Chapter 36

Amanda awoke just before dawn while the other slaves were still asleep. Or at least pretended to be, which she discovered when she dared to open her eyes.

She had been fortunate to sleep facing the inside of the chamber. If she had to turn over, she was sure she would have been beset once more. She caught Larra just before she was about to lift her head and stare at Amanda. Amanda shut her eyes and forced her breath to remain steady. She heard Larra stir once more, then subside. Amanda remained absolutely still and resolved not to rise until she heard the other slaves waking. She did not want to repeat the nightmare of the evening before.

When no one had come to fetch any of the slaves for Norlan's pleasure, Larra had become incensed and had stirred up the other slaves against Amanda. At first, they had confined it to verbal taunts and grabbing her hands to prevent her from pleasuring herself. Sex had been the furthest thing from Amanda's mind, but any attempt to seek seclusion in her niche was seen as a clandestine attempt to touch herself. Larra eventually lost what little control she had and had engaged the other slaves in active sexual torture against Amanda.

For candlemarks into the evening, Amanda had been pinned to the floor by the other slaves while Larra teased Amanda's body until she was wet and oozing. After they had let her go, they followed her around and poked her with their fingers whenever she let her hands stray below the waist.

They had let her sleep only when they became bored. For once, their Draughted state had worked to Amanda's advantage; Larra simply could not hold their attention into the night. Larra had taken up the vigil herself, swapping niches with another slave so she could look directly at Amanda whenever she happened to awaken during the night.

Amanda had no desire to pleasure herself that she could not suppress. Her pussy was warm and damp, but it always was anymore. Amanda feigned sleep until the morning meal arrived. Only Larra continued to cast dark looks at her; the other slaves seemed to have forgotten their resentment, and a few even smiled at her. At least this time she finished her meal without Larra dumping it to the floor.

For once, Amanda hoped to fall back into the routine she had endured for the past season. Her lack of sex seal had to be a simple oversight, one she was sure Halno would correct. He would take her for his own pleasure as he did every morning, ensure she would receive none herself, and restore the complete seal over her sex when he was done. Then perhaps Larra would leave her alone.

Yet Halno did not come. Nor did anyone for some time, even to take the slaves to their alcoves where they could service the staff. The candlemarks crept by, and the milky halo of the sun rose higher in the windows and still no one came. The other slaves were mystified. Larra rounded on Amanda, backing her up against the wall.

"What did you do?" Larra demanded. "Something's very wrong. It's like we've been forgotten! It's like Master Norlan no longer wants us!"

"I didn't do anything that would affect any of you!" Amanda cried, though she doubted the veracity of her own words. If Amanda had adversely affected Norlan's fortunes, it very well could affect the others. She had not intended as such, but she doubted Larra would be swayed by such logic.

"You're lying. You have to be lying."

"I don't know what's going on either," Amanda declared. She tried to scratch an itch above her delta, but Larra smacked her hand away. "Will you quit that?"

"You think this is some sort of game, don't you?"

Amanda stared. "What?"

"That was it all along, wasn't it? You think you're just playing. You think this isn't real."

Now Amanda was convinced that no Draught clouded Larra's mind. She wondered if Norlan had known, or was Larra that much more of an accomplished actress? Amanda glanced at the other slaves; many wore confused looks.

"It's very real for me," Larra said in a lower voice. "I understand something you don't: there is no choice. I had to make it work for me, and I did. And because of that, I'm considered a good slave. I have not been punished in years."

Amanda was too stunned to reply.

Larra's face twisted into a sneer. "And then you come along, and you act like you're just standing on the outside looking in. And you think you can get away with it. And now you've messed something up! You've messed it up for me!"

Amanda slid to one side, but Larra thrust her hand at the wall. Amanda took a deep breath, and her eyes blazed white-hot as they leveled with Larra's gaze. "Messed it up for you? You have no idea how messed up things can be."

"What are you talking about?"

