Naked Warrior

PART SIX

PART SIX

In the early morning sun of the following day, Daria awoke under the shade of a large tree, wearing her battle gear. Her weapons were neatly lying off to the side, along with a pack containing her personal belongings. At one time, there had been a small fire burning in the pit next to where she had laid, but it had long since burned out, and there was only a pile of ashes there now.

Although she was unsure of where exactly she was, she figured she must have been traveling and decided to camp here for the night. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, stood and stretched, while glancing around to see what looked familiar to her. Nothing came to mind. Not even a landmark tree or bush or rock. Confused and frustrated, Daria sat back down on a nearby rock.

"How am I supposed to continue my journey, if I can't remember which way I came from? What in Tartarus is wrong with me today?" she mumbled to herself as she opened her pack to see if she had any food to eat. She found some bread and some red grapes. She grabbed the small loaf and took a bite. It was dry.

"Well, I guess I should find some water to go with this bread before I choke to death trying to swallow it." The words were very distorted, muffled by a mouthful of dry food. She grabbed her cup and set it off to the side. Then she sheathed her sword and hid a small dagger on a leg and assembled her pack on her back. She picked up the cup again and headed out to scout for a lake or stream.

She had an uneasy feeling while walking through the forest. Her eyes looked around for anything but the water she wanted. She just couldn't figure out where she was and why nothing looked familiar to her. It left her feeling spooked and she shivered as a chill ran down her spine.

"This doesn't feel right," she whispered as she paused before entering a small clearing. She could see a lake just beyond the pass, yet she hesitated to move towards it. She felt something creepy in the air. Every sense in her body was peaked and crying out.

Without turning around, Daria quietly backed up a step, and then another, only to freeze on the spot when she felt hot air brush the back of her neck. She turned around to find herself face to face with a large, fowl-smelling man with a baldhead and most of his teeth missing.

"Well, what do we have here? An escaped slave, perhaps?" he laughed, grabbing her by both arms. "Are you lost, little girl?"

Daria jerked free from his hold. "Unhand me, stranger."

He just grabbed her again, this time holding on to her with more force. "Or you'll do WHAT? Scream? Go ahead. No one will hear you. There's not another soul around for miles. Besides, people don't interfere with a slave catcher’s work."

The stench of his breath almost caused Daria to puke. He quickly grabbed a fist full of her long hair and pulled her face closer to his, attempting to kiss her. Instinct kicked in and Daria raised her knee until it made contact with the man's groin. He suddenly released her and moved both hands to cup over his injury. Slightly bent over, he groaned loudly.

"Why, you little bitch. How DARE you mess with me. I'm gonna . . . " He looked up to see the wench's face, but she was gone. He saw Daria making fast tracks to the clearing and started after her. "You bitch, you ain't getting away from me THAT easy," he yelled to her.

Daria could hear him shouting and knew that he wasn't far behind her. Then she remembered she had a sword, and she was wearing battle gear. I must be a warrior, she thought. Then why don't I remember that I am? Panic crept into her mind and now each step she took seemed to be moving in slow motion. She could hear the sound of her heartbeat echoing in her head and her breathing became heavy. Suddenly, she found herself falling toward the ground. Apparently she had tripped on a rock or root and she barely responded quickly enough to break her fall with her hands.

"Ooph!" she said, while hitting the ground and eating dirt. She quickly rolled over and got to her feet. Her perpetrator was nearly upon her. She reached for her sword without thinking and stood in the defense stance that she had been taught. She held her sword out in front of her, ready to attack the man as he approached.

The bald man noticed she had a weapon and stopped short of reaching her. He reached for his own sword and then started taking calm, large strides towards her. He had a look of determination and anger on his face.

"So, you want to play it rough, huh? You're a little wild one, aren't you? That's good! You'll bring in a some heavy bidding at the slave auction," he grinned. "Now, why don't you make it easy for yourself and just put down the sword. I don't want to damage the merchandise, ya know."

Daria looked at him as if he were crazy. "Slave auction? I don't think so." The slaver moved to catch her, but Daria was ready this time and easily evaded him. He quickly turned, growling, and moved towards her again. Their swords met with a clank. Daria fought admirably, and even got in a good swipe on the man's arm, but the slaver was too strong and before long, he knocked Daria's sword from her inexperienced hand.

Realizing he was gaining the upper hand, she turned to take off running again. But this time, the slaver ca her her foot before she could get away and she suddenly found herself struggling underneath the weight of the man's body. He had tackled her and was trying to subdue her now.

"Hold still, you little bitch, while I get you tied," he ordered. He didn't really think that Daria was going to comply with his request, so he punched her in the face, knocking her out long enough for him to finish his task. Once she was secure, he slapped her across the face to wake her.

