RELUCTANT GLADIATOR - Part Forty A story by Pete Brown (petebrownuk @ yahoo.com)
Read all of Pete's stories at groups.yahoo.com/group/petebrownseroticstories
It didn't go quite as smoothly as I'd hoped, but in some ways the arrangement we ended up with was rather better. The following morning I had the money, but there was no Mike as it was taking longer than expected to organise a party of guards willing to go down the mine. But we took 'delivery' if him that night, which turned out to be fortuitous as Mike couldn't see properly after being so long in the dark.
He had no idea what was happening to him or who we were as a very flustered mine manager pushed him out of his truck towards us as we stood near our cabin as we had arranged earlier - I'd told the guys to keep in the trees as I did the exchange as I wanted the pastor to think I was mostly alone in case there was trouble later, but as soon as he drove off they rushed up.
We needed to carry Mike as he seemed unable to walk into the cabin, and we were shocked at what we then saw. For one thing he was as black as a nigga - all over, deep black, and we realised it must be coal dust ingrained deep in his skin. And for another he was covered in sores - well not sores exactly, but thick, angry-looking scars and scabs all over his feet, knees, elbows and forearms, and along his spine. He had long, straggly hair and a big bushy beard, all caked in black dust too - so thick that it was all matted and was almost solid. Gradually he managed to open his eyes and looked at us in the pale lamplight.
"You're safe now", I told him.
"Steve? How..."
"Don't worry about that now. We'll tell you the whole story later. Are you OK...?" I gasped this last bit as Mike kind of sagged towards me, and I grabbed at him to hold him up, getting covered in black as I did so.
"I've hardly stood up... There's no room down there... The ceiling's so low..."
"What happened to you? All these scars and scabs...?"
"Crawling. Crawling on my hands and knees. I'm so strong that one of my jobs was to haul the coal carts to the pulveriser room from the working face... So I had to crawl miles, every day, towing them... We split up the work between us down there as we know that we all have to work if we're to get food...."
"Why do you have to crawl?" Jamie cut in. "A man should walk, not crawl like some animal..."
"Listen, punk! You try it! Why do we crawl? It's because the ceilings are so low. And the ceilings are so low because we can't afford the time to cut them higher. Think about it - we only get 'paid' in food for coal that gets to the pulveriser. So if we have to cut new passageways and stuff o get to a new seam, it's wasted effort - we need to keep it to an absolute minimum. And if you'd listened at school instead of fucking around and getting enslaved, you'd know that to cut a tunnel twice as high you have to remove four times the amount of material. So all the tunnels are low. So I had to crawl, and your knees and elbows soon toughen up!!
"But your back...", I asked.
"You hit the ceiling. All the time, as it's not smooth." Mike looked angry and added "And now I don't want to talk about it any more! And I'm hungry. Haven't you guys got any food?"
We sat there and watched him as Mike squatted on the floor - he seemed to have forgotten about chairs and tables - and shovelled bowl after bowl of squirrel stew into him with his fingers, just as if he was an animal. Jamie looked a bit rebellious as he saw all our suppers disappearing, but Darren quietened him. As he was doing this I told the guys to get the big bath tub in and we heated pans of water on the stove, and then got Mike in to it. I sheared off his hair and as much of his beard as I could before this, but even so the water was almost instantly as black as ink.
It took six changes of water and a lot of soaking before Mike was even half clean, and even then his skin had an unhealthy looking grey sheen - the combination of the ingrained coal and lack of sunlight, I suppose. He sat there looking at us then, and I slapped Jamie's face hard as he unhelpfully remarked that Mike probably wasn't long for this world as if his skin was like that we should imagine what his lungs were like! I guess Jamie knew he was in the wrong and was as usual engaging in one of his manoeuvres to gain position and power as he didn't retaliate as he certainly would have done had I done it in other circumstances.
"So, Steve, you're still Champion, are you?" Mike demanded. "Keeping the young punks under control?"
"It's not exactly like that, Mike... We're not gladiators any more. But I do try to keep them in line, and out of further trouble.."
"Well you can stop worrying about it now, as I'm back, and I'll do it..."
