Alice In Chains (30 page)

‘Not many girls can say they’ve found themselves a genuine knight in shining armour,’ Suzanne said. ‘Well, ex-knight, anyway. I hope you’ll be happy.’

‘I will be. Sir Blanche will be staying in Brillig until he works out what he’s going to do next.’

‘So I might be dropping in on both of you some time,’ Alice said. ‘Bye … and good luck.’

Martes led Suzanne over to their horse. She went down on her hands and knees and he climbed onto her back and up into the front of the unusually long saddle. It allowed Suzanne enough room to climb up and sit comfortably behind her much shorter master and see over his head as they rode. She extended her arms around him and he secured her wrists to cuffs and a chain bolted to the front of the saddle and then handed her the reins. This left him free to lean back against the body of his slave and rest his head on her breasts as she guided their mount.

Juliet had run back to Sir Blanche and knelt before him, offering up her crossed wrists in the classic gesture of submission. He patted her head, lifted her to her feet,
turned
her round and bound her hands behind her with a strap from his pack. He did something to the pommel of his saddle that caused it to slide forward and hinge up into a phallus. With easy strength he lifted Juliet up onto the saddle and sat her down so that she was impaled on the phallus with a little squeak, then climbed up behind her, pushing her over Snowdrop’s neck while he opened the front of his britches, then pulling her back into his lap. Juliet gasped in surprise and then relaxed as her master’s cock slid up her rear and she was doubly penetrated. How many orgasms would she have before they reached Brillig? Alice wondered.

‘That’s most ingenious, Sir Blanche,’ Martes called out to him.

‘Thank you,’ said the former knight. ‘It’s my own invention, you know.’

‘Really? There might be a market for such a device …’

They rode off side by side still talking.

Alice watched them go. Two girlings who knew exactly where they belonged. But what about her?

She turned to Leonus, who had been watching the departures in silence, only to see his face was clouded.

‘What’s wrong, Master?’

‘Magenta said the Crown was a trap. Ordinary people would destroy themselves if they used it.’

‘But I’m not quite ordinary, Master. I can feel what it wants me to do, but it can’t tempt me like that. It’s not because I’m better than other people, but because I’m a submissive masochist. I don’t want to rule but to be ruled. That’s my only strength. But if you want the Crown, Master, I’d give it to you now. Maybe Underland needs a true lion king.’ She made to lift it from her head but he stopped her.

‘No! That would be more temptation than I could resist. I marvel you can control it, Alice. You are a much more extraordinary girling than I ever imagined.’

‘No, Master, I just want to find my proper place and be happy,’ Alice insisted. ‘There’s something I must use the Crown for, then I’ll get rid of it. Please come with me. Or we can agree somewhere to meet. I know how I can get back to Underland more easily now. Just tell me where you’ll be and …’

She trailed off as her heart sank. The look on his face told her it was too late. She had lost him. She had achieved something beyond his ability; she had braved a danger he would not face. Innocently she had wounded his pride. They could never be master and girling after that.

But you have me, the Crown seemed to whisper. She could make him want her again. She could make him forget. No! They could not base their relationship on a lie. Sometimes living the fairytale dream bore a heavy price in Underland.

Leonus brushed the tears from her eyes. ‘I’m sorry, Alice. I hope we shall meet again … but I do not know how I could be a proper master to you after this.’

Alice bit her lip. ‘I know. I’m so sorry. I won’t forget you.’ Was it only last night? It already seemed like a dream.

‘Can I take you anywhere?’ he asked.

‘No, the Crown will do that. The sooner I’ve finished with it the better.’ She reached up and kissed him. ‘Goodbye.’

Alice watched Leonus ride after the others until he was out of sight. Only then did she look away. Suddenly she became very aware of the collar round her neck. But now there would be no master’s leash to clip to it. Sadly she wished it gone and it was. Now she felt naked.

She wiped her eyes and pulled herself together. There was a very particular place she had to be and loose ends she had to tie up. ‘All right, Crown. This is what you’re going to do …’

* * *

Alice peered round the oak tree. There was the door as she remembered it. But was it the right time? If it had worked then any moment now …

Sure enough the door opened and her earlier self stepped out into Underland, looking about her uncertainly. Alice ducked back out of sight as her
doppelgänger
suddenly flinched and twisted round suspiciously. Now she knew who had been watching her. She had.

The other Alice walked away down the path. A few moments later the Red Queen flew past in her paranoid pursuit of spying insects. From round the corner came the crack of her sceptre and then the sound of voices, one of them her own. Alice slipped round the tree and through the door of her mirror room. Once inside she made her last wish.

The Crown seemed to become lighter. Cautiously Alice took it off and examined it closely. It was no longer lustrous metal but only gold-painted wood.

She hastily stuffed it into the bottom of her reversed wardrobe and, taking a deep breath, stepped back though the mirror into her own room and her own world. Now she had to get dressed. In about ten minutes her earlier self would be bringing the Queen through her mirror, and the bedroom had to be empty by then.

Just then the door opened and her mother peered in anxiously. She blinked at the unexpected sight of her daughter standing naked in her bedroom in the middle of the day, and said quickly, ‘Sorry, dear. I was calling but you didn’t answer. I only wanted to see if you were all right.’

All the concerns of the past weeks were written in her mother’s face. Alice ran over and hugged her.

‘Mum, I’m absolutely fine, and that’s official.’

‘I’m so glad, love. We’ve been worried about you.’

‘Well, you don’t have to be any longer. I was just … changing. I’ll be down in a minute. And Mum …’

‘Yes, dear?’

‘I’d love a cup of coffee.’

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This book is a work of fiction.
In real life, make sure you practise safe, sane and consensual sex.

First published in 2004 by
Nexus
Thames Wharf Studios
Rainville Road
London W6 9HA

Copyright © Adriana Arden 2004

The right of Adriana Arden to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

ISBN 9780352339089

All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental
.

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