Stories of Tie Up Games

There's such a delicious irony in Rune actually enjoying being bound and submissive, unlike his father, who is in the same position but (presumably) takes no pleasure from it. He and Gawain are adorable, and I'm a big fan of couples navigating cultural differences.

I'd say this is all part of Esme's grand scheme to conquer the world with submissive princelings. I'm loving this genuine relationship between these two.

Guardianbound wrote: 3 months ago I'd say this is all part of Esme's grand scheme to conquer the world with submissive princelings.

No, wait! What a twist! "I'm not a queen, I'm not suited to rulership, just let me tinker..." and all the while she is dangling her sons around all the foreign nobles and leaders, and they can whisper into their lovers' ears the praises of Esme the mechanist and her ideas/ideologies! Make them more sympathetic to Esme's eventual coup and bring their lovers' support to support their mother....

gag1195 wrote: 3 months ago

Guardianbound wrote: 3 months ago I'd say this is all part of Esme's grand scheme to conquer the world with submissive princelings.

No, wait! What a twist! "I'm not a queen, I'm not suited to rulership, just let me tinker..." and all the while she is dangling her sons around all the foreign nobles and leaders, and they can whisper into their lovers' ears the praises of Esme the mechanist and her ideas/ideologies! Make them more sympathetic to Esme's eventual coup and bring their lovers' support to support their mother....

That's right. And we know Esme capable of playing the long game, look what she did to Belrun, all innocent and submissive until it's too late!!!

@gag1195 @Socksbound We'll have to see what happens to them - although being perfectly honest, I do adore them both as well. But hey, your vocal support certainly helps their chances!

@DeeperThanRed I am going SO far with the metaphors and inverted parallels in this story, and I'm so glad you see it. And of course, Gawain and Rune by all means should be enemies but are working it through.

@Guardianbound I mean... Esme often says she doesn't wish to be queen, but the seat right behind the throne often has even more power... Who has the safer kingdom? The strongest ruler, or the mother in law to every ruler in the land?

@DeeperThanRed @Socksbound @gag1195 @KidnappedCowboy @harveygasson @Guardianbound

The Oubliette was something of a misnomer for the king whose name had been taken from him.

An oubliette was a dungeon whose door was in its ceiling, where a prisoner could be easily forgotten, could go mad from never seeing the sky. But indeed, all there was for Belrun to look at was sky.

In the courtyard of the royal apartments, there had once been a grand reflecting pool, its still waters a polished mirror for Edama the Oracle to study the future in.

That pool had been removed, dug deeper - a training pit for Belrun to test his mettle against his lieutenants. Blood and sweat and spit now flowed imstead of water. On occasion, Belrun would seize a prisoner by the hair or neck and drag them there, binding them to a post in the center of the pit. His favored prisoner - though the only boons were pain and humiliation.

It was here that Esme met Senma for the first time. She was but a slip of a girl, without hope of seeing her village again. Senma was glorious and defiant, his sneering and bravado the ocean crashing against the mountain. She watched when Belrun beat him, insulted his manhood and stripped him of clothing. Even starved and bloodied, Senma's sea-green eyes stayed bright.

One night, he caught her staring after Belrun had gone carousing and hunting. With a weak grin (the day's beating had been brutal, even for Belrun - he had just been told it was not possible to ensure the child Esme was carrying would be a son to continue the unbroken line of the mountain), he managed a rakish wink.

"Ho there, Princess. I hope your day has been merry." Senma said with a wry chuckle.

She emerged, noticing him observe her state - the child growing, her neck bruised, her wary eyes. "More than yours."

"Aye. That certainly may be true."

"I'm not a princess."

"Apologies. Queen, then."

"I'm-"

"The bride to the King. By my reckoning, that makes you Queen."

"You're awfully... insistent."

Senma laughed, cutting himself off with a wince as his body responded with pain. "Been told that before."

"You're a pirate?"

"Aye, milady. A damn good one. Youngest Shiplord of Osmir in history."

