Merrie hummed to herself as she crawled along the white trail. She could feel the hot cum oozing out of her slit and from the corner of her mouth. There was also the taste of urine from when they decided to “debase” her by peeing over her body.

She didn't have the heart to tell them that she loved it all. Instead she wagged her tail and tried not to splatter to much cum or pee along the trail behind her.

“God, she stinks,” muttered one of the guards.

“Yeah, send her out back to get cleaned up.”

Both guards were stationed at the fortress. They would see her for less than a night and then she would be out of their lives forever. That didn't stop them, or the others, from gang-banging her out in the woods. This time they even put a blanket down on the stump before fucking her for hours.

“Someone has to help her, you know that. Those freaky arms of hers can't pick up anything.”

“Get one of the wagon guards—”

“To what? Clean up our spunk? Yeah, they are going to just shove their hands right in that sloppy cunt of hers. You know this crap, the wagon guards get to sleep in like princesses while we deal with this shit.”

Merrie wagged her tail as she led the way around the back. Like every other stop, there was four stations. She had been through them already but she only cared about the third one to clean up. Someone had dragged a horse trough back there. It was narrow but the soap scummy water was better than asking one of the guards to clean her off.

Without being told, she crawled into it and ducked her head. With her ass and pussy high in the air, she held her breath and shook back and forth. Water sloshed all around her, splashing out of the trough.

“Damn the gods!” snapped one of the guards.

Merrie look at him and then sank into the water until only the curve of her ass and her pussy were above the water. With a moan, she swirled around even more to get the rest of the cum and urine off her body.

The other guard watched, his eyes glittering with growing lust. He stroked his shaft which was surprisingly hard since he came at least four times in the last hour.

She moaned and flipped over to clean her tail. She braced her legs on each side of the trough and used them to lift her bare pussy to the air and enjoy the icy water as it dribbled down her sensitive slit.

“Fucking slut,” muttered the first guard. He patted the second on the shoulder and then headed down the path. “Don't let her run away.”

“What? Hey! Don't leave me alone! You know the rules!” The second guard took a step away from her and then hesitated. He looked back at Merrie and then to the leaving guard.

Merrie flipped back over and dived back into the water. It felt good to get clean for the first time since she started the trip. There was only so much a cloth and a bucket of water could do.

As she had her face in the water, she thought about her curiosity about not needing to breathe. Was she enough of a shadow that it wasn't important? She wanted to test it but couldn't get the courage to open her mouth and inhale. Would she drown? Would she just not be bothered.

Lifting her head, she panted for a moment and then squirmed up against the sides of the trough to scrub her buttocks and thighs. It would be harder to clean her pussy but at least most of her would be clean.

She dove back in the water, swirling around to rub her face against the bottom. The question rose up again and she opened her mouth slightly. The icy water flooded in and she froze.

Choice.

Parn gave her choice. More than she ever had before.

Merrie chose to open her mouth even further, to draw the water into her lungs. The scummy water flooded inside her and down her throat. She felt it pool inside her, icy and cold.

Panic rose inside her, a desperate need to breath.

She bore down. No, she didn't need to breath.

Her lungs burned with the need.

She didn't need to breath.

She didn't.

The darkness never came. It hurt and she thought she was suffocating but her mouth opened easily and there were no black spots swimming across her vision; she had been choke-fucked enough times to know what suffocation felt like. She smiled.

A hand grabbed her hair and yanked her back. “Don't kill yourself!” snapped the guard.

Merrie looked at him and opened her mouth to let the icy water pour out of her lips. She smiled and wiggled her ass around for a moment.

“Fucking bitch.”

He threw her face back into the water.

She sank to the bottom and pushed up. It felt good. Everything felt good. She had been brutally fucked, debased, and abused. She had sucked off almost all of the men in the wagon, only Monte and Ston hadn't felt her mouth. The orgasms from it all still hummed inside her body. She was content as she could at the moment.

The guard groaned. “All right, get your cunt out of the water.”

