Survival of the Fittest

All my life I had lived within the high walls of a large villa next to the arena that occupied the centre of the city. I had never been outside, even for a moment, though I often sat quietly to listen to the sounds of the bustle and clamour that went on unseen just a foot away. Sometimes the roar of voices in the arena would become deafening, punctuated by the clash of metal and screams. The other girls in the villa and I would talk for hours trying to make sense of it.

We had all been brought to the villa as small children, infants really, and were raised in a life of comfort and plenty. The food we ate was always fresh and the best quality, our clothes were simple and modest but well made with fine fabric, and we were washed and fed and dressed by women who were deaf and mute. When we were younger we would rush to quiz a new servant about the world outside, but they would always be unable to communicate with us and so we eventually ceased to notice when someone new arrived.

The one thing we did know from the girls that had gone before us was that on our 18th birthday we would get to leave the villa and never return. Looking back, I wish that for me that day had never come.

As the day had approached I had been excited and nervous about what I would encounter when I finally walked through the Forbidden Door, to the point that on my birthday eve I could hardly sleep. When I did drift off it seemed like only moments before I was being shaken awake again. The serving women were standing over me where I lay on my pallet, indicating I needed to get up so they could begin preparing me. I jumped up, stretching and yawning, eager to get started on my big day. I hug and kiss the other girls, saying my goodbyes, as I know I won't see them again.

After removing my sleeping shift, the women bathed me thoroughly, making sure every crevice was completely clean, before washing my hair. Once this was done they dried me, then rubbed a light oil into my hair which left it falling in glistening honey-coloured waves over my shoulders and down my back. My body was oiled in the same way until my soft olive skin glowed with health and vitality. The women stood back for a moment to admire their handiwork, and then one signalled to me to sit on a stool in the corner of the bath chamber.

I did as I was asked, and the oldest of the women knelt before me using her hands to push my knees apart. I didn't think twice about obeying her - she had cared for my body intimately since I was a child and I felt no shame being exposed to her in this way. She raised a hand and pushed on my shoulder so that I was leaning back against the wall and completely open to her. Another of the servants handed her a pot of another type of oil, this time thick and clinging, which she applied liberally to my pussy rubbing it in, over and over, massaging my clit until I began to feel a warmth in my groin and wetness seeping down through my inner passage. The woman who applied the oil gently wiped her finger between my pussy lips and when she drew it out she showed the other attendants the creamy fluid at its tip. A few made small grunts of approval and all nodded solemnly at this display.

Seemingly satisfied, they made me stand and slip a plain white linen shift over my head and then escorted me through the courtyard to the Forbidden Door. The oldest of my attendants lifted the iron ring attached to the door and rapped sharply three times, and as we stood waiting for the door to open I became aware of the noise, which seems like a low rumble of voices, coming from the arena nearby. I didn't have much time to consider it, for the door was swung wide and instead of the bright sunshine I was expecting, I was looking into a dimly lit corridor, almost a tunnel, with two soldiers standing at the entrance.

The women pushed me through the opening, and when I turned to smile and say goodbye I only glimpse their sad, downcast faces for a moment before the door closes, shutting me out forever. Although I was confused by their behaviour, it didn't concern me for long. I had never experienced any hardship or cruelty and was a completely trusting soul, so when one of the soldiers approached me with a long chain and collar in his hands I only looked at it with mild curiosity. The man himself was of more interest to me, as I had never encountered one before in my sheltered life. I stared in wonder at his muscular arms, large hands and rugged face. He stepped close to me to fasten the leather collar snugly around my neck, and I could smell the odour of sweat and ... something else. Something about the scent of him, and the sensation of him touching my neck caused my pussy to react in the same way as it did when the attendant rubbed the oil into me, leaving my mind roiling with thoughts I did not understand.

