Cáel saves a spirit and risks losing his soul.
In 16 parts, By FinalStand. Listen to the ►Podcast at Connected.
Life gives you two chances to get it right; be who you want to be, or who you need to be.
(Making choices we can live with)
"Trouble," Wiesława relayed to our vehicle. Velma had an 'issue' at my apartment. She'd gone ahead in order to see to my security. My GL-550 had come within a block of the apartment when Wiesława's call came.
"Tell me what the problem is," I demanded. Wiesława relayed my request.
"Your roommate won't let them search your bedroom," was the answer I got back.
"Fuck that," I grumbled. "Tell Velma I'm coming up. Wiesława, take us to the front of my place." She gave me a cautious look, testing my resolve. Sensing that I'd jump out if I had to, she spoke over her blue-tooth to Velma. She wisely didn't pass on Velma's vitriol at me poking my nose into my SD's business, protecting me.
As we pulled up and double-parked, everyone piled out.
"Are we going to need any "extra" assistance?" Delilah suggested. Considering the flock of 'follow-up' cars and SUV's tailing us, I wasn't overly worried about the law enforcement angle.
What was I worried about? It wasn't dark yet on a weekday and Timothy was home. Since Velma would have informed me if he was toting around the Black Death, this had to be a crisis of a personal nature, most likely my personal nature. Wiesława struggled to keep pace with me as I took the stairs three at a time. She'd given up on me letting her go first.
At the third floor landing we came across one of Velma's team covering that approach. A second member was at the door and from inside, I could hear Velma cursing in Hittite under her breath. But first,
"I really don't think you'll need your sword, Saku," Delilah advised. "Timothy's not that kind of trouble."
"Hey Velma, Crewe (who, together with Constanza, I'd sparred with, way long ago) and Timothy," I loudly announced myself just as I stepped in. "What seems to be the problem?" Timothy sighed and gave a head-toss to my closed bedroom door. Since I didn't want to be an asshole, I turned to Velma. "Let me send a neutral party to check things out." I had so many to choose from, Miyako, Selena, Vincent and Delilah.
Saku might kill on general principle. Buffy and Wiesława were Amazons and I was beginning to think that Amazons, shit. I sighed, groaned and lowered my head. I looked to Timothy and clapped my wrists together (slave-like). He nodded. Rhada. Mother-puss-bucket! What was I going to do?
"I've changed my mind, Velma, the room is fine," I started off. "I know for a certainty that my life is not imperiled by my visitor. Everyone else, I am about to have sex, so could you please head out to a restaurant and give me an hour, or two?" I took in the rest. Timothy coughed and pointed to the ceiling. "Three hours, " another cough, "four hours." No more coughing.
"Who is it?" Buffy snarled, lest I forgot that I was her scratching post. She was resenting the lack of scratching going on between us. I was about to tell her I needed some private time,, or just not tell her anything. But I was working on not being a jerk. I pulled Buffy to Timothy's room and gave her the lowdown. She mulled over the information. Her wrapping a hand around the back of my head and pulling me into a steamy kiss was unlooked for.
"Okay," she smiled. "Please don't think I'm not righteously pissed with the two of you, but I know you are doing the best you can with your limited survival instincts.
I'll take care of everyone." Off she went and in moments, the room had cleared out until it was just Timothy and me.
"She stopped by work this afternoon looking pretty badly beaten up, emotionally," he explained. "I doubt she's slept in three days and she's really confused about all kinds of things. I was in the process of letting her know you weren't going to be back for two more days when the Welcome Wagon arrived.
I figured the last thing she needed, before seeing you, was public exposure," he said.
"Thanks buddy," I hugged him. "A few hundred guys tried to kill me and Aya last night, so we came back early. Now," I steeled myself, opened the door and entered my room. Rhada was at the head of the bed, her knees pulled up to her chin and my pillows stacked up around her in some sad effort at a visual barrier.
Her eyes had a sunken quality to them that suggested someone two steps past hopelessness. She was waiting for me to say something, which was an added truckload of bad news in my book. I began to undress in an unhurried manner. The shirt came off. Working the belt free came next.
"I've missed you," I said in a calm, yet positive manner. No response.
I finished undressing while she remained frozen and emotionally clouded. I made some semi-educated guesses. Her mind was probably an incomprehensible cyclone of clashing upbringing principles and adult desires. She didn't need to be built up, Rhada needed to be rescued. That kind of emotional crisis was something I didn't need, or want, at this moment in my life.
Rhada had nowhere else to go. Her martial bravery was of no use in the matter of her heart's insistent call. Her fear was of a different nature. She was looking down that unholy, dark corridor that was the last walk of all failed Amazons. She craved her personal slavery to a man and master. It was tough to move farther away from her native culture than that, or so she thought.
"Have you missed me?" I asked with authority. I ran two fingers along her left jawline. Rhada nodded. It was a rather feeble effort. "I asked you a question."
"Yes," she sniffled.
"I am curious why you are hiding your body from me, Rhada," I prodded her. I wasn't 'curious'; I was peeved and she knew it
"I don't know why I'm here," she moaned.
"Oh, " I mused. I was on her like lightning.
She struggled weakly as we rolled around until she was ass-up on my lap. I had her right arm pinned to her back. Two sharp blows rained down on her covered posterior. Just two for now.
"I asked you a question. We both know your answer was inadequate," I spoke softly. Two more stinging, open-handed slaps to her buttocks. "I have defeated you in battle," two more smacks. "I have repeatedly taken you by force as my captive," two more with her accompanying moan.
