The Standup Boys' Last Fight

"How would you like to start with a massage?" he asked.

Neshet marveled at how slowly he breathed. His impressive chest expanded gently as he took in breath, then held there for a few heartbeats before slowly letting out.

"Neshet?" he said.

"Huh?" She looked up at his face.

"How would you like to start with a massage?"

"What's a massage?"

His eyebrows peaked with interest. "It's simply a way to relax your muscles by pushing on them. Gently, that is—what the tower did to you this morning was not a massage."

Neshet chuckled.

"Here, give me your foot."

Awkwardly, she extended her left foot, and he slid off the sandal and pressed on her soul with his thumbs, rolling the big, soft fingers over her skin. "Do you like this?" he asked. "A massage is this, but for your whole body."

Neshet smiled. It did feel good.

"If you want more, then lie on your stomach."

To her own amazement, Neshet was eager as she withdrew her foot, then lay on her belly, spreading her arms out in front of her and resting her cheek on the soft soil.

His hands rubbed between her shoulder blades, fingertips following the contours of her spine, and spread across her back. For a moment, his hands lifted away, then they returned on the nape of her neck, gently unfolding her toga and contacting her bare skin. His warmth amazed her. Soft, warm fingers, reassuringly strong, slowly circled down her back, leaving a little softness and warmth as they passed over her skin, as if his fingers were made of melting butter.

After a few minutes, Neshet was amazed to feel heat, and this time it was her own. With a push of her arms, she turned over on the dirt and looked up into Zameed's gentle, smiling face. She reached up, and he allowed her to pull him down into a kiss.

If his fingers had been warm, his lips and his tongue were on fire. By the time they ended the kiss, Neshet's legs were wrapped over Zameed's back, and by the look on his face, he knew there was no escape.

"Do it, Zameed," she breathed.

He did not need to be told twice. He thrust into her, and pleasure flooded her body, and she could do nothing but clamp her eyes shut and gasp. Her thighs squeezed his strong sides, and her heels pressed into his tense butt as he gently quickened his pace, letting her savor every push and pull. Between each stroke, he only paused for a moment before plunging into her again.

Eventually, Neshet gathered herself and opened her eyes, to see Zameed gazing lovingly into them. She thought to reach up and kiss him, but instead she grabbed his forearms, which were braced against the ground on either side of her head. Her fingers felt taut muscle.

As he continued to pleasure her, she felt a sweet pressure building up inside her, and she reached down, brushed her clitoris and let it out.

She clenched Zameed as her orgasm surged through her, her savage tension pulling on his solid body and his unmoving arms. Her legs clenched so strongly that she lifted herself off the ground. When she let herself down, Zameed smiled down at her, knowing he had done well, then started to get up.

"No," said Neshet, "Stay there." Resting her head in the soft dirt, she gazed up into his handsome face, feeling safer than she had ever felt in her life. Finally, she permitted him to lie next to her, and they snuggled tightly.

"I can't believe it." said Neshet. "I never thought I'd do that with a man."

"No? What is sex like where you're from?"

"No, I know what sex is." She nudged him gently in the side. "You know that. I mean I never thought I'd be close with a man again."

"It's not so difficult. Be gentle with your toys, and you can play with them as much as you like." There was a pause. "Hold a minute... did you say 'again?'"

"Yes."

"I see... it went badly, didn't it?"

Neshet sighed. "I never even told my own mother. When I came of age, I met a boy named Namun. He was as handsome as they come. Nice hair, a pretty face, and he was tall too. I like it when men are tall. I'd never had someone like that pay attention to me before. We started meeting. We started talking. For a time, I wondered if I might end up marrying him. Before we did that, we even made love. And then he left. Left the entire city."

"He left you? After you took his virginity?"

"No one was the wiser that he'd let me take him, so he's still marriageable." Neshet sighed. "I never understood what I did wrong to make him leave me. I didn't want to get close with another man until I found out, and after a while I assumed I'd never find out."

"A man taking advantage of a woman," Zameed mused. "It's a strange world."

Neshet wrapped herself more tightly in Zameed's arms, feeling strangely free now that she had told someone. "Now it's your turn," she said. "I know you ran away from Izaz, but now I want the details."

