It was time to try to capture the feral earthlings. Now that the Frilcians had all the Bowmen as captives, it was more than easy to persuade carter and heinrich to help with the research on where the ferals might be hiding out. The two of them, plus the Frilcian surveillance team, identified an area about 15 miles from Protius' court, and heat signals indicated that there were about 250 ferals living in various communities. Further research revealed that these ferals were living in what they called "pods." None had more than about 25 members. There were children, adolescents, and both adult men and women in the pods. Frilcian plans for the captives was very simple. Children and their mothers could return on earth, with the children attending Frilcian schools and the mothers put to work at various positions, depending on their abilities. Adolescents would either be sent to work or be sold to slavers. Such was also the case for single women and all of the men. To capture the ferals, the plan was to threaten to burn down the forest territory where they were hiding. No one expected that threat to work, but that would be followed up with a threat to hurl first heinrich and then carter from the mountains where Protius and Barratino would station themselves. There was a gap between two mountains which was the only easy source of entrance and exit to the valley in question, and Barratino and his generals had a plan: a very large, finely woven net that would stretch across the opening, preventing anyone from escaping. Once the ferals had "bottlenecked," the soldiers would move in with another net, trapping everyone underneath it. They didn't want to fight the ferals hand to hand for two reasons. First, it was known that the ferals had become extremely fierce fighters, not unlike the Bowmen themselves. Second, the Frilcians on Frilcus had developed a "taste" for ferals. It was said that subduing a feral was extremely challenging, and they were never truly broken; however, whatever form of sex one had with a feral, it was some of, if not the, best sex the Dominant Frilcian had ever had. "I may have to give up you," Protius teased carter as he bound carter's wrists before they headed to the position. He was teasing: carter, he knew, would never be completely broken, and he was not unaware of the attraction between the new captive nick, and carter. Protius was keeping carter under control with a combination of forced chastity: he permitted carter to masturbate once a week, at most, and carter's heightened sense of horniness weakened any chance he might have had at resisting his captors. Also, now that heinrich and nick were both in the hands of Frilcians, he feared for their safety. "Open your mouth, slave carter. Just enough for this bit gag." Protius felt for carter's right nipple and squeezed it until he moaned. The gag went in easily after that. Protius took the shirtless, bound and gagged carter out to meet Barratino and heinrich, who had been bound and gagged in exactly the same way. "Horses, Lord?" Barratino asked. "Horses indeed. We ride in front of the troops. Do not forget, Lord: if things take too long, we will have to leave to attend to the public punishment." Barratino smiled at that because he would be one of the three administrators. Protius smiled as well. The punishment was for nick, who had foolishly tried to escape three days before. His recapture was easy, and his punishment was to be public so that any others with ideas of escaping could see the consequences. The stakes had already been positioned in the main square so that nick could be spread in an "X" fashion, before he was "flogged." It was not to be a traditional form of flogging, however, as we will see. Heinrich and carter looked at each other helplessly, as they rode in front of their DOMS. It might have been possible, under other circumstances, for the two of them to try to escape by backing up to each other and untying each other's bonds; however, the punishment collars were a very persuasive way to inhibit that kind of act. Both were also wearing a very recent device from the Frilcian laboratories: it was a smaller form of the collar, adjusted for positioning at the base of a man's penis. Even when the device was on "OFF" there was a slight tingle that could verge from pleasant to annoying. It took some time to get to the position, but when they were there, the first thing Barratino noticed was the exceptional quiet. "This is the correct site, Lord Protius. I can tell. No sounds of animals or birds. They fear the ferals' hunting ability." He also examined the plants that grew edible fruit and nuts. "Picked clean. Probably drying most of it for the winter." They found the highest point