Sven was taking the children to town with him. He was planning on getting one of the new religions priests. They didn't seem a bad bunch, this new religion, but they couldn't help, of that she was certain of. They would probably come to put a blessing on her, to pray and of course to tell her to have faith in their new ways. Death would claim her none the less. It was only a choice of deaths.
She didn't want to die the way she was going now. Every day weaker, less able to do things, less able to think, more pain. Sven would blame himself, the children would have bad memories and these new priests would simply say it was God's will. Well maybe it was, but people had choices. While Sven went to town with the children she had try and do it the old way.
Sven kissed her check. "I'll bring the priests back with me Ilsa, it will be all right." Sven stood tall, strong and plain. His eyes as blue as his ancestors who had come to this land. His wheat colored hair, slightly lighter then the color of his beard. He was a good honest man and felt the world had to make sense somehow. There had to be a reason for all that occurred and someway to control the forces of nature. As a farmer he had brought fourth bounty from land thought waste. He wasn't about to let some unknown malady claim Ilsa from him. He wasn't about to give up, and he wasn't about to give Ilsa over to some Dark creature to feast upon if, and when he could not heal her. The new religion promised him miracles and control. He clung to the promises of the new religion.
He smiled and stroked her long raven black hair. She smiled back at him, kissing his lips. He wanted to believe that the new religion could cure her. He wanted to believe she would be well again. He wanted to think they would go back to how it was before what ever it was, had started happening to her. She'd heard him claim it might be a curse or elf shot that had done this to her. One day she had simply started to become weak, to have dizzy spells and the pains. These things happen the old healer woman had told them. "She's dying" and she had put her hands up, as an expression of puzzlement as to why it might be happening.
Sven hadn't taken that well. The healer had recommended the Dark Ones. Sven knew if they couldn't heal, they might claim her life. They could cure, could take pain away, but also claimed the lives of so many who were dying. They were like the wolf. He feared they would claim Ilsa. He'd heard they consumed men and women, cooking them and eating them alive. Devils, claimed the priests of this new religion. If not devils, then little better then wolves in human form. Did these people give their elderly, their weak and dying to wolves to consume?
Ilsa remembered a time when the people had welcomed the wolves as allies and friends. Her grandmother always had saved part of any slaughtered lamb or cattle for the wolves. "Their share, in memory of a time when they were our brothers and sisters" she had said. Now the people had started taking dogs. Wolves enslaved, and it was shame upon the people's honor. Now they chased their brothers and sisters the wolves away, remembering no debts to them. Would this new religion have them chase away the dark ones as well? What about their opposites of light? Or would they to be made slaves, harnessed to this new belief?
She smiled and kissed him, kissed their son and daughter. She wished she wasn't dying. Their son had just turned thirteen, their daughter was only eleven. She'd never see them married, never bounce grandkids on her knee. As the Old healer had said though, "sometimes these things happen."
She waited as Sven left with the children for town. She preferred the old ways, they were best. This way Sven wouldn't blame himself as she slipped away before his eyes. This way the children and he could have their good memories of her. This way she too would not suffer. The priests of the new religion could claim it was the Dark Ones who had taken her or seduced her. They'd tell Sven that she'd none the less find her way to heaven. The Dark Ones would only want her flesh, not her soul.
Sven and the children were out of site now. She forced herself from the chair, using it to raise to her feet. She almost fell as she took her father's old walking cane. He'd told her humans were like an old riddle he heard once. Crawling on all fours in the beginning, running on two legs when young and strong and on two legs and a cane in the twilight years of their life.
She used the cane to slowly make it to the door. Her heart was beating fast, her breathing hard. Her heavy breasts bounced loose in her dress. She hadn't bound them as she generally did to work in the fields with her husband. She'd been to weak to do much of anything as of late. She felt a burden on Sven and the children. Yes they cared for her without complaint, but she could see the sorrow in their faces. Her suffering was becoming theirs.
It was only ten feet to the door. How was she ever going to make it out, then past the farm? How long, how far did she have to go to give herself to the Dark Ones? Stories said that like wolves and other predators they could sense you when you called to them. That they could sense your pain, your need, your coming death and would take you away to consume you.
She managed to open the rough hewn wood door. She started to walk outside, leaning heavily on the cane for support. She stopped every now and then to rest. It would take Sven and the children on horseback two hours to reach town. The priests would leave with him shortly after. Probably four and a half hours would see them back for her. She had to be gone by then.
