Nanette's Capture (Brackish Bay Book 1)

  Nanette's Capture

  Brackish Bay Book One

  By

  Cerise Noble

  ©2015 by Blushing Books® and Cerise Noble

  All rights reserved.

  No part of the book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

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  Noble, Cerise

  Nanette's Capture

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-62750-845-2

  Cover Art by ABCD Graphics & Design

  This book is intended for adults only. Spanking and other sexual activities represented in this book are fantasies only, intended for adults. Nothing in this book should be interpreted as Blushing Books' or the author's advocating any non-consensual spanking activity or the spanking of minors.

  Table of Contents:

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  About the Author

  Ebook Offer

  Blushing Books Newsletter

  Blushing Books

  Dedicated to:

  Guy – the one whose name is on my collar – Thank you for giving me permission and encouragement to pursue my dreams, for detailed hypothetical discussions of fictional worlds.

  And Cruithne – You believed in me, even when I didn't, and better, gave me the tools to make your belief come true.

  Chapter 1

  “Shush! Suzanna, they'll hear you!”

  “I don't care!” My sister swatted at the mosquitoes swarming around her and swore.

  I jerked back around, hissing between my teeth. “Dammit, Suzanna, shut up!” Shimmying forward again, I raised the battered binoculars. There they were. The guards to the village. I scanned the top edge of the fence, looking for the name. HodgePodge. Dammit. I slid down, flopping onto my back. Dammit.

  “What is it?”

  “We're not there yet.”

  “Why? What is this one?”

  “HodgePodge.”

  My sister wrinkled her nose. “Stupid name.”

  I agreed. “Stupid name.”

  “You sure they didn't just rename Caladonia?”

  I bit my lip, thinking about it. The weaker villages changed hands frequently, as various warlords took them over. I flipped around onto my belly and shimmied back towards the top of the little crest of land. The palisade didn't look that new. There were some old burn marks here and there, and a few replacement logs, but it didn't look like it had been destroyed and rebuilt, which it would have had to be, if it had been won in a battle. At least, I thought so. I'd never seen a battle up close. But once, on the way here, we'd watched from a far vantage point as a horde swooped in and set fire to everything in reach in the village we were heading to. We'd taken the long way around.

  I eyed the towers on the corners. The sentries were all wearing blue and brown. The same colors as the tattered flag flapping in the breeze. “It doesn't look like it.”

  “Let me see.”

  I sighed, and handed over the binoculars. Suzanna squirmed forward and looked. After a long moment, in which I had to flick off no less than three creepy crawlies, she slid back down to me. “I guess you're right.”

  It shouldn't gall me, that my little sister no longer trusted my word or opinion immediately. But it did. She was five years younger – a teenager, all of fourteen, with the know-it-all attitude that came with the age. My mother would have shaken her head and petted my hair, then done the same to Suzanna. Girls, she would have said. You have to trust each other. I remembered her rings, the ones she said we'd have when we were grown. They matched, just like Suzanna and I did. Was she wearing them when she woke us up to flee? I didn't remember them on her hands, something that would have seemed strange had not the entire morning been strange and awful.

  I bit back a whimper. Not knowing what happened to her... it ate a hole in my heart. I took the binoculars back. “We're going to have to take the north side. I don't see a good path around to the south – there's not enough cover.”

  “Can't we just go in?” Her whining was going to be the death of me, I swear.

  “No way. You remember what Daddy said. You have to assume the worst. If you don't know for sure that the people in a village will defend you, don't get near them. Getting trapped inside is a prison sentence, or worse. Fleeing from them, in the depths of the swamp, gives you a chance.”

  She sighed and rolled her eyes. I'd had many opportunities to repeat Daddy's words since we'd left home. She knew just as well as I did how dangerous it could be to get captured. My heart ached – I needed my daddy, dammit. He'd know just what to do.

  “I'm hungry.”

  I took a deep breath. No matter how annoying she could be, Suzanna was my responsibility. “Then we're going to have to get far enough away from here. We can't risk them seeing the smoke, you know that.”

  Typical teenager fashion, Suzanna rolled her eyes, but started crawling down the slope, back to where we'd left our packs. Once there, she hefted hers, and we disappeared into the trees.

  Hiking through the forests was difficult, if you didn't know how to walk. If you tried to walk the way you did on a road, you were doomed to fail. Instead, you had to walk near the trees, in a sort of zigzag pattern. If you kept your feet on the roots, or nearby, you ran far less risk of sinking into the bog.

  Luckily for Suzanna and me, we'd grown up in the forest. There was a river nearby, and Daddy had fished. So we'd grown up with full stomachs and nimble feet.

  It was dark by the time I felt safe enough to stop, the crickets and frogs a cacophony that hid the sound of our steps. We found a stream with a dozen varieties of little fish, and set a small net between two rocks. Suzanna climbed the nearest tree, then returned with a handful of branches and a report.

  “I think we're directly north of HodgePodge, maybe slightly to the east. The wind is coming our direction, so I think we're going to be okay with the smoke.”