"What makes you think you can defy me now, Rhada?" The promised blows did not fall. "I own you, don't I?" She moaned wantonly from anticipation of the spanking that wasn't coming. The lesson was simple: punishment and reward were mine to dispense, not for her to demand.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled.
"The incompetent are sorry, failures are sorry, useless people are sorry," I stated, followed by two more loud, cupped-hand blows on her ass. "People apologize when they commit an error. People apologize if they plan to learn from their mistakes. Now, are you someone else's miserable excuse for a human being, or are you MY person who learns from her lapses in judgment?"
"I bring shame to my people," she whimpered. Two more smacks fell upon her backside.
"Why do you insist on insulting me, Rhada?" two more, far harder, spanks landed causing her to gasp in pain. "Of all the Amazons I have defeated, I picked you to be mine, captive, no other. I thought you had the fierce spirit worthy of my fighting prowess.
Your crawling up and dying inside disappoints me," I continued. It didn't disappoint me; it scared me. Rhada was so fiery and feisty. Seeing her mentally ground down into a crippled state ate at my mind.
"I'm afraid, Cáel," she choked out between her tears.
The emotional riptide she was going through caused her to shake uncontrollably. I telegraphed my intent to move her, face down, to the middle of the bed. As I straddled her, I dragged her hands over her head and crossed her wrists. I nuzzled her shoulder, the crux of her neck, and ear.
"What are you afraid of, my captive?" I murmured.
The term 'captive' along with the gentle affections brought forth a pleasurable response from her.
"I am perverse," she whispered. "I want you to take me as I cry and scream. I want to feel your body pressing down on me as you are doing now.
I beg to be spanked, lashed, tease and tormented by you. Steal my sight and hearing. Render me helpless and utterly at your mercy, my Cáel," she pleaded. I'd allow the 'my'.
"And?" I mused.
"And?" she was confused.
"I was waiting for you to request something perverse, something I wouldn't do to you," I explained. I punctuated that by pulling her shirt aside and biting down on her shoulder strong enough to leave deep indentations on her flesh.
"Aha!" she yelped. She still wasn't making the connection, how incredibly stubborn of her.
"Do you doubt my bravery?" She didn't respond, so I bit into and worried her left earlobe. "Do you doubt my dedication to the Host?"
"No," she moaned. "You are an excellent warrior."
"So we both agree I have earned the right to take you as my captive," I teased her.
"This is why I find your insolence to be so confusing," I kept up my routine. "It is almost as if you would rather be bound, whipped, beaten, spanked, bitten, lashed, covered with hot wax, blindfolded, and gagged instead of giving me my due obedience." Rhada's deep sensual moan was what I had been looking for. She spread her legs slightly then pushed her ass against my crotch.
"I am yours," she sniffled slightly. "You defeated me in battle and I can expect no other fate."
"Dates take off their clothes. Slaves strip before their masters," I related. Not true. I had enjoyed multiple stripteases in my time and even give a few. What Rhada wanted to know was that I hungered for her naked flesh.
"You are on top of me," she protested. I pulled her braid to the side and chomped down her right shoulder. That earned me another squeal. Rhada's initial efforts were frantic, inspired by her pain. Within seconds she recalled our shared moments and slowed down. She knew I liked to watch her clothes come off and go back on. I'm odd that way.
I rewarded her obedience with alternating kisses and nips to her freshly exposed flesh. As we progressed, Rhada became more insistent for sexual attention. Her finely honed thighs and abdominal muscles ground her buttocks against me in a continuous, circular motion. In our current state, she couldn't get her pants and panties off.
When I rolled off, Rhada shot me a worried look. First she flashed up fear because she mistook my look for one of anger. In a second, she keyed to my real mood. I was going to own her, stretch her to her limits and then take it one step further. I was going to use my war captive as I saw fit, rip my pleasure from her passion and break her doubts down to their foundations.
She shimmied out of her remaining clothing. I rummaged up the appropriate toys with a bit of an amused snort. Odette had organized the 'toy box' (including a bill for 'modernizing and updating' of my equipment.) What girl does that for a guy, categorize sexual aids she knows you are going to use on other women in your life?
"Loosen your braid," I directed her after I turned and soaked in the view. She was in the center of the bed, kneeling with her buttock resting on her heels. Rhada's hands rested just above the knees, her great brown eyes had more of their old spark to them. Part of that was caused by my words sinking into her psyche. The rest was her love affair with my physique.
Me and all my scars, plus I had a new one for her to judge and appreciate.
"Small caliber round from a Seven Pillar's QCW-Type 05," I informed her. Amazons loved their weaponry and their martial exploits.
"Did you kill him?" she asked with her intensity overcoming her attempt at a demur nature.
"Him and a bunch of other guys," I chose to answer as she unbraided her silky, black hair that cascade down to the small of her back. I was the son of a Chicago working stiff, not some super-soldier.
"You fought for the Host and killed our enemies," she tried to ease my mind.
I wanted to feel bad about what had happened. The horror I had inflicted would never go away.
"Most of them were burned alive," I enhanced her experience by ripping open my own, fresh mental scar tissue. For Rhada, ruthlessness, martial valor and battlefield accomplishments were their own aphrodisiac.
In her translation of events, her captor had proven yet again he was a fearless, masculine champion, a lion-heart. I put one knee on the bed and waited. Rhada had to shuffle to me. It was interesting to see the magnetic effect of the three items I held in my casual grasp, a leather collar, a thin silver-coated chain and a pair of leather handcuffs. I motioned with the cuffs first.
