Tales of Thuria 1: Red Sonja in Chains - Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Vengeance Denied

Valtar was hurled sideways as the furry body of the one the apes slammed full into him, its teeth sinking into his throat. His downward strike grazed Sonja's right breast as his body toppled from the altar and slammed into the floor. The knife flew from his hand and his loud screaming ceased as he lay on the hard stone, clearly dazed. The interference of the ape had allowed her to escape being sacrificed, but she was still bound to the altar. Still under the influence of the powerful aphrodisiac that had been forced into her, it took her a few moments to realize what had happened; then she struggled to escape. She was still tied tight, but fortunately the same ape that had saved her now bit through the ropes binding her wrists.

"You go now," the ape said, and she realized that her rescuer was the one ape that could talk. She wasn't quite certain why the ape had chosen to betray its master, but she was happy to still be alive. However, Valtar was still alive. He got to his knees, scrabbled over to the knife and then turned toward the altar.

"Treacherous beast," he shouted moving toward the ape next to Sonja. "You die first."

"You no destroy Hyrkania," the ape replied, rising on its haunches to defend itself.

Now Sonja had her answer. Despite his bestial transformation, the ape who was descended from what had once been Hyrkanian warriors, would not betray his heritage. She had no idea how he had managed to break free of Valtar's control, perhaps it was something to do with the distraction of her forced orgasm. Whatever the case she was not quite free. Her ankles were still bound to the base of the altar and once Valkar was finished with the ape she would be next.

This time, however, the chains linking her wrists proved to be her saving grace. As Valtar lunged toward the ape she looped them around his neck and dragged him toward her. Crossing her wrists she tightened the chain about his throat. It might have gone very badly for her had Valkar used the knife, but instead he instinctively clutched at the iron links choking off his breathing. It was an action that proved fatal as Sonja grimly held on and slowly choked the life out of the sorcerer. With a final convulsion Valkar's body went limp and Sonja let him drop to the floor and turned her attention to freeing her ankles. As she finally freed herself the building around her shuddered violently.

"Flee," the ape shouted. "Valkar's magic is all that sustained the city."

Sonja needed no further urging. Great blocks of stone were falling from the roof of the tower and she had to dodge among them as she ran back the way she had been taken. She scrambled for the entrance to the tower as it disintegrated around her, dodging massive blocks of stone that tumbled from above and navigating a crumbling floor that was disintegrating beneath her feet. Clouds of dust obscured her vision and several times she was struck by falling chunks of masonry, fortunately none of them large enough to give her more than a nasty bruise. Choking on the thick dust she finally stumbled into the daylight.

She was just in time. Even as she gained the terrace in front of the colonnaded entrance, the immense spire fell in on itself with such force that the ground shook under the impact and several of the massive columns toppled, bringing down even more of the structure. She fell to her knees, but quickly regained her feet and fled down the steps accompanied by a wave of apes that quickly dispersed into the surrounding forest. Sonja quickly followed and stood by the edge of the forest as the last of the once great city crumbled into dust.

Well, that's that, she thought. Another adventure gone awry. She was naked, covered with bruises and abrasions, and absolutely filthy. Amazingly, she was relatively unhurt, but she was utterly famished, her stomach pinched until she was sure it touched her backbone. Before she did anything else she had to find food and then seek some sort of shelter. With those pressing needs in mind she headed for the beach.

She was weaponless, and completely nude, a situation that was becoming far too common. Her wrists were still shackled and the length of chain still dangled from her neck. The collar was still secured with a padlock and she resigned herself to it for the time being.

She made her way through the forest, followed by several of the ape-like creatures, although she recognized none as the one who had spoken with her. She wondered if the death of Valkar had completely broken the spell cast upon them and if the talking ape was now rendered speechless. In any case, they showed no hostility toward her and most of them dropped off as she neared the beach.

