Tender Mercies

They settled in but were unable to sleep. Finally the exhaustion from high strung nerves and all the activity claimed Alesha. Garet and Nordan fell asleep soon thereafter themselves.

The sounds of their fellow prisoners waking roused them up. Nordan had to nudge Alesha to wake her. Two lizardmen entered the cave under guard from two trident and shortsword wielding guards. They brought in several large fish and tossed them on the floor. Another one carried in two buckets filled with water. The prisoners descended on the food hungrily, tearing the fish apart with bare fingers and eating them raw. Hands covered in fish parts cupped water and drank from the buckets. All in all, a very disgusting ritual, and Alesha had to force herself to drink some of the water. She could not make herself eat any of the sushi. Nordan and Garet had no such problem, realizing that they must keep there strength up.

After they had eaten and the buckets were removed, another lizardman entered and pointed to several of the prisoners, all men and including Nordan. They were then led out of the cave towards the large field of mushrooms. Another lizardman entered, though this one was not dressed in the simple harness and weapons as the others were. This one appeared to be some sort of shaman, having fish teeth strung on a necklace, and other items of animal totems on his person. It came to each of the woman and touched their stomachs with its rough and scaly hand. It pointed to two of them, and another guard led the two woman, Alesha and a young woman with dark hair, out of the cell. Another guard led Garet and 3 other men out after them.

Both Nordan and Garet kept their eyes open and looked around the dimly lit large cavern. The ceiling of the cavern was at least 30 feet above them, with it stretching away from the underwater lagoon for several hundred. Stalactites hung down from the ceiling, join with the few stalagmites to large to be broken off and removed. Further away from the lagoon then the prisoners cave cells were, they saw other caves leading away from the large cavern. The mushroom field was near the lagoon, and sitting beside it was the remnants of the two ships that the kraken had dragged under.

"How do they keep fresh air in here?" Nordan asked the mushroom farmer that was showing him how to tend the mushrooms. They used the waste from the prisoners as fertilizer, something that Nordan was far from enjoying.

"You call this fresh?" the guy teaching him responded bitterly.

"I once saw that shaman dancing and carrying on and casting some spell. As soon as he was done I felt a breeze of fresh air," Another prisoner nearby said.

Nordan pondered that and wondered if he could use it to their advantage. As the day wore on, he began to wonder about Alesha and Garet, what they had been slated to do that day. And for that matter, what had happened to Kelnozz?

Alesha had a sneaking suspicion as to what was going to happen, but she desperately hoped that she was wrong. They were led into another of the caves, this one guarded both outside and within by two guards. Once inside the shaman motioned towards them into the room.

"What are we supposed to do?" Alesha asked nervously.

"This is the mating chamber," One of the men said, sounding bored instead of excited.

"WHAT?" Alesha said, her worst fears confirmed.

Garet chuckled under his breath at the irony of the situation.

"You must mate at least once before they let you leave. It's better if you just agree to get it on," The man said.

"Why is that better?" Alesha said scornfully.

"Because if you don't, they make you."

Alesha turned to see the other woman had said that. It brought tears to her eyes to see such a thing, a young woman in her prime, so bitter and resigned to a life filled with pain and hardship. She nodded though, understanding the futility of her position.

"Well Garet, looks like you get your chance with me after all," She finally said, her voice mixed with bitterness and fear.

Garet moved towards her and nodded. He took her hands in his and said in all seriousness, "I am sorry. I promise I will be gentle."

She nodded, trying to smile understandingly. Taking her hands, she lowered them to her hips and unbuckled her weapons belt. Wondering why she bothered with it at all, as she had no weaponry anymore. Next she untied her loin cloth and let that fall to the ground as well.

Falling to her knees in front of Garet, she untied his breeches and pulled them down over his heavily muscled legs. His soft member sprang out from a patch of black hair to point at her. Taking a deep breath, she reached up and touched it. It jumped when she grabbed hold of it, but she was determined to get this over with as quick as possible.

