Marri's Approach (Brackish Bay) (13 page)

She laughed, a cruel laugh, and pinched my lower lip. I ran my tongue against her fingers, and she smiled at me.

“What a little wanton you are. Master, I want to play with her.”

My second spanking stopped abruptly, and I shivered with the throb in my nates and the volcano in my cunt.

His voice was rough, but he was far more in control of himself than he had been previously. “Stephanie, you still deserve a spanking for loosing her in the first place.”

“Surely you jest. She was recovered in time. She's proven the guards at this outpost are observant and quick witted.”

I heard a round murmur of approval, and realized I'd forgotten we were still in the middle of a guard building.

“You disobeyed a direct order,” he said.

“I didn't. You only ordered Jacqueline to stay away from her, not me.”

She was digging a deeper hole deliberately, and I wondered why. Though his temper seemed less uncertain now, he was dealing with a known quantity.

“You damn well know better than to let one of my prisoners loose.”

Suddenly, she was contrite. “I'm sorry, sir.”

“Gods, you're such a brat.”

She walked around the table and took her place over it, next to me. Her eyes fluttered closed, and then blinked open again. He lifted her skirt, picked up the sword belt again and began to whip her. She was just as gorgeous as Michala had been when she was spanked, but Stephanie was more so, to me. She'd walked straight into the punishment purposefully, as a way to save her—what? Lover, friend, slave, wife? I didn't know what Jacqueline was to her, but it was obvious she cared for her deeply. She grunted and clawed at the table, bucking until Roy slapped a hand on the crest of her buttocks and pressed down, forcing her hips to stay still while he whipped her with the belt.

I admired her strength. I couldn't see Jacqueline anymore, but I wondered if she realized just how much Stephanie had spared her. I lay still, watching her cry and flail and fuss, dramatic and beautiful. He whipped her systematically, and when he finished, his fury was spent. He rebuckled the sword belt around his hips, the scabbard back on it, and turned to the man who'd come into my cell earlier.

“Devon, Jacqueline needs a thorough spanking, as well. I don't have time to give it; I have to see what this one is about. But Jacqueline ought to know that my word is law in this House, and if she forgets it so easily, maybe it's time for her memory to be refreshed.”

Devon answered, humble and relieved. “Yes, sir. Of course.” He caught a handful of Jacqueline's hair and pulled her to standing, then they left the building.

Stephanie was weeping beside me. I stared at her tears, wondering what it would taste like to kiss her now. Her lips turned up, and then she reached for me. Her hand smudged over the tears on my cheeks, tangled in my auburn hair, and then she was sliding my face closer, sliding
me
closer—but that was it. We touched noses, and I made an inarticulate protest. She sneered through her tears.

Fortuna, she's a bitch like you.

Roy leaned over us, caught me by the ropes holding my arms behind my back and her by the scruff of her neck. “You two. Sit down and stay out of the way.”

He dropped us into chairs by the wall, and we both squeaked in protest at the impact of wooden seat on our roasted buttocks. The rest of the night was spend dozing in hard chairs while Roy and the more senior soldiers went into another room and discussed information, strategies, all sorts of things I usually ignored. Fortuna, I'm not much for the details. Point me at a target and let me go.

At times there was only one soldier in the first room where we were, alternatively keeping one eye on the gate and one on us. When he wasn't watching, I leaned on Stephanie, and she permitted me to do so. Gradually I sank lower and lower until my head was pillowed on her thigh. I can smell her arousal, Fortuna. And she was stroking my hair.

“Such beautiful hair for a terrible brat.”

I wasn't sure if she intended me to hear the murmur or not, but I answered, anyway. “I'm not a brat. I'm a soldier.”

“Oh?”

I wanted to shock her, scare her. “I kill.”

She continued to stroke my hair. “That's nice.”

I knew she did it on purpose, but it needled and made me angry. I twisted away from her, but it was difficult in my trusses. She tugged me back down to her lap and tightened a fist in my hair. Her voice beside my ear was savage.

“Keep a mind on who and where you kill, or you'll find yourself on the wrong side of a blade.”

I snarled back. “I have kept a mind, thank you very much. I swore to William I would not harm a one of your citizens, and I have not!”

