Hellogon

by John Booth

  “You use the word ‘we’ a lot Peter. Are you of Hellogon or the Establishment?” Solly asked as he considered what Peter told him.

  “The Establishment has been my life. I played with Establishment children, went through Establishment training. I’ll always be partly Establishment, but they’ve lost the right to tell me what to do or expect me to follow their orders. I’m my own person now.”

  “Your father told me he met a brilliant female strategist. He said she made the Game players of Hellogon look like amateurs. Your father was brilliant. Clever enough to leave the Game when he saw the heirs of Cragus being killed.” Solly looked Peter in the eyes. “I wonder if he didn’t plan to raise a son brilliant enough to save Hellogon from itself.”

  Peter laughed. It would be wonderful to believe such a thing and think his father thought so much of him.

  “I think that might be asking too much of any one person, especially me. Tell me, Solly. What is it you really do on Earth, because I know it isn’t selling furniture?”

  It was Solly’s turn to laugh. “Perhaps not so brilliant after all, as I’ve been following my profession. I buy and sell information to the highest bidder. I have a sideline in selling access to certain gates to Hellogon, the ones you saw in my shop, but my real trade is information.”

  Peter nodded. He knew that already. It was good to confirm Solly was honest enough to admit it, though Peter was sure there were certain things he wouldn’t admit to. Now was time for Peter to sail close to the wind with regard to those matters.

  “Good, I want you to contact Han No and arrange a meeting between us on neutral ground. Perhaps on Earth, in your shop?” Peter watched to see how Solly reacted to the suggestion. He knew he was taking a massive risk, but he needed to find out Han No’s true objectives, and to do that a face-to-face meeting was essential.

  Solly sounded doubtful. “I’m not sure I can do it, and I don’t want Han No anywhere near those crates.”

  “We can meet upstairs. Tell him he’ll have to travel through one of your gates to the shop and I’ll have checked the shop to make sure he doesn’t have any other men there. Tell him he can bring two Warlocks with him, no more.”

  Solly brightened. “Yes, he couldn’t get help up the stairs in time to capture you, so he won’t bother. And you could port out of any of the gates, as could he. It makes it tricky for anyone to set up a trap. I think I might get him to agree to a meeting.”

  “I thought you could.” Peter needed to be careful to keep Solly unsure as to what he actually knew. “There’s one other thing I want you to tell him.”

  Solly’s face fell, “Han No is not a being you can make demands of.”

  “Tell him I want him to send Sal Dark back to me as a gesture of goodwill. She betrayed me and will receive an appropriate punishment when she arrives. He’ll understand that perfectly, Solly. Be sure you use those exact words when you contact him.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Pain

  Solly ushered Sal into an upstairs room in Castle Cragus and left hurriedly. The room was lavishly decorated with long silk tapestries on the wall. Sal sat on a large rectangular padded leather sofa. The seat was next to a delicately carved coffee table. A massive sheepskin rug covered most of the floor.

  Sal ignored all the features of the room but for one. Peter stood at the far end of the room looking at her with clear disapproval.

  Peter had watched Solly rush Sal into the room. He almost failed to recognise her because her usual clothes and make-up were gone. All that was left of the goth look was Sal’s jet black hair, which currently looked dishevelled, as though she’d been dragged backwards through a hedge.

  Sal hadn’t a whisper of make-up left on her face. Peter thought she looked more beautiful like that, but under the circumstances he wasn’t going to tell her. She wore a nineteen sixties school uniform. It looked accurate except her pleated grey skirt was way too short.

  Peter was particularly impressed by Sal’s school tie, replete with red and purple thick diagonal stripes. Her blouse sported a left breast pocket with an embroidered school badge on it. The badge included a rearing red dragon, which demonstrated Han No’s attention to detail. Peter made a mental note to remember that, it would undoubtedly be important in the future.

