Chapter 6

The Land of Harsh Sun

 

Bright Dawn Fortress was bubbling with activity. Two days ago it had been Ishi-jo Fortress, a dark font of oppression to those without and a cauldron of sadism and abuse to those within. Now people from a dozen different villages gathered in the courtyard, exchanging pledges and making plans for the future of what was once Akio's empire.

"It feels strange," said Bohai, twisting his torso and swinging his warms around.

None of the armor from the keep fit the Punnydins, who were too short and round for it, so Miyoshi was designing a new pattern for them.

"You look so fearsome now," she said. It wasn't strictly true, but once all of the excitement of Akio's fall faded it would be important to make sure that everyone had the confidence to keep up their fighting spirit.

Miyoshi had also designed a uniform for the new fledgling alliance. She'd taken a few of the spare uniforms in the keep, and with the help of some dyes and sewing implements she'd put together a snazzy new outfit that would help tie everyone together.

She'd thought about making one for herself, but she felt oddly uncomfortable now trying to make herself look pretty. She was still wearing one of Akio's uniforms, hastily tailored and dyed brown. Yumi and Chiyo had matching outfits. Yumi's clothes had never been found, and Chiyo's had been treated roughly.

Bohai's calisthenics were interrupted when a bird landed on his head- a whisper bird. He nearly fell down in clumsy panic, the bird hopping off to land on Miyoshi's arm when she offered it.

She listened to the bird's chirping as it delivered Jiichan's report. Most of the villagers had made it back to Umai and were rebuilding. Except for Miruku, who only wanted to eat and sleep. Miyoshi wasn't surprised; she'd gotten it worse than the rest of the villagers.

Ikumi was doing well, sleeping in Taiko's enchantment. Miyoshi was glad- but once again she worried for her. She didn't have Taiko or Yumi's fearlessness, and they were in for their most dangerous adventure yet. If they failed, there might be nothing anyone could do for Ikumi.

"Is that Jiichan's?" asked Taiko, walking up from behind.

"Mmm-hm. Everyone who left yesterday got back safely."

Miyoshi lifted her arm to help the bird take off. It flew over the walls and back toward Umai. Miyoshi wished she could follow it.

She turned around to face Taiko. Yumi was with her, leaning on her spear. After a day of rest and recuperation she was doing better. She could walk, although she tired quickly if she was carrying anything.

"How has the meeting between the villages been going?"

"Good," said Taiko. "Mayor Ryouta is trying to talk his way into being the alliance's president, but I think he's just getting on everyone's nerves. Everyone is very hopeful, though."

"I wish we could stay," said Miyoshi. "This Queen Tomiko- she sounds scary. Really scary. How can you be so sure that we can do this? I know we always have, but... things are different now."

Taiko hugged her. Miyoshi hadn't been expecting it, but it was something she needed.

"I can't live in a world where we can't be heroes anymore. So I'm not going to. You should have seen everyone when I told them that I was going to rescue all of you. They couldn't believe it. That's our advantage- we know what this world has in store for us now, but it still hasn't figured out what we have in store for it."

Miyoshi chuckled. It was a laugh weighed down by trepidation and wounds that she could still feel, even if they had been healed, but it did her good.

Chiyo appeared from inside the keep. She had her staff again, found in one of the keep's trophy rooms. She'd been quiet, more than usual, for the past two days. Miyoshi had expected her to at least be interested in the keep's library, but she didn't seem to care to learn much about this world anymore.

"Are you ready, Chiyo?" asked Taiko.

Chiyo nodded, absently adjusting her backpack and not making eye contact. Then Miyoshi saw her glare at someone off to the side.

It was Akio. Haru was bringing him along. His hands were tied in front so that he could hold a walking stick, necessary since he couldn't see the ground in front of him anymore. He was lucky. Miyoshi hadn't been shown any such consideration when she'd been tied up. She noticed a ring on his finger that hadn't been there before- doubtlessly picked up when Haru brought him to his room to get his traveling pack and clothes- and privately balked that he could still think of something as self-absorbed as decorating himself instead of showing remorse for his actions.

"I still don't trust this guy," said Haru, not caring much that Akio was right in front of him. She noticed that he was wearing a pack as well.

"None of us do," said Taiko. "But we don't have a choice."

"Are you coming?" asked Chiyo, surprising Miyoshi. "You've got a backpack on."

"Yeah," said Haru. "Yumi can't carry anything, so I thought I'd help bring some supplies. I can also help keep an eye on him if the four of you are busy."

"Be careful with your words, boy," said Akio. "I do not need you for this mission, and I am more than capable of breaking you without my eyesight."

"Shut up," said Yumi. "We don't need you to come back with us, so remember that."

"Enough," said Taiko. "We've got a long road ahead of us. Bickering the whole time won't help anyone."
        Taiko wasn't wrong. They were going to take the long way around to Frostspire. According to Akio the deserts to the west of Tomiko's domain were mostly unexplored and the mountainous border between them wasn't guarded well. It was a very indirect route, and it would take a whole day just to get to the desert, but it was their best chance of slipping in undetected.

It was going to be a difficult crossing, though. Of course it would be- that's why it wasn't guarded. But between a weakened Yumi and an untrustworthy Akio, it was going to be rough going.

"Excuse me," said a man, approaching them from the other side. He was older, and a little wiry, but he carried the heavy load on his back with ease, and he wielded the stick in his hand more like a weapon than a tool.

"Are you Taiko?"

"That's me."

"Good to meet you! My name is Hikki, from the Klon tribe. I was told you would need a guide to the edges of the great desert."

"Ah!" said Taiko, bowing. "Yes, thank you. I think we'll be ready to leave soon, but please take a moment to rest and eat if you just got here."

"That's okay," said the man. "I'm most at home on the road. I can start as soon as you're prepared."

Miyoshi put a few finishing touches on Bohai's armor. The Punnydins would have to make more of their own, but Miyoshi was happy with the template she was leaving them.

She made her rounds, saying goodbye to the new friends she'd made over the past couple of days, and giving them her final advice on what to do with Bright Dawn Fortress. She bade farewell to the Mayor, promising him she would be back, and asking him to take care of Umai for her.

With the sun not yet at the midpoint in the sky they gathered around the gate. The doors were opened for them, and Miyoshi set foot outside of the place she was once sure she would die in.

 

Taiko wiped the sweat off of her brow. It was cooling down from the highs of earlier in the day, but it was still hot. Hot, dry, and exhausting. Their feet sank into the sand with every step, making each one harder than normal. They'd spent all of the previous day getting to the outskirts of the desert, and since morning they'd been on their way to crossing it. It would be another full day of travel before they reached the other side.

Now that she was here she recognized the place. It had been the Dunnie desert back when it was part of her world, but the strange forces at work had absorbed it into Akio's.

It was mostly sand dunes underfoot, but tall plateaus rose out of the yellow grains that made navigation easier if you had a map showing the distinctive ones. About half of it was also covered in bleachwood trees. The strange plants looked like they were dead and bleached white in the desert sun, but they were really still alive and growing.

"I remember this," said Taiko. "We've been here before."

"Yeah," said Miyoshi. "When we were helping the Dunnies with that fire snake infestation."

"I hope they remember us," said Yumi. "Last time we were here they-"

Yumi's sentence was cut short with a curse as she fell, her foot having caught on a ridge of sand. It was a soft landing, at least, but Taiko knew that she would struggle to get up on her own.

"Do you need a hand?" asked Akio. He had been close behind, and now he was standing over her.

"Get away from me," said Yumi. "This is your fault. You could have 'helped' by not putting this mark on me."

"You could have been better behaved when you were my slave. It would have been much easier on you, and I'm sure your friends would have appreciated it."

Taiko still didn't have many of the details about what happened while they were Akio's prisoners.

"What's he talking about?" she asked, not being willing to listen to this when she didn't know enough to stand up for Yumi.

"He's a liar," said Chiyo, her first words today. She was a couple dozen feet behind them, where she'd been for most of their journey. At least Haru was hanging back with her, keeping her from falling out of the group entirely.

"Don't believe anything he says."

Her tone told Taiko that she considered her works final. Taiko would have to ask them about it later, when Akio wasn't there. She gave Yumi her hand and picked her up.

"Come on, we've got a long way to go."

"I can't believe him," said Miyoshi, coming up right beside her after they resumed walking. "Blaming what he did to us on Yumi..."

Taiko thought back to the night of the battle. She thought back to Kuzuno. The red woman had tied her up and touched her in ways that she still felt whenever she thought about it. She wished that Miyoshi and Chiyo could have been taken prisoner by Kuzuno instead of Akio. A couple of days as her slave wouldn't be so bad.

She glanced over to look at Miyoshi. She was sure Kuzuno would like to have her. Even in the drab uniform she looked sexy, the curves of her hips and breasts refusing to be hidden. Taiko didn't understand this new obsession that everyone had now with tying each other up, but if having Miyoshi bound in rope meant having a chance to play around with her breasts and kiss those lips...

Taiko was horrified when she realized where her head had gone. Miyoshi was her friend, and here she was thinking about her the same way Akio had.

"Over there," she said, needing a change of subject from her own thoughts. "That looks like a good spot. We'll set up camp there for the night."

