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The Apprentice’s Amazons (TG Story) - Chapter 5
🕑 Added 2025-09-17 22:50:09 +0000 UTCThe Apprentice’s Amazons (TG Story)
Korr and Dane were the north’s proudest brutes and barbarian warriors — cockswinging, scarred, stronger than any man alive. But when a witch who bent men’s wills with a whisper rose against them, their only hope was a filthy, forbidden ritual. They burned up their manhood, trading cock and pride for raw power, and rose again as towering Amazons: busty, muscled, dripping with strength the witch could not touch. They crushed her with their new bodies… but victory came at a price.
Day by day, their power seeped away — not into nothing, but into their apprentice, Leif. As he grew taller, harder, more manly with every sunrise, they shrank: muscles softening, voices sweetening, their proud dominance withering into need. By the end, the Iron Wolves of the north weren’t warriors at all, but hot, submissive women — blushing, breathless, and bound to the apprentice who had become the man they could never be again.
By the end, Korr and Dane weren’t warlords or Amazons anymore — just soft, needy women, too weak to even swing a sword. And Leif, the boy they once mocked as “soup-boy,” had become the man they now clung to, the one they called master… and eventually, their husband.
Link for the PDF File: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1P9XiAo0yRXvovfzMq0RiMmDwamBhK54S/view?usp=drive_link
Part 5
They burst into the treeline like hunted beasts, boots tearing the wet earth, lungs dragging fire. Behind them Frostmere howled, no longer a village but a pit of madness: men moaning like animals, steel clattering useless in the dirt, and that witch’s laughter ringing out sharp as broken glass.
Korr collapsed against a boulder, scarred chest heaving, sweat dripping down his jaw. His axe slipped from his shoulder and clattered at his side, but he didn’t even notice. Dane staggered to a tree, slammed his fist into the trunk so hard bark split and rained down in chunks. His golden mane stuck to his face, his breath hissing between bared teeth.
For a heartbeat the woods were only their panting, their gasps for air, the blood pounding in their skulls. Then Dane roared, the sound ripping from his chest raw.
“Fuck this! We should’ve stayed, Korr! We should’ve stood there and cut that bitch in half. Instead we run, and Leif—Leif’s still in there, squealin’ and moanin’ under her spell while we’re out here pantin’ like whipped curs!”
Korr’s head snapped up, his scar twitching tight, his eyes burning coals in the dark. He shoved himself upright, spitting blood into the dirt. “Don’t you dare put that on me, Dane. You felt it same as I did. Our cocks, our pride—she had us by the balls. Another breath in that square and we’d be humpin’ the stones like the rest of those droolin’ bastards.”
Dane shoved off the tree, storming nose to nose with him, their sweat-slick foreheads almost clashing. His voice cracked with fury, spittle flying. “Better humpin’ the stones than runnin’! Better dyin’ on my feet like a man than crawlin’ into the woods with my tail between my legs!”
Korr snarled, his fist slamming into Dane’s chest hard enough to shove him back a step. “Dyin’ a man? You think that’s what it’d be? No. You’d die hers. You’d die on your knees, moanin’ her name, your cock twitchin’ while she laughs. That’s worse than death, Dane. That’s bein’ broken.”
Dane’s hands curled into fists at his sides, his whole frame trembling, torn between shame and rage. “We left Leif!” he bellowed, voice cracking into something close to grief. “That boy was screamin’ for us, lookin’ to us, and we fuckin’ left him!”
For a heartbeat, Korr didn’t answer. His scarred face twisted, eyes narrowing, throat tight. When he spoke, his voice was low, ragged, but full of iron. “Aye. We left him. And if we’d stayed, she’d have him and us both. You saw him—she’s got her claws in him deep, made him her hostage. We go back swingin’ steel like fools, we’ll only join him. Three more moanin’ dogs for her to toy with.”
The silence that followed was worse than shouting. The forest itself seemed to shrink, the night pressing down heavy. In the distance, faint and broken, carried by the wind—they heard it.
Leif’s moans.
