The Captive Flesh (24 page)

Dusk was falling as the women started back. Marietta pulled the long gloves on and settled the veil around her face as the carts trundled towards the town. The carts swayed and bumped as they rumbled over the uneven cobbles. Marietta hung on grimly as they passed narrow dark alleys and shuttered houses. There were few people about, mostly just tradesmen shutting up shops and children carrying home water or firewood. Suddenly, with a sharp crack, a wheel of the cart gave out. With screams and yells the women were tipped out on to the street as the cart lurched to one side.

‘Hold!' shouted a guard, dismounting quickly and running to calm the carthorse.

Marietta picked herself up. She had rolled part of the way into a darkened doorway. Women seemed to be thronging the street. Another cart, bringing up the rear, slewed to a halt, narrowly avoiding crashing into the broken one. The guards wheeled around trying to quieten mounts which were panicked by the noise. For a moment all was confusion.

There was a narrow alley next to where she crouched. At the end of it was daylight. Freedom beckoned. Marietta was filled with a crazy impulse. She ducked out of the doorway and, without a second thought, bolted for the alley.

No one pursued her. There came no shout of discovery. She ran on, threading through the quiet streets, ducking in and out of alleys until she stopped at last to catch her breath. Leaning against a wall she looked around. This street looked just like the one where the cart had crashed. She had no idea where she was, or
where she was going. Suddenly she realised how foolish she had been. She had no money and she wore only the impractical harem clothes. It had been madness to think of escape.

The dark street was unfriendly. The shuttered houses seemed to mock her. Were those shapes in the shadows robbers?

Perhaps if she hurried back she could rejoin the others. The cart would take some time to repair and in all the confusion there was a chance that she had not yet been missed. She began to retrace her steps but soon she realised that she was completely lost. As she hurried along, feeling more panicky by the moment, rain began to fall. Drops spattered her face and silvered the thick black veils that covered her.

Emerging from a warren of streets into a courtyard she stopped suddenly, then backed into a side alley. There was a carriage parked in front of a large house which had a screened balcony overhanging the street. She recognised the insignia emblazoned on the door. Surely it was Kasim's carriage! And, as if she needed further proof, there was Gabriel at the carriage window.

There was no sign of Kasim or of a coachman. She started forward and wrenched the carriage door open with trembling hands. In her haste she practically fell inside.

‘What the …' Gabriel sputtered.

She dragged the wet veil from her face. ‘You must help me. Please, Gabriel. I've been so foolish. The … the cart that was bringing us back to the harem. The wheel came off. I ran away. But I got lost. I must get back before I'm missed …'

‘Marietta! You cannot imagine how I've longed to see you again. But this is terrible! If Kasim discovers
that you tried to escape … I'll help you of course. But how?'

He put his hand up to the thick gold collar at his neck. Though his hands were free, a gold chain led from the collar to a ring set high up in the side of the carriage. He could move freely inside the carriage, but he was a prisoner.

Marietta could have wept with frustration. She looked around. The interior of the carriage was spacious. It smelt of polished leather. The walls and seats were of black leather, deeply padded and buttoned. The windows were small, glazed with stained glass. They let in only filtered light.

‘There!' She pointed to a pile of folded rugs that had been pushed under the seat opposite. ‘If I crawl under the seat you could pull the rugs to cover me. Kasim wouldn't notice anything amiss in this gloom. At least I'd get back into Kasim's house.'

She turned to Gabriel; her face was flushed from running and her cheeks were damp with rain. ‘Do you think it will it work?' she said anxiously.

Gabriel reached out and drew her close. He kissed the corner of her mouth and curled a strand of her hair around his finger.

‘It might do. It's worth a try. I'll help you. But Kasim will not be back for some time. You don't want to be all squashed up under there for hours, do you? Let us grasp this time we have. Oh, I so want to talk with you, to hold you. But most of all – I want to possess you. There might never be another chance.'

As he enfolded her in his arms, Marietta leaned into him. She felt weak with the desire that was sweeping through her at his touch. It was true. They might never be alone together again. She kissed Gabriel passionately, shrugging free of the clinging black veils. He
pressed kisses to her neck and nibbled along her jawline. Then he bent his neck and kissed the swell of her breasts where they emerged from the scooped neckline of her silver tunic.

