Bound Friends Pt. 15

Sophia lightly chuckled before reply "I will not."

Anton pulled out a second lock and slipped it onto the chain. Sophia watched as he began to pull on the chain below the lock, pulling Sophia first onto the tips of her toes and then off her feet entirely. She tried to pull on the chain but had no leverage to do so. She looked back over in time to see him close the lock , shortening her chain to where she now hung by her collar just a few inches off the ground. "Get rid of the sword and I'll give you something to stand on," he said with a smug satisfied grin.

Sophia tried to grip the edges of the wooden post with her legs, that took some of the weight but it wouldn't be enough. She tried pulling herself up with one arm, but with her wrists chained with only a few inches of slack it was difficult to do while still gripping the sword. She looked around, seeing no solution, and so she took a last attempt, throwing the sword blade first at Anton, who was able to just barely get out of its way. She raised both her hands up to her leach and began to lift herself that way, taking the weight off of her neck. It was no long term solution, but it would do for now.

****

Just as Anton was moving the small wooden chest over for Sophia to stand on, Two men rushed into the tent in black furs, signs that they worked for the casino and weren't guests.

"You ok?" one of them asked Sophia. Sophia set her feet down on the box before turning to face them and nod her head.

"Sorry, you're done here." The other guard said to Anton. "You knew the rules.. no hanging from the neck. Anything else is fine but not the neck, we can't be everywhere and that's too dangerous."

"No no no, don't.." Sophia pleaded, suddenly realizing what it might look like if the man she was assigned to had to go home early. Aaron could not have been clearer that things needed to go smoothly if she wanted him to consider her for this kind of work in the future.

"What's wrong?" The staff member closest to Sophia asked.

"No, please, he never hung me from my neck! I was holding on with my hands the whole time!" Sophia insisted. The two did not seem convinced. "No really right before all this, when he was on top of me he was whispering to me. He was whispering.. asking.. asking if he could try pretending to do this.. that I couldn't actually be from my neck but that I could just pretend.. you know like hold on with my wrists.. Hanging from my wrists is fine right?"

The two staff members looked at each other. The seemed to be having a silent conversation about what to do with the contradictory information. On the one hand the computer automatically detected the possibility, but on the other hand it did throw up false positives on rare occasion. They hadn't actually seen any video but they realized that what Sophia was saying might be close enough to trigger an alert.

"Please.. you don't understand.. this really, really needs to go well. I.. this program.. thing.. I mean the whole future.. just.. I'm telling you that isn't how things happened. We talked it through, I'd tell you if we didn't I promise." Sophia pleaded after a slight pause.

"Fine.. but no more.. and I know it might kill the mood, but warn us before you do something like that or we'll just keep getting alerts ok?" one of the men finally said before both of them left.

Anton just silently walked over to the chain and unlocked it from the post. He grabbed the brown fur outfit he had been wearing and sat disheveled on the bed.

"So who told you?" he asked. "Who tipped you off and when?"

Sophia was confused. She pulled the slack from her line and sat down on the box opposite the bed. "I'm.. I'm sorry I don't know what you're talking about."

"Ok, break character.. now this is important. Who told you and don't keep playing dumb." Anton said, looking back up at Sophia, seemingly without a lot of patience.

"I.. I honestly have no idea what you're talking about."

"That me.. me personally.. I've got something to do with the future of the program? Please don't play dumb, what else could that possibly have meant. Who told you I'm a reviewer? It's supposed to be a secret so that people like you don't give me special treatment."

Sophia just sat there dumbstruck, not sure what to say.

"It's been a year and a half since the last time someone recognized me, They weren't quite as obvious as you just were.. but I was getting a special level of attention all of a sudden, and when I looked around I saw I wasn't getting what everyone else was getting. There's a reason I never publish my face and so I'll ask you again. Who told you, because I'd like to know if I need to fire anyone."

"Can I be honest?" Sophia asked after considerable silence to ponder her response.

"Please do."

