Gateway To Xanadu (32 page)

“Then you are the sole denizen of this place who feels so,” he growled in answer, his brown eyes hard upon me, and then he sat where previously he had crouched. “Bring the stew closer, girl. I will not pounce upon you and steal that which has been denied me.”

“Were it possible for you to have me through those bars, there would be no question of theft to the matter,” I said very softly, stepping forward to put the bowl in his reach. “As I am a slave, it would not be possible for me to refuse you. ”

“Surely a slave such as you is permitted to refuse a slave such as I have been declared,” he said, taking the bowl through the bars though his eyes remained upon me. “Those two before you seemed to have little difficulty in merely flaunting ,themselves. ”

“They are cleaning and serving slaves,” I said, settling to my heels beside the cage and lowering my eyes before his gaze. “They are prepared to a lesser extent than slaves such as I, who are meant for no other thing than to serve masters. With each master I serve my need to serve grows stronger, so that I am able to bring great pleasure to many men each. day. I serve till I fall senseless from the effort, and while I lay senseless my body is tended. When I awaken with the morning sun, I am again prepared to serve.”

“And again and again,” he said, swallowing and chewing at the stew, though taking little notice of it.

“You are set to giving service without end, and I am able to find no end to lack of service. We seem an oddly matched pair, you and I. For what reason have they had you bring me this sustenance?”

“I was to offer myself to you with the stew,” I replied, my hushed voice refusing to remain tremorless, my eyes unable to rise above his wide, strong hands on the bowl. “I know not how you were to accept or reject the offer, but I was to cause you to desire me.”

“You have succeeded,” he said, putting aside the bowl he had emptied so quickly. “It seems to me, however, that you have not attempted my seduction with the ardor which was intended. I would know why you disobeyed-and what might become of you because of it.”

“I cannot find it within me to-seek advantage over one who-is caught by the same bonds which hold me,” I whispered, finding it impossible to quiet the turmoil which whirled me about. “When they learn I have disobeyed I will be punished, and yet-it will not be the first punishment I have been given.”

“You sacrifice yourself for a stranger in need,” he observed quietly, an odd tone to his voice. “There are few who would do such a thing for one unable to return the boon, yet you need not fear. You have succeeded in all you were sent to do, and that despite my own resolve to the contrary. You need not fear punishment.”

I raised my eyes to his when his great hand came gently to my face-then gasped in startlement and backed to the bars of his cage when the chamber door was suddenly thrust open. The leader of fifty appeared with three guardsmen in his wake, and all strode insolently toward the cage of the prisoner:

“His Grace sends you greetings, Your Highness,” said the leader of fifty when he stood no more than two paces before the cage, his eyes and tone as insolent as his stride had been. “Are your accommodations to your liking? Your meals adequately and artistically prepared? The needs of your body seen to by our slaves?”

“Most certainly, leader,” replied the prisoner, his tone having turned to a drawl despite the sharp anger in his eyes. “A cage is ever my first choice in accommodations, I rarely eat meat more often than once in two days, and I often go without tasting female delights which are presented me. Please convey to the Duke my thanks for his hospitality.”

“The Duke will be gladdened by the thanks of Prince Gamoy, youngest son of our lord King,” said the leader, offering a mock bow to the prisoner. “Perhaps Your Highness will consider granting the Duke an audience, during which time he might discuss certain pressing questions he would like to put to you.”

“l, too, have questions which are pressing,” said the prisoner, his tone calm with the anger remaining beneath. “For what reason have I been treated in this manner, and what has become of my men? For what reason were we fallen upon without warning at our appearance? For what conceivable reason . . . ”

“Your Highness, please,” interrupted the leader with one hand raised, this time taken with mock dismay.

“Did we not ask the reason for your presence before offering our hospitality? Did we not request the location of your father’s forces with due courtesy? Did we not inquire politely concerning the thoughts of your father in connection with the Duke? What more would you have had of us?”

