"Welcome To Barbaria" (closed)

[HornyDog2017]

Torva hurriedly organized the closer defense of the ferry zone. He looked for Janis and found her returning from somewhere he felt she shouldn't have been. When she got closer, he found her sprayed with blood and her weapon still dripping. He didn't get a chance to ask her about it, though. And soon she was telling him not to die. And kissing him!

"Don't die! That's an order."

He laughed in surprise. "I won't, my Lady, as long as you promise to do that again."

Soon enough, the battle was on once more. Torva led the fight from atop the river bank initially. When an arrow, and then a second one nearly penetrated him, he moved down off the bank. He stood his ground there, even as his forces were being overwhelmed and the enemy was closing.

Eventually, he engaged directly with a warrior of Rolan's army, then another, then another. Swords clanged, fists punched, spears jabbed. And all the while, Torva continued to look back over his shoulder at the ferry. It was moving away but far too slowly.

He avoided an attacker, killed him, killed another, and a third. He looked to the raft again and realized something was wrong. The anchor point of the ferry rope on this shore had been cut. The rope was still anchored on the other shore. The people on the ferry were pulling themselves toward shore. And the people on shore were pulling as well.

But there was still a distance of over 200 feet to cover, and far less than that downstream were rocks emerging from near the shore. He couldn't do anything for Janis and the others on the craft. The enemy was still pressing and overwhelming his forces.

"Withdraw! Pull back!" Torva called out. "Pull back! We're done here!"

Up and down the high bank and along the shore, men rushed his way. Torva ordered, "Into the water! Drop your weapons! Go, go! Hurry!"

Warriors and Valiants discarded their heavy weapons and even some of their clothes. And one after another they dove into the quickly moving water. Torva waited as long as he could, even battling a handful more attackers. He threw his sword toward and into a warrior's chest, turned, and dove. Hitting the water, he swept his arms and kicked his legs.

He kept under the surface as long as he could. Twice each, arrows and spears entered the water just inches from him. He didn't come up until he simply couldn't stay under any longer. He gasped a deep breath of air. But more arrows were entering the water around him. He sunk downward again, rolled, and kicked for the far shore.

Eventually, after three more times to the surface, Torva found himself at the shallow water of the far shore. He struggled forward, weighted down by his sopped clothing. He and others on shore helped the last defenders to shore. Searching, he couldn't find the raft. But his view was obstructed by reeds and trees growing all along the shoreline.

On the opposite side of the river, Rolan's troops cheered over the warriors they captured, now on their knees near the water. As he watched, an unexpected surprise presented itself to him: Rolan. He rode carefully down to the bank, dismounted, stared across at Torva, then spoke to a Dagala for a moment. The Dagala stepped behind the kneeling warriors. One by one, he beheaded them with a heavy sword. The warriors around him cheered. Again, one by one, the beheaded men were tossed into the river.

Torva's heart ached for the men. They would never reach the Great Fire in the Sky this way. They needed to be fished out of the water and burned on the funeral pyre. Fortunately, Torva had another reason to go downstream: Janis. Her hurried up the bank and called the warriors and Valiants.

"You get these people up this trail to safety," he said to one Captain. "Take the warriors. Everyone carries food and bedding. Leave the rest. We'll come back for it."

He turned to a Valiant. "You and your archers come with me. We have to find our Lady."

With assignments given, Torva looked across the river again. They were being watched. But Rolan and his men showed no interest in crossing the water to finish the slaughter. He told the others, "Go, now!"

 

[ToniTaylor]

When the rope was cut on the north bank, the men and women pulling on it to move the ferry didn't immediately notice; the end they were pulling the raft to was still attached. But when the man at the lead of the effort reached the end of the raft a few seconds later, he saw it laying in the water.

"We're loose!" he called out. "The rope's--"

He didn't finish what he was saying as the first of dozens of arrows began raining down upon the raft and the waters around them. Janis hollered for everyone to take cover under or behind anything they could. A second man was hit and fell into the river as the Valiants shifted their aims from the main battle area to the squad of archers who'd been directed to fire on them.

The raft moved out of the range of the enemy archers, and several people -- both on the raft and on shore -- began pulling their ends of the rope to bring the last group ashore. But Janis soon noticed what Torva had from the other shore and hollered, "Stop! Stop pulling. Release it!"

They didn't immediately understand their Lady's request, but when she pointed downstream at the rocks they were approaching, they one by one released their hold on the rope, which by happenstance was pulled into the water by the people on the shore.

"We're gonna hit!" someone said in fear, leading to others beginning to panic. One of the men leaped into the water to swim toward shore, but before others could do the same, another man warned, "Stay aboard! We're safer on board!"

Janis wasn't entirely in agreement with that statement, but she didn't contradict it. Instead, she told them all, "Get low and find something to hold onto."

The rocks at which they were traveling were barely above the surface, so when they hit, the raft rose and spun before getting free. Some of the goods onboard spilled over the edge. People tried to rescue the valuable resources, but Janis told them again, "Hold on! Hold onto something!"

The raft was speeding up as the river's height lowered. Janis began to realize they were in serious trouble. There was nothing she could do but continue to tell everyone to hold on. Because it had been the last group to go, it was all adults and mostly males of sturdy health, those who had helped with the cargo loading and defense of the ferry landing.

The vessel caught an edge on another rock and again spun, almost harmlessly. But then, it entered some rapids, sped up even more, and violently slammed into a rock sticking several feet out of the water. It came to an immediately stop as the wagons comprising the rafts split apart, two going left, two going right; most of the cargo and half of the people spilled over the edge into the water.

Janis had been holding tight to an upright and remained aboard, but she was struck by an object and left with her head spinning for a while. When she regained her composure and looked about her, she and Kenda and one other woman were all who remained on the two wagon raft section that was continuing to be ripped apart as it struck more rocks.

There was another suddenly violent slam of the raft section against a rock and Janis found herself in the water. She flailed her arms in what were now serious rapids, trying desperately to keep above the water. A few times she went under so long that she thought she would never breath air again.

And then the most frightening thing to ever happen to her occurred: she felt herself leaving the water and falling. She'd gone over a waterfall, and while it was only twenty feet high, when she hit the pool below it, all the air in her lung was forced from her chest. Disoriented and blinded as she was swirled about the pool by shifting currents, all she could do was hold her breath and hold she surfaced at some point.

And then, she was above the water. Again flailing, her hands found something wooden. She pulled to her chest what turned out to be a small, three gallon water cask that was mostly empty but had been saved for later refilling. She laid back, wrapped her arms around the barrel, and floated in the still quick moving water. She tried her best to keep her feet downstream, to allow her to see where she was going and what she might hit. She got spun around repeatedly but worked to return to her favored position.

Eventually, the water called enough for her to look about herself. She was in a canyon with steep walls more than a hundred feet tall. The river was ten feet wide in places, more in others. Twice she went over small little waterfalls that affected her barely. She looked for a place to access the shore; she was tiring, and she feared if she didn't go ashore soon, she would lose her grip on the barrel and drown.

The river took a sudden turn to the right, but on the left there were old tree roots that reached the water. Janis snagged them as she was passing and -- after several exhausting minutes -- pulled herself out of the water and up the old tree to the flat top of a large boulder. She was spent and laid back under the sun, trying to recuperate.

She fell asleep.

 

[HornyDog2017]

Torva followed the bank downstream as fast as he could. That speed decreased in short order, though. The relatively flat, smooth land gave way to uneven ground with an abundance of boulders and sudden, short drop offs that forced Torva and the Valiants to often divert their course.

They tried to say within sight of the river. Soon, though, they were moving away from it as the terrain continued to get rougher. Suddenly, emerging from the trees, Torva stopped dead in his tracks and called out in panic, "Halt!"

He found himself standing at the edge of a precipice. It fell almost straight down for almost two hundred feet. And it went on to the left and right for hundreds of yards. "That way. See what you find. You two. The rest come with me."

They divided to check out the cliff on each side. But after some time, Torva turned his squad back. They met the others and shared their findings. It wasn't good. There simply was no way down from here. They would have to back track and head southwest to find a way to the valley below. It could take days. Weeks. And all the while, Janis's people would be without both their Lady and their General.

Torva looked out upon the vast valley below them. He couldn't see the river across which they'd traveled. That didn't make sense. It should have been right here, below the cliff. What he couldn't know was that back some way, it passed below an arch over which he and the Valiants had traveled. The river was not below him to the southwest but was actually more distant to the southeast.

It had crossed below them and was heading toward Barbaria.

"Turn back," he reluctantly told the Valiants. He gestured back the way they'd come, repeating, "Turn back! We must return to Lady Janis's people. They need us. They need our protection."

He didn't want to imagine that Janis was lost. That she'd drowned, along with many others in the missing river. But for now, it was the way of things. Some of the Valiants argued that the search for their Lady must continue. But Torva turned from the precipice and headed back up the hill.

"Lady Janis would want us to tend to her people," he said. Without making eye contact with anyone, he ordered, "We will return to the train and fulfill our mission. Lady Janis's mission. We will continue onward to Barbaria."

