The story also kinda ties into my Perils of the Magic Realms story so [mention]Caesar73[/mention] [mention]Mineira1986[/mention] [mention]ninterz[/mention] [mention]Sergioo[/mention] and [mention]TimChimp[/mention] may be interested in it.
Chapter 1
Ferine, the famous, or infamous, thief known in the whole continent found herself doing what was usual to her, stealing something. Of course she wasn’t stealing something without meaning or value, neither was she looking for something to steal, she knew very well what she had to steal and what value it held.
“Mpghgg” The noblewoman who Ferine was robbing groggily moaned from her bed.
“Oh, you’re awake” Ferine said as she kept rummaging the wardrobes looking for her prize “I’m sorry about the whole tying you up and gagging you thing but I can’t really have you making a mess while I steal your stuff can I?”
“Mpghg!” The woman moaned again, now with an angrier tone.
Ferine’s victim was a young woman, probably in her early twenties, of slender figure, fair skin and long blonde hair, Ferine couldn’t really say which was the color of her eyes since she had her blindfolded and she had caught her asleep when she tied her up.
“Oh don’t worry, you don’t have much that can interest me besides one little thing that I’m sure you wont even feel the absence of” Ferine said just as she caught a glimpse of what she was looking for “Judging by your occupation I don’t think you get much time for these things”
Again the woman complained under the cloth placed over her mouth which muffled her complaints and she also struggled against the blankets which Ferine had used to bind her spread eagled in her own bed.
“Don’t be so mad, now that I got this I’ll just leave and let you go, not without a little catch of course”
Ferine could see the woman tense up as she sat on the bed besides her, she clearly didn’t believed her and still thought that Ferine had some worse intentions, she didn’t cared much, she knew very well that she wasn’t lying.
“I know you think that I wont just leave, that if do that you would just have me caught and I can’t have that of course” Ferine said as she ran her hand over her victim’s abdomen “But don’t worry, that won’t happen, and to show you how confident I am about it, I’ll even let you see my face”
Ferine removed the black cloth from over the woman’s eyes, she could see how she slowly adapted to the light and how her eyes, who she soon found out to be green, quickly ended up fixed on her, the thief sitting besides her on her bed.
The woman saw Ferine and analyzed every detail, thinking of everything she could say when describing her to the authorities. Athletic but slender figure, perfectly highlighted by her black leather armor which seemed to be nothing more than a glorified catsuit, short raven black hair which didn’t reached her shoulders, pale skin dark brown eyes.
All Ferine did in response to the woman’s analytical gaze was smile, she knew very well what she was doing, it wasn’t the first time she had seen someone do it, and she knew that it wouldn’t work.
After Ferine had enough of gloating over her victory she took out a small bag out of one of the pockets on her belt and showed it to the woman, who looked at it with confusion.
“The plants inside this bag will make you fall asleep in a few seconds after you inhale their smell, an elvish secret a friend taught me” Seeing how her words caused the woman to start struggling and moaning under her gag she continued “Come on, I swear they don’t do anything else, now just inhale them and lets be done with this”
Despite her struggles, it was only a matter of time before the woman inhaled the deep mint like scent of the plants inside the bag, and just like Ferine had said she immediately fell asleep.
Ferine then untied one of her hands and left the room through the window, just like she had entered it. She looked at the moon, it had barely moved since she had broken into the house, she had plenty of time to leave the city before anyone would start looking for her.
A few days after Ferine found herself camping out nearby the locating of her next big hit, the castle of baroness Zada, a dark stone structure built atop a hill overlooking dense forests, which perfectly hid Ferine’s encampment which she had built atop a tree.
Making use of a spyglass Ferine studied every move the guards made during the day and the night, she had already stolen the blueprints of the castle so that wouldn’t be an issue, the rest she had time to investigate.
The baroness living inside that castle was in possession of an ancient relic of immense value which Ferine would gladly sell for the ludicrous amounts of gold some offered for it, but to do that she first had to get her hands on it. Thankfully for her she knew where to find it, the necklace she was looking for was hidden, like all of the baroness’ valuables, in a vault deep below the castle, and since it was there Ferine considered getting her hands on some of the other treasures whiles she was at it.
But of course she didn’t planned to go right in, after all the place was a literal fortress, protected by a moat, high walls and guarded day and night by armored and armed guards, so although Ferine liked to think that she could perform such a move she didn’t wanted to risk it.
So instead she waited for a chance, and that chance came in the form of a part the baroness would be hosting in a few days, a party for which she had stolen the entrance just a few days ago.
So when the day, or better said, night, of the party came, Ferine made her move. She walked over to the road leading to the castle and while hiding in the bushes beside it she put on a red dress over her leather armor, and with her invitation in hand she proceeded to walk towards the main gate, appearing to be just another guest.
Never having seen the face of the actual guest, the guards at the gate allowed Ferine inside with no further questions after she showed them the entrance she had stolen, and just with that she ended up in the party.
The event was being hosted in an opulent ballroom that didn’t looked anything like the dark exterior of the castle, despite still having its dark feel, it was far more elegant than it was scary or intimidating.
While she pretended to be just another guest Ferine investigated her surroundings, the gates besides the ballroom were open so she could leave for a more secluded place anytime she wanted, she just needed to wait for a moment when nobody would be paying attention to her.
And that moment came when the baroness decided to make her appearance, for a while Ferine was forced to pretend to care about the party when she interrupted by the announcement of the host’s appearance, so while all looks turned towards the baroness’ balcony Ferine walked away through one of the doors that lead away from the ballroom.
With everyone going to greet the host, the hallways were mostly empty, but it didn’t took muck time before Ferine came across her first obstacle, a guard. But that wouldn’t be an issue.
Before turning a corner and carefully remaining out of his field of vision Ferine removed her black dress, which from this point onwards would be more of an annoyance than an any help, now she was just only clad on her tight black leather armor, but she had one use left for the dress.
Still with the element of surprise, Ferine used the rather large dress to engulf the unsuspecting guard who didn’t reacted in time and fell to the floor after Ferine kicked him down, and to ensure he wouldn’t cause any trouble while she was working she knocked him out.
Despite her black suit, Ferine liked to think of herself as a white collared thief,so she went on without causing any more harm to the guard who she considered to be just on her way and not her actual enemy.
With no more obstacles in the way Ferine kept walking like if nothing had happened, years of experience had taught her that doing that was the best way to remain stealthy. But as she walked away from the unconscious body she heard something that made her turn back immediately.
“Help!” Yelled a maid who had apparently observed the whole scene.
Ferine immediately ran towards the maid, who tried to escape her but wasn’t aided by her heeled shoes which caused her to fall, an opportunity Ferine took to get a hold of her.
“Come on, shut up! There’s no need for this to be so hard!” Ferine said as she pinned down the woman and tried to cover her mouth.
Seeing how her threats didn’t got her anywhere, Ferine opted for a more violent solution and retrieved one of the three daggers which hung from her right thigh and laid its edge against the maid’s neck.
“I have no intention of hurting you but if you don’t shut up...” Ferine raised her gaze away from the maid just before she finished that sentence, and when she saw what she had before her she decided not to finish it.
Apparently the maid’s screams were even louder than Ferine thought and had already alerted the guards, and a big number of them blocked the way forward. She did what came instinctively and looked the other way only to find the same sight, more guards.
“Give up, we have you surrounded!” One of the guards said, confirming what was already obvious to Ferine.
Had she been less scrupulous, she might have tried to use the maid as a hostage, but not only was she against that but she also knew very well that a maid wasn’t a very good bargaining tool against a bunch of guards.
“Fine, I give up” Ferine said as she reluctantly let go of the maid and threw away her dagger.
She raised her hands and saw guards move towards her, ‘it’s been a while since I’ve been captured huh?’ she thought to herself as the guards forced her hands behind her back and began to bind her.
First her arms, they are folded behind her back, forearm against forearm and then put in a tight boxtie, further enhanced by roped running around her chest, above and below her breasts. She didn’t opposed any resistance, she knew it would be of no use and she didn’t wanted to waste time or energy in pointless conflicts, so she calmly allowed herself to be tied up by the guards who she no longer could see, because they were quick to put a black blindfold over her eyes.
Her legs were left untied but the reason why was clear even before the words “Start walking” came out of one of the guard’s mouths.
