Chapter One.
Entering the clearing, surrounded by tall trees, Valen looks around, the colorful light from the stars bouncing off the crystal is somewhat mesmerizing. With a content sigh, Valen accesses his mana and a hammock forms into being. With a smile on his face, he lays down and continues to watch the stars, only now realizing that there never was any sound present in the area.
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A woman, similar in stature to a human, but covered in a light orange fur with yellow stripes, is viciously thrashing about in a wooden cage. Extended claws scrape against the wood of the cage while a long striped tail moves erratically through the air. Her ears are extended upwards while a dangerous snarl comes out of her mouth as her razor sharp teeth can be freely seen.
"You trash will release me at once, or I will rip out your balls and shove them down your throats!"
As she screams and threatens, men with dark green and orange skin with armor that looks barely functional laugh at the futile attempt of the women to free herself.
"I am Leona of the tiger-kin, daughter of Grendel, you will free me or I will make sure your deaths will be slow and agonizing."
The laughter continues until a dark green muscular man with tusks sticking out of either side of his mouth arrives with an angry expression.
"Silence!” He screams, causing the other orcs to flinch,”How long do you expect to act like idiots while a tigress slowly destroys her cage," he yells authoritatively," they are not the leaders of the Beastkin for nothing. Their kind is extremely strong and if Leona here is actually the daughter of Grendel, then she may very well be able to kill you all if she gets free and gets her claws on a proper weapon."
The men stare at their commander with both respect and fear, not only because he wears a very well taken care of runic steel armor, but the sheer 7-foot stature and massive arms show great potential for violence.
"And you tigress will stop with your incessant racket or your little sister may very well lose a few fingers."
"Bastard! If you lay even one finger on her, I will rip off your limbs one by one until nothing is left."
"Do not worry, as long as you stop with your racket and be a good slave, I will not have to diminish the price of your little sister due to missing body parts."
With a final smile, the commander turns around and heads back towards his carriage, passing large cages of naked men and women of various species. All eyeing the Orc with either anger or fear.
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Lin sat and cried for the third time today, her five winters of life was filled with a great deal of love from both her older sister and mother, up until recently when her mother was killed and her village was burned to the ground. The only family left was her older sister Leona who recently stopped screaming and yelling. She had been taken away from the other members of her village and told that she would make some nobles very happy.
Though they placed her in a cage made of wood, inside a wagon, her feeble strength is not enough to do any damage to it. She examines her surroundings, with extreme vigilance, as only a cat species would be able. Outside her cramped cage, she finds baskets of food, barrels, boxes, and surprisingly a bed made of a large pile of furs.
With little to do but wait, Lin adjusts herself to a somewhat comfortable position and covers herself with what little clothing the slavers have given her. A moment later, she relives the deaths of her friends and mother in her sleep, tears continuing to stream down her face.
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The caravan continues to rumble down the dirt road for 2 days at an increased pace to create distance from the destroyed village. The commander sits inside the lead wagon, a contemplative expression on his face, a map of Geralyn, the Forest of Beastkin, spread in front of him. The commander, knowing that a sizable force is unlikely to be quickly mounted against him, continues to look at any holes within his plans.
Confident in his ability to create a tidy profit, his mind turns towards the prisoners.
Over 30 females, 11 children and 10 men will fetch a very high price at the auction, especially the young tigress.
With a running sound interrupting his musings, a soldier enters his sights.
"Commander," the soldier yells, a nervous glint in his speech.
"At ease, state your business."
"There is a large mudslide, blocking the road through the pass. The ground looks to be unstable, the carriages may very well get stuck in the mud. What are your orders sir?" the orc asks, a nervous twitch on his face.
Tisking with his tongue, the commander remembers the large rainstorm yesterday night.
"We will make camp and tomorrow morning when the ground is a bit drier, we will then head out. Tell the men they can relax today and are free to test out the merchandise. Do warn them that if they cause anything that would lower the price of the slaves, I will make an example of him. You may now leave,"
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"Yes sir."
With the soldier walking out to relay orders, the commander looks at his map, contemplating how much time will be lost from having to stop the caravan early. A smile slowly forms over his face as he realizes that any scent leading from the Beastkin village to his caravan will have been washed away from the rain.
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The caravan was in high spirits as over 50 soldiers prepared for camp. Tents were set up, slaves were fed, and alcohol was being prepared for the night. While this was happening, two Beastkin girls were talking with one another.
"Saria, I do not believe help will come," a short athletic panther-kin said. Her jet black fur, dirty from the grime and dirt of two days of hard travel stuck to her body.
"Sidney, we may have lived farther from the other villages, but some of us did escape, and they will send help, right?"
Saria turns and looks at her good friend, a bunnykin whose love for others knows no bounds, unfortunately, much of that love is born of ignorance.
"Help will come to the village, but with the storm yesterday night, not even my sister will be able to quickly track this caravan. The scents will have been washed away, and considering that the dogkin would be the only ones capable of tracking us, it is a lost cause. Those mutts prefer their own kind and would rather sniff their own butts than help a friendly village."
