Chapter 10: Bugger

Doc Allan Avon and Kale were working in his lab with the berries.

Allan was an avid scientist and loved learning about why different components in plants affected people. He had distilled quite a few poisons and toxins in his time. He had even found plants that helped with pain and stopped wounds from getting infected. He loved plants.

They had found a small epiphyte plant growing the berries on one of the trees near the farm. Kale had helped him carefully remove it, and they put it in a pot of clean sand to keep the roots damp.

They told everyone not to touch it or the small berries that were just ripening on it. It also had new flowers. Allan believed that the plant cropped all year around in this climate.

They wondered if that was why the men had been eating them. Their gardens would probably have been stripped and the winter crops only newly planted, when the second crop of berries would have been ready.

Most of the fruiting trees they had found were covered in fruit, but it was too early to harvest, as it was still early autumn here. They had raided the gardens and taken what was still edible to supplement their stores on the ship with fresh vegetables.

Allan dropped a couple of drops of the liquid he had extracted from the berries onto pieces of bread. He and Kale had been very careful to not get the juice on themselves.

They had put barrier spells on their hands that acted like gloves. Kale had even strengthened Allan’s personal shield that helped protect them from infectious diseases and unknown allergens’.

Allan dropped the bread into a cage with ten rats in it. The rats licked the juice off the bread and then ate the bread. As they watched, they became languid and even dopey. Both men found the smell of the juice unpleasant, as it had a scent of just-off meat.

One of the rats who had stolen the largest piece of bread started to shiver and stagger. He had been the greediest. A female rat came over to him to lick his face, and he was on her in an instant. They watched as he fucked her furiously. “Friggin’ hell, he is really going for it,” Kale said.

Normally rats fuck fast and then it’s over, but this guy was still going. They watched him fuck the female for several minutes before he finally finished. “Well, that was interesting. I wonder if it works as an aphrodisiac on humans too,” Allan said.

“Those two blokes in the second bed, I reckon they had been hard at it when the other bloke killed them. I wonder if one of them was his normal partner and he was jealous,” Kale replied.

“Possibly, but why did he kill the other one? I bet he had been fucking him earlier. I wonder if he then went and ate some more berries, but it had a different effect on him,” Allan came back.

Allan put two of the younger male rats from another cage into a smaller cage. He then dosed the bread more heavily. They ate it greedily and initially, they became languid like the others had. After a minute, the larger of them started sniffing and licking the other and trying to mount him.

He was very aggressive and bit down on the smaller rat’s neck as he tried to fuck him. The younger rat tried turning and getting out from under him, but it didn’t stop the bigger rat, he was humping hard. They heard the younger rat squeal and guessed the bigger rat had finally found a hole to put his cock in.

It made him hump harder, and the younger rat squealed even louder and tried to throw him off. The bigger rat got even more aggressive. He bit the smaller rat even harder drawing blood. He shook his head furiously shaking the shit out of the smaller rat, subduing him and he kept fucking the whole time.

The boys were amazed. “That may explain a lot. If the desire to fuck gets that intense that you will use aggression to get satisfaction, it would explain the death of the first man. I believe he had been choked first and possibly stabbed later in anger,” Allan said.

“What about the other two?” Kale asked, still watching the rats. The younger was squeaking softly, but not trying to stop the bigger rat anymore. He finally finished and staggered off and lay down to rest.

The smaller rat crawled up beside him. He licked him and started grooming him. The bigger rat licked the wound he had inflicted and made nice. They gently groomed each other.

“They possibly told him to fuck off, and he went nuts. As you said, I think they were busy when he stabbed them. If he still needed satisfaction, he may not have taken it well. I think when he realised he had eliminated his possible partners, he went over the edge,” Allan said.

They looked at the other cage and found the first big rat was fucking the female he had been doing earlier. One of the other males was also busy. “The effect seems to last a while as well,” Allan observed.

Kale glanced down and saw that Allan had as big a hard on, as he did. He pressed up behind the man and Allan wiggled his arse, telling him he was more than happy for Kale to help himself, which he did.

Kale missed having a woman to fuck, but at least Allan appreciated his efforts. The Doc leant against the bench and happily wanked himself, as Kale pushed into him. He worked his cock in, in increments and then once he got moving he fucked into Allan more firmly.

They didn’t tend to do a lot of foreplay and Allan was used to Kale’s cock in him by now. He was bigger than he used to be since putting on the medallion. Allan tended to get off quicker than Kale did and Kale felt and heard him cock coming before he was ready.

Allan released his cock and bent over further so Kale could fuck him better. He happily pushed back into Kale as he pushed in and Allan gripped him as he retreated. Allan was concentrating on making it as good for him, as he could. He felt himself arse come and shuddered. Kale was finally able to get his release too.

They watched the rats for a few days but didn’t give them any more of the juice. They had put a female rat in with the two males after the first encounter. But neither of the males touched her. The younger male would warn her off if she came near the bigger male.

The bigger male fucked, the smaller male several times, and they had even seen the younger male press his rear into the bigger rat’s face until he mounted him. This was very strange behaviour, and they indicated they had become a mated pair.

