Mahmoud Ben Aben gloated over his latest
captives. He had not expected such a
bonus when he had ambushed the caravan.
Two Sisters of the Blood Ruby, he could hardly believe his good
fortune! Together with the loot and
prisoners from the caravan the two young women would make him rich beyond his
wildest dreams.
He stood over the two still struggling
warriors. Despite being hopelessly
bound the two beauties continued to attempt to free themselves. He was impressed by their spirit. He knew that two such fierce warriors would
never cease to try and escape. And
there was also the matter of the
ferocious flying creatures that they rode. They were still circling overhead. Already they had picked off a couple of his men who had been
careless enough to venture into the open.
Probably they would continue to circle as long as they thought their
mistresses were alive. That was a bit
of a problem. Mahmoud did not want to
be pinned down indefinitely.
He rubbed his chin, thinking the situation
over. His men had intercepted the
caravan right on the edge of the Great Sand Waste. There would not be much food to feed two such huge flying
creatures, especially if he gathered up the bodies of the camels and men that
had been killed and buried them. If he
could keep the two warriors from signaling to their steeds they would probably
get tired of waiting and fly away.
He called over two of his men. “Abas , Ismail, get the sleeping drug. Mix a strong batch, I want our two special
guests to sleep for a long time.”
A short time later the two men returned carrying a
wooden bowl with them. Mahmoud walked
with the two men over to the bound warriors.
Both of young women were quieter now, struggling less.
The blue eyed beauties glared up at him. “Release us,” Azure demanded, “or you will
face the full fury of the Sisters of the Blood Ruby.”
“I expect I will, if I can be found,” retorted
Mahmoud, “but as of yet the Sisterhood does not even know that I have you. And they will not know until your creatures
return to the Cloister without you. By
that time I will be far away, and Lemuria is a large land. It will not be easy to find me.”
Azure did not reply. She knew that the brigand leader was right. No one except the citizens of White Falls
even knew where they were heading. It
would take quite some time to track them down and by that time they might be
hopelessly far away, sold into slavery in some distant land.
Sapphire now spoke up. “If you do not release us, we will escape and hunt you down. You can be sure that we will take vengeance
upon you.”
Mahmoud laughed.
“And if I do release you, you will kill me on the spot. What a bargain for me!”
Sapphire tried again. “We would not commit so dishonorable an act. If you release us we would allow you free
passage back to your homeland provided you release the members of the caravan
and return their goods.”
Mahmoud laughed again. “I think that you girls have spent too much time in
meditation. You do not understand the
ways of the world. I am not a
fool. I have captured you and I intend
to benefit from my success. You will be
transported to the slave market and sold for the best price I get. What happens to you after that is not my
concern.”
The hearts of the two girls sank. Mahmoud was right. Despite their high level of martial skills, neither young woman
was well versed in the ways of the world.
To a man like Mahmoud they were no more than plunder, to be disposed of
as he chose.
Mahmoud waved his men forward. “Make sure each of them gets a full
dose. I want them to have a nice long
nap.”
The two men approached Azure first. “What are you going to do?” she asked, her
voice quavering a little.
“Just give you a little drink,” smiled Abas. He reached behind Azure and grabbed her
braid. Tugging on it he pulled her head
back and held a cup to her lips. Ismail
pinched her face, forcing her tightly clenched teeth apart. Pouring carefully so as not to spill any of
the drug, Abas tipped the liquid into
her throat, while Ismail pinched her nose forcing her to swallow.
Azure coughed.
The potion was incredibly foul tasting, but she was unable to prevent it
from pouring down her throat. Almost
immediately, she was overwhelmed by a desire to close her eyes and sleep. She fought to stay awake, but could not
resist the power of the drug. In a few
seconds her head fell back, and her gentle breathing attested to the fact that
she was unconscious.
Sapphire was next.
Like Azure, she tried to stop the two men from pouring the drug into
her, but the technique they had used on her sister worked just as well on
her. Soon she too was sleeping
peacefully.
Mahmoud stood over the two sleeping girls. They were incredibly beautiful. He was almost overcome by an urge to mate
with one or both of them. “Don’t be a
fool, Mahmoud,” he thought. “Stop
thinking with your gonads. I will be
able to have a hundred women for the price of a single one of these. And it is very likely that these women will
be very tough to tame. Of course, it
would be fun to try. But no, stick to
the plan. I will take them to the slave
market. I will be rich and someone else
can worry about taming them.”
