A Gilded Cage Ch. 04

*** This is progressing a little slower now I'm back at work full time (p.s. I work in Westminster politics in the UK so do expect some fun with that!)

Thank you all for your comments, and do keep them coming – I really appreciate them.

For those that have asked, the pronunciation is An-eer-ah – an old Welsh name, now pretty uncommon.

And for any that are concerned, don't worry, she's got fight in her yet! ***

He woke early, working while he fed her breakfast on his lap. He sent her off to be bathed again, this time with two guards, both Rogers and Davies, flanking the diminutive May. By the time she was returned he was dressed and sipping coffee, his jacket unbuttoned and hanging open.

He had had her dressed in the dark green of his house, with a delicate pierced silver belt at her waist, pulling the material tight before it flowed down to her ankles, stopping just short of a pair of high-heeled silver sandals. The silver cuffs at her wrists and high choker were jewellery to the casual view, but at closer inspection, the clasps were too strong and had locks. He dismissed the others and left her standing as he finished his coffee, but gave a yelp as he spilt some down his shirt and jacket.

"Bugger it to hell." He left the room. Remembering the conversation of the previous evening, sensing what might be her only chance, Aneira found new courage, and made the two paces to the desk and tried the top drawer. It wasn't even locked. The arrogant bastard thought her quite tame, she'd show him, though she wasn't quite sure yet how. The little drive was sitting snugly next to the laptop; she palmed it quickly, closed the drawer and returned, subtly tucking the thing between her belt and dress, hiding it in folds of silk, taking deep breaths to calm her racing heart. He returned in his change of clothes, picking up hat and gloves and belting on his sword.

"Come, girl, we are going to pay a visit to your boyfriend before we leave."

He was in a cell, asleep, but the general barked at him to wake up, apparently in an utterly foul mood.

"Snivelling waste of a man, up, now" he was just about to open the cell door no doubt to kick the man into action but his phone rang. He cursed as he looked down. "Stay here, I won't be a moment. If you do anything other than stay I'll beat your arse purple."

She couldn't believe her luck. He had left her alone in the hall, no Rogers, no Davies, nobody. She could hardly escape anywhere but she could still manage some mischief for him.

"Telor, Telor come here quick." she hissed, praying that he couldn't hear.

"Princess, are you alright? He made you..."

"Shhh, no time. Take this." He looked quizzically. "It is an encrypted drive, his top secret files. People are coming to break you out, and they will be here in a few days. I don't hold out much hope that they will succeed, but if they do, give them this."

She passed the drive through the bars and was glad to see that by the time she had straightened up he had squirreled it away out of sight.

The door clunked and he was back. "Am I disturbing anything, you two lovers?" He stood behind her, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her close to his chest, one hand on her breast, the other gliding down. "But of course there is nothing to disturb is there. There was never anything between you but promises and poetry. It is nothing on the fun we have, is it girl?"

"No lord." She looked down at her feet as she said it, ashamed at her cowardice.

"Good, now follow, I have a trial to attend."

He swept away. They were joined in the hall by Rogers, Davies and three others, all followed them out. Rogers joined them in their car as usual, the other four in the one behind.

"Lord, may I ask you something?"

"Yes, since you asked so nicely, you may."

"What is this trial, who is being tried?"

The cruel grin was back.

"Your father, pet."

She gaped at him. "But he got away! His guard got him out! They were coming back for us and there was word he was safe. That can't be! He is safe!"

"No, simple creature, he was found. Nobody was coming for you but me. He goes on trial today."

"But why? Why he never did anything to anybody? What are the charges?" He glared at her. "My lord", she added, realising that she had probably gone far too far.

"He resisted. We have to make an example of him. And I don't remember the charges, Rogers what did we put down in the end?"

"Raising arms against The Empire and aiding terrorists I think sir."

"That was it. We decided to keep things simple."

He kicked her slightly. "Your mouth is open. Close it unless you want me to fill it." She closed her mouth quickly and looked down at the floor.

"Climb up here girl, up, sit on my lap." She complied silently, still numb from the news. He held her on his lap and rested one hand on her thigh while the other played with her breasts through the light fabric.