I left it for her to discern my intention. I wanted her to put her wrists forward, yet I wanted to train her to know my wishes. Not only would it keep her mind and perceptions occupied, it would give her a needed sense of learning and broadening her education. It was a very subtle narrowing of the eyes that I used to tip her off.
She half-turned with her wrists at her back, caught my 'displeasure' and then extended her arms toward me. I cuffed her right wrist, then her left wrist and finally cinched them together with their two bronze links, all the while demanding she retain eye contact with me. With our silent measuring of our true grit, we established our positions.
Without that clash of wills, everything else would be tawdry trinkets of no value. As she accepted those bonds, she set aside her willingness to challenge me and embraced our new sense of harmony. A corner had been turned. Submission became the only outcome her destiny allowed. Mamitu; the Amazon belief that the Goddesses put nothing before the sisters that experience hadn't prepared them for.
Out of arrogance, she had struck me. Destiny had prepared me for the fight and I had won. In tribute to destiny, Rhada had acknowledged the lesson and was finally learning from it. I yanked her wrists up roughly until they were extended high over her head. Rhada kept them there, as I intended, because now was time for the collar.
This time she couldn't keep her eyes from flickering to the device until it passed beneath her chin. With the cuffs, I had been deliberate and relentlessly purposeful. The collar was an easy gesture, me exerting my rights as her captor and master, nothing more. I spared her a smile. Her dark brown-olive complexion, nearly black around the areola and nipple, was extended by the raising of the arms overhead for my viewing pleasure.
Lastly, there was the chain. It had clasps at both ends, so I hooked it around the single ring on the collar and pulled Rhada toward me. I feasted on her lips, touched tongue to tongue inside and outside our mouths, and ended up chewing her lower lip. As I pulled and plucked it with my teeth, my fingers began to coax a stiffening of her teats.
Gentle caresses turned into vigorous touching that evolved into painful pinches between the thumb and forefinger and energetic plucking. I let my kisses migrate from her lips to nose (briefly) then her cheeks and the underside of her jawline. Rhada made a gasping-choking noise as I nibbled her flesh.
My distraction must have worked because she missed my hands moving down. The middle and forefinger of my left became a wedge working between her buttocks.
Her fluids turned her sex into warm molasses coating folds of molten tenderness. My solo probing finger didn't penetrate, not yet. I ran the length of her vestibule, rubbing her openings. Rhada expressed a piteous whine as I stoked her sexual frustrations. I ratcheted up my torture when my left twin fingers reached her sphincter.
Tap the opening, tease her with false penetrations. My lips reached her neck right beneath her ear. I pulled in the flesh with a powerful suction, grabbing the tiny tip of taut flesh with my teeth. Her dolorous pleading ramped up as I delved my fingers in simultaneously. Rhada's anal ring pulsed, alternating between ushering my forefinger inside and resisted my progress.
I was breaching her defenses without lubrication. It was wiggling, tentative advancement on my part and sensations of extreme sensitivity on her part. Having been denied sex for so long (if you counted two weeks as long) all the while fantasizing to the point of tripwire anticipation, she was quickly rising to euphoric heights.
"Do not," I cautioned her. Rhada trembled. Her groans became guttural as she reached down into her physical conditioning to exhibit some control over her racing heart rate and labored breathing. Had I stopped my assault, she might have held out. I didn't. The task for us both was to push her past the point of control. She was going to lose, that was given.
How she lost was the lesson. What level of stimulation was going to be too much? She fought it with every fiber of her being. She fought it for me. Rhada sweated profusely and vibrated like a gypsy tambourine. She could not win. She knew I never intended for her to win. But I wanted her to reach down deep and fight.
She would fail and I would punish her for her failure, but it would be a punishment that she felt was well-deserved, and she craved that. Even her failure was part of our dynamic, captor and captive. Pain with a purpose. Pain as a thread that united us. She could not wound herself the way I could. Everything she could inflict, she would sense and prepare for.
I provided torment from unexpected angles and stimuli in a myriad of forms. Everything faded until only the touch and the pleasure of the messenger remained.
"Urah, " her opening declaration of the overwhelming tide was animalistic and desperate.
For fifteen seconds I continued to play with her as her climax turned upon itself, building and becoming more chaotic. In the back of my mind, I realized my sex play was being cruel to my neighbors. I had to hope the anonymous death threats would keep Mr. Fiennes at bay.
I'd deal with my 'friendly' female neighbor later, once I figured out how to repay her for her patience and the cookies she'd sent over when I was ill. For Rhada, it was a temporary cessation of my sexual attention and allowing her to rest her body against mine. I admired her ability to hold her arms aloft. Still,
"You failed," I whispered into her ear. Rhada hiccupped. I dragged my fingers covered with hr juice up her mound, abdomen, around the belly button and between her breasts. At the conclusion of the trip was the resounding 'click' of that end of the leash being attached to her collar. "I don't think you have been humble before me."
I looped the chain around her shoulder, then dragged it over her left breast. She shivered. My next stop was beneath her right breast. Her nipple seemed to swell up as I rubbed the other loop all over her areola. Next under the right mammary, then looping the chain around her right arm before reaching around the back and securing the second clasp.
It was both a symbol of her captivity and body ornamentation. The shiny silver links contrasted with her dusky, sweaty flesh.
"You are my captive, yet you insist in indulging your own pleasure before mine," I chastised her. "You know what that means," I added. Actually, we didn't know what that meant.