Chapter 2
Ferine was happy not to be blinding by light when she managed to remove the blindfold that covered her eyes, she instead found herself in darkness, and considering that she wasn’t seeing much before her eyes immediately adapted to it and came to recognize a scene which wasn’t too unfamiliar to her. A dungeon.
The surface she was sitting on turned out to be a wooden bench which was attached with chains to the cold stone wall which served as a backrest, the only light that filled the room came from a small opening in the big wooden door that was the only entrance to her cell, and which was covered by iron bars for good measure.
“Charming” Ferine said lowly, knowing that most likely her words wont be heard by anyone.
Even with the little visibility that there was in the room Ferine could clearly see that there was nobody there aside from here, which she thought was for the better, the cell didn’t had space for many people.
But it wasn’t like she could move much inside, because of course after throwing her inside the cell, bound and blindfolded, the guards hadn’t taken off a single rope off her, quite the opposite in fact.
When she was first captured only her arms and upper body were restrained, engulfed by a tight chest harness of hemp rope, but when the guards no longer needed her to walk they tied her legs, above and below the knees and at the ankles, tight enough to ensure that they would be of no use for her. And if like that wasn’t enough she was tied to the wall behind her by a rope which left very little slack between her back and the cold stone, practically making so that she couldn’t stand up.
“At least they didn’t gag me right?” Ferine spoke to herself, not really afraid of her situation.
“But we’re still on time to do so, so be quiet!” A female guard barked from the other side of the door.
“Oh, sorry, didn’t knew you were out there” Ferine jokingly apologized before going quiet.
As her actions showed, Ferine was anything but scared. Although getting captured was definitively out of what she had planned it was certainly something that could be taking advantage of, even though they had taken away the blueprints from her she could still remember that the dungeons were not so far from the vault were she was going in the first place, so getting captured might had saved her some work.
So with an unexpected calmness for the situation Ferine began to inspect her situation in detail, the weaknesses on the knots, any sharp objects she could use to cut herself free, anything that the guards had forgotten to take away from her, turns out they weren’t as careful as they thought they were.
But Ferine’s analysis was interrupted by the door being opened and a guards coming into the room, she couldn’t see much of them until they lit a torch which hung from one of the walls, the light, although initially blinding, was enough to allow Ferine to see what was unfolding in front of her.
The guards made way for someone, and judging by their martial attitude it was someone important who turned out to be none other than the baroness herself.
She stood before Ferine, looking down on her with a smug grin on her face. She was tall, taller than Ferine although that didn’t meant much. Her black hair was held in a bun behind her head and the suit she was wearing was a mixture of black and red, just like the big cape which fell from her back, black on the outside, vibrant red on the inside.
“Well if it isn’t the legendary thief herself” The baroness said as she bent forward to take a closer look at her prisoner “Ferine”
“Seems like I’m more famous than I realize” Ferine said.
“Indeed you are, and I’ll have you know that it is quite an honor to have the legendary thief herself captured in my dungeons”
“Enjoy it while it lasts then” Ferine said with a smile on her face.
“What is that supposed to mean?” The baroness asked, holding back her anger.
“What do you think it means?” Ferine asked almost mockingly “That you won’t be able to enjoy this forever, hell I doubt you’ll have much time to enjoy it at all”
“Oh, so you think you’re going to escape?” The baroness asked, irritated by the arrogance in Ferine’s words.
Ferine merely nodded in response, not a word spoken, her grin saying it all.
“Oh really? And what makes you so sure?”
“Let’s just say that I’m the type of girl who has trouble staying still for too long, that’s why I’m always on the run” Ferine replied, her tone not having changed one bit “And the people who try to stop me from doing that by tying me up and throwing me in dungeons like you don’t usually succeed”
Ferine was perceptive enough to see that she had irritated the baroness, but also to see how she hid it from her afterwards.
“Huh, we’ll see about that” The baroness said as she began to walk away from the cell “Guards, keep an eye on her! Lets make sure that we’re the ones to break her streak of escapes”
With that said the baroness left the room, and so did her guards, who slammed the door behind them and locked Ferine inside. Ferine was just as calm as when she had first awaken, she had not a single doubt in her ability to escape this imprisonment just like she had escaped every previous one.
But she needed to give her captors some time to lower their guard first, she knew that now they had every eye on her to make sure that they were the ones to put an end to her thieving career, but she also knew that this wouldn’t last long, after all it wasn’t the first time she had been told that ‘this is the end’ and that ‘there will be no escape from this’.
The guards hadn’t been thorough enough when frisking her, so when the time came she would be ready to cut herself free and then stealthily force open the lock to the get out and collect her prize.
But her daydreaming about what she would do after she was done with this job came to a halt when the silence outside her cell was interrupted by someone loudly complaining. It was a woman who judging by the tone of her voice wasn’t very happy about what was happening to her.
“Let me go! You can’t do this!” Ferine heard from outside her cell, all accompanied by hard steps on the stone floor.
There was still some time left until Ferine felt comfortable with her escape so she decided to pay attention to what she heard outside the cell, but even after doing that she was surprised when the woman seemed to stop at her cell’s door.
The heavy door was opened and in came the woman who was so loudly complaining outside, although she didn’t came in out of her own free will. Like Ferine, she was tied up, and two guards were carrying her inside.
The guards harshly threw her down into a bench just like the one Ferine was sitting on. Since it was in front of her Ferine could see the guards tie the woman’s legs although not with the same care they had tied hers, ‘figures’, she though, that woman didn’t look nearly as capable as her.
Her delicate figure and features, her long blue dress and her long blonde which was loose, too much of an inconvenience for a theif, not to mention that trying practically anything in those heels she was wearing would be a sentence to falling.
After tying her legs at the ankles and knees the guards stood up, ready to leave the room, all while the woman kept voicing her complaints very loudly to a point which was beginning to annoy even Ferine.
“Wait!” The female guard who had been standing at the door this whole time stopped her two companions.
The guards stopped and looked at her, all she did in response was hand them a ballgag.
“If you’re going to leave me with that loud woman at least have the decency of gagging her” She requested.
“Wait... no no! It won’t be necessary! I will swear I’ll stop screaming!” The woman begged as she saw one of the guards come in with the gag.
“I think it’s too late for that now” Ferine said to her, knowing how futile it was to request anything from her captors.
“You should listen to her” The female guard said.
In the end the woman ended up gagged, with the ballgag locked behind her teeth and tightly buckled behind her head all of her complaints became silent.
“Don’t give me that look, it wasn’t me who got you gagged” Ferine said in response to a less than flattering look her fellow captive gave her.
“Shut up or you’ll be gagged too!” The guards shouted from the other side of the already locked door.
Having enough with just being tied up and not having much to say, Ferine decided to comply and keep waiting, but with a cell companion her captivity had certainly gotten more interesting.
Ferine kept looking at the small opening on the wooden door, she could feel that the woman was trying to get her attention, but she didn’t cared, she had a goal in mind and that woman wouldn’t distract her from it.
Time passed by and even Ferine, who had gotten captured and tied up plenty of times, was starting to feel the strain the ropes caused on her body, and that was the signal she needed to know that it was time to start her escape.
She subtly twisted her hands and fingers behind her back until she got a handle of something, her tiny hidden knife which was concealed under one of her gloves. Once she had it in hand she made quick use of its sharp edge and began to cut herself free.
“Mpghg!” The other prisoner mumbled in surprise.
Ferine was immediately alerted and moved herself forward, holding her knife against the woman’s neck and pressing her index finger against her lips, giving the woman a very clear message, ‘shut up’.
Seeing how the woman had understood, Ferine proceeded to cut herself free from the ropes around her legs and then she stealthily knelled in front of the door, with her head at the exact height of the keyhole.
Under the woman’s incredulous gaze Ferine took a tiny lockpick which was hidden inside her boot and got to work with it. Years of experience meant that she made no sound while she forced the lock to open and in a matter of minutes the door was no longer locked.
Ferine looked behind and gave her fellow prisoner a smile before she began to slowly open the door, which despite its weight didn’t made much noise while being opened. Once there was enough of an opening for Ferine to squeeze through she left the dungeon. The woman who was left behind inside the cell wondered what was going to happen, but she received her answer very quickly.
“What! How did you escaped!?” The woman heard from the other side of the door.
But she didn’t hear any response, instead the guard’s question was followed by the sound of a heavy blow, and then the easily recognizable sound of someone falling to the floor.