When they stopped and stepped out of the car they were quickly surrounded by his security detail: two in front, one behind, and one either side, easily clearing a path through the crowd. She wondered what trouble he was expecting. They ascended a broad flight of steps into a civic building of some sort. This must be the court. Cameras flashed on all sides but they paid the no notice and swept on inside. He left three men in the atrium and one outside the door of the courtroom, leaving just Rogers. He smartened his uniform, and marched inside, keeping her behind him.

"Ah, general, we were just about to send for you. No matter, would you take the witness stand and state your full name for the record?" An elderly man presided over a packed courtroom. She could see the dock on the far side but nothing of who was in it.

He stood in the witness box and sat her quietly beside him, out of sight, Rogers blocking her entirely from the view of the room.

"General Charles Henry Berkeley, Lord of The Marches, First Commander of His Imperial Majesty's Armed Forces"

He had a title to match his ego, she thought, rebelliously.

She lost track of what was being said after that, there was so much "kindly turn to tab b of section iv, paragraph four" that she had no idea what was actually going on. After some time she began to follow that they were loosely following the course of the war, but he was detailing a number of atrocities she was sure had never happened and others that were the fault of his troops not theirs.

"Does the defendant have any response?" asked the judge.

"That man murdered my people, my family, my sons and my young daughter. I will not justify his lies with a response." It was her father's voice but creaking and weary.

"Your honour I reject such slander. Indeed, I personally rescued his daughter from the ruins of the citadel."

"Have you any evidence of this claim?" The judge seemed perturbed slightly – this was a strictly choreographed show trial and that was not in the plans, but he was sure the young lord knew what he was doing.

"Of course I do your honour. I brought the poor frightened creature into my own household. Stand up Aneira." Rogers stood her up. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her head to his chest. "I'm afraid she is rather traumatised, your honour. Her guards shot the women in the hope that we wouldn't find them, but by the grace of God they missed her. We found her amongst the bodies. I'm afraid she may have been there some hours."

The crowd gasped and jeered. They must truly be savages as their lords had claimed to attempt to kill such a beautiful young girl.

"Your honour I sought to remove her from such suffering but it has followed her. Two nights ago, armed rebels broke into the estate. They stole her from her bed. My men apprehended them and brought her back to me just in time. They confessed that they were acting on orders from their king given in secret before his capture. I'm afraid they tried to rape her."

"No worse than she gets at your hands nightly you bastard. Take your hands off of my daughter." The old king snarled, not bothering to conceal his hatred.

The crowd was in uproar. He used the cover to whisper in her ear: "play along or I'll feed Telor his own tongue. He has outlived his usefulness and what I do with him depends entirely on you."

She sobbed into his chest. There was no need to act, she just stopped holding them in. Cameras flashed wildly.

After a lot of shouting and use of his gable, the judge managed to quell the uproar.

"Idwal, King of Brin-Gwirth, I have no choice but to sentence you to death, at dusk tomorrow."

"Aneira, look at me, save yourself. Somebody get that abomination away from my daughter." She looked, but she wished she hadn't. He had aged decades in a week. His shoulders sagged and his skin was grey. New tears rolled down her cheek and she felt them wiped away by silk handkerchief. The old king was dragged away, still shouting for someone to save his daughter.

"If you faint now I'll free your boyfriend. I'll leave him all of his fingers and everything." He growled in her ear. She went limp and dropped to the ground, allowing herself to be caught in his strong arms and lifted to his chest. If Telor was set free he could get the disk drive to the rebels, she couldn't have hoped for a better offer.

The crowd were quite overcome with sympathy for the delicate girl and many noted how lordly he looked as he cradled her to his chest and called for his men to clear a path and to get help. He swept through the parted crowds and allowed his men to fall into step behind him, leaving a clear shot for the cameramen as he left the building. He set her down in the car and climbed in behind, speeding away from the scene.

Once the doors were closed and the car was moving she broke down. "You used me! You used me to condemn my own father. You bastard, get away from me."

