Revenge of the Red Witch

AN: Below are graphic descriptions of rape and violence. Please don't read if offended.

It had been years since Lina had traveled alone. And it had been an adjustment that she still had yet to get used to. Gourry’s ghost seemed to follow her persistently. Lina had felt that she could eventually recover from what the bandits had done to her. Loosing Gourry had been the final nail in her coffin, though. There would be no recovering the person she once had been.

Now, while she wasn’t officially traveling with Sylphiel, the Shrine Maiden’s presence was intrusive. It added to her guilt. Lina used to never live with regrets, but the fact that if she hadn’t cast that sleeping spell that he would still be alive and well tormented her. And Sylphiel’s presence brought that truth painfully to mind.

The first hideout had turned out to be a bust. It had obviously not been inhabited for some time. Undeterred, Lina set off for the next closest one. Sylphiel followed quietly. And so the days went until the day before they approached the third hideout Lina had heard about.

Lina was sitting by a tree eating some cold rations for dinner. Sylphiel sat by a rock nearby, doing the same, studying Lina contemplatively. Finally she said, “You blame yourself for his death, don’t you?”

“I thought I told you not to talk to me.”

Sylphiel continued as though she hadn’t heard her, “You’ve been having nightmares. The walls have been thin in the inns we’ve been staying at. You keep begging him for forgiveness.”

Lina started to hurriedly pack up her rations. Sylphiel sighed and did the same. “That’s also why you won’t tell me what happened. The thing is, I don’t need to know. Because I do know that he wouldn’t want you to torture yourself like this. Whatever led up to it, the bandits killed him, not you.”

“You shouldn’t talk about things you know nothing about.” Lina said before casting a ray wing.

*****************

It was early during the next afternoon when Sylphiel caught up to Lina. The petite sorceress didn’t even acknowledge her presence, she merely continued to study her map. Sylphiel leaned against a tree casually and waited for Lina to make some sort of move. Eventually Lina folded the map and put it in her cape.

She started to head for a nearby rock face. Sylphiel followed quietly, feeling the awkwardness of the silence between them like a heavy weight. It was greatly preferable to what she heard next. Somewhere from the rock face a woman was screaming.

Lina held an arm out to steady herself against the cliff. Sylphiel noticed she was trembling. Lina cocked her head, obviously trying to determine where the sound was coming from before casting a levitation spell. Sylphiel followed her.

The woman’s screams became louder as they raced up the rock face. Eventually Sylphiel was able to discern the voice of another woman who was begging someone to stop. Sylphiel felt a dead weight in her stomach. They must have found the gang.

Lina changed course slightly, and Sylphiel followed. It didn’t take long for her to realize where she was headed. You couldn’t see it from the ground, but there was a cave entrance. And the screams were emanating from it. As Sylphiel drew closer, she could see some rope coiled up just inside of the entrance. Someone was definitely inhabiting the cave.

Lina landed, and deftly drew her sword, cut the rope, and threw it out. Sylphiel landed beside her. “There’s no one guarding the entrance.” She said.

Lina’s eyes narrowed. “Either they think there’s no way I could find this place or there’s a trap. Keep your eyes open.”

Sylphiel nodded and followed Lina down a twisting passageway. The screams grew worse and became mingled with the banter of bandits. Eventually Sylphiel became aware of a presence down the passageway. “Lina-san?”

“I see him.” Lina whispered.

Dead ahead was a bandit. Presumably he was there to guard the entrance, but his back was towards them. He was apparently too enraptured in whatever was going on to attend to his duties. The sick feeling in Sylphiel’s stomach grew.

Lina snuck up behind him and whispered a sleep spell. The bandit fell to a pile on the floor, revealing the entrance to a giant room where nearly fifty bandits were gathered. Sylphiel barely had time to grasp the wall in disgust before Lina sprung into action. In the center of the room the bandits had forced one woman on her hands and knees and were sodomizing her with some object that she couldn’t make out. Beside her was another woman lying on her back. Her shoulders were pinned by two bandits, and two more held her legs spread eagle while a fifth was doing something between her legs that Sylphiel could not make out.

