I am grateful to Demiurging for helping me with the story as an editor.
All of the characters are above 18!
*****
Moe was a young warrior candidate in the Kingdom of Argiolis. The kingdom itself lay mostly in a stony, desert, dry land. It was cut in half by a long but narrow valley with rifts in the stones which contained lakes, and waterfalls. The whole area was surrounded by a huge desert. Argiolis was like a country-sized Oasis. Its people were mostly warriors and had a strict social structure. The male children had to acquire the skills of survival very early, as their environment was hostile. The land was full of caves and lairs, which were forbidden for the young.
Moe just finished his training and awaited his first mission. The training was the toughest challenge in the known world. The boys were separated from their mothers at the age of 8 and they were raised by soldiers and monks. After the age of 16, they had to hunt their own dinner, and they lived in little groups. There were 10 young cadets in one group. They had to build their own tent, their own fireplace and had to craft their own bows. By the age of 20 they became masters of bow, spear, shield, sword, and hunting.
Moe just came back to his tent from the Council on the evening and hopped into his hammock. Every young warrior had an evaluation by the Council at the age of 20. If they pass, they get their first real mission. If not, they have one more year to prepare for the next evaluation. If they fail again, they would never be soldiers and could live only as a second-class citizen.
Moe was really excited, if the Council allows, he would be the first warrior in his group to get a real assignment.
A courier stepped into the tent "I have a message for Moe!"
Moe jumped out from his hammock and ran to the courier "That's me!"
"I got a message from the Council. Take this papyrus, read it on your own, then put it into the fire." The courier left.
Moe rolled out the papyrus very slowly and carefully.
"You will be sent to the Serpent Caves which are located north of our village, beyond the olive fields. The Council thinks that the Tyrfnas has a hideout there. You will search for evidence, count them if you can, but you are not allowed to fight with them. If they spot you, you must run away and hide for 2 days before you can return to the village. You will leave this night, and you have 4 days. You will report directly to the Council. You go alone. If you are captured, you can not tell where you come from. If you can free yourself you must wait 2 days before coming back to the village.
"Kalí Týchi young warrior!"
Moe released the papyrus with his left hand, and it curled up. "I understand."
He turned to his mates "Guys, I think I got it!" He stood in the middle of the tent, his face was proud and he smiled.
"Congrats Moe!" the others clapped and cheered. "Then let's have a drink!"
"I'm am afraid I can not drink now. I have to leave this night and search for Tyrfnas".
"Where?" the others asked. They were excited and wanted to know everything.
"I am not allowed to tell it. I have to go alone."
"Alone? The veterans always told that one soldier is like a pale, virgin woman in the middle of a barbarian village. That is why we fight in phalanx."
"I know, but it's a scout mission."
"Take care of yourself, if you finish we want to know every little detail!"
"Of course!" Moe laughed. "I have to prepare"
He stood up and went to his hammock. His armor and weapons were under it. Only the spears and shields were outside of the tent. He grabbed his water bladder, went out of the tent, and filled it with water by the well. After this, he went back to his equipment and started to apply them onto his body.
A whispering voice came from behind "Take care of yourself. I am very proud of you you know?"
Moe turned over "I know Gligor. And I will take care of myself."
Gligors arms reached around Moe's neck from behind and helped to tie the leather ropes of Moe's breastplate. Then Gilgor pulled him close to his face. Their eyes locked and held "Take..care...of...yourself!" Gilgor caressed Moe's bare still bare, muscled stomach. He was a little afraid, what if its the last time he sees Moe. He wanted to show all of his love. He started to lick Moe's lips, then pushed his tongue into Moe's mouth. It was a deep kiss, but could not last long.
"I have to go. I will come back in a few days, then we will continue. Take care of the guys!"
"I will. May Fortuna open her thighs for you!" yelled Gilgor after Moe.
Moe left the village. The lights and the sounds of the busy streets were getting fainter. There were two guards standing at the border of the village. Moe saluted to them, took a deep breath, and stepped over the boundary. There was almost pitch darkness, only the moon providing some blurry light. The air became cold. He just walked along the dirt road towards the Olive Fields. He took a look back but the village was not visible. There was darkness and silence everywhere.
He stopped after a few more kilometers and prepared his sleeping place.
***
He woke up in the morning, the birds sang on the olive trees, the sun shone. It was a really nice morning. He ate some of his dried bread and continued the mission.
After a few hours he saw the rocks and the entrances of the caves. They were very deep caves and they meandered like mazes. It was forbidden to go into them further than 30 steps without a pathfinder veteran.
