Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Author's Notes:

   For those unfamiliar with the early pulps, especially the works of Edgar
Rice Burroughs, the writing style for these stories may seem odd, the prose
purple, the plotting filled with too many deus ex machina, and the villains
far to eager to give useful exposition when the hero just happens to be in
the right place to overhear it.  That's the pulp style and it's what I'm
emulating here.  No, I don't write that way for any of my other stories.

   I recently read the Barsoom books by Burroughs and felt inspired to rip
off, er make an homage, to his naked warriors.

   If I were going for the true pulp style I'd make all the mysterious
advanced technology work with a single buzzword, Burroughs used "radium" to
explain just about everything, I suppose the modern equivalent would be
"nano".  However I couldn't make myself do that so the technology of Khule
is, if not more realistic, at least more varied in the buzzwords and other
excuses used to handwave past its impossibilities.  Despite the appearance
of technology this is pure sword and sorcery style fantasy except I'll be
using words other than "magic" to explain away the unreality.

   The real inspiration for writing this was the way Burroughs had of
implying all sorts of sexual bad things happening to his female characters
without ever actually describing them, or doing more than suggest that the
villains **wanted** to abuse his characters but never actually acting on
the impulse.  Since this is posted to A.S.S.  it should go without saying
that such things do happen and are described here.

   However, in the grand pulp tradition of characters being roughed up, cut
up, and otherwise harmed without any trauma or even long lasting effects,
the more non-consensual aspects of these stories are also treated lightly.
Yes, the women (and men) are occasionally - ok, often - subjected to "a
fate worse than death", and they might also get erotically (though not
gruesomely there is no gore here) punished and tortured.  But it is treated
as a minor inconvenience not the sort of life shattering/changing trauma
that real rape, torture, etc often are.

   Extended story codes for the series: story, plot, nudity, rom, MF, MM,
FF, spank, aliens, cons, noncons, groups, beast (not much), BDSM, mc (very
rare).  Unlike a most of what I write there are no plans for underage
characters to be involved in sexual situations.

   Chapter one is mostly plot, lots of nudity and a bit of sex, but nothing
kinky yet.

   **** CHAPTER 1 - Departures and Arrivals

   The night of July 4, 1858 found me running for my life.  It has never
been my custom to flee from honorable combat, but the men pursuing me were
anything but honorable and they sought not battle but merely the
opportunity to put a bullet into my back.  As they were mounted and armed
with pistols and I was on foot and armed only with a sword, I exercised the
discretion which I have been assured is the better part of valor.

   I had been born exactly eighteen years ago that night and thought it
fitting that I leave the bonds of involuntary servitude that had held me
since my natal day on its anniversary.  My mother died giving birth to me,
she was only twelve and far too young to bear a child, and my father was
the slave trader who sold her to my former master.  Rather than put me to
work on his plantation or in his household, I was trained from the earliest
times of my life in the art of swordplay and other melee combat.

   This was quite unusual as people of my race are prohibited by the laws
of the state of Virginia not merely the ownership of weapons but also any
learning in their employment.  However Mr.  Locke was a member of a cabal
of slave owners who fancied themselves to be like the gladiatorial owners
of ancient Rome.  I was thrust into an arena on my fifteenth birthday and
there both won my first victory and discovered the savage joy of combat. 
Since that time I fought countless battles in many a secret arena, usually
against other black men such as myself but occasionally against a white man
who believed that by virtue of his race he would be able to best me.  The
joy of combat was always muted when I was forced to fight against my fellow
slaves but I have no such qualms about the white men I sent to their
graves.

   As my very existence was, by legal necessity, secret my master allowed
me to be taught to read and write that I might while away the time between
arena and practice reading works on strategy and tactics in hopes that such
occupation would improve my value in the area.

   It was that last which lead, in an indirect manner, to the escape I
organized for the night of my eighteenth birthday.  I and a score of other
slaves made our way out of the quarters and thought for a time that we had
made a clean break.  But the sound of hounds baying and horses galloping
soon disabused us of that notion and, as we had previously agreed, we split
up in hopes that at least some of us might escape north.

