Patience and Virtue · Part 4

Patience and Virtue · Part 4 (4/6)
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"I've never heard on any city that isn't on a cliff. Come along, my room is this way." Alena guided Pat to a doorway covered by a reed mat. She moved the mat aside and pushed Pat into the room.

The room wasn't large. It was about four paces wide by five paces deep with the door in the right-hand corner. The floor was lime plaster, the same surface as outside on the balcony. Inside, the walls were bare mud brick, unlike the plastered outer walls. Three tall narrow windows, just arrow slits, were spaced along the back wall.

The furnishings were sparse. The bed rested on the floor, along the side wall away from the door. It was just cloth over a wooden frame stuffed full of leaves. A folded blanket woven from narrow strips of fur from small animals was next to the bed. In one back corner of the room was a large pottery jar with a lid and a smaller jar containing water. A large basket and several smaller baskets were grouped in the other back corner. A three-legged wooden stool was off to one side.

Alena unslung her shield and hung it up on a peg set into the wall next to the door. She removed the belts holding her bow and quiver and hung them on another peg. "Home at last." She removed Pat's gourd and pouch and hung them with her bow. She asked, "Do you have to pee?" Pat nodded. Alena untied Pat's loincloth and removed it. "You'll be more comfortable without this." She took the lid off the jar and helped Pat squat over it.

With that unpleasant task accomplished, Alena untied the rope around Pat's waist and led her over to the bed. "Lie down, on your back. Put your hands over your head." Pat awkwardly sat down and then stretched out. Alena tied the rope attached to Pat's wrists to an iron ring set in the floor two paces from the end of the bed, and tied the hobble rope to a ring in the floor near the other end. She tightened the ropes so there wasn't any slack, but Pat wasn't stretched far enough to be uncomfortable.

Alena knelt on the bed next to Pat and stroked her hair. "We're going to have a lot of fun together, lover." She kissed Pat's lips. Pat didn't respond. "Playing hard to get, are you? I can change that." Alena unfastened the ties holding Pat's tunic closed. She spread it open and fondled Pat's breasts. Still no response. Alena stood up. "This may take some work. But right now I have to get us food while the kitchen still has some. Wait here, I'll be right back." She pushed aside the mat and left the room. Pat could hear her climb down the ladder.

Pat struggled against her restraints. 'Wait here'. Very funny. I'll be here, no doubt. At least these leather cuffs don't hurt as much as the rope did. She strained against the ropes, but except for some give as the knots tightened there was no movement.

It wasn't long before Alena returned. She was carrying a pottery jar. "Here we are, lover. The meal tonight is kalet stew, my favorite."

Pat's stomach growled. "It smells good." Whatever kalet is.

Alena removed the belt holding her ax and hung it on a peg next to her shield. She knelt next to the rope securing Pat's hands and struggled to undo the knots holding it to the iron ring. "Ugh. You must have struggled like a kalet in a trap." Finally the rope came loose. "Sit up and put your arms in front." Pat did as commanded and Alena tied the rope around her waist, with the knot in back.

Pat complained, "Do you have to keep me tied up? I promise I won't try to escape."

"Sorry, I can't untie you. Your promise is not binding, because it's a warrior's duty to escape, and deception is honorable. Besotted warriors have released their captives before. The consequences were usually bad, and sometimes tragic. The chiefs have made a strict rule that captives must be restrained at all times, especially when there is no Peace, because then you could honorably kill anyone blocking your escape."

Pat shrugged. It had been worth a try. "I'm going to have trouble eating with my hands tied like this."

Alena giggled, "I'll feed you. It'll be fun". She picked up the pottery jar and dipped a wooden spoon into its contents. "Open up."

Pat obediently accepted the spoonful of stew. She sensed grain, vegetables, and chunks of meat, presumably kalet, all blended in a spicy gravy. "Tastes good."

Alena ate a spoonful of stew. "Everyone likes it. We're lucky the kalets breed so quickly." She fed Pat another spoonful. This continued until the jar was empty.

It was getting dark in the room. A young girl carrying a small oil lamp appeared in the doorway. "Light, war leader?"

"Yes, please." The girl took down a lamp from a shelf next to the door, lit it, and moved on.

Alena moistened a cloth and wiped Pat's face. "Where do you come from, Pat? Is there some reason you must conceal the name of your city?"

"I'm not concealing anything. I just don't know where I'm from. My memory is blank. All I can remember is my name."

Alena said, "I'll name the cities of the People. Tell me if any sound familiar." She recited a list of names.

Pat listened carefully. She shook her head. "No, I don't recognize any of these names."

