Tales of
Erogenia
Episode 1: The Snow
Princess
Chapter 13:
The
Thuski
Zenarias skin gleamed
with sweat and she was breathing heavily as she calmed herself and began
to wipe the shining droplets from her
body. Pandar would arrive shortly
to escort her on another round of exercise and she wanted to appear rested
and composed before he saw her. By
her reckoning it had been ten days since she had awoken in her tower
prison. Pandar had come as he
had promised to walk her around the tower in order to restore her fitness,
but she was long past the quiet strolls that her captors supposed were adequate
exercise. For the last five days
she had been subjecting herself to strenuous workouts, setting aside her
filmy costume so that she would not dirty it while she
trained. Although she had no
weapons she moved through the familiar drills she had been taught, practicing
her combat movements over and over again and regaining some of the quickness
and stamina that had always marked her as the most prominent of the Snow
Leopard warriors.
She had started slowly at
first, not wanting to push herself too harshly until she was sure that her
recuperating body could handle it, but she had soon progressed to full fledged
workouts, going through her martial movements as many times a day as she
could fit into the hours of her
imprisonment. It was no
hardship to do so; trapped in her comfortable prison, she had nothing better
to do, but she was careful not to let the guards or anyone else know what
she was doing. Her captors had
made the mistake of not stationing anyone in the room with her, and she took
full advantage of it.
She guessed that if her
captors thought of her as too weak to pose any danger, she might be able
to take advantage of it. She
splashed water over her body to help her cool
down. The air in Uhra Don was
so dry that it soon evaporated, but it
helped. When Pandar entered the
room, she was clad in her translucent costume and sucking on a
lemon. After her introduction
to the sour fruit she had developed a taste for them and her servants brought
as many as she could eat.
Pandar gave her an appraising
look as he entered the room.
It is as I thought, he
said. You are ready to
be taken before his Excellency.
Zenaria experienced a cold
feeling in the pit of her stomach.
It was not fear exactly, but anticipation of what was
coming. Once again she would
get to meet the man who had humbled her.
However, she became a little more apprehensive after what happened
next.
Pandar stepped back and
was immediately replaced by another man dressed in the gold- trimmed robes
she remembered from her battle in the
market. Three more guards crowded
into the room, their pikes levelled toward
her. You will come with
us, barbarian. the first man said.
And you will come chained.
Remove your clothing.
Zenaria stared at the spear
points that were directed toward her.
In the confines of the room, she might have some difficulty avoiding
them, but she was a Snow Leopard princess, and she was not about to go without
a fight in spite of the odds against her.
However, a few seconds later something happened to change her
mind. Two more men crowded into
the room behind the pikemen and they were carrying some sort of mechanical
device Zenaria had never seen before but had no trouble figuring out what
it was supposed to do.
It appeared to be a bow
bolted to a wooden frame, but there seemed to be no doubt that it was capable
of delivering the wicked looking arrow that was pointed at
her. In such a confined space
there was no way she could possibly avoid an arrow at such close
range. Her choice was to refuse
to surrender and face certain death or to humble herself once again and live
to fight and perhaps escape on another
day.
She swallowed, remembering
the humiliation of being placed in chains and paraded through the streets
of Uhra Don. Gritting her teeth
in rage, she tore off her brief costume, heedless of the damage she did to
the fine gold jewellery and diaphanous
clothing.
The man in the gold trimmed
robe glowered in anger. Gesturing
to still another guard he summoned him into the
room. Chain the barbarian
bitch.
Zenaria submitted to the
shame of once again being chained, this time without even offering any
resistance. Mortified at her
helplessness she bowed her head as she was shackled and then led from the
room.
The chains prevented any
attempt at resistance. She was
shackled almost identically to the way she had been when she had been led
through the streets of the market, with her wrists linked in front of her,
and a chain connecting her wrists to her shackled
ankles. The only exception was
that the chain linking her wrists and ankles was somewhat longer so that
she was able to walk upright, however, to compensate her elbows were linked
across her back, making any resistance useless.
