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The Harvest Ball

IV - Penance

The Harvest Ball by Sophie Bell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. It contains scenes of a sexual nature not intended for readers under the age of consent. Feel free to e-mail me or comment below!!

This is part of a story series, but I must warn you that there are no real 'chapters' to this series. Instead, I am simply writing with the Carthani world as a central theme.

Author's Note: This story was written to celebrate dressing up and getting free candy. So have fun reading it and Happy (early) Halloween!!

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Karshek frowned behind his mask, glowering at the crowds of beautifully adorned furs that mingled in the palace's great hall. It was the Harvest Ball, and he had pulled the short straw at the beginning of the evening, which meant he was stuck here, just behind the Emperor's throne, and unable to join in the festivities. Not that he really wanted to, but it would have been a break from the monotony.

The cheetah folded his arms across his chest, continuing to glower at the crowd, and absently wondered where the Emperor had wandered off to. It was his party, after all, and he shouldn't have been absent for so long. If trouble had happened, though, Karshek would have known about it, so he was more annoyed than worried.

A few moments later, however, his worries faded as a part of the wall to his left slid aside, revealing one of the many ‘secret' passages that his Highness used to travel throughout the palace quickly. Through it came the golden dragon himself, looking rather pleased. Behind him came the guards, but it was the fur that followed after that surprised Karshek â€" enough that he lifted a single brow, which for him was as much as open shock on another fur's face.

The tiger that crept from the passageway was masked, so it was impossible to see his face. Beneath the mask, a golden collar glinted, and beneath that, he wore short blood-red robes. The outfit itself did not impress Karshek â€" he had seen the Emperor's pets more than once, and what they were dressed in no longer shocked him. It was the mask that caught his attention â€" that was a prince's mask, by the Gods! But the tiger was no prince â€" for one thing, he was most definitely not a dragon. Karshek's mouth twisted, and he wondered briefly what his Highness was up to, but knew better than to ask. In fact, he knew better than to more than glance, and so turned his gaze aside as the Emperor made his presence known.

The citizens spread throughout the great hall made the appropriate sounds of awe when the Emperor spoke, launching into some speech designed to please his guests. Karshek barely listened, instead keeping one eye on the Emperor's new playboy. It was the mask that bothered him â€" it meant something, but he didn't know what, yet.

Hours passed, in which the Emperor and his new playboy mingled with the crowds. Karshek watched the dragon flaunt his new toy mercilessly, demanding that the tiger pose and preen for the crowd's approval. Finally, the two made their way back to the throne, the ever-present guards trailing behind, and the Emperor turned once again to his subjects.

"Good furs, take heed! You have enjoyed the sight of my newest friend, Ravin, and now I ask you to congratulate him! Meet your new Royal Architect, Ravin et'Sarovia!!" The crowd cheered, and Karshek blinked in mild surprise. Architect? It must be some private joke, but the et added to a formerly royal surname made the fur a royal attendee, something that only the Emperor could approve of. What irritated Karshek was that he had not heard of this tiger before â€" and he was usually among the first to know if a new royal attendee was chosen. And there was also the mask that the tiger wore, obviously given to him by his Highness. Why that mask? With a tiny snarl, Karshek shook his head, shifting his attention back to the crowds. He would find out later, and there was no point to worrying about it now.

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The Emperor, gloating at the success of both his Harvest Ball and at his new acquisition, turned one black eye on Ravin, who looked absolutely exhausted. He had spent the last four hours preening for the masses, and several hours before that learning what it meant to be the Emperor's new pet. His night, however, was long from over.

Shifting his gaze from the dazed tiger, Poitrin made eye-contact with Karshek, the pretty little cheetah who took his guard job so seriously. Karshek only nodded, knowing what his orders were without ever having to be told. New pets were not an uncommon occurrence in the Emperor's palace, but if Karshek's attention was warranted, it was because they had earned a penance session. For some reason, that was Karshek's primary position â€" disciplining the Emperor's pets. It wasn't technically a part of being a royal guard, but the duty had been given to him by Poitrin himself, and was not to be denied.

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The first hints of dawn were starting to lighten the night skies when the Emperor's new playboy was finally released into Karshek's custody. The tiger looked worn down, as if he had just experienced the longest night of his life â€" and in all likelihood, he probably had. Karshek felt no pity, however, as he led the silk-wrapped fur down the narrow ‘secret' passageways. The cheetah had no room for pity when it came to his job, a fact that the new ‘Royal Architect' would soon learn.

"In here, m'lord." The cheetah said, grimacing. Under normal circumstances, the tiger would have had to defer to Karshek, but the mask gave him rank, even if he didn't know it. Besides, the title didn't even phase the young tiger â€" it was obvious he had been nobility before the Emperor had collected him.