While passing through the forest she equipped herself with a stout branch. It wasn't the best of tools, but it would do for what she had in mind. As luck would have it the tide was out and she was able to walk along the water's edge. She wasn't much into seafood, her childhood having been spent far from the sea, but she had travelled enough to have picked up a few techniques by watching others. She kept her head down, studying the sand at the water's edge and walked down the beach.

It took her only a few moments to find what she was looking for and she quickly went to her knees, digging furiously in the wet sand with the branch she had acquired. To her mild annoyance her first few efforts came up empty, but she was finally rewarded with a fat clam. She added several more and then carried her bounty to the higher part of the beach where she managed after considerable frustration to kindle a fire among the driftwood. While she waited for it to burn down she moved into the trees at the edge of the beach where she noted the ape-like creatures were feasting on tree-fruit and gathered a few for herself, assuming that they might be safe for her as well. She then tossed the clams into the coals and in short order wolfed down the steaming seafood.

Her hunger satisfied there was now the matter of shelter. This was a fairly easy matter of constructing a crude hut from the many pieces of driftwood littering the beach and making a bed of palm fronds inside. Her basic needs satisfied, she made quick use of it, crawling into the shelter and falling at once into a deep sleep.

She awoke to the crashing of the surf and realized that she had slept away the previous day and a good part of the next. It was morning and the tide was in and she stirred herself from her hut. She breakfasted on fruit from a nearby tree and then headed down the beach in the direction of the pirate lair. She had two goals in mind: to liberate herself from her chains and to exact vengeance from the seagoing thieves who had raped and brutalized her. It would also be most agreeable if she could find some clothing and weapons. Although the climate was mild she did not fancy going naked any longer than she had to and for most of her life she had been armed. She felt just as naked without a sword as she did without clothing.

She entered the forest close to the pirate's lair, having no wish to repeat her previous experience. Moving silently through the forest she reached the edge of the ruined palace and in spite of the chains about her wrists climbed a tall tree that allowed her to see over the broken wall into the pirate compound.

Nothing seemed to have changed since she left. The pirates and their women went about their usual tasks of cooking, washing, gambling, and sleeping. All of the men she remembered seemed to be there and it appeared that the raid Zul had spoken of had not occurred after his death. Perhaps the pirates were still in the process of working out who the next leader should be. That was all to the good. Sonja wanted them where they were and it did not take her long to formulate a plan that would prevent the pirates from escaping her vengeance.

She spent the rest of the day observing the camp, keeping track of the pirates' routines. Like most pirate bands she had encountered there seemed to be a very low level of discipline. There was not a single guard posted and most of the camp activity seemed focused on gambling, sleeping, and eating. There was also a considerable amount of whoring and she learned what had happened to Zul's harem. Ambria and Vanda were much reduced from their previous status. They had not worn much the last time Sonja had seen them, and now they were wearing even less, their fine silks now torn and the gold and gems having been stripped from their bodies. Sonja frowned at this; she felt little sympathy for either of the two women, but she hated to see any woman so debased. It was one more mark against the brutes who had captured and enslaved her.

By the end of the day she had a full count of the pirate camp. There were one-hundred-and-twelve pirates; twenty-seven women, ten of them serving as whores; and fifteen children ranging in age from babes to those in their early teens. It was difficult to tell who the children belonged to other than the two who were being breast fed, but that was something that didn't matter. What did matter, however, were the mongrel dogs wandering around and sleeping in the compound. She might easily sneak past the pirates, but the dogs were another matter. If she was to free herself from her chains she needed a distraction. After a few more moments of observation she had worked out a plan of attack.

Darkness would come soon enough and she used the time before dark to obtain more food. This time she harvested several dozen mussels clinging to rocks just below the tide mark. It was easier than digging for clams and satisfied her appetite. Then returning to her observation point she waited for complete darkness.