In the other cage, they observed something similar with the two females, that the bigger two males had fucked. They, in turn, didn’t touch the other females and had fucked their girls often as well. The others pretty much behaved as normal.

Allan removed the two pairs and put them together in a different cage, and then dosed them again. The first couple of times they happily fucked their preferred partner. But then Allan gave just the younger rat some more juice. He seemed off his face and staggered around a bit and then he found one of the females and happily climbed aboard.

She protested because she wasn’t his female, but he behaved like the other male rat and forced her to submit to him. She didn’t put up as big of a fight either. The other male and female both got agitated and tried to force him to desist.

But he was in motion and had no intention of complying until the larger male grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and dragged him off. To their amazement, he then turned on the larger male and tried mounting him. Once on his back, he bit him hard and then did everything he could to fuck him.

The larger male tried dislodging him, but the younger male roughed him up, even biting his ears and finally got his way. Once he finished with him. He rested, and the other three rats stayed away. He then went back to the female that hadn’t been his and fucked her properly.

This time, the others didn’t try to stop him but licked him and her while he was busy. He then rested again and finally did his female. Over the next couple of days, he happily fucked all three of them several times.

They now behaved submissively to him. He let the larger rat fuck the female he normally did but still stopped him from fucking his girl. She still only let him touch her. He had even mounted the larger rat, while he was busy. It was weird and oddly erotic for the two men watching the threesome.

Kale commented to Allan, “So if he hadn’t killed them, they would probably have all ended up his bitches.” Allan agreed. It had been an interesting experiment. Both men were in two minds as to whether they should try a human experiment.

In the end, Kale made the decision for them. He had decided he didn’t like the idea of men being able to use the plant to make another people their slaves. So he tossed the plant, the berries and the juice overboard.

Allan wasn’t happy, but Kale told him it was too bloody dangerous. The rats had indicated it was addictive. They had all shown signs of withdrawal systems. It had taken at least a week before they decided that it was out of their systems.

The two pairs, while they happily played with the others again, did still tend to stay together more often. The younger male wasn’t seen fucking the larger, but Kale suspected it did still happen, as the larger rat was still submissive when they were together, and he often sought the small male out. The four often slept wound around each other.

Oddly, the other two males did stay together and would even swap who was on top. They didn’t touch the females at all or the other males. They would often be seen cleaning each other’s genitals and seemed to enjoy doing it, as they took their time. Kale and Allan found the gay rats amusing when they seemed to emulate their own behaviour. Allan loved licking his balls.

While all the experimentation had been going on, the ship was winding is way down the coast. The other scientists were busy cataloguing their finds from the island and were now collecting wherever they stopped. They had identified quite a few odd plants and variations of familiar ones. They were fascinated by the new species of animals that they discovered.

As they worked their way down the coast, the weather was cooling off, as it was now late summer weather here. They had a few showers but missed the worst of the storms. They found many of the trees were now harvestable and were happy to stock the larders.

They learnt not to eat too many of the sweet long yellow fruits at once, as they would go straight through them like a dose of salts. They also found several soft skinned fruits that were very tasty, some had a large seed in the centre and others lots of small black or white seeds.

They found some strange star shaped fruits and several types of melons and berries that were close enough to those from home that they had no problems eating them. They caught a long legged, short bodied beast with a funny nose for pulling down branches. It was very tasty to eat, so they kept an eye out for more of them.

Kale kept an eye out, but he didn’t find any more of the bad berries and hoped they weren’t a common plant. Allan suspected they preferred to grow very high in the trees if they were around. The also hadn’t noticed any more of the particular tree that the first had been on.

The use of them disturbed Kale. If someone like Gazan got hold of them, he would have used them to enslave people to do his bidding he was sure. While the rats didn’t demand their partners to fuck others, he has a feeling that humans would, especially if they could use spells as well. He believed that the slaves would comply, to please their masters.

The first village they hit was obviously a fishing village. It didn’t look very permanent, and the crew wondered how developed these people were. The Bay was a little tricky to enter, but since they were mapping the coastline, they went in on the high tide.

They were amazed that it opened out into a large waterfront. On the southern end, it was being fed by a wide river that ran along the side of the mountain range that had towering cliffs over the water. They realised they had come in on the northern entrance and one side was, in fact, an island. It created a protective barrier and provided the two entrances to the large bay.

When the locals saw the ship, they ran and hid. Rick was perturbed by their reaction. They decided not to go ashore immediately. They stayed off the shore for the day. They did some fishing to see what was worth catching.

The next morning, two men came out of the forest and sat on the beach. They were not dressed as simply as the villages had been. They both wore a form of thigh length belted white tunic with coloured trims and leather sandals.

The men had dark hair and olive skin. They were both around 160cm tall and of wiry build. The older man had a small potbelly and was grey at the temples. Both had a form of the shortsword hanging from the belt at their sides, and they carried small round wooden shields.

Rick selected Kale to go with him. The four sailors were to stay with the rowboat. They deliberately came ashore 50m down the beach from the men and Kale, and Rick got out and walked down to them.

