Anonymoose: Monster Girl Saga. Part 2

There are a number of situations one can wake up to that are absolutely terrifying. Which one is the most terrifying is open to debate. I would argue that the real answer is the most simple of all them, the most terrifying thing to wake up to, is not being able to see with an unshakable sensation of claustrophobia. Complete sensory deprivation. Left alone with only my thoughts and not the good kind of thoughts either. These are the thoughts of a madman you have to share with a lifeboat with while drifting in the middle of the ocean at midnight. I couldn't see a thing, the only smell was a stuffy stagnant air, my head was spinning and I was disorientated, my mouth tasted of dirt and my ears were ringing. I figured out quickly that I had a bag over my head, something like a hemp sack because as my brain was coming back online that blackness was replaced by stars and spots dancing every which way until I could finally start seeing light shine through the weaving of this accursed bag over my head. Next I noticed the ringing slowly dying out, replaced by voices that at first were being played back in slow motion to the point of being incomprehensible.

 

        This progressed toward something I could understand, “-trophy you have found? Tauari?”

 

        A second distinct voice behind me replied, “Yes Matron, I found it while I hunted in the forest.”

 

        “Let us see it then.”

 

The cacophony of noises mixed with a piercing siren of my shell-shocked and rattled brain had subsided. As my mind came into clearer focus, I could tell these were female voices at the very least. A dull stabbing pain over my entire body was then drowned out by a stabbing sensation to my eyes. My eyes were suddenly flooded with light and they slammed shut. Curiosity got the better of me, so I forced them open. I had to know where I was. Sitting cross-legged on an long elevated platform in front of me were five women. Five very tall women. I could tell even as they were sitting down. Not only were these women quite tall, they were also very muscular. Their appearances were a far cry from what I had seen so far over the last two days. They looked like female body builders, skin darkened and tanned by harsh sunlight and woven together on their bodies were complex tribal tattoos. Wearing little else but loin-clothes and scraps of cloth over their chests, they did look the part of primitive tribeswomen. Their expressions were harsh, judgemental and disdainful. When I looked at the one in the middle, her stoic expression turned into a furious frown. There was an impact on the back of my head and my forehead slammed right into the dirt floor. I grit my teeth but managed to not let out a scream or a moan of pain.

 

        A husky voice spitted out, “It's scrawny.”

 

        A younger, but butch retort from immediately behind me responded, “I am sure it is of noble stock.” It must belong to the one whose foot was pressing my forehead into the dirt. She continued, “Pale skin without boils, spots or scars.” Her foot was removed from me head, but a hand grabbed hold of the hair on the back of my head and lifted me up to my feet. “All its teeth; straight and white.” A hook, a finger from the taste of it grabbed me by the corner of my lip and pulled it open violently as if to show my teeth off behind them.

 

My hands reflectively reached back to where her hand had clasped like a vice on my hair. My knees were still weak and they hardly had the strength yet to support my own weight which was being held up by her alone. This was something she did not take kindly to. With a snap of her wrist she pulled back harder and pushed me forward.

 

        “Blue eyes, and its hair, brown, strong yet silky.” The girl's voice continued its appraisal of me.

 

My eyes were still stitched shut from trying to fight off the pain of being pulled around by my roots, but two powerful fingers pressed on my eyebrow and below my eye and pulled my left eye open. I found myself staring into that woman's face. It was defined by scars gained over many battles no doubt. They showed maturity, but yet again, like all the others I have laid eyes on so far, a face that belongs on a magazine. A fitness magazine this time, but I was seriously having to wonder where the hell I was that from pig-woman to lizard-girl to Amazon, each were pretty to stunningly beautiful. Amazon. That word stuck out sore thumb the second after I thought it. These tribeswomen, they fit the definition of an amazon perfectly. Gears in my head started turning, but before I could deduce anything of value, I was yanked back and thrown to the ground where I landed hard on my ass.

 

My eyes had adjusted enough by now that I was able to take in the rest of the scenery around me. Besides this Matron before me, she was joined by four other silent hulking women. They all looked related, same nose and other similar facial features. There was a open skylight, letting midday sunlight blocked slightly by clouds in. I was in some kind of round tent, almost like a yurt. I was surprised I remembered what a yurt was at a time like this.

 

        The amazon in the middle spoke once more, “Tauari. Again and again you have defied my offers, and what you bring back for yourself is this?”

 

        My captor's outburst was passionate, “I will not take charity Matron. You may be my Aunt, but I will not have my pride be spoiled by having my husband given to me.”

 

Wait. What was that last bit she said?

 

        “I have found one, not some peasant or dirt farmer with a fat pigs nose, not some pudgy baker's son or wet trousers town guard. I have hunted for and caught a noble's son.”

 

It was true I grew up in a middle class family. Regular health and dental care, an orthodontist, I didn't toil in any field, I just stayed inside and studied. I guess suburbia lifestyle in the twenty first century Earth would at the very least be equal to the kind of preferential luxury an elite would have here. I was also strangely pleased that she had mentioned farmers, bakers and soldiers, that meant there had to be civilization, human civilization somewhere out there. It was the best news I had heard in the past two days. Those captive men from before weren't just some gang of men abducted by roving bands of Ape-men on horseback armed with Soviet surplus. I was so desperate for just a little bit of good news, it almost didn't seem so bad that I had been taken prisoner anymore to hear it.

