Time passed for the deer of Thicket, each having to endure the hardships placed upon them by the minotaur. Rape, loss, sorrow, these concepts became well known to the former residents of Everfree as they became little more than property and breeding stock for their new masters. The deer had been, up until that point, untouched by the world outside of their forest, but now they had to experience the customs of a culture outside of their own in the worst way possible, conscripted into servitude via the yoke of slavery.

Yet within the droves of slaves suffering in this minotaur-controlled land, there were a few who were given a small semblance of leniency, who wore a collar, yet hadn’t felt the sting of a whip, nor the pain that came with their master’s affection. One such person was the former prince of Thicket, Prince Bramble.

Night had come to the minotaur lands, draping their cities in darkness. In one such city, the capital city of Minopolis, resided the home of the war chief, Titanius. It was at this time he was asleep, and those he owned were supposed to be resting from their hard day of service to their master, but on this night Bramble found himself unable to enter the land of dreams.

This was a common occurrence for the buck, seeing that he lived in a home where his father and a stag he looked up to were raped frequently, but tonight felt different somehow, for reasons he didn't understand. Perhaps he was just too hot, as Titanius had recently allowed Bramble the privilege of joining him in his bed. Not in the sexual manner, as Titanius still considered Bramble ‘too young’ for penetration, but simply to allow the Thicket deer some comfort as he slept. The bed was much better than the cage he had been spending the nights in before, but he and his master were not the only ones sharing it with one another, as many other males joined them atop the massive mattress.

Titanius had many slaves, acquired through either purchase or conquest. The minotaur was apparently very successful in his role as raid chieftain, and his home and roster of slaves were proof of his accomplishments. While not one of the biggest homes a minotaur could have, his residence was big enough to house himself and twenty one slaves, twenty males and a single Antlertean doe. Every day, Bramble had to interact with them, and most were fairly nice and understanding towards Bramble, at one point having been in the same place he was now. The doe was especially nice, acting as the home mother to the other slaves, which Titanius called his ‘boys’, despite a couple of them being older than he was.

Each night though, Bramble had to interact with his master and the other males in more intimate manners. Titanius would choose several of his slaves to pleasure him, and allowed the others to play amongst themselves, with everything short of penetration allowed, not that one could, as all of Titanius’ boys were equipped with a chastity cage. Of course, those who didn’t consent weren’t exempt from this nightly ritual, and those who complained too much would be bound in some manner to allow the others to do as they willed with them. Blackthorn and Aspen were often tied up because of this.

So, night after night, Bramble would be at the mercy of a legion of fondling hands and soft lips that danced over every private area of his body, left unbound, as while he was resistant, he still allowed the others to do as they pleased with him. This led to what was perhaps the real reason he couldn’t find rest, as when he looked back on those moments where he was at the mercy of those other men, he couldn’t say that he entirely hated it. He knew that he wasn’t supposed to like being touched by males in such a way, but when it happened, he couldn’t help but feel aroused. The inside of his cock cage would feel incredibly restraining when the other guys groped his body, and Bramble wasn’t ignorant to what that meant.

The buck needed some air, and thus, he made his way off the bed. He had to climb over and around the bodies of the other males, but he managed to make it off the mattress without waking any of them. From there, all he had to do was go to a curtain near the bed that led to the third floor balcony of his master’s house. While Bramble wasn’t trusted with the ability to roam around freely, the only thing that restricted him at this time was a length of chain connecting a shackle on his ankle to one of the legs of the bed, which was enough to get to his destination. Thus, the deer silently made his way outside, to the only place he could reach beyond his prison.

Making it past the curtains, Bramble found the night to be calm. There were few clouds in the sky, allowing the moon to shine down on the city that had become his home. Minopolis, the maze city, called that because of the intricate layout of the streets surrounded by large buildings that made it hard to navigate if one didn’t know the city intimately. Bramble had already been in the city nine months at least, a time frame he determined due to being taken to watch a group of Thicket does giving public birth, and he still hardly knew how to get from one end of the street to another. Minotaur seemed to have no problem getting around though, Titanius once telling Bramble that they had an inherent sense of direction when navigating complex terrains made up of towering walls. What would take days for any other species took the bovines mere minutes to transverse.

At his current elevation, Bramble got a good view of the city, but the vantage point gave him no better idea which way one would go to escape it if he were to attempt such a stunt. The only thing the view did was let him take in the marvel that was minotaur architecture combined with the strange technological magic of the Antlerteans. The result was an industrious looking city perpetually lit up by the soft glow of Antlertean magic. It would have been a splendorous sight to behold, if not for the knowledge that underneath that beauty was a civilization that thrived because of slavery and rape.