She managed to make it to the end of the farm. It was almost midday. That meant Sven and the children would be an hour from town. It had taken her an hour to walk what as a child would have been minutes. Determined to make it far enough away to offer herself, she started once more to walk. It was even harder now. She was going up a hill. Only when she made it to the top did she realize this was the very hill she and Sven had looked down upon to see the land they had earned. It had been a warm spring's day and wild flowers had crowned the hill.
So many years ago when she and Sven had claimed this land as theirs, the memories came to her fresh. "This is our land now Ilsa." He'd smiled proudly at what would be their farm. They had made love on this very hill, an affirmation of life.
It was summer now so many years since. The smell of grass mixed with the scent of crushed herbs as she stepped on plants buckling beneath her. The sound of flying insects, of bees going from flower to flower gave something to take her mind off the pain and difficulty walking.
She started down the hill's other side, finding going down harder in some ways then climbing up. Now she had to fight gravity or fall and tumble down the hill. How much farther would she have to go? The sun was higher in the sky. Sven and the children had surely reached the town now. Shortly they would talk with the new religions priests. She had to be gone before they returned.
She made it to the bottom of the hill. She was outside their farmhold now. The land was becoming more wild, with fewer signs of cultivation. She continued till she found a large bolder. She sat down, perspiration dripping down between her breasts. She breathed heavily, her lungs gasping for breath, her legs aching with the stress of the journey. She wasn't able to go farther. She was to weak. They'd find her here and take her home and no one would be the better for it.
A shadow fell over her, she looked up. A tall man in old style clothing stood over her.
"Don't cry pretty lady." He bent down putting his hand to her face in a supporting gesture and smiled.
As he touched her she felt something warm enter into her skin. The pain went away, she felt better, breathing was easier and her heart beat more evenly. She smiled back at him in gratitude.
"It's all right, you don't have to be ashamed. It's not your fault."
He leaned further down and put his arms around her. She felt herself relaxing in his grip as he picked her up.
"Mortal flesh grows weak, but it's all right. I"ll help you and you'll help me." He cradled her body with one strong arm as if she were a small babe. She realized with such strength and the taking away of her pain, she had found a Dark One.
"I'll help you?" She felt so happy now that she wanted to help him.
"Why yes, you will be having dinner with my family tonight. Actually you will me my families dinner this evening." With his free hand he stroked her long tresses. "You won't mind that will you..?" he seemed to want her name.
"Ilsa" she told him contentedly.
"You won't mind if my family eats you for dinner tonight will you Ilsa?"
"No, I won't mind." She said in a relaxed and happy voice. She wouldn't either. She felt so much better now. There would be no more pain, and no more worry.
"Well just get some sleep while I carry you home Ilsa. My family will be so happy to meet and eat you tonight. Sad for you that your so young to be dying, but you'll make a tender bit of meat for eating."
He took both of his arms to hold her as she started to fall asleep.
Sven brought one of the priests of the new religion with him and the children. They blessed his daughter and son before leaving. Surely a way to protect them from plague and the ills that had attacked Ilsa. Now they would come and bless Ilsa and all would be well once more. They started up the hill that marked the end of the wilderness and the beginning of his families farmhold. At the bottom of that hill by a bolder he found a cane. It was Ilsa's father's cane. In the moist soil he found the tracks Elsa's shoes and the cane's round mark made as she had leaned on it while walking.
With anguish bursting from him, he left the priest and his children to run up the hill and the remainder of the way to their farmhold. He dreaded that he might find it empty of Ilsa. He flung open the door screaming her name.
Ilsa awoke to find herself being scrubbed and washed. Her hair removed, till her body was smooth, naked from head to toe. It had felt strangely good to her. She felt the man run his fingers over her body up and down.
"Smooth skin Ilsa." He fondled her breasts as she heard his stomach growling. He was hungry thinking of eating her. She'd felt water being flushed into her and out, then cleaned again. She felt fingers pushing things up her anus, then felt a hand with fingers slip up her vaginal hole to stuff her. She could smell onions, mushrooms and other things. That must be what was being stuffed up her anus into her intestines and stomach, as well as up her vagina into her womb.
She was tied to a shaft of metal while the man's wife explained to his two children who and what was for dinner.
"Won't she feel pain when she's cooked and we eat her?" A little girl younger then Ilsa's own asked.
"Your father's taken away her pain. She'll find it pleasurable when we roast and eat her. Touch her, and you can see what's wrong with her."
She felt young tiny fingers touch her and draw back.
"Poor woman." She heard the little boy say.
"But now her pain is over, she'll be happy, have pleasure and then be free to leave this world. We," said the woman, "Shall have a fine dinner tonight." The children clapped their hands together in joy.