Not words. Not screams. Just ragged, filthy noises spilling out of him, each one a reminder that he was still in the witch’s grip, still lost in her spell. Dane’s head dropped forward, golden hair hiding his face, his jaw working hard. His teeth ground like stone on stone.
Korr stepped closer, his voice low, hot, stabbing like a blade. “You think I don’t hear him? You think I don’t want to storm back there, tear her throat out, drag him free? Gods know I do. But we can’t. Not like this. She’ll leash us the same way she leashed him.”
Dane finally looked up, eyes bloodshot, voice raw. “Then what? We just run? Leave him to her? Let him squeal in her grip till he’s gone?”
Korr jabbed a scarred finger hard into Dane’s chest. “No. We find another way. A way to cut her leash. You felt it, same as me—every tug on our pride, every twitch in our cocks. As long as we’re men, she’s got us. You charge back in there as you are, you’re already hers.”
Dane’s lips curled, fury and horror twisting his face. “So what—you’re sayin’ we ain’t men enough to beat her?”
Korr’s voice dropped to a growl, iron and ash. “I’m sayin’ bein’ men is the leash. And if we don’t figure out how to cut it, we’re fucked.”
The words hung between them like a blade.
Behind them, the forest carried another of Leif’s broken moans, sharp and desperate, echoing through the night like a curse.
The silence after Leif’s moans was enough to split their hearts open. Both of them stood wrecked — sweat slick, blood drying on their skin, lungs burning, pride gutted. Korr’s scarred chest heaved with every breath, his fists flexing like he needed something to break. Dane’s golden hair clung to his face, his eyes wild, teeth grinding like stone.
But they couldn’t stay. Both of them knew it. The witch’s laughter still echoed faintly over the treetops, her spell rippling like a storm that could reach them at any moment. Staying in one place was just begging to be found, begging to be dragged back into her thrall.
Korr spat into the dirt, voice low and iron-heavy. “We can’t linger. She’ll sniff us out like wolves on a trail. We move. Now.”
Dane slammed his fist against the tree again, bark splintering. “Move where? To what? We got no plan, Korr! No boy, no strength left, nothin’ but our shame between us!”
“Better shame than chains,” Korr growled, his scar twitching. He shoved his axe back over his shoulder and jerked his chin toward the deeper woods. “We find cover. Regroup. Then we make a plan to take her head.”
Reluctantly, Dane followed, his breath ragged, his body trembling with rage he had nowhere to put. The two of them staggered deeper into the trees, boots sinking in mud, until they found a small hollow under a stone outcrop. It wasn’t much, but it was dark, tucked away, hidden from the open night. They ducked inside, their massive frames barely fitting, crouched like wolves licking their wounds.
For a long while, the only sound was their panting. Dane finally broke it, his voice raw. “How the fuck do you fight something like that? She didn’t even swing steel. Just… looked at us. Spoke at us. And we nearly pissed ourselves beggin’ for her.”
Korr leaned against the cold stone, his jaw working, eyes distant. He remembered her words — not the taunts, not the filth, but the one thing she’d said that dug under his scarred skin like a thorn. Her power comes from the goddess of war.
He spoke slowly, almost as if testing the words on his tongue. “She said her power comes from some goddess. Mother of war. That’s the root of it.”
Dane spat on the ground. “Gods and goddesses. You think I give a fuck where she gets her tricks? All I know is she’s got Leif and she’s gonna bleed him dry unless we gut her first.”
Korr’s eyes narrowed, his voice low. “No. We don’t get near her again ‘til we know what we’re facing. You felt it, Dane. That was no common witch. If what she says is true, she’s touchin’ something older. Stronger. You can’t swing an axe blind at a power like that.”
Dane slammed his palm against the stone, snarling. “So what then? Sit here with our cocks in our hands while Leif moans his life away?”
Korr’s hand shot out, gripping Dane’s wrist hard, their eyes locking. “We find someone who knows. A scholar. A priest. A lorekeeper. Someone who can tell us about this goddess of war and how her power works. We can’t fight her on brawn alone — she made that clear. We need answers.”
Dane yanked his arm free, pacing in the tight space, golden mane shaking as he cursed under his breath. But he didn’t argue further. Because deep down, he knew Korr was right.
