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  “She is half in love with Deenie, and Deenie with her,” Olivia said. “She wants to stay at the inn. We’ll discuss it another time.”

  Convict Challenge

  Olivia began taking me out in public, but she was very careful about it. But we went to The Baby Blanket for dinner, warning Mother we would be there. Deenie was there, serving as a barmaid this time, and I laughed.

  She was wearing some of my clothes. I told her if she was borrowing from me, when did I get to borrow from her?

  “I tell you what,” she said. “If you win a proper challenge, I will buy your first outfit.”

  “You can’t dress like that until you are a citizen,” Olivia clarified.

  “You don’t have to buy my clothes,” I said.

  “I will buy your first,” Olivia said. “But if Deenie wants to buy your second, you should say ‘thank you’.”

  “Thank you,” I said.

  And so she took me about town, but she kept me protected, slowly relaxing.

  And then The Day arrived.

  * * * *

  Ressaline had a sporting stadium. Ours wasn’t large, although we had other fields with bleachers for other games. This one had been constructed during our earlier days, when the town was smaller. It wasn’t big enough for major events anymore, but we’d kept it up, partly for historical reasons and partly for those events that fit the venue.

  Olivia brought me and the girls. Captain Bess sat with us, and then Lieutenant Deenie arrived with Lisbon. My sister and I hugged, and then she surprised me, hugging Olivia. The two whispered a moment, and then she turned to Bee. “I’d like to hug you and your sister.”

  “We love to hug,” Bee said. And so they hugged warmly before taking seats, with Lisbon on the other side of Bee from me, and Deenie past her.

  In told, there were perhaps a hundred people in the audience, more of them wearing leather than not. Bee and Dee weren’t the only slaves, but there were only a few.

  Then there was a fanfare of horns. A door opened immediately below us, and an imposing-looking woman strode onto the turf. She stepped forward and then turned around, looking up. She gave a little bow to Olivia then looked around.

  “I am Major Teasest. I have not run this event before,” the woman called out. She might not have run the event, but she had clearly spoken in public before. “I have run more joyous events. Normally, this would be the duty of Lady Olivia, Duchess Charthen, but today, she sees to her former slave, still in recovery, and she has asked if I would serve.” She offered another bow.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

  “Don’t be. I’m not. I hate this, and I’m much happier to let Teasest do it.”

  “There will be three events today, one after another. In all three cases, the women who will come out here shortly have confessed to looting and accepted their sentence. They will be pacified together, and then we will describe the first event. The order of events was done by draw of the challengers.”

  She looked around and then said loudly, “Bring forth the prisoners.”

  The door furthest from us opened, and a low cart appeared, pulled by a single horse. The three prisoners were dressed in simple shifts. They stood side by side at the front of the cart, their hands shackled to a sturdy railing. Even from here, they looked scared.

  “Claary,” said Lisbon. “The one to the left. She looks familiar.”

  I stared. “That’s Right Highleaf. What was she doing caught looting?” I turned to Olivia. “This has to be a mistake. There’s no way Right was looting.”

  “Claary,” said Deenie. “That’s the one my team caught.”

  “No.”

  “I’m afraid so,” she said.

  “The one I talked to is in the center,” Olivia said. “Ms. Highleaf broke down in tears and confessed several times before the charges could even be fully leveled.”

  “We don’t have the full story, Olivia!”

  “Yes, we do. She was trying to make enough money to bribe someone to help her escape the city.”

  “She was engaged to be married,” I said. “Do you see what you’ve done?”

  Olivia looked at me. Her eyes were a little cold, then softened. “You are blaming the wrong person, and you know it.”

  “Give her a chance,” I said. “She’s a good person. She’s a really good person. Give her another chance.”

  “I will review all these cases once the city is fully absorbed into Ressaline society,” she replied. “It is within my authority to release someone at that time, although she probably won’t wish to be.”

  “She’ll be happy,” Bess said, looking over her shoulder at me.

  “She broke the law. She stole from people who don’t deserve to be stolen from, and she did so with the intention of breaking more laws. If someone was foolish enough to accept the bribe, but was then caught, that would have been a far more serious crime. Your concerns are noted, Claary, but what she did was serious.”

  “She only wanted to return to her fiancé.”

  “I understand that,” Olivia said. “I’m sorry, Claary.”

  I hung my head, but there was little more I could do. I didn’t think she was that sorry.

  In the meantime, while we’d been talking, the cart had come to a stop. I looked up in time to see two soldiers step onto the cart. They approached the women from behind, walking around behind them for a moment. The women looked on nervously, but there was little they could do.

  The guards didn’t give any indication whom they would do first, but suddenly they grabbed the middle woman, bent her over backwards, and emptied a vial into her mouth. She struggled with them, but the struggles were feeble. They held her like that for a minute then helped her to straighten up.

  She sank to her knees, her hands still bound to the railing, and there she would stay until removed from the cart.

  They did the same with the second woman, walking back and forth before grabbing the woman on the right. They treated her the same. She sagged against the railing but didn’t drop.