She was escorted along the
outside of the tower and around the corner to one of the doors set in the
side of the tower. It was thrown
open by her escort, revealing a landing that led to a staircase allowing
progress both up and down. Two
guards went ahead of her heading down the staircase with the others
following. With little choice
in the matter, Zenaria descended, the clanking of her chains reminding her
of her shame and disgrace. Only
the presence of Pandar at her elbow helped to alleviate her deep sense of
self- loathing.
Do not despair,
Zenaria, he whispered.
There is no shame in living to fight another
day. His Excellency can be cruel,
but he has a strange quirk. He
takes no woman against her will.
That was all that the mild
mannered eunuch was allowed to say, but it was
enough. It gave Zenaria hope
that she would be able to preserve her virtue and keep her
vow. Strangely her thoughts turned
to Tren. She was certain that
he was aware of her plight. Was
he taking any steps to help her?
Locked in the fortress prison of the Thuski she didnt see how
even he would be able to do anything about her
predicament.
She and her escort descended
six levels. The stairs continued
to descend, but the escort opened a door and Zenaria found herself at the
base of the tower. A wide courtyard
separated her from the main building, one that she must have been marched
past when she was brought to the Thuskis
palace. She had seen it from
the tower and it looked impressive, standing three stories and supported
on a succession of colonnades placed one on top of the other and running
the length of the building.
Entering the colonnades she found that they provide a cool shaded
area that ran around the perimeter of the
building. She was walked along
this and around the corner, a distance of several hundred paces until she
reached the centre of the far side of the building, then her escort took
her through another series of doors.
Apparently security was paramount in the design of the building, as
there were no windows on the lower level and she taken through three sets
of doors each separated from the other by a distance of about thirty feet,
making the building truly enormous.
Zenaria wondered at the wealth required to construct such an edifice
and then remembered that the palace of the High Thuski had been even more
magnificent. Each of the three
sets of doors was guarded by four men carrying the deadly Sandak pikes with
their vicious hooked tops. The
final door led through a wide corridor to what appeared to be an open area,
but Zenaria was unprepared for what actually lay beyond.
She had thought the gardens
of the wealthy merchant that Tren had shown her to be magnificent, but they
paled into insignificance compared to those she now
entered. She was inside a gigantic
quadrangle formed by the Thuskis
palace. In the centre was a
rectangular pool of water large enough to contain of the buildings in the
compound of the Snow Leopard.
Spaced at intervals along the main pool were numerous other circular
pools designed in a variety of ways.
Every other one seemed to be a fountain spurting glistening jets of
water into the air while the others were filled with a range of aquatic plants,
many of the flowering variety.
Trees and shrubs were everywhere and the perfume of thousands of flowers
filled the air. Scattered around
the gardens were dozens of young women in various stages of undress, as well
as the ubiquitous black and gold robed
guards.
In the midst of all of this
splendour was Ravar Kund, reclining on a stone bench and surrounded by five
of the most beautiful young women Zenaria had ever
seen. They appeared to have been
chosen not just for their beauty, but also for their ethnic
diversity. One was a tall blonde,
her impressive physical dimensions proclaiming her to be of the same background
as Zenaria. Another had gleaming
jet-black skin like Sorvats and luminous golden
eyes. The third was petite and
dark-haired with skin that shone golden-brown in the sunlight, and dark,
mysterious almond eyes. The fourth
was white-skinned and reclined in the shade, her brilliant green eyes and
flaming red hair, instantly drawing Zenarias
attention. The final young woman
was dark-haired and voluptuous, with dark nipples ornamenting her perfect
breasts. Her skin was the colour
of the spice Tren had called cinnamon.
