(Chapter contains quite a few damsels in bondage)

Dana watched intently as the scene progressed, Trishs and Zushas entities – they had taken Zusha with them into dreamworld – beside her. The bubble showed Zushas abduction in a brothel in North-Rondakalor, near the border to the Kerkemark.
The young, pretty whore Zusha had intended to spend the night with lay bound, gagged and blindfolded on the bed, struggling. Three muscled Rondakas handled Danas friend. In the scene, Zusha had already been gagged, rubberized, and bound and now her head was shaved expertly and quickly. Her wonderful glossy black mane fell to the ground, revealing a skull covered with redbrown skin. Zusha struggled, groaned, her eyes very wide, she was obviously very hot against her will back there in the past, which Dana could understand all too well. Her friend starred into a mirror at her gagged face and bald head. A black latexa cap was jerked over her head, down to her neck, leaving only her face free. Without further ado, the helpless girl was stuffed into a big black leather sack.
The blonde decided it was enough. She moved the bubble backwards in time and left the scene, until they could see the abductors arriving. It were 23 women, they planned to abduct several Tra Ka Dar warriors in the brothel, to mask her real target: the heiress of the throne of Tresha Kor.
Dana moved the bubble again, both in time and in space. Practicing every night with Sirf was paying off nicely. And there it finally was: The leadress of the abductors meeting another Rondaka in an inn in some city. Both women wore suede clothing, short gloves and knee high boots. Both were armed with a short sword and an axe. The second one presumably the employer of the abductors, was quite young, about Zushas age. Her face was a bit longer and more slender than Zushas, but they were definitely of the same subrace. Zushas bodyless voice hissed: “Lina Lir!”
Dana asked: “You have seen enough, Zusha?”
“Yes, I have.” The Rondakas voice was ice cold.
“Then lets wake up.”
XXX
A few minutes later, Dana, Trish and Zusha left the bed in the inn chamber, put on nightgowns, and headed over to another chamber, where the others waited, huddled together on the bed there or sitting along the walls on the ground. Sirf fainted sleeping once more in his basket.
They were in a large inn in the city of Lemjbeer, inSoutheast Gulanja, staying for the night. Their journey from Albor via Lashayette, Laibech in Moravan, Dartad in Telestak and another city in the east of last mentioned country to this place had been uneventful and smooth. Dana had spent much time practicing the art of dreamwandering with Sirf. Furthermore, all had trained different Rondakian dialects. They had learned them by spell, but practicing the languages helped the spell to get hold on their minds.
After a large meal this evening in the main hall of the inn, they had retired to their rooms. Zusha had asked Dana to look after the one responsible for her abduction, and now it was time to discuss the results.
The Rondaka was clearly enraged, she lit a cigarette, sucked in smoke and blew it out very forcefully. Dana and Trish lit up likewise. The blonde sat down before the bed near Tashmal, who was sitting on it. Dana leaned herself against Tashmals bare legs. The Achaian stroke her blonde mane tenderly.
“So, Zusha, who is this Lina Lir?”
“She is of The Blood like myself, her mother is a presumably loyal follower of the throne.  She is first daughter, meaning the only one surviving. In our culture, those of The Blood take no companions, and the concept of shelter mother doesn’t apply to us. Children are made by meeting chosen women not of The Blood, who are anonymous. To find the strongest and most clever one  among the daughters, they start to fight early in childhood, until only one survives.”
Dana was horrified. That was unbelievably inhuman and cruel. So Zusha had killed her sisters? And they had tried to kill her? The blonde had vast difficulties grasping that concept, let alone accept it. But now she understood full well why Zusha trusted no one.
The red skinned girl continued:
“To counter this harsh system, every child of The Blood gets a sworn sister, a girl of The Blood from another line. Lina Lir and I have sworn the oath of sisterhood when we were ten. We did nearly everything together, from learning the fighting arts to our First Pleasures. Later, our paths diverted, I became a Tra Ka Dar and she joined her mother in ruling the city Uli Yanogo in the northwest of Tresha Kor.
But we remained sisters, and met regularly at my mothers court, were we used to feast and make love together. It is… a blow for me that it is she, and her mother respectively, who are behind the abduction.”
Marule asked from her place at a wall:
“I don’t understand why she hasn’t been caught sooner, dreamwanderers of Zushas mother have surely tried to determine the one responsible.”
