Of Bonds Forged Ch. 06

Vale's head twitched and with the stiffness of that movement came pain. And with that pain came the opening of her eyes. There was a moment's disorientation as she lay on her side, she tried to place where she was. Memory coming back to her from the day and night before filled in many of the pieces, but not all, like a book from long ago where she could remember scenes that she'd visualized and how they made her feel. She clearly remembered meeting Solos and the room of writhing women. Then heat burning her mind from the inside. Then fear because she felt she might never come back from that and that she might not want to. Then rage. Then fire that blinded her.

It all seemed a dream that she woke to know was real because she still felt the power of the talisman in her mind, diminished though it was. Even now the thoughts of what Solos wanted to be reverberated within her mind, tempting and teasing, and demanding that she tame herself for it. But the walls she had erected around the core of her being held. Vale also remembered bits of here, but the truth of that was more physical. There were the lingering sensations between her legs and her backside still stung. The wool of the blanket she was covered in prickled her bare skin and she debated for a moment to cover herself with it long enough to find her clothes. It's not as if she hasn't already seen it.

That decision made, she pushed herself up, ignoring the stiffness throughout and stood. She turned and saw her clothes in a neat pile behind her and Sylanna at one end of the cot, eyes closed, deep in weaving over a body. The veil she had in place since the beginning of their journey together restored. The presence of the stranger startled her, and the sharp intake of breath that followed drew a response from Sylanna who didn't open her eyes, but her brows twitched.

"Who is that?"

Sylanna told the story as Vale dressed, pleased to have something largely matter-of-fact to focus on. The story was short though, so, when that was done, the silence that was inevitable set in. Ordinarily, Sylanna relished that peace, but now all she heard were the whispers of ghosts.

"Will she be all right?"

"Yes, though she needs better food than what's here eventually." She opened her eyes and met the other's, hoping to remain clinical. "How are you? You seem quite lucid."

She measured herself again. "Better. I still feel it. The talisman, I mean."

"I can help you clear it."

"No," she said more quickly than she'd intended before adding. "It's manageable. He didn't...get the hold he wanted, but it's powerful. The distance helps. That he didn't get the grip he wanted helps."

"Wanted for what purpose?"

She spoke, avoiding Sylanna's gaze as she concerned herself with drinking her fill of their water and eating some of their own stores while treating herself to a bit of the hardtack and honey. "The man we sought is dead. I haven't seen the body, but I have no reason to doubt it. I suspect it was punishment for what he'd done." She then relayed the rest of the story, from Delvine to Vale's own violation and escape.

"You did well," Sylanna said with honest respect.

"Better than you expected?"

"Yes."

Vale failed to entirely hide her amusement at the honesty. Or perhaps it was just the familiarity of it. "Thank you."

"So he wishes to use the magic to expand his influence since he can't use the woman. But it should be cleared from you. Such magic is insidious, especially if allowed to linger. It corrupted this Kel, and may do the same to you even in the diminished state."

She thought about it before shaking her head. "If I touch it, it reminds me of how he wants me to be and what he wants me to do. I will need it when I go back."

"Go back? In your current state? Absolutely not. I will not return to the guild to tell those that already have no use for me that I let their favorite die, be turned into a vegetable, or enslaved. He will be able to link directly to your mind. I believe I have the skill to take it from him, and that seems the easiest course. It only risks me and he doesn't grasp what he has."

She drank a last swallow and rose, wiping crumbs from herself. "He'll feel that the necklace has a connection to me, and if I play the role he'd have me play, it should keep him from trying to melt me again like the last time, so it's less risky for us both. It's the only way I can think of to be fairly certain to get close to it. Do you have a better idea than 'sneak in and hope for the best?'"

"Skip the sneaking part, burn the place down if it's not already, and take it, but that's clearly not what you have in mind."

"I'm not opposed to that right now, but it's the last resort. I don't want to go back. I don't want any of what he...promised...to happen to me, but in the end it's just you and me right now and we can keep this between us. If we run, he either chases us or does what he wants to do and when we come back with help, the mess is that much worse. What we do, we have to do now."

