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defire · 3 months ago

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[Nife getting roughed up and enslaved--this is the beginning of the slavery torture arc]

Dance of Death Chapter 17:

What a Fucking Morning

Content: beating/humiliation, intimidation, slapping, sold into slavery, slavery, child abuse

Nife awoke being dragged by the arms down a wide, dark staircase. Her knees scraped over a patchwork of tiny tiles, and she was finally dropped, chest-first, to the ground in a small courtyard. She groaned and got up to her elbows and knees, coughing because of the wisps of miasma on the ground. They must be pretty low.

"Hey." Someone said as they roughly nudged the side of her head with a short stick. "Get up."

She pushed the end of the stick away from her head, keeping her arm up to protect herself as she got up to a half-kneel, looking up and around.

The buildings around her sloped upward into the sky, and she saw the edge of the fallen building she'd jumped off of jutting into the gray. Around her, a whole twenty or so enforcers were standing, with more coming down the stairs inside of the courtyard, most of them looking pretty angry.

She got to her feet cautiously, feeling more than just the magical tiredness. She was exhausted and banged up. The guy with the stick came up toward her, raising it, and she recoiled under her arms, yelling,

"Whoah, whoah, we've got a blazer!" --Referring to his excessive passion.

She fell to her knees as she dodged a full-on swoop.

She could've dodged better, but she knew she wasn't going to escape unless some of the enforcers here took her side. That meant not looking like a threat.

"Let's call a vote--" She scrambled out of the way of a swing that would've cracked her forearm. "Who wants to beat the harmless teenager?"

Her voice trembled as she crouched down next to the wall helplessly, covering her head with a tentative arm, which would be the first to get battered, and she was grimacing as she tried to prepare herself for it.

"Alright, Wallee, maybe not with the stick." Someone stepped between the enforcer and Nife.

Wallee huffed.

"She blazing ruined my morning!"

"Mine too." Acorn walked up to Nife, caught her by the hair and dragged her back up to her feet. "Nawt unless you get cawt, hah?" He smacked her across the back of her head, sending her staggering a step or two before he caught her by the collar and yanked her back.

"Does this mean our deal is off?" Nife grimaced.

Acorn spun her around by the shoulder, and they met eyes on the same level--furious and secretive.

"I can make this so much worse for you." He said.

Nife stared back into his eyes, trying to understand what was going on in the red squinting back at her.

"...Consider me intimidated." She said finally.

He stared into her eyes for a couple moments, clearly not believing her that she was intimidated--she was--and finally straightening up and taking her by the back of the collar.

"What a fawcking morning!" He cuffed her with the expletive, shoving her through the arch that led into the courtyard, and out onto the curving, rickety wooden road that swayed underfoot.

Sunlight flooded down onto the rotting boards underfoot, but it couldn't penetrate the miasma between the planks that made up the narrow path, wisping onto the path with the breeze.

Nife looked around as she saw the number of enforcers reducing around her. She jerked at her arm in Acorn's grasp, and his fingers didn't even budge, and she could almost feel the magic coursing through his fingers as his grip and stance rooted to the ground.

"Don't even think abawt it." He growled, hitting her head.

The enforcers around her didn't seem at all worried about her escaping again. She did notice that the uniforms they were wearing were studded down the arms and chest, and bulky in odd places--probably armored. She'd heard their uniforms were also enchanted with defensive magic.

Another enforcer interrupted her observations with another slap to the back of her head and an offhand comment to Acorn. She glanced back, and saw that he was laughing at her.

"Bitch gave us a run for our money." The Bane to her left hit her again.

She clenched her teeth and took it as they cuffed her over and over. They didn't hit her hard enough to hurt the first couple times, and that almost made it worse. The whole time they chatted casually about what a hard time she'd given them, hitting the back of her head with every comment like it was a stupid game until it was enough to make her hold a stiff cringe as she walked.

"That hurts..." She said.

Nobody paid her any attention besides smacking the back of her head some more. She glanced around at them and they had these strange malicious smiles that she didn't understand.

"But did you see how fast we climbed awp there?" Acorn boasted to the others, hitting her.

"You're Druids, you don't count." They laughed.

A rock flicked into the back of her head this time, breaking down her last bit of calm.

Nife jerked around to see who'd thrown the rock. Acorn grabbed her collar in his other hand, forcing her back to face forward.

"I smell a lawsuit," Nife said, making something up, "my father will sue you for harassing me without formal charges."

Acorn slapped her again in the back of the head. That one hurt. She winced, putting a hand to her head.

"That law is conditional." Acorn said.

"Yeah, conditional for commoners," Nife bullshitted, "but I'm nobility."

Acorn let go and pulled her close, making eye contact with her by bending his head. She looked him in the eye.

"We warned you." He said. "You resisted arrest. You want to be treated like nobility? Don't break the fawcking law."

"Says the guy that--"

Acorn punched her in the face. Her head whipped back and she clutched a hand over her mouth, shocked as she tasted something weird with the painful heat on her lips and teeth. Blood?

