Chapter 1 Waiting for Tomorrow
Some days were worse than others. Today was one of the bad days.Lynn stood by the edge of the lake. Her body churned inside. This time she was really going to do it. She held the ring in her hand. That infernal ring. She cursed herself for buying it. She thought that it would keep her out of trouble, but it only seemed to get her into more trouble.
“Just throw it into the lake you stupid bitch”, she screamed at herself, “Throw it in and it will all be over.”
Lynn hesitated. She knew that it wasn’t the ring’s fault. It didn’t do anything. It didn’t make her do anything. It was just a little magic ring that she had bought from an old whore. She knew that she felt the same whether she had the ring on or not. It didn’t make her into a whore. It didn’t make her do what she did. It just made sure that when she did it, she didn’t have to worry about what might happen.
“You slut!”. Lynn screamed the words inside her mind so loud that it made her lips move. “All you want to do is run around fucking whoever you want whenever you want and never have to pay the consequences. You fuck and fuck and fuck and fuck you fucking slut. You deserve to catch the black death. You deserve to get knocked up. You deserve to die in some back alleyway while some hack cuts out your unborn child.”
Lynn squeezed the ring. She pulled back her hand and then hesitated again.
“No. I won’t do it. This won’t change anything.”, she spoke in a quiet whisper.
“Fuck you, you whore! Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!...”, the voice repeated over and over inside her mind. Lynn collapsed to her knees and wrapped her arms around her head. Tears fell from her eyes as the voice echoed inside. She cried until the voice went away. She cried until the awful feeling inside of her went away. It took longer than usual today, it seemed like went on for hours, but at last she was at peace with herself.
“I can beat this thing. I know that I can.”, she reassured herself.
She slipped the ring back on her finger. It was getting late. She had to get to the nearest town.
Lynn walked down one of the wagon ruts in the road. She didn’t look like much and passersby paid her little attention. She wore a long brown cloak made of rough cloth that she kept in place with a rope tied around her waist. The cloak had a hood that she pulled all the way down over her head. It completely covered her face and the opening pointed straight down at her feet. Her boots and gloves were made of tattered old leather. She walked slumped over and stepped clumsily along. She did that was on purpose. No one could tell whether she was old or young, or even a man or a woman. No one really cared who she was, and that’s the way that Lynn wanted it.
Underneath the drab old clothes was a beautiful young woman. Grace was her last name, and it described her perfectly. Everything about her was elegant and graceful. When she talked her voice was like sweet music, and when she sang she sounded like a divine symphony. When she moved she was smooth and delicate, and when she danced all eyes would turn to watch her, mesmerized by her beauty. Her face and her body looked as if some lovesick artist had carved the woman or his dreams out of marble and brought her to life with a spell. She was strong yet giving, lean yet voluptuous. And depending on how she wanted to appear, she could look like an angel or a temptress.
Also under the drab old clothes was her sword. Over her many travels she had learned how to fight. She was good with her hands and her feet, but she was best with her sword. She loved to practice with it. She loved how it felt in her hands. She loved to feel it slicing through the air. She loved the whistling sound that it made. When she practiced she completely lost herself in what she was doing. All of her worries and troubles disappeared. All that mattered was the sword. Her body and the sword would become one. And when she practiced it was like an electrifying dance of passion and style. But she couldn’t practice all the time, and whenever she stopped her worries and troubles returned. Of those Lynn had many.
But for now she was free. She could sense that the town was near. She could smell the food cooking at a local eatery. It made her hungry. For Lynn that was a wonderful feeling. Some days the only thing that she felt inside was a painful emptiness. She was glad that today was not one of those days. She followed her nose and soon found herself seated at a table in a half full tavern. The waitress came over to take her order and was surprised to hear a woman’s voice coming out from underneath the brown robe. Lynn spoke softly and kept her head down with the hood pulled over it. The waitress, having seen her share of odd travelers just shrugged off Lynn’s strange behavior, but someone else took notice. An older man at the bar was curious who or what exactly was underneath the stranger’s robes. He wondered if the secretive newcomer might be hiding something.
But Lynn wasn’t hiding anything, she was hiding to protect herself. And she wasn’t hiding from others, she was hiding from her own desires. She hid her eyes so that no one could look into hers. That was how the awful feelings usually began. Eye contact aroused something deep inside her, feelings that she didn’t enjoy. So she hid her eyes from the world. Touching was even worse. She kept her body covered in dirty old clothes so that no one wanted to touch her. For Lynn, a day without human contact was usually a good day. But she couldn’t spend every day alone.
Lynn had been hiding her eyes for so long that her other senses had become very keen, and she easily made out the footsteps of the waitress returning with her food. It smelled wonderful, and it tasted even better. She hadn’t eaten all day and she began to indulge herself. Then she heard another pair of footsteps approaching. She could tell that it was a man, that he was tall and well built, and that he was wearing armor and carrying a weapon. She thought that he was probably the town constable.
“Welcome stranger. What might ye be doing in these parts?”, the man asked her.
“Eating.”, Lynn said curtly but politely. She didn’t appreciate the disturbance. It was a rare moment when she could enjoy a warm plate of delicious food and she wanted to savor it.
The older man frowned, “Miss. Pardon my intrusion, but I need to know your business in my town.”