Garet groaned when her mouth descended on him. He'd lain with many women, and this was nothing new to him, but it had been some time and Alesha's mouth was so hot and wet that it made him fight himself to keep from ramming himself down her throat. He could also tell that she was struggling to keep her mouth opened wide enough, as he was well endowed. Alesha could sense the fight within him, and using skills she'd learned on her own world with her boyfriend, she fondled his balls with one hand and gripped the base of his cock with the other. Pumping her head up and down on it, she tasted the seminal fluids coming out of him.

Garet was in awe at how quickly he was ready to explode. He pulled himself free of Alesha's sucking mouth and knelt down beside her. Then they laid down with one another and he moved between her legs. The lizardmen around them were forgotten. Alesha looked over and saw that the girl was on her hands and knees and one of the men was behind her, rutting away.

She gasped as Garet's cock brushed against her sex. He reached down and parted her nether lips carefully, then placed his hard on against the opening to her womanhood. She bit her lip and nodded to signal him to go ahead. He slowly thrust forward, impaling her a little bit at a time. After several short thrusts to minimize her displeasure, he was buried within her. Alesha felt filled with his cock. While it stretched her out to her limits at least it was not nearly as painful as the experience with the orc deflowering her had been. Garet waited patiently for her to signal him to continue, fighting the urge to plunge into her again and again with reckless abandon.

When she nodded again to him, Garet began slowly rocking his manhood in and out of her. As she relaxed and nature began to take it's course, her juices started to lubricate things. This allowed Garet to speed things up gradually, until he was thrusting against her quickly. Alesha gasped, beginning to actually feel pleasure. She ground her hips up at Garet, telling herself that she was just trying to get this over quicker. In reality though a fire had begun to light in her and she sought to fan it's flames.

Garet could tell by how flushed Alesha was growing that she was beginning to enjoy what was happening. He stopped thrusting into her and rolled over so that she was on top. Alesha was uncertain at first, but then Garet pulled her closer to him so he could nibble and suckle at her magnificent breasts. The feeling of his tongue, lips, and teeth drove Alesha wild, and her hips started bucking against him instinctively.

In no time, Garet found himself breathing heavy and ready to explode in her again. He reached around and grabbed her ass, pulling her onto him harder and harder. Alesha grunted each time she slammed down on him, grinding her clit against him. Then she felt his fingers behind her teasing around her juicy hole where they were joined temporarily. The sensations were delicious and she was quickly growing lost in them. Garet fought to keep his climax in check, but he knew that he had seconds left, if that. He took his fingers that were slick with her juices and without any warning, plunged one into the second knuckle in her ass.

Alesha could not believe what Garet had just done to her. More importantly, she could not believe how it felt. She felt herself tense up and release entirely at the moment. She came explosively, going rigid. Through the mind numbing pleasure, she drove herself down on him, impaling her sex on his shaft and her ass on his finger. She felt Garet's cock swell and explode within her, the hot bursts of his seed driving her further over the edge.

At long last, she collapsed on top of him, spent. Garet remained under her, carefully supporting her until she found the strength to rise on her own. After a few moments of respite from the horror of their predicament, everything flooded back into her and she rose back up from Garet, a part of her feeling a sense of loss as his softening member slipped out of her. Her knees weak, she gathered up her sparse clothing and put it back on, already feeling her loin cloth collecting his semen as it began to drain out of her. Under other circumstances, she knew it would be a pleasant reminder of a wonderful encounter.

The other girl was then servicing a second man, but he grunted and came in her with a spasm. The girl got up, her face blank and emotionless, and the man quickly recovered himself. The stood up and prepared to leave, the fourth man all but ignored. Before they were allowed to leave, the shaman checked the girl to make sure her partners had indeed ejaculated into her, and to her horror, it stood in front of Alesha next. Knowing resistance futile, she reached down and pulled her loin cloth to the side to allow it to see that she was indeed filled to overflowing with Garet's juices.

They were then led back to the cell and kept imprisoned in there until Nordan returned soaking wet but otherwise clean. Dinner of more fish and water was served to them, and this time Alesha forced herself to eat as well, for she was famished.

"What happened to you?" Alesha asked, anxious to keep from explaining what she had endured.

"Spent the day being a farmer," Nordan snorted, clearly not pleased with his new vocation. "Covered in filth, at least they let us dive into the lagoon and clean off before we came back."

