A runner found him while he was making his way from the man training him in the Elddar Grove to the Harbor gate

The Skull of Kash

By Wynter

A runner found him while he was making his way from the Tree House in the Elddar Grove to the Harbor gate.

The child ran up to him and shouted “You’re Kli ain’tcha?”

Kli regarded the child warily and replied in a low tone “Yes, who wants to know?”

The child held out his hand and in it was a note. “The Lady Nejia sent me to find you, she told me to look for the biggest male Kerran I could find, with a whip, and ask him if he is Kli…I did and you are.”

The note was still there. Kli dug out a few copper out of his pouch for the boy and took the note. It smelled of the boy, but he could smell his love’s scent on the note. A wax seal, with her sigil imprinted on it held it closed. He read it and was both worried and amused at the information it contained. Nejia wrote that the City Guard was on to her after the bank robbery, and that she had moved. The new place was in the harbor at an inn that he had been to when he first came to Qeynos. At the bottom of the note was a tease that she also had a surprise for him.

He quickened his pace and made his way to see her new place.

Kli knocked on the door, and the petit blond High Elf greeted him with a hug. He put his arms around her and held her close. She smiled up at him, grabbed his hands and pulled him into the room; He followed and took in the sights of the new flat as he closed the door behind him. She had been busy getting everything cleaned and put away before he arrived…even though there still was a bookcase out in the middle of the room, something he would move for her in the morning She was in a dust covered slip and she was a bit dusty herself.

“A lot of this was stashed around the city, and now I have a place to put it all” She said beaming. Kli was doffing his armor as she was telling him about how, and from whom she had acquired the new items.

He marveled at all the things that she had found…little trinkets, and trophies that she had accumulated during her time in Qeynos. While he had only been only in the city for a few weeks, Nejia had been here for well over two months. She continued to hold of his hand as she led him through the front room, and on to the bedroom. He waved hello to the spirits of Jemmina and Cabira as they floated and gamboled with each other throughout the room. The Kerran was distracted by the two spirits when his eyes came to focus on what Nejia said was her surprise.

