Manon and Belle Pt. 17

"Yes," Manon replied, "I have no interest in men. Why do you ask?"

"Because it helps explain a little of what happened. I don't either," she said matter of factly.

"So, when I linked with you, and started to draw power from you, it opened a path if you like. A path the made it very much easier for the binding. Linking and bonding are closely related, as are some other talents, all of which are very rare, which is my only excuse for not understanding this and preventing it from happening. I've only ever read of binding, not met anyone who could do it, and my sister and I are the only people I know who can make a link like this."

"I still don't follow entirely," Manon said. "I understand in principle what you say about the link providing a path, if I have that right. But not how that results in it arousing my instincts and not only breaking my control by targeting you, let alone how that then gets to Fliss and Janine."

"I can only theorise on your first point. Your control didn't fail, it was simply evaded as you'd never trained to exercise it in a circumstance like this, for obvious reasons, it was unimaginable," Christy said.

She hesitated then, and oddly flushed pink as she continued. "As to why it targeted me? I already told you, it only takes the target to be attracted to you."

"Ah," Manon said, not having anything else to say at that point. She could hear Belle giggle softly, and sighed, knowing that Belle would at some point tease her about being blind to Christy's attraction to her.

"So, Janine was in the link too, doubly so because not only was I healing her, but you were holding her hand, and to state the blindingly obvious, the girl adores you. My sister, well, I think that is sort of my fault. I've raised her since she was four, and I couldn't love her more if she were my own daughter."

"So anyway," Christy said, "it appears that even though that love isn't carnal, it's more than enough that your binding me pulled Fliss in along with me, since I love her more than anyone or anything in the world. Though I am theorising again."

"That's a lot to think about," Manon said, feeling like that was a record breaking understatement. "So what happens now? I mean with you and Fliss?"

"Well, I don't know," Christy said, "this is uncharted territory I think. Manon, were you taught visualisation, I got the sense in the link that you had been?"

"Yes, I was, it was part of helping me understand this, and how to control it," Manon replied.

"Good, well then, close your eyes, and reach for it, ignore everything else, even my voice," Christy said, getting quieter as she spoke and then going silent.

Manon found her binding to Belle almost instantly, a bright yellow solid line that attached to her mental picture of her lovely Belle, standing tall and proud and naked despite her pain after Manon had branded her.

Manon jumped, mentally at least, as she felt Christy join her, the same weird sensation she remembered from the the Regent at College had first shown her how to do this. Unlike the Regent, whose mental presence had been cold and indifferent, Christy's was suffused with warmth and soon another solid yellow line was added to Manon's view, though her picture of Christy was hazy at first.

Until suddenly it wasn't, and she felt Christy somehow move mentally, and a clear picture of her face took over, smiling in a way that Manon knew instinctively was meant for her, and like she'd never seen in real life. It instantly aroused Manon, she could feel her nipples harden but there was something like a mental giggle from Christy, and the image lost some of its allure, even though the line connecting her to Manon got noticeably brighter.

"Look around Manon," Christy said quietly, in the real world and in her head, as she felt someone, Christy she quickly realised, take and hold her hand. With a gentle push of energy from this contact, Manon's view opened out, and first she found Melissa and then Janine. There were some other threads, thin, that ran from Manon off that she couldn't follow, but then another thread appeared, getting steadily brighter, and then a lot clearer and brighter as she felt someone else take her other hand.

It was Fliss, she realised with a start, the physical contact making things clearer, and then she heard the girl murmur, "well this is weird," and giggle. The image started to fade then, first Fliss and then Christy releasing her hands, but not before Manon spotted something she'd not seen before. There were clear if fainter connections running between Belle, Melissa and Janine, tying them directly to each other.

Fliss presumably hadn't been quite as meek accepting her sister's instruction to sleep as she'd appeared, and had come over to see what was happening.

"Those other pale threads, did you see them?" Manon asked. "What are they?"

"I'm fairly sure that they are to the other girls you told me you had bound, but they are too far away," Christy said. "Manon, the magus' who can transmit messages, they make links very like your bindings or my link with Fliss. Theirs can work over very long distances though, but only to people they have met in person, and made a message link with. It's the most common form of linking, but still very rare, which is why messaging like that is so expensive."

