BDSM Library - Bound And Chained

CHAPTER 1

The resounding claxon ended even as Kaj rushed into the downstairs hall, where there were seven men surrounded by a sea of guardswomen. "What has gone on here?" She demanded.

One of the guardswomen, obviously the leader of her squad, "a raid, Chieftess." She motioned to the seven men standing there. "Some one sounded the raid alarm. We caught them sneaking into the girls dorm."

Kaj's face darkened. "Raid?" She looked up to the men standing there. "Who is in charge here?"

A single man pushing himself away from the rest, that were, trying to hide him. Limping from a wound in his leg. He had never believed that, he, could ever be beaten by a woman but he had and was. "I am in charge here."

"You name, and rank, and what do you think you were doing, in my girls dorm?" She knew from what city he and those with him came from. But that didn't make any sense, the Merican's were at peace with her people. Had been so since her great, great grandmother's time, over five hundred cycles ago.

The soldier looked her square in the face. "Jerrick, I am the Commander of these men," before he could finish there was a sound behind Kaj.

"Chieftess," a soft voice, as one of the older guardswomen drew her attention.

Kaj turned to look, ready to snap at who ever it was that was bothering her, now, of all times. But the sight in the woman's arms silenced her. "No." She couldn't believe what she was seeing. "Remmy?"

"The boy had snuck out to visit one of his older friends. It was he that caught the raiders and with his last breath, sounded the alarm." The guardswoman gently turned the body in her arms over, displaying the place where the knife had cut between his shoulders. "Your boy, wasn't even allowed to face his killer. The coward cut him down with a knife in his back."

Kaj spun around to demand to know who had killed her son, but was caught off guard as the same man that she had been questioning was already making demands of the men. "Who did it, come on you worthless dog, which one of you makes war with children?" He was livid. "We came here to steal children, not to kill them." Their mission was doomed, there was no way he or any of them could ever undo what a careless knife throw had cost. But, other than equally angry noises, there was no response. Jerrick turned back to Kaj. "If you will show me the blade Chieftess, I will give you your killer."

The guardswoman that held the body shook her head. "If it were only that simple, man. The coward, he must have known it was proof against him, and pulled it from the child even as the boy lay dying."

Kaj moaned in pain, hiding her face in her hands, fighting for control. Her son was dead. Her sweet baby had been taken from her. "Very well." She turned, eyes normally the color of forest moss, were cold. "I will know who threw that knife. Even if I have to have each and every one of you tortured to death to find him. 'I will know who killed my son'."

The first man, that she had questioned, Jerrick stepped forward yet again, stopping at the raised swords around him. "They are my men, Chieftess. A life is owed you. Even though I, didn't, kill your son, one of my men did. . That makes me responsible. If you mean to see someone die for his death, I am ready to pay for our crimes. All I ask, is let my death spare my men." He had been against this raid from the start. Had only agreed to lead it because he understood what was really at stake here, and why it had to be done. So like it or not, he had taken this command. He also knew that so far, to the man, his men hadn't approved of it any more than he had, and were here much for the same reason as he. If it had to be done, best it is done right.

Kaj glared at him. "You are either a very brave man, or a very foolish one. There will be no mercy. I will have the man that killed my son."

"Chieftess," a soft whisper like voice seemed to float above the noise in the hall.

Kaj turned towards the sound of the voice. To see a tiny woman, dressed in a black robe and headdress standing at the end of the hall. "Mother, Kaylin." She nodded her head towards the Priestess.

"I grieve for you in your loss." She moved, with a walk to smooth that it almost appeared as she was floating.

"One of these 'men' killed my son Kaylin. I will know who it is. I don't care if I have to slaughter them all. I will see that my son's killer dies."

She smiled at her chieftess, and oldest friend, sadly. "If you will only allow me to question them. I will give you the killer of your son. Or does his life call that they all die?"

Kaj fought down the rage. Her son was dead. One of them had killed her son. But wrong as they were, only one actually threw the knife. "No, if the Temple is willing to help me with this, I would be a fool to refuse your help." She stepped back. Looking to the guards around her. "Keep an eye on them. One of them flinches, kill them all."

Jerrick looked at the little woman. "Go ahead, witch, do your worse. I've got nothing to hide. I don't make war on children." He didn't close his eyes, or look down as she touched his face. He had not killed in over half a cycle, and never a child.

She smiled at him. "No, I don't suppose you would." Then to Kaj, "there is much more to this than you know. His people are more desperate than we are."

Kaj snorted. "Right now, I don't care. Find me the one that threw the knife. Later we can talk about the 'why' of it all. I want the man that killed my son."

The Priestess nodded, moving to the next man. "You have nothing to fear from me, if you are innocent, there will be no pain."

Again and again, Kaylin touched and judged the men innocent. It was the fifth that backed away as she stepped forward to test him. Trying to get away from her, but his own men grabbed him and held him fast. "So, you would see that your brethren died in a mad attempt to hide your guilt." She turned to Kaj. "This is your murderer. Shall I force him to admit to the crime, or is my word as the voice of The Mother enough?"

"For me, Mother yes, always. But I have to hear him say it. When I meet my son's father's eyes, I want to say that 'yes' I heard it from the monster's lips."

The man struggled harder as Kaylin neared again. Fighting to win free of the hands that held him in place. But the hands only tightened their grip on his arms, rendering him helpless. "Please, Jerrick, Sir, I didn't mean to, the kid, he was there, he shouldn't have been, and when he saw me. I had to stop him from making any noise. I don't know what happened after that. I don't remember throwing the knife. One minute he was running, and the next. Please, Sir, I don't remember what happened. Don't let her touch me. She'll eat my soul."

The Priestess turned to look at Kaj. "He admits his guilt, freely. I never touched him."

"Mistress?" A soft, pain filled voice.

Kaj looked up to where Caytin stood, he had taken his son from the guard. "My son is dead." She nodded. "Then, as your Head Consort, and Master of the men in your home, I demand my right as a man of you home to see he pay." He choked back a sob. "I demand 'A Man's Justice'."

"Take our son, there are things that only the men can do. He was one of you. I will see to it that the dog is brought to you. The men of my house, he owes you all much. Remmy was not only male, but was also one of a rapidly dwindling number. He was fertile. And he was my son." Her baby was dead. The last of the male children she had given birth to. Her darling pride, he was dead.

Like those in her place before, she pushed her pain back to do her duty as chieftess and lady of her house. "I hear your confession, and I judge you guilty. My own Consort has claimed Men's Justice. You killed not only my son, but also all the children that would come from him and further generations from his seed. Remmy was one of the few remaining fertile men of my city. I sentence you to death at the hands of the fertile men of my home." And she turned her back on him. "Take him to the Men's Quarters."

Two, guardswomen took the man from the ones that had held him during his confession. "No," he struggled. "Kill me, anything but, 'not' , that."

A third guard stepped up, and backhanded him with her first, snapping his head back, silencing his voice with the blow. "Be quiet."

"Should I see them escorted to his execution?" The guardswomen that had silenced the criminal looked to her chieftess.

Kaj smile weakly. "Wren, I think you have seen to it that he won't give anyone problems in the near future. Your guards are more than capable to dealing with one, puny half-starved unconscious slave. If not then you are, not near the commander that you were when I was in the guard."

The woman laughed, in respect for the loss that had occurred it was soft. "Trust me Kaj, if anything, I have gotten worse in my old age." She looked back to where the other six stood. "And what do you have planned for these? They didn't kill your boy. So, your men can not cry justice from them. But they still were caught trying to kidnap our children."

She hadn't been thinking of that. Now that her son's killer was taken care of, she would still have to see to the rest before she could go and share her pain with her mate. "So, Wren, what do you think we should do with them?"

"Before you answer that guardswoman. Chieftess, again, will you hear me?"

"Kaylin, how long have we known each other? Our mothers suckled us together. Of course I will hear you."

"Then stop for a moment before you pass judgement on these men. They were captured attacking your home. They are your rightful prisoner's. Four of the six that stand before you are fertile. Can you not find a better use for their blood and life than just to see it spilt?"

'Fertile' the promise of new fertile blood. It sparked her. "Which of them are fertile, and which are just 'bedwarmers'?

"Those two, there they are not only old, but worthless."

"And the other four? Are you telling me, that I now own four, some what healthy, 'fertile' men?"

"By law. It was your house that they raided. It was your son that now sleeps with The Mother. So to you, goes their lives, and either the end or continuation of them." Then she raised one slim finger. "But you might want to consider that there is one pair among them. They might, with their submission be saved from death. But two of them, at least, could be made to know loss. Take pity on your Consort. It is going to be difficult enough for him, with the loss he has just had, to deal with seeing to it that two, maybe three are welcomed in properly. Spare him a forth."

Kaj nodded. "And which two are you talking about?"

The priestess pointed to another two men, one that held another with desperate fear. "I know you aren't quite as sensitive as your man is, but I am surprised that you didn't feel them. That one," she indicated the younger man, who was the one that clung to the older man. "Screams his love and his fear of losing it."

Kaj looked the man, who was holding up the younger one up. "How long has he been your Lover?"

"For the last six and a half cycles Ma'am." His arm tightened around the younger man protectively.

Kaj raised an eyebrow. "Six and a half cycles? He must have been near a child when you took him as yours."

"He was fourteen, Ma'am. I was part of the raid that rescued him from the Catimine's. He had been their slave for many cycles, Ma'am."

He had been a slave before. Kaj hadn't counted on that. "Mother, could you come and help me to see into his heart? I would know if it is a true love match, or if he is only toying with the boy."

The younger man fought to keep from being pulled away from his love. "Mer," there were tears in his eyes.

"It's going to be okay, Fain. Just be still, don't make them have to hurt you." The elder man, reaching out, trying to touch Fain's cheek, but he was pulled out of his reach.

Kaj nodded to the priestess. "Now, listen to me 'man'. The voice of The Mother is right. I do not need to load my man down with more than three new slaves. The boy who stands, there looking like I am about to kill you, he obviously loves you. Are the feelings returned? Should I see to it that after I send you to another woman's house that my Consort will work with the Consort of the woman who I am entrusting you to and see to it that you and he see each other? He is far too emotional for it to be him that is sent out." She looked to the frightened man with pity. "The voice of The Mother had a valid point. Someone should understand at least a little of the loss I feel now. But, I will not forbid the two of you from seeing each other. So tell me, now, with the Priestess present to know if you are hiding anything. What do you feel for him?"

"I don't need your witch to make me tell you the truth. I saved him when he was fourteen cycles old. He has been with me for the last six. If I had had my way, he wouldn't be here right now. I didn't want him to come. And if he wasn't such a fine solder, all in all, I would keep him at home as my boy." He rambled off what he thought and felt. He did not want the woman to touch him. He had been touched once already, and the memory of that touch would be with him for the rest of his life, however long or short it would be.

"I will send you to Aticka's house. It is just s stones throw from my back yard. You won't be forbade seeing him. But you will go."

The younger man broke away from the hands that were holding him back, to grab his lover. "No, you can't." His fingers dug into the fabric of the man's shirt.

"Fain!" The older man grabbed him, forcing him to look at him. "Stop it. There is nothing we can do. We knew the risk when we came here. Now shut up, before they kill you." He held him close. "I love you, never forget that. But if you fight, you've been a slave before, you know what will happen."

"We do not kill our men." Kaj lay a hand on Fain's shoulder. "Listen to me. Your love, he will be living close. You could stand in the middle of my back yard and throw a stone and it land in hers. He is gone, but not forever. I will see to it that Caytin takes you and that he and Aticka's head consort Brom set up times for the two of you to be together. We are not like your people, and certainly, not, like the Catimine's. Love in any form is sacred here." Maybe it was the fact that the killer of her son had been dealt with, but her heart went out a little to this poor frightened man. He was no more soldier material than one of the young bedwarmers in the Men's Quarters. "You will find slavery here, vastly different from what you had come to know it to be. Though your crimes earn death, your fertility has given you clemency. We do not kill fertile men here, for less than murder. You will be treated as a member of my house, kindly and with patience as you learn your new way. I will not have you abused."

"Come on Fain, you heard her. Mer's right, we knew the risks." Jerrick pulled the younger man away.

Two of the guardswomen stood at Mer's sides. "Anything else you want us to pass along Chieftess?" One of them requested.

"Only that he is my rightful prisoner, and I give him to her to enrich her home with. And tell her that I think I have found a way to do more than just enrich her house alone."

The guard nodded curtly as she and her partner turned and led Mer from the room.

"Steady their, soldier." Jerrick hissed in Fain's ear. "What do we know of the Dane's? Has there ever been a report, or even the hint of a rumor that they abuse their slaves?" He waited a moment before shaking Fain. "I might not be your commander for much longer, but I still am right now. Answer me, soldier."

Fain snapped out of the haze of loss that he was trapped in. "No, Sir. All reports that we have ever seen that I know of report that for the most part. The Dane's are a peaceful people, and their men are content in their chains.

"We are at peace with them. Their people are at peace with ours. Do you believe if they were like the Catimine's we would be at peace with them?"

"Give the man credit. He might be a lot of things, but unfit to lead is not one of them." Wren looked at her. "Do you still need me and my women Chieftess? If I left four here to help see to them, can I dismiss the others?"

"I know that this raid brought most of you up from a sound sleep. So yes, go back to what you were doing before this happened."

"I will be at your sons pyre. I'll bring him one of my carved horses. You know how much he loved them."

"May, The Mother always smile on you and all that you do, my friend."

The guards were quickly dismissed. The four that she had left with the chieftess pulled in even closer. Eyes critical of every move the men made.

"Have you convinced the boy of his safety yet?" Kaj stood before Jerrick.

"I don't know how much he is listening to me. He was very young when he was first taken and not even six cycles has undone the damage his first chaining did him."

"You are taking your capture very well. All that I know of your people leads me to expect resistance of your new life. Why is that?"

"I knew what the risks were when I accepted this job. We all did. But we also couldn't see any other way."

"You were trying to steal our daughters. Had you been successful, we would have hunted you down to the very ends of the world to save them and bring you to justice. If you know anything of us, you knew that. Why were you willing to risk certain death to steal our children?"

"We are losing, have lost the war with the Catimine's. We are dying. Our enemy poisoned our water, and through that our food. We are still giving birth, but an increasing number of the time the children are either useless, or monster's. We need new blood. Without it, we are doomed." He straightened a little more. "For my King, my people, for our very lives, I mean nothing. I would be willing to lay down my life, or bend anyway I am ordered for my world."

Kaj chuckled. "My, my, I think I am going to have to keep a close eye on you. For one who was not raised as one of my men. You display remarkable honor." She stepped back. "Go stand by the boy. I have one more to meet. If the three of you are to belong to me, then I really should see what I am bringing in to the women of my home."

The last of the fertile men stood there looking at her a little wild-eyed. "So, you are the last of the three. And your name is?"

"Ern." He tried to hold his footing as she neared. But it wasn't easy. He wasn't stupid. He knew what being a slave meant for him.

"Greetings Ern. If you would stand with the other two, I will deal with the three of you soon enough. Let me see to it that the two others, the one's that we have no use for, takes a message back to your King."

Ern said not the first word, only moved as quickly as what was left of his dignity could muster.

"The two of you." Kaj addressed the two others the ones that were not wanted. "I return your life and freedom to you, but you must take a message to that fool of a King of yours. Consider it payment for your life. You will tell him what happened here this night, and that the remaining four are now mine, and he is to present one half of the young, and reasonably healthy men of his Kingdom. One half of the men between the ages of fifteen and thirty-five to come and serve as my city's slaves, as payment for my son's life and his audacity for trying to rip our children from us."

"That's insane." Jerrick snapped as he struggled to come forward, but the swords held him back. "King Thalin will never agree to that."

The blow she delivered knocked him to the floor, his head striking the tiled floor. His memory chose that time to remind him that the Dane's were much stronger than his people were. And the women even more so.

"Remember who it is you speak to 'slave'. He will either obey me, or at the rising of the sun," she looked up through one of the small windows along the wall it was still very late. "With the setting of the sun on the third whole moon from now, I will lead my warrior's against your people, and kill ever man and woman over the age of fifteen."

"We can't afford to loose that many men. We are already short of protection from our enemies as is. If you force Thalin to submit half our men to chains, there will be none left and the Catimine's will walk over us with no effort."

Kaj nodded. "Your King should have thought of that, when he sent you to steal our daughters and nieces. But you are right. You four now belong to me and the men that will come, as well, if by doing this, I leave a Kingdom defenseless I will see it protected. Your King should have sought my help before now. I knew you were at war with our other neighbor, but not that it had taken the turn that it had. I would have honored the treaty we have with your Kingdom."

"I don't think my King has trusted anyone other than just a very few advisors for a long time Chieftess. Can you honestly tell me, your aid would not come with a price?"

"No, had he come to me, I would have helped him, helped you all, for the price of three cycles per man. I would not have seen to it that your bondage was lifetime. But he never gave me the chance to offer."

"Anything else you want us to tell the King, Chieftess?" They were both ready to get out.

"Only this. If he does, indeed, shows wisdom and agrees to my demands. I have an entire prison, with women who are there for crimes that were enough to imprison them, but not enough to enslave them. Non violent prisoners who I will send back with him, for the time of their sentence. The new blood that you were here to steal, to help save your people." Her tone darkened. "You fail me in this, and I swear this to you. It will be on you that I spend the rest of my life tracking you down. And you can believe this. I will run you down and kill you where you stand. Do you understand me?"

They both mumbled under their breath nodding. "I asked, did you understand me?" She barked at them.

"Yes Ma'am, Chieftess." They were fast to respond.

"Thank you Priestess Kaylin for your help and council. I think I can take it from here. And if all goes well, you might be back here in eleven moons or so to bless the new life that their being here promises."

"I will reach for your son, and see that he goes on peacefully."

"Make sure he knows how much his father and I love him."

She nodded. "That goes without saying." They hugged.

Kaj watched her move down the hall for a moment before turning back to the matter at hand. "Feed them, tend their wounds, and give them fresh houses. Then escort them out of our territory in the direction of the Kingdom of Merican." Then to the other two guards. "See to it that these three see a Healer and are fed and dressed." She moved away. "I have a child to wish farewell."

CHAPTER 2

The young man that answered the knock at the Men's Quarters door was surprised to see Kaj standing there. "Mistress." He dropped to his knees.

"Get up Tam. I am not here to intrude upon your space. I only want to see the murderer of my son pay."

Caytin pull away from the wooden rack that they had pulled out to hang the man on. It was a cruel tool. It held anyone that was forced into it, immobile, but slightly bent, to completely leave the prisoner open. Legs were parted to add more vulnerability. "We have our place here, because of you Mistress. Please, if you wish to watch as we see to it that this thing pays, even if it is only a token, for what he has taken from us, then please, this is your home, all in it belong to you."

This was not the time to mourn with him. So again she put the weeping off for now. "You missed your calling Cay, you should have been a poet." She took Tam's hand helping the boy to stand. "What is this I see, fear? Tam, I know that you have not been here long, and I have yet to welcome you to my bed, but really, ask any here, I am not going to eat you alive, or if I do, you will survive the meal."

A youthful laugh filled the room. "I told you Tam. Caytin has told you, my mother isn't like those that you have been having nightmares about." The young man, who looked so much like Caytin, that there was no, doubt who his father was. "Tam's only been here a couple of weeks starting with the planting season, mother. You have something of a reputation for not tolerating any nonsense from your men. But it is really Cay that should get that reputation and not you."

"He'll learn our ways soon enough Tallin. But for now, I am more interested in what is happening with my son's murderer." She moved to take a seat in the large chair that sat before the bound, naked, and bleeding man. "I see you didn't waste anytime on him. He didn't look like that when I sent him here." She held out a hand to Tam. "Come here, little one. As long as I have something to do with my hands, I can resist the urge to cut his throat, just to see the color of his blood."

"You just missed your sister, the Lady Healer Trinna. She had come down to see to it that he would be awake for all that is done to him. That he would feel and know, up until the moment of his death."

"And knowing my sister, she is even as we speak, scrubbing off the feel of him. So tell me, Caytin. If you are now, just, beginning to see to him. How did he come to be in the shape he is in? And why the gag? I had thought, you would want to hear him scream for what he did."

"He refused to strip when ordered. I had to see that he obeyed. As for the gag, yes I want to hear him scream, but in pain as he begs for his life. I found his continual babble weary. He has called me everything he could think of, Catamite being the kindest of them."

"So what have you planned for him?" Kaj sat in the chair, holding the younger man close, "ssshh, Tam. I am your Mistress. You will help me to see that the thing knows how little we think of him, won't you?"

Tam looked at her curious. "Yes, Mistress. But how can I help you?"

"By leaning back against me, little one, and letting that thing know that he means nothing to me. That I can seek to amuse myself before him, and not care that he sees me." Her fingers pulled free the tie at the standard issue pants for all the slaves in her house. "You can do that for me, can't you, Tam?"

Tam closed his eyes, briefly, trying to win over the feeling of helpless humiliation at the thought of being toyed with here, infront of this animal. He was honored that his mistress and lady thought him worthy of her notice. But like this?

In the end, after struggling for a moment or two, while Kaj patiently waited for his answer, her hand paused at the waist of his pants. "Yes Mistress." He closed his eyes, leaning back into her arms, hips rising slightly as he felt a warm, strong, hand slip into his pant's to toy with his rapidly hardening erection.

"What do you have planned first Cay?" Kaj continued to toy with the boy carefully, going to tease him, but not cause him real pain.

"I haven't decided. I can't decide if I should whip him bloody, or sodomize him with the iron rod heating in the fire. He killed my son Mistress. I want him to suffer long for it."

"Then whip him first. Once you burn him, it will take much more than a whipping to get his attention."

Caytin bowed his head. "Your command is mine to obey." He went to the other room to get the whip that he would use on this thing. A whip cord thin band of some flexible material, near three foot long, wrapped and braided, with loving care, into a black whip. The end of the leather hung from the tip. "I haven't had an opportunity to really use this in a couple of season's. All the true submissives in my Men's Quarter's, have taken up with one or the other of my men, or are a particular favorite of one of the mistress's that live here." He worked with his arm and carefully aimed lashes in the air. "It still feels as good as it felt when I first made it." He lay the whip across the man's back, trailing the tip over his shoulder blades. "The only draw back of this tool is that to date, I have had to do my best, not, to draw blood. I wonder how hard and often I have to hit you to see you bleed? You can't pass out on me. The blessedness of the abyss is denied you. So while I see to answering my question. You are to watch your mistress as she toys with one of the men of her home. You do not even rate taking her away from her amusements." And he leaned in even closer. "And dog, best you pray that she brings Tam to his ending soon. I will cut the skin from your back until he has cum." He removed the gag from the man.

Tam trembled as he felt Kaj's hands pushing down at the waist of his pants baring him for hip to knee. He had always thought, he was fey, what with him being nothing more than a bedwarmer, that he was destined to be one of the Consort's toys. If he was lucky, and ignored all together if he wasn't. He had never dreamed that his mistress would actually deem to touch him, but here, like this, she was, and he tried to close out everything but the feel of her. He could hear the murderer's screams in the back ground as Caytin began to render him down to nothing but a wavering mass of shredded skin and blood. But it didn't register where he was in him mind.

The man screamed at the whip came down again, slicing into his back from his right shoulder to his left buttock, then whirling it quickly to meet the flesh again on a backhanded cut. The pain was now an all-consuming fire that burned his back, buttock's and thighs. A pain that was crushing as it wracked his body

*How are you holding up, love? * Kaj's thoughts touched Caytin as the blood he was drawing began to splatter back a little as the whip rose and fell.

* Take all the time you wish, Mistress. I have scored him, well, so now I can just see to it that he knows what pain is. *

"Well, dear. It would seem that we have plenty of time. I can't believe that Caytin hasn't tried to bring you around at least once."

He moaned. Thrusting up into her hand as it cupped his balls gently. "It, 'Ah'," he gasped as she squeezed playfully. "It's planting season Mistress. I am only a bedwarmer. I work the day through, and I," trying to think and talk with what his mistress was doing to him, was not easy. "Master Caytin has only welcomed me once into his bed. That was the first night I came here, with the first day of planting season." 'Please, merciful Mother, don't let her ask any more questions.' He prayed as the less then gentle, but still not causing pain, hand continued to pull on his senses.

It was only a matter of an hour, perhaps less. Before Kaj touched Caytin's mind, checking on how he was doing. *I have Tam to the point, if I give the slightest consent, he will surrender to me. Have you tired yourself for now? You can always return to this later. Pace, yourself or he will be dead long before he has even started to pay for what he did. *

* Yes Mistress. If the boy is frantic, I will take pity on him. *

Kaj reached for Tam's chin, lifting his head to meet hers as she increased her pull on his need. "'Surrender to me'." And her mouth came down upon his. Smothering a cry with her kiss.

The man was beyond simple sobbing as Caytin lowered his arm. The sound of Tam's stifled cry signaling the end of the whipping.

Tam shuddered against her, feeding her his pleasure filled cries as he did his tongue. It no longer mattered where he was, the thought of someone else seeing him like he was didn't matter. If anything, it made the pleasure that much more complete.

Kaj broke their kiss. "I am very impressed with you Tam. You showed truly remarkable control to be as young as you are."

Tam lay against her, breathing hard. "I am afraid to say, Mistress, that had you not asked for my surrender when you did, I would have failed you."

Kaj tisked at him, "Tam, I toyed with your body for almost an hour, and you still held to your reflexes. A bedwarmer you might be, but I promise you, I will have Caytin bring you to visit with us on occasion." She let him lift her hand, to lick away all traces of his release on her.

*This love fest that the boy is having with you, it is very sweet Mistress, but do you really think this is the place for such things? This will mean more to Tam than he will ever be able to tell you. It is not often that, a, 'bedwarmer' is singled out by the mistress of an entire house. Forgive me for my impudence. But Tam doesn't need what is going on with what we are doing here, to sully the moment for him. *

She nodded at him, smiling softly. "But enough for now. But I promise you, little one. It might not be until after I see to what is happening with our people, but soon. I meant what I said. I want to spend time with you." She kissed him one more time. "Now gather your pants to yourself, and run on with you. I give you leave to run do a little bragging. It isn't often that one not fertile gains my interest."

Tam almost fell from her lap. "Yes Mistress." He yelped at the firm smack on his bottom as he hurried to do as he was told.

*I must say Mistress. You haven't been that playful with anyone in a very long time. *

*My son is dead. I am a woman, how else would you expect me to be with my men. I am a mother. I naturally seek to return the balance that Remmy's death, disturbed. Do not try to tell me, that you don't feel it too. We each mourn in our own way. So let it rest. * There was no arguing with her tone. She had to continue to put off their sharing of their loss with each other. So she would see to it that she dealt with hers as best she could until they had a chance to be alone.

Caytin moved to the fire. Checking the iron rod that had been heading within the flames. It was white hot. *Yes, Mistress. Forgive me. * It had been many cycles since last she had had call to take that tone with him. But with all that had happened thus far that night, was it any wonder that she needed to reaffirm her command of all in her keep?

"Here, Mistress. I might have called Man's Justice on my son's murderer, but you, as not only the Chieftess of our people and Lady of your house. You were Remmy's mother, it is your right to see that he receives something from you." He held out the white hot rod.

"You want to allow me vengeance? Let me take a burning branch to what hangs between his legs. Zaid's eat half-cooked meat as readily as they do raw. The acid in their saliva will see to it he doesn't bleed to death. And without him being able to pass out, he will feel it all. That is what I want to share of my pain with him.

A soft but firm voice from the side. "Mistress?"

Kaj looked to the man that had drawn her attention. One of the eleven fertile men in her home. "You have anything to add Tag?"

Other than Tallin, he was the youngest fertile man in the Men's Quarter's. Not even qualifying as one of the father's in their house yet. "I don't want to take anything from the pain that he is due. But I heard one of the guards commenting that it was a shame, of all those that had come with him. Why couldn't he be one of the two bedwarmers? He is fertile Mistress. I might not know much of what I will need to as the cycles go forward. But even I, as young as I am, understand what him being fertile means."

Kaj was up and across the room to strike him down in under a heart beat. "He killed my son, Tag. He owes me more than he can ever pay. The only thing he has that I want, is his life. How dare you?" She raised her fist to strike him again, as he held his arms up, cowering on the floor, awaiting another blow.

"Stop, Kaj." A firm hand, on her wrist as an old man stepped before her. "Forgive me Mistress. But Tag is right. Kill him, yes, he owes you, us, that much. But think milady. How many of your own women, the other mistresses that do, not, seek one of us for their pleasure? How many of them would willing take what he no longer has any right to, and bear children?

"Warrel, You know the law as well as I do. Any man that takes the life of another, particularly a child, loses all rights to be a father." She didn't have time for this.

"The law was also written in a time when we had more fertile men so that we could enforce that law, Mistress. We can't anymore. Oh, kill him by all means. But can't we send him to the Temple, and see to it that his seed is ripped from him again and again. Not quite the satisfaction of killing him yourself, but he will still be dead all the same. And his death will not be an easy one."

Kaj spun, swearing to herself. Warrel was near a hundred and thirty, and her grandfather to boot. He was too old for her to punish. And he knew it. "You don't know how lucky you are Warrel. Almost any one else that had said that to me the way you did, I would see whipped. But you're right, and you are too old for me to dare risk your life by whipping you." She stopped infront of the wretched form that had once been a man. "Cay, I need to get out of here. The longer I stand here, the more I want to forget duty and responsibility, and cut his throat. Warrel is right. He might just be worth more than just his death to me. Have Trinna come and see to it that he won't die on you, before you continue his punishment. I will have the Temple come for him after my son's funeral. By that time, you should have had more than enough time to see to it that he is more than just ready to go."

"Yes Mistress." Caytin was a little disheartened by the knowledge that it wasn't going to be his hand that took the murderer of his son's life. But his mistress was right when she agreed with Warrel.

* * *

The two men that had been freed, were given medical attention, fed and placed on new mounts. They both were waiting for their world to come to a crashing halt as they were escorted to the boundaries of the Dane's lands. But nothing happened. They were free. So it was with the continued desire to see to it that they remain so, they took off, kicking their horses into a full gallop. The message the Dane Chieftess had given them, and the fear of failing to obey her, made it even that much more important to make it into their lands, to see their King.

* * *

The guards that had been left to deal with the three new slaves had done just that, seen that they were brought to the Healer Trinna, who was serving her time as the house healer. Then collared, bathed, denuded, dressed, and fed. They were then turned over to Caytin, who was head consort and master of the men in his home.

Caytin had been too busy with seeing to dealing with the murderer of his son to give them more than a nod and a bed in one of the many rooms off of the main part of the quarters.

So for the most part they had been ignored.

That first night, none of them had gotten much sleep. All three trying to come to terms with what their lives had become. The following morning, there was no change. They were fed, and made to understand where the facilities were if they ever had a need.

The house was deep into the duties that they owed to their own. There was an almost shroud of grief and pain that enveloped everything.

It was evening, with the three men sitting in Jerrick's room when a knock on the door, alerted them, that they had 'finally' been remembered.

The guardswoman motioned for them without a word, to follow her.

"Attention, soldier." Jerrick whispered into Fain's ear as they moved to follow the guard.

Fain had spent the past day, coming to terms with what his life was now going to be. He had been a slave once already, and the knowledge that so far, they had not behaved anything, like, his old masters. It gave him a little solidity to hole his fear back that he hadn't had before. "Yes, Sir." He whispered back, but with a tone of certainty to it.

Ern just walked beside them silent, his, thoughts his own.

Kaj looked up at the knock. "Come in." Her voice was mellow and friendly.

The door opened. "You had asked that they be brought to you, Chieftess." The guard ushered the three men into the room.

"Thank you, Kari. You can leave them here with me."

The guard looked at her, concerned. "Are you sure Chieftess? I don't think they could win over you, in the condition they are in. But you might have to hurt one of them in controlling them if they tried."

A smile of amusement, "Kari, Caytin saw to it that they were given rooms. Nothing more, I tested them, counting on the state my home was in, and their own good judgement to see that they behaved. There is no threat out of them. Go on, they are safe with me." The guard nodded and stepped back closing the door behind her.

"Come in. I'm sure you have many questions." She walked across the room to sit on a small couch. To, patiently, wait for them to follow her.

"If you were totally ignorant of what it means to follow orders, I would be more patient with you. I told you to come here. Do not make me tell you again." Even though none of them had killed any of her children, the one that had was still living. She was, not, completely above the feeling of resentment.

Jerrick felt the bite of fingers in his arm as Fain fought to maintain the balance he had acquired so far. "Sorry, Ma'am."

"Jerrick, correct?"

"Yes, Ma'am?"

"Who am I?"

He didn't understand what she was looking for. "The Chieftess of the Dane's, Head of your home, and my owner."

She sighed. "Ern, who am I?"

The large blond man looked at Jerrick in confusion. "Uh, what he said Ma'am."

She shook her head. "Fain, maybe you can tell me. Who am I?"

The cycles melted away, and again he was nothing more than a slave. He dropped to his knees before her, his fingers locking, behind his neck. "My Mistress."

Kaj sat up, reaching to lay a hand on Fain's arm. "Correct response, little one. I am your mistress." She looked up to the other two men who still stood there watching her. "I am now, your mistress. I am nothing less than to one that holds your continued life in my hands. The past is just that. Jerrick, you are a slave now. Ern, you as well. No longer a Commander of men, or a soldier. You both are slaves. Your fertility has bought your continued lives. Do not make me regret my choice to allow you to live." She watched the battle for control that played over then three men's faces.

"Yes Mistress." Fain's voice was just a breath above a whisper as Jerrick and Ern knelt at her feet.

"Yes Mistress." Ern muttered, Jerrick echoing him.

She looked at all three. "I have decided, that you," she cupped Fain's chin. "I will keep with Caytin and I. You still have a lot to relearn about what slavery really means." She looked to the other two. "For now, I have nothing that is pressing for you to do. Take this time. Learn what it means to be one of the men of my home. Do what my head consort orders, and stay out of trouble. If you have a question about anything you do. Don't hesitate to ask who ever is instructing you."

There was a soft but rapid knock at her door. "Come in." 'Now who'?

A young woman, whose hair was almost the same deep shade of the sun's setting red, as Kaj's, her face near a perfect, if younger, version of the older woman's. "Oh, here they are."

"What do you need one of them for, Trin? I'm in the middle of explaining their new lives to them."

"I was thinking that maybe, what with them being new and all, and if you thought they could deal with it, my fertility cycle is just right. It's about time I added to the nursery."

Kaj looked at the three that knelt before her. "Well, Fain is going to be staying here with Cay and I. But the other two, I think maybe they would be well enough behaved. They know the foolishness of hurting a Healer. They are men of war. Healers are automatically safe from, all, harm. Even if they are now a member of their 'mistress'' family."

Jerrick and Ern looked at each other. Already, one of them would have to submit to one of the women's pleasure. Jerrick nodded his head, curtly, once. Ern was still too young, too much a wild card. "Ma'am," he looked to Kaj. "If the little mistress will have me, I will submit to her." Healers immunity or no, he wasn't going to take a chance that Ern might, not, control himself.

Trinna laughed. "Well, it looks like I got a candidate for fatherhood." She held out her hand. "Come on, the sooner I get this over with, the less of a chance I will have to really think about it." He was one of the new slaves, recently captured. She knew all too well what he could try. But the chance at renewing their tired gene pool with new life was just too vitally important for the Healer in her.

"Trin, before you take him and run off. I am going to need some of the oil used on the new slaves to help me with Fain. I seem to be out of it. Could you go tract me down some. I would just as soon get him past his fears, without a struggle."

"Okay, not a problem, just make sure no one else decides to snatch him for the night. My time is just right, and I want to make sure that I come away from this night a mother in eleven or so moon's."

"Promise, love, though really, you shouldn't worry. I think that the rest of the women here, are still waiting to see how I deal with them before they sample them." She waited for the door to close. "Jerrick, I don't have to tell you what will happen to you if you hurt her, do I?"

Jerrick came up at once. "Now see here. Why do you think, it was 'I' who offered myself to her? Ern is still reeling from his new station as a slave here. I know I won't hurt her, I can't say the same for him. I don't make war on children, and I don't 'rape half grown girls'."

She just chuckled at him. "What a child the two of you are going to make. You, with your refreshing bravado, and her with her gifts. I retract my warning. I now believe she is safe from risk."

Another soft knock as Caytin slipped in. "I have sent him with the priestesses, Mistress." He moved, to fall at her feel, head buried in her lap. "I miss him." He began to sob. "His ashes aren't even cold yet, and already I miss him so much."

"Ssshh, love, I know. Don't you think I wept as I put the torch to his pyre? Forget what you are, other than my Consort, love, Mate and his father." She stroked his hair. "Kaylin told me that she reached him, he went peacefully. His only worry was that we would be mad at him for being bad. He knew how much we loved him."

He looked up, grasping her hands. "Let me give you another, Kaj. I know that we need to make use of the new blood that is offered. But please, Mistress, if my son meant anything at all to you. Let me give you another child."

Tisking softly. "Caytin, you are the one that is ever quick to remind me what you are to me. Yes, I am your mistress. Your Consort and Souls-Match. I love you. True, after Kally, I had thought my childbearing cycles were over, but now, I want another child. If you are willing to fill this void in my heart that the loss of Remmy has left. Of course I want it. You could parade all the pretty boys before me, all guaranteed to be fertile. But none of them are you. You are mine, and I will never let you forget that fact."

"Kaj," Trinna didn't even bother knocking this time. "Some one is going to have to send off to the temple for some. Don't ask me how or why, but there isn't a drop to be found anywhere."

Caytin looked from one to the other. "Send off for some what Trinna?"

"She sent me to dig up some of the oil that is used on virgins. But either we don't have any, or someone is hiding it."

Caytin looked at Kaj closely. "We're not out of that oil Mistress." He spoke very carefully. "Donnel just made a new batch. It is in the chest in the Men's Quarter's. But I filled your container just a little over a week ago."

Trinna glared at Kaj. "I get it. You send me off chasing flights of fancy while you sit around here and threaten him."

She laughed. "Guilty as charged, little sister. But humor me a little. You are one of the few Healers who are willing to serve her time as a Journeyman outside the Temple. You are also my sister."

"What is going on here Mistress? Why would you send Trinna out on a fools errand?"

"She has taken it into her head, that now, with the existence of new donor's, that she wanted to become a mother. And yes, I did send you off so that I could make sure than Jerrick understood what would happen to him if he tried to hurt you in anyway."

"Know this, outsider. It was me who helped make her a woman. And to date, I am the only man to touch her. Anything happens to Mistress Trinna, and I will make you wish you had been allowed to die." Caytin was protective of all the ladies in his house, but the young Healer more than most. More in some ways than he worried about his own mistress.

Jerrick looked down. Fighting to remember whom this man was in his life now. "How many times, Mistress. Am I going to have to have my word questioned?" He was a slave. There was no altering that fact. But, if he understood what the rules were, he had the same rights as a slave here, as he did in his own lands. "I gave my word that I would never try to harm her." He looked up at Caytin. "She is a Healer for gods sake."

"Let it go Cay. I've already spoken to him, and he has made his feelings on the subject very clear. I have been assured, in something of a huff, that he does not wage war on children, and does not rape half-grown girls. He knows the price if he breaks his bond with me in anyway. Trinna might be young, but I helped to see to it that she trained along with all the other children to protect herself. Our eldest daughter and myself are the only two that can beat her, hand to hand. And she is a Healer, I am sure that she has all sorts of ways of stopping him should he lose his reason with her."

"So, now that you've gone out of your way to scare him, can I be excused."

"Go on, Trin. See you tomorrow, and good luck."

After she led Jerrick from the room, Kaj just laughed with amusement. "I went out of my way to scare him, indeed. That is one slave that I am going to have my hands full with. It won't be easy to bend to my rule, without breaking him completely. He still sees himself as his men's commanding officer."

"Don't worry too much Mistress. After he learns his place in the greater scheme of things here, he should quiet down nicely. It could be worse. You did end up with trained soldiers, and not civilian's."

"Thank the Goddess for small favors."

He looked to the other two that, knelt, on their knees, silent, "And what are your plans for these two Mistress?"

"Fain, here, he stays with us, for now. He is the one that has gotten a twisted idea of the bond between slave and mistress. I am hoping that given a little time, he will learn that what he knows and what the truth is, are far from the same thing. Ern there, I had planned on sending him with Jerrick and letting you deal with them until such time one of my women had a need for them. But now, it looks like you only have Ern to contend with. If I know my little sister, and that man she just led from this room is more than just stud material, she will have him hanging on to her shirt hem by the morning."

Caytin nodded, looking at Ern, who was still trying to work his way through all that had happened. "Should I take him out of here for now?"

"Yes, but just see to it he is put to bed, alone for now, sooner or later, I am sure you will make some time for him, and I don't think he is in any great hurry to be noticed by you. I may need your help to walk this one through his first time with us. I might toy with the boys we keep around but that is what is expected, and even wanted from most of them. He doesn't understand what his place here is yet. I parted him from his Lover. The very least I can do, is show what pity I can and help him to hold up in his loneliness."

"Yes, Mistress." He came to his feet. "Come with me Ern." He stopped. "Will you walk freely at my side, or would it be better if I used a leash, to remove all temptation?" Bright blue eyes, so full of concern and compassion, met Ern's brown ones.

"Uh, no, that's okay. I'll walk." 'A leash' he thought in horror. The man had offered to leash him like an animal, and had thought the offer kind. The full truth of his continued life finally sank into his mind and heart. He was a slave, a pet, property to be owned, nothing more than a glorified dog.

"Don't do it." Caytin stepped closer, breaking Ern's moment of panic. "I have no reason to see you hurt right now. Do me a favor, don't give me one." He hooked the leash to the loop in Ern's collar "I will see you sleep alone for now. There's not a man in this city that would dare touch you before I do. So you have nothing to fear on that score. Your mistresses, may call on you at any time, they please. But I will be the first of your new brethren to touch you, understand?"

"Yes Sir."

"Good, now come on," he looked to Kaj. "Begging your pardon, Mistress. May I take Ern and see he is put down for the night?"

It surprised Kaj a little. It had been a long time since Caytin had been this formal with her or anyone in her house. Then she remembered that he as the first consort in her home, and head of all the men in her lands. Would be expected to keep things under an even finer control than she would expect. "See to it that your men, understand he is to be left untouched. And hurry back. We still have one more to welcome into our house."

"Yes Mistress."

CHAPTER 3

Fain watched as Caytin closed the door, leaving him alone with her.

"So, Fain. If I give you an order, will you obey me, or resist?"

He would not break. He was a man, even if he did know what he faced. He would not break. "Yes Mistress, what would you have your slave do?" He went back to his knees before her.

"First, slave you might be, but I will not take your identity. Your name is Fain. You are one of only fourteen, now with the addition of Jerrick, Ern and you, fertile men in my home. You will have the honor of being one of the fathers in my home."

He bent even farther over until his face pressed against the floor. "Yes Mistress."

"And you will stop that. Goddess, what do you think me? If I am going to have you as a slave in my house, I am going to see that you never forget you are a man, and will act accordingly. You are not one of the boys, the bedwarmers that are not yet an adult. You will father many sons and daughter for my house. You will not throw yourself at my feet, for anything less than a plea for your life, ever again."

He couldn't help it, a single tear slipped from his eye. "Yes, Mistress."

"Good boy. Now as I was trying to ask you," she pulled him back to his feet. "Will you mind me, or will you give me problems?"

"I said yes, Mistress. What do you wish of me?" 'Once a slave, always a slave'. He thought ruefully.

"Undress for me little one. Let me see what I have brought into my home for my women."

Despite his desperate need to maintain control in this, he began to cry quietly as he began to remove his clothes, untying the fold on the tunic, to let it fall open. Fingers going to tend to the tie in the waistband of the pants, until, he stood there, naked, his clothes pooled around him. "Like this Mistress?"

She rose to walk around him slowly. "Nice. Yes, little one, this is exactly what I wanted you to do." She stroked his tear stained cheek. "Now, little one, I want you to go to my bed and lay on your stomach."

To give him credit, he didn't cry out at the thought of being used again. "Yes Mistress." He moved as quickly as his shaking legs would allow.

"I know that my telling you, that you have nothing to fear from me, will do little good. But you don't. I was quite serious when I said that you three would become parts of my home. The past is just that, I will not hold anything you did before I accepted your submission against you." She trailed her fingers down his back.

"Thank you, Mistress." It made no sense to him. He was her slave, and yet she didn't abuse him. And other than the loss of most of his body hair, they had done nothing more to his body.

She moved to the chest at the foot of her bed. "It has been a few moons since last I had to use this with any. But for you, I think it will help you to continue to control yourself." She opened the lid and took out a clear bottle, with thick blue oil in it. "We blend this oil often. There is a drug in it that is strong enough that there is no better at relaxing fears."

She set the bottle on the stand by her bed. "It is also a tad habit forming. That is one of the reason's it is in such high demand." She took his long red braid into her hands. "My daughter is going to be a bit envious of your hair, Fain. It is an even lovelier shade of red than hers is. And she loves her hair color." She began to un-work the braid. Smoothing out the thick mass of wavy tresses. "You do know Fain, your looks will make you very popular here. Your, sweet face, and this hair. Caytin will have his hands full, keeping the boys off of you, and you will have your hands full, trying to handle all the women that will demand your time. Between you and my sister, I see a major influx of redheads in my nursery." She pushed his hair to one side. "It's okay Fain. I m not going to hurt you." She reached for the bottle. Uncorking it, to pour the thick oil into her palm. With practice ease, she set the bottle down and corked it with one hand.

