The Chainer - Into the Forest

The Chainer - Into the Forest

Copyright 2024 by Otto26

With thanks to neuroparenthetical for his editing work and Elayne for allowing me to turn our roleplay into a story. This is the first chapter in a long form story.

"I understand your concerns, Elise," Remy shouted, "but it's suicide!"

"It's not," Elise responded calmly. "It's just very dangerous."

"Suicide," Remy repeated, his finger stabbing the air. He turned his sweat-streaked face to the second man in the room. "Tell her, Knife!"

The rangy half-orc shrugged. "Highly unlikely to result in anything except our deaths."

"So, you're not with me?" Elise snapped, her control over her temper slipping slightly.

"Our deaths," Knife repeated without any trace of emotion. "If you're going, I'm going."

"I'm going," Elise stated. "Every minute we spend debating this is another minute the Princess is in peril." She stood and glared down at Remy, no trace of sympathy for his injuries perceptible on her perfect face. "We're leaving, Knife," she ordered, turning and walking out.

"You're going?" Remy asked, turning his attention to Knife.

Knife nodded.

"Then I suppose this is goodbye. I'll admit my surprise. You've never given me any cause to think it, but I've always suspected you'd cut and run when things got bad."

Knife shrugged. "I can understand why you might think that."

"That's a subtle insult, right?"

Knife barely smiled.

Remy mopped the sweat off his face with a rag. His fading agitation could no longer mask his pain. "I suppose I deserve that."

"Could you please do me a favor?" Knife asked.

Surprise overtook the pain. "What?"

"If we get into bad trouble, I'll send up a signal. The red smoke. Could you have some serious killers ready to pull us out?"

Remy nodded, approving of the idea, if not the man proposing it. "Yes. That could work. I can do that."

"Thank you," Knife said.

Remy examined the rogue and noted the sincerity in his statement. "You're welcome. Try to stay alive."

"We might be able to manage it. And, Remy? We might have an additional passenger if we're very lucky."

The ranger nodded his understanding.

***

"How long until you're ready to go, Knife?"

Knife shrugged. "I just need to put the saddlebags on my horse."

Elise smiled thinly. "Yeah, you travel light. I'm going to have to. I hate leaving my armor behind."

"Before we rush off, can we have a drink and make a plan?"

"There's not much to plan, Knife," Elise snapped, her hackles still raised from their falling out with Remy. "We ride to the ambush location and we try to track the attackers back to their lair. If we can sneak in, we sneak in, and if we can't, then we do a Goblin Camp."

"That's a terrible plan," he replied. "It was a terrible plan the first time we did it. Remember how Goblin Camp turned out?"

"Are you in or out?" She wasn't even trying to hide her irritation anymore.

"I'm in, but I've got a better plan -- a plan that will work; a plan that will rescue the Princess."

Elise glared at him, ready to shout -- ready to strike. She was afraid for the Princess, angry that she'd failed to protect her, angry that there was so little she could do, angry at Remy for having two shattered legs, and angry at Knife for delaying her. Still, Knife's verbal daggers were as deft as his steel ones. He'd slipped one past her anger and struck both her pain and her true desire.

It was a bad plan, and she knew it.

"Let's have it, then" she breathed, pushing as much poison as she could out of the perfectly placed mental wound.

"Who ambushed us?" Knife asked.

Elise glared at him, right on the edge of slipping back into her fear-anger state. "The Chainer," she bit out.

Knife nodded. "Right. And he's notorious because he and his men have been raiding out of his hidden fortress for decades. There have been some very serious attempts to put down his activities, and none of them have succeeded, including the assassination attempts."

"Which is just a criticism of my plan," Elise pointed out, "not a better one." Her patience was already worn thin.

"If we run in and try to locate The Chainer's hidden fortress, we're going to end up dead or, worse, slaves, and the Princess doesn't get rescued. I suppose it's an honorable death for you, so it doesn't matter if she gets saved or not."

Elise's face cooled in an instant, hardening it completely. "Not having this argument again," she stated without any trace of emotion.

"Rescuing the Princess is the mission."

Knife nodded. "I can get The Chainer's men to walk us into his fortress and present us to him."

Elise's brittle mask slipped -- first to disdain and disbelief, then to consideration, and then to suspicion. "How?"

"I pretend to be an emissary of King Ignace, sent to negotiate for her release."

