Three weeks...my apologies. I'll be working quicker from here on in.
Link to prologue: Prologue: At the Party (M/F)
Captain Luyon held up his right hand, thumb tucked into the palm which faced away from his troops. The line of horses, spread wide behind him, stopped instantly and remained motionless. An encampment could be seen ahead through the trees, tents enough for a hundred or so men. That was at least double Luyon’s number, and would count for nothing. He made more hand signals, and a number of men dispersed to either side, horses’ hooves squelching softly in the mud. When they had gone, a lazy sentry was visible twenty yards behind, complete with arrow through the heart. He signed to a troop carrying a large horn to give the signal which would herald the crushing of the rebels.
‘We have little time, though we realise you must have many questions’ the woman in white was talking now. ‘We will talk to you separately.’
The two turned to focus directly on Kate. She backed away a step, legs unsteady and arms shaking. Frantically she searched for her friends. Seeing them didn’t help, as they stood frozen in exactly the same way as everyone at the party had done moments before.
‘Wh-what have you done to them?’ Kate’s voice barely obeyed her, and she stammered as her mind refused to stop panicking.
‘They are unharmed. We will not harm you.’ The woman tried to look comforting, but it was a losing battle, as Kate flinched at the words. ‘Kate, we have called you here because you have the ability to enter this place. This is a portal platform, able to link with the multiverse, in particular all the worlds within it.’ Kate still stood, unsure of what to do, unsure of herself. ‘As such, you have been chosen to use the platform. Your task is to fix the worlds you encounter. Our task is to advise you, and assist you in any way we can.’
‘W-what? What are you saying?’ She managed, before crying out as a doorway, filled purely with light, blinked into existence beside her.
The woman in white sighed. ‘Please, step through, we have people the other side who will tell you more.’ Kate made no move to comply, apparently rooted to the spot. ‘You will be away from here, at least.’
That registered with Kate, who was all for fleeing as fast as possible from whatever this was that she couldn’t comprehend. She took a step towards the door, but stopped to glance worriedly at her still frozen friends.
‘They will be there soon.’ The woman said soothingly. Kate hesitated, looked back once more, and stepped through.
‘How can she be of any use? As frightened as an animal to be slaughtered. She will fail every time.’ The man growled, smile no longer evident.
‘Hush, her heart is filled with right. She is there to keep the boy on our side, that is all. It is your turn.’
Reluctantly, the man replaced his kindly smile as he turned to Mark.
It was a dusty mud track that Kate appeared on, hard baked from the sun which shone through cloud overhead. Low houses either side made the track an alleyway, which seemed empty. Apart from a large man whom Kate was positioned closely behind. Her hand was slipped into the right side pocket of the man’s brightly adorned coat, fingers closed around what must have been a wallet. Fear rose up in her again, and she jerked, which unsurprisingly, the man felt. He turned sharply, towering over her 5'5" frame.
‘What do we have here then?’ The man sneered. ‘A dirty little pocket-snatch. I’m not too fond of your kind, girl.’ He grabbed her by the back of her coat, which was some form of thin black woollen material, and lifted her easily, to be slung over his shoulder.
She squealed, and began to flail her arms and legs about, desperate to at least have some control over the situation.
‘I-I’m sorry, I don’t even know who you are, what are you doing with me? Put me down.’ Kate felt like crying. She hoped that this was some sort of terrible, terrible joke, but how could it be? A dream. It must be a dream. She could have sworn she hadn’t drunk that much yet.
‘Don’t know who I am?’ The man sounded offended. ‘Sir Balil to you, pocket-snatch.’ Sir Balil, a merchant. A prosperous, powerful merchant, favoured by the queen. The thought came to Kate immediately, and she froze in surprise, falling silent.
Sir Balil clearly decided that his credentials had subdued his captive, and laughed arrogantly.
The area he walked through opened up and Kate turned red as she saw people behind Balil staring at her, a couple of men looking far too pleased with the situation. She couldn’t see what Balil was heading towards however. If she had, she may have struggled somewhat harder.
They reached the stocks briefly and Kate got to see what awaited her. As Balil set her down, her eyes went wide as saucers, and she made a bolt for it. She quickly found that it was hard to get away from someone taller, bigger and stronger than herself. Picking her up once more, Balil sat her on a hard wooden bench and held her there. She tried as hard as possible to get away, but had to content herself with kicking her legs wildly as she screamed for help from someone, anyone would do. Balil was getting angry, trying to hold her in place, and simultaneously avoid her flailing legs.
