The Ingdom

Chapter 5 -- Pop Quiz

I woke up to the sound of knocking on my bedroom door. Still hallway asleep, I ignored it and buried my face into the covers. More knocks on the door followed.

"Miss McConnell?" A voice asked.

Disoriented, I groaned, and turned my head toward the voice. I squinted from the sunlight that was pouring through the windows. I was still lying on top of the comforter, exactly where I'd landed the night prior. Standing in the doorway was a woman in a sexy black and white maid outfit. She wore a burgundy choker around her neck.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, Miss McConnell," she said apologetically. "But you weren't answering the phone or your suite door. I was asked to make sure everything was alright."

"I'm fine," I mumbled, rolling over onto my back. As I rolled, I suddenly realized how sore I was. Every muscle in my body seemed to ache. "What time is it?" I asked.

"8:20," the woman replied. "...in the morning," she added, sensing my continued state of disorientation. "We didn't here from you yesterday, so we just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Huh?" I asked. I sat upright, rubbing my eyes. "I was being chased naked through the woods all day yesterday."

"Umm, my apologies, ma'am. But the hunt was the day before last," the woman replied.

I stopped rubbing my eyes and looked up at the woman. "How long was I asleep?" I asked.

"Well, our logs indicate that nobody has entered or exited the suite in the last 32 hours."

Shit

, I thought. I must have really been exhausted.

"Well, like I said," the woman continued, "I just came by to make sure everything was okay. Is there anything you need before I leave?"

"Uh-yeah," I answered, standing gingerly to my feet. I winced as I put pressure on the bruised soles of my feet. "Where's all my stuff? I asked. "Clothes and bag that I came in with."

"Oh," the woman replied, stepping into the room and toward the closet. "Everything's been cleaned and sorted." She pulled open the door to the walk-in closet reveal my backpack and outfit hanging on hooks against the far wall.

"I imagine you'll be needing some more clothes," she said, stepping toward the dresser and picking up the pamphlet I'd tossed there earlier. "This is a map of all the boutiques and shops we have on the grounds. I'm afraid most are costume and lingerie shops, but these stores listed at the bottom offer more

everyday casual

clothing.

I walked over and took the pamphlet from her. Looking at the map for the first time, I noticed that its layout looked remarkably similar to ours at the Renn Faire except for the color scheme and building names. But the most glaring difference was the absence of the words '

Notts' Renaissance Faire

'. Instead, the top of the pamphlet simply read '

The Kingdom

'.

"Can I help you with anything else?" the woman asked.

"No," I replied, still staring distractedly at the pamphlet.

"Okay then," the woman answered, smiling. "Sorry for the intrusion. Enjoy your stay, Miss McConnell!"

"Thanks," I mumbled. Moments later, I heard the front door click shut, leaving me alone in my castle suite. With my nose still buried in the pamphlet, I walked toward the bathroom. I had to piss like a race-horse. But I also craved a long hot shower. I felt gross.

Tossing the pamphlet on the counter, stripped out of my jumpsuit, and stepped eagerly into the giant walk-in shower. As hot water began pouring over me, I felt like I could have cried. This was just what I needed. I spent the next half hour drinking copious amounts of water, urinating freely, and rinsing the dirt and sweat off of every inch of my body. I shuddered to imagine what I'd be doing right now had I not escaped slavery.

Speaking of slavery- I was suddenly snapped out of my day-dream by the thought of Brandy. Wait- what ever happened to Brandy? I turned off the water, staring at the tiled wall, deep in thought. If I'd really been asleep for the last 32 hours, who

knows

what's happened to her during that time. I stepped out of the shower and used a towel to dry off. Grabbing the pamphlet, I began to flip through, looking for any kind of instruction about "fetching slaves". At the bottom of the back page small text read-

Have questions or concerns? Need assistance?

Please dial 0 or use our app to reach the operator.

Still naked, I walked into the foyer, picked up the phone on the accent table, and dialed 0.

Moments later, a woman answered the phone. "Thank you for calling the Kingdom assistance hotline, how may I help you?"

"Hi. I'm uh- I'm calling about my slave," I replied awkwardly. "I, uh... overslept and I don't know how exactly I'm supposed to get her."

"Absolutely, I can help you with that," the woman chirped pleasantly, "Your slave should be waiting at the kennel. Would you like for me to transfer you?"