Outside the cell Ferine had knocked out the guard with ease, she took the dungeon keys which hung from her belt and then, knowing that she couldn’t leave her there to wake up and then tell everyone what had happened, she began to drag her inside the cell.
The woman inside the cell saw with incredulous eyes how Ferine dragged the big woman who once was their jailer into the cell and using the ropes with which she was tied up just a few minutes ago, Ferine began to tie up her once captor.
“Mpghghg!” The woman tried to get Ferine’s attention once again, hoping that since there was nobody to hear her now, she wouldn’t get angry at her.
But she received no attention from Ferine, who kept tying up the woman with enough care to make sure that she wouldn’t get out anytime soon. She tied her wrists crossed behind her back and pinned her arms to her chest with ropes that ran below her breasts, she then tied her thick legs at the ankles and knees, not sure if the ropes which once held her were going to be enough to hold that bear of a woman.
Ferine rolled the woman’s limp body over and looked at her face, she was still asleep but there was still something missing, even though the dungeon was pretty secluded from the rest of the castle she didn’t wanted to have that woman scream and drive too much attention to the cell. The only problem was that she had nothing to gag the woman with.
“Mpghgh!” Again the imprisoned woman tried to get Ferine’s attention.
Apparently her attempt was successful, because Ferine leaned closer to her and began to unbuckle the ballgag which was muffling her requests for attention.
“I’ll be needing this” Ferine said as she moved over to gag the guard.
The woman worked on her jaw, which ached after being gagged for so long, and looked at Ferine as she gagged the guard.
“That was awesome!” The woman congratulated Ferine “I thought we were never going to escape!”
“What do you mean by we?” Ferine asked as she turned to look at the woman “Last time I checked all I have to do with you is that we were put in the same cell”
“Okay, okay! I get it...” The woman replied, intimidated by Ferine “I just thought that since you wanted to escape, and I want to escape, maybe we could help each other out?”
“Oh really? And how are you going to help me?” Ferine said with a great emphasis on the ‘me’ part.
The woman moved backwards as Ferine leaned forward, realizing that she may not have a satisfying answer to that question.
“Hell, why are you even here?” Ferine asked, more about of curiosity that anything else.
Finding the question easier to reply, the woman cleared her throat and began to explain.
“Well, you see.. I’m not exactly a guest at this party” She explained.
“Well neither am I, but I don’t really care” Ferine replied without any interest.
“You see, I’m here because I’m investigating someone”
“Get to the bottom of it will you? I don’t have much time and you haven’t given me a single reason to untie you”
The woman snorted, clearly not happy with Ferine’s attitude towards her mission but knowing that at the time she was the only chance she had of escaping.
“Ugh, I’m investigating the baroness because she’s suspected of being a vampire okay?”
Ferine was left a bit perplexed, she had received her answer but she found it so unexpected that she didn’t quite know what to make of it.
“And how’s that going to help me?”
“Because I’m a mage, otherwise I wouldn't dare take on a vampire, don’t you think you could use some magic?” She asked Ferine.
“Sure you are, got any proof of it?” Ferine asked, finding the fact that this inoffensive looking woman was a mage hard to believe.
“I can, but you know mages can’t use magic while restrained right?” The woman posed “So I guess you’ll have to untie me to see”
Chapter 3
Still not very sure of what she was doing Ferine untied the woman, beginning with her legs, then her chest and finally her hands. Once she was untied the woman began to rub her wore wrists and stretched her back, but Ferine had no time for that.“Don’t too used to it because if you lied about being a mage those ropes are going back on” Ferine warned her.
“Okay, okay!” The woman said as she stood up “What do you want me to do”
“Anything, just prove to me that you’re more valuable with me than inside this cell”
“Okay...”
The woman then began to utter some words in a language Ferine could only recognize because she had heard other mages speak it. She expected the woman to do something simple, light up a candle, create a small gust of wind or a tiny illusion, certainly she did not expect what she ended up doing.
Since she had lowered her guard Ferine was late to notice that her legs were being quickly wrapped by the ropes which once tied the woman, when she noticed it was too late, and with a gentle push from the woman she fell back onto the bench.
“What do you think you’re doing!?” Ferine chided “Untie me right now!”
“Well I thought you wanted me to prove how I could be useful, don’t you think you could make use of something like this?”
The ropes kept creeping up Ferine’s body like snakes and soon they would reach her arms, and not wanting to waste anymore time by turning the situation into a fight Ferine decided cede.
“Fine, I think this can be useful, we can work together” Ferine sighed.
“Yes!” The woman celebrated as she immediately ended the spell.
Ferine got up and shook the ropes off her body, she still wasn’t eager to work with that woman but getting rid of her seemed like it would be more trouble than getting her tied up again.
“I’m Sybil” The woman introduced herself as she extended a hand towards Ferine.
Ferine walked past the woman and out of the cell, seemingly ignoring her completely. Instead she went towards a table outside the cell were her equipment had been laid out, and were she began to suit herself for the job again.
“Better not to say your name out loud when you just escaped” She replied “You never know who they’re going to tell”
“But you don’t know if I lied” Sybil said as she walked out of the cell.
“I like how you think” Ferine said as she grinned at the woman “But I know you didn’t”
“Well it isn’t like I don’t know your name” Sybil replied “The guards were really loud and proud about putting me in the same cell as the legendary thief Ferine herself”
Ferine sighed as she covered her blushed face with the palm of her hand, apparently her popularity had grown a bit more than she would have liked to the point that she had become some sort of mythical being, and hearing her name and title from this woman’s mouth made her cringe.
“Guess I’ll have to take a break after this one then” Ferine said as she resumed walking “This fame isn’t really what I wanted”
Not being able to understand why Ferine was so apparently mad about being so widely known, Sybil kept on walking behind her, only realizing that she had no idea what she doing when they reached what seemed to be the dungeon exit.
“What exactly are you doing?” Sybil asked as Ferine began to inspect the door’s lock.
“I’m here to rob something, something very expensive” Ferine replied as she began to lockpick the door “Maybe if you help me we could do a split, you know, like a 10 90” She chuckled.
“I’m sorry but I’m not here for that” Sybil replied.
“Great, more for me” Ferine said as she opened the door, which lead to a seemingly endless dark stone hallway.
“But we can still stick together for a while right?”
“Sure, just don’t get in my way” Ferine said as she left the room and walked into the darkness.
The hallway was seemingly endless and was also empty, Ferine concluded that most of the security must be taking care of the party which would be of great help to her, and seeing how there was nobody around to hear them she decided to inquire her partner in crime about something.
“So, how does someone like you find herself investigating a supposed vampire?” Ferine asked almost mockingly.
“Well, my family used to be vampire hunters back in the day, so when I heard rumors in the magic academy about a vampire I became intrigued” Sybil began to explain “At first I didn’t believed them, after all I thought that vampires were no longer a thing, but as I began to investigate things began to get darker...”
“Darker? Like what?”
“Apparently the surroundings of this castle are stalked by a lot of monsters which vampires are fond of, like wolves and giant bats and spiders” Sybil replied “People from the surrounding towns tells stories about loosing their memories of whole nights, waking up dizzy and with fang marks...”
“Well if there really was a vampire don’t you think they would never wake up?” Ferine asked, not really believing anything of what she was being told.
“That’s what intrigues me the most” Sybil replied “But I suspect that the baroness is keeping them alive for a reason, what that reason is i’ll figure it out here”
Ferine held back a chuckle, to her, Sybil seemed like she was too full of herself and had gotten into trouble for a problem that she had made up in her mind, but since she considered her story interesting she decided to entretain her.
“And if she really is a vampire, do you really think your magic is going to be enough to take her down?”
“I hope so” Sybil replied with a shaky voice, seeming scared by the thought of the baroness being stronger than her “I have been practicing spells and...”
Ferine covered Sybil’s mouth, preventing her from talking and pushed her and herself against the wall. Sybil was initially scared but she quickly realized why Ferine had done it as two guards came into the hallway from around a corner and walked past them, apparently on their way to the dungeon.
‘This is bad’ was a thought that crossed both women’s minds as they saw them. Ferine was still thinking of how to stealthily deal with them when Sybil began to move her hands on a strange pattern, which Ferine recognized as a spell, but of which kind she couldn’t say.