   Some malign fate ordained that I be pursued by a great many of the
pursuers, and despite my most urgent desire for freedom and the strength
and endurance of my body I knew that soon the horses would catch up to me
and not only my bid for freedom but also my life would be at an end.  I was
armed only with a sword I had managed to steal as I left, and I knew that
they would shoot me down rather than venture close enough that I might put
the purloined blade to use.  For that reason and that reason alone I ran
when every instinct in my body cried out for me to stop and fight!

   Convinced that I would die soon, I chanced a look backwards and was
tripped by some unseen obstacle in the narrow path and tumbled into a small
ravine.  My head struck the wall as I fell and I knew no more.

   I cannot say how long I was unconscious, though I feel instinctively
that it can not have been long, nor what transpired during that period. 
However when I woke I knew instantly that I was no longer in danger of
being captured and that my father was forever beyond my revenge.

   Two moons were rising in a sky with a faint green tint quite different
from that of Earth's atmosphere.  I do not know why it did not occur to me
to doubt my senses; I did not, but rather merely wondered at the strange
event that had taken place.  I was no longer in Virginia nor anywhere else
on Earth, that much I knew without any doubt whatsoever.

   I had little time to marvel at my surroundings before I heard the ring
of steel on steel and the hoarse cries of combat.  I moved silently towards
the noise and saw what was, to a man unaccustomed to the barbaric and
egalitarian ways of Khule, a most peculiar sight.

   A group of some ten men, all with holstered pistols at their side but
fighting with swords alone, had cornered a woman between some of the giant
trees which were the dominant feature of the landscape.  She was armed only
with a sword in one hand and a dagger in the other, and despite being set
upon by two of the brutes at once she was holding them off quite handily.

   They were all nude, save for their sandals and the necessary straps and
belts to hold their weapons.  I would later learn that outside combat most
free people of Khule adorned themselves richly with gold, silver, and
jewels but of course those decorations were were not worn in the press of
savage battle.

   The woman was not of any race I had seen on Earth, and neither were the
men though it would require closer inspection before I realized this latter
fact.  Her skin was a golden bronze color, much like that of a Chinaman I
had chanced to see once, but her eyes and face were in no way Oriental. 
Her hair was a fiery red and caught up in a tight braid.  The hair between
her legs and under her arms was exactly the same shade as the hair of her
head, a peculiarity common to all the native humans of Khule.  She wore
only one item of jewelry, a small ring studded with gems that pierced her
right nipple.  She also had a broad blue stripe down each arm and leg,
which I at first took for paint or perhaps a tatoo, but was in fact part of
the natural pigmentation of her skin.  Her body was lean and muscular, as
that of a person accustomed to arms, a shape I found strange on a woman but
not at all unattractive.

   The men facing her were white, a fact that I must admit in those early
days of my adventures on Khule may have turned me against them had they not
been fighting a woman ten on one.  Their hair was mostly black, though a
few had hair of a darker red than that of the woman.  They too had markings
of different colors on their bodies, some patterns reminiscent of flames,
others spots like a leopard, and one with vivid purple stripes like a
tiger.

   "Careful!" Cried the tiger striped man, who I took for their leader, "I
want Thalia, third of the war leaders of the cursed city of Piren, alive!
We shall visit cruel vengeance on her for the losses she has inflicted upon
us and extort a king's ransom from Piren for her return even after we've
shaved and humbled her!  The glory of the Uston nomad tribe, ten gold
marks, and first sport with her to the man who brings her down!"

   With those words the men redoubled their efforts and the woman, Thalia,
was driven back against the trees.

   By nature and inclination I am a man of action, though my life as a
slave has taught me painful lessons in the necessity of tempering action
with thought.  Those lessons were abandoned in a moment and I charged,
swiftly but silently, into the fray and slew the striped man and two others
of his band before they realized I was upon them.