Fain wanted to know what he was expected to do as he lay there, Kaj's hands beginning to work over his shoulders. But he had no experience to call upon that was anything like what he was having happen to him right then.

"They whipped you." Kaj commented as she felt the faint rise of many scars on his back. "And did so often."

"Yes Mistress. I would be, publicly, whipped every night, until I bled once a week, and until I lost consciousness once a moon."

"Some of these scars, they are cycles old. There are some that look to be much older than you've been free. How old were you when they took you, and how long was it that you were held? Give me some kind of idea what I am up against with you."

"I was eight, Mistress."

"What happened? Don't be afraid Fain, I want to know what happened to you."

"Yes Mistress. Like I said, I was eight when they came, they raped and killed my mother before they drug me away, Mistress. I was dragged miles into the night, branded, and raped by the six that had taken me, before they even allowed me water."

"They branded you? Enough that they took a child to their bed, but they branded you?" It had been so many cycles to almost be not true since they had branded their slaves, opting for a tattoo. She looked down at his hips, trying to ferret it out. "Where, Fain? Hear me, this is a promise I make to you, as one of the men of our people. I will see to it that they pay for what they did to you. You might not have been a man of my house then, but you are now, and no one harms what I claim." She would crush these monsters. Any one who would pervert the sacred trust as they had, deserved nothing less that full retribution.

Fain lifted a little, rolling on his back. "Here Mistress." He lifted his penis, to display the white scaring of an old brand on the right side of his ball sack.

"Don't think about them anymore little one, my oath, as your mistress. I will seek vengeance." She caressed him as she leaned down to plant a light kiss on his lips. "We won't discuss it anymore. Roll back over, and let me finish seeing to you. Now how long were you their captive because I refuse to acknowledge anything they did as true slavery, how old were you again, when Mer rescued you?"

"I was a slave the first time for six cycles, Mistress. I was fourteen when Mer who was part of a rescue raid saved me."

"No Fain, your were a victim, and abused for six cycles, at a very young age, but you only became a slave, at your capture."

Fain caught his breath at the sharpness of her tone. "Yes, Mistress. Please, forgive me." He was trying to, mentally, back peddle as fast as he could. "I didn't mean any disrespect, I swear." And in an even tinier voice, "If I could throw myself at your feet Mistress, I would. I am begging for my life."

She snorted. "Fain, I'm not mad at you. I wasn't calling fault to your behavior. I only want you to understand the truth, and that what you have come to know as the life of a slave, is so different from what it really is, that it does demand a separation in definitions. Now just lay here, and relax. You are entirely too tense." She noted now that she was working on his back, and feeling the whip scaring again, that there were a few, that were still new enough to feel hot. "So, Mer was your master, you have been a slave before. What did you do to earn your whipping Fain?"

"Nothing Mistress. I," he stuttered, struggling with himself as he exposed his soul to this stranger. "I begged for it Mistress."

"You are going to be even more popular with my Consort. If you are not with one of your Mistresses, he might take you as his boy, and put you under his full protection.

"But Mer," he started, without thinking. Then stopped. "Yes Mistress."

"I gave you my word that I would see that Aticka allowed you and Mer to continue to see each other. Nothing has changed that. You could be faithful as a Lover to Caytin in his home, and he would never begrudge you your previous love. Mer and you do not and never will, live in the same house. Sooner or later the two of you will have to come to some sort of understanding. But I will not force the decision on you."

"Do you think, he, my master, would make me his boy I mean?"

"The first time you beg him to use his beloved whip on you, there will be no doubt."

"He is yours Mistress, you will not be upset with me if he chooses to do this, will you Mistress?"

She just looked at him, confused. Not understanding what he was getting at. "Upset with you, Fain, why would I be upset with you?"

"If your Consort, my master, decides to take me as his boy."

"No, of course not. Caytin has shared himself with every woman in my house that is not blood related to him. Which is pretty much none of them. He was brought in when I became a woman. Don't be foolish. If I feel no threat at him sharing his love with them all, up to and including my little sister and niece Serra. Why in the world would you think I would get upset with him for taking an interest in you? It has been a long time since he has shared any of his many loves with me. He is very surprising in his stamina. I'm terribly spoiled." She took the bottle, and slowly poured a trail of the oil down Fain's spine watching him jerk with the coldness of it. "But I do think," her hands continued to work over his lower back, and buttocks. "That if you are a smart boy, you will catch his eye and his passion. Beg him to whip you just once, and trust me, with as sweet as you look and act, you will be his boy toy, for a very long time." She teased his puckered hole. Rubbing it, soothing it for the entry of her finger into him. "So, little one, how are you feeling now?" She pressed against him, biting lightly at his ear as she used her finger to make love to him.

He moaned, unable to form solid thought, let alone words.

'Do you trust me Fain?" She added a second finger to her play. "Ssshh, I know, just shake or nod your head. Do you trust me?"

He shuddered, legs opening farther, to encourage more. He caught his breath in his chest, an almost sob as he nodded.

"Roll over on your back Fain." She pulled away only long enough to ease from her, her, robe and gown. "My Consort may enjoy your taste for sweet pain, but I only ask your submission. Be mine, know it and be willing to show it in all you do. I am the Chieftess of my People. As one of my men, you are placed in a highly respected position among the men. Caytin is the Master of all men, not only in his house, but also among all the men of our people. You are part of his family. Don't shame yourself."

"Yes Mistress. I will try to obey, I will try my hardest."

"No Fain. You will do more than just try. You will obey me in this. No matter how difficult it is for you in the beginning, in the long run, it is the only way to go in your situation. You will remember that you are one of my, Family, at all times. You will refrain from embarrassing yourself in any way in public. Yes it will take you some time to come to the point where you can fully walk away from the past. But in public, you had better behave as if you have."

Fain looked at her in horror. It was going to be just like it was back when he had first been a slave. There would be no room for failure, or even simple error. "Forgive me Mistress, I, I can't swear that won't fail you."

"I will be as understanding as I can for a while, as long as you understand that you must do your absolute best to live as if you believed me fully." She poured more of the oil in her hand again. By the time she was finished with Fain, she would need to restock again. 'Oh well'. "Having to talk about weighty things with you Fain, is making relaxation very hard. So just lay back, and hush." Her mouth covered his, tongue forcing its way past his lips to dance wildly with his. Her hands roaming his body, reaching to pull on him, stroking his with abandon.

He fleetingly reached to hold her, before dropping his hands back at his side's fist clinched. Kaj just chuckled against his cheek as she reached to pull his arms back up to hold to her. "Another important factor, little one. I am making love to you, and want you to respond as such.

"Yes Mistress." The combination of the drugs and the absurdity of the situation eased his fears greatly.

* * *

Ern stood by the door to what was now his bedroom. He felt uncomfortable at the many pairs of eyes that had watched him. He knew what was normal among the men here. And had only Caytin's promise that he would be safe for now.

"Are you with me Ern?" Caytin's eyes searched his, as he unleashed him.

"Yes Sir."

"Good, then I want you to hear this." He turned to the men that were present. "This is Ern. He is one of the new ones that your mistress has taken for her own. He, and Jerrick, who is with Mistress Trinna at the moment. They both have as of yet to be fully welcomed into the ranks of the men in this house. And until I do so, no one touches them. Do I make myself clear?"

"That goes without saying Cay. That is standard."

"It was not for our benefit that he said that, Jon," another voice. "Understood Caytin. For now, until you get around to taking care of him. He will be treated as a novice Healer in the middle of her cycle long vow of celibacy."

Caytin pulled Ern to one side, closing the door between them and the rest. "Look, I've done all that I can to see to it that you have as easy a time fitting in here now, as I could have possibly made it."

"Yes Sir. Thank you Sir."

Caytin held a hand up under Ern's chin, tiling his head up so his eyes could meet the younger man's. "For now, as long as I have you under house protection, as it were. Now would be a good time to get to know those that will share your home with you. I would take this time to properly introduce you to your brothers in chains. But I have a duty to our mistress, that I have to see to." He leaned in, pushing Ern against the wall, as he kissed him, hand, reaching down to work the tie at his waist seeking what was hidden within.

Ern thought frantically for what he should do as a light, but firm mouth met his, the tongue of it forcing its way into his mouth. His fears growing at the feel of a hand cupping him gently, stroking ever so lightly.

Caytin pulled back, chuckling at the feel of Ern's manhood beginning to thicken. "See, Ern. The body doesn't care which gender offers the pleasure, only the feel is important. You have nothing to worry about. Try to work out this all in your head, and learn to be friends with those around you. I have to go. Just remember, a man has touched you, you felt pleasure from that touch, and you were not struck down by it." He patted the confused man's face just once more before slipping from the room.

* * *

"Here we go. It isn't much, but it suits my needs." Trinna led Jerrick into her rooms.

He looked around at the simple, but tasteful room. "And this is yours? No one shares your space with you?" True it was not, that, large a room, but he could have easily believed that more than one could share it. He had seen barracks not much larger than this room that held six.

"I haven't shared a sleeping space since my last night in the Temple, before I moved back home to spend the rest of my training time, working as my homes Healer. It is a little secluded, I know, but I am only a journeyman, and not fully trained in my art. I need a little more seclusion than most." She looked around her room, trying to come up with a way that at least sounded slightly less duty like for what she had brought him to her room for. She made a small noise, disgusted at herself for her behavior. The way she was acting, you would think she was still just a maid, or was only now coming away from her cycle's vow. "I can't believe this. I finally get up the nerve to decide to do my duty by my people and become a mother, and here I am acting like I was still some untried girl." She laughed. "My sister might be able to command the masses, but the leadership skills that she is so well versed, in were never passed on to me."

"What do you want me to do, Little Mistress?" Too many cycles of working with young recruits gave him the calm that came with experience. Even if this woman was now one of those that held the power of life and death over him. She was still a Healer, and no older than most of the boys he had been working with off and on for most of his life.

Trinna looked down at her hands. "I suppose, if we are going to get on with this, I will need a bath first. I worked most of the day, after I bid by nephew safe journey, working on a herd beast that was having trouble delivering her calf. I am filthy." She held out a hand to him. "That sound like a plan to you Jerrick?"

He couldn't help himself. He smiled, as he took the offered hand. "A bath sounds like as good a way as any Mistress."

* * *

Kaj's mouth held Fain's as she shifted herself over him, positioning him for her. He was at such a loss; he just couldn't believe what was happening to him, as Kaj leaned back, taking him fully in her.

She opened her eyes, to look down on Fain, with such pure lust. "Now is not the time to be shy, little one." Indicating with a gesture, for him to do more, than just lie beneath her.

He was painfully far from innocent, but women did not have anything to do with him, the first time he wore a collar. And then, again, Mer had no use for women, so he had not had either.

A new pair of hands took his and pressed them against Kaj's body, moving them over her skin, her hips, abdomen, to press against her breasts. Squeezing gently, before pulling them back down to press against her sex. Pressing his fingers against her clitoris, rubbing firmly.

Kaj's eyes opened at the new feeling of more hands as Fair was at her sex, and another pair at her breasts. "Hmmm, hello, pet." She leaned against him as she rode Fain. Trusting his strength to keep her from falling as she picked up her speed, in a single-minded drive for her pleasure.

* * *

Trinna sat, in water, breast high. Jerrick beside her, not saying anything, a very uncomfortable silence thundered in the room.

Jerrick looked down, a look of discomfort on his face. "Mistress, would I offend you if I asked if you are a virgin or not?" He had been willing to offer himself, freely, but now. If she was still young enough to be just a maid. Suddenly he wasn't sure if he had made the right decision.

"A virgin? Jerrick, I haven't been a virgin since I finished my pledge and offered up my maidenhood to the Mother, going from just a girl to a woman." She blushed, a bit at this. "I don't seem to be handling this well at all, do I?"

He took her hands in his. "You are doing just fine, Mistress. It's me. I'm trying to do what is expected of me, but this is the first time in my life I have been where I am right now. I have lived with the possibility for most of my adult life, that I might one day be what I am, but never really accepted it." He reached for the sponge. "If you would be a little patient with me Mistress, I am still learning."

"I know at least one or two that are going to like you." She appreciated the way he was dealing with what he had been sent here to do.

"Well, sitting here, and letting the water reduce us to wrinkles, isn't going to get your goal accomplished. So what say I get your bathed?" 'Hey' okay so maybe it wasn't, said, quite the way it probably should have been. They would come to accept the way he was, or he would spend a lot of time, suffering for it. He was a blunt and to the point 'man' always had been. And, at his age, he just didn't think he would be successful trying to change.

Trinna laughed at him. "Jerrick, are you trying to tell me what to do?" She teased.

"No, Mistress. But what I am saying, begging your pardon is that we need to get along with it. You are not going to achieve your aim of motherhood, sitting here, letting the water turn cold.

She giggled. "My word. Are there anymore like you at home?"

He shrugged, "Before yesterday Mistress, I was a soldier. Nothing more, nothing less, but I happened to have been one of the best soldiers in my Kings Guard. So I know what duty and honor are."

"And which was it, Jerrick, duty or honor, that had you offering yourself to me?"

He smiled. "I'll be honest with you, Mistress. I saw a situation that could possibly turn bad, so I stepped forward, hoping that the Chieftess saw it too. She did, so it was my duty that started this." He ran a soap-laden sponge down her arm. "But it stopped being my duty, and became my honor when you stepped into the tub."

"Hot damn." She held her breath and sank below the water, wetting her hair. "Well, let's get bathed. My time isn't getting any more ready."

He laughed. "Now you sound like a Healer Mistress."

* * *

Fain opened his eyes, in the warm glow of his recent pleasure. Eyes focusing on Kaj and Caytin, who had went from helping him too attaching, himself, to her. "Master?" He suddenly realized where he was, and who Caytin was. "Please," he struggled to pull away from Kaj, trying to detach her from him with no success. "I'm a slave, she is my mistress, I had no say." He was frantically trying to come up with an excuse. His mistress, she belonged to this man.

Again Fain's fears were met by confusion. "I think he is worried that I will be upset, Mistress."

"Well, are you?" She had never before been faced with a slave that feared her consort, more than he feared her. She was not at all sure what to think about the experience.

Caytin spared her a dismissive glance. "Fain, I am one of the few fertile men in my home. Many of the children that are raised here call me papa. Not only am I, not, upset with you. I will, for the time she keeps you with us, feel a little better about being away from her. I have seen that I won't have to worry about her being lonely."

"It's going to take you a little time with this one Cay. His past, it's scarred him pretty badly." Kaj pulled off of Fain, reaching to gently move his limp penis. "He was branded. These monsters, they not only took an eight cycle old child, and forced him to their bed, but branded him beforehand."

"Damn them." Caytin touched the brand, brushing lightly against the younger man's balls. "May their soul's rot, unclaimed for all eternity."

"Don't let it become an issue Cay. I have given my word already. No one harms any man in my keep. I will see them crushed for what they have done."

"If it was getting to this point. Why didn't their King, apply for aid from you? Surely he had to know, that you would have been more than willing to help end the rule of creatures that are capable of what was done to Fain. That upon seeing it with your own eyes, you would have done so, and not asked for anything in return."

She shrugged. "I wish I could answer that Cay. But the Merican lands and throne are almost a moon, of hard riding, from here. Maybe if I and, my, mother before me had paid closer attention to the world outside our lands. We might have had some idea what was going on. But we were at peace with the Merican's, so we didn't. All we can do, as nations, is pull together, and see that the greater threat is dealt with."

"You mean that, Mistress?" The hate in Fain's tone was so hot. It was painful. "You will help put them down?"

"Either with your old Monarch's assistance, or over him. With or without him, I will see to it that this is stopped."

CHAPTER 4

Jerrick helped Trinna from the tub. Wrapping them both in a thick bath sheet. "Again, Little Mistress, you want this of me." It had been a long time for him, so he had to fight for control over his desires.

She chuckled softly. "E-gads, your are as bad as Caytin 'yes', Lady and Consort, yes." She turned in his arms, to look up smiling. "What is wrong, Jerrick? With the way you are carrying on, one would think you're the untried one."

He laughed. "Oh, I've been tried often enough before Little Miss, just not in a while."

"Going to have to do something about that, aren't we?" She dropped the ends of the bath sheet to wrap her arms over his shoulders. Her mouth meeting his as he let the sheet continue to fall, bending to lift her.

The mattress gave a little as he lay his mistress back. Pulling away a bit to stroke her cheek. She was pretty; it had been a long time since last he had seen anything so lovely.

He wanted nothing more than to bury himself in the loveliness before him. But, the fact that he was a slave now held him back. "How should I go about seeing to you Mistress?"

Trinna scoffed sitting up and reaching for him. "Jerrick our two people, they aren't that different. You said you've done this before, how do you think it's done?" She pushed him over, to fall on the bed.

"I don't think," he surrendered easily. "Our people might be a lot alike, but I don't think, I was with the last woman I was with, and what you expect out of me, are anything alike."

"Really, well then, for the sake of understanding you people better. Just how, did, you share your time with the last woman you were with? We are built the same. Our peoples were once the same, so I know we are able to interbreed. It has to be one huge social or religious custom."

'To hell with it, if I'm gonna be strung up for breaking the laws, I might as well enjoy it.' He lifted up, slightly, to pull her close to him, rolling to pin her firmly under him. "The last time, I was with a woman," he pressed her down into the firmness underneath, mouth and hands, moving with a practiced ease. "I only had a few days, so we didn't waste any time talking."

She reached up, pulling his head back to hers. "So far, I haven't seen anything that greatly different."

"You know what, Little Miss, I think you might be right. I'm worried about nothing."

"Well, I can think of something far better for you to concern yourself with. Come here."

* * *

Ern looked up at the knock. "Yes." He was on his feet at once.

Tallin poked his head in. "It's kind of early for bed. You don't have to hide behind a closed door Ern. My father is the, head consort. He has put you under his hand and until he lifts it. You don't have anything to worry about. So, if it's okay with you. Why don't you come out here, and let us get a chance to start getting to know you."

"Uh, that's okay, I don't want to bother anyone. I can stay out of the way."

Tallin rolled his eyes. "Goddess, don't be like that. Hiding behind closed doors isn't going to do you any good. This is your home now. The sooner you learn to come to terms with that, the sooner you will find yourself at peace with it."

"Okay, but warning, I don't know any of those men."

"That, can be easily rectified, come on."

A man met Tallin as he escorted Ern from Ern's room. "So you finally convinced him that we weren't out here, planning his doom."

"Give him time, Gabe. I don't think any of us can even imagine what he is going through right now."

Another of the men laughed. "The boy is going to play nursemaid now. I swear, he is getting as bad as his father."

"Well, Saul, with the rest of you, always having a Mistress to look too, who else do you expect to talk him through this? Xavier, Jax, Toby, or maybe you think another one of the flock of bedwarmers we have would be better suited to help him."

"Besides, befriending him, puts you in a better light with him, you know later, once Cay had lifted his hold."

"With my luck, by the time Caytin has a free moment to deal with him, he will already be answering to a mistress, and will have no more free time, than any of the rest of you do. I only hope to the fates mother hurries up and finds someone she is satisfied with for me. She has no plans of letting me just go, as Herren, Warrel, Karron, Jon, Van or Tag, and fill in the place of breeder in one of the houses. She has decided that I am going to be a Consort, and nothing less. Me, I would be just as happy as a kept slave, with the only duties I had were, to father pretty boys, and strong girls. If only it could be that easy. But you know mother. I am her first. I was conceived the night she and my father matched souls. I am named after my uncle, her older brother. So I have to wait around for one of the women or one of their daughters to ask to buy me."

"Maybe next auction Tal. The mistress she couldn't afford to let you go last time. There were none to replace you here." Gabe lay a hand on his shoulder."

He smiled, patting the hand there. "I know that Gabe. I'm not complaining. But now that we have three more here. I was held back last cycle. She can't do that to me again. I am almost as old as she was when she gave birth to me. I am too damn old to be the only man I know of who is still untried by a mistress."

"The Guard Commander, Mistress Wren, she has a daughter, about your age. I think I have seen her poking around snatching an eye full from time to time." Tag offered.

"I can't do that. I am related by blood to her daughter. She is my half sister. But other than that, I'd gladly go to the commander herself at this point. Don't get me wrong, I love Gabe dearly. But I would just as soon have to visit him from time to time, if I had a mistress."

"Give it time, boy. Be happy that you have the chance to wed. Very few," there was a touch of bitterness is the man's voice. "Even, of the breeders do." Warrel growled.

Tallin dropped his eyes. "Yes, Sir." He was young. And fertile or not, he was without a mistress, so he was nothing.

* * *

Jerrick fought to think, breaking his kiss. "Now?" If she didn't allow him to take her, right then, he was sure he would hurt himself trying to hold back.

"It's probably bad etiquette, and Kaj is sure to fuss at me later, but for what I am aiming to do, being on bottom is probably better, so yes, go on."

He reached, parting her legs, moaning as he felt her heat surround him. "Thank you, Mistress." And he could think no more.

* * *

Kaj, lay stroking Fain's, hair, as she listened to Caytin fill her in on what had happened with Ern. "You are going to have to take an hour or so, before much longer to see to it that both he and Jerrick are welcomed among you."

"If Kerfan were here, I would ask him to help with them. Jerrick is going to be the father of Trin's baby. But right now, I think the general din of the Men's Quarter's has driven him off for a few days. Last time I saw him, he was getting ready to go camping, somewhere, alone."

"It isn't easy for a man, to be the only FreeMan in a house full of slaves. I put out the call for him to return. It shouldn't be more than another week or so, but you can't expect them to hang, left alone for that time."

"I think they would thank me if I did."

"Mistress."

Kaj looked down at the man in her arms. "Yeah, honey?"

"Let me talk to them, tell them what you are going to do." He sat up, as she released him. "For me, once a slave, always a slave. But for Ern, and Commander Jerrick, knowing that an end is at hand, it might make it easier for them, if they believed their lives had come at a price, anything, up to and including death would be worth it, just to see our people free."

"He is such a contradiction in terms, isn't he Kaj? To be so young and ignorant, he shows a surprising grasp on the situation."

"You don't know the half of it love. It might be some time, before I decide to let him be. If ever." She held out a hand to Fain. "Isn't that so, little one? Weren't you the one that fretted earlier over the fact that your master, might take a fancy to you?"

"Do I frighten him still, Mistress?" He had hoped, that of all the new ones in his house, that this one would at least trust their customs, well enough to believe, that he was not going to devour him one day.

A hand on Fain's shoulder, turning, him to show Caytin his back. "Oh yes, pet, he is still afraid of you. But I think his fear is greater that you will not notice him, than of you doing him real harm."

Caytin looked over Fain's back, at the numerous scars of past beatings. "Good, Goddess, Mistress. He can't think, I would do this to him."

"Don't look at the scars Caytin. But at the ones that still have yet to heal."

Caytin looked closer. His, eyebrows lifting as he realized what his mistress was referring too. He opened his mouth to jest with Fain about having nothing to worry about. But a hard knocking at the door interrupted him.

"Come in." 'Now who'?

Warrel almost threw the door open. "Where is the other new man, Kaj?" He demanded.

Kaj looked at him, irritated. "Warrel, it's a little late to decide to take an interest in them. Besides, he hasn't been welcomed into the Men's Quarter's yet. Why are you asking?"

"I'm not trying to find him to welcome him to our home. I passed Trinna's room, and it sounds like all hell is breaking loose in there. Ern says that Jerrick had been her choice. I am too old to stop anything, but it sounds like my Great grand daughter is in trouble."

Kaj was up, Caytin following at once. "If that fool has hurt her." She batted at Fain's hands as he tried to get her attention. "Stop it"

"But Mistress, Jerrick, he wouldn't hurt her." The man that had enabled him to keep, his, mind last night after Mer had been taken. Hurt anyone, much less a Healer, no, he just refused to believe it."

"Caytin, get the chain. If the boy is right, then there is nothing to worry about, and he can be released when we get back, if not. I know that he, at least, is where I know he should be."

Caytin pushed Fain's hands away as he locked a chain from the bed to his collar. "Hush, you aren't in trouble. You mistress isn't upset with you. This is just to see to it, that she stays happy with you. You aren't going to be hurt. Just lay here and wait, I will be back as soon as I can."

"But Master, I swear to you, on my life, Jerrick wouldn't hurt the other mistress." Fain tried to reason with the empty air, as Kaj and Caytin had left through the door as one. So he sat there, in silence, worrying what the next few hours would bring.

* * *

Jerrick rolled off Trinna, fighting to slow his breathing. He turned his head to laugh weakly. "Wow."

"How long ago, was, your last woman?" She was equally stunned. Their coming together was something right out of the romantic trash that the men and some of the younger women were so fond of.

"Been a couple of cycles Mistress. I guess the war has gotten to me more than I thought it had. Did I hurt you?" He turned on his side, looking over her body, trying to detect anything that he could have done. "I'm sorry Mistress, I step in to make sure that you didn't run the risk of getting hurt, and you get hurt anyway, figures."

She laughed at him. "You, hurt, me?" Her peals of laughter rang out in the room. "I'm sorry, Jerrick, I don't mean to sound like I am making fun of you, or anything. But I'm a Healer. If it, had come down to you actually hurting me. I could have stopped you. No you didn't hurt me, it's just, I thought, when I finally completed my vow, and took my place among the women of my city, that what I had shared with Caytin was the best there ever would be. But now, damn, what do they feed you boys back home?" He looked down not quite flushing, but close.

She sat up, looking down at him. "I know this is probably going to throw a wrench in the way I wanted our relationship to be, and I know I'm going to probably say this all wrong. I'm not one of those folks that are good with words, but it's considered lucky to conceive your first night with your consort. I am going to be quite pregnant by morning. So, what say you, to invoking the good luck that is promised by consenting to be mine, we can worry about a ceremony this summer, but if you say yes, I will be your lady."

Jerrick lay there, looking up at her speechless. He was trying to work over everything she had just said, trying to reach for the words she would want from him, of course he would marry her. He just couldn't think of any other meaning for what she had just said, than what the obvious one was. He just didn't think when he said 'yes', that it would end up like it did.

Jerrick was saved from having to respond right away by the banging and rattle at the door. "Trinna! Are you okay? Jerrick, unlock this door, don't combine matters more." Kaj banged on the door again. "Trinna?"

"What the?" Trinna was off the bed and across the room, slamming back the lock. "What do you think you're doing 'Chieftess' ?" She stood there, heedless of her nakedness. "What the hell could be so important to almost knock my door off its hinges?"

Her older sister grabbed her by the arms. "Are you all right? Did he hurt you?"

Trinna pushed her hands away, moving to return to the bed. "Did he hurt me? What do you mean, 'did he hurt me'?

"Warrel came to me, and told me you were being attacked. Said that by the sounds, you were in the middle of a fight for your life."

Trinna wrapped her arms around Jerrick protectively. "We weren't fighting, far from it." Trinna looked at Jerrick. "We didn't throw anything, so what could he be talking about?"

Jerrick thought about it for a moment. His time with the little mistress might have been explosive, but not on a physical scale. He shifted and heard the headboard bounce against the wall. He just fell back on the bed laughing.

"What?" Caytin didn't understand at all what was going on. This man is told that he had been so loud with the Healer, that others thought he had been physical with her. And he just laughs.

Jerrick reached out with his fist and pushed the headboard against the wall behind it several times as he laughed.

Trinna squealed, hands covering her mouth as she joined him in the humor. "You have your answer, Kaj." She turned to her sister, still laughing. "Now, you tell me, what's so odd about that? What, you've never had Caytin make you scream before?" She cleared her throat, catching her breath. "Do, and I'll call you a liar to your face."

"I am going to kill that old fool." Kaj swore to herself. "I'm sorry Trinna, you too Jerrick."

"It's okay Kaj. Warrel is just old. He is having trouble accepting that I am an adult, let alone old enough to bear a child and wed." Then she turned, singling Jerrick our again. "Now, back to the child and wed part of our conversation before we were interrupted. I am still waiting for an answer, even if it is only you need time."

Jerrick still wasn't ready to take her question on, but not seeing a way of getting out of it without talking about it. "You sure, Mistress. I'm not an old man, but I have close to a good twenty cycles on you.

"Your what, thirty-six, thirty-seven? So, The oldest in the Men's Quarter's is Hirren, and he's almost two hundred cycles old, and can still, when he gets the call, serve his mistresses."

"Actually, I'm thirty-four. And it won't bother you?"

"Look you, you going to consent to be my first consort or not?"

"Well, yeah, you're pregnant."

Trinna shook her head. "No, my being with child has nothing to do with me wanting to make you my Consort. Other than I would like to wed his or her father. You are a man of my house. There is a lot I can do, that people forget. Like I know, I can read your heart, that you are a good man." She stopped grinning. "Wait, did you say yes?"

"As long as you are sure about this. I am not at all sure how the marriages, if they fail, separate here. And I would just as soon not end up dead because you decide that I'm not what you wanted after all." The idea that she could know what he had always believed, it was so humbling. That Jerrick just couldn't consciously acknowledge it.

Trinna waved her hand dismissively at that. "When I lock my cuff on your wrist, it's for life. But if I get to the point with you, that your irritate me too much, I can always lose you in the Men's Quarter's."

"I feel positively ancient." Kaj muttered under breath as she watched her sister, woo her new consort. "Were we really ever 'that' young?"

"Yes, Mistress, we were. But unlike the Lady Healer and her new man, we were very busy, I was seeing to Tallin, and you were pregnant with your heir."

"Well, what ever." Kaj shook herself, back to the here and now. "Well, Trin, as the rumor of your attack, was grossly exaggerated. I think I am going to leave you and your consort to wonder over your new wedded state. I have a slave in my room, chained to the bed. It's going to take me forever to convince him that it was all a false alarm." She looked to Jerrick. "The hardest thing for you, is going to be remembering that you are a free man and soldier no more. But I won't be too ill with you, now that you have gone and stolen my little sisters heart, if you tend to forget that fact, just a little every now and then."

Trinna looked up from where she had been, fussing over her very own, personal slave, her mate. "Is the one you are keeping with Caytin and you, giving you problems?"

"No, or at least not before that old fool scared him with his fantasies over you and your attack."

"Little Miss," Jerrick looked at Trinna. "Fain, he's, well, how can I explain him to you? If it weren't for the fact that all in all, they boy was a damn fine at what he did. Mer would have seen to it that he kept him at home, chained to his bed. Do you, and Mistress Kaj, mind if I go and let him see that I am not in danger in anyway?" He took her hand in his. "Please Mistress. He is only twenty, going on about sixteen. He's been through more than anyone his age should have to live through has. And now, I can learn to live with my new state of slavery, Ern will get the hang of it eventually, I am sure. But Fain, slavery means nothing but fear, pain, and promises nothing but a slow and agonizing death for him."

"Trinna's new Consort is going to be a breath of fresh air for my men." Caytin commented to Kaj.

"Let him, Trin. If he goes and shows Fain that he is still unhurt. It will ease the poor man's fears much faster, than I could, or Cay could. I also want you to take a look at a few more of the wounds he has, that haven't been healed yet, or if they have, healed badly."

"If there was a problem with him, Kaj, why didn't you call me sooner?" She took her robe from Jerrick. "Go on honey, throw on your pants. As pretty as you are, I still don't want you parading around like you were advertising your availability. I want a chance to get you used to the idea of marriage before I let you loose on the rest of the women here."

He smiled at her. "Mistress, I might not know much, but even I know, what a pledge means. You are going to have my baby, I am yours, and unless you decide later that it was a mistake, and 'loose me' in the Men's Quarter's, I am not going anywhere. I'll do my duty to the house, but that is all that will ever be." All in all, it was turning out, much, better than he had first feared. Yes, he was a slave. But he had a place now. A mistress, who had taken it into her head to up and marry him. No, it could be much worse.

* * *

Fain fell to the floor by the bed as Kaj and Caytin returned.

"See what I mean." She bent by him, helping him back up and on the bed. "Jerrick, I might have a little problem with you, forgetting your place here, from time to time, but it is nothing like the problems I am going to have out of this slave, trying to teach him, his place."

Jerrick nodded. He could well see her point. He had known Fain back, when Mer had broke off from the raiding party to get him to safety. All in all, the kid was a good boy, but when he got something in his head. It could take forever to get it changed. He had been watching Mer for the last six cycles with him. "If I may talk with him, Mistress, let him see that my lady hasn't hurt me."

She nodded to him. "Trinna, just as soon as your man, calms him down some, you need to have a closer look at him, than you did earlier."

The Healer nodded. "I only did a quick once over, to make sure he wasn't suffering from any serious injuries earlier. What is wrong with him?"

"The guard that brought them to you, should have brought it to you attention. But at the time, all that I had wanted was, them to be collared, fed and tended to. So there are a lot of things that you didn't see. His back is bad. He has so many scars from where he had been beat, but that isn't the worst thing." She looked pained. "Trin, he's been branded."

* * *

Fain grabbed at Jerrick as the man sat beside him on the bed. "I knew you wouldn't hurt anyone." He defended his fears.

"I'm fine, better than fine if truth be known."

"What happened?"

"You are now looking at a married man, Fain. Thirty-four cycles of bachelorhood, gone. My Mistress, she decided that she was content enough with me, to make me her consort. We might be slaves here, but son, I am beginning to believe that even as slaves here, we are freer than we have been as free men, in a long time."

"But, I thought," he was stunned. "Really?" It was like he was a different person, the stress washed away from him, and he was calm again. "Wow, I thought all she wanted you for was so that she could," he started.

"And she did. God almighty did she. Don't ask me why Fain, maybe it's because they have so few eligible men, but I am now going to be a father, and she asked me to be hers."

"Jerrick, I need to see to him. Please, reassure him that I won't hurt him." Trinna sat by the man, her new consort. It was so much more than she had thought she would ever have. But she did, he was hers, and she knew that he would always be hers.

"Fain, this is my mistress. She is a Healer, remember? Let her get a good look at what is wrong with you. I give you my word. No one is going to hurt you right now. Just relax, okay?"

"Jerrick," Caytin would see to him while his mistress took care of Fain. "Come here, let your mistress work."

He patted Fain's hand once more. "Go on, kid, you are going to have to learn to trust someone." And pulled away to go to where Caytin stood, watching him. "Yes, Sir?"

"As soon as your mistress sees to the boy, I am going to have to take time to welcome you as one of the men of my house. I had thought that perhaps I would have a little more time to let Ern and you find your way here before I did, but what with you being thrust into the ranks of the wedded slaves here, I don't have the time to spare anymore."

Jerrick looked at him. There were rumors of what the men did with each other, when they weren't with the women. He had momentarily, in his overwhelmed state forgot them. But now, he would have to face the reality of what was expected of him in regards to this man. "Yes, Sir. I understand."

"Thrice damn them." Trinna's horrified voice sounded out in the room. Jerrick turned, going at once to where she sat.

"Mistress?"

She was looking down at Fain's naked body, and the branding scar on his ball sack. "They branded him, Jerrick." She whispered, reaching down to touch the scar. "Damn them for eternity. They branded him."

"All slaves of the Catimine's are branded Mistress, the men there, and the women, if they live long enough to actually make it to slavery, their left breast, over the nipple. They aren't easy, or kind, to those that they own." He stroked her hair as she wept, going to heal the scar on Fain's body. "It's okay Mistress. He is safe now, I don't believe, even if he, Ern and I must submit to the men here, that we will have to worry about that anymore. Neither he nor I have ever heard anything about our new people doing that to the slaves in your care."

"He is a man of your house Chieftess." Trinna looked up at Kaj. "You are going to see to it that this sort of thing doesn't go unpunished, right?"

"I have already assured him, that I will seek retribution for what they did to him, to any of those that come from the Merican's that have similar experiences and abuse. Don't worry yourself Healer. I will see to it that they pay for what they did. That is my word on the subject. Now, if you have taken care of the brand, have him roll over, his back is almost as much a mess as his genitals were."

"If you would roll over Fain, I will see what I can do to finish removing the physical scars of your past. The emotional ones, I trust Kaj and Caytin to attend to."

Caytin stood beside where Jerrick sat, rubbing Trinna's back as she continued her work. "I feel better now, Jerrick. I have spent the last two cycles, worrying over my mistresses little Healer sister. But now, that she has taken you as her own first consort. I feel like I can turn my worry of her over to you. For a man, so new to this life, you show surprising wisdom and compassion."

"She is my wife now, and is carrying my child. How the hell else do you think I am supposed to treat her, Sir?"

Kaj laughed. "Better my little sister, than me. He is absolutely without shame."

"Mistress, with the fact that Lady Trinna is a Healer, who better than a slave that is not afraid to stand for her?"

"Well, if the two of you are finished discussing my consort. Fain has been seen to. I even removed the remains of the whipping he received last, the one that didn't break the skin."

"Trinna?" Caytin stood just behind Jerrick. "Are you in a hurry to take your consort and return to your bed? Or do you have time for me to welcome him properly. Now, with as linked to you as he will be, it might be a very long time before I can pin him to a bed otherwise."

Jerrick watched her, hoping she would say no. Yes he understood what he would have to let this man do to him, but he wasn't in any hurry to bend to it.

"Sure, you're right, unlike any of the consort's in the Men's Quarter's I don't plan to let him stay there for more than a few hours at a time. He is my first consort. He has the rank of first consort's, and father's in this house now, outside of you and my father, who is free, the most powerful man in our lands. So I guess I need to see to it that you are allowed to welcome him properly." She stood, reaching out to pat Fain on the shoulder. "I'm finished with you Fain, the scars of your past, the physical ones, at any rate, are gone."

CHAPTER 5

Caytin held out his hand to Jerrick. "You heard your mistress. If I can only get min, and yours to take Fain and move long enough for me to welcome you, I have every plan to do just that.

"Is this okay with you Trin, I know that this is your wedding night, but Caytin is right. It would be better by far to let him deal with your slave now, and not later."

Trinna nodded at her sister. "Go on Jerrick, Caytin has something he needs to take care of with you." She patted his cheek. "Don't worry, Cay has been dealing with virgin's for cycles. He has never hurt any of them, or at least not unless they begged him too. And I just don't see you doing that, Fain here maybe, but not you."

"Yes Mistress." It was time, he had hoped that he would have more time to come to the point that he could look at this with a little less fear. But he had never before been inclined to sample any of the men in his company, not even those that were obviously available to the soldiers and freely offered themselves to any who were interested.

He stopped, just a foot or so away from Caytin, looking up. "Yes, Sir."

Caytin smiled at him, laying a hand on his shoulder. "I understand what this is costing you. Do relax, Jerrick, I know and will be patient with you. Walk you through it slowly."

The gentle, soft and soothing feel from Caytin's words and tone as he projected calm over took Jerrick. "Thank you." He looked down.

"I have to be honest with you Jerrick. This is a first for me as well. I have never been, or heard of, anyone who is your ages, first." He continued to talk, calmly, as if this was something that was as common to him as breathing.

"I'm sorry, Sir, but it wasn't like this was my idea." He let the calm that Caytin was projecting take him, and held on to it with the desperation of a drowning man.

Caytin chuckled as he pushed Jerrick down so he was sitting on the edge of the bed. "There is that." He stepped back, hand going to the tie at his waist. He pushed the material down past his hips so he stood there naked. He stepped forward to stand, right infront of Jerrick. "Go on, Jerrick, we will take this one step at a time." He touched Jerrick's cheek. "It's okay, Jerrick, I am sure you have had this done more than once. So do what you know feels good."

Jerrick looked from Caytin down to what was right before him. Trying to decide what to do now. Everything was happening so fast for him, but not fast enough. He was given too much time to think, to consider. "I," he didn't know what to say. How could he explain to this man, who he now answered to how much trouble he was having with this.

"Jerrick, do I have to make it an order?" The calm tone became slightly sharper. "I understand how hard this is for you, so I made it a request. It wasn't."

Jerrick closed his eyes, for just a moment, sighing. "Yes, Sir." He slipped to his knees, forcing Caytin to step back a little.

"Now remember, love, we are both men, and not at all that different. Just do what you found pleasing."

The hand that reached up to touch his balls trembled, slightly. As Jerrick, struggled with himself for control over his fear and aversion. He steeled himself leaning forward to lick the head of the hardness in his hands. Fearing the taste of the seepage there, but it surprised him in that it didn't taste anything like he had thought. The first of his worry's lain to rest. He felt a little calmer, tongue poking at the seeping slit in the head.

Caytin cupped his head as Jerrick too him into his mouth. "Relax your throat, sugar." Caytin's voice was soft as Jerrick pulled back gagging. "Try relaxing your throat and swallowing. It will help."

Jerrick tried again, concentrating of doing as Caytin had suggested. He was able to take more into his mouth before he had to pull back gagging again. He shuddered as he tried again, working his throat frantically, trying to swallow what was in his mouth. This time when he had to pull back, it was gasping for air. He had done it, horrifying, as it was to him, he had done it.

"Slow down Jerrick, you have to breathe, I am not in the mood for listening to your mistress berate me if you pass out from lack of air." Caytin's words were soft and amused. "Come on, sugar, you do know what feels good, don't stop now." His tone was teasing, and further relaxed Jerrick.

Kaj and Trinna moved one of the small couches over to sit just in front of the bed. "Come here Fain. Watch your master welcome one of my men into his world."

"Mistress, Jerrick, he isn't like me. If my master wants this from someone, I'll do it. I believe he won't hurt me, much."

Kaj just shook her head, pulling him into her lap. "It has nothing to do with whether or not Jerrick is like you. He is a man of my house, and my sister's first consort. Caytin is not only my first. But, also head of all consorts in our lands. He will take and welcome him among the men." She began to let her hands wander over Fain's body. "Watch, little one, isn't it lovely?"

Fain whimpered softly at the feel of his mistress's hands on his body as he watched one of the most respected men he knew, blow his master.

"I think Cay is going to be surprised just as soon as Jerrick gets past his shock," Trinna's mellow voice from beside them.

"Why do you say that Trin? Cay has, practically, had to order him to submit. I am more to the thinking that Cay is going to have to order each step they take."

Trinna shrugged, "okay, but don't complain when I say, I told you so."

Jerrick had gotten to the point that he could maintain a constant pull, but was, still, able to draw back ever now and then for air. His only thought was 'that if he had to do this, he had spent his entire life trying to be the best at what he was, back then a soldier, and now a slave.

Caytin moaned softly, hips rocking slowly as he stroked the man at his feet's hair. He was a little surprised at Jerrick's sudden willingness to submit, but the surprise didn't last long before the pleasure took his ability to wonder about such things.

Jerrick pulled back, his tongue swirling around the head of Caytin's shaft, his hand coming up to gently play with his balls.

Caytin groaned as suddenly the feelings that Jerrick had been giving him stopped. He looked down, but even as he became aware of what Jerrick was doing, the feeling returned as Jerrick pulled close again and resumed his onslaught. But this time with the added feeling of a finger, timidly poking at the puckered mouth of his anus. "Yes," he tangled his hands in Jerrick's hair and pushed back against the finger, forcing it into him. "Don't be shy," he smiled down at him, "Lover."

"I'll be blessed." Kaj was speechless.

Trinna smiled smugly. "Told ya."

"But Caytin has never had a Lover. Oh by the traditions of our men, he was Warrel's. My father was dead already, back, when he had first come to this house. And even today, they were very close, but he's never taken one." Kaj was trying to work it out in her head. He hadn't taken an interest in taking a Lover in over seventeen cycles, and now, in one moment of pleasure, he had done it.

Trinna looked at her. "Kaj, we have different father's, and my gift comes through mine, who is distantly related to Caytin, who's Grandmother still works in the temple as a Healer. So you won't understand how, not, surprising it is for him doing what he did."

* * *

"Just keep swallowing." Caytin tightened his fingers again in Jerrick's hair as he began to thrust harder into his mouth, forcing his cock deeper.

He half cried, half gasped as he leaned over and rested some of his weight on Jerrick's head as he came. His hips paused pushing forward as his first rush of orgasm took him, and then when Jerrick was sure he was going to get sick from the lack of air and the seed that gushed from Caytin. The head of Caytin's erection in his mouth pulled back slowly letting him get a quick breath before it thrust back in sinking back down his throat. Only to pull, back, again to repeat the thrust.

Jerrick had to pull his hand away from Caytin long enough for it to join this other in grabbing Caytin's hips and holding on as he fought to keep from choking, swallow and breathe all at the same time.

Caytin, finally, pulled back, breathing a bit hard. "Come here Lover." He held out a hand. Helping a very confused Jerrick to his feet. "You surprised me." He tasted himself on Jerrick's lips as he kissed him. "Now I can fully see why Trinna chose you. You are much more passionate than your appearance lets on."

Jerrick looked at him, not sure if he was supposed to thank him or not. "And like her, I am drawn to offer you my love. But unlike her, when she asked you to consent to be her Consort. I am going to do as Warrel did with me, and take you as my Lover."

"Wait, hold up." Jerrick pulled back. "What is going on here? I can sort of accept that my mistress decided that I was fit to be her consort. She made a good point when she pointed out that she 'was' a Healer. And she knew that I wasn't going to try anything stupid with her. But you, I can live with being a slave, hell, I can even strive to be the best one that I can be. I can deal with being married, and a father, but now you want me to be your lover too?"

Caytin shook his head, chuckling. "Come back here beloved. I have just seen to it that not even my daughter's First consort will be ranked in the Quarter's and all of Danes above you. As long as you live, being the Lover of the head consort will forever place you above all men."

"Yeah, I kind of figured that, but why?"

