Part 17
Chapter 76: Afterwards
‘Wow!’
They stumbled into an alleyway somewhere in the west quarter of the city, the alarm bells of the palace still ringing but distant now, muted and high above them.
‘That incredible!’ Maiko said, pulling down the zipper of her catsuit and fanning her sweat soaked chest, not caring that her breasts were clearly in view.
‘You were amazing,’ Ezio said to Ellie then added.‘You were both amazing.’
Ellie frowned slightly, the thrill of their adventure tempered by the intrusion of dark thoughts; the burning man in the ground.
‘What?’ Ezio caught her mood.
Ellie forced a smile.
‘That was a third storey window, not second.’
He looked at her in confusion. ‘Second...’ he said. ‘Ground…first…second…’
The logic and realisation seemed to bring Ellie back to herself.
‘What it matter?’ Maiko said. ‘We all make it out…and Honey…you fly! You Sorceress.’
‘Illusion, Maiko,’ Ellie said.
‘It look like magic to me,’ Maiko said.
They heard footsteps and a shout.
‘We’d better disperse,’ Ezio said. ‘And you need to get out of those clothes.’ He gestured to Ellie.
Ellie winked. ‘You are insatiable!’
‘Stop it you two!’ Maiko added, though she was smiling.
‘I’m serious,’ Ezio said. ‘Maiko and I can go over the roofs, there’ll be a dozen Assassins up there already.’
‘I could go with you.’
‘I think you’re safer on the ground,’ Ezio said. ‘If you fall and use that cloak again the whole city will see you.’
Ellie frowned but nodded.
‘Can we meet tomorrow?’ Ezio said.
‘No, we’ll be leaving early.’
‘Then could we…’
Ellie hugged him. ‘It’s nearly three a.m. Ezio, we’re hunted fugitives and I’m leaving before dawn.’
Ezio nodded. ‘I bought these from that Artificer you mentioned.’ He pulled something from a fold in his tunic.
‘Jewellery?’ Ellie said, seeing what appeared to be a necklace. ‘Do I look like that sort of girl?’
She felt a sharp stab of pain as Maiko kicked her in the shin.
‘They’re signalling lockets,’ Ezio explained. ‘If you crush yours, mine will respond. I’ll know you’re coming to Thoth and will wait for you in the square at midday.’
Ellie kissed him then hung it round her neck as a group of men in armour ran past the end of the alley.
‘We have to go.’
Ellie had been glad when Battle Babe had roused them just as the first light of dawn was stalking the city. She had needed to sleep but had laid awake for the hour left to her, awash with the emotions following their escape from the palace. There was the excitement of completing their mission but also the visceral fear of capture as she made her way back to the tavern. She suspected that, if caught, she would suffer more than she did at the hands of the Master of Assassins and that her night in the pillory in HomeTown would be recalled as a pleasure in comparison. However, although squads of palace guards passed her several times they ignored a big breasted whore wearing a butterfly kiss and carrying a large bag of toys. She had been shaking with a mix of fear and excitement when she had reached the tavern and was further unsettled by the rush of XPs as they pushed her over the threshold to Level 5. Then she had lain awake listening to the sound of the watch in the streets, the fear that her door would burst open and she and Maiko would be dragged to the cells for torture and punishment. She had overheard conversations too, beneath her window, mutterings of dark sorcery in the city, speculation that the Sorceress from the Tower had come west and was finally attacking Thoth. Had she come, some asked, with her red-headed bitch, the immortal warrior who was her slave and lover?
More than this there was the exultation of what she had done; not just the casting of the illusion but the power she had wielded. Several times, she had called up the images, the choices available to her, the Merchant was less clear now but the Assassin, the Torturer and the Dark Seductress had shone with a dark light. Then there was Honey the illusionist, the weaver of plots and spells, seducing the mind. After this night she was appealing but her attention was called back each time to the figure in the centre, the Dark Seductress, that face of perfect, terrible beauty and she’d looked into the darkness that resided behind those eyes and that shift of Alignment that would change the soul of her character.
It was, after all, just a game but she could become a great player within it; Legendary at least; perhaps the greatest of all Seductresses eclipsing all others, rising above the petty achievements of her fellows. When she’d arrived here in Fantasia, Battle Babe had seemed so awe inspiring but she was just a failed Adventuress, Goldie with her Tavern was no more than a brothel keeper. What had they achieved? Tabatha the Merchant with her pet elf was little more than a shopkeeper, Prospero naught but a boy playing with his magical toys. The Master of Assassins, now there was a man she could work with, he had sought her out, shown an understanding of her power, toyed with her but it would not be long before she would outdo him and he would succumb to her. Perhaps this Sorceress would be a foe worthy of her, and perhaps Honey might Seduce her too, bend her to her will.
As the Dark Seductress, she would conquer all.
Lying in the darkness, she had called for the image, ready to choose but then Battle Babe had come into the room and she had pushed the images aside.
The streets seemed to have calmed when Ellie and Battle Babe emerged from the Traveller’s Rest at dawn but they still moved carefully. Ellie had packed her Assassin’s garb and left it with the elf at reception who had exchanged them for her pink boots now repaired and polished. She was wearing them now along with the designer leather bustier and thong from Frills and Thrills. Battle babe, of course, wore her armour and carried her axe unslung. Maiko once again wore her simple kimono.
There was something different in the way their party leader had regarded her when they’d met up in reception; something Ellie hoped might be a newfound respect for her achievement but feared might be something deeper. The big warrior acknowledged them only with curt nods accompanied by a ‘Honey’, ‘Katana Girl’.
They kept to the smaller streets as they moved across the city towards the Pleasure Dome Tavern giving a wide berth to the cordon that had been placed around the palace. At this hour, especially after the disturbances of the night, they encountered few others, mostly, from the look of them Thieves and Rogues who had seen the uproar as a business opportunity.
The innkeeper of The Pleasure Dome tavern was leaning against the door jamb when they reached it, drawing on a pipe. Ellie had thought there might be difficulties getting her mother back at this time in the morning but was encouraged that the man was already up. In the dust at his feet was what she assumed to be a pile of washing ready for collection. However, as she reached the inn she saw that it was a woman restrained in a tight hogtie lying on her belly.
It took her a few moments to realise it was her mother.
Amanda was naked save a pair of knee high black toe boots and, of course, the collar Ellie had fitted. Her wrists and elbows were bound tightly together behind her back and cords were looped over her shoulders to prevent any slippage; her legs are crossed at the ankles and bound, drawn up towards her elbows; her hair was looped with cord and this ran to her bound ankles pulling her head back and holding her her body in a tight bow.
Miraculously, despite the tight bondage, Amanda seemed to be asleep.
The innkeeper smiled at Ellie as she approached and nodded a greeting Battle Babe. His eyes flicked to Maiko but he made no other acknowledgement of her presence.
‘Was there a problem?’ Ellie asked, trying to hide her unease at finding her mother in this situation.