  “Thanks.” I pulled out the broken branches I'd collected since the last time we'd built a fire, carrying them in a mesh pack so they'd have a better chance of drying before we needed them next. We settled a few rocks in place and built the fire, working together, like we were supposed to, like we had since she was born.

  Once the flame took the dry branches and seemed stable enough, I added the green ones Suzanna had collected. They were dryer than ones on the ground level, but they still smoked and flickered. I checked the net. Four little fish – not much for a meal, but better than nothing. I scooped them out, leaving the net in place, and Suzanna and I each cut two open, gutting and cleaning them as quickly as we could. The entrails went in the fire, and the smoke smelled delicious for a moment. My mouth filled with saliva as I remembered my mother cooking the same way. Suzanna had found tubers along the water, and she cleaned them, dicing them with the knife our father made. The water in the pan had boiled, so I tossed in the tubers, and when they were nearly tender, the fish and a handful of edible leaves.

  “That smells so good.”

  I nodded, stirring it a bit more than necessary. “You find any more greens?”

 
She shook her head, eyes on the pot. It wasn't long before we were scooping it into our bowls, then shoveling it into our mouths. I burned my tongue, but I didn't care.

  Too soon, the pot was empty, and I washed it, packing everything away except for the net in the stream. We doused the fire and draped a mosquito net over a branch above us. Curled up next to each other, our blankets kept out the worst of the dampness. As tired as I was, I found myself lying awake, staring at the clouds and listening to the night noises.

  “Nanette?”

  I shifted, wrapping my arms around my sister. “What?”

  “Can you tell me what Daddy said, again?”

  I nodded against her hair, the tangles scratchy on my skin. I let myself picture the day, two months ago, that we left our home.

  “He woke me up before the sun was up. He said, 'There are people on the way here. Dangerous people, people who will hurt you and your sister if they catch you. You have to wake up. You have to go – now.'”

  “And you got up.”

  “I got up. And Mom had two packs ready to go. She was so angry – that's when I knew it was serious.”

  “What else did Daddy say?”

  “You heard him. Mom woke you up too.” She was quiet. “He said 'Run. Go to Torrent and meet us there. Go to Solon first and ask for John Baker. From there go to Caladonia and ask for Simon Tire. They will help you along the way with supplies and protection. As for Hamel Dirk in Torrent. You can stay with him until we get there.'” I kissed the back of her head. “He said, 'Guard Suzanna with your life. Stay out of sight of everyone. Stay out of villages. Stay away from camps and settlements. Don't trust anyone until they prove you can. Trust your instincts.'”

  “They both said 'I love you.'”

  “Yes, they did.” I paused, taking a deep breath, waiting to see if she would ask.

  “And after that?”

  “He said 'Mom and I will find you before the year is up. If we don't, we are dead – leave us to the afterlife.'” I bit my lip hard, attempting to still the trembling. “He said, 'Go on, live well, love someone who can protect you. Make me proud.'” I couldn't help it. I always cried. No matter how many times I repeated the words, they still caused tears. In my embrace, my sister cried, too.

  Eris. I closed my eyes, seeking the goddess my father used to mention sometimes. Why can't you tell me if they are dead or alive? As usual, there was no reply.

  Eventually, we slept.

  Morning was brighter than usual. The sun found us beside the stream, piercing the green canopy. I rubbed my eyes and sat up, pulling down the mosquito netting and packing it up, then checking the net. There were six fish this time, and I sent a prayer of thanks to the stream for providing. I kicked Suzanna, and she woke with a grumble, but sat up when I indicated the fish. Cleaning them took no longer than it had the night before, but we didn't risk a fire. Tossing the chunks of raw fish into a pottery jar I poured a little vinegar over them, sealed it, and shook. There. They would keep most of the day like that. We each reached in and took a couple chunks, licking our fingers and resealing the jar. I tucked it carefully into the special pouch in my pack. We shook out our blankets before fastening them around our shoulders like cloaks, and we started walking again.

  The day passed as all the days had. Slowly. I fingered the date necklace I wore. There were beads of different colors for each month, and beads of the same color for each day in the month. I had a small clip I placed beside the bead for the day, and I moved it now, marking off another day gone. Two and a half months gone now. Seventy-eight days since we'd started to run. I tried not to think about it, but when you're walking through the forest, there's not much to do. You keep an eye out for boggy ground. You keep an ear and an eye out for running water. You keep an ear and an eye out for crocodiles or other predators. You keep an ear and an eye and your gut tuned for humans – the worst predators. You walk. You stay as quiet as you can. And you try not to make yourself into a complete crazy woman with worrying about your family.

  We stopped every so often to rest and take another bite of sour fish. It was flakier than raw, but not as flaky as cooked. I checked the sun and tried to keep us walking on the correct path.

  “We should have found Caladonia by now.” Suzanna was slightly ahead of me, to my right. She spoke without looking at me, so I knew she was scared. Even more so, I was scared.

  “Yes, we should have.”

  “Do you have enough supplies?”

  “We'll be fine.”

