“You have served me well… set good examples for the others in the ranks,” she heard him tell each man. “The ka’t will be told to pleasure you soon enough. For now, you may touch its skin; pet it, but use good self-discipline. We wouldn’t want to tire it too much, would we?”
Damn you. No… Ariennu choked back the mixture of pleasure and rage as each man’s fingertips stroked the skin over her ribs and cupped her sweaty breasts for a moment, then examined her belly and the opening of her mound. The prince must have signaled once more. The men suddenly stopped touching her, left through the entry door, and slithered around the cage to the other side so she saw their faces.
“I hear my hot food being brought from the galley boat. Set my table,” Maatkare quipped.
A drink. I need a drink, Ari’s thoughts cried as she tried to slow her breathing. The men were busying themselves with something over her head. She felt the top half of the ladder lower forward, stretching her body until her back was flat and at an angle to her already numb legs. That part of the cage was fixed with the rope once more. Agony shot through her chest and midsection as the poles bit hard against her body.
“I hear you, loud and clear. I’m going to remove your gag so you can have just a taste of beer… maybe more. But one shout from you, one instant of disrespect and there will be nothing more given you. Nod if you understand.” Maatkare put his face close to Ari’s ear. Despite the misery of her immobilized body, his husky whisper seduced her into agreement. Ari gasped in relief as the rag in her mouth fell away. She felt the prince grab her hair to lift her head so she was able to sip a small amount of stale beer and revel at the delicious grease he let drip into her mouth from the shank of beef.
“Your arms should be less tired in this position now, but I need to eat the soup my men brought before I take my dessert,” he added.
Ari sensed him motioning to the guards again. She felt a heavy and hot weight placed on the middle of her back.
“There isn’t room down here to sup, so you can be the table for my dinner,” he whispered with a smirk in his voice.
“Ouch. Burns. Stop.” Ariennu sucked in air, trying to struggle and failing.
“Don’t move too much. The soup’s very hot. Wouldn’t want you to buck and spill it on yourself.” The prince raised a brow and watched her for long agonizing moments, occasionally taking a long sip of the hot liquid, then beckoning one of the guards to try it.
Ariennu felt the stone carved bowl growing heavier until the weight of it caused her to lose the rest of the feeling in her back and legs. Her breath came in gasps. The world was slipping away.
Flight. Fly away from this, Ari’s thoughts cried. Children, damn all of you… useless… why? Why? True what Deka said? Is he one of us? If he has a stone or even if he doesn’t, by El’s power, please get him t’ deliver me.
Suddenly, as if he took notice of her thought, the prince took the bowl and set it aside.
“Fly? You? Woman, you never flew away from a damned thing and you know it. You fly into danger every chance you get. You crave it. When I give you some, you worry because you are losing control? Proud Ariennu. Pity.”
Ari felt his hand gently stroked her cheek, noticing the roughness of the leather nauu hand piece. She never looked directly at it. Something about it swept her glance away each time she tried. She sensed that it formed an X across his palm, and if it was at all like the one his grandfather used, the strap looped around his middle finger. The tingle of impossible arousal yet misery from the strap filled every part of her. She felt a sob of ecstasy welling up in her chest. The bar under her breasts bit tighter as she panted for air. For just an instant, she wanted to die. She felt his trembling hand creep up to her fingers and knew he was almost too stimulated by her pain to speak.
“So cold your fingers are getting. Such a pity. But you fight me. You make me do this to you. You tempt my lower nature, demand to be broken by me. But, see how my hand has power over you now?” His hand with the leather appliance smoothed her cheek again. He moved behind her, caressing and gently parting her kuna gate for a moment. “See? So soft, burning for me and wet? I can make you beg for me to stop the pain and then beg for me to start it again so you will know, when you feel it, that you are still alive. I brought this food to share with you, but now, after I’ve enjoyed you, I’ll be forced to eat alone while you watch and learn. All you have to do is speak the words that show me you submit, then I will relieve you with hours of joy. What I cannot give you tonight, I will give you another day. It will be all pleasure and only enough pain to serve as a reminder of how you can be punished if you do or speak ill to me.”
