After the Fall(65)
Honorius’s clothing was in a heap on the bed and he was naked, standing before Magnus with a barb-tipped leather whip in his hand.
Horrified, Gigi looked at Magnus and suddenly realized he wasn’t kneeling on purpose, and it wasn’t just a bloodied nose he’d suffered, but much, much worse. There were open, bleeding cuts across his chest, shoulders, and arms, and he was tied against a column to keep him upright. She cried out. Magnus was unconscious!
Honorius spun around and Gigi saw expressions of fury, then shock, and finally delight pour over his face as he moved toward her.
Then she saw the bastard’s erection.
Enraged, ready to kill, she leapt to her feet, holding both blades in front of her. “You sonofabitch,” she said in English, “you’re going to die for this!”
She stepped away from the bed, making sure of her surroundings, always keeping him before her, as Athaulf’s boys had taught her.
“Gigiperrin,” Honorius cooed, swinging the whip back and forth, his cock whipping side to side as well, “we should have known you’d come running to save your lover, although we’re afraid there’ll not be much of him left when we are done. For all we know, he’s dead already.”
Suddenly terrified, Gigi glanced at Magnus again. Was he breathing? She couldn’t tell.
As if in response, he moaned just as Honorius lunged, snapping the whip at her head, but she leapt away just in time. She thrust one of her blades toward him, but missed by several inches and he laughed at her efforts. She pivoted and faced him again, heart pounding. Get closer next time, she told herself. Draw him in. She swallowed hard, quelling her instinct to run.
Honorius grinned. “So, the whore-slave has yet to learn humility, but we shall see what we can do about that.”
With a flick of his wrist, he sent the tip of the whip flying at her again and Gigi heard herself scream as she raised her arm defensively, then scream again as pain ripped through her senses. Not only had the thing cut her forearm, she was surprised to see the thin leather braid had wrapped around her elbow. Furious, she jerked the whip as hard as she could and glanced up when she heard Honorius cry out.
She had pulled the handle right out of his hand. It fell to the floor, scudding on the tiles, and she shook off the leather strips encircling her arm. A look of bewilderment crossed Honorius’s face, then wrath, and he lunged for his sword and swung violently.
Gigi barely avoided him, and, with her mind screaming in terror, she darted closer. Squeezing her eyes shut in the last instant, she madly slashed and sprang away.
Breathing hard, she opened her eyes to see Honorius blanch, then touch his bloodied cheek, his face contorted with rage.
“You bitch!” he said, baring his teeth in a seething, angry grin. “You shall be the first to die. Once you weary from this man’s sport, Gigiperrin, and you will tire, we assure you, you will long for the sweet release of a blade, but it shall not be quick in coming. Oh no.”
He moved around her slowly, going in circles, waving the tip of his blade at her, trying to make her dizzy. But Gigi knew the tactic, had fallen for it too many times with the boys in camp, and she knew she could not wait for him to make a move. She had only two real choices: attack or run.
She leapt toward Honorius when he was between steps and slightly off-balance, flailing with her arms, hoping to land a blow serious enough to take him out of the fight, if only for a moment.
Honorius backed away in time, but he stumbled into Magnus and fell flat on his back, his sword clattering across the floor. Gasping for breath, he struggled to get up.
The bump brought Magnus out of his lethargy, and Gigi quickly cut his bonds. Weak and unfocused, he fell forward once his wrists were freed, and Gigi moved to catch him, but Honorius found his footing in the next instant and came at her. She let Magnus fall and tried to spin around to face her enemy. Too late! Honorius was on her, grappling for her knives, then punching her in the stomach.
She doubled over from the pain and they crashed to the floor together, but Gigi had the sense to fling her weapons as far as she could, knowing he’d overpower her in hand-to-hand combat and use them against her, hoping he hadn’t seen the sword still tucked into her belt and digging into her back.
They struggled and Gigi tried to claw at his face, twist free, anything, but he was agile and strong, and suddenly, in a brutal flurry of movement, Gigi’s arms and legs were pinned — she couldn’t move.
Honorius looked down at her with a triumphant grin, then lay on top of her, grinding his hips against hers. “You shall be sweet to taste, slave. We can hardly wait.” Arching up, he rocked back and forth over her, playfully thrusting his re-engorged cock toward her face.