Chapter 30: Slave

-- Laci --

I looked up when I heard the key rattle in the lock.

I then shielded my eyes from the bright light. I listened to the heavy footsteps and sighed. Oh great! My favourite guard. This fat fuck liked feeling up and fucking boys. I rolled over and sat up before he got to me. “What do you want, Blubber?” I asked him.

“Domo Tye told me to get you,” he told me, as he looked me over as he did every time he came into my cell. Mind you, he wasn’t game to touch me and hadn’t for years once I started growing taller and broader.

Well, this was interesting. I’m so far in the shit even the Domo wants to see me. I guessed that he didn’t wish me to serve at his table anymore. I stood and bowed slightly as I waved at the door, “After you,” I said to Blubber.

He chuckled. He was easy to please. He returned my gesture as I walked out the door as if I was a Domo. I knew the way. I’m sure the cell that I had just left had my name inscribed on the top of the door. I seemed to spend a lot of time contemplating my navel in it.

I always seem to screw up something. They should have called me Klutz. Blubber went to lock the cell. I said, “Don’t bother; you’ll only have to unlock it again.” I sighed and followed the chuckling Blubber.

He walked me up three flights, and I was met by Benny. He shook his head at me and said, “I’ve got to get you cleaned up. Jeez, you stink.”

“Sorry, but the only showers that Blubber offers wouldn’t make me smell any better,” I said. Benny frowned at Blubber who dropped his eyes. I felt compelled to defend him for some reason. “No, Blubber is always on his best behaviour with me.”

“He’d better be,” Benny grumbled. “He knows what will happen if he isn’t.” Blubber had raped one of Benny’s serving boys before, so he wasn’t in Benny’s good books. Benny spends half his time rescuing us from the guards and the Domo.

Domo Tye was an arsehole. If you were not perfectly turned out, folded a napkin wrong or may a goddess help you, spill something, you end up having stimulating conversations with yourself, Blubber or his sidekick Skinny in a dark, smelly cell.

Two whacks with the strap and a week in a cell because I spilt a single drop of soup on Domo Tye’s snow-white tablecloth. That bitch Lady Di had goosed my arse when I had been ladling the soup. My back still itched where my skin had been broken by the strap.

Blubber offered to treat it for me, but I knew the cost for that little bit of humanity. I might like mixed sex, but Blubber wasn’t big on lubrication, and he liked to cover you with his spend. Danny, one of the footmen, might be happy to service him, but I wasn’t.

So, I was bathed and dressed, and then presented to Domo Tye in his library. I wasn’t happy to find Lady Di was still here. That woman made my skin crawl. She was pretty free with her use of servants as bed buddies. So far, I had managed to stay out of her way during her stay.

She wasn’t a bad looking woman if you didn’t look too deep. She had strong Genteli features. Her nose was particularly narrow and long, and she had very thin lips that she liked to paint a dark red. Her figure was good since she was a mage, and the tits weren’t hard to find. It was the eyes, which disturbed me the most. The woman was evil.

“He’s not very well coordinated,” Tye griped to Di. “He must be the clumsiest servant I have ever had unless he is looking after the lankys or cooking. If I didn’t know better, I say he would rather be whipped and put in a cell than work. Are you sure you wish him?”

My heart lurched. Oh, fuck! We had all heard some very nasty stories of what this bitch did to her slaves. If you were lucky she tired of you fast, and then sent you to one of her managers to be put to work in the fields or to look after her herds.

“You said he was a shifter’s by-blow?” she asked with interest as her eyes travelled over my body.

“Yes, that is what I was told. He is one of those odd children who are born in male form. You know how weird some shifters can be about it. The woman who sold him to me hinted one of his parents was a Domo but wouldn’t say whom. I’m sure she was trying to get a better price. He is bloody useless in the house. I should have given him to the Smithy.”

I wished he had. Then I wouldn’t have attracted this woman’s attention. She gestured for me to come closer. Reluctantly, I stepped closer, and she ran her hand down over my chest muscles and hard stomach. She moved it over my cock and cupped me.

I felt my cock try to shrivel up out of her hand. My balls tried crawling back inside me, and I had to steel my body from shuddering in disgust. I felt bile rising in my throat. She looked up into my face, and I felt as if a blunt needle was trying to push into my brain.