His slap wasn't entirely unexpected, but the boot to her hip as she fell into the footwell was. She screamed and cowered away from him, but he paid her little attention. "I will whip you for that when we are home. Be good and quiet from now until then and it will only be ten."

"I'll not give in to you, brute, I'll never give in to you. You can take me screaming until I have no breath but I won't yield.

"Twenty then. And one more noise and I'll put every one of them between your legs." He kicked again, catching her knee. From the angle he couldn't put much strength behind it but it was enough, and she cowered. "Shut up, whore. No more words, no more noise."

She sunk back into the corner as far away from him as possible, and cried silently to herself, hating him with every ounce of strength she had.

*****************************

The car stopped. He was tense – something wasn't right. There was shouting outside and then gunfire. Motorbikes were roaring, moving away from them. He pulled a pistol from the armrest and gestured to Rogers to hold her, slowly opening the car door. He edged around, using his armoured vehicle for cover.

"Drop it, bastard, on your knees and hands on your head". To her horror she heard him laugh.

"Go home lad, leave with the others. I'll even give you a thirty second head start before I send my men after you."

"What is stopping me shooting you right now and ending this?"

"You won't. Don't threaten me boy. And if by some chance you summon up the courage, my will may give you a rather lasting headache."

"Your..."

"My will, yes, my last will and testament. In it I express my preference for being buried with various of my possessions. If you shoot me lad, your girlfriend will spend her last hours gasping for air six feet under, with only my bullet ridden corpse for company."

"C'mon Telor, we have to go now. There are more of them coming"

"Do as your friend says, and be gone." His laughter broke over the sound of a motorbike revving and speeding off.

He kicked her as he climbed back into the car, catching her shin, but she didn't care, they had got away, and with all his files too. Despite the aches and the knowledge of more to come she felt lighter than she had since being captured. She had done her bit, done what she could. She had fought back.

"I want all the men responsible for securing the prisoners lined up in the drive by the time the car gets there Rogers."

"Yes sir" He began tapping furiously into his phone.

"And you. If I find out that you had any part in this I will whip you until you can no longer scream."

He could threaten all he liked, but there was no beating that was going to get his files back. She must have let her happiness show a little too much because he smacked her again. When the car stopped he grabbed her throat and dragged her out after him, the gun still in his right hand.

A row a dozen men stood in front of the house, some clearly injured.

"How the fuck did this happen?" He spat.

"They knew our rota sir, they came at change of shift"

"They used flash bangs and smoke grenades sir, we had no idea how many and from where."

"So? How did they get into the cells? They were locked with key codes. Which of you was guarding the cells?" A man stepped forward nervously.

"Sir, the doors weren't locked. None of us unlocked them, but when they went to free the prisoners, they weren't locked."

"Lies or incompetence, locked doors do not simply unlock themselves."

"There must have been a fault in the wiring sir, they..." The gunshot was deafening, and the man crumpled. She tried to get away from it all, but he didn't let go of her throat.

"Rogers deal with this. I need to see to her." He tossed her over his shoulder and left. She was sure she heard another gunshot as they reached the top of the stairs, but she didn't look.

Once in his room, he dropped her down from his shoulder and she collapsed.

"Strip, you pointless cunt, you do not deserve clothes." She made no move to do so, fighting through the pain of being dropped to edge away from him. A boot hit her already bruised shin and an arm dragged her up by the hair. "This is going to hurt you enough already, do not make me use my imagination." She striped. Trembling and sobbing she took off her dress and shoes. "Bend over the bed. I will deal with this in order. I promised you twenty for your little outburst in the car."

He didn't wait for her to go, but dragged her up by the hair and threw her. He rummaged in a drawer and brought out a crop. "If you move from that spot I will double it". He hit her arse far harder than he ever had before and she screamed. After ten she was begging him to have mercy but he had no intention of doing so. He kicked her down onto the floor and rolled her face up. He straddled her lower body and held her wrists above her head with one hand, the other forcing her to face him.

"Do you know what they call you back home, slut, do you know what you are to them? A collaborator. Your people think you were mine long before this war, how else could I have broken so quickly. Your performance in court today can only have helped matters. The rebels have a price on your head. You need me to keep you safe. Your own people think you are a spy and a whore who sold them all."

