Uncertain Future Ch. 01

Lara was on her knees, saying prayers to the goddess Verae. She was alone in the temple, the last visitor had left since dusk. After the last prayers of the day, she glanced at the offering for the goddess that the villagers had given from last month. There wasn't much left, merely a handful of grains in the basket. There wasn't much when Lara accepted it either. She sighed. The time had been hard for everyone.

After the old king, Wugan the Last, died ten years ago without an heir, and the scheming Court Grand Wizard seized control of the capital and declared himself ruler, there had been ceaseless rebellions. The nobles were furious that the wizard has taken the throne, which they saw as rightfully belong to one of them, and one by one rose up in revolt. The kingdom was torn in half.

The provincial lord here threw his lot with the rebel. At first, the region where Lara lived saw no warfare, thanks to being far away from the capital - the capital was located along the southern coast whereas Lara's province was further north, just 150 miles from the border. But people here soon had their own problems to deal with. With central authority lost, elves and orcs and other races had begun attacking human settlements, intending to take back their former territories. This drove people away from the northern frontier. Lara had seen thousands of them trekking south through her village, seeking refuge in big cities.

However, another kind of trouble had reached Merinth - Lara's village. She heard that bandits from the north have been raiding villages, and they'd come dangerously close to here. They captured the villagers and carted them away. Where were the villagers taken to? Probably sold to foreign slavers to work in the mines or, in the case of the women, as sex slaves in neighboring kingdoms. Lara shuddered to think of the fates of those poor people.

For the past month, the people of Merinth had packed up their belongings and moved to the nearest city. Now, only a few villagers were left. Lara had decided to move too. The decision didn't come easily, since moving would mean abandoning the temple to the raiders.

Lara was born 20 years ago, left by her parents at the steps of the temple of Verea. She had grown up inside the temple and lived with the incumbent priestess, who had taken Lara as her own child. The old priestess has taught Lara everything about a life of devotion to Verae, the goddess of Love, Marriage, and Family, the Mother of All. It was expected that one day she would become the next priestess of Verae, and that day came two years ago when the old priestess passed from old age. Lara had been tending to the temple alone ever since.

After the evening prayers, she cleaned the temple one more time and went to collect her things and put them into a simple sack. This would be her last night here until after it was safe to return. She would leave with the villagers for the city the next morning. It was too dangerous to stay, the bandits could appear at any moment.

Behind the walls of the city, she would be safe, yet Lara didn't look forward to it. She was alone in this world and had no one waiting for her in the city; Lara could only hope that the temple of Verea in the city would take her in. Otherwise, she could find some odd jobs to support herself. Life in the city would surely be different from the calm and peaceful countryside.

She went to bed that night with a heavy heart. Maybe one day all of this would be over. A new ruler would rise from all the contenders and order would be restored. Then she can return to the temple and continue to perform her duty. People would sing joyous songs in the harvest season. Life would be normal again. Maybe.

---***---

A loud noise woke her up in the middle of the night. She heard screams amid yelling and galloping outside the temple.

The bandits. They're here!

Lara frantically got off the bed, grabbed her sack and quietly run to the temple door. She peeked outside. Unknown horsemen were riding from house to house, gathering people up. They're coming in on her direction.

Lara turned away from the door and quietly ran to the back door of the temple. She carefully opened the door. Nobody outside. Clutching her sack tightly, Lara left her home and run towards the direction of the city under the moonlit sky.

A loud shout made Lara turn her head around. A rider had seen her and was fast approaching. She tried to run faster, but the moment of distraction proved fatal. She tripped on a stone and fell, her head knocked on the hard ground. The world went dark.

---***---

A loud metallic noise woke Lara up. Her head hurt so badly, she couldn't look up at first. It took her half a minute to slowly lift her head. Lara was lying on a cold stone floor in the middle of a small room. She touched her left temple and saw dried blood. The room was lit by a small rectangular overhead window. It was morning. She turned her head toward the noise.

"You awake yet?" said a female voice.

Lara slowly became aware of her surroundings. She was in a prison cell. An old woman stood at the cell's door. The woman had long scraggly hair and a wrinkled face. Despite her age, her eyes were still clear and her gaze penetrating. She stood in a narrow corridor, outside of Lara's cell.