She yanked on my hair to focus my attention, and I whimpered. “Good. Keep it that way, or you'll have more than William to contend with.”

“Who could be worse to disappoint than William?”

“Tobin. Roy. Me.”

I half-shrugged, intending it to pique her this time. “What could you do to me?”

She chuckled, a nasty sort of sound. “You obviously don't know me.”

Fortuna, why does that send even the tiniest thrill of fear through my spine? And why does that, in turn, arouse me?

The night wore on, and eventually we both slept, leaning on each other like puppies. The dawn light gradually shone in my eyes, and I flinched, startling her awake. We pushed away from each other.

I hurt. No one had released my limbs yet, and I was afraid they'd lose circulation if it lasted much longer.

“Stephanie?”

“What?”

“My hands are cold.”

She frowned at me and began checking the pulse points. “Your hands feel fine to me.”

“Please? I'm so stiff.”

She nodded, and began unfastening me. The newest soldier at the post found himself watching us as she painstakingly untied one knot. Then, impatient, she removed a blade from an inside pocket and cut the ropes the rest of the way. He cleared his throat when the bits hit the floor.

“Please, uh, Stephanie? I don't know if you uh, were aware, but the prisoner is not to be allowed a chance to escape.”

She glared at him. “She won't.”

The hell I won't, Fortuna.

Chapter 8

She told me to stay put when food was brought to the guardhouse, and I obeyed. Fortuna would see to the turning of the wheel. I ate the porridge with fruit and nuts, grateful for her generosity in both feeding me well and leaving me unbound. The guard kept sneaking glances at me. The tunic they had originally given me in the dungeon was soft and worn, and as such clung to my curves. Every once in a while his eyes widened in appreciation of Stephanie, but there was circumspection there that wasn't in his looks at me. Interesting.

She stood close to the guard. “Make sure Marri stays put while I go check on our master.”

He glanced at me. “Of course.”

She went into the other room, and I stretched, slowly, deliberately. My ankles were still locked together, but my arms were free again. The young man eyed my tits as they pressed against the tunic.

I smiled sweetly at him. “Can I sit closer to you?”

“Uh, sure.”

He patted the chair beside him. Fortuna, that's a green soldier as will get a whipping when Stephanie realizes how quickly he forgot her instruction, if she actually has the power to order him. I wonder if she does?

“Thank you.” I sat next to him and looked out the window. “Roy wields a nasty belt, doesn't he?”

“I, uh, wouldn't know.”

“Well, he does.”

I squirmed for emphasis, and his eyes were drawn to the tops of my thighs, visible under the tunic's short hem, and to the dull red marks where the belt had partially wrapped around from the back to the sides of my thighs. I leaned back, pretending I didn't notice his eyes following the curve of my inner thighs when I propped one bare foot on the ledge under the window. He stood up and began to pace, carefully checking out each of the windows. I stayed put, leaning back in the chair and sinking into the continuous throb in my ass and legs. It was more than enough to keep my arousal level high, and I wondered what it would be like to be fucked by Roy. He was big, heavily muscled, and solid. I wondered if his cock would follow suit or contrast. It was hard to know; some did, some didn't.

I found myself fantasizing about Stephanie's mouth, the way her cruel smile turned me on. And then I sat up straight and gave myself a shake. I am not here for my pleasure, Fortuna. I'm here for the betterment of the House. Stephanie hadn't come out yet. I wondered why Roy had spent the night here, when there was an army practically on their doorstep.

And then I saw them. A pair of enemy scouts moved stealthily though the forest. The guard was eying my thighs again. I opened my mouth to warn him, but then I saw the strangest thing.

There was movement to the scouts’ flanks. They were extremely hard to see, so difficult I hadn't noticed them the entire time I'd been watching out the window, not until they started moving. I stood up and leaned close to the window, and then the guard noticed, also. He grinned, pride in his people suffusing his expression.

“It is rare to see them in action.”

“Who?”

“Watch.”

As we watched, the silent ones came closer to the scouts, and before either scout could shout a warning, they were dead. Most of the action played out behind the trees, and I longed to have a better view. The silent ones faded into the forest again, and even I couldn't track them. I breathed a sigh of awe and pleasure.

