Shifters, Beasts, and Monsters (73 page)

“I’m not a princess.”

“He said you’d say that.”

“Who said?”

“I think you know. You made a powerful friend, princess, but
your friend walks a dangerous line. I will do what I can.” He grinned. “You
must be wary though. Do not trust the king. He is not what he seems. None of us
are. I am called Etoko, princess, but do not speak my name freely.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? All these whispers and
mysteries, why won’t someone just tell me what’s going on?” When I stopped
talking, I realized I had raised my voice and everyone else in the hall was
quite silent. “I – ah – I’m so hungry! What are we waiting for? I
want some of that deer!”

A few of the warriors chuckled before returning to their
head-bowed kneeling.

“Who knew you could act?” Alix said with an approving nod.
“You certainly averted that disaster.”

I turned to repeat my question in a more appropriate volume
to the man – Ekoto he called himself – but he was nowhere to be
seen.

“Bow your heads! SILENCE!” The king’s harbinger shouted.

“Is that the man from the auction? The one that bought us?”
Alix said under her breath. “Same shaved head, same strange clothing. He must
be a eunuch from farther East. Never trust a eunuch.”

I giggled.

The oak of the hall’s door sighed as two men clad only in
leather straps about their chests grunted and moved the wooden beam blocking
the door to the floor. Both of them picked up battle hammers that probably
weighed more than Alix and I combined, and resumed thumping them against the
floor.

The room, only moments ago bursting with raw energy and
debauched pleasure, had fallen so silent that when the king’s boots thudded on
the ground behind the door, every person in the hall could hear the jingle of
his spurs.

“All hail Morzan!”

A heavy thud, I guessed his fist on the door, pounding from
the inside, reverberated through the great hall. Some looked on with rapt
attention, others were notably less impressed.

“All hail Morzan, first of his name, son of the Wolf!”

With a roar, and a crushing blow that would have gone straight
through a man, the door swung backwards, smashed against the stone wall behind
it. The iron opening ring rattled, and the hinges seemed as though they weren’t
going to be able to take too many more openings like that one.

Across the room, all I could see was an outline. As he stood
there, the bonfire flickered every so often, and glimpses of his features
became apparent. He had the same beard as the warriors, and Shingo, only his
was far larger than even Shingo’s. All around his thick neck braids hung, laden
with gold rings, trinkets and jewels. More sinister gris-gris dotted his
whiskers as well, some things that looked like small animal skulls were tied in
with the gold. At least I hoped they were animal skulls.

Morzan’s chest was bare underneath a tunic that should have
been laced but instead hung wide open. He stepped nearer the fire and I saw the
tight muscularity of his body, covered in a complex pattern of scars. Slowly,
he took a tour of the hall, inspecting each of his new purchases in turn.

One by one, he sized the girls up, inspecting them. His
hands moved over them, he tugged their hair, looked closely at different parts
of their bodies. Many of them he rejected after that cursory inspection, but
the ones who pleased him were subjected to more prodding, more poking. Of the
fifteen women aside from Alix and I that rode from Lotan, three passed his
inspections.

The girls who displeased the king were shoved back into the
center of the room, back to the lusty warriors. Morzan grabbed two of those who
pleased him by the hair and yanked them so hard they fell to their knees. He
barked a command at the third, which she apparently understood, because she ran
ahead, as quickly as she could, through the door where he entered. He dragged
the other two, both of them scrabbling their feet along the ground, and then
tossed them through the door.

“Lock them. I will use them later. But for now, resume the
festivities.” His voice was dark, harsh, and cold. Just like the Zoran weather.

The King collapsed into a simple seat and demanded a horn of
beer. The man Alix thought to be a eunuch whispered something into Morzan’s ear
when he brought the drink.

“Where?” The king said. “I thought that was all.” He had a
voice like kings have. It was soft because he realized that the more quietly he
spoke, the closer people had to listen. And the closer they listened, the more
it scared them when you yelled.

“He’s talking about us,” Alix said. “I think we should
probably just do whatever he wants. Really play it up. Somehow I have the
feeling that if he doesn’t like us, we’re not getting out of here alive, no
matter how many friends you’ve magicked up.”