"Learn anything?" Garet asked, understanding how deep a blow it must have been to the powerful warriors pride.

"Ha!" Nordan guffawed. "I know how to grow mushrooms underground!"

"What of you?" He asked, anxious to be get away from the memory of his days work.

"We were taken away for breeding," Garet said. Alesha blushed, deeply embarrassed. Nordan looked at Garet enviously and stared lewdly at Alesha a moment.

"Some people get all the luck!"

"You think I wanted to do that?!" Alesha snapped at him, rising to her feet and coming at him.

Nordan held up his hands in a show of peace and said, "Nay lass, I'm sure you hated every minute of it! But it had to be better then digging through offal with your bare hands!"

Alesha scowled at him, then looked to Garet and saw him smirking. She found it infectious and finally laughed. "Yes, I guess it was kinda fun once we got past the awkwardness. Besides that, the joke is on them, I can't have children, I have something doctors call Unspecified Ovarian Failure." Her laughter died at the thought of never having any children. Then instead of getting sad, she grew angry again. "And I'll be damned if I'm going to let them use me as property for whatever purpose they want!"

Nordan raised an eyebrow as he looked at her then nodded. "I know not what an Ovarian is, but I agree that we must make an attempt. If only we had our equipment."

"Do they save any of it or is it just thrown away?" Alesha asked, coming upon an idea.

"Well, do any of you sheep have anything to say?" Garet asked, joining in and getting the attention of the other prisoners.

"Won't do you any good, fool," one of them muttered. "Even if you did arm yourself, where would you go? It's to far to the surface, and there's no other way out!"

"Death in defense of freedom is better then life in slavery," Alesha said, drawing surprised and approving looks from both of the barbarians.

"Then death you'll find, I suppose it's the same as anything else down here," the man said fatalistically. "They keep anything they consider valuable, coins, gems, objects the consider pretty. The rest of it they put back in the ships for the kraken that's in charge to drag off to a watery grave."

"Then that's where we need to go, since we haven't seen anyone carrying our stuff," Alesha said.

Nordan nodded. "When?" Garet asked.

"No time like the present." She said.

Kelnozz crept carefully along the edge of the mushroom garden, thankful for the hundredth time that they were large enough that he could hide amongst them by moving in a crouch. He cursed again the extra equipment he carried with him. From scouting the cavern out, he had learned of where the prisoners were kept, as well as the location of the freshwater stream and a few other interesting caves.

He had managed to stay in the cabin when the water flushed his companions out, and the distraction they had given the lizardmen allowed him to empty out and then slip inside the chest the former captain kept his valuables in. By the time the lizardmen had returned to search the ship for valuables, he had slipped out of it and climbed through a hole in the hull to hang outside the ship, obscured from the cavern by one of the other ruined ships.

When they'd given up, he had returned inside and his friends weapons and other equipment the lizardmen found useless scattered about the ship. He gathered it up and stored it away for their escape attempt. Then he'd begun scouting the place out.

Now he knew it was what they considered nighttime down here, though time had little to no meaning. He cursed the lack of shadows the dimly glowing fungus produced and prepared to sprint across the cavern to the prisoner quarters. Considering the 80 foot run, he doubted he would be able to surprise the two armed guards. Still, if he was quick he should be able to defeat them.

The scream caught him unaware. Looking up quickly, he saw that both of the guards were surprised too. They rushed into the cave, wondering what was going on. Kelnozz looked about and saw other lizardmen were pouring out of different caves in curiosity as well. His elven eyesight was able to pick out a scuffle inside the room, and he knew if he wanted to help his friends, now was his best chance.

One guard kept the other prisoners at bay, while the other moved forward to strike down Nordan, who advanced on a cringing and retreating Alesha. She retreated through another doorway to a different cave and Nordan followed her through, seemingly intent on causing her harm. Once the guard began to come through the doorway, his trident was grabbed from him by someone to the side. Surprised, it fell from his grasp and he scrambled to draw the shortsword at his side.

Alesha ran forward before he could draw it and jumped into the air. She landed with one foot in its chest, the other its throat. It stumbled backwards, falling to the floor. She rolled and came up to her feet before it could, planting another kick with her heel to it's face and knocking it back down. Shaking it's head, it struggled to rise but she dropped on it's throat with one of her knees, crushing it. The lizardman thrashed beneath her clawing her legs and body as it struggled to breathe.

