Chapter Five
The moment Thanred disappeared from view, Royla began tugging at the ropes binding her. She twisted her arms, burning her skin against the rope. Then she pulled, trying to yank them out of the loops that held them.
When that failed, she lowered her head and tried to get a piece of the rope between her teeth. But it was just out of reach. She could almost touch it with the tip of her tongue but could not get her teeth around it.
Yet the whole time she was trying to free herself, she found herself wondering what she would do if she did?
Would she creep out into the pitch-black woods, alone and unprotected?
She’d always been told to stay out of the woods after dark.
What if creatures, far more dangerous than the one that had enslaved her, waited there?
At one point she fell onto her back and rolled over to face the wall of the cave. Still struggling, she began tugging at her bindings, hoping they would give. She couldn’t tell how much time had passed when she, once again, felt his dark gaze on her back.
A shiver of fear raced down her spine. How long had he been there? Had he seen her? Did he know she’d been trying to escape?
His silence was deafening.
Her mouth dry, Royla licked her lips and lay still. “Master?” she finally whispered.
Footsteps crunched toward her along the ground. Something fell an arm’s length away. A citrusy smell tickled her senses.
“What are you doing?”
It was him.
Royla, still bound, shook her head. “Nothing, I was just...” The smack that landed on her bare ass was sharp and stung down to her toes. She yelped. Another came soon after, against her other cheek.
This wasn’t his palm. This had more bite to it. Like a stick, or a whip.
Blow after blow landed on her backside. Razors of pain shot through her body.
She moaned, trying to keep quiet so she didn’t draw the interest of whatever was wandering through the night.
As the pain compounded, her head began to feel light.
A strange calm descended on her as she lay still, taking her punishment.
It almost hurt more when it stopped.
Her rear was throbbing and hot. It felt like welts had formed on it. She didn’t dare roll over, for fear of what it would feel like when her ass touched the ground. She heard him sink to his knees behind her.
He put a palm against her hot flesh.
She sucked in a breath between her teeth and winced.
“Quiet,” he ordered. The sound of a branch being split broke the silence between them. He spat.
She heard the soft swish of his palms rubbing together.
He pressed one against her burning bottom. The pain flared momentarily but was followed by the most cooling, soothing feeling.
He covered her backside with what felt like some sort of poultice.
Royla sighed, relieved at his mercy. Had he not helped her, she never would have been able to sleep.
His eyes drank in her body as he rolled her over. He reached down and tugged at her restraints, making sure they were still secure. Satisfied, he reached over and broke another piece of the branch he’d brought back and dropped on the ground: a small piece, about two fingers’ length.
Affixing another woven bit of twine to one end, he pressed the twig against her lips.
She opened her mouth.
He pushed it in until her lips were spread, wrapped the twine around the back of her head, then tied it to the other end of the stick. “Suck,” he commanded. “It will sate your hunger until I can hunt in the morning.”
Royla was now not only bound but gagged. If she hadn’t been before, she was now utterly at his mercy. There was only one thing she could do: obey. She dragged her tongue along the bark and sucked, as he’d ordered.
The taste of lemon-fruit spread along her tongue.
After she’d swallowed a few times, the hunger that had been hollowing out her belly subsided.
A very pleasant sleepy feeling overcame her, her eyelids beginning to flutter shut.
They snapped open as she felt his fingers on her chin.
She looked up to see his dark gaze boring into her.
“Do not try to escape again. Or I will not be so kind with my correction,” he growled.
Royla nodded her understanding.
A few moments later she was stuffed into the small space, bound and gagged, but with Master’s slab of a back protecting her from the night and all the dangers that it held.
* * *
She woke to the sounds of birds chirping in the trees. Those first few moments of consciousness were a gift of innocence. Then the memory of what had happened the day before stabbed through her, jolting her wide awake.
She was alone in the cave.
She tried to move her arms and legs, but they were still tied fast. Tighter even, it seemed, than they had been the night before. The stick gag was still in her mouth, drool caked along her cheek from sleeping with it in.
Her mind began to race. Where was he? Why had he left her there? A panic rushed through her. What if he didn’t come back?
She tugged at her restraints, desperate to make them give. The idea that she might die of hunger there, or worse, be eaten alive by a windhawk or hinterbear, brought tears to her eyes.
Her body stiffened at the sound of footsteps outside. She didn’t dare draw a breath. She closed her eyes and waited for her fate, unable to face what it might bring.
