Negotiations

This warning is possibly not needed for this particular story, but I am including it because it is needed for most of my stories. If you decide to read other of my stories make sure that you read the disclosures and warnings at the beginning of each story.

WARNING! All of my writing is intended for adults over the age of 18 ONLY. Stories may contain strong or even extreme sexual content. All people and events depicted are fictional and any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. Actions, situations, and responses are fictional ONLY and should not be attempted in real life.

If you are under the age or 18 or do not understand the difference between fantasy and reality or if you reside in any state, province, nation, or tribal territory that prohibits the reading of acts depicted in these stories, please stop reading immediately and move to somewhere that exists in the twenty-first century.

Archiving and reposting of this story is permitted, but only if acknowledgment of copyright and statement of limitation of use is included with the article. This story is copyright (c) 2016 by The Technician .

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Donna Spaulding sat in the back of her limo with a bluetooth earpiece in her left ear, an audio feed from her secretary in her right ear, and a laptop-notepad combo computer on her lap. She was on her way to the airport to begin a short “vacation” in Scotland, or at least that is what the press releases said.

In reality, she was checking out some possible locations for a new assembly plant. With Britain out of the EU, and Scotland most likely leaving the UK in order to stay with the EU, it was an ideal location to maintain connections on both sides of the Atlantic.

No one knew for sure how all of this would shake out, but Donna Spaulding didn’t become one of the most powerful women in the world of high-finance business by playing it safe and waiting. When she saw an opening, she moved immediately, and her instincts were almost always right.

The press liked to portray her as the female heir to Spaulding Industries who had been carefully groomed by her powerful father to continue his successful leadership. But the reality was that her father’s business was imploding when she took it over at the age of seventeen. The press releases had said that James Spaulding had suffered a mild, but physically debilitating stroke. The reality was that with his fortune crumbling around him, he had attempted to take his own life– only he couldn’t even do that right.

He held the gun behind his ear, but the barrel was pointed so far upward, that all he did was crease his skull and give himself a very severe concussion. He recovered physically from the gunshot, but mentally he was never the same. The few who were ever allowed to see him called him, “an empty shell of his former self.”

Donna kept her father’s collapse secret, and began quietly running the company in his name. Her mother had been out of the picture for a long time, so it was simple enough to create the myth that James Spaulding had become a rich hermit recluse ala Howard Hughes.

The turnaround of Spaulding Industries made headlines worldwide. Six years later, James came out of the shadows very briefly to officially step down “for health reasons.” In his short, but halting speech, he appointed his daughter to succeed him.

That was eleven long years ago. Since coming out of the shadows and publicly taking control Donna Spaulding showed herself to be a masterful businesswoman. She doubled Spaulding Industries size and profit in four years and doubled it again and then again until she now controlled a billion-dollar industry.

At thirty-four years of age, she now had everything a woman could desire. There was only one thing missing in her life… love.

No, that isn’t right. She didn’t miss love. She had never felt it and never given it. The closest she ever came to love was a hamster she kept in her bedroom when she was five. She cried when it died. Her eyes were clear when she buried her father. She didn’t miss love. What she missed was sex.

She was still in high school when she was forced to take the reins of Spaulding Industries. While she governed from the behind the throne, she educated herself with business courses from this or that university, but she never went to college. Having to stay in the shadows, she never dated and never had a boyfriend. Still, she had all the needs of any healthy young woman.

She learned early that it was easy for a beautiful woman such as herself to lure a young man into her bed. The problem was that there were always strings. No matter how casual the sex was supposed to be, the men wanted more. They wanted “a relationship”– or maybe they just wanted a slice of the Spaulding fortune. For Donna it worked out the same. They wanted to be a part of her life.

Once, when she was a little further into her wine than normal, she confessed to her personal secretary that what she really wished for was someone who would fuck her senseless each night and leave her alone the rest of the time.

After several tempestuous, one-sided relationships, she followed the course her father had charted many years before and turned to paid companions. Whether it was someone to accompany her to various social functions or someone to share a bed with her for a few hours, it was strictly an employer-employee relationship.

The young men didn’t complain. The pay was very good and the severance package when she tired of them would fully fund most retirement accounts– providing that they kept absolutely silent about what had happened in her bedroom.