 

It was then I actually remembered that I had been taken prisoner. I got up to me knees for the first time since waking and turned my head to finally get a look at this captor of mine. She had fair coloured hair, a dirty white with a tint of regal purple. Her skin was a dark tan, her features were soft along with her curves that were feminine, yet her body was that of a weight lifter, slightly noticeable six-pack abs along with overt leg and arm muscles. She was also young, she didn't have the same scars that the other older woman had, her immaturity showed on her face. The clincher though, was that the sides of her head were crowned with large pointed elvish like ears. They stuck out horizontally a good ten centimetres from her head. I was certainly once again not dealing with human beings. To see all of this though, I had to look up, she had at least twenty centimetres on my own height. She had to be over two meters tall. If I had learned anything so far, from running into so many strange women again and again, my situation had gotten much worse.

 

She finally took notice that I righted myself. A harsh kick to the ribs was my punishment for having the audacity to want get off the ground. I fell over sideways with a crash. I tried to scoot backwards, getting onto my hands and feet hoping to break out into a run. She quickly grabbed onto my ankle again and with the great of ease lifted me off the ground. I was hanging a good thirty centimetres off the dirt floor, suspended by my leg. She was only hanging onto me by one hand. She did not even look the least bit troubled by this exercise. This was the first time I had experienced true powerlessness.

 

I heard a crack next and then I felt that crack. I felt my stomach churn, and the blood just started to rush from my feet, to my head and then onto the dirt floor. I think she had just slammed my head onto the ground. I felt a surge of disgust and hatred well up inside. She had already demonstrated her position of power over me, but she still took it upon herself to inflict harm. Thankfully she didn't do it a second time, rather she let go and I fell into a heap on the floor. I coughed out a mouthful of dirt after impact. That feeling of anger didn't go away. A felt my it wash over me, but it soon passed like a wave and I felt a peculiar clarity. My heart felt at ease, I knew what I had to do now. I had been through so much, for it to mean something, I couldn't just give up here. I didn't want to give up, but I had no way to fight, I had no way to run. Scoring a victory for myself seemed impossible. Perhaps I could just make them suffer a defeat, so I closed my eyes and rested  my chin on the ground I stuck my tongue out far beyond my front teeth and closed my eyes.

 

        “Stop!” It was a bellowing voice, it was short, simple and clear as day.

 

I opened my eyes once again and saw the Matron, her legs uncrossed, one foot on the ground ready to spring up. She was staring dead on at who I assumed was the amazon Tauari just behind me. I watched her sit back down and then stare long and hard at me. It was the first time she looked at me without a disdainful look, or an appraising eye. The expression on her face was still furious and she didn't say another word.

 

        “Matron-”

 

        “ Tauari. I will allow you to have your prize. You have defied me for many moons, but now you two will be wed and that shall be my final decision. You should know that you have chosen one a troublesome one.”

 

        “What-”

 

        “Not a fair fighter. Not with strength. This one is sly like a fox. As wicked as a weasel. Its leg caught in a trap, it would sooner chew off its own leg. You would do well to show it the pack leader is you, or you will have to learn a harsher lesson.” The matron snapped her fingers and two imposing figures entered.

I turned my head to look, but I was only met with a foot suspended in the air, a foot to crashing down on top of my head. I can't recall how many times this has happened in the past few minutes, but this one stunned me and the world spun round and round.

       

        “It was ready to have its own tongue cut off and bleed rather than be captured.” She commanded the two brutes swiftly, “Take it away. Tie it up and gag it. Hold it with the others. Keep it separate and safe from them. It will do anything, even use others to escape in life or death if it can.”

 

        Tauari tried to get another word in edgewise, “Matron-”

 

        “You will take part in the ceremony with all the others. You will also go last. That is all I have to say to you. Now leave and prepare for tonight.”

 

I wasn't given a chance to do or say anything myself, although there was fat chance of that happening even if I had that chance. Before I was held against the ground and rope tying my wrists and ankles together, a cloth rag was wrapped around my head and between my teeth to gag me as well. A hemp sack was once more placed over my head and it was tied around my neck to keep it here. I felt like I had been tied up in such a way that I wouldn't see it so far-fetched if I was tossed on railway tracks. Between two hulking amazons I was lifted up and carried out. It felt cold outside, it was very noticeable given how stuffy that tent felt. I was getting the impression that the nice weather this place was having would come a stop soon enough.

 

I could hear the hustle and bustle, hammers on steel, sounds of fighting and sparing, the usual din you might expect from some type of war camp. I had my doubts this place was a permanent residence of these amazons. It seemed more like a staging area. I wished I could see what was going on to have more food for thought on my conjectures, anything to distract myself, but I was hastily moved into another tent. From outside I could hear voices within, but they fell completely silent once I felt the tent flaps brush past. I was moved quite deep inside before being tossed onto the ground, forced up against a pole and yet another rope tying me tightly to this pole by my neck. I heard a clatter of wood on wood, some heavy bare footsteps march away, the tent flaps fluttering again in the distance and then nothing for quite some time.

 

After what felt like three or five minutes, I finally heard another voice, it was a masculine voice, it had to belong to a man, an actual man who was imploring me, “Hey. Hey? You awake there?”

 

I couldn't speak, the best I could do was mumble, but I instead rose my head and look in the direction the voice had come from. This seemed to be a good enough signal, and another voice, also belonging to a man spoke up, “Why did they throw em and lock em in the cage?”

 

        “Because they don't want any of us touching him, that's why.” This third voice belonged to a gruffer, older sounding man. It was dripping with ill intent, “Some high price fresh meat they don't want kicked around in here. I bet someone in the head family got their hands on him. The lucky bastard.”

 

I heard the wooden cage rattle, as if someone had put their weight on it, I could almost imagine this grizzly middle age man hanging onto the bars looking at me.

 

        “Speak up then boy! Why dontcha tell us a story then?”

 

        “She abuse ya before she used ya?”

 

        “He still got pants on. I don't think they touched him yet.”

 

        “I ain't ever see blue pants like them before.”

 

        “You got a name there son?”

