A Cliff-top Duel
IV
Lessons of Strength
(Shard IV)
(Shard IV)
She opened her eyes and could feel the energy of the room around her rippling under her attention. The room was still dark, but she could make out the outlines of objects around her as if everything was cast in a dim, indigo light. As her eyes adjusted to these new perceptions, she could make out rows of shelves around her, some with folded cloth and others with small jars of preserves. She turned her head to the other wall and could see several more shelves holding miscellaneous utensils, tools, and small baubles.
She took several steps further into the dark and after about four strides she could feel the floor slope and turn slightly to the left. She lifted her left hand from the pup to guide herself by lightly touching several of the shelves. Her sense of sight was heightened, but she could only make out shifting shadows and outlines if there was agape in her attention she might trip over some object on the ground, or walk straight into a set of shelves.
Ghelta closed her eyes once more and focused more of the energies inside of her, as she did so she could feel a tendril snap at her consciousness like a flurry of a limb from some testing predator. The tendrils were wrapping around her, wanting to get inside and take over. One more lash came at her and tried to steal her focus away but she held strong despite. She tried to remember what the bottles looked like from her childhood and manifest those thoughts from memory into reality.
She opened her eyes once more and could see a shifting mass of purple off to her right. She knelt down to look at one of the lower shelves near her waist and she could see the bottles stacked there. A shimmering cloud of purple energy clung to the outlines of the objects and as she reached for them, the haze faded away. She could feel several dozen glass bottles neatly stacked around her hand. She moved her hand up to the next shelf and could feel several of the fake nipples strewn about in a pile.
Quickly and as quietly as she could, she snatched up three of the glass bottles and shoved them under her tunic beside the body of the pup. She reached out for the fake nipples and placed three of them into one of her shorts pockets. She gave a quick look around her in the dark, more out of habit than anything else, to make sure no one was around her and then began to make her way back to the ladder.
The wooden rungs of the ladder felt warm and dusty as Ghelta’s left hand dropped from one to another. The pup at her chest began to wiggle slightly and made a tiny squeak of a noise. In response, Ghelta spat some more of the milk in her mouth into the palm of her hand and let it dribble down to the pinky she returned to the pup’s mouth. It was growing painful on her jaws and throat to keep the milk held there for so long, but she had to keep going until she could get out of the broden with her stolen prizes.
As the little wolf began to suckle greedily once more, she tried to shake the darkness from her eyes. She focused her breathing and let the energy inside of her disperse. She closed her eyes for a moment and imagined the tendrils of snapping darkness receding away from her. She did as Grandmaster Toulam had taught her to do when she was younger and focused on a ball of white light growing up from inside of her as if warding off or banishing the darkness away. Slowly, she started to feel more like herself as she took two long and deep breaths.
She opened her eyes to see only darkness and the dim light of the stars above coming in from the open trapdoor. Relief and calm spread over her consciousness and then gave way to determination. She grabbed the nearest rung and pushed herself up, lifting one foot over the other to get to the top of the ladder.
Once Ghelta was able to peek her head over the ground, she noticed a flurry of motion and quickly dropped her head down. It took her a moment to realize what she had seen as adrenaline coursed through her veins. She had seen the wooden door to one of the lodges open up and a figure stumble out into the night. Ghelta bit her lower lip and pressed herself against the ladder.
Slowly, she raised just enough of her head past the hole to see what was beyond. She looked at the wooden door that had been slammed open and was now creaking its way shut once more. Her eyes darted to and fro, covering different points around the lodge until they fixed themselves on a woman’s body as she made her way from the door. The woman was stumbling as if she were still half-asleep, yet her pace was brisk as she sent herself around the side of the lodge and toward a small shack a few yards to the east.
The woman wore the leather shoulder-guards and bandoleers that signified herself as one of the broden-nurses. Below these items of station, she wore a white linen gown that she had hiked up to above her waist. Below the tailings of her gown was nothing more than the exposed flesh of her legs, crotch, and buttocks for all to see, that is if there were anyone else other than Ghelta awake at this hour.
The broden-nurse made her way to the shack and threw open the door in a rush, she still held her gown hiked up and turned around to face where Ghelta remained crouched. Panic tore through Ghelta’s senses and she held her breath, waiting to be found. The woman seemed unconcerned as she lowered herself down upon a seat and let her eyes close. A look of contentment spread across her face and Ghelta realized why the woman was awake in the middle of the night.
Ghelta lowered her head below the ground and leaned against the ladder while sighing under her breath. She gave the woman, who hadn’t shut the privy door in her haste, a moment of privacy as she finished her deed. Each moment that went by was counted in Ghelta’s mind as her nerves continued to be wracked at the possibility of being discovered.
