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“Mariana!” Selena gasped. The redheaded sorceress smiled. “Well, you two are looking…better than when you were tossed out of the Tower of Arcana and into the swamps of the Misty Isles.” “Why are you here?” Fiona asked, trying to seem indignant through her fear.

Rowena and Maeve were shocked, and gripped their swords, ready to spring into action if given the order.

The crowd of townspeople*, and the soldiers who had ushered them into the square all seemed uncertain what to think. Vittoria just seemed surprised. Selena seemed as much concerned as surprised, and even Fiona seemed to be struggling to maintain her usual swagger.

(* Not pictured)

“None of that will be necessary,” said a commanding voice as two women stepped through a round portal that distorted space around it.

 The speaker was a striking woman in a black dress trimmed with red, her green eyes shining from behind flowing crimson hair. Next to her was a solidly-built woman in white, her blonde hair fashioned into a long braid.

In what seemed like very little time, the approaching army arrived and surrounded the walls. The banners were not those of the Kingdom of Plouffe, causing some confusion among the ranks inside the town. A bugle sounded, a clear call for a parley.

“Well, there you have it, the parley” Fiona said to Selena, “How long until she surrenders? She knows we have plenty of reinforcements coming.” Selena nodded, then gave orders to Rowena, “I want her to see the town, my army, and the assembled townspeople. I want her to see the knight she sent in the pillory. Open the front gates and let her in, with a light guard escort so she feels comfortable and takes it all in. If she doesn’t surrender, she’ll be in...

Vittoria looked surprised. “So the queen has decided to move against us. I didn’t think she had it in her.”

“How long until they arrive?” Maeve asked the mercenary. 

“Not long, captain. Maybe an hour at best.”

“Do you think the modest walls of this village will hold?” Maeve said, turning to the sisters.

“Let her come, we will deal with her as we have dealt with all the others who opposed us,” Selena said, proudly. 

“Let’s get the prisoners back inside, or at least stop bringing the townsfolk outside—they may join and help from inside the walls...

“Captain! Captain!” A well-armored mercenary ran into the square and jumped onto the scaffold, almost out of breath from the exertion of running or shouting, or both.

When she met Maeve’s gaze, the captain wordlessly nodded to the group of women standing in front of her. “Your majesties!” the mercenary responded, with a curtsey.

“What is the meaning of this?” Selena said, “don’t you have citizens to round up, or a watch to keep?”

The mercenary looked crestfallen. “That’s just it, you majesty. I was watching from the tower, and I saw a dust cloud. Any soldier who has seen great battles knows what that means...

Fiona grinned at Rowena’s obvious discomfort. Then, she pointed to the stocks behind her. “Well, I’ve given these four, who I consider the least harmless in the town, a thorough working over. But, if it suits the fancies of your majesties to have a go at them, too, be my guest.”

“Bring out the citizens from their shelters. I want them all to see what happens when you oppose the Foxglove sisters!” Fiona said, a spark flying between her fingers.

“Who is the erstwhile ruler of this motley crew?” Selena asked. “Oh, they have a magistrate. My mercs were given orders to locate her and give her an attitude adjustment. But then, my crew probably has adjusted the entire town’s attitude.”

“These simple townsfolk had the nerve to rise up against OUR army? Bring them before us, and we will put them through hell. We’ll torture them in ways they can barely imagine, right, Rowena?” Fiona smiled.

“Yes, Rowena, ‘barely’,” Selena pointed out.

Fiona frowned, “So who is this last one?”

“Oh, that’s their local guard captain.” “Constable ,” said Clara. “Right, such a pig sty of a village doesn’t have a ‘guard captain’,” Maeve corrected, “but get this…her name is Clarabelle. A fitting name for a cow, now? Perhaps we should milk her!   And such a cute little bow.”   Clara seethed silently at their mockery.

“And that brings us to this muddy little mouse over here. She’s local, apparently an eccentric. Want to explain to their majesties how you defeated Rowena and her army?”

Yvette was silent. “They need to hear this, so their army doesn’t lose that way again.” Yvette stayed silent. Rowena blushed even more. Maeve walked around behind Yvette and gave her a hard slap on her mud-caked backside. She still didn’t talk. “Pies,” Maeve said, giggling. “Yes, you heard right, pies.” 

“And bees!” Vittoria added. Maeve reigned in her laughter for a moment so not to cause offense to a monetary benefactor. 

“Is th...

“The redhead here, is a knight from the capital, apparently. She was able to best Rowena, but not me.” “She had help!” Rowena objected.

“She did,” Maeve responded, “but I was able to beat her anyway. Perhaps because I’m a proper warrior, not some porker squeezed into body-flattering armor.” 

“So, tell me who this lot is,” Fiona said. “This one,” Maeve said, pointing to Broussard, “is an archer from the capital…one of three who arrived and overthrew your vaunted commander, but I was able to bring them to heel.”

And Rowena, you couldn’t stay away, could you? You missed our little fun when we last met here?” Rowena blushed at the suggestion.