A dim green light came out of Sybil’s hands for a brief second and then both guards fell onto the floor, completely limp. In her surprise, Ferine let go of Sybil’s mouth and just stared at the guards.
“Don’t worry, I just put them to sleep” Sybil explained “So we better keep going”
“You’re proving yourself to be far more useful than I thought” Ferine saw as she resumed walking “Its a shame you don’t want to work with me, I’d even reconsider the split”
“Sorry but no, I came here with a mission and I’m going to fulfill it” She explained “But maybe you can work with me...”
“Sorry, not happening”
Taking out the guards ended up being helpful as they were carrying the key that lead out of the dungeon hallway, and once out they were out of the grim underground of the castle and back into its more ornate and luxurious part.
“The vault is not very far from here” Ferine said as she looked towards were she needed to go.
“And the proofs of this woman being a vampire should also be very close” Sybil said.
“I guess here’s where we part ways then”
Without much else the two did as Ferine said and walked away from each other, it wasn’t a very climactic separation, but it was better than Ferine expected. Considering that at first she didn’t wanted to even release Sybil the outcome of it was certainly better than she expected.
Ferine sneaked her way through the castle halls, hiding behind columns, corners and furniture every time someone crossed her way, because although her capture hadn’t been too much of a hindrance, she didn’t doubted that getting caught again could end up worse.
And after forcing another door to open she finally found herself atop the stairs leading down the vault. She closed the door behind her as to not arise any suspicions and began walking downstairs, into the darkness.
At the end of the tunnel was yet another door, this one far more ornate and eye catching than the reinforced wooden slab that covered the entrance, this clearly was the last thing which stood between her and the treasure, and she couldn’t wait to get it open.
So Ferine got to work, she took her tools and began to work on the lock, only to find out that it was already open. That made sense to her, the other door was already locked, although that hadn’t stopped her, so having this one be open didn’t struck her as weird. But like always she kept an eye for everything, knowing very well that any misjudgment could land her back in the dungeon cell.
On the other side of the room laid the treasure, gold that shimmered under the light of the candles and so many of it that it was simply dispersed around the room’s floor, piled in huge amounts with no organization whatsoever. What was organized was a set of relics, lavish looking items posed atop marble stands and covered by a glass box as to protect their perfect yet delicate state.
And among them Ferine saw what she was looking for, the platinum necklace engraved with a precious ruby. Satisfied to have it already withing her stealing range Ferine began to check for any security measures that could get in her way, but there were none.
Ferine’s surprised was shoved away as Ferine simply blamed the lack of security measures on the baroness’ arrogance. Seduced by the prospects of all that she could get after stealing that precious item Ferine carefully removed the glass case around it and prepared to finally take it.
But as soon as she laid a finger on the necklace she came back to her senses, the lack of guards, of traps, of alarms, it all should have told her something, that she was walking straight into a trap! But it was too late now, she had walked herself into a dead end and she was beginning to pay the prize for it.
Like if it was defending itself from being stolen, the necklace emitted a powerful energy current that flowed through Ferine’s body, freezing her in place and making her grunt out of pain. She told herself that she should have known that there was something magical about that object, otherwise it wouldn’t be so valuable, but again, it was too late for that.
As Ferine faded into unconsciousness on the floor she saw a last glimpse of reality before fading away, a pair of black heeled boots walking into the room and stopping right before her.
Chapter 4
Ferine began to slowly open her eyes. As her gaze accommodated to the light of the room she began to make sense of where she was and what had probably happened to her.
The room was far from a dungeon, white marble walls, and a red velvet floor which would put even the most luxurious rooms to shame. Ferine also found herself not chained to a stone wall but instead bound spread eagled on a large and comfortable bed, a position not to different to the one she had tied her victims in the past.
Her restraints were soft ropes tied tightly to the corners of the bed, very different from the coarse bindings she had been put in before, but that didn’t distracted her from the fact that she was again, captured.
“Hghmph” Ferine grunted involuntary as she tugged one of her restraints only to found out that it had been made tightened by her struggle.
Ferine’s mouth was also considerably dry, which Ferine blamed on the knotted cleave gag she had on her mouth, which despite being rather soft had the apparent capacity of absorbing all of her salvia.
But Ferine wasn’t scared, in fact, she was almost relieved. When she was knocked out she feared she would find herself chained, stripped or caged, any position that would have made her escape more difficult that before, but instead she found herself like this, still tied up but nothing she hadn’t been put through before.
So she got to work, apparently those who had captured still had work to do when they tied her to the bed because it didn’t took her long to realize that she still had her hidden dagger in her glove, and with it cutting through the soft ropes binding her wouldn’t be a problem at all.
But just as she began to try to get the dagger the door before her opened, and in came the baroness.
With her black cape flowing down her back and a smile on her face she walked into the room, her heels clicking against the floor with every step, until she was right in front of the bed, and therefore, right in front of Ferine.
“Didn’t you hear what I told you?” She asked “I am going to be the one to break you streak of escapes”
Ferine glared at her captress as she watched her sit down onto the bed and begin crawling towards her.
“You know, for me its really an achievement to have you here” The baroness said as she caressed Ferine’s leather clad legs “To know that the legendary thief Ferine that caused so much trouble met her end at my hands fills my heart with pride”
“Mpghgh” Ferine grunted, more repulsed by the baroness’ touch than by her words.
“But due to the unfortunate circumstances I can’t just have that, even though it is more than enough for me” The baroness began to crawl atop Ferine until her face was just above her prisoner’s “You know what I want don’t you”
Ferine didn’t knew exactly, she had an idea, but she didn’t really cared, she had bigger problems, mainly getting out. But thankfully the baroness’ position gave her just the best chance of doing that. With her eyes so fixed on hers she could focus on cutting herself free without worrying about the baroness seeing her.
“Oh don’t pretend not to know, I know very well that the legendary thief is anything but dumb” Zada leaned her face closer to Ferine’s “Just tell me, where is she?”
Just as the baroness uttered those words Ferine freed her hand and was ready to use her weapon against her captress, but she was surprised when she felt a hand pinning her recently freed wrist to the bed. She looked aside and saw the baroness delicate hand effortlessly pinning down her arm, and when she looked back at Zada’s face she saw her smugly grinning.
“I’m sorry but I don’t have time for that” The baroness said without easing her grip one bit.
“How!?” Ferine angrily spouted between grunts.
“Well its supposed to be secret, and I think that girl may have spoiled a bit of the surprise for you” The baroness said “But since I plan to end your career here anyway I may as well answer you”
Ferine couldn’t believe what she was hearing, was Sybil right?
Zada opened her mouth and inside Ferine saw what she was told to expect, but never actually expected to see. A pair of pointy canines adorned the baroness white teeth.
“I have a feeling that you know what these are for” Zada said as she pointed at her teeth “But why don’t I show you?”
Before Ferine could react the baroness had used her free hand to pin down her head to the bed, exposing her neck to Zada’s pointy white teeth. She struggled against the ropes and Zada’s grip but it was in vain, she couldn’t get out, and when she felt the heat of the baroness’ breath near her neck she began to suspect that everything was over.
“Don’t be so ungrateful, its not everyone that gets to experience a vampire bite” Zada said before she slowly began to sing her teeth in Ferine’s neck.
As the bite persisted Ferine felt her struggles become weaker, her vision become cloudier, ‘Am I dying?’ she asked herself ‘It can’t end like this!’ she answered herself. But her words meant nothing, and after a few seconds she was once again, unconscious.
Zada used Ferine’s gag as a handkerchief to wipe some blood out of her lips. As she straddled atop the unconscious Ferine she couldn’t help but smile, the feeling of having the the great thief laying helpless beneath her couldn’t be topped by anything.
But the smile quickly faded away when she realized that she still had one thing to take care of.
Again Ferine came back from the world of the unconscious and back into the real world, a real world which wasn’t welcoming to her at all. It didn’t took her long to remember what had happened to her before she had been knocked out, and those memories already told her that the situation she’d find herself in wouldn’t be good at all.
Ferine was still wearing her catsuit, but she was quickly able to tell that this time her captors had left nothing on her, not because she could search herself, but because all of her tools were displayed on a table right in front her as if to mock her.
And of course it wasn’t like Ferine could reach for them, she was tied up and this time her restraints were not soft silky tissues but instead coarse ropes and even some chains. Restraints that were not nearly as friendly with her body as her previous restraints were.
