The Unforgiven By Mark James
Five thousand years ago a great rock fell from the skies into the oceans of Earth. Waves the size of mountains crashed down on the shores of civilization, destroying the world men had made. From the ashes of destruction, New Earth arose...a brutal, hostile land...
Verik walked down the narrow cobblestone alley of the noisy market. He tried hard to ignore the way men looked at him from the corner of their eyes.
"Fresh vegetables. Best in town!"
Merchants hawked their goods in a singsong shout, holding up their wares to the passing crowd in the bright sunshine.
"Fresh bread. Best prices!"
Wooden stalls crammed close to the ancient black stone walls on both sides of the alley, barely leaving room for men to squeeze by.
Verik looked into all the stalls, savoring his first day of freedom. After five summers behind dull grey walls, the bright colors splashed across his eyes like a blast of icy cold water. Slabs of raw meat hung from hooks; fruits and vegetables filled the stalls with raging color - red, yellow, green. A man cooked succulent lamb on skewers over open fire.
In the stalls, men in coarse sleeveless tunics and heavy cotton trousers haggled over goods, shouting at merchants. The merchants, with their fine silks and their soft, clean hands weren't locals. No man wore silk in a mining town like Nequir. The grime of the mines clung to the men in the market like a light soot. The delicious smell of roasting meat barely hid the sharp odor of the unwashed men crowded into the small market in the afternoon heat.
The miners walked through the market, men made hard by a ruthless underworld, swords at their side, looking at Verik with wary eyes. Hard labor in unrelenting heat deep under the earth, where one misstep could send a man plummeting to his death, had toughened the men of Nequir; made them harsh and unforgiving like the mines they worked. But even the miners, infamous for their fierce ways, wanted no trouble with Verik the Scythe. A path cleared for the gladiator as men moved out of his way, trying not to stare at the perfect black circle on his forehead.
The tattoo on his forehead was a final parting gift of the Prison Council, condemning him to life among the lowest caste -- the Unforgiven, or caijeen, murderer. No one would dare call him caijeen to his face though. Not unless they thought it was a good day to die.
Five summers he'd served for killing a worthless coward who cheated him over dice. He'd do it again in the blink of an eye. But he'd bury the body deeper next time.
When they sentenced him they gave him two choices -- ten summers in the rock quarries where men died slow, lingering deaths or five summers in the arena as gladiator where men died swift, hard deaths. He'd chosen the arena and risen to the top fast, a vicious warrior who slit the throats of countless men without a second thought, cheered on by roaring crowds.
"Spare a copper for a poor man Sir."
A beggar shoved a wooden cup at Verik. The man had only one eye covered with a white, milky film. Men close by watched, pretending to bargain for goods. Only a blind man would beg Verik for anything.
"A silver token for you my friend," Verik said, dropping a heavy coin into the beggar's cup. His victories in the arena had made him a rich man. "Mind you guard it well. Thieves are all around," Verik said loud enough for the men watching to hear.
He liked to make trouble. He liked to push men to the edge and make them squirm. He almost hoped one of the miners would say something instead of just looking at him like cowards. Today was a good day for a fight.
"Thank you Sir. Bright blessings," the beggar said.
"Only his kind would steal from a beggar," a man close by said.
"You say something friend?" Verik said, whirling on him with dark, empty eyes that froze the man's heart.
"You're mistaken," the man said, not looking at him. He paid the merchant. "No one wants trouble with you gladiator."
"Blessings to you then," Verik said, walking on.
"Murdering scum should be in prison, bringing gold to our town," Verik heard the miner say.
"He could have killed you fool," the rug seller said. He was one of the few locals in the market.
Verik wasn't in the mood to kill anyone. He could have challenged the man to a death duel for insulting his honor. Even caijeen had the right to that. He let it go.
When this is done, I'm buying me a virgin bitch. That thought had been his driving obsession in prison. Sweating through hours of grueling training under summer's hot sun, he'd thought of nothing else. Every time he used a prison whore, he thought of the temple virgins. He'd waited a long time. By night fall he would own the tightest virgin slave ass the temple had.
He stopped in a stall near the end of the market selling tunics. His tunic was old and stained with blood. The tall thin merchant stood beside his stall, outside his house.
Emir the cloth merchant looked at the black mark on Verik's forehead. No matter. Silver from a gladiator would put just as much food on his table as silver from a brother of the temple.
