FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

From Badlander to Branded One

Chapter 3

For lightsun168

By Draconicon

Kero struggled to catch his breath as the pain faded from his groin. The fear that had been there since his loss to Faarax had blossomed into full-blown terror, and he focused himself on that battle as the wild dog continued to linger in the prison cell.

He refused to let the terror overwhelm him. No matter how powerful someone was, there was always a weakness, always something that could be done to bring them down. All he had to do was find out what Faarax's weakness was, and all the fear would fade. Any problem became less horrifying when you had a solution to it, right?

Perhaps, but that wasn't enough in that moment. Even now, looking at the branded dog's back, he couldn't help but shiver from thoughts of what the breaker would do to him if he wasn't bound to just brand him. He had to...he had to think of something, or the terror would overcome him.

"Shaking," Faarax muttered.

"What?"

"You're shaking. A lot. Too scared?"

"...Angry." He breathed out slowly. That was a truth. He could work with that. "I'm angry."

"Just a little?"

"More than a little...you told me...to hold onto it, remember?"

"Yes. And so do you. Good. Good. Good!"

Faarax laughed, and the sound was high and chilling, more like a barking whine than any real sound of happiness. Not for the first time, the dog sent shivers down his spine.

The branding iron hit the ground and the dog was in front of him again, leaning in close, eye to eye and nose to nose. Their bare chests touched and the wild dog's eyes flared with a strange light.

"You want out, don't you?"

"Of course. Anyone would."

"No, not anyone. Some want to stay safe. Some want to run. You want to fight. Want to kill." Faarax tilted his head, chuckling. "I see. In your eyes, I see. The burning. The fear. The need...need to know, so you can fight."

He didn't answer. If his torturer was seeing all that, then confirming it would be the worst thing that he could do. It would confirm that the crazed man was reading him properly, which would let him read even more. If that happened in a fight -

"Nnngh!"

Faarax grabbed him by the throat, lifting him up until his toes left the ground. The wild dog leaned in, growling.

"You hate me."

"Nnngh..."

"You're afraid. Heh. Good. But show me. Show me that fire...show me...show me...show me!"

In desperation for air that was rapidly growing scarce, Kero did the only thing that he could think of. He slammed his head forward, recreating the same headbutt that he'd managed the first time they found. This time, however, the dog was closer, and he was more biting than bashing.

They broke apart, the dog holding a bleeding line across his scalp and Kero groaning from the pain in his jaws. The impact had damn near driven the tooth from its resting place, and his face ached from the impact. Yet, the taste of blood in his mouth told him that he'd at least done something. Shaking his head, he looked back at the crazy man.

Faarax cupped the side of his head, but he still had that smile on his face. If anything, the smile was bigger.

"Yes...yes, that's it...that's it!"

"Nnngh...what's wrong...what in smoke is wrong with you?" Kero muttered.

"Hehe...hehehe...go on...that's all you can say?"

"Let me out of here, and -"

"Shush!"

A finger to his lips stifled his challenge, but before he could bite them, the dog was up close again. Rough fingers grabbed the chains running to the ceiling, and -

CRACK!

They came loose. He stared, unable to believe what he was seeing, but before he could fight, the wild dog took the chains, holding them together almost like a leash. He smiled, eyes wilder than ever.

"Gonna take a walk."

"What are you -"

"No questions. Can't think. Just walk. Just do."

And then they were walking.

And then the door was broken.

And then they were in the hallway, making their way toward the plaza once more. The world felt eerily unreal as they moved along, and he was unable to think of anything but the what-ifs of what would happen if Chidike or one of the others found them. His mind raced around from question to question, thought to thought, always avoiding the terrifying thing at the core of everything:

Why was Faarax taking him out of his cell?

He was almost afraid to ask. Considering the strength that the wild dog had, it felt like any question could lead to death, and he no longer had the strength to fight back to keep that from becoming his final fate. He tried to keep his panic sealed up inside, but the further they went from the cell, the more that he feared that he'd end up buried before someone else found him.

He almost wished for the hyena, now. It felt like he was being marched off to execution, and for once, he didn't have the confidence that he could stop it.

As late as it was, nobody stopped them in the plaza within the Wall. Everyone was either gone or busy, or pretended to be. Even when Kero tried to catch their attention, they just ducked away, shying from the wild dog or - in the case of some that saw too much - fainting dead away. He gritted his teeth as they approached the great door that led into Duba, trying to bring himself to say something.