He lay on the ground, under a bush and waited there a few hours motionless. As he could not see any movement, he crawled out and picked his sword and bow only with two arrows. He did not take his armor and shield, they were heavy and loud. Moe had to move quickly and silently. He left the rest of his equipment under the bush in the dry, yellow grass.
He turned his head to the left, then to the right. He memorized the directions, then started off towards the caves.
He walked into the cave very slowly and carefully, counting his steps.
"Ahhw. What is this smell? Where does it come from?"
It got harder and harder to move his legs, and when he wanted to take one more step his right leg did not move. Then he tried to move his other leg, but it was stuck too. He looked down and saw as he stood in mud. His feet were totally sunken into the smelling, brown bog. He dropped his sword and untied his sandals. He could slip free his feet and crawled out from the marsh. The sandals had disappeared, so he had to continue the mission barefoot. The rocks and the prickly weeds hurt his soles, but it could not stop him. He had 10 steps left until had to turn back, but his curiosity made him forget about the rules...
He pressed deeper and deeper into the cave, it was getting darker and darker, then he heard something. There were two Tyrfnas. Their bones were plainly visible through their thin, grey skin. Their faces were like some grotesque gnomes with pointed ears. They were as tall as an adult human, but they had long tails which could be used as a very effective whip. They were scouts, because their bodies were thin, and had no weapons. Moe could beat them without any trouble, but he was not allowed to fight with them. He slowly started to back off, but he stepped onto a sharp rock with his bare foot and fell to the ground. The Tyrfnas heard it and turned around. One of them jumped onto Moe, hooked a huge claw into his tunic, and tore it off. In the meantime, Moe stabbed the monster into its chest. It collapsed to the ground and its black blood ran out from the deep wound. It was dead.
The other creature screamed loud, Moe was certain, that the others heard it. He grabbed his sword and ran towards the monster. The Tyrfna wanted to jump out but Moe cut off one of its legs. It screamed louder and suddenly moved its arm towards Moe. The monster could not hurt him, but its sharp claws tore the rest of the tunic. The fabric slices fell to the ground, and Moe's whole body became uncovered. He could not even notice that he was naked, he cut off the beast's arms, and then its head. The squirting black blood made a big mess. He stood there, panted, the black blood dripped down from his sword. He looked around to make sure there were no other Tyrfnas left, then he took a look at himself.
"That's just great." He realized what happened. His muscled stomach was soaked in the creature's blood. He tried to collect the rest of his clothes, but they were so badly damaged he could use it only for cleaning his body. He had to leave the caves. The enemy knew that he was there.
He ran through the caves, a familiar smell crawled into his nose. It was the bog. He went around it, the exit was close. The light of the sun was visible, but then he collapsed. His sole was bleeding heavily. In the first seconds, the adrenaline killed the pain, but now it became unbearable.
"Oh no. Not now!" He had nothing with which he could cover the wound. He was totally naked, with only the sword in his hand.
He got up and wanted to run, but could not put his weight onto his left foot. The screaming of the monsters became deafening.
"No, no, no. Just a few seconds!"
He started to panic. Not because of his safety, but he really did not want to fail on his first mission. That would be direly shameful.
He hobbled out of the cave, but then he heard roars from behind. He turned over and two big Tyrfna warriors were standing in the entrance of the cave and they had 2 hyenas on chains. Those Tyrfnas were clearly not scouts. The size of their bodies were like bears, with huge, thick, muscled limbs. Moe just stood there wounded, naked, alone, with only a sword. Like a virgin pale woman in the middle of a barbarian village... He collected all his strength and jumped between the two beasts... The last thing he saw, was a fist which had the size of Moe's head...
***
He slowly regained consciousness. He was tied to a wooden rod like a hunted animal as the monsters carried him. He had no clothes and he lost his sword.
They were deep inside the caves. Only candles provided some light. They arrived at a kind of jail complex. The monsters dropped him to the ground then brought him into a cell. A scout Tyrfna stepped into the cell and tied Moe's arms to the walls.
"Now as you have no clothes, I have a good idea to make sure that you can not escape."
The monster grabbed Moe's penis, hooked a string around it, and tied the string's other end to an iron ring on the floor very tight.
"Try to frolic now human." the monster left the cell and closed the iron grids.
Moe backed out. His naked body suspended there in a standing position, his wrists were cuffed together above his head, his sweat ran down his abs, his penis was tied to the ground. He could not move even if he wanted to. Sometimes a Tyrfna looked into the cell to be sure their prisoner was still there.
***
