by Corin Cain
“… the Scorpion Queen.”
At his words, a sudden screaming roar comes from far away down the hallway. A Toad yells out, stumbling around the corner with a green cut across his fat belly. He screams out in pain as the green spreads, venom pouring through his body.
For a moment fear grips me – it grips all of us…
Did a Scorp escape? Perhaps even the one the slaver intended these Aurelians to fight?
Then two more guards rush around the corner, reassuring the slaver: “The Queen is still secured! This idiot just got too close to the cage!”
The Toad master smiles, uncaring that one of his guards is dying a horrible death on the floor of his prison. Turning to myself and the three other human women attached to his wrist, he asked: “Do you want to see the Queen, my pets?”
I shake my head. The other slaves say nothing, trembling in fear.
I’m more concerned for them than I am for me, and say the words that they lack the courage to.
“Please. Don’t bring us near it.”
The Toad grins, showing his four rows of broad teeth. “I think you need to see what your three, brave champions are going to have to face.”
We’re forced to follow the slaver as he leads us down the corridor, the three Aurelians staring daggers at him as he leaves; unable to do anything from behind the iron bars of their cage.
My legs tremble as I’m led around the corner. I’ve never been so scared in my life; and in a life as hard as mine has been, that’s saying something.
We round the corner and come upon a huge cage, towering over us.
“Stay back,” warns the slaver, even his arrogance subdued in the presence of his inhuman captive.
Not that I’m listening to him any more. I barely hear the slaver’s words as I see the behemoth before us. This is the first time I’ve ever seen a Scorp Queen – and I’d hoped never to see one this close.
Twenty-feet-tall, the Scorp Queen is unlike the terrifying-enough male Scorp. The warrior breed at least possess a trace of humanity, standing on two scaly legs like humans or Aurelians do.
But the Scorp Queen? She has two sets of legs – two extra legs up front, with clawed tips, that let her crawl on all fours like a true earth scorpion. It’s truly monstrous.
Behind the iron bars of the enormous cage, the Scorp Queen roars and screams – her huge tail slashing through the air as she stabs it at us through the bars. I scream out, and the Toad laughs mockingly at my terror, as the deadly barb of that slashing tail comes just two feet short of killing us. Venom drips on the ground, splashing and hissing. One drop is all it would take to kill an elephant.
Realizing the futility of attacking us, the Scorp Queen chooses to try and intimidate her captors instead; raising herself up on her two hind legs, rearing and snapping her huge claws.
I shudder. There’s no way the three Aurelians have a chance against this monster.
The Toad grins at me. “I’ve made a deal with a noble. He wants a champion – a beast he can pit against others in his own private arena. He’ll pay me one full Orb for the Aurelians if they win, and he’ll pay me a full Orb for the Scorp Queen if she wins. So, either way, I’m rich.”
The Toad laughs gleefully.
I turn, and narrow my eyes.
“But… But you said if they win, I’m the Aurelians’ reward.”
The Toad laughs, a drop of acidic spittle hitting my face and burning against my skin.
“Idiot human; that will happen anyway. You hope.”
I shudder at his words.
“If the Aurelians win, the crowd will enjoy seeing the proud, noble warriors reduced to animal beasts as they split you apart with those huge cocks. It’ll all be part of the show. And, if you survive the mating, and if you’re lucky, maybe the noble will buy you as well.”
He laughs cruelly.
“Otherwise, you’re still mine… And, if the Scorp Queen wins, it’ll be even worse for you. You’ll hope that she kills you in the arena – instead of laying her eggs inside you. Either way, the crowd will get a memorable show, and I’ll get one full Orb! I’m rich regardless!”
One full Orb.
Like I’m in a trance, I remember the Orb that transfixed me back in that crashed Reaver. It was what had allowed those Toad slavers to sneak up on me. I’d have heard them coming a mile off, if I hadn’t been hypnotized by the Orb’s swirling, mysterious black clouds.