He left her to her tears which were coming in uncontrolled floods. There was a knock and Rogers came in.

"Dealt with?"

"Yes sir. One thing though, the last of them confessed to have heard the rebels talking about a disk drive, if that is of any importance to you."

"Hold the girl." He hissed, the blood draining from his face. He ran to his desk and removed the laptop from its drawer. "I'll kill her for this." He took out the drawer and turned it upside-down – nothing. He hurled it against the wall, splinters raining down.

"Bring her." Rogers followed, dragging Aneira, and chained her up in the horrible room with the bright lights. "Out. And I don't want to be disturbed until I call for someone to clear up the mess." He stripped down to his shirt, breathing deeply to calm himself. He turned, still terrifying in his rage. He spoke more calmly than she would have imagined possible. "Explain".

Her laughter took even Aneira by surprise. "I don't need to. You can hurt me all you like but it doesn't matter, it's gone. I gave it to Telor." She sounded almost mad.

"You gave my disk drive to Telor? Have you any idea what you have done whore?!" The fingers digging into her lower jaw hurt, but nothing mattered.

"I've got you back. For everything you've done to me I've got you back ten-fold."

"Well I'll just have to leave you in agony. You will know nothing but pain, whore, nothing."

"What do I care? They have your files. They have everything."

"What do you think it contained?" This was a calmer voice, a more frightening voice, but she was too high on her victory to notice.

"Files and secrets and all sorts you don't want known."

His grin was crueller than she had ever seen before. "No, my pet, it contains only one file." He spoke directly into her ear in a low, threatening whisper. "All it contains is a couple of hours of security footage from last night. It shows you begging me to take you to bed, it shows you wanting me, and it shows you screaming like a whore, moaning for me, coming for me. You've just revealed to all your little rebel friends what a slut you are in my bed." He laughed as she sagged in her restraints, despair flooding her, washing away her maniacal joy, and leaving nothing.

"You're lying." She whispered.

"And that is not all that drive contains, it has trackers in it too. And so does Telor, Rogers injected them into his spine. We'll give it just long enough for them to decode the message – it will happen automatically after a few hours, but it will still look like there are more files on there – and then we shall obliterate their little rebellion."

"But... how?"

"My own men in their ranks told them that Telor had some crucial information and gave them enough information to mount the raid. I knew about it all along, Rogers was in complete control of the situation. Stick to whoring girl, you're no good at plotting, and you are too easily played. You feel good underneath me. That's what you are for, pretty thing. That's all that's keeping me from whipping you bloody." He was hard, and he ground his crotch into her, kissing and biting her neck. "I'll finish with you later. No more plotting eh pretty thing? I'll destroy your mind if I have to. So long as your cunt stays warm, you'll still do for my needs."

He turned to leave, pausing to turn up the lights and to switch hidden speakers to emit loud, discordant noise. He waved at her as he left, blowing a kiss as he picked up his jacket. He intended to leave her like that for hours.

He got to work – there was a lot that needed to be done after the raid. He had half an eye on a small window in the top left of his screen which showed a live feed of Aneira in her cell. She was struggling, screwing up her eyes to block out the light, and screaming to be released (at least he guessed that was what she was saying – he kept the sound off). She'd wear herself out eventually, best just to leave her to scream herself hoarse.

After half an hour she hadn't calmed. If anything she was getting worse. She thrashed uncontrollably in her restraints like an animal driven mad by pain and fear. Shit. He had never had anyone react like this before and she was going to do herself some serious damage. He turned off the speakers remotely and dimmed the light but the damage was done and it didn't seem to have made any difference at all. For all he might threaten he had no intention of causing deep psychological harm – not in such an uncontrolled manner.

Entering the narrow corridor he could hear her muffled screaming. That room was almost entirely soundproofed! He had had people's fingernails removed in that room without hearing it outside. He picked up the pace and ran to the door. Opening it he dismissed any nagging doubts that she might be faking it – this was pure terror and he had no idea where it came from.