Dragon Age: Broodmother (Chapter 4)

She awoke to the sound of moaning. Nora jolted upright, leaping to her feet in a reflexive defensive stance, but only grimaced at the familiar sight. Clearly she had overslept, and the feeding had already begun anew. This time was even more unsettling than the last, as now the hurlocks did not even need to hold the girl down. She fed of her own will, shoveling the putrid meat into her gullet as quickly as she could, hardly stopping to breathe, let alone chew. Nora unconsciously covered her mouth, and gagged as each of the hurlocks now carried a genlock under each arm. The stunted beasts were unbloodied, but Nora guessed they had probably been bludgeoned like their brethren before them. Simultaneously they held their kin aloft like round, fleshy chalices for a toast. Immediately the blood-encrusted young woman halted her feeding and stared blankly up at the two genlocks. Licking her lips, she crawled closer, clawing at the boots of her feeders, begging to be indulged. Her appetite was insatiable.

Again in unison the pair brought jagged blades up and slit the throats like pigs, pouring genlock lifeblood onto the filthy floor. In an animalistic frenzy, the girl lapped at the growing pool of blood, slurping it down and smearing the creature’s corrupted essence across her face and chest. This girl was unrecognizable. No longer the frightened, resistant innocent, she now avidly filled herself with the taint. Between the smears of blood, the darkness of the corruption appeared to have completely overwhelmed her skin. There was no turning back now, she was a full-fledged ghoul. But even more disturbing, her size was unbelievable. The ballooned belly now swelled with more than just its contents; a heavy layer of fat sagged from her middle, and her breasts strained against the ragged cloth of her gown.

“By the Maker…” Nora had spoken her first words in what felt like days, but she could do nothing but watch in horror as the girl slurped down every drop of blood. And though the twin streams finally subsided, they could not have ended soon enough. The hurlocks tossed the pair of genlocks into the pile and marched off, leaving the girl to lie on the stained floor. Nora stepped forth to check on her, but paused with fear as the woman wriggled into the pile, wallowing about like a pig in shit. Thrashing around briefly, the girl slowed and collapsed, breathing heavily in another food-induced coma. When there was no further sign of movement, the villagers crept toward the remaining pile and swiped what they could for themselves before scurrying back to their huddled corner.

Another growl rose up from her stomach, leaving Nora to gasp in shock. She had extensive survival training and could live on one small meal a day if necessary. So why was she hungry again? That foul meat filled her more than she wanted to admit; she should not need any more. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she finally approached the girl, horrified and intrigued by her changes. Standing above the bloated rag-doll of a woman, Nora knelt and pressed a hand to the girl’s middle. Indeed, it was as soft as it looked. Although not unexpected, the girl’s soft moans of pleasure caused the captain to recoil some, bracing herself with a hand behind her. It just happened to land on a severed darkspawn arm. Her fingers tensed, wrapping around the exposed bone like a sword hilt.

Gazing upon the foul, skinned appendage, Nora surrendered and fell back onto her rump. She rested the bloody limb on the floor and removed her sticky gloves, tossing them aside. “Right. I suppose I don’t have much choice if I want to survive…” And with a slight bit of hesitation, she brought the meat to her lips, hastily taking an undesirable bite out of it. She tried to imagine salted pork and basted ribs, but her imagination offered little defense against the unbearably awful taste. Nora gnawed and chewed and before she knew it, she had cleaned the bone. With a sated stomach, Nora tossed the arm aside and crawled back to her solitary corner, only to collapse into another heap. She now understood why the young woman slept so much. Eating darkspawn left a girl tired. Her own humor was lost on herself, and Nora shuddered before slipping into a deep slumber.