It was an opportunity for me to get creative and for Rhada to let her imagination run wild. Her body could not recoil from what she could not sense coming. I was forever tricking and distracting her, letting her true passion burst forth from a discipline that would have constricted and strangled it.
By tying her down, I was setting her free. For the moment, freedom took the shape of a flogger. Rada was turned to face the headboard, her handcuffed wrists secured to the suspension rig above my bed. She did not see the thick black satin sash that became her blindfold, or the twin blue sashes that I added to each carpus. She could only feel the light pressure on her cheekbones and wrists.
I pressed her legs apart by placing my knees between her calves. I was at her back. She could feel my engorged member, yet couldn't trap it with her thighs. It was not her toy to play with.
Rule one of flogging: no wrap around. Always know precisely where the tips of the lashes will fall. Don't get carried away. Always avoid unprotected bone structures.
Rhada craved that lash. It was right up there with dual penetration on her list of favorite things. Because of that, I draped the lash over first her right ass cheek, then her left. I let her feel the fibers of each 'tail' that completed the device. I considered it a re-introduction. Her tremors confirmed that her memories were exciting her. The first blow fell on her stomach between her belly button and rib cage.
I leaned to my right to make sure the tips came down between the abdominals and left oblique. Rhada yipped. On previous encounters I had used a ball gag on her. This time I wanted her to howl wantonly and let her bare her carnality as an open act of defiance to a world that tried to define her. The next strike was awkward. I planted in on the top of her right breast, close enough to the nipple to incite fear.
I pivoted, leaned back on my knees and brought the third blow down below her left shoulder blade. I got what I wanted. The fear of pain turned into the joy of torment. She was trying to twist her body to receive the next touch of the lash, wanting it. I denied her, choosing my own sites with care and with a deliberate desire to heighten the whirlwind of passion growing in her mind.
Gasps from the lash strikes turned into a constant, low, rumbling moan. When the pain elevated her to a detached state of being, I grabbed her hips, lifted her up and sat her back down on me. Rhada bucked up against me as I penetrated her. Her moan began as a piteous whine. She was so close once more. Rhada's energetic response to our coupling allowed me to free up my lash-hand.
Her thighs and calves flexed as she sought to bring me ever deeper inside. Her copious fluids were marking the impact of our flesh with a loud, sticky, slapping noise. The knob at the base of the lash gently caressed her hip. Ever so slowly, I let it travel along the crease between her abdomen and right thigh until its inevitable contact with her button’s hood.
Rhada's gyrations became less rhythmic and more frantic. She was starting to come unglued. Her passion enflamed me. Both our bodies gleamed with the sheen of sweat. I felt my own release stirring. Moral crunch time. I wasn't wearing a condom and the pressure on me to bring daughters into my House lay heavily on my soul.
One final bizarre frontier.
"Rhada, have you named our daughter?" I rasped into her ear. I could still pull out and shoot my seed over her fantastic ass.
"Parvati," she hissed between gulps of air. No hesitation. More and more, we were children of the same Race.
She was ahead of me. Despite our child being a political disaster for both of us, she dreamed and her dreams were of a daughter named Parvati, a Hindi Mother Goddess. If we had a son, that thought was buried in my orgasm. I was still able to rub the lash knob down until it touched my thrusting penis and scrotum.
From that position, I rose to coax her unshielded button with the woven leathery surface. A few seconds of that, then I had to let go. My convulsions made it unsafe to keep the knob pressed against her sensitive tip. The knob, the feeling of my cream spilling forth over her wetness, either or both brought her to completion.
Her howls turned into whimpers as we coasted down. Simultaneous euphoria? Hell, me cumming so soon in a sexual encounter, Kimberly trained me better than that. We had achieved an undeniable synchronicity, and that troubled me. Rhada and I were fucked up. We shouldn't keep running headlong toward any kind of relationship, yet here we were.
She was trying to maneuver her chin around her suspended arms in a blind attempt to kiss me. I met her half-way. I put the lash across her upper thighs then let it roll down. My left hand cupped her left breast, teasing up her nipple to an excited fit. My right cupped her nethers and gently massaged her.
"I'm far from being done with you," I growled between kisses. She buried that promise with her lips and tongue. As she broke the lip-lock, a secretive smile graced her lips. She had no idea that I caught it, so I could have let it slide. "I saw that," I said softly. Since she couldn't keep her happiness at bay, she chose to turn her head forward and lower her chin to her chest. Yes, I was going to have to get her for that.
(Revelations and continuations)
Rhada was a mess. I began working the vibrator out of her. She gave a feeble thrust of the hips to tell me that despite her hoarse voice, welts over some tender places and the whole room stinking of sweat, semen and vaginal fluids, she still wanted a few more seconds of artificial invigoration. I smacked her glowing backside with a light tap then removed our anal toy.
"No more for you," I scolded her. "We have company coming. And that means showering for us both and dressing for me." Rhada's limbs moved with leaden slowness as she propped herself up on her elbows and looked over her shoulder at me. Since I had not enlightened her about my plan, she was showing some deep anxiety, the 'can I escape notice before anyone else finds out' impulse.
Rhada's efforts to right herself were painful to watch. I short-circuited her stress by sweeping her up in my arms 'bride-style' to her startled 'aha'. Making for the door was not on my agenda. Forcing her to make a choice was. A few playful swings and she smiled despite her desire to be dour. A few more twirls earned me a playful kick of the legs signaling the end of her muscle toxicity and a return to mobility.
