The Pillaging of an Empire

by Amanda Clover

  She saw the ruined towers of what was once Mertovsk soon enough. The town had once been a major trading post between Istanov’s border and the last free men to the west, when men still called such lands home. Now the walls were broken, a few ragged ruins climbing into the sky like worms bursting from a corpse of stone and tumbled wood.

  She felt he monsters among the ruins long before she saw them. She didn’t enter the town. Creeping along the treeline, she peered through the forest and at the broken city. Fires burned across the place. She saw the silhouette of orcs and wulfen moving among the ruins. The heavy shapes of ogres. The sounds of raucous howls, the clash of steel, and the fainter, yet sharper, cries and moans of women.

  Selina shivered, circling slowly the ruins. She paused as she spotted a small band of gertlings near the edge of the wall.

  The gertlings were scattered about the remains of an old farmstead. They didn’t bother posting a watch, all of them lying about the field, eating or laughing at some crude joke. They weren’t alone. Selina felt her heart clench at the sight of a young woman among them, the fair-haired girl utterly naked as she crouched among the gertlings, her body plastered in crude markings Selina recognized as tribal claims, marking her as a breeding sow for the gertling tribe. And Selina could see the poor girl had already fallen hard, her stomach gravid and her breasts heavy and veined beneath the scrawl of dark paint.

  Selina chewed her lip with thought. She glanced over at her companion. “Girki?” she murmured. “Do you think you could go down there and gather information of what lies ahead?”

  The gertling raised his head. He thought it over, then nodded. “Yes. Me can do.”

  Selina nodded. Then, just to be safe, she leaned in and pressed a kiss to the goblin’s lips. Girki moaned softly, Selina feeling her mark pulse as she reinforced her will upon the gertling. She broke the kiss, breathing out hotly. “Go.”

  Eyes filled with adoration for her, Girki rose and moved down the hill towards the camp. He walked through the open, brazen. He called out a greeting in the gertling’s tongue. Selina watched, tense as the other gertlings sprang up and crowded around him. But she relaxed soon enough as their voices grew more distant. Girki sat with the tribe, speaking animatedly. She was impressed, watching intently as her lover put the others at ease, chatting away.

  Then, one of the other gertlings slapped Girki on the back and drew him from the tribe. Selina tensed, then her eyes widened as she saw their destination. The broodmother looked up as they neared. The other gertling slapped the woman’s soft ass, the human woman moaning softly. She pushed herself forward, raising her ass eagerly. Girki grinned and moved behind her.

  “Gods,” Selina breathed, shocked, yet unable to turn away as Girki shoved aside his loincloth, baring his warty cock. Her hands tightened on the ground as Girki pushed forward into the woman’s barren ass.

  The tattooed woman moaned in heady arousal, her body rocking as Girki began to fuck her, pounding her plush bottom with every heavy stroke of his warty cock. Selina bit her lip. The scene should disgust her, yet seeing Girki fuck the slave girl, something about it made her body grow warm and tight.

  The woman’s moans and soft cries faintly reached her ears as Girki plowed her. Her heavy breasts sway beneath her. Selina saw the dull eyed woman cry out, body tensing as she came around the gertling’s cock, droplets of milk splattering from her swaying teats and across the cold ground.

  Rough laughter from the rest of the tribe echoed up to her. Selina swallowed thickly as Girki pulled out of the woman, his cum spilling for a moment from the slave girl’s used hole before his place taken by one of the band. The rest of the gertlings crowded around, stirred by the scene. As Selina watched, the tribe took their brood slave, one thrusting his stunted cock into her mouth, another taking her cunt while two more suckled at her milky breasts.

  Selina trembled, only registering that Girki had left them when the gertling’s head poked from the tall grass nearby.

  “Me back.”

  Selina nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She felt dampness between her thighs and tried not to think about how aroused she was as she led Girki away from the scene, the cries of the broken woman’s pleasure ringing behind her.

  They hurried away from the scene, but even as she made camp amid the hollow of the trees, the moon high, she remembered the sight of Girki thrusting into the brood slave, the other gertlings crowding the tattooed woman and eagerly rutting with her. She snared a rabbit and cooked it, eating without hunger. Then, sitting across the flames, she watched Girki eat.

