“You’re up quite late,” Krathan noted. Anisa yelped in shock, blanching white and dropping her plate to the ground with a clatter. She looked down at the spilled food, back up at Krathan, and spun to flee back into the water. “Hey, stop! You’re going to hurt your neck!” Krathan shouted, grabbing Anisa’s leg by reflex. He regretted it instantly.
Anis’s head snapped back over her shoulder, her face twisted with terror. “Please, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disobey you! Please don’t kill me!” she blurted. She pulled away as Krathan let go of her, trying to jet away in the water before the whiplash of her leashed collar choked at her neck.
“I just warned you not to - !” Krathan bit his tongue before he could say anything else. He took deep breaths. He needed to calm down. Anisa was already scared of him normally. He couldn’t keep shouting at her. Not if he wanted to make any progress.
Krathan got down on his hands and knees, hoping his diminished stature would intimidate her less. Anisa had raised her field again, but it didn’t provide her much concealment. The pool was too shallow, and her bubble of electromagnetic distortion intersected with the sand of her enclosure to form a very visible halo of light. More than that, he could see where her leash led. He could hear her crying. Krathan cleared his throat.
“Anisa? Anisa, you’re hurting yourself. Stop,” he said, his voice as soft as he could manage. “Please stop.”
Anisa continued to sob. He could hear her whispering. Begging. Her words were too muddled for the translator to decipher, reaching his ears in that strange alien tongue of hers, but the tone told him everything he needed to know.
Krathan felt out Anisa’s body with his fingers and scooped her up into his arms, taking her back to the small shoreline of her enclosure. He sat down next to her and picked the jelly cubes off the sandy beach. Krathan took out a scalpel and carefully sliced away the parts dirtied by the sand before setting the cubes back into a neat pile on the tray.
Then he waited. It was something he had come to understand. When he was feeling angry or irritated, being bothered by someone else didn't make those emotions go away any faster. Before the advent of tissue printing, poking at a wound would just disrupt the healing process. He - had to do the same thing for Anisa, no matter how frustrated the waiting made him. No machine he wielded could repair the damage that had been done to her psyche. He could only wait and hope.
Anisa emerged from her protective bubble after a few minutes, the screen of light and shadow collapsing to reveal the squid beneath. Her face was even more of a mess than before, painted with tears and fluids. Krathan gave the tray a little nudge.
Anisa looked down at the tray, her eyes still haunted, before prostrating herself on the ground. “I’m so sorry, master! I - I was not trying to elude my duties, my master! I’m so sorry I wasn’t done with eating, I shall make sure to finish it even earlier tomorrow!” As if to display her commitment, Anisa grabbed the jelly cubes and crammed them into her mouth.
“Slowly, slowly,” Krathan said. “You’re going to choke.”
Anisa barely seemed to listen to him. She chewed, just enough to break up the cubes, and then swallowed everything in one go. She opened her empty mouth to him. “See, master? I am most grateful for your benevolence for allowing this pathetic slave to eat at all! For her pathetic performance, she is truly barely worthy of subsisting on your spent seed!”
“The food isn’t a reward, Anisa. It’s just the bare minimum of what you need to survive,” Krathan sighed, retrieving the empty tray. “Oh, right. Should I get you something else to eat tomorrow?”
Anisa blanched again. Her eyes were wide, her fingers digging into her legs. Her hands were a pair of trembling fists.
“You still think I’m testing you,” Krathan sighed. “I’m not. I promise I’m not. I - just want to know what I can do for you.”
The white didn’t drain from Anisa’s skin. She continued to stay with her palms and face pressed against the ground, trembling. Like she expected him to drop the facade at any moment. Like she was waiting for him to reveal that it was all a farce and that she had earned some horrible fate.
Krathan gently reached for Anisa and carefully lifted her off the floor. She was so small. She felt so frail. It made Krathan’s stomach turn to think of how much violence had been inflicted on the small body of his heitera. He sat up and set her down in his lap. Krathan spread Anisa’s tentacles, letting her limbs drape over his legs like a heavy blanket. He set one paw on the sprawl of tentacles.
Anisa was stiff. Her muscles were tense, hardened as far as her physiology would allow. Krathan carefully reached for his tablet and switched over to Anisa’s monitoring application. As he expected, the fear hormones were present around all of the probes installed in her body. There was not much for Krathan to do but wait, so he did just that. He sat back and waited, gently stroking Anisa’s body.
It didn’t take too long for her to soften. The fear readings coming from her were still quite high in objective metrics, but they declined far enough that she might actually be able to process what Krathan was saying. Anisa had instead become anxious. She kept stealing glances at him.
“When I was studying for my specialization at the Tarzalk Zoo, the first lesson the head veterinarian there taught us was the lesson about touch,” Krathan said. “Since we’re apex predators, just our presence is intimidating. The natural inclination, especially for the less intelligent species, unfit to be slaves, is fear towards us. That’s only natural. We have no way of effectively communicating with animals.”
Krathan spread his fingers, pressing down on Anisa’s stomach. Not enough to hurt her, but enough for her to feel his strength. “So the trick he taught us was to use touch,” Krathan said. “Words are cheap. It’s easy to lie with words. It’s much harder to lie with touch. It’s much harder to hide your intent, when the way you lay your paw on someone tells them what you want from them.”
Anisa turned her head, looking at him fully. She looked confused. Almost bewildered. She was not frightened, however. “Master?”
Krathan’s hand wrapped around Anisa’s side. His thumb pressed into the small of her back while his fingers pressed into her stomach. Firmly, but carefully. Not hard enough to strain her. “Am I hurting you, little squid?”
“N - no, Master,” Anisa whispered.
“Good. Because I don’t want to hurt you,” Krathan said, his fingers running up his heitera’s feminine curves. Anisa made a soft little noise as he flicked her nipple, sending a strong, hot pulse through his groin area. Krathan’s fingers went higher, towards Anisa’s collar. He undid the leash, setting the chain aside.
“It’s strange the kinds of things you end up remembering. It’s like I already know the right thing to do, deep down. I just couldn’t believe it could be so simple,” Krathan said, his paw sliding down to Anisa’s slender waist. Her trembling had stilled, and it seemed like her muscles were slowly coming unclenched. Krathan hugged her frail little body against his.
“I shouldn’t have kept you in here alone for so long. I’m going to the clinic, and I’m bringing you with me. I want you to sit in one place and come to me if you’re called, or if you need anything.”
Anisa nodded enthusiastically. “I - I shall not fail you!”
“Good,” Krathan breathed. He scooped Anisa up into his arms and rose. “Then let’s go.”
No word described the Empty Night quite as well as “ostentatious.” Each kthid battleship was a monument to their war machine. A temple to their martial might. A declaration of their supremacy. The Empty Night was a vessel that exemplified all those concepts, and then dared to declare itself greater than a ‘mere’ kthid warship.
Hand-crafted statues lined every major street, each officer lounge richly furnished, and even the quarters of the lowliest warriors were built like they belonged in the most luxurious of hotels. Grand fountains sat at the centers of roundabouts, natural marble and gold, a menagerie of slaves fastened in place. As sex slaves, yes, but also as decorations and as a statement. The Huntmaster’s dynasty was so wealthy that they could simply afford tens of thousands of slaves to use as nothing but unowned static decorations.
“Sena…I’m awake, right?” Selara asked, not even sure how serious she was being.
“I can slug you and see if that wakes you,” Sena responded, prompting the umbral to roll her eyes. “But no, Sel. That’s very real.”
“For a warship, this is…this is absurd,” Selara said.
“It’s Huntmaster Voerash’s warship,” Sena said, almost bemused. “Careful, Sel. These tunnels are all credentials gated. Don’t get too close if you don’t want to be explaining to your master why you’re skulking around in the high district.”
“He’d find out anyway,” Selara said, “but point taken.”
As the hallways ended and opened out into the high district, lush vegetation sprawled. Selara had to shade her eyes against the nearly blinding brightness as she looked out into a scene lifted straight from a storybook, or perhaps the dreams of an overzealous architect.
