Casus Belli Ch. 11: A New Reality

"Yes," the huge orc confirmed, "within the privacy of the pack sex isn't a taboo issue. He gestured at Bolar, "To us, him telling on Vala's preferences only means we males will all be better able to pleasure her. There is no judgment in it, no one is going to think any less of Vala because of it." He thought for a moment. "It is also important to note that, outside of the pack, innuendos of a sexual nature aren't considered a joking matter. If a pack-girl or pack-mate sexually provokes a male, or males, from other packs, for instance, she better be prepared to make good on it, because not doing so would be considered a serious insult."

He checked with all the girls. "Insults like that would require the female in question to apologize, the kind of apology delivered naked, on all fours..." The girls all swallowed, "You're part of an entirely different culture now," Bashuk continued, "with entirely different customs and habits, so please tread carefully, especially outside these quarters."

The girls all nodded their understanding, and then Denora spoke up once more, "There's one thing I don't understand. You changed the way in which pack-mates are handled, sexually, to cater for the monogamous nature of human females, to make joining an orc pack more attractive to them. But then, with this compulsory pack bonding, meaning they'll have to have sex with six additional males anyway, you largely offset it again. I assume you understand this, so what's so important about this pack bonding?"

Bashuk smiled, "Basically, a pack has always been a self-sustaining combat unit built around its warriors. Its males bonded in combat, which is, like the bond between mates, and the bond between parents and their cubs, among the strongest of bonds possible. The way the harem originally functions is meant to create such a bond between the males and the females of the pack too. Its purpose is to ensure everyone deeply cares for all the other pack members, and for all the cubs especially. This is an inheritance from our violent past, when it was normal for a pack to lose males in combat, and females in enemy raids, on a regular basis. It was essential for a pack to hold together, no matter its losses, to make sure the cubs survived."

"Nowadays the green orc tribes have grown stronger, and our arch-enemies, the black orcs, have grown weaker, so a pack doesn't lose males and females that often anymore, but the possibility still exists. During the recent war against the Nigawan army a hefty price in blood was indeed paid."

"How..., how many..." Polly stuttered.

Bashuk sighed, "Human males aren't very strong, and neither are their weapons. Also, orcs are pretty resilient against wounding, but still, a couple of thousand of my warriors will never watch the sun rise again..."

"I'm so sorry..." Polly reacted, her voice wavering.

"I know," Bashuk replied, smiling softly, "You're an exceptional girl." His eyes took in the other girls too, "You all are." Cassandra felt him ruffle her hair once more, "that includes you," he half whispered.

"Anyway," the huge Warlord then continued, addressing the entire group once more, "if a male goes missing, or gets killed, in combat, the other males consider it their duty to comfort his mate, including between the sheets." He swallowed, "I always found it reassuring to know that, should something happen to me, the other males of the pack would be looking after my mate, provide her, among other things, with all the affection, and sexual attention, she needed. They would fill the gap I left behind to their best ability, to help her cope with her loss."

Cassandra felt moved by the uncompromising love for his deceased mate he was displaying, and then she noticed, by just taking in their expressions, that the other males felt just the same, and also that she wasn't the only one noticing. Bashuk was pausing, and when she looked up at him she could see in his eyes that his thoughts had wandered far away, to the gruesome remains of everything he had once held dear. She melted into him, feeling tears well up, and then he was back, and his eyes brightened as they locked with hers.

"A pack's much more than just a group of collaborating individuals, isn't it?" Denora asked next.

Bashuk took a deep breath, "It is," he then answered, "it's more like a family, but while a family is primarily bound by blood, a pack is primarily bound by affection and respect. That's why the pack bonding is so important, because it concerns the essence of what a pack is supposed to be. We placed the pack-mates largely outside the usual sexual interaction within the pack, out of consideration for the monogamous nature of the average human female, but we hope that this one-off obligation to share a bed with the other males of the pack will still result in the desired bonding, without conflicting with this monogamous nature too much."