When it was safely dark she slid down the tree, managing it despite her encumbering chains. It seemed that she had been chained forever, but soon with any luck she might be free. Unfortunately it was going to have to wait a little and she wasn't going to be able to do it by sneaking into the pirates' camp. However, there might be another way if she could locate the pirates' ship. There had to be one. Zul had planned a raid and that required a ship, so she headed back to the beach and followed it toward where an anchorage was most likely.

The slapping of waves against wood led her to her goal. Extending from the shore into deeper water was a small jetty. There were two vessels moored beside it; one a two-masted ship suitable for the high seas and a smaller one-masted boat probably used for fishing. Both suited her plan perfectly. Moving with the utmost stealth she tiptoed down the jetty.

It was well that she had taken care to move quietly. As she neared the ship the sound of voices revealed that there were at least two people aboard the ship, possibly as guards. However, as she neared the vessel the sound of female laughter revealed another reason.

She smiled grimly. The men and women involved in their little soiree were in for a rude interruption. She made her way to the gangplank and up into the waist of the ship. She was no seafarer, but she knew enough about ships to feel her way to the ladder that led to the lower decks. Here she fumbled for a lantern, knowing that one was always kept near the entrance to the hold. After a few moments she found it and the flint and steel she needed to light it. She had no fear that anyone outside the hold would see the light and very soon had the shielded candle lit. Then she made her way deeper into the hold until she reached the room used by the ship's carpenter.

Surprisingly the room was in a surprising degree of order, showing that even pirates were capable of placing value on one of the most important aspects of a ship. Very quickly she located the tools she needed and a short time after that she had the chains off her wrists. She let them drop with a sigh of relief. A few heartbeats later and she had the collar off her neck as well.

Free of her chains she set off to complete the second part of her plan. She was weaponless, but the carpenter's hammer and a large chisel would serve until she found something better. Leaving the lantern in the hold she moved toward the stern of the ship and the captain's cabin. She needed no light to find her way. The cabin was lit from within and the door was partly open. From within came the sounds of at least two men and a woman. The woman and at least one man were engaged in fairly vigorous activity.

There seemed little need for stealth, but she took care anyway. She was not about to once again lose her freedom due to overconfidence. She crept up to the door and then peeked inside.

As she had guessed there was a single woman in the room along with two men. The woman was sprawled across the bed on her back, her legs spread wide while one of the men took his pleasure from her. The other sat on a chair next to the bed, playing with the woman's breasts. Neither noticed her as she stepped into the room.

She killed the one fondling the girl's breasts first with a chisel thrust to the throat; then she shattered the skull of the man on the girl as he attempted to struggle to his feet. The girl opened her mouth to scream, but Sonja muffled it with her hand. "Make a sound and I'll kill you too," she warned. "Roll over."

She quickly bound the girl's hands and gagged her as well. She left her feet untied as she wanted her to be able to leave the ship. Then while the girl watched from the bed she went through the wardrobe and extracted a shirt and a pair of trousers that would fit her. There were no boots, but she made do with a pair from the smallest of the dead men. They were still too large, but it was better than being barefoot. She also took one the men's belt. The wardrobe also yielded up a good quality sword and a pair of daggers.

Now she was almost ready. Pushing the girl in front of her she returned to the hold. Taking the candle from the lantern she touched it to the end of a length of rope. Since like all the ropes on the ship it was impregnated with tar, and it quickly burst into flame. She waited until the rope was burning nicely before tossing it into the central hatch of the hold. She watched for a few heartbeats to make sure that it kept burning and then used her sword to cut loose several yards of sail. It followed the burning rope into the hold and she was rewarded with a surge of flame.

She waited until there was no stopping the blaze and then headed for the gangway, taking the girl with her. Leaving the girl on the dock she jumped into the second boat. She cut it loose from the dock and then raised the sail. It was then that she discovered that the sail was rotted through. It disintegrated in the first puff of wind, leaving the boat drifting uselessly.

