Baron's Pleasure

The library's chandelier chimed and creaked gently as the draft of the room lightly swung it around, the shadows flickering and swaying in its rhythm. The small castle's library was two stories tall, the second one being a fairly recent expansion, large bookcases lining the open room on all sides, a grand oak table in the middle. Two local merchants sat on either side of the table, bickering amongst themselves, fighting about the spending of the barony's taxes. At the head of the table sat Cypher, the Riolu baron sighing and burying his aching head in his hands, rubbing his temple before slamming a fist down on the oak to get the merchants' attention, 
"Enough, from both of you! I'll take your words into consideration as I'm making the decision, rest assured. But you'll both have to take your leave now, as I still have several people to meet today."
The two men stood up and gave Cypher a courteous bow before leaving, the servant standing by opening the door for them before turning to the baron,
"Sire, shall I bring your next guest in?"
"Who is it?" 
"That would be banker Alfons, sire." 
Cypher groaned once more and waved his hand dismissively, 
"I can't stand that man and his constant scheming. Let him wait, but offer him a drink from my cabinet and an excuse for the delay so as not to offend him."
"As you wish, sire." 
The servant stepped out, leaving Cypher all alone, his eyes rifling through the countless books all around him. Most other barons would host their meetings in a great hall or an office, but the Riolu had always been fond of his library, preferring to spend his time there. He was very well educated as was common for the nobles, his intelligence and wits sharpened to a fine point. In fact, his cleverness often took his opponents by surprise, his short and childlike appearance making him seem much more harmless than he actually was. Most Riolus would have evolved into a Lucario well before thirty years of age, but for one reason or another Cypher had remained as a Riolu, his servants and friends careful not to remind him of the fact lest they suffer his disapproving gaze and sharp remarks. The baron's father, Cyrus, would've most likely done much worse in his reign as the baron if anyone had offended him, often beating his servants to the point of breaking purely out of spite or amusement. He had also squandered away most of the barony's money on drink and other frivolities, leaving Cypher in charge of an indebted land once he drank himself to death. The Riolu didn't beat his servants, nor did he drink outside of his limits, seeing the folly of his father. Cyrus had tried to toughen up his son by forcing the boy to watch all the bloody executions of his enemies, his efforts failing to do anything except making Cypher faint at the sight of blood as well as awakening something dark in the young man. 

Just as Cypher was deep in his thoughts, losing himself in the musty smell of the old pages and the vibrant colours of the book spines lining the walls, the door to the library opened, a slender and tall Houndoom walking in rather confidently, clad in light armour, his attire standing out from the civilian clothing of most of the people walking the halls of the castle. He leaned over the table with a smirk, giving his lord a nod as a greeting, 
"Sire, how's your morning been?" 
"Not good, Franco, not good. More people desperate for my time, all with their hands reaching for my coin pouch, as always."
"Ah, well then, I believe my visit may just relieve those issues somewhat. I have another shipment of… delicates for your enjoyment, sire." 
Cypher's head perked up, his posture changing from disinterest to enthusiasm, even his breath picking up slightly. He tried to contain himself as best as he could, not wanting to seem frantic or weak in front of his servant, 
"You have another one?" 
"Not one, sire, but three! Young, supple, strong spirits, the perfect model of what you're asking for!" 
"Where did you find… them?" 
"A friend of a friend, he relayed a message to us, told us that he'd caught a band of three girls trying to pilfer his storeroom. He locked them in and sold them to us for just a few coins, he heard we might have some use for them." 
Cypher leaned back in his seat with a pleased look, something was finally going his way on that blasted day. After Cyrus had drank the barony's coffers dry and left the boy with debts well beyond his measures, he had made it his goal to claw his way back into a financially stable position. Little by little, with crushing taxation and shrewd business dealings with the local merchants and neighbouring baronies, Cypher had started chipping away at the debts. But even with all of his effort being put into that front, the goal was still too far, the debt on his lands putting him in danger of falling out of favour with the Queen. Cyrus had earned the Queen's respect by leading his armies in an astonishing campaign, winning time and time again. Yet when there were no more wars to fight and win, he fell into drink, squandering away the possibilities gifted to him. Cypher didn't have the advantage of being a celebrated war hero, so every day that his holdings were limping away in debt meant another day closer to the Queen simply replacing him with another lord. That fear led the Riolu to eventually resort to some less than moral or even legal means of accruing coinage: slavery. He had his old childhood friends, now a band of mercenaries ready to do anything to anyone, covertly comb the city in search of street urchins, girls who had no family and no loved ones who'd miss them if they were to suddenly disappear one day. Slavery was highly illegal everywhere on the continent, so Cypher had to have the children smuggled onto ships and have them delivered far away overseas to their new masters. He wasn't exactly proud of his scheme, finding a part of him always uneasy whenever he thought of it, but he could come up with enough excuses and rationalisations for him to continue it: if he stopped doing it, he'd surely be deposed from his position and replaced with a far more ruthless and worse baron, leading thousands of citizens to suffer. Once he had built up enough capital to pay off all the debts, he could stop the kidnapping, he could even build an orphanage for all of the homeless children. But for now, the horrendous acts simply had to continue, there was no other way. Plus, the kidnapping did offer the man another bonus: a way for him to delight his more dark nature in private. 

