Cassandra accepts her life as a pleasure slave, and then her life gets turned on its head once more.
Cautionary (for series): non-consent, reluctant, violence, straight sex, inter species sex, anal sex.
Cautionary (for chapter): non-consent inter species sex.
Setting: Nigawa, planet Mundea (Galeon III), year 3647 (local)
Note: maps and plans of Nigawa, of Iriskan, and of Bromodin keep, are on my profile page.
Characters:
Cassandra, human female, 21 years old, Bashuk's prize, female lead
Denora, human female, 24 years old, Batul's mate
Vala, human female, 22 years old, Bolar's mate
Syldan, human female, 19 years old, Yakha's mate
Leavy, human female, 21 years old, Kurgan's mate
Moiga, human female, 23 years old, Durgat's mate
Polly, human female, 19 years old, Kasho's mate
Bashuk, orc male, 32 years old, Green Vale Orcs Warlord
Kurgan, orc male, 27 years old, Bashuk's 2nd-in-command, Leavy's mate
Kasho, orc male, 26 years old, Bashuk's guard, Polly's mate
Yakha, orc male, 26 years old, Bashuk's guard, Syldan's mate
Batul, orc male, 25 years old, Bashuk's guard, Denora's mate
Durgat, orc male, 25 years old, Bashuk's guard, Moiga's mate
Bolar, orc male, 24 years old, Bashuk's guard, Vala's mate
Major Thanos Coburn, human male, 39 years old, former Royal Guard battalion commander
Sir Brando Boruga, human male, 27 years old, Cassandra's betrothed
Kira, orc female, 55 years old, kombar-karan
Solsis, orc female, 62 years old, kombar-karan,
Durz, orc male, 27 years old, former master of Lily
Gark, orc Male, 37 years old, urban hunter,
Yasso, orc male, 33 years old, head of the engineers corps, new master of Lily
Urgan, orc Chieftain, commander of Bromodin's garrison, master of Driara
Casus Belli Chapter 22: Storm Rising
South Bank
Wilbur was gazing north into the darkness from where he sat hidden. He was looking across the river, to where a sporadic flickering of light marked the presence of the city of Bulness. Now and then the clouds cleared, and when they did the dark turbulent waters of the Amunda glistened in the starlight in front of him. What the starlight also revealed was the silhouette of what remained from the burned down bridge, located a couple hundred yards to the west of his position. But at this precise moment there was no starlight, and as he turned his gaze west the only thing he could discern in the blackness was the glowing embers of the campfire made by the Mercandon soldiers guarding the southern approaches.
It was the second night since he had left Bastona in the early hours of the day, after having been assigned the task to get the news of the invading Mercandon army to the authorities in Bulness, and also to warn anyone traveling the road between Bastona and Bulness, and the innkeeper of 'The Lucky Bastard' and his crew, about the impending danger. He had done as ordered, only to find the Amunda's riverbank opposite Bulness occupied by Mercandon troops already. There had been hundreds of them, so he had turned back and led the approaching refugee group off the road to a hiding spot to the west of it, some six leagues south of Bulness, where they waited.
Halfway through the morning of the next day he had observed a large group of Mercandon soldiers moving south on the road towards Bastona, and once they were gone he had checked on the Mercandon guarding the approaches to the burned down bridge, to find most of them gone too. There was around a platoon remaining, thirty to forty men, and once he had returned to the refugee group they had decided they would move to the riverbank opposite Bulness the coming night. They would leave the coaches and wagons behind, in order to be able to move silently under the cover of darkness, and once at the riverbank they would try to draw the attention of the city's defenders without the Mercandon noticing. Bulness had a small fishing industry, there were quays supporting fishing boats, and with a little luck...
The refugee group wasn't totally defenseless. They were about two dozen strong, and mostly consisted of able men, all armed. The only exceptions were the innkeeper's wife, and the wife of a married couple that had taken two orphaned teenage kids, who had been on their way to relatives in Bastona, under their wing for the journey. The remainder of the group were wagon drivers, and the inn's male crew, all men who knew how to defend themselves. Movement close by drew his attention, and when the cloud cover broke for a moment he recognized Caitlin, the teenage girl, silently moving up next to him.
She had also sought his company the night before, snuggled up to him at his sleeping spot, and then expressed her desire for him to deflower her. It had been fear for the Mercandon, and what they would have in store for her, that drove her desire of course. She was pretty, but also underage, so he had said no, but he had still comforted her, held her, and helped her conquer her fear. "Is it okay for me to stay with you?" she whispered in the renewed darkness.
Of all the men in the small group he was the only trained sword fighter, and thus the best protection available. She had also kept him nicely warm the previous night. "Yes," he whispered back, "that's okay. Where's your little brother?"
"He's with Megan," the platinum-blonde girl answered as she snuggled up against him. Megan was the female half of the couple that was taking care of them. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Will we have to wait much longer?" she asked.
"Another hour or so," he answered. "A good half an hour before sunrise it'll be light enough for us to move, but dark enough for the Mercandon to still be asleep, and hopefully also dark enough for the Mercandon on watch not to notice us, as there's a slight elevation and some bushes between where they are and the spot on the water's edge where we will be.
"What if we fail to draw the city guards' attention?" she asked next.
"Then we call for the men holding the horses to come forward to the water's edge too, and have the horses help us swim across."
"Most of us can't swim," she whispered, "I can't swim..."
"Horses are great swimmers," he replied, "you just hold on to their harness and let them drag you across."
"Okay...," she answered, sounding afraid.
"I can swim," he reacted, "and I won't let you out of my sight." She snuggled up against him even more, and he wished she was a year older, and he a decade or so younger. There was a break in the clouds again, it lasted only seconds, but long enough for movement in the air above the river to draw his attention, and then it was dark again. His brain tried to make sense of what he had seen, shapes resembling huge bat-wings, and then, at the nearby Mercandon encampment, all hell broke loose. Loud tearing and crushing noises, the sound of steel meeting steel, and the agonized blood curdling cries of dying men.
***
Caitlin clamped herself against him while he drew his sword and tried to make sense of what was happening, to no avail. The shape of something monstrous appeared in the red glow of the dying Mercandon campfire, just for a split second, and then it was gone again, leaving an impression of huge fangs and wet gleaming claws. The cries stopped, and the only sounds left where those of wood being snapped and crushed. It took him a second to realize that it wasn't actually wood but bone producing the noise. A shiver ran up his spine, and then a deadly silence descended. He put a hand on Caitlin's mouth, to make clear to her not to make a sound, and to his relief the rest of the refugee group, hiding nearby, didn't make a sound either.