Esme examined his wounds, only to avert her gaze as she realized that Senma was still without his clothes.

"I'm a sailor, my Queen. They say my mother is the goddess of the tides."

"Gods don't exist." Esme said bluntly.

Senma laughed again, wheezing as it turned pained. "So sure of herself, the little lady. And why not?"

Esme looked at him. "There's no 'why' about it. That's like asking why metal isn't alive. It doesn't make sense."

"Metal is alive, friend." Senma said matter-of-factly. "A blade is a life-companion. As trusted as any other, though he may fail you all the same. When his steel is struck, he sings, and when slashed against stone, he shrieks. The metal hinges that keep my ship together and allow my doors to open creak my name in passing, and the coins in my belt dance in the light with their shine."

"That's all metaphor." Esme complained. Senma winked.

"Better a fool that slings metaphor than one who lives in dour words and realistic deeds. It is in the impossible where heroes are forged."

"I believe what I can see.

"Then believe that you can find something sharp to free me with before the war party returns."

Senma's eyes met Esme's, and they shared a feral grin.

Long after Senma's escape, and the birth of her four other children, the pit had been dug deeper, now needing a ladder or rope for access. At the bottom, some twenty feet deep, four thick chains were settled into the wall - paved with stone.

Belrun had a chain shackled to each wrist and each ankle, and every night a servant activated the gear mechanism to retract the chains into the wall, drawing Belrun into a painfully-stretched X, suspended off the ground, staring into the sky.

Sometimes he felt as though the chains were his savior, keeping him from falling into the sky. Other times he felt as though he would be lighter than air if he removed them. Seeing his own mind leave him might have been bearable had it not been for the metal muzzle Esme had forged, tight enough to keep him grounded, a hole bored in the mouthpiece to let him drink, removed once a day to feed him.

"Time for your exercise, whelp." One of the traitorous captains of Esme's guard had come for him. The mechanism activated, and Belrun roared in pain like a drunken bear when he was forcefully pulled into the X.

Esme wanted him to be recognizable and unpitiable by any who saw him - and so he was forced to train. Restrained in a myriad of ways that allowed him excercise without escape. And in times contributed - they would hang him by his wrists from metal shackles so he would pull his weight up over the bar to avoid the pain. Or tether his balls to the ground and set a caltrop beneath him - forcing him into pushups to avoid either pain. But mostly they would bind his arms back, chain him by the neck to a capstan and force him to walk, like a horse. They'd even whip his flanks with riding crops if he dared to slow.

But today, after his forced routine, he was given a treat. A moment of respite indoors, for a hefty price. Playing the dutiful pet of the wench who enslaved him. Serving as Esme's pleasure.

But the Scourge of the Snow was still deep within. And through the indignity of the leather mitts and the hound's muzzle they forced on him, he waited.

Biding his time.

So many moving parts! So many bound operatives, so many plans! I am waiting with bated breath to see how it all unfolds!

Belrun my man, seems like an awful long time to be biding your time. Maybe he likes it I'm still pro Queen mother/Empress dowager of the world Esme, ruling the world through science and rationality, and also chastity cages....

@DeeperThanRed @Socksbound @gag1195 @KidnappedCowboy @harveygasson @Guardianbound

"Alright, my lord. A meal for you."

Senma glanced up as the door opened, a serving lad wearing one of those strange leather harnesses approaching with a tray of hot food and a stein of ale. He huffed slightly, thrusting his chin up, attempting to indicate his head's confinement.

"Aye. They gave me a key, you see."

Senma nodded, allowing the slight young man to approach, unlocking the many buckles on the muzzle before shyly pulling free the lodged wad of silk.

"Thanks, lad." Senma groaned, stretching his jaw. "Not a pleasant sensation after some hours."

"M-my father was Osmiri. Told me many tales of you, my lord."

Senma threw him a grin. "That so? Am I all you dreamed of, trussed up so?"

The lad couldn't help how his eyes roved down Senma's body, tantalizing bits of muscle and skin not covered by the prisoner uniform.