Those slavers. I hated the memory of them, and of my capture. It was just blind, bad luck on my part. They must have seen my skimmer and investigated; and if it hadn’t been for losing myself in the images I’d seen in the swirling, glassy surface of that Orb, they’d never have caught me.
I remember those visions – the ones that had transfixed me, swirling in the inky darkness of the orb. Images of three Aurelians, bleeding and fighting.
I gasp. It was them.
Raegan, Karan, and Baldur.
I shudder, trying to understand what it could possibly mean. Then, reluctantly, that thought leaves me as I imagine a much grimmer scene: The thought of that horrific, caged beast in front of me; laying its eggs inside me, using my body to grow more of its vile spawn.
I ache to yell for the other women to help me – to work together to kill the slaver and escape. They simply shudder, though. One of them meets my eyes, and behind the obvious fear I see in her eyes, I realize that she feels utter pity for me, too. She reaches out, gently touching my leg in a way that the Toad can’t see, offering me what comfort she can. Despite wishing she’d do something more productive, and help us all get away, I’m happy enough for any sort of human contact right now.
The Toad walks forward, and we have to jog to keep up with his strange, hopping gait – one webbed foot slipping out in front of the other. He takes us up the stairs to his palatial estate, which is linked to the coliseum, and in the hallway of his mansion he looks appraisingly at the four of us.
“Servant!” The slaver yells, and another human woman rushes in. She’s not leashed. I stare at her with disgust and hatred. She’s working for the Toad slaver for money. She’s willing to take Toad’s cash, even though he has others of her kind as slaves.
“Servant,” the Toad orders, pointing at me, “get this one cleaned up. I want her to be irresistible to the Aurelians. If they survive the Scorp Queen, they’ll need to be aroused enough to want to take her in front of the crowd despite their injuries.” Then he turns to me. “Bitch, if you try to escape, I’ll kill these other three.” The three human women attached to his wrist shudder at the Toad’s words. “You don’t want that, do you?”
The other three slaves shiver, and I see tears in the eyes of the one that touched my leg. I grimly promise: “I won’t try to escape.”
“Good,” says the Toad, undoing the leash from my neck. The collar is still on, but otherwise I’m naked. I’m shocked at how easily he lets me go, even after I’ve tried to escape twice.
Deep in his palace, though, perhaps he knows there’s nowhere to escape to.
“Wait,” before I’m led away, the Toad slaver addresses me with cunning in his eyes. From a fold of his fat, he reaches into a pocket and brings out a thin string of metal with a bead of Orb on it. The air seems to distort around the Orb shard, and I remember again the vision I saw back in the Reaver.
The Toad reaches towards me, and I have to fight every instinct to cringe away as he touches the thin metal to my collar.
It wraps around my neck like it’s alive, molding itself against the metal of my collar.
“Do you want to see what this does? A demonstration?”
I shake my head quickly. The Toad smiles, licking his lips. “I can hurt you from anywhere with this. Orbs are expensive, but for unruly slaves… We must be willing to protect our investments.”
The Toad narrows his eyes, and sudden pain shoots through my body. It’s not the electrified pain of the shock collar. It’s something deeper – something malevolent. The pain ends in an instant, and I gasp
– but the memory of it will last a lot longer.
“I understand,” I manage to say, breathing hard from the pain.
“Good. Now go with her.”
The servant is a raven-haired woman in her thirties. Her hair goes down to her waist, shining with a deep color. She smiles, beckoning me forward. Hatred for her seeps up inside of me. This traitor works for the Toad slaver by her own will.
“Come this way,” unable to sense my contempt for her, the woman’s voice is lilting and melodic.
I follow her down a hallway teeming with Toad guards, to a huge room with a private bath. The bath is carved into the stone – opulent and already filled with steaming water.
The coliseum. The immense estate. The more I see of the Toad’s holdings, the more I realize that the slave trade must be extremely lucrative.
But I have more immediate needs. I look at the foaming bathtub and I feel suddenly itchy – the buildup of sand, sweat and bruises on my body making me ache to dive into the water immediately.
“Don’t fear,” the servant tries to converse with me. “I saw those Aurelians being dragged in. If anyone can defeat the Scorp Queen, it’s them.”
