Betrayed (Hidden Worlds Book 1) Read online

  Rohan spanked everywhere, deliberately, with a regular rhythm, his hard hand bringing my already-tender skin to an incredible heat quickly. Because of my upended position, he was able to give special attention to the base of my bottom, where my cheeks met my thighs, and my upper thighs as well, two areas that he hadn't spanked as thoroughly when I was turned over his lap. My legs churned, my arms flailed, my head flipped… and still the hand fell.

  Then, without warning, the hand stopped but the pain of the spanking continued to build… and I continued to wail. "You'll be remembering to call me Lord, isn't that so lass?"

  "Yes, oh, yes, just please stop…"

  Amazingly, he did, setting me back onto my feet with no warning and little care. I swayed, almost fell with the suddenness of it and even though I knew that some surrounding the ship were still watching, I couldn't help stamping my feet and wagging my bottom from side to side, trying to fight back the sting. My thighs burned… I didn't even think I'd be able to walk and I was crying loudly.

  Rohan jerked me by my upper arm to follow him back out to the middle of the huge cavern. "Stop your wailing and wiggling now." He emphasized his words with a mild shake. "Ye can cry quietly if ye must, but if ye can't stop that bellering, ye can show yourself until ye learn some modesty."

  I was breathing hard, almost panting in pain, but I heard his admonishment well enough. Show myself? I remembered groups of girls showing their punished bottoms at the school. I very much feared that that was what he was referring to… and I could see myself standing somewhere in this cave with my tunic up and the back of my trousers parted, while bored men walked by.

  I shut my mouth with a desperate snap and followed him. Modesty? I reflected, completely incredulous. It was apparently just fine for him to bare my bottom and make me spread my legs in full view of numerous men, and then for him to open my labia and examine me… but loud crying was immodest. How could I be here? I wondered weakly. How could this have happened? How? I wiped tears off my cheeks with the back of my hand and sniffed.

  "Under the castle," Rohan commented as we walked towards the ship.

  "What… Lord?" I whispered out.

  "You asked where we were. We're under the castle. It was built on top o' the cave, to hide all the moving about that's necessary because of the ship."

  The whole discipline interlude had been about as significant to Lord Rohan as a… sneeze, I realized. At first I hadn't assimilated his words, but then it became obvious that he was answering the question I'd asked before he spanked me as if the punishment had never even occurred.

  We walked around the ship. My bottom ached and throbbed. Numerous men greeted Rohan with polite nods, murmuring "Lord" as he passed, their curious eyes on me as well. From the complete absence of any other women in the area, added to my conjecture that the white garb was typical of unmarried women, I guessed that someone clothed as I was was an unusual sight here. We approached another metal door, just like the one we'd come out of on the other side of the cavern. I thought we were going to enter immediately, but Rohan paused and turned to look at the ship. "I hope your liking caves, lass."

  "Why, Lord?"

  "Because your to be doing much work here, lass. We've need of you… more than ye can imagine, I suspect." The elevator door behind us opened with a hiss and we entered. Once the door closed, the cave was gone as completely as if it had never existed and again I felt us being drawn upward.

  I was simply bursting with questions, in spite of the fury I felt towards him. Also, my mind was racing. If they needed me, that meant that I must have something I could negotiate with. I had to have more information. I would have loved just to ignore him completely, but I had to know. "Why do you need me, Lord?"

  "When the ship crashed, everyone on board was killed save one man. He was injured, though, blinded. He was not part of the flying crew… he just helped cook the food. He was able to teach us about some of the computers… get us into some of the systems, but the main flight computers… and a lot of the equipment… the man didn't have the codes."

  So for fifty years they'd been sitting here with working flight computers… and hadn't been able to access them? Interesting. Very interesting. "And you think I can? Lord?"

  He went still next to me. "Ye can't?"

  "I'm not part of the crew either, Lord. I'm just a linguist."

  "Linguist?"

