The Legend of Lucrecia Part 1
In a mystical land of Dragons and Castles heroes of might and courage were common place, yet among these heroes were legends. Mentioning the name of these legends brings chills down ones spine, a cool breath on the arms that would linger even after the sound had faded.
“Lucrecia.”
More than a brilliant wizard, Lucrecia was known more for her compassion to the needy and for her justice for the wronged. Tales of her magical deeds spread far and wide to all corners of the kingdom.
Many knew her from the tale of how she fought a dragon in order to liberate the hoard of glimmering diamonds and luminous piles of gold for a starving city, keeping only a few coins for her troubles. Others knew her from her exploits against the evil witch king of the north who turned villagers into toads for not paying unfair taxes and how she used her cunning to sneak into the harem and poison the king, being sure to preserve both her dignity and innocence. Even the farmers of the west who had suffered from the deathly heat of drought found solace in the soothing rains she conjured for them.
Unfortunately there were also evil conjurers in that time and even though Lucrecia had helped the lives of some, there were others that acted foully and without thought for those they oppressed. The people cried out against the evil witches and begged their king to do something to end their sufferings. King Tirith was a wise man and knew that not all witches were evil; he himself had been aided by Lucrecia on many accounts to aid the kingdom. Every day the public demanded action, the king’s advisors pleaded with the king to decree that all witches be hanged.
“Sire” they said “we cannot weigh the life of one witch against the lives of your subjects. Surely she would agree that the sacrifice of one would be worth the lives of the people.” These advisors spoke with a logic that the king could not deny; they also spoke with the coins of Lucrecia’s enemies in their pockets.
The advisors crafted a decree and convinced the king to stamp his seal to it. This decree was soon spread throughout the land. All witches would be considered enemies of the land and executed within 24 hours of being apprehended. The decree was specific; all witches would be hanged by the neck until dead and left swinging until dark, where the bodies would be taken down and buried. The witches would also be stripped of all their magical objects and robes before the hanging.
Lucrecia was then in a tight spot. Her enemies made sure that she was known throughout the land. Even changing her identity could not save her as she continued to use her power to fight evil, her enemies updating the wanted posters with her many changes. Many innocent women were hanged that looked remotely like her and she knew that she could no longer let the innocent suffer on her account.
She knew it to be only a matter of time before she was caught and hanged so the brave Lucrecia created a plan to fool her enemies. Using some of the dragon gold, she had Firbol the blacksmith to craft a ring for her. As his hammer shaped the ring, Lucrecia wove intricate spells on the liquid gold, sealing a power that would protect her from the noose.
The first spell would make it impossible for anyone other then her to take the ring from her finger, or take that finger from her hand. The second spell would protect her body from the strain of the noose on her neck and keep her blood flowing unrestricted in her veins. The last spell would preserve her life from asphyxiation and allow her to survive without air for a short time. Since this magic would be uncomfortable and noticeable if used all the time, Lucrecia made sure that the ring must be turned around her finger three times for the magic to work.
Lucrecia was never one to take a chance and knew that she must try this ring before being faced with a situation that merited its use.
She spent the rest of that day gathering the necessary materials, a length of rope, candles, and some soap. She returned to her current hideaway, a cave that she transformed into a warm and colorful bedroom with one item that was out of place. The floor was carpeted with ornate rugs and silks. Torches flared to life with a wave of her wand, their fires soothing and smokeless. Metal rings clung to the ceiling, mystical artifacts and sundries hanging from them. In the center of the room was a wooden gallows with a trap door. While many towns used a simple post and a rope, there were those that had trap gallows such as these. She counted on a short drop if any for her plan to work.
Lucrecia sighed deeply. She would be hanging like her possessions in a short time. She conjured a large ivory tub filled with frothy bubbles and warm water and enjoyed one of the many benefits of being a witch as she tried to let her troubles fade away in the tub. Unfortunately the gallows dominated her thoughts. She thought to turn the tub away from it, but having it behind her out of view would not change the fact that it was still there. Instead she focused on her own frame. She admired her body as she bathed; its supple curves and crannies the dreams of many villains and heroes, the envy of Beauty herself. She smiled as she thought of the crowd who would be seeing the show of a lifetime.