"You don't get to tawk!" He said. "That was a warning. Gawt it?"

Nife stared at him, wondering what happened to him that made him so angry. She remembered Wick's face pressing into the carpet as he sobbed, and her gut twisted with regret. She dropped her eyes to the ground with her hand over her split lip.

"Gawt it?" Acorn repeated.

Nife didn’t answer.

At that moment, there was a voice under the arch in front of them. The road turned slightly to go into a tunnel under a higher street, and in the tunnel was a group of guards in Wry colors--white and gold.

"Excuse me, that's ours." The lead guard said.

Nife stood there while the enforcers started spreading their arms in macho poses, like a dog raising its hackles, and faced the people in the tunnel entrance. There were about eight people there, insisting that "property should be returned undamaged".

"She's not your property! She's a terrorist!"

She might not be property, but "terrorist" was taking it a little far, Nife thought, rubbing her hand over her aching head gently.

"Her fine has already been paid. Look." The man was showing the captain a paper. "You can't arrest her. Any infractions are to be dealt with by her owner."

Nife frowned.

"No this is--this is Nife Raizden." The captain said, clearly just as confused as Nife was.

The guards didn't seem at all confused.

"I know. Look, her name's right here on the paper." The guy pointed at it again, sounding mildly annoyed.

Acorn was downright angry.

"No, this little shit is a criminal! She's ours!"

Nife saw the Wry guard shift, mild frustration showing on his face. He was so blazing confident about it, Nife started to feel nervous about him telling the truth. She shook her head at that idea, trying to make herself laugh.

Nife Raizden, owned? No, she was obviously too magnificent for that. She attempted to smirk at her own joke, and couldn't.

When she looked up, she realized that the enforcers had parted the way toward the entrance where the guards were waiting.

"Wait... what?" She said slowly as she came up to them.

The guard rolled his eyes.

"Horizons, were you not listening?"

"Well, I heard that I was a terrorist, to which I must protest--"

"You're a slave." He said, clearly getting angry at this point. "Look. Look at the paper."

He held out the papers in his hand and jabbed his finger at her name written on it... in her father's handwriting.

She scanned it multiple times, and her brain wouldn't register the words.

"Well? Can you read, or are you as stupid as they say?"

Nife blinked and forced herself to read it, which she did backwards for some reason.

Her eyes scanned over her mother's and father's signatures at the bottom, some really big numbers and her name. There was a line for "owner" that said "Lady Luster Wry and Lord Amoxicillenn Wry." It was a slave contract.

She was just staring at it, frozen. He lowered the paper and slid it back into an envelope, then grabbed her arm.

"Come on, let's go."

As the guards led her toward the Wry's home in Lightreach, Nife seemed to be stuck in a frozen state.

But I'm too magnificent, her mind kept saying. She'd always said that to make herself laugh. And it wasn’t working. However, she really couldn't wrap her head around it. She couldn't believe it. Maybe she didn't want to.

The worst thing was that on a practical level, it did start to make sense. Lady Wry hated Nife, and her father owed the woman thousands in mortgaged real estate. On receiving a fine for Nife's behavior, her father would've likely had to choose between declaring bankruptcy and dooming the whole family, or simply selling the black sheep to the highest bidder.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," She cursed over and over, trying to un-realize all of that.

Was she really that worthless to them?

And what about her plans, the Souls, the successes that they'd just started to have? How was she going to spend time with her friends if she was a slave?

After a long walk, they entered the Wry mansion's front gate. She'd only been here a couple times before, and her impression was always a feeling of awe at the hills of lawn, trimmed hedges and the fountain in front of the massive roundabout driveway. The Wry estate even had carriages and horses, which were very rare in Gapp.

As they led her through the massive marble entryway, she felt her steps lagging in exhaustion. They trudged up curving staircases that led up either side of the beautiful entryway. When they reached the majestic balcony, they finally released her between them.

Lady Luster Wry had risen from a throne-like white chair with a vindictive smile down on Nife. Nife looked up, still unable to believe what was happening, somehow.

"Good work." She said. "I see you've had the morning you deserve."

"The morning I..." Nife stared. "But I was nearly clubbed this morning!"

"Justice coming to the one who deserves it." Lady Wry smirked as the guards took their standard ready poses. "Isn't it ironic?"

"...Ironic?" Nife repeated.

"You don't even know what 'ironic' means, do you?" The woman blustered on.

If Warren were here, he'd be irritated at her inaccurate use of the word. Thinking of his face made Nife chuckle.

"You're laughing now," Lady Wry grimaced, "But you'll be begging by the time I'm done with you."

Nife's smile faded.

"I knew you were mad, but I didn't know you were that mad..." She muttered.

Lady Wry tilted her head back and laughed loudly, displaying layers of golden and beaded necklaces and large golden earrings with sapphires set in them. Then she walked within touching distance of Nife.

"Nife Raizden, in my power." She put her hand under Nife's chin.