   The strange white warriors were clean-limbed and swordsmen of good
quality, but I do not brag when I say that I have never yet met a person
who is my superior with the blade and few who can equal me.  Even Thalia,
who is nearly as deadly as she is beautiful, has been unable to best me in
any of the friendly matches we have had since our day of meeting.

   Once I joined the battle the whites were unable to use the weight of
their numbers to keep Thalia forced back and she exploded into the melee
like an elemental force.  Between us the enemy stood no chance, no quarter
was asked and after hearing the speech of their leader I would have given
none.  Soon the ground in the small clearing was littered with their
bodies, and their blood nourished the trees and grass.

   After the last foe was dispatched, Thalia took her dagger by the blade
and wordlessly offered me the hilt with a deep bow.  I took a step back and
held up my own hands in a gesture of refusal before I could consider the
matter.  By some means I do not understand I knew that her's was a gesture
of great thanks, and that by refusing the blade as I did, I had turned the
debt she tried to offer me into a thing of mutual obligation which bound us
as comrades rather than debtor and creditor.  The relationships of the
warrior class on Khule are strange in many ways to Earthly eyes, and bound
up in a complex web of ceremony, tradition, and practicality.  In every
instance where I have encountered a new tradition of the warrior people of
Khule I have always acted properly, without any prompting or instruction,
though I am at a loss as to explain how this is possible.

   Seeing my refusal she sheathed the dagger at her thigh, and grasped my
left forearm with her left hand.

   "My thanks then for your timely intervention.  I feared they had numbers
sufficient to capture me, and I shudder to think of what would have
happened had they succeeded.  I am Thalia, third general of Piren, daughter
of Tor Fedol."

   "Hail!" I replied, "I am John, formerly of Virginia.  I fear I know not
where I am nor yet how I came to be here, but should you ever need a sword
at your side know that I will be proud to stand with you."

   "We must make haste," she said, "more of the Uston will scouring the
jungle for myself and other survivors of the wreckage they made of our
flotilla of airships.  Moreover soon the beasts of the jungle will be drawn
by the aroma of our fallen enemies, for ever they have found the blood of
men to be enticing."

   It was then that I realized that neither she nor I were speaking
English. I do not know how I came to understand the language common to all
but one of the intelligent races of Khule.  I presume that my facility with
the language is related to my understanding of the customs of Khule, but
like my understanding of those customs the origin of my knowledge of the
language remains a mystery to me.

   We hurried through the jungle and encountered neither man nor beast for
the hours long duration of our flight.  At last Thalia judged us to be
safe, for the moment, and brought us to a halt at the bank a stream.

   There she stated that we should bathe, for we were both sticky with
blood as a result of our earlier combat, and rest a short time before
continuing on.  We took our ablutions in turn, so one of us could remain
ever alert for danger from the jungle.  At my urging Thalia took the first
opportunity to cleanse herself and despite her obvious unconcern at her
nudity I was startled when she first moved a few yards downstream and
squatted to urinate without making any attempt at concealment or modesty.

   The people of Khule do value their privacy, and guard it fiercely, but
they differ greatly from the people of Earth in what they consider to be
private.  Copulation they regard as a semi-private matter and the
circumstances in which copulation is not kept private are uncommon, but
nudity, bathing, and elimination are not held to be so.  In their homes
toilets are kept separate from other facilities but that is purely a matter
of hygiene.  Other matters, which I had been raised to think of as public,
they regard as private.  Smith work and engineering of all sorts are viewed
as something not to be casually looked on by any but the smith or engineer
and the bare minimum of assistants.  Nor would any warrior of Khule permit
another to touch their weapons save for their mates and closest companions.