‘Wait,' she said breathlessly, as she unfastened the tunic and let it sway open.

With a groan Gabriel gathered up her breasts, pressing them together and burying his face in her scented cleavage. Marietta let her head fall back as he began flicking her nipples with his tongue. He sucked gently on each nipple until they rose into hard pink cones. She felt his teeth graze the tender nipple skin and drew in her breath sharply. She was ready for him at once. The moisture gathered between her thighs.

Marietta ran her hands under his silk shirt, easing it off his shoulders. He wore loose silk trousers tucked into boots, both of which he removed in a fluid motion. Underneath he was naked.

He was so beautiful. She had almost forgotten how perfect his body was.

‘I'm sorry if I hurt you that day. The phallus …'

‘Shhh,' he said, pressing his fingers to her mouth, ‘it doesn't matter. Nothing matters but this moment.'

He smelt of spearmint and lemon. She gazed down at his erect penis, imagining it inside her. Suddenly she clutched at him with desperate passion.

‘Do it now. I want to feel you inside me. I cannot wait.'

‘You are greedy,' he whispered teasingly. ‘Don't you know that you must savour a fine dish?'

Gently he pressed her back against the wide padded seat as he kissed her stomach and bit gently at her navel. Then his hand went to the waistband of her trousers.

Marietta covered his hand with hers. ‘There's no
need to remove them. See?' She parted her legs and drew up her knees a little.

The separate legs of the trousers fell apart, leaving her lower belly open to Gabriel's view. Gabriel smiled ruefully.

‘You wear this garment for Kasim's pleasure?'

‘Yes. He desires that I display my “golden fleece” at all times.'

‘At this moment, I am glad of it,' Gabriel said, sliding down her body so that his cheek grazed the slight pout of her belly.

The collar at his neck was cold against her skin. The chain tickled. She felt his lips nuzzling her pubic curls, his hands pressing on her inner thighs, easing them gently apart. His breath was hot on her flesh.

‘Since I first saw you in the market I wanted you. And I didn't even know who you were. It seemed that you were the only one there. The crowd was nothing to me. And then, at the banquet, I longed to kneel before you and do this …'

She moaned softly as his mouth brushed over her sex. He breathed in her scent, rubbing his face all over her pubis. She felt his smooth cheeks against her thighs as he kissed the soft skin. Then his questing tongue probed between her flesh-lips. He licked her slowly, savouring the taste and texture. Marietta twisted her hands in his long blond hair, caressing his ears, uttering little sighs of pleasure.

The sensations were exquisite. Her flesh-lips grew swollen and the moisture seeped out of her as Gabriel lapped at her entrance. He then gave his attention to her erect little bud. As she held herself apart with two fingers, Gabriel licked gently in an upward movement, drawing the bud free of its hood of flesh. Now and then his hot tongue stabbed into her. When that happened
he continued stroking the pleasure bud, ever so gently, with the ball of his thumb.

Marietta arched her back and thrust up to meet his hot mouth, his expert stroking. She gave a little gasp when she felt him slip two fingers inside her and begin to work them slickly in and out.

‘You are ready for me now, but I would bring you to the brink before I enter you fully,' Gabriel said huskily.

‘I … I am almost … there,' Marietta whispered as the fingers slid in deeply and his knuckles pressed against her liquid flesh-lips.

‘Then let it come,' Gabriel said. ‘Let me feel you shudder against my mouth,' and he pressed his lips to the hot jutting bud and sucked gently.

Marietta cried out as the pleasure was drawn out of her. She felt a bearing down, a giving sensation, as her inner flesh convulsed around Gabriel's deeply buried fingers. He pressed on her bud with his tongue, holding the sensations back, prolonging the moment of sweetness.

Before the pulsing died away completely, Gabriel slid up her body to kiss her mouth. She tasted the smoky musk of her juices on his mouth as she sucked at his tongue. She gloried in the feel of him as his weight covered her and his hard chest brushed her breasts. Then came the pressure of his cock against her parted flesh-lips. He moved in a circle, rubbing the head in her moisture, pushing at her entrance.