For the first time, the sorcerous sisters witnessed Dacqoise, and its town square, with its scaffold of pillories, currently hosting Helena, Private Broussard, Clarabelle, and Yvette.

“Your highnesses!” Maeve said, bowing, “It’s good to see you. And Duchess Vittoria, thank you for coming.  

Having arrived at Dacqoise, they found the gates open and a welcoming party of Maeve’s mercenaries, who led the soldiers to supplies and reunited them with the units that had been captured while under Rowena’s command. Another mercenary led Rowena, the sisters, and Vittoria to the town square.

The next day, the sisters marched for Dacqoise with their large army, Rowena on horseback leading the column.

Rowena had been comfortable on horseback since the first time she had mounted one. Her trip back to headquarters from Dacqoise had been the only time she was ever uncomfortable sitting on a steed, until now. Unbeknownst to her army, Vittoria had offered her own revenge for getting her captured in the village. Rowena, still nude, had reported to headquarters in the morning, where she was offered her armor and a clean set of undergarments. The sisters’ servants even acted as squires to help h...

The Story so Far (text only)

Working Title

The sleepy town of

Rowena closed her eyes and tried in vain to imagine she was somewhere else. But each jeer, each smack of the paddle, brought her right back to reality. In her mind, the paddling seemed to last forever.

But in reality, it lasted just under an hour. By that point, the soldiers, who had been amused at first, were starting to feel very uncomfortable. This, of course, is what the sorcerous sisters wanted—to make Rowena an example and a warning about the price of failure in their army. Then, Selena willed her levitation to stop, dropping the sore knight face down in the dirt. As she climbed to her hands and knees, she saw her soldiers mocking her. She would never enjoy the sa...

Suspended in the air with her arms magically pulled up over her head, there was little Rowena could do but take the paddling. The magical paddle moved at Selena’s will, punishing both cheeks. “Look at that flab jiggle!” Fiona said, as loudly as possible.

“I bet you didn’t know she looked like that under all that armor” Selena said to the surrounding soldiers. “Darathea?” Fiona called, “Capture this moment.” Darathea was the expedition artist, and also helped with planning siege machinery. She was as skilled as drafting and painting as she was at engineering. But as soon as Fiona commanded her, she had her sketchbook out. She could immortalize this moment with a painting if the sisters desired it. This possibility, of course, was...

Rowena was becoming concerned, as she hadn’t felt the effects of the new spell, even though the magical lightning lingered, causing her the occasional shock. But Fiona could see a paddle appearing in the air, right behind the warrior woman.

“Good show,” said a smiling Selena, “quite a nice job you did with your tiny little wand there. I, myself, prefer something with a little more heft and girth,” she said, waving her notably longer and thicker wand. Fiona glared angrily at her as she waved it and cast a spell.

The army watched their disgraced commander jiggling with each shock, her hair rising up and becoming messy, her cheeks as red as could be.

Rowena screamed as the sparks tortured her already-sore posterior.

She pointed her palm at Rowena, and, instantly, bolts of electricity engulfed the still-levitating knight’s voluptuous backside.

“I see where you’re going with this, and I like it,” Fiona mused. “Would you like to do the honors, then?” Selena asked chummily. “But of course!”

 With a chant, and the wave of her wand, blue lightning started to form in her other hand.  

With a wave, Rowena started to levitate. She writhed about, but there was nothing she could do to fight it.

 Selena smiled as she muttered some chant that forced the knight’s arms up over her head, and caused her to spin around slowly and continuously, showing her front and then her back alternately to the assembled soldiers. 

“Why, sister, I think you just answered your own question!” Selena said, instantly producing a wand as if from thin air.

“You will armor up, and travel with the army,” Selena said. Rowena nearly breathed a sigh of relief. “BUT,” Fiona added, “And that’s one BIG BUTT you hide under that armor,” she continued, getting a chorus of hearty guffaws from the army assembled behind Rowena, whose view allowed them to appreciate the joke, “We need to do something about your failure first, but what?”

“It was a hard spanking, I’ll admit, but hardly tort-“ “STOP,” Fiona growled, “you aren’t making your case any better. We’ll know soon if Maeve was able to do what you couldn’t. At dawn, we’re moving the entire army to Dacqoise.”

A cheer went up from the nearby army, and spread through those that were too far away to hear as the news was passed back. The assault was starting, and the first conquest ensured good food for the rest of the campaign.  Rowena looked at them. She wanted to cheer with them. But she couldn’t. She bit her lip and waited to learn her fate. 

Selena took over before Fiona presented a monologue. “You said you could win with troops. And you did. But the deal was to hold the village for a day. You couldn’t hold that puny little village with its pathetic, dumpy, pastry-fattened townsfolk. What kind of precedent do you think that sets?”

“But—“ Rowena started to defend herself. “That was a rhetorical question,” Selena interrupted, “meaning it needs no answer from you. It sets a very bad precedent. What’s more, you got our patroness, Duchess Vittoria captured and tortured.”