Torva hadn't realized how far he and the Valiants had traveled. It was nearly dark by the time they returned to the ferry landing. Across the water, Rolan's forces had made camp. A supply train of mules had caught up with tents and other needs. And down at the water's edge, a raft was being constructed.

Torva looked to the river, then downstream. One of the Valiants must have known what he was thinking. She warned, "You could meet the same fate as our Lady if you leap in there. And we don't know what that fate was."

<<<<< -- >>>>>​

Miles down the river, on the frontier of Barbaria, Karns crouched upon a boulder. He had been studying the woman passed out on the rocks below him for some time. She was not of Barbaria. That was a given.

Pulling his dagger from his belt, he leaped and fell twelve feet to wear the sun bathed the strange beauty. The sound of his feet with his weight above them slapped loud enough to wake the woman. She scrambled to move away from him, backing herself against the cliff wall.

Karns studied her a long moment. She was incredible to him, both well curved as a woman should be and strong built like a warrior should. He lowered himself into a crouch again. He pulled his dagger back to seem let threatening. Then he smiled.

"You speak Northman?" he asked. He meant, of course, the Common Language spoken. It was the only language other than his own that Karns had ever heard spoken. It was a descendant language that had come from Barbaria. This was fortunate as he and this woman would be able to understand each other well enough. He smiled again, saying, "I speak Northman."

He removed a pouch from his belt. From it, he removed a large piece of dried meat. He ripped off a small chunk and put it into his mouth. He made a sound meant to indicate it tasted good. Then he tossed the meat to the woman.

"Karns," he said, pounding a fist to his chest. "Karns. I, Karns. You...?"

He waited for a response, if there was to be one. Then he stood, turned, and gracefully ascended the rock ledge to where he'd jumped from. He looked back, offered a hand out, as if Janis could actually reach it from there, yeah.

"Come!" he said, again smiling. "You come with Karns."

<<<<< -- >>>>>​

Back up the river, Torva was contemplating his next move. It was obvious that Rolan was sending his forces across the river. They'd likely come at first light. Torva wouldn't allow that to happen, also obvious.

"You two stay with me," he said to the Valiants he knew to be both excellent archers and swordsmen. He said to another pair, "Go upstream and find a hiding place. They will likely float a man downstream to this shore, as we did. If they do, kill that man, before he gets across the river."

To the rest of them, he said, "Catch up with the others. Bring back a Captain and four warriors and as many quivers as you can carry. We cannot let them cross the river. We must make it so costly that Rolan will realize it simply isn't worth it."

Across the river from him, Rolan was contemplating his next move as well. They'd seen the raft break up downstream. They'd seen people go into the water. On the off chance that some returned to this shore, Rolan had wanted them captured. He had been doubtful of the chance of capturing his sister.

He'd caught who he thought was the next best thing, though: the Valiant Dagala, Kenda. He'd recognized her the moment his warriors brought her into his tent. She had been stripped of every thing but her under layer. She was barely able to stand. She'd been in the rapids for several hundred yards. But that wasn't the only reason for her obvious exhaustion and distress.

Upon capture, Kenda had resisted. Then, she'd been beaten. Her lip was split. Her face eye was swelling and would later turn an ugly purple-black. She had a cracked rib and a concussion. Lacerations on her jaw, neckline, and both arms had been attributed to her trek down the rocky rapids.

Rolan didn't honestly care how she'd received her wounds. He only cared that she was in his care, alive, and able to speak.

Rolan questioned Kenda about her service to his sister. He didn't need answers, of course. He had met her a few times and spoken to her. But he'd also had spies within Janis's entourage. She was bound now, wrists to wrists and even ankles to ankles. He ordered her cut loose and retied, spread eagle on the hide floor of his tent.

"I am going to ask you some questions, Kenda," Rolan said in a soft voice. He removed his weapons belt and set it aside. Removing one of the three daggers, he sat down on the ground at the woman's side. "I am going to ask you some questions. And you are going to answer them, honestly and without delay. If you do this for me, I will see that no harm comes to you. Do you understand and agree to these terms, my beautiful Valiant?"

 

[ToniTaylor]

Kenda had lost sight of her Lady the moment the raft hit the river rock that ripped it apart. She, like Janis, had been thrown into the churning waters, where she rolled and flailed and tried desperately to stay afloat or, at the least, simply not be sucked down into some rolling current of death. Eventually, she was slammed against a rock to which she clung, regaining her senses enough to make it to shore.

She'd barely gotten to her feet to be able to look for her Lady when sounds behind her caused her to turn, just in time to have a pike strike her across the skull. Oh, Rolan's men would tell him that she resisted, but in truth, that first strike knocked her out of her senses and from that point forth she was barely able to use her limbs effectively, let alone mount a defense. She felt fists striking her head, her torso, even her groin; the beating left her unable to stand.

They rid Kenda of her outer layer of clothes, and as ale hands grasped at her female parts, she was sure they were going to rape her then and there. But a voice called out something that caused the assault to end. A moment later her hands and feed were bound, and a few minutes after that -- after she'd listened to chopping sounds nearby -- a pole had been slipped through her bindings and she was lifted from the ground to be carried away like a boar or deer being taken away to the cooking pit.

She faded in and out of consciousness, only gaining what could be considered clarity when she found herself laying in a tent and staring up at the face of Lady Janis's brother, Rolan. He recognized her, too, calling her by name; he should have remembered her, of course, as he'd tried on multiple occasions to talk her into his bed while on visits to the capital of his father's Khanaland.

He questioned her about his sister, but Kenda initially said nothing. Finally, hoping it would cease any further quest for Janis, she said with feigned horror, "She was on the ferry with me. She went into the water. I saw her on the rocks, before the water swept her away. She drowned. She's dead."

Kenda had a feeling Rolan didn't buy what she was saying. he had her cut loose and tied to stakes pounded down through the floor of animal hides. Splayed out in a cross shape, she began trembling; was it from the cold that was finally overwhelming her adrenaline, or was it because she was certain she was about to be tortured, possibly in a way only a woman could be?

"I am going to ask you some questions, Kenda," Rolan said, sitting beside her with a big blade. "I am going to ask you some questions. And you are going to answer them, honestly and without delay. If you do this for me, I will see that no harm comes to you. Do you understand and agree to these terms, my beautiful Valiant?"

"My Lady is dead, Khanis," she said with true fear in her voice. She had hoped that using the title for which he legally was entitled might help in finding her some mercy. Kenda was in no way a cowardly person; she was prepared to give her life to save her Lady's. But she also knew that standing strong and firm against Rolan would only lead to great pain. If she was lucky, she might find a bit of mercy within him and avoid the torture that his father would have used without hesitance. She repeated and expanded, "Lady Janis is dead. I will tell you anything you want to hear, Khanis. Please, don't hurt me."

**************
**************​

The man crouching before her was both the scariest and the most incredible creature Janis had ever seen before. The look in his eyes, the long unkempt hair wafting in the wind, and the massive scar across his chest would frighten anyone, even a female warrior like Janis. At the same time, his physical fitness screamed of male perfection, and Janis could barely pull her eyes from his muscular chest, belly, and arms

"You speak Northman?" he asked with an accent Janis had never before heard but with words that were, of course, familiar to her.

She said softly, "Yes, I speak the language of the North. Common. We call it Common."

"I speak Northman."

Despite trembling from fear -- the sun had freed her from the cold of the river -- Janis couldn't help but smile at the man's statement. She tried to get more comfortable in her rock chair and told him, "Good. You speak Northman. I speak Northman. We can speak Northman together."

He tossed her some dried meat -- venison if Janis was correct -- and introduced himself, "Karns. Karns. I, Karns. You...?"

She hesitated before pressing her balled fist to her bosom and answering, "I am Janis. My name is Janis."

Then, with the skills of a squirrel on a tree, he climbed the small cliff and invited her to follow. "Come! You come with Karns."

Janis hesitated yet again. She didn't know this man or know anything about where he might be taking her or what his intentions with her were. He was obviously from Barbaria. Was she there already or still in its frontier? She tasted the jerky and smiled; it was incredible. Looking up to Karns and popping the meat into her mouth, Janis stood and moved to the cliff face.

She wasn't going to get up it as easily as he had, but she was athletic and not at all clumsy. Janis began the hard climb, reaching the top after she did indeed take Karns' hand. He pulled her close to him -- intimately close -- and she found herself staring into his eyes for several seconds before forcing herself to pull back.

And then, they were off.

 

[HornyDog2017]

Rolan didn't believe Kenda for a moment. First, he hadn't seen his sister on the raft as it was heading for the rocks. He had no reason to believe she'd drowned.

Neither had he seen Janis at the battle. He knew that she was a warrior and had partaken of many fights in the past. But he wouldn't have expected her to be present at the fight. She was a Khanis now, in her own deluded mind. She had no need to put herself at risk any longer.

Kenda swore with a questionable tone, "Lady Janis is dead. I will tell you anything you want to hear, Khanis. Please, don't hurt me."

"I have no intention of hurting you, Kenda," Rolan reassured her as he studied the blade in his hand. "None at all."

He looked to her belly. A sliver of it was exposed between her tunic and her trousers. He lowered the blade and pressed the cold steel to her flesh. She flinched. He turned the blade on edge. The razor sharp metal pressed lightly against Kenda. She flinched again, and a thin sliver of blood appeared.

