The Herb Plot

The Herb Plot
by Zack

Chapter 2

One afternoon a few weeks later Jani was cleaning herself up with the help of Tola, the maid she had hired. Jani was very busy these days, as word of her availability spread among men looking for an unusual sexual experience. She no longer had time for lazy afternoons of solo sex. Jani was delighted. For the first time in her life she was getting all the sex she wanted.

"Who's next on the list, Tola?" Jani was so popular her clients sometimes had to make appointments days in advance.

"MP." Tola was paid extra because she could read and write, and she kept track of Jani's schedule.

"Who?"

"You know, the Mysterious Priest. He's waiting outside."

"Oh, him." This was one customer she could do without. Except he had such good gossip, direct from Sigur's Inner Council. It really amused her to have an exclusive pipeline to information Hovat would have killed for, the asshole. But MP was demanding more and more abasement from her, and she had just about reached her limit. "The next time he wants to see me tell him I'm all booked up."

"Right. He's so repulsive I don't know why you'd ever want to see him. Is he that good in bed?"

"No, he's actually very bad. It's just that he tells me everything that happens in the Inner Council. He can't stop talking. I think he has to impress me with how important he is out of bed, since he must know how unimpressive he is in it. You know what's strange? MP worries about somebody finding out he's here having sex with a woman, but he doesn't seem to care about the risk he's taking by talking so much. Mavolo would likely have him killed if he knew MP was telling me all his secrets."

"MP doesn't think of you as a person. My cousin was a footman in a baron's house, just after the war. The baron and his cronies would talk about everything in front of him. They just thought of him as a piece of furniture. I don't think they ever knew how the queen found out about their treason. MP is the same kind of arrogant fool."

"That could be it. MP is arrogant enough, and he certainly doesn't care about me except as a body."

"Shall I bring him in?"

"I guess so. What kind of mood is he in?"

"He seemed to be excited, and very happy."

"Well, that's something." Beatings were not allowed, but sometimes MP forgot if he was in a foul mood. Jani took off her robe and knelt naked on the floor next to the bed, ready to perform the opening ritual. Tola ushered the client into the room and left, closing the door behind her. When Jani heard the door shut she put her forehead on the floor and crossed her wrists behind her back. "Command me, Exalted. Your slave awaits your orders."

MP got several pieces of thin braided linen rope out of the large supply kept in a box under the bed. "It won't be long before that is your true state." He laughed excitedly.

"What do you mean, Exalted?"

"Great news! Mavolo told us just a few hours ago. Our Herbmasters have concocted a potion that will put that accursed Narona under our control." He wrapped the ropes in horizontal and vertical coils around Jani's wrists, knotting the ends where she couldn't reach them with her fingers.

"You mean to poison her, Exalted?" This was hot stuff. Jani resolved to keep him talking. Carin needed to know this.

"Nothing so crude. It would do us no good to kill her anyway. She has designated her successors, and they would all follow her policies. No, Sigur has blessed us, and we are much more clever than that. The potion will destroy her will, not her life. Mavolo will whisper into her ear and she will mindlessly obey his commands. What consternation it will cause when she issues the decrees that will reduce all women to slavery!"

He took a longer piece of rope and cinched the wrappings on Jani's wrists. She winced when he pulled it very tight, and then winced again when he used the extra length of rope to tie her elbows together. He couldn't make them meet with her wrists crossed, but the thin rope cut into her arms.

"When will this happen, Exalted?"

"Not before the Harvest Festival. It will take some weeks to prepare enough of the potion, and it still has to be thoroughly tested."

"Please, Exalted, would you become my master then?" Jani finally realized the danger she was in. Would this offer be enough to induce him to keep her alive? Could she call for help? No, everyone was so used to screams from her room they'd be ignored, even if they could be heard through the thick door.

MP removed his baggy, knee-length breeches and rolled Jani onto her back. He was as erect as he ever got, and he entered her immediately, thrust several times, and ejaculated. Jani was aroused enough by the bondage that it didn't hurt, but she never came close to an orgasm. Disgust at this crude behavior momentarily overcame her fear. 'What a loser,' she thought, 'I'm not fucking him again.' Then fear returned. "Please don't hurt me, Exalted," she whimpered. "Let me be your slave."

MP had belatedly realized he had spilled one too many secrets. "Alas, you know too much. I am forced to silence you."

"No, Exalted! Who could I tell? Who would believe a sex girl's story? Claim me for yourself. I burn to serve you."

The priest hesitated. He would like to own this servile creature, and who could she tell, anyway? Who would even talk to a prostitute, much less take her word against his? He was also suddenly squeamish at the prospect of killing her. He could contemplate with equanimity the deaths of thousands in the purge that would occur once Mavolo gained control of the queen, but he was finding it very difficult to muster the courage to personally murder one woman.