Cypher sat up from his seat, dusting off his elegant blue and purple clothes before motioning towards Franco, telling the man to lead him to the captured kids. The two stepped out of the library, the Riolu speaking to a nearby servant as he walked, 
"Tell the rest of my waiting guests that I will have no more visitors for the day." 
"Sire, are you certain? Master Wilh…" 
"No more visitors for the day!" 
"Yes sire, of course."
The duo walked along the halls of the small castle, descending down into the stony depths of its basement, the air becoming cooler with each step downwards, the natural light streaming in from windows replaced with shadows and candles. Franco led the baron to the dungeons, both going into a small room acting as the storeroom. Inside waited four figures, three small ones and one much taller and wider than the rest. A Pangoro stood watch in his heavy metal armour, his hand resting on the sword on his hip, ready to be unsheathed at a moment's notice. The Houndoom nodded at his partner before gesturing to a trio of bound up little girls, Cypher thoroughly scanning them all with his gaze. The first girl was a Fennekin, Melisandre, her light yellow fur complimented by the bright orange of her tail and her ears, her poofy and fluffy hair a platinum white. She seemed fierce and strong headed, her muzzle bound by cloth and the ropes tied around her legs and arms straining as she wriggled around and grunted with fury. The second girl, Diana, was much more meek, on the verge of bursting into tears, her eyes glued onto the floor and refusing to make contact with his stare. She was a Buneary, with brown fur and cream cotton ball poofs at the ends of her long ears, her eyes a striking purple colour. She was a fair bit smaller than her companions, the youngest of the group. The final cub, Mercy, was a Pichu, staring up at Cypher with dazzling and empathetic yellow eyes, her long and shiny blond hair reaching down to her shoulders. All three girls were clad in dirty and dusty old rags, patched over several times, their furs splattered with grime and stains, their feet completely bare. The baron stepped forwards to closer examine his prizes, his gaze almost curious as he lowered his head towards the Pichu, the girl twitching as his hand touched her face,
"Please mister, just let us go! We've done no harm!" 
His interest moved from Mercy to Melisandre, her fiery eyes narrowing as she stared down her captor. Cypher glanced at the Pangoro, 
"Godric, unbind her muzzle." 
Doing as ordered, the goon gripped the cloth wrapper around her maw and tugged it free, the Fennekin immediately bearing her sharp fangs, 
"You better release us all, mister! I've got friends in low places, and I've seen your face! You lay your hand on my friends again and I'll make sure you'll disappear in the night!" 
Cypher's expression remained unchanged, his eyes running up and down her body before he finally opened his mouth, cold and almost emotionless, 
"Your bluff doesn't scare me, as you won't ever get to see the city again. By this time next week, you'll be on another continent entirely, working under a master, and my coffers will have been enriched by a hefty sum of coin."
His words had the intended effect, all three of the cubs flinching slightly at the revelation of what he had in mind for their futures. His facade broke slightly as his heart started thumping and a small smile crept onto his face, his hands behind his back to hide their shaking in his excitement as he continued, 
"To guarantee the best product possible, I'll need to make sure that you are all sufficiently prepared and broken." 
The very tip of his tail shook as he watched the girls' horrified reactions, his throat starting to go dry. He knew that his particular methods of preparation didn't actually have much of an increase in the slaves' efficiency, but it was enough for the man to convince himself that he wasn't just doing it for his own pleasure. 