They were interrupted then by the sight of a lantern approaching from the far end of the chamber they were in, but since Christy and Fliss seemed calm about this, Manon just waited to see who it was.

A heavy set woman emerged holding the lantern, enough facially like Gran Foster that this had to be one of her daughters, if not the eldest given her age. "We should be heading out soon, it's almost dark. Your girl up to it?"

Manon looked at both Janine and Christy, neither of whom looked happy at the idea. "How far is it? Before we can stop?" Belle asked.

"Took me half an hour from where we've left the wagon and horses," the woman replied.

"Fine then," Belle said. "Looks like I get to carry the cute new girl again." That made Melissa giggle, and Belle and Manon joined in.

"I want her to rest for an hour more, and eat and drink first," Christy said firmly, the voice of a doctor used to being obeyed, and the woman just nodded and went and sat down by where she'd entered the chamber.

"Fliss, see what we have left, and make sure she eats and drinks please, but slowly," Christy said, "Manon and I need to talk." Fliss nodded and Melissa got up to help her, while Belle sat with Janine.

Christy took one of the lanterns and led Manon away, waiting for her to sit on the floor by her when she sat down.

"I think my feelings betrayed themselves when I joined with you?" Christy said, without any preamble. Manon spluttered a bit, caught off guard. "Come now, you can't have been surprised? I'd already as good as told you that I was attracted to you," Christy said.

"Yes, but I suppose I don't understand why, let alone how quickly?" Manon replied.

"Well sexual attraction doesn't have a clock," Christy said. "Manon, you understand that binding with me, means that when I joined you I could see a lot of you, mentally I mean?"

"Don't answer that, I can see that you do. Whoever trained you originally I suppose. Manon in person you are all steely and calm, until such time as you and one your girls exchange looks, when the fact that you love each other, all of them is obvious," Christy said. "Even my naive little sister, who for all her attempts at being an adult is still a child, saw that."

"Mentally though Manon, you are beyond scary. It's clear that you are capable of violence and aggression, which you would inflict on anyone you choose without mercy or indeed regret. But for those who you care about, for whatever reason, your commitment is total. Even if I didn't know some of the stories about you and the Dumains, and all Bordeaux does know believe me, I can tell that."

"All that from one look?" Manon asked, trying to deflect and very uncomfortable.

"You know better than that, to a magus like me I can take all that information in and sort it over time. The way you love those three young women, your fierce desire to possess them and protect them isn't hard to spot, and trust me they love you back that way. Binding Janine just then only added slightly to that, embedded it if you will, she was already there."

"We don't have much time, so let me quickly explain why that is so alluring to me, as it in part explains my more or less instant attraction to you, and to those traits I have now seen."

"First, our mother died when Felicity was just 4, and since my father, though he loved us without reservation, was hopeless at childcare, I have raised her since. My father was a magus too, the finest in Bordeaux if you forgive the bragging, and he trained and educated me, simply because he could, and then Fliss as well."

"But Manon, he was Jewish, though my mother wasn't, and old prejudices die very hard. We were ostracised, isolated socially as a family, valued only for his abilities as a healer. He died three years ago, he was much older than our mother, and I thought that might change a little, but it didn't. Even before the new Duke and his savagery, we were called witches, though not usually to our faces. So when all this started up, I didn't wait to see who those stakes were for, I prepared to leave."

"Sooner or later, they'd come for the dirty jewish witches, using their black magic to cure people of their ills and mend their broken bones," she said savagely. "We are an easy target."

"We only just got away," she said. "The constables were breaking in as we ran from the back, with only what we stood up in. Fliss didn't even have shoes."

"I'd taken some shady patients at times, since my Father died, just to make ends meet, and that's how I met the smugglers. So when I ran, I went to Gran Foster, and you know the rest. She got us hidden down here, and has been waiting to get us out."

"How does that explain your, ah interest in me?" Manon asked.