She twisted slightly on the ladder and lowered her gaze to the bundle of towel and fur next to her chest. The pup had pulled away from her finger and raised its tiny head up. Ghelta knew that all newborn pups were blind and deaf for several days after birth, but it almost seemed like the little creature was looking up at her. The pup opened its mouth and a tiny little sound came out, more like a whisper than the earlier mewling it was doing.
“Shh.” Ghelta whispered to the deaf pup as if it could hear her words. Maybe it could feel the vibrations in her chest, along with her heartbeat. “We’ll be out of here soon. Once this bint wipes her ass and gets back into bed, I’ll get you some milk for tomorrow.” She ran her hand along the down-like fur atop the wolf’s head. It nuzzled back against her fingertips and gave another whispered sound.
Ghelta remained quiet, pressed against the ladder, and lightly scratching behind the ears of the pup until she heard a slamming of wood against wood. She turned on the ladder and slowly raised herself up to the very edge of the ground. Ahead she could see the same nurse, her gown dropped to flowing around her ankles, make her way from the privy to her dormitory. The nurse navigated her way with bleary eyes, profuse yawns, and the occasional scratching at her rump until she reached the door to her sleeping area. With another loud bang, she threw open the door and entered the darkness within, letting the door slowly creak back into place behind her.
Remaining motionless, holding her breath, for several moments hoping that the broden-nurse would make her way to her bed and drift back to sleep easily. She began to wonder if the commotion had woken up any other members of the broden, or any of the sensitive children. She remembered back to her memories of being ditched with this group and knew it would be next to impossible for the nurse’s slamming of doors to awaken anyone. The children were often shoved into crowded sleeping chambers where they would have to endure each other’s snores and tumbles. She knew that most of the nurses and attendants were often exhausted after a day caring for the children. A few moments more and she found the daring to pull herself from the hole and get back to the rocky plateau above.
She lowered herself into a crouch and snatched up the trapdoor. As she closed the worn wood down over the hole, she pressed one of her feet against the pivoting-end to quiet any creaks or groans from the rusted hinges. Once she felt it was securely in place, she brushed some sand and dirt over it while smearing her footprints. She made her way backward from the door, occasionally looking behind her to make sure no one was there, and then got up to jump away.
All that was left now was to snatch up some milk for the pup. She had doubts about using the stored milk that the broden-mother gathered for the infants, but it was the only source she could get at. She remembered back to those few months that Ylethus had abandoned her here as a child and the location of where the broden-mother kept the stored milk dawned on her. She had a memory of that drooling, cross-eyed fool, Paulk, getting in trouble after sneaking into the broden-mother’s quarters. Despite being far too old for it, he had a proclivity towards drinking the stored milk reserves.
Ghelta quietly moved like the wind towards the broden-mother’s quarters while checking every few moments that no one was watching her movements. She reached the side of the stucco hut and raised herself slowly to peer through the open window. Her hands caught the frame and she lifted herself to peek through the open wooden shutters. There was no glass in the window to distort her sight.
Inside, she could see the plump and aged broden-mother laying on a fine mattress at the far end of the hut. She laid splayed out, with only a silk sheet covering the lower part of her body. She snored loudly, and with each pitched, noise-some breath, a necklace of bone clacked between her massive bosoms. The woman’s clothes and dress of station were draped over a nearby wooden chair beside a small table. Strewn about the table and haphazardly piled on a small shelf anchored into the stucco wall were numerous books on herbs, husbandry, and some small tomes of hedge magick.
Ghelta’s eyes slid over the room and took in all of its contents until she had to stand on the tips of her toes to find what she sought. It was directly under the window sill that she found a small, lidded cauldron simmering above a brazier of smoldering coal. Hanging from a metal rung was a wooden ladle and a small towel insulated the handle on the cauldron’s lid.
Ghelta pushed herself up, shielding the pup strapped to her chest with a hand, and managed to get one of her long legs through the window. She let it limply hang there as she scooted her rump onto the sill. During this entire process, she kept her eyes firmly fixed on the immense, snoring set of breasts on the nearby bed.
Leaning forward to snatch up the ladle from the nearby rung and giving a pat to the pup’s head, she reached under her shirt to pull out the first of the bottles. She felt her left leg wander too close to the cauldron and pulled it back, almost causing her to topple over. Thankfully she secured the bottle between her thighs and snatched the top of the window sill before she fell and knocked the cauldron from its perch.
