[mention]rafeylovesbonds[/mention] [mention]Mineira1986[/mention] [mention]ninterz[/mention] [mention]Beaumains[/mention] [mention]Caesar73[/mention] [mention]potato[/mention] [mention]TimChimp[/mention] Thanks to everyone for the comments, Thanks for your comments, enjoy part nine!
Chapter 9
The cave princess Clementine was walked into was only illuminated by a torch being carried by Alessia. Aside from dark, the place was also cold and wet, and the only sound that could be heard inside aside from the distant waves was the occasional fall of a drop of water.
The whole situation scared the princess enough to prevent her from even lingering on the thoughts of what was going to happen to her, it was like at the moment only one thing could scare her, and it was the cave, its darkness and whatever could be lurking within.
“We’re nearly there” The queen said as they reproached a place where the cave was flooded.
They stopped just before the water. Only then did Clementine notice the smell. Among the distinct smell of wet air and saltwater there was a strong scent of dead fish, which brought her to notice the many bones of marine animals laying at the edge of the water, what was that cave? She asked herself and so desperately wanted to ask her captors.
“Mpghg!” Clementince screeched through her gag as she took a sudden step backwards out of fear.
Her movement was so sudden and so quick that she slipped out of Alessia’s grip, but in doing that she only managed to fall to the floor on her butt, with the slippery floor betraying whatever hope of escape she could have.
The source of such scare came out of the water, it was a creature, serpentine like in body but it was so large that its entire body was barely illuminated by the torchlight. Its skin seemed scaly and green and its eyes reflected the light so intensely that they seemed to glow.
The creature approached its face to the three woman, with the queen and her sister seemingly unbothered while Clementine thought that she was at the edge of a heart attack. Its face was elongated and serpentine with clear reptilian features, its eyes were yellow and the head was ornate with horns and soft tissue.
When its mouth opened and showed its seemingly endless set of teeth and double-headed tongue, letting out an even stronger scent of saltwater and dead fish, Clementine thought she was done for and closed her eyes. But the next thing she heard was far from the sound of the jaws clenching around her.
“So this is your offering” A deep, guttural voiced of booming volume was heard across the cave.
Clementine slowly and fearfully opened her eyes and saw that it was the creature speaking.
“It is” The queen replied.
Clementine couldn’t believe what she was hearing, was the queen really going to offer her to this best just like she had read on those ancient legends?
“I will gladly take it then” The beast said as it took one of its reptilian webbed feet from below the water.
“Not yet!” The queen interjected as she struck the floor with the bottom of her staff “You know about our agreement, fulfill it and we will give her to you”
The beast grunted and withdrew its paw back below the water.
“I will trust you to upkeep this promise queen” It said “And be sure that my wrath will fall upon you should you lie to me”
“I mustn’t fear then, after all, I have no intentions of not fulfilling this promise” The queen answered calmly.
“Then I, Bazzon, scourge of the northern seas, shall crush your enemies” He said as he slowly creeped out of the water “And you, ice queen of the Serpent Isles, shall return my lands to me”
---
Ferine was waiting outside the main tent of the camp in the forests of Ormsa, despite being close friends with Ann she had been left outside of the important meeting taking place inside the tent, which she didn’t really mind since she had little patience for preachy commanders like she assumed Bryla to be.
The plan being discussed inside the tent regarded their assault on the city of Ormsa, the only spot on the island the rebels didn’t control and arguably the most important.
The issue was that the city was a seemingly unbreakable fortress, built atop a rocky islet, surrounded by thick and high stone walls and only connected to the land through a thin stone bridge, nobody could come up with a way to reliably take the city.
Even though Herifa had scouted a secret entrance, the place was so tiny that an army could never sneak in there, and taking any large number of people there through water would be a dead giveaway of their intentions.
Only after hearing those circumstances did Ann remember that she knew of someone that could get the job done for them with ease, and she was quite accesible at the moment.
“You can’t be serious about this!” Bryla shouted after she heard Ann’s proposal “We just met her yesterday and you suggest that we trust this important mission on her!?”
“I assure you, this is a job she can do better than any of us here” Ann argued “Its the best I can offer, and judging from I’ve heard from the others, its the only offer you have been given”
Bryla hated how right Ann was, while the other rebel officials had given her no options Ann was practically handing her a solution, so even with reluctance, she had to agree, no matter how much it angered her to give in to Ann, who she felt would end up outshining her as a rebel leader despite having only recently joined the fight.
Ferine was playing a with a dagger outside the tent when she heard her name being called from the inside.