  Right was last, and there was less guessing. She knew what was coming. She simply lifted her face to the sky and opened her mouth. The guards were even a little gentle with her, although they still pulled her backwards and held her tightly for a minute before releasing her. Like the second, she sagged against the railing.

  “For happier events,” Olivia said, “there is frequent cheering. This is not a happy event.”

  And then Major Teasest said the same thing, almost in the same words, but pitched for all to hear. “We’re going to let that take effect while we introduce the first challenger. For this part, you should offer encouragement. Clapping, whistles, catcalls, hollering, and screaming your undying devotion are all appropriate responses.”

  That generated some laughter, and then she said, “Sergeant Sienna, step forward, please!”

  From the door below us, a woman stepped forward. Olivia leaned to me and said, “Put on a show, please.” I glared at Olivia, but she smiled and added a gentle, “Please, Claary.”

  I stood and began yelling and clapping. Bee and Dee were only a moment behind me, and then others rose, including Lisbon.

  “Si-en-na!” I yelled. “Si-en-na!” That was caught up by those nearest me, and then by others. Oh, not everyone joined me, but enough. The woman turned a circle, her hand in the air, waving, then she finished the walk to Major Teasest. I hollered for another few seconds before quieting and slowly sitting back down. Olivia set her hand on my knee and squeezed for a moment. Bee clasped my hand and smiled at me, and then she reached over and took Lisbon’s hand as well.

  I leaned to her. “Did you and Dee do something like this?”

  “We were together,” she said. “And it was a happy day.”

  “Well, Sergeant Sienna,” said Major Teasest. “Do you think the audience will hear if you say hello.”

  “Hello, Ladies,” she said. Oh, yes, she could project.

  “Hello, Sienna!” I screamed.

/>   “You seem to have a cheering section,” said the major. “Tell us, Sienna. Assuming you win your challenge today, what will you do with your new possession?”

  “I’m taking over an abandoned farm outside town,” she said. “She’ll be helping me to work the land.”

  “Ah, good work, and she’ll be helping to feed our people.”

  “That’s right, Major Teasest.”

  “And so, from a tragedy, a happy ending.”

  “I sure hope so,” said the sergeant. Even I realized the humor.

  “Well then, what is our event today?”

  “The most basic,” said Sergeant Sienna. Then she stepped forward. “Normally, this can be a very fun challenge, but today it will be one sided. If any of you ever offer this challenge to me, it will end a little differently, but perhaps not that differently.

  And then a new, low cart came out from the far door. There was a low, wide tub on the wagon and two short stools. Four women in leather rode along. The wagon came to a stop near the center of the arena, and then the four women used hand carts to move the tub onto the ground. The stools were added with two feet inside the tub and two outside. Then one of the women inserted something onto one of the stools, a piece of smooth wood pointing into the air. I stared.

  What surprised me was that Sergeant Sienna walked over. She withdrew a similar device from a pouch strung over her shoulder, and she added it to the second stool.

  “This challenge can be performed in a few ways,” called out Major Teasest. “In the simplest form, both participants begin on the stools. In the form today, the contestants begin standing, but then they attempt to force, tease, or cajole the other into taking a seat.”

  I thought it likely only one woman was going to be seated.

  The wagon rolled away, although two of the women remained. They walked over to the cart and unlocked the woman on our right. She went compliantly as they drew her to the center of the area, facing her fate. They held her there, although no force was required.

  “Are you ready, Sergeant Sienna?”

  “I am,” she said.

  “Then begin.”

  The sergeant walked around the tub and approached her target. The woman stared at the stools, ignoring the sergeant until she moved directly in front of her. The sergeant offered a come-hither gesture. The women released the prisoner, and she shuffled after Sienna.

  There was little fanfare. Sienna led the woman to the tub and then walked around her, the woman turning to face her. Then Sienna stepped forward, put hands on the woman’s hips, and picked her up enough to set her into the tub. At that, the woman whimpered a little, but she didn’t resist.

  Then Sienna stepped forward, pushing the woman backwards, and she stepped into the tub as well.

  She walked the prisoner backwards until her back was to one of the stools, the one that Sienna had prepared. And then she simply picked her up by her hips and very carefully lowered her onto the stool.

  The woman whimpered again and attempted to struggle, but down she went.

  Then Sienna crouched down and began talking to her. I couldn’t hear what was said. The prisoner didn’t attempt to escape, but instead her gaze remained locked on the sergeant.

  The sergeant talked for a minute or two. The woman began to squirm. I thought that’s what Sienna was waiting for, as she moved closer and began helping the woman, small movements at first, and then larger as she rode the device inside of her.

  It took several minutes, but the woman began to moan and thrash, and I could tell much of the movements were her own. She rode up and down higher.

  Then her feet dipped into the tub. She jerked and pulled them away, but Sergeant Sienna pushed down on her knees, and slowly the woman lowered her feet. After a moment, she moaned and began moving again.

  It took another minute or two before I realized something green and glistening was climbing up the prisoner’s legs. It reached her knees, but it wasn’t until Bee moaned that I realized what was happening.

