Book 6, Chapter 9: Impolite Wind and Wine
By the time we’d made it to the tent, we were soaked head to toe. The dress stuck to me, heavy on my shoulders, breasts, hips and thighs, the weight pulling down, fighting each step. Resisting the urge to strip, I took a deep breath, tried not to shiver, turned to face my captors. And shivered a little.
Cresida headed for a table, picking up a towel, all but throwing it into her face, rubbing and rubbing, then her hair, heedless to everything around her.
Captain Gyges, looking steadfastly into my eyes, though I could feel his peripheral vision moving up and down my body, said, “It’ll be chilly tonight and your bed,” he pointed to the ground where’d I’d slept, already overcome with water, the thin divider fallen, “is drenched. You will sleep with us tonight.”
Lightning flashed and, before the thunder came, before I could answer, a man’s voice from outside the tent, “Captain! Forces from the northern army have arrived and are requesting you. They . . . sir, they-” The thunderclap tore through the sky as if tossing trees aside.
“-they what?” The captain pushed open the tent flaps, rain pounding against them, running down, some into the tent, the soldier outside barely highlighted by our oil lamp. “Out with it!”
“Their charge escaped, sir. The demon. Blinded some fifty men and somehow escaped the warded prison.”
The captain was silent for a moment. Holding the tent, letting the rain pour in, the wind blowing the oil lantern back and forth, ignoring his wife telling him to close the tent, then said, “Yes. It killed all the mages. We just buried them.”
“Not all the mages, sir.”
“Soldier?”
“The troops report having one mage with them. Probably the sole wizard left on the planet. Sir.”
“Now that may make all the difference.” The captain turned to his wife, “Provide Lady Sarah and yourself dinner. And plenty of wine to warm up. I’ll be a few hours. Don’t wait up on my regard.” He looked at me, eyes falling to my breasts, waist, back up to my eyes, “The storm is bad. Lady Cresida will keep you warm in our bed. Don’t touch the sides of the tent or it’ll get worse in here.” The wind howling, rain beating down, rivulets pouring off the tent ceiling, running down the sides, the captain turned about, left, the canvas flaps slapped down against the entrance.
“Here,” Cresida said, throwing a towel at me, “dry off.”
***
We stripped until we were naked, we rubbed and rubbed the towels against our skin – how many more times would I have to do this today? – all without looking at each other, speaking, the room tense and uncomfortable.
She tossed a shift on the bed, put one on herself, then a dress. After, she headed over to the rations chests.
I stood there, naked, swearing internally. “No lead sugar. Please.” I tossed the shift on. Skin still cold. “Can I have a dress?”
“He doesn’t want you in a dress.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
She stood up, clay jug in hand, took the cork out of it. “He wants you. And not in a dress. Here,” she moved two cups over, filling them. “No lead sugar.”
Fudge, I thought to myself, though I really wanted to use strong cuss words. Damn my no swearing rule! I reached forward, touching her hand, “Listen, I don’t want him. Not even a little.”
Cresida brought her wine to her mouth, closed her eyes and took a full gulp, and said, “What does that matter?”
“It matters to me. A great deal.”
“Ah. Are you a virgin?”
“Yes, I’m a goddamn virgin!”
She finally looked into my eyes then, and I into hers. They were brown, “Never been with a boy?”
“I’m gonna . . . I need a lot more wine for this conversation.” Putting it to my mouth, I finished the mug off in one go. Slammed it on the table upside down out of habit. Held Cresida’s gaze. “No. I have never. Been with a boy. Or girl. Fill the fuu- . . . cup.”
“Oh.” She turned it over, red liquid pouring into it, up to the brim. “Here I thought . . .” she shook her head. “I’m sorry. A young girl like yourself and a captain. I thought you were after him.”
“Ha!” I drank, then choked on the tail end and spit up because I was laughing too hard, “Sorry, sorry, first time drinking. No, Jesus, no. Oh my god, that explains why you’ve been such a bitch. I mean, difficult.”
She smiled a bit, the freckles pushing against her eyes just a little, “Yes. Alright, well, we’re going to drink. And when he comes back, you’re going to be sleeping like the dead. And I’ll, you’ll just have to ignore us. I’ll keep him off you.”
Holy shit, my internal voice said, nothing about this was good in any possible way. Yeah, ok, yeah, boundaries on this very much pre-medieval planet didn’t work the way they did on mine. Yes, people had sex while others were in the same room pretending to be asleep. Their normal. I’d been isolated from it by being royalty. And these guys already had sex while I hid behind a thin divider! The thinnest! So, I knew this. But it was one thing to be an observer and a whole new level to be forced into the same bed with a couple about to get it on, no worries that I was beside them.
And that wasn’t even the worst of it! Cresida here would be protecting me from his advances. Slowly and surely, I took a long, long breath, to stop myself from panicking further and hyperventilating. My body really wanted to hyperventilate just then. How the hell did I go from omnipotent deity to fudging sex slave adjacent?!? I think, I really think, I’m going to have to break my no swearing rule soon.
The storm raged outside. This, this would be the perfect time to escape. Just take Cresida down in a simple chokehold, tie her up, leave. They’d only be able to track my muddy steps, but I could defeat that by traversing stones, trees, creeks.
Especially with the soldiers from the north coming, I needed to get out of here. They’d recognize me.
Those guys had captured me, taken me to the trap. They’d kept me in a metal cage, the one in my dreams, the entire way there, mages pushing my magic down, hurting me. Drugged me the entire way. I still don’t know how long the journey had been. Probably a week. But I couldn’t keep food down, barely kept water down. Lost muscle mass. These were not nice people. And to top it off, they’d stuck me in the Trap.
I missed it. I wanted to go back so very badly. The mirror reflected my youth and beauty, then showed me so much more. A perfect life, full of happiness and family, contentedness, freedom from guilt – a lie! I knew it was a lie, but when it beckoned, I couldn’t stop. I had to enter. And I still wanted to!
I could stay here and go back with them. Confess. Beg them to take me back! Please, I’d say, bring me to the temple. You’ll get younger while I’m there. Get to live a longer, better life. Take me back. Take me back, for your sakes.
“Sarah? Are you ok?”
My jaw hurt. Fingers white on the table, clenching it so hard. It took a while, a long while, for me to calm down. Damn. Just, damn. I took a breath. If there was heroin here, I’d be mainlining it to forget the feeling of gazing into the mirror, desperate to pass through. Dumped another cup of wine into my body.
Her hand on my shoulder gave me a start. She looked me in the eyes, mistaking my terror, “I won’t let him. I believe you now.”
I had to get out of here. And it wasn’t the creepy sex. It wasn’t that they’d return me to the temple, either, though a strong part of me – that I pushed down! – desperately wished they would. But that they would certainly kill me. I couldn’t protect myself against so many.
And they had a mage!
I had to kill him. I could, with the perseidian iron on. But then I’d have to deal with an entire army. Well, a small army, really, only two thousand soldiers. And many of them on the older side.
Cresida refilled my wine glass for the third time in under an hour and smiled at me, “We really should eat. Oh! I’m sorry, I’ll get you a dress. You must be chilly in that slip.”
I looked up, smiled back, watched her go off to the wardrobe. Yeah, choke her out and escape. Deal with the mage later. Not a bad plan. The storm would be the ideal cover, but where would I go and how would I keep warm?
That wasn’t even the worst part of all this. I sat back, holding my new, fresh cup and wondered. Did I cause this storm?
Author's Note
Comments (0)
Please login or sign up to post a comment.