Walker Ch. 01.16

Chapter 1.16

Walker and Shuq slouched in the street as the nameless slave cowered in the doorway. They had clothed the redhead but she refused, in her silent way, to leave the house.

'Norrish hospitality is a curse.' Walker said lamely.

'You could whip her.' Shuq suggested.

The tiger studied her, 'Don't be too keen for causing pain. It's pain, and fear of pain that shaped her like this.'

'Should we just,' she began before noticing that Walker had walked off, 'leave her behind?' Shuq finished to herself. 'Stay there!' she called to the redhead then hurried to catch up to him.

A dozen large tents had been erected in haphazard arrangement in the center. Groups of slavejacks loitered lackadaisically around the edges of the makeshift marketplace and some men wandered in and out of the tents.

They came up the backside of a tent where a group of slavejack women stood whispering to each other of the attack. Walker's ears picked out sentences from the conversation, noting that the rumors had already become bigger than the truth; two hundred enemy had already become three hundred. Shuq noticed too saying 'They think you're a demon.' To which he grunted unemotionally.

Inside the tented areas there were much fewer women and only the occasional man wandering about. One man emerged from a tent with a young girl following him.

They entered the first tent. Inside several naked girls sat on their heels, their knees on mats, their hands held behind their heads, and their elbows pulled back so their breasts thrust outwards. The tiger received several startled glances from them.

A booming jovial voice greeted them 'Welcome! Oh, you're the Tigreni we been hearing about eh?' The man it emanated from was a mountain, a head and a half taller than the tiger. His eyes were young and his smile wide behind a thick black beard which hid his neck 'Thank ye for fighting with us. They tells me we'd have lost more brothers in them there trees if not for you.'

His hand was thrust outwards. Walker extended his own and it was shaken enthusiastically.

The big man turned his attention to Shuq, unthinking he pushed the hood from her head to take a look, saying 'You do this?' he asked Walker indicating her bruises, 'I'm not buying if that's what you want to do.'

The blond girl frowned at him 'Master Cedric of the guard told us to find a man named Fel.'

'Ah ha. That's me! Well, it's Felaedre, folks just call me Fel.' The man waited expectantly for Walker to say something 'Your name... sir?'.

'Walker.' the tiger replied.

'Walker, the prize you'll want to see is this one,' he put an insistent hand on Walker's back and led him to a corner where a round faced woman knelt, her hair was pitch black with streaks of grey, hard silver eyes and bulging, muscular shoulders, her body was not contoured but girthy with muscle and a thin overlay of fat, 'this here's Choppa. She ain't pretty on the eye maybe, but she'll chop an oak a'fore you can blink. This one's only ever done one thing in her thirty seasons and that's chopping the fuck out of every kind of tree you could imagine. My da's made a fair bit of coin competing her against other jacks over the years.'

He would have continued but Walker stopped him 'I'm not a logger.'

'Ah fuck,' Fel slapped his forehead of course you're not. What kinda cunt you want? I got two new bleeders here if you're wanting to make babies. We plucked em fresh, all well fed and healthy.'

Walker stopped him again, 'I cannot impregnate human females.'

'Oh, on account of being Tigreni, that makes sense. Well... I got a real pretty virgin,' he cast an appreciative glance at Shuq, who sauntered from woman to woman, impassively lifting chins and making eye contact with them as if she were doing more than checking merchandise.

'Maybe some variety in bed?'

'Tattoo.' Walker said flatly.

The man seemed genuinely disappointed, he looked to the entrance of the tent but there were no other buyers, 'I tell you what, my da's at the dock dealing with the lumber and I'd like to show him I made a bit o' coin for the day. For a silver or two I'll close the tent up and you could fuck one of the girls, any hole you want. Five silvers if you want to open up a virgin.'

Shuq interjected from where she scrutinized Choppa, 'My master brought me to be marked, sir. He has no other interest.'

The man lurched towards her, lifting his hand as if he were about to strike her. Walker's hand snaked out gripping the man's wrist two handed. In one smooth motion he twisted it down before rotating the arm and pinning the man's wrist painfully high in his back. Walker kicked the back of the man's knee, forcing him to the ground.

The surprised man relaxed immediately, 'Sorry mate,' he grunted 'that's the second time she's done that.'

'Done what?' Walker growled.

'Speak out of turn.'

'Hrmm. She needs your permission?'

'Doesn't she need yours?' the man replied affably.

'Not as yet no.' the tiger replied releasing the man with a shove.