Kli looked at the object staring back at him on the pike, and it all came flooding back...that day it all ended....or....began, might be the better word for it.

~~~~~~

They had taken their time beating him. They knew that he knew something. They knew he was involved somehow. Ever since he had apprenticed to Nejia, to learn the ins and outs of the Red Suns, the two had become quite the team. They were the most profitable group in the organization, and Kash enjoyed profit, but he did not trust them, and he really did not trust Nejia.

The Kerran was standing against the wall in a room that stank of blood, piss and other bodily functions. The walls were carefully fitted field stone, and one could tell at a glance that it was underground. Besides the Kerran, there was an Ogre and a timid Human that was keeping to himself near the door.

The Kerran laughed under his breath.

Kash’s Lieutenant Krugnar became angrier and started to hit harder as Kli laughed at him. When Kli collapsed to the floor they chained and manacled him to the wall and continued torturing him. Krugnar did not reach the rank of Lieutenant just because he was an ogre, but because he was a clever one as that race went. His blows started to center on Kli’s many Clan piercings, causing more pain than the previous hits. When Krugnar stopped to ask Kli what he knew, Kli spat at him.

The angry Ogre whispered to the Human to go and fetch something and turned his attention back to oddly patterned Kerran that was almost as tall as him. Krugnar was trying his best “I’m a reasonable guy” shtick on Kli...Kli watched him impassively with his green eyes. When he figured out that this new tactic was not working, Krugnar sucker punched Kli, and left him gasping for air.

The underling returned with a long narrow pair of tongs and handed them to the Lieutenant. The Ogre hefted the tongs, testing their weight, and looked at Kli with a hint of delight in his eyes.

In a low tone, he said to the bound Kerran “Your filthy race does love its piercings, don’t it?”

Kli focused on the blacksmithing tongs and the implied threat they carried.

Krugnar brought the tongs up to Kli’s face so that he could get a good look at them, and he continued. “I mean these things all mean something don’t they? I mean to your people...to you.” He swung the tongs hard hitting Kli on the outside of his thighs. Kli roared out in pain, and then composed himself again….slowly.

Krugnar ordered Kli stripped and the timid Human complied quickly by ripping his clothing off and letting them fall at his feet. Krugnar looked at Kli...and moved the tongs to the nipple at the center of the Red Sun branding where a gold ring stood out against the red scarred flesh.

The ogre moved in close and spoke slowly “So...here is what we are going to do next. I am going to start here...” The tong clamped down on the ring. “...and I am going to do this...” The ogre pulled until the ring ripped through Kli’s nipple, leaving him roaring in agony. “...Until you tell us what we want to know.”

As the pain started to subside, down to a dull throbbing pain, Krugnar hit him again in the thigh with the tongs. The Human was laughing a bit, and soon Krugnar noticed what he was pointing and laughing about.

The Ogre chuckled. “You Kerran are a disgusting race. You pierce your sheaths? Disgusting. But, tell you what I am going to do for you today Filth....I am going to do my best to make you normal.”

The hulking Kerran’s eyes narrowed and he spat blood at Krugnar, hitting him in the face. The Ogre bellowed and hit Kli in the face with his ham sized fist.

When he composed himself, Krugnar took the tongs, holding it on the outside of his sheath on top of his balls and let the cold weight of them register in Kli’s mind. Then the Ogre moved the tongs around until it touched the first of the piercings and let it rest there.

Kli let out a low growl.

Krugnar clamped the tongs to the stud and in started to pull, slowly letting the flesh tear as they it was pulled from his body leaving Kli roaring out in anguish. The process continued with each of the six piercings that had been the mark of Kli’s reaching the age of majority in his Clan.

When the Ogre was finished Kli was slumped in his bindings, the front of his thighs, sack and balls were covered in blood...his blood. Just as Krugnar was about to ask about Nejia again, a small human woman walked in and announced that Nejia had been caught, and that Kash had ordered all of the Red Suns to the pit to watch him break her once and for all.

The Pit.

It was a place to buy and sell flesh of those unfortunate to run a foul of the Red Suns. A place for settling disputes between members. A place for debauched entertainment not normally seen in the more gentile parts of town, and lastly a place to extract punishment from those that had transgressed the rules of the Red Suns.

It was a 40’ mostly round pit in a larger room, and 15’ deep. The floor was covered in sand to soak up the inevitable blood that would be spilled there. The walls were stone with rings and manacles placed at random places along its length. The outside was ringed with benches and lit by a chandelier of oil pots burning and flickering. The pit was ringed with benches, now filled with drunken members of the Red Suns. There was a single large door into the pit, and it opened.

They drug Kli across the sand and chained him to the wall of the Pit facing the rack where Nejia was already bound. A look of worry crossed her face for a split second but then it was gone. Kli focused on her eyes, and tried his best to convey that he was ok...that they did not break him...that they hadn’t even come close to breaking him. He was still his own Kerran, and they could not take that from him.

Kash appeared, the Ogre leader of the Red Sun’s, the spiked horns atop his head polished to a bright gleam as he stood listening to the crowd chanting his name “Kash! Kash! Kash! Kash....” He stepped through the door with his lieutenants. The look on Kash’s face was one of triumph as he looked out at the crowd lining the edge of the pit.

They stripped Nejia of her clothing in an attempt to strip her of her dignity. The rowdy mob watching cheered, and both the men and women eyed her naked body with delight. She was a High Elf, the men just wanted to see her naked, and the women reveled in the sight of her being knocked off her high horse.

Kash took a Cat o’ Nine Tails and let the tails drag against her back…letting her feel them…let her know what was coming. “So little Nejia” Kash growled slowly. ”You thought that you were going to usurp me? You thought that you were going to take over the Red Suns? You don’t have the balls to take over the Red Suns!” And to prove his point, he took the Cat o’ nine tails and swung it, striking her sex hard.