“How many of them are there?” I said, and he shrugged. “Your master must have a most deft touch, to command such ones.”

“He does.”

“What are their orders?”

“To kill any enemy scouts that pass within a certain space of our territory.”

Hm, Fortuna. I wonder what they think of me. I've been passing quite often through the outskirts of their territory.

Stephanie returned. “Blake! I told you to make sure she stays put!”

He grimaced. “I'm keeping an eye on her.”

“She's not one of ours, not yet. She shouldn't be seeing things, listening to things that don't concern those who aren't part of our House.”

“I am not your enemy,” I said.

She caught my jaw and tightened her nails into my skin until I winced. “That remains to be seen.”

“It's
been
seen! I could have killed dozens of yours by now.”

“And you'd be dead, yourself. What would have been the point?”

“I would not be dead.”

My certain tone belied the creeping curiosity as to whether or not I really would have survived this long, not knowing about his silent ones.

She snorted. “Get her ass back to the dungeon.”

Blake looked around. “My lunch relief is in another hour. I'll take her myself, then, or I can call for someone else if you want her gone now.”

“Take her yourself when you’re relieved.”

Fortuna, I was hoping she'd say so.

“Sure thing.”

She swept out.

For a long time, Blake and I sat watching the quiet forest. I found ways to move closer to him until we sat with our thighs touching. I wondered what Roy was doing in the inner room, but my first priority was escape. I began to lean on the young man, my hair tickling his face when I rested against him.

He touched my shoulder. “Marri, why don't you just surrender? Become one of ours? I could look out for you, if you did. If you don't, you'll be run through the regular system, and one of the judges will decide what happens to you, whether you'll stay here, or be sold, or what.”

I looked up at him through my lashes. “You would do that for me, Blake?”

He blushed, my breath on his warm skin. “Yes. I would like to do that, very much.”

I looked down. “I didn't think anyone would want to care for me. I have been alone for so very long.”

He touched my chin, and lifted my eyes to his, then his lips brushed mine. I felt my libido stir. He was no governor, but he was available, and he wanted me. I reached for him, running my fingers through his thick hair, and then I shifted towards him, swung my knee over his and straddled his lap. The cuffs on my ankles kept me perched precariously, so I leaned forward to keep from pressing too hard on his thighs. I purred against his jaw and then fitted myself against his chest.

He kissed my mouth, hard, and then wrapped his hands around my waist and set me back from him. I landed on the ground with a thump on my sore bottom, and he smiled.

“Nice try,” he said. I blinked up at him with innocent eyes. “My post means more to me than a momentary bit of pussy. Later.”

I sulked. It is rare, Fortuna, that a man does not return lust for my attention. I drew my knees up so I could fiddle with the lock between my ankles. If the short tunic showed off my vulva, well, he wasn't interested, so it didn't matter, did it? Now the lock. It wasn't a combination lock, so I'd have to either find a key or break it. It was small. I couldn't break it with my hands or even my feet. Maybe I would be able to break it with a sword? I wasn't sure what sort of metal it was. I examined the leather cuffs. Maybe they would rip or cut before the metal would.

I looked up to see Blake looking at me, so I smirked, and switched my fingers to my cunt, where I began to trace my slit and rub lightly on my clit. I moaned softly, and let my head fall back, heat suffusing my body. He jerked his gaze away.

Time came for his lunch break. Another soldier came in to relieve him. Blake jerked me to my feet, holding me at arm’s length. Fortuna, it would be far easier if I could just kill the poor bastard. We marched conspicuously down the road towards the dungeon. If I get locked in there again, my record is blown. I need to escape
now.
I scanned the buildings and people. Surely Fortuna would leave
something
in my path.

The wheel turned. I passed close by a fruit vendor. He'd left a sharp paring knife on the edge of his stall while he tended to a customer, so close I was able to palm it. Blake continued to refuse to look at me, so pretending to stumble was not difficult at all. Cutting the leather without cutting my skin was a little harder, but I managed to saw one cuff more than halfway through before Blake jerked me to my feet again. I flipped the blade backwards towards my wrist so I wouldn't cut him, but the handle in my fist solidified my strike when I slugged him. Broken nose, for sure, but not killed.