Bashuk took in the surrounding female faces, "This bonding will ensure that whatever happens, those surviving will take care of each other. That the other males will take care of you, that the other females will take care of your male, and that they will all take care of your cubs." Cassandra noticed the change in attitude among her girls, as they mentally accepted they were going to be part of something offering way more safety to them, and their offspring, than a normal relation ever could. She looked up at her master, who smiled down at her, and ruffled her hair once more. "Yes," he said, "that includes prizes and their offspring too."

"May I make a suggestion?" Denora asked.

"Please do," Bashuk answered.

"Humans find promiscuous behavior much less offensive outside of marriage, so you're strongly advised to move this 'pack bonding', in the case of a new pack-mate, from after the mating to before the mating."

The huge orc frowned, and then he looked pleased, "Mating is considered an oath of sexual fidelity, and by placing the pack bonding before the taking of the oath, the oath isn't broken. Excellent. Thank you." Denora smiled, and he thought for a moment. "In this case," he then continued, "It's not just about bonding, in this case it is also about everyone involved having the best base for choosing a mate." He checked with the girl's faces one by one. "You girls might all think the male you just spend the night with is the right choice for you, but you will only know for certain which of the males is the right choice after having spent a night with all of them.''

"Yes," Denora agreed after a moment, "we don't want second thoughts regarding who we decide to mate with, I can see that."

Bashuk nodded, "Exactly." The girls had visibly relaxed, clearly seeing his reasoning, and coming to grips with it all. The huge orc smiled, "As I mentioned already, I didn't fail to notice you all seem quite happy with the partner you spent the night with... Now pack bonding would normally start this night, but with this evening's festivities in mind I consider it best to postpone it until tomorrow night, and stay with the same pairing as last night for now." Happy faces resulted all around, including the face of the pack's resident pleasure slave.

"Are we, as the pack's harem, supposed to attend these festivities?" Leavy then asked.

The huge Warlord shook his head, "No, victory celebrations are considered a males only affair, but I want to keep you girls away from the public eye anyway, at least for the time being. One of the reasons for that is that you don't have the proper clothing yet. Another reason is that I want you girls to settle in, and to get familiar with our rules and customs first." He gestured at Syldan and Polly, "But the most important reason is the special arrangements we agreed on concerning you two girls, because that agreement only relates to the pack. If we were having guests right now, you two would, as pack-girls, be assumed to be available for sex," both girls blushed, and Bashuk chuckled, "as would all of you..."

A short silence fell. "Yes," Denora then reacted, "we don't want to entertain guests before we're all mated to one of the males, which places us out of bounds..." Bashuk nodded his agreement. "It might be a good idea for us girls to change into servants' dress," she said, "to avoid any misunderstanding."

Bashuk grinned, "Clever thinking... Please see to it." Denora nodded in turn.

Moiga was staring at Cassandra. "Your prize will always be available, won't she?" she asked.

"Yes," the prize heard her master answer, "when having guests, or while visiting, I can really only restrict access to her cunt, by claiming I'm breeding her. In which case she would be expected to be visibly pregnant within three or four months. If she wasn't showing by then the tribe would start to question my ability to reproduce, which wouldn't be adding to the strength of my position." Cassandra whimpered softly, and his arms closed around her, gently puling her against him. "It's part of being a prize," he then said softly.

"So if we don't become pack-mates, and stay pack-girls instead, we can help her out," Leavy said, sounding determined.

Cassandra looked up at the platinum blonde in alarm, and started to interject, but remembered she wasn't allowed too just in time. Bashuk ruffled her hair once more, "That was a close one, wasn't it, girl?" She looked up at him, and nodded slowly. He switched his attention to Leavy. "As a pack-mate you wouldn't be obliged to have sex with anyone but your mate, but that doesn't mean you can't if you want too... You would be advised to also consider your mate when doing so of course."

"The female nobles, the ones that got selected for the brothels, are all going to be there, at the victory celebration, aren't they?" Moiga then asked. Bashuk nodded. "And they are all going to get raped? By all the attending males?" she asked next, sounding a little upset.

