87
The level of dislike they had had to stem from something. Perhaps pain and humiliation was at the root. Slaves could be treated in any way at all. I had to help them, so I had to know what I was dealing with.
“No,” Evan grunted sprawling across my lap, “we are not hurt.”
“Do they feed you?” I asked stroking Evan’s hair. “Are you kept in a comfortable place?”
“It’s not that,” Kein complained and I ran a hand up his arm in comfort.
“We don’t wish to be stationed in the mountains with them. We don’t want to be sold to their cousins in the afternoons,” he said. “We were not meant to be slaves.”
“We were free,” Christof said laying back and throwing a hand over his eyes.
“We could fight them,” Bane said, “perhaps we could be free again.”
I was in an impossibly strange situation. Slavery, at it’s root, was wrong. Fighting it would be honorable, but it would probably get my men killed. The women would overpower them, I was sure of it.
The sight of that massive woman in the street overpowering ten men still haunted me. She had not even been deterred by the men’s show of force that day. I imagined the mountains were loaded with women. My five men would never win.
“Sometimes,” I started, “fighting is not a good answer. There may be other ways. Perhaps you could barter with them.”
The men looked at me strangely for a moment. Evidently what I had said made no sense to them. Damien lay back and stared at the ceiling.
“You think the women would kill us,” he said morosely. “You think it is not a battle we can win.”
I didn’t answer him, but the truth was probably written all over my face.
“They would win,” Kein agreed watching me. “The other men in the mountains, I talked to them. There have been uprisings before, the men involved are killed if they cannot be broken. You have all seen the women, how they outnumber us.”
Evan snorted and stared at me as he spoke, “It is weakness not to fight, whether we are outnumbered or not. We should fight them to our deaths, it is the only honorable way to end this.”
I shuddered in fear and gripped his hand. “Evan, I have seen the women fight. Their weapons are terrible. Don’t choose to die like that. There must be…”
“There is only this and death, Ciara,” he said looking over at me. “Those are the only choices.”
I could not lose them, so I bargained.
“Perhaps you are spending time doing reconnaissance work now. Perhaps you learn things so you can find a way to escape them,” I said almost pleading.
Christof huffed loudly and stared at the ceiling. “We are learning they are more powerful than we will ever be,” he said solemnly. “They have weapons we cannot best.”
“Ah, yes, the venom,” Bane said looking contemplative, “Remember when we saw the man as he angered his Mistress and she dropped a bit of her venom on him?”
“The man that died screaming before the moon shifted?” Evan asked. “I remember. We had to hear the misery of his family as they died one by one. It was awful.”
“They have venom?” I whispered.
“In their teeth,” Damien explained. “Nu-reeh told us they do not waste it on men, it kills us every time. They use it when they fight one another.”Property © of NôvelDrama.Org.
“Why?” Christof asked, “Why raise us free and then take us and tell us we are slaves? It makes no sense.”
“You know why, Christof,” Damien scoffed. “They like us to have spirit. Have you seen the women when they come back from the couplings with the free Warriors? They love it. They come to us now for specific reasons, but do you see the same joy on their faces when they are done?”
The men murmured agreement. The women liked to go to the couplings with the free men. It was a pleasurable experience. The men they kept in the mountains didn’t bring out the same fire in them.
“I wonder why they don’t send you back to the compound?” I asked out loud.
“Nu-reeh promised us a certain number of times as payment to a group of women,” Damien said and continued to explain. “She owns us. Our owner mines the mountains and she wanted to mine a certain tract. We are valuable to her when we are available for sale every day.”
It made sense when they explained it. They were being trained so Damien would be a General, eventually. For now they split their time between learning and satisfying their owner’s debt.
“Do you have free time to enjoy yourselves?” I asked.
I knew how much they loved chuke. If they couldn’t play that confusing game, I’m sure it would upset them.
“The evenings are ours,” Bane told me. “Sometimes we go to the arena. Other times we stay in our rooms or walk in the mines.”
They talked about their quarters. It was much like the compound, but the rooms were cut into the old mines. There was almost limitless space, so much of it wasn’t used. Damien and his Brothers spent hours wandering the forgotten shafts.
The men were depressed. I didn’t think the small dark room we were in was helping. It probably reminded them too much of their new home.
“I want to go outside,” I said pushing Evan off my lap and springing off the bed.
“Why?” Christof asked sullenly.
“I want to be in the sun,” I said pulling at Bane’s boot, “and you need to be outside, too.”
“Why?” Christof asked again.
“The sunshine is good for you,” I said with authority, although I didn’t really know. “You’ve been moping around for too long. Get up and come walk outside with me.”
Damien cocked an eyebrow at me. My tone was completely inappropriate, obviously, but nobody else noticed.
“Well, if you aren’t going, I’ll go myself,” I stated heading for the door.
They didn’t stop me. Christof sat up, at least.
I watched them through the huge arched doorway to the bedroom as I donned my long brown leg covers and two brown outer layers. Now it seemed like a dare, they were all sitting up on the bed looking at me. Stopping would probably be a good idea, but I didn’t.