by Tasha Bell
The dragon, already the size of a large dog, flew out of her sight over a large stone bluff, she wondered if she should call him back using the special whistle she had developed, but decided he was big enough now to deal with any animal he might encounter in the mountains, and she turned her attention back to the debate that was going on around her, it was one that she had heard a thousand times over the course of the winter, about how they would start the uprising when the time came for it.
“We have a twenty-eight men here,” said Christian, ramming the end of his staff into the ground for emphasis. “With surprise on our side we could easily take Castle Brookmere. Sir Robert has hardly any guards left since King John took them to fight in his war, and once we’ve hung him from the battlements the common people will see that they have nothing to fear from the lords, and that we have reawakened the dragons, they’ll flock to our banner, we’ll be able to march on the Capital in a month.”
“Yes but we don’t have the element of surprise,” said Harper. “Everyone knows we’re up here, even King John, that’s why he sent Bates. Do you not think he’ll have reinforced the castle’s watch? We’d never get in because they are on the lookout for us. As you say we have twenty-eight men, we would all be slaughtered in front of the closed portcullis.”
“So what do you think we should do then Harper? Wait up here for another year getting even thinner and colder? Wait until Vultonis learns to flame? Who knows how long that will take, decades maybe. We have to strike now.” Said Christian, glowering at his friend and clearly angry. Viviana had felt the force of Christian’s passion and knew that when he wanted something, like he had wanted her, there was nothing that would stop him, but if there was one man willing to try it would be Harper. The two had argued all winter, and Viviana had stopped them coming to blows at least three times. She found it very hard to believe in them marching on the capital in they couldn’t even agree on how to get down from the mountains, and she had a horrible vision of the two men’s severed heads stuck on a pole on traitors’ gate.
“We need to wait for the right moment,” said Harper. “Until something happens to bring the whole countryside to the point of boiling over. We should wait until Sir Robert gets drunk and flogs one of his serfs to death again, then when the people are at the peak of outrage we can walk in and nudge them into a full-blown revolution, take the towns first and worry about the nobles in their castles afterwards, starve them out if needs be.” He sat back and folded his arms, as if trying to emphasise how logical and well thought out his point of view was.
“We’ll be up here waiting forever!” Shouted Christian. “And how do we even know when the people are ready if we’re stuck up here in the bloody mountains, we need to take Castle Brookmere this spring before the leaves are on the trees.”
Viviana picked up her pole axe and walked back to the training circle, this debate could go on for a very long time and she was sick of listening to Christian. She had thought that things would change between them after their night together in the snow-cave, but he had remained aloof and disdainful towards her. The morning after their night together, waking up with him and walking into the crisp white snow, she had expected some awkwardness given their new status as lovers, but there was none, there was nothing at all. Her dreams were full of him, of him taking her, filling her highborn body with his thick member, but in the light of day he remained as cold towards her as before. Although she sometimes caught him staring at her across the camp she was coming to realise that his attitude towards her wasn’t going to soften. From some of the comments he had made towards her over the hard months of training it seemed to Viviana that Christian liked her even less than he had before he had been with her.
***
Miranda had no idea how long she’d been in the cell, with no light coming in and no sounds passing through the walls it could have been days, weeks or hours, she had no way of keeping track of time. She had shouted until her throat was sore, but had grown scared of hearing her voice echo unanswered in deep unknown chambers. She had started to see shapes on the inside of her blindfold, her sensory-deprived brain striving to make its own stimulation. She tried to keep herself happy by picturing the sunlit field and budding woods of the Vale in spring time, imagining herself outside picking violets or lying by the swift flowing stream, but every time she was about to lose herself in fantasy she would hear the echoing drip of water in a faraway chamber, or the scuttle of tiny claws across the stone and snap back to her current predicament with despair. She was thirsty, cold and scared.
Just as she thought she was certain to go mad she heard a noise, a noise that had not been produced by her own breathing or heartbeat - footsteps, someone was coming at last. She heard the door slowly open and then she could smell Captain Bates’ warm perfume - rose water and the leather of his uniform - his reassuring presence flooded over her, the relief was instantaneous, she had never been so happy to smell another person.
“Oh Captain,” She whimpered, turning her head to where she thought the Captain stood. “What are they doing to me, why am I down here?”
“Hush Mirianda.” He spoke in a whisper, but after so long in near complete silence the sound was shockingly loud and close to Miranda and she jerked in her chair. Captain Bates placed a well-manicured finger under her chin and tilted her head back bringing a glass of cold water to her lips. She gulped at the freezing liquid hungrily, and felt it spill down her neck and over her breasts as she drained it. “It’s going to be alright.” He said, and she felt him dabbing the water away from her chest. It had been so long since anyone had touched her that Miranda felt a jolt of shock run through her body at his gentle caress.
“Miranda” he said, leaning down from behind her to kiss her neck. Her skin broke out in gooseflesh as his lips touched her, she wished that her hands were free so that she could throw them around him, to hold him tight and tell him to get her out of this horrible place. “I have a confession to make,” he paused before continuing. “I think I love you. Is it wrong of me to love a subversive?”