Kennel

? "Sure," I replied.

"Alright, then. Please stay on the line," the woman chirped pleasantly. "Thank you and have a wonderful day."

With that, classical waiting music began to play through the phone's speaker. I looked down at the map on my pamphlet. After a few moments, I spotted the word

Kennel

above the new indoor horse stables by the stadium.

Moments later, a man's voice interrupted the waiting music. "This is the kennel. Mark speaking."

"Uh, yeah-" I answered. "I'm calling about my slave... I didn't get out yesterday-"

"Is this Miss McConnell, by chance?" The man asked.

"Yyyes," I replied, hesitantly.

"Ah," he said. "We were wondering when we'd hear from you. Your slave's here with us."

"Oh. So... how do I get her? Do I pick her up at the... kennel?" I asked.

"You bet," the man replied. "We're open til 9 o'clock tonight, so you can swing by anytime before that."

"Uh, okay," I answered. "Thanks."

"My pleasure," he replied. "Have a nice day."

And then, the call was ended. I sighed, dreading the reality that I had to leave the suite. I wanted nothing more than to veg out, order room-service and watch Netflix for a solid week. But from the little I knew about Brandy, I imagined she was more than ready to leave the

kennel

. I know I would be. I walked back into the closet where my belongings were. I quickly got dressed and tied my damp hair into a ponytail. Grabbing my phone and room key-card, I headed out the door. What I saw on the other side shouldn't have surprised me, but low and behold-

The square was packed with people. Loud, seemingly drunk men led around naked and scantily clad women by the leash. Some of the women wore arbminders and cuffs, while others were tied elaborately with rope in shibari-style. Many sported gags and hoods. Live musicians performed from the center platform, accompanied by naked pole dancers wearing chastity belts.

For fuck's sake

, I thought, stopping in my tracks. I missed the days when I thought that Handmaid's Tale was as fucked up as it could get. I stood there for a moment, wondering if I should even risk enjoining the mob before me. Taking a deep breath, I mustered the courage to descend the stone staircase into the crowd. To my pleasant surprise, none of the men even seemed to notice me. They were too entertained by their own women and their booze. The women, on the other hand,

all

seemed to take notice of me. As I waded through the crowd, I kept catching glares from captured women, staring at me jealously from behind their gags and restraints. I tried my best to avoid eye-contact as I passed by. Poor bitches. I guess I'd be pretty jealous of me too.

I continued down Centre Street toward the

kennel

. The smell of turkey drumsticks and fried onion blossoms filled the air, reminding me how hungry I was. For a split second, life felt normal. If I closed my eyes, it would have almost felt like just another busy day at the Renn Faire. But, alas, I found myself unable to look away as bound, naked women were exhibited all around me. Most of them were mobile, but some were being used as window models and salespeople in front of the shops. To my left, two women knelt on podiums positioned on either side of the pub door, dressed in skin-tight black latex body-suits. Each looked to be bound with nearly a dozen black leather straps. Whenever someone would enter or leave the pub, the women would say '

Welcome sir

' or '

Have a nice day, sir

'.

I felt sick to my stomach by the thought of what this place had become. My uncle was surely rolling in his grave right now. I so wished there was a way to shut this all down. But short of arson, I didn't have the first clue how I could go about making that happen.

I continued to weave my through the crowded street, until I arrived at the building I knew to be the stadium horse stable. Surely enough, it now had a large sign hanging above the double-doors that read,

KENNEL

. It suddenly hit me why Mason had designed the space the way he did. When I originally saw the blueprints, I couldn't imagine why he was making the stalls so wide or why each one had its own electricity and plumbing. I honestly figured he just didn't have a clue about what a typical horse stable was supposed to look like. But now, it all made sense. His primary goal was not to create a building for stabling horses. It was for stabling

humans

.

When I entered the building, two guards looked up at me from behind the reception desk.

"Hi," I said hesitantly, "I'm here to pick up my slave?"

"Miss McConnell?" The guard asked.

"Yep," I replied.

"Then, you're in the right place," he said, reaching into a file cabinet and pulling out a folder. "You ready?"

I stared back at him, confused. "Sure," I replied.

"Alright then, here you go," he said, handing me the folder. "You can have a seat over there and bring it back when you've finished."

