But, as Rhea and a very few others now living could attest, his mind was steel hidden beneath the perfume and silk.But, as Rhea and a very few others now living could attest, his mind was steel hidden beneath the perfume and silk. Right now, as she knelt before him, Rhea wondered what the mind was plotting. Karab was cruel for the sake of cruelty. She usually managed to endure his attentions during the New Year celebration, and her master's birthday celebration. The ruler of Pergamum visited only seldom, finding the delights of Dark Hold shabby compared to those of his home city. "You evaded me last night, slave," Karab said. Rhea found his high pitched nasal voice annoying but managed to keep from flinching. She did not object to men whose voices fell naturally in the higher range, Snow Wolf's had been almost as high as hers, which was low for a woman's, but she found the affectation grating. "I'm afraid that means I will have to punish you tonight, my dear. Don't worry, I have your master's full permission to do as I see fit. Lie down by the three rings in the floor." The guest room in the guard tower was not as opulent as the suites, and had far more restraint devices, since it was sometimes used as a spare cell when the dungeon was full. The rings were spaced about four feet apart and set into the stone floor. Rhea hastened to obey, hoping he would be merciful. Karab, after some rummaging in the wardrobe, and in a chest he had brought, proceeded to chain her wrists to the ring above her head. He threaded a choke-leash about her throat, above the collar and drew it tight. Rhea coughed and tried to catch her breath. He gagged her with a wadded strip of cloth held in by a second. He took a pole, set with a manacle at each end, and, threading it through the lowest ring, pulled her down to lock her ankles in the irons. Rhea blessed her father for giving her an almost six foot height. Wrapping another chain around her body, he threaded it through the ring near her back, holding her almost immobile. Placing the keys tantalizingly out her reach, he reached back into the trunk and removed a glass jar, holding a large toad. Rhea's eyes grew large as he moved between her wide-spread legs. "You don't like my pet?" Karab asked in mock-hurt tones. His comically sad face twisted into a sadistic leer. "Perhaps the two of you should get acquainted, while I'm at the dinner. |