A Brave New World (Closed for the gladiator)

[Shadowlace]

Ester Rosenthaugh was a woman who once had a clear path to partner at her law firm. A contract specialist she had come to form law school to the offices of Esher, Walton & Holthaus as an intern and with her wit, skill, and charisma made her way from a basic lawyer to junior partner in five years. Unfortunately, The short ebony-haired woman still stood as a junior partner over a decade later. The woman figured it was due to her inability to sleep with a couple of the senior partners. She doubted that was the only reason, but suspected it was one of the major reasons.

So the woman had resigned to lead her lovely division of contract lawyers. Most of those under her management had earned the firm over a hundred million in revenue. It was one of the more successful divisions of the firm which always made her look good amongst most of the firm. Still, she clung to her junior partner even with the age of 40 just a mere two years away.

The woman had lived a very fruitful life. A successful career, fancy cars, a large house, enough money to keep herself comfortable for years. Unfortunately, she had never settled down with a partner. Men and women had graced her life and her bed, but none were for her. The last one was a young man in his mid-twenties fresh out of law school. Drew was his name. He was once a collegiate soccer player, with a body to match. Despite the pleasurable frame and stamina, his personality was incredibly lackluster. This lead to the fact he admitted he had seduced her to sleep his way to the top.

Ester shook away the thought of the disgusting creature that was Drew and focused on her itinerary. First, she would once at the hotel, find her client. Next, she would go over the points of contention and what counterpoints and revisions to the deal in hopes of drafting a new contract. This would be done at a great little Japanese Restaurant where the still active Ester can indulge a bit. Next, she would return to her room, take a long hot bath before drafting a few of the contracts. It would be a boring business trip for the most part.

As she passed through the various checkpoints the woman repeated internally the itinerary. Finally, she was through all the security and protocols to come to the terminal. The lawyer lifted her slender wrist to gaze at her diamond and silver watch, a gift from a client, to check the time. Strangely she would have enough time to get in some reading. Not for work but actual entertainment. Which thankfully Esters' new assistant Tabitha had given her one of her personal favorites.

The book was the 'Dragonknights of Urth'. A fantasy novel, which Ester hadn't really read since grade school. The mature woman hadn't delved into the genre since she left her small-town high school for the Ivy league. It wasn't like she grew out of it, more like her life began to fill with the classics, legal documents, news, politics, and history throughout university which doubled for law school, and finally, as a lawyer, her workload required her to read three times as much in documents and cases as well as much much more. The mature woman instead of turning up her nose at such a suggestion smiled and eagerly hoped for a great epic tale of Dragons, Knights, Elves, and Wizards.

As she secured seats for her and her stuff Ester sat down rummaging through her personal bag to procure the book. It was a paperback with weak binding, but classic artwork. The picture on the front was of an armor-clad knight on a dragon back fighting some strange-looking black robbed wizard welding a solid black magical sword. The art looked like the early 90s novel covers she fell in love with all those years ago. Eagerly she opened it up and noticed the well-drawn map with all the necessary locations marked. Next Esters fingers nimbly moved to the back noting it had an appendix full of words, phrases, and definitions of monsters and whatnot.

Not long after delving into the appendix, she was off to the races. Esters eyes fluttered across the page drinking in the words. The mind conjured the places, people, and things for the educated woman. The imagination sparks the lost love of high fantasy. Swords clashed, spells thrown and dragons roared! Ladies danced and gossiped as the hero saved some woman within a bandit camp before securing some rare magic that the world had not seen in millennia!

While The lawyer drew deep of the world within the pages, her eyes and body drooped. Ester hadn't slept well, for she spent her night in her home office looking into this trip and all the matter she would have to deal with. Esters' hard work lead to a fitful night's sleep at her desk and now with less than five hours of sleep, she drifted slowly to sleep her imagination unable to shield her from the demand her body needed.

 

[The_gladiator]

Exhaustion—was there a better term to describe how Jared felt. He supposed there wasn’t. Yet, he soldiered on, ever onward.

Leather armor creaked as the stalwart knight smoothed a piece of ground and sat, leaning his back against the wall of blue fire that was his dragon, Taggin’s side. The dragon was silent in his head, an occurrence that surprisingly was rare the knight mused.

“I heard that,” the dragon rumbled in his mind.

“Don’t really care if you did. Now, leave me to my writings, give me just a moment of piece and quiet, won’t you?”

“Do you actually think someone will read your writings one day my friend?”

“That’s the hope, yes. I hope that our story reaches someone, someday, even should we fall. Should Garett prove triumphant and descend this world into darkness, someone may yet rise to shed light on this world again. Maybe just maybe our story will help.” This inner monologue garnered no response from his dragon companion.