Elise chewed it on for a moment."You pretend. How do I get in? And don't think you're leaving me behind, because you're not. I'm going."

"You're kind of essential," Knife agreed. "Even if we had a ransom worthy of a Princess to offer, there's next to no chance The Chainer would accept it. He's also not going to be bullied into giving her up. We're still going to have to steal her away."

"And how do I fit into that?"

"I'm going to offer you up to The Chainer as a gift. You'll be a slave in his personal harem. That will give you access to the Princess."

Elise restrained herself from lashing out at Knife, both physically and verbally. "So you truss me up and deliver me to the most notorious slaver of the past twenty years, and I end up locked up with The Princess?"

Knife nodded. "And then you escape with her."

"How will I do that?"

"There are at least three ways out of The Chainer's inner sanctum. Several others from the outer sanctum. It's going to be a little improvisational, but it can be done."

"How would you know that about his fortress?" Elise asked, her mind holding onto that thread.

"I grew up there," Knife replied.

Elise regarded him carefully for a long moment. "You were a slaver?"

Knife shook his head. "No. I grew up there."

Elise nodded her head. "Yes, let's have a drink and talk about this plan." She walked very deliberately to the table against the wall of her room and poured two drinks before sitting down.

Knife carefully sat down opposite her and took a sip of the drink she'd placed there. "You always have the best wine," he observed. "Is that because of your family's wealth, or did you cultivate that characteristic on your own?"

"Grew up in The Chainer's fortress," Elise prompted.

Knife nodded. "Yes. Well, most half-orcs are brought into this world through less than loving circumstances. I was no exception. My mother, however, loved me. I didn't get tossed out on the trash heap -- well, not alone. My mother's people didn't understand her affection for me and ostracized her for it. Tried to kill her on at least one occasion. So we left and lived on the fringes... until The Chainer's men swept us up in a raid. She was Elvish. Very beautiful. The Chainer took her into his personal harem. I was the stick that kept her under his control."

Elise frowned slightly as Knife's voice slowly progressed from matter-of-fact to emotionless. She imagined the anger he must have felt and wondered if her speculation could do it justice.

"And?" she prompted.

"And it worked. She did whatever he wanted in order to keep me alive. Until she died. Then The Chainer kept me around for his entertainment --to corrupt me and desecrate the legacy of my mother. Then I escaped."

"So you could take us straight to the fortress."

Knife shook his head. "Sorry, Elise. If I could I would. I swear it. But I can't. I was three weeks escaping and I didn't have a direction. I couldn't navigate by the stars. I hid most of the time. I was fevered with dysentery and half mad by the time I found a settlement and crawled into a cart."

"So we pretend to be emissaries?"

He shook his head again. "I pretend to be an emissary. You're going to be a slave."

"He won't believe I'm some slave," she reluctantly pointed out.

"He will," Knife assured her, "because we're going to lie to him."

"What lie could you possibly tell that he would believe?" she demanded.

"A big, complicated one built on one fundamental truth," he replied. "Evil people don't believe in good. For them, there's only strength, and you're either strong or you're weak. Cruelty and duplicity are tools of the strong, so they'll believe that King Ignace is truly a huge bastard."

"Ignace is the ancient ideal of what an enlightened monarch should be," Elise protested.

Knife chuckled. "I know. You know. The Chainer can't believe that. He knows you gain power by being a ruthless killer. Ignace is powerful. That's truly all there is to it."

Elise considered this at length. "It can't be that simple."

"It is and it isn't," Knife agreed. "Our story is that Ignace has threatened to do terrible things to me if I don't arrange for his daughter to be ransomed from The Chainer, and he's sent you as his goodwill gift as punishment for failing to protect the Princess, which will also pull your family down a few political rungs."

Elise felt a moment of nearly existential shock as the audacity of Knife's plan swept through her. "He'll believe that I'm a slave because I'll be me."

Knife took another sip of his drink and nodded.

"Any of his men that encounter us will take us straight to him," she continued, "even if they don't believe the lie. They won't want to take the chance of it being true and messing things up."

Knife nodded again.

"And once we're inside..." she trailed off as her mind ran through scenarios.

"That's where we have to start playing it by ear," Knife admitted, "but I can brief you on the layout and the major players. We just have to agree that getting you and the Princess out is the top priority -- the only one, really."