Fel rubbed his shoulder, grimacing in pain, 'No harm intended eh. We teach em to keep it shut, but then again, we own a stable of three dozen cunts. It'd be a great fucking noise if they were all to say whatever they were thinking.'

Shuq stood beside Walker. 'Tattoo, Mister Fel?' she asked with emphasis.

'I can do em.' he answered as if there had been no tension, 'A tattoo's two silvers, for my time.'

The tiger questioningly looked to Shuq and she nodded in response.

Fel retrieved a wooden bench with leather restraints affixed to its legs. He put it in center of the tent then fetched an ornate wooden box from the same corner.

'Y'all can relax.' Fel told the kneeling women. As one, they all lowered their hands to their knees but none dared make a noise. 'Don't tell the guard I'm charging you eh?'

'Understood.' Walker answered as the huge man carefully reached for Shuq.

Gulping, she offered her hand and let Fel guide her to the bench before fixing her elbow to it with a leather strap, then he did the same to the other wrist before throwing a longer strap over her back, folding it under the bench and tightening it before tying a knot at her waist.

'Choppa, stools.' The senior slavejack pushed herself to her feet and returned from behind an obscuring screen in the back. 'So, what's your mark?'

'Hrmm. I don't know.'

'Well, I could make it a little cat face. Diamond shaped, triangle ears, whiskers and the lot. Simple and clear. That sound alright Walker?'

'Aye. Sounds right.'

'Ye want it anywhere specific?'

Walker shrugged 'I don't know, where it's most visible?'

'Eh.' Fel swiped golden locks over her head to reveal a pale neck, 'Sometimes, if they're ugly, I do the cheek or the forehead. One like this, eh, she's pretty enough for raping so you got to consider whether you want men to see the mark sooner or later. Back of the neck is standard and men know to look there.'

'That's fine.' Walker answered.

'Surest thing is to have your name on em as well.' Fel suggested, 'That's only four silver.'

Walker shook his head, 'Get on with it.'

'Alright mate.' Fel opened the box in his lap and took a small phial of black liquid and a wooden dowel, sharpened on one end and a long needle wrapped to the other, then he took out a tiny wooden hammer. He arrayed his tools in a line in the small of her back, 'You're mighty shaky, cunny. You need to relax or this will hurt more than it has to, ya hear? Head down now, take deep breaths.'

Opening the phial, he dipped the sharpened side of the dowel in the liquid then knelt over her neck. He began drawing an outline.

It wasn't long before he motioned Walker closer, 'Have a look.'

On the back of the girl's neck was a very simple impression of a cat's head; whiskers and diamond shaped with triangle ears just like he'd proposed. The tiger nodded his approval and the man dipped the needle into the liquid and took up the hammer to begin work in earnest. The needle pierced her skin. Startled, her head rose. Fel slapped it, 'Down. Stay still.'

Walker sat to one side watching the hunched man, squinting in concentration, tapping the needle into her skin. Occasionally he admonished Shuq to cease squirming. Black ink mixed with red blood and this he constantly wiped with a moist rag.

'This is much better than burning a symbol, much less painful than the many small burns they do if you ain't got a ready-made branding iron.' Fel explained 'If you sell em later you have to rebrand over the old marks. Sometimes you'll find jacks scarred all over from having been traded many a time. This way you're just tattooing along the spine. Nice 'n neat.'

The stench of old sweat filled the tent as the maturing day heated the canvas walls. Beads broke out on Fel's forehead. He instructed Choppa to open some flaps then invited Walker to scrutinize his handy-work.

Walker examined the cathead as a light breeze wafted through the tent; It wasn't very big, barely larger than his thumb. He decided he liked the simple impression; it had a fierce sharpness to its angles and was impressively distinct. 'Hrmm.' he approved.

'Now, yer neck's gonna itch like a bugger fer a while. Rub it lightly with whiskey each day til the scabbing is hard. Wards off infection 'n helps the ink take evenly.' he instructed as he loosed Shuq's restraints. Over his shoulder he told the Tigreni, 'I'd offer ye ta have her nips and clit pierced, if ye're keeping her as a bed warmer, Mister Walker. But I see your hurry.' Fel said. 'There's lots o' lads that deal with the slave merchandise. None are better than me da and me, ask about. So, if'n you want her specialized or studded by a human, ya let me know.'

'Hrmm.' Walker handed the man his coin.

Shuq accepted Walker's proffered hand and pulled herself up from the bench. She tested her neck, grimacing as the tender skin needled her. She took Walker's arm. 'What do you mean,' she asked, 'about the piercings?'