Bramble shivered slightly as he looked over the city from his perch, not wearing any clothes as the cool wind of the night blew over him. The deer had to suffer the feeling of the cold air blowing up inside him, thanks to a modification to his body his master had bestowed upon him. He, Blackthorn, and Aspen, had all had their antlers trimmed down to nubs, and the older two had received many adjustments to their bodies to make them more receptive and accepting of the minotaur’s brutal affections, but one other thing had been done to alter Bramble’s body: the addition of a golden ring to his flesh, embedded in the young adult’s anus. The golden ring of metal was weaved in and out of his O-ring, keeping the passage forcibly opened at all times. At first, he was worried that such a thing would lead to messy situations, but he soon found out that the minotaur fed their slaves a specially developed paste substance that contained all the nutrients a creature needed to survive, and said paste had something in it that forced the body to absorb all of it. He was told by his master that he’d get fat before he ever produced even a small amount of bodily waste again, and that if he started to show some pudge, the minotaur would have him do exercises to keep getting him back to a preferred weight.

The ring had a bit of a special crafting to it, as it was actually composed of four quarters of a ring, segmented from one another and held together with a smaller, likewise segmented ring within it. This allowed the piece of metal to expand, if need be, for things that would be entering the hole, since nothing would ever be exiting that passage ever again. The necessity for such an item was fairly clear to Bramble, as it would make the eventual insertion of Titanius’ cock all the more easier when he decided to put the buck’s ass to use.

The reminder of the ring, and its reason for being, gave Bramble more things to dwell on. It had been nearly a year since he was given the piece of jewelry, and slightly more time that he had become a slave, yet the minotaur hadn’t taken advantage of his power over the buck and utilized him for what was clearly his intended role in the minotaur’s household. He should have just been happy that he hadn’t been penetrated yet, but he often wondered why Titanius took such liberties with his father and Blackthorn, but not him. It couldn’t have simply been that Titanius looked at him as being too young, could it? Sergius wasn’t that much older than him, yet he was used frequently as a sex slave. In some ways, he felt rejected, and that led to other odd feelings that he was immensely confused about.

He couldn’t have been jealous of all the other males, of how they got to have sex with Titanius while he was left sitting on the sidelines. He couldn’t have actually wanted what his father and Blackthorn were getting, as he watched them become more receptive to their rape over time. He was supposed to be the prince of Thicket, a title that meant that he should hate the very thought of being the thing his master wanted him to be. A slave, a tool for sex, a homosexual… To be these things went against how he was brought up, the pride instilled in him by his kingdom and the very principles of morality said kingdom stood upon. Yet, when he watched the others servicing Titanius, offering their bodies to him without any form of objection or hesitation, all the while being held and touched by the other slaves, something inside him would awaken and fill him with a desire to join in.

“Hmm?” The sound of curtains being pulled open came from behind Bramble, followed up by the curious hum of a person being caught off guard by his presence, “Didn’t think anyone was out here.”

Surprised, Bramble spun his body around and thankfully didn’t find his master standing in the doorway. What he did see, on the other hand, was a blue-feathered gryphon.

“Oh, Gallus, it’s you.” Bramble said, displaying a casual demeanor after being caught someplace he assumed he wasn’t supposed to be at night, “What are you doing out here this late?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Gallus replied, “If I had a reason to care.”

Gallus, unlike the rest of Titanius’ boys, was not exactly a slave. He was, as he put it, ‘hired entertainment’, having forged a contract with Titanius to serve the functions of a sex slave, but in exchange, he was able to negotiate the terms of his servitude, getting many more privileges than the actual slaves and receiving payment for his services. It was apparently an altered version of a practice the minotaur used to employ with other races, hiring females to carry their children when attempts at romancing them failed, until even payment fell out of favor by those who would have to endure the acts of painful intercourse and agonizing birthing.

Before entering the contract, Gallus had been working as a mercenary for the minotaur, a job he was brought into by some gryphoness he knew. While in that job, he was tasked with aiding the minotaur in the capture of slaves by transporting those unfortunate enough to fall into their clutches. Because he wasn’t part of the hunting crew, his portion of the pay was a little underwhelming, and combined with the unsatisfying labor, Gallus found himself unhappy with his position in the minotaur’s operation. Then, one day Titanius took notice of him, both in his attitude towards his job and his physical appearance. Gallus was at first insulted, but his tune quickly changed when Titanius started throwing numbers at him. One signing of a legally binding Minopian contract later, he had exchanged his mercenary gear for a set of see-through harem garbs and relocated his residence to Minopolis.

“I guess I don’t blame ya for wanting to get away from Titanius for a minute,” said the gryphon, easily figuring out what Bramble was doing, “It’s not like you want to be here. Heck, I wouldn’t even be here if I wasn’t being paid my weight in gold.”

“You don’t like what the master does to you?” Bramble asked. Gallus often looked bored while taking care of Titanius’ home, but as the minotaur’s sexual servant, he tended to act with a bit more enthusiasm.