The pain was excruciating. I stumbled back from her and gagged, and dry retched and bent over and grabbed my head. Once the eye contact was broken, the pain receded. Sweat broke out on my brow, and I still felt the need to vomit. I gagged, gasped and swallowed several times. It took me several minutes to recover.

Slowly I straightened and looked at Domo Tye. “Please don’t, my Lord. Please, I promise I’ll work harder,” I pleaded. The panic I felt was overwhelming.

He frowned at me deeply. “That was a very odd reaction. Have you ever had anyone do that to you before Lady Di?”

“Not often, no. He will be hard to break. I do so love a challenge,” she said with what she thought was a pleasant smile.

Her smile chilled me to the bone. I knew if I left here with her my life would be one of pain, misery and agony and I may even end up one of the dead slaves we hear about. Life was on the shitty side here, but I knew that I’d be wishing I were back here by the time she had finished with me.

“His life aura is as strong as I’ve seen for some time. I wonder if he had magical abilities. I could do with some fresh blood in my ranks,” she told us thoughtfully. “Come back here,” she told me.

As much as it pained me, I stepped back in front of her again, but not as close. Even her smell made we feel ill. To most people, she would smell of lilacs, but I smelt something foul underneath, like a corruption of her flesh.

She pulled a long slim box from her reticule. She opened it and showed me its contents. It held six rings. Each had two gems on it. They all had a square cut dark green/yellow gem, and mounted beside it was a second gem, each being a different type. My eyes stopped on the one with a green gem.

She must have been watching my face as she pulled out the ring. “Earth magic, interesting, I’ve not had a novice with this trait for a while. You probably should have given him to the Smithy,” she told Tye. She gestured to my hand, and I held out my left hand. Her eyes flicked to my face, “Left-handed?”

I nodded. My eyes had stayed on the ring. I wanted it. It felt like it was in pain and I wanted to make it better. It wanted me to make it better. I knew not how we communicated these feels, but it was as certain as me standing where I was.

“If you accept this ring you must obey my commands,” she said with authority and a touch of ‘if-else’ in her voice.

I looked at her briefly and then back to the ring. “I will obey your commands,” I said aloud. Under my breath, I added, ‘Only if they bring no harm.’

I wasn’t a stranger to a brawl, but I didn’t start them. I was 176cm tall and solid chested. If I do strenuous work, my thighs thicken and so do my chest, back and arm muscles. I’m very strong, and my body is more like one of the native races from this planet.

I have light purple eyes with odd green flecks. My skin is mid-beige and darkens if I’m working in the sun. I have a combination of Genteli and Pix features. I even have points to my ears. The exception is that my mouth is a little wider and lips fuller than most men’s are. My below shoulder length hair is as black as coal and has a blue sheen in bright light.

Some may say I’m an odd combination of races. However, I must have something going for me, as I’ve not had any trouble getting either gender into my bed in the last few years of my almost twenty-one years of my life.

I can also do something no one knows I can. I may have been born male, but I can change gender and form. Oddly, I can only change form to female animals. This has always perplexed me. I’d have thought it would have been male, but I can’t change to my animal forms unless I’m in the female gender first.

I was purchased by Domo Tye when I was fifteen. The family that raised me weren’t shifters, and it wasn’t until I came here that I even learnt that I could shift. Staring at your navel in a cell can only keep a randy young male occupied for so long.

One day, when I was almost sixteen, I had wanted to wank-off really badly. Nonetheless, I knew the smell would excite blubber. I wished I had a cunnie, as he hated the smell of females. It felt very weird that first time my cock shrunk out of my hand and my chest tingled as my chest changed shape. I shivered as my whole body tingled.

I had put my hands up and discovered that I had grown a very decent set of tits. I felt my face and knew I had changed gender. Me the useless son, I was a true shifter. It was an odd feeling when I felt my cunnie for the first time. I was soon squeezing a sensitive tit and finger fucking myself to a glorious orgasm.

I had a lovely week in the cell exploring the sensations of my body in my female form. I couldn’t get enough of the lovely sensations and even thought of surprising Skinny, I was so horny. If he wasn’t such an ugly, mean little fucker, I would have. I was desperate to be fucked in this form.

The horniness abated after about five days, and I realised I’d been in season. I’ve never been gladder that I was at that moment that I was locked in a cell. After that, if I knew I was coming into season, I did something to get locked up.