Cypher stepped back and sat down on a seat, leaning back as he glanced at his mercenaries, 
"Strip them." 
Melisandre immediately started tugging and struggling against her restraints while the other two girls looked mortified, Diana sobbing quietly. The goons did as asked, the Houndoom grabbing a small knife from his belt to slash open the cubs' rags while Godric simply ripped them off with his hands, the dirty clothes falling discarded onto the cold stone floor. The girls all tried their best to hide their modesty as best as they could with their hands bound behind their backs, their legs closing together and their tails desperately trying to cover up as much of their body as possible. The two mercenaries grinned and winked at each other, obviously enjoying the view, but Cypher simply stared with satisfaction. He wasn't after any sort of sexual gratification, if he was so inclined he could simply have a beautiful escort in his chambers in no time, he was much more interested in the shame and pain of the young girls. Their blushing and humiliation brought a small smile to his muzzle, only amplified as the feisty Melisandre started cursing at him and the other two males. The tears streamed down Diana's face, soaked up into her brown fur, her ears folded over on her head, the cub almost at her breaking point even before Cypher had properly started his torment. He stood up and grabbed the blade from Franco's hands, going right up to Diana with it. Her whole body shook and quivered, a quiet yelp escaping her as he set a hand down on the top of her head. He leaned down to whisper into her ear, 
"Shh… I will not hurt you, at least not yet and at least not with this knife. You will get to watch as your friends suffer." 
He slashed the bindings holding her hands and legs together before dropping the knife, grabbing her by the neck and pushing her towards a row of poles at the side of the room, tightly tying her to the pole with the same rope he had cut, her hands high above her head and her legs just barely touching the ground to force her to constantly be uncomfortable. She tried to fight back, but even with Cypher's small stature, a young and malnourished orphan girl was very easy to subdue.

With the youngest securely strung up, the baron shifted his stare to the leader of the group, eager to force the fight out of her. He nodded his head towards the Fennekin, almost panting out of anticipation, 
"Grab her and bring her over here." 
He stood in front of a large wooden rack, four legs tapering up to a wooden wedge, several blunt metal studs embedded into the cracked and stained old wood, a sturdy loop on one end of the apparatus. The sellswords cut Melisandre free, her angry grunts slowly morphing into desperate whimpers as she approached the torture rack. The two men lifted her up on top of the wooden structure, her legs on either side of it, the wedge uncomfortably digging into her crotch and bottom already. Her hands were brought back and tied to the hoop to hold her in place as Cypher grabbed a hefty metal weight attached to a shackle. He knelt down and tied the load around Melisandre's ankle, the added weight making the wedge drive itself further into her body, not enough to pierce skin or draw any blood, only enough to cause immense pain. The metal studs sunk into her thighs, leaving massive welts and bruises, the cub yelping and barking in agony. She tried to squirm free from the apparatus, the chains and bindings making sure that the only thing that accomplished was the wedge pressing against her even harder, the baron giving her other ankle a weight for her efforts. She tried very hard not to give her torturers any pleasure in hearing her yell, grinding her teeth together red faced as she moaned, but eventually it was too much for her to take, the Fennekin breaking down in a shrill shriek, tears of both pain and humiliation staining her cheeks. Cypher grinned and gently ran a hand down her back, feeling her tremble as she howled from the rack seemingly almost tearing her in half, her heart beating in a frantic panic,
"Still have delusions of getting out and taking revenge on me? Perhaps you should plan your words very carefully when speaking with your betters in the future, your next master may not be quite so merciful as I am."