  “Peter…” Sal began, but Peter held up his hand in a gesture to shut up. Sal straightened herself up, pulling her tie into its proper position before pushing the ends of her blouse into the ridiculously short skirt. Peter noticed her careful movements when she tucked in the back of her shirt and the flickers of pain on her face.

  “You sold me out to Han No,” Peter stated. “The only way I could keep your father alive was to send you back while making it clear to Han No that I still cared for you. I ensured you remained a useful piece in the game.”

  Sal put her hands out imploringly. “He had me caned, Peter. They made me wear these clothes and put me in a room with a sadist in a headmaster’s uniform, cap and gown, the whole thing. He said they’d kill my dad if I didn’t obey him. It hurt, Peter, you’ve no idea how much it hurt.”

  Sal burst into tears. He stared at her, seemingly unmoved by her tale.

  Peter had a very good idea how much her thrashing hurt. He wore a couple of scars on his buttocks from his session with the Commandant. Corporal punishment had always been a significant feature of Establishment schooling.

  “Look for yourself!” Sal exclaimed angrily when Peter didn’t respond to either her words or tears. She lifted up her skirt and pulled down her blue knickers. She turned and lifted up her micro skirt and bent over to give him a good view.

  Obviously someone who takes pride in his work, was Peter’s first thought as he observed the finely spaced red and purple lines covering Sal’s bottom from the top of her cheeks down to her thighs. He mentally winced at the level of pain inflicted on Sal, but kept his face stiff and unyielding. He needed to be able to trust Sal but he was far from sure he could.

  Sal pulled up her knickers carefully, making sure the elastic didn’t touch her skin. She felt shocked by Peter’s lack of reaction. She dropped her eyes to stare at the floor and mumbled “What do you want from me, Peter? I’m sorry for what I did.”

  Peter moved until he stood only a foot away. “I want your unquestioning loyalty. Only then can I save you and your father. I need your faith, because once we’re playing The Game I’ll not have time to explain things to you. I need you to follow my orders, whatever they are.”

  Sal kept her head down but lifted her eyes to stare at him. She twisted her hands together as she struggled with what he was asking of her. “Han No has my father.”

  “Han No is using your father to force you to do whatever he wants. If he kills your father, he’ll have no control over you. Your father is safe while you’re with me.”

  “What if he took your mum?” Sal protested, her voice breaking with emotion.

  “Han No wants my willing cooperation. Taking my mum prisoner might get me to obey him for a while, but that’s not his primary objective. He knows if he did anything at all to my mother I’d try to kill him. His only option would be to kill me first. Han No is a coldly logical being.” Peter paused and then he said the thing he dreaded saying to her. “I need a demonstration of your loyalty.”

  “Peter, I am loyal to you. Don’t you trust me?” Tears leaked from Sal’s eyes. Peter continued to look unmoved although he felt like crying. “All right, I give in, what do you want me to do?”

  “Fifty spanks across your bare buttocks as hard as I can manage. Provided you accept my right to do it and don’t struggle or complain, it’ll give me evidence you’ll obey me when I order you to do something, that you’ll willingly suffer pain for me.”

  Sal looked at Peter in shock mixed with anger. Even to touch her backside at the moment caused agony, and he had a Vampire’s strength. Fifty spanks might kill her. If it didn’t kill her, she would wish it had. She stared at Peter’s totally impassive face. He had changed so much i
n the short time he’d been on Hellogon. Sal wasn’t certain of her feelings for what he’d become.

  Sal made a decision. She slipped her regulation sandals off her feet, and pulled down her knickers. This time she stepped out of them. A thin grey plastic belt and a zipped seam held up her pleated grey skirt. When she had loosened the belt and unzipped the zip her skirt fell to the floor.

  Peter moved to the leather seat and pushed the small table away from it. He sat and waited for Sal to come to him. He said nothing. Sal walked over to his side and bent over his lap positioning her bottom for his punishment. She ended up touching the floor with her toes and hands, forming a triangle. She kept her legs as straight and tightly together as she could and waited for the inevitable pain.