"In principle, yes," Bashuk replied, sounding stern, "and as the females of a defeated enemy that performed genocide on our people they deserve getting raped too. But joining in the rape isn't compulsory for the males attending the victory celebration." Moiga looked torn. "Is it the pack males involvement, or the females getting raped, or both, that bothers you?" the huge orc asked softly.

Moiga swallowed, "Primarily the pack males being involved in it," she glanced up at Durgat, "because I would find them being able to do so a little disturbing. Regarding the noble females; I myself have suffered at the hands of the nobility too, but that was all done by the male half of it."

"Well, most of them knew, or should have known, what was happening," Denora chimed in, and then she looked at Cassandra rather pointedly, "still there was only one noble woman who actually stood up for the commoners in general, and Bromodin's female servants specifically." Bashuk's prize felt herself blush. "Most important in this case, however," Denora then continued, "is that all these 'noble' whores chose for war, while they knew what their army had done to the orc females and their cubs. So as far as I'm concerned they are deserving of anything they already got, and are still going to get." Cassandra looked down ashamed. "I'm not talking about you," Denora's voice sounded softly, "I know you were against this war."

"There isn't going to be much violent raping anyway," Bashuk said, "most of these female nobles, assuming they have behaved themselves, are just going to get fucked a lot, in the same way the prizes were: roughly, but not violently. Only the ones that didn't behave themselves are going to really get it. They'll be put in the stocks, so all the males will know they're up for punishment, and need to be taught a lesson they'll never forget. That's a standard punishment for disobedient whores by the way." He lifted Cassandra's chin, until she was looking up at him again, "That's also a standard punishment for disobedient prizes," he then told her."

Cassandra looked up at her master. "Disobedient prizes are placed in the stocks for a number of hours, or days, depending on the seriousness of their offense. For anything but the lightest offenses those stocks will be placed in a public place, and the offender will be accessible to everyone passing by, to use as they see fit." She blinked nervously. "In the case of the prize of a Warlord, such a public place would become very crowded very fast," he then added, making Cassandra swallow. "I have been lenient with you within the privacy of the pack, and even more than that when we were alone, but if you misbehave in public, you'll leave me no choice. I would be forced to punish you harshly, make an example of you, do you understand?"

She slowly nodded, "Yes master, I understand, the pack comes first." He smiled softly, telling her she had been spot-on. When forced to choose between his prize and the pack, which now included her girls, he would have no choice but to choose for the pack, and she wouldn't want him to choose otherwise either.

It was Leavy's voice that broke the silence that had fallen, "In which way could the whores have been misbehaving already, what has happened to them up to now?"

"Yesterday, once the surrender ceremony had concluded, they were collared and branded like all the slaves were, with just the type of collar and brand being different," Bashuk started explaining. "The ones having behaved themselves during those procedures will then have received a sedative, before getting put to rest till dinner time. Last evening, after having been cleaned and fed, they were distributed among the chieftain's packs, after which they will have been busy satisfying the needs of that pack's males, possibly excluding the chieftain, should that chieftain have been lucky enough to acquire himself a prize."

"This morning they were returned to what will become the keep's brothel, where they were cleaned and fed once more. They are now resting, to ensure they're going to be fit enough for tonight's festivities. Should they have misbehaved, while getting collared and branded for instance, or while servicing the males last night, they'll enjoy tonight's festivities in the stocks, having all their holes raped. Also, some of these noble women ended up into our custody earlier, before the surrender ceremony, and might have misbehaved while getting into our custody, or during it. There's at least one of those I'm personally familiar with."

"It's the female noble that was caught trying to flee Nigawa with her family, and then tried to evade her just punishment by offering the males who caught her to rape her virgin step-daughter instead." He grinned, "We orcs don't like that, females trying to hide behind the ones they are supposed to protect. The bitch won't just be in the stocks for tonight's celebration, she'll be in the stocks for a week." Cassandra was looking up at him, her eyes big. "Yes," he said, looking down at her, "It concern's the step-mother of your friend." He smiled, "That redhead chose her master well. Urgan is one of my finest, and going by what I've heard he's completely over the moon with her."