Cypher gave one of the weights wrapped around Melisandre's ankles a little tap with his foot, sending the metal anchor swinging, the momentum tugging her down against the wedge with every swivel. Mercy and Diana both watched in horror as she groaned in pain, her throat sore from yelling. The Riolu left the young girl to enjoy her punishment as he next smiled at the Pichu, Mercy's eyes widening as she realised that she was next in line,
"No… no… please mister! Y… you don't have to do this!" 
"Oh but I do, I must do this. Don't worry, you'll have the honour of trying out a little gift my business partners from overseas sent me, plans for an and exotic little contraption that I had built."
He pointed towards another pole at the side of the room, this one having a wooden board with horizontal sharp ridges all along it, his gaze lingering on it for a few minutes as he smiled wide, 
"It's so very simple, yet so incredibly effective, as all good things in life." 
The Pangoro grabbed Mercy from behind before untying her, dragging her over to the pole and forcing her to kneel down on top of the board, her hands and neck anchored to the pole to keep her in place. The ridges made her position very excruciating, pressing into her legs as the tight rope around her neck made her feel much more claustrophobic, her breathing restricted just enough for it to feel like she was having difficulty breathing properly without it being a danger to her. Her mouth dropped and her small tail curled up out of fear as she noticed Cypher picking up a heavy bag of sand, bringing it right above her legs, 
"N… no! No! No! Please, I am begging you, don't!" 
Taking a second to enjoy her pleading, he let go of the bag anyways, the added weight on top of her legs only pressing her harder down into the sharp ridges, dark lines of bruises quickly appearing along her shins as she screamed in agony. Cypher stacked another two bags of sand on top of the first one in quick succession, the girl almost passing out from the pain, completely out of breath from yelling, the skin on her wrists chafed and broken from her struggling against her bindings. 

After giving the girl an hour or so to suffer on the device, watching close with a content smile, Cypher kicked the sandbags off of her legs, Mercy huffing and panting in relief. He looked at the mercenaries, waving his hands, 
"Cut these two out of their bindings and get the pillory ready!" 
The men did as ordered, untying both Melisandre and Mercy, and lifting them off of their torture devices. The two girls sobbed quietly, their bodies sore and stiff, needing assistance to even stand up. The baron walked over to Diana, gripping her chin and lifting her head up to him, her purple eyes puffy and red from crying, her gaze averting away from him,
"Have you enjoyed the little show I've put on for you?" 
She didn't reply, only meekly whining, her thin and bony body shivering from a combination of fear, pain, and the cold air of the dungeon. He patted her on the head before slashing the ropes holding her to the pole, the poor girl falling onto the ground. He picked her up and dragged her towards the centre of the room. As he had been freeing the Buneary, the goons had prepared a large pillory, two large wooden slabs with two sets of holes in them to hold a prisoner's arms and legs, the upper half of the slabs sliding up to allow the unfortunate captives to be locked in it. The pillory was large enough to hold all three of the girls side by side, their thin and malnourished limbs stuffed between the slabs before Godric locked the pieces together with a heavy chain, ensuring that the trio couldn't get out no matter how hard they struggled. Their hands and feet were sticking out on one end, the rest of their body hanging defenselessly on the other. Cypher picked up a pillow from the corner of the room and tore into it with a knife, ripping it apart and pushing his hand into the stuffing, plucking out a single long feather. He grinned at his goons, his muzzle twisted into a grin, 
"You know what to do. I'll take the little one, you can take the other two." 
Using feathers and their fingers, the males started tickling the young cubs, focusing on their sides, their stomachs, their armpits, and the bottoms of their feet. The groups' soles were especially effective, Melisandre's pink pawpads and Diana's furless soles made the pair howl with laughter, Mercy's fully furred pawpads offering her some protection but still making her squirm and giggle. The myriad of bruises and extremely sore muscles made the kids' tickling torture a blend of pleasure and pain, all the wiggling and writhing causing their aching bodies to only hurt even more. The trio were quickly red faced with laughter, completely out of breath and gasping for air between each cackle, their tortures not letting up for even a single second. 

The tickling continued for nearly half an hour straight, each of the three girls eventually passing out one by one, going limp in the pillory. As the final one lost consciousness, Cypher set down his feather and gently caressed Diana's cheek, finding himself particularly fond of the shy little Buneary. He nodded at his mercenaries, the two unlocking the large and heavy device before sliding it open, the girls flopping out of it and onto the dusty ground below. The baron pointed at a stack of grey clothes, tattered rags barely better than what the cubs had arrived to him in, each dress painted with the red mark of a slave on both the front and the back of it, 
"Get the three dressed up in those, and haul them off to the docks, their ship will depart in an hour or two."
He watched as the girls were cloaked in their new uniforms, a tinge of sadness on his face as he watched Diana being slung over the Pangoro's shoulder and carried out of the dungeon, soon shaking it off. There would be many more girls like her before his task of cleaning up the city would be complete, orphans were nothing if not numerous after all. He stayed in the quiet and dark room for a few moments longer, staring at the different torture devices scattered around, before sighing and starting the long ascent back up to his castle, his tail slightly wagging and a smile on his face.