Miriam's Dance with Rogues - Chapter 8

Chapter 8

We arrived at Betancuria in the afternoon four days later. Four days of constantly using my mouth to pleasure eighteen different men during the night and in the mornings. I had indeed become an excellent "cock sucker" as Jared took pleasure in informing me. While the rest of the bandits had seemed satisfied in using my mouth, especially when I became well practiced in the art of fellatio, Jared constantly pressured Robin Hood to allow them access to my pussy or asshole. Robin's adamant refusal seemed to have sparked a rivalry between the two, one that I had hoped to exploit despite my bound and nude state. Unfortunately, I never got the chance as we came within sight of the city.

Betancuria reminded me of a crushed melon. The huge iron gates that spanned the entrance hung askew, the iron bent and twisted inward, testament to the mighty battering ram that lay abandoned by the entrance. Smoke still rose from within the city, barely visible over the high walls that were devoid of troops. Corpses no longer littered the ground outside the city, but the remnants of broken weapons and arrows scattered in the clearing around the city told enough. The yelling and screaming of men along with the clash of metal striking metal, and the unmistakable rumble of rocks striking fortified walls could still be heard coming from within the city walls. A large group of about forty well armed Dhorn soldiers in their trademark red and white colored armor stood outside the gate and watched us approach. About half were on horseback with crossbows, the rest held pikes and long swords. With a slap to my ass, Robin walked toward them, apparently unconcerned. A leash attached to my neck pulled me forward as Jared gave it a tug. My arms were still bound behind me at wrist and elbows, I was still nude, and worse of all, I was gagged with the dirty sock again. I hated it. Whenever I wasn't eating, drinking, or giving blow jobs, I was gagged with that dirty sock. It was humiliating. Constant blow jobs in the mornings and nights had at least ensured that my bare feet weren't too badly cut from each day's marching. Even though the bandits seemed to enjoy me and didn't hold back, I had no illusions about how I must have looked. I smelled like semen, my black hair was coated with flaking crusts of semen, and I was no doubt covered with dry semen. In short, I'm sure I looked like a well used slave.

The horsemen immediately rode forward and cut off any chance of retreat or evasion as they surrounded the back half of the group. Meanwhile, the foot soldiers moved forward and stopped Robin's direct approach. A man who looked to be in charge due to his beautiful red cape that swept across his broad armored shoulders, and his very ornate sword, drawn and pointed toward Robin, stepped out from among the foot soldiers, quite a surprise since I would have expected an officer to be mounted among the horsemen.

"Identify yourselves." he commanded. He was tall and from what I could tell from the armor covering his torso, very well muscled. The rich armor covering him included a helm that was complete with a face guard that muffled his voice and hid his features. Even so, his voice was low and sharp, filled with an air of command that expected instant obedience.

"We are merchants good Sir. We merely seek to enter the city to sell our goods." Robin replied, a slight tremor in his voice betrayed his nervousness.

The well armored man stepped closer to Robin in a calculated move meant to intimidate him. From Robin's nervous step back, it was obviously working. "Where are your goods Merchant?" he asked, putting extra sarcasm in the word merchant.

Robin looked around frantically at his men. They were all ill equipped, only carrying what they had managed to carry out when retreating from their campsite. They also had some of the meat and fruits they had managed to scavenge on the journey, but overall, they looked nothing like merchants. Spotting me, he then grabbed my leash from Jared and tugged my forward. "This slave is. We're going to sell her in the city."

The armored man gave a nod to his soldiers who moved forward, taking my leash from Robin and leading me away. "The Dhorn empire has taken over the city, and we don't allow slavery."

Relief flooded through me as I looked back and grinned despite my gag at Robin. He was gaping in surprise and looked helplessly between me and the armored officer confronting him as I was led farther away. Jared on the other hand, was leveling a look of pure fury at me. Giving him a wink, I swayed my hips seductively to taunt him as I walked away.

I was led to a large white tent where the officers that guarded the entrance probably spent their time. The inside of the tent was filled with luxuries. A mahogany desk with papers and quills spread over it stood in the center. A couch covered with the exotic pelt of some animal occupied a good portion of the tent. At the very back, an ivory bathtub stood by itself. I was deposited, still bound and gagged in front of the desk.

"Don't move." The soldier who had led me in told me with a distasteful sniff.

I couldn't very well argue thanks to the gag and there wasn't much I could touch with my arms bound behind me. I was mildly humiliated by the way he treated me like a dirty animal, but then, I was covered with caking semen, so I must have smelled quite horrendous.

When the officer who had hopefully saved me from a life of slavery walked in, he found me kneeling in front of his desk.

"Damn it. My men didn't even untie you?" He asked as he began to pull off his armor. As he removed his helmet, I saw his grey hair and the slight wrinkles on his face which brought an estimate of his age to around fifty. Despite his age, he was very well muscled and I watched in fascination at the sheen of sweat that highlighted his muscular arms as they flexed while he pulled off his gloves.

He signed in relief, "I'm never going to get used to the hot weather here."

Bending forward he began to pull the ropes off. "I can never untie knots while I'm wearing gauntlets." He explained.

