Casus Belli Ch. 11: A New Reality

Cassandra shook her head, "No Sir, those are ceremonial swords, fully functional, but not really intended to be used as such. She pointed at the largest one, "That one was my father's," and then she let her fingertips slide along the smaller one, "and this one was mine, and my mother's before."

Bashuk frowned, "As this is your ceremonial sword, why didn't you wear it at the surrender ceremony."

She looked up at him, "Maybe I foresaw how that was going to end? for the sword I mean..."

Her master chuckled, "Why worrying over a sword? when you were going to lose all of it anyway."

His prize swallowed, "Heirlooms like these, they are only on loan really, aren't they? They are Nigawan heritage." The huge orc frowned, and Cassandra smiled softly, "Yes, as the new ruler of Nigawa, that means it's all your responsibility now."

After a moment he nodded, and then he reached out and started checking the other swords in the cabinet. They were arranged by size, and he picked up the sword standing next to her own. She watched him place the pommel between his thumb and middle finger, and check it's balance. He put it back, and then took out her sword, and repeated the process. He then took the third and last sword of that size out and repeated the process once more. The sword went back into the cabinet, and he took her sword out once more. He checked it closely, and then he locked eyes with her, and handed it to her, "This is yours, I believe?"

She took it in her hands gingerly, enjoying its reassuring heft and balance once more, and then she looked up at her master again, "How..."

He shrugged, "It's your size, and while it isn't fancy in any way, it is perfectly balanced, in accordance with the rest of the immaculate craftsmanship it displays. It isn't a showpiece, it's a high quality tool a skilled sword fighter would use..." Cassandra suddenly realized she was in her protective gear, be it just for unarmed combat, and was holding a deadly weapon, while everyone else was unarmed. Bashuk smiled softly at her, "I trust you girl..."

Cassandra swallowed, and then she returned the sword to the cabinet. Bashuk followed her to one of the closed ones nearby, she opened it and took out her training sword, before handing it over to him. "Except for cutting tests we never trained with deadly weapons," she said to him while he inspected the wooden sword. "It's made of ginder wood, which is a little softer than tarkan wood, but much stronger."

"It has the same shape and balance as your real sword," Bashuk said, "but it is a little heavier, which is good for a training weapon, very good."

Cassandra nodded while Bashuk's fingers slid along the polished wood. "It's weighted with lead, it isn't a cheap weapon..."

Bashuk handed it over to her, before gesturing at the mat, "Show me." Cassandra stepped on the mat, moved to its center, and started her basic training routine. She started with her breathing, and once she had established her rhythm she started moving. First came the ten basic defensive stances, the blocks and parries, and then she went through the eight basic cutting attacks, before switching to the stabs. Next she went through her low moves, parries, and attacks, before moving on to the evading and recovery moves. She practiced slipping and ducking, and getting back into a defensive stance again from prone, moves that had a lot in common with krujac. She then repeated the sequence, but much faster this time, as her muscle memory had fully kicked in by now.

Cassandra kept repeating, ever faster, as her muscles started to sing the savac song, accompanied by the whistling her sword produced. The girls were returning, dispersing around the mat once more, but only her subconscious noticed, as she had entered the zone. In the distance someone called for a stop, and it took a moment to register. It was Bashuk's voice, and instead of stopping she slowly slowed her tempo, to give her body some time to cool. When she did come to a stop at last she checked her breathing, which was slightly off, no doubt the result of her recent lack of training. She was also sweating like mad, which was normal, just her body shedding the heat.

She checked around, taking in the faces of her 'public'. The girls looked impressed, even Syldan, who had also never witnessed her train like this before, and so did the orcs. "That was very fancy," her master said, "but also very impressive..." He looked to his side, "Kurgan?"

"Yes," his second in command replied, "so why haven't I seen this before?"

Bashuk turned his attention back to Cassandra. "It isn't used in the military," she said, "because it's considered too difficult and time consuming to teach. It is, or was, reserved for the nobility, teaching it to commoners was against the law even. But among the nobility it lost its large scale following a long time ago, because of the amount of dedication, from a young age, it requires. For those with money it's simply much easier to hire an able body-guard. My father regarded it an important part of my education though, so I started training at the age of four."