on the mountain and then positioned carter and heinrich right at the edge of a drop. Protius had a big voice, but he also used a sound magnifier. "I SPEAK TO YOU EARTHLINGS. I KNOW YOU CAN SEE ME, AND I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME. BE ADVISED. IN FIFTEEN MINUTES, WE WILL SET FIRE TO THIS FOREST. SHOULD YOU WISH TO DIE IN SMOKE AND FLAME, FEEL FREE TO REMAIN. IF ON THE CONTRARY YOU WOULD LIVE, COME TO THE VALLEY AND SURRENDER. "He paused. "And since you can see me, and I know you can, you will see your Bowmen leaders, General heinrich and Colonel carter. They are BOTH prisoners of the Frilcian court and have been deemed expendable." Again, he paused, and if you listened closely enough, you might hear gasps and even some crying. "Either we have complete surrender, or they die. Perhaps you can consume their flesh over the winter, which I am told will be very harsh. FIFTEEN MINUTES. I WILL REMIND YOU AT FIVE MINUTE INTERVALS. PERHAPS YOU CAN SMELL THE FIRES THAT WE HAVE KINDLED." It only took five minutes for the first of the ferals to come out of hiding. Most of these were mothers and their children. "Always the easiest", Barratino said "No one wishes to see her child die in flames." Five minutes later, the Frilcians heard a cry and saw a mad dash of many adolescents and adults running toward the gap in the mountains. "BE READY SOLDIERS. IT IS YOUR TIME." You could hear more screams, this time of horror and fear when the ferals found their passage blocked by the net. The screams intensified as the soldiers moved in with the second net. Carter couldn't help but try to pull out of his bonds. He had no luck and received a shock to his collar to calm him down. Protius came up to him and whispered into his ear "hunting always makes me even more aroused than usual, sweet submissive. I cannot wait for tonight." Barratino looked at Protius. "Lord, I am enjoying this more than I should be, but the soldiers can complete the mopping up of this expedition. We need to get back: the punishment will commence shortly, and if we make haste, we can be there. It should not be postponed." "I agree with you Protius. Let us go." Both carter and heinrich turned to get a last look at the captive ferals. Had all resistance finally been stopped?
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Having earthling "aides" at the court was new, and everything that sprang from it was as well. It took the experts in Frilcian law to determine what nick's punishment should be, and eventually they decided on the standard punishment for treasonous behavior, which was "flogging." They also asked nick's new Master, a Frilcian named Marstum, what punishment he would like to inflict. It was Marstum's idea to have nick displayed, naked in the town square, with an impaler in his hole. To make the impaler, they had measured the length from the floor of the square to nick's ass, and then cut a dowel of an appropriate length and appended a dildo to it. The base of the dowel fit flush against the floor, so any movement that nick made would drive the top end in his ass in some direction. It was like being fucked in public for four hours. Since he was caged the way the other aides were, if nick moved so that the "dick stick" touched his prostate, his cock would press against the cage, and cause more torture. Now that Protius and Barratino were back, the flogging could commence. Frilcians had dispensed with whips and cat o' nine tails for flogging centuries before. Instead, their scientists had developed an electronic flogger: one which, when activated and used to touch a subject, would send a pulse through his body akin to a whip strike. The differences were that the electronic floggers left no mark, and the pain would subside almost immediately, albeit not completely. The floggers came in a set of five, with different intensities. As this was nick's first offense, they would be using the lightest one: the wand colored yellow. Marstum, Protius, and Barratino would be administering the punishment. All of the bowmen, whether they were part of the court or were working on different tasks for the Frilcians, were forced to attend, including carter and heinrich, who remained bound and shirtless. The three punishers conferred before beginning: should they remove the dick stick, or not? They decided it was too risky to leave it in, because recipients of the electronic flogger squirmed and struggled, and they were concerned that nick would be damaged. The point of their punishment was to damage him psychologically, but not physically. Each took a different position around nick's body. Heinrich tried to turn away and received a shot to his collar from his guard. Carter recognized