"I've.. I've been on the shit list here for a long time.. it's a long story but I'll just leave it at Felix Olsen doesn't like me. When I got assigned to this it was all very last minute and because they needed someone badly. The guy who put me here's kind of sticking his neck out by doing so. He told me, in no uncertain terms, I needed to shine here if he was to consider using me for something like this again. I worried I might get blamed.. I have no idea if I was going too far or what and I can't think of a much worse failure than having someone kicked out partly because of me. I don't care frankly if this whole casino burns to the ground at this point, so long as I get a comfy spot in the ashes. That's the only future I was talking about. My future, the future that could only happen if you to leave a happy man."

Anton looked over at her and slowly, slowly started to smile until he began to chuckle outright. "I'm sorry, I'm not laughing at you.. I.. I guess I'm the one that let it all slip this time. Maybe I ought to fire myself then huh?"

"I don't care about all that.. I'm not gonna tell a soul. But.. if I have any leverage here.." Sophia said as a maniacal grin began to cross her face. "Just mention me.. I don't know what you write.. but tell someone I'm indispensable. I took your breath away or something.."

"Not even all that much of a lie. From what I can tell you do seem to get the point of this a bit more than the others I've seen. The whole point is you're supposed to be pretending to be someone else, you actually seem to live it" Anton said as he leaned back and breathed a sigh of relief. "You keep my secret, I'll splash your name across the review. It's what again, S something?"

"Savina."

"Well Savina, I'll give you a moment or two to cool off. I'll be taking the sword with me of course, and I'll be back soon. Hopefully by then we can both just pretend this little thing never happened. Go right back to where we were a few minutes ago, think you can do that?" Anton asked as unlocked Sophia's left wrist cuff before moving her arms behind her and locking them together behind the center column.

"Sounds doable to me. I'll pretend I don't know anything, but does that mean it's going back to fighting back and all that?" Savina said as she sat back against the pole and tried to relax.

"Well if that's how you'd be acting anyways then yes do that.. I still want to try to give a fair review and so just.. try to ignore any impulses you might have about me because of who I am" he said as he headed for the flap to the tent. "You do your part well, and I'll make sure they'll know you did your part well."

****

Of all the pains Sophia's had to put up with, one of the most underrated in her opinion was boredom. It didn't come up too often, they were usually packing her schedule so full she would take naps or simply welcome the quiet. But it had been several hours since Sophia had been left where she was and she was far too rested to do anything but be board. Simply being bound had lost all novelty for her long ago. Even from the beginning it had not so much been the bindings themselves as much as the struggle and domination and submission she enjoyed. But he had not left a key for her feet to try to reach, and the pole seemed secured to some kind of base below where she sat. She was not getting herself out and there was almost nothing to look at.

She could occasionally hear chatter outside, but the leather like walls did a surprisingly good job of concealing the noise. She had been telling herself.. any moment he'll come back in and something will pick back up. And every time noise seemed to be getting closer she sat up in anticipation. But her patience was running thin. She was hungry, she was thirsty, and above all she needed to pee. Badly. After one more voice passed by the tent she huffed in frustration before deciding she needed out. "Helpword," she said, just loud enough she was sure the passive monitoring could hear her.

A few minutes later, she saw the tent flap open and a man in black fur enter. "Something wrong?" he asked, barely stepping foot inside the tent.

"It's been hours.. I really need to pee.. and I'm getting really hungry and thirsty.. Is the guy not still out there? Did you send him packing after all?" she asked.

"No he's still out there, distracted by the feast and all that. I'll get you some water," he said has he came forward and reached for a waterskin on his belt.

"Um.. bathroom first?" Sophia said with a pleading smile.

"Of course, I wasn't thinking," he said before moving behind her and unfastening her from the pole. "Now I hope you don't mind, I think it'd be best if I still keep your arms behind you. I presume he was punishing you or something right?"

"Um.. yeah.. kind of" Sophia said as she got to her feet and stood patiently as he locked the shackle back on her other arm, this time free of the pole. Sophia followed him as he led her by the shoulder out the tent and back to the far edge of camp. It crossed her mind at that moment how strange his tone had been, seeming like asking permission rather than telling her how it was supposed to be. She couldn't help but wonder what would have happened had she said no.