Kli watched Nejia’s face contort, as she started cry out and caught herself. The crowd cheered, hooted and laughed. Nejia’s eyes opened and she focused on Kli, and she mouthed “I…will…win.”

From that moment on, as Kash started to flay the skin off her back, she did not cry out. She would not let him have the satisfaction. Kash was growing more frustrated as time passed, she was still resisting. Kli watched Nejia’s eyes, so that he could tune out the spectators, so he could tune out what was being done to her, so he did not have to see it. In her eyes, he could see that look of defiance that made her what she was. The spark was still there. Kli started run the tip of his tail through his blood, making sure it was well coated. While the crowd in the Pit was focused on Nejia, he started to shape his fur into a point by moving it in circles against the wall behind him.

Her blood ran down her ribs and her legs. The mob could smell the blood in the air and they cried out for more. The chants of “Kash! Kash! Kash!” continued to ring out in the Pit, but Kash was starting to feel the heat. Nejia hadn’t broken…she was still strong…she was defying him. Making him look weak, and that would not stand. He needed to make it so she couldn’t take over, so that there was no way to that anyone one would ever trust her again. He looked over at the bloody Kerran and knew that he was the only one that was still loyal to her, and he needed to break that bond. In his mind he knew what he needed to do. He need Nejia to feel despair and to know that she was alone on the world. He knew that Kerra were very Clan oriented, and that he need to destroy her in Kli’s eye’s so that he would abandon her too. Kash also noticed that Kli’s eyes hadn’t left Nejia the entire time.

Kash motioned to Krugnar, pulled him close and said something to him privately. Kash handed him the Cat and pointed at Kli. Krugnar walked up to Kli, looked him the eye and sucker punched him again. As Kli was gasping for air, and dangling from his manacles, Krugnar went behind him and with great force shoved the handle of the Cat up Kli’s tail hole. Kli let out a growl of great anger, and tried to twist out of his predicament. The crowd roared their approval.

As this was going on, Kash pulled another of his lieutenants aside, a Human, and told him something with a nod. The lieutenant, by the name of Geng dropped trow and worked him member to full staff, he moved in between Nejia’s spread eagle legs, and took a hold of her hips, she tensed and struggled against her bindings as he held her tight and rammed his member home, shoving himself into her with all his might. Nejia’s mind struggled and then she found a place in her mind and let go. What was happening was not happening now. She would remember it all, but it was not happening now.

Geng quickly relieved himself and was replaced by another lieutenant by the name of Xank, a Dark Elf. Krugnar signaled Geng to come over and continue working the Cat on Kli as he went to get in behind Xank, no way was he going to miss out on that piece of ass. Kli was able to focus finally and looked again at Nejia. He saw that worse was being done to her, and then he saw her eyes. They were distant, resigned, but the spark that he had seen earlier had become a white light of fury. He also noticed that she was silent, not moving, looking like just so much meat, even as a mixture of blood and seed poured from between her legs pooling on the floor.

So, Kli learned a final lesson from his Mistress at that moment, so he let go, he would not give them the satisfaction they craved. He relaxed and stopped fighting the Cat handle, and he relaxed in the manacles. He focused his attention once more on Nejia. Xank took Nejia in the ass as he told her how lucky she was to have him. He thrust hard and fast, and as he was about to cum, he pulled out and shot his load on to her bloody back.

Krugnar’s was next. He lifted his kilt, grabbed Nejia’s hair pulling her head back, and shoved himself into her battered sex. He was the quickest of the five, but this did not stop the crowd from cheering his prowess as he let his seed fly across her back.

The last Lieutenant, a human by the name of Howard, chose her ass to abuse. He took his time to savor the feeling, and to make her squirm. He pulled out and dribbled his seed upon her ass.

Kash looked down at her, and moved around to face her, his member already erect and ready. He ripped apart the ropes holding her to the rack and tossed her to the floor in front of him. Kash grabbed her face in his huge hands, each fist as big as her head, and forced his thumbs into her mouth to keep it open as he shoved his member in. He forced himself down her throat and left her gagging and gasping for air between thrusts. The crowd cheered like the Goddess herself had walked in to the pit and showered them in platinum pieces.

Kash’s grunts soon became louder and quicker. Soon enough, he pulled out and let his seed fly, covering her face and breasts. Kash then saw what he wanted to see, Nejia started to cry.

Kash roared with triumph at his breaking of Nejia. He had done it, she was his now…a toy to be abused and discarded, and she was no longer a threat to his leadership. Kli hid his smirk as Kash and his Lieutenants stood over the prone High Elf cheering their victory, but the Kerra could see what they refused to see, the white flame of rage in Nejia’s eyes. Kash told one of the crowd to stay here with Kli and Nejia and guard them, as he led the rest back to the great hall for ale to celebrate his victory.

As soon as the room had cleared out, Kli started to work the locks on his manacles with the blood stiffened fur on his tail, the first one was easy and then the second was a bit harder as the stiffness was breaking down. There was a slight click and he let them slide into his hand so that he still looked bound.

Nejia started to taunt the guard, in low pathetic voice about how he wasn’t man enough to take her after what Kash had done to her, that he was too afraid of what Kash might do to him. The guard was silent, but Kli could tell that she was getting to him. She kept it up until he started to look agitated, and then he moved over in front of her and lowered his pants. He didn’t get to do much more than that as his head was soon facing the opposite direction in Kli’s powerful grip. The hulking Kerra eased the body to the floor quietly, and took his sword. He took hold of the Cat protruding from his tail hole and grimaced as he removed it, and then let it slip to the floor.