Vale was strong indeed. "You have a plan?"

"I believe so," she said, looking at the sleeping form across from her. "I will go in directly while you sow confusion. But much depends on the strength of your witch's brews."

"Then we will succeed."

Just now she found Sylanna's arrogance a source of deep comfort. "Of course you would be so sure."

Her haughtiness returned in force. "I know what I can do."

"When you don't even know what I will ask of you?"

She shrugged dismissively. "I doubt your mind could conceive of something I could not accomplish."

She shook her head with resignation and the hint of a smile. "You are such a bitch."

After a bit of laughter silence fell again and Sylanna chose the moment as probably the last one that would find Vale agreeable for some time so she spoke quickly. "Regarding last night, there is something that I must..."

"No," she snapped.

Sylanna fell silent at once, the feeling she wished to express only amplified by the harshness of that single word. "Of course."

Vale immediately regretted the tone at seeing the way that she recoiled. "I apologize. I didn't mean to snap that way. I truly did not. Whatever you have to tell me can wait until we finish this, but we have no time for distractions."

"Of course." The words were firm this time. Vale was correct. They both needed to be focused. Now was not the time unburden herself to salve her own guilt.

She drew closer to Sylanna and took her hand firmly. "If you have to do something..." One of Vale's gifts was that she rarely had to grope for words, but she found that she did so now. "If this goes poorly, and somehow it's me against you, and you have to do what you have to do. Or if I end up like Delvine and you have to do what I don't think I have to tell you that I will want you to do in that case, know that there is nothing to forgive and all I ask is that you not allow me to haunt you."

"You, Denna Vale, would return as a shade anyway to speak to me of your forgiveness and love for all, and your hope so as to torment me with your sweetness." She cleared her throat harshly. "But I will try my best to do as you ask."

"Speak your plan."

* * *

There were half a dozen guards at the closed gates now, all of them there with little sleep after spending hours putting out the fire, the barks of Adger and Solos still echoing in their ears. For a short time, it looked like the whole place might go up, but a shift of wind and some luck limited the damage. They weren't told what to prepare for beyond 'anything,' so, between that and the fire, they decided through the chatter amongst themselves that some of Solo's enemies had struck and would do so again.

With that in mind, they were expecting a dozen or more men to rampage towards the gate, not a single horse carrying a two women whose combined powers couldn't overwhelm a beggar on the road. "Tell Lord Solos that Denna Vale needs him," the woman said, putting a slightly desperate edge to 'needs.'

One of the guards responded while the others looked on, shifting their weight as the women drew closer, slightly paranoid with the warning and their fatigue. Fortunately, it didn't have to be their problem, as the guard returned, pushing the door open the rest of the way. Taking the hint that entry had been granted, they opened both doors and they watched them pass.

The courtyard itself was empty now with the people having fled or keeping themselves inside to make their deals. The inner gates opened opposite them. With Solos stomping forward, Adger to his left and a step behind, and another dozen or so guards in shields, swords and leathers, they weren't just ready for a fight, they were spoiling for one.

Vale looked around them. She had burned a hole in the roof directly above the entry and her gaze followed the areas where the fire jumped as it sought to feed, and tracked the wild scorch mark back to several kiosks that were now wood scrap and ash. "Yes, you look, woman. Look at what you've done here and answer why you would come back here, though you did save me the trouble of coming to look for you. While you're at it, you might want to convince me as to why I shouldn't kill you."

Vale thinned the defenses between herself and the poison of the talisman within her. There was fear in doing so, of course, but far less than when she saw and felt it trying to power through her hours before. It was familiar to her now. She knew how it wanted to shape her to be. Bringing that closer to herself was its own danger. Her heart sped at the thought of it, her nerves coming alive she reflexively ground herself into her saddle.

The danger came in that she liked the feelings; all of them, and if he decided to drive it into her before she had intended to take it on, she knew she wouldn't resist. She let the feelings and words he planted drive her. Suddenly hanging her head, she dismounted slowly, allowing the sleeping woman she carried to come forward to rest awkwardly over the mount.