Gentle hills rolled, dotted with grand mansions and manors of stone and plaster. Tiny cottages sprang up everywhere, likely connected to subterranean tunnels judging from how many arane entered and exited from those points. An actual river cut through the landscape, wide enough for sailboats to glide over the waters. It was a diorama, enclosed beneath the red glow of an artificial sky.
The hills rose up into peaks towards the center of the grand scene. Mansions began to sprout stone towers, crawling with vines. The mountain rose up and up, pulling away from the grand estates beneath, until it terminated in an absolutely gargantuan castle.
Selara didn’t need to be told that that castle belonged to the Huntmaster. Compared to the almost whimsical architecture below, the Huntmaster’s castle was a cubic slab. Flat on all four sides, and dotted with only the smallest of windows. It loomed above the rest of the fantasy city like an alien spaceship. Even amongst the high officers, the hierarchy was reinforced and exemplified.
Selara looked to Sena, getting the woman’s attention. How do we find her?
Sena shugged. No plan. Improvise, she mouthed. Selara frowned.
They should have discussed this matter far sooner. Selara was always amazed by the Faliran hivemind, but it was like Sena’s natural-born abilities had spoiled the woman. Sena did try to communicate, but she also seemed to always assume Selara would just be able to read her mind and know what she was thinking.
Selara looked out across the landscape. Though the scenery was fanciful, the cruelty of the ship’s masters was everywhere. Near the tunnel Selara was hiding in was what seemed like a fancy restaurant. Kthid sat at tables, attended to by slaves beneath the table. Though the too-thick cocks were brutal in the throats of every single slave species Selara could see, the women still worked the shafts at an absolutely zealous pace.
The serving staff of the restaurant seemed to be kthid. That surprised Selara, until she saw the kthid wheel out one of the ‘dishes’. Nude slaves laid supine on gigantic plates, pinned down by restraints, as food was placed atop their bodies.
Fruits were placed in mouths, cuts of meat placed across soft thighs or over the flat of the bellies. Soup bowls set between generous breasts. Wings were a favorite, with umbrals, corvids, winged falirans and harriers finding their wings used like fleshy trays. The food was often blisteringly hot as well, judging from how the girls yelped and writhed as the dishes were laid atop their helpless forms. Once the meal was done, the clientele pulled off the restraints and raped the slaves. Perhaps that was their idea of dessert.
In a nearby park, dozens of slaves were lined in stocks. Nearly as many kthid crowded around them, thrusting into the helpless women. A pair of corvids were flapping their wings frantically, the chains around their feet stopping them from escaping. A small group of hollering kthid stood below them with electrified whips in hand, occasionally yanking at the chains. The birds flapped their wings zealously, but eventually they would tire and fall to the vicious pack below.
Selara averted her eyes, feeling more than a little nauseous. She turned to Sena. No idea where she is?
Sena shook her head. Selara sighed, and turned her eyes back towards the vicious vista before her.
Gathering information had gone very well. Able to tap directly into the network system of the Empty Night from Anisa’s cage, Selara found more information in a single day than she would have in years of wandering the Night’s grim hallways. Armories, fortifications, hangar bays, and even escape pod locations. Selara had studiously committed as much as she could to memory.
Sena was able to supplement that. Patrol routes, kthid haunts, the numbers of kthid entering and exiting sensitive areas like the hangar control rooms, the mainframes, the electrical and network hubs and the surveillance centers. Information that didn’t seem to be publicly available on the Night’s mainframe, but which could be easily gathered from the faliran slaves who lived throughout the ship.
But there was an area neither method could capture. The vet’s devices didn’t have the credentials to remotely access the high officer’s district of the ship. Sena encountered a firewall of a different sort. The falirans who were used as heitera and ornaments in the high district were all routinely injected with a drug that silenced their telepathy.
It wasn’t an unsolvable problem. Selara knew the solution. She just didn’t like it. She turned to Sena.
The cook, Selara mouthed. Really need her?
Need eyes on ground, Sena responded simply. Talk about this already.
Selara frowned. Risky.
Sena sighed. No other way.
Sena was right, of course, but that didn’t mean Selara was happy. Just finding a way to escape would likely prove an arduous task, never mind infiltrating the core of the Huntmaster’s domain. There was no other choice, however, unless they wanted to risk getting turned to dust by the terran point defense systems.
Cook, Selara mouthed. Can be trusted?
Sena gave her a flat look. Just asking now?
Selara returned the look. Is important.
Don’t worry. Is alone. No friends. No master, Sena said. Nothing sure, but low risk.
Having no master was good. If she began behaving weirdly, there wouldn’t be a kthid who’d know her well enough to notice it. It also meant that she was less likely to leak the plan. Without a master, hopefully she wouldn’t be trying to earn anyone’s favor.
As much as Selara hated to admit it, the cook’s pariah status was even better. It meant the plans wouldn’t be leaked in a slip of the tongue, or as gossip.
Wait at entrance then? Selara asked. Until cook comes? The castle’s interior was a black box to her at the moment, but she had the adjacent tunnels more or less memorized. Only one of them led directly into the castle, and it was at the very base of the artificial mountain.
Already in castle, probably, Sena said.
Selara sighed. More time spent waiting then. The endlessly repeating days of torture and humiliation beneath Master Avraks had passed at a glacial pace, but now, with a deadline ahead, every moment felt like it was rushing by. Each wasted minute was agony.
I find her. Selara said.
Sena’s eyes widened. Serious?
Can’t wait. Master find out anyways, Selara said. Will save time.
Fine. Good luck.
Selara turned to leave. She’d need to go back to one of the more central servant’s tunnels to get close to the Huntmaster’s keep.
“Hey, Sel. Can I have a moment?” Sena asked.
“Right now?”
“I’m not sure I’ll have the energy to give you this talk later,” Sena said, crossing her arms, “so yes, right now.”
Selara sighed. Hearing Sena out was probably going to be faster than trying to fight her on this. “Alright,” Selara said, “but please keep this brief.”
The two walked back down the slope of the tunnel. There weren’t any real chambers within the network of sprawling roads, but there were corners and bends that provided some measure of privacy. Selara settled into one such area, turning to face Sena.
“You’ve been spending time with the vet,” Sena said.
Selara nodded. “I’m not sure what you want to know,” she said. “We don’t talk much. He mostly drops in to check on Anisa, and then leaves me to take care of her.”
“Well, what do you think of that?” Sena asked. “What’d you think of him? You have an opinion, right?”
Selara couldn’t help but feel disoriented. The question felt not just odd, but out of nowhere. Sena looked deathly serious, though, so Selara tried her hardest to think.
“Well, he hasn’t raped me. He hasn’t tortured me either, even though Master Avraks let him know he could,” Selara said. It was - strange. Not every kthid raped her, obviously, but that was mostly because they either had something else to do or already had a poor slave impaled on their cock. Selara had spent hours advising the vet on Anisa’s care, and much of that in his quarters. He’d never so much as laid a paw on her. “He also seems worried about Anisa. I - didn’t know a kthid could do that.”
“What?” Sena asked. “Care about a slave?”
“Yeah. It wasn’t something I thought they were capable of,” Selara said. “At best, they think of slaves like…tools, whose pain doesn’t matter when they want pleasure. Usually they’re more like Master Avraks or your master.”
“But the vet isn’t.”
Selara nodded slowly. “He’s like that with his patients too,” she said. “He doesn’t rape them, as far as I can tell anyway, and uses anesthetics. He’s harsh, and gets angry at them, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him directly causing any of them pain.” The vet’s conduct would have gotten him run out of any medical job back on Penumbra, but the fact that Selara was even comparing him to actual medical professionals spoke volumes.
“I didn’t know kthid could be like that. I didn’t know they could be so…normal,” Selara said. “I don’t like him, but I - I don’t think I hate him either.”
“First kthid you didn’t hate?”
Selara nodded. Sena stepped back, leaning against the wall. She crossed her arms, looking at the floor. Trying to decide, it seemed, whether she wanted to speak up.
“He isn’t the only one, is he?” Selara asked. “There are more like him.”
“Oh yeah, plenty. Kthid have all kinds of relationships with their slaves,” Sena said. “Hell, I even know a few.”
“What?” Selara frowned. “Why didn’t you ever say anything?”