“I need food and t’ drink something,” Ariennu hissed through her teeth. “You tease my mouth with your ‘el’ and I will bite it for you,” she cracked her eyes, moaning in pain as the prince ordered the guards to tighten the ropes at her knees and ankles. Then the guards moved up the steps to go outside. She assumed they were allowed to watch Maatkare toy with a captive, but because it was a woman they were not allowed to see him taking her sexually.
“Now you’re annoying me,” he snarled, then moved behind her and seized her hips.
Ari shuddered convulsively as her body rocked forward against the bars when he entered her. She gasped, almost choking as his lips traced the side of her neck, followed by the bites. The pain of the lashings that bound her body as it strained into them with each thrust mingled with and fought her pleasure.
“No submission, means I will own your joy another way.” He growled and sank his sharper teeth into her upper back; his fingertips becoming digging and gripping claws. She knew he was changing. As her thoughts drifted away from the building, but pleasant misery, she wondered: Have your men seen you be a wolf? I bet that’s why you can’t let them be here…
He growled softly, continuing.
Her sight dimmed with an agony of pleasure. She felt the blood, or at least an illusion of it, dripping over her shoulder and reveled in his tongue lapping it gently like a bee in nectar before he moved again. For a moment she felt a different and almost magnificent kind of internal power steal over her. He won’t beat me. He thinks he will do it like he broke Deka. He thinks he can suck out the energy like he did with Naibe. Not me… I keep the secrets. Not tonight. Maybe Naibe… she thought of the younger woman and instantly tucked in the secret that somehow the young woman might try to get to shore if she hurried… The Children. The Children are quiet. This is why, this is why. Goddess, I ache. She sobbed inwardly, suddenly understanding why they had been silent and why she had to let the evening go forward the way the prince wanted. I’ll make you work me. I’ll make you…
Long moments passed. Ari drifted between cresting waves of pleasure that engulfed her to the tips of her fingers and toes, but her inability to move drove her senses further into a sublime but numb oblivion. She both felt and saw the shimmer of rainbow lights behind her gently closed eyes. The patterns of color swept over her body. Lights. I see their lights shining in my thoughts. No. Little ones, don’t let him rob me this way. Some other… not like this. She felt the Children’s whispers come up within her. Why little one? Why do I have no power when I am with him? I can’t turn on everything I am. I can’t…
When self is lost,
The wisdom remains
Goddess no more… Please be done… please… Every part of her body ached in a combination of numbness, exhaustion, and pleasure. She was floating. Everything had slipped away except for the brief rush of heat through her belly.
The prince sighed and rested his head on her back.
“Good…” she heard him whisper, then add: “There, you see. You know you liked it. You complain so much, but in the end you always love this. You’ll beg for more nights like this, showing me the side no one knows… the part that craves to be so lost in joy you don’t know up from down. You see, I can give that to you. I know you, now. You are sweet filth for me.” What had been his clawed paw was a hand again when it reached forward, f
elt her face wet with sweat and angry tears, then wiped them with his fingertips. He was almost tender.
Confusion made vomit rise in her throat.
“Untie…” she spat out the taste, stunned by her own weakness. She felt him hesitate as her stomach coiled again. “Untie me, please.”
He chuckled. “Blasted you hard enough to make you puke.” He chortled. “You beg me so nicely, now… maybe I should leave you strapped like this for the guards when they take their turn.”
“Nnnn…” Ari cried. “Leave me tied, then. I get loose, I’ll kill you!” She tried to struggle, but found no energy.
Eeeeen nauuu, Red Sister. Gently, his thoughts wafted through her.
A little saliva and bile drooled from Ari’s lips. Something’s not right, she thought, as black senselessness began to envelop her again.
At first the sounds outside were faint, but grew loud enough to give both her and Maatkare pause.