"Careful!" Rolan warned. "You don't want to hurt yourself, do you?"

He flattened the blade against her belly again. Then, slowly, he moved it up under her her tunic. Inch by inch, it moved farther up her belly. Rolan looked to Kenda's eyes as the blade reached her bosom. He smiled, whispering, "Don't move. That might be bad."

The tip of the knife appeared above the collar of her top. Rolan could feel the soft cotton of the breast wrap that held her tits in place. Again he warned, "Don't move."

The tip of the knife touched Kenda between her neck and her chin. She reacted, despite his warnings. He let the sharp tip slide slowly down the front of her neck. It rose over each bone like bumps in a poorly maintained dirt road. The knife's tip lowered to where the woman's clavicles met her sternum.

"Hold still, Kenda," Rolan said with a widening smile. "I wouldn't want you to get cut."

He turned the blade on edge again, lifted it, tilted the tip higher, and pulled. It effortless sliced through the thong tying closed the front of her tunic. Then, with even less force, it began slicing the length of the tunic. It severed the sewn, lower hem. The two sides that had once been a single front fell open.

Rolan studied Kenda's beautiful body. She was thin and fit, with a smooth belly that hinted at the musculature below. It's one and only imperfection was the battle wound, long since healed over. Rolan lowered the knife to the thin, well tended scar and ran its tip through the crevasse in the flesh. Kenda's belly tensed more than it already had been.

"Tickle?" he whispered with that evil smile of his. He laid the dagger upon her lower belly. With just the pad of his middle finger, he began tracing the wound. He found her belly button and played in and around it. His touch expanded, to the waistline of her trousers, then up to the lower edge of the breast wrap. "Do you enjoy my touch?"

Rolan reached higher now, to the upper edge of the cotton encasing her smallish bosom. He pulled the wrap downward. Kenda's firms tits, under the pressure of the tight containment, popped out. Rolan smiled even wider. "Eager to be seen and touched, they are."

He looked into the woman's face. Then, without looking away from Kenda's eyes, Rolan took hold of the dagger again, slipped its edge under the waist band of her trousers, and jerked the blade upwards. It cleanly cut through the cloth and binding holding the trousers in place.

"Now, Kenda," Rolan began. He laid the blade upon her belly again. He reached down inside her trousers and found the wetness between her parted thighs. "Let's talk about my sister again."

<<<<< ::: >>>>>​

Karns moved quickly and easily through the forest. There was no trail, really. And yet he knew exactly where he was going. He'd traveled this route more times than he could count. Occasionally, it would seem as though he'd reached a dead end in the rocky terrain. Then, with a quick turn left or right, he disappear into a hidden trail or up a set of footholds in the rocks.

He would stop occasionally, looking back for the woman named Janis. He was surprised at how well she negotiated the non-trail trail. She still showed signs of exhaustion and pain. Yet, she followed right behind Karns as they continued higher and higher into the mountains.

Then kept on for almost an hour before he could see she was at her end. Karns gestured her to a rock wall. A spring almost unseen dripped out of a crack between thick pads of moss. He tilted and twisted his head to position it and let the cold, fresh water fill his mouth. Looking to Janis, he spit it not just at but on her.

"Sweet!" he said, laughing. He gestured to her fingers as she wiped the water from her. "Taste! Sweet."

He filled his mouth again, swallowed, repeated, and stepped away. He gestured Janis to do the same. He moved to a nearby drop off and pointed toward the distant plateau.

"Northman's land," he said. He gestured Janis to join him at the edge. He repeated his gesture and words. Then he pointed the opposite direction, his hand raised. From here, they could see what Janis and her people had viewed for years from afar: the mountain range of Barbaria. Karns said, "Home."

 

[ToniTaylor]

(OOC: I like keeping the pics in the posts. It's fun to have them right there. But I'm not sure why I kept inserting the red each time. They show up just fine with the bold, and it's a lot less work, too.)


Kenda knew what was about to happen here with Rolan. It was an old story that had been told again and again between men of power and woman of all sorts.

"I have no intention of hurting you, Kenda. None at all."

That was a lie, of course. Rolan had ever intention of hurting Kenda in a way only a woman could be hurt. It wasn't just the act of rape, of course; men had been raping other men for eternity as a form of punishment or simply as an exercise and example of control and power of those violated. No, it went farther than rape, as a man raping a woman also presented her with the threat of having to remember that rape each and every day for the next nine moons. And then, of course, if she kept the child born of rape, she was reminded of it each and every day for years to come.

Rolan began playing the blade upon her body, then up her blouse to threaten her throat and, thus, her life. She flinched as the tip ever so slightly penetrated the skin of her neck, as it had her belly.

"Careful!" Rolan warned. "You don't want to hurt yourself, do you?"

"I might prefer that you bury that thing into my throat now, Khanis," she growled about the knife. Then turning the topic to his cock, she added, "Instead of that other thing that you might be considering burying into another part of me."

Kenda knew it was dangerous to confront Rolan like this, but she'd resigned herself to her fate within moments of having been captured. Actually, she felt she'd been quite lucky up to this point; the men who'd found her at the river more often than not would have each gotten their fill of her before bringing her back to the camp if it had not been for the Dagala who's stopped them. Still, she knew she was to be raped, tortured otherwise, and executed in due course.

She felt her blouse being cut and opened, then Rolan's hands caressing her bared body. Kenda hated the fact that it actually felt good to be touched so softly; a chill ran up her back, her skin exploded in goose flesh, and -- worst of all -- she felt a tingling in her crotch that told her her canal was wetting itself in preparation for being intruded upon.

"Tickle?" Rolan whispered with an evil smile. "Do you enjoy my touch?"

"As much as I'll enjoy looking down from the Great Fire in the Sky to see cut open and left to bake in the sun one day," she growled at him. Kenda was quite impressed -- and disappointed -- that Rolan went right on with his pleasuring of her belly and breasts without any concern for her angry threats. She added, "When my Valiants fill you with arrows, they will let the birds and dogs and bugs have you. You will have no warrior's funeral pyre."

Kenda flinched once again as his blade ripped open her trousers. As much as she was trying to prepare herself for what was coming, she was trembling deep down at the visions of this enemy Khanis thrusting his cock deep inside of her, violating her in two ways: with the age of rape itself and -- because she knew she was in her Moon -- the very good chance of fertilizing her garden with his seed.

"Now, Kenda," Rolan continued as his hand slipped into her pants and his finger slipped between her lips and into her hole, "Let's talk about my sister again."

"Your sister is dead!" Kenda cried out, keeping with the story that -- for all she knew -- was very much true. She tried desperately to pinch her thighs together and tighten her vaginal muscles as to keep his finger out, but it was all a failed effort. Rolan's digit sunk deep into her warm, wet hole, betrayed by the flood of natural lubricant that her body was producing without understanding that she didn't want this. As she writhed and fought against Rolan, she repeated, "Lady Janis is dead. She drowned. Please, Khanis, don't do this. Please!"

As he continued to rape her with his finger -- for now -- Kenda bucked and twisted and pulled in an effort to make this hard enough for him that perhaps he would stop. And amidst her frantic movements, she failed to realize that she was moving her pussy against his hand in an effort to pleasure the little nub of flesh under his palm.

<<<<< ::: >>>>>​

Janis was becoming more and more exhausted as she followed in behind Karns. And yet it was a joy to be there, behind him, watching him and his incredible body navigating the trail and rock ledges and occasional log bridges.

Her father's army had had some of the most wonderfully built warriors in it, men for whom Janis had often felt such lust that she'd very nearly forgotten her marriage vows to Yanni. She likely would have strayed and enjoyed one or two or ten of those incredibly well built and powerful men if it hadn't been for the fact that -- despite the legal freedom to do so as a male warrior -- Yanni hadn't partaken of the pleasures of another woman once he'd put his cock inside Janis and discovered what true euphoria actually was.

But even with all those men with all their incredible body types, Janis had never seen a man so beautiful as this man from Barbaria. She cursed herself occasionally when she fell behind and lost sight of him, only to maneuver about a rock or ledge or downed tree and find him waiting for her with that big smile that simply made her melt.

How could she feel such instant lust for a man she'd only just met and with whom she'd traded fewer than two dozen words?

They arrived at a spring, and as she stood there watching, he spat a big mouthful of water that splashed on her from her head to her belly. She was shocked at first, but then as he talked about it being sweet and about her tasting it, Janis laughed. She stuck a wet finger into her mouth and found he was right; it tasted of flower nectar or tree sugar.

She went to the rock cliff to consume several desperately needed gulps of the cold spring water. When she moved toward Karns, she -- as he had -- spurted forth a big mouthful of water, hitting him in much the same way before laughing loudly. As they stared at one another, Janis knew she was getting herself into a situation that should spend more time contemplating than she had thus far. She knew without doubt that she wanted Karns between her parted thighs, driving his cock in and out of her hard, deep, and fast until she screamed out in an ecstasy she hadn't enjoyed in weeks if not months due to the campaign separation she and Yannis had endured.