The two reached what looked like a small outhouse, though strangely it didn't smell. As they reached it he stopped her short and unlocked her left cuff again. "I thought you said it was best if I stay locked?" Sophia asked a little puzzled.

"Well, I could, but I think we'd probably both rather just let you go in there and clean up yourself. Now it's not really with keeping with the period.. but breaking the illusion for a bit to bring a flush toilet we figured was better than leaving a horrible stink for a while. Do what you need, should be enough toilet paper, then I'll put you back in the cuffs to bring you back," he said as he opened the door for her.

It looked not at all modern inside. Except from a brown plastic seat nearly everything visible was wood or dull metal. Sophia relieved herself before looking around for a handle to flush with. It was wood and disguised beside small dull metal sink that she took advantage of before finally returning back to the guard. She willingly put her arms behind her and heard the click as he reattached her cuffs to her.

"And.. If I needed these off?" Sophia couldn't help but ask as they walked back toward the tent.

"Oh, sorry are they hurting?" the man said as he stopped them both. He turned around and held Sophia's cuffed hands out behind her.

"No," Sophia said, pulling her cuffed hands away. "No.. I was just.. I guess surprised.. you seem so well.. civil about it. I mean cuffs were never really.. like, optional. I was just being caught off guard I guess."

"Well where've you been working?" he asked as they began to walk again.

"I.. well let's see. Arena, dungeon, got rented out a few times.. Oh and the uh.. dungeon over at the.. that um castle place." Sophia said.

"So those are the only places you worked?" He asked, sounding somewhat surprised. "I don't know about the private stuff.. but everything else.. that's what we call the stick jobs. It's what we shuffle people into when they don't do well. You know, carrot.. stick? Unless you're a penal contract.. maybe. Some of them get stuck with stick jobs for a while if they don't want to accept where they are or what not. But I was told we didn't have any of them here, so what the hell'd you do to get stuck with that for so long?"

"Not really allowed to say actually," Sophia said as the two of them finally rounded the corner of the tent. Just before ducking back inside Sophia got a good look around at the camp. At one side several large tables were set up with all the men sitting around with half-finished plates of food everywhere. Many of the other women were in and around the men, some of them pleasuring them, while others simply chained and on the ground.

One of the men caught sight of the two of them and waved at them to come over. He did not say anything though and the man with Sophia quickly worked to lock her back around the pole as he had found her. He gave her a quick drink from his water before darting back to see what the guest had been waving about.

"Food?" Sophia asked.

"Sorry, soon," he said already halfway out.

****

Sophia had barely had time to sit down before she heard the sounds of several people approaching the tent. In walked Anton, the attendant who had just been there, as well as the man who had flagged him down.

"And you say you just forgot her?" the unknown man said to Anton. He was a little shorter than Anton or the attendant, but he had an attitude of assertion that made up for it. "We said we were bringing out everyone and you got this one tucked away in your tent for later?"

"I swear, I just forgot she was back here. Let's just bring her out now how 'bout it?" Anton explained. He walked around behind Sophia, helping her to her feet before unlocking one of her cuffs. It was followed just as swiftly however by him pulling her hands in front of her and locking them back together. "And Mike, careful she's more than a little feisty," Anton said as he shoved Sophia forward.

"Wait, is this one the reason you asked if the women could use swords?" Mike asked Anton, taking hold of Sophia's wrist shackle chain. 'Did you, did you try taking his sword? Did you actually get it and he just disarmed you?" he asked, this time looking at Sophia.

"Why don't you give me one and I'll show you.." Sophia said with a smirk.

"Funny, funny indeed." he said as they walked out into the now darkening hall. It was still light out, but it was also clear that the sun was supposed to be setting. The fire still crackled away and most of the men sat and watched as Sophia was lead over toward them. Sophia could smell the foods of dinner, roasted meats along with what looked like various kinds of bread and potatoes. Her stomach rumbled with renewed hunger, loud enough to be heard by the small group she was walking with.

"Well, sounds like you're hungry.. so, let's hear it. We got all these other girls here to earn their scraps, what'ya got?" Mike said as he pushed Sophia down onto the dirt covered floor. She looked up, seeing food on the table but noticing that no one seemed to be eating anymore, it seemed everyone had already finished.

