The Slave World (32)

(32): Broken

“Are you hungry?” asked Andromedus. I had been in the cage now for over twenty four hours, which meant I had probably not eaten in close to thirty six hours. He had a cardboard box of pizza in one hand as he crouched beside my cage.

“Yes,” I said as I knelt with my head bowed slightly due to the restrictive height of the cage.

“Hungry enough to beg food from the hand of a master?”

“No.”

He laughed at that as he lifted a thick slice of pizza and bit into it while I watched, my stomach rumbling.

“I respect that, kajira. You're still proud. You still have your dignity. That won't last of course. You're going to Gor. Your pretence will come to an end then.”

If he expected me to scream and beg for mercy I didn't give him the satisfaction. “Where's Adam?”

“You'll be meeting him shortly. There's something I want you to see.” He finished the slice of pizza and placed the box down onto the plain cement floor. “Do you think of him as your master?”

I said nothing.

“I'll take that as a yes. You probably think he's going to save you?” My refusal to answer that question as well seemed to further amuse him. “I have seen so many free woman like you in my time on Earth. So many of them think they are different. But in the end they all become slaves. True slaves.”

Andromedus spent a quarter of an hour checking the other cages, seeing that the locks were secure and that the women inside the cages knew to bow their heads and kneel on all four as he passed by their cells. This was something they had obviously been taught during their days of incarceration in this dungeon. I suppose he hadn't bothered with me because the silver ship was arriving tomorrow night. Once he was satisfied with the obedience offered to him he unlocked my cage door and beckoned for me to crawl out.

“Remain on all fours,” he said as he clipped a leash to my collar ring. He then led me out of the kennel area down a corridor, up a flight of stairs and into another room where I saw Adam kneeling on the floor. He had a collar around his neck with a chain that was secured to a floor ring. The length of the chain was only long enough for him to kneel. He couldn't stand up. His wrists were shackled in strong steel behind his back. As he saw me his eyes lit up and I could tell he was concerned for what I might have endured. I shook my head slightly as if to say, no, no one has used me. To my knowledge they hadn't, though I couldn't be sure what had happened while I was drugged. Nevertheless my body didn't feel like it had been violated when I had woken up.

“I trust you’ve had a chance to rest up, Priest King,” said Andromedus as he made me crawl at the end of his leash into the large room. “You recognise this slut?”

“She is my kajira,” said Adam as he stared hard at Andromedus.

“Was your kajira. You understand the concept of spoils of war, Priest King?”

“I do.”

“Good.” Andromedus motioned for me to kneel beside Adam which I did. I stayed still as he unclipped the leash chain from my collar. I was maybe two feet from where Adam knelt in his own restraints. Andromedus produced a key and then unlocked the manacles around Adam’s wrists, freeing his hands. He then placed the cardboard packet of pizza close beside us. “The kajira is too proud to beg food from my hand, and yet she is no doubt hungry.”

“Perhaps she knows not to eat until her master permits it,” suggested Adam.

“Perhaps,” said Andromedus. “That would be appropriate slave behaviour. I leave it up to you whether you wish to feed her then.” He gestured towards the pizza. Adam reached down and picked up a thick slice of the pizza and held it towards me.

“Eat, Caitlin,” he commanded. Aware that I was being watched I leaned forward and bit a piece of the pizza with my teeth. Taking my time I chewed and swallowed it and then, apparently permitted to feed myself as I wished, took another bite. When the pizza slice was finished I licked my lips with my tongue and smiled at Adam. He smiled back. I was relieved to see him safe and unharmed but I feared what might happen next.

“Touching” said Andromedus. “You are obviously fond of one another. Do you care for this woman, Priest King?”

“She is my kajira. Yes, I care for her.”

“Good. You and I, Priest King, will have a lot to talk about in the coming days. There is so much you can tell me once you are in a mood to do so. I'm particularly interested where I might find your 'sword brother'. He insulted me. He told me he would take me down and I would never even see it coming. I think I'm going to hurt him very badly before he dies. There are many inventive ways to break you and I will enjoy exploring your limits in the days to come. The last Priest King I interrogated took three days and seven hours before he broke. Do you think you will last that long?”

“Probably not,” said Adam. “Was he Gorean?”

“Yes.”

“I apologise in advance if I fail to break his record. I'm only an Earthman.”

Andromedus laughed and nodded as he paced around the room. “Good, very good. But I've always regarded modesty as a weakness.”

Adam reached over and took my hands in his. He held them as Andromedus watched and then he said, “I’m sorry, Cat. I’m so very sorry.”

I couldn’t help it. I burst into tears. I knew Adam would be dead soon. Andromedus would torture him until he had everything he wanted, and then he would probably cut Adam’s throat. I pressed my face to his hands and wept over them. And me? I would soon be placed in a capsule and shipped to Gor to live my life as a collared slave. I would never see Adam again.

