Luckily the moon had cleared the clouds more now, so I managed to find my way back to the path that led through the scrub to the tent. The girl I had captured was behaving herself, although she gave her hobbled ankles an experimental kick or two along the way.
We arrived back at my campsite, but the area was deserted; my friend had not yet returned. So still with a firm grasp on the girl's arm, I led her to my own tent. I unzipped the flap and helped her inside. I sat her on one of our sleeping bags and using a torch hunted around for the candle stump my friend and I had used earlier for our card game. When I had it lit I sat back to look at my captive- about my age with shoulder length black hair. Very cute in fact. I couldn't tell much under her thick plaid shirt, but she had a great pair of legs emerging from those shorts of hers.
"So you've got me here," she said. "What are you going to do with me now?" She gave an nervous tug at her ropes.
It was a good question. I needed to check out the other tent to see if my friend had returned with the other girl. I was lucky to have gotten this one back to my tent without her escaping. Her wrists hadn't been tied very well in the dark.
"Look I'm going to have to re-tie you. I can't take the risk of you escaping and blundering around in the dark. Snakes and falling off cliffs and all that. So for your own safety I have to keep you tied up. Once you are secure, I'm going to check on your tent and see if your friend has returned."
"Are you going to capture her too? Have both of us here helpless, bound and gagged?"
"Don't give me ideas," I replied. "Now this can go easy or hard. If you struggle while I tie you up then the ropes will end too tight. If you relax, then I'm pretty sure I can make you comfortable. Which is it to be?"
She looked at her bound hands. The hastily tied rope job was too tight in parts, too loose in others. "I won't struggle."
I had some leftover rope in my backpack from when we pitched the tent, much better than the makeshift shoelaces I'd used on her previously. Leaving her ankles still tied with the hobble rope, I untied her hands. She rubbed her wrists, then held them out again for me.
"No, if I'm leaving you alone I have to do a much better job. Now first let's get you out of that shirt to make you more comfortable." She didn't complain as I helped her out of it. She wore a red T shirt underneath. Then I gently but firmly placed her on her stomach and eased her hands behind her back. Now this was the first time I had every tied anyone up before, and I had to learn fast. I knew from basic ropework that binding two sticks together crosswise was more secure than having them tied parallel, I crossed her wrists and started lashing them together. As she kept her promise and didn't struggle, this time I did a good job, and remembered to knot the rope up high where her fingers couldn't reach. I checked my handiwork by the flickering candle light: secure, tight but not uncomfortably so. I then rolled her back into a sitting position, untied her ankles, took off her socks and shoes and re-tied them closely together this time with more rope.
She wriggled experimentally. I think she expected escape to be easier, and I enjoyed the look on her face when the realisation dawned.
"Now you be quiet while I go check on your friend." I had briefly thought of gagging her somehow, as she herself suggested, but I didn't know how it was done or whether it was even safe to do so. I was pretty happy she couldn't escape. I blew out the candle, but she didn't like the dark,so I left on my battery powered torch. I figured I wouldn't be gone very long. I zipped up the tent on my way out, and tied the zip ends together with one of her shoelaces I still had in my pocket. It would be hard for her to leave the tent even with her hands loose.
I walked up the hill and around the scrub to her tent. I could see a dim light inside, so it was occupied. I carefully crept closer to hear who was inside. Definitely my friend and a female voice, certainly the other girl. They were talking in low voices and looked pretty close together, so I left them to it.
I untied the zip and wriggled back into my tent. The girl was still there but I could tell she had made a determined effort to escape. Her face was flushed in the torchlight and her T shirt twisted slightly around. She also looked a bit more demure now that she realised she couldn't escape on her own; the wind was out of her sails. But what she said next surprised me.
"Have you come back to check on my ropes?" Not, 'let me go this instant!', or 'these are too tight, untie me!' which is what I'd expected as I'd scrambled back down the path and I had time to think what I had done. It was like she had accepted her position. I went over to her and torch in hand carefully inspected her bound ankles and wrists: they were as I had left them, still tied just as tight.
"Your friend is ok," I said. "She and my friend are in your tent, talking away to each other."
"Is she a prisoner too?"
"I don't think so". From what I'd seen in the moving shadows, two figures were moving pretty freely.
"What are you going to do with your prisoner?" she asked.
"I guess I'll look after you here and keep you safe," I said.
She was looking at me pretty intently, and her face was flushed again, although she hadn't been struggling this time. Her lips were slightly parted, so I took the opportunity to kiss her. She kissed back passionately, as best she could in her position. I tucked my arm under her head and rolled her partially on her side so I could kiss her better. She started struggling again; it seemed to arouse her all the more. Encouraged I touched her breasts through her T shirt and ran my fingers down her neck and upper arms.
While I was enjoying this part of my brain was concerned either my or her friend was about to join us unannounced, and I kept my ears peeled for the outside crunch of shoes on the gravel path.
I was still very naiive to all this, and despite the fact I was very turned on I thought it best not to go any further, especially as I expected a knock on the tent flap any minute. Despite her state of arousal, the girl was getting goose-bumps on her arms. As often happens on summer evenings, the temperature was rapidly dropping.
"Now I'm going to get you in a sleeping bag as its getting late," I told her. I untied her hands but kept her ankles bound. She accepted this condition silently. I helped her into my friend's sleeping bag, I got into mine, and we returned to our embrace - less passionate but no less close.
We woke next morning to a knock on our tent. My friend and the other girl were outside. I frantically told them to wait a second while I untied my girls ankles- I think it was the first time in that whole experience I saw her truly worried! We emerged to a pair of big grins on their faces.
We all had breakfast together, and after a swim we saw the girls off - they had only camped for the night. Later that day my friend confided that he and the other girl had sex together in the other tent; his knowing look told me he thought we had done the same. Even though we hadn't, I remember thinking to myself that we had spent just as much an intimate night as they.