by Robin Roseau
One untied my wrist. The other yanked my arm down, grabbed the rope, then dropped to her knees. That put her in the resin, but she grabbed my leg.
I was deeply hampered by one arm still tied above me, and then I toppled sideways. I dangled from one arm. My opponent got my ankle. I got my other leg underneath me, but she yanked hard, pulling my arm down and my foot up.
And then she tied me that way.
“You’ve done this before,” I said.
“A time or too, Princess,” she replied, grinning up at me.
“If she frees my other wrist, I’m going to fall. I’d rather not.”
“Cooperate while we let you down, and then you can go back to struggling.”
“Agreed.”
“Let her down slowly.” They did, the one woman letting my wrist rope out slowly, and the other supporting me until I was lying on my side, fully in the resin. “I’ve got her. Go help!”
The two on two had turned into tug-of-war. One of my team members was being slowly dragged towards the far lattice. Her teammate was trying to peel her free. The woman who had untied my wrist-ropes ran around, grabbed the loose woman from behind, around her waist, and lifted. She gave a screech, but without her help, it was easier for the first one to get dragged away, and Dee’s teammate carried mine.
And in the meantime, the fourth began dragging me by my wrist.
Dee squirmed and fought. I was dragged rather efficiently to the lattice, arriving about the same time as my two teammates. My sole captor tied off my wrist. She simply pulled my wrist to the wall the highest she could without lifting me, tied it to the lattice with one knot, then stepped four feet away and tied a second knot. To free myself, I would have to untie my wrist, as I couldn’t reach the far knot.
Then she helped secure my teammates. They were quick about it, three doing the first one, then all four doing the second, both brief, before two ran off to help Dee.
The remaining two then worked on the three of us, me last.
My team wasn’t able to tie Dee. It was close, but her teammates ran up and managed to yank her free, and then they ran back.
Dee grinned at me as she walked up to me. I was secured enough, but she collected more rope and tied me a little more, my feet in the resin, but at least I was standing.
And really out of it.
She would spend the rest of the event teasing me.
With four against two, it wasn’t long before they caught the rest of my team. But Dee kept me distracted, quite distracted, and I didn’t see my teammates succumb to their captors.
* * * *
“You are so out of it,” Olivia said, looking into my eyes. She patted my cheek and called begin. It was to be our final event, a simple capture and take. Dee expected an easy win.
She took me to the ground, using the same method she tended to prefer. She grabbed me, jumped, spread her legs, and wrapped them around my waist. We went down together, although she was able to control it. She scrambled atop me, her legs still around me, then loomed over, smiling down at me.
I returned the smile. “I love you,” I whispered.
“So you’re not entirely out of it?”
“No. Please kiss me.”
She did, and as she kissed me, I relaxed. And she relaxed.
And then I rolled us both over, turned around, and trapped her legs. I dragged her to the trench.
She laughed the entire way. Several times she tried to double up to climb up my back, but each time, I managed to shake her back down. Then we reached the trench.
I broke her leg lock. As she’d been trying to do it herself, it wasn’t hard. But I kept one leg, grabbed a rope, and quickly wrapped it around, making a poor knot.
After that, we struggled. She got her leg freed, but I trapped an arm, dragged her to a rope, and captured it.
Two minutes later, I had her fully tied.
And then, whatever was inside me was spent. I crawled into the trench with her and collapsed atop her. I was entirely red from resin, with just portions of my face exposed, and probably some of my hair. She was nearly as red. I lay atop her, both of us panting, me breathing her in, but otherwise not moving.
For a while.
She was talking to me. It didn’t make sense. Then Bee was there. “Darfelsa. You have to finish.” That I heard, but I didn’t know what she meant.
Olivia knelt down beside my head. She used my hair to lift my face, looked into my eyes, and said, “She’s entirely gone. Bee, help them both.”
It didn’t really register. I felt hands on me. I felt something slide into me, and then they moved me. It felt good, really good.
And seconds later, I knew nothing else.
Waking
Although I had tied her, Dee still won. She told me later, “This is my life, Darfelsa. I live coated in the resin, and it isn’t until the end that I become unable to operate.” That was my first lesson.
She gave me more lessons. She won our remaining events, one each day. They were each far simpler, and she told me the only thing I should expect was to learn to keep my wits longer, as a portion of winning was to outlast my opponent.
Our week was, expectedly, extremely debauched, in any of a variety of combinations. We took each other, over and over. I served her. Three of us served Olivia. In public, three of us wore our red, but Dee actively treated me as her prize, and I loved every second of it.
Allium hosted a dinner, and I spent it kneeling to my owner. She fed me by hand.
I was entirely blissed out for the week.
We had our final event the following Saturday. It was also simple. I wasn’t really up for anything complex, and I think Dee may have been worn out, too. We held a simple event early in the day, and she won easily.
In the morning, she freed me for the final time. I was awake for it this time, and I curled around her legs when it was done, her resin-clad legs. “Thank you, Dee.”
“I had so much fun, Darfelsa.”