the guard: he was the young man who had collared him in battle. He sneered as he saw carter looking at him. "Colonel carter. We meet again. Perhaps next time it will be YOU in the square, and perhaps I will be helping." The first "strike" happened. It was Marstum who administered it. A short bolt of yellow light came out as he touched the small of nick's back. Nick bit his lip. He grunted: "Is that all you got?" Then Protius and Barratino administered their first "strikes:" Protius went for nick's left shoulder, and Barratino, not unexpectedly, aimed at the inside of nick's right thigh. A scream went up from him. Barratino laughed. "You only have 24 more rounds to experience, slave. You'll rethink what you do next time." He turned to the bowmen: "And let me assure ALL of you, should one of you decide to do something similar, we will begin with the next stronger flogger, for any escape attempt by ONE of you, is considered an attempt to escape by ALL of you." "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK" came out of nick's mouth as his Master aimed his second strike at his navel. His stomach began to churn: he did not want to vomit and be embarrassed further. Barratino continued to focus his strikes on nick's groin, while Protius was more selective, aiming at his ears, his neck, his shoulder, and also, each nipple. "PLEASE MASTERS. I WILL NEVER DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS AGAIN!" nick was sobbing at the twelfth round of strikes. Barratino laughed. "I would rather that you did, slave. Punishing you is rather fun. Perhaps the captured ferals will be able to see some of it. "YOU CAPTURED THE FERALS? EVEN URSUS AUREUS? AGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH" nick screamed as the thirteenth round was administered. "Who is Ursus Aureus?" Protius demanded. Nick laughed. "You should ask the ferals. You'll probably have to kill them all and won't find out! I only know he's led the outliers for quite some time." "Ursus aureus" thought carter. "Golden bear." He hadn't heard the name before. Even he didn't know who this was, and that surprised him. A leader like that would have undoubtedly been associated with the Bowmen, and if he were called "bear," he assumed the man was a Top. He knew all the Tops among the bowmen very well. He had no idea who this could be. The strikes continued. Nick's screams were getting more than a few Frilcians excited, including Barratino and Protius. After 22 rounds of strikes, all could see that nick had passed out. Whether he felt any of the remaining strikes was debatable. All did see the strings of pre-cum dripping down from his locked penis, and Marstum sneered. "He will also not be allowed to ejaculate for an additional week." As soldiers took nick down from his posts, Protius came up to carter and whispered in his ear: "Rest assured, slave, I will have no compunction whatsoever about doing this to you, should you vex me. Now, the events of today have inspired me. Perhaps we will use the X cross tonight. Together with some clamps and weights." They retired to Protius' chamber. "Against the X. NOW, SLAVE." Carter was untied for a minute, but he knew he'd be re-tied almost immediately. Seeing nick positioned the way he was had given Protius ideas. Now he strapped carter into his personal X cross and took out his favorite set of nipple clamps. These were the ones looked like a ship commander's steering wheel: each had four posts that could be tightened or loosened, so there was no need to move them during a session. Carter hated them, because besides the pain, they pointed the very tip of each aureole out and just the slightest touch from Protius' finger could make him desperate for dick. And when Protius added work on his ears, which he was doing now, the intensity of the sensations were almost more than carter could take. His initial thought was: "why didn't I know about this for Aron?" before he felt Protius tighten each clamp. "Who is Ursus aureus?" He heard Protius whisper into his ear. "MASTER, I DON'T KNOW." "I don't believe you." He pressed a thumb to carter's hole, and carter pressed back, desperate to feel something inside him. "I don't believe you, colonel carter. And this will continue until you convince me that you do NOT know." "MASTER, I SWEAR. I DO NOT KNOW..." Carter began breathing harder when the clamps were tightened again. "If he's hairy, which I think he is, it would make him a Top Bowman, like myself." "You are no longer a Top, carter. You should say `as I once was." "It would make him a Top as I once was." "Until you were broken" "Until I was broken Master." "And became the sub of Lord Protius." He bit on the lobe of Protius ear. "AND BECAME THE SUB OF LORD