The cell he had led Ravin to was small, and designed for a single purpose: penance. It was not unlike the cell inside the Mines, where Karshek had that lovely little Doberman to look forwards to. The only difference was that the room was made of stone, rather than cut out of the rock, and that there were ‘attachments' bolted into the walls and ceiling. There was also no cot â€" only a stool and a bucket of water. A chain dangled from the central ceiling-ring, with manacles at the end of it.

"What...what is this room?" The tiger's voice shook as he finally spoke, staring at the manacles that were center-stage with wide, frightened eyes. Likely he had never served a penance like this in his entire life, of that Karshek was sure. All imperial citizens served penance, of course, but a few mild strokes with a soft leather lash were nothing in comparison to this. The Emperor's toys had to learn their place, however, much like the raw recruits for the royal guard did.

"This is one of the penance rooms." Karshek said, and stepped forwards, shutting the door behind him with a dull thud. It locked automatically, but before the tiger could even think to move, Karshek grabbed his arms, yanking them up and swiftly fixing the manacles around Ravin's wrists. The tiger thrashed, roaring in anger at the treatment, and then suddenly stopped moving, realizing that he had nowhere to go. Karshek lifted a single brow â€" the tiger was tall. Usually, the manacles held a fur so his toes just touched the floor, but the tiger was only a little strained to keep his feet. Oh well â€" Karshek thought, turning his back on the tiger. It won't be that way for long.

"I assume you've served penance before, but this is different â€" more painful. Hopefully, I won't see you here very often, m'lord." He could feel the tiger staring at him as he turned, lifting one paw to reveal the lash that he held â€" it was a vicious-looking thing: metal-tipped, with four strands instead of the standard one. It was also studded, though only on two of the strands. Karshek had seen â€" and wielded â€" much worse.

"This will hurt, m'lord. The Emperor has dictated ten lashes as the first part of your penance." He paused, regarding the tiger, and turned back to the lacquered black box he had been provided with, drawing out a smooth piece of soft ironwood. It was black, and despite the fact that Karshek had a good idea of how many teeth had gouged it, it had no mark on it. A strange property of soft ironwood â€" it wouldn't break your teeth, but neither would it retain damage. It was what much of the furniture in the palace was made from, in fact.

Karshek also removed a simple leather muzzle, and fitted the piece of wood into it easily. Ravin's head jerked back when the cheetah approached, a snarl curling his muzzle. "If you think you're going to put that on me, you have another thing coming." Ravin growled, ears flattening against his skull. Karshek's face remained expressionless as he spoke. "The muzzle was also provided by his Highness, as he doesn't wish his newest Architect to bite off his own tongue during penance, which has been known to happen." The two felines stared at each other, and finally, Ravin's chin dropped, submitting. Karshek deftly strapped the muzzle on, and retrieved the whip from the stool where he had set it.

For the first two strikes of the lash, the tiger resisted making more than small, muffled sounds of pain. At the third, as Karshek had expected, he slumped in his bonds, and uttered a hoarse, pain-filled shriek. By the tenth, the tiger's full weight was on the manacles, and his wrists and back were streaming blood. The screams that he had started with had petered out to whimpers and moans â€" he had screamed himself hoarse, but Karshek knew it was only temporary.

"The first part of your penance is done, m'lord." He murmured, as he dropped the bloodied whip into the bucket of water. It would be cleaned off before he replaced it in the box. The red silk robe was in tatters around the tiger's frame, but that hardly mattered. The Emperor would provide a new one. Karshek had once stripped those who served penance before he beat them, but his Highness had discovered what he was doing and expressly forbid it â€" for what reason, the cheetah did not know.

"The second part begins." He said, and finally, some small emotion cracked his expressionless face. Like in the Mines before, glee and lust were now evident, though the tiger couldn't see them. Karshek had long ago lost his aversion to this part of the duty â€" in fact, he had learned to enjoy it. He only had a son because it was his duty to continue his line; his wife was nothing more than a cat to breed with, insofar as he was concerned. She was not unfaithful, however â€" she had learned her lesson regarding that once. Karshek had, without mercy or hesitation, beaten his wife with the worst of his tools: the whip with six straps, all studded, and talon-sharp metal tips. She still bore the scars, but she never cheated again.

Ravin, braced for some other form of beating (not that he could think what), did not expect to feel yet another cock invading his abused tail hole. He shuddered, more in pain than anything else, as the cheetah entered him, too weary and beaten to try and avoid it.

Karshek tried to restrain himself as he slipped his cock inside the helpless tiger, tried to push down the surge of lust that rose up, but was unable. Sadism, though it was not biologically hereditary, ran in the males of his family, and as he proceeded with the second part of Ravin's penance, he succumbed to it.

