The Spicy Tales of Peril Group presents…
The Perils of Lianni
By Dana Bowman, Jeb, and Jeanne Thorne
Chapter the Seventh
Jeb shifted from his left buttock to his right, stifling a groan. If he had to wait much longer for this thing to get underway, he'd…
"Still here?" Jumbo's tightly-grinning face poked inside the door of the hut where the two had finalized their plans.
"Barely. What's the delay?"
Jumbo shrugged. "Women. They're ready when they're ready."
Jeb frowned sourly, and Jumbo laughed and went back outside, leaving the sailor alone with his dark thoughts.
It has to work, he told himself. We've thrown all the dice this time. He settled back on the dirt floor again, watching through the small opening in the doorway.
Outside, the African sun beat down. The men of the Macumbas were once more formed in a semi-circle about the center of town, encircling a ring dug into the hard ground They were joined this time by the women and children-- evidently, this was felt better fare for all eyes than Jeanne's flogging and sodomizing had been.
The restless murmuring grew to a hum of excitement as the crowd parted, and into the circle stepped the two combatants.
Jeb watched both women closely. Jeanne was dressed in a simple shift of rough cloth, given to her by her captors. She carried herself with her usual proud bearing, glaring about herself at the gawking onlookers, but Jeb had known her long enough to recognize that her step had less of its typically panther-like quality, and her face seemed drained. Well, that was hardly surprising after what she'd endured.
Thank God for Jumbo and his potions, Jeb mused, IF he went through with it...
By contrast, Lianni was striding into the enclosed ring as though she owned the place-- which, of course, to her mind, she did. Jeb could see nothing on the magnificently-featured face but haughty contempt for her opponent... no, that wasn't quite true. Something else was stirring the proud jungle queen deeply as she regarded the beautiful young pirate, something Jeb couldn't quite suss out... but from the hard set of her face, he hoped to Christ the drug would take effect before Jeanne had to learn what it was-- the hard way.
Lianni was dressed in her usual animal skins-- this time, with a separate piece for top and bottom, he noted salaciously, and like Jeanne, had her hair tied back simply with a strip of leather. Both women wore, at their hips, some strips of leather, which Jumbo had explained were the cords used to bind a fallen opponent. The stakes were high-- not only would victory here decide the leadership of the Macumbas, but the loser would become the winner's bound property.
Jeb realized he'd never seen the two women standing face to face before-- his captain had always been bound, kneeling or lying on the ground, and he was struck, as he hadn't been before, by Lianni's sheer size and strength. Her womanly proportions were so perfect that nothing about her seemed oversized or out of place-- she was simply a beautiful woman who towered, intimidating and dominating, over most others of her sex.
As the two women faced each other, the young warrior that Jeb had watched sodomize Jeanne stepped to address the crowd, with Jumbo at his side. Clearly, Zaba was shaken by the prospect of this test, and was torn between his devotion to Lianni and loyalty to tribal tradition. Jeb wasn't sorry to see the trouble on the dark features--he was only sorry that the plan didn't seem to leave much room for his breaking the young Macumba's neck.
Zaba finished his address, and, with Jumbo, withdrew back to the ring of onlookers. He barked what sounded like an instruction; even without a command of the language, Jeb could see that they had been under starter's orders, and as Lianni took a step into the center of the ring, Jeanne came to meet her. Jeb sighed. Even with the stakes as high as they were, he was mentally calculating what a man back home might charge for such a show as they were about to see, and wondering if even the profits from slaving could match it.
As Jeanne had expected, Lianni's first move was a headlong rush, both hands extended, as though she would crush the young pirate like a piece of rotten fruit. With a smirk, Jeanne feinted a step into the path of the onrushing jungle girl, then sidestepped, threw out a leg, and watched Lianni sprawl face-first on the ground.
The smirk evaporated, though, as Lianni leapt to her feet with a speed that Jeanne would not have credited in a woman so tall and well-muscled, and delivered a savage backhanded swipe that caught Jeanne across the cheek and send her reeling. The pirate allowed herself to roll with the blow, and bounced back to her feet, facing her opponent.
Both women now stood, chests heaving with exertion already, facing each other down. If Lianni had the advantage of strength, Jeanne's years in the hardscrabble streets of London had taught her a few tricks that the jungle girl might learn to her pain. Still, Jeanne had to admit to herself that she had somehow expected Lianni to be all brawn and clumsiness, and wondered if she hadn't, for one of the few times in her life, underestimated an opponent.
Jeanne then tried another feint-and-move, this time going for her adversary's knees, only to see the jungle girl dance lithely aside, and deliver a sharp crack! to Jeanne's right ear with the flat of her palm.
