"What do I do with him?" Haaste asked, indicating the unconscious form of Brynn, still pinned, his body gone slack against the wall.
Krell shrugged. "Bind him," he said, "I have a feeling that he would enjoy watching the procedure."
Tanys screamed in rage as she yanked against the leather cuffs holding her wrists. The leather creaked but held fast. She hissed through clenched teeth, glaring like a caged tigress.
"Such fire!" Krell said, clucking his tongue, "We have not had such a specimen in a long while."
"I am the student of Master Vriene," Tanys said, "If you touch me, he won't be happy about it."
Haaste's face went blank with fear as he looked up from binding Brynn's wrists together behind his back, but Krell only narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"No," Krell said, after a moment's thought, "I don't think you are." He walked over to the wall rack, shaking his head at the implements of torture, scattered across the floor by Brynn's struggles.
"Are you willing to take that chance?" Tanys asked.
Krell shrugged. "Well, now that you mention it, I suppose there is some risk." He paused a moment in thought.
Krell turned to look at Brynn who moaned as he regained consciousness, stretched face down on the floor as Haaste tied his ankles together with a length of cord.
"I was going to let the boy live," Krell said, "but, if there is the slightest chance that you are telling the truth... I suppose he must die as well."
Tanys fell silent, angry with herself for depending on Vriene's reputation to save her.
"I am something of a romantic, however," Krell sighed, "I promise that you will both die together when the time comes." He looked at Tanys with a placating smile.
"And I promise that you and your friend will both die together, when the time comes," Tanys said, her voice cold.
Krell grinned, showing red gums sunken back from long, yellow teeth.
Haaste finished binding Brynn's ankles and pulled him to his feet to sway drunkenly, balanced on the balls of his feet.
"Vriene will hear of this," Brynn croaked, hoarsely.
"No, he won't," Krell said, stooping to lift a three-tailed whip from the floor, "Your slave girl has already used that threat, and it has cost you your life."
"You bastard," Brynn hissed.
Haaste yanked Brynn's head back by the hair and grabbed his throat with his free hand, squeezing hard.
"Haaste!" Krell shouted, "Control yourself!"
The big ghast bared his teeth but released his chokehold, letting Brynn gasp for air once again.
"Amuse yourself if you want," Krell said, "but keep him fresh... keep him awake."
Haaste grunted and grabbed hold of Brynn's shirt, ripping it away to leave the beastmaster naked and struggling against the jailor's vice-like grip upon his hair.
"You look cold," Krell said, stepping to the table beside Tanys. He dragged the tips of the whip's lashes over her breasts, making circles around her dark, hardened nipples. He took a step back from the table. "Let's warm you up a little."
Tanys yelled in pain as Krell lashed her hard across the breasts. Angry red stripes welted up across her skin, and her body shook as she lurched, helplessly in her bonds. Krell took a step to the side and whipped her across the right thigh.
"I'll fucking kill you!" Brynn shouted, then groaned in rage as Haaste pinched his nipple and twisted it. The jailor leaned close to drag his long tongue up Brynn's jawline.
Tanys sucked in a breath and narrowed her eyes, shutting them tightly as Krell sent a lash across her face. Her cheek exploded with pain, and she cried out, feeling the wetness of hot blood on her skin.
Krell tilted his head, surveying his work. He dangled the leather thongs of the lash over her stomach, trailing them down to tickle the dark hairs below. With a cruel grin, he swung the whip in an underhand arc and brought it up between her legs with a blow that left her sobbing in pain.
Tanys's body sagged against her bindings. She gasped for breath and lifted her head to see Krell step away and return the whip to a hook on the wall. He stood for a moment, searching the rack of tools for inspiration.
"Is that... the best... you can do?" Tanys said, breathing deeply between her words to steady her voice.
Krell looked at her and raised an eyebrow. He smiled again. "That was just to warm you up, girl," he said, "You are awake now, yes?"
"Yeah, I'm awake now," she said, "and that was the last time I cry out for your pleasure, you son of a bitch."