 

        Voice after voice seemed to crowd around, I could hear footsteps and the presence of several men gather around the cage I was in. Their voices were outside of arm's reach, if only by a little bit, but I could almost smell their putrid breath from here and through the bag.

 

        “You gonna ignore us you little sack of shit?” This last voice felt agitated and the cage shook for a very seconds before what I guessed was someone pulling him away.

 

        That gruff voice spoke up again, I figured he was some sort of pack leader, “I'm sure they gagged em.” The crowd around him murmured for a bit before he continued, turning around to speak to them, “What we have here, is a rebel. Probably got on some mistress’s sour side and caused some trouble.” He paused for a second and I could hear him turning around to face me again, “Nah, he looks too scrawny for that. You even work at all son? You're too thin to be just some farm hand. Too pale to be an honest to God working man... Nah, I bet you're some kind of rich merchant's bed stain. Some stick up the ass Baron's spoiled little brat. Am I right? No. Don't answer, you probably can't talk anyways.” His voice grew very low and serious, “You try and kill yourself boy? You try to get out of here? Well that ain't gonna happen. You're an Amazon's slave now-”

 

The man was interrupted by some hushed whispers into his ears. Imparting some knowledge to him before he continued his belittlement and intimidation of me.

 

        “Oh ho, so that little princess, finally decided she found something to suit her fancy? Well, lucky you then, at least you'll get some quality table scraps.” The turned and walked away from my cell and spoke as though he was addressing a crowd. “Well, here's the deal, boys. We're all 'husbands' of amazons now. Me and some of my buddies here here are to keep new bloods like you in line. Until the ritual that is. After that, you wont want to leave.”

 

Finally I heard before me, several voices murmur worriedly amongst themselves, perhaps dozens. The tent felt all the more crowded and constrained now that I knew they were there.

 

        A shaky voice rose up amongst them, “I've got a family! A wife and a little girl-” A thud and a grunt silenced the man, a weight hit the ground and the worried whispers turned to terror all around.

 

        “Out there. Out in the camp and back in the jungles, you're theirs, but in here, you belong to me. I'm king in here. If your wife and daughter were brought here to, they'll make em one of them. You'll see your wife again soon enough at the ritual. She'll be quite different when you see her though.” The man's voice took a sudden darker turn, a malicious tone that sent chills down my own spin, a face no doubt with a twisted smile, imaging it scared me, “A brand new woman, but she wont be making bracelets out of flowers anymore. You'll see.”

 

I was trying to keep a straight face under the bag. The whole time he kept talking, I was trying to ignore him, but I'd at least admit to myself that it was getting to me. Every second it felt like control over my situation was slowly drifting away from me. That sea I was stranded in, there were two voices talking to me now, the crazy man and now one grounded in reality trying to set it straight on how things were going to be. I couldn't keep hold it in any longer, I felt tears start streaming down my face, waterworks flooding and the pipes having burst. My breaths became hoarse and I started to choke even as I tried to hide my wails. I tried to hide it, seem unphased, but it was obvious, so obvious that it didn't take long for the whole crowd gathered around me to break out into rancorous laughter. Many insults were thrown, but they had all blended together into a mess of sound I wasn't able to separate them from each other.

 

        “Marriage ceremony tonight.”,  that gruff man's voice shouted out. “Tonight, fresh meat, is the night that the wonderful little lady who brought you here is going to tie the knot with you. There wont be any church bells. Oh no. You'll be getting some of these marking of your own like you see on me, oh, and one of these.” There were gasps throughout the tent, a little laughter from his goons. “That's right, branding, her own little stamp she'll put on you to show that your hers. So that you don't get beat too hard or used by any other mistress unless she wants it that way. You know, if she's a little kinky like that. And you, the little momma's boy, the cry baby in the cage, I hear the higher up you go, the bigger the brand it'll be!”

 

It appeared as though they wanted to make me some sort of whipping boy. Some sort of other, a privileged outcast who they could beat on and treat differently. It wasn't any sort of situation that anyone, not even a masochist who might have pitched his own tent at the thought of that kind of abuse and slave play would like to hear. I hadn't had a drink or a bite to eat all day, I was completely sapped of any strength I was clasping my hands around one last shred of candle light. Somewhere deep down trying to keep some shred of hope. I still was refusing to fully accept my plight, maybe I had become so delusional that I was no longer sane. Maybe now I was the madman in the boat trying to drown out the sane one who could think rationally and accept reality.

 

Time began to flow oddly after that, it didn't help to make the case that I was sane, what could be hours passed since I had been tied here. I could hear the sounds of crying and fighting, I could hear that man and his goons browbeat, intimidate and abuse the other men in the tent into compliance and obedience. Sunlight from above, what shone through the sack over my head, died slowly, being replaced with dusk and then night. My life felt like I was viewing it through time elapsed footage. A few memories and stimulus registering in my brain to make it appear as though time had sped up around me.

 

The flaps of the tent had fluttered again and after that no man inside dared make a noise. As a march of feet made their way inside, like herded sheep the captives inside all escaped to the back, back by my cage and crowd around. What little space I had been granted to myself was once again pressed in on and I was feeling claustrophobic. A series of other noises followed soon after, the sound of things being removed from the dirt. A flutter of cloth was heard and a gust of fresh air washed over my body. I would wager that the entire tent had been pulled down. With little warning after that, the sound of drums, hooting and hollering from many women in some primitive tribal choir washed over the calm and sombre mood.

 

        The noise was incredible, but I still had one more thing said to me, by that man , “I can't wait to see yours. I hope they save the best for last.”