PROTIUS. THE SUB WHO BEGS HIS MASTER TO FUCK HIM. " "I will try one more time. Who is Ursus aureus?" "MASTER, YOU CAN ASK ME UNTIL YOU KILL ME, BUT I CANNOT GIVE YOU AN ANSWER." Protius came around to face carter. "For now, I will believe you. But if I found out you have deceived me, you will watch heinrich and nick DIE painfully from 100 rounds of flogging at the highest intensity. And YOU will participate in their death." "Master, I understand. I do not know. I truly do not. The ferals.... We knew about them but, not who joined and who was a leader. They were an organization onto themselves. YOU MUST BELIEVE ME." "No, but what I must do is fuck you. There is no reason to waste my semen when I have my slave right here." Protius unstrapped carter from the cross. "I want you to SEE the joy in my eyes as I fuck you today, slave carter. You will perhaps understand how much I enjoy seeing you humbled." Protius didn't tie carter down to the bed, but carter knew better. He spread out and then grabbed his knees so that Protius did not have to use his hands to get a better angle at carter's ass. "OH, the GLORY of seeing the dickstick take your pretty boy's ass. With your face showing you trying to imagine YOUR cock inside of him. Something that will not happen." Protius began sliding his cock into carter. The clamps and the ear work had aroused carter even more than seeing nick get fucked by the stick had. He knew he should be thinking about the earthlings who had been captured today, but he couldn't. He was, instead, overwhelmed by feelings of desire for his Master's dick. He thought about how heinrich was probably being treated the same way (he was), and how nick would undoubtedly suffer for another week without the cage coming off. As Protius plunged in further, he mentioned to carter that it seemed his pubic hair was growing exceptionally quickly, and he would undoubtedly need shaving as early as the next day. "For now, though, you will be my receptacle." He pushed harder and savored each moan from carter. He slid faster, imagining that carter had been part of the feral group that afternoon, and he had captured him. "We will have to plan a game along those lines in the future," he thought. "Tell me how much you like your MASTER fucking you, slave carter." "SIR, I cannot have enough of your cock. EVER. PLEASE SIR. PUSH HARDER. PUNISH MY ASS. FUCK ME. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK ME." Protius' yowl brought a smile from the courtiers who heard it. If Protius was sexually satisfied, then their lives were easier. When he had been horny, life had been horrific. Since the capture of carter, all things seemed to get better. Protius smiled at carter. "I will give you one more chance. Who is Ursus aureus?"
In the control room of the court, they had begun counting the feral earthling prisoners. Oxmar, the man whom carter was fighting when he was captured, was supervising it. He was livid. "THE HEAT REPORT CLEARLY SHOWS THAT THERE WERE APPROXIMATELY 250 SIGNALS. WHY ARE THERE ONLY 226 CAPTIVES?" The soldiers were terrified. "Sir, we took everyone who appeared," one platoon leader responded. "EVERYONE WHO APPEARED. DID YOU NOT POLICE THE AREA?" The soldier was silent before he looked down. "No, Sir." Oxmar snorted. "I WILL HAVE TO REPORT THIS TO LORD PROTIUS. DO NOT BE SURPRISED IF YOU ARE THE NEXT TO BE PILLORIED IN THE SQUARE." The soldier answered in a low voice. "Yes, Sir. I would deserve it." Oxmar began to laugh. "YOU FOOL. YOU THINK I DO NOT KNOW YOU OWN YOUR OWN PERSONAL FLOGGER? YOUR PUNISHMENT WOULD BE TO NOT HAVE ONE. LEAVE MY PRESENCE. SEND ARPEX IN." Arpex was still slightly cocky from his capture of carter. And he always, somehow, let Oxmar know that he was alive because of Arpex' intervention. "ARPEX. We need someone like you to do your magic again?" Arpex smiled. "Oh? Is another fierce warrior at risk of being slain, Sir Oxmar?" Oxmar could feel his blood begin to boil. He was grateful to Arpex for saving him, but the man rankled him in the worst way. "Apparently, some not so fierce warriors did not finish the job this afternoon. Ferals remain at large." "WHAT? IF LORD PROTIUS HEARS OF THIS. OR LORD BARRATINO..." "LORD BARRATINO HAS HEARD OF IT," neither of Oxmar nor Arpex had seen Barratino outside the control room. "This cannot be allowed to remain the case. "He paused and thought. "Lord Protius is busy, working off the excitement of today, something that I had fully intended to do myself. However, due to BUNGLING, it appears we must take a risk, and conduct an evening raid. WITH fire this time. If they managed to escape this afternoon, there is very little we can do except resort to extreme remedies. And we will use a hover