Chapter 5
"The King needs help to extend the Palace, you come with us!" He looked me up and down with avarice in his eyes.
After hearing his words, I was not afraid, but a little crazy idea came out - to leave here, at least I would not have to pick up garbage, and would not be afraid of the others harming me. It might be my chance.
"Sir, I want to go too, can I?" This was not what I expected, as Sophie spoke up and begged them.
I quickly winked at Sophie, but she didn't even look at me, she just kept begging the fat leader.
"Take this little cripple," the leader said with narrowing eyes at Sophie.
Then his men pushed us outside. We saw a bus parked outside the house. When we got on, there were already a dozen others sitting there, all rogues like us.
"Sit down, bitch!" I felt a pinch on my butt, I turned around and it was the fat leader.
"Little cripple, you hurry up too," he yelled to Sophie.
Just as we sat down, the bus started.
"Why are you following me, it's not a place for fun." I whispered, holding Sophie's hand.
"Dory, don't leave me alone. It's not easy for me to find friends, so where you go, I will go." Sophie insisted.
I sighed and said nothing more.
I heard that King Theo is the illegitimate son of the old king, and that his real mother is a prostitute. Because the old king had no children, the throne passed to Theo. But because of his background, many elders in the council and Alphas from the packs did not support him.
After he succeeded to the throne and killed many people who plotted against him, the word bastard is banned in the kingdom; if anyone is found to have said this word, the less punishment is cutting off the tongue; the more severe is decapitation.
Our bus passed through a dark and narrow cave tunnel, and soon a green land appeared before my eyes. We reached Lycan territory. I saw a magnificent white palace standing at the far side of the hill, as if I had entered a fairy tale.
"Get off, get off!" the guards shouted.
At this moment I saw another bus pass in front of us, towards the direction of the palace. The bus was full of beautiful girls in delicate make-up, I could not help taking a few more glances, seeing their faces full of contempt.
I heard someone behind me whispering that the girls were sent to the palace to be maids.
"What are you looking at? Those girls are decent girls from a clean background. If any of them become the King's favourite, that will change her fate. You rogue had better not even think about it, you must not see the King's face at all. " There was a roar of laughter around the bus.
We bowed our heads and followed the guards to our quarters, where a room was set up with 20 bunk beds. I felt satisfied that at least there were not 40 people sleeping in one bed. We had a quick lunch of baked beans, and then the fat leader came in.
His name was Andrew. Andrew laid out tons of rules, and if we violated any of them, we would be whipped.
Afterwards, we were assigned jobs. Sophie and I were responsible for bringing up truckloads of rocks from the bottom of the hill and then placing them together in different shapes.
I was surprised that I was able to carry a basket with almost 80 kg of rocks on my back, while I used to exercise with only 1 kg dumbbells.
When I looked at Sophie, she had only half-full basket of rocks behind her, and she was climbing up the hill with her back bowed at almost 90 degrees, swaying from side to side.
Seeing no one around, I whispered to Sophie to stop first, and then quickly picked some big rocks from her basket into my basket. Suddenly I felt a pain in my legs, and I fell to the ground.
"Bitch, don't help the others!" Andrew lashed me with the whip while cursing.
I felt my skin slicing open, I gritted my teeth and didn't dare to make a sound.
"Sir, please don't hit anymore, it's my fault, I asked Dory to help me," Sophie cried out.
"Little cripple, how dare you plead for others, who gave you the guts?" Andrew lashed Sophie's face with a whip and instantly a bright red blood stain seeped out from Sophie's face and neck.
My two fists were clenched tightly, not daring to make a sound. I knew I couldn't help her because that would just make things worse. But our nightmare was just beginning.
"Dory, I see you are quite strong, here is a job that suits you better." Andrew came up to me and talked to me after I had just eaten in the evening.
He took me to a house not far from our quarters. Once I entered, I heard a clamour mingled with the vulgar curses coming from the center of the hall.
Andrew led me to the audience, and only then I could see: In a ring in the middle of the hall, a tall, plump woman in a yellow bikini was beating up a woman in a black bikini in the mud.
"You go in the next round, I'll watch you, don't let me down," Andrew glanced at me with a cold voice.
Upon the signal of a whistle from the referee, the woman in the yellow bikini was announced as the winner.
I hadn't yet recovered from the shock, when in the next second, I saw the woman in the black bikini being stripped naked and pushed walking through the hall surrounded by crazed men throwing bottles at her.
My mind went blank, and I knew I would be next.
Soon a guard took me to change. When I appeared beside the ring in my red bikini, the men around me looked at me greedily, as if I had no clothes on at all. I felt humiliated and dared not look up.
I felt a foot kick me in my back, and I stumbled into the ring. Before I could stand, the mud beneath my feet began to sink, and soon the mud had reached my knees, making me almost unable to move my feet.
Then I felt myself being punched hard in the chest, and I leaned back and collapsed into the mud, surrounded by laughter.
Before I could get up, the woman in the yellow bikini swung her fist at my face; instantly, I felt my eyeballs had been punched out and my vision went blurry. My nose was bleeding, and my head was buzzing. I instinctively used my hands to cover my head.
But the next second, she whacked my chest, abdomen and knees, and I felt my bones like a broken eggshell where her fist had struck.
Kill me and get everything over! I don't want to be humiliated later, I prayed in my heart.
"Fucking stupid bitch, get up and fight back!"