"This is what happens when you cum without permission, whore." He snarled, thrusting his prick deeper and deeper into the hapless tiger. He had no barbs, but the abused tiger still winced and whimpered â€" he had been thoroughly used this night, and had not had any time to recover. Karshek thrilled in the small sounds of pain, and without thinking about it, raked his unsheathed claws over the tiger's hips, drawing out an agonized yelp.

Karshek continued to thrust into the tiger viciously, leaving marks with his claws as he did so. He was panting heavily through his nose, sweat and blood matting his fur, concentrating on his own pleasure. It was long minutes before he realized that the tiger was panting as well â€" and not entirely in pain â€" panting and humping the air in front of him despite the shackles digging into his wrists.

Briefly, Karshek thought about the consequences of taking penance too far â€" asserting his dominance over this tiger would definitely be taking things too far. Stepping past the bounds of his outlined duties was something that would put him in Ravin's place â€" taking penance from some other fur. Still, he doubted that the tiger would whisper rumors into the Emperor's ear â€" if his Highness didn't believe Ravin, then a simple penance would be the least of his worries. So, Karshek continued to thrust into the tiger, and as he did so, reached around to wrap one paw firmly around Ravin's half-erect prick.

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Ravin gasped in shock when he felt the cheetah's paw wrap around his member, and then moaned in pleasure. It was completely unexpected, but he wasn't about to stop it. Maybe it was a part of the penance â€" maybe the cheetah would bring him to the verge of climax and then do something to stop it. Who knew? But for the moment, all Ravin could do was hump desperately against the cheetah's rough palm, groaning and oblivious.

Wrapped up in the rhythm, Ravin barely registered the words that the cheetah was murmuring into his ear â€" but once they did register, it was all he could do not to spray his cum all over the cell wall. The cheetah â€" whose name he had never discovered â€" must have felt something, for his paw immediately released Ravin's prick.

"No, my pet." The cheetah crooned, reminding Ravin strongly of the Emperor. "Not yet. You have to beg for it first." Distantly, Ravin realized that he was in amazing amounts of pain, but the pleasure of being fucked had long since overwhelmed it. He moaned softly, humping the air, wishing that the cheetah would touch him again, and was disappointed.

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On the very edge of climax, Karshek yanked himself out of Ravin's tail hole, gasping and struggling for control. Smiling grimly, he bent, pulling the whip he had discarded out of the bucket with a tiny splash. The tiger was still moaning and whimpering, practically begging to be fucked some more, but Karshek wasn't finished, not by a long shot.

Wrapping one paw around his aching cock, and the other around the handle of the whip, Karshek proceeded to gently flog the helpless tiger while pawing himself off. It was glorious. Each snap of the leather against Ravin's battered flesh resonated in a thrum of pleasure down the cheetah's cock, which was dribbling pre-cum all over the cell floor. Karshek almost wished he had a slave in the room with them, a tool to suck the tiger's prick while he was being whipped, but for now, this would have to do. Next time, though. He thought, and grinned, flicking the whip against Ravin's back one more time before flinging it aside and roughly thrusting himself back into the tiger's tail hole.

Almost by rote, Karshek went through the process of domination, forcing the tiger to submit to his demands in order to get the release he so craved. With each thrust, he whispered some inane demand into the tiger's ear:

Tell me you want it.

Beg me to fuck you.

Who do you belong to?

Say it, whore.

And on and on, until the tiger was whimpering and moaning in excruciating need. Twice more, Karshek pulled out, only to lightly whip the tiger a few times before viciously fucking him again, forcing him to link pain and pleasure together. Hours passed, and finally, Karshek allowed Ravin to do what he had longed to do in more than twenty-four hours:

"Do it, Ravin." He whispered, almost hissing into the tiger's ear as he continued to fuck him. "Cum for your master."

The response was instant â€" by now the tiger was so firmly in Karshek's control that it would have truly been a surprise were it not â€" white, sticky streams of semen burst from the tiger's prick, which Karshek had been stroking for long enough that his wrist was cramping.

The tiger let out a long, keening moan, shuddering convulsively. Karshek, having seeded Ravin's tail hole more than once in the past hours, grinned, and withdrew his cock for the final time.

"Very good, my pet." He murmured, and reached up, untying the muzzle that he had left on the entire time. It came loose easily enough; he had made sure to avoid pulling at the knots. A second reach depressed the button that freed the shackles â€" impossible to reach if you were hanging â€" and Ravin collapsed to the floor in a heap of fur, semen, and blood.

"Now get up, and crawl back to your golden dragon, whore." Karshek snarled, kicking the beaten and abused tiger in the ribs. "Go back to the Emperor and be his new toy â€" but remember." He bent, grabbing Ravin's muzzle in one paw, yanking his head up to stare into eyes wide with a mixture of fear, lust, adoration and pain. "You're mine, now."