   After Thalia bathed, using the fine sand of the riverbank in lieu of
soap, she urged me to take my turn.  While the prospect of being clean
after the rigors of my flight, the combat with the Uston, and then our
shared flight through the jungle was enticing I was yet shy of being
unclothed in the presence of Thalia.  Worse yet I was embarrassed by the
fact that my member had been erect for some time while she bathed, and
fearful of what emotion the sight of that natural reaction would provoke in
my companion.  Hygiene won out over modesty, however, and the cold water of
the river soon ended my other concern.

   On emerging from the water I found Thalia gazing fascinated at me, and
at first my Earthly upbringing lead me to believe that there was something
about my nudity that she found offensive.

   "Amazing!" She cried, "never before have I seen a human completely
bereft of natural patterns.  Is that why you hide your body beneath those
odd coverings?"

   "No, among my people it is the custom to wear such things, indeed it is
thought shameful to appear in public without them.  I have but recently
come to your world and know not how I have been transported here nor
anything about this place.  "The people of my planet have no natural
patterns on their skin, nor did I know that you did until just now.  I
originally took your own markings to be artificial."

   We spoke for the duration of our rest of Earth and Khule and the ways of
our respective peoples.  She was not horrified to learn that slavery
existed on Earth, but was repulsed at the manner in which it was practiced.
There is slavery on Khule, but it is not racial in nature and it is neither
as pervasive nor as brutal as that of Earth.  I am forced to admit that
slavery, as found on Khule, is not as loathsome as the slavery into which I
was born, but having tasted of the bitter fruit of bondage on Earth I
cannot endorse even the milder form which exists on my adopted planet.

   She inquired as to my refusal to include my clan name when we were
introduced, and was repulsed anew when I informed her that I did not know
what name my mother may have gone by, though she understood fully and
agreed with my refusal to adopt the name of either my former master or my
father.

   The simple facts of my birth greatly puzzled Thalia, and we spent some
minutes in confused discussion before she and I realized that there was a
difference more significant than the patterns, or lack thereof, on our
skins.  The women and men of Khule are barren by nature.  By means of
meditation and the exercise of will they can become fertile when they
desire to bear children, but the act of copulation is not inherently tied
to reproduction on Khule.  In this they have many advantages of we Earth
people, not the least of which is that every child is wanted and loved.

   As we spoke the warmth of the day, the return of vitality from our rest,
and the beauty of my companion once again woke my member.  Thalia saw my
embarrassment, though I know not how since I am dark enough that I cannot
be seen to blush, and assured me that she took no offense but rather was
flattered by my "salute".

   "Indeed," she said, "I find you quite attractive.  Your curious lack of
markings somehow adds to your beauty.  When we camp for the evening I would
like to have sex with you.  But for the necessity of putting greater
distance between ourselves and the Uston I would have you inside me here
and now." With those enticing words, she leapt to her feet and bade me
follow her again.

   The people of Khule are honest to a fault and care little for hints and
hidden meanings.  This directness and honesty holds in matters of love and
sex as it does in all other aspects of life, a fact that I then found more
than somewhat shocking but quickly grew to appreciate.

   We ran at a steady pace through the day, pausing only occasionally to
eat from the fruits Thalia found in the jungle and refresh ourselves with
water from streams.  During our brief stops she explained that the Uston
were superb trackers and she had no doubt they would soon be on our trail.

   The setting sun finally ended our flight.  I believe that Khule has less
gravitational strength than the Earth, but even so I was at the last
extremity of my strength when we halted for the night.  We stopped by a
great river and after resting a short time to catch our breath Thalia
recommended that we bathe again.  The people of Khule do not shrink from
labor nor from necessary exposure to grime and filth.  But they are a
cleanly people, perhaps partially by necessity as infrequent bathing
attracts predators in the jungle which blankets most of their world, and it
is their custom to bathe at least twice daily when circumstances permit. 
Fortunately for travelers the waters of Khule are one of the few places on
that deadly planet where dangerous predators are not to be found.