He gave a dismissive sigh. "Ah, what's to tell? When the call went out for men who were ready to abandon Izaz and strike out into the bush, everyone said 'yes' for his own reason. Mine was that I didn't want to be quiet for my whole life." He chuckled. "Yes, my sister was ready to sell me off like an old mule, but my real reason was that Izazi women simply won't let a man be loud." He opened his palm to the sky, as if asking the gods, "What could possibly be better than laughing at the good things in life? But no, it was always the same. Don't talk too loudly. Don't work too loudly. When you have a wife, make sure you don't groan too loudly when she rides you." He sighed, relaxing in the grass. "They can claim a moral victory; sneaking out of the house was the only thing I ever did without making a sound."

Neshet thought on this. For a moment, she wished she had been born in Izaz.

"We should go back," said Zameed, eventually.

"You're right. I think we've already spent half the night out here."

Uphill, in the hut where all the colonists slept, Neshet looked around for her bag. "Where is my soap?" she asked. "I want to rinse my hair before I sleep."

Zameed poured himself into their hammock. "Probably in the food storehouse. Mickna likes to put things there."

"I'll be back."

Outside, only a few lamps were on in the whole colony. Zameed had assured Neshet that monster girls would not come near the settlement, and now she hoped it was true, because she had heard that it took an army to defend against them once they were on the warpath.

'In fact,' she thought, 'where is everyone?'

Finally, she heard voices from the kitchen hut. But they were not female voices. Neshet eavesdropped on what they said, then she stopped cold.

"This is wrong!" snapped one of them. "These women have done nothing to us. In fact, they've done better. It's-"

"Let me stop you right there, Ruan. Your own mistress has broken her word. She promised us homes in exchange for ten men. Well, now she's altered the deal. Now she wants all of us."

Neshet edged forward so she could see who was talking.

"It's simple," said a huge man in the back of the room. "We jump the women while they're asleep and subdue them, then we get the other men on our side, then we run the place on our own. It'll be a new Standup, but the hard work's already done for us. Come on, Ruan, you haven't lost your backbone, have you?"

"I have not!" Ruan snapped, thrusting his chin at the much bigger man. "Listen, I know I said I wanted to leave someday, but the time just isn't right! Besides, Mananat..." he colored. "...she treats me well."

The huge man loomed over Ruan, but was stopped by a hand. The hand belonged to Vot, that thin, sour boy Neshet had met earlier, looking only thinner and sourer now.

"Don't," said Vot. He faced Ruan. "Listen. Your governor may have done right by you, but she broke her promise to us. She wants every man to become a concubine. She gets her way, and my boyfriend and I will be separated." He shook his head. "So I'm fighting. I've got no choice. But you do. You can help us. Or you can turn your back on us. I can't make you do the right thing."

Ruan cast about the room. "This is putting everyone in danger!" He pointed to a man on the far side of the room. "You don't have to do this! If this fails, you could be banished, or worse!" Before that man could argue, Ruan faced another, this one clearly native to Neshet's homeland. "And you! How can you justify this?"

"No reason," said the dark man. "I just like to make trouble."

Ruan paused. "No," he said finally. "I'm sorry, but I'm leaving. This is- upmh!"

The exact minute he turned his back on the huge man, giant hands clapped over his mouth, pulling him out of Neshet's view. She heard him squirm and squeal, and ropes hissed against each other as the other men bound him. He was thrust back into the view, stomach against the far wall. Aside from the gag that hewed tightly through his mouth, he no longer wore a shred of clothing. With his strong-looking arms bound wrist-to-elbow behind his back, he could not cover his pert rear, which was already starting to glisten with sweat.

"You want to pound him, Vot?" asked the big man.

Vot shook his head, blond hair tickling his temples. "My relationship with Kervin is closed. Besides, we don't have time. Tell the men to split up into teams of two. When you see a woman, cover her mouth. Then tie the arms. Then the legs. And make sure word gets out to all the men. Tell them we'll pay a bounty for any woman they turn in. Once all the women are done with, we'll ship them back where they came from. And if any men don't cooperate, we'll toss them on the river barge too. When we're done, Intriba and I will take over. Any questions?"

Neshet had no questions. This whole surreal scene was frighteningly clear.

"Then move! If we don't have every woman tied up by sunrise, we're history!"

Neshet backed away. Scared silent, and moving with feet lightened by fear, she crept around behind the hut just as men burst out, hurrying off to their silent, sinister work.

Governor Mananat's quarters were close. She ran to them, hoping the men would not hear her and suddenly wishing she had made more offerings to the goddess of luck.