"Simple, surely you can see it. I like girls, the only lovers I have had, and then this strong sexy young woman appears, with her loved and loving entourage, risking her life to protect her girls? Physical attraction aside, which I have to tell you it isn't, you must see why that is so attractive to me?"

"So basically you are saying I'm your knight in shining armour?" Manon said. "

"Well, it might be a little tarnished, and I'm hoping you don't keep it on all the time, but yes," Christy said, a blush creeping up her neck for the first time in this weirdly clinical and intimate conversation.

"You are very analytical about this?" Manon said, deciding to probe that point.

"I've been trained and worked as a medic, doctor and magus all my life, it's just the way I am. It won me no friends, though at the University it got more than a few girls into my bed. They seemed to fall for the intellectual approach."

Manon laughed, but asked, "Well, I think I understand that, in a way. But what happens now? With you and me, and with Fliss, what does binding mean for her?"

"Well, she's an intelligent child, let's ask her, through please don't tell her I called her either of those. She'll sulk and preen for days if she finds out. Fliss, when you finish, come and talk to us please?"

"About done," she answered and hobbled over. Clearly her feet were getting more sore.

"So, oh mighty sister, what is it?" she asked as she sat down cross legged.

Christy sighed, but didn't rise to the bait. "Tell us about the binding, I mean how you feel now, and what you felt and saw when you joined me just now with Manon."

Manon had expected the girl to cringe when she heard what was asked of her, but instead she just cocked her head to one side and frowned as she thought about it.

"Well, when you said Manon was a binder, to be honest I had no idea what you meant, but since we talked while she was sleeping it off, I had a bit of a dig around, internally I mean. When I joined you it only confirmed it," she said.

"I only just met you," she said turning to Manon, "and don't know you at all apart from the stories about you storming castles to rescue your girls of course. But now, I not only know I can trust you, I feel I can trust you. It's a bit like suddenly having another sister, though one that nags less," she said giggling at Christy.

"I feel safer too, which is why I said it's weird, and somehow it seems to include those three as well. Are they really all slaves?" she asked.

"Felicity!" Christy said, but Manon cut her off. "Yes they are. They are all my slaves, more to the point. Feel free to talk with them about it if your sister allows, they won't mind."

"God, who taught you manners?" Christy muttered. "Go and help with dressing Janine, she's still going to be more sore than she realises at the moment."

"On my way," Fliss said, getting up and walking back to the others. "Oh," she said over her shoulder giggling as she went, "I felt one other thing. My sister has a serious crush on you, and she badly needs to get laid, she hasn't been in ages."

"I will kill you!" Christy shouted as peels of laughter erupted from her sister and Melissa and Belle.

Manon and Christy just sat and looked at each other for a moment, before both shared a quiet laugh. "So, where are you heading? Manon asked. "What do you want to do?"

"Ah the first part of the plan was simply to get out of Bordeaux and then Aquitaine, after that I don't know," Christy said. "I need a home somewhere, where I can earn a living. A place where that brat can grow up, and preferably get educated properly, she needs more teachers than just me."

"I see," Manon said. "Hear me out now, before you react?" Christy just nodded, so Manon continued.

"Presuming we get away," Manon said, "I'm heading for La Rochelle, in order to find a ship or boat that can take us towards London, my home. My household isn't even remotely normal, and nor is what Belle and I do for a living, which got us mixed up in a violent and dangerous situation here that I don't yet fully understand."

"Some of this appears to be more common knowledge than I'd like. Anyway, if you'll forgive my lack of modesty, I am rich, and have a stupidly large house in the middle of London that I am keen to get back to. I've not worked out all or even many of the details of what happens next, but broadly it is expanding what I'm calling my inner household, a group of women who for one reason or another I know I can trust absolutely, and will help Belle and I deal with whatever we find out."

"My household could easily accommodate a good doctor, one I know I can trust, and there are lots of good schools in London or elsewhere for any troublesome brats that might tag along," sharing a grin with Christy.

"I'm making this up as I go along, but setting the Doctor up in a private practice would be part of it, and it may be that my employers would be able to send some patients her way as well, though that might require unusual levels of discretion from the doctor."

