Bridled Lust

by Faith Eden

  A huge cloud of smoke was already billowing across this side of the encampment, but it seemed not to be coming from the two main areas of the fire, which were a line of small pony carts and two larger wagons that had been left side-by-side about forty paces from where Halit’s wagon was.

  Silhouetted against the hellish light, dark figures were already running about, but there was no order to their actions and all was confusion, a confusion that was added to when yet another sheet of flame roared into the night sky nearer the centre of the camp. At the same time, close to where the slave girls had been bedded down for the night, a spiralling column of white smoke erupted, spreading outwards and upwards, mushrooming over at the top, but already drifting down towards the mêlée surrounding the first two fires.

  ‘We’re under attack!’ Halit cried, thrusting one foot into a boot.

  Corinna looked back at him, shaking her head. ‘But who would attack us out here?’

  ‘Perhaps an army come from Illeum?’ he suggested.

  ‘But Fulgrim said there could be no army yet.’

  ‘And the noble Fulgrim could not possibly be mistaken, could he?’ Two more fireballs exploded simultaneously, but on opposite sides of the camp, and another smoke pall erupted only a few paces from where Corinna knew Fulgrim’s tent to be.

  It was already becoming almost impossible to see more than a few yards, except near the boundaries of the camp, but two running figures in the swirling mist suddenly pitched into the air and fell headlong, their death cries adding to an already confused tumult of shouting, cursing and whinnying of horses. Corinna turned back into the wagon and laid a restraining arm on Halit, who was now buckling his second boot.

  ‘Don’t go, please,’ she urged him. ‘You’ll be killed for sure. You’re not a soldier and you’re not really even one of them,’ she added plaintively. Halit looked up into her eyes, hesitating. ‘Just run!’ Corinna begged him. ‘Run and I’ll run with you and afterwards you can present me to the victors, whichever side that might be.

  ‘Don’t you realise, you fool? I’m the prize in all this?’

  Halit took in a deep breath, his eyes flickering from her to the chaos of shadows now being cast across the wagon. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Yes, you are right and it is my duty to see that you are kept safe. It wouldn’t do for you to be killed and I’m sure Fulgrim would understand that.’

  Jekka spun around, almost overbalancing in the hoof boots, but not before the sword in her hand had sliced through the neck of the Vorsan soldier who had appeared out of the smoke. He fell at her feet with a gurgling cry and a second trooper, appearing just a moment after him, hesitated, brandishing his own weapon and then turned and disappeared into the rolling clouds again.

  ‘Jekka, this way!’ Savatch materialised to her left, waving a sword in one hand and a crossbow in the other. Another figure loomed up alongside him, but fell sprawling even as Jekka identified the hiss of a crossbow quarrel from somewhere to her right. A high-pitched war cry identified the person who had fired it.

  ‘Alanna!’ Savatch yelled. ‘Over here - to me, to me! You too, Jekka. Quickly now, there’s no time to lose.’ Jekka paused, taking just enough time to look all about her and then, wiping her sword against the side of her right boot, she loped towards where Savatch was already turning back into the swirling billows, Alanna hot on her heels.

  It was almost too easy, Ceth thought grimly as he cut down a fourth Vorsan in less than half as many minutes. The smoke and flames made it impossible to see very far, or for the men in the camp to have any idea what was happening. They had obviously guessed they were under attack from the first moment, but by whom and from what direction they obviously had no way of knowing.

  Being soldiers, their instinct was to head for their perimeter defences to repel the onslaught and the last thing they expected was to find the enemy already deep within them and wearing their own uniforms. The two troopers with Ceth had already disposed of another five Vorsans between them, and Ceth realised that all they had to do was to stand their ground and there would be many more who would run blindly onto their blades.

  However, the smoke screen would only last so long, even with only a gentle breeze to dispel it, and they all knew that their ultimate success depended not upon the number of the enemy they slaughtered, but upon reaching Fulgrim and capturing him alive. If they failed to do both of those things, Ceth knew they would not live to see the dawn; for every Vorsan they managed to slay in the meantime at least four more would still be standing when the smoke cleared, and he was under no illusion of the kind of death that would face him if that moment ever arrived.

