<a href= https://www.ticklingforum.com/showthread.php?326106-War%92s-End-The-King-of-Traitors-Part-1-(F-M)&>Part 1 (F/M)</a>
<a href= https://www.ticklingforum.com/showthread.php?326144-War%92s-End-The-King-of-Traitors-Part-2-(F-M)>Part 2 (F/M)</a>
<a href= https://www.ticklingforum.com/showthread.php?326180-War%92s-End-The-King-of-Traitors-Part-3-(F-M)&>Part 3 (F/M)</a>
<a href= https://www.ticklingforum.com/showthread.php?326203-War%92s-End-The-King-of-Traitors-Part-4-(FF-M)>Part 4 (FF/M)</a>
“Dave? Did they finally kill you, kid?”
“I’m not a kid,” David mumbled, pulling blond hair out of his brown eyes. He blinked thickly to find a man leaning over him. His black curls were out of sorts and a trail of blood leaked from his hairline, across his tanned forehead, and around his dark eyes.
“Sam.”
“One and only.” Samuel sat back. “You look like hell.”
“What about you?” David sat up, but clutched his bad shoulder as a muscle cramped somewhere. “Where the hell are we?”
“Back,” Samuel replied simply, and turned away. David followed his gaze, and his heart skipped as he noticed the iron bars separating them from the dim stone hallway beside them.
“No. Fuck no.”
“You’ve got that right.” Samuel leaned back. The cage they were trapped in wasn’t tall enough for them to stand up. “This is the Katas gladiator arena.”
“No,” David repeated, and lunged over Samuel’s lap to grab the padlock holding the cage shut. “Wait, I have… have… shit, where’d it go?” He fumbled for his missing necklace.
“What’re you looking for?”
“Elana, she gave— she gave me a key! Where is it?”
“If it’s that weird necklace, yeah, the bastards took it when they threw you in here. And that explains the other bit of jewelry you had on.” Samuel pointed.
They were both barefoot and shirtless, but David’s pants had ridden up and revealed a strip of untanned skin around his ankle. A silver fur-lined shackle lay in two outside the cage. David lunged for its remains and picked it up, reddening. “That’s, uh, that’s left over from when Astal had taken me prisoner. Elana and I never found the key—”
“So she gave you a different one to wear around your neck?”
“Uh… yeah.” David somehow flushed even more as his lie fell apart.
Samuel sighed. “Look, Dave, I know a collar when I see one. I don’t care what kind of kinky shit you and her get up to in that bedroom. I just wanna know how we’re going to get out of this.”
“It’s not a— she didn’t collar me! It’s—” David sighed. “Forget it. We are going to get out of this. We always do.”
“Great.” Shade gestured. “How?”
David examined the padlock again, then turned back to Samuel. “I don’t know.”
Samuel smacked his forehead. “Dammit, kid.”
“I’m of age,” he snapped back.
“By like six months.”
“It counts!” David fell to a seat beside him, trying to get comfortable on the thin straw littering the cage’s steel floor. “I’m sorry, Sam.” He hesitated. “Do… do you know what the schedule is?”
“Yeah.”
“So… what is it?”
“Death match,” Samuel deadpanned. “You and me.”
“You’re kidding.” David stared. “You’re not going to throw, are you?”
“Of course not. You beat me, fair and square, or I beat you, fair and square.”
David raked a hand through his hair. There was no way he could beat Samuel. He may as well already be dead.
“I can’t believe this,” Samuel continued. “This isn’t supposed to happen, Dave. Not anymore. This was never supposed to happen again.”
“It’s not. We were trying to stop it. Yesmir and I came with a battalion to try and find you.”
“So why are you the only one here?”
“I think I’m the only one who survived.” David’s voice broke.
“Gods dammit, Dave—”
A guard stepped into the hall. “Get them ready. They’re next!”
More guards appeared. One opened the padlock to their cage. Another pair dragged them out, then frogmarched them to an array of weapons. “Pick.”
“That one.” David nodded awkwardly; his guard had a fist in his hair.
Another guard collected the short sword. On the other wall, Samuel asked for a greatsword as long as David was tall.
“This looks like it’s gonna be interesting,” the guard holding David whispered to another. “Bet the older one wins.”
“No way,” the other scoffed. “You’re holding David of Cerces. The kid’s gonna put up a good fight.”
“I’m not a kid,” David muttered once more, and he was thrown into a sandy pit for his effort. His sword landed next to him with a clang.
He gathered himself, trying to figure out the balance on his hand-me-down weapon. On the other side of the pit, Samuel stepped forward, the greatsword level in his grasp.
David at last got a somewhat comfortable grip on his sword, and he approached the center of the ring. The crowd roared. He’d missed that. Odd.
