Our captor crossed the clearing and vanished in the shadows of the trees to the right.

We all were too fatigued to move.

After few minutes a light appeared in the shadows of the trees to the right. About thirty meters away stood a large carriage.

In front of the carriage was our captor and a woman holding a kind of lantern. They spoke briefly with each other, but they were too far away to understand anything. After that they approached across the clearing.

The woman was a bit smaller than our captor. She was slightly rotund and had ample breasts. She wore a black dress with white trimmings flowing down to her knees. Over the dress she wore a white ruffled apron. Her lower legs were covered by dark stockings. She was topped off by a ruffled white headpiece on her head. Her hair was tied into a braid behind her back. She looked spotless and proper.

As soon as we were illuminated by her lantern her brows furrowed and her smile transformed to a scowl. She came closer, wrinkling her nose.

Our captor had put up an expressionless face. Then the maid propped her hands on her hips, thoroughly assessing our predicament. Her brows furrowed and she was pressing her lips together firmly.

Disgusted she faced our captor and verbally lashed out an him in an angry tirade. He raised his hands in defense and tried to keep his calm demeanor. He used a small pause she needed for a short breath to shoot a few words back. She scowled as she turned back to examine us again slowly shaking her head in disbelieve.

“You do what she says! Understood?” our captor commanded.

They exchanged a few more garbled sentences. After that our captor vanished into the dark.

The maid hung her lantern to a branch over our heads. After that she stomped back to the carriage. We looked at each other.

“We should do whatever she wants.” Alissa hung her head. Gordon and me just nodded at each other.

A bit later a new light appeared at the carriage. The woman rummaging in some chests attached to the back of carriage. After a while she came back with a large basket in her arms. She spread a blanket on the grass a few meters away, placing the basket beside it.

Then she walked up to Gordon. She untied Gordon’s leash from my collar wrinkling her nose. Then she tugged her to the creek. After that she removed Gordon’s manacles and the collar.

Alessia and I looked each other, a faint flame of hope lighting up our eyes. The maid produced a large knife from her apron. We tensed up again but she just cut away Gordon’s shirt. Disgusted she looked at her knife. Finally she simply dropped it well out of our reach, of course.

Gordon stood by the creek like a deer in the headlight. Without flinching the maid push Gordon into the water.

“Aaaah! Coooooold! Noooooo! IieeekK!” Gordon flailed his arm started struggling but was firmly dunked into the cold water. A coarse scrubbing brush appeared in the maid’s free hand. Relentlessly she scrubbed Gordon removing plenty of mud. I could see the creek turning partially brown for a while.

I looked at Alessia, slightly shivering. She gave me a concerned look.

After she put away the brush, she continued her assault with help of a piece of soap or something similar.

Finally she seemed satisfied.

After a last close examination she picked up the shivering Gordon and settled her on the blanket next to the basket.

Quickly she got a large towel from the basket and rubbed Gordon dry. Using another dry large towel she skillfully turning Gordon into a sort of mummy within a few moments. Finally she carefully settled her back on the blanket.

After a few moments later Gordon was wriggling in his cover.

Noticing the approaching maid I realized it was my turn to take an cold bath.

I mentally prepared myself for the onslaught, but at least I would get rid of the sewer mud.

The water was really chilly. Breathing deeply I managed not to struggle too much. After she wrapped me up in the towel she settled me right beside Gordon.

As I realized that my arms were firmly pinned to my sides I tried to wriggle to loosen the wrap up a bit.

The maid seemed to be an expert in wrapping stuff up. All what I got was to wiggle. After a few moments I stopped struggling. Spending some time to relax and warm up, I actually started feeling comfortable for the first time since like a felt eternity.

I decided to simply enjoy it as long as it lasts.

I closed my eyes and tried to doze off alas the wound of the branding kept me awake. The pain was manageable, but I felt the spot all the time.

The scratching cloth didn’t help as well.

In addition I hadn’t eaten since we arrived at the summoning. I was not sure if the time before made a difference.

While mulling about I heard Alessia squealing and splashing for a while, but it eventually stopped.

I was near dozing off as I felt a hand gently caressing my cheek.

I opened my eyes and recognized the maid, squatting beside me. She picked me up in a princess carry and carried me across the clearing to the carriage. With practiced ease she carried me inside.

She laid me down on the cushions of the seats. The ceiling was made of wooden panels.

My mouth started to water as the smell of warm food entered my nostrils! While I was salivating the maid unwrapped me. I started blushing as I realized there is nothing under the towel.

Alessia and Gordon were sitting on a cushioned bank at a short table. On the table stood a pot and three bowls each with a wooden spoon.

The woman sat down on the cushioned bench beside me.

Alessia was watching with a mischievous smile on her face. While I was trying to figure out what Alessia was up to, the maid held a shirt ready to dive in in front of me.

Quickly I put my arms through the sleeves. With a smile she pulled it over my head. All way down to my ankles! I blushed furiously, as I realized the garment was a frilly nightgown!

Speaking of Alessia. She was clearly amused which caused me to blush even more.

While I was busy blushing, the maid pulled me on her lap. I started to wiggle, but her stern gaze froze me in place.

After I stopped struggling she started to brush my hair. It actually was a good idea to brush long hair after washing them. After a few brushes it started it started to feel actually good.

“Enjoying yourself?” Alessia snickered. I blushed again, looking away.

I decided to simply enjoy myself after a few moments. At least it felt good after this hell of a day.

After my hair was brushed she settled me next to Alessia.

She filled all the bowls with some kind of stew. We started to dig in. It was truly delicious.

The woman sat on the far side of the table watching us and enjoying herself.

We made short work of the stew. After we finished we ended huddling together on the cushions. The throbbing pain at my chest nearly faded away and I was feeling a bit dizzy.

In the meantime the maid cleared the table. After she finished she uttered a word and the table vanished into thin air! My thoughts were running in circles.

The next I saw was that the woman pulled a long drawer of the wall over one of the banks just over the back cushions. Then the drawer left the wall completely, hovering in the air! She pulled down and after a few moments it stopped at about her hips.

The drawer was about 2 meters long, and 80cm wide. As it had no boards at the sides I realized it was a bed. As the bed stopped she pulled back the blanket and with a quick step she was beside us.

She scooped me up, settled me on the bed and tucked me in. She pulled out another bed to my left for Alessia. Gordon ended in a bed to my right.

Then Gordon’s bed started to hover up. A few moments later I felt myself gently rising, too. Finally the bed glided back into the wall and stopped with a clicking sound.

It was dark inside. There was some light coming from the left for a few more moments. Feeling cozy and being dead tired I finally dozed off.