Subterrane Ch. 04

I reflected that none of them had called me by name except for Gaelan. I could smell both Gaelan and Jaunda on my skin constantly, now that their marks had dried on my face trapped inside cloth. I was still not on the "inside" of the Sisters, but I was being protected, if only to save me for themselves.

It finally occurred to me to wonder...did failed trainees remain slaves to the Red Sisters, used such as they obviously wanted to use me, as they were unable to be released after seeing so many secrets? Or did they save themselves the trouble and potential rebellion and just kill them after having their fun?

I wouldn't find out personally, I promised myself in the darkness of the bag. As far as I knew, I hadn't failed yet.

Eventually I was unlashed from the lizard mount and dragged off, still blinded by the bag. They carried me indoors somewhere, perhaps disheveled even worse than when they'd carried me out I don't know how long ago.

Several doors opened and closed; I counted those and the turns, but wasn't sure what good it might do me. Boots clapped more loudly on the dressed basalt, I think because now they wanted to make noise, and finally someone tapped on hollow stone.

"Enter."

The door opened and I was shoved so forcefully forward that I could do nothing but fall hard to the ground with a grunt. A pack and a weapon I heard were set down on a wooden table to the left, then I heard the door close a moment later. I stayed right where I was and said nothing.

The silence continued for a very uncomfortable time; from straining my senses I knew there was only one other Drow breathing in this smaller chamber, and there were a few candles glowing and emitting heat. She would be watching me, but who, and why?

I was determined to wait her out, and I stayed as I lay, curled on my side on the floor.

At long last, I heard a soft laugh. "Either Gaelan accomplished her mission in a starlet spread, or they cut your tongue out beneath that bag."

My heart surged and energy diffused through me as I recognized the voice. Elder D'Shea.

"Remove the bag and let me see you."

I gingerly tugged at the drawstring beneath my jaw, loosening it, and finally table to take a clean breath of air as I lifted the makeshift mask off my head. I blinked hard, my eyes protesting to the candles after so long outside of the City. I looked at Elder D'Shea.

She was dressed not in her Red Sister uniform but in a comfortable and soft-looking robe that showed her form well, deep purple in color but decorated with silver and red threads that formed interlocking webs in a curve that doubled back on itself. She wore sandals not all that different from the Consort's from the "farm of solitude," and she had a golden toe ring looped around her left pinky toe.

When I looked up at her elegant, mature face, she was expressionless, hair piled atop her head in fashionable disarray. A Death Bloom intertwined with the delicate, gold chains ran through her locks. I knew she had to be around my own Matron's age, but that was still relatively young at perhaps five hundred, maybe a bit more. She had reached that stage where the presence and grace was not only as natural as breathing, but potent when she locked gazes with you, as she was doing now.

She smiled benevolently. "Did you enjoy your outing, Blue Eyes?"

I almost felt like the Consort, here; better to purse one's lips defiantly and not answer at all than say what you were really thinking.

Ahh, but this wasn't starting out like the conversation we'd had back in the chamber, was it? There, I'd said yes, that I'd enjoyed the challenges, the couplings, and would remember them fondly. I still meant that.

These last ones—the Duergar, the Consort, Gaelan, Jaunda—in each one I'd lost a great deal of control, if not all of it, and I was not happy about it. I was still abused and sore, still filthy, still naked, no different from the last time D'Shea had been speaking with me. Except now my confidence—or arrogance—was not so steadfast. The more I saw, the more I realized I didn't know.

"Say something, Sirana," she said quietly. "Anything you wish to say."

I paused for a heartbeat. "What do I have to avoid to become a Red Sister?"

Her white brows raised in mild amusement but she seemed pleased with the question. "First tell me how you came to be here. I will answer your question."

My eyes shifted as I considered what to say, and how. Lying was second nature but then I had to know whether it would even do any good here. She'd get the whole story from the others at any time she wanted—certainly including the Bred Consort, but hopefully less the Duergar. Still...I realized I wasn't used to making completely truthful reports, even though it seemed to be in my favor to do so here.