Samuel didn’t stop until they were almost chest to chest. David bit his lip, but in a swift movement, Samuel threw his sword aside, halfway across the pit.
David’s eyebrows shot up, but he got the idea and threw his own sword the other way.
Boos picked up immediately.
Samuel risked a glance up. “They came for blood, Dave.”
David took a step back, raising his fists. “So c’mon, then.”
Samuel lunged. David tried to land a punch, but Samuel ducked and caught hold of his wrist. He yanked David forward, over an outstretched leg, and David promptly tripped and landed hard in the dust. Samuel sat on his forearms, and David could only squirm.
“Get <i>off,</i> Sam!”
“Not if this works.” Samuel glanced up once more. The crowd had fallen silent. “Because I sure as hell am not killing you, kid.”
“Sam! I—<i> NAHAHAHA! SAHAHAHAHAM! STAHAHAHAP!”</i>
“No. This could save both our lives.” Samuel kept prodding David’s stomach, squeezing the almost non-existent fat around his navel.
David shrieked, unable to so much as move under Samuel’s weight. Instead he squirmed frantically, hoping to land a lucky kick. Nothing.
“Just a bit longer, Dave. I promise.” Samuel moved up, massaging David’s ribs and tweaking his nipples. “Gods, if I knew you were this ticklish, I would’ve done this sooner.”
<i>“NAH! NOHOHOHO! FAHAHAHACK YOHOHOHOHOU!”</i>
“Hmph. I think I’ll keep going then.”
Somewhere in the incoherent mumble of sound and sensation bouncing around David’s mind, a thought broke through.
Cursing out his tickler never ended well. Why did he keep doing it?
Around him, the crowd started to pick up on David’s helpless laughter and laugh along. Samuel grinned. It was a job well done.
He stood and waved at the crowd. Cheers picked up. But behind him, David shook his head and climbed to his feet.
Samuel paused, unsure why the crowd fell silent once more, then crumpled as David pounced onto his back. Samuel burst out laughing as David landed a few good pokes on his sides, but with a flex of his shoulders he sent him to the sand again. David tried to gather himself for another attack, but Samuel planted himself on David’s hips before he could scramble free.
“Sam, seriously. I don’t like this.”
“The other option is to run you through with a sword. Shut up and take it!”
David’s eyes bugged as Samuel rubbed his ribs. With his arms free, he could slap away his hands, but Samuel always had another hold on him, and quickly found the sensitive scars on David’s shoulders and belly.
“Gods, you look worse than me, and I was in the circuits for years longer than you.” Samuel chuckled. “Is this from that fight we were in?”
<i>“YEHEHEHES!”</i> David threw his head back. “Get <i>OHOHOHOFF!”</i>
“I see why they used tickling to torture you.” Samuel held David down with one hand and spider-tickled the thin muscles on his stomach with the other. “You’re so deadpan otherwise. Aren’t all of these scars on your arms from when you were interrogated at Dalle?”
<i>“SAHAHAM! STAHAHAHAP!”</i> David’s eyes rolled back. Samuel let up, stunned, but when David’s chest rose and fell, the older of the pair stood and raised his fists as the crowd cheered.
***
“Dave? You alive?”
David opened his eyes with a groan, pressing a hand to his bruised forehead. “You went too far this time, Princess…”
“I’m not Elana, kid.” Samuel helped him to a seat. “You know, I knew she was doing something to you.”
“I asked for it,” he mumbled. “We’re not dead?”
“Fortunately. And unfortunately for you.”
“What does that mean?” He pried his eyes open; they were back inside the tiny cage.
“It means you’re not going to be in death matches anymore.”
“What? That’s great!”
“You’re going to be the star of some new tickle wrestling event.”
David’s jaw fell open. “I’m <i>what?”</i>
“You heard me, kid.” Samuel slumped. “I’m so sorry. It looked like I was putting you through hell.”
“You were,” David agreed quietly. This was it for him? Pinned to the sand and tickled half to death every night for the rest of his life? Elana knew when to stop and when he needed a break— the circuit owners didn’t give a damn about their gladiators as long as they were making money.
“Hey, look. It’s tickle wrestling. If you can get on top of the other guy—”
“Sam, I’m a walking tickle spot. He’ll have me on the ground the moment he touches me.” David buried his hands in his hair. “This isn’t real. Yeah, it’s not. You killed me in the arena, and I’m in hell.”
“It’s cute that you think you’re that lucky, kid.” Samuel made a pillow out of the straw strewn about the cage. “At least you don’t have to kill another guy tomorrow.”
David stared at his best friend as he dozed off. Samuel was the type to accept things once they got out of hand. It’s why David was the stubborn leader and Samuel was the lieutenant.