"Northman's land," he said as he pointed out to the distant plateau. Pointing the opposite direction, he said, "Home."

"Barbaria," Janis said tentatively, unsure of whether or not the word was familiar to him. The history of her ancient ancestors was a murky one, and without a true written language until only a few generations before her birth, the tales of old had been passed down in an oral tradition only. She'd grown up knowing that the lands beyond the Great River were called Barbarian and that the primitive, sometimes heathenistic tribes living there were called Barbarians. But did Karns?

 

[HornyDog2017]

(OOC: I understand fully about the red.)

(OOC: Since we decided to make Rolan a more permanent character, I though maybe he should have a picture.)

North bank of the Great River:

Rolan supported his upper body on one elbow as he fingered the writhing and spread eagle bound Kenda. She was fighting to both get loose and prevent him from violating her. Rolan couldn't help but wonder, though, if she wasn't enjoying this as much if not more than he was.

Again she insisted, "Your sister is dead!"

"Now, now," Rolan said as he forced his finger deeper inside her pussy. "You know I don't believe that."

He curled his sunken finger and rubbed the front wall of her canal. Did he see a reaction of pleasure from the woman? It was hard to tell. So often the distinction between pain and pleasure was hard with women. That was, of course, especially true when they hadn't given their consent to what was being done to them.

"I believe, Kenda, that my sister is very much alive and well," he continued. He began moving his bent finger back and forth within the woman. He'd had a lover once who enjoyed this very much. Did all women? "I believe she was on that far shore, safe and sound, and that you are lying to me. You know what happens to people who lie to their Khanis, don't you?"

She responded pretty much as Rolan had expected. He only smiled. Rising to his feet, he began removing his clothes while fixing his eyes on Kenda's. He tossed his out shirt aside, then unbuttoned the shirt beneath that. With each shed item of clothing, Rolan revealed a body that most women found amazing. He unbuckled his trouser and pushed them and his underwear downward. He sat to remove his boot and lower clothes. Standing again, he was fully naked.

There was absolutely nothing about Rolan's physique that had ever led anyone to doubt his status as a true man. He was 6'2" tall and built muscularly as the Gods were depicted by the artists of old and new. From his groin, a 9 inch long cock stood out hard and proud, ready to do its duty. And, of course, he was one of the most handsome men in Khanaland.

The hesitations that people like Janis, Torva, and others had about him had nothing to do with physical fitness. Those hesitations were all about his mental fitness. Rolan had simply never shown the qualities required by a ruler of a land that was persistently at war with its neighbors.

He spent to much time in salons speaking of war and politics and not enough time on the battle field or in the Council House dealing with either. There were only two places Rolan spent a consistent amount of time. The first was the high end brothels, one of which he personally owned and at which it was his pleasure to train the newly arrived girls. The other was in the beds of men who served him where he partook of these men's wives and daughters as a price of his continued favor of their male family members.

Tonight, Rolan would have neither a wife, a daughter, or a whore. But he felt sure that he would enjoy this woman all the same. He moved to between her parted knees and knelt. Leaning forward, he retrieved the dagger still laying upon Kenda's belly. Again he told her to hold still. He pulled her trousers and underwear down, then cut them into two halves. He pulled each leg downward to her bound ankles. Then, moving into place over her and looking into her eyes, Rolan said, "Let's talk more about my sister later, shall we?"

He maneuvered the head of his cock into place against her wet lips. He wetted it with little forward movements, then just before he rammed much of his length into her, Rolan asked softly, "Are you ready to be interrogated, Kenda?"

<<<<< ::: >>>>>​

"Barbaria," Janis said tentatively.

Karns smiled, happy to hear the word from her. He responded with his heavy accent that rolled the 'r' sounds, "Barbaria, yes. You know Barbaria."

It was more of a statement than a question.

 

[ToniTaylor]

When Rolan pulled his hand from her pussy, Kenda was conflicted; he was her enemy and she wanted him dead, and he was raping her, too, and yet as his fingertip had been pleasuring the inside of her canal, Kenda had found herself praying to the Gods that he wouldn't stop.

When he began shedding his clothing, Kenda found herself only more conflicted.
Rolan had an amazing body, and when his trousers fell, she couldn't pull her gaze from his equally amazing cock.

"You think putting that thing in me, trying to hurt me with that is punishment," she growled. "I've burned leeches off my ass bigger than that after wading through a swamp to slaughter my enemies."

Rolan didn't seem at all bothered by Kenda's words, and moving between her thighs, he only asked, "Let's talk more about my sister later, shall we?"

"Your sister is dead," she repeated yet again, spitting into his face. "And you shall be soon, too. If the Gods don't kill you, my soul will haunt you for the rest of your miserable life as a pretend Khanis."

She felt the end of his cock playing at her wetness. "Are you ready to be interrogated, Kenda?"

"Fuck y--" she began, only to fail to finish the last word as Rolan shoved much of his shaft into her in one swift, powerful motion. She cried out and tensed tightly at the pain of him splitting open her tight vaginal muscles. She wouldn't know it until later, but the contraction of her arms and legs in response caused the ropes about her wrists and ankles to rip into her skin and cause bleeding at all four binding. A moment later, as she was drawing a breath to replace the air she'd screamed from her lungs, Rolan rammed his cock into her again. She screamed again, then a third and fourth time. When he was deep inside her, Kenda gathered a chest full of air and screamed out, "Fuck you!"

Rolan went to work fucking Kenda hard and deep, and while it still hurt initially, she soon began to fell -- and enjoy! -- the pleasure of the man's cock in her and his groin pounding against the little nub beneath it. Again, she found herself conflicted; Rolan was her enemy and a brutal rapist to boot, but what he was doing to her was causing her a growing pleasure she hadn't enjoyed in quite sometime.

She knew her body well enough to know that if Rolan continued as he was for more than a couple of minutes, that he would cause her to climax. She didn't want that, of course. Or, did she? She yearned for sexual euphoria like any woman. But with her sworn enemy? Kenda wanted to believe she could forgo orgasm in this instance.

<<<<< ::: >>>>>​

"Barbaria, yes," Karns said with a tone of joy in his voice. "You know Barbaria."

"Yes, I know Barbaria," Janis said. "My people, the Northmen you call them. Long, long ago, they came from Barbaria. My people were once your people. Long ago."

She listened to his response, then explained with hands pointing various directions, "My people, the people I was traveling with. We were coming to Barbaria, to live. We wish to find a new home in which to live. Land, with trees and grass and water. Someplace where we can tend our animals and grow our crops and raise our children in peace and harmony. I must find my people. Back there. Up the river. Karns, can you help me?"

 

[HornyDog2017]

Rolan grunted out at the sudden pleasure as he forced much of his cock into Kenda's tight pussy. The manipulations of his finger within her had wetter her well. But they'd done little to loosen her for his intrusion. He looked down into her face. It was filled with an excruciated expression as she cried out. It was beautiful to him.

Rolan pulled back a bit and hit her again, deeper and harder. He waited for her lungs to empty through her scream, then repeated. Again. And again. His groin finally slammed into hers. He maintained the pressure, groaning out long and loud.

"My Gods!" he said, still watching Kendra's reaction to the violent assault on her womanhood. He remained balls deep inside her until the tension began lessening in her body. Then, he pulled slowly back and rammed deep into her again. Again.
And again. She was less resistant to him now. But she was still so incredibly tight. "You feel so good, Kendra. You were meant to have me, don't you think?"

Before she had an opportunity to speak, Rolan began fucking Kendra hard and fast. He lowered his elbows to the floor and slid his arms under hers. He took handful's of her hair and forcefully tilted her head back and to the side. He didn't really want her spitting in his face again. Rolan was quickly becoming lost in the pleasure of Kendra's hole. He pressed his mouth to her neck, kissing it, biting at it, sucking at it. The next day, she would have a big, ugly black mark there.

"Oh ... Gods!" Rolan called out loudly. "Oh Gods!"

A moment later, he let out a long groan as his cock began emptying his balls inside the captive. He continued thrusting several more times. Then, he simply let all his weight collapse down upon her. He was too heavy to do this, of course. But he didn't care. he was spent, and he wanted to revel in the euphoria that was overwhelming his entire being.

After some time, Rolan's senses began to return to him. He could hear Kenda struggling for air beneath him. Still, he didn't immediately roll off of her. He instead kissed and again bit her neck, then whispered, "Was it good for you, too, Valiant?"

Rolan lifted himself from Kenda's body slowly. On his knees, he took a moment to ogle her feminine features. He said softly, "You are such a beautiful woman. It's going to be such a pleasure for me to have you again and again in this way."

<<<<< ::: >>>>>​

Karns listened to Janis explain about how her people had once been Barbarians. He'd never heard this tale before. "Barbarians not go to North. Barbarians live mountains. Is home."

Then a thought came to him. "Why is Janis in Barbaria? Why Janis come across Great River?"

She explained about the trek of her people from the north. They were looking for land on which to live. That disturbed Karns a bit. There already wasn't enough land for the various Barbaria tribes. They quarreled with one another constantly over hunting grounds, fishing streams, and ore mines. They also attacked and pillaged the same villages sometimes, meaning that each subsequent raid was less successful.

