Chapter 10

If the Witchfinder had quite realized what the full extent of the Lady Moondance's full malign magical force would entail, he undoubtedly would have thought through his plan a bit more cleverly. Or so he now thought, now that he'd taken her measure. Each magic wielder was now shielded and drawing vast amounts of mystical energies, and the brave and rather over-confident warrior soon realized that the evil high priestess was at least his own match in terms of raw power alone. Each now warded and shielded with all of the power that they could muster, the magical duel soon ground itself into a fiery stalemate where endurance and not raw strength might, at the end, be the sole determining factor.

With the world around me a shroud of flames, it didn't take long for me to realize that perhaps my rather overly direct and not-so clever plan of forcing an immediate confrontation with the horde high priestess might not have been the wisest decision that I could have made. Still, sheer audacity must have accounted for something because somehow I still seemed to be alive. We were too alike, nearly equals in power, and like me she had been rather too eager for the confrontation as well, certain that her own powers were more than a match for mine.

She must have also been much more experienced than me, having years of practical knowledge of her dark arts, and thought the battle of wills would have been over in but an instant, but somehow mine held. I've been accused of being stubborn in my life more than a few times and for now, my will was withstanding hers. Besides, I was still human and she was merely a slab of meat possessed by an inhumanly malign and powerful witch-worm.

Flames entirely surrounded us, and quite in fact enveloped a goodly number of her own soldiers outside of the town walls, consuming them, but we little noticed or felt them. She felt no detectable remorse at the loss of her own soldiers, fodder as they were for her pride and ambitions, and that gave me something of the measure of her, as our minds were locked together in battle. Her motives were evil and quite unfathomable, and even her own soldiers were nothing of any particular importance to her other than pawns or means to an end. All of them would perish in the end, one way or another without a doubt, and they served her entirely out of fear rather than any more human compulsions such as the hope for a better future for their children, let alone any real feelings of love or even loyalty. If I could crush the leadership of the horde, the rank and file members would undoubtedly find safer places to be once the bullets started flying.

No ... there was nothing of any sort of love within her. Just base urges and almost animalistic need for her to spread her corruption and destroy everything and everyone around her. No ... there was nothing of the human spirit or soul left within her, nothing but the witch-taint, vile and powerful wearing her skin and flesh like a costume. Not even pretending to be human anymore as it sought to increase its empire and enslave all humanity to its will.

Being entirely and fully human and faced directly against my own will to see it burned out and crushed like a foul garden weed, the taint began to lose its own confidence, uncertain now how it would fare in a wholly equal match such as this one, a duel that depended now at least as much upon luck and the flip of a coin for the outcome as magical skill. Slowly I began to smile and even laugh, filling my foe with a flood of raw human emotion that it could no longer even comprehend or understand and it in turn began to radiate uncertainty and perhaps even fear.

Deciding now that perhaps this encounter was not entirely to its benefit, the Lady Moondance began to shift her powers to the defense, to create an escape path from the area and retreat from my unyielding presence. It helped that when some of her own cavalry encroached too closely upon her chosen line of withdrawal that she in turn destroyed them with dark fire rather than wasting even a word of warning. The rest got the idea quickly and everyone now scattered into the darkness of the rain storm.

I had been more than a little concerned that some of the officers might possess silver bullets that could pierce my own heavily tightened shielding, and her own assault upon them had in fact quite saved me the effort of redistributing power to have done the same. Now we quite had the battlefield to ourselves for the moment.

Still mounted upon Black, I spared the brief diminishment of my overall concentration to risk dismounting. I'd sort of planned for a quick blast and dash, to gallop off in some vaguely southerly direction at least long enough to draw off a chunk of the pursuit of the townsmen from my cavalry, The Regulators, as they helped the townsmen evacuate. Now, I had all I could manage to keep my own personal shields in place and covering my mount too was going to keep me at a disadvantage. Once down from the saddle, I gave Black a rather hard slap upon his mighty chest along with a mental urge to gallop off somewhere just out of range. Being as stubborn and possibly more ornary than I am, Black barely retreated back a dozen paces, if that and put on his rather best 'I'm distinctly unhappy' face, complete with the squinty eyes.

With the wicked sorceress and horde commander still in slow retreat away from me, I kept up the pressure. No, I could not make any distinct progress against her own magical shields, but sometimes just presenting the attitude that you're in charge can win half of the battle for you. Lady Moondance wasn't human ... no, really nothing at all like one, but the dark inner animal mind of her taint did quite understand the concept of self-preservation at all costs. Meat toys and games of conquest might be nice, but in the end the taint wanted and needed to keep itself alive and I could feel her almost human sense of panic beginning.

