeping it whether you are touched or not, otherwise it'll cost you a crown." Reverend Evangeline grinned like a maniac. He was enjoying himself. "You drive a hard bargain my lady, let us call it a golden dragon then, shall we?" "Rapina nodded, very well, it's a deal." Rapina cocked her hips and held out her hand. "In advance." The reverend chuckled and handed over a gold coin. Rapina took it, looked at it and bit it. It was real gold! The reverend smiled, took Rapina on his arm and led her around the room. At last he led her to the bed and began to undress her with a flourish, sure that he was more than other men. Rapina concentrated on the man's lust, trying to forget who he was and what he had done. She did not like the crazed look in his eye. He was obviously full of himself this night and began to caress Rapina with gusto as he took off her dress. Rapina began to respond in spite of herself, loosing her mind in his lust. Finally he pushed her to the bed and mounted her, Rapina gasped as the pain from the cut in her vulva lanced through her. Pain and pleasure warred in her mind. The reverend laughed and thrust vigorously She desperately needed to heal the torturous cut. She needed power to heal the sore. Rapina clutched at the reverend's plunging lust and drew as hard as she could on his power. Rapina alternatively screamed and moaned. There was not enough power at once to seal the cut, every stroke reopened it. The combination of pain, pleasure and drawing heavily on the reverend's power put Rapina in a kind of delirium of sensation. The reverend laughed as he thrust powerfully into her, delaying his pleasure in favor of torturing the beautiful young woman beneath him. Finally, Rapina screamed and shuddered as the reverend brought her to orgasm, her mind reached out and planted turgid, unwavering lust in the reverend's mind. Since that was largely what was there already, Rapina felt there would be no chance of the reverend realizing what she had been able to do. It was not easy for the reverend to put off orgasm within Rapina, her internal muscles were alive, they grasped his manhood and sapped his control. He lasted a few more minutes before Rapina felt the power that had been gathering within him prepare to gush forth. Ruthlessly, Rapina drew so hard on the reverend's power that her head hurt. Evangeline roared and plunged his erection deep. For a moment Rapina was uneasy about pulling so much power, but she soon realized that the flow of power out of a man was normally felt as pleasure. She was pulling much more than what the reverend would have given naturally, thus his pleasure was much greater. Evangeline's orgasm was long and intense, when at last he was spent, he collapsed on top of her. Rapina fed well, the cut in her vulva was healed in an instant. Her body tingled with energy, her breasts swelled with energy and excitement. They felt so magnificent. Rapina thrust her hips beneath the reverend's insensible body, she hoped to continue to feed on his power. The man was too violent and volatile. Rapina needed to keep him occupied. She hoped her suggestion of lust would keep him hard so he would continue to try to prove he was more than other men. A few moments later, the reverend's eyes opened and he laughed, "Brianna you are the most magnificent harlot! I have never experienced such intense pleasure. Truly the vindicator has blessed this union. This time I will prevail! Am I not more than other men?" "To be fair, I must say you are quite impressive, but I can now only say that you are more than other men your age. To retain your erection even after a first climax is an impressive feat young men are sometimes able to attain." "Is that so?" Evangeline frowned and thrust his hardness into Rapina's lively depths. "You will see, wench, I am more than other men, just as you are more than other women. The reverend laughed as he grabbed Rapina's high, flushed breasts and squeezed too hard. Rapina squealed and bucked. "Being more painful than other men distinguishes you not in the least, Rapina growled." Evangeline laughed, "My apologies, you have the most magnificent breasts, and they are now so plump with excitement. I have never seen them thus." The reverend began kissing Rapina's nipples as he thrust into her. Rapina writhed and cried out as a second orgasm rocked her mind. This time she concentrated on the Evangeline's erection, instilling a compulsion to cum and cum and never grow limp. As if on cue, the reverend screamed with pleasure, his eyes bulged, and though it hurt her, Rapina drew on his energy with every ounce of her strength. His scream went dry but his eyes told the story as his orgasm stretched for over a minute. Rapina could feel the jets of cum drench her, as her vagina squeezed him, milking