And there she stood, head down and hands before her so that all could see that she wasn't attempting to conjure. He towered over her and she took a small step back in response, remaining that way until she looked up, to show him the shame in her eyes before being so humiliated by it she found the ground again. Finally, gritting her teeth, she faced him. "I had to leave. I had to escape. I thought I had, but it won't leave me, Lord, and I'm not healer enough to rid myself of what you put inside me."

Close to her now, he could feel what he always felt around the sluts now. They were all more alike than not. He put his hand to her cheek and lifted it. "And what is that?"

She tried to look away, but he wouldn't allow it. She breathed hard, thinking of the day she left her mother's home to not only bring her to the edge of tears, but to keep her from dwelling on the sensations that spiked with repeating the words she could feel. "I'm half-tamed, Lord. I saw what you did to her. It terrified me in the moment and I lashed out and fled."

"I tried to undo what you did to me and I can't. The women you ruined, I see them in my mind and I'm wet. I...rub myself and it only takes the edge from a while. You can fix it. You promised you'd fix it If I helped you." A flash of imagination filled her mind and her gaze drifted to between his legs, and she hoped that he saw it. You promised..."

Adger was incensed. "Do you think you can try to burn down everything Lord Solos has tried to build and all is forgiven just because you grovel?"

He had her. He knew it. There was nothing this damn thing couldn't do for him. The power swelled. So did his ego. So did his cock. "Quiet, Adger. I wish to hear more of the little lady's plea."

"You promised that if I helped you, you'd... help me."

"What's the matter, girl? You need that good fucking?"

"Yes," she admitted, blushing.

"I know," he said in exaggerated sympathy. "Not much market for your type in my line of work either. I guess that leaves you pretty lonely, huh?"

"I need... everything you have inside me; whatever of the magic you will share, and of yourself. Fill me. Shape me. In return, I will do all I can to protect you and aid in your desires, until there is no other desire in me but that one."

She took a step to him, hoping he would feel her own ties to the necklace more strongly, and that he would only see himself as bigger and stronger, and her as all the more frail and weak."You have seen the power, Lord. You have seen magic destroy minds and turn them into Delvine. You have shaped minds yourself and felt it turn them into docile creatures agreeable to fucking endlessly at a whim."

There is a useful middle in that. It is one where you use your power to chain others to your will. It is where you use your power to make your desires theirs as if it were always so, but you leave them so that they may walk, talk, obey, and think of their obedience always as they do so."

His cock thickened at the thought of using his power. More. And more. There was no end to the reach his influence could have.

"I will teach you how to chain others so that they may not escape your magic by teaching you how to chain me."

Lost in the temptation of that Adger's voice buzzed in his ear like an insect. He turned from the plump little thing to the direction of the bug, "What?"

Adger's fingers swept her hair back. "The slave you released, Lord."

That caught his attention and he moved to get a good look at her, somewhat surprised to see her again at all.

"Found walking the woods in circles, half dead. She looked like she would have come from here. I healed what I could and thought I would return her to you as an apology. If it is not enough, tell me what I have to do, and I'll do it."

"Wake her," he commanded.

"Yes, Lord." She scurried over and drew a pattern over her forehead, stepping back once she saw the eyelids begin to flutter open.

Once they were and he was sure she was aware, he shoved her off the horse with a smile and both hands, sending her off the horse and in a full circle spin before she reached the ground. She crawled backwards quickly, frantically looking about. So crestfallen she was at the realization of her return that she wailed in frustration that only garnered laughter from the assembled guards.

"Not nearly so brave now, are you?"

She glared. "Fuck you."

He laughed heartily. "Can't catch a break, can you? Get caught up and end up here to begin with, get the only opportunity you ever had or ever will, and that fails, too." He leaned down to be closer to her. "You know the worst part? You know the part that will eat at your guts worse than anything when you're back your cell? I didn't forget you at all, but I've had such a busy couple of days that I just didn't care anymore."