"Ah, I see I am more than you considered." Senma teased, enjoying the spark of a blush crossing the boy's fair features. "You can get closer. I'll not bite. Not 'less you ask very nicely."

The boy blushed all the harder, averting his eyes. Child's play for Senma, even with his pilloried hands, to give an accidentally-on-purpose touch.

"Clumsy hands when not at sea." Senma winked. "But worth it to see a treasure like you. Aye, the nights get long and lonesome indeed."

"I, er... I'm not supposed to stay. Someone else should pick up your plate."

"Oh, but lad... we're having such fun. At least I am."

"Sir-"

"That harness, lad. The imperials make you wear that?"

He nodded. "Easier to control. They only have to link my wrists to it and I'm stuck."

"Show me."

The boy hesitated, and Senma stood, dwarfing him in stature, grinning down.

"Y-yes, Sir."

Senma grinned wolfishly, watching the boy imprison himself, crossimg his arms and pushing his wrists against the straps running down his sides, mechanisms closing like traps on the little metal rings dangling from the leather bracelets.

He froze for just a moment. That delicate metalwork. Esme, again.

"Very well stuck." Senma chuckled, deftly twisting his arms to manuever the key on the boy's keyring into the pillory lock.

"Wait- wait! You tricked me!"

As Senma slipped his wrists free, he grabbed the still-damp ball of silk to shove into the boy's mouth, using the present muzzle to secure it. "Apologies, lad. You ought to pay better attention to those tales next time."

He used his own chains to bind the lad's feet, and began to move - there had been no key for the metal-capped slippers locked on his feet.

He grabbed a bite to eat - after all, he hadn't harmed the boy, so there was no violation of guest rights. If he was to be bound by that sacred law, so too must they be. And with that, he hastened out of the door. Quickly, now, beyond the maze of hallways, avoiding sight and notice.

And straight into a mountain of a man, arms pinned behind his back and to his torso by efficient cables of black cord, led by a rudimentary leash by one of those Makaranth girls, wearing red, her own restraints more decorative than effective.

"Prince Rune!" Senma shouted. "You have been captured!" He pushed the girl away, the force of his arm carrying her quite a distance.

The girl was an issue. He couldn't harm her or he'd lose any protection he had. But he clearly couldn't take Rune with him without subduing her.

But then Rune shoved back, ramming into him, and the girl slammed her hand over a strange panel on the wall. It was a small tile of coppery metal, and pressing it in impressed a small mechanism, a rod with a ball at the end, onto the criscrossing lines of metal inlaid along the walls and floor. It had seemed a fanciful design at first, but the activated metal created some kind of trap.

Senma felt the shoes constrict, and his feet freeze. The metal had become... sticky? Senma had no understanding of why, but contact with the floor's metal had made his metal-capped slippers as immovable as stone. He looked up without understanding as the girl, likely some kind of slave herself, went to call the alarm.

"So... the great Prince Rune, wise as the Oracle Edama and twice as clever... an Imperial slave." Senma scoffed. Rune gave him a dispassionate stare. Or perhaps Senma was simply inept at reading a gagged mouth.

The guards returned and restrained him even further, but made no move to remove the strange metal shoes. It seemed contact with metal was the magic in them. But Senma's plan to escape no longer needed to overcome metal.

Glass, though...

Plots collide, literally! I can only dream to know how Senma will be restrained this time to further prevent more escape attempts!

Senma using his good looks to seduce and trick a poor servant... how mean! Goes to show he has a lot more than just his muscles to help him escape.

I totally missed this story! All the characters are fantastic and so well thought out! I think so far my favorite is Rune, he knows what he wants and what he wants is to be bound.

I am really curious about Senma and his future plans. Using his charm to get the servant to bind himself was incredible. Using his own gag to gag the boy was hilarious and very hot. The shoes themselves are crazy and I can’t wait to see more inventions but the Mechanic.

I am loving this story and can’t wait for then chapter! I totally forgot how great you are writing. The way you describe details is amazing and the world building is crazy! Great work!