He chuckled again. 'Well, first because your mistress and I are very distantly related, she is a Healer, Healer's are known to come from our family. My Grandmother is one of the Temple Healers. So the same gift that enabled Trinna to know your heart, I have in a lesser degree. And second. You are new. I have grown up, all my life among my men. I know them all very well and none of them stir me like you did with your first submission to me. Fain's will be expected, he was once a slave, buy yours."

Jerrick stood there looking at him. "Okay, what does being your lover entail?

Caytin shook his head, tisking at him. "It's not lover, Jerrick, but Lover. As for what it entails what, do, you think it will? We cannot wed in the Men's Quarter's like we can to our mistresses. It is the same thing for us, as being a consort to a lady."

"You're marrying me, too." He was rendered speechless again. It seemed to be a common state for him today.

Caytin laughed at him. "Almost, but I 'am' taking you as, my, slave, the second among none of us, save me."

Jerrick didn't know what to say he looked imploringly at Trinna, begging, with his eyes for help. She just smiled and nodded.

It too every ounce of his will to slowly fall to his knees. "Master." He choked it out.

Caytin reached out for him. "Not now, Jerrick. Now it is time to welcome you as I would any other of my men. Soon enough we will delve into the meanings of your submission." He helped him up and pushed him back against the bed. "You are very talented for a beginner, shall I further enlighten you?" His hands went to the band of his pants.

Jerrick's arms lifted almost to push him away, but held there immobile for a second, as he felt Caytin's lips on his, before encircling his chest. Squeezing tightly.

Caytin reached down and pulled Jerrick's pants from him, then holding his face, he kissed him, hips grinding against his.

Jerrick's hands moved restlessly over Caytin's back, as he struggled with himself, part of him wanting to stop this, but the other, wanted to give into what his master was calling up in him.

Caytin broke the kiss, breathing heavily. "Don't cum, without my permission, Jerrick." And he lowered his head again.

'Don't cum' . He had just been ordered not to cum. And Jerrick didn't doubt it was an order. He fought with himself for an all-together different reason, as he stopped trying to resist what Caytin was doing and began to resist what it was making him feel.

Caytin left his mouth to brush his lips over Jerrick's shoulder, looking up to see how his new Lover was doing. Jerrick lay there his eyes closed, and his mouth parted slightly. Caytin smiled and bit lightly before moving down to his left nipple.

Jerrick jumped at the sudden assault to his control as the feel of teeth, tongue and lips began to torment his nipple

Caytin's hands moved down Jerrick's body as if to touch him, but moved to his hips instead, gripping them as he began to grind his hips harder against him. He lifted his mouth to Jerrick's again. Brushing his lips and he leaned his head against his cheek. "Don't cum." A light kiss and the lips moved down to his chest, to torment Jerrick's right nipple.

Jerrick's control was failing as he held Caytin against him, tightly and returned the grinding.

"Ssshh, easy there, Lover." Caytin pulled back to replace his hips with his hand as he began to touch Jerrick lightly. "Mustn't rush things. It would be cruel of me to push you beyond your ability to obey." His hand firmed for a moment, "unless, you want me too?"

Jerrick settled. "No, almost, but no."

Caytin smiled. "Almost, you say?" He lowered his mouth to his nipple again, biting not quite gently, but not quite firm enough to hurt. Tugging playfully before kissing the nipple, while his hand moved up and down Jerrick's thigh, stopping every few passes to stroke him with a light but firm grip. Marveling at the size of what his hand held.

"Good Goddess, Jerrick," Caytin looked down at what he held. "I had every intentions of making a meal out of you. But this is, no, meal. It's a Sabbath day feast. I am amazed that Trinna didn't take one look at this and call for the guards."

Trinna giggled looking to Kaj. "I was a little too busy at the time to take detailed notice of what Jerrick had between his legs, I was more intent on him using it." She winked at her sister, as Kaj laughed. "And after I realized what kind of monster he has there, it was a little too later to change my mind. And after a few thrusts," she blushed. "I didn't want too."

"Well at that size, you are going to be ruined for most of the men here, so best you see to it that you keep that consort of yours happy."

Trinna shrugged again. "He goes and gets too warpish on me, and I can always look to my sisters who are still working at the temple, or a few that are full Healers and out working in the city. After a cycle of celibacy, at the height of our biological drives, well we don't get the reputation as being hedonists for nothing."

Caytin leaned up to kiss him again. "Best you keep your mistress happy Jerrick, or you will be ousted for one of the other mistresses."

"You mean she would, I thought I was her consort." The concept of two women together didn't bother him anymore than two men being together. He had been a soldier for too long, and had worked with both many times.

"Yes, and with the size of you, I am hoping she will often. Because I want to be with you as often as possible, I have every intention of ending up as ruined for most of the men in the quarters as she is." His head dipped, lips trailing down Jerrick's chest to pause over his erection. "Now, love, you can cum." He licked the head of Jerrick's need. Lipping it lightly, hands massaging his balls as he slowly drew Jerrick into his mouth. Working to take in as much of him as he could.

Jerrick cried out, hands going to Caytin's head as he thrust forward, his orgasm rolling down his spine to explode into Caytin's mouth.

Caytin didn't pull back, but continued to try to single mindedly devour Jerrick

Jerrick was lost in a sea of pleasure and pain as he felt his third and most intense orgasm explode from him. The pleasure so sharp it was painful.

Caytin pulled up. Reaching for the bottle that still sat on the nightstand table. Uncorking it. "Just relax, beloved. I promise, you will find this as wonderful as I do." He took one leg and hoisted it over his shoulder and did the same with the other.

Jerrick gasped at the cold oil as Caytin poured the last of the oil on his upturned cheeks. It ran down his crack, over his virgin hole. "Easy there, Jerrick. I have you." Gentle fingers working to slip inside him. "This is going to drive me mad. You feel so good." He kissed Jerrick's shoulder working his finger in and out of him, using the drug in the oil to see to it that Jerrick was willing when he was ready for him.

Jerrick turned his head and bit the pillow his head was laying on. "Come on Caytin. I don't care if it hurts, just do it now."

"Are you telling me what to do Jerrick? The same tease that Trinna had used with him earlier.

"No, Sir. Just that, please, I." He couldn't finish as Caytin pressed against him, parting his cheek even farther to work the head of his cock into him, pausing.

"Is this what you are asking for, beloved?" He thrust teasingly, just a bit more, but no more than just an inch.

Jerrick tried to pull up and push back against Caytin, but Caytin only pulled back with him. "Yes, damnit." He bit, out, a wave of self-disgust with the words.

Caytin leaned forward, burying himself deep in Jerrick, pushing the man's knees up so that the rested on each side of his head. "Beloved." Caytin kissed him softly. "I feel what you are feeling, there is no shame in the love and pleasure that two people can give each other. Be that a man and a woman, two women or like us now, two men. Now, stop being foolish, because I can't keep thinking to talk you through any more." And Caytin pulled away, grabbing Jerrick's hips as he began to work himself in and out of Jerrick's tight passage.

Kaj stroked Fain gently as they watched on as Caytin made love to Jerrick. "Is, he, going to do that to me?" Fain watched in awe.

"Yes little one, but when it is you, you will not be on your back, but on your knees." She smiled down at him. "With your tastes and Caytin's tendencies you are going to be far too tender to lay on the skin of your back."

Trinna shook her head, laughing. "So that is why not all the welt I healed earlier were as old, or as bad as the ones that left scars. Well, Kaj, you are going to have to see about keeping him with you for quite some time. My consort and yours are now Lovers and I know Cay too well to think that he would actively seek any but the one that his mistress is playing with right now, or a fellow consort."

"Damn Healers are the nosiest women I have ever had to deal with. That was supposed to be a surprise for them 'both'."

"Oops, well, never mind me, I will just sit here and try to pretend I'm not here." She laughed. "But watching Cay with my consort is so fun, don't you think?"

"Why is it, you think, that I let him bring so many of his little dalliances here? I happen to enjoy watching my consort when he is like he is right now."

"Just as soon as he backs away, even for a minute, I am taking my 'man' home and celebrating my pregnancy. In roughly eleven moons, I am going to be the mother of a baby girl."

"Well then, I guess I can let you off for not thinking. With all that is going on in your world right now, and as young as you are. It is no surprise that you are just a little more talkative than normal." She looked down at Fain, who was looking up at her in shock. "You'll hold quite until I talk to Caytin, won't you little one?"

"But Mistress, he is already your consort." He didn't understand, and he was not ready to risk rocking the boat of his new life.

"A woman is allowed to take up to three consorts. The reason as my second consort you would no longer be a threat to the vow Caytin just made with Jerrick is as my consort, you will be his consort too."

He shook his head, not quite believing what he was hearing. "You want me?" He asked incredulously. "You want to make me your consort too? 'Me'?"

"If you are comfortable with that, 'yes'. If you need more time to learn that I am kind and not plotting your doom, I will wait, but if you are comfortable with it now. I want it."

Fain looked to where Caytin had finally collapsed beside Jerrick. And then back up at Kaj. "I will be more than just a slave again?"

"You were never just a slave little one, even when it was Mer that held your chain, you were more than just a slave. And even as my consort, you will still be a slave of my house, your duty will still be to the women of it. But other than Caytin and Jerrick, who is now his Lover, you will be the most powerful 'man' in my city. Only seconded again when Rhea takes her first consort. And he joins you. And then, with Caytin Jerrick's Lover, you will see that the boy is taken as yours. Warrel is too old, and is Caytin's. And Kerfan is my sister's father, and not as close to Rhea as you will be. So does that sound like something you would find comfort in, or should I wait and give you time?"

Fain slipped down from her lap to, lay, prostate on the floor. So overwhelmed by what his mistress was offering that he forgot her conditions. "If you want this lowly slave, he would be honored beyond all honors to be yours."

"Curse then a thousand-fold." Trinna swore to, herself, as Kaj gently went to pull, Fain back up into her lap.

"Are you begging for your life little one?"

"Yes Mistress I am."

"I asked you to honor me with becoming my second consort, not threatening to kill you."

"Please Mistress, if you will just let me see it as you doing both. Letting my old like die as you give me another of your choosing. That is the life I am begging for."

"I'm going to go and see if I can't get Caytin to let my consort go for the night. You have your hands full here with Fain and Cay. So I will talk to you in the morning."

* * *

Caytin moved to clean himself up, noticing that Fain was very quiet as he lay in his mistresses' arms.

"What's wrong Fain?" Caytin returned to sit by his mistress.

"I think I have shocked him a bit. He's still working his way back through all that he is feeling. Give him time." Kaj smiled down at the silent man.

"He not come to terms with the fact that I will not only not be upset with him for the time he shares with you, but plan to welcome him to my home while he is here?"

"You have it half right, love. He still wonders what you will think of him and his time with me, but for a different reason now."

Caytin looked at her closely. "And that would be why Mistress?"

"Because if you agree. He has consented to be my second consort. But I will not accept him if you don't agree. He will be just as much your, consort as he will be mine. Remember, with you taking Jerrick, there is no one to take Rhea's consort when she finally gets one."

"Mistress, I haven't done more than kiss him yet. At least when I decided on Jerrick, he had submitted to me."

Kaj looked down at Fain again. "Little one, can you hear me?"

"Yes Mistress." A soft voice.

"My head consort has a very valid point. If the two of you are to be consorts, you should get to know each other, first." 'And I will be able to sit back again and watch as Caytin wins him over, or he does Cay.'

Fain slipped from her lap, going back to his knees, fingers lacked together behind his neck, head down. "I submit, Master, what would you have me do?"

"Kaj told me that you are fond of the whip, is that so?"

"Yes, Master." He looked up, smiling softly at Caytin. "I don't cut easy, and if I do, I will heal."

Caytin pulled him back up to a standing position, his eyes meeting Fain's. "Toy with you, yes, make you cry, gladly. But cut you, never. I have welded my rod whip long enough to know how much is too much." He looked to Kaj. "With your permission, Mistress, I will be back in just moments. The lady Healer, healed him, his back is free of all marks. Allow me to go and fetch my whip, so I can paint it red for him."

"Go on Cay. I will keep him here with me, I won't let him get bored."

* * *

Ern watched as Caytin came in, went to his room, and returned a very short time later with the same black whip that he had used on Dun earlier. Moving to a closet and the chest filled with bottles of oil. "Sir?" He wasn't sure if he should be worried or not.

"Relax, Ern, this isn't for you. It might be a few days before I have time for you. I have taken a Lover and about to welcome Fain, as a new consort all in one night. Oh, and incase Warrel hasn't come back yet, Lady Trinna has taken Jerrick as her first consort. And I have taken him as my Lover."

"Damn Cay. You have two of the new ones neatly wrapped up as yours. You plan on leaving the third alone for a while? Karron complained.

"As soon as I have a free moment to welcome him to us, I will back away. It wasn't like I planned all of this. It just worked out so nicely, all on its own."

"And you didn't help it along at all Cay?" Tallin laughed at his father. "Knock yourself out. You are head consort of all of us. You should get a few perks."

"Thank you Tallin, I am glad to see that at least one of the men in my home understands."

"Like father like son," Gabe hugged Tallin.

"If I were like my father, I would have a mistress by now." Tallin grumbled.

"I am trying Tallin, but you know your mother. I can do only so much, but I try for you. I do understand what you must be feeling."

Tallin smiled. "Thanks Papa."

It was so rare now, that Tallin ever called him anything but his full name or just Cay, like most of the other men in his house did, that Tallin's use of 'papa', touched Caytin. "Ern," he looked to the big blond man.

"Yes Sir?"

"Are you intent on me welcoming you, or if I asked another of the fertile men here to stand in my stead, will that bother you?

Ern looked at his, trying to find the words that would cause the least amount of trouble. If his new master wanted him to go to someone else, if he said no, then he ran the risk of offending Caytin. But if he said yes, and his master was only testing him, again he would be upset. "Umm, I'll do what ever you think is best Sir."

"Tallin, Gabe. I trust the two of you will walk him through his first time. Gabe has already worked with more than one mistress who was just coming into womanhood. And Tallin, you have been with Gabe long enough to have learned some of his skill."

"Yes, Sir." Both, Tallin and Gabe chimed together.

CHAPTER 6

"I am looking forward to watching you and Cay. He has such a delightful ability to drive anyone in his bed, mad. I have seen him with one or two of the bedwarmers he was toying with, and he always left him near sobbing before he took pity of them. He is very talented. You saw how he was with Jerrick earlier. Wasn't that one of the loveliest things you had ever seen?" Kaj sat on the bed, with Fain under her, lying on his stomach as she rubbed his shoulders. "Your back is so smooth, little one. I wonder how long your master will leave it this way?"

Fain slowly turned over, reaching for her hand. "Other than Mer, I have never submitted to a master, that didn't make me suffer at least a little, Mistress."

"And, with your likes and his tendencies, I don't imagine you will again for quite some time." She stroked his cheek. "It does appear that I am going to have to become accustomed to being on bottom, because Cay was quite serious when he warned you, that your back was going to be too tender to lay under either of us on your back." Her hands roamed his body, touching here and there. "But somehow, I do not see that as being something you will fear, is it?"

Fain looked up at her, "I, my wants aren't important Mistress. If you and he want me on my back, I will be. If you don't want me to beg my master to whip me, I won't. You have given me more in one day than I have ever dared to hope for. I was happy with Mer. I still love him and hope that you will permit Caytin to take me to see him. But I could never be more than, his boy. No matter how much we loved each other, we couldn't wed."

Kaj stopped stroking him. "Fain," she took a deep breath. "Though I would never knowingly trade my son's life for anything. But if he had to die, you will never fully understand what his death bought for my people, or what it means to me. Caytin often frets over the fact that I can bounce back from loss and pain as quickly as I can. So I know he would, if he knew how far I have come in my grieving, be a little concerned. Your willingness to submit as, you, have to my first consort and I. It means more to me than I could ever say."

"I found my peace with this, when you were hurt and angry for what my first owners did to me. You had the Healer remover all the marks that I was sure I would carry for the rest of my life." There were tears in his eyes. "I am yours Mistress, anything you want, I will do."

"Mistress," Caytin's soft tenor intruded on the moment. "Yes, I will share your love with him. Untried and untested, I will be his consort."

Kaj held her hand out to him as she closed her mouth over Fain's in a kiss that was so brutally dominant that Fain felt the thrill of being possessed as he submitted to it.

Caytin quickly stripped as his mistress shared herself with Fain. "Mistress," he touched her arm. "Love, your clothes."

"I'm not going anywhere." She kissed Fain one last time before pulling away to quickly pull her clothes off.

Caytin lay over Fain, touching his face. "You have pleased our mistress greatly, Fain." He brushed his lips against his. "You have pleased me greatly too."

"You are going to have to wait for a while, for your painting of his back. He has consented to be our second consort." She kissed him as she straddled Fain, bringing herself down on him.

"I remembered I had used the last of the oil with Jerrick, so I brought more, Kaj. Will you permit me to share your love with him?"

Fain, moaned softly, with the combined feel of his mistresses' wet heat and the humiliation of being reminded that he was nothing but a slave, they talked about him as if he wasn't there.

"Actually, Cay, I had been planning on sharing him with you. You have topped me before. With a second consort, it looks like I am going to have to be a little more flexible."

"Had I known that you were willing to do anything but top me or any man, I would have suggested taking a second consort cycles ago. Even one who is just a bedwarmer." He bit at her neck. "There were many of those sweet boys that you were kindly fond of."

"Well, I didn't." She ground her hips down, listening to Fain's cries. "But I have now, so hush and be grateful." She leaned down holding Fain tight. "Hold on to me little one." She whispered twisting to lay under him. "My but the view is different from where I am."

Caytin moved at once, pouring a little of the oil in his hand to work over his fingers, so that he could not only coat himself, but also slicken, Fain's tight hole. "You do know, mate, that for someone who has been ridden as often as you, you are very snug."

"Clinching exercises in the saddle Sir." Fain couldn't decide which way he wanted to go. Thrust down to meet his mistresses' hips or back to encourage his master's fingers.

"No holding back this time love." Kaj reached for him. Pulling him tighter in her arms. "Enjoy, freely, you have my permission to give yourself to this."

It was just too much for Fain. He had spent over six cycles as a slave, and now was one again, but oh, what a difference his new status was. How comfortable his new chains were. He didn't know what he had done in his life to have what he had now. True Mer was at another house, but he believed that his mistress, and now consort would see to it that he wasn't denied his time with him. Other than that, he hadn't been so content and hadn't felt so safe since the night Mer rescued him. The war and the ugliness couldn't touch him again here. It was a new life. One that he embraced happily. Trapped between his mistress and master as he was, his mistresses' heat around him, and his master's being thrust in him. He just held on shuddering as his orgasm, the second of the night, rolled through him.

Caytin leaned down to whisper to him Fain lay there breathing hard. "Your mistress allowed you your pleasure, see to hers." Gripping Fain's hips as he backed up, letting Fain work his way down Kaj's body.

"But, Master," he looked up. "I have never, what if I upset her?"

"The only way you are going to up set me, is if you don't quit worrying and use that mouth of yours for something other than talking." Kaj stroked his hair, chiding playfully at him. "You are doing fine little one."

Fain looked down at his mistresses' sex that was only inches away from his face. He had to admit that it was a beautiful sight, even with his white seed seeping out. It looked wonderful.

He felt just a touch of stubble against his cheek and he buried his face in her sex, going to lap her clean of all he had done with her. Moaning low in his chest at the combined taste on his tongue and the feel of both his mistresses stroking his hair and his master's almost painful thrusting. 'Yes' he was happier than he thought he could ever be belonging to a woman.

* * *

Ern his back to a wall as he faced Tallin and Gabe.

"Ern, if you don't calm down, you are going to have the others accusing me of scaring you." Tallin tried to reason with the man.

"And if you don't calm down, your father is going to get ill with Ern for upsetting you." Gabe looked at Ern. "And trust me, friend. Neither you nor I want that. Cay can be so warpish when he thinks Tal has been hurt in any way. You don't want that."

Ern looked anywhere but at the two young men who stood within arms reach of him. "Okay," he dropped his head. "I got to do this, right?"

"Yeah." Caytin has his hands full right now, "you heard him. I would say that we got to do it too, but it's not a matter of 'got' to for us." Tallin stepped one step closer, making Ern press back even harder into the wall. "Let's go to your room Ern. I think your first should be private." His lips pressed against the side of Ern's face.

'Now, it's gonna happen 'now'.' He nodded trying to keep his back to a wall as he moved to lead them to his new room.

"It's going to be a whole lot easier for you if you would come away from the wall." Gabe pointed out.

Ern laughed a little uncomfortably. "Yeah, you're probably right. Sorry, I don't mean to act this way, it's just, I never really thought that I would be in the space I am now." He ran his hand through his hair. "I knew the risks, I keep telling myself that. But knowing something, and believing it are not the same thing, or at least they aren't for me."

"Then if you knew the risks, I would suggest that you just relax and let what is going to happen." Tallin took his hand, leading him to the bed.

"I have noticed, that a bath always helps to relax the ladies that I have been with. I know it did you." Gabe lay a hand on Tallin's shoulder. "Do you think that would help, Ern?"

'A bath' yes, anything to postpone the inevitable. "Sure, I need a bath anyway."

"Go get the oils Gabe. I'll go start the water. By the time we are finished with it, he should be a lot more receptive than he is right now." Tallin gently took Ern's arm. "Trust me, friend. You are going to feel much better after a good soak."

Ern watched as Tallin worked the pumps. The boy seemed so at ease. Like this was something he did everyday. 'He probably does'.

"Donnel say's that this batch is almost twice as strong as his normal stuff. So he warns us to be careful with it." Gabe returned with a bottle of blue oil that he carried in his hand carefully.

"Or knowing Donnel, it was his was of assuring me that the oil would most definitely work on him." Tallin took the bottle from him a, whole, lot less careful than Gabe had been. "But I get the warning. We'll be in the bath with him, and at least one of us has to keep their head." He poured a good dollop of oil into the water before corking the bottle again and setting it aside.

"Jon is right, you do sound just like Cay when you go on like that." Gabe laughed. "You spent way too much time with him when you first came to the Men's Quarters."

"Ern, can you test this water, and make sure it isn't too hot for you. Gabe and I are used to cooking."

Ern leaned over, gingerly touching the water. It was hot, but not too hot. "It's okay." He pulled back.

"You want me to help you get undressed?" Gabe pressed his, already, naked body against him.

Ern jumped. "Uh, no, I, I can get it." He began to work at the knot at his side, trying to get it untied. But his fingers were shaking so badly that all he succeeded in was making a bigger knot. "Damn."

"Here, Ern, Let me." Tallin, now as naked as Gabe, stepped close, reaching out to work the knot free. "It's okay Ern. I might not be able to say I understand completely what you are going through right now. But I understand that because of it, this isn't easy for you." He pushed his shirt off, going to work the tie at his waist. "I know people keep saying that I sound like my father, and maybe I do. But I'm not my father. I'll work with you as long as it takes, I won't rush you." His lips brushed Ern's lightly at first testing to see Ern's reaction before deepening it.

Ern held his fear and aversion for as long as he could before pulling, back, gasping for air.

Tallin only smiled. "I think it's bath time." Turning to lead Ern to the tub, helping him to step up, and then down into the hot water.

Ern stood there in water up to his mid thighs, about six inches above his knees. Watching as both Tallin and Gabe stepped down into the water beside him.

"Come on over by the side, there are seats built along the wall of the tub." Tallin took him and slowly maneuvered him so that he could sit back. The water now rose to his middle to lower chest. "Not too hot, right?"

"No, it's okay." Ern didn't move as the two with him sat him between them.

"I can wash you, but there is too much oil in the water to even think about washing your hair. So we'll have to see that you take care of that later." Tallin took a large sponge, then a large amount oh cream and worked up lather, before turning to begin to work the sponge over Ern's chest. "Ssshh," he whispered as Ern jumped at his touch. "Just lay back and relax. Give it just a few minutes and everything will make perfect sense to you." His sponge dipped below the water to wash his balls and penis, rubbing a few times with the sponge before a hand took its place

Ern jumped and tried to pull back at the touch. Tallin just smiled again and sat back. "I'm sorry, I guess I am going to need to wait just a little longer and let the oil finish dissolving in the water, and start taking an effect on you."

Ern looked up sharply. "You've drugged me? How, when?"

"Now and in the water." Gabe chuckled. "Don't you think we know how hard this is for you? Tallin's great-grandmother is still a Healing Priestess at the temple. I don't know where I got my sensitivities, but it's almost as painful for me as it is Tal."

"But, you drugged me." He tried to get up out of the water, only to be restrained by Tallin and Gabe. "I'm not a damn Catamite. You're seeing to it that I forget that."

Tallin looked sharply at him. "If you want to think of the joy that two, three, four, or how ever many men chooses to join, as being acts of Catamite's. Then I feel for you Ern. Because, by your definition of the word Catamite, you, most certainly are one. Now you will sit here, relax and let the oil help you. I am not my father, and I won't push you, but I won't let you do anything stupid either." He pressed Ern down harder as Ern tried to struggle to get away from him. "I said, be still." Tallin spared Gabe one look. "If he doesn't calm down, run to Mistress Trinna's rooms and see if you can get Jerrick. He's my father's Lover, so he should have enough pull with this guy to get him to listen to reason."

Ern froze. They would involve other people. He didn't want that. It was bad enough for him to have to be like he was with the two here already. He didn't want any others to know. What would happen to him if it got back to his master? "No, I'll be still." He tried to relax. "See, I won't fight. Just please, I don't care what happens here, or what you do to me. Just don't get master Caytin involved."

Tallin nodded as Gabe settled back down beside him. "What do I have to do to help get you past this?"

Ern looked down. He didn't know what to say, because he didn't know the answer. "I, look, I'm trying, Sir.

"You know Tal, all in all, he's not doing as bad as he could be doing. We haven't had to call in anyone to talk him down yet." Gabe patted Ern's hand. And if we just give him a few more minutes, that is a worry that we won't have to deal with."

Ern half sat, half huddled in the water. Tallin and Gabe teasing him with their hands and mouth, kissing, stroking, and lightly pinching as they waited for the drugs in the oil to begin to have an effect on him.

* * *

Fain, hung, wrists bound over his head, hooked to the hook in the ceiling. His ankles forced apart a little over three feet, by the bar that was tied between them. Leaving his swinging slowly, there, all his weight on his wrists.

Caytin patted his cheek smiling as he held up a gag for Fain to see. "Are you going to be comfortable enough with me, to let me gag you, love?"

Fain swallowed back his nervousness. "Yes Sir, but you don't have to gag me. I'll be quiet if you want me to be quiet."

Caytin just shook his head, smiling. "Trust me, my sweet, there is no way I could expect you to hold you tongue for all of it." He pressed the gag between Fain's teeth, fastening it at the back his head, careful not to catch any of his hair in the knot. "You are so lovely. I plan to see to it that you know, fully, how much you stir me with your pretty face and equally sweet bottom." He smiled winking at him. "Shall I see about bringing a little more color to your skin?"

Fain moaned softly at the light press of the rod whip that Caytin lay against his back, training it down his back. Trembling as he waited for the first blow.

"You are going to show some control, aren't you, Fain. You are not to surrender to the feelings, until I give you permission. If you fail me then it is to the bed, on your back, you go. I wonder how, well, those pretty little balls and cock of yours will hold up to a good lashing. Because if you disobey me, I will do just that, I will lash at them until you have came twice more." Finger reaching to toy with his balls, tugging down slightly, as Fain whimpered.

'Ump msssr," Fain tried to answer Caytin, but the gag muffled his words. ' I'm going to be whipped, there is no way I can keep from surrendering, I am going to be whipped.' The horrifying reality that nothing he could do was going to be enough to protect him, frightened him but exited him at the same time.

Caytin took a thin rope with what appeared to be two slipknots in the middle, about two inches apart. Carefully wrapped it around the younger man's penis, snuggling it behind his balls, looping the ends between the slipknots, to tighten the rope around him. Taking the two ends, running them up to separate his balls, and through the rope that held Fain's balls captured. Once worked through he left them drop down to dangle between his legs. "Hmmm, almost, but I think I could come up with a few other things." He reached over to the table, lifting a bar, with a loop at each end. "I think ten pounds won't be too much for you Fain. What do you think?" He tied the loose end of each rope end to the bar, holding up so that Fain could see it again, before smiling as he let the bar drop, yanking at his tussled balls. Fain cried out as his balls, felt for a moment as if they were being ripped off at the root.

"Be careful love. It's been probably many cycles since last he has anything more than just play done to him." Kaj touched Fain's chest. She pinched his nipples, drawing a sharp intake of air from Fain. "Poor little one. He is almost as tender and fresh as one of the boys you used to make a habit of playing with."

Caytin tisked at Fain as he ran his hands over his tightly clinched cheeks, gently parting them. "Oh, I am sure soon enough, he will remember all the things he used to love, again."

"Well, get on with it, love. You keep him hanging there, looking as sweet as he does right now, I am going to deprive you both of the fun you have planned for him, and pull him down and have my way with him, gag and all."

"Yes Mistress." Caytin chuckled, reaching out to fondle Fain. "We wouldn't want that, now would be Fain?"

Fain shook his head, again trying to answer, but the gag kept his voice silenced. He was praying that his master would be allowed to finish with him. Though he loved what it felt like when his mistress chose to use him for her pleasure, he at this moment, wanted what his master offered more.

The first blow drew a sharp intake of breath as he jerked, hands grasping at the rope that held them bound.

Caytin began to set up a smooth and easy rhythm as he whipped Fain, the end of the whip lashing again and again, striping Fain's back from his shoulders, to the backs of his knees, and back up again.

Fain hung there, tears rolling down his face as he twisted and twitched in an attempt to avoid the blows. But no matter which way he twisted, the whip landed.

'I don't think I can do this.' Fain began to fret, he had been hit, more times than he could count. His back, down to his knees, were hot and felt like they had, had, the skin cut from them. "Errrcy," he screamed out as again the whip cut across his back.

"Ssshh," He leaned in to whisper in Fain's ear. "Good boy." He cut him down, supporting the man as he slumped against him. "There a time or two, I was sure that you would have lost control of yourself. But I am pleased to say, you are much tougher than you look." He lifted into his arms, carrying him slowly to the bed, laying Fain on his back, shushing him as, his cry of pain was muffled by the gag.

"I think I should have Trinna sent for. You weren't near as careful with him as you are usually with one the boys you play with." Kaj worried over Fain. "Damn, Cay, you drew blood in several places."

"Caytin dropped to his knees. "I'm sorry Mistress," he reached out and took Fain's still bound hands. "You too, love. I had no idea that I would mark you like I did. All I had wanted to do was show you that I can and will help you and your desires." There were tears in Caytin's eyes. "Here, let me help you." He reached and unknotted, first the gag, pulling it from his mouth. And then untying his wrists. "I'm sorry," he touched Fain's cheek, rubbing the tears away. "Please believe me, baby, I am so, very, sorry."

Kaj opened the door to her rooms, to poke her head out. "Kari, could you go and fetch Trinna for me. I have a need of her skills."

"Yes Ma'am." And the young guard took off running as fast as she could without it making any suspicious.

Kaj moved back to the bed, where Caytin still knelt and Fain still lay on the bed. "It's okay, honey, Trinna will be here soon enough, and you know how talented she is." She began to work the rope from around his cock and balls.

"I'm okay Mistress, really I am." Fain protested.

"I am sure you are, but this just so happens to be your wedding night, and I would just as soon not have you spend it hurting so much that breathing is difficult." She began to stroke him slowly, working to make sure that there was plenty of blood flow,

Fain smiled weakly at her. "Please, Mistress, don't be angry with him. I was scarred long ago, Mer used to call me something of a pain junkie. I loved it." He looked to where Caytin knelt. "Did I please you Master?"

Caytin smiled, sadly. "Fain, honey, you are my Consort just as much as you are our mistresses. Don't call me master. I am known by most of the men here, who are not bedwarmers as Caytin, or Cay. Please use that."

Kaj came and sat by Fain. "And Fain, as my second consort. You have the permission to do what no other man in my house other than Cay, Warrel and Kerfan. I will answer you if you use my name as well, on occasion." She continued to massage his genitals. "Is the pain easing up some, little one?"

"Yes, Mistress, it is, thank you."

"Roll over on your stomache. I know you must hurt like hell." She waited for Fain to obey. Reaching out to touch one of the several welts that had broken the skin. Confused as the blood, sticky and cold, wiped away with a touch. "Cay, you did clean that toy of yours up before using again, didn't you?"

Caytin looked up, "I asked Van do it when I left for my son's funeral and pyre. Are you telling me, that I was using a whip, that still had that creatures blood on it?" He was more upset by this, than he was at the thought that he had really done Fain damage. "I am going to string that boy up. I'm sorry Fain, I had no idea." He looked up to Kaj, "Mistress, can I see to it that all traces of that thing are removed from our consort?"

"Yes, please. It hurts me in a way that if you were not, Remmy's father, you wouldn't understand. I will not have anything left of that thing touch any of my family ever again."

* * *

Trinna opened the door to her room at the sound of a sharp knock "Yes, Kari?"

"I'm sorry Trinna, but the Chieftess has requested you again."

She turned and grabbed a robe, "Jerrick, just stay here for me. I shouldn't be gone long."

"I will Mistress." Jerrick was just as confused at what Lady Kaj needed his mistress for. "Is there a problem?"

Kari shrugged. "I think the one that she and Caytin are keeping with them, played a little too rough with the Head Consort."

"I see, then yes, I'll come and see to him." She gave Jerrick one last look. "Hold on there love. I'll be back in no time." And she followed the guard from the room. Leaving Jerrick to lay there, wondering what was going to happen next.

* * *

Ern, moaned, trapped between Tallin and Gabe on the bed. He didn't know what was going on. It shouldn't feel like what it did. But should or shouldn't, it did. And as Tallin kissed the back of his shoulder, finger teasing his puckered virgin hole, Gabe licked the head of his cock, tongue lapping and swirling around him before pulling his cock into his mouth, using his mouth and jaw muscles to try to swallow him.

"Does it feel good Ern?" Tallin bit at his shoulder, hands roaming over his chest.

Ern just moaned, unable to talk. "Good, I am glad. I am going to make love to you now. It won't hurt, I promise." He parted his cheeks farther, to line himself up, beginning to work his way, thrusting slowly, to ease himself into Ern's tight opening. "Ssshh," he soothed as Ern whimpered. "Relax, the more tense you are, the more likely it might hurt."

"Ah," Ern cried out, as not only did Tallin fully fill him, but also, Gabe brought him to orgasm. His senses warred with his reason as he thrust forward, into the warm eager mouth, shuddering as he felt the feeling of a firm but gently hand, squeezing his balls, helping to drain him of all his seed.

Ern tasted his seed as Gabe kissed him, feeding it to him, hands still working on his erection that had yet to soften. "That was nice." He kissed him again.

Ern just moaned. Talking was out of the question. Thinking was as well, for the first time in his life. He felt pleasure with another man. He had never even shared time with a woman before. And now, he had always looked forward to having a woman of his own.

Tallin gripped his hips as he began to push forward, riding him in earnest. "Please," he began to cry, so caught up in the pleasure that all he could do is lie there sobbing softly against Gabe as Tallin made love to him.

CHAPTER 7

Morning came early, earlier than Fain had thought it would. No one was moving around him yet, but as, he watched the door silently open, he knew that that was about to change.

"Mommy, Pappy!" A tiny little redheaded, freckled toddler bounded across the room.

Kaj rolled over, smiling. "Well if it isn't our little wake-up call." She pulled the girl in bed with them. "Good morning Kally. Did you sleep well last night?

The little girl nodded, looking at Fain, who lay between Kaj and Caytin, covers pulled up to his chin to hide the fact he had no clothes on. "Who's that mommy?"

"He is your new father. Your papa and I took him as our consort last night."

She cocked her head to one side. "Really?"

"Yes, really, now if you will go on and run out of here, he's still very new, and a little shy."

She rolled her eyes. "I've seen men before, mommy."

"Yes, love, but Fain didn't grow up here. He is one of the new ones. Show him a little pity. Imagine how you would feel if you were living, lost and confused in his land. Wouldn't you want someone to show you some understanding." She kissed the top of her head. "Now go child, I'll see you at breakfast soon enough. Let me get my men moving."

* * *

The room stopped talking as Kaj led Caytin and Fain into the dining hall. "Go on, ladies, don't stop on my account." She took the seat at the head of the table, Caytin on her right, Fain on her left.

"There something you want to tell us Kaj?" Kaj's niece laughed.

"Be nice Serra. Yes, I have asked, and Fain agreed to be my second consort. I'll get around to doing the ceremony, sometime after I deal with the Merican's and finish a few other things, that will come with them." She held her hands back as a serving slave placed a plate before her. "Thank you Winna, it's good to see you coming to terms with your sentence."

"Thank you, Mistress." The young woman kept her head down. She was serving a ten-cycle sentence for attempted murder. It had been one of those crimes, that had she not been pushed to the point of no return, she would never have raised her hand. Kaj took the Temples word into consideration, and only sentenced her for ten cycles of domestic work, and not in the fields. And Winna knew how lucky she was. At least within the Chieftess's house, she was allowed to share time with the bedwarmers, if she had been sent to the fields, it would be ten cycles of sleeping alone, or only with other women, every night.

Trinna followed by Jerrick came into the dining hall. Jerrick was very aware of the eyes on him as he held out Trinna's seat for her. "Congrat's Kaj." She took a plate from Winna handing it to Jerrick before reaching for one of her own. "I told Jerrick that what with Fain being the way he is, and as worried as the two of you were over him last night, that I just knew he'd end up in that chair." She pointed to Fain.

"Well, I couldn't let my 'little' sister get all the credit, now could I?"

The table filled as more and more of the women and slaves of the house began to appear. Tallin and Gabe led Ern between them, the young man, was still in shock from the night before. He just couldn't believe what he had done, and even worse, that he found pleasure in it. He was a nineteen cycle old virgin, he didn't understand what had happened to him. He had spent hours with his two new friends. Had been covered by both of there, and covered them as well. The, taste of hot, flesh and seed where he had blown them both, more than once was still with him. And now they were leading him into a room where so many sat. He knew that they all had to know what had happened to him in his room last night.

"Good morning, Tal." Caytin smiled at his son. "I am going to assume that seeing as Ern is still with Gabe and yourself, that all went well last night."

"Yes, Sir. There was a time or two that I was worried that he might give us problems, but in the end, he was just as susceptible to the drug as the rest of us." He grinned looking at Ern. "Isn't that so, Ern. We did just fine last night, didn't we?"

Ern looked down. "Yes, Sir." This boy was the son of his master. As surely as he was the son of his mistress. He didn't dare say anything. He was a slave now. He must never forget that.

Kaj took Fain's hand, as Trinna grabbed Jerrick's. "Right now is not the time for this Caytin. Leave the boy be. Can't you see how uncomfortable he is right now?"

"Yes Mistress."

Kaj patted Fain's hand. "Don't worry so, little one. Give Ern a little time. I am sure that he will come through this just fine."

* * *

"Cay, love, I think it is time that you took Fain and let him visit Mer." Kaj suggested smiling over the paperwork on her desk. "I am going to be busy for most of the afternoon, so He should have plenty of time to share with Mer."

Fain looked up, hope in his eyes. "Mistress?"

Kaj smiled at him. "I promised you didn't I? What now that you are my consort, a man that I have pledged to share my life with, to help me to bear my children, you think the promise I made you is going to change?"

"No, Mistress, it's just that what with all that had been going on, that maybe it would take a few more days."

She just chuckled. "And exactly what did you think I would consider more important than my word, especially to a man that I am rapidly coming to love?"

He was on his knees before her, holding her fingers tightly in his hands, kissing them even before the words were completely out of her mouth. It had taken Mer almost two full cycles to convince a much younger and much more traumatized Fain that he loved him, but all it took was one simple line and question now. He had to believe her when she told him she was coming to love him. She had taken him as her second consort, had given him permission to do what only the women and few fertile men of her house were allowed. She had given him permission to call her something other than mistress. It would be a long time, if ever, before he did that, at least to her face. But the fact that she had granted him that little kindness meant so much to him.

He was helped to his feet. Lips brushed against his cheek. "Ssshh, little one what is this? I had thought you would be happy to get to see your old love."

Fain almost went back to his knees, Kaj's hands on his arms were the only thing that kept him standing. She searched his eyes, a worried look on her face. "What is wrong Fain? You keep going on like this, and I am going to have to retract my permission for now. I will not have any of the men of my house especially, not my own consort, leave it as emotionally distraught as you are."

Again, Fain, grabbed her hands, but refrained from going to his knees. 'No, please Mistress, I'm not upset, just a little surprised. I never believed that slavery could ever be anything but what it was to me the first time." He held her hands to his lips kissing them softly. 'Thank you, Mistress, now I believe that my past really is over. That I will have a life once again."

Fingers tangled in hair as Fain was pressed back against the wall surrendering to his mistresses' kiss.

Kaj pulled back from him, smiling. Stroking his cheek like he was either a child or a favorite pet. "Cay, best you get Fain going. His pretty words and equally pretty face, is going to make me forget there are things I need to do, and take him and throw him on the bed and spend the rest of the day there."

"Yes, Mistress." Caytin took Fain by the arm and led the still overly emotional man from the room.

Caytin led Fain down the street and around the corner for the street that ran parallel to the back of his home. "I want you to understand this Fain." He started carefully.

"Yes, Master?"

Caytin winced. 'I thought I had asked you not to call me that last night. You are not one of the many bedwarmers in my house. More than that, you are my consort."

He looked down blushing. "Okay, sorry Caytin." The name sounded strange coming from him. "But Caytin, what happens when, you know you are being my master, like last night?"

A soft mellow chuckle, "other than when I have to give your orders, or are really punishing you, that is the only other time you are to use that name with me." He snorted at the glint in Fain's eyes. "I will see to it that you are taken care of. You will not have to come up with excuses for me to punish you. Matter of fact, the first time I think you failed intentionally, you will not like the punishment I give you. You will spend several hours in Trinna's care so she can repair the damage I do to you." He would never dream of hurting his new consort to the extent he had just threatened him with, but the boy didn't know that.

"Yes, Sir." He ducked his head.

"Now, where was I? Oh yes, I don't want you to ever say to Kaj, what I am about to say to you. I loved my son. I would have done anything in my power to protect him. But I couldn't, and my son is lost to me. I have to accept that, and accept that my son's life bought our people so much. Because it really doesn't matter if your old King agrees with Kaj or if she has to live up to her word and attack him. There will be new breeders to join our people. Our people will not begin to die out in a few more hundred cycles." He touched Fain's cheek. "It eases the pain, just a little, to know that my son, my baby, with his death, bought so much." He lifted Fain's chin, kissing him softly. "That I now have you and Jerrick. You have no idea how much having the two of you has eased my pain."

Fain pressed his face against Caytin's, "Cay." He whispered, ever aware of the people around them. "Just where is mistresses Aticka's house?"

"There just a little, walk, away." He pointed to a sprawling house made of stone and wood. "Why?"

"Because," he kissed the side of his face, pressing closer to him. "'Master'," he whispered. "I want to show you what you and Lady Kaj mean to me. And I don't dare in public."

"Yes, you are right, there are too many children on the street, and it would not do to shock them." His arms tightened around Fain. "Let's go, shall we?"

* * *

"Caytin, this is a surprise." A man greeted them at the door to Aticka's Men's Quarter's. "And let me guess, by the look of the boy with you, it has to be Fain. Mer has been fretting about him since the guards brought him to Aticka. Poor man, he has been almost positive that his boy here was being tormented. It took me hours to finally get him to the point that he would relax enough to let me welcome him into my home." A tall, blond, broad shouldered, somewhat pretty man greeted Caytin and Fain as they entered.

"Fain!" Mer almost knocked the man out of the way to get to Fain. "Are you okay? The Chieftess, she hasn't hurt you, has she baby?"

It took Fain a moment to answer his friend and long time lover. "No, Mer, if anything, I am happier now than I have been in a long time." He stroked Mer's hair as he held him. "My mistress, she decided after all I had been through, that she wanted to keep me with her for a while," he grinned. "I don't think she had meant it to be quite as long a while." He grabbed Mer by the shoulders. "She has taken me as her second consort, Mer. She and Caytin, there, they have put me in a place that no one will ever threaten me again."

Mer nodded, looking a bit crestfallen. "So, let me guess, you had him bring you here to tell me goodbye and wish me well then?"

Fain winced. He had been so happy. That he had forgotten how likely it was that Mer would take this as a betrayal. "No, Mer," he started, choosing his words very carefully. "Kaj gave us her word that we would not be forbidden time with each other. Caytin just brought me here today so I could see you. I love you Mer, if my new wedded state would have cost me what I still have with you, I wouldn't have done it. I, never have, and, never will, betray you."

A look of intense relief fell over Mer's face, as he crushed Fain to him. "I have been so worried about you. I was so sure that you couldn't, I mean, I'm a man, you have never with a woman. I just knew you wouldn't and then . . .."

Fain laughed. "Did you get that special oil, they make here, used on you last night?" Mer nodded. "Well, I did too. By the point that my mistress chose to top me, I didn't care who or what she was." He blushed, "and afterwards, well I wasn't like you, I never voluntarily chose to be fey. It was pretty much decided for me by my first masters. Then you saved me. And you have always been, fey, so after living through all that I had, you were kind and gentle with me." He grinned suddenly. "Actually, for once I have it easier than the other two in my house. I was already fey to begin with, poor Commander Jerrick and Ern. It's been a real adjustment for them. A much bigger one for them accepting the love of a man, than it has been for me accepting the love of a woman."