 

Yumi ran through the bleachwood forest. She was slow. Akio was behind her, always behind her. Every time she turned around he was there, walking toward her, a little bit closer.

She begged her legs to move, to run faster. She fell. Her hands were tied now, the rope slithering around her like a snake. It slowly coiled around her arms, pinning them tighter and tighter to her chest while she tried to get back to her feet.

Akio shoved her back against a tree. The rope grew like a vine, wrapping around it to hold her in place while he ripped apart her clothes, which tore like wet paper, practically melting off her body. She opened her mouth to call for help, but she was gagged. Akio pulled her legs apart.

She was on her knees now, begging him to fuck her. He touched her, and she felt like she was going to die if he didn't give it to her. Instead he took Miyoshi, making her scream in pleasure while Yumi watched, his hands still groping her. Shaking her. Shaking her and hissing in her ear.

Yumi opened her eyes.

"What's-"

"Quiet!"

Akio hissed the word.

"Somebody's coming."

Yumi pushed herself up, willing her senses to shake off their sleep and tell her what was happening. The moon was bright overhead, and Yumi spotted figures moving in the darkness. She could hear them too, if she listened carefully enough. How Akio had managed without knowing what to listen for she couldn't fathom.

There had been no campfire or torchlight to guide anyone to their camp, and it surprised Yumi that anyone could have found them in the little pocket of dunes, surrounded by bleachwood trees, that they'd set up in. Or had they- they were just moving around in the trees, and if they were watching they must have seen that they were awake.

"Wake the others," he whispered. "You were the only one making enough noise in your sleep for me to find."

Yumi shook Taiko and Miyoshi awake, covering their mouths as she did to keep them quiet. Chiyo seemed to sense what was going on and woke on her own, thankfully keeping to her habit of being silent.

"Who do you think they are?" asked Miyoshi, her voice as low as it could go.

"I'm going to find out," said Taiko.

To Yumi's surprise she stood up, spread her legs, made a crescent with her arms, and shouted.

"Devour their legs, desert sands!"

Yells of panic and surprise lit up the night. Yumi could see well enough now to tell that the figures were sinking up to their waists in the sand.

"Who's there?" said Yumi, hoisting her spear as if she could use it.

"Are you... is that Taiko? And Yumi?"

Yumi recognized the voice. It was the huntleader of the Dunnies.

"Jumo?" said Taiko. "What are you doing so far out here at night?"

"Can you call off your magic?" he asked in response. "I'd very prefer not to have to keep shouting."

They were obliged to wait the spell out before they could all gather in the camp. There were about a dozen of the Dunnies. Some of them had minor injuries that had been bandaged, and except for Jumo they all looked grim and haggard.

Jumo was always well-dressed, at least by Dunnie standards of fashion. He was still half-naked, with a bare chest and a loose-fitting pair of plain white pants, but unlike the rest of the hunters he had a decorative strip of cloth hung over the back of his neck, woven forearm guards, and a bright yellow belt made of some kind of hide.

"We've had a serious bit of trouble," said Jump, sitting cross-legged in front of them. "Yesterday, not too late in the morning, a bunch of armed and rather aggressive men appeared and attacked our village. They'd been waiting at the foot of the plateau where we couldn't see them, and stormed the trail leading up before anyone knew what was going on."

"I and a bit of the rest of our hunters tried battling them, but our weapons fared poorly against their shields and armor, and we were driven to a retreat. Luckily, we were able to stage a daring escape by repelling down the side of the plateau, but only about half of our total number made it."

"Now they've got possession of the fair bit of rock we used to call home. They also have about half of our people. We were able to elude them easily enough- they're not quite up to running through these dunes as well as we are- but we need to take back our village and our people, and somehow do it without being able to stand up to a fight against them."

Yumi listened to his story, wishing she could be surprised by it.

"Out of curiosity," she said, "Do you have any idea who they worked for?"

"I believe they mentioned a 'Queen Tomiko'? I've never heard of her, and details were scarce over all of the shouting of battle. Perhaps it was the woman who was with them. She was rather tall, and she had a horn sticking out of her head."

"The Lady Oni Satsujin," said Akio. "Most likely. There are three of them. One of them was taken prisoner recently. The other rarely leaves Frostspire. Servants of Queen Tomiko, of course."

"You two are as awful as each other," said Miyoshi. "This one did the same thing to Umai a few days ago. Thankfully we rescued everyone."

"That's unfortunate, but fortunate. It's not apparent why you've brought him to the Dunnie Desert, though."

"Funny story," said Yumi. "We've got business with Queen Tomiko."

"I should warn you," he said. "I do not know much about her, but I do not think she is entirely trustworthy."

"Well, we were planning a burglary," said Taiko. "She has something we need, and we've already been warned off from trying to bargain for it. Now it looks like we need to take care of this 'Lady  Satsujin' on the way."

"That would be of little benefit to our mission," said Akio. "If any of her soldiers make it back she'll know we're coming, and we absolutely do not want Satsujin on our trail. If we even succeed in the first place."

"We're striking directly at Tomiko," he said, facing in Jumo's direction. Help us find a way through the desert and we'll be in a position to do far more against her than we will fighting a mere expeditionary force."

"Shut up, Akio," said Miyoshi. "You don't get a say in anything. We're going to help them."   

Yumi wished she could say the same thing. She was aching for a good fight, but she could barely carry her spear right now, let alone use it. She was useless, and she couldn't bear to offer an opinion when she had no hope of backing it up.

 "That would be an advantage to our chances," said Jumo. "Although I can scarcely bring more than twenty huntsmen to their twice that number."

"You know us," said Taiko, standing up. "We laugh at those kinds of odds. Where's your camp? We'll whip up a plan to toss this 'Lady Satsujin' out on her butt. Don't doubt it for a second!"

 

Taiko gazed over the crude map, trying to line it up with her memories of the village last time she was there.

"Getting back on top will be a scary bit of business," said Jumo.

The plateau the village was on wasn't as high as many of the others, but they had little in the means of equipment that could get them up the walls. The main path leading up was their only real option.

"Akio," said Taiko. "You fight Tomiko's men all the time. You should be able to tell us their weaknesses. How do we fight them?"

Akio scowled. He was still unhappy about the distraction from his goal, but he answered, smart enough at least to realize that not helping would only lessen their chances of eventually getting to Frostspire.

"Tomiko's men are not as disciplined as mine. Particularly their leader, Satsujin. She's impatient, reckless, and doesn't care how many of her men she gets killed as long as she gets what she wants. Dangle enough of a prize in front of her and she'll bring the army down to fight you. Especially since she already knows that she can win on equal ground."

"Yes, and that's the other bit of a chore," said Jumo. "She can, in fact, beat us once we've lured her down."

"Miyoshi, Chiyo, and Yumi are working on that part," said Taiko.

"If you can put up a stiff enough resistance to shake their confidence, they may fall apart," said Akio. "They won't fight to the death. My men are usually outnumbered before they're willing to go to battle with us. And that's with them typically bringing some bit of magic along to help them as well. Many of my victories have come solely from my troops having greater mettle in their veins."

"Well, if they're easily spooked, I have something they'll like. Jumo, is Igrowl still kicking around?"

Jumo raised his eyebrow.

"Yes, he is, but how-"

"I'm still working on it."

Taiko thought for a moment.

"Let me go talk to Chiyo and Miyoshi. I'll get back to you in no time. Akio, try to be useful, okay?"

"I do not need your childish nagging to make me participate correctly in battle planning."

"Good," said Taiko. She left the circle she'd been standing in and wandered through the camp, looking for Chiyo.

The Dunnies had set up inside of a plateau that was hollowed out in the middle and open on one end. There were bleachwood trees surrounding it, and a few patches of them inside.

There weren't many proper tents or bedrolls; the Dunnies had fled in a rush, and they had little other than the clothes on their backs and what tools and food they'd been able to gather from hunting caches around the desert.

She spotted Yumi out in the middle of the hollow, standing before a group of huntsmen. They were lined up in a square, holding their clubs in a fighting pose. Yumi was running through some maneuvers, and they were following her motions. At least that was the idea. Yumi kept having to stop and correct them- not because they weren't copying her properly, but because she'd been slow or sloppy with her example.

Taiko frowned when she saw Yumi trying to show them moves that were usually bursting with speed and energy. Now it looked like she was struggling with the weight of the club. Earlier they had tried using Taiko's magic to at least temporarily put her in fighting shape while the spell lasted, but the mark was too strong, and her spell had no effect. Taiko knew that she had to fix this. Yumi couldn't survive with the tar mark on her, anymore than Ikumi could.

Chiyo was against one wall of the plateau, using a large, flat stone surface as a workbench. She had a number of jars and bowls set up, as well as a cooking pot held over a fire. She was currently holding a stone over the pot, chanting. Taiko could see a glowing rune on the underside of the stone, at tool that Chiyo used to channel her magic into things she wanted to enchant.

"How are the potions coming, Chiyo?"

"Not as well as I hoped," she said, once her chanting was finished. "I couldn't find much dryroot nearby, and it's the only thing around here that can hold the magic right. They had some duneworm extract, but it isn't aged enough, so I have to be really careful mixing it."

"Will they work?"