However, this time she had dreams. Vivid dreams, like those first after her Joining. She saw a room, deep underground, filled with darkspawn while strange, fleshy growths lined the walls. The combination of hurlocks and genlocks cheered and roared as they stood in a circle. Nora’s view panned about as if she were a bird flitting around the chamber. Only as she drew nearer could she see what lay at the group’s center. It was her! She saw herself lying flat, hurlocks pressing their boots down onto her wrists ankles as she lay sprawled in nothing but her linen tunic and underwear. An ogre, towering above its brethren, strode forth and the sea of darkspawn parted, making way for their enormous comrade. For a moment it simply stood there, staring at the panicked Warden before its legs parted and an inhumanly long cock fell out of its ragged kilt. The thing looked damn near like a third leg, and Nora screamed. Heavy footfalls sounded its approach and as it reached a clawed hand toward the helpless captain’s underwear, Nora jolted upright again. Her eyes darted about the silent room.

She was back in the prison chamber, and while some of the villagers stared blankly her way, most seemed fit just sitting and rocking back and forth in hushed, maddened whispers. She must have screamed out loud while she slept. Nora searched for the tormented young woman, and saw her alone, writhing in agony halfway across the room. Still lost in a sleepy daze, the captain struggled to her feet and hurried to the girl’s side. “Are you all right?” She knew the young woman would not respond, but hearing her own voice seemed to lessen the madness of her situation. Nora pressed a hand to the girl’s forehead. She’s burning up! All of the excess corruption seemed to be reacting badly, and the poor thing was wracked with a high fever. Stroking the girl’s head comfortingly, Nora again retracted her hand with a gasp as a wad of the girl’s hair fell out. In fact, it looked much thinner all over. Patches of her grey scalp were exposed, and the dark veins that now ran throughout her face, neck and likely her whole body, were clearly throbbing along her bare head. The girl’s arms clawed at her stomach, and she let out hoarse wails of anguish. Though her belly was heavy with excess fat, it seemed to have spread to her arms as well, for they jiggled with each rake of her nails across her stomach. The ratty cloth that had once been her gown had long since torn away, exposing the pale grey flesh of her swollen belly. As suspected, the black veins stood out along her middle and arms, though Nora scowled at the odd sight of blood at the girl’s fingertips for there were no gashes on her stomach to be seen. Inspecting closer, she could see that the girl’s fingernails had fallen out just as easily as her hair. What was the corruption doing to her? This change was unlike any ghoul Nora had crossed before.

As habit remained upheld, her thoughts were once again interrupted but this time the girl began to seize in the Warden’s arms. She lay her down to the floor as her overfed body jiggled with each spasm. Helplessly looking on, Nora stepped back to allow the girl her space, and as expected the seizure passed in a moment. However, it seemed to have taken something with it. The girl’s body lay still, and her bloated chest did not rise or fall. Nora frowned, knitting her brows. Perhaps this was for the best. She knelt again and gently brushed her hand over the girl’s ashen face, closing her eyes. Now the poor thing would no longer need to suffer. Sighing wearily, the Warden gazed toward the exit, and the hurlock in place only seemed to stare back.

“Well? Are you happy? You tortured this poor girl to death. She suffered so much, and for what? Why would you do this? What was the point!” Nora clenched her teeth and stomped a foot angrily. She knew there was no reasoning with darkspawn. They were monsters. They did not even speak. Regardless, she growled and huffed, collapsing to her knees in defeat. Though she had been taught to be brave in the face of certain death… she did not want to die.

A clank of armor sounded the approach of more darkspawn, and with a loud creak the door swung wide. Half a dozen hurlocks and genlocks plodded into the chamber, one of which relieved the guard of duty. Chittering and growling to themselves, they moved as one toward the bloated corpse. Unacceptable.