  This was how their outfits were so tight. It formed about them.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “It is a function of the woman’s surrender,” Olivia said. “If she were unaffected, nothing would happen. In practice challenges, you don’t always use the resin.”

  “I always do,” Bess said. “I love the resin. Even when I win, it covers me at least to my waist, and usually much higher.”

  “But then it slides off,” Olivia said. “If you win.”

  The resin rose higher, coating the prisoner. Sergeant Sienna continued to help her move. She called out, and I knew she was entirely lost.

  Not that I expected anything else.

  The resin reached her waist. Sienna untied the stays of the shift and tossed it aside. The prisoner wore nothing underneath.

  And the resin climbed higher.

  Then the woman gave out three loud screams of pleasure, and the resin climbed rapidly, all the way up to cover her shoulders, and then flowed down to her hands. She rode the stool harder for a few more seconds, and then she collapsed.

  Sergeant Sienna caught her and then gently picked her up. She was halfway out of the arena before I began clapping.

  * * * *

  The middle woman was second. For the setup, the stools were removed and a wooden rail set up. I realized this was about to be similar to how Olivia took me. We met the challenger. She said she was taking over a laundry service, and her new slave would be doing the wash. When she began, she walked over to her target, grabbed her wrists, and marched her into place. She pushed her against the railing and then used ropes to secure her.

  Oh yes, it was quite a bit like how I was taken, but Olivia had made mine fun. This was very brisk, and I decided I didn’t like this woman. On the other hand, she was dealing with a criminal.

  Then she pulled out her own device. She didn’t just use it. Instead, she teased the woman with it. She teased her, and the resin began to flow up her legs, white this time. They hadn’t changed what was in the tub, so I decided magic was involved.

  It wasn’t until the resin began to climb that the woman began screaming, “Please. Please. Please.”

  And that was when the woman slid the device into her.

  After that, while the position was different from the first pair, the results were quite similar.

  * * * *

  Right was last. I was a little sick, although beside me, Bee’s arousal was obvious. Olivia held my hand and only said, “We’ll all talk later.”

  Right’s challenger said, “These are not real challenges. These three women were confessed criminals, and this last intended to flee the city. But all of you deserve to see a real challenge. Because she has been pacified, she cannot win. But we are going to repeat the first method, but as it would be done in a real challenge.”

  And then two of the other women stepped forward. Before us, they undressed the challenger and then pulled a shift over her head. In the meantime, two others set up the stools. The challenger prepared one of them, and two of the women prepared the other.

  And then they collected Right. I squeezed Bee’s hand tightly, but she whispered to me, “She will be happy, Claary. Do not be afraid for her.”

  “She wanted to be with her fiancé.”

  “I had a fiancé,” she said. “Dee did, too. I like Olivia much better. And Dee’s wasn’t a good man. Olivia is a good woman.” Then she turned back to watch.

  The challenger approached the tub. Two women pulled Right. All four stepped into the tub. And then the challenger slowly lowered herself into place while the two guards helped Right.

  The guard stepped away. Teasest called begin. The challenger leaned forward and spoke to Right. The two locked gazes, and then the challenger began moving.

  It took a few minutes for the resin to begin moving, climbing the challenger’s legs!

  “Olivia?”

  “Watch,” she said.

  And then Right began to move, slowly and irregularly at first
, then more and more. The challenger’s resin was black. I didn’t know what that meant. But Right’s was Blue. It took a few minutes before her resin was to her waist, higher than the challenger’s. Like the others, she began moaning and thrashing, and five minutes later she gave out her own wails of pleasure.

  And she was covered in the resin, not only to her neck, but over her head, her face, and coating her hair. Her mouth, nose, and eyes were clear, but otherwise she was entirely coated.

  “Olivia?”

  “That was actually your friend’s choice,” Olivia said. “Normally it goes to the neck, but your friend must have invited more complete coverage.”

  The challenger slowly stilled. After a minute, the resin retreated down her legs.

  She picked Right up and carried her away.

  Negotiation

  We returned to Olivia’s home. Bee and Dee were both deeply aroused. Olivia gave them the choice to stay and talk to Lisbon and me, or they could go play, however they liked. They grabbed hands and ran. I discovered later they spent hours simulating their own challenges.

  We collected in the parlor. Olivia offered drinks. I stuck to water, but Lisbon asked for a shot of bourbon. We settled, five of us, as Captain Bess was with us, and then Olivia said, “I don’t know what questions you have.”

  Lisbon looked at me. “Deenie said the challenges were similar to but different from when our First.”

  “Yes,” I said. “No resin. Otherwise, mine was similar to the second one, although Bee and Dee helped to seduce me. And Olivia was far, far sweeter about it as well.”

  “Were you pacified?”

  “Yes.”

  “That isn’t always the case,” Bess said.

  “Pacifying helps when the woman is frightened,” Olivia said. “Anyone can ask to be pacified. I made that choice for Claary.”

  “I loved every moment,” I said. “I was frightened, but once she gave me the tonic, I loved every single moment.”