"Can you hear me?" she said loudly.

"I can. Who are you?" murmured Lara.

"You were captured by the fine gentlemen of Tarok's band. Ever heard of him?" replied the old woman.

Lara shook her head slowly. There's no point in knowing: bandits were all the same anyway. She thought of the horrible future awaits her as a slave: sexually abused, or laboring in a city somewhere and dying far from home. Her body shook as she sat up, the only thing stopped her from sobbing at that point was how much her head hurt.

"I see you have become aware of your situation," remarked the woman. "Don't be too sad, it could have been much worse. We don't sell people to the foreign slavers, you know. Our leader, Tarok, hates them. We only deal with the lords of the land. So if you're lucky, you may become a household servant for some lords. If you asked me, that is much better than being sold to foreigners.

"But now, I would need some information about you. You better tell me the truth, as this will help me find you a new home. If you lied to me, and we have some unhappy customers, then things would be very bad for you."

Lara stopped shaking. So it was not as bad as it could be, but still, she was a slave. Her future was still as uncertain as ever.

"Hey, you heard me? If you don't help me, I can't help you. Tell me something useful and I will make sure you get out of here quick."

Lara composed herself and stood up. She looked at the woman and told her about herself.

"So, you're a priestess of Verae. Should have recognized that from the white dress you're wearing. The soldiers did say something about a priestess. How old are you?"

"Twenty."

"Twenty? So young. I guess you're still a virgin, right?"

Lara nodded. Then it hit her: being a virgin among these bandits would certainly cause some dangerous curiosity. She quickly said, "Please don't tell them that. I beg you. Please."

"About you being a virgin? They probably know that already. You're young and was found alone without a husband. We northerners don't know much about the cult of Verea, but I remember their priestesses don't get married early. But don't worry, the men won't touch the prisoners without permission from Tarok. You have my word on that," the old woman said.

The assurance worked, if only a little. So she won't be raped immediately by these bandits. Obviously, they had to protect the commodity before selling them.

They talked for a little while. The woman's name was Erika, Tarok's secretary and advisor. She told Lara about the raid last night, that Lara was the only captive, the others were too old and were let go, but their possessions were taken. Erika said that Tarok's band set camp inside a small old fort called Millith, which was large enough to house a few dozen soldiers. Lara had heard about it. It was 10 miles south from her village, built to hold the border ages ago, but after the border was expanded, its importance fell and was abandoned. Now Tarok's band has taken it over and Lara was imprisoned inside its walls.

Erika gave Lara some food to eat and a piece of wet cloth for her head wound. Erika told her that she would serve in the kitchen or clean until they found a new owner for her. She also gave Lara a dingy old dress, the kind typical to a household servant.

"Wear it, it's more suitable for work than that white dress you're wearing. No work for you today yet, but you should get some rest. Tomorrow you will be working in the kitchen. And also," she hesitated for a second, "there's something you need to do tonight. Tarok wants to spend the night with you."

---***---

Lara sat with her back against the stone wall. She was alone. She couldn't cry anymore. Of course, if the bandits couldn't touch her, then their master would.

Erika tried to be stolid but budged when she saw Lara's pitiful tearful face. She inhaled and said: "I know this is hard. Just - just do what he tells you to do. I'm sure he'll be reasonable with a virgin like you. He's not a monster. Well, he's a minotaur-"

Lara didn't hear anything more after that. The thought of having sex with a minotaur had shut her brain down. She was catatonic.

As sunshine slowly faded from the cell and moonlight started filling inside, Lara prayed to Verae, hoping the goddess would save one of her faithful, hoping that she had not been abandoned, hoping for a miracle to happen.

Night came. The late autumn air howled chillingly through the window bars. Erika walked down the dungeon stairs to take Lara to Tarok. Lara mindlessly trudged behind the old woman. Neither of them said anything during the walk. Finally, they stopped in front of a low stone archway, underneath it was a slightly smaller wooden door fitted inside the stone frame.

