Chapter 9

As Ariel kept working her way to Keith's house the dizziness was slowly giving way to an intensely pounding headache.

But the pull towards Nathan was leading her here to this place.

Ariel vision was slowly fading in and out and still going blurry from time to time, and it was more often than she would have liked it to.

But the pounding was not enough for her not to know where she was going or prevent her from getting to Nathan, but it was starting to really bother her. She must be starting to come down with a very bad cold.

She also noticed that she was starting to sweat a little more than she had before. But not enough for it to be an issue yet she thought. Most colds started out that way.

As Keith's home came into view she walked up to the heavy and large rod iron front gate, she noticed that it was closed with two men standing behind it.

"Good evening, I'm looking for my husband. He said he was coming here to see Keith. Have you seen Nathan Michaels?" asked Ariel trying to give the men a sweet smile.

As badly as her head throbbed she was trying to at least appear pleasant.

The men couldn't miss her smile but they were curious why she was starting to sweat a little on her brow. Maybe she was still on her way down from the master's visit? He must have out done himself if she was still feeling it even now.

"I thought the master was out and going to visit you at your home?" asked one of the men looking at Ariel with a leer. He didn't answer her question but offered her one in exchange.

"Did he find you and you're already finished with each other?" asked the other main with a knowing smile.

"What are you talking about?" asked Ariel confused and wincing as she asked.

Strangely it seemed almost as if she was gasping out her question as they talked. The headache was getting more insistent.

As the men stood quietly grinning at her Ariel felt nauseous. The headache was starting to really affect her now.

"Have you seen my husband or haven't you!?" snapped Ariel getting short with them. She was getting tired of them just standing and leering at her.

She was starting to get very angry at these idiots. It was a simple question. She needed to find Nathan. She needed to find him NOW she thought.

Suddenly she felt like she needed him like she had never needed him before. She could actually feel her underwear growing wetter the more she thought about him. But as bad as she felt that was the least of her worries right now.

"Why would you need him? I thought you and the master would still be enjoying each other's company until at least morning," said the first man leering again.

"What are you going on..." started Ariel distracted before it hit her.

They all knew Keith was going to try and rape her tonight while pretending to be Nathan. They were all in on it!

"I wouldn't sleep with that hairy turd if he was the last man on the planet!" said Ariel slowly as she felt herself slowly slipping into a rage. How dare they believe that she would willing do that!

Again her vision was going red, but instead of the slight misty tint to her vision that she had seen before, everything was starting to turn red on her.

"What? You haven't yet slept with the master? He went out looking for you and after he went as far as to prepare a room for your husband to make sure he was comfortable," said the second man smiling big.

"What? Where is my husband!?" demanded Ariel again.

Her headache was getting worse it was getting harder and harder for her to think clearly. She put her hands up to her head to try and rub the pain away from her head as she stood swaying on her feet with her eyes closed.

Suddenly it hit her she had been standing there for a few moments rubbing her head and she hadn't said anything to either of them for awhile, and when she opened her eyes the men were still grinning at her.

And it was then that she also realized that while the second man was still smiling big at her, the first man had started chanting quietly as he continued to leer at her.

"Chanting?? He was a mage!!" thought Ariel frantically as she tried to think clearly.

As that thought hit her, the first man suddenly said the power words "Persona Conservo" as he quickly thrust his hand out her direction, and then Ariel felt as if she was held in place.

She couldn't move.

Breathing was now hard to do.

She was frozen in place.

"Don't ... do ... this! It ... won't ... end ... well ... for you," said Ariel as she gasped out her plea to them. She was struggling very hard to get free from the spell.

Nathan would kill them for this. She was trying to save their lives. They had no idea of what he would do! This time the entire city might be wiped off the map!

"No you just wait there until the master returns. Once he realizes that neither of you are at your home he'll come back here. You'll just need to wait here until he is ready for you," leered the first man.

"I ... won't ... sleep ... with ... him ... I'll ... die ... first," said Ariel through her gritted teeth as she continued to struggle.

She was finding that her head felt now as if it would explode on her. It was all she could do to keep her eyes open. She was no longer seeing any colors other than red in her vision.

"Oh, don't worry about that. The master is very good at charm spells. You'll soon do whatever he asks of you before you know it. Don't worry, he'll only keep you to play with for about ten or fifteen seasons.

"Of course he'll let us have a go at you for a while before he finds someone else for all of us to enjoy," said the second man. "God I can't wait for my turn at you. You're such a beauty! It's been seasons since all of us had someone as attractive as you to play with."

"PLEASE! You ... don't ... know ... what ... you're ... doing! My husband ... won't allow ... this..." gasped out Ariel.

Thinking was now growing extremely painful for her. It felt if someone was jabbing her in her head with a white hot poker.

In between the anger and the waves of pain that she was feeling, she kept finding it hard to form complete sentences. She thought her head was splitting open!

"The master is a full eighth circle Archmage. Most of us here are all either seventh or eighth circle mages in at least two or more circles ourselves as well. Your husband doesn't have a choice!

"Just being a simple swordsman he couldn't take one of us let alone over fifty prepared mages. But you have to know your husband won't be the first husband to disappear because the master wanted a woman. And he certainly won't be the last," laughed the first man.

"Right now the master has trapped him in the mansion helpless. And he can't leave until the master wills it. The master is only keeping him alive so he can be forced to watch how its done as he pleasures you before he kills him himself," said the second man smiling.

"What? They are going to force Nathan to watch my rape?! They would put him through that!? NO I won't allow it! I WON'T LET THEM DO THAT TO HIM! I ... WON'T! I ... WON'T! I... , " thought Ariel as she suddenly started to struggle wildly.

Suddenly and unexpectedly Ariel's eyes closed and her head dropped down to her chest as she completely stopped struggling.

Other than breathing she wasn't doing anything at all.

The men grinned at each other thinking that she had finally given in to the obvious.

Suddenly she started growling softly.

The man holding her in the spell and the other one standing next to him behind the closed gate weren't quite sure they heard what they thought they did.

Did she just growl at them?

As she continued to keep her head down and eyes closed, various thoughts kept racing through her mind:

"They will not hurt my man! They will not harm him! No one harms Nathan! Nathan will not come to harm! Nathan ... who the HELL is NATHAN! ARIC is my husband! He is my man! Mine! They will not HARM HIM! THEY WILL NOT! I will not ALLOW IT! I ... I ... I... "

Suddenly Ariel's head snapped up and she focused on both men behind the gate.

Both men drew back, with one of them lifting his arms as if to ward off an oncoming strike.

As they both stared back at Ariel they couldn't fail to notice that she was now growling unmistakably louder. And as she gritted her teeth in a vicious snarl she then seemed to growl even louder at them.

Her face no longer remotely resembled the face of the attractive woman who first came to the gate or even the desperate woman pleading with them to let her go that they were just talking too.

Her face now was a complete mask of unrestrained rage.