  Inside Fulgrim’s tent the air was still relatively clear and the sound of the brief battle with the guards outside had warned those within, so that by the time Savatch and Alanna burst in, followed immediately by two of the Illean troopers, Fulgrim’s remaining officers and the six men who formed his personal guard had formed up in a protective line between their leader and the immediate threat to him.

  For a few moments the two parties faced each other, swords raised, but as Ceth and his two companions arrived, Savatch held up a hand.

  ‘Wait!’ he bellowed. ‘Fulgrim, you cannot escape. Order these men to lay down your weapons and their lives shall be spared. You have no chance,’ he bluffed. ‘We have your camp surrounded and our forces are even now slaughtering yours out there.’ He saw Fulgrim’s eyes flicker for a moment, but then they blazed alight again, the momentary doubt gone.

  ‘You!’ he roared. ‘Yes, it would have to be you, even though my spies assured me that you and your bitch slut were dead. I should have known and yes, what a great joke, eh? That slave slut Flix was the real Corinna all along, wasn’t she? Ha!’ He slapped his thigh and laughed.

  ‘But as for your forces, my good Master Savatch,’ he said, suddenly very serious once more, ‘well, you have no army out there, that much I can be sure of, for I know exactly where Lundt’s resources are disposed and they’re not here and not even within a hundred miles of here, except for the paltry garrison at the castle and you’d not dare weaken that too much.

  ‘No, you’ve no more than a raiding party at most.’ His eyes fell upon Alanna and he seemed to see her for the first time. ‘But at least you’ve brought the ice maiden with you,’ he rasped. ‘Welcome, my lady, and may I say what a splendid pony slave you will make.’

  ‘You should not count your beans just yet, Fulgrim,’ Alanna replied evenly. There was a placid smile on her face, but her voice was hard and dangerous. ‘Why not save me the trouble of slitting your miserable gut and just give Corinna to us. You have our word that we will not harm you if you do so.’

  ‘Your word?’ Fulgrim laughed again. ‘Well, that is something, but then I think you are forgetting something else.’ He looked from right to left. ‘I make it that there are more of us than there are of you and these men are the pick of our army, chosen to guard me and to give their lives to protect mine.’

  ‘Then let them give their lives, Fulgrim,’ Alanna said. ‘For on my oath, one of us will not walk from this place alive.’

  ‘You don’t frighten me, Valkyr,’ Fulgrim sneered, but before he could say more a loud ripping sound interrupted him. For a brief second both he and his aides were confused, by which time it was too late. The canvas of the tent behind him opened up before a slicing sword blow and then Jekka was standing behind Fulgrim, the point of her weapon pressed firmly against the nape of his neck. Fulgrim’s eyes bulged and he held up a hand as his men began to round upon the latest intrusion.

  ‘That’s very sensible, my lord,’ Jekka purred. She smiled at the Vorsans. ‘Now, gentlemen,’ she said, ‘please be so good as to lay your weapons at your feet and back across to the side there. You see, the noble lord and I have met before and even though he tries to pretend my comrade doesn’t frighten him, I know only too well that I do.’

  ‘Actually, Marisjekka,�
�� Alanna said, as she stepped forward to kick aside the falling weapons, ‘there are times when you frighten even me!’

  Jekka’s grin widened. ‘And to think I thought I was losing my touch,’ she chuckled.

  The entire raiding parted had gathered inside Fulgrim’s tent before the smoke cleared and the various fires were damped down. Outside, confused Vorsan soldiers gathered in knots - all those, at least, who were not still trying to round up the horses that Opal had stampeded during the height of the confusion, and it would take many hours before all the animals were rounded up.

  The Vorsan officers seemed almost as confused as their men, especially when a search of the encampment failed to reveal Corinna. Savatch stepped up to Fulgrim, who was now seated on a wooden crate, a leather thong about his neck and Jekka’s knife never more than a few inches from his jugular.

  ‘So, where is she?’ Savatch demanded. ‘If you’re trying to play games with us, you’ll regret it, I promise you.’

  ‘Perhaps I should cut off one of his ears to convince him,’ Jekka suggested.