 

After that, the presence was gone, I heard the cage around me be torn down, but rough hands added even more rope to tie me to this pole holding me down to the spot. The bag over my head hadn't been pulled off. I'm not sure when they ever would, probably when it was near my turn. I could hear the pounding of a hammer on steel, and a hiss of hot iron in water, no doubt hammering out the brands on the spot for the ceremony. It seemed the first one was finished and soon after the entire camp echoed with the screams of a man in agony, I could smell the burnt flesh shortly after and the hammer on steel began again with the choir cheering, hooting and hollering the whole time.

 

My sense of sight had all but nearly decided to give up by this point, and my hearing had taken over the best it could. It meant I was privileged to the chaos of noise around me, but it also allowed me to sense something approaching me from behind. My heart sunk when I thought that maybe my time had finally come, but the footsteps were light, different from before. I heard a twang of steel and a presence get closer and closer until I could hear still and shallow breaths just behind me. My own breathing picked up, as I began to feel panicked  and confused. I felt a pressure against my neck, the sound of cutting rope and a soft noise as I felt some rope unravel around my neck and fall to the ground beneath me. In an instant I felt a sudden rush as my vision at long last had been replaced, the dull brown landscape highlighted by near pitch blackness being banished at last.

 

The light of many fires illuminating the area stung me at first, but it was night, and my eyes were still mostly adjusted.  All the other men in the tent were frozen in terror before me, beyond that a semicircle of amazons forming an audience of sorts, watching some bizarre ritual take place on a small wooden platform elevated half a meter off the ground before them. A team of two amazons waded into the crowd, the men around them trying to scoot away, trying not to get in their way. The weaker ones were pushed forward, but they didn't grab the first one they could, they forced their way into the crowd and picked one at random. They held him down, stripped off all his clothes and carried him off to the platform

 

There the two women held him down. One other standing behind him, waiting. The hammer stopped, a hiss of steam and something was brought up to the stage. A brand, at least that is what I guessed. It was handed to the amazon to much cheers, they became silent, ignoring that never ending drum beat. That amazon then looked at the exposed back of the man being held down. She came to some decision and then stuck it down and held it on the man's middle back and he cried out in pain, those shouts though, were just as soon drowned out by the audience cheering out loud. After finishing, some salve was applied to his back. He was then force fed some large wooden saucer a clear white liquid, like some sort of alcohol. His screaming and shouting subsided as he looked to become inebriated immediately. That hulking amazon proceeded to abuse the man, sexually. It looked like the honeymoon would start early, immediately actually.  Offstage was a growing orgy, as though those newly 'wedded' Amazons were showing off.

 

The bizarre and horrific scene before me had grabbed my attention, but I soon remembered the presence behind me. I could hardly move my head, I could only turn it to my side, slowly and painfully, the post rubbing hard against the back of my head as I did. As I turned I was met with a face looking up at me. Amber crocodile eyes lit and luminescent under the moonlight and the bonfires. My eyes focused and I saw they were accompanied by a familiar face, the woman from last night, the same one from this morning.

 

        I was greeted by a tomboyish soprano, “Hello~? You awake?” She leaned her head from side to side and moved her face in closer right in front of mine. I instinctively tried to back away, but I had no where to back up to. No doubt standing up on her toes, if you could call them that, her eyes came right to my level and with her eyes right in front of mine she stared into my eyes and I couldn't see anything else. She then just as quickly pulled back and gave another wide toothy smile she shone on me and sounding delighted said, “Good. You're awake. Are you alright?” She put a claw on her hip and shifted her weight when I didn't say anything and that smile turned into an impatient frown, “I said hello.”

 

She finally noticed the piece of cloth wrapped around my head and filling my mouth and sighed. A dagger was protruding from her clenched fists and she brought it up toward my face lightning fast. I    flinched and closed my eyes, but I heard the unmistakable rip of cloth and then a brush of scale across my cheek as the cloth was pulled out from my mouth. I heaved, coughed and took some very deep breaths of air. I hadn't had any fresh air since this morning and it felt great. I seemed to have gotten away without a single cut to my cheek as well. I looked at her again and she was waiting patiently.

 

        I chose my words carefully and spoke them from my throat, it was more like a loud audible whisper, “What the hell are you doing here?” I noticed that despite having tried to chose my words carefully, my emotions got the better of me.

 

        If she took any offence, it certainly didn't show on her face, with a proud little smile on her face she calmly she matter-of-factually replied, “I am here to rescue you of course.”

 

It was the best news I had heard in a long time, but I had to ask, “Why?”

 

        “Because you're my husband of course.”

 

I regretted asking.

 

 

Tumbling between those reptilian-like fingers of hers was a dagger twirling effortlessly like a pen in a bored student's hand, she was looking at me as if she was expecting me to say something. She still had that smile on her face, but I was caught between a rock and a hard place. The same girl who had tried to kill me, hurt my pride, raped me, then tried to hunt me down was now standing before me so cocksure and confident without a care in the world. I looked ahead, no one had noticed her somehow, everyone was too terrified and engrossed in the scene before us. Behind her, a tear right in the fabric of what was left standing of the tent. She didn't seem to even care that someone might notice her. I wouldn't be too surprised, her tail was whipping back and forth like a happy dog flicking embers here and there, I was less worried about her starting a fire and more that she was as noticeable as a torch at night like this. When I thought about it though, it wasn't nearly as bright as any of the bonfires.

 

        I was lost in thought again, but she cleared her throat which brought me back from my train of thought, which led to me blurting out, “What?” Real smooth.

 

        She didn't seem very daunted. Instead she took a step behind me and a second later I heard a sawing sound then a snap of another rope. A rung of rope tying me to this pole dropped to the ground around my feet with a thud. While still behind me, the pair of amazons grabbed a random prisoner and dragged him off again. Thankfully my being in the very back meant they hadn't discovered I had been  debugged and ungagged. She then circled around again and showed her dagger and another smile.