  “Girki,” she said at last.

  The goblin lifted his head, ears twitching.

  “Tell me about the Duke of Ashes.”

  The gertling swallowed the part of the rabbit he’d been chewing on. “You want know about Master?”

  “Your Master?”

  “Dark One master of all monsters,” the gertling said. “He promise monsters be masters over men. He powerful!”

  “You’ve met him?”

  The goblin shook his head. “Me not meet. But tribe hear talk. Get message. He say attack humans. Kill. Take lands.”

  Selina frowned. She pulled her long jacket tighter around her. “Is that so…”

  The gertling nodded.

  “Where is he, Girki?”

  The gertling paused. His eyes widened. Selina saw the fear in those wide eyes. She knew she would have to overcome Girki’s fear of the Duke of Ashes. She rose slowly, letting her coat slip off of her. She moved slowly across the campground, shedding her shirt next.

  The gertling watched, awestruck as he ever was as Selina’s pale curves slowly came into view, illuminated in the harsh light of the campfire, luminous where it faced the darkness of the Istanov forest. She slowly went to her knees before him. Her slim fingers found his warty shaft and gave it a teasing stroke, coaxing it instantly to full hardness. “You spoke with their band. I know they mentioned him. Tell me, Girki…”

  The goblin gave a soft whine of pleasure as he stared at the ethereal beauty of the huntress. Selina held his eyes and leaned forward, her tongue flicking the head of his shaft.

  “Ooooh!” the gertling moaned.

  “Tell me, Girki,” Selina moaned softly as she lowered her head, engulfing the gertling’s stunted shaft in her hot mouth. The sour taste of his cock didn’t bother her so much anymore. Or at all, really. Her head bobbed, her lips running over the warty bulges along his stunted shaft. The submissive act of sucking him even excited her. She moaned again around him, encouraging him with a hand massaging his small stones.

  “Mnnn! D-Dark One be… be in meeting. Tonight!”

  “Where?” Selina said, sliding her tongue along the underside of his shaft. “Tell me, Girki.”

  “Mnnn! P-please! Please, Silver-hair! Don’t make tell! He kill you!”

  Selina frowned a little. “You’re… worried about me?”

  Girki nodded frantically. “P-please. He kill you if you go!”

  Selina stared at the gertling, for a moment stunned. Sometimes, monsters under the thrall of a huntress believed themselves to love their mistresses. It was hardly unusual, some huntresses even felt similar things for their monstrous thralls. But it usually took longer. Far longer.

  But then she remembered the scorched villages. Mary, her naked body littered with the cuts of claws. The girl in the gertling’s thrall, empty eyed and heavy with monster’s young. No. She would not allow that. Selina moved forward. She shuffled her knees on either side of the gertling’s narrow hips, her mons hovering over his stunted shaft. “Tell me Girki. Please.”

  “Mnnn!” the gertling moaned.

  Selina lowered herself, sheathing the goblin within her.

  “Nyaaaah!” the gertling cried, hips bucking up. He came, a great fountain of his oily cum shooting into her. Selina gasped, the mark above her mons throbbing with hot pleasure. But she fought against it. She began to bounce atop him, fucking him beneath her.

  “Girkiiii!�
�� she moaned. Pleasure thumped through her. Something about the creature. Something about the way her thighs swallowed his lower body, the feeling of his tiny prick within her, the sheer debasement of fucking so pathetic a monster thrilled her. She reached forward, pulling the gertlings face between her breasts, smothering the goblin between those creamy orbs. “Ooooh Girki! Ahn. Ahn! Yes! Yes!”

  Her hips beat him into the ground. Pleasure rocked her. Panting, she cried out as her own orgasm burst through her. But she didn’t stop. Couldn’t stop. She cried out as his thin lips latched on to her nipple and sucked hungrily. His cock twitching within her. He came again, spurting into her hot snatch.

  “Yessss! Girki!” Selina moaned over the sloshing as she continued to ride his cock, feeling it stiffen, remain hard inside of her. Every roll of her hips nearly brought the gertling out of her before she slammed back down onto him. “Girkiiiii!”