Bashuk nodded slowly, "Have you ever been in combat, real combat I mean?" She shook her head, and he rubbed his chin. "It's different, real combat. It's different when you know your opponents are going to try to kill you..." He thought for a moment, "But I think that, after some initial hesitation, you would be able to cope. You possess what it takes, character wise. You just need something, or someone, to keep you alive until your mind is able to switch into survival mode. That's only the first time though, once you have seen combat that switch happens automatically, and in the blink of an eye."

She shrugged, "It won't matter anyway, as it is of no use without a suitable weapon."

Bashuk grinned, "We'll see about that... For now I want you to maintain this skill. That's and order, pleasure slave...," he gestured at Syldan, "and you'll make her your training partner, teach her as much of this 'savac' as you can."

Cassandra swallowed, Syldan wasn't a noble, and then she realized the laws forbidding her to teach her friend savac weren't in effect anymore. She nodded, "Yes Master, as you wish."

The huge warlord took in the assembled girls one by one. "I want the lot of you to continue your krujac training," he then said. "Orc females aren't trained in combat, because orcish culture respects them as non-combatants. Killing females or cubs is considered a most evil war crime. Other races, however, including humans, aren't so considerate where it comes to females and cubs. So as we're now living in the lands of the humans, I want the harem to be able to defend itself." The girls all nodded, and then Bashuk clapped his big hands, "Alright, on the mat with you, show me what you have learned up to now."

The girls started moving, and Bashuk stepped from the mat backwards, pulling his pleasure slave with him. "You've trained enough for today," her master told her, as she looked up at him questioningly. Cassandra watched the girls warm up, while her mind was churning over Bashuk's 'we'll see about that' remark. Was he considering allowing her to carry a sword at some point? How could that be? As a pleasure slave she wasn't even allowed proper clothing... She put the matter aside, and concentrated on the girls. Once they had finished their warm-up Syldan made them practice their break-fall technique first, and then she put them through the other basic moves they had learned already.

Cassandra didn't fail to notice that the girls were working harder than ever before, that they were clearly trying to impress the males, who were watching them intently, Yakha especially. Once they had gotten through all their moves, Syldan squared them off against each other. First up were Denora and Leavy. The two girls danced around each other, trading kicks and punches, and trying to evade the worst of what the other had to dish out. They had lost their initial reluctance by now, and where only pulling the worst of their blows. Leavy's long legs gave her kicks more reach, and provided her with great stability, but it also moved her center of gravity up a little.

Denora used the latter to her advantage, and everyone laughed as, after evading an overly confident kick, she swiped the platinum blonde off her feet, and made her land on her shapely butt. "Ooh," Leavy pouted, as Denora helped her up, "that was a mean trick!"

She rubbed her behind, and Denora hugged her. "I didn't hurt you, did I?" the auburn haired girl asked with concern.

Leavy smiled at her, "Nah, just my pride..."

Syldan told the two to take a break, and then she lined-up Vala against Moiga. Of the two, Moiga was the more athletic, which made her fast and nimble, but Vala moved more meticulously, and also more aggressively. The pair proved well balanced, and when Vala started to get tired Syldan told them to take a break in turn, and lined-up Denora against Polly. Her former senior maiden was, technically, probably the best fighter of the five, but Polly was like quicksilver, rolling and tumbling all over the mat, with Denora having troubling coming to grips with her. The petite blonde was very defensive, very economical on the attack, but equally hard to land a blow on.

"That little one is one smart cookie," Bashuk chuckled softly, "she knows Denora holds the upper hand in almost everything, but she also knows she isn't fresh anymore, so she's just tiring her, waiting for her to slip up."

Polly kept bouncing, and Denora kept hitting air, and then Bashuk's prediction became true. Polly feinted, changing direction at the last moment, and when Denora's follow up attack hit air once more, disturbing her balance, Polly deftly swept her feet from beneath her. The auburn haired beauty went down with a loud thud, and Leavy laughed loudly, "Serves you just right!" Polly was on top of her before Denora could get her bearings again, and after a short struggle the smaller girl managed a neck clamp.

