Fourth Vector Ch. 12

"I don't understand half of what passes for custom in your land, Samir," said Jack with a frustrated tone. "It seems the longer I stay here, the less I understand."

"That's not an uncommon sentiment among those not born in Andalucia," said Samir honestly. "But regardless of the intent, you are still in danger. We are in danger. You will need to watch your back from the other clans now."

"And here I thought we might be done watching out for new enemies for the time being," said Jack sourly. "But this makes it easy. If Kat is now in Septhada, then that's where we must go. We must go see the high clan king."

Samir shuddered visibly. "High Clan King Vertulis is not someone many want to meet. To go to Septhada willingly is something most will not do."

"As you just outlined, I'm not like most others," said Jack with a slight smile.

For the first time, Samir grinned. "This is true, clan chief. This is true."

Just over an hour later, after the battle was over and theNumratha had acknowledged the death of the old chief, Jack was formally given his new title of clan chief by the assembled people. As one, theNumratha gathered around him and dropped to their knees to swear obedience to him as their new leader. More than two thousand souls now joined that of theMuthada in acknowledgment of Jack being their clan chief.

In doing so, it meant the first true unification of two clans in more than a hundred years. The remnants of theMuthada joined their new brothers, allied once more but this time in different cause. As Jack looked off to the east, he wondered what he would find when they got to Septhada and what would happen when they found Kat.

"It seems you're acquiring clans at a stunning rate now, clan chief," said Vera a short time later, wearing a grin on her face. They had pushed on from the mountains and set up a new camp as night fell several miles to the east. This new camp had the luck of being situated high up along a mountain meadow, easily defensible should the other clans attempt to attack. However, Jack had seen no inclination that the other clans had followed their trek east.

"It seems Andalucia is full of surprises," said Jack with a slight chuckle.

"You know, if anyone had told me that one day you would be a clan chief of Andalucia, I might have told them they were crazy," said Vera with a giggle. "Or at the very least, I might've stayed away from you."

"Do you think it changes who I am? Do you think less of me for it?"

She shook her head vigorously. "Not in the slightest. I trust you, remember? I'm very interested in seeing what direction you take them though. I think they could benefit from some modern leadership. Maybe you can help them shed some of their more ancient and vile customs."

"We can hope," said Jack quietly. "I was also hoping we'd be finished today. I thought we'd get to load back up on theDestiny soon and sail far away from this land."

"I was looking forward to that too," said Vera with a sad smile. "I'm just glad we got off that plateau. Perhaps the situation has changed? Maybe with more clans, we stand a better chance of getting Kat?"

Jack didn't respond to that right away, remembering the words of Samir about the danger of uniting the clans. It wasn't a fear he wanted to bother Vera with right away, especially so close to escaping their last predicament.

"I certainly hope so, Vera. I'm looking forward to seeing her face again."

Vera smiled and squeezed his hand. "Me too, Jack. Me too."

--------

Across the seemingly endless, sandy dunes of Andalucia, High Clan King Vertulis sat on his gilded throne in the fortress city of Septhada. Located deep inside the country next to a large oasis, the king's fortress stood on a small hill that dominated the southern part of the city. Made up of high, light-brown walls and containing towers on all sides, this castle was the home from which he had nominal rule over the entire country.

The king's cheek flinched as he thought of having "nominal" rule. Once he was a fierce clan chief, the most dangerous in all of Andalucia. That had all changed when he seized the newly vacant throne of the kingdom. HisBurlada warriors went back to their caves and valleys and selected a new chief while he rotted here, never truly commanding the chiefs while they danced around his authority. Knowing what he knew now, perhaps it might have been better to stay on as clan chief?

Especially when it came time to listen to Bazu's incessant droning.

"It's for that reason, Your Majesty, that the Carinthians have lodged an official complaint," said Bazu as he read from another scroll. "I imagine they'll be wanting compensation for the loss of their trading ship."

"Your endless oration is putting me to sleep, Bazu. Get to the point, will you?" said Vertulis with a heavy sigh.

Bazu's eyes went wide and his words started to jumble together. "I'm just saying they'll w-want compensation. We can't just sink one of their ships and expect to get away with it."

