A Slave to the Servants Ch. 18

No one talked once they came inside. The boots walked slowly around me until I was surrounded. Pulling the blanket around my shoulders, I fought to breath slow and steady.

"Leave it," I heard a bored voice say. "Get our things and we can go celebrate."

Damien and his Brothers were right, I mused as the men collected their things and left. The men from the compound respected the rules about slaves. I was in far less danger around them than I had been in the mountains. Still, I didn't breath easier until I heard Damien and his Brothers come in.

"The others were here already," Kein said as soon as they walked in.

Christof unbundled me and checked for any damage before I could speak.

"Did they touch you or speak to you?" Bane asked with a hand on the hilt of his sword.

"No, they just looked at me and left," I said reaching out and stroking his leg.

"They didn't need to look at you," Evan said sounding cranky. "I told you all those men were not honorable."

The Brothers argued. There was some dissension as to whether looking constituted something other men should not do. Kein argued they would have looked when they were younger. Damien said they would have ignored the slave.

I interrupted them when I laughed.

"Is it honorable," I asked softly, "to leave a member of the family tied up when we are all back together?"

Bane grunted and sliced through the leash tethering me in the main room. I rose and stretched. My bladder was a little full, so I wandered into the bathroom to use the pot. After sitting down I looked up at five men standing in the doorway staring at me.

"Are you all bored?" I asked sarcastically.

I failed to understand why me needing to pee resulted in a group trip to this room. I stood up and turned around facing the wall. It was really hard to do my business when I was the focus of attention.

I looked down while I concentrated on relieving myself and noted how flat my stomach was, concave almost. My thighs were also slimmer, but with pronounced muscles. I finished and realized how much weight I had lost. Nu-reeh'sboot camphad been very effective, I looked very different, which was probably her intention.

I jumped when a wet cloth ran gently between my legs. They had been so quiet, I thought the men had gotten bored and left. Obviously they had not.

"What are you doing?" I asked Bane as he dried me.

"I am cleaning you," he said softly.

There was longing in his eyes. I realized Damien and his Brothers had missed me terribly and I wasn't acting at all excited to see them. Usually I was much more affectionate than this. Play acting in front of the other men had stifled my emotions.

I rose and turned wrapping my arms around Bane. "I missed you, Bane," I told him as I reached on tip toe tokisshis lips. "Being away from you was awful."

That was what they needed. I was passed man to man. Each of them wanted to hear my voice while they held me. They needed the soft press of lips on their skin. Tactile proof I had missed them was required.

We ended up in the room with the large bed. They wanted to be on their bed in the compound, but no one wanted to wait that long. All of us wanted to be close after the long separation.

I knelt on the covers and watched them disrobe around me. Damien came toward me first. As he stood beside the bed, my hands drifted over his muscled arms and chest. I re-memorized the contours of his body.

Shuffling forward I kissed his chest across his broad flat nipples. He shuddered at the strange sensation and I smiled into his chest. My hand dropped to encircle his erection and I tugged on it lightly. The rod pulsed in my hand growing harder as I played.

"Stop," Damien demanded suddenly wrapping a hand in my short hair.

As he leaned down to kiss me softly on the lips his big hand pulled my palm away from his staff.

"You are not ready," he said in a strained voice. "Let us make you ready."

I wanted to tease him, so I bit his lower jaw gently. "Do you want to punish me?" I asked breathlessly, looking into his eyes.

The erotic way Damien had of punishing me for perceived naughtiness made me burn with desire for him. He didn't take the bait, though and ignored the biting.

"Lay down," he coaxed pushing me back, "you do not need such stimulation as that right now."

Damien's lips were on mine and his tongue was in my mouth as soon as my back touched the cover. Kein's sweet lips were covering my breasts with attention and Evan had wormed his way between my thighs.

Soft kisses and gentle licks brought me to the verge of orgasm and then Damien pushed his Brothers away to sink into my flesh.

"Find your pleasure," Damien coaxed as Christof's hand slipped between us and strummed my clit as I was filled.

Deep grey eyes watched me as my mouth opened in a soundless cry. The stimulation was unbearably pleasurable and I clenched tightly on Damien. He moved with great control as I writhed and panted beneath him.

The men were sweet and gentle with me. Each of them laid me on my back and took me slowly. I did everything they liked, but they didn't get excited or lose control.

I came under them in sweet, cresting waves. Frankly, I wasn't sure how they got enough stimulation to get themselves off. No matter how hard I pushed they maintained the same slow, methodical rate. It was frustrating.

The pace began to make me restless. I needed their raw, masculine energy. It was what I was used to. It wasn't clear where this new softer side was coming from.

The picture came into focus when Evan grabbed my hips and started to take me more roughly. Damien slapped his shoulder and told him to slow down. Kein warned him not to hurt me. They thought I was sick.

"I'm not ill," I panted grabbing Evan's hair and twisting my fingers in it, "fuck me harder."

The Brothers had decided and my words fell on deaf ears. Evan took his time and although the sweat formed on his brow, he didn't increase the speed or power of his thrusts.

"Grow your teeth and do me," I demanded pulling harder on his hair.

My hands were pulled away and restrained beside my head on the bed.

"You are weak, Sister," he murmured lapping at the sweat on my neck, "frail and weak. I do not wish to hurt you. Let us join tenderly."

It did feel good, in a completely vanilla sort of way. They eventually released my hands and I stroked Evan in a loving manner.

Christof was last and it was the same with him. I tried again to convince him and he almost listened. The pull of the family bond won out though.

"Thin humans are healthy," I said once Christof rolled off of me. "On my planet we spend lots of time and money to be thin."

Damien's gaze travelled across my form and he spoke, "You are not just thin. You are malnourished. It will make your bones weak and your skin fragile. If this continued your hair would fall out and so would your teeth," he stated bluntly.

I rolled to my side and faced him, "None of that is happening now and I'm not malnourished!" I stated with finality. "She fed me three times a day."

"Rupe," Bane said, "she fed you rupe three times a day. It fills your stomach and you will not feel any hunger, but you cannot absorb nutrient from it. Our cousins used it to feed early human...women. They died looking as you do now."

"Our family does not eat it," Kein said tracing the line of my hip. "We have never eaten it. The Child Keepers said we could not have it and it is never brought to us. That is why you have never seen it."

"It was food," I insisted. "I was just very busy-"

"You - did - not - absorb - any - of - it," Damien said very slowly.

The argument continued until I asked to use the lacquered pot and Damien ushered me to the bathroom. While Damien stood and watched me relieve myself, I used the argument I should not have.

"I'm strong. You should have seen what I did all day. It was really hard work and I'm..." the words died in my throat as the dark look took over Damien's features.

He had wanted that information last night and I had denied him.

"Fine," he said in a low growl, "you are well. We will not treat you as if you are sick. Now tell me what she did to you. There are no secrets in this family."

Kein sauntered in behind Damien and turned the water on to fill the tub. He looked quite satisfied. I had walked right into their trap. Either I talked or they would punish me, either way was fine with them.

The men came in and stood casually around as Damien cleaned me. I told them the entire story, which was actually quite short. It infuriated them. Christof took over my bath and Damien stepped out to pummel the wall several times.

"Damien, please," I pleaded looking at his bleeding knuckles, "you know why she did it. I look like a runaway, don't I? No one will question what happened to me."

"Who would have questioned that?" Damien bellowed hitting the wall again. "No one would have even noticed. There was no purpose-"

Christof cut him off and the family turned to look at him. "I would have noticed. This slave supposedly ran from the compound during an attack by the women. None of the other Warriors know that Nu-reeh took her. None of them know we cared for her. There are Warriors who would have questioned whether such a healthy slave had really travelled and lived for many moons in the mountains."

It made sense to me now, how Nu-reeh had swooped in and grabbed me without anyone noticing. She had hidden my kidnap in a planned female raid. In the confusion, no one must have noticed my disappearance.

The men knew none of what I was thinking. They were still looking angrily at Christof.

"That's just you," Bane spit out sounding as angry as Damien.

"No, Brothers, not just me. There are others who like to question," Christof stated with authority.

He started naming off men who would have noticed. They would have been curious how I did so well. Their families would have gotten curious, the questions would have spread over the compound. Even families without a curious Brother might have started to pay attention.

"If they noticed their Brothers would notice," Kein said quietly. "It would be discussed and they would wish to see the slave."

"Remember the slave who nearly killed her Masters?" Christof said. "Do you recall how they made a spectacle of her fighting men in the arena before they took her back to the slavers?"

Evan cussed and sat at the edge of the stone pit I was in. Christof was right. If I looked healthy they'd want to know how I did so well. Right now I appeared to have survived only barely. That would be acceptable to the other men; it would make sense.

"It will be attributed to luck and fortune that she lived so long," Christof said soothingly. "This was necessary."

I smiled at my friend. His acceptance of this seemed to be calming the rest of them.

"I still don't like it," Damien growled sitting at the edge of the bath and watching us.

Christof agreed with him and I crawled out to sit on Damien's lap and hold him close.

"Nobody has ever taken care of me the way you all do," I told him stroking his face.

Damien relaxed and smiled slightly. He liked that, I could tell. It made him calm a tiny bit more.

"We still need to feed you," he said drying me with a towel.

Being treated like some sort of invalid had been irritating. I stopped Damien and reiterated the idea that I was well. They just had to stop or it would make me insane.

"On Earth," I insisted, "humans would actually go places where they weren't fed well and they were forced to work hard to lose weight. I'm sure if it continued I'd get injured, but right now I'm fine."

Damien did not like to repeat himself. His face became slightly irritated as he spoke.

"I said we believe you are well. We will watch you, though, Sister. If you start to become ill, we will do something about it."

Smiling up at him, I placed akisson his chin. I'd never doubted they would care for me for a moment.

I had a snack before we headed back to the compound, dried and preserved worms. When I was pregnant and bonded the flavor had been wonderful. Now without my men's opinions influencing me, I choked them down as quickly as possible, much to everyone's amusement.

"Please," I begged earnestly, "I won't refuse them, but please find something else for me to eat. If I have to eat worms all the time...They are just so nasty," I finished pleadingly.

"We could help you," Kein said with a teasing glint in his eye.

I threw my hands up and begged. The last time we'd done that, it was just awful.

"Oh, no, I said I wouldn't refuse them. It was only a question if there was something else I could eat."

"We will find something you like," Christof promised with a grin.

We made the trip back to the compound with me wrapped like a mummy. The men had used blankets from the bed to wrap me tightly head to toe. The fabric kept me warm and hidden from prying eyes. While we were still in the wild land between the mountains and the compound, my face was left uncovered.

I looked longingly back at the mountains and imagined Hannah looking at me. She was out there somewhere, I knew she was. Tears slipped down my face as I realized how long it would be before I saw her again, if ever.

The transport slowed to a stop and Christof pulled me to face him.

"Why do you maketears?" he asked.

"Hannah," I told him simply, "I will miss her terribly. She is out there and I will never again be as close to her as I am right now."

My voice broke and I sobbed gazing at the mighty, towering peaks that contained us on this land. Beyond them is where my daughter would stay. Beyond them was where she belonged. I was where I would always stay, in the slave pen concocted by the women.

"You will see her again," Damien said with confidence. "We are Nu-reeh's favorites. We will barter with her. She will allow you to see our offspring. I can do this for you."

The other men agreed. It was something they could manage. Maybe a few extra couplings or a lunar cycle in the mountains would buy me what I wanted. There was really no need for me to worry, they would take care of it.

I knew the truth of it. I watched the grey slopes as the transport cruised steadily away. Damien and his Brothers would do whatever Nu-reeh wanted, when she wanted. If she found it acceptable, I would see Hannah. If she did not, I would never see my daughter again.

Silently, I said good bye to Hannah. I prayed for her and released her to the wild world. Make her strong and happy was the silent appeal I made to any deity that might listen. It was all I could do for her.

As the transport got closer to the compound the sun got lower in the sky. Just before it set, the men pulled a sheet over my head. Now I couldn't see anything. I was surrounded in white with the sense of movement under my feet. It was quite disconcerting.

The transport lowered and then stopped suddenly. I heard voices, so I thought maybe we were home. I yelped when someone suddenly picked me up.

"Ciara," Damien sighed, "relax, you can't walk bundled like this."

I was carried and set down on my feet, but I still didn't know where.

"Ah, Damien," I heard Fredrick the shopkeeper say, "that pesky lost slave has been found. How wonderful."

My head covering was removed and I was standing in the opulent dressing room of Fredrick's shop. I glanced up and he looked just as perky as always. He jokingly asked Damien if it had been difficult to "find" me. He found the entire thing quite humorous. Damien warned him not to let the secret out.

"Boys," Fredrick said laying a hand on Damien's shoulder, "this world is full of secrets. I know many and choose to keep them, because my Brothers and I are kept happy. What we know will not be spread around. It never is."

My family seemed to relax and Fredrick called Mia out. She unwrapped the blankets from around me as the men talked.

"You are well, cousin?" she murmured quietly.

"Yes, thank you," I answered trying to help her untangle me.

"I helped my owners make warm outfits," she said quietly, "they parted to expose your breasts so you could feed a child. It was a common design for women feeding their young in the coldest part of my world."

"It was effective, thank you. I would have been uncomfortable without it," I told her.

"The child," she whispered hesitantly, "on my world it is rude not to ask a mother of the fate of their child. From my human friends, I believe this is your custom also."

I saw her eyes dart to the men, who were still talking about secrets and mountains.

"Female, strong, and free," I said trying desperately not to tear up.

Mia offered what sounded like a prayer and laid her hand on mine. "Not a slave then? You have been blessed," she whispered and then walked me to the small stage.

The fitting was quick. The only real issue was my new size. I was smaller. Damien told Fredrick I would be gaining weight, so the ornamentation should be adjustable. During a break I whispered in Damien's ear.

"I don't mind being smaller. Being fat isn't really a good thing for a human."

He sighed and whispered back to me, "You look ill. This is not healthy for you. Our family is strong; we will feed you so you become strong again."

I was draped, once again, in the light fabric over my breasts and the juncture of my thighs. It covered virtually nothing, but it was in the right colors. My men looked appraisingly at my form accented with their colors.

Fredrick had a brown outfit I could be wrapped in and sold them it and a kneeling place. All the other new ornamentation they had bought would be delivered to our rooms later. We went to the cafe and had a meal as we had several times before. The men were visibly annoyed as I knelt to take my food.

"Family should sit together for a meal," Bane muttered under his breath.

I stroked his thigh andkissedit lovingly.

After dinner we went back to Fredrick's, which I found odd. Silly me, we went back to pick up my collar and cuffs. The smooth metal was wrapped around me and I was once more emblazoned with the family emblem.

Mia fluffed my hair and looked at her Master.

"The hair is..." she said playing with the roughly cut locks.

"Let us fix this, so you can ornament it," Fredrick said watching Evan. "Mia will not harm your slave. It does not hurt a human to cut the hair. It is not like you my friend, it is like your Brothers in that regard."

Evan stiffened at the comment and Damien let out a surprised sound.

"Yes, yes another secret we keep," Fredrick said in response. "My Brothers and I have been around a long time. We will not tell anyone that does not need to know, but back to the topic. Let Mia trim this hair. It looks too rough now."

Evan watched carefully as Mia trimmed my hair with small gold scissors. She kept the same general shape the men had given it, but layered the waves of brown and cut it neatly.

"It doesn't hurt you?" Evan questioned quietly while she worked.

"No...Master Evan," I answered remembering his title. "Pulling it out would hurt, but cutting it does not."

The men seemed pleased with the work Mia had done. Before they dressed me in the dull brown outfit, the men ran their fingers through the hair. It looked better this way, they were agreed.

"I would let the girl cut Ciara's hair again," Evan said as we flew over the wall into the Warrior compound. "She was cautious and did a good job."

I poked him in the thigh with my mittened hand and he looked down at me.

"Why did you do that?" he asked as the transport landed in the courtyard of the Warrior's compound.

"That is not a girl or a she, Master Evan," I whispered quietly as they pulled off my brown outfit. "You'll start all manner of trouble if the other men learn what you know."