Duke Diablo
4th Level Red Feather
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- Sep 26, 2004
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All right, this is an old story of mine I did as a request for a fellow member here at the forum. It's not really good, and it has already been posted on ATF by the requestor, but I got a PM from a fellow member here who said they wanted to see more FF stories from me. So... I bring this one, sad as it is.
«I can't believe she got away!», Ashe screamed at the still-sore Vaan, who was trying to recover from the hit he got in the head from the escaping Drace. She couldn't believe it... even though the judge was tired, she still managed to escape.
«C'mon, lay him some slack!», Penelo interfered. «She caught him off guard and...»
«Damn!», the princess roared, storming out of the room. She wasn't through with Drace, not after that ordeal the judge made her go through.
«Calm down, princess», Balthier tried to soothe her. «We shall meet her again, be sure of that.»
Even though his words were true, they were not able to stop the storm that was lady Ashe, raging through the captured warship. She was furiously marching through the Leviathan, venting her fury at anything that was in her grasp: chairs flew, books were torn to pieces, and metal walls were resounding with sounds of hits upon them.
All of this couldn't calm the princess down, but Fran's voice coming over from the speakers, echoing through the ship, could:
«Prepare to land! We are above our destination, the Golmore jungle. They might know something about nethicite.»
Furious or not, Ashe knew that getting killed while landing wouldn't help her frustration at all. That was why she controlled her anger enough to find a good spot and hold herself... those landings tended to be a bit rough, especially in wooden areas.
* * *
«All right», Balthier said, «the landing is over. You can stop screaming like a little girl now, Vaan.»
«R... Really?», Vaan asked, looking around like a scared child, still gripping the pole he has attached himself to. During the flight, his screams rang louder than the hits upon the hull, deafening any attempt to calm him. Now, calmer, he sighed in relief and sat on the floor, breathing heavily, still in disbelief.
«Yes, we're here, so you can stop screaming in higher tones than I could ever let out of my mouth», Penelo added. The young blonde was unfortunate enough to be close to the thief during the landing, finding a pole right next to him when Fran's announcement came in.
And so, the party left the ship, of course after Penelo and Basch pried Vaan off the pole he was gripping. They had to use a crowbar.
«Well, we're in Golmore jungle now», Penelo noted. «Where to now?»
«Eruyt village», the white-haired woman noted, walking in front of the group and looking around. «To the land of the Vieras.»
«Great!», Penelo exclaimed, jumping from excitement, her twin braids shaking from the motion. «So, we're going to meet more members of your race, right Fran?»
Much to the blonde's surprise, Viera gave her a sad look as she slowly said: «Yes.»
«Well, we should be moving on», Balthier said as he led the party deeper into the unwelcoming jungle. Nobody said anything more.
* * *
A couple of slain monsters later, the party found itself at the entrance to the Eruyt village, home to the mystical Viera race.
«Well, here we are», Balthier said, observing the sight of few Vieras at the village's central square giving them surprised and fearful looks. Guess they never expected to see humes casually strolling into their village. They never expected to see humes strolling into their village in any manner, at that. «Let's find out all we can and get out as soon as we can. We aren't a most welcome sight here.»
«You are right, hume», a tall Viera came out from one of the huts, confirming his thoughts. She walked slowly and gracefuly, surrounded by two vieras wearing outfits similar to Fran's: tight, black leather armors cut open in many places, leaving little to imagination, tempting the eyes of onlookers with the exposed skin they offered. When the trio came closer, to an arm's length away from the party, the Viera continued to speak: «Six humes and an outcast. What business do you have in our village?»
«We came to ask about the nethicite», Fran answered, acting as a spokesperson to the group, coming out close to the Viera leader.
The tall, long-haired Viera, who seemed to be their leader, stood silent for a moment, as if she was thinking, her eyes closed and her head bowed down. Then, after a brief pause, she opened her eyes, looking directly at the outcast's eyes: «Why would you seek such knowledge? Do you seek to use it? To conquer with it? To lead your wars?»
«We need it to stop a war», Fran replied. «Large forces are moving, Jote.»
«The nethicite can only bring destruction», the viera Fran called Jote replied slowly, her facial expression unchanging.
«Listen, Jote... we need the nethicite... surely Mjrn...»
«Mjrn has gone missing.»
The words Jote spoke out seemed to have struck the exile. Fran shook her head in disbelief, as the beautiful viera leader continued:
«She has gone, following you. She said she will try to find you, to seek adventure. At least that's what she wrote in her letter.»
«Jute... we both know she belongs in the village», Fran squeezed out after she recovered from the shock.
«You get her back, we tell you about the nethicite», the viera leader offered, light breeze raising her loose, straight, white hair as if accenting her words.
Just as Fran was going to say that they accept, she was interrupted by a loud shout.
«Hey! No way!»
It was Ashe. Lady Ashelia B'Nargin Dalmasca, queen of Dalmasca raised her voice defiantly, canceling the trade.
«We don't have time to waste on some lost bunny-girl! We need to know where the nethicite is!»
Suddenly, the facial expression of viera leader has changed completely. From the calm, almost tamed behavior, she changed into a wild, raging storm, crushing the dams of her former icy mask.
«Very well, then... the deal has just changed...», she stormed, «You bring us Mjrn and we let her go.»
As soon as she said so, several Vieras jumped at Ashe, and, before the princess could even react, she was floored by six bunny-women, two gripping each leg and one gripping each arm, pinning the young queen down.
«Let go!», Ashe protested as she tried to fight the Vieras off, but to no avail. Their grip was too strong, and Dalmasca's ruler was helpless. «Let go, you damn rabbit-spawn!!»
The party did nothing to help her. Not wishing to anger the Viera leader any more, Fran just nodded, accepting the deal, and the party slowly departed, leaving Ashe helpless in her captors' iron grip.
«Nice work, Ashe», Balthier commented as he was leaving, followed by the short-haired woman's screams for help.
«Damn you! Damn you all!», she shouted as she struggled against the brown girls who were picking her up, still unable to move due to their strong grips. All she could do was observe helplessly as she was being carried to the town's central square, to a set of stocks in it's middle.
«You will learn respect», Jote said as Dalmascan queen was placed in the restraints, her feet going into the central holes, while her hands were placed inserted at the side. Ashe did her best to resist, but it wasn't good enough. She was furious. How did those filthy women dare to do this to her? She protested!
«Blast you to nine hells!», she shouted out at her captor, who was carefully overseeing her placing in stocks, and thus immobilisation in the same contraption. «You can't do this to me! I'm the queen!»
«You are not queen of Vieras», Jote replied as two Vieras liberated Ashe's feet from her boots, leaving her only in socks. «You need to be taught a lesson. That is why we will tickle you until your friends come back with Mjrn.»
Under any normal circumstances, Ashe would laugh at that thought. Taught a lesson by tickling... yeah right. Whoever heard of that. However, being that Ashe had already went through tickle-torture by Drace, these weren't normal circumstances, and Ashe was really scared when words 'tickling' left the dark-brown woman's mouth. It made her remember the terrible ordeal judge made her go through. The sensation of constant tickling on her ticklish, defenseless body came back to her, sending shivers down her spine, making her shake in her bonds.
«T... tickling?», she repeated.
«Yes», the gray-haired woman nodded. «I hope you are ticklish. Princesses should be sensitive and delicate.»
Delicate she was not, but ticklish and sensitive Ashelia certainly was. Were she put on any other torture, be it whips, hooks, hot coals, racks... anything, she would have endured it proudly. However, tickling wasn't a thing she was able to stand so stoicaly. It was her weak point, and she was cursing that fact right now. To be able to break her with tickling... if she got imprisoned again, the empire would certainly use that fact now. That was why she was angry at Drace's escape even more. But, now was not the time to be worrying about Drace, she knew, as the Vieras holding her moved away a bit, leaving her alone with the leader and one of their kin, but observing her in her helpless situation, forming a small audience that was bound to increase as they were in the main square. Suddenly, insulting Jote didn't seem like such a good idea. She had to think... think fast.
«Well... I'm not ticklish», she bluffed, stretching out her toes in her red socks, hoping it would be enough to fool the bunny-eared folk. She knew she could stand one or two scratches without twitching, especially if it's in her socks. Yes, her crimson foot-protectors were a golden silencer of such impulses in times like these. She just wanted to kiss them now... well, after she washes them, of course.
«We'll see about that», Jote said, surprising Ashe by poking her ribs from the backs, making her twitch a little. Damn. She caught her by surprise, not taking Ashe's offer, but going for the other body part when the beautiful queen didn't even see it. Damn it! No! Please... no...
«It seems you lied», the beautiful viera teased. «You are ticklish. Another bad manner.»
«Who the hell are you to teach me manners?!», the young queen bursted out. She was as angry as she was scared. «Go home and lick your ears, you half-breed rabbit-spawn!»
Jote sighed, fixing her long, perfect hair.
«Very well. We begin now.»
Saying so, she took place behind the queen in exile, using her really long fingernails to scratch her sides.
«It... won't work... told you... I'm not ticklish», Ashe tried to lie, to bluff, using each and every ounce of her willpower to keep her body from twitching, and her mouth from laughing.
«Begin to work on her», young queen's white-haired captor ordered the viera kneeling at her captive's feet. The girl obeyed reluctantly, placing her long, sharp nails on the outstretched soles of Ashe's feet, their soft, delicate flesh protected by a layer of red fabric. The feet twitched as soon as they were touched, socks not being able to dampen the ticklish sensation enough. Yes. Her bluff was seen through and, learning from past encounter with Drace where holding back laughter drained her strength in a matter of minutes, she decided to let the laughter out.
So, arching her head back as far as her current situation allowed, lady Ashelia admitted her ticklishness by letting out a clear, resounding laughter come out from her mouth, not too loud, not too hysterical, but rather well-placed and enjoyable: «Aaahahahahahahahahaha.... dahahahahamn youuhuhuhuhuhu.»
«You really need to be taught a lesson», viera leader teased, scratching Ashe's sides while the light-haired captive queen did her best to try and escape her fingers, which were casually playing across the surface of her ticklish skin, luckily still protected by a thin white fabric of her clothes. However, somehow, Ashe knew that this fabric wasn't going to stay for long.
And she was right. Very quickly, after mostly a minute or two of tickling, Viera leader stopped the tickling, pausing to remove Ashe's last... and only... line of defense against those tickling nails.
«Dahahahahamn you!», she managed to shout, still tickled on the soles of her feet by the Viera-girl at the bottom of the stocks. The two red socks did their all to avoid the tickling: trash, wiggle, move around to the top of their ability (which wasn't much), pull, stand one in front of another, but none of it did her any good. The white-haired, bunny-eared brown girl at her feet knew her job well, always finding a way to get Ashe's soles on their most vulnerable spots, be it her soft, tender heel, her high, ticklish arch, or the tempting balls of the foot. The tormenting tickle-nails got everywhere, tickling, scratching, driving Ashe insane, and at the same time grateful for her socks. However, on the upperbody front, her last line of defense was just being breached, as her white top was slowly but surely removed, with her unable to do anything about it. She could curse and yell, and so she did when the laughter allowed, but those proved as a very poor method of stopping Jote in her intentions as, slowly but surely, inch by inch, centimeter by centimeter of revealed soft skin, the clothes did come off, leaving Ashe's bra as only clothing from the waist up. Ashe knew she was in for hell now.
And she was right. The moment Jote's long fingernails started tickling her ribs, scratching them, walking like spiders upon their smooth surface, Ashe went through orbit. She started wriggling and swaying like crazy, desperate to make the tickling stop.
«Aaaahahaahahahahahaaaa!!!» A helpless scream of laughter was everything young queen could produce under the work of five little devils that were probing her fair skin at each side... and let's not forget the feet, who were also the target of cruel, merciless tickle-torture. Luckily, they were still protected by two crimson cotton socks, which served as an effective softener of tickle sensation. But for how long, Ashe asked herself, being that she had already undergone one undressing experience.