Merrie crawled out. There was a towel but it was behind the guard. Feeling remarkably playful, she shook her head.

“God damn it, stop acting like a fucking bitch.”

Merrie perked up. She pouted and then sat back on her haunches.

“W-What are you doing?”

Slowly, she drew her arms up to her collar and spread her thighs. Her tail wagged back and forth as she thrust her breasts up and held herself still. It was her present position, it was also something she guessed he would find more than desirable. Her pussy clenched as he rubbed his crotch; it had to be sore but she was sure he had one more orgasm left inside him.

The guard looked around again, worrying his lips. Then he stepped forward as he unbuttoned his trousers. “A quick one, you fucking slut.”

Merrie moaned and took it into her mouth. It was hot and swollen, perfect for her lips. She bobbed and lapped at it, bring him to a quick orgasm.

The jets of cum that dribbled down her throat tasted delicious.

She wagged her tail even harder as she cleaned him off. Finally, she released him with a pop.

He winced and shoved it back into his pants. “I think I'm completely drained now.”

She barked.

He looked at her. “Yeah, they are going to love you at Abbinkey. Come on, fuck slut, time to get to bed. The captain said we're fired if you are left out in the light. Whatever that means.”

Together, they headed into the fortress. The layout was the same. She noticed that two of the other prisoners were missing from their cells. The moans from upstairs told her that they were being used for the guard's other desires, one of them was probably with Ginny as she rode their faces and probably demanded that they lick her asshole.

Merrie grinned. The others may hate it, but the guard captain had found something she liked as much as dominating prisoners.

The fortress guard stopped her at one of the cells. There was already an occupant, Ston, who was sitting on his bed with his knees up to his chest and rocking back and forth. He didn't look up when the cell door was opened and Merrie was herded inside.

“Keep it down, slut.”

Merrie barked softly.

The guard glared at her and then headed toward the back. He would pace for a while before another of the guards took over. There would never be more than ten minutes without someone checking on them.

Merrie crawled over and looked at Ston. She didn't need empathy to see he was hurting. She rested an arm on his thigh.

“I don't need you, Bitch.”

“I'm someone to talk to,” she whispered. None of the guards knew that she spoke.

“About what? Being a mass murderer?”

“You're hurting, Ston.”

He sniffed and wiped his eyes. “I don't want to be here.”

She sighed and rested her head against his thigh. “I know.”

“Why do you?”

“I don't.”

“But you can escape at any time.”

“No, no I can't. I have this… promise that won't me. Geas burned into my bones, no magic, no hope. If I went to the Whore's Guild, they would be abetting a criminal.”

She thought about Talus' words, that she would always be welcomed. She wondered if the goddess knew that she was convicted. Or cared.

“I can't go back to Blood County, I can't go to Franome City.”

He sniffed again, a sob catching in his throat.

“You are from the City?”

“Yeah, all my life.”

She favored him with a soft smile. “I grew up there.”

“Where?”

“Suncaster District.”

Ston looked up. “Suncaster? That's where I'm from. How come I never saw you?”

She gestured to the bed. When he shifted over, she crawled up on it and rested her head on his shoulder. “Do you remember when an entire street disappeared? And they found the bodies in a warehouse?”

“Oh god, you did that too?”

Merrie shook her head. “No, that's when Bass kidnapped me. They were hired mercenaries. They plucked out the women and men who would make good slaves or cows and threw us on a wagon. Killed and robbed everyone else.”

“Why?”

“Puppy slaves can auction off for a couple thousand easily. A dairy cowgirl almost as much, if she gave enough milk.”

“You were sold? A slave?”

“I was…” The memories swirled around her head. “I was special. Some very powerful people wanted to buy me and it turned ugly. There were deaths and robberies.”

“How much?”

“Millions.”

“Millions?”

She smiled sadly. “Yeah, my master was a thief. He stole all the money from this warlord named Rakin. Rakin wanted to buy me because of what alphas do, my master just wanted to piss him off.”