‘Not a problem exactly.’ He tapped his foot against the shoulder of the helpless woman at his feet who grunted slightly and slept on. ‘She was a little wild; but that’s Adventuresses for you.’
‘Oh.’ Ellie looked down. Amanda’s bondage was intensely strict, she could see the way the rope bit into her flesh; her shoulders pulled back severely, the crease in the flesh of her back where her shoulder blades were pushed in towards each other, the curve of her back lifting her breasts so the nipples rested gently in the dust.
‘I’d be willing to take her off your hands,’ the innkeeper said with a wink, his voice low, conspiratorial.
Ellie looked at him in surprise. ‘Slaves are rented in Thoth,’ she said, levelly.
‘Slaves are rented by Slavers in Thoth,’ the innkeeper corrected. ‘And we both know you’re not a Slaver.’
Ellie tensed, glancing round fearing the city guard might appear at any moment.
‘She was very popular among my clients,’ the man continued. ‘Kept them very entertained.’ He tapped his pipe against the wall. ‘Especially one of my regulars. Kept her for the entire night…after she’d spread her legs for half the main bar.’
Ellie frowned and tried not to think too much about it.
‘Got really wild when he left,’ the innkeeper said almost apologetically. ‘Took a bite out of his neck. Fortunately, one of my clients is a Mage and used a Sleep Spell.’
Ellie lifted an eyebrow skeptically and crouched to look at her mother more closely. ‘Is this Assassin’s Cord?’
‘Master of Assassins was in,’ the innkeeper said, looking down at her. ‘He’s a regular…owes me a favour.’
‘Did he…?’ Ellie looked around nervously again. It really was time to get out of Thoth.
‘She was a bit beyond it by the time he was on the scene, what with the wine and the drugs and then a Sleep Spell.’ The innkeeper spat on the ground. ‘The Master of Assassins likes to hear them scream.’
Ellie swallowed.
‘Besides, sounds like he’d had his fill. Always has that glint in his eye when he’s been torturing some poor son-of-a-bitch. Went down on him afterwards like a trooper he said. Quite a pretty one this morning by all accounts. Lovely juicy...' He lifted his hands to the front of his chest to simulate playing with heavy breasts but then caught the eye of Ellie and then Battle Babe and dropped them, colouring slightly. ‘No offence intended,’ he said quickly.
‘None taken,’ said Battle Babe, looking around and hefting her axe. ‘We should move.’
Ellie frowned, paling at the memory of her treatment as the sadist’s hands then glanced down at her mother. ‘We’ll take her with us,’ she said.
‘Suit yourself.’
‘How do I wake her up.’
‘Easy.’ The innkeeper disappeared inside the kitchen door and emerged a moment later with a chamber pot which he tipped upside-down over Amanda.
Amanda’s eyes flew open, clear and blue, looking around and taking in her situation.
‘Hello Honey.’ She blinked then she wrinkled her nose. ‘What is that smell?’
‘Hi, mum.’
Amanda tried to turn her head as if looking around for something or someone. ’Am I tied up?’
‘Yes.’ Ellie forced down a laugh.
‘Ok,’ Amanda frowned. ‘Why?’
‘Don’t you like that sort of stuff?’
‘Yes.’ She grinned. ‘I guess I do.’ She tried to look around again then tried unsuccessfully to move. ‘He’s gone, hasn’t he?’ Her voice carried more than a hint of disappointment.
‘There’s no-one else here, mum.’ Ellie felt a wave of compassion at what appears to be her mother’s distress.
‘Oh well.’ Amanda gave a tiny constrained shrug then grinned. ‘Love that leather look by the way. Hot!’
‘Are you ok, mum?’
‘Never better darling.’ Amanda grinned more broadly. ‘Just need to escape these ropes.’ She began to struggle.
‘Let me untie you.’ Ellie bent and drew her dagger. ‘It will be quicker.’
‘I’d advise against it,’ the innkeeper said.
‘She’ll be fine,’ Ellie said. ‘Adventuress, remember?’
‘Your funeral.’ The innkeeper slipped quickly inside the tavern and closed the door behind him.
Ellie heard bolts ram home.
Chapter 77: Leaving Thoth
Ellie helped her mother to her feet then felt her stagger.
‘Whoa!’ Amanda reached out to the wall for support.
‘Do you wanna take those boots off?’
Amanda looked down with a puzzled expression. ‘Oh, nice,’ she said as if realising she was wearing them for the first time. ‘No, these are fine.’ She looked up again. ‘Just because you’re young and pretty doesn’t give you the monopoly on strutting around in kinky footwear.’
‘If you say so, mum.’ Ellie looked at Battle Babe and tapped the side of her head to suggest she thought Amanda’s behaviour was weird. Maiko grinned.
Amanda straightened and pushed off the wall, taking an experimental step forward. ‘There, see?’ She wobbled slightly. ‘Perfect poise.’ She held out her hands for balance. ’I can even dance in them.’ Amanda pirouetted unsteadily. ‘I danced in them all last night,’ she said, seeming to be regaining her poise. ‘Dexterity of eighteen, that’s me…and these boots add plus two.’ She danced a few steps more lightly. ‘See, dancing. Except when I was tied up, of course.’ She giggled. ‘There was quite a lot of that too. I was very good.’ She laughed. ‘At being tied up…and dancing, I’ve always liked dancing.’ She tossed back her head sweeping her hair back. ‘I danced for him.’ She looked at Ellie, her eyes sparkling, her movements changing, to become slow and sinuous, erotic. ‘It wasn’t as if I had any choice…was it, my darling.’ Amanda’s hips gyrated and she thrust her breasts forward sensually. ‘You arranged it…’ She continued to writhe. ‘My darling daughter, sold her mother into slavery.’ She pointed at Ellie, pouting. ‘You are a really, really naughty girl.’ She wagged her finger at Ellie then looked around. ‘She’s too old for me to put across my knee and spank, of course, but that’s why she needs a boyfriend…’ Amanda paused. ‘Or a girlfriend…’
Ellie looked around caught in a mix of childish embarrassment and nervousness over what her mother was saying. ‘Mum!’
‘My daughter the Slaver...’ Amanda stepped towards Ellie with her hands behind her head pushing her breasts and hips forwards rubbing her body against Ellie’s. ‘And the Seductress.’ She winked. ‘So clever... I just wish she’d find someone special…’
‘Mum!’ Ellie glanced at Battle Babe who was leaning against the wall with an amused expression on her face.
‘He told you not to untie her,’ the Warrior said.
‘Mum, you’re drunk.’
Amanda grinned and waved a finger in Ellie’s face. ‘How little the young know...' She danced away. ‘Not drunk, my darling…high. You really must learn the difference.’ She whirled on her toes. ‘High as a kite…’
‘Oi,’ a voice said. ‘What’s goin’ on out there. I’m calling The Watch.’
‘We gotta get out of here.’ Battle Babe was suddenly on her feet, weight forward, hefting her axe, alert.
‘But…’ Ellie looked at the warrior helplessly.