  She cried out again, another orgasm bursting through her. The gertling moaned beneath her, the mark above her mons throbbing, pushing past his inhibitions. She was shocked that he still resisted. Any loyalty to his other masters should have been forgotten by now. Abandoned in the hot wash of pleasure as she clutched him to her curvy form and rode his warty cock.

  “Tell me!” she moaned.

  “C-Castle! When Moon in sky!” the goblin squealed, the name fairly torn from him. His cry of anguished pleasure punctuated by a sudden surge as he came again inside of her.

  Selina threw back her head, crying out as her pussy answered, rippling with hot pleasure as the gertling seeded her once more. She panted, sagging atop him, the mark above her mons losing the intensity of its glow. She lay against him, holding the gertling against her breasts. “Thank you, Girki…”

  The gertling whimpered and turned his face away. With shock, she realized he was crying. Feeling oddly ashamed, she cooed softly, stroking the gertling’s bald head, even as she felt his hot tears streak down the inner curves of her breasts.

  Mertovsk

  The fires of the monster’s camps burned luridly in the dark as Selina made her way through the broken town, every step soft as a breeze, her dagger in her hand, her sword still sheathed.

  Dark shadows moved through the monstrous town. Selina had left Girki behind, knowing the gertling couldn’t help her, might even try and stop her. But she had to do this. She wasn’t sure if she would survive her meeting with the Duke of Ashes, but she merely had to glance aside to see what would happen if she failed. By the lights of the flames orcish war parties gathered, women marked and moaning in their grasp or bent before them as they claimed again their slaves. Women with bellies swollen with monstrous broods, their eyes dim, or worse, bright with the delights of their pleasures.

  She kept to the shadows, screening her movements with the dark buildings as she made her way towards the central keep, the ruined structure climbing out of the night shrouded city like a black crown. She slipped along the mortared wall, gliding through the halls.

  She found her way to the central hall, the sound of reverie clear. The empty socket of an old window looked over a large room. Dark figures lurked within. Selina’s heart beat faster as she spotted a large orc, his broad, bare chest littered with pale scars, his face masked in white paint like a skull. Between his legs crouched a human girl with dark hair, a savage mark on her ass as she bobbed, her stomach heavy with pregnancy. Not far, naked, her red hair in a chaotic tumble around her head, sat another human woman. This one was no slave, her fierce eyes more than evidence of that, the light of madness burning in them while power flickered off her long red hair like steam. Other brutish creatures were within. Gertlings, a wulfen with a white coat, the dark denizens of a hundred nightmares.

  A council of war, Selina knew. One which she had snuck upon.

  They waited in silence, a bonfire burning in the middle of the room. Selina slowly crawled onto the edge of the window frame, her dagger in her hand.

  The doors at the end of the room banged open. Every head turned.

  The Duke of Ashes walked into the room. His steps were accompanied by the click of a cane topped with the silver head of a serpent. A dark cloak rustled around him, his eyes faintly glowing in the shadows of his hat. Selina felt a shiver course up her spine at the sight of the man. Unease coiled in her stomach, sensing the power he radiated.

  The Duke of Ashes paused in the middle of the room. “Thank you all for coming,” he said, his voice soft, amused. Almost playful. “I’m so glad you all could.”

  Selina braced herself on the edge of the window, her hand clutching her dagger. Her whole body seemed alive. Attuned to what was happening below. She tensed as he spoke to those around him, then threw herself from the window’s edge.

  For a moment she seemed suspended in the air.

  Something invisible slammed into her. Selina gasped, hurled through the air, slamming into the far wall. She groaned, power pressing down on her like the hand of a giant. She squeezed open her eyes, focusing on the Red Witch, the shapely woman standing, holding a hand lit with a burning light towards her, grinning madly.

  The Duke of Ashes turned, his cloak whispering around him.

  “Well, well,” he said, slowly walking towards the huntress. “So you made it after all. I suppose I should be a good host and make you welcome. My friends!” the Duke of Ashes called, turning to the waiting council. He threw his arms wide, his cloak snapping out like dark wings. “I give you the huntress of Ctharne!”

  “Give her to the wulfen,” the red witch cackled, her fingers moving, squeezing the breath from Selina.