 

        “I said you're my husband.”

 

        “What? When did that happen?” I was starting to lose my cool.

 

This question took her aback a bit and she looked genuinely confused and she turned her head to the side again. I had been distracted by her for so long I didn't notice the ceremony going on in front of us and once more there was a ear piercing screech from another prisoner having his flesh seared well done. It was then that I remembered my predicament and I turned back to her. I tried to hide a scared look of apprehension and an impatient air around me

 

        She had already taken an abrupt change in attitude when I turned back to her. She was almost pouting, “Last night. Under the moonlight.”

 

        “You raped me.”

 

        “It was romantic.” I don't think she was paying attention to me. She even had the nerve to say that puffing her chest out a little.

 

        The second time I wouldn't be ignored, “You rap-!”

 

        A soft pressure pressed on my lips and shut me up, she had her index finger, claw, whatever you'd call it pursing my lips together to shush me up. She looked over her shoulder, and so did I. Not a stir or glance in our direction. With all the noise going on elsewhere, I guess the far corner over here was hardly noticeable. I was a little out of line to start yelling, but she definitely was hearing me. She looked me right in the eyes, but all she had to say was, “No. I didn't.”

 

        I was dumbfounded by her nonchalant dismissal. I regained my calm and lowered my voice once more, “No? Well you did. What else would you-”

 

        “You came, so it was making love.”

 

My wits fried with that one. We weren't on the same page, we hadn't even read the same book. I didn't know how to respond to that, or where to begin. There were a million things wrong with that statement, but the sound of drums, hammering, screaming and wails and moans of ecstasy brought me back. If I ignored everything else she said, she still said that she was here to rescue me. That was a good start. I could worry about other things at some other time.

 

        She was still pouting, maybe pretending to, I didn't know, but she didn't flinch at all from my vitriol before. Instead she calmly explained, “You don't want to be rescued?”

 

        I seized upon my chance, “Yes, I-”

 

        I was quickly cutoff, she pounded an open palm with her other fist as though she had some to some revelation, “Of course, how silly of me. I still have a lot of things to learn about being a wife.” She then pointed one extended claw at me, “Your pride.”

 

        I was once again lost, “What” Although I was sure she wasn't paying attention anymore, so I was naive to think my being confused would get her to stop her train of thought. Did she also just say wife?

 

        “To accept someone's help for nothing, no man, no, no warrior would want such charity.” I was beginning to notice she liked to emote and exaggerate her words with theatrical body language, “In exchange for me rescuing you, I will charge a fee.”

 

Me and my big fat mouth. The situation was getting worse and worse. I didn't have anything of value on me. My lost belongings weren't much either if I still had them. I had no money, not that any of it would be legal tender wherever this accursed world was. I was going to explain all this before I was interrupted again.

 

        “I wont charge my regular fee. I don't want money. Our money. We have more than enough.” She went deep into thought for a moment before continuing with a spark of revelation, “Three questions.”

 

        “Please wait a-”

 

        Her face was suddenly very serious and it forced me to stop in my tracks as she held up the three claws on her right hand, “I want you to answer three questions honestly. Information is very valuable right?”

       

        I had resigned at this point, “Yes sure, that sounds fair. Wonderful, couldn't think of a better solution.” If I continued to argue, I'd only have to spend longer here. They could take me away at any time. At any time they could see her. She acted so brazenly as though it hadn't even occurred to her that she could be found out. Maybe she did but felt she was on top of things, either way, it was making my heart skip beats.

 

        Her mood changed immediately, almost jumping for joy. Resting one of her claws on her collarbone and looking up at me she immediately asked something I wasn't prepared for, “Do you think I'm beautiful?”

 

        I did a double take, “What?”

 

What kind of question is that? I thought. Does she have some kind of serious self esteem issues that she needs compliments at the most inappropriate of times? I squirmed under the ropes uneasily as I tried to make sense of the situation, but I eventually looked back to her. I looked her body over from bottom to top, top to bottom and once again. When I returned to look her in the eyes I noticed she was blushing and that caused me to do the same. I closed my eyes tight, but took a deep breath and opened them again to see her still staring at me in embarrassed anticipation.

       

        I looked away unable to hide my embarrassment. “Yes,” There I said it.

 

        Even though I wasn't looking, I could hear a crackle, as if her flame had suddenly flared up for just an instant, like a log of wood splitting and popping. “Really? How beautiful?” Her voice was asking softly for confirmation.

 

        “Yes. Without a doubt. Alright? Happy? No?” The words were gushing from my mouth now, but I didn't stop. “You have the most beautiful face, the most well curved and built sexy body I've laid my eyes on in my life. That means something where I come from you know? Pretty girls get their picture everywhere and you top them all.  Wait were those the other two ques-”

 

When I looked back she had disappeared again I heard another snap of rope and another bundle of it fall to the ground at my feet. At the same time another man was dragged away. When they left she slowly came back into my field of vision again, a wry smile on her face. I was feeling flushed looking at it.

        She deliberately and with great strength put a hand, claw, whatever she'd call it on my shoulder and asked her next question, “Why would you run away from such a pretty girl then?”

 

        “Because you tried to kill me. Then you raped me. I've already gone over this.”

 

        “At first.”

 

        “Huh?”

 

        “At first I tried to kill you.”

 

        I was finally getting her to admit to it, “So you admit it?”

 

        “You snuck up on me while I was bathing, armed with a weird look in your eye. You were also drooling.”

 

        “I was not drooling.”

 

        “Yes you were. A perverted assassin. I had to protect my maidenhood.”

 

        I was desperately trying not to yell so I whispered wrathfully through clenched teeth, “Assassinate? I still don't even know who you are. I'm the victim here. Don't try to turn this around and blame me.”