‘You’re on point, Honey,’ Battle Babe said. ‘Deal with it.’
Ellie hesitated but only for a moment then she punched her mother on the jaw.
‘Another Critical Strike, I’m impressed,’ Battle Babe said as Amanda crumpled to the floor. ‘You really have come on.’
‘Yes, I am getting the hang of them,’ Ellie said with a smirk as she crouched over Amanda’s unconscious form, pulling her hands behind her back and binding them before crossing and tying her ankles. ‘I’ll finish tying her later,’ she said looking up at the warrior. ‘Look, would you mind?’
Battle Babe took a step back. ‘I’m not your pony.’
Ellie stood and reached out to touch one bulging biceps. ‘But you’re so big and strong…’
‘I told you not to try that Seduction shit on me, girl!’ Battle Babe said with an air of disgust.
Ellie pouted. ‘I’ll get you one day.’
The warrior’s eyes narrowed and she scowled but she bent to lift Amanda over her shoulder. Ellie looked away to cover her smile. Perfect Persuasions left no trace.
Bu-Shi-Doll was waiting just off the main square watching the Merchants setting their stalls and keeping an eye on the guards who stood in front of the broken palace gate. Ellie tried not to meet the older Samurai’s gaze as she approached.
‘She down there,’ the Samurai said curtly pointing to a side street where a number of pony carts stood. Despite the early hour, or for those that had been revelling and needed a taxi home, several of the carts had ponies harnessed between the shafts. Others ponies were being fastened into place ready for a day's work while others were being led away. A number had clearly been left in place; among them was Val.
The blonde was on her knees, head slumped forward, asleep, exhausted, Ellie guessed, if she had been driven as fiercely as she had been when Ellie had seen her the previous day.
Ellie stepped forwards but Battle Babe put a hand on her shoulder.
‘You just gonna walk in and take her?’
Ellie turned to face her. ‘Do you have a better plan?’
As Ellie approached she took a leather driver’s cap from a post at the end of the line and put it on her head, tucking her hair up inside it as best she could. In the leathers she more or less passed for a driver, albeit it a large breasted and overtly sexy one. Taking up a whip left leaning against a wall added to the pretence.
That Val had been driven hard was obvious from the whip marks on her back and buttocks. The driver must have stopped at some point, albeit briefly Ellie realised; the blonde’s nipples had been pierced and both looked red and swollen, a bell hanging beneath each of them. She was still in full harness and bridled, her body grimy from her previous day’s labours and she was chained by the ankle to one of a series of rings set in the ground at intervals.
Ellie nodded to a pretty redhead driver hitching a dark skinned pony boy to a four seater gig. The redhead regarded Ellie cooly and winked then turned and cupped the pony boy’s balls, squeezing gently and making the restrained pony boy moan. Still holding him by the balls she began to play with one of his nipple rings.
Elle crouched and, pulling out her lock-pick, removed Val’s ankle shackle then she nudged the sleeping blonde and the woman’s eyes fluttered open. ‘Hey, princess, we’re here to rescue you.’
Val’s lips drew back in a snarl around the bit between her teeth.
‘Is that any way to greet your mistress?’ Ellie chided.
Val growled but had the sense not to bring too much attention to herself.
Beside her, the redhead was pressing herself against her pony boy, one hand on his buttocks and the other in his hair. Ellie watched as she kissed him then thrust her tongue into his mouth.
‘Up.’ Ellie stood tugging on Val’s reins. The captive Viking-come-pony stood.
Ellie turned to lead Val away but the blonde didn’t follow.
‘Play nice or mamma use the quirt.’ Ellie raised the whip enjoying the way the defiance faded immediately from the pony’s eyes. ‘Come along now.’ Ellie turned again and this time Val followed, the cart trailing behind her.
This early in the morning, there wasn’t much of a line to come into the city but there seemed an extra security presence for those leaving including, Ellie realised, with a sinking feeling, the guard who had met them on the way in.
‘What are you doing with those slaves?’ he asked as they approached the gate. ‘You said you were going to sell them.’
‘Sold one.’ Ellie said. ‘Couldn’t get a good price for the others.’
‘Never mind the slaves,’ another guard said. ‘These two fit the description of the Ninja’s who raided the palace.’
‘We’re just honest Merchants,’ Ellie said. ‘These are not the Ninja’s you are looking for.’ She added in a husky voice full of Persuasion.
‘These are not the Ninja’s we are looking for,’ the guard repeated.
Ellie heard BB stifle a laugh.
‘What’s on the pony cart.’
Ellie uncovered a snoring Amanda in the chariot, curled up bound and naked save for the thigh high toe boots. ‘Just one Adventuress who can’t hold her liquor.’
The guard wrinkled his nose at the smell rolling off the sleeping woman and waved them through allowing them to walk out into the desert taking the caravan route west.
As they left the city behind them, Bu-Shi-Doll took charge, leading the way with Maiko beside her; Battle Babe bringing up the rear, watchful for tribal raiders. Val, still Transformed, was left in harness pulling the sleeping Amazonne. Honey walked a little behind her glancing occasionally at her mother when she moved in her sleep or began to snore.
As she walked, the figures appeared in Ellie’s mind again, Honey’s future choices and the symbol of the Seductress, the rose with its exaggerated thorns and a drop of blood turning to a heart shape. They had changed again even with the Experience gained by leaving Thoth. To the left stood the Honey in Merchant’s blue; she was more clearly defined again and there was a hint of gold trim to her smooth blue silk dress; there were sacks and chests of golds as before but fewer although there was a Kristal, kneeling at her feet, collared and chained as before, nipples clamped. The Assassin with her face partly obscured by a mask was there too, the leather clad Honey, cowled and booted, with a crossbow, crouching as she aimed at her target; but the other figures were immediately behind; the spy in her cloak billowing open now to reveal Honey’s body dressed for seduction and the darker Honey now seemed to have merged with the torturer holding a branding iron with its glowing tip over the naked woman spread on a rack; the figure behind was now a queen on a throne, perhaps an empress, dark and terrible and beautiful.
The third figure was now more formed: another Honey but dressed in a translucent robe that showed a harness beneath; this one held a book in her outstretched left hand and gestured with her right, light springing up behind her.
Ellie looked at the Dark Seductress. Who would know? The path seemed so clear, so straight but the new figure called to her too. They weren’t exclusive and she knew the Dark Seductress would be there again to tempt her but, if she embraced that destiny now, she need never look back.
The illusion she’d cast the previous night came back to her, the power it had given her. Her thoughts came unbidden too, the plan to abandon Maiko and Ezio, to cast them aside, use them as she had used her mother and Val. She’d used Battle Babe too, using Persuasions to get her way; access to spells, carrying her mother, learning about the Warrior’s past. Suddenly these felt like betrayals. She’d betrayed Bu-Shi-Doll’s trust too, following her.
The Alignment Grid appeared as if in warning. It was a warning she could overcome, a little like the warning about Damage. The black to the left of the grid seemed to draw her eyes.