Neshet vaulted in through the window of the governor's quarters and hurried up to the bed where she slept alone. "Governor!" Neshet made no attempt to be quiet. "Governor, wake up! We're in serious danger!"

The governor's eyes snapped open, and she looked at Neshet with deadly focus, then sat bolt-upright. "What's happened?"

"No time to explain! Just run with me! Run!"

Neshet ran, and to her relief, the governor ran with her. Behind her quarters, they knelt in in a pit that faced the jungle wilderness. "There's a mutiny!" Neshet blurted out, before the governor could demand an explanation. "The men! They're taking over!"

The governor raised an eyebrow.

Training her ears, Neshet listened as raucous footsteps stormed into the governor's quarters, followed by a male voice: "She's gone! Where'd she go?"

"Let's make ourselves scarce," said the governor quietly, and with complete disregard for ruling-class propriety, she forged into the cover of the wilderness.

"We're running away?" gasped Neshet.

"We are retreating," she corrected. "This mutiny—how bad is it?"

"Not as bad as it could be. Not every man is in on it. Yours isn't. And I'm sure mine isn't."

"Where are all the women?"

Neshet tried to imagine it. "Probably bound and gagged by now."

Just then, an athletic, thick-set figure broke away from the settlement and hurried into the bush. When Neshet and Governor Mananat approached him, he stood up.

Zameed looked panicked, but none the worse for wear.

They both started talking at once, until Zameed dutifully quieted down and let Neshet say, "Zameed! You got away! Did they see you?"

"I don't think so, no," said Zameed, shaking a little. "But if I hadn't been listening for you to come back, they'd have had me. They tied up all the women, Governor. And all the men I can think of who aren't with them."

Darkness fell over the governor's face. "This is unacceptable."

There was a long, painful silence.

Neshet got an idea. As soon as she had it, she wished she hadn't, knowing it would put her in terrible danger at the mercy of men. But one look around showed that if she didn't share it, they would be out here in the jungle for good. "I have an idea..." she began. She almost clammed up there, but Zameed's curious, innocent face egged her on. "I heard them say they'd pay a bounty for captured women." Those last two words sent hot ice down her spine. Not just exposed, but captured! "So what if you pretended to turn me in? But didn't really tie me, so I could free the others?"

Zameed and the governor thought this through. "I'd at least have to make it look as if you're bound," said Zameed.

It was a casual statement of fact, but Neshet nearly froze on the spot. "Yes," she said meekly.

"Do it," said the governor.

Zameed looked to Neshet.

Neshet took a deep breath, thinking of Zameed rubbing her foot. "Do it," she said.

Zameed cast about briefly for a rope, then looked apologetically at Neshet. "It's okay," she said. "Use this." Reaching down, she ripped off the lower hem of her dress, then twisted it into a rope and handed it over to Zameed.

"This will do," said Zameed. "But I saw what they did to the women they caught. They're going to want you more... exposed."

Neshet's heart sank, even though she had expected this. "They want me naked, don't they?"

"I doubt they plan to rape anyone... but yes."

"Zameed, I don't know if I can do this."

"No, no, no, you won't be in danger. I know most of those men. Of all women they might do anything to, they won't touch you. I'm sorry, I exaggerated. I didn't mean to scare you."

"No, that's not it. You could tie me up, Zameed. I mean, truly tie me up. If you do that, I'll be stuck in there."

Slowly, Zameed stepped up to her and put his gentle hands on her sides. "I won't make it inescapable," he said, in the voice he had used when they had made love that evening. "I promise you, I am not those men. You'll be in, then right back out. Nothing to fear."

Neshet breathed deeply, enjoying the feeling of those hands on her hips. Being helpless before all those dangerous, riotous Izaz men frightened her. But the prospect of feeling Zameed slip the bonds over her wrists did not. "Okay," she breathed. "Okay, do it."

Stepping around behind her, Zameed slipped his fingers gently under the collar of her dress and allowed Neshet time to pull in her left arm, then her right, feeling the fabric come away from its comfortable fit with her skin. Slowly, he lifted the garment away, exposing her knees, then her thighs, then her womanhood. He did not stop as he pulled it past her breasts, then her hair, bearing everything.

Nudity was not as frightening as she had feared. With nothing between her body and the elements, she felt, if anything, emboldened.

Now Zameed carefully gathered her hands behind the small of her back and tied them together. The bind was merciful, then he pulled, and suddenly, she felt the completely new sensation of her hands being forced together. He took a moment longer to finish the knot.