As for how she was tied, she was first of all, suspended, hanging from the ceiling by ropes attached to her knees, ankles, waist and the harness tied around her chest. It wasn’t the first time she found herself restrained in such a way, but that didn’t made her any more comfortable than the previous times.
Her arms were pulled upwards behind her back, with her wrists crossed between her shoulderblades and for good measure her hands had been covered by cloths to prevent her from using her fingers. Her arms were also pinned to her chest at the sides by the tight and restrictive chest harness that had been tied on her.
Her legs were tied at the thighs, above and below the knees and at the ankles. From her ankles and knees came a rope that was tied of to a ring at the end of chain which hung from the ceiling, the same ring to which her chest harness had been tied to.
“Mpghghh” Ferine moaned, confirming in that way that she was gagged. Gagged by some sort of cloth kept inside her mouth by another piece of cloth which was tightly tied around her head.
Ferine looked around to inspect the place, it wasn’t much different from the dungeon she had been thrown into when she was first captured, but it had its key differences. It was large and cylindrical and Ferine hung at its center. The room had windows, four to be exact, but they were small and barred, and from were Ferine was couldn’t really see the other side. But no matter where in the dungeon she was that already meant bad news for her becase if she was once again in that dungeon it meant that all of her progress had been undone.
‘Damm it’ Ferine cursed to herself, being quick to recognize when a situation was dire.
After all, even an escapist like her could be put in a less than ideal situation, to put it lightly, if tied properly enough, it wouldn’t be the first time someone had gotten the upper hand on her, but she hoped this would be the last one. That’s if, she managed to escape of course.
Before Ferine could even begin to muster an idea of what an escape from this situation could be she was interrupted by the loud creaking noise of the dungeon door being opened. Since the door was behind her, and her position wasn’t favourable, she couldn’t see who had entered, but she didn’t needed to see to know who it was.
By the time the baroness stood smugly in front of her, Ferine already knew that it was her who had entered the room. It seemed like when suspending her the baroness had taken care not to raise the thief’s body more than the height of her eyes, that way she could still look down on her when looking at her.
“Welcome Ferine, to my private cell” Zada asked smugly “reserved for very special prisoners, just like you”
That explained the room’s uniqueness respective to the other cells Ferine had seen, but why Zada felt the need of having such thing as a ‘private cell’ was beyond Ferine, or at least it was something she didn’t wanted to give much thought to, because not so deep inside her she knew very well why someone would want something like it.
Not wanting to strain her already dry throat Ferine remained silent and just glared at the baroness, although her glare wasn’t very intimidating from her position.
“I made them especially for you, just to make sure that I remain true to my word of putting an end to your thieving career” She continued as she walked backwards towards the table “These tools won’t be of any help for you from now on, but I think they’ll become quite pricey once I reveal that they were once owned by the mighty thief Ferine”
“Mpghgg” Ferine grunted lowly, her patience running short under this humiliation.
“Don’t worry, I don’t have plans for that yet” Zada chuckled “But I do have plans for something else tonight, and you just happen to be in the way of it”
Ferine wondered what plan Zada could have, up until then she thought of vampires as little else than myths, but now, not only faced by one but at the mercy of one, she couldn’t decide if she wanted to trust those myths or not.
“That other girl who escaped with you, I need her by midnight” Zada said “I know you can tell me where she is, but I also know that you don’t want to”
Again Ferine found herself cursing her own luck, not only she was bound at the mercy of the sadistic baroness, but she also was being asked for information that she was sure wouldn’t be satisfying to her captress. That couldn’t end well at all.
“I have my methods of getting prisoners to talk, but we still have time until midnight, and I wouldn’t want to ruin the precious body of the legendary thief Ferine” Zada said as she ran a finger along Ferine’s back, and with great emphasis on the words ‘great thief’ as to further anger her captive.
“Mpghghg!” Ferine groaned as she recoiled because of the baroness’ touch.
“I’ll give you one hour, in these restraints that should be enough to loosen your tongue at least a bit don’t you think?” Zada said as she began heading for the door “And if it isn’t... well, I’d rather not get to that point”
The door was closed behind the baroness as she left the room, and Ferine was left alone, hanging in an almost limp state in the middle of the dungeon, with all of the tools for her escape right in front of her but securely out of her reach.
‘Come on, think!’ Ferine said to herself, trying to get at least closer to an idea of how an escape could be like.
But it was to no avail, maybe because of her less than ideal mental condition after being knocked out two times, maybe because of the tightness and strictness of the restraints, but probably due to a mixture of both, all Ferine could arrive to with her ideas were dead ends.
She went back to those memories that she preferred not to think about, the memories of all those times she had been captured and left with no escape route. She did so not out of masochism but trying to find out how was it that she had managed to escape all those times, but it always turned out that those times, no matter if she had been captured by a witch, a drider or dark elves, she had something that she didn’t had, help.
But to her own surprise, Ferine ended up being wrong about that.
She herd the door open behind her again, this time much more silently that before, although that didn’t meant much considering how heavy the door was. At that time she found herself so defeated that she didn’t even tried to look at her captress, but when she saw who stood in front of her she was met by a pleasant surprise.
“Mpghg?!” Ferine mumbled in her gag as she saw Sybil standing in front of her.
“Stay put Ferine, I’m gonna get you out of this”
Sybil began to carefully undo the restraints binding Ferine, not wanting to undo them all the same time with a spell out of Fear of making her fall to the floor.
“Mpghg” Ferine called for Sybil’s attention.
Taking the hint. Sybil undid the knot holding Ferine’s gag in place which allowed her to spit out the rag which had been placed inside her mouth and that by this time was soaked with saliva.
“Why are you doing this?” Ferine asked, unable to understand why this woman whom she had barely met was taking such a risk to save her.
“You saved me once, so I owed you a favour” Sybil explained her simple yet sound reasoning “I couldn’t leave you behind, not after you trusted me enough to let me escape”
Ferine swallowed her grand thief pride for a second and spoke some words she barely ever said.
“Thank you”
Part 5
“Hate to admit this but you kinda saved me” Ferine said as she stretched her arms after she was completely untied.
“No need to thank me, you did the same for me after all” Sybil replied “So, what’s the plan now”
“Well I don’t know about you but I think the sensible option is to get away from here, I don’t think the treasure I’m after is worth getting captrued once again”
“I agree with that” Sybil replied “There’s nothing else for me in this place either so lead the way”
Ferine gathered her escape tools and weapons from the table and after tucking them into their respective straps and scabbards in her suit she walked out of the room, stealthily followed by Sybil.
“Did you get what you were looking for?” Ferine asked.
“More than enough” Sybil said as she showed Ferine a handful of scrolls “If this sees the light of day the baroness will be inevitably exposed as what she is”
“I’ll count that as a victory then” Ferine said as she got to work on the first lock that stood between them and the way out.
Much to Ferine’s surprise this time they didn’t found themselves in the dungeons, instead they were atop a high tower, infromation that became clear to her once she was able to look out the windows and when she the seemingly endless stairs leading down from her cell.
“I assume you took care of the guards downstairs” Ferine said as she began descending.
“I think so...”
“That isn’t very reassuring” Ferine said as she kept going, now with her guard a bit higher.
Before opening the door leading out of the tower and back into the main castle Ferine peeked through the Keyhole to confirm that nobody was on the other side, and thankfully it was deserted.
“Seems like you did take care of them after all” Ferine said as she began to work on the lock.
After being opened the door revealed to them a long walkway, one side filled with doors standing in the middle of archways, probably leading to the many rooms of the castle, the other was just like that but instead of doors it had windows which overlooked the castle grounds.
The dark stone walls were adorned by pillars at the edges of every arch, and a display suit of armor guarded each door, making it appear as if the walkway was far more guarder than it actually was.
“Where does this lead to?” Ferine asked.
“I’m not sure, I got here from the library, if we go back there we can reach the lower floor and escape” Sybil explained.
“Sound like a plan, lets get going then”
The red carpet on the floor was forgiving enough to muffle the steps of the two intruders and their boots, which would have otherwise alerted some guards of their presence. But still they remained alert, looking around every corner and always looking behind from time to time to make sure that they weren’t being followed.
The door leading into the library was hard to miss, grander than the rest, it stood out among them and so big it was than only one of its halves was partially opened as to allow entry.