It was at that moment her mother opened her eyes.
‘Honey?’ she said.
‘Mum.’ Ellie was distracted and the images in her mind faded.
‘I love you, darling,’ Amanda said, then closed her eyes, falling asleep despite the jolting cart.
Ellie looked at the rest of her party again. Bu-Shi-Doll and Maiko ahead, wondering about the identity of the man the older Samurai had met. She was going to have to make amends for following the woman - if she stayed true to the party. Perhaps she should rebel - strike out on her own. The older Samurai was clearly trying to control her granddaughter but Maiko was rebelling in her own way. Ellie smiled to herself as she recalled the girl’s wide eyes at the sight of the Gordian pleasure machines. Her mother, snoring again beside her in the chariot pulled by her lover. The mother who had told her to ‘get out there and live’ but also the mother who cared for her and did all she could to protect her. She looked at Val; it had felt so good to punch the blonde, especially after she had tried to take advantage of Ellie and she wondered why she’d admitted to the Seduction; she’d known it hadn’t worked. Loyalty was a subtle thing. Battle Babe behind; Ellie recalled her failure to become an Adventuress. It was obvious why, the woman was a Warrior.
It might be a game but it was also about exploring your limits.
She knew where she was going this time; Persuasions were fun and, if she was honest, Seductions but the stunning pleasure of creating her first illusion in the Gordian palace had far outstripped these. ‘What could be more thrilling than manipulating matter and energy?’ Caliban had said. What she’d done was only Illusion but it had brought the same thrill after all, for illusion to work you had to believe it.
Seductresses read people and used their skills to bend them to their will.
Of course, Dark Seductresses did the same but Ellie wasn’t ready for that choice yet.
She reached out and embraced the way of Illusion.
Chapter 78: After Thoth
Although Val was still in harness, it was clear her Transformation was wearing off and that she was slowly returning to human form; Amanda’s weight in the gig meant they made slow progress After a couple of hours when they reached a small oasis, not much more than a muddy pool, Bu-Shi-Doll called them to a halt and told Ellie it was time to revive Amanda.
‘Your fault she like this,’ the Samurai said glaring at Ellie with as much disapproval as she showed Amanda.
‘Mum.’ Ellie crouched and shook her mother’s shoulder. ‘Time to wake up.’
Amanda opened bloodshot eyes.
‘Fuck!’ She shut them quickly.
‘Come on, mum.’ Ellie tried to pull her out of the chariot but Amanda struggled, holding on with her bound hands.
‘Too early,’ Amanda slurred.
A spray of water splashed over Ellie and she jumped back as Bu-Shi-Doll dumped a scoop of muddy water over the half sleeping Adventuress.
‘Hey.’ Amanda rolled up onto her feet with surprising agility and then fell onto her face.
‘Up.’ Bu-Shi-Doll kicked her and Amanda struggled to her knees then tried to rise again seemingly surprised by her inability to stand, a mixture of her physical state and having her ankles tied together.
‘Who tied me up?’ Amanda said.
‘Come on, mum.’ Ellie cut the cords binding her mother’s ankles, and slid her arm around her mother’s shoulder, trying to ignore the stench of Amanda’s unwashed body and the after effects of the chamber pot the landlord of the Pleasure Dome had emptied over her. She was grateful when Maiko supported her from the other side. Together they half walked and half carried her to the pool.
‘She stink,’ Maiko said.
‘How dare you,’ Amanda said, lurching dangerously and nearly falling. She looked down. ‘Wait, these aren’t my boots.’
‘No, mum,’ Ellie said looking at the thigh high toe boots her mother was still wearing.
‘Not mum. Amazonne, warrior princess,’ Amanda said. ‘And I can walk on my own.’ She shrugged off Ellie and Maiko and began to totter towards the pond herself ungainly on the boots in the sand. She made it about half way then stumbled to her knees and vomited before crawling to the pond and plunging her face into the cool water.
Maiko’s expression showed her disgust. Ellie smiled and went after her mother.
‘Ok, mum, let’s get these boots off.’ Ellie hauled her mother over onto her back.
‘Amazonne.’ Amanda protested, lifting her head and Ellie thought she might vomit but she just belched loudly.
‘Gross!’ Ellie set to work unlacing the toe boots then slipped off her own and stripped, before wading into the pool, dragging her mother with her. ‘Come on, warrior princess. Time to wake up.’ She dumped her mother into the water holding her down in the cool depths. When she struggled she let her up for air and then shoved her under the water again.
It took several attempts but finally Amanda stood by herself and waded, dripping from the pool. Her skin was mostly clean but the bruises, whip marks, rope and candle wax burns were still evident and her hair was matted. Ellie watched as her mother staggered to her knees. She waded out and crouched beside her mother pulling the tangled strands of dark brown hair away from her face and her mother vomited again.
A few yards away, Battle Babe and Maiko were releasing a glowering Val from harness. She saw the blonde glare at her and then look at Amanda before turning away in disgust. It was hard to see which of the two had suffered the most abuse but at least Val didn’t have a hangover to go with it.
‘Thank you, Honey.’ Amanda seemed to be recovering her composure. ‘I’m fine now.’
‘Sorry, mum.’ Ellie felt suddenly guilty. ‘This was mostly my fault.’
Amanda turned and looked at her, an oddly satisfied expression on her face. ’Actually, I had quite a good night.’
‘Really.’ Ellie grinned. ‘I’m a bit surprised you can remember.’
‘All that stuff about forgetting what you did is garbage. It’s just to cover the embarrassment.’
‘Yeah, I guess so.’
‘I’m hoping you haven’t got too much experience.’ Amanda retched again.
‘I’ve been drinking since I was fifteen, Mum.’
‘Yes, I suppose so.’ She shrugged.
‘So what did you get up to?’ Ellie asked.
‘A mother does not tell her teenage daughter what she got up to when she spent the night as a whore in a brothel.’ Amanda looked at her with watering red rimmed eyes but despite the physical misery there was something deeper.
Amanda rolled onto her back and lay staring up at the sky.
‘But I did have a good time.’
‘You met someone, didn’t you?’
The grin on Amanda’s pale face told her Ellie was right. ‘I might have done.’ She turned her head suddenly looking in Val’s direction.
‘It’s ok, she can’t hear us.’
Amanda closed her eyes.
‘No sleeping mum, we have a quest to finish.’
Amanda lay for a moment, took a deep breath and opened her eyes.
‘Ellie, you are ok, aren’t you?’ Amanda smiled weakly looking up at her daughter. ‘You can talk to me, you know.’
‘We always talk, mum.’ She didn’t need Honey’s perception to tell her this was something important to her mother.
‘I’m just worried about this...' Amanda gestured toward her. ‘Those…’
‘Don’t you start…’ Elle said, wrapping an arm over her bare breasts.
‘Start what?’
‘Val’s been ogling my breasts since we got here and when she ties me up she can’t keep her hands off them.’
