description: slavery has been outlawed in Araluen; however, there are still those few that own them, and of course there are illegal slave traders. what happens when King Duncan and his group come upon a young slave that has them all falling in love with him, even the emotionless Halt? a young slave has somehow found himself to be the company of the king and some of his men, what will happen to him? and just exactly who it this slave?

warning: punishment of slave, mentions of inappropriate touching, blood, memories, beatings, and so on. ALMOST RAPE!

disclaimer: all known characters belong to author, John Flanagan! not me!

I woke up to hands holding my down, and quickly tried to struggle. key word being 'tried', after all, I haven't eaten in almost four days. I finally am forced to stop my weak struggles when I am picked up and carried a short ways, before being thrown into the wagon once more. I try to move away as I feel the wagon rock as Allen climbs in, only to be grabbed by the hair, and forced closer, till I was kneeling right in front of him.

"got something to tell you boy." Allen said as he roughly yanked the blindfold off, and that's when I noticed that he was smiling, and it terrified me more than I'd ever been before. "I'm an Araluen all right, but years ago I was ran outta this kingdom by Rangers, because I killed my wife and two sons. I made my way up to Clonmel, and found myself a job as an adviser to the king. well, a few years ago the king passed a law, that said that all slaves are to be brought to him, and if he likes them he will buy them for himself. so, you might just find yourself the slave of King Ferris, aint that exciting?"

I just glare at Allen, trying very hard not to allow him to see my fear, but he just laughs. then his smile and laugh disappear, and he grabs me roughly and spins me around, allowing me to see the coffin like box that rested in the middle of the wagon. I try to struggle as he forces me towards the box, and then into it. only to soon find myself unable to move as the lid is put on and nailed into place. I hear Allens voice through the box as I try to control my breathing.

"I can't risk you escaping boy, so you're going to stay in that box during the days, and if you behave during the day I might let you out at night. but if you don't you'll find yourself going without food. you didn't really behave yesterday, so you'll receive no food today." with that I hear him turn around and go to the front of the wagon, and moments later I feel the wagon moving once more. as we travel I try to take my mind off of what is happening to me, and I find myself thinking over the events that led to me being here today.

I thought back to the days that my father sold me.

(Flash back starting)

I walked down the old beaten path that lead to the cabin where my father and I lived. I had a wheelbarrow of groceries in front of me, and I was on my way home from picking them up in town. I'm the outcast in town, everyone knows that my father hates and beats me, just as they know that I am almost never fed. but they do nothing about it, they just ignore me because my father saved the village and they believe that he knows how to raise his son, they won't believe that he is no longer that great man he once was. as I stop in front of the cabin and begin to put the groceries away, I think about the man my father used to be. he used to be an amazing soldier, and a valuable healer. he had fought in the war against the monster morgarath, who was finally killed when I was five. he had been a great man before my mother died, he had loved her more than anything else, and he blamed me for her death. you see, my mother died giving birth to me, and so my father hates me, but I can no longer dwell on these things, as I hear father's horse coming up the path.

I quickly finish with the groceries, and then grab a bucket and race outside to the well, knowing that he will want coffee as soon as possible, and that I'll get a beating for not having it made before he got home. I was just leaning over the well to throw the bucket, when I feel a large hand wrap around my neck, and I know it's my father. as he starts to lean me over the well, I know that I'm about to spend a couple days in the cold water, and it won't be the first time, anymore than it would be the last. I don't even cry out as I am thrown over the wall and into the water below, I just try to find the large rock to sit on until he pulls me out, already knowing it could be a couple days.

sure enough, I spend two days in that well before a rope is thrown over the side and I'm hauled up. but as soon as I was on solid ground, I wished that I was back in the water. standing beside my father are men that I've seen before, men that I know to be slave traders. I can do nothing as my shivering body is forced forward and thick rope is tied around my wrists and ankles before I'm thrown into a wagon. I am too weak to fight as a gag is placed in my mouth, and I can't block it out as I hear the man speaking to my father.

"here is the twenty pounds we agreed on, you'll never see the boy again." the man said

"make sure I don't" my fathers voice spoke back. I'd always known that my father didn't love me, that he in fact hated me, but I never thought that he would go so far as to sell me. I sighed and shivered once more as the wagon began to move, and I wondered what my new life was going to be like, my new life as a slave.

(end Flash back)

I soon found that the slave traders were strict and angry men, that loved to cause pain. I was the only boy that didn't just give in and become a good slave, I fought them everyday with everything I had. I have the scars on my back to prove this, as I received a beating or whipping almost everyday while with them.

after about a year they finally decided that they were never going to brake me, and that they would just drug me and give my new master the tools needed to try to brake me themselves, so that's what they did. I was sold two days ago, and that's how I ended up here. in the back of a wagon, in a coffin. with my nipple pierced and probably becoming infected, and a brand the size of a galleon on my lower back, almost mostly likely becoming infected. my hands are chained behind my back, and my ankles are chained together. I can't move, and I'm freezing because I have no shirt on, and I'm starved because I haven't been fed in four days.

I hissed into my gags as I was forced from my thought by the wagon jerking, and then stopping. I hear voices outside the wagon, and I know that Allen has been stopped, I hope that it is by a soldier. I hear horses call to one another, and I take a chance. hoping I won't regret it, I kick the end of the coffin as hard as I can, making a loud noise and knowing that it was heard when the voices stop. I hear someone climbing into the wagon, and I freeze as the lid of the coffin it pried off, and I see Allen standing above me looking angry.

