The Goblin Husbandry Project Pt. 07

It had been two days and Lappy had to admit at last that she was finally hungry enough to degrade herself and her palate by going to the slop trough and scraping enough of the brown-black goop up off its stony surface to survive on. She was still the lowest one on the totem pole, below even Palla, the scrawny runt whose identification Lappy wore on her own chastity belt, so by the time she was allowed her turn there was only the barest residue on the bottom of the stone trough. The goblins here knew to get their share when they could.

She'd hoped at least that there would be enough left to ball it up in her hands and swallow it down like a bitter pill, but the only amount she could scrape off the surface stuck fast under her claws and had to be dug out into her mouth one by one with a sharp tooth. It wasn't enough, so she ended up hanging overtop the rim of the trough, her ass hanging out in midair to no shortage of snickers, licking up what nourishment she could from the bottom.

What she'd found out in the remains of her first day in The Hole and the early hours of her second was the Dwarfs hardly needed metal bars to keep these girls in line. The Puggies, or as Leigh called them 'Mallow goblins', policed one another's behavior with an undercurrent of threat that passed back and forth like lightning from one leader to the next. Mary, the queen, was the most popular goblin among the customers, the most voluptuous one present with long, flowing hair; she was the most frequently asked-for when the Dwarfs came with their lists. But rather than gossip behind her back when she was gone or try to shore up another faction, the others regarded her popularity as proof of her status. Thus, she received the most food from the trough alongside what gifts she could wheedle out of customers, maintaining her voluptuousness that was apparently so prized.

It had taken hours of subtly prodding Palla before Lappy knew why popularity was so highly-regarded. What came was a tale of how one other goblin had gotten into a fight with Mary and nearly scratched her eye out; the Dwarfs came and protected their prize whore. Palla refused to say what happened to the other.

So, Lappy thought, it was a borrowed authority, and one she could do nothing about. She'd thought before that she could, as the one among them who had ever needed to work for her meals in the wild, simply beat Mary and her lieutenants into submission, but more likely she would be taken and never seen again if she even tried it; pigs needed feeding too. Really, she hoped not to be there long enough for it to become an issue, go back to her gentle lover's arms and forget about this cruelty... she'd thought she'd already have been rescued. She trusted that Leigh had come up against some obstacle she couldn't simply wave away, but even that assertion put the woman's power on a much lower level than Lappy had always believed.

At least looking around and theorizing made it a little easier to stomach the sickening pate they were fed as Lappy went back to Palla in the corner and began grooming the girl's hair for something to do. The other girls did it a lot as well, combing one another's hair, teasing themselves with half-remembered techniques used on them by their customers; they couldn't get through the chastity belts except to push a finger through the hole in the back, or a tongue, but they lazily went through the motions of eroticism for lack of anything better to do. Lappy was content raking her fingers through Palla's matted locks, thankful that Palla herself was also content to keep their contact at that level.

The girl was frightened, unsuited for the life the rest of them led around her, unpopular with the customers. She'd shied away from touch for some time before relenting and letting Lappy do as she liked. They both were on the bottom of the pole, so some small trust could be created between them, enough that they had slept by one another the night before. Lappy had taken the girl's tag on a whim, to spare her the effort of fucking strangers with the threat of the sheer-sided pit in the corner as punishment, but after the paladin the day before, it seemed nobody was willing to buy the girl's time.

Why wasn't that hard to figure out. She had been on the bottom for who knew how long, and her body was covered in the signs of fights long past and lost. While the rest of them were plump and jolly, more than Lappy imagined a goblin should be when her own sisters in the warren had looked nearly identical to her brothers, Palla was thin and bony. But, behind the unkempt hair and the ugly faces she made, she had the same kind of pretty face that had been bred into the rest of the Mallow goblins.

It would be shameful to admit, but Lappy was living out a dream she'd had before. The only thing missing was the undying affection and devotion of the beautiful women around her; given the looks she was receiving now, that would not be coming true any time soon. She had to resist the urge to touch Palla with more familiarity, to draw the girl up into some smooching, but the thought that she would soon again be with her love on the surface gave her the strength she needed to push her urges back into the corner of her mind.