Finally he decided. "We'll let your life be subject to Sigur's will." He tied Jani's knees tightly together with several turns of thin rope and lifted her to her feet. Then he used an elaborate knot to fashion a noose in the end of a long, thick piece of rope and put it around her neck. He took a stick of firewood from a small pile near the fireplace. It was about as long as his forearm and twice the diameter of his fist, and the ends were sawn off square. He set it upright under a hook in the ceiling and picked up Jani. "Stand on the stick." He steadied her with his left arm around her waist while he put the rope over the hook and then tied it off to a ring set in the wall, leaving only a bit of slack.

Jani tottered unsteadily on the ball of her right foot, whimpering with fear. The priest explained, "If Sigur wills it, you will be found and released, if not... well, that is also his will." He was excited by the thought of Jani struggling desperately to keep her balance, then falling and slowly strangling.

He realized he was still partially naked and stepped into his breeches. His gray wool stockings had fallen around his ankles, and he pulled them up and held them in place by tying the laces in his trouser cuffs. He waved farewell to Jani and slipped out the door, closing it quietly behind him. Once outside he paused. He was aroused by Jani's plight. Should he go back to her and satisfy his desire? No, he had placed her life in Sigur's hands, and to interfere now would be blasphemy. He crept down the back stairs and out into the alley.

Once the priest had left the room Jani was able to get her fear under control. "I can survive this," she muttered. "If Tola saw him leave she could be here in a few minutes." Jani tried to remember when her next client was due. In an hour, or was it longer? "I can do this! I can survive, and when I do MP will be the one to suffer." She teetered on her unsteady perch, and only the tension in the rope around her neck kept her from falling. Fear replaced bravado, and she cried, "Tola, where are you?"

* * *

Tola was down at the bar, drinking a mug of ale and flirting with the bartender.

"How long have you worked here, Tradlo?"

"About a year and a half."

"What did you do before that?"

"I was in the queen's army. Before the war I worked on my father's farm." He automatically rubbed the sword scar on his chin.

Tola simpered, "I could have guessed you were a soldier. You have the presence of a warrior." Tradlo was of medium height, and had broad shoulders and muscular arms. He was handsome, with a short brown beard that almost concealed the scar on his chin. She let a look of admiration cross her face, but Tradlo was wiping off the bar and didn't notice. This was not going as well as Tola wished. She put her hands behind her head and arched her back. "My back aches when I spend too much time writing." She thought, 'See, I'm not just an ignorant maidservant, I have an education. Too bad I don't have breasts like Jani's, though. It seems that's what you men are mostly interested in.'

Tradlo was amused, but he gave no sign. Tola was a smaller, younger, and somewhat plainer version of Carin, with a slim figure and black hair cut shoulder length. She had obviously spent some effort on her appearance. She was wearing a white shirtwaist and a calf-length blue skirt (cut daringly short). If she was offering he would accept, but he would probably scare her off if he moved too fast. He teased her, "You do a lot of writing, Tola? Is Jani dictating a book to you? She doesn't seem to be the literary type."

"Well, no, but I keep her client list and all her accounts." She shook her head. "I've never known anyone as sex-crazed as she is. She lets men do terrible things to her, and she enjoys it. Most of the girls who work here just tolerate men. They all plan to quit when they get a little money saved up. Not Jani. Money doesn't seem to matter to her, and the only man she doesn't like is MP."

"MP? What kind of name is that?"

"It means 'Mysterious Priest'. It's just what we call him, he won't tell us his real name. He claims to be a priest of Sigur, but he wears merchant's clothes instead of a robe. You must have seen him. He's thin and ugly and his clothes are too big for him. Jani says she only sees him because he gossips about what Mavolo is going to do." She suddenly realized she too had been indiscrete. "I shouldn't have told you that! You won't tell anyone, will you?"

"No, I'll keep quiet. I don't care much for Mavolo. No one who supports the queen does."

Carin entered the tavern through the alley door and went behind the bar. Seeing Tola reminded her that she had to talk to Jani about drugs, again. "Tola, I need to speak with Jani. Is she available?"

"I don't think so. She was with a client. I haven't seen him leave."

"I saw someone leaving by the alley door. A scrawny man, clean-shaven, and wearing baggy merchant's clothes?"

"That's her client. I wonder why he left by the back door." She finished her ale and turned toward the stairs.

"No, you stay here. I want a few private words with Jani." Carin hurried toward the stairs.

Tola shrugged. "What was that all about?"

"Carin said she knew Jani's family back in Piconia. Maybe she got a message for her." Tradlo refilled Tola's mug. "Here, have another, on me."

End of Chapter 2