Not a word was spoken. My intent was clear and I reinforced that by unclasping one end of her leash once she was back on her own two feet. We stood a few centimeters apart, close enough we could feel each other's heat. The chain was unwound from one shoulder, tugged beneath her breasts and finally the other shoulder came free. The moment of honesty was before her. I turned and walked to the door.
I tugged at the leash, but she would not move. I looked back to make some sense of her mood. Her eyes were downcast and her bound hands had risen up to grasp her collar and fiddle with the leash's clasp. I nearly blundered at that moment. I wanted to argue with her, to make my case for her confronting her desires. In hindsight, it was no longer my battle.
Two short breathes were followed by one very deep one. Rhada's hand fell to her side as she stepped toward me, eyes still downcast. I turned as if nothing had happened. The door opened and we stepped out, to multiple sets of eyes. My comrades hadn't given me four hours. No, they had sat in my cramped living room and listened to my sexual antics instead.
Undoubtedly there had been a running commentary, complete with peanut gallery. My friends were somewhat freaky, like me.
"Hey Rhada," the first one spoke. That was my fuck-buddy and Girl Friday, Odette Sievert. She already knew my captive Amazon's secret and the importance of keeping it hidden.
Sakuniyas had our sole chair. Timothy, Sovann Mean and Delilah shared our, new sofa, it had to be the sleeper-sofa Timothy had teased me about. Odette sat on the floor, back to the sofa, between Timothy's and Sovann's legs. Wiesława was standing with her back to the support that separated the living room from our kitchenette.
Her look of astonishment said it all, a long time listening to sex taken to a whole new level she hadn't even imagined existed. Timothy gave me a low whistle. Two fingers, his bedroom. That was 'Bro'-speak for Miyako and Selena having crashed out on his bed, so I could keep track of where all my women were. By the way, gay guys are 'Bro's too.
Liking dick does not stop them from having a dick and all the accompanying malfunctions associated with that affliction.
"Shower," I addressed to the room and off Rhada and I went. She was psychically numb when we made it to the bathroom.
She had been paraded forth on a chain, naked before strangers and stranger-Amazons. I removed her chain first, letting it drag over her body. The cuffs came next. I handed them to Rhada, along with the chain and had her set them on the sink, her belongings, thus reinforcing it was her choice to let me be her master. The collar was waterproof, so it stayed on.
The hot water from the showerhead invigorated our flesh, washed away our sweat and misted up the bathroom with is vapor. There was no sex. Our contact was sensual and compassionate. Rhada unwound her fatigue and loosened her anxieties as I ran my hands over her bruised, lashed and tender flesh. I had her bathe me when I finished with her.
Once the shower was off, I opened the stall door, grabbed the first towel and gave it to Rhada.
"I love you," she murmured in Hittite, her face half buried in the fabric. I retrieved the second towel and started to dry off.
"There is no other in my life," I sighed.
And there can be no such love in my life, Rhada," I confessed. "Twenty-four hours ago I nearly died. That is what most Amazons will think about. They will talk about the numbers I killed and the Amazon lives I saved. They will not dwell on Saku, that's Shammuramat, The Friendless, former Queen of Assyria and last surviving member of House Anat.
The only two things that I want to remember about today are you and her. You, because you make me feel something besides fear and confusion. With you, I feel, right." She snuggled into me, wrapping her arms tightly around my waist. "With Saku, it is the importance of a second chance. I think a lot of us need a second chance."
"If you say so," she sighed happily. She hadn't gotten an 'I love you. too'. She had been given 'you are important to me, more than battle honors and praise' which, in her book was almost as good. For tonight, it was good enough. From there, it was a simple matter of drying off. I dried her back, Rhada dried mine.
The chain went on effortlessly. Her cuffs went on but weren't linked together. I put my towel around my waist. Rhada used hers to dry her long, thick hair. Chain in hand, we returned to the living room. Wiesława shattered the serenity of the moment.
"Rhada, was he that sexually enjoyable?" the Polish Amazon inquired eagerly.
Saku's head whipped toward Wiesława then to Rhada.
"That, 'thing' is one of us?" the Ancient One snapped. Rhada flinched.
"She's not a thing, she is one of us," I responded with amusement, not anger. "Considering your lousy grasp of virtually every relationship you've been in, I count your input to be childish."
"Childish?" Sakuniyas growled as she stood. It was 'everyone stands up' time. Except for Odette, who had missed out on the clues of upcoming violence. Saku glared at Wiesława. "Are you as weak as this one?" she indicated Rhada.
"What are you talking about?" Wiesława was confused. "They are just playing."
Now the naïve boot was on someone else's foot.
"She is his slave!" Saku yelled at Wiesława. "How can you tolerate an Amazon being that way?"
"What?" Wiesława looked to me and Rhada.
"That's right, Wiesława," I met her questing eyes. "There are three Amazons in this room. Saku is not one of us, but you are. Tell me, who restrains the freedom of any Amazon?"
"No one," was her automatic response.
"Don't cloak your abomination in clever words, Ishara," Saku spat.
"That's Wakko Ishara," Delilah corrected her. I ignored Sakuniyas for the moment.
"Wiesława, am I curtailing Rhada's freedom in any way? When she is with me, she is my slave and body servant. We engaged in combat, I won, so she services me," I explained.
"No, " Wiesława mumbled. She was torn between 'this must be a joke' and 'redeem your honor, bitches'.
"That's right," Saku sizzled. "He has made an Amazon his slave." Wiesława was about ready to switch sides (join with Saku) when the peanut gallery started laughing.