His courage failed him as the wild dog rapped his fist against it. The doors opened, and the guards on the other side - one a wolf, one a fox - glared at Faarax.

"What are you doing here, Breaker?"

"Taking a walk. This one on a walk. Needs air," Faarax said, gesturing over his shoulder.

"...Why?"

"Because he's special. Different. Needs different treatment."

"..."

"Heh. Breaker knows."

"Go. But we're telling the other guards to watch you."

"Good. Good...should be...should be..."

It was almost like watching someone put on and then take off a mask as they passed the guards. For a moment, for one slight moment, it almost seemed like there was a bit of sanity to the wild dog, as if the insanity had been the mask all along. But then it slipped away, and he realized that the sanity was the mask, something to make the guards believe him and not start a fight.

Then they were in the green and the blues and the vibrant streets of Duba. He was pulled along with his arms in front of him, his cock helplessly swaying with every step. Despite the fact that the brand was meant to keep him chaste, he was all the more aware of it than ever before. The fact that it couldn't even rise up meant that he was just...aware of it, swaying, swinging, showing off what he had become. A eunuch by any other name was still just a ball-less, fuck-less man, and the brand made him nothing more.

They passed several building, homes that were under the fading sun, and they walked down wide streets that were lined with flowering fruit trees. He looked at them in curiosity and wonder, and imagined what it must be like to live in a place where -

"No touch," Faarax growled.

"I wasn't going to."

"Not you. Anyone. Everyone. No touch the trees, no touch the fruit. Special." The wild dog growled, and barked with that high-pitched laugh again. "Pretty pretty. Waste food, waste everything pretending Badlands aren't out there."

"What are you -"

"No think, no think! But no touch."

He was more confused than ever. What was this about? How was this supposed to break him further for the city? What was the damn dog doing?!

Further on they went, only to stop four streets down at the edge of a plaza. Faarax pulled him against one of the nearby buildings as a cheetah teenager ran across the stone street, obviously fleeing from someone. Kero's eyes went wide as the young man fell, hitting the street and sliding forward by nearly a body length.

"What -"

"Shush."

Two armored wolves advanced on the cheetah. The young man - he couldn't have been more than fifteen, if that - screamed at the top of his lungs. The sound was cut off by a punch to the stomach, one that was so harsh that he could hear the impact from where he stood.

"Silence, cat," one of the leather-armored wolves growled. "The Tearful Pack is behind with its contributions to the wall."

"Please, I'm just - we're working on it. You can get anyone else."

"You won the foot-race last month," the other wolf guard said.

"I - yes, but that was a mistake. I wasn't -"

"The most qualified go on the Wall if you can't pay or offer supplies. That's the law, laid down by the Gray Pack."

"No, no please! HELP! Someone, help!"

But nobody did. Kero was as silent a witness as every other turned-away face in the windows, as every other silent man, woman, and child on benches that refused to look as the cheetah teen was taken away. He screamed and cried, his face awash with tears to match the lines going down his cheeks, and the screams only stopped when they beat him until he went silent.

As they dragged him off down a side-street, Kero seethed. His hands clenched into fists, and he was about to charge off when Faarax barked in mocking laughter.

"Think you can save him?"

"Someone should."

"Not happening. Not here. Duba's too strong. Too orderly. Too scared. The Wall. Ha. Hahaha..."

"What are you talking about? Speak sense, for once. Speak sense!"

"Hssssssss."

The wild dog gritted his teeth, clearly in discomfort, but there was something else going on. Faarax twitched, hand clenching and unclenching on the chains. The dog's eyes were wide, then narrow, and sounds of pain and delight alike squeezed between his teeth.

"Hssssss. Hee hee, oh, you command, you command, hmm? Walls make people afraid. Can't see the outside. Only fear it. Dream it. Run from it. Anything's fair to keep outside out. Keep walls high. Everyone too weak, too scared, too - hsssssssssssssaaaaaaaaaaaah!'

What little answer he could get was drowned out by a howl of pain. The wild dog cupped his head with one hand before going to his knees and ramming his head against the ground. The blow sent a thud through the earth, and when he sat up again, there was a crater left behind from the blow. And yet, there was nothing to mark the wild dog himself.

"Ha...ha...no think...no thinking..."

"..."

"We...walk..."

Kero followed behind, unsure whether to be sympathetic or terrified. He settled for both.

