by Mind Guest
flamed hotter than the stifling air of the tent, but at least those
parts were mine again. I saw Fallan raise his arm for another slap and
cringed back in true Bellna style, but that seemed to make the
mercenary change his mind.
"There has been more than enough of this foolishness," he growled,
lowering his arm without swinging at me a second time. "Remove her from
this clothing at once."
He pulled me into a sitting position, locked one fist in my hair, then
moved as far to my left as he could, to be out of the way of the three
dark-haired girls. The three girls had come on the run at his growl,
but the fourth, the redhead, just stood to one side and watched me. Her
young, pretty face showed no signs of triumph or smug satisfaction, but
her light eyes were filled with trembling determination. She was the
one who had tripped me, of course, and all for the privilege of being set up as a target. I suddenly realized how much freedom meant to her,
and looked away in resignation. To prefer death to lifelong slavery was
a philosophy I could identify with, even if it did make my job that
much harder.
The three girls near me started unlacing my boots, their heads down to
cover their amusement at my discomfort. Having your boots unlaced is no
big thing, but that wasn't the way Bellna looked at it. She knew that
after the boots the rest of my things would be taken, and was also
overly aware of Fallen beside me, his big hand tight in my hair. She
and I would be stripped naked in front of Fallan, and although I
couldn't have cared less, Bellna was still young enough and innocent
enough to feel the hot-glowing flash of embarrassment. I didn't need a
mirror to know I was blushing like a failure light on a pilot's board,
and to say I was uncomfortable would be the understatement of the week.
I had control and I would keep it, but that didn't mean I wasn't paying
the price.
Both of my boots were pulled off at just about the same time, and then
the girls came away from my feet to tackle the light blue dress. Trying
to push them away accomplished no more than making two of the girls
each take one of my arms, leaving the third free to work on the dress.
I struggled ineffectively as it was opened and then pulled off first my
arms and then down past my legs, and couldn't help struggling even
harder when the underdress was lifted up. That couldn't be slipped off
around my feet, and the girls needed Fallan's help to get it free. His
arm around my waist held me relatively still while my arms windmilled
and my hands tried to hang onto the underdress, but the three girls
pulled it off and tossed it away out of my reach.
"My, my, what lovely, delicate, feminine underthings," Fallan drawled
over my shoulder, obviously looking at the lower part of my underwear.
"Had I known what beauty lay beneath those skirts, I well might have
contrived to see it the sooner."
The three girls added their giggles to Fallan's chuckle, and I couldn't
hold back the mortified wail that came from Bellna. I was burning up
with the humiliation flaming through me, but swinging my arms back in
an attempt to hit Fallan did me no good at all. he caught my wrists and
held them behind me, clearing the way for one of the girls to reach to
the lacings on my underbodice, at the same time looking over my
shoulder to watch the process with grinning interest. Fallan was
getting even for everything I'd done to him, and at that point I would
have done my damnedest to take him apart if I could have gotten loose,
but I couldn't get loose. I could only pull at his hands on my wrists
as I sat with legs straight out in front of me, and watch myself being
stripped.
The grinning girl undoing the lacings moved as slowly as possible,
trying to increase my misery and Fallan's interest. As the bodice
opened wider and wider, I be-came aware of how close Fallan's face was
to mine; inside my mind Bellna shivered, and all at once she was
fantasizing. In her fantasy Fallan reached one hand over rn~y far
shoulder, slipped it inside the half opened bodice, squeezed slowly and
with infinite relish, then went on to make violent love to her. I would
have thought she'd had enough of violence, but some girls are never
satisfied. I suffered in silence as Bellna fantasized and the darkhaired
girl took her time opening the lacings, but at least fantasy
didn't turn into reality. The real Fallan kept his hands to himself,
satisfying his thirst for revenge with no more than words.
"Those breasts could do with a bit of sun," he observed, his tone
thoughtful and faintly critical as the bodice was pushed all the way open "A bit less confinement might also increase their size."
The girls near me giggled again, enjoying Fallan's putdown, and Bellna
was too wrapped up in her daydreaming to notice. That left the option
to me again, and I didn't mind taking it up.
"Your disapproval of my form devastates me, Captain," I said, turning
my head to look at his very near profile. "How fortunate I am that it
is another I must please, and not you."
"Fortunate, indeed," he drawled, turning his head to look me in the
eye. "I am not a man to be easily pleased, as many a wench has already
learned."
"Some men do come rather late to their manhood," I allowed with a
compassionate smile. "Have patience, Captain, and do not despair. One
day you, too, will he pleased as easily as other men."