Mer just held him close. "I am happy for you, baby. I was so worried."

Fain took his face in his hands, "we don't have a lot of time together today, so let's not waste it talking."

"Well, I can see how well this one is with you and mistress Kaj, how goes it with the other two?" The man looked to Caytin as Fain and Mer were lost in each other.

"It goes well, Brom. Jerrick, the raiding party's commander, is now my Lover, and Tallin and Gabe took care of the other man for me last night. With as badly as the women of my house need new blood, I don't see him remaining as just a breeder for long. If he isn't snatched up by the end of the week, I will be honestly surprised." Caytin looked up, to where the other two men were pressing themselves against the wall, struggling out of their clothes. "Fain, love, why don't you and Mer go to the room that Mer slept in last night." The two men nodded and left the room arm in arm, still trying to eat each other alive."

After they were gone, Caytin looked to Brom. "So, friend, did the man give you a hard time?"

Brom sighed. "No, but it took Tavis, Aticka's father to remind me that he hadn't killed anyone. It was real touch and go there for a moment. Aticka just turned him over to me and let it drop. She is in mourning for Remmy. I am too, but I am her first consort, and the head of her men, and so it was to me that he was entrusted.

"How is Matty?" Kaj and he, as well as Aticka and Brom had planned to let Remmy once he reached the age of fifteen come here and become Matty's first consort, but with his death, there would be no wedding.

"She has lost the boy that she had grown up, knowing as nothing but her perspective first consort, Caytin. How do you think she is? Didn't you see her at the funeral yesterday? If it hadn't been for Tavis and I, she would have thrown herself on the flames with him. They were raised together, both knowing that they would one day be lady and consort. It isn't easy on a twelve cycle old child, knowing that what once was, was, no more. All because that damned animal had thrown that dagger and ended the boys life." He clinched his fists together, trying to maintain control. "How do you and your lady stand it? You have three of them living within your house. True none of them threw the blade, but had they not come, then your son will still be alive, and Matty wouldn't be mourning like she is."

Caytin lay a hand on Brom's shoulder. "By remembering that my son's life bought us all a new chance to live again. The Merican will either fill Kaj's order or Kaj will lead our guard to kill them all over the age of fifteen, and those children that are left, she will bring home for us to use to save our people anyway. I hold on to that knowledge."

"But to not only take one of them as your Lover, but another as your second consort?"

He shrugged. "What better way to keep an eye on them, than to have them under my eye at all times. Besides, Lady Trinna took Jerrick as her first consort. What else was I to do? At least now, with Fain, when Rhea finally chooses one of her own, the boy will have another man in the house to look after him. Don't let Fain's looks fool you. He might not be aggressive, but he is without a doubt a man. If I had any doubt of his suitability and honesty, I would have never agreed with Kaj's offer of him as a consort. I have no say over who she chooses to share her time with in my house, but I can refuse to take a consort, and if I had refused. Kaj would have never pushed it on me."

* * *

Ern tried very hard to melt into the scenery of the Men's Quarter's, he was still having problems with what happened the night before. And now, that he was no longer under the Head consort's protection, all the men were looking at him as a prospective bedmate. The memories of what had happened the night before just wouldn't let him rest. Because he knew that it wasn't a one-time thing, and what was worse, he knew that he would have to do it again, and again. The word 'slave' hung over his head like a cloud. All he could hope was that one of the women. His mistresses would hurry up and chose to take him. Even if it was only for a short time. If they didn't soon, he would end up as fey as many of the non-fertile, the bedwarmers, here. And he didn't want that. True, what he had shared with Tallin and Gabe the night before had been wonderful, but he would just as soon never do that again. And if he could attract a mistress's attention, then he might not have too, at least, for a while.

"What is wrong with you, boy? You look like you have lost your best friend." Warrel sat down beside him. "One of the boy's giving you a hard time?"

Ern shook his head. "No Sir. Just doing some thinking."

"You still fretting about what you did with my great grand-son and that friend of his?" Ern sighed nodding. Warrel snorted at him. "Well boy, you're fertile, once the ladies finish getting a good look at you, you won't have time enough to be doing much ducking around the boy's. Tallin was very correct in his complaint, that for the most part. If you are fertile, and one of the breeders here, you are kept busy, and if you become a consort to one of the mistress's here, then she will keep you just as busy. Caytin spent more time in the quarter's yesterday than he has in almost half a cycle. And even then, for the most part it was to attain a 'man's justice' for Remmy's murder."

"I still can't believe that Durn did that. He never came across as a man who would hurt a child, much less kill one."

Warrel nodded. "It is usually one that you just couldn't seeing doing the crime that does it."

"But he was my partner. Like Fain and Mer worked together, and Erik and Remus. The two that mistress Kaj sent off with her demands. What happens when it is known who was supposed to be with him when he did it?"

"Were you with him?"

Ern shook his head violently. "No Sir."

"Did you see him do it?" Again the negative shake. "Then you are making yourself sick over nothing. If the Mother had thought that you deserved to suffer his fate with him, trust me, boy. The Temple and the, Sword, are very closely tied. When my daughter, Kaj's mother, Azrena, was still nursing her, the Mother Kaylin's mother was doing the same with her. They grew up almost as if they were sisters. Had Mother Kaylin thought you guilty of more than the raid, she would have said so."

"I hope so. If she thinks that I could have stopped him," he looked uncomfortable. "I don't want to die, even slavery is preferable to death. And even more, I don't want to die like Durn did."

"The thing that kidded, my great grandson is not dead yet. After we saw to it that he understood that he had no life, other than the one that he was living now, and that life would be both short and painful. Caytin sent him to the Temple where there are ladies, mostly of the guard, that have no desire for men, who still desire children, he is fertile. So the priestesses are having his seed taken by force from him. His body will be forced to produce fertile seed, again and again to serve his mistress's. It is not a good way to die, if truth, be known, it is one of the worst ways I can think of. After about ten or so, it will be sheer agony for him, but his body will be forced to continue to produce again and again. Until he finally dies from exhaustion."

Ern looked at him. Without food or water, he knew that a man being forced to do what Durn was being forced to do, wouldn't last for more than a couple of days, but that time would be hell. "He will get no breaks? Nothing to eat or drink?"

"He will be given water every few hours, but no food or rest. There are many of the mistresses that have no interest in men. Even more now that there is so many sterile boys being born. The fertile men are pretty much already claimed for the houses. The women of the guard go into it knowing that they will probably never have a child. This was an opportunity that was just too good, that Kaj waved the normal law, forbidding a man that kills a child the right to be a father. We need children too much.

Ern shuddered at the though of dying like that. He would rather have the men torture him to death. At least if he was lucky, they would kill him in a matter of hours. Durn was looking at days, almost weeks for him to finally be allowed to die. "And you think that the mistress, will not judge me guilty and send me to the Temple as well?"

"Unless you break one of the serious laws of our people, you should be fine. I don't, believe, anything short of killing another child will get you sent there. But as you are one of those who were captured in the raid, I would try very hard to not push anything. Obey your mistress, and the women of her home, do as Caytin orders, and you should be fine. Look at your fellow new captures. Jerrick is now the Healer Trinna's consort her first one no less. And Fain, Kaj and Caytin have taken him in. Make sure you look as pretty as you can, even if that means attracting the attention of other men in our home. And sooner or later, one of the women here, your other mistress's will take notice of you."

Ern looked down. 'I'm going to have to do this, even if I hate it.' Well at least he still had the oil they used on him to fall back on. That 'is' if they were still willing to use it with him. "Thank you, Sir."

Warrel patted him on the knee. "Think nothing of it boy, I have been here since I was sixteen. Have grown old within these walls. You are not, by far, the first boy I have had to talk to. Though you are the first I have had to deal with like I am having to with you, in all my hundred and thirty cycles."

* * *

Fain bit the blanket, under his head, as Mer forced him even farther into the mattress with each downward thrust. It had been weeks since last they had done anything more than just sleep by each other in the camp, planning the raid. And now, he was a slave again, but more than just a slave. True Mer had been taken from his new home, but as he lay under him, welcoming everything his lover offered him, he accepted that it could be much worse. He was the second consort to his Mistress, who was Chieftess of what were now his people. Lead mistress, of his own home, and more important to him was the he was also the consort of the head consort of all the men here. Not only to the ones that were in his house, but, of all the men of the Danes. And had been promised that he would be allowed to continue to see Mer. That was the best part. As he cried out softly as Mer picked up speed, gripping his hips. He would still be allowed to continue to see Mer.

Mer collapsed over him, breathing hard. "Damn, boy, it's been too long."

Fain lifted up, smiling at him, "maybe so, master, but we have what time we are allowed together. I am more grateful for that than I am for all the rest combined. I don't know what I would do if they saw to it that we were never allowed to see each other again."

"I'm not your master anymore, Fain, your master is out there with mine. But you are right, I don't think I could deal as well as I am with all of this, had the Lady Kaj, not only separated us, but seen to it that we were never allowed to see each other again." He reached out to touch Fain's cheek. "But for now, I don't know how much longer I am going to be allowed to keep you here with me. I need to be cleaned up boy, see to it."

"I might not belong to you as I once did, but when we are together, like this, you are my master, and I will always obey you." Fain kissed him once more before moving to attend to his still erect penis, licking away all traces of the lovemaking they had just shared, before taking it deep into his mouth. Right hand playing with Mer's balls as he worked at swallowing, him, down his throat.

* * *

An hour or so later, a soft knock on Mer's door called the two lovers back to the world around them. "I hate to interrupt the two of you. But I need to get Fain home before lunch." Caytin stood in the door.

Mer pulled away from Fain at once. "Yes, Master."

Caytin watched as Fain hurried to get dressed, pulling back every now and then to kiss Mer. "Goddess you two," Caytin laughed. "You both act like this will be the last time you will ever see each other."

"Is it Cay?" Fain tied his pants around his waste.

"No, Brom and I have agreed that we will see to it that the two of you are allowed to see each other, for now, until you both become accustomed to your place here, once a week. That is if you don't know our way of marking time. Once ever nine days and once you both have come to peace with your place here. You can spend all the time you wish with each other, as long as you do your duty and chores to and in your home, you may stay with each other all you want. But until then, Brom and I will take turns bringing one to the other. Which means that next week, Mer, you will be coming to visit Fain."

"But, Kaj? I thought that, I mean, I am her second consort, yours too. It's not going to upset her?" It couldn't be that easy.

"Fain. I am the head consort of all the men of the Danes. Personally, I would feel better knowing where you were. Brom and I go way back, so I know while you are here, you are safe, and he knows the same for Mer. Now come on. It, is, getting, lunch time and Kaj hates very little more than being made to wait."

* * *

Kaj notices all during the meal how Ern would glance at her and then away, uncomfortable. * Cay, love, what is wrong with Ern? I thought all had gone well last night. *

Caytin looked up at the man. He did look a bit spooked. * I don't know Kaj, but after lunch Mistress, if you want me to check with him, I am yours to command. *

Caytin reached for Ern as he went to leave the dining room. "One moment if you would."

Ern stopped, frozen, where he was. "Master?" 'Now what?' He tried to think of something that he had done that could bring to this mans notice. But couldn't.

"You don't have to look at me like that. I only wanted to talk to you. See how everything is going with you. You look jumpier than a dune mouse. What is wrong with you? Tallin says you were fine with him and Gabe last night, so what is still the problem?"

Ern looked anywhere but at Caytin. "Nothing, Master, just trying to finish working this all out in my head, that's all. 'Please, God, don't forsake me now. Let him be satisfied with that.' But deep in his soul, he knew that Caytin would not just let it drop. He would have to go through his fears again, even if he were beginning to work them out on his own. He was not working fast enough, apparently for those around him, his owners, satisfaction.

Caytin led him to a couch in the den of his house. Motioning him to sit down. "Okay, Ern. I am going to have to tell Kaj something. Even if it is you're still shy around us, which will get my son in trouble. I left you in his care last night. He has reported to his mother that you are well. Is that not the case?

Ern shook his head emphatically. "No, Sir. Tallin and Gabe were, much, more than just patient with me last night. I am just getting over worrying about my place here, but the old man, Warrel, I think is his name. He took the time to let me know that if my mistress thought me guilty of any greater crime than the raid. I would be sharing Durn's fate."

"So Warrel knows what this is about?"

"Yes, Sir." He was beginning to be afraid again. "Please, Sir, I won't say anything else. There is nothing wrong." He still needed to take some time and work this all through in his head. His new life and how he was going to have to live it, to do just that, live. But he was going to have to act like he had already, and wait until he was alone, whenever that might be, to take the time he needed.

"Ern." Caytin lay a hand on his leg. "I am going to ask you just one more time, what is, or was, the problem that still has you so tense? If I have to go to Warrel, I will be forced to punish you for it. Now last chance. What is going on in your head?

Ern looked up, meeting his eyes. If he was going to have to talk, so be it, but he wasn't going to hide his head anymore. He had hoped that they would let it rest for now, and not bring it up again until after he had time to settle, maybe even have one of the mistresses in his new home take an interest in him, if not for a consort, at least for breeding purposes. But he wasn't allowed that. He was going to have to face it all, right now. "I was, am, afraid Sir. We came in pairs of two with Commander Jerrick. Mer and Fain were one. Eric and Remus, were another. And Durn and I were the third. I wasn't there when he threw that blade, but I should have been. I am so afraid that my mistress will decide that I failed in that and my failure was what cost her, her, son's life."

"And what did Warrel tell you?"

"That the Priestess had already touched me, had judged me innocent of any other crimes. But Master, I have been told time and time again for the last couple of days that, fertile men here were so hard to come by that there were almost extinct. Your, her son was fertile."

Caytin felt bad for the younger man. It was a lot to expect anyone, even a rightly captured slave to deal with all at once. To know that the possibility of death by torture, or worse, in the hands of the Priestesses of the Temple, could be your fate at any time. "Ern, Warrel was right. Had Mother Kaylin thought you at fault in anyway for what that creature did to my son, she would have seen to it that he was not the only slave to die. But she didn't." He squeezed Ern's thigh. "I give you my word, as the lead amomg all the slaves of the Danes, that you will not be called into account for what another did. Do you believe me?"

"I believed the old man, Sir, it is just taking me a little time to convince the rest of my body to accept the truth."

"Good, well, now that I know what was the problem, I can go back and tell her and assure her that you are working your way past it."

Ern grabbed his hand. "Please, Sir, just tell her I am fine, please don't tell her what I was worried about." He looked a bit wild-eyed. "I understand that you all say that she will not have me killed, but please, just don't tell her what I told you." He licked his lips, no longer caring about pride. "I'm begging you, Master."

Caytin sighed. "I can't do that Ern. She is just as much, if not more my mistress, as she is yours. I have to tell her something."

"Please, Master. Tell her I was working it all out in my head, and that I will be better now. Just, please, don't tell her why I have been so afraid." Ern went to his knees at Caytin's feet. "Please, Master, I'm begging you. Please."

Caytin touched Ern's cheek. "And will you be better now Ern? If I give my assurances to my mistress that you are coming along well. Are you going to make a liar of me?"

Ern shook his head, fighting tears of gratitude. "No, Sir. I will be better, even if I have to accept that other men will want time with me again. I promise, I will be better."

Caytin nodded. "Okay, well then see to it that you start acting like it, and I will assure your, my, mistress that you are well on the way to becoming part of our house." He hoped that Kaj would accept his vague assurances. He had given the boy his word he would not tell his fears to her, and he would keep his word. No matter how angry Kaj got, or how much she yelled at him. He would not be the one to talk.

CHAPTER 8

Kaj looked up from her desk as Caytin let himself into her office. "So, did your talk with Ern go well?"

"He is coming along. Just working some things out in his head. I think the fact that he enjoyed his time with Tallin and Gabe was the hardest thing for him to come to grips with." It was true, but it wasn't the full truth.

Kaj put down her pen and turned to look at him. "Caytin, come here." She pointed to the ground before her.

"Yes, Mistress?" He moved at once.

"I had a talk with Warrel while you were with Ern. I know what the problem really was. Why don't you just drop this charade and tell me what was really said?"

"I can't Mistress. I gave him my word I would not talk about it with you. It's been taken care of." 'Damn, Warrel, you had to come running to Kaj.' Caytin swore to himself.

Kaj's slap sent him sprawling backwards. "Answer me this Caytin. What is Ern?"

"A slave Mistress." He wiped the blood from his lip as he returned to kneeling at her feet.

"Good, and whose slave is he?"

"Yours Mistress." Caytin didn't understand where she was going with this.

"Good, again, now for the important question. What and who are you?"

"A slave Mistress, your slave." He was getting a bad feeling about this. Maybe Ern was right, his lady might indeed hold him partially responsible for what happened to her son.

"He is my slave, more important, so are you. And yet you gave him your word that you would keep something from me?"

"I'm sorry Mistress, I would die before hurting you in anyway. But he is terrified of you that you wouldn't understand. He begged me to not tell you anything. It is taken care of, so I gave him my word. Will you have me be forsworn?"

"I will have you tell me the truth. How dare you decide what I should and should not know about one of my own slaves." She got up. Stepping past him to go to the door, opening it to catch the attention of the guard whose post was at her office door. "Kari, go and get Ern. If he isn't in the Men's Quarter's leave word that the moment he gets there he is to report to my office at once."

"Yes, Ma'am." And the guard, who was stationed outside her door, took off at an easy jog.

Kaj closed the door before turning back to face Caytin. "I will hear what he has to say, from his own lips, and he will take you, stripped and leashed to the Men's Quarter's to be punished for one hour. Any protest from him, and it will increase to two hours. You, who have abused my trust in you, for the period of your punishment, are nothing. Even the lowest of bedwarmers is your master. Winna, if you see her, you will acknowledge her as your mistress. You will speak only when spoken to. Answering questions with yes or no master. Do, I, make myself clear, slave?" She went to the drawer where she kept the key to his collar. "You forced me to collar you over eighteen cycles ago. I have never regretted choosing to collar you instead of my other option. Until now." She reached behind his neck, fitting the key into the lock there. "By not bringing his fears and story to me, you are in effect lying to me." Her face was drawn and there was pain in her eyes. "I have no other choice but to see that you learn the consequences of your actions, slave." She took a plane black leather collar and fastened it to his throat. Then hooking the leash to his collar. "Now strip slave."

"Kaj, please." Caytin tried to explain himself to her.

"I am your mistress, slave." Again she swung her hand at him, but this time it was not an open palm but a fist. "Do you think I 'like' what I am going to have done to you? I am not just the Head of my household, but Chieftess of my people. I can't let it be known that I let my first consort, Soul-Match or no, hide things from me."

Caytin hung his head, trembling. It had been more cycles than he could remember since last he had been punished, and never in his time as her consort had he been. She was sending him to his own Men's Quarter's stripped naked, on a leash to be punished by the men there. He had punished many in the cycles he had been head consort, so he knew all too well what could happen to him. "Yes, Mistress." He stood and stripped quickly, before going back to his knees naked.

Kaj ignored him as he knelt there waiting for Ern to come. She really wasn't mad at Ern. Of course the boy would be terrified. His friend had killed her son. If it hadn't been for the fact that Kaylin had already passed judgement of innocence on him. She would have had him pay the same price that thing was paying for her sons death, but she knew her old friend well enough to know, if Kaylin said someone was innocent, then they were innocent, no questions asked.

A rapid, firm, but light knock on her office door. "Come in."

"I met him on the way to the Men's Quarter's Chieftess. He was already coming here. Warrel had sent him." Kari stood back and let Ern enter the room.

"Thank you Kari. If you can, would you please see to it that there are no children in the halls between this room and the Men's Quarter's. Adults, I don't care, but I do not want any of his children seeing my slave as he is right now."

Kari looked to where Caytin knelt, naked. A plane black collar on his neck, holding the leash that was affixed to it, lifting an eyebrow in surprise. The man must have done something seriously wrong, she had never seen her Chieftess this upset with him. "Yes, Ma'am."

Kaj turned to look at Ern. "So, slave, do you have something that needs to be said?"

Ern looked frantically at Caytin who knelt there, silent. Looking at him, with a plea in his eyes. "About what Mistress?"

"About the fact that you and that thing that killed my son were partners."

Ern looked back to Caytin, a look of betrayal on his face.

"Oh, that slave didn't tell me anything. He chose to honor his word to you, over his duty to me. Warrel had came by to talk about you with me. Now all I want to know, is just when did you plan to tell me the full story, if ever?"

Ern licked his lips. "I, I couldn't Mistress. I know what Durn did was unforgivable." Caytin hadn't betrayed him. Was in the condition he was in now because he wouldn't. "Please, Mistress. If I am to die, please just kill me." How could he ever hope to explain to this woman what his greatest fears were?

"I am not going to kill you Ern. Warrel didn't have to tell me about your friendship with that thing, Kaylin already did. She is the High Priestess of the Temple, and the Speaker for the Mother. If she says you knew nothing of it, then you knew nothing of it. I had hoped that once you learned that living here with, my women, and me wasn't the horror that you feared it would be, that you would come to me, and tell me about it." She returned to her seat. "But, instead I find you begging 'my' own consort to lie to me."

"I, didn't mean to do anything wrong Mistress. I am trying, please believe I am trying."

"As I said. I won't kill you, won't even punish you, other than have you take my slave here to the Men's Quarter's and turn him over to the many bedwarmers I have there for one hour." She watched Caytin's head snap up, a look of horror on his face. He had thought she was sending him to be punished by the men of her house. But no it, was, to the bedwarmers she was sending him. Many of which he had punished, for one reason or the other over the cycles. They would have a field day with him.

Ern looked from her to Caytin again. "But Mistress, please, it's my fault, let me be the one to be punished."

Caytin groaned at Ern's protest. Shaking his head at him.

"It is now two hours. Warning Ern, anymore protests will only increase his punishment. I will not have any of those I own lie to me. You will lead him. To the Men's Quarter's and you will sit and watch what the cost of deception costs him. That is your punishment. To sit there, and watch, knowing all the while that he is suffering because of you."

'He is going to hate me, my master is going to be tortured all because of me, and he is going to never forgive me.' " Yes, Mistress." He lowered his head, fighting tears. He wanted to throw himself at her feet and beg for her forgiveness, to spare Caytin what was coming. But he had tried that once already and all it did was increase his master's punishment from one to two hours.

"You will take him, you will sit silent and watch all that happens and it is you who will return him to my rooms. Not my office, but my rooms. If you get confused as to where to go, do not hesitate to ask for help. I would say my slave would direct you the way, but knowing the grudge some of those boys have on him, I doubt he is going to be any too talkative. He will be doing good to be able to walk."

"Yes Mistress."

"Oh, and slave." She looked to Caytin as Ern helped him up. "Best you see yourself properly presented. I do not want the boys to feel like you are not eager for your punishment. I want you to accept it, and go knowing that it is only your just reward for lying to me." This was killing her, she wanted them out of here before she broke and called it off. Her duty and responsibilities to her people were the only thing that kept her from stopping it now.

A single tear rolled down Caytin's cheek as he nodded. "Yes Mistress," and began to stroke himself with a trembling hand. He would be marched through his own house, naked, with a collar that was not his own, his mistress had taken his beloved collar from him. Subdued, and all would see him as he went, working on his erection.

"Now go. I don't want to see either of you again for the next two hours. And Ern, you had best pay close attention to what happens to him. I will want a report from you before I give him back his place in my home."

"Yes, Mistress." Ern whispered, taking Caytin's leash and heading for the door. But Caytin wouldn't move. He gave Ern a hard look, nodding to Kaj. "Oh, yeah," he looked back to her. "May I be excused Mistress?"

"Get out."

Ern led him down the hall, feeling absolutely horrible. "Cay, Sir, I am so sorry. You were right, I should have never asked you to keep anything from her." Ern was near tears. "Please, I'm sorry, don't hate me."

He stopped again in the hall, his right hand still working on the rapidly hardening shaft in his hands. His left, reaching out to pull Ern's head to his. Taking a moment to kiss the younger man. "I won't hate you, Master." He patted Ern's cheek as the younger man broke down into tears. "I knew when I gave you my word that my mistress would be upset with me, I just didn't know how upset she would be. The fault is mine Master. I was wrong." And if I have to spend the next moon making him understand that, so be it.' The kiss he was sharing with Ern deepened for a moment.

Ern pulled back from the kiss. "You're, really, not mad at me?" Caytin shook his head, smiling weakly.

* * *

Word ran through Kaj's house like wild fire, and by the time Ern had finally led Caytin to the Men's Quarters, those that were able to be there, were. This was Caytin, first consort, the head of their house and head slave for the Chieftess. None of them had ever seen him get so much as a spanking from his mistress, and now she was sending him, 'like this' to the Men's Quarter's. Was angry enough with him to turn his punishment over to those in her house that he had punished often over the past cycles.

"My, my, look how the mighty have fallen." One of the bedwarmers giggled.

"Mistress Kaj, has ordered me to bring him here." Ern was struggling not to make a fool out of himself by balling like a baby. He didn't care if Caytin didn't blame him for what was going to happen. He blamed himself. He should have never asked his master to keep anything from their mistress. "He is to be punished for two hours by the bedwarmers." He couldn't help himself, a sob slipped out. "For the next two hours, mistress Kaj has taken his place and position from him. He will answer questions with yes or no master, and only speak when either answering a question or in response to an order."

The door to the quarters opened as Jerrick followed by not only Fain but Tallin and Gabe as well rushed into the room. Caytin moaned, in, pain as his Lover, second consort and son saw him as he was. Naked, hand working on his cock, and unclaimed. He had thought when his mistress had cleared the halls of any of his children, that that would include Tallin, but obviously not.

Tallin looked at his father in shock. He just couldn't believe his mother had done this to him. "Papa?"

He knew it was wrong, disobedient, but he had to try. "Please, Master, don't stay, don't watch what is going to happen to me. If you love me at all, please, Master leave for the next two hours." There were tears flowing down his cheeks.

"Why is mother doing this to you? What did you do?"

"Lied to her by omission Master."

"Don't call me that Papa." Tallin snapped in anguish.

"Forgive me, Master, but I must. Until my punishment is over, and my mistress returns my place to me. I am nothing and no one and all are my master's," he began to sob softly. "Even my son."

"Tal, Cay is right, you don't need to be here for a while. Run; try talking to your mother. This has got to be hard on her. She has never raised her hand to him, and to have to send him here, like this, and to the bedwarmers. She knows how many times he has had to punish one or two of them. She had to know what they would make his life for the time he is here." Gabe lay a hand on his young friend and love. "Go on baby, I'm old enough to keep things from getting too ugly for him."

Another of the nine bedwarmers in the room stepped forward. "Listen to Gabe, Tallin. He isn't going to be the only one to safeguard your father. And I'm even older than he is, even if it is only by a few cycles."

Tallin looked from the man, back to Caytin. "Thank you Toby. I'm going to go and beg my mother for clemency for him. She was willing to show mercy when it came to the men that raided out home. I can't believe she is doing this to her consort, her Soul-Match." And semi blinded by tears he left the room.

"I really don't understand why you all are acting like this is such a surprise. I have been saying for the last three cycles that he was getting too full of himself, and if the mistress knew the meaning of the word justice, she would finally pull him down off the pedestal he built for himself." A wickedly amused voice from the back.

"The only reason you have been saying that, Danyel is your behavior has landed you on the receiving end of his whip many times. Caytin has been more patient with you, with all of us, than almost all the others in the city." Gabe growled at him. "Our mistress sent him to us, she trusts us to punish him. Do you really want to violate that trust Danyel?"

"So what limits did she put on his punishment?" Another of the men in the room asked.

Ern looked at this man. "I don't understand what you mean. She just had me bring him here, like this, and told me to tell you all that he was to be punished by the bedwarmers."

"I'm too old for this. I will go and add my voice to Tallin's." Hirren, the oldest man in the Men's Quarter's moved slowly to the door. "If she didn't put any limits to his punishment, then it is going to be a very long two hours. Warrel, if you would be so kind, would you stay with Jerrick and Fain and see that the boys don't get carried away with him." And the door closed behind him.

"So, we going to punish him or just stand around for the next two hours?" Danyel asked. "Personally, I really would rather get started. I know mistress Kaj well enough to know if we don't do just what she ordered, then he won't be the only one to face punishment, and I have no love for him, and don't intend to suffer for him, not even if it is only a lecture."

They all agreed. The rack was pulled out of the back room again, and Caytin was forced in it. Gabe and Van affixed his wrists and ankles to it. "This isn't too tight is it Cay?" Van asked looking up from the cuff at his ankle.

"No, Master."

"I have dreamed of this day." Danyel came back into the room with a thick leather strap. "I looked for that whip that he loves so much, but he has either taken it from the room, or is hiding it." He stepped infront of Caytin. "So, slave, which is it? You been playing those games you like to play with some unlucky man, or did you know that you were going to be caught lying to your mistress, and hid it?"

"It is in our rooms. He didn't hide anything from anyone." Fain grabbed the strap from Danyel. "And if you think I am going to let you touch him with this, you are as crazed as you are petty."

Danyel reached to take the strap back. "By the mistresses own judgement. He is to be punished by the bedwarmers. So, you have no say in it."

"No, but I do. If you touch him with that, I will just as soon as we release him, hang you on it, and strap you bloody." Toby took the strap from him. "Xavier, you are the oldest of us, how many?"

The old man looked at Caytin. "Ten each," then he looked hard at Danyel. "Ten, do you understand me boy?"

"Yes Sir." He sounded sullen. He had wanted at least twenty each. To give this pompous arrogant upstart a taste of what a real strapping felt like. But the others, they were just too soft hearted. Well, there was always later. They did have two hours after all.

Xavier stepped close to Caytin. "I'm sorry Cay, I will try to keep the children under control."

"Thank you, Master, please, Master, let master Danyel go first." He knew that Danyel would go out of his way to hurt him as much as he could, and he would rather face that first and not last. In the shape his back would be in by the time it was Danyel's turn, the vicious little monster would see to it that he drew blood. "Please, Master."

Xavier nodded. "Okay Danyel, remember a count of ten, and no more. Caytin has a long time ahead of him, and it would do no good to lash him to the point of ruin, first thing. This is a punishment, and if he were unconscious then, we would have to stop, revive him and then start his time up again. The two hours could very well end up being all day, and obviously our mistress is upset right now, would you like to be the one that caused her to be even angrier?"

"Jerrick," Fain turned to his friend and fellow slave. "Do you think you could ask the Healer to come and see to it that he doesn't pass out? Xavier has a point. Our mistress has to be upset, if she sent him here to be punished like he is being punished."

Jerrick nodded and left the room. It was fine with him. He didn't want to have to watch what was going to happen to Caytin anyway. He was his Lover now, and even if it was true that he had not given him a choice. The fact that he was, and what it meant to the others and his place here, was well worth it.

"So, the Healer is going to do to you what she did to that thing that killed one of our fertile boys, so he couldn't pass out and miss the pain he was due." Danyel stepped behind Caytin. "Good, that way we won't have to worry about you passing out on us." He swung the strap. "I will tell you like you told me last time you whipped me. I want to hear you scream. Don't disappoint me." And the first blow came down, cutting across his shoulders. Caytin bit back a gasp of pain, as he saw white behind his closed eyes. He was right, Danyel was going to go out of his way to see to it that he hurt him as much as possible. And there was nothing he could do about it, now or later. He was being punished. Anything, that, any of them did to him while he was being punished, could never be responded to by him.

The second and third blow, landing directly on the same place that the first one had. The third did bring a short cry from Caytin. He was the one that used the whip, strap and cane, but he was not the one that sought them to be used on him. And this little beast was seeing to it that each blow fell in the same place as the ones before it had. Right across his shoulder blades, by the time the fifth blow landed, Caytin could feel the heat rising from that welt. "There, I think that five will do the work I want there, so now, let's see about heating another part of your back, slave." He sneered.

Caytin tasted blood as he bit his tongue to keep from making a sound as the lash snaked out across his middle back. Again, the blows fell one right on top of the other. By the last, had, he hit him again, there would be no help for it, Caytin would have screamed.

Danyel lifted his arm to land another blow. "Hold, Danyel. I said ten, you do know how to count, don't you?"

Danyel's, arm lowered. "Sorry Xavier, guess I was just really getting into hearing his cries." He handed the strap to Xavier. "But that is okay, I can just sit back and listen as the rest of you do your duty." He stopped, leaning close to Caytin. "Ten wasn't many, but I did try to see to it that the rest, no matter where they fell, if they hit your back at all, will land on one of those welt's somewhere." He ran his hand over the hot welts. "Now, slave, thank your master for punishing you."

Caytin looked up at him, pure hatred in his eyes. "Thank you, Master." He gritted the words out between clinched teeth. He swore to himself, that as soon as there were more men to choose from, this was one worthless man that he was going to beg his mistress, to just lose somewhere. Send him to work in the fields and when the harvest was done, have him go live with the other slaves that no woman wanted.

"Damn you boy, you did this on purpose." Xavier looked at the red, swelling welts on Caytin's back. "You know that Caytin can never make you pay for what you did to him. But one more thing, take your actions too far one more time, and he won't have too. I will. He might be head consort here, but I am the oldest of the bedwarmers here, and out rank you by far. And trust me boy, neither Cay nor, his mistress will waist any time worrying about you. I still don't know why the mistress bought you in the first place. You are not fertile, and none of us have anything to do with you, and even that little lady that was taken with you is getting tired of dealing with you." He looked back to Caytin. "There is nothing I can do to lighten this, that fool saw to it that no matter where I hit you on your back, if you weren't secure on the rack, it would bring you to your knees."

"Wait." Tag hurried forward. "I know I can't stop you, or even take part, but he came into this room, like that," he pointed to Caytin's still present erection. The strapping that Danyel had given him, painful as it was, hadn't reduced the size or hardness at all, if anything had encouraged its girth and weight. "Wouldn't it be a more complete punishment if he was allowed at least a little pleasure with the pain he is feeling?"

Xavier nodded. "Just keep your hands either on his balls or on your own hips, I don't want any of us to hit you by accident."

Ern had to force himself to keep his eyes open as Xavier began Caytin's strapping. But it wasn't easy. This man, his master, was being punished for keeping his promise to him. Silent tears flowed down his cheeks as Caytin cried out in pain as the final blow hit, the welts left by Danyel, squarely.

Xavier pulled back, "there, I'm finished."

"Thank you, Master." Caytin was openly sobbing now. And he still had seventy more to go.

"Ssshh, Cay, pay attention to me, and what I am doing. It will make it easier on you." Tag whispered.

"Yes, Master." The feel of Tag's tongue as it licked the head of his cock did feel wonderful, the distinction between the pain of his back and the pleasure that Tag was giving him, was a delightful diversion.

The door to the Men's Quarter's opened to allow Trinna followed closely by Jerrick to enter the room. She gasped at the sight before her, as Caytin hung in the rack, Tag on his knees before him, trying to give him something to focus on, other than the pain. "Oh, Caytin," her hand covered her mouth in horror. "What did you do?"

"I failed my mistress. I lied to her by omission, Mistress." He hung his head at her gaze. She was here to see to it that he would not be allowed to hide in oblivion, even if it were only for a short while. "Forgive me, Mistress."

"Healer, can you take a look at the welt's that Danyel thought to see to it that they were bad enough and placed in places that no matter where we hit his back, we will hit them. No, I know that you can't heal him at this moment. He is being punished, but could you see to it that they are no worse than any of the ten I marked him with so far?" Xavier glared at Danyel.

"Damn you Danyel." Trinna touched the welt's, not healing them fully, but easing some of the agony that was there. "There you go Cay, it will still hurt like hell, but nothing like what that little cretin had intended." She touched his face. "There, I'm sorry Cay, but at least it will be over sooner now than if Jerrick hadn't come and got me. You won't pass out, no matter how much it hurts."

Caytin closed his eyes. "Thank you Mistress."

"You go on out of here Trin, I need to stay, with the way things look, Fain and I might have to help Ern get him back to where ever it is he is supposed to go when this hell if over." He kissed her, hugging her tightly. "I will be home as soon as this is over. I promise."

Trinna looked up at him. "You are his Lover. While he is like this, you are Head of the slaves here. Fertile or bedwarmers, you take care of him." She squeezed him one last time before leaving the room.

It still hurt, so much, but with the lessening of the welt's. Which were the first five blows combined in a place, and then the second set of five, another, it didn't hurt quite as much, and Caytin was able to separate himself from the pain, to begin to lose himself, in, the pleasure that Tag was giving him.

After Xavier came Jax, then Karl, Toby, Gabe and Donnel. The blows never ended. His back, buttocks and upper thighs sang with pain. And every blow added another note. "Please, Master." Caytin whispered, voice tight from fighting to keep from crying out. "May I cum?" He didn't want to, because when he did, there would be nothing but the pain, but he knew there was going to be nothing but the pain soon enough.

Tag pulled away. "Soon, but not yet." And he went back to what he was doing.

Gabe handed Van the strap. "Hold on Cay, only two more and this part is over."

Van was trembling so badly that his first blow wrapped around Caytin's back to score his chest, landing squarely on his right nipple. Caytin screamed in anguish, and Danyel laughed. "Interesting place to hit him Van. Why didn't I think of it?" To have every man in the room look at him with hatred in their eyes.

"Oh, Goddess, Cay, I'm sorry." Van dropped his arm, trying to see what damage he did. "Please, I'm sorry."

Caytin fought to catch his breath. "It's okay Master. Please continue."

Van stepped back, wiping the tears from his face. He couldn't believe he had to do this to this man, of all of them. Caytin was like the father he had never had. His own had died back before he was born, and his mother at his birth, so it was to his mistress that the Temple had entrusted him, as an infant to. He had grown up here, along side all of the other boys that called this man papa had done the same when he was just a child. And Caytin had stood as such for him. And now, he had to hurt him. What ever he had omitted to tell his mistress must have been something of major importance.

He was much more careful with the last nine blows. But even as careful as he was, with as many times as Caytin had been struck already, every last one caused him to cry out. He no longer stood, but sagged in the rack, his weight fully on his wrists. There was no blood, for that he was grateful. But the pain, he felt ashamed, not only for what he had done in failing his mistress, but because, he had punished others just as harshly, and mocked them for their tears and pleas. Now he understood, and swore to himself, that next time he had to punish one, other that perhaps Danyel, he would be more understanding. Not that he could change the punishments, they were known for each act of disobedience, but he would be more understanding and sympathetic. "Please, Master." He looked down at Tag who had been with him through all but the first. "May I cum, now?"

Tag pulled back once again. Looking up at him, smiling. "Not yet Cay, but soon, very soon. All you have left is Tam, I promise as he finishes. You can cum. I give you permission now, so you won't have to ask again." And again he resumed his task, tongue bathing his balls before going to take him back deep into his mouth and throat.

"Here, Tam, you're last." Van handed him the strap.

Tam looked at the strap in his hands. "I've only been here a few week's, not even a moon. Other than my master, no one else has touched me." He protested, trying to hand the strap back to Van.

"That doesn't matter, Master." Caytin whispered, fighting to talk. "I, I welcomed you. At this moment, you are one of my masters. Please, punish me for failing my mistress." He broke and finally couldn't keep his restraint anymore, and his sobs were not longer silent.

"Get you ass up there, and finish this." Jerrick grabbed Tam's arm, yanking him to his feet. "Do it, if you make him beg again, I'm going to beat the shit out of you." He held Tam's gaze. "You do know who I am to him, right?"

"Yes, Master, I do. Forgive me, I didn't mean to upset him anymore than he is." He was going to have to hurt the only man here that had taken any time with him. And that was only once. But Jerrick was right. Caytin shouldn't have to beg to be punished. "I'm sorry master." He raised his arm and with tears flowing down his face, begun his ten. Hating ever time he heard Caytin cry out with pain from a blow.

Caytin couldn't hold himself back anymore, and as Tam's ninth blow fell he felt his orgasm explode within him, turning the pain he was feeling to sweet, exquisite pleasure. He cried out again, but this time it was not in pain. Even as the last blow landed it was, not, in pain.

Tag held on to his hips as they bucked forward, first frantic, then slowing as Caytin gave into the cresting waves that rose in him. Tag gently squeezed his balls, as he milked him dry.

The others waited for Tag to finish with Caytin, allowing the man they were punishing, at least a minute to enjoy what Tag had offered.

Jerrick supported him as they released him from the rack. "Hang, on there, Lover. You have only a little more than an hour left." He whispered encouragingly to Caytin.

"Okay, Caytin," Xavier knelt by where Caytin lay curled in a ball on the floor. "First, we're going to have to use your mouth as a toilet, then you have to blow us. And then we rape you, then fist you, and after that, you have a choice." He stroked Caytin's hair as the man lay there sobbing. "You have your choice of the fire oil, or a trip to the kennels. But I won't let you suffer both. Which one do you chose?"

Caytin couldn't speak. They, weren't punishing him, this was torture. He had to choose between oil that is so rarely used that it was almost never made. They would use a tube to pour it into his rectum, after they had raped and fisted him, all nine of them. It wasn't called fire oil, for nothing, it would feel as if someone had shoved a white-hot poker inside him. Or dogs, the very thought of the dogs scared him almost as much as the thought of the oil. "Dogs, Master." His voice, broke from screaming, was barely audible now. And once they were finished with him, unless his mistress showed him some mercy and let Trinna heal him, he wouldn't be able to talk for days.

Xavier nodded. "I had hoped you would say that. I had that oil used on me once, back when I was a little younger than you, and I would take on dogs any day to avoid it." He looked up. "Tag, I know you have been very helpful so far, but if you would please, I know Danyel would just love it to have us drag Cay down to the kennels in the shape he will be in, but, I don't care what he did. I am far too old for lady Kaj to do more than yell at. So like Warrel and Hirren, I can get away with not following the letter of the law, so long as I follow the heart."

Jerrick had to help Caytin to stay kneeling as he bent to take first Xavier's urine down his throat, drinking it, trying hard not to gag and then to bring him to orgasm with his mouth.

Again, after Xavier there was Jax, Toby, Karl and Gabe. "You go ahead of me Danyel." Donnel stepped back.

"But you're next in line. The only reason I went first with his strapping is he begged Xavier, and the old fool gave in to him." Danyel for all his faults knew his place and ranking among the bedwarmers.

"My mother is the High Priestess, Mother Kaylin. I don't have quite the skill she has, but I can help a little, and knowing you, I am going to need too. Now mind me."

Danyel nodded. "Yes, Sir." He stepped forward.

"Don't think about who he is, Cay, just get on with it. The sooner you are done, the sooner I can get you to bed and make sure you are taken care of." Jerrick was having trouble-supporting Caytin without touching his back. He looked over to where. Fain sat by Ern, a look of pain on his face. "Fain, come here and help me. He is your consort. Help me to keep him from falling on his face. I am worried that if he starts to tumble, I will hurt him by grabbing his waist."

The other men watched, as Fain moved to kneel on Caytin's other side, taking his arm. None of them said a word. They knew the law. Mistress Kaj had turned Caytin over to the bedwarmers. So they were not to be part of this. If it had been anyone other than Caytin, they would have left the moment it began, but Caytin was head consort, and they all knew that they were expected to witness his punishment. Each one hating that they were required to watch but none of them willing to anger either their mistress if they were a consort, or his if they weren't.

Danyel dropped his pants, and turned, presenting his ass to Caytin. "I'd like a good reaming first, slave." He smiled evilly.

"Yes, Master." Again the rasp whisper of a voice thick from sobbing, and a throat sore from all the urine he had been forced to drink. He leaned forward, Jerrick and Fain, tightening their holds on his arms, to weakly part his cheeks with his hands. He began to sob again. He knew what was going to happen. Knew it as well as he knew what his reaction to it would be.

"Open your mouth wide, slave." Danyel sneered as he strained and a small, foul smelling turd passed from him and into Caytin's mouth. "Now swallow it, slave."

Caytin pulled back retching, his stomach rebelling at the waste introduced to it on top of so much. Yanking free of both Jerrick and Fain, as he fell back on his side vomiting.

"You son of a . . .." Jerrick was up and on Danyel the moment Caytin had yanked away from him. Fain was coming up from the other side. "I'm going to kill you." Fingers tightening around Danyel's throat. "You fucking son of a whore, I'm going to kill you."

This time the men of the quarters did get involved. The pulled both Jerrick and Fain away. "Wait, let the bedwarmers deal with him. You kill him, and not even your mistress will be able to save you." Saul held Jerrick as Karron held Fain.

"He just shit in Caytin's mouth, made his eat it." Jerrick protested.

"Yes, and he will get like for like, but you might be his Lover, and Fain his consort, but Caytin was turned over to them, so we have no say in this. Wait, I've knows Xavier for a long time. He will deal with the little shit."

Donnel had gone as soon as Caytin had started to vomit and got some water. "Here you go, Cay." He held out the cup as Caytin finally was finished with his dry heaves. "Slowly, or you will end up sick again." He looked at Danyel who was standing there, a shocked look on his face. "If it wasn't for the fact that Jerrick would be sentenced to death for killing you, I would tell him to go for it. How dare you."

"How dare I? Do you have any idea how many times that thing has beat me almost bloody? I would tell you, but I lost count long ago. He makes it a habit to find something to whip the skin almost from my back, at least once a week. So don't rant at me, he is only getting what's long due him, as far as I am concerned."