Ilsa moaned in pleasure as she felt a soft brush baste her with butter. She felt the man stroke her entire body with the brush. The butter basted upon her, he dipped it into her vaginal hole, moving the brush in and out as she gasped in ecstasy. Basted with butter, her body gleamed as he started to sprinkle seasonings and herbs all over her. He put her over hot coals and turned her slowly to roast. The heat of the coals made her feel so good, so happy.
"That's it Ilsa, it's all right now. Just relax and enjoy yourself. You'll be dinner in a few hours. Then you'll be free of all the pain and be with those of your family that have gone before."
He hummed as he turned her, Ilsa found herself making noises of pleasure as she roasted slowly to a golden brown. Occasionally one of the children would help their father to season or baste her. Her large breasts had been bound so as not to flop around and be damaged. "Good eating", the man had said of her breasts. The rest of her would be good too.
At some point she thought she felt herself being poked by a prong. The woman looked at her hungrily. "You've cooked up wonderfully Ilsa. Now just enjoy dear, and we'll enjoy eating you as well. It will all be over and such a nice way to leave don't you think?"
Ilsa smiled at the woman, her tongue felt a bit funny, like the rest of her, it had cooked a bit.
Sven in horror and disbelief searched their small cottage again and again. The new religions priest came with his children and the horse. The priest came in and Sven in horror looked at him.
"They took her, she's gone and was far to weak to leave on her own. They took her to eat."
The priest told him it wasn't Sven's fault or Ilsa's. Creatures of darkness he said are ever seductive and crafty. He'd bless the farmhold to keep them out, and suggested a cross of iron at the door as further protection.
"But what about Ilsa?" He asked with denial that this could be happening.
"She will go to heaven. They may claim her flesh but not her soul. At least they will cause her no pain, though that is their strength over us. Pleasure can ever be a deadly weapon against both man and woman."
He suggested they baptize the children with due haste as a further defense against the old ways. In numb sorrow Sven agreed.
They laid Ilsa on a platter and said a prayer of thanks for the bounty they were about to eat. They also said a prayer for Ilsa herself, to find her way to the good lands in the after life. Ilsa thanked them. They smiled at her with fine teeth. She lay face up, her skin golden brown, her nipples darker, juices dripping from her body onto the platter. The scent of her cooked flesh blending with the scent of her still living body. She didn't have much longer to live, but they ate their flesh still lively. The man took his hunters due. As the man had taken Ilsa, female prey, he claimed his hunters right.
They moved the platter with Ilsa's legs spread wide for him. He leaned down as if to kiss Ilsa. She felt his lips on the outer lips of her vagina, his tongue moving over and up to her clit. He kissed then licked, sucked her womanly pearl. she gasped in sweet splendor as pleasure came in waves. He started to suck then nibble her clit, then the labia, moving back at the lips of her vagina and then back to her vaginal hole. When he had consumed her vagina he pronounced the feast a fine one and thanked Ilsa for being so tasty.
Ilsa felt as if she'd just had sex with the man somehow. She smiled and relaxed again as the family positioned her to dine. The children each started on her fingers, hands and arms. The man and woman starting on her toes, feet and legs. It felt so good. It was a nice way to die she thought. She hoped to see those who'd gone before her in the after life. She hoped somehow Sven would understand. This was the best way. She was of the old ways, the new religion couldn't understand this. She hoped one day Sven would.
Sven felt sorrow but also relief. The priests said Ilsa could not have fought against the Dark Ones. She was a good woman but undefended and weak. Her soul was safe and in heaven waiting they assured him. Perhaps God would make her an angel to watch over them. They would mourn her, and he would defend his children with the cross of iron and the prayers of this new religion. He would warn his son and daughter against the seductive danger of the Dark Ones.
They finished eating Ilsa, her skeleton gleaming white upon the platter. For dessert they broke open the bones and sucked out the marrow. The woman was at peace and free of her failing body. It hadn't been her fault anymore then it was the fault of a deer that grew weak and faltered. They had taken her pain away and freed her of the failing body. In exchange they had feasted well upon her. She had roasted up so splendidly, golden brown, juicy and succulent.
Her teeth would make nice beads, her hair fine embroidery thread.
All was as it should be, but they worried about this new religion that had no respect for the whole. No knowledge of the circle and balance. For the moment though, their bellies were filled with a fine meal. They went to bed happily, the flesh of Ilsa digesting well in their bellies.
The priest said prayers over Sven and the children. He warned the boy and girl against any seduction or apparent kindness of the children of darkness. Seek prayer instead he told them, and die without their aid. The children not comprehending fully, wanting to please their grieving father only nodded their heads blankly.
Ilsa unhindered went singing to her mother, father, family and friends who came to lead her to the new land.