"I must find my people," Janis said. "Back there. Up the river. Karns, can you help me?"

He considered her request for several long seconds. He told her, "Karns helps Janis, yes."

He took her arm and turned her for the trail they'd been heading up. He told her, "Cannot go back. Must go ahead. Go round. Find friends. But go up first."

And back up the trail they went.

(OOC: Let's keep in mind the three timelines. We might have to write for just one or two of the three locations in some posts. I know this is an OOC comment that might be better left for a PM. I see we might have some readers, and I didn't want them to think we forgot some characters.)

 

[ToniTaylor]

Kenda canal had loosened enough to relieve her of the pain, which, of course, left her feeling nothing more than the pleasure of being fucked and the despair of knowing it was a joyous act of rape. She hated herself for almost involuntarily beginning to buck her hips up and down in rhythm with Rolan's thrusting body. Each time she caught herself, she forced herself to lay flat and unmoving on the hide floor; each time she did that, she found her muscles shifting her lower body to intensify what her rapist was doing to her -- or for her.

Kenda was nearing that point of return, that wondrous moment when she knew her orgasm was unavoidable, when Rolan moans of exertion became a great grunt of ecstasy. She felt his body tense as his cock twitched inside of her, and she knew that her chance to feel the same euphoria was gone.

As he emptied his balls inside of her, Kenda's mind shifted from the climax she'd missed to the child she would surely gain. There couldn't have been a worst time for some man to fill her with her seed. If she'd been back in Khothona, she could have taken care of this by going to the Medicine Woman for a root based serum that was very popular with the brothel whores.

But then, she probably wasn't going to be alive long enough to even miss her first Moon Blood. Rolan was -- as he'd threatened -- going to interrogate her in this way a few more times, then cut her open or chop off her head or, worse yet, hand her over to his troops for their fun before finally executing her. The last thing Kenda really needed to be worrying about now was whether or not Rolan had just seeded her garden.

As he lifted away from her and pulled his still hard cock out from within her, Kenda remembered his question, You were meant to have me, don't you think? She was considering finally responding to that question when he asked her another one. "Was it good for you, too, Valiant?"

"Yes it was," she said with an obvious tone of sarcasm. "I love having you inside me. In fact, why don't you bring that thing up her to my mouth and let me see what I can do to it here."

Then, she chopped her teeth together threateningly. Again, her words didn't seem to mean anything to him. He instead ogled her for a long while, then said, "You are such a beautiful woman. It's going to be such a pleasure for me to have you again and again in this way."

For yet the third or four or fiftieth time, she couldn't remember, Kenda found herself conflicted. Before he'd put his cock inside her, she would have preferred he put the dagger in her instead. But now, knowing how perfectly he fit into her and worked once inside, Kenda was thinking that she could stand to be interrogated a bit more.

Rolan's comment also told Kenda that he had no intention of killing her right away. That, of course, was good news, even if it meant being raped more in the near future. To try to make Rolan believe she hadn't enjoyed their encounter, she told him with anger in her tone, "The pleasure is all yours."

<<<<< ::: >>>>>​

"Karns helps Janis, yes."

She smiled at his offer, saying, "Thank you, Karns. Thank you very much. You will be repaid handsomely."

He told her that they had to continued forward, though, which Janis didn't immediately understand. But looking back over her shoulder at the distant plateau and the cliff here at her feet, Janis wondered if maybe her time on the river had taken her much farther than she'd believed.

"But go up first."

"Lead the way, Karns," Janis said, smiling as she knew it meant studying his Gods-like body once more.

<<<<< ::: >>>>>​

Down on the river and upstream from the ferry landing, two of Janis's Valiants discovered that Torva had been absolutely correct when he said Rolan's troops would be upstream, preparing to cross the river. They found a dozen men hastily building a raft just big enough to carry two, maybe three men.

There was a bend in the river here to the south, which gave the attackers a pebble beach on which to work. On their side of the river, the Valiant archers hid on a small bank in the thick trees. Just an hour of so short of sundown, the men carried the raft to the water and tested it for buoyancy. Three men was a bit much, so one got off and the raft was pushed out into the water with just the two warriors. They used makeshift oars to move themselves toward the fast current on the south side of the river.

That, of course, was their mistake. The Valiants had pulled back to deeper cover and moved a hundred yards down the river, and just as the raft passed by -- less than 50 feet from the bank -- Janis's archers rose from the tall grass and loosed their arrows. Both men were hit by the first volley, but the Valiants continued firing. By the time the raft was out of effective range, the two men each had at least three arrows in them.

Several minutes later, the raft passed in between Rolan's forces conspicuously on the north bank and Torva's forces still hiding on the south bank.

 

[HornyDog2017]

Rolan laughed about the horrific idea of putting his softening cock into Kenda's teeth trap. "I think that would be a bad idea, Kenda. But thanks for thinking about my pleasure."

He promised her more pleasure from more encounters like this one. Her response made him smile. "The pleasure is all yours."

"Yes, likely," Rolan replied. He went to the tent's door and pulled the flap back to speak to the warrior outside. The guard couldn't help but glance downward at his Khanis's still mostly hard cock. Rolan gave some orders and returned to stand over Kanda. Again, he ogled her and smiled with delight. "If you were to resign yourself to the idea of enjoying me, Kenda, you would not be sorry."

As she was responding, the tent flap pulled back. Four women entered. The first two were warriors, armored and armed. They didn't seem shocked at all at the sight of a stripped woman staked out on the tent floor. One of them immediately set about untying Kenda. The other held the tip of her sword barely an inch from the raped woman's throat.

The second two women wore the clothing of domestic slaves. They also wore ornamental broaches on the thongs tying shut the front of their dresses. The broach of the older of the two indicated she was sexually available to anyone of noble status without the need of gaining permission from her master, in this case Rolan.

The other woman wore a broach that was very uncommon, almost to the point of being rare. Its unique colors and artistry indicated three things: she was, in fact, legally of age for sexual use; she was only available to men of noble stature, as was her companion; but she was to this date still a virgin.

And that was what made her a very special young woman indeed. Khanaland had thousands of female slaves. And yet probably fewer than two score of them had awoken as a virgin on their 18th birthday -- called the Day of Aging -- and gone to bed that night with her purity still intact.

With Kenda free, the two slaves were about to help her out of her tattered clothes for a bath. Suddenly, the still very naked Rolan grabbed the virgin by her hair. He pulled the screaming girl over to the table upon which were spread his maps and other papers. He slammed her belly and breasts down upon the surface and lifted her dress from behind.

A moment later, once again fully hardened, he rammed his cock into the young woman. She screamed out in terror and pain as Rolan fucked her with a ferocity he hadn't even shown Kenda. He pumped and pumped and pumped, ignoring the pleas. And finally, he rammed his front side to her back side one final time. He groaned long and loud as he filled her pussy just as he had Kenda's earlier.

And the entire time, Rolan's gaze had been on Kenda. The message was clear: I will have what I want, when I want, how I want it.

Once he'd had his fill of the sobbing girl's tightness, Rolan pulled back, leaving her laying atop the table. His cock had a red sheen upon it from tearing her hymen. He moved closer to Kenda, studied her, then said firmly, "I get my way. Or people get hurt. Understand?"

<<<<< ::: >>>>>​

Down on the river, one of Janis's Valiants hiding with Torva pointed toward the river. It took a moment to understand what he was seeing. He hadn't been aware that Rolan's forces had already begun building a raft. The vessel passed by, revealing the two dead men aboard.

Torva looked across the river. The warriors there had seen the raft and dead also. Torva thought to himself, They know we're still here now.

 

[ToniTaylor]

When Rolan went to the door, Kenda suddenly feared that he may have decided to share her with his warriors instead. Again, she found herself wishing Rolan had just stuck his dagger up into her throat. But then four women rather than fourteen men entered, and rather than respite her, they untied her prepared for washing her from a bucket of warm water.

Then suddenly, Rolan had the younger of the two slaves slammed down on the table and was lifting her shift, exposing her bare ass. Kenda had seen her brooch, and she knew what it meant. And the way Rolan started at her while he was positioning his cock to violate the screaming, innocent young thing, well, she knew what that meant, too.

"Please, don't do this!" Kenda asked. He ignored her, leading her to beg more obviously, "Please, Khanis. Please don't do this."

The second, older slave was pleading, too, but as she, Kenda, and the two female warriors watched, Rolan rammed his cock deep into the virgin's unprepared hole. Kenda had never heard a woman scream with such horror, and she'd both seen women give birth and die in battle.

Rolan gave a great grunt as he came, then simply withdrew and walked away, leaving the girl whimpering on the table.

"I get my way," Rolan explained in a foreboding tone, "or people get hurt. Understand?"

Kenda didn't immediately respond but finally and quietly said, "I understand, Khanis."

She looked to the deflowered girl and begged, "Let me help her. Please, Khanis."

 

[HornyDog2017]

Kenda begged, "Let me help her. Please, Khanis."

Rolan stared into the woman's eyes several seconds. Then, without words, he turned away and crossed to a free standing clothing rack. He donned a long, thick robe and stepped into fur lined boots. He gave the women one last look before heading outside, leaving them to do as they pleased.