“Why would I? It’s not like it’d make things better for you,” Sena said. “What’s the point of pining for a better master when yours is pouring acid over your face?” Selara tried her best to force the image from her mind.
“I guess I just would have liked to know,” she said, turning away.
Kthid were monsters. That’s how Selara had always understood them. The ones who had genocided her people, who kept what remained of the umbrals in a state of constant suffering. Creatures without sympathy or compassion. Her enemies. They lived only to rape and torment, and she would destroy them without mercy. That was how things were supposed to be.
The vet - he was a person. Unpleasant, rude, and owned her dear friend as a slave, but he was a person. That was important, wasn’t it? That changed things. Watching him, Selara could see that the vet was anxious and unhappy. He cringed when he saw slaves in pain. If she was convincing enough, could he be convinced to -
“Sel I know what you’re thinking,” Sena said sharply.
“Congratulations,” Selara replied, and Sena rolled her eyes.
You want him to help us, the faliran mouthed. Looking her in the eye, Selara nodded.
All the targets they’d laid out for recruitment were valuable, but to have a kthid on their side? It would mean access to biometric locks wherever they existed. It would mean getting into locations a slave couldn’t possibly hope to access. It might mean actual weapons. The kind that could reliably kill a kthid. If she could convince the vet to help them -
“You remember what I said about hope?” Sena asked, “and about how that’s just going to get you hurt?”
“Trust me,” Selara said, “you’ve said that a couple times. But - ”
“There’s thousands of them, you know? Hundreds of thousands,” Sena said. “Just on this ship alone.”
“That can't be right,” Selara muttered. “I’ve never met one before that's remotely like the vet.”
“Well, that ain’t that surprising,” Sena said. “None of them are up here, wandering about on the main street. They’re elsewhere.”
Selara’s eyes widened. “The casteless.”
“You catch on real quick,” Sena laughed. “Thought I’d need to drop a few more crumbs.”
“I’d rather you were quick about it.”
“Yeah, yeah. I know,” Sena said. “Ever wondered why the higher ranked a kthid is, the more of an irredeemable fuckwit they are?”
“It just seemed natural I guess, the more…preeminent kthid being perfect examples of the species,” Selara said. “But I never thought about the opposite: the lowest on the ladder being everything the rest of the empire hates.”
“Yeah you got it,” Sena said. “Incompetence, genetic ‘defects’, and sympathy for slaves. Three things that get any aspiring kthid on the express route to the casteless slums.”
Selara laid her hand on her stomach. The pregnancy was progressing rapidly, her belly noticeably swollen. Sena frowned.
“‘Kay, can’t say I know what you’re thinking there, Sel.”
“Master Avraks’s first child,” Selara said thoughtfully, tracing fingers over her belly. “He was made casteless.”
“Sel, you’re doing the thing I’m warning you not to,” Sena said. “Stop it.” She leaned forwards. “Kthid are still kthid. That vet? Seems like a stand-up guy, as far as kthid go. Treats slaves okay. But if your master’s torturing you, you think he’d step up?” Selara thought for a moment.
“He speaks up when an injury would endanger a slave’s life,” she said. “When a master does something that could permanently harm or kill a slave, he intercedes.”
“Okay, sure. But let’s say your master is torturing you and it isn’t something dangerous, like using those floodlights on your face or something,” Sena said, waving her hand. “You think he’d try to stop your master?”
Selara drew her lips into a thin line. “No.”
Sena nodded. “Most of the casteless? Even the okay ones? They want their own slave as well. Kthid and slaves? We ain’t one people. Sure, they won’t like it if they see someone else abusing a slave, but they ain’t exactly gonna put eyes on their backs making noise about it. It’s good that the vet doesn’t rape you. He’s my pick for the spot to go to get patched up as well, but he ain’t an ally. None of them are,” Sena said. “You see a slave species? That’s a genocide they sat through and did nothing. Whether they can’t or won’t don’t matter a great deal. They ain’t our allies.”
“Yeah,” Selara sighed. “Yeah, we’re on our own here.”
Sena nodded, putting a hand on Selara’s shoulder. “You should go,” she said, and then mouthed Cook leaving soon.
Selara nodded, leaving without another word. She walked down the sloping tunnel, reaching an intersection, and headed down the widest path she came across. She wasn’t quite sure if it was the way to the castle and the signage was not helping, but the direction looked mostly right and the path was busy enough with slaves and drones that it probably wouldn’t take her too far off-course.
There wasn’t a time before when Selara had thought about the kthid that grew in her belly. Once the birth was over, inevitably prolonged and agonizing with minimal medical intervention and without anesthetics, she didn’t think about it until another spawn took root in her womb. Selara slowed, hand cradling the swell in her stomach.
Where was her master’s -- where was her firstborn child now? Was he already dead, killed during a kthid raid into the territory of another genocided people, or was he still down there somewhere, in the dark catacombs? Had he grown up into a decent, or perhaps even good, adult? Could he even do that?
Or was the vet as good as a kthid could get? Just another observer, only able to look on disapprovingly and impotently as the rest of their civilization took all the beauty and splendor of the universe and burned it all on the altar of rape, pillage, and cruelty.
Trees hurtled past Tehou as she sprinted as quickly as her legs would carry her, weaving between the branches. The foliage wore thin this low to the ground. The branches were thin, twisted, sharp. They raked Tehou as she sprinted past, clawing at her. Digging under her feathers and opening shallow wounds. Tehou’s entire body burned from the pain of those countless tiny cuts.
She staggered as her talons caught on a tree root. Tehou spun her hips as her upper body lurched towards the ground, getting her legs beneath her just in time. With her wings bound up with tight metal wires and her hands cuffed behind her back, she had to fight to keep her balance.
Agony burned across Tehou’s back as she was struck in the shoulder, the pain like every last one of her feathers was being uprooted. Tehou screamed in pain and fury, hurling herself into a mad sprint. Arrow-fast projectiles hurtled past her head, exploding into showers of sparks as they smashed into the trees.
“I hit her!” a slave’s voice screamed.
“Where is she!” a different voice screamed back.
“Over here! Quickly! She’s getting away!”
Tehou clenched her fists, twisting her head to look over her shoulder. Through the shifting foliage, she spotted three bodies sprinting after her. A pair of bugs and the dark-skinned horned freaks, almost as nude as she was. They held bulky guns, the ends of the barrels glowing red as they leveled the weapons in shaky hands.
Tehou dropped, the next shell whizzing by so closely that she could feel it ruffle her wing feathers. The guns were new. Some kind of modified stun rounds, but ones that did not instantaneously down their victim. The rounds instead inflicted extreme agony, followed by numbness. Tehou couldn’t feel her shoulder anymore. She could barely feel her left leg, and that hit must have happened at least an hour ago.
A branch raked across Tehou’s exposed tit as she ran, forcing new tears to her eyes. Her head snapped around as she ran, her eyes trying to pick through the thick forest and growing angrier by the moment. She shouldn’t be this lost! She’s seen the grounds around the Huntmaster’s palace a thousand times.
Unfortunately for Tehou, the landscape just looked completely different from the air. Down here, between the trees, she was lost. They could have dropped her down onto an alien world and the effect would be the same.
More explosions. Mostly behind her, but more and more often whizzing past her body. Tehou tried to weave and duck between the trees to cut off their firing lines, but the shells were getting steadily closer to hitting her. Looking over her shoulder, Tehou confirmed what she feared. The hunting slaves were gaining on her.
There was a dense thicket to her left. Tehou spun around and sprinted towards it. She leapt over the thick brambles bordering the cluster, trying to twist her bound wings into something resembling a glider, and landed at a sprint. The shouting of the hunting group continued to hound her. Tehou jumped into a hollow in a tree’s roots before ducking low, pushing herself up against the tree.
“Where did she go!”
“She couldn’t have gone far! Move out and find her!”
Light was scarce this deep into the forest, trickling down like a light drizzle of reddish-gold. Tehou’s dark feathers worked to further disguise her. Against the gnarled bark of the tree, she would be little more than another uneven feature along the trunk.
Tehou looked around the corner, watching the hunter slaves running toward her. She bent her leg back, her knee against her chest, as she picked out a branch that was about face level and bent it back with her talon. Tehou closed her eyes and listened. For the rustling of leaves, the heavy footfalls, and the cursing and yelping as brambles raked exposed skin.