Looking around, she realized that the crowd was getting bigger and bigger, more and more Vieras coming out to see the spectacle of a tickled royal... and what a ticklish royal it was. And, what was worse, Jote saw the assembling crowd as well, and wanted to give them some 'increased' action. Ashe looked up to her with tears forming in her eyes, still unable to say anything coherent from laughter, and she was sure she saw an evil glint in Viera leader's eye as she issued an order to her underling, who was joyously and vigorously tickle-torturing Ashe's crimson-socked royal soles:
«Remove her socks. Slowly.»
«Nooohohohohohohahahahahahaha!!!», Ashe begged, imagining the horror of being tickled without her two precious protectors. No. She couldn't let that happen. That was why, when she felt the girl taking her sock between her long fingernails, pulling it slightly to take it off, Ashelia quickly placed her other foot in front, squeezing her feet together so the socks wouldn't come off so easily. However, even that act of desparation proved futile as Jote's tickling proved too much for Ashe's mind, her ability to control her body quickly leaving Ashe, her feet starting to flail around very soon, at the mercy of her tickler. And her tickler was intent on taking her socks off, which was really made easy by attacking Ashe on two fronts, making the queen unable to concentrate on one specific point.
And so, the long red socks which proved to be such a reliable, trusting shield so far, were slowly removed, going off slowly but fluently, pulled simultaneously by the foot-torturing Viera, revealing more and more of the naked flesh of Ashe's legs, young queen saying her farewells to her crimson protectors, as her ankles were slowly revealed, red line slowly crossing on to her heels, revealing them and... stopping. Yes... surprising as it was, the viera torturer stopped when she revealed Ashe's slightly-blushing heels, leaving the rest of the foot under the magical protection of cotton foot-clothes. Then, with heels' protection removed, the brown bunny-girl pinched the new bulbs of pink flesh with her thumbs and middle fingers, scratching them with the finger between, sending Ashe into a frenzied laughter.
«AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! DAHAHAHAMN!!! NOT THEHEHEHE FEEEET!!!», the heir to Dalmascan throne managed to shriek out as this new sensation started to overwhelm her, both her torso and heels completely naked and defenseless now, stripped of their last lines of defense. She always thought her armpits were the most ticklish spot on her body... guess she was wrong. Somehow, she wasn't sure if it was viera's technique, or just an illusion created by the removal of the socks, but the sensation of tickling on those soft, ticklish heels of her's, their flesh making small crevices where the long fingernails would touch them, disappearing the instant the nail would move on, drove her crazy with laughter, being even more intense than the sensation of tickling that she felt all over her tender sides. And she was helpless. There was nothing she could do but take the torture and hope the party will return as soon as possible... before she goes insane from this infernal, skillful torture, as vieras proved to be crueler, more skillful ticklers than judge Drace. Well, they certainly did have some natural advantages: their long nails, that is, as Ashe was finding out. Those nails tickled her better than any feather or human hand could, proving to be worse tickling tools (or better from tickler's point of view) than anything any hume could invent, especially combined with bunny-girls' natural dexterity.
«AAAAAA!!! STAHAHAHAHAP!!! I DEHEHEHEMAND THAT YOU STAHAHAHAAAAP!!!», Ashe tried to command, still far from begging, her pride too strong for it. However, her body was slowly getting exhausted. Slowly, but surely, her muscles grew more and more tired, tension building up in them slowly, but noticeably, just as the observing crowd was growing. Viera by viera, the crowd grew bigger and bigger, until practically whole village was attending the tickle-torture of lady Ashe at the hands of their leader and one of their comrades. Without a doubt, some of the members of the audience wished to be able to replace them as the ticklers of this deliciously ticklish, suffering hume, at the same time thanking gods it was the hume, not them, in those stocks. Tickle-torture was common and widespread among vieras, who used tickle-torture as a punishment for all but most severe of the crimes. That was one of the reasons their village was relatively safe: everyone feared these stocks too much to risk being placed into them.
In the meantime, Ashe was still going through hell, cursing her helplessnes... and her ticklishness. Both her sides and heels were mercilessly attacked, without stopping, without breaks, without any sign of mercy. In her thoughts, she was begging them to stop, but her pride was still holding her on, making her endure in these trying times. Her heels were aflame by tickling of those pointing fingers, which abused the vulnerability of her beautiful, round heels to no end. At the same time, Jote was doing her best to drive the young queen crazy with constant tickling of her sides, now slowly going for her tummy. Her long fingernails danced closer and closer to Ashe's wriggling belly, which was completely powerless to do anything about it. All Ashe could do was stand and watch those little devils dance all over her flat, ticklish tummy, driving her crazy, at the same time suffering the ticklish attacks on her bare heels.
«Take off more of her socks», Jote finally ordered after a few more minutes of tickle-torture, making the other viera-girl bare more of the delicate flesh of the queen's soles, removing even more of the red socks, placing the boundary of it at the toes. Ashe knew that they could easily fall off now if she wiggled her toes too much, so she had to balance between trashing her toes wildly and having her feet stand still, as in case of former her socks fall off and in case of latter her feet get tickled to insanity. She cursed this helpless position of her's, and she cursed vieras for knowing exactly what torture they were inflicting upon her.
However, it was then that Ashe's eyes opened widely, as she entered a whole new dimension of tickling. Both her soles and her heels were getting their dose of tickling... getting their unbearable and unbelievably large dose of tickling. Ashe tried to stay on the thin line between wild trashing and standing still, but she soon found it to be too difficult. The combination of the fingers tickling her high, ticklish arches and her beautiful, rose heels, and the ten little fingers dancing all over her ticklish tummy, driving her to hell's gate and back made one thing clear to her: the only thing Ashe, queen of Dalmasca was capable of at the moment was doing her best to avoid the tickling. That was the sole thing her body tried to do, and there wasn't a thing mind could do about it, especially not in it's current state. That was why her feet were flailing around wildly, unable to control their movement, unsuccessfuly trying to escape the long, sharp fingernails that were dancing all over them, finding all their weakest, most ticklish spots, molesting them, torturing them... making Ashelia go crazy, driven desperate by the image of her red socks slowly falling off her toes, milimeter by milimeter, red tissue slowly revealing more and more white skin, each stroke bringing it closer to falling off. She hated it, being unable to control herself in such manner, dooming herself to tortures, revealing more and more sensitive flesh to her tormentors to play with just because she couldn't control herself well enough... just because she couldn't bring herself to be standing still. And, the worst of all was the knowledge that, of all the parts of the feet, the one about to be revealed was the most ticklish one: the toes. Yes... the skin of her toes, and between them was the most ticklish part of her feet, and, if it was to judge by what she felt so far, her feet being the most ticklish part on her body, she sure was in hell when her ticklers start abusing that part.
«AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! STAHAHAHAHAP!!! STAHAHAHAP!! STOOOOP!!!», Ashe pleaded and begged as she trashed in ticklish agony, still too proud to say 'please', but really scared by the dreadful scene she just bore witness to: one of her socks has fallen off, thus completely revealing her bare, cute, defenseless toes.
No, lady Ashe thought as she stared at her completely bare foot, eyes wide open, focused solely on the sight of the five lovely-looking piggies revealed by the falling crimson sock. The fear paralyzed her in such a way that, for a brief moment, which seemed like an eternity to the queen, she forgot all about how ticklish she was, about her flailing, getting away... everything. All that mattered were those five beautiful, unpainted but pedicured toes, wriggling freely, but oh so vulnerable to whatever torments her captors decided to inflict upon them. The real hell began now, she knew, as her soles were finally completely exposed, no more thin red line dividing the ticklish flesh of her feet from the hell of the dancing nails that awaited them.
«And now the real torture begins», the viera at her feet said, entering a state of frenzy, digging her long fingernails into the soft skin offered to them, confirming Ashe's despair with both her actions and her words, sending the poor prisoner trashing in her stocks, wailing and howling with laughter.
«AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA!!!», she howled, pulling at all of her strength, flailing around with her head so hard that she knocked Jote over. However, the sensation of her feet alone being tickled was still too much for the poor, ticklish young descendant of the Dynast-king. She trashed and howled helplessly as her tormentor's fingers danced all over her ticklish soles, her heels and now-freed toes. The other sock fell off in a matter of seconds, and now both of Ashe's feet were completely bare and defenseless, with her tickler exploiting that fact to it's utmost potential, sending Ashe to hell and beyond, her whole feet fired up with the extreme tickling sensation. From the blushing hills of her heels, over the vast valley that were her arches, all the way to the mountains of her balls and the towers of her toes, the whole landscape was on fire, shaking and quaking at the same time.
A few members of the crowd started observing the whole spectacle with quite a large dose of fear: what if something like this was to happen to them? What if they broke one of the laws and got tickled like that? These thoughts crossed many viera's minds, strenghtening their resolve to obey laws... obey them under any cost.
In the meantime, if Ashe could take another person's perspective, she would be cursing her pride for not breaking, despite enduring such a torture for such a long period of time. Her muscles were aching, exhausted by the long-term fighting with the bonds and the constant struggle to escape the horrible tickle-torture that was being inflicted upon her. Any regular hume would break long ago. However, Ashe was no commoner, she was the queen of Dalmasca, an heir to the long line of rulers, and she wasn't about to yield just like that. Not only did she not beg and break, but her pride was far from depleted... and, never has a thought on giving up crossed her mind, even for a moment.
«You are strong, I'll give you that», Jote told her captive as she tried to continue the torture of her captive. When she found out, however, that due to the trashing it was impossible, she decided to move her tickling over to Ashe's back, using her natural reach to stay out of harm's way. She wasn't sure if Ashe was ticklish on her backs, but she decided she would check it out... no harm in trying.
And bingo. Despite being tickled over her limits on the soles of her feet, Ashe reacted delightfuly to the tickles all over her backs, going down the spine first, then spreading out over the vast territory that was there to tickle. The captive queen straightened her backs as hard as she could, desperate to try and relieve at least one area of her body from the horrible torture that was going on, but no matter how hard she straightened out, no matter how she tried to escape it, the long fingernails always caught her. Same with her feet: no matter how hard she pulled at the stocks, no matter how hard she flailed them, their bare skin was constantly scratched by the long nails that were intent on tickling her... intent on driving her beyond all borders of reason.
«AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! DAHAHAHAMN YOHOHOHOU, THAT TIIIHIHIHICKLES!!!», Ashe barely managed to speak, her words choked up by her own laughter.
«We know», her skillful tormentress replied, still torturing the feet that were so helplessly flailing around in front of her face, guided by the rythm of her fingertips. Ashe, on the other hand, could do naught but laugh away and trash in her bondage.
This torture went on and on. Seconds... minutes... then hours passed in constant tickling, Ashe never wanting to beg, and her viera captors all too eager to tickle her to insanity. Nobody seemed like they would let go anytime soon. Not with Ashe being so proud and stubborn, and certainly not with two vieras having the time of their life punishing this ticklish, insolent hume.
However, eventually, Ashe needed a break, or she would die from exhaustion and strain. Vieras sensed that the time had come, so they let her breathe for some time, examining their prisoner. Her face was red from exhaustion, as were some parts of her body, with her soles blushing from the long-term scratching they recieved. Of course, all of her body was completely covered in sweat, her hair sticky, falling over her face, few locks glued to her face. The young ruler was breathing heavily, trying to catch normal breath after such a long time. After all, she was getting tickled for more than six hours straight now. Under normal circumstances, she would be long dead now, tickled without mercy for such a long time. However, being who she was, she endured all the tortures proudly.