"What do you mean?"
"You were only Champion for a bit as I lost that fight.... But now, when we fight again I'll easily beat you, so I'm in charge."
"It's not like that, Mike! There isn't going to be any more fighting. We're not gladiators any more. I'm a free man, and the others are slaves. And you're a slave, too - and, worse than that, you're an escaped slave, I suppose."
Jamie leaped out of his chair. "Steve, we've had enough of this! We said the other night to stop all this owner and slave crap! You know how we had Luke fuck you, so you can shut up unless you want my dick up your ass this time...."
Given that Mike had been having difficulty in standing earlier, it was amazing how he slid to his feet from the bath and in one concerted movement threw himself at Jamie and struck him a sickening blow so that Jamie fell to the floor. Then Mike was on him, and in spite of the fact that he was naked and gladiators don't really like fighting like this as it leaves our balls so vulnerable, whereas Jamie had on a shirt and shorts, he was soon grappling and punching Jamie as they rolled around in front of us. It was all over before Darren or me had even really had time to think, or to get in and separate the two men. Mike was sitting astride Jamie, his scabbed knees pushing down into Jamie's biceps to hold his arms immobile. Slowly and deliberately Mike held his dick over Jamie's face, and pissed on him.
Darren did act now and went to pull Mike off, and it needed my assistance too as Mike was almost unbelievably strong even though he was a lot thinner and more wiry that he had been when we were gladiators.
"What the fuck...?" I screamed at him as we held his body there - Darren had his arm locked up painfully high up behind his back and I was holding the other one to stop him flailing around.
"That's how we settle fights down the mine. I'm pretty good, aren't I? Not a lot of wasted effort as you learn to fight differently in the low headroom. Then you can't afford to really injure the other guy as you need him to keep working - so pissing on him is the easy way of showing you've defeated him."
We hauled Mike to his feet and Jamie scrabbled to his and stood there facing Mike in a 'ready to fight' stance - he didn't even waste a second in trying to dry the piss off himself. I stood between the two men, one hand on each of their chests to hold them apart. "Understand this - understand this all of you - there's to be no more fighting! We've got to start working together and acting like a real team if we're to get out of this...."
"Out of what?", Jamie immediately challenged.
"Out of slavery for all of you - well, except for Luke, that is, who will become free again eventually. But You, Jamie, and Darren and Mike - you're all slaves, salves for life, as you know. And it's a bigger problem for Mike as he's in the records as being down the mine, and so if he ever comes to the attention of the cops again he'll be crucified as an escaped slave. So I reckon the best thing to do is to get all of us out of the country..."
"Fuck Mike! I don't care about being a slave, I'm with Darren...." Jamie countered.
"Listen, you idiot! You're only with Darren because you both belong to me. If I get arrested for my part in this - or even if I simply fall foul of the law in some other way and get enslaved - then as my property you'd both revert to the State and the State would sell you. And what makes you think that any owner would buy the pair of you? A lot of owners want one strong, virile, muscled slave for a specific job, but wouldn't think of buying two as they'd see - probably rightly judging from your behaviour - that handling one slave like that was enough of a problem without having a pair who could conspire together. So if you want to stay together with Darren you'd better wise up and start working together for the good of the team."
"He's right, Jamie", Darren added. "Don't you want to be free anyway? And see your folks again?"
I could almost see Jamie's mind working. As I've told you, he's a great guy but not necessarily the sharpest needle in the pack. But he clearly got the idea, but then didn't like to show it, or admit that he had been slow on the uptake. So he masked his real feelings with belligerence, as a lot of guys do. "So what's your fucking idea, Steve? How are you going to get us free, or is it just a hope?"
"We're going to have to get across the border into Canada. They don't send escaped slaves back. But the border's guarded - heavily guarded - of course. They check everyone boarding aeroplanes and trains of course, even if we could afford tickets, which we can't. Likewise we can't get a bus, or drive a truck through if we saved up enough to be able to buy one, and all the road crossings are guarded and the fences stretch for miles with all kinds of electronic gizmos on them to alert the border patrol. So we're going to have to make our way west, way west, then cross the mountains - they can't put fences there as they don't think anyone can make it, but we're all strong and really fit, and we won't be doing it alone: we're going to do it as a team, as I said, and that's what will make the difference."
