Songs from the DARK Jukebox

With or Without You : Side A
By
Kiix

Date Completed: August 18, 2009
Word Count: 4183


I met him again at the absolute worst time of my life. There was nothing to be done about now – if there could be anything to done about it. I was chattel now. A debt paid in full by my drunkard father to the Master of the Land. In one more moon, I would have been legal age and out of his household. One more moon and I would have been free to decide my own future, whether it be starving in the streets or working as a labourer on the docks. I was big enough. I would grow into my height width-wise soon enough – well, if I ate enough. But that choice was gone forever. My life was forfeit for back taxes and bar licensing. The only choice I had now was to be either branded with the Master’s seal or tattooed. It didn’t matter which, it was just a mark of slavery.

Master Konami was a warrior from the East. The last war’s conscription wiped out a generation of men. The best generation, I believe if what was left behind was men like my Father. His fists spoke quicker and louder than his voice. Mother and I were on the receiving end of that more often than naught. The one silver lining out of this was that Mother finally had no reason to stay with him. She didn’t need to protect me anymore. I was beyond protection. I heard through the guards, who knew me because my Father owned the only tavern in town, that my Mother had taken a runner while Father was bartering my life away. I hoped she would have a happier life now. She deserved it.

I was leaning towards the tattoo when the cell door was unlocked and two guardsmen in high grade armor and fancy tunics stepped in. These were the personal guard of the Konami family – the Peacocks as the rest of the guard called them.

“This one has been called to the Castle, we leave now.”

“He hasn’t been marked.” Keets had come to the tavern many a time and I had been the one to haul his drunken ass back to the barracks. I think that in itself was why I had the choice of the iron or the needle. I think in his own way he was being kind.

“The Master ordered this himself. No scars or marks on the flesh.” Keets blanched.

That in itself was unsettling, not that the whole past couple of days were by any stretch of the imagination normal. “Urson is far younger than he looks...”

“It has been ordered by Konami himself. Shackles only.”

Keets picked up a set of iron shackles and gestured for my wrists. The metal hung heavy off my hands. The normally jolly man couldn’t look me in the eye and he squeezed my shoulder as I was turned over to the Peacocks. What did that mean? No scars or marks on the flesh?

I’d seen those taken as payment get ushered out of town in a coffle. I’d watched from the side of the tavern. I have never seen just a single slave get taken away. I was shoved up onto a horse. A guardmen’s horse with full tack and I had to hang on with both hands to keep my seat as the Peacocks kicked their horses into a ground eating canter. Unease had been plaguing me since I was taken but now I was panicked. This was not the norm.

“What’s going on!” The Peacocks ignored me and took it to mean that I since I was talking to them, I was an accomplished rider and kicked their mounts into a full gallop. I spent the next hours hanging on for dear life and getting battered by my ineptitude at horse riding. My home was gone far behind me now. My only regret was that I didn’t leave it under my terms.

Once...seven years ago...once...

Once when days were better and life seemed a little more kind, I sat with Zephan in the forest by the stream and read out loud to him as he tutored me. He was older by five years but he never minded me tagging along behind him like a pull toy. His mother was a merchant. His father he never spoke about. As a well to do merchant, he dressed better, ate better and got schooled in the finer arts of life. I don’t remember when I latched onto him but I would cry when Mother would come to take me back to the tavern. He was my Zeph. “You belong with your Mother. You are lucky to have someone who loves you. Listen and learn from her.” He would stroke my messy curls and send me on my way. He would watch with sad eyes as we walked back down the road.
When I was ten, he kissed me just like the way the customers would do with Sally the wench. He scared me and I hit him. I doubt that a ten year old could really hurt a fifteen year old but he cried. I left him there in the woods by our tree at the babbling brook and ran home. If I had known that I would never see him alive again, maybe I would have done something different. What? I don’t know, I was a child. Marauders came up the river and laid waste to the village. I just remember the fires and the screaming. When morning came, I ran to my Zeph’s house but it was nothing but smouldering timbers and blackened lumps that used to be people laying in the yard.

Since then, nothing has been good.

The horses rounded a wide bend and suddenly there was a huge wooden castle spread out across the land. It had to be as large as the town we just came from. I thought the Peacocks would slow but we thundered through the gates. People scattered or pressed themselves back to the walls of the buildings.

I was sick at heart. Everything was hitting me now. It was surreal back at the town. The iron of the cuffs had rubbed my wrists raw in response to the motion of the horse. We galloped hard into a courtyard and then rein up. I fell off landing in a lump beside the horse’s sweaty leg. My shoulder took the brunt of the fall. The Peacocks didn’t dismount. Someone else grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and I was jerked up to my feet. I staggered now my legs didn’t want to work because of the strain I had put on them hanging onto the horse’s sides with my thighs.

