The Dark Woods were so called mostly because of the threat they posed - in terms of their actual appearance and general vibe, the name was something of a misnomer. They were, if anything, the most bright and colourful region of the forest, more vivid and vibrant than the safer areas. The leaves and grass were the lushest shades of green, the streams full of the clearest water, which sparkled in the sunshine. Animals roamed freely through the forest, the tricksy tree spirits uninterested in causing them any harm.

Of course, this was all part of the danger, the largely sentient woods making themselves look as appealing as possible, to entice outsiders to stray into their inescapable clutches.

One particular clearing was especially calm, still and quiet, the only sounds a babbling brook in the distance, the only movement the swaying of branches in the gentle breeze and the fluttering of a butterfly amidst the leafy canopy above.

Minutes earlier, this serene scene had been disturbed, for the first time in many years, by a young woman in Hexbourne Academy uniform striding into the clearing. Her arms swung at her sides like a marching soldier, her feet cut and scraped from the twigs she’d trampled on her way there. Her shirt and skirt were each tucked up into themselves, her bouncing boobs and dangling dick fully on show. Her dim, dreamy smile belied her tearstained face. Her glassy eyes were fixed ahead, tunnelling in on what was directly in front of her, ignoring everything else.

Her path was simple and direct - a straight line, with little to no deviation, unswerving and unfaltering. That is, until she approached the opposite side of the clearing. Her eyes grew even more glazed than before, her steps slowing to a stop. She glanced around dazedly, as if she’d heard a voice but couldn’t figure out where it came from.

Her misty eyes fell on a sloped bank, upon which sat a large cedar tree, its roots spreading out over the grassy ground. To the entranced Emerald, the sight was irresistibly appealing. With nothing in her usually brimful brain to hold her back, she stumbled across the clearing as if being magnetically drawn, and sank down onto the bed of roots at the base of the tree, nestling gratefully into the cosy little nook.

As soon as she’d gotten comfortable - as comfortable as if she were lying in her own bed - the roots rose from the ground and began to wrap around her supine form, thick tendrils wrapping snugly around her torso and her limbs, binding her securely. Smaller, skinnier strands threaded through, covering her face in a web of roots, coiling around her neck like a choker, caressing her chest and stroking her nipples, fondling her butt, winding within the tight gap between her thighs, circling around the hilt of her cock and balls.

The enthralled, entangled Emerald giggled and gently squirmed at the feeling of the ticklish roots, but she quickly settled down in their comfy, unyielding embrace. She lay still for a little while, her eyelids drooping deeply, somewhere between spellbound trance and sleep.

Without warning, the roots began to drag her across the ground, towards their tree. She didn’t stir - she just laid there and let them reel her in. She hadn’t noticed the cavernous hole at the base of the trunk, but the sight of it getting closer and closer by the second didn’t trouble her, because nothing troubled her. She didn’t, couldn’t, resist as the roots pulled her, head first, into the gaping hole.

She lolled in the tendrils’ grasp like a ragdoll as they hauled her further and further inside, more and more of her vanishing from view. The last visible parts of her were her bare, bloody soles, which soon disappeared into darkness as well. The hole closed up a second later, as if it’d never been there in the first place.

Time was meaningless in the Dark Woods, particularly to those ensconced within its sentient trees, mentally reliving key moments from their lives as their captors sought out the perfect ways to torment them. It might have been a day, or a century, or an eternity, before anything else transpired in that clearing - its inhabitants would remain unchanged, untouched by the passing years. But in fact, it was less than two minutes before something happened. And it was something that had never happened before in this forbidden forest.

The cedar tree’s trunk abruptly split open, allowing bright beams of light to pour into the cavity within, illuminating Emerald, entwined in even more roots than before. Those that adorned her face had inched up her nostrils and into her earholes, and had even hooked over the edges of her lips and in the corners of her mouth. But as soon as the light from outside struck them, every single tendril began to withdraw, rapidly relinquishing her. Her eyes were open a fraction, still clouded and distant - but they were beginning to clear, the spark of awareness returning.

She yawned and stretched, struggling her way free of her bonds even as they loosened. Her eyes opened fully, taking in her surroundings. A sudden burst of energy filled her, and the same smile she’d worn in her mindspace spread across her face - confident, resolute, and utterly merciless.

One after the other, her hands grabbed the edges of the rupture in the tree trunk, and she hauled herself out of her brief prison and into the light.

