Trigger warning: sexual assault and suicide
Kathryn II
Kate's first nights as a prisoner were the worst. After the northern patrol was massacred on the beach, the victors marched her and the other two castaways into the jungle. After a few hours of travelling, they came upon a campsite where two other soldiers were tending to an injured allosaurus. The carnivore was recovering from a gash on its leg, though the wound had scabbed over and was almost healed. Kate was terrified of the massive carnivore, but aside from glancing at her out of the corner of its yellow eye, it seemed content just resting on its bed of grass and leaves. Kate's captors halted there for the night, setting up a watch schedule to scout for dangers in the jungle. Some of the spearmen started up a fire to cook a meal for the rest of the group. The others eyed her hungrily.
It had been some time since the men had last seen a woman. They took their pent-up frustration and lust out on her, taking turns using her for their pleasure. Kate tried to fight at first, kicking, screaming, clawing and biting at her assaulters, but quickly learned it was futile. There were nine of them, and she was no match for even a single one. They were trained soldiers, muscular and battle-hardened from the trials of the Island. They easily overpowered her, and all she got for her resistance attempts were harsh beatings that left her whimpering in pain.
So she tried to put herself elsewhere in her mind. Anywhere except the cruel reality in front of her. Kate went limp and closed her eyes whenever one of them climbed on top of her, pretending she was back on the beach or sleeping soundly in one of the soft beds at Fort Pine. When they were finally done with her for the night, Kate cried her eyes out in the darkness. She tried to muffle her sobs in the grass and dirt, lest they beat her again. She was barely able to sleep that night, petrified in a permanent state of fear and anxiety.
The next morning her thighs ached so bad that she couldn't walk. Every time she tried to stand, her legs gave out under her and she collapsed back on the floor. One of the knights took pity on her and heaped her onto the back of his parasaur like a sack of flour. Kate's face burned with shame and humiliation, but she also counted herself lucky for not having to walk that day. The party covered great distances by day, trudging through seemingly endless miles of jungle and forest. The spearmen were strong and robust, used to the marching schedule. They even carried heavy packs of weapons and supplies. The male castaways, however, were skinny and malnourished. They stumbled often and got whipped bloody whenever they delayed the rest of the group. Kate could tell some of them were on the verge of complete collapse by the time they stopped to set up camp.
But whereas the male prisoners' torment was over for the day, hers was just beginning for the night. Again, Kate closed her eyes and pretended to be elsewhere as the men took turns using her. She hated every last moment of it. She hated her tormentors for their cruel indulgence in their carnal pleasures, and she hated herself for being too weak to resist it. But there was absolutely nothing she could do about it except close her eyes and pretend it wasn't happening, so that was all Kate did. Once again, she was reminded of the harsh lesson she had learned through Berry's death. On the Island, the strong preyed upon the weak. It was the natural order of things, cruel and heartless as it was. Kate was helpless to do anything but submit.
The next morning she had been able to walk again, albeit weakly. They put handcuffs on her wrists and chained her to the other slaves. Being chained together meant it was nearly impossible to escape, for they would all have to run together. Even then, the soldiers could easily catch them. And left unspoken was the horrible punishments they would all suffer if they were caught again. So none of them ever attempted to escape.
As much as Kate despised her captors, she quickly got to know them a bit better. The six spearmen were stubborn brutes who followed their superiors' commands without hesitation. Kate wasn't even sure if they were capable of thinking for themselves, except of course when it came to satisfying their primal needs. The three knights were a bit more interesting. Of the three, it quickly became apparent that Sir Griffeth with the fiery red hair was the leader. After his allosaurus had recovered enough to carry his weight, he switched back to riding the terrifying scarlet carnivore, leading his secondary mount behind him on a rope. He was dark and serious all the time, with a jaded mind for battle and the quick wit that held the group together. He kept his soldiers accountable and relentlessly drove the rest of the warband forward into the forest.
Sir Raynor was Griffeth's right hand man, a cruel monster who viciously enforced his master's every order. He was the one who whipped the male slaves whenever they fell behind, his eyes shining with eagerness whenever he got to see others suffer. He was also the one that made Kate's nights a living hell. He would constantly twist her ear, pull her hair, or grab her ass to get a reaction out of her, laughing whenever she writhed in pain and discomfort. Kathryn hated him the most. Whenever the group got ambushed by wild dilophosaurus or troodons, Kate fervently wished they would rip Raynor to shreds. Unfortunately the soldiers were all too well-trained to let themselves perish to nature so easily. Not a single one of the men died on the entire journey through the wilderness.