The following is an excerpt from the journals of Sir Jared bowmakerson

“For too long we’ve fought this war against Garett and his scourge of evil. For what I ask you, all for control of the pool. Yes, the well of the worlds or so that strange place is called is important, but is it worth continuing to die over? I know that the elvish king swears that if we do not continue to distract Garret, and he learn to fully command the depths, no world is safe. I guess therefore it is for the greater good that we fight. Even so it is difficult to remember that as I survey my wing resting before me. Exhausted all of us. Not a one of us have slept a full night cycle since this great war began. Victories, yes, we achieve them, yet, will it amount to anything?

Sighing Jared flipped his notebook closed and slid it back into his belt pouch. He was too distracted to write more this night. His mind was strangely preoccupied with the images the well of the worlds had shown him the one time he had gazed into their depths as a boy. He had been captivated by the dark-haired beauty he had seen in those strange waters. He had never discovered who she was or why she had appeared to him. Yet, he had a feeling, something was coming, something would change.

“Sleep my rider,” Taggin’s deep soothing voice in his head sounded as a low rumble. “You have a big raid on the citadel tomorrow. You should be sleeping. There is not more you can do this night. I will keep you warm,” and with that the dragon curved a wing over Jared making a tent of sorts for the rider to settle down against the dragon’s warmth.

 

[Shadowlace]

Strangely Ester felt cold. She didn't know why she was in an airport lobby. How could she be cold? Cold and damp? What was happening here? The woman began to blink and her eyes fluttered open. As she did she found herself lounging on some sort of mass of kelp or seaweed wet from head to toe.

The woman slipped a bit as she struggled to get to her feet. Not because Ester wasn't fit or capable but because of the slickness of the weeds and her own wet form. Eventually, she managed to stand in her crocs, which she wears when going on planes. Unfortunately, she had hoped to maybe not be wet in her white pants and blazer, let alone her simple low-hanging top.

As she stood at the edge of this pool, she began to rub her harms and think. The last thing she remembered was reading the 'Dragonknights of Urth' but fell asleep. As she looked around she noted this pool looked a lot like the Well of Worlds from the book. Did she wake up near the well? No, she couldn't have that would be ridiculous! She clearly was in a dream. That was it she was in a dream.

Still for a dream, it was a bit lackluster, you'd think she would appear with a handsome young knight and be swept away on dragon back to some remote place to learn how to fight or weld magic before she fell in love with a ruggedly handsome knight. Not soaking wet on a beach.

As she continued to dwell on it, Ester had walked from her initial bed and was now standing on the grass. Still shivering she began to move further and further taking in a beautiful rolling land of hills. Dotted with trees and some ruins. It was strangely quiet. No birds no ambient sounds. Ester began to feel something wasn't quite right. That was when her surroundings shimmered and filled with several men in shabby basic clothes and leather armors. They waved about swords and spears and other such weapons. It was comical to the point she began to giggle.

To Ester, these 'toughs' felt like some Reinessance Fair rejects who hadn't even seen a bath in weeks! Seriously the lawyer thought her imagination was a lot more creative than this. Strangely her laughter seemed to make this organized rabble pause. If only for a moment. Ester just couldn't believe all this, what sort of a dream was this. Eventually, the men seized her. Ester laughed a bit harder as she just couldn't come to terms yet.

"Seriously is this the best you got brain!"Ester laughed even as they began to pull her towards some horses. It wasn't until The men began to pull and tug at her garments. As her sleeve began to tear Ester struggled and growled. A fist flew connecting with a man's nose, but she felt pain as well her hand never had to connect in such a capacity before! Ester tried to kick out, instead, one of the men grabbed it and held on tighter.

Ester screamed and thrashed. In the end, they managed to get her out of her pants shirt, and jacket. She stood in just her satin and lace bikini-cut underwear and matching bra/bustier top. One of the men seemed to draw a knife to cut these off but one sinister-looking guy in a skull motif of metal and leather on a strange Black lizard the size of a Rental Truck stretched out his left hand and uttered some strange words. At the end of his phrase, a swirl of reddish green-black energy began to coalesce into a sphere and then shot out towards the man. When it connected it began to sear and boil the man who fell back thrashing and kicking.

In the death throes of the man came splatter of his melting flesh and blood. Ester screamed louder and thrashed harder witnessing this man, literally boil and sear into a puddle of flesh. Witnessing such a horror the woman eventually blacked out. Sometime later Ester once more felt damp. Sweat covered her now as a drip of water fell onto her chest. She was in a simple cell. The rough iron doors shunted into a small rough-hewn cavern. As Ester felt the water she tried to move back, but instead, she only had about four inches give before she noticed her bindings, hard iron chains keeping her pretty much in a standing position. It wasn't a dream anymore. It was a nightmare.

