The Pillaging of an Empire

by Amanda Clover

  Doria raised her head sharply in surprise, finding Jax towering over them. The minotaur cocked his head at her.

  “Y-yes?”

  “We go. Must speak to Duke. Come.”

  He extended his large hand, and for a moment Doria hesitated. Then she saw Mina’s compassionate look, and, shyly, she took the minotaur’s hand. The monster grinned happily, tugging her up with a startled gasp and against him. She felt his iron muscles beneath his thick fur, his warm musk and presence enfolding her. She relaxed a measure, her eyes growing lidded. Mina gave the other woman an encouraging nod, and Doria returned a shaky smile.

  His hand protectively around her, Jax led her from Ghostheart’s tent, his large palm stroking her shapely rump. She shot a shy glance back into the tent just before they left, and saw that Mina had returned to her master. The other slave girls were brushed aside as the dark haired woman knelt at Ghostheart’s feet, her hands stroking the immense pillar of the orc’s shaft, her eyes filled with love and devotion as her tongue ran up and down the orc’s corkscrewed cock.

  Then the tent flap fell shut behind them, and the sight was gone.

  The Duke

  Mina’s words spun in Doria’s head as she was borne through the camp once more. She found herself paying more attention to her surroundings. To the monsters who had women, and those who did not. The former were busy enjoying themselves, fucking or amusing themselves with the gasping sluts in their grasp, some sporting scratches, scars or claw marks, others bedecked in crude outfits, jewels or the like. But one and all, they clung to the creatures who had taken them, cooing and moaning, servicing the horrific creatures with a single-minded purpose that sent Doria’s stomach tumbling.

  The sights of it all drew her closer to the warmth of her protector. Jax glanced down at her curiously and she blushed, turning her head away. But why had she blushed? Surely… surely she wasn’t attracted to the beast?

  Yet Mina’s knowing look, her adoring smile as she looked up at Ghostheart, her tongue gliding up the twisting pillar of his cock rose again in her mind. As did the expressionless face of the orc chief. But she had seen a hint of warmth in those dark eyes. An approval and pride at the naked woman at his feet, her womb heavy with his pups.

  Would it… truly be so bad?

  For once, she didn’t find herself promptly rejecting the idea. She looked about the endless campfires and the horrors which were enjoying them. So many. So powerful. More than half of Istanov had already fallen. Did humanity even have a prayer in the face of such evil?

  She didn’t know. And as she turned ahead once more she saw a huge tent towering ahead of them. Two orcish guards stood before it, and on totems rammed deep in the earth, a carved eye looked down. Red magic sparked along the strange marks carved in the wooden pillars, spitting and crackling as they passed. Doria whimpered as a finger of static ran along her arm. Then they were past the crackling wards, and inside the tent.

  It was dark within. Shadows clung to the corners and filled the empty spaces like a physical thing. A strange scent pervaded it. Something acrid and thick, like some foul incense. A single lamp glowed from the middle of the tent and above a ring of mats in the floor.

  “Jax. So glad you could come.”

  The minotaur turned and Doria felt her throat close, choking off the scream that threatened to escape her. A man seemed to step out of the shadows themselves. He wore a long dark robe, and in his hand he clutched a cane, tipped with a carved eye. His hood was thrown back, revealing a pale face, well formed, and yet there was something vaguely reptilian about his features. Almost too smooth. He smiled, his eyes lidded, yet burning with an intensity that made Doria want to crawl into a hole and never come out.

  Jax slowly went to one knee. “Master,” he said.

  And Doria knew she was before the Duke of Ashes. The man who had brought Istanov to its knees. Who had awakened the darkness that lurked at the corners of the empire and made it a tide, washing away humanity in a flood of fire and blood. She hastily went to her knees beside Jax, shivering and clinging to the steely frame of the minotaur.

  “Now now. No need for that, Jax. Come. Sit. I’ve been looking forward to talking to you.”

  Jax nodded and joined the Duke among the mats, taking a seat in the strange light of the single lantern. The Duke sat across from him, his staff across his lap, all smiles and politeness. Until he glanced at her, and once more Doria felt like a bug beneath a man’s thumb. “You,” he said, snapping his fingers. “There’s food and drink there. Bring it.”