"Well, what did you have in mind?" Sophia asked.

"Whatever you think'll impress us girl," said one of the older men sitting at the other table. "Those three over there gave us head while we ate, that one over there took three men at once," he said as he pointed out some of the woman that were lying about.

Sophia looked back at where he had been pointing, seeing Alba cuffed and collared, with an empty metal plate in front of her. She looked back over at the men when something caught her eye. She saw the door at the far corner of the room slowly and silently open. It seemed that no one noticed, as all attention was on her, but she thought even in the darkening room that she saw men in legionary clothing ducking in and hiding behind a large collection of fake rocks near the door. She stood up, keeping everyone's attention as they tried to figure out what she was doing. "No, You'll give me food now, I will not be your trained monkey."

"Certainly not, trained monkeys generally have more sense than to yell at their owners," one of the men cracked jovially.

"Savina," Alba said quietly as she crawled closer. "Savina be reasonable."

"No, no these men take us as slaves and you talk of reasonable?" Sophia fumed back at Alba. "Perhaps you may be more well suited.. but I'm not" Sophia said before grabbing her friend by the chain connecting wrist cuffs. She pulled her quickly, Alba rushed along on her knees to keep up but still found herself being dragged for some of it. She pushed Alba over the edge of the log, laying her parallel on top of it. She spotted a clip part way up the log and clipped Alba's wrist cuffs to it. "If you like these brutes so much then I say you have earned this," she said, sitting down across Alba's back, facing her ass which hung over the end of the log.

Sophia looked back up at the table and all the men still seemed to be facing her direction, some paying attention to other things as well but none of them turning their backs. She raised her two hands and brought them both down hard on Alba, causing a squeal from the woman who wasn't expecting it. "Is this perhaps what you wanted of me, bent over and helpless while some or all of you do as they wish to me?" she asked before landing another hard pair of blows.

"I thought we were friends?" Alba asked, loud enough that its audience was clearly still the men at their tables.

"I was friends with a free woman, I'm not friends to a slave," Sophia said, picking up the pace of her double handed onslaught.

"You're no free woman either you know.." Anton added with a chuckle and a flicker of his eyebrows.

Sophia looked up and snarled. She scratched her (albeit short) nails across Alba's red ass, leaving four distinct white marks across her ass and causing her to renew her struggle. "I may not be free right now, but do I look like a slave to you?" Sophia asked with a smirk. "Look," Sophia said as she ran two fingers between Alba's legs, finding her fairly wet, though wet from what was certainly up for debate. "Look how this slave like it, How she enjoys being used, enjoys being just a thing. Let them hear how much you like this."

"I.." Alba started sheepishly, pausing long enough for Sophia to give her yet another hard slap. "Ok.. fine I.. I do enjoy it. I do like being their slave.."

"Good, I'm glad you can admit what you are." Sophia said as she got up and wiped her hand on her leg. She began walking toward the table with a stern serious look on her face. "Now, is that enough for some food or do I need to break every last girl in here before you will give me something to eat?"

****

"It's a raid," shouted one of the staff in black fur just before Sophia reached the table. In an instant everyone jumped up from their seats and ran out in various directions to retrieve their weapons. Sophia just stood there, looking around as Roman Legionaries rushed into the camp from either side. She found herself nearly knocked to her face as someone pushed past her from behind, landing down on her hands and knees.

She sat up and looked around as the guests and staff fought using shields and foam lined swords, even watched as some of them were hit, leaving a bright red streak. The staff who were hit simply lay down but more than a few of the guests threw their weapons down in a huff first, feeling the sting of defeat. Sophia couldn't help but smile as she watched one of the men who had mocked her earlier fight and lose right beside her. He threw down his sword before finally sitting down in the dirt with a large red streak across his neck.

Sophia looked at the sword that had dropped right in front of her. She looked at her chains and back at the guest who sat beside it. As the legionary passed by her, he bent down to whisper in her ear. "Feel free to grab the sword if that's what you're thinking."