Drowning at Dusk Ch. 02

Such control. Such poise.

Every muscle tensed, my eyes widening and staring up at the ceiling. I wondered if that grace and poise extended to acts other than interrogation.

"Give me a scream. A good one. Let Terakh and his warriors know how badly I'm hurting you."

Given the terror coursing through me, conjuring such a wail of agony proved an easy task. I forced my mind back to the memories of my wounded shins, and to echoes of other, older wounds.

The cry bounced off the cavern walls. A muffled laugh sounded through the heavy door.

"Good. Let us continue, little malrixi."

Xelari stepped away, sauntering around my chair like a cat around a stricken bird.

"How did you make it past the warding runes at the edge of my camp? Those were forged of ancient dusk elf magic. Attuned to detect any soul that passed."

"See the scars on the back of my hand?"

Xelari looked down, noted the faded, cauterized lines left by the ritual.

"I see. Synchronistic blood magic. An echo. That must have required significant precision to match such a complex rune against your own flesh."

"Lots of practice."

"Where? Hard to imagine a self-taught cutthroat mastering such a skill."

"I was trained by the White Talons."

Xelari leaned in from behind me, rested her head on my shoulder, and let out a faint chuckle.

"You do not strike me as the religious type."

"People change. I was once a dutiful little follower of Venkya. I said all the penitent prayers every dawn, offered my blood to the moons during each eclipse, and I was so convinced of the doom of my own soul that I sought to purify it through service. The White Talons were the most...romantic route. Striking down demonologists, necromancers, and foul enemies of the faith in the name of Venkaya? A pure, swift path to redemption."

"Just a mercenary of a different sort."

I grinned, and Xelari stepped away.

"I suppose. I didn't last long with them, and left only about two years after I finished my training."

"So you never received your purification or redemption."

"Suppose not."

"Why leave? Why cast aside such a grand prize?"

My eyes narrowed at the questioning, and glanced past her towards the door.

"Does it matter?"

"It does. Because I am not just concerned with the assassination attempt. I must look to the future. And to assess the future, I must grasp the past."

"I didn't like the chains." As if to emphasize, I wriggled a bit against my bonds. "I didn't like the strictures, the brutal religious schedule, and if I was going to shed blood, I'd have rather done it for the sake of my own profit and comfort, not for some labyrinthine faith."

I pondered the line of questioning. First, she'd asked about how I had bypassed the warding runes, and now she was curious about my experience with the White Talons.

This was starting to feel less like an interrogation and more like an interview.

She needed my help.

"You want me to help you find the circlet of Amrisa," I muttered.

"Clever little malrixi." She beamed, then tapped the blade once more against my chin. "Another scream. Lower. More ragged and weak this time. Like you're close to breaking."

After a deep breath, I leaned my head back and let out a broken, trembling howl. To enhance the deception, I bit down fiercely on the inside of my cheek, turning the cry into a choked sob.

"Good. Keep that up and some of them might end up feeling bad for you."

"You don't seem surprised that I know about the circlet. Aren't you going to ask how I know?"

"I assume you were outside of my tent, listening to my discussion with Terakh."

"Yes...the discussion."

"A discussion that would have given you ample opportunity to complete your assignment, had you seized the moment. It was only after I'd finished that I checked my runestone, and noticed that a shadow-rune had been activated in the vicinity. Your little act of voyeurism sealed your fate." Xelari tapped the runestone in question and continued her predatory circle around me.

Damn it.

Another path not taken. A window closed.

But if things continued to unfold in this fashion, this particular path might prove to be the better one. If I moved carefully, I could end up free, rich, and possibly with the taste of that beautiful dusk elf on my lips.

"If you had a hint I was out there, why didn't you warn your sentry? Set a more lethal trap for me once I arrived."

"I was worried the would-be killer might overhear. And truth be told, I couldn't be certain that Elengred wasn't involved. He was loyal, yes, but loyalties can shift with a wind."

She shook her head and wagged her finger.

"But we are drifting from more important matters. The circlet of Amrisa," she continued, running her fingers over my shoulder as she completed another pass.

"You are correct that I am searching for it. Do not waste your breath in asking why. All that matters to you is that you help me find it. If you do so, I will grant you...certain privileges."

"Not freedom."