She slipped an arm over the edge of the tub and nimbly plucked her wand from a satin pillow. With several quick movements Lucrecia summoned the final materials and prepared them from the comfort of her bath. She put a spell on the rope as it coiled into a noose, ensuring that it would come undone when she made a specific sign with her hands. She looked up at her work, a lone noose hanging above the trap that would take her life if she as not careful. She made one final adjustment to the cave by making the walls of the cave a giant mirror. If she was going to make this work, she needed to know that her dance would look authentic.
Bracing herself, Lucrecia rose from the tub, water spilling down her breasts and taut stomach, her nipples excited and the folds of her treasure pink with anticipation. She knew that it would be possible, however embarrassing, that she would be hanged nude.
Making sure that the ring was fast on her hand, she let her enchanted towel dry her as she walked slowly towards the noose. Each step seemed harder then the next as her feet enjoyed the soft carpet as if it would never feel it again. She reached behind her back with both arms and felt a second rope bind them securely. The rope that bound her hands behind her back would also break when she gave the signal. She had to will herself to move up the gallows steps, each soft sound of her feet pressing against the wood seemed to echo in the cave.
With one last step to go she wondered if she should go on. Perhaps there were other ways to fake her death, why place herself in such risk? Before she could talk herself out of making the final step she felt the enchanted rope lower itself around her neck ever so slowly, cinching up behind her right ear as dragged her to the trap and hoisted her up so that she strained to breath.
Already breathless from being put in place, she gasped at her beautiful body in the mirror, hands bound and a noose around her neck, completely at the mercy of her captors. She could imagine the villagers; some that she’d saved perhaps, maybe some that had sold her out. She imagined her enemies smiling and laughing at her, lusting after her. It would be necessary that both see her, even if it meant dangling naked for them, The thought of being stripped in public made chills run down her spine and a warmth build in her being. She stared at the quivering woman in the mirror, suddenly feeling warm, her face flush with color. Her blond hair spilled over her shoulders, lit by the flickering torches. She struggled in front of the mirror, watching her breasts bob softly and her hips moving from side to side, her thighs rubbing lightning bolts of pleasure through her being. She was ready. The trap was set to spring no less than thirty seconds after being noosed but could go at any time after that.
A soft voice in the back of her head warned her that she might die from this if she as not quick enough with the ring on her finger; that she could black out without notice. She reminded the voice that if this worked then she wouldn’t die at all and that if she was going to hang, better here then in front of a mob. She moved each foot towards the edge of square trap, the noose pulling at her neck. Her breath came in shudders, each greedy gulp seeming less and less and then with a jolt the trap swung down, creaking as it slipped out from under her feet.
The rope jerked her head to the side roughly as it gripped her precious neck.
Lucrecia saw stars for a moment, stunned by the impact of the noose breaking her fall as well as the realization that she as now hanging! When she opened her eyes she saw her body wiggling without her consent. She reached around to her right side and then to her left with her bound hands, trying to move past her soft breasts to the ache in her neck that was slowly killing her. She looked down at her body, the floor sinking past her feet as sweat slowly dripped to the carpet. She reached forward, the tips of her toes coming into view past her breasts for a second as her feet swung about. All the while a pressure was building behind her eyes as she gurgled, spit flecking from her mouth.
The view in the mirror showed the young beauty dangling in the throes of death, a passionate dance that seemed to show off every wonderful thing about her body, the wet fur about her puss that glimmered in the light with sweat and passion, her nipples towers in a circle of soft pink, her face strained with concentration as her blue eyes stared forward at the hanging girl in front of her. She was kicking forward and to the side, trying desperately to find her footing. Her vision was getting hazy and the girl in the mirror slowly became limp. A spark of pain brought her out of her delirium as she remembered the magic ring. She had not practiced turning it with her hands bound!
She slowly twisted her wrists as her fingers grabbed the metal, but slipped away with her sweat. She tried to wipe her hands against her flesh, compounding the problem. The girl in the mirror was wide eyed as she began to struggle for her life. She was foolish to do this on her own, why hadn’t she asked for someone to stay with her? She managed to slowly turn the ring once…then half more. The second half took an eternity. She could feel the noose dig into her neck, drool slipping from her lips as her legs swayed back and forth. She could feel a burning inside her, not only from the pain of hanging but of the flame of desire in her loins. The reaper was about to take her away with its final gift to the hanged as she slipped the ring one last time, going completely limp!