‘Stop your yelling, girl, you’re making my head hurt.’ Kate screamed louder, letting out all her feelings about what was happening to her.
Help eventually came. The men who were grinning earlier arrived to give aid. Unfortunately for Kate, they were more interested in helping Balil, and they grabbed a leg each, manhandling her ankles into the two grooves of the stocks. Kate couldn’t believe it. They were helping him, what had she ever done to deserve this? She screamed more, screamed at Balil, at Balil’s two evil helpers, at the small crowd that had gathered already.
‘Gods, girl. Shut UP!’ Balil slapped her. Kate was stunned. He couldn’t be allowed to… One of the men nodded in satisfaction to Balil, who nodded his thanks back at the pair. He proceeded to tie her wrists to the pole that she leant on, stretching her arms high above her head. Kate’s arms hung limply. She hadn’t asked for this. She was at a party. She wasn’t tied to some stocks in the middle of some square out of the history books. Where were Mark and Rachel? She began to cry, tears slowly dripping down her cheeks, as her head slumped forwards.
‘For attempted theft!’ Sir Balil proclaimed proudly, leading to a few of the crowd tutting and shaking their heads.
Parties were fun. Kate liked parties. There was drink, dancing, boys, dancing with boys. Who were those people in white anyway? Why would they take her from something she liked and do this to her? Where was Mark? Where was Rachel? Why would…Her sobs stopped suddenly. Why were all the people in the square still there? It even seemed like more people were joining the crowd, and the grinning men still hovered close.
Eventually enough people had congregated to please Balil, who nodded towards the two of his guards who had helped him secure the girl. It was not as if he needed them, he was more than capable of handling himself, but a show of strength and wealth was never a bad thing. The girl had chosen her target poorly.
As they moved into position at the foot of the stocks the girl looked up at them, frowning, worry painting her face. Obviously she was a many time offender; otherwise she would have surely begged him for release by now. But she must have accepted her fate, which was a pity. Odd then, that she would appear surprised as his men slipped off her shoes. Balil expected her feet to be dirty as well, these lowlifes were always unwashed, but he himself was surprised this time.
‘What are you doing? I don’t really think…’ the thief started. One of his men put an end to whatever it was she didn’t think by stroking a finger down her left sole. Her foot jerked sharply, and she snapped her gaze down to her foot, clearly taken aback. Odd. His man grinned all the more, such a reaction was a good sign.
‘Hey! Wha-’
‘You ask too many questions little lady, perhaps you can do something else with that pretty voice of yours.’ Balil sneered. ‘Enjoy yourselves.’ He was barely sure his men heard him. As he walked away, the short screams and high pitched giggles were all the satisfaction he needed.
As soon as Balil turned his back, Kate all but forgot about him. Her bare feet stuck through two holes much too small for escape, and her arms, snared above her head, were useless. She glanced fleetingly at the men Balil had left behind, who were about ready to dive on their prey. Wiggling her feet, she tried to in some way slip her ankle through the gap, quickly finding it impossible. Her eyes went from left to right, but there was no help to be found. Craning her neck upwards, she tugged on the rope around her wrists, but clearly wasn’t strong enough to make any impact. This could just not be happening. That slap had hurt a lot, would a dream be this lifelike?
Her time was up. A finger made contact with her left foot again, and again she jerked, hope fading to a speck on the horizon. A giggle escaped as the other man began flicking his nails sideways across her right foot, quickly mimicked by the first. Fingers dug in, hard, and she screamed.
‘No.’ She shook her head as emphasis. ‘No!’
‘Oh yes.’ Evil man number one said. As he did he sped up his fingers and raved them around her soles. The effect was maddening. Kate giggled more, trying desperately to evade his touch, but with little room to manoeuvre this was another impossible task. Giggling turned to laughter as the fingers applied more pressure, and a scream punctuated the sound as the second fiend drilled into a gap under her toes.
The two were getting into their stride now, and kept Kate laughing with rapid scratching and flicking, eliciting cute little yelps with a dig in the centre of her sole, or under her toes, a spot which really affected her.