* * *
Sapphire awoke.
She was still very groggy. Her
mouth was dry and tasted like the bottom of a gryphon’s aerie. She tried to move and found that she could
not.
“Ahh,” she remembered, “I was taken prisoner and am
bound hand and foot.”
But something was different. Her hands were no longer behind her back and
she could move her feet. Her vision
cleared. She still could not move her
arms and she could now see why.
The ropes that once held her were gone. Instead she was now held captive by leather
cuffs that were fastened to her wrists and ankles. Her arms were stretched out parallel to her shoulders and held
there by chains that ran from each cuff on her wrist to iron eyelets that
projected from the end of a long pole that ran from wrist to wrist. The pole was also fastened to a leather
collar that had been strapped about her neck.
Although she could not see behind her she assumed that the same sort of
iron eyelet projected from the collar and that the pole had been run through
it. The result left her body held in
the shape of a cross.
Sapphire managed to struggle into a sitting position
and discovered to her mortification that all of her armor and clothing had been
stripped off her except for the thin vest that kept her chain link armor from
chaffing her skin, and a tiny loincloth that protected her modesty. She felt
incredibly vulnerable. The Sisters of
the Blood Ruby were not prudes, but they had always emphasized modesty of dress
and disposition. The few garments that
she now wore left her feeling like some town harlot. All of her numerous charms were on display for anyone to see.
She also saw that a heavy leather belt was strapped
about her waist. Chains ran from the
belt to the cuffs on her wrists and to the cuffs on her ankles. Another chain ran from ankle to ankle,
making it impossible for her to run or kick.
Sapphire glanced around her. A few feet away, Azure groaned as she too
regained consciousness. Sapphire saw
that her sister was chained precisely as she was. As she had guessed, there was an iron ring projecting from the
back of the collar through which the wooden pole had been set. It was obvious that chained this way nether
of them was going to go anywhere fast.
Mahmoud had seen Sapphire sit up. He approached her. “Salaam, Sister. I feared
that you had been given a bit too much to drink. You have slept a whole day.
Still, I could not have gone anywhere in any case. Your two beasts have been keeping
watch. They only just left a few hours
ago. I suspect they have flown back to
your sisters. Now that you are awake we
can leave.”
Mahmoud turned and called to a woman who was packing
up one of the camels. “Alisha, escort
the Sky Maiden to a private place where she can attend to personal functions
and then return for her sister when she is finished.”
Alisha hurried over. She was a young slave girl of about nineteen, and was dressed in
an ankle length garment. Taking
Sapphire’s arm she guided her to a secluded alcove in the canyon wall. There she helped Sapphire attend to her
bodily functions without removing her chains.
Then she guided the helpless warrior back to where Azure was just waking
up.
Alisha repeated the process with Azure, and then
returned her to her sister’s side. The
servant girl then left to attend to some other business.
Mahmoud was waiting for Azure’s return. “You have fifteen minutes to eat and then we
march. Make good use of your time.”
Both girls wondered how they were to feed themselves
with their bodies so heavily chained, but the question was answered for them
when Alisha returned. She brought with
her a large bowl of rice and meat, and a goatskin flagon of water. Alisha set the bowl before the two warriors
and told them to kneel. Then she hand
fed each of them.
For both Azure and Sapphire this was another
humiliating experience, but one that they could not question. If they were to survive and have any chance
of escape they had to eat. Both of them
were famished and somewhat dehydrated.
They ate and drank all that was offered to them.
Mahmoud returned in the time he had allowed. Both women were forced to their feet and led
over to a long line of other chained captives.
They two girls could not help but notice that no one wore the weight of
chains that each of them carried. The
other prisoners were held by one a single chain linked about their necks and
fastened to the prisoner behind and in front of them.
“Separate them,” Mahmoud ordered. “I don’t want them talking to one another.”
Several brigands escorted the heavily chained women
to separate places in the line. They
were not chained to the other captives but allowed to walk independently. The long column got underway. A long line of over 100 chained victims
marching into the desert.
Mahmoud and his men rode beside the column, some of
them on horses and the others on camels.
Mahmoud himself rode a powerful black stallion. Moving alongside Azure he spoke to her. “Your sisters will have difficulty following
us into the desert. Your flying
creatures will need food and there is nothing for them there.”