"They'll make the huntsmen a bit tougher for a little while. I couldn't make anything that would help them get through the soldier's armor, but I figured that if we could keep them in the fight long enough, it'll give us time to do something."

"You're too modest," said Haru. He was sitting behind her, grinding the dryroot.

"If the huntsmen can hold the line, these soldiers for 'Queen Tomiko' won't stand a chance against your magic."

"Maybe..." she said, looking a little embarrassed.

"No, he's right," said Taiko. "You're really scary sometimes. I bet they've never had to fight against someone like you before."

Chiyo looked aside, uncomfortable with the praise she was getting. It was good for her, though, and it wasn't empty sentiment. She'd turned the tide of the battle at Ishi-jo already, and it was hardly the first time.

"Oh! I almost forgot why I came! Chiyo, do you remember Igrowl?"

Chiyo looked up.

"Yeah, why?"

 

"Like this," said Miyoshi.

She wove the strips of bleachwood together, showing the Dunnie women and children her technique. Shields, even simple ones, would help the Dunnie huntsmen stand better in hand-to-hand with Tomiko's men. Miyoshi had rounded up a bunch of the refugees and pressed them into manufacturing service, half of them making strips out of the nearby bleachwood trees and the other half weaving them together to make a half-man sized rectangle that would at least resist an arrow or sword blow.

She showed off her finished product, letting the children throw things at her while she kept huddled behind the shield. They found it to be good fun, and soon Miyoshi had enough hands involved to make enough for all of the huntsmen who would have to fight.

"Miyoshi?"

She turned around to see one of the men approaching her. She recognized him from her last adventure in the Dunnie desert. He'd been a vain, but skilled huntsman who helped protect the village from the firesnakes.

"Gugi, right?" she asked. "What do you need?"

"What do I need? I need... Miyoshi, will you talk with me privately for a moment?"

Miyoshi wondered what it could be about. He was nervous, but hiding it well for the most part. That didn't seem like the man she remembered. She gave her workers a last few pointers and followed him off to a quiet part of the camp.

"What is it?" she asked when they were alone.

"Miyoshi, ever since the time you and your friends came here I've remembered that day- and that battle- as one of my proudest moments. I knew I would never forget any of you for helping us. But... it wasn't until I saw you again last night that I realized what I had been blind to that time. Now it's all that I can think about."

"Gugi, you're being a little weird."

"I know. I'm sorry. It's just hard to put everything into words. Miyoshi, when I saw you in that moonlight, I realized how beautiful you are. I always knew, I suppose. But it never really struck me like it has now until last night."

"Th... thank you, Gugi. That's very sweet," she said.

It was sweet, but it also reminded her of someone else. Of Akio, and the way he talked about her beauty. Not just in admiration, but out of desire. It wasn't his fault; she didn't think he was anything like Akio, but his praise stirred memories that she'd been trying to forget.

Gugi took her hand and held it in both of his against his chest.

"Miyoshi, after this battle, will you stay?"

"What? Stay?"

"With me. As my wife. I'm a skilled huntsman, you know that. I may even become the lead huntsman one day. I know that I could make you happy here, and I can't think of anything else. You've captured my heart, Miyoshi, and I'll die if I can't be with you."

Miyoshi was shocked. This was overwhelming. But she knew that whatever he was feeling for her, she didn't share it. She couldn't leave Umai, and so much was going on right now-

"Gugi, I'm sorry. You're very kind, but I... I don't think I can feel that way about you."

"Please, Miyoshi, give me a chance. We were meant for each other, I know it. Fate couldn't have been so cruel as to make me love you this much if we weren't."

"I need to go," she said, weakly. She pulled her hand out of his grip, backed away a step, then turned and walked away, hurrying and not daring to look back.

He was wrong. She didn't know what fate meant for her, but she knew it wasn't him. She would know when she saw it, wouldn't she?

Miyoshi headed back toward where they were making the shields. Taiko was there now, talking to the children. She got close enough to listen, and heard her telling them that they almost had everything figured out, and that the soldiers wouldn't be any match for them at all next time they fought. The children looked like they believed her, and even the older Dunnies seemed to be infected by her spirit.

Miyoshi admired her so much. They'd never be able to do this without her. She was so pretty, too. She had the most beautiful pink hair and such and effortless, bouncy spirit to everything she did. Watching her made Miyoshi feel warm inside, no matter when or where.

An evil through crossed her mind. Maybe the next time that Taiko wanted to know what happened at Ishi-jo Miyoshi should show her. Show her by tying her up, just like Miyoshi had been, and forcing her to be a slave for Miyoshi's pleasure.

She shook the idea off as fast as it came to her. What had Akio done to her to make her have thoughts like that? But, then, would it really be so bad? She wouldn't offer Taiko any of Akio's cruelty. Why couldn't they both enjoy that kind of game?

Taiko spotted her and came briskly over, thankfully unaware of what Miyoshi had been plotting for her.

"Miyoshi, there you are. I need to know- can you make a riding harness?"

"A riding harness? For what?"

"Remember Igrowl?"

 

Captain Shima looked over the gathered prisoners. The Dunnie women were surprisingly attractive. Most of them were lean and fit, and despite the harshness of their environment they showed no signs of weathered skin or worn bodies. They were a deeply tanned color, but the youthfulness of the women showed that it was natural-born, not beaten into them by the sun. Their black hair was thick, silky, and straight. The women wore it braided, but the braids only went up to their shoulders, leaving it loose from there up to their scalps.

He considered each one, and zeroed in on a particular young woman with stunning blue eyes and deep red lips. She was what he was looking for- the most beautiful girl in the village.

"This one," he said. "Move the rest into that hut over there and bar the door."

His men started shoving them along, baring steel when any of them protested. The woman he picked glared at him, refusing to cower. The Queen would appreciate that, at least as much as she did anything. She apparently had nothing to say to him, which suited him just fine. He had no desire to explain his orders to her.

Shima grabbed her arm and twisted her around. He put her wrists together, crossing them behind her back. She jerked them out of his hands, but one of his men saw and threw one of the others to the ground, holding his sword to her back. After that, she behaved.

He tied her hands with the rope he'd brought with him, winding it around each of her wrists, both above and below where they crossed. He tugged on her arms when he was done. Her wrists wouldn't budge from each other, and he was satisfied that they would hold until she got to Frostspire. There was no point in taking chances, of course, and he'd only used a few feet of his rope.

Shima tied some coils around her arms, just below her elbows, and cinched them together. The girl grunted softly, but offered no other response. He tied the rest of the rope around her chest, resting it above her breasts but keeping it tied to her elbows in the back. Her arms were locked tightly in place now, and she should be no trouble to her handlers.

It was a shame, though. She was beautiful, and she would be wasted in Frostspire's dungeons. Fortunately, Queen Tomiko didn't care if her spoils still had their innocence.

"Prepare to take her back immediately," he told two of his men. "Along with our report. I'll only be a moment processing her."

He took her by the arm and brought her to one of the empty huts. It was built out of bricks that looked like they were made from sand that was glued together somehow. He pushed her against one of the walls and held her there with his hand around her neck.

She was dressed like the rest of the Dunnies, with a simple strip of cloth wrapped around her breasts and a skirt made of a thin material over a loincloth. His hand slipped easily under her chest wrapping, finding a firm helping of flesh underneath. She squirmed away from him, but he tightened his grip, both around her neck and her breast, and kept her in place.

"What's your name?" he asked.

She stared into his eyes and refused to speak.

"I can call my men in here to take their turns with you when I'm done, if you'd prefer."

"Jammlo," she said, spitting the words out with heated spite.

"What an ugly name. I'd give you a new one if I was going to get to keep you."

He kissed her while he worked her loincloth loose, not caring that she wrestled her lips away. He satisfied himself with her neck and shoulders, wishing he had more time to really enjoy himself. He had duty to attend to, however, so once her skirt and loincloth were on the ground he picked her up and set her ass on a nearby counter. It was barely deep enough to hold her, but it put her hips at just the right level. He pushed her legs apart and put himself between them.

She tried to get away while he dropped his pants, but he grabbed her knees and forced them down. He caressed her legs while moving his hands up to her hips. Her skin felt good against his fingers, and even better against his loins when he pressed his undressed body into her. She was soft and creamy, perfumed in some exotic desert scent.

Her face finally broke when Shima shoved his length into her tight, unready cunt. He would make it quick for her, at least. He held her thighs against his sides while he fucked her, watching her fight not to show any tears. She wasn't nearly as wet as he'd like, but she made up for it with her youthful vitality, and despite her groans her cunt served its purpose well.

Shima drove fast and hard, pounding her against the wall. He'd made a good choice- her beauty held, even while her face was stricken with grief. He didn't take long to start grunting with effort, feeling the pressure build up in his loins. He put one hand around her neck again, holding her against the wall while he pushed himself the last bit of the way.

He grunted in satisfaction when he released, feeling his seed pour into her. She had a pained look on her face, and she winced when he gave her a few more thrusts to make sure he'd delivered his full load. He drew out of her, and let her slump off of the counter onto the floor. He sighed, catching his breath and letting his heart settle. She would have made a good slave. It was too bad about his orders.

Captain Shima left the hut, fixing his armor back into place. The two men who were assigned to report back to Frostspire were waiting outside.

