Wrongful Arrest

Emily awoke, confused as to where she was. This wasn’t her bed, and this wasn’t her bedroom. Her alarm clock was not on the bedside table, and besides, her bedroom was never this noisy in the morning. As she slowly regained her senses she remembered yesterday, meeting Denaasi and the others, and realised she was in her little bedroom area of the Holy Order Command Tent.

It certainly was noisy this morning, there seemed to be a lot of people rushing around and shouting. What time was it? She had no way of knowing. She opened her eyes and squinted against the bright daylight outside the tent. She stretched, remembering that she was only wearing her panties, then reached over to feel around for her clothes.

Suddenly two armoured guards burst in and Emily squealed. ‘What are you doing? Get out!’ She pulled the blanket up around her chin. Neither of them looked at her, but scoured the edges of the little area where her bed was. After a moment one of them picked up the black dagger she had found under her pillow, showed it to the other, then they roughly pulled the blanket off the bed and held her arms tightly.

The two guards pulled her upright and marched her out of the tent, dropping her to her knees on the grass. She huddled her arms in front of her naked breasts, then looked up, still trying to let her eyes adjust to the light. Denaasi stood in front of her, and she was holding the dagger.

Emily was very confused. What was this? Why had they dragged her out of bed? She looked around, shocked to see Ted standing nearby next to another tall man dressed in similar clothes. Behind Denaasi, and even worse than having Ted see her in her knickers, was a whole crowd of people gathered to watch whatever was going on.

‘Your Highness, what’s going on?’ Alexa pleaded.

‘I hoped you might tell me,’ she replied. ‘Why don’t we start with this?’ She held out the black blade.

Alexa shook her head. ‘I don’t know, it was in my room.’

‘I know it was in your room!’ Denaasi exploded. ‘I know it was in your fucking room! That’s not an explanation! I want you to explain this!’ She thrust the knife forward. ‘And this!’ She stepped aside to reveal a large cloth laid on the ground, and bent to pick up the corner. Under the cloth were the bodies of Cat and Angel, both their throats cut. The crowd gasped. Emily suddenly felt very scared, and very cold. She shivered and tried to shrink inside herself.

‘What? Are they… dead?’

‘Of course they are fucking dead!’ screamed Denaasi, her red face close to Emily’s. ‘Their throats have been cut!’

‘Shit, have you called the police?’

There was a ripple of laughter from the crowd.

‘My guards have been investigating,’ the Queen seemed to have calmed slightly. ‘They were killed in the night. This Saviour blade was found with your things. Allegra says she saw you walk past her room in the darkness.’

Emily felt a wave of relief. This was part of the game!

‘Tell me how you have been turned to the dark side, Alexa.’

‘This is a lie, my Queen,’ Alexa began. ‘That knife was planted in my bed. Allegra didn’t see me in the night. This is a plot to discredit me.’

Denaasi looked disappointed with this response. ‘Guards, stand her up.’

The two men who had dragged her out of bed just moments earlier hauled her to her feet. They held her arms at her sides and Emily flushed, knowing that all of these people were looking at her boobs and there was nothing she could do to cover herself. She felt completely ashamed: here she was, Lady Alexa, Champion of the Holy Order, accused of this crime and held, almost naked, in front of the whole camp. Also, her knickers had little pink hearts on them.

‘Put her in a brace and search her for weapons or clues,’ Denaasi ordered.

Another guard held up a metal bar with three loops in it. He opened it, revealing that it was in two halves, then the three men manoeuvred her wrists into the outside spaces, her neck into the larger central one, then clipped it shut. Alexa’s hands were now held up at shoulder height, her arms out to the side. There was absolutely no way she could cover her boobs or her cute knickers now. One of the guards patted her down, his rough leather gloves rubbing over her shoulders, her back, her breasts, tummy, sides, then down her legs to her ankles, then up between her thighs, forcing her legs apart. He patted her bottom, then briefly cupped her privates. ‘Nothing, Your Highness.’

The Queen thought for a moment. ‘Remove those ridiculous undergarments.’

‘What? No!’ Alexa protested, but before the words left her mouth the guard had whipped her panties to the floor, roughly lifting her feet to remove them entirely. She squeezed her legs together and tried to turn sideways from the crowd, but Ted was on that side watching her. She tried to turn the other way but the guards grabbed her brace to hold her still.

‘Take her away. Put her in the stocks until I work out what to do with the traitor.’

With this the guards pulled Emily away through the camp, the crowd of onlookers following behind.