  Fulgrim raised his hands in supplication. ‘Please,’ he croaked. ‘Please, Master Savatch - if I knew where she was, then don’t you think I would have had her brought here immediately? I know this mad bitch enough to know that she wouldn’t need much of an excuse to kill me, despite the fact that my death would mean annihilation for her and the rest of you.’

  ‘Yes, I’d gladly die if I was taking you with me,’ Jekka growled. ‘And just think, my lord, of all the fun we could have together in the next world.’

  ‘Search again,’ Savatch commanded, rounding on the officers.

  They hesitated, but Fulgrim cried out to them.

  ‘Do it, you fools!’ he shrieked. ‘She should have been with Halit. Has anyone checked in his wagon?’

  ‘This isn’t working,’ Alanna whispered to Savatch as the Vorsans hurried off to carry out their instructions. ‘Maybe Corinna isn’t here after all.’

  ‘She has to be,’ Savatch snapped. ‘You heard what the bastard said. Maybe she’s hiding somewhere.’

  ‘And maybe she’s run off,’ Alanna suggested. ‘In all the smoke and confusion, perhaps she was able to get away from this Halit fellow.’

  ‘And maybe she didn’t,’ Savatch retorted. ‘We can’t leave here on a maybe.’

  ‘Well, we can’t stay here all night,’ Alanna reasoned. ‘Those soldiers outside are pretty restive and some of them could be foolish enough to try to rush us.’

  ‘If they do,’ Jekka asserted, ‘this pig will be dead before they get to any of us.’

  ‘And then, as the pig pointed out,’ Alanna replied calmly, ‘they’ll slaughter the lot of us - or worse.’ She was only too well aware of the male stares her all but naked body had been attracting and it was making her uneasy. ‘Perhaps we should just take Fulgrim with us and hold him hostage until they find and return Corinna.’

  ‘And then you’ll probably kill me anyway,’ Fulgrim snarled. ‘I’ll not agree to anything unless I have your word that I shall be returned unharmed once you are clear of this camp. Your word, lady,’ he added, jabbing a finger at Alanna. ‘Your word on your Valkyr code and your family’s honour, or else you stay here and we all die together.’

  ‘Brave words, Fulgrim,’ Alanna said. She looked at Savatch. ‘If they don’t find her, my friend, I think we shall have to do it. I’ll give my word for Fulgrim’s safety, on condition that Corinna is returned unharmed.’

  ‘No!’ Fulgrim stormed, trying to rise until Jekka jerked back on the leather leash. ‘My safe conduct for yours. The wench could be anywhere, maybe even crushed by the horses. I cannot vouch for her safety, nor can any of my men. If they don’t find her now, who is to say what has become of her?’

  ‘He’s right, Savatch,’ Alanna said. ‘He’s a murderer and a rapist and he’d lie to his own mother, but I think he speaks the truth now.’

  ‘But why would she run off now?’ Savatch demanded. ‘Why now, when rescue was so close at hand?’

  ‘Perhaps because she didn’t know what was happening,’ Alanna said. ‘Be fair, Savatch, none of the rest of them did. Jekka’s little magic tricks worked even better than I expected.’

  ‘Well, she can’t have got far,’ Savatch persisted, ‘so his men can search for her at first light and bring her to us when they find her. It shouldn’t take mounted patrols more than a few hours to track her. We shall move a few miles north towards Garassotta - there is a hill there from where we can observe for some miles around, so they’ll not surprise us easily.’

  ‘Only if I have her word,’ Fulgrim muttered defiantly. ‘And also your word that I shall not be harmed if my men cannot find the girl. You may take two of their officers as additional hostages if you wish to give them additional incentive.’

  ‘Agree to it, Savatch, please,’ Alanna urged. ‘Three hostages are better than one and most soldiers show loyalty to their officers.’

  ‘In the Vorsan army?’ Savatch said wryly. He hesitated and then came to a decision. ‘Very well,’ he agreed. ‘Give him your word and, if they have not returned with her within the next half hour, we shall leave as you say. Meanwhile,’ he instructed, turning to the remaining three officers, ‘I want you to start withdrawing all your men over to the east, well away from this camp and well away from the road. Tell them that the first sign of movement will mean an end to the first hostage and it may not be their murdering leader here, either!’