Ferine pressed her index finger against her lips to tell Sybil to be quiet and proceeded to take look inside the library. At first glance it seemed empty, but she was more perceptive than that and spotted the danger rather quickly.
In the middle of the lower floor, far away from where Ferine was looking, the baroness sat unassumingly in a chair, reading a book like if she wasn’t more than a mere guest at her own part. With her head resting on one of her hands while she held the book with the other and her legs crossed she looked confident, Ferine knew that she still thought that she still had her in the dungeon.
A chill went down Ferine’s spine as soon as she perceived movement in the baroness. She hid behind the door again, fearing the baroness would spot her.
“We got company” Ferine whispered “The baroness is down there”
“What do we do?” Sybil asked nervously.
“I don’t know, isn’t there another way to get out?” Ferine asked.
Sybil began to think but the nerves didn’t helped her, her legs and hands were shaking and it was clear to anyone who saw her that she wasn’t thinking straight at all. But even her nervous and disorganized thoughts weren’t safe from being interrupted.
“Haven’t you been taught to be silent in the library?” The baroness voice echoed from the other side of the door.
Ferine and Sybil shared a look of fear with each other and nervously they both took a look inside the library with the hope of seeing that the reprimand wasn’t meant for them, after all there was no way for the baroness to spot them, right?
To their surprise they found the baroness standing right in front of them at the other side of the door, so unexpected was the scene that Ferine nearly lost her balance while Sybil fell backwards to the floor.
“My my, if it isn’t the legendary thief refusing once again to accept her fate” The baroness spoke as she slowly left the room with elegant steps “Escaping is an act worth of punishing, but seeing how you also brought me what I was looking for I think I can be forgiving with you”
The baroness laid her eyes on Sybil who was struggling to stand back up, with fear in her eyes yet unable to look away from the baroness.
“Seize them” The baroness ordered to someone unseen as she snapped her fingers.
Animated by that act, the display armors which guarded the hallway began to move and block the exits for Ferine and Sybil, at their right and left a line of iron husks covered the hallway, ready to catch them as soon as they stepped closer.
“Ready to finally give up?” The baroness asked asked as the armors began to walk closer.
Ferine was clasping her teeth out of rage, she this couldn’t be her end, not after having escaping the baroness once, even less after escaping her twice! But yet it seemed like she was out of options, and no matter her answer to the vampiress question the outcome could only be one.
“No!” Sybil shouted angrily, catching Ferine, the baroness and maybe even the soulless suits of armor by surprise.
Making use of her magic she blasted the armors at their right with a gust of wind so strong that it sent them flying out of their way. She then grabbed Ferine by the arm, the thief needed no more orders and began running towards the opening Sybil had made.
“Get them!” The baroness shouted enraged as she saw her once captives run away from her.
Ferine and Sybil ran with all of their energies, quickly outpacing the slow mechanical movements of the armors chasing them.
“Can you that again?” Ferine asked without stopping running “The wind spell?”
“I can, what do you want?” Sybil said between breaths.
“I know how to get us out then” Ferine replied “But you’ll have to trust me”
“I do!” Sybil shouted, not even considering what trusting Ferine could mean.
By the time Sybil realized they were about to run into a wall she was grabbed by Ferine, who upon noticing her surprise quickly reminded her that she needed to trust her. And so Sybil closed her eyes, being left only with the rest of her senses to tell what was happening.
First she jumped, like just Ferine had asked her to do. Then she heard the sound of glass shattering, and when she began to feel herself falling she realized what had happened, they had jumped out a window!
No longer able to hold her eyelids together Sybil opened her eyes and saw herself mid air, tightly grabbing Ferine as if doing that would offer her any safety. Then she did what she knew she shouldn’t do, she looked down and saw that the ground awaiting them was filled with overgrown spiked plants that would make sure their fall was anything but pleasant.
“Now!” Ferine shouted as they began to get closer to the ground.
And that was when Sybil remembered what to do. Holding back her fear she let go of Ferine with one of her hands and pointed the other to ground, she began to concentrate and lowly utter a spell. Suddenly a gust of wind erupted from her open hand and sent them flying away from the plants.
Their fall wasn’t graceful, but they came out unharmed aside from a few bruises, definitively much better that what awaited them at the bottom of the wall.
“That was awesome Ferine!” Sybil shouted “How did you came up with it?”
“Not the first time I have to escape a dire situation” Ferine said “Thanks for your help, wouldn’t have been possible without your magic”
Ferine laid a hand on Sybil’s shoulder, who was ready to declare herself victorious, but the scene was interrupted by an ear piercing screech coming from the castle.
“What was that?” Sybil said as she turned to look at the ominous siluetee of the castle in the distance.
“May have to do with them” Ferine said as she pointed upwards to a small swarm of flying creatures coming out of the castle.
“Giant bats...” Sybil muttered.
“Wouldn’t be a vampire if she didn’t had them” Ferine said as she began to walk “Come on, lets get away from here because something tells me its us who they’re behind”
Ferine and Sybil walked through the dark forest, not stopping despite their exhaustion because their desire to get away from the vampiress castle was just so much greater that it opaqued all numbness and pain they felt in their bodies, whether it be out of walking, running, fighting or being tied up for hours.
Upon reaching a clear in the forest Ferine immediately slowed down her pace and stopped upon reaching the center of it. She slowly got her hand to the handle of her shorsword and once she saw the light emitted by the blade she had her suspicions confirmed, they were in danger.
“What’s happening?” Sybil asked.
“Brace yourself Sybil” Ferine said as she unsheathed her sword “This blade glows only when danger is near, and this is the perfect place for them to ambush us”
The fear of not knowing what was going to come out of those woods was close to overcome Sybil, but she didn’t allowed it, they had gotten too far for fear to be her demise.
But they were not ready for what came out of the woods. There were not the bats they had seen from the distance when they escaped, the creatures that attacked them only shared with the bats the pitch black coloration, aside from that they were nothing alike. With eight lanky legs and an armored body the creatures they saw coming out of the woods could very well be described as spiders, giant spiders.
“Didn’t knew they got so large!” Sybil said as the two spiders began to close the distance between them and their prey.
“Don’t let that scare you!” Ferine replied, hiding the fact that she was also intimidated by the arachnid’s size.
Although Ferine had seen giant spiders before, these were undeniably larger, being able to look at her in the eye while standing and their legs being longer than Ferine’s height, but that shouldn’t stop her. Giant or not these spiders were, after all, mere animals.
The combat was started by the spider, who launched a string of cobwebs towards Ferine, she gracefully avoided it but in doing so she allowed the attack to hit Sybil. The cobwebs quickly wrapped around Sybil, pinning her arms to her sides and making her loose balance.
Ferine was ready to get Sybil out but the other spider interposed itself between them, forcing Ferine to engage it. Ferine was quickly realizing that these spiders were not mere animals, they seemingly had a strategy.
Sybil tried to cast a spell but she was shot by another string of cobwebs which landed on her mouth, preventing her from talking. Now it was clear to both Ferine and Sybil that these spiders knew what they were doing.
Seeing how she was left fighting alone Ferine strengthened her efforts, taking advantage of her smaller size she slid beneath one of spiders and slashed it from below. The creature shrieked in pain as it fell dead to the ground. Ferine cleaned some blood off her face as she stood up and readied herself to take down the other spider, which was meticulously guarding Sybil behind her, covering her completely from Ferine.
Knowing that the spider wouldn’t let her get near Sybil, Ferine decided not to engage and take of things in a much less gruesome manner. She sheathed her sword and quickly pulled out her hand crossbow, shooting at the spider in the same motion.
The crossbow bolt landed exactly on one of the spider’s eyes, which killed it instantly. But as the body of the arachnid fell to the ground Ferine realized that there was something else hiding behind the giant spider.
With its wings hinged on the ground, a giant bat stood over Sybil, who in the time which Ferine fought the other spider had been wrapped into a cocoon of cobwebs from which only her nose poked out. She struggled fiercely but her movements were severely reduced by her silky restraints.
Filled with rage, Ferine immediately tried to shot at the bat, only to be reminded that she hadn’t reloaded her weapon. The bat screeched at her, almost like if it was rejoicing over the fact that Ferine couldn’t stop it, then it grabbed Sybil and flew away into the night sky.
By the time Ferine had reloaded her crossbow the bat was to far away to be shot at.
“Damm it!” Ferine cursed to nothingness as she kicked the air.
