A Slave to the Servants Ch. 12

I had never seen my Masters cook. It had not been apparent to me they knew how.

"When we used to come to the mountains to look for a lost man," Master Bane explained, "we often stayed until the man was found. We killed and ate things we could catch instead of returning to the compound."

Memories flitted into my mind of hunting down supper. I knew where to look and how to kill what I wanted. My Warriors were masters of survival in the mountains.

The roasted meat was always a treat after many hours tracking. It melted on the tongue. The thick gravy the cooks used to prepare it here was not as pleasing. The stew took away from the natural juices. There were much better ways to prepare this dish.

The meal continued with my opinions over the food not being mine at all. For instance, I craved the rubbery green stalks in the center of the table. I'd never seen them before, but I knew they would be sweet and tangy. My fingers itched to grab one and devour it.

"And much too hard for you to chew, Ciara. You cannot have any," Master Kein laughed taking and biting into one.

It tasted amazing. Master Kein had loved them since he was a small child. They were hard to come by in the lowland and common in the mountains. It was one of the few things the men liked when they were here.

Master Bane thought about the time they had found a huge patch of it. Master Kein made them go there every time they went near that area in the mountains. It had been a long time since they had gone to that place.

Master Evan liked the lake near there. It was clear, deep, and secluded. He could swim it all day and never be bored.

Master Damien remembered times when they had slept on the bank of the lake; it had been peaceful. They had really enjoyed their quiet nights there in the middle of hunts.

"Ciara," Master Evan called and I looked up.

I was so confused. It was too much stimulation to have all their thoughts and memories bombarding me.

"Swallow and take another bite," Master Evan commanded.

I did and he smiled down at me.

"You must relax," he said petting my head.

He was right. Putting myself under more stress that I was already under was probably bad for the baby. I thought about Rose and her deep breathing.

If I didn't think about it, their constant stream of thoughts was just background. The ebb and flow of emotions wasn't as disconcerting if you didn't fight it. Just go with it, I convinced myself.

"You find our bond uncomfortable?" Master Damien asked.

They expected an answer to be verbalized.

"Yes, Master Damien, I'm not used to having so much in my head at once," I answered him.

They didn't understand. None of them felt that anything was 'in their head' as I described it. My words left them confused.

"Take a bite, Ciara," Master Damien commanded and the internal communication continued.

I became more relaxed as we ate. They talked and I listened, to both the internal and the external conversation. The men could readily have both at the same time.

Suddenly, everything was quiet.

The talons clattering across the floor alerted me to Nu-reeh's presence. My head stayed down, despite the strong urge to watch her. The men waited quietly.

"Did you eat a good midday meal, my loyal servants?" she asked.

"Yes, Mistress," they replied.

I realized I had answered her also. There was an unearthly compulsion to do what she said. It wasn't apparent to me if the feeling was from fear, respect, or something else all together.

"Rue and his Brothers have been brought before us," she said simply.

There was a long pause before she spoke again. "Damien, I will explain this to you only one more time. Your family is to look at me when I speak to you."

My head snapped up and I looked into her fanged face across the table. Looking away had been a sign of disrespect. If I didn't feel the need to watch her, I did not fear her. Anyone that did not fear the great female challenged her and she would crush them.

The group answered with me, "We apologize, Mistress."

"You will all be punished for harming yourselves," she said simply. "You are under my protection and not to be damaged unless it is my decision."

Punishment meant a whipping. We could survive that, they could survive that, at least.

"The human..." Master Christof said softly and I felt his concern.

The whips were too strong, I was too weak, and they weren't sure the women knew how much force to use.

"We would take the slave's portion, Mistress," Master Damien said.

I wasn't worried about myself, but about the child. What if I was hurt too badly and it hurt the baby?

"The child," Master Evan said, almost spitting the words out, "the human is full with the child, Mistress."

He didn't like this talk of me having a child and being a woman. I was just so persistent about it.

"The human," Nu-reeh said, "will suffer with you, but only through your skin."

"Thank you, Mistress," we answered as a group, but I didn't understand.

The images flooded my head. They felt each other's pain. Nu-reeh would not hit me, but I would suffer just like they did. It was very small consolation to know I would not actually be harmed.

Nu-reeh left us to finish our meal after her pronouncement. No one seemed that worried about it. Sure pain was promised eventually, but not right now. For the moment we were left in peace, so we enjoyed it.

The meal finished and with nothing else to do, we went for a walk. The men decided I would be curious. They wanted to see me experience this world. I was always so expressive.

We walked from the eating hall through a convoluted series of maze like passageways. My owners had traversed these places regularly, so they knew where we were. It was so odd to have information at my disposal that should have not have been mine. I knew right where I was.

Clattering talons sounded and my Masters backed me against the wall. The voices in my head told me how to act. She may not even glance at us, but we should watch her.

'Smaller than Nu-reeh,' was my first thought.

Just as scary, though.

The brown pelted creature walked past us with it's wingspan folded in the tight hallway. She looked at me and snorted. It sounded like she cursed. My presence here was not appreciated at all.

"We enjoy having you here," Master Evan said throwing back a smile once she was gone.

"We are complete now," Master Christof said quietly.

They weren't sure how the bond could reset itself so fast this time. I remembered the last time. They'd had sex with me and Master Evan had tasted them each intimately. This time seemed different.

"You pulled us together," Master Damien told me, "we did not come together voluntarily, as we did last time."

The voices buzzed in my head. That was unusual. I should not have been able to do that. Nobody controlled someone like that, it wasn't normal.

Somehow I had found their wayward consciousness and forced them together. They'd never been bonded like that. Of course, they felt some relief, but it was still disconcerting to be connected to one another like that and then connected to me.

Of course in a way it felt good to know I was bonded to them. I'd feared mental illness in myself for so long. It was a relief to know all those dreams and strange feelings had a reason. I hadn't been crazy, but what I'd done was certainly not normal.

"Masters," I stammered, "I didn't know, I don't know..."

"Perhaps because you are human," Master Kein suggested.

"Or is it something in the mountains?" Master Evan asked.

Their curiosity over the strange bond was overshadowed by their desire to see my reaction. We turned a corner and were standing at an opening in the mountain.

It was amazing. The mountains stretched as far as I could see and the enormous one we were in was almost small.

"The women like to mine above the cloud line," Master Christof said pointing up. "That is where Nu-reeh and her sisters mine."

"We can't go that high up," Master Kein said stepping closer to the edge. "We can't breath above the clouds."

The cold wind in the mountains whipped around us and I was glad for my outfit. Someone lifted the hood up so my head stayed warmer. Master Damien took a hand and slipped a mitten on it. Master Bane did the same with my other hand.

They didn't know everything about the mining. It was hard work, the men could not do it. Master Christof had been curious so she had taken him to see an active mine lower down the mountain.

Nu-reeh told them you earned the right to work. Once you were producing you may earn the right to mate. Once they were old enough some women kept men, like Nu-reeh and some women just rented breeders. If the women were lucky those breedings resulted in offspring.

The men weren't sure how the women put the boys together once they were born. All they knew was that once a boy was joined into a family the mothers sold the five of them. They were very particular about where their sons went. Women that owned men were strong and protective, that's how it was always done.

I petted my stomach and frowned. If this was a boy, I didn't know how I would raise him.

"He would go to the Child Keepers after being placed with his Brothers, Ciara," Master Damien said.

It was obvious to them how a boy would grow up. There were details to that I didn't understand, though. Things I was sure were important.

"Who places the mark?" I asked frantically. "How would I do that for my child? How would I know who his Brothers are?"

Thoughts were whizzing around in my head. I felt faint. My child would not have the advantage of a mother with any knowledge. My poor son would have no mark, no family, and could be claimed by any woman.

Master Kein stumbled a little and his foot slipped toward the edge. He looked physically ill. They all looked sick. Master Kein started to fall and a scream caught in my throat.

In a flurry of wings we were pushed away from the edge. Dinah was grabbing Master Kein and shooing the rest of us back.

"What are you doing?" she thundered as Master Kein stared up at her. "You almost stepped off the side of a mountain!"

She wasn't looking at Master Kein, though. Dinah was looking right at me. She knew who was responsible for their carelessness.

I started to speak and was silenced by Master Damien's hand on my shoulder. He would speak for us. That is what they expected.

"Thank you, Dinah," he said politely. "We were careless."

Dinah set a struggling Master Kein down and he took the strides that placed him with us. He looked like he wanted to wipe the places she had been touching him. It was taking all his fortitude not to look disgusted.

"Stay away from the edge," she ordered taking off.

Now I felt awful for two reasons. I'd nearly killed Master Kein and my poor child...

"Ciara," Master Evan growled, "stop it. We will do whatever it takes to help the child. You worry too much. I feel like I want to lose my meal and I have never done that before."

Master Damien looked irritated and annoyed, too, even Master Christof looked upset. Master Bane leaned against the wall breathing heavy.

"What is this sensation in my stomach?" he asked. "It is as though it rolls and comes into my throat. I do not like it."

Nausea, they felt my nausea and it was unfamiliar to them. I absolutely had to get control of myself. Think of Rose and breathing slow and steady.

"How do you do it, Ciara?" Master Christof asked. "How do you connect to us so powerfully? It makes no sense. You are not of this world. A human cannot bond to us."

Master Evan huffed and slid down the wall sitting down with his arms resting on his knees. "The same way a human cannot carry our child. What have we been told that wasn't a lie?"

Master Damien slid down the wall next to Master Evan and rested with him. It was strange and disconcerting what I seemed to be doing. In fact, it was unknown to them before they woke up bonded to me this morning.

They had been having the strange feelings seeping into their bond before that. The dreams had been bizarre, but they had ignored them. It was just assumed they really missed me.

"We finally knew at the cabin," Master Kein said looking out over the opening in the rock, but not getting anywhere near the edge. "The anticipation of seeing you was greater than any time before and when you did not show up and we could not get to you..."

Master Christof finished for him taking my mittened hand. "We were lost. Knowing we still had you made this bearable; we feared our treasure was taken from us for good."

It was the most romantic thing someone had ever said to me. I was going to cry and my eyes were prickling.

"Is every feeling you have unpleasant all the time?" Master Bane asked. "How are we to function? How do you function?"

"Unbelievable!" Master Evan exclaimed throwing his hands up and grabbing his head.

"We will not survive this," Master Kein moaned sinking next to Master Damien.

It was hilarious. They were all upset and it was so silly. I laughed out loud. They laughed with me.

"The slave will be the death of us," Master Bane said holding his side and chuckling.

This wasn't funny to them. It was serious. Our laughter subsided and they were all looking at me warily.

"Remember when Ronal told us this morning that he remembered human slaves having a child, Damien," Master Evan said. "He seems to know about the human slaves that come to the mountains. We should find out if our cousins from the red mountains had the same..."

Master Evan faltered and the internal conversation took over. Being bonded to me was not necessarily a problem, he did not want to phrase it as such. It wasn't normal and it did pose a challenge, though.

"Perhaps," Master Christof stated gesturing toward the sky, "they have not been honest with us."

The internal conversation took over. This may happen more than anyone knew. If it happened, no Warrior would admit it.

We started back toward a different place suddenly and as a group. Master Damien needed to talk to Ronal.

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Fair warning - Chapter 13 will be late, perhaps the weekend. I didn't anticipate a pregnant friend popping and I must travel a bit to see her. I apologize for not sticking to my schedule, but life is interrupting. Of course, I'll try to stick to it after that.

Hope it was fun to read! DW