The Peacocks turned and trotted out of the courtyard, the horses’ hooves rang out against the walls. I got a hand at my jaw. A tall thin man with a scrawny excuse for a moustache forced my head to the right and the left then proceeded to poke me in the eye. I brought my wrists up and he caught them. He never said anything to me but I could tell I made little impression. He dropped his hand from me and pivoted on his heel. “Burn those rags. Get these cuffs off him. Take him to the Ladies in Waiting at the Bath house and send for the healer.”

“Wait?” I called out. He kept walking.

I was grabbed by another guardsman and held by my upper arms. “Don’t move.” A deep voice with a strange accent whispered in my ear setting the hair on the back of my neck on end. He took a hold of my filthy tunic and I heard ripping as a blade began to cut the clothes off my back.

“What’s going on? Sirs?”

“Do not attempt to speak to us. It is forbidden.”

I clenched my teeth together and tried to keep the tears that threatened to fall from falling. I was terrified. I was big for my age. I was mistaken for being twenty or more all the time. That is the only legacy I had inherited from my Father. My coloring and my features were that of my mother. Hair as brown as the dirt in the fields. Eyes, the color of a bed of blue flowers that grew in the small window boxes of our back room in the tavern. The girls flirted with me when I went to fetch water from the well but as for anything else...well Father’s nasty reputation squashed that. No one wanted to be involved with his kid, I might have gotten his temperament. I couldn’t blame the girls fathers. They were only looking out for their children.

I was dragged through hallways naked. There were so many turns and stairs that I would never find my way back down to the courtyard. Finally I was pulled to a halt outside of a tall wooden door carved heavily with flowers and a stag with a eight point rack. A key was shoved into the lock and the cuffs were removed. My wrists actually stung as the air hit them. There were red and inflamed.

There was a knock at the door and then both of the guards knelt. I stood there as the door swung open to reveal a wizened old crone. She caught me with her eyes. Her body might had stooped with age and her skin might have sagged but the force of personality in her eyes still burned hot.
“You’re a tall one.” She dropped her gaze down to my groin. “And a big one.”

I cupped my hands over myself and flushed red. “And a young one. Inside.”

She gestured me forward. I stood there until I got a hard shove in the back. As soon as I cleared the threshold the door swung shut. A woman stood there staring at my backside. I took a step backwards and found myself in a huge private bath. The water steamed and the air was scented with something exotic. The crone grabbed my wrists and pulled them up. I was prepared for it and now stood there for all to see- all being five more women in various states of preparation. “Stupid guards. They should have known to use the lined cuffs. These will need to be cleansed and bandaged. I have a suave that I can tell you right now big boy will make you cry but it will leave your skin smooth and soft.”

“Lady...”

“In the bath. You stink.”

It was easier to slip into the warm scented water than stand there and be ogled. However, as soon as I got into the water the women did too. “Let them do their work, big boy.”

“Lady...”

“Duena. Healer Duena if you must.” A pail full of warm water hit the back of my neck. I turned and took it from the tiny woman trying to wash my hair. “Let them clean you, boy.”

“My name is Urson.”

“Your name, if you are lucky enough to be given a name, will be whatever Lord Konami decides it to be.”

“Why am I here?”
“Taking a bath. Kneel and let them wash your hair.”

“I can wash myself.”

“These are the Ladies in Waiting.” She looked at me as if she expected me to know that. “They are the servants to the Consort.”

“Consort?”

“You have been forfeit to the House of Konami for debt. Because you are, tall and big and young, you have caught the Master’s eye. For now.”

I stilled. Dread began to fill my heart.

The crone nodded her head. “You are a body slave to the Master.”

The bucket splashed to the surface as it fell from nerveless fingers. I knew what a body slave was. She was a sex slave. A beautiful toy to be played with and petted and discarded when the new wore off. She...meaning me. Meaning... “But, I’m a man.”

“The Master has a predilection. Come here to the edge. Hands on the wall and spread your legs.” I stared at her. She shook her head. “You are a slave now, big and tall. Your Master likes men. Submit to him and you will have an easy life. No more heavy lifting. No more beatings.” Her hands touch the silvery scar on my forehead that bisected my eyebrow. A cut to the head bleeds heavily, I think that night my blood saved my Mother’s life. “If you run, the collectors will return to the tavern and your Father will offer up your Mother next to pay for the debt. Older women such as her, does not get made into body slaves. Her work will probably be just as hard and she will still get the beatings and at night she will service the guardsmen.”