Denora wrestled in vain, but she couldn't break Polly's well executed hold. "Surrender?" the small blonde asked, sounding out of breath. Denora groaned loudly, and then she slapped the mat with her hand thrice, acknowledging her surrender. The petite blonde released her, and then moved to help her defeated opponent up, only to yelp in surprise when Denora suddenly attacked. The latter used her superior strength to get on top of the smaller girl, and then she started tickling her. "Oooh, that's so mean!" Polly wailed, trashing beneath her, and then she giggled as Denora started cuddling her.

"I knew you had me when you changed direction, but I couldn't do anything about it, well done Polly," Denora said, before giving the petite blonde another hug.

"Yeah, well done Polly," Syldan chimed in.

Polly was beaming, and after Denora helped her up all the girls fought some more rounds, until they were all tired and sweaty.

"That sure was first class entertainment," Kasho chuckled, when Syldan announced training was over.

"Yeah, we should sell tickets for it," a smiling Bolar agreed.

Bashuk led them out of the training room, and Cassandra followed her master closely. As they were nearing the living room mechanical sounds could be heard, coming from the direction of the connecting room. "What's that noise?" Denora asked.

Bashuk stopped moving. "Army engineers getting the great hall ready for tonight's celebrations," he answered.

"Can we have a look?" Leavy asked next.

"Sure," Bashuk replied, "but only if you can stay out of sight, I don't want any attention on you girls yet."

"The balcony room windows have sheer curtains," Denora said, "they were designed to allow watching the great hall without anyone noticing. Looking up from beneath you can only distinguish rough shapes behind them."

Bashuk nodded, "I noticed those balconies when we were at the great hall yesterday, there's one on this floor and one on the floor below?" Denora nodded, and the huge orc led them into the connecting room, which connected to the much smaller balcony room. As they entered the latter the girls dashed to the opposite wall of glass-paneled doors, shielded by sheer ceiling to floor curtains, and looked down into the great hall. As Bashuk joined them so did Cassandra, and the first thing she noticed was that the tables had been set up in about a dozen u-shaped patterns, with the open end of the 'u' facing the central aisle.

To both sides of the runner leading up to the podium there were rows of beds, and carpenters and upholsterers were busy everywhere. They were building low circular podiums inside every group of tables, and a couple of them had already been upholstered with what looked like sand colored canvas. And they were also building a larger, and higher, podium on the runner at the center of the hall, with stairs leading up to it. To the left and right of the stairs leading up to the hall's main podium they were building podiums like that too, but smaller, and connecting to the main podium itself.

"Are those stocks?" Moiga's voice sounded uncertain, and Cassandra's eyes immediately identified what she was talking about. Also in front of the main podium, on both sides but farther away from its central stairs, there were two rectangular podiums, and each of them supported what looked like three stocks.

"Yes," Bashuk said, "the beds are for the whores, the podiums are for the prizes, and the stocks are for those needing punishment. After this night's victory celebrations the beds will be removed, but the podiums and the stocks are permanent additions." Cassandra noticed the layout of the furniture on the main podium had been changed too. There were now nine tables, spaced at regular intervals along the podium's width, and with their short sides facing the hall. Behind the center one was the former Kang's throne, her deceased father's throne, and now the throne of the orc that owned his daughter.

She felt her master's arm slide around her shoulders, and he pulled her against him, before pointing towards the main podium. "See those two smaller podiums they are building to both sides of the stairs? Those are for the prizes of the chieftains, and the warlord, sitting on the main podium. Should I have to grant someone your use, you'll be taken to one of those, and as you can see they are just ten yards away from where I'll be sitting." Cassandra looked up and locked eyes with her master, and then she snuggled up against him, to show how much she appreciated the care for his prize he was displaying.

They watched the frantic activity in the great hall below for a couple of minutes more, and then they left the balcony room, after which the girls, all sweaty from their krujac training, split off towards the bathroom. "Lunchtime is normally a good hour from now," Denora told Bashuk, "if you want to change that we'll have to arrange something with the kitchens."