<<<<< ::: >>>>>​

Torva turned at the sound of approaching feet. A small squad of his warriors were approaching from the woods. He waved them to be less conspicuous. When they arrived, he told the Captain amongst them about the raft, the dead enemy, the Valiants upstream, and their still missing Lady.

"I'm returning to the train," he said, "to organize them and get them farther away. I'll send you a runner. I want reports every hour on them."

He pointed across the river to Rolan's army. "They know we're here. They'll make another move at some point. We, you and the archers, must make them realize that's a bad idea."

The Captain acknowledged his orders. Torva hurried up the trail through the woods. He caught up with remains of Janis's people. They were attempting to organize their possessions. Most of the carts had been lost in the river. The rest were on the wrong side of the river. All they had were the six mules and their own backs to carry all they could.

"Unpack everything, now!" Torva ordered. "If it doesn't feed out bellies, hydrate out bodies, keep us warm or dry, or protect us from dangers, it stays here.Captain!"

An officer hurried up as Torva pulled a silver candle still from a mule. "Pack all of this shit up. Find a place to bury it."

The mules were fully unloaded and their cargo spread out for Torva's inspection. There were often disagreements with his choices. But they got through it. Soon, the reloaded mules and people were moving up the trail. A runner took off down the hill toward the river.

It was only now that Torva suddenly realized that he had neither seen nor spoken with Naoma since returning from the river. He asked around for her, finding her.

Half an hour later, the boy returned. He reported that another raft was being constructed. It was much larger, to accommodate archers of its own. Torva knew they had to find a safe haven in which they could hide. And he knew they had to march through the night to reach such a place.

<<<<< ::: >>>>>​

Karns pushed up the hill with his usual grace. As before, he checked on Janis often, stopping when necessary. She was exhausted. He'd planned on reaching a cave with supplies before dark. But they simply weren't going to make it. He led them back the way they came for a couple of hundred yards, then turned west. Another couple of hundred yards after that they arrived at a rock overhang that protected a small sleeping area.

"We stay here," he told Janis. He took her by the arm and moved her to the back of the mini-cave. "Stay here. I will back."

He disappeared on a trail. The sun fell beyond the mountains in the west. The temperature fell almost instantly. Minutes later, Karns reappeared with his hands filled with firewood. A minute later if that, a fire was beginning to roar before them.

"Stay here," he repeated again. "I will back."

Again he disappeared. Twenty minutes later, he reappeared. He was carrying the left hind quarter of a small deer. He skinned it with skill and a seriously sharp knife. He sliced through the meat in several places to open it up for quicker cooking. More wood on the fire sent the flames higher. The meat he hung from a rope tied to a tree root that escaped from the rocks over their head. The sizzling sound crackles against the rock walls. The smell of searing flesh filled the air.

"Stay here," he repeated yet again. "I will back."

He disappeared, returning with his arms full of moss and dried grasses. He made a soft sleeping area. It wasn't big. He meant for the two of them to sleep close together, for warmth.

 

[ToniTaylor]

Even as Rolan was donning a long robe to leave the tent, Kenda was moving over to help the young slave laid out upon the table. She met eyes with the brutal Khanis as she pulled the girl's gown down to hide her exposed body; she wanted so badly to chastise Rolan -- or even more so, to use his own dagger to slice off his cock -- but instead she only stared at the man and then, as hard as it was, nodded her head respectfully to him, to let him know that he had won.

Kenda and the other slave tended to the still sobbing girl, reassuring her that all would be well as they cleaned her up and checked her womanhood to ensure no real damage had been done. And all the while, she did so without showing concern that she, too, had just been raped by Rolan. The two female warriors moved away from the other three women, taking post near the tent's flap; they offered no assistance, though, Kenda thought she saw sympathy in the face of one of them she thought she remembered from Rolan's past visits to her father's town.

"What is your name?" Kenda asked the raped slave once they'd gotten her cleaned up and wrapped in one of the Khanis's fur blankets. When she didn't answer, Kenda asked the older slave, "What is her name? And yours?"

"I am Oriel," the 30-ish looking slave said, before looking to the slave who Kenda would later learn was merely and ironically only 18 days past her 18th birthday, "And this is Helen."

Then the older slave leaned in closer to Kenda and whispered, "She is Rolan's cousin."

Kenda's eyes widened as she asked with dismay, "Cousin? How can this be? She is in slave garb. I see the robe. I see the brooch."

"Helen is the daughter of Jozia," the older slave began; she spoke in whispers while still tending to Helen in an effort to avoid unwanted attention from the two guards, who themselves were chatting in whispers near the tent entrance. Oriel added, "He was one of Khanis Geegen's brothers."

"Yes," Kenda whispered in recognition of the name. "I know the story."

Jozia had governed -- under fealty to Geegen -- one of the towns on the frontier of Khanaland, the furthest from his brother's own town. Two years ago, Jozia had ceased making tribute payments to Geegen, even executing tax collectors on two separate occasions after they'd come to collect the payment that hadn't already been shipped by Jozia himself.

The Khanis sent a force of 50 men with the next set of tax collectors, only to have all of them stripped of their arms, armor, and clothes and sent back to Geegen in only their boots. Jozia's subjects in the countryside were forewarned not to aid the rejected warriors, and most of them died of exposure and dehydration before they found aid from Geegen's loyalists.

The Khanis next sent a force 500 warriors and 100 archers with the next tax collector, with instruction to not only get his gold and silver but to bring Jozia back to stand trial and, of course, lose his head.

But Jozia had prepared an ambush in a narrow canyon that was the only approach to his town. After Geegen's army entered the gap, it was blocked off at each end by barricades and warriors, and for the next three days, a mere 60 archers -- working in shifts, day and night -- picked off the warriors and archers below them, one by one, until finally Jozia's warriors attacked from both ends and killed every last living man between them.

The defeat had been stunning for Geegen -- not that he let the common people learn of it, of course. Jozia, of course, was hailed as a hero for standing up against the Khanis who Jozia had made out to seen even more of a brutal dictator than he really was. The victory allowed Jozia to rally warriors from nearby villages and towns, and a wide rebellion appeared imminent.

But then, in the darkness of a New Moon, Geegen's highly trained Yamakai -- deadly, stealthy assassins -- slipped into Jozia's town and then into his home and slit not just his throat but the throats of all his wives and their children, all without ever being discovered by Jozia's warrior guards.

Only one of Jozia's children had survived -- Helen -- whose mother had snuck her out of the town and fled to Rolan, who she mistakenly believed would protect her and her daughter. Instead, Helen was enslaved and her mother's head sent to the Khanis as a gift. Rolan himself had dropped the ax that had ended his cousin's mother's life.

"How could he do this to you, girl?" Kenda mused, somehow forgetting for the moment that Rolan had just raped her as well. She asked Oriel, "Do you have access to the root? We must not let Rolan's seed find fertile ground."

Oriel shook her head. That was disappointing in regards to Helen, and Kenda only then thought about her own situation. She didn't know if the girl was in her Moon at the moment, but she knew for a fact that she was.

The flap of the tent suddenly flew open, and four warriors surged in, took hold of both of the slaves, and hauled them out of the tent. Kenda -- who was still naked after Oriel and Helen had stripped her of her tattered clothing in preparation for a bathing -- was back slapped so hard that she fell to the floor, where she remained, dizzy and unsteady until the other two women were long gone.

"Finish your bath," the not-so-sympathetic guard commanded, "or I'll bind you and toss you into the river to rid you of your filthy, rebellious stench."

"Fuck you," Kenda growled, her back to the guards while her hands were busy out of the pair's sight. "Stick that sword of your right up your hole--"

Kenda went quiet as the guard surged her way, pulling from her hip not her sword but a club; she had orders not to harm Rolan's new play thing, too much, anyway. But the guard hadn't been able to see what Kenda had been doing with her hands -- wrenching out of the ground and hide floor covering one of the stakes to which she'd been tied -- and when the guard got close enough, Kenda spun, flipped out a leg, tripped the woman -- who fell to her knees -- and then stabbed the stake deep into her thigh.

The guard screamed in deep agony, clutching at the sharp piece of wood sunk into her leg. Kenda rolled again to put distance between her and the crying woman, but the second guard was quickly there to thunk the captive on the head.

<<<<< ::: >>>>>​

Naoma had kept herself busy with tending to children, other women, and the infirmed. The trek across the countryside was taking its toll on many if not most of them; even the men of physical stature and endurance were showing signs of the impromptu trek under which they'd taken.

Then she caught sight of Torva walking around the site, searching for someone or something. She began moving toward him, and when he caught sight of her she almost broke into tears. She flung herself into his arms, clutching him tightly for a long moment, before pulling her head back to kiss him fully on the lips.

"Why hasn't Lady Janis commanded us to move on?" she asked. "We are packed and ready to leave, and Rolan's forces are--"

Naoma saw the look in Torva's eyes and went quiet, finally asking, "What is wrong, Torva?"

She backed a bit and looked around, then looked back to Torva. With a tone of fear, she asked, "Where is my Lady Janis?"

<<<<< ::: >>>>>​

"We stay here," Karns told Janis, adding "Stay here. I will back."