"Why not, Bazu? If they want to battle, tell them to send their army down here. We'll be waiting for them. Until that happens, I'll offer no such coin to those horse-riding idiots. What's next?"

Bazu nearly stammered as his hands fiddled with the next scroll. Vertulis rolled his eyes. It was so hard to find a vizier that wasn't a total incompetent. Bazu was just the latest in a long line of men who attempted the job. They had a habit of not working out for one reason or the other. But Vertulis always gave them the choice: the mines or instant death. They almost always chose the mines even though it often meant the same fate, if not a bit delayed.

It was yet another thing he missed about being clan chief. His own clan was loyal to him to a fault, and only the most competent of men would remain in his inner circle. Being king was different. There was an entire courtier class that filled Septhada, made up of mostly bottom-feeders whose only hope was to enjoy a limited time in opulence with the king as the highlight of their wretched lives. It was a different class of people, only slightly above the slaves. Sometimes, even the slaves could be more useful.

"Sire, this next petition is from the clan chief of thePurlovo clan, and it concerns the ongoing feud with that of theTurvada clan," said Bazu.

"What does that idiot want now?" asked Vertulis with a heavy sigh. The clan chief of thePurlovo was an incredibly annoying bastard. Always thinking his problems should be Vertulis' problems, the man was an endless distraction. The king had half the mind of shortening him by about a foot. That would surely solve his problems.

"It would appear that Clan Chief Mahdi wishes to bring you into mediation between him and theTurvada clan over an apparent stealing accusation," read Bazu. "Mahdi accuses theTurvada of stealing several slaves from their pens. When they were confronted, they vividly denied any wrongdoing even though Mahdi states that his men saw their slaves in theTurvada's pens. Well, it caused a bit of a row and the two clans went to battle, which was largely inconclusive."

"Is there anything about this speech thatis conclusive?" asked Vertulis as he picked at his nails.

"Y-yes, Your Majesty, Mahdi states that the two clans are ready to war again, and that this whole ordeal can be avoided if he can submit proof to you that those raided slaves belong to him. He has sent along their ownership papers and their descriptions, and he invites you out to their lands."

Vertulis thought about the issue for a moment before responding. "Why should I, as the king, be required to go to them? Are they not my loyal clan chiefs? Tell Mahdi if he wants an answer, he and theTurvada need to come here."

Bazu started to hop around nervously. "They will not like that answer, Your Majesty."

The king puffed his cheeks in a dismissive manner. "If they don't like it, tell him to bring a sword with him. Maybe he'll make a more favorable ruling when he's high clan king? Are we done now?" Vertulis was already eyeing the whore pens. One delicious-looking brown-skinned girl had a bottom that looked like it needed plundered right away.

Bazu nearly squeaked during his response. "Y-yes, Your Majesty, that concludes today's—"

"Fantastic, dismissed. Get out of here, you little weasel."

The vizier practically ran out of the hall, earning a laugh from one of theSciavo guards posted near the entrance.

"About time," muttered Vertulis before taking off his crown. He grabbed a small portion of his beard which by now, was showing a lot more silver than it used to. The king figured every time Bazu annoyed him, another hair turned gray. He'd look like an old man by the time the next birthday arrived. He looked back over at the whore pens. All the more reason to take advantage of the time he had right now.

Yet, it would be delayed even further. When Vertulis heard the door to his hall open once more, he thought it might be Bazu with one more item to nitpick him with. Instead, it was a face he didn't recognize. TheSciavo were on him in an instant, removing his weapons before he was able to approach his throne. One the newcomer was suitably relieved of his arms, he approached the throne and soon dropped to his knees before him.

"Who are you and what do you want?" asked Vertulis.

The man leaned up to rest his weight on his knees. "A prayer to your good fortune, Your Majesty. My name is Walid, of theNumratha clan. I come here to ask your help."

Vertulis sneered. "And what help does your Clan Chief Yusef need from me? The last I saw of him, he was threatening to take my throne."

Walid closed his eyes and shook his head. "The clan chief is no more. He is dead."

The king sat up straighter. "Dead? By whose hand? Who commands theNumratha now?"

"A foreigner, Your Majesty. I only barely got away during the attack, but theNumratha are under the control of a foreigner."