"Take her," he said. "Satisfy yourselves with her if you need to, but don't damage her. Her Majesty will want that part for herself."

Shima walked back to the village center, where the Lady Oni Satsujin was amusing herself. She would have liked to have killed everyone and burned down the village by now, but Shima had convinced her to hold the villagers hostage to lure the ones who'd escaped back to fight. She was making due in the meantime.

A woman was hanging from her wrists, tied to a frame she'd had erected from wood taken from the village. A stone was tied to her feet, keeping her from lifted her legs at all and putting all the more weight on her arms. Her body was covered in whip marks, and Lady Satsujin was getting ready to make more.

"Shima," she said. "Where have you been?"

"I have been securing the prisoner requested by Her Majesty, Lady Oni."

"Ha! 'Securing'. I can smell her cunt on you. Did you make her cry?"

"No, Lady Oni."

"Too bad. Come over here, try this one."

Before he could excuse himself, two soldiers came running up to him.

"Captain Shima, we've taken a prisoner. He says that he has something we want, and wants to make a deal."

What a fool. Lady Satsujin would make a deal with him, certainly, but she would break it the instant she had whatever she wanted from it.

"Bring him here."

Captain Shima waited while Lady Satsujin gave her prisoner another round of lashing. When the man arrived Shima saw little to be impressed with. He was a typical Dunnie, one of their fighters, a bunch that had already proven lacking.

"Make it fast," he said, doubting that he really had much to offer.

"My name is Gugi," he said, as if anyone cared. "I'm here to trade- my village for a valuable prisoner."

Shima followed his eyes to the woman hanging from the frame. There was obvious anger in them, but he kept it to himself.

"This better get more interesting than that, fast, or I'll throw you off the side of this rock," said the Lady Oni.

"Lord Akio," said the man, abruptly capturing both her and Shima's true attention.

"He's in our camp right now. I'll tell you how you can get to him, but in exchange I want you to leave this desert, and leave my people unharmed with it."

"You're asking for a lot," said Lady Satsujin. "I was really looking forward to killing all of you."

"I know how valuable this man is to you. He's been telling us of all the battles you've fought. This village is nothing to you- not compared to him."

"He's right," said Shima. The Queen cared nothing for this dust trap, one way or the other. It would be a good deal even if they were going to bother honoring it.

"Where is he?" he asked.

"Not so fast. I want your word first. Also, I want something else. There's a woman with him named Miyoshi. Her friends want to sneak inside of your Queen's palace to steal something. You can take them too, but I want Miyoshi for myself. Put them in your dungeon and keep them as hostages, and tell her that you'll let her go, but only if she stays here. Tell her that you're giving her to me to watch over, and that you'll hurt her friends if she doesn't obey."

He was a fool, no doubt about it, expecting so much when they had his people in their hands. His plans for making this woman his wife- well, she better not have much of a mind of her own, or she'd find ways to make him regret it.

"Let's talk details," said Lady Satsujin.

Captain Shima would have to put up a show of negotiating, of course, but he already knew what this young warrior would be getting in the end. The only question was how much The Lady Oni decided to twist the knife in his back.

 

Yumi watched the sun inch slowly toward the horizon. They'd spent all day trying to prepare the Dunnies for their fight tomorrow. Now there was only one piece left, and they were out in the rockiest part of the desert trying to get it. In the canyon below them was a cave- the lair of Igrowl.

"Okay," said Taiko. "Once he comes out, we'll drop the harness on top of him. I can cast a spell on it right then to make it grab him and warp around his body."

"But then how are you going to get into the harness's riding position?" asked Yumi.

She hated having to ask that. It should be her jumping down to climb on the harness, but right now she would be too weak to hold on. She didn't even have a reason to be there- they'd only brought her along so that she wouldn't feel left out, and perhaps to keep an eye on Akio. He had been brought with them because they didn't trust him alone with the Dunnies.

"That's what this line will be for. We'll anchor it here and keep the other end tied to the harness. That way, I can slide down it and it'll take me right there.

"Then what?" asked Akio. "Are you just going to hope that if you stay on the creature long enough it'll start taking commands from you?"

"The harness is designed to urge him in one direction or the other based on how she pulls the reigns," said Miyoshi. "And we know where some of his favorite food is. If she can get him over that way, he'll learn to obey his rider."

"That sounds incredibly optimistic to me."

"We don't need great control over him," said Taiko. "We just need to ride him to the battle for the shock factor. If we can get Chiyo on his back, they'll have to attack us while we're riding him to stop her from blasting them."

"Are you ready?" asked Chiyo. "Should I burn the lure?"

Taiko made a series of poses to cast a spell.

"Tsurujin's grip!" she said, enchanting herself. "Okay, go ahead."

Chiyo used her staff to spit fire on the bundle of herbs and scented woods they'd collected. Once the bundle was burning she shoved it off the cliff, sending it to scatter in flaming bits in front of Igrowl's cave. They waited, focused intently while they heard the stirring of the great beast below.

It was almost too late when Akio shouted the alarm.

"Who is that?" he said, the only one of them not staring down into the canyon.

Yumi spun to see a ground of soldiers, uniformed like Jumo described, closing in on them. When they saw that they were spotted they shouted and charged. She lifted her spear and went on guard, ready to fight, no matter how little good she did.

Taiko and Chiyo weren't as fast to react, but when they did it was to much better effect. Yumi heard Chiyo's shout from behind her, and immediately after a bolt of magic shot past her and sent three soldiers flying back.

"Blind them, desert sun!"

The sun, which was behind their backs, grew in brightness, and several of the men faltered in their advance, having to shield their eyes from its blinding light.

Chiyo let loose a series of small, erratically arcing orbs of energy, each one seeking out a solider and knocking him senseless. That's when Yumi saw the men behind them- six of them, each swinging a bola, ready to unleash them. At once all six flew forward, aimed at Chiyo and Taiko.

The soldiers knew who they were targeting. Taiko ducked and rolled, escaping capture, but Chiyo wasn't as agile. One of the bolas collided with her spell, sending both off course. Another missed, going high and sailing into the canyon. The third hit its mark, and Chiyo shrieked as her arms where tangled in the bola's ropes.

Yumi didn't have time to help her. The solider was pushing her back toward the edge of the canyon. None of the other soldiers who were surging forward bothered with her. Normally it would have been a fatal mistake for them, but today this lone swordsman was enough to tie her up for the entire fight.

There weren't many of them left; there had only been twenty or so to begin with, and Chiyo had downed half of them, but without Yumi to keep them away from her and Taiko it was a desperate situation. Miyoshi did her best to throw the harness in their path, but it was heavy and awkward, and only two of the soldiers were caught in it. Taiko made the best of her tsurujin's grip and managed to grapple two soldiers at once, but that still left too many of them unoccupied. Even Akio struck out with his stick, and to his credit he did well enough to draw the attention of two men.

Two men were on Miyoshi now, and despite a well-placed knee to one of their stomachs she was soon on the ground, pinned. Another man reached Chiyo just as she was getting her arms out of the bola. She screamed when he grabbed her from behind and wrestled her away from her staff.

"Taiko! Help!" she called out, a fear in her voice that Yumi understood. Was this how the last fight had been lost- the one that led them to being Akio's slave?

"Get off, you creeps!" yelled Miyoshi, still struggling.

Taiko swung around and tossed the two men. One hit the ground hard, stuffing him. The other stumbled toward the edge of the canyon, and when he fell his weight took him over. He screamed, catching the ledge just before he plummeted to his death. Below him Yumi could hear Igrowl roaring, and the ground shook as he crashed against the canyon wall. Now Taiko was free, and if she could just cast a spell to help Miyoshi fight-

Yumi saw the hanging soldier about to slip. Taiko dived toward him, grabbing his arm before he could fall.

"Taiko! Behind you!" shouted Yumi. The other man she'd been fighting was getting up, and while she tried to save the soldier she'd almost thrown into Igrowl's jaws he closed on her.

"Wait!" said Taiko, "I'm trying to save your-"

The man didn't listen. He kicked Taiko in the stomach, and the other solider's shrieking voice disappeared down into the canyon.

"Stop that!" yelled Yumi, watching as the man pulled Taiko away from the ledge and twisted her arm behind her back, holding her to the ground.

"What's going on?" growled Akio, still swinging his stick.

Yumi didn't answer him, having to focus all of her attention now on the solider who was about to disarm her.

"Dammit," he said, "Have we lost?"

He may have been blind, but even he couldn't miss that it was Taiko, Miyoshi, and Chyio crying out in defeat while the soldiers were shouting orders to tie them up.

"Just hit one of them!" shouted Yumi, her mind racing to figure out a way to save them.

Akio appeared behind her, one arm wrapping around her waist while his free hand gripped her spear. He pushed it forward with all of the strength Yumi had felt in him before, and the man in front of her screamed as a gash opened up in his side.

To her surprise, he pulled her back, and just as she was thinking that she must be dangerously close to the ledge, she felt her body enter freefall.

They twisted in the air, and Yumi saw that Igrowl was below them, bashing against the canyon wall. The great desert beast, a lizard-like creature that stood two men high with a feathered mane and spine and a tail that had a great mass of bone on the end for smash his enemies.