"That feels real," said Neshet, though she trusted it was not.

"It's supposed to," said Zameed. "Do you feel this?" He pressed an end of the makeshift rope into her right palm. "When you are ready to be free, pull on it."

"I understand."

"Are you ready?"

"Yes, I'm ready." This time, it came without hesitation.

Uphill they went. With every step, less and less brush concealed from view Neshet's head, her breasts, her legs and her vagina. With every passing moment, it became more and more incredible that no one had spotted them.

Then came the cry, "Over there! It's a man!" Followed by, "That's Zameed! And he's got someone!"

Two men rushed up to the two, both short and fierce-looking. "Zameed?" said the smaller one, stepping forward first. "You took a captive?" He shook his head, palming his forehead with bewilderment. "By the stars, you were the last guy I expected to throw in with us."

"Well, I have," said Zameed evenly, in a voice that sounded stilted to Neshet, but apparently raised no suspicion from the other boys.

A man looked Neshet in the eye, his unruly brown hair and thin beard menacing her, but she refused to be intimidated. "She's the woman that saved Ferena from that tower, isn't it? Good catch, Zameed. She's a good woman to have tied up and put away."

Instead of fear, Neshet allowed herself to feel proud as Zameed led her the rest of the way into the hut where the women slept. Most, to her unpleasant shock, were no longer there. Amuset the scout lay in her hammock, hands bound strictly to her sides, her mouth stuffed with a thick wad of cloth that forced her jaws apart and with ropes around her bust that pulled her plain clothes tight over her breasts, the nipples showing through.

Across from her, Famsos the surveyor stood on the tips of her toes, trying to stop herself from falling on the hammock that had been twisted into a crotch rope. Sweat tripped down her naked curves, and even through her blindfold, Neshet could see her disorientation.

Two other women were packed into the back, along with a man whose name Neshet had forgotten.

"They're gonna stay here," said a free man, shoving Neshet forward out of Zameed's grip. "Good work, Zameed. Now get out there and bring us back another one."

Zameed made himself scarce, leaving one man glaring at the room of captive women from underneath a mat of unruly shoulder-length hair. When he grew bored, he stared out the doorway.

Seizing the opportunity, Neshet stepped in front of Amuset's hammock and pulled on the string attached to her knot.

This was it. If Zameed had betrayed her, this would be the end of it. Darmayet would fall to the men, and so would she.

The knot came undone.

Seeing it, Amuset yelped into her gag, and Neshet froze, terrified that the clueless scout had just cost them both their freedom. But the man guarding them only glanced back at them, then kept staring out the door, his eyes full of nervous excitement.

But he could not possibly have felt the same tension Neshet felt as she worked on Amuset's right arm bond, agonizingly slowly, with terrible leverage and no view of what she was doing. But finally, the knot came undone, and Amuset's hand clasped hers, then went to work.

In a minute, both women were free. Under the rapt eyes of every captive in the room, they crept up to the man at the door. Both at once, Amuset leaped forward and clamped a hand over his mouth, while Neshet gripped his arms, trapping them mercilessly to his sides. His muscles bulged, and he bawled into Amuset's hand as he fought, but the two women forced him down.

"Hold his mouth," said Amuset. She skipped to the rope piled in the corner and returned to bind the man with his hands at his sides, just the way she had been. "There," she said, dusting her hands loudly. "Let's see how he likes it!" She gagged him, freeing up Neshet's hand. "You get the others in the kitchen. I'll untie everyone here."

"Yes." Before she could hesitate, Neshet poked her head out the window to see men concentrated on the far side of the settlement, searching madly for the governor. In seconds, Neshet slipped out of her hut and into the kitchen hut. When she saw what was inside, she stopped and blinked, worried for a moment that she was hallucinating. She was not.

A woman hung from ropes leading down from the skylight, her shoulders a little higher than her hips, her head limp and her hair covering her face in a sweaty black curtain. Her knees pointed at the ground, her feet folded uselessly up to her thighs and bound there. A harness ran under her shoulders and around her chest, keeping her arms pinned in an immobile knot on the small of her back. At every joint, the ropes wound again and again over her skin, cruelly tight. Worse, her dress had been pulled down, and her breasts hung bare in front of her, held up and squeezed by the ropes. Whoever had tied her up had rubbed them with some kind of oil, so her breasts glistened in the moonglow that filtered in through the skylight.