"Erlik's stinking breath," she cursed. Already she could hear the sound of shouting from the pirate's lair as flames roared through the ship. She had succeeded in her goal of stranding the pirates on the island, but now it appeared that she was stranded as well. Moreover, there would soon be over a hundred very angry pirates pounding down the jetty and she was clearly illuminated by the light of the blazing ship.

She looked in the boat for the oars, but not very much to her surprise they seemed to have been omitted as part of standard equipment. "Mitra's balls," she muttered. She drew her sword as a score of pirates swarmed onto the jetty. Just a dozen yards from her they lined up facing her.

"Get the bitch," one of them yelled. "She fired the ship."

"You get her," another replied. "I ain't going into the water."

Then Juruk appeared, answering her question as to who was now the pirate leader. He glared at her with his one eye from the shore. "She'll come to us soon enough," he shouted. "The waves are bringing her in."

And so they were. Every wave moving toward the beach pushed the boat and Sonja another inch or so closer to land. It was only a matter of time until she was so close that the pirates would be able to wade out to where she was. She considered jumping overboard and swimming for it, but there was really no place for her to go except out to sea, an almost certainly fatal choice. And so she waited, sword in one hand and a dagger in the other while the boat drifted closer to her enemies.

A crossbow quarrel whipped past her ear. She was completely exposed with no way to save herself, but Juruk an idea other than filling her with arrows. "Hold off," he yelled. "I want her alive. If we just wait the waves will bring her in."

"Not this time," Sonja muttered. "This time I will not be taken alive."

Only a dozen yards now separated her from the mob of pirates lined up on the beach. She tensed herself, prepared to launch themselves into their midst. She would take as many of them with her as she could before she died.

However, the pirates had other ideas about that. As she neared the shore something dark arched over her. Too late she realized what it was. She stepped back toward the mast, but the tight-meshed net fell over her, entangling her completely and rendering her helpless as the pirates swarmed toward her. She tried to fight free, but she was quickly pinned and completely wrapped in the net.

She fought furiously to escape, but then realized that her struggles were just wasting her strength and she went limp. She still had her weapons. Just possibly her captors would make a mistake when they removed the netting.

It was an unlikely event and Juruk's next words confirmed that. "Take her to the smithy. This time we'll chain her up proper."

Juruk's orders were quickly carried out. She was carried to the smithy and laid flat on the floor. Two men held her there while her chains were prepared. They chained her ankles first, shifting the net just enough to expose her lower legs. They lifted her so that each ankle could be placed on the anvil and then heavy metal bands were hammered around each ankle. Then they moved the net and looped a length of chain about her waist. Her wrists were next, secured with manacles that were linked to the chain about her waist. Only then was the net completely removed.

They stood her on her feet and Sonja found herself facing Juruk. "Ye've created a right mess for us. We're stranded on this island and it will take us months to build a ship big enough to carry all of us. I'd like to slice ye open and pull your guts out slowly, but I've got better uses for ye. Ever since that day on the beach I've wanted to fuck that sweet cunny of yers and now I'm going to do it. But it won't just be me. I'm no king like Zul. Pirates share everything equal. When I'm finished with ye, every man will have a turn with ye. If yer still alive after that I'll decide then what to do with ye."

"I'll kill you first chance I get," Sonja vowed.

"I reckon ye would," Juruk sneered. "But yer properly chained now. And I'm going to fuck ye until ye walk bowlegged." He grabbed hold of the chain around her waist and dragged her after him. She staggered after him, past the crowd of jeering pirates, her chained ankles making walking difficult. But she did not fall and he took her to the part of the ruined palace where Zul had once held court. The room was dimly lit by a smoking torch and Sonja saw that the bed of cushions was still there. Juruk pushed her down on it and then began to remove his clothing.

She attempted to struggle to her feet, but Juruk was having none of it. She was halfway up when his fist slammed into the side of her head. "Ye'll get up when I tell ye to, girl. Now lie there until I'm ready fer ye."

