New Beginning, Bound And Chained 2
By: V. L. Marquette
Lightly edited by: Ravyn
(Authors Note) This is a work of fiction, nothing more. Any resemblance
to anyone, alive or dead is purely coincidental. But, honestly folks, this
takes place on another planet. So this little warning is kind of silly don't ya
think?
*****WARNING***** (NO ONE, AND I DO MEAN NO ONE.) Under the age of 18,
or who lives in an area that this sort of material is illegal, should not read
any farther.
BOUND AND CHAINED 2
New Beginning
Prologue
Kaj sighed as she watched the last of the troops. "I feel so old." She
turned to hide her face in Caytin's shirt. "My baby, he's gone."
"That boy, that just left us Mistress. Is not a baby, but a man. My
son is a man." He tightened his arms around her.
"Master, standing here, looking at empty space isn't going to make
Tallin hurry home any sooner." Jerrick lay a hand on his shoulder.
"Leave me be for just a minute Lover, my son went from just a boy to a
man almost before my eyes. Let me bask in the pride a moment.'
Kaj sighed and turned away. "Well bask all you want my love. Man or
no, I lost my son. And though I know he is where his soul is, I still miss
him." She reached for Fain and Rook. "Come on you two. We didn't have time to
explore what it fully meant to be lady and consort."
She had made it almost to her house. Her feelings were melancholy, she
was so very proud of Tallin, he was his lady's soul-match and a FreeMan, but she
almost wish it had never happened. When two of her Soldier/Warrior's returned,
dragging a man between them.
"Pardon Chieftess. But we found this just a short ride from here."
They dropped the man, who lay there, gasping for air.
"And who are you, man?" Kaj just was not in the mood for anything else
to happen today.
"Catimine." Rook hissed.
Kaj looked at him with a new look. "Those that have all but destroyed
your people?" A glint of rage flamed in her eyes.
"Yes Mistress." Rook was fighting the urge to attack this man. "That
is what is the saddest thing of all. That they could be so beautiful and do
what they did."
Fain cried out, throwing himself over the man. "Mistress, please,
mercy. I know this one."
"Move, Fain. My Warrior's are going to crush his perverted race. I
wasn't able to go. My condition prevents me from seeking justice for what was
done to you. But I will take this one. He owes me for what his people did to
you."
Fain shook his head. "Please, Mistress." He threw himself on the
ground before him. "I am begging for my life. To kill him, you will have to
kill me"
"Why, Fain what possible reason do I have to let this thing live?"
"If it wasn't for the kind master, Mer would have never been able to
find me." He wrapped his arms around the man protectively. "He loved me
Mistress. And he knew what that love would mean for me. He is the true Prince
of the Catimine's, his mother's brother came in and killed most of the ruling
family, and enslaved the rest. He knew that if his uncle knew he loved me, that
I was doomed. So it was he who let me slip out in the confusion of the raid."
He pleaded for both his first master, and his life. "Please Mistress, not all
of the Catimine's are like those that wage a war on my people and get pleasure
out of causing grievous pain. Look at him Mistress, he has been beaten, though
not as much as I had been, he was still beaten."
The man looked up, his silver eyes almost lifeless. "Please, Chieftess
of the Danes. Kill me, torture me, anything you wish, but please. Let my life
buy a place and a life from my siblings." He collapsed completely, face in the
dirt. "If you mean to kill me, let your strike be quick and true."
Kaj looked down at both men. One her beloved consort, who lay over
what, was left of a man, near death. And Catimine or no, she would not allow
one, who had helped her consort die. *Beloved, you are closer to the Temple.
Are Trinna and Jerrick still with you? *
*Yes, may I ask why Mistress, you are upset. *
*I have a man dying before me, send her please.
* No it didn't matter if he was a Catimine. She would see him saved, and she
would see to it that his younger sibs were saved. She owed Fain that much.
*And come, you are going to have to restrain Fain. *
*On my way, what is the problem? He left here with you. Surely he
could not have done something in that short time to warrant punishment. *
*No, but the man that is dying is the true Catimine prince, and was his
last master, was the one that made it possible for him to be free for Mer to
rescue. He is terrified that I will kill the man. Has thrown himself over him
to protect him. I may need you and Rook to hold him back while Trinna sees to
him. *
*If this creature harmed Fain in anyway, I will kill him, Mistress. *
Caytin motioned to Trinna. "Mistress, your skills as a Healer are greatly in
need. My Mistress is standing over a man who is dying."
Trinna pulled back from the conversation she was having with Mother Anna
and Jaffrey. "What?" She was on guard at once. Caytin did not exaggerate.
