The Caverns of Kronos

Kronosia - Part 3

     Even in ordinary times, the soldiers combed the city at frequent intervals, just to remind the population who was in charge, and while the Tharians were on the loose they were stepping up their activity considerably, so they only had to wait another couple of days for the opportunity to come. The rest of the Tharians squeezed into Clumper’s hole, their hearts in their mouths trembling with anxiety, while Lirenna stood by the door into the corridor-street wearing a dress she and Diana had tailored to be sexy and revealing. They all hated it, Thomas most of all, although he found himself fantasising dreamily of the time when she might wear it for him alone. It was a dress designed to announce loud and clear the intentions of the woman wearing it, to accentuate her natural beauty and have any man seeing it clamouring to tear it off. Lirenna would normally rather have been naked than wear a dress like that, but it was a necessary part of the enchantment. It was a piece of spellcasting equipment like a spellbook or a magic wand, and so long as she kept that thought in her mind the demi shae was just barely willing to wear it.

     She trembled with fear as she waited for her chance and tried to calm herself by performing the mental disciplines she'd learned in the University, focusing her concentration on what had to be done. Gradually the rest of the world faded from her awareness. She forgot about the awful dress she was wearing. She had no thought for the sequence of events that had brought her here or for what would happen afterwards. She and the guards were all that existed, and the words of the enchantment burned in her head, eager to be spoken. Unconsciously, her body assumed a sexually provocative pose; her small breasts thrust out, nipples visible through the thin fabric of her dress. Her pupils dilated and her breathing became deeper and more rapid, as if she'd just run a race. Anyone who saw her would have thought she was gasping for sex. She was ready.

     There were two teams of soldiers, one on each side of the street moving from one apartment to the next, plus a few more soldiers who stayed in the corridor all the time to catch fugitives trying to escape. They would spot her the moment she stepped out into the street, but hopefully they’d leave her alone when they saw her entering an apartment that soldiers had entered just before her. It was a hell of a gamble, but then they’d always known it would be. She whispered a prayer to the Gods and waited.

     The soldiers got steadily closer, and she closed the door to the tiniest crack, suddenly afraid they’d see her hiding there. At last a group of soldiers entered the apartment next to theirs and she prepared herself to act. She used the Ring of ESP to read the soldier’s mind, and so knew the moment the other soldiers left to search the rest of the apartment, whereupon she slipped quietly out the door into the street. Sure enough, the soldiers in the street saw her straight away, and one of them started to move towards her, but he stopped when he saw her entering the apartment that a group of soldiers had entered a moment before. If she’s one of the fugitives, they’ll deal with her, he thought, and so he remained where he was, turning his attention to a group of children watching with interest some distance away.

     Lirenna gasped with relief as she slipped into the apartment being searched, but then froze with horror when she saw two uniformed figures standing in the front room. They both turned, one to look at her, his eyes widening in surprise, the other turning away, and she realised with relief that it was only his reflection in a wall mirror. Her relief was so great that she almost burst into hysterical laughter, but then a hand closed around her upper arm like a band of iron and she was roughly pulled forwards.

     “Well, well, well,” said the soldier with an evil grin. “What have we here?”

     Lirenna searched for the words of the spell, knowing that the other soldiers could be back at any time, but now that she was there a wave of fear swept over her and the spell was gone as if it had never been, leaving her as helpless as a child. She was so small and frail, he was so big and strong. Her most primitive instincts rose up inside her, making her want to scream in terror, struggle and run. It took all her University training to remain in control of herself, to maintain her seductive allure. She searched her head for the magic words, and in the meantime she had to keep up the pretence.