The girls around me flinched in silent pain, staring wide-eyed at the
thunder my deliberate misinterpretation of Fallan's meaning put in the
big mercenary's eyes. I was skating close to the edge by insulting him
that way, but he couldn't say he hadn't asked for it. Besides, life
without risk is no more than existence.
"How good of you to be concerned regarding my manhood, Princess," he
said at last, obviously trying to control the rasp in his voice as well
as the look in his eyes. "It must be of considerable interest to you,
to cause so great a concern."
The girls tried to giggle at his comeback, but the laughter came off
rather flat, just like Fallan's try. But he was trying, which meant he
hoped to learn the game; could I do less than attempt to teach it to
him?
"Alas, Captain, I find it beyond me to aspire to one such as you," I
sighed, trying hard to keep the drawl out of my tone. "I am resigned to
having no more than that which I already possess, meager as that
position is."
"Resigned," he echoed, studying me thoughtfully and with considerably
less anger than I had expected. "I find it difficult to believe,
Princess, that one such as you finds it necessary to be resigned to any
matter whatsoever. Though the pink of embarrassment remains in your
cheeks, still do you strive to give me blow for blow in defense against
attack. Were you a boy and of the proper background, I would take you
in my company and teach you the weapons of a man. However, as you are
not a boy and therefore in need of learning the benefits of maidenly
silent fear I must furth
er bruise your sensibilities."
A lighthearted grin lit up his ugly face as he said that, and I didn't
even have the time to wonder what he was up to. He turned my wrists
loose so suddenly I was startled, pulled the underbodice off in one
sharp motion, then had me around the waist before I could even begin to
react. Bellna's wail sounded in my head as Fallan threw me face down on
the ground, put his knee in my hack, and pulled open the tie at my
waist. he was doing it by the numbers, the bastard, and the last number
was to begin working off the lace-layered undies, as slowly as the girl
had unlaced the bodice, letting his palms touch my flesh only very
briefly and once in a long while. I screamed with the unbearable
outrage and unbearable desire Bellna was sending through me, kicking
and struggling as if I really expected to get loose, silently cursing
Fallan for playing the game his own way. Using his own rules there was
no way he could lose, which was, of course, the whole point.
"And so much for the last of the clothing of a Princess, Fallan said,
drawing off the lace undies from my legs and tossing them away. "When
once you have dressed again, Missy, you will be no more than a servant
to a Princess. You need not be concerned over recalling such a novel position; I have already seen to the matter to assure your memory of
the thing. Hurry now, wenches, and assist the new Princess in
dressing."
The three girls who had been helping Fallan turned immediately to the
redhead, who was already beginning to get out of her clothes. Fallan's
knee continued to keep me face down in the dirt and grass, which was
playing hell with my struggle to stay in control. Bellna was terribly
aware of how close Fallan was, while she lay there stark naked. I could
feel the heat all over my body from her embarrassment, and could also
feel her out-of-control arousal. She kept expecting Fallan to touch her
in some way, preferably intimately, but the redhead was hurriedly laced
and stuffed into my sweaty clothes and nothing like that happened. I
tried to make myself aware of how good it felt being out of clothing,
but Bellna's sense of humiliation was too strong to overcome. I
squirmed under Fallan's knee in silent protest, inwardly cursing Fallan
and Bellna, but it wasn't what one might consider an effective effort.
When the girls began lacing up my boots on the redhead, Fallan's weight
was suddenly gone from my back. My own first reaction was to get to my
feet, but Bellna's feelings were stronger than mine and they dragged
mine along. On the ground Bellna had some small amount of modesty
protection; upright there would be nothing more than what my hands
could cover, which wasn't much. A thin, golden haze began obscuring my
vision, and I discovered I had lost the battle for control when I tried
to move and nothing happened. A flash of frustrated anger touched me,
whirling in with the other emotions storming around inside me.
"You may now arise and begin dressing, Missy," Fallan spoke from behind
me, a casual pat on my horribly bare bottom coming just before the
sound of his rising. "It will take no more than a moment for you to do
so, I know, for I mean to remain here and direct you."
"You cannot!" I wailed, mortified at the thought of being arrayed so
openly before him. "And how may I dress when that-that-peasant has been
given my clothing?"
"That is the princess you speak of, girl, and you no more than the
peasant," the brute replied, a chuckle to be heard in his vile tone.
