Stormfeather Ch. 12

**I mention a couple of old books in this chapter. As much as I tend to go for facts, I'm playing a little fast and loose with the dates of their publication. An English translation of one of them might have been available in Europe at the time that this tale is set. It's anybody's guess whether a copy might have made its way to New Mexico by then to land in Maeve's hands.

All of that notwithstanding, I hope that this is enjoyed. O_o

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Well I'm happy for you then," Ximena said, knowing Amy and meaning it despite still being unsure of everything.

The statement caused Amy to laugh for a moment. She poured them each some tea and set the pot back down. "You're happy for me -- probably from the view of the friend of a woman who is newly married." She smiled at them, "I did tell you that you'd think that I was nuts."

"Come on, Amy," Sabrina said, "you have to know what all of this sounds like to us."

"I do," she smiled, "and I'm not really bothered by it. I know how it sounds. Anyway, I don't want to beat it to death. I'm back home with you, Ximena, Maeve is better, and I'm really pleased to have you here with us, Sabrina. Even if you find that you don't like teaching and you go back home at Thanksgiving, we'll have a lot of time to-"

"I'm not going back home, "Sabrina said. "I've been thinking about a lot of things and I don't want to go back. I want to go forward." She looked at herself and then at the others for a moment, "I might need a little help -- as you said."

Both Ximena and Amy thought that they'd caught something in the inflection of Sabrina's statement - Ximena certainly did - but Amy put a good face on her thoughts and smiled, "Well you couldn't have landed in a better place. You've fallen into the clutches of a pair who know just how to dress and comport oneself in the finest of Santa Fe's circles. We'll help, won't we, Ximena?"

"I don't know," Ximena smiled, "what you've just said scares the heck out of me, but I'm sure that we'll manage."

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Amy walked to where her husband stood pulling his arrows from the hay bale. "Would you like a little wine?" She asked.

He thanked her, but shook his head, "Have you had any?"

"No," she said, "not yet, anyway, though I was sort of hoping that we could share a little and, you know, ... head for my room." She smiled at him in a rather obviously hopeful way. "It's been a few days."

"What lies to the north of here?" he asked, "I have been waiting to teach you things that you must know." He smiled, "I will leave enough time."

"What are you talking about?" Amy asked.

"I wished to wait for a few days after the change for you to gather and grow your strength," he said, "but I had to wait longer since we had your friend along. Otherwise, I would have shown you as we traveled. There are things which you must know before you find that you need them."

"Well, what kind of things?" she asked.

Arn smiled, "I am making a mystery out of something when I do not want one, Sheena. It is nothing more than what you can now do. I want you to know of this before you find out by an unhappy accident. Back in that store in Portales, you held onto Sabrina's sister and when you let her go, she almost stumbled backward, which was your intent, I think. But with only a little more effort, you could have killed her without meaning to."

"What do we have to do," Amy smiled, "practice this?"

He nodded, "In a way."

"There's just open ground north of here, and a few small canyons," she said, "a small river as well, about three miles away."

"Good enough," he said.

She blinked and stared at him a little, "You want to ride a round trip of six miles? In the dark?"

He grinned and shook his head. "No, Sheena."

"Well good," she said, "because -- "

"We won't take the horses."

Amy looked and had to chuckle at his enigmatic grin.

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"A walk?" Sabrina asked, "It's nearly dark," she said, "I've been amazed at how he's been hitting that hay bale with his arrows. Now he wants to go for a walk? How will you find your way back?"

"I dunno," Amy smiled, "but I've learned to trust in him." She said it just to leave it hanging in the air that way.

Sabrina had at least another sentence or two on her tongue but stopped herself when she felt Ximena's light nudge against her hand.

"Don't drink all of the house wine," Amy said with a grin, "I expect that we'll be back sometime. Let's go Arn."

The two women watched as the newlyweds walked to the back fence with Winky tagging along and out through the gate there to disappear into the gloom.

"Why would you want to go for a walk out there in the dark?" Sabrina asked as she turned. The look on Ximena's face brought a thought to her.

"Oh yeah," she smirked as they walked into the house.

"More wine for us," Ximena smiled.