Krell chuckled, glancing toward his companion. "She says she will cry no more," he laughed, "I suppose we'd better stop then."
Haaste mumbled a laugh as well. He put his knee behind Brynn's legs and pulled Brynn back to unbalance him. Brynn sputtered with impotent rage as Haaste ran his meaty hand over Brynn's bare chest. His abdominal muscles tensed as Haaste reached lower, exploring his toned body.
Krell's laughter trailed off as he lifted a stained, oily glass jar from a shelf upon the wall. He gave it a little shake, and something rattled within. "I haven't used these in a while," he mused.
Tanys focused on the pain in her wrists where the leather cuffs chaffed against her skin. That was pain she had given herself. The throbbing welts of Krell's lash marks on her skin screamed for her attention, but she pushed them to the back of her mind.
Krell returned to her side, reaching into the dirty glass jar to pull out what appeared to be a long, tapered sliver of bone. He held it up for her to see.
"The rib bones of a drakefish," he said, turning the slim bone to let Tanys appreciate its curve, "Simple sea-folk use them for sewing. The ribs are quite flexible and impossibly strong for their thinness."
Tanys said nothing, willing herself into a state of cold dispassion.
"Why don't you try that shit on me?" Brynn shouted.
Krell ignored Brynn's cries as Haaste taught him the folly of his outburst.
"They serve our purposes as well," Krell said, looking around for somewhere to set the jar. "What happened to the table that was in here?" he muttered.
Krell returned the jar to the shelf, coming back with a bundle of bone needles tucked into the palm of his left hand and an annoyed look on his face.
Tanys stared back at him in stony silence.
"Now, where shall we begin?" Krell sighed, lifting a single curved needle, pinched between the thumb and forefinger of his right hand.
Tanys let out a slow breath and watched as he leaned forward to press the tip of the needle to the skin just below her right collarbone. A tiny point of pain grew into a throbbing hurt as he inserted the sliver of bone into her and twisted it beneath her skin. The skin of her chest lifted about an inch away from the insertion point then sank again as the needle emerged from her flesh there, leaving a little hummock of skin, raised up by the needle between the two holes.
Krell stepped back, smiling in satisfaction.
Tanys took another slow breath and stared back at him, pushing the pain of her pierced flesh back behind the wall of hate in her mind.
Krell tapped a fresh needle to his pursed lips as he studied her body. Then he leaned in and pushed one through the taught skin beneath her left armpit. Tanys's eyes widened at the pain, and it was a long moment before she exhaled again, but she did not cry out.
Another needle went through the fold of skin just above her navel, and another he buried in the muscle of her right shoulder. When he pushed one through the delicate skin of her inner thigh, Tanys groaned and bit her lip, but she did not cry out.
When his hand lifted from the needle in her leg, his knuckles brushed against the warm dampness between her legs. Krell paused and licked his lips with his forked tongue. He laid the palm of his hand on her pubic mound and massaged her roughly with his thumb, teasing open the flower of her sex and raking its sensitive pink bud with his long, dirty thumbnail.
Tanys sneered at him. "I thought you were a professional," she said.
A smile flickered on the torturer's lips. "Oh,
I specialize in all sorts of things," he whispered. He glanced over his shoulder toward Haaste, but the big ghast was amusing himself by fondling Brynn's singed testicles.
"I think you deserve to sample all of my pleasures," Krell said, keeping his voice low as he reached down the front of his pants to pull out his hardening manhood.
Tanys looked away, the bonds biting into her wrists once more as she strained against them.
Krell pushed his hips between her legs, pausing to yank the needle free from her inner thigh and toss it aside. Tanys ground her teeth together as she felt the hot tip of his cock press against the folds of her sex.
Krell growled in frustration as he tried to lift himself with his hands planted on the table to either side of Tanys's hips. He stood up on his toes but then slipped down again, not quite able to angle a proper thrust with his swollen shaft. "Damned relic!" he hissed, "I wish I had you on the new table!"