It was still a completely even battle, we were quite indeed exactly evenly matched, but already that was too much of a danger for the tainted former woman, which was used a previous diet of easy, simple successes and facing few, if any, real magical challengers. Now it quite decided that perhaps a complete strategic retreat might be in order. The problem was, with all of her power now directed into shielding, she couldn't risk the distractions of simply bolting and fleeing from the battlefield. Instead, she began to draw power internally, directing in a way I had never seen magic used before to attach itself to a distant place so that she could anchor her thoughts there and accordingly then transport her entire body to that destination as well.

I had no idea that this sort of thing could be done, or what would happen if I in turn attached myself to her transport beacon, to draw me there along with her as well, but it seemed like a good idea at the time and I'd had only a moment to consider the alternatives.

So wrapping my thoughts around hers, I then suddenly dropped my thoughts from the attack to strengthen my own shields and I ran and flung myself around her as she began to turn into pure energy. Attached to her in both mind and body, we both felt ourselves being turned into pure spirit and in flash we were gone!

As I had never teleported before, I found the instantaneous shock of re-materialization to be much more confusing than opponent seemed to feel. She gathered her mind and will together more quickly than mine had, but I did possess one slight advantage over her in that my body was now much more willing and able.

As I had flung myself upon her, really without much of any conscious thought I'd realized that I'd drawn the old town-master's silver knife into my hand and now was plugging it as fast as I could manage without much if any deliberate thought, over and over into her stomach and chest. Like silver bullets, this silver blade easily penetrated her shields as if they weren't even there and her formerly human flesh shell proved no barrier either. Once the silver had penetrated into the internal witch-worm I could feel the creature howl both mentally and physically with the acute pain.

The Lady Moondance wasn't particularly human anymore, possessed entirely by dark witch-taint within the entirety of her skin, but the wounds were equally painful to the creature and she howled in mortal pain and together we fell onto the hard rocks and strewn pebbles of our destination place. We seemed to be somewhere out in the open but I didn't spare a moment to take a closer look around.

Again and again the silver knifed plunged and the husk of the former Lady began to tear open and the witch-worm itself began to physically manifest itself from out of her body to face me in both physical and mental combat. Leaving the silver blade imbedded into its rubbery and viscous black skin, I rolled away to my feet and unleashed every ounce of cleansing magical flame that I could muster and to my growing pleasure I watched the vile creature of evil begin to become utterly consumed. With the silver blade imbedded inside it, it had been unable to raise any magical shields around itself for protection and instead had, like me, dedicated itself completely to the attack. In its agony, my will had gathered itself faster ... and that was going to be enough to turn the tide.

It was not defeated or destroyed at once, or even after a full minute or two, but it writhed as it was slowly consumed into ash, unable to now focus its own energies either for its own defense or for yet one final last attack of desperation.

Its howl and inhuman cries rang out like church bells and I knew as I collected up my shields as I watched the last of the witch-taint surrender itself into dust and ash that now at whatever stronghold the creature had transported us to, that much more danger would await me.

At a glance, I didn't think all that much of my new surroundings. Here at this place it wasn't raining, but the skies to the north looked darker and I thought I could see lightning away in that direction at a great distance. I was probably some many miles away to the south then. In or near Witchita, I guessed. The great stronghold of the witch-cult in this area. The former pre-disaster city had been a byword for danger and trouble for as long as I could remember and even Old Grampy had given the ruins a bypass back in his younger days when he had travelled much through the wastelands of Kansas. It had always been a center for the worship of the Green Priestesses for several generations at least and in the last decade it had also become the stronghold for the growing power of their horde of followers. There were rumors of monstrous foul creatures too, vile things of corruption and hate that preyed upon anything weaker than themselves. Monsters likely to even make a Dire-Badger flee for safety.

I vaguely remember Jodi remarking in passing that virtually all Witchfinders kept Witchita at a respectful distance in their travels and those that took an overly personal interest in uprooting this particularly deeply infested den of witch-taint rarely returned from the endeavour. "Way more trouble than the entire troop could handle all together", she'd concluded.

I took the time now to take a good careful look around. It was still the middle of the night but with clearer skies here, except for some unpleasant smelling low-hanging mist or fog, I could pretty quickly tell that I'd soon have probably more trouble than I could likely handle.

This I supposed was their great temple, a great outdoor courtyard with black standing stones and covered with a gravel of ash with gardens of small smooth black stones. The stones themselves seemed to wound the very earth and I could not abide for more than a moment their malignant touch. I could feel the earth itself moan and groan, begging for relief and the very air around me seemed nauseous, as if poison gas was being belched into the very air. With a closer look at the great center stone of the dark temple, I discovered that such a foul occurrence was indeed taking place, with the great center marker piercing the wounded earth like a boil, releasing its foul toxins into the very air above.

