Bridled Lust

by Faith Eden

  ‘Leave her boots and the mittens on,’ Fulgrim instructed, as the bridle was lifted from Corinna’s head. ‘They make such a pleasant contrast to so much soft flesh, and I’m sure the people of Garassotta will find their lady warden so much more appealing dressed a little, rather than completely naked.’ He chuckled and turned to Corinna.

  ‘Have you ever ridden before, my dear?’ he asked, his voice purring with satisfaction at the expression of horror that froze on her face. ‘Such an invigorating experience, but not usually as invigorating as I’m sure you’ll find my little horse here. Who knows, you may even enjoy yourself, always supposing the garrison commander does not prolong the experience overly. I should imagine the novelty will wear off after a while, wouldn’t you?’

  ‘I - I don’t understand, sir,’ Corinna managed to say at last, determined to maintain her deception whatever happened. If Fulgrim were to realise that he had the real Corinna in his hands, this practice run with his vile torture device would probably be extended until they reached the walls of Garassotta themselves.

  ‘Of course you don’t understand, dear Flix,’ he laughed. ‘You’re a slave and also a woman, so you’re not expected to understand, but I’ll try to explain, as you obviously have no idea.

  ‘You see, you look like a lady whose importance is, well - let’s just say that men will worry more about her fate than they would about yours, but then as you look like her so, they will worry about you anyway, believing you are her. Do you understand that?’

  ‘Y-yes - yes sir, I think I do.’ Corinna blinked, trying to appear as blank and uncomprehending as she supposed a real slave girl might in the circumstances.

  ‘Then I think you will see the purpose of this,’ Fulgrim said. ‘When the soldiers at Garassotta see what they think is their dear lady warden being paraded before the castle walls astride her new steed, they will most certainly accept my terms without the need of a prolonged siege. A few lashes from my whip will convince them further, if further they need to be convinced.

  ‘You’ll be gagged, of course, to prevent you crying out and giving the game away, but I think you’ll still be able to make sufficient noise for my purposes.’ He nodded to the guards again and stepped back.

  ‘Put her up, lads,’ he chuckled. ‘Let’s see how she’s going to look to her devoted subjects. And mind with that saddle now - don’t forget it tips back and forth a good way, so get those thigh straps secured before you let go of her completely. We don’t want her flying off headfirst, not before she’s had a good long ride!’

  Moxie sighed and wrapped her right leg even more firmly about Pester’s thighs, trapping him tightly within her, though she knew there was little likelihood of him wanting to withdraw. His shaft felt warm and alive in her, the steadily throbbing pulse reassuring as he snuggled his head against her right breast and suckled contentedly on the nipple of the other.

  Milkmaid, Lady Dorothea often called her, for her ability to lactate when aroused, something Moxie had found difficult to believe did not happen to every female, and a talent which had pleased her mistress as much as it pleased and pacified the eunuch page. She stroked his head tenderly and sighed again.

  ‘Men,’ she said, ‘are such curious creatures. With or without balls, they seem to think of only one thing much of the time and are so easily satisfied. You all think of us as little more than soft warm scabbards for your little swords, don’t you my pretty page?’ She closed her eyes and tried to picture Dorothea as she had first seen her in her father’s tavern; tall, aloof, almost sinister in her black robe and breeches, and plainly unable to keep her eyes from Moxie’s spilling bosom as she moved about serving the drunken oafs who were the inn’s staple custom.

  ‘Few of you ever realise that women actually think, actually want things for themselves, need things...’ Her voice trailed off, for Pester, if he was even listening to her, would never understand. Right now, she knew, he had everything he could want and the two things he didn’t have he had never had the chance to learn to miss.

  ‘Poor little baby,’ she cooed and lifted his head, opening her eyes to smile at the puzzled expression on his face. ‘Here,’ she said placatingly, moving him across her bosom, ‘have the other titty for a while, my poor hungry baby, and then you can fuck me again before we sleep.’

  ‘You do not have to do this for me, Alanna, you know that.’ Savatch leaned heavily against the staff she had cut for him, still looking far from fit.