 

        “I am the victim here.”

 

        “Bullshit.”

 

        “You attacked me back.”

 

        “That's called 'defending yourself'.”

 

        “Not that kind of attack. You attacked me with cupid's arrow.” She cradled her cheeks in her palms and writhed on the spot like a swooning school-girl.

 

I didn't have anything to say to that. My anger had been building up during that exchange, but she had struck that with a pin and deflated it in an instant. All that rage in turn, with nowhere to go, fried my brain and I stood there, tied up, unable to say a thing. She ignored me and moved back behind me and cut another bundle of rope. I felt less connected to this accursed pole by the minute, it was a good feeling, one that I can not understate. Even thought my wrists were still tied together in front me of, as well as my ankles and my whole body wrapped in rope which was then roped to the pole, I could wriggle back and forth a bit to get my circulation going again. Once again, some poor soul was dragged off to the stage, and with perfect timing, she manoeuvred back into my sight. This time she came around from the left side and didn't stop at my side. She came around completely to face me dead on and she looked up at me, right in the eyes.

 

        “Last question.”

 

        My fried brain jump started back to life with panic, “What are you doing? They're going to see you.”

 

        She hesitated before asking, she took a few deep breathes and finally said it, “I love you.”

 

That wasn't a question. When what she said finally got through my head, and I noticed it wasn't a question but a statement, it hit me like a ton of bricks. My body shook and my heartbeat jumped the rails and twisted into a train wreck. What was I? Thirteen again? Her eyes were too serious, I couldn't look directly at them, but when I tried to look away, her claws, her palms caught each side of my face and forced me to look at her.

 

        While I shook there panicked and overwhelmed she continued with her actual question, “Do you love me?”

 

I thought for a moment that she had stuck that dagger into my heart because that question hit me hard. My cheeks flushed a deep red and I felt my mouth gape open. I was stuttering and unable to get a single word out. I took a few deep breaths and calmed down. Her face was serious. Dead serious. She was prepared to hang onto my every word. She had this unmistakable devil may care cocky attitude this whole time, I wasn't stupid and could feel she was teasing me up until now, but I couldn't ignore how sincere her expression was now. I almost blurted something out, but from how she was looking at me, the words got caught in my throat and I had to swallow them down and rethink them. I meditated on my thoughts, no, perhaps the proper word her would be feelings. I was supposed to be honest, so I will be.       

 

        “No.” Her eyes shot open with shock and cast her eyes downward. It felt as though her claws would drop from my cheeks soon and I almost panicked at her visceral reaction so I had to hurriedly continue, “No, I wont answer that here. I'm tied to a pole. I'm about to be taken away, stepped on and have a red hot iron slapped on me and drugged. Then I'm going to be beaten. Raped. Brutalized and enslaved. Then I'm going to be taken away where the other slaves will beat me every chance they get and treat me like shit. The other women here will do the same. I'll probably spend the rest of my life, if my spirit isn't broken soon trying to find a way to kill myself. So no. I wont say I do. Because I honestly don't. It wouldn't be fair. I would say anything you would want to hear to get out of there. But to say I like some stranger I met yesterday who tried to kill me when she laid eyes on me and then changed her mind to ra- have sex with me. No. I wont say it. If you're serious, you don't deserve that. I don't. I don't even know your name”

 

        “Rosette. That's my name.”

 

        She interrupted me when I wasn't finished, but I stopped and had to ask, “Excuse me?”

       

        “My name is Rosette. They call me the Thorn Knight and you can call me Rose.” She was wiping tear from her eyes now with a large reptilian finger. “No. I'm happy.” She sniffed and looked back at me. “I'm happy, that you're such a kind and thoughtful person.”

 

I thought I had fucked up. Fucked everything up real good. All you had to do was say 'yes' you idiot. What do you owe her? Do you actually owe her a truthful answer like that? If you had just gone along with it, she would have cut you loose. Now she's just going to leave and in a few moments you'll start the new beginning of your terrible life. Smart move. Real smart move there.

 

While I was regretting my life choices, I heard another snap of rope and a final bundle of rope fall the ground. I didn't expect it, and being without food and water since being caught, I had no strength and all. Being tied up like I would be at home thrown on some railway tracks didn't help either. That said, I fell forward. Not onto the ground this time, I fell right onto someone and my face right into someone's bosom. From there I felt myself spin around, my feet lifted off the ground and a pair of arms wrap around my head. A gleeful giggle ringed in my ears. I was pulled back upright and she looked me right in the eyes before embracing and hugging me, she was incredibly strong, but it felt very tight and intimate instead of crushing me.

 

        “Come on. Let's go, husband.” Rosette. No. Rose said with a light and chipper voice.

 

        I then noticed that although I had been cut free from the pole, my wrists, ankles and in fact my entire body was still tied up, still ready to be thrown on a railroad somewhere. I didn't think I had much room to protest, but I did anyways, “Why don't you just cut me loose? I can run, just give me a minute.”

 

        The response from here was immediate, “No. I've always wanted to do something like this.”

 

        “Do something like what?” She didn't respond so I had to ask again, “Do something like what?” Still no answer, we hadn't even started moving yet. “...Rose?”

 

I felt her shudder a bit. Was it me calling her out by her name for the first time? I wasn't sure if it brought he back to reality, or given the way she's been acting if she was somehow completely ecstatic that I had actually called her out by her name. “Rose? You there?”

 

        “They've spotted us.”

 

        That wasn't what I wanted to hear, “Who? They? A couple?”

 

The music and festivities came to a complete halt. The drums ceased to beat, the hammer on iron stopped. There wasn't a noise to be heard. There was only my breathing, Rose's breathing, a bonfire crackling, wisps of Rose's tail fire flickering back and forth and a breeze.