His head bent close to my hair as he worked on the ropes binding my elbows. I saw his nose wrinkle at the sight of the white mess in my hair. "Bring hot water for a bath!" He yelled to the men outside as he finished untying my elbows and wrists. By the time the gag was off, hot water was already being poured into the ivory tub at the back of the tent.

Minutes later, I sighed in relief as I soaked in the hot water. It had been a long time since I had last taken a bath in hot water. I had learned that the name of the Dhorn officer was Drake before he had stepped out to give me privacy. I scrubbed my skin and hair thoroughly with the bar of soap and afterward, lay in the tub inhaling the calming scent of lilac that perfumed the water. Eventually, as the water began to cool, I emerged and found that a towel and clothing had been left for me. Clothing made for men, but still better than going nude. After drying myself with the towel, I quickly donned the pair of baggy breeches, and too large shirt. Both were of good quality and highly suspected that they belonged to Drake. The boots were too large but after walking on my feet for four days, it was a relief to finally have something between my sore feet and the ground, even if I did heal all the cuts on my feet at the end of the day. Fully dressed, I stepped out of the tent and met Drake waiting for me.

"My clothing fits you as badly as I suspected they would. But you look much prettier now then you did when you were naked." He commented, grinning down at me. He had put his armor back on but left his helmet off.

"Thank you for lending me your clothes Sir Drake."

"You're welcome girl. You smell much better too." He added quite impolitely.

He put a hand on my elbow and began leading me through the broken gates of the city. "By the way, I'm not a Sir. Only nobles need to be called Sir. Call me Lieutenant Drake or just Drake." Turning to the men guarding the gate he gave quick commands for them to detain anyone else who approached until he returned.

"Why did you help me?" I asked, genuinely curious about what he expected in return.

"I got a daughter about your age back home. Haven't seen her for two years now. But when I saw how those men had been treating you, I couldn't help thinking what my daughter would say if I didn't stop them. And after I stopped them, well I couldn't let you go into the city looking like a whore. We rounded up all the whores yesterday and threw them in prison."

"So slavery and prostitution are banned in the Dhorn empire?"

"Mostly. Unless you're a noble. They call their slaves by another name. Servants. But it's really the same thing. Unpaid servants who have no choice."

I nodded. "If slavery is illegal, how did those nobles obtain their unpaid servants?" I asked.

"They're nobles. They can choose whoever they want that isn't nobility to serve them."

"Oh." I looked around. Betancuria was a large city but seemed mostly empty of citizens. Some shops were still open but most of the shops as well as the houses had their doors and windows closed. I assumed that most of the people were hiding in their houses or shops since large numbers of Dhorn soldiers patrolled the streets. Many of the buildings were in ruins, burning with trails of smoke drifting up into the air and the sounds of men killing and dying was now louder then outside the city walls.

"The fighting looks to be over, but it doesn't sound that way." I commented to Drake.

He steered me toward one of the open shops with his hand on my elbow. "The Betancurian soldiers retreated to the Castle when the city gates fell. So now we're laying siege to the castle itself. Shouldn't last much longer then a day or two."

I looked at the shop Drake led me to. The name of the shop was in a language I couldn't read, but the needle and thread symbol that decorated the name plate along with the picture of a woman in a dress made it quite obvious. "You're buying me clothes?" I asked in surprise.

"Well, I can't just leave you in the city dressed in my clothing. Anyways, my wife gave me that shirt. I want it back." He teased.

Despite Drake's urging to get one of the dresses, I figured that searching for the stolen artifact in a dress would prove difficult. Especially since it was likely that I'd have to do some breaking and entering in my quest for the artifact. I looked in the mirror at my current choice. Black boots that rose up to mid calf, brown leather pants that hugged my legs and buttocks, a dark blue blouse made of cotton with a black bodice that accentuated the hourglass curve of my waist and lifted my ample breasts so that I wouldn't need a bra. Much to Drake's very vocal protests, I had unbuttoned the top four buttons of my blouse, showing a generous expanse of cleavage. But I could tell by the way he kept eyeing the opening in my blouse that he enjoyed the view.

"Thank you so much Drake. Is there anything I can do"?" I let my question trail off as we left the shop.

He gave me a quick grin that lit up his whole face and made him look twenty years younger. "I'm flattered but I have a wife. I'm helping you because I can easily afford it and I'm not sure I could live with myself if I had left you with those ruffians."

I gave him a teasing grin back. "I never said I was going to repay you by sleeping with you. What happened to those ruffians anyways?"

"What else could you offer me besides sex?" he asked. I decided not to answer that.

Drake continued, "As for the ruffians, there really isn't much we can do about them. Our orders are to let everyone into the city, but to let no one leave. Anyways, stop by the barracks and apply for a cleaning job if you can't find another in the city. Just tell them I sent you. I have to return to my post." He finished in a rush. Apparently, my proposition had disturbed him.

As Drake hurried away, I considered my situation. My jaws were still a little sore, but other than that, my ordeal had little effect on me. I needed money, which meant I needed a job, or I needed to steal. But since Robin Hood was now in the city, I would need to avoid him, and wandering the streets looking for someone to rob was not exactly the best way to avoid him. So job it was.

Continued in Chapter 9

---