Before she could react, Lina ran into the crowd and started casting sleeping spells. Swatches of bandits slumped forward, asleep on their feet while the rest tried to run. Soon Lina had them all subdued. She reached into her bag and pulled out a lot of rope and set to work tying them up.

On shaking legs, Sylphiel stepped into the arena and towards the two women. Both were still conscious. One was lying on her side in a fetal position and was crying. The other remained on her back, breathing heavily. “I can heal you.” Sylphiel said gently as she knelt beside them, trying to keep her shaking under control. “You’re going to be all right now.”

“Take it out.” The woman in a fetal position begged. “Please, just get it out of me!”

Sylphiel closed her eyes to steady herself and took a deep breath. She stole a quick glance at Lina was frantically tying up bandits. She looked as though she was doing her best to ignore what was happening between Sylphiel and the unknown women.

Sylphiel stood up and walked around so she was behind the woman in the fetal position. She was being sodomized when Lina had come in and Sylphiel had a bad feeling that whatever it was she wanted removed was in her ass. She turned out to be correct. A splintered peg made of wood stuck out like a sore thumb. Sylphiel took another deep, calming breath. It was going to be worse for the woman than for her. “Brace yourself.” Sylphiel cautioned as she grabbed the handle. And then, as more of a way to distract the woman than anything else she said, “I’m Sylphiel. What’s your name?”

“Karen.” she replied as Sylphiel pulled. It was wedged in there tightly and barely gave. Karen cried out and out of the corner of her eye, Sylphiel noticed that Lina stumbled slightly.

“I’m sorry!” Sylphiel cried.

“Just get it out!” Karen shrieked.

“Yes.” Sylphiel braced one hand against Karen’s back and pulled harder. Karen grunted but it started to give. The stick finally came out, covered in blood. Karen took a deep breath of relief as Sylphiel threw the stick away and started to cast a recovery spell.

“Thank you.” Karen sighed.

“I have some fresh clothes with me. They’ll be a bit big for you but it’s better than nothing.” Sylphiel said as she finished healing Karen.

Karen nodded and Sylphiel took off her cape and started to sort through it to find her spare clothes. She gave them to Karen as Lina cast a levitation spell. Sylphiel turned to see that she was stringing up one man so that he hung on his tiptoes from the ceiling. “Are you going to kill him?” Karen asked.

“Eventually.” Lina replied as she finished tying the bandit leader up and surveyed her work.

“Good.” Karen said.

Sylphiel moved to the other woman who was crying and nearly recoiled. Thick, heavy chains were clamped to her nipples and clitoris. Sylphiel shook her head. Never could she have imagined such barbarity!

It added to her fears. She had heard rumors that the bandits had blackmailed Lina with his life to rape her. And sadly it had made sense. She knew that Lina would do anything for Gourry, even destroy the world. She knew that Lina would endure any torture to save him. Which made her wonder which request was too twisted and perverted for Lina not to comply with that caused them to kill him.

Sylphiel pushed the thought from her mind and focused on the woman in front of her. She put a hand on her shoulder. The woman screamed and recoiled. “I’m sorry.” Sylphiel said, “I’m not going to hurt you. I need to get these off you before I heal you, though.”

The other woman shook her head, “It hurts!” she said.

“Just put on your big girl panties and get it over with.” Lina said coldly from across the room.

Sylphiel shuddered. “What’s your name?”

The other woman turned her face away. “It’s Norma.” Karen said as she knelt beside her. “The red head is right. Just get it over with, Norma.”

Norma grabbed Karen’s hands and squeezed tightly. Sylphiel reached towards one bruised nipple and squeezed the clamp open. Norma screamed, “Stop! That hurts!”

Sylphiel was shaking. At least when treating Karen she wasn’t pleading for her to stop. “I’m sorry. It’s almost over.”

Sylphiel quickly grabbed the other clamp. Norma screamed and wrenched herself from Karen and threw a punch at Sylphiel. Karen grabbed her and held her back down. “Just one more Norma. Come on, you can make it through this.”

Karen glanced at Sylphiel. “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize.” Sylphiel said. She took a deep breath and addressed Norma, “I need you to open your legs.”