I knew at once this was the source, at least locally, for the earth-wound that had still so infested the land so many years after the volcano's eruption and that here, and likely in many other places, the vile witch-cult sought to keep the land poisoned, to perhaps pervert it entirely to their own dark desires. Now I was doubly glad that I had brought myself here into certain peril, for this taint-source must be destroyed at any and all costs!

That was another thing that the former Lady Moondance or her witch-worm host hadn't understood and in fact couldn't ever comprehend. That humans could care about things greater than themselves and would make sacrifices to protect those that they love.

With the warning that the death cries of the witch-worm had provided, I had just re-gathered my thoughts to make fast my defenses when the first wave of attackers were upon me. I could feel them, rather than see them in the darkness at first, and mostly out of instinctive reaction I un-holstered my Marlin "Lincoln XLS" Special lever-action rifle from my shoulder pack and started to let lead fly. I didn't have many .308 ammo rounds in my pack but I was quite willing to shoot until I ran entirely out of ammo. Conserving ammo here wasn't likely to help get me out of here alive. Kill them all first and sort out the supply problems later!

These first opponents were mostly mere mortal guards, albeit slightly witch-tainted but not enough so that an accurately fired .308 round striking their chest or head wouldn't drop them instantly and immediately dead. I'd need to eventually torch the bodies to prevent future infections later, but their taints were too weak and not grown enough to venture forth on their own yet.

I needed to reload a few times and even move to some cover behind a rather nasty feeling volcanic black stone altar until the last of the guards were down. I was nearly out of .308 ammo now, having perhaps just twenty rounds left in my pack, but I set the lever-action rifle down for now, since my new foes would little feel the sting of just pure lead penetrating their corrupted bodies. Instead, I took out my remaining weapons from my shoulder pack to keep them at close readiness. These were my Ithaca shotgun and my Harry Blackhawk .44 Special, both of which I had silver ammunition for. I drew the big revolver first, and loaded with silver bullets I began taking a grim harvest of the now arriving priests and priestess, most of which I could tell from the darkness that surrounded them were little more human now than their former late head priestess.

They were prepared for trouble with shields loaded and fingers cracking with dark magic, but my silver rounds punched through their defenses as if they were but paper and my aim was deadly and precise. Only twice did I need to fire more than one round to drop any of these foes. Like their weaker brethren, the taint or even growing witch-worms within them would need more final cleansing and purification with magical fire, but for now they were down and out of the fight.

I had just enough time to reload twice, but then when my six-shot Blackhawk ran dry the third time I resorted to my Ithaca short barreled shotgun for final point blank defense as the last of the magic wielding priests and priestesses ran for me hurling malignant flame rather indiscriminately and with little regard for their own lives. Pawns of their witch-worms, their sole regard was to overwhelm me with numbers and bring me down with their bare hands scratching and clawing if need be, to protect the dark grove and the great taint that it festered.

With blinding blasts and showers of small silver pellets I swept the dark rocky courtyard clear until the chamber pumped empty and I stooped back behind the foul altar to feed another half dozen shells into the weapon. Stepping forward with my shields at their maximum remaining strength, I needed to fire but twice more at a final remaining group of younger apprentices until they too were brought down and everything now around me fell silent, except for the very few moans of a few wounded, young priestesses from the tone of the faint but high pitched cries.

Alone now in the field of stones except for the dead and dying, I reloaded a few extra shells and began to carefully examine the fallen, most of which were quite indeed dead ... the formerly human parts of them at least. Taking my time and slowly gathering my energy which was becoming increasingly more difficult in this tainted unholy land, I began to cremate the fallen, those whom the taint had consumed. One by one I cleansed the fallen, destroying the yet still living but trapped witch-worms within their dead hosts so that they could never again infect and possess another human.

Reaching the final victims, mostly the later victims of my shotgun with its silver cast shot, I found that five of the young women were still accounted to be living, with four of the victims showing only minor witch-taint. Perhaps at or near the same level of possession that Ruth had suffered before I had cured her. I lowered my hands and released my hold upon magical flame. I wasn't going to kill these women if I could possibly help it. I'd at least give a try and curing the them first. Jodi had warned me that I'd been extraordinarily lucky when I'd removed the witch-taint from Ruth, and that if I'd failed than I'd have either died or worse, become corrupted with the taint myself. She said that Witchfinders were trained to avoid taking that risk and to do instead the brutal necessities instead. Killing the tainted without mercy.