Step, step, step, and -- Tehou let go, the cracking whip of the branch immediately followed by a scream of pain. Tehou had struck one of the faliran right in the face, catching her in the eye. The faliran staggered away clutching her face, screaming in pain.
Tehou lunged forwards in the confusion. She went for the other faliran first, raking the woman’s leg and forcing her down to her knee. The mirucain screamed, trying to bring the gun around to her. Tehou lunged up and headbutted the faliran as the mirucain fired, knocking the bug into the line of fire. The armored woman screamed as the barrage struck her back.
The mirucain spun around as Tehou lunged for her. Tehou wove around the mirucain’s shot easily. The cow was clearly a novice with the firearm; Tehou was absolutely right to save her for last. The mirucain screamed as Tehou raked her talons across her fingers, nearly severing the digits.
The bulky gun wrenched at the cow’s mutilated digits as it dropped, dragging the screaming slave down. Tehou spun around and kicked the woman across the face, forcing out a new scream as her clawed nails cut lines from chin to forehead. The attack also caused the small camera mounted on the mirucain’s head to drop to the ground.
Tehou’s eyes swept over the downed slaves, two clutching their faces and one paralyzed on the ground. “Pathetic,” Tehou growled, crushing the camera beneath her foot.
More shouting. Voices, calling and returning. There were at least five distinct voices, but the rumble of footfalls spoke of four or five times that number. Tehou cursed. Was she the only target left in this forsaken forest? Tehou spun around and ran as fast as she could, the sound of pursuers already echoing in the woods behind her.
While the weapons had changed a great deal, the game wasn’t new. It was a hunt, though with a twist. Something different for the kthid fucks to get their kicks.
Nine of the most famously dangerous slaves on the Empty Night had been rounded up and restrained, to make things more ‘fair’, before being set loose into the forest. Hunters, heitera of the contestants, were then set on the trail of the nine, with cameras atop their heads and their master’s commands to guide them. It was a team hunting game, with the bodies of the ship’s most valuable heitera as the prize.
Tehou leapt between tree roots, trying not to trip and drop into the gaps as she gasped frantically for air. It wasn’t just the accumulating wounds. It was her legs, burning from the endless marathon. It was her lungs, each breath feeling increasingly like she was breathing from an exhaust pipe.
A break in the trees. Tehou got ready to sprint away from the clearing and back into the safety and clutter of the forest until she caught herself. Water. Rushing. Tehou’s ankle almost sprained as she veered around, running towards the light; towards the ledge.
Tehou hurled herself over the lip of the clearing. Her wings screamed as they reflexively strained to open, only managing to make the wires dig deeper into her skin. Tehou landed in a roll, her bare body scattering pebbles and splattering mud as she tumbled down the slope towards the rushing stream.
The shouting drew closer. Tehou twisted her leg around and halted her roll before kicking up off the ground and sprinting back the way she came. The stream had eaten away at the dirt, leaving the sprawling roots of the trees almost like the ceiling beams of a building. Tehou jumped into the biggest hole she could find and burrowed. The dirt collapsed down as she wriggled in deeper and deeper, moist black dirt falling down over her glossy black feathers.
Tehou froze as her pursuers drew close, so close that she could feel their footsteps on the ground above her. She twisted around, her back against a tree root, as she worked her talons beneath the blanket of dirt in hopes of disguising the telltale yellow.
“Where the hell is she?”
“She came this way! Keep looking, she can’t have gone far!”
“Spread out! Quickly!”
Tehou’s fingers dug into her palms as she forced herself not to curse. Her heart raced even faster as, through the small tunnel through the roots and dirt, she could see hunters drop down into the streambed. Through the hole, she watched hunter after hunter pass by, guns in their hands.
There were more that Tehou can’t see. She could hear their voices and their footsteps, feel their trudging through the dirt all around her.
Everything hurt. Tehou had thought giving her body a rest would have helped, but burying herself only meant she no longer had her mad dash through the forest to distract her. Her legs groaned and her soles were blistered from the running, and her wings and arms aggressively ached in their restraining binds. The dirt pressing against her open wounds didn’t help either.
“How did she get away?! We were right behind her!”
“I don’t know!”
“Stop talking and keep searching! You know what happens if we can’t get a catch before the game ends, right!?”
Tehou’s face twisted into a silent snarl. Worthless whores, running around at their master’s bidding. Did they have no shame? They were all going to get tortured and raped anyways, that was never going to change! And yet the empty-headed sluts still groveled to the kthid bastards. Pathetic.
“But her tracks end here! Look!”
Tehou froze. A chill ran like ice under her skin. One of the hunters, an umbral woman with shaded goggles and her wings bound in a restrictive sleeve, stopped right in front of Tehou’s tunnel. She pointed at the ground with the muzzle of her gun.
“Seems to have slipped,” A faliran muttered, looking around, “but I don’t see her anywhere.”
“The tracks end by the stream.”
“You don’t think she ran downstream, do you?”
The faliran cursed. “Quickly! Find her before she gets away again!”
The hunting party took off, their footsteps quickly lost in the gurgling of the stream. Tehou allowed herself to breathe again, her breaths painful hisses, but remained where she was. The pain in her lungs and legs had subsided to a dull throbbing ache, but experience told her it wouldn’t go away anytime soon.
So what should she do now? The slaves clearly didn’t have the same tracking skill as kthid hunters, or they wouldn’t have missed her hiding spot. Their kthid controllers also didn’t seem to have Tehou’s location, or they would have redirected the slaves to her. She knew that information was out there somewhere, however, and that the ones running the hunting game wouldn’t allow her to just remain here and wait out the proceedings.
Pain lashed Tehou like whips as she began to forcefully shuffle her way out from the burrow. Her skin felt tight, stretching over the muscle with every move. She rose to unsteady feet as she emerged from the hole, her muscles still groaning even after the pause. Tehou wished she had her hands free to wipe away the dirt covering her body.
Turning around, she began to climb. The soft dirt and mats of moss made for easy purchase for her talons, but her aching muscles made the climb harder than it should have been. Her entire body was wracked by trembling by the time Tehou managed to climb back into the thick forest. There was no time to rest, however. Tehou forced one leg in front of the other as she jogged up towards a sprint.
“Hey!” A voice called down from above. Tehou’s head snapped up.
There was a faliran up in the trees, perched on a thick branch. Her glasslike wings were spread wide behind her, almost invisible in the twilight beneath the canopy, and she held a long stick in her hand like a staff. The hell was that? Flyers weren’t allowed during the hunts, and all the hunters had stun guns. None of that was as disconcerting as the bug’s facial expression, however. She was smiling. At Tehou.
Tehou growled. She didn’t have a camera on her head, so she didn’t seem like one of the hunters, but Tehou did not like the way that woman was looking at her. Everything about the faliran set her on edge.
“Who the hell are you!” Tehou snarled.
“I’ve heard a lot about ya, and I came here to see you myself,” the bug said, dropping off the tree. Her wings buzzed to life as she fell, slowing her plunge into a gentle hover as she settled onto the ground. “Don’t worry about the rest, mind. They’re running rings. Let’s talk quicklike. We don’t got much time.”
Well the faliran wasn’t a hunter at least. Tehou marched up to the woman, forcing her shoulders straight and her breathing towards something resembling normal. It was agonizing, but she certainly wasn’t going to show any weakness in front of this cockroach.
“Not interested,” Tehou said curtly. “I don’t know you and you don’t know me either, but get in my way and I’ll claw your damn eyes out.” Tehou strode towards the faliran, intending to just march past her. The bug brought the staff down on the dirt, blocking her path. She snarled, glaring at the smug bitch.
“You’re that Onyx Wraith, ain’tcha?” the insect said. “We can help each other.”
Tehou’s eyes narrowed. Just from the faliran’s physique, and the slightly defensive stance the woman was adopting even now, Tehou could tell that this weirdo was a fighter. Normally she’d have dropped this bug bitch and been on her way; a slave she didn’t recognize from the ring wasn’t usually a concern. In her condition, though, she wasn’t so sure of her odds.