Amanda's voice rose with her fury. "You don't know what things were like for me before I was brought over here. You don't have a clue what 'messed up' really means! You can't even make the comparison. You have no idea what I lost when I came here!"

"Don't you think you can tell me what--!"

Several slaves gasped when the latch on the chamber door was suddenly yanked back, and the door itself burst open. Larra leapt back from Amanda and folded her hands before her, replacing the anger on her face with the same doe-eyed curiosity as the others. Amanda stepped away from the wall as five man-servants piled in the doorway, many eying the slaves with a lascivious gaze.

"See, here, I tol' ya no one had taken 'em away yet!" one of the servants said.

Amanda's eyes widened. Yet? She glanced at Larra, whose mouth had dropped opened in shock.

A second servant scratched his head, looking uneasy. "I dunno. This ain't right, they still belong to--"

"To who?" demanded the first. "To no one! Not yet. An' come on, ya think we're gonna get paid for the last day or two? We got a right t' some, ah, compensation, y'know?"

Amanda's heart pounded. Larra gave her a furious look.

"But if Halno ever caught us--"

"Halno's bloody well gone already! He was outta here soon as he knew he wasn't gonna get no more platinum outta this job."

Amanda swallowed. So many times she had hoped Halno would leave or be fired, and now he was the one she wanted to see.

The second servant looked over the slaves with greater interest. "So ... so y'think they'd actually, well, obey us?"

The first servant swaggered forward. Amanda backed away when it appeared he was approaching her, but he instead stopped in front of Larra. "Grab yer pretty li'l tits fer me, girl."

"Yes, Master," Larra said in a flat voice, and cupped her breasts in her hands.

"Now play with 'em, like yer really enjoyin' it."

Larra slowly fondled them, uttering a soft, husky sigh. Her hips squirmed, her sex oozing through its seal. The nipples rose, and she moaned and shivered whenever her fingers brushed against them.

The servant grinned, a bulge rising in the crotch of his pants. "Now spank yerself across the ass. Nice an' hard."

Amanda swallowed hard. Without hesitation, Larra drew her hand back and landed a steady stream of sharp, stinging blows. The rhythm remained steady through five strokes, then ten. Only when she reached fifteen did Amanda hear even the smallest grunt of pain.

"Okay, that's enough," the servant said after the twentieth blow.

Larra's hand fell away. Her rear glowed pinkish-red.

The other servants surged forward. One grabbed a slave and ordered her to her knees. She had barely complied when his thick manhood was shoved hard into her mouth.

The first servant grinned. "Yeah, that looks nice. On yer knees."

Larra dropped to the floor. She gasped and winced as the servant seized her hair. He yanked his pants down enough to free his engorged manhood and pressed the head to her lips with a wicked grin. As soon as she opened her mouth, he rammed her head forward. She uttered a single choking noise as her face was buried in his thick thatch of pubic hair.

Amanda's heart pounded as she saw the blond slave wince when another servant grabbed her arm and yanked her towards him. He threw her to the floor and pulled her struggling legs open as the slave shook her head, her eyes wide. Amanda gasped when the servant slapped her across the face.

"Stop fightin', stupid bitch," the servant growled, then cursed when he tried to spear her with his manhood. "Aw, bloody hellfire, her cunt's sealed."

Amanda's role as a spectator was abruptly changed when her arm was grabbed and pulled downward until she was forced to fall to her knees. The bone-rattling thump still reverberated through her body when an engorged cock was thrust into her face and forced past her lips.

For once Larra had done her a favor. As soon as Amanda realized what was going to happen, she remembered to angle her head so she could accept all of him without choking as Larra had. At least he was a little more gentle, holding her hair only loosely and letting her do some of the work.

"Of course she's sealed, you stupid git," the first servant called out. "He keeps all of 'em like that."

Amanda heard a struggle. She managed to turn her head just enough on a backstroke to see Larra fighting against the hand behind her head. She finally raised her hands and pushed against his hips until his cock finally fell from her mouth.