Unfortunately, she had just cycled out her most recent companion and was having to resort to less satisfying alternatives– which usually meant a hired female with a strap-on. Donna very carefully vetted her gigolo bed mates, and they were checked regularly for disease. They knew for certain– because it had been clearly explained to them– that if they ever carried a disease to Donna’s bed or disclosed what happened there, they would disappear forever. And when a billionaire makes that kind of promise, you know that it can be kept.

A casual hook-up, or even a one time professional escort, carried too much risk of disease or other problems. A female professional with a strap-on was much safer. The strap-ons were always new and the females were carefully instructed as to what was allowed and what wasn’t. Anything that could transmit disease was forbidden, but at the same time they were to provide Donna the necessary sexual relief.

Her secretary had once volunteered to help out, if necessary, but that would mix sex and business and that would be too close to “a relationship.” Sex was something Donna did with strangers. Even if the stranger was in a long-term contract, she never remembered– or even learned– his name.

Trips such as this often caused sexual tension to build up in the CEO of Spaulding Industries. For this trip, her staff would have to make sure that after inspecting the possible plant locations and doing the necessary small talk with the local government people throughout the day, each evening there would be sufficient, discreet, relief arranged for her.

***

The flight was long and boring. Donna spent much of it asleep in her cabin at the back of the Boeing 737 which had been customized for her use. Her staff slept in the regular airplane seats up front, or on the couches in the lounge area.

There were four possible locations on the short list. That necessitated a four-day trip. The schedule for each day was basically the same. The day would begin with a long drive to the area in question. At noon, there would be a working lunch involving discussion with the local government, civic, and labor leaders. After a short break in the afternoon for private talks with local movers and shakers, there would be a detailed tour of the area. Then it was back to a local eating establishment to give the leaders a chance to make a “personal connection,” and present their pitch for why their location should be chosen. After that, it was a trip to a neutral city to spend the night.

The first three days went exactly as scheduled. On the fourth day, they had seen all that was needed of the local area and were returning to the small village when a boulder suddenly broke loose from the hillside above their column of vehicles. It bounced quickly onto the road and slammed into the front of the car carrying Donna and a few local leaders. Everything happened so quickly that the driver barely had time to react before the front of the Range Rover was pushed out over the edge of the road. There was a quick drop… and then nothing.

Donna struggled to open her eyes against the darkness. “What happened?” she said sluggishly. “Is everyone all right?”

As her vision cleared it appeared that she was lying on a bed of some sort in what looked like a cave. Three beautiful women were standing in front of her. They were dressed in what appeared to be Gucci gowns. Each was holding a martini in her hand as if they were at some fine social event. The one on the left, a blonde, was also holding a phone to her ear. The one on the right, a brunette, was holding a notepad of some sort. The redhead in the middle held up her glass and spoke. “Welcome, Thane of Wall Street,” she said as she swept her other hand downward as if in a bow.

“What? What is going on?” Donna sputtered. “Who are you?”

“We have been called many things through the ages,” the blonde said as she set her phone on the table in front of them.

“We prefer,” said the brunette, “to be called ‘The Three Sisters.’”

“There was an accident,” Donna said slowly. “The car went off the road.”

“Everyone is fine,” said the redhead cheerfully. “You are fine. We just needed an excuse to borrow you for a few minutes to give you our reasons for locating your facility in this area.”

“And that is?..” Donna said warily.

“We have watched out over this land for many ages,” the three sisters said in unison. The sound of their combined voices had an eerie quality to it. “The people in the villages around here,” they continued, “respect us, even if they are no longer willing to mention us to outsiders.”

The chorus ended and the redhead stepped forward. “We will give you whatever it is you want most in your life,” she said slowly, “if you will give us what we want– which is that which is currently best for our people.”

“In other words,” Donna chuckled, “you will give me whatever I want most in life if I will locate my plant here?”

The blonde laughed and said, “I like the modern world where a woman can speak her mind clearly without having to hide things in riddles and puzzles.”

“What do you think you can give me that would be worth my locating here?” Donna said with some amusement in her voice.

“You will know by morning,” the three sisters said, once again in unison. “Until then, we return to the mists of the hills.”

“Wait!” Donna yelled.

“She’s awake!” another voice yelled.

Donna looked around her. She was in the back seat of the Range Rover. The car was laying on its side at the bottom of a gully. An EMT of some sort was alongside her.

“Are you all right?” the young man asked.

“Aren’t you the one who is supposed to know that?” she answered.