Trish answered:
“There was a very powerful blackening spell around the bubble. Dana broke it easily. She is incredibly strong and gifted in dreamworld.”
But not this gifted, Dana thought. It had been Sirf who had broken the blackening of the bubble, unbeknownst to Zusha. They had decided that the friends neednt know more than necessary about the con-fy-deths. Events had led to them knowing already very much, more than Sirf and the others cared for.
“What will you do now, Zusha,” Zoet asked.
“I will ask Dana or Trish to relay a message via the witches to my mother, to the effect that Lina Lir is ordered to travel to Kuybi Kala and await our arrival. Presumably to join our quest for the Rondakian seal. When we get there, I will deal with her personally.”
“And her mother?” That was Megan.
“The Ruka Ro, the empress, will deal with her afterwards, or ideally at the same time. This is an internal matter of our Empire, you need not concern yourself with it.”
There was a pause in the conversation. Rowenn rose from the foot of the bed and started to don her garments and weapons, it was time for her to relieve Niyi in the corridor. They had decided to always post a sentry at night in the inns on the journey.
Tashmal broke the silence:
“Well, fine, in this case I propose you start leaving this homely chamber now, girls. The Achaian whore hungers for some quality time with her blonde beauty.”
There was laughter, and everyone save for Dana and Tashmal rose and headed for the door. Marule took up Sirfs basket. The tomcat opened its eyes and yawned.
“Have fun.” His voice came into the blondes mind.
“As if you will not watch.”
“Cant watch you having sex all the time, darling. Wont have much time left for other things this way.”
Dana suppressed a laugh and thought:
“If you put it that way…”

+++

“Very impressive.”
“They are the biggest known marshes of the world. “
Dana nodded to Tashmals words as both looked down on the vast Prullu Priga marshes far below. The dragon was flying along their southern edge for hours now, having stopped to feast and rest for some hours at midday. It was the animal of a Gulanjian line, flying the route from Lemjbeer to Shiki Vija, capital of the Wozhat – state – of the same name. The Arankian country of Gulanja was on good terms with its Rondakian neighbours despite the racial differences. This was due to a common enemy Gulanja and the Rondakas shared – the deathknightresses of the Kerkemark to the north.
This thought let Danas mind wander to the question what her “special friends” Lurave, Koxath and Zilanith, the Kerke sisters, were currently doing. Still plotting to abduct her? They had not been very successful up to now, it had been they themselves ending in tight bondage, screaming in their gags. She had to smile. About brunette Koxath in love with arrogant blonde Lurave, and cool darkhaired Zilanith, the Maga, who clearly had been so very hot about being strictly packaged.
Dana enjoyed staying at a window during their long dragon flights and looking out. Tashmal often joined her lover, mainly to practice Rondakian languages with her, she had stated. The blonde had yet to find a language of the whole wide world Tashmal was not fluent in. The Achaian had probably learned them all by powerful and extremely expensive magic.
Behind the two, their friends were sitting on couches fastened with bolts to the cabin floor, some chatting, others dozing. Niyi and Zusha played a Kerkor match, with Niyi winning once more. This was probably because Zusha was  still sick while in the air, as on the ground they now was able to beat Niyi in the game, having adopted Danas strategy against the yellowskinned assassin, which the blonde in turn had learned from Madamelle Mareshes back in Lashayette.
The large cabin was full of other passengers too, fairskinned Gulanjas as well as redskinned Rondakas, the latter ones short, stocky and roundfaced, as was usual for the subrace living in southwestern and southern Rondakalor. The Chruchor, the magical smoke- and smell evaporator of the cabin was not the best, and accordingly much blue cigarette smoke hang in the air.
As some children and even an infant were on board, Dana tried to reduce her smoking on this flight, but with more than 30 women smoking in the confines of the cabin, her own sacrifice didn’t really made such a difference.
Aft, at the back wall of the confinement, knelt 6 packaged slaves, their leashs tied to rings in the floor. They were all bound and gagged, some wore blindfolds. Five of them were fairskinned, with different hair colors, one was a blackskinned Mambaka, a voluptuous, obviously very hot girl, who constantly groaned in her huge red ballgag and threw her long curly black hair mane about.