Norma shook her head. “Oh good grief,” Lina said, “Look, if you don’t let Sylphiel finish this quickly then the bandits will wake and get to watch you perform one final show for them. Just get it over with already.”

“Norma please. Once she gets it off she can heal you and you can dress. Please.” Karen begged.

Tears ran down Norma’s face as she finally opened her legs. Sylphiel quickly reached for the clamp on her clitoris and opened it before she could change her mind and close them again. Norma screamed as Sylphiel let out a breath of relief. She started to survey the damage and cast a healing spell. By the time Sylphiel had finished and Norma was dressing, the bandits were starting to stir.

Lina walked to the center of the room where she would be visible. Sylphiel pulled back to the entrance with Norma. Karen stayed with Lina, who was grinning sardonically. Fearful whispers started to emanate from the bandits as they woke to find themselves tied up and at the mercy of the powerful sorceress they had so badly wronged.

“You! How did you find us?” Jaxon sputtered as he woke up.

Lina turned and glared at him. “I don’t have to answer your questions.”

Jaxon’s mouth dropped open and he turned red. “Admit it, bitch, you missed being fucked by me.”

“Mono volt!” Lina yelled as she grabbed Jaxon’s arm. He screamed as lightening crackled around him.

Lina pulled away before she could render him unconscious. “So tell me, how did that feel?”

His black, beady eyes seemed to cloud over with bloodlust. “You bitch!”

He screamed as Karen hit the back of his legs with a stick. “You will talk respectfully to a lady!” she yelled as she hit him again.

“Or I will cut your tongue out.” Lina added coldly.

Karen stopped hitting Jaxon long enough to reach around and undo his belt. “Hey, what are you doing?” he asked as she pulled his pants down.

“Giving you a taste of your own medicine.” Karen said coldly.

Lina’s eyes widened as Karen grabbed the stick that had been used to sodomize her and drove it into Jaxon’s rectum. Jaxon screamed. It was a boundary that Lina wouldn’t have crossed but she decided to go with it. Her eyes narrowed, “So, Jax, how does it feel to be raped?”

Jaxon just glared at her and Karen pumped the stick in and out of him. Lina grinned and tossed her hair back. “You know, I really didn’t notice earlier, but I finally see why you need to rape a woman to get any. You’re too small and disgusting to get one on your own merits.”

Jaxon flushed and opened his mouth to speak. Lina cut him off, “Say one word and I will cut that tongue off! But really, I didn’t know that dicks came as small as yours. You practically need a magnifying glass to see it! Not that I want to.”

Jaxon grunted at her menacingly. Lina drew her sword out, “Keep up what you’re doing, Karen. I’ll take care of the rest of the bastards.”

Lina pulled one bandit at random from the group. “Watch closely Jax. How I finish you off will be twice as bad.”

And with that she ripped off the bandit’s shirt and started to carve into his chest with her sword. The bandits screams rang high throughout the cave as Lina cut deeply into him. The other bandits grew pale and started to struggle harder against their binds. Some started to beg for mercy. Lina kept carving.

When she was finished you could barely discern the word “RAPIST” carved on his chest. Blood poured copiously from the wounds. The bandit was turning pale from loss of blood. Yet without skipping a beat Lina moved to carve “R.O.T.R.W.” on his forehead. By this time he had no energy left to scream with. The life was definitely flowing out of him by the time that Lina slashed his throat.

Lina stood up and surveyed the group. “Who’s next?” she asked.

Screams of terror ran through the crowd of bound bandits. Lina heard a shuffling from the cave entrance and turned to find Norma emerge with a sharp, jagged rock in her hand. “I want to help.” She said.

Lina shrugged, “You were wronged too.”

And so they set to work butchering bandits alive. It seemed to take hours, but finally the grisly task was done and Jaxon was the only bandit left standing. Lina and Norma crowded around him. He was as pale as a sheet but still looked defiant. “Do you expect me to beg for mercy?”

“No. You know it won’t do any good.” Lina said as she slashed his shirt open. “And I don’t particularly care to hear your pleas.”