“Yes,” he replied, “I am. And everything about you checks out fine… except you weren’t with it for a while. You weren’t quite conscious and you were mumbling like you were talking to someone. You wouldn’t respond to me no matter how loud I yelled.”

“I’m fine now,” she said emphatically. “What about everyone else?”

“A couple of cuts and scratches,” he replied. As he helped her out of the car through the open back cargo door, he added, “It looks like everyone is very lucky. Big Sister could have crushed you all.”

“What?” Donna almost yelled. Then she said more quietly, “Sorry. What do you mean, Big Sister?”

“The rock formation up there,” he said, pointing toward the top of the hill. “It is called The Three Sisters.” He laughed lightly and continued, “I guess they will have to call it something else now that the biggest of the rocks has broken loose and rolled down the hill.”

“Are you sure you are all right?” he asked as he helped her stand next to the Rover.

A moment later he asked, “Are you sure you don’t want to go to hospital?” as they walked up the path back to the road.

“No,” she replied. “I am fine. I will rest at the local inn tonight and if there are any problems when I get back to the US, I will see my own doctor.”

A whole delegation of very worried people awaited her when she reached the road. Her staff was worried she was injured. The townspeople were worried she would have a negative impression of the area. And her personal secretary was worried that the whole carefully-arranged schedule for the rest of the day would be totally upset.

“We will be staying at the village inn this evening,” Donna said calmly as the crowd gathered around her. Looking at her secretary she said, “Make the arrangements.”

“No problem, Ma’am,” her secretary replied, “… but there won’t be time for any ‘special’ arrangements.”

“I know,” Donna said quietly. “I will be able to go without for one night.” Looking out over the collection of people, she added brightly, “Besides, staying here in town will allow me to get a better flavor of the community.”

The meal that evening had a slightly different tone to it than the previous days. Partly that was because everyone was concerned whether Donna had suffered any ill effects from the accident. But also it was because as they were eating, she asked for a better explanation ofThe Three Sisters.“I understand,” she said, “that they are actually part of the local mythology or something.”

It was very, very quiet around the table for a long while. Then one of the local women spoke up. She was a representative of the local historical and cultural society. “I think if you want the best explanation of the myth behindThe Three Sisters,”she said carefully, “you should read Macbeth.”

“Ah,” said Donna. “They’re witches.”

The Mayor startled and looked around the room quickly before saying, “It’s best to always call them ‘The Three Sisters.’” He then laughed nervously and said, “No use accidentally irritating anyone.”

“I agree,” Donna said flatly. “It is always best to call people what they prefer.”

The mayor’s eyes widened slightly, but he said nothing.

The meal ended with Donna’s usual promises that a decision would be made shortly and that her people would contact their people, etc. etc. etc. As everyone walked out of the dining room, she said to her staff, “It has been a very long and tiring day. I am going up to my room and going to bed. I will see everyone at breakfast. Then it’s a long drive back to the airport.”

Her suitcase was sitting open at the end of the bed when she entered her room. A bath had been drawn and her favorite lavender bubble bath had been added to the water. It was a large, deep tub and the water felt luxurious. Any other day, she might have fallen asleep in the warm grasp of the scented waters. But tonight there was too much on her mind. And she had not had her much-needed sexual relief after the tensions of the day. Still, it was a very pleasurable bath and she lingered for nearly an hour before getting out and drying herself in preparation for going to bed.

She paused as she stepped out of the bathroom door. The bed had been turned down while she was in the tub. She had locked the door when she entered the room and had heard no one enter while she was soaking in the tub. Her suitcase had also been moved away from the foot of the bed.

The suitcase having been moved was no great problem. She usually slept nude, so there was nothing she needed from within it. What bothered her was that the covers had been pulled down so that they were totally removed from the bed. It was now just a bare sheet.

“Why would they do that?” she said aloud.

“You will soon see,” a male voice replied and something grabbed her wrist. It wasn’t totally dark in the room, but she still could not see what was gripping her.

Whoever it was dragged her across the room and onto the bed. Her arm was pulled up toward the corner of the bed. She could feel a soft rope of some sort being wound around her wrist.

She tried to lash out with her other arm, but it was pulled just as strongly toward the other corner of the bed. Soft rope soon enclosed that wrist as well.

She tried to call out, but was unable to speak in more than a soft whisper. “Help, help,” she heard herself say softly and knew immediately the futility of such a cry.

