A Short Stay at Zofia Castle

VI

After a long journey, the group has decided to rest at the castle with Alm for the next few nights.

Boey awoke in a soft bed. The reins and bit lay on a nightstand just to his right. On the left, he could see three empty beds that had clearly been slept in. He heard the shower running just in front of him.

"Hello?" Boey called out.

"Hey, Boey!" Celica responded from the shower, "Good morning!"

"Good morning Celica!" Boey replied.

Having Celica nearby put him at ease. He appeared to be in some sort of a castle - were they at Zofia Castle?. He looked back at the reins which quickly started his memory, reminding him that he was still mad at Mae from the other day when she allowed them to ride him three at a time, ignoring the agreement they had set up.

By the time Boey finished this train of thought, Celica had finished her shower and walked out.

"Don't you want breakfast?" She asked, "Come, I can show you where it is." In a hypnagogic state, Boey followed her down the dream-like halls of the castle, and to where Mae and Genny were seated.

"Good morning, Boey!" they said.

"Good morning," he responded. "First things first- Mae, what was that all about?" Boey said angrily, completely ignoring their friendly hello.

"What do you mean?" she responded.

"Yesterday - you let three people on me at once. We clearly agreed that only one person could ride me at a time if I was to do that again."

Mae pretended to be sorry as she spoke, "Yeah, but we had to make up for the lost time. There was no other way."

"We had an agreement. Besides, I don't think I want to be ridden anymore. I… I'm done."

"Hold on, Boey!" Celica said, "are you sure?"

Unsure how to respond to her, all that came out was a hesitant "I…"

"Aw, Boey, that makes me a bit sad!" Genny cried. "It's fun to ride you… isn't it fun for you too?"

Celica found more words to persuade him with. "We value having you as our mount, Boey. It'd be a shame if we just had to walk everywhere. It's so much more practical to ride."

Mae gave the boy a smug look. "You're making us all so sad, Boey. You can't give up!"

"I have an idea!" proclaimed Celica, standing up at the table. "Let's put it to a vote."

"I like that idea!" said Mae.

"Yes, let's vote!" Genny agreed.

Boey, not wanting to disappoint the girls, agreed to the idea.

"Boey.. it does help us go faster," Celica argued, "... I say … Aye!"

"Aye!" Mae said.

"... er … Aye?" Genny said hesitantly.

"Three to one Boey, sorry!" Mae said this with little remorse.

"Alright, fine… but we have to agree on something. You can't all ride me at the same time. It's exhausting," he said, hoping to compromise.

Mae grabbed everyone's attention as she argued, "But it's so efficient that way."

Genny said, "I think what he wants is fair. He already agreed to be ridden, maybe we should accept his terms?"

Celica replied to the other girls, "I don't want to rule it out, but, for consideration of Boey, we'll agree to that."

"Fine, I guess that's fair enough," the pink-haired Mae replied.

"Good. I'm glad we could establish some rules."

"Speaking of rules!" said Mae, "we should set some for you when we're riding!"

"Huh?" said Boey.

"I agree!" said Genny, "and if he doesn't follow them, we can just break him in some more when we have the time!"

Celica smiled and added, "Okay, girls, what rules do we want to set?"

"No more backtalk!" Mae demanded, "From now on, when we want to mount you, you get down."

"That's a good rule," Celica agreed.

"Wait- what? What are you guys talking about?" Boey asked.

"The rules for you!" Mae explained, "You have to follow them so it's fair!"

"That rule doesn't sound fair. What if I'm tired or don't want to?" Boey interjected.

"Sorry, Boey, but if I want to ride, I can't sit around and argue about it. You've got to get better at following orders," Mae coldly responded.

Celica, leading the discussion, said, "Alright, the first rule is no backtalk. What else?"

Genny spoke up. "I'd like to have more practice rides, for fun!"

Boey sat down, his voice utterly missing in this discussion.

"Me too. That's a good point, Genny," Mae said.

"That's good. We'll want him to be in shape and to practice," said Celica. "Maybe we'll train him so that we can all ride at the same time again."

Boey said, "That's not on the table…"

They seemed to ignore him, and Celica spoke again. "The last rule I'd like to add is that Boey should always travel as fast as he can, and should be aiming to improve our pace."

"Yeah!" Mae agreed, "And since our legs won't get as tired from walking, we can take fewer breaks."

Boey finished his breakfast. Knowing he'd have some long days ahead of him, left the discussion and went to his bed. He'd already lost his energy, and from the looks of it, he'd need to get it back before they left. It wasn't hard for him to fall asleep again.

It wasn't until later that evening when the first request for him came.

"Hey, Boey. I want to go for an evening ride." Genny stated. "Just for ten minutes."

