Things got particularly hard when there were only Nathan, Tim and Leo left. While it was more or less fine for the youngest of the three, the life turned into a nightmare for the two Foundation establishment stage disciples.
Not only they had to guard against the attacks of beasts during the day and night, they had to watch their own backs to avoid a sneak attack from the other party.
Of course Leo saw what went on, but he refused to take sides and insisted that all three should stick together. Even when Nathan threatened to leave him in the forest, the stubborn kid was ready to pack his things and go rather than pick one of the two stronger group members to rely on. To discard him was also out of the question, because for some reason the more time they spent in this realm, the stronger and faster Leo became and soon his contribution was relatively crucial for the survival of the small group.
Actually his improvement was not as mind blowing, but more so indicated at Nathan’s and Tim’s waning strength. The more time went by, the less Qi replenishment pills they had left and the more sparingly they tend to use them, and in the end each kept two or three for a crucial emergency.
Fortunately the reduced amount of pills lessened the intensity of beast attacks and Nathan and Tim decided it was because they left a particular habitat thus slightly alleviating their struggle. Using this theory as a motivator, they pushed westwards through the pine forest, but Leo already guessed that soon the two would meet the same fate the other group members suffered.
He long began to think of ways how to leave in secret when the trio was attacked by a pack of large, gray wolves. The group itself was not that big – there were less than a dozen attackers, but their ferociousness made up for the lacking numbers.
One has to point out that Leo didn’t try to escape at first. He honestly payed his dues by crushing one beast’s skull and breaking another’s hind leg, but when Tim got his leg bitten off and Nathan ended his suffering with a clean stab in the neck, Leo dashed up a pine tree like an agile monkey.
Only now Nathan realized why this has been the main exercise the kid lately practiced before breakfast and dinner. During the past days he even tried to scale trees with that clunky weapon on the back and now was doing exactly that except twice as fast. Nathan didn’t know that the large amounts of meat Leo ate every day boosted the boy’s physical strength and finally even Cleaver didn’t seem that heavy.
“You, little f*cker!” Nathan yelled while evading pounces of the remaining five wolves, “Cover me!”
“Ok! Coming!” Leo cheered back and continued to climb.
When he was approximately two thirds up the tree, he quickly observed the surroundings evaluating the best ways to escape and jumped off to the next tree.
Obviously on the ape island he had done this hundreds if not thousands of times, but back then he didn’t carry a heavy weapon on the back. Now his weight easily snapped the branch he landed on and whimpering ‘ouch … ouch … ouch’ Leo fell down, hitting and breaking branches on the way, but fortunately before hitting the ground he managed to grab to a thicker one and stop the fall.
From then on it went much easier. While Nathan spewed curses one after another, Leo jumped from tree to tree increasing the distance between them. He quickly found a proper way to judge his weight and choose the right footing, and almost never slipped after the first failure.
Few moments after a howl of agony shook the forest indicating Nathan’s demise, the remaining three wolves began to follow Leo’s route from below, but when the boy jumped on a cliff wall that was his target all along and climbed few yards up to reach the top of it, they disappeared between the trees leaving only discontent growls behind.
The next days proved that Leo’s theory about the Qi replenishment pills attracting predators was correct. In ten days he only met few wolves that he escaped by climbing trees and a lynx that he somehow managed to smack with Cleaver’s flat side and afterwards run away before the beast came to its senses.
Leo finally learned the main ‘trick’ for this mortal realm – all he had to do was to eat and train. As a result he was becoming stronger and faster and for him it immediately became the main priority. The sect master’s task, the sect and the lost team members soon were forgotten while he continued to travel westwards, hunting on the way.
Up until now he didn’t meet any people and already suspected there weren’t any in Dreadlands, when one sunny morning he noticed an old campfire spot. Full of joy he explored the vicinity, but the only thing he found several miles further into the forest was a deer entangled in leather strips and the best he could do was to release the poor animal from its suffering and roast as a meal for himself.
He found a small, rocky river not far away and, after making a fire, began to roast the deer, but just as it was getting ready, several people emerged from the forest. They were wearing leather armor and their faces were covered with cloth. All of them had huge weapons – some had swords larger than the sect master’s claymore and a couple had bows which were almost as tall as a grown man, but there was no way anyone would attack a harmless boy, right?
“Hi!” Leo politely said and beckoned them to come over, “This is not much, but I’ll gladly share! If you have your own game I can help to roast it too!”
He smiled the best way he could, remembering the old expression ‘never hit a smiling face’, but a split second later a large boot knocked him out.
‘F*ck!’ Leo’s last thought was, ‘Just like elder sister Barbra!’
Unfortunately the situation turned out even worse – Leo woke up to someone torturing him. He would’ve loved to tell all the secrets he knew, but there weren’t any worth mentioning in addition to him being unable to speak with all the choking.
The person who held him by the neck was several times stronger than he and as soon as he slightly recovered and intended to say something, he was immediately submerged in the water again. For the first time in his life Leo began to enjoy the numbing feeling of the cold water. Not only it lessened the agony, he felt his extremities slowly becoming numb and prayed he would pass out again as soon as possible.
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During the short moments he was allowed to recover, Leo recognized that the people who performed the torture were actually females who spoke an unknown dialect. He noted that he probably had to rephrase the rule six – always be vigilant around women, but it would be only relevant in case he survived. For now though, it didn’t look like he will.
Fortunately the next time Leo was allowed to have a breather, it was for a longer while. He was still coughing his lungs out and his eyes were blurry, but there was nothing he could do with that iron claw holding him by the neck. Few moments later he saw a large, blurry figure position itself in front of him and guessed it was time for another kind of torture.
“Why isn’t it working?” Anna sounded upset and happy at the same time.