“I would have had belief concerning my replies,” said the prisoner, his voice now cold as mountainous heights. “My men and I sought temporary shelter after our hunting trip, I have never asked my father’s thoughts upon the Duke, and our forces are deployed in whatever manner our generals have seen fit to deploy them. What occurs here in the Duke’s realm, that he seeks so ardently to discover my father’s thoughts and doings?”

“What occurs here or does not occur is none of your concern, Your Highness,” returned the leader, his voice exquisitely polite despite the slapping insult of his words and the smirk of a smile he wore. “I shall see to it that a truly adequate meal is brought you, and also offer you the immediate use of this slave.

Too, new accommodations will be prepared, so that you may quickly be transferred to them.”

“In just so off-hand a manner?” demanded the prisoner, his brown eyes narrowing. “For no other reason than it now pleases you to provide such things?”

“Our reason for providing such things will be more than adequate, Your Highness,” said the leader, his smirk somewhat widened. “After you have filled your belly and filled this slave, you will speak a time with the Duke and give him the answers he requests from you. Should he be pleased with your answers, your new accommodations will be an apartment filled with all the slaves you care to demand. Should the Duke find himself disappointed with your replies, however, your new accommodations will be a cell in our dungeons, handily near the precincts of our torturer. The choice, of course, will be solely yours.”

Again a mock bow was sent toward the prisoner, and then the leader gestured to the guardsman who stood to his right. The guardsman came forward, dragged me to my feet by one arm; then took me to the side of the cage where another guardsman stood with a key in his hand. The key saw to the unlocking of the cage, I was thrust inside, and then the cage was relocked, which was the thing the leader had been awaiting. He turned without further word or look, led his three to the chamber door, and departed as quickly as he had come.

“Twisted tool of a twisted master!” spat the prisoner in a low growl,. his gaze hard upon the door which had given the leader exit, his great hands closed into fists. His anger frightened me a good deal, causing me to stand trembling beside the back wall of the cage, and then the prisoner’s eyes came to me. “Heard you the insolence of the fool?” he demanded, turning somewhat toward me. “Are you able to credit such ravings?”

“He spoke lies,” I whispered, sinking to my knees, trembling even more greatly. “No matter the words you give the Duke, he will not release you. He has often boasted that never has he released a slave already enslaved, and also that never will he do so. You will be a slave for as long as you are allowed to live.”

“And such a fate disturbs you, I see,” he said, for some reason faintly amused at the observation. “I have been given a slave whose loss I should not find myself able to countenance, and will therefore speak the words the Duke lusts after, so they believe. My well known and more than often propensity for fine foods and finer females is meant to coerce me into complying with the wishes of my captors, and the slave I am given speaks truth rather than flattering lies. Have you no knowledge of who your masters are, slave?”

“My masters are yours, and this I do indeed regret deeply,” I replied, lowering my gaze. “When free my position was not yours, yet am I able to feel your loss as my own.”

“A loss you may now in some degree assuage,” he’ said with great gentleness, causing me to look up again. “You have been put in this cage to give me pleasure, therefore would I have you come to me before you are again removed. ”

“You-wish me to serve you?” I whispered, disbelieving the possibility that fate might have turned so kind. “You will not refuse me so that you might withstand their importunities?”

“I am able to withstand a great deal when once I have had my fill of pleasure.” He laughed, raising gold-braceleted arms to me. “Do you mean to force me to do no more than look upon you?”

From the moment I had first seen the prisoner, my desire for him had been great even above the forced urgings of my body. Gladly and willingly did I wish to give myself to him, and now he had indicated he desired me as well. I put my palms to the cold metal of the cage floor before my knees, crawled quickly to where he sat, then gasped with the heat rushing through me when he folded me in his arms. So broad was his chest, so strong his arms, so demanding his lips and caressing hands! I melted to him in complete helplessness, and his chuckle indicated he was well aware of my state.

“It has never before been my pleasure to have so hot a slave,” he murmured after a time, holding me to his chest with one arm the while his free hand caressed my privacy with eager anticipation. “Am I now your master, slave?”