He disappeared and reappeared three times over the next hour or more, always returning with his arms full of some need of theirs. The little hole in the mountain filled with the taste of meat, which Karns smeared with a paste made of herbs and flower petals that Janis had never seen produced before. When he finally sliced off a chunk of the deer and handed it to her on the point of his knife, she gave out a deeply satisfying moan at the taste.

"Unbelievable," she told him. "My mother would have killed to know what you just did to this."

They ate and talked about their homelands in basically descriptive turns. She explained that the land from which she'd come was mostly flat and arid and was used to raise grain crops and herd animals; he explained, basically, that his land wasn't like that in anyway.

Janis was beginning to sway a bit, exhausted and unable to keep her eyes open. They fed the fire to increase the heat both coming from it and reflecting off the rock walls surrounding them, and she moved up onto the bed Karns had fashioned of grass and moss. It wasn't as soft as her down and wool bed back in her yurt in Khotkona, but it also wasn't the ground upon which she'd slept the night before at the river's edge.

She couldn't help but wonder what had happened to the others who had so loyally followed her south toward Barbaria, only to be left upon their own with her separation. Janis could only hope that Torva was still protecting them and that her brother would see the Great River as a justifiable barrier to his continued pursuit.

Scooting over the extreme edge of the too small bed, Janis patted a hand upon the other side of it, telling her traveling companion, "Karns, you may lay next to me if you wish."

Janis didn't know whether Karns had intended her to partake of the bed alone or share it with him; for all she knew, he intended to share it with her by laying her in it on her back and laying between her thighs after he parted them. Ironically, Janis was up for either one. Due to circumstances beyond their control, she and her husband had last made more than two months ago, and with Yanni's death, Janis had no reason to not to begin partaking of other men, even Barbarians who she'd only just met a few hours earlier.

 

[HornyDog2017]

Torva and Janis

(OOC: I divided the characters to allow us to respond to one another quicker. I also added a title to the post to make them easier to find. I know that I go back and reread often. Do you?)

"Where is my Lady Janis?"

Torva was held Naoma's hands tightly in his. This was going to be as hard for her as it was for him. He met her gaze and explained about what had happened on the river. "I searched for her, Naoma, but the trail, we couldn't follow the trail farther."

The former slave began reacting as he'd expected. He pulled her to him. "I haven't given up hope that she is still alive, Naoma. She's not dead. I can feel it."

He moved her back to look into her eyes. "I will find her and bring her back. I promise. But right now, we must get her people to safety. We must continue to Barbaria. Rolan's forces will cross the river tomorrow. You must help get your Lady's people to safety."

He pulled her to him again, hugging her tightly. With a kiss on the cheek, then one on the mouth, he sent Naoma on her way. He returned to the Captains waiting for his orders. But first, he looked about himself and asked, "How many are we? How many warriors are left? Archers, Valiants, men who can carry a sword?"

The Captains each considered the men under them and answered: there were fewer than 30 warriors and half that many skilled archers; of Janis's Valiants, there were 4 here and 6 at the river; and another 15 men and 6 women had shown bravery by picking up weapons and offering to serve.

"And how many civilians?" Torva asked, looking to the train of people and mules who were only now beginning the trek up the trail to the south.

(OOC: The answer to that last question is yours, Toni.)

 

[HornyDog2017]

"Unbelievable," Janis said about the delicious chunk of venison. "My mother would have killed to know what you just did to this."

Karns laughed at her compliment. It seemed such a strange reason for someone to slay another. Besides, every woman and most men in Barbaria knew how to make this glaze. He said, "I will teach Janis how. Janis not need kill to know."

They spend some time talking. Then it was time for Janis to close her eyes for the night. He had intended for her to use the bed alone. Karns would stay by the fire, half awake, half asleep, always on guard. But Janis invited him to lay with her.
"Karns, you may lay next to me if you wish."

He hesitated, simply looking her over. He'd wanted to put his cock inside her from the moment he'd found her laying in the sun on the rock. And now she was inviting him to do so. Or, at least, that was how he interpreted the invitation. Barbarian women had the right to invite any man to their bed. And few Barbarian men passed up an opportunity to fuck, even when the woman was ugly or fat or otherwise less than beautiful in body, mind, or soul. Barbaria had its very own sort of thinking regarding sex.

Karns stood from his crouch and began unfastening the various buckles about his body. One after another, his arm guard, weapons scabbards, hide bags of possessions, and finally his clothes fell into a pile about his ankles. He stood naked before Janis in less than ten seconds.

"I wish to lay with you, Janis," he said as he moved toward the bed.

 

[ToniTaylor]

Torva and Janis

Naoma's face left no doubt as to how she felt about the loss -- or presumed loss -- of Janis. Janis had always been far more than a mistress to Naoma; the former slave was unaware that Janis was her half sister, but what she did know was that Janis had rarely if ever treated her like a common slave. She just couldn't be lost -- be dead! -- after all that they'd been through, over their lives and over the past two days.

"I haven't given up hope that she is still alive, Naoma," Torva reassured her. "She's not dead. I can feel it."

Sobbing now into Torva's chest, Naoma managed to get out the words, "I feel it, too, Torva."

"I will find her and bring her back. I promise."

Naoma already knew that that was unlikely. Rivers had been swallowing people for as long as people had lived near them. And this was the Great River, a body of water that was like none other in Khanaland. It began in the southeast, a narrow but raging torrent coming off glaciers and out of gorges, cutting a path through the mountains like a giant warrior slashing an ax into the ground; it leveled and widened when it reached the Central Plains, the plateau on which much of Khanaland was found, and while less wild here, it still flooded every spring, washing away anything and anyone in its path who was not on high ground; and then again here, in the southwest just downstream from where Janis had chosen to cross it to reach Barbaria -- where she'd likely died as a consequence -- the river began dropping quickly in elevation, once again becoming a torrent of rapids and waterfalls that no one had ever navigated.

"We must continue to Barbaria. Rolan's forces will cross the river tomorrow. You must help get your Lady's people to safety."

After they embraced, Naoma returned to those with whom she'd been working. They'd discarded much of their cargo as Torva had directed; they were more concerned with simply surviving now than with having valuable to trade once they found a marketplace. One of Torva's Captains called for them to move out, and one mule after another, one person after another began the trek up the trail once more.

Naoma stood off to the side and watched as the community of refugees passed by. The number of them left now was disappointing: after both free people and slaves split off from the departing group to find their way in the world; after the deaths at the river of warriors, Valiants, and civilians; after the rafts filled with mostly men and -- of course -- Janis and her Marshall, Kenda -- were lost to the river, there remained:

• 25 warriors, 10 of whom were also skilled archers
• 10 Valiants
• 10 men capable of being trained as warriors
• 5 women capable of being trained as warriors and either archers (under Torva) or Valiants (under the missing Lady Janis).
• 10 additional men
• 20 additional women
• And 40 children, almost evenly split between males and females
• The total population of the community -- which had begun as almost 250 --was now down to 120 souls.

Naoma looked down the slight grade and found Torva looking up from where he and his Captains discussed the situation. She forced herself to smile to him, then raised a hand to her lips and threw him a kiss. She wondered what his response would be, standing there amongst his subordinate officers. After she seen it, she turned and joined the train, picking up a small, struggling and seemingly abandoned child and lifted him to straddle her shoulders with his feet, which she held tightly with most of her digits but teasingly tickled with one per, making him giggle.

 

[ToniTaylor]

Karns and Janis in the western mountains of Barbaria

Janis's eyes widened and her mouth fell open as Karns so very quickly stripped his clothes, weapons, and other items and stood naked before her. She tried to suppress a chuckle of surprise but failed.

"I wish to lay with you, Janis," he said, obviously interpreting her invitation to sleep next to her as one to find joy between her parted knees.

"Whoa, there, stallion!" she said as she held a hand out before her, palm to him, fingers splayed. "Take a breath."

Janis glanced to his groin and found his rather impressive cock hardening even as she stared at it, and suddenly her use of the word stallion seemed all the more appropriate. He stopped, there on his knees near her feet, and Janis chuckled again.

She was conflicted on what she wanted to say because she was conflicted about her own feelings regarding Karns. He was a magnificent man who Janis was sure had the energy and endurance to fuck her to any number of orgasms before she simply couldn't take anymore. But she'd only just met him hours ago, and he was a Barbarian, which in her culture had come to be used to describe lowly, uneducated, brutal heathens and was even used in her community as a derogatory description of the dregs of society.

But looking at his body and then taking in the view of his now fully hardened cock, Janis simply couldn't stop herself. She leaned her weight back on her hands with locked elbows, raised a foot, and said, "I'm not going to fuck with my boots on."

 

[HornyDog2017]

Torva on the river bank, preparing for battle with Rolan

Torva listened to the Captains' report about the number of fighters and civilians. They had 50 of the former, only 35 of whom were already trained. With that, they had to protect 70 men, women, and children. They were begin pursued by a trained army of hundreds. They were venturing into an unknown land. And that land was populated by people whose homeland name was now used to describe people who were vicious, violent, brutal heathens: barbarians.

The picture before his eyes was a tragic one.