Azure knew he was right again. Any hope of rescue was still at least
several days away. It would take some
time for the gryphons to return to their aerie and still longer for the
Sisterhood to discover what route she and Sapphire had taken. By that time the slave caravan would be two
or three days into the Great Sand Waste.
The trackless desert would present a real challenge for anyone trying to
find them. The realization came to her
that if she and Sapphire were to escape, they would probably have to do it on
their own.
Mahmoud rode a few yards away, watching the
movements of the two ravishingly beautiful warriors. They were incredibly lovely.
With their arms raised parallel to their shoulders by the pole their
wrists were chained to, the light shifts they had worn under their armor were
lifted, so that the filmy garments covered only the upper part of their
torsos. Their midriffs were bare right
up to the lower portion of their rib cages.
The lower part of their magnificent and amazingly firm breasts were
clearly visible. With each step, their
high, heavy tits jiggled enticingly, the nipples of each mammary clearly
visible beneath the thin fabric that covered them.
By now Mahmoud had a full erection. Cursing, he spurred his horse ahead of the
two women. “My God, they were
tempting. If they were not worth so
much money he would have taken both of them in an instant.”
Azure and Sapphire trudged purposefully
forward. They had to be careful to
watch their footing. A careless step
would sent them pitching headfirst onto their faces. In addition, they were both barefoot, their thigh-length boots
having been removed, and sharp stones threatened to cut their feet. The hot sun beat down on their unprotected
bodies. Although both of them were
tanned from many hours spent aloft on their gryphons it would not be long
before both of them were feeling the full effects of excessive exposure to
solar radiation.
There was no point in complaining, however. All of the captives were in the same
position, and it was unlikely that the slavers would be likely to do anything
about their predicament anyway. Both
women guessed, quite rightly, that the way in which they were being treated was
part of a plan to break their spirit.
They marched without halt for most of the morning,
the sun rising higher and higher into the sky.
By noon, most of the captives were reaching the end of their
endurance. Fortunately, at that point
Mahmoud called a halt. Many of the
chained victims collapsed as water was distributed among them. Sapphire and Azure knelt, awaiting their
turn to drink. As before they had to
depend on the slave girl, Alisha to give them water. Their training as warriors had toned their bodies to physical
perfection and they were in much better shape than most of the prisoners, but
even they had found the long waterless march quite exhausting.
Mahmoud and his men must have been feeling the
strain of the march as well, because they stayed in the same place for over an
hour before resuming their trek across the harsh desert landscape. By now their route had taken them into an
area of sand. This was a welcome relief
to the two female warriors, as their morning walk had cut and bruised the soles
of their feet. The sand, however,
proved to be a mixed blessing, as their feet sank into it at every step. It did not injure their feet, but it took
much more effort to traverse.
The second stage of the march continued until late
afternoon. As the sun’s shadows
lengthened Mahmoud called a halt for the night. The exhausted prisoners dropped to the ground and awaited what
food and water their captors saw fit to give them. As before, Sapphire and Azure knelt. They were tired, but their conditioning left them in much better
shape than most of the prisoners.
Mahmoud approached the two warriors. “I see you are bearing up well. Two more days should see us in the slave
market of El Arish. I hope that you are
still in good enough shape to fetch a good price.”
Azure looked him squarely in the eye. “Take off some of these chains so that we
can walk more easily and we will probably arrive in much better condition.”
Mahmoud smiled.
“You are still testy I see.
Good, that spirit should help keep you alive until you are ready to be
sold.” He turned and rode off.
Azure and Sapphire looked at each other. What could they do? They were totally helpless to escape as long
as Mahmoud kept the chains on them.
Resignedly they awaited Alisha and their ration of food and water.
* * *
The next day passed like the first. The trackless waste of the desert seemed to
go on forever. A number of prisoners
who had been wounded in the fight with the brigands collapsed along the
way. They were unchained and left to
die on the wayside.
Mahmoud did not visit Azure and Sapphire until the
middle of the third day. He was finding
his encounters with the two beauties too tempting. They were trudging up a sand dune when he rode up behind
them. He stopped the column. “There it is, Sky Warriors, El Arish. There your new master awaits you.”
Sapphire and Azure stared in the direction he
pointed. On the horizon, an hour’s
march away, were the spires of an exotic desert town. Their hearts beat faster.
El Arish: who knew what fate awaited them there?