The big man smiled at her warmly, almost thankfully, 'S'clear you ain't a Lumberton girl.'. He addressed her but his practiced speech was clearly meant for Walker's ears, 'Slavejacks gotta know about swinging the axe and laying down when told. We trade em amongst ourselves, but they's about useless any otherwise or where. No one'll buy em. On the otherside, ye ain't going to find a Lumberton man willing to pay three hundred silvers to a gold for a finely trained city slave; we ain't got use fer artsiness or that poetical nonsense. If'n ye want a softer creature what stays wet and eager fer a fucking, piercing's a good tool. I'll show ye.'

They followed him to the rear of the tent where boxes and simple furniture was hidden behind a cloth screen. Fel pulled it aside and motioned them in. In the corner he showed them a crate, 'Now, this one's a fresh flower. The owner and me da have been choosing neighboring logging plots fer decades. Still took a lot of whinin' from me a'fore he said yes to the experiment.' He grinned proudly, 'I believe it's working.'

The front of the crate fell open, thudding sharply on the cobbles and releasing an invisible cloud of steamy human aroma. Inside, a smooth skinned, petite breasted slave was suspended from the top of the crate by a harness of wide leather girdle about her middle; a stick bound in her lower back anchored her wrists and ankles there. The effect forced her torso forward leaving her dangling and angled with her head high and forward, the knees dangling inches from the floor. A leather hood strained tightly around her head with only a breathing hole. A fine, many linked, chain stretched between thick nipple rings and a finer clitoris ring. The slim form dripped with sweat and shivered as fresh air wafted over her overheated skin. Arousal leaked from her sex and ran in rivulets down her thighs.

Shuq tensed beside Walker and the tiger opened his maw to breathe.

Fel crouched to his haunches inviting them to do the same. He peered in, 'The smell ain't bad is it?'. He reached into the crate coming out with a large glass flask, half filled with urine. 'Choppa!' he called, then handed the flask to the slavejack with instruction to empty it. He continued, 'Now, the shite was tricky at first until it dawned on me one day, "Fel, ye dumb bastard,", I said to myself, "have the smith attach a tube to a chamber and just stick it up the arse.". Aye,' he said, lost in thought for a moment, 'had to punch a hole in the chamber for the air to move out and let the shite in, but still, the stink's better than it was.'

Walker waved dismissively at the crate as a whole, 'Why?'

'Ahh.' Fel uncomfortably moved his bulk out of the way, pointing at the slave's crotch, 'So's the bells and pipe can do the work.'

Walker crouched lower. He noticed that the slave's swinging weight pressed her crotch to a metal pole. The pole had been affixed to a wooden base and extended through two bells. The larger bell was upside down and its mouth fit around the circumference of the smaller bell above it. It looked like a lopsided copper egg impaled on a metal pole.

'I got the idea in Estwyn. The church's got a million bells and that big fucker at the top. Whole city vibrates when they's all a clanging together. And when you go inside while they's ringing, it's like ye cain't breath proper on account of the rumblin' in yer soul.'. Reaching in, he flicked the bottom bell with a nail. A deep note rang lowly, followed instantly by a higher pitched sympathetic response from the smaller. The rod vibrated visibly against the clitoral piercing. The girl in the box moaned gutturally through the hole and her skin danced as her body strained against her bindings. Fel did it once more, eliciting a stronger response, then he grasped the clit ring, 'Oi, ye don't get ta cum!' then he twisted it around viciously. The moans became a short screech. Then he released it and stilled the vibrating bells with his palm. She sagged in her restraints moaning in anguish of need as her cunt leaked desperately.

His broad face turned towards his customers with a grin, 'At the start I figured any ol' blacksmith could hammer me up a working bell...' he rubbed his face as if embarrassed, 'It's been more'n five hundred in silver ta get here. Special metals 'n a dozen niggles, and it all requires money.' He joked, 'Me da's threatening ta cut me out of the will on account of the expenses. Most it was paid to the church bell-maker in the city; cause I was thinkin' that it'd one bell and then ya clang it against her cunt or some such. But he's learned in sound and bells, he's the one who said ta use two together like this. The way he explains it is that the special metal catches sound from the world and then the bells feed that sound to each other, making it bigger... resonint? Resonit? Like the choir, he said, big voices, and small voices make harmonies... it vibrates.' Fel shrugged, 'All's I knows is that a bit of metal through a clitty makes em hornier. All the noise around us, the voices shouting and the boxes crashing, when I keep her near the slavejacks hammering through the trees, all of it gets caught in the bells. That's how she's known the world. The whole world stirring through that tiny clitty, and the chains tugging the nips as she squirms.'