Kate screwed her eyes shut, and tried to keep her head perfectly still, as if that would somehow stave off the tickling. As hard as she tried to keep her mouth closed, the pair thwarted her easily with their well-placed strokes across her arches, or around the edges of her heels. One man started grabbing her toes, poking them gently as his other hand made circles around the ball of her foot.
‘Such a musical little girl. Squeal for me.’ One of them ordered, sending two fingers drilling in the middle of Kate’s foot to force her to obey. It was too much, and Kate lost her fight. She flung her head to the side and back, strands of light brown hair following after. Neither staying still nor moving was apparently much help, but Kate led a thorough investigation into the latter. She tugged violently on the ropes, swung her upper body as far as it would go from her hips, and bounced her legs. Her feet waggled all the wilder, merely letting the men know they were winding up their captive. They attacked with renewed ferocity, digging in now on the heels, now under the toes, now on the arches, then straight back to Kate’s responsive toes. Kate laughed wildly, her mind reeling madly. Sweat began to break out on her brow from thrashing, and as she swung her head, hair matted to her face. She screamed in succession as one man started scraping two nails down her sole, before boring simultaneously into the top of her heel and the base of her toes. As she screamed again and again, fresh tears leaked from her eyes, borne out of laughter, anguish and frustration. She couldn’t take much more of this.
At long last the men stopped, leaving Kate gasping for air, head slumped.
‘That was tweny minutes girlie. In five yu’ll get another twenty, and on until ya two hours are done. Perhaps that’ll teach ya not to take what isn’t yurs.’
Kate barely responded. Two hours, and she couldn’t do a thing about it. She didn’t think she’d be able to stand it any longer. She began crying again, laughter not a source this time.
‘Aw look she’s crying Rik, do you think she wants us to stop.’ Kate heard a guffaw from the two men.
‘I’d bet me ‘ouse on it. But we’re not gonna girlie. C’mon let’s just tickle ‘er now.’
‘Why not.’
Kate whimpered on hearing this, but saw the two turn away from her and face the crowd. Surely they weren’t going to get more people to tickle her, two was bad enough.
The object of their attention though, was something altogether different. They stared, as did the vast majority of the crowd, at a cloud of dust beyond the town gates, which stood open at one side of the square. At the head of the cloud was a line of horsemen.
All comment/suggestions appreciated.
Link to prologue: Prologue: At the Party (M/F)
Captain Luyon held up his right hand, thumb tucked into the palm which faced away from his troops. The line of horses, spread wide behind him, stopped instantly and remained motionless. An encampment could be seen ahead through the trees, tents enough for a hundred or so men. That was at least double Luyon’s number, and would count for nothing. He made more hand signals, and a number of men dispersed to either side, horses’ hooves squelching softly in the mud. When they had gone, a lazy sentry was visible twenty yards behind, complete with arrow through the heart. He signed to a troop carrying a large horn to give the signal which would herald the crushing of the rebels.
‘We have little time, though we realise you must have many questions’ the woman in white was talking now. ‘We will talk to you separately.’
The two turned to focus directly on Kate. She backed away a step, legs unsteady and arms shaking. Frantically she searched for her friends. Seeing them didn’t help, as they stood frozen in exactly the same way as everyone at the party had done moments before.
‘Wh-what have you done to them?’ Kate’s voice barely obeyed her, and she stammered as her mind refused to stop panicking.
‘They are unharmed. We will not harm you.’ The woman tried to look comforting, but it was a losing battle, as Kate flinched at the words. ‘Kate, we have called you here because you have the ability to enter this place. This is a portal platform, able to link with the multiverse, in particular all the worlds within it.’ Kate still stood, unsure of what to do, unsure of herself. ‘As such, you have been chosen to use the platform. Your task is to fix the worlds you encounter. Our task is to advise you, and assist you in any way we can.’
‘W-what? What are you saying?’ She managed, before crying out as a doorway, filled purely with light, blinked into existence beside her.
The woman in white sighed. ‘Please, step through, we have people the other side who will tell you more.’ Kate made no move to comply, apparently rooted to the spot. ‘You will be away from here, at least.’
That registered with Kate, who was all for fleeing as fast as possible from whatever this was that she couldn’t comprehend. She took a step towards the door, but stopped to glance worriedly at her still frozen friends.
‘They will be there soon.’ The woman said soothingly. Kate hesitated, looked back once more, and stepped through.
‘How can she be of any use? As frightened as an animal to be slaughtered. She will fail every time.’ The man growled, smile no longer evident.