Tanys snorted with laughter, realizing the jailor's predicament. Krell stood a good foot shorter than Brynn and lacked the height necessary to penetrate her on the inclined rack. "Want me to wait here while you get a step stool?" she asked.
Krell seethed with rage, and Tanys saw an opportunity.
"Hey, big man!" Tanys called out, "Your boss here can't quite reach me with his tiny prick. He might need you to lift him up so he can fuck me. Don't worry, I doubt it will take very long."
Haaste looked up, confusion darkening his face. "He's not my boss," he said. His eyes narrowed as Krell tried to quickly stuff his softening member back into his pants.
"It was my turn to go first, this time!" Haaste yelled.
Krell smiled tensely.
Haaste let Brynn go, and the beastmaster fell to the floor in a groaning heap. The big jailor bunched his shoulders dangerously and advanced on the squirming Krell.
"I wasn't really doing anything, Haaste," Krell said.
"That's true," Tanys laughed, "I guess this table was sized for someone a little... bigger."
Krell glared at her, baring his yellow teeth.
"I told you, we take turns with first taste!" Haaste shouted, jabbing a thick finger into Krell's thin chest, staggering him back a step.
Tanys nodded toward her body and grinned. "You might have a turn at me on this table, Haaste," she said, "but I think your boss is going to have to service himself this time."
"He's not my boss!" Haaste roared.
"Oh, it just seemed like he was ordering you around a lot," Tanys said, "People would think he's in charge."
Haaste scowled at her.
"Don't be stupid!" Krell said, "She's just trying to..."
"Don't call me stupid!" Haaste shouted. He slammed a meaty palm against Krell's shoulder, sending the smaller man reeling.
"I'm sorry!" Krell said, lifting his hands before him, "Let's just..."
"Can we get back to killing me now?" Tanys said, "I can die happy at least without the memory of having him inside me."
Haaste laughed at the expression of smoldering rage on Krell's face.
"Get her down from there!" Krell said, pointing a shaking finger at Tanys. "I want her on one of the new tables... Then will see how she laughs when I'm finding new holes in her to fuck!"
Haaste looked down at him but did not move.
"Just do it!" Krell shouted, his voice cracking with rage, "I'll let you have the first turn at her. Just get her on the new table!"
"First two turns," Haaste growled.
"Fine!" Krell said, spittle flying from his lips.
Haaste smiled in satisfaction and turned to face Tanys.
She shrank from him with a look of fear on her face that was not entirely faked. She shut her eyes almost all the way and squirmed weakly as the two ghasts unfastened her bonds.
She slumped into Haaste's massive arms as he lifted her and slung her over his broad shoulder, turning from the table.
Tanys's hand lifted to the bone needle beneath her collarbone, and she winced as she pulled it free of her skin.
"You bring him," Haaste said, pausing to kick at Brynn's shoulder with the toe of his boot.
Krell started to protest, but fell silent at the look Haaste gave him. The smaller man stooped to grasp the cords that bound Brynn's hands behind his back.
Brynn swayed as the jailor pulled him to his feet but then shouldered into Krell hard enough to drive him back against the table in the center of the room.
Haaste cursed and then screamed incoherently as Tanys grabbed him by the hair and drove the bone needle deep inside his ear.
Tanys's breath burst from her body as she hit the floor. She wasted no time in recovering, scissoring her legs around the big ghast's ankles and sending Haaste screaming to the floor beside her. She was on him in an instant, her thumbs in his eyes.
Haaste howled, one hand clawing at his face as the other fist lashed out blindly. Tanys rolled clear, coming up with an iron mallet in her hand from the scattered tools on the floor.
Haaste screamed again and again as Tanys swung the bloody cudgel down, hammering his thick skull until it cracked and the screaming stopped.
Tanys turned, wearily to face the center of the room where Brynn fought valiantly to pin the smaller ghast against the torture table. She let the mallet drop to clatter wetly on the floor and bent to pick up one of a set of long, curved knives that had spilled from a metal tray.
Krell took a very long time to die.
Afterward, Tanys helped Brynn to his feet. He leaned on her as he limped over and retrieved his discarded clothing, his face beaded with sweat.