"But Amy said --"

"Amy knows exactly how much wine there is to be found in the cellars here," Ximena said, "and she knows that, aside from all of the other vintages, there are two unopened casks of the house wine, never mind the one that is opened, and that one is more than three-quarters full. Did you have serious drinking in mind for this evening, Sabrina? I only thought to have a few glasses myself," she said, filling a goblet for each of them.

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They walked for about a half-mile in the dark before Arn stopped Amy, "Have you noticed anything, Sheena?"

She nodded, "I've noticed that we aren't saying much."

"How much of a moon is there?" He asked.

She looked up and noticed that there was only the barest sliver of the moon visible. "Not very much," she answered.

"Can you see well?" he asked.

"Yeah," she nodded, before stopping herself to think a little. "I can see a lot better in the dark now."

"Is it because of the moon?"

"No," Amy said, "at least I don't think it is. Or is it?"

"Not at all," he smiled, "Winky's kind does not stay in their dens if there is no moon. They must still hunt, moon or not, with or without clouds covering the stars."

"Well I can see pretty well like this," she smiled.

"Good," he nodded as he began to remove his boots.

"What are you doing?" she asked, "You want to do it here? Now?"

"Later," he smiled, leaning in to kiss her for a moment, "We have a way to go, and you will lead us to the river and the canyons. Please take your clothes off. They will hinder you after you change."

Amy smiled and bent to take her boots off, "Where will we put the clothes?"

Arn pointed to a nearby tree. When she'd handed him her clothing, he added his and walked to the tree. Amy gaped at him when he just seemed to leave the ground as he leapt almost straight up to land on a bough about a dozen feet off the ground. He landed on the ground soundlessly a few seconds later and walked back to rejoin her.

"How did you do that?" she asked, a little amazed.

"I did nothing that you cannot do yourself now," he smiled, "You just have not tried yet. Come, show me the way, and go only as fast as Winky can run."

Amy nodded and began to trot. A few seconds later, she was running as fast as she could -- or thought that she could. Winky thought the game was fun and left her behind in only a second. The only thing that Amy noticed in herself which was different was that her breathing wasn't much harder than when she was walking.

"Winky will win the race if you cannot find any more speed, Sheena," he said from beside her, "Run faster."

She tried, and even managed to run faster than she'd ever been able to in her life before, but there seemed to be some limitation. She knew that she was running faster than any human runner likely ever could, but it felt a bit off to her. She'd been gaining on Winky for a minute, but when Winky had looked back, she'd seen, and was now barreling joyously along almost as fast as she could go and was opening the gap again.

"What am I doing wrong?" she asked, still a little amazed at her speed and the measure of breath that she found in herself for this.

She got no reply. Looking over, she saw that Arn was using his arms to bound now and then. Whenever he did that, she noticed that he shot ahead with little apparent effort.

"Lean forward a little," he said, "Use what you have been given."

Amy tried it and almost landed on her face, just catching herself as her balance shifted. She tried again, and imitated him. In only seconds, it felt more natural and the two of them were almost on Winky, who was now running hard.

"Slow a little," he advised, "or our friend will not be able to keep pace."

When she had it, Amy wanted to laugh at how fast she could run easily. She felt her breath in and out in measured lungfuls, knowing that she had more at her command in reserve. It felt wonderful.

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It was just after dusk as the two women sat in the kitchen, each with a glass of wine conversing in Spanish between them.

"That was surprising," Ximena said, "what we did earlier. I've never felt overcome by a feeling so quickly before." She looked at her companion, "And anyway, how did you know?"

"I just saw how you were having such a hard time holding yourself still," Sabrina replied with a shrug, "and I know how it is with me."

"But I am a woman who, ... well, I like having a man," the housekeeper said, "I was not expecting, ..."

"I like men as well -- I think," Sabrina sighed, "though I've never had the good fortune to, ... "

She shook her head, "It doesn't really matter," she said, "for something like that, I think it is better with another woman who shares the taste for it. I think a man would be too harsh and use the wrong words, or perhaps it would be hard to find one who is like that. It must be, I have never met anyone who, ... well, is like you are."

"You said something about your brother and sister earlier," Ximena said, "what did they do to you?"

