Innocent (11 page)

‘I thank you for warning me of this,' Cianna replied.

‘It is best to be prepared, for the sake of the spectacle,' Jelkrael answer. ‘So, we will need to provide you some colour, a name for one thing. You are from the northlands, yes?'

‘From Boreal, in Aegmund, on the continent Kora,' Cianna replied.

‘Few have even heard of Kora,' Jelkrael answered. ‘Still, let me, see… the Snow Demon, no… Cianna, the Barbarian Princess…'

‘I am not a Princess.'

‘No matter, it is how it sounds that is important. Still, it's no good, too soft. We need something to imply savagery. Show me your teeth again.'

Cianna bared her teeth.

‘Impressive, yes, the Ice Cannibal, perfect.'

‘I am not a cannibal!'

‘Moloa is not a she troll, for all that she resembles one. It is a good name, we'll stick with it. Yuilla is to be Lady Waterfall, on account of her signature. Klia is the Warrior, and cuts a lock from the hair of her victims, each of which is added to her necklace. On which topic, what exactly is your necklace made of?'

‘The teeth of my ancestors.'

‘Splendid! You'll make the Ladies' blood run cold. We need some savage act as your signature, but nothing too bloody. Humiliation is the key. Hmm, at present nothing comes to mind, but doubtless it will. In any case, get ready, we leave for Port Utis in the morning.'

Cianna sat by the side of the road, Klia beside her, Yuilla a little way to the side. For an hour they had practised, and their bodies glistened with sweat. Behind them was an area of flattened grass, on which Cianna had repeatedly thrown both of the other girls, or held them down, her speed and strength far outweighing either's abilities.

In the afternoon they were due to arrive in Port Utis, where they would wrestle, and Cianna now realised why everyone seemed so certain she would win. Klia was too slow, and reacted poorly to pain, as well as being inclined to elaborate moves and postures. Yuilla was slower still, if more vicious. Cianna had overcome both easily, despite having her mind more on the situation she was in than the wrestling. Being with Jelkrael offered no opportunities for fulfilling her duty to Sulitea, and she had once more begun to consider the option of trying to be sent to the powdermills. Klia was friendly, and talkative, and as a life long slave seemed likely to know what sort of offence would warrant the punishment.

‘Tell me,' Cianna asked. ‘For what would a girl be sent to the powdermills?'

‘Sent to the powdermills!' Klia laughed. ‘Has someone been scaring you with tales of what happens there?'

Cianna nodded.

‘Jelkrael has never sold a girl to the powdermills,' Klia went on. ‘Although he threatened me once or twice, when I was first with him. Not that he would do it. It is just a tale used to scare girls into easy obedience. After all, he would lose money, which he cannot bear to do.'

‘It happens though?'

‘It happens, yes, I suppose. Not often. Male slaves alone work at the powdermills. Save perhaps for a few girls for the pleasure of the staff. Still, it would be a bad place to be, with much opportunity for cruelty. The mills are remote. Life must be dull, and the torment of female slaves one of the few possible amusements. I have seen the great mills at Julac in the wetlands to the south of Kea, with four great buildings, each surrounded by a wall some five times the height of a grown man. Once inside, a slave never leaves.'

‘Why such precautions?' Cianna asked.

‘They are remote in case of explosion. As to the walls and restrictions, there was a revolt, years ago, among male fighting slaves. Since then great care has been taken to be sure no male slaves learn fighting skills. That is why only girls now fight.'

‘What if I ran?'

‘Don't. Glaucum would be set on your trail. He would catch you and hold you by the neck in his jaws as he fucked you, then herd you back to Jelkrael, drag you if you resisted. You would then be whipped, hard, maybe branded. For men, yes, persistent runaways could well end up in the powdermills, or the salt mines, or a dozen other awful places. Not girls, they like to fuck us too much. Besides, you are a good fighter. If you were also a runaway, Jelkrael would only use it to add glamour to your image. In fact, say nothing of this, or he might stage it and you will end up fucked by Glaucum in the dock market at Port Utis.'

‘He would do this?'

‘He would do anything to gain attention to us, and thus more money. Tonight, before we fight, we will be paraded through the streets. Remember you are supposed to be a savage. Snarl and spit, show your teeth. As Jelkrael says, nine parts in ten of our trade lies in showmanship.'

