Free Web NovelChapter 269: Bargaining Chip
The extremely unpleasant Merida scoffed and stalked off after that, leaving me alone with the mace wielder and causing me to purse my lips as I wondered what was going to happen to me going forwards... and if there was something I could do right now to improve my odds of not being touched and certainly not dying.
"So..."
I tried to speak up only for the mace wielder to raise a brow at me, her gaze not as neutral as I had initially thought; there was a hunger there that didn’t feel ’safe’, something that was tinged with more than just the dark desires that Merida had acted upon.
Yet I just swallowed down my fear and asked "Is there a guarantee that I don’t... y’know..? Or..?", which made her chuckle as she replied "Nah, not really. I think your Academy typically tries to rescue their own, right? That’s about as good a guarantee as you’re gonna get."
"Because I’ll be the bargaining chip that you need to get out of here?"
"You are certainly a bargaining chip."
Having her just stare at me as I was bound to the mast was rather uncomfortable, yet before I could ask she just chuckled and preemptively said "And no you won’t be allowed to walk around, no you can’t have those loosened just yet, and no we aren’t going to forget how you quickly stole some of our comrades from us."
Even as she said that I could have sworn that she looked almost... indifferent to that, which I felt was far worse than how Merida was shouting at me or how the other one had been seeing them as valuable components of this ’machine’.
"Ahem... So... what’s your name?"
She raised a brow again before shrugging as she lowered herself to the ground, sitting across from me and leaning against the barrel as she replied "Corina. And you are Natalie, since that’s what a handful of your buddies were shouting."
"Yup... Hmm... Why’d you-"
"Don’t."
My attempt to make small talk was shot down immediately, Corina just shaking her head and crossing her arms as she stared at me from not that far away; the silence between us stretched out awkwardly - at least for me - rather quickly, so I began to look around to try and not endure more of that awkwardness.
The boat was a bit larger than the one I had been on earlier, while the wood was darker and the various nails and hinges were made from some coppery metal instead of the dull grey of iron; as for the crew, they all glared at me from wherever they were, but none of them made an attempt to get closer.
I wasn’t able to see over the edge of the ship to see the surroundings of the ocean, but I was able to admire the clouds and watch as the sun began to descend towards the horizon, meaning that it was about to get cold.
"Am I just... going to be out here the entire time?"
Corina didn’t deign to give me an answer, just staring at me like before and causing me to purse my lips before murmuring "Alright..." to myself, the slow chill of fear beginning to properly settle in now.
That chill deepened when the swarthy and stoic pirate came back with a potion, showing me the murky blue liquid and informing me "This is to guarantee you don’t try and escape; a mixture of Mana Drain and a mild Paralysis that does wonders when we need to transport living ’cargo’." before popping the cork and grabbing ahold of my jaw.
"Since we know you Academy pricks all have decent magical capabilities, I had to break out the better stuff just as a guarantee. You’re going to be all tingly and sluggish now, but it beats having an arrow in the heart..."
Forcing my jaws apart and parting my lips, she poured the liquid into my mouth and promptly clamped her hand over my lips while massaging my throat, relaxing the muscles and allowing the liquid to slide down easier.
With either the option of choking on it or just accepting my fate, I decided that it would be best if I just drank it willingly even if I felt like fighting, because that mace wielder was watching with a slight gleam... and Merida was grinning from afar.
These three alone already scared me into submission, but having an additional dozen or so pirates to worry about really drove that point home for me, so I let the extremely bitter liquid slide down my gullet despite knowing it would severely inhibit me.
That tingling she mentioned hit immediately, but the more noticeable effect was the mana in my veins and in my Core promptly ’withering’ into something that was ’dead’, taking up the space and not allowing more mana to enter my body.
After having something for so long the sudden absence made me feel sick, but there was nothing I could do as my limbs grew heavier while my head swam; it was such an immediate shift into weakness that I honestly felt terrified that I was about to die, but just as quickly as it hit me it began to fade.
Not completely, but into something manageable and otherwise not that uncomfortable; I wasn’t about to fall asleep easily or anything, but I certainly wasn’t completely out of it like I should have been, and that was noticed by Corina and the other pirate immediately.
"Huh. Well, at least you won’t have mana; I can feel that. Hmm..."
"Were you swindled with a bad batch?"
She just raised a brow at me before turning around and walking away, leaving me with Corina again, though before I could look back at the scary mace wielding pirate someone else walked up to me, blocking my line of sight. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
"Well, now that you’re like this..."
Merida tried a second time, apparently feeling quite determined to submerge her cock into my mouth, so when I bit down hard on her cock again she screamed and slapped me as she scrambled back, cursing up a storm.
"Merida... you’re a fucking idiot."