"I made my way back from where I'd been deposited," I began neutrally. "It was slow travel, as the side-effects of Lolth's Threshold were...distracting."

She nodded, propping her chin lightly on her thumb, her other fingers relaxed. "Go on."

"I did not want to face the sentries, I thought I would...attack them, in my need. I wanted to see how close I could get to the Palace without discovery. Without meeting anyone."

"Ambitious." She looked skeptical about the attainability of that goal. "Dangerous, too."

I could see that now, I supposed; no telling who might have taken advantage of my state had I continued. I made no vocal comment to it, though.

"I found a pool that revealed a passage through the rock. I swam through it and reached a farm without having to confront the sentries." My heart sped up and doubt caused my skin to flush hot as I hesitated here.

"Go on," she said quietly. "Do not lie to me, Sirana, or I can't answer your question and I can't help you."

"I...discovered a lone male Drow there," I admitted. "As I feared...I...lost control of myself and captured him."

Her head tilted a bit, her brows drawing down. She was displeased. "And?"

My heart continued beating in my ears. "I got his cock inside me, but not for long enough for him to give me his seed," I explained.

"You're absolutely sure?"

"Ask Gaelan. She was the one who dragged me off."

D'Shea's full mouth twitched slightly. "I would have paid to see that fight."

I found my face heating; I clearly recalled being the loser.

"Continue," she commanded softly.

"Gaelan tied me up and took me to a cave. She used a...magical device to give herself a phallus, and...well." I paused, unsure how to say it.

"She did as I told her to do," D'Shea finished.

"Which was what?" I challenged.

She was pleased enough to answer. "To fuck you back to your senses."

The older Drow chuckled when I opened then closed my mouth.

"I can see how it worries you, Sirana. Don't let it. The lust spells will lessen over the next few days and your energy will return to normal, faster if you do as you did with Gaelan a few more times. Offer it to any of the Sisters, no one but the Sisters, Sirana, and certainly no males no matter how submissive, understand? On pain of death."

"Yes, Elder," I tested, and she didn't correct me on the title.

"So then Jaunda and her pack found you both there and brought you back, is that so?" she asked.

I nodded. "Yes, Elder."

"Did anyone else use you?"

"Jaunda. Just my mouth."

D'Shea nodded in return. "You have very few marks...I take it you didn't fight her?"

"No."

When I didn't elaborate further, she probed, "Instinct?"

I hesitated but answered, "Gaelan said not to. I was following her direction."

"Good instinct, then," D'Shea said. "Gaelan is a good observer and not as conniving as some. Jaunda is direct as a hammer in her methods but not the cruelest I've seen because she's so predictable. It's only when you resist that she loses her temper."

My eyes narrowed a bit just before I wanted to ask what her one-line summation of me was...but then I realized it would draw me away from my question. "So...your answer?"

D'Shea smiled again. "What do you have to avoid? Becoming pregnant, for one. For another, Elder Rausery. Although you probably won't be able to avoid her. Just remember that as in the trials, you cannot be permanently crippled."

She didn't even pause to give me opportunity to react to that.

"Let's see... You should avoid offending the Valsharess or the Priesthood, deserting the Sisterhood, being more trouble than you're worth, failing to obey your superiors... There are almost too many pitfalls to name, Sirana, but I can say trust your instincts and you'll do well enough."

All common sense, and pretty vague. I realized I hadn't been very specific myself.

"Alright, then. What is the very next thing I have to do in order to become a Red Sister?" I asked far more deliberately.

D'Shea chuckled deeply, reaching to take a sip from a half-full glass of dark wine. "Stay in this complex, and be tested. Each of the Sisters will test you in her own way. If they don't find you lacking, you'll earn a uniform. Then we'll train you on more...specifics."

"And who will you be to me?" I asked bluntly.