“He’s looking this way, Alix. Gods above I’m terrified.”

“I thought you were the one with the steel nerves. Just
don’t show it. No matter how scared you are, or I am, we can hide it. We’ve got
each other, right? And it won’t be long until your friend shows up. Just keep
believing. We’ll be fine.”

“Bring them to me! Bring them now!” Morzan slammed his fist
on the armrest of his chair and sat forward.

“No need for anyone to bring us, majesty.” Alix said. “We’re
right here. It’s just a shock to see you in all your glory for the first time.
Forgive our reticence, but we’re just small little girls. Nothing compared to
the great Morzan.”

“Ah, very well. Rise from your knees and come. Does the
other one speak as well?”

“I – uh – yes, majesty.” My voice cracked up and
down with every syllable. “I apologize for being so nervous.”

“It is...” he pulled the eunuch to him and whispered. “Understandable.
My servant tells me the word is understandable. He is strange looking, and not
a man, but very useful. Come here. Don’t be shy.”

Alix and I pushed off our knees and clasped hands without
thinking about it. Crossing the room with as much grace as was possible in
between stepping over passed out warriors and pools of mysterious liquid and
discarded joints of meat, I found it harder and harder to breathe.

“Oh, a young one. Two young ones, looks like. Very good.
Bare yourselves to me. I will inspect you.”

“Your majesty?”

“Am I unclear? Bare yourselves. That is the term, yes?”

As if to show me what he meant, the mighty king reached out
and hooked two fingers on the fine cloth near my neck. He rubbed it between his
fingers for a moment before turning to the eunuch.

“Why are these two so dressed so finely?”

“Those two have been specially purchased, your highness.
This one in particular.” He nodded to me. “They were the most expensive of the
lot. As such, they are to be very well taken care of. I thought you’d enjoy
them.”
If what he says is true, Alix and I were destined to be together
anyway, even without Shingo’s interference.

The king nodded and slid his hands down my chest, over my
pebbled nipples and then reached out to drag Alix closer as well. Each time he
moved, the bells and coins and whatever else that was tied up in his braids
jingled and clattered.

All of the Zoran warriors, especially the ones that I had
watched do their lurid dance a few minutes before, were all large people.

Morzan dwarfed even the biggest of them. From what I
remembered, Shingo was close in height, but almost certainly smaller than the
king.

Sitting down, he was still almost of a height with me and
his chest and shoulders were so broad across that Alix and I together didn’t
match him. His brow was hard, and bigger than I expected. His eyes black as
pitch and matched his hair. On his face he wore a scowl that only looked more
terrifying when he grinned. When he looked to his eunuch, I stole a glance at
Alix, but she was absolutely fixated on the giant man who sat before us. Her
expression was somewhere in the middle of terror, awe and the same excitement
she had when we touched each other.

“Why have you not yet undressed?” King Morzan put his
fingers back under my collar and gave a tug that split the fabric around the
collar hook on my tunic. “I would see you now.”

“Yes,” I gulped, “yes, your majesty.”

“Stop. No more majesty. Zor is not your western kingdom; Zor
is not your home. Call me what I am. Call me Wolf King.”

“O-okay, Wolf King.” I reached up to finish what he started
with my beautiful tunic.
No reason to try and fight him. These people seem
very used to naked bodies, so I’ll try my best not to be afraid. Remember Jo
that you have to be strong. For Alix, too.

I had no reason to think that Shingo was ever going to come.
His note could well have just been a cruel joke. Then again, there were the
fine clothes and the private house that Alix and I shared. My thoughts swam in
looping circles inside my head. I had to be strong. I had to take a hard
swallow and grit my teeth. I didn’t know whether to trust Shingo or the version
of the tale the king’s eunuch told.

My stomach sank as my third hook fell open.

 
What if, what if this is all there is? What if Alix was
right and he uses us and then kills us, and that’s it? He certainly looks cruel
enough to do something like that.