‘Hush, her heart is filled with right. She is there to keep the boy on our side, that is all. It is your turn.’
Reluctantly, the man replaced his kindly smile as he turned to Mark.
It was a dusty mud track that Kate appeared on, hard baked from the sun which shone through cloud overhead. Low houses either side made the track an alleyway, which seemed empty. Apart from a large man whom Kate was positioned closely behind. Her hand was slipped into the right side pocket of the man’s brightly adorned coat, fingers closed around what must have been a wallet. Fear rose up in her again, and she jerked, which unsurprisingly, the man felt. He turned sharply, towering over her 5'5" frame.
‘What do we have here then?’ The man sneered. ‘A dirty little pocket-snatch. I’m not too fond of your kind, girl.’ He grabbed her by the back of her coat, which was some form of thin black woollen material, and lifted her easily, to be slung over his shoulder.
She squealed, and began to flail her arms and legs about, desperate to at least have some control over the situation.
‘I-I’m sorry, I don’t even know who you are, what are you doing with me? Put me down.’ Kate felt like crying. She hoped that this was some sort of terrible, terrible joke, but how could it be? A dream. It must be a dream. She could have sworn she hadn’t drunk that much yet.
‘Don’t know who I am?’ The man sounded offended. ‘Sir Balil to you, pocket-snatch.’ Sir Balil, a merchant. A prosperous, powerful merchant, favoured by the queen. The thought came to Kate immediately, and she froze in surprise, falling silent.
Sir Balil clearly decided that his credentials had subdued his captive, and laughed arrogantly.
The area he walked through opened up and Kate turned red as she saw people behind Balil staring at her, a couple of men looking far too pleased with the situation. She couldn’t see what Balil was heading towards however. If she had, she may have struggled somewhat harder.
They reached the stocks briefly and Kate got to see what awaited her. As Balil set her down, her eyes went wide as saucers, and she made a bolt for it. She quickly found that it was hard to get away from someone taller, bigger and stronger than herself. Picking her up once more, Balil sat her on a hard wooden bench and held her there. She tried as hard as possible to get away, but had to content herself with kicking her legs wildly as she screamed for help from someone, anyone would do. Balil was getting angry, trying to hold her in place, and simultaneously avoid her flailing legs.
‘Stop your yelling, girl, you’re making my head hurt.’ Kate screamed louder, letting out all her feelings about what was happening to her.
Help eventually came. The men who were grinning earlier arrived to give aid. Unfortunately for Kate, they were more interested in helping Balil, and they grabbed a leg each, manhandling her ankles into the two grooves of the stocks. Kate couldn’t believe it. They were helping him, what had she ever done to deserve this? She screamed more, screamed at Balil, at Balil’s two evil helpers, at the small crowd that had gathered already.
‘Gods, girl. Shut UP!’ Balil slapped her. Kate was stunned. He couldn’t be allowed to… One of the men nodded in satisfaction to Balil, who nodded his thanks back at the pair. He proceeded to tie her wrists to the pole that she leant on, stretching her arms high above her head. Kate’s arms hung limply. She hadn’t asked for this. She was at a party. She wasn’t tied to some stocks in the middle of some square out of the history books. Where were Mark and Rachel? She began to cry, tears slowly dripping down her cheeks, as her head slumped forwards.
‘For attempted theft!’ Sir Balil proclaimed proudly, leading to a few of the crowd tutting and shaking their heads.
Parties were fun. Kate liked parties. There was drink, dancing, boys, dancing with boys. Who were those people in white anyway? Why would they take her from something she liked and do this to her? Where was Mark? Where was Rachel? Why would…Her sobs stopped suddenly. Why were all the people in the square still there? It even seemed like more people were joining the crowd, and the grinning men still hovered close.
Eventually enough people had congregated to please Balil, who nodded towards the two of his guards who had helped him secure the girl. It was not as if he needed them, he was more than capable of handling himself, but a show of strength and wealth was never a bad thing. The girl had chosen her target poorly.
As they moved into position at the foot of the stocks the girl looked up at them, frowning, worry painting her face. Obviously she was a many time offender; otherwise she would have surely begged him for release by now. But she must have accepted her fate, which was a pity. Odd then, that she would appear surprised as his men slipped off her shoes. Balil expected her feet to be dirty as well, these lowlifes were always unwashed, but he himself was surprised this time.