Kali, Emir's beautiful slaveboy, looked up at Verik instead of dropping his eyes decently. The boy took in his sensual lips, his cruel black eyes, the way Verik's sweaty tunic clung to his hard, muscled chest.
"How much?" Verik said to the merchant, fingering a linen tunic, looking at the boy.
"The tunic is thirty silver tokens. The bitch isn't for rent," Emir said.
"Why not?" It was common for merchants to rent out their slaveboys to earn extra silver. "He looked at me like a whore. I'll be quick with his ass," Verik said, rubbing his crotch, looking at the luscious red-haired boy.
Emir slapped his boy's face. "You looked at a man? Get inside you whore."
"Why Sir?" Kali said, looking at Verik's thick arms, tanned and hard with muscle. His big strong hands were made to grab a boy's ass. "He's caijeen. We pay and we can look at his kind every night."
Emir backhanded his boy and sent him sprawling to the ground.
"Get inside you little fool," he said. "Your ass will feel the whip tonight bitch."
The slaveboy scrambled to his feet and ran inside.
"I beg you to forgive the insult. He's only a slaveboy. Anything I have is yours for the asking," Emir said, spreading his shaking hands over his merchandise. The insult was enough to get him killed.
"Why whip him?" Verik said. "For saying what men don't have the guts to say to me?"
"Some things are better left unsaid."
"Like caijeen and murderer?"
Suddenly five summers of pent up rage erupted in Verik. He banged his huge fist on the wooden table. Cloths and tunics scattered to the ground. Emir nearly jumped out of his skin, sure he was a dead man.
"Fucking mark's going to make me kill someone."
Kali rushed out of nowhere and fell to his knees.
"Please don't hurt my Master Sir," Emir's boy said, kissing Verik's feet. "It was my fault."
The merchant swooped down on his boy, snatching him out of the gladiator's reach.
"Get inside," Emir said, but his slaveboy clung to him, crying.
Looking into the boy's terrified eyes calmed Verik. There was no honor in frightening a harmless man and his slaveboy.
"Sorry I scared you boy," he said, and turned his back on the merchant.
Verik walked on, making his way through the crowded street, turning his thoughts to the temple. The thought of virgin ass made his swelling cock hard under his rough trousers. He knew how it would be with the bitch. Back at the gladiator house, the whores all trembled when they came to his rooms. He'd grown used to taking slaveboys by force. He used their ass and sent them away, whimpering and crying.
"Ease yourself with a whore Sir?" a boy's soft voice said behind him.
The slaveboy backed away when he saw Verik's black mark. He grabbed the whore's red tunic, quick as a snake.
"Come here bitch."
The slaveboy looked up at him, and the gladiator was lost. The crowd melted away. He saw only the boy whore's soft brown eyes filled with miserable shame.
The helpless misery in the boy's eyes seduced the darkness within Verik. Wicked lust gripped him like a fever. His swollen cock strained against his trousers. Suddenly he thought how fucking hot the bitch would look squirming under him, crying, begging for mercy.
"How much to ease my cock with your whore ass?"
The boy glanced back at the whorehouse, but there was no rescue, just another slaveboy who ran inside at the sight of Verik.
"One hundred silver," the boy said, looking down at the big bulge in Verik's trousers.
He grabbed the boy's face and ran his fingers over the whore's ruby lips and caressed his soft, pink cheeks. His honey colored hair fell to his shoulders like the finest silk. Looking into the boy's eyes, the temple seemed far away.
A tall bald man, tanned and muscled, stood in the shady doorway of Slave's Oasis, watching the gladiator with his whore. Now he knew he was cursed. Ajef spit in the dirt. Verik the Scythe showing up at his whorehouse -- of all the luck.
"You'll have to pay to use my property," Ajef said.
"How much to use the bitch?" Verik said, pulling the whore close.
The boy was soft and smooth against Verik's hard body. He slid his hand up under the whore's tunic and fondled the boy's pierced cock. He loved the feel of a slaveboy's limp cock. It thrilled him to use a boy's ass and know the bitch couldn't come.
"Two hundred silver to use the whore," Ajef said, hoping the gladiator would move on.
"The bitch said one hundred," Verik said, rubbing his hard cock against the slave's round ass. The pretty slaveboy trembled in his grip. Nothing new.
"Bring him inside," Ajef said, backing down. He'd seen Verik's work in the ring. "I'll make you a deal."
Like all places in Nequir, the inside of the whorehouse was dark, carved out of the black stone prisoners quarried. Without any windows, the torches spread around the small room cast shadowy light that hid more than it revealed.