«What... what are you doing to my toes?», she managed to ask, still catching breath, as she saw viera who was torturing her feet starting to tie her tender toes with string.
«Making sure your soles stand still when I tickle them», the girl replied, filling Ashe's heart with dread of what was to follow. However, she thought, she wouldn't resist, seeing how useless it would be.
«Let me help you, then», she said, stretching her toes out, lifting them high so that her captors wouldn't have any problems running the string between them, immobilizing them completely. This way, she sent out a message to her torturers: that no matter what they did to her, no matter how long they tortured her, it was no use. She, Ashelia B'Nargin Dalmasca would never yield to them, no matter what they did to her... their tortures were puny to her, so she will allow them to do whatever they wish to her, even make it easier on them, being that she was unbreakable. At least that's what she wanted everyone to think. The truth was that she knew she couldn't take more of this, and was already getting desperate, trying to use this last trick to discourage her tormentors. Well, it did work partially: a lot of the crowd members were impressed with her amazing willpower, pride and scoffing at their horrible torture techniques. Even from this far, she could see she impressed them all.
Impressed the crowd, but did nothing to the real threat: the two vieras torturing her. They didn't seem impressed... the one tying the toes was statisfied, but not impressed. After all, she of all the people knew what despair and torture she was able to inflict upon her royal prisoner during these many long (or short, if you asked vieras) hours of punishment. She just placed the rope around Ashe's offerings, securing them at the back of the stocks, making sure the queen wouldn't break free from her toe-binds. That done, she prepaired herself for the moment her leader would give her the sign to continue, flexing her fingers in front of Ashe's now completely immobile, stretched-out soles, taunting her with what was to come.
«Hehehehe... nooo...», Ashe started to giggle even before the dreadful nails touched her skin.
«Yes, little ticklish queen», she heard Jote whispering into her ear from behind, embracing her from behind, forming a tight grip, with her hands reaching out to Ashe's sides, entwining her legs around Ashe's waist, and digging her nose into Ashe's neck. «Begin the second round.»
Even before Jote finished saying the sentence, Ashe went ballistic with laughter as her feet felt the tickle-attack of ten long nails upon their surface, this time unable to move at all. At the same time, Jote started her attack, tickling Ashe's sides with her long fingernails, while at the same time using her nose on Ashe's neck, tickling it, enhancing Ashe's suffering.
At this point, Ashe couldn't even speak from laughter. Even if she wanted to yield (and she didn't), she wouldn't be able to, due to the severe tickling sensation that was overflowing her body and her senses. Her soles were tickled without mercy, long, ticklish strokes starting at the tips of her toes, going down the balls of the feet, slowly across the high, soft arches, all the way down to the bottoms of her blushing heels, wiggling all the way. That alone tickled like hell, but coupled with the quick, agile strokes on her sides and the nose tickling her neck, it was almost unbearable. Even Ashe had to admit to herself that she never imagined tickling could get so intense, almost to a mind-numbing point. These vieras... they really knew their stuff. Ashe found herself begging in her mind for the party to come back as quickly as possible. She wasn't sure how much longer she could take this: even what little freedom she had before was now taken away from her, as the toe binds offered her feet zero movement, offering them on the silver pladder to her skillful, naturally-gifted tormentress, while Jote's grip fixed her torso in place, ceasing all of the queen's movements, extinguishing her ability to twitch or in any other way escape the fingers, if only for a little bit. Lady Ashe was now in a situation as desperate as it was ticklish... which is to say, a lot. With her strength vaning, and the fingers and nose tickling constantly, she knew it was only a matter of time before she swallows her pride and starts to beg. She just hoped the party would arrive before that happens.
«AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!! STAHAHAHAP!! IIII – IIIIIII – I ORDEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHAHAHAHAHAHAR YOHOHOHOHOHOHOUUUUHUHUHUHUHU TO STAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAP!!!», the bright-haired royal tried to sound as authoritative as she could, but she thought to herself better to not do that again, as she was sure the next time she would be begging them to stop. She really surprised herself, though. Drace wasn't half the skillful tickler these two were, but somehow, she managed to break her sooner. It was probably because of the fight and the strain young queen had gone through prior to the first tickling. Also, the great effort she went through to cover her ticklishness has exhausted her even further. This time, these two factors weren't there, and thus, the queen was able to withstand much greater dose of tickling. However, not for much longer, as, at the moment, she was just a few strokes away from surrendering, exhausted by all that former tickling, the superior methods, and the double number of the ticklers. Each and every stroke upon her poor, defenseless skin led her closer to surrender, her sheer willpower now almost completely broken as she squealed and laughed away. She could feel the option... the desire to surrender growing bigger and bigger, accented by each touch on her flesh, each centimeter of skin that was ran through. Her defeat was coming, and she knew it.
And so, as Ashe's seemingly limitless supply of pride was coming to an end, the two vieras constantly scratching the surface of her body, skillfuly driving the young queen desperate and insane by tickling, the crowd started getting more and more interested: it was obvious that the tickled royal was about to break, and it was only a matter of a moment before she does, but the main questions were: when will it happen? And when it does, what will Jote do to her next?
* * *
«AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! STAHAHAHAHAP!!! PLEHEHEHEHEASEHEHEHEHEHE!!! I BEG OF YOHOHOHOHOU, STAHAHAHAHAHAHAP!!!»
It finally happened. Ashe broke under the severe, skillful tickle-torture of her viera captors. She held out well, but the tormentor's skill and persistence proved to be too much for her. That was why she had to abandon all of her pride and beg. Beg for release from this horrible torture.
However, what surprised everyone was that, as soon as Ashe yielded and pleaded, Jote stopped, giving the other viera-girl a sign to stop as well, letting the young queen be.
Ashe herself was a really sorry sight right now. She was crying like a baby, her pride crushed, apologizing through tears: «Sorry... so sorry...»
«Take her out of the stocks», Jote said, and the band who held Ashe formed again, taking her out of the stocks, this time getting no resistance from the tamed Dalmascan lioness. She just let herself be carried, allowing her captors to do with her as they saw appropriate. Shoes, but not socks, were placed on her feet again as she was carried away somewhere.
«Wh... where are you... taking me?», she asked, tired.
«To Jaki's house», Jote replied. «She is the one who tickled your feet.»
«I...see...», was all Ashe managed to say before she passed out, exhausted from the ordeal she has just been through.
* * *
«Wh... where am I?», were the first words that came out of mouth of lady Ashelia B'Nargin Dalmasca when she woke up.
Looking around helped her remember. Of course, she was captured and tortured by vieras until she broke. Now she remembered. Her body remembered as well, it seemed, as it was still sore all over, muscles hurting from the ordeal she has just been through.
However, Ashe was in for one more surprise as she looked around: she was restrained again, and this time in a most unusual way: her hands were tied high above her head, baring her armpits, and her legs were placed in lotus yoga position, with soles of her feet facing upwards, tied so she couldn't get out. All of her clothes, save for her bra and panties, were taken, and now Ashe was left there to await whatever fate her captors decided to give her.
«Oh, so you are awake.»
The viera came in so silently that lady Ashe shook in surprise when she heard her speak... she wasn't even aware of her presence in the room. Studying that viera filled Ashe with dread: it was the one who tortured her feet in the stocks in the central square. Knowing her ability and techniques, she was sure what followed, but, just out of curiosity, Ashe had to ask:
«What happens now?»
Viera called Jaki smiled.
«Well, you did apologize, but your party hasn't returned yet. The deal was you get tickled until they return, and Jote wanted me to take care of it. You see, I am the village's torturer. When a fellow viera breaks the law, I tickle-torture her for punishment.»
So that was why her techniques were so good. This one had lots of practice, honing her skills through torture of misbehaving vieras. This new knowledge sent even more shivers through Ashe's spine, as now she knew she was in the hands of professional... and with her feet laid out so openly for the tormentress, Ashe was sure she was in for a hell of a tickle.
«C'mon... please... no more», Ashe begged, stepping over her pride again in hopes of preventing the tickling. In other circumstances she would be proud. However, seeing how this skilled torturer already broke her once, Ashe knew it would be useless to act tough, seeing how she could easily be broken again.
«Sorry... Jote's orders», Jaki said as she started tickling the bare, immobilized soles that were so delightfuly laid out for her, enjoying Ashe's frantic reaction. The moment her long nails touched that white, smooth surface, Ashe started to laugh beautifully and helplessly.
«Hahahahahahaha.... noooo... please... hahahahaha... I'm begging you, stop... ahahahaha», Ashe laughed, grateful to the viera for taking it easy on her. She knew just how hard and intense this girl could tickle, and this was nowhere near it. Rather, Jaki was tickling her lightly, just for her to feel the burning tickling sensation all over her feet, not going into the area of frantical tickling.
«You will only get out when you accept to do whatever I tell you», her brown tormentress teased as her long fingernails ran all across Ashe's helpless soles, her captive not being able to do anything but wriggle her toes and laugh.
«Nooo... hahahahahaha... please, let me go! Hahahaha... Let me go, I'm begging you! Hahahahahaha!», Ashe pleaded and pleaded but to no avail. All she could do was stand and watch as the long fingernails raked all over her beautiful, high arches, her heels and the balls of her feet, all of which were helplessly facing the ceiling, forced to enjoy the torture that was so mercilessly used on them.
Jaki didn't say anything more. No matter how hard Ashe begged, she recieved no mercy as her feet were tickled, stroke by stroke, leading her to brink of insanity. Her torturer proved to be merciless, always stroking her soles equally, no matter how hard the captive queen begged, or how humbly. Stroke by stroke, she was led closer and closer to conceding to her captor, who was torturing her ever-so-skillfuly and ever-so-sadisticaly. Her toes were wriggling like crazy, like ten castaways drowning in the ocean of tickling, begging to be saved.
«Hahahahahahaha.... please... please... have mercy... hahahahahaha», the young captive queen pleaded, but to no avail. She saw that Jaki wasn't going to stop until she obeys her every command, and then... well, Ashe didn't comply only out of fear of what came next. That was why she continued to beg... to beg for her poor, ticklish soles, for her exhausted body, and for her sanity.
«You can end this, Ashe», Jaki said as she scratched the twin soles, delighted by queen's suffering. «I see you are suffering. Why continue? I'd really love to let you go, but if I did that, Jote would tickle me until I would die. I really want to help you, to ease your suffering. Just... become an obedient little girl and everything will be all right.»
She was lying. Not only did Jaki want to prolong this as long as possible, but she especially enjoyed having a chance to tickle a pair of such beautiful hume feet. For her, Ashe's feet were as beautiful as feet could get, and the Eruyt village's master torturer wanted to be able to tickle this queen's feet for the rest of her life, enjoying the feeling of the soft soles under her nails, and the beautiful sound of Ashe's laughter. That was why Jacki was hoping the party would take as long as possible to find Mjrn... come to think of it, Mjrn will surely have to be disciplined as well when she comes to the village, for running away. Though she prefered this hume queen as her tickle-victim, Jaki couldn't deny the allure of tickling Mjrn, who has proved to be the most ticklish inhabitant of Eruyt village.
«Hahahahahaha... please... hahahahaha... I'll do whatever you want, just don't... hahahaha... tickle me any more», Ashe said, finally breaking.
Jaki sighed, a little disappointed, stopping.
«Really?»
Ashe nodded.
«All right, then», Raki said, untying her. «Come with me.»
Ashe obeyed like a good little girl. Jaki really appreciated this, seeing the results of her work and how it paid off splendidly. She led Ashe into the other room, where she planned to prolong hume's suffering. She was now certain of one thing: Dalmascan queen will certainly think twice before insulting a viera again.