"It's a long way - across country, over the mountains..." Luke said nervously.
"Sure. And I'm not going to say it can be done quickly. So what we're going to do is to set off and find work for a week or so, then with the money I make from that we'll move on again and find more work, and so on. As soon as I can afford it from the earnings I'll buy an old beat-up truck and that will speed things up as we won't have to wait for buses between towns, and it will be easier to drive around isolated farms and such like looking for work for you."
"What's all this 'money I make' stuff?" Jamie asked, sounding really suspicious.
"Look, think about it, will you? We can't be a gang of five slaves roaming the countryside looking for work - how suspicious would that look? Who'd negotiate with potential employers, and who could an employer pay? No, I've got to be a roving gang master who owns a gang of four slaves who he hires out."
"So you get all the money and we do all the work...."
"If you put it like that the answer is 'yes', Jamie. But someone's got to do it. And what do you think the money's for? It's to buy us food, and somewhere to spend the night, and to buy the truck and then gas for it and so on. And as for the work - well you four will be doing the hard physical work, sure, but do you think I won't be working? I've got to plan it all, find the work, negotiate with the owners.... Work isn't only about using your muscle, you know, it's about using your brain as well. And then you've got to think about the risk - that's part of working, too: being responsible, taking risks. That's all down to me: you and Darren and Luke haven't got anything to lose as you're slaves already and the worse that can happen is that you get seized and sold to someone else. But if we're found out I get enslaved, for life this time."
"But..."
"Shut it, Jamie! I'm tired of listening to you. Think about it. Talk it over with Darren. Then if tomorrow you have a better plan, let's all talk it through. But so far I reckon what I'm suggesting is the only game in town." I waited for a few moments, scanning all their faces, then said "And now I'm fucking exhausted and I need some sleep. I reckon we need to be out of here tomorrow, early, before that pastor starts thinking about what he's done and that perhaps he'd better 'confess' to the cops... If he hasn't got them in is pay already that is, as he's such an influential person in the community."
I was really looking forward to being with Mike once again. I'd been imagining the feel of his body, our dicks pressed together, the way we'd jerk each other off, the scent of his sweat, the sheer joy of being two guys together once more. But as we got into bed Luke got in too, and wriggled down to be between us.
"Fuck off", I told him.
"Steve, you like sleeping with me..."
"Yes, I did. But Mike's here now. So fuck off."
"But I've got nowhere else to go...."
"Go and sleep with Darren and Jamie."
"I can't sleep with my brother, Steve.... Come on, let me stay with you and Mike...."
I felt Mike's body tense - I got my legs half entwined with his and Luke was somehow wedged between us.
"Have you been sleeping with Steve, then?" Mike asked casually.
"Yes. He's great. We have a lot of fun... When he fucks me he's really nice..."
"Hey, Steve, that's a big change for you, isn't it? I didn't think you liked fucking..."
"Mike, I do like it. But you never let me fuck you, you always wanted to do it to me. You know what I like - when we're together, jerking off, feeling our bodies..."
"Well I want to fuck. Fuck properly. Without having to worry about my spine smashing into the coal above. I want to fuck like a real man, standing up with a guy underneath me. And this Luke here is pretty cute, rather like the trainee gladiators we used to have. And he seems to like being fucked.... So if you don't want me to fuck you, and as you don't want to fuck Luke tonight, then there's a simple solution."
"Mike...." Whatever I was going to say to him was lost, as Mike - displaying an amazing agility for someone who jsut a couple of hours ago could barely walk - had got out of the bed and had hauled Luke down it and was pulling Luke's legs up onto his shoulders.
There was nothing I could do - Mike's a big tough guy anyway, and as I'm sure you all realise, it's not a good idea to interrupt another guy when he's started to get really into his stride and is fucking hard. So I had to lie there and watch as Mike pounded Luke - and literally it was a pounding as Mike soon got tired of his first position and turned Luke over so he could stand there between Luke's legs with his head thrown back in total oblivion to whatever else was going on. He didn't care - or perhaps he didn't know - that his cries of ecstasy and Luke's shouts of pain were disturbing not only me but Jamie and Darren too.