"Sticky metal"? Is this a play on "sticky tape"?

I liked the tricking of the serving lad!

I LOVED the tricking of Senma!!!!

Watch your step, Senma!

@gag1195 They definitely won't make the mistake of sending in such an easily-seduced twink next time!

@DeeperThanRed You don't become a Shiplord with just muscles!

@Bradstick Thank you so much! Glad to have you here. I have definitely enjoyed coming up with this, like, medieval fantasy-futuristic aesthetic of the Mechanist's inventions, and adding em to the bondage aesthetic, haha. Rune's definitely a favorite of mine too.

@KidnappedCowboy Quite literally, watch your step!

@DeeperThanRed @Socksbound @gag1195 @KidnappedCowboy @harveygasson @Guardianbound @Bradstick

Gawain came to Esme's chambers, accompanied by a discreet guard. She noticed this immediately and smirked.

"Am I so untrustworthy, my lord? Believe me, if I wanted to slay you, it would be a simple matter, and I'd never be so foolish as to murder you personally, in my own quarters."

He balked at her blunt words, delivered with all the casual breeze of a summer's day.

She waved a hand dismissively. "I assume this means Senma has made his first attempt."

"First?"

"Aye. He is highly renowned as untamable."

"That is so." Gawain nodded, and sat at the table she had lain out with fine bone porcelain, serving coffee.

Gawain hated the stuff - the bean grew in the humid reaches of the East, as far from the dry steppe of Makaranth as one could get, and as such, coffee was not often a delicacy he could get used to. Esme watched him with some humor as he cut the bitter black liquid with nearly the entire amount of cream in the delicate jug. She herself added nothing but a light sprinkling of sugar.

"Your skalds up North claim that Senma is a child of the goddess of tides. That he has the ear of the sea itself, commanding it as he sails." Gawain said softly.

"And you believe all that the skalds sing?" Esme's amusement with him seemed unending, but Gawain was not as much a fool as she seemed to believe - this was calculated. She was attempting, he knew, to see where he weakened and faltered. What could get under his skin.

"All rumor and legend sparks from a grain of truth, my Lady." He said calmly, taking a sip of coffee and frowning as the drink, nearly white, still maintained that awful bitter tang.

"Such as that of the Broken King." He added, glancing at the corner of the room.

Belrun sat by the fireplace like a large old hound, staring into the cheerily-crackling flame. His ankle shackles were innovative, the chain between them made of heavy weights instead of simple links. His arms were pinned in a yoke that kept his wrists parallel with his neck, arms at right angles, hands wrapped tightly in unyielding fabric. He drooled uncontrollably, a massive leather ball in his mouth, held by a locked strap. He was naked, save for the fearsome-looking cage between his legs, compressing and limiting everything it contained in metal.

"He's quite a tame brute by now." Esme nodded. "He knows his place."

"Has he not outlived his purpose?" Gawain asked, staring at the pitiful giant on his knees.

Esme sneered. "Come to me after you've borne a litter of a raider's pups and tell me whether you've become tired of tormenting him."

"Apologies. It was not my place."

"Indeed." Esme sighed. "But we are not here to speak of Nameless. Not especially."

"You wish to talk of Senma, then?"

"He saved me, you know. It was him I sent to the South to find Eun-Min the craftsman. Him that delivered me the instrument of my salvation."

"Ah. So the sentencing... a repayment?"

"No. An... enticement. Senma is a loyal man, and as unyielding as the tide. He will never bow to the Empire, even if you convince every other Shiplord to bend the knee."

Gawain frowned. "And yet you encourage him."

"He may not bend the knee to the Emperor, but he may bend the knee to me."

"There is no avenue for this, my lady. This very week, Osmir shall be bound inextricably to the Empire through marriage. And already the North is being annexed."

"Many men will crumble to overwhelming odds." Esme motioned to the chained thing in the corner, who began to lumber over, movement clumsy with restraints. "It is hope that keeps them on the leash. Hope that keeps them biding their time. Perhaps your Emperor has forgotten that there is nothing more dangerous than one with nothing left to lose."