“We both of us serve the same master,” I gasped out, attempting to touch him in every way I might. “I am the slave of another, yet I am yours to use in any manner you wish, a thing I give thanks for with every fiber of my being.”

“And yet you will not see me as your master,” he said, the amusement continuing. “You must be taught, I think, that to wear the golden bands of a slave does not make one a slave. ”

His touch upon me changed then, and so abruptly complete was his command over my womanhood that speech was lost to me, breath was lost, and nearly did consciousness join them. I had believed I knew the meaning of need earlier; the true meaning of the state was now brought home to me, and all save mewling proved beyond my ability. I clutched at the man who held me, my breasts pressed to the cloth covering his chest, my lips parted wide in disbelief, my eyes as wide and staring.

째’I am the master of any woman I use, be she slave or freed,” he murmured, putting his lips to my hair.

“Who is your master, pretty slave?”

“You, master, you, master!” I whispered helplessly, able to speak no other thing than the truth. “Please, master, have me now!”

“And so I shall,” he said with a laugh, putting me to my back upon the cold metal of the cage floor. “See that you greet my entrance with proper abandon.”

Had it been necessary to lie still or give up my life, I would not have survived the following moments.

He entered me with a thrust of metal, and thereafter all thought and volition were lost to me. He used me till my own raging need was nearly gone, spent a short time rekindling it, then put me to my hands and knees. Just as he was again entering me a number of slaves arrived with many platters of food, yet he continued to use me despite their giggling amusement. That I was still unable to resist him amused them even more, for they were serving slaves and only prepared against the possibility of a master unexpectedly desiring them. I was made to serve completely and acknowledge the prisoner as my master, and when I was at last allowed to lie belly down at the end of the service, I knew I had once again spoken the truth. Never before had I been used as the prisoner had used me, and truly had it been fitting that I call him master.

The prisoner accepted the food brought him by taking it through the bars of his cage, and once the serving slaves had gone he insisted that I share the bounty given him. Half of the meat and vegetables and breads were eaten by him, and then the balance of the serving was given to me. It had been so long since the last time I had eaten such food that I was able to do no more than taste it, which the prisoner saw yet made no comment upon. When he was done with all he wished to eat he stretched hugely, then looked upon me with bright brown eyes.

“I have just proven to myself that a tasty wench is more toothsome than a tasty meal,” he said, reaching forth to touch his palm to my face. “You are by far the best I have ever enjoyed, and I shall not allow you to stray from my side. Are you prepared for our escape?”

“Escape?” I echoed in shock, trembling more from the earlier words he had spoken. He would not allow me to stray from his side! Never had I expected to hear such a thing, and the thrill which coursed through me was nearly unbearable.

“Yes, escape,” he agreed with a chuckle and a grin, .reaching into his blue tunic from underneath. “They will soon come for me for that discussion with the Duke, and it would be wise to be gone before that even if it were not time for the thing according to my own schedule. Remain close behind me and make no sound, yet be prepared to aid me should I require your aid.”

Ibis hand then drew forth two keys from his tunic, keys which had been sewn beneath the cloth, keys which were clearly for the collar about his neck and the door of his cage. I watched in silence as he unlocked the collar and then moved to the door, keeping my questions unspoken as I had been bidden to do. Where could those keys have come from? What schedule might he be speaking of? And what aid might I conceivably be able to give such a man?

In another moment the cage door stood open and the prisoner was able to step out, therefore did I hurry to follow as I had been told to do. I surely expected him to move then to the door leading out into the hall, yet there was a smaller, less imposing door in the back of the chamber which immediately became his objective. He moved quickly and quietly to it, listened briefly, then turned to look down at me.

“There is supposed to be no more than a single guardsman beyond this door,” he whispered very low, barely breathing the words. “The guardsman is also purportedly one who considers his own comfort and pleasure before duty. If you were to go out there and beg to serve him, he would soon be too deeply immersed to perceive my departure. Are you willing to aid me in such a manner?”