  “What about the vinegar? It looked like the jug was pretty light this morning.”

  “Maybe I'm just getting stronger.” There was silence for so long I started to hope she'd accepted my explanation.

  “Or maybe you just don't want to tell me you're worried.”

  The worry burst out of me before I could stop it. “Of course I'm worried! Who wouldn't be? I'm trying to trek across country with a stupid teenager!”

  Her face was red and angry when she stopped and planted her feet. “You're a damn teenager, too, you know! Who made you in charge? I just want to know.” She started to cry, and then I recognized myself, my hatred of uncertainty. I took a halting step, and then folded her in my arms.

  “We're running real low on vinegar. I'm afraid we've passed Caladonia. John told us it would only take a few weeks to reach it, and we've been on the way for forty-one days since we left Solon.” Not for the first time I wished I had packed the map properly the last time we'd had to ford one of the bigger streams. Water had damaged it severely, and every time I got it out it was worse – by last week it had been completely useless. “I don't think there's anything we can do except keep going, and try to find Torrent. We have each other. We have equipment. We won't starve to death as long as there's fish in the water, and, like Daddy says, there's always fish in the water.” Suzanna shifted, and I could feel her start to smile. “Even if we have to stop more often to fish, if we can't keep it in the vinegar, all it means is that it will take us longer to get there. Not a huge deal.” I pushed her back, catching her eyes. “Okay?”

  She nodded, taking a deep breath and scrubbing her face with the tattered cuff of her sleeve. “Okay.”

  Of course, as those who remember Eris know, life has never gone as planned. It was two days later when my life, as I knew it then, ended.

  “Watch out.” I held back the brambles for Suzanna, pressing forward. I could hear the stream; we hadn't eaten since the day before. It was hilly here. It had been too long since we were near enough to water to fish. It was getting late, and we needed to find a place to camp.

  “I see it.”

  The stream turned out to be a river, much larger than I'd thought at first. We rushed to it, grateful for the water and the fish. I unfolded the net and we scouted along the bank, looking for a good spot to set it up. We'd just placed it and started to unpack for the night when I saw it. A small fence made of chain, no higher than a handspan, disappearing into the brush on either side. I hadn't noticed it when we'd crossed it the first time – and it seemed to follow the river, at least in this area. A prickle started along my spine as I stood up, trying to trace its compass with my eyes. I'd never seen anything like it before, but it was man-made. Man made fences – ones that were not completely degraded in the years since the bombardment that nearly destroyed civilization – might mean there were men about. I swung around, scanning the river as far as I could see either direction. There was nothing. But I still couldn't shake the prickle that was telling me something wasn't right. “I think we need to go.”

  “But I'm starving! I just got the blankets set up. We'll be protected here, under the willow.”

  I turned again, looking for the edge of the fence, but try as I might I couldn't tell where it crossed the river. It wasn't possible that the entire river was inside it, was it? My belly clenched, and I felt my heart speed up.

  “Something is wrong. Suzanna, something is very, very wrong. We need to get out of here. Now!” My voice had risen as u
nreasoning panic set in, and she paused, then caught sight of my face. She started stuffing everything back in the pack, and heaved it onto her shoulders. I took her hand and we both started to run, back the way we'd come.

  “What about the net?” The net! Without that, we'd have a much harder time feeding ourselves.

  “Keep going, I'll get it. I'll be right back.”

  “No!”

  I tried to pry her fingers off me, but she held fast, her face white and terrified.

  “No! Don't leave me!”

  I took a deep breath and we ran back to the net. I snatched it out, folding the frame up and stuffing it in my pack, lone captured flopping fish and all. It would suffocate soon enough. We had just turned to run again when I crashed into a man. Suzanna screamed, and I stumbled back, wildly searching for a way out. Darting to the right, dragging her with me, he moved too quickly and cut off our escape. Encumbered by the packs, we weren't nearly as nimble as we needed to be. I darted to the left, but Suzanna and I collided and went down, a flailing pile of limbs. His hand closed on my arm and dragged me upright.

  “You're on our property.”

  Another man appeared behind him, a weapon of some sort in his hands.

  “No!” I panted, holding tight to Suzanna, who knelt on the ground, sobbing. “No! I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Here – I'll give you back the fish from your river. We'll leave now. No trouble. No trouble at all. I'm sorry.” I tried to shake him off, so I could reach the fish in my pack, but his grip didn't budge. I didn't dare let go of Suzanna. “Please sir. I'm so sorry. We're just passing through. We don't want any trouble. We'll leave now.” I had avoided his eyes until now, but finally I looked up, hoping my pleas had reached him.

  His eyes were hot, and hungry, and somehow I didn't think it was for fish. My stomach dropped. I gasped, then fought hard against his grip. I let go of Suzanna, and tried to pry his fingers off. It didn't do a bit of good. In terror and frustration, I bit him. His flesh was salty sweet, thick in my mouth as I dug my teeth into his forearm. He didn't let go – instead he slapped me with his free hand, hard, hard enough to daze me and I sank down, Suzanna's hysterical screams echoing in my ears.