But his fucking bug wouldn’t leave her alone. She’d barely managed to stay ahead of the hunters, and they were all forced to stay on the ground like her. There was no way she could outrun a flier, especially through a muddy forest. The cunt probably knew it as well, judging from the smirk she was wearing.
“I’m going to count to ten,” Tehou growled. “Then I’m ripping off your face. One. Two.”
“This'll take like ten secs.”
“Three. Four.”
“Hear me out, it’ll be faster than arguing.”
“Five.” Tehou attacked, kicking straight for the bug’s head.
The bug yelped, pulling back as Tehou’s claws grazed her cheek. Tehou dropped and spun, earning a proper scream this time as her talons sliced across the faliran’s leg like knives. She twisted up and leapt to her feet, her beleaguered body screaming at her, and throwing another kick at the faliran’s head.
The faliran rolled, twisting away as Tehou’s talons came slicing down. Tehou moved to attack again, but the bug went for her leg and tore her foot off the ground. Tehou’s wings strained reflexively as she tried to preserve her stance, but her limbs could only scream as the metal wires dug deeper and she fell.
Tehou spun around, folding her knees and yanking her weight towards the Faliran. The woman was on all fours, about to jump to her feet, as Tehou hooked her leg around the woman’s arm, threw her body across the bug’s back to stop the woman from getting up, and flexed her leg to wrench that insect’s arm out of her socket.
Stars flooded Tehou’s eyes as the faliran’s wings buzzed violently, striking her face repeatedly. It felt like she’d stuck her beak into an industrial fan. The faliran slipped free and raced away with a buzz of her wings. Tehou rolled back and swung her legs around, jumping to her feet and leaping after the bug.
The staff caught Tehou right in the side, knocking the wind out of her. The next moment felt like she was struck by lightning, every nerve in her body flashing white hot with pain, as all the injuries she had been ignoring came crashing down on her at once. Tehou gagged as she collapsed to her knees and doubled over. She retched, but nothing came out but spit.
“Quickly! It’s coming from over there!”
Tehou’s eyes snapped wide. She couldn’t see anything through her tears, but she could hear the approaching crowd. Dark forest. Full of little gaps. Loud footfalls, like a barrage of thunder. Tehou gasped, gasped, and gasped again.
No, no, nononono NO! They were coming for her! She was going to get caught again! She tried to force her body to stand up, to run, but it refused to obey. It was just like that day. Her face covered in dirt and dust. Her body unable to move, unable to do anything as she was finally caught.
The hunting party spread out as they moved over the forest floor. There were over two dozen of them, mostly faliran but with a good number of umbrals, corvids, harries, and llorians mixed in. All of the women looked injured, some more than others, with bleeding scratches crisscrossing all visible skin.
“Where is she?” A frantic corvid demanded.
“The transponder says she’s nearby,” the faliran, the one leading the group, growled. Judging from her taller build, some kind of commander. “Spread out! She couldn’t have run far.”
The hunters did just that. Jogging through the underbrush, trying their best to avoid running into the bushes and the brambles and sharp branches that hid there. The group soon swept over the area and moved on, making a direct line towards where they seemed to think Tehou was.
Tehou watched it silently from the trees. Made to lie on her belly across the hard branch, her breathing had to fight against not just the pain but also the weight of her body. She wasn’t going to fucking beg to be moved though. She just craned her neck, looking back at the bug, who was now pulling herself out of the gap in the tree trunk that she’d hidden in.
“Why did you help me?” Tehou snarled.
“Told you, didn’t I?” The faliran asked. “Not here for a scrap. Just here to make an offer, one I think you’ll be taking.”
“What the fuck do you want then?” Tehou snarled.”Who the hell are you?”
“Me? Oh, no one special.” The bug smirked, her scarlet eyes almost sparkling. “Just the one who’s gonna help you get back at your master.”
The pain was gone, but the filth lingered.
Sky was curled up in the little gap between two support frames, trying to keep her sobbing quiet. Her cooking tray sat next to her silently. Her recent wounds had closed up, but both the blood and the dried cum continued to cling to her body. Even now, her pussy and ass continued to ooze a wretched filth onto the floor between her legs.
Her next destination was already on the screen, but Sky wasn’t moving towards it. She could say it was because the next appointment was over an hour away and she didn’t want to wait outside the door and get raped by any kthid who recognized her and had some free time, but that would be a lie. She was just tired. So very tired.
Hundreds of arane were on the move, entering and leaving the kitchen area. Arane grew up quickly and rarely lived long, meaning that for most of them, seeing the haggard, pathetic, broken llorian crying outside the kitchen was probably almost as familiar a sight as the kthid themselves. They mercifully spared her their staring.
Sky was used to going unnoticed. She preferred it that way. She had become notable only twice in her life. The first time arguably was even worse than what she was now: a traitor and a butcher that no kthid would even take as a heitera. Even that has become unexceptional with time. She was just another piece of torture in the endless mosaic of kthid cruelty. When she died, whether from exhaustion or injury or just giving up, she would likely go unnoticed.
That scared her most of all.
She’d never met her mother. Her father was dead. She’d never had any friends. All that remained of her would be memories of a traitorous, cowardly llorian. She’d be remembered for the invasion, when she’d lost one of her people’s few, irreplaceable ships to the kthid who would become her master. For, in the one time people had depended on her, letting everyone down. Sky sobbed.
It might have been better if Sky was never born at all. Ever since she had come into existence, she had only made things worse for everyone. When she died, she would have been a negative contribution to the universe.
Perhaps that was why she hadn’t just rid the world of herself yet. Why she was so scared. She couldn’t bear to give up when she hadn’t managed to do a single good thing for the world. The realization only made her feel worse. Was she still so arrogant? Had she learnt nothing?
“Hello. You’re the cook, right?”
Sky yelped, her eyes snapping up. There was an umbral in front of her. The woman’s body was marred by countless piercings, mostly rings with bells hanging from them, and her wide wings were bound behind her by wires. She was statuesque despite it. The umbral loomed, her physique sculpted and imposing.
“Please - please leave me alone,” Sky managed to whisper. “I don’t know you.”
She didn’t know this umbral, right? Plenty of kthid ate their ‘prey’, but she had never been called on to cook anything but llorian. Unless this umbral was a friend of a llorian Sky had cooked, and was here for revenge on her friend’s behalf.
Sky began to tremble. She - she needed to be elsewhere. But where could she run? If the umbral had found her this time, couldn’t she be found again just as easily? Wouldn’t she just be delaying the inevitable? Sky felt like there were boulders in her stomach. Perhaps this was it. Her way out from the humiliation and the suffering. The one she was too afraid to take. Perhaps she could be fine with that.
“Please don’t hurt me!” Sky blurted out before she could stop herself, “I’m sorry I hurt your friend! Please, I had no other choice. They made me!” It turned out Sky couldn’t even do this right. She could just…let it happen, and now-
“My - friend?” The umbral woman looked genuinely confused. Shaking her head a bit, she stepped closer.
Sky stiffened as she felt the woman approach. Her heart was pounding hard in her chest, and her entire body felt like a spring, yet she couldn’t bring herself to even try to run. Instead she held still until the woman settled down next to her.
“I’m sorry,” Sky repeated, burying her face in her knees. “Just - just don’t hurt me, please. I’m sorry I’m a coward. I - I’m sorry I’m so afraid. I -- I don’t want to die! I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry too.”
The words hit Sky like a splash of cold water, enough to make her look up, eyes wide, and turn towards the umbral. The woman stared straight ahead, her eyes smoldering quietly. She was angry, Sky could tell that, but she wasn’t angry at Sky. The woman’s expression changed to a tight smile as she turned back to face Sky again.
“I won’t pretend to know exactly what you’ve been through, or what you’re going through now,” the umbral said, “but I can see it’s bad. I realize I’m a stranger, and I can’t speak to your experience, but please know that I sympathize. We might not know each other, but one thing we all share here is pain.”
Sky stared blankly. Was - was she supposed to say something? Her heart was beating even faster than when one of the kthid was bearing down on her. She didn’t know what this was, she didn’t know how to deal with this, and she wanted to be elsewhere. Didn’t she want to be elsewhere?