David reached over Samuel to examine the cage’s padlock again.
Because he sure as hell was not going to accept this.
<a href= https://www.ticklingforum.com/showthread.php?326144-War%92s-End-The-King-of-Traitors-Part-2-(F-M)>Part 2 (F/M)</a>
<a href= https://www.ticklingforum.com/showthread.php?326180-War%92s-End-The-King-of-Traitors-Part-3-(F-M)&>Part 3 (F/M)</a>
<a href= https://www.ticklingforum.com/showthread.php?326203-War%92s-End-The-King-of-Traitors-Part-4-(FF-M)>Part 4 (FF/M)</a>
“Dave? Did they finally kill you, kid?”
“I’m not a kid,” David mumbled, pulling blond hair out of his brown eyes. He blinked thickly to find a man leaning over him. His black curls were out of sorts and a trail of blood leaked from his hairline, across his tanned forehead, and around his dark eyes.
“Sam.”
“One and only.” Samuel sat back. “You look like hell.”
“What about you?” David sat up, but clutched his bad shoulder as a muscle cramped somewhere. “Where the hell are we?”
“Back,” Samuel replied simply, and turned away. David followed his gaze, and his heart skipped as he noticed the iron bars separating them from the dim stone hallway beside them.
“No. Fuck no.”
“You’ve got that right.” Samuel leaned back. The cage they were trapped in wasn’t tall enough for them to stand up. “This is the Katas gladiator arena.”
“No,” David repeated, and lunged over Samuel’s lap to grab the padlock holding the cage shut. “Wait, I have… have… shit, where’d it go?” He fumbled for his missing necklace.
“What’re you looking for?”
“Elana, she gave— she gave me a key! Where is it?”
“If it’s that weird necklace, yeah, the bastards took it when they threw you in here. And that explains the other bit of jewelry you had on.” Samuel pointed.
They were both barefoot and shirtless, but David’s pants had ridden up and revealed a strip of untanned skin around his ankle. A silver fur-lined shackle lay in two outside the cage. David lunged for its remains and picked it up, reddening. “That’s, uh, that’s left over from when Astal had taken me prisoner. Elana and I never found the key—”
“So she gave you a different one to wear around your neck?”
“Uh… yeah.” David somehow flushed even more as his lie fell apart.
Samuel sighed. “Look, Dave, I know a collar when I see one. I don’t care what kind of kinky shit you and her get up to in that bedroom. I just wanna know how we’re going to get out of this.”
“It’s not a— she didn’t collar me! It’s—” David sighed. “Forget it. We are going to get out of this. We always do.”
“Great.” Shade gestured. “How?”
David examined the padlock again, then turned back to Samuel. “I don’t know.”
Samuel smacked his forehead. “Dammit, kid.”
“I’m of age,” he snapped back.
“By like six months.”
“It counts!” David fell to a seat beside him, trying to get comfortable on the thin straw littering the cage’s steel floor. “I’m sorry, Sam.” He hesitated. “Do… do you know what the schedule is?”
“Yeah.”
“So… what is it?”
“Death match,” Samuel deadpanned. “You and me.”
“You’re kidding.” David stared. “You’re not going to throw, are you?”
“Of course not. You beat me, fair and square, or I beat you, fair and square.”
David raked a hand through his hair. There was no way he could beat Samuel. He may as well already be dead.
“I can’t believe this,” Samuel continued. “This isn’t supposed to happen, Dave. Not anymore. This was never supposed to happen again.”
“It’s not. We were trying to stop it. Yesmir and I came with a battalion to try and find you.”
“So why are you the only one here?”
“I think I’m the only one who survived.” David’s voice broke.
“Gods dammit, Dave—”
A guard stepped into the hall. “Get them ready. They’re next!”
More guards appeared. One opened the padlock to their cage. Another pair dragged them out, then frogmarched them to an array of weapons. “Pick.”
“That one.” David nodded awkwardly; his guard had a fist in his hair.
Another guard collected the short sword. On the other wall, Samuel asked for a greatsword as long as David was tall.
“This looks like it’s gonna be interesting,” the guard holding David whispered to another. “Bet the older one wins.”
“No way,” the other scoffed. “You’re holding David of Cerces. The kid’s gonna put up a good fight.”
“I’m not a kid,” David muttered once more, and he was thrown into a sandy pit for his effort. His sword landed next to him with a clang.
He gathered himself, trying to figure out the balance on his hand-me-down weapon. On the other side of the pit, Samuel stepped forward, the greatsword level in his grasp.
David at last got a somewhat comfortable grip on his sword, and he approached the center of the ring. The crowd roared. He’d missed that. Odd.
Samuel didn’t stop until they were almost chest to chest. David bit his lip, but in a swift movement, Samuel threw his sword aside, halfway across the pit.
