Mercy led Prudence by the hand as if she were a lost child. At the door, Mercy fumbled with the elusive latchstring. Pressed against the door, she always felt vulnerable, waiting for the unseen predator to attack when she was just seconds away from safety. Prudence must have felt that same tiny terror for she pressed herself against Mercy's back and rubbed her breasts repeatedly on her hostess' back.<br/><br/>"Stop it. You are throwing me off balance and I keep losing the latchstring." Mercy scowled, concentrating on snagging the leather thong that worked the inside latch. What was that girl doing? she wondered irritably. She should know that Mercy was not a scratching post. Silently, she shook her head and let them in.<br/><br/>Once safely inside, Mercy hung her bonnet on a nail and then went to stir up the fire.  Gesturing at the bench, she bade Prudence have a rest on the wooden bench by the hearth.<br/>"I will bring you a pillow and quilt," she said affably, not looking up from the glowing embers. "Rest a spell. I'm sure you are tired after such a late night in this cold and damp." Mercy straightened up and was startled to have lost Prudence. In a hasty glance around her one room cabin, she saw the girl lying atop her Star of David quilt, skirt rucked up to her waist, spread eagle with her legs bare and her private parts exposed. What shocked Mercy more was the blood.<br/><br/>"Prudence, you are injured!" she exclaimed, pulling a clean tea towel from the trestle table and soaking it in water which stood in the half cask by the fireplace. She crossed to the girl who was drowsily brushing her fingertips over her own breasts. "Were you set upon by the Indians? Do  you know your rapist? Why didn't you say something to me earlier?"  She gently daubed at the blood and was relieved as well as horrified that the blood was not streaming from cuts on the girl's thighs.. Mercy gently swabbed at the girl's pubis, wiping away the blood and the semen. Suddenly, Prudence's hand covered hers and she demanded in an oddly forceful voice.<br/><br/>"Lave me with your tongue as well as the cloth. Let me feel the tender touch of a woman's hand."<br/><br/>"Have you lost your mind?" Mercy asked, staring at the girl in fascination. She lowered her voice, "I wonder if you are possessed of a devil. What has happened to you?"  Before she could stand upright, Prudence sat up and pulled her on top of her, pressing kisses on her mouth. Mercy could not believe the strength of the girl as she struggled against her. Prudence wrapped her naked legs around Mercy's hips, albeit clad in her apron and skirts. She writhed on her, rubbing her womanly parts against Mercy, murmuring how good it felt and did Mercy not want to share this pleasure with her. Finally, Mercy wrenched herself away and put some distance between her and Prudence. Smoothing her apron, she noticed it was streaked with remnants of body fluid.<br/><br/>"You are overwrought by the ordeal you have suffered in the woods. Come morning we will go to the Deacon and report this sin."<br/><br/>"Oh, no, you cannot," Prudence cringed, "You know I would be stoned for being a fornicator even though I was forced."<br/><br/>Mercy frowned. and nodded. "Then calm down. Let me get your sleeping place sorted."<br/><br/>"Please, please, "Prudence cried out, real tears in her eyes, "let me share your bed tonight. I, I'm afraid to sleep alone tonight." Her fear seemed real and against her better judgement, Mercy agreed. "Aren't you coming to bed with me?" her voice was a nasally whine.<br/><br/>"I will let you fall asleep and then I will join you. Now rest," Mercy said, kindly but with a worried frown creasing her eyebrows.<br/><br/>Prudence pouted a little and then flopped over on her side, back to the wall. Mercy sat on the bench by the fire, knitting, waiting to hear the even breathing of sleep. After what felt like an eternity and when the fire was down to glowing coals once more, Mercy felt able to sleep. She disrobed and hung her dress and apron on the peg by her bed. The bed was warm but crowded. She had to slide under the quilt with her back to Prudence's front. Mercy slept but her dreams were peopled by strange deeds of sex, of roaming hands and fingers that explored intimate parts of her body. Once in her dream she felt the nerve jarring explosion that she had felt only one time with her late husband when he had made vigorous love to her. Finally, she shivered in her sleep and patted around, looking for the quilt which must have slipped off during the night.