Some time after the meal, an unknowable time when the lights were only ever on or off, a Dwarf came in with a clipboard and called out into the Mallows, "Palla, get your ass up here!"

The girl in question cowered behind Lappy. It was questionable whether she actually knew Lappy was taking her place, and she definitely didn't know how to keep a low profile. But Lappy wasn't about to leave her self-appointed guardianship behind and presented herself before the beady-eyed, bulbous-nosed Dwarf.

So, Lappy was surprised at the jolt of movement behind her as Mary came around from behind and Hauled Palla, the real one, by her hair so as not to get bitten and threw Palla to her knees before the Dwarf. "This Palla," she spat, and returned to being lavished with attention by her lackeys.

Palla was shaking as the Dwarf looked them over. But Lappy knew more about Dwarfs now than she had before, she knew that bored look in his beady eyes, that he was thinking he didn't get paid enough to think past the tip of his nose; she presented the tag she'd taken off Palla's chastity belt as proof of her assumed identity.

He laughed shortly, "Heh, might as well get rid of the scrawny ones all in one go, I guess."

There was no time to process what he meant by it before the Dwarf clipped Lappy and Palla's wrists together with metal rings attached to a chain that ran to his belt. Protest would do nothing but make what lay on the other side of this even that much worse, so Lappy shut up and kept her ears wide in search for whatever information she might glean, whatever the Dwarfs might say, thinking their captives were too idiotic to understand. She wanted to calm Palla as they were pulled along down the corridor, but she'd already let slip that she could speak the day before as a short-sighted solution to her problem at the time and could only hope that the fact hadn't gone farther than the one Dwarf she'd spoken to. At a time like this, Lappy thought, Palla would have to seethe alone in order for the two of them to maintain their advantage.

They went to the dressing room where their chastity belts were removed: an assurance that they would be used by the end of the day for their holes. Although a dress already existed for Palla, one she had to be gagged for the Dwarf tailor to put on her without being assaulted, one was readily adjusted for Lappy as well. The tailor had no issue with clothing double the amount he'd expected, he had a wall full of different costumes which could be easily modified for almost any of the girls to match their customer's tastes, using a clever arrangement of strings to be tightened and loosened for each one's specific curves.

Whatever the case, Lappy was simply happy to be clothed once more after wearing only metal underwear for a whole day and night. More importantly, "get rid of the scrawny ones" surely didn't mean being fed to the hogs anymore... Lappy hadn't wanted to think about it until after the possibility was gone, they wouldn't waste the cloth if that were the plan. She even smiled a little as the tailor patted her head for being so much more docile while he tightened her corset. It felt almost wrong to place blame on these simple people for their part in her peoples' enslavement and prostitution, when they themselves didn't seem to see beyond the moments in the practice of their crafts.

They were once again chained and Palla in particular was kept gagged with a wad of cloth. She made as much of a racket behind the gag as she could as they were led up and up, through tunnels which wouldn't have been visible by any of the Mallows going about their business. Like most of the tunnels down here, the ones who were allowed to use these ones would be ferried to their ultimate destination without thought or effort; it seemed intentionally confusing, so that anyone not going to where they'd been sent would be found huddled in a corner after becoming lost. Whatever little comfort it provided the prisoners, the sense that they weren't tightly penned in, Lappy hoped she would be long gone before she became accustomed to it.

It eventually straightened, and from her position behind the Dwarf who pulled her along, Lappy could see that it continued like that as far as she could see. Beneath her bare feet, she could just make out that they were on a very slight incline, so slight that one would think they could set down a ball and have it stay in place; it might, if it were rough enough. Those facts combined, the length of a straight tunnel and the tiny incline, Lappy imagined the city as if it were her own home back in the woods. She tried thinking about how far down they were, but she hadn't been paying attention at the time and her memory of the initial descent was fuzzy; she only knew that they were at least two storeys below ground level, likely more since that only accounted for the two stairwells she'd taken to get to this level.

So, at this incline, if they went long enough, wouldn't they breach ground level once again eventually?