«Sit in that chair», she told her captive, pointing at the chair in the middle of what she liked to call 'the room of ultimate torment', where her most torturous, most efficient techniques were used. In her village, that room was so ill-reputed that many viera children were being threatened by Jaki taking them into room of ultimate torment if they misbehaved. They said that only the vilest of crimes were being punished in this room, where Jaki would use her most merciless methods on her prisoners, for long, long periods of time.
Ashe obeyed silently. She sat in the chair, looking down at her feet.
«Good girl», Jaki complimented, sitting in the queen's lap, tying her hands at the backs. The queen gave her a surprised look, but one look at viera made her realize that it was in her best interest to just shut up and let Jaki have her way with her, since any form of resistance would lead to such methods of torture that would drive the poor captive insane.
With Ashe's hands secured, it was time to restrain the legs. For that, Jaki chose to secure one leg firmly to the chair at several points: the ankle, right below the knee, and on the thight. That leg was now completely immobile, and the foot of the other leg was then tied to the inner side of it's knee, firmly, so it wouldn't be able to move at all, except for wiggling the toes. All the while, Ashe cried like a baby, fearing what was to come, but fearing what would happen if she disobeyed even more.
«Please...», Dalmascan queen begged with teary eyes, «please, have mercy...»
Jaki smiled. She just loved it when her victims begged like that, knowing and fearing what awaited them.
«Let's start, shall we», she said, slowly going for Ashe's toes with her long nails, taunting her captive by slowly closing the final distance, making Ashe's defenseless toes curl as hard as they could, believing it would help them, if only a little. Of course, it didn't, as the cunning viera attacked from both above and below, tickling Ashe's toes, driving the poor queen into helpless laughter again.
«Hahahahahahahahaha... pleahahahase... I'm begging you, stop... hahahahaha», Ashe pleaded for mercy she wasn't going to get. Jaki was a superb tormentor, and was enjoying herself too much to show any mercy. That was why she scratched and scratched, raking, pinching between the toes, sometimes separating them so she could get the skin between them, anything to get more and more laughter from this deliciously-ticklish hume with beautiful, tender feet.
Then, when Jaki was statisfied with tickling the toes, she went on to the soles, running her fingers up and down, up and down, dancing all over this soft, beautiful dancefloor, all the while making Ashe desperate to stop the tickling. At this moment, nothing seemed too high a price to pay to stop the tickling: betrayal, murder, public humiliation... Ashe would be ready to do anything her tormentress told her to, if it meant even just a short break from tickling. However, no matter how hard she pleaded, her pleas were not heard out. The tickling went on and on, horrible torture of her bare, defenseless sole going on and on, with no hope of stopping until Jaki would be statisfied... or she wanted a change of position. At this point, Ashe completely forgot about the party and their assignment. They all seemed so unimportant, so far away, that she just couldn't think about them while having those nails dancing on her soles. That was the only thing that existed. Only truth and only thing that mattered, the center of her universe.
«Do you want me to stop?», Jaki asked suddenly, after an hour or so of relentless tickle-torture.
«Yes... please, yes... hahahahahaha», Ashe begged, crying like a baby, her hopes rising. «Please... hahahahaha... please, stop tickling me.»
«All right», Jaki said, letting Ashe have a break, untying her, enjoying the sight of the broken Dalmascan lioness. The young queen fell to the floor, crying, laying there limply, her will completely broken, her body exhausted, driven to it's limits.
«Please...», she begged, sniffing. «Please, stop. Let me go, I'm begging you. I just can't take it any more. Pleeease.»
«I'm sorry... Jote's orders», her captor lied again. Jote didn't order this... she even asked Jaki to go easy on the hume, if possible at all, as she apologized already. However, Jote wasn't watching now, and so, Ashe was at the mercy of her brown torturer... which was to say, she was doomed.
«Now, if you'd just lay on that table...», Jaki said, pointing, making Ashe's eyes widen in surprise and fear: the viera was pointing at the wooden table next to her, a wooden table serving as a rack, and she knew what this meant: her dark tormentress wanted to tickle her in spread-eagle position.
«No! Please! Not that!», she begged, hugging Jaki's knees, looking at her with tearful eyes. «I... I don't know if I can take any more tickling.»
«Get to the table», Jaki ordered sharply, in a tone that didn't allow any backtalk. Realizing how anything else but obeying would get her into real trouble, Ashe complied like a good girl, not seeing any other way to leave here with her sanity but obey her sadistic captor. She didn't want to find out just how hard Jaki could torture her, and that was why she silently and obediently placed herself on the table, even helping Jaki bind her. And so, in a manner of moments, Ashe found herself completely immobilized, laying spread-eagle on the wooden table, awaiting the continuation of the tickle-torture at the hands of the most skilled tickle-tormentor that had ever tickled her.
«Let's first prepare», Jaki said, lowering four ropes, each of them ending in a long feather, placing them to hang directly above young queen's belly, barely touching it. Ashe knew what they meant: should she react in any way to the tickling Jaki will inflict, the feathers will punish that motion with tickling of their own. She also knew that there was no way she could stand still... not with Jaki's skill.
«Please... I'll do whatever you want», she tried to beg in a final act of desperation, frightful tears running down her red face. «I'll kneel in front of you, cook, clean, be an obedient slave... anything, just don't tickle me any more.»
«Laugh», was all Jote said before she dug her long nails into Ashe's vulnerable armpits, sending the captive queen trashing in her bonds helplessly, tickled by both the fingers and the feathers. Jote was searching for her prisoner's weakest spots, exploiting them, pushing Ashe in a state of total despair, making her scream, begging for viera to stop, offering her anything she could think of if she would just stop. At this point, even Dalmascan throne seemed like such a small price to pay for stopping this horrible torment. The nails tracing all over her armpits, coupled with feathers dancing on her belly, caressing it due to the motion of her hips and torso, made a terrible combination for the ticklish queen, broken long ago, tortured beyond any reason.
«This is going to be so much fun, don't you think, lady Ashe?», Jaki teased her prisoner, knowing how she could no longer hide the fact that she was really enjoying all of this. All she got in reply were screams of laughter and begs for mercy, and that was why she seriously thought about gagging her captive when she would start working on her feet. Oh yes, those feet... While Jaki couldn't deny the smoothness of hume's armpits, the softness of her skin, and the wonderful effect this area had on her, the head torturer in the viera village of Eruyt found herself missing those smooth, beautiful soles, those slightly blushing heels, and those beautiful perfect toes. Oh, how cute they were when they were hopelessly trying to escape, position after position of tickling, each stroke leaving a wonderful feeling on Jaki's fingertips. Oh, yes, tickling them was a beautiful experience. However, she wasn't quite through with armpits yet, she thought as her long nails scratched deep into Ashe's skin and flesh, accenting the tickling, driving the queen into laughing frenzy.
«Tickle tickle tickle!», viera teased her completely helpless prisoner, who was doing her best to try and escape her fingers, but to no effect. She was bound too tightly, each and every part of her body offered to Jaki, to be used any way devious viera saw fit. And she chose tickling, a torture Ashe had to take for another fourty minutes, no matter how hard she begged, nor how humbly she pleaded. When those fourty minutes passed, Ashe was still giggling slightly, even though the torment stopped. Her nerves have been played with to the point where she wasn't sure how she managed to retain her sanity... if she did at all.
«Now, let's gag you», Jaki said, placing a rubber ball gag into her mouth. All the while, Ashe was crying, her face red from tears and long-term torture. Now, she couldn't even beg, the realization that there was no way to escape the terrible torture plunging her into deepest pits of despair and hopelessness.
Gag in place, Jaki started casually strolling over to her captive's beautiful feet. They were expecting her, fearing the dreadful reunion with her fingernails, but knowing that it was inevitable.
«Mmmgggmmbbb...», Ashe cried out from her gag, but, as expected, she couldn't pronounce anything comprehensible. That was why she just gave in, crying over what was to come, her feet completely relaxed in their shackles.
«That's a good girl», the mean viera tickler noted, slowly taking Ashe's toes in her hand, pulling them back. Ashe responded with increased crying, awaiting the long fingernails that were slowly going closer and closer to the soft, sensitive, delicate flesh of her high arches.
And then the contact happened, sending the rightful ruler of Dalmasca into already rutinous tickle-frenzy, again tickled by both the nails and the feathers. Jaki was letting her fingers playfully stroke those beautiful soles, scratching all over their surface, the hand that was holding toes back encountering no resistance. Ashe was simply too exhausted for it, becoming an easy target, begging for the loss of conciousness that was so stubbornly refusing to come.
«Queens this ticklish should certainly think twice before doing anything dangerous», Jaki continued to tease, enjoying the helpless cries and muffled laughter she was getting as a response to her devious techniques. «You never know when you might get captured and then... this happens.» She accented her last two words with a little harder tickling, admitting to herself, for probably a millionth time, that there is no prettier sight than seeing someone completely broken by tickling... and Ashe was as broken as they could get.
«What happens?»
Jaki shook as she heard a voice coming from behind her. Turning around, she saw a sight that both surprised and disappointed her: lady Ashe's party has returned, and Mjrn was with them. Damn. Not yet. The fun was just beginning.
«Sorry, it seems playtime's over», a brown-haired fancy-clothed hume said. «Hand Ashe over.»
«Right», Jaki said, disappointment visible in her voice. Playtime was over, indeed, she thought as she removed the shackles around her captive's extremities, and returning the feathers back to the ceiling. At first, the queen did nothing, just laid there and cried, but then her party picked her up, dressing her and removing the gag. She was still crying bitterly.
«I'm sorry... I'm sorry...», Ashe kept repeating, tears rolling down her blushing cheeks.
«It's all right, my queen», Basch tried to comfort her, «you're safe now.»
Balthier turned over to vieras as they were leaving.
«Well, we have to be going now. See you all later, I hope. Ta ta.»
And with a teatrical gesture, he and his party departed, leaving vieras alone in the room.
«The humes are gone», Jote said, entering the room with a couple of guards. «Now, it is time to discipline Mjrn.»
«I understand», Jari said, a sinister smile on her face as the rebel was picked up by the guards and placed on the table, her high heels taken off. It was tickle-time again.
* * *
«Damn it, I never want to be tickled again», Ashe concluded as she finally got out of the bed. It has been two days since her tickle-ordeal, and Penelo looked after her all that time, being how exhausted the young queen was. «Back there... I was ready to give up on Dalmasca's throne just for it to stop.»
«Dalmasca's throne, you say?», Penelo looked at her with interest. «Nah... I wouldn't touch those claws of yours you call feet for all of Archades.»
«Oh, is that so?», Ashe looked at her under the eye. «Well, I know that there are parts of royal dungeons in Rabanastre where you could get really well acquainted with a feather, young lady.»
Both women laughed. However, what stopped their laughter was Fran's voice, which came from the control room:
«Tractor beam. We are being boarded. Prepare for battle!»
* * *
«Well, well, if it isn't the notorious Ashelia B'Nargin Dalmasca», Drace gloated above her captive. «A man could say you actually wanted to be captured.»
Ashe tried to respond to her, but it was of no use. When she was captured in the battle that followed imperial boarding, Ashe was gagged as well, and brought to the torture chambers along with the others. Then, she and Fran were divided from the rest, and placed in hard bondage. Ashe was tied spread-eagle to the wall, while Fran was tied to a chair, and then surrounded by several imperial female troopers, this time in their casual outfits, not armors.
«Let me pay you two back for what you did to me when you captured me», Drace said, giving the troopers a sign to begin. Seeing the sign, they took out their feathers, starting to tickle poor Fran all over with them: one was tickling her bunny ears, other was running two feathers on her neck and upper torso, one was exploring her sides, and two were busy tickling viera's feet, using one feather on the upper side of the feet, and the other one on the soles, Fran's high heels making bunny-girl unable to resist the soft, ticklish caressing of her feet at all. If it wasn't for the gag they placed in her mouth, Fran would be screaming with laughter.