***

Back in the safer area of the forest, the tranquility of Emerald and Freya’s favourite glade was also being disturbed - by three voices laughing raucously, over a fourth cheerily chanting, “I’m a blonde bimbo! I’m a dumb bitch! I’m a weird perv! I don’t deserve to be a witch!”

Livi wiped tears from her eyes as she watched the enthralled Freya plod around the perimeter, her arms outstretched before her, merrily repeating the mantras with a broad, blank smile. “Oh, this is so much fun,” she hooted.

“The zombie walk at last,” Georgie giggled. “It’s everything I hoped it’d be. She looks so fucking braindead...”

“Almost worth the wait,” Livi smirked, admiring her vanquished, enslaved nemesis. “Almost.”

Jemma nudged her. “Worth all the effort spying on those perverts and their fucked-up sex life? I know how hard that was for you...”

Livi’s smile faded slightly. She forced herself to laugh again as she replied, “Yeah, that was so gross. If I wasn’t astral-projected, I would’ve thrown up, like, eighty times. But yes, it was worth it. Got me all the information I needed to pretend to be her convincingly,” she said, gesturing at her enchanted rival, “and to control Emmie. I didn’t suffer in vain.”

She hoped she sounded convincing. There were some details she’d neglected to tell her henchwitches - chiefly, that surveilling Freya and Emerald wasn’t quite as arduous as she claimed.

It hadn’t taken long for her to figure out who was really responsible for her, Jemma and Georgie’s humiliation. She’d cast that enthralment hex at what looked like Emerald, who’d reflected it back at her. But logically it couldn’t be Emerald, because Emerald didn’t have the faintest spark of magic. So it had to be someone else, using a glamour to trick her and a rebounding ward to inflict her own spell on her. After Livi saw her former favourite target at the Halloween Ball, in the company of Freya Travers - that popular, pious defender of the school’s weaker witches - it wasn’t hard to figure out the false Emerald’s identity.

Livi had seethed for weeks, struggling to figure out how to strike back at the couple. She despised Freya almost as much for helping Emerald - for having the temerity to date Emerald - as she despised Emerald for her lack of magic. Who would want to be with someone like that? Freya was betraying her kind, turning her back on everything that made her special, to get involved with someone who wasn’t special in the slightest. She was making a joke of her own power - and, by extension, all witches’ power. Livi’s power.

Taking her two longtime lackeys into her confidence, Livi decided to retaliate as brutally and permanently as she could. It was Jemma who’d suggested sending them into the Dark Woods - and good Goddess, it was convenient having that close at hand, a murder weapon and hidden burial site rolled into one. To stand a chance of getting away with it, they had to time their attack to the day of their final departure from Hexbourne Academy, amidst the chaos and confusion of everyone leaving. Once the couple’s disappearance would be discovered, no-one would ever be able to find them - and even if they did suspect they were in the Dark Woods, there was no chance of anyone venturing in there in search of them. Not unless they wanted to be lost forever too.

But Livi didn’t just want to get rid of her enemies. She wanted to hurt them. She wanted to torture them. She wanted to see the suffering on Emerald’s face. She wanted to break her spirit, poison her love for Freya, make her believe the only person who could ever love her never really loved her at all... Yes, that would be fitting. She’d ram it home that Emerald didn’t deserve anything good in her life, anything that normal witches had, because she wasn’t normal. And she certainly wasn’t a witch. She’d put the little bitch through so much pain and heartbreak, she might even crawl into the Dark Woods herself.

So Livi practiced her astral projection until she was a master at it, and began to spy on her two most hated foes, to gather research on their behaviour and their interactions... And what she discovered shocked her to her core, but also gave her plan the framework it needed.

She’d hovered invisibly in the corner of the couples’ bedrooms, watching as Freya enslaved Emerald. Calling her property. Making her degrade herself and beg to be enthralled. Covering her with runes, to tie her mind in knots and deepen her submission. Pulling her to her with an invisible, irresistible leash. Rendering her limp and helpless with a single stroke of her sack. Stealing her name and speech, and her cock and balls. Masturbating in front of her, cuckolding her with her own fingers. Using her as her cocksleeve, her sex toy, her butt slut. Not allowing her to cum unless she was enchanted and oblivious, unable to take pleasure in her own orgasms...

It was all very important information. And Livi took delight in telling Jemma and Georgie what deviants their enemies were, how they delighted in this dom-sub dynamic they’d built.