They passed through the square plaza to another street, and they followed that deeper into Duba. The further that they went from the Wall, the more Kero began to realize how big the Walled City was. There were settlements in the Badlands, small villages that had managed to come together and make a living out of it, but they were rare, few and far between, and more, they were seldom more than fifty people all living together. One had been nearly at a hundred, but it was known far and wide as the biggest settlement outside the Cities.

Duba, it seemed, had well over ten times that number, if not more than twenty, or thirty times that. Every time that he saw a cluster of people that could not be counted on two hands, all he could think of was how much a target that would be outside the Wall. They would draw the hunters and the predators to them, a massive group that would spell the end for any village that lost them. Too many gone, and the village stopped being viable.

And he saw groups again and again, each one almost large enough to be a traveling clan in and of itself. The world of the City was so different.

Eventually, they reached what had to be the center of Duba, where a great rock rose up from the street and became a building all its own. It loomed over everything else, and at the tip was a carved wolf, a great feral thing that looked down at the rest of the city.

"Gray Pack house," Faarax said in explanation.

He nodded. The canals that went through the city emerged from beneath the great rock and the manor built out of it, and he remembered what Chidike had said. The whole place was built off this pack, this clan of people, and they were the ones that called the shots.

He was pulled forward with Faarax, the branded wild dog walking right up to the front door. Before they could reach it, the doors opened, and the same Great One that he had accidentally met with Chidike stepped out, his entourage following.

The dignified gray-furred wolf looked down at them, arching his head back. A slight snarl pulled back his lips from his fangs, but the snarl ended quickly.

"Breaker," the Great One said.

"Heh, yes. It is me."

"You are not allowed inside the Wall, within Duba."

"You called me. You wished me here to break others."

"Others sent to you. Wild, corrupt things are not allowed within Duba proper. You poison the air."

"I know poison. We all know poison. But your poison is worse. Sooooo much worse," Faarax said, his voice lowering to a hiss. "Heheh, but that's your choice. Your way. Your stupid, stupid way."

"Hmmph."

Kero bit his lip as the wolf turned to him, feeling those cold eyes more than before. What had been just one more stranger with little more than dignity to him was something more, now. He hated it, but the beatings and the brandings had taken his courage. He wanted to stand tall, to be unafraid, but he flinched despite himself.

"Badlander. You are breaking?"

"...He says I am," Kero admitted.

"You will obey."

It wasn't stated as a question, but he felt the urge to nod regardless. He even did, for a second, before he stopped himself.

"Good. I give you permission to use your strength. Punish the dog."

"...What?" Kero asked, even as he gasped in shock.

He felt his arms and legs come to life again. It was the only way that he could describe the feeling as warmth, power, and vitality filled them once more. It had only been a day without his full strength, but he had almost grown used to it. The sense of strength returning to him, the realization that he could pick up the wolf and throw him if he chose, made him realize what a shallow existence he'd felt since the first brand.

Without even thinking, he yanked his chains out of the wild dog's hands. Faarax turned, grinning wildly.

"Mmm, you want it, huh? You want to beat me? Ha...hahaha..."

"You will let him, mad one."

"Nnngh?"

"Freeze, Breaker. You will stand and take it."

Faarax froze, alright, standing stiff as a board with his eyes straight ahead. And yet, for all that he looked completely vulnerable for once, he still had that mad grin on his face. It was maddening and horrifying.

"Strike, Badlander. Remind him of the penalty for trespassing where he is not allowed," the Great One said.

Kero only hesitated for a moment, then the chains flew. The thought of striking out at the Great One and knocking the wolf down - even the thought of taking revenge for the stolen cheetah - was too much. He couldn't bring himself to risk the pain and punishment if he was brought low again for that, if he was given to Faarax to punish further.

Even the thought of what the dog might do when he was free to torture him again was far from the moment. All that mattered was obeying, taking that pain off himself for a moment, and getting revenge for what had been done to him.

CRACK!

The first strike whipped his chains across the wild dog's face, ripping through flesh and cracking a tooth in the process. The torturer didn't fall, nor did he flinch. He just kept grinning as he took the wound across his face .

"Again."

CRACK!

The next blow left bruises across the dog's chest, blackening the skin beneath the brands. He giggled, shaking with that crazy smile.

"Again."

CRACK!

"Again."

CRACK!

Over and over again, he struck, always driven forward by the commands of the Great One behind him. Despite the strength of his blows, however, Faarax never did more than slump slightly to one side or the other. He didn't know if it was the command that the other man was under, or if it was his sheer strength, but he never truly bent.

"Hold."