Jaruk resumed removing his clothes, keeping his eyes on the dazed redhead. His cock had swollen the first time he had seen her nude body that day on the beach. He would have liked to take her right then and there, but he had been forced to take her to Zul; the self-proclaimed king who never shared. Now Zul was dead, and now that he was pirate chief he could do what he wanted with her. She was incredibly beautiful even in her somewhat disheveled state. She had also shown herself to be incredibly deadly, a trait that made her even more desirable.

"I'm going to break ye," he vowed. "I'll have ye crawling at my feet even without that stupid rock Zul chained around yer neck. Just think what it's going to be like. I'm going to fuck ye until yer cunny is so sore ye can hardly stand and then it'll be yer turn with each of my men. If there's anything left of ye after that I'll take ye again. Ye'll serve me on yer knees until I decide to gut ye."

His little speech had given her time to recover. She looked up at him with the eyes of a predator, her fierce spirit clearly unbroken. It was time to change that. He heaved himself onto her.

Even chained she put up a struggle, attempting to kick him in the groin, but it was a move he expected, and quick as she was he had no trouble avoiding it, catching the chain connecting her ankles. He laughed mockingly. He liked his conquests to put up a bit of a fight. It made his inevitable victory that much more pleasurable. Using his weight to pin her, he straddled her legs. Except for her boots and swordbelt she was fully clothed. It was exciting undressing her. Zul hadn't done any of that. He had simply stripped her naked and then fucked the hell out of her. He liked to take things more slowly; allowing the redhead to struggle, even though the chains prevented her from putting up a real fight. Even so, it was exciting as he loosened the ties on her shirt. She struggled to prevent him, but her wrists were connected to the chain about her waist, preventing her from moving her hands more than a foot. He shifted his weight, placing his knees on the chain and pinning her arms to her sides. Then he opened the front of her shirt.

He gazed down at her perfect quivering breasts and then cupped them in his hands. They were as firm and as ripe peaches. He squeezed the soft flesh, letting it ripple between his fingers and he increased the pressure. She gasped but did not scream as he mauled her; emitting no sound even when he pinched and twisted her rose-tinted nipples, but he saw the tightening of her throat muscles as she held back a scream. "Be certain, redheaded whore, I will break you."

"I will kill you," she swore between gritted teeth. "I have trapped you on the island and I will see every man that touches me dead."

"I am no fool like Zul," he retorted. "You will never be left unchained and I think your thoughts of vengeance will fade once every one of my men on the island has fucked you." He released Sonja's breasts and ripped open the rest of her shirt, tearing it to pieces and leaving her nude to the waist. Gripping the waistband of her trousers he tore the weak fabric from her loins leaving her utterly naked.

He watched her thigh muscles ripple as she clamped her legs together. Given her fierce nature it was an action he had expected and it merely served to harden his erection as he placed his knee between her thighs and used the bruising pressure to force her thighs apart. She grunted in pain, twisting her body in a last frantic effort to stop him from taking her, but he easily pinned her down and forced his other leg between hers, opening her to his shaft. He wanted to lunge into her, but forced himself to hold back. He wanted to take her slowly and watch her pain as he took her and he did just that, enjoying the way the look of fury on her face was replaced by a fleeting flicker of fear as he pushed into her.

So she he had found a weakness. In spite of what Zul had done to her the redhead still feared being taken against her will; feared the terror of rape and the helplessness and degradation that went with it. "I know your fears," he said. "And I will add to them until you are broken." He thrust deeper, feeling her warm tightness close around him. Her body was betraying her, inviting him in even as she tried to keep him out. The revelation excited him and he penetrated her even more deeply, quickening the movement of his body until he was slamming hard into her.

She was an incredible fuck, warm and tight; and the sight of her incredible body shuddering beneath him with every stroke kept him hard much longer than any woman he had ever taken. But he finally came, pulling out just before he ejaculated to spurt his seed over her chest and belly. "As I said, bitch," he jeered. "I'll see you broken."

Continued in Chapter 6

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