But she didn’t tell them how, when her astral form flitted back to her body, she spent night after night jilling off to the sexcapades she’d just observed, rubbing herself to sleep to the mental image of Freya dominating Emerald.

And to the thought, the fantasy, the desire she fought to keep secret even from herself... to be in her position.

Emerald’s position. The role of the spellbound, submissive slavegirl, unable to even think of disobeying any command she was given.

Livi, Georgie and Jemma only ever discussed their public ordeal in the vaguest of terms, never speaking in specifics. This suited Livi perfectly well. The last thing she wanted to do was let on that she’d somehow taken pleasure in it. In being a bench, free to use, allowing her peers - and her victims - to sit on her as long as they liked, with her arse on show and her underwear on her head, chanting degrading mantras for all to hear...

“I’m a stupid slut. I’m free-use furniture. I’m beneath everybody. I’m a worthless object. I only matter when I’m being used. Please use me as your bench...”

Why the ever-loving fuck did she get off on that? Why, when she’d recovered and regained her wits in the school sanitorium the following evening, did she dash back to her dorm as quickly as possible to rub one out?

She’d written it off as a trauma response, a one-off reaction, her feelings over the public destruction of her dignity getting all twisted as she emerged from her magical trance. She’d tried to forget about it, and to ignore every needy twinge from her cunt whenever she thought about it. But seeing Emerald willingly putting herself at Freya’s mercy, giving up her free will to become a brainless, obedient object, woke up the thrill inside her. She’d watched, fascinated, recognising in Emerald something she’d felt in herself - an inexplicable craving to be conquered, to be subjugated, to have their free will taken from them by someone more powerful.

It... revolted her. Not only that she had this terrible weakness in the first place - but that she shared it with Emerald Kane? That she could have anything in common with that worm - let alone a lust for being overpowered and enthralled and dominated...? It made her hate the wretch more than ever before, even more than she did when she briefly thought Emerald was the culprit behind her fall from grace.

If she was honest with herself, she’d gathered enough intel to make her plan work months ago - but she kept on projecting herself into the couple’s chambers, a silent, unseen voyeur squirming and clutching at her ghostly body. She hated herself for it. She hated them for making her feel like this. She wanted them gone. She wanted the feeling gone. She had to be rid of this vulnerability. She had to cut it out and cast it away. And the best way to do that was to cast them away. To get rid of Emerald, the charmless weakling with whom she somehow shared this perverse kink, and Freya, the detestable traitor who indulged it.

When she was gone, maybe this fatal flaw of Livi’s would go with her.

She watched as Jemma and Georgie continued to torment the witlessly unperturbed Freya, making her say other self-deprecating phrases and perform more undignified acts - they had her doing star jumps, at the moment. By the look of them, they were just having fun embarrassing their enemy - the kind of pleasure they were feeling was simple, savage satisfaction, enjoying their revenge. Neither was turned on by what they were doing. If they were, they were excellent at hiding it.

Livi knew she could never reveal her own muddled, perverted feelings to them. They’d think of her as a deviant, just like Freya and Emerald. She’d lose the only two friends she had - the only people she trusted to help her with this revenge scheme.

“This is even better than Emmie,” Jemma chortled. “This stuck-up bitch, with all her power, who everyone luurved so damn much... Look what we’ve done to her! Look how fucking stupid she looks!”

“Freya, tell us you’re fucking stupid,” Georgie snickered.

“I’m fucking stupid!” the brainwashed blonde replied, crying out the last word in mid-air during another star jump. The sight was so absurd, Livi fell about laughing along with her friends. Freya automatically giggled along with them as she continued to spring up and down, though she was incapable of understanding what was so funny.

“Stop,” Livi called out a moment later, halting her enthralled exercise. Livi stomped over to her, staring her in the face. The vacant, uncomprehending look in her eyes sent a shiver through her.

“Tell me you’re too stupid to live,” she ordered harshly.

“I’m too stupid to live,” Freya chirped in response.

“Tell me you’re a stupid weird freak.”

“I’m a stupid weird freak.”

“Tell me you don’t deserve to be the top witch.”

“I don’t deserve to be the top witch.”

“Tell me I deserve to be the top witch.”

“You deserve to be the top witch.”

“Apologise for usurping me. Be sincere - show remorse. Even cry a little if you can. Beg for my forgiveness on your knees.”