"Considering the chaos you caused and how close you came to killing me, it will take much more to earn my forgiveness."

I came so, so close to asking if I could have earned 'forgiveness' in the same way Terakh had back in her tent.

Best not to push my luck.

"All right," I said slowly. "I'll help."

Her offer was better than nothing. Those 'certain privileges' could perhaps open the opportunity for another escape, though I assumed she'd have some sort of magical means of tracking and binding me to prevent me from just running off into the Wildwood during the search.

"Good girl."

"Need another scream?"

"I am sure you'll unleash a genuine one soon enough."

Xelari knelt beside the chair and used my knife to slice open my leggings; the tip just barely grazed over my pale skin. The lean muscles of my thigh went taught at the sensation of the cool cavern air. Without a word, she peeled away the leather to leave my entire upper thigh exposed, then readied her runestone.

The device must have been a damned powerful one; most of the stones I'd used could only contain a single rune, while hers contained a veritable armory. Her delicate fingers flitted through the various glowing symbols, until it settled upon a series of glowing blue chains.

Of course. A chain-rune. The White Talons had used them to keep track of unruly or unfaithful students, and I'd met a few clients who'd wanted to use them to keep track of their hirelings during contracts. I'd been a good little apprentice for most of my training, and I'd always turned those particularly paranoid clients down, so I'd never had the misfortune of being subjected to such magic.

"This will allow me to know your location at all times, and to communicate with you through the runestone. It will also allow me to inflict...discipline upon you if necessary."

"Have you used this upon any of your mercenaries?"

Xelari snorted.

"No. They aren't worthy of the effort."

Voids below, that cold tone nearly made me squirm, as did the thought that she found me 'worthy' of being chained to her. I took a deep breath, gritted my teeth, and steadied myself.

After pressing the stone to my thigh, she caressed the other side of the stone and murmured a few words. A flash of blue light filled the cavern.

Pain sliced into my thigh. The sensation skipped over the outer layers of skin entirely, instead boring deep into the muscle and bone. The chains rattled as I kicked and writhed. Spittle flew from my mouth as I snarled, and then I finally loosed my first genuine scream of the morning.

How long did it take? Moments? Minutes? The pain shredded my sense of time, roaring up and down my leg. Tendrils of agony wrapped around my heart, coiled around my spine, and coursed up into my skull.

The further it spread, the duller the ache became. Once the agony had writhed its way up into my eyes, I'd managed to stop screaming. Or perhaps I'd just lost my voice.

Through the haze of tears I could only see Xelari's glittering green eyes.

"Good. You took it better than even some dusk elves. Better than I did, the first time I was marked in such a fashion."

Xelari removed the rune and gently rubbed her fingers over my thigh, soothing out the lingering pain. Emblazoned onto my pale skin was a glowing blue rune that matched the one upon the stone. Another marker from the dusk elf, a counterpart to the wound she'd inflicted upon my cheek in retaliation for her own injury.

Those soft, skilled fingers made quick work of the agony in my leg, though my lungs still burned from breathing so intently, and my neck ached from how fiercely I'd thrown my head back.

Xelari sheathed her runestone and my knife.

"Your ordeal here is not yet done, and I have the pride of a wounded orc to assuage. Terakh wanted to be here to bleed you. He all but begged for the privilege of beating you, chopping off a few fingers, scalding you with hot irons."

"A pleasant little spectacle for a dusk elf, I'm sure."

Her nose twitched. Amusement? Annoyance? Both, perhaps.

"He shares my faith and I still require his loyalty and that of his men."

That reminded me that I still hadn't quite grasped what her faith was. Answers would come in time, likely after I'd found that circlet.

"And thus I need to grant him a boon of sorts. And a reward, since were it not for his efforts you might have escaped." She cocked her head. "Therefore I will leave the manner of punishment up to you. I can allow him in here to beat you, to flay a finger or two, to break a few bones, maybe carve off one of your ears so he can take it as a trophy. All wounds that my healing-rune can easily tend to, and then we can focus on our search."

"And my other options?"

"He also expressed a grudging admiration for your beauty and that lithe body of yours. And as I recall, he said something along the lines of 'those short curls of hers should provide just enough of a handhold.'"