A wonderful cascade of pleasure wracked her body and she suddenly quivered one last time in the air, her breath stopped and her body slowly swaying in the warm air. Her eyes would not shut and her body would no longer move for her. The pain in her neck was gone. The dead girl in the mirror dripped a mixture of fluids down her thighs, the juices of her last pleasure.
“I wonder what happens now” she thought. “Will the reaper cut me down and take me away?” Her body felt frozen and she feared that she had gone too far and that she had really died. In her mind she pictured the hand signal and felt nothing as her hands stayed limp. She could imagine her body hanging in the town square, the crowd laughing, crying, even smiling at her dead body, waiting for it to be cut down and buried with three cheers for the hangman. The sun would be sinking into the horizon by then.
After what seemed like hours Lucrecia felt a tingling in her fingers and slowly made the hand signal. At once the noose and her bonds fell away and she found herself plummeting to the floor. The noose fell from her neck and in a moment of horror she found that she was not breathing! She tried to scream but then blushed as she remembered that she had not turned the ring on her finger backwards one more time to lift the enchantment! Life slowly returned to her body as she coughed new air into her lungs. If she could fool herself, then it would be perfect for those hoping for the real thing. She quickly muttered an incantation that changed her outward appearance and smiled at the quick change before it reverted back. This would work, and if it went like her practice, she would be living a new life with a new identity in a far away land… with her love, Gray. For now, she returned to the tub to wash away the sweat and thought of whether or not Gray would be in the crowd. She only hoped that he would not do anything foolish. She wished for his presence even now, her white knight and lover who would do anything to save her. Lucrecia smiled. She was saving them both.
Part 2
Gray saw the execution platform from a hill overlooking the town. They had just stripped a young woman of her rags, her hands groping at her shame, unable to cover her supple body. She was roughly restrained as guards tied her hands behind her. Gray looked closer as they led the woman up the gallows steps and quickly whipped the reins of his h0rse. He was a minute away from the town and would have to break his way through the crowd. Limbs would be broken today.
“Lucrecia!”
Lucrecia hanged limply in the town square, her body still. The crowd laughed and spit at her nude form as they cavorted in celebration. A single tear dropped from her eyes that glistened like a rare gem as it fell. Gray Starfall pushed his way through the crowd, his lungs burning as he screamed in desperate anger. He made slow progress through the crowd. It was as if some unseen hand was keeping him from his love.
Lucrecia’s tongue slipped from her mouth and the light in her beautiful eyes went out. The town doctor held a hand against her chest and nodded at the executioner. Gray charged forward but his legs refused to move. Lucrecia’s body was cut down and placed on a cart to be taken to the town’s border and dumped.
Gray grabbed for his sword a moment before he woke up from his dream, prepared to cut down all those between himself and Lucrecia. The cool winter air clutched his lungs as he gulped in air, his blood racing. He felt the warm an!mal skins beneath him and returned from the reality of his dreams.
The vision was so real. His love was noosed and swinging in a dark place, dead to the world. He felt his heart ache for her company, his true love, Lucrecia. He was leagues away in the northlands, ordered by the king to clear the land of thieves and highwaymen. Gray knew why he was chosen among the other great heroes of the land. The King had made it perfectly clear that certain changes needed to occur within the kingdom “for the good of the people.”
“Sire, I know full well that the laws of the kingdom are for the good of society, set down by the ancients in their wisdom. However, why must I part from my love? She is a powerful ally and can do much good for the people in the northlands.”
The king shook his weary head.
“Gray, you have served your kingdom well. Since the day that the druids of the Jade Flight left you in the keeping of my father, you have been a brother to me. So it is with a heavy heart that I must tell you that your love must surrender herself and be judged as a witch so that all may see that any contact with the black arts will be punished.”
Gray could feel the tension behind his skin as his mouth pursed into a thin line, his jaw clenched. This new world had little respect for those it did not understand. His own druid family knew that he would be rejected if he was not brought to the kingdom for grooming. Only they knew of his powers and his destiny.
And so Gray went into the northlands and served his country, his heart breaking as day after day went by without news of Lucrecia. One day, after a long day of patrolling the town of Vreen , Gray found that the townspeople gathered at the maypole in the center court. A young woman was bound in coarse rope and sackcloth, her feet solid on the ground.
