Meanwhile, somewhere else...

Several miles away from the tower and Kazex, a bound Helga, tied to a chair by her ankles and her wrists, glared at the man of beady eyes in front of her with palpable hatred. Blood ran freely down her face from a wound in her scalp when he'd knocked her out before.

"Marius, you damn bastard! You won't get away with this!" she yelled, thrashing against her bindings in a useless effort to free herself.

"Silence, whore!" Marius said with a bark, raising a hand and striking her across the face.

As Helga cried out in pain, the harsh slap bounced off from the dark walls of rock that formed the damp cellar they were in. The only answer to the echoing sound was the slight dripping of the water drops falling from the ceiling.

The man then smiled. There was a cunning glint in his eyes, hidden under the glee of his smile. "I've got to say, I thought this would be much harder. I had this whole plan made up just to lure you out, you know... but imagine my surprise when you went to the market without that bothersome filthy goblin following you around! In the end, I just had to spin a tall tale to get you in the house. Who would've thought the scary witch of these lands would fall so easily for this kind of ploy," he said with an amused laugh, which only served to inflame further Helga's ire.

"You rat-faced worm..." she hissed, glaring daggers at the man.

Restrained as she was, the witch could only regret her own stupidity for agreeing to his request so easily when he told her he needed her help with some strange sickness that was ailing his son. She'd told him she didn't want to be disturbed on market day at first, but the man had begged and pleaded profusely and Helga had relented in the end because she was honestly a bleeding heart sometimes and some townsfolk were already staring and whispering - the kind of attention she didn't want or need.

And so they went to his house, with Helga fully expecting to diagnose some silly passing illness that the peasants constantly fell prey to... only to get hit on the back of the head when she wasn't paying attention after Marius ushered her in first before him. The hit was so strong that she blacked off for a few moments and even after she regained consciousness, she could only hear a shrill ringing in her ears as something throbbed painfully in her skull.

And of course, it wasn't long before half her face was painted red with her blood, thanks to having a wound on her scalp from the hit.

"You will pay for this, you ignorant wretch! Once I get free, I will make your **** as painful and slow as possible as I turn your innards inside out and set your brain on fire whilst you still live; I will raze all your lands so that nothing will grow on it ever again! I'll kill all your family and I will make you watch so you realize everything you've ever accomplished in your live will be burnt down to mere ashes," the redhead threatened with a dark look. Her features had twisted into something ugly, distorted by the poisonous hatred currently coursing through her veins; Helga was so livid that her voice even quavered from the sheer rage the redhead was feeling in that moment.

As she spoke, the fingers of her right hand started tracing subtle patterns in the air, channeling her magic into one of the many spells woven into the fabric of existence that were known only to those who had the gift and studied the arcane arts... but the witch wasn't subtle enough and Marius quickly brought down a thick iron rod upon her hand. A sharp crack resonated around them, a sign that he'd broken at least something in her hand. Helga screamed - her whole hand felt on fire and just like that, her concentration was broken.

"Fancy threats for a cunt tied to a chair, witch. You're welcome to try that again, but I think the result will be the same every time. In fact, I believe you don't need your legs, bound as you are," he mentioned, speaking as if he was simply discussing the weather before bringing the iron rod down with such **** that even if he didn't break anything, the redhead still felt like he had done so.

Helga screamed, a raw cry of pain that resonated around the cellar but the only one who could have helped her looked on with a satisfied look.

"Still, let it not be said that I'm an unkind host! I'll spare you more punishment with this," Marius explained with a huff before lifting something for Helga to see through the tears of pain in her eyes.

"A cup... You're going to **** me?" she managed to groan with gritted teeth.

"Exactly! What else did you think I showed an interest in your library for? Magic is reserved for those uptight fools and whores like you lucky enough to be born with it apparently, but potions... now those, anyone can brew if they're careful enough. It was honestly child's play playing up your expectations of me being a poor, dirt-rotten peasant, aye, 'cause why woul' I knaow how to read init?" he questioned, mockingly adopting a very pronounced accent at the end.

