The Life of Koru, Chapter 31
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The slaves were lucky to travel in a sailing ship which relied on the power of the wind to move across the ocean. In this regard, "Fanantenana" was very different from the infamous galley ships that were slave-propelled.
Also unlike galley ships, "Fanantenana" was very clean and sanitized, projecting an air of authority, discipline and high military standards.
The deck of this ship had to be scrubbed daily because of all the feet, shod or bare, that walked on it back and forth, and all the dust the winds were bringing from the land. Sometimes the seagulls were a nuisance as well, shitting the deck whenever they wanted. Crouched on the deck with a wet rag in his hand, Mulo was one of the slaves who scrubbed.
After that, he had to do push-ups, squats, lunges, planks, chin-ups and crunches with the rest of the gang. From morning till evening, he clashed his machete with Sleaze or another slave, trying to master the weapon properly and become a true warrior.
In a few days, he had learned the stern military etiquette. Responding to Captain Xaxa with "suh Captain" was simply not enough. He had to yell out every answer, even if Captain Xaxa was right in front of him. Yelling was a form of showing his level of interest and involvement, which had to be very high. So when the slaves were rounded up for inspection, they did the military salute and yelled:
"SUH, GOOD DAY, SUH CAPTAIN SUH!"
It was funny watching these dogs yell their lungs out at every opportunity, as a form of obeying the military code. Mulo felt he was part of a slave elite that went to defend the Black Empire from its enemies. He didn't know who these enemies were though.
Carto was benevolent enough to disclose this information to him. On his back, his tattoo was a large map of Sahara and the Caliphate.
"The Caulifate!" Mulo repeated the name, in order to stick it into his mind.
"Yeah, it be full of unbeliever koru, who no believe in the Black Man in the Sky!"
"Fuckin' sinners!" Mulo exclaimed.
It was the first time he heard of such heinous heresy.
"They really is sinners and ye have to fight them, bud!" Carto said.
Mulo wanted to know more about the world. He didn't know how to read a map, but Carto pointed the essential parts to him. He showed him Brazil, the place where he was born, and Africa, the place where he was heading to. Mulo was dumbstruck. In his memory, Brazil was way larger than on Carto's body. How did it fit on there?
And then there was Africa. Mulo had always believed that Africa is a godly place, made of heavenly clouds and rays of light, as it was fit for Black Lords, but Carto's tattoo made it look like just another piece of land.
"It is just land, ye dumb landlubber, but ye'll see that it's so beautiful, nuffin' can match it!"
On his cock, Carto had a tattoo with the center of the world, Maasai Magna, the capital of the Black Empire. When his cock was erect, this region became enormous, expanding like a supernova over the rest of the map.
Instinctively Mulo took Carto's cock in his mouth. It was the capital of the Empire, so he had to suck it! But after twenty minutes or so, Carto decided to move it to Mulo's ass. Mulo yelped. The entire capital of Maasai Magna was metaphorically speaking up his ass, every street and quarter, making him wish that he were there in real life, fucked by a Black Lord, or maybe even the Emperor, the god of the Sun himself. Was it just Mulo's impression or did Carto's cock suddenly become so hot that it burned his innards like the merciless summer sun?
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch, ouch, ouch!" Mulo said.
"Come back on the cock, landlubber! Ye didn't finish!" Carto scolded him.
Their names were Zaryn and Lyra. They were two evolved gorillas from Prof. Kumbaba's lab -- Zaryn was male and Lyra was female. Prof. Kumbaba decided that Zaryn would be perfect for a job as overseer on his private plantations, while Lyra would stay at home to raise the kids.
At first the plantation slaves were happy to hear they would be supervised by an ape just like them. They thought this would be to their advantage, but oh, were they wrong! When they saw Zaryn, they understood that from now on, no flagging was allowed, no act of resistance was permitted.
Zaryn was a large specimen -- even by gorilla standards he looked large, with strong muscular physique, dark fur and aggressive demeanor. He was a true king of the jungle. Compared to him, the koru looked like puny hairless creatures to be dominated and put to work.
When the koru lined up in front of him for inspection, he released a roar of contempt and said:
"AARGH! Inferior apes! You will work your asses off, inferiors!"
"Yessuh Zaryn suh!"
Zaryn received all the tools needed for slave herding: a whip that was way larger than the usual whips because it needed to match his size, a pistol gun with bullets, a stun gun for electrocuting koru and a tear gas spray for crowd control. He wore an elegant leather uniform and sturdy boots. He was ready to start working.
"Is this the future of slave herding?" Prof. Kumbaba wondered.
After a week under Zaryn's command, the slaves were crazy with fear, trembling on their feet even when he was not there. The evolved gorilla's energy was inexhaustible when in came to making their lives a misery.
A single blow from Zaryn's enormous whip knocked them to the ground, with half of their backs smashed into a pulp. Zaryn's boots were larger than their puny asses, so his fantastic kicks-in-the-ass really made them move.
If he wanted them to move even faster, Zaryn could just grab one of them by the leg, to throw him a few meters ahead as if the slave were a ragdoll. One slave landed into a tree, another one in the river. It was always interesting to see where they will land as they flew in the air moving their limbs desperately.
And Zaryn's fists were pure iron, so if a slave had too many teeth, Zaryn could solve that. Punching inferior ape flesh was what his gorilla instincts told him to do. And yes, he also raped the lowly workers.
By the end of the work day, the slaves were bruised, bloodied, thrashed and completely dejected. They gathered in large groups inside their wretched mud huts and only talked about their new overseer.
"Look what suh Zaryn did to my back!" said one slave showing his open wound.
"He made me fly like a bird, face first into a wall!" another one said.
At one point, a slave who had been quiet all this time said:
"There is a heavenly one called Checkerman! He can save us, yessuh he can! He help me once when I wuz strugglin' hard with a boulder! We must pray that he return!"
Most koru thought that he was insane, but those who believed in his words went on their knees with him and prayed:
"Oh, suh Checkerman, come back to us, save our asses,
Save our asses, suh Checkerman, we in big trouble, suh,
Suh Zaryn gonna beat us dead!"