As soon as Verik sat at one of the dark wooden tables, the whore sat on his lap, spreading his legs across him so the heat of his ass pressed up against his swollen cock. The boy writhed on his lap, sliding his hands up under Verik's tunic, caressing his smooth, muscled chest. "Let me pleasure you Sir," the boy whore whispered into his ear, licking the sweat from Verik's tanned body, running his fingers through the gladiator's long, black hair.
The feel of the slaveboy pressed so close was maddening. Verik grabbed the boy's hips and pushed his naked ass down so his thick cock nestled in the crack of the boy's ass.
"You were always my favorite in the ring Verik. You're welcome among us again," Ajef said, looking uneasy.
Verik saw the way the man's eyes avoided the tattoo on his forehead.
"Am I?" he said, looking into Ajef's eyes.
Ajef was a pitiless loan shark who collected debts with a sword. He didn't scare easy. But when Verik looked into his eyes, he knew death was forever a heartbeat away.
"You served your time. Justice is done," Ajef said, sounding harsher than he meant to.
Verik ran his hands over the squirming slave's smooth ass. The boy had lifted his tunic to lick the sweat off his chest.
"I'll pay for the bitch now. How much for three hour glasses?"
If Verik stayed that long, Ajef would lose a whole afternoon of business. He chose his next words carefully, trying to sound casual.
"I have a special room for a man like you. Let me show you," Ajef said, turning to lead the way.
"A man like me?"
The barely controlled fury in Verik's low voice stopped the whorehouse owner in his tracks. The slaveboy on Verik's lap looked up, afraid. He Verik pressed the boy's face back to his chest; he liked the whore's hot tongue licking his sweat.
"I meant only a man who - "
"You're the third man to insult me since I left prison this morning. I let the first two live," Verik said, looking up at Ajef in the flickering light.
Ajef said nothing. He'd seen that look in Verik's eyes in the arena. Just before he slit a man's throat.
The slaveboy slid to the floor and knelt between Verik's open legs, massaging his hard cock, kissing him softly through his trousers, pressing close, intoxicated with his scent.
"You got something to say to me or can I pay for the whore?"
"Be reasonable Verik," Ajef said, desperate. "I'll lose customers the moment men see you. I have to eat and feed my whores. I'm just a poor businessman."
"You're a thief and a liar. At least you're not a coward."
For a moment, Ajef was sure the gladiator would pull his sword and slice through his guts.
"Show me the room," Verik said, coming to his feet.
He followed Ajef and the boy up narrow, twisting stone steps and down a low stone passage past dark wooden doors, deep into the rocky guts of the mountain behind the whorehouse. Ajef opened one of the doors, revealing a small room carved out of the wall. The inside was like a cave. A single torch hung on the rough walls, showing a high pile of fine, soft furs.
"This is my best room," Ajef said.
Verik walked past him, pulling the slaveboy behind.
"Here," Verik said, reaching into the pouch at his waist. He paid for the whore.
Ajef took the silver. "Nahji is my hottest bitch. Enjoy him," he said and left, leaving Nahji in the doorway, watching the darkness swallow his Master.
He turned to Verik, who was already naked in the furs, lying on his side. In the glowing torchlight, with his thick cock jutting up to his navel, his hard body, he looked like a merciless god, ready to demand sacrifice and suffering.
"Lock the door and get over here slut."
Nahji hurried to kneel in the furs beside Verik. Suddenly alone with the gladiator, Nahji couldn't help but think of the hard feel of his cock when he sat on his lap. The boy prayed he would come in his mouth. But he didn't think so. In the firelight, so close he felt his breath, he saw what a harsh man Verik was. It wasn't just the way he looked, it was the arrogant hardness in his eyes -- the way he was sure no one would dare say no to him. He dropped his eyes to the furs.
Verik ran his rough hands slowly over Nahji's ivory skin, enjoying the feel of his young, slender body, so soft and afraid. Something about the boy begged a man to use him hard and hurt him bad.
"Look at me whore," Verik said.
Nahji raised his eyes - light brown and full of helpless suffering that drove Verik crazy with dark lust.
"Use me for your pleasure Sir," the boy said.
Looking into the slaveboy's eyes, Verik knew even after he fucked the boy hard and made him scream, he would whimper at his feet, accepting his fate - serving the hard pleasures of wicked men.
