For a moment, there was nothing more than a faint stillness. A dark void stretched out before the girl, despite the pain she'd been feeling only moments ago now Leda felt nothing. Within seconds, however, the blackness was burnt by the dim of glow of the caverns. Blinking, the girl would find herself strewn across the cold ground once more. She felt...good? Mind foggy, a stray hand wandered over towards the gape in her armor, and where there had once been a massive hole there was now only a faint scar.
"What...in the..." Her words were slow and without focus, the pieces only just barely beginning to come together. "...you."
Her eyes wandered upwards, finally falling across the kneeling harpy. Where there had once been rage, now Leda could feel...almost nothing. Indeed, as her eyes traced the woman's curves, her soft skin, there was only emotion in her mind. Want. Slowly she took hold of the harpy's claw, stumbling to her feet. Moving forward, without even a hint of hesitation, she allowed herself to fall into the pale-skinned woman's arms.
"Thank you...mistress."
---
With the hunter's attempt an absolute failure, things remain unchanged. The people down below continued to live in fear, and like always the sacrifices continued to pour in. Indeed, it was upon a cold evening, just a week after Leda's own unfortunate end, that the most recent one was brought up to the altar.
Anna was a young woman, barely even eighteen. With hair as white as snow and milky skin, she was a catch among many in the village below. And yet, in her final hours, the girl was to be none other than the harpy's. The girl, drugged, was strapped to the altar with bindings tight enough to almost cut into the skin. Unclothed, aside from a strip of fabric covering both her chest and nether regions, the girl's pale flesh teased by the chilly wind. Upon her stomach a strange mark was painted as well, a single circle with two lines running down it. The Symbol of Sacrifice. Those who bore it were to be met with the grisliest of fates, used by the harpy and then gutted like fish.
Beside her, upon the ground next to the altar, sat something else as well. A small clay jar, filled to the brim with a clear sappy liquid, it was an ointment that was brewed via several rare herbs. Meant to be applied to the belly, it served to twist the pain one felt into something resembling pleasure. It was an offering to the harpy by the village, and it was up to the creature on whether she'd apply it to her sacrifice.
Up upon the peek, before the cave, hours would pass. Soon, however, the girl's eyes would slowly part...
"Urgh...where...?"