They both sat in silence then, the weight of their failure pressing heavy. Leif’s face flickered in their minds, his boyish features twisted under her spell, his moans echoing through the night.
Korr’s scar twitched again, his fists curling tight. “We’ll get him back. But we do it smart. We cut the leash at the root. If that means bowin’ our heads to some bookworm or priest to learn how, so be it. Better shame now than beggin’ on our knees forever.”
Dane looked away, jaw tight, eyes burning. He muttered, almost like a vow: “Hold on, pup. Just hold on. We’ll come for you.”
The little stone hollow stank of damp earth and shame. Korr sat slumped against the rock, chest heaving, sweat dripping off his beard. Dane paced like a caged wolf, fists clenching and unclenching, golden hair sticking to his face.
For a while neither spoke, till Dane finally growled, “Shit. I think I know someone.”
Korr cracked an eye open. “That better not be the ale talkin’.”
“Nah,” Dane shook his head, lips curling but without a grin. “Back when I was driftin’, before the Wolves took me in, I ended up near Blackmere swamp. Place is a gods-forsaken pisshole. But… there’s this old hag there. Meanest, creepiest bitch you ever laid eyes on. Folks called her Skartha the Hollow-Tongue.”
Korr raised a brow, unimpressed. “That sounds like somethin’ you’d make up while drunk.”
Dane barked a short laugh. “Wish it was. She’s real. Saw warriors go to her myself. Some begged her for more strength, some for luck in battle. A couple came out lookin’ stronger. The rest? Never saw their sorry asses again.” He stopped pacing, voice dropping. “Point is — if anybody knows about that war-goddess the silk-slut kept rantin’ about, it’s Skartha. She knows everything to do with magic and the gods.”
Korr grunted, scratching his scar. “Sounds like walkin’ into another trap.”
“Yeah, well,” Dane shot back, “we ain’t got much choice, do we? That bitch back in Frostmere has Leif twistin’ and moanin’ like a tavern whore, and we’ve got jack-shit to fight her with. Steel won’t cut it. But Skartha? She’ll know what’s what. Even if she charges us an arm, a leg, and our left ballsack for the answer.”
Korr huffed through his nose, half a laugh, half a sigh. “And you remember where this hag-hole is?”
Dane nodded grimly. “Aye. Blackmere. Day’s march if we don’t stop. I swore I’d never go back there, but fuck it. If that’s what it takes to cut her leash, then that’s where we’re goin’.”
For the first time since bolting from Frostmere, the fire in their eyes sparked again. Not hope exactly, but purpose.
Korr pushed himself off the rock with a grunt. “Then we move at dawn. And if she can’t help…” He spat into the dirt. “We’ll figure out another way. But we’re not leavin’ the boy to that witch.”
The hollow stayed quiet for a bit, only the drip of water and their ragged breaths filling the space. Then Korr finally broke it, his voice low and heavy. “You realize what we’re about to walk into, don’t you?”
Dane snorted, running a hand through his tangled mane. “Yeah, an old swamp hag who smells like piss and probably charges triple for every answer.”
Korr’s scar twitched as he shook his head. “Don’t be thick. Hags like that don’t give without takin’. You ask her to tell you how to beat a goddess of war, she’ll want somethin’ in return. Something steep. Strength, years of your life, your cock—hells, maybe even your soul.”
Dane spat into the dirt. “Better her take a bite outta me than that silk-bitch keep Leif pantin’ on the floor like a dog. Least with Skartha we get a shot.”
Korr leaned forward, eyes sharp. “Or we come out worse. You saw those warriors you mentioned. Some came out strong, others never walked out again. That’s the gamble we’re makin’.”
“Yeah, well,” Dane shot back, jabbing a thumb toward the direction of Frostmere, “we already lost the gamble with the witch. We go back as we are, we’re just more meat for her to chew on. At least Skartha gives us a damn coin toss.”
Korr grunted, rubbing the scar that split his lip. “And what if her price is too high?”