Some long time of walking and being tugged along with a squalling girl to her side, Lappy was proven correct. Not that it mattered whether she knew or not when the Dwarf lugged the two goblins up through a trapdoor in the floor beneath a barn outside the city walls, tossing them into the back of a covered wagon where they were handed off and tied down by a raggedy-looking human.

The air smelled fresh, despite the all-encompassing odors of livestock, after more than a day underground, but Lappy couldn't squeeze much enjoyment out of it. She was too worried as the wagon rattled its way out of the barn and out onto a dirt road, about where she was being taken now.

Another human entered from the back flap soon after their departure with a length of wood in his hand. By the look in his eye, he'd been told not to injure the merchandise unless they resisted too much, and he hoped they would resist. Palla might have begun, gnashing as she already was against her gag; she'd been tied down with her hands behind her back while Lappy, given the prestigious position of a docile slave, had her hands in her own lap.

She wouldn't make the same mistakes now as she had in being taken the first time, she decided, and closed her eyes. There was nothing to see inside but the man, a rabid goblin, and canvas, but if she focused her long, pointed ears and her sensitive nose, she could make out the rustle of grasses in the wind and the scent of watered ground, manure. They'd been taken outside the city, she already knew, and were now headed out through a wheat field. Beer was made with the stuff, Leigh had said, and they fed the Mallows the sludge that came out the other end, so did this mean that her captors had connections all the way through the pipeline from the farm to the drunkard?

It seemed like useless information still, she wouldn't have any way of getting it to Leigh so she could be tracked down. The man in the back certainly didn't appear to be in the mood to let her hang out the back of the cart and scream for help, if that would even do anything, or try leaving some sort of trail.

Risking a beating, she said, "Can you say where they're taking us?"

The man raised an eyebrow, almost strangely understated as reactions went when this had to be the longest string of words he'd ever heard from one of her kind. "Y' don't need to know."

"I'd like to know."

"That right?"

"Yes."

He rubbed his head, scratching at a bald patch as he wondered whether he'd actually like to have a conversation for however long this trip would take. "Customer," he eventually said.

That was, as it turned out over the next several hours, the extent of what Lappy could get from the man. Palla eventually tired herself without being able to chew through her gag and fell asleep in an awkward position with her hands behind her and tied to the frame of the wagon, hunched over in a way that would punish her shoulders when she awoke. The man as well took a long nap in the middle, betraying a lack of professionalism that Lappy still wouldn't be able to capitalize on while she remained chained to the wagon.

She thought, for a while, about using the links of her chains to saw through the wood and slip her bonds, but not only did she realize that she would be captured long before she would be able to get through the thick wood, escaping at this point would put her deep in enemy territory, lost as she had ever been, with bound wrists. These men didn't have the best intentions for her or Palla, but they were arguably the safer option of dropping out into Dwarf country where execution was more likely than help. She saw nothing from inside the wagon, but the scent of the forest came through as they passed out of the fields, whatever good it would do her to know that.

Hours and hours of travel later, Lappy was shaken awake after falling asleep without noticing. A big man slung her over his shoulder and stepped out of the wagon, carrying her and Palla on the other shoulder from one form of captivity to another. They were only outside for a second, only long enough for Lappy to see that they were being taken into a massive, ornate home through the back entrance.

Servants went back and forth and Lappy recognized elfin ears on some of the maids, but the goblins weren't taken into notice as the servants went about their business. Once more, they were carried down into the earth, though only one level, and they were not-so-gently tossed behind bars to await their fates.

"Raagh!!!" Palla screamed and threw herself at the bars, fresh and furious after a good nap.

"You won't get out like that; wait and we'll make a plan," Lappy said, simply rubbing her wrists for the ache of the chains. She took note of her surroundings, made sure that there was in fact no easily-overlooked exit which only required thought and execution. She sighed as Palla claimed a corner to seethe in.

It was just a storeroom, bare dirt floor with hay overtop. Outside their small cage, there were containers of food, shelves laden with it. Lappy felt a chill despite the clothing provided to her, knew from her time with Leigh that cold made food last longer without going squidgy. The buyer wouldn't be leaving the two of them here for very long, that would simply be a death sentence and a long way to go for one.