"I'll please you any way you want Sir," Nahji said, twisting his tunic in his trembling fingers. "Just please tell my Master you enjoyed me or he'll punish me bad."
"How?"
The boy turned around, taking off his tunic. His back was a criss cross of scars. Verik sat up -- running his fingers over the scars with the thrill of a man touching priceless diamonds.
"Your Master did that?"
"If men don't find me pleasing, my Master whips me while they watch," the boy said, turning back to Verik. "Then he charges extra to rape my ass."
Verik ran his fingers down the whore's back, looking into his eyes, feeling the scars that twisted through his soft flesh. A boy like him was meant to have scars like that. Something in his eyes drew brutal men to him; the kind who would take pleasure with him while he screamed. He was irresistibly drawn to the boy. His pulse raced, his cock throbbed unbearably. A drop of liquid oozed from his swollen cock head.
"You ready to get fucked good and hard bitch?"
Nahji nodded, unable to take his eyes off Verik's thick cock.
"Good," Verik said gently, caressing the boy's soft face, feeling how his tender body trembled. "First I'm reaming your whore ass, then I'm telling your Master to whip you real hard. I'll pay double to rape you after he scars you up."
"No, please," Nahji said, crying. He grabbed Verik's arm. "Anything you want. He likes to hurt me." The boy's pounding heart made his voice jagged with fear. "He uses me after those men leave."
"You'll please me bitch?" Verik said, getting up.
Nahji nodded frantically. "Anything you want Sir."
"Get on your knees for me whore."
Kneeling, looking up at Verik, Nahji felt like he was at the feet of a god. Verik's swollen cock jutted out between his thick legs, sculpted with muscle. His flat belly was ridged and hard. Veins ran around his rigid cock. He had never wanted to suck cock so bad.
Verik saw the hunger in the whore's eyes.
"You want my cock in your mouth bitch?"
"Oh Gods, yes," Nahji said. He couldn't hide it. He was desperate to service him.
Verik teased the whore, wiping his hard dick along the boy's hungry lips.
"I'm going to fuck your ass long and hard," Verik said, looking down into the boy's eyes.
"I'll take your cock Sir. I'll please you," Nahji said, licking the taste of Verik's cock from his lips, unable to think of anything except how good his cock would feel pounding down his throat.
"I love knowing what they did to you," Verik said, looking at the thick gold ring pierced through the center of the boy's cock shaft. "I wish I had been the one to pierce you and make you into a pleasure bitch."
The boy's cheeks flushed red with shame.
"You're always hungry for cock, like a whore, aren't you?"
Verik pressed his hard dick against the boy's smooth lips. Nahji opened his mouth wide, eyes closed, hot for his cock, ready to take his load.
"Answer me boy," Verik said, keeping his cock out of reach.
"I don't get hard anymore Sir. But I still have needs," the boy said, breathless with desire; ashamed of his need. He hated knowing that he would never come again.
Verik slapped the boy's face hard. "Say it bitch. Tell me what you are."
"Look what he did to me," the boy said, touching his limp cock. Tears slid down his cheeks. "I'm a serving whore. Men pay to use my ass. No matter how much they hurt me, I'm always desperate for more cock." He looked up at his tormentor. "All I get is pain from men like you."
The dull rage in the slaveboy's eyes made Verik think how good the boy would look on all fours screaming when he took his ass.
"That's what you're for slut. To give men like me pleasure with your screams."
Verik pulled the whore by his hair, forcing the boy's face into his crotch.
"Service me, you cock sucking bitch," he said.
The moment Nahji opened his mouth, Verik yanked his head back and shoved his cock deep down the boy's throat.
Before they pierced him, Nahji would have been rock hard servicing a man like Verik, with a big cock stretching his mouth. The boy knew he would rape him and make him scream. He still wanted his cock. He couldn't help it.
Verik fucked Nahji's mouth hard and fast, looking down at the whore's soft red lips stretched tight around his driving cock. Being inside the boy's hot mouth, seeing him on his knees, afraid, drove him wild with lust.
"Hot bitch mouth," Verik said, throwing his head back, humping the boy's face.
The sound of his hips slamming into the whore was loud in the darkness of the quiet room. Verik held the boy's hair tight, fucking his face in a wild, sadistic rhythm, pounding the back of the boy's throat. In the orange light of the single torch, he towered over the slaveboy, pumping his hips in long, hard strokes.
Nahji took his deep strokes, moaning, even though it hurt him. He wanted a load so bad he could taste it. The boy would have given anything for his cock to get hard so he could come with Verik's load shooting down his throat.