"Wake up, slave. We've got to get moving if we are going to make the auction on time." He pulled her to her feet and started shoving her the way he wanted to go.

After two hours of silent walking, Daria began to drag her feet. She noticed the man taking a drink from his skinned pouch and she realized she never did get that drink of water she was looking for earlier.

"I'm thirsty, too," she stated to her captor.

He looked at her and laughed. "So?" He continued to drain the rest of the water from the skin and tossed the empty bag at her feet.

"Uh-oh! There's no more left. Too bad!" He pushed her once more to get her moving again and continued to say, "We're almost to Panethmus, anyway."

Daria looked to the direction they were heading and could see a city in the distance. It looked to be quite large, surrounded by a stone wall. She could see the tower of what she believed to be a castle. She sighed in relief. Good!  Maybe there is someone there who will help me out of this mess, she thought.

The entry guards pushed open the large heavy gate to allow the slaver and his new catch into the city. Once inside, Daria's heart sank. It was no city. It was more like a slave camp. Everything was run down and ratty looking. There were many people working various tasks, but each and every one of them was chained to a pole. She looked at the faces of the prisoners as she walked past them. No one looked or smiled at her, she heard no laughing children playing, most of the adults had large, dark circles under their eyes. And many showed scars of abuse or torture.

Daria heard a woman crying a distance away. She could see a large man hovering over a small, frail silhouette. He looked to be beating her or maybe he had a whip. Either way, he as causing bodily harm to the poor woman. Daria's temper flared. She wanted, so much, to rush over there anck tck the shit out of the slaver. Suddenly, she was jerked back to reality when she felt someone slap her across the face. It was her captor.

"Answer me, bitch," he snapped.

Daria stared blankly at him. "Ww. . . what?"

"I asked, ‘how old are you?’ Tell me!" he bellowed.

"Nineteen," she answered curtly.

The slaver was dragging Daria across the courtyard towards the main building, the castle. Once inside, Daria was taken to a secured wing, where she was handed over to a small group of women. The entire wing had been converted to a slave preparation center. Most of the rooms contained cells; a few rooms were set up as bathing areas.

The slaver shoved Daria into the room. "Prepare her for the auction tonight," he ordered and left the room. Immediately, the women moved to Daria and undressed and bathed her. When they were done, they perfumed her body and painted her face. Daria was handed a sheer gown to put on. Daria dressed and looked down at herself. The gown barely covered her.

"I can't wear this," she cried. "It doesn't cover anything."

The middle aged, dark haired lady, who was obviously in charge here, started laughing. "That's the point, you stupid girl. You’re being sold off tonight. The boys want to be able to get the most dinars for your young little body, and so the bidders will need to see it, now, won't they?" she said sarcastically.

"Sold?" Daria whispered to herself in shock. It was finally sinking in that she was in one Tartarus of a mess.

Another man appeared in the door of the room. "It's time, Lydia."

The middle-aged lady looked his way and noticed that he had spotted Daria right away. He was staring at her and licking his lips with raw, animalistic desire in his eyes.

"Put your tongue back in your mouth, Vinn. She goes up on the block tonight. Should bring in a hefty purse, too." Lydia rose and walked over to Daria and cupped one of her breasts in hand, squeezing it and making the nipple hard so it poked out from under the lightweight material of the dress. "See how young and firm her body is. This is the kind of slave that all those horny ol' Dukes want around to play with." She was speaking as if Daria was not even in the room, but then looked Daria in the eyes and smiled wickedly. "You're still a virgin, aren't you, dear?"

Daria looked shocked but nodded yes. She brought her arms up in an attempt to cover her chest. Lydia lazily dragged her hand across Daria's shoulder as she circled around her, looking her over, secretly wishing she could keep her for her own pleasure.

"Well, maybe I'll just put in a bid for her myself," Vinn told Lydia. Then he spoke directly to Daria. "You sure are a sweet little wench! I can almost taste you right now," he winked at her.

Fear crossed Daria's face at the thought of what this bandit wanted to do to her. Tears began to escape her eyes and run down her cheek. Lydia noticed and told one of the other women to powder her face again.

"GET OUT OF HERE, VINN," she yelled at the man. "You're ruining all of my handiwork. Go, now. I'll bring her and the others in a minute."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at the training camp, Ares assembled what was left of his army after discovering that Daria was missing. He paced furiously in front of the group of confused men. None of them remembered what happened. All they knew was that the God of War was extremely angry with the lot of them. He turned and glared at poor Balicus, who was equally confused.

"I can't believe you let her be taken. Daria was YOUR responsibility, Balicus," he bellowed.

"But, Lord, I didn't see any . . ."

