The Traitress of Nessanti

Bromm was there before she could land the mortal blow. He struck at her naked chest, and she fell back to evade him. Pyet stumbled away, clutching at his wound while Sahat moved up to take his place. Bromm and the Amazon squared off and she discarded her bow.

"I told you she was still nearby," Pyet hissed through clenched teeth.

"Just keep yourself alive until we can get you to the surgeon," Bromm shot back. Turning to the Amazon, he spoke in the Common tongue.

"There's three of us and only one of you. Surrender and we'll spare your life." He was unsure if she understood him, but as an inexperienced swordsman, he wanted to avoid a fight if possible.

The Amazon made no reply, darting back and forth just out of his reach. Sahat drew up on the other side, fencing her in. She maneuvered to position a couch between him and her and struck at Bromm. Bromm went to parry her initial strike, only to find it was a feint. He threw himself aside to avoid the next thrust and staggered, off-balance. The Amazon came on faster, cutting at his shoulder with her heavy, forward curving sword. Bromm avoided that strike as well but teetered at the edge of falling.

Pressing her advantage, the Amazon lunged at him. He barely batted her blade aide, only to become entangled with her as they fell to the floor. His ruby-hilted saber went skittering away. He clasped both hands around her sword, only for her to wrench it free and prepare to deliver a killing thrust to his throat.

Just as she drove the point down, Sahat appeared behind her and caught her arm with a free hand. The other pressed his swordpoint to the back of her neck.

"Drop it," he commanded. The Amazon hesitated, hatred on her face. She craned her head back to look at Sahat and saw the steel in his eyes. Slowly, she let go of the sword and it clattered to the floor. Bromm breathed a sigh of relief.

Sahat hauled the woman to her feet and groped about her waist for hidden weapons. The Amazon glared daggers at him.

"Bromm, get something to bind her hands," he demanded. Bromm grabbed the woman's discarded bow and, with great effort, unstrung it. He then bound her hands with the bowstring.

"This one is mine," Sahat beamed as he studied his prisoner, paying special attention to her naked breasts. She was olive-skinned and dark-haired, with a toned body and long, slender legs. Her breasts were full and lively, quivering as she still shook with excitement from the fight.

"I'm very happy for you," Pyet gasped from the floor where he had fallen. "Might I have a little help here?"

Bromm took a piece of cloth from the couch coverings and tore it into a torniquet which he fastened around Pyet's wounded arm. As Sahat admired his prisoner, Bromm applied a bandage to his friend.

"How's that?" he asked, and Pyet nodded through the pain. "We'll send you back to the ship and let the surgeon have his way. I can only do so much."

Bromm crossed the room and retrieved his sword. Out the window, Bromm saw Furious and Scarlet Sturgeon slowly making their way into the harbor. "Looks like they're coming to us," he called to his friends.

Before they could answer, shouts and musket fire sounded from the square below. Bromm ran from the room, sword in hand.

"Where are you going?" Sahat called after him.

"To help!" Bromm called back. He bolted down the stairs and into the lower foyer, where he found a dozen other pirates rushing the same way. Outside, Tissarna stood in the square, directing men and their fire.

"What can I do?" Bromm shouted as he ran up to her. She looked him over, unconcerned.

"Nothing much. They have already abandoned their attack. Their plan in the event of an attack is to gather in the square and move out from here. With it in our hands, they will be in complete disarray."

"Should we go after them?" Bromm asked. "Eventually they will find another place to rally."

"In time. With the town in our hands, they will likely leave and muster somewhere else. Once Gonnsar arrives, we will take send parties into the town to root them out, though I have other plans."

"What other plans?" Bromm asked.

"Many of the warriors we killed or captured in the street, including your slave, were the matriarch's personal guard. With them here, her residence is sure to be weak. As soon as Gonnsar arrives, we will make for her residence and seize it. With luck, we will even capture the matriarch herself."

"Where is this residence? Why not take it now?"

"It lies two miles outside of town. We will have to fight through the fields and streams unless Gonnsar hurries. It may still be possible to take them by surprise."

Around them, the pirates were beginning to relax again. Those who had rushed outside to the fight began to trickle back into the hall. From within, Bromm could hear the shouts and cheers of pirates plundering. He thought of the room he had left behind, along with the prisoner and only a wounded Pyet and lust-blind Sahat to guard her. He turned from Tissarna and went back inside.

