74
Eventually, I was woken up as Basin and his Brothers came back. They gave the Keepers several stones and put out the fire in the fireplace. One of them picked me up and carried me down to their quarters. They laid me in their bed and ordered me to go to sleep.
Rose was wide awake and staring at me. I didn’t know what to say or do, so I laid down. The men lay down but were up a moment later.
“Where ** ** ** are they?” one man asked pacing back and forth.
He used so many curse words I could barely understand him.
“They disappear from their post, show up once we’ve started a search and claim to be feeding their slave. Their slave was at their home! They never went there. Now they are gone again. Have they lost their ability to reason? The General will beat them bloody. We couldn’t hide it, it was too obvious. Slave, what are your owners thinking?” the man asked turning on me.
I knew what they were thinking. I knew I couldn’t lie, so I told the truth. “They are the best at what they do, sir,” I said and he roared with anger.
Rose moved across the bed and wrapped herself around me. The man stared at the two of us crossly.
“Not another word should come out of your mouth slave. Lay down and go to sleep. Do not even speak to me if I ask you a question,” the man said.
That was probably for the best, I thought as I put my head back on the pillows. Anything I said that was the truth would just get my men in trouble.
The next day I was fed, cleaned, and dressed by Rose’s owners. They took me to the Keepers with Rose. They told me if my owners couldn’t be found to give me my meal, the Keepers would do it.NôvelDrama.Org owns © this.
Rose was curious about what was going on. I told her what was happening and she sat with me. Fuji found the entire thing odd. They both stayed with me all morning and we spoke to one another quietly.
Master Christof showed up at lunch very late looking much worse for the wear. None of the other Warriors greeted him as he took his seat in front of me. I tried not to look horrified at his condition.
Master Christof was beaten up badly, one side of his face was so swollen it looked like it belonged to someone else. I saw a teeth marks on his neck and his arm hung slightly funny on one side. I assumed he had been with the women.
Master Christof pulled a scrap of dried meat out of his pocket and shoved it in my mouth. I tried to chew whatever it was, but it was too tough. I just worked on it and swallowed little bits when I could.
“That is what you brought to feed a human?” the man next to us feeding Rose asked.
“It will eat what I bring, won’t you Ciara?” he asked patting my face.
I gurgled an answer.
“Cousin, we helped train you. You cannot feed that to a human. It can’t chew that. It will lose mass and become ill if it is not fed correctly,” the man said softly.
It struck me that these guys were good. They took being screw ups to a level I had never witnessed before. Not that I was really willing to die to prove a point, but we’d proved I could live without lunch on at least one occasion.
“We have been busy,” Master Christof told the man, “the slave will eat later or it won’t. If it dies, we’ll just get a new one.”
I choked a little, but prayed this was still part of the game. The thing in my mouth was getting softer. I figured if I chewed long enough I’d probably get some nutrition out of it.
“Buy a meal from the Keepers, Christof, don’t be ridiculous. An ill slave is dishonorable, you all do not need anymore problems now,” the man said.
Christof laughed and told him I rarely got to eat a midday meal. They usually ate what they brought me and fucked me at lunch time. I was lucky I was eating today.
I nodded and put my face against his leg.
“You see,” Master Christof told the man, “they are more obedient when they are hungry.”
“We have seen it struggle with weight once, Christof, this is why. You are not doing a good job,” the man said loudly.
Master Christof just ignored him and strode out of the room. He ordered me to come with him and told me it was time for my noon time task. The other Warriors sounded really judgmental as we left and headed out the wall.
In the forest Master Christof took the stuff from my mouth and set it aside. He pulled a package from his shirt pocket and fed me. It was gross, worse than worms ever tasted.
“It is the worms, dried and preserved, they don’t taste as good this way,” he whispered, “but it will give you sustenance.”
“You might be doing too much,” I whispered back to him choking down the disgusting meal.
“No, we are proving we are not trustworthy,” he said quickly and shoved the original piece of stuff back in my mouth.
“Hurry and eat this slave. I wish to use you for your purpose,” he said loudly.
“You are out of time, Christof, we are expected back. The General requested we watch you to insure you return today,” Basin said irritably.
I heard several other men behind him agreeing.
Master Christof slapped my bottom and demanded I walk toward the compound. From the heat I knew I had a handprint there, but it would fade. The men behind me sounded horrified looking at it.
The General lashed my owners the next day. They expected it and were pumped up and ready. In their younger days, they had evidently been lashed often.
“It’s how we learned to get away from the women when we were in the mountains. It was great incentive at the time,” Master Bane told me.
When Master Damien came to feed me he was literally dripping blood from his back. It had soaked through his shirt and was falling in thick drops to the floor. I looked at him and couldn’t think of what to say. He fed me from a bowl slowly and carefully. I thought maybe this was the end of their defiance.
“You’re making a mess of the floor where the slaves stay,” a man commented.
“The Keepers should clean it up then,” Master Damien stated.
“Some of the slaves cannot eat with you bleeding all over the floor,” a Warrior from my right said.
Master Damien ignored him and continued to feed me. When the complaints about his back started again, he took a different tact with them.
“When I am General, we will see what the slaves can tolerate,” he threatened.
The other men started to yell about that. Master Damien and his Brothers were acting crazy, there was no way he would become General.
I small smile crept across Master Damien’s face and I caught it.
The men stayed in their quarters and didn’t go to the bathhouse that night, due to their injuries. I fretted about their backs and begged them to let me put something on it. They had to suffer until they healed, that was part of the punishment.
“Could you call the Healers?” I asked softly petting Master Bane’s leg as he fed me dinner. “Maybe they would not tell and they could help you.”