A flash of anger crossed Amanda’s face. ‘I think I need to have more words with her.’ She started to rise but Ellie saw a wave of nausea hit her.
‘Don’t mum. She’s...’ Ellie was again unsure why she was defending her mother’s lover.
‘I’m not talking about Val, I’m talking about you…Honey that Seductress character.’
‘What about me?’ Ellie was struggling to understand her mother’s apparent random comments.
‘That body…your need to be…to be...' Amanda moaned. ‘All that sex you’ve been having.’
‘You’re the one that told me I needed to loosen up.’
‘Yes but...' Amanda gestured to Honey’s obscenely sexualised body.
Ellie felt a surge of anger, the teenage Ellie behind Honey surfacing and preparing to storm off as she might have done in the real but she cast off the feeling with ease.
‘It’s just so…slutty.’
Ellie took a deep breath. ‘Says the woman who’s spent the night being a whore.’
‘I didn’t mean...' Amanda started to say wearily. ‘It’s just…’
‘Mum, I don’t do it for anyone else. I do it for me... You’re right, Ellie is too uptight, that’s why I wanted to be Honey. VR trips are a chance to explore stuff, try new things. There wouldn’t have been any point in coming in as me. I just thought it would be cool to be…I don’t know…the cheerleader type...' Ellie grinned mischievously and lifted her hands to cup her breasts jiggling them up and down. ‘Do you like my body?’ She sang as she played with her breasts. ‘Do you think I’m sexy? Do you want a piece of this?’
Amanda turned away and vomited again.
It was late-afternoon when Bu-Shi-Doll called them to a halt. They’d moved out of the desert, the bulk of which lay to the south, back into scrubland and had come across the remains of an old abandoned fort. They put down packs and bags and were passing round water canteens when Battle Babe called them together.
‘I wanted to thank you all for your efforts last night.’ The huge warrior smiled. ‘Particularly Honey and Katana Girl.’ She flourished the last piece of the wand.
Amanda, recovered now, clapped her daughter on her shoulder. ‘Well done, Ellie. You too Maiko.’
Ellie touched her hand. ‘Thanks mum,’ she said warmly. ‘But I’m Honey, remember?’
‘Oh yes.’ Amanda looked at her and grinned.
Other than the boots, the Adventuress was still naked and, as far as Ellie could tell, seemed to have completely forgotten this fact.
‘We need thank Ezio too,’ Maiko said.
Amanda looked at the two girls, clearly noting something passing between them. ‘Who’s Ezio?’
‘He’s an…he’s someone I met in Thoth,’ Ellie said. ‘He helped us get the last bit of the Wand.’
‘And…’ Amanda looked expectantly.
‘And nothing.’ Ellie knew she was blushing and tried to steer the conversation away from Ezio. ‘Mum, are you going to stay naked for the rest of our time here?’
Amanda looked down. ‘Oh, I forgot,’ she blushed.
‘Just as well I picked up some clothes for you.’ Ellie said, feeling a slight thrill at having thought to do this.
‘That was very thoughtful of you, Honey.’ Amanda said.
‘You’re gonna look so hot!’ Ellie said.
‘What…?’
‘If we could turn our minds from fashion...’ Battle Babe interrupted with a hint of irritation.
They watched as the party leader joined the three pieces of the Wand together and held it up. The swollen section at the top from the Vampires that looked like a Greek helmet, the original middle section that the Kristal had given them and the bottom section from Thoth with its two round swellings not the side.
Ellie frowned. ‘It looks like a dildo.’
‘Ellie…I mean Honey.’
‘Oh, Mum. I’m a Seductress,’ Ellie said. ’I...' She’d been about to say “I know exactly what it is”.’
‘This is Fantasia X, remember,’ BB reminded them.
‘How we use it?’ Maiko asked, her eyes wide.
‘You really want to know,’ Honey said. ‘I can give lessons.’
‘Honey!’ Amanda’s rebuke was harsher this time.
‘Careful, mum. I’m way higher level than you.’
‘Honey,’ Battle Babe warned sternly.
‘Sorry.’ Ellie felt herself blush. ‘So, Beeb, how do we use it?’
BB gave a slightly forced laugh. ‘I was hoping our all-knowing Seductress could figure it out.’
‘Ok.’ Ellie shook her head then held out her hand. ‘May I?’
‘Be my guest.’ Battle Babe passed the object to her. ‘Just make sure it’s clean when you give it back to me.’ She winked at Ellie who despite her advancing levels blushed even more furiously in front of her mother.
Ellie held up the phallus, examining it As far as she could tell it was anatomically correct. ‘It’s some sort of protection, right?’
‘Wards usually are Battle Babe,’ said sarcastically.
‘What do you know about Sister Stephania?’ Amanda asked.
‘She was a nun who was persecuted for her religious beliefs during the Rule of the Mage Lords,’ Ellie said. ‘Apparently, she was stripped and then whipped through the streets but the next day there wasn’t a mark on her. They tried to drown her but she wouldn’t drown, so they burned at the stake, only she didn’t burn.’
‘Very good,’ Battle Babe said.
‘I’ve got it figured out,’ Ellie said with a smile. ‘I’ll look after this.’ She slipped the phallus into her satchel.
‘And you were right about the Sorceress,’ Battle Babe said. ‘The Council of Thoth were nervous when she moved into the tower but actually she didn’t cause them a problem. Then things started to go wrong; demands for tribute, the withering of crops in the outlying villages, deformed livestock, the usual stuff; and the red-headed warrior ambushing travellers. They want us to sort her out.’
‘Took them a while to get round to it,’ Ellie said. ‘Hasn’t this been going on for years?’
‘Oh, we’re not the first,’ Battle Babe said with a mischievous smirk.
‘What happened to the others?’ Amanda asked.
‘You probably don’t want to know but they didn’t have the Wand of Warding which should in theory turn our Sublimed Sorceress into an unarmored bitch with a dagger.’
‘What about Warrior?’ Maiko asked. ‘We have to fight her?’
‘Hmm.’ Battle Babe nodded, sighing. ‘That might be trickier.’
‘But you can take her, right?’
‘She’s a Sublimed Warrior, elite fighter,’ Battle Babe said. ‘I’m good but I’m not that good. However, she’s been enslaved by the Sorceress so if we, meaning the fighters in the party, can keep her amused while others take out her mistress, there’s a chance.’
Amanda glanced across at Val to assess her reaction and was surprised to see a dark scowl on her face. She was back in her armour but still showed evidence of her abuse as a pony girl, including the bruise on the side of her face where Ellie had punched her. She looked, Amanda thought, as if she was about to punch someone herself.
‘Can someone get this fucking collar off me?’ the Viking said, suddenly.
Battle Babe glanced at her, frowned and then beckoned her over. Amanda watched as the Warrior positioned Val’s head to one side as if examining the collar then, in a move she could barely follow, the Warrior hefted her axe.
‘What…?’ Val paled as Battle Babe brought the weapon down, cleaving the lock and stopping an inch short of the blonde’s shoulder. The collar sprang open with a metallic click and Amanda fingered her own.
