by Robin Roseau
We turned and ran west, deeper into Beacon Hill and away from the village. We turned a corner, and then there was more whistling, this time from above us.
“Seriously?” Cecilia muttered.
We ran, and we made a turn, and then no one was whistling. We ran a half block and then ducked into some bushes, panting heavily.
“Either we escaped the net,” Cecilia said. “Or she wants us to go this way.”
“I know how I’d bet,” I said. We caught our breath and listened. In the distance I heard a whistle, but it wasn’t for us.
“Someone is still free,” Cecilia said.
“I don’t think anyone wants this to end too quickly.”
“They captured Serenity awfully early.”
“Luck of the draw?” I asked. “And they might have let her go.”
“After playing some trick on her,” Cecilia said. “I never even saw who grabbed her. I was looking the other way.”
“And it was dark there.”
“Yep. Ready?”
“North?”
“Yeah. That way.”
We made it another two blocks before we encountered the next roaming group. They began whistling and gave chase. We backtracked but ahead of us, another group appeared. We ducked into an alley and ran, our pursuers hot on our tail. And at the next street, a third band was waiting. We came to a stop, and it was seconds before we were surrounded.
One stepped closer. “You have a choice. You can fight, or you can cooperate. If you fight, we’ll catch you. If you cooperate, there are more choices.”
“Cooperate,” Cecilia said.
He nodded. Several people stepped up, and they pulled Cecilia and I further apart, stretching her arm between us and mine away from her. They pulled us tightly.
Another stepped up, this one a woman by her voice. “One of you gets to make a choice. Which of you made the last choice?”
“I did.”
“Then it is your turn, Governor. Maddalyn, do not say a word.” And then they cut the rope holding us together. They pulled me further from Cecilia. “Governor, you may surrender, or in a moment, you may run.”
“I am choosing which of us is captured?”
“No,” she said. “If you surrender, Maddalyn will be let free and with a hint. If you run, you will receive the hint, and she will receive, well, a practical joke for her and Kalorain. Then we’ll make her run a different direction than you do.”
I kept my mouth closed. Cecilia studied me for a minute.
“If you do not choose, Governor,” said the women, “then you both accept the practical joke, and after we let you go without a hint, but in opposite directions.”
“You won’t hurt her.”
“Of course not,” said the woman. “We’ll let you watch, if you want.”
If I were asked, I would tell her to run. But I followed the rules and said nothing.
Finally Cecilia said, “I don’t know if I should apologize, Maddalyn. I hope it’s not terrible. I’m going to run.”
The woman moved closer. “We’re about to do something to you that’s a little humiliating. It’s in fun, but it involves baring your bottom. You may ask her to run now or let her watch. But we’ll send the men away.”
I nodded. “Cecilia, please take your hint and then run.”
They pulled Cecilia away from me. One spoke quietly to her, and then she was running. I had no idea which direction. About a third of the group followed after her.
“Without her, I’m completely lost,” I said. “Will you tell me how to find someplace I might recognize?”
The woman pointed. “That is the side of the Vendart’s home. Do you see the outline?”
“Yes,” I said. “Thank you.”
“We are all women here,” she said. “If you fight what we do, we’ll give you the choice of surrendering or taking a worse trick.”
“I won’t fight.”
They kept my arms pulled straight away from my sides. The woman went to work on my leggings, tugging them down around my ankles. Then she huffed and knelt down. She helped me out of my boots then tugged the leggings away entirely, then my underthings. But she helped put the boots back on. “When we’re done, you can decide if you want to take the time to put these back on. If not, we’ll take care of them for you.”
I didn’t comment.
“Spread your legs a little,” she ordered. While I did that, another woman stepped forward. She had a large piece of white cloth. She brushed my face with it.
“Do you know what this is?”
“Not a clue.”
She used a word I didn’t know. I shook my head. “Hmm,” she said. “This is sized for an adult, but we usually have smaller ones. You will notice it is absorbent.”
“I still don’t know what it is. Is it a towel?”
“It is to be worn. You will be wearing it shortly.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t know.”
“Normally it is worn by babies.”
“A diaper?” I asked. “Oh golly, it goes there.” I looked down. It was too dark to see, but I began blushing furiously. “Why is this a practical joke for Kalorain?”
“You’ll see,” she said.
It was, indeed, a diaper. They fit me into it as I stood there in the street, using pins to secure it, just as if I were an infant.
Then one stepped forward with a bucket and brush. I stared at it. “Not all of it!”
“No,” said the woman who had diapered me. “We’ll use enough to be a joke though. If you struggle, we won’t be able to prevent from painting you.”
I held as still as I could. They brushed the sap all around what would be the waistband of the diaper, really working it in. I thought I felt some against my skin, and I wasn’t sure what that meant.
“We want you to be able to still run,” said the woman with the brush. “Or we’d paint all of it. Don’t move.” She painted more, a thick line from the front all the way down and up the back. I stood with my legs as wide as I could.
“Now we wait while it becomes hard. It won’t take long. Maddalyn, are you angry?”