Warmth blossomed deep in my core. Was it due to the prospect of being roughly used by the orc that had ignited that flame, or had it been Xelari's talk of my 'beauty?'

"He can beat me or fuck me, you mean."

"Yes. I will ensure the punishment is limited to one or the other."

I considered my options. Terakh was certainly a rather handsome orc, and if we'd met as comrades or as acquaintances in a tavern, I'd have been sorely tempted to go for a tumble between the sheets. And a hate-fuck, grueling as it might be, would certainly be easier to recover from than the other injuries he could inflict.

As my mind bounced between the two paths, I looked to Xelari and wondered what she wanted. Did she want to see me beaten and bloodied, or bent over and ravished by her angry warrior?

Voids below, why was I consideringher opinions on the matter?

"Considering that I eavesdropped on you and Terakh, it's only fitting that I return the favor and allow you to do the same," I said, as if I were in a position to 'allow' anything at all. Despite a little agonizing tingle leftover from the brand and the knife-cut, I managed a crooked smile. "So aye. Terakh can fuck me. You can listen to my moans and whimpers just like I listened to yours."

Her hand lashed out, viper-fast, and cracked across my face.

Compared to the agony of the brand, that slap felt positively delightful, like a splash of water on a hot day.

"I did not whimper, little malrixi."

"No. Terakh probably didn't have the skill for that. But I wager that I could-"

Another slap. My head snapped back again, beautiful pain blossoming through my face.

Voids below, that felt good.

"And I will not merelylisten to your moans and pathetic whimpers, little malrixi. I will witness the entire coupling. Given Terakh's ire, I dare not leave him alone with you."

That notion struck me harder than her slap had.

She was going to watch. Bear witness to me being bent over and used by that angry orc. Those bright green eyes would stare into mine as those brutish hands grasped my hips. Desire bubbled up within me and banished the lingering pain.

It didn't thoroughly banish the fear, though. If anything, the thought of her being there was more terrifying than not. What if she...disapproved?

I squirmed against the chair.

"And will you require protection? I have several runes and tonics if need be."

"No."

My training with the White Talons had included countless alchemical doses that had rendered me infertile, and immune to most diseases, venereal or otherwise.

"Good. Tekhar!" she called out. "Enter."

As she waited for the orc to comply, Xelari loosened the chains from the chair and gave me a gentle shove down onto the pile of furs. I landed face-down with a grunt, once she undid the chains from around my ankles, I wriggled my legs about to get more comfortable.

With a fierce tug, she yanked off my belt and tugged my leggings down over my hips and backside. Those soft fingers brushed over the back of my thighs, and I bit back a moan of need.

She paused for a moment, and out of the corner of my eye I saw the gleam of my knife.

With one swift slice, she ripped apart my undergarments, and I let out a hiss as the cool cavern air caressed my moistening sex.

The orc's heavy footsteps echoed through the cavern, and I adjusted my head against the furs so I could watch him enter. His burly, scarred arms were crossed over his chest, and those red eyes flitted between me and the dusk elf.

"Judging by some of those screams, I'm surprised she's conscious."

"She's a tough one."

A spark of pride ignited in my heart at that.

Voids below. That woman had stirred something into being that I didn't think possible. A woman whom I'd been paid to kill, who held me captive, who'd sliced my cheek...

And all I could think about was her damned approval.

Perhaps it was just the exhaustion from the long forest trek and the fight. Perhaps it was the confusion and the disorientation of my captivity, and I just wasn't thinking straight.

Yes. That was it. That was all.

"But further assessment of her worth and fortitude is still needed," Xelari continued, stepping back. "She is yours to use."

A feral grin exploded across Tekhar's face. He unstrapped his sword and let it thud to the floor, and jogged over behind me. I bit back another groan as he let out an appreciative growl at the sight of my bare ass and sex.

"A few rules, however," Xelari said. "First, you will do no lasting damage to her. Slap her, spank her, even choke her a bit. But nothing permanent. I still have use for her."

"Fine," he grumbled. Metal rasped against metal as he undid his belt. His armored greaves thudded to the floor, followed by a rustle of fabric as he undid his leggings. Given my position it was difficult to crane my head around to look at him, so I was content to remain with my cheek pressed to the furs: helpless and vulnerable.