Verik gasped and moaned, feeling the hot tightness of the boy's gagging throat spasm around his cock head. It was so fucking hot to use the bitch and know he couldn't come. He groaned, feeling his balls clench hard - he was about to shoot. He tried to pull out of the boy's mouth, but Nahji pressed his mouth down onto his cock, aching to take his load. Verik slapped the whore, and pulled out of his mouth, breathing hard.
"Think I'd waste a load in your mouth?"
"Come in my mouth," Nahji begged, licking Verik's slick cock. "Please."
"No way bitch. You're taking my load up your whore ass," Verik said, pulling on the boy's hair, forcing him to look up into his eyes.
"And after I'm done making you scream, you'll still be desperate for my cock."
Nahji looked down at his limp cock, ashamed; he knew Verik was right. Serving men was a nightmare of frustrated need.
"I need to come," Nahji shouted at Verik, his eyes afire with rage. "Gods. I can't stand it. Always aching. No release. I hate him."
Verik laughed. "Why should you come like a man? Get up there."
He threw the boy to the furs and lay on top of him, looking down into his eyes, rubbing his hardness against the boy's useless cock.
Nahji's legs fell open; he rubbed himself against Verik's hard cock.
"See what a serving slut you are?" Verik said.
He kissed the side of the boy's neck softly, whispering into his ear.
"You want my cock even if you know it'll hurt. You want to feel me tearing into your tight little hole, don't you bitch?"
Verik slid his hot tongue across the boy's hard nipples. Nahji cried out in pleasure, bucking against Verik's hard body.
"You need my cock inside you boy," Verik said, licking the slaveboy's nipples one after the other until the boy arched his back, pressing against Verik, tossing his head back and forth.
"Yes. I want it," Nahji said. He couldn't help himself. "I want your cock."
"Even if you can't come?"
Verik wet his finger, playing with the boy's hole while he licked his nipples.
"Yes," Nahji said. "Yes. Fuck me, please."
"Look at that, you desperate whore."
Verik rolled onto the furs, grabbing the boy around his waist so he was on his side with his ass pressed up against his hard cock.
Verik grabbed the boy's hair and pulled his head back.
"You know what I'll be thinking when I fuck your bitch ass?" he whispered into the boy's ear.
Nahji moaned at the feel of Verik's hot tongue on his neck.
"I'll be thinking how you're a serving slut, how you'll never come," he said. "This is all you're good for now."
He reached between the boy's legs and grabbed his balls, pinching the soft tender flesh until the boy screamed and writhed in his grip. Verik moaned in pleasure. The thrill of the boy's cries of pain as he tortured his balls viciously was nearly unbearable.
"You scream so good boy," Verik whispered into the boy whore's ear.
He dug his fingers deep into the boy's balls, twisting, squeezing, looking into Nahji's face, twisted into a mask of agony. He ran his hand over the boy's luscious young flesh, loving the feel of the whore trembling against him.
"Is that bitch hole all sewn up for me?" he said into the boy's ear.
Nahji gasped for breath in his arms. His pain wracked balls made his body tremble all over; hysterical tears choked his words.
"He had the temple sew my ass last summer," the boy managed through his tears.
Men who owned whores had their asses tightened up so they gave men more pleasure and brought in more silver. It was agony for a cut slaveboy to have a man in his tight ass.
"What about your pleasure bead," Verik said. "You feel anything up your whore ass?" He hated fucking a bitch who felt pleasure up his ass. It wasn't decent.
The boy shook his head. "No. My Master took my pleasure. I only feel pain when men use me."
Verik pushed the boy onto his back and lay on top of him, looking down into his suffering eyes.
"You want my cock bitch?" he said, pressing his thick cock against the boy's hole.
"No, please don't -- it hurts," the boy said in a sudden panic.
Verik laughed and put the boy's legs up on his shoulders, opening the whore's ass to him. The sight of the boy's tight, pink pleasure hole in the glowing firelight made Verik wild - he ached to tear into him and make him scream. He slid his finger into the boy's mouth, and made him lick it.
"Your fuck hole is good and tight boy, like a bitch should be," Verik said, pressing his wet finger against the boy's impossibly tight hole.
"Oh fuck," Verik said when he felt the hot tightness inside the boy. "I'm going to rape this whore hole so hard, boy."