On the twentieth blow, or the twenty-first? Either way, he pulled his arms back, dragging the chains off the wild dog. He was damaged from head to toe, with bruises and even a broken bone obviously afflicting him. The brands were mostly darkened, now, bruises lining his flesh and marred skin, with some few of them scratched.

And yet...

Yet, there was something that he had missed earlier. When he'd tasted blood before in the cell, when he'd bitten the other man across the head, he'd known on some level that he'd broken flesh, but he hadn't paid attention. Now, panting, shaking from lashing out and taking some revenge, he did.

There was one brand on the top of Faarax's head that had been shattered by the bite, one that had been cut open so that the shape of the brand no longer held together. It was such a small thing, so minor compared to everything else, but it was still there.

Was that what had changed him?

Was that what had made him...follow orders, for lack of a better term?

"Sir! Great One!"

His thoughts were broken as the sound of Chidike's fearful voice cut the silence. All eyes, save Faarax's, turned to him. The hyena ran across the plaza before falling to his knees.

"My apologies, Great One. I was unaware -"

"They are not here at your command. I know."

"They left the cell. They were not to do that, but I am here now. I will take control once more. I apologize."

"Hmmph. You are lucky that you have progressed with their breaking as much as you have. If this...thing -" The wolf gestured at Kero, shaking his head. "- had been any less obedient, you would have joined him."

"...Yes, Great One."

"Remember. The Spotted Pack is new to Duba, as things stand. You were not among the great founders. We could remove you as easily as we accepted you."

"Yes...Great One."

"Do your duty, or we will find someone else that can."

"Or perhaps you should do yours," Kero said.

He had spoken well before thinking, and he regretted it as soon as the words came out of his mouth. The wolf, Chidike, and the wolf's entourage all turned to him. The Great One arched an eyebrow.

"Are you trying to tell me that you believe I am not doing my duty, corrupted one?"

"I -"

"Think. If you still can, before you speak, think. Or are you so desperate for pain and suffering and bloodshed, like all your kind, that you cannot do that any longer?"

"I can think more clearly than you!"

"..."

"Hiding behind the walls. Dragging anyone you can to defend it for you. Beating everyone else down with the fear of what's out there, just so you can keep it like this? Like some...illusion?"

"Silence."

He almost swallowed his tongue at the order and had to force himself to try and talk again. He was not yet branded to obey like the others. He opened his mouth -

"Silence him!"

Chidike's order didn't affect him, but it did affect Faarax. The wild dog lunged forward and punched him right in the stomach with full force. The dragon hunched forward, gasping for breath as the air was forced from his lungs.

As he sagged down to his knees, the Great One turned to the hyena.

"I spoke too soon. You have two days to break him, Officer, or you will join him."

"I -"

"Be thankful I am giving you time. You are rapidly trying my patience. Breaker."

"Nnngh?" Faarax hissed.

"Hold him."

As his torturer walked behind him, Kero already knew what was coming. He'd be beaten, reminded of what he was beneath the Great One and the other leaders of Duba. They'd smash him down, and then they'd take him back to the torture chambers, fitting him to the ceiling before branding him again. Once more, they'd take more from him, leaving him with less and less until he obeyed without question.

And he was right. He was pulled back to his feet, his arms dragged behind him. Faarax held him pinned, arms tighter and tighter to his sides, and he couldn't fight the pressure thrusting his chest out or anything else.

The wolf's guards stepped forward, popping their knuckles. Kero grunted, bracing himself, but already knowing that there was little point.

The blows fell. The raw grind of hard knuckles against his ribs, stomach, and face hurt as much as he expected them to, and more than once they hit him just hard enough to force the wind out of his lungs again. Every time that he tried to shift position, or curl up, or do anything to defend himself, he was stopped with a quick pull from behind. Faarax kept pulling him back, restraining him, making him too weak to do anything but take it.

Crack.

Thump.

Thud.

One particular punch nearly had him emptying his guts all over the ground, and he wheezed, coughing and sputtering afterward. The next guard stepped forward with a running punch, and Kero couldn't help himself. He had to stop it.

He leaned back, kicking his legs up and jamming his heels into the wolf's stomach. The kick didn't have his usual strength behind it, but it was still enough to send him flying backward, cupping his guts. There was some red on the floor, too.

"...Take him away," the Great One said. "Before he spoils the canal. And you, Breaker?"

"Hmm-hmm?"

"Back to work."

"Work. Work, work, work. Ha...ha..." The wild dog threw his head back, laughing. "Of course, back to work, oh -"

"Just shut up and do it."