"Your primary superior. My word goes above all others for you, except for the Red Sister Prime and the Valsharess. Although if an order does not conflict directly with my instructions, I would not defy another of a higher rank, were I you. It will take time to rise in the Sisterhood, Sirana, but all who survive do."

I extrapolated quickly from that, and from what Gaelan had told me in the cave. "Is Rausery a rival superior of yours?"

D'Shea tilted her head slightly, still smiling small and elegant. "Very good. Yes. The Red Sisters have...'teams,' for lack of a better word. Like in our army, there are units within the large body. It keeps us better focused and is more efficient than if the pecking order was determined on a straight individual basis from the Prime Sister down.

"Our primary objective is to serve and protect the Valsharess. The Priesthood also holds some authority over us, can direct us toward known subversives and heretics, but we are also the balancing power that prevents the Priesthood from dominating the Chosen on our throne. Checks and balances, or you can imagine how the power structure would change every fortnight otherwise."

I nodded. Then I had to ask. "If I should somehow fail to earn the uniform?"

My superior's gaze settled on me as if determining whether I was having doubts. I maintained that gaze. I was not; I simply didn't want to be kept guessing.

"It would depend on the 'how' of the failure...but if you weren't executed, you would likely become either a slave stripped of her will, or given to the Priestesses to be transformed into a Drider, which amounts to the same thing."

The cold chill and dread that flooded me was welcomed, in a way. I'd guessed correctly, and it was all in line with what made the most sense to me. I could understand this group, it was within my ability, and they were quickly becoming much less of a mystery. Yet I wanted to explore all aspects of it, I wanted to see, and I wanted to know; I wanted to become. It was my new purpose in living. It was the reason I'd come back.

D'Shea stood up smoothly, setting down her wine glass and turned her back on me. That would be all the questions she'd answer for now; she'd already been generous. She stepped over to a lightly textured bathing tub, turning polished metal knobs that opened a broad-mouthed spout, and water began to flow out, filling the tub at a quick rate.

Amazingly, I could detect humid heat in my nose. A water system like this was fairly well known in the Noble Houses, but the source of the heat—if there was one—ranged anywhere from a complex connection to a deep thermal spring to laborious fires to magically-imbued heating stones. I could not know how this was heated, but I was suddenly hungry for a warm bath all the same.

I sat, however, as D'Shea disrobed, the purple cloth sliding smoothly down her skin as she still showed her back to me. My eyes drifted in the direction where I'd heard a weapon be placed upon my arrival and saw my House dagger laying there. It was within reasonable reach; D'Shea was too far away to stop me from reclaiming it. What I would do with it...well, that was a question worth considering.

Did I suppose she was testing me? Almost certainly. No Drow stayed facing away from another so long if they weren't. I stayed as I was on the floor as she removed her sandals and added some sort of ground crystal to the water.

D'Shea was naked and taking down her hair as she finally turned, and she smiled at me, amusement glinting in her copper eyes. "Come bathe me, Sirana. You certainly need to do so as well."

So I was to play the servant to my "direct superior." Very well. As Jaunda had said with no subtlety, I was on the bottom rung.

I got to my feet for the first time in a while, feeling how incredibly sore I was from everything that had happened since I'd tied up the Consort on his kitchen table and taken his healing potion. Every muscle, every orifice; I was very stiff getting up.

I wanted the hot bath, but no doubt D'Shea also wanted to take her turn to "sample" me before all the others did; that must have been why she asked who all had used me. She was ranking herself. She would be third.

Truthfully, I didn't really look forward to it; my head and passions were still calm for the moment and I thought anything else inserted into my body couldn't possibly bring any pleasure, only pain. I needed to heal first.

I could take it, but I wouldn't enjoy it.

The water was almost too hot as we settled down. The heat seeped quickly into my muscles down to my bones, setting both our skins to radiating brightly despite the candles interfering with our dark vision. I groaned inwardly. As when Gaelan had taken me, it hurt but it felt so good...whatever salt D'Shea had added to the water was also working to soothe my nether regions.