"I told you to behave boy!" he yelled as he grabs the my neck and drags me from he coffin, before throwing me out the back of the wagon and to the ground. standing by the back is a man that looks a lot like Allen, and when Allen is standing beside him, I realize that they must be brothers. "this is my brother John, and he agrees that you'll have to be punished for that little stunt. if that had been an Araluen soldier I'd be dead, so we're going to make sure you don't pull a stunt like that again."

John laughs and then grabs me upper arm, before dragging me into the trees and looking around.

"I found one Al" he yells to his brother, as he proceeds to drag me over to a tree on the side of a small clearing. John throws me to the ground and then proceeds to sit on my stomach. before he reaches around me and unchains on of my hands, only to force them in front of me and re-chain them. I soon found myself chained to a tree with my arms above me, and Allen standing behind me with a whip. I've been whipped before and I quickly bite down on the gag, refusing to let them hear me cry out. and so I stay silent as the whip strikes me again and again, blood flying from the whip to land in the trees and grass around us. I can feel the blood moving down my body and into my trousers, soaking them in blood, and then proceeding to move down and cover my bare feet until they are dyed red. after lord knows how many strikes, I am lowered from he tree on onto the ground, only to them be picked up and carried before being dropped back into the coffin. this action finally drove a scream from my lips as my now injured back lands heavily onto the floor of the coffin.

"John, there is a town about half an hour from here, I'm going to go pick up some supplies." I hear Allen year, and suddenly I am overcome with fear, as I see John come to stand over me with a smirk on his face, and a terrifying glint in his eye.

"can I play with the boy?" John yelled to Allen, and I felt my heart freeze as I tried to imagine what he could possibly mean, but only knowing that it wasn't good.

"fine, just no rape, you know the king likes them pure when brought before him, and I don't fancy being beheaded.." I hear Allen laugh, and I shiver once more as I see the predatory look in Johns eye. "the drug is in the bag."

"alright, take your time." John yells to Allen, right before a horse moving away is heard. John disappeared for a moment, before returning with a bottle in his hands. John produces a needle, and then coats the needle in the liquid from the bottle, before proceeding to prick me with the needle. I soon feel the drug start to take affect, and soon enough I'm almost completely limp, and as weak as a four year old child. I hear John laugh, and I can only shiver as I imagine what he's about to do.

what is about to transpire is borderline rape, DO NOT READ IF THIS OFFENDS YOU, SKIP TO THE END!

(A/N: I am proud to say I'm a virgin, and planning to stay that way, but that means I have no idea how right any of this is, sorry if I offend someone)

my gag is removed and I'm forced into a sitting position, only to then have a blindfold placed over my eyes, heightening my other senses. I hear the sound of clothes being removed, and then I feel something pressing again my lips, only to soon find myself with a mouth full of Johns dick. a hand grabs my hair, forcing my head to stay still as John thrusts himself into my mouth and down my throat, not caring that I'm gagging and can't breath.

"just because I can't rape you doesn't mean I can't play a little and make you scream for me." John laughed as he came in my mouth, keeping his dick in place and forcing me to swallow or suffocate. I soon have the gag back in my mouth, and John is forcing me to turn over and get onto my hands and knees. I wish I wasn't so weak, that I could fight him, but I can do nothing. I feel his hands pull my trousers down to my knees, and then I'm screaming into the gag as he plunges one of his fingers into my hole. "you'll still be a virgin unless I take you, this just causes you pain. we'll have so much fun down here later, when Allen is here to watch, for now I'll just have to teach you how to properly suck, and this is what'll happen every-time you do it wrong."

as he finished he pulled his finger out and then plunged two in, making me scream once more. my trousers were pulled up, and then once more the gag was removed and I found myself with a mouthful, being punished whenever I did something John didn't like. and so it went until Allen returned.

OK, IT'S ALRIGHT TO BEGIN READING AGAIN.

I black out a while before Allen returns, playing to God that I would die and be free from John. I'm sore all over, and my entire body is now covered from blood, since my back kept getting opened up again. I know that I'm weak, and I pray that I will die from blood loss, not knowing that it wasn't meant to be. since I blacked out, I never heard...

.

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.

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as I said, I'm a virgin, and therefore have no idea how that should have gone, I just went off of other things I've read.

please R&R, and take part in this vote on what should happen to will.

should...

my 2nd fav. 1) Allen and John be attacked by bandits who then leave Will for dead in the woods, only for him to awake and begin walking aimlessly?

2) King Duncan's party come across Allen and John, and open the coffin upon seeing Will's blood on the floor of the wagon, finding Will taking him back with them to the palace and beginning his road to recovery and Ranger-hood? (note! this could cause story to end a lot sooner)

3) Bandits come across, and kill, Allen and John. they throw Will off a cliff and he washes up on a beach where he is found by Princess Cassandra, and nursed back to health at the palace until Duncan's party return (note! this may lead to some boring chapter, and a very girly Cassy)

my fav. 4) Allen and John are killed by King Duncan's party when they find Will in the coffin, and Allen and John try to fight back, injuring the King. the closest healer is two days away, and Duncan has to get to a meeting with a neighboring king to talk about a treaty. so they take Will along with them as they can't leave him alone, and Duncan needs to get to the meeting within four days.