 

        Rose answered my question very dryly, “No. All of them now.”

 

        I tried to be calm and firm, “Rose. Cut me loose.”

 

        “No. I've always wanted to do something like this.”

 

        “Do wha- Whoa!” Rose scooped me up in her arms, one arm behind my shoulders, the other hoisting me up behind my knees. This was no doubt a princess carry, and it was incredibly emasculating. “Rose! Untie me. I can run just fine.”

 

        “No time!” Rose had formally declined my protests. She lashed out with her talon feet, an axe kick straight up that sliced through the side of the tent and she jumped through the opening. Her tail brushed up against the sides of the tear and it was subsequently lit on fire.

 

Horns, yelling, screaming and pandemonium took over through the camp. I craned my head to look backwards to see a massive stampede of men desperately attempting to flee an ever growing inferno that was growing out of control. It was as if a prison riot had erupted. Those who had yet to be dragged off were trying to flee in every direction being run down and recaptured by their amazonian pursuers. Except Rose, she kept running surefooted onwards, even when she was carrying me. She twisted and turned through the tents with ease. Did she know what she was doing? Her path felt deliberate, preplanned. Most of the camp was already abandoned, everyone had gathered for the ritual, but Rose suddenly took a sudden turn after running so far in one direction toward the edge of the camp.

 

        I screamed out, “It was just a little further. I can see the edge of camp from here!”

 

        “They'll catch us eventually if we go that way.” She turned ninety degrees and returned to a full sprint. We'd be running back, brushing just past the edge of that large audience before if she kept running. “I know what I'm doing. I'll rescue you, don't worry husband!”

 

Sprint is perhaps not the appropriate word to use. She was giving an Olympian runner a run for their money while carrying about 70 kilograms. I turned my head to look behind us, and arrayed there was a line about twenty meters away were about eight amazons, armed and ready. I suppose Rose showed me up on that one, but before the sting could set in, I saw they were also armed, blow darts in hand.

 

        I shouted out the warning, “Blow darts a six o'clock!”

 

        Rose's response was rather confused “A six what?” Thinking about it, that one shouldn't have surprised me.

 

        “Just dodge!”

 

Barrelling to our right, Rose shoulder checked a nearby tent wall and tore through it, the darts whizzing down the path we were just on. Inside the tent itself, a group of men, a couple playing dice, another four of them cooking. They all stopped and looked at the two of us completely surprised.

 

        A large burly man sitting on the floor with dice that just fell from his hand could only muster a few bumbling words, “What in the hell?”

 

        I recognized the voice immediately, it was the voice that belonged to the man intimidating all the others earlier today in the tent. Although Rose paid them no mind, at least no more than air and once she caught sight of the entrance and dashed away, I turned my head to keep looking him dead in the eye to give him my parting thoughts, “See you later, fucker!” Both of us disappeared back into the camp before any of them could get a word in or do a thing.

 

Rose took only a few seconds to get her bearings before taking off again, homing in on some other side of the camp. The further we ran, the louder the riot and chaos around the stage became louder and louder. Eventually we found ourselves at a T junction in the camp layout and enraged battle ready amazons to the left and right. Surely we were still under hot pursuit from behind, but this didn't stop Rose who simply barrelled on ahead. With a jump she kicked off various boxes and wooden cages of supplies and live animals each squawking and freaking out. With all the weight she was carrying, it didn't make sense to me at all how she manged to also run and leap across the taut cloth roofs of the tents as well.

 

When I looked back I saw a trial of destruction. A line of fire drawn over her footsteps and quickly burning out of control and enveloping the whole camp. A whirlwind of javelins, thrown axes, darts and arrows flew and crisscrossed around us as the entire war band of women tried to converge in on us. Rose's face though, it was certainly not like my own, stricken with fear and terror. Instead he face could only be read one way. She was positively thrilled with an ear to ear smile on her face. If I had known her longer since yesterday, I would claim that she might just be having the most fun she's had in her whole life.

 

After crossing the camp and leaping down from the stacked boxes and tent roofs, we were running along side a cliff edge. I was not in any position to see over the edge, and it was dark, but I could see well enough ahead that a palisade wall surrounding the other three sides of this camp were ahead and behind us.

 

        I had a dreadful thought, I didn't want to entertain it, but I had to ask, “You're not thinking of-”

 

        “It's perfectly safe.”

 

        I thought as much. I've had enough of leaping and falling from high places recently and it showed in my panicked voice, “No no no.” I noticed the sound of flowing water now, “From this high up, hitting the water would be like hitting concrete.”

 

        “Con what?”

 

        Twice now. I'm going to have to adjust to stop doing that. “It will be like hitting ground!”

 

        “The water is deep enough nearby. We wont hit the bottom.”

 

        “No. Water surface tension. It will be like hitting ground!”

 

        “Everything will be okay.”

 

Emerging from the camp now, behind us, ahead of us and in front of us, dozens of angry amazons, armed to the teeth, bow strings pulled back got us in their sights. She didn't stop running.

 

        “Rose?”

 

        “Because,” Her talons dug into the earth and she came to a skidding halt. “I'm,” She turned to face the cliff edge she leaped off into the air, “In love!”