With such a variety of beauties,
Zenaria found herself what the Thuski could possible want with
her. Surely such a huge selection
of willing young females must have kept him more than satisfied sexually,
however, Ravar Kund rose from his pile of cushions as she
approached. Zenaria met his gaze
with her own defiant stare. She
might be completely at his mercy, but she would not be
cowed.
So, Ravar Kund
murmured as his eyes swept over her, the
barbarian. This one will not
be as easy to tame as was
Brigidda. He glanced back
toward the nude blonde who smiled invitingly toward
him. Zenaria experienced a brief
moment of fear. Would she be
reduced such compete subservience?
The thought frightened her, but she gave no outward sign of her
apprehension.
Hold her, Kund
ordered as he stepped forward.
Immediately her guards took hold of her arms, although what Zenaria
could have done chained the way she was she had no
idea. She could walk, but not
kick and she could move her hands only a few inches in any
direction. However, properly
held, Kund proceeded to give her a humiliatingly thorough
inspection.
He began with her mouth,
grabbing her hair and pulling her head
back. He used a short hard length
of wood to pry her mouth open and then tied it in place so that she could
not close her mouth or speak.
Peeling back her lips he inspected her
teeth. Good, he
commented. Strong, straight
and white.
He ran his hands over her
shoulders and down her arms.
Strong, he said.
A true warrior.
Then he proceeded to her fondle her breasts, lifting each one and
caressing the nipples. Like
ripe melons. She would make a
perfect bedmate.
Had she not been tightly
held, Zenaria would have attempted to attack him in spite of the chains that
confined her, but she was helpless, unable to even voice her
outrage. She strained against
her shackles as he demeaned her, his hands next going to her flat, hard,
belly and then lower to her hips and
buttocks. And when he placed
his fingers between her thighs, fondling her mons veneris did she gave an
involuntary start. Kund grinned,
obviously enjoying her discomfort and humiliation, but he took a step back
and gave her a hard look.
Perhaps not as perfect a bedmate as I would like, he
commented. She would probably
kill me in my sleep.
Zenaria made no sound, but
she didnt have to. Her
glare would have peeled paint from a
wall. However, she can
entertain me in other ways.
He turned to Pandar.
Is she fit?
She is recovering,
master,
Without warning Kund stepped
forward. He had been standing
slightly to one side when he had questioned Pandar and it gave him perfect
access to her naked backside. The
blow stung, but unable to avoid it, Zenaria gave not the slightest response
other than her withering stare.
Kund held up his hand and
winced. Apparently he had hit
her hard enough that he had felt the
blow. I think she is strong
enough. Bring her
tomorrow. We will put her into
the arena. He picked up
a length of cloth lying on the cushioned bench where the five beauties reclined,
and handed it to Pandar. The
young physician nodded and moved to
Zenaria. Carefully he tied the
cloth so that it covered her eyes.
Now you must come with me, he
said. I will guide
you.
The blindfold worked
well. Zenaria could see nothing,
but she could hear and count. She
was taken two hundred and thirty paces past the musical splash of fountains
and then through a door. She
counted thirty more steps and then another
door. This time she walked ten
steps and then down first once staircase and then another, and then another,
until she had descended five flights of
stairs. There was another door,
a twenty-five step echoing corridor and one last
door. When the blindfold was
removed she was in a tiny dark room, lit only by a flickering torch carried
by one of the guards. The chains
were removed from her elbows, but not her wrists or ankles and another chain
was placed about her neck and locked to a heavy ring in one
wall. Zenaria felt a sense of
being buried alive as she stared around a cell that was barely long enough
to lie down in. However, her
hands were now free enough that she could yank the gag from her
mouth.
Food and drink will
be brought, Pandar said.
You stay here until
tomorrow. Try to
rest. Tomorrow you
fight. He turned and left
the room. The door closed like
the voice of doom, leaving Zenaria in complete
darkness. For a few seconds Zenaria
stood motionless. How was she
going to escape from such a place?
Then composing herself, she sat on the straw-filled pallet that occupied
half the cell and waited.
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