  Alanna shook her head and placed one slender hand on his shoulder.

  ‘I know,’ she said, ‘and I’m not. I’m doing this for - well, for many reasons, not least in that if I don’t, Jekka will go in there on her own and then who knows what might happen.’

  ‘I should forbid this foolish venture outright,’ Savatch snapped. ‘I’m still supposed to be in command of this expedition, am I not?’

  ‘Of the expedition, yes,’ Alanna agreed, ‘but no one commands Jekka, not even I. You know that.’

  ‘Even Jekka does not command Jekka,’ Savatch said, ‘but that’s because she is as near mad as any sane person could be. She would listen to you, though, I’m sure she would.’

  ‘She already has listened, my friend,’ Alanna told him, smiling thinly, ‘and I’ve listened to her in turn. The plan is not quite as insane as we first thought, and it might even work.’

  ‘And it might get you both killed,’ Savatch countered, ‘or even worse. Does Jekka know that she could end up—’

  ‘Yes, she does,’ Alanna assured him, ‘and so do I.’

  ‘But Jekka has never been with a man.’

  ‘And I have, yes, I know,’ Alanna said. ‘Come to that, we only assume that Jekka has never been with a man, because that is what she chooses to have us believe.’

  ‘Surely she’s told you?’ Savatch grunted, disbelievingly.

  Alanna’s eyebrows arched. ‘She tells me many things,’ she replied carefully, ‘but not everything, and that dark soul of hers keeps its chosen secrets well and close. Besides,’ she added, ‘it is none of my business and makes no difference to her as what she is. She is possibly the finest Valkyr there has been in a hundred years.’

  ‘Certainly the deadliest,’ Savatch concurred. ‘She kills without emotion, that one.’

  ‘Which is the best way, as we are taught from the beginning,’ Alanna said. ‘It’s just that some of us do not always manage to hold to our training as well as others and none as well as Jekka.’

  ‘You are very fond of her,’ Savatch said. He turned and walked across to the wagon, sliding carefully down its side to sit cross-legged on the ground, his staff clutched before him in both hands. ‘You are like a mother to her, Alanna.’

  ‘A big sister, I prefer to think,’ Alanna replied, grinning. ‘I’m not that much older than her, you know. Besides, it was my mother who mentored her as a Valkyr, as I believe I may have told you once.’

  ‘You did, but little else,’ Savatch said. ‘Jekka’s past is as much a mystery to me as her mind is now,’ he added.

  ‘She never really speaks of it,’ Alanna said, ‘but she has nothing to be ashamed of.’ She paused, hesitating, unsure of whether to continue. ‘I will tell you some,’ she said at last, ‘but you must give me your oath never to repeat it, nor to let her know what you know, for she would probably kill you for the knowledge.’

  ‘I’ll gladly give you my oath,’ Savatch said, ‘but perhaps it would be better that you kept the secret still, if it means that much to her.’

  ‘Except that I think it is only right that you should understand something of our little assassin before she puts her head in the fire for you and your lover. She - we - may not survive this adventure and neither too might you. Come two days from now we could all be dead, so maybe now is the time, while time we still have.’

  ‘Jekka’s mother was also a Valkyr,’ Alanna began, lifting her head and gazing unseei
ngly towards the stars. ‘Vala Valkyr Marisalanna Birgittsdottir, a younger cousin to my own mother, a true champion and one of the finest shots with any bow ever made by man or woman.

  ‘When she had completed her first quest, she returned and fell in love with a male warrior, Hansor Onstromm Golafson, a commander in the Queen’s Guard and a noble in his own right, a fierce fighter and champion swordsman, unbeaten in single combat and one of the most respected soldiers in our country. They married, with the Queen’s permission, and set out on a sweetmoon voyage to consummate their union among the islands.

  ‘No one is sure quite how it happened, but Hansor fell into the hands of sea brigands, whose leader demanded twenty gold crowns and Marisalanna’s favour in exchange for sparing her love’s life.’

  ‘And Marisalanna paid?’ Savatch said quietly.