Once the collar was secure the soldier held the chain in one hand and gripped my upper arm with the other. The second soldier took my other arm in the same way and they both marched down the corridor with me between them, barely able to touch the ground. As we approached some large doors at the other end, the noise increased and I began to feel fear for the first time. There are two more soldiers guarding these new doors, and they swing them open as we get there so the two soldiers escorting me don't even have to break stride as they carry me through and into the blinding sunlight of the arena beyond.

As I am brought out, blinking in the bright light, the huge crowd in the arena erupts with a roar, the sound of their cheers and stamping feet overwhelming my senses. The soldiers continue to hold me firmly and as I look around I see four warriors lined up in the centre of the arena, all heavily armed and all looking directly at me. In a covered pavilion to one side of the arena a tall, imposing grey-haired man stands and the crowds hushes to hear him speak. He announces that the four warriors are the elite, bred and trained for the battlefield - they have each competed and killed every other opponent they have faced. Today they will fight once more with only one to be left standing. He would be the victor and his prize would be to breed in the hopes of carrying on his champion line.

The warriors hadn't taken their eyes from me, and although I didn't have any understanding of what it meant to "breed", my instincts were beginning to surface under their hungry stares and I began to struggle in the soldiers' grip. They held me easily, and I was forced to stand and watch as the warriors were given the signal to begin combat. The crowd surged to its feet as the first sword blows were landed upon shields and the roaring of a thousand voices began again and suddenly the sounds I had heard so many times made sense. I looked on in helpless horror as the number of men was gradually reduced to three, then two and finally just one man stood in the centre of the arena, his body coated in sweat, blood and dirt, breathing heavily and with a look of triumph in his eyes.

The winner was tall, though not overly so, but very powerfully built and he walked with all the grace of a cat as he was declared victorious, pumping his arms in the air in salute to the crowd. The grey-haired man announced that the winner may take his prize and as the warrior turned his attention to me I cringed away, such was the savage expression on his face.

The crowd began a rhythmic chant as he walked slowly from the middle of the arena to where I was held, removing his leather armour as he came until, as he crossed the final few yards, he was completely naked, his sweat and dirt-streaked muscles rippling in the sunlight and his huge cock erect in front of him. His body was still running on adrenalin from the fight, and as he reached me he turned and roared to the crowd, displaying his nakedness and his virility for all to see. When he was facing me once again, the soldiers release my arms and the chain attached to my collar was given into the hands of the warrior as they backed away.

By this time I was trembling; I wanted to cry, but my insides had turned to ice and nothing would come. The warrior turned to walk back to the centre of the arena, and as the chain pulled tight I was jerked along with him, helpless to resist. He once again acknowledged the crowd's adulation, then turned to me standing quietly to examine his prize for a moment. The crowd had hushed completely as they watched him trace a finger from each hand along my jaw, down the long line of my neck until his fingers are at the collar of my shift. Suddenly he gripped the fabric of my shift and tore it fully from collar to hem, pulling the tattered cloth off my shoulders and leaving me naked and exposed. The noise from the crowd erupted again as he waved the tattered remains of my garment like a trophy while I huddled behind him with my arms crossed over my breasts.

I was keeping my eyes down, trying to shut out what was happening to me, when a savage pull on my chain sent me flying forward to land on my hands and knees in the dirt and dust and blood of the arena floor. The crowd screamed its approval as the warrior stood in front of me, lewdly thrusting his hips and erect penis forwards and back in a demonstration of what was to come. The spectators knew full well that they were in the arena to see blood and death and sex, but they appreciated the show he was putting on and laughed and jeered at his antics. He repeated the performance three more times, turning so that everyone had a clear view and jerking me along with him as he moved.

The crowd began to chant again, and the warrior knelt behind me pulling the chain tight so I was pulled in against his groin. I panicked at the feel of his hard, hot, sweaty member pressed against my ass, but although I tried to struggle I was held fast between the chain and his body. He curved his body over me, reaching around to pinch and twist one of my nipples at the same time as his teeth closed over my flesh at the point where my neck and shoulder meet. I shrieked with pain and tried to writhe away, but he pulled tighter on the chain and the collar began to choke me. My mind was reeling from the horror, and I could hardly imagine how it could get worse when he positioned the head of his engorged cock between the lips of my pussy and began to push it into my opening. Now I understood why the women applied the oil, and why they could not look at me as I left. Finally, my tears began to fall.