‘What are you doing? I don’t really think…’ the thief started. One of his men put an end to whatever it was she didn’t think by stroking a finger down her left sole. Her foot jerked sharply, and she snapped her gaze down to her foot, clearly taken aback. Odd. His man grinned all the more, such a reaction was a good sign.
‘Hey! Wha-’
‘You ask too many questions little lady, perhaps you can do something else with that pretty voice of yours.’ Balil sneered. ‘Enjoy yourselves.’ He was barely sure his men heard him. As he walked away, the short screams and high pitched giggles were all the satisfaction he needed.
As soon as Balil turned his back, Kate all but forgot about him. Her bare feet stuck through two holes much too small for escape, and her arms, snared above her head, were useless. She glanced fleetingly at the men Balil had left behind, who were about ready to dive on their prey. Wiggling her feet, she tried to in some way slip her ankle through the gap, quickly finding it impossible. Her eyes went from left to right, but there was no help to be found. Craning her neck upwards, she tugged on the rope around her wrists, but clearly wasn’t strong enough to make any impact. This could just not be happening. That slap had hurt a lot, would a dream be this lifelike?
Her time was up. A finger made contact with her left foot again, and again she jerked, hope fading to a speck on the horizon. A giggle escaped as the other man began flicking his nails sideways across her right foot, quickly mimicked by the first. Fingers dug in, hard, and she screamed.
‘No.’ She shook her head as emphasis. ‘No!’
‘Oh yes.’ Evil man number one said. As he did he sped up his fingers and raved them around her soles. The effect was maddening. Kate giggled more, trying desperately to evade his touch, but with little room to manoeuvre this was another impossible task. Giggling turned to laughter as the fingers applied more pressure, and a scream punctuated the sound as the second fiend drilled into a gap under her toes.
The two were getting into their stride now, and kept Kate laughing with rapid scratching and flicking, eliciting cute little yelps with a dig in the centre of her sole, or under her toes, a spot which really affected her.
Kate screwed her eyes shut, and tried to keep her head perfectly still, as if that would somehow stave off the tickling. As hard as she tried to keep her mouth closed, the pair thwarted her easily with their well-placed strokes across her arches, or around the edges of her heels. One man started grabbing her toes, poking them gently as his other hand made circles around the ball of her foot.
‘Such a musical little girl. Squeal for me.’ One of them ordered, sending two fingers drilling in the middle of Kate’s foot to force her to obey. It was too much, and Kate lost her fight. She flung her head to the side and back, strands of light brown hair following after. Neither staying still nor moving was apparently much help, but Kate led a thorough investigation into the latter. She tugged violently on the ropes, swung her upper body as far as it would go from her hips, and bounced her legs. Her feet waggled all the wilder, merely letting the men know they were winding up their captive. They attacked with renewed ferocity, digging in now on the heels, now under the toes, now on the arches, then straight back to Kate’s responsive toes. Kate laughed wildly, her mind reeling madly. Sweat began to break out on her brow from thrashing, and as she swung her head, hair matted to her face. She screamed in succession as one man started scraping two nails down her sole, before boring simultaneously into the top of her heel and the base of her toes. As she screamed again and again, fresh tears leaked from her eyes, borne out of laughter, anguish and frustration. She couldn’t take much more of this.
At long last the men stopped, leaving Kate gasping for air, head slumped.
‘That was tweny minutes girlie. In five yu’ll get another twenty, and on until ya two hours are done. Perhaps that’ll teach ya not to take what isn’t yurs.’
Kate barely responded. Two hours, and she couldn’t do a thing about it. She didn’t think she’d be able to stand it any longer. She began crying again, laughter not a source this time.
‘Aw look she’s crying Rik, do you think she wants us to stop.’ Kate heard a guffaw from the two men.
‘I’d bet me ‘ouse on it. But we’re not gonna girlie. C’mon let’s just tickle ‘er now.’
‘Why not.’
Kate whimpered on hearing this, but saw the two turn away from her and face the crowd. Surely they weren’t going to get more people to tickle her, two was bad enough.
The object of their attention though, was something altogether different. They stared, as did the vast majority of the crowd, at a cloud of dust beyond the town gates, which stood open at one side of the square. At the head of the cloud was a line of horsemen.
All comment/suggestions appreciated.