I looked up at her. “Everything felt so good. I should have been entirely out of it, after the way we took an entire day like that.”
“You’re doing better,” she said. “You’ll need a few days of being taken care of, but Allium will see to it. If you stay here, it will just be more sex.”
I laughed and wrapped around her some more. She stroked my hair.
* * * *
I stayed with her for a few more hours until Allium came to retrieve me. With encouragement, I was able to dress myself. Then Dee pulled me in for one more deep, deep kiss. She looked into my eyes.
“I love you,” she said. “You’re going to make a good right hand for Ahlianna. Now, let Allium take care of you for a few days.”
“I will.”
I recovered, then had my event with Claary. That was easier in all ways, and I learned something about running an inn.
And then it was time to settle down.
* * * *
My staff didn’t all come to us at once. Two of the guards were first. We received more the next day. In all, it took nine days to recover our entire staff.
Allium and I shared authority. It was my staff, and they were my responsibility, but it was Allium’s embassy, and she knew more about this than I did.
The entire embassy devoted itself to helping everyone recover. That involved a lot of conversations, a lot of hugs, a lot of attention. No one slept alone.
At first, no one wanted to talk about it. They barely wanted to talk at all. But then Renishta said, “I love her.” And that started it. Then they all wanted to talk. Some cried.
Mariya cried, and I held her for a long time. I think maybe she let herself cry so that the other members of the Royal Guard knew it was okay.
It was the fifth day – Shalendra’s third. We were all together, the entire embassy, sitting in clumps, everyone touching several other people. There was a pause in the conversation, and Shalendra broke it by asking, “Darfelsa, did you… play?”
“Yes. You told me I should.”
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“Yes,” she said. “Was it good?”
“Yes.”
“Will you tell us?”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure,” she said. “In detail. Start with an overview.”
“Are you sure?” I asked again.
“She’s sure,” Valsine said softly.
And so, I told them, a little at first. Then, with prompting, more. I talked for hours before they were done, with us shifting combinations. I ended up with my head in Renalla’s lap for a while, and then in Valsine’s. Shalendra lay down in mine, and others were touching me, too.
They asked questions. They laughed, and for some of it, they teased. More than a time or two, I heard someone say, “Oh, I’d do that,” and others agreed with her.
For parts of it, others in the room explained, and a few talked about what they’d been doing over the last two months.
When finally I finished, and I couldn’t think of more to say, and the questions had stopped, Shalendra said, “Good. You and I will be doing some of those things, and we’ll each do some with other people. The rules here are different from the rules at home.”
I reached out and found her hand.
* * * *
We took care of them. Allium set rules, and we followed them meticulously. No one was alone, ever. We rotated who took care of whom, and she kept Shalendra and me apart, allowing only small affection between us, and we didn’t share a bed. Shalendra wasn’t arguing with anyone, and I wasn’t going to second-guess Allium.
It was two weeks further before we began taking them out, and then it was only a few at a time, and we borrowed a lot of help from Olivia.
Summer arrived in full. Gionna and Olivia said, “We should go.” And so, we made our plans. Allium and half her staff would come. Olivia produced a full guard. And then we left the city.
Travels
For the first two weeks, travel was easy. We’d had well-maintained roads, and we’d traveled by two carriages and several wagons. Olivia’s guards rode mounted, but for the first week, the rest of us rotated between wagon and carriage, seeing to the needs of those still recovering from their firsts. As some of us began to ride mounted, we still rode double, which was nice, and traded mounts at each stop to avoid wearing them out. But two women without gear were still lighter than a man with gear, and so the mounts were not abused.
But we reached the foothills, and ahead of us, I could see far more rugged mountains than I’d ever imagined. We reached a village, a large village. Gionna declared it, “The end of the road.”
It wasn’t, not really, but we left the wagons and carriages here. We even left most of our mounts, switching to horses more accustomed to the travel. The next morning, we headed into the hills. It was our last inn before Ressaline City. It would be months before I’d see my own mount again. Travel became harder, and then harder still. But it took time before we encountered the first true difficulty.
* * * *
Colonel Melstie called a halt. We were truly in the mountains now. There was snow on the peaks above, and deep, deep snow in those places that were deeply shadowed, but our path had followed bare ground. But it was nice to climb down from my mount.
“One hour break,” called the colonel. But then she took a backpack and four of the guards, and they headed on.
I stepped up to Gionna. “What’s going on?”
“Now is when it gets serious,” she said. “They’re checking the trail ahead. Olivia, we should heat water.”
I looked around. It was so beautiful. The peaks of the mountains soared above us, thousands of feet above us. To our left, it was downhill as well, and far below, I saw the last of the trees.
Shalendra stepped to my side, and then my closest staff. Shalendra moved into my arms. The others clustered around, some touching. “Is everyone all right?”
“I just wanted to be held,” Shalendra said quietly. No one had finished recovering from her First, and they still needed attention.
“Gionna, do you need us?”
“We’ll see to things,” she said.