Freya dropped to the grass and gazed up beseechingly at Livi, her face more emotive than it’d been since the moment Livi had portalled her over to the forest and hexed her mind away. “I’m so sorry for usurping you, Livi,” she whimpered, her eyes already tearing up. “I had no right. I don’t deserve to be the top witch, you do. I’d do anything to earn your forgiveness.”

Livi seized her by the hair. “Promise me you’ll disappear - you’ll go away and no-one’ll ever see you again.”

“I’ll go away,” Freya assured her, sniffling feebly. “No-one will ever see me again. I’ll disappear. I promise.”

Goddess, Livi had never felt more powerful than she had in this moment. Maybe this was the answer. Maybe she could get over this weird desire for submission by simply strengthening her dominant side. Maybe, whenever she felt any pangs for being controlled and compliant, she could find some weakling to subjugate, to humiliate... to enthral, even. She could take it out on them, punish them for daring to want defeat and degradation, just as she had punished Emmie. Just as she was punishing Freya...

Maybe she could send Jemma and Georgie away to dispose of the couple’s belongings now, and stay here with Freya for a little longer, continuing to take advantage of her before sending her to her doom. She kinda wanted to ride her face... or maybe project back into her brainless body, and then ride her own face...

Or all of the above. Why not? She was getting the last train of the day, hours from now. And Freya wasn’t going anywhere.

Livi turned to tell her friends to get lost - but the words died in her throat at the sight of them staring in shock at the opposite end of the clearing. Hurriedly spinning on her heel, she was just in time to see a beam of bright green light fire across the glade at Jemma, who frantically deflected it with a shower of scarlet sparks.

The beam had originated from a portal that had opened within the tree line, a silhouette visible on the other side. As the darkened figure stepped through, their right hand was surrounded by a lime-coloured nimbus, which illuminated the rest of their form.

Livi’s jaw dropped. “You...?!”

Emerald gave her a grim, resolute smile, raising the hand that shone with light - with magic. “Didn’t see that coming, did ya?”

***

As powerful as they were, none of the witches present could alter the flow of time - and yet, time seemed to slow down as Livi, Jemma and Georgie registered and reacted to the sight before them. They didn’t have long enough to deal with the astonishing sight of their magically-impotent enemy, not only back from a predicament no-one had ever escaped before, but radiating such mystical force that her aura was probably visible a mile away.

But they did have long enough to recognise the danger they were all in, and act accordingly, following the bully’s ingrained instinct to attack any threat. Crackling orange orbs, bolts of red electricity, and jets of teal light hurtled across the glade no more than a second apart, converging on the same target. Each magical blast was enough to throw off even the strongest sorcerer. Combined, they could unravel and reassemble someone’s cell structure, turning them into a doorstop or an empty tin can.

At the last second before the spells struck, Emerald flicked her wrist, and the corona the colour of her name expanded from her hand to encompass her entire body. The blasts hit her with a deafening bang, creating a cloud of multicoloured smoke. When it cleared, there was no sign of her, or the portal from which she had emerged.

It looked like they’d vaporised her - but Livi was too unnerved to take that as a given, after seeing two impossibilities at once. No - Emerald was still here, still alive, preparing to make the next move in this impromptu duel.

Livi’s instincts were correct. As soon as her forcefield had served its purpose, Emerald had dropped it and turned herself invisible. Withdrawing back among the tree line, she prepared another spell - one that wouldn’t give off a green glow and reveal her location. She knew she had barely moments - the three wicked witches would be scanning for her aura.

She knew the smart choice was to free Freya as fast as possible. Quite apart from the fact that she was Emerald’s beloved and she was desperate to save her, Freya was also a powerful, talented witch. With her by her side, Emerald was confident she could win this fight much more easily. But she couldn’t lift the hex - only its caster, presumably Livi, could. So she’d have to win this without her partner’s help.

She ought to take Livi down quickly - she was the strongest opponent, after all. But Emerald had supreme confidence in her new power, and no intention of making this easy for her sworn enemy. She wanted her to suffer. Every bit of loathing Livi felt for her, Emerald felt for her in equal, if not greater, measure. Her sharp strategic mind was submerged beneath a frenzied need for revenge. She intended to repay all the pain her longtime tormenter had inflicted upon her, both today and over the past seven years... and then some.

Just as Livi was zeroing in on Emerald’s location, the brunette burst out of the trees, disturbing a plainhead canary that fluttered out of its branches, and charged in her direction. Jemma was quick to react, firing a hex that was meant to turn her into a toad. Instead, Emerald evaporated the second the spell hit.