«And you... you are all mine», Drace said, lowering herself slowly to Ashe's bare feet, holding two feathers. «Tickle-time, my little ticklish queen.»
THE END.
«I can't believe she got away!», Ashe screamed at the still-sore Vaan, who was trying to recover from the hit he got in the head from the escaping Drace. She couldn't believe it... even though the judge was tired, she still managed to escape.
«C'mon, lay him some slack!», Penelo interfered. «She caught him off guard and...»
«Damn!», the princess roared, storming out of the room. She wasn't through with Drace, not after that ordeal the judge made her go through.
«Calm down, princess», Balthier tried to soothe her. «We shall meet her again, be sure of that.»
Even though his words were true, they were not able to stop the storm that was lady Ashe, raging through the captured warship. She was furiously marching through the Leviathan, venting her fury at anything that was in her grasp: chairs flew, books were torn to pieces, and metal walls were resounding with sounds of hits upon them.
All of this couldn't calm the princess down, but Fran's voice coming over from the speakers, echoing through the ship, could:
«Prepare to land! We are above our destination, the Golmore jungle. They might know something about nethicite.»
Furious or not, Ashe knew that getting killed while landing wouldn't help her frustration at all. That was why she controlled her anger enough to find a good spot and hold herself... those landings tended to be a bit rough, especially in wooden areas.
* * *
«All right», Balthier said, «the landing is over. You can stop screaming like a little girl now, Vaan.»
«R... Really?», Vaan asked, looking around like a scared child, still gripping the pole he has attached himself to. During the flight, his screams rang louder than the hits upon the hull, deafening any attempt to calm him. Now, calmer, he sighed in relief and sat on the floor, breathing heavily, still in disbelief.
«Yes, we're here, so you can stop screaming in higher tones than I could ever let out of my mouth», Penelo added. The young blonde was unfortunate enough to be close to the thief during the landing, finding a pole right next to him when Fran's announcement came in.
And so, the party left the ship, of course after Penelo and Basch pried Vaan off the pole he was gripping. They had to use a crowbar.
«Well, we're in Golmore jungle now», Penelo noted. «Where to now?»
«Eruyt village», the white-haired woman noted, walking in front of the group and looking around. «To the land of the Vieras.»
«Great!», Penelo exclaimed, jumping from excitement, her twin braids shaking from the motion. «So, we're going to meet more members of your race, right Fran?»
Much to the blonde's surprise, Viera gave her a sad look as she slowly said: «Yes.»
«Well, we should be moving on», Balthier said as he led the party deeper into the unwelcoming jungle. Nobody said anything more.
* * *
A couple of slain monsters later, the party found itself at the entrance to the Eruyt village, home to the mystical Viera race.
«Well, here we are», Balthier said, observing the sight of few Vieras at the village's central square giving them surprised and fearful looks. Guess they never expected to see humes casually strolling into their village. They never expected to see humes strolling into their village in any manner, at that. «Let's find out all we can and get out as soon as we can. We aren't a most welcome sight here.»
«You are right, hume», a tall Viera came out from one of the huts, confirming his thoughts. She walked slowly and gracefuly, surrounded by two vieras wearing outfits similar to Fran's: tight, black leather armors cut open in many places, leaving little to imagination, tempting the eyes of onlookers with the exposed skin they offered. When the trio came closer, to an arm's length away from the party, the Viera continued to speak: «Six humes and an outcast. What business do you have in our village?»
«We came to ask about the nethicite», Fran answered, acting as a spokesperson to the group, coming out close to the Viera leader.
The tall, long-haired Viera, who seemed to be their leader, stood silent for a moment, as if she was thinking, her eyes closed and her head bowed down. Then, after a brief pause, she opened her eyes, looking directly at the outcast's eyes: «Why would you seek such knowledge? Do you seek to use it? To conquer with it? To lead your wars?»
«We need it to stop a war», Fran replied. «Large forces are moving, Jote.»
«The nethicite can only bring destruction», the viera Fran called Jote replied slowly, her facial expression unchanging.
«Listen, Jote... we need the nethicite... surely Mjrn...»
«Mjrn has gone missing.»
The words Jote spoke out seemed to have struck the exile. Fran shook her head in disbelief, as the beautiful viera leader continued:
«She has gone, following you. She said she will try to find you, to seek adventure. At least that's what she wrote in her letter.»
«Jute... we both know she belongs in the village», Fran squeezed out after she recovered from the shock.
«You get her back, we tell you about the nethicite», the viera leader offered, light breeze raising her loose, straight, white hair as if accenting her words.
Just as Fran was going to say that they accept, she was interrupted by a loud shout.
«Hey! No way!»
It was Ashe. Lady Ashelia B'Nargin Dalmasca, queen of Dalmasca raised her voice defiantly, canceling the trade.
«We don't have time to waste on some lost bunny-girl! We need to know where the nethicite is!»
Suddenly, the facial expression of viera leader has changed completely. From the calm, almost tamed behavior, she changed into a wild, raging storm, crushing the dams of her former icy mask.
«Very well, then... the deal has just changed...», she stormed, «You bring us Mjrn and we let her go.»
As soon as she said so, several Vieras jumped at Ashe, and, before the princess could even react, she was floored by six bunny-women, two gripping each leg and one gripping each arm, pinning the young queen down.
«Let go!», Ashe protested as she tried to fight the Vieras off, but to no avail. Their grip was too strong, and Dalmasca's ruler was helpless. «Let go, you damn rabbit-spawn!!»
The party did nothing to help her. Not wishing to anger the Viera leader any more, Fran just nodded, accepting the deal, and the party slowly departed, leaving Ashe helpless in her captors' iron grip.
«Nice work, Ashe», Balthier commented as he was leaving, followed by the short-haired woman's screams for help.
«Damn you! Damn you all!», she shouted as she struggled against the brown girls who were picking her up, still unable to move due to their strong grips. All she could do was observe helplessly as she was being carried to the town's central square, to a set of stocks in it's middle.
«You will learn respect», Jote said as Dalmascan queen was placed in the restraints, her feet going into the central holes, while her hands were placed inserted at the side. Ashe did her best to resist, but it wasn't good enough. She was furious. How did those filthy women dare to do this to her? She protested!
«Blast you to nine hells!», she shouted out at her captor, who was carefully overseeing her placing in stocks, and thus immobilisation in the same contraption. «You can't do this to me! I'm the queen!»
«You are not queen of Vieras», Jote replied as two Vieras liberated Ashe's feet from her boots, leaving her only in socks. «You need to be taught a lesson. That is why we will tickle you until your friends come back with Mjrn.»
Under any normal circumstances, Ashe would laugh at that thought. Taught a lesson by tickling... yeah right. Whoever heard of that. However, being that Ashe had already went through tickle-torture by Drace, these weren't normal circumstances, and Ashe was really scared when words 'tickling' left the dark-brown woman's mouth. It made her remember the terrible ordeal judge made her go through. The sensation of constant tickling on her ticklish, defenseless body came back to her, sending shivers down her spine, making her shake in her bonds.
«T... tickling?», she repeated.
«Yes», the gray-haired woman nodded. «I hope you are ticklish. Princesses should be sensitive and delicate.»
Delicate she was not, but ticklish and sensitive Ashelia certainly was. Were she put on any other torture, be it whips, hooks, hot coals, racks... anything, she would have endured it proudly. However, tickling wasn't a thing she was able to stand so stoicaly. It was her weak point, and she was cursing that fact right now. To be able to break her with tickling... if she got imprisoned again, the empire would certainly use that fact now. That was why she was angry at Drace's escape even more. But, now was not the time to be worrying about Drace, she knew, as the Vieras holding her moved away a bit, leaving her alone with the leader and one of their kin, but observing her in her helpless situation, forming a small audience that was bound to increase as they were in the main square. Suddenly, insulting Jote didn't seem like such a good idea. She had to think... think fast.
«Well... I'm not ticklish», she bluffed, stretching out her toes in her red socks, hoping it would be enough to fool the bunny-eared folk. She knew she could stand one or two scratches without twitching, especially if it's in her socks. Yes, her crimson foot-protectors were a golden silencer of such impulses in times like these. She just wanted to kiss them now... well, after she washes them, of course.
«We'll see about that», Jote said, surprising Ashe by poking her ribs from the backs, making her twitch a little. Damn. She caught her by surprise, not taking Ashe's offer, but going for the other body part when the beautiful queen didn't even see it. Damn it! No! Please... no...
«It seems you lied», the beautiful viera teased. «You are ticklish. Another bad manner.»
«Who the hell are you to teach me manners?!», the young queen bursted out. She was as angry as she was scared. «Go home and lick your ears, you half-breed rabbit-spawn!»
Jote sighed, fixing her long, perfect hair.
«Very well. We begin now.»
Saying so, she took place behind the queen in exile, using her really long fingernails to scratch her sides.
«It... won't work... told you... I'm not ticklish», Ashe tried to lie, to bluff, using each and every ounce of her willpower to keep her body from twitching, and her mouth from laughing.
«Begin to work on her», young queen's white-haired captor ordered the viera kneeling at her captive's feet. The girl obeyed reluctantly, placing her long, sharp nails on the outstretched soles of Ashe's feet, their soft, delicate flesh protected by a layer of red fabric. The feet twitched as soon as they were touched, socks not being able to dampen the ticklish sensation enough. Yes. Her bluff was seen through and, learning from past encounter with Drace where holding back laughter drained her strength in a matter of minutes, she decided to let the laughter out.
So, arching her head back as far as her current situation allowed, lady Ashelia admitted her ticklishness by letting out a clear, resounding laughter come out from her mouth, not too loud, not too hysterical, but rather well-placed and enjoyable: «Aaahahahahahahahahaha.... dahahahahamn youuhuhuhuhuhu.»
«You really need to be taught a lesson», viera leader teased, scratching Ashe's sides while the light-haired captive queen did her best to try and escape her fingers, which were casually playing across the surface of her ticklish skin, luckily still protected by a thin white fabric of her clothes. However, somehow, Ashe knew that this fabric wasn't going to stay for long.
And she was right. Very quickly, after mostly a minute or two of tickling, Viera leader stopped the tickling, pausing to remove Ashe's last... and only... line of defense against those tickling nails.
«Dahahahahamn you!», she managed to shout, still tickled on the soles of her feet by the Viera-girl at the bottom of the stocks. The two red socks did their all to avoid the tickling: trash, wiggle, move around to the top of their ability (which wasn't much), pull, stand one in front of another, but none of it did her any good. The white-haired, bunny-eared brown girl at her feet knew her job well, always finding a way to get Ashe's soles on their most vulnerable spots, be it her soft, tender heel, her high, ticklish arch, or the tempting balls of the foot. The tormenting tickle-nails got everywhere, tickling, scratching, driving Ashe insane, and at the same time grateful for her socks. However, on the upperbody front, her last line of defense was just being breached, as her white top was slowly but surely removed, with her unable to do anything about it. She could curse and yell, and so she did when the laughter allowed, but those proved as a very poor method of stopping Jote in her intentions as, slowly but surely, inch by inch, centimeter by centimeter of revealed soft skin, the clothes did come off, leaving Ashe's bra as only clothing from the waist up. Ashe knew she was in for hell now.
And she was right. The moment Jote's long fingernails started tickling her ribs, scratching them, walking like spiders upon their smooth surface, Ashe went through orbit. She started wriggling and swaying like crazy, desperate to make the tickling stop.
«Aaaahahaahahahahahaaaa!!!» A helpless scream of laughter was everything young queen could produce under the work of five little devils that were probing her fair skin at each side... and let's not forget the feet, who were also the target of cruel, merciless tickle-torture. Luckily, they were still protected by two crimson cotton socks, which served as an effective softener of tickle sensation. But for how long, Ashe asked herself, being that she had already undergone one undressing experience.
