Bondmaiden

by B. A. Bradbury

  He left them again, locking the door like he said, and Lia heard his boots descending the wooden stairs. She dressed and made Elfrida get up too, though the princess seemed to want to stay in bed, and grizzled petulantly as Lia helped her on with her smock.

  ‘We have to get away from here if we don’t want to become soldiers’ whores,’ Lia said. ‘You wouldn’t like being passed from man to man like a wineskin until you’re all used up and empty inside, would you?’

  She took Elfrida’s hand and led her to the window, their only way out. The ground looked even further down than before, and Elfrida gave one quick peep and stepped back in alarm. ‘I can’t, Lia,’ she wailed feebly. ‘I feel sick just looking down. You go; I’ll stay here.’

  Lia shook her head. ‘I swore to protect you, and that’s what I intend to do. But you have to help me. Let’s see if we can find anything to make a rope with.’

  They looked in the cupboard and the chest, but there was only the bedding. Lia tried tearing it but she just wasn’t strong enough and they had nothing with which to cut it into strips, so in the end she had to admit defeat. It meant Elfrida wouldn’t have to climb through the window after all, which made one of them happy, at least.

  ‘I’ll try to talk Willem out of… you know… having you tonight,’ Lia said, ‘but he might not listen. I’d have a better chance if you were ugly, but you’re not, are you? You’re really pretty, even with your hair tangled like it is. I don’t know what else I can do.’

  Elfrida shrugged weakly. She wouldn’t look Lia in the face, and Lia guessed she was afraid and trying hard not to show it.

  ‘It’s not so bad, losing your maidenhead,’ Lia said, in an attempt to cheer her mistress up. ‘You saw me lose mine, didn’t you? It hurts a bit, I won’t deny, but I survived it and you will too. Tomorrow we’ll get Willem to let us out of this place. I’ll make up a story; maybe I’ll say my mother’s sick and I have to go see her. Once we’re outside we’ll get away somehow. I’ll find a way, don’t worry.’

  ‘I thought you liked Willem,’ Elfrida said.

  ‘Me?’ Lia said in surprise.

  ‘Yes. From the way you talk to him I thought you liked him. I know you liked what he did to you last night, judging by what you were whispering to him.’

  ‘I thought you were asleep,’ Lia said, blushing. ‘But I suppose I do like him, a bit. Well, I don’t dislike him anyway. It’s the others I’m worried about.’

  ‘Osric,’ Elfrida said quietly. ‘I saw the way he looked at you.’

  ‘I know, but let’s not talk about it. Let’s not think about tonight, either. Let’s imagine we’re outside; you, me and Willem. He’s got us tied together with a thong like before. How are we going to get away from him… any ideas?’

  ‘I’m frightened, Lia,’ Elfrida admitted in a tiny voice. ‘I’m frightened about tonight, and I’m frightened for my family.’

  Lia hugged her. Elfrida began to sob quietly, so Lia stroked her back and shushed her, as if consoling a child, then after a while she took her over to the bed and lay her down, drawing up her skirts and easing her knees apart. She lay beside her and began to stroke her sex very gently. After a while Elfrida’s tears ceased and she sighed. Lia stroked her slowly; happy that she could help the princess set aside her troubles for a while, her fears forgotten… for the present at least.

  Willem returned that evening with food and a jug of wine. He seemed in a good mood, and Lia guessed some moneylender had valued his feet above his gold. As they ate Lia saw Elfrida steel herself to say something. She assumed it concerned her virginity, but in fact it was something else entirely.

  ‘Willem,’ she said quietly, ‘do the other soldiers say anything of our king and queen?’

  He looked surprised at the question, as was Lia, but he nodded and answered anyway. ‘I’ve heard the king is dead. Lord Torkel sent in assassins disguised as monks on pilgrimage. They killed the sentries and then the king just before the main attack went in.’

  Lia was afraid that Elfrida, in her grief, would say or do something to give herself away, but the princess kept a tight rein on her feelings. Her face showed little and her hand was almost steady as she reached for the bread. ‘And my… and the queen and the others? What of them?’

  ‘I’ve heard naught of the queen,’ Willem said, ‘though I did hear one of the princesses escaped.’