Yet among this group of wretched men, there was still one knight with honour and decency. Sir Melvin was the knight who let Kate ride on the back of his parasaur when she could not walk. Whereas all the others found pleasure using and abusing her body, he never took part. Sir Melvin even snuck her food and water from his own plate, keeping her well-fed in spite of the meager rations that prisoners were supposed to receive. Although he was a quiet man, Kate naturally took a liking to him. He was a kind soul, though one with an admittedly very poor taste of company.
As the long and terrible nights wore on, one after another, Kate's situation gradually got a bit more tolerable. Perhaps a week into the journey, they ran into another warband of ten soldiers with their own mounts and prisoners. A few of the newcomers rode parasaurs, though one man was seated on a raptor. Kate had hoped that the two groups would clash and she could escape during the chaos, but it turned out they were from the same faction; everybody bore red shields with a black tyrannosaurus enblazened on the center. They joined together into a larger group, still under the command of Sir Griffeth who seemed to be a high-ranking military officer. A few days later they ran into another group, then another a few days after that. After mustering up her courage, Kate quietly asked Sir Melvin what was going on. In a hushed tone, the knight replied that they were hunting escaped prisoners who had fled into the wilderness. Originally, Sir Griffeth had led a hunting party of about fifty soldiers, but the process had proven too slow so they had split into smaller groups to better hunt the slaves.
Kate felt bad for the other prisoners who were being rounded up, but it made her situation better. The soldiers had other women to assault, so Kate got left alone more often. For once she felt fortunate for her more masculine features that made her less attractive to the warriors. Still though, she felt a pang of guilt whenever she heard other women screaming and crying in the night as they were being ravaged. As she so often did, she tried to close out all her senses and pretend it wasn't happening. It was all she could do. Needless to say, she slept poorly during the entire journey.
The hunting party passed a few villages and searched through houses for escaped prisoners, threatening and bribing townsfolk as they saw fit. Every so often, they were able to drag a slave away from their hiding spot, screaming and flailing. The villagers who had harboured the runaways were also dragged away in fetters, joining the growing mob of dirty and dishevelled prisoners. Many of the slaves submitted meekly, likely having figured out long ago that resistance would only lead to more pain. Others fought back and were punished severely. Kate remembered one old man who had been squatting in an abandoned tower. His pet dilophosaurus had managed to blind one spearman before another could skewer the poor creature's neck. After that, the old man had pulled a knife and almost managed to kill a knight by shoving the blade through his visor, before a clean swordstroke took off his hand. The next day, they discovered the old man had used his chains to hang himself in the black of night.
The journey was long and hard, taking a severe toll on everyone's bodies and spirits. Kate thought of ending everything, just like the old man had done. Certainly it would be better than this living hell. Yet during the night, as she wound her chains around her neck, something stopped her. She could not say what it was. Perhaps some primal desire to survive, or maybe the distant hope that things would get better. In either case, Kate could not bring herself to take her own life. So she continued on with her miserable existence.
The days were filled with exhaustion and weariness, the nights with terror and fear. Kate's shoe soles quickly wore out and her feet became sore and blistered. For a few days, it felt like walking on knives. She stopped a dozen times to catch her breath and got whipped for slowing the group down. After a while, her feet scabbed over, becoming hard and callous. That made walking a lot easier.
During the nights, she either had to listen to other women being assaulted or get assaulted herself. Neither was a good option. Kate lived in constant fear of being dragged away from the relative safety of the other prisoners by some drunken soldier. Every night, she prayed she would not get chosen as the men looked them over with lust and evil in their eyes. Sometimes she was lucky, other times she was not. Kate coped with it by picturing herself elsewhere, far far away. Perhaps the one thing keeping her going was the idealistic hope that one day she would be free. In a manner of speaking, a part of her was still free. Some part of her mind kept thinking she would one day reach the north and join the Wolf Lord's tribe, living out the rest of her life in comfort and safety. It was a fruitless dream, likely a coping method for how abruptly that life had been taken away from her. Kate admitted that she might have been seeing things. After all, the rangers who had escorted her along the way were still alive in that vision. Cara and all the others who had given her safety, if only for a few days. Kate knew they were all dead, yet at the same time she wanted to believe they were still alive. If that made any sense at all. Her thoughts were a constant whirlwind, blowing this way and that. All she could hope for was the chance to oneday escape from her captors and reclaim the life she had been promised, in the safety of the north.
Kate remembered that it had been a full moon the night she was first captured. It was almost a full moon as they neared their destination, meaning she had been living in a nightmare for a full month. Or perhaps two? It was hard to keep track of time. They were only a few days away from the stronghold when Kate made up her mind. She didn't want to suffer through any more abuse. She hated every second of being used like a tool for others' pleasure. So in the night, when nobody was paying attention to her, she went through with a secret plan.
