The Merchant's Daughter Ch. 01

This is the first part of a series that follows the misadventures of a young woman who is taken from her family due to her family's mistakes. It will feature bondage, noncon scenes, lesbian scenes, and possibly some darker stuff. If this isn't your thing, please move on. Critiques are welcome. If you would like to see something in particular for this story, please comment and I may use it for some inspiration.

Chapter One-The Raid

The view was gorgeous, and Hasti hung her head out the window of her carriage to take in the view. The wagon was being pulled up a well maintained, but rocky path through the Gold Mountains. The forest covered slopes overlooking the sparkling blue waters of the harbor were turning to fiery shades of red and orange, a far cry from the perpetually green meadows of her homeland. From this high up, the buildings and ships of the town she had spent the last few days looked like mere children's toys.

"I do need you to pull your head back inside, Miss Onesh. All kinds of wild beasts roam these woods and we don't want to invite them a meal." The voice came from Sheryl, Hasti's personal servant. The older woman had served as Hasti's teacher, sitter, and general caretaker since Hasti was just a little girl. Her parents were very successful merchants, and they were often away from home. However, they felt that life on the road was too dangerous for a child, and they often left their daughter home in the care of the trusted servants.

However, as Hasti had recently turned eighteen, her parents had deemed that she was officially old enough to learn the family business. And so, Hasti put her teachings from private tutors to practical use. It had been easier on the ship. After a day of walking about the ship and taking in the sight of the open ocean, she had managed to mostly shut herself in her cabin and pour over ledgers and documents. The city had proven harder. Everyday, there seemed to be some new event that she desperately wanted to attend. However, her parents forced back to her room at inn to keep working. Back on the road, Hasti felt that she wild get more work done once the wonder of the view and wildlife had settled down. Sure enough, once the road turned away from the water and the trees had closed in around them, the merchant daughter was able to focus on the papers in the carriage. It helped that she had this wagon to herself. Her parents were in the carriage just in front and trailing behind were a half dozen wagons with servants, supplies, and her parents traveling stock of porcelain sculptures, fancy perfumes, and jarred fruits.

Sure enough, Hasti drifted quickly into the numbers. She almost didn't notice when the caravan stopped suddenly. Even through the walls of the carriage, she could hear her father yelling at the workers. "Stay here, Miss Onesh. I'll find out what happened." The old maid stepped out of the wagon. She wasn't gone a minute before returning. "Your father's wagon has broken an axel. We'll be a while before we can get under way again. Go back to your studies."

Hasti returned to work, but she was disturbed again by a scream of pain from outside her cart. She looked up from her books, but Sheryl covered her mouth. "Keep quiet, and get on the floor of the cart." The young girl did as she was told while Sheryl cracked open the side of the carriage to peek out. The sounds of her father's guard joining battle came in louder. "Bandit's," the old woman whispered.

"Bandits?" Hasti repeated. "My father's men can handle them, right?"

"Of course they can." Sheryl reassured her. "And even if one does slip past them, I'll protect you." Hasti noticed that Sheryl had pulled a dagger from somewhere in her skirts. The woman tried to put on a brave face, but she couldn't completely cover the fear.

Footsteps approached from outside. Sheryl raised a blade to strike at any intruder. Nothing happened for a long second, then the door was ripped open. Cheryl lunged at a man in dark leather, but he easily pushed her forearm aside and stuck a blade in her stomach. A quick scream escaped Hasti's lips as Sheryl collapsed to the ground. Her hand futilely grasped at the bleeding wound. "What do we have here?" the bandit said. His voice was as smooth as a cat's gait. Hasti pushed herself back to the other side of the cart, trying to get away from violent man. She didn't like the hard look in his eyes.

"I didn't realize Onesh would have the lovely lady out here. That's even better than I had hoped. Are you going to come out or do I have to drag you?"

"Just leave us alone," Hasti said, fighting back tears.

"Dragging it is," he said as he climbed into the cart. He easily pushed back Hasti's attempts to slap and kick to grab a fistful of hair. He yanked her by the head, pulling another, louder scream out of her. He dumped her out of the cart, and she fell to her hands, dirtying her fancy dress.