"Start over, Walid," said Vertulis. "Who is this foreigner and what happened? The last I heard, theNumratha were dealing with brigands in the mountains."

"Yes, Your Majesty. These brigands were foreigners to our land. They landed off the coast and took the coastal road through territory of theMuthada and theNumratha. We heard rumors from theMuthada that they were heavily armed and searching for a slave. Since they were armed and making an incursion through our land, we decided to treat them with hostility."

"So what happened then?"

"We bottled them up in the mountains. We kept attacking, but they withstood everything we threw at them. Their weapons are formidable. Like our bows but with more range and with the ability to shoot more rapidly. So we summoned more clans."

"Is that why I got reports of various clan movements?" asked Vertulis. "It seemed like nearly half the clans were moving around the interior."

"Yes, Your Majesty. We sought to overwhelm them with force but this foreigner took over theMuthada by deception. He's become their new clan chief after he killed the old one. He then led them on a surprise morning attack on our camp and killed Yusef."

"So he commands both clans now? One foreigner and two clans?"

"That's correct, Your Majesty. I only nearly escaped while the rest of the clan swore fealty to him."

"Who is this man? Does he have a name, Walid?"

"Yes, sire, his name is Jack Easterbrook."

"Jack Easterbrook? What kind of name is that? Where's it from?"

Walid shook his head. "I don't know, Your Majesty. But there's more to it than that."

"What do you mean?"

"Yusef believed this man to be theTur'hava. He warned us about it after hearing the initial reports, and that's the reason he called in so many clans to try to contain him. This Easterbrook's stealthy raid and killing of Yusef seemed to confirm the late clan chief's thoughts."

"TheTur'hava?" whispered Vertulis. "Surely, that can't be right. That's just a story!"

"Yusef didn't believe that. He thought for sure that this man was him. That at long last, theTur'hava had appeared in the lands just as long prophesied."

Vertulis rubbed his chin. "If that's the case, we'll need to be careful around him. The gods seldom make mistakes. We'll need to treat him as a threat. In the meantime, I want to see this Jack Easterbrook. I want to look upon him with my own eyes and determine if he is indeed theTur'hava. Only then will I feel comfortable with the weight of that kind of title being applied to him."

"If you take me into your household command, I will go back as your embassy, Your Majesty," said Walid with a heavy bow. "Otherwise, they may kill me when I go back. They wouldn't allow me to turn my back on my own clan."

Vertulis studied him for a moment. "I'll take that bargain. It does raise an interesting question though, Walid. Whydid you turn your back on your brethren? Why did you not swear allegiance to your new clan chief?"

Walid swallowed visibly. "Because my loyalty is to my country first, Your Majesty. I don't believe this foreigner is here for good reasons, and I believe he needs to be defeated. I could not fight for him against the other clans."

"Yet, you fight against other clans all the time? What's different about who commands them?" asked the king.

Walid shrugged. "That is the way it is supposed to be. Andalucian versus Andalucian. Clan versus clan. There is no room for foreigners and their misplaced sense of sovereignty here."

Vertulis started to laugh. "You are a strange man with an odd sense of pride, Walid. But you have my protection. Bring this Jack Easterbrook to me. I'll determine if he's theTur'hava. Take a detachment of theSciavo with you. Remind him that as a clan chief, he owes his allegiance to his king. If he refuses, we'll send all the clans after him and destroy him."

"Thank you, sire, I will honor your name," said Walid as he rose from his knees. "I will bear your message and bring him here."

"Go now," said Vertulis with a quick wave as Walid turned around, making for the door. As soon as he was out, the king found his eyes focusing back on the whore pens. The fat-bottomed whore was still watching him, an invitation eager on her face.

"I'll be with you in just one moment, lovely," said Vertulis as he stood from his throne and walked to the storeroom just off the main hall. Grabbing a pint of the finest wine he could get his hands on, he drank heavily from it before emerging back out into the hall, bringing the rest of the contents with him. The wine would help to elevate tonight's whoring session. And after all that he dealt with today, it was much needed.

"I'm back, my little sweet peach," said the king as his hands rattled against the cages. "Did you miss me?"

