You three shall make a dramatic stand (and failing that, a dramatic laying down and taking it)

"Marzena, tell the Captain to stay his hand!" you say authoritatively, walking over towards where the callow, over-hasty youth was being manhandled by his enchanted leader. Truly, it doesn't speak well to Cadh's character that he was willing to kill one of his own brotherhood of warriors, even after the lad had taken a grave risk in the hope of freeing Cadh himself... just in the hope that it would save his own skin. From what you can see, Marzena wasn't exercising any kind of direct control over Cadh's actions or controlling him like a puppet - she simply had the power to kill him at a whim. A knife of witchcraft aimed at his throat. A knife... say, that gives you an idea.

Marzena waves two fingers casually at Cadh, and the burly man eases up just enough for Ross to breathe again. You had plenty of reason to be irate with the young savage, but perhaps there was a bit of natural witchcraft in sex - some fundamental part of your body instinctively rebelled against the thought of the man you had just mated with being killed. And besides - him still being alive gives you the opportunity to flash Ross an arrogant look, an opportunity you take eagerly.

Walking out behind him, you go to where he and Cadh had been standing before the latter manhandled him over. Sue enough, there was a small steel dagger - not one that had originally belonged to Ross, but looted from one of Aeson's better-equipped mercenaries - dropped in the muddy grass. You pick it up and test the heft in your hand. It's light enough that even you can swing and thrust with it handily. You had no training (it was considered very dishonorable - by the Undrek definition of honor - for a noblewoman to fight... ironically, to a much greater degree than in the otherwise more patriarchal neighbors of Undrek)... but then again, Aeson said that didn't really matter. "Those who haven't been in a battle often assume weapons are a great deal harder to use than they actually are. If you see a novice militiaman fumbling around with his spear or slashing at the air with his knife, it's likelier that he's got his eyes squeezed shut out of fear of what his weapon might do if he had the will to use it, than that he can't comprehend the rather simple mechanics of 'pointy end goes in the victim'."

In any case, given his circumstances, you had to expect Ross would take it seriously. You lean close to him and hold the long, thin blade right up close where he can see it. With Cadh still holding him in a headlock, he doesn't dare to flinch away, though he does close his eyes and grimace.

"Well, you got what you wanted, Ross." you say in your best throaty, arrogant voice. "You got to fuck a nubile countess. Weren't you saying earlier that it was what you wanted more than anything you could ever remember?"

"Oooh, oooh, this is going to be juicy!" Marzena says with a giggle. "C'mon, Hannah - pull up a chair!" Hannah looked merely confused by this request, bringing a hand up to her mouth and fretting in concern. "Um... I'm sorry, Great Sorceress, I don't know that spell. I don't know if there is such a spell. Permanently creating physical objects-"

"It was a figure of speech!" Marzena suddenly sat down cross-legged, no longer caring about keeping her blue dress remotely clean. "I thought you grew up in a tavern, girl! Pfft... I mean have a seat and watch Countess Zoe unman this overconfident pup. Figuratively, literally... she did pick up that blade, after all!... It'll be fun to watch regardless."

Ross has at last managed to work his mouth around the strip of cloth Cadh had tied around his jaw and spits it out of the way. "You demon whore!" he croaks through gritted teeth, spitting at Marzena... but missing and getting it on the hem of your (now thoroughly ruined) dress, instead. That makes him blanch and freeze up in horror as he looks back at you. It's a struggle not to respond with an evil giggle.

A struggle which you fail. But there is something quite mirthless in your tittering as you point the blade closer to his nose. Cadh lets out a frustrated sigh but obediently stays where he is, keeping control over Ross's movements.

"You think Marzena was guilty of some treachery? Well what about you, you dishonorable dog? You used your position of power to manhandle me, and threatened me, and then made me sit on your filthy cock. And even that wasn't enough," you lean forward, putting your hand on one of his cheeks, "because you didn't listen to a word that I said, and even though I warned you AGAIN and AGAIN to let me go and pull out before it was... 'time'," your cheeks blush a bit - this is a bit more ribald and direct a discussion of such things than even YOU are accustomed to, after all. "...you swung me against a tree like a sack of potatoes and released all of your seed as deep inside me as you could."

Even a practiced eye like yours couldn't make out all of the complex emotions flitting over Ross's features but you were pretty sure that fear was foremost among them. Sighing and relaxing your glower into a weary smirk, you lower the blade and lean back. "And you're lucky, so very lucky, that you did, Ross. You simple, horny stable-boy playing at war... BECAUSE you acted like such a brute, holding me in place roughly until your cock was finished filling me up completely, I have a good reason to let you live, for now. You're still completely in my power, after all - and your whole gang of rowdies will soon be bowing down, kissing my noble foot, and serving my agenda."