Elise nodded. "Okay. But how do we get out of town? You can't tie me up and drag me out the gate."

"No," Knife agreed, "I can't, but I wouldn't, anyway. We'll ride to the ambush site and then I'll attack you and make you my prisoner."

Elise looked at him carefully, certain that she'd misheard him.

"I'll take you by surprise," he explained.

Elise stared at him.

"Any observers will believe it," he insisted.

Elise considered that and concluded misogyny would work in her favor. "I didn't know I was the gift because the King never told me?"

"Yep," Knife confirmed.

"Okay. Then what?"

"A man riding through the forest with a naked woman on a leash walking behind him is going to attract some attention."

"Naked?"

Knife nodded.

"Go on," Elise ordered.

"We'll be intercepted. Probably not attacked. I sell the story, and off we go."

"That simple?"

"Play it by ear," he admitted again. "When we get to the fortress, we'll be presented to his seneschal. He has a tame wizard named Hogan -- a goblin. Hogan will accept you as a gift. I'll ask for an immediate meeting and Hogan will play power games and tell me to wait. That's when we get separated."

"How do we communicate?" Elise asked.

"We don't. I'll have gotten you in the door, but you'll have to locate the Princess and figure out a way to escape. Sooner is better, but, if I'm being honest, you will probably be too closely watched to escape soon. It will be after the first night. We'd better be gone by the third night or we won't be leaving. The Chainer will reach out to confirm our story, or Hogan or Lysetta will have pulled the truth out of our minds."

"Lysetta?"

"Short explanation: the drow head of his harem. Long explanation: The Chainer's fortress is built in and on an old temple. I don't know who Lysetta worships, but she's the last priestess of that power. She feeds on the souls of the slaves and the slavers alike, offering them up to whatever power she serves. She wants The Chainer's soul, but hadn't gotten it by the time I'd left. She wields a lot of soft power. Hogan is flashy and direct; Lysetta is patient and subtle."

"Is there a process for a new slave?" Elise probed.

"Yes. You're likely to be taken to the temple. It's the harem, but it's the old temple. There's a fountain for bathing and space to sleep and exercise. They'll clean you up and teach you how to kneel and bow. There will be power games as they teach you your 'place.' It's going to be humiliating, but you cannot beat anyone up."

"Will not," Elise corrected him.

"It's important that you do not assert physical dominance over any of them," Knife amended. "I'd say it's like prison -- though worse for you, since you're not looking to stick around and establish yourself in the pecking order -- but you don't have any experience with that."

"Boarding school social dynamics," Elise said.

"Maybe," Knife allowed. "You'll be collared, and you'll be presented to The Chainer -- probably at the next 'court,' which means the next evening meal. You'll be humiliated in front of the crowd. You might be raped then. If not then, then certainly after you are taken back to The Chainer's quarters."

"Go on," Elise ordered.

"You understand..." he began.

"I understand," she snapped. "I'm not a child, and I'm not some whiny maid who quakes in fear at the thought of being wounded in battle."

Knife inclined his head slightly, acknowledging, and honoring, her resolve. "After that is when you'll have the best chance to find the Princess and escape. Unless you're personally serving The Chainer, you'll spend most of your time in the temple. It's easy to say you're running an errand for someone and slip away."

"Where are the escape routes?" Elise asked, not at all looking forward to being 'wounded' and planning to escape before that particular 'battle' if she could.

"The temple, the kitchen, and The Chainer's bedroom -- at least when I was last there. There's a bas-relief covering the walls of the temple. Look for the dancer with two different-sized nipples."

Elise's eyes narrowed slightly.

"It's the kind of thing a young man notices," Knife stated with calculated nonchalance. "Put your hand on hers, kiss her on the lips, and press her smaller nipple. You'll be able to push her back into the wall and reveal a passageway."

"The sort of thing a young man experiments with?" Elise needled.

"In the kitchens there is a fireplace where they keep a big pot of water boiling," Knife continued without acknowledging her comment. "The chimney above it is barred, but if you twist the two left bars, you can lever them out of their settings and squeeze through." He regarded Elise's body for a long moment, comparing it to the skinny boy-child that had escaped the fortress years before. "It will be a tight fit for you."

"The Chainer has an escape tunnel behind his personal throne in his quarters. If you push the left arm forward and lift it up, it will unlock the door hidden behind the throne. There are probably traps in there. I never had a chance to fully explore it, but they'll be the sort of traps a fleeing bandit king can avoid or arm after he passes them."