Kate found a sharp rock and began slicing away at her long hair. There were probably close to thirty prisoners, all of them covered in filth and grime. Kate knew it was already hard for her captors to tell any of them apart, if they even cared that much at all. Nobody would notice if they mysteriously lost a woman overnight, replaced by a man of similar stature and appearance. At least that was Kate's hope.
Kate knew she already looked masculine enough as it was. If she cut her hair and kept her face smeared with dirt, she hoped her captors would be none the wiser. Then when Griffeth's hunters handed her off to the castle garrison, she would no longer have to suffer the nightly assaults. As long as everyone thought she was a man, she would be all the safer for it.
The next morning it had seemed to work. None of the soldiers noticed anything off about her, but Kate was not taking any chances. She hung her head low and tried to make herself as inconspicuous as possible, adopting a subdued way of walking. That night she waited with bated breath as the soldiers went over to the prisoners and started dragging women off one by one. She sighed with relief when she got skipped over. It had worked.
Finally, after two more days of travelling, they reached the formidable stronghold of Cerulean Falls. Kate remembered the walls of the castle most vividly. They must have been at least ten feet high, made of beautiful white marble flecked with stunning shades of blue. The prisoners were marched past the gatehouse into the main courtyard to be inspected by the lord of the castle, a large muscular man with a wild black beard named Keith. While the sullen lord was sorting the prisoners into separate groups by gender, Kate could not help but look at her surroundings. There was a roaring waterfall in the center of the base, a magnificent fountain of blue and white that coalesced into a deep pool at the bottom of the cliff, then meandered out of the castle by way of a small river. Marble bricks had been laid on either side of the river, forming a nice straight canal. Wooden bridges spanned over the waterway and buildings cropped up on either side, in neat orderly rows. At the top of the cliff loomed an imposing castle built of the same white and blue marble. Further down at the bottom beside the waterfall pool, there was a great green stretch of grass for the knights' parasaurs to feed upon. Presently, there was already a herd of triceratops and some stegosaurus feasting upon the greens, as well as equus, iguanodons, and gallimimus. Housed in pens beside the field were some fearsome carnivores, all of which looked like they could easily tear her to pieces. There were packs of raptors held in separate cages, nearly a dozen carnotaurus, four megalosaurus, six allosaurus, and most terrifying of all, a tyrannosaurus rex. The monster had ebony black scales mixed with swirls of red and orange, and molten eyes that seethed with fury. If Kate wasn't mistaken, that must have been the monster from the tribe's sigil. A black tyrannosaurus against a red field. The banners waved everywhere from the stronghold; the walls, the castle, the buildings, and of course from the soldiers' shields.
Kate was abruptly pulled from her thoughts when Keith loomed over her. She held her breath as the man scowled, praying that he would not be able to see past her disguise. A huge double-bladed war axe was strapped to his back. Kate did not wish to find out how well he could wield it. The Lord of Cerulean Falls narrowed his eyes for a moment before waving her over to the group of male prisoners. Kate waited until he was out of earshot to sigh in relief.
She joined the group male slaves, who were nervously glancing all over the compound. When all the men had been sorted into the group, a tall thin man walked over to introduce himself. "My name is Maxwell, the Head Steward of Cerulean Falls." He glared at each of them in turn. "Though I suspect many of you already knew that. I see your escape attempts went poorly. I would caution you to think wisely before attempting to deceive us again. We don't take well to repeat offenders."
He beckoned for them to follow him up a staircase leading to the top of the cliff. "For those of you who are joining us for the first time, know this. Whatever you might have done to get sentenced to the labour camps, whether it be crimes against the Protectors of Man or harbouring runaway slaves, there is a way out. King Arlyn the Great Uniter is merciful to those who serve him well. If you work hard to provide ten years of leal service, you will be freed from your shackles and permitted to colonize new lands for the Protectorate."
Kate pondered about that for a moment, filled with despair. Ten years is a long time. And if they're anything like the month of suffering I just went through, it may very well be better to end this misery when nobody's looking. She sighed and kept up with the group. Nothing was certain yet. I'll at least see what's in store for me first, then come to a decision later.
Maxwell led them to a corner of the base, where a large rectangular building sat. Unlike the rest of Cerulean Falls, it was made of drab grey stone instead of marble. Iron bars covered the windows, and the doors were reinforced with steel locks and spearmen. It was also attached to the wall itself, Kate saw. She imagined there must have been some gate for them to easily access the outside of the base, where no doubt long hard days of labour awaited. Maxwell turned and grinned at them. "Welcome to your new home."