'Does she...' Shuq began, disturbed, 'Do you take her out?'

'Oh, aye. For washing, feeding and sleeping. Though you gotta keep her tied down at night or she'll do nothing but jill her twat until ye put her back in. She's a virgin and I promised the man to return her as one.' Fel guffawed with mirth, 'It's only been a week. When ya take off the hood, she begs ye ta fuck her.'

'And the mask?' Walker asked, intrigue with the man's ingenuity more so than the purpose of the contraption.

'Focus.' Fel answered, suddenly serious, 'Keeps her mostly deaf and blind so she don't get distracted from the tingling.'

'Mrhmm. Clever.' Walker said standing, 'Come.' he told Shuq.

She remained transfixed on the heaving body in the box, 'What...' she began then tore her eyes away, 'what happens...'. She paused, searchingly, 'What are you hoping for?'

Fel gripped the lid of the crate and hauled it into place, entombing the slave again. 'Too many women, born. If'n one cain't earn her feed then ye get rid of em. No reason in keepin' em and there's no one who'll buy em. There's nunneries abouts Estwyn city that'll teach skills or wifing duties; those are the ones what sell fer hundreds of silvers; educated, pretty ones who'll account yer earnings or read ye old stories, or sing. Point is, if you wanna make profit in slave tradin' then ye need to offer something special like. Ye need ta offer somethin' more 'n a warm hole. I's thinkin' if you can stick em in a bell-box fer a week or two and come out with a horny animal who'll fuck ye till yer pecker bleeds, then ye gots something. Something, someone might pay a bit more for.'

The man stroked his bushy black beard in satisfaction, 'The invention is crude, I'd admit, there's much in the way of making it better but... I've damn near emptied me life's pockets into a box with some fancy metal bits inside.' his smile disappeared, 'And I'm not joking about my da's threats to disown me.'

Walker stared impassively until Fel grew uncomfortable under the tiger's gaze. The man turned instead to Shuq, 'I need investment or I need to stop this.'

Walker turned to leave but Shuq tugged at his elbow, entreating him to stop. 'Mister Felaedre,' she said delicately, 'we are acquainted with Captain Edwin and his, uhh wife. Mis...' she stopped herself, then started again, 'Captain Edwin is a shrewd man when it comes to investment. My master might raise this idea with Captain Edwin in search of advice.'

Fel's eyes snapped from the girl to the disinterested tiger and back again, 'Oh! Wonderful. I am no beggar Mister Walker, I believe the idea speaks for itself. I hope you'll have my same confidence in the captain's company.'

'Mrhmm.' Walker left the tent.

With an apologetic glance Shuq turned to follow.

'Lass!' Fel called when she reached the entrance. He flicked a silver coin across the room. Startled, she grasped for it, letting it fall. 'Don't forget about me now ya hear?'

She caught up to Walker in the avenue between the tents. He glanced down at her as she came up from behind and resumed her post with their elbows locked. She handed him the silver that Fel had returned, 'It's alright if I ask Miss Meri about this?'

Walker shrugged then nodded faintly. He sniffed the air, noting the sweet scent of arousal wafting up from the folds of the lavender dress. 'You find that box appealing.' he stated flatly.

Startled, she glanced up at him, 'His words ring true in my ears but I don't know. Miss Meri would know.'

'Why? You have coin to invest?'

The words bit into her but the way he said it was not meant to wound. She became pensive as they strolled sedately, occasionally passing others. 'Master,' she said after a while, surprised at her own earnestness in using the word, 'Miss Meri is very knowledgeable and... strong.'

'Hrmm.' he agreed.

'She can teach me things.'

'I am Tigreni and do not ask of you what she offers to teach.'

Shuq went quiet again, rolling the question around in her mind. With a note of finality she said, 'Norrish are not Tigreni.'

'Tigreni are not Norrish.' he echoed.

She touched her raw neck delicately, 'You are in Norrish lands, and under Norrish law I belong to you. It does not matter that you are Tigreni.'

'A tigreni female would chew her own tongue and bleed to death before...' he waved his wrist at their surroundings.

'It does not matter.' She insisted, 'You are my owner and I must decide what of kind Norrish woman I am to be.'

'Like that creature in the box?'

Again, his words argued but there was no challenge in his voice. 'No. Different.'