Slave Unbound Ch. 07

"You stayed mostly conscious." The aljin replied in an impish tone. "Quite the feat for someone so small."

Leita closed her eyes, wincing at the multitude of aches going through her body. She focused her will on her breathing and clearing her head. When she opened her eyes again, she sat up forcefully, earning a sound of surprise from Colja. Looking up, she saw Kalder standing there, arms crossed, looking at her dubiously. Clenching her teeth, she fought her way back up to her feet, though she was sure that even a slight push would send her toppling back to the sand.

"M-my turn?" She stuttered, still feeling a little shaky.

There was a long moment of silence before most of the other slaves around them began laughing, Colja included. Kalder, however, didn't look amused. "Don't confuse being able to take a hit with being able to fight, little girl." He said darkly. "I'm not as easy to impress. Just because you managed to hit him where you meant to doesn't mean anything, little girl. You killed Maslo with a lucky throw, on purpose or not. I can look at you and see you know nothing of combat. You're slow, you're small, and you're stupid enough to get back up and play strong. If you survived training, I'd be shocked."

Leita lunged forward suddenly, bringing her still chained hands together into a double-fist, and slammed them into Kalder's navel as hard as she was able to manage. It felt like hitting a brick wall, resulting in much the same reaction. She was certain that she hurt her own hands more than she did him. He didn't even flinch from the blow.

She didn't even remember him hitting her again, just found herself once again laying in the sand, this time with sharp pain coming from her shoulder. Unlike her breastbone, this time it didn't fade away, but seemed to get worse. Vaguely, she heard a voice next to her, a feminine voice, though her vision was still swimming too much to see a face.

"Her shoulder is out of socket." The voice said without any trace of sympathy. "Possibly broken, but I don't think so." There was a clucking sound before the voice added. "I'm not sure the Mistress is going to be happy you've already damaged her new fighter before she's even seen her yet."

"She is no fighter." Kalder's voice answered. "Just somebody's housemaid that got thrown to the dogs. That's what the Mistress wanted to see. If she was even worth keeping in the stable. And even if she was worth keeping, she wanted her properly humbled."

The female voice clucked again. "Maybe they can find somewhere in the house for her."

Gritting hard against the severe pain in her shoulder, Leita willed her vision to clear and tried to sit up. She caught sight of Kalder, now walking away, apparently done with her. Though she could make out someone beside her in the edge of her vision, it was still to foggy to make out any details. However, it was Kalder she was focused on. If this was a test, failure wasn't an option. She had to get back to her feet.

With supreme effort she tried to get back to her feet, but felt a hand try to restrain her. "Your shoulder is dislocated." The woman beside her said. "Wait for a healer. They will put it back—"

With a shout, Leita shrugged away from the hand and threw herself back up onto her feet and once again rushed at the gigantic stone-like man. This time he was caught entirely by surprise, only halfway through turning around at the sound of her yelp. She put her dislocated shoulder directly in line with his hip as she collided into him. The searing pain that followed nearly turned out all the lights in her world again, but she staggered and nearly fell, just from the intense pain alone, but refused to let her feet come out from beneath her.

She waited for the reprisal, bracing for the expected hit. She only vaguely registered that the harsh agony of in her shoulder was receding now, the joint once again in socket. However, when another moment passed and she wasn't struck down for a third time, she dared to really look around her, blinking away the haze in her vision.

Kalder was on the ground in front of her, not looking actually hurt, but his expression showed a look of interest and amused surprise. After a moment, he shook his gray head at her in exasperation. "Do you ever just stay down?" He asked finally, eyeing her like she was insane.

It took a moment for Leita to unrattled her brain enough to make words. "Not anymore." She muttered, feeling her knees starting to buckle and the world closing up around her. She stumbled, despite her determination to stay standing.

Kalder shifted where he was sitting, pulling his knees up to his chest casually and gave her a deeply amused smirk. "You sure about that, little girl?"

In the next moment, the last of her will gave out and she was racing back down to the sandy ground, down into dark oblivion.