  Alanna nodded. ‘In full,’ she said, her voice a hoarse whisper. There was a silence of several seconds that seemed to Savatch like hours, before Alanna took up the story once more.

  ‘The couple returned to Yslandia,’ she continued, ‘and then Marisalanna discovered that she was with child. There was doubt as to the parentage, naturally, and then she and Hansor made a pact to kill themselves and expunge the shame they felt they had brought to the honour of their respective houses.

  ‘They took poison and Hansor died, but Marisalanna merely fell into a deep sleep, from which she recovered after many days. No one can say why the stuff didn’t kill her too, but when she realised that she was still alive, she flew into a rage and tried to cut her wrists. The other women managed to restrain her and then the Queen herself issued an edict, commanding her that she should live for the sake of the unborn child.’

  ‘The baby was Jekka, I presume?’ Savatch interrupted.

  ‘Yes, the baby was Jekka, but she was a child whose heritage could not be proven on her father’s side. Worse still, her mother then defied the Queen’s order and threw herself from a high cliff, leaving Jekka without any parents. My mother took her in and raised her.’

  ‘I see,’ Savatch said. ‘Much becomes clear now.’

  ‘And more shall shortly, too,’ Alanna said. ‘Jekka grew up very much in her mother’s image, with no physical sign that her father had been any other than Hansor, but there was still doubt and poor Jekka knew that. She wanted so much to become a Valkyr like Marisalanna, but the laws state that only the full blood can do so.

  ‘Then my mother went to the Queen, her own mother, and laid a case for her. It was my grandmother’s fault, she said, that Jekka had come to such a terrible thing and the Queen should not have prevented Marisalanna from killing herself before the child was even born. There could be no fault attributed to Jekka and none even to her mother, though there were those who said privately that Marisalanna should never have acceded to the demands of her husband’s captors.

  ‘In the end, my grandmother relented and permitted Jekka to enter the Valkyr order, though she hardly afterwards spoke a word to my mother until the day of her death. She made it very clear to all that she had acceded to her daughter’s petition only under severe duress and decreed that Jekka could not use her mother’s name, which made things even worse for Jekka, naturally.

  ‘Her fellow students shunned her and taunted her, though they soon learned that it was wisest to keep their stupid words well away from her ears, for she proved to be every inch the warrior her mother had been, and with a heart colder than even a Valkyr should desire.’

  ‘I can understand that,’ Savatch murmured. ‘Poor little Jekka. No wonder she’s such a murderous little bitch now. And no wonder she hates all men as she does.’

  ‘Not all men, my lord,’ Alanna replied softly. She turned and looked directly into Savatch’s eyes, holding them easily with her own unblinking stare. ‘She has never said so, but I am certain she has feelings for you.’

  Savatch looked at her in astonishment. ‘Me?’ he said. ‘I think you must be well mistaken, surely. She has never given me even a single reason to suspect such.’

  ‘Except in the fact that she is prepared to risk everything to try to save your own love for you.’

  ‘Yes, but surely that proves my point?’ Savatch insisted. ‘If Jekka thinks herself in love with me, why would she bother to try to rescue the one obstacle that might bar her way to me? I simply don’t understand that at all.’

  ‘And neither do I,’ Alanna admitted, ‘but then neither of us really understands Jekka, do we?’

  The two guards lifted Corinna easily between them, hoisting her over the saddle and the rearing dildo, drawing her thighs apart and lowering her carefully onto it. The slick shaft slid easily into her, but she gasped as its full length filled her and a small moan gurgled from the back of her throat.

  Immediately, the men buckled the securing straps across her upper thighs and then turned their attention to her arms, forcing them upwards and fastening the upper straps about them, just above her elbows, leaving her mitted lower arms to dangle freely, like a grotesque marionette whose strings were not all attached. As they stepped back from her, her slightly shifting weight set the saddle to a gentle rocking motion, so that the hilt of the phallus began rubbing gently against her rapidly swelling clitoris.