Verik guided his cock to the boy's hole and leaned over the bitch, pinning his arms to the furs. The whore panicked the moment he felt Verik's thick cock pressing against his tight hole.
"No! Don't," Nahji said, in an ecstasy of fear. "It hurts so bad up my ass. Please."
Verik was relentless. "Take it like a real desperate serving slut. Work your ass onto my cock," he said, looking down into the boy's eyes, wild with terror.
Nahji hesitated. Every inch would be a small agony. He couldn't bring himself to obey. He just couldn't.
"Do it bitch," Verik said, inches from Nahji's face in the shadowy firelight. "Or I won't wait for your Master. I'll carve your pretty little face to pieces and pay him to buy another whore."
The boy knew he'd hurt him bad if he disobeyed. He Nahji pressed his ass against Verik, working his tight hole onto his cock, moaning, gasping in pain.
Verik looked down into the slaveboy's eyes, feeling how the whore's hole resisted him, seeing how he suffered, pushing his trembling ass against his hard cock, whimpering, afraid.
"Your hole is fucking tight."
"Oh Gods, it hurts - please! -" the boy screamed.
"Shut the fuck up and take my cock bitch."
At last, the head of his cock entered the boy's incredibly tight, hot hole. The slaveboy's whimpering and begging drove Verik crazy.
He grabbed the boy's ass and rammed his cock deep into the whore's deliciously tight hole. Nahji screamed, struggling, begging for mercy. The boy cried in a frenzy of tears, gasping for air, trembling against him.
Verik used the boy's ass brutally, fucking hard into him. The whore's quivering ass grabbed his cock tight, massaging his thick meat on every driving stroke; Verik moaned and gasped in pleasure.
He leaned close, looking straight down into Nahji's tormented eyes. Pain looked so good on the boy. He looked beautiful - whimpering, crying, so full of suffering; he wished he could save this moment forever.
"Fucking hot whore hole," Verik said, groaning with every stroke. He couldn't believe how hot and tight the bitch felt. The boy's hole was incredibly sweet.
"See how I use you bitch? And after I'm done, you'll still be hungry for cock," he whispered into the boy's ear.
Verik showed him no mercy. He used the boy hard, coming nearly all the way out of his hot hole, then slamming back into him.
"This is nothing," Verik said, looking down into the boy's eyes, stroking into his tight ass. "Wait `til I mount you like a bitch on all fours and rape you." He kissed the boy's neck, licking his soft, tender flesh. "I'm going to make you suffer boy," he whispered into the whore's ear.
Nahji cried pitifully, screaming when he rammed the boy's tender hole again and again. Verik fucked the boy in a hot rhythm, turning the whore's ass red with his savage strokes, until he finally pulled out of him.
"Get on all fours boy. I'm going to mount you like the serving bitch you are."
Nahji put his sore ass up, whimpering, begging -- but Verik paid no mind to the boy. He grabbed his hips and mounted him from behind, driving his cock deep into the boy's abused hole. Sweat slid down Verik's chest as he fucked the boy's hot hole with in a wild animal fury.
Verik pushed the struggling boy to the furs, laying on top of him, kissing the scars on his back while he fucked his pleasure hole. He loved the feel of the boy's hot hole pulsing around his throbbing cock meat. The sight of the boy's abused back drove Verik crazy. He plunged faster and faster into his ass, running his fingers over the scars, the boy's cries for mercy echoing in his ears.
"You fucking serving bitch. Say it boy. Tell me how you'll never come."
Nahji said it again and again, driving Verik mad with savage lust. He truly fucked the boy whore in a frenzy, driving his hips into him so hard the boy's whole body shook. Verik grunted and moaned, panting hard, his eyes squeezed shut. Every muscle in his hard body stood out in the orange firelight. Sweat ran down his back. His hips pumped hard.
"Take my load you fucking whore," he said in strangled voice and drilled into the boy, going suddenly rigid, moaning as his cock exploded and shot load after load of hot come up the boy whore's ass.
He collapsed on his back beside the crying boy, breathing hard.
"Please don't tell my Master I didn't please you. I obeyed," the boy said. His trembling voice squeaked on the ragged edge of hysteria.
Verik looked at the crying boy. Sometimes he couldn't stand the sight of his own face in the mirror.
"I won't boy," he said softly, caressing the boy's arm.
The slaveboy pulled away from his touch. Verik was used to it. He looked up into the darkness, waiting for the whore's tears to stop.
"You won't Sir?" the boy said, turning to Verik.
"No."