"In any event, even if all of that doesn't appeal, travel with us, to London if you want, and I'll help set you up, it's the least I can do for your help with Janine." Manon sat back then, and waited. Christy had listened quietly without any obvious reaction.

"You understand that my absolute priority is Felicity? I won't compromise her safety or future in any way."

"I do, so in fairness I have to tell you that being around me and my work isn't risk free. Being in London, part of my household, would be safer than most, but safety is not a promise I can make. You already know my life can be violent."

"I think perhaps I should tell you one other thing. My preferred ways of making love frequently involve restraints and corporal punishment for my partners, and occasionally myself, and for some time now my partners have mostly been my slaves. Though I find I am now quite interested in someone I met a few hours ago," Manon added with a grin. Christy went slightly pink but stayed silent.

"You and of course Fliss would be shielded from my lifestyle entirely, though I'd have to make some adjustments about how we live. If you didn't want to be shielded, well, that is something I'd like, but know that I'd protect Fliss anyway I can."

"Gods, now who is being clinical about things?" Christy said. "The fact that you are down here, being smuggled out of the City with a girl who was convicted of witchcraft and treason that you have taken as your slave? Well that was a hint I took about your life being different," Christy said, laughing.

"I need to think about this, if I may? And talk with Fliss, we haven't really had a chance to talk about the future, but I'll gladly accept the offer of travelling with you, as far as La Rochelle at least, if that stands."

"It does, and welcome aboard, so to speak. It's not lost on me that having two skilled medics to help Janine isn't exactly a problem," Manon said grinning.

"Time's a wasting people," the woman shouted, as Christy and Manon returned to the group.

"Same charm school as her ma," Belle muttered, making Melissa and Fliss giggle. Janine was sitting up, dressed in the clothes that had been bought from Gran Foster, bar her left arm and hand, which weren't in the sleeve of either her shirt or jacket, the latter of which was draped over her shoulder.

Belle helped her up, and Melissa offered her a shoulder to lean on, which Janine took with a murmured thank you to her. "How are you Janine?" Manon asked.

"Better miss, thank you, eating helped. Not going to be moving too quick though in truth," she said.

"All the more reason to get a move on then," the woman called out impatiently. Christy and Fliss each picked up one of the doctor's bags, but Melissa tutted and took the larger bag from Fliss, as Belle scooped Janine up in a bridal carry again.

"This is so embarrassing," Janine said, "But thank you."

Belle smiled at her and Manon heard her whisper very quietly, so that only she and Janine heard, "You don't know embarrassing yet girl, wait until I see what I get from you in return when you are well," and smirked happily as Janine blushed furiously.

Fliss and Melissa led the way behind the woman, chattering, seeming to have formed something of an instant friendship, with Belle and her cargo in the middle, as Manon and Christy brought up the rear. "Belle, wait a moment please?" Janine said.

"Melissa, bring your friend here. I'm sorry I must have been told your name, but I don't remember," Janine said.

"Felicity, but you can call me Fliss, everyone does," Fliss said throwing a cheeky grin at her sister. "Well, Fliss, you are limping, and I'm not even walking, so my shoes are going to waste. They might be a little big and broken down, but if your feet are sore?" Janine said.

"Oh, god, really? If you are sure?" Janine's only answer was a smile and to push the heel of one shoe off with the toe of the other, leaving it dangling, so Fliss took it and the other, and lifted her skirt a little to push her feet into them. "Well, a little big, but thank you so much, I was getting rubbed raw," Fliss said.

They resumed progress, and Manon asked a question she'd been curious about ever since she had come down here. "Christy, where are we? I mean what are these tunnels?"

"Oh, well, the first part, where you came in and went through to get to us, that's Roman, or at least that's my father used to say. The bigger chamber and this passage are later, mediaeval I think. Anyway, whoever dug them out, this part was used for storing and moving wine down to the docks. The temperature stays even down here, so the barrels don't spoil if when it gets too hot in the summer."

"When the Duke's grandfather had the new docks built, sorry, duke's great grandfather now, they fell into disuse, until some private business men and women found other uses for them. Direction we are going brings us out on the river by the old ford, just outside the walls. Conveniently missing the gates and the Duke's excise men."