"Do you really wish to know this?" Sabrina asked, "It is embarrassing to tell of it."

"I see a mixture of things in you," the housekeeper said, "You are uncertain, being here in a strange place, and yet you seem pleased to be here all the same. You are happy to be with Amy again and I can even tell that you like me and wish for my friendship -- which you already have, Sabrina, and it has nothing to do with what we speak of now. I'm still surprised at what we did a while ago. It's not very much like me to show much of myself to someone whom I have only just met, and I am hoping that with that between us, you can tell of it."

Sabrina nodded and after a sip of her wine, she began. "Sometimes, when we were in our beds, we would hear my mother and father. It would sound as though my father was angry with my mother, and we could hear what sounded like slapping. But we never heard our mother crying, really. We wanted to go and peek through the keyhole, but none of us dared, because -- "

"Because you were afraid that you'd be caught at it?"

"Obviously, and worse than that," Sabrina said, "we could never tell when the door might open. It often happened that the door would open suddenly, and Papa would take Mama to the woodshed in the night. We followed a few times, and he would ask her if she wanted what he was about to do to her, - and she always said yes. I guess this went on all of our lives, but we never knew of it until we were older. I'm not sure, but I think I must have been eighteen then, and I'm the youngest."

"What happened then?" Ximena asked, feeling a little strangely, as though she was caught between not wishing to hear more, and wanting to very much.

"It depended," Sabrina said, as she pushed her glasses up on her nose. She didn't let on, but she was trying to observe Ximena again, looking for some sort of sign.

"Wait," she said, leaning a little closer, "Ximena, you must promise me that you will never tell Amy of what I say to you now. I know her, and we have always cared a great deal for each other ever since we were children. We sometimes felt as if we were the only people who cared about each other, and we always stood together in anything. You know Amy. She can get very hot in an instant -- especially if she thinks that she sees something that is wrong. If you tell her any of this, I am afraid that she would kill my family."

Ximena nodded slowly as she tried covertly to work the hem of her dress higher with one hand in anticipation of what she might hear. "Oh, I know Amy," she said, "and you're probably right. But, go on, Sabrina, please. I promise that I won't say anything."

The smaller woman had to struggle to hide the smile that she was afraid to show for a moment, but she continued, "He would tie her up in any of several ways, and he often beat her lightly with a switch, or some thin branches. Sometimes he used a very short whip. I used to try to look later to see if there were marks, because we saw red lines on her from it those nights, on her thighs, and her bottom and her breasts. But I could never see anything like that if I tried to see into her dress if she bent over the next day.

He would slap her backside hard and then he would, ... well, he'd, ..."

"Fuck her?" Ximena asked in a whisper, as the feeling in her began to grow a little stronger.

Sabina nodded, "Yes. He'd tie her hands together and then he'd tie them to a hook low on the wall so that her hands were above her head, but she was lying on her back. Then he'd push her legs apart and begin. We could see that she liked it that way very much. Or he'd have her there on her knees and do it from behind."

She felt herself getting a little damp again. She was enjoying this, telling Ximena everything. "Sometimes it lasted a long time, and it looked to me as though he was slapping her bottom more than he was doing the other thing until he sped up at the end. Papa would usually tie her hands behind her back and make her kneel to suck him. Sometimes, Mama would begin to cry a little, because she had to pee, and when he found out, he'd tell her to just pee there in the dirt, but not to stop what she was doing for him."

Sabrina watched Ximena absorb it as they sat with their wine, with Ximena shaking her head at some points, but she could see that Ximena was moving slightly. She hadn't seen Ximena's right hand in a few minutes, and even without being able to see, Sabrina was fairly certain that the hand was busy under the table. Ximena sat still for a moment and took her goblet of wine in her left hand to take a sip. It was a sure sign to Sabrina, since she'd seen enough before this to know that Ximena was right-handed.

"That was when my sister began with me," she said.

Ximena almost lost her mouthful of wine then. "What? How? What did she do?"

Sabrina felt the tingling and mild throbs from between her legs. She now knew that she could tell Ximena everything, but she wanted this to go further, so she began to whisper, so that Ximena could pick up the furtiveness that she put into her voice.