"SILENCE! I need to think." It took Ares every ounce of control to keep from blasting Balicus to Tartarus. And if more that half of his army hadn't been killed, he would of. But he needed all the men he had, Balicus included. Ares paced some more, mumbling how much of a bitthenthena was and she was gonna be sorry for messing with him.

"I want you to take the men, Balicus, and find her. Do not return until you do so. And you better find her, Balicus." His voice was cold and serious. The men all scurried off to begin their search.

Ares appeared in his temple to do some searching of his own. He conjured up a viewing mirror and began combing through all of Greece, starting with the cities furthest from the camp. He knew Athena had taken her someplace, but where? He didn't think she would take her out of her own realm of power, so she must still be in Greece.

"Oh, you've hidden her quite well, Sister. Don't think you're going to get away with this, either," he spoke aloud. He continued to scour the images for anything that seemed out of place.

"Come on, Daria! Call on me for help. Just whisper my name and then I can find you." He didn't understand why he hadn't heard her call for him yet. Surely she knew that he would come for her. That he would protect her from any real danger. All of a sudden, he was floored by a slue of thoughts. Maybe Athena tricked her some way, making her think she was still at the camp. Or maybe she was hurt and couldn't call for him. Or even worse, dead.

Ares exploded in a rage of frustration and let out a yell that rumbled the entire temple.

"A T H E N A ! ! YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THIS!"

Back on Olympus, Athena waived away the image of Ares in his temple, smiling arrogantly. "Give it your best shot, Brother."

She knew she had found the perfect hiding place. As long as Daria was on the island, Ares wouldn't be able to find her. The island was neutral territory. It didn't fall under the domain of any of the Greek Gods. Because it was an island, technically, it would be part of Poseidon's territory. But Poseidon ruled only the water, not land. And the island was a small mass of land. Unless Poseidon relinquished the territory to another God's rule, landmasses in his area were neutral, and stayed that way since the God of the Sea never thought much about them.
The island folk had never caused any trouble and Poseidon didn't see a need to discipline the mortals.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There were a number of ships that had traveled the seas today. Most of which had come to drop anchor off the coast of a small island, as they did every month around this time. Soon, the shore was crowded with small rowboats as potential slave buyers arrived for the auction.

They gathered in a large room in the castle, chatting amongst themselves, enjoying being catered to and teased by the half-naked slave girls that worked the auctions. The slavers used the girls to make the buyers hot and horny. If the men were feeling needy, they tended to bid more enthusiastically when a pretty young girl was on the block. And they knew they had a number of desirable women for sale this month.

Daria had been chained at the wrists and was locked, with a number of other girls, to a wall with steel bars in a room off of the main auction area. She could hear the screaming of a little girl who had just been sold to someone. She was only a child. She was screaming for her mommy not to let them take her. The mother, who was chained at the front of the room they were in, was crying frantically.

"Please, please don't take my baby from me. Please, I'm begging you."

"SHUT UP, SLAVE," a guard yelled and backhanded her across the face. "Maybe if you’re lucky, the same buyer will purchase you, too. But if you don’t shut your fuckin' mouth, I'll take you back to the cells and you'll get sold next month instead. Then your chances of being bought by the same man are greatly reduced," he laughed.

The woman stifled her tears and tried to compose herself the best she could. She was the next one to go out on the block.

All too quickly, it was Daria's turn to be put on display. She had to be dragged to the stage, kicking and screaming the entire time. Eventually, causing herself to be gagged by the auctioneer from screaming obscenities at everyone.

The auctioneer used her fighting nature as a selling point in addition to her beauty and youth.
"Now, when was the last time you saw a slave girl with such beauty being so rebellious?" he asked the crowd. "I know how some of you out there like the challenge of training a feisty new slave girl. I guarantee - this one will not disappoint you. Okay, who will start the bidding?"

By the time the bidding for Daria was complete, she had brought in over a thousannarsnars. She had been purchased by a rich, high-ranking military officer from a province just outside of Greece. He was a large man, and really not bad looking, only he was as cruel and heartless as they come. He had taken one look at Daria and his cock became hard as a rock. Her rebelliousure ure only fueled his desire for her. She would sure be fun to dominate and rape and break in, he thought as he stroked his cock through his pants in anticipation. He just had to have her and proceeded to out bid a number of other interested parties.

By the next morning, Daria found herself on her owner's ship, heading back to the mainland. She was locked in a small cabin with the other slaves that had been purchased. About an hour into the trip, a guard came to the room and collected Daria and led her to another room down the hallway. It was the main sleeping quarters. The guard hooked her chain up to a locking mechanism above the bed. She paled, knowing what would happen next. She was left alone in the room with nothing but her tortured thoughts for another hour.

Then the cabin door opened and in walked her new owner. Her "Master", as she would soon learn to call him.