The sight of the packaged girls, especially the Mambaka, aroused Dana as usual, but at the same time she felt pity for the slaves, as she always did. A girl should be free to do with her life as she pleased, not subject to everyday bondage and the whip.
The slaves were all private ones, belonging to different ladies. Dan tried to put them from her mind. She couldn’t free all slaves of the word. Maybe she could try after she had succeeded in preventing the male invasion. She grinned at he thought. I haven’t lost my humor. Sirf will probably say that’s good.  Are you there, Sirf? She called out silently. The tomcat didn’t answer. As usual, it slept or pretended to do so. What are you dreaming, old male? About the time of the Ancients? Oshs story came to Danas mind. He worked with the cigarette machine. As a tiny snake? By all aspects of light, no! He had been human back then.  And Sirf and the others… had been human males too. She turned abruptly and starred at Sirf in his basket at Marules feet. The tomcat was staring at her with its – his - intense green eyes. How have you looked as a human, Sirf? She asked in her thoughts.
The old guy didn’t answer.

+++

“Something is wrong down there,” Zoet said, looking down through the window at the small dragon port, which lay quite lonely in the vast plains of southern Rondakalor.
It was the second week of the journey. Up to now it had been smooth and uneventful.  Only once, in a town they had stayed in for the night, a teenager girl had tried to snatch Marules purse. They had given the Rondakian girl a good spanking and then had sent her back on her foul ways.
During their stays in Rondakian cities and towns, Dana had tried to learn and see as much as possible about culture and customs of the red race. She had found that both were as different and varied as the customs of Dorania, Achaia and Albor were. Only some things seemed to be obviously different from Arankalor. Suede was preferred for garments, boots and gloves over polished leather, and most buildings were of “normal” stone or even wood like in Dorania or Gulanja, the “Shagjat” of Achaia and Albor found only seldom.
The redskinned women in streets and inns tended to ignore the whiteskins in their midst, when buying provision or cigarettes in the towns, the merchants were very reserved, to the point of being impolite. Zusha had told them that was because of their race. Whiteskins were universally quite disliked in Rondakalor, except as slaves.  After hearing this, Dana had wondered why there had not been a single abduction attempt, taking into account her “luck” with bondage adventures.
Sirf had said to that something like “The statistic is leveling itself out”, which Dana hadn’t tried to make sense of.
In the inns, which usually had a rustic interior, the meals were simple, but large, often a thick soup with pieces of meat and vegetables in it. The favorite drink here seemed to be a strong, clear grog, which Dana had once tried – and only once. It had burned on her tongue and in her throat and stomach. Zusha on the other hand gulped down several large glasses of it without any effect, and Rowenn and Zoet seemed to like it too.
The inn maids worked efficiently, but were quite sober and reserved, not only to the whiteskinned foreigners, but seemingly to everyone.
And finally Dana had noticed another curious custom. Companions, lovers, friends or sisters had a certain special method of smoking. Those pairs delicately put a filtered stick between the lips of their counterpart, and when both lips were adorned with a cigarette, they lit each others smoke. Only after killing the matches and taking the first two drags the cigarettes were simultaneously taken between the fingers. During the whole procedure the girls watched each other.
Dana liked this custom very much and already tried to adopt it with her Tashmal, who was amused.
Zusha seemed to disapprove of this little game, judging by her mimic, but she had remained quiet.
After reaching Shiki Vija, they had traversed the country on a southeasterly course, and had reached the great plains of the southeast, with the two mighty rivers DoDar and Vog Sho. Here, many independent city states were to be found.
The blonde joined Zoet at the window and asked:
“Whats wrong? Everything seems normal.”
The sworn combatter of Trish answered:
“There are dragons on the grass, and tenders about, likewise armed guards at the perimeter. But passengers are nowhere to be seen. When the dragons rest, its passengers use to take a walk around the port, especially in sunny weather like today. Remember, we did this too often enough. Furthermore, look over there. There are seats and tables near the reception building, for meals in the open. No one is sitting there.”
“You are right, something is amiss.”
The others had now joined them at the window, likewise Rondakian passengers. Trish offered to take a look in dreamworld, and Dana agreed. Their dragon was going down, landing on the lawn.