Looking up the trail, Torva caught sight of Naoma looking to him. She blew him a kiss. He smiled and considered returning it. Then he looked about the Captains speaking to him. No, not a good time for that. Instead, he simply nodded his head to Naoma, in the way a servant would to his master. After the night he'd spent with the former slave, Torva was ready to be her slave, at least in bed.

"To your orders, Captains," Torva demanded after his lover had turned and departed. "May the Gods be with us. In the name of our Lady Janis, men."

It wasn't the first time Torva had spoken that last line. It was standard fare for sending your warriors into battle. But this was the first time Torva had included Janis's name and title. Some of the Captains immediately repeated his words: "In the name of our Lady Janis!"

Others were caught off guard by the change. But they, too, repeated the words with emphasis. Smiles spread around the circle of officers as they considered how things had changed in such a short time. Torva's most trusted Captain withdrew his sword from its scabbard and held it out before him. He repeated as if to remind one and all of whom they were fighting. "In the name of our Lady Janis."

One by one, the Captains pulled their own swords, added the tips to crossing, and repeated the words. Torva was now smiling with pride. He pulled his sword, added its tip, looked to his men one after another, and said the words. "In the name of our Lady Janis. May the Gods return her to us. In the meantime--"

His smile widened, then he finished, "Let's teach this upstart wannabe Khanis what it means to be loyal to one who deserves loyalty."

They all grunted, a tradition before battle. The lifted their swords high in the air, grunted again, sheathed their weapons, and dispersed. Torva remained in place, glancing uphill for but not finding Naoma. He should have been joining her in the trek up the trail. But they were so outnumbered. Torva needed to be at the battle line.

He headed down the hill toward the river. His Captains were already positioning their forces along more than a mile of the bank. Over the next couple of hours, his and Janis's archers would let loose with arrows when they saw movement on the bank in the narrower portions of the river. But the majority of Rolan's force was at the wide point where Torva and Janis had crossed with the others. The water was wide here, but it was the stillest as well.

Darkness came and the sky filled with clouds. A bit after midnight, a scout reported to his Captain that a large force of Rolan's men had gathered all along the bank upstream. That Captain reluctantly told Torva, "General, I do not believe we can prevent them from crossing the river. Do we fight or withdraw?"

Torva considered the news as he watched the camp on the far side of the river. Then, he looked to the land behind him. Even in the darkness, the waved of the tall grass could be seen in the moonlight. He asked the Captain, "Which way does the wind usually blow in the mornings this time of the year?"

The Captain didn't understand the reason for the question. But he answered, "From the south, General. From the south until about midday, then to the east until sundown. Usually."

Torva looked to the beautiful dance of the field. Then he gave his orders.

 

[HornyDog2017]

Karns and Janis in the western mountains of Barbaria

Karns' face filled with a questioning expression at Janis stopping his advance. Had he misunderstood? Did she not want him as much as he wanted her? Had she not invited him into her parted thighs? It was obvious that human sexual interaction was handled differently in the north.

But then Janis lofted her foot. "I'm not going to fuck with my boots on."

Again, Karns seemed confused. Not familiar with the word, he asked, "Fuck?"

 

[ToniTaylor]

Karns and Janis in the western mountains of Barbaria

Karns asked, "Fuck?"

Janis stared for a moment, then dropped her boot to the floor of the little cave with a thump. She repeated, "Fuck."

Still, he just looked at her with that adorably confused expression. She laughed again, sat up and leaned in closer to the man, reached out, and grasped his rock hard erection. Gripping it tightly with one hand, then reaching the other into her own crotch with the tips of her fingers together in a tip shape, pretending to thrust into her pussy, Janis smiled even wider and said, "Fuck. Understand?"

Finally, Karns obviously realized what the word meant, and Janis leaned back and l lifted her booted foot once more. She told him, "Take off my boots, take off my clothes, and we will fuck to your hearts content."

 

[HornyDog2017]

"Fuck," Janis said.

Then she reached out and gripped Karns' cock. He flinched in surprise, grasping the grasping hand instinctively. He wasn't entirely sure what she'd been intending to do with or to it. But she made gestures that cleared up the confusion.

"Fuck. Understand?"

"Yes, understand," he said smiling. When she again asked him to remove her boot, Karns didn't hesitate to quickly begin unlacing it. He tossed it aside, then its partner. Janis's trousers were next, as was the lower half of her undergarments. As he looked down at a nakedness mirroring his own, Karns smiled wide and playfully repeated, "Fuck. To heart content."

 

[ToniTaylor]

"Yes, understand," Karns said with a smile.

He rapidly -- almost frantically -- began pulling at the laces of Janis's first boot, then the other. As he did that, Janis did the same he had earlier, unbuckling her weapon belt and trousers belt and lifting her buttocks so as to pull and discard that which she was removing. She chuckled at one point, wondering which one of them was more eager to strip her body.

Karns ripped Janis's trouser and underwear down her legs, tossing them aside, and she sat up to loosen the leather thongs holding her also leather armor and pull it and her blouse as one up over her head. Another bow pulled allowed her blouse to be pulled up and away, and Janis was suddenly as naked as the man on his knees before her.

"Fuck. To heart content," Karns repeated as he looked down upon the naked woman he'd found at the river.

"Do you know what that means?" Janis asked playfully.

She laid back into the bed he'd made for her and studied his face. She couldn't tell from his expression whether he understood; actually, with his eyes focused on the baby's-butt-smooth, shaved triangle of flesh at the meeting point of her thighs and her belly, Janis wasn't even sure that Karns had heard the question at all.

"Do your women not do this, shave?" Janis asked as she opened her knees and presented her hairless womanhood to the man. She was smiling so wide it almost hurt as she slid a hand down her belly to her crotch; her fingers caressed the inside of her thigh and her thumb played over the very slightest of stubble where normally she had a thick bush of dark curly hair. "The Northmen like this."

Although she wasn't thinking about it now -- thank the Gods -- Janis's muff had last been shaved the day of her husband's killing. She had been anticipating that after the attack on the rebellious village, she and Yanni would fuck hard and long through the night in celebration of what they as nobles would gain from the pillage.

"They like it this way, without hair," she continued as her fingers slipped inward and found the already wet folds of her pussy and began sliding up and down slowly between them, "so that when they use their mouth to please their lovers, they don't get hair in their teeth."

Janis's entire body tensed up when her fingers moved higher and found the super sensitive nub amidst the folds of flesh. She began to writhe in the makeshift bed, and looking into the naked man's eyes as he watched, she asked, "Do the men of Barbaria do that, Karns. Use their mouths to please their lovers?"

 

[HornyDog2017]

Karns sat his bare ass back on his bare calves to look down upon Janis. His cock was aimed such that if he exploded now, he'd splash his seed all over the naked beauty before him.

"Do your women not do this, shave?" Janis asked.

He never had. It wasn't something the woman of Barbaria did. Seeing her so conspicuously displayed like that was mesmerizing.

Janis told him, "The Northmen like this."

She began pleasuring herself as she spoke of the reasons she was hairless there, asking, "Do the men of Barbaria do that, Karns. Use their mouths to please their lovers?"

He wasted no time. Moving forward, he parted Janis's knees farther. Leaning into her crotch and wrapping his hands around her thighs, Karns pressed his mouth firmly upon Janis's wet pussy and began lapping at her eagerly. It might not have been a subtle as she was used to, but maybe this was how the Northmen did it. He couldn't know, and he didn't care. He only wanted to pleasure her. Pleased Barbarian women pleased their Barbarian men in return. With their mouths. Did North women do that, put their Northmen lovers' cocks in their mouth? Maybe he would find out?

 

[ToniTaylor]

"Oh, Gods!" Janis exclaimed as Karns practically attacked her pussy with his mouth.

There was nothing subtle about how he began, and Janis very nearly pushed his head out from within her groin to educate him on something it seemed he'd never done before. But within seconds, it was obvious that -- regardless of the lack of tact -- Karns was all too aware of what to do with his tongue upon her little nub of sexual delight. She almost immediately began rocking her hips up and down to match the tip of his tongue's very consistent flicking at her clit.

She looked down to watch him for a few seconds, thoroughly impressed, only to find her head dropping back and rolling around at the unbelievable pleasure building within her. Look down, roll head, look down, repeat; the joy he was causing Janis was simply unknown to her until now.

Finally, digging her heels into the ground on either side of Karns, Janis lifted her head one last time, grabbed a handful of his long, wild hair, and desperately held him in place as the pleasure rose and rose and rose and finally exploded within her. Her entire body tensed as the waves of euphoria swept through her; Janis's gaze remained on the meeting of the Barbarian's mouth to her womanhood until finally she collapsed back into the bed, her heart pounding like war drums and her full chest rising and falling with the accelerated breathing of a long distance messenger.

When her mind and mouth were able to work together to form words again, she looked to Karns again, laughed in true delight, and said, "My Gods! Yes! Yes, you certainly know how to pleasure your women like that, Karns."

She snatched his nearest hand with one of hers and pulled him up in between her thighs, and with the other hand she grasped his cock and pulled it toward her now thoroughly lubricated pussy. With emphasis and a touch of humor, Janis said, "Fuck me, Karns. You understand that, yes?"