Another rope was wound around her left ankle. Whoever it was acted very quickly. Several winds of rope were around her before she could react at all. Before she could attempt to twist her body, the other leg was equally bound. Her legs were not pulled as tightly as her arms, but still the ropes were tight enough to spread her legs obscenely.

She lay panting on the bed, pulling at the ropes which held her in a giant, naked, X. Then she felt a hand upon her thigh. She still could not see who they were, but someone was rubbing the inside of her thigh very lightly with the tips of all the fingers on one hand.

A soft voice said, “Relax, I am not going to hurt you. The Sisters have sent me to give you what you have always wanted.”

Part of Donna’s mind wanted her to scream. But another part of her mind, the part which was so tense from the actions of the day, wanted her to sigh. The sigh won out and a soft “Ahhhhh,” escaped her lips.

“You once told your secretary,” the voice said softly, “that you wished for someone who would fuck you senseless each night and leave you alone the rest of the time.” He laughed softly and said, “You were describing me.”

Smoke seemed to swirl and shimmer in front of her eyes. With each shimmer the vapors seemed to get a little denser. With each swirl they seemed to get a little more defined in form. This continued, until with a faint tinkling sound, the dense smoke became the solid shape of a well-muscled male. His coloring was still slightly smokey, and his shape somehow lacked the absolute crispness of reality, but his flaccid sex twitched realistically as he knelt on the bed between her legs. And the touch of his hands was solid– but so very soft– on the flesh of her abdomen.

“There was something else you didn’t say,” he continued softly. “Perhaps you didn’t even know it yourself.” His hands moved up and cupped her breasts and another “Ahhhh” escaped her lips. This time it was less of a sigh and more of a cry of need.

“Deep within your heart and soul,” he said smoothly, “you want someone else to be in control once in a while.” His fingers circled her nipples, causing them to go from engorged to painfully stiff.

“You want to be bound and helpless,” he said as his fingers began to tweak and pinch her now very sensitive nipples. “You want to be forced higher than you have ever gone before.”

He laughed as he leaned in and kissed her just below the navel. “And then you want to be fucked senseless.”

Donna gasped once again as his lips began to move slowly up her stomach. “Ahhh, ahhh, Who, ahhh, are, ahhh, you?” she gasped out.

“I have many names,” he said quietly. “The Sisters know my true name. Most call me ‘Incubus’.”

Her gasp now became a scream. She could feel herself screaming with all her might. Her throat was vibrating with the force of the “Aaiiiieeeeeee” which was coming out of her lips. But the sound within the room barely carried past the edge of the bed.

“You need not hold back like you often do,” Incubus said with a soft chuckle as he lifted his mouth from her breast. “No can hear you. No one will hear your cries of passion.”

He again gave a soft laugh. “And no one will hear your cries for help.”

He returned to suckling her right breast. The turgid nipple began to weep traces of milk into his mouth and Donna’s scream broke up into yelps of “Aiie, Aiie, Aiie, Aiie,” with each suckle of her breast.

He lifted his mouth and blew softly on the wet nipple. Then he let his tongue trail across her right mound as he moved to the left breast, whose nipple was twitching, eagerly awaiting his mouth.

His lips descended loosely on that stiff nub, but he did not suckle. Instead, his tongue curled and enveloped her solid nipple and began massaging it. The nipple slid in and out of the tunnel formed by his tongue as if it were a miniature penis fucking his mouth.

Intense waves of pleasure radiated out from Donna’s left nipple to her entire body. She began bucking on the bed, pulling tightly against the soft ropes which held her arms and legs. Cries of “Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,” accompanied each motion of Incubus’ tongue as he slid it up and down her over-stimulated nipple. The cries changed to “Ahhh, Ahhh, Ahhh, Ahhh,” and then to “Aiie, Aiie, Aiie, Aiie,” as Incubus continued to slide his tongue tunnel up and down her nipple. It wasn’t until her screams began to merge together that he moved his face slightly closer to her breast and pulled the entire nipple into his mouth.

He did not truly suckle. Instead he pulled at the nipple with a continuous, tremendously hard suction.

Donna’s body came up off the bed. Her head was thrown back and her back was arched so that nothing was touching the bed except her head, her feet, and her forearms. She shook and quaked in the air as the first orgasm of the evening was drawn from her body.