Yumi didn't have time to ask what Akio thought he was doing. Was it an accident? Death rather than capture? A desperate hope that something soft might be down there?

Her answer came when he forced the spear straight down. Igrowl roared as it sank into his back. Yumi was tossed like rag doll on the impact, but Akio kept his grip on her waist and on the spear. They dangled down the side of the great desert beast while it thrashed around, snapping at them but not flexible enough to reach them.

"What are you, nuts?" she yelled, hoping her voice would carry over the tremendous noise Igrowl was making.

"The battle was lost!" said Akio. "We're escaping."

"They're still up there!"

"And we can't do anything about it," he roared.

Igrowl was carrying them away now, trying to flee from the thing biting into his side. By the time they were shaken loose they must have been a mile from the canyon. Igrowl continued on, limping now and trailing blood.

"You bastard!" said Yumi. "You just left them!"

She swung her fist and hit him in the jaw, but he barely flinched.

"You mean like Taiko left you when I had you beaten? Keep quiet if you can't offer me anything but hysterics. I assure you that I appreciate the gravity of the situation."

She hated him, but he was right. Her friends had been taken captive, but at least she was free to try to do something about it. What that something was going to be, she had no idea.

 

Taiko screamed in grief, watching as Akio threw himself into the canyon, taking Yumi with him.

"Quiet!" shouted the man holding her to the ground.

Her arm lit up in pain as he twisted it.

"Uyeda, bring that rope over here."

Taiko tried to wrestle him off, but he had her in an expert arm lock, and her enchantment did nothing for her unless she could get a grip on him herself.

Below, in the canyon, Igrowl roared and thrashed madly. The man could twist her arm until it broke, and it would still be the lesser of the pain she was feeling.

Bundles of rope dropped to the ground next to her, a pair of boots just beyond them.

"Hold her still," said her captor, and the other man obeyed, grabbing her forearms and pulling them straight up, away from her back.

Taiko whined as her shoulders felt the strain, but there was nothing she could do. There was no strength in her arms with how they were positioned now, and with the first man sitting on her back she couldn't move the rest of her body either.

He put her hands against each other, twisted around so that the backs touched, and closed his palm around her thumbs to keep them there while he readied his rope. Taiko felt rough, hard strands coil around her wrists, then squeeze as any slack was pulled out of them. She felt the jerk of knots being tied before her arms were mercifully dropped down to her back. It still wasn't very comfortable, but at least she could move them a little.

Taiko had been counting her blessings too soon. The man on top of her wasn't finished; he caught her thumbs and bound them together, tying them to her wrists and destroying any hope she might have had of working them around to a better position.

He lifted her to her knees, letting her look over to see Miyoshi and Chiyo, both being bound as well. Miyoshi was yelling and thrashing wildly, and one of the soldiers holding her had to put her in a choke hold while the other finished tying her up. Chiyo was nearly catatonic, her eyes wide and her hands shaking.

"Stop this," said Taiko. "We don't even know what you- aah!"

Taiko's head was pulled back by her hair, and when her mouth fell open the soldier behind her shoved something hard inside. Takio felt the same rough strands on her tongue that she did on her wrists- it was a large knot, large enough to keep her mouth from completely closing around it. Something pinched her checks, and she felt rope constricting around her head. The solider worked it under her hair and tied it near the base of her skull, holding the knot deep behind her teeth.

One of the soldiers kept her hair locked in his fist to hold her still while the other wrapped rope around her chest. The first couple of loops went under her arms, only coiling around her chest itself, up high near her armpits. Then two more went lower, just under her breasts. After that they encircled her arms, binding them to her chest. The last of their rope went around just her arms, squeezing them together.

Taiko grunted, feeling her shoulders strain as the man worked all of the slack out of the loops until everything was as tight as it could be without asphyxiating her. As it was, she could feel the ropes crushing her a little more every time she inhaled.

More men started to gather around her while she sat on her knees, trying to work her hands loose but finding her arms complete locked in position. Was this how the others had spent the entire time between their defeat at Akio's hands and her rescue? The thought made her shudder.

"Captain Shima," said one of the soldiers, "Lord Akio has escaped, along with one of the women."

Taiko's heart jumped. Escaped? She was sure they'd fallen into the canyon. Even if they survived the fall, they couldn't have possibly dealt with Igrowl. Then again, she didn't hear him anymore.

The man who'd sacrificed his comrade to capture her spoke up, his voice hard and commanding.

"Pick five men and pursue them. Hurry, we don't have much daylight left. Uyeda, how many casualties have we suffered?"

"Six major injuries," said one man. "And Yuuto, of course. The rest may need a bandage or two and some time to get their wits back, but they're still in fighting condition."

"Shameful," said the Captain. "Let's get these three back to Lady Satsujin. If Nori can't track down Akio tonight then hopefully he'll come back to rescue his confederates. We'll capture him then."

"Get up," said one man, shoving her and almost knocking her over.

Taiko tried awkwardly to stand, and one of the men yanked her up when she wasn't moving fast enough. Her long march through the desert night began, pushed along by the soldiers. The sand became her enemy more than ever without her arms free to help her balance, and more than once she fell and had to hurry back to her feet before she was pulled up by the hair. Sand found its way into her clothes, and tied up like she was there was no way to get it out. The hard rope knot in her mouth kept her lips from closing, and drool started to leak out and run down her chin. It even dripped onto her chest, slowly soaking her tunic over time.

The only mercy was that they were held up by the injured men, slowing down the pace that was demanded of them and providing with the occasional rest. She wasn't even allowed to commiserate with her friends; whenever they saw her looking in their directions they interrupted, demanding that she keep her head down and stare at the sand in front of her.

Taiko cursed herself. She could have won the battle, if she'd only stopped to help her friends before helping the soldier on the cliff. The one whom even his own captain thought expendable. It couldn't be right to just let him fall, could it? But now what would happen to her friends, prisoners again, for that man's sake?

It wasn't until the sun began to glow over the horizon that Taiko caught a glance of a familiar plateau. Her legs were already exhausted by the time she was forced to climb the path to the top.

The village was a wreck. Taiko didn't see any of the people until she peered inside of the huts, where she saw them packed together behind doors that had been nailed shut. None of the buildings had been burned yet, but Taiko saw the same signs of looting, broken property, and general destruction that she had seen in Umai.

She was hurried into the center of the village, where some of the Dunnie's poor women were hanging upside down from their ankles. They'd clearly been abused, and the culprit was easy to spot.

Standing nearby, with a whip in her hand, was a monstrous woman. She was past six feet tall, and had muscles most men would be jealous of rippling under her green skin. Her hair was thick, but looked stiff like wire, and was bundled behind her head. A horn protruded from her forehead, and under it were set two animalistic eyes that looked down at Taiko.

"Shima, you're finally back," said the woman.

"Lady Satsujin," he said, bowing. "Our mission was a mixed success. We captured these three, but Lord Akio escaped, along with the one named 'Yumi'. I set six men to track them down; they should return, one way or the other, before nightfall."

"Tch. Well, these three will have to do for now."

She walked forward, taking Miyoshi by the neck and inspecting her. Takio watched her fingers squeeze experimentally, and the creature- Satsujin- smile in response when Miyoshi squealed in pain and fear.

"She's pretty, I suppose, but I don't see what the big deal is. Bring the Dunnie out here. And tie them to a bench."

The soldiers walked Taiko over to one of the stone benches that Dunnies had in their village center. She was put on her knees in front of it, and her body was bent over to lay her chest on the seat. Miyoshi was placed next to her, a few feet away, and Chiyo on the other side of her. A rope was fed under her arms, not easily because of how tightly they were pressed against her body, and pulled through. Both ends were run under the bench to the other side, where they were thrown across her lower back and tied around her abdomen.

Once they let her go Taiko tried to lift herself back up, finding the ropework secure enough to keep her fused to the bench.

A Dunnie huntsman came out, flanked by two guards. He didn't look happy with what he saw, but he didn't look like a prisoner either. Taiko knew she'd seen him before, but couldn't place him.

"That's the one you wanted, right?" asked Satsujin, gesturing toward Miyoshi.

"Yes," he said coldly. "You didn't need to tie her up like that. What about Akio? Did you get him?"

"No," said Shima. "We're still hunting him."

"I've got good news, though," said Satsujin. "I'm still going to let you fuck your woman before I execute her."

"What?" he said, stepping forward with clenched fists. "We had a deal, and I-"

"I'm bored of that deal. Go ahead, whip your dick out and do your business. I'm guessing it was more than you were going to get any other way."

Taiko heard Miyoshi grunting angrily. Taiko was furious herself at the way this monster of a woman was talking about her friend, but fear gripped her in equal measure at the flippant sentence that she had just pronounced on them.

"No, I won't let you do this!" said the Dunnie.

The Oni slapped him, sending him sprawling to the ground.

"Then I guess our partnership is over."

She bent over and grabbed his ankle, dragging him by the leg over to the edge of the plateau, not far from the village center.

"Thank you for all of your help," she said. "Thank you, and goodbye."

The huntsman grabbed for everything he could, but she easily outmuscled him, and once at the ledge she swung him over with one hand. He screamed as he disappeared over the side, and then abruptly stopped.