  Peter looked down on the damage already done to Sal’s beautiful bottom and he wondered if he had the strength of will to continue. His right hand traced around her buttocks. As he ran his fingers over each weal he felt Sal’s muscles tense and tighten. He was all too aware of the pain she already felt, but he needed to be sure he could trust her. He had no choice.

  Peter hit Sal four times very hard. He held back from using his full strength on her. Sal gasped and shuddered on the first blow and by the third screamed in agony. Despite the pain Sal kept her position and made no attempt to stop him. That was all the proof he needed.

  He lifted the sobbing girl back to her feet. He told her it was over, that he was convinced. To his surprise, Sal put her arms around him and hugged him. Peter caressed her as he tried to calm her sobbing. He thought she would try to punch him or kick him. He hadn’t expected her to want to hold him.

  When her breathing calmed, Sal loosened her grip and Peter moved his hands aside. Sooner or later he was sure she would thump him and he knew he deserved it. He hardened his stomach waiting for the inevitable blows.

  Instead, she undid his jeans and pulled them down to his feet. Sal pushed him back down onto the seat and followed him down. Within a short space of time they were making love. Sal proved insatiable.

  * * *

  Afterwards, they lay together on the seat. Sal snuggled up to Peter with his arm over her and was close to falling asleep. Peter looked up at the painting of Vampires fighting on the ceiling and thought about his upcoming meeting with Han No. He felt really good and he smiled at Sal, whose head rested lightly on his chest. Sal opened her eyes and smiled back. Life felt good indeed.

  “You owe me, Peter Craig, and I intend to collect everything that’s coming to me,” Sal said suddenly. She turned so that half her body rested on top of him, placing her elbows on Peter’s chest and looked deep into his eyes.

  “I do? What exactly do I owe you, then?” Peter asked, wondering what it could possibly be Sal wanted from him.

  “When my bottom is fully recovered I shall want them all, though maybe not all at once,” Sal said with a grin.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “My remaining forty-six spanks.” Sal moved back to her previous position, snuggling up tightly to him. She closed her eyes and, from her breathing, Peter was convinced she had fallen asleep.

  Peter went back to staring at the ceiling. His arm was beginning to go numb from Sal’s weight. He wondered how to move without disturbing her, before deciding it was his fate to stay where he was.

  He considered the task ahead and the Great Game. In the end, he concluded he had a few good ideas of how to deal with these strange creatures. He could understand and therefore manipulate the Vampires, Grimms, Warlocks and Dragons despite their differences from humanity.

  However, as had just been amply demonstrated, the truth was he had no idea what went on in the mind of a woman. No idea at all.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Slaves

  Sal finally rolled off Peter’s arm in her sleep and he was able to get up off the seat. His arm tingled fiercely as blood rushed back. He shook it vigorously trying to get the feeling back into it.

  His clothes lay scattered across the thick wool rug. His jeans were inside out and it took him a little while to figure out what had happened to his boxers. As far as he could tell, they had three leg holes and nowhere to get into them.

  Peter looked at Sal snoring quietly on the seat. She still wore the school shirt and tie. The shirt was fastened by a single button at her neck. Peter’s attention was captured for a few moments by the flatness of Sal’s belly and the way her breasts curved. Then he shook himself to get back to business. Sal couldn’t continue to wear those schoolgirl clothes. They were like a mark of Han No ownership. He needed Sal at the Han No meeting to keep her father alive, and she should be dressed like a lady, someone fit to stand by his side as the Lord Cragus.

  As Peter bent over on the rug to put on his boxers, Sal opened her eyes and watched. She woke up when he first left the seat but decided to pretend to sleep. Sal desperately wanted to keep lying there. Her bottom ached and she didn’t want to pull anything over it until she had no choice.

  Peter’s got a fantastic arse, she thought, really tight buns and he can certainly knows what to do with it. I wonder what those white marks are.

  Peter pulled up his boxers, ending her speculation. Sal shut her eyes as Peter turned to look at her.