Something’s… Ari felt a sense of panic that had nothing to do with the terror his Highness thought he might have inspired. She knew he sensed it too. Men were shuffling beside the cabin on the right side of the boat, beckoning to the waiting guards. The ever-present slow pulse of rowing halted.
“See. There… out in the water… See them rowing like Sebek himself is chasing them. Gods she’s strong. Look at her go.”
“We’d better get…” a voice grew closer to the step-down into the cabin.
“Don’t you dare get his Highness,” said one voice. “He’s in pleasure with…”
“No, this is one of the other women. He’d want to know. We have to.”
The shuffles were followed by slight hesitation as if they were checking for sounds. Ari felt Maatkare tense and get up from her quickly, cursing under his breath. He grabbed at fabric. When she heard the rustle of the cloth, she knew he had thrown on an unbelted robe.
Highness, she sent a weary thought, unfasten me. She felt other words rattling thought her aching but sated body.
Eeeeen Djoad, eeeen nauuu.
“No! No more spells. Cut me loose. I can’t breathe,” her voice croaked. The pain from his utterance felt like hot pokers in her ears, but as it subsided she realized Prince Maatkare wasn’t there. He had stomped up the short stair to the above deck.
Shouts continued.
“Look! Their boat just broke up like something hit it from underneath. Did you see that?”
“Your Highness. Look there. I think they just went under.”
“Which one?” the prince demanded as Ari tried to work one of her wrists free of the crisscrossed rope that bound it to the rattan frame. She already knew which one. Naibe. Gritting her teeth, she twisted her hand and tucked in her fingers until was able to loosen it. He’s not thinking about thwarting me. My strength’ll come back in a minute. She tried to take a deep breath, but the pain of the bar under her breasts stifled it.
“The young one with the big eyes and bright color: the Shinar.” She heard one of the guards answer.
Ariennu doubled her effort, pulling and twisting her hand.
Girl! Her thoughts went out. I know you can swim, now swim, Baby…
Ari felt Deka’s panicked thoughts enter her own. It had been almost too long since she sensed anything other than a barrier from the Ta-Seti woman. That Ari felt her thoughts now compounded her lurking fear.
Blood. Someone bleeds, Ari sensed. Deka knows the smell of blood. She’s warning her. If Naibe gets close in, she’ll be tired. She’ll be quick work for any beast near the shore. The elder woman panicked. No. Naibe Come back!
No. Brown Eyes. No. Death is not the way. Come back to us, Deka’s thoughts echoed her own, but related that Naibe had slipped away from her and seduced a man into rowing her to the shore. Then, the raft failed and she was alone. If Maatkare caught her, he would lose face in front of his men if he didn’t kill her. At Sokor, he’d played the guard’s death off as an accident when it was a lesson. This time would be different, unless…
Silence.
Ariennu sensed quiet. In the far distance, she heard a call or two of men. It sounded as if they cried across the water that they didn’t see her. He was probably waiting on the deck, she thought. For a moment, she thought she was about to faint and fought it. Then, Ari realized what she felt was some kind of spell. The air shimmered in front of her eyes and she sensed a further draining of her strength, followed by the jackal titter in her ears.
Damn You. Stop holding me back. I’m trying to sense her, you fiend!
Another chortle in her heart. Ariennu knew what it meant.
Good. Found her. She wriggled her right hand out of the looping and let her numb arm drop below her side for a moment. Ari’s breath came in winded gasps but she rallied when she heard Maatkare angrily shriek:
“Useless wretch. I know you live for now! I should let you drown or send you crocodiles. Do you hear me?” then, she sensed an even darker thought. How dare you go against me, like that? I’ll suck you dry for this.
A long silence followed. The wrapped ropes on her wrists loosened.
Suck her dry? Demon! Ari freed her other hand, then tucked her head down so that the bar across her back stopped binding. She was too short of breath and nauseated from hunger and thirst, but knew no one would get her out of the rig the prince and his guards had used if she didn’t do it herself.