“But I’m not a subversive,” Miranda sobbed. “And it’s not wrong, I love you. I do. You’re the most amazing man I have ever met, I just want to be with you, I don’t care if I never leave the castle again, just take me back to my chamber.” She was almost hysterical as she said this, tripping over her words in her rush to get them out.
“Oh Miranda, we will be together. We will.” He said kissing her neck and softly biting the delicate skin above her collar bone. “I think I can get you out of here,” he said. “I just need you to do something for me.”
“I will, I’ll do anything for you.” she cried, almost hysterical, her tears soaking into the black silk bound around her head. Captain Bates moved in front of her and leaned in close, he gently eased the blindfold from her eyes, and in the warm flickering light of a burning torch she saw his handsome face, with its piercing blue eyes just inches from hers.
“I need you to bring me Kit and his friends.” He said.
Chapter Eight
Alexandra had not enjoyed her winter in the camp. Having worked in the tavern nearly all her life she was used to serving hungry men. But back in the Bull there had always been good humour and jokes to throw around while she worked. Up here the rebels were so serious, and she was never thanked for her hard work cooking for the men, she got the feeling that they expected her to be grateful for allowing her to a part of their glorious revolution, a revolution she secretly thought was doomed to fail. Since winter had set in she had hardly been able to spend any time with Harper, the jealous stares of the other men in the camp kept them apart, and even her care-free brother had seemed distracted and preoccupied.
She was carrying water down from spring that serviced the raggedy group of huts they laughably called their headquarters when she heard Kit’s excited shouts. He was staggering towards the encampment carrying a pale bundle in his lanky arms.
“Alexandra, put on some hot water and get some blankets,
its Miranda she’s alive.” He called to her in great excitement, his words tripping over themselves in his haste to get them out. Alexandra rushed out to meet her brother and saw that the bundle he was carrying was a girl, he could see Miranda’s famous red hair tumbling out to sway around her brothers thighs. She seemed to be unconscious, and her head lolled in Kit’s arms with every step he took.
“I found her crawling through the pass to find us,” said Kit. “She’s very weak but before she passed out she told me that she’d escaped from Castle Brookmere. I can’t believe she’s alive.” He beamed with pleasure, he’d been preoccupied all winter with the fate of his sometime girlfriend, telling the other men that he should have taken her with him, or stayed an fought the men away from her.
“Bring her into the kitchen, its warmer in there, lie her on the bench next to the hearth.” Alexandra told her brother wondering how on earth Miranda Carter, never the brightest girl in the village, had managed to escape from Castle Brookmere and the infamous Capitan Bates, someone even Harper and Christian seemed afraid of.
Later when Christian and Harper had come to look at the new arrival she opened her eyes and cried out, “don’t hit me again, I don’t know anything.” Before breaking into tearful sobs. Kit rushed to her side.
“Don’t worry Miranda,” he said, stroking her hair. “It’s all right now, you are safe, and you’re with friends.” Miranda sat up slowly and looked around the crowded room, at first it seemed that her eyes could not take in anything she saw, and she stared blankly and the faces that surrounded her, but then a glimmer of recognition crossed her face and she gave a faint weak smile.
“Oh thank god.” She said. “I thought I was back there again, back in the dungeons of Brookmere castle,” she hid her head in her hands and her shoulders began to shake. “I thought I was going to die in there, I thought I’d never get out. They tortured me for so long, they asked me so many questions about all of you and I just didn’t know anything.” She burst into heavy tears, evidently recalling the horrible crimes committed against her tender body.
Christian stepped forward, “It’s all right now,” he said. “Your safe with us, and we’re going to make the people who did this to you pay, we’ll have them strung from the battlements before the equinox. Just tell us how you got out” Miranda wiped at her eyes and stared up at Christian with her lips trembling.
“I was in the dungeons when one of Matt Tindall’s sons came down to force himself on me,” she said in a faint voice. “He untied me so that he could position me like wanted me, then when I was on all fours in front of him I pushed off the floor with my hands and I kicked my leg back. I think I broke his knee, I heard it crunch and it bent the wrong way.” She stopped and stared into the distance, reliving the painful memories.
“He was screaming on the floor and I ran out of the door. I headed away from all the burning torches and just ran into the darkness of the deeper dungeons. I was lost for days down there and I was certain that I was going to die, but then I saw a tiny bit of daylight at the end of a tunnel, I clawed and clawed at the roof and I came out beyond the marsh in the bottom of a little ravine.” As she spoke her words got quieter and quieter, as if she was just too tired to carry on.
Christian gave Harper a meaningful look and bent down so his face was just inches from hers, he put one of his large hands on her shoulder and asked, “Miranda, do you think you could lead us back to that tunnel?” She looked back at wide eyed and silently nodded her head.
***
Alexandra had heated a tub of water by the fire, she tested the temperature with her hand.