Ribbons waved in the breeze from the top of the maypole, a curious device attached to the top. The music began and several young maidens from the town grabbed a ribbon each and danced about. Each circle around the post served to raise the rope tied to the witch’s neck. Soon she was hoisted to her toes, her breath ragged and short.
After each circle of dance a man from the crowd would strip off a piece of clothing from the victim until she was returned the garments of her birth. The girl crossed her legs and tried to cover her shame, only increasing the lusts of the crowd.
Gray grabbed his sword and ran into the midst of the crowd, disrupting the proceedings, just as the girl felt her toes leave the ground.
“By whose authority do you condemn this girl? As an emissary of the crown I demand an answer.”
The crowd spit at him and laughed.
“We do not recognize the crown here, lapd0g of the king. This woman is a witch and must hang for sleeping with the devil. Look how she squirms in the arms of her demon lover as he takes her now!”
The woman was now thrusting against the pole as the dancers returned to their dance, lifting the poor woman higher and higher off the ground. Her soft flesh glistened with sweat. He blue eyes were pools that now streamed outwards towards the soft mounds of flesh beneath her.
Gray dashed towards her, slashing the cords around the maypole as the dancers ran off, screaming for guards. Even though the cords were cut, the rope did not lower to the ground. He looked frantically for a way to bring her down and his eyes met hers.
Time stopped.
She worked her contorted face into a smile, her eyes fixed on a white haired man with blue eyes that told her that he loved her more than his own life. Those same eyes told her that they would escape this place and live together and should the world object, die in each others’ arms. It was Lucrecia.
This moment would be the perfect time for a kiss, if it were not for the armed guards rushing in, the noose slowly strangling the woman to death, and the brave rescuer’s inability to bring the girl down. Kneeling slowly he got underneath her, the soft hairs of her womanhood brushing against his neck.
Gray walked around the pole with his back to the wood and his sword to the crowd. The first guard to arrive lunged at Gray, the sword piercing the wood where once stood. The woman gasped as the noose tightened as her savior dodged his way around the pole.
Gray felt tremors in his sword hand as steel clashed against steel. Ever mindful of the life strangling away on his shoulders, he desperately fought against overwhelming odds. With a flash of inspiration he swung his sword wide, missing his attackers by what they deemed a flailing stroke and embedded the blade into the post. He quickly shifted the woman so that she could stand with her heels on the flat of the sword.
He looked back to see if she had found purchase and saw that it was not Lucrecia, but a young brown haired woman who smiled evilly at him. He ducked under a sword swing and grabbed the nearest guard as a shield.
“Parley, I beseech you.”
More guards than he could count had covered the surrounding area. Frightened villagers held to their loved ones as the wounded moved out of the circle. A strong voice came from behind him.
“ Ach lad, you’ve done the devil’s work today. In the midst of celebrating the capture of Eyerav the Enchantress and her execution mandated by the King hisself, you storm in and try to rescue her.”
The red bearded man walked into his view and chided him.
“You’ve been bewitched. I can’t tell you how hard it was to bring in a sorcerer that could take the form of a lover and twist what a man can see and hear and you nearly freed her again! Let the man down and come to the pub for a drink and we can sort this whole mess out, Gray Starfall."
Gray looked down at the blood on his hands and felt his legs tremble. This was what the King had sent him to see. If power could be used for evil as well as good, it was best if the power no longer existed. He gave the guard his arms back and took the shoulder of the red bearded man as he was led to the tavern.
“It will be alright lad. The worst mah men have had is a lesson in how not to fight. The name is Beren Firebeard and Ahm the leader of this town. I’ve heard of you and I have to say you live up to your legend.”
Gray heard a cheer as the sword was pulled away and heard the gurgle of the witch as she began to dance. Even though the witch’s throat was closed he could hear her words as he walked away.
“They will find your secret too and when they do you will hang for their pleasure along with your lover. I only hope they hang you both together so you can see her die before your eyes before you join her in hell……”
The witch twisted on the rope for minutes, repeating the message slower and slower as she kicked her life away. Drool spilled from her lips and a slow stream of urine passed from her legs. The crowd cheered and a wearied Starfall cried into his mead.
“Lucrecia”
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