I picked a spot and then said, “Let’s make a little camp.” I didn’t have to offer more orders than that. We spread blankets, and then in a group, we sat down. Others joined us, everyone sitting together. Gionna herself brought over cups, and Olivia had a pot of tea. We had a bite to eat, the rest of our large troop sitting to join us. The mounts had a little snack, too. I was the princess; they weren’t letting me worry about things like that.
I had my hands full, seeing to my still-recovering staff.
I looked at Olivia. She smiled. “While I would have preferred a longer recovery period, they’re all going to be fine. No one is truly struggling, and as isolated as we are, we don’t need to worry someone will attempt to take advantage of us.”
“It’s so beautiful here,” Renishta said. “I think we can see forever.” She pointed. “I see something moving, but I can’t tell what it is.”
Everyone looked. “Caribou,” said one of the guards. “They’re like deer. Bigger.” She cocked her head. “That’s too far to go take a few, unless we were going to stay a few days.”
“Fresh meat would be nice,” Gionna commented. “But I don’t want to camp just to hunt.”
“We have ample supplies,” said the guard. I didn’t comment on the quality of the food.
“I want to hear how everyone is doing,” Gionna said. “This isn’t easy travel.”
“If I’m not mistaken,” Allium said. “Children travel this route.”
“Not this early in the summer,” said the guard.
“You’ll see why,” Gionna said. “We’re just starting the supply caravans.”
We talked for a little over an hour, and then Colonel Melstie was back. Olivia passed out fresh tea and food. They relaxed for a minute, and then the colonel said, “We’re walking from here.”
“Excuse me?” I asked.
“There is a difficult section ahead. It’s only about a half mile. We’re going to get the people across first and make camp on the other side, and then some of us will recover the mounts and bring them across.”
The Ressalines didn’t look shocked by this. I was, and I’m fairly sure I wasn’t the only one.
The Ressaline guards pulled out rope and leather harnesses. There weren’t enough of the harnesses for everyone, but it was Gionna who helped me into one. I saw Shalendra didn’t have one, and I asked about it.
“We’ll go in batches,” said Colonel Melstie. “This is probably unnecessary here, but there are two places later, and we’re being careful.”
I said nothing. One of the guards wore a harness. I was tied to her, and others behind me, six Flarvorians with a guard in front and one at the tail. Allium was the first Flarvorian in a second group. Colonel Melstie got us moving, Allium’s group in front of mine.
The first walk was easy. But we came around a bend, and I looked ahead. Allium’s group had come to a stop, and I didn’t blame them. The slope changed, dropping off severely to our left, nearly vertical, and the safe path was barely wide enough to walk. I stared. “I think I understand why supply is so difficult.”
Our lead held back. Allium’s group got moving. We watched, and then our lead guard turned around. “Listen up,” she said. “You need to keep your feet underneath you. You watch each step. You do not get distracted. If you slip, yell ‘fall’ and try to drop to the path. I will warn you of particular obstacles. And some people get a little sick if they look over the edge, so maybe don’t look down.”
I nodded, saying nothing. She looked ahead then got us moving.
It wasn’t hard. We followed the edge of the cliff, snaking left and right, and while it wasn’t flat, it was some of the easiest walking we’d done. We made it through, and ahead, Colonel Melstie waited with Allium’s group, just beginning to untie and climb out of their harnesses. Our forward guard turned around. “This is why we didn’t bring your fine mount, Princess.”
I nodded.
There were already packs waiting. The guards emptied the packs and stuffed the rope and harness into them and headed back. “Everyone stays here,” Melstie warned. “No wandering. If you need to visit nature, do it behind that bush, no further.” She pointed.
“We’ll watch them,” Allium said. Her tone was subdued.
“We’ll start setting up camp with what we have,” declared Wesla. Allium nodded, and we let her manage it.
I sat down, leaning against Allium. “Did you know?” I asked her.
“No.”
“How do they get enough food through here to feed a city?”
“With a great deal of determination,” she replied. “And it’s not a big city.”
“Allium, my mission is a failure.”
“And here I thought you believed in me.” I looked over at her. She was sitting calmly. My heart was still pounding. “Hey,” she said gently. “That wasn’t really that bad.”
“We had to walk.”
“It didn’t kill you.”
“That’s not what I mean. We can’t get wagons through there.”
“Well, not without some work. If it were going to be easy, Darfelsa, they would have solved it already. Honey, transportation makes it harder, but their primary problem was paying for food, not getting it here. Getting it here is just a complication. No one is starving. Gionna told me no one has starved since they invaded Charthan, fifteen years ago.”
“She’s told me they still have diseases from poor winter nutrition.”
“That part is true. And that’s what we’re solving.”
“Canned goods are heavy,” I said. “We’re not going to get fresh anything this far. It would spoil long before we got to the mountains. It needs to be canned.”
“Or dried,” she said. “Which would be a good solution by itself.” She gestured. “Darfelsa, I’m not worried about that. I’m worried about what else we’ll face. The Ressalines could have solved that. They don’t need me. The fact they haven’t means there’s something ahead they can’t solve. I can get wagons this far.”
“You can?”