She lifted the ladle up to her mouth and bit the handle tightly to secure it. She continued to pull out the other two bottles from beneath her shirt and set them between her thighs. Once this task was complete, she leaned forward, holding onto the pup so that it wouldn’t fall, and snatched up the cauldron lid with a free hand. Every muscle in her body started to sing under the strain she held while balancing on the sill, holding onto the bottles, biting a ladle with her lips while holding the milk in her mouth back with her teeth, and lifting a heavy metal lid.
She took several steps further into the dark and after about four strides she could feel the floor slope and turn slightly to the left. She lifted her left hand from the pup to guide herself by lightly touching several of the shelves. Her sense of sight was heightened, but she could only make out shifting shadows and outlines if there was agape in her attention she might trip over some object on the ground, or walk straight into a set of shelves.
Ghelta closed her eyes once more and focused more of the energies inside of her, as she did so she could feel a tendril snap at her consciousness like a flurry of a limb from some testing predator. The tendrils were wrapping around her, wanting to get inside and take over. One more lash came at her and tried to steal her focus away but she held strong despite. She tried to remember what the bottles looked like from her childhood and manifest those thoughts from memory into reality.
She opened her eyes once more and could see a shifting mass of purple off to her right. She knelt down to look at one of the lower shelves near her waist and she could see the bottles stacked there. A shimmering cloud of purple energy clung to the outlines of the objects and as she reached for them, the haze faded away. She could feel several dozen glass bottles neatly stacked around her hand. She moved her hand up to the next shelf and could feel several of the fake nipples strewn about in a pile.
Quickly and as quietly as she could, she snatched up three of the glass bottles and shoved them under her tunic beside the body of the pup. She reached out for the fake nipples and placed three of them into one of her shorts pockets. She gave a quick look around her in the dark, more out of habit than anything else, to make sure no one was around her and then began to make her way back to the ladder.
The wooden rungs of the ladder felt warm and dusty as Ghelta’s left hand dropped from one to another. The pup at her chest began to wiggle slightly and made a tiny squeak of a noise. In response, Ghelta spat some more of the milk in her mouth into the palm of her hand and let it dribble down to the pinky she returned to the pup’s mouth. It was growing painful on her jaws and throat to keep the milk held there for so long, but she had to keep going until she could get out of the broden with her stolen prizes.
As the little wolf began to suckle greedily once more, she tried to shake the darkness from her eyes. She focused her breathing and let the energy inside of her disperse. She closed her eyes for a moment and imagined the tendrils of snapping darkness receding away from her. She did as Grandmaster Toulam had taught her to do when she was younger and focused on a ball of white light growing up from inside of her as if warding off or banishing the darkness away. Slowly, she started to feel more like herself as she took two long and deep breaths.
She opened her eyes to see only darkness and the dim light of the stars above coming in from the open trapdoor. Relief and calm spread over her consciousness and then gave way to determination. She grabbed the nearest rung and pushed herself up, lifting one foot over the other to get to the top of the ladder.
Once Ghelta was able to peek her head over the ground, she noticed a flurry of motion and quickly dropped her head down. It took her a moment to realize what she had seen as adrenaline coursed through her veins. She had seen the wooden door to one of the lodges open up and a figure stumble out into the night. Ghelta bit her lower lip and pressed herself against the ladder.
Slowly, she raised just enough of her head past the hole to see what was beyond. She looked at the wooden door that had been slammed open and was now creaking its way shut once more. Her eyes darted to and fro, covering different points around the lodge until they fixed themselves on a woman’s body as she made her way from the door. The woman was stumbling as if she were still half-asleep, yet her pace was brisk as she sent herself around the side of the lodge and toward a small shack a few yards to the east.
The woman wore the leather shoulder-guards and bandoleers that signified herself as one of the broden-nurses. Below these items of station, she wore a white linen gown that she had hiked up to above her waist. Below the tailings of her gown was nothing more than the exposed flesh of her legs, crotch, and buttocks for all to see, that is if there were anyone else other than Ghelta awake at this hour.
The broden-nurse made her way to the shack and threw open the door in a rush, she still held her gown hiked up and turned around to face where Ghelta remained crouched. Panic tore through Ghelta’s senses and she held her breath, waiting to be found. The woman seemed unconcerned as she lowered herself down upon a seat and let her eyes close. A look of contentment spread across her face and Ghelta realized why the woman was awake in the middle of the night.
Ghelta lowered her head below the ground and leaned against the ladder while sighing under her breath. She gave the woman, who hadn’t shut the privy door in her haste, a moment of privacy as she finished her deed. Each moment that went by was counted in Ghelta’s mind as her nerves continued to be wracked at the possibility of being discovered.
She twisted slightly on the ladder and lowered her gaze to the bundle of towel and fur next to her chest. The pup had pulled away from her finger and raised its tiny head up. Ghelta knew that all newborn pups were blind and deaf for several days after birth, but it almost seemed like the little creature was looking up at her. The pup opened its mouth and a tiny little sound came out, more like a whisper than the earlier mewling it was doing.
