Murkuk Ch. 02

Thrashall's instant reaction was an admonitory growl. "Thrashall is chief," he snarled. "Thrashall takes!"

"Thrashall always take the best!" Gurgun barked. "Leaves ugly shit-eaters for rest of us!"

Murkuk watched the vehement exchange with sudden alarm. Her Master in his frustration was recklessly challenging the mightiest orc in the camp! She whimpered with fear, anxiously clutching her heavy breasts and digging her clawed fingers deep into the tender flesh. She squeezed and twisted them compulsively, scarcely conscious of the pain she was inflicting.

Thrashall glowered down at the smaller orc, baring his hideous fangs. "If Gurgun want, Gurgun must take!"

With a great roar, Master Gurgun drew the heavy stone axe which hung from his belt and raised it to strike his opponent. Thrashall caught Gurgun's wrist before the blow could fall, then snatched the axe from his grasp. With a contemptuous sneer he embedded the doubleheaded blade in Gurgun's skull.

Gurgun remained on his feet for several seconds, then slowly toppled backward over Urgurr's cowering body.

Murkuk gasped, crushing and grinding her breasts together with the heels of her palms as she stared at her fallen Master. She glanced furtively at Master Thrashall, who was standing over his dead rival casting insults at the quivering corpse. Abruptly he looked up, glared into the mass of pets watching from the cave.

"Where Gurgun's slave?" he demanded.

All of the pets kneeling near Murkuk immediately shrank away from her. She was still savagely wringing her breasts, her face contorted in a rictus of shock and pain as she stared at Master Gurgun's corpse.

"Slave! Come!" called Master Thrashall, and the sharp edge of his voice cut through Murkuk's stupor. Without a thought she obeyed, lurching to her feet and stumbling in haste to the orc. She dropped to her knees beside Urgurr, who was hunched under Gurgun's sprawled legs, whimpering softly.

Master Thrashall reached down and grasped a handful of Murkuk's hair, lifted her effortlessly into the air so that her face was level with his own. She hung there, writhing and grimacing, as the giant orc inspected her body. He groped her roughly with his free hand, squeezing her thighs and breasts, exploring her wet vulva.

"What slave called?" he snarled, working one clawed finger deep into her vagina.

Murkuk cringed, her feet kicking weakly. "Murkuk, Mathter!" she moaned.

"Thrashall's new slave just called 'Kuk' now," said the orc. He removed his finger from her hole, released her hair to let her fall back to the ground. She fell hard, grunting as the air was knocked from her lungs, then scrambled to kneel again at her new Master's feet, pressing her face hard against the ground even as she strove to catch her breath.

"Thank you, Mathter!" she gasped, her mind reeling with the sudden change in her fortune. Master Thrashall owned at least half dozen pets in addition to herself, all of whom would be competing for attention and food. She gyrated her hips energetically in an earnest attempt to entice and please her new owner.

"New slaves go set up tent," commanded Master Thrashall, turning away from the two sluts.

"Yeth, Mathter!" cried Kuk. "Immediately, Mathter!" She rose and rushed back into the cave, while Urgurr struggled to disentangle herself from Gurgun's legs. Kuk hastened to the back of the cave, where the orcs' belongings were haphazardly stacked.

Urgurr joined her a minute later. "Does Murkuk know which one is the Master's?" she asked.

"Thith one called Kuk now," said Kuk, ignoring the question.

"Hmmph. Kuk is stupid," muttered Urgurr. She joined the search for a few moments, grabbed one of the bundles and dragged it laboriously out of the pile. "Urgurr asked Lubgush what Master's pack looks like. This is it."

Kuk scowled, but said nothing. Urgurr shouldered the heavy pack with some difficulty; then, bent under its weight, she trudged out of the cave, stumbling repeatedly over pets who were wedged too tightly together to free a path for her. Kuk followed sullenly after. Master Thrashall was standing near the bonfire with several orcs who appeared to be reenacting incidents from the day's raid. The two girls approached the flailing, snarling orcs with diffidence. Seeing them, Master Thrashall gestured impatiently to a place on the ground nearby.

"Tent go there!" he snarled.

"Yes, Master!" chorused the pets. "Instantly, Master!"

With a groan Urgurr set the bundle on the ground, and Kuk knelt to help remove the tent. It was far larger than Master Gurgun's had been, fashioned of at least half a dozen leathered human skins. By the time they had finished erecting the tent, all of the orcs had summoned their pets and put them to work preparing the camp for the night.

