Written by Fulgur
Illustrated by Crosschan

Chapter 2

The Knight and the Lady

We didn't stop until we were a long way from the marketplace. It seemed that nobody was pursuing us.
That suited me.
"Okay, Merta," I said. "Now, what was that about?"
She shrugged. "It's just something... something I know."
"Any other surprises like this?" I asked drily.
"Well, I know three more pictures that... do things."
"That's fine, just don't do that again without warning me. But actually, I asked about something else. Why did they want you?"
Merta shrugged. "I don't know."
"Merta! You said that you're not coming 'back there'. What did you mean by it?"
She turned to me. "I don't know!"
"Merta! Don't lie to me!" I cried.
She whimpered and I instantly felt like a villain.
"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "You are a very nice man and I shouldn't pull you in the trouble the first time."
She dropped to the ground and started running. Some distance away she stopped and started drawing in the sirt with her finger.
Before I could get to her, the lines glowed.
Merta rised in the air, encased in something that looked like a giant crystal. She waved to me and then the thing started to move and she was gone.
I was all alone. Again.
At least until someone stepped out of the shadows and pressed something soft to my back.
And something very, very sharp to my neck.

"I know what you want," whispered a silky voice into my ear. "You really want to turn around and see who is it. But trust me, that would be a very bad idea." That voice was only whispering, but to me, it was crying "female".
"OK, so who are you?"
"I think the whole idea of this... getup is to not let you know, wouldn't you agree?"
"I don't have the time!" I cried. "Are you a thief?"
"How did you know?"
"That knife was a kind of giveaway."
"Well, yes, I happen to be a thief. But I'm the other kind of thief."
"The other kind?"
"Yes. Not your common thief like that girl. I'm the kind that knows how to not get caught."
"I don't have anything worth stealing!" I cried.
"Except your virginity, I would say," said the voice.
Ouch. Hit below the belt. Literally.
"Why are you here?"
"I was following you for some time, my boy. I even dispatched two or three watchmen that got too close to you."
"So you only came to civil chat, right?" I didn't like the sound of word "dispatched".
"If I release you, can you promise me no funny stuff?"
"No funny stuff?"
"Like running away, kicking, screaming for help..."
"Or touching you at... places?"
She chuckled. "Well, you can try that. But your hands would never be the same."
"I see."
"Or even at the same place as the rest of you."
"Uh-huh."
"And they would get the better part of the deal."
"You tell me."
"Good that we understand each other."
She released me and I turned around.
She was actually quite small, smaller than me. And her hair were solid black, like her clothes. The said clothes seemed to be a very tight outfit. Except her face, there wasn't a bit of skin visible - she even had black gloves - but she still didn't look decent. She probably didn't even know how.
"You may call me Soot," she said.
"That's your name?"
"No. But you may call me that."
I looked into her face. She had blue eyes, I noticed.
"Why were you following me?"
"I wasn't exactly following You. But the girl with you, she was... very strange."
"You tell me. But she's gone."
"But they will catch her. Two men, each holding one hand, and she's powerless."
"You know something about her? About those..."
She shook her head. "No idea, really. It looked like a kind of magic."
"I don't think they will catch her. She can fly, so she can run away to..."
Soot smiled. It was a sad smile. "Where? She's not a street child. I can see that. She is a lady who never had to work. And now the world is against her. She doesn't know anything about running away. She could run from you because you didn't know what she can do, but hold her hands tight and..."
I paled. "I must find her - quickly!"
"Maybe I could help you?"
I looked at her. "That won't be for free, right?"
"Oh, I have my... prices. But don't worry about that right now."
"Now I'm worrying more."
"Let's just tell you that I won't ask you to do anything illegal."
"Really?"
"Except breaking into the prison."

It was one hour later and we were standing close to city Watchhouse. Watchmen were pouring in and out. Well, pouring... more like dropping in and out.
"So this is your plan, Soot?"
"They are good. She is not. They'll get her and they'll bring her here. There's no other place and I doubt they would relocate her so quickly..."
A coach drove in and a man stepped out.
"Oh no..."
It was the man I've met before. The man with the whip.
He pulled Merta out of the cart.
She was crying. She was shivering.
She had hands tied behind her back.
I jumped but Soot's elbow was in the way of my head.
"Ouch!"
"This is not the time to be heroic," she said. "There's too many of them. In the prison - that's another thing."
"How do we get in there?"
She smiled.
"You'll see."