It didn't last all that long, I suppose - Mike's pent-up desire for proper sex was simply too pressing, was too much of an imperative for him, and his body responded in the only way it knew. He threw his head back and arched his back for one last triumphant thrust into poor Luke, and I could only lie there and imagine the flood of hot semen that would be pumping into Luke as Mike panted and gasped as his 'after shocks' gradually subsided.
I guess I'd thought that after all that Mike would at last be mine - we'd lie together and stroke each other and play as we used to. But he didn't do that - he pulled Luke close to him as if he wanted the comfort of another body lying close to his but had simply overlooked me. So all I had was Luke's back, covered in sweat, and his flanks against me still trembling from the ordeal he'd been through.
The following morning we set off - it's not as if we had a lot of stuff, after all, so a couple of haversacks were sufficient. We went through the woods initially as I wanted to avoid the roads in case the cops were out looking for us, and once again Darren's expertise and a good compass stood us in good stead. Even fit guys like us can't go a very long distance in dense woodland, and it took us three days to get to a small town where I thought we were far enough away so that any 'local' cops would not be around - I believed that it was unlikely that the pastor would call the State Police or anything like that.
It was good to be able to have a proper shower as I checked into a small cheap motel, telling them that of course it was not five guys who wanted to share a room, but that I needed to keep an eye on my four slaves. I went around the town after a very early breakfast and soon discovered that there were no 'real' jobs for an itinerant group of worker slaves, so I had the idea of going down the street in the suburbs simply knocking on doors and asking if there was any heavy yard work that needed doing. By lunch time I had the everything figured - it was no good going down very poor streets as they had no money to hire anyone; and in the very fancy streets with huge houses there was also no work as they tended to own slaves to maintain the grounds anyway. But in the middle there was a tranche of people who couldn't afford to own slaves, or the cost of hiring in a 'proper' service to maintain their gardens, and so the home owners did it themselves - which
was fine for cutting the grass and a little light weeding and stuff like that which the owners did every weekend, but was no good for a few big tasks which came up once or twice a year: heavy pruning of trees and cutting them up into logs, turning the compost heaps, digging over the vegetable plot, clearing out the garage... Stuff like that. I discovered that a lot of the women at home were happy to pay a few new bucks, cash in hand, to get that sort of stuff that they had been nagging their husbands to do over and done with. Or perhaps they wanted to enjoy the sight of four very fit strong men working away to their demands as they stood in their windows and watched, clutching a cup of coffee.
We did so well that I was able to buy the guys a proper dinner with steak and stuff, and after a couple of days it was time to move on as we'd basically exhausted the available pool of potential clients. Somehow Luke's youthful innocence coupled with his athletic body seemed to appeal to a lot of our clients and the other guys all profited from this as they sent him to the house to ask for a glass of water, and almost invariably they'd all end up with coffee, or a soda, and cookies or even a sandwich, and stuff like that. I'd noticed this - I went to visit the clients and collect the cash during the day - and hit on the idea of telling the most gullible looking about how we had to move on and how hard it was going to be for Luke as he wasn't as big as the others and would find the walk to the next place really tough, and soon found a woman who was willing to borrow her husband's truck to drive us there: I sat in the front of course with Luke in the
middle, close to our lady driver, with Jamie, Darren and Mike sitting or lying on the flat bed at the back.