The orcs, having sated themselves on the new captives, did not indulge in their usual orgiastic revelry, but crawled under their tents and bedded down. Many of their pets, aroused and frustrated, huddled in small groups and attempted to satisfy their mutual cravings. Kuk made no effort to join one of the groups, but sat alone stroking her clitoris and listening to the muted sighs and moans filling the camp.

She gazed toward the chained human females, marveling at how plump and curvaceous their bodies appeared to be.Suddenly one of them gestured furtively to her; when Kuk did not immediately react, the gesture was repeated more insistently. Kuk glanced at Master Thrashall's shadowy bulk, from which emanated great thunderous snores.

Kuk crawled toward the humans, looking back repeatedly over her shoulder. None of the pets were watching her, none of the Masters were awake. Ten yards from the captive fems, she halted and peered through the murk at the girl who had gestured; it was the blonde whom she already hated.

"What?" asked Murkuk captiously.

"Are all the orcs asleep?" whispered the blonde, squinting past her.

Kuk glanced around to see if any of the orcs or other pets might overhear. "Yeth," she whispered, eyeing the girl warily. "Why?"

"There must be a key to our chains somewhere," said the blonde very slowly, as if she were communicating with a simpleton. "Maybe you could find it, bring it to me."

Kuk stared at her, incredulous. "That'th crazy!" she said, shaking her head vigorously. "Kuk don't want to die."

The blonde's jaw clenched. "You could come with us! All of the pets could come. If we are quiet, we could all escape!"

But Kuk was already trembling at the very thought, clutching and twisting her breasts in anxiety. "They would jutht come after uth," she cried. "They would bring uth back and punish uth. They would hurt uth!" Kuk gazed over her shoulder to re-assure herself that none of the Masters were awake.

"Then we could kill them first," insisted the blonde. "While they are sleeping. Maybe we could kill them all!"

Kuk gaped at the girl, shocked and horrified. "That'th crazy!" she repeated. "Mathter would torture Kuk. Kill her real thlowly."

The blonde glowered at her. "Wouldn't that be better than being owned by the beast?" she sneered.

Kuk lifted her chin defiantly, said, "Kuk ith proud to be an orc pet. She works hard all day to earn her food and fucking!"

"Then go back to your Master!" cried the blonde, eyes agleam with tears of rage. "Leave us, you dog! You filthy, perverse whore!"

"Kuk will be very happy to watch you get collared and branded," snapped Kuk. She threw back her shoulders and shook her breasts fiercely until they hurt, then turned and crawled back to her Master's tent. She sat by the tent and resumed masturbating, staring at the human girls and musing on the blonde's insistent defiance. Unbidden memories clawed their way into her consciousness -- recollections of her family life only a few months past, though it seemed a lifetime ago. Mother, father, sister, brother: All dead now, murdered by the very creatures she now served and obeyed.

She wished the memories would just fade into oblivion, so that she might be freed from the illusion that she had ever been a human being, had ever fallen so far. Surely Kuk had never spent a summer morning weaving wildflowers into the braids of her little sister's hair. Surely she had never enjoyed the illicit thrill of having the Miller boy's fingers brush against her knee. Easier to believe that those things had happened to someone else, to a human named Laura who had died at the hands of orcish raiders. The orc-pet Kuk, on the other hand, had always existed in her present state, had always been a groveling fearful beast.

Only after she had forced all thoughts from her mind did she manage to bring herself to orgasm, enjoying a brief pleasure. Then she curled up on the ground and went to sleep, studiously avoiding any further reminisence.

Early the next morning, as the pets were packing up their owners' belongings, Korduth came and spoke to Master Thrashall. Korduth had not forgotten the punishment he had decreed for Kuk the previous day. He harnessed Kuk to the heavy cart, then face-fucked his new pet Fugkuk while Kuk could only watch and squirm. At length, Master Korduth ejaculated copiously onto Fugkuk's face and tits. The little pet eagerly gathered her Master's seed with her fingers and gulped it down, smirking scornfully at Kuk, whose stomach growled enviously.

"Slave pull!" roared Master Korduth, whipping Kuk's buttocks with a wide leather strap. Kuk sobbed and shuddered, threw herself against the traces and started laboriously forward.

The orcs marched south and west that day, back in the direction of their own lands. The new captives, still chained by their necks, were herded along behind the cart. Their ceaseless whining and groaning galvanzied Kuk, stimulating her to a tireless zeal so the new girls might see what a good pet she was. As fatigue pressed harder on her she imagined herself pleasuring Master Thrashall, of one day even becoming his favorite pet. She plodded resolutely on, determined to earn this honor.

