The Keep

Adult warning for gore, torture and rape.

There was an acrid smell of smoke in the air when Sunia came to, her head swollen with a large bruise on the side, her cheek bones tender to the touch. Her pink lips were split up the center from the dehydration and constant abuse. She lay on the hard, stone floor, her nude body sprawled across it, taking in any amount of chill she could to escape from the heavy, hot air around her.

She wasn't sure how long she had been kept in her cage this time, but she knew it was longer than usual. She had been awake for hours before the last beating, listening to the dripping of the water so close to her, yet so unattainable. Though it was black in the room where her cage was, she could tell that the water was dripping a long ways down. She rolled onto her back, shivering with slight delight at the cold on her skin.

The cage was constructed with heavy bars, and it took her four full strides to complete a circle around the area. Though the ceiling was high enough for her to stand to her full height, she could reach the bars if she jumped off the ground. There was a large door on one side of her cage where she was often visited. She could never tell who it was; the room was so dark with no light coming in, she soon became familiar with the common movements and guttural sounds emitted during the men's unrestrained pleasure.

She rubbed her forehead, squirming awkwardly on the ground, desperate for release. She couldn't remember the entire reason why she was put in the cage this time, though she remembered she had a human client the day before, though he seemed pleased. The jailer was a fickle man, however, and who knew his motives for his punishments. Sunia groaned and stood, moving towards the bars of the cage, shouting out in futility at the heavy, black air, "I didn't do anythin' wrong, let me out!" Sighing, she plopped back down, knowing it wouldn't do any good.

She had a feeling that the jailer liked tormenting her best. In her few and far between conversations with the other prisoners, they had no inkling of what the cage was. Sunia darted up again as she heard a tiny click come from far away, causing an echo and with it a sudden, blinding light. She reeled back, shielding her eyes and turning around, crying out in pain for a moment before turning back cautiously, and looking towards the source. The sound of heavy, solid walking echoed around her, drowning out the sound of the infernal dripping. She reached her thin arms out through the gates, groping for a feel of her visitor.

Expertly, the man grabbed her arm, thrusting a cup into it and ceiling both of her hands around it. Without waiting for further instruction, Sunia quickly brought the cup through the bars and began drinking it, clumsily, some dripping down her chin onto her chest. The boots walked towards the source of the water and then the tormenting dripping was gone.

He walked back, and with the same meticulous slowness, he opened the door, stepping to be inside with her. In a swift and startlingly fluid and graceful movement, the man grabbed her wrist, causing the cup to clink to the floor in her shock. Leather cuffs soon enveloped her wrists, cutting into her pale flesh. She yelped and moved backwards towards the bars, stumbling to her bottom.

He yanked her up, hoisting her into the air as she kicked her feet, struggling to get loose. She heard a noise in the distance and turned towards it, shouting out loudly. The man ignored her cries as he laid her down on the cold floor, securing her leather bindings with a rope tied to the cage. He pressed down on her stomach and roughly yanked her legs apart, cuffing them with a metal cuff that bit at her ankle, causing her to squeal and squirm while he repeated the step to the other leg.

There were more footsteps moving towards her now, clicking on the floor with purpose, muttering in low voices. Suddenly, there was light all around, blinding and terrible, Sunia instinctively moved to cover her eyes as she shut them tight, screaming in pain. More hands on her body, prodding her, but she couldn't open her eyes, the light was too bright. Her head was growing fuzzy and dark, as though there was something trying to get into her brain and she cried out again, meeker and more of a mewling than a cry.

The hands were all over her, she could feel them crawling up and down her body, groping and grabbing at her flesh, fighting one another like animals over the best scrap of meat. Her head buzzed with an unknown noise, calling her away from herself, coaxing her to leave the situation, abandon her body but she refused, forcing herself to remain still and tense, fighting the feeling of being drugged.

There was music in the background, drumming, singing… a woman's voice singing. Sunia wasn't sure where the sound was coming from, but suddenly there was warmth atop her, washing over her. Slowly she opened her eyes and the bleary vision of a man bucking atop her was the last thing she could recall before passing out.

~~

Warmth. Sunia mumbled the word over and over, unable to toss and turn in her bindings. Flickers of conversation reached her ears, nothing she wanted to hear. The men were excited, then serious… anger… then nothing. When she finally came back to reality, it took her a moment to register the blinding pain that coursed through her body, coming from…

Sunia screamed as she cupped her hand over her genitals, the bindings having been removed, her hands instantly sticky and crimson with fresh blood. The pain. She screamed and cried, unable to stand, curling into fetal position, yelling loudly for help.

~~

She sobbed in the Jailor's lap as he soothed her, a man in white, his face hidden by a mask, working between her thighs. Sunia clutched at him like a child, whimpering and twitching, the pain almost blocking out his words, making her forget them almost as soon as he had said them, coming back to her later in a haze.

"Pregnant…" he paused, rubbing her forehead, "couldn't let you…" there was another snippet of conversation she didn't understand, "never happen again."

And finally, "mine."

He kissed her softly on her hair as she passed out.