  "I came here to study your language. Nothing more. I don't know if I could get into a current system unauthorized. And if this is fifty years old…"

  His big powerful head fell, his hand raking through his dark hair, and I could sense how upset he was. I shied back in fear, thinking he was bound to whip me yet again. His eyes widened as he saw the motion, plainly interpreted it correctly. A paw of a hand shot out and grabbed my shoulder. His blue eyes gazed directly into mine. "Ye be listening to me, lass. I know you're not knowing our ways, and are wont to going your own way like Earth women must be."

  How did he know what Earth women were like, I wondered. However, before I could voice the question, he'd gone on.

  "It's going to be no easy task fer ye to learn our customs. But ye need to know that while ye'll be corrected if your mouth or doings earn it, none will ever lift a hand against ye for things that are naught of your own doing. If ye can't do what we ask of ye, that's not your fault. And if ye're trying your best, and ye still fail, well, it's just the bad luck." But then his eyes narrowed. "But I'm thinking you be a sly one, too, lass. And if we ask ye to do something' and ye lie about not being able to, I'll be making ye verra sorry… Are ye understanding what I'm saying to ye?"

  I nodded, and murmured, "Yes, Lord." And I did understand. In spite of the fact that his speech still seemed incredibly simple, he'd managed to communicate his point just fine. I wouldn't be held accountable or responsible for something I truly could not do or things I did not know. But if I lied to them… I swallowed. It didn't take much imagination to see what my fate would be. The only questions were how long, how hard, and with what I would be punished.

  Just as before, I was not really aware we had stopped moving, but the elevator door opened in front of us. "Hush, now," Rohan admonished quietly, and he stepped out into what looked like a… closet? It was small, that was for sure; my face was almost touching his broad back. And when the door whisked shut behind us, we were left in almost complete darkness. My fingers reached out, and I brushed warm stone. Rohan, ahead of me, pulled back a heavy piece of fabric quietly, and after glancing out briefly pulled me behind him. I saw that the fabric was a woven cloth. I'd seen many like it, called tapestries, in museums, and once we were past it, in fell down into place. Then, to my shock, I heard a very soft, but very definite grating noise. I suspected strongly that if I peeked back under the tapestry even now, I would see a block wall… and nothing more.

  We were in a long hall, and more tapestries hung on either side. I glanced back. There was nothing to distinguish the tapestry that concealed the elevator from any of the others. I was almost staggering with disorientation. To go from the strangely small dimensions of the infirmary, to the elevator, to the dank, huge cavern, back to the elevator, and now out into a castle in a matter of minutes… It was like passing back and forth between worlds. Rohan obviously did not share my sense of unreality and he seemed oblivious to mine. He just strode along the hall and expected me to follow. I tagged along, nearly stumbling, simply because I saw no other options. My bottom still stung too much to consider even speaking out of turn, much less doing anything else. The thin hope that I had clung to on my first day—that I could somehow escape—seemed utterly ridiculous now.

  We opened a door and then turned the corner, and I realized, as bright light washed over me, another thing that was different about the first hallway: no windows. Everywhere else I'd seen in the castle had many windows, all filled with bright clear glass. But that hall had been dark. I thought I might understand why. Rohan had not said so specifically, but I suspected they knew about the remotes
, knew that it was possible that speech and actions were being viewed and recorded.

  Remotes were not mobile. Once they landed somewhere… that's where they stayed. And observing a planet through remotes was very much hit or miss. A mission might spray down several thousand remotes to one small section of a town… and just hope that some of them might work out… by falling onto a windowsill or into a market stall. They were so tiny, about half the size of a fingernail, and no wider. If someone happened to see one, it looked like an oval flake of some dull metal.

  Because I was a linguist, learning to screen remotes was part of my training. I'd done it once on actual mission. With a computer's assistance, I'd flipped through the images from several thousand of the tiny devices. Most landed in utterly useless places, in the dirt and were trampled underfoot, or on a roof, or into a bucket of water. But a few would land and activate in very useful places. We also had controllable remotes, but they were so much larger that they could only be used to observe when there was cover. We could observe a battle from a tree, for example.