“I heard your people gave the kthid some stiff pretty resistance, but I’m guessing there was a price for resistance. I’d imagine you lost friends and family in the invasion of your home.”
Sky stared. Oh, she was supposed to speak. Sky stuttered for a moment, her tongue feeling like it had tripled in size. “I - I don’t have any friends. Not even from before.”
“I’m very sorry to hear that,” The umbral said. There was pain in her eyes, hidden just beneath the thinnest of smiles. “When my parents were killed, it was my job to keep my little brother safe. I fought hard, alongside many heroic men and women, but I couldn’t save him. In the end, I had to watch…”
The umbral didn’t finish, but the anger had returned during that last part, seething like a fire behind her eyes. Perhaps it should have been frightening, yet Sky couldn’t tear her eyes away. She could only stare as the umbral turned her eyes to face Sky.
“Uh -- my - my father,” Sky said quickly. “I wasn’t there, but I saw his body.”
“I’m sorry to hear that too,” the umbral said. “I’m Selara, by the way. Do you have a name? I don’t want to call you by that disgusting little moniker they gave you.” Sky fumbled with her tongue.
“Scavenger of Sky - just Sky,” she said quickly, repeating the woman’s name in her head. Selara, Selara, Selara. She would not, must not, forget.
“Sky then. Very well,” Selara said. “It would have been nice if we could have met under better circumstances.
Sky nodded numbly. She realized the umbral’s skin was actually touching hers, despite the fact that her body was utterly smeared with countless patches of dried kthid cum. Sky found herself shrinking away, pulling tense to keep their skins from touching. To keep the filth on, and still in, her body from smearing this woman.
“The truth is I’m here because there’s something I need from you,” Selara said. “I’ve heard a lot about you, which is why I came looking for you.”
“You came to look for me?” Sky repeated back. “Ah - erm, are you hungry? Is your master starving you? I can get some of the food from the kitchen and bring it to you if you want.”
“It’s alright. I’m sufficiently fed, if nothing else,” Selara said. “As I understand it, you’re forced to entertain many of the high officers on this ship.”
“I - just anyone who rents time with me from the ship,” Sky said quickly.
“I see,” Selara sighed, her eyes narrowing. Like she was growing angry at what was happening to Sky. Umbrals were enslaved nearly a decade ago, weren’t they? How had this Selara managed to keep that fire for so long? “I want to hear about them, anything you can tell me. There’s a war going on outside and I’m deaf and blind to all of it. I want to change that.”
“Who do you want to hear about?”
“There are quite a few. All of the high officers are of interest to me,” Selara said, “but not right now. I’m waiting on a friend. She’s busy with something else right now and I want her to be able to hear what you have to say as well, to really listen.”
“Should I wait here then?” Sky asked. “Oh - I’m so sorry! I can’t, not today! I’ve been rented.”
“That’s alright. I know enough about you to know this is a very large inconvenience for you,” Selara said. “But we meet regularly, the others and I, once every three days. If you could find us, even if it’s for a few minutes at a time, I would be very grateful.”
“Of course! I’ll try to get to you as quickly as I can!” Sky whispered quickly. “Just tell me where to find you.”
Selara smiled at Sky. It was a beautiful smile, one that almost made Sky audibly whimper. “I am very happy that you’re so willing to help me. Thank you.” Selara said. “Now please don’t forget these directions. Time is short, and I’m not certain when I'll be able to come find you again.”
Sky nodded frantically, leaning in close. She listened closely, committing every word the umbral woman spoke to heart. Holding onto the syllables like they were her lifeline.
“You look a bit sleepy, so go lie down until the nanites deactivate. Minimize your movement for the next hour. If you need a drink, call for an arane to get it for you,” Krathan said, wiping down the printer head and putting the cap back onto the nozzle. “Does your arm still hurt? Any phantom pain?”
“No, my lord,” the llorian responded.
Krathan grunted, ”Good. I’ve used enough anesthetics on you already. I don’t want you developing a dependency and I don’t want you injuring yourself while you’re too numb to feel it. If the pain returns, call an arane. I taught them how to administer the painkillers recently so you don’t have to call for me. Don’t try to self-administer, you’ll just end up injuring yourself.”
“Of course, Sir,” the llorian said. Krathan frowned. He could see the llorian woman’s reflection on his screen. He frowned, looking over his shoulder. “Why are you staring at me?”
“It’s no - sorry, my lord. I have just noticed you’ve become a lot more talkative recently.”
Krathan narrowed his eyes, turning away.
“Oh - sorry, Sir,” she said quickly, cringing.
“You know the way to the infirmary,” Krathan said curtly. “Go.”
The llorian lowered her head, cradling her linked piercings to stop them from snagging as she shuffled away. Her flat tail slid behind her, the spines scraping softly against the metal edge of the bed as she slid off and hurried away. Krathan sat down in front of his workstation and turned the screen back on.
He frowned as he scrolled to his note-taking application. The llorian’s words sat at the edge of his mind like an unscratchable itch. Krathan quickly typed up the notes on the operation: crushed arm, multiple complete fractures. Amputation and reconstruction surgery went smoothly. Patient made fun of vet. He quickly removed that from the notes. Patient in good spirits. Compare with next appointment.
Krathan double-checked his schedule. He preferred to schedule meetings with his regular patients on his days off, that way he had all the time he wanted in case he needed to perform any surgeries, body scans, or draft a particularly wordy angry letter regarding the treatment of his patient.
There were more patients today, but they were both in the afternoon. Krathan checked the waiting room outside and then also walked out of his clinic entirely, glancing down the hallway. There were no slaves waiting for treatment. He returned to his office.
“Anisa?” he asked, glancing around.
Scampering. Krathan turned just in time to see Anisa’s veil tear away and for the little squid to scamper across the ground to kneel at his feet. He squatted down as she was lowering her body in a groveling prostration, lifting her off the floor and setting her on the table.
“Master Krathan, please. I beg of you,” Anisa whispered, her skin pale, “please spare that foolish slave your wrath.”
“What are you talking about?” Krathan blinked. “Oh. You meant the llorian.”
“Please! She shall learn her place in time, please just grant her mercy and clemency this once,” Anisa whispered, yelping as Krathan put his paw on her face. Krathan rubbed his pet’s face, stroked her head, wrapped his thick fingers around her skull and gave her a fond squeeze.
“You worry too much about the other slaves,” Krathan chuckled. “Especially considering the state you’re in.”
Anisa’s face lit up, blue returning to her skin. “Oh, laughter!” Anisa whispered, her beautiful little body trembling. “Are you not aggrieved by the insult, Master Krathan?”
“No I’m not. She’s right. I’ve noticed it myself, it just annoys me that my patients have started noticing it as well,” Krathan said, leaning in. Anisa whimpered and gasped as he gave her a long lick across her chest. His cephalian gasped, her eyelids fluttering. “It’s because of you, you realize.”
“M - master?” Anisa whispered.
“Yes. You, and her,” Krathan said, his scaly brow creasing.
It was concerning. Krathan knew he was getting less efficient, each patient taking up more of his time. He did try to return to his old pace, but it was increasingly difficult. His patients, the new ones especially, looked at him with confusion and fear when he approached them with medical equipment. That had always irritated him. He was there to make them better and yet they looked at him with terror.
But once Krathan explained what he was doing, the confusion went away. It was very surprising to him, but the slaves were able to understand his explanations. They relaxed a little bit. He found it easier to handle them, to take measurements, and to mend their injuries.
In the end, they were no better off now than they’d been before. It wasn’t as if he’d been anything less than perfect with his work before. They always walked away with their injuries entirely removed, at least as much so as the modifications their masters inflicted upon them would allow. The conversations did nothing to contribute to the efficacy of his practice.
Yet Krathan couldn’t go back. If he did, he would look at his patients, at their startled expressions, their terrified eyes, and their trembling bodies, and know that he could make it go away with a short talk. Knowing how cruelly and violently their master probably treated them, and how he could, if he chose to, soften that blow.
He just couldn’t do that to them anymore.
“I really hope this isn’t going to be a problem. I’m going to have even less time for each patient than I used to,” Krathan muttered. “At least I don’t have to worry about losing my position, considering the standards of care around here.”
“Master?” Anisa whispered, looking very, very lost.