him in his bliss. When his orgasm ended, He dropped like a rock and rolled half off her, his erection still throbbing as he slept. Rapina waited, wondering if he would awaken as he did last time. Finally, she began to push him off her. She sat up and looked at the scene. The harlot's clothes were spread here and there, a gold dragon coin sat atop the dress. Then there was the reverend's robe, the basin... Rapina remembered the razor was not far from the grating above, but feared to put up the ladder. The reverend might wake. As she began to get up, she felt hands grab her hips and pull. "More," the reverend laughed, you see! I am greater than other men. "I just need to catch my breath. You do the work this time." Rapina straddled the reverend and rode him. With the exception of his erection, he was limp with exhaustion. A crazed lust flickered in his eyes, moans and grunts issued from his throat. He watched Rapina's quivering breasts as she rode him, and came all over him. Using her own orgasms, Rapina reinforced the reverend's lust as she had done before. If only she could exhaust him utterly, she felt sure she could escape. Her body was bathed in sweat but she felt strong. Reverend Evangeline came a third and then a fourth time before he again lost consciousness. Rapina pulled his energy into herself as hard as she could each time he spent himself. After waiting for a while, Rapina dismounted. It bothered her somehow that his erection was still hard and throbbing, yet his body was quite limp. She hoped he was sleeping deeper than before, but she dared not check lest she wake him. She got the cloth bag from the floor and began loading the harlot's clothes into it. She still wore the stockings. The reverend had not bothered to remove them. She rolled the stockings down and removed them. Then she put the clothing in the sack. When she had the clothing back in the sack, she took out the acolyte's robe and put the gold dragon coin in the pocket. Then she found the reverend's robe. There were several more coins in a leather pouch in the pocket and the strap for the razor. She transferred the items to the acolyte's robe. With a final look at the reverend's limp form, she put the acolyte's robe on, walked across the room and got the ladder. She stood it up and leaned it into place. At last she would leave this horrid dungeon. Rapina stepped onto the first rung and was suddenly jerked off her feet. "Thief! Ungrateful Harlot! The reverend screamed as he tossed Rapina on the bed and stripped the robe from her. Once the robe was off, Evangeline threw Rapina over his knee and began spanking her with fury. Rapina's youthful yet well-rounded rump stung and quivered with the reverend's vicious blows, she screamed in pain and frustration. "Steal my money and run off, would you," the reverend growled. Evangeline grinned mirthfully as he heard the results of his handiwork "Slap! Ahh! Slap! Oou! Slap! The reverend laughed. "Do you really think I'd let a lustful treasure like this escape?" Evangeline plunged two fingers into Rapina. "You my dear are the cream of the crop, the most beautiful, and by far the sexiest young woman I've ever had, and I've had many. Think of a handsome young woman in this town, and you can bet I've had her. Oh there were a few like Brenda Dawes who where so uncooperative they had to have a little accident, but the dead and the crippled do not count. "Now, kiss me and perhaps I will forget your transgressions for at least a moment," reverend Evangeline laughed harshly. Rapina groaned inwardly, got up from his knee and kissed him. He did nothing for a few moments, then filled Rapina's mouth with his tongue. A moment later he lifted her hips and entered her, then he pushed her back onto the bed. Still grasping her hips, he thrust savagely over and over. Rapina alternatively screamed or moaned, but inside, her concentration was unwavering, she drew, drew on his power so hard it made her see colored lights against her eyelids. Evangeline grunted and laughed as the pleasure of Rapina's loins gripped him in their embrace. He thrust over and over, then yelled with pleasure as his energy exploded within her, suddenly his yell became a shriek and Rapina felt a change, Evangeline had nothing left to give, to continue drawing on him was taking energy rather than providing it. A bit confused, Rapina stopped drawing. Reverend Evangeline's body was limp. His unblinking eyes staring into space, his face frozen in the throws of his last, greatest sexual conquest. Rapina listened for breath, there was none. She pushed the reverend off her, got up and looked at him. His manhood was still stiff, but its skin and the skin for several inches surrounding it of was gray and leathery. He had no pulse. Rapina looked at herself in