The spectators were on their feet, the rhythm of their chant matching the pounding of the blood in my ears as my heart threatened to explode with fear. Without warning, the warrior plunged his penis into me, tearing through my maidenhood and sending excruciating shockwaves of pain through my body, before filling me until I feared he was going to tear me in two. My screams went unheard by the crowd - as the warrior began to pound into me, they chanted and stamped their feet in time with his thrusts. In and out he went, over and over, with one hand on the chain pulling me tight to him and choking me, the other hand mauling my breasts.

The warrior's stamina for fucking matched his stamina in battle, and as he continued to thrust into me, hunched over with his mouth close to my ear, my world condensed into a tiny bubble. No longer could I hear the savage crowd urging on my assailant - my consciousness was only aware of the warrior's harsh rasping breaths, the pressure of the collar on my throat, the feeling of his sweaty, muscular body pressing and sliding onto mine, his penis pumping in and out and his large, heavy balls slapping against my clitoris. Time seemed to slow as I looked down at my hands in the dirt, my own sweat leaving muddy trails in the dust coating my arms. Then I became aware that the pain of the warrior's ravishment was diminishing, replaced by a heat building in my groin and spreading throughout my body. My muscles began to clench and contract and the warrior, feeling this, redoubled his efforts thrusting deeper and harder with each stroke. My screams turned to moans as a huge spasm coursed through my body, my back arching as I orgasmed for the first time in my life. I felt the warrior shudder and heard him cry out, his cock pulsing as it spurted its hot seed into me.

The crowd erupted in jubilation as the warrior stood and paraded his still erect penis before them, my blood and fluids clearly visible glistening in the sunlight. When he pulled out of me I rolled onto my side on the ground not aware and not caring that I lay in the dust and filth. I felt strong hands grip my arms, pulling me to my feet - the two soldiers who had delivered me to my fate were now carrying me out of the arena, my legs too weak to support me. They took me along a different corridor to another walled villa and when the door opened they handed me into the care of two women who put my arms over their shoulders and half carried/half dragged me into a bath chamber. These women were able to speak, and as they gently washed the mud, blood and dirt from my battered body they explained what had happened to me.

They said that I was the child of a warrior, my mother having been subjected to the same ordeal I had just gone through. When I was two years old I was taken from her to the villa where I grew up. The women who cared for me had to be unable to speak so they could not tell of what lay before me, and I had to be kept untouched by men so I would be a worthy prize. They also explained that I should not entirely blame the warrior for my agony, for he was as much a prisoner of his fate as I. He was also a product of the arena, also taken from his mother at two years old, then trained with weapons from the time he was 10. At 18 he would have had his first battle Few of them survive the numerous tournaments they have to compete in to get to the arena, and only the ultimate winner is permitted to breed so the stakes were high. It was survival of the fittest - genetic selection at its most ruthless.

Finding my voice I whispered, "What happens to me now?" The women looked at each other, then one said, "If you are with child you will be allowed to stay here for two years. When the child is taken from you, then you will be given to a soldier for his wife. You will have to go wherever he goes, making his meals, cleaning his armour and warming his bed."

"And if I am not with child?", I murmured. The answer chilled me to the bone. "In time the physicians will examine you, and if you are not pregnant you will be immediately assigned to a soldier. Whether as his wife or as his slave, we cannot say. Your fate will depend on the Emperor's mercy and generosity."

The women finished washing and drying me, then helped me to a bed where I gratefully lay my aching body down and closed my eyes. As I drifted down into an exhausted sleep I could not decide if I wanted to be pregnant or not. It was a nightmare either way.