‘I know nothing of this. I know only how to wrestle.'

‘So I see. Where did you learn?'

‘Playing with my brothers. In Aegmund all low-born men wrestle. It is fine sport, and there is much honour in it. There is a prize, a girl, or a purse of money, both sometimes. The men wrestle, and the victor enjoys the girl or takes the purse. It is also the way when two men seek the same wife. Thus the strongest achieves her. The girl must fight back, to show the man worthy of her. That was my role with my brothers, to pretend to be the prize. Also they would practise their holds and moves on me.'

‘You are good, but you remember to display yourself. This is what the people come to see.'

‘In Aegmund there is the skill and power of the fight, then the pleasure of seeing the girl taken. It is the better way.'

‘You should make it your signature. Fuck me after the match tonight. I will suggest it to Jelkrael and he can buy a dildo when we reach the town.'

‘You do not mind?'

‘Enjoy me.'

Cianna smiled, and glanced to where Babalyn was preparing their meal. Jelkrael and Yufal sat, deep in conversation, while the two male slaves lounged by the oxen. Breaking off his conversation with a gesture, Jelkrael turned and beckoned to the girls. They ran over, sitting cross-legged in front of him.

‘There is a change of plan,' he stated. ‘Having watched you three at practise, it is clear that for Cianna to be defeated by either of you others would be an obvious absurdity. She is too quick, too powerful, yet she lacks the skill to make a pretence of her holds. So, tonight Klia and Yuilla will wrestle, with Yuilla the victor, and in Ioto Cianna will defeat Yuilla. Only when we face truly skilled opposition will she lose. Is this understood?'

‘Yes, Master,' the two Makean girls responded, Cianna nodding in agreement, and catching a dirty look from Yuilla.

‘So we must enhance Cianna's reputation,' Jelkrael went on. ‘We still need a good signature, for one thing.'

‘We have thought of one, Master,' Klia put in. ‘In her homeland, men wrestle with a girl to fuck as the prize. Buy a dildo, and have Cianna fuck her defeated opponents.'

Yuilla's mouth came open, but she said nothing, only throwing another filthy look towards Cianna.

‘Yes, why not,' Jelkrael said. ‘A good signature. Hmm, what else?'

‘I have a thought,' Yuilla put in. ‘Cianna's reputation for savagery would be finer still if she was a runaway. Have her run, perhaps after the fight in Ioto, and caught by Glaucum in a public place. The spectacle would be sure to arouse attention, and if she were to repeat the act all would think her savage indeed!'

‘True,' Jelkrael answered. ‘Yet if she should run after the fight in Port Utis, people might think her a coward. I'll think on the idea.'

‘She could be on a chain when we parade,' Yuilla went on.

‘Now that is a fine thought,' Jelkrael declared. ‘This is what I like to see! All of you, both free and slave, working together as my team.'

Cianna stood, upright in the cart, chained by the neck to a post. Her hands were also chained, behind her back, making it impossible for her even to shield her breasts and sex from the stares of the crowd. Port Utis was larger than Ketawa, a town composed of a swath of docks and warehouse districts running for most of the frontage of an almost circular bay, with the wealthier residential districts in the hills behind. Jelkrael had made sure to tour both, entering the town in a long zigzag that ended at the front. Now, with the crowds thick around them, they had come to a stop before a tall, round building.

Everybody seemed to be staring, and mainly at her, making her feel thoroughly uncomfortable. Not only was she nude, but Jelkrael had insisted on painting her body with a crude pattern of black and red swirls, which he seemed to think added to her image as a savage. That was bad enough, but both Klia and Yuilla were not only loose, but seated comfortably in the forward wagon, waving to the crowds and flaunting their bodies.

‘The pit,' Jelkrael said, jerking his thumb at the round building, ‘and try and look fierce, will you? That sullen expression just makes you look as if you'd been taken unexpectedly up the bottom.'

‘I have been whipped.'

‘Yes, the marks add a nice touch, although they would be better fresh.'

He laughed and jumped down from the wagon, her chain in his hands. Cianna was jerked after him, and managed to bare her teeth as she half-jumped, half-fell to the ground. The crowd gave back, and Cianna followed on Jelkrael's heels, occasionally giving a half-hearted snarl if anyone tried to press too close or touch her. Ahead, Klia and Yuilla walked together, both of them were waving happily to either side, and walking proudly naked. Yuilla turned, to throw an amused grin towards Cianna, who answered it by spitting on the ground.