Toby moved before Xavier or Jax could. "And how many of those whippings were earned Danyel? I'll tell you how many, every last one of them. The only time Caytin used to use his whip was when one of us, asked him too, but when you came. Then it got to the point that he almost didn't have time for us what with his duty to the mistresses of his home and his having to deal with you. Go to your room, I will deal with you later. But for now, until such time as either Xavier, Jax or myself lets you out. You will stay in there. Be allowed only bread and water, and you will drink your own piss, every time you go to relieve your bladder, so best take a glass with you. Usually, I would not ask for permission to turn anyone over to the dogs, for anything short of lying to one of the mistresses. But for you, I plan to make an exception. And you will be taken, dragged if necessary to the kennels."

"Hold Toby." Xavier stepped forward. "No, the dogs are too good for this piece of trash. But I will see done to him, what I had hoped Caytin would decline. Tonight, after we are finished with Caytin and his Lover and consort help Ern to take him back to his mistress, we will start over again, with you, but this time, it is all of us. The bedwarmers and men of this house, all of us, by the time we finish his whipping, because I will go with them to take Caytin to his mistress, and retrieve his whip, his back will look near as bad as the thing we dealt with for killing Remmy. After that, it will be his turn to have his mouth used as a toilet, but I won't let him bring any of us pleasure, at least not the bedwarmers. What the men do is their own business. Then we will tie him down on his back, and whip that thing between his legs until it is almost as bloody as his back is going to be. Then we will introduce him to the oil. Trust me. You will rue the day you didn't heed my warning."

The men of the quarter looked to Jerrick. "Caytin isn't going to be able to make this judgement. He was being punished when it happened." Jan pointed out. "But rumor has it you're his Lover, so you can."

"Just so long as when Fain and I finally get back here, later, in a day or two, we can do the same. Be my guest.".

"Then we will wait for you both before it begins. Because, it, will take days to recover from the oil. Especially if it is used on open wounds like it will be on him." It was decided. "Now, 'slave' get a glass and find your room." Xavier went to check on Caytin. "You can rest until Tag gets back with the dogs, that stunt of Danyel's has called a halt to everything but the dogs. I will still go with you when your two help Ern to take you to put you to bed. I will explain why we changed things, and who is at fault. Trust me my friend. She will not seek to have you punished again, she might Danyel balls on a platter, but, she won't seek to punish you more. Now rest."

Van and Tam helped Donnel clean up the vomit. "I never liked him anyway." Van muttered to Tam. I hate to say it, but I was honestly glad he wasn't fertile. He frightens me. As a bedwarmer, he couldn't touch me without my consent, but had he been one of the men of this house. He would have seen to it that he sought my bed."

"No Van, had he been one of us, I am sure Caytin would have forbade it." Warrel laid a hand on the boy's shoulder."

"How are you doing Cay?" Jerrick took his head between his hands. "It's almost over. Just as soon as you get through dealing with the dogs, Fain and I will help Ern get you back to your mistress. Now, answer me a question. What did you lie to her about?"

Caytin looked down trying to avoid Jerrick's eyes. "I did not lie, lie to her Master. It was a lie by omission. I would not tell her something she wished to know. I couldn't. I had given my word that I would not, and would rather face all that I have thus far than be forsworn."

"He was protecting me." Ern finally spoke. "You know why. Durn was my partner. I was afraid that she would blame me for her son's death as well. I begged him not to tell her. I should have never done that. She knew already, so when she asked him, and he refused to tell her, she called for me, and I had to bring him here, and watch what was done to him." He looked down at his hands. "I should have known better, but I was, am still afraid of her, and now I am even more so."

"Sounds like something that boy would do." Warrel grumbled. "Always honest to a fault that one. If he gives you his word on something, then come hell or high water, he will do everything in his power to see it fulfilled."

* * *

Caytin didn't get much rest time. It was only a few minutes before Tag returned with the two large, shaggy dogs. "I have to bring them back within the hour." He told Xavier as he handed the older bedwarmer the leashes. Then he handed his a small jar with a brown salve like cream in it. "The guardswoman told me that because we don't make a habit of doing this here, Donnel wouldn't have call to make any of this stuff. She told me to tell you, you rub it around and on Caytin's anal opening, it has the same scent as a bitch does in heat."

The elder bedwarmer nodded. "Thank you for your help. I know this can't be easy for you." He stepped over to where Caytin still lay against Jerrick. "It's time Caytin."

Caytin looked at the two dogs. A look of fear and resignation crossed his face. "Yes, Master." He slowly pulled himself up on all fours.

Caytin almost screamed as Xavier smeared the cream on him. It burned like acid.

The dogs became frantic when the jar was opened and they got a whiff of the scent. "Hold the second dog, Caytin will have to use his mouth on him." He made shushing noises as Caytin whimpered. "It's the law Cay, you know it as well as I do. Your lie might have been only by omission, but it doesn't change the punishment. One will take you anally and you will bring the other to its end with your mouth. And this time, you may not be ill. What Danyel did to you, well, that was to be expected. But not this time." Xavier let the first dog go, turning his head as the mangy beast climbed up on Caytin's back, his front legs wrapping around Caytin's waist as he began to madly hump trying to find the hole. His claws, scratching at the welts on Caytin's back and sides, bringing gasps and cries of pain from Caytin.

He screamed when the dog finally hooked up and the knot begun to swell. The dogs' penis was thin, but very long, and the knot was bigger than anything that Caytin hat ever had in him before. He remained there, motionless, on all four, head hanging as the dog fucked him.

"Cay, you still with us?" Jax lifted his head, looking deep into his blue eyes.

"Please Master, don't, no more." He no longer cared who saw him, this was hell, he was wrong, he, should have chosen the oil. At least with the oil, he wouldn't feel as soiled as he did now with the dog hooked up with him as it was. "Please, mercy Master."

"I will pretend I didn't hear that." Jax led the other dog over and had it lay on its side infront of Caytin. "You know what to do, don't you?"

Caytin breathed deeply several times, trying to separate himself from the horror that he was being forced to suffer through. "Yes, Master." He lowered his head to begin to lip at the excited dog's sheathed penis, licking the head to get it to respond. He was going to have to suck this beast. One was taking from behind, and he would have to let the other take him from the front. Tears began to flow down his face as he began to sob again.

Fain turned his head and hid it in Jerrick's shirt. He knew all too well what Caytin had to go through. "How can they do that to him?" He cried.

There was no way Caytin could get the second dog's knot into his mouth. He tried, but his mouth wouldn't open far enough, so all he could do was lick it and suck what he could of the thin white dog penis. Still sobbing.

Surprisingly enough it was the second dog that came first, and Caytin had to fight his urge to vomit again as he swallowed. When he was done with the dog, he pulled back moaning in pain, as the first just grew more frantic and slammed into him harder. Not thrusting precisely anymore, he was locked up with him, but every time he slammed against Caytin, its front paws would move to get a better grip and claw at his hips and back, drawing blood in a few places.

Finally, it was over. The dog's knot began to shrink and he was able to pull back. Caytin fell to the floor, curling up into a ball again as his sobs wracked his body.

"Come on Cay, let's get you up and home." Jerrick and Fain were there at once. Helping to gather the sobbing man up. "Come on Ern, put the damn leash back on and let's get out of here."

CHAPTER 9

Jerrick had to practically carry Caytin for most of the way to Kaj's room. "Hold on, baby." He whispered wishing he could find some way to will some of his strength to the man. He had just watched a man be put through more hell that anyone should ask of anyone. He was so mad at his mistresses' sister he could barely, stand, it. Okay, so Caytin had made a mistake in promising Ern that he wouldn't tell his mistress what was really bothering him. But hell, after what he had just seen, he couldn't blame Ern.

It had been a, very, eventful three days for him. And for the most part he would not trade any of it for the world. Yes he was a slave now, but he had always known deep inside that he would probably end up as one, or dead, eventually. But his mistress was so beautiful and sweet natured, that she made accepting his new place in his life almost easy.

And Caytin, how could he explain how he felt about the man? First, he was the head of all the slaves in his New World. He also had a taste for things that Jerrick wasn't sure if he was up to trying. Had decided, not asked, to take him as his Lover. And the most surprising thing of it all to him, was, that he didn't resent or resist his position with him. If anything, his time as a soldier had prepared him for it. He had worked all his adult life around men, many of which sought their companions from their own sex. But what did surprise him was how quickly he had come to care for the man who had basically forced himself on him. And care for him, he did. It was that feeling of caring that made him want to bash his mistresses' sister's face in. She had no reason to do to him what she had. The whipping he could live with, Caytin had earned it. Even he had to admit that. But forcing him to drink nine different man's urine, then blow them? Or the forced gang rape and fisting, before the rape by the dogs? The only thing that saved Caytin from the rape and fisting was that Danyel, that sick son of a whore had taken it upon himself to shit in Caytin's mouth, and then order him to eat it. Well, soon enough they would deal with that sick fuck. Right now he had problems enough to deal with. Trinna, his mistress, was without a doubt upset. Tallin had to be sent from the Men's Quarter's so he didn't have to watch his father being tortured. Ern had been forced to witness it all. Poor kid. If the lady Kaj was aiming to make him fear her less, she missed the shot by a millions miles. The closer they came to Kaj's rooms the more upset Ern looked, and Fain God, what a nightmare for him. He was this sadistic bitch's second consort. Had to watch, as his consort was not only beat and humiliated, but raped by a dog as well. Jerrick knew all too well what that had to have done to Fain. He had spent over six cycles as a slave to the Catimine's where watching their slaves given to the dogs was considered great entertainment. Had been forced at such a young age to bend to them.

He had to calm down before they made it to lady Kaj's room or he would end up where Caytin had just come from. Because he wanted nothing more than to tell that, bitch, what he thought of her.

"Don't." Caytin who leaned so, heavily, on him whispered.

"I know. I'm just furious right now. I will watch my mouth. I won't do that to you."

"Thank you, Master." Fain who was on the other side, helping to support Caytin bit back a sob.

"Don't call me that Cay, I'm just as much a slave as you are, more, you're my master."

"Not yet, Master. I am nothing until my mistress returns my collar to me."

"Well, that will be soon enough. Just hang on a little longer. If she doesn't send for Trinna, I am going to end up under the whip because I'm going to attack her."

"Then I am glad I'm here. She already sent for me. She is worried sick. She didn't know that Danyel was going to take it into his head to try and beat her consort to death with just ten blows." Trinna moved up from behind Xavier. "Tallin and Hirren just left her to come and get me. And he is very lucky he is her son, because had any other boy said to her what he did, they would be marked for a worse fate than Caytin was."

"I don't see how that is possible, Mistress." Xavier muttered under his breath. "Or perhaps the mistress does not know the laws quite as well as she thought."

"Hold on Caytin, we are here, let me get you laid down and I will see to your wounds." Trinna opened the door.

"Caytin!" Kaj was across the room helping Jerrick and Fain to get him to the bed. "Goddess, what have I done to you?" She helped to ease him on the bed, shushing his cry of pain as his back touched the covers. "Please Trin, fix him." She turned to Ern. "What happened?"

"They let dogs have him." Fain almost screamed at her. "You sent him down there, and they let dogs have him." He sat on the bed, stroking Caytin's hair as Trinna healed his wounds. "I believed you, when you said that the Danes were different. That slavery here was not like it was there, and you sent your own Soul-Match to the dogs."

Kaj shook her head. "What do you mean, 'I', sent him to the dogs? I sent him down to be beat yes, and raped maybe. But nothing more." She turned to look with heat at Xavier. "Explain yourself. Since when do we send slaves to the kennels for anything short of a death sentence?"

"Forgive me Mistress, but that is the law. Any slave that lies to his mistress, or any mistress is beat, his mouth used as a toilet, raped, fisted, and sent to the dogs then usually faces fire oil. But I just couldn't do that to him Mistress, the dogs were enough"

"What have I done?" She hovered over Trinna while the young Healer repaired the, physical, damage done to Caytin. Only time could heal the rest of his wounds. "I didn't know, no one has ever lied to me. I never saw my mother ever have to deal with it either."

Caytin lifted his head, still afraid to move Trinna was still working on the rest of him. "Please, Mistress, I knew. I was willing to face that, and I knew. Please, don't blame yourself. I am going to be fine."

"For the love of God, woman, give him back his collar." Jerrick snapped before he thought. "It's, enough Mistress, that you had him brought down naked, his son saw his father humiliated. He was beat, had to drink the piss of four men before that sick son of a whore made him eat his shit. Then they let a dog fuck him while he was forced to blow another. Now please, Mistress, please, I'm begging you, give him back his damn collar."

"Jerrick!" Both Trinna and Caytin's voice of alarm, now was not the time to push things.

"Let him be, both of you. He is Caytin's Lover, of course, he is going to be enraged at me." Kaj bent to undo the plane black collar, before going to the desk and gathering his. Then carefully put his own on again. "Before I lock this again Caytin. I didn't know what I was sending you to. Do you still wish to be my slave? When we first matched souls, you were free or, were, for the few minutes it took us to realize what had happened. Before you knelt and submitted to me. I had to then, because if I hadn't I would have had to kill you. But because I did what I did, and you are free of your collar again, do you still wish to wear it?"

Caytin moved slowly. Healed but still weak to the floor, kneeling at her feet. "I am and will always be yours Mistress. I have no life without you."

Kaj reached down and closed the lock. "I'm sorry love. I didn't know I thought I was only sending you down to, be, humiliated and beat. Maybe a little more, I never realized that I was sending you down to be tortured." She fussed over him as she helped him to stand. Moving slowly to ease him back on the bed. Before turning to face Xavier. "While I am Chieftess of my people. The only ones to be sent to the kennels are those who are to die."

"Yes Mistress." Xavier bowed his head. "Danyel is going to be very happy to hear that. Though he is not scheduled to be sent, I was seriously considering it."

"Is Danyel the one that beat my consort so?"

"Yes Mistress, and ordered him to eat his shit too."

"He did what?" Kaj's voice rose she had missed that part of Jerrick's rant.

"Donnel had let him take his place before him when Master Caytin was having to drink our urine and bring each of us to release. He turned around and ordered him to ream him, and while he was obeying, he 'shit' in his mouth, then ordered him to swallow."

"Don't worry about him Mistress. Though I can not seek vengeance for what he did to me. Jerrick is my Lover, and the men of my house recognize him as such. It was a bit touch and go there for a moment. Jerrick was going to kill him then and there. But Saul stopped him. Karron did the same with Fain."

"Had he killed that little beast, I would have pardoned him. My rule still stands Xavier. Only those that are sentenced for death go to the kennels, but send him anyway. He is now sentenced for death. He is a bedwarmer, so he will die by my Consorts, both of them and Caytin's Lover's hands. The immunity that all slaves have from retribution for acts they must do during a punishment, no longer apply to him. To think, he was raised as one of us. And he would still do that to another. It would be different if Caytin had come to him, and sought out that kind of twisted amusement, but I know my first consort well enough to know, he never would.

Fain smiled at Caytin who lay back on the bed resting. "No, Mistress, my Master is on the giving end of a whip and not the receiving end."

Caytin chuckled softly. "Yes, and only then when I am being your master." He closed his eyes. "I feel so dirty." Now that the pain was gone, and his mistress with him again. He had time to think of what had happened to him. The feel and taste of the dogs were still with him.

Fain, nodded understanding, all to well. "Mistress, may I take him to the bath. I have been where he just came from, many times. I understand what he is feeling."

Kaj nodded. Her eyes watching closely as Fain and Jerrick helped him up. Healed he was, but he was also still very weak. His ordeal had taken a lot out of him.

A single knock, at, the door as Tallin burst in, Gabe at his heels. "Mother?" Tallin pulled up at the sight of his father being helped by Fain and Jerrick. "Oh, thank the Mother." He moved to Caytin.

"Don't touch me." Caytin snapped falling back against Fain in his attempt to keep space between him and his son.

Tallin stopped, confused. "Papa?"

"Not now, not while I am like this." He looked to Fain. "Please, love, I can't bear it."

Kaj moved towards the door. Murder in her eyes. "Mistress?" Even as tainted as he felt, he knew his duty to his lady.

"You go on and let our consort and your Lover take care of you Cay, forget the dogs, forget making him pay in pain for what he did to you. I am going to go and kill that thing. You cried Man's Justice for the thing that killed our son, well I demand satisfaction for what that thing did to someone I own." And she was gone.

"I had better go now. Some one is going to have to clean up once our mistress is finished seeing things made right." Xavier trotted behind Kaj.

"Go on Jerrick, I can sit here and wait for Kaj, she is probably going to need someone to talk to after she is finished. I haven't seen her like this, ever. Like she is right now, Danyel is going to die way too quickly for her to feel truly vindicated. You too Tallin, take Ern and Gabe and go on back to your room. You can see Caytin tomorrow, let him finish recovering first." Trinna, did something she almost never did, she took charge.

* * *

Danyel looked up as Kaj threw his door open with a resounding crash. "Mistress?" He was up and backing away as she came at him.

"I Kaj, Chieftess of the Danes, do here by find you guilt of crimes against our people," she grabbed him by the throat. "And sentence you to death." She snapped his neck before he had a chance to do more than cry out once.

She stood over the body as she let it fall to the floor. The red haze, of fury leaving her. She looked down at what had been a living, breathing, being just seconds before. An overwhelming feeling of satisfaction overcame her. She could never undo what she had done, but she could, and did, see to it that no other would ever face it again.

"Mistress?" Hirren looked at her as she came from the room.

"Excuse me, I seen to have left a bit of a mess for you to clean up. Throw it out with the trash will you?" Then she sighed again. "When I sent Caytin down to punish him, to teach him to never hide anything from me again. I was not aware that I was sending him down for more than a dose of humiliation and a beating, perhaps a little more. I never knew what would happen to him. Now that I do, hear me all of you. As long as I am Chieftess, and mistress of this house, the only time any of you is sent to the kennels, to face the dogs, is with a death sentence." She looked around at all that were in the room. "Do I make myself understood. There will be nothing done about this last error. It was mine, but no more."

"Yes Mistress," the men around the room responded at once.

"I am going to go see what I can do to undo some of the damage my lack of knowledge has done. See to taking out the trash won't you?"

"Well you heard your mistress, let's see to the trash." Toby was across the room and at what used to be Danyel's room. "I would never question a decision my mistress makes, but I wish she could have held her temper just a little longer. This thing deserved a much more extended death than what he was given."

"Well, you know women Toby." Van laughed. "Always so ready to deal with things right then and there. They sometimes don't see the sweet art of taking someone so far that by the time you do kill them, they are begging for it. That is why they have, for the most part, in their wisdom, left things like this to their men." He might, as just a bedwarmer, not be thought of in the ranks of the men, but he still had all the same feelings and beliefs as the consorts and breeders did.

* * *

The first thing Caytin did, even before letting Fain and Jerrick get him into the tub, was clean his mouth. The taste of urine, vomit, and dog was too much for him.

Fain looked to Jerrick for what to do next as they eased him into the water. Caytin was still so very weak, that his natural protective instincts rose. And Jerrick had been his commander since he was, saved, by Mer the first time.

Caytin was past worrying about things like pride and what they might think of him tomorrow. He let them tend to him. Willingly, almost meekly, following their soft requests. His punishment had reminded him of the fact that he was a slave for the first time in so long. "I need to, as soon as I am clean, go see Donnel." He muttered to no one inparticular.

"What for, and why can't you just ask our mistress to send for him?" Fain was busy washing him.

"I can bathe forever, and nothing will make me feel clean again. Donnel's mother is the High Priestess, Mother Kaylin. He might not be a Healer, but he knows what I need."

"Well, Jerrick's lady, is, a Healer. And I am sure that she would know what to do as well as he would." Fain, looked up at Jerrick. "He needs to see to it that he is cleaned out inside. It wasn't just his mouth that the dogs befouled."

Jerrick nodded. He had known what Caytin had meant by what he had said. "Well, then let me go to see if I can get her." He stood ready to leave the tub.

"Thank you Jerrick." Caytin's voice was soft.

He only smiled at Caytin. "Hell man, I'm your Lover, remember, all part of my job."

Trinna looked up as Jerrick, wrapped in a bath sheet stepped from the bathing room. "Trin," he started, "Mistress, could you help Cay? He needs to get cleaned up inside too. If you know what I mean."

"I've already thought of that, and went to the infirmary I have here and got the things that I will need for him." She held up the bag and hose. "How is he?"

"Better, I think once he has a chance to finish cleaning up, he will be back to his normal, charming self in no time." 'Or at least he will, if I have anything to say about it. His mistress might claim ignorance in what was done to him, but that still doesn't undo the fact that she sent him down to it.' He still hadn't fully forgiven Kaj for what was done to Caytin.

"Well you come and see if you can get Fain to pull away from his consort long enough for he and I to deal with this. He's been through quite enough for one night. He might not notice much right now, but tomorrow he will thank you for it."

He nodded. "Right behind you Mistress."

Fain looked up as Trinna, followed by Jerrick entered the room. "So Cay, how are you feeling now?" She began to set things up.

"Like I have been dragged through the nine hells of ice and thrown down into a vat of broken glass Trin. But I think I'll live."

"Come on Fain, Cay needs some time alone with the Healer." Jerrick stood at the door.

Fain looked from him back to Caytin who still rested against him in the water. "Cay?"

"Go on, Jerrick is right. It will only be a few more minutes. But I need to have Trin see to me."

Trinna waited until her consort had taken Fain from the room before helping Caytin out of the tub. "Don't worry about Fain, Jerrick will take care of him." She assured him as she lay him on the bench, before going to prepare what she needed.

"I know sweety. That man of yours, I took him as my Lover because he was one of the new ones, and had up and mated with you that first night he was in your keep. I didn't realize what a good decision it was before tonight. I believe he would have killed Danyel had he not been stopped, for what he did to me."

"Be glad he didn't. I think Kaj would have been a bit miffed at him if he had."

"But she told him she would have pardoned him for it."

"Yes, and I am sure she would have, but had he killed him, she would have missed the chance to do just that, and well you know Kaj as well as I do. She wouldn't have been ill that he killed him, but that he did before she could." She greased the nozzle end of the hose. "Roll over on your side for me Cay. The sooner I get this done, the sooner you can go out there and let three very worried people see you are okay."

* * *

Kaj slipped back into her room. "Where is Cay?" She looked to where Jerrick and Fain sat. Jerrick trying to assure Fain that Caytin was going to be fine, that his mistress was a Healer, and knew what she was doing.

"Taking care of a few things with Trinna, Mistress. They should be along soon enough." Jerrick looked at her, only because he had too.

She nodded. "Good, the sooner we can help him forget some of what went on tonight, the better I will like it." She went to the table where a decanter and glasses were. "I know neither of you will believe me or care when I say this. And I know it will not alter what happened tonight. But I honestly did not know what I was sending him too. And I am not talking about what Danyel did. Nor will what I have done change what happened to him. But I have seen to it that no other slave ever has to face that again, never again, unless it is part of a death sentence will I ever allow another to be sent to the dogs." She held out a hand to Jerrick. "Your mistress is my little sister, and you are the Lover of my first consort and soul. We may own our men, but we do not, in anyway, command their thought and feelings, only their bodies and actions. If you and I are not at peace with each other, than I am very concerned that there will be no peace in my house for a while. I will not have you beat or punished in any way for hating me. But my sister will suffer, and if you hurt my sister, then I will."

He looked at her hard for a moment before lowering his eyes. "I understand Mistress. I either let it go, or run the risk of having to face almost the same thing Cay did tonight?"

"I am afraid so. I was wrong, and there is nothing I can do to undo what was done. But Trinna had no part in it. And if your hatred of me causes my little sister pain, then I will see to it you feel it too."

He nodded. "It doesn't seem like I have any choice but to let it go. But what about, Fain, he is your and Cay's consort. Does he have to forgive and forget or face the same?"

She shook her head. "No, but like you said, he is our consort. Given time, I am sure that between Cay and I, we can see him through it. I have constant influence with him. But you are not mine." She looked up as Trinna helped Caytin from the bathing room. "He okay Trin?"

"Yes, but he needs to talk with Jerrick for now. It looks like I am out a bed partner for the night."

"Well as soon as either we get a response from the Merican King or march against him, and collect all that we don't kill, you really should thing about seeing to a play mate for you and Jerrick for times when he is with Cay. I have Fain. When Cay took Jerrick as his Lover, it added another reason for my taking Fain as my second consort. I had originally planned on keeping him with us for a time to see to it that he learned what slavery really meant, and come to terms with his lover living elsewhere before I turned him free with my women. But he is just too perfect, and I haven't even thought of taking another consort before now, we didn't have the men. But what with three new breeders in my house, I felt I could be a bit greedy."

"I would offer you and Fain a place to sleep, but the reason I didn't just invite Cay to my room when he told me he needed to be with Jerrick was I don't have the bed space you do."

"Well, I won't send Fain to the Men's Quarter's, but if Cay and Jerrick don't mind him staying with them, I can take Jerrick's place in your bed." She smiled at Trinna. "It's been a long time little sister."

If they had expected a response from either Jerrick or Fain, they would be waiting a long time. Jerrick and Fain held Caytin between then as the man sobbed. Fain spared his mistress a quick look, "go on Mistress. I know how to help him."

"Take care of him for me please little one." Kaj wrapped an arm around Trnna's shoulders as the three began to become nothing but arms and mouths. "Goddess, quick, let's get out of here before all this sweetness, throws me into diabetic shock."

Trinna giggled. "Take care of him Jerrick." And she left with her sister.

"She's gone, Cay. It's okay now, it's just Fain and me." Jerrick kissed him softly. "It's all over, baby. No more, I promise." He just held the man as he trembled against him. "You heard your mistress, she didn't know. But now she does, and it won't, ever, happen again." He looked up to, Fain. "Let it go soldier. This is a battle we can't win."

Caytin reached out to pull Fain into the embrace that he was sharing with Jerrick. "Listen to me, both of you." His voice was soft. "We are equals here, if only for one night, we are equals." He held on to Jerrick with an almost desperate strength. "Make love to me, Jerrick." He almost sobbed. "I need, no I have to have the feel of something 'human' in me."

Jerrick, couldn't help himself, he chuckled. "I thought that was what I was in the middle of doing, Lover."

The last of the tension left Caytin's face. He smiled softly. "Oh, so you are, silly me." He looked down at Fain, who lay against them. "Little one, on the table there is a bottle of oil, Tallin brought it to me this afternoon. It is some of Donnel's latest brew. He assures me that it only took a little in the bath to bring Ern around. It is that strong."

"You don't need that oil with me, Cay. I was fey to begin with, and Jerrick," he looked down at the huge erection that the older man had. "I really don't think he is going to need any help either."

"It's not for us, you dolt." Jerrick reached out and cuffed Fain.

Fain, giggled, blushing. "Oh, that's right, with that thing of yours, you are about to ruin my consort for any man other than you." He pulled away, slipping from the bed to move, naked, to the table. "I don't know how I should feel about this Jerrick." He joked, attempting to lighten the mood as much as possible. "Looking at that thing of yours, I think I should be jealous."

This time it was Caytin who chuckled. "Don't be, love, with as often as the bedwarmers play among themselves, our Healers have long since learned how to tighten certain muscles."

"Are you sure I won't hurt you Cay? Trinna is a woman, and she was sore that next morning."

"Goddess, I hope so. That pain would be preferable to the memory of the pain I have." He took the bottle from Fain. "But, no I am sure you won't hurt me. This is oil we use with virgins. And trust me, Jerrick, I haven't been a virgin since I was sixteen." He pressed the bottle into Jerrick's hand. "I trust you, precious. More than that, I need you."

Jerrick locked eyes with Fain, who smiled nodding. He understood just how little Jerrick knew of what Caytin wanted from him. He nodded, opening his arms. "Ssshh, Cay, You don't have to ask. I'm here for you." He pressed the man back against Fain, as his mouth closed over his, taking the role of the aggressor.

Caytin moaned breaking from the kiss he was sharing with Jerrick as he felt two pair of hands on his body, touching, stroking. It had been so many cycles since last anyone other than his mistress, moved him like this.

"Lay back, Cay. I'll help Jerrick." Fain's voice soft in Caytin's ear.

"Warning, this stuff, it won't just effect him." Fain took the bottle from Jerrick. "By the time my mistress had got me to the point that I was ready for her, she was as caught up in it as I was." Fain pulled the cork from the bottle, taking Jerrick's hand in his and pouring some in his palm.

Caytin lay on his stomach. Arms wrapped around the pillow under his head as his two-bed mate's began to work the oil into his skin. He was too far-gone to wonder at the changed in his young consort's behavior. The timid boy that he had coddled the night before was now without a doubt a man, who had a side of him that before now, had never been seen.

His hips began to move in response to the hand and finger that worked their way into him, promising, even with as large as his Lover was, that there would be, no, pain.

It was Jerrick's turn to moan at the feel of warm slick hands on him, and a firm, but light hand on his balls. "Get him on his knees for me Jerrick." Fain's mouth moved from his mouth to his ear. "You make love to him, I'll blow him. He wants to forget, then by god, let's make him forget."

Jerrick chuckled. "Damn son, what's got into you? Mer never told me that you were anything but submissive." He carefully pulled Caytin up pulling him back against him. Shushing the whimper from his Lover as he began to work himself into him. "Ssshh it's, okay baby, deep breaths." He knew the oil worked, but still, the opening he was working himself into was so small, and he wasn't. And it didn't matter how much he wanted to just give into what he was feeling. He would not forget what his partner had just been through.

"I never had cause to be any other way with him." Fain pressed Caytin back farther into Jerrick's arms. "And I don't want to be any other way with Cay here either, but there are times when we have to be ways that aren't exactly what we normally want." He ran his hands down the man's body. "Isn't that the case honey? You just lay back against your Lover there, and I'll take care of you."

Caytin leaned back against Jerrick, mouth hot against his as he felt the fullness as Jerrick was finally able to work himself all the way in. His balls pressing against Caytin's buttock, slapping them as he began to move inside him. Not quickly, but with slow, easy, long thrusts. The kind that promised only the, sweetest, of pleasure. He moaned low almost a sob as Fain's hands and mouth joined in the play. He had missed this. In the struggle for survival of his people, he had missed what could be shared among the men.

* * *

Kaj and Trinna fell on Trinna's, bed, pulling at each other's clothes, mouths locked together. For all Trinna's meekness in day to day life, she was not in bed. And Kaj, who had spent her whole life, having to be the first and the strongest, loved when her little sister decided to be aggressive like she was now. It was such a pleasant change, to just lay back and let someone else take charge for a change. "That man of yours, he has no idea what he's in for." She reached up and stroked a bared breast, catching a nipple between thumb and forefinger, rolling it as she pinched lightly, tugging.

"Oh, I don't know, he's figuring it out pretty quick. And so far can match me, touch for touch."

"Yeah, out of self defense." She laughed at her sister who stuck her tongue out at her. "Come here you." She pulled Trinna's face to meet hers. "You should have visited me more often, Cay spent so much time with the other women in my house. The bed got mighty lonely at times. And before Jerrick, you always struck me as more inclined to spend your time with Kari." She sighed at the feel of fingers as they danced over her skin.

"I wanted a consort, and not just a breeder or bedwarmer. And non of the breeders in our house interested me enough to bother."

"Oh, I don't know, Tag seems a nice enough boy. I am sure he will make pretty babies." She smiled at Trinna as she touched her. "You do know that now, that you have a mate, you are going to have to start getting him to shave this." She brushed against Trinna's patch of fur on her mound. "You're not a girl anymore, but a mated woman, take pity on your man, or with as aggressive as you are, you will have him spitting hairs entirely too much."

"First, Tag is just that, a sweet boy. I wanted a man. There is no satisfaction from bending a little boy like Tag to my amusements. But Jerrick, and trust me Kaj, he is all man. And you and Cay had Fain safely snuggled between the two of you before I even thought to look. Caytin has to be in his own world of joy right now. He has my mate who is as much a man as he is, and then Fain, who is equally as sweet as Tag ever hoped to be, but, did you see him tonight? He was hot, Jerrick I expected to growl at you, but Fain?"

"My second consort had just watched his consort and master be put through hell. No, had he not yelled at me, I would have thought I had made a mistake in taking him. And you are right, Jerrick is all, man, and it is much more amusing to dominate them when they are just, that, real men. And Tag isn't and alas never will be. Vera, his mother, saw to it that he was broke, long ago. He was never given the chance to be much more than a whipped dog in her household."

"I know, I feel sorry for the boy, but not sorry enough to take him as my consort. And now, with Jerrick, Goddess, can you see how the boy would react?" Trinna laughed. "He would faint dead away the first time Jerrick said anything semi cross to me."

"You let me catch that mate of yours being disrespectful to you, and I will do much more than faint dead away, I will have him strung up."

Trinna stuck her tongue out at her sister again. "Oh pooh, you go threatening him, and take all my fun away. If he is more afraid of you than he is of me, what good would that do?"

Kaj rolled over pinning Trinna to the bed under her. "Trin, you do know you are perverse."

"Yeah, I do, and I like being just the way I am. And I am sure my man will too, once he gets over the fact that I am almost half his age."

"He still worrying about that? Kerfan was only eighteen when mother took him as her second consort. And she was much more than just twice his age. Kajeer my father and Tallin, my older brother had died leaving her with only one child. That was why she took your father as her second consort. Kajeer wasn't her soul-match. So she went on after his death."

"Papa never really got over her death, you know. He loved my mother. Still blames himself for her death."

"Why? She was over a hundred, when she had you. It was her age and nothing he did that sent her into the Mother's embrace." She smiled at her. "But enough talking for now, shall I spit a few hairs?" Trinna laughed as Kaj's head bent over her.

* * *

Caytin had Fain turn over to lay on his back, so as Jerrick began to give into what he was feeling, he could bend over and remove the last hint of any taste that wasn't human from him. Moaning around the hardness in his mouth as he felt Jerrick pushing his forward and down with each powerful slam feeling his Lover's balls slap him with each thrust. It was a feeling beyond belief.

Jerrick just couldn't keep himself in check anymore, between having to sit back and watch what was done to Caytin, and the drug in the oil, he wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around the frail looking man underneath him and never let him go. It made no sense to him, the feelings of love and of protectiveness he now felt for Caytin. But at this point, sense was the last thing he was worried about. He loved him, almost as much as he was beginning to love Trinna, and the unborn child they had made together.

"Oh, damn, baby, I, I can't, I'm gonna, oh damn." He forced Caytin down, shuddering for a long moment as the tight heat pushed him past all restraints, and he came in the same hot cavity that had driven him almost to madness.

Caytin and Fain's echoing voices of release follow his almost at once. As all three became one in a brief moment of joy.

CHAPTER 10

It had, been almost a moon of riding like demons were chasing them for Eric and Remus to make it home, but they had made it.

And no matter how much they wanted to do nothing but fall on their face. They had one last duty to perform, before they could finally fully believe that they had gotten out of this alive. They had to see their king.

'You would think, that he would want to hear about what happened.' Eric thought to himself, with more than just a little irritation at yet, another, delay.

Finally, "The King will see you now." A young guard, looked at them, a little worried. They were coming before their king, still filthy from the road. That couldn't be a good sign.

The two men moved into the audience chamber. To speak with their, Monarch and Queen. Both dreading what they were to say, but both also knowing the consequences of not getting to him as soon as they could.

The Monarch of the Merican's was a tired looking man. Who had seen so many horrors in the last twelve cycles that he didn't think he would ever, not even if the nightmare was over today, sleep without his dreams haunting him, ever again. "You both look like hell." His tone was worried. There were only two of the seven he had sent out, returning. That did not bode well for the mission. "Where is your commander, the rest of your company?"

Eric and Remus looked at each other, before Eric, the more assertive of the two, bowed his head. "Forgive me your Excellency," he turned to his Queen, "and you my Queen. We would kneel before you, but I am afraid if either of us did that, we couldn't be getting up again any time in the near future." Not wouldn't, but 'couldn't', they were that exhausted. "We have had to ride like devils were chasing us to get back as soon as we could."

The Monarch just dismissed the matter with a snort. "Eric, you have been one of my most staunch supporters for how long? I think we can dismiss with normal court behavior. What happened, where are the rest of those in your company?"

Again the two men looked at each other, trying to decide just how to tell their King what they were charged too. "It went badly, Sire." Eric said finally. "From the beginning, it had gone very badly."

"And the rest of those that went with you? Commander Jerrick, are they dead?" The Queen spoke up, a worried tone in her voice. A very valid question, seeing as those that they had gone to steal children from kept their men in chains. So death wasn't a given.

"No my Queen, or at least not all of them, and not at the time when they turned us loose." The man was none too happy with what he was going to have to do next. But he also knew that until he did, he could not consider his duty to his King served.

The Monarch briefly closed his eyes, a look of pain crossing his tired face. "Why don't you begin at the beginning."

So slowly, with halting words, the story began to take shape. It was a grim tale, and there was nothing they could do to lesson the grimness of it. When they reached the point of the Chieftesses son's death, the Queen covered her mouth in horror. She had lost a child too, and understood the pain the woman must have felt.

"Damn him." There was defeat in the Monarch's voice. "I sent you all there to 'steal' children. Not to kill them, if that fool was not probably dead by now, I would kill him myself." It had all been for nothing. It had been a desperate attempt to save them, but for what? All it had accomplished was getting an innocent boy killed, and four of his best soldiers put in chains. "So they let the two of you go?" He looked back to the two men before him. "How is it that you were able to get free when the others were not?"

Again the two men looked at each other. This was why they had been released, to carry back the leader of the Danes demands. And they, had rode like the wind to do just that but now that it was time, it wasn't easy. "The Chieftess of the Danes, sent a demand of you, Sire." Eric looked down, trying to find the words to lessen the blow. "As retribution for what we did, and for the death of her son. She has given you three moons from the night of the raid, to turn over one-half of the healthy young men of your Kingdom, between the ages of fifteen and thirty." He took a deep breath before continuing. "If you fail to meet her demands, the Danes will march on us, and she has given her word that she will have every man and woman over the age of fifteen killed."

The Monarch just stared at him, in shock. "Half my men? I can't afford to turn over half of what is left of my men. I might as well turn over my throne to those animals that have been at us the last twelve cycles. The Catimine's make a habit of keeping most of their population in chains as well."

"Sire," Remus finally spoke up. "The Chieftess sent word that if you complied willingly to her demands, that She would send a prison full of women who had committed, minor crimes, to help us with our needs. We went to steal girl children, so she will offer her help in that. That for the time of their sentence they will be sent here and serve as the beginnings of another generation."

Eric took up the dialogue again. "Also that if you do this. That she will not leave your Kingdom unprotected. That until such time as our lands are able to stand on, their own again, she will see them protected." He looked down. 'She says you should have brought this to her before trying to raid her house for children."

The Monarch just looked to his Queen. "How much time do we have left? If I am going to have to send half the men of my Kingdom into slavery, I need to know how long I have to prepare them."

"Not long, Sire. It was an almost moon long ride, and we rode like the wind. So you have maybe a couple of weeks, a moon but no more. And if you take that long, you will meet her in mid course as her warrior's march against us. But hopefully, if she sees you are complying with her demands, our people will be spared." Eric was so tired. He hadn't done more that grab naps in the saddle for weeks, not daring to dismount for more than a moment to relieve himself. They had even eaten in the saddle as they raced home.

A grim faced Monarch nodded. "Thank you, now, please you both look like you are about to fall out. You have done your duty, go and get some rest, and let me do mine."

* * *

The days passed slowly. Tallin and Gabe had spent that first horrible night after Caytin had been punished so badly, spending it, trying to convince Ern that they did not hate him. He was new to this life, so of course, he couldn't be expected to know that he could never hide anything from his mistress, no matter how frightened he was. But eventually they did get him to believe them. True it had taken hours of talking, and more than one dose of a wine that again, was special made by Donnel for the slaves. But they did finally get through to him.

Fain had continued to see Mer, faithfully once a week. Either he would go, after the third time, alone to visit with Mer at Mer's new home, or Brom would bring Mer to visit him. But Brom wasn't quite ready to trust Mer to come and go freely yet. It was one thing, what with Fain being Kaj and Caytin's second consort and all, to trust the boy. But so far, Mer was still only a breeder. But he didn't seem to mind his trips to bring Mer every other week. If anything the man looked forward to it. Gave him an excuse to be out of the house for no reason. And as Aticka's first consort, that was something he didn't get often.

This week, however, Caytin had decided to accompany Fain on his visit. The raid had taken place almost three moons to the day. And all three men in his house were becoming very distressed. With the knowledge of what failure to comply to their mistresses demands hanging over them, the promise of death for so many of what had once been their people, it was not an easy time in his home. Ern, spoke less and less, and spent more and more of his time, if he was not with Marissa, his new mistress, in his room at the Men's Quarter's. Jerrick, who had become so very dear to him, brooded a lot, and poor Fain, the boy was almost frantic with worry. No it was becoming very difficult in his home. And he was becoming very concerned that if his mistress had to move against the Merican King, it would be a very hard time in his Men's Quarter's.

Today's visit with Mer had if not been for the fact that Fain needed his old lovers support as Fain had worried over the possible outcome, it would have been a waste of time. There was no desire to spend any time alone together.

"Caytin." The horror in Fain's voice had Caytin looking up, concerned. The sight before him, was all the explination he needed for the tone in Fain's voice.

Just beyond the gate to his city, were lines of men. Each coming forward, dropping their weapons, and then returning to their place in line, dropping to their knees with their hands going to clasp behind their heads "Great Mother, protect us." It was a ghastly sight. "Come on Fain, we need to get home." He had to get his second consort out of here, and away from the terrible sight before them. "You there. He looked around and caught sight of a young boy. "Run, quick to the Temple, tell the Priestesses that the Merican's have come, they will know what to do."

The house was in chaos as Caytin brought Fain home. "Go, the Men's Quarter's, love. This is something that you don't need to see. Tell Warrel I asked him to take care of you for now."

"Did you see, Cay? They are," the shock in his voice was painful to hear. Over the last three moons, he had come to peace with his new life. Had found happiness and love. But the reminder of what were his original fears was painful.

"I know, Fain, but you just go on, and let your mistress take care of this. Trust your faith in her to see this seen to." Caytin pulled the younger man close holding him, trying to sooth his trembling for a moment before letting him go. "Now, run do as I say. For now, I am not just your consort, but your master."

The worry in Fain's bright green eyes was disquieting to Caytin. "Yes, Master."

Caytin waited only long enough for Fain to leave the front room, before going to find Kaj.

She met him coming into the room before he could take more than a couple of steps. "Have you seen Cay?" There was a worried look on her face.

"Yes Mistress, and so has Fain. He is very distraught."

She looked from the door to Caytin. "I don't have time to see to him right now, I have a much greater problem on my hands, the other men of my house will have to see to him for now. Let's go."

* * *

The sight that greeted her at the gate of her city was a chilling one. Row upon row of men, all kneeling, hands clasped behind their, bowed, heads, greeted her. "Goddess protect us." She was stunned. "Here now, get up." She started to pull the nearest men to their feet. "What is the meaning of this?" She was enraged. "Who is in charge here? Why are these men being made to be like this?" She demanded.

"I am Chieftess." A voice as a man rode up on a horse. "I am King Thalin. I have complied with your demands. Before you are half of the men of my city that are between the ages of fifteen and thirty." He dismounted.

"Why have you done this to them. I said I wanted them, but Good Goddess man, you have them presented here as if they are being sent to slaughter. Have you no mercy, or have those things that have taken so much from you, taken your humanity as well?"

The man looked up at her, anger and pain flashing in his dark eyes. "Mercy?" He spat at her. "Don't speak to me about mercy woman. There is not a parent of a man here that I do not understand their fear. But my fear and pain is much greater. They have at least some hope for their sons, I know mine is to die."

Kaj looked at him in shock and disbelief. "Die?" She looked out at the sea of kneeling men. "Which is your son?" 'Goddess, he thinks I would kill a man, just because he is his son.' The concept that she would do something that base was hard for her to grasp.

"Rook." He looked out at the men.

"Father?" A soft voice rose from among a knot of kneeling men, as a thin, frail looking almost boy, stood.

"This is my youngest son, Rook." There was pain in the man's eyes. "Your youngest was killed by one of my men, so to you, I offer mine." He was visibly fighting not to break. "May his life be enough to ease your thirst for vengeance. To spare the others that are here from it."

Kaj looked the boy over. He couldn't have been more that sixteen, seventeen at the most. Slender, tall enough to look Kaj in the eyes, if he looked up. And a face so lovely that she knew women who would do a lot to be as fair. And hair the color of a raven wing. "Oh, my," she reached out to lift his chin. Her deep moss green eyes meeting his. A deep, almost sapphire blue, "I take it you got your looks from your mother."

He blushed. "Am I to die now?" He had made this journey, knowing that he was to repay this woman for her son. Had insisted that his father let him come. It was only right. They had cost her, her, youngest. So why should he be allowed to live?

Kaj smiled at him. "No, pretty one. The sins of the father do not always fall upon the son. I am not the killer of innocent children. No amount of blood can ever be enough to replace my son. I won't take your life. But your seed, if you are fertile, now that I will." She patted him on the cheek. Before looking back up to his father. "You are a fool. Was it not enough that you broke treaty with me, but now you would throw your sons life away?" The fury in her face was intimidating. "Fine, I will take it. He will belong to my house, as a breeder, if he is fertile, as a bedwarmer if not."

A look of worry, and relief warred on the older man's face. "What, if I may ask, is his fate? I had come to terms with the fact that I was going to lose my son, but not quite this way."

"No, you had me killing a boy no older than my eldest son." She snapped at him. "He will live in my home. As a pleasure slave to begin with. But with his face, if he is fertile, I am sure that one of the women in it, will see to it that he is made her consort soon enough." She smiled at Caytin, who stood at her side. "Or, perhaps, seeing as he is your son, I might take him as my third, and final. Who knows, but for now, until such time as he is decided fertile or not, he is a pleasure slave of my home." She looked back at the frightened young man. "Rook, is it?"