"Oh come now, the dogkin aren't that bad. Remember that one at the village head meeting? He did say he wanted to mate with you."
"He wanted me and my sister to service him and his friends, Sidney. That's why I went and broke his face."
"Ohhhhhhh, so that's why the head of the dogkin village was so angry, his son was beaten to a pulp." A giggle escaped Sidney's mouth.
Sigh, "We are surrounded by men that will rape us, our family and friends are dead, and we will become slaves, and somehow you still find a way to laugh. You are so weird," a smile forms across Saria's face.
As Sidney was about to retort, a scream is heard from a young rabbitkin, barely 10 winters old as a large orc grabs her by her ears and pulls her across the ground. Tears are streaming from the young girl's eyes while a malevolent grin is present on the orc's face. He stops and picks her up, traveling past a bunch of grinning men around the fire. With the sun setting a moment before, Saria was able to see the young rabbitkin taken into a closed carriage.
"Well then Sidney, it seems it has begun," Saria says, as a tear rolls down her cheek.
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Lin was woken up by a loudly crying girl. Looking around, she sees a young bunnykin being thrown on to the makeshift bed of furs. She curls up with tears still coming from her face. The large orc man, smelling of alcohol stands above her, leering with excited glee. He bends down on one knee, grabs ahold of her tattered clothes.
"You won't be needing any clothes tonight," the orc forcibly rips the clothes off the girl as she yells from the abrupt pain.
Throwing his clothes off of his body with drunken glee, the orc immediately forces himself upon the girl, screaming ensues.
As he continues to move, the orc does not notice that a little tigress girl is quickly sawing the wooden hinge of her cage with his dagger. The same one that was around his pants, which were conveniently thrown next to Lin's cage. With the bunny-girls screams dampening the sound of the dagger cutting wood, Lin is able to free herself from the cage. The orc continues to grunt and move over the screaming girl, sweat streaming from his exertions.
Slowly, grabbing the dagger firmly around her little hands, Lin walks behind the orc and with as much strength as she can muster, Lin plunges it deep into the back of the orc.
With a loud and surprised scream, the orc jumps to his feet and immediately attempts to take the dagger out of his back, which proves to be futile as his arms do not bend far enough to reach.
"Fuck, who did this?" the orc turns around slurring his speech."So it was you!" the orc says as he stares at Lin’s widening eyes.
Without a moment to lose, Lin jumps out of the wagon, landing on her feet, she looks around and notices a large number of orcs, including the commander staring at her. Curiosity and confusion on their faces. A moment later, a naked orc jumps out of the caravan, but misses his footing and immediately trips and falls. The momentum driving the orc to roll on the ground and land on his back. The dagger pierces deeper into his body, which is followed by a blood curdling scream.
As Lin stares at the screaming orc, she finally notices her sister, mouthing "Run!" Without a moment's hesitation, Lin turns away from the orcs and accelerates towards the dark forest.
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"I want that little girl found, she could not have gone far, she is only a child," screams the commander as half his forces take torches and run into the dark Forest while the other half stayed to watch the slaves.
As the men run after the girl, the commander slowly walked towards the orc that caused this problem in the first place. The orc in question is currently laying on the side of the cart, still bleeding from the wound on his back. The pain seeming to help him regain his wits.
"Sorry commander," the orc slurs, exhaustion evident on his face, “was having fun with a girl, and I got distracted," he answers, a pained smile on his face.
The commander continues to stare, and slowly his focus changes to a crying girl inside the cart. Walking towards it, and flipping open the cover, the commander finds himself witnessing a girl barely ten years of age, bleeding a large amount of blood from her crotch. Multiple bruises aligning her body. The young girl continues to cry and twitch from the pain and trauma so recently inflicted. Eyes bloody and frizzled fur, the girl is very close to death.
The commander's eyes turn back to the orcs. "I want a healing potion given to this girl at once!" he roars, a cold anger rising inside of him.
The commander turns back and his eyes move the the orc on the ground, still nursing his wound. Without a second hesitation, the commander grabs the orc by the neck with one hand and lifts him up into the air.
"C-c-commander,"
"Silence! You have went and defied my orders!" The commanders hands slowly increase in pressure. He turns his head to the other orcs."I have ordered you all to not harm the slaves, and what I find here is a virgin girl who is barely ten, mutilated, her virginity taken, and I am forced to use an expensive potion to save her life. She is now worth only a third of what I would have gotten. The slaves are no longer allowed to be touched since you all cannot be responsible enough to not damage the merchandise." Turning back to the choking Orc,"As for you, your life is forfeit."
With that final word, the commander feels his Mana from his body, and directs it to his tusks, with practiced control and a force of will, the Mana moves from his tusk, down his arm towards the orc fruitlessly struggling within his grasp. The energy grasps unto the skin and starts to vibrate at an extreme speed. Within a blink of an eye, the orcs head bursts into flame. With a fluid movement, he drops the screaming orc and walks towards his tent with the practiced ease of someone who demands authority, the burning orc continues to scream its last breath as the vibrations finally enter his brain.