The trio had another brief moment to be puzzled, before Livi realised the danger and hurled another blast at the canary fluttering above them. It dodged out of the way and plunged downwards, transforming back into Emerald as it fell. Before her fully-healed feet hit the grass, she was flinging more green fire from both hands, heading for each of Livi’s lackeys, who barely managed to parry them.

But that quickly proved to be as much of a diversion as the illusionary Emerald they’d seen moments earlier. As Livi shifted her stance and prepared another spell of her own, she felt something tighten around her ankles. Glancing down, she growled at the sight of dozens of blades of grass that had grown into long, grasping tendrils, wrapping around her lower legs with a boa constrictor’s grip. From the yelps behind her, she gathered the same thing was happening to her henchwomen.

Before Emerald had a chance to press her advantage, Livi roared, “FREYA, STOP HER!” A crackle of cyan light whizzed past her, but Emerald parried it easily. In the split second that bought her, Livi mustered another spell - one that was rarely used, because of its connotations with dark magic. (There was no such thing - Hexbourne students were taught that no magic was inherently light or dark, good or bad - it depended on the user, and the circumstances. But that didn’t mean certain spells weren’t outlawed for the risk they posed, or at least frowned upon.)

Emerald knew she had moments before her foes freed themselves from the enchanted grass, or used Freya as their weapon again. Swallowing her grief and fury over her girlfriend’s plight, she moved to attack again. But before she could, a flicker of darkness detached from Livi’s shadow, followed by another, and another. They rose up from the ground, becoming three-dimensional. Within moments, Emerald’s arch-nemesis was surrounded by half a dozen solid shadows the same shape as Livi herself. The squad of silhouettes lunged forwards, baying silently for Emerald’s blood.

Quick as a flash, she flicked a hand upwards at the beaming sun, and a concentrated shaft of light shone down onto the glade, directly onto her and the few yards surrounding her. It was enough to heat her skin, and force her to shield her eyes from the glare. But the mindless shadow forms, unable to heed the danger, ploughed straight into the sunbeam - and vanished in puffs of smoke.

As easily dealt with as they were, the dark diversion gave her enemies enough time to free themselves, scorching their grass bonds with magical fire until they relinquished their grasp. Jemma and Georgie stood at the ready to engage Emerald again, with Freya a little way behind them, while Livi ran for the cover of the tree line, leaving her cronies to cover her retreat.

Typical, Emerald thought snidely, summoning a portal directly in front of Livi, the other end of which appeared next to Georgie. Unable to stop herself, Livi hurtled through and narrowly avoided colliding with her friend, turning her dive into a acrobatic flip that ended with her crouched on the ground, facing in Emerald’s direction once more, her clenched fists emitting amber auras.

From here, the battle descended into chaos. Blasts flew back and forth faster than anyone could track, bolts of green, red, blue and orange flying across the glade like a laser show. In the heat of battle the witches stopped bothering to use non-verbal spells, not having the time or focus to properly use them, instead shouting out a variety of incomprehensible words from a language long forgotten, except by sorcerers. Hex after hex was defused by forcefields or parried in a different direction, causing havoc around them as birds were turned into frogs, trees grew entangled in vines that sprang from the surrounding earth, and foxes scurrying away from the demented scene stopped in their tracks and placidly waited for instructions.

A few spells made it through the mayhem and found their targets. Livi’s right arm and leg were hit with a numbing jinx, throwing her so off-balance that she collapsed to the ground, but her friends defended her long enough to heal herself - and she barely stopped throwing further blasts with her left hand in the meantime. An aphasia jinx got Jemma, taking her out of the fight for a few seconds as she failed to articulate her spells - but she quickly went back to using non-verbal spells. Georgie was half-transfigured into a hedgehog, but reversed the process before it could be completed while her allies held Emerald off. And Freya continued to cover her captors’ collective backs at their commands.

Though Emerald was repeatedly stricken herself, her forcefield held the effects at bay - but it was weakening, and so was she. As powerful as she had become - as powerful as Cedar had made her - the combined efforts of her opponents, including the enchanted Freya, was wearing her down.

She knew she didn’t have much time. Her magical tree friend had warned her they couldn’t maintain the empathic link between them for long while she was outside their trunk - they couldn’t feed her much more magic. She had to win this quickly before the well ran dry.