"Thank you Sir," Nahji said, falling on Verik's chest, crying softly, resting against him, looking up into his face.
He looked down at the whore resting on him, pushed his hair back from his tear-streaked face; even now the boy had the look of helpless suffering that had nearly driven Verik mad. He had to own this boy.
"I'm buying you boy."
The whore tried to get up, but Verik pushed him down, made him lay on his chest. He stroked the boy's face gently.
"I thought I wanted a virgin. I was wrong. I want a boy like you."
"My Master's whores aren't for sale Sir," the boy said.
"Your Master's right arm would be for sale if he could make a profit."
Verik suddenly sat up, pushing the boy aside. He grabbed his sword from the floor. He'd heard something at the door. He was sure of it. He looked around the small room.
"Get over there in the corner," Verik said, motioning with his sword.
"Sir, what's - "
Verik slapped the boy's face. "Do it. Now. Keep quiet," he said in a low whisper.
A loud knock on the door boomed in the small room.
"Open up," a man's voice said.
"I'm using a bitch," Verik said, putting his sword down long enough to pull on his trousers. "Leave me alone."
"Open the door gladiator scum."
The door shook in its frame two, three times. Nahji cowered in the corner.
Verik opened the door, his sword in hand. Two soldiers pushed into the room, their swords drawn. A third man came in behind them -- Khaliz -- he should have known.
"Get his sword," he said to the soldier closest to Verik.
The soldier hesitated. Like all men in Nequir, he'd cheered on the gladiator in the arena.
"Give me your sword," he said with more authority than he felt.
Verik dropped it at his feet and spit on the ground.
"I've done nothing," he said to Khaliz, head of the militia in Nequir.
"That's not true Verik. You've made loads of gold for our little mining town. Men come from all over to see you fight."
He walked past Verik and sat on the furs, a bulky bearded man with narrow, harsh eyes. "Now that you're a free man, we stand to lose a lot of gold."
"I told you when you let me go, I'm not signing on again."
"I know. That was a pity. I had to kill a man because of you. A poor cloth merchant."
Khaliz smiled, looking more crooked than a coiled snake.
"He was an innocent man. He had nothing to do with me."
"You argued with him at his stall. There were witnesses."
"I left him in good health," Verik said.
"Three witnesses will testify they saw you come back and go into the man's house. He was found a little while ago with his throat slit from ear to ear. That was your favorite way to dispatch men wasn't it?"
"You fucking scum," Verik said, heading for Khaliz. The two soldiers crossed their swords in front of him, stopping him.
"You should have signed on again. You would have been a free man. All the bitch ass you wanted, gold, fame. You're a fool," Khaliz said.
"I'm not fucking going back. I'll die first," Verik said, knocking the swords away.
His talk was distraction. In his mind, all three men became targets. He could take all of them. He'd worry about getting out of the whorehouse later.
At a nod from their commander, the soldiers lowered their swords. That surprised Verik.
"Get the bitch," Khaliz said.
A soldier dragged the boy out of his corner and threw him at the commander's feet. Khaliz pulled the frightened boy by his hair and pressed a dagger to his throat.
"Please Sir. I'm nothing. Just a slaveboy."
"Shut up bitch," Khaliz said, looking at Verik.
He pressed the point of the knife closer to the boy's throat, drawing a drop of blood. Nahji cried out. "Don't kill me - please."
"Your word that you'll come with us or I'll slit the whore's throat," Khaliz said.
Verik had to get the boy clear before he could do anything.
"Let him go. I'll come with you."
Khaliz let the boy collapse to the floor. Nahji ran to the only safety in the room -- Verik -- and collapsed against him. He pushed the boy behind him, wishing he'd strapped on his short sword.
Seven men came running into the room, all big, hard men, their swords drawn. Ajef was one of them.
"Get the fuck out of my whorehouse Khaliz," he said.
"This man is under arrest," Khaliz said. "I'll shut you down for standing in the way of the law."
"The law doesn't say you can arrest a man inside my whorehouse. You think the Town Council will be happy you ruined my business? No business, no taxes -- no gold in their pockets. Get out. I'll send him outside."
Ajef was right. The Town Council wouldn't be pleased. The taxes on Ajef's back room gambling had made men on the Council rich.
"You better send him out," Khaliz said, leaving, motioning his men to come with him.
"I have no use for gladiator scum," Ajef called after him. "Get dressed," he said, turning to Verik.
"I'm not going back to the arena," he said.