Lady Satsujin returned to the village center, grinning maliciously.

"I guess we'll need someone to take his place. Shima, pick one of your men. And two more, I guess, for her friends."

Taiko's blood ran cold when she realized what she meant.

"Uyeda, Yasuno, Eiji," called out Shima. "You performed well in battle. Choose for yourselves, in order."

Three men stepped forward, men that Taiko recognized from their skirmish.

"The Dunnie had the right idea," said the first, lifting Miyoshi's head by her hair. "I'll take this one."   

"I owe this one for breaking my brother's arm," said the next, slapping Chiyo on her ass.

"I guess that means it's you and me," said the last.

Taiko looked up at the man who had just claimed her. He had a scarred face with rough features underneath. Black hair crept out from under his helmet, thin and coarse. He was hardly a handsome man, not that it would have made what he was threatening her with any better.

He circled behind her and started yanking on her skirt. She roared at him in indignation and pulled at her ropes, throwing brute force at them since her arms were too rigidly held for anything else. All she did was hurt herself while her clothes slipped off.

The man put his hands on her bare ass, testing his fingers against her now naked vagina. Taiko threw muffled curses at him which mixed with the grunting and moaning that was coming from beside her.

Satsujin laughed, loudly and heartily.

"I'd think you would be used to this, traveling with Akio and all. Is this your first time? That's always the best part."

Taiko would have glared at her, but at that moment she felt a hard, fleshy rod poking at her vagina. She struggled, trying to free herself anyway she could. She wanted to kick out at him, but he was already between her knees. She winced as the man's cock sank deep into her body, invading her in a way that Kuzuno's tongue could have never prepared her for. He groaned in pleasure, had at her expense, while she shut her eyes, helpless to stop what he was doing to her.

His hips rocked against hers, his dick breaking into her over and over again. As cruel as her bindings had been during her trek across the desert in them it was nothing compared to now, the rope fixing her in place as an offering to a man who took his pleasure from her. She bit down hard, tasting blood in her mouth as the knot scratched it. She fought the ropes still, even as they showed no signs of budging. Nothing mattered, none of it reducing the horribleness of the feeling as her cunt was beaten into submission.

The man squeezed her sides, his fingers digging into her, as he started grunting like an animal. His dick came with more and more intensity, and Taiko finally screamed in agony. He refused to stop, and she could only wait and pray as his taunts let her know fully how much he was enjoying it.

She felt a hand on her face. It was Satsujin. The Oni lifted Taiko's head so that she could look into her eyes. Whatever she saw pleased her, and Taiko had to shut her eyes to deny her. Even then she was sure that there was enough misery on her face to amuse her.

The soldier's grunting reached a crescendo, and Taiko felt something spill into her. It was the most disgusting thing she could imagine, but with her hands tied it was there to stay. The soldier pumped into her a few more times, then rubbed her back and moaned in satisfaction.

"You're prime cunt, girl," he said. "Too bad it's going to waste soon."

His dick pulled out of her, leaving a stickiness on her lips. Even when he stepped away from her she still felt him there, like a rotten taste that would never wash out of her mouth. Miyoshi was still moaning in unbelievable sorrow, her rapist still going strong. Taiko had to wait, used and soon to be discarded, while he finished.

There was a moment of quiet once all three men had dumped their repulsive loads into Taiko and her friends and were putting their dicks away. Satsujin paced in front of them, occasionally running her fingernails against one of their scalps.

"Are the crosses ready?" she asked.

"Yes, Lady Satsujin," said one of the soldiers.

"Good. Take them. I'd love to let another round of you boys have your go, but we need to get them in place before we waste too much of this wonderful desert sun."

 

Akio knew they were getting close. The desert was quiet by nature, and it didn't take much noise from the Dunnie's camp to carry over the dunes. He missed his walking stick, thrown aside in his escape. The woman wasn't inclined to help him, or even talk to him, and he'd been obliged to stumble after her, tripping and bouncing off of the occasional tree.

The sounds became louder, and soon he could smell burning bleachwood and cooking food. As they entered the camp he strained to follow Yumi, cursing his infirmity.

"Yumi," said an annoying voice, one that had been named 'Jumo'.

"You look like a rough day. Where is the rest of your band?"

"We were attacked," she said, her voice at least steady now. "I got away, but the others were captured."

If Akio had been a petty man, he would have shared the details, taking credit for their escape, but it wouldn't help him right now.

"I'm sorry," said Jumo. "That is a great loss, in many ways, and I won't underestimate your grief. But although I don't wish to be crass, there is one thing that I must consider first, which is how this affects our chances tomorrow."

"Can we still win?" asked a voice, one which Akio didn't recognize. "We were counting on their magic."

Akio heard several other voices, most of them worried and blossoming into panic.

"We should stay out here," said one. "Wait them out. They can't stay camped in the village forever."

"Yes, yes," said Jumo, with some resignation in his voice. "We may have to consider a less direct assault. Perhaps if we lure some of their patrols away and pick them off, we can-"

"They'll burn your village and kill everyone who didn't escape with you. You should be ashamed of your cowardice. You've already been given advantages you didn't have last time. Defend your homes, and be prepared to die doing it, or go surrender yourselves and hope for mercy, but don't pretend to be warriors while you cower in fear of the enemy. What kind of men can't fight without a bunch of little girls coming with them to hold their hands?"

Akio's words silenced everyone. Nobody was willing to be the first to announce his fear of fighting now, least of all their leader.

"We'll rework our plans," said Jumo. "I'm sure there's some other advantage we can call."

The discussion started again, this time directed toward how to win, rather than making excuses not to fight.

"Since when do you care so much?" asked Yumi, speaking close so that only he could hear her. "You didn't want to try to fight for the village either before."

"There was nothing to be gained from it before your friends were captured. I need them to get into Frostspire, and now they're in Satsujin's hands. It's a simple matter of priorities."

"So that's it? You'll sacrifice the Dunnies to a lost battle if it gets your sight back?"

"Of course I would, but a lost battle won't help me right now. I'm counting on them to win, even if it's a gamble."

Yumi was silent for a while.

"This is going to make me sick, there's something I want to try with you."

Akio laughed.

"Afraid of dying tomorrow with your virginity still intact?"

"Keep your mouth shut. I wouldn't be suggesting this if I didn't think we'd need it."

"So what is your idea? From your tone it sounds like you think I might enjoy it."

 

Chiyo could barely walk. It wasn't just her tired legs; she'd pushed on while wearier before. It was the fate she was walking to that turned them to lead and made her tremble so badly that she thought she was going to throw up. If she could have fallen and stayed where she was on the hard ground of the plateau she would have, but the soldiers all around her forced her along.

One of them was the man who'd just raped her, his cum dripping down her leg while she walked. Chiyo's vagina didn't feel like hers anymore. It was just a thing that these men could take and use whenever the liked, and if she couldn't fight them off it would accept them and give them their pleasure while Chiyo suffered.

Her arms had the now-familiar aches and pains of being tightly bound for too long. There was no strength left in them, even if struggling would have done her any good. Like before her jaw was burning, and she could still feel the dried saliva where she'd drooled on herself.

Chiyo saw where they were headed. There was a line of crosses- simple ones that were merely two diagonal beams each sticking out of the ground and tied where they crossed in the middle. They barely came up to head height, but Chiyo had no doubt that they would be effective for whatever torture was planned for her.

The monster woman grabbed Chiyo and threw her into the first cross, her chest crashing into one of the beams.

"This one first. Untie her and get her nice and naked."

The woman held her by her throat while the soldiers worked her ropes free. This time Chiyo was expecting the pain that would come when her arms were able to move again after being in strict bondage for hours on end, and it didn't fail to meet her expectations.

She tried limply to grab onto the woman's arm, but her grip was like iron. The soldiers pulled her clothes off, leaving her naked again for the men's pleasure and her humiliation. The woman slapped her breasts a few times, laughing when Chiyo cried in pain.

"You're such a worthless little thing. I can't believe that you thought you were going to challenge my army."

The woman turned Chiyo around, forced her to her knees, and put her back against the point where the beams crossed. The soldiers took her arms and put them along the beams, and once more rope appeared around her wrists as they tied her up. Chiyo moaned in misery when they pulled her knees apart, making her sink down to where she was almost hanging from her wrists. They tied her legs to the beams, holding them open.

Chiyo was fixed to the cross now, with the sun beating down on her naked skin. The soldiers didn't miss their chance to grope her, of course, feeling her up while checking the ropes and giving her nipples a pinch just to be sure.

The only thing that surprised her was when she felt the woman untying her gag. Chiyo readily spit the thing out, but it was only to set up her for another cruel twist- they had another one ready for her. This one was nothing more than a metal ring with straps on it. The men helped their commander force it into Chiyo's mouth. It would have been singularly ineffective at keeping her quiet, but seeing how much they enjoyed it when she screamed that obviously wasn't the point.

With the new gag strapped in place and the metal ring stuck behind her teeth Chiyo's mouth was held wide open. She would be drooling already if her mouth wasn't so dry from the other gag. Worse, the hot, dry desert air now flowed freely down her throat.

The men moved on to Miyoshi, and Chiyo could only hang her head while her friends were stripped, bound to the crosses, and gagged like she was.