She started to carve. Jaxon screamed. Lina grinned. “You’re going to get an extra word carved onto your chest.” Lina explained. “It’s murderer. Because you took the life of the most decent man in the world. I hope the extra pain this causes you won’t be too much of an inconvenience.”

Lina finished carving “RAPIST” and started on the “M.” Her eyes took on a fiery quality as she continued, “Do you have any idea how unjust it is that scum like you walked the earth torturing and raping and killing while a decent man like him lies dead and in the ground?”

She shook her head as tears clouded her vision. She brushed them away and continued her work, “And what a mistake you made! He would never have allowed me to torment you before your death like this. He actually gave a damn about fairness in battle and chivalry. You blew away your only change at a death with dignity, Jax, when you slit his throat!”

Lina finished carving “MURDERER” into him and stood back to survey her work. Jaxon was very pale now. His eyes were starting to glaze over. “Are you going to finish me now, you little witch?”

Lina shook her head. “A quick death is too good for you.”

Without warning, she grabbed his balls and sliced them off. Jaxon screamed as she threw them across the cave. He glared at her with hatred as she levitated herself so she was high enough to carve “R.O.T.R.W.” into his forehead.

By the time she was finished the life was rapidly draining from him. His eyes closed as consciousness left him. He was too far gone to torment any longer, so Lina slashed his throat. She shook the blood off of her sword and sheathed it. She turned towards the cave entrance and started to walk towards it. Sylphiel sat just inside, her eyes on the ground, looking pale.

Lina ignored her as she continued to walk towards the entrance of the cave. She had expected to feel vindicated and relieved after she killed him. Instead she felt numb. Sure, Jaxon would never rape another woman again, and she felt good knowing that. But it didn’t change what happened to her. More importantly, it didn’t change the fact that Gourry was dead. Lina sat down at the entrance to the cave and stared outward. She was beyond tired and wary and, for the life of her, she had no idea what to do next.

***************

Lina sat before the grave stone, her expression grim. She had finally lost Sylphiel when the other woman had gone with Karen and Norma to see them safely home. And, having nowhere else to go, Lina found herself heading towards the town where she had buried Gourry.

She couldn’t go home. She knew that rumors of what had happened would have reached her parents and she couldn’t bear to face them. Saillune was out. She was not up for dealing with Amelia and Sylphiel. And while there was a time when Lina might have considered traveling, she felt that she’d had enough adventure for one lifetime. She also knew now that she would never be able to leave Gourry for long. Like it or not, she was tied to the town where he had died.

Lina gaze at the elaborate headstone. She had once chided people who spent a lot of money on tombstones and caskets. The dead sure as hell weren’t going to care about what they were buried in. So why waste so much money on them? Yet she had found herself ordering the most expensive casket and elaborate tombstone she could find. She somehow felt that it was the least she could do.

She started to clear away some of the excess grass and debris that had already started to clutter his grave. “I took care of them. It was too late for you, but I did it.” Lina said aloud.

“Without you, it’s a small victory.” She continued bitterly. “I thought I’d feel better with him dead, but I don’t. Not really. Not that I’m sorry that he’s dead but…but everyone still knows what he did to me. And you’re still dead. And nothing is going to change that.”

She wiped away the tears that started to form and took a deep, ragged breath. “Do you blame me? I wouldn’t blame you if you do. I dream about you every night. Only you’re so cold in my dreams. I’ve never seen you like that in real life. You keep asking me ‘why?’ and I keep thinking about how selfish I was! I thought that killing Jaxon would stop the dreams, but it hasn’t. I just need to know if you really blame me!”

She grasped his tombstone again, and instead of feeling cold and foreboding it felt warm and inviting. Lina’s mouth dropped in surprise as a warm, friendly presence enveloped her. She closed her eyes and let it run through her. She felt the guilt she had been carrying for months lift as she recognized his smell. An invisible entity seemed to whisper words of forgiveness into her ear. She sobbed in relief and then loss as the presence and warmth started to fade.

Lina had no idea how long she sat before the tombstone crying once it was gone. She only knew that when she finally stood up her muscles felt sore, as though she had been sitting there for hours. Lina brushed her tears away and pushed back her hair and started to head into town. “Thank you.” She whispered.