  After that they ate in silence, passing the jug from one to the other like travellers around a campfire. Lia felt the heavy red wine go straight to her head, and drank sparingly, needing her wits about her. After the meal she took Willem to the corner furthest from the bed and Elfrida as possible.

  ‘Willem,’ she said, ‘I want to talk about Uli.’ She saw his defensive expression and knew it was hopeless, but tried anyway, offering herself in Elfrida’s place, promising to show him delights he’d only ever dreamed about, though she had no idea how she would honour that. But when she’d finished he shook his head.

  ‘It’s not that I don’t like you, Lia,’ he said, ‘I do. I like you a lot, you know that. But it’s not often a man like me gets spoilt for choice, and I intend to make the most of it. And anyway, better me than that lot downstairs, eh? At least I’ll be gentle with her, which is more than I can say for some of them.’

  He had a point, and Lia had run out of arguments, so all that remained was to give Elfrida the bad news. ‘I know,’ the girl murmured when Lia went over to her. ‘I heard. It’s all right, Lia; like you said, you survived it and so will I. Do you think he’ll make me suck his cock? I’d rather not if I don’t have to.’

  ‘I’m sure he won’t. If he wants it sucking, I’ll tell him I’ll do it.’

  ‘Thank you, Lia. I don’t know why you’re so kind to me after all the horrible things I did to you. And Velda too, sacrificing herself so we could get away, when all I ever did was say cruel things to her and beat her, even when she didn’t deserve it.’

  Elfrida’s eyes filled with tears and Lia hugged her again. Across the room she saw Willem take off his clothes. She helped Elfrida out of her smock, picking straw out of the distraught princess’s hair and combing the wayward locks with her fingers as best she could, feeling the princess trembling, encouraging her with soft words.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Despite their increasing intimacy and mutual affection, it was clear Willem still didn’t trust Lia. When she tried to persuade him to take her and Uli out of the house the next morning a look of suspicion came over his face.

  ‘Now why would I want to do a daft thing like that?’ he asked. ‘You’d run the second my back was turned.’

  ‘Run?’ she said with all the innocence she could muster. ‘Why would I run? I’m your girl now, aren’t I? I’d better be, after all the cock you’ve given me. Or is that how archers treat their women?’

  He just grinned and shook his head, and she knew her attempt to deflect him hadn’t worked. She began to realise he was less of a fool than she’d taken him for. She’d thought she could use female wiles to mix him up so he’d drop his guard. Now she saw it wasn’t going to be that easy.

  ‘My girl?’ he said, his grin rueful now. ‘That’ll be the day. Don’t get me wrong, I’d have you as my girl quick as a flash, but you wouldn’t stick. Once a rabbit always a rabbit, I reckon. A flash of white rump and you’d be away through the hedge and gone.’

  She put on a wounded expression, as though hurt by the suggestion she would run out on him. That didn’t work either, for he just laughed and picked up his things and left, the click of the lock saying it all – she’d failed, and they were prisoners still.

  Willem had told her not to expect him back before nightfall. The archers had been ordered to sweep a wood where some Attland soldiers were rumoured to be hiding, and it would be slow going, he said, poking in every thicket and bush. Before he left he made sure they had food and drink to tide them over, and a buck
et for their ablutions.

  Having settled down for a long wait, Lia was surprised to hear the key rattle in the lock shortly after noon. She stood up as the door swung open, but the greeting died on her lips. It wasn’t Willem who walked in but Osric, with a second man close behind, with an ugly red scar running down his face, from the corner of his right eye to his chin. Lia remembered him – or remembered the scar, at least – from downstairs.

  ‘Wh-where’s Willem?’ she stammered.

  ‘He won’t be coming,’ Osric said.

  ‘Them Attlanders were tougher than we thought,’ the second man said.

  Lia felt herself go cold inside. ‘He’s… he’s dead?’ she whispered.

  Osric’s lips twisted in a mirthless smile. ‘No, he’s not dead. The silly bugger took a spear in the leg. He’s in the infirmary.’

  Relief flooded her and she sat down on the bed. Scarface approached slowly, like a lynx stalking a lamb, his eyes on Elfrida all the while. She moved closer to Lia, trembling.