  ‘What is happening now, master?’ Corinna lay crouched in a shallow hollow, shivering as the night air began to bite into her naked flesh.

  Above her, sitting in the tallest of the group of trees to which they had earlier fled, Halit was peering towards the camp. ‘I cannot see properly,’ he called down. ‘The smoke is almost cleared now, but it is too dark and we are a fair distance away. The soldiers seem to be moving, across and up the hillside away to the east. There does not seem to be any fighting,’ he added, ‘though there are horses running about everywhere. I’m not sure if it is safe to return.’

  ‘Then don’t return,’ Corinna said, sitting up and trying to brush the leaves and dirt from her breasts. ‘Leave them, master, and take me to Illeum. Or take me anywhere else you prefer.’ Halit began clambering down again.

  ‘If I did that, Fulgrim would not rest until I had been hunted down and killed for such treachery,’ he said. ‘There is nothing I would love better than to run far from here with you, princess, other than keeping my worthless hide in one piece, that is.’ He dropped to the ground and slid down the slope beside her.

  ‘Tell me, princess,’ he asked, ‘would you really be happy to run with me wherever I chose?’

  Corinna returned his earnest stare and smiled. ‘Of course,’ she replied quietly. ‘I am no longer worthy to be called “lady”, as my actions have more than amply demonstrated, but then I’m not sure I ever was worthy of such title.’ She laughed harshly. ‘Would you bow to this if you passed it in the streets of Illeum City?’ she demanded, indicating herself. ‘Bow to a pony girl slut like I now am? I think not.’

  ‘You do yourself a disservice, I think, princess,’ Halit said. ‘None of this was of your choosing.’

  ‘No?’ Corinna laughed again and tears began coursing down her cheeks. ‘No?’ She tried to cover her face with her mitted hands. ‘You don’t know me, sir, not the real me that lies inside here. I am worthless and a traitor to my own kind and creed, the worst kind of whore who will open her legs on command to any man and then enjoy it.’

  ‘Surely not,’ Halit said consolingly. He placed a hand on her shoulder, but Corinna recoiled, eyes flaring.

  ‘Surely yes!’ she spat. ‘Yes, yes, yes! Did you think I was feigning with you these past days? Every time your cock slid into me, did you think that was just an act you were seeing? I tell you it was not, for the moment this supposedly aristocratic body is penetrated, or ev
en rendered helpless, it reverts to the sewer from which it surely must once have crawled.

  ‘Even Fulgrim,’ she hissed. ‘Even with him I was all too quickly the willing slut and yes, I would run with you and lay with you and wriggle and groan on the end of your cock and then another man would come along and I would do the same with him. I am shameless, worthless and—’

  ‘A long way from home, mistress.’

  Corinna stopped short at the sound of the new voice and Halit made to rise, but whatever he saw behind Corinna made him freeze on the spot, his eyes wide with fear. Slowly, Corinna turned her head and blinked in disbelief.

  The girl was attired as a pony slave, complete with boots and harness and even with her blonde hair shaved to form the mandatory mane, but there was something about her poise and bearing that said she was no ordinary slave, and if that was not enough, then the crossbow she held pointing unwaveringly at Halit’s heart most certainly was.

  ‘Lady Corinna, I presume,’ the girl said, stepping clear of the tree from behind which she had appeared. ‘And who might this be with you? Not a Vorsan, to judge from his skin colour.’

  ‘No,’ Halit croaked, ‘not a Vorsan. I am Halit of Kali, a groom and trainer.’

  ‘A trainer, eh? A trainer of those poor demented creatures you force to wear this harness?’

  ‘Please,’ Halit begged, ‘I am only doing an honest job. Where I come from—’

  ‘Men are men and women do as they’re told, I presume,’ the girl said, her voice dripping with cold sarcasm. ‘Well, where I come from, little man, we do things a mite differently and we have little sympathy for your kind.’ She raised her bow, but Corinna sprang up and threw herself in front of Halit.

  ‘No, please!’ she cried. ‘I beg you, don’t kill him. Yes, I am Lady Corinna, but who are you? I suspect you are an Yslander, despite your garb.’