She had escaped yes, but she didn’t felt accomplished at all and she knew very well why. It was clear to her that she had only escaped because of the help Sybil had provided her, hadn’t it been for her she would still be stuck and tied up in that dungeon, yet now, when she was finally free, Sybil was captured again.
She could keep going, she could not take the risk of getting caught again and risking not being able to escape, but in reality she couldn’t. For a thief Ferine sometimes had too strong of a moral compass, and although Ferine liked to think that it was that which set her apart from an ordinary burglar she was beginning to fear that it could be her demise.
But by the time she was asking herself those questions she was already following the bat, decided to return the favour to the woman to whom she owed her current freedom.
Ferine was glad to see that the bat wasn’t returning to the castle but instead moving away from it. Gracefully jumping from tree to tree Ferine was able to see where the bat was headed, and it was a hill bare of trees not too far from where she was. But it was easy to tell that something was going on there, since an ominous fire could be seen atop it from the distance.
As Ferine came closer to the hill, that which stood atop it became more clear. A set of ruins, overran by nature and illuminated by torches and campfires crowned the hill, and atop what remained of a tower the bat ended its flight, leaving its prey there.
From the cover that some bushes provided Ferine saw who was in that structure. A large group of humanoid figures whose shape was only barely revealed by the black cloaks they were wearing. The ruined walls prevented her from seeing much else so Ferine had to get closer.
With stealth and determination Ferine left the cover of the bushes and trees and began walking silently up the hill, her black clothes made it easy for her to hide in the darkness and soon enough she was hiding with her back against one of the ruined walls.
With perfect control of every part of herself that could reveal her presence, from her steps to her breath, Ferine slowly began to look inside the ruins. When she did she saw that the hooded figures were thankfully looking the other way, but what caught their attention wasn’t at all of Ferine’s liking.
Two of the figures were chaining Sybil, who had been released from her silky cocoon, to a post which stood atop a wooden platform where everyone could gaze at her. Her hands were chained behind the post above her head and her feet were chained at the sides of the post. Sybil thrashed to get free but her captors were stronger than her and managed to restrain her with no effort.
“Mppphhh” Sybil tried to cry for help.
To keep her from casting spells her captors had gagged her with a cloth which Sybil was forced to hold inside her mouth and another cloth which was tied around her head, covering her lips.
Ferine hid back behind the wall ‘damn it!’ she said to herself once again, how was she supposed to rescue her was the only question in her mind but she couldn’t arrive at any answer.
“Enjoying the view?”
Chills went down Ferine’s spine immediately whens she heard those words, it was the voice of the baroness. She looked aside and there she was, standing mere inches away from her, casually resting against the wall like if she had always been there.
“Come on, you want to rescue her don’t you?” Zada asked “So why don’t you try?”
Snapping out of her initial shock Ferine quickly grabbed her sword and slashed at Zada, who gracefully moved backwards to dodge the attack. Ferine attacked her once again, thrusting directly at her chest, but without realizing it she ended up walking directly into the ruins.
The gaze of everyone inside immediately fell upon the intruder, Sybil screamed out of surprise through her gag, she was as surprised as her captors to see Ferine there.
“Don’t worry, I have this under control” Zada said as she moved some hair out of her face “Come on Ferine, I’ll keep this Fair, one on one”
Despite knowing that it couldn’t be fair given that her opponent was a vampire Ferine kept fighting anyway, getting closer and closer to landing a devastating hit on her opponent who kept on dodging her attacks without trying to retaliate at all. This should have sent alarms off in Ferine’s brain, but blinded by the situation Ferine couldn’t see that she was being walked into a trap once again.
Eventually one of Ferine’s thrusts landed right in the middle of the baroness’ chest. Zada cried out in pain as her back arched, forcing her to look upwards in an unnatural way. But the crowd seemed unfazed.
When Ferine was getting ready to pull out her sword she felt someone grab her wrist, it was the baroness, once again with a grip so strong that she couldn’t move her hand at all. The baroness’ cry of pain turned to laughter as she reassumed a relaxed posture, Ferine was quickly realizing the mistake she had made.
“I will admit that you are a good fighter” Zada said as Ferine tried to get away from her “This would have been a devastating hit if the weapons of this world were able to hurt me”
Zada then kicked Ferine onto the floor, she fell on her back and looked up at the baroness, who pulled the sword out of her chest effortlessly. No blood came out of the wound, which closed almost immediately after she removed the sword. Only her clothes were damaged.
Ferine leaped to her feet, but she had been surrounded by the cloaked figures who until then had limited themselves to watch.
“Let me guess, they are vampires too aren’t they?” Ferine said with a bravado which her situation could barely back up.
“Very perceptive of you” Zada replied “So you do realize that fighting us is pointless?”
Ferine made a grimace of disgust, she didn’t wanted to say it but she did, there was no way for her to escape this one, but admitting it was just as hard as escaping.
“It seems like you do” Zada said as she smiled “Seize her then!”
Obeying the baroness’ orders two of the hooded figures grabbed Ferine by the arms with a strength that Ferine couldn’t hope to break free from.
“What are you going to do with me?” Ferine asked.
“Well, you are our special guest to this year’s ceremony so I want you to have a special place to witness it all” Zada said as she turned away from Ferine to look at who seemed to be the night’s main attraction “Bring the chair”
Ferine stood there motionlessly, forced to watch Sybil struggle in front of her, unable to rescue her like she wanted and now stuck there with her. Ferine’s rage turned to impotence as she was constantly reminded that there was no way of rescuing Sybil, and no way for her to escape either.
Eventually four of the hooded figures came in carrying a large and heavy wooden chair which they laid right behind Ferine. Once the chair was there Ferine was forced to sit on it by the vampires holding her and when seeing the chair up close she realized that it was neatly equipped to hold her.
Leather straps hung from all over the chair, the purpose of which Ferine knew very well even before the vampires began to use them to restrain her.
There were so many that four vampires were applying them at the same time. Four were used on just her arms, one around her wrists and another below her elbows, pinning her forearms to the chair’s armrests, the other two went on her arms propper, one above her elbows and the other below her armpits, pinning her arms to the backrest.
“All of this just for me?” Ferine asked, almost proud about the measures that were being taken against her despite in reality fearing the situation more and more with each passing second.
“Fitting for the legendary thief herself if you ask me” Zada replied “I’d like to see you try to escape it”
Ferie couldn’t put her attention in answering as her legs started to get a similar treatment, her ankles were individually bound to the respective front leg of the chair, the same was done with her knees. And her thighs were bound to the seat of the chair. All with a tightness that made it hard not to notiece.
When Ferine looked up after her legs were done she was met by the sight of the baroness, looking down on her with her arms crossed below her breasts and a smug smile on her face.
“I got this interesting contraption from a group of dark elves” Zada commented “Their’s are crafty minds aren’t they”
“Crafty is a weird way to put it” Ferine replied, being more acquainted with the dark elves than she would’ have liked “But it fits you”
Ferine’s attention was brought away from the baroness when straps began to be tightened around her chest. One above her breasts and another below, tightly framing the features that her leather suit already highlighted, and another one around her waist with equal tightness.
Once all straps were set Ferine tried to move, but all she could move were her hands, feet and head, and she had no hopes of reaching any of the tight buckles that kept the straps on place. Her attempt at moving was so pathetic that it could barely be percieved.
“I told you that this is how it was going to end” The baroness said “How does it feel? To know that it ends here?”
There was nothing Ferine could reply, her angry look was fixed on the floor, too defeated to even glare at her captor who had her so utterly defeated.
“Well if you’re out of words there’s no need in extending this” The baroness said as she leaned forward, resting her hands above Ferine’s bound wrists.
The baroness then gagged Ferine using a black ballgag, which Ferine allowed to be put inside her mouth only because she knew that fighting would be pointless. But with the little defiance she could muster she glared at her captor, who kept smugly grinning at her after she had buckled the gag behind her head.
“Sit tight and enjoy the show” The baroness said.
She kissed Ferine on the cheek and walked away towards the platform where Sybil was tied. Sybil herself looked even more defeated than Ferine, she was crestfallen, and it seemed like all of her weight was sustained by the chains holding her captive, almost like if she had lost the strength to stand on her own.
The baroness walked up the stairs leading to the platform and next to Sybil, then she addressed her audience.
