The train was almost full. It was the last sleeper to be heading north before the ice set in and made travel impossible. Outside was already dark. It had been since three o'clock.
For the elite, there was a dining carriage at the head of the train. Close to midnight, and this carriage was still full. Full of the lace, the tight boned bodices, the satin, the crisp suits, the polished boots, the pale skin, the sharp eyes, the cigars. Sierra and her husband were sat at a smaller table by one of steamed up windows. Her husband ordered tea for her, something stronger for himself. Then he talked.
Sierra listened. He gossiped; she had the excuse to look around at other people. An hour passed. People started leaving. Sierra spotted one girl loosening her bodice before the door had even fully closed behind her. She shifted uncomfortably in her own. Her husband had bought her a new one upon their marriage. His thinking was the tighter the better. Slimmer waist, more swollen cleavage. Sierra wore a shawl most of the time, to his displeasure.
Something he said required her to look at a table behind them. Embarrassed by his gossip, she nevertheless turned to observe. Indifferent. She turned back. As she did, she caught someone else looking at her. An interested look; one that flicked downwards to where the shawl had opened, showing exactly why her husband liked the bodice. Yet the look was not the usual disapproval with which one lady might look upon a younger one. It was just interest.
Self-conscious, Sierra was glad for a break in the talking. She announced her sleepiness and proposed returning to the carriage. He agreed. Unable to help herself, she could not but look towards the lady as she stood up. The lady had been looking away, talking to her companion, but now glanced back. Still with interest.
Sierra turned away and followed her husband, resisting the urge to loosen he bodice until the door was fully closed behind them. She wondered if the previous girl had deliberately loosened her bodice while still in sight of the carriage. Maybe the lady had been watching her too. That gaze seemed to invite such audacity.
Back in the privacy of their compartment and the lady's face was burned into Sierra's vision. Ingrained in the window's frost. Charred on the bedpost. Sierra removed her bodice and skirts, only brushing her hair by the time her husband was asleep and snoring. An announcement through the train informed her the dining carriage was closing and that everyone was advised to retire.
She sat on the edge of the bed for a long time, the lady before her. While she had indeed been dressed as a lady, there was a roughness to her face. An aggression. No delicacy. No fragility. No warmth, but an intense heat. Blonde hair. Pale skin. Cat eyes. Full lips. Not beautiful, not pretty, but magnetic. Adorned with second-hand furs and the colour black.
Sierra could hear nothing beyond the closed door of the compartment. Just the constant thumping of the train as it sped north. She laid down. Unable to sleep, she noticed when the train slowed and stopped inexplicably less than an hour later. Only a couple of lanterns visible through the frosted windows indicated they were anywhere near civilization; but not their destination. She arose and looked out into the corridor. Shapes of people were moving in the carriages further down, also confused, but she was the only one awake in hers.
The driver was just the other side of the dining carriage, or so she thought. As no announcement came over the speakers, she dressed again and headed in search of the driver or conductor.
The dining carriage was deserted. Until she reached the far end. Just outside the main door, two men were talking. One was still on the train, the other on the tracks. The one inside the train was talking urgently.
'Can he see them yet? They're at this end, they shouldn't be that bloody hard to find.'
Another voice sounded from under the train. The one on the tracks passed on the message.
'He's got them. Here's the cash.'
The first man started to pull back into the train. Only now that he pulled back could Sierra see that there was yet another person involved in this transaction.
'Give me the cash and go wake the driver. Stay with him.'
A woman. The man handed her a small bag and left the carriage into the adjoining driver's compartment. The woman started in Sierra's direction before she could move. Too slow to hide, she made to run instead. The woman caught her by the neck before she could open the door at the other end and spun her around, still gripping her neck.
The lady from before. Except no longer dressed as rusty nobility. She wore the same tattered bodice from before, but now with trousers. What looked like a soldier's trousers.
'Should be in bed, shouldn't you?'
Sierra did not answer. The pressure on her neck was too much. She could hear people the other side of the door. So could the lady. She fumbled for the key, locked the door and tossed the key away down the carriage.
'I hope you're not going to tell anyone about our little dealings here?'
She indicated the money bag still in her other hand. Someone rapped on the door. The lady pulled Sierra away and pushed her onto one of the benches. The train was still not moving.
'I should really get rid of you now to avoid you talking.'
Sierra tried to duck under the lady's arm towards the other door, but the lady got her arm around her neck, pushing her down to the floor. She tutted softly.
'No you don't. You don't do as I say right now, then I pin you as the guilty one. See?'
She dropped the bag of money into Sierra's lap. The train suddenly jerked violently as it started up. The lady fell forwards into Sierra, and the bag rolled away. Gradually the train picked up speed. People still hammered on the carriage door, but with less urgency. Sierra made to call out. The lady's arm was too tight around her neck. All that escaped was a croak. But it made the lady aware of her attempts. She growled and slapped Sierra hard around the face. Stunned, Sierra stopped straining against her captor and closed her eyes. Mind spinning.
The lady loosened her hold. 'So easy to put down, you ladies are. All looks, no fight.' Her eyes glanced down, as they had in the carriage earlier. 'But then again, you do look better than most.' She lowered her hand from Sierra's neck, stroking down her chest. 'For all your husband's money you can't get clothing that fits you properly. Has your husband not paid proper attention to how... endowed you are?'
She grabbed Sierra's hair with her free hand and pulled her head back sharply. She let her other hand trace lightly over Sierra's breasts, which, from the struggle, were barely contained by the bodice anymore. She reached behind Sierra's back, pulling on the ties to loosen the bodice. Then slipped her hand back around Sierra's front, pushing the bodice aside to let her hand glide right over her bare breasts.
'This really is far too small for you.' She tugged the bodice roughly away, and kept massaging her breasts with one hand while the other still gripped her hair tightly to prevent any movement from her. Her fingers delicately circled around her nipples, teasing before lightly pinching them. Realising how hard her nipples had become, the lady made a small sound of satisfaction and rubbed them harder. Not daring to move, Sierra could feel a slight pulsating growing stronger between her legs. The lady released her hair, and Sierra at once twisted, her instinct still to escape. The lady held her firmly, tutting softly again, but pulling Sierra right round to face her. Eyes fixed on Sierra's, the lady leaned forward and slowly licked one of her erect nipples, sucking hard on it once before suddenly standing up.
At a loss of what to do, Sierra stayed where she was as the lady went back to the door and listened.
'Still people out there... Guess we'll have to amuse ourselves a little longer.'