 

[The_gladiator]

The well of the worlds was in a seemingly peaceful plain. However, the scenic valley was surrounded by mountains. The rolling hills Ester had scene swept up into peaks that looked almost like twin encircling claws, cupping the idyllic valley in their grip. In the top of these mountains, the spine ridge mountains, Garret had built his citadel. The dark knight sorcerer had driven out the gentle fae folk who for centuries had guarded the valley of the worlds.

Jared was reminded of how some of the blood of such fae ran in his veins as he surveyed the map, he had of the spine ridge mountains and the small mottles of his wing he had placed on its surface to outline their strategy to his men. That fae blood manifested in the moonlight silver streaks through his otherwise black hair. The slight points to his ears, the tilt to his eyes. None of these in and of themselves suggested fae blood, but taken together they were unmistakable, something many throughout his life had not let Jared forget. The circle of blue ringing the green eyes were the most telling sight of all. Only the fae had tricolored eyes. He only had two rings, but it was enough that the humans found them unsettling for the most part.

Fortunate for Jared, most of his men were as mixed in blood as he. 4 of the 12 were half-elven, 2 were full blood wood elves, with the wild nature that would suggest. The scouts, spies and sneaks of the wing were halflings all. Of the other two, there was Jared himself, and Talath their high elven healer. If not called to be the healer of their party, the odds may have been good that Talath might have led the wing. Actually, now he thought about it, Jared was the most human of anyone in the entire wing currently present. The other 4 members of their wing were currently imprisoned within the citadel. The 4 human members of the wing had been sent to infiltrate Garret’s forces to learn of his plans. A sympathetic cook had smuggled out a message that the 4 human dragon riders had been captured.

“Does everyone understand the plan,”

“Rescue the others,” Dirk, one of the halflings spat, idly twirling his namesake between his deft fingers.

“A bit short on details, but yes thank you for the global summary, succinct as ever Dirk.”

“Oh yeah, we kill them that gets in our way,” Dirk elaborated. Jared could only nod. He supposed when you boiled it all down, that’s what you got.



Within the Citadel, Ester would be able to hear voices. “I can hear gorin in my head. He is frantic.”

“I hear Solin too.”

The first voice spoke again, “Do you suppose Jared is coming to break us out?”

The second must have shrugged as there was no immediate reply until a third voiced for them to be quiet, someone was coming.

It did not take long for the sound of footsteps to permeate the underground tunnels. A pair of guards swept past Ester’s cell and went to one next to it. There was the sound of locks and heavy chains. This was followed by the sickening thud of a fist against flesh. The man struck gave no sound beyond a grunt. There was the sound of a scuffle and one of the guards cried out with pain. He came out of the cell into Ester’s view clutching his now dislocated knee. “You’ll pay for that rider.”

“Quit your sniveling and go get more men, Garret wants this one up on the questioning table. You know he wants his partner.”

“I will never give her up.” The rider spoke finally. “You are fools to think I would ever betray her.

“Oh, you will,” the second guard, who hadn’t gone off in search of help offered. “Lord Garret has devised some fun new techniques to loosen your tongue. Should that fail, you can watch us have our way with the woman we brought in today.”

“What are you talking about?” the rider asked. It was not one of the three voices that had talked earlier, discussing rescue, suggesting there were at least 4 prisoners aside from Ester in this dungeon.

“Yes, some pretty lass, I don’t know anything about her, but she looks pretty indeed I’d have fun with her, especially if it got you lot to talk. The rider spat into the guard’s face and was struck a blow for it.

“You keep your hands off her,” This was the voice that had warned the two earlier to stop talking about rescue because the guards were coming. His voice sounded tense but still remarkably calm despite what he had to be watching and hearing about.

 

[Shadowlace]

Ester overheard what was transpiring outside her cell. The woman's wrists began to ache, as did her legs and back. The restraints she had on her were well extremely uncomfortable. She could barely move. Let alone sit or lay down. Whatever this nightmare was supposed to be she hoped to wake up soon. If only to hopefully get a reprieve!

As the commotion continued she eagerly listened. They were gonna interrogate those men, the ones who were talking about a rescue. Was this the break she was gonna get? Was someone coming to free them, would they free her too! Wait this was a dream, she should be able to free herself. Now that she thinks about it why can't she just fall asleep and wake up?

Suddenly she was smacked with a name she knew. Garret! That one she knew it was in her book, wait so was the name, Jared? Was she dreaming about 'Dragonkinghts of Urht? If so then she knew that the man would probably not survive the questioning. Perhaps she may have made a subconscious way out.

"Sir, Warden, Guard! Please don't hurt him! I'll go in his stead, I'll take whatever punishments you need me to, just spare those men okay, Please?"Ester offered to hope the man would take her offer. I mean those three were the only means of getting her out of this cell and possibly out of this dream. Besides what harm could happen to her. This was all a dream. At least is had to be, nobody really ever got transferred to another world that was just in stories.