  They were protecting themselves well, here I realized. Even if a tiny remote caught on someone's clothing and was brought into the castle, unless the person was actually using the elevator, the secret would never be revealed. With no windows, the hall containing the hidden elevator would be concealed from both the tiny remotes and the controllable ones. That was the advantage of implanting humans who knew where to poke around, I guessed.

  Was that why we had been sent? I wondered. Did they suspect about the cave? I thought about that for a moment. If they knew the ship had crashed on this planet… were they looking for it? But then why hadn't they trained us? Told us the truth and what to look for? We'd been "active" on the planet a couple of hours. It seemed like a whole lot of expense and effort and trouble… for nothing. What was the point? I sighed wearily. There was so much I wanted to know… wanted to ask, I realized. And as much as I hated to admit it, there was only one person apparently who knew enough about both worlds to have a conversation with me about this.

  I opened my mouth… but snapped it shut. Rohan had pushed a heavy wooden door wide, a bell tinkling as it moved, and we stepped out… into yet another world.

  Chapter 10

  We were both inside… walls surrounded us… and outside… the pinkish blue sky was visible above. It was a courtyard, a garden of some sort. I was reminded, I realized, of a cloister I had seen in a preserved medieval monastery. Flowering plants were everywhere and a fountain tinkled against the wall. It was quite beautiful. The sky was bright: midday, I judged.

  And before I could wonder where we were, three young women came running out from an open doorway. They all squealed out his name, and two of them threw their arms around him. The third, I noticed, while beaming happily, did not touch Rohan, but stood off to the side, her head down slightly. They were dressed identically to me, in white, except that their tunics were not as long. All three had long braids that were twisted around their heads.

  Quickly, however, their joy at seeing him was surpassed by interest in me. And while I saw glances from the two who he was embracing that were mostly simply curiosity, the third, the one that was standing off to the side, was looking at me with eyes narrowed and an expression that was wary at best, and, at worse, could almost be called… hostile? I noticed that the females were, like everyone else on this planet, quite tall. I was taller than average on Earth, yet here I was shorter than all three. I'd been told that I was to be put in with Rohan's sisters and… Raisa. Although I could not be sure, I assumed that the two young women who had been forward with him were probably his sisters… and the one off to the side was Raisa.

  A voice behind us caused me to turn. "Greetings, Lord."

  "Greetings, Suse. And how are the babies today?"

  I recognized Suse immediately as the Matron who had given tea to me and Christy as we were waiting to be executed. She was very tall… probably the tallest women I'd seen here… and I felt dwarfed next to her. Quite obviously, the woman was not deaf as we had been told. The lie must have been used to prevent us from talking to her and pleading with her. She'd sat right by us, I remembered, licking my lips. Had she known the danger? If she had, in spite of myself, I felt grudging respect for her.

  Before Suse could answer his question, though, one of the two girls in his arms piped up. "Cheri's already had two spankings this morning, Rohan." She shot the other girl a glance that was pure superiority and her voice was sing-song with smugness. "And Raisa's had one."

  Rohan's face immediately turned somber. The girl I assumed to be the unfortunate Cheri clung to Rohan stubbornly, but he gently but firmly pried her away from him. He looked down into her face. "Two? What's gotten into ye, lassie?"

  Suse nodded. "Too big fer her britches, that's the problem. She's four months from going away to school still, and to hear her talk, ye'd think she's to be a bride tomorrow."

  Rohan was still looking at Cheri. "Let me be seeing it." He paused, then looked towards the other girl. "You, too Raisa."

  Cheri's face twisted into a sullen pout, and Raisa's eyes went wide and she shot me a confused glance, but both knew immediately what he wanted. Turning slowly, they faced away from Rohan, and pulling down their trousers fully down to their knees, they held up their tunics. My eyes went wide; their leggings were closed, like regular trousers, instead of wide open like mine. But neither girl wore anything beneath the loose trousers, that was clear, and within an instant, their heads hanging low, both were displaying bottoms to Rohan that were, in striking contrast to their white clothing, ruby red. In addition, Cheri's was marred with darker streaks. Under the bright red of the skin, I could see that Cheri's right cheek was marked with a design that looked like intertwined golden rings and Raisa's with a leaf. There was a moment of silence, then Cheri looked back at her brother over her shoulder with a plaintive look on her face, while Raisa kept her face low in shame.