In the room he had left, he found Sahat had hogtied his prisoner while he helped Pyet onto a couch to rest.

"Welcome back" Pyet groused from his couch. "Are they fled already?"

"Yes, but Tissarna is growing impatient waiting for Gonnsar. She wants to head out of town and hit the local matriarch's residence."

"That woman will be the death of us," Sahat grumbled, back to his usual self. "Let's see if there's anything in here to enjoy before then."

"I can think of one thing," Pyet said, looking at the captive.

"In time," Sahat replied, looking over the blackwood cabinet against the wall. "There's what looks to be good wine in here."

"I'll have some of that," Pyet murmured as he settled his head onto a velvet pillow. Sahat brought him a bottle of the wine. Bromm rooted through the sitting room's cabinets in search of rubies. Instead, he found silver tableware, many bottles of wine, and a pair of silvered bracers. He stowed them all in his bag, along with the Amazon's unstrung bow.

"Stand guard in here," he told Sahat, "I'm going to search the next room." Sahat and Pyet nodded as they sat drinking on the couch. Bromm went out into the hall and entered the room on the opposite side. Here, he found an office of some official or another. A fine silk cloak dyed rich green hung by the door, so Bromm draped it over his own shoulders. The books on the tall shelves were all in scripts he could not read, so he ignored them. Against the desk leaned a brass-tipped walking stick of white wood and in one of the drawers he found an ornate pistol. He stuffed the pistol into his waistband and the walking stick into his bag.

Beneath the desk was a strongbox. Bromm could not find the key, so he produced a pair of lockpicks from his belt pouch. The lock proved simple enough and he opened the box to find neat stacks of gold and electrum coins, along with five of the famous Amazonian rubies. Five rubies for my five friends, he thought. All of them went into his bag.

From outside, he heard another commotion and abandoned his looting to return to Sahat and Pyet.

"Gonnsar is finally here," Sahat proclaimed as Bromm entered the room. He had removed the Amazon's bindings except around her hands and pulled her to her feet. "We can get Pyet to the ship now."

"Find anything good?" Pyet asked as Bromm helped him up from the couch.

"Oh yes," Bromm said, tapping the pistol he had thrust into his waistband, "I'll show you the rest later." With Bromm supporting Pyet and Sahat leading his topless prisoner, they made their way down the stairs and out into the square. They found Guldrin in the lower foyer, and the old man whistled and gawked at their prisoner.

"Look at this," he crowed, reaching in to touch the Amazon's bare breasts. Sahat slapped his hands away with a deadly glare. "Alright, alright," Guldrin soothed, "Just meant to take a look. She's a nice one you found there. A silver for a tumble with her?"

Sahat glared back in silence as they went into the square. Gonnsar and his column had arrived and spread about the square in small groups. Japhet and Maurias were organizing search parties while Gonnsar sat on an upturned crate, holding court with Tissarna and others. Against the wall of the town hall, the prisoners and wounded were being assembled. Sahat and Pyet went to join them, while Bromm approached Gonnsar's council.

"We must hold the square in force while we transfer prisoners, wounded, and loot to the ships," Gonnsar was saying as Bromm approached. He pointed to one of his pirates. "I task you with informing the ships of what is going on, and you with informing Kharam and Yagin. Tell Yagin I want to be at sea by nightfall. This town is walled, but I do not trust them to keep their builders out at night. Tissarna, I task you with leading the search parties, since you know the town best."

"I have another mission planned," Tissarna cut in. "The local matriarch's guard has suffered losses here and her house is vulnerable. I will take my column to assault the house immediately."

"These are my men, and I am captain. You will do as I say," Gonnsar replied sternly. "Do not think that because you lay with me, you have the power to command my men."

"I have no patience to argue. Every moment we waste dithering is a moment in which the matriarch might flee or be reinforced. Give me command of the column and I will cover your ship in gold and glory." she demanded.

Gonnsar glowered at her, his beady eyes staring daggers from underneath his heavy brow. He stood up from his seat and put a hand to his sword. Bromm and the other assembled pirates did the same, but Tissarna was unconcerned.

"You raise no objection to my mission?" she asked.

"We'll divide our forces here," Gonnsar told her. "You may take forty on your mission, the rest will remain here to hold and search the town. The prisoners and wounded will be sent back to the ships, as well as the loot to be divided later."