"This door opens to a hallway that leads to Tarok's bedroom. Walk right through it and open the door at the end. Don't delay. Don't make him look for you," said Erika. She looked as if she hated doing all of this as much as Lara. "Just do what he told you. When it's done, get back here. That small old door over there is the washroom. You can clean up there."

There's no way out of this now. Lara walked through the door under the archway as Erika closed it behind her. The silence of the hallway is deafening. She lumbered toward Tarok's bedroom. Her body shook with each step, but not as much as she had thought she would. After the prayers, Lara had simply resigned herself to her fate. She would endure it, she would do what she had to do, get out, and try not to think about it.

She opened the bedroom door, stepped in and closed the door. The room was not dark: a fireplace was lit and crackled warmly. At the other end of the room, she glimpsed a silhouette of a large bed against the moonlight shining in from the window. A gigantic figure stood next to it, looming over everything in the bedroom.

Tarok the minotaur.

Lara quickly diverted her eyes to her feet. It terrified her to gaze at the beast for too long. It would terrify her if she saw anything unhuman-like since during her short life she had never seen any other intelligent creatures other than humans. Lara suppressed any thoughts in her head as she stood rigidly by the door.

"Come here", said the minotaur in a deep and commanding voice.

Lara slowly stepped toward him, still keeping her eyes down. Suddenly she smelled a very strong smell in the air. The smell of sex, she instinctively knew.

"Undress!" His voice boomed again.

Lara slowly stripped naked. The dress slipped off her slender shoulders and arms, dropped past her thin legs and piled on the floor. Lara looked at herself. Her skin was paler than usual, her modest chest heaving with each shaky breath she took. Her shoulder-length hair, which was usually silky smooth from constant care, now a tangled mess. But her face was what changed the most. Lara had a face that her mother called "highborn"; indeed, people who came to the temple usually commented highly of her raised nose and elegant smile. Sometimes while lying in bed at night, Lara entertained the possibility of her being a princess that was kidnapped from some castle and left at the temple, yet a depressing lack of missing princess anywhere kept the thought merely a bedtime fantasy. Now, in front of her tormentor, Lara's face was a distorted, miserable version of its normal.

After the last piece of clothing left her body, Lara instinctively covered her breasts and her cleanly shaven crotch with her hands. Lara knew it was utterly pointless to do so, yet she couldn't help herself. She tried to buy her more time by kneeling down and folded her clothes properly, which, surprisingly, Tarok waited for her to do it.

When she was done, Lara stood up and waited, eyes still glued to the ground. Then the sounds of unnatural footsteps echoed through the room as Tarok walked toward her. He stopped in front of Lara and put his hand on her shoulder and pushed her to her knees. Lara was shocked when she felt how big his hand was; it must be more than twice the size of a human hand. The intense smell of sex assaulted her nostrils, making her dizzy. The hand cupped her head and forced her to look straight ahead. Tarok's obscenely large, half-hard cock was pointing at her face. She knew what a man's private look like - she used to go to school with the children in the village, and they used to run and play naked under the rain. She also knew that a normal man's cock had to be smaller than Tarok's, this thing was about as long as her forearm and as wide as her wrist.

"You are that virgin girl, a priestess of what, Verae, right?"

Lara nodded.

"Huh. It's not every day that I have a virgin priestess in my possession," said Tarok. His words sent shivers through Lara's body.

"Do you even know what you are looking at?"

Lara heard a snicker. She just nodded.

Tarok's hand turned Lara's head toward the bed behind him. One other girl was lying on the bed, apparently unconscious but still breathing. Her body was covered with sweat, and she had some whitish stain on her legs.

"See that girl? She's one of my slaves. I'd already done with her. And now you will clean up my cock. Understand?" said Tarok as he turned Lara's head back to his shaft.

"Yes," Lara answered quietly.

"You're a slave. Refer to me as master." His voice boomed above her.

"Yes, master."

"Do you know what to do now?" Tarok asked, not without some amusement in his tone. "With this." His cock jerked in front of Lara's face.

It's not like Lara didn't know anything about sex. Her mother, as preparation for Lara's future domestic life, had taught her the basics of bedroom etiquette. It's the real-life experiences that she lacked. Lara decided to shake her head.