Helga simply glared. The fact that he was completely right only served to incense her further, to the point that if she tried to talk, only a spewing mess of rage and contempt would spill out of her mouth.

A few weeks before she... collared Kazex, Marius had come with a request after she helped his son to get rid of the pox. He had asked to be allowed to read the books of her library and hearing such request, she'd laughed, of course, because what could be expected of mere peasants? Regardless, she'd allowed it, if only for her own amusement, and Marius had come regularly to read her books. It didn't matter whether they were magical tomes or simply potion-brewing ones, his interest extended to both and Helga felt confident he was just interested in them and too stupid to actually apply (or even understand) anything he read in them.

Now, she could only curse her own foolishness for trusting the man so easily, for not making sure to check everything he read. She'd played right into his hand without even knowing it.

Eyeing warily the cup, the redhead wanted to know what was in it, but she didn't want to give the smug prick in front of her the satisfaction of listening to his own voice any more than he absolutely had to... and besides, in the situation she found herself in, Helga was pretty sure she already knew which potion Marius had brewed.

"Mirbhiris' Bane! Half of this cup will suppress all your fancy magic for a few hours - drinking all of it... why, it might leave you without it for quite a long_ _time, my dear witch," Marius cackled with glee, confirming Helga's worst fears.

But, of course, that was not all the potion did, Helga considered with bitterness; it also induced a deep state of inactive lethargy. For any mage, their magic was such a fundamental part of themselves that being cut off from it for a meaningful period of time in such forceful manner meant being shocked into a deeply unpleasant state where the mind was able to receive outside stimuli but unable to react to them as the body tried to cope with the loss of magic.

Whatever Marius intended to do to her, she'd be able to see, hear and feel it, knowing it was happening to her, but it would be almost as if she were experiencing it through the body of someone else - and said body would not be able to react at all to anything he did to her.

The redhead witch could feel a shiver run down her spine as the gravity of her situation fully sunk in.

Marius smiled and Helga couldn't help but fixate her eyes on the crooked teeth of the man, badly aligned and slightly yellowish. "I see you finally understand the situation you're in. Unfortunately for you, it's too late."

However, Helga couldn't take it anymore. "What do you want from me, you bastard?!" she snapped.

"I'm sure you'd like to know that very much, but don't worry - we'll get to that eventually, once you're more... pliable. Now drink!" he ordered as he brought the cup to her lips.

The woman simply spat in his face, but whatever immediate satisfaction she got out of it quickly evaporated when he slowly wiped the spit away and gave her a murderous look.

"You shouldn't have done that, whore... you really shouldn't," he growled. "Open wide that mouth you use to suck cocks, bitch - or do you want me to feed the potion directly to your throat after I break open that pretty little mouth of yours?!" he shouted, raising his iron rod and Helga flinched. She could still feel the burning pain of her hand and the throbbing of her legs; she didn't want to be brutalized once more.

"I'll drink," she finally allowed with a dark look in her eyes. She would remember this.

"Then drink, whore!" he replied with a snarl, shoving the cup onto her face again.

Hesitantly, the redhead opened her mouth, already dreading her fate, but Marius had run out of patience and taking advantage of the small opening, he **** the rim of the cup inside her mouth and tipped it over, dumping its contents into her mouth. This **** a wide-eyed Helga to swallow everything unless she wanted to **** on the potion.

It wasn't long until the effects of the potion started affecting her, inducing several mild seizures that were constrained by the ropes tied around her ankles and wrists. Her eyes quickly dulled, losing the intelligence that focused them as they wandered lazily all over the cellar for a moment until they stopped at a random point, staring off into the distance. Her mouth parted, hanging slightly open as the witch lost her focus on keeping her jaw closed and her whole body slumped into her chair when her limbs lost the stiffness her rage provided.

"Good," Marius growled, closely following the change in Helga's demeanor. "Perhaps you'll be more amenable to talk once I give you the antidote - which will be a few more days than I thought at first after that stunt of yours. But before I leave, I think sluts like you don't deserve to wear any clothing..." he trailed off, reaching for the knife on his belt.