I knew, with full strength of will available to me, that I could once again perform this semi-miraculous feat of healing ... but already I was nearly staggering with exhaustion. Unfortunately, after the great battle of wills with the high priestess and my recent efforts to cleanse the defiled bodies, I really felt that I had little overt will left that I could channel for external purposes. With a little rest, in some place far more wholesome than this, I thought I could manage healing one or maybe two of them, but certainly not them all. The fifth wounded victim showed signs of its witch-worm host gathering strength to make a final attack of desperation upon me so I reluctantly turned her and her malignant host into ash. Maybe under ideal circumstances I could have found a way to heal her as well but perhaps not. The taint had rather firm control of her and perhaps there was little enough humanity left for the poor girl's soul to perhaps return to. Besides, not all victims (or recruits) of the Green Priestesses were unwilling ones. Any or all of these women in fact might have sworn their souls to the darkness willingly, for power or any number of reasons. Curing them and making them wholly human once more might just restore a previously evil person that might need to killed soon thereafter anyway. Still, that was a judgement call that I wasn't willing to make upon any of the young ladies until an attempt at their cleansing had begun.

Taking another careful appraisal of my four remaining wounded, I selected the most badly hurt one first to attempt my curing ministrations upon, but from the start I could tell that this was going to be a losing effort. Taking advantage of the woman's badly weakened state, who was little more than a girl-child to my eyes in the darkness, the taint fought frantically to slay its own host rather than to permit its release to humanity and freedom once more. With a loud cry the witch-worm consumed her very heart and I no choice but to consign this victim as well to the other more permanent release of death.

Now nearly exhausted, I was at something of a loss to know what to do with my three remaining wounded young ladies, each were of at least some maturity, being young priestesses in training, and all apparently relatively recently infected with their witch-hosts. I bandaged up their physical wounds to stop the bleeding but applied no magical healing, leaving also the silver in place in their wounds, to continue to mostly incapacitate their witch-worms. Tearing up some strips of cloth torn from the dress or nightshirt of one of the dead young women, I then bound up their hands and feet so that in the event any of them recovered enough to attempt an escape that this would keep them in place. None of the young ladies appeared to be in immediate danger, now I guessed, and after dragged them off a bit apart from me and just out of sight behind the altar, I deemed I could risk taking a short rest.

Now nearly at the center of the great dark stone works, with my head resting against the stone of that dark and profane altar, I sat myself down to rest and to but shut my eyes for just a moment and I instead surrendered myself to sleep, nearly immediately.

Awakening at the first light of dawn in the horizon, I'd realized that I slept rather more soundly and unwisely alone still in the circle of stones with the wounded young priestesses nearly right at my very feet on the other side of the volcanic stone, but fortunately each of them were still unconscious from their wounds or else earnestly lost to sleep themselves.

I'd been quite safe apparently during my rest, having apparently killed or disabled everyone present at this temple complex, but my choice of resting places had been unwise. I'd had terribly dark dreams in which I'd violently in turn raped each of the young ladies right here on this altar until with my final explosive orgasm the altar and the very stones of the earth broke free.

It was a rather odd and singular dream, to say the very least, and I'd awakened with quite a raging hard-on!

First, seeking to relieve this unwanted pressure, I'd unfastened my pants and given one of the nearby standing stones a rather thorough watering with my piss but long after my bladder flow ran dry, my erection persisted. Not only did my cock remain rock hard at its fullest thickness and rigidity, but my cock-ring, that semi-magical stone bead mounted upon the silver ring that had penetrated and pierced through my pisshole and entire underside of the head of my cock, seemed to be throbbing and even glowing witrh innate magical power of its own.

I'd never understood why I'd taken the dead Witchfinder's most intimate possession, the bit of apparent jewelry that had adorned the cock that had so thoroughly cuckolded me by penetrating again and again the cunt of my so-called wife, Nancy. Had I done it for spite? To want to wear this to rape her myself while getting my revenge? Or had something told me in my head to do it, to accept it, to willingly place it to the very opening of my penis and allow it to animate, to enter my own most intimate place and then pierce my very flesh, locking itself into a solid ring more and entirely of its own doing.

Possessing this item had undoubtedly given me unusual sexual might and stamina, enough so to sate the desires of the two women I've recently slept with, Ruth (whom I was coming to love) and also Jodi. I'd felt raw desire before, but never before had this cockring glowed and overtly demonstrate an overt a will of its own since it had marked and possessed me. Now my very dreams were surging into desires of reality, with my lusts growing and only barely just restrainable, as I now appraised my hapless young victims with an entirely new and lustful eye.