Suddenly, Sheryl gathered herself and lunged one last time at the bandit. He side stepped at the last second and the dagger was only able to scratch his leather armor. He responded with a swift kick to the jaw that knocked the woman unconscious. Hasti tried to get to her feet to defend Sheryl herself, but the man grabbed her hair again and pulled back to expose her throat. He leveled the point of his blade warningly, and she noticed he wasn't holding it in his hand. It was his hand, attached to the forearm by a prosthesis of wood and leather. The threatening sight took all fight out of her. The bandit let go of her hair and she fell back to the dirt.

Now that she was able to look around, she only saw four bandits. That's it? she thought. Her father had a dozen men on the caravan. Could four attackers really have taken them all down so quickly?

"Crym! Put this woman with the other prisoners."

"Right, boss." The deep voiced reply came from a giant of a man carrying a massive hammer with the ease of a child's toy. He picked the unconscious Sheryl up with one hand and put her over his shoulder and carried her off.

"Cam, put her with her parents. There is some family business to discuss."

This time his response was met by a thin, bearded man with an eyepatch and a thick beard speckled with grey.

"Are you going to come quietly princess, or do I have to get rough?" He smiles beneath the course hair as he said rough, and Hasti started to panic. She tried to crawl underneath the wagon for protection, but the man called Cam grabbed her dress and traveling boots. He started to pull her out back out, but Hasti gripped tightly to the wooden axel with all her strength. She heard the bottom of her dress rip and Cam curse.

"The girl's scared enough. I'll take her." A young feminine voice cut through the struggle. Hasti saw a blonde woman not much older than herself bend down to look the merchant daughter in the eyes. She was very pale and had sun gold hair. Her clothing was very colorful and exposed her toned midriff. She had a tattoo of what looked like a red bird's wing on her ribs, and she carried what looked to be a scarf covered in blood. She held out a hand and sweetly said, "come on out. I'll take you to see your mom and dad."

"Screw you Mora. Always ruining my fun," said Cam.

"Don't worry about him," Mora said. "Just stay close to me. Us girls have to stick together out here?"

It wasn't long before Hasti saw her parents. Her mother's hair and clothes were even dirtier than Hasti's, and blood trickled down his forehead. They were kneeling on the ground with their hands and ankles tied behind them. Her father seemed to be unconscious. "Kneel here," Mora said as she checked her parents bonds. Without warning, she kicked her father directly in the ribs. He grunted in pain, suddenly wide awake.

"Leave him alone," Hasti shouted, jumping in front of him. "Can't you see he's already hurt?"

"I'm just giving him a quick lesson in what happens if you try to escape. Trust me, it would have been worse if one of the other's had found him." She bent down and picked a small knife out of the merchant's hands.

Hasti looked at the ropes around his father's hands. He had clearly tried to cut them away. "Are you okay?" she asked him.

"We're both fine," he replied.

Hasti breathed a sigh of relief, but her throat dropped back to her stomach when Mora said, "I'm sorry to ask, but put your hands behind your head princess." Hasti shrunk back towards her parents.

"Do what she says," her mom said. "It'll be over soon." Hasti nodded and did as she was told. Mora pulled the girl's wrists closer together and bound them overlapping. Then, she tied the rope around Hasti's neck. If the girl tried to move too much, the ropes bit into her neck and cut off her air.

"Is everyone behaving back here?" the boss said as he strode with the other two men to where Hasti knelt next to her parents. Since she had calmed down, Hasti was better able to really see the rest of the bandits, and she was ashamed to even think to herself that the leader was actually attractive. He had a kind of charming, half smile that softened the hardness in his eyes. His skin was tanned and scruffy chestnut hair fell down to his shoulder. His cheeks were clean shaven and lacking any kind of baby fat. Even covered in thick leather clothes, Hasti could tell he was athletic and muscular. There was a red wing emblem on an upper corner of his tunic that matched Mora's tattoo. She looked at the ground to avoid eye contact with him.

"Nothing out of the ordinary," Mora replied. She was the shortest of the bandits, but kept an air of confidence about her. She was even a bit shorter than Hasti and probably only a year or two older.

"You may be a bitch, but you tie a great knot," the bandit known as Cam said. Cam's greasy, black hair almost fell into his eyes. His clothes were unkempt, his sword, rusty. His yellow toothed sneer contained no joy. The shoulder of his black leather armor bore another red wing. As he spoke, his dirty hand reached down to Hasti's breast and squeezed through her dress. The girl let out a squeal and tried to push him away, but without the use of her hands, she only succeeded in tightening the rope around her neck and sending herself into a coughing fit.