"Don't ask me how, or why Mistress, but our house has been invaded
again, and this time it is by the Catimine's"
"Please Chieftess," the man could barely speak. "My brothers and sister
are only children. I came, knowing that my very face would get me killed, but
please, they are only children."
Kaj knelt before him, using her sleeve to wipe some of the blood from
his face. "You have not come to die, boy. The Priestess will be here soon, you
will live, and if you are as innocent, of, wrong as my consort swears, I will
see you live long and well."
He just lay these, letting Fain hold him. "Then I am doomed. My family
is doomed. I am not an innocent."
"Hush, please, Dom. What choice did you have? I was there, I know what
he, and they did to you. I don't blame you, never, anyone but you."
Trinna knelt by where Kaj was. "Okay Fain. Let me help him. It's
okay. I give you my word as one of the many voices of the Mother, that he will
not be harmed." Trinna waited for the man to move.
"Come on soldier, you're in the way of a Healer." Jerrick reached for
him and pulled him up.
"Please Mistress, he didn't want to do anything that he did. He was as
much a slave as I was, he didn't have a choice, don't kill him." Fain grabbed
Kay's hand as she stood watching Trinna work. "He loved me Mistress, was
willing to brave what ever those monster's would do to him to let me escape.
Kaj squeezed Fain's fingers. "He and perhaps his family are the only
ones of his race that are safe from me. I will not hurt, or allow, to, be hurt,
anyone that enabled you to escape so that the day could come that you were mine.
Trinna said nothing as she worked frantically on the man. Some one had
done him so, much, harm. The scabs on his back and as she stripped him to
keep, working, on his chest and genitals were hot, and infected. Kaj had called
this one true. He was dying. But she strengthened her resolve and went back
into the war with death.
"Boy, can you hear me?" Kaj was loath to interrupt her sister in a
healing, but he spoke of having brothers and sisters out in the unprotected
lands. "You are not going to be killed, and neither is your family. Now if you
can, will you tell me where they hide?"
"Half a days, walk, north from here. Hiding in some caves. Chieftess,
please, they are just frightened children."
"You heard him Cay, go, take Jaffrey with you. These are not grown men,
so no matter how they are dressed, it should not bother her." Not even given
time to come to terms with the loss of her son, and already she was being called
to save more children. And these parts of the very race her women are going to
destroy. She looked to the two Warriors who still stood there, waiting, to be
dismissed. "Go, and let it be known among your sisters, that if they find one
that is not connected to the monster that has done this, they are to spare them
and offer them a safe haven here. There is much of my land that sits fallow
without any to tend it. If they can come, they will be welcome, in exchange for
their men's freedom to work that land."
"Ma'am, Chieftess." The both turned and ran to regroup with their
troops.
Kaj looked back to her sister. "So how is he?"
"Weak, but given just a little time, he will be fine. It was very touch
and go there for a minute Chieftess. There was a time there, I wasn't sure if I
could save him.'
She nodded. "Rook see to Steffon, if he is not strong enough to move,
Jerrick, will you carry him?"
"I can do it Mistress, please. You don't understand. Every time he
would have to hurt me, he would cry, and beg my forgiveness afterwards. Of,
all, the master's I had he was the kindest. He loved me."
"No, you are too upset to be thinking clearly. What if you stumble and
fall, or drop him. Fain, he is only, now, out of deaths door. Don't push it."
Steffon held on to Rook's arm. Worried, he had heard Jerrick cursing
softly under his breath. "Master?"
"I'm not mad at you Steff, just at the condition this boy is in. I hate
the Catimine's, with all my soul, but I would have never, given the chance to
make them pay, do to anyone what this boy has had done to him."
Drav shook his head, trying to think clearly. "I'm fine. If they could
do all that they did to me, and I not die, then I am fine. But Chieftess my two
brothers and sister, they are going to be very frightened. No one is going to
harm them if they try to flee are they?
"Caytin knows where you are talking about, I was told he and his father
used to go camping there when he was young. No one is going to harm them boy.
I am not like those that have done so much, ill, to so many. Now hush, and
rest. I am taking you to my house. You will join the ranks of my slaves, and
look around you if you have any fear what your life is going to be like in
chains. It was your uncle, who perverted the sacred promise between mistress
and slave. Not me."
* * *
Half a days walk was nothing but a short ride for Caytin and Jaffrey.
The young novice Healer was worried. The children could be in need almost any
kind of help, and she was so worried that she would not be able to give it. She
tightened her grip on the reigns on the other two horses as she led then down
the path.
Caytin was troubled enough with worries of his own. What to do about
these new arrivals? The boy couldn't be more than maybe eighteen, nineteen on
the outside. And his siblings were all younger than he was. Surely two horses
could carry back ten times their combined weights.
He sat outside of the opening of one of the many caves. "I know you are
all here. It is safe. Your brother is in my home, and a Healer has seen to
him.' He heard a shuffle from within one of the caves. "Jaffrey and I can sit
out here all night, we am strong, and healthy. We also have clothes that
protect us from the weather. Do you? Come children. Let me take you to your
new home. I promise. No one is going to hurt you. Drav, I think that is your
brother's name, He told me where I could find you. So come on out and let's get
out of the sun."
A blur came from one of the upper caves and all but flew at Caytin.
"Don't hurt my brothers." A wild haired and equally wild-eyed girl was in his
arms. "Please, do anything you want to me, but don't hurt my brothers."
"Mysti!" A young almost man stood in the cave door, a slight boy beside
him.
Jaffrey was out of her saddle and moving to where Caytin supported the
girl in his arms. "Let me see her."
Caytin eased her to the ground, dismounting. "Don't be afraid, little
one. Jaffrey is a Healer. She will see to you." Then he looked up at the
cave. "Listen to me, all of you. No one is going to hurt any of you. Both
come. Jaffrey might be young, but so far, I do not see any hurts on you that
she can't at least do a fast patch to. I came out here at your brother's
request. Have brought a Healer, novice though she is, to tend your wounds.
This is an unprotected area, and though usually, I would not be worried, this is
not a good time for strangers to be out. Too easy to be hit, now, I brought
with me two mounts. Have any of you ever ridden before?"
The older of the two, looked from him, to Jaffrey who had finished her
once over of his sister, and was coming towards him and his younger brother.
"Drav, my brother is alive?" He stood there, silent as Jaffrey touched him.
Then watched as she turned and checked his younger brother quickly.
"Yes, and if I can only get the three of you to mount up, I could take
you to where he is, and prove it to you."
"They are as healed as I can make them Cay. If I missed something, it
won't matter between now and the time we get them back to the Chieftess's'
house."
"Good, so again, I ask, you do know how to ride, do you not?"
Both the young man and the girl nodded, but the youngest only looked at
the horse in fear. "Then this filly can be the little ladies mount, and that
filly can be yours, young man." He looked to the youngest. "And I suppose I
always can ride double. With as little as you are, it won't be adding any
weight at all." He stopped as he noticed that all three children just stood
there and looked at him. "Goddess protect me. Listen to me. I would go back
and bring your brother here to assure you that you are safe, but he is in no
condition to be moved right now. Now, it is getting later in the day, and
breakfast is sure to be late as is. I'm hungry, so come, it's just a short
ride."
"You're word?" The youth wasn't moving yet, and held a hand on the
youngest boy's shoulder. "I can't stop you sir, but your word?"
Caytin held out a hand. "My word as Head of the Slaves of the Danes.
Any go to harm you. I will stand to block the blow. Now come, boy. I'm
starved, and by the looks of the three of you, it has been days since last you
had anything but leaves and berries."
* * *
Kaj watched Fain fuss over the Catimine. "Why do I get the feeling that
is it going to be another night before I can see how many different ways I can
make him jump?" She muttered to Rook.
"I don't know Mistress. But it feels kind of strange. The last of his
kind I saw, was the one that was forcing Emily to drink his urine and eat his
shit. She, drown, in the midst of it all. They kept pouring it down her
throat, and she couldn't breathe, and choked to death on urine and feces."
She nodded. "Am I going to have problems out of you, if I offer him
sanctuary? No matter what he did the very fact that he enabled Fain to slip
away, and be rescued. Would have bought him his life. But should I see to it
that he is kept either at the Temple, or at another house?"
Rook shook his head. "Fain is my consort too Mistress. How could I
look him in the face and expect him to understand if I was not willing to give
this man a chance. Emily was killed, but so was his mother, and he spent a
living hell for so long. At least Emily's was as torture sessions go, I am
told, was quick to end. He lived through it for over six cycles."
"Fain," he tried to push him away. "Please, your mistress, she is
watching. I have caused you enough pain already. Please don't make me be the
cause of any more."
Fain snorted. "My mistress? Drav, you have nothing to worry about. My
mistress is the kindest, you will ever hope to meet. She's not going to punish
me because I care for you." He slowly lifted the spoon back to Drav's mouth.
"Now, I can't say how the kitchen slaves will take it if after they saw to it
that this was fixed for you, special, if you don't eat it."
He settled down and finished the bowl of porridge that Trinna had
insisted. That in his weakened state was about the only thing his stomach could
handle. Then listened as Fain talked softly to him, wonderful flights of fancy
where slavery was not the promise of a horrific slow death, but one where love
and acceptance could be found. He smiled to, himself, as he drifted off to
sleep, imagining what a wondrous place would really be like.