"What are you laughing about?" Wiesława spun on them angrily, her English skills starting to break.
"Wiesława, if Rhada suddenly screamed out 'help me' what would happen?" Odette snickered. That stumped her.
"What does that matter? She is supposed to be an Amazon," Saku countered in her loud voice.
"Sakuniyas, how do you think Rhada ended up here?" Timothy regarded our rude guest.
"Don't change the subject," Saku growled.
"This is the subject, Saku-luv," Delilah snorted. "This is Rhada choosing to be free. This is who she wants to be when she's with Cáel. In fact, hers is the greatest display of fearlessness I've ever witnessed, and keep in mind the crowd we are running in."
That barb struck three different women in three different ways. For Rhada, it was what I'd been pushing her toward the entire night, yet it took a woman declaring it to make it real in her mind. Her choice to be my captive really was a brave thing. She was defying her conventions to do what her heart demanded. If I hadn't had my hands full, I would have kissed Delilah.
For Wiesława, it placed her on the horns of a dilemma. Amazons strove to be free. She was honor-bound to see that Rhada was free, yet Rhada was choosing to be a slave, she was back to being undecided about this entire ordeal. Saku saw Delilah's statement congealing the resistance to her conservative ideals (despite her having broken them herself).
Sovann took the break in the action to stand up, stretch out and then sit on the floor between Timothy's legs, back to the sofa. He had on a light gray muscle shirt and blue-plaid boxers, so his actions were more than enough to earn him some 'girl yummy', despite the wide acceptance that he was gay. That left the middle spot on the sofa for me and I took it.
Rhada tagged along and obediently curled up at my feet. To stress the point, I gave the chain a gentle yank. It was enough to get her attention and tilt her face in my direction. Another short pull and she rose up on her knees so that I could lean forth and give her a fierce kiss. She was murmuring like a pantheress in no time.
Submission to me had not lessened Rhada's warrior spirit in the least. She was becoming comfortable in her skin, being both an Amazon and captive to my captor. Odette propped herself up so she could kiss Rhada on the shoulder.
"Do you want something to drink, Rhada?" Odette inquired. Rhada nodded.
"Some crushed ice would be nice, thank you," she added. Odette hopped up to fulfill her errand. Timothy decided to restart the 'On Demand' movie the gang had been watching while Rhada and I were busy. It was Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Guaranteed to have the Amazons groaning over the unrealistic combat maneuvers while ogling the man-candy.
Rhada started out by placing butterfly kisses on the side of my knee. From there, she began making 'washing' motions with her hair on my shin. I looked down to see her sneaking peeks up at me. Damn, her actions had been silent appeals for attention. I ran my middle finger's nail along her eyebrow from nose-bridge to cheek then repeated the stroke several more times.
I would catch up with the Black Widow later.
"Do you think you could dress up like that woman (the Black Widow) for Halloween?" I asked my captive. Oops. Indian Amazon, what was Halloween again? We cleared that hurdle and a few more before I finally sent Rhada home. Finally I could lie down, but sleep didn't come.
(Bitter fruits)
"Hello, Iskender," I rose from my seat at this Turkish breakfast eatery called Sip Sak. We hugged, then took our seats. He was incredibly jittery, much like a man about to rush into a battle that had already expressed its savagery.
"First off, He wishes to profess his gratitude by bestowing the title of Magyarorszag es Erdely Hercege upon you, Cáel. Do you accept this down payment on the debt we owe?"
I stared at him blankly. The first, second and third words finally registered; Hungary and Transylvania. The last one?
"He has declared you Prince of your Peoples, the Ten Tribes," Iskender seemed exceptionally excited to deliver the news, so I plastered on a 'happy face'.
Was I expecting a Mongolian-Turkish horde to come riding out of Kazakhstan to place me on some throne? No. This was an 'atta boy' in silk ribbons. I was a non-Altan urag (Temujin's extended family), non-Mongolian, non-Turkish nobleman,
"Well," I chuckled, "I don't think you wanted to meet solely in order for me to feel better about myself."
"Of course not," Iskender nodded. He pulled put a white crushed-hemisphere shaped device. One tap and the thing began humming. I felt my eardrums tingle. "I am glad you are with us," he grinned. "He wants you and the Amazons to not lose faith in the Earth & Sky. Everything is going according to plan."
Those were two bad things: the old refrain rang true once again, I was an idiot. By taking Genghis Khan's 'down payment', I was joining the Earth & Sky with all the attendant benefits and flaws, things like: when Temujin 'asked' me to do something, he wasn't really asking. I was on his team now. I couldn't beg out of the honor I had just accepted.
Those who rebelled against the Great Khan had a lousy survival track record. How was I going to explain this to Katrina, or St. Marie, or my Aunts, who had a nice, cushy villa waiting for me when I joined the Illuminati? The other bad thing, Temujin had already put in motion an Earth & Sky operational plan before the Seven Pillars hit us early yesterday.
This had to be a panicked-feigned retreat on a strategic scale.
"That must be some plan," I prodded him. I might as well try to get something good out of this quagmire.
"The first part is the most critical to you and your allies in the government," he began.
"The first phase began fifteen years ago. We began to secretly inoculate the Turkish and Mongolian peoples of Mongolia, the Siberian Autonomous Regions, the Turkish states of Central Asia and the northern and western provinces of China. We also penetrated the People's Republic's healthcare apparatus, mainly in the field of vaccines," he was definitely pleased with this 'plan'.
"Vaccines for what?" I inquired quietly. That question made him happier.