“Are you going to throw up?” Tanys asked him.
‘Maybe,” he said. His fingers kept straying to his singed testicles only to pull away quickly as he winced in pain.
Tanys left him to dress himself as she cleaned the blood from her own wounds. Surprisingly, the cut across her cheek hurt more than anything else.
“We need a healer,” Tanys said.
Brynn looked up, his face twisted in pain as he laced up his trousers. “I know someone who can help us,” he said.
“What about these?” Tanys said, indicating the dead men.
“Help me get them to over to the grate in the corner,” Brynn said, “With the bodies gone, no one is going to waste much time looking for them.”
Tanys had to kick the iron floor grate a few times to break loose the thin crust of rust and dried blood. Then she wrenched it open on its hinges and helped Brynn drag the two bodies over and roll them into the gaping black chute below. The two torturers disappeared into the darkness with a distant splash, and nothing remained of them but their blood on the floor and smeared across Tanys’s naked body. Brynn tossed in the two fire rods after them, and a puff of steam answered from the sewers below.
Tanys pulled on her clothes over the caked blood of the men she had murdered as Brynn buckled his belt on, his eyes on the floor, his face ashamed.
“It was our own stupid fault, but we survived,” Tanys said, “Don’t waste too much time thinking about it.”
“My balls!” he hissed, “What if…”
Tanys cut him off with a laugh. “Don’t worry about it! It takes more than that to break a pair… I know. They’ll heal… and then I’m going to kick them both up into your fucking throat for tying my hands like that.”
Brynn glared at her, but he did look slightly relieved.
“Now let’s get to that healer of yours,” Tanys said, rubbing her shoulder, “I think I’ve got a fish bone broken off in my arm.”
Chapter 6
Tanys traced her fingertips over the skin of her shoulder, finding no mark there. For all of their capacity for cruelty and horror, the Ghasts were accomplished in the healing arts. Brynn had paid the healer well for his talents, and even more for his silence.
Tanys lifted her chin as Naietta dusted the hollow of her throat with perfumed powder and regarded herself in the mirror of her room. It was hard to believe that, only a few hours before, she had been fighting for her life in a
blood-slick chamber of torture. Her nude body glistened with shimmering violet powder with no trace of the violence remaining upon her flesh. Within, however, she felt a bone-deep weariness and ragged despair.
She had to escape before this place did the kind of damage that no magic could heal.
“So, what’s the special occasion?” Tanys asked as Naietta began to brush the tangles from her dark hair, lustrous but still damp from a hot bath.
Naietta smiled, but showed no real understanding. The girl’s eyes still had that faraway look of drugged half slumber.
Tanys sighed. She started to speak again, when the door to her room opened.
The young man with the ruined face stood, frozen in the doorway, his one-eyed gaze locked on her naked body. Tanys flinched, involuntarily at the sight of him. His eye fell as he ducked his head, offering a bundle of blue velvet in his hands.
After a moment, he hurried to lay the cloth on the bed and moved to leave, keeping his face turned away from Tanys as much as possible.
“Wait!” she cried.
The young man stopped, not daring to look at her again.
Tanys pulled away from Naietta’s brush and crossed the floor to him, fighting to conceal her own discomfort. “Look at me,” she said.
He shook his head, refusing to lift his gaze from the floor.
“I said, look at me!” Tanys said, a little harsher than she had intended it.
The young man hesitantly lifted his head just far enough that she could see the fear in his eye. His breath whispered through the damp hole in his face.
“What is your name?” she asked.
He looked at Naietta and then glanced back toward the still open door of Tanys’s room. He made a tiny noise in his throat, but no discernable sound came out.
“My name is Tanys,” she said, “Can you speak?”
His slim shoulders trembled, his eye darting up to meet hers and then falling to her shimmering breasts. He looked away quickly, a pink flush spreading across the bare skin of his shoulders and chest.
Tanys smiled. Steeling her resolve, she reached out and laid her open palm against his chest. She felt his heart fluttering like a snared rabbit’s.
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