If Things Were Different

Chapter 13

Suki and Henry rush down the hallway to Irene's room. Henry threw himself against the door. "Lady Irene! Come out you vixen!" he shouted. No response. He slammed his shoulder into the door. "This wood is sturdy," Henry noted. He backed up, and attempted to charge the door again.

Click! Suki opened the door. Henry was dumbstruck. "The door was unlocked," Suki explained. The pair entered inside, but no one was present. Suki looked down at the floor, and saw flecks of orange.

"These are carrots," she said. "The cooks were saying that Irene took all the carrots from the kitchen earlier. What was she doing with them?"

"By the way this looks, she was feeding them to her prisoners," Henry replied. "Irene's been known to be worse than Nataleigh about her games."

"How in the world can someone be worse than Nataleigh?" Suki asked.

"You'd be surprised. What Nataleigh does is mild compared to what others could do," Henry explained. "Some of them are more than willing to do more than gag you." He shrugged. "The burden of a servant is to see and hear what the masters do."

"But where did they go?" Henry asked. "No one is here at all." He walked back out into the hallway. The crate that was in the middle of the hallway shook. Muffled cries came from inside.

Henry opened the crate to see Mollie trapped inside. "Miss Mollie?" he asked. "What happened?"

"MMMPH!" Mollie shouted. Henry lifted Mollie out of the crate.

Suki made a move to untie Mollie, but then she stopped and looked at Henry. Henry nodded. "Untie her. You have my permission to do so." Suki untied the blonde prisoner.

"Hurry!" Mollie said. "She's going to take them back to Florian."

"Stay safe, Miss Mollie," Henry ordered. "Come, Su! We must defeat this vile plot!" Even with a bit of a limp, Henry still managed to keep far ahead of Suki. All down the hallway, she struggled to keep up with him.

They hurried to the stables, where Irene's carriage was getting ready. Two guards remained stationed by the doors. A servant was loading up two crates. "There would be our maidens," Henry noted. As they began to do so, Nataleigh rushed in.

"Looks like we beat you here," Henry teased.

"You can dream all you like when you spend the night in my dungeon," Nataleigh mocked. "The fact is that neither of us has rescued either Risette or Agnes yet."

"How did you find out?" asked Suki.

"I'm very persuasive," Nataleigh teased. "Especially with a paddle." She smirked.

The guards began to walk over to them. "Lady Irene's carriage is not to be disturbed by anyone without her express permission. Leave or we will have to arrest you," one of them threatened.

"You are kidnapping the staff of the Manor as well as the guests," Henry replied. He put up his fists.

"Our duties are clear," the guard replied. "No one touches the carriage without getting through us." Henry decked him across the face. Nataleigh quickly slipped out her leg around the other guard's leg, causing him to stumble.

"What do I do?" Suki asked. She tried to track the action to help, but in the tangle of maids, servants, and guards, she couldn't move fast enough. One of the guards gripped her from behind and pinned her down.

The guard that Henry was fighting slammed his fist into Henry's knee. Henry reeled back, gasping for breath. The guard on the floor weakly attempted to hit Nataleigh, but he missed completely.

Henry attempted a fierce counterattack with his fists to keep his opponent on the defensive, but his opponent gave Henry a hard punch to the gut, sending him to the floor. Suki kicked and struggled at her captor's grip, but was unable to break it. Neither could he fully restrain her. "Hold still!" he growled as he kept trying to pin Suki to the floor.

Nataleigh attempted to knock out her opponent, but he rolled out of the way in time, right into the guard fighting Henry. Suki continued to struggle against her captor. "I've got to break out of this," Suki thought.

Henry, though injured, pulled himself to his feet. "I will not let you take those maidens," he declared with confidence. He smashed his fist into the guard's face again. The guard went limp. Nataleigh smashed her opponent's head into the ground, knocking him out too. Suki managed to break free of her opponent with a sharp kick to his crotch. He started struggling to his feet, then raised his hands in surrender.

"Wise choice," Henry replied, "but not quite soon enough."

Nataleigh touched the carriage to open it, but from behind, a voice said, "Guards are so pathetic. I should have hired that blonde mercenary instead."

Nataleigh spun around to see Lady Irene with her guard approaching. "You should give up. There are three of us and one of you," Suki suggested.

Irene laughed. She threw a powder of some sort into the air. It sparkled. Henry, Nataleigh, and Suki began to cough. "W-what was that?" Suki coughed.

"Poison cloud," Henry growled. "Magic trick."

"I had no idea that Irene used magic," Nataleigh coughed as the cloud began to slow down.

Despite the initial stun, Suki began to see red. "Let Risette go!" she shouted, rushing forward and ramming into Irene, sending the wicked noble sprawling to the floor while Suki began to rail on her with her fists.

Henry sent out a jab at Irene's guard. It managed to slip past the guard's spear, but it bounced off the armor. The guard countered by jabbing at Henry with his spear, piercing Henry's arm. A moment later, Nataleigh grabbed the guard in a chokehold.

Irene blew into the wind, but nothing happened. Suki continued to attack the noblewoman, but Irene managed to wiggle out of Suki's assault. Meanwhile, the guard succumbed to the assaults from Henry and Nataleigh together.