The ample-bottomed whore nodded in a slow and sultry manner. "I did indeed, sire. You look like a man who needs some tender, loving attention tonight."

Vertulis grinned and nodded. "This is true. Long is the list of woes of the king. Only a sweet flower such as you can take his mind off of the heavy responsibilities of leading. You and that incredibly delicious ass of yours."

"You mean this ass?" The whore turned around and pressed her flesh against the metal bars. Vertulis bit his lip at the sight of all that luscious skin pushing past the metal and begging to be manhandled. He obliged his own instinct and gripped her bottom, kneading it tightly with his fingers.

"I know how much you like my ass, sire. Wouldn't you love to see it ride your royal cock?" she asked in a breathy whisper.

Even after his fifty years, there was nothing that excited him more than seeing a sexy new addition to his harem, especially one that was eager for a pounding. And by the way her rear was humping the bars, this whore was ready for action.

Although this was one that he'd already sampled several times before. Vertulis' eyes wandered over to another section of the pens. There were at least twenty women in the pens at any one time so he always had his choice of who to pick. Many of them were frightened still—new additions who hadn't yet accepted their fate. Vertulis was usually happy enough to let them come around on their own terms unless they were sexy enough that he had to have them immediately. Nothing made sex more boring than humping a stiff, crying slave.

Yet there was a middle ground that he greatly enjoyed. New additions who were ready to couple with him. They were easy to spot most of the time. For one, they stopped avoiding eye contact, many of them giving curious glances to the king as he was in the middle of coupling with another whore. They usually sought out his manhood as their minds went busy trying to think of whether they could take him in such an intimate position. The braver ones sought out his eyes, giving silent permission to be used the next time he came calling.

Vertulis much enjoyed those sessions with a new girl. There was a unique feeling to sliding into new pussy for the first time, the primary reason why he continually rotated new girls into the harem. The variety interested him the most, and the last thing he wanted was the same stale sex with the same whore. Especially with the bad moaners. That particularly turned him off.

The king looked over at another dark-skinned whore, this one heavily kissed by the sun. She had short, curly hair that didn't go far out part her scalp but she had lovely, dark eyes that begged for further invitation. Her defining feature was her pair of tits, hanging proud and perky on her chest and capped with a delightful pair of dark black nipples. It was a whore he'd only sampled once before when she had newly arrived to the pens, but the look of invitation in her eyes meant she'd like to sample his wares once more.

Tits won out over ass.

"You there," said the king while snapping his finger to the dark-skinned whore. "You'll do nicely for tonight."

She smiled and eagerly approached the king as her competitor slung away in disappointment from the cages, her ass still showing the red impressions of the metal bars. Vertulis unlocked the gate to let the whore out, completely naked as the day she was born. Her only adornment was the metal clasp around her neck, the symbol of her servitude.

"Come along with me, my lovely," said Vertulis as he led her out of the main hall. She followed along silently behind him, her footsteps barely audible against the ceramic tile of the floor beneath them. The area where they were going was a smaller room, not far from his bedchamber. It was outfitted expressly for the purpose of being the king's personal activity room. Several elegant couches aligned against the main walls as well as a cage in the corner for kinkier play. It really wasn't Vertulis' style, but as he understood it, his predecessor needed the extra stimulation to achieve release.

Vertulis was a more simple man in that regard. All he needed was a firm ass and great tits to achieve orgasm.

Reaching the room, he turned around to face the whore while his fingers made quick work of his trousers. Pushing the material to the floor, a half-erect cock started to bob upon release. The king took a step back until the back of his knees touched the couch, allowing him to sit down and grab his unit with his hand.

"Why don't you show me what you can do, dear? Give me a repeat of your last performance," said Vertulis as he waved his cock at her.

The dark-skinned whore said nothing before crawling between his feet and taking his manhood in her hand. As she did so, her perfectly formed tits rested against the ledge of the couch, giving Vertulis an excellent sight of her black nipples as she started to stroke him slowly, pausing during each trip. The sight of it made him smile. The last time they had coupled, she'd been a timid dove, almost flinching the first time she made contact with his cock. Now she was teasing him, already a veteran in pleasing the king. This was the type of experience that he craved.