‘Fuck!’ Val staggered back, suddenly pale.
‘You wanted it off.’ BB grinned shouldering her axe. ‘Any other takers?’ She looked at Amanda.
‘Actually, I rather like mine,’ she said, ‘I’m a submissive, remember?’
‘Could have fooled me.’ Battle Babe said, her eyes lingering for a moment on Amanda’s naked form. ‘But if you change your mind, you can get our Seductress to use her Thief skills and pick the lock if you don’t trust me.’
‘No, really.’ Amanda fingered the shiny metal band around her neck, thinking of Luci. ‘I want to keep it.’
The thought of Luci made her body tingle in a way that had nothing to do with XP.
Chapter 79: Hubris
Ellie looked at Bu-Shi-Doll standing to one side. Like Val, she was not looking pleased. She had been mostly ignoring Ellie all day between occasional angry glances. Ellie stepped away from the circle of congratulation and approached her. The Samurai regarded her expressionlessly.
‘Gomen nasai,’ Ellie said. ‘I’m sorry.’
Bu-Shi-Doll continued to stare at her.
Ellie swallowed feeling suddenly nervous where a moment before she had felt in control of the situation.
‘I shouldn’t have followed you,’ Ellie said as clearly as she could.
‘No,’ the Japanese said. ‘You should not. Bu-Shi-Doll’s business her own.’
‘You...' Ellie didn’t know what else to say. She knew almost nothing about this woman and wondered why she had stalked her, pried on her. It was, she realised, childish curiosity and something of a desire to prove herself to Battle Babe.
She wondered suddenly how the woman had known she was there.
‘You stumble in alley as you jump down from gate,’ Bu-Shi-Doll said as if reading her thoughts. ‘You breasts, too large. They pull you down.’
Ellie gaped at her.
‘Very sloppy,’ the Samurai continued.
‘I still have a lot to learn,’ Ellie said. ‘It is my first time here.’
‘Hai.’ The Samurai nodded.
‘The tea ceremony was very beautiful,’ Ellie said, meaning it, but then realising that this was more of an admission.
Bu-Shi-Doll looked at her.
‘So precise, practiced. It must have taken a long time to learn.’
‘I train with tea master on two trips.’
‘Would you teach me?’
The Samurai regarded her for a moment.
‘Neh.’
‘Why not?’
‘You gain your XP from flirting and fucking. You neglect fighting training. You have limited fighting skills and you not even develop them.’ She glared at Ellie with such a frightening intensity that she took a step back. ‘You just silly girl. Like Western girls, frivolous.’ She paused. ‘Maiko idolise you for some reason.’
‘I got the last piece of the wand.’ Ellie protested, upset and angry - angry she realised in the way she would be with her mother for such a comment.
‘You get it with help from Katana Girl.’
‘We’re a team,’ Ellie said. ‘We have different skills.’
‘And what if Katana Girl need your help?’ Bu-Shi-Doll’s expression changed. ‘What if she in trouble?’
Ellie thought about the previous night of her plan to abandon her friends wondering if Maiko had told her how she’d got hold of the last piece of the wand.
‘I...' Ellie paused, thinking. ‘I’d use seduction…or magic.’
‘In this world, it sometimes comes down to fight and you must be ready.’
‘I can fight.’ Ellie’s anger erupted inside her. ‘I used Illusory magic last night too…’
She stopped remembering the man on fire, screaming.
‘And how often you manage to do that?’ Bu-Shi-Doll laughed. ‘You need weapon and can barely hold dagger.’
‘I can.’ Ellie pulled her dagger from the sheath on her thigh.
‘You draw on me?’ Bu-Shi-Doll said coolly. ‘You want fight.’
Ellie sensed the quiet all around her, all eyes on her and suddenly she was no longer Honey, the 5th Level Seductress but teenage Ellie again with a need to prove herself, unable to back down.
‘Yes,’ she whispered quietly.
Bu-Shi-Doll’s eyes flicked towards Battle Babe and for a moment Ellie thought, perhaps hoped, the big warrior might intervene but something seemed to pass between them as the Samurai returned her gaze to Ellie. Then, keeping her eyes on Ellie, she pulled her tanto from her obi then crouched and placed the sword on the ground.
‘Come at me.’ Bu-Shi-Doll stood.
‘This is razor sharp,’ Ellie said waving the blade. ‘I sharpened it last night.’
‘Then you be careful not to hurt yourself.’ The Samurai shifted her weight subtly. ‘Ready?’
It was over in a moment. Ellie lunged and a moment later was on her back with her wrist bent so painfully and so far over that it felt like it had been broken and the dagger lay on the ground.
‘Owwww!’
‘You lose your weapon.’ The Samurai released her ‘What you do now?’
Ellie struggled to her feet and reached into her hair taking out the knuckle dusters. Bu-Shi-Doll smiled and nodded approvingly. ‘Not honourable but resourceful.’
Ellie slid the knuckle dusters onto her fists and lifted them in front of her.
‘Your hands too low,’ Bu-Shi-Doll said. ‘Up, up.’
Ellie lifted her hands and felt a blow to the stomach seemingly before the Samurai had moved. She flew backwards, landing heavily on her back, winded, a sick feeling telling her she had just taken a point of Damage.
‘You fight dirty. I fight dirty,’ the Samurai said. ‘Up.’
Ellie climbed to her feet but before she made it she took another kick to the belly.
‘Hey.’ Ellie sprawled in a tangle of blonde hair.
‘Up.’
She rolled and climbed quickly to her feet, her fists up in a move that her body seemed to know.
‘Ah, yes.’ The Samurai stepped in to punch her and Ellie stepped to the side knocking the woman’s arm aside with her fist.
‘Yes.’ Bu-Shi-Doll attacked again and Ellie danced away.
‘Not get too cocky.’ The woman dropped into a spinning sweep that left Ellie on her back but she sprung to her feet again and took up her guard.
They continued to spar, Bu-Shi-Doll moving around her probing her, launching an attack and allowing her to counter and, slowly, Ellie felt her responses becoming more natural as her Assassin fighting skills began to consolidate themselves. The steady trickle of Experience told her she was progressing. It wasn’t easy fighting with her breasts bouncing every time she moved and she remembered Maiko’s comments about her being top heavy. She soon realised she was panting hard, her skin flushed and shining with sweat. It was, she thought, quite strange that Ellie was fit and quite agile, Honey on the other hand might have skills but was limited in other ways.
‘Now the dagger again,’ the Samurai said as they stood facing each other.
‘Are you sure.’ Ellie couldn’t help but smile as she bent to pick up the dagger. ‘I have my own skills.’
‘But you not Samurai.’
‘No but I can do this.’ Two more Ellie’s appeared, each armed with a dagger, each with a shadow.
Bu-Shi-Doll looked surprised. ‘More trickery.’
‘Yes, more trickery.’ One of the Honey’s said and a frown crossed the Samurai’s face.