They were marched into a holding chamber, where they were instructed to strip all their clothes off. Kate immediately panicked. Her hands trembled at the hem of her shirt, afraid of what would happen next if she removed the dirty clothing. I didn't think this through. If they discover I'm a woman I'll be in more danger than if I had just accepted my fate. She waited anxiously, trying not to let her panic show. Fortunately she was quick to pick up on an opening. Maxwell had already disdainfully walked into the next room, which held a pool for them to bathe in. If I can just get into the water without being seen I'll be safe for now. . .
She waited for the other men to strip down and enter the next room before quickly stripping down herself. She moved to a corner of the undressing room where nobody would see her, then peered into the next room from the doorframe. The other men were already in a state of desolation, each lost in their own world of suffering. Many of them were meekly scrubbing the grime off their bodies, paying no heed to each other. It was Maxwell that she was worried about. The skinny steward had crossed his arms, watching over the prisoners with an expression of disgust on his face. It was clear that he did not enjoy this part of the job. Kate waited until he was looking at the other end of the pool before entering the room and quickly slipping into the water. She ducked down so only the top of her neck was showing, the rest of her body concealed beneath the dirty water. Although the water was cold, it was nice and soothing to finally cleanse all the filth and shame from her defiled body. Kate cleaned herself absentmindedly, more focused on looking for the next opportunity to avoid detection.
Maxwell was laying down new clothes at the opposite end of the pool. After eleven piles were neatly laid down, he made his way into the next room. Kate sighed in relief. It's almost over. I just need to wait for the others to clear out, then get dressed and I'm free again.
One by one the other prisoners got out of the pool and dressed themselves. Kate was getting ready to leave herself when she noticed another problem behind her. A few guards had come into the undressing room to collect all their dirty clothes. If any of them happened to glance into the pool room, she might be doomed. Kate glanced over at them nervously. They weren't paying much attention. She looked back at the pool and saw that she was the only one left in it. The other prisoners were either getting dressed or had moved onto the next room. It was all just a careful balancing act.
Kate positioned herself beside her pile of clothes, then grabbed the shirt to hide herself as she climbed out of the pool. She quickly slipped it on, then climbed into the pants. Her heart was beating rapidly. Kathryn glanced around and was relieved that nobody had seen her. Finally, with the worst of the journey behind her, she followed the other prisoners into the next room.
Maxwell split them into smaller groups and sent them off into cells, escorted by guards. Kate found herself locked in a chamber with four other men. One of them was new like her. The other three had already been in there for what must have been months, judging from the scratches on the walls. She nervously claimed a spot in the corner and tried not to provoke her cell mates.
"It's customary to share your name and what you're in for," one of the grizzled prisoners said after a few minutes of tense silence.
"Carter," said the other newcomer. "My wife and I sheltered a runaway on our farm."
The other prisoners nodded solemnly, then turned to look at her. Kate had to think quickly. She lowered her voice when she spoke. "Nate. Captured as a prisoner of war."
"What happened to the women?" Carter broke in. "I'm worried about my wife."
The veteran prisoners glanced at each other knowingly. Kate did not like the grim look that passed from their faces. Finally, one of them spoke. "If they're lucky, they get put to work in the kitchens, farm, or looms. Otherwise. . . the comeliest and feistiest alike get made into prostitutes to have their spirits broken."
Carter's face went pale, as did Kate's. Despite the huge risk she had taken, she was glad she had managed to avoid that path. "And what about us?" She asked with dread, referring to the men.
"Oh, you'll see tomorrow," he muttered darkly.
Author's Note:
Girlbook, Haha exactly good for Otto and Jeyne.
DinoNerd89, You're free to believe whichever version you want! I made religion really ambiguous and everyone has different ideas about how it works. None are wrong. And his tactics are definitely interesting, just have to see what happens next. Glad you found the romance tolerable lol as I mentioned it's not my strong suit.
Nateman364, I definitely agree, he's gonna need the training soon. As always your analysis is spot on. I won't mention which of the three outcomes happens yet though :) As for the huge roster of recommendations I'm very happy you had so many great suggestions. I can say that most of them are coming into play soon. The only one that I hadn't really thought of was the pachyrhinosaurus (lowkey forgot it existed). I'm sure I can add that one to either side, as I can see both making use of it. Unfortunately I won't have the snowy owl but other than that most of those creatures will become important soon. Glad you enjoyed the chapter and the developments!
Bladerunner24k, Thanks for the suggestion. I actually took inspiration from the terramotto attack and using parasaurs as the standard war mount from Dinosaur Lords.
Caleb R. Watson, Yeah it's coming closer every chapter. But it'll get here. Thanks for the review!
Thanks for taking the time to check out my work, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Feel free to comment, ask questions, or criticize my story, review is always welcome! If you liked what you saw, make sure to check out the other ARK stories on this site! Have a great day!
- DaRumpyBurr