The crone healer lowered her voice and coaxed me now that she had hit me with the truth. “Now, hands on the wall and spread your legs. The Ladies in Waiting will clean you and prepare you so it will not be such an ordeal when the Master calls for you.”

Ordeal. My life has been nothing but one ordeal after another. It seemed ever since the marauders came and raised the town, my luck had vanished or turned bad. If I avoided alcoholic fists on this side, I was pummelled on the other by sober rage. I carried a load that my Father should have and I loved and protected my Mother like a dutiful son should. I turned my heart to stone as soft feminine hands touched places that were best left unmentioned. Once the mark of my owner was on my skin, that would be the end of me. There would never be another chance at freedom.
Warm scented water sluiced over my head and down my back. As if fingers in small spaces weren’t enough, the body hair that I did have was carefully scraped from me. My chest, my back under my arms and my legs. While I wasn’t a fresh faced youth, I was closer to manhood but with a quick slick of the razor blade, I was...denuded.

I could run. These girls and the crone couldn’t stop me. I could get out of this place before...I jerked as a finger ran across the scar on my forehead. Wizened eyes stared into my soul. “You have honoured your Mother all your life, big and tall. Don’t disappoint her now. Happiness is finally in her reach.”

“What about my happiness?”

“You will learn to endure it. You will get good at it. You will surrender this body to the lust of your Master and you will give him satisfaction.” I could feel myself blanch. My portal was feeling odd as it was from all the attention the girls had given it. “Once you have enthralled him, then you can ask for any boon your heart desires. I’ve see some body slaves, ask for ponies, for more exotic beasts and even some for slaves of their own. You strike me as a selfless young man. You’re request would be more...fulfilling.”

The crone lead me to a delicate stool in front of a table filled with cosmetics and scents. The Ladies in Waiting had tossed silken robes over their wet dresses and reached for brushes and pots of color. “There is no need for that. He’s not a simpering boy. Just make his hair presentable. Sit down, big and tall.”

“I will break the chair.”

“You probably would. Kneel.” I felt like a draught horse being primped before a fair. I was thankful that the cosmetics were skipped by while two girls worked on my dark brown curls two others were rubbing oil into my skin. It was more than just oil. It looked like tiny specks of gold were mixed in it so now each movement seemed to be a shimmer.

“I thought your hair would be longer.”

“It was cut in a bar fight.” I didn’t go into the fact that once again my Father in a drunken stupor had attacked both Mother and me. I put myself in harms way and in the end the knife he had sliced my pony tail off just below the tie. It now just hung around my face at about my jaw line. I had grown it long because Mother had liked brushing it. Again, anything that brought a smile to my Mother’s face father destroyed.

“It will grow. It’s healthy. Enough Ladies. Bring his robe. The day is fleeting.”
The healer rubbed a thick white cream on my wrists then wrapped them in fine white linen bandages. A bright and colourful robe was brought to me. I was gestured to stand and then shut my eyes as I was rubbed dry and the excess oils were removed. I was never so...fragrant. I allowed the girls to dress me. I had thought the Peacocks tunics were impressive. I was in a bright blue robe that puddled around my feet and hung around my knuckles. Underneath it I was naked and made to feel it by the smoothness of my skin.

“Follow me, big and tall. There are chains but with your wrists already raw, it would be an unnecessary pain.”

The crone only came up to mid-chest. I felt awkward and lumbering behind her. I kept stepping on my robe until I reached down and pulled one side open so I could take an unencumbered foot forward. I thought I had walked into opulent luxury before in the bath but it was nothing compared to the room I was let to next. More Peacocks stood inside the room and outside at the chamber door. Rich fabrics hung from wall to ceiling. A fire burned in the centre of the room casting shadows on the shelves and shelves of books. A mound of silken pillows surrounded the braiser. Between the shelves there were weapons of war. In the corner was a stand that carried armor and it looked like it had been well used. It was a rich man’s room, a noble’s room...my Master’s room. I tensed.

The crone laid a hand on my shoulder. “I look at you and forget that you are young. You are untried, are you not?”

I looked down towards the fire. Untried. What a horrible word. I was like pariah just because of his blood I was carrying. The crone took my chin in her hand and urged my face back around towards her. “Open you mouth and let this dissolve under your tongue.”

“What is it?”

“Something to make this first night, more bearable. Do as the Master says, when he commands it. He is not a brutal man outside the battlefield. Maybe you can bring him peace.”