"Yes, Chieftess," his voice was barely above a whisper.

"No, not chieftess, child. I am your mistress now. Will you go with my Head Consort and have him see to you?"

Rook looked at Caytin who stood there. "Sir?"

"He's a pleasure slave Cay. Tend to him as such."

"Here, now?" Caytin was a little surprised, his mistress usually kept these little humiliations a little, less public.

"Yes, here and now. Let his father, who so foolishly thought to buy off my grief with his son, see his fate."

Caytin nodded. "Rook." He stepped closer to the terrified boy. "Pleasure slaves are not allowed clothes at any time, except the dead of winter," he looked around. "And it is spring. Remove them, you no longer allowed to wear them."

Rook stepped back, shocked. "Father," he looked to the King. Trying to find comfort and protection. He was prepared to die, but this. They couldn't mean to do this to him.

"Has no say in your life anymore, slave." Caytin felt badly for the boy. He knew it couldn't be easy to be forced to obey what he was going to order the child to do with this many around. "Now, either you strip willingly, or I will have to cut your clothes from you, and you do not want that." He never raised his voice. He didn't have to. The boy broke into tears as he struggled with his tunic.

"Please." They couldn't do this to him, here.

"Ssshh, come now child. It is warm enough. You have nothing to fear. No one is going to hurt you."

Rook stood there, looking at him. "I," he shook his head. "I can't, please, not here."

Caytin sighed, looking to his mistress who nodded to two of her guards to come and hold the boy. "I had warned you." He waited for the guards to take the boy by the arms, before taking the knife that Kaj offered him.

Rook began to struggle between the two women that held him. "Please, don't do this." He cried.

"Be still. I warned you of what refusing would mean. If you continue to struggle, I might cut you." He began to cut the clothing from the boys' slender frame.

The King of the Merican's stepped forward. "Why are you doing this to him here?" He demanded. "Isn't it enough that he is now your slave, must you see him humiliated too?"

"Why humiliated, man?" Kaj challenged him. "Look around you, he is not the only naked slave to be seen. He is my pleasure slave now. He will be stripped, decorated, and put on constant display. That is how we do things here, I will not allow him to be harmed in any way, as long as he obeys. But he will obey, or I will see that he is made to do so." Kaj snarled at him. "Who are you to question how we do things here. You who, sent, men to come like thieves in the night to steal from us. To, take our daughters and niece's. What right have you to say anything?" She turned to Caytin who was finishing his fast work of cutting everything the boy wore from him, leaving him standing there, naked in only his boots, sobbing. "Take him to the house, see him fed, before you take him to the Temple for his decorations." Then her tone softened. "Rook, this is Caytin. He is my first consort, and Head Slave of all the slaves of my people. He will take care of you. Mind him, and you have nothing to fear. But if you resist, he will be forced, like with your clothes to see to it you mind, even if that means punishing you." She looked the boy over. All in all, his body was as lovely as his face. "Cay, do teach him how to present himself properly. He is now one of the," she looked at the horrified face of the King of the Merican's as he watched his son treated so. "The only one, pleasure slaves of my house. See to it that he does not shame it."

*Mistress, must I? I agree with you, the King he needs to pay for what he did. But must his son suffer so? *

*Do, it. You can coddle the boy later, I am sure you are going too do that anyway. But yes, his father must see what his audacity costs him. Even if that means he must see his son humiliated before his eyes. * Kaj's mind was firm. Caytin just nodded. Knowing better than to try to argue with his mistress when she was like this. It would not go well for the boy if he did.

"No, please, don't." Rook began to struggle again as Caytin stepped forward and reached for him, gently touching him. "Please, oh God don't, do, this." His cries were near screams. He was past simple humiliation. This man was going to, like Kerri liked to do. "Please." He would be forced to display his shame. Kerri loved to do this to him, to humiliate him like this. That was one of the reasons he had insisted that his father bring him. He would rather die than continue to be abused like this. And he knew all too well what was going to happen next. His shame would be known, and then like so many times before, he would be mocked and hurt for it. "Please, Sir, I'm begging you." He sobbed as he felt his cock begin to harden. "Please."

"Ssshh, hush." Caytin leaned forward, trying to offer the poor boy some support. "I won't hurt you. This is merely how you are to present yourself, at all times. You are a pleasure slave now, Rook, and really, it is hard to see what you have to offer your mistresses and master's without it. You are in no danger. No one hurts a pleasure slave. To do so is against our very basic laws."

A movement from the side as a figure in a cloaked hood stepped forward. "Don't hurt my brother." A soft voice as the hood fell back and a girl, looking so much like Rook, in appearance and age, that there was no doubt that she was his twin.

"Miri!" King Thalin grabbed her arm, trying to pull her hood back up to hide her from view again.

"And who is this pretty thing?" Kaj raised an eyebrow.

King Thalin held her close, protectively. "My daughter. Rook is her twin, and she had to see what his fate was. I tried to talk her out of coming, but as you can see, I have very little control when it comes to her."

Kaj looked at the girl. "Hold Cay. I didn't ask for your son Thalin, you gave him to me, but her, I will take from you. It has been more cycles than I can recall since last we had a woman pleasure slave. But I think it is time we took one. It will be very hard to have her present her availability as Rook can, but I am sure that if her body is as sweet as her face, that will be all the announcement she will need."

King Thalin tightened his hold on his daughter. "No, you can't, she is my heir. Hate me, kill me if you wish, but do not touch my heir. It would not matter if you had done to me what I had you, I would not enslave your heir, to end your line." He was ready to fight if he had too, to die if need be, but as long as he stood, no one was going to touch her.

Kaj nodded. "Go on Caytin, take the boy and see to it that he is seen too. The King of the Merican's is right. I would never take his heir." Then she turned back to the frightened young woman. "Relax, dear, I know it seems cruel what is happening to him at the moment, but I assure you. He will be well cared for. I have placed him in my consort's care, and there is no place safer for him."

"With your permission, Mistress, I am going to go and see he is fed before I take him to the temple." Caytin stepped back, smiling at Rook's cock, which now was fully erect. "No," he batted Rook's hands away as the boy tried to cover himself. "You can't do that Rook."

"Can I say goodbye to my brother?" Miri pulled away from her father.

"Maybe later, but for right now, I think I have made my point with your father. He needs to go with Caytin. This can't be easy for him. I have been learning with the four I kept from the original raid, that what we think of as normal everyday life, is a little shocking to those that were not born to it." She looked one last time to Caytin. "Go on, take the boy and see he is taken care of."

"Yes Mistress." Caytin held out a hand. "Come on Rook, you heard your mistress, let's go see what I can dig up to feed you."

Rook looked to his father. "Father?" His eyes begged for help.

Thalin glanced at his son, standing there before him, naked with his manhood erect, before turning away uncomfortable. "Go on Rook, you heard your mistress."

Caytin led the sobbing young man away, trying to get him to calm down.

Kaj turned to look as the many Temple Priestesses were helping to gather the frightened new slaves. "Well, Thalin, perhaps you and I should go somewhere, our of the heat to finish our discussions."

* * *

Rook tried not to notice all the people around him. But it was impossible, and the more he saw, the greater his humiliation became. Which did nothing to lesson his shame. "They're looking at me." He whispered to Caytin.

Caytin only chuckled. "With as pretty as you are, I would be surprised if they weren't." He stepped away from Rook as the boy tried to hide behind him. "Hush." He fussed as Rook began to cry even harder. "Behave yourself. Goddess boy, you keep this up, and they are going to think I have hurt you." He reached out and took Rook's cock in his hand. "Well, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong here. That is one of the reasons that we first come up with the position of pleasure slave. So that those of us, who are like you, would get the attention you so crave." He stroked the boy. "I do think that once you are properly decorated, and denuded, you are going to make me a very busy man. I am going to have my hands full, with you, aren't I?"

"Please Sir, don't do this." Rook so wanted to make Caytin stop, but couldn't. As horrifying to him as this was, if also felt so good. So far, no one had hurt him. They didn't look upon his shame in disgust and mock him but seemed to encourage it. There was more than one wolf whistle and catcall from those around them.

"Don't do what? I am not hurting you Rook, am I?" Caytin's voice was soft in his ear. "You must find something about this all pleasing. If this thing were any harder, it would be able to break stone. Now come on. Your mistress is right, I need to see to it that you are fed before I take you to the Temple."

The house was quiet, for that Rook was grateful. It had been enough that he had been marched through the town, naked, his terrible shame for all to see. Kerri was going to have a field day with this. His little brother, who was prettier than most of the women he knew, exposed like this. He would have such a good time making fun of him. He had spent the last week, taunting Rook with what would happen to him when he got here. Either in the way he would be killed or like this. He had told him over and over that when the Chieftess got a good look at him that she was going to do just what she did. And show the world what a little slut he really was, and he was, oh God, it was a horror that was beyond description. And his body loved it. His erection was all the proof anyone needed to know it.

"Why don't you sit there, and I'll so see what I can find for your to eat. It is past lunch and the kitchen slaves are busy worrying about dinner, but I am sure I can come up with something for you." Caytin eased him into a chair. "Don't be afraid of me, pretty one, I am the last person in the world you need fear." He bent and kissed Rook softly before heading to see what he could come up with for Rook to eat.

Rook sat there, stunned. The man had just kissed him. Kerri was right. They were Catamite's. He sat there, tears streaming down his face as he began to understand fully what his life was going to be like now. He was a pleasure slave. Everyone was his master and mistress. He would have to be willing to, 'oh God,' with everyone. He was so frightened, as he sat there, weeping softly.

Caytin came back with a plate, with a sandwich on it. "I'm sorry it took so long, but I was right, this is the best I could come up with, if you wish a hot meal, you will have to wait until dinner." He placed the cold plate before Rook, noticing how the boy pulled away from any chance of contact. "What?" He didn't understand. Then it hit him. This boy was Merican, and he had been working with the three that he had in his house for almost three moons now. "Oh, stop that. What did you expect? You are a very lovely boy, of course I responded. You are a pleasure slave, and I am your master, it is perfectly normal for me to do so."

Rook flinched at Caytin's tone. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "Master." He might as well get used to the word. It was one he was now going to be using a lot.

Caytin sat beside him. "Listen to me Rook. I am not mad at you. I know what your mistress did to you, seemed very cruel. But your Father sent men to steal from us our children. No, she, will not have you harmed in anyway for what the fool did, but what she did to you, in the open, was no punishment for you, but for him. We are beginning to understand at least a little of how he as a Merican might think. Tallin, my son, had to work hard to ease Ern into his place here. But it can be done. Ern is now no longer one of the breeders of the house, but a consort with a mistress all of his own. Oh I am sure that if he, were, called upon by another mistress, and his didn't mind, he would be asked to serve as a breeder for her. But he is more than just that now. And Jerrick, he is not only the Healer Trinna's consort, but my Lover as well. And, Fain well that dear boy is Kaj's and my second consort."

Rook looked up, a little surprised. "They are all alive Master? But Kerri said that your, I mean my mistress would have had them killed by now for what they did."

"No, Rook. Even the monster that killed her, my son, is still alive, or at least he is still breathing. I do not think what is happening to him right now, can be called living. But he still draws breath. Why would she kill them? All four are fertile and fine men. They were only obeying orders."

"But Kerri, he said." They were alive. Kerri had been wrong. Maybe not on everything, but on this he was wrong. It gave Rook hope that maybe. Just maybe he was wrong on other things too.

"And who is this Kerri?" Caytin pushed the plate towards him. "Eat."

"He is my older brother. He has went out of his way to tell me what my fate would be when I got here." He looked down at the food on his plate. "Told me that I would be," he broke down into tears again. "That you all would see me as I really am and then you would . . .." He couldn't finish.

"Then we would do what, Rook? Then we would see how sweet you looked and see to it that you were cared for? Well, so we have."

"You would see my," his voice dropped even lower. "My shame and use it against me." 'Like he did.' He stared at the food on his plate. "I'm sorry, Master, but I," he just sat there crying.

Caytin swore softly to himself. "Good Goddess, Rook." He stood. "Come on. The sooner I see to you, the sooner you can come to terms with the fact that this fool has no idea what he is talking about." He held out his hand again. "Perhaps by the time we get back, there will be something hot for you to eat, and once you know that I am not going to let you be hurt, you will be able to eat it."

* * *

Again, Caytin led him out into the city. And again the whistles and jokes all around him. His body was burning with embarrassment.

"Hey, Caytin. That boy you got there, is he free, or are you taking numbers?" One of the young women joked.

"He is my mistresses. You wish to borrow him, it, is to her you should talk, Mistress." Caytin smiled at her.

"He is a pleasure slave, right?"

"Yes Lady, he is, but show him pity. He is very new and very young." He placed an arm around Rook. "See what I meant, Rook?" He whispered to the horrified youth at his side. "You are going to be a trial for me."

Rook looked from her to him, worried. "Master, my mistress, she isn't going to, is she?"

Caytin just smiled. "You belong to her house. The young mistress knows that. Your mistress is not going to allow anyone outside of it to touch you. That is why I said you were going to be a trial for me. It is going to be my duty to see to it that no one touches you." He stopped, and looked down at the young man with him. "And with as pretty as you are. That is going to be a full time job for me."

Caytin stepped up to the Temple door to knock on it firmly. "With all the new men that came with you, it might take a little time for me to have you seen too." He smiled at the blushing youth. Reaching down to touch him. "Good, you will do nicely. I haven't had to help you to encourage this since I started it."

Rook battled with himself, to keep from pulling away. There were so many around, and they all had seen him. His need for protection, out weighed his aversion to this man. He stepped closer. "Help me Master. Please, like this, I am," he pressed his head against Caytin's chest.

Caytin stroked his hair as he trembled against him. "Ssshh, Rook, didn't you believe your mistress when she told you I would see you cared for?"

"But, like this, they all," he didn't look up, couldn't. He knew all the eyes that were on him.

"Yes, and they may look all they like. But this is a promise from me. And I am Head Slave here. In some ways even as a slave, my rank gives me more freedom than it does some of the Mistresses'. Unless, 'your', mistress allows it. I will not let anyone touch you."

"Thank you." He still didn't pull away. This man, was now his master, and as strange as it seemed. Had shown him more kindness in a single afternoon than his own father had shown him in cycles.

The door finally opened, and an aged woman in a dark blue gown stood there. "Ah, Caytin," she smiled. "And who is this darling boy you bring with you?"

Caytin bowed his head. "The Prince of the Merican's Mother Tara." Caytin did as all did when talking to one of the Priestesses of the Temple, and called her mother. "His father thought to buy my mistresses grief with the offer of his life. Like the taking of another child's life would ever replace what was stolen from her."

"They are just ignorant men Cay. What do they know of the Mother and her love for life?" She stepped back to allow Caytin to escort Rook into the cool, darkened, room out of the bright sunlight, and all the eyes. "So, he is to be a pleasure slave?"

"Yes Mother, and a breeder if he is fertile."

The Priestess looked him over. "Well, he will have to make due with a novice Healer. All the others, even the journeymen are tending to the new slaves. Warn him, there will be some pain. There is nothing that can be done about that."

Caytin nodded. "Any help would be greatly appreciated. I had feared that he would have to suffer with them for days before anyone had time to heal him."

"And that mess around his rod?"

"He is to be rendered as hairless as any slave here Mother." Caytin squeezed Rook's fingers gently as the boy looked at him in confusion.

"Well, I'm no Healer, so I can't tell you if he is more than just a pretty piece of flesh. But Anna is too old to leave the Temple now. So she will see to his piercings and his hair. And though she is too old to do any real work anymore. It should take her no effort at all to judge him fertile or not. And we have a few of the novice Healers here. Jaffrey is far enough along in her training that she should have no problem with such a little healing. But you do understand Caytin. She is still in her cycle's vow. So you are going to have to have him do something about that." She pointed to Rook's erection. Making him blush even more.

"If the piercings don't take care of it. I am sure I can, Mother." Caytin promised.

"Good, well come along then." She led them from the main room.

CHAPTER 11

Rook sat on the table after the Priestess left. It was a small room, so much like one of the infirmary at home. So much alike that it was almost frightening. "May I ask, Master, what is going to happen to me?"

Caytin took his hand. Ready if the boy panicked. "Your mistress has ordered you decorated. And your body hair removed."

Large, frightened blue eyes focused on him. "I don't understand, what do you mean decorated?"

"You will have your nipples, pierced." He touched Rook's left. "Rings with bells placed in the piercings. And here, your scrotum." He reached down touching the thin flap of skin that was just under Rook's erection at the top of his balls. A slightly larger ring, but no bells."

Rook looked at him, growing more frightened. "Like I have seen some people with their ears?" Caytin nodded. "Oh." He wasn't sure if he could do that. He didn't know about people's ears, but sticking a needle through those particular parts of his body, had to hurt. "Is she, my mistress, I mean. Is she going to make me do it? I don't want too, Master. Please, don't make me."

Caytin took his hands into his. "Rook. I was punished, just, once for not being willing to tell my mistress everything she wanted to know about one of the men of my home. I have no intentions of ever going through that again. You will be pierced. Yes I know it will hurt, but it is such a little pain, and they have a novice here that will heal you once they are done. She might be young, and not fully trained. But if Mother Tara says she is good. She is good, and will see to you. But you will have them done." He reached up and stroked Rook's cheek. "You are new to us, so I will overlook your hesitancy to obey. But you must learn to be willing to do anything your mistress tells you."

'What if she tells me to let you?' The thought made him want to scream. Kerri had never gone that far with him, but always so close. Had only begun and it had always hurt so much. Could he, even if this woman that now owned his life, ordered it. Could he just go and willingly let this man do that to him? "Yes, Master." This man had been kinder to him so far than any had in such a long time. He had to make himself trust. Even if it was only for one time.

"Look at me, Rook." The soft caring words. "I know you are frightened. But you must try to control yourself. The Priestess they are sending to pierce you, she is very old. And if you do anything and she is hurt. Your mistress might not kill you, but you will in the end, wish she had. Don't make me have to hurt you. I don't want to." Caytin had served as Kaj's head consort for over seventeen cycles. He had walked more than one young and frightened boy through so many things, that it was almost easy. Even though this boy was new to him and his people, to handle him.

Huge, tear-filled, blue eyes looked back into his lighter ones. "Y-yes, Master."

"There is nothing to be afraid of Rook. You do well here, and I will see to it your mistress knows how good you were, and rewards you." Caytin pulled back as the door opened and an ancient looking woman entered. "Rook, this is Mother Anna. Remember what I told you."

"Goodness, Cay, you should have taken some of the men long ago and raided their schools, if this boy is any indication to what they have in his land." The old woman chuckled as Rook blushed.

"My mistress has taken care of that Mother. The Priestesses of the Temple are all busy right now with a whole swarm of boys just like him."

"And here I am, too old to enjoy them." She chuckled again at the deeper blush. "Oh, well, the Great Mother has her own sense of humor, I suppose."

Caytin laughed with her. "Come now Mother, I happen to know, because as you know, slaves talk, that you aren't all that old. You can still chase one of the Temple men around a bed with the best of them."

"Well make sure you tell this man who is bragging so on me, that he needs to remind me. I can't seem to remember his name."

Caytin took her hand, smiling. "Mother, if my mistress is willing, I shall gladly come and remind you that you are far from dead."

"Or see to it that when I go, it's with a smile on my face, I wager." She patted his cheek. "I must say Cay, you were always such a good boy. The girl did damn good when she matched souls with yours."

"We suit each other. It has always been my honor to serve her."

"Well, have you told the little one here what is to happen?" She turned her attention to Rook. "And by the Great Mother, Cay. Tell the boy I am not going to hurt him. Despite the teasing I do with you. I am much too old for him to be worried about what my intentions are."

"Yes, Mother." Caytin moved to Rook's side again. "Mother Anna and I go a long way back, Rook. She is a close friend of my Grandmother, who is at this moment with the men that came with you. She is not going to hurt you anymore than what she can't help. And she isn't going to try anything with you. I have been offering for cycles, and if she hasn't taken me up on my offer as of yet, you have nothing to worry about."

Rook nodded, but still watched the old woman closely.

"Goddess bless," she chuckled. "He is worse than one of the novices after her cycle of celibacy." She touched him lightly. A heat flowing from her to him. Rendering all the hair on his body other than his head, brows, lashes and arms, dust. "Now Cay, you have warned him that I'm not strong enough to work more than what I just did for him, didn't you?"

"Yes, Mother. He has been told that he must wait for novice Healer Jaffrey." She was not yet a woman, and until then he would not assign the title of mistress to her "He understands what that means. He will be good for you." He moved to one side, taking Rook's hand in his again. "It's okay Rook, just focus on me. It will be over soon enough."

Rook whimpered at the sharp stabbing pain in his left nipple. "It hurt's." He bit his lip. Yes it hurt, but no where, near, as much as Kerri had hurt him before.

"Yes, I am sure it does, but you are doing fine. Just hold on a little while longer." Caytin was actually impressed with the boy, for one who was so frightened of everything, he was holding up very well.

The tingle of bells as the elderly priestess worked the ring into the new piercing. "There we go boy. One down, Cay is right, you are being a good boy."

Rook was confused as the pain lanced through his right nipple. It hurt, but felt almost good. Pain wasn't supposed to feel good. Was Kerri, really, right about him?

Again the sound of a musical tingle of bells as the ring was affixed to him.

"Okay now, Rook. Give me your other hand. And remember, 'focus' on me." Caytin leaned on him. Holding him down, incase he tried to get away from the pain that was coming next.

Rook cried out in pain, this time it did hurt, and hurt, much, more than anything Kerri had ever done to him. But even in the middle of the pain, a warming blaze of heat took him as he felt his orgasm. 'Oh God, no,' he sobbed in disbelief. He was just like Kerri kept telling him he was.

The old woman just chuckled looking down at her robe. "My, my, Cay. This is a first, even for me." White fluid dripped down her body as she finished with him. "You should tell your mistress, to put this boy in a safe place. He is far too reactive."

Caytin chuckled with her as Rook lay there, crying in fear and pain. "I know Mother Anna. If the boy isn't careful, and is deemed fertile, I might suggest that my mistress take him as her third consort. Just to put him where I won't have to worry about him anymore. If he, reacts, like this to, a, piercing. Goddess only knows how he would a whip or cane."

"Well, what ever you do, best you either have a towel handy, or teach him how to clean up his mess." She reached for the towel behind her. "Sweet boy, this one. Just a tad over eager, and assure your mistress, she will get many pretty babies from this one."

"So he is more than just a pretty face?"

"Oh yes, even if he does have a very short fuse." She patted Rook on the leg. "Don't be upset child. The body is a wondrous thing. There are many different ways for it to cope with pain. Yours just happens to be a very sweet one."

"I'm sorry, Master, please. I," he wanted to die then. It had hurt so much, but all he had done was, and on one of the priestesses of his New World.

"He is a pleasure slave Mother. The boy has spent the last few hours in a heightened state of arousal from all the people that have seen him as he is now. Look at that, it would seem that before he dares let the novice see him, I am going to have to attend to things." He smiled down at Rook. "It's okay Rook, no one is mad at you." 'Poor boy,' Caytin shook his head. To think, he was worried that he had done something wrong. Toby was going to get a soul brother at of this one.

"See that he is flaccid Cay, before the girl gets here. You know how the young ones are." The old priestess moved slowly to the door. "And boy, hear me. There is nothing to be ashamed of. Cay here will see that you are taken care of." And she was gone.

Rook waited only until the priestess had gone before curling into a ball on the table crying. "I'm sorry." He hurt, his nipples burned, but the pain in the ring that had been forced through his scrotum was agony.

"Ssshh, Rook. Here, lay back, let me see how you are doing." He helped the boy lay back, smiling at him, as he looked down at the boy's still erect cock. "You might have a short fuse like Mother Anna said, but it is not one that is quick to be spent I see. Now listen to me Rook. The young girl, who will come soon and heal you, she is still in the middle of her cycle of celibacy. She is ever easily embarrassed, as all are at her age. Will you help me to see that you do not embarrass her anymore than she is going to be, having to work on a naked man?"

"I don't know what is wrong with me, Master." Rook tried to explain himself, but couldn't.

"There is nothing wrong with you Rook, far from it. Now hush." Caytin cupped his chin. "Don't worry, I will take care if it. You just lay back and try to relax. The more relaxed you are the greater the likelihood you will settle down. As sweet as you are, I do not want to have to be here for the rest of the day with you, trying to calm you." Caytin was very careful as he cupped the boy's balls, ever mindful of the pain the boy was in. Not that he worried that it would be more than the terrified boy under him could stand, but that the more it hurt, that harder it was going to be for him to see to it that he was as flaccid as the priestess had ordered.

Rook cried out against Caytin's lips as he felt the hand lightly stroking him. There was no end to his shame. He had walked around through the town, twice, naked, his humiliation only increased by his obvious rock hard cock, and then when the old lady, the priestess, had pierced him, he had cum all over her. And now, what was wrong with him?

"This was not where I had planned on rewarding you for your good behavior, Rook, but you heard the Mother. Just lay back and try to relax. Soon enough I will have you home again and then I can see to rewarding you properly." Caytin kissed him one more time before bending to see to the hardness in his hand.

Rook lay there shocked. What was going on? This was his master, and yet, could it be that his greatest fears that his life was going to be hell forever could be wrong? "Master?" He moaned softly, at the feel of warm lips. The pain was still there, but now, it didn't matter. He squirmed, moaning as his master went to see to it that when the Healer was finally called, he wouldn't shock her.

Caytin knew that he didn't have the time he wanted to fully toy with the boy, so he pulled back, wetting his middle finger before returning to his sweet cock. Carefully rubbing against his tight puckered hole before easing a single finger in. Moving it slowly in and out, making small circular motions as he did so. As he took the boy deep into his throat. Pulling on his with his throat and jaw muscles.

This time it was quick. One moment Rook lay there, confused but trying to relax under Caytin's attentions, the next the blaze of his orgasm stole over him again. He cried out, thrusting up, and deeper into Caytin's greedy mouth as he came again and again.

Caytin pulled back, swallowing as he smiled at the boy. He would clean the boy, but as touchy as this one was, he was worried if he did, all it would accomplish was getting another rise out of him. "Better?"

"Why, Master? I don't understand."

Caytin shrugged. "What's to understand Rook? I couldn't leave you like you were. Jaffrey is still far too young to be exposed to you like you were. Lucky are we that your mistress's sister is a journeyman, mated and with child already, or we would have problems at home with you like you are. But that is not going to be a problem. Now you lay here, and try to stay as relaxed as you are now. I will go and let Mother Tara know that you are ready for Jaffrey."

"Yes, Sir." He was going to leave him here, alone. He trembled at the thought.

"I said relax, Rook. I will not be gone but just a minute. You are in the bowels of the Temple of the Great Mother. There is no safer place on this entire world for you to be. You are not in any danger." He patted his hand smiling. "You have trusted me so far Rook. Have I lied to you?"

Rook shook his head. "No, Master."

"Then, trust me. I am not lying to you now." And he stepped from the room.

Rook lay there. Silent, working all that had happened to him so far, out in his head. Kerri had been right about so many things, but he had been wrong too. He had taunted him that the moment he was taken by the Danes, that his life was going to be nothing but the pain that he had dealt him thus far. But that wasn't right. Yes the pain had been horrible, but his new master and even the old priestess had only found him to be sweet. Could it be that his shame wasn't a shame at all here? He was trying to work it out, but there were so many things that didn't make any sense to him that he was having a hard time at it. Like why he found what hurt so much to feel so good? Or, that his new master only praised him for it. His head was so full of questions as to why and how that it hurt.

Caytin returned a few moments later. "Good, I see you can keep things in order when you have too. Jaffrey will be here soon, and after that, I can take you back to your mistress. She will be very pleased to see you. And then you can point this Kerri out to me, and I will see to it that he is not allowed anywhere near you for the rest of your father's stay."

"Thank you Master." That was a relief. He had worried that now, with what he was, Kerri could do what he had been threatening for the last moon or so to do to him. "Master?"

"Yes, Rook?"

"If you won't let Kerri touch me again, what are you going to do to me?"

"Turn you over to my," he smiled. "Our mistress and then see if I can talk her into taking you as her third consort. I am her first, and, Fain you know him correct is, her second. But there is still one opening left. And I would much rather have you as a third consort than as a pleasure slave, any day."

He lifted himself up on his elbows to stare at Caytin. "I would be your consort too?"

"Yes Rook, I would be your consort too."

"But, I thought, you weren't going to let me be hurt like Kerri threatened to hurt me?"

Caytin opened his mouth to assure this youngster that there was a world of difference between what two men did together, when they were only seeking pleasure, and what this Kerri kept threatening him with. But the door opened and a girl dressed as all novices dressed, in white, came in. "We will talk about this later Rook." He stepped forward, blocking the girl's view of the naked man on the table. "I wish to extend my mistress's thanks Jaffrey. I know this cannot be easy for you." He kept his body in the way, blocking her view.

"Thank you, Caytin. But Mother Tara said you had a slave that has been pierced." The girl kept her eyes locked on Caytin, blushing.

"I would have waited for another, but they are all very busy at the moment with things more urgent that one sole pleasure slaves pain of his piercings. But I would rather he not have to continue as is. I have promised him that I would not let him be hurt, past what I could not prevent. You are very gracious to offer your help." He bent over her hand, kissing her fingers, the only place a, man, was allowed to touch a novice Healer in her cycle.

"You are the Head Consort, and the Chieftess Kaj's first. Anything I can do to help in any way, I will. Even if it means being a little uncomfortable. My discomfort cannot compare to your new slaves there."

"Thank you Jaffrey. Please, don't look at him. He would be horrified if he thought he had upset you in any way." He took her hands and lay them on Rooks new piercings.

"I am almost through my cycle Caytin. I think I can handle this without the discomfort that I had this time only twelve moons ago." She protested weakly.

"Be that as it may, I am the Head Slave of my people. It is my job and joy to see to it that you are shielded from all things that might upset you." He slowly pulled her hands down to the piercing in Rook's scrotum. "Look only at me, Jaffrey."

"Thank you for your, understanding, Caytin." She, pulled her hands away, Rook healed. "I only wish all men were so."

"What, do you mean?"

"Not all Healers are as lucky as Trinna. We don't all live in homes where our vow protects us from everything with all men."

"I don't understand, Jaffrey. Anel never struck me as an unfit consort. Are you telling me that he touched you? You, a novice in the middle of her vow?"

"No, but Anel isn't my father. My mother was pregnant with me before she took him as her consort. My father is one of the Temple breeders. She had wanted to increase her chances of giving birth to a Healer. So he has never felt like he was my father. And you know him, as men go, he is closer to a bedwarmer than a man. He has no control over the men in my mother's house, and she is not willing to see that her consort is weak. So I came here, as is any novices right during her vow." She looked down. "None of them did anything to me, other than be friendly, but I, when I first started this, I wasn't able to live among them comfortably."

"You should have come to me, sooner. I would have either had Trinna bespeak my mistress, and have you move in our home, where we know what it means for a novice to go through her cycle. Or I would have taken the time to go and talk to Anel. I know the man doesn't have much when it comes to balls, forgive my blunt speaking, but his lack of control over the men in his house, if it has gotten bad enough to have a training Healer being driven from it, is inexcusable. If, he, was not able to make them behave. I am Head Slave and Consort. I would have. I will speak to Kaj, and see if she will let you come and stay with her for the last two moons of your vow. I don't have the problems with my men that Anel does."

"Thank you, Caytin. Her slave is healed now. I need to go."

"Thank you again, Lady Healer." He smiled at her as she blushed. "I will see to it, soon."

After Jaffrey left, Caytin began to look very angry. "This is inexcusable." He helped Rook up.

"I tried Master, what did I do wrong?" Rook didn't understand. He had not done anything. Had tried to relax as Caytin had ordered.

"It's not you, Rook. It is Jaffrey. No girl in the midst of her vow should have to seek the Temple to house her during it, because the first consort of her mother's home has no control over the men in it. I have always knows Anel, he is nothing but a bedwarmer with fertile seed. And her mother, I am going to ask our mistress to speak to her. She should have never allowed her daughter to flee her home because of badly behaved men." He looked down at Rook, smiling. "Well now you are decorated and healed. Do you think you are up to a walk home?"

"Like this?" The blush never left him, just darkened on occasion, like now.

"Yes, pretty one, like that. If you thought you got appreciative looks coming here, wait. I am going to have to beat them off with a stick." He laughed as Rook's blush grew even hotter, and his cock began to rise. "Good boy, see, you can do this."

* * *

When Caytin finally got Rook home, he was close to busting a gut. He had been right. They were stopped and questioned four separate times, and the number of comments was so many that they were almost uncountable. Poor Rook had spent the entire walk a deep red as he was shocked, frightened and very turned on, all at once.

* * *

"Don't get me wrong Chieftess, I am sorry for your loss, but you took four of the men that were in the raiding party, and made them your slaves. You even took that little sweet-faced brother of mine. Wasn't that enough? Some of those men had families, others are little more than boys." A loud voice, as Caytin led Rook into what was obviously a heated argument.

"Because Kerri, had your father not obeyed my demands, I would have come at you, and would have killed you all, every man and woman over the age of thirteen. At least now, slaves they might be, but they will live. Would you expect your father to do any less to me if I had been foolish enough to break treaty with him like he did with me." Kaj was angry, she had been arguing with this fool for the last close to an hour. "Now sit down and shut up before I decide you should join your brother in chains."

Caytin led Rook in, trying to find a way to defuse the situation. "Here he is Mistress, as pretty as I knew he would be." Caytin pushed Rook towards her. "Crawl up into her lap Rook. Give her something to do with her hands, other than hitting someone." Caytin whispered in Rook's ear.

"Yes, Master." He wanted out of here. His father and sister could see him as he was, and what was worse, so could Kerri.

Kerri's bark of laughter was cruel. "See Miri, I told you that that little girl faced brother of mine would be just fine. Look at him, he is belled and hairless as any whore."

Rook turned his face into Kaj's shirt, whimpering.

"Is that Kerri, Rook?" Caytin glared at the man.

"Yes," he couldn't look up. Bad enough that his father and sister saw him and his shame, but not Kerri too.

"What's wrong Caytin?" Kaj looked down at Rook who huddled against her. "What's wrong sweety?"

"That, 'man', is what is wrong Mistress." Caytin's voice was low. "I am not sure exactly what he did to your new slave, but he has hurt the boy in some way."

Kaj looked at Kerri with death in her eyes. "Sit up here Rook, you have nothing to be afraid or ashamed of. He can't touch you again. I won't let him."

"Do you see him father, I have been telling you for ages that he was nothing more than a little Catamite. Maybe now, seeing him like that, you will believe me."

"Kerri, shut up." King Thalin growled at his son.

"Caytin, if Kerri is upsetting Rook this much. Maybe you should take him and see he is cared for until the he leaves."

"Yes, let the little slave go hide from his betters."

Caytin turned. "Your father has told you once, to shut up. If your say another word, if my mistress doesn't deal with you, I will." He warned him.

Kerri laughed at Caytin. "You, her glorified lapdog are going to deal with me?"

His laughter died in his throat as Caytin was across the room and had yanked him up. "This glorified lapdog as you call me, is three times the man you are, and if you do not sit down, and shut up, I am going to prove it." He slammed Kerri back down into his chair. "I mean what I say. Rook is more a man than you will ever be."

"So, the Temple has spoken?"

"Yes, Mistress. Mother Anna sends word to you that you will get pretty babies from him. He is quite fertile."

"Good," she smiled at Rook. "Are you going to be okay, Rook? Your master has placed himself between you and that thing that scares you so. You have nothing to fear from him, ever, again." She stroked his cheek as it pressed against her. "You and I will talk soon Rook. Who knows, you might just have the last laugh after all." She smiled down at him. She didn't need a third consort. She was quite happy with Caytin and now with Fain. But if her first consort was as fond and protective of this boy as he apparently was. She could accept him.

"Kerri." King Thalin's voice was tight. "Get out. Go stay with the horses. If you can't control yourself, best you leave, you shame me."

"I shame you?" Kerri was stunned. "How dare you say that, with your youngest 'son'," the word was a sneer. "Curled up in a woman's lap naked and, look at him. And I shame you?" He stood. "So be it. Have our men, hell, have that she male in your lap. I never realized that the Danes were ruled by a bitch in heat."

No one had time to react. One moment Kerri was on his feet and the next. He looked up, his head swimming from the blow Caytin had landed. "That is 'my' mistress you are talking about. Open your mouth again, and I will shove your foul words down your throat."

"Thalin, best you send your son out of my city. If my consort kills him for his mouth, I will not punish him." Kaj held on to Rook very tightly. She had to, if she didn't, it wouldn't have been Caytin who had hit the fool, but her.

King Thalin moved grabbing his second son by the scruff of the shirt. "Get out. I am trying to undo the damage my foolishness had done. You are not helping matters. Take a horse and go." He then looked to two of his own guards. "Go with him, see he gets out of the land ruled by the Danes without causing anymore trouble." The two guards were all too happy to oblige. They were none too comfortable here anyway, and their Monarch was right, Kerri needed to be taken from here before he caused a war. A war both men knew the Merican's could not win. They flanked him on both sides and escorted him from the room.

"I am sorry, Chieftess. Kerri has always been something of a problem for me. I just never realized he was as stupid as he is."

"Would it surprise you, to know that that problem of yours has been abusing your youngest son?" Caytin went to stand by Kaj, who still held Rook. "I do not know to what extent, but much of the boys fear is because of that thing that just left here."

"Please, Master." Rook didn't want to talk about it. His twin was in the room.

The King of the Merican's just sat there, with a look of disgust on his face. "I had my suspicions but the boy never said anything. I can't force him to expose himself. He is my son, not my slave."

"Please, I'm begging, Mistress, not here." Rook was in tears.

Kaj stroked his hair, holding this close. "Ssshh, Rook, I will let it drop for now, but you will tell me later. Caytin and I need to know what we are up against if I am going to take you as my consort." She looked up at King Thalin. "You tell that fool, next time you see him. That this, bitch in heat, has had six children. Caytin, my first consort was the father of each of them. But I will see that changed soon enough. I have given my word to my first that together we will seek to fill the hole that Remmy's death has left in our hearts. And then I will bear children by both my second consort and my third. That his little brother, the one that he mocked so, has something he never will have. I am the Chieftess of my people. As my consort, even if he is only fourth, in the ranks of men, he will have more power than that fool will ever hope to have." Rook gasped at her. "That is right, pretty face, if you consent, I would be honored above all to have you as my mate. You are a Prince in your lands. So you will be here too."

"Mistress, would you permit me to visit my family? To show my sister any child your give me?"

"I will be connected to your family by marriage baby, of course. I do not believe in separating families. I will come with you, to see to it that he does not bother you. If he does, and nothing is done, then there will be war. No one touches one of the men of my house. Most certainly not one that I am wed too."

"On my oath Chieftess, there will be no problems. If I have to disown the boy, I will. I will not allow him to touch Rook, ever again."

"Thalin, call me Kaj. We are now family by marriage. And I am a woman of my word. If I say he will be my consort, then he is."

"Agreed." The tension left the room with that.

CHAPTER 12

The room was quiet for the first time in hours. With the expulsion of Kerri, there was an almost peace-like calm.

Kaj had sent Caytin off with Rook to get the boy dressed. A naked pleasure slave was one thing, but he wasn't a pleasure slave any more.

Finally, after all the excitement, Kaj and Thalin were able to work out a working plan for their two peoples. The old King of the Merican's was pleased to see that, as young as the Chieftess of the Danes seemed, she was far from untrained in her duties. Her role as the leader of her people was without fault. For the first time since being forced to watch his youngest son rendered naked in front of him, he truly believed the boy was safe. He didn't quite understand how the men worked among themselves around here, but, after seeing Kaj's man go to both his ladies and Rook's defense, he felt confident that as unusual as their ways were to him his, son would blossom here. Rook had always been a very meek and timid boy. Perhaps here, that meekness could be molded into a different kind of strength. One that in his own home land, would have never been an option.

"It's late enough, that I think we can finish this tomorrow." Kaj stretched. "Besides, I have things I need to take care of before dinner." She smiled as Caytin returned with Rook, a little less red, now that he was allowed clothes. "I know that you have to be worn to a frazzle Thalin, so it might be best if you and my new little sister take a little time and rest before dinner." She looked at Miri. "How old are you dear?" She was her new consort's twin, so she would see, if she could, that the girl was well taken care of.

"Seventeen last fourth moon." The girl never seemed to speak above a whisper.

Caytin leaned over to whisper in Kaj's ear. "Mistress, if she is near as innocent as her twin is, don't you think that while she is here, that should be rectified. She is returning to her homeland, and though the horrors that her people have suffered for so long will soon be over, they are still occurring. She still runs too much a risk of attack. No, mere, maid should face that."

Kaj nodded. No she would not want to think of something like that happening to her. She had a daughter of her own near this girl's age. A firm, maternal protectiveness swelled in her. "Thalin, if I offered one of my bedwarmers to come and care for her, would you protest?"

"She is a woman grown, Kaj, trust me, if she were still under my rule as her father, she would not be here." He stood back, he would see exactly what kind of woman had taken his son into her care, and more, how his daughter, who would bear his son's replacement, handled herself.

Kaj looked at her, musing. "I'm going to be frank with you Miri, and talk to you as if you were my own daughter. The fact that you are still just a maiden," she paused. "You still are just a maid, correct?" The girl blushed, looking at her father, nodding. "Okay, knowing that. The fact that you are, in a land that has been under siege for so long surprises me. But I would just as soon, you not leave my city as just a girl. The horror is almost over for your people, but not yet. If I sent one of my bedwarmers to you to see to you, would you welcome him?"

Miri blushed almost as dark as Rook had earlier. "I can't. I am my father's heir. I can't risk that. My family has been through enough, I won't shame them."

Kaj smiled at the girl. "Admirable, Thalin, you have a fine girl there, but as admirable as it is, it is also very foolish. One of the requirements for my warriors, before they enter the service, is that they 'not' be virgins. Like she is now, all it would take was she to be captured and then where would she be? Even if you could save her, providing of course, that they don't kill her, the moment they find out who she is. It might be cycles, if ever, before she is willing to allow a man to touch her again." She turned her attention back to solely Miri. "You are at war, dear, in wartime, men can do terrible things. Would you return to a war-torn world as innocent as you are now?"

Miri looked from her to her father. 'What should I do, father?"

"If the boy that comes to you, is sterile, and gentle. It's your decision, but I happen to agree with Kaj. I have lost one daughter to those things so far. And even had she lived, after what was done to her, only a monster would have ever insisted that she allow another man to touch her. So, if the boy is sterile and gentle, then I say, go for it. I will sleep better knowing that, if the worst comes, you will have at least known some pleasure."

"But, Emily she, they," she shuddered. Before nodding.

"And this boy, you are sending to her, he is sterile? No offense Kaj, but I do not want some baseboard child to rule after my son. My eldest daughter sacrificed herself cycles ago to save a small group of children that were to die. So my son will rule after me, but the ruling line is something we have in common with you. Though Emily would have wed, and her husband would have been King, it is still a matrilineal line. My son's children might have place and rank, but it is Miri's firstborn that will inherit after him."

Kaj nodded. "She will come away from him, with fond memories, nothing more." She looked to Caytin. "Warn Gabe of what he will be dealing with in her."

"Yes, Mistress." He looked up at Miri who was still standing there, blushing at the conversation. "Gabe has done this several times, Miri. He is a kind and gentle man." It was one of the reasons they worked so well together. She might be a bit hard at times, but she was also one of the kindest and most intelligent women he had ever met. And he had fathered many children on many of the ladies of his home, so he had met many.

"Go on Cay, talk to Gabe. Warn him what he is dealing with." She held out a hand to Rook. "And you come here."

"Mistress?" Rook was for the first time in cycles, able to smile without feeling like he was lying.

"You come here and stay with me. Caytin has something he needs to do." This one would give her very pretty babies. Actually both her new consort's would. Fain with his lovely red hair, and striking eyes, oh hers were green but it had been ages since she had seen green eyes quite as bright as Fain's. And this one with his hair, so black, she had never seen hair his color before. Their ancestors were the same. So it must have been bred out of her people through the cycles. Much like their strength and longevity, were bred into them. Well, who knows, with these new men for her women, things were going to change, and for the better. There were many she had glimpsed, that sported hair and eye colors that her people lost long ago.

Now if only she and her women could see to it that these new men learned their places, without breaking them. There was nothing sadder than a fertile man that was nothing was but a bedwarmer at, heart. Well, her women had had humdreds of thousands of cycles to perfect their methods. The proof was in how their men behaved. For the most part, with only a few, correctable problems. They had done well with them. Perhaps once these new ones had discovered that slavery was not what they feared it to be, they would bend without having to be forced too often. She hoped so. It went against her nature to have a man beaten.

"Mistress?" Rook tried to get her attention. Snapping her back from her musing.

"Oh, sorry pretty face, just lost in thought." She smiled at him. "Trying to picture all the children that we will now have again. The boy's dorm hasn't been filled in so long. I was younger than you last it had more than twelve, and seven of them were nothing but bedwarmers." She tightened her arms around him, as she looked up. "I will have Wren and Kari escort you both to rooms. And Miri, I am entrusting you with one of my bedwarmers, this one happens to be very dear to my so. So, I expect you to remember that he is coming to help you, and not hurt him in anyway."