 

There were a few moments of weightlessness as we both reached the apex of our current parabolic trajectory into the water below. Even if we didn't die on impact, I was bound and tied, I'd sink like a rock and drown for sure. While I was nursing those thoughts, Rose shifted her hands, hugging me tightly around the shoulder and my lower back. As she held me tightly against herself I felt a sense of relief, even as our fall turned us over head first heading into the water some distance below. How far was it? I couldn't even guess myself. It was dark and it was coming right at me. No vertigo or life flashing before my eyes prepared me for hitting the water. It happened very quickly and accompanied by a loud slap, splash and the the sound of rushing water in my ears. Rose had not let go at all. If her words were an assurance she was going to protect me, she was living by them right now. With her hands busy holding me to her and weighed down, how did she intent to swim? That thought quickly came to mind before I noticed we were being carried down stream and her tail behind her swishing back and forth like a rudder or a crocodile's tail, propelling us further down river quickly.

 

At least Rose was courteous enough to help left my head up above the roiling waters to take a few quick breathes of air as the river carried us further down stream, until I felt smooth rocks on my back and the two of us ground to a halt. The shallow water let me pull my own currently worm like body upwards and take a breath of my own, and Rose picking me up in her arms slogged her way across the shallow river bed to dry land nearby. Her resilience was amazing, as was her stamina. The last few minutes were a blur, but the camp was barely visible upriver anymore. There was only a faint light and plumes of smoke in the far distance billowing up into the moonlit and starry sky.

 

I felt suddenly and violently closer to the ground suddenly. Rose had collapsed to her knees while carrying me to the soft soil by the river's edge. He breathing was heavy and pained. She laid me down on the ground and stood back up. Standing up seemed to be very painful for her, and she was swaying back and forth slightly, groggy and woozy. Her face was down cast, so I couldn't read her expression at all. It was then that I noticed what was wrong. Her back was a pincushion. At least dozen arrow shafts and their fletching were jutting out of her back and along the back of her thighs and calves.

 

        “Rose? Are you going to be alright? Rose!” I was not alright with what I was seeing. She looked up and smiled at me, a smile that was no doubt supposed to put me at ease, but it was pained, and sad to look at.

 

She took a few steps back away from me and into the river again where the water came up to her knees. I struggled and writhed, still tied up and helpless. Calling out her name and trying to do something, anything. I noticed her face wasn't only pained, but its colour was off. It wasn't pale from blood loss, it was necrotic, black and dreadful looking. Without the water to wash away the blood, it was streaming down from her back into the water around her, like her wounds hadn't or been denied the ability to clot. The way she held me floating down river, she had done that to shield me from the Amazon archers who peered over the edge of the cliff to fire down at us. Why was she going this far for me? What was she thinking? What was she going to gain? I knew the answers to these questions, but I didn't want to address that. I felt as though I was watching this girl barely standing in the river before me dying for my sake, and I didn't like it at all. It made me feel powerless and angry. Or maybe I was angry for another reason.

 

She forced her smile wider than before, but instead of wavering she spread her legs wide and hunched over. Her tail raised into the air behind her and she took an exaggerated breath of air.

 

        “Close your eyes.” That was the last thing she said, a warning.

 

I didn't take it completely to heart, but my body did it for me when a flare was set off in front of me and my eyes winced shut from the sudden painful flash of light. She was only a scant seven meters away, and I could feel as though I was standing near a wide open blast furnace. Some grass in front of my actually blackened and died, and a fatal heat blazed just in front of my nose. After the initial explosion I opened my eyes to see a brilliant light exploding from Rose's tail. The river around her was boiling and was violently turning to steam. The arrow shafts embedded in her back no doubt were incinerated in an instant. Just as quickly as the spectacle had started, the flame on her tail returned to normal and the heat around her returned to normal. There was a ring of scorched earth, but no raging inferno left behind.

 

Her skin had returned to normal, and she had regained her balance and was no longer an issue. She walked across the now barren area of the river bed toward me and stepped ashore and plopped down against a tree beside me. She was still breathing heavily and she was a bit pale, but she seemed otherwise alright if only a little winded. It was a first seeing this apparently boundlessly energetic girl sapped. She looked at me slightly apprehensively while she sat there, she wanted to say something, but she couldn't muster either the words or the strength.

 

        My face was frozen in shock, but I still managed to break the silence, “That was amazing.”

 

She had looked a little sad, worried even, but now it was her turn to be shocked.

 

        I forgot about how silly I must have looked there, laying on the ground like a worm and looking up at her gushing, “So you can control your body temperature. If you did it that much, the arrows in your back, they'd incinerate. Wounds would cauterize. Even that poison in your blood would denaturalize from the heat.”

 

        Rose's voice was weak, “You don't think that was...”

 

        “Was what?”

 

        “No. Nothing.” She smiled at me again, “You're a good person after all, husband.”

 

I was a bit caught up in the moment and that last bit brought me back down to the complicated situation I was in. Here was this woman. Not quite human, monstrous even. She had tried to kill me, main me, harm me and then raped me. Then she hunted me, eventually found me and rescued me. Declared love for me and then saved my life. My mind was a mess and I didn't have the slightest idea what was appropriate to do or what was the right thing to do. What I wanted to do was nowhere to be seen either. I thought I could muster a few words, or come to some decision, anything to pay her back, but I had been so preoccupied with my own survival, even when Rose seemed to be less concerned with her own and rather was concerned with mine as well. Not only did I feel powerless, I was starting to feel like an ass hole as well.

 

I had to say something, but when I looked back up at her, she had already stood back up and here eyes were alert and her hand ready on her sword's hilt. I followed her gaze and wading up through the shallow water on the river was another familiar face. A tall muscular woman with white-purplish hair wielding a massive iron sword, her face ridden with ill intent. The amazon Tauari had somehow followed us and was bearing down on the two of us.

 

        She stopped to square off against Rose and threw down her gauntlet, “Return it to me.”

 

        Anger was one of things I had not yet heard from Rose, but it was undeniable that I was hearing it now when she growled back, “Over my dead body.”

 

        Tauari flashed a wicked grin, “That's what I intend. Lizard.”