"Aggh!" Jeanne clutched at the ear which burned from the blow. In his vantage point, Jeb was also beginning to think he might have underestimated Lianni... the woman was not only stronger than Jeanne-Marie, but was just as quick, with a pronounced instinct for the telling blow. The drug was looking a better and better investment every minute.
Because now, Lianni was getting the measure of her opponent. Jeanne's fighting style was based on misdirection and diversion, but that would only work for so long. The pirate had never before fought an opponent-- man or woman-- who seemed possessed of the stamina and recuperative powers of this tall blond battler. Lianni was taking punishment... and instead of weakening, was learning from it.
Jeanne stopped nursing her ear just in time to duck under a vicious uppercut, and plant a fist in the blonde's stomach.
Christ, her muscles are like iron! The woman had barely flinched at the blow, and had instead brought a knee up sharply into Jeanne's midsection.
With a groan, Jeanne stumbled back from the blow, her head snapping forward, the band holding her hair sliding free, releasing the midnight-dark mass.
"AAAgghhh!" In the next instant, Jeanne felt her head yanked painfully up as Lianni's steely fingers found a purchase in the pirate's tumbled tresses, flinging her savagely to the ground. Jeanne rolled left to avoid one kick, but then ran smack into a kick from the other foot, the air rushing out of her lungs.
Jeanne gasped like a landed fish, pulling herself to her feet, just in time to take a two-punch combination, to head and stomach, that sent her back to her knees, trying not to vomit.
Stuart, goddam it, do something! It was unthinkable that Jeanne voice the thought, but she was starting to seriously doubt the wisdom of his wild-assed plan.
For his own part, Jeb was beginning to feel cold sweat on his back. Could Jumbo have possibly betrayed him? Why would he? This is the man's big chance to take the throne. But suppose he's been found out... Jeb chilled at the thought. If that's happened, it's all up with us. He was just about to try and sneak a look for Jumbo in the crowd, when he saw Lianni reach for Jeanne's wrist, to begin the process of binding her defeated foe; as he watched, the blonde's fingers fumbled clumsily for purchase, and Jeanne ducked under the clutching fingers.
As the two women separated again, Jeb nearly sobbed with relief at the confused look on Lianni's sweat-stained face. Jumbo, you wonderful bastard, you did it! For an instant, it was as though the jungle girl was glaring at her hands, accusing them of betraying her. Even gasping for breath as she still was, Jeanne spotted the opening, and for the first time, launched herself into a headlong leap at Lianni.
Already slightly befuddled, the jungle girl tried to gauge which way Jeanne as going to feint this time-- and when there was no feint, took the pirate's right fist square on the point of her chin.
"Uuuuhhh!" Lianni flew back, losing her own leather hair tie, the golden mane tumbling now around her face as she sprawled on her back.
Jeanne paused, having observed Lianni's abilities to recover, then cursed herself as she realized she'd missed an opportunity: the jungle girl was slower getting to her feet than she'd been before. As Lianni raked yellow tresses back from her face, Jeanne saw the blue eyes filling with what appeared to be unfamiliar emotions: where she had until now regarded Jeanne with disdain and lustful superiority, she now appeared... vulnerable.
And, thus, for Lianni, Queen of the Jungle, the end had begun. No opponent had ever shown vulnerability to "Spicy" Jeanne-Marie Magdelena de la Croix and profited from it.
Gathering what breath she could still manage, the beautiful pirate shouted a challenge, and leapt at Lianni again... this time, she did feint, confusing the already-woozy amazon, and plunged her fingers into the thick golden mane. She twisted her grip, snarling at the memory of the woman having done the same to her, then threw Lianni face-down to the ground.
Jeanne made a leap to follow up her advantage, but the blonde found some reserve of strength, and staggered back to her feet, throwing a punch that, weakened though she was, still had enough behind it to send Jeanne stumbling back.
Shaking her head dizzily, Lianni made a grab for Jeanne's wrist, wielding the binding cord again, clearly hoping to end the contest before she grew any weaker. The pirate dodged, snatched her own binding cord, and as Lianni pulled her wrist out of Jeanne's reach, the pirate ducked down and threw herself hard at Lianni's legs.
"Oooff!" The two women hit the ground in a tangle of flailing limbs and flying tresses, and Jeanne realized that Lianni had been going about it backwards: instead of groping for her opponent's wrists, Jeanne used her weight to hold Lianni's legs still. She snatched at the pinioned ankles, and tied them tightly together.
"Ahhhh!" Lianni seized a fistful of Jeanne's hair, forcing her head painfully back. Jeanne gritted her teeth, ignoring the pain, focusing all her attention on trapping her opponent's feet. Lianni finally succeeding in pulling her off, but not before Jeanne had finished fastening the ankles firmly together. She delivered a sharp blow to the inside of Lianni's elbow, breaking the grip in her hair, then bounded to her feet, glaring down at Lianni.