Two tall muscled Rondakians, their hairmanes in tight plaits, bihander swords on their backs suggested it was a trap, an assault by robbers or slave hunters. The passengers held a quick discussion. Soon Trish joined them again and affirmed it was indeed a trap. In the building, passengers and attendants were wriggling in tight bonds and mewing in huge gags, about 70 women in total. The robbers numbered about 40 girls, heavily armed and well equipped with bondage material. Two Magas were among them.
Apart from Dana and her friends, only the two muscled Rondakian with their large swords were fighters, the other passengers being merchants or other wealthy people visiting relatives somewhere.  An overweight mother of two small children suggested that they took off again and flew on to another port or city, to call on the authorities.
Dana vigorously opposed that. The evil band could be gone then with their captives, selling them into slavery. Furthermore, they already had landed now, and the enemy had heavy crossbows, probably with anti-dragon-poison on the bolts.
They discussed a plan. Most passengers should leave the cabin and let themselves be “surprised” and packaged, while the fighters would remain on board, to later turn the tables.
That was the moment when Sirf said in Danas mind:
“There is a scout among the passengers, the pretty young priestress of the Moon goddess to your right. Most naturally she will warn her comrades.”
Dana mustered the young woman. She was a bit older than she herself, dressed in a knee long white suede dress and sandals. Between her brows nestled a painted white halfmoon, the symbol of her goddess.  White, narrow armbands covered both her forearms. She had a quite beautiful, softly rounded face and was a bit taller than Tashmal. Her lips were very full und pretty, painted white.
During the days journey she hadn’t spoken with other passengers, instead had studied a big, leatherbound book. The blonde had sometimes watched her smoke, which the girl had done quite often and quite sexy.
Making signals with her fingers, Dana now said to the young priestress:
“It seems we first have to deal with a traitress in our midst.”
Rowenn sized the girls arms from behind, forced them back.
The priestress dark eyes became wide.
“What… what is the meaning of this… oooh.. ufff!”
Rowenn, assisted by Niyi, had started to tie the girl up with ropes. She struggled, but was quickly helpless, was rudely handled.
Another passenger exclaimed:
“How do you know that foreigner? She is a priestress, you…”
“Dreamwandering,” Dana said crisply.
“No! That’s a mistake, please stop! Will no one help me, I…ggllbbbml!”
Niyi had thrust a gag packing between those pretty full lips. Quickly, the two other parts of the white latexa gag were applied.
“Uggmmmff! Mmmummff!”
The trussed up Rondakian was clearly shaken by the effects of the tight gag. She went down to her knees, mewing constantly and starring with wide eyes into nothingness.
“So much for her,” Rowenn said, pulling all ropes tight as a last touch.
The fat mother said, very concerned:
“If we go out, what will they do with the children?”
Trish reassured her:
“There are already children there, they are locked in a chamber, not in bondage.”
The woman seemed relieved a bit. The enemies, disguised as dragontenders and guards, were approaching their animal. Zoet had informed the two dragonriders outside on the creatures neck through a speaking tube fastened at the front of the cabin about the situation.
The two large Rondakian warriors approved of Danas plan, and that was the decisive factor for the other Rondakians to adopt it. Most of the passengers, together with some slaves who had knelt already packaged in the back, left the cabin. They were greeted by a very beautiful “attendant”, who invited them to refreshments in the reception building. So the packaging would take place over there.
Dana would have preferred to sex interrogate the scout, but there was no time for that. The passengers should say that she hadn’t been on board, but maybe the enemy would become suspicious nonetheless, and some of their lot would enter the cabin soon in any case.
“Any ideas?” she asked her friends and the two Rondakian warriors.
Megan said lightly:
“Trish and I have an invisibility spell.  It should work for us all in a bubble for a period of three or four minutes. We could leave the cabin over the rope ladder shielded by the bubble, and hide somewhere near, for example in or behind the large heaps of green plants, the dragon food. Then we decide how to proceed further.”
“A good plan, lets do it.” Dana decided.
“Whats with the traitor package?” Marule asked.
One of the muscled warriors proposed:
“I can carry her over a shoulder and still climb the ropeladder with one hand. She shouldn’t struggle too much for her own good.”
Megan and Trish invocated their spells, and some kind of barely visible wall appeared in the air around the group. It was hard to make out at all. Niyi and Rowenn went first down the ropeladder, then Zusha and Dana, followed by Megan. The ropeladder was moved from their weight, but no one paid attention. There was a rather strong wind on this plain today.