"Very well," Tissarna said icily. "I can take the house with forty. Bromm, you will be my second. We leave as soon as we are ready. Be about the preparations." With that, she turned and strode away.

"Boyas," Gonnsar said quietly, "go with her to ensure she does not wander. We must be at sea again by nightfall."

Boyas nodded and went off to gather his men. Bromm took his leave from the council and went to Sahat and Pyet, who were standing with the wounded and the prisoners.

"Tissarna got her way," he told them. "I am going as her second."

"Then I am coming with you," Sahat said. "They're taking the prisoners and wounded to the ships now."

"Looks like that's all for me," Pyet said with a sigh. "You'll have to tell me the story when you get back."

"We'll save some loot for you," Bromm said.

"Keep an eye on my new friend," Sahat said, giving the captive Amazon a slap on her ass.

"More than an eye, if you're amenable to it," Pyet said with a laugh and Sahat returned it.

"We'll discuss it more when I get back. In the event that I don't, she's all yours."

Ernan approached, carrying rope bindings and a ledger.

"This one yours?" he asked Sahat, pointing to his captive.

"She is," Sahat replied.

"Want her branded?" Ernan asked lazily as he opened his ledger. Bromm blanched as a second pirate approached with a hot branding iron in his hands.

"No need, I won't be keeping her long. I get bored of them quickly."

"Alright," Ernan continued. "Strip her down."

"I'm sorry?" Sahat asked in confusion.

"Captain says they are to go naked," Ernan said, "to break their will. And because their armor is our loot now. Yours too, Bromm," he said as he pulled the redheaded captive from the crowd of prisoners and thrust her into Bromm's arms. Behind them, Bromm could see that the other captives were being stripped naked as well, their armor and clothing thrown in a big pile in the square. Those who were naked were being bound together in a long line, with a rope connecting all of them at the neck. It was an arrangement Bromm had seen Gonnsar use on his captives before.

"Do you want yours branded, Bromm?" Ernan continued in the tone of a bored clerk.

"No, I'm selling her as well," Bromm replied, uneasy with the prospect of a branding. Ernan shrugged.

"Suit yourself. Once she's naked, I'll bind her with the others." He closed the ledger and moved away. Bromm held his new slave with a hand on each shoulder, uncomfortably watching as Sahat stripped the other woman. He pulled off her cingulum to reveal a tuft of dark hair in between her legs. The woman clenched her jaw in humiliated fury but did not resist. Sahat looked her over again and then ushered her away to join Ernan's procession.

Bromm turned his attention to the red-haired girl in his hands. Her helmet was gone, either into the loot pile or left in the street where Tissarna had struck her. She wore a thick linen cuirass and a cinctus, along with leather boots to her knees. Her white arms were decorated by two golden ring bracelets, and she wore an onyx ring on her left hand. Her straight red hair fell down her back below the shoulder blades and was bound with a thin cord of red cloth. Despite her beauty, he found himself pitying her more than he lusted for her. But Ernan wanted her naked and hitched to his slave column, and Ernan spoke for the captain.

The jewelry Bromm took off easily and stowed in his bag. The cuirass proved more difficult to remove. Pulling it up over her head, it became obstructed by her wrist bindings. She stood there, arms over her head with the cuirass about them, bare-chested and with tears in her eyes, as Bromm stared at her for a moment, caught between admiring her body and undressing her. Her breasts were small, nearly flat, with pink little nipples surrounded by only a narrow ring of soft pink skin before the white flesh of her breasts. Her body was toned and smooth, as expected of a warrior, but still had a girlish softness about it. Bromm grabbed hold of her cuirass and tried to pull it down again so he could get at her bindings.

Guldrin reappeared at that moment. Because of course he would, Bromm grumbled to himself.

"Captain says there's a good market for Amazon women in Sostrum. The Empire's nobility have taken a liking to pleasure slaves from the Isles recently. But we'd best hurry to make our sale because these fashions come and go with the winds."

"Go away, Guldrin," Bromm growled, and the sea rat laughed.

"I just want to take a look at your girl," he replied easily. "She's a pretty one, but too bad about her tits."