"You left via the kitchen?"

"I did, so they might have discovered it. I was afraid to try the temple because it was too closely watched by Lysetta. I can't imagine she doesn't know about it. The Chainer's personal escape route..."

Elise nodded her understanding. "Daunting," she allowed, "but it's a better plan. Thank you, Knife."

"You're welcome."

"I'm glad to see The Chainer didn't manage to corrupt you."

Knife downed the rest of his drink and then forced himself to meet her eyes. "You're wrong about that, Elise. He didn't completely succeed. He never forced me to give in to the rage. I control myself, and I do what I think is correct. I'm a killer, but not a mindless killer." He paused. "And I'd dearly love to be a rapist. I've wanted to strip you naked and put a collar on you from the moment I laid eyes on you."

"Why would you say that?" she asked. "Why now?"

Knife nodded. "Because now you need to know. You need to keep an eye on me, Elise, because I'm not sure you should entirely trust me."

"What happens when they recognize you?" Elise asked to break the uncomfortable silence that followed.

Knife shrugged. "At a guess, The Chainer will want to torment me. He'll take me prisoner, throw me into some room in the harem. It may make me available to help you."

"Will he kill you outright?"

"I doubt that very much."

"But it's possible?" she pressed.

He shrugged. "It's possible, but unlikely, and if he tries, I'll go down hard. Much more likely he'll come up with sadistic ways to play with me. It'll be easier for you to get the Princess out while he and his followers are distracted. Remember, that's the whole reason we're doing this. If you find the princess and you can get to an escape route, then you do it and don't wait for me. I'll be along later. Remy will have men looking for red smoke. Get to a defensible location and make some smoke, and they'll come running."

"Remy's on board with this?"

Knife smiled. "Remy's on board with rescuing you when you get into trouble."

"Okay. We ride out of town looking like we're emissaries on a secret mission in case any spies are watching us. At the ambush site, I pretend to let you win a fight and subdue me. You strip me and bind me..."

"Bind and strip," he corrected her. "You're too dangerous to be left unbound for any length of time."

"You bind and strip me," she ground out, his obvious respect for her abilities conflicting heavily with the described course of action, "and lead me through the forest like a prize pig. We are intercepted and you tell our story. We are taken to The Chainer's fortress. I'm offered up as a diplomatic gift, you're recognized and taken prisoner, of sorts, and then we find the princess and escape. Did I miss anything?"

"The Princess may be in rough shape," Knife said "physically and mentally -- and I don't just mean rape trauma. The Chainer keeps Hogan around for a reason. The little sadist specializes in, well, mind rape. A few hours with him and slaves come out changed: cowering in fear, consumed by lust, incapable of rational thought. It varies. You might have to subdue her."

Elise frowned. "The bastard. Any other magic I should be aware of?"

"The Chainer is mostly just a big brute -- a really big brute -- but he has his rod of might. It's straightforward dominance magic. It compels, and you obey, but you still have control of your mind. It's not particularly powerful, and you can break through the control after a while. Lysetta... I can't quantify what she does. She uses her voice and body posture to deceive and convince you. I've never seen anyone she couldn't seduce. While I don't think she can actually read minds, she's amazing at reading body language and voices. Think of her as an extremely dangerous big cat that's playing with her food before killing it."

"Nothing else?" she pressed.

Knife shook his head. "The Chainer doesn't trust his subordinates with magic, and the fortress has wards that would reveal it. A few of them can do things like you can, but they're very careful not to draw any attention to that fact, lest they end up hanging from the courtyard wall by their balls or breasts."

"What a lovely image," she commented.

"It's a pocket of hell," Knife stated. "Don't think for an instant that it isn't. The only thing this plan has going for it is that it's slightly more likely to succeed. It's far more likely to fail."

"I have to try," Elise stated.

Knife nodded.

"Why are you coming?" she prodded.

"I get to strip you naked and put you in a collar."

"That's not funny," she snapped.

"Not even a little," he agreed.

***

Leaving the town was simple. It was one of the ramshackle frontier settlements in the unclaimed territories that lay between proper nations. People didn't live there because they were civic-minded. A few coins dropped on the ground as a bribe for the guards opened the gates and ensured no questions were asked.