The woman paraded herself in front of them while the men finalized Taiko's bondage, holding up Taiko's shirt.

"What an awful little thing," she said, tossing it to the wind where it blew over the edge of the plateau and out onto the dunes.

"As I'm sure you've noticed, it gets very hot out here in the desert. If you're wondering how you're meant to survive all day with no water and with the sun beating down on your poor, soft little bodies-"

The woman laughed.

"Well, you aren't! With any luck, you'll be corpses by nightfall. If not, then I'm sure tomorrow won't be any cooler. Someone might find your bones up here one day, but I wouldn't count on it. Have fun."

The woman turned and walked away.

"I'm sorry," said one of the men, their captain, once she was gone. He held Chiyo's chin and craned her face up so that he could look into it.

"I won't take any pleasure out of leaving you here to die, but Lady Satsujin..."

He shook his head. Then he unbuckled his pants.

"Come on," he said to his men. "Let's get some use out of them one more time."

Chiyo screamed, unable to close her mouth as he let his penis slip through the ring and into her mouth, sliding across her tongue. It was the most disgusting thing she'd ever tasted, and she started gagging when he pushed it deeper, not stopping until her face was smashed up against his crotch.

"Use your tongue," he said. "It'll make it go faster."

Chiyo groaned as he began to fuck her mouth. She didn't know how she managed not to throw up as he was grinding against her tongue, hoping she would- what? She didn't even know what he expected her to do.

His cock poked her in the back of the throat while his hands, gripping the side of her head, pulled her face onto him again and again. The awful grunting that marked his building orgasm started, and Chiyo panicked when she realized that he meant to cum in her mouth. She tried to bite down, but the ring sank into her gums and kept her teeth apart. His grip on her head was too tight and her arms were bound too well.

A musky goo squirted into the back of her throat. She had to suppress her urge to vomit again, his dick still filling her mouth.

"There you go," he said, a little out of breath. "Swallow it."

When Chiyo saw that he didn't intend to take it out until she obeyed she swallowed, thinking bitterly how this would be the last thing she ever tasted.

She wasn't quite right. There were five soldiers there, and only three of her and her friends. Chiyo got to taste a second dick. This man was no more gentle, although he seemed to prefer holding her head still while he jammed his hips into her face. He was smaller, at least, but he also put effort into working his head against her tongue, and when he came it was right on top of it. He made her swallow too, but he was sloppier, and left a little bit of his seed on her lips when he pulled out.

Once the men were satisfied they left, cum and spit mixing and dribbling down Chiyo's chin.

Then their deaths began. It didn't take long for Chiyo's throat to dry out like it never had before. Each breath was torture as it came down her parched windpipe. Sweat dripped from her body, and Chiyo knew that she was quickly dehydrating. Her head grew light and she panted, exhaling precious moisture with every breath.

This time, they wouldn't come to pull her down. Not even for another round of being raped and tortured.

 

"What did I tell you about that?" said Yumi, shoving Akio's hand off of her arm.

"There's nowhere else to put it," he said. "This was your idea, stop complaining about it."

Yumi had spent the entire morning, and part of the night before, lying with Akio under a blanket, which itself was covered with sand. She didn't enjoy having his body pressed against hers for so long, but she needed him for her plan. More than once she'd felt his cock getting hard, doubtlessly due to him having thoughts about tying her up and forcing her to fuck him.

One end of the blanket was propped open just enough to let fresh air in. Yumi could tell that it was getting hotter, and guessed that it was about midday. She waited, knowing that Jumo would wait until the desert sun- something his men were more used to than the soldiers- was beating down the hardest.

After a few more rounds of bickering with Akio Yumi's blood was stirred to attention by the sound of a horn. Jumo and his huntsmen were near, offering battle. Neither her nor Akio made a sound while the soldiers came down to answer. It took time, all while she waited blind and had to trust that things were going as planned, but soon they could hear and feel boots marching nearby. Eventually she could even catch a glimpse of the soldiers, lining up for a charge at Jumo and his scant few men.

She gripped her bow, waiting anxiously. It seemed to take forever, but in an explosive moment a second horn sounded.

Akio threw off the blanket and helped Yumi to her feet. All around them other warriors were rising from the sand. Their numbers were paltry, but Yumi could see that whoever Tomiko's general was hadn’t send out the full army, and their forces were closer to equal than they had counted on. More importantly, Yumi and half of the huntsmen were at the soldier's rear.

Arrows let loose, causing bedlam when the soldiers saw that they were being attacked from behind. Yumi raised her bow and aimed, and from behind her Akio took her bow into his hands with her, pulling the string as she could not. She guided while he followed. She let go, compensating her aim a touch for the delay while Akio responded. Their arrow joined the battle, and one of the soldiers fell when it sank into his leg.

As she aimed her second, there was a third horn blast, and shouting as Jumo charged. The soldiers responded aggressively, meeting the charge with their own thrust. They had twice the huntsmen's numbers, but Jumo's line held, bolstered by their new shields and Chiyo's potions. Another soldier dropped when she let the string slip from her fingers a second time.

Most of the huntsmen's arrows failed to penetrate their targets, but the few that did had an enormous impact. Yumi looked carefully and saw that the soldiers were already panting, their sword and shield arms dropping. When Jumo's line failed to scatter under their assault the soldiers let panic overcome them. One weak-willed man took flight, and the rout rippled through the army, dissolving their line into a desperate scramble into the desert.

The huntsmen cheered in victory, but there was another battle still to fight. There were still soldiers in the village, and Yumi could see that they were already preparing to defend the path to the top of the plateau.

"Well fought," said Jumo, joining the two groups of huntsmen together. "Now we only have the hard part to worry about."

"Hurry with it," said Akio. "Before they can get a defense mounted against the path."

"Huntsmen," called out Jumo, "We've earned ourselves a rest. How about we take it in our own beds?"

The huntsmen cheered again, and charged the path. Yumi was slow to follow, but with Akio's help she put an arrow into a soldier's shoulder before he could drop a stone on the Dunnies climbing below and scared several of the others back. When they reached the incline she stopped to catch her breath, needing it for the climb. Akio growled, running into her from behind.

"Watch it!" she said.

"Move!" he commanded.

"I am! Just wait a-"

Akio snatched her arm and used it to pull her close. Yumi found herself thrown over his shoulder, and soon she was being carried up to the village.

"Put me down!" she barked.

"No, and stop squirming. I won't risk losing the battle for our inaction."

Yumi couldn't much stop him, and by the time the huntsmen reached the top they had almost caught up. It hadn't been an easy advance; several of the Dunnies were down, thankfully only wounded due to Chiyo's concoction, but with already low numbers their loss was keenly felt.

"Yumi, over there!" shouted Jumo.

"Where? Turn around, you oaf! No, that way!"

Akio turned her and she saw- Taiko, Miyoshi, and Chiyo were on the far side of the plateau, tied to some kind of crosses and naked to the desert sun. Yumi growled in anger, imagining what else might have happened to them.

"Go, get them down," said Jumo. "They'll be more help to us than you will here, no offense."

Akio put her down, no longer having the wall of the plateau to guide him.

"This way," she said, grabbing his hand and rushing as best as she could.

The sounds of fighting erupted behind them while she made for her friends. They were getting closer, but not fast enough.

"Behind us," shouted Akio abruptly.

Yumi turned to see a man rushing at them. She fumbled to ready her bow, but Akio was too slow to back her up. The soldier swatted it aside just as she loosed her arrow, sending it astray. Tangled up with Akio she was even more useless in melee with him, and she had to drag both of them to the ground to dodge his sword.

The man raised his blade, ready to plunge it into her chest, when something struck him in the back of the head. He collapsed, and Yumi was grateful to see who stood behind him.

"I found it," said Haru, lifting Chiyo's staff to show her.

 

Taiko raised her head. She was hallucinating now, seeing a mirage of Yumi standing in front of her. She moaned, tortured by the image and the false hope it tried to instill in her. She even heard it talking and calling her name.

Then Taiko fell. One of her arms was free, and she was dangling from the other. She opened her eyes truly this time, adrenaline flowing into her blood and revitalizing her for a brief time. It was Yumi, for real, and she was trying to cut her other arm loose. Taiko leaned up, holding the cross with her free hand and taking some of the weight off of the other.

When the rope fell away from her other hand she dropped to the ground again, her hands clawing at the strap holding in her gag.

"Let me help," said Yumi, joining her fingers with Taiko's.

Taiko tore the ring out of her mouth and threw it away.

"Did you..." she asked. "Did you win? Did you beat them?"

"Not yet; we need to hurry."

Yumi cut her legs free and gave her a waterskin, helping her pour it down her throat.

"Wait here," said Yumi. "I need to get Miyoshi down."

Taiko shook her head and stood, feeling enough strength in her limbs to finish the battle before she collapsed again.

"Akio," she said, spotting him standing idly nearby. "Give me your water."

He obeyed without comment, and Taiko held Miyoshi's head up and let the water flow into her mouth while Yumi cut the ropes way from her wrists. As soon as she had her freedom she threw her arms around both of them and pulled them together, squeezing them as hard as she could.

"Thank you, Yumi. She was going to kill us, for real. She said-"

Taiko hushed her.

"We're okay now."