“Can it wait?”, Lynn replied delicately. She deftly scooped up a forkful of potato and brought it up under her hood.
The older man was growing frustrated with Lynn’s refusal to look at him as they talked. He was used to getting respect. Whoever this young woman was needed to learn that he deserved her full attention.
The older man put his hand down firmly on her shoulder, “Miss. I’m the law in this town. If ye don’t cooperate with me I’ll have to ask ye to leave.”
His touch was anathema to Lynn. An icy feeling seemed to ooze out of his hand and started to flow through her body. She shrugged her shoulder and the older man pulled his hand back, but it was too late. Lynn’s warm hungry feeling was being replaced by a cold empty one. The food in her mouth suddenly lost all of its taste. She wanted to spit it out but she stopped herself. The world was spinning around her. Everything was changing. She put the fork down and tried to gain control of herself. She couldn’t. The awful feelings began. She became vividly aware of the older man’s cock. It was just inches away from her hand. She felt a desire to reach down his pants and grab hold of it. She held her breath and the desire began to fade. She slowly exhaled. Then she was overcome with an intense urge suck his cock, to feel it sliding in and out of her mouth and cumming down her throat. She fought the urge desperately and barely managed to swallow the tasteless glob of food in her mouth without gagging. She breathed slowly and steadily while her heart began to race.
Lynn gathered herself as best as she could and explained softly, “I just need a place to stay for the night, then I’ll be going.”
“Well, that’s fine by me miss.”, the constable said almost apologetically. Getting no response he returned to his stool. The woman was getting distressed and he didn’t want to make a scene.
Lynn tried to eat another bite of her meal but it was just as tasteless as the last. She put her fork down and hunched over as another wave of that awful empty feeling came over her. She fought it hard and it slowly retreated. But it was followed by another, and another, and soon Lynn’s will began to crumble. She slowly got to her feet and made her way towards the bar.
Sitting at the corner of the bar was a younger man. She had heard him talking when she came in. She knew that he was quiet, polite, and reserved. He would do.
Lynn sat down next to him and spoke in a low voice, “I... I desperately need your help.”
The young man looked over at the haggardly dressed woman. The hollowness of her voice stirred feelings of sympathy within him. His heart immediately went out to her. “Umm, sure, anything. What do ye need?”
Lynn’s gloved hand reached out and gently took his. He let her slowly lift his fingers up under her hood and slide two of them into her mouth. He sat motionless as he felt Lynn’s soft lips and tender tongue caressing his fingers. His feelings of sympathy began to turn into feelings of arousal as she lightly sucked his fingers. He stared intently at the hooded woman, wondering who she was and why she was doing this. Then he watched her put his hand back on the bar and rise to her feet.
“Come with me”, she said as she walked towards the door.
The young man hastily dropped a few coins onto the bar and followed her out. It wasn’t long before he was behind the tavern feeling Lynn’s lips and tongue running up and down his cock and balls. It felt so good. He wanted to know her name, or at least to see her face, but all he could do was stand there enjoying the pleasure that Lynn was giving him.
He watched Lynn stand up, pull up her robe and the skirt underneath, and lean back against the wall of the tavern. He looked down at her long, silky bare legs for just a moment, and then he was inside her and overcome with desire.
“Faster”, she whispered in his ear and he pushed faster.
“Harder”, she whispered and he pushed harder.
Lynn’s body was flushed with excitement. The young man was a stud. Slowly the cold feeling inside her was draining away. With each thrust she felt a little bit better. She thought that if the young man could last a few minutes longer the awful feeling would be gone, but alas he didn’t. She felt him cum inside her and then go soft and pull out. She lowered her head and let out a sigh of disappointment.
But the young man wasn’t quite finished. He still wanted to see the face of his mystery lover. So he grabbed the hood of Lynn’s robe and pushed it back over her head. Lynn quickly reached up to catch it but not before he got a good look at her. He was surprised. He thought that he would see a face horribly disfigured, covered with burns or scars. Or maybe the face of a withered old witch stuck on a young woman’s body. Instead he saw a vision of loveliness. His eyes lingered over her soft pale skin, her full red lips, her smooth round cheeks, and her adorable upturned nose. But her eyes he could not see. They were hidden underneath a blindfold. He wondered why. Lynn pulled the hood back down over her face.
“Are you blind?”, he asked.
“Just, go.”, Lynn said softly as she pulled her robe back over her legs.
The young man stood there looking confused, then he shrugged and walked away.
“You little slut, are you happy now!?”, shouted the voice in Lynn’s head.
She wasn’t. She knew that she’d failed again. She shivered in the cool night air and bundled the cloak tightly around her. She hadn’t been strong enough. She’d given in, but at least she didn’t feel so bad anymore. Sex always made the awful feeling go away. Lynn went back into the tavern and tried to finish her meal. It wasn’t tasteless anymore, but she no longer hungered for it, and worse, it had gotten cold. She managed to get down a few more bites before giving up. Then she paid for her meal and a room for the night and went upstairs to rest. As she lay there in bed she reviewed the day’s events. It was just another day, she said to herself, just another wasted day in her meaningless life. She felt almost nothing inside as he drifted off to sleep. She hoped that tomorrow would be better.
Some days were worse than others. Today was one of the bad days.