It didn't even take as long as she thought. A short time in a bad place to soften them up wouldn't be unexpected, but a man came down dressed in a sharp, black suit and a bowtie about as soon as he would have been told of their arrival. He put his face up to the bars where Lappy waited, his weight back as if he expected her to snap at his nose, and he was surprised when she instead curtsied.

"Hello, sir," she said. With any luck, being a favored slave might garner enough privilege to spot an escape route.

"Yes, they did say one of you was capable of speech." He put his hand through the bars and shook hers, though the tall man had to bend down to reach and his hand was so much larger than hers. "I imagine this is all very scary, so I personally wish to thank your comportment. It will make things go so much more smoothly than if we only had your friend over there and had to begin from scratch."

"More smoothly, sir? I'm sorry, but they didn't tell me anything about what we're doing here."

He chuckled, then drew a key from his pocket and opened the cage just enough for Lappy to come out before locking it back up. "Yes, I imagined they might not. Then again, they are not in the habit of trafficking intelligent goods. Shall the two of us walk a bit and have a chat?"

She looked back at Palla who was cowering in her little corner, drawing herself into a little fear ball as she often did.

He picked up on it. "There is no cause to worry about your friend. This isn't your new home, she'll be introduced to the rest of our master's wives soon enough. Ah, but where are my manners? You may call me Stewart, and how shall I address you?"

One more look was spared to Palla, but if Lappy was going to have a chance to look around, she had to take it while she was still underestimated. "Lappy."

"Very good, miss Lappy. Please, walk this way," he said and ascended the stairs into the main house with her in tow, not even looking back, as though her obedience was not in question, so she did not give him reason to think it was.

The decorative structure of the manor reminded Lappy of Leigh's tower in the woods, made her think that all humans must recreate the same sort of environment no matter where they went. She was shown the inside, passing by the servants as they worked in the background, and nothing much was amiss or leaped out at her as important to her escape plans. Then the garden, where she became aware of the stone wall guarding the home from attack, but more importantly to her, blocking off a potential avenue.

Stewart said, as he gently lifted a flower to his nose for a sniff, "What do you think of your new home, miss?"

"Someone rich lives here," she said.

"Very much so, and a man who prides himself in the exotic nature of his brides." He continued down the way toward a secondary building connected to the main house by a covered walkway. "I say, you should have seen his eyes light up when he was told that tamed goblins could be had at such a steal of a price; breeders are jealous to keep their stock close at hand, but an agreement can come to pass when speaking of the scrawny, infertile mutants. He will be quite happy to know that his evening entertainment has been secured already, when we thought that rabid friend of yours would need to be reconditioned before she would be allowed near his studs."

Lappy let the implied insult to Palla slip off her back like water, as she was curious about something else entirely. "Studs?"

"Oh, your fellow wives will let you know all about them, do not worry yourself about that." Stewart, arriving at the door of the second building, unlocked it with a sturdy key, passing into a short hall while he locked it again behind them and passed a guard in unlocking a second door. It was something Leigh told her about... an airlock? The setup was meant to crudely ensure that even if the man with the key were killed, the prisoners would not be able to leave through the second set of doors. Whatever genteel nature this man exuded, whatever luxury was contained within this building, it also contained caged slaves. "Ladies, I hope you're all doing well today again. We have a new arrival and I hope that you will do her the honor of becoming fast friends."

A dozen heads, none quite like the others, turned to face the new arrival. All around there were couches and cushions to lounge within, men in robes who served glasses of colourful drink to scarcely-dressed women of all shapes and sizes that regarded Lappy with looks ranging from joy to curiosity to resentment, disapproval, disgust, and strangely worst of all, disinterest. One woman, dressed in filmy robes that did nothing to conceal or control her immense breasts, but most oddly had two smooth, white horns coming out at right angles from her head, flounced over and knelt so she could be closer to eye level with Lappy. She wouldn't be able to manage eye level without squeezing her tits down against the floor, the woman was so tall.