"Fuck off," Bromm snapped. Guldrin laughed again and wandered off to ogle the other captives. Bromm pulled the girl's cuirass back down and undid her bindings. He half expected her to run, but instead she just covered her face with her hands and began to sob uncontrollably. He stood there stupid for a moment before pulling off her cuirass again. In the process, he pulled her hands away from her face again and she recovered some of her composure. Bromm undid her cingulum and tossed it onto the pile. She watched her last bit of clothing fly away and tried to cover her pink sex with her hands. At only the slightest prompting from Bromm, she stepped out of her boots and stood completely naked on the brick of the square.

Bromm threw the boots into the pile and rebound the girl's hands. She had not stopped trembling. Overwhelmed by pity, he thought to turn her loose, but could not decide how to explain it to the others. He was lost in thought, staring at her naked body, when Ernan returned.

"All done? Let's get her hitched up," he said, and he ushered the crying girl away to join the slave procession. Bromm watched her go, unable to bring himself to action. She was the last to be joined to the procession, and once she was, they began the march to the harbor, with Pyet and the other wounded following behind.

With the wounded and prisoners marching to the harbor, Bromm rejoined Imre, Sahat, and Tahavi. They each shouldered a musket as Tissarna gathered her other raiders. Boyas and Maurias joined the company, and to Guldrin joined a search party in the town, to Bromm's relief. At last, Tissarna had gather all the men Gonnsar would allow her to take, and the company set off through the town's streets.

They passed a search party breaking into a house, and despite the plunder being piled up outside it Tissarna kept all of them marching along. It was nearly noon, and she drove a hard march through the town and into the fields on the edge of it. The fields were rich with cassava, cotton, coffee, plantains, and sugar. The laborers fled at their approach, having previously thought themselves safe beyond the town's edge. The company of pirates made their way along the shady lanes that lined the fields, following Tissarna's lead to a distant estate. On the distant hilltop, the signal fire was sending a thick column of black smoke into the sky, joined by another trail of smoke signals that stretched off in both directions along the coast.

An aura of fear encompassed them as they passed through the outskirts of Nessanti. Wherever they were seen, they sent the locals running. Their passage was uncontested all the way to the matriarch's residence. The house was made of gray stone and surrounded by a low fence of brick. The pirate company faced its main entrance, while a stable and barn stood to its rear. To the left of the house ran a small creek that was crossed by a wooden bridge not far from where the pirates stood.

The house was shingled in black and three stories tall. A tower loomed over its northern edge. Clusters of outbuildings dotted the edges of its grounds, with wide gardens in between and a vineyard to the rear. The garden paths were deserted.

"They know we're coming," Tissarna said to her company as they halted outside the walls of the residence. "We'll move quickly and strike before they can gather reinforcements. Boyas, take your men along the creek. Bromm, take your men along the opposite tree line. The rest will come with me in the center. I'll attack first to draw their attention. Once I am sufficiently engaged, each of you will come in from the sides. Whoever is in charge here I want alive."

Bromm nodded and selected four more men to reinforce his companions. They hurried along the edge of the house's grounds, keeping low along the fence to stay out of sight. They came to a gate, and Bromm stopped.

"Tahavi, get into that tree line and watch them. I don't want to be caught by surprise." Tahavi obeyed and scrambled up one of the palm trees to a perch. Bromm and the others waited against the fence for Tissarna's attack. He lit his matchcord and watched it slowly burn down as he waited. What is taking so long? He wondered as he measured out how much had burned away. He looked to Tahavi, who merely shrugged at him.

At last, he heard the sound of gunfire and Tissarana's war cry. The Amazon defenders replied in kind and Bromm surged to his feet. He felt a hand on his belt pulling him back down. Turning, he found Sahat clinging to his waistband.

"She said to wait," the older man cautioned. "Wait for the enemy to become engaged. It will make the shock of our attack much stronger."

"I've had enough waiting, Sahat," Bromm growled.

"Wait just a bit longer," Sahat replied. "The enemy are still rushing into position. Once they are set, we can break them."

Sahat was right, he knew. Bromm peered around the fence post. Tissarna's men were firing from behind the front fence, perhaps two hundred yards distant. Their shots were aimed in the direction of the house, but Bromm could not see who they were shooting at. Looking to the wall of the house nearest to him, he could see a side entrance. He looked back to Sahat and the others.

"They're engaged, but the Amazons are staying inside. We're going to wait a moment longer, then rush the door and batter our way inside. We'll get to the second floor and clear the windows overlooking the front."