“Shh.” Ghelta whispered to the deaf pup as if it could hear her words. Maybe it could feel the vibrations in her chest, along with her heartbeat. “We’ll be out of here soon. Once this bint wipes her ass and gets back into bed, I’ll get you some milk for tomorrow.” She ran her hand along the down-like fur atop the wolf’s head. It nuzzled back against her fingertips and gave another whispered sound.
Ghelta remained quiet, pressed against the ladder, and lightly scratching behind the ears of the pup until she heard a slamming of wood against wood. She turned on the ladder and slowly raised herself up to the very edge of the ground. Ahead she could see the same nurse, her gown dropped to flowing around her ankles, make her way from the privy to her dormitory. The nurse navigated her way with bleary eyes, profuse yawns, and the occasional scratching at her rump until she reached the door to her sleeping area. With another loud bang, she threw open the door and entered the darkness within, letting the door slowly creak back into place behind her.
Remaining motionless, holding her breath, for several moments hoping that the broden-nurse would make her way to her bed and drift back to sleep easily. She began to wonder if the commotion had woken up any other members of the broden, or any of the sensitive children. She remembered back to her memories of being ditched with this group and knew it would be next to impossible for the nurse’s slamming of doors to awaken anyone. The children were often shoved into crowded sleeping chambers where they would have to endure each other’s snores and tumbles. She knew that most of the nurses and attendants were often exhausted after a day caring for the children. A few moments more and she found the daring to pull herself from the hole and get back to the rocky plateau above.
She lowered herself into a crouch and snatched up the trapdoor. As she closed the worn wood down over the hole, she pressed one of her feet against the pivoting-end to quiet any creaks or groans from the rusted hinges. Once she felt it was securely in place, she brushed some sand and dirt over it while smearing her footprints. She made her way backward from the door, occasionally looking behind her to make sure no one was there, and then got up to jump away.
All that was left now was to snatch up some milk for the pup. She had doubts about using the stored milk that the broden-mother gathered for the infants, but it was the only source she could get at. She remembered back to those few months that Ylethus had abandoned her here as a child and the location of where the broden-mother kept the stored milk dawned on her. She had a memory of that drooling, cross-eyed fool, Paulk, getting in trouble after sneaking into the broden-mother’s quarters. Despite being far too old for it, he had a proclivity towards drinking the stored milk reserves.
Ghelta quietly moved like the wind towards the broden-mother’s quarters while checking every few moments that no one was watching her movements. She reached the side of the stucco hut and raised herself slowly to peer through the open window. Her hands caught the frame and she lifted herself to peek through the open wooden shutters. There was no glass in the window to distort her sight.
Inside, she could see the plump and aged broden-mother laying on a fine mattress at the far end of the hut. She laid splayed out, with only a silk sheet covering the lower part of her body. She snored loudly, and with each pitched, noise-some breath, a necklace of bone clacked between her massive bosoms. The woman’s clothes and dress of station were draped over a nearby wooden chair beside a small table. Strewn about the table and haphazardly piled on a small shelf anchored into the stucco wall were numerous books on herbs, husbandry, and some small tomes of hedge magick.
Ghelta’s eyes slid over the room and took in all of its contents until she had to stand on the tips of her toes to find what she sought. It was directly under the window sill that she found a small, lidded cauldron simmering above a brazier of smoldering coal. Hanging from a metal rung was a wooden ladle and a small towel insulated the handle on the cauldron’s lid.
Ghelta pushed herself up, shielding the pup strapped to her chest with a hand, and managed to get one of her long legs through the window. She let it limply hang there as she scooted her rump onto the sill. During this entire process, she kept her eyes firmly fixed on the immense, snoring set of breasts on the nearby bed.
Leaning forward to snatch up the ladle from the nearby rung and giving a pat to the pup’s head, she reached under her shirt to pull out the first of the bottles. She felt her left leg wander too close to the cauldron and pulled it back, almost causing her to topple over. Thankfully she secured the bottle between her thighs and snatched the top of the window sill before she fell and knocked the cauldron from its perch.
She lifted the ladle up to her mouth and bit the handle tightly to secure it. She continued to pull out the other two bottles from beneath her shirt and set them between her thighs. Once this task was complete, she leaned forward, holding onto the pup so that it wouldn’t fall, and snatched up the cauldron lid with a free hand. Every muscle in her body started to sing under the strain she held while balancing on the sill, holding onto the bottles, biting a ladle with her lips while holding the milk in her mouth back with her teeth, and lifting a heavy metal lid.
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