My eyes followed his gaze to a line of chairs against the wall. "...Okay," I said, taking the folder from him. So, apparently I had to fill out forms...

I walked over to the nearest chair and sat down. Inside the folder was a pencil and a dozen papers clipped together. At a glance, the form looked like a multiple choice questionnaire. At the top, in bold letters, was text that read

SLAVE OWNER PROFICIENCY EXAM

.

The first question read:

What is a normal average heartbeat for a slave in her resting state?

a.

80-100 bpm

b.

100-120 bpm

c.

120-140 bpm

d.

140-160 bpm

Confused, I scanned through the questions, flipping from page to page. "Uh..." I said, looking up to the guards. Both were busy typing on their computers. "I'm sorry-" I continued, "-what is this?"

The guards both looked over at me. "Sorry?" one of them asked.

"I, uh... I don't... I'm not sure what this

is

," I explained uncomfortably. The two men just stared at me. "I just came by to pick up Brandy."

"Well, ma'am..." the guard replied, glancing over to his partner. "Each Master or Mistress is required to pass their proficiency exam before a slave can be released into their custody," the guard explained. "Since you didn't register as a hunter, you have to take the exam on the grounds."

"I didn't know that," I said bluntly. "I..." I turned back to the top page, shaking my head. "I honestly don't know

any

of this stuff."

"Didn't you read the material in your welcome package?" The guard asked.

"Welcome package?" I asked.

"It looked like a wrapped gift box," the guard explained. "It should have been in the entry hall of your suite.

Ugh. The

gift box

. I'd completely forgotten about that!

"Oh- I... didn't open that," I answered. "I saw it when I arrived, but I honestly forgot all about it until right now."

The guards continued to stare at me, clearly unsure of what to say.

"So, what do I do?" I asked. "Should I go back and open the box?"

"Actually," the guard replied, glancing nervously at his partner. "-since you've already seen the exam, I'm afraid you have to complete it as best you can. If you don't pass, you'll be eligible to retake it tomorrow."

I stared at the guard in disbelief. "Are you serious?" I asked.

"I'm afraid so, ma'am. The exam can only be attempted once every 24 hours," the guard answered, apologetically.

"So, I have to just guess for every question?" I asked, perturbed.

"Unless you'd like to just hand it in as it is and come back tomorrow," the guard replied.

I sighed in frustration. Not only was I begrudgingly taking in a full-time slave, but I also had to study up for it? This was starting to seem like way more trouble than it was worth.

"What if I just don't do it?" I asked. "What will happen to Brandy?"

The other guard answered, "If you don't pass the exam by the third day following the hunt, which is tomorrow, then your slave will be placed in the custody of the park and be put up for auction."

I rolled my eyes. "So, I've only got two shots at this and then that's it?"

"I'm afraid so," the guard replied. "If it's any consolation, 90 percent of hunters pass on their first try. After you've had a chance to study, I'm sure you'll ace it tomorrow. Especially now that you've got all the questions in front of you. You'll know exactly what to expect for the second attempt."

I looked back down to the exam. As irksome as all of this was, I couldn't help but feel a little relieved at the prospect of having the suite to myself for one more night. I'm sure Brandy will be pissed to learn that she's stuck in the kennel for another night, but this was shaping up to be a huge relief.

I began reading through the ridiculous questions. Many of them were surprisingly informative and addressed how to recognize distress signals from your slave. And judging by the questions, the slave's collar appeared to actually be a highly sophisticated piece of medical equipment. Certain sounds and light sequences apparently warned the owner when the slave's vital signs reached potentially dangerous levels. They could detect oxygen intake levels, heart-rate, sugar level, and even the wearer's state of consciousness. I took mental note of each question and guessed on the multiple choice for each and every one of them. The whole test took me about 15 minutes. Once I was done, I brought the folder back up to the guards at the front desk.

"Welp, I'm pretty sure I got everything wrong, but here it is," I said.

"Alright," the guard replied. "Let's run this through the scan-tron and see what we've got."

He removed the papers from the folder and fed them through a machine sitting next to his computer monitor. After a few clicks on his mouse, he looked back at me with a frown.

"I'm sorry. I'm afraid you didn't pass," he said. "But 65% isn't bad for someone who didn't study. I'm sure tomorrow will be better."