But all her opponents were still standing. Freya was still enthralled. And Emerald was tiring.

All her knowledge, and her newfound power, wasn’t enough to win this fight - not alone.

But she had no intention of winning it alone.

She kept up the fight, shielding herself as much as she could while continuing to fire more potent magic at the sadistic sorceresses, keeping them focused on her. As she did so, she reached out with her mind, making a simple, desperate telepathic plea for help to the only being capable of providing it. The best ally she could ever want, need, or hope for.

Georgie heard someone speaking behind her, but couldn’t make out the words clearly over the deafening duel. She assumed it was Jemma, still struggling with the aphasia jinx. That assumption was the last coherent thought she had before a vermilion flash hit her in the back of her head.

Catching sight of the blast out of the corner of her eye, Livi threw up a thick but short-lived forcefield before her, spanning the entire glade, and whirled to see Georgie smiling sleepily, her posture visibly slumping as Livi watched. Jemma was lowering her arm, her hand still sizzling scarlet, a similarly dim grin on her own face.

And behind them both, still looking as cluelessly cheerful as ever, Freya was brandishing her lapis lazuli ring, lit from within with her own deep reserves of mystical energy.

“Did you forget?” the blonde asked, her tone as pleasant and guileless as ever. “When you’re enthralled, you don’t just follow commands from the caster of the hex. You follow commands from anyone and everyone. Even if they’re given telepathically. And for the record, fuck you for making me puppeteer my girlfriend, like you did.”

With an outraged roar, Livi threw a simple shockwave spell that knocked the three enchanted women off their feet, before pirouetting to face her foe alone. Her barrier had collapsed by now - and behind it, Emerald was nowhere in sight.

“Fuck!” Livi blurted, whirling around frantically and scanning her surroundings for signs of Emerald or her aura. There was nothing she could see. “Where the fuck are you, you little bitch?!”

Crouching into a defensive stance with her hands aglow again, she hastily crossed the glade, making for the trees once more. Her eyes kept darting around in search of Emerald, growing more and more panicked as she still saw no trace of her. Where the hell did she go??

She must’ve portalled away, she reasoned, glancing over her shoulder to confirm that Freya was still sprawled on the grass next to Livi’s cronies. Coward ditched her girlfriend and ran from the fight. Still, it was more than likely Emerald would reappear any second now to resume the battle.

Still looking around wildly, Livi ducked behind a birch tree - and fell straight through a portal on the ground, plummeting a short distance onto another, greener patch of turf. Landing with an alarmed grunt, she rolled onto her back, ready for whatever came next... except for the grass surrounding her to spring to life again, quickly coiling around all four of her limbs and pinning them to the ground. They even wound through the gaps between her fingers, forcing her fists to unfurl and her palms to flatten against the earth below, the bright beacons emanating from each hand fading away.

Emerald loomed over her with a triumphant smirk, her body still glowing green. Livi could see up her skirt, but given the advantage Emerald had over her, it didn’t seem wise to mock her about her exposed genitals again.

She struggled desperately against her intractable bonds. This was an insane situation. After years of towering over weak, worthless little Emerald Kane, now she was the one looking up at her. She was the one being made to feel weak, feeble, powerless. She hated it.

And she hated the flutter from her traitorous cunt, which seemed to have a different opinion.

“What’s the matter, Livi?” Emerald taunted, as her fallen foe thrashed in her tight restraints. “Feeling a little... spell bound?”

Livi’s anger at Emerald daring to fight back, the astonishment that she not only could fight but that she’d won, the horror and humiliation of being helpless on the floor behind her, the arousal growing against her own volition - and now, on top of all of that, a truly awful pun that barely even qualified as that... It was the last straw.

“You’re such a FUCKING LOSER!!” Livi screamed at the top of her voice, as she mustered all the magic she could, channelled it into her chest instead of her tied hands, and shot it directly at Emerald in a blazing, burning beam, with no thought or intent behind the blast except to destroy.

Had she done this in the glade, before Emerald had managed to escape, the weakening witch would’ve been turned to ash. But the change of location had brought her back to her arboreal benefactor, close enough to replenish the connection between them. Quickly raising a hand to meet the column of fire, she deflected it sideways across the clearing to which she’d transported them, and it struck a nearby tree. The blast continued to erupt out of Livi, rebounded off Emerald’s palm, and poured into the tree, until the supine sorceress realised what was happening and cut off the energy flow.