The smile on her master's face softened. "Just like I am with my own prize," he then added, making her blush fiercely.

"So with the victory celebration being a male only thing," Syldan said, sounding hopeful, "Is Cassa..., girl I mean, going to stay at the quarters with the pack-girls tonight?"

Bashuk chuckled, "No, a prize, except for when we're going to war, always accompanies her master."

"What..., what will be expected from her, tonight I mean?" Vala asked next.

Cassandra pricked up her ears. "The same as always," Bashuk answered smiling, "to keep her master satisfied..." His expression turned serious, "To answer that question I'd better start by explaining what's expected from prizes in general. Most basic is the requirement for a prize to obey her master, which includes sexual services in any shape or form desired. In addition to that, the master of a prize will also need to respect various customs, one of these customs being the, within reason, sharing of his prize with the other males of the pack. In addition to that, customs require for him, within reason again, to share his prize with guests of the pack, and when enjoying the hospitality of another pack leader, with that leader and his pack."

"Those are the basics, as explained before. Another reason for a prize to get shared is when that prize's master is ordered to share her by a superior. This is often used by leaders as a method to punish behavior bordering on insubordination. Due to my elevated position, this is something that won't affect girl of course. I have no superiors but the gods themselves. My position not only gives me the right to order any subordinate to share his prize by the way, it also gives me the right to take away a prize, and offer her to another master. That's looked on as a pretty heavy handed action on my part though, and as such something I'd only use in the direst of circumstances."

He smiled, "What this means is that, normally, I would only interfere in order to protect a prize from bodily harm. I'm responsible for the well-being of all members of the tribe after all, and prizes, no matter their low status, are considered to be members of the tribe too." He paused for a moment, and Cassandra felt him kiss the top of her head. "Prizes are most often shared between chieftains, and their packs, in order to improve relations. This includes the easing of bad feelings that might have resulted from a chieftain's, or his pack's, actions. As such prizes play an important role in maintaining the peace, and thus tribe morale."

He sighed, "And then there's the custom for a master to reward subordinates for feats accomplished by granting them access to his prize of course..." The way he said it made Cassandra wary. "Tonight's celebrations, for instance, might present me with a situation that would force me to reward a male, or male's, for exceptional accomplishments during the war, by granting them access to my prize." Cassandra whimpered softly as her imagination went on a rampage. He caressed her, "I'm actually not aware of anything that would require such an action on my part, but you never know."

A short silence fell, and then Batul spoke up, "You're forgetting something important, I think... Tradition demands for the chieftain, pack, or male, that killed or captured the enemy army's leader, to have access to this enemy leader's mate during the victory celebration. Yesterday, at the surrender ceremony, everyone saw whom your prize belonged too when you claimed her, and will by now know she was the official betrothed to the enemy army's leader. So during this evening's victory celebration those responsible for his capture could claim her for the duration of the celebration, to use as they see fit, with you unable to interfere."

"That only refers to mates," Bashuk interjected, "and she wasn't, what do you call it..., ah..., married yet."

Batul shrugged, "The human institution of marriage has no equivalent in our culture Bashuk. The way I understand it the 'betrothed' take a 'breakable' oath to take an 'unbreakable' oath at a later point in time, after which cubs are usually produced." He looked at Denora, "Am I right?" The auburn haired beauty nodded slowly. "A mated couple takes an oath to stay together too," he then continued, "and at a later point in time cubs are produced. I have no doubt that in the eyes of the tribe's males your prize is the mate of the enemy army leader. So if someone comes forward and claims her you're going to have a hard time explaining why you deny access..." He sighed, "I' don't like it either, but those are the facts I think."

The huge warlord frowned, "She was still a virgin, and everyone saw she was, I showed them..."