  ‘A perfect fit all round!’ Fulgrim declared. Corinna blinked and looked about the circle of expectant male faces, wondering how many flesh and blood organs were already starting to try to rival the size and rigidity of the artificial member upon which she was so helplessly impaled.

  ‘Fit her with a gag, Halit,’ Fulgrim ordered. ‘I want to see how much noise she can make.’ Swiftly, the handler stepped forward and reached up to prise Corinna’s unresisting jaws apart, inserting the wedge shaped leather pad between them and buckling the strap about her head to prevent her from ejecting it.

  ‘Now then,’ Fulgrim said, stretching out a light, multi-thonged whip between his hands, ‘let’s see how the fine lady rides, shall we?’ His arm flicked out and the leather braids snapped across Corinna’s breasts, jangling her nipple bells and making her jump, although the pain was not at all intense. Immediately, the small movement the thigh straps still permitted meant that she rose and fell an inch or so on the dildo and at the same time set the saddle to rocking again.

  Corinna mewed through her gag, her eyes bulging, as the second stroke landed across her stomach. The result was similar, but the effect already more intense and Corinna squealed as the fire fingers began lancing up from the seat of her pleasure, bucking wildly, her useless hands flailing like two clipped wings.

  ‘Beautiful,’ Fulgrim hissed. ‘Truly beautiful and even better than the real thing, I think. Our little Princess Flix will serve to convince the people of Garassotta just how depraved is their ruling house of Oleanna. Here,’ he continued, offering the whip to the watching men, ‘who wants to try next, eh?

  ‘Let’s set her to a real gallop and then you can all have a turn at her afterwards. Tomorrow, Halit, see to her hair colour and let her rest again, but tonight I think we shall have us some welcome and well deserved sport.’

  Jekka spread out the harness that the Tamarinian girl, Mahari, had been wearing when they rescued her in place of Corinna. She knelt beside the various pieces of leather and indicated the wrist cuffs.

  ‘I’ve made a couple of small incisions with my knife,’ she explained. ‘Here is where the chain connects, on the inside of the wrist, as you can see, so it will not be easily visible and the cuts are almost invisible anyway. As far as anyone will be able to tell, the wrists and arms will still be helpless, but a quick sharp tug, like this,’ she said, demonstrating with her two hands, ‘and the cuff comes away from the chain quite easily.’

  ‘Very clever,’ Savatch conceded, ‘but you will still be wearing those sleeve things and your hands will be confined in the mitts.’

  ‘They will appear to be,’ Jekka agreed, ‘but see, I have cut around at the wrists, so they wil
l actually be in two parts, the join hidden beneath the cuff. A quick pull from the other hand and off it comes. And yes,’ she said, grinning up at Savatch and Alanna, ‘I have tried it and it does work. The mitts prevent any really dexterous work with the hands, but it is still possible to grip with them.’

  ‘The problem is, as I see it,’ Savatch mused, ‘that we only have the one set of tack here.’

  ‘Until we take out that rear party,’ Jekka replied smugly. ‘We can then strip down one of their pony girls and make the same alterations to the things we take from her. I can do whatever is necessary in a minute or two at most.’

  ‘And then you will still need time to get into the things,’ Savatch pointed out. ‘How long will that take?’

  ‘That will depend upon the people preparing me,’ Jekka said. ‘You will need to practice, so I suggest you make use of the things we have and use Mahari. Unless you wish to volunteer your own services, my lady,’ she added, looking meaningfully at Alanna.

  ‘I don’t think so,’ the older Valkyr replied. ‘Though I think it might be wise if we both practise walking in those terrible boots. Will they fit, do you know?’

  ‘They fit me,’ Jekka replied. ‘I tried them earlier. Tamarinian women seem to have quite large feet, considering they are all so much shorter than us. In fact, these are a little loose for my liking, so if they fit you better, I’ll take my choice from whatever is available when the time comes.’

  ‘And what about your hair?’ Savatch asked. ‘You’ve seen how they shave the sides of their pony women’s heads to leave just that mane in the centre. If you do not do similarly, you will stand out like a beacon on a dark night.’