His hand took my arm and. forced me to my feet despite my protests,
despite the enormity of such a thing. I searched within me for the new
knowledge which would cause him harm for the thing he dared, yet it was
covered and kept from me by some means. Instead of finding myself able
to chastise him, I was able to do no more than stand with my hands
before me, knowing the concealment pitifully inadequate, trembling at
the amusement which took him. Deep in my heart I knew I would not find
myself able to struggle if he were to step forward and take me in his
arms, yet he made no attempt to do so. There were none to halt him
there, and none who would dare speak of it were he to thrust himself
within me, yet he made no attempt to do so.
"That tinge of red does you no justice, girl," the beast chuckled,
sending his gaze to touch every part of me. "Were you not red-haired it
would perhaps be attractive, but as you are best you dress quickly."
I had no wish to don the crude trappings of a peasant, yet how might I
refuse to cover myself against the stare of the brute? The skirt
brought me was a plum print, the badly made bodice a thin once-white,
the heavy' shawl dyed an uneven green. Additional insult was given me
in that none of the servants brought to furnish service to me lifted
even a single hand in assistance. Out of necessity, then, I covered my
own body, and when the shawl was tied about my waist the mercenary
Fallan stepped closer to look down upon me.
"The lines of your body are more easily seen through clothing such as that," he murmured, a glint in the dark of his eyes. "Best you stay
close to me when you are without the coach, else I may not be able to
answer for your safety. Men are no more than men, most considering
peasant girls theirs for the taking. None will pause to ask if you are
indeed a peasant."
He turned from me then to gesture the others from the tent, and then it
was me back in control again and not Bellna. I was startled that she'd
given up so abruptly, without anything like a struggle, but while I was
taking a deep breath and tightening my grip on the control, f found her
quaking back in a corner of my mind. Fallan had frightened her badly
when he'd told her how men would react to her, and her imagination was
picturing her being raped by men without number, none of them Fallan.
She wanted Fallan so badly my body burned with the need, but she didn't
want any part of a gang rape by strangers. I can't say how relieved I
was that she looked at it like that, but it's amusing only to think
about afterward. At the time the only consideration involved was that
if she had liked the idea, it would have been my body taking the
punishment.
Fallan lifted the tent flap and let the "princess" and her servants
leave the tent first, then pushed me out after them with a hand in the
middle of my back. He came out right behind me, calling to his men to
get the tent folded and put away even as he followed us to the coach.
The redhead was trying not to move stiffly in her new finery, but the
weight of it was already beginning to get to her. She moved her head in
discomfort, trying to loosen her collar and let in some of the fresh
forest air, and Fallan passed me in two strides to catch up to her.
"You must not hold yourself so timidly," he instructed her, his voice
gentle and supportive as he looked down at her. "You must be as bold
and arrogant as the true princess is, for now you are she. Think of the
gold you will have when this chore is done, and think of the awe an
d
respect which will be yours when you return among your people. Think
also of the insult which you may give others, without fear of reprisal;
you should, by now, be well schooled in that subject at the very
least."
All four of the girls giggled at the dryness in Fallan's voice, knowing
exactly who the butt of his' humor was. I knew it too, but right then I
couldn't have cared less; I was too busy backing away from the coach,
just about ready to make a break for it. No matter how good Fallan was,
he'd never catch me once I was into the woods, and then I could finish
up that assignment the right way. I backed up another step, then
another, almost ready to turn-and backed right into a hard, male body.
"You mistake your direction, wench," a voice came from the body I'd
backed into, causing me to turn my head fast. The mercenary Ralnor
stood there, the one who was Fallan's lieutenant, a faint grin of
amusement on his handsome face. His hand came up to take my arm in a
deliberately heavy grip and Bellna, remembering what the man had done
to the redhead, began quaking even harder in her corner.
"Should there be a mistake, it is certainly on your part," I told him,
fighting hard to keep from growling as Bellna's shivering had a
tendency to make me do. Remove your hand from my arm, and do so
immediately."
"What occurs here?" Fallan demanded, coming up behind me in time to see
the grin disappear from Ralnor's face. Fallan's lieutenant was no
longer amused, and that suited me just fine.
"Captain, I caught the wench attempting to take herself off," Ralnor
said with a growl of his own, his hand tightening even more on my arm.
"Allow me to punish her for you." His pretty eyes looked at me with a hardness that was supposed to be
intimidating; instead of feeling intimidated, all I wanted to do was
offer him his best shot. Unfortunately, the role I was committed to
didn't even let me pull my arm free of his hand; the only weapon I
could use was words.
"As you realize you must ask permission before offering me harm, you
must also realize what will befall you should you attempt the deed
under any circumstances," I said in my coldest tone, holding his eyes
the way Bellna would have if she were a little older and more mature.
"It has clearly slipped your mind to whom you give insult, Lieutenant.