"Eeeee!" you hear Hannah squeal, and looking over, you see Marzena has sidled up next to her on the grass and stuck one of her hands down between the other witch's legs, slithering up between her thighs. "S-sorceress! Stop th-!"

Marzena just laughs like the hyena she is once more, and flashes you a smile. "Look, look! Hannah got so excited by your story she started sneaking her fingertips down to the honey hole! Thought I wouldn't notice, did you? If you'd wanted me to give you Ross, all you had to do was ask, silly girl!"

"Ahem!" you say to them sharply, staring a dagger at Marzena (not that she ever took your anger with her seriously - and, to be fair, she was already technically a sex **** under your ownership who had to walk around wearing manacles - what more could you really do to her, short of putting her to the torch like the typical mob of villagers would demand?)

"Like I was saying, Ross, your piggish nature means I have to actually care about what happens to you now. After all, if..." your voice cracks a little and your cheeks redden far beyond what you had hoped, and in spite of yourself you break eye contact with him and look down, "...if I'm going to end up carrying a bastard child of yours around for the next few seasons, I'll be expecting you to help me deal with the difficulties. If - and this is assuming the worst, you understand! - it turns out to be a girl, I may end up having to put you up as a consort in my manor. A better fate than you could hope for on your own merits, and so very, very much more than you deserve."

You let him think about that for a moment - he is clearly vexed and overwhelmed by conflicting emotions. "But, if you try and cross me AGAIN, I *will* kill you without a second thought. Not Cadh, not Marzena with her magic... me. So, you are going to be staying very close to me throughout the rest of the journey. If anyone asks, just tell them the truth and say that I'm your lover now, and that you have... hah... claimed me. When you get your sword back, you'll tie a length of twine around it to keep it in the scabbard - and your... other sword is going to be staying in its scabbard, too. If you ever step more than 5 paces away from me, even if it's to take a piss, I'll plant this dagger in your back. And I shall get away with it, too - Cadh would make a show of having to tie me up or punish me, but he would say I'm too valuable to truly punish. Nod if you understand all this?"

Wincing, Ross jerks his head up and down, and so you let him go. You turn around, secreting the dagger under your dress, so that he can't see exactly where you're keeping it.

"Alright," you say, turning back to the witches and now speaking fearlessly of Ross eavesdropping - "After Marzena's show, yes, the level of lust is going to be uncontrollable. The one defense that we can still count upon for our virtue and that of the witches... such as it is... is the still-plentiful stocks of whiskey the Gaelicans brought. Hannah, I know that draughts and potions are your specialty... Cadh is going to help you spike the drinks once camp is made. Not seriously, mind you - just enough to put them to sleep early. You can manage that, yes Hannah? After all... if what was discussed just now was resorted to, it'd be, what, 60 on one? I don't think even Marzena would survive that."

The curvaceous ingenue nodded and even gave a faint smile, looking relieved by your decision. Marzena looked a bit disappointed.

"That said," you continue, "it's not likely to get all of them, and the ones who don't drink enough to be affected will need to be... dealt with... while the stuff has enough time to work. So, it seems to me that the only fair thing to do is to go visit the other witches, and all of us together to draw straws for who is going to volunteer. I'd say three or four ought to be the absolute most that's needed. Maybe two in a pinch. Marzena, you've witnessed one or two orgies - is that enough women for a dozen or so men to have their fill?"

Hannah suddenly looks less enthusiastic, giving a nervous little gulp and blushing, but she doesn't truly protest. Marzena grins, seeming to approve of your compromise, and gives you an 'ok' symbol with her right hand.

"Well... Let's catch up with them now, so that the ones who're chosen have the time to prepare themselves..." you say, your pulse racing... you just barely manage to keep your composure.

Putting yourself on the line like this - even after the incident with Ross - makes you quite nervous. What the rest of your witch friends don't know, however, is that there is more than one kind of 'magic'. You don't have a drop of sorcerous talent. But - having an important name and title, that was a kind of magic too, wasn't it? Not only that, but Aeson had taught you a few parlor tricks that relied on optical illusion, and which would go right under the radar of these genuine sorceresses. You could easily rig the game in your favor... or someone else's disfavor (oh, how Hannah's troublesome friend was lucky she wasn't among those whose fate you got to decide). But you could also use such a talent altruistically... reserving the punishment for yourself and Marzena alone, perhaps...