I heard someone cursing; it suddenly flashed through my mind that Zelda had called me the same thing in the kitchen that day, and how Zoe's and Jacob's laughter sounded as familiar as it did here.
"There is a life, there is a hope." rang in my ears.
I took a deep breath, then suddenly let out a roar and stuck out my foot out of the mud, and I kicked it hard at the woman, who flew back instantly and then fell heavily to the ground. I staggered to my feet from the mud and ran quickly towards her, riding her before she could get up.
I imagined she was Zoe and Zelda as I was swinging my fists and hitting her hard. I snarled to vent my anger. The audience around me was silent, only my roar ringing through the hall.
I didn't know how long it'd been, but my hand was held up and the woman beneath me was already badly mangled. The referee announced that I had won, and cheers for me went up around the hall.
When I stumbled to my quarters, I immediately felt dizzy and began to retch. I spat out my bile along with a few of my teeth.
"Dory, you have to hold on, a live dog is better off than a dead lion. " Sophie carefully wiped my wounds as she whispered to me.
I remained silent and felt I was even worse than a dog.
From that day on, my life consisted of getting whipped during the day, and at night beating people up in the ring. I found that my wounds curiously were healed quickly, usually by the third day, although they would leave a faint scar.
My body had become numb to the pain, and I felt like a walking dead. I never showed mercy to the bodies that fell beneath me.
I wanted to live, I wanted to come back, the desire for revenge in my heart was getting stronger and stronger. I felt like there was a wolf trapped in my body and trying to come out.
But Sophie was not as lucky as I was, her wounds always took days to heal, and every night I looked at her bloody wounds and feel a pang of remorse, if only she hadn't followed me here.
The most frightening thing was the night. Several times, I saw women in the same room being called out at night to entertain the guards.
I prayed that I would never be called. But what to fear, what to come.
One night, when I came back from boxing, I found that Sophie was not on my top bunk. I asked the people around me, but they were all silent.
A bad feeling came to my mind. I rushed out towards the guards' quarters. When I walked in, I saw two guards coming out of the room at the end of the corridor.
"That little cripple is a fucking virgin, it took me a while to pop her cherry." They were fixing their pants and cursing.
I ran to the end of the hallway and kicked the door open. Andrew was naked on top of Sophie.
"Fucking get out, it's your turn when I'm done," he shouted without even looking up.
I ran over and pulled him off Sophie with all my strength, then I saw that blood was flowing from between Sophie's thighs. She was lying there like a drained husk, completely unaware of my entrance.
"Sophie!" I cried and reached out to touch her.
My hair was yanked up by Andrew, I felt my scalp was about to be ripped off, followed by two hard slaps on my face, and I saw stars.
"Bitch, you came to me yourself, I am fucking you now!" He was seething and pouncing on me with alcohol on his breath.
When I heard his words, I don't know where I got the guts to fly up and kick him in the crotch. The wall behind him had a hole knocked out of it, along with the bellows like a stuck pig, he flew out of the room through the hole.
I didn't have the time to be proud of myself, as I ran out as soon as I could. Soon there was shouting behind me, as guards came from all directions.
"Whoever kills the bitch will get a big reward!" Andrew was shouting behind me.
I was like a headless fly that didn't know where to go. With the desire to live, I saw which side had fewer guards, and I ran there.
I heard the wind whistling in my ears, and the trees on both sides flashed by, I felt like a beast in the jungle being chased by a hunter, with only one belief in my heart: "I don't want to be like a lamb to the slaughter. "
I don't know how long I ran, but eventually I found it quiet around me, so I turned back to see the guards still chasing me, but no longer the noise. I was puzzled.
"No!" I cried silently while looking around.
I had intruded into the King's forbidden garden. I remembered that when we came, we were warned that this is a forbidden area. We were told that whoever sets foot in this garden will have his head cut off and hung on a tree in the garden.
I felt an eerie feeling around me, with the hairs on my back standing up. I looked back and saw the guards behind getting closer and closer.
I would die if I stepped back, I could only go forward. At worst, it's death. I prayed in silence to the moon goddess that I would not be found.
Suddenly I saw a towering figure standing in the distance. His back was to the moonlight, and I couldn't see his face, but the aura from him was so powerful that I couldn't move my feet to get closer.
It was King Theo, my instincts told me. I was dead meat - I thought of my head hanging from the tree, or of being caught by Andrew.
I knelt on the ground and ripped off my clothes.
"My King, please save me, I am yours!" I took a deep breath and pleaded with him.
The fear of death consumed me, but I knew that if I could just live for one more day, there might be a glimmer of hope to turn things around. Yielding to the supreme king seemed like a wiser choice than yielding to Andrew!
I will take my chances.
The King was approaching me with his aura making me breathe harder, "I have seen you naked before, it's nothing new to me," a cold but magnetic voice came.
I felt the voice was familiar, and looked up at the King who came to me. His face was like a marble sculpture in the pale moonlight. The King in front of me was the right gigolo I had a one-night stand with that night!
Since the King recognized me, I felt saved. Thanks to the moon goddess who answered my prayers. My nerves were just half-relaxed, as a hand gripped my throat.
"How dare you bargain with me? You are my what? Woman? Slave? Or a pet?" The King's lips hooked up in the corners, and his eyes glowed with cold gold.
I shuddered all over and felt suffocated as his grip tightened.