“Your umbral friend is a lot smarter than I expected. A lot smarter and more insightful than I thought that a slave could be,” Krathan said, glancing at his heitera.
Anisa froze immediately under his gaze. Krathan reached forwards with his paws, squeezing Anisa’s tentacles. She was so tense. So stiff. Krathan squeezed and kneaded her limbs, careful to avoid the prosthetic, as he tried to squeeze life back into Anisa. She softened, though just for a moment, before stiffening up the moment his touch left her.
“At least you’re about as smart as I always thought you were,” Krathan said dryly, earning a soft gasp as he squeezed Anisa’s waist. “I spend just a few minutes with a new patient, and they’re already calming down by the end, yet I spent months with you and you’re still like this.”
“I’m sorry, Master Krathan! Please forgive this useless slave!” Anisa begged, yelping as he suddenly licked her neck. Anisa’s skin was silky soft and faintly sweet, her breaths were shallow as Krathan ran his wide tongue across her bare neck, and down into the petite wells of her collarbone. “M - master?”
“I’m not going to hurt you. I’m never going to hurt you, and I’m not letting someone hurt you ever again,” Krathan said. He felt Anisa’s chest rising and falling beneath his thumbs. Her lungs, running the whole length of her torso, filling and then venting. “I’ll keep saying it until you understand.”
“I understand, Master!” Anisa gasped.
“No you don’t,” Krathan said, his hands on the coils of tense muscles. He squeezed. “I can feel that you can’t. It’s okay, little squid. I can keep doing this for as long as it takes.”
Krathan pulled back to look at Anisa as a whole. She was still breathing heavily and still trembling. Her color spots hid the flush of her body, but he could feel the warmth of her blood rushing towards the surface of her skin.
“Lie down, Anisa,” Krathan commanded. “I am going to reward you.”
Anisa’s eyes widened. “I don’t understand,” She whispered, moving to obey regardless.
“I know, little squid,” Krathan said. “You don’t need to.”
Krathan held out his hand, cradling Anisa’s body and guiding her down so her belly lay against the flat surface. Krathan took the tentacles one by one and straightened them out. Even with the size of his table, the ends still ended up draping over the edge. Anisa looked over her shoulder, fearful eyes following Krathan around as he climbed onto the table and straddled her body.
“Relax,” Krathan commanded, “or at least try to. You are being rewarded.”
Anisa gasped as Krathan laid his hands on her. He pressed down on his heitera’s shoulderblades with his thumbs, rolling his digits against the discs. His fingers moved towards the center, finding her spine and slowly moving down the curve of her back, pressing firmly into her back all the while.
Krathan was used to having slaves lie to him. He was much less annoyed about it now, when he understood how they had been treated. He saw it in Cave Worm, Anisa’s umbral friend, as well. She looked at him with suspicion, fear, and hostility. It wasn’t unfounded. They lied because they were afraid of what would happen if they were honest. They lied because they didn’t trust him.
It was the same for Anisa. She didn’t trust him. She was obliging, obedient, and desperately loyal, but she didn’t trust him. Even as Krathan loosened up her muscles and squeezed involuntary sounds of gratification from Anisa’s mouth, she never truly relaxed. Like she was bracing against being struck.
“Anisa, have I ever told you how happy you make me?” Krathan asked. “I think I said it in front of you last time, but you weren’t awake to hear it.”
“I’m so sorry, Master Krathan. I shall not oversleep ever again, please just forgive this stupid slave this once!”
“It’s okay, Anisa. I’m not angry at you,” Krathan said, his hands spreading over her lower torso. He pressed down on her core with one hand, kneading her side. He alternated, pressing down, coaxing the muscle to relax. “I won’t get angry at you. I know you’re scared of that.”
Anisa didn’t say anything, but Krathan could see the response. It was painted all over her skin. The blue dots, each like a smattering of freckles, pulsing like a racing breath. She couldn’t relax. His words were not calming her down. Krathan bit down on his tongue sharply, almost drawing blood. He would not get annoyed. This wasn’t Anisa’s fault.
“I always thought I knew how to best take care of you. Of all the captive species. It just shows how much I know.” Krathan sighed. “Your friend gets annoyed at me, you know? She speaks to me like I’m an idiot. She’s terrible at hiding what she thinks.”
Krathan chewed his lip, licking at the dry scales. His hands reached lower, peeling a thigh away from the rest. He massaged the tentacle, pressing down with both thumbs and working his way down the length of nearly pure muscle.
“Maybe she’s right. Her advice makes sense. She knows how to take care of you, and I don’t,” Krathan said. “Maybe it’ll be best if she was the one who - ” No, that wasn’t possible. Cave Worm’s master seemed inordinately focused on her. But he could always ask.
Krathan climbed down off his table and worked his way down Anisa’s leg, then moved to the rest, one after another. He reached the third leg on her right side, wrapping his paws around the limb from both sides and kneading like he was wringing the stress out of his cephalian’s limb. Krathan stopped as Anisa made a sharp sound.
His squid fell silent. Krathan looked up, meeting Anisa’s nervous amber eyes over her shoulder. Her cheeks were flecked with deep blue spots. Krathan squeezed down again, causing Anisa to squirm. She didn’t seem to be in pain. She was clearly struggling though. Krathan frowned, working his way lower down the tapered end of Anisa’s tentacle, and quickly looked up as his cephalian moaned.
The two of them stared at each other silently for a long while. Krathan’s mind whirled, like countless pages of knowledge scrolling past him at a pace that threatened to induce epilepsy. Krathan’s eyes widened as the realization hit him. He could feel the edges of his mouth twist up in a rare smile.
Anisa yelped as Krathan grabbed her by her tentacles and slowly pulled her towards him. He turned her over and laid her back flat against the cold metal table. Krathan pressed his finger up against Anisa’s slit, wiping away the slime dripping from her beautiful little hole.
“Slut,” he growled, licking his finger. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
Anisa flushed, looking away. She seemed to relax though. She knew what was happening, and knew how this would go. It was relieving. Anisa, at least, knew what to expect when a kthid started looking at her with hunger in his eyes.
Krathan spread Anisa’s legs apart, making her thighs bloom like a flower, and leaned in to inspect her hole. Her insides were a uniform blue. The colors didn’t shift like her skin, there weren’t any chromatophores in there, but the hole did glisten with fluids. Krathan leaned in and licked the spread hole, earning a proper moan from Anisa. His cephalian squirmed, chewing her lips.
“Master Krathan,” Anisa whispered, her tone hesitant.
“Hush, little squid,” Krathan said. “You are being rewarded.”
“I don’t understand,” Anisa whispered, voice trembling as Krathan gave her another long lick. Her pussy was sweet, almost like a fruit. “I - I didn’t do anything.”
“You’re being rewarded for how adorable and enjoyable you are,” Krathan breathed, his voice a low growl. “Now enough complaints. I want to hear nothing but your moans.”
Anisa nodded, whimpering as Krathan carefully slid the tips of his claws into her hole and spread her open further. He opened his jaw wide and pushed his tongue in, pushing the muscle deep into his pet’s trembling slit. Spreading her hole. Feeling her sweet little gash cling to his tongue.
Krathan’s paw slid down Anisa’s leg and found the tip of her tentacle again. He rolled the tapered limb between his thumb and his index finger. Anisa moaned, her lower lip trembling and her stomach muscles clenching as pleasure seized her body. Her sopping wet cunt clung desperately to his rough tongue.
Krathan withdrew his tongue. “Cephalians are all female, aren’t they?” Krathan asked. “I’d imagine this is how your kind performs intercourse. Do you ever masturbate, little squid. Does it feel good?”
“N - no, master!” Anisa gasped. She was actually drooling slightly, keeping her shoulders raised only by her trembling arms. Moans slipped in between her words as Krathan continued to toy with the tip of her sensitive tentacle. “My holes, my limbs, and my body exist only for the pleasure of the masters. I could never distract myself from my purpose by allowing myself any pleasure my master didn’t give me!”
“That’s no good. Pleasure is healthy, and it helps manage your stress. I’ll give you vibrators but I also want you to start masturbating twice a day,” Krathan said. “In fact, I want you to do it in front of me. I want to watch you cum.”