Ari felt Deka’s thoughts cry out: No! As she ripped at the tightly wrapped bars and pushed them apart until the only ones left were at her ankles. When she finished freeing herself, she stumbled and fell. She heaved a little, but managed to careen up the steps and out of the cabin, completely naked. She grabbed men and clawed at their legs for support. Clambering to the rail, she lurched forward, seized Maatkare and clung to his arm. She stared into his cruel glance, suddenly struck dumb, and then felt him slap her to the deck again as if she had been an offending spider. He turned to stare at the water. Though her vision had blurred, she knew the low moon should have made a very faint shimmer on the water. She heard no distant splashing or calling out. Suddenly:
Save her. Please. I beg you… Ari sensed Deka’s thought voice call from the distant boat.
Ariennu looked up from her landing place on the deck. “You go get her,” she snarled. “You want me to submit to you? I’ll do it. I’ll do anything you want. I promise,” she looked up the length of Maatkare’s leg and seized a handful of his dressing robe in her hands. “If she dies…”
His stare withered down at her. The silence and cold glare told the elder woman she would not even think of escape again. “Get out of my sight, you splay-legged bitch, or I swear I will give the order to call them back.” The prince hi ssed. He yanked his robe from her hands, shoved at her with his foot, and gestured.
She felt the two guards seize her upper arms, then drag her back into the cabin. They threw her down the steps, then sat at the door, watching her; their long, hooked knives out across their laps. One of them peered down as she tried to right herself, a wry and knowing grin on his face.
Oh goddess no, not now. She understood they were about to collect what the prince had promised them. She was exhausted, sore, drained of energy and starving. Lurking over everything, Ari felt engulfed with worry about Naibe. But she had just said it. I’ll do anything. The men explained it to her without words.
Rape. I’ve been raped before… plenty of times, ‘n forced myself on some for the fun of it. I told Marai that once, that I was hard; too hard for him to worry about trying to save or love me. Ariennu felt a pain in her chest that didn’t come from the bruise the bar made on it. Oh damn. Thoughts of him at a time like this. I can’t have him in my thoughts. Maatkare has to get Naibe. I have to cave in to him. No… She sensed Naibe’s energy fading somewhere out in the deep, black river. Her life is ending. She’s let him make her weak. She’s letting death take her this time. Her thoughts called out to the younger woman. Baby. Please live. Please come back to us. Please.
One of the guards set his blade aside with a
chuckle praising his good luck.
“Please, let me at least eat something. I’m tired. I’m starving. I’ll do ya both then.” Ariennu’s voice rasped. She looked up, eyes bouncing and hands shaking a little. “The soup…” Maybe if they let me eat they’ll have to help Highness with something before they can… Just need time… Naibe… she tried again, but it seemed so hopeless. Food…
The bowl of soup the prince had set aside had grown cool enough to develop a slight film of fat on the surface. She lunged quickly and picked up the joint of beef. Slowly, she began to gnaw it, swallowed, and felt it rise in a heave.
The guard made a face and took a step back.
“Nuh, no… I’m fine. Swallowed too fast,” Ari stammered and tried again, glancing over the stone rim of the bowl from time to time. She sipped the beer one of them handed her and waited. No noise. Oh Babe, Naibe, little one. Don’t go… Let them find you. She had hoped to hear commotion outside but all was still. She sighed, broken, set the soup aside and reached for the guard’s hand.
“Um ready. Little tired, though. Try to be nice.” She choked, wanting to be sick again. Maybe, she thought, you won’t get more than a start on me. She let the man pull her up. Naibe please live… Maybe he’ll forget about this if Highness needs him. She raised her leg up so the man could grab it and ease her backward against the wall for a moment, before lifting her onto his loins. She put her tired arms around his neck then nuzzled the guard’s ear a little as he began.
“Nice. You have a nice… way…” she whispered. Through the exhaustion she felt the numbness returning. It doesn’t matter. I’m going invisible. I’ll fade away… no one will know me ever again… There’s nothing, nothing of me left but dust.
Opener of the Sky Page 5