"Can't blame you. Do as I say then. Open your mouth and put my cock in," ordered Tarok.

Lara did what he told her. She opened her mouth and tentatively leaned her head forward. She closed her eyes and stopped breathing in when her lips touched his tip. His cock stretched her mouth wide open. She had some trouble putting the tip inside, but after a short wiggle, it went in. When she breathed again, the musky smell was overwhelming. She felt like fainting, but Lara forced herself to focus on her job instead.

"Good, now push your head forward."

Lara did what he commanded. His hardening cock made it an uneasy task. Lara managed to swallow inch by inch until her throat began to feel uncomfortable. Just barely more than half of his cock was in her mouth.

"Not even half? Pfff, pull your head backwards then," said Tarok.

And she did. Lara put her hands on his hip to keep balance. His hand stopped her head when she was at the tip and pushed it forward again. She moved with his guidance. She repeated sucking him two more times. But as she was swallowing for the fourth time, Tarok thrust his hip toward. His cock rammed into her mouth and poked her tonsil, causing her to gag. She spat out his cock, fell backwards and cough violently, her eyes teared up from the shock.

After waiting for Lara coughing to subside, Tarok grabbed her head again and forced her to look up. It was then she saw Tarok the minotaur fully for the first time. If she had to describe him in one word, it had to be huge. In her village, she was of average height, and he must be about 1.5 feet taller than her. His towering physique no doubt would bring fear to the bravest knights of the kingdom. Tarok's shoulder was broad and his chest curved outward like a barrel, his musclebound arms displayed immense power that could probably crush rocks into a fine powder. His stomach looked like it was carved out of a granite boulder. His thighs, which were so large and thick they reminded her of the stone columns of her temple. He had hooves instead of feet. His entire body was covered in a layer of jet black fur, which was thicker on his hands and feet but thinner on his chest and face.

His face was different from what Lara had imagined. Tarok's face, along with his hooves and fur coat, was the only part of his body that didn't look human. Yet his face wasn't as monster-ish and hideous as she fretted. He has a chiseled face with a large bull-like muzzle, above his head grew a pair of bull horns that pointed upward. One could find his face more peculiar than frightening, provided that face wasn't angry. But there's one special thing about him that captured Lara's attention more than all the others. It was his eyes. They weren't the cold, deep black eyes of a soulless monster or the yellow-and-black slit-eyes of fiendish devils. They were blue. And looked human. Lara found herself staring unblinkingly at them, forgetting where she was for a moment until Tarok spoke again.

"You truly are a virgin. That was the worst cocksucking I ever had," Tarok commented flatly, hunching down so his head dropped close to Lara's. She could feel his powerful breath on her face. "Do it again, put more effort into it, and use your tongue."

Lara snapped out of the weird trance. She got on her knees and stolidly tried again. She swallowed more smoothly this time. After a few times, she was able to maintain a steady, albeit slow, pace, she even swirled her tongue under his shaft. She knew she was doing better than last time when she heard a satisfied sigh amidst the shameful slurping.

"Good, good. Stop being so tense and relax your shoulder. Now do it faster. You might even learn to enjoy this," said Tarok, with a grin on his face.

Lara went faster. And faster. The sound of her sucking echoed through the still night air.

"That's better. Put your hands on my cock and start stroking."

She put her hands at the base of his cock, shifting her body to rebalance herself and resume sucking him. Her trembling hands moved with her uneasy mouth in a rough rhythm of novice fellatio.

"Do you like this?" asked Tarok. He liked toying with his slave, it seemed.

Lara didn't look at him. She would have enjoyed this if this she was doing this for her husband, not here as a sex slave to this minotaur. Lara couldn't tell whether she's doing a good job or not, but at least he didn't snap at her. More and more satisfied groans from above told her she was doing a decent job at least.

Suddenly Tarok tightened his grip on Lara's head and forced her to look up.

"Keep going", he said. The surprise had stopped Lara. She resumed sucking but his hand still forced her to look at him. His eyelids fluttered as an apparent sign of pleasure. His breaths were faster now.

"I'm about to come," Tarok said and he bent down and looked straight at Lara, the grin on his face made Lara twitched with apprehension.