"Ah, well. Perhaps your memory will return. Maybe one of the other captives will recognize you, or one of the traders who visit here during the Peace will know where you're from. If a city can claim you, you might be exchanged."

Alena untied the rope around Pat's waist. "Lie back, lover". Pat complied, and Alena tied the rope to the ring.

Alena removed her tunic and loincloth and blew out the lamp. It was very dark. "Now we can play, lover." She stretched out on the bed next to Pat and fondled Pat's breasts and kissed her lips. Pat didn't respond. Alena increased the tempo, stroking Pat's body and exploring Pat's mouth with her tongue. Her fingers cupped Pat's mound and probed deep into Pat's vagina. This finally produced a response. Pat winced as Alena's fingers rubbed her dry membranes.

Alena sat up. "What's the matter, Pat? Don't you find me attractive?"

"You're very attractive. I'm just not interested in sex." Pat realized she was treading on dangerous ground. She was at Alena's mercy. She had already been threatened with a beating, and if Alena wanted her dead an 'accident' would be easy to arrange. She hastily clarified her statement. "I'm not interested in sex with anyone. If I were, you'd be my first choice."

"Have you ever been interested in sex?"

"I don't know. I can't remember ever having sex, but I can't remember most things. I'm really sorry. I would like to have sex with you, but my body won't respond."

Alena knelt across Pat's body and brought her crotch close to Pat's face. "If I can't make you respond, maybe you can make me respond. Get busy with your tongue."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Surely you know where the sensitive parts of a woman's body are located. Lick them!"

Pat extended her tongue and tentatively licked Alena's outer labia. "Is this what you want?"

"It's a start, but just barely. You really don't know how to please a woman, do you?"

"Maybe my body does, but I can't remember. I didn't know how to put on my arm guard, but I could do it without thinking about it. It might be the same with sex." Pat yawned. "I'm so tired it's hard to think about anything."

Alena moved onto the bed next to Pat. "All right, we'll stop for now. Go to sleep."

The next morning Alena nudged Pat just after dawn. "Time to get up! It's a bright new day."

"Ug. I want to sleep."

"Nope, get up." Alena untied the ropes holding Pat's wrists and ankles to the floor. She hobbled Pat and helped her stand up.

Pat groaned. "I'm really stiff. I'm not used to carrying heavy loads for long distances."

"You will be by the time you leave here." Alena pissed in the jar and then put on her loincloth and tunic. She help Pat squat over the jar and dressed her in just a tunic. "You'll be tied up all day, and it'll be easier to piss if you don't have to bother with a loincloth."

Alena armed herself with her ax and shield. Pat asked, "Are you going on another patrol today?"

"No. What made you think I was?" Alena slung her shield on her back and fastened the belt holding her axe around her waist.

"You're carrying your weapons."

"All warriors have to keep their weapons close at hand. I won't have to make another patrol for a while. Today I'll be doing my regular job."

"I thought your regular job was war leader."

"No, I'm a plasterer. I'll be working on a new building today."

"What will I be doing?"

"Whatever the labor overseer wants you to do. Most likely it'll be something hard and monotonous."

"Oh, that's something to look forward to."

Alena kissed Pat. "Cheer up. It won't be that bad. You couldn't expect to be allowed to work in the fields, it's too easy to slip away."

Alena tied a rope to Pat's collar and wrapped the rope from Pat's hands around her waist. Pat asked, "Why don't you keep my hands untied until I'm down the ladders? If you don't, it's only a matter of time before I fall and splatter myself all over the ground." Alena shook her head. Pat hurriedly continued, "I'm not going to escape! How could I, when we're in the middle of the city in the daytime, and you've got me on a leash?"

Alena reconsidered. "All right, I'll untie your hands. I don't want you to get hurt." The women descended the ladders. Once they were at ground level Alena carefully retied Pat's hands together in front. "I'll leave the waist rope off so you can feed yourself." She pulled on Pat's leash and led her to the kitchen, which was in a building located near the forge, in the innermost part of the city.

Pat and Alena joined a line of women waiting to collect their food. Iona was in line just ahead of them. She greeted Pat. "Pat! I'm glad to see you!" She intensely scrutinized Alena and licked her lips. "So the war leader claimed you. Lucky you!" Iona's hands were tied behind her back and a rope leash around her neck was held by a teenaged girl with no beads on her necklace. Iona pointed to her with her chin. "This is Pela. Cute, isn't she? I'll keep a special lookout for her once she becomes a warrior. I'd like her to be my captive." Pela blushed.

Alena laughed. "Stop flirting, one-bead. it's a good thing you're going to be exchanged. You're a threat to every relationship in the city."