The blonde desperately tried to somehow get to her feet while at the same time untying them-- as Jeanne had seen, that was impossible. If Lianni's hands were busy trying to free her ankles, they were no threat to Jeanne.
For the first time in what seemed like weeks, Jeanne-Marie laughed out loud, as she danced around the madly-grasping Lianni, and as the jungle girl flopped about trying to follow, Jeanne grabbed the taller girl's right wrist, and leaned back, pulling Lianni's right arm painfully up behind her back.
"Agggh! Damn you!" the blonde gritted as the pain sent stars dancing across her vision. Jeanne's only response was to shift her weight, forcing Lianni's trapped hand up against her back as she imprisoned the other arm with her hand, then forced the blonde's wrists to cross behind her back. Still using the leverage of her weight pressing down on Lianni, Jeanne was able to wrap the strip of tough leather around and around the pinioned wrists. A lifetime at sea meant that if there were one sure thing about this fight, it was that Lianni was not about to break or slip any knot that Jeanne tied.
She gave the bound blonde a slap to the back of her head, and for good measure grabbed the remaining length of binding leather from Lianni's waist, and used it to tie her captive's upper arms together, elbows nearly touching behind her back. This produced not only a groan from Lianni, but a gasp from the crowd, and Jeanne realized that this posture was emphasizing Lianni's feminine attributes in a way designed to please the eye-- and that had its own satisfactions: Jeanne was fairly sure that Lianni was not accustomed to having her "assets" appraised on any terms but her own. And that gives me a capital idea.
Lianni shook her head, desperately trying to clear it of the haze of the beating she had taken.
As she pulled uselessly at her bonds, she once more felt Jeanne's strong fingers deep in her hair, forcing her to kneel upright, stretched painfully.
"Looks like I have the upper hand now, my `Golden Goddess'!"
"Never, you black-haired bitch!" But Lianni's heart sank as she realized that bravado would avail her nothing. She was kneeling at Jeanne-Marie's feet, helplessly bound... and by Macumba law, she was now the property of the dark-haired pirate.
As the crowd gaped, Jeanne used the grip in Lianni's hair to stretch the jungle girl's body taut, forcing her chest even further forward. In the warm, hushed air, there was silence as Jeanne suddenly lowered her head, her mane of glossy hair obscuring Lianni's face, and sunk her teeth into the fabric of Lianni's animal-skin top. She rent it with a tiny tearing sound, then stood upright again, looking out at the crowd. As the bound blonde moaned, Jeanne reached her hand to the back of the garment, pulled… and with a great ripping sound, the top split in two, and Jeanne pulled it free.
"Aaaahhhh…" Over the gasps of the crowd came Lianni's heartbreaking moan as her fine, firm breasts fell, free and unfettered, into the sunlight.
"See your `Goddess' now!" Jeanne crowed, caring not that none of them could understand her. "Just a big-titted whore…" and she twisted the grip in Lianni's hair… "that has much to answer for!" She tossed aside the ripped garment, and with her free hand began to fondle her captive's chest-- becoming the first person ever to touch the sacred breasts of the Golden Goddess.
There was a commotion as two large figures forced their way through the crowd: Zaba's face was an unreadable cloud, and as he slipped out of the hut, Jeb waited, heart in his mouth, to see Jumbo turn in his direction… and wink!
God damn. We did it.
Jeb barely noticed what happened next, but it appeared that Zaba, devastated over his queen's defeat, had quietly encouraged his people to recognize Jumbo as their new leader, and the big man had received acclaim from a people who had never been completely comfortable under the rule of a blond white woman, no matter how benevolent.
And, indeed, it took no time at all for them to turn on Lianni, jeering her as Jeanne displayed the bound beauty for their amusement. Jeb sidled quietly up to Jumbo, who translated the next part of Zaba's speech for him.
"By the law of Macumba, the `tanguin' challenge was given and accepted." His voice seemed to crack, as he went on. "The one known as Lianni… now belongs to this woman," he seemed to cringe at the memory of his assault on the now-victorious pirate, "to do with her as she will."
And as Jumbo translated the speech, the air was rent with a blood-curdling cry, as Jeanne threw back her head, and crowed her triumph to the heavens.
And at that, Lianni sagged in her bonds, defeated, now completely at the mercy of the ruthless Jeanne-Marie Magdelena de la Croix.
And that's where the story was when Dana and Jeanne disappeared from my life. The fact is, though, that we'd plotted most of the rest of the story out before that happened, and since I guess I won't be seeing them again, I think I may go ahead and finish the story, as a bit of a tribute to them. It'll never be what it could have been-- Dana and Jeanne had unique perspectives that I can't begin to match-- but I think it's a tale worth finishing. Keep watching-- there will be more Spicy Tales of Peril ahead.