“I love you,” I whispered. “I would have gone with you, to your island.”

“As my slave?” said Adam thoughtfully.

“I'm the one who should apologise, Adam. I led you into a trap. I should have known better. I'm so stupid.”

“What would you say, Priest King, if I offered to release your kajira?” asked Andromedus in a casual fashion as he helped himself to some of the remaining pizza.

“I would say you’re lying.”

“But I’m not.” Andromedus crouched down beside Adam and looked him directly in the face. “I generally keep my word. A man's word is a measure of his honour after all. Here is what I am going to offer you, Priest King. You and I will fight one another in this room. No weapons, just our fists. All you have to do is knock me down. Just the once. That’s all. Do that and I will free your kajira. She will not be taken to Gor. She will not be marked for acquisition. Provided she never bothers us again, her life will belong to her once more.”

“Why?”

“Because I want you to know that you weren’t simply defeated by a woman’s treachery. I want you to know that if we had met in combat, man to man, I would have crushed you anyway. You see?” He reached out and touched Adam’s cheek. “I want you to know, Priest King, that you would never have been a threat to me.”

“I just have to knock you down?”

Andromedus grinned. “That's all.” He unlocked the chain to Adam’s collar and then stood up. As I watched he stripped his shirt away and cast it over a chair to reveal the solid wall of tattooed muscle that was his upper body. He flexed the fingers of his hands and waited for Adam to rise to his feet.

“Kneel by the wall, Caitlin,” said Adam and I did as I was told. The men regarded one another as they prepared to fight.

Adam fought for me. He fought for my freedom and to save me from abduction to Gor. I watched as he moved forward, tried to swing a punch at Andromedus only to see it blocked and for a counter punch to strike him hard in the chest. Adam stumbled backwards and received a swift jab to his face that sounded like a bag of ice being broken with a hammer. Adam flailed wildly and missed with two wild blows as Andromedus simply skipped to his side and thumped him hard about his midriff. Again and again blows rained down, jabbing, snapping with the tensile strength of an iron shot whip. Adam was kept off balance and each time he seemed to recover enough to punch at Andromedus, the Kurrian captain would dance backwards or block and then rain down a succession of counter jabs. Blood and snot flew from Adam’s face as he struck the wall behind him.

“Just knock me down, Priest King,” said Andromedus as he paced from left to right, keeping his balance on his toes. “Just the once. How hard can that be? Your girl is watching, Priest King. Aren’t you going to save her?”

Adam reeled drunkenly from the wall and threw himself at Andromedus. He was half blind from swollen eyes and blood on his face and Andromedus jabbed him as he avoided the headlong charge. Adam could hardly see now and he made a vain attempt to hold his fists in guard position to protect his head as Andromedus then snapped two more blows at his torso. Every time Adam tried to counter, Andromedus side stepped or weaved in a boxer like pattern. He was good, he was skilled, he was strong and he was savage. Adam didn’t stand a chance.

“How about you simply land a blow, Priest King? Hmm? Just one good punch. If you don’t, I’ll rape your kajira in front of you.” Adam screamed and swung at him, but by now he was swinging blind. Andromedus skipped to the side and landed a savage punch on the side of Adam’s head. He went down hard, and for a moment I feared he might be dead. I found myself on my feet, unbidden and I ran to Adam’s prone body. It was moving but in great pain. Before I could reach Adam, Andromedus seized my left wrist and span me round. I struggled as he pushed me to my belly and then dragged me by the hair to the tiled floor in front of where Adam now lay. I felt Andromedus press me to the tiles with just one hand as he undid his trousers with the other. I screamed as he parted my legs and when I tried to fight back he simply smacked my face twice against the tiles until I stopped. I was dazed now, my own vision blurred from the sudden blows and I felt him grip my hair in his right hand as a leash. And then I screamed louder than ever before as I felt him press against my anal passage. He was ramrod hard, aroused not just by me but by the beating he had inflicted on Adam and the sense of taking me by force. I screamed as I felt him thrusting inside me where I'd never felt a man use me before.

“I’m not going to use the same slutty hole that the Priest King used,” said Andromedus. “Not when I have a white silk one that has never been touched before.” He gazed round at the broken and bloodied figure of Adam as he pushed deep inside me. “Keep watching, Priest King. And understand how badly you have lost.” And then he fucked me as if I was just a piece of unconscious meat.

I lay there on my belly as he finished. It was brutal and painful and I hated him for it. Only once he was satisfied did Andromedus rise and crouch beside Adam again. “Do you understand the point of that, Priest King?” he said as he lifted Adam's bloodied face by his hair. “Because there was a point to it all. I want you to think on this as you lie there, helpless and broken like some discarded rag doll. If you can't even stop me from taking and raping your kajira, how do you think you're going to stop any of us from taking Gor when the steel worlds finally make their decisive move? Hmm?”

And then he smiled as he smacked Adam's face hard against the tiled floor.