Then she pauses.
“By the Gods, I hope so. I can’t wait for that infernal screaming to end.”
I shudder. Ever since I’d been dragged in front of that caged Scorp Queen, it’s anguished screaming and howling had haunted me, too. You can still hear it here, high above the cages of the coliseum.
In fact, as if the servant’s words were heard by the Scorp Queen even from here, I suddenly detect the faint echo of the beast bellowing from far below. Panic hits me, and for a split second I imagine running out into the hall and escaping.
Where would I go? I’m in the belly of the beast… Oh, God, I can’t use that expression. I have no weapon, no clothes, no knowledge of the palace. My only hope is that the Aurelians win in that brutal combat.
I want to dip into the waters, but my anger surges up. I turn angrily to the servant.
“What right do you have to tell me not to fear? You can leave at any time! I’m a slave here, don’t you understand? How can you work for that bastard?”
She gasps, looking back at the door. “Don’t call him a bastard! He’ll punish us all!”
I glare at her, stepping away from her side. I don’t want to be anywhere near somebody who cast aside all her principles so easily, to work for a slaver for a handful of coin.
But suddenly, the demeanor of the servant changes. She shakes her head sadly, and a tear comes to her eyes. “Not all slaves wear collars, my sweet. I was sold into a twenty-five-year contract to our Master. My parents sold me when I was thirteen years old. In five years, I’ll be free – my contract ended. Then, I can practice my skills for myself. Until that time, though, I have no more freedom than you do.”
Instant shame hits me. “I’m… I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“Oh, you sweet thing. Go into the water, and I’ll take your worries away.”
I dip my toe into the water. It’s scalding hot. It takes me a full two minutes to slowly work my way into the heat, and as I do it seeps deep into my bones.
As I soak, the servant talks to me:
“Aurelians are the greatest lovers known to the universe,” she says. “I heard what will happen when they defeat the Queen. My advice for you is to try and relax – to allow them to do whatever they wish to you. They become quite beastly in the throes of their passions.” And the servant’s hands find my shoulders, massaging deeply. My cheeks go red. I tell myself it’s from the heat of the waters and not the thought of the three brutal gladiators taking me hard.
“They say all Aurelians are all searching for that perfect mate – that they gather huge harems of women. Not just to serve them, though that happens, too. No, they’re each looking to try and find their mate and sire a child with them.”
“Their mate?” I say, gasping as her hands transform the tension and knots in my body into a puddle of bliss.
“Oh yes, their mate. As you know, there are no female Aurelians. They collect huge harems of women, but for generations no Aurelian has been able to sire children with any of these humans. Instead, they reproduce through a ritual in which an aged Aurelian dies, and a new one is created from his genetic material. One dies, one is born.”
The servant fills a dipper with hot water and slowly drips it over my hair. Over and over, she repeats the motion, until my hair is wet and soaked. Then she rubs her shampooed hands through my tangled locks.
It makes me remember how once, as a child, my father had brought me shampoo to wash my tangled hair for a wedding we were attending. It was a luxury for us, and a memory I’d treasured all this time.
I luxuriate in the bathtub, and beneath the servant’s fingers. In all the years I’ve been scavenging on Bugra, I’ve never felt so clean. The servant’s hands massage my scalp, and for a second I almost forget the horrors that await me in the gladiator ring.
As she massages my hair, the servant continues:
“It’s said that Aurelians still believe they can find their mate. That some humans and Aurelians are bonded. I’ve heard legends that their Emperor was born of such a coupling. For, yes, Aurelians can sire children – but only with their fated mate – and no such pairing has happened in living memory.” Then she pauses, and adds: “Although, perhaps – if you are lucky – you’ll be bonded to one of those three. It could happen.”
I scowl. “I hate Aurelians.”
My thoughts rush forward, though. If I was to be bonded to one of the three, which of them would I choose?
I’ve met them all just once, and already feel like I know them. Raegan is the most serious of them. Perhaps the leader. But Baldur and Karan laugh in the face of danger. They could help me overcome any tragedy.