craft. We will not need many men: no more than 12. And bring the tranquilizer gun. If there IS an Ursus aureus, I imagine he will fight fiercely. I dare not bring back his head unless it is attached to a living body. There WAS in fact an "ursus aureus." He gave none of the ferals his name. He simply called himself that when he found them one day. The fact that he found them spoke well of his tracking abilities, and he rose to a leadership position and then THE leader of the ferals quickly. It was very clear that he had escaped some kind of battle. One feral thought that he had seen the bowman's mark in his right nipple but was confused because this man was heavily haired all over his body, and the bowmen who carried a mark to the right, were always smooth. When the capture expedition started, `Ursus' was with a small pod. He had not permitted them to leave when the threats had come from Protius and Barratino. "I know carter very well, and heinrich well. They are prepared to give their lives if it is necessary. Do not act rashly." Instead, they moved further into the forest. He had not allowed the pod to watch their fellow ferals rounded up, bound, and taken off as slaves. "There are but 30 of us. We will have to literally do nearly ten times as much work, my family. It will be difficult, but tonight, we must rest, and we must plan our next move very strategically. Morale was certainly going to be a problem, but it did Ursus' heart good when no one left the pod. There were 15 men and 5 women. No children. The youngest of the pod was 25. "Sleep. We will take turns at watch. Tomorrow is another day." Just as he said it, they all heard the hovercraft passing overhead. The first firebomb fell, about a mile from them. They could all smell the burning of the dry grass and leaves, and even at that distance, they could feel the heat. "Consider that a warning shot, earthlings. We have the capacity to burn this entire forest. SURRENDER, or we will do just that." Now, there was fear in the pod. This was Barratino speaking, and they knew that while Protius COULD be cruel, Barratino was ALWAYS cruel. "Ursus, what shall we do?" one of the pod members asked as a second firebomb fell, closer to the place the pot was encamped. They all felt trapped, Ursus included. "We will have to try to escape. We have no weapons," Ursus spoke frantically. "And we cannot do this as a group. They will take us all. Perhaps SOME of us can escape if we provide multiple targets." He put his hand out and called for the others to join them. "All directions. You all know where the secrets tree is." They shook their heads. "The Secrets Tree" was where the feral leaders had their meetings. "Any who manage to escape should regroup by the tree at first light. We will figure out something. Now quietly, do NOT give them any reason to hunt you." Ursus watched until each member of the pod ran off in another direction. He had a plan that he had not told them. He planned to run across the plain where the other Feral earthlings had been captured. Perhaps he could guarantee the safety of the others that way. "THERE IS ONE OF THEM COMMANDER BARRATINO," the pilot of the hover craft indicated Ursus, running across the field. "So, there is. So there is. "He took out his binoculars, focused on the man and laughed. "Golden fur. Well, well, well, gentlemen. I think we have identified Ursus aureus. Ursus heard the hovercraft passing over him. He heard Barratino's bellowing voice. "URSUS AUREUS! We have found you. You can make this VERY easy: stop running. Put up your hands." "SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS," Ursus answered back, and Barratino laughed. "Defiant to the end. "He checked the surroundings. "He's trying to run into the trees. To force us to turn around or to crash. Match his speed pilot. And drop altitude. I will need one shot. ONLY ONE." "Heard, Commander," the ship dropped. Ursus heard the rotors drawing close. He tried to pick up his speed, but he was tiring. "PHOOOOOOOOOOOOM" the tranquilizer dart left the gun that Barratino was holding. It landed directly in the back of Ursus. He knew he had been hit. And by a tranquilizer. He was slowing down. He couldn't run. EARTH WILL DEFEAT ITS INVADERS!" he yelled, before he fell to the ground, unconscious. It took ten minutes for the hovercraft to land. Barratino and his men approached the prone Ursus. He reached down and turned the sleeping man over. He began laughing even harder. "Gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you to Aron. The sub of slave carter presumed dead. "He spoke to the sleeping man. "We will have much to discuss tomorrow, Aron Ursus aureus. And life at court is about to become much more interesting."