  Doria scrambled to her feet and to one of the shadowy corners of the tent. As she drew near she made out a table filled with a feast of meat and fruit. With shaking hands she poured some wine from a decanter into the two cups.

  “I see you took yourself a prize from the village. I was beginning to wonder if you even had an interest in humans,” the Duke said, his voice smooth and amused.

  “I want choose good slave,” Jax said in his halting way.

  The Duke chuckled. “Trying to enjoy one like Ghostheart’s little tart, hm? Well, I suppose no harm. So long as you do claim her.”

  Doria nearly spilled the wine at that, but managed to save it and set it down.

  Jax merely grunted.

  “Anyway, I’d like you to know, Jax, that I’ve been very impressed by your warband’s work. You’ve taken more villages than any of the others, and Ghostheart is very pleased. He recommended you highly, hence why I have a particular task for you in the coming campaign.”

  “I serve,” Jax said immediately.

  “I know. And well. But this is a particularly important task. The… whore of an empress,” he said, the venom of the name fairly spitting from between his teeth, “has been rallying troops. She could be a major problem if we don’t cut her off from reinforcements. I doubt Heimsvak will actually help her, and even if they do it would only prolong their defeat. But no sense in taking chances. Hence, your task.

  “The empress is getting close to our troops, but I intend to divert her. We’ve been using Novrod as a breeding den and many of Ghostheart’s troops launch raids from there. Losing it would be quite costly to us, and the city is quite defensible. If she believes we’re marching to reinforce it, she’ll have no choice but to try and beat us there and take the city before we can. I need you to take your band and some additional troops, and make it seem that is where we’re going.

  “While you do that, I will take the main army and seize Braznov. Without it, Istanov will be cut in two, and the empress won’t be able to rely on troops from the rest of the empire. A task that should have been done some time ago,” the Duke added, clicking his tongue in irritation. “But no matter. If you can kill the whore, do it. But your main task is to make her believe the entire army is setting out to Novrod.”

  Doria was shaking as she returned to the pair, a platter loaded with steaming meat and wine in hand. Jax nodded, dismissed the cup and took the entire decanter. He upended it into his mouth, guzzling the fiery wine in one go, much to Doria’s shock.

  The minotaur slammed down the bottle, wiping his mouth. “Hrrr. I do as you say, master.”

  Doria realized the Duke was staring at her. She quickly averted her eyes and shrank back. “Hmm,” the pale man mused. “Good, Jax. I’m glad to hear that. I expect you to be ready tomorrow. Gather what monsters you will need for the task.”

  The minotaur nodded, rising. “I do.”

  “Ah, but, before that, Jax. For your service, I believe a reward is due. I’m afraid I haven’t had the time to enjoy my personal harem due to certain circumstances. I would very much appreciate it if you would do the honour of appeasing the poor ladies.”

  Jax’s eyes lit up as the Duke gestured to an adjoining entrance into the tent. As she listened, Doria heard soft sighs and giggles whisper from beyond the obscuring cloth. Doria saw his loincloth stir as Jax’s cock stiffened against the feeble fabric. He took a step towards the shadowy room, then paused, glancing back at her.
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br />   “Don’t worry,” the Duke said soothingly. “She’ll be fine for one night.”

  Jax pursed his lips, then nodded. “Doria,” he said. “You be good.”

  “Y-yes, master,” Doria said, her mouth dry as the desert. The minotaur nodded once and strode to the shadowy chamber, ducking his horned head beneath the flap.

  As he vanished from view, Doria felt a lump form in her throat. She realized with a terrible clarity just how vulnerable she was without him. She realized then that she had never actually been away from the minotaur since that terrible night in the street. That he’d always been near, his powerful presence a quiet reminder that she was protected. That she was owned.

  And suddenly, she found herself alone. She shot a shy glance at the Duke, but he paid her no mind.

  “Guards!”

  The two orcs from outside shouldered their way in. “Master?”

  “Take her somewhere out of the way,” the Duke said, waving dismissively at her. “And don’t fuck her.”

  “Yes,” one said, nodding quickly. “You come!” the orc said to Doria, punctuating his statement with a firm smack on her behind. Doria yelped, driven forward and out of the tent, the two orcs flanking her as they led her past the posts which ringed the Duke’s lair.