"What are you doing, you bitch?" the servant cried and raised his hand.

Larra pointed at Amanda and cried, "That one is unsealed! She's got no sex seal at all!"

Amanda felt her insides go cold as the manhood in her mouth was abruptly pulled away. Before she could react, the servant crouched in front of her and thrust his meaty fingers into her slit. Amanda gasped, tensing her jaw to stop her from moaning as he rubbed her damp folds.

"Bloody hellfire, she's right!" the servant cried. "She's even wet, too!"

He rubbed her harder and thrust his fingers into her tight tunnel. Amanda could no longer repress it; she shivered and uttered a husky sigh as her pussy ran hot and liquid.

"Oh, yeah, ya like that, huh?"

Amanda did not reply. She did not know the answer. Her body had finally become so conditioned to respond to sex that it could operate on its own without any thought or emotion from her.

The servant pushed her. She expected this and lowered herself onto her back. Despite how her heart hammered and how her body trembled, she did not try to stop him. She even opened her legs for him, letting her body operate purely on automatic.

He sank into her in one brutal thrust. She gasped at the sudden and momentarily uncomfortable penetration, the muscles in her pussy clenching in response. The servant made a noise of what she hoped was approval at her tightness. He drew back and started slamming into her.

Amanda grunted with each thrust, their sheer force rocking her body on her rear, which soon became achy and sore from the hard stone floor. The servant's thrusts faltered when another tried to pull him away. "Wait yer bloody turn!" the servant growled back.

Amanda closed her eyes when they threatened to spill tears. She was not really being hurt other than her sore behind. Her pussy was wet, slick, and accommodating. But as much as her body responded, her mind was not there with it. In a way, she felt they had finally broken her.

She did not bother manipulating her sex muscles; the servant's inexpert and brute force approach made it moot. Nothing she could have done would have enhanced her own pleasure, and what there was did not make it into her head, as if her mind had become completely separated from her body.

He spilled his seed into her. She barely felt his cock throbbing inside her. It withdrew and another speared her in its place. She felt it penetrate her and slide back and forth but little else; her womanhood may have well have been sealed as Halno would have done.

Her mind drew into itself; it wanted to be anywhere but here. She kept her eyes closed as if reinforcing the illusion. Everything started to fade from her consciousness: the jerky movements of her body, the slam of another against hers, the jarring thumps of her tender backside against the unyielding floor, the growing unpleasant ache in her pussy. She was not aware of the tears trickling from the corners of her eyes.

"Wot in bloody 'ellfire do yew think yer doin'?!"

Amanda's mind slammed back into her body, and sound erupted around her. She opened her eyes but had to wipe them before she could see properly.

Her gaze focused on the servant who had been fucking her. He was standing but turned away. He gave someone a hard shove, and a livid-faced Bessa stumbled back. She landed a kick squarely between the servant's legs and sent him crashing to the floor. He curled up into a fetal position, clutching his privates and moaning.

Another servant grabbed Bessa's arm. She rounded on him and boxed his ear. He staggered away with a look of horror on his face.

"Oh stop it, yew big baby," Bessa sneered. "An' pull yer bloody pants up. Like I wanna see yer bizness down there. Wot's the matter wi' the lot o' yew?! Yew so addled in the 'ead wi' girl flesh that yew gotta go nutters when no one's around?!"

"Why, you want them for yourself?" the voice of the first servant rang out.

Amanda's eyes widened as she shot to her feet. The first servant turned away from Larra and pulled up his pants. He towered a full head above Bessa's diminutive frame, but Amanda noticed he kept himself well out of reach of Bessa's foot.

Bessa glared at him. "An' wot's that s'pposed t' mean?"

"Just what I meant, you freak," the servant snarled. "It's been obvious for awhile now. You like girls."

Bessa hesitated only a moment before she narrowed her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "So wot if I do? Yew see me goin' after 'em like I was some sex-crazed git?"