“Guess I’ll have to work then” She said as she put her dagger back on her thigh strap.
---
Kluzelda’s pirate ship arrived at Ormsa in the morning, a day had had passed since she had officially acquired Rhys as a slave so despite the reasons behind her early docking she arrived with high spirits.
Eyiel was taken on board and there she was prepared to be walked out of the ship, her hands were tied behind her back and a chest harness tied above and below her breasts and over shoulders to keep her strong arms affixed to her body. Her ankles were hobbled together by manacles which gave her just enough slack to walk at a pitifully slow pace, but nothing else.
Rhys had also been prepared, but unlike Eyiel only her hands were tied behind her back, and due to her magic she had of course been gagged. Also unlike Eyiel, she had the privilege of waiting in the captain’s room while the ship docked.
When the ship was at the port a plank was laid for the crew to walk out, the first one to leave was Kluzelda and behind her, and escorted by the rest of her crew, left her bound prisoners, the first bounty to be taken from the ship.
Many of the people who saw them pass by ogled at the sight of the two bound prisoners, this filled Kluzelda with pride which Eyiel hated to see, not only had she taken away from her that which she loved the most but she also boasted about doing so.
Being walked like a prize angered Eyiel beyond what she thought possible, she kept herself from looking at those around her because she knew that if she crossed eyes with any of them she would do something she would be made to regret by her captors, so her angry gaze was kept fixed in front of her.
The poor Rhys had her eyes locked onto the floor, much like Eyiel, she didn’t liked to be seen like that, but she couldn’t feel anger, all that filled her body as she was walked around was shame.
Slowly but surely, some of the people looking at them tried to get closer, but even though Kluzelda was alright with boasting her prisoners, she wasn’t at all eager to share them.
“Kepp your hands to yourselves!” Kluzelda shouted as she stopped the march “These are my prisoners, and if anyone lays hands on them I shall crush said hand beneath an anchor, understood!?”
The march then continued until they were taken into a castle which overlooked the port. To get there they had to walk up long and high stairs sculpted in the stone of the islet which was gruelingly painful to Eyiel, who had to walk up with her feet chained together.
Once inside the two prisoners were taken separate ways, Kluzelda grabbed Rhys on her arms and walked upstairs, not before giving a smug look to Eyiel who was forced to watch as Rhys was taken away from her.
“Take her to the meeting room and leave her there” Kluzelda ordered “I want her ready by the time I’m done with this one”
Eyiel was still glaring at Kluzelda when she was pushed to walk forward, she walked and walked through the main hall catching the eyes of many curious guards and servants until she and her escorts crossed a large door leading to what she guessed to be the meeting room.
It was a large room of rectangular base, it was flanked by columns and on its center was a long table which had carved on it a large map of the seas and coast of the northern waters. Besides the table were chairs, three at each of its sides with a bigger one at one of the ends which gave its back to the window that overlooked the sea.
Near that window Eyiel saw something which caught her eyes since it most likely had to do with her. Two pillars stood closer to each other than the rest, and from them hung chains which ended un manacles. She didn’t needed to think twice to assume that she was going there.
Like she expected, she was lead to that exact place which sat at the opposite end of the room respective to the window, she was pushed against a wall which made her angrily grunt, which apparently scared her escorts.
“How are we going to do this?” A pirate asked.
“I don’t know” Another one replied “Are we really going to untie her?”
“Is it safe to do that?” Another one asked.
“Can’t we leave her like this? She’s already tied up”
“Don’t be stupid, the captain would kill us if we don’t leave her ready like she asked”
The discussion made Eyiel strangely proud of herself, even in this situation she could take pride in seeing how even the people holding her captive feared her and her strength so much that they feared untying her even for a second. And they had reasons to.
In the end, nearly a whole regiment gathered for the mere task of untying the amazon and restraining her once again. While some took care of the task of untying her, others kept their weapons pointed at her at all times, fearing that if they did not she would try (and probably succeed) with whatever she tried.
“You better keep your hands to yourselves if you don’t want me to embarrass you in front of your captain” Eyiel threatened as she felt some hands move a little further away from the knots holding her.
Nearly all of the guards felt threatened, but whoever was that the threat was directed to felt frightened.
Once Eyiel was free of the ropes the murderous intent and fearful expressions of the guards pointing weapons at her doubled, they they wouldn’t rest again until they had finished restraining her again.
Eyiel’s hands were manacled separately at the wrists and so were her ankles. The chains had a lot of slack so the guards didn’t really felt safe yet, there was something else they needed to do before they could rest easy knowing that they had done what the captain had asked them to do.