When everyone was on the lawn under the towering dragon, they quickly formed a tight circle around Megan and Trish. Zusha pointed towards a large heap of dragonfood nearby, and they hasted behind it.
Sirf informed Dana:
“The two enemy magas could have detected the bubble of invisibility, but luckily they are currently inside the building, assisting in the packaging going on there now.”
They were relatively sheltered from view here now, though Dana cursed the fact that several of them wore bright shiny colors today. She herself for example was wearing her red outfit of boots, gloves and corsage. The Magas ended the spell, the wall of slightly moving air vanished again. The blonde observed six women approaching their dragon and climbing the ropeladder. The passengers luggage, including their own, was in big nets under the dragons belly. She thought of what else could reveal their presence, but came out blank.
Tashmal signaled:
“Taking out the girls here outside on the lawn is out of the question. We should try to enter the building and start from there.”
Everyone agreed with that. Megan and Trish preferred not to use another invisibility spell, as it was quite costly regarding their mana pools. Instead, they touched everyone with their staffs, and the color of their clothing and their skin and hair changed to the green and brown of the surrounding grass. They went down on their stomachs, and robbed through the grass, which was about knee high.
First they left the area of the dragons and headed north, before turning east to get to the backside of the wooden reception building. The packaged scouts arms had now been tied in front now, and she robbed along too, hold very close on a leash by the warrior guarding her. The priestress was prudent enough not to try to rise. It seemed she was much afraid of the warrior. Furthermore, Dana could smell her love honey, so the situation aroused their captive too. Dana smiled a bit, thinking: We are all the same, aren’t we?
Crawling such a long distance was exhausting and time consuming, and as they all finally arrived seemingly undetected at the rear side of the building, they were covered in sweat and could use some water and a smoke. The water they drank from their canteens, but cigarettes would have to wait.
There were no guards here, but all windows and the single small door were barred. While they rested for a few minutes, the color changing spell started to wear off. One of the strong warriors suggested:
“We could open a window by force…”
“Sure,” Tashmal agreed, “but that would make unwelcome noise.”
“Cant one of your magas mask it with a zone of silence?”
Megan nodded, but said:
“We could, but simply turning a bar into green dust will cost me less mana. Wait a moment, I will do it.”
The readhead whispered a spell, and the bars of a window crumbled silently to fine green dust. There was no glass behind the bars, and Niyi climbed through the opening and vanished inside. After a moment, her gloved arm appeared again in the window, signaling the all-clear.
One after the other they all climbed through the open window, the guarding warrior simply hoisting the packaged priestress through.
The room was rather large, simple beds, covered with woolen brown blankets, filling it. Obviously for travelers who stayed overnight at the port, during a storm or when a dragon had an injury or such.
They put the scout on the ground and hogtied her, she struggling avidly. Niyi slowly opened the door, and both she and Dana spied into the corridor outside. At its end to the left, two Rondakas stood. The girls wore suede clothing in light brown, blouses, short skirt, short gloves, knee high boots. They were armed with short swords, axes and knifes, coils of rope protruded from their hipbags. Both were shorter than Dana, they were well rounded, with ample bosoms, but looked nonetheless fit and agile. The girls wore dark red lipstick and blue eyeshadow, blue and red bands held their long glossy black hairmanes out of their pretty faces. The enemies seemed to be confident and relaxed.
Just as Dana watched them, they produced cigarette packs and mouthed sticks, both on their own, not in this intimate gesture Dana was so fascinated of. While they fumbled with their matchboxes, Niyi and Dana moved silently nearer. As both girls wanted to lit up, already sucking on the sticks blonde filters to get the first smoke when the flames hit home, they suddenly felt cold steel blades at their throats.
“Freeze, not a sound.”
They stared perplex at each other, looking slightly silly with the dangling unlit cigarettes between their suddenly slack lips.
A few minutes later, both Rondakian girls were laying spread-eagled on two beds, stark naked, their wrists and ankles tied to the bed posts. Huge tight gags denied them speech effectively. They struggled a bit, groaned in the gags, trying to come to terms with their sudden bondage. The smell of their love tubes filled Danas nose.
Dana lit a cigarette and looked down on the two captives. Blowing out smoke she said to her friends:
“Well, that’s a good start, lets move on!”