"Anthrax," he leaned in and whispered.
"Anthrax?" I tried to keep the gibbering terror out of my voice.
"Yes," Iskender nodded.
"As the Communists scurried about like headless chickens when their atheistic state died, we stole their research and a few of their research scientists. By the time our old foe, Russia, took that government's place, the evidence had vanished. The Soviets had weaponized Anthrax and thought they destroyed all the data, which worked well for us," he informed me quite happily.
"What kind of death toll are we looking at?" I gulped.
"We are looking at reducing the Han population in the key provinces to 30% of the total population. You see, that is the cleverness of the attack. Once we create outbreaks in the designated zones, the Chinese will inoculate the Han first."
Oh my God!
"And what are the Chinese going to be giving their citizens?"
"The tainted vaccine we have prepared," he chuckled. "By exhibiting their racism, they will do our job for us. They will inject their people with a particularly fast acting version of the bacteria."
Thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions, what would the death toll be? And Iskender thought this engineered pandemic was the greatest thing since the domestication of the horse. Terrorism? O Ishara, why had no one figured this out before now? Not the biological warfare; we could be excused for not seeing that coming.
No, everyone's mistake was thinking Temujin was anything like the comic book villain 'The Mandarin'. The man didn't want to be some shadow figure ruling a secret empire. Temujin was out to re-conquer Asia and his team seemed to be completely onboard with that agenda. That meant war on a global scale.
Technically, initiating a land war in Asia makes you insane. That doesn't mean you can't succeed, if you are willing to kill enough people and you have,
"Iskender, where are you going to get the army to move in once the Chinese take your kick to the testicles?" He liked that analogy.
"We've been stockpiling gear since before the end of the Cold War," he blithely revealed to me. I had no doubt that the permission to give me this information came all the way from the top, but why? I'd let Pamela and Katrina figure that one out. They were smarter than me. "You would be surprised what the Soviets misplaced.
Updating the equipment has been aided by our businesses in India, Pakistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria as well as the Turkish Republics. We have hundreds of attack aircraft, much of it equivalent to what the PRC (People's Republic of China) can send up. We have tanks, APCs, mobile artillery, armored scout vehicles, attack and transport helicopters, and trucks. The world has come full circle, my friend.
Once more, victory on the battlefield will be determined by mobility, not mass. We will pin the Chinese in the cities, cut off their supplies and let them rot, or serve as lures to bring the PLA's (People's Liberation Army) mobile forces out to a ground of our choosing." Well, that helped things make more sense to me. For starters, Aksai Chin.
"You are luring their western most mobile forces to the south, aren't you?" I guessed. Iskender nodded. "They are running off to Aksai Chin, leaving Xinjiang vulnerable."
"Precisely," he nodded, congratulating me on being a smart amateur warlord.
"Any chance the Seven Pillars, or the PRC can catch wind of this?" I asked.
Another smile. "They already have, kind of," he snorted. "We offered up some of our agents for them to seize. The agents injected themselves with the anthrax before being captured. They thought they were crippling our network. Instead, by kidnapping our members, they brought the poison into their own houses. Their intelligence gathering units are going to die."
Talk about a second steel tip boot to the nuts. You can crank out half-ass soldiers in a matter of weeks. How long would it take to train up new intelligence officers? How far up the chain of command this sickness would go was anyone's guess. Worse, their vaccine wasn't even a vaccine and I was willing to bet the pre-vaccinated personnel were about to find out how useless that shot had been too.
The Earth & Sky was going to cripple the PRC's intelligence apparatus for six months to a year.
"What does He (Temujin) want from me?" I bit into the Golden Apple.
"Time and understanding. Inside of two months, we will have spent our initial volley. Our new nation will need a reprieve, a brokered ceasefire with the appropriate useless Peace Talks.
Our word in the West will be worthless because of our, terrorist acts. We need people in the UN to intervene once we have finished, yet before the Chinese can bury us with their industrial base," he laid out the second phase of their plan.
What could the Amazons possibly do to bring that,
"You want me to go to my Aunts and see what they can arrange," I met his gaze.
"Precisely. We will also need you to set the stage for a deal with the 9 Clans," he added.
They didn't want a peace treaty among the secret societies. The Earth & Sky wanted a public, open to the world, UN brokered ceasefire. Once the shooting stopped and the E&S had some level of recognition, they could start buying armament and training the troops for round two.
"Understanding? You want me to talk to the US Federal agents and explain to them that the most egregious use of biological warfare the world has ever witnesses is, what?" I said dryly. "Holy Hell, you are talking about putting millions of people at risk, Ishara knows how many dead. How do you plan for me to spin this?"
"We will give you all of the data on the Soviet and our research on Anthrax," he offered.
"Once you've completely boned the Chinese," I clarified. Iskender nodded happily.
"Time table?" He slid a flash drive over the table. That could only mean, the first wave of Seven Pillars attacks went down 48 hours ago. The Chinese government had already started the inoculations.
Save what you can, that was my imperative now. It was not lost on me that by saving Temujin I had set this wave human misery in motion. I had tried to save my people and innocent men, women and children in China were going to die with fluid filling their lungs and monstrous fevers. 'The Seven Pillars brought this on themselves' was a soulless dodge.
This wasn't revenge. This wasn't tit for tat. This was ethnic cleansing on a continent-wide scale. How was I ever going to sleep again? How could I hold my daughters and sons after leaving them this crime as my legacy?