She was kind of curious what reaction male-slaves had when they saw a beautiful woman, but if her newfound toy didn’t have any it meant she most likely could keep him.
“I think he’s dizzy from all the washing you gave him.” Tia guessed, “Let him recover while looking directly at Una.”
The trio waited for a few breaths, but nothing changed.
“Is he broken?” Anna shook Leo as if he was some kind of a large doll.
“Wait! He noticed me! Hold him still!” Una’s eyes lit up and she assumed more heroic looking pose placing both fists on her waist.
‘Oh! Heavens, save me!’ Leo’s sight indeed cleared, but what he saw made his scalp go numb, ‘Are they trying to blind me or something?!’
In front of him stood a naked person, approximately six feet tall with wide shoulders and a muscular body. But the problem was that while the body resembled the one strong men usually had, there were two flat and saggy things on the upper part and between the legs instead of a proud manhood there was only a thick, dark bush.
Leo had seen his share of naked women in the Voodoo sect and not all of them were beauties, but this was a whole new experience to him. Apparently the torturers were trying out new techniques on him and depending on his reaction they either would continue or turn to other forms of torture.
‘I’d rather drawn!’ Leo quickly decided and forced himself to relax pretending the current torture was not having any effect.
“Hmmm … strange …” Anna said, “His heartbeat increased, but there is no reaction in his lower parts. That thing is so small I can barely see it. Wasn’t it supposed to grow big at the sight of a beauty?”
Fortunately Leo couldn’t hear her, because otherwise even in that position he would’ve tried to fight her. He was only twelve years old and the hair had barely started to grow down there! And he was dipped in a really cold water just now … really, really cold!
“Ok, try stroking it a bit, let’s see what it does.” Tia expertly commanded, but the poor boy received several slaps between his legs and immediately passed out from pain.
“What are you doing?! I said ‘stroking’, not ‘hitting’!” Tia said with a sigh, “I think he’s crippled. That is why the previous owner made him a cook … a damn good cook.”
“That makes sense.” Una agreed and began to put back her leather armor, “Male-slaves probably have to compensate for lacking in some departments. Only we can be experts in everything, hahaha!”
“Uhmm … can you cook?” Anna asked while still holding the unconscious Leo by the neck not knowing what to do with him.
“F*ck you! That’s not a woman’s job!” Una theatrically snorted in return, “We have male-slaves for that!”
“Ok. I guess I’ll keep him!” Anna happily nodded, “And if you are nice, I’ll let him cook for you as well!”
When Leo woke up the sun had already began setting behind the treetops on the opposite side of the river. He was immediately greeted by a cramping pain in his testicles that made him question whether he ever will be able to walk properly again. The hits earlier were so heavy his eyes teared up only by remembering the event so he immediately decided it never happened and he would never think of it again, and forget like any other nightmare he ever had.
He has currently lying naked on the rocky riverside and around him seven tall women were busy each with their own thing. A couple were cleaning their oversized weapons and armor, two were washing in the quick river and three more were currently sorting a large stack of pelts.
“Anna! Look! Your new toy has woken up! I thought hell be out at least for a day, but apparently he’s much more tenacious.” Tia loudly laughed pointing at the boy. She and Anna were the ones currently washing up.
Before her younger sister could answer, Lana, who was cleaning her sword said, “Look how weak and sick his body is. He’ll probably die in the next few days!”
“Sis, don’t! It was you who taught me to not say inauspicious things like that!” Anna pouted.
“Fine, fine!” Lana smiled back. Even though her little sister sounded upset, she knew her too well to believe it, “Just make him wear something. Looking at such feeble body is revolting.”
“Ok.” Anna nodded, then turned to Leo and commanded, “You, male-slave! Wear some clothing so my good sister is not disgusted!”
The boy was observing everyone in daze, but hearing her voice jolted in surprise. Only after her shout Leo focused his sight on the girl standing in the river knee deep and he had to agree, this was the most beautiful being he had ever seen in his life. She was tall and slender and her long, blond hair was sticking to her wet body. Her large eyes were turquoise blue as the bay he once dived in for months and only by meeting them for a split moment made him wish to never look away. When she spoke her mouth moved so lovely he wanted to touch her cherry lips and maybe bite them a little as well … this was a real living goddess!
‘F*ck it!’ Leo quickly decided, ‘Even if this kills me, it was worth living for!’
Forgetting all the pain he had and the fact he was actually naked, he stood up and went over to the two women who were currently cleaning their weapons. Then he picked up a clean peace of linen cloth that lie nearby and under the seven curious pairs of eyes bravely marched towards his death.
He didn’t feel the pain coming from stepping on sharper rocks and he didn’t even notice the ice-cold water. Like a person performing their own last rites, he slowly arrived at Anna’s side and began to dry her wet shoulder, then her hand, then gradually her back and afterwards the other hand.
“Hahaha! Look! The man-slave has recognized its owner!” Una laughed pointing her finger at the two and the other girls joined while Anna was confused, not knowing what to do.
“Looks like our little girl has struck gold. The kid has obviously been a slave of a noble – look how meticulously he is serving her!” Lana said still laughing along.
“Hey! I also want such treatment!” Tia pouted and splashed water at the two, but seeing no reaction snorted and climbed out from the river, “He’ll better make us a good dinner! We all found him, so he belongs to the group.”
Leo didn’t hear them blab. All he knew was that he was currently touching the two most perfectly sculpted mounds of all realms. They were round and firm and from the cold water the two slightly pink nipples seemed so hard they could be used as weapons. The goddess was a head taller compared to the boy and he could fully focus directly at the sight in front and the lingering feeling on his fingertips he would never forget.
‘Ok. I’m ready!’ Leo thought with a smile and closed his eyes, ‘You can kill me now.’