Alena pointed to the chief's building at the apex of the city. "Look!" she exclaimed. Tomorrow is the solstice."

Pat asked, "How can you tell?"

"See that red ball over the door? Tomorrow it will be taken down and the Peace symbol will be raised. I didn't realize the solstice was so close. I've got a lot to do before I'm ready to go to Big Bluff."

"Why do you want to go to Big Bluff?"

"I'm in charge of the lime kilns, where we convert limestone to quicklime for plaster. I want to get to Big Bluff as soon as I can to see if the kilns need any repairs."

"You only go to Big Bluff during a Peace?"

"Yes, because there are some tasks that can't be interrupted, such as smelting ore, and you can't work and fight at the same time. During a Peace all we have to do is look out for savages, and they never go into the mountains."

"How far is it to Big Bluff? It's hard to tell just by looking at it from here."

"It's less than a day's journey for a warrior carrying only weapons, but the loaded caravans take two days. There's a spring at a good stopping place, and they camp there overnight. You'll see soon enough. I want you with me. I'll show you how to burn lime."

"If I learned how to burn lime would that give me a skill valuable enough to earn me a Ce'jk medallion?"

"The chiefs would have to decide that, but it would be something in your favor." Alena hugged Pat. "I'd love it if you stayed here always."

They reached the head of the food line and each woman collected a bowl full of mush. Pat and Alena sat on the ground next to the kitchen wall and spooned up the food. Pat didn't know what the grain was, but it tasted good. The mush was seasoned with small chunks of fried meat.

Alena put the empty bowls in a basket carried by a young girl and the two women walked to the plaza in front of the chief's building. There was already a group of captives there, some, like Pat, with warriors, and others, like Iona, with younger women. Lea and Clera were part of the group. A squad of warriors with axes in their hands stood guard.

The captives were being organized and dispatched by a woman with unusual hair; black with a white crest. Her necklace contained ten copper beads, but no gold beads. When she saw Alena she hurried over to her.

"Hello, Alena. Is this your new toy?" She glared at Pat.

"She has been assigned to me, Jaid."

"I have just the job for her." Jaid noticed Lea and Clera. "And the other collared one, too." Jaid beckoned to a guard and pointed to the two captives. "These two will work on the water lift today. Take them over there and hitch them up."

The warrior replied, "Yes, Overseer." She linked Pat and Lea together by tying Lea's leash to Pat's collar.

Clera kissed Lea. "See you tonight, lover." Alena said nothing.

The warrior motioned for Pat and Lea to walk ahead of her. Lea seemed to know where she was going so Pat followed. Their destination was a cistern built at right at the edge of the cliff. It was a waist-high structure made of mud bricks coated inside and out with plaster. It was covered with a roof of logs sealed with plaster. The roof had a cutout at the inner edge, and three steps led up to a small square platform next to it. A young girl climbed to this platform and filled her pottery jar with water.

On the other side of the cistern a trestle made of logs extended out from the cliff top. A pottery trough went along one edge of the trestle from its outer end to the cistern, where it penetrated the roof. A pair of vertical posts at the very end of the trestle supported a pulley. A rope ran around the pulley and disappeared over the cliff.

The other end of the rope was tied to a wooden bar that connected two wide leather belts. The warrior laced one belt around Lea's hips and the other around Pat's. She tied their wrist cuffs to the belt, just in front of their hips, and took the leashes off their collars. The ends of the wooden bar were riveted to the centers of the belts, and it kept Pat's and Lea's hips separated by about a hand-length.

Once Lea and Pat were secured the warrior was replaced by Pela. She asked, "Do you want some water?"

Lea answered, "Not right now, thanks."

Pat said, "Me neither, Pela. What are we going to do, Lea?"

"Lift water. What did you think we were going to do?"

"I guessed that much. I mean, what's the procedure?"

"Oh. See that girl on the trestle?"

A teenaged girl walked out to the end of the logs and looked down. Pat's stomach twisted at the sight. She croaked, "Yes."

Lea explained, "The workers on the ground will fill a big jar tied to the end of the rope with water from the river. When it's full the girl on the trestle will signal Pela, and she'll tell us to go. We walk until the jar is at the top and Pela tells us to stop. The trestle girl empties the jar into that trough, and the water flows into the cistern. We turn around and walk back here. Repeat until the cistern is full."

There was a line of women waiting to fill their jars from the cistern. Lea said, "It looks like a lot of building is going on today, and that takes a lot of water. It's going to be a long, hard day."