She looked over to Chiyo. She was leaning on Haru and supporting herself with her staff.

Taiko saw Akio's head turn in her direction. She reflexively covered herself, remembering that she was naked.

"Are you finished?" he asked. "The battle is still in jeopardy."

Taiko grabbed her skirt and underwear, putting them back on in a hurry. Yumi and Haru helped Miyoshi and Chiyo get their clothes back on while Taiko stretched to wake her muscles back up.

"We should go," said Chiyo. "I mean, we should run away. What happens if we get caught again? We can't help anyone if we... if we get..."

"We won't," said Taiko. "I won't let this... I won't let what they've done... I won't let it change who I am. I'm going to save the Dunnies. I'll keep saving everyone I can. They can't take that away from me."

Taiko started forward. She didn't run- she was still tired, and she needed to win, not lose heroically. When she glanced behind everyone was following her.

When they reached the village it was a bad sight. The Dunnies were down, all except for Jumo, who was dueling with the Oni while the remaining soldiers, five of them in all, watched.

Jumo swung his club, but Satsujin blocked it with her bare arm. He was limping, with a bleeding leg, and when she swung the back of her hand at him he was too slow to defend himself. He dropped, and before he could roll away she kicked him in the chest. Taiko winced, hearing from the sound that he wouldn't be standing again until she had a chance to heal him.

"You untied them?" she said, her eyes moving over to Akio. "Why, 'Lord' Akio? Now I'll have to tie them up again."

"You won't be tying anyone up ever again," said Taiko.

Satsujin laughed.

"Is she in charge of you now, Akio? I should have known something was wrong when I heard you were traveling with these little girls instead of making them eat your cock. I always admired that about you, you know."

"You can admire me from the grave," he said.

"Aw... I was always hoping you would threaten to rape me when we finally met. I guess a girl can dream... Capture them. Whoever gets one can have her. Or him, if you want."

Taiko summoned her magic and let her arms dance.

"Fox's swiftness!"

Taiko ran for Satsujin, confident that the others could handle the soldiers. She snatched Jumo's club from the ground and swung it, hitting her in the gut. She didn't even flinch, and Taiko had to scramble out of her reach. She danced in and out, avoiding the Oni's blows but unable to hurt her, no matter what hits she landed.

She circled around her while the shouts of her friends, the cries of the soldiers, and the impacts of Chiyo's magic filled the air. Satsujin was snarling now, unhurt but frustrated by Taiko's speed. Taiko dodged backwards, letting the Oni push her toward the edge of the plateau.

"Now that I've got the rest of them, I'll kill them all," she said. "I'll make you watch, and then I'll make my men build a cross out of their bones to tie you to."

"You're disgusting," said Taiko. "You're even worse than Akio."

"It's too late for flattery," she said, and lunged at Taiko.

Taiko put on a burst of speed that she hadn't yet shown to Satsujin, cut around her, and kicked her in the back of the knee. The Oni stumbled, and nearly went off the edge. She turned around, just in time for Taiko to finish her spell.

The plateau didn't want to do much. It stood, unchanging, for years on end. But, eventually, it would crumble. The edge Satsujin was standing on had been eroding for millennia, and it was almost ready.

"Crumble, ledge."

Satsujin's bit of ground fell, plummeting to the dunes below. She reached out, grabbing the ledge, but it too was ready to go.

"Okay... okay... you win." she said, "Pull me up. I'll do whatever you want. I'll let you do whatever you want."

Taiko wanted to help her. She felt her nature pull her toward the ledge- but she'd seen what the creature's sense of honor was like, and once she had a hand on Taiko she would be able to crush her easily.

"I'm sorry," she said. This wasn't her world. This woman wasn't going to offer friendship in her defeat, and now Taiko understood, really understood, the consequences of losing in this world.

The ledge finished crumbling, and the Lady Oni Satsujin fell, smashing against the rocky skirt of the plateau. Taiko stood for a while, listening to the now silent desert.

When she returned to her friends the battle was over. She sank to the ground, wishing the victory didn't feel so hollow.

 

Akio chewed on the meal they'd given him- some kind of dried fruit, he guessed. He considered what manner of disgusting things they might decide to feed a blind man who they weren't inclined to like very much, but Akio had no squeamish stomach. He would dine on delicacies when he was reigning in Frostspire.

All around him was joyous celebration as the Dunnies drank and danced, gleeful to have their village back. Akio found it ridiculous. They had only taken back what the enemy had taken first, and they were even planning on letting the prisoners go for want of anything else to do with them. They'd agreed to hold onto them for a few days, to give Akio and the women time to complete their mission, but they had no plans to ransom them or sell them as slaves.

There had been nothing gained in their victory; no loot, none of their enemy's women, no new territory. What were they celebrating? They had won, yes, but the only thing they accomplished was to keep what they had, and even some of that had been destroyed. Not all of their people were accounted for yet, and Akio doubted they would see the missing ever again.

"Akio," said a voice, one that had managed to get close to him without him noticing. It was Taiko's pet spirit, Minoru.

"What do you want?"

"What's changed?" asked Minoru.

"What do you mean?"

Minoru sighed.

"Between you and Tomiko, with your stupid little war- what's changed recently? What piece am I missing?"

"Your mind, that's what you're missing."

"You always were a little shit, even before you were 'Lord Akio'. I've been thinking over the possibilities, and-"

"Before I was- you're babbling nonsense. When was I ever not Lord Akio?"

"Ask yourself that question, sometime. Can you even remember when you rose to power?"

Akio growled. Thinking about it made his feel strange, and it was easier just to be angry at the obnoxious spirit.

"See, this is why I try to tell you people as little as possible. Tell me one thing- did you recognize them at all? Taiko, Chiyo, Miyoshi, or Yumi? Did you feel at all like maybe you'd seen them somewhere before?"

"Of course not. Why would I?"

Minoru sighed again.

"You're useless. I guess I'll just have to wait for Frostspire."

"Good idea. And go find somewhere else to wait, I'm trying to eat. Some of us actually did things today."

Minoru's voice didn't appear again. Akio wished he knew if it meant that he was gone or not.

Akio thought back to the battle. He hadn't done so badly, for a blind man. Neither did Yumi for a crippled woman. She really was worthy of his seed. Maybe he should have started with her. The other woman was gorgeous, certainly, but Yumi had qualities beyond that. He'd missed his chance to leave himself inside of her. Maybe he was foolish not to fuck her that night.

No, she was worth savoring. He'd broken her, by the end, and that was a beautiful moment all by itself. He couldn't have predicted what would happen next, and that night would have been unspeakably pleasurable had not every possible thing gone against him.

Besides, he would have his chance again. No, more than that. He would have her, bound so tightly that she couldn't breathe while he fucked her pussy all night. And every moment until then- every curse, insult, and reprimand she leveled against him- would only make that night all the sweeter.

 

Akane shivered. She'd been shivering for a while now; it was cold in Queen Tomiko's bedchamber, and she had nothing but naked skin to protect her from the icy air.

Her back was against a frozen pillar with her arms stretched above her where they were held by iron shackles around her wrists. She tried to keep her body from resting against the ice, but she was already on the balls of her feet, her heels unable to touch the floor. Her ankles were locked in shackles as well, their touch even colder than the pillar.

Her strength ran out and she screamed as her entire body pressed against the ice.

Akane had been foolish enough to be proud of her beauty. Many people compared her to the Queen. Not as an equal, certainly, but a mere resemblance was enough to turn men's heads. She thought it was a blessing.

But somehow word had gotten to the Queen. Queen Tomiko wasn't jealous. She was still the more flawless and perfect of the two, nobody would doubt that. When the Queen's men came to arrest her, they said that the Queen was merely interested in seeing her. Akane was a curiosity to be studied for a moment, and nothing more. Queen Tomiko had some very cruel ways of studying someone.

Now Akane was in the Queen's private sanctum, freezing while Queen Tomiko stood impassively, watching her from a few feet away. For a long time she said nothing, only watching. A muscle didn't move on her face while Akane's teeth chattered.

"You do look like me," she said at last, as a simple matter of fact. "They say that many men desire me. Do they desire you too?"

        "Yes, Your Majesty," she stammered. Akane had no idea what answers the Queen wanted. She'd heard stories of her mercilessness, heard that none who were put in her shackles were ever released from them, but she couldn't believe that. Akane just spoke the truth, hoping there was salvation in it.

        "Has it ever made you happy?" she asked.

        "Yes... sometimes."

        Queen Tomiko stepped forward and put her hand on Akane's chest, gently running it from her collar bones to her navel. There was nothing in her expression to read. Was this some strange form of debauchery? Did the Queen simply feel that it was an insult to have a commoner compared to her, even as her inferior?

        The Queen walked across the room to an ornate wardrobe. She opened it, revealing a collection of leather whips. She ran her fingers over them before selecting one.

        Akane pulled on her wrists, begging them to slip free of the iron that was locked around them. Instead she only felt the cold metal bite into her skin.

        "Please, Your Majesty, I don't know what I've done..."

        "Nothing," she said. "I just want to see what whipping you will feel like. If it does at all."

        When Queen Tomiko struck it was fast and vicious. Akane screamed as leather smashed across her stomach. She didn't stop for a long time.