We 'milked' five or six towns this way and everything seemed to be going OK as I had accumulated a nice pile of cash, except for two things: we weren't making very fast progress towards Canada (we were always moving in the right direction, but with stops of two or three days and then moving only twenty or thirty miles it was going to take a long time; and I was getting frustrated as hell as Jamie and Darren were a pair, and every night now Mike simply assumed he had the right to fuck Luke. It wasn't the hard, driven, enthusiastic fucking of the first night, just the usual businesslike thing that you expect from Mike: 'My dick needs relief, you've got an ass, so get over here and spread your legs'. So that left me all alone - well not alone exactly, as I usually ended up in the same bed as Mike and Luke, but it was not only frustrating but totally humiliating to have to lie there and jerk myself off when the other four were having proper sex. I
suppose I could have fucked Luke too, as he now was used to Mike's dick and didn't cry out in pain, but somehow I never really fancied 'sloppy seconds' and didn't want to push my dick into him when he was already so lubed with Mike's cum. And the only time I suggested to Mike that I should use Luke first, he almost sneered at me and said that as he'd been hard at work all day he deserved his relief first. It was useless to point out to Mike that I was working hard too - harder than they were, actually, as I had to go along the streets 'cold calling' and trying to find the business to keep them busy and that's not something I liked doing as it's simply not my style. I know they say you can get used to it, but every time I pressed a new door bell I still felt a little shiver of fear, excitement, revulsion... I don't know what.... go through me.
We could have gone on like this I guess - got to Canada eventually - but matters came to a head suddenly and abruptly. Jamie and Luke had been working one house, clearing leaves or something, and Mike and Darren another where there had been some heavy digging or something, which they finished early and went back to the motel we were staying in. I got back to find Jamie squaring up for a fight with Mike out in the parking lot - both men were in a rage, covered in sweat, their chests heaving and the veins in their temples standing out. Each had his fists clenched and they looked as if they were about to do serious damage to each other - well to Jamie, at least, as although he was fit and a really good fighter there's no way that a guy with his boxing and wrestling skills is ultimately going to defeat a 'bruiser' like Mike. I went to separate them but it was too late - Jamie aimed a kick at Mike, and the next instant the two men were locked together
grappling and rolling over the ground as they tried to hurt each other. I had to throw myself at them and try to stop it - which I eventually did only because I managed to get Mike into a choke lock and basically pulled and pulled until he almost passed out, whilst Luke had grabbed at his brother and threw himself onto him to stop him attacking Mike again.
When both men had calmed down a little, but still stood there facing each other, I was so angry. "What the fuck...?"
"It's nothing." Mike said casually. "This punk needs to learn respect, and I decided it's time to give him a lesson."
"Respect? Fuck you...." Jamie almost threw himself at Mike again and I had to hold him back (don't forget that I'm a bit of a 'bruiser' too, and although I wasn't doing the hard physical labour of the others, I still kept myself pretty fit).
"Shut up! Both of you! Now, tell me what the fuck triggered all this!" I shouted.
Both men stood there glaring at each other, looking both sullen and angry simultaneously.
"I told you. It was nothing. This punk got all upset at me, so it was time he learned proper respect for a Champion."
Hearing this from Mike, Jamie screamed "You bastard - you raped Darren, and you don't think I'm upset..."
"There you go again! All this 'rape' crap!" Mike looked at me then and shrugged. "The boy and I got back early and I fancied a bit of a change, so I started to fuck him - he and that Jamie do it all the time, so it's not as if his ass isn't used to a dick. Then when the other two got back Jamie went apeshit..."
"You decided to fuck? You mean you raped..." Jamie cried.
"Listen, punk, your boyfriend's supposed to be a gladiator - or at least he was. And everyone knows that the Champion can use any other gladiator he wants..." Mike looked at me then and added casually "But that Darren seems to have forgotten the rules, so I needed to remind him. It was only a few slaps - until he attacked me, that is, and then I needed to be a bit more forceful of course. And I was enjoying it - it was nice to have a different ass for a change - and having a guy put up some resistance makes it more exciting. Then this punk came home and attacked me..."
"You mean I tried to stop you raping Darren..." Jamie cried.
"OK, both of you! Enough! I think I understand what happened. Now get inside, all of you - I don't want any of the other customers here complaining!"
We went in and there was Darren lying on his belly on the bed, his head buried in his arms. Jamie rushed over to him and muttered stuff, and gradually Darren sat up and sat there simply glaring at Mike.
"Listen all of you", I said. "This crap has got to stop! We're supposed to be a team, all working together to manage an escape to Canada...."
"It's his fault", Jamie started, pointing at Mike.
"Shut the fuck up, Jamie! And listen! You're to blame in all this too, you know."