Anisa’s mouth hung open. She wrestled with her words, unable to make any coherent sounds between the squeaks of random consonants and her moaning. “A - as master orders,” Anisa eventually conceded, spots of color painting all over her skin.
Krathan leaned in and kissed his pet’s pussy before pushing himself in again. He wasn’t sure how cephalians had sex, so he pushed his tongue in and swirled it around. He also moved his head back and forth almost like a thrusting cock. He must have gotten quite close at least, judging by Anisa’s moans.
It didn’t take long before Anisa’s hole was a sopping mess. Her juices and Krathan’s saliva smeared his snout and the area around her hole. Her little tentacle curled and coiled around him as he traced his claws over the tip, pressed his fingers down on the suckers, and formed a tunnel for the limb to slide down and rub himself against.
Anisa’s body was relaxed. Her pussy continued to twitch and tremble, but the rest of her body softened. It almost seemed to melt right in front of him, Anisa’s hips flattening against the table like a bag of liquid as her strength seemed to have fled her body.
“There. Nice and relaxed. We should have started with this,” Krathan said, grabbing a towel and wiping the fluids from his face. He stood up, reaching down for his cock. The massive shaft throbbed, almost painful from how hard it was. “Get ready, pet. I’m going in.”
Anisa’s yelp melted into a moan as Krathan bucked his hip. With such a wet pussy, he managed to bottom out inside his cephalian with a single thrust. Anisa’s eyes widened, her breathing heavy, as Krathan reached for the nearby adhesive patches. He spread Anisa’s legs and laid the patches across her wrists and her thighs, securing her to the table. He could see anxiety in Anisa’s eyes.
“There’s nothing to worry about, little squid,” Krathan said, stroking Anisa’s cheek. “You look - you are beautiful.”
Anisa’s sweet voice rang with bewilderment and bliss as Krathan began to thrust into her. Her pussy lips kissed his groin again and again as he bottomed out inside of her every time. Her slender belly swelled with his girth, the swell of his cock visible beneath her shimmering skin.
Anisa’s body squirmed in her bonds as Krathan fucked her, her eyes fighting between trying to keep her gaze on his face and rolling back in their sockets as her entire body was overcome with sensation. Anisa’s back arched and she struggled against her bonds as Krathan hammered her pussy.
Krathan’s voice rumbled and groaned with pleasure as he fucked Anisa. Her hole was so smooth, barely seeming to fight against his shaft, and yet it was so wonderfully tight as it squeezed around his phallus. He rubbed and teased at the tips of Anisa’s front tentacles, stroking and tugging them like they were his own cock. Judging from the faces Anisa made, she enjoyed it as much as he enjoyed her.
Neither of them could last long, and it was only a few minutes before Krathan could feel his balls twitching and trembling. The length of his cock throbbed, the heated shaft feeling like it would blow any moment. Krathan leaned over Anisa, fighting against his heaving breath to get his words out.
“I’m going to cum soon, Anisa!” Krathan growled.
“As will I, master!” Anisa gasped, her voice shaking and cracking. “I’m thankful to be blessed by - by your mercy and generosity. I am so close to - aiiaaAGHHH!” Anisa’s words turned into a scream as she climaxed, her back arching like a bridge and her hole clenching down so hard it felt like it would snap Krathan’s cock off. Anisa’s eyes rolled back in her head and her skin flashed white, as if her entire body was set alight.
Krathan roared, hilting inside his heitera. His cock erupted with what felt like the force of a volcano, his hot cum flooding into the tiny clenching hole with such volume that it almost seemed to bloat Anisa’s belly. Yet Krathan’s cum kept coming. His cock spurted again and again, each twitch of his groin muscles sending fresh pangs of pleasure shooting all the way up his spine.
The two of them stayed like that for a long while, joined at the hips, while their sexual organs continued to twitch and pulse. Krathan’s cum eventually seeped its way out around the snug seal that Anisa’s lower lips formed, the thick white fluids painting her blue mound with a new shade.
Thick cum spurted out as Krathan withdrew his cock. He spread the pussy lips with his thumb, letting the fluid ooze out. It flowed down between Anisa’s thighs, sliding around her puckered sphincter, and pooled on the table. Krathan laid his paw against Anisa’s belly, lost in his head as the minutes ticked by.
“Well. If you weren’t pregnant already, you should be now,” Krathan eventually said, still breathing heavily. He laid his paw on her lightly swollen belly. Their child.
Anisa struggled. She made sounds, struggling to form them into words. “I - I hope you have -- have enjoyed my use, Master,” Anisa whispered, her body trembling from the aftershocks of her orgasm.
“Always,” Krathan said. “Can you get up yet?”
Anisa struggled, trying to push her body off the table, but she was still too weak. Her trembling body offered her no leverage.
“Don’t worry,” Krathan muttered before Anisa could begin choking out apologies. He removed Anisa’s bindings, cradling her off the table with his arms and moving her onto his chair. He laid her against the belly rest and pushed his semi-flaccid cock in front of the woozy girl. “Here. Clean me up.”
The cephalian nodded, dutifully doing as she was commanded. Krathan’s cock twitched as Anisa’s skilful tongue lolled out of her mouth, the tentacle-like muscle planting what felt like dozens of little kisses against his shaft as she licked up both his semen and her own sweet fluids. Krathan cradled Anisa’s head with his paw, stroking the little cephalian’s head.
“You know, I don’t think I have ever been as terrified as the day when Grakrash messaged me and told me what the cape riders did to you,” Krathan said. “I was worried about your life, but that wasn’t strange. I always fought my hardest to keep every last one of my patients alive. When Grakrash asked me to take care of you, it was just another case. Just a more difficult case than usual.”
Anisa’s eyes flickered up to his face as she struggled to wrap her lips around his shaft. Krathan gently stroked Anisa’s cheek. “But something changed. I have always excelled at what I did. I prided myself for how much I outperformed my class. Whatever the species of the slave and however severe her injuries were, if she could be saved I would save her. I could always keep a slave alive.”
Krathan looked into his cephalian’s eyes. He withdrew his cock, carefully wiping the dribble of cum from the edge of her mouth and feeding it to her. His fingers then slipped beneath her chin. Krathan angled Anisa’s face up towards him.
“But it’s not enough. Not anymore. Not with you.” Krathan sighed, looking at Anisa’s face. Into her sparkling eyes. Even smeared with fluids, those freckled colors on her face were more beautiful to him than the sky even at its most spectacular. “I want you to be happy as well.”
“I - I’m sorry, master,” Anisa whispered, her gaze falling. Her eyes glistened and tears began to well, “I - I do not know how. If this was something I could give to you, I would give it without hesitation. Please forgive this stupid slave.” Krathan hushed her.
“You don’t need to apologize for anything. You don’t need to do anything at all. It’s my job to figure it out,” Krathan said, gently brushing Anisa’s cheek. “Just keep living, and being you, and one day I’ll figure it out. I’ll figure out how to make you well again.”
A sharp buzz rang out from Krathan’s workstation. He waved his paw to turn on the screen. It seemed there was someone in the waiting room. Krathan rotated his hand and signaled towards the workstation, commanding the computer to bring up the surveillance application. Krathan’s breath caught in his throat.
There was blood everywhere. The mirucain in the waiting room was on her hands and knees, a trail of blood and cum smeared on the ground behind her. Krathan cursed, grabbing the blood pack and treatment kit and racing for the door. He dropped to a knee as he entered the room, setting the box down and snapping it open.
“Fucking assholes, I swear one of these days I’m going to choke someone!” Krathan snarled, snatching the anesthetic from the box and spraying down the slave’s arm. He passed his tablet over the mirucain’s arm, grabbing the needle and tube and feeding them into the slave’s arm. The mirucain woman looked terrified, but she didn’t resist.
“Don’t worry, you’re safe now,” Krathan said quickly. “Can you stand? If you can’t, I’ll carry you.”
“A - Anisa.”
Krathan froze halfway through attaching the tube to the blood bag. He turned, eyes wide, at the horribly injured slave. She looked up at him, face wracked with pain and yet teary eyes still burning with determination.
“Please!” The mirucain whispered, tears and blood flowing down her cheeks, “please let me see Anisa!”
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