It only seemed to happen just before my birthday. From observing other shifters, I determined it was because I spent most of my time in male form unless I was sneaking into a bed, pretending to be a female servant.

I did have a lot of fun doing this because no one knew who the fuck I was. I often did it when we had guests, or I was travelling with Domo Tye. The lucky recipient was less likely to ask after me, and I told them my name was Lucy. We didn’t have a Lucy.

I liked to let Lucy out for a night now and again. I noticed the subtle changes in my mind when in female form and with my insatiable quest for knowledge, I found my experiments in my other forms were a lot of fun in my otherwise fear filled life.

The other times that I graced the cell with my presence were for things I couldn’t help happening. I’d have the oddest accidents like tripping over my own feet and knocking someone away from being burnt or something weird like that.

I seem to end up here in the cell about every four to six weeks. Most of the time, it was only for a day or two, other times it was like this time and was longer.

The one time that Blubber tried to get fresh with me, we had an earth tremor. The walls shaking scared the crap out of him and he backed out of the cell. That was just before the first time I came into season, and I started growing again. I think we were all surprised by how tall I grew after I turned sixteen.

As I filled out, the others started paying me attention, and I was more than happy to return it. Until recently, I was just an all jobs house boy. Benny needed several male waiters for the guests. I’d done it in the past as I’d been trained to do any of the jobs that were needed at the time. I could even cook and had a knack with lankys which was why Lord Tye took me when he travelled.

I hadn’t had a lot of trouble as a server in the past unless someone touched me. If they made my skin crawl, I couldn’t help my reactions to them. It always startled me, and I always flinched away. Hence, my accidents when I served. The guests weren’t supposed to touch us, but some did.

One thing that worried me by going into Lady Di’s service was she would learn of my shifting abilities. I suspected she would use me in ways I’d not like if she did. I was due to come into season very soon. In several days, in fact, what a great birthday present.

I looked down as she slid the ring on my middle finger. I shuddered as I felt her spells on the ring try to invade my mind. I shuddered and screamed in agony. Apparently, she thought this was normal. What she may not have realised was that I had not reacted in anticipation of serving her.

For some reason, the spells didn’t seem to be able to enter my mind to control me. It was as if I had a block in my mind, which they couldn’t penetrate. They tried to get past my blocks, and I felt as if I was in the fight of my life.

They were not good spells. Some part of me knew this and I fought them. I didn’t wish to be controlled. It felt like I was battling demons in my head. I felt the entity in the ring join in the fight and together we fought and finally ripped the spells asunder and dispersed them.

It was as if I’d given the entity the strength to overcome what had been done to it. The entity took my oath to do no harm seriously, and it seemed to give her the strength to remove the shackles of the spells from the ring.

The sweat was dripping off me, and I felt exhausted as if I had fought a wounded boar. My body trembled from the massive dose of adrenalin I’d created to give me the strength I needed. I looked at Di with exhaustion and pain in my eyes.

She seemed very pleased and laughed in a very unpleasant manner. “He may still need the berries to totally subdue him. He is very strong. I believe I shall enjoy the trip home. Thank you for your hospitality, Tye. Your gift is most suitable,” she said with satisfaction.

She looked me up and down and licked her lips. It was just as well I was still shivering as her look made me shudder in disgust. She said with authority, “Go and pack. We will leave in the morning.”

I nodded, “Yes, mistress. May I take my leave, my Lord?”

They seemed pleased with my response and waved me off.

I was in deep shit.

Deep, bloody deep, shit. I headed to my room and changed into my all jobs clothing. I still did a lot of the heavy lifting and the dirty jobs in the house when we didn’t have guests. I looked at what was in my room. I had so little in here that I wished to keep.

I was wearing clothing that would protect me from the elements. I was wearing good sturdy boots. They were worn in enough that they were comfortable but not worn out. I had an outdoor coat for when I had work outside in winter. I had a small pack I’d been given for when his lordship decided he wished me to travel with him.

I packed a change of hose and my spare shirt and pants. My teeth cleaning tin, some leather laces I used as hair ties and my hair brush. I wrapped the pack in my bedsheets and then put it in the big laundry basket for collecting the servants washing. I carried it downstairs to the outside laundry.

I found a place to hide my pack and went back inside for a late dinner.