  Peter sighed. He was going to have to wake Sal soon, when what he wanted to do was snuggle up with her, or maybe run both his fingers over every inch of her body. His speculation was cut short by a derisive snort of laughter.

  “If that thing sticks out any further, your boxer elastic is going to snap.”

  Peter hastily turned away. He sat on the side of the seat and pulled on his jeans as fast as he could. Sal moved over and placed her cheek against his shoulder. “Now don’t get all huffy. I was just admiring. I even have a technique to make the swelling go down, but hopefully it won’t work too soon.”

  Peter stood up and zipped his jeans. “We haven’t got the time, Sal, even though I can’t think of anything I’d rather do. I’ve got a meeting with the Vampire-Grimm Council of War I can’t put off. I need to get you some proper clothes for our meeting with Han No, which is,” Peter consulted his watch, “only five hours away.”

  Sal pouted. She was in the mood for sex and wasn’t used to the idea of a boy refusing her. It was the first time she could remember it happening.

  Peter laughed when he saw the look on her face, which didn’t help her mood at all. “Go off and play your stupid games then,” she snapped at him.

  “Sal, this Game is about real people and real lives. For someone who claims to know this place, you don’t seem to have a clue how Hellogon works.”

  Sal was infuriated and, before she could stop herself, threw a hex at Peter. Peter arched his back and jumped two feet into the air as pain arched through him. “What the fuck was that?” he yelled as he landed on the rug rubbing his backside with both hands.

  Sal remembered belatedly that she was supposed to be loyal to Peter and that he was a Vampire with a strong right hand. She backed away to the far side of the seat, giggling. “I’m sorry, Peter. I’m a Warlock. Small magics, remember? I didn’t mean it, I got carried away.”

  “I suppose I should be grateful you didn’t turn me into stone. Mind you, you’re always having that effect on me.” Peter laughed as he walked to the door. “I’ve got to go, Sal.”

  * * *

  On the other side of the door, he found a servant waiting respectfully. It took Peter a mental effort to remind himself that these servants were slaves and abductees, or the children of abductees. He spoke quietly to the servant, giving instructions.

  Sal wondered whether to get up or stay on the seat. It was pretty much the shape of a bed anyway, though a little lumpy. What she wanted was a bath, or preferably a hot shower. Certain activities, while very enjoyable, could leave a girl feeling a bit sticky. She knew the door Peter had gone out of led to the corridor but there was another door just across the room. Even a toilet would be useful at that moment and would soon become essential. Sal decided to investigate.r />
  She hadn’t been expecting much in the way of facilities. This was a castle and Hellogon wasn’t noted for its technology. She spent her first seven years in this world and never remembered seeing a plumbed-in bath, let alone a shower. She was staggered to find a superbly equipped bathroom on the other side of the door. I’ve died and gone to heaven, she thought as she turned on the hot tap of the bath and was rewarded by a strong gush of cold water that soon ran hot. She turned the water off while she searched for a lighter to light the room’s oil lamps. One of the cupboards was full of disposable lighters and soon the bathroom was lit up like a Christmas tree.

  Sal stepped naked into the large enamel bath. Someone had imported shampoos and soaps from Earth. Sal found a bottle of bubble bath on the side and poured in a large amount. She was luxuriating in the deep pleasure of it all when she heard a knock on the bathroom door.

  A servant woman stood inside the bathroom. She had a look of terror on her face and a small box under her arm. Sal deduced it was a sewing box because of the dress on the woman’s arm. She didn’t look much older than Sal and might be twenty years old at most.

  “Begging your pardon, my lady, but I’ve been sent to make sure you’re properly dressed for your meeting. Lord Cragus asked me to adjust these dresses to make sure they fit you.” The woman started to look panicked as Sal frowned at her. “We don’t have much time, milady. If I don’t take your measurements right now I might not finish in time.”

  “You want my measurements? I don’t have to get out of the bath?” Sal asked, seeing an escape clause. She didn’t want to leave the comfort of her bath if she could help it. It felt so good.