The battered High Elf started to vomit up blood and cum…and them a flash of metal. She had swallowed a set of lock picks. Kli fished them out and undid the fetters on her ankles and wrists. She weakly smiled at him and then grimaced from the pain. He gently picked her up like the oversized rag doll she had become and laid her down on a near by bench.

She had never allowed herself to be vulnerable to another before, or allowed another to take care of her. It was always a point of pride, and a bit of the High Elf in her that kept her strong and in charge. This was new, and scary, and then a thought flashed into her mind as to what her parents would think of her being at the mercy of a Kerran, and then the next thought that she had was “screw them”. She wiped the Ogre’s seed out of her eyes, the real reason she had cried.

The Kerran sniffed the air and cocked his head listening and he said in a hushed tone. “We must be going quickly Mistress.” He turned to Nejia and sat her up; she let out a small squeak as she sat on her tender bottom, and when he was sure that she would not fall over, he knelt down, took a hold of her arms, putting them over his shoulders. She instinctively wrapped her arms around him as he reached for her legs and lifted her off the bench.

Nejia whispered in to his ear the secret route out of the Red Sun that she had found long ago, and after awhile they were outside in the safety of the night. She told him a location of a safe house that only she knew about, and near it was a trust worthy healer. It was across town, so they took their time and kept to the shadows to avoid both the City Guard and any members of the Red Sun that maybe about.

When they entered the safe house they both looked around to make sure it was indeed safe. It was really just a single room, daub covered walls, a bed, a table and a hearth, not much to look at, but Nejia knew no other Red Sun knew about it. Kli took her to the bed, and laid her gently on her stomach…Nejia watched as Kli got the fire going. She whispered that there was a child down the hall that could be trusted to fetch the healer.

“Yes Mistress.” He spoke as he stood and nodded to her as he started to the door.

Nejia spoke in a quiet tone. “Kli, I am not your Mistress anymore…” her voice failing as she said it.

He stopped, turned to look at, the confusion written on his face. “What?”

She smiled and felt right about this, in a way she had not felt in a long time. She voice gained strength as she continued “No. We are… We are more than that now.” Nejia spoke in a tone that sounded like her normally powerful self, she then smiled at him “But, we are…partners now. Hopefully, in more ways than just business.” She surprised herself with a goofy grin as she said it. Yes, this would work, they could be equals, and they could be friends. In Kli, you have a male use to a matriarchal society, and Nejia, you have a High Elf use to being in charge. It would be an interesting match now that the balance had shifted to being equals instead of where they were comfortable.

He responded with a fang baring smile, bowed and spoke in a low voice “Yes, Mi….Nejia, it will be my pleasure.” As he stepped out into the hall. He was back in a minute or two.

Kli announced himself as he entered the room. He could see her tense and then relax. He could also smell both the blood and the seed of those that had violated Nejia hang in the air.

He knelt down beside her and softly asked “Nejia…would you be willing for me to clean you up some more before the healer arrives?”

Nejia nodded her consent and he gently rolled her onto her side. He started on the dry seed that still coated face, neck and chest and spit it out on to the floor, licking her clean. She winced and looked concerned as he spread her legs. Kli moved forward and started to use his warm rough tongue to clean the seed and the blood from her skin and matted hair. Nejia reached out and ran her hand over his head as he did so, feeling like Kerran cub being cleaned by its parent.

He moved her so that she was on her stomach and put his paw in her hand. “Nejia, squeeze my hand hard and I will stop.” He said in a low reassuring tone. She nodded and took hold of his paw. Her jaws clenched hard as his tongue touched her lower back, so she squeezed…He stopped. She was reassured and relaxed her grip. Kli continued even as Nejia’s tendons stood out on her neck and sweat beaded on her forehead, when he was done, she felt clean.

There was a knock at the door as the Healer Suhaima announced herself, and then muttered something about being late because the Kuddy’s down the lane were having their sixth child. He opened the door and made sure all was clear as he let Suhaima in. The Healer tsk’d when she looked at Nejia, and put her bundle of bottles and little boxes on the table.

As Suhaima attended to Nejia’s grievous wounds, Kli sat on the floor and licked his own wounds clean, wincing whenever he hit a sensitive spot. Nejia watched in fascination, since she had never seen him do this before, like it was private moment that she had just stumbled upon. She smiled at that thought. As the blood was licked away she noticed that the skin around his sheath was torn and raw, she reflexively winced at this and then started to feel her own pain wash over her again.

The first thing was her back. The healer went on about how she had seen worse and not to worry about it. She put a poultice on her back along with a magical salve and re-bandaged her with clean linen. Nejia was still bleeding from what Kash’s lieutenants had done to her, and the healer merrily went about mixing and applying salves and packing to start the healing process.

When she was satisfied with her work, next Suhaima turned her attention to Kli. She clicked her tongue as she looked at his sheath. She shaved his fur off from around the damaged areas and applied some salve and told him not to have sex until it healed. Suhaima looked at his tail hole and applied the same salve to it as she had done to Nejia.

After the healer left, Nejia asked Kli to join her in bed. He climbed in and made himself comfortable. She waited for him the settle and lay down on top of him and snuggled into his fur. It was the first time that she had felt protected….safe…in several days. Nejia knew that several things had changed. She was no longer the Kerran’s Mistress, but she also knew that she would be stronger for the new relationship.

They discussed what they needed to do next. They needed split up and seek out a new place to obtain profits. They came up with a list of places to go and check out, and how they would get in touch with each other when one of them found a suitable place to live.

She fell asleep in his arms, listening to the low rumble of his throat.

~~~~~