“Welcome everyone, to the yearly bloodrinking ceremony” She spoke “As every other year, the ceremony must begin with the drinking of fresh blood from someone who has never had their blood sucked, and this year’s victim is Sybil Limroel!”
Ferine tugged her restrainst almost instinctively as she heard the crowd cheer the baroness’ presentation, but like it was to be expected, it was futile. Although it did caught the baroness attention, who smiled at her from atop the platform.
“She is a mage from the magic academy of Plaimont, that’s why it is especially important to keep her tied up and gagged, lest she be ruining our ceremony with some of her spells” The baroness continued “And the reason why she has landed herself in this unfortunate situation is rather interesting...”
Zada made a pause to let the audience wonder why, but Ferine knew very well why she had chosen her.
“Can you believe that this young girl was threatening to expose our little secret to the world?” Zada asked as she pointed at the bound Sybil “Thankfully I manage to not only her but also the thief who was helping her escape”
The baroness then pointed at Ferine and all looks fell upon her, it was humiliating, being so thoroughly bound and exposed to the prying eyes of so many, not a humiliation the great thief herself should endure.
“But now Sybil is chained to this post, gagged too so her magic can’t be of any help to her” The baroness said “And her thief ally is tightly bound to that chair, so strictly that her escape artistry is of no use to her”
The baroness’ words got a cheer from the audience, which made Ferine grunt in displeasure, they were gloating about her capture and she couldn’t allow that! But at the same time she couldn’t do anything to stop them.
“Now, I know all of you must be thirsty so I will make you wait no longer” The baroness said before grabbing Sybil by the head and exposing her neck.
“Mpghghgh!” Ferine moaned, like if her complaints were going to somehow stop Zada.
The vampire’s lips eventually touched Sybil’s neck and her teeth pierced her skin, she couldn’t believe that this was the end yet she saw no other option at the same time.
But it was over quickly, sooner than Sybyl or Ferine had expected. Zada cleaned her lips with a tissue as she stepped away from the chained woman and cleared her throat.
“With that I declare that the ceremony has begun!” Zada said before clapping her hands.
After she spoke those words a new group of hooded figures, these ones cover by red cloaks, entered the ruins, each of them holding a tray with cups filled with a red liquid which was obviously blood.
Sybil looked at the scene from her high spot with disbelief, this couldn’t be it, she thought she was going to die! Her breath and heartbeat were still out of control yet the baroness didn’t payed her any attention and the other vampires limited themselves to drink from the cups that had been brought by the newly entered butlers.
Ferine’s surprise was just as big, at least initially, but things slowly began to make sense to her the more she began to think about it. When Zada drank her blood she hadn’t killed her, she had only made her fall unconscious, and when she began to think about it, a vampire would have to suck a lot of blood out of someone to actually kill them.
But that still left the most important question she had unanswered, what was Zada going to do with her and Sybil?
Eventually Zada looked away from her party and toward Sybil, who was just as puzzled as when Zada had first let go of her bite.
“Sorry but we can’t the victims we’re not going to kill them until after the ceremony is done” Zada explained to Sybil, perfectly knowing what she was thinking despite having her gagged “The fear of the victim is part of the fun, plus, the blood of terrified people tastes so much better”
“Mpghgh?” Sybil asked through her gag.
“Okay I’ll ungag you now, but still, no spells and no making a scene, understood?” Zada asked as she grabbed Sybil’s gag.
Sybil nodded and Zada pulled down the cloth gagging her. She spat the cloth that she was holding inside her mouth and after taking some air she finally asked.
“So if you’re not going to kill us, what are you going to with us then?” She asked.
“Well, we usually allow the victim to make a request from the host after the ceremony is done, as compensation for the terrifying experience and as a way to buy their silence” Zada explained “But you are the victim, Ferine is another story”
“What are you going to do with her?” Sybil asked.
“That shouldn’t matter to you, you should be thinking in what you’re going to ask from me!” Zada replied “After all you can ask for anything, and you know how wealthy I am”
Sybil looked in front of her at the party, and in the middle of it, Ferine, tightly starpped to that heavy wooden chair and with saliva begining to fall down her chin. She had no way of escaping and she knew it.
“So, I can ask for anything I want from you?” Sybil asked.
“Anything you want” Zada reassured her.
“Well, then I know exactly what I’m going to ask for”
“Good, but wait until the end of the party to tell me” Zada said as she grabbed Sybil’s gag again “The victim has to stay as a centerpiece during the whole party”
With that Zada gagged her prisoner, who after receiving the relief of knowing that she was in no danger offered no resistance, and then joined her party. She was also thirsty for some blood.
Ferine didn’t knew what Zada had talked about with Sybil, but Sybil seemed much calmer now, she felt good for her but she couldn’t say the same about herself.
During the whole party she had to look away from the many eyes that fell upon her, curious about the thief that had fallen captive to Zada and was now bound in a contraption born out of the dark elves mind, forced to be a guest of honor at the baroness’ party.
Aside from trying to hide her face from everyone, Ferine’s only entertainment was to tap her fingers on the chair’s armrests, and her only comfort was that nobody seemed to want to mess with her beyond looking at her like if she was a prize, which at the time, it was what she was.
Was this what awaited her? Was it going to get even worse? She could only wonder.
By the time people began to leave the party and things began to get quieter Ferine realized how tired she was, and despite how uncomfortable was her position her tiredness slowly but surely began to take her over. Her eyelids became heavier and heavier as did her head, and eventually, even when so thoroughly and uncomfortably restrained, she fell asleep.
“Seems like the ceremony is over” Zada said as she walked atop the platform “I hope you had as much fun as I did, but I know its always much less fun for victims than for hosts”
‘Fun’ wouldn’t be the word Sybil would use to describe her experience, but it definively hadn’t been as bad it had seem initially, and now she couldn’t really say that she regretted going to the castle in the first place, something told her that she was going to relish that experience.
“So, got a wish to make?” Zada asked after removing Sybil’s gag.
“I do”
Epilogue
Ferine woke up slowly, but not slower than she usually did, she felt like she had a great night of sleep, no headache, no heavy eyelids, it almost felt unreal. And it started to feel less real when Ferine began to remember what had happened last night, had all of that been a dream? The castle? The cursed neacklace? The vampire? Sybil?
Ferine sat up, she wasn’t on a bed but on a bedroll in what seemed to a tent, besides her was another bedroll and bags were laid at the sides of the table. She was wearing a white oversized shirt and her underwear, half of her body was still covered in the blankets.
But when she looked down she saw something that could ruin the dreamworld she had just waken up in. Her hands were bound with rope in front of her. She looked below the blankets and saw that the same treatment had been given to her ankles too.
Worried, but glad that her restraints were so tame Ferine began to work on freeing herself, which shouldn’t be an issue with bindings so simple. But just when she found the knot keeping her hands together someone entered the tent.
“Good morning great thief” Sybil said as she entered the tent.
“Sybil? What happened? Where are we?” Ferine asked.
“Wow those are lots of questions, first calm down and then I will explain everything to you” Sybil said as she sat besides Ferine and caressed her face.
“Why am I tied up?” Ferine asked.
“All at its due time Ferine” Sybil said “Now let me explain things or I will have to gag you too!” She said jokingly.
“Well, I’m all ears then”
Sybil explained what had happened in the party, that vampires don’t actually kill the people they drink the blood from and that they only kept her from knowing that she was going to die to have fun with her.
“But as compensation they allowed me to ask for anything I wanted from baroness” Sybil said as she stroked Ferine’s hair.
“Oh, and what did you ask for?” Ferine asked.
“Well, I thought it was obvious” Sybil said before she moved over to Ferine to straddle her, catching her by surprise “I asked for the mighty thief Ferine herself!”
“Oh the baroness must not have liked that”
“Oh she didn’t, you should’ve seen her face”
Sybil leaned closer onto Ferine, during the night had begun to think that the thief was really pretty but now when she could see her so closely she became certain of it.
“That still doesn’t explain why you have me tied up though” Ferine said as she showed her bound wrists to Sybil.
“Well...” Sybil said as she grabbed the thief’s hands and forced her above her head, leaning even closer onto Ferine to the point where their bodies were almost parallel to each other “I was afraid the legendary theif would run away from when once she found herself free”
“Oh you think too little of me” Ferine spoke almost right into Sybil’s lips “But you should get too comfortable with this, otherwise I may try to use these ropes on you”