"We watched one night when my brother was away visiting a friend. It seemed that we couldn't help ourselves. Anna and I crept out to the woodshed a while after they'd begun and we watched through some small spaces between the boards of the wall. Whenever we watched, I would try to please myself afterward in my bed. I always had to be careful so that Anna wouldn't hear me. But that night, I guess that I got more excited and as I watched. I couldn't help myself for some reason and I pulled the front of my nightshirt up a little and had my hand between my legs.

I didn't know it, but Anna was watching me. She'd figured out what I always did in my bed and she took me there that night on purpose. As I was using my fingers, she suddenly grabbed my wrist and took my hand away. When I looked, she was angry. She sniffed my hand and whispered that I was a dirty and naughty girl. Before I could even think, she was pulling me away from the shed toward the house, Ximena.

She didn't make a sound until we were inside again, and then she whispered that she knew what to do with a slut like me. When we got to our bedroom, she made me pull my nightshirt off or she said that she'd rip it right off me, and then I could explain it to Papa how it had gotten torn. I didn't know what to do.

She told me that I needed my ass slapped, as she said it, and then she told me to get on my knees over the footstool and when I did, she told me that I had better be quiet or she'd think of something terrible for me to do. She had always made me do things when we were younger, like kiss a frog or a cow's nose. It always made her laugh at me afterward.

That night, she started to spank me really hard, and I began to cry because it stung so bad and I was ashamed, but Anna didn't care. She told me that it was for my own good - that she was trying to keep me from becoming a whore, so I felt guilty - really guilty."

Sabrina looked over at Ximena and shrugged as she blinked through her glasses, "I hardly ever got to go anywhere in town, only to the market or the store and back. I didn't even know what a whore was. I only remembered the word from school, when a few of the boys whispered about Penny Harrison's mother. "

"Go on, Sabrina," Ximena whispered just as quietly, though Sabrina could detect just a little urgency in it and saw that her friend had adjusted her position a little so that she could sit farther back on her haunches.

"She slapped my ass hard for a long time as I cried quietly. I was so ashamed, Ximena. I just cried and cried. Anna had to switch hands every once in a while, and sometimes she hit me a lot lower. It really hurt, and I almost cried out, but Anna pulled my hair and told me to keep my mouth shut. When she got tired of it, I felt her put her legs on either side of me as though I was a hobby horse, and then I felt her begin to rub herself along my back. She made some noises that sounded like a pig to me then and I wanted to laugh, but I was still crying and I didn't dare.

Sabrina stopped abruptly then, and Ximena looked over, "What's wrong?"

Sabrina leaned forward a little more, "You're playing with yourself now aren't you, Ximena?"

Ximena wanted to deny it and started to shake her head, but Sabrina smiled, "I know that you are. It's alright, Ximena. I'm happy to tell you -- only you. I've never told this to anyone before. It's all the truth, and if it makes you want to please yourself a little, then I'm glad to tell you of it."

Ximena sighed and nodded, "I can't help it, Sabrina. I don't even know why, but hearing this makes me, ..."

"I know," Sabrina whispered, "I think that it's because you're a dirty, naughty girl, ... just like me," she grinned a little, and Ximena chuckled quietly and nodded. "Please, I've just got to hear the end of this now. What happened then?"

Sabrina tried her best to look a little sad and serious. She tried to remember how she'd felt that night so that she could put as much of the shame that she'd felt in her voice as she could. "Well, "she whispered, "then, my sister told me to sit up on my knees. She pulled her own nightshirt off and sat on the edge of her bed and told me to come closer. I did, but she wanted me even closer. I moved a little at a time, because I was afraid of what she would make me do, but finally, I was close enough so that all that I could see in front of me was her cunny, and Anna grabbed my head and pulled my face against her. I was terrified, but then her voice changed a little and she told me to lick her there."

A tiny moan escaped Ximena's mouth, but she caught herself and stared, "What did you do, Sabrina? That must have been terrible!"

"It was," the girl nodded, "It was awful, but I did it. I licked her there until she almost cried out while she was rubbing herself against my face pretty hard. But then she stopped suddenly and just held me there for a bit until her breathing was quieter. Then she told me to get into my bed and never tell anyone what I'd done, because I was just a nasty, dirty girl.