It felt so big. She could not help drawing back slightly. Gabriel kissed her deeply. Slipping one hand under her, he lifted her bottom and pulled her gently on to him. She felt the swollen cock-tip open her and tensed at the slight pain. Gabriel withdrew at once as she winced. He looked down at her.

‘So the stories are true. You have not yet lain with
any man? Yet you have been in the harem of Kasim Dey for many weeks. It seems impossible that he would deny himself this particular pleasure. For what purpose, I wonder.'

‘What do you mean? What stories?' Marietta said, confused. ‘I know nothing of any stories. It is true that no man has … penetrated me with his flesh. Does it matter? I want this. I want to feel you inside me.'

Gabriel grinned and kissed her cheek. ‘Your wish is my command. I'll try not to hurt you.'

And he did not. After the initial tightness of her entrance was bridged, he slipped inside slowly. For a while they lay still. His cock was sheathed inside her. She felt it pulsing and was touched by the way he held himself back. Marietta closed her eyes as he began to move, gently at first, then with mounting passion. The pressure inside her was wonderful. He filled her, drawing sweet sensations from the whole of her sex.

Seeming to know what she would like, he held her bottom tipped up to him slightly so that her sex was upturned and he must plunge down into it. In that position his cock-stem rubbed against her pleasure bud. It was still sensitive from her earlier climax, yet it seemed to crave a new and deeper release.

As Gabriel drew almost all the way out, then plunged inside her again, her entrance pulsed. The blunt head of his penis nudged against the neck of her womb on each in-stroke. She felt his fingers digging into her buttocks. The tips moved inwards and caressed her bottom crease. His heavy balls stroked softly against her.

Their bodies were slick with sweat. Gabriel held her as if she were made of china, but he slammed into her, grinding his pubis against hers. The contrast in pressures was wildly erotic. She tossed her head from side
to side, moaning as she clutched at his thrusting buttocks. The pleasure poured over her like wine and the second climax was more intense. Having Gabriel move strongly inside her lifted her to new heights of sensation.

Her inner tremors brought Gabriel to the brink. Giving a hoarse groan, he stopped suddenly and pulled out of her. He pressed her close and she felt the hot jet of his seed spatter her stomach. As Gabriel convulsed, he buried his face in her neck and cried out her name. She felt his teeth clamp on to her skin and smiled. There'd be a mark there next day – a badge of their shared passion.

For some time they lay entwined. The light grew thicker inside the coach. Gabriel brushed his lips against her hair.

‘You must hide yourself now. Kasim will have soon completed his business and will wish to return to his house. He values you highly, you know. More than you realise. What would he say if he saw us like this?'

Marietta smiled, about to reply, when the door was flung open and a blast of cool air blew into the carriage.

‘I would say,' Kasim said, tight-lipped and beside himself with fury, ‘that I do indeed value this slave highly. Which is why she will be spared the full force of my anger!'

Marietta looked at Kasim with horror. She scrambled upright and began rearranging her clothes. Kasim's face was like marble. His eyes were as hard as jet. Yet she sensed something behind his anger. Sorrow? Surely not.

‘You shall be displayed naked on the public punishment block tomorrow!' Kasim snapped at her. ‘And you, my friend, will be given to the guards as a plaything.'

Marietta tossed the rain-wet hair back from her face. Though the air was warm and balmy, she shivered.

It was growing light. Soon the townsfolk would be pouring into the marketplace, setting up their stalls, driving herds of animals into waiting pens.

And then they would discover her.

Her earlier courage had deserted her completely. She waited with a sort of fatalistic dread. She would not be harmed unduly, she knew. The crowd would delight in ogling her nakedness, howling for her to be beaten. But the placard, erected above the punishment platform, bore Kasim's insignia and male guards stood ready to repel anyone who was too vigorous in tormenting her.

Still, she shrank inside herself.

The wooden boards felt reassuringly solid against her bare legs. Around her shoulders was the Captain's cloak. She did not need its warmth, but the cover was welcome. Soon enough she would feel all the prying eyes, the hostile glances, and be unable to hide any detail of her body from them; the body that the guards had just finished using for their pleasure.