  The two orcs stopped just beyond the ring, one turning to the other. “Where we bring?”

  The other orc stared. “Hmm…” He rubbed his chin. “We not fuck. So…”

  “Slave pen?”

  “Slave pen!” the other agreed.

  Doria’s eyes widened. “N-no! I’m not-“

  “You quiet!”

  Doria squealed as the orc spanked her sharply again. “Bitch no talk. Bitch obey!”

  Sniffling, Doria stumbled ahead of the orcs, feeling their leering eyes on her reddening bottom. Oh gods. Oh gods this wasn’t good. This couldn’t be right. She was marched away from the more populated parts of the camp and towards a rocky gully lying in the darkk. Only a few scattered torches burned here, and by their lights the bars of wooden cages were thrown into stark relief.

  Within them Doria saw huddled figures of women and the occasional man, all of them wearing rags or nothing, their heads barely lifting as one of the orcs spoke to a guard. The other orc nodded and unlocked a cage. “In!” one barked, shoving her inside.

  Doria stumbled into the cell, falling to her knees on the hard stone. She turned as the door was slammed shut behind her. The two guards, satisfied with their work, departed. Laughing and shoving each other as they returned to their duties, leaving Doria alone among the wretched slaves.

  She slouched on the hard ground with a defeated sigh. She wiped away a few errant tears and settled down to wait, whatever may come. Jax would come for her, she was sure. He was her master, after all, and he desired her. Enough so he hadn’t bred her yet.

  She wondered at Mina. Such a strange young woman. Willing to give up everything she’d had to bend to a monster like Ghostheart. Betraying her very humanity for the monster she called her master. Doria’s mind lingered on the other woman’s consciousness of her own fate. That she was aware of what had happened to her, and yet still was willing to endure it. Happy to, in fact. Eager to breed out her own race, growing heavy with the orc’s mighty young. Her breasts milky and large. It had been love Doria had seen in the former noble’s eyes. No. Not love. Something beyond it. Something strange that Doria had never seen before.

  She set her chin in her palm, her thoughts turning to Jax. She felt a tingle race down her spine and deep into her core at the memory of the powerful minotaur. His thick muscles, his body scarred with wounds from the savage life that had produced such a masterful specimen of maleness. She thought of the nights since he had taken her from her home. How she had kneeled between his legs, sucking on his cock, his thick, virile seed oozing down her throat. How she guzzled his cum and stroked herself to orgasm atop his pillar of a cock. How his huge fingers had filled her cunny, stretching her around him, bringing her to a trembling, moaning peak.

  Her hand slid down her thighs, a finger sliding up and down her damp cunny. Was it… really so wrong to desire such a creature? True, he and his kind had destroyed her world. Slaughtered or enslaved everyone she knew. But that was the tale across the empire. Istanov was being crushed beneath the wheel of the monster. What was her fate in such a world? Had she a place?

  Well… perhaps she did. Not the one she expected. But a new place. One at the foot of a monster. Her belly swollen with his spawn. Her hands caressing his mighty leg with adoration. She imagined the scene. Her, naked, her bottom branded as Mina’s had been, her mons burning with the sign of the eye. The evidence of her breeding at the minotaur’s hands. She shivered in a strange delight, her finger slickening as she stroked her growing dampness. She pictured Jax standing above her, his hand on her head, her naked curves bared to the world as she serviced her new master.

  “Gods,” she breathed. Panted. Her finger continuing to stroke herself. Was it so wrong to want that? To be a monster’s slave? His thrall? If that was to be her fate, then would it be so wrong to want a monster who valued her? Who wanted her to give in? To willingly become his? Was that truly so horrible to desire? She imagined his thick musk, a scent that seemed to linger around her, so often had she been pressed against him. His thick, bestial cock. His knowing hands on her soft curves.

  A shadow blocked the light. She looked up, startled, and gasped in horror.

  Glowing eyes looked through the bars of the cage. A muzzle opened, baring jagged teeth. Doria snatched her hand away from her slickened pussy, staring at the creature she now knew so well.