"It will be done, sir, it will be done, Great One," Chidike said, bowing again and again, joining them. "Come on. Come on, before you make it worse..."

Back in the cell, fresh chains, stronger chains were run between his shackles and dragged up to the ceiling. He had other shackles fixed to his legs, chaining him to the floor to keep him from being allowed out again, and once they were attached, Chidike wheeled on the Breaker.

"What the hell were you thinking?!" the hyena hissed.

"Taking him out. Seeing what he will 'protect.'"

"You could have gotten me killed!"

"You safe. You weren't there."

"I didn't have to be. That's my reputation on the line. It's everyone in the Spotted Pack. We're relying on this, do you understand? A Badlander, someone like him? He could protect the Wall better than twenty branded citizens. He takes so much pressure of my people, and -"

"All of you should go."

"...He never should have borrowed you from Shura," Chidike said, shaking his head. "They never, ever should have borrowed you from Shura."

"They were happy. When I went, they were happy."

Kero had no idea what Shura was, nor why 'he' - he assumed the wolf Great One - would have been able to borrow Faarax from another Walled City. He imagined that someone with the branding skill would have been hard to replace, but to want someone like that when you already had one...

Then again, Faarax was terrifying. His presence probably broke people faster than the irons did, and Kero was ashamed that it was already doing something to him. Every time that the wild dog looked at him, he had to fight to keep from looking away. It humiliated him to suffer so much, but there was no denying that he did.

Chidike shook his head, pointing at the dragon.

"Keep going. And no more walks."

"Hmmph."

"And no more showing him things."

"Heh, orders, orders...I understand."

"Get. It. Done."

"Or?"

"Or the last thing that I'll do before they hand me over is make you remember, Breaker. I'll make you remember what you were."

For the first time, Kero saw a hint of fear and pain in the wild dog's face that had nothing to do with being harmed. He saw the smoke in his eyes, the fog that came when you wanted to forget something, when you'd been made to forget something that was too painful. Faarax hissed, but nodded.

"Understood."

"Now. Get it done."

The hyena left, and they were alone. He hung from the ceiling and barely touched the floor, and every slight sway of his legs reminded him of just how tight the bindings were now. They weren't taking any chances. They wanted this to be done.

He clenched his fists as he felt the bruise-pain in his core. The guards had been cruel, and they had made sure to leave as many marks as they could. He felt it every time that he breathed in, and when he breathed out, he almost felt like he was risking popping his lungs, or that they wouldn't fill again.

Yet, the wild dog didn't reach for the brands. Not yet. Instead, they shared a glance, eye to eye. Faarax chuckled.

"Fighter. Good fighter."

"...They want me to defend them."

"Not worth it."

"No."

"Can't stop them. Not alone."

Was that an offer, or was it something else? It was impossible to tell with the insane torturer, and he didn't know what he could believe and what he couldn't. The world of the Walled City was so different from his home, and Faarax was so different from the already-alien people of the city.

I need to get out...

That was the only way that he would be able to survive. He couldn't break the city, he couldn't save it. There was nobody here worth saving, as far as he was concerned. Chidike was nothing more than a coward trying to save his own skin, and the Great One was a wolf hopped up on his own power.

The people lived in terror, but that was nothing new. Everyone lived in terror, but at least in the Badlands, people knew what to do with fear. They had grown up with it, and they knew that terror and horror only had power so long as you didn't do anything to push back against them. You couldn't always win, but you could show your fears that you were not some helpless prey to be consumed.

The wild dog turned around, grabbing one of the branding irons. Once more, it went into the flames, and the hot metal smell filled the air. Kero sagged against the chains still further, wondering where it would go this time. Would it go to his head, to stop his thoughts? His feet, to still his movements? His spine, to remove his courage?

His heart, to bind his service to something else?

There were a hundred and more places where the hot iron could go, and he knew that any of them would weaken him even further. He had already lost so much, even his courage, and he didn't know if he would ever get it back.

But was he imagining things, or was the wild dog looking more contemplative than usual? He was still laughing, of course - he didn't think that Faarax would ever stop laughing - but he almost looked like he had a plan.

What kind of plan would someone like that even have?

The End

Summary: Kero and Faarax start to spend more time in each other's company, and the torturer shows a few new sides of himself.

Tags: No Sex, Male Nudity, Series, Fantasy, Branding, Fighting, Blood, Chains, Wolf, Hyena, Dragon, Wild Dog, Canine, Forced Nudity, Awareness of Nudity, Terror,