The huge orc smiled at her, "You're the senior female in the harem now Denora, so that's your decision. If you say lunch is a good hour from now, we males will be present a good hour from now." With that the males left, and the girls, Cassandra included, retreated into to the bathroom. Once they were all floating in the huge tub Syldan told them how proud their krujac exhibit had made her, and then she addressed Cassandra. "That savac demo you gave was fucking awesome, and I can assure you that all the males were blown away by it. They may question its worth in combat, but the martial skill you displayed made their hearts sing."

"Talking about the males," Denora chimed in, "did any of you realize how their choice of 'bed-warmer' last night catered exactly for what we, the girls, would have liked?"

"Yeah," Vala chuckled, "I'm pretty sure they did more than washing each other's backs after we got expelled from the bathroom last night..."

Denora nodded, "They knew who four of us had decided on, sort of, so they made sure those girls got what they wanted. That left Cassie, Leavy, and me, and Batul, Kurgan, and Bashuk." She looked at Leavy. "How was Kurgan?"

Leavy got this doe-eyed look over her, making Syldan chuckle. "You can spare us the sordid details," the raven haired girl said, "your face says it all already..."

"No!" Vala reacted, "spill it all, sordid details included!"

Leavy smiled, "He likes for a girl to submit..., and then to submit again..., and once more..., and again... And this girl, as you all know by now, really likes to submit..., and then to submit again, and once more, and again..." She sighed, "He was amazing, just count me as 'over the moon'..."

As Leavy clearly wasn't going to divulge more, the girls' attention switched to Denora. "Batul possesses enough surplus empathy to take care of half a dozen wounded little birds..." The auburn haired girl smiled softly, "He was so sweet last night..., you could have squeezed a barrel of sugar syrup out of him."

Most of the girls were looking questioningly. "Someone really hurt Denora once," Cassandra explained softly, "a long time ago. She's the wounded little bird here." She looked at Moiga, "In a different way then you were Moiga. You were physically raped, but some really filthy animal raped Denora's heart and mind, at a very young age."

Denora's eyes were moistening, "Group hug!" Leavy called, and moments later the auburn haired beauty found herself smothered in affection.

Once the girls let go of her again, a couple of minutes later, Denora looked at them doe-eyed. "Batul's just finishing what the six of you started," she then said softly, which got her another group hug.

Once the hug had dissolved once more Cassandra pouted. "So once all of you girls were taken care of that left Bashuk for the slave." Her former maidens checked with each other, and then they all looked back at her menacingly. "Uh oh...," Cassandra reacted as they started to move in on her. "I'll defend myself!" she warned, as she started splashing water towards her assailants. It ended in carnage, accompanied by a lot of splashing, spluttering, and laughing.

Once their little romp had come to its messy end, and they were all catching their breath, Denora called for their attention, "We'd better start washing girls, or we are going to turn up late for lunch ourselves..." And so they washed, quickly, as they were only sweaty, and had already bathed earlier that morning. Once they had toweled each other dry, and with no clean clothes at hand, the girls all wrapped themselves in a big towel, except for Cassandra. "I see you aren't going to risk it..." Denora said to her with a chuckle.

Cassandra shook her head, "I don't think I'm allowed too, and I'm not going to give Bashuk an excuse to spank me again."

"Smart girl," Syldan chimed in, and then they left the bathroom in single file, with Denora leading, and Cassandra behind her.

Entering the private hallway Denora stopped at the doors to the living room and checked inside. She then turned to Cassandra, "Your master is in there girl, go and join him."

The girls then continued to their bedrooms, to get into some clean clothes, while Cassandra entered the living room as ordered, belatedly realizing she had left her clothing in the training room as she closed the doors behind her. Bashuk was sitting in his comfy chair, and both Kasho and Yakha were keeping him company. She walked towards her master, and as she got closer she noticed the small neat stack on the floor at her spot next to his chair. Her cardigan and leg warmers. He collected them for you, she thought. It was the sort of small thing that mattered.

Bashuk smiled at her, and then he pointed at the small stack she had noticed already, "Get dressed, I don't want you to get cold."