Late in the afternoon, just as they were leaving a large grove of ancient oaks, a cool drizzle began to fall. Soon the rain became a steady downpour, and the rumble of distant thunder drew gradually closer. The cart's wheels gathered mud, and Kuk repeatedly lost her footing. Despite Master Korduth's strident demands and frequent blows from the leather strap, Kuk could not maintain her pace. The captured human fems stumbled past her, looking like drowned rats in the drenching rain.

Kuk strained in the harness, shuddering under Master Korduth's countless blows. Slowly they fell farther behind, until even the human girls were lost to sight ahead of them. Korduth cursed savagely.

"Slave better move its fat ass!" he bellowed, bringing the strap down with all his strength. The crack of its impact, and Kuk's squeal of pain, were lost in a sudden peal of thunder. "Korduth will wear slave's skin tomorrow!" continued the orc with another blow from the strap.

Kuk plodded on, sobbing miserably. She knew better than to make excuses; the only acceptable response was to pull harder. Nevertheless they moved no faster, and several times Master Korduth was even forced to push the cart from the rear when it bogged in the clinging mud.

An hour later the thunderstorm was past and dark was falling. They came upon the orc encampment, where the pets were scrambling to erect their Master's shelters. Master Thrashall, seeing Kuk and Korduth arrive, strode out to meet them. Kuk trembled in the harness, fearing punishment for being so laggardly. But Thrashall ignored her altogether.

"Where is Unthruk?" he asked.

Korduth shook his head. "That fat-ass slave very slow," he grunted, jerking a thumb at Kuk. "But Unthruk still not pass us."

Thrashall scowled. "Very bad. Unthruk was guarding rear. Gallreg and Gurnjur were guarding flanks. All missing now."

Korduth shrugged. "Maybe they go hunting. Show up later."

Thrashall grunted dubiously. "Maybe," he muttered.

Gallreg, Unthruk and Gurnjur still had not appeared by the time the orcs broke camp next morning. The rain had stopped overnight but the ground was still muddy. Kuk, to her immense relief, was not called upon to haul the cart, and so she set about helping to pack up her Master's many belongings in an almost jovial mood. When the packing was done she saw Master Thrashall standing nearby with three other orcs, and boldly resolved to present herself with a request. She approached on hands and knees, with such trepidation that her nipples and aerioles swelled and hardened painfully. She raised her ass, letting her teats trail in the mud as she crawled to her Master and presented herself at his feet. The orcs continued their conversation for several minutes, Thrashall giving the three orcs instructions for the march. Kuk waited, trembling with anxiety, until her Master finally sent the other orcs away.

"What?" growled Thrashall.

"Pleathe, Mathter," whimpered Kuk, hips writhing. "Kuk begth the honor of carrying the Master'th belongingth on the march today."

"Yes," said Thrashall simply. "Go!"

"Immediately, Mathter!" cried Kuk, overjoyed. "Thank you, Mathter!"

Thrashall's other pets were all kneeling around his huge pack, waiting for their owner to arrive and assign one of them to carry it. Kuk hurried to the pack, grinning triumphantly at the gathered pets. "Mathter thay Kuk will carry hith pack today," she announced.

Urgurr looked up at Kuk, her one eye gleaming with malice. "Master must think Kuk is too stupid and ugly to do anything else," she sniffed. Meanwhile Lubgush, entirely without expression, was straining to lift the pack, the knotty muscles of her arms bulging with the effort. Kuk slipped the straps over her shoulders, then groaned and staggered as Lubgush released the pack. It seemed to weigh almost as much as Kuk herself.

Urgurr laughed derisively. "Don't drop Master's belongings!" she cried, then grasped one of Kuk's breast rings and twisted it savagely. Kuk sobbed and lurched back, but Urgurr held fast to the big ring, twisting Kuk's distended breast even further. She smiled malignantly, aroused by her rival's pain. Finally, unable to think up any further torment, she spat in Kuk's face and released the ring.

"Sluts get moving!" bellowed Master Thrashall, striding forward with a scowl. He raised his quirt and all his girls rushed squealing ahead of him. Kuk, bent nearly double under the heavy pack, staggered just ahead of the Master. She strangled her cries of pain as her buttocks absorbed several stinging blows of the quirt, quickening her pace to a steady trot before Master Thrashall was satisfied.

The rains fell again that day, and another afternoon thunderstorm seemed to pass directly overhead. Kuk found that carrying the pack was almost as arduous a duty as hauling the cart; she fell back steadily, eventually found herself trudging among the human captives. They were all haggard and fatigued, their bodies streaked with mud and bearing the welts and marks of regular beatings by the orcs. They were already beginning the long, terrible transformation from human females into orc pets. In a few days they would be branded, pierced and collared, and given into the hands of their respective owners. Only then would they learn what life as an orc pet truly entailed.

When they halted that night three more orcs were missing -- once again those who had guarded the flanks and rear during the march. Thrashall was alarmed, and the remaining orcs exchanged dark mutters. They spoke of ghosts and demons, and even angry gods. If they had somehow stirred the ire of Ingra Mattu, godking of the orcish pantheon, then they were all doomed. They would be damned to spend eternity in the orcish hell, enslaved to demons as their own pets were enslaved to them. Hearing such talk, Thrashall flew into a fury, attacked and killed one of the remaining orcs. The rest were sufficiently cowed to keep their counsel to themselves.

The pets who belonged to the missing orcs had begun to grow anxious, frightened. They were accustomed to the presence of their Masters at night. Now they approached the remaining orcs, whining and begging to be given to a new owner. Finally Thrashall chose to redistribute them, though this was not an altogether popular decision. A few of the orcs felt that all property belonging to those who had gone missing should be burned to appease the gods. The next morning three of those pets whom Thrashall had redistributed were dead, their necks wrung. Thrashall wasgenuinely irked by the loss of three valuable pets, but he made no effort to punish the orcs who were responsible -- they had every right to do as they wished with their property, after all.

The march that day did not get underway until noon, by which time another of the thunderstorms was rolling in. Korduth agreed to cover the rear of the march, who together with Thrashall succeeded in bullying two of the others into guarding the flanks. Throughout the afternoon, the orcs on the flanks remained close enough to the line of march to be heard through the steady rainfall and the desultory rumble of thunder. Late in the day, with the storm at its greatest intensity, one of the orcs on the flank yelled excitedly. His cry was lost in a tremendous clap of thunder and lightning.

Thrashall charged toward the sound, brandishing his axe. The pets stood still and waited, whimpering with fear. After a very long time Thrashall returned with an expression of perplexity.

"There is nothing there!" he snarled. "Morgthu gone!"

One of the orcs nodded toward the opposite flank. "What of Thurnguk? And Korduth?"

"Go find Thurnguk," said Thrashall. Then he himself went to the rear, calling for Korduth.

Neither orc was anywhere to be found. Master Thrashall called a halt, directed several pets to build a fire. The rest erected shelters for the half-dozen remaining Masters.

The rain had slowed to a drizzle, but the air had grown chill, and Kuk's skin was chapping. When the Masters sat by the fire and ate their meal in grim silence, Kuk and her fellow pets hovered close behind, as near to the fire as they dared. Kuk squatted beside Lubgush, pressing her body close to conserve their meager heat. Kuk was trembling violently, her teeth chattering, but Lubgush seemed almost immune to the cold, inured by long exposure.

Master Thrashall glowered at the chained human captives, huddled in misery far from the fire. He rose suddenly and approached them like a prowling predator. They moaned in terror as he neared.

"Who follows us?!" he demanded, speaking the human tongue with astonishing facility. "Who tracks and destroys orcs as easily as orcs destroy men?"

The females stared up at him, gaping with fear. Kuk watched, excitement growing in her loins. Her Master was irate -- perhaps he would take his anger out on one of the humans. Perhaps even the blonde bitch.

Indeed, the blonde was sitting near the center of the group, the only one of them not cowering in abject terror. She spoke up, the quaver in her voice belying the fear she was attempting to hide.

"Surely it is God Himself exacting vengeance for those humans you have slaughtered, and those you have enslaved!"

Thrashall grinned savagely. "Human god is weak! He teach only hugs and kisses! He is a god fit only for slaves." He stepped forward and the females before him leaned far aside to let him pass, until the chains leashing their throats drew taut and brought them up short. Thrashall reached forth and grabbed the blonde's hair, shook her head viciously. She screamed, fighting futilely. The orc leaned closer, saliva from his fangs dripping onto her terror-stricken face.

"Thrashall think you know who follow us."

"I do not know!" moaned the blonde, and for the first time a note of wheedling supplication suffused her voice. "Please! I know nothing more than you!"