Incubus laughed softly. Donna could vaguely hear the “Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm…” of his muffled laughter as his mouth was replaced once again by his hands.

“That’s one,” he said as he squeezed her breasts tightly. He held her in his iron grip as she gasped and panted and slowly came down from her explosion of passion.

Then the pressure on her breasts was gone and his touch moved out softly to the sides and began to slide up and down her body. She could feel each of his eight fingers slide against her skin all of the way from her elbows, which were held above her head, down to her ankles, which were still spread wide on the bed. Occasionally, his thumbs would join the other digits and slide lightly against the sides of her breasts or the curve of her hip bones.

His hands went one last time up beneath her arms. This time they did not stop at her elbows, but continued on up her arms until his hands intertwined with hers. As his fingers slid between her own, he grasped her hand as firmly as she was grasping his.

She felt him move on the bed. His knees brushed against her own knees and moved downward as he lowered his body slightly over her own. He was much taller than she, so his feet had to be sticking off the end of the bed.

Then she felt it. It was just the lightest brush at first, but it was definitely there. It was so light, she wasn’t sure what it was– but she knew what it had to be. As he tightly gripped her hands and pulled himself up on the bed it would slide from her pubic bone up over her stomach to the ridge created by her ribcage. Then it would continue up to slide along the bony space between her breasts.

There was a slight shifting of the mattress as the tops of his feet pressed against it and he pulled himself back down with his legs. As his body moved down, it reversed its path and trailed down her stomach to her pubic bone and then a little beyond, stopping just short of her clit.

An “Uhhh,” of disappointment came from her lips as the tip of his penis fell just short of touching her sex. It paused there for a moment and again began its slow journey back up the center of her body.

With each trip from her pubic bone to her breasts and back, the Incubus’ warm member seemed to press just a little more firmly against her skin. Or was it just that she was becoming more sensitive to its touch and more aware of the warmth which seemed to flow out of it into her skin.

She was starting to moan softly. It was a keening wail that came from the pit of her stomach and escaped her lips without vibrating her throat. Within her mind, her keen was as loud as she could possibly cry, but what came out of her lips was just a soft, wailing, “A-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a,” which slowly changed through the entire mezzo-soprano range of her voice.

“Please,” she heard herself saying as the now flaming rod moved downward once again along her body, “put it inside me. Put it inside me.”

The only response from the Incubus was his muffled laugh and the words, “Not yet. You haven’t earned it yet.”

He stopped for just a second as the tip of his massive member touched the top of her clit. She bucked her hips wildly trying to reach up and capture that elusive promise of bliss.

Her bucking and grinding continued on its own as he moved his staff once again up her body. “Please, please,” she was screaming in her mind, “put it inside me. Put it inside me. Put it inside me!” The yell was thunderous in her mind. She could feel her chest and throat vibrating with the intensity of the sound, but all her ears– or anyone nearby– could hear was a soft whisper crying out her need.

“You can have this every night,” the Incubus said softly. He chuckled and added, “and I know many other positions and many other ways to take you beyond where you are even now.”

He once again paused with his prick touching her clit. Then it moved slightly further down. It was now the lowest it had traveled. The tip was resting lightly against the opening of her sex. It was just parting the edges of her labia.

She thrust violently upward, but somehow Incubus was able to ride up with her thrust so that she could not drive his manhood within her. Instead, it remained excruciatingly close, teasing just at the entrance to her aching and empty cunt.

“I am yours for as long as you desire me,” he said softly. “The Three Sisters, my masters, have given me to you.” He drew back very, very slightly and his prick slid away from the open touch of her labia.

Donna writhed and cried out in disappointment as the Incubus’ shaft moved away from her warm opening.

“I am yours if you bring jobs to the people of this glen,” he continued in his soft, almost hypnotic voice. “You must also guarantee that you will protect the local environment and that you will make provisions against the day when the factory becomes obsolete. It must not be left to rust and fall into ruin when its useful days are gone.”

Donna’s keening wail was growing louder in her head, if not in the room. The wail was now interspersed with frantic cries of, “Please, please, please, put itINSIDEme!”

The Three Sisters were suddenly standing alongside the bed. They were dressed as before, but none of them was holding anything in her hands. Again it was the tall redhead standing in the middle who spoke, “Do we have an agreement?” she said loudly.

Confused at first by the additional voices in the room, Donna turned her head to see who was there.