And yet weakness could be a strength. My submission here could purchase a chance to escape, and could open the doors to new opportunities.

The considerations were not merely practical. Xelari's gaze and icy demeanor had ignited feelings I hadn't embraced in some time, and I reminded myself of the power that could come with submission, of the delight in tearing back control when it had been denied.

"Second, you will finish when I say so, and not before."

Tekhar grumbled.

"I'll do my best. No promises, though. Been a while since I've had a good fuck, and-"

"You will do as I command," Xelari said with a hiss befitting of those ghostly snakes she had summoned to subdue me. "You will climax upon my order. Not one moment before. If you cannot accept that, then I will find another man to punish her."

"All right, all right."

His calloused hand brushed against the small of my back.

"Hardly seems like punishment. Did you see how wet she is?"

"Impossible to miss."

"And the scent of her..." Tekhar gave a theatrical sniff.

Xelari strode away, collected the chair I'd been bound to, and set it down a few feet in front of me. Once she settled down into the chair, she delicately crossed her legs and gave a little wave to Tekhar.

"You may begin."

"Voids below," the orc growled. "I was looking forward to breaking every damned bone in your fingers, but this...this'll do just fine."

Given my lack of visibility, I couldn't actually see how thick or long his cock was, but I got a hint of it when I felt the massive crown brush against my dripping folds.

Fuck. A big one.

Not the biggest I'd ever taken, of course. That distinction belonged to a very forceful nobleman I'd seduced as part of a plot to get into his inner circle to kill one of his cousins. There were still evenings I fantasized about that brute.

Something told me that Xelari herself might be taking a prominent role in my fantasies to come, assuming I got out of this mess alive.

Terakh slid his manhood deep into me with one forceful, slow thrust. To his credit, he'd used a bit more care and finesse than I'd expected from someone who had nearly killed me the night before.

All that finesse vanished once he got acquainted to my warmth. One thick, steel-like hand reached down and grabbed me by my sweat-soaked red curls, while the fingers of his other hand dug into my hip.

He set to work.

Fast. Hard. Brutal. Unforgiving.

The thuds of his hips against my body echoed through the damp cavern. In between those echoes came my soft cries and moans: sounds of hunger, and surrender. Sounds that danced between agony and bliss. His cock certainly felt good inside of me, though the painful grip of his vice-like fingers on my hip kept the bliss from truly overwhelming me.

Probably for the best; I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of coming for him just yet. If at all.

Once I recovered from the initial shock, my string of moans settled into a series of desperate, agonized pants. When Terakh tugged on my shoulder, pulling me up just a little, I was afforded a perfect view of the dark, regal dusk elf seated in that chair that might as well have been a throne.

She stared at me with cool, distant regard. Boredom, even. As if me being brutally fucked by a massive orc was barely worth her notice.

I hated her for it. I wanted her to enjoy this. To revel in it. To lick her lips and grow wet at the sight of me. I wanted my submission to be a path to something more. I wanted to show her that even in weakness I could still defy her.

"Harder," I whimpered. "I can take it."

"Doubtful," he hissed back, replying with a fierce slap to my backside.

After the agony of that chain-rune and the pain inflicted by the disdain in Xelari's gaze, I barely even felt the pain.

"I managed to handle you last night, didn't I? Knocked you right on your arse. You don't think I can take a-"

He let out a growl more befitting of a beast than an orc. His hand left my shoulder, grabbed me by the throat, then tugged me up so my back was pinned against his chest. Doing so wrenched my gaze away from Xelari, an act that nearly made me snarl with fury.

All that came out was a strangled moan.

His pace quickened, his cock plunging deeper and more firmly into me. My moisture ran down my thighs, mixing with the froth of his pre-cum and running down onto the furs beneath us. A delicious mess.

"It's no wonder your mistress doesn't deign to sleep with you, if this is all you can manage," I choked out, drool leaking past my lips.

With a bestial growl he shoved me back down again, my cheek slamming into the furs. After a bit of squirming I managed to look up to Xelari again.

To my shock and horror, she had withdrawn my knife and was using it to clean underneath her fingernails.

That fucking bitch.

I tried to summon another taunt or quip to drive Terakh mad and restore Xelari's attention. The haze of painful need grew too intense, the fires grew too hot. Thoughts and plots melted away.