I shake my head.
Ah! Stop these foolish thoughts.
The servant laughs, her voice musical. “Hate and love are intertwined. Or should I say, hate and lust.” As she talks, she continues to massage my scalp - and her hands are magical.
Tears form in my eyes, as if all the effort of being strong and fighting against the slavers is about to surge out of me in a burst of emotion. I take a huge breath in, fighting to control my emotions.
I need to be strong. If not for me, for the Aurelians who plan to rescue me.
They’ll need my help for the escape. If I can’t control my own emotions, how can I hope to survive?
The servant washes my hair, filling the dipper and soothingly emptying it over my head. In any other circumstance, I’d be enjoying this luxury. The reality of the situation, however, is the Toad Master cares nothing for me. He didn’t ask the servant to wash me for any other reason than wanting me clean and beautiful for his audience.
It isn’t for the Aurelians’ benefit, either. It’s for the watching Toads, and the nobleman he hopes to sell the Aurelians to. He wants us all to appear at our best for a buyer. The slaver probably calculated in his head the cost of the shampoos and water, compared to the return he’d get upon selling us, and figured it was a good investment.
“We’re all done. Let me help you out.”
I shake my head. “No. I’m fine.”
I ignore the hand the servant offers me, and pull myself out of the water, taking deep breaths to calm myself. The servant smiles, and walks to the side of the room, where she takes a sheer dress from a closet.
“This is the garb of pleasure slaves of the highest rank. It’s an honor to wear it.”
I take the thin, gossamer material, feeling the softness beneath my fingers. It will do nothing to protect me from the watching crowd. I accept it with thanks, though, knowing the servant has no choice in what’s she’s expected to demand of me.
“Thank you.” I say. “I’m Jasmine.”
The servant gives me a sad smile. “I’m Elanor. I won’t be able to watch you in the arena – but I wish you the greatest luck. I… I’m not allowed to give you this, but…”
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Her eyes dart left and right, and then she breathlessly whispers: “Quick, keep watch for guards.”
I keep watch as Elanor scurries to a compartment in the bureau in the corner and pulls out a small vial. She opens it, and motions for me to extend my hand. I do so, and she drips two drops of the liquid onto my fingertips.
“This is very expensive. Quickly, rub it between your legs.”
I gasp. “What?”
Elanor raises her eyebrows. “Aurelians are very well endowed. I’ve heard that they can be very satisfying, but it can be painful if you’re not prepared. In front of the crowd of Toads… It will be difficult for your body to become aroused. With this, though, there will be no pain. Only pleasure.”
I quickly rub the oil between my legs. It coats me, making me feel slick between my legs, as if I’m already aroused.
“Thank you, Elanor.”
“You’re welcome,” she says, putting the bottle back. Then the servant helps me pull the dress on. It’s translucent, molding itself to the contours of my body as if it has a mind of its own. I gasp as the gossamer material teases my nipples, the thin fabric tantalizing me. My cheeks go red with shame.
“Don’t be ashamed, Jasmine. This outfit is meant for the arousal of pleasure slaves. Allow your body to respond to it, and it will make things easier when the Aurelians defeat that horrific beast.”
The door to the bathing room opens, and a tall, thick-bellied Toad with a sword at his waist enters. His eyes bug out as he looks at me, and his mouth opens. His tongue flaps as if he’s unable to speak, too transfixed by how I look.
“Time! Come! Now!”
Elanor touches my shoulder comfortingly, and I hold my head high as I walk out. The Toad’s filthy gaze means nothing to me.
I follow the guard down a set of stairs, getting more and more nervous by the second. The cheers of a crowd are far away, but they grow closer as we walk down the hallway.
“Where are you taking me?”
“No talking!” The Toad snarls from behind me. “Walk faster!”
I thought I’d be brought back up to the slave master’s private chambers. Instead, I’m lead to a set of doors. A Toad in a medic’s uniform is napping in a chair, and the Toad guard kicks him. “No sleeping!”