And I saw. That was the worst part.
"It's a good plan, isn't it?" asked Soot. We were walking along... a sidewalk, although in this case you really didn't want to step on the road.
"Sewers?"
"They go under whole city. And there is a loose stone in the basement of the Watchhouse where we can slip through..."
"How do you know these things?"
"It's always good to know your way out of the prison." She stopped. "Here."
She kicked a stone that looked just like all the others.
And just like all the others, it didn't budge a bit.
"What?" She blinked. "Funny, I would swear..."
She quickly moved her hands over surrounding stones.
"The bastards! They repaired it!"
A crossbow bolt clunked from the wall an inch from her arm.

I turned around. A guard was standing there, grinning.
"You think we're idiots, right?" he snarled.
Soot snapped: "Well, that loose stone was there for years! I don't call that exactly a mark of intelligence!"
"Times have changed, Miss Soot," smiled the watchman. "I assure you that we are looking forward to seeing you."
"Somewhere in the public, right?"
A second man stepped out of the shadows.
"Not really," he said. "The things we're going to do with you are not exactly suitable for public."
He pulled out a piece of wood. With short leather straps.
"We didn't have the pleasure to be acquainted," he said. "My name is Feltar. And I know you. Both of you. Take them away, sergeant. Please."

"Well," said Soot after the ruckus ended, "at least we got in, right?"
"We got in a locked cell and we're tied up," I said, "which, I think, kind of defeats the purpose."
"I was here before, you know. I can find my way out of this."
"Didn't you say that you're the kind of thief that doesn't get caught?"
"Look, at least I was never here in time to be punished. I always escape, that's what I do!"
"Maybe they know about that. That's why that guy is here."
He was short and fat and he was intently watching our cell.
Then the crying started.
It was muffled since it came from a long way away, but it was undoubtedly a girl crying. When I listened intently, I could make a sound of something hitting something else. I didn't need much imagination.
"That guy is sick," I said.
"Feltar? Extremely. But he shouldn't be here, he always only patrolled the marketplace... I mean, crime and punishment is one thing, but the people who deal the punishment shouldn't enjoy it!"
I felt a pang of guilt. I had spanked Merta and I rather enjoyed that.
"Shouldn't enjoy it much," she corrected herself. "I mean, I like spankings too, providing they don't involve me, but he's just sick."
Crying changed to incoherent screams of pain.
Suddenly my hands were free.
I turned around. Soot was getting the rest of rope from her hands.
"What did you do?"
She shrugged. "I'm nimble. They don't know how nimble I am. When you're have an advantage, it's best when noone else knows about it. I could get out of metal handcuffs if I had to, but it hurts a lot."
She pulled something out of her hair. A black pin.
"I can get the lock open. You get rid of the guard."
"What? I never did something like that!"
"Okay, geez, but that makes things a bit harder."
She came to the front of the door and she stuck the pin in the lock.
"What are you doing?" shouted the guard. In two steps, he was at the door.
Which is where Soot kneed him through the bars. Before he hit the ground, she pulled another pin from her hair and pricked him.
He fell to the ground and ceased to move. After a while, we heard snoring sounds.
I looked at her with a new admiration.
"Herbal extract. Strong," she shrugged. "Storing weapons in hair, that's another advantage noone knows about."
And with that, she finally got the doors open. She got the cell key from the guard, pushed him in and locked the door again.
"Is there more advantages?"
"Maybe. But it's better that not even you know about them."
"I see."
The rest of cells were empty. We found Merta in the cell before the last.
"Hi, Lady," said Soot. "Your Knight is here to rescue you!"
She opened the door. "Go on. There are some things you should do, too, you know."
I entered the cell. Merta was sleeping. She cried herself to sleep.
I untied her hands. I tried to wake her up, but I couldn't.
"Let's go," urged Soot. "We have to get out."
"What about that girl?"
"What girl?"
"The girl we heard crying."
Soot opened her mouth to say something, but then her face hardened.
"Yes, you're right. Someone should spoil Feltar's fun."
And that's when I realized that screams ceased just a short while after we escaped our cell.