The small pellet fizzed under my tongue and filled my mouth with the tangy tasty of mulled cider. “Sit by the fire and wait, big and tall. I will tend you in the morning.”

So I waited. The scent of the floral waters faded as the night wore on. The softness of my skin was distracting. The silk rob slide over my body with each breath. After a while my skin seemed to grow warm. A moan filled the room. I snapped my eyes open. It was me. My body was wanting to be touched. My member began to pulse and unfurled to it’s fullness. I caught my hand slipping into my robe, rubbing over stomach. My nipples budded and pressed against the silk that hung from my shoulders. What was happening? My head felt heavy almost like a hand was pressing me down to the pillows. I laid down in the softness of the pillows. I ended up writhing in increasing agony. My member was hard and leaking. My portal twitched and only seemed satisfied when I clenched my buttocks tightly together. No, it wasn’t satisfied. I was far from being satisfied. I was rubbing my body on the pillows as if I was a cat in heat...and I was making the same noises. I dug my hands into a pillow and panted as my body betrayed me. Nnnnggghhh.

There was a loud bang behind me. It was the sound of the peacocks staffs hitting the flagstone floor in announcing the arrival of the Master.

“Hold!” The voice that rang out was sharp and brooked no defiance. “There is no need to touch my new body slave. I know the tune he is singing right now. Pass my thanks on to Healer Duena, she had just capped off a dreadful meeting with something I desperately need.”

“Yes, milord.”

“Leave us. Have the kitchens send my meal here. Finger foods only. After that, no disturbances until morning.” There was a whisper of cool air as the door was closed. It caressed my heated flesh like a balm. I closed my eyes and savoured it’s gentle touch.

A boot tucked under my chest and flipped me onto my back. The silk robe was twisted around me and it was only through chance that my member remained hidden. The boot moved forward again settling on the center of my chest and shoving me flat on my back.

“Look at me, or is the aphrodisiac too far gone into your system?”

My head dropped back to the floor as if my neck muscle suddenly just weakened. I couldn’t focus on anything beyond the rich silk covered knee. There was a bit more pressure as Master Konami leaned forward bringing his face into my range of vision. Black hair was swept back off a high forehead. Tendrils swung forward long enough to lightly brush my sensitive flesh.

Uuuuhhh.

I was slapped lightly across the face. Awareness returned for a moment and I made myself squint up at the man standing on me. “I always thought you would look better in silk than commoners weave. I never though how well it would suit you.”

I looked up into eyes as dark as the night sky. “Zeph? But, you’re dead.”
Fingers reached out and brushed my flesh just along my hairline. “No, I’m not dead, my little tail, but I’m going to make you long for it before we are done here.” His hold suddenly changed, his fingers tangled in my hair and he wrenched me up off the floor. My lips were mashed hard against his mouth, the inside of my teeth cut my skin and I could taste my own blood. His other hand cupped my weeping member and I gasped. His tongue forced its way deep into my mouth, rubbing alongside my own.

My hand came up between us. I thought it was to shove him off me, but it curled into a tight fist pulling him down on me. Zephan broke the kiss, the blood from my cut inner lip stained his own. He wiped at it with the back of his hand. “You will give me everything I ask for, Urson. Your body. Your blood. Your very reason for existing. You are in no position to refuse me ever again. I own you. I am your Master.”

His hand tightened around my member and squeezed hard. It should have been pain filled. As it was, my body bucked up into his grasp and I writhed beneath him – a body slave trapped in a drugged haze of sensation. I felt the silk robe get roughly untied and pulled back to reveal my total nakedness. Lips began tracing my throat as his hands skimmed my form. This wasn’t my friend that I remembered. Zephan would pull me close, wrap an arm around me and teach me how to make the sounds the letters represented when I came across words I didn’t know. He was patient and kind. I had considered him more of a brother than a friend and when I found the burned corpses left behind at his house, I had wept tears for a fallen sibling. I had wanted to go with him to deaths embrace.

Who I cried out under now was a stranger. This was Master Konami. He might wear the face of someone I had loved dearly but he wasn’t him. My Zeph wouldn’t do this...as my body sought pleasure, tears crept from my eyes. In the end, I was still without him...

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This is side one, flip me over......side b – continuation
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Well, this was an impossible story. Why you may ask? Well I got heatstroke. It’s like a hangover x 100. Number two, I was on a roll – the story was flowing like a clear running stream and...the hydro went out. Did I save it? No. You would think I would learn over after these years. Five pages lost to the fickle gods of electricity. So not to change fate any more...I’m just posting the damned thing....I haven’t even started side b yet....but I will. Right now I’m going to suck on another pedialyte popsicle.