What the fuck had I expected to happen? Every group was staffed with killers, criminals and the morally flexible. Worse, I knew the looks I'd be getting from my Amazons. They would be looks of pity, for me. Pity that I hadn't seen this coming and that nothing they could have done would make me accept this, thing, this style of warfare.
I kept my emotions under tight rein. Screaming at Iskender and telling Genghis to kiss my Heine would accomplish nothing.
"Is this all for now?" I questioned Iskender. He nodded, pleased as punch over this latest cycle of cultural vengeance, the pastoral steppe dwellers versus the agrarian valley inhabitants.
"Breakfast?" he asked.
"Nah. We are in enough danger stepping out of our doors these days. I need to run this back to my people and figure how I'm going to handle the calamity when the shit-kicking begins. Be careful, Iskender," I told him as we stood and hugged once more.
I was about to leave when one ray of sunshine pierced my gloom. I could save a few. I could do something and send one wave to counteract the tsunami Temujin had tossed my way.
"Iskender, I need something done," I looked down as he had resumed his seat.
"Yes?"
"My allies have oil and natural gas facilities plus refineries in your backyard and I want them protected," I demanded. I was a fucking prince in their eyes. It was time I pushed back.
"Are these your assets?" he equivocated. He knew they were not. That was the polite way of telling me this was 'none of your business', so I lied.
"They are my fiancée's properties," I fibbed a fable worthy of my best efforts. "Hana Sulkanen, is her name. Here is the name of her on-site coordinator," I handed him a card. "Make sure He knows this is important to me, if I am to have assets invested in the Khanate."
Lest everyone forget, I was a Business Major/Philosophy Minor and both came into play here. The business aspect was simple. If I had heavy investments in the Khanate (when it formed), I was less likely to betray Temujin. Besides, as I was a peripheral member, he could take away tomorrow what he gave to me today. The philosophy aspect was that the best rulers used both loyalty and fear to get the job done.
My response to my mission could be viewed as me doing this out of fear that he'd eventually have me killed, or I was doing this because I believed in the Khanate and that Genghis stood a chance, I was betting on his horse to win, which the Amazon nation was. The thing was, Iskender really liked me. I had helped his career and it turned out we had compatible personalities.
We were also now in the same political pond. That meant we could be strong allies, or strong rivals. My rank was higher, Prince, and I believed that was on purpose. He wanted me keeping his other outer-ring power players aware they weren't the only game in town. I was still a 'nobody' at this point. If I could pull off this move for Hana, that would change.
Temujin would give me power by proxy, his to parcel out and take away.
"I will tell him very soon. I will contact you when we know something," he acknowledged.
"Also, we are sending assistance to the Ninja, so we will be increasing our assets in the region. Is there anything that the Host can do for the Khanate?"
"Not at the moment, but we can ship you some of the correct vaccine," he proposed.
"That would be great. Can we have production rights for the correct vaccine?" I tacked on another request.
"That is already on the flash drive," he smiled.
"Now, I really have to get going," I gave a lopsided grin. Oh, yeah, I had to go. I caught sight of two rough looking guys at a table by the door. They were Iskender's men. I wasn't worried. Delilah and Pamela were already converging on me as well. First,
"Hana, I need to ask you, " I said as I called Ms. Sulkanen.
"Hello Cáel, how did your meeting go?" she interrupted. She was freaking anxious, fretful and worried.
"Hana, will you consent to be my wife?" I tossed it out there. One, Two, Thur,
"Yes, Yes I will, but you will have to talk to Father soon," she responded.
Hana knew the score. She knew the cultures I was dealing with. Clan, tribe and people stood taller than any national, or corporate, identity. I couldn't protect her interest, but I could ward off my own side from my property, thus the economic necessity of our marriage.
"Your people can expect contact within a few hours," I continued.
Yes Hana, I was confessing, I had lied to 'my side' about 'us'.
"They may be bringing a gift. I suggest your people go along with it. I'll explain when I get a chance. It is very important, okay?" Talk about a meaningless warning.
"Honey, I hope to hear from you soon. Lunch perhaps?" she hinted.
"Dinner is better," I requested.
"I'll meet you at Osteria al Doge at 6:30," Hana suggested. I agreed. "See you then," she signed off. We were out of the restaurant and into the SUV's by the time I finished.
"Congratulations," Delilah gave a bitter smirk. The Man-Dog-Pig had just retired his bachelor status.
That was more a cause for mourning than joy. I was in mourning alright. Pamela patted my shoulder (she was in the seat behind me). All I could do was hold that hand.
"What is going on?" Agent Loire/Vincent inquired.
"Call Javiera. I need a face to face meeting. And you have State Department people as part of your taskforce?"
"We do," he answered.
"Get one of your best 'China' people to that meeting as well," I couldn't even look him in the eyes. "This is something that, people are going to want to know about."
"Is her Majesty's Government going to be part of this discussion?" British Agent Delilah Faircloth, MI-6 prodded.
"Absolutely. I'm going to need some serious favors pretty soon and I might as well start paying this forward while I've got the chance," I responded. After that, no one bothered me. Pamela would later say that I looked like I'd looked into the face of death and found nothing to laugh about. A sick thought occurred to me, then was discarded.
What if Iskender had infected me? Cruel, yes. Pointless, also yes. Why anger the Amazons? Why anger the United States by spreading the contagion to New York City? You could ask the Taliban how well that worked out for them. No, I wasn't going to escape my guilt by becoming a victim because I was too valuable to the terrorists. Yay me,
To be continued.
By FinalStand, for Literotica