"Sure," I said, disinterested in being patronized further. "Look, in the meantime, is it possible to see Brandy? I'd like to explain to her what's going on. I'm sure she's freaking out."

The guards looked at each other and chuckled. "That's an understatement," one of them replied.

"Of course you can see her," the other one said, standing to his feet. "She's actually the last of the captured slaves to be picked up so we moved her to the closest cell. This way, please."

The guard walked over to the door located behind the desk and waved a key-card over a card reader. A green light blinked and I heard the door unlock. He opened the door and gestured for me to enter. I stepped in to the wide hallway that once reeked of manure and hay. To my surprise, it now smelled like a hospital that had recently been scrubbed with Clorox. The guard walked past me and waived his keycard over a card reader next to the first doorway on the left. Wide glass doors suddenly slid open, filling the silent hallway with what sounded like the loud roar of a generator or vacuum cleaner accompanied by muffled screams of whom I could only guess were Brandy's.

I stepped forward into a room that looked somewhat like an insane asylum patient's room. On both sides of the room was a bed with medical straps secured to the corners. I imagined they were for keeping the women bound spread-eagle as they slept.

Sitting on the floor with her back against the wall was Brandy. She was completely nude, collared, bit-gagged, and restrained in her seated position. Her wrists still had the black cuffs she wore earlier and they were padlocked to brackets on the wall over her head. Her cuffed ankles were also padlocked to brackets on the floor. This kept her limbs spread far and wide apart. Over each of her nipples was a metal nipple tassel of sorts, minus the tassel. They almost looked like domed metal coins. Beneath her sex was what looked like a black seat cushion. But after looking closer, I could see that it was actually a vibrating saddle of sorts with a dong that extended up from its base, impaling Brandy's vagina. Based on the loudness of the contraption, it sounded to be vibrating at a high intensity. Brandy's face was beet red and she looked downright livid. She was panting heavily and her naked body glistened with a layer of sweat.

Squatting at eye level in black latex and heels, holding an iPad, was none other than Annabelle, the black-haired vampire lady that had tranquilized me back at the inn.

"You," I said, feeling my heart drop.

"Well, hello again!" Annabelle said cheerfully, turning to face me. "We were wondering when you'd show up."

She raised her iPad and slid her finger across the screen. Instantly, the loud roar of the vibrating saddle faded to a barely-audible hum. She then laid the iPad on the floor in front of Brandy and stood up. Brandy pointlessly stretched out her toes toward the ipad, seemingly in an attempt to tap an 'off' button on the screen, but she came about 2 inches short and groaned in dramatic defeat.

"Jodie, it's wonderful to see you again," she said, walking over to me, her heels clicking the floor with each step. "Congratulations on your escape." I remained silent and continued glaring at her.

"Come now, let's not be like that," She said, patronizingly. "First impressions are always rough around here, but I think it's safe to say that everything's turned out pretty well for you. Here you are, our very first champion

ever

! 1 million dollars richer, and the proud owner of your very own sexy slave."

As much as I hated to admit it, she was right. With exception to my failed exam, virtually everything I'd done so far had worked out in my favor. And after all was said and done, I'd probably be able to retire if I wanted to.

"Speaking of which," Annabelle continued, "-you sure roped yourself a

spitfire

! I don't think I've ever had the pleasure of babysitting anyone quite so headstrong." Brandy grunted unintelligibly behind her, prompting a smirk from Annabelle. "It's a shame we don't have more time. We nearly had a breakthrough just before you arrived."

"Actually," the guard beside me interrupted, "-Miss McConnell didn't pass her exam, so this one will be staying with us for another night."

Brandy's eyes suddenly shot wide open and her gagged face contorted in what looked like a mixture of shock and fear. She let out a muffled shriek that sounded like, "

WHAT?

" The black-haired lady's face suddenly lit up and her mouth opened up wide in excitement.

"What a wonderful surprise!" she exclaimed. She turned back toward Brandy, leaning over and placing her hands on her knees. "That means you get to spend another whole day with Mistress Annabelle! How exciting!"

Brandy closed her eyes and screamed at the top of her lungs, ferociously tugging at her bonds with all her might and writhing atop her saddle.

Annabelle cackled joyfully, straightening up and turning back to face us. "One more day and she'll be meek as a kitten. You have my word."