The three Honey’s moved around her feinting and lunging, crossing through each other then they struck together. Bu-Shi-Doll spun, sweeping the legs from beneath one, disarming and grappling another as she kicked out at the third.
Unng.’ Ellie struggled in the wrist lock again, the pain of it replacing the pleasurable rush of XPs she had just felt. ‘How did you know?’
Bu-Shi-Doll laughed.
‘You sweating.’
‘We were all sweating.’ It was true, each of the Honeys had been flushed and sweating.
‘But I not smell the other two,’ the Samurai said then released Ellie. ‘But you learn quickly. Must consolidate skills.’
There was a subtle change in the Samurai’s demeanour, not something Ellie would have noticed but Honey sensed it.
‘Thank you, Doll-Sama.’ Ellie dropped to her knees. ‘Thank you for teaching me.’ She bent forward as she had seen Maiko do, placing her forehead on the ground.
‘You are welcome. Honey-San,’ Bu-Shi-Doll said. ‘Now give me hand.’
Ellie was puzzled but dutifully held out her hand.
In a movement she barely saw, Bu-Shi-Doll pulled a dagger from her obi and sliced Ellie’s palm.
‘Hey!’
‘We duel to first blood,’ the Samurai said. ‘That, first blood.’
Ellie felt chastened.
‘Now Maiko stake you out for night.’
Ellie looked up in surprise. ‘Did I not train well, Doll-Sama?’
‘You train well but you draw on party member, you be punished.’ The Samurai looked towards Maiko. ‘Katana Girl, bring stakes, you bind Honey after we eat.’
‘Are you ok?’ Amanda asked, squatting down beside Val.
The blonde had not shown much interest in Honey’s lesson from the Samurai. Close up, Amanda could see her lover’s back was covered in a mesh of red welts, a mix of the whip and chaffing from the harness; she still had a large swollen bruise partially closing her left eye too where Honey had punched her with the knuckle duster the day before.
‘What do you think?’ Val growled looking over towards Ellie where she stood watching as Maiko hammered in the four stakes that usually held the Japanese girl for punishment.
‘Ellie’s just having fun,’ Amanda said, laying a hand on Val’s arm.
‘I’m not sure the rest of us are.’ Val shook Amanda’s hand off. ‘I was used as a fucking pony and then had to go down on some fat wanker who nearly choked me with his cock.’
‘Val... I mean Mistress. If it helps, I am enjoying this. I’m glad you persuaded me to come. Would you like me to speak to Ellie?’
‘No.’
Amanda shuffled closer. ’Would it help if I took the rope out of my pack later and you practiced your knots?’
Val looked at her, a glimmer of excitement in her steely blue eyes. ‘It might.’
‘Here.’ Amanda produced a tub of healing balm and Val dipped her fingers into the sticky paste then rubbed it onto her eye.
‘Would you like me to do your back?’
Val leaned forward lifting her hair while Amanda knelt up behind her and undid the chainmail bra.
Chapter 80: Make-up Sex
After they’d eaten Amanda took the rope from her pack and dropped it beside Val. She was still naked save the toe boots. Val looked up at her. The blonde’s frosty mood had thawed a little and Amanda thought she saw the faint hint of a smile. It was nearly dark, the stars appearing to light in a cascade above them and in the part of the sky opposite a large silver moon glowed low on the horizon casting moon shadows on the walls of the old fortress.
The fortress reminded Amanda of her day training with Luci at the start of their adventure and then of her meeting them again in Thoth. She smiled at the tingle this brought to her body. Her hangover had gone and she had washed but though she’d healed Val’s wounds she hadn’t applied and healing balm to herself and found a pleasure in tracing her fingers over the various welts and marks that covered her body recalling Battle Babe’s comment about facing the consequences of your actions here in this fantasy world and realising with a smile the concept cut both ways.
She wondered if much of her life had involved facing the consequences of her actions; bringing up Ellie alone after she’d thrown Lucius out; the abandonment of her own dreams to ensure she kept a roof over their heads. She’d worked in a variety of menial jobs, mostly administrative and mostly for men who took advantage of her. She’d thought, hoped when Val took her on that it might be different but now it seemed the same only the submission was more overt, the bondage real. The sex was great, of course, even if it was largely on Val’s terms. Their relationship had rekindled her pleasure in bondage and submission. However, it felt like a long time since she’d thrown off her cares and just enjoyed the moment without worrying about tomorrow. Here in Fantasia was just like those days when she went to those festivals.
‘Knees,’ Val said.
Amanda looked down.
‘If Valkyrie wants to tame this Adventuress, she’ll have to catch her first,’ Amanda said, dancing back but when she turned she saw that Val hadn’t moved. ‘I mean it, Mistress.’ She gestured to Amazonne’s body. ‘If you want this, you’ll have to come and take it.’
Val stood somewhat stiffly and picked up the rope.
‘Here!’ She growled. ‘Slave!’
Amanda knew she should capitulate and that to do so now would placate her lover but she was here to enjoy herself too. She took a few steps backwards. ‘Catch me if you can.’ Amanda turned and ran toward the nearest section of wall looking back again and was relieved to see that Val was following her.
It seemed easy to jump onto the broken section of wall and scramble to the top then balance as she almost skipped along it. She looked down to see Val staring up at her with an angry expression.
‘Come on, Mistress.’ Amanda slid her fingers into her hair and ran them through it as she swung her hips. ‘Surely you want a piece of this.’ This body, her body, was a glorious, desirable body, a body that had enchanted the denizens of The Pleasure Dome and, aside from the boots it was on full view. It was, she thought, not unlike the body of the young Amanda, save for the larger breasts; she had even had thinner calves then too.
‘Just come down, by Thor’s hammer,’ Val said, then cursed at the way she’d been forced to use a character based expression and not her own words. ‘Unless you want a fucking thrashing.’
‘Naughty, naughty!’ Amanda chided. ‘If you want this, you have to come and get it.’ She cupped her breasts and then teased the nipples.
Val put her hands on her hips.
‘Alright, I’ll make it easy for you.’ Amanda leapt to a lower section of wall and dangled a booted leg down. ‘Catch me if you can.’
Val ran at the wall and jumped almost catching Amanda’s foot.
‘Not bad.’ Amanda teased, running and jumping to an isolated pillar. ‘Maybe if you took off that heavy mail, you wouldn’t be so slow.’ She gyrated again. ‘Come on, I’ve got mine out.’ She played with her breasts again.
Below her, Amanda saw Val look around to see the others watching. BB and Bu-Shi-Doll stood with their arms folded while a little further away Maiko knelt beside Ellie midway through tying the Seductress spread eagle between the stakes.
Amanda pirouetted. ‘I’ve got nowhere to go, Mistress. All you have to do is come up and get me.’
‘Or you could come down.’ Val folded her arms.