“Me? No, I’m straight.” Gallus answered, correcting any assumptions Bramble might have had to the contrary, “I just do what I have to in order to keep the boss happy. Who really enjoys their job anyways? I guess ponies like working with their ‘special talents’ and all, but back in Griffonstone, work was just a chore that most did as little as possible. Trust me, as much as it hurts to take a minotaur cock up the butt, it’s way less bothersome than pushing dirt with a broom.”

“So you don’t see anything wrong with this?” Bramble asked, not even sure what the ‘this’ he was referring to was.

“What? The enslavement? The rape? The fact that there’s a single woman living in here, and she’s the only one not having sex?” said Gallus, addressing every concern he could think of, “When it comes to the first two, I don’t really see that as my problem. Sure, I wouldn’t like it if I were the one wearing the collar, but it would still be better than living in the rundown shack I used to. Minopolis is pretty much an upgrade from my hometown.”

“An upgrade?” Bramble said, wondering if he could say the same.

He was a prince, and used to live in a palace, but from there he only knew his own people. Since having been dragged to Minopolis, he had been able to encounter a whole new exciting, if frightening, culture, and to vicariously meet other species that he would have never encountered in the seclusion of his xenophobic kingdom. Ironically, Minopolis was also much safer than Thicket, a forest kingdom in the heart of a monster infested forest, because the very people who destroyed it were now the protectors of those who used to live in it. Then there was the reduction of Bramble’s responsibilities. In Thicket, Bramble was being raised and groomed to one day serve every citizen in the kingdom, while here, he was responsible for serving only one.

“As for the gay sex thing, I don’t worry about it too much.” Gallus continued on, “I’ve been here longer than you, and I still would rather be between the legs of some fine feathery female than wrapped around a minotaur’s dick. Sure, they say that they have the ability to turn lesbians straight and guys gay, but I figure that unless you were somehow into it beforehand, it doesn’t really work. Still, gotta put on a smile for Titanius when he uses me. It’s part of my contract.”

“Huh...” Bramble replied, not sure what else to say as those words sunk in.

“All I’m saying is that you might have it bad, but things could be much worse. Seeing how Titanius hasn’t done more than fondle you when he gets in the mood, I’d almost say he has a soft spot for ya. Otherwise, you’d be put on the rape rack like your dad. Who knows, maybe if you play your cards right and butter up to him, he might be willing to give you a break and give you a deal like me.”

“Do you even think that’s possible?” Bramble questioned.

“Well… I suppose he doesn’t really have to, but I’ve heard that sometimes, people do things out of the kindness of their hearts. Way I see it though, it wouldn’t hurt to suck up a little.” Having said that, Gallus let his wings go to full span, and put a talon onto the balcony’s banister. “Anyways, I came out here to stretch my wings. Take my advice or leave it, it doesn’t really matter to me. Besides that, if the boss wakes up before I get back, tell him I’ll be back by morning.”

With a single flap and a push of his leg, Gallus took off into the sky, leaving Bramble with only his words. It was hard to believe that Gallus might be right in the way he viewed things, but it was equally difficult to argue with the freedom the gryphon displayed as a servant when he was chained down as a slave. However, the idea of sucking up to Titanius wasn’t the point that worried Bramble the most. It was the idea he proposed that one would only find gay acts attractive if they were already gay. Bramble, out of obligation to his kingdom and its ways, never humored the notion that he could like men, seldom being tempted by such thoughts, but now, he found himself surrounded by taboo that only seemed to excite him. What if he had been this way all along, and was being stifled by his culture into thinking this was not right, and now he had been thrust into another culture that couldn’t care less. It wasn’t enough to change his mind immediately, but it gave him something to think about.

Seeing no reason to stay outside any longer, Bramble returned to the room and awkwardly made his way back into the bed, climbing over the other deer in between the edge of the bed and his spot, said spot being right next to Titanius. He eased into the empty space and pushed himself up against his master, the crowded bed making it so that was the only way he could lay down comfortably.

This is my life now, Bramble thought as he closed his eyes, Maybe I should make the best of it.

As Bramble tried to get some sleep in before the sun rose, the minotaur stirred and wrapped his arm around the buck’s body, the word “Rubus” softly coming from his lips. Maybe he had noticed the deer’s absence, if only subconsciously, and was glad that he returned. Somehow, that made Bramble feel a little better about what Gallus had told him, knowing that he was in some way valued by the minotaur. With that thought in mind, the former prince of Thicket drifted to sleep, resting up to face another day of his new life as a servant of the minotaur.

Author's Note

And this marks the (potentially) final chapter of the story. I hope you all enjoyed it. If I feel up to it next December, I may do some chapters featuring the female deer and how they were treated throughout all this, but for the time being I have a few other projects to focus on. If you are all lucky, one of those projects will be ready in a month or two, and you'll have something very interesting to look at (hopefully). Till then, have a nice day.