The tree was entirely undamaged - in fact it, too, seemed to be emanating an emerald aura, as if strengthened by the incendiary spell. By contrast, Livi’s clothes were in tatters, incinerated by the flames she’d fired from her thorax, as she hadn’t had the time, focus or inclination to shield them from the blast. All that remained of her shirt was the end of its arms, reduced to two blackened wrist bands, and a few other charred scraps around her neck and waist, while her bra had burned away completely, leaving her toned abs and her shapely breasts exposed.

“On the contrary,” Emerald said matter-of-factly, “I think I actually won. My friend thanks you for your donation, by the way - not that you had a choice, but it was a nice way to get acquainted. They’ll be taking more than just a sample of your power, though.”

Livi didn’t know what she was talking about, and didn’t want to find out. Her last-ditch attack had drained her mana to the point where she couldn’t muster more than a handful of sparks if she tried, and now she was so bone-weary she could barely even keep up her futile fight against her grass shackles. Aching fear, and involuntary arousal, crept through her, as it dawned upon her that she really had been defeated - she was helpless to escape Emerald, and whatever twisted act of revenge she intended.

“You’re really not gonna ask?” Emerald crouched down beside her, grinning grimly. “You don’t wanna know what I’m gonna do to you?”

Livi snarled non-verbally at her, refusing to give her the satisfaction.

“Well, take a look around. See if you can guess where I’ve taken you.” Emerald raised an arm and gestured widely at their setting. “I’ve gotta admit, it’s a lot nicer here than I would’ve expected. A lot lighter.”

Livi’s fury subsided, overtaken by terror, as she realised what Emerald meant. Her eyes widened in horror.

“I could’ve just sent you walking here, like you did to me, but I wanted to be sure you found them, instead of getting taken by something else.”

“No,” Livi blurted, staring beseechingly up at her victim-turned-victimiser. “No no no, please, Emerald, don’t do this, you can’t do this, please, please -”

“Did Freya beg?” Emerald’s sadistic smile slid off her face, her expression hardening. “Before you enthralled her? I know I did.” She held out a glowing hand, palm turned downwards towards Livi. “Every time, in fact. For seven years. And I wasn’t the only one. Remind me - did you ever listen? Did you ever show mercy...?”

Livi’s pleas died in her throat, cut off in a croaking gurgle as if she was being throttled. Tremors went through her body, terrified tears brimming in her eyes. She turned her face away, unable to meet Emerald’s eye.

Of course she’d never shown mercy. Why would she? It was her self-imposed job, her role in life as a superior sorceress, to punish those who didn’t match up to her standard. And she took great pleasure in her work, enjoying the pointless protests of her victims almost as much as the suffering she inflicted upon them, safe in the knowledge that they’d never be able to retaliate, that they’d never get the better of her.

But Emerald had. Twice. And the first time, mortifying as it was, hadn’t been enough to teach her the error of her ways. Now all her sadism, all her ruthlessness, was coming back to bite her. Emerald was going to give her to the Dark Woods, and there was nothing she could say or do to stop it. As that truth sank in, she looked up again, struck dumb with despair and dread, into the pitiless eyes of her enemy.

She expected more mocking taunts, more hissed insults, more grim reminders of the terrible fate that awaited her. But all Emerald said, in a voice as cold as the grave, was, “You will never hurt anyone again.”

And then the hex struck Livi in her bare chest, and washed away her turbulent thoughts for the last time.

***

Emerald watched as Livi, freed from her bonds but deprived of her free will, rose at her command, raised her glowing fists, and blindly send a spell through the portal back to the glade. She watched as Livi turned and strode without hesitation towards the nearby tree, which had reopened the tear in its trunk. She watched as roots reached out like tentacles to greet the enthralled young woman, pulling her into the tree even as she happily, vacantly stepped inside by herself. She watched as Livi was once again tied up, the tendrils tearing off her shredded clothes and wrapping around every part of her body, binding her limbs, cradling her breasts, inserting themselves into every orifice they could find, probing deep into her cunt, her anus, her mouth, her nose and her ears. She watched the split in the trunk slowly seal shut once more. The last sight she had of her ensnared, nude nemesis was her slack face, smiling dreamily as her eyes rolling back in her head and flickering shut.

She expected to feel a little remorse, for consigning Livi to what was basically a death sentence. But she felt nothing but savage satisfaction. Why shouldn’t she, after all? Livi had tried to do the exact same thing to her. She’d abused her verbally, physically and magically for three-quarters of a decade. And she’d enthralled Freya - she’d violated Freya’s body with her own mind - and used her as a mere prop in her final masterpiece of cruelty.

