“Guards! Sale! Last chance to get my premium dildos and sex toys before I take them across to the Kostanians. Do you think they deserve the joys and not you? Hot prices for toys to stick in your hot girlfriends!”
John hauled on her hair.
She squeaked out Princess! Princess! But the words were even more messed up than she’d expected due to the rope pulling taut across her mouth. It pressed onto her tongue, making princess into hinkaah.
Not the best of enunciations.
Neck muscles straining, she watched the guards turn away and head for Ruth, who waved two handfuls of wiggly pink, blue, and green dildos. John chuckled and leaned over, creaking in the saddle, to put his face in front of her.
“What did my slave try to say? Was this a betrayal? Why am I not surprised?”
He let her go, whipped the cover over her again, and spurred Rocky into a trot.
Tears of rage dripped from her eyes until she shut them and reserved her anger for later, when she might have the opportunity to smack him into eternity.
They rode on down the road, climbing past a curving corner, with Ruth catching them up a mile further along when John stopped and waited. He pulled the cloak off and hauled her around into a side-saddle position while he undid her ankle ropes. With Po upright, he had her sit as she had on the previous day, except she was now unclothed.
It bothered her, more than being draped over the horse and concealed.
“Clothes,” she hissed.
“Later. Ruth! Do you know where I can clean this mud off her? Somewhere safe and off the road? There must be some feeder streams for the waterfall. I will pay you now if you wish. For your help, the rope, and so on? Whatever you think is fair.”
He was being generous, but then Ruth had aided him as a best friend might. Po couldn’t see why.
“Thirty-five will be fair, John,” she rumbled as she drew level with Rocky. Ruff was asleep on her shoulder, like a puffball seedhead that had stuck there, his nose snuggled into her flowery purple shirt.
“Done.” He took a pouch from his pocket and began to count coins.
“As for a stream, I know of one. It is a small distance ahead. I will guard the entrance to the path while you clean yourselves. I also have a proposition for you. If it pleases you?”
“Say it.” He leaned over and poured coins into her cupped hand. “I am all ears.”
Ruth shoved the handful into a leather pouch slung from her shoulder. Her head was above them, and Po could see up her nose, along the crevasses of her face, and into a pair of deep green eyes that might’ve been plucked from the sea.
Ruth gave the impression of immense… patience? She smiled at Po.
Curious, considering everything.
Po shifted her bare rear on the saddlecloth. The rope tying her, emphasizing her female attributes, her nudity and helplessness, made her feel painfully exposed. It was not her fault, she reminded herself. His only.
“I wish to travel with you.” Ruth said. “I do not require further pay. As you have seen, I am a good negotiator and a supplier of interesting wares. I also discuss problems. You are… a man of destiny, with a princess who needs to be educated.”
She gawped at her and side-eyed John. So many impudent people.
“Hah!” Chuckling, John wiped his nose with the back of his hand then smiled at Po. “Agreed. And that you saw who she is and said nothing?” He leaned into Po, with his hand on her hip. “I like that. Maybe I need a negotiator. I welcome you.” He did a little bow in the saddle.
“Thank you. We should keep going. Another few minutes of travel will bring us to the path that leads to the stream.”
With her large rucksack making the occasional jangling sound, Ruth swayed into the lead. Her shoes crunched when they stomped the gravel. The two bluebirds had landed on the roof and sat above where Ruff slept, arguing with each other in squawks and pecks. Ruff opened one eye and glared malevolence at them.
Everyone was ignoring her, the princess, the person of most importance.
Good. For once this was good. Except she needed the ropes undone. When she swiveled and stared at John then mumbled untie me as well as she could, he lifted an eyebrow.
Well!
She looked to the front again, scowling, gripping the horse with her thighs. She tried not to touch his pants in the groin area with her fingers. Execution was too good for him.
She began to imagine all sorts of gruesome deaths for John, but her imagination petered out. A gory, gruesome death was not what she wanted for anyone.
The path to the stream was soon found, and it was narrow, short and twisty. John intended to leave the horses with Ruth. Perhaps the woman would run away with them? It would compel him to backtrack to the guard post, surely?
There had to be a way to return to her realm.
“Come with me.” Having dismounted, he pulled her off the horse, and she slid, her heart thudding as she desperately hoped he would stop her from landing on her head.
He did. One hand wrapped over her breast, while the other found the rope at her back. He steadied her, studying her as she gulped and recovered. The ill-mannered, horrid man.
“You think you’re badly done by, don’t you? But look, we have a private bathing area.”
He gathered some clothes and a blanket from a saddlebag on the mare, then he tugged at her ropes and walked. She had to go with him, stumbling over the waterworn rocks. Soon, they came to where a stream rushed by, burbling downslope.
“I’m not happy, Po. You said yes