It wasn't Miri that protested any chance of harm, but Rook who laughed, actually laughed. "Mistress, Miri is my sister. She doesn't even yell at me when we argue. She won't hurt anyone." It was out before he remembered just what he was now. "I'm sorry, Mistress." He lowered his head, waiting for her response.

But his fears were groundless, all Kaj did was chuckle and squeeze him once again. "I know that pretty face, but I am his mistress, it is my responsibility to see that I let any who is not a member of my house, know he is mine. And I will take grave offense at him being harmed. Just as I would any of you." She looked up at her two house guards. "Wren, take Thalin and see he is given one of the rooms closest to the dining area. Kari, see to it that Miri is taken to one of the rooms closest to the Men's Quarter's."

"Yes, Ma'am." They both chimed.

"What about my men?" Thalin knew that they were very nervous in a city ruled by women alone.

"They can go and stay in the Armory. Relax Thalin, my guards know yours aren't the men you brought. They aren't going to eat them alive. Just remind them that women or not, that they are just like them and guards, warriors and soldiers. Your men might be surprised at how much they have in common with many of the guards I have. Just as soon as Wren gets back, she can take them to meet with those that, regardless of gender, are very much like them."

Thalin nodded, turning to the four soldiers that were still with him. He had only brought six, a risk he knew, but he had come with over a hundred men, that as much as they hated the thought of becoming slaves, hated the thought of dying more. "You heard her. Just wait, when the one that is taking me returns for you, follow her. And for God's sake, Mel, don't get drunk and start a fight. We are here to prevent a war on both our borders, not start one."

Wren laughed. "No offense sir, but I have half trained young women three or four cycles younger than that one that could mop the floor with him. Don't worry yourself, I will see to it that they aren't abused. Unlike those that have pushed you into being foolish enough to try to steal from us, we don't make it a habit of abusing those weaker than us." She looked from the four, back to the Merican King. "Follow me, sir."

* * *

Gabe looked up from where he had been sitting with Fain, trying to assure the worried man that his mistress was not going to start killing the men that had come. "Thank the Goddess, Cay, would you please tell your consort that those from his lands are safe. He just won't listen to me."

Caytin smiled. "Fain, you have been here for three moons, surely by now, if your mistress was going to go mad and begin killing helpless men, she would have. Now stop this lunacy. You have a new consort to meet, and Gabe has a lady, who needs his special skills."

Fain looked at him surprised. "Kaj, has taken another consort?" The very fact that he called her anything but mistress was a sign of his amazement.

"Yes, that fool of a King, thought to offer her his youngest son thinking, I don't know, that the boys death would make up for her son. Poor boy, he was terrified, and has some sweet ways that made living in your Old World very hard. So, your 'mistress' took him as a, pleasure slave, until such time as the Temple verified his fertility. And then, he is the son of the Merican King after all; she took him as her third and final consort. So you need to go meet him, and I need to talk with Gabe."

Fain nodded before hurrying from the room. He knew, or at least had met with his King's youngest son. Poor boy, this had to be hard for him. He wanted to make sure that his mistress didn't overwhelm the boy.

After Fain left, Caytin sat beside Gabe. "You mistress has a job for you."

"Okay, Cay, what does my mistress want of me?"

"Rook, her new consort has a twin. She came with him, worried that she would lose her brother. She also, came, still just a maid. And is very scared. It took both your mistress and her father to talk her into not leaving here as innocent as she came. They are at war Gabe. And their enemies are heartless. Look at what they did to Fain, if you need any proof. Your mistress, wants you to see to it that should the unspeakable happen and the girl is taken on their return home, that she is not a virgin. She is just a girl, Gabe. Your mistress wants you to see to it that she is a woman."

"How old is this girl, Cay? I will always do what my mistress orders, but just how young is she, if she is still just a girl, that doesn't make me feel good. I might only be a bedwarmer, and just twenty-two, but she is at least fifteen isn't she?"

Caytin smiled. "She is about the same age as Tallin is. If I am not mistaken, she said she turned seventeen the fourth of last moon. So yes she is older than fifteen by a few cycles.

Gabe looked shocked. "She is seventeen, and still untouched? Tallin I understand, mistress is waiting for one of the mistresses of our people to pay his wedding price. He is going to go from here as a consort and nothing less. But she, what is wrong with her? Am I going to be sent to one that is so hideous, or cruel, that there are no men in her own lands that will touch her?"

He shook his head at the younger man. "No, not at all. She is your mistress's newest consort's twin. She is a lovely girl, and very soft-spoken. But she is the bearer of the next ruler, after her brother who will take the place after his father steps down. They are similar to us in that rank and position in the ruling family is passed down matrilineal lines." He took a deep breath. "Also, she is terrified of the act. Her elder sister was sacrificed cycles ago, I can only gather by what the King said that it was ugly. Had the girl lived, she would have probably never allowed another man to touch her. They have been at war with the Catimine's for twelve cycles. She is seventeen. She is old enough to remember what happened. So best you go prepared to walk her through this."

Gabe swallowed nodding. "What should I do, if she will not have me?"

"Nothing, but I am counting on you and the drugs you have available in the oils Donnel makes to see that, that, is not a problem. Yes, I am saying be underhanded. Do not lie to her, but you do not have to tell her what all you have in store, either."

"You want me to deceive her?"

"Yes, and if it goes wrong, I will accept what ever comes of it. You do your job, the best you can, and I will stand by you."

* * *

Miri was so frightened as she answered the soft knock on her door, that had it not been for the door, she would have fallen. "Yes?" She looked down at a kneeling man outside her room.

"I have been sent to take care of you Princess." Gabe didn't look up. He wanted her to feel at least a little secure before he did.

"Oh," she blushed. "Did they tell you what they want you to do?"

"If I am permitted to come in, Princess, I have been instructed to care for you. You rode a long time in the sun and the heat through the dunes. I have brought things for a bath and perhaps if you feel comfortable with me, a massage. I also have brought clean clothing for you. Your own have to be filthy."

She looked down, conscious for the first time of her travel stained garments. "Is that all?" She stepped back motioning him to enter. She felt uncomfortable having a man kneel on the floor at her door.

Gabe rose, getting a good look at her for the first time. Yes she was very lovely. Poor girl, to look this way, and live in fear. "Yes, Princess." He smiled at her, as warmly as he could. "But, first a bath, then perhaps, if you aren't against the idea, we can discuss it farther. But for now, you need to know only one thing. I am here to serve you, and I will never hurt you, in any way." He sat his supplies on the side table. "First, because my mistress would have the skin whipped from my back if I did, and second, because I believe no woman, should ever have cause to fear me." He smiled, cocking his head to one side. 'Especially not one as pretty as you are."

She blushed again. She had gone out of her way since she was old enough to understand that her looks could be used against her, to avoid contact with all men save her father and brothers. But now, after hearing what she had today, she had unwittingly been in more danger from Kerri. Than any of the other men in, father's, service.

Gabe moved slowly. She was like a small wild animal, so lovely, and so ready to bolt. "I think a bath is the first thing I should help you with, don't you agree, Princess?"

The blush deepened. "I guess so."

Gabe turned, cupping her chin. "Princess, on my oath, you really don't have anything to be afraid of. I am here for your pleasure, what ever that may be. And nothing more."

She looked up at him, here was a man, and he was telling her he would not hurt her. But then again, how many of her friends had said that their husbands had said the same thing, and had learned the truth the hard way. Her mother only told her, when she cried to her about it, that war was hard, and it sometimes made even the finest of men forget themselves. And when she had asked if her father had ever hit her, she had only smiled and asked her if her brother was now King or not. Had assured her that if her father had ever forgotten himself to that point, that Dannis would be King now. But how many other men were as fine as her father was?

Gabe had left her standing, there, watching him as he took his oils and headed for the bathing room. "I brought something that will help you to relax, Princess." He held up the often-used blue oil. Pouring almost half the bottle in the water as it filled the tub. "There is one of the bedwarmers in the Men's Quarter's that makes it for us. It has a very soothing effect. You'll like it."

"Oh," she couldn't help herself, but stare at him. He was not as tall as a lot of the men she knew, just a few inches taller than she was, and, if she was honest with herself, not that bad to look at. Hair that was long for the other men she had grown up around, but not as long as hers was or, even, Rook's. Not heavy, but not thin either. A medium build, she decided.

He turned back to her. "Princess, my name is Gabe, may I know yours? It will seem a little silly for me to keep calling your princess."

"Miri." She looked up into his eyes, light brown, with flecks of an orange gold. His face was kind, could one with such a kind face be cruel? "And you're right, you've called me princess, more in the last ten minutes than I usually hear in a moon."

"I had a choice Miri, until you told me your name, I could either call you princess, or mistress, and mistress is not right just yet." He held out a hand. "Your bath is ready, if you would please let me help you out of your things, I will see to it that they are cleaned before you leave."

She looked away, the blush of her skin hotter still. "I can't, it is why I haven't changed yet. I can't reach the lacing's in the back, and I couldn't ask one of my father's men to help me."

He grinned at her. "Well then Miri, you have no problem there, I was sent to serve you. If you would please turn around, I will fix your problem." He felt somewhat bad for what he was going to have to do to her. He had never had to drug any of the girls he had been called upon to see they came away from him women. But Caytin had been right, if he wasn't willing to use anything he could with her. She would never be able to go farther. And the chance of her leaving in the same condition she arrived in was just too great. "I'm going to have to have these lacing's replaced, they have become entirely too frayed to ever be used again."

"A moon of riding and sleeping in them will do that." She was a bit defensive. She was fully aware of what her clothes looked like.

"Yes, I suppose it would." He worked the last of the knots out and pulled them free, dropping the useless strip of lacing to the floor. "Do I need to help you with anything else?"

She shook her head, holding the gown to her, as she began to cry softly.

"Miri?" Gabe was immediately concerned. "Little miss, what is wrong? Are you hurt? If so, please tell me, I will let my mistress know at once. The Healers might be busy, but one can be called."

"No, I," she just stood there crying.

"Then what is it? I haven't hurt you have I?"

"No," she sniffled. "But you're a man."

"My mistress would have sent Winna to help you, if she thought that you would be better helped by a woman, but other than her, there are no other slaves in her house, but men." He walked around her. "Would Winna be more to your taste's Miri?" She started to stammer. "There is nothing to be ashamed of, it's not at all uncommon. Some of the ladies, they just have no taste for men. It happens. It is the only reason that thing that killed Remmy is still drawing breath."

"He's still alive?" This shocked her out of her fear.

"No, Miri, he still draws breath, his heart still beats, but what he is going through now, is not living. It is a shame, but as sad as it is, he is fertile, and there are many of our ladies, in the guard mostly, that, want children, just not a man's attention. So he was sent to the Temple. Is fed enough to sustain him, and allowed only enough rest to keep him from death. His seed, it's being taken from him, by force. And it will continue until he either dies, or can do no more."

"And what happens then?"

He looked up at her. "If he becomes useless?" She nodded. "I am not sure, probably be sent back here. Remmy was more than just my mistress's son. He was fertile. Caytin has already claimed a man's justice for his son's death. The only thing that stopped him from taking it fully, was the fact that the thing was fertile. But if he no longer can be used that way, then I suppose Cay's claim to his life will take precedence again." He worked slowly, easing her out of her outer dress, as he kept her mind on what he was saying.

"You mean, the same man that was with Rook?" She refused to pay attention, if she did, she would lose all her nerve, and then, she was so afraid what would happen.

"Don't look like that Miri. Your brother is now between the two people that will see he is safer than he would be anywhere else in the world, outside the Temple."

"He won't hurt him, will he? Please, I'll do anything you want me too, just don't hurt my brother." She pleaded with him. Hand going to work the lacing's of her undergarments. "See, I will do anything you want me too."

'Oh Goddess, what have I done?' "Ssshh, Miri, stop." He took her hands in his. Tisking as she froze at his touch. "Caytin isn't going to hurt your brother. Why would he? Your brother hasn't broken any laws, that I'm aware of." His fingers began to finish working the laces. "You aren't in any danger. Please, believe me, I won't hurt you. No one could make me hurt you. All I ask, is that you, believe me."

She tried to cover herself as the rest of her clothing fell from her, leaving her in only her briefest of bottom coverings. When he took those from her, she would be naked.

"Ssshh," he knelt slipping her bottoms from her. "You're bath is getting cold while you stand here Miri." He stood, taking her hand, which had gone to cover her exposed sex. "No more talk of things that are not pleasant. I am here to help you, and I will."

He helped her into the tub. Actually grateful that it had taken her so long to get to this point. The oil had dissolved completely. It shouldn't take him but just another few minutes to get her to finally relax. Caytin wasn't kidding when he had warned him about her. If she were any more jumpy, he would have hand to pin her to the floor. "There we go, Miri, not too cold, is it?" He pulled back to undress.

"What are you doing?"

"My mistress told me I was to see to your care. I am going to help with your bath." He smiled, as his pants joined his tunic on the floor. "Why, what did you thing I was doing?"

She moved over as far as she could away from him as he stepped into the tub. Trying to keep as much room between the two of them.

Gabe reached for the sponge, wetting it before reaching for soap, also heavily laced with the drug. "Was your journey here hard, Miri?" He reached for her hand, gently pulling her closer to him so he could begin to bathe her.

"I was coming to see my twin die, it was horrid. I didn't know if when he got here, I would even be able to say goodbye before he was killed." She tried to ignore what he was doing as he carefully moved the water and soap laden sponge over her chest.

He nodded. "I can't even imagine what it must have been like for you. Well, you now know, your brother is not going to be killed. That your world isn't going to end tomorrow. So just lay back and let me take care of you."

She was so tired, so drained, that his soothing tone began to ease her. It wasn't what he said, nothing about his words could be seen as wrong or seductive in any way. But the way he said everything, like he honestly cared. Like he really wanted to help her. It had been so long since anyone had ever tried to do more than just acknowledge her. She began to fall under not only his voice but also the drugs he had doctored the water so heavily with. She leaned back and closed her eyes. Forgetting, for just a moment, where she was, and whom she was with.

Gabe watched as the tension left her body. As he felt her rest herself against him. "Feeling better?" His voice was at her ear. As his arms encircled her.

She jumped, jerking herself awake again. What had she been thinking? She was not only in a room with a naked man, but was in a bath with him, and behaving like some whore, pressing against him. What was wrong with her?

He made shushing noises as she tightened up again. "Miri, Little Miss, I have a confession to make to you." His lips pressed softly against the side of her head. Now, with her like this, he knew she wouldn't refuse him as he offered to help her. "I was ordered to use the oil that is used for nervous men their, first, time with either the first consort or mistress. You have been soaking in it for the last half hour."

"What?" She tried to get up at once, but Gabe tightened his hold on her. Shushing her again, pulling her back down into the water, and closer to him.

"It's done its job, Miri, getting out now won't change anything."

"Why? Was it so important, that you would be willing to trick me like this?" She was near hysterical as she began to realize what she was feeling. "Was this what you wanted? To see I couldn't stop myself from playing the whore with you?"

"No Miri, what was important, and still is, is that you not come away from me still a maid. I am just a man, and not even really a man, but a bedwarmer, but I am old enough to have some idea what letting you go from this place as you are right now, puts you in danger of. Don't look at it like I tricked you. I have given you something to hide behind. Blame the drug in the oil." His lips brushed hers lightly. "I know that is what I'm going to do."

She looked up at him, with her large deep blue eyes, so full of confusion and hunger. "You feel it too?"

He chuckled. "Honey, I felt it before I stepped in the tub, and now, take pity on me."

She touched his chest. "And you, you won't hurt me?"

"Miri," he captured the hand against his chest, kissing her palm. "Hurting you if so far from my mind I don't think I can tell you how far."

She bit her bottom lip blushing, again, as she nodded.

'Finally, thank the Goddess.' He rose slowly to lift her. "I do believe your massage is going to have to come later Miri." He felt her against his chest as he reached for the bath sheet he had brought, wrapping them both in it.

He lay her, still wet on the bed, pulling back smiling as she turned her head, not looking at him. "Miri, I am going to make love to you. The least you could do is look at me." He certainly was looking at her. So tiny, but as he looked over her breasts, which though not overly large, were still those of a woman grown, and her hips, she would one day not have the problems in childbirth that he knew some of his mistresses did. "You are very pretty Miri. Of all those that I have helped, you honor me the most." Goddess, he hadn't wanted a woman as much as he did this little one in a long time.

The mattress sagged slightly under his weight as he lay beside, her pulling her close. She was so soft in his arms "Ssshh," he felt her tremble against him. "Close your eyes, honey, rest against me and let what you are feeling take you."

'Let what I'm feeling take me, yes, I can do that.' She had feared this for so long, and now, as his hands moved slowly over her, she couldn't remember why.

Her moan sounded out in the silence of the room as she felt first lips, and then a mouth on her breast, thigh's parting slightly at the hand that touched her. The slow and gentle fingers that sought to tease her, lightly. She gasped more in surprise than anything at the feelings it gave her.

'For one who was so afraid of this, she is so physical.' His mouth moved from one breast to the other, feeling the nipple harden under his lips, as he teased it with his tongue. The knowledge that he wouldn't have the fight on his hands he was sure he would, once he got her in the bed, eased his mind. Not even as drugged, as he was, he wasn't sure he would have been able to press this little lady, had he had too? But as she lay under him opening herself, to his mouth and hands, he knew that she would not fight him. He lifted his head to brush her lips again. "Open your mouth to mine, honey." She moaned low as she responded to his kiss, mouth open, tongue meeting his is the hot, sweet, dance. Pressing her, even, farther against him.

It was her arms, this time that held him as he tried to lift himself off her to gaze down at her beauty. She didn't want to think, thinking was bad, and it would let her mind start to worry about what all this meant. "Don't," she whimpered, now more afraid of him stopping.

"Hush, Miri, I'm going no where." He pulled his hand up, locking eyes with her as he brought it to his mouth. She tasted sweet, or perhaps it was the same as all the others, but it only seemed sweeter, because this girl had been willing, even before he drugged her, to trust him. "You are so beautiful." His mouth caught hers again as he let her hold him, not moving. Just lay there with her, feeling her hold him to her, she was trembling again, but this time, it wasn't in fear.

She almost cried out in protest as he pulled back. But she shouldn't have worried; he was going no where. His head dipped back down to capture a nipple as his hand caressed the other, tugging gently as his teeth latched onto the one in his mouth. No force, never force, but just enough pressure to hold it in place. As his free hand returned to where it had been, warming her to him even more. He was her first, and like all the other firsts he had been, he would see to it, that it was memorable. No matter whom she ended up with, she would always remember him and his worship of her.

Her shriek was ear shattering as his mouth covered her sex, tongue parting the folds to taste her. He tried to pull away to see if she was hurt, but her hands held his head to her, aggressively thrusting upwards to encourage his attentions. He chuckled to himself as he relaxed. There was nothing wrong, she was just vocal. Lucky was the man that one-day she accepted to her bed.

She lay there, sobbing softly as his hands roamed the skin of her body, her belly, her breasts, reaching down to cup her buttocks as his mouth became intent on her hidden secret's.

He felt her jump a little as his teeth closed over her clitoris, tongue beginning to flick it in slow, easy motions, that as she began to relax again under him, began to gain speed. He knew she was still just a girl, a virgin, so as he thrust his fingers into her wet heat, he was careful not to press too far, soon enough, for that little pain. But for now, he would see she knew only joy.

Her cries rang out in the room, as her legs lifted over his shoulders, trapping his head where it was. Never, had she ever believed that anything could make her feel like this. Fingers tangled in his hair, hips rising to meet his mouth she rode the wave of heat he was bringing up in her, as she felt the beginnings of a stirring in the bottom of her womb that grew and swept over her. Screaming her passion, she came.

Gabe had his hands full, she was thrashing so much in the midst of her orgasm that he was almost thrown from her. The only, thing that kept him where he was, was her legs that tightened on his head, as her fluids washed over his face, pouring from her, almost faster than he could lick them away. He held her down and continued as she sang out her joy.

She pulled at him as he made his way back up her body, mouth greedy, almost demanding as she held him to her.

She wasn't one of his mistresses, so he wasn't sure how to go about the next part. He had never been where he was now, under a mistress, yes, but never on top. He only hoped that if Caytin asked for a report, he understood why he had done what her was going to have to. "Miri." He whispered as he reached down and lifted her legs over his hips, positioning himself. "Forgive me." And he thrust forward breaching her maiden's barrier.

Her cry slipped out before she could stop it. She knew it would hurt, her mother had warned her on her sixteenth birthday. But the sharp stabbing flash through her groin caught her unprepared.

"Mistress?" Gabe forced himself to hold still. "I'm sorry, Mistress, but you were still a maiden, forgive me."

She looked up at him, smiling. "It's okay, sorry, I forgot about that part."

He felt himself relax at once. He had been worried that with as much as he had feared this that once there was any pain, that she would resist him. But his little mistress was full of surprises. "May I continue, Mistress?" He prayed she would say yes, it was taking everything he had to keep himself in check. If she said no, he would probably go mad, but he would pull away. He had done what he was ordered. She was a woman now, and from this point on, he would obey her as he did the rest of the mistresses in his house.

"Please." Her mother had been right. It had hurt, the first time. Now if only she was right about the pleasure that came after the pain.

She was a woman now, his mistress. He wrapped his arms around her and rolled on his back, bringing her up to straddle him. Now this he understood. "Do with me as you wish Mistress."

She pulled up. Looking down at him confused. Now it was her turn to be lost at what to do, but as his hips thrust up, catching her where she was, she understood. Of course, she should have thought. He was a slave. So with careful slow motions, she began to move with him.

She, it, was so tight. Virgin's always were. But with her, it was like pure joy. Never had he felt what he felt with any other, what he now felt with her.

She gritted her teeth at the soreness, but as she moved with him, feeling him move inside her, the soreness faded, and the beginnings of a warm friction began. And as his hands joined in first to stroke her breasts, before moving down to press his thumbs against her, rubbing her clitoris, she began to feel the pleasure that she had only just begun to know.

Her vaginal muscles tightened around him as she screamed out as she felt herself being swept up again. She was a rarity, he had been with some, that it had taken him what seemed like forever to bring where she was. "Mistress," he moaned, "may I cum?"

"Oh, oh, yes, oh yes!" She screamed again reaching to pull him up to her as she peeked again, holding him, her body lost in what he had made her feel.

His mouth silenced her screams as he kissed her. Feeling his body give her tribute as his own, blazing release took him.

CHAPTER 13

Rook closed his eyes, trying to relax as he lay on Kaj's bed. But it was so hard. He was so afraid she would order him to roll over to lay on his back, and see his condition. But he also prayed she would.

He had started to get excited the moment she had instructed him to remove his clothes and lie on his stomach on her bed. And it had only gotten worse the moment she touched him. He, was, beginning to believe that Kerri had been right all along, and he really was a slut. There was no other explination for it. He couldn't be seen by anyone in the raw without his damn dick getting hard. And the fear, of what his other two 'consort's' were going to do to him, didn't help matters.

Kaj poured some oil into her palm to heat it some between her hands before going to rub it into the skin on his back. "What is wrong, sweety? You are so quiet. Don't you believe me when I tell you I am not going to hurt you?" Kaj's voice was soft in his ear as she leaned over his back, pressing her body against his.

He swallowed before answering. "Yes, Mistress, or at least I think I do." He had long since gotten past the blushing stage. His embarrassment threshold had been pushed way past the blushing point.

"Then what is it? You are so quiet, and if you were trembling any harder, I would have to tie you to the bed to make sure you didn't bounce off it and hit the floor. If you aren't afraid of me, then what is it?"

"Nothing Mistress. Just real excited I guess."

He yelped at the pain as a resounding smack rang out in the room as Kaj popped his backside. "Tell me the truth. I might not be my sister, or even as sensitive as Cay is, but he is my soul-match. So I have at least a bit of his sensitivity. And you are not just real excited." Her tone was firm. Not threatening, or at least not yet. But getting closer.

He froze. "I'm sorry Mistress, but," he started to cry again. "It's not you Mistress. But the others."

She, tisked, at him "Rook." She shook her head, continuing to rub his shoulders. "How many times is Caytin going to have to tell you he isn't going to hurt you before you begin to try to believe him?"

"I'm sorry Mistress." He just cried harder. "I'm trying, I swear I'm trying."

"Ssshh." She tried to calm him. "Hold on, soon he will be able to prove it to you. Unless you deserve, punishment at a later date, my consort will never hurt you unless you ask for it. He has touched you before. Infront of all, including your father. Surely if he was going to hurt you, he would have by now." She got up, and went to the chest. Obviously the usual oil was not going to be enough for this boy. He was even worse than Fain had been back when he had first been in her bed. Well not matter. Like Fain, she would deal with him as she would any virgin.

Fain slipped into the room. He had gone by her office, but she wasn't there. So he knew where he would find her. And he had been right. "Mistress." He moved over to the bed, dropping to his knees by the bed.

Kaj looked at him, a little surprised. It had been weeks since last he had went to his knees at once with her. "Ah, little one. Am I glad to see you."

He looked up at the almost relieved tone in her voice. "Mistress?"

"Roll over sweety, I have someone I want you to meet." Kaj patted Rook's shoulder. "Fain, you know Rook, don't you?"

"Sort of Mistress." His eyes never left her face. "Mer introduced him to me a few times."

Kaj looked back down to where Rook lay, still on his stomach. "Rook." She fussed at him. "I told you to roll over. It is hard to meet your new mate, if your head is still facing the wall." Again she popped him.

And again he, yelped, as he rolled over, trying hard not to think of what was all too plane to see. "Yes Mistress. I'm sorry."

"My first consort, might like to play pain games, but me, I, expect and demand complete obedience and submission from my men. At all times, best you remember that sweet heart. Or I will be warming your back side with the palm of my hand very often."

"Yes Mistress. I'm sorry, I'll do better." He was fighting his fears as he looked up at her, exposed in all his raging glory.

"See that you do." Then her tone softened. "Rook, I would like you to meet Fain, Fain, this is Rook. He is going to be joining Cay and you." She took a deep breath. "Now I know, I should have brought him to you, and asked your consent before I did as I did when I took him. But at the time, what with all that was going on. I was just too irritated with that fool of an older brother of his to stop and think about anything but seeing to it that he was placed in the safest place I could put him. Out side of the Temple, there is no securer place than as on of my consort's. You know that. Now will you kindly try to convince him of that truth? Do that for me, and I will see to it that I will talk to Aticka and on the days that you and your old lover share time. You will either stay the night there when you go to him, or he can here when he comes to you."

"Mistress." Fain protested. "You don't have to buy my help or acceptance of him. Cay accepted me before he had ever touched me. He is my prince. Could I do any less for him?"

"Are you telling me you don't want what I am offering you?" She teased him.

He smiled. Over the past three moon's, he had gotten used to her sense of humor. "Mistress, you know me better than that. I love you. I love Cay, but Mer. He saved me a long time ago. Because of him, I am where I am today. I am just saying, thank you for your kindness, but I don't need to be bought. He is my prince. Knowing that you have put him between you and Cay, in the safest place in his New World that you could. That's enough for me."

She lifted an eyebrow at him. 'Where in the world had the frighten boy she had taken only three moons ago gone?'

Then the bitter knowledge returned to her. Her second consort had helped Jerrick when Caytin had been so badly hurt during his punishment. And after seeing all that he had. And having to do all that he did that night. Well, he still might be her darling. But he wasn't a boy anymore. That night had forever changed him. And now he was without a doubt one of the men of her house. "Well then, little one, could you kindly see if you could talk to the boy. You know him, make him understand that he is safe. I've had to strike him twice so far, just to get him to do as he was told. And you know me, I do not make it a habit of having to beat my men into obeying me."

"Rook." Fain's voice was soft. "My prince, please, listen to your mistress. Don't make her force you. She really doesn't want to hurt you, but she will if she has too." He reached up to touch Rook's arm. "Mistress," he looked over at Kaj. "Please, if he still has problems. May I stand for him? If Cay, has to punish him, spare him, if only for me."

Rook bit back a sob as Kaj nodded. "If that is what happens, then yes. But, he has to know you are being punished for him." She patted his leg. "But, I really don't think that he will need too much more prompting. Not now that he knows that it isn't him that will suffer for his failures."

"Don't," he sat up, reaching for Kaj's hand. "Please, Mistress, I, I'll be good. Do what you tell me. Just don't, please."

"It's up to you, sweety. I won't prompt you anymore. It is Fain that I will hit for your hesitancy. But know, every time I strike him. It was for you. He has put himself in front of you. If you refuse and he has to be whipped. It is for you. Keep that in mind. If you get him whipped, I will be ill with you. Fain is very dear to Cay and I."

Rook looked at her at loss. What was he supposed to do? He was wrong. He had traded one hell for another. Only now, he wouldn't be hurt, but someone else would. And every time he was hurt, it would be his fault. "I, I'll mind, just don't hurt him. Please Mistress. I promise. I'll be good."

She smiled at him. "Good boy. Now roll back over and let me see what I can do to help you relax." She looked to where Fain still knelt by the bed. "For pities sake, little one, get up and help me with him."

"Has Cay taken time to be with him yet?" Fain moved up to sit beside her.

"No, we haven't had the time to do more than put him between us as a consort. Cay had to go talk to Gabe to see that his twin was cared for."

"I know, he sent me to find you. That is how I knew you had taken another, consort, to replace me."

Kaj looked at him a bit stunned. "I am not replacing you Fain. How could you think that? I took you as my consort. That is for life, little one. Rook is my third and final consort, but he is not replacing you." She touched his cheek. "I can't believe you thought I was replacing you."

He hung his head. "Forgive me Mistress. I am still new here."

"There is nothing to forgive. I should have taken the time to explain how it would be here for you. I'm sorry little one." Rook was forgotten for the moment as she went to ease her man's fears.

Rook lay there, listening to them. This man, he had thought he had lost his place. And still was willing to protect him. It just didn't make any sense to him. Nothing had from this afternoon, when his mistress had refused to kill him, to everything that had happened since. He swore to himself as he lay there, that no matter what was asked of him. No matter how much it hurt. He would do it. If only to protect this man who was trying to protect him.

* * *

Caytin had dropped by Kaj's office to see if he could find her. But like Fain, he found the room empty. He smiled to himself as he headed for the rooms he shared with her. Looking forward to his time with his newest mate. Even if he had to walk the boy through everything. He had already had to ease Jerrick into his new life. So how hard could it be with this new boy? He was not near as adverse to the physical aspects of his new life, as his Lover had been.

"Cay!" Tag came around the corner at a dead run. "You have to go to the Armory. Trinna was working with the new ones, and Jerrick stood as your Lover in trying to protect a boy from the guards who were forcing him to obey, and they refused to acknowledge his place. He's being whipped." The boy looked wild-eyed, and insulted. "They wouldn't listen to him, or her. Even Warrel who tried to explain things, was threatened."

"Merciful Goddess, run, go to your mistress, let her know what is going on." Caytin moved. Jerrick was being whipped. He had, for the first time outside of his own Men's Quarter's taken his place as the second only to him, and was being whipped for it.

"Caytin." Trinna grabbed him as he ran forward. "Make them stop. They're killing him." She was hysterical.

A cold rage filled Caytin as he looked up at where Jerrick hung, stripped naked, head hanging down, blood on the ground under him where the whip had cut him. "Damn them." He pushed Trinna away, moving to reach his Lover, to stop this. "What are you doing?" He grabbed the guard that was whipping Jerrick.

"Leave off, man. You might have a high place in the ranks of the slaves, but you are still just a slave." And older woman who stood to one side, watching. "That fool over stepped his place. He is being taught the errors of his ways. Keep this up, and I will see to it that just as soon as he is cut down, you take his place."

"You would not dare. I am your Chieftesses first consort. He is my Lover. How dare you?" Caytin would not back down. "They are not like us, Mistress." He spat the word at him. "You are killing him. You do you know what will happen to you if you do that. Don't you? He is Healer Trinna's first consort, and my Lover. My mistress would have your throat slit for that." He held the whip.

"I will tell you one more time man, because you are the head of the men here, to back off and be quiet, or I will cut him down myself, and it will be you that is whipped."

"Try it Kitrina, and I will kill you." Kaj's voice thundered over the voices in the yard. "What in the nine hell of ice did you think you were doing?"

"Keeping order, Chieftess. That fool man stood up in the way of a slave that refused to obey a Healer."

Trinna went at once, the moment Kaj had appeared to tend to her, consorts, wounds. "That bitch, she was going to whip a boy, no older than Tam, just because he was scared. Then wouldn't listen to me. My man tried to step in as Cay's Lover and protect the boy. But all that got him was this."

Kaj looked to where Jerrick hung, naked and gagged. "Damn you Kitrina. I have had problems out of you before. Had I known you were on duty, I would have sent Hanna to see to it that nothing like this happened. Since when do we whip our men, just for being afraid?"

The guard pulled herself up. "He was asked three separate times. I don't know what you expect out of my women, Chieftess, but there are over a hundred of these men to deal with. We don't have time to coddle one."

"No, but you have time to whip one, is that it?" Trinna with Caytin's help pulled Jerrick down, removing the gag that had been forced in his mouth. "It's over love." She stroked his hair as he leaned against her, and for the first time in his adult life, cried. "They wouldn't have had to take any time Kaj. Jerrick was going to talk to the boy. But that one, she was just itching to see blood."

"He's blind Mistress." Jerrick cried against her. "He wasn't trying to give anyone a hard time. He's blind."

"You happy now Kitrina? Jerrick is Caytin's acknowledged Lover. You know what that mean's. You ignored a Temple Healer when she tried to warn you off, and even threatened one of the breeders from my house, who tried to vouch for him. Are you happy? I should string you up and give you a taste of that whip you were so fond of. But it wasn't my man you touched." She looked over at her sister. "He going to be okay Trin?"

"Physically, yeah, but it might be a little time before he is ready to try and stand as Cay's Lover again."

Kaj moved to kneel by where Trinna supported Jerrick. "Jerrick?"

"Yeah,"

"Are you going to be okay? If I had known what would happen, I would never have left things to be taken care of by the guards. You weren't in the wrong. You had every right to try and protect the boy. She was wrong, and I will see she pays for it. You just let your mistress, and Cay get you home."

"I'll be okay, Mistress." Jerrick struggled to calm down. "Just make her give me back my damn clothes."

"I have them." Caytin moved to gather the clothes that had been stripped from him, before he was strung up to be whipped. "Come on, Lover. Let me take you home. Your mistress can see to you later. Let her finish her work."

Jerrick pulled away. "No. I gave that boy my promise I wouldn't let anything happen to him. I have to stay and make sure that that bitch doesn't try this shit with him anymore."

"Which one is he talking about Trin?" Kaj was none too happy at the moment. "If he is this intent to protect the boy, I'll take him home and see that he is tucked away safely. Cay will see to him, soon. But for now, it is better if we just take him out of here. The boy has to be terrified."

Trinna nodded to a boy. Who looked no older than sixteen, tops, that huddled in a corner. "Jerrick say's he's blind. Stupid bitch wouldn't listen was going to whip a boy just because he couldn't see to obey."

Kaj nodded at Caytin to follow her as she moved to kneel by the terrified youngster. "Boy?" She reached out to touch him.

He jerked back, almost screaming. "No, please, I'll do it, I'm trying, please." He pressed against the wall, eyes staring out blindly. "Don't hurt me. I'm trying." He babbled.

"Merciful Mother." Caytin whispered. "She was going to whip a blind boy. Mistress, we have to get this one somewhere safe."

"Trinna, did Jerrick get the boys name before she had him stung up and whipped?" Kaj knew at this point, there was no way that she could reason with the frightened man.

"Love? Did you find out what his name was?"

"No, I didn't even get a chance to try to tell him you weren't going to hurt him. I didn't have enough time to do anything but stop her Mistress." He was finishing getting his pant's back on. "I'm sorry, baby, but by the time I could think of asking, I was strung up, and after that, I couldn't ask anyone anything." He took her hand. "Please Mistress, he has to be scared out of his mind. He's blind. He couldn't do what they wanted him to do, and no one would listen to me. I'm not a Healer, but even 'I' could see he was blind."

Trinna patted his hand. "Then, I will go to him. Don't worry Jerrick. No one is going to hurt him. The last time I checked, there was no law against being blind." She glared at the woman who still stood there, un-repetitive. "Or at least there wasn't last time I checked. Obviously I was wrong."

"I learned the hard way, that I didn't know exactly what the old punishments were for the broken laws. But I do know that blindness is not one of the many breakable laws." Kaj stood up as Trinna moved to kneel by the boy. "What is wrong with him Trin? Other than being blind, that is?"

"Ssshh, don't, Jerrick is my first consort. He has given you his promise that he would stand for you. No one is going to hurt you. The Chieftess is here, and so is her first consort." She gently took his head in her hands. Reaching to see if there was anything she could do to help him. "What's your name, honey?"

"Steffon." He whispered. Beginning to calm down.

"Hello Steffon. I am Jerrick's mistress. He was the one that stood for you. So surely you should know that I won't hurt you." She patted his cheek. "There is no reason for his blindness, not that I can detect. And he is quite fertile."

"I, I fell when I was five. We don't have Healers close to where my folks live. By the time I was able to see one," he tried to stop shaking. There was a new person here, a woman she had made it all stop. "Nothing could be done for me."

"Cay, help the boy up." Kaj was careful with how she said things. This boy was blind. He couldn't see her face, or know how mad at what had happened she was. Bad enough that he had been allowed to come, what with him being blind and all, but then to threaten him all because he didn't have sight enough to move as directed. But then, when someone tried to point out his problem, that man was whipped. No, she was not pleased at all. "I want you all to hear this." She looked around at the guards, Healer's and the crowd of chained men that were around her. "I am Chieftess of your new people. You are members of my people. And no one of the Danes is to be hurt without just cause. And that just cause does, not, include hesitancy. If you hesitate, you will be forced, but that force is not to include hurting anyone. I am trying to assure the man that once was their King, that they are safe. So they are to be safe. I won't have to worry, once they are turned over to the Temple. The Temple is the safest place on this world. Not even if they had committed murder, could they be forcibly taken from the Temple."

There was silence around her, only broke by the sounds of shuffling. "Do I make myself clear?"

The chorus of "Yes Ma'am" and "Of course." That echoed around her was resounding. No, she did have the emotional power that her sister did, but she was her consorts soul-match. And his grandmother is a Healing Priestess in the Temple, so what she got from that tie was in full force.

Steffon relaxed, just a little, as Caytin helped him up. The reality that she believed, what she had said to be true? She believed it to be so, so of course it was true. But he couldn't relax fully, the fact that he still had to be, made, to move, became even more uncomfortable.

"It's okay, son, you can relax. He won't let you get hurt." Jerrick leaned against Trinna, letting her support him. He had long since stopped worrying about the fact that she was a woman, and shorter than him. She had matched him each step of the way, and on some cases, bested him. Too many times for him to feel self-conscious.

Jerrick's calm and authoritative tone further relaxed the boy. "Yes, Sir." He whispered. Forcing him to relax further.

"Now." Kaj turned her attention back at the guard who had ordered all of the problems. "You are dismissed. I will deal with you later, after I have finished with all that I am dealing with right now. You are to remain in the Armory until such time as I can get to you. Do I make myself clear, Guardswoman?" Her tone was doom itself.

"Yes ma'am." The woman muttered.

"Do I, make, myself clear?" Kaj barked.

The woman snapped up to attention. "Yes, Chieftess."

"Dismissed." Kaj growled.

"You go on with Caytin, love. That boy trusts you." Trinna squeezed his slightly.

"Are you sure Mistress?"

She just looked at him. "Okay, yes Ma'am." He bent and kissed her quickly, before looking up. "Hey, Cay, hold up." He moved slowly towards the other man. "My mistress, thought he might feel a little better with me along." He explained, limping the distance.

Caytin paused, waiting for Jerrick to make the distance. "She's right you know?" He moved to work his arm up around his shoulder. Pulling him close with his arm. "Not even my mistresses words had quite the calming effect on him that yours did."

"Well, I guess my being the man that was just willing to take fifty lashes with the whip for him, probably had a lot to do with it."

Caytin stopped dead in his tracks. "Fifty?"

"It started out as twenty-five. But I still wouldn't back down, so she upped it to fifty."

Caytin's pale blue eyes turned to ice. "I wonder if she is related to Danyel?"

"Wondered about that myself a time or two."

"I would help you with him, but I have three in my rooms that are probably near panic. You got everything under control with him?"

"Yeah, tell Fain, I'm fine." Jerrick let Caytin deposit him on the couch of the Men's Quarter's.

"Take care of him, Lover." Caytin kissed his briefly. "I give you leave to stand in my stead with him. If you need added help to bring him around to you with that, do so."

"Oil's and all hu?" Jerrick nodded.

"Yes, oil's and all."

* * *

Fain looked up from where he was holding Rook, trying to calm his mate, when he was scared, shitless, himself. "Master." He almost sobbed.

"Cay!" Tag reached for him, to be put off as Caytin moved to where Fain sat with Rook.

"Jerrick is fine. Your mistress stopped it. I was able to get there in time to delay the woman long enough for your mistress to get there. And She stopped it."

"And, Jerrick, he didn't get hurt?"

"I was able to delay her, and your mistress stopped her." He would not tell Fain, how badly Jerrick had been whipped before he was able to stop what was going on, and keep it from starting again. Nor would he tell him how close he had come to danger had Kaj not gotten there when she did.

"Thank God." Fain breathed a sigh of relief. "What happened, Tag kept saying something about him trying to protect one of the new ones, that is just a kid. But I can't get much more out of him than that, so what really happened?"

"There is a new breeder in my Men's Quarter's. Tag was right. Jerrick did step in to protect a boy. The guard was going to whip the boy for not doing as he was told. Jerrick was trying to get them to understand the boy was blind. And that was why he was having problems obeying him. Steffon, which is his name, couldn't see to obey. But the guardswoman wouldn't listen to him, and he stood in for Steffon, and was willing to be whipped."

"That can't be right." Rook sat up. "My father took half of the men between fifteen and thirty-five, yes, but only of the healthier ones."

"It doesn't really matter, Rook. The boy was not born blind, but suffered from a childhood accident."

"But it does matter. He wouldn't have done that. I mean." Rook ran his hand through his hair, as he tried to explain. "We didn't know what kind of life our men would have here, he wouldn't have done that to someone already stricken."

"Well whether he knew it or not, it happened. And Jerrick is in the Men's Quarter's even as we speak, trying to calm the boy down."

"Well, now that every thing is over, I need to go back, I am helping to take them, after the Healers see to them, to the Temple." Tag, headed for the door.

Caytin waited only long enough for Tag to leave before making a deep sigh. "Scared the hell out of me, that is what that boy did. Came running up, carrying on about a guardswoman whipping Jerrick. Almost stopped my heart."

"Didn't do mine too much good either, and Rook, I thought he was going to throw himself out a window."

Caytin turned to look at Rook. "No matter what had happened. Nothing would have happened to you. You are Kaj's consort. She would never let anyone hurt you. No matter what happened out of this room."

"Cay," Fain patted Rook's arm. "Just so you know. Mistress say's I can stand infront of him. If he gives her a hard time, I will stand in for him, should you have to punish him."

"I don't think he has anything to worry about. Your mistress just gave his people her word that even though they will be made to obey, that making, will not include pain."

"I bet that was a load off a lot of their minds." Fain smiled. "I know it is mine. As much as I like it when you are my master, and I hang under your whip, the idea of it being punishment, was not one I was looking forward to." The he chuckled. "And I dreaded the though of my mistress smacking me more than I did your whip. Even when you punish me, you don't use that whip near as hard as she hits. If you did, you really would draw blood every time you did."

"Yes, well, I have a finer control over my blows than she does. I know my whip can cut. An open palm can't do that much damage."

"You try getting a spanking, and then sitting down. Trust me, hurts like hell."

"If it didn't, would it be punishment?"

Fain dropped his head. "No, Master."

"No, Fain, or at least, not right now. Just call me Cay. We have a new consort to welcome into the family."

Rook looked around the room, trying to think of something to say that would slow this down. He was trying to hold faith that after all that he had seen so far, that it really wouldn't hurt. But it wasn't easy.

"Rook," Caytin reached for him. "Come here pretty one. There is nothing to worry about. Your mistress will be along soon, and then she will see to it that you know her. But while we wait for her, I am first consort of her home. So I have the pleasure of the first time as a welcoming goes to." He wrapped his arms around the boy. "Remember this afternoon, what I told you?"

"Yes Master," a tiny voice.

Caytin shook his head, bringing his lips close to Rook's. "Call me Cay." He pressed Rook back against Fain as he kissed him.

Rook felt himself loose all control of the situation, as he was caught between the two men, one kissing him, his hands moving over his body. The other just, holding, him where he was. Kissing his shoulder.

"Master," Rook gasped as the kiss broke.

"Call me Cay," Caytin fussed at him gently. "Now, what?"

"What happens with Miri?"

"You twin is fine. I sent Gabe to take care of her."

"He won't hurt her, will he? Please Mas, I mean Cay. I'll do it, anything you want me too, but please, don't let anyone hurt her."

Caytin snorted as Fain began to laugh. "Gabe hurt her?" Fain could barely breathe as he laughed. "Rook, my prince. She is more likely to be hurt by you than by Gabe."

Rook turned his head to look at Fain. "I wouldn't hurt her. She's my sister, my twin."