The men stood to meet them. They stopped when still ten metres from them and Rick said, “Hello, we are from Galina. I’m Captain Rick Strong, and this is my friend Kale. We are sorry if our appearance disturbed you.”

They started a rapid discussion and Kale followed the speech. He turned to Rick, “Let’s sit. I’m getting some of it, but I need a few more common references.”

The two men were surprised when they sat. Kale picked up a hand full of sand and let it dribble between his fingers. He said clearly, “Sand.”

He picked up a shell and showed it to them, “Shell.” He then touched different parts of his body and said the part name. The younger man came closer and sat in front of him. He started emulating what Kale was doing but using his word. Kale was surprised by how many words were familiar.

Rick and the other man watched in fascination as the boys exchanged works and by the end of the hour, Kale was happily talking to the native in his own speech. He turned to Rick. “They thought we were slavers. But when we didn’t attack they wondered what we were up to, so they sent a delegation to find out,” he told him.

“Did you tell them we aren’t here to harm them and only wish to know about their culture and the plants and animals in this region?” he asked.

Kale rolled his eyes, making Rick laugh. “So what have you two young diplomats decided?” he asked instead.

Kale grinned, “We have been invited to dinner.”

“I hate to ask, but can we trust them?” Rick asked.

Kale rolled forward onto his knees and then reaching out. He gently touched the man on the temple. The older men watched them both close their eyes and then grin.

“I think we are safe enough, as they are a peaceful people when left alone. He says the slavers have been getting worse of late along this coast. They recently got news that the winter further south wasn’t good this year.”

“When the late autumn rains came, sickness killed many in the Capital City of Justini and its surrounding towns. Many of their slaves and serfs died of what they call the Black Finger. I think I know what it is but I need to talk to the Doc about it. So are we going to dinner?” Kale asked.

“I’ll head back and tell the boys to come back and get us later. We need to know if they would mind if we stayed a few days to explore the area,” Rick said.

Kale rattled off the question, and the other two discussed his request and the younger man who had told Kale his name was Papak, said if they stayed down at the other end of the beach for now. It would be okay.

It was a long beach, and Rick agreed. He sent the boat back, and they moved the ship, to the other end of the bay. Their people happily set up their camp, while he and Kale went to dinner.

Kale and Rick followed the locals through the foreshore trees. They came out on the other side to find something they had never seen. On the shore of the large wide river that fed into the bay, was a huge brick building and long brick walls that were 4m height.

The rise of the foreshore let them see it protected at least a klick of area. Two towers oversaw the entrance into the wharf. Farms and houses spread out from it heading back up the river and into the hills. It was a well-settled city.

The main building spread part way down this side and along the river in a large ‘L’ shape. It towered above the surrounding area, and they were surprised they hadn’t been able to see it from the ship.

Papak said their city was called Bagada. They had built the walls to keep the slavers from the south out. They hadn’t lost as may people since they had. They had sent protests to the Capital about controlling the slavers, but it seemed to fall on deaf ears.

They had even refused to pay their taxes until they did something. This message they received and they currently had a ship of Clerics tied up to the wharf. They had come to negotiate the paying of the taxes. His father, Regent Papak, the fourth, was in court with them trying to sort it out.

When the fishermen reported a ship coming from the north that was unlike their ships, they had gotten worried. They knew there was a new settlement across the sea in that direction. They often saw the ships heading past in both directions, but because their bay could be tricky to enter if the tides weren’t right, they often bypassed them.

Papak took them to the castle and placed them in an anti-chamber until he could organise an audience with the Regent. They had received a lot of stares as they passed the people lounging around in the courtyards and open to the breeze seating areas.

“These people are not simple villagers Kale,” Rick remarked.

“No, they are as educated as us and possibly have technologies we don’t have,” Kale replied. “They don’t seem to have very many magic users, though.”

He had noticed the odd light glow but didn’t feel any magical items when they passed through the area. Papak came back and sat beside Kale. Quietly he said, “My friend I can’t join you in the chamber. I think you can see my glow, yes?”

Kale nodded that he could. Papak said, “Can you and the Captain, form protective shields around you?”

Kale again nodded, wondering why he may need to do this. Papak relaxed a bit and then told him, “People in this country that glow like us, must become Clerics else we could be burned as witches.”

“I don’t wish to become a Cleric. I’m as devout as the next man is, but I don’t feel that the church is my calling. I’m hoping that with you two being foreigners, you will be safe enough.”

“The people here are a lot more tolerant of magic users as we still have a lot of people that follow the Keltrian faith and not the Laos faith. But the Clerics being here is what worries me.”

“Please be careful. I’m also worried if you go further south. I’ve heard of ships like yours that go that way, but they don’t come back. Is there someone on your ship I can warn, so they keep an eye out on any strange ships coming into the bay?”

Kale nodded and sent him a picture of Doc Avon. He said, “Yes if you tell Doc Avon to be wary, he will warn the rest. We have no wish to harm your people Papak.”

“I know this, but the Clerics can be a distrustful lot. They don’t like that many of our people still follow a different faith. Most that do have learned to keep it to themselves. The slavers use it as an excuse to take our people, as they consider them second class citizens.”