  ‘It’ll be a week or two afore he’s up and about, I reckon,’ Osric went on, gazing about the room with exaggerated indifference, ‘and I doubt he’ll be winning any foot races even then, but he’s alive all right. Gave me the key, he did, and asked me to see you two fed and watered. Worried about you, apparently. Poor bastard’s cunt-whipped, if you ask me, but I said I’d see to it, him being a fellow archer and all.’

  He tossed the key on the table where it landed with a clatter. Lia kept her expression neutral. Though she didn’t like the man, and certainly didn’t trust him, it wouldn’t do to let it show.

  ‘Naturally I told him there’s a price,’ he went on. ‘He wasn’t keen, but he’s out of choices thanks to an Attland spear. He wanted to keep you for himself, if you can believe that. Claimed you’re his girl, or some such crap, and weren’t to be touched. He said we could have the use of your cousin here, but not you.’

  ‘That’s right,’ scarface said, reaching out and grabbing Elfrida’s wrist. ‘We get to fuck little Uli. Fuck her good too, we will.’

  Elfrida whimpered and shrank away from him. Lia put her arms around her and held on tight. She glared at scarface, silently challenging him to try and take her. He held on too, creating a stalemate.

  ‘I told him no dice,’ Osric said. ‘We get the pair of you, and we get you now. I said if he didn’t like the deal I’d lock you in and let you starve. He knows I’d do it, too. So what do you think he said?’

  ‘He agreed,’ Lia said grimly, her eyes fixed on scarface.

  ‘Smart girl. That’s right, he agreed. So then… any guesses as to what happens next?’

  ‘We get fucked,’ she said bluntly.

  ‘Right again. You get well and truly fucked, starting right now.’

  He began to strip off his clothes. Scarface tugged on Elfrida’s arm, claiming his prize, and Lia resisted, though it was a tug-o-war she had no hope of winning. Sooner or later she would have to yield Elfi up.

  It was sooner, in fact, for Osric, naked now, slapped her hard across the face sending her sprawling. Scarface pulled Elfrida out of her grasp and gathered her in his brawny arms. Lia sat up and turned to the bearded man.

  ‘Osric, please,’ she begged, ‘I’ll do anything you want—’

  ‘Yes, you will,’ he said harshly. ‘And you’ll start by shutting your mouth and keeping it shut. Don’t think you can cunt-whip me like you did Willem, batting them long eyelashes and promising treats. From now on you do what you’re told when you’re told, understand?’

  ‘Yes, I understand,’ she said. ‘Just please don’t—’

  He slapped her again, even harder than before, and she flopped back on the bed, stunned by the force of the blow. Osric grabbed a handful of her hair and hauled her upright. ‘Don’t hear too good, do you?’ he snarled, his face just inches from hers. ‘I’ll say it one more time: shut your fucking mouth and keep it shut. We’ve ways of dealing with girls who don’t do as they’re told, and I promise you won’t like it. There’s three score men-at-arms billeted just along the street, and though we don’t normally associate with scum like that, in this case I’m prepared to make an exception. One more fucking peep out of you and I’ll invite ’em round to join the queue. Probably they fuck about as well as they fight, which is like shit, but it’s quantity not quality we’re after, right?’

  He yanked her hair, almost pulling it out by the roots. ‘You hearing me loud and clear, Attlander?’

  ‘Yes!’ she squealed.

  ‘Yes, sir!’

  ‘Yes, sir!’

  ‘Good. I’m glad we’re understanding each other better.’ He gave her hair a final yank then let go. ‘Now get them things off, the pair of you, and be quick about it.’

  Lia stood up, rubbing her sore head, and took off her smock. Scarface relaxed his grip on Elfrida, who wriggled free and flew into Lia’s arms, sobbing.

  ‘It’s all right,’ Lia murmured. ‘Just do as they say.’

  She helped Elfrida out of her smock. Osric looked them up and down. ‘What do you reckon then, Dedrick?’ he said. ‘Ripe for fucking, would you say?’

  ‘They’re ripe, right enough,’ scarface growled. ‘Want me to call the lads?’

  ‘No need to make ’em struggle up all them stairs.’ He nodded at Elfrida. ‘Just take that one down and give her a good seeing-to. I’ll stay here with the stroppy bitch.’

  Lia expected a tearful protest from Elfrida, perhaps even outright rebellion, but the girl must have realised it was useless to fight them, for she went with scarface meekly enough, giving Lia one last, sorrowful glance, then they were gone.