‘Alright. You asked for it.’ Amanda leapt towards Val and landed on her knocking the Viking to the ground. She had the element of surprise and for a moment, Amanda thought of using a Feat of Strength to overcome her mistress but knew that Val was not in the mood for any more disobedience. She let the blonde roll her over and come out on top, kneeling astride her. ‘So, Mistress,’ she pouted, stretching her arms above her head to allow herself to be bound. ‘How do you want me?’
She hadn’t expected the slap that knocked her head to the side and made her ears ring or the fist in her hair.
‘I want you to be fucking obedient.’ Val growled, climbing off her and yanking her to her knees by the hair. ‘To be the good little slut I pay you to be.’ Val dragged her to where she’d dropped the rope.
Amanda tasted blood in her mouth and felt a sudden fear, aware that Battle Babe and Bu-Shi-Doll were exchanging glances.
‘Mum.’ Ellie was struggling to release her right wrist which Maiko had already bound.
‘It’s alright, Honey,’ she called, aware of the unsteadiness in her voice. ‘It’s just a little…foreplay.’
She knew it wasn’t. She was feeling the same as she felt when she’d thought Val had tried to grope Ellie or Honey or whoever she was trying to cop a feel of. Val pushed her to her knees and snatched up the rope and Amanda slid her hands behind her back allowing herself to be bound even though she found she didn’t really want to be.
‘Mum!’ Ellie called, almost succeeding in dragging the stake to which her right wrist was bound out of the ground.
‘It’s ok, Honey,’ Amanda called. ‘I’m fine. Val and I just need a little time alone.’
This seemed to relax the tension and she saw Battle Babe and Bu-Shi-Doll turn away although the big Warrior glanced back at her as she walked towards the far side of the fort. She heard the sound of hammering and saw Maiko banging in the stake Ellie had almost pulled out of the ground.
‘Your mum and Val play rough sex games,’ Maiko said.
‘I think there was a bit more going on,’ Ellie said. She was lying on her back now, arms and legs spread bound by ropes. ‘Hey, is this assassin’s cord?’
‘Hai,’ Maiko said proudly. ‘I buy in Thoth. I Ninja Assassin.’
‘I’ll be careful.’
‘I not harm you, Honey-san. You Maiko’s friend.’
‘And yet, here I am lying on my back with my legs apart and my wrists and ankles bound.’
‘You very helpless,’ Maiko said. ‘Like when you in pillory. What it like?’
‘You’ve been staked out often enough, Maiko.’
‘No, Honey,’ Maiko said with exasperation. ‘I mean what happen to you in pillory.’
‘Oh.’
‘Mage visit you,’ she said in a low voice. ‘Mage from tavern.’
‘Caliban?’ Ellie squirmed slightly. ‘I really didn’t have any choice, you know.’
‘Maiko know. She sorry she upset before. But you have magic sex, neh?’
‘You really like him?’
‘He very handsome.’ Maiko looked up at the stars. ‘Maiko like older men.’ Then she looked down at Ellie. ‘Actually, Maiko not really know. She never done sex. Maybe Maiko like girls.’
‘Maybe you do.’ Ellie shifted in her bonds and looked up at the little oriental. She hadn’t meant anything other than the need to make herself more comfortable but Honey had other ideas. Even spread on her back there was a way of moving, a way to draw the eye.
‘Maybe being with girl more fun,’ Honey said, moving to lift her breasts slightly even as her eyes were drawn to the gap in Maiko’s kimono where it hung open displaying firm brown nipples.
‘Maybe.’ Maiko reached out and played gently with Ellie’s right nipple. ‘Maybe it easier. Maybe girl know how to touch girl.’
‘Maybe.’ Honey shifted again, arching her back, her need rising.
Maiko looked down at her and then leaned over. Their lips touched for a moment and Maiko gasped then pulled away.
‘Maiko must go.’ The girl stood up quickly and turned away, stumbling back towards the camp.
In the darkness Amanda’s fingers groped blindly for the knots. The tight hogtie with its knotted crotch rope and the cords around the wonderfully large breasts of the body she had in this world would normally have excited her; another night in tight, delicious bondage submissive and helpless to the whim of her mistress. Val had been rough with her, very rough; her body had taken two points of Damage and Amanda had almost used the safe word that her mistress had once given her, although she’d been unsure if Val would remember it or even listen. However, Amazonne’s body was able to take so much more intense bondage and punishment than Amanda would have endured in the real; even this hogtie would have left her begging for release in just a few minutes, her joints and muscles tortured by cramps and the bite of the ropes. Amanda would certainly not have been able to spend the night like this although it was clear that Amazonne could.
However, tonight she did not want to be in bondage.
Working quietly, she twisted her wrists against the coils that bound them and picked at the knots of the cords around her ankles with her fingertips. She had often wondered if she could escape when Val used ropes on her but had never tried. In fact, in the real, she tended to lie as still as she could to reduce the chaffing marks left by the ropes that took days to heal. In the real, there were others, co-workers, who might see the rope burns on her wrists and ankles; might notice her stiff movements or her reluctance to sit after a particularly harsh spanking that left her bottom blistered. There were some days when it was an advantage being the boss’ PA; on the days when her body was particularly battered she tended to remain in the office in case the long sleeves of her blouse slipped up and betrayed her secret. On other days, careful choice of her wardrobe was sufficient, although Val sometimes dictated what she was to wear, making her turn up to the office in a short dress with no stockings, her arms and legs exposed, forcing her to display the marks of her submission not just on her wrists and ankles but on her calves and thighs and her arms and sometimes even across her shoulders and chest. Usually braless (and knickerless), the effect of a night with her breasts bound and nipples clamped was obvious to anyone who paused to look, her nipples standing out bullet hard and unbearably responsive to the slightest provocation. On those days too, she was forced to scurry into her office, shutting the door and staying there, unable to escape until her coworkers had left for the day. It was on those days that she knew she’d be called through to Val’s office and that their bedroom games would be played out across Val’s desk or with Amanda under it.
Here in Fantasia there were no such considerations; Healing Lotion could take bruises away so it didn’t really matter if she had rope burns or whip marks or indeed any other signs of her submissive nature.
Satisfied, she was close to her goal, albeit with chafed wrists and a pussy drooling from the rub of the crotch rope she squirmed away from her lover and mistress to allow her to move more freely, rolling off the blanket they shared, the damp grass cool on her bare skin, turning over several times belly to side to back and side again using the slope to help her until she reached her own gear. Then, using her teeth, she drew one of her swords as quietly as she could and began to squirm away from the camp on her belly. Despite her urge to escape she could not help but enjoy the bondage a little, the hilt of the sword in her mouth like a gag, even as she fought to escape. Val was good at binding her, knew what a submissive needed; tight, secure restraint, the play of tension in the sub’s body the constant, teasing of the knotted crotch rope, the pressure on her breasts, the rub of cord on her slave’s erect nipple.
It was almost enough to make Amanda want to turn round and wriggle back, to press herself against her lover, to ask her forgiveness and beg to be teased and used like the submissive slut she was or, perhaps, she could just to lie where she was squirming until she climaxed, ignoring the call she could feel inside her.