Chapter 16

We all got comfortable as we could, given that this might take a while, and waited for Kat’ilth’ana to begin. I could see that she was struggling to find the right words, which surprised me, as she had never seemed to hesitate in the brief conversations we had, prior to all of this.

With a deep breath, she began. “While I was locked in my own body, unable to wake up, I had time to reflect on things. On how events had unfolded between us based on the lies our people had been fed by those we trusted in power. Part of it was the blame I placed on you, Enti, for leaving me to be an adventurer after so many years of friendship. You were the best friend I ever had, and, due to my rather abrasive personality, one of the few I kept. It felt like you had abandoned me for something that could ultimately get you killed. When I learned that your Troth’ish’tal was the reason you left to become an adventurer, my anger from the rhetoric I had been hearing boiled even more. Most of that anger was created from the propaganda the former king used to try and break the elves of the tradition of visiting the Roth’titok and receiving the Troth’ish’tal.

“He had started to use this misinformation to sway our people not long after you left and continued it until he was removed from power by Tyr. Since we now know he had forced his queen to be his bride, ignoring her Troth’ish’tal and making her abandon it, his arrogant son was emboldened to attempt the same with you. When his actions caused him and his father to be exiled to the Dungeon, it caused a power vacuum back home between the various nobles, and things were a bit tumultuous for a while. It made my already difficult life extremely hard because people knew you and I had been friends. Because you weren’t around to be punished, I became the target of their ire. It only pushed my anger and hatred towards you further, and I began to try and come up with a way to end my pain. I figured that if I could bring you back and convince you to recant your accusations, the royal family would be returned, and my torment would end.

“When I learned that it was Pathios who was responsible for their exile and that he was your intended, my hatred for Entivala turned towards him. When I was bound to you against my will, that only further fueled my anger and resentment towards you all. Despite my own actions causing all of the pain I had endured, I still blamed you, Pathios, regardless of that fact. When we were in the training room, I thought you were an arrogant and over-confident showoff. I hoped I could wipe the smile off your face by beating you at your own game and taking you down a notch or two. Again, my own arrogance blinded me to why you were smiling and to the true extent of your skill. Your smile was pride in their accomplishments in how they attacked you and their growth overall. I never remembered Entivala being as skilled at fighting when she had left, though I expected her to receive some training. I didn’t expect her to be so formidable with a simple staff.

“I tried to use their attentiveness, how they fawned over you, as a justification for my opinion of you. Everything you did that was a genuine act of kindness or concern, I would pass off as a ploy to trick me. Cassandra seemed to like you as well but wasn’t as blinded by what I assumed was lust, as Amenthia and Entivala were. I figured if I could show her what I assumed you really were, I could gain an ally in the process. I tried to ignore every kind word and gesture you made, no matter how small. I was surprised by your strategic mind and tactics when we were searching for mobs, as you called them, along with signs of Arachni. Your use of the terrain and search pattern was genius, though I refused to acknowledge it at the time.

“When we were surprised on our return to the village by that lone spider that attempted to grab me, you wasted no time in jumping to my rescue, which made me begin to feel shame about my assumptions. I made myself believe it was because I had to be saved by what I thought was such a poor excuse of a man, but now I realize it was from how badly I misjudged you. I tried to convince Cassandra after dinner when we retired to our room at the inn, but she only retorted with questions of why I had thought that of you, and if I had seen anything like that when we were together. Every example I gave her of why you weren’t what she thought you were, she answered with the real, innocent reason behind it and eventually just turned over to go to sleep. I couldn’t help but think on what she had said, and I couldn’t sleep much because of it. That morning when I heard the sounds coming from your room, my lack of sleep fed my anger and annoyance.

“I continued to stew as we went through the next forest and tried to ignore the obvious examples of why you were a decent guy. When we were attacked at the safe zone by that pack of spiders, you never hesitated to quickly shore up our defenses and ensure that we were ready to fight. Yet I still became angry with you barking orders, despite the fact they were the correct measures and not done with any arrogance or superiority. When we finally fought the Queen, I actually relished the idea of seeing you taken down a peg by her, despite the dangerous situation. To my lasting shame, I didn’t jump into the path of her attack because I had gained a new perspective and appreciation for you. I blocked her attack out of fear of what would happen to me if you fell to her attack. I was sure the punishment from the collar would have been more severe than anything I had gone through yet, and that thought terrified me.

“I now doubt the punishment from the collar could equal the pain I felt from the poison as it pumped into my veins and burned a path to my heart. Don’t get me wrong, the feeling of her blade like appendages piercing my flesh was no picnic either, but the poison felt like the inside of my body had been set aflame. After I fell and made it to the healers, I was locked in my mind the whole time, unsure of what time had passed and forced to reconcile everything that had happened. Given no recourse, I had to take a hard look at everything I had seen, heard, and done to get to that point. It was painful to go through, and it made me truly realize the depths of my error in action and judgment. The shame I felt when I realized what I had done and continued to do once I met you only solidified my will on the course of my recent decision.”

I cocked my head and looked at her with a newfound respect. It takes a lot for someone to admit to their mistakes, but to do so in the fashion she had done showed she felt true remorse. She wasn’t letting her pride prevent her from fixing the mistake she made towards us.

“Very well,” I said as I tried to give her a reassuring smile. “What exactly is the decision that you have made?”

She squared her shoulders and said, “Until I feel I have repaid the errors in judgment that have caused so many problems for you all, I will continue to be collared to you. If you want me to fight, I will fight alongside you without hesitation. If you wish to punish me, I will accept it willingly. Whatever you choose to do I will accept, though I ask to still have the right to refuse if it is too extreme.”