Dane barked a humorless laugh. “Too high? Korr, we already left the boy. Already ran with our cocks between our legs. You really think there’s a price worse than that?”
Korr glared, but didn’t argue. His jaw tightened, his chest rising and falling. He hated it, but Dane wasn’t wrong. They had no other choices left.
After a long silence, Korr finally muttered, “Fine. Skartha it is. We go to her, we hear what she’s got to say. But if she asks for more than we can give—”
“Then we give it anyway,” Dane cut in, voice raw, teeth bared. “Because I’ll be damned if that boy dies whimperin’ under a witch while we sit here arguin’ about bargains.”
Korr’s eyes burned, but he gave a short, grim nod. “Then dawn it is.”
The hollow fell quiet again, both of them sitting heavy with the weight of it. Beyond the trees, the wind carried a sound — faint, broken, but unmistakable. Leif’s voice, moaning, twisted by magic.
It made both men flinch. Dane slammed his fist into the stone, muttering through clenched teeth: “Hold on, pup. We’re comin’, even if it kills us.”
The Next Day
Dawn came slow, bleeding gray through the trees. The air was damp, cold enough that their sweat turned clammy, clinging to skin and scars. Korr was already on his feet when the first light cracked the sky, strapping his axe across his back in silence. Dane groaned awake beside the cold firepit, golden mane a tangled mess, eyes red from a night of half-sleep.
Neither said a word at first. They didn’t need to — the weight between them was heavy enough. Leif’s moans had carried on the wind half the night, haunting every dream and snapping them awake every time they thought they’d finally rested.
“Swamps are west,” Dane muttered finally, wiping muck from his boots. “Blackmere. Ugly place. Smells like a corpse bath. We’ll be lucky if we make it through without losin’ a boot to the mud.”
Korr grunted, adjusting the strap over his scarred shoulder. “Then we don’t waste time complainin’. We move.”
They set off, the forest thinning as the sun dragged itself higher. Their boots sank into soil that grew softer, wetter with every mile. The trees stretched crooked here, bark peeling, their branches like claws scratching at the pale sky. The air itself began to change — thick with mist, cloying, a stink of rot and stagnant water seeping in from the west.
Dane spat into the muck, scowling. “Gods, I forgot how foul this place smells. Like a troll’s arse crack.”
Korr kept his eyes forward, unbothered. “Fit lair for a hag.”
The path soon gave way to bog. Every step sucked at their boots, mud clinging like hungry fingers. Pools of water stretched out between patches of dead grass, scum glimmering green on the surface. Strange shapes moved just under the water — long shadows, ripples with no wind to stir them.
Dane kept glancing around, his bravado thinner here, voice dropping. “Swamps got a way of eatin’ men whole. Don’t stray from the mud paths. Step wrong and you’ll sink till your lungs burst.”
Korr gave him a sidelong look. “Spoken like a man who’s already tested it.”
“Tested and almost fucked for it,” Dane muttered, gripping his spear tighter.
They trudged deeper. The world grew quiet, muffled by the mist that rolled low and thick. No birds, no beasts, only the wet slap of their boots and the distant croak of something unseen. The deeper they went, the more the air clung heavy, like the swamp itself was holding its breath.
By midday they stopped on a stretch of higher ground, both of them panting. Korr leaned on his axe, sweat rolling down his scarred face. Dane dropped to a squat, raking his hair back, his grin gone, eyes dark with thought.
“You sure about this?” Dane asked, voice quieter than usual. “Skartha don’t play fair. She’ll take whatever piece of us she fancies. And that’s if she don’t just chew us up and spit us in the muck.”
Korr looked out into the mist, his jaw tight. “Aye. But better the hag than the silk-slut. At least this one’s bargainin’. The other one just takes.”
The swamp stretched endless before them, the air humming faint with rot. Somewhere in that fog lay Skartha’s lair, and with it — maybe — the only chance they had to take Leif back.
Korr spat, his eyes burning. “Come on. Hag or no hag, she’s our only road left.”
And with that, they pushed deeper into the mire, the mist swallowing their shapes as the swamp grew thicker and darker around them.