"What's one slave? There will be slaves like running water, so if the cold didn't kill you, so what? You were free when there would be three to replace you in a week or you were dead and there's the same three to replace you in a week anyway."

"But all that happens is you get caught. Again." He stood tall. "As for fucking me? No. Though I might get you used to your new place by letting the guards pass you around awhile."

"But, Lord," Adger began carefully, "is this not a coincidence, too? That this mage just stumbles across our missing slave?"

"How far would she have gotten anyway? By The Void, why would she even go far? No clothes. No food. And all the snow she can drink until it freezes her all the faster. Her best chance would be to linger close and see if one of the merchants took pity on her or hid in the back of a wagon to see how far it would take her. I fully expected to have found her in an hour or two anyway."

His eyes found Vale again. He saw the shame that he saw in many a proper woman who couldn't give themselves to a vile beast that was everything their mothers warned them about and then some fast enough, then slink away. He saw the need in her eyes as he saw in theirs. And she spoke the truth when she said she had the power inside her. She was already his. "Coincidences sometimes happen. As yesterday shows, even coincidences that aren't offers opportunity, if you have the skill.

He looked into Vale's eyes, "And the power."

* * *

Ani woke.

There was, for a moment, the same fear that now felt like it had always been a part of her, the fear that came with feeling completely disconnected from anything familiar. Her neck craned around quickly, taking in her surroundings. This was certainly better than most of the places she'd been and it lacked the sense of dread bleeding from the walls like every other place she'd been. It almost looked normal.

And she was alone. She hadn't been alone for weeks; not for a moment, and not for anything. If there weren't guards, there were the women in the same position she was in. But now she was alone. She was tired, but between the alone, and the warm, and the feeling better than she had in a long while, including being able to feel her toes, she rose from the cot and was immediately drawn to the letter on the table resting under a silver pendant with a hash mark depiction of a predatory cat. At the center of the table there were a collection of foodstuffs and a skein of water, while, draped over the chair in front of her, was a cloak.

Lifting the paper, allowing the jewelry to clink on the table, she began to read.

Ani,

You seemed to me, in our brief interaction, reasonably educated, so I am assuming that you can read this. If you can't read, there should still be enough here for you to figure out what you need to do. First, you need to restore yourself, so eat and drink, but be sure that you leave something of the less perishable goods for others who will eventually follow, as is the custom. But do not linger here, as, if plans fail, the ones who took you will surely search this place. Or others at least as unsavory as those you left will come because that's who places like this are for.

After that, take the horse and follow the map on the back to the house you will find at its end. Show them the pendant and tell them that you need help. They will set into motion what needs to be done. Someone will come. They will bear the same marks as the pendant on a piece of jewelry and on their bodies. If we do not meet you at that home before they arrive, tell them your story. Tell them that where you came from is where Sylanna and Vale went and that help is required. That will fully repay any debt owed.

Go with them and they will take you home, wherever that may be. If we do not meet again, know that we wish you well.

Sylanna

Ani wrapped herself in the durable, dark cloak and took the seat before putting the pendant around her neck. She wasn't free quite yet. A hundred things could happen between here and there, but there was a place to go and a plan. Freedom was so close that she couldn't bear to linger here another moment. She could not sit and have breakfast while the cage door was open.

She stuffed the inner pockets of the cloak with some of the food, grabbed the water, and bolted for her freedom.

* * *

Ani was in the firm grip of guards at each arm as she was led into the bowels of this place, Adger before her, seemingly leading the way, but it was in the way he walked, that hint of swagger that told her that he liked these little moments where it was all his and he could pretend that it was always so. He liked the power he had, and, while he might have wanted more, he wasn't man enough to grab more, as Solos would surely kill him if he failed.

"Not much of an adventure, was it?" He snickered as he contemplated it. "Spinning around in circles all night only to be found by someone who actually wanted to be back here. I hope you enjoyed your taste of freedom, as it was your last."