  "All right, Raisa," Rohan muttered, and the girl jerked her pants back up so quickly I almost jumped at the motion and moved away. She shot me another look, however, and this one was pure venom. Cheri stood where she was for a moment longer. "Well, Cher, with a bum that's looking like that, I expect you'll be watching your tongue for the rest o' the day. Because if ye're not, girl, it's to me you'll be sent." He reached out and pulled up the girl's trousers, then turned her back to face him and tipped her chin up with his long finger. Raisa stood, still exposing herself. "Do ye understand me, Cheri? I'll not be having a sister of mine not knowing how to mind her tongue when she gets to the sem."

  The girl nodded her head quietly. "Yes, Rohan."

  Then he drew his other sister away from him, from where she'd still been clinging to him observing her sister's and Raisa's scolding with a rather smug expression. Rohan looked into her eyes, and then spoke to Suse. "And Marlou's to be spanked good and hard for tale-bearing, Suse."

  "Han…" The girl's eyes went wide and her voice high with a begging note.

  "Unless you'd rather me do it, girl." Rohan's demeanor indicated no compromise.

  "Nooo," Marlou's voice was a sad little whine and her lip shot out glumly.

  "All right then." Then he smiled, and I was reminded again that in spite of his huge size and obscene muscles, he really was a rather striking-looking man. "But if everyone can mind Suse the rest of the day, ye all can have dinner with me in my suite tonight."

  The expression of joy that washed over all three faces indicated clearly that this was a special treat. Then Marlou indicated me. "What about her? Who is she?"

  "She's to be living here with ye fer a time, girls. Her name's Jen. And that's all ye need to be knowing for the time."

  "Will she be eating with us, Rohan?"

  "Aye. She's one o' ye now. And that's all the questions fer now."

  I could see from their disappointed expressions that they would have liked to hear more, but their obedience was instant and absolute, and they fell silent with only a few continued glanc
es towards me. Marlou went back to looking glum over the promised punishment.

  "Off with ye now," Rohan murmured to the girls. "And remember. If everyone can mind the rest o' the day, we'll be having dinner." He touched the cheek of one of his sisters and swatted the bottom of the other, as the all three girls obediently scampered away, Marlou walking with head down, a little more slowly than the others. Raisa, with one final longing glance at Rohan (and a final glare at me), followed. I noticed that through all of it, Raisa had neither spoken to Rohan nor had he touched her. I stood quietly, not knowing what to say or do.

  "You'll be waiting for me, Marlou," Suse's voice came from behind me, matter-of-fact, and Marlou's shoulders dropped even lower.

  Suse walked over to me, and without warning, tipped my face up and looked into my eyes. "So your with us again, are ye lass?"

  "Yes…" I did not know if I was to address her with some form of respect, so somewhat lamely, I added a quick, "Matron."

  She glanced up at Rohan. "What o' the other?"

  Rohan shook his head. "No change. Poor little lassie." He paused. "But no worse, so there's always that."

  Suse inclined her head towards me. "How much is she knowing?"

  "Some. She saw the ship, o' course." Rohan looked at me. "You listen to me now, Jen. You're in the castle now, and this is the court where my sisters are living. The other is Raisa, my cousin. We're keeping ye here because we'll be needing you in the cave and it's too dangerous to be bringing you in and out o' the castle every day. And if ye were out o' the castle, we don't know where ye'd live. My sisters here are young, and Raisa too, not yet gone to maidens' school… and you're a woman full opened. It's not really right for ye to be here, yet ye have no husband…" His voice trailed off, almost helplessly.

  Suze picked up the issue. "So we can't think what we can be doing with ye, to say it out plain."