Helga didn't react at all as the man proceeded to make several cuts into her dress... and then roughly tore it away from her, exposing her voluptuous body to the world.

"Well, well, what have we here; no underclothes, eh? Well, what can one expect from the sluts that are witches? Do you enjoy it, the feeling of being naked under your fancy dresses as you walk around the towns, huh? Do you like the thought of wearing nothing underneath them as you talk to people? I bet you're dripping wet in the cunt whenever you leave your tower, you depraved whore," Marius jeered as he took in the generous curves of Helga's body.

"Seeing this, I think I must show you my appreciation. Even a tart can be used when there are no respectable women around," he declared before he undid the laces of his breeches and revealed his thick cock to an unresponsive Helga. "I'm sure this is what you really wanted when you go around the nearby towns like a cheap woman: a man who saw you for what you really are and made sure to show you," he growled, perfectly aware that Helga could hear every word of what he said. "I wonder - how many men must have fucked you in back-alleys, you cheap witch whore?"

Approaching the naked and bound Helga, Marius wasted to time in burying his cock into the inviting mouth of the witch, already open from the ****. Helga could not move or react to anything, but Marius didn't care. Roughly grabbing Helga by the back of her head, the man started thrusting in and out as fast as he could inside the loose but warm embrace of her mouth. It was a mockery of the sexual act, a violation of Helga as a human being. Marius' pumping had no consideration for the bound woman, it was merely an action to get him to come as fast as possible.

In that moment, Marius was using Helga as a mere object to relieve his lust all the while making sure Helga understood exactly what he was doing. "This is your true purpose, whore. You're nothing more than a bitch made for fucking and the sooner you realize this, the better."

The villager started furiously pumping into her mouth, his stiff dick easily reaching the back of her throat whenever he buried her face to the hilt of his prick. Soon, he started groaning, feeling his orgasm fast approaching.

"Here it comes, you whore!" the man exclaimed as he increased his vigorous pace even more for a few moments before he hastily pulled out of Helga's mouth. Marius exploded with a veritable eruption of cum all over Helga's face, though a few strands fell over her hair; most of his fat, thick ropes of cum landed on her face however, thoroughly covering it to the point Helga looked to have a considerable layer of it splattered over her features.

Panting from exhaustion, the man stepped back with a smirk on his face, impressed by his handiwork. Pulling up his breeches with a chuckle, he made for the door to leave the cellar before he stopped, glancing at the sweaty, cum-dripping face of Helga, who was still out of it.

"I hope you enjoyed my first present for you, bitch. Trust me, it will only get worse for you - but who knows? Perhaps you'll even end up enjoying this! I hear you witches are all depraved whores sick in the head anyway, fucking animals and breeding with them in those sick experiments of yours. Well, I'm no horse, but I'm sure I'll be able to please you before we get to what I really want from you," he said with a mocking laugh as he patted the cock under his breeches.

And with that, the man left the cellar. Helga, bound and ****, was unable to react even in the slightest of ways and could only suffer in silence. with the flickering flame from the oil lamp overhead the only light to stave off the darkness around her.

In her mind, Helga felt numb and deadened.

Notes: Well, that escalated quickly! Talanah was supposed to get some focus after Zaria, but there was a change of plans since I couldn't fit things without them feeling awkwardly paced with this chapter, which is why I decided to simply wait to do that later.

I don't know if anyone will have noticed before this, but Marius was name-dropped in the Hosting the townsfolk chapter. In any case, his plan will be revealed later but suffice to say, his ultimate goal isn't to turn Helga into a sex **** or anything like that despite what his words here may imply. Making use of her body is both disgusting and arousing to him, but at most it's a side benefit.

I wanted to make the character be really complex, but then I realized that he was simply the first real villain of this storyline and one that came from a town in the back end of nowhere: though he thinks otherwise, Marius is just small fry with pitifully low-rate goals. I can just use him as a starter antagonist and worry about writing the future villains much better.