The door at the end of corridor were half-open.
"They're soundproof," whispered Soot. "But he left it open so other prisoners could hear how much fun he's having."
"He's a sharing type, all right," I said.
We entered the room.
It was a small room, and the candles only lighted a bench in the middle. There was a nude girl tied to it, lying on her stomach. She was unconscious.
Feltar was standing next to her, with his favorite instrument.
The girl's bottom was covered with crisscrossing marks and weals.
But that wasn't the worst thing.
The worst thing were all the other men in the room.
There was about five of them and they were around the girl, watching her intently.
"We were up to sixty-five strokes," said Feltar. "And after she wakes up, we will complete the punishment. The previous command here was a way too... lenient. They dragged the cuplrit in the town square, spanked her like a little girl, then let her go! What kind of justice is that?"
He smiled. That is, he showed teeth. "If they can walk away afterwards, it was done wrong! If we would release THIS prisoner (which we can't do until her punishment is complete, of course), she wouldn't walk away, right? That's why we will give her a lift beyond the city gate and dump her there."
"Mr. Feltar," said one of the men. "She could die if we do that."
"In that case, the world loses one criminal. Nothing more."
"But sir..."
"I was appointed your commander, man."
"Yes sir."
"And right now I command: get them!"
We were in the dark and he was standing in the light. But he pointed his finger right towards us.
"I was expecting you, Miss Soot," he said. "A bit later, of course. How did you manage to escape?"
"That's a secret," she replied.
He pointed his instrument to the girl on bench. "See this girl?"
"Unfortunately, I do."
"For you, it won't be just your bottom. I promise you that."
Soot pulled something from her hair. Two more pins.
"Close your eyes," she whispered to me.
And I did. Even through my eyelids I could see the flare.
When I opened my eyes, the guards were expertly... dispatched. And Soot was pressing Feltar against the wall.
His instrument was lying on the ground.
"I don't have a knife right now," hissed Soot. "But I'm very good with my elbows, you can believe that."
"You won't make it from here alive," he answered.
He's not afraid of her, I thought. He's insane, he thinks the world works like he wishes...
"Well, I think we will make it alive. Haven't you said something about getting her," she indicated the girl on the bench, "beyond the city gate? We could use a lift."
"You never get away with that."
She pressed one of her useful pins to his neck.
"It would be hard to kill you with this," she whispered. "Messy, too. But I could blind you with it, easily. So..."
Something stirred behind me. I turned around.
Merta was waking up.
I ran to her and hugged her. She started to cry.
"Merta, everything's OK now, I'm here to rescue you..."
She just cried.
Feltar noticed her. "Oh, you got her out, too? You really shouldn't. You don't know what she is."
I came to him.
"All I know," I said, in a low voice, "is that she's a human being. Which is more than I can say about you!"
And I punched him. It wasn't a good punch, but Feltar's head hit the stone wall and he slumped down, unconscious.
"You might have some potential," nodded Soot. "But this means he won't be much help in getting out."
She picked up the instrument. "I think this is called 'flail'," she said. "A weapon used in combat. Not this one, obviously. This is just for causing pain."
Merta saw the girl on the bench for the first time. "I... I could end up like her," she whispered.
"No, you are special for some reason," said Soot. "Maybe you could tell us..."
One of the guards stirred and Soot brought her heel on his head.
"I... could... end... like... her..."
"Not right now, of course. Hmmm, this one has a knife, that will come in handy..."
She untied the unconscious girl.
"Not sure what she did, but nobody deserved this... maybe except for him," she prodded unconscious Feltar. "We take her, too."
"Merta, could you... fly us out of here?"
Merta turned to her. There was something in her eyes... I haven't seen that before.
"I can't do that undergroung. But if you give me something to draw with..."
Soot handed her a piece of charred wood.
"Where did you get this?" I asked.
"This is a torture chamber. There's always a fireplace."
She drew another diagram of Fire. On the wall. A big one.
But nothing happened.
"I didn't finish the last line," she said. "And even after I finish it, it will take some time before it explodes. We hide in the corridor."
"There's nowhere to hide," protested Soot.
Merta smirked. "Not yet."
"I don't think these people deserve to die," I said. "Well - maybe Feltar, but not the others."
"This will blast through the roof," said Merta. "They will live, don't worry."
In the corridor, she drew another picture, on the floor. Big square and little square inside. With respective corners joined.
Lines glowed and suddenly there was a hole.
I peeked in. It was as deep as it was wide.
"Go in," said Merta. "I'll be back in a moment."
After a short while she jumped in.
Then the hole disappeared and we were inside an enclosed cube.
But we heard the blast.
And sound of running feet. They passed over us.
I was just beginning to be acutely aware that I'm in a tight spot with three pretty girls when the ceiling disappeared.
Soot jumped out and we followed her.
After we were out, the hole disappeared again, as if it never was.
Merta sighed and slumped in my arms.