“You do realize what you are proposing to us, right?” Amenthia asked, giving the Dryad a speculative look. “What if he wants to use you for his own sexual gratification with no regard to your own pleasure, or if you are even willing to allow it?”

Her look only became more determined, “Then so be it! Besides, from what I heard that morning coming from your room, I don’t think I wouldn’t enjoy some of it.” A slight blush appeared on her cheeks, “If he has an urge to use me, even in the middle of the night, then he has the right to do so. I understand the risks and the possible outcomes of my decision.”

Entivala leaned towards Kat’ilth’ana and asked, “What about the punishments? What if he decides that you did something wrong when we are training, and decides to spank you right then and there?”

“Then that will be his right,” Kat’ilth’ana replied with a slightly deepening blush on her cheeks. “I will accept it, as long as it is not too extreme.”

The three of us exchanged a glance and I asked Kat’ilth’ana if she was okay with us stepping out of the room for a moment. She simply nodded silently, and we left the room heading a little ways down the corridor in hope she wouldn’t overhear the conversation we were about to have.

“Okay, am I the only one thrown for a loop here?” I asked glancing back and forth between my companions. “I mean, I didn’t see any of this coming, did you?”

Amenthia shook her head, “I am just as confused as you are by all of this, Pathios. I can understand that she feels she should make amends for the things she has done, but that seems a little much. Still, she is sexy as hell...”

I turned to look directly at Amenthia and gave her a look of surprise that she responded to with a smirk and shrug of her shoulders.

“I am not as surprised as both of you are,” Entivala said in reply. “Kat’ilth’ana has always had a particular sense of justice and always puts everything into what she does. You could see that in how she reacted and acted towards us prior to her injury. Along with that, there were specific rules in our homelands for any who were sentenced to servitude due to an injustice they committed. The various things she said she would accept from you have always been kind of expected of those collared back home. So it could very well be that she is trying to make amends by adhering to her personal code, rather than fight it. She will probably ignore any attempts to sway her from her chosen path; she is rather stubborn that way.

“In fact, she has always been that way, ever since I first met her, though her stubborn streak seemed to have grown in intensity during the time that we were apart. What does shock me is the level at which she wishes to make amends to us. Her offering herself to you, along with the willingness to take public punishment is surprising to me. I am not sure the reason behind it, other than the possible embarrassment and shame it could cause her. Perhaps she sees it as a viable means to repay some of the debt she feels she owes due to her guilt. Still, it seems a bit more than is necessary to try and fix what she has done.”

I thought about it for a minute and asked, “Could a part of her enjoy the idea of servitude? You both are extraordinarily strong and willful, yet you do submit to me in the bedroom as well as in public on occasion. Perhaps her time in a collar has awoken something in her she didn’t expect and that she may want to explore. She could be using this as a means to explore that with someone she may feel is safe, while still paying off a debt she believes she owes?”

“That can all be very true, but I would still err on the side of caution,” Amenthia muttered, lost in thought. “If things do get out of control, she could possibly revert to her old mindset or get worse than she was before. It is a narrow edge to traverse, for sure, but I won’t deny that her help would be beneficial.”

“What about where she will stay while she is bound to you?” Entivala asked. “Do we keep her here in the room with us, or do we talk to Tyr and try and get her a room downstairs? I can only hold off making love to you for so long, and I don’t want to make her uncomfortable listening to, or even watching us have sex.”

I cocked an eyebrow at her, “Well, we have had to hold off having sex before, due to the company we sometimes keep in the Dungeon. So, I am sure that both of you have enough self-restraint to ensure we don’t make these fragile steps we are taking towards friendship from collapsing from underneath us because of a mistake.”

“There is also the possibility that this change in her perspective is not entirely genuine,” Amenthia added, causing both of us to turn our focus to her. “Her heartfelt apology nearly had her free of her collar, but there was lingering doubt of whether she had earned it, so she is playing the role of honest repentance. If she shows enough proof, in time, that she has changed, then the collar is removed. However, who’s to say what would happen to us once it was gone and our guard had dropped? Given how things have turned out for us over the past few months, my trust is a bit harder to come by now.”

“So what do you suggest then, Amenthia?” I asked my blonde companion, curious as to where her train of thought was going.

Amenthia got a mischievous look on her face and replied, “I suggest that we don’t use kid gloves, and test her with something the old Kat’ilth’ana would never do. I say we go in there and we make her suck your cock while we watch. Not only that, but she also has to swallow every drop you give her and thank you for it. If this is indeed a ploy, there is no way that her pride would let her go through with it.”

“Excuse me, but what did you just say?” I exclaimed, shocked at her proposal. “That is kinda the opposite of handling the matter delicately.”

“I know that, Pathios, but if she really means what she says, then she will do this without hesitation,” she retorted, crossing her arms. “If she doesn’t mean it, then we will know we were being played. Besides, if there is a possibility of her enjoying this, we will know from this test right away. You can’t honestly tell me you haven’t had the image of her lips around you cock, at least once?”

I refused to answer that question and hoped the slight blush to my cheeks hadn’t been noticed by Amenthia or Entivala.

“I am sorry to say this, but I agree with Amenthia,” Entivala said with a sigh. “While I would normally agree with you, Pathios, erring on the side of caution, Kat’ilth’ana is the exception to the rule. She tried to kill you and kidnap me and then she nearly killed you in the training area. She admitted to wanting to see you injured or killed when we were doing our quest on the third floor. She also admitted that her jumping in the way of the Arachni Queen’s attack was to save her own skin, not yours. While I have no idea how long she was trapped in her own mind, her changes have been so drastic when I saw her, I can’t imagine her changing back that drastically so soon. It took years of outside influence for her to change her beliefs and thoughts into the poison we saw her spewing at us.”