  The monster turned to the guard. “Open it,” he said, his voice a rasping whisper.

  “Urgo know can’t do that,” the guard grunted.

  “Who will know?” Urgo asked in that soft, hissing voice of his. “No one but this one and you. And I could make it worth it. Only a night. I only take tonight.”

  “Auction tomorrow. Can’t give.”

  Urgo hissed, a long tongue flicking along his jagged teeth. “I have slave,” he said softly. “I can let have.”

  The guard laughed. “Know what Urgo slave like. Me not want.”

  Urgo again clicked his tongue. “Then…”

  Urgo’s hand rose, and gold shone in his claws. The orc guard’s eyes brightened in interest. His tusked mouth split in a grin. “Mmm,” the orc said, taking the gold eagerly. “Then, only for few hours. No fuck in pussy. Women needed for auction.”

  Urgo flicked his tongue along his teeth. “We see…”

  Keys clicked in the lock as the guard opened the door. The women in the cage moaned and shrank back before the shaggy creature as he stepped inside. Doria stared up at Urgo, feeling again every one of his hungry stares at her on that long march not so long ago. How he stalked her like a wolf in the woods, never quite daring to challenge her protector.

  But things were different now.

  Urgo loped towards her. She could smell his rank stench. Like something were rotting. His shaggy hair swayed about his head, his glowing eyes fixed on her with a terrible purpose. Hungry with lust for her gentle curves. She shuddered, heart hammering.

  He grabbed her arm, yanked her towards him. He grinned down at her and his tongue slithered out, stroking her cheek. “Good slut,” the monster rasped.

  She winced at the foul touch of the monster. She tried to pull away but his grip was relentless. She realized then, with a sense of dumb horror, what was happening. What the situation was. The creature had come to claim her. To make her his. And should he breed her…

  In a flash she remembered Tina. How she knelt at the creature’s feet. How her eyes, dim and empty, looked up at him as she lavished his cock with her tongue. How she cried out as she bounced on his lap, his shaft sloshing into her well fucked cunny, her skin littered in scratches and marks, her wails of ecstasy ringing out. Such a fate would be hers. Just as Mina said, so long as she was without a master, she would be preyed on by oth
er monsters.

  The realization of this stunned her for a moment, but too much had happened to her to allow it to last. She knew what she needed to do.

  “Ohhhh,” she moaned softly, pressing herself against the shaggy beast. “Oh master. Finally. You came for me.”

  Urgo leaned back, curious. “Hm?”

  “I’ve been waiting so long,” she said, sliding down his front, squatting before him, her ass parting and pussy fully bared. She touched his canine-cock, stroking the red flesh as it engorged. Hungry to breed her. Her stomach rolled with disgust, but she masked it as her hands slid up and down his pulsing shaft.

  “You want?” Urgo said with interest.

  “Oh yessss,” she sighed, stroking him faster, her hands soon slick with his pre as his cock rose to full mast. “I saw you watching me. I wanted you so badly. But Jax…” She choked on the name, a vision of the minotaur rising in her thoughts. His savage tenderness. His power. She swallowed back the memory, knowing if she wished to see him again, she needed to do this, no matter how shameful it would be. “Jax wouldn’t let me out of his sight. But I wanted you so badly, master,” she breathed, panting. “I wanted so badly to do… this…”

  She leaned forward, her lips parting, and she took his cock. Urgo groaned as her hot mouth engulfed his shaft, her soft lips sliding up and down his turgid cock as she sucked him. He was far from small, but again, not nearly as large as Jax. She pictured the minotaur’s potent cock, imagined it was that familiar slab of male virility between her lips. She moaned then, closing her eyes, finding it easier to run her tongue along the underside, her soft lips kissing the tip as she slid off before going back down again.

  Her hand slipped between Urgo’s legs, cupping his balls, rolling them in her hands as she gently massaged him towards his inevitable peak. The feral monster groaned, grasping her head. He suddenly slammed his hips forward, hilting his cock in her hot mouth. Doria gagged, but quickly adjusted to the rough fucking. Hollowing her cheeks, sliding up and down him, she needed him to cum. Massively. Powerfully. She needed to sate this monster before he thought to try and claim her pussy. To breed her and mark her forever as his.