Getting out of the building was the easy part. Everything was in chaos. And it was already dark outside.
"We should get out of Ceris," shouted Soot.
"You are a thief! Isn't there any safe place where we could hide?"
"Tonight? Not a chance! We must get out! Now is the time for this girl to fly!"
"She's not in state to do that!"
"OK, so we have to run!"
"How do we get through the gate?"
"We could steal a cart, and..."
"Oh, I don't think that will be necessary," said a familiar voice.
I turned around.
"Dad?"
Father was sitting on our cart.
"I see you found some new friends," he said, teasingly.
"Merta is unconscious! This girl - I don't even know her name - was badly beaten! And this is Soot, who -"
"Who is going with you, too," she said, simply.
"What?"
"Remember I was telling you that I have my prices?"
"And?"
"First part of the price - I want to get out of here."
She pulled both girls on the cart and threw some blankets over them. And over herself. The cart started to move.
"Dad? We never had blankets there, right?"
"I bought some. I thought they might come in handy."
"We were caught and put in the prison!"
"Yes, but I trusted you'll get out of there. You had Soot with you, after all."
"Yes, I had... You know her?"
Dad just smiled. "I'm going here for markets for a long time, you know," he shrugged. "Everyone heard about Soot."
"She's a thief! Don't you mind?"
"Do you think she is a good person?"
I thought about it. "You know what? I really... can't say."
"Good start."
"Dad?"
"Yes?"
"I think I've become a criminal today."
"No, Zack, you didn't. You fought criminals."
"They were watchmen! Men of the law?"
His face hardened. "Sometimes, Zack, even the law can be a crime."
"What is Geomancer, Dad? I know you know something!"
"She can draw certain... diagrams and they do various things. Magical things. It's hard to explain properly, but..."
"Is it dangerous?"
"There wasn't a Geomancer for a long time, Zack. The bad Geomancers, they could hurt themselves very bad, but the good ones..."
"...They could hurt lots of other people, right?" I finished.
"It was said that this power poisons the soul," said Father. "It can bring up the worst in every man. Or woman, as the case might be."
"But Merta is..."
"I know." He nodded. "It's not easy, is it? You don't know anything about that girl, only that she needs your help."
"Yes. Like that."
"Be careful. Here is the gate."
The watchman at the gate was checking every cart.
I turned back and removed some blankets. "They are checking the carts!"
Soot sweared. "That's bad."
Suddenly, Merta opened her eyes. Whatever was in those eyes before, was gone now.
"Zack? Is that you?"
"Merta?"
"I... lost my altitude. I fell down and then there was that man from marketplace... what happened?"
"You don't remember?"
"No... But I'm sorry if I put you in trouble."
Trouble. That was not exactly the right word, but I was willing to let that pass.
"We want to get out of the city. Can you do something to hide yourself? And the other girls?"
"Well, I could draw a hiding place..."
"Doesn't it look like two squares? Joined at corners?"
"Yes! How did you know?"
"But we are on the cart! You would just tunnel through the bottom!"
"No, it doesn't work like that. Look!"
She picked up a piece of chalk and drew the picture.
A hole appeared.
I was puzzled. The hole was deep enough to reach below the ground, but the sides and bottom looked just like wooden floor of the cart. Soot and Merta ducked in and they took the nameless girl with them.
Then the hole disappeared.
Father looked with interest. "Good trick," he said. "I hope it will work."
But it worked. When the guards checked our cart, they didn't find anything.

Some way beyond the gate, a burst of light streaked out of the cart and the girls were back.
"Where are we going?" asked Soot.
"To my home," I said. "Small village, quite far from here. We will be safe in there."
"Not for long," said Soot. "News get around. These two will get around."
"I'm really sorry," said Merta.
"Yes?"
"For running away from you. But there are things... I can't tell you. I'm not even sure what's true and what's not. I cannot tell you... not now."
I nodded. "Merta, I can live with that. But you really shouldn't run away. I could get killed when I was trying to rescue you!"
"Why were you trying to rescue me?"
Dad smiled. "It's the Knight and the Lady all again," he said.
"The Knight and the Lady?"
"It's an old song," I said. "About a..."
"It's about a knight who falls in love with a beautiful lady," said Father with a twinkle in his eye. "And she is kidnapped by an evil ogre and the knight risks tremendously to save her."
"I didn't risk that much, Soot did everything..."
"How is the verse, Zack?"
I tried to remember my favorite part.

And after fight, the ogre's dead
The castle's fire and smoke
And Knight bowed down to Lady fair
And this is what he spoke:

"My lady, here I swear that I
Will always be with you
I'll protect you, I'll guard you and
I'll give my life for you

No man no beast no demon harms
Your skin as white as snow
But should you start to behave wild
Then over you shall go!

