Allura.
The dreadful taste of blood on my lower lip made my stomach coil in revulsion, I attempted to use my left wrist to rub it off. But when I raised my arm, the sound of heavy shackles and chains resonated across the walls of this underground dungeon.
It was just a little movement, yet all eyes diverted towards where I stood, along with six to eleven other girls, bound together in a straight line.
"Who made a sound just now?"
My timid gaze deflected its attention from my jittery wrists, all the way to the man, wearing heavy boots in front of us. He had large thick palms, that I doubt could be bruised easily.
In his right hand, he held onto a long black horsewhip, whilst his left rested on the behind of one of us. Her plain brown frock was lifted, showcasing her round behind.
"I said, who made a sound?!" His loud threatening voice was accompanied by a heavy spank on the girl's behind.
"Eek!" She bit her lower lip, very much afraid as the rest of us to anger the slave master. He seemed to have either not heard her panicked squeak or decided to ignore it completely.
Knowing that I was the cause of this noise, I contemplated whether or not to reveal myself, before I was outed by one of the other women I knew nothing about.
"Listen here." The slave master said, spreading the little black-haired girl's legs apart. Her eyes widened, as he displayed her cave before our eyes, giving us a good view of how red it was from the continuous 'examining' he put her through.
"Whether you live or die is my call to make, you're all just a bunch of slaves. You should be grateful His Majesty still honors the annual tradition to liberate some of you." He gruffly announced, striking fear into our hearts.
By liberating, he meant to serve under the king directly, something none of us here were looking forward to. In essence, we would be taken off our masters' hands and kept in the castle, till his Majesty grew tired of us.
Then, as I had heard from one of my former slave masters, we would die a fulfilling death, having lived our lives under service to His Majesty.
"Nghnnh!" The little girl cried out when the slave master dug his index finger deep into her throbbing cave, without anything lubricating to reduce the friction.
He pumped inside of her with an animalistic look in his eyes, some of the women who couldn't handle this looked away.
But I didn't, he was going to do this to a majority of us before we're tendered to His Majesty. If so, I rather brace myself for the worse before it happened.
The little girl let out the most ear-deafening and gut-wrenching screams, "Damn bitch!" The slave master raised his thick palm and slapped her hard on the behind.
"Shut your damned mouth before I do it for you." At that threat, she painfully closed her eyes and bit hard on her lower lip, waiting for the torment to end.
Thankfully, it ended sooner rather than later.
Pushing her off his lap onto the dirty floor, the slave master stood up and neatly rubbed her wetness against his pants.
"Escort her back to the cart, she's not worthy enough for his Majesty." He declared, crossing over her to inspect the next woman.
Two men who I recognized from the voyage here nodded, and grabbed the panicked girl by the arms, removing her from our midst.
"Let's see..." The slave master said, pinching the chin of the woman standing next to me.
"All your teeth seem to be in order, your skin looks healthy enough..." I watched as he trailed his hands from her jaw, down to her neck, and without any hesitation, he gripped firmly onto her breasts.
"You're well endowed, all I have to do now is check if you're intact." He told her, a devilish smile playing on his lips.
In this country, it was a law that all flexible slaves had to be untouched, to guarantee utmost satisfaction from their master. Which was why when we were passed from slave master to slave master, these atrocious tests had to be performed.
The woman turned pale when he lifted her frock, and dug two fingers into her cave, checking for her hymen. His eyes widened in excitement when he found it. "You're going to serve His Majesty well, he might even let you live into the winter."
He rescinded his hand and brought it to his mouth, licking his fingers in front of her in the most mortifying manner.
"Get her off these chains and have her wounds treated, we don't want His Majesty bothered with these hideous wounds." The slave master instructed, giving the first pass to a slave from our band.
Since we were low-level slaves, it was rare for any of us to be chosen for liberation. As some men stepped forth to have her whisked away into her new life.
The slave master promptly wasted no time to deflect his gaze to me next, he pinched my chin, lowering my jaw, giving him a view of my set of teeth.
Boring a hole into the back of my throat he finally concluded, "Your teeth are fine..." He ran his fingers across my lips with unimpressed eyes.
His hand ran down my lips to my behind, I yelped when he gave me a firm squeeze. He frowned at my less-endowed body and moved on to my moderately sized chest.
He pulled his hand away and pinched his chin, taking another critical look at me from head to toe.
"You have healthy red hair and a good set of teeth. Other than that, your skin is too pale, and your face is plain. Even if I were to try reselling you at the slave market, you wouldn't fetch a high price." He commented, assessing me like the commodity they had made of me.
I already knew from the start that I wouldn't be selected to serve under His Majesty, I was too plain. Aside from my disheveled red locks, nothing was alluring about me.
At least, nothing that could catch the king's gaze from the crowd.
"What do I do with you? If I knew such a useless slave would be included, I wouldn't have splurged on that old hag's trade post." He lamented, referring to Madam Caprice, a well-known name in the slave trade network.
She was a slave broker whose purpose was to link helpless girls like me, to eager slave masters willing to pay a hefty price. Just to have us sold to the scum of society, ready to use us to fulfill their most carnal desires.
Bored of me, the slave master diverted his attention to a petite girl beside me whose shoulders are hunched, in line with her accelerated breathing.
Laying his predating hands on the side of her cheek, he cupped her face and licked his lower lip. The girl had curly locks of blonde hair that settled over her eyebrows. And long lashes that sheltered her crystal blue eyes.
"What a meek little lamb." He said, staring at a girl no older than fifteen.
"Pl...pl...pl... Please...I want to go home. My ma..mama is looking for me..." The little thing was saying, only for the slave master to grip her hair and pull hard on it!
Gritting his teeth he held the whip over his head, "You need to be disciplined when to speak and when not to!" He roared, about to administer his sickening definition of justice.
I had passed through a number of these kinds of men and knew that they all got a kick out of seeing us slaves cower before them.
It was foolish to provoke him, hence I kept my head down and hoped for things to end soon. My hands were bound anyway, and even if I tried to protest, I had neither the wits nor the strength to do so.
"Mama! Help me, mama!" She cried out as the slave master brought his hand down to dispense punishment.
*Jab*
A deafening silence followed, I curiously opened my clenched eyes to see what had happened in a fraction of a half minute.
Only for my eyes to widen in full-blown stun at the scene before me!