Looking around, she realized that the crowd was getting bigger and bigger, more and more Vieras coming out to see the spectacle of a tickled royal... and what a ticklish royal it was. And, what was worse, Jote saw the assembling crowd as well, and wanted to give them some 'increased' action. Ashe looked up to her with tears forming in her eyes, still unable to say anything coherent from laughter, and she was sure she saw an evil glint in Viera leader's eye as she issued an order to her underling, who was joyously and vigorously tickle-torturing Ashe's crimson-socked royal soles:
«Remove her socks. Slowly.»
«Nooohohohohohohahahahahahaha!!!», Ashe begged, imagining the horror of being tickled without her two precious protectors. No. She couldn't let that happen. That was why, when she felt the girl taking her sock between her long fingernails, pulling it slightly to take it off, Ashelia quickly placed her other foot in front, squeezing her feet together so the socks wouldn't come off so easily. However, even that act of desparation proved futile as Jote's tickling proved too much for Ashe's mind, her ability to control her body quickly leaving Ashe, her feet starting to flail around very soon, at the mercy of her tickler. And her tickler was intent on taking her socks off, which was really made easy by attacking Ashe on two fronts, making the queen unable to concentrate on one specific point.
And so, the long red socks which proved to be such a reliable, trusting shield so far, were slowly removed, going off slowly but fluently, pulled simultaneously by the foot-torturing Viera, revealing more and more of the naked flesh of Ashe's legs, young queen saying her farewells to her crimson protectors, as her ankles were slowly revealed, red line slowly crossing on to her heels, revealing them and... stopping. Yes... surprising as it was, the viera torturer stopped when she revealed Ashe's slightly-blushing heels, leaving the rest of the foot under the magical protection of cotton foot-clothes. Then, with heels' protection removed, the brown bunny-girl pinched the new bulbs of pink flesh with her thumbs and middle fingers, scratching them with the finger between, sending Ashe into a frenzied laughter.
«AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! DAHAHAHAMN!!! NOT THEHEHEHE FEEEET!!!», the heir to Dalmascan throne managed to shriek out as this new sensation started to overwhelm her, both her torso and heels completely naked and defenseless now, stripped of their last lines of defense. She always thought her armpits were the most ticklish spot on her body... guess she was wrong. Somehow, she wasn't sure if it was viera's technique, or just an illusion created by the removal of the socks, but the sensation of tickling on those soft, ticklish heels of her's, their flesh making small crevices where the long fingernails would touch them, disappearing the instant the nail would move on, drove her crazy with laughter, being even more intense than the sensation of tickling that she felt all over her tender sides. And she was helpless. There was nothing she could do but take the torture and hope the party will return as soon as possible... before she goes insane from this infernal, skillful torture, as vieras proved to be crueler, more skillful ticklers than judge Drace. Well, they certainly did have some natural advantages: their long nails, that is, as Ashe was finding out. Those nails tickled her better than any feather or human hand could, proving to be worse tickling tools (or better from tickler's point of view) than anything any hume could invent, especially combined with bunny-girls' natural dexterity.
«AAAAAA!!! STAHAHAHAHAP!!! I DEHEHEHEMAND THAT YOU STAHAHAHAAAAP!!!», Ashe tried to command, still far from begging, her pride too strong for it. However, her body was slowly getting exhausted. Slowly, but surely, her muscles grew more and more tired, tension building up in them slowly, but noticeably, just as the observing crowd was growing. Viera by viera, the crowd grew bigger and bigger, until practically whole village was attending the tickle-torture of lady Ashe at the hands of their leader and one of their comrades. Without a doubt, some of the members of the audience wished to be able to replace them as the ticklers of this deliciously ticklish, suffering hume, at the same time thanking gods it was the hume, not them, in those stocks. Tickle-torture was common and widespread among vieras, who used tickle-torture as a punishment for all but most severe of the crimes. That was one of the reasons their village was relatively safe: everyone feared these stocks too much to risk being placed into them.
In the meantime, Ashe was still going through hell, cursing her helplessnes... and her ticklishness. Both her sides and heels were mercilessly attacked, without stopping, without breaks, without any sign of mercy. In her thoughts, she was begging them to stop, but her pride was still holding her on, making her endure in these trying times. Her heels were aflame by tickling of those pointing fingers, which abused the vulnerability of her beautiful, round heels to no end. At the same time, Jote was doing her best to drive the young queen crazy with constant tickling of her sides, now slowly going for her tummy. Her long fingernails danced closer and closer to Ashe's wriggling belly, which was completely powerless to do anything about it. All Ashe could do was stand and watch those little devils dance all over her flat, ticklish tummy, driving her crazy, at the same time suffering the ticklish attacks on her bare heels.
«Take off more of her socks», Jote finally ordered after a few more minutes of tickle-torture, making the other viera-girl bare more of the delicate flesh of the queen's soles, removing even more of the red socks, placing the boundary of it at the toes. Ashe knew that they could easily fall off now if she wiggled her toes too much, so she had to balance between trashing her toes wildly and having her feet stand still, as in case of former her socks fall off and in case of latter her feet get tickled to insanity. She cursed this helpless position of her's, and she cursed vieras for knowing exactly what torture they were inflicting upon her.
However, it was then that Ashe's eyes opened widely, as she entered a whole new dimension of tickling. Both her soles and her heels were getting their dose of tickling... getting their unbearable and unbelievably large dose of tickling. Ashe tried to stay on the thin line between wild trashing and standing still, but she soon found it to be too difficult. The combination of the fingers tickling her high, ticklish arches and her beautiful, rose heels, and the ten little fingers dancing all over her ticklish tummy, driving her to hell's gate and back made one thing clear to her: the only thing Ashe, queen of Dalmasca was capable of at the moment was doing her best to avoid the tickling. That was the sole thing her body tried to do, and there wasn't a thing mind could do about it, especially not in it's current state. That was why her feet were flailing around wildly, unable to control their movement, unsuccessfuly trying to escape the long, sharp fingernails that were dancing all over them, finding all their weakest, most ticklish spots, molesting them, torturing them... making Ashelia go crazy, driven desperate by the image of her red socks slowly falling off her toes, milimeter by milimeter, red tissue slowly revealing more and more white skin, each stroke bringing it closer to falling off. She hated it, being unable to control herself in such manner, dooming herself to tortures, revealing more and more sensitive flesh to her tormentors to play with just because she couldn't control herself well enough... just because she couldn't bring herself to be standing still. And, the worst of all was the knowledge that, of all the parts of the feet, the one about to be revealed was the most ticklish one: the toes. Yes... the skin of her toes, and between them was the most ticklish part of her feet, and, if it was to judge by what she felt so far, her feet being the most ticklish part on her body, she sure was in hell when her ticklers start abusing that part.
«AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! STAHAHAHAHAP!!! STAHAHAHAP!! STOOOOP!!!», Ashe pleaded and begged as she trashed in ticklish agony, still too proud to say 'please', but really scared by the dreadful scene she just bore witness to: one of her socks has fallen off, thus completely revealing her bare, cute, defenseless toes.
No, lady Ashe thought as she stared at her completely bare foot, eyes wide open, focused solely on the sight of the five lovely-looking piggies revealed by the falling crimson sock. The fear paralyzed her in such a way that, for a brief moment, which seemed like an eternity to the queen, she forgot all about how ticklish she was, about her flailing, getting away... everything. All that mattered were those five beautiful, unpainted but pedicured toes, wriggling freely, but oh so vulnerable to whatever torments her captors decided to inflict upon them. The real hell began now, she knew, as her soles were finally completely exposed, no more thin red line dividing the ticklish flesh of her feet from the hell of the dancing nails that awaited them.
«And now the real torture begins», the viera at her feet said, entering a state of frenzy, digging her long fingernails into the soft skin offered to them, confirming Ashe's despair with both her actions and her words, sending the poor prisoner trashing in her stocks, wailing and howling with laughter.
«AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA!!!», she howled, pulling at all of her strength, flailing around with her head so hard that she knocked Jote over. However, the sensation of her feet alone being tickled was still too much for the poor, ticklish young descendant of the Dynast-king. She trashed and howled helplessly as her tormentor's fingers danced all over her ticklish soles, her heels and now-freed toes. The other sock fell off in a matter of seconds, and now both of Ashe's feet were completely bare and defenseless, with her tickler exploiting that fact to it's utmost potential, sending Ashe to hell and beyond, her whole feet fired up with the extreme tickling sensation. From the blushing hills of her heels, over the vast valley that were her arches, all the way to the mountains of her balls and the towers of her toes, the whole landscape was on fire, shaking and quaking at the same time.
A few members of the crowd started observing the whole spectacle with quite a large dose of fear: what if something like this was to happen to them? What if they broke one of the laws and got tickled like that? These thoughts crossed many viera's minds, strenghtening their resolve to obey laws... obey them under any cost.
In the meantime, if Ashe could take another person's perspective, she would be cursing her pride for not breaking, despite enduring such a torture for such a long period of time. Her muscles were aching, exhausted by the long-term fighting with the bonds and the constant struggle to escape the horrible tickle-torture that was being inflicted upon her. Any regular hume would break long ago. However, Ashe was no commoner, she was the queen of Dalmasca, an heir to the long line of rulers, and she wasn't about to yield just like that. Not only did she not beg and break, but her pride was far from depleted... and, never has a thought on giving up crossed her mind, even for a moment.
«You are strong, I'll give you that», Jote told her captive as she tried to continue the torture of her captive. When she found out, however, that due to the trashing it was impossible, she decided to move her tickling over to Ashe's back, using her natural reach to stay out of harm's way. She wasn't sure if Ashe was ticklish on her backs, but she decided she would check it out... no harm in trying.
And bingo. Despite being tickled over her limits on the soles of her feet, Ashe reacted delightfuly to the tickles all over her backs, going down the spine first, then spreading out over the vast territory that was there to tickle. The captive queen straightened her backs as hard as she could, desperate to try and relieve at least one area of her body from the horrible torture that was going on, but no matter how hard she straightened out, no matter how she tried to escape it, the long fingernails always caught her. Same with her feet: no matter how hard she pulled at the stocks, no matter how hard she flailed them, their bare skin was constantly scratched by the long nails that were intent on tickling her... intent on driving her beyond all borders of reason.
«AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! DAHAHAHAMN YOHOHOHOU, THAT TIIIHIHIHICKLES!!!», Ashe barely managed to speak, her words choked up by her own laughter.
«We know», her skillful tormentress replied, still torturing the feet that were so helplessly flailing around in front of her face, guided by the rythm of her fingertips. Ashe, on the other hand, could do naught but laugh away and trash in her bondage.
This torture went on and on. Seconds... minutes... then hours passed in constant tickling, Ashe never wanting to beg, and her viera captors all too eager to tickle her to insanity. Nobody seemed like they would let go anytime soon. Not with Ashe being so proud and stubborn, and certainly not with two vieras having the time of their life punishing this ticklish, insolent hume.
However, eventually, Ashe needed a break, or she would die from exhaustion and strain. Vieras sensed that the time had come, so they let her breathe for some time, examining their prisoner. Her face was red from exhaustion, as were some parts of her body, with her soles blushing from the long-term scratching they recieved. Of course, all of her body was completely covered in sweat, her hair sticky, falling over her face, few locks glued to her face. The young ruler was breathing heavily, trying to catch normal breath after such a long time. After all, she was getting tickled for more than six hours straight now. Under normal circumstances, she would be long dead now, tickled without mercy for such a long time. However, being who she was, she endured all the tortures proudly.
«What... what are you doing to my toes?», she managed to ask, still catching breath, as she saw viera who was torturing her feet starting to tie her tender toes with string.