The swamp thickened the further they went, until the mist swallowed half the world and the air clung to their skin like slime. Roots jutted out of the muck like black ribs, twisted and gnarled, some forming archways above the narrow path. The stench was suffocating — rot, stagnant water, and something sharp beneath it, like herbs burned long ago but never gone.
“Gods above,” Dane muttered, his voice low, “I forgot how fuckin’ eerie this place was.”
Korr grunted. “Quiet.”
They trudged on until the ground rose in a sudden hump of stone and earth, half-sunk in the mire. Crooked trees grew around it, their branches woven together like black fingers, and in the middle of them, carved into the rock itself, was an opening.
Not a door. Not a cave. Something in between — a slit of black, jagged like a torn mouth, draped in ropes of moss and bones strung like charms. Skulls dangled from the roots, some human, some not, their empty sockets staring at the muck below. Charcoal runes were smeared across the stone, crooked lines that pulsed faintly, as if breathing.
Dane stopped dead, spear clutched tight, his grin gone completely. “Yeah. That’s her.”
Korr’s eyes narrowed. “How can you tell?”
“’Cause only she would live in a shithole like this,” Dane muttered. His voice cracked on a laugh that had no humor. “Welcome to Skartha’s lair. Home sweet fuckin’ home.”
They stepped closer, the air colder here, heavier. The moss ropes swayed though there was no wind, and the bones clicked together like teeth chattering. A crow — or what looked like a crow — croaked once from a branch, its feathers patchy, eyes white and film-clouded.
Korr studied the entrance, jaw tight. “She’s expectin’ us.”
Dane shot him a look. “How the fuck would she know?”
“She’s a hag,” Korr growled, his scar twitching. “They always know.”
The stone mouth yawned before them, blacker than the swamp mist, the stink of herbs, blood, and smoke wafting out. Inside, faint as a whisper, came the sound of dripping water and a low, endless hum.
Dane spat into the muck, rolling his shoulders like a man walking to his own hanging. “Well. No turnin’ back now.”
Korr stepped forward first, his voice steady. “Then we face her. And pray she gives us a way to fight the war-whore.”
Together they ducked into the black mouth of the lair, the swamp closing behind them like a curtain.
The tunnel spat them into a chamber carved straight into the belly of the swamp mound. It wasn’t big, but it felt endless, every inch of it cluttered with things no sane man would keep. Bones lay stacked like firewood, some gnawed hollow, some still stained with marrow. Skulls lined the walls in crooked rows — men, beasts, things with too many teeth. Charms dangled from the ceiling: feathers clotted with mud, shriveled fingers tied with twine, herbs long dead but still reeking sharp.
At the center, a cauldron big enough to drown a man bubbled with tar-thick liquid. It belched smoke that writhed across the ceiling like black snakes, filling the air with a stink of rot, blood, and bitter herbs. The whole chamber breathed foul, every breath burning their lungs.
And there, hunched by the cauldron, was Skartha.
She sat perched on a crooked three-legged stool, her frame too long and thin, as if her bones had grown but her flesh had forgotten to follow. Her hair spilled white and gray in a greasy tangle, hanging around her face like a veil. Skin sagged off her cheeks and arms like stretched leather, but her eyes — her eyes burned sickly green, bright as swamp fire, sharp as knives in the dark.
She didn’t look at them right away. Her long, claw-like fingers stirred the cauldron with a bone rod, the bubbling liquid hissing and spitting at her touch. Her lips moved, muttering words low and guttural, half in a tongue older than Frostmere’s stones.
The chamber pressed heavy, the sound of her muttering scraping across their skulls. Dane shifted uneasily, his spear clenched so tight his knuckles cracked. “Gods,” he muttered, voice thin. “She looks worse than I remember. Like death crawled outta the bog and forgot to lie down again.”
Korr’s hand shot out, clamping on his arm, scarred brow lowering. “Shut it,” he hissed.
Only then did Skartha still. The bone rod lifted from the cauldron, black ooze dripping from its tip. Slowly, too slowly, her head turned. Her eyes glowed brighter as they fixed on the two warriors — burning, knowing, cutting straight through flesh into marrow.