Danny was a shifter, and I paid him a rotak to go visit Lady Di.

I told him I wanted to visit Fanny since it was my last night here. Fanny and I had been regular bed buddies for a while, so he took me at my word. Danny will screw just about anything for money. We didn’t get a lot of coin, but I had saved any I’d been given over the years.

Danny fucked both Blubber and Skinny regularly as long as they paid. The boy was definitely screwy in the head. He didn’t mind it a bit rough either, so personally, I thought he’d enjoy Di far more than I would. I watched him, to make sure he went to her room.

She let him in, and he was still there twenty minutes later. I snuck up to the door and listened carefully. I could hear Danny grunting and a woman saying, “Fuck me hard like you did last night.”

Danny could last a very long time if rumours were correct. It seems he had already planned to visit Lady Di if she didn’t send for me. Obviously, he had entertained her while I was locked up. He was welcome to her and the rotak I’d given him. It was money well spent as far as I was concerned.

The other servants all knew I was leaving in the morning, but none of them had said goodbye to me. They didn’t even ask about the ring. I’d just gotten sad looks, and they avoided me. Such is the joy of being a slave in this house.

I headed back to the kitchens to take out the rubbish and scraps. It was one of the jobs that I often did last thing at night before bed. The kitchen was already deserted, so I had no trouble finding a sack and filling it with a couple of days’ worth of food.

I headed out to the laundry and got my pack, and I stuffed the food in. Carrying the sack of scraps, I made my way to the pen that had snufflers in it. They knew me well, and I tossed the scraps over the pen. Snufflers were more than happy to eat, no matter what the time of day or night.

They happily scrounged as I slipped over the top rail. I walked bent over through their pen to the back. I hunkered down in a dark corner, and I waited. I watched the guard check on the noise they were making and had to grin when he mumbled, “Fuck, I wish Traci wouldn’t stir them up at night by feeding them.”

He wandered back off in his usual direction, and I snuck over the back rail of the pen. One of the good things about the snuffler’s pen was that it was near the Slit. Lord Tye’s property was about 350km east of Garson City, and he had built his home near the water. He even had his own jetty.

Lady Di didn’t visit him often, but she needed new slaves, and Lord Tye paid slavers to go around the coast and collect people for him. He’d had recently had a new shipment arrive, so he had contacted Lady Di. She paid better than Domo Ethan did for slaves.

I hated that I worked for a slaver and even worse, I hated being a slave. I had been one all my life to my knowledge. I wasn’t a good slave in respect of the fact that I have trouble kowtowing to abusive people. It was why the last family that owned me got rid of me.

I had foolishly tried to stop the father from raping his oldest daughter when I heard her screaming. I’d beaten the crap out of him until his guards had pulled me off him. I ended up chained up in a barn full of snufflers for a month sharing their scraps.

The bastard that owned me had dragged his daughter into the barn and raped her in front of me. I cried the whole time he did it. He then whipped me again and got his daughter to do it too. She cried too, and that only made me cry harder. Fuck there are some real pricks in this shitty world.

I still don’t know why Domo Tye purchased me. I was scrawny, malnourished and covered in scabbing over welts. He was there to buy some snufflers and took me as well after my owners told him some cock and bull story.

Benny, the butler, got to nurse me back to health. I was put to work in the kitchens, and as I got healthier, I was given a broader range of jobs. I was always doing the shitty jobs everyone else hated.

I did them without complaint but seemed to have the accidents I mentioned quite frequently.

One thing that I’d never tried since I’d been here was to run away.

I longed to get on a ship and sail away, but I never did. Most of the ships that stopped here were slave ships, and I knew what would happen to me if I got on one of those.

My first family had been the best people I had lived with. They were an old couple, and they had raised me until I was nine. I had to work hard because they were old. Then they got the strange sickness that afflicted our village, and I was sent to live with their son, the bastard who raped his daughter.

There was one other thing I could do that many of the slaves who lived here couldn’t do. I could read. The old man had taught me. I never told my second family this or Lord Tye. Late at night, I’d steal down to his library and borrow his books. I always put them back.

My first time in the cells was after he caught me one night. The book I had, had a lot of pictures in it and he thought I was just looking at them. It earned me four licks of the strap and two weeks in the cell. I was a lot more careful after that, but I still borrowed his books, and I read his correspondence.