+++

Dana pulled a last time at the bondage of the Rondakian rogue girl. Her victim screamed in the gag and stared wild eyed up to the blonde. She patted her on the gagged cheek, rose and looked about.
Tashmal rose likewise, finished with her own package. The beds were all occupied with naked, spread-eagled and gagged rogue Rondakas.  The last ones knelt on the floor, struggling mightily and mewing in their gags.
“Time for the showdown,” Dana said with a wry smile. Marule and Trish remained behind in the room full of packaged enemies, while the others now headed straight for the great hall.
There, about 80 captured travelers, port guards and attendants struggled on the ground. The leadress of the rogue band, the beautiful girl disguised as an attendant and 4 more enemies were there, one of them a maga, the other already packaged in the friends “storage” room.
On a sign of Dana, the friends and the two tall rondakian warriors entered the hall. The rogue leadress was very agitated already, her girls vanishing all over the building, and currently had an argument with the “attendant”, who wanted to flee.
Both the rogues and the captives on the ground became quiet as Dana and her lot entered.
Dana beamed:
“Hello, ladies! Your whole band apart from you six and the guards still outside have been captured by us. So, do you want to fight or do you surrender?”
The leadress had a cruel looking whip, she now gripped its hilt tightly and starred wide eyed about. The beautiful “attendant” seemed much in fear, she was probably no fighter but some kind of actress or imposter for the band. The three other fighters didn’t draw their weapons, they too seemed to be taken by surprise and even fear. It was the maga who acted. She raised her wooden stuff with the gleaming blue crystal and opened her mouth to invocate a probably quite nasty spell.
But Megan was ready for this. Unseen by the rogue maga or her comrades, she had moved a latexa gag packing by telekinesis magic above her head, and with a quickly spoken spell, shoved it magically into the magic girls mouth.
“Ummmpph!” came out and certainly was no spell in any language of Matria. The girl, suddenly and forcefully gagged, lost her staff and tumbled to her knees, groaning deeply. The packing squeaked in her wide open mouth.
“Anyone else?” Dana asked, wavering a bit with her drawn blade.
“We surrender,” the rogue leadress, a rather strong and tall woman, said hastily, throwing away her whip and then dropping her weapon belt.
“Yes, don’t hurt us.” The “attendant” added and even went to her knees.
The other rogue girls threw away their weapon belts to und knelt.
Some time later, the enemies were all tightly bound and gagged and Danas friends had started to free the captives on the floor. Zusha was standing behind the kneeling helpless enemy leadress, the whip dropped by her in hand.
“Ever felt your own whip, woman?”
With that, Zusha delivered a vicious lash to the packages buttom cheeks. The woman screamed in her gag, her eyes bulged, she shuddered in her bonds. She looked back over her shoulder at Zusha, aghast. She had been lashed.
“Obviously not. So, lets not waste any time. You have two options: One, cooperate fully, and two, receive twenty lashes. Will you cooperate?”
The rogue leadress screamed in the gag again, struggled, nodded fervently.
It was Danas turn now:
“Very well. We will remove your gag, and you will, by means of the magical loudspeaker, summon your guards outside. Tell them to enter the building to receive new orders. No tricks, or the twenty lashes will be yours.”
The blonde didn’t intend to lash the poor thing at all, but she was relatively sure that the bluff would work.
And so it did. The rogue woman cooperated nicely, soon thereafter the guards outside entered, and were easily overpowered too, joining their comrades in similar bondage and gags.
It took a while to free all captives the rogues had taken, but finally it was done. There were cheers, and they grew even louder as Zoet and Rowenn led the children freed from the chamber they were held to a reunification with their mothers.
Dana and Tashmal had retreated a bit from it all, lit cigarettes, intimate rondakian style, and indulged in smoking. Dana was smiling at the scene. Tashmal said:
“That episode went very smoothly again. We and the others are a good team. Could make tons of money as slave hunters ourselves.”
“Ulave, the goddess of money again? Combined with Jalima, dark aspect of greed?”
“Don’t forget Bonda, daughtergoddess of bondage, and Majave, her mother, aspect of lust and pleasure. Sweet Dana, my sugarmouth, you must admit you have relished in this small adventure.”
“Yes, I admit it, my greedy whore…”
Both girls kissed hotly, forgetting the world around them.