My hands visibly shook when I reached up to touch him. I
remembered that Shingo was flattered when I was impressed with his beard.

“Forgive me sire,” I said, “but your whiskers, your braids,
are beautiful. How long have you been growing them?”

“Hum,” he grunted. “Since I started growing whiskers at all.
I have never been defeated. Not in a battle, not in a duel. When I was born,
the gods of our people stopped coming down from the mountains. They didn’t need
to. I am here in their stead.”

Alix elbowed me hard in the ribs when I accidentally cocked
an eyebrow.

“The son of the Wolf is mighty, tiny girls. He has great
appetites and great thirsts.”

I decided to try my luck.

“Wolf King, I’ve heard that you are different from other
men.” Beside me, Alix sighed impatiently.

“Oh yes,” he said. “No one is like me. Do you see my equal
anywhere in this hall?”

“That’s not what I meant. I heard that...different blood
flows through your veins, that you change sometimes when the moon is full.”

Alix hissed beside me, trying to shut me up.

Morzan chuckled and then his chuckle gained an edge.

“You’ll find out soon enough. For now, you will do what I
say, or you’ll learn about my other sides sooner than you’d like.”

The message was clear enough. I didn’t need to be menaced
more than once.

I fumbled a little with my hook as my hands were trembling
so hard I could barely grab anything.

“No, you will undress the other one and she will undress
you.”

Alix and I shared a long look into each other’s eyes as we
began to do what he said. I tugged the loop of cloth that belted her dress. She
pursed her lips, telling me to shush, telling me that everything was fine. Her
fine fingers slipped inside my top and undid the hook, letting it fall open to
reveal most of my breasts, and then she did the next.

Just like before, when I felt her hands on my skin, the
world went away. My fear of the Wolf King got pushed to the back of my mind
when Alix’s fingertips brushed against the skin near my nipples. She took a
step closer. Her heat caressed my flesh. I drew a quick breath and her hands
slid around the sides.

“If it pleases the Wolf King,” she said, “we’d like to give
him something to watch.”

 Morzan’s furrowed, angry brow smoothed. His threatening
scowl relaxed for a moment and he nodded. 

The fabric fell away from my shoulders with a brush of
Alix’s hands. She kissed one of my shoulders, and then dragged her tongue in a
line to that little spot behind my ear. When she sucked a kiss, I let out a
moan and a grinning gasp. She whispered something that I couldn’t understand
when she took my earlobe in her mouth and pinched it between her teeth, then
dragged them down until they clicked together.

I slid my hands around her shoulders and to the back of her
dress where I found a loop of string and tugged. The knot gave way and almost
immediately, her body pushed itself free of her binding underclothes and
gorgeous silk gown.

“Take it slow. The longer we do this, the quicker it’ll be
when he decides to step in and have his way with us.” She sucked my earlobe
back between her lips, kissed my neck. Down, down, down she went in a slow,
gentle line to my collarbone and then she followed that to where it met the
other one.

Her lips lit a fire as they trailed down my prickling skin
and between my breasts where she pushed the last of the fabric away. With a
little tug, the laces of my underclothes relaxed, and I took a deep breath as
the air in the hall caressed my body, sending shivers up my spine and warm
fingers back down.

All around us, the chaos resumed. Each time I looked in a
different direction and let my eyes open for a moment, I saw some new
debauchery being enjoyed by the huge, savage, Zoran warriors upon the small
women who existed only to please them. A man wearing leather horse-riding chaps
drove himself deep inside a tiny black-haired girl whose tits bounced every
time he punched himself into her, and she screamed like she was about to break.
But then she let out a long, warm, sticky moan, the pleasured sound dripping
from her lips like her lover’s honey.

Alix’s tongue and lips trickled down the middle of my chest
to just above my waist. With a touch so gentle I hardly noticed, she slipped
her hands up the back of my tunic, loosened my skirts and let them drop. My
hands found their way to either side of her face. As she kissed, I stroked her
hair and her cheeks. I felt her giggle when I brushed my fingers under her jaw,
and purr softly when I gently scratched her scalp in a long, slow motion.