Irene scrambled away from Suki. "Get back here!" Suki shouted as she continued to chase after her quarry. In the process, Irene lost her footing and tumbled down. No sooner had she fallen than Suki had her pinned again. "Don't move," Suki growled.

"I-I surrender," Irene replied. Suki knocked her out. Suki darted back to the carriage, where Nataleigh was unloading the crates.

Gasping for breath, Suki pried open the crate closest to her. "Risette!" she shouted, as she saw her currently bound friend. "Are you alright?"

"MMMPH!" Risette shouted.

Suki helped her friend out of the crate. She attempted to take the gag out of Risette's mouth. "It needs a key," Suki explained. "Maybe Irene has the key."

"MMMPH!" Risette replied in frustration.

Nataleigh freed Agnes from the other crate. "MMMPH!" Agnes whimpered. Nataleigh smirked for a moment.

"You've been playing with nobles while Su and I have been doing all the work," Nataleigh scolded. She swatted Agnes' rear.

"MMMPH!" Agnes whined.

Nataleigh untied her. "You've already been tied up enough for one day," she replied. She turned and smiled at Irene lustfully. "Besides, I have more than enough guests in the dungeon tonight." She ran over to Irene and began to restrain her.

"T-thank you, ma'am," Agnes said. She rubbed her arms and stretched.

Suki came running back with a set of keys. "It's got to be one of these," she said. Starting with chains underneath, she began to fit a key to each lock. "Not that one. Not that one," Suki groaned. "Which one of these is it?" Finally, a click. The joining shackle was broken, separating Risette's hands and legs.

"MMMPH!" Risette said gratefully.

Suki moved on to the leg shackles. Henry returned from restraining the guard again. "He won't be going anywhere anytime soon," Henry said, wiping his hands.

"Neither will she," Nataleigh said as she dragged a now awake and terrified Irene behind her by a chain. "Agnes, take the guest down to the dungeon. Have some fun if you want."

"MMMPH!" Irene whimpered.

Agnes smiled as she began to drag her former captor. "Shall I start with a long flogging?" she mocked. "If you're a bad girl, I'll eat your food."

"MMMPH!" Irene protested.

"Got it!" Suki shouted. The last lock opened up, allowing Risette to take her gag out.

"Thank you, Suki," she gasped as she pulled Suki in for a kiss. Suki's eyes went wide as she looked over to Nataleigh and Henry.

"Suki? I thought your name was Su," Henry asked. His face went pale, and he fell to his knees. "Y-your highness?"

"Henry, get off the floor," Nataleigh commanded. "You're making a fool of yourself."

"Don't you see?" Henry asked. "How could we have been so blind? This is Princess Suki."

Nataleigh's face went white. "Queen Cherisa left after she saw Su-it all makes sense now. I thought she just didn't like Su," Nataleigh replied. She equally fell to her knees.

"You don't have to do that," Suki replied. "Right now, I'm just Su."

The pair rose to their feet. Nataleigh's face was flushed with embarrassment as she made eye contact with her liege. "F-forgive me, your highness. I assure you, I had no idea that I was playing with you in the dungeon," she stammered.

"It's alright," Suki replied, then her face went red and she stammered, "besides, it was kind of fun."

"Nataleigh, you have corrupted the princess with your games," Henry sighed.

Nataleigh shook her head. "Please punish me, Your Highness. I am deserving of it," she humbly replied.

"I-I don't know," Suki replied nervously, blushing. "I wouldn't know what to do."

"My dungeon is at your disposal, and I am your prisoner," Nataleigh replied. Suki smiled as another idea popped in her head. "Before I do your punishment, Agnes lied to you about releasing the thief," she explained, "Perhaps if you demonstrated, I could be more successful."

"Yes, your highness," Nataleigh replied meekly. She fished out another collar and handed it to Suki.

"Is this really necessary?" Suki asked. Her face continued to grow red. "I really don't want to hurt you." She turned to Risette for help.

"I'm not into that stuff, sweetie," Risette replied. "Besides, I'm about to spend a while tied up soon anyway." She sighed. "But the company is cute. I'll be in the washroom getting cleaned up and getting this outfit off."

"I-I think it makes you look cute," Suki stammered. Her face was now an almost permanent shade of red.

"Awe, sweetie," purred Risette. She gave Suki a long kiss. "Don't worry, sweetie. Try to have a good time. Nataleigh's a cute girl." She gave Suki a wink before running off.

"Great. Now it's just you and me," Suki muttered. "Do you really need to wear this?"

Nataleigh nodded. "I must be punished regardless of my station, Your Highness," she replied.
"Could you please help me put this on you?" Suki asked shyly. She held out the collar.

"Your Highness, may I have permission to call you Mistress?" Nataleigh asked as she helped Suki fasten the collar.

"But that's what you told me to call you," Suki said. "Just call me Su please. I don't want the manor to know that I'm still alive."

"Yes, your High- Su," Nataleigh replied. She helped Suki guide the lead through the hook in the front of the collar. "Let's get this over with," Suki sighed as she led the maid down into the dungeon depths.