Charity was paraded across the countryside in her cage within a cage. They traveled all afternoon until they arrived at another larger village where Empusa and the guards set up tents. Charity was left in her perch. At least ten armed guards watched her at all times.
She wasn't sure why there were so many. She obviously wasn't going anywhere. Maybe Empusa had them scared that Charity had some mysterious powers. More likely, they were protecting Charity from being stolen by some other interested agent - one of Empusa's competitors.
They used poles with a forked ending to pass a tray of food into a slot on the bottom of Charity's inner cage. Just as when she was cramped inside the tree, she used the tray to pee in after she had eaten. She considered being rude and simply tossing the tray of pee toward the outer cage to let it splatter on the villagers who were gawking up at her. But when she looked for a good place to toss it, she saw young girls running around, playing.
A guard pushed a forked pole into the cage, so that Charity could return the tray. Unfortunately, Charity could not figure out the mechanism to get the tray to be held securely by the fork. It couldn't be too complicated, but she just could not make sense of it. Eventually, the guard pulled the pole away and the tray tipped and clattered across the platform, splashing its contents onto the crowd. Those who were hit screamed, not from fear, however, rather from excitement - as though they had been splashed with holy water. Charity groaned and closed her eyes.
A thunderstorm swept through after dark. The pounding, cold rain did not bother Charity so much, but she was praying that she didn't get fried. Sitting on a raised platform inside a metal framework is probably a bad thing to do with lightning all around.
The next morning, the ponygirls were hitched up again and they continued along the road. At one point, a ring finally popped through the skin of one of her fingers and she was able to pull it off. She randomly flicked it out of her inner cage. It bounced loudly on the platform of the cart and off into the grass alongside.
A young girl ran up and grabbed the ring. A woman started yelling at the girl, seemingly horrified that she would touch the ring because the girl threw it back down on the ground with fear. Charity realized that this was a cruel ruse, because the woman then picked up the ring and started to stick it in her pocket. Another woman who had observed this interaction had something to say and soon guards had to jump in to break up the ensuing fight.
The cart was halted and Empusa stepped down, silencing the commotion. Someone gave her the ring. Then she spoke for a bit pointing up at Charity and holding up the ring. She then made a show of placing the ring on her tongue and closing her mouth. She waved a hand under her chin and golden light seemed to emit from her mouth for a second. She opened her mouth and spit the ring back into her hand, smiling. Then she bent down and gave the ring to the original young girl who first picked it up. The girl held up the ring, smiling, showing it to the woman standing next to her - her mother perhaps. Lots of other little girls were cheering.
Empusa bowed for the crowd - ever the people's savior. She turned to Charity and winked and then jumped back into the driver's seat, and goaded the ponygirls onward.
By the afternoon of the third day, they were at the gates of Empusa's estate. The crowds were huge and noisy. The noble Queen had returned from her daring adventure capturing the wild and dangerous green, metal-jeweled womanimal.
The cart rolled up to the menagerie and the guards made a great show of carefully extracting the inner cage from the outer one using long wooden beams - never getting too close to the viscous animal held within. They carefully carried the smaller cage into the menagerie. But, as soon as the exterior doors were closed, they dropped all pretenses of danger. They opened the smaller cage and grabbed Charity by her arms, roughly dragging her out and delivering her to her old cell, anchoring her leash and securely locking the door. Four guards stood outside.
Charity glanced into the next cell over where Killdoll was watching with her crotch camera eyes. Charity raised a hand as a greeting, but immediately felt the first wave of a particularly strong arousal. "Oh, thuck!" She watched Killdoll stagger then drop to her knees and roll onto her back, shaking. She was apparently so excited to see Charity that she was having an orgasm.
Of course, another wave of arousal washed over Charity and she lost her balance as well. She slowly collapsed to the floor of her cell. Even after the waves of arousal passed. Charity continued to lay where she landed for a long time. She could think of no reason to stand again.
<>--+-
The following day Charity was lying on her cot, listlessly slipping the loose links of her leash chain back and forth across her engorged nipples - lost in some erotic daydream. Suddenly, sounds of struggling and stomping echoed from the ponygirl end of the menagerie.
Charity jumped out of bed and ran to the bars to try to see what was going on. She saw Hazel and Garnet flailing about, tussling with three or four guards. Charity saw one of the guards pull out some sort of flogger and swing at Hazel.
"Hey!!" Charity yelled, uselessly shaking at the bars of her cell.
One of the guards stationed outside Charity's cell pulled out one of their swatting poles and smacked at Charity's fingers whenever she tried to wrap them around the bars of her cell, until she had to back up a bit.
More guards entered the menagerie and in due course, Hazel and Garnet had been hobbled, blindfolded and removed from the building. Two guards left holding their ribs and another had a bloody ear.
Charity looked over at Killdoll, who seemed to have observed the whole thing. Killdoll turned to Charity for a moment then turned and walked away.
<>--+-
(tick) was no longer working in the menagerie and that troubled Charity. What had happened to her after she had helped Charity escape? Hopefully, she had run away.
Instead, three tall, muscular groomers were assigned to Charity and they cuffed her with four point prisoner transport cuffs before they even entered her cell. Her wrists were bound behind her and connected to a short chain that descended down to the center link of a hobbling chain.
They led her by the leash out into the pasture to do her business, then right back into her cell for a rough scrub down.
Some days Empusa would come for a visit and talk to her, but Charity generally ignored everything she said and did not respond in any way. That is, until one day: "Say a word and I'll tell you what I've heard about your sister, Faith."
Charity stopped idly rubbing her skin with the cool links of her chains and looked over at Empusa.
"Yes. I have heard some information about her... fate..."
Charity sat up, filled with anger. "Grrr..."
"Ah ah!" Empusa said. "Say a word first."
Charity struggled for a bit. Thinking of a good word to say. "Ow... oww... thiyid. Oww - thiyid."
"What's that?" Empusa said, smiling. "You want to go outside?"