“The water is ready Miranda, come on let’s get you out of those dirty clothes,” She said. Miranda nodded at her silently, the poor girl had hardly said a word all afternoon. She had seemed to be in shock and was nothing like the flirtatious girl that Alexandra had known from her days at the Bull Tavern. Alexandra watched as Miranda’s layers of rags fell to the floor and she stepped towards the tub, her body was creamy white, her small pert breasts topped with dark rose-pink nipples. She could see why her brother had been so keen on the girl. Miranda slowly walked over to the tub and stepped in, she lowered herself gently into the steaming water, sighing as it covered her waist. Alexandra could almost see the tension washing away from the red headed girl as she sunk into the tub.
“Would you like me to scrub your back for you” asked Alexandra emptying a small bottle of lavender oil into the tub.
“Oh yes please Alex,” Miranda murmured. “That would be divine.”
Alexandra crouched next to the tub and ran a cloth over Miranda’s back. Her skin was beautiful, it was just starting to take on a pinkish tinge from the heat of the water and the fire. Alexandra noticed that there wasn’t a mark on it, strange for someone who had been held and tortured in a dungeon for the past five months.
“Ohhh,” sighed Miranda. “This is so nice Alexandra. Oh you wouldn’t believe how I’ve dreamed of a warm bath.” She hummed with pleasure as Alexandra ran her hands over her smooth skin, delighting in the human touch. She dropped her shoulders back into the steaming water pushing her breasts into the air. “Why don’t you come in?” she said softly “there’s enough space and it would be a shame to waste all this hot water just on me.”
Alexandra thought for a few seconds. There had not been much room for luxury over the winter, and it probably was a waste to use all that water on one person. “Alright then.” She said with a smile, easing off her thick winter dress and letting it fall to the floor next to the fire.
“Come and sit in front of me,” said Miranda. “It’s my turn to do your back.”
Alexandra eased herself into the water, it was delicious. She felt all the stress from the winter easing out of her as Miranda began to gently rub her back. “Oh that’s good.” she whispered.
“Isn’t it?” Said Miranda leaning forward so that Alexandra could feel the points of her breasts, slippery with the lavender oil, graze her back. You know Alex I always wanted a body like yours” she said as her hands slipped from the small of Alexandra’s back round her narrow waist and onto her oiled breasts “even when we were growing up you were so curvaceous, so womanly, I was mad with jealously the way the men in the village would look at you.”
Alexandra breathed deeply taking in the soothing aroma of the lavender oil as one of Miranda’s hands gently brushed her nipple, the other hand slowly slid down over her soft stomach.
“What are you doing?” she said, it was slightly disconcerting but it felt so nice to have Miranda’s delicate hands on her body. She’d managed to be with Harper a few times over the winter, but those had been impassioned rough meetings, and over quickly for fear of being discovered by others. Being touched in this way felt completely different, like it was waking up her whole body.
“Have you ever been with a woman” whispered Miranda, easing apart Alexandra’s thighs.
“No” she gasped “and I shouldn’t be with you, you’re still in shock. This isn’t right.”
“I’m fine, I need this” said Miranda.
Alexandra felt a strange excitement growing in, her body wanted to go with the caresses, to surrender to Miranda’s skilful fingers, but she knew that something was not right. Miranda claimed that she had been held captive in the dungeon and used by Matt and his sons as a sexual plaything, this was not the behaviour of a woman who had been through that sort of ordeal.
“No, Miranda stop, tell me what really happened to you.” She tried to keep her voice measured but found herself groaning under Miranda’s caresses.
“I’ve told you all what happened.” Said Miranda languidly.
It pained Alexandra to leave the luxury of the bath tub, but she realised she had to go. She had her suspicions about Miranda’s story and she needed to tell the others before they did anything rash in reaction to it.
***
Viviana looked over the rough table to where Christian and Harper sat. There had never been a discussion between them and th
e other rebels about who was in charge in the camp, and if you’d asked any of the outlaws they probably would have said that everyone was equal up here in the stronghold of the mountains, but when it came to important decisions the men automatically seemed to look to the three of them for guidance. Viviana supposed they looked to Harper because of his size and presence, Christian for his dark brooding passion, and her as relic of their days in the service of the highborn.
“We stick with the plan,” said Christian, visibly agitated and almost shaking with excitement. “This is by far the best opportunity we will ever have to take the castle and start the uprising. She can lead us straight to the secret entrance. This is what we’ve been waiting for all winter, this is where it starts.”
“Yes it could be,” said Harper. “If she’s telling the truth, it could just as easily be where it all ends.”
“Of course she’s telling the truth!” Shouted Christian. “You saw the way she looked, and anyway we grew up with her; me, Alexandra, Viviana and Kit, we’ve known here as long as we can remember. We are people of the Vale, you’re an outsider you don’t understand.”
“I’m just saying,” said Harper. “Alexandra is suspicious of her, and she’s of the Vale like you.”
“Alexandra is suspicious of her because they’ve both been fighting over the same men for the last 6 years,” said Viviana drily. “I believe her story. I’ve sat through more boring banquets at Sir Robert’s castle that I care to remember. He always gets drunk and starts talking about the hidden tunnel his grandfather put in case they were ever besieged. I really think Miranda is telling the truth.”