"How can I be to blame when that bastard's raping...."
"I said to shut the fuck up! And listen!" The four of them sat and stood there and none of them seemed to be really in the mood for it - it looked to me as if a brawl might break out at any moment. So I hurried on. "The problem we have is that there are five of us. Jamie and Darren, you're always 'together'. Mike's been fucking Luke. And that leaves me out in the cold. But Mike needs a guy with more experience than Luke, - someone who can have sex with him on equal terms, like me. But Luke likes older guys and was OK with me until Mike arrived, so he wants to carry on with Mike as he's new, and kind of 'exciting'. So if Mike and me did pair properly, Luke would be pissed off and out on his own."
"So?", Jamie cut in. "So are you saying that we need to find another slave, someone who Luke can fuck, then we'd be three pairs..."
"No. That would be one possible solution, and putting aside the fact that we can't afford to live and buy another slave and then feed him too, it doesn't necessarily fix the problem - if Luke liked the new boy then so probably would Mike, or one of you others, for a bit of a change. And if he was ugly or fat or whatever, then Luke probably wouldn't want to fuck him either. Three pairs would lead to just as much potential sexual jealousy ultimately as we have now with two pairs and a spare!"
I could see them all thinking about this and went on "So I reckon we need a new system, and lacking a huge choice as we had in the gladiator barracks, this is what we're going to do: we're going to make the best use we can of our available resources, by providing everyone with a whole lot of variety." As I said this I took a couple of sheets of the motel's paper from the desk (this was a bit more of an upmarket place than we usually stayed at!) and tore them roughly to make two circles, one a bit smaller than the other. All their eyes were on me as I wrote our names around the edge of each circle, then put one down on top of the other, centering them.
"So this is where we are now...", I told them, pointing to how 'Jamie' on one ring was aligned with 'Darren' on the other, and 'Mike' came up opposite 'Luke', and there was nothing opposite me. "Then tonight, this is how it's going to be...." I moved the two circles so that Mike and me were together, Darren was opposite Luke, and Jamie was alone. "See? Each night we move the disks one position, so over the course of five days we each share a bed with every one of us, and are alone on one day. That way it's fair - we all get to have sex, and..."
"No way!", Jamie shouted. "Darren and me, we're buddies..."
"And if you carry on like that this group will never work properly, and we'll never make Canada, and I'll be enslaved, and you'll be sold and you'll never see Darren again."
"...and there's no way I'm going to sleep with my brother", he added.
"OK, let's think about that, shall we? Each night you share a bed with another guy. And, all of us being in great shape and pretty horny, we all want sex. So we need to work it out - each pair has to decide for itself what to do: there's no requirement to fuck, you know - you could jerk each other off. Or maybe just jerk yourself off and not do anything with the other guy. So if you're in bed with Luke, Jamie, there's no need to fuck your brother - you could simply jerk yourself off. And there's no reason for two brothers not to share a bed, is there?"
"They're all going to fuck me... I'm the youngest, and smallest...", Luke said quietly.
"Well, in the first 'cycle' that may be so, as I reckon there's one more rule we need to make everything work: on the first cycle, the guy on the outer circle decides what's to happen - fucking, jerking off, nothing.... Then after five days when the cycle starts to repeat, we'll let the guy on the inner ring choose..."
"So I can fuck you, and Mike..." Luke looked delighted as he said this.
"Yes. You get to choose."
"No way!", Mike roared. "You're telling me that every alternate five days all of you can fuck me?"
"No, Mike. I said that every five days they get to choose! They could choose to let you fuck them, as I suppose you would have chosen in the first cycle...."
There was a lot of shouting and arguing then, but after about ten minutes I finally called a halt to it. "So, guys, let me summarise: none of you like the system totally, for all kinds of reasons. But none of you has come up with any better idea for how we solve our problem of being five horny guys...." They all looked at me, but seemed exhausted and didn't want to carry on arguing. "So we're going to give it a try. And tonight I'm on the outer ring, and I get to sleep with Mike... Without Luke in between us! And I get to choose what we're going to do, Mike."
End Of Part Forty