‘Better,' Jelkrael said, ‘the crowd love to see a fight between girls who hate each other.'

Cianna grunted in response, then kicked out as a pair of intruding fingers took a pinch of her bottom. Her foot met something hard and she turned to see a man clutching his shin before she was pulled into a doorway in the building. Inside it was dark and cool after the heat and brilliant sunshine of the streets. High above them were beams, and what she guessed was the underside of wooden seating, with heavy pillars supporting all. Jelkrael had dropped her chain to fasten the door behind him, leaving her lose for the first time in hours.

She sat down, fidgeting with the chain at her neck. The collar Assivetes had put her in had been removed, which she was glad of, but it had been a great deal more comfortable than the heavy chain. Casting another angry look at Yuilla, she settled down to wait. All around was bustle, with dozens of people hurrying this way and that with no very obvious task. Cianna watched it all, in fascination, until at last the tread of feet on the boards above her head signalled the arrival of the audience.

Yuilla and Klia were talking with Jelkrael, and to Cianna's amazement she realised that they were agreeing on the details of the contest, throws, holds, even what poses the girls should get into. When they finally broke apart, it was for Jelkrael to walk to the narrow wooden corridor that led out to the pit. Both girls followed, Cianna behind them, waiting as Jelkrael made a grand announcement of the contest to come, with Babalyn beside him.

Cianna could see little, only an area of sand, in the middle of which stood Jelkrael and Babalyn, with faces in the stands beyond, mainly male, Makeans in the bright robes and coloured smocks, the richer to the for. The announcement made, Klia ran out, then Yuilla, cartwheeling to the centre of the pit. Both stood, the audience clapping and calling out obscene suggestions, to which the girls responded with equally coarse answers and rude poses. Jelkrael stood back, bowing, then stepped quickly to join Cianna.

‘Observe, and learn,' he said. ‘Each knows how to excite the audience, and thus to maximise our profit. Some one fifth of our gain comes from thrown coins, a quarter on a good night. Now watch, they begin.'

Klia and Yuilla squared off against each other, squatted down, feet well apart, hands extended. Cianna watched, puzzled, at the girl's movements, which seemed ritualised, almost a dance, and calculated more to show off their bodies than to gain any wrestling advantage. Twice Klia feinted before they came together, twisting around each over, Yuilla falling to sprawl on the sand, legs wide to show every detail of her sex to the crowd. The girls scrambled apart to the sound of laughter, and closed again, this time for Klia to be thrown high, again adopting a lewd and also ridiculous pose before rising to her feet.

Cianna shook her head in disbelief, but the crowd were roaring with delight. A coin fell to the sand, then another, as once more the girls came close, Klia kicking out in an elaborate pirouette. Yuilla caught Klia's foot, twisting, to hurl her to the sand, applying a lock, planting a firm smack on her bottom, only to dance away.

‘Why does she lose her advantage?' Cianna whispered.

‘For show, naturally,' Jelkrael replied.

Putting her hand to her necklace, Cianna thought how her brothers and father would have laughed at the spectacle, and how outraged they would have been at the suggestion that she behave in the same way. Wrestling was fine, and if it had to be done nude then could console herself that she had little choice. Yet to fail to seek to win was simply absurd.

For five rounds the girls fought, with brief rests between and Babalyn showing placards to announce the start of each. Only as the fight reached its climax did Cianna find her interest renewed. Klia was on her knees, held in a painful grip by Yuilla, and this time they did not break apart. Cianna could see the pain in Klia's face, while the excitement of the crowd was becoming feverish. Finally Klia called out her submission, to be immediately taken by the hair. Yuilla stood, legs braced apart, pulling Klia towards her as the crowd roared approval. Klia's head was pulled to Yuilla's sex, her face screwed up in despair, her mouth coming open, to receive the full stream of urine, directly into it. The crowd was baying wildly as Klia's mouth was pissed in, clapping and roaring approval as the steaming yellow fluid trickled down over the beaten girl's breasts and belly, splashing to the sand. All the while Yuilla grinned, looking down at her victim in delight, until she had emptied the full contents of her bladder into Klia's face. Only then did Yuilla tighten her grip, pulling Klia in, to kiss her sex.