“I said,” the tallest of the three sisters repeated, “Do we have an agreement?”

“Yes,” Donna panted out. “Yes… we have an agreement.”

The three sisters disappeared as Donna’s silent scream echoed through her mind. The Incubus was pushing himself slowly into the depths of her aching cunt. Again she thrust herself toward him, but again he matched her movements so that he, not her, controlled the speed at which he entered.

Her whispered yell became more resonant as he bottomed out against her cervix and she pulled against the ropes trying to wrap her arms and legs around his massive body.

Her cries of “Ahhh, ahhh, ahhh, ahhh,” actually rose above a whisper as he began to thrust within her. Inside her mind, her cries were deafening, but in the room they were not even loud enough to be heard through the thin walls by her secretary in the adjacent room.

The Incubus was now allowing her to match his movements and she was slamming herself, almost violently, against him as she arched to meet his thrusts. She could feel herself approaching that blessed point of orgasm. But then she reached that point and continued even farther without release.

Her cry with each thrust of her hips was now, “Please, please, please.” She alternated that with a plaintive, “Let me cum, let me cum, let me cum.”

Her body was drenched in sweat. Her muscles were at the point of tearing within her body. Her desperation was beyond anything she had ever felt before in her life. And then he thrust against her with one powerful push that drove her back against the mattress. Each stroke had been deep within her, but this time, somehow, he was even deeper.

An intense fire erupted from his penis and entered her body. It quickly spread from the core of her being outward, overwhelming bone… and muscle… and mind. She felt her arms and legs somehow wrapping around his hard body. And then her world exploded.

An intense orgasm overtook her. She felt herself shaking uncontrollably. She could hear herself crying out, “No, no, no, I can’t stand it. I can’t stand it. I can’t stand it.” And then there was darkness.

***

A strange ringing sound filled her ears. Her eyes fluttered open. The phone beside the bed was ringing. She lifted it and a pleasant male voice said, “This is the desk. You requested a seven thirty wake up call.”

“Yes,” she answered sleepily. “Thank you.”

A few moments later there was a gentle knocking on the connecting door. Her secretary called out softly, “Are you up?”

When she answered that she was, she was told, “The Mayor will be joining us for breakfast at eight, so hurry to get dressed and packed. We will be leaving for the airport right afterward.”

Donna looked around the room trying to understand the strange dream of the previous night. It had to have been a dream. She was, after all, now lying under the beautiful spread and comforter that she had admired when she had first entered the room.

Her suitcase was sitting at the end of the bed. As usual, the clothing she would be wearing today was laid out carefully across it.

She showered quickly. Her body felt slightly sticky, as if she had been exercising heavily. Her sex was also slightly tender and swollen as she carefully soaped it in the shower.

Right on time, as usual, she walked into the small café on the ground floor of the inn. The Mayor and her secretary were waiting at a table. A steaming cup of coffee sat waiting for her at the empty chair.

After the typical greetings and other morning chit-chat, the Mayor said softly, “I hope that the little incident on the road does not bias you against our village. The Three Sisters have been sitting on that hillside for centuries. I have no idea what could have caused one of them to suddenly roll free.”

Donna merely smiled back and said, “Why don’t we order breakfast.”

The Mayor returned to small talk and comments about local sites and attractions. Throughout the meal, Donna remained mostly silent. She seemed to be wrapped up in her own inner thoughts.

When the meal was over, she spoke. “There are many details which have to be worked out,” she began. “No official announcement can be made until all of the proper people have signed all of the proper papers.”

The Mayor looked crestfallen. “But let me assure you,” she continued, “that the facility will be located here, near your village.”

She looked across the table at the now amazed Mayor. “My engineers will be here within the week. As a test of local capabilities, they will supervise returning Big Sister back to the hillside where she belongs. They will then stabilize the ground so that The Three Sisters may watch over this glen for many centuries to come.”

The Mayor tried to speak several times, but nothing came out. Finally he sputtered out, “I don’t know what to say except thank you.” He took a deep breath and added, “This is very unexpected. With the events of yesterday, we were expecting the worst because we weren’t really able to present our case.” He smiled broadly and said, “And yet you have decided on this location.”

Donna took a sip of her coffee. “Let us just say,” she said with a smile, “that there were some very powerful negotiators working on your behalf behind the scenes.”

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END OF STORY
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