«Making sure your soles stand still when I tickle them», the girl replied, filling Ashe's heart with dread of what was to follow. However, she thought, she wouldn't resist, seeing how useless it would be.
«Let me help you, then», she said, stretching her toes out, lifting them high so that her captors wouldn't have any problems running the string between them, immobilizing them completely. This way, she sent out a message to her torturers: that no matter what they did to her, no matter how long they tortured her, it was no use. She, Ashelia B'Nargin Dalmasca would never yield to them, no matter what they did to her... their tortures were puny to her, so she will allow them to do whatever they wish to her, even make it easier on them, being that she was unbreakable. At least that's what she wanted everyone to think. The truth was that she knew she couldn't take more of this, and was already getting desperate, trying to use this last trick to discourage her tormentors. Well, it did work partially: a lot of the crowd members were impressed with her amazing willpower, pride and scoffing at their horrible torture techniques. Even from this far, she could see she impressed them all.
Impressed the crowd, but did nothing to the real threat: the two vieras torturing her. They didn't seem impressed... the one tying the toes was statisfied, but not impressed. After all, she of all the people knew what despair and torture she was able to inflict upon her royal prisoner during these many long (or short, if you asked vieras) hours of punishment. She just placed the rope around Ashe's offerings, securing them at the back of the stocks, making sure the queen wouldn't break free from her toe-binds. That done, she prepaired herself for the moment her leader would give her the sign to continue, flexing her fingers in front of Ashe's now completely immobile, stretched-out soles, taunting her with what was to come.
«Hehehehe... nooo...», Ashe started to giggle even before the dreadful nails touched her skin.
«Yes, little ticklish queen», she heard Jote whispering into her ear from behind, embracing her from behind, forming a tight grip, with her hands reaching out to Ashe's sides, entwining her legs around Ashe's waist, and digging her nose into Ashe's neck. «Begin the second round.»
Even before Jote finished saying the sentence, Ashe went ballistic with laughter as her feet felt the tickle-attack of ten long nails upon their surface, this time unable to move at all. At the same time, Jote started her attack, tickling Ashe's sides with her long fingernails, while at the same time using her nose on Ashe's neck, tickling it, enhancing Ashe's suffering.
At this point, Ashe couldn't even speak from laughter. Even if she wanted to yield (and she didn't), she wouldn't be able to, due to the severe tickling sensation that was overflowing her body and her senses. Her soles were tickled without mercy, long, ticklish strokes starting at the tips of her toes, going down the balls of the feet, slowly across the high, soft arches, all the way down to the bottoms of her blushing heels, wiggling all the way. That alone tickled like hell, but coupled with the quick, agile strokes on her sides and the nose tickling her neck, it was almost unbearable. Even Ashe had to admit to herself that she never imagined tickling could get so intense, almost to a mind-numbing point. These vieras... they really knew their stuff. Ashe found herself begging in her mind for the party to come back as quickly as possible. She wasn't sure how much longer she could take this: even what little freedom she had before was now taken away from her, as the toe binds offered her feet zero movement, offering them on the silver pladder to her skillful, naturally-gifted tormentress, while Jote's grip fixed her torso in place, ceasing all of the queen's movements, extinguishing her ability to twitch or in any other way escape the fingers, if only for a little bit. Lady Ashe was now in a situation as desperate as it was ticklish... which is to say, a lot. With her strength vaning, and the fingers and nose tickling constantly, she knew it was only a matter of time before she swallows her pride and starts to beg. She just hoped the party would arrive before that happens.
«AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!! STAHAHAHAP!! IIII – IIIIIII – I ORDEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHAHAHAHAHAHAR YOHOHOHOHOHOHOUUUUHUHUHUHUHU TO STAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAP!!!», the bright-haired royal tried to sound as authoritative as she could, but she thought to herself better to not do that again, as she was sure the next time she would be begging them to stop. She really surprised herself, though. Drace wasn't half the skillful tickler these two were, but somehow, she managed to break her sooner. It was probably because of the fight and the strain young queen had gone through prior to the first tickling. Also, the great effort she went through to cover her ticklishness has exhausted her even further. This time, these two factors weren't there, and thus, the queen was able to withstand much greater dose of tickling. However, not for much longer, as, at the moment, she was just a few strokes away from surrendering, exhausted by all that former tickling, the superior methods, and the double number of the ticklers. Each and every stroke upon her poor, defenseless skin led her closer to surrender, her sheer willpower now almost completely broken as she squealed and laughed away. She could feel the option... the desire to surrender growing bigger and bigger, accented by each touch on her flesh, each centimeter of skin that was ran through. Her defeat was coming, and she knew it.
And so, as Ashe's seemingly limitless supply of pride was coming to an end, the two vieras constantly scratching the surface of her body, skillfuly driving the young queen desperate and insane by tickling, the crowd started getting more and more interested: it was obvious that the tickled royal was about to break, and it was only a matter of a moment before she does, but the main questions were: when will it happen? And when it does, what will Jote do to her next?
* * *
«AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! STAHAHAHAHAP!!! PLEHEHEHEHEASEHEHEHEHEHE!!! I BEG OF YOHOHOHOHOU, STAHAHAHAHAHAHAP!!!»
It finally happened. Ashe broke under the severe, skillful tickle-torture of her viera captors. She held out well, but the tormentor's skill and persistence proved to be too much for her. That was why she had to abandon all of her pride and beg. Beg for release from this horrible torture.
However, what surprised everyone was that, as soon as Ashe yielded and pleaded, Jote stopped, giving the other viera-girl a sign to stop as well, letting the young queen be.
Ashe herself was a really sorry sight right now. She was crying like a baby, her pride crushed, apologizing through tears: «Sorry... so sorry...»
«Take her out of the stocks», Jote said, and the band who held Ashe formed again, taking her out of the stocks, this time getting no resistance from the tamed Dalmascan lioness. She just let herself be carried, allowing her captors to do with her as they saw appropriate. Shoes, but not socks, were placed on her feet again as she was carried away somewhere.
«Wh... where are you... taking me?», she asked, tired.
«To Jaki's house», Jote replied. «She is the one who tickled your feet.»
«I...see...», was all Ashe managed to say before she passed out, exhausted from the ordeal she has just been through.
* * *
«Wh... where am I?», were the first words that came out of mouth of lady Ashelia B'Nargin Dalmasca when she woke up.
Looking around helped her remember. Of course, she was captured and tortured by vieras until she broke. Now she remembered. Her body remembered as well, it seemed, as it was still sore all over, muscles hurting from the ordeal she has just been through.
However, Ashe was in for one more surprise as she looked around: she was restrained again, and this time in a most unusual way: her hands were tied high above her head, baring her armpits, and her legs were placed in lotus yoga position, with soles of her feet facing upwards, tied so she couldn't get out. All of her clothes, save for her bra and panties, were taken, and now Ashe was left there to await whatever fate her captors decided to give her.
«Oh, so you are awake.»
The viera came in so silently that lady Ashe shook in surprise when she heard her speak... she wasn't even aware of her presence in the room. Studying that viera filled Ashe with dread: it was the one who tortured her feet in the stocks in the central square. Knowing her ability and techniques, she was sure what followed, but, just out of curiosity, Ashe had to ask:
«What happens now?»
Viera called Jaki smiled.
«Well, you did apologize, but your party hasn't returned yet. The deal was you get tickled until they return, and Jote wanted me to take care of it. You see, I am the village's torturer. When a fellow viera breaks the law, I tickle-torture her for punishment.»
So that was why her techniques were so good. This one had lots of practice, honing her skills through torture of misbehaving vieras. This new knowledge sent even more shivers through Ashe's spine, as now she knew she was in the hands of professional... and with her feet laid out so openly for the tormentress, Ashe was sure she was in for a hell of a tickle.
«C'mon... please... no more», Ashe begged, stepping over her pride again in hopes of preventing the tickling. In other circumstances she would be proud. However, seeing how this skilled torturer already broke her once, Ashe knew it would be useless to act tough, seeing how she could easily be broken again.
«Sorry... Jote's orders», Jaki said as she started tickling the bare, immobilized soles that were so delightfuly laid out for her, enjoying Ashe's frantic reaction. The moment her long nails touched that white, smooth surface, Ashe started to laugh beautifully and helplessly.
«Hahahahahahaha.... noooo... please... hahahahaha... I'm begging you, stop... ahahahaha», Ashe laughed, grateful to the viera for taking it easy on her. She knew just how hard and intense this girl could tickle, and this was nowhere near it. Rather, Jaki was tickling her lightly, just for her to feel the burning tickling sensation all over her feet, not going into the area of frantical tickling.
«You will only get out when you accept to do whatever I tell you», her brown tormentress teased as her long fingernails ran all across Ashe's helpless soles, her captive not being able to do anything but wriggle her toes and laugh.
«Nooo... hahahahahaha... please, let me go! Hahahaha... Let me go, I'm begging you! Hahahahahaha!», Ashe pleaded and pleaded but to no avail. All she could do was stand and watch as the long fingernails raked all over her beautiful, high arches, her heels and the balls of her feet, all of which were helplessly facing the ceiling, forced to enjoy the torture that was so mercilessly used on them.
Jaki didn't say anything more. No matter how hard Ashe begged, she recieved no mercy as her feet were tickled, stroke by stroke, leading her to brink of insanity. Her torturer proved to be merciless, always stroking her soles equally, no matter how hard the captive queen begged, or how humbly. Stroke by stroke, she was led closer and closer to conceding to her captor, who was torturing her ever-so-skillfuly and ever-so-sadisticaly. Her toes were wriggling like crazy, like ten castaways drowning in the ocean of tickling, begging to be saved.
«Hahahahahahaha.... please... please... have mercy... hahahahahaha», the young captive queen pleaded, but to no avail. She saw that Jaki wasn't going to stop until she obeys her every command, and then... well, Ashe didn't comply only out of fear of what came next. That was why she continued to beg... to beg for her poor, ticklish soles, for her exhausted body, and for her sanity.
«You can end this, Ashe», Jaki said as she scratched the twin soles, delighted by queen's suffering. «I see you are suffering. Why continue? I'd really love to let you go, but if I did that, Jote would tickle me until I would die. I really want to help you, to ease your suffering. Just... become an obedient little girl and everything will be all right.»
She was lying. Not only did Jaki want to prolong this as long as possible, but she especially enjoyed having a chance to tickle a pair of such beautiful hume feet. For her, Ashe's feet were as beautiful as feet could get, and the Eruyt village's master torturer wanted to be able to tickle this queen's feet for the rest of her life, enjoying the feeling of the soft soles under her nails, and the beautiful sound of Ashe's laughter. That was why Jacki was hoping the party would take as long as possible to find Mjrn... come to think of it, Mjrn will surely have to be disciplined as well when she comes to the village, for running away. Though she prefered this hume queen as her tickle-victim, Jaki couldn't deny the allure of tickling Mjrn, who has proved to be the most ticklish inhabitant of Eruyt village.
«Hahahahahaha... please... hahahahaha... I'll do whatever you want, just don't... hahahaha... tickle me any more», Ashe said, finally breaking.
Jaki sighed, a little disappointed, stopping.
«Really?»
Ashe nodded.
«All right, then», Raki said, untying her. «Come with me.»
Ashe obeyed like a good little girl. Jaki really appreciated this, seeing the results of her work and how it paid off splendidly. She led Ashe into the other room, where she planned to prolong hume's suffering. She was now certain of one thing: Dalmascan queen will certainly think twice before insulting a viera again.
«Sit in that chair», she told her captive, pointing at the chair in the middle of what she liked to call 'the room of ultimate torment', where her most torturous, most efficient techniques were used. In her village, that room was so ill-reputed that many viera children were being threatened by Jaki taking them into room of ultimate torment if they misbehaved. They said that only the vilest of crimes were being punished in this room, where Jaki would use her most merciless methods on her prisoners, for long, long periods of time.