"Hear that rider, even the woman feels pity for you. To think she is eager to let us have our way with her on your behalf is not a bad offer, are you willing to let her take it? To stay your time on the questioners' table. Instead, you'll get to watch her endure us." The guard says still obscured by the door. In the background, more men began to come with heavy booted feet echoing as the one who have ordered them to laugh.

" We are gonna have even more fun with you woman, SO much fun your mind will break on the mighty of Garrets Mighty Army!" he came manically as he began to unlatch her door.

What happened next would become the beginning of Esters' dream theory to crack. She wasn't ready for it, any of it. Though it came flooding in as the door opened and the jailer, his men, and the prisoner filed in.

[I can go into more detail later, Unless you have an interesting idea ?]

 

[The_gladiator]

The rider with the guards wore leather armor, a patch on the shoulder with a blue v on it, almost as if depicting the shape of a dragon wing in an attack wedge. He was struggling in the grip of the guards. “Don’t you dare touch her. My commander will never stand for this.”

“Your leader isn’t here.” The guard snapped. He waved and guards pulled Ester off the wall, out of the small cell. “You’ll just wait here while we put him up on the questioning table. He can watch us play with you there.”

The guards pulled the rider over to a table where they chained him down spread eagled. His brown eyes glanced to the woman as if to say he was sorry.

Jared waved at his men, pumping his arm in a wide gesture and the wing took flight. They Split into three groups of 4 arranged in a triangle. Then the 4 riderless dragons completed the diamond formation. Jared gave another gesture and the riders headed toward the citadel. They would start by flaming the mountainsides, make it look like they were attacking the well. Garret and his men could not expect their real goal.

 

[Shadowlace]

As the men released her and began to drag the man away Ester, ever an observant woman took in the hall and the men who escorted her. The raven-haired woman in just her power lingerie walked along. Her grey eyes began to look over the armor and arms of the guards. Two of the guards had greyish-green skin with well-corded arms under thick leather with metal plates sewn onto them. The weapons were some short of long knives, possibly short swords or messers. Along with those were a clear dagger and each held short spears.

As for the one who had been talking the most. He wore a breastplate and carried a whip, as well as a more curved blade. The human was brazenly arrogant and full of himself. Apparently the one in charge of these guards. He also seemed to have more well-maintained equipment and personal hygiene. The other guards were clearly dingey and carried a slight smell of men who hadn't washed in a few days.

As they got to the chamber Ester with two of the escorts stood off to the side. The creature's eyes began to look her over, her soft once tone flesh ample and peaking over a soft supple ass and breasts that she could have sworn the men were audibly salivating. It was a creepy and dirty feeling being literally raped by the men assembled. What was worse than the boring lust-filled gaze, was watching the other guards and the jailer strapping the other man down, his body straining to get free, but also holding back as to not put her in danger.

"Now that you are secure and comfortable, where should we start? Should my 'men' tear her flimsy clothes off?" He paced between Ester and strapped down man. It was part of the interrogation, Ester knew. She had used similar tactics in the waking world. " I know!"

The jailer exclaimed and came Striding forward. His cold hand reached out grabbed Ester by her arm and began to pull her over towards the table. " She'll service me first, Won't you. I want those lips off yours to clean my cock, if not I will fatten those lips. That is unless this knight talks!"

Ester didn't hesitate, she lowered herself down on her knees. She looked over at the knight in chains. Slowly Ester's hands began to run up his legs and slowly tease and taunt the crotch of this jailer. As she did the man couldn't wait. His fingers worked his belt and his laces. Fumbling as Ester stroked what was so far a meager member.

"So tell me knight, what is your commander planning? Is he going to hit the army's supply lines? Or is it the supply depots? If you don't this woman will have to clean my cock right in front of your eyes!" He exclaims, his member exposed now, Esters sunkissed hand touching a very pungent prick the size of shot glass semi-hard. Thick curly black hair was apparent about the member as its phimosis began to slid back a bit as Ester worked for her hand on the member, it growing a bit longer and thicker.

Ester wanted to work free the head a bit more, but the jailer gripped Ester by the hair and shoved her face into his crotch. It hit her face and left a bit of a soft sticky smear under her left eye. " Suck it Bitch, or you'll get the back of my hand!" He growled and Ester licked the tip. She fought back a gag and slowly worked her tongue on the tip hoping soon it would be free of its turtle neck. Once free Ester kissed it and slowly worked her firm still lipstick covered lips over the tip, back and forth while her hand worked the shaft.

AS she was about to go further some sort of commotion began to happen and bells began to sound. Something in the complex was happening. Ester didn't know what but half the guards hurried out the room. She would get her chance soon, she would just have to stomach it a bit more. Ester even thought that if she pulled this off she would wake up!