  ‘Pick up them smocks,’ Osric said. Lia did so, he held out his hand and she gave them to him. He walked to the window and threw them out into the street in what she assumed was a symbolic gesture.

  ‘Won’t be needing them no more,’ he said. ‘Now get over here and bend over.’

  She went to him and leaned forward from the waist, resting her forearms on her knees. She heard him spit, into his palm she guessed, and a few seconds later his cock prodded her anus and his hands grasped her hips. His cock pushed and she tried to relax to accommodate him, but as he eased inside her she groaned, for she’d forgotten how much it hurt. He reached underneath and grasped her breasts, then began to drive into her. He rammed hard, grunting profanities at her, and she gritted her teeth and fought to accept the onslaught. For several minutes he fucked her rear passage, then withdrew. She gave a gasp of relief as his cock left her, surprised at the move, for she’d feared a long session. She knew it wasn’t over yet for he hadn’t climaxed, but it seemed he was done with her bottom, at least for now.

  He penetrated her again, this time in her vagina, and was soon thrusting vigorously as before, and as before he fucked her for three or four minutes then pulled out. ‘Kneel down,’ he ordered.

  She knelt as ordered and he indicated his cock to suck, which she did, not wanting to displease him, hoping he would mellow a little towards them. But as she sucked he grasped her breasts again, his fingers pressing deep into her flesh, clearly intending to hurt her. He pinched her nipples and twisted them and she grimaced, her hands rising instinctively to fend him off.

  ‘Poorly trained, I see,’ he sneered, ‘like all Attlander females. But I’ll soon knock you into shape, never fear. By the time I’m finished you’ll be quiet and obedient as any lapdog licking her master’s feet.’

  He pushed her away and went to his pouch for a length of cord. He tied her wrists behind her back, so tightly that the cord cut into her flesh. She kept silent, knowing her utterances both angered and aroused him. When she was secured he stood in front of her and nudged his cock to her lips once more. ‘That’s the way, Attlander,’ he goaded as she started to suck him, ‘take my cock good and deep.’

  He grabbed her hair with one hand and pulled her onto him, so that his cock
pressed into her throat. She gagged and tried to pull away, but he was having none of it. He held her there, pushing into her while she gasped for air, his other hand crawling to her breast and he twisted her nipple again, compounding her misery.

  She sucked as best she could, desperate to get it over with, but she suspected he was holding back to prolong her suffering, and then at last he began to quicken his pace.

  ‘Suck hard now,’ he muttered, his voice thick with lust. ‘Suck the spunk out of me and drink it down.’

  Faster and faster he shunted with his hips, giving her no chance to catch a breath. She panicked and tried desperately to pull back, but still he held her fast and then his seed erupted into her throat, making her cough and heave.

  ‘Swallow it!’ he snarled, and she dutifully obeyed. He spasmed, emptying his balls into her, and she miserably accepted every drop. At last his wilting cock withdrew and she gulped precious air, gratefully filling her lungs.

  He went to the bed and flopped down on his back. He stayed like that for many minutes while Lia remained kneeling, not daring to move without his permission or make so much as a sound. Eventually he sat up and looked about the room. He saw the food on the table and went over, tearing off a chunk of bread and washing it down with wine.

  ‘You hungry?’ he asked without looking at her.

  ‘Yes, sir.’ She wasn’t, but hoped it would give her respite; whilst eating she could hardly be doing anything else for him.

  ‘Get yourself downstairs then,’ he said. ‘Ask them for the gruel.’

  She knew it was a trick, she even thought she could guess what the gruel was, but she stood up and went anyway, her hands still bound behind her, having no other option. The stairs were steep and she went slowly, knowing she wouldn’t be able to save herself if she slipped.

  A heart-rending sight met her eyes as she entered the parlour. Elfrida lay on her back on a table in the middle of the room, her legs in the air. One of the soldiers was fucking her, holding her ankles and thrusting rapidly, and to Lia’s dismay he was using Elfrida’s rear passage. Elfrida was moaning pitifully, rolling her head from side to side as though that might somehow ease the shame and discomfort. The rest of the men stood or slouched on stools, watching the show. Two of them, to judge from their disarranged clothing, had already taken their turn, while the rest still awaited theirs.