Something fell with a hard thud just outside the cave.
Battling her fear, Royla opened one eye and dared to peek and see what it was. Relief washed over her as she saw the hard muscles of his tree-trunk legs, then the thick cock that hung between them.
When he bent down to look inside, she opened both her eyes and stared at him, begging to be set free.
Master crawled inside on his hands and knees. He twisted out the knots in the rope, his fingers surprisingly nimble. He pulled the twine off her head and took the stick out of her mouth, then pulled her up until she was sitting.
Royla watched him, then looked up and into his eyes. They danced between hers and her lips. A strange sensation overcame her. She felt the urge to lean forward, to... to kiss him.
What is happening to me?
But then he sat back on his haunches, his broad chest towering over her.
That was when she realized what the bindings had done to her body in the night. Her muscles ached and cramped from being in the same position for so long.
He shuffled back out of the cave, then stood up. “Come. You must move, or you will be crippled.”
It hurt to drag herself out on her hands and knees. As soon as she was past the mouth of the cave, he gripped her arm and helped her stand. Her legs felt weak, like they might give and send her crashing to the ground.
He took a step back, then stepped around her. His hand fell on her haunches in a somewhat painful, but rousing swat. Then again on the other side. “On your toes,” he ordered. “Make your muscles work.”
She did as he asked, standing up on her toes.
“Arms in the air,” he said, coming full circle around her.
She did this, too, raising her hands above her head and stretching them out. Freedom felt delicious.
He walked around her and spanked her again.
This time, though it still hurt a bit, the arousal she’d felt the day before at his correction flowed through her again. Her sex began to drip. She wished he would touch her again.
He came to stand in front of her. His cock had engorged, so that it was half-erect between his legs. He reached up and pinched her nipples between fingers and thumbs.
The pain lanced through her, down to her toes. But it was almost a welcome sensation. As if the punishment were waking her for the day ahead.
Gripping her soft buds, he twisted them between his fingers.
Royla winced. But his expression didn’t betray cruelty.
In fact, if she didn’t think she knew better, she would have said he was enjoying this, too.
The idea caused fresh liquid to seep from her sex.
“Thank you, Master.” The words came out nearly unbidden.
She couldn’t understand from where this desire to.
.. submit to him sprang. But she couldn’t repress it, either.
Each time he seemed pleased with her, a powerful and hungry lust grew between her legs.
He played with her nipples, rolling them between his fingers.
Royla stood on her toes, doing her best not to move.
When he finally released them, it was with another sharp pinch that made her wince. He gazed at her with, what she thought, or perhaps what she hoped, was admiration. “You may stand normally.”
Royla fell back onto her heels and let her hands fall to her sides but nothing else. His eyes didn’t fall from hers for quite some time. Finally, he bent over and picked up what he’d dropped by the cave entrance. A rabbit. It hung limp in his hand. He thrust it out toward her. “Eat,” he ordered.
Royla balked. Did he mean to eat it... raw? As much as she wanted to please him, she could never bring herself to do anything like that. She shook her head.
His eyes darkened. He dropped the dead animal on the ground.
“Master, please!” Royla said, breathless. Her body was tingling in anticipation of another correction, but she knew she would never be able to do what he wanted. “Please listen?” she whispered.
His hand was already raised above her rear.
Just as she thought it was going to come crashing down in a thundering smack, it wavered in place. “What is it?”
The tightness that had twisted her insides abated slightly. “I’m sorry. I want to do everything you ask of me. But I... I can’t. I mean... we don’t eat that way. If you let me... I can show you? I can show you how we eat in the palisade.”
His hand lingered above her backside as he contemplated the offer. Finally, he pulled it away. He folded his arms across his chest. “Show me what?” he demanded.
Royla’s breath was still coming quickly. Gathering her courage, she looked her new master in the eye. “You will have to let me find some firewood. And perhaps a rock I can use to skin the animal,” she explained.
His eyes narrowed as he contemplated the request. He seemed to be weighing whether to grant it. After what seemed an eternity, he took a step forward and leaned over her, his nose nearly touching hers. “Run from me and I will find you.”
Royla swallowed back the tightness that had gripped her throat. She lowered her eyes, hoping he would take the gesture as a sign of respect. “Of course, Master,” she whispered. Then she dared to look up and at him again. “But I will not run. I promise.”