“No,” I said. “You can’t see, but I haven’t stopped blushing.”
“This is all in fun,” she said. “We’re jealous.”
“Jealous?”
“It is an uncomfortable feeling,” she said. “Kalorain took a large risk when she offered herself to a Galatzi trade. And in the end, she got you as a Galatzi wife. She gets to fly, and everything else.”
“Oh,” I said.
“This isn’t to make you feel bad,” she said. “We are happy for Kalorain. And we’ve seen how happy you are, too. We’re very pleased for that.”
“We all want a star person,” said another. “Some of us would be Galatzi wives. Some want a man or woman as our Galatzi prize.”
“You’re all single?”
“Yes. We don’t all want a Galatzi relationship, but we all want a star person. We don’t think that is going to happen.”
“I wish I could help,” I said.
One of the other women stepped before me. She kept her face hidden, but she said, “I offered myself to Kalorain as a second Galatzi wife. She declined.”
“Does that happen?”
“Sometimes,” she said.
I wished I could help.
One of the women -- I lost track of who was who -- dabbed at my waist. “Not quite yet,” she said. “It’s stiffening.”
“How am I going to get this off?”
“We did it tightly enough it won’t slide over your hips,” she said. “You’ll think of something, but if you work on this, you’ll get caught before you get rid of it.”
“Are you sure you’re not mad at us?” another asked.
“I’m not mad,” I said.
“Will you do something for us?”
“You’re asking for a favor after putting me in a chastity belt diaper?”
“You know what a chastity belt is?”
“I’ve n
ever seen one,” I said. “Do you have them here?”
Another woman stepped in front of me. She showed me something made of braided cords. She demonstrated on herself how it was worn, donning it over her own leggings.
“That doesn’t seem like a Talmon device,” I said. “Your husbands do not trust you?”
“It’s in fun,” she said. “My sister makes them for her husband.”
“He isn’t trustworthy?”
“He’s a man,” she said. “He’s constantly horny.”
“I’m not sure I want to know about this.”
“She makes him wear one of these so he stops doing things.”
“I can think of what things.”
“He is very, very hungry for her when she is ready for him.”
“He puts up with this?
“They are deeply devoted to each other,” she explained.
I looked down. “Is that dry yet?”
One woman dabbed. “Soon.”
“Why do you have that tonight?”
“It’s what we were going to use at first, but we decided we should test it before we did as much as we were going to do.”
“You were going to sap me into it.”
“Yes. We made a sort of model, and we discovered we couldn’t do what we wanted without significant risk of sticking to you in a fashion that would be cruel.”
“Thank you for changing your mind,” I said. “So why do you still have it?” They didn’t answer, and I said, “If I hadn’t cooperated?”
“We hadn’t decided,” said the woman now wearing it. “I don’t think we would have used it, but we hadn’t fully decided.” Then she smiled. “I’ll go home with whomever pulls down her drawers and lets me put this on her.”
The women laughed. No one pulled down her leggings.
“I’m serious,” she said. “I’ll let you do anything you want to me for as long as you wear it. Then it comes off, and I’ll do whatever you ask. Then it goes back on. I’ll be yours for as long as you wear it.”
There was some shifting around. I looked around at the women but they were all hooded, and I could see little. “I think she’s serious,” I said. “Why?”
“Everyone here will know, as long as they see us together, what she is letting me do to her,” said the woman. Then she laughed. “And I’m horny as hell just watching you, Maddalyn.”
I snorted. “And you’re making that offer to any woman here willing to take it.”
“Yes.”
There was more shifting. None of them had spoken up yet, so I decided to play. “You’ll let her do anything, and once it comes off, you’ll do anything, anything at all?”
“Yes.”
“I’d do it,” one of the women said. “But you live with your parents.”
“Which is why I’d go home with you.”
“And I live with my parents. I’m sorry, but that’s too much.”
Another woman said, “Are you serious, Trallistine?”
“Yeah,” said the woman.
“Drop your drawers, said the woman. “I have a spare room. I hate housework. You two can live there as long as you want if you do the cleaning.”
“Sure,” said the woman in the chastity belt. “Trallistine?”
The woman began working on her leggings. The other women cheered her on. Soon Trallistine was as bare-bottomed as I had been. The chastity-belt-wearer untied it from herself and then tied it in place around the other woman. Then she took a little of the sap, just a little at the knot. “This is so she can’t take it off without my knowing,” said the belt maker. “I can weave in new stays after I cut these off, but she’ll never figure out how to do it quite the same way.”
“I wouldn’t cheat.”
“If you could easily untie it, you would, or you might be tempted.” She bent down and blew at the sap. Trallistine giggled.
“We’re going to test you now, Maddalyn.” And they tugged at the diaper. It didn’t go anywhere. They tried pulling it down my legs, but it was stuck on my hips. They pulled it back up firmly and then said, “Do you want your leggings back?”
“Will they even fit?”
“Sure.”
They helped me back into them, then the belt maker used additional cords to help hold things mostly closed. She tugged it tight, and then they adjusted my tunic before releasing my arms.