"I'm not sending you back. Khaliz is scum. You served your time. Hurry up."
"Why are you helping me?" Verik said, fully dressed, his sword in hand.
"Because the only difference between you and me is that you got caught."
It was a fair answer. "I want the bitch," Verik said.
"What?" Ajef said, standing in the doorway, looking down the hallway.
"I want him," Verik said, pointing to the boy sitting on the edge of the furs. "Here." He gave Ajef ten fifty token gold pieces.
"He's yours," Ajef said, hefting the weight of the gold in his hand.
The boy ran to kneel at Ajef's feet. "No. Let me stay Sir. I make you a lot of gold," he said. Nahji grabbed his trousers, pleading. "Don't sell me to him Sir. He's a monster."
"Watch what you say about your new Master boy," Ajef said, pocketing the gold pieces.
Verik grabbed the boy. "Let's go."
Nahji struggled with him, trying to twist out of his grip.
"Stop it," Verik said, annoyed. "Don't make me hurt you. You're mine now. Obey me and I won't put anymore scars on your back."
Nahji stopped fighting and looked up at him. "You promise?"
"Obey me and I won't whip you like that. Don't piss me off boy. You'll be sorry. I promise."
Looking up into his dark eyes, Nahji knew that, for good or bad, Verik would keep his word. He let the gladiator take his hand and followed after him.
In the whorehouse, at a signal from Ajef, two men went out to distract the soldiers. Within moments, they were fighting with each other outside the whorehouse, brawling on the ground. A crowd of shouting men gathered, blocking the view of Khaliz and his soldiers.
Ajef led Verik and the boy through the whorehouse to a crammed storage room. He pushed an empty wooden crate over and stepped through the door that opened in the stone wall. Verik and Nahji followed into the darkness beyond.
Ajef grabbed the two torches mounted on the wall, giving one to Verik.
"This way," Ajef said.
Verik followed close, keeping the boy near.
"Where are we?" Verik said.
"Inside the mountain behind the whorehouse. No one knows how old these tunnels are," Ajef said, peering into the darkness.
They came to a turn in the tunnel and Ajef stopped. A river of water ran by.
"Follow the water. It leads all the way out to the docks. You can get a boat there."
"What about Khaliz?"
"Let me handle him. Safe journey," Ajef said and turned back the way he had come.
Verik and the boy walked into the deep darkness, following the river. The farther they walked, the hotter it was. They walked endlessly, sloshing through the warm water, surrounded by darkness. Verik pulled the boy on, thinking of how they'd get out of town.
Up ahead a smudge of light surfaced in the liquid darkness; Verik smelled the sea. He pulled his sword, not knowing what to expect outside.
They emerged into a dark, deserted alley. Night had fallen. He put his sword away; his black mark was bad enough. Nahji watched Verik rub dirt on his face, trying to make the mark look like just another smudge. No one would take caijeen on their boat.
They walked down the narrow alleyway and came out on the busy docks. Verik chose a small ship and asked around for the captain.
"Where you headed?" the man said, looking Verik up and down.
"Naj Roh. You going that way?"
"I'm going to the island. You got to make your own way to the town."
"How much?"
"Twenty five gold for you and the boy."
"No," Verik said, turning to go.
"How many men you think will take caijeen on their boat?" the captain said. "The patrols have been here. There's a price on your head."
Verik turned on him, not sure what the man wanted.
"That dirt doesn't fool me," the captain said. "Twenty five gold or swim. No one will take you."
"Why don't you turn me in?"
"To that Khaliz scum? Everyone knows you didn't kill that merchant. You always fought with honor. I'll take you. It ain't none of their business what a man does when he's served his time."
"You have my thanks," Verik said.
"I'll take your gold instead," the captain said.
Verik counted out the gold and gave it to him. The captain let them on board and left to go finish loading his ship.
Soon, the ship got underway. Verik sat down and pulled the boy between his legs. He wrapped his arms around Nahji, looking out over the dark water.
Verik had heard about Emyhrin prison. His mark wouldn't matter there. They forgave everyone, as long as they obeyed The Ways of the temple.
"We're going to Emyhr Sir?" Nahji said.
"You'll like it there boy. It's a holy town."
Nahji knew about Emyhr. No slaveboy wanted to end up there, where the Old Ways were followed. A slaveboy's only purpose in Emyhr was to suffer and serve. The boy looked out over the crashing seas, feeling his fate drawer closer with every rise and fall of the black waters.
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