“Okay, pull and pull tight, we don’t want to disappoint the captain!” One pirate said.
Only then did Eyiel noticed a small set of pulleys behind each column. And when the pirates began to pull on the mechanism she found out what the pulleys were meant for. The pulleys tugged onto the chains attached to her manacles and pulled them closer and closer to the attachment of the chains in the columns.
By the time they had pulled all they could, Eyiel was stretched along and across the space between the two columns as much as it was possible. Her arms stretched far up, with her manacled hands being only a few inches away from the columns they were chained to, and the same could be said about her feet. The overall shape Eyiel's body of her had been forced in was that of an X.
Nearly all of the guards sighed as soon as it became clear that they were done restraining her, but many waited to do so until they were out of the room, apparently, the amazon was still intimidating to many even in her current state, which again filled her with a sense of pride.
Rhys tried her best to look away from her captress as she carried her in her arms up the stairs. She didn’t wanted to see her, even though she knew that she will be forced to do so for a long time.
Upon reaching the end of the stairs Kluzelda let Rhys back on the floor as she opened a Door. Despite them being alone Rhys still had her gaze sunken in the ground, so she was caught by surpirse when Kluzelda grabbed her and took her inside the room.
“Mpgh!” Rhys screamed when she was thrown into the room by Kluzelda.
But she landed on a soft surface which she soon found to be a bed, she was in what she guessed to be Kluzelda’s room, a large space of stone walls, ceiling and floor which overlooked the bay. The bed was large and stood against the wall in the middle of the room.
Kluzelda had displayed plenty of what seemed to be her prizes on the room. Luxury items were displayed on almost every piece of furniture and from the walls hung ornate weapons and the embalmed heads of dangerous sea beasts.
“Welcome Rhys” Kluzelda said after locking the door behind her “I hope you like this place, because otherwise you will find it hard to become accustomed to it”
The room wasn’t Rhys’ ideal of a nice, but that was the least of her concerns. Much more than she cared about the place, she cared about its owner.
“I will have to attend some business with your previous owner in a few minutes, but I can’t leave you tied up like that” Kluzelda said as she sat at the edge of the bed “I’ve seen what you’re capable of, I know that you’re much tougher than you seem or let on, so i wont take any chances”
Kluzelda took some ropes from inside a drawer and leaned onto Rhys, she rolled her over and untied her hands but kept a firm grip around her wrists. With that done she rolled her over once again to make her lay on her back, and then began to wound rope around one of her wrists.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make this comfortable” Kluzelda said as she tied Rhys’ left hand to one of the top corners of the bed “As comfortable as I can”
Rhys ended up bound spread eagled on Kluzelda’s bed, her body stretched like a star towards all of the corners of the bed and her gag still tied around her head and tightly pressed over her lips, still holding a now saliva soaked cloth inside her mouth.
“I’m sorry to leave you so soon, but you know what they say” Kluzelda said as she put her coat back on “first the duty, then the pleasure”
When Kluzelda left the room Rhys was left alone with her gag and bonds, and with all of her thoughts asking ‘what now?’ With little hopes for a positive answer.
Eyiel stood patiently while chained between the two columns, her position wasn’t the most comfortable, but it wasn’t the worst she had been put through, and even if it was there wasn’t much she could do. With Rhys out of her sight she seemed to manage to upkeep her tough appearance, although it must be admitted that seeing how much she intimidated the guards helped her with that.
Her wait was ended when Kluzelda stepped into the room, Eyiel glared at her every inch she moved until she was standing right in front of her, meeting her glare with a smug look as she gloated over her while resting her hands on her hips.
“Comfortable?” Kluzelda asked.
“Not really” Eyiel replied.
“Don’t worry, Rhys is in a much better place right now” Kluzelda replied as she watched the anger grow within Eyiel “How did my men treat you?”
“Some may have tried to get a bit more handsy than necessary, but after I threatened them they were to scared to try anything” Eyiel boasted.
“Good to see that even in this condition you still retain your amazonian pride” Kluzelda said as she searched for something in her coat “But I will need you quiet for what’s coming, so I’ll have to put this on you”
To Eyiel, what Klzuelda had showed her seemed like a strange leather contraption, but judging by what she had said she knew very well where that thing was going.
“Any last words?” Kluzelda asked tauntingly.
“When I get out of this I’ll make you regret this” Eyiel replied.
With her last words spoken, Eyiel was gagged with the leather item which revealed itself to be a muzzle gag which buckled behind her head, going around it and over it.