"That is what he is trying to tell you, boy." This was stupid. "Wait here." He pulled away, to reach for the bottle of blue oil that Kaj had put on the table by the bed when she had run to stop what had been going on with Jerrick. "Here, Rook" he uncorked it. "Drink this." With as upset as his new consort was, Caytin was not above drugging the boy to ease him past his fears. Once he got to a point that he wasn't ready to faint dead away at the slightest touch, things would go much smoother.

Rook looked at the bottle that Caytin held out to him, looking a little worried. "Go on, drink, I don't want to have to have Fain hold you down, so I can hold your nose, and pour it down your throat."

Rook's hands shook so much that had Caytin not kept a hold on the bottle, he would have dropped it. Trying to calm down so he could bring it to him lips, he began to drink.

The oil tasted bland, a little sweet, but mostly bland. He had finished a little over half the bottle before Caytin pulled the bottle away. "There, now we'll just relax here for a minute or two, and let you calm down."

"I didn't know you could drink that stuff." Fain was surprised.

"We don't normally have to make them, but look at him. I can't blame him for his fears. Hell if I had that older brother of his terrorizing me non-stop for Goddess only knows how long. I would be like he is. So I just saw to it that we don't have t with them. Nothing short of a special pill, one that is so powerfull, that your mistress has to okay its use. There is no better way to get a frightened boy to your bed."

"You drugged me?" Rook was shocked. "You didn't have to drug me. I would have done what I was told."

"I know that, but now, I don't have to worry about you being afraid of me. Just give it a moment or two, and everything will be fine."

* * *

Jerrick was having problems of his own. That was centered on Steffon. "Come on, son. You have to calm down. You heard your mistress. No one is going to hurt you. I just took almost thirty lashes from that damn whip for you. If I was going to let anyone hurt you, why would I have bothered?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get you in trouble. I thought once I got here, it would be okay." He sat like ice by Jerrick, trying not to notice the arm around him.

"You didn't get anyone in trouble, that bitch did that all on her own. My mistress is a Healer. She took care of me it's over. Now calm down, or sooner or later, some one is gonna get here and see you in the shape you're in, and think I have been hurting you." Actually, they had all seen what had happened, so no one would wonder at the frightened man with him. But Jerrick wanted him to calm down.

"What is going to happen now, Sir?"

"First thing I am going to do, is get you in a tub, and cleaned. Then see if I can't walk you through your first night here without you freaking. You heard Caytin. I have to do something about seeing to you. He's got his hands full right now. He and your mistress, they have Rook with them, and that boy is probably scared out of his mind right now." Jerrick stood up, pulling Steffon to his feet. "Come on, I've got you." He took both his hands and led Steffon towards the bathing room.

Steffon held on to his hands as he was led across the room. He knew what was going to happen, but he had known that before he agreed to come along with the men, and his parents had talked or bribed several into helping him get here. Keeping him between them on the march. But he would end up this way, anyway. Either a brothel would force his parents to sell him to them, or the Catimine's would take him, and he would still be a slave, the only difference was he had never heard of any rumors that the Danes abused their slaves, and nothing but horror from the Catimine's. And being blind, he had never grown up around anyone that wanted to have anything to do with him, so he wasn't loosing anything by coming here.

The tub in the Men's Quarter's bathing room, didn't take all that long to fill. "Okay, let me help you out of your clothes. Then I am going to get something to help you."

Jerrick helped him out of his clothes and then into the water. "Sit down for a minute, Steffon. I'll just take a sec. You are safe here. There is no one here but you and me. Everyone else is out helping with the new men. So just relax."

Other than Caytin, and Fain a time or two, Jerrick had not had time to be exposed to any of the other men here. His mistress kept him pretty busy. And Caytin was his Lover, so other than Fain, there was no other that could touch him. But, he had shared time with Caytin more than just once or twice. So he knew what he would need with this boy. He went to Donnel's room, where the oils were kept, and digging through the chest's that they were kept in, took out a bottle. He hoped this was some of Donnel's latest batch, the stuff that had helped him when he was taking care of Caytin after his punishment. And if it was, he knew what he was in for. But decided he would rather have to fight for control over himself, than Steffon.

"Who's there?" Steffon looked wildly from the tub as Jerrick entered.

"It's just me Steffon. I told you, there is no one else here." Jerrick poured most of the bottle in the water. He had no idea how well it would take, but he wanted the boy calm. He pulled back to strip quickly, so he could get in and start helping the poor kid to come to terms with what was happening to him. "I'm getting into the tub now." He warned the boy.

Steffon turned his head towards the sound of the water as Jerrick stepped in. "What happens now Sir?"

"First thing, I'm just Jerrick. I haven't been a sir since my capture. And second, I am going to see what I can do to see to it that you aren't afraid of me."

"I'm trying. It's just." He didn't know how to explain how he felt.

"I know, trust me. I was in your shoes, well maybe not quite the same way you are, but close just a few moons back. Now I am going to tell you like Cay told me. And I really do know what I'm talking about. I understand how hard this has to be for you. I will do everything in my power to help you.

Steffon sat there, trying to calm down. He kept telling himself he knew what would happen. He had to just go with it. At least, he had someone to help him to get past the first time. He had been willing to come, not knowing what would happen. But so far, other than the scare that the guard put in him, it had been pretty easy. So when he felt Jerrick pull him closer against him. He fought off the urge to fight.

"Just lay back, Steffon, trust me. I won't hurt you, nor will I let anyone else hurt you. I stepped in to stand between you and the world already. So until you can come to terms with what is going on around you. I will continue to stand."

Steffon looked up, towards where Jerrick's voice had come from. "Jerrick," he tested the name.

"Yeah, Steffon."

"My folks called me Steff."

"Would you rather me use Steff than Steffon? My mother tended to call me Ricky, I hated it."

Steffon crinkled his nose at the name. "How did she get Ricky our of Jerrick?"

"Drop the Jer, from my name and add a 'y'. You get Ricky. But you didn't answer me. You want me to call you Steff or Steffon?"

"Steff, please. The only time anyone ever called me Steffon, was when I was in trouble. And for a blind man, I got into trouble a lot."

"Okay, Steff it is. Okay, Steff, how old are you?"

"Be nineteen cycles on the third day of the Thirteenth moon."

"That old, damn son, I thought you to be closer to fifteen."

Steffon looked up at the sound of the voice again. "Does that change things?"

"Not hardly. My mistress is a little over eighteen cycles old too. If anything, knowing you are over sixteen, does my conscious a would of good."

"Why is that?"

"You are at least an adult by my reckoning. Men here, they are sold at fifteen, and that is just a touch too young for me. Oh, I would have still been willing to ease you into your new life, but I would have probably felt guilty as all hell about it. Before coming here, I didn't fancy boys at all, and well, now. I'm the head consort's Lover. That's Cay, the one that showed up and stopped the bitch from hitting me again until his mistress got there and, well you were there." He felt the boy begin to relax next to him, which was a good thing, because he was beginning to relax himself. "How ya feeling Steff?"

"Kinda strange. Did you add something to the water?"

"Just a little oil to help you to calm down. You were jumpy as hell there for a few minutes. Better now though?"

He nodded. "Thank you. I don't know what it was that you used, but yeah, I feel better now."

"Well, technically, I'm not supposed to do anything with you, you're not my Lover. But like I said, Cay has his hands full with Rook. So he told me to take care of you." He stood up, reaching down to pull the blind man up, he wasn't strong enough, after the whipping and blood loss he had just suffered to pick the younger man up, but he could help him, by being his eyes to step from the tub. "Easy there, Steff, it is a big step down."

Steffon leaned against Jerrick as he lead him to the room in the Men's Quarter's that he shared with Caytin on the few times that they had slept away from their mistresses.

Jerrick had snagged the bottle and what was left of the oil as he left the bathing room. Steffon was doing pretty good. He didn't need anything to mess it up. He had put this boy under his protection, and would be damned, if, he was going to let him get hurt or feel even the slightest pain if he could prevent it. Trinna or Caytin might make it a habit of trying to eat him alive at least once a day. But he really didn't think this one was quite up to that kind of intense attention, or at least not yet. No, with all probability, Steffon was as much, if not more a virgin as he had been the first night in bed with Caytin. He had at least been with women before. This kid was probably as pure as the driven snow. "There is a bed, right behind you. It's safe to sit down. I won't let you fall." He supported Steffon as he eased himself back on the bed to sit on the edge. "Okay, Steff, I am going to assume you have never had this done to you, so try very hard to pay attention." He chuckled softly, kneeling infront of the boy. "There will be a test on it later." He parted the Steffon's legs. Going to begin his instruction on things he would need to know if he was going to live here.

"What?" Steffon asked as Jerrick pushed him back to lie on the bed, his feet still on the floor. But thought stopped as he felt a hand on him.

His moan was soft as Jerrick touched him, trying to excite him, which with as drugged as he was, didn't take much effort. "Okay, Steff, you with me?"

"Uh-hu."

"Okay, just lay back and relax, and if you can, the rule is not to cum until I give you the okay. If you can't do that, I won't get bent, but try." He had learned how to share this with another man, the first night he went to Caytin. And had worked on improving it ever since.

Steffon almost cried out at the feel of a tongue running over the head of his rapidly hardening penis.

The younger man, wasn't quite the same size as Caytin was, and certainly not like, him, but he wasn't tiny either. As size goes, he was probably close to seven inches, maybe seven and a half at full mast. He figured once everything slowed down, and Trinna got home. She would see to Steffon's body hair. But until then, he just dealt with the fact, that he would probably end up spitting a few hairs. He had with Trinna that first night, before she had him start doing what all consort's do with their mistresses, and shave her.

"Merciful God." Steffon moaned as he felt Jerrick's mouth cover him, pulling on his erection.

Jerrick felt her balls begin to shift in his hands, so he pulled back. "Easy goes, it, there Steff. Breathe. You get too excited too fast and it's going to be all over way too soon.

Steffon's head came up. "What are you doing to me?"

"Blowing you baby. Now relax, or you'll end it, way too soon."

Steffon's hands moved to tangle his fingers in Jerrick's hair as he felt the man resume his onslaught of his senses. Almost nineteen, and had never even been kissed by anyone but his sister, and that didn't count. She was his sister and it usually was on the cheek, or a quick peck. And now, there was a man who was blowing him.

Jerrick's hand reached out to the bottle at his side, blindly pulling the cork from it to tilt it up in his hand, letting some of the oil cover his finger, before putting it back down, hoping like hell he didn't spill it. "Okay, baby, you can cum if you want too." He began to work his finger between the tight half moons of Steffon's bottom, to begin to rub his virgin hole. Rubbing the oil over him before beginning to work his finger into him. It had worked with Caytin. So he figured with as tightly wound up as this boy was, it would work on him as well.

He was right, he hadn't even got his middle finger all the way in, before he felt the boy begin to tense. A guttural cry in the room as the younger man began to cum. From that point on, Jerrick forgot about teasing him, and just held on to the bucking hips, as he tasted Steffon's release as he swallowed it. Virgin's, Mer had always told him how quick they were to begin with. But he had never really paid him any mind. Now he wished he had.

CHAPTER 14

Kaj was still ill as she returned to her room. She couldn't figure out how a blind man had gotten in the collection. Surely the Merican King wouldn't have tried to play her for a fool. Well, the only thing she could do was see if she could track down Jerrick and the boy that had come with him and Caytin. And ask.

The Men's Quarter's were empty. So she was getting ready to go look in Trinna's room, when a strangled cry, stopped her.

She waited outside Caytin's room, until it was quiet, before knocking.

There was a shuffle behind the door, before it opened. Jerrick stood there, still naked. "Mistress." He dropped to his knees at once.

"Get up, Jerrick. I'm here to talk to the boy you bled for today."

"His name is Steffon, but he goes by Steff. He says that the only time anyone ever calls him Steffon, is when he's in trouble." Jerrick slowly got back to his feet. "He isn't is he?"

"Go get cleaned up, Jerrick, I need to talk to him."

Jerrick looked at her closely. "You aren't going to try to hurt him, are you Mistress?"

"Of course not. You go on and do as I tell you. I have just a few questions for him. Nothing that will run the risk of getting him hurt."

"One moment, please, Mistress." He turned to look at the young man in the bed, clutching the covers to his throat. "Steff?"

"Who is it Jerrick?"

"Your mistress. She has a few questions she wants to ask you. Now I want you to remember. As long as I can stand, if there is anything due you, I take it."

"Stop scaring the boy, Jerrick. I already told you, I am not going to hurt him. I only want to ask him a few questions."

"I'm sorry Mistress, but he's had a bad day, and I had to drug him to get him to where he is so far."

"Go get cleaned up. I won't eat the boy. You are getting to be as bad as Cay. No wonder Trinna took you as hers." She reached up and patted Jerrick on the side of the face. "Now hop."

Steffon shifted uncomfortably as he felt the bed move as Kaj sat beside him. He kept trying to hold on the fact that so far, no one had hurt him. That this is the woman who had backed Caytin up when he had stepped in and stopped Jerrick's whipping. Had given her pledge that they were all safe.

"Okay now, Steff, correct?" Her movements were slow as she reached and gathered the young man to her. "Ssshh, you are in no danger. I only want to ask you a few questions. I won't hurt you. On my oath."

"Ma'am?"

"Will you sit up here with me, and answer a few questions for me?" She pulled him on up into her lap, the covers he had been clutching in front of him, were the same ones that she was sitting on, so when she pulled him into her lap, they didn't follow.

"Hey," he tried to grab his protective coverings as they were taken from him.

"Oh, please. You were brought to my city, as slaves. And you are worried about being exposed?" She gently took his hands, as they frantically tried to cover his genitals. "Stop." A single, soft spoken, word but the effect was as if she had screamed at him. He froze where he was, sitting naked in her lap.

Jerrick had returned, and stood watching. He was a little worried. Kaj was known among her men, for the most part, as being a fairly kind and benevolent mistress. But she also had the reputation for being a bitch when it came to anyone not following her orders when, she, gave them.

"Now, Steff, will you answer a question for me?"

"Yeah."

"Yes Mistress, Steff." Her tone was gentle.

Steffon froze. "Yes Mistress." He was going to have to get his shit together, or bad things would happen. "I'm sorry, I just," he didn't cry, he didn't try to pull away. He, did, sit where she held him, not moving.

"Have had the hell scared out of you and drugged all in one day. Yes, I understand. But you belong to me. Now for how long, is anyone's guess? Jerrick has put you behind him for now. So it is probably only be a matter of time before my little sister snatches you up to make it a permanent state of being for you. But then again, you are blind. What safer place for a blind man to be, than in the keep of a Healer?" She stroked his hair. "Now, the question I have for you is just this. I am having a hard time believing that your King would risk everything knowingly including a blind man in those he brought with him. Now, I will not count one man as breaking the agreement he made with me. But you had to know the risk. What would have happened if, I were as brainless and mean as Kitrina? My demand was one half of his healthy men between the ages of fifteen and thirty-five. What possessed you to risk certain death of your people?"

This time Steffon did try to pull away, but Kaj just held him where he was. "No, you got it all wrong." He tried even harder to get away from her. "Jerrick!"

Jerrick moved to come to the bed, his natural instincts to calm the boy. But the look Kaj gave him stopped him in his tracks. "I'm right here Steff."

"There were two hundred and thirty-seven men left in our city, he, he brought a hundred and eighteen." He tried to explain. "I wasn't one of them. My folks begged and bribed a few to keep me between them on the march here." He wasn't sure if he was in a situation where crying was called for. But he was close to it anyway. "Ask, I swear, he will tell you a hundred and eighteen, and then count them. They are one hundred and eighteen down there. I was an extra, he doesn't know about me."

Kaj nodded. "Thank you Steff, I was having a very hard time trying to imagine that my new father by wedlock was willing to risk his people by trying to pass off a blind man as one of his healthy men. Oh, I wouldn't have hurt your people. What's one or two, more or less, when he brought over a hundred? But still, I would have thought less of him had he done it. Now will you answer me another question?"

"Yes, Mistress."

"Why are you here? I would imagine being blind would be hard enough as a free man. I am having a hard time seeing you wanting to be a slave."

"My parent's they're poor, Mistress." He didn't forget who this woman was. Even as befuddled as he was, he didn't forget. "Already one of the brothels that catered to those that like to hurt boy's had offered them fifty gold for me. They turned them down, but they were poor. How much longer could they afford to refuse? I'm blind. Would never amount to anything. Never marry, have kids, hold a job. I was forever dependent on them. Or the Catimine's, they made a habit of raiding my village at least twice a cycle. I would rather die than be taken by them." He took a deep breath, pausing in his explination. "Then your demands were made public. It cost my family everything they had to bribe some of the men to help me, but they did. So I came here. Better a hope of a chance to live. Than living with the knowledge that I would eventually be sold, or captured." He hung his head. "At least here, there was a chance, that I wouldn't spend the rest of my life hating it."

Kaj nodded. Of course, poor boy, no wonder he had come. "Jerrick, come here. I have gotten what I needed from him. I am sorry if I upset him again." She waited until Jerrick sat beside her on the bed, before slowly handing the man in her arms over to him. "See what you can do to calm him. Now that I have the answers I needed, I have a new one in my rooms that probably is more scared than this one is."

"Let Caytin know, Mistress, I took care of the problem." He chuckled as Steffon tried to hide in his arms. Like he had anything to hide behind. He was as naked as the boy was.

"You and Cay are going to have a talk soon. With all these new men, those that do end up here, it is going to be very hard for him to be faithful to you alone, and do his duty to me with them."

"Mistress, I used to be a soldier. He and I have already talked about that. I know all about duty."

She nodded, turning to leave. "Then I will leave you to yours." And she left.

* * *

Rook was trying so hard, to hold himself in check, but the feelings he was being given, as Caytin held him close to him, as he took his virginity, and Fain busy blowing him, made any kind of control over himself, hard. Already, he had lost the battle for control twice. And Caytin had, warned him, if he lost it again he would be punished. Which meant Fain would be hurt. "Please" he sobbed at the feel of a mouth against his balls. Tongue playing with the ring that had been placed there.

"Soon." 'Poor boy,' to think anyone could be this responsive. He was worse than even Toby, who used to cum, almost as soon as he had looked at him with a threat of toying with him.

So Rook leaned back, gritting his teeth fighting not to give in. No matter how much he wanted nothing more than to just let go. He was terrified what would happen if he did.

Caytin knew that the boy wasn't going to last much longer. He either gave him permission to surrender to what he was feeling, or be forced to watch Fain be whipped for his failure to control himself. "Little one, pull back and turn so he can show you the same pleasure you have been showing him." He whispered kissing Rook's ear. "Lean over and share this with him, sweety." He gripped his hips as he began to move with greater purpose, as Rook leaned forward to return to Fain what he had given him so far. "Now, boy, you can cum."

Fain moaned as he felt both Rook's body tense, and the mouth that had locked on to him. As, Rook cried low cumming.

Rook struggled to get his head back, as he returned from where Caytin had pushed him. Trying to concentrate on the man under him. He had been taught how to do this, without choking, but not with someone still blowing him, as another fucked his, so hard, it almost hurt. Which just made, it, all the better.

Kaj slipped back into her room, almost laughing at the sight on her bed. All the men in her house, were busy tending to the new ones, one way or another. Either by holding their hands as they were taken to the Temple, or like Jerrick and her two consorts, and getting them past their first submissions. She moved to sit close to the bed, deciding to just sit quietly and watch.

Caytin had shown her long ago, how lovely watching as he amused himself with one of the many men or bedwarmers in her home. And as she watched as her first was taken by the tightness of her third, who was sharing his attention with her second, who was intent on seeing to it that the boy was pushed past all reasoning with his mouth. She had to agree with him again. It was indeed lovely."

Fain pushed away from Rook, going to Caytin as the older man pulled back, gasping for air. "Here, Master, let me." He pushed Caytin back, to tend to him.

The first time Fain had gone to do this, after their lovemaking, had been the very night of his punishment. It had taken the younger man almost an hour to convince him that it was not the same thing. He wasn't being made to eat a solid chunk. That cleaning him afterwards was normal for him. Mer had been doing it to him since almost the night he had saved him. The Catimine's used to force him to eat their shit, so this was nothing. And the thought of anyone being forced to do that had sent Caytin into tears again.

Rook lay there trying to catch his breath as Fain had moved past him to submit to his master/mate. It hadn't hurt. Kerri had been so very wrong. And okay so maybe he was a slut, but that didn't seem to be something that they looked down at here.

"Come here, Rook." Kaj's soft and very aroused voice from the side of the bed. "Cay and Fain are going to be a bit busy for a while, so you come and be with me."

He almost fell from the bed in his hurry to go to her. "Mistress." He fell into her arms, willingly.

She held him, amused with his willingness. "I take it you enjoyed your time with your consorts while I was otherwise occupied." She held him close.

Rook did not blush this time. "It was, Mistress, they didn't hurt me." He was still so amazed that they had used him like they had. But it hadn't hurt. If anything, he was ready to gladly offer himself again.

"Of course, they didn't hurt you." She laughed, popping his butt, bringing another yelp from him. "Silly boy. Cay has spent the whole afternoon trying to convince you that he wasn't going to hurt you. And you are surprised when his word was good."

"I'm sorry, Mistress." He hung his head, hiding it in her shirt as they listened to Caytin's moan's as Fain gave him his submission.

"Isn't it sweet, love? Fain is such a darling."

Rook looked up at her. "I, you won't make me do that too, will you?"

Kaj chuckled. "No, sweety. Fain is unique in his submissions. Poor boy, he was held and tormented by those monsters that have all but decimated your old homeland. For him, what he is giving Cay, is only what he had come to know as what a slave is expected to give his master." She held him, stroking his hair as they watched the two men on the bed. "Oh, I have a question for you. Did you or your father know about Steffon?"

"Who?" He wasn't quite all the way back from where he had just been with Caytin and Fain.

"The boy, that Jerrick did, as Fain has done with you, and put behind him. The blind one."

He shook his head. "I tried to tell the master." He shook his head, this time trying to clear it. "I mean Cay. That he wouldn't do that to someone who already had something that big to deal with."

"How many were supposed to come?" She believed the boy, but it was always best to cover all the possibilities.

"One hundred and eighteen." Rook looked from where he had been watching Fain and Caytin. "I swear, Mistress. If this one, came, if he took the place of one of the other men. My father didn't know it. He knew that if you moved against us, we would die. Even back when our ancestors signed the treaty with yours, we were, no, match for you. Now, after over twelve cycles of war with the Catimine's there would have been no way he was going to win. I wasn't even counted among the number. I was the single sacrifice for your son. The rest, they were only to prevent a war we knew wouldn't have won. It would have been a slaughter."

She nodded. "That pretty much matches what the boy told me. Make sure you remind me, before your father returns home. To see to it, that I send enough gold to pay the boy's parents for him. They had to bribe some of those that were coming to take care of their son on the trek here."

Rook looked at her a little surprised. "Why?"

"Because, he is blind, and his family is poor, but they were willing to spend everything they had to protect their son. Even if it meant sending him into the chains of slavery. I will not take a fertile man from his mother, without paying her. You are right, the other men, they do not count. They were a peace offering, to prevent a slaughter. But this one, his parents figured out how to protect him. You probably don't understand this, being that you are royalty and far from destitute. Had Steffon's parents been even a little less caring of their son, he would have been sold to a brothel long before now. The one that wanted him had already offered his mother fifty gold for him. So I will see to it that a purse of five hundred goes home to her. With my, thanks. Blind or no, he is fertile. His blindness is due to a childhood accident that was not taken care of in time to save his sight, and nothing he could possibly pass on to any of the children he fathered."

Rook nodded, he wasn't sure, but he thought he remembered some of the men, fussing over a single man. He had thought that this one was one of the boys that the soldiers sometimes kept for their amusements. But now, he couldn't imagine what his life must have been like. Even as bad as his life had been. He at least still had his sight. "Do you think, there is anything that can be done for him?"

Kaj looked down at Rook. "You might be young, and timid as hell, but you have the mindset of a ruler." She kissed him. "I don't know honey. Trinna no, I'm sorry to say, not a chance. She is still only a journeyman, and still has a lot of work to do before she could even hope to hold up under that kind of skill it would take. But perhaps, once the Temple is finished seeing to the men that your father brought. There is very little that a fully trained and skilled Healer can't undo." She let her fingers trail down his body, to tease his nipples lightly, making the tiny bells in them tinkle. "Do you think, we can get our other two mate's to scoot over just a bit? I do believe it is time, we consummated our union."

* * *

Thalin stood as Kaj led her three into the dining hall. Watching with sharp eyes as his son took to his seat, carefully, wincing, just a touch.

It had been a rather interesting, and very fun, time. His first with his mistress; he had failed to hold himself in check, almost the moment she had pinned him to the bed, and took him. And even after she had let that slip slide. He had failed her again. Which after a lot of begging on his part got him spanked, instead of Fain. Which did nothing more than shame him with his lack of control again. His mistress had almost dropped him, laughing as his release dripped down her leg. The whip might scare him to death, but his mistress's hand that was no punishment for him.

Kaj was very pleased. Even after all that this day had cost her. All in all, it had turned out well. Yes, it was going to cost her five hundred gold pieces but if that boy that Trinna's man had took in. If he was even half as sweet as he seemed. It was going to be worth it.

Gabe escorted Miri in. The young woman tried not to look at her father or Kaj. But just held close to Gabe, who just wrapped an arm around her.

"So, little sister, did my boy do right by you?" Kaj teased the girl.

Miri hadn't quite got to the point of being as embarrassment dulled as her brother so she blushed, a, hot red.

The rest came in ones and two's or occasionally as it was with some of the men of her house in-groups of four and five. Trinna led Jerrick in. Steffon holding to his arm, trusting the man not to let him stumble. Several of the Priestesses entered. Each of them had spent their day, taking care of the new men that were now members of their world.

"So, Kaylin, I am sure that Thalin would like to know, how are the men doing?" Kaj nodded at Winna who served her and her consorts first.

"Healed, collared, fed and tended to Kaj." She smiled as she took a plate. "Also after that fool had taken her vexation out on Trinna's man for protecting one of them, very frightened. I had to resort to putting them all to sleep, just to get them to calm down long enough for me to investigate." She looked to where Jerrick sat Steffon at his side. Looking very uncomfortable. "So what have you to say Kaj? I am going to have to tell them something. That one, there are several that think him either dead or hurt."

"Tell them you saw him. That he is no worse for ware, and that they have done what they were paid to do. He has been placed safely in a house. Has a mistress, that will not see him hurt." She looked to Thalin. "Before I forget. I owe one of your women five hundred gold pieces. Before you leave, make sure I give it to you." She cut into the meat on her plate. "Oh, and Winna, make sure you tell the kitchen staff, that they did themselves proud. The dinner is excellent, as always."

"Yes Mistress."

"Why do you think you owe any of us, anything Kaj?"

"I don't owe you anything Thalin. But Steffon's mother, I will not take a woman's child from her without paying for him. I have been assured by both him and Rook that you did not know this, but there was one extra man to come." She nodded at Steffon who sat there silent, listening to what she was saying.

"What is he doing here?" Thalin demanded. "My oath, Chieftess. I did not bring him."

"Yes you did. You might not have known he was there, but he was brought with the rest you brought. There weren't a hundred and eighteen men that went to the Armory today, but a hundred and nineteen. His parent's had begged and bribed some of those that you had taken to place him between them and see that he made the trek safely. Journeyman Healer, Trinna, who is my sister, her consort placed himself between the boy and one of the guards. I will deal with her later. To protect the boy, no one would listen when he tried to explain that the child was blind. Bled to protect him. So to his mother I send a purse, with five hundred pieces of gold for him. It is the standard price for a fertile man. He is now a member of my house, and I will not let him be taken from me."

Thalin looked at Steffon trying to decide if he should be angry, or not. "You do understand, he was not part of the men I brought? That I had refused his father's plea?"

"Yes, Thalin. I do. It wouldn't have mattered if you had known of his presence. His blindness wasn't due to anything at his birth, but a childhood accident. He is fertile. And he gives Jerrick someone to worry about. Personally, between you and I, I happen to think watching my sister go through wanting to pull her hair out as her man worries himself sick about the boy, is going to be well worth the gold."

The meal continued on quietly. Miri was quiet. Her blush had never quite left her. She knew that every one in the room, had, to know what she and Gabe had just done.

"Mistress, please, if you keep acting like this, my mistress is going to think you're ill with me." Gabe whispered to her.

"It's not you," she muttered to him. "Or at least nothing you can help."

Steffon finally decided. He was hungry enough to try to eat what was infront of him. "Jerrick." He turned towards the direction he knew the man was. "Would you please tell me about where everything is,"

Jerrick put down his fork, turning to help him. "The plate is about three inches, on the table, in front of you. Your knife is on the right, your fork on the left of it." He helped Steffon with them. "Were you old enough to be able to tell time when you had your accident?"

"I have been using the clock as a visualization since I was seven."

Jerrick nodded, reaching to turn his plate. "Okay then son, your meat is at twelve, you have some kind of bean dish at two through four, another vegetable at five to seven, and a third from about eight to ten. Then your bread is by your meat, at about eleven. Do you need me to cut it for you?"

Kaj laughed at her sister who gave her a dirty look. "Welcome to the wonderful world of adulthood, little sister."

"Only until I can see if I can get his eyes healed. If I can do that, I won't have to watch 'my' man fuss over him like he is."

"Keep telling yourself that Trin, if it helps you to sleep at night. Jerrick is almost as bad as Cay is in the nurturing area. Remember that he has spent most of his life, working with young men like that boy. Besides, he's your first consort. You are a Healer. What better for a Healer than to have a man that actually doesn't faint at the sight of blood?

Steffon just sat, there, head down. He hadn't realized what slavery, even if they didn't hurt him, would mean.

"Ignore them Steff, they're not talking about you. It's just you mistress, is mine's older sister, and she is teasing her." He looked up at Caytin, a dark look in his eyes. "Forgive me, Master, I know you had planned later to spend some time with me. But if my mistress, doesn't mind, I will take my 'Lover'." He bit out the word. "And see what I can do to calm him. I realize, Sir, that no one is looking at him, but he's blind, so he doesn't." No, he hadn't planned anything like this, and he was looking forward to a little time with Caytin. But damnit, the boy didn't need this.

"Yes, better her than me." Kaj shook her head as Trinna went to deal with Jerrick and Steffon.

"King Thalin." Kaylin decided to draw everyone's attention away from where it was. "Several of the men, were worried about their children. I was not aware that their would be orphan's left."

"Other than few men I have left, I rule a Kingdom of women, old men and orphan's. For every child that still has a father, there are at least fifty that do not, and of that fifty, at least ten that don't have mother's either."

Around the table, there were sounds of protest and anger, as the women tried to accept that any child could be expected to live without any to love them.

"Great and Merciful Mother." One of the young Healers snapped. "You asked for the wrong thing, Chieftess. You should have insisted that he bring the little ones to you. Yes, it might have taken longer, but children grow."

"I was not aware that there were that many orphan's Ellesia. Had I known that, don't you thing I would have done something about it?" She looked at Thalin. "Damn you. You send men to steal our children, when you have more than you can take care of. Why didn't you just gather these lost little ones to you and raise them. They could then be your new chance."

"Kaj." Kaylin spoke before Thalin had a chance to defend himself. "They have been poisoned. My sister's and I have spent the day, staving off death. The children all of them, and not just the orphan's. Will not live another three cycles without help. "Jaffrey came to me, once I returned to the Temple. Worried that she hadn't healed your boy there totally. She is just a novice, but even as young and newly trained as she is. Once her embarrassment at seeing a naked man was over. She had time to think back on what she had felt from him. "Your third consort is dying of the same poison that was killing the rest of the men. Your second and Trinna's consort had been, but when Trinna healed the three you took, back the night of the raid. She healed them of that as well. It is not a difficult poison to overcome, if you know what you are doing. But if I understand what I have been hearing from the men. The Healers were the first things that the Catimine's killed. They have no honor. They killed unarmed men and women who's only call was to life."

Kaj stood up, looking at the Merican King. "Then you are thrice damned for being a fool. When your Healers had been killed. You should have petitioned my help. I have a sister who is a Healer. My consort, and soul-match's Grandmother is a Healer. Had you come to me, cycles ago. I would have stopped them. If for no other reason, that they violated the first law of warfare. You do not kill a Healer, even if they are from the other side. Healers do not look at the color of a uniform when they go to save a life. Only to the sanctity of it." She looked around. "Tallin?"

Her son was up and by her side at once. "Mistress?" He knelt at her feet.

"You have been at me for almost the last two cycles, to let you go to one of the other houses as a fertile man. Even if it were just as a breeder. Do you still feel that way?"

"Yes, Mistress." He didn't understand what was going on now.

"You do realize, Thalin, that I really do wish Gabe had been able to leave your daughter with more than just fond memories. You were worried about a baseborn child taking your throne after your son. Well if your son is near the fool you are, you should have prayed for it." She looked down at her son. "Tallin, stand up. I am your mother first your mistress second." She ruffled his hair as he stood. "The amount of help we are going to have to give our neighbors is vast. But I will not have any beholding to me. To think they should feel thankful for what is theirs by the grace of the Mother. So, if this old fool doesn't protest. And my new little sister is agreeable. Would you like to be her consort? It is very obvious that the ruling family needs new blood."

"Mistress!" Caytin grabbed her hand. "I know my son isn't your heir, but he was the child we conceived the night we joined souls. Would you send him into a land still rife with war?"

"No, but I would send him with the women that I have pledged their help to him, as I send my own warriors to see to it that this disgrace is cut down. I would lead it myself, but I can't. No woman who is with child can."

The silence was so complete in the room that it was almost too loud to stand as the room stopped and just looked at her. "I would have told you later tonight Cay. Trinna just verified it before all hell broke loose. By, this time eleven moons from now, you are going to be the happy father of another boy. That make's three for me." She looked back to Thalin. "So, I have your son as my third consort, will you accept mine as your daughters first? Keep in mind with the way you look at things, he is my firstborn, and a prince."

Thalin looked from her to Tallin who was standing beside her. "I already have Miri's husband picked out. And forgive me, but it is not some half-grown boy. I have to know, should Dannis be killed, that Miri's husband is strong enough to rule.

Tallin laughed at the man. "Half-grown? There isn't a single man in your Kingdom that I can't take down. Up to and including you or your son. My father is master to every man of my people that isn't free, I have picked up a lot from him on how to rule men. Like my mother said. I am her firstborn. My parent's were tougher on Rhea and I than they were any of the others in my house."

"We were not always as peaceful as we appear now. Nor do I think we always will be. There are more cities and Kingdom's than just yours and the Catimine's. I see to it that every child, regardless of gender, is trained in the arts of self-defense." Kaj hugged her son. "My little sister there, she could do much worse than my boy. If, she, takes him as her first. He is too much like his father in that, no one would ever touch her or any child they had together."

"He's a slave Kaj."

"He is also my son. With the exception of you and maybe your son, he will never bend to any one other than his mistress."

Thalin looked from her to where his daughter sat, trying hard not to be noticed. "Miri, the only reason you are here is because I couldn't stop you. I also have had the man I am planning to have you wed since the day Emily was killed."

"I won't marry Edwin Father. How many times am I going to have to tell you that? He was almost thirty cycles older than Emily was. Which makes him near fifty to me." There was a surprising note of iron in her almost whispered voice. Finger's dug into Gabe's arm. "If the chieftess is willing to connect her blood to ours like that. I would rather wed a half-wit than Edwin."

"He has waited for seven more cycles, waiting for you. How do you plan to explain yourself to him if you show up with a husband? He has spent the last near thirty, knowing he was going to marry one of my daughters." He demanded.

"If she is willing to agree to be my mistress. And this man says anything to upset her. It won't be her that explains things to him, but me." Tallin moved to where Caytin sat. "My mother is right. I am my father's son. No one will ever threaten her, not as long as I live." He looked back to Kaj. "Mother, with your permission."

"Go on, Tal. You've been waiting to do this for a long time." She watched her son move to kneel by Miri's chair. "Dear, you are going to have to ask him if he will be willing to give himself to you, be your first consort." She smiled tears of pride standing in her eyes. She had been holding back her son for so long that the boy was about to drive her mad with his whining. Well, now she could do several things at once. Keep the vow she had made to Fain, put into motion a new chance for her people, get her son off her back and see that her new extended family was safe. Even if it was inspite of the fool that was their king.

"Go on Mistress. Tallin has been very close to me since even before he moved into the Men's Quarter's. He is no more likely to hurt you than I did. And my mistress is right. With as many things that have happened to your people, you do need new blood." Gabe encouraged her. "You have to ask if he is willing to be yours."

She looked down at Tallin, but this time, as troubled as she was with all the people around, she didn't blush. "If you would have me, I have known all my life that I was destined for an arranged marriage. If you are willing, I know I would rather take you, than any of the men my father plans to force on me."

Tallin smiled. "Yes, I am willing to be yours. I give you my pledge, my life, love and seed. Is yours." He bent down and kissed her feet.

Miri looked down at him not at all sure what to do next. She never thought that she would ever own anyone. She hadn't even owned herself. But now, this man, he was giving himself to her.

The silence just continued as Miri sat there looking at Tallin. Who knelt, face pressed against the floor. "For the love of, kiss your new consort girl." Kaj snapped.

The room erupted in laughter, as Miri did blush as she held out a hand to Tallin, who was up and in her arms with one fluid motion.

"Finally." Caytin sighed. "You do realize, Mistress, we are going to end up grandparents?"

"Damn, but I feel old." She squeezed his fingers. "Miri," she disturbed the kiss that Tallin was still sharing with her. "If you give me your word, that you will stand in the Temple before you leave my city, and wed my son, I will consider the matter taken care of. And he and Gabe can take you from this room, and you may indeed be his mistress. But, you will wed my son, or I will keep you here until you do. I owe his father that much to see that his son is taken care of. He is not just a breeder."

"Damn, that's scary." Jerrick had finally calmed Steffon enough to get him to start eating. "You know Mistress, when you older sister starts talking like that, I want to cross my legs."

Trinna snickered. "You haven't been here the last almost two cycles. It was getting to the point that Cay was about to have to start chaining Tal to his bed at night. He is a fertile male, and we just don't, or at least before today, have that many left."

"So, what would have been the big deal if he had slipped out and made friendly with one of the local girls?"

"Would have been a major blow to her pride. He is her son. If he were to 'slip out' as you say and ended up fathering a child on a girl, without a cuff and mark. It would have been seriously frowned upon. And I would have ended up healing his back several moons running as his father whipped him bloody." She looked stern. "We are lucky, our first is a girl. But keep in mind that hopefully, sooner or later. You will give me a son. And then it will be your turn to worry about him and his behavior."

"No offense, Mistress, but I hope you have nothing but girls." The whole concept was so twisted from what he had grown up with. Here it was the man's place to worry and fuss about things like pregnancy and reputation. He would have never believed it if he wasn't watching it play out in front of his eyes

CHAPTER 15

The room watched as Tallin led Miri and Gabe out. "Okay, now that we have the children out of the way. Trin, love, could you talk your man there into helping Steff out of here. We have some rather uncomfortable things to talk about, and he's frightened enough of me as is." Kaj pushed her plate away.

"I don't know if that would be a good idea Kaj." Trinna looked to where Jerrick was watching everything with concern written all over his face. "Send Steff out, yes, but I think Jerrick should stay."

A man from where the slaves sat pushed his chair away from the table. "Don't worry about it Kaj, Jerrick knows me well enough that he knows I am not going to hurt the boy." The man dressed like every other man in Kaj's house, the only thing that separated him from the rest, was where his collar had once been, was a thin gold chain.

"Thank you Papa." Trinna smiled at him as he approached.

"Don't worry about it Trin. You and Kaj are both, right; I know some of what is going to be discussed. Kaj is correct, the boy don't need to be here, but your man does."

"Kerfan, are you sure? As a FreeMan of my house, your input is welcome."

"I'm sure. You know my input. I don't care if we have to spread the little ones out twenty to a house. You have got to do something. Your son just walked out of here as the father of the next heir. You owe him you help and aid." He stood by Steffon's chair. "Tell him I won't hurt him Jerrick. You named him your Lover. And he does seem to trust you."

"Yes, Master." Jerrick lay a hand on Steffon's arm. "You don't have to be afraid of Kerfan Steff, he is my mistresses father. And he won't hurt you. But you really don't need to be here for the next part of the talks. You're upset enough already."

"It's because I'm blind, isn't it." Steffon wasn't letting go of Jerrick's arm. "I'm almost nineteen. Have lived through things you can't even imagine. You don't have to send me away like I was too young to understand what is going on."

Jerrick sighed. "You remember when you told me that the only time anyone used your full name was if you were in trouble?"

The boy nodded.

"If I have to use your full name, you will be. Now, go on. Kerfan won't hurt you. I stand for you and as long as I do, no one can hurt you."

"You do know Jerrick, when I got home and found out that my daughter had up and mated with a man only three cycles my junior, I was a little concerned. But every time I turn around, I am seeing what she saw in you."

It took another couple of minutes to finally get Steffon to leave. "Good Goddess, Jerrick." Caytin shook his head amazed. "I turn that boy over to you to see to it that he is welcomed among the men. And what is the first thing you do? You up and take him as your Lover."

Jerrick shrugged. "You have no one to blame but yourself Master, look who I have to work with as an example. I at least slept with the boy before I did."

* * *

Gabe watched Tallin as his friend wooed his new mistress. On one hand he was happy for his friend and longtime bedmate, but knowing that he would be leaving when his mistress did, bothered him. He had always knew that eventually, Tallin would be leaving his mother's house, and that they would only be allowed to visit each other every now and then. But where he was going to go when he left, was much farther away than either man could hope to reach. 'Oh well, it's what I get for being foolish enough to fall in love with him. I should have known better.' He berated himself. "Slow down Tal." He thought it best if he interrupted them, if only for a moment. Miri was beginning to make noises like she was becoming distressed. And with as new to womanhood as she was, it would be a mistake to let her get upset.

Miri looked from one to the other, trying hard not to blush. "I don't know exactly what is expected of me here. If it were my wedding night in my homeland, then I would, but here?"

Tallin laughed at that. "Mistress, you act as if you were still just an untried girl. I'm the one that should be a stammer. Not you."

"Umm, Tal, love. Why is it, do you think, I was with your mistress at dinner?" ' Come on Tal. Don't be dense. I worked too hard to get her to this point. Be bright, love. ' Gabe prayed silently.

Tallin took Miri's hand. A, look of concern on his face, and fear in his eyes. "I'm sorry Mistress. I, I didn't know. I, thought, perhaps my mother had asked for Gabe because he is known to be the most in control of the younger bedwarmers. I swear, I didn't know you were still a maid before him." He didn't know this woman well. Oh, he was happy at the thought of being her consort. Even, if she had a temper. He knew of a few in other houses that had learned to deal with mistresses that were many times more short tempered than any of those that lived in his home. If she was like that, he would learn not to push her, and what was the best way to appease her when her temper was roused. But not tonight, not with as untried as he was. Later, if she wanted to whip him, as long as she didn't draw blood, he would learn to live with it, but not tonight.

"You're afraid of me?" The idea that a 'man' would be afraid of her, was not one that Miri had ever faced. She had spent her life, trying not to be seen by any man other than her father and brothers. Terrified that if she was seen that she would face the same fate her sister had. And the memories of what was done to Emily haunted her dreams, and even the barest threat of them happening to her gave her nightmares for weeks on end.

"I didn't mean to upset you Mistress, truly, I didn't know you were such an innocent. The idea of a woman, being a maid at your age, forgive me Mistress, but . . ."

It was all just too much for Miri. She just began to giggle. The idea that he wasn't worried about her lack of virginity, no, that wasn't what was so funny. But that he couldn't believe that she had kept it for so long. And the more she thought about it the funnier it got, until she as having a hard time breathing as she fell back on her bed, holding her stomach laughing.

Both men looked at her in confusion. "Mistress?" Tallin's light blue eyes went from fear to worry as he watched his mistress struggle to breath and laugh at the same time.

"Miri?" Gabe was as concerned as Tallin was at her behavior.

"Wait," she struggled to catch her breath, trying to come up with the words to explain herself to them. "It's just that," she stopped talking, laughing again. "That after Gabe and I. I was worried that you wouldn't understand what had happened. I wasn't sure if you would be willing to have me like I am now. But then, you." The laughing fit passed as she sat there, blushing as she looked down. "I'm sorry, Tallin. I have never dealt with anyone like you before. You have to understand. If you were one of my people, Gabe is your friend. He would never have touched me. It would be considered the last word in betrayal. His sterility wouldn't matter either. Only that he and I had been together. That I was not coming to my marriage bed a virgin."

Tallin still didn't understand what had been so funny. But he wasn't going to push the point. "It would have been nice, if I could have done like my father did with my mother, and be your first as you are mine. But, life isn't like that for many. And knowing, that, your first and only was Gabe, he's more than just my friend. We have been bedmates for going on three cycles, and friends even before I moved into the Men's Quarter's. I would have taken him as my Lover, but being my mother's firstborn, I knew that eventually I would be taken from this house, and sent to another. And there who ever the lead of the men in her house was would take me as his. If it couldn't have been me, I can't tell you how happy I am it was him." He reached for her hand again. "Believe me Mistress, I know him and have shared more time with him that anyone other than my father, and other than my father, there is not a finer man I know of.'

"Your father?" This was something she hadn't expected. "You have been with your father, like that?"

"Caytin is the head consort of the men, and lead of my house. I am as entitled to his time and affections as, any, of the others. Even more so as I am his son."

"There is no separation between the men, Mistress." Gabe's voice was soft.

"But he is your father." The, thought, of her own father touching her was frