214
Rose smiled a sly smile. “You know these men, Ciara,” she chided. “They could beat us to death with a single finger, yet they employ gentle seduction, because we respond better to it. It took time and I healed, soon I learned they would not hurt me. They gave me pleasure and simple encouragement. Basin and his Brothers handled me with great care. I had never been treated like something precious. When they finally used me, I was so grateful for their kindness, I didn’t mind. It seemed a fair trade.”
I tread water and considered Rose’s story.
“I can’t imagine a Warrior on Earth being as kind as these men are,” I said bluntly. “It seems an unlikely mix.”
Rose laughed out loud.
“My second cousins,” she said, “were soldiers. They treated their things in such a way as to have them functioning at their highest capacity. I remember seeing them clean their boots andguns. These men are the same.”
“I don’t see…” I started to say and Rose cut me off.
“They want you to be a confident and healthy slave. They like us to look our best at all times. If they beat you daily, you would look downtrodden or black and blue. They give us what we need to look healthy. It isn’t surprising,” she said.
Rose was right.
“I’m glad you survived,” I told her seriously. “I don’t know that I would have been that strong.”
She shrugged and watched the waves.
“Your husband,” I suddenly said, “what did the slavers do with him? Where do they sell males?”
Rose looked wicked for a moment and a strange look lit her eyes.
“He damaged Basin’s property, even though I wasn’t his at the time. My owners went back to the slave house and demanded reparations. Basin was angry the slavers had hid my injuries. My husband was given to Basin as a gift, at no cost. It sealed his fate. You must understand; if he had no price, he had no value.”
“I didn’t want to see at the time, but they took me once. It took a full moon for him to die, they tortured him so slowly…”
My skin prickled as I watched Rose’s face. Knowing what the women could do, I shuddered at what the men would do, especially if they had incentive. The man must have looked at death as a gift.
“The slaves here at the time all saw him. It was a lesson in why not to anger the Warriors. We were all very good for a long time after that. None of the slaves wanted to be treated that way,” she finished.
I stared off into space as I contemplated Rose’s story.
When Rose spoke again it startled me, “I’ll be punished for the story, but I wanted to tell you.”
I shook my head and looked quizzically at her. “I’m not going to tell your owners,” I said.
Rose looked back at Fuji and I followed her gaze. Fuji made a sound and rolled onto her stomach on the cool sand. She made patterns that looked like her owner’s symbol.
“Master Stayne and his Brothers know your story,” she said. “There is no new information to tell them. I only tell them about new things that happen.”
Rose and I both rolled our eyes. Fuji was so well trained it was really ridiculous.
“When do we leave?” Fuji asked pulling a foot back into the shade.
I tried to explain I didn’t know and she seemed to find that silly. Fuji had control of when she could bear young. I tried to explain I didn’t know and she snorted. Probably the most unladylike thing I’d seen her do, only second to her reaction to the worms.
“The Healers will know,” she said sounding bored. “You should ask your owners. The Healers are supposed to be watching you to know when. We will leave as soon as they know.”
Well, that made sense. Those annoying exams the Healers kept doing were more logical now. They were checking fertility.
I shuddered thinking how later it would be checking for conception.
I dunked my head to hide the tears. Such a clinical term for the start of my next heart wrenching adventure. Making up some lame excuse I swam away from my friends.
I swam and thought about my children. A boy that was taken as soon as he was weaned was the worst thing I could imagine. I refused to think of what would happen if it was a little girl without wings or strength. Theircomputerswould have determined that wouldn’t happen. I prayed they were right. So many horrible things and it would happen too many times to keep my sanity.
I swam as far as I could and looked out into the ocean. Drowning had been torture, I thought clinging to the metal that separated the inlet from the sea. At least it had ended quickly, a small voice whispered.
Looking out into the deep blackness of the ocean, I found myself with horrible thoughts. Shaking myself out of the depressing reverie I swam quickly back to shore. These thoughts were not acceptable.
That evening I asked after dinner. We were all sitting around in our nighttime outfits. The fire was low and we had been playing a card game. It seemed a simple question to me.
“When will I be fertile?” I asked putting my cards down.
The men refused to tell me. Damien even informed me I didn’t need to know when I was fertile. All I had to do was stay healthy and they would handle the rest. They would take care of me just like they always had.
“Now wait,” I argued. “This is still my body. I may have decisions I want to make about this. You need to tell me what’s going to happen so I can discuss it with you.”
“There are no decisions,” Damien said calmly. “They will be made for us. We follow our directives when they are handed down”
I laughed mirthlessly. “This is MY body,” I informed him. “I have a right to know and help you make the choices.”
The stunning silence that met that statement chilled my blood. They looked at Christof to answer, so I knew I wouldn’t like what they had to say.
My brain knew the answer. I stood up and stalked away, internally denying the truth of it. I stopped at the wall near the bedroom. Finally, I turned back to face my family. They looked solemn.
Christof stepped toward me and seemed to be composing his thoughts. I didn’t give him a chance. Whirling around I aimed my fist at the wall, as Damien had often done. It was my body and I wanted to hurt it.
On Earth I would have made contact with the wall, but on Earth I wasn’t surrounded by superhuman Warriors. They had sensed my action before I’d taken it. When I turned toward the wall, they were out of their chairs. As my arm drew back, they were half-way across the room.
Christof’s hand caught my fist and protected it. He allowed me to complete the motion only so I wouldn’t get a spasm from being stopped. With fluid simplicity they limited any further movement by dragging my arms behind me and holding them.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.
Foolishly, I kicked at them aiming for their sensitive parts. Soft rope bound me from mid thigh to ankle. When I continued to fight with my arms, those were bound behind me. Bane picked me up and we went back to sit around the fire.
I cursed and screamed. I couldn’t live like this. Giving up my children was too much to ask and I would never survive. The panic started to overwhelm me.