Selene had but a moment’s warning before the doll sentries watching over the dungeon fell upon her from every shadowed corner and alcove, featureless faces fixed upon her, wooden hands seizing her shapely figure and casting her to the floor. Cursing, the dark-haired sorceress made to speak words of power, and the first of their number shoved a great wad of cloth into her open mouth with a speed its primitive wooden form seemed physically incapable of, her spell dying in her throat. A dozen dolls swarmed all over her, holding her fast as the ropes came out, and through her mystically-attuned senses, she saw the currents of magical energy flowing around their two-foot-tall forms, connecting to their limbs like puppeteer’s strings and bringing them to life.
The first coils of rope began to wrap around her wrists, securing them behind her back, and Selene bucked and thrashed against her would-be captors, high-heeled boots kicking out and smashing one of the dolls away with a hollow crash. Yet more descended on her, lashing her ankles together and her upper body beneath her breasts, and blue eyes widened fearfully as they began to tug away at her close-fitting ankle-length black dress, pulling it down to reveal the pale, smooth skin of her shoulders.
“So this is the intruder the wards detected. Never thought I’d see you skulking back here, Selene.”
Biting back a growl, Selene watched as the robed figure emerged from out of the shadows, the shit-eating grin he wore sending hatred lancing into her heart. Like her, Martin had been a student of Archmage Idos, but while she had excelled at conjuration and incantation and alchemy, his chief skill had been as a yes-man. So, when their teacher had finally passed away, Martin was left as the sole heir to Castle Driftmark, and she booted out before the old man’s corpse was even cold. Hands gloved in velvet lifted her chin so that their eyes met, and he chuckled as Selene offered him a glare of purest venom. “You liking my doll sentries, babe? Cheap, easy to maintain, easy to enchant and they can hide anywhere. Bet you weren’t expecting them, huh?”
The dark-haired girl remained silent, refusing to give him the satisfaction. Sighing, Martin snapped his fingers, and a pair of dolls bound a length of red silk over her mouth, completing the gag. “Well, since you were so eager to sneak back in here, I might as well give you the full tour so you can see what’s changed. The kitchens, the laboratories, my bedchamber…”
Selene gave a muffled cry of horror at the implication, her bondage holding her fast in her struggles. A single gesture from her captor, and the dolls bore her up off the floor, carting her off like the victim of some pagan ritual being carried off for sacrifice, and as she was carried away, Martin’s final mocking comment rang in her ears. “Seems like I’ve got an especially beautiful doll to add to my collection…”