So it turned out to be. Except for a few brief pauses while Pela gave them water and let them pee, Lea and Pat worked continuously until noon. Finally they were able to sit down while Pela fed them. Pat was tired. She and Lea didn't have to strain really hard to lift the jar full of water, but they had to do it over and over again.

Pela fed the two captive women and herself from a large bowl of kalet stew. When it was empty she said, "I'm going to take the bowl back to the kitchen. You aren't going to try to escape, are you?

Lea replied, "Sure we are. I know a magic spell that will change these belts and the cuffs into wings, and we'll fly away."

Pela laughed, "I don't believe that." But she tied Lea's ankle cuffs together anyway before she left.

Pat asked, "Why does Jaid have all those copper beads on her necklace but no gold beads?"

Lea waited until Pela was out of earshot before replying. "Jaid used to be a war leader, but she lost her gold beads because she did something dishonorable. I asked Clera about it, but she wouldn't give me a direct answer. Whatever it was, it would shame this city if word got around."

"Jaid doesn't seem to like me. Do you know why? I never saw her before today."

"Jaid and Alena used to be a couple, but they broke up when Jaid lost her beads. Jaid is probably jealous of you."

Pat groaned, "I sure am lucky. I guess that means I won't get any of the easy jobs."

The afternoon was longer than the morning. Pat's leg muscles were aching and the belt bit into her hips. She often felt like stopping, but Lea never faltered, and pride forced Pat to keep up. The building activity slacked off near the end of the day and Pat and Lea were finally able to fill the cistern.

Pat asked Pela, "Can we sit down now?"

Pela replied, "Yes, but you still have to be tied to the rope. Your job doesn't end until sundown."

Pat and Lea sat down near the cistern. Pat's arms were stiff and she flexed them, pulling against the leather cuffs around her wrists. She whispered to Lea, "I've got a personal problem. Maybe you can help me."

"What is it? I'll help if I can."

"Alena made love to me last night, but my body wouldn't respond. This upset her, and I don't want it to happen again. What should I do?"

"Do what women have always done. Fake it."

"I don't think I can do that and make her believe me. What really worries me is that I can't please her. I really don't want to make her angry, but I just don't know what to do. Can you tell me how to satisfy her?

Like most women, Lea was very willing to talk about sex in graphic detail, and she provided Pat with a step-by-step procedure to follow. Pat struggled to remember all she was told.

Finally Lea asked, "Any questions?"

"I can't think of any. I hope I can remember everything tonight."

"Too bad we're fastened to this bar. You could do a trial run on me."

It was just before sundown. Pat did think of a few more questions for Lea, but Alena and Clera arrived to claim them before she could ask them.

Alena knelt on one knee and kissed Pat's cheek. "Hello. lover. Did you have a good day?"

"Just wonderful. How about you?"

"It went well. I finished plastering the new building. I'll be able to leave for Big Bluff tomorrow morning."

"Will you take me with you?"

"No, you'll travel with the caravan. I won't see you until the day after tomorrow, when it reaches the Big Bluff camp." Alena unfastened Pat's wrist cuffs from the belt and tied them together behind her back. She took the belt off Pat's hips and helped her to stand up. "We'll get some food and then go to my room."

"I'm dirty and sweaty. Any chance of a bath?"

"We could go down to the river."

Pat thought about the narrow stairs chiseled into the side of the cliff. She shuddered. "Uh, I'll skip the bath."

The women walked over to the kitchen. Alena put her left arm around Pat's shoulders and gave her a hug. Pat smiled and kissed Alena's cheek.

Alena said, "Wow! A spontaneous demonstration of affection. I never expected that."

Pat protested, "I've always felt affection for you. I just don't remember how to display it, even though I've wanted to."

"If that's true let's eat now, so we can go to my room and see how much you can remember about how to please a woman."

The meal tonight was chunks of meat grilled on a skewer and an orange vegetable, boiled and mashed together with spices. Alena collected rations for them and they sat near the kitchen wall to eat. Alena kept Pat's hands tied behind her back and fed her slowly and lovingly. Pat experienced a new and strange feeling, helplessness combined with attraction. It scrambled her emotions, and she wondered if this was a strange new kind of love, one she had never experienced before.

When they finished eating Alena helped Pat to her feet and they continued on to the ladder that led up to Alena's room. Pat expected Alena to untie her, but she was disappointed. Alena said, "You'll never fit into the city unless you lose your fear of heights and learn to climb ladders without using your hands. Up you go! I'll be right behind you to steady you if you lose your balance."

"No, please don't make me do this! I'll fall off and kill us both."

Patience and Virtue · Part 4 (4/6)
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