Michel picked her up and placed her on the wooden structure. Its surface had been covered with a padded cushion, a consideration that seemed absurd in...light of the rest of it. Some of the men stepped forth to help him as they brought Constance’s arms over her head, and bound her wrists to the rail. Her ankles were spread apart, one tied to the rail, the other to the short post. The skirt of her gown draped her curves, rising in peaks over her breasts, falling into the long valley of her parted. ..”“Can’t talk,” was all Will said as he powered through the bowl in between sessions of blowing on his spoon and gulping water, eventually just accepting the mild burns in order to get the delicious combination of rice, chicken, and vegetables into his mouth faster.All too quickly, the bowl was empty. He got up and took it over to the stove, scooping more rice out of the wok and adding more chicken before he returned to his seat, starting to eat once more on his way back.What the fuck. How is. You must undergo trials and tests of my devising, fair knight, before you may win MY favor." They both laughed. "Fair enough," he answered, and removed his domino. He looked expectantly at 'Mayhem', but she was still giving him the Queen Victoria stare down her nose. She said, "You must first promise to submit to any test I decide upon, and to undertake any task I set you." Jason wasn't sure how serious she was, but he answered, "I promise." With a dramatic gesture, 'Mistress Mayhem' removed. Louis had returned to the status of no one could cross the river now without a boat. That may or may not be good, I guess it depends on your personal point of view.We still had to be very careful getting past the wrecks because the river was not as deep as it had been and there were a lot of pieces of junk sticking out of the water. At least, they marked the places to avoid, so we didn't curse them too much. It took us so long to get all four houseboats past the junk in the river that it was.