  “Maybe later. First thing’s first.” The Duke of Ashes moved his cane forward, tapped her brow. “Sleep.”

  The enchantment pressed down on her. She tried to fight, but was already lost. Selina’s eyes rolled back, and darkness swallowed her.

  Ritual

  Selina woke slowly to the feel of something cold against her brow. She moaned softly, lifting her head, eyes sliding open.

  A woman with dark hair stood before her. The woman smiled and brought away the damp rag. “Feeling better?”

  Selina nodded. In doing so, she heard a clank. Her eyes flew open. She looked back to see her arms suspended above her, chained to a massive standing stone. A circle of similar stones were all around her, the light of a huge fire built in the middle of them sending shadows dancing across their faces, lingering in the strange grooves carved across the mighty stones. A number of the monsters who had been present during the dark council she’d interrupted stood within the ring, watching her with amusement. Selina shivered and realized belatedly she was naked, her firm breasts prickling with sensitivity to the cold, her nipples hard points.

  “Shh. Shh. It won’t do any good to struggle,” the woman said gently.

  Selina looked back at her. Now that the first shock was over she saw the woman was also naked, her body a canvas of dark designs she recognized as orcish clan marks, her breasts large and nipples gleaming with milk, her stomach heavy with some creature’s young.

  “Please. You have to release me,” Selina hissed. “I can stop the Duke of Ashes. I can save you.”

  The woman smiled, her expression dreamy. “I do not need saving,” she said. She touched the swell of her stomach fondly. “I carry the future of the world within me. The race that will conquer the weakness of humanity. We all play our part.”

  Selina stared with horror. A bark had the woman turn away and leave her, going to the heavy shape of the orc with the white paint of a skull. The human girl climbed onto her master’s lap, facing away. The orc stroked her chin fondly, then lifted one of her heavy breasts, his lips locking on a nipple dewy with milk. The girl moaned, clutching her master, her eyes filled with slavish adoration.

  “Oh good. I was hoping you’d wake soon.”

  Selina jerked her head about as the Duke of Ashes stepped out of the darkness and into the ring of stones. He was watching as the pale orc amused himself with his bride, the young woman gasping and moaning as he s
troked her and sucked at her milky teat. “She is the future of humanity. Thralls to their true masters. Wombs to bear the strong. She was once his master’s daughter. Now?” The Duke of Ashes glanced at her, his smile hard and cruel. “Now she is his breeding slut. And she could not be happier.”

  Selina stared at him, stunned. “You’re… gods… you’re a human!” she breathed in horror.

  The Duke of Ashes laughed. He stepped back and before the flickering bonfire, cutting a bow that swept his cloak around him. “Well done! It’s true. You look at a creature born of men, but I have no loyalty to my race. My people are dead, my blood spilled long ago. Look around you!” he cried, turning, his cane flashing at the carved stones all around. “Behold! The graves of the Merrigan! Slaughtered by Istanov for our sorceries and our refusal to kneel for their empire! Here my people made their final stand. You are before a freak, huntress. The last of a race reduced to ash!”

  Selina’s stomach roiled. Her head jerked up as a whispering sound bled among the stones. Monsters crowded beyond the ring of light, gibbering, snarling. Her soul quailed at the sight of them all. The horned forms of bullmen and veiled basilisks. Gertlings cackled among the feet of ogres and wugs, watching her with their large, unblinking eyes. Creatures who should be little more than beasts lurking in the company of more intelligent monsters.

  “Witness!” the Duke of Ashes said, pointing the silver eye atop his cane at her. “The assassin who came for me. A fabled huntress of Ctharne! Congratulations, my lady. For you come tonight on a most auspicious day.

  “Yes!” the Duke of Ashes cried, his dark eyes gleaming in the shadows of his hat. “Tonight! In this place, where Istanov saw my people slaughtered. People they named monsters for their magics and their willingness to deal with you all. People they put to the sword in their conquest. Here! I have summoned you all. Here, to spread my word across this fetid empire and the world!

  “For tonight we gather to signal an end, and a beginning! Tonight, we sing the death of the world of man. Tonight, begins the reign of monsters!”