Her voice came thin but sharp, like reeds snapping in the wind. “I knew you’d come.”
Both men stiffened.
Korr stepped forward, shoulders square, his scar catching the cauldron’s glow. “You know who we are?”
The hag smiled, and it was worse than any snarl. Her mouth split wide, uneven teeth jagged and rotten, some filed sharp, some jutting loose. A mouth that had chewed more than meat.
“Two wolves,” she rasped, “but with teeth broken. Your pride gnawed raw. Your boy torn from your side.” Her tongue flicked over her cracked lips. “I smell his fear still clinging to you. Sweet.”
Dane bristled, voice low and rough. “Then you know why we’re here. Tell us how to kill her. Tell us how to get Leif back.”
Skartha threw her head back and laughed — a dry, rasping cackle that rattled the skulls on the walls, set the bone charms clattering against each other like teeth. The smoke above writhed in rhythm, curling down like it wanted to touch their skin.
“Kill her?” she crooned when the laughter died, voice mocking and sweet as rot. “Foolish, foolish men. No man kills the Daughter of Velithra. No cock, no muscle, no proud roar can cut the leash she lays.”
Korr’s eyes narrowed, his scar twitching. “Then what’s the way?”
The hag leaned forward, eyes flaring brighter, her voice dropping low, heavy, intimate. “Then you stop being men.”
The words hit like a hammer. The cauldron’s bubbling filled the silence, thick and foul, the chamber itself seeming to lean in to listen.
Dane blinked, stunned, then snarled. “What the fuck does that mean?”
Skartha’s smile widened, splitting her face till it nearly reached her ears. Her voice rose into a sing-song lilt, half-mocking, half-ecstatic. “Velithra’s leash latches onto manhood — stiff muscle, swollen cock, roaring pride. Hard things are easy things. They snap. They bind. They break.” She slammed the bone rod into the cauldron, the black liquid hissing. “But women — ah, women flow. They yield, they ripple, they endure. You can’t seize water, you can’t leash wind, you can’t break what bends.”
Dane spat into the muck at his boots. “You’re sayin’ we just… cut our balls off and call it done? You mad hag.”
Skartha’s cackle rang again, shaking the chamber. “Not cut. Trade. Flesh for flesh. Pride for surrender. You want to face Velithra’s spawn? You want to free your boy from her leash? Then you’ll beg the war-goddess’s rival to strip you bare. Trade your cock for a cunt. Your scars for curves. Your roar for moans. You’ll stand not as men, but as Amazons — the only ones the leash can’t touch.”
The smoke curled lower, caressing their faces, the stink of blood and rot thick in their lungs. Korr’s jaw tightened, his scarred face unreadable, his eyes burning. Dane’s lip curled, caught between rage, disbelief, and a flicker of something uglier: fear.
Skartha leaned closer, eyes burning hotter, voice a hiss. “There is no other path. Stay men, and you’ll crawl drooling at her feet like every cock-drunk fool in Frostmere. Become women, and you might yet stand. Choose.”
The cauldron hissed, the smoke coiled, and the hag’s smile gleamed with hunger as she waited for their answer.
The tunnel spat them into a chamber carved straight into the belly of the swamp mound. It wasn’t big, but it felt endless, every inch of it cluttered with things no sane man would keep. Bones lay stacked like firewood, some gnawed hollow, some still stained with marrow. Skulls lined the walls in crooked rows — men, beasts, things with too many teeth. Charms dangled from the ceiling: feathers clotted with mud, shriveled fingers tied with twine, herbs long dead but still reeking sharp.
At the center, a cauldron big enough to drown a man bubbled with tar-thick liquid. It belched smoke that writhed across the ceiling like black snakes, filling the air with a stink of rot, blood, and bitter herbs. The whole chamber breathed foul, every breath burning their lungs.
And there, hunched by the cauldron, was Skartha.
She sat perched on a crooked three-legged stool, her frame too long and thin, as if her bones had grown but her flesh had forgotten to follow. Her hair spilled white and gray in a greasy tangle, hanging around her face like a veil. Skin sagged off her cheeks and arms like stretched leather, but her eyes — her eyes burned sickly green, bright as swamp fire, sharp as knives in the dark.