“I think that should have been an ‘if I get out of this’, but I digress” Kluzelda said as she turned back to sit on one of the chairs “All I’ll say is that at the moment, that is a pretty big if”
After a few minutes more people began to fill the seats on the table, they were of all shapes and sizes, women, men and some who Eyiel couldn’t really categorize, but all of them did something in common when they entered the room, and that was stopping a few minutes before Eyiel to contemplate her.
They looked at her like if she was some kind of exotic hunting prize which had been brought back alive to be gazed upon, but even as she was stared down by the newcomers Eyiel kept her glare fixed on Kluzelda, seemingly looking through people whenever they stood between them, but Kluzelda’s smug smile remained on her face the whole time.
The people who came into the room also shared something else in common which Eyiel only noted when the third one came into the room, they all seemed somewhat important. She didn’t needed much to tell that this room wasn’t an ordinary dungeon and that it was in fact a pretty exclusive room. Eyiel guessed that these people were other ship captains, but the reason why they had taken her to this meeting, even in her condition as a prisoner, evaded her.
Once six of the seven seats were filled, with only the one at the head of the table empty, did someone spoke words which weren’t a private mumble between two of them.
“Can we begin now?” One of them asked “The queen won’t be coming any time soon so there’s no reason to wait for her”
Everyone seemed to agree to this captain’s motion, so Kluzelda adressed them all.
“Then welcome to this meeting of the high captains, my fellow seafarers” She said “As I see you noticed, the prize I have brought with me today is not a material one, but a human one”
Kluzelda and all of the other captains turned to look at the chained and gagged Eyiel, who stared back at them with the same rage that had been in her eyes since Kluzelda came into the room.
“As for you, what have you brought?” Kluzelda inquired.
The other five captains proceeded to lay something of the table, and although they were various items, they all were of great value. Jewels, gold and pieces of ornate art which had been taken from who knows which ship or unfortunate costal town were laid on the table.
“If I may inquire Kluzelda, in what way is the treasure you brought equal in value to ours?” A female captain asked after examining the other’s offerings for a few seconds.
Somehow having her valu being doubted offended Eyiel, if she was a prisoner she wanted to think that at least her vaule was high!
“Well, as I’m sure you noticed, she’s an amazon like me” Kluzelda explained “That should already tell you of how valuable she could be”
“You are valuable” Another captain replied “But not just because you’re an amazon, even if that helps, what do you want to do with this prisoner that makes her so valuable”
Kluzelda chuckled, she found the apparent short shortsightedness of her fellow captains amusing.
“Well, that is the reason why I called this meeting in the first place” Kluzelda explained “I think she would make a nice additions to any of our crews”, If none of you would like to take her, I’d gladly do so myself”
Eyiel couldn’t believe what she heard, did Kluzelda really want to make her part of her crew? The crew who had kidnapped her and Rhys and which was at the command of the woman who had taken Rhys from her?
“We know you had a similar start but you can’t really be compared with her”
“Oh I know” Kluzelda quickly replied, angered at even the idea of someone comparing her with Eyiel “For starters, i was never a captive slave”
“Mpghg” Eyiel grunted from her position of captive, offended at the snarky remark of Kluzelda and making all of the captains turn to look at her.
“But I think she can be put into the right path again” Kluzelda explained “Under my wing she could make a great pirate, one which would make us proud and our enemies afraid”
Kluzelda had a point, after all, even the captains were slightly intimidated by Eyiel even whens they saw her in her restrained position, and they had also heard the rumors Kluzelda’s crew spued about her.
“I can’t deny that she’s formidable, you crew left that very clear” A young captain spoke “But she doesn’t seem to want to cooperate with us in the first place, hell if she did you wouldn’t have needed to put her in chains”
“Oh, I know that she doesn’t want to take part in this at all” Kluzelda spoke, pretty much stating the obvious “But I have that covered”
Those words were met by intrigued looks from everyone aside from Eyiel, who knew what Kluzelda was talking about and hated it, she clenched her firsts and tugged the chains making them rattle, angered by the mere thoght of what Kluzelda was going to say.
“But I happen to hold that, or better said who, this amazon values the most” kluzelda explained “Which happens to be one especially cute elf mage which is tied up in my room at the moment, don’t you think that is enough leverage to have this amazon work with us?”
“Mpghgh” Eyiel grunted.
The captains began to mumble their thoughts to each other amongst themselves while Kluzelda watched smugly as her plan came to fruition, but before she received any answer she and all of the other captains were brought out of the discussion by the loud and sudden noise of the door being opened.
“We’re being attacked” The guard who had opened the door shouted.