“Wait,” I said. “You never told me your favor.”
“You’re going to do it after we put you in the diaper?”
“I don’t know. I have to hear it.”
“If more star people come, we want a fair shot at them.”
“I can’t promise that, but I can arrange introductions, if you tell me how to reach you.”
“Ask Kalorain for Trallistine.”
“Or for the woman who once offered herself as second Galatzi wife.”
“Will you hug us before we let you go?”
One by one, I took my hugs. Then I oriented myself to Luradinine’s house and took off.
* * * *
I was herded. I thought I slipped through the net, but then I kept getting whistles. I ran from them, and they fell behind, so I knew I was heading where Luradinine wanted me.
At one point, I ran from a patrol, ducking between two houses. I came out on the next street and nearly walked into four sash-wearing women.
“Negotiate,” they said immediately.
“Did you know where I was?”
“We heard the whistles and hoped you’d come through here somewhere, Maddalyn.”
“You asked to negotiate.”
“If you run, we’ll chase you. We bet you’re tired. If we catch you, we’re going to play a trick on you.”
“Another trick?”
“Someone else already tricked you?”
“You could say that. If I don’t run, what happens?”
“If you give each of us a kiss, the sort of kiss you give Kalorain, we’ll let you run and won’t chase or even whistle.”
“I can’t do that,” I said.
“Then you better run fast.”
“What trick are you going to do?”
“If we catch you, you’ll find out.”
“Will you give me a head start?”
“Ten steps,” she said.
I turned up the street and began running. They didn’t catch me. I, after all, was operating on a mix of a body enhanced by rejuvenation and adrenalin.
But the diaper was chafing.
I got lost. But then I got unlost. And then, ten minutes later, I was looking at one of my destinations. It was at the end of this alley and then a run across the street. I caught my breath, listened, and didn’t hear anything. I took off for the end of the alley.
I never saw it. I ran into something, something soft, stretched across the alley, almost at the opening. It gave, and my own momentum carried me further. I tripped and fell, but I didn’t make it to the street. Whatever I was in wrapped around me, and I found myself hanging in some sort of bag, a few hand widths from the cobblestones.
I struggled to free myself, but then there were people around me. I struggled with them, but they pinned me in the bag. Someone began whistling. I struggled for a while, wearing myself out until I lay limply, panting heavily.
I heard footsteps, boots on cobblestones. “It so doesn’t count if you didn’t catch me yourself,” I complained.
“It was my trap and my team,” Kalorain said. “And as this is the third time I’ve caught you, it certainly does count.”
I began laughing.
“Oh, but you run fast,” she said. “Or I’d have had you once or twice more.”
“What is this bag?” I asked. “I couldn’t see it.”
“When it’s stretched, the fibers spread open,” she said. Then she patted my bottom, which wasn’t as satisfying as normally. “Let’s get her tied.”
* * * *
They caught all of us, of course, and the mood was jovial as we were paraded in open carriages, up and down t
he streets of Beacon Hill, finally coming to a stop before Luradinine’s home. We were each carried to the steps and propped up. Luradinine gave a little speech, then introduced each Galatzi prize and her wife.
Laradain looked quite pleased. Mama seemed okay, and she seemed to like the attention Laradain gave her. Pippa… Serenity. They both looked so happy, even gagged the way we were. The way they each looked at their wives made me feel good.
Then we were each carried inside and to our respective rooms. They left me on the bed, and Kalorain chased everyone out before closing the door. She stepped over and sat on the bed. She was flushed, but the joy was wafting off her. “Oh, that was fun. Did you enjoy it?”
I nodded.
“Do you want us to do this again?” I nodded vigorously. “Mother makes these fun,” she said. I nodded some more. “The entire village gets involved. If anyone stayed home, I’d be surprised. Oh, but talk about chaos.”
I could imagine.
She looked me up and down, for the first time with proper light since capturing me. “What happened to your leggings?”
I mumbled into the gag. Kalorain reached up and caressed my face. “Oh, I love seeing you like this. I love playing with you.” She caressed. “Oh, Maddalyn, I love you.”
I mumbled again.
She moved closer and then worked on the gag. I spit out the cloth, and she set it aside. “Some of your friends left a surprise for you.”
“Did they?”
“Would they really have tattooed us the first time they caught us?”
“Mother doesn’t bluff about things like that,” she said. “So yes.” She smiled. “Everything else at that stop was my idea.”
“Even catching Serenity.”
“It would be whoever came near one of the doors where we had teams waiting. It was just her luck to be on the end, or maybe Mother planned it that way. Did you rearrange?”
“Only when we let Farratain out of the chain. How far did she get?”
“She surrendered at her tree,” Kalorain said. “She’s the only one who won.”
“Wow. Good for her.”
“Darratine might have gone easy on her. I don’t know, and I’m not going to ask. Neither are you. Farratain was so pleased. And if my sister went easy, it would only be a little easy. As best I can tell, though, she didn’t get caught by anyone, not once.”