“No.” Nora rose and marched forth, standing between the darkspawn and the nameless victim with her arms stretched wide. “You’re not laying another hand on her. She did not deserve this. Touch her and I will kill you.” The captain’s eyes narrowed ferociously, and for a moment it looked like the darkspawn might actually heed her warning. But without much delay, they all cackled and growled, continuing their approach. Once within reach, Nora hopped forward and planted a solid boot into one of the low-standing genlocks, knocking it flat on its back. As a hurlock swiped at her, the captain ducked and thrust a rising elbow into the beast’s skull-like nose, visibly collapsing its face. Yet even she was no match for six darkspawn while unarmed. A genlock quickly clung to her leg, and as she was thrown off-balance, one of the uninjured hurlocks connected a gloved uppercut into her stomach, forcing the breath from her lungs. Nora doubled over, and the hurlock simply booted her chest, knocking her back on top of the fleshy body of the dead girl. Releasing her leg, the genlock hopped back and drew its blade, pointing it at Nora’s throat. In defeat, she raised her arms and stood, allowing three of the darkspawn to move toward the corpse. Nora shut her eyes for she could not bear to watch them haul her nameless companion away.

What the Warden had not anticipated was exactly what happened next. The hurlock who had landed the punch now gripped her by the hair and pulled her down to her knees. Nora’s eyes flew open at this unexpected turn of events, and in a panic, her gaze darted between her captor and the dead girl’s corpse. An Alpha! With a growl, the dominant hurlock motioned for the others to roll the flabby body toward them. What were they planning? The corpse came to a halt beside Nora and the brute, and the captain’s head was jerked sidelong, crashing her face into the gore-slick belly of the dead girl. Maker, no… Growling furiously, the hurlock drew its blade and plunged it into the girl’s flank. Dark blood streamed around the weapon, and it deftly carved out a small chunk of fatty meat. Another darkspawn took the blade from the leader, and it sunk its fingers into the wet mess of carved flesh, squeezing it wickedly before locking gaze with Nora. She shook her head, pleading through fearful eyes.

But it was to no avail. The Alpha slowly and deliberately pressed the flesh to her mouth, holding her head firm with its other hand. She kept her mouth shut, but as the blood and gore smeared across her lips and nose, she knew she would need to breathe eventually. In her desperate gasp, the hurlock Alpha thrust its hand forth, forcing the whole slab of meat into Nora’s mouth. She gagged, much like the girl whom she was now being forced to eat, but eventually chewed for fear of suffocating. No! This is disgusting! Mirroring the first witnessed feeding, the hurlock clamped its filthy mitt over her mouth until the lump of tainted meat slid down her throat. Once more able to breathe, Nora gasped and choked between sobs. Tears welled in her eyes before washing away the filth clinging to her cheeks. Twin lines of fair skin coursed down her face. Again the hurlock buried its claw into the girl’s belly, tearing free a length of muscle and sinew before yanking Nora’s head back to open her mouth wide. Passing her lips, the flesh sat heavy on her tongue, and though it was awful and terrifying, Nora could not stifle the thought that it was less unpleasant than the darkspawn meat. Blank and cold, the dead girl’s face lingered in the captain’s peripheral vision. Why?! Why is this happening to me?! Nora choked and gasped after the second mouthful slid into her stomach, but she knew it was not the last.

Again and again the Alpha carved lumps of flesh from the corpse to feed Nora. With each passing handful, she felt herself slipping farther and farther into submission. Her body lessened its tension, and eventually fell limp. Maker help me… please. One by one the darkspawn left the chamber as the Warden was no longer deemed a flight risk. The pain built in her guts, and though at first she felt full, soon Nora believed she’d pop if the monster forced even one more bite down her throat. Astonishingly, the creature also sensed the Warden’s limit and released his grip on her head. She slumped back into the corpulent corpse, groaning softly. So… full. With a final guttural cackle, the hurlock Alpha turned and exited the room, leaving Nora to lie lifelessly in defeat. ...Why. One trembling hand slid up and over her distended stomach, nursing it gently. Just like… hers. Indeed, her stomach looked to be five months with child, bloated to near bursting. I see now… It does… feel good. Nora quietly moaned each time her hand circled the swollen gut.