Ston relaxed. One hand dropped to his side. “Slender keeps saying you are an alpha, what does that mean?”

Merrie nuzzled closer, her bare breast pressing against his side. She could feel his heart through their contact, it was steady but beating faster. The faint hint of his hardness was drifting up, he was geting excited. “Do you have magic?”

“Not really? Just the ability to do books quickly.”

“Alphas magnify what's already there. So, if you… bonded with me, then you could probably do the books by looking at them. Or be able to see the entire accounting of a business just by walking into the front door.”

He tensed. “Really?”

“That's what we do. True Submissives make people… more than what they are. If you had a killer, we would make them even more powerful. If you were a healer, you could heal the world with us. Every part of you just becomes… more when we are close.”

“By yourself?”

“Nothing. We live empty lives being late for work and never knowing. I was a secretary before I was kidnapped. Now, I have no hands and have seen terrible things.”

“That's terrible. So if you submit to someone, you make them more powerful?”

“By a thousand times.”

“Then why do you say you killed all those people? Why wasn't it your owner?”

Merrie tensed. The questions were striking sensitive parts. She closed her eyes as she recalled Kine's death again. It was muted over the years but no less raw. “He died.”

“Did you get a new master?”

“I was supposed to die when that happens. I wasn't. I… broke and that's how the Shadowed District came into being.”

“My business partner lost his entire family when that happened. He died trying to back in for them. He was with a group of paladins and clerics, none of them made it.”

“I'm sorry.”

He wrapped his arm around her. “I believe you. I don't know why, but I honestly believe you.”

She leaned against his shoulder. He felt warm and comforting, not only because he was baring himself. “I guess I'm going to Abbinkey for penance.”

“I wish I could accept it. Sometimes I think it would be easier if I just died.”

“I've done that too. Twice, in many ways.”

“You are a remarkable creature, Bitch. I wish I had your strength.”

She sighed. “I just had to accept what I did. I'm no saint or paladin, that's for sure. I made mistakes, I hurt people, but I honestly try to do what I think is right.”

His hand dropped from her shoulder. He sniffed once and then his whole body shook. She looked up to see him crying, tears running down his cheeks. Saddened, she reached up and pressed her arm against his cheek.

“It… it wasn't supposed to be this way. I just couldn't help myself. I just… she was… and the next thing I knew, I had her blood on my hands. I couldn't live with that but I couldn't stop. I just… I just kept going on, her mother a few hours later. And then I… I went to work and I just kept killing them. I didn't mean to, I was just… I just wasn't supposed to do that.”

He sobbed loudly, turning toward her.

She pulled him into an embrace, holding him tight as he sobbed into her shoulder.

His arms wrapped around her and he clung to her. “I'm so sorry. I was a terrible father, I'm so sorry.”

Merrie closed her eyes and held him tight. The revelation struck her but he had already been convicted of it. There was nothing else she could do, nothing she would be willing to do with Abbinkey looming in their future.

She didn't know what to say. There was guilt but she wasn't sure if acceptance would help. She considered projecting her emotions, to give him a comfort that no embrace could match. But, if he was the one who cast the spell, she would be revealing that she still had her powers.

For a long time, she felt his trembling body clutching to hers.

She wracked her thoughts trying to make a choice.

Finally, she knew the right thing. Gathering her power, she reached out with her mind, sinking into the chaotic stream of memories that flashed across his mind. He was tortured, had been for a long time.

There was no hint of magic inside him. That didn't mean anything. Gillette had hidden his true nature also, wrapped it around in a shell that she couldn't pierce.

Merrie sighed and projected. It may be a mistake but she had to help. She let a wave of comfort wash over Ston, filling him with neither forgiveness or blame, only gave him comfort that he was loved by someone.

He stiffened for a moment and then almost melted. The sobs came louder now, filling the cell as he sank into her.

She leaned back with him, pulling him to his bed. Together, they laid down.

The guard passed the cell entrance and looked at them curiously.

Merrie glanced up at him and then back down to Ston. With a soft whimper, she held him tight and let him cry.