Ashe obeyed silently. She sat in the chair, looking down at her feet.
«Good girl», Jaki complimented, sitting in the queen's lap, tying her hands at the backs. The queen gave her a surprised look, but one look at viera made her realize that it was in her best interest to just shut up and let Jaki have her way with her, since any form of resistance would lead to such methods of torture that would drive the poor captive insane.
With Ashe's hands secured, it was time to restrain the legs. For that, Jaki chose to secure one leg firmly to the chair at several points: the ankle, right below the knee, and on the thight. That leg was now completely immobile, and the foot of the other leg was then tied to the inner side of it's knee, firmly, so it wouldn't be able to move at all, except for wiggling the toes. All the while, Ashe cried like a baby, fearing what was to come, but fearing what would happen if she disobeyed even more.
«Please...», Dalmascan queen begged with teary eyes, «please, have mercy...»
Jaki smiled. She just loved it when her victims begged like that, knowing and fearing what awaited them.
«Let's start, shall we», she said, slowly going for Ashe's toes with her long nails, taunting her captive by slowly closing the final distance, making Ashe's defenseless toes curl as hard as they could, believing it would help them, if only a little. Of course, it didn't, as the cunning viera attacked from both above and below, tickling Ashe's toes, driving the poor queen into helpless laughter again.
«Hahahahahahahahaha... pleahahahase... I'm begging you, stop... hahahahaha», Ashe pleaded for mercy she wasn't going to get. Jaki was a superb tormentor, and was enjoying herself too much to show any mercy. That was why she scratched and scratched, raking, pinching between the toes, sometimes separating them so she could get the skin between them, anything to get more and more laughter from this deliciously-ticklish hume with beautiful, tender feet.
Then, when Jaki was statisfied with tickling the toes, she went on to the soles, running her fingers up and down, up and down, dancing all over this soft, beautiful dancefloor, all the while making Ashe desperate to stop the tickling. At this moment, nothing seemed too high a price to pay to stop the tickling: betrayal, murder, public humiliation... Ashe would be ready to do anything her tormentress told her to, if it meant even just a short break from tickling. However, no matter how hard she pleaded, her pleas were not heard out. The tickling went on and on, horrible torture of her bare, defenseless sole going on and on, with no hope of stopping until Jaki would be statisfied... or she wanted a change of position. At this point, Ashe completely forgot about the party and their assignment. They all seemed so unimportant, so far away, that she just couldn't think about them while having those nails dancing on her soles. That was the only thing that existed. Only truth and only thing that mattered, the center of her universe.
«Do you want me to stop?», Jaki asked suddenly, after an hour or so of relentless tickle-torture.
«Yes... please, yes... hahahahahaha», Ashe begged, crying like a baby, her hopes rising. «Please... hahahahaha... please, stop tickling me.»
«All right», Jaki said, letting Ashe have a break, untying her, enjoying the sight of the broken Dalmascan lioness. The young queen fell to the floor, crying, laying there limply, her will completely broken, her body exhausted, driven to it's limits.
«Please...», she begged, sniffing. «Please, stop. Let me go, I'm begging you. I just can't take it any more. Pleeease.»
«I'm sorry... Jote's orders», her captor lied again. Jote didn't order this... she even asked Jaki to go easy on the hume, if possible at all, as she apologized already. However, Jote wasn't watching now, and so, Ashe was at the mercy of her brown torturer... which was to say, she was doomed.
«Now, if you'd just lay on that table...», Jaki said, pointing, making Ashe's eyes widen in surprise and fear: the viera was pointing at the wooden table next to her, a wooden table serving as a rack, and she knew what this meant: her dark tormentress wanted to tickle her in spread-eagle position.
«No! Please! Not that!», she begged, hugging Jaki's knees, looking at her with tearful eyes. «I... I don't know if I can take any more tickling.»
«Get to the table», Jaki ordered sharply, in a tone that didn't allow any backtalk. Realizing how anything else but obeying would get her into real trouble, Ashe complied like a good girl, not seeing any other way to leave here with her sanity but obey her sadistic captor. She didn't want to find out just how hard Jaki could torture her, and that was why she silently and obediently placed herself on the table, even helping Jaki bind her. And so, in a manner of moments, Ashe found herself completely immobilized, laying spread-eagle on the wooden table, awaiting the continuation of the tickle-torture at the hands of the most skilled tickle-tormentor that had ever tickled her.
«Let's first prepare», Jaki said, lowering four ropes, each of them ending in a long feather, placing them to hang directly above young queen's belly, barely touching it. Ashe knew what they meant: should she react in any way to the tickling Jaki will inflict, the feathers will punish that motion with tickling of their own. She also knew that there was no way she could stand still... not with Jaki's skill.
«Please... I'll do whatever you want», she tried to beg in a final act of desperation, frightful tears running down her red face. «I'll kneel in front of you, cook, clean, be an obedient slave... anything, just don't tickle me any more.»
«Laugh», was all Jote said before she dug her long nails into Ashe's vulnerable armpits, sending the captive queen trashing in her bonds helplessly, tickled by both the fingers and the feathers. Jote was searching for her prisoner's weakest spots, exploiting them, pushing Ashe in a state of total despair, making her scream, begging for viera to stop, offering her anything she could think of if she would just stop. At this point, even Dalmascan throne seemed like such a small price to pay for stopping this horrible torment. The nails tracing all over her armpits, coupled with feathers dancing on her belly, caressing it due to the motion of her hips and torso, made a terrible combination for the ticklish queen, broken long ago, tortured beyond any reason.
«This is going to be so much fun, don't you think, lady Ashe?», Jaki teased her prisoner, knowing how she could no longer hide the fact that she was really enjoying all of this. All she got in reply were screams of laughter and begs for mercy, and that was why she seriously thought about gagging her captive when she would start working on her feet. Oh yes, those feet... While Jaki couldn't deny the smoothness of hume's armpits, the softness of her skin, and the wonderful effect this area had on her, the head torturer in the viera village of Eruyt found herself missing those smooth, beautiful soles, those slightly blushing heels, and those beautiful perfect toes. Oh, how cute they were when they were hopelessly trying to escape, position after position of tickling, each stroke leaving a wonderful feeling on Jaki's fingertips. Oh, yes, tickling them was a beautiful experience. However, she wasn't quite through with armpits yet, she thought as her long nails scratched deep into Ashe's skin and flesh, accenting the tickling, driving the queen into laughing frenzy.
«Tickle tickle tickle!», viera teased her completely helpless prisoner, who was doing her best to try and escape her fingers, but to no effect. She was bound too tightly, each and every part of her body offered to Jaki, to be used any way devious viera saw fit. And she chose tickling, a torture Ashe had to take for another fourty minutes, no matter how hard she begged, nor how humbly she pleaded. When those fourty minutes passed, Ashe was still giggling slightly, even though the torment stopped. Her nerves have been played with to the point where she wasn't sure how she managed to retain her sanity... if she did at all.
«Now, let's gag you», Jaki said, placing a rubber ball gag into her mouth. All the while, Ashe was crying, her face red from tears and long-term torture. Now, she couldn't even beg, the realization that there was no way to escape the terrible torture plunging her into deepest pits of despair and hopelessness.
Gag in place, Jaki started casually strolling over to her captive's beautiful feet. They were expecting her, fearing the dreadful reunion with her fingernails, but knowing that it was inevitable.
«Mmmgggmmbbb...», Ashe cried out from her gag, but, as expected, she couldn't pronounce anything comprehensible. That was why she just gave in, crying over what was to come, her feet completely relaxed in their shackles.
«That's a good girl», the mean viera tickler noted, slowly taking Ashe's toes in her hand, pulling them back. Ashe responded with increased crying, awaiting the long fingernails that were slowly going closer and closer to the soft, sensitive, delicate flesh of her high arches.
And then the contact happened, sending the rightful ruler of Dalmasca into already rutinous tickle-frenzy, again tickled by both the nails and the feathers. Jaki was letting her fingers playfully stroke those beautiful soles, scratching all over their surface, the hand that was holding toes back encountering no resistance. Ashe was simply too exhausted for it, becoming an easy target, begging for the loss of conciousness that was so stubbornly refusing to come.
«Queens this ticklish should certainly think twice before doing anything dangerous», Jaki continued to tease, enjoying the helpless cries and muffled laughter she was getting as a response to her devious techniques. «You never know when you might get captured and then... this happens.» She accented her last two words with a little harder tickling, admitting to herself, for probably a millionth time, that there is no prettier sight than seeing someone completely broken by tickling... and Ashe was as broken as they could get.
«What happens?»
Jaki shook as she heard a voice coming from behind her. Turning around, she saw a sight that both surprised and disappointed her: lady Ashe's party has returned, and Mjrn was with them. Damn. Not yet. The fun was just beginning.
«Sorry, it seems playtime's over», a brown-haired fancy-clothed hume said. «Hand Ashe over.»
«Right», Jaki said, disappointment visible in her voice. Playtime was over, indeed, she thought as she removed the shackles around her captive's extremities, and returning the feathers back to the ceiling. At first, the queen did nothing, just laid there and cried, but then her party picked her up, dressing her and removing the gag. She was still crying bitterly.
«I'm sorry... I'm sorry...», Ashe kept repeating, tears rolling down her blushing cheeks.
«It's all right, my queen», Basch tried to comfort her, «you're safe now.»
Balthier turned over to vieras as they were leaving.
«Well, we have to be going now. See you all later, I hope. Ta ta.»
And with a teatrical gesture, he and his party departed, leaving vieras alone in the room.
«The humes are gone», Jote said, entering the room with a couple of guards. «Now, it is time to discipline Mjrn.»
«I understand», Jari said, a sinister smile on her face as the rebel was picked up by the guards and placed on the table, her high heels taken off. It was tickle-time again.
* * *
«Damn it, I never want to be tickled again», Ashe concluded as she finally got out of the bed. It has been two days since her tickle-ordeal, and Penelo looked after her all that time, being how exhausted the young queen was. «Back there... I was ready to give up on Dalmasca's throne just for it to stop.»
«Dalmasca's throne, you say?», Penelo looked at her with interest. «Nah... I wouldn't touch those claws of yours you call feet for all of Archades.»
«Oh, is that so?», Ashe looked at her under the eye. «Well, I know that there are parts of royal dungeons in Rabanastre where you could get really well acquainted with a feather, young lady.»
Both women laughed. However, what stopped their laughter was Fran's voice, which came from the control room:
«Tractor beam. We are being boarded. Prepare for battle!»
* * *
«Well, well, if it isn't the notorious Ashelia B'Nargin Dalmasca», Drace gloated above her captive. «A man could say you actually wanted to be captured.»
Ashe tried to respond to her, but it was of no use. When she was captured in the battle that followed imperial boarding, Ashe was gagged as well, and brought to the torture chambers along with the others. Then, she and Fran were divided from the rest, and placed in hard bondage. Ashe was tied spread-eagle to the wall, while Fran was tied to a chair, and then surrounded by several imperial female troopers, this time in their casual outfits, not armors.
«Let me pay you two back for what you did to me when you captured me», Drace said, giving the troopers a sign to begin. Seeing the sign, they took out their feathers, starting to tickle poor Fran all over with them: one was tickling her bunny ears, other was running two feathers on her neck and upper torso, one was exploring her sides, and two were busy tickling viera's feet, using one feather on the upper side of the feet, and the other one on the soles, Fran's high heels making bunny-girl unable to resist the soft, ticklish caressing of her feet at all. If it wasn't for the gag they placed in her mouth, Fran would be screaming with laughter.
«And you... you are all mine», Drace said, lowering herself slowly to Ashe's bare feet, holding two feathers. «Tickle-time, my little ticklish queen.»
THE END.