Two sides of bargain, that's the law
And though you're all to me
There might come time when I shall have
To put you over knee

No harm will touch you, be it claws
Or evil spells or rain
Only by my hand when you're spanked
You shall feel any pain"

He spoke those words and then he smiled
And Lady bowed her head
She blushed a bit, she wiped his face
And this is what she said:

"What you told me was just and fair
Cause sometimes I get mad
As much I hate to admit it
I need a bottom red

I'm afraid of it, you should know
I hate to raise my skirt
To lie face down to think about
How badly it will hurt

But here and now I permit you
Spank me when there's a need
When I throw fit when I kick dog
When I'm possessed by greed

I promise I will love you even
When my bottom's sore"
And with a kiss they sealed the deal
Bargain from ancient lore

When the Knight is with his Lady
She's as safe as she can be
But if she behaves bratty
Turn her over your knee!

"Like that," he nodded. "That's how it should be. Men taking risks for their women and women taking spankings from their men."
"Well, I was never one for this arrangement," smirked Soot. "I'm emancipated."
"This is always a matter of personal agreement," said Father. "A girl over sixteen shouldn't be spanked unless she's OK with that. She should be old enough then to know when she deserves a spanking."
Merta looked at me. She had tears in her eyes.
"It was a beautiful poem!"
"It's much longer," I said. "But this is the only part I remember."
Soot smirked. "I think I know why."
"Would you promise to me, too? That you will always protect me?"
"You would have to promise something, too, you know," I smiled.
She nodded. "In that case, I promise that I will never again run away from you. I promise that I will listen to you. And..." she blushed, "I promise I will let you spank whenever you think I deserve it."
"Well," said Father, "that's quite a nice promise, Zack, isn't it? Now it's your turn."
I kneeled down and took Merta's hand. These things should be done right.
"My Lady, I promise that I will always protect you. I promise that I will never make you unhappy. And... I also promise that I will give you a spanking every time you deserve it."
Quite unexpectedly, she kissed me and suddenly I felt as light as a feather.
"Why did you do that?"
"Like in the story, my Knight," she smiled. "And with a kiss they sealed the deal."
Soot laughed. "Well, this is great! You poor thing, you have no idea what you just got yourself into, do you?"
"What?"
I took he chin into my hands. "I think, Merta, that she is referring to what you did today when you ran away."
"Oh." She blushed. "I... I see."
"I think the first thing we will do tomorrow will be to buy you a hairbrush."
"Yes, Zack."
"And use it right away."
"Sniff... yes, Zack."
"Not to brush your hair, mind you."
She shuffled her feet. "I deserve a spanking, don't I?"
"Yes, you do. But not today. It will wait to tomorrow."
She nodded. "Thank you," she giggled, "my Knight."
Soot smiled. "You still didn't pay your debt to me," she said. "And I'm not going away until you do."
"I think we will still need you," I sighed. "They won't let us be, will they?"
"Hardly. You know, when you will take her over your knee tomorrow..."
"Yes?"
Sme smiled again. "I want to see it. Part of my payment."
I looked at her.
"I told you," she shrugged. "I like spankings when they don't involve me."
"They could involve you, you know," I said.
"Not if you like your hands where they are. She is the type for spankings, but I'm not."
"Type for spankings?"
"Overly emotional, obsessed with guilt, glad to submit to an authority... not that you are much authority after all... Proper spanking can do a lots of good to girls like her."
"And you are not... that?"
"Definitely not. Sorry."
No girl for nineteen years, I thought. Now my life suddenly included two. Three if you count the one who was still unconscious.
And no enemy for nineteen years. Now Feltar was quite definitely an enemy. And possibly others, too.
And tomorrow I will spank a girl who could easily blow me up.
All in all, it looked as an interesting start.
And with this in my mind, I fell asleep.

End of Chapter 2

May's Retrospective Readers' Corner:

Well, it took me a while to recover from the "attitude adjustment" Fulgur performed on me last time. But finally - another retrospective readers' corner is here!

I'm not exactly sure how did all those girls come up to be. I existed in the original RPG-idea, but I never had a name there: names were something Fulgur doesn't concern himself with until he actually starts writing, because he's... oh, never mind. My butt still smarts from the last witty remark.
But Soot's origin is clear: she comes straight from another RPG he thought up. There was a black-haired thief character called Jet - but he didn't want to use that name since he still has some hope that project will exist one day (as if... oops!). Therefore, Soot.
And what is Soot's real name? Hmmm... sorry - you will have to keep reading. You will find the answer eventually, I guarantee that...

May, signing off!