David’s eyebrows shot up, but he got the idea and threw his own sword the other way.
Boos picked up immediately.
Samuel risked a glance up. “They came for blood, Dave.”
David took a step back, raising his fists. “So c’mon, then.”
Samuel lunged. David tried to land a punch, but Samuel ducked and caught hold of his wrist. He yanked David forward, over an outstretched leg, and David promptly tripped and landed hard in the dust. Samuel sat on his forearms, and David could only squirm.
“Get <i>off,</i> Sam!”
“Not if this works.” Samuel glanced up once more. The crowd had fallen silent. “Because I sure as hell am not killing you, kid.”
“Sam! I—<i> NAHAHAHA! SAHAHAHAHAM! STAHAHAHAP!”</i>
“No. This could save both our lives.” Samuel kept prodding David’s stomach, squeezing the almost non-existent fat around his navel.
David shrieked, unable to so much as move under Samuel’s weight. Instead he squirmed frantically, hoping to land a lucky kick. Nothing.
“Just a bit longer, Dave. I promise.” Samuel moved up, massaging David’s ribs and tweaking his nipples. “Gods, if I knew you were this ticklish, I would’ve done this sooner.”
<i>“NAH! NOHOHOHO! FAHAHAHACK YOHOHOHOHOU!”</i>
“Hmph. I think I’ll keep going then.”
Somewhere in the incoherent mumble of sound and sensation bouncing around David’s mind, a thought broke through.
Cursing out his tickler never ended well. Why did he keep doing it?
Around him, the crowd started to pick up on David’s helpless laughter and laugh along. Samuel grinned. It was a job well done.
He stood and waved at the crowd. Cheers picked up. But behind him, David shook his head and climbed to his feet.
Samuel paused, unsure why the crowd fell silent once more, then crumpled as David pounced onto his back. Samuel burst out laughing as David landed a few good pokes on his sides, but with a flex of his shoulders he sent him to the sand again. David tried to gather himself for another attack, but Samuel planted himself on David’s hips before he could scramble free.
“Sam, seriously. I don’t like this.”
“The other option is to run you through with a sword. Shut up and take it!”
David’s eyes bugged as Samuel rubbed his ribs. With his arms free, he could slap away his hands, but Samuel always had another hold on him, and quickly found the sensitive scars on David’s shoulders and belly.
“Gods, you look worse than me, and I was in the circuits for years longer than you.” Samuel chuckled. “Is this from that fight we were in?”
<i>“YEHEHEHES!”</i> David threw his head back. “Get <i>OHOHOHOFF!”</i>
“I see why they used tickling to torture you.” Samuel held David down with one hand and spider-tickled the thin muscles on his stomach with the other. “You’re so deadpan otherwise. Aren’t all of these scars on your arms from when you were interrogated at Dalle?”
<i>“SAHAHAM! STAHAHAHAP!”</i> David’s eyes rolled back. Samuel let up, stunned, but when David’s chest rose and fell, the older of the pair stood and raised his fists as the crowd cheered.
***
“Dave? You alive?”
David opened his eyes with a groan, pressing a hand to his bruised forehead. “You went too far this time, Princess…”
“I’m not Elana, kid.” Samuel helped him to a seat. “You know, I knew she was doing something to you.”
“I asked for it,” he mumbled. “We’re not dead?”
“Fortunately. And unfortunately for you.”
“What does that mean?” He pried his eyes open; they were back inside the tiny cage.
“It means you’re not going to be in death matches anymore.”
“What? That’s great!”
“You’re going to be the star of some new tickle wrestling event.”
David’s jaw fell open. “I’m <i>what?”</i>
“You heard me, kid.” Samuel slumped. “I’m so sorry. It looked like I was putting you through hell.”
“You were,” David agreed quietly. This was it for him? Pinned to the sand and tickled half to death every night for the rest of his life? Elana knew when to stop and when he needed a break— the circuit owners didn’t give a damn about their gladiators as long as they were making money.
“Hey, look. It’s tickle wrestling. If you can get on top of the other guy—”
“Sam, I’m a walking tickle spot. He’ll have me on the ground the moment he touches me.” David buried his hands in his hair. “This isn’t real. Yeah, it’s not. You killed me in the arena, and I’m in hell.”
“It’s cute that you think you’re that lucky, kid.” Samuel made a pillow out of the straw strewn about the cage. “At least you don’t have to kill another guy tomorrow.”
David stared at his best friend as he dozed off. Samuel was the type to accept things once they got out of hand. It’s why David was the stubborn leader and Samuel was the lieutenant.
David reached over Samuel to examine the cage’s padlock again.
Because he sure as hell was not going to accept this.