At a look from D'Shea, I took the bottle of scented soap and a large, plush cloth and began to soap her up above the waist. She was well-formed and muscled as I was, perhaps more so, although not especially bulky. A very few, subtle silver lines marked her black skin and I was inwardly shocked to see...scars.

She had one scar running about finger-length along her ribcage beneath her left breast, another crossing her spine between her shoulder blades, and—when she stood up for me to scrub below her waist, I saw another drawn with the direction of the muscle on her abdomen on the right side. That scar would likely be immediately above an ovary.

What self-empowered Drow, especially beautiful as she was, would keep scars at all if she had the choice? Or had she?

After she'd spread her legs for me to wash her folds between her legs, which I did and rinsed in good time, I fully expected her to order me to put my mouth on her then. I waited for the order.

She didn't give it.

The Elder sat down in the water and turned around again, telling me to wash her hair next, which I did, lingering a bit massaging her scalp and letting the wet, soapy hair run through my fingers before rinsing. After we'd finished, she languished in the hot water and watched me as I cleaned myself head to toe more quickly. When that was complete...we just sat in the hot water, feeling it slowly cool.

She silenced me each time I tried to ask a question, and I stopped after two when she looked vaguely annoyed. It was quiet in her chamber as it had been in the cave where I'd woken up next to the pool.

Eventually the water was no longer pleasantly warm and we got out and I was instructed to pull the drainer. I was next to dry her before I dried myself, and I still waited for the order to either start oral service or to present myself for her inspection. Instead I was told to plait her lightly damp hair for her, and then do my own.

"It is late," she said lowly after I'd tied off my own braid.

She gestured toward a fairly simple but comfortable bed, barely large enough for two bodies. The hot bath had relaxed me and after my journey I knew I was exhausted enough to fall into reverie very shortly after climbing into a bed like that. Would she command me to perform for an hour or so before I could sleep?

At my hesitation, she gestured again. "Get in."

Very well.

I settled in, waiting, expecting. D'Shea simply lay down and relaxed.

Within a short but dragging time of me trying to keep myself awake despite the soft bed sucking the very will out of me to do so, despite me still expecting...something!...I got to a point where I was almost certain D'Shea was deep in reverie.

Asleep.

The relief of not having my privates probed further did not last long; my mind wandered to more familiar matters immediately, no matter if it made sense right now. There was a weapon just on the other side of the room. There was nothing stopping me from taking it, using it, or even leaving the room or snooping around her chambers for more information, for interesting tools or substances. To gain knowledge and secrets and that edge.

Nothing to stop me except for consequences, of course.

Would it not be very short-sighted of me to think I could get away with direct action inside Elder D'Shea's own chambers? How did I really know what kind of protection she might have in place? I didn't.

I reminded myself how it had been the right choice that I had kept no possessions that would have forced me to explain meeting the Duergar, that I was fortunate to evade that line of questioning for now. And if I acted that short-sighted, wouldn't it be fitting that they want to find out what else I was up to, or knew? I know I would.

No demons but them, yes, and they were not finished testing me by a far reach.

I wanted to be one of them. D'Shea had told me so much of the order already, surely she didn't see a point to kill me in my sleep. I was not used to trusting anytime that I was safe, but I slowly relaxed, nude next to my superior, deciding to do nothing, to take no supposed "advantage."

Undoubtedly this was a test as well.

D'Shea was not afraid of me or anything my mind, already pushed to its limits, might come up with; she was confident enough to sleep. There was likely good reason.

I resolved to stop thinking and scheming for one night. Just tonight.

The next moment, my reverie took hold of me while it could.


********

Author's Note:

No self-respecting fantasy writer would stop here, so in case you're wondering, yes, there will be a third story arch (already in the works).

I will not be picking up immediately where we left off, however, as that would probably be repetitive. The next story will begin some time later; Sirana will have her uniform, and certain other characters from the first story will reappear. Hope to see you then!