As Nife pulled away instinctively, Luster Wry's hand gripped more tightly as she tilted her head up by the chin with an analytical gaze, like she was evaluating a piece of merchandise. Then she giggled almost manically.

Nife fluttered her eyelashes dismissively, stepping back, and twisted her chin out of Lady Wry's hand.

"Is this how you greet all your slaves, or am I getting the VIP treatment?" She said, surprised to find that the confident red-eyed stare that always made Lady Wry twitch didn’t bother the woman this time.

She found herself leaning against the bannister and edging away from Lady Wry, who continued to approach into an indecent proximity with a predatory grin. At least, it would've been indecent if Nife wasn't a slave. She didn't really know the rules anymore.

Lady Wry put a hand on her shoulder, and Nife flushed.

"Wow. Are you, like... flirting with me?"

"Some nerve!" Lady Wry slapped Nife with the back of her ringed hand.

Nife reeled for a moment. Her cheek stung as she blinked back tears. Why wasn't she able to relieve the tension here like she normally could?

"Wait, I... why?" Nife said, rubbing at her teary eye. She was searching around for something clever to say and coming up blank and hurt.

"You still think you can speak to me?"

Nife thought better of a sarcastic remark.

Glancing cautiously at the woman who used to be the butt of her most priceless jokes, she finally registered what it was that she had been unable to identify for so long--the thing that made the woman sneer even when she was happy. It was hatred.

"Answer me!" Lady Wry moved at her threateningly and Nife jerked back, leaning against the bannister. She leaned downward toward Nife, not quite touching her.

It was hard to breathe. Maybe it was the panic… Something clever, something clever…

"I’m answering, I am," Nife’s voice trembled embarrassingly. "If you're still mad about my jokes, I mean, come on,--"

"Oh, now you're sorry!" Lady Wry said, looking both gleeful and enraged. "It's too late, Nife Raizden."

"Just trying to make you comfortable." Nife shrugged, looking at the floor. "If you're done gloating, I'd be happy to make myself useful in the meantime."

Until I get out of this situation, anyway. She thought.

Lady Wry was not even listening.

"Ughhh," She groaned in an uncannily pleasurable way. "You have no idea how much I've wanted to crush you, every time I saw your stupid blue face." Lady Wry said, releasing another bubbling giggle.

Nife could see Lady Wry was itching to slap her again, from her upraised hand and trembling, hot fingers.

"Well, I'm glad I could at least finally make you laugh." Nife said lamely, accidentally telling the truth.

Lady Wry slapped her again.

Nife grimaced and covered her face with both hands.

"You just cannot keep your hands off me, can you?" She moaned.

"How dare you..." Lady Wry was stiffening even taller, and Nife saw her searching the room for something. "Where's Enimee?"

"Ladyship, ladyship," Someone whispered. "She's not trained. She doesn't know."

"That's no excuse." Lady Wry seethed.

"Your ladyship, your bags?" Someone else came into the room dragging several suitcases on a lorry.

Nife saw, though her eyes were squinted mostly shut, the heat of Lady Wry's fists as she clenched them at her sides.

"Right." The woman's voice betrayed barely-controlled rage. "You will regret speaking to me like that. But I have a blazing appointment."

Nife slowly lowered her arms from her face, blinking as Lady Wry stepped back.

"Now," Lady Wry said, "Much as I'd love to see you punished and initiated and all that, I have a business trip to prepare for." She noticed Nife still wincing in pain, and grinned maliciously. "But when I get back... You better be ready for the worst day of your life."

"Another one?" Nife said.

Lady Wry's only response was another exaggerated laugh.

"Put her in the slave cuff, Ebett." She said. "And six of you--" She pointed at the guards. "--go with them." She looked at Nife. "You know what happens to slaves who try to escape, don't you?"

Nife bit her lip. Knowing that she was probably going to try to escape, she didn't want to hear this.

"They are whipped," Lady Wry said. "You'll be stripped down naked, chained to a pole in the courtyard, and flogged bloody."

She paused to see the effect she'd had on Nife. Nife was biting both lips and trying to look thoughtful as she fixed her eyes on the leather-upholstered chair behind Lady Wry.

Okay, that just means I can’t get caught. She told herself, trying to block out the images, the questions, wondering how long it would take to be flogged till she bled, wondering if she’d pass out from pain.

Just don’t get caught. Don’t get caught.

"And trust me, you will pay for every single time you offended me." Lady Wry added. “I don’t forget.”

Nife tried to remember what the blazes she'd done, but all she remembered was vaguely being hilarious at Lady Wry's expense.

Lady Wry scoffed at her baffled silence.

"Don't pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about." She said. "Well, go on, Ebett, take her away."

First chapter: Next chapter:

Taglist: @tildeathiwillwrite @mimostic @fleur-a-whump @a-n-j-a-maria

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For anyone following along on this story that wants the canon NSFW version of the story, you can get it on amazon for $0.99

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#whump writing #whumpblr #lady whump #humiliation whump #intimidation #slapping whump #slave whump #captivity whump #whump beating #slavery

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