She was relieved when Crym pushed cam away. "Leave the girl alone. She's not a part of this." Crym had extremely dark skin and was easily the largest of the group, standing more than ahead taller than the others. He was the only one that wore metal armor. It consisted of a breastplate, gauntlets, a metal armored skirt over leather pants, and metal boots. He was also hugely muscled.

Cam backed down immediately. "Whatever. I'll go make sure the others don't escape." The dark haired man sulked off.

"Make sure he doesn't break anything valuable," the leader said to Crym. The giant nodded and followed towards the back of the wagon line.

"Now then, Onesh," the leader said after the others had left, "you've got some tough decisions to make. I need to know what happened to the money you borrowed from us."

"Impossible," Hasti's mother interjected. "We would never do business with anyone a British as you!"

The bandit leader feigned shock. "You mean you never told Vrutha about your little problem? It seems like you should really come clean, Onesh."

"How do you know my name?" Vrutha asked.

"I'll come with you Brayl, just leave my family out of this."

"It's too late. Your wife deserves to know why she's lying in the dirt in the middle of the woods. More importantly, your daughter should know why she's being hanged."

"What?" Hasti practicallly screamed in fear.

"Don't touch her," Onesh demanded

"My daughter has done nothing wrong!" Vrutha shouted.

Brayl reached down and lifted Hasti up by her collar. She raised her up in the air, past where her feet could reach the ground. With all her weight falling onto her neck, the rope cut off her airway. She kicked and struggled but it only brought the redness to her face faster as her mouth hung open, gasping. "Start talking," the bandit said.

"It started when one of my suppliers got a hold of ivory out of Arta. He needed help unloading and transporting it. I know it's illegal, but I was assured that it was just a one time deal. What I did not account for was just how viciously the Artan government punishes poaching. They didn't just seize the ship with the ivory. They seized every ship in their waterways. I lost seven galleons in a month. I couldn't even give my captains notice to avoid Artan waters. With only four galleons left and crippled trade routes to boot, I didn't know how to make things right with Arta. I couldn't pay the fees to get the galleons and crew back, and I couldn't let the men be sold in the slave markets. It was desperation that brought the idea of a wager to mind. Since the Artans love to wager on their gladiator slave fights, I decided to make a bet with one of the officials. If I won, I would get my ships and crew back. If I lost, the ships and men would be immediately sold and I would get nothing. I put what money I had left into a personal fighter, but he didn't make it. On the verge of bankruptcy, I turned to the last route available to me, the Children of the Harpy."

"What?" Vrutha interrupted. "How could you make a deal with them?"

"I had no choice. I couldn't rebuild without the Artan waters. The Harpies paid all the fines, and gave me a year to pay them back with a twenty percent interest, but I haven't been able to rebuild as fast as I wanted."

"You left out that your payment was due six months ago," said Brayl. He set Hasti back down. The lack of oxygen had left her weak and she collapsed to the dirt coughing and gasping for while trying to clear the dark spots from her eyes. "We've been chasing you all that time. It was actually impressive, not many can stay a step ahead of us that long. "

"I almost have the rest of it. I just need a little more time," Onesh said.

"Seventy thousand in the hole is not almost paid up,"

"Six months is all I need. You have my word."

"No," Brayl said. "You gave us your word a year and a half ago. It's useless to is. But you're not valuable to us dead, either. So here's what we're going to do. We'll free the two of you. You get your servants, goods, and transportation. We'll take your daughter."

"You can't do that!" Vrutha yelled is despair.

"Let me finish," Brayl said. "She'll spend six months with us safe and sound, but if you don't pay up, she'll go straight to the Artan slavers and you can take your chances at the auction house. Either that, or we take your servants to the slave houses, sell off your goods, and leave the three of you here in the forest with your throats slit. What's it going to be?"

There was a numbness in Hasti that kept her from protesting. More than just being out of breathe, she had looked up to her father all her life. How could he have let her and her mother down like this? How could he have kept it a secret? She didn't need to hear her father's answer. She knew there was only answer that let her family live. She wasn't surprised when she was again called to stand up. Slowly, she let Mora help her to her feet. She could barely hear her father as he apologized and proclaimed that would set her free, and she couldn't meet his eyes. Finally, Mora led her away while Brayl cut her parents free. Once she was out of sight everyone but Mora, Hasti broke down in tears.