She didn’t look at them right away. Her long, claw-like fingers stirred the cauldron with a bone rod, the bubbling liquid hissing and spitting at her touch. Her lips moved, muttering words low and guttural, half in a tongue older than Frostmere’s stones.
The chamber pressed heavy, the sound of her muttering scraping across their skulls. Dane shifted uneasily, his spear clenched so tight his knuckles cracked. “Gods,” he muttered, voice thin. “She looks worse than I remember. Like death crawled outta the bog and forgot to lie down again.”
Korr’s hand shot out, clamping on his arm, scarred brow lowering. “Shut it,” he hissed.
Only then did Skartha still. The bone rod lifted from the cauldron, black ooze dripping from its tip. Slowly, too slowly, her head turned. Her eyes glowed brighter as they fixed on the two warriors — burning, knowing, cutting straight through flesh into marrow.
Her voice came thin but sharp, like reeds snapping in the wind. “I knew you’d come.”
Both men stiffened.
Korr stepped forward, shoulders square, his scar catching the cauldron’s glow. “You know who we are?”
The hag smiled, and it was worse than any snarl. Her mouth split wide, uneven teeth jagged and rotten, some filed sharp, some jutting loose. A mouth that had chewed more than meat.
“Two wolves,” she rasped, “but with teeth broken. Your pride gnawed raw. Your boy torn from your side.” Her tongue flicked over her cracked lips. “I smell his fear still clinging to you. Sweet.”
Dane bristled, voice low and rough. “Then you know why we’re here. Tell us how to kill her. Tell us how to get Leif back.”
Skartha threw her head back and laughed — a dry, rasping cackle that rattled the skulls on the walls, set the bone charms clattering against each other like teeth. The smoke above writhed in rhythm, curling down like it wanted to touch their skin.
“Kill her?” she crooned when the laughter died, voice mocking and sweet as rot. “Foolish, foolish men. No man kills the Daughter of Velithra. No cock, no muscle, no proud roar can cut the leash she lays.”
Korr’s eyes narrowed, his scar twitching. “Then what’s the way?”
The hag leaned forward, eyes flaring brighter, her voice dropping low, heavy, intimate. “Then you stop being men.”
The words hit like a hammer. The cauldron’s bubbling filled the silence, thick and foul, the chamber itself seeming to lean in to listen.
Dane blinked, stunned, then snarled. “What the fuck does that mean?”
Skartha’s smile widened, splitting her face till it nearly reached her ears. Her voice rose into a sing-song lilt, half-mocking, half-ecstatic. “Velithra’s leash latches onto manhood — stiff muscle, swollen cock, roaring pride. Hard things are easy things. They snap. They bind. They break.” She slammed the bone rod into the cauldron, the black liquid hissing. “But women — ah, women flow. They yield, they ripple, they endure. You can’t seize water, you can’t leash wind, you can’t break what bends.”
Dane spat into the muck at his boots. “You’re sayin’ we just… cut our balls off and call it done? You mad hag.”
Skartha’s cackle rang again, shaking the chamber. “Not cut. Trade. Flesh for flesh. Pride for surrender. You want to face Velithra’s spawn? You want to free your boy from her leash? Then you’ll beg the war-goddess’s rival to strip you bare. Trade your cock for a cunt. Your scars for curves. Your roar for moans. You’ll stand not as men, but as Amazons — the only ones the leash can’t touch.”
The smoke curled lower, caressing their faces, the stink of blood and rot thick in their lungs. Korr’s jaw tightened, his scarred face unreadable, his eyes burning. Dane’s lip curled, caught between rage, disbelief, and a flicker of something uglier: fear.
Skartha leaned closer, eyes burning hotter, voice a hiss. “There is no other path. Stay men, and you’ll crawl drooling at her feet like every cock-drunk fool in Frostmere. Become women, and you might yet stand. Choose.”
The cauldron hissed, the smoke coiled, and the hag’s smile gleamed with hunger as she waited for their answer.
To be continued...