"Ah." Gawain mused. "So you propose that you be allowed to forge an alliance with Senma so that he may believe in some secret alliance with you at its head? A less trusting man would believe this a pretext for an actual rebellion."

"Ah, but you are trusting, aren't you, my lord? Or, failing that, pragmatic enough to know I am uncertain whether my eldest will follow me or you should I choose to rebel. And that after Cyrus' betrayal, I am unwilling to risk the loss of another of my kin."

Gawain nodded. "Indeed. But perhaps you are even more clever and crafty than you let on - you know of my feelings for your son, and you may think you can manipulate me through him."

"How fortunate we are that these are only hypotheticals, and we would never speak so openly to each other." Esme deadpanned.

After a pause, they began to chuckle. "I am no politician, my lady."

"I am only one despite my deepest protestations. When it-" here she pointed to Belrun. "- was defeated, the people insisted. I caged him, and locked myself away even more securely than he had. I am tired, Gawain. I am not the princess in need of rescue Senma thinks I am. I am not the calculating witch the nameless wretch chained to my mantel believes. I am not even the crafty politician you see. I am Esme, and I belong in my workshop, away from the squabbles of kings and the affairs of heroes."

Gawain nodded, eyes crinkling with an empathy Esme had found rare in people, and almost nonexistent in men. "I am, as always, a loyal soldier of my Emperor. Whether I serve with a blade in my hand or a scepter, I am at peace. And it is my honor to serve you, my lady. I shall endeavor to keep your schedule as full of work as I can, that you may be far too busy to field affairs of state." He grinned, a boyish, kind smile that made Esme see why Rune had fallen so easily. "And you will have your scheme. Far be it for me to interfere. I'm just the Royal Governor."

Esme nodded, unsure how to proceed. All her life there had been struggle, and now she watched as Gawain scritched her former king's head like a dog as the thing gave a dumbstruck expression back behind its muzzle.

"Then we must plan." She clicked her fingers for a guard. "Return it to its pen. I must have peace for my meeting."

Gawain nodded in approval. "It is good to be back on the battlefield again, isn't it?"

Esme matched his grin. "The die, my friend, is cast.'

Sorry for the wait, all! Couldn't access the site for a week and I didn't start getting updates it was back until yesterday! Enjoy the above chapter!

I'm still fully convinced that Esme is after more. She doesn't want to be the politician, sure, but she can just as easily write edicts, decrees, and pull the strings from the comfort of her private workshop... Just as long as Gawain and Rune can find happiness in this future she is engineering...

Every chapter has me picturing this as a big screen epic. So many intricate details and intertwining of the central characters story arcs.

Watch out Gawain!

Don't fall into Esme's plot. She'll soon enmesh you!

Methinks Esme is one dastardly dame!

@gag1195 A benevolent manipulator is still a manipulator, eh?

@Socksbound You flatter me! But honestly, I try to see it that way in my head too haha.

@KidnappedCowboy Schemes on schemes on schemes. On mechanical schema for her next inventions. Certainly no sinister plots here, no sir!

oooooo a fun new player has entered the scene! Ariel is in an interesting position... "brother" to Gawain, but on equal footing, trusted to look after Rune... Very interesting! Is it too much to expect a Ariel-Gawain sandwich in Rune's future?

gag1195 wrote: 1 month ago oooooo a fun new player has entered the scene! Ariel is in an interesting position... "brother" to Gawain, but on equal footing, trusted to look after Rune... Very interesting! Is it too much to expect a Ariel-Gawain sandwich in Rune's future?

OMG you read my mind

Good to to see Ariel taking good care of Rune. These three seem to be right at the outskirts of the political manoeuvring going on for now, wonder what role they'll play when the action around them begins

Guardianbound wrote: 1 month ago Good to to see Ariel taking good care of Rune. These three seem to be right at the outskirts of the political manoeuvring going on for now, wonder what role they'll play when the action around them begins

Are they waiting to see where the chips may fall, or, more precisely where the cords are tightened?