   I found myself refreshed following my turn in the river and with my
newfound strength helped Thalia gather from the plants of the forest the
fruits which were to be our dinner.  Khule is home to many more species of
plant and animal than Earth, and within a hundred yards of the site she
chose for our camp Thalia found a great variety of edible plants, as well
as many which were either poisonous or otherwise dangerous to humans.

   Following our meal we spoke of Thalia's plans for finding safety.  We
were, she explained, near the territory of the Loatan, a nomad tribe of
Siss'k, who were allied with Piren and should be able to provide us both
with protection and aid.  Their territory lay downstream, but on this side
of the river so we would be spared the necessity of crossing.  At my
obvious confusion she explained that the Siss'k were a race of reptilian
beings shaped much like humans and with many similar habits.

   "Unless you have some reason to refuse, shall we share pleasure before
retiring to sleep?" Despite her frank discussion of the matter after our
first bath of the day a lifetime of conditioning on Earth had left me
unprepared for such casual discussion and planning for sex.

   Other than the unwelcome attentions of my master during my boyhood, and
a few brief experiences with slave women when I had been required to play
stud for my master's breeding program, I was largely inexperienced in
sexual matters.  However, in Thalia I found an agreeable teacher and
enthusiastic partner.

   She saw both my embarrassment, and my eagerness.  We kissed tenderly,
then with greater energy and I was again pleasantly startled by her actions
as her tongue found its way into my mouth and entwined with my own.  Her
hands caressed my body, and then guided mine first to her muscular
shoulders, and then lower to her small and firm breasts.  The ring through
her right nipple was intriguing to me, and she hissed with pleasure as I
gently felt how it went through her tender flesh.

   After some minutes of kissing and caressing she pushed away from me and
engulfed my now rock hard member with her mouth.  I realize that I repeat
myself when I say I was startled by her actions, but it is true.  I had
never before known that sex play could involve such activity, and while
giving myself fully to the pleasure of her expert mouth, I was still able
to reflect that I had lived 18 years without knowing such pleasure was even
possible.

   She kept me at the edge of orgasm for what seemed like an eternity, then
finally pulled away and guided my own mouth to her left nipple.  I was
unsure what was expected of me, but felt I could not go far wrong in
following her lead, and I endeavored to treat her nipple in much the same
manner she had treated the head of my cock.  By her moans of pleasure I
knew that I had not misjudged matters, and I found that knowledge of her
pleasure seemed to be enlarging my member to an ever greater extent.

   Guided both by her hands and her gentle instruction I moved from her
nipple down to her moist lower lips.  She parted those for me, and I licked
the delicious juices from her cunt.  Her inner lips were large and full,
and her clitoris stood erect like a tiny phallus.  There she guided my
tongue, and as I sucked it into my mouth she exploded into a shuddering and
loud orgasm.

   When she recovered from her orgasm, she pushed me to my back, straddled
me, and pushed my penis deep into her body.  She bounced rhythmically atop
me for a few seconds, then paused to reach down and pulled my hands to her
breasts, and guided my fingers to her nipples before resuming her regular
up and down movement.

   "Pinch them!" She moaned as she resumed her energetic love making.  I
did as she ordered, and was rewarded with greater moans, and her vagina
tightening and grasping my cock.  We fucked in this manner for several
minutes, I massaging her nipples with my fingers and she massaging my
member with her cunt.  "Pinch them hard as I cum," she ordered, and I felt
I could follow that command with no hardship.  Soon after I felt her begin
shuddering in her orgasm, and I tightened my grasp on her nipples. 
"Harder!" She shrieked, and her vagina tightened around me as she came. 
That pushed me over the edge myself.  My orgasm smashed all thought from my
head, yet somehow I had been able to follow her last order and my fingers
clamped down as hard as they could on her nipples.

   We lay for a time, unspeaking but somehow in deep communion, catching
our breath and regaining use of our limbs and minds.

   End Chapter 1

   Comments, questions, criticism, offers of proofreading, editing,
blowjobs, or cash always welcome.
   My email is: jamesmoriarty555 at yahoo.com