the mirror, her skin was flushed, her breasts were swollen beyond their normal size and tingled with pleasure. Within her, she knew she held a great deal of reverend Evangeline's energy, and he had been a powerful man. Rapina had no idea what she might do with that power. She now knew how to use it to heal herself, but that was all she knew how to do. Despite the power she held stored within herself, Rapina was breathless from sexual exertion. She laid down next to the reverend's corpse for a moment, just to catch her breath. "Splendid work my dear." Rapina realized she was dreaming. Her Aunt was speaking to her. "Evangeline was a scourge on the land, a bane to womankind. I had meant for the spirit to possess you and spare you having to do the work yourself. There was a spell you could use to drive the spirit back into the stone when its work was done and dispose of its connection. A priest could have done it, and there was one also in a charm I gave your mother. She's probably forgotten about it. Things did not work out as I planned. I did not realize what a strong girl you truly were to make the lust spirit prove its promise to make you the most beautiful woman in Clairmont." Auntie Audrey smiled, "And I had no idea the spirit's lord would go to war or that it would loose its body in the nether world and attempt to preserve its essence by hiding in the stone, hoping you would let it possess you before it was completely dead. Nor could I have realized that you would go into the stone after it, rather than allowing it to go into your mind. I am sorry for the scars you will carry, and the slight changes merging with it has wrought on your personality. I did not expect that you would inherit its powers, but now they are yours, but always remember, my dear, you are a woman. The spirit's powers were limited by its nature, yours are limited only by your ability to learn. You have gained the power to read, use it. You have gained powers from the lust spirit. Learn to wield them, but also learn other magics whenever you can." "Your situation is a difficult one. Evangeline's family will delve into the cause of his death, and this time there will be no lust spirit to blame. You have killed him. Though his death was just, his family will never see it that way. You are an outlaw now, Rapina. You must change your name and your look, you must run far and watch your back, for the reach of his family and their money is long. You have become a strong and admirable woman. You have my love and respect always." Aunt Audrey faded back into the land of dreams, and Rapina awoke. She felt fine, her momentary weariness was gone, and her body tingled with the energy it contained, the sum of Evangeline's life force. Rapina got the acolyte's robe from the floor. The money was still in the pocket. She took the cloth bag of harlot's clothing and slung it over her shoulder. She put the prayer book, the brush and the comb into it. She drank her fill of water and took the cup and the hammered copper water decanter. She dumped the hammered copper basin and shook it dry. It just fit inside the bag with the clothes. Though they were too big, she donned Evangeline's socks and shoes, putting some straw from the floor in the toes. As an afterthought she took the reverend's robe, it was still early summer and the nights could be chill. Rapina stripped the rings and the golden holy symbol from the reverend's body as well. One of the rings bore his family coat of arms. She passed that one through the silver chain that held the dream stone so that it too would hang around her neck. At least Rapina could find out what family hunted her. The other things she pocketed. They could be sold. Rapina stood the ladder up, half expecting the reverend to grab her. He did not. He could not rise from the dead. She climbed the ladder but the grating was locked. Where did the reverend keep the key? She checked the pockets of his robe, there was nothing. Finally, she stuck her arm through the grating and felt the floor above. Had she not been a tall young woman, her fingertip would not have reached. She felt the key and drew it to her. She opened the grate, left the dungeon and re-locked it. Rapina took the mage-light that hung on the grate and the razor that was on the floor in the upper storeroom. The storeroom was also locked, but a search revealed the reverend's ring of keys and a pouch for the mage- light. Rapina quietly left cellar and then the church basement. Once outside, she stopped briefly at the well to refill her decanter of water. The sky was open, the stars were bright and the moon lit her way. She left town, carefully avoiding houses with dogs. She knew the constable would start hunting her in the morning when he found out, so she hurried for the creek.