Understanding of the new rules, Boey got off his bed and walked with her outside, where he got on his hands and knees. She patted his hair and then bent over him so she could put on the bit and reins. Once again, she had tied it too tight, the bit dug uncomfortably into his mouth, but there was no way of signaling without displeasing Genny; so he just accepted that he'd be uncomfortable for the next ten or so minutes.

At first, this ride started out pleasant. As Boey anticipated, it was a slow, casual ride. For the most part, the exercise was very comfortable for Boey. Genny didn't even make him put the blindfold on. She led him through the expansive garden just behind the castle, which was a nice place to go with Genny. He allowed her full control over him and followed her every command.

"Uh, Boey, it's been about ten minutes, but... I don't want to stop. Would you like to go for a tiny bit longer?" she asked.

Boey was aware of the rules, so he simply continued to submit to her control.

"Oh, thank you! I'm glad you're having fun. Don't worry, I'll ride you well!"

The ten-minute ride then turned into twenty, then thirty, and never seemed to end. The tightly attached bit and Genny's weight that seemed to keep getting heavier and heavier slowly made Boey very uncomfortable. He was still tired from yesterday's long trip and needed more rest. But they wouldn't even allow him a full day off.

"Okay! Sorry Boey, but I'm done for now. We're going back."

Finally, Genny led him back towards the castle and dismounted. He looked up to watch her take off his bit but instead, saw Celica standing there smiling.

"Thanks for warming him up for me Genny," she said.

"No problem, Celica!" Genny replied. "Lucky you, Boey! Celica wants a turn." She passed the reins to Celica and walked back inside the castle.

"Okay!" Celica said, "I'm going to put the blindfold on you."

Boey grunted in displeasure, but he figured if he followed the rules by not giving Celica a hard time, they'd follow the rule not to all ride him at the same time, so he complied with Celica's demand.

The already dark garden turned to pitch black as he felt Celica mount him, her butt placed on top of his ribcage. He felt her shifting her weight between her thighs to get comfortable, before softly squeezing them and simultaneously cracking the reins to get him moving.

From here she used a combination of squeezes and rein movement to guide him through the garden. He was anxious and uncooperative. He was originally under the impression that the only person riding him was Genny, who was just going for a ten minute ride, but that had already turned into over an hour, and now Celica wanted to ride? How long would he be forced to stay out here while being unable to object, or even see, anything?

"C'mon Boey! This isn't for fun, this is training," Celica ordered, squeezing his ribcage with her thighs once more as she added, "so I hope you're ready to learn." Her thigh squeezes had become a form of non-verbal communication between them. He started to be able to feel the slightest differences in motion. She ordered him to speed up, to stay attentive, to cooperate better, all through the motions and squeezes with her thighs, which he noticed also affected her butt's form on top of him. Celica's dignified riding style came from her amazing waist control, which sometimes felt pervertedly good to Boey.

"I can tell you're working hard, Boey, but… we're going to have to keep training you."

As time passed he couldn't even see the sun to get an estimate of how long it had been. It must have been at least an hour of riding from Celica alone. Between both Genny and Celica, it must have been two or more hours. He wasn't fully recovered yet, so Celica's weight was taking a serious toll, it increased with every step and he felt his arms and shoulders getting more and more tired, even his abdominals felt tired from keeping his back straightened.

Just as his arms began to give out, Celica's thighs pushed up and off of him. He sighed out of relief and stood up to stretch. To his annoyance he heard Celica say:

"Mae, would you like him with or without the blindfold?"

"With!" Mae replied. He heard the two walk to his sides and shove him back down onto all fours. From here Mae's bony thighs plopped onto his ribs and she slapped his back with her hand to get him going.

She seemed tired, but when Boey started slowing down, she started whipping the reins to do sharp turns, forcing Boey to twist his back uncomfortably to obey her commands. This was exhausting on his already fatigued abdominals, his back began to arch down in an attempt to continue holding up Mae.

"Straighten up! This attitude won't be accepted on the road!" Mae ordered. Boey quickly forced himself back into a straight back position.

"Good. Now move it!"

His shoulder blades became stiff, every movement became strenuous, and he could feel Mae's weight slowly feeling heavier and heavier on his weakened body. By the time Mae turned him around he was more than ready to get this bit off and sleep in his warm bed. But when he felt her leave his back all she did was remove the blindfold.

"We'll just leave these on you tonight. Since we're leaving tomorrow, we'll just be putting them back on anyways. No point in taking it off!" Mae told him.

Boey waited for Mae to fall asleep, then he untied the bit. He stifled a cough as he did, but he felt much better after he got it undone. It wasn't long after until he fell asleep, laying on his stomach.