Emerald couldn’t bring herself to feel any pity for her vanquished foe. All she could think was, She deserved it.

Damn straight, Cedar chimed in through their mental link. This bitch’s spirit is black as night. Her pride and rage will burn inside me for a thousand years. Giving you up for someone so twisted and corrupt is a small price to pay. No offence, squish.

“None taken, at all,” Emerald replied.

But I know you, so I know you will feel bad about this, sooner or later. So just remember - she won’t know what’s happening. Just like you, she’ll be buried deep in her own mindspace, oblivious to her predicament. And she’ll be happy. I promise. This is a win-win-win, trust me.

Emerald wasn’t sure she could trust them, given the tricksy ways of the tree spirits - but to be fair, this one had followed through on all their promises. She nodded gratefully, accepting the consoling words on her future self’s behalf. Right now, she couldn’t care less if Livi was happy. All that mattered was she was gone for good, pruned from the garden.

And Emerald wasn’t done weeding yet.

You’ve got maybe three minutes of power left, sapling, Cedar told her. Make them count.

“Will do.” Turning towards her portal, Emerald glanced back over her shoulder at the still, quiet, unobtrusive coniferous tree that had been such a valuable, unexpected ally. “Thank you,” she murmured. “So, so much.”

The pleasure was all mine, Cedar chuckled. What can I say? I’m a giving tree...!

Rolling her eyes and smirking, Emerald stepped through the portal, which closed behind her. Before her, Jemma and Georgie still lay on the ground in the middle of the clearing, grinning stupidly up at the clear blue sky. But Freya was sitting upright, her arms wrapped around her legs, freed from her own enthralment by that last spell Emerald had made Livi cast.

Emerald’s heart ached at the bereft expression on her face. She wanted nothing more than to rush to her side and embrace her. But first she had one last loose end to tie up. (Well, technically two.)

“Get up,” she commanded the stupefied sorceresses. Jemma and Georgie clambered clumsily to their feet. Emerald pointed through the trees, back towards the Dark Woods. “Start walking.”

Still smiling blankly, they stumbled away to meet their own eternal fates. Emerald didn’t particularly care what happened to them next - she was just certain she’d never see them again, either. The chances of them being set free as she had were pretty much zero - she didn’t expect any more miracles today. They’d probably be caught by another of the many trickster spirits inhabiting the forbidden forest region, who would make them their powerless pets for the rest of time. A fitting fate, since they’d pretty much been Livi’s attack dogs for the past seven years anyway.

Emerald knew they’d remain enthralled even after her borrowed power ran out, the hex held in place by the mystical energy that had already sunk into their brains. She wished she could keep her new magic - but even as the thought crossed her mind, she could feel it draining away, the link between her and Cedar finally breaking down. It left her feeling exhausted, and a little despondent at what she’d lost. She’d only just gotten used to being a proper, powerful witch at long last, and now she was back to how she was before. But her sadness at that was small, compared to her feelings of triumph.

She let out a huge sigh of relief. She’d done it. She’d survived the day. Her longtime bullies - her attempted murderers - were gone, never to return. The fight was over, and she, Emerald Kane, had fucking won.

Now she had to deal with the aftermath, and attend to her traumatised girlfriend.

Darting across the glade, she dropped to her knees at Freya’s side. Her beautiful Mistress, usually so composed and confident, gave her an anguished look.

“Em-Emerald,” she mumbled, her lip trembling. “I - I didn’t... it w-wasn’t m-”

“I know,” Emerald whispered back, reaching around her back to embrace her with one arm, placing her other hand on Freya’s own arm and rubbing it reassuringly. “I know it wasn’t you. It’s OK. It’s OK, baby...”

“I - I’m s- I’m sorry,” Freya managed to get out, her eyes glistening as a tidal wave of tears threatened to burst forth. “I’m, I’m so sorry, I...”

Her voice trailed off, unable to continue, as her distress overwhelmed her and she dissolved completely, collapsing into her girlfriend’s arms and weeping and wailing like a baby. Emerald wrapped both arms around her and hugged her tightly, rocking them both back and forth, her chin resting in her blonde hair.

“It’ll be alright,” she promised. “It’ll be alright, Freya. I’m gonna look after you. I’ll take care of everything.”