Garet and Nordan moved past them and confronted the other guard that had rushed to its companions defense. Garet locked up the guards trident in the one he had liberated, and Nordan stepped around behind it and caught it in a powerful bear hug. The lizardman dropped its 3 headed spear and reached up with it's hands to claw at Nordan. It jerked and stopped struggling when Garet's trident pierced its chest, spearing both lungs and heart.

They looked back to see a scratched and bloody but otherwise unharmed Alesha walking away from the corpse of the lizard man she had slain. Nordan nodded approvingly, then they turned to rush out of the cave. The other prisoners looked on with false hope, some even daring to consider joining them.

"You might need these, we've got company coming!"

They stopped abruptly at those words. Kelnozz stood in the doorway and quickly unpacked and dropped all of their spare gear on the floor. Garet grinned as he picked up his great sword. Alesha grabbed her katana and threw her arms around Kelnozz happily. Nordan laughed loudly, securing his warhammer in hand.

"What took you so long?" Nordan asked, stepping out of the cave beside his friend as the first lizard men reinforcements arrived.

"You know I like to make an entrance," Kelnozz said parrying a thrust from a lizardman and riposting with his other sword to end the creatures life by spitting it's chest.

Nordan laughed again and set his own hammer to work blasting aside a trident thrust and crushing the skull of the wielder on the back swing. Garet ran through the doorway and brought his great sword to bear upon an unsuspecting lizardman's unprotected neck, leaving Alesha to come out last and discover the last lizardman lizardmen quickly butchered by the three men.

"More come!" Garet hissed, pointing towards the lagoon.

"This way, we've only one chance and that's pure luck!"

They followed Kelnozz as he led them away from the advancing lizardmen. A few more appeared out of caves ahead of them, but they cut them down quickly. Soon they arrived at a smaller cave. They ran into it, stopping when they saw it a dead end.

"This is your idea of luck?" Alesha was incredulous.

"No, there is a river here," Kelnozz explained, heading behind a large stalagmite. They saw that there was indeed a river flowing there, the rock had been worn away around it to allow a hole some 4 feet in diameter to lead into the blackness below. The sound of rushing water could be heard.

"How far down is it?" Nordan asked, keeping an eye on the door way that would be filled any minute with pursuit.

"Not very, perhaps 4 feet to the water, but beyond that I don't know anything," Kelnozz said.

"You don't know anything about it and you want us to jump in there?" Alesha was growing even more incredulous by the minute.

"Great caverns, tunnels, and passages run underneath the length and breadth of Viconia, perhaps this stream will take us to them, I don't know," Kelnozz explained quickly. Alesha just stared into the darkness of the hole, terrified by what it represented.

"Nordan, you go first, then you Alesha, then Garet and finally myself."

Nodding, Nordan lashed his hammer to his belt and took a deep breath. With a wave and a grin, he jumped through the hole, making a splash and nothing else. Alesha stared at it, hesitating with fear.

"Go, damnit woman!" Garet snapped, readying his great sword as the lizardmen ran into the room and charged them.

Kelnozz turned to push her in when Garet brought his sword back for a mighty swing. The flat of the blade glanced off of Kelnozz's head, sending him reeling. Alesha gasped in fear as he disappeared through the hole. Knowing him doomed, she forgot her inhibitions and dove in after him.

Garet cleared the first rank of attackers with a mighty sweep of his sword that sent blood and a few limbs flying. Glancing back he saw that his companions had fled. Seeing them safely away he grinned at the lizardmen and charged. A bloodcurdling oath upon his lips, battle was joined. In the background he could faintly hear the shaman chanting. The rock around his feet took on a life of it's own and clutched at his feet, rooting him in place. His grin still in place, he worked at his feet while his sword swung time and again at the increasing ranks of enemies.

The cold water brought him back to his senses, but it was to late to breathe. Finding himself short on air, Kelnozz tried to fight the current and swim upwards. The unforgiving ceiling of the cavern prevented him from finding any air, however, and his fingers were bruised and bloodied.