The Tattooed Woman Pt. 10

Ashunara nodded.

Captain Gorsini turned to her and bowed, "Captain Ashunara, I thank you for your visit. As you heard I have instructed Dana to attend your encampment as we discussed. Lamberson is a good soldier and thus along with the scout, they fulfil the required roles as hostages. However, it would please me for you to know that there is no need for you to remain in our midst and you should feel free to return to your encampment as and when you wish. For my part, I am content that you are honourable and will keep to your word to allow us to pass in peace, so you need not remain here to alleviate any baseless suspicion I might have held. Perhaps one day I might be fortunate enough to enjoy the hospitality of your tent, until then, I wish you well."

The Dark Elven Captain had been passing a few words with Tallis and she turned with a smile to acknowledge his comments, "It was definitely a pleasure. And in truth, I am not averse to taking a stroll in your company this day Captain. Oh, a question?"

"Yes?"

"Did I understand you correctly when you said you gave me this captive, as opposed to simply freeing her?"

Gorsini looked confused, "Yes, that's what I said, why..."

The Dark Elf gave the man a wolfish smile, "In that case I thank you kindly for the gift," she turned to her subordinate and nodded, "Tallis, if you would."

Tallis beamed, "Yes, Captain!"

Gorsini and Magda both watched curiously as the young Dark Elf cut the leather collar from the woman's neck and replaced it with one bearing the sigil of her own company.

Ashunara strolled across to the naked woman and took hold of her chin, "I hear you've been a bit mouthy. Well, as long as you wear that collar your ass belongs to me! Until I decide to take it off or ransom you back to your house you are mine to do with as I see fit, to reward, or punish as I wish, to torment, torture or abuse at my whim. And I'm no soft human, so mark me well. You test me, and I'll whip the skin from your back, or worse, understand?"

The woman was a Dark Elf, her will was strong and her anger burned, but as she glared up into the cold, dark and pitiless eyes of the woman holding her chin she felt an icy shiver of fear run through her and she nodded.

"Now, do you wish to dress yourself, or would you care to walk through the snow as you are? Simply nod if you wish to dress."

The woman swallowed angrily but nodded.

"Splendid."

...

It was past noon when Ashunara watched the small column of human slavers, and their bound captives march out of sight from within the boundaries of her own encampment. Captain Gorsini and Magda Bor had said their goodbyes with cordial words and wishes of good fortune as the Dark Elf left their company and Ashunara wondered if the unkind fates would have them ever meet again in friendship, or would they be pitted against each other, steel against steel, on their next encounter?

She sighed wistfully for a moment and then braced herself. She was no sentimental human, and she would endure whatever the fates put in her path. If they were to be foes then so be it, she would, if need be, slay them all as and when they met, and step over their cold corpses with barely a second thought.

"Of course, it might be easier if the bastard wasn't quite so likeable..."

She sensed, rather than heard Azure as the scout materialised from the trees and moved to her side. "Trail them for a bit, just to be sure, then return to us. It is my intent to move our encampment to the shelter of the shrine after lunch. We'll spend the night there and continue our journey on the morrow."

Azure nodded and slid silently from view.

Ashunara pursed her lips in thought as she strolled back to her tent. Within she found Nyx keeping a wary eye on the collared Dark Elf captive who was at least now dressed, though she had her hands manacled behind her. The woman was tall enough, though slender, her face carried a haughty look that transcended even Dark Elven arrogance and her gaze was hot as she berated Nyx. For her part, the leftenant looked thoroughly bored, but she stirred as the Captain entered the tent, "Oh thank the Gods! This bloody woman never shuts up."

"So I hear."

The woman turned to her and snarled, "You cannot enslave me! My house will not stand for it! Release me or you will suffer dire consequences I warn you."

Ashunara ignored her, "Is this her typical ranting?"

"Pretty much, though she did throw in a couple of nicely veiled offers of bribery and a rather pretty attempt at seduction. I was rather flattered to be honest."

The woman sputtered.

The Captain grinned, "Wait? Someone offered to seduce you and you didn't take them up on it? Are you ill? Is there something wrong with you that I should know of? What do you want me to tell your kin?"

"Did I ever mention that you were a fucking comedian, Captain?"

"Not today, but it is only noon."

"Seriously though, what are we going to do with this idiot?"

By now the captive was almost apoplectic with rage at being so ignominiously ignored. The resulting tantrum was quite spectacular thought Ashunara as the woman unleashed a veritable tirade of lurid insults and threats. Nyx took a bite out of the apple she was holding and munched for a bit before turning to the Captain with a grin, "I should have written this shit down, some of it's not bad."

The woman all but screamed in impotent fury, before coming to a sobbing conclusion.

Ashunara blew out a breath and tilted her head as she regarded the woman, "You done?"

Her query was met with an incoherent snarl.

"Listen, I didn't enslave you, the humans did. I was happily scheming for your release, which I had handily accomplished by the way, in exchange for nothing more than saving the life of the man you wounded. Then, instead of being grateful, which given you are a Dark Elf such as I, would admittedly be a bit of a stretch, or at least being sensible about the whole thing you not only struck my subordinate but called me a "whore", and you did so in front of the humans no less."

She turned to Nyx, "I wager the little fool doesn't even understand what I'm going on about."

Nyx chuckled, "I'm not wagering with you again for at least a week., but you're probably right, she does look a tad dim-witted."

Before the woman could start on another tirade of insults Ashunara held up a hand to gainsay her, "Now, the next time the human soldiers are in their cups they will boast how I whored myself to their Captain just to free a worthless slave they didn't want in the first place. While you can boast that you manipulated me to sell myself in exchange for your freedom. Thus, the human Captain's reputation is increased, the reputation of you and your house is increased, while my reputation on this frontier as a woman to be feared is diminished, as is the standing of my own house for it would appear that our desires and purposes are subordinate to yours. Understand?"

The woman stared, thin-lipped.

"Now I could simply kill you for the insult and demonstrate that I don't actually give a flying fuck about you, or your insignificant house, but in truth, I don't really feel like it. After all, you'd had rather a bad time of it, even if you brought some of that down upon your own head. You do realise that if the man you stabbed had died Gorsini, for all he's not the worst, would have had to execute you, or hand you over to his troop for their abuse, revenge and amusement?

"So instead of simple murder, I will keep you as my slave until I have demonstrated to all and sundry that your freedom was nothing more than a whim of mine, and not some scheme of yours. You can accept it and perhaps this might not go so badly after all and I can ransom you back to your house in due course, or... well, you can continue to be a pain in the backside, whereupon I will publicly humiliate you at every turn in order to make the situation clear to all around. It's your choice."

The woman spat, "But you cannot keep me a slave! My house will retaliate!"

"Oh, I certainly can! I have broken no law, merely profited at your disadvantage and that is hardly a crime to our kind, hells it's practically a virtue! And your house might just discard you as an embarrassment to preserve their own image of strength rather than risk negotiating from a position of weakness if you are thoroughly and publicly humiliated."

"Y-you'd do that to me?"

"Why the hell not? You are nothing to me, yet you thought you could insult me freely in front of humans without consequence! You're lucky I haven't thrown you in with the other slaves as a damned plaything you insufferable twit."

The woman drew herself up, "You only speak so because I am bound and helpless you great cow! If I but had my hands free, I would teach you respect for your betters!"

Ashunara looked at Nyx incredulously, "Is she serious? Did she even listen to a single fucking word I just said?"

The veteran could only shake her head, "Apparently not."

The Captain gave a long-suffering sigh, "Fine, let's get this done then. Unbind her and give her a blade."

"You'll get blood over your mail again Captain."

"I know, and it's barely past noon."

Once outside the tent, Ashunara turned to the woman as Nyx pressed a shortsword into her hand, "There you go. You are unbound and have a blade. Have at it if you will, or are you all bluster and spleen?"

The woman spat, "I'll cut that smile from your face you witch!"

She charged.

Ashunara shook her head and blew out her breath in disgust as she casually stepped aside and batted the woman's sword from her hand. The blade landed almost six feet away while the woman sprawled in the dirt with a grunt. She snarled and scrambled for the sword. Regaining her feet, she whirled and attacked with a furious two-handed stroke aimed at Ashunara's head.

The Captain ducked under the blow and planted her armoured shoulder into the woman's chest, winding her badly and driving her to her knees, before she stepped back, "You done?"

The woman gasped for breath and gave the Captain a hate-filled glare of rage as she staggered to her feet and charged again, swinging wildly with her blade and screaming incoherently.

Ashunara slipped away from the first swing, parried the second and casually dodged the third by moving aside before giving the woman a hard shove as she careened past her, sending her head-first into the side of the tent, which promptly collapsed under her weight.

"Shit."

The swordsman and a couple of Orcs had ambled over, attracted by the commotion just as the captive woman managed to extricate herself from the canvas and hurled herself back at the Captain with a frustrated shriek. He took one look at her footwork and winced.

Ashunara stepped aside and tripped her as she went by, sending her sprawling again. She turned to Nyx, "I can't do it. Call me soft if you like, but I just can't."

Nyx grinned.

The captive rose to her knees, made a gesture and hurled a knife at the Captain's face with a grunt of effort.

Ashunara slapped it aside with her sword and Nyx ducked as it sailed past her head, "Oi!"

The Captain shook her head, "I cannot do it! Look at her. I was going to beat some sense into the idiot with the flat of my blade or something, but she can't even defend herself. I might as well go beat up Cassie."

The woman hurled herself at the Captain who casually stepped out of the way and pushed her. The added force of the shove sent the off-balanced woman careening headfirst through a cluster of gooseberry bushes with an incensed cry of dismay.

Nyx sniffed, "You notice anything about her?"

Ashunara looked at the woman as she angrily got to her feet, "She's got the balance and poise of a pregnant cow, has no skill with a blade, cannot control her temper, is easily goaded, and holds that sword like it's an Orcish angle-saw. Other than that, not much really. Why?"

"It's just that she keeps getting up is all."

Ashunara looked again, as the woman hefted her blade and came back at her. She sighed, "You not had enough of this yet?"

"FUCK YOU!"

The woman charged... again.

This time the Captain paused momentarily as she considered and instead of stepping aside, she held her ground. The woman lashed out at her furiously and Ashunara parried the first two wild strokes and slipped aside from the third, "It's a shortsword idiot! Use the point."

The woman tried to stab her and swore as the Captain deftly sent the blade flying from her grasp.

"You're holding it too stiffly. A firm but flexible grip is needed."

The woman lunged forward and the fist she swung at the Captain now held a long dagger that had suddenly appeared in her grip. It was swiftly and deftly done and Ashunara grinned as she was forced back a half pace to dodge the blow, "Ha! Not bad, but still woefully slow."

Rapping the woman's knuckles hard with the flat of her sword the Captain sent her blade tumbling to the ground from numb fingers as the woman pulled back her hand with a cry of pain.

"Aaand that's why we wear gauntlets when we fight."

The Captain kicked the woman's front leg out from under her and she went face-first into the dirt with a cry, "Extended your leg too far forward and put too much weight on it, a common mistake in a novice."

Before she could rise the woman felt herself flipped onto her back and stared up at the blade presented at her throat, "Enough of this. You fight like young people fuck. Lots of thrashing about with not much to show for it. Now, I have a proposition. You'll be my servant, clean my gear, get my food and all that nonsense, that's not negotiable. But when not engaged in such duties you can either be bound, gagged and caged, or you can learn swordsmanship. If you learn well enough, I might even give you another chance to earn your freedom. Interested?"

"I fucking hate you."

"Good, that means you'll learn faster."

Nyx stepped up, "Hey, Captain, you really going to teach her bladework?"

"Me? Gods no, I'm a Captain, I designate shit jobs like that to others."

The veteran's face split into a wide grin, "Oh really, and do you have anyone in mind for this delightful task?"

As one Ashunara and Nyx slowly turned to regard the swordsman. He looked between them both with a dawning expression of horror, "Aw shit."

...

The company made its way slowly down the glen towards the shrine and Cassie stared in amazement as it came into view. The stone pillars of the acropolis-like structure stood like sentinels and were worn and pitted by centuries of exposure to the elements, and as the company drew closer many among them were struck by the stillness that surrounded the place, with only the occasional cawing of a crow breaking a silence that was almost eerie. Cassie looked about at the nearby trees and saw that a huge number of the black feathered creatures were perched on the branches, seemingly watching the company avidly like sinister harpies.

She nervously turned to the woman walking at her side, "What is this place?"

The Tattooed woman gazed about silently before looking down at the girl, "T'is the shrine of Morrigan's Stone Cassie. They say that towards the end of her war the Queen of Night stood upon a rock hereabouts and addressed the ten thousand spears of the host that had gathered under her raven banner before leading them off to battle. It was many years afterwards that druids built the structure you see before you about the boulder itself."

Cassie drew a breath, "A God stood here?"

The tattooed Woman smiled, "So they say Cassie, the stone itself squats within yon temple building. I've not been here in many years, but it looks much as I remember it. Some of the forest folks used to travel here and leave offerings upon the stone."

"Offerings?"

"In days of old it was traditionally red wine, red meat, or other red things, like dyed bits of woven cloth or wool, but they also would offer good mead, crow feathers, milk, or stormwater."

Cassie stared in amazement, "I wonder what she was like."

The tattooed woman stared at the shrine but made no answer.

As they drew closer the many crows appeared to become unsettled, and their murmuring and calls became louder.

Some of the company, Cassie included, were filled with curiosity and moved towards the shrine, marvelling at the old stones. Suddenly there was a great clamour as every bird took flight, cawing and flapping as they spiralled and circled above the acropolis and Cassie gave a little shriek of fright as she cowered back towards the tattooed woman who was standing but a little behind her leaning a hand against one of the pillars and looking up at the birds as they circled overhead like a great black stormcloud.

"What are they doing!" cried the girl.

She shrugged, "Too many people perhaps. Don't be frightened Cassie, they won't harm you, and they'll settle soon enough I should think."

Even as she spoke the birds began to flutter and flap back towards the trees to roost again in watchful silence.

Back towards the encampment, Nyx eyed the birds warily and muttered half under her breath, "Yup, nothing creepy about that at all."

In short order, the camp was set up and sentries emplaced. Slaves went about gathering wood for the cooking fire while a few of the Orcs moved about the forest hunting for game. In her tent, Ashunara looked to her captive, who sat on the cot looking dejected and miserable with her hands manacled tightly before her.

"What's your name girl?"

"I'm not a damned girl!"

The Captain stared at her and grinned, "I'm fairly certain you are, and a pretty one to boot, but if you'd prefer I called you by a different appellation you'll need to furnish me with one more to your liking."

The bound woman looked away, "Muriah Fel is what I am called," she looked down at the manacles in indignation, "why must I remain bound so?"

Ashunara looked down at the woman, "Muriah eh? That's what the people in the north named the squalls that sometimes whip up the seas around their boats. Are you named after such a zephyr I wonder?"

"T'is the name my mother gifted me, you'd have to ask her the reasoning for it!"

"Hmm, perhaps one day I shall Muriah, as to the manacles, they remain in place because you broke your word to the humans when you gave your parole and stabbed one of them. Now do not mistake me, I care not a whit about offending humans, but the deed might perhaps speak to the trustworthiness of your character, and I'll not risk a similar fate to one of mine. Once I have gauged your qualities for myself, they might yet be removed. Now, I am off to the shrine to see what shelter it can provide our young ones. You can be chained to a heavy log outside, with a blanket for your comfort, or you can go to your first lesson with the swordsman, what will you have?"

The woman muttered sulphurously until Ashunara chuckled, "Damn it Muriah, your temperament is so foul it's almost admirable, but I haven't the time to waste, choose or I'll make the choice for you."

"I'll go to the swordsman damn you! At least my hands will be unbound a while, or would you have me fight in chains?"

The Captain laughed, "Fight? You couldn't fight your way out of a wet paper bag, yet. But in time that may change. I'll provide the man with the key to your chains; it will be up to him as to how much freedom to allow you."

The woman sputtered, "But he's a damned human and a slave! Am I to serve such as that?"

Ashunara smiled at her, "He's a skilled and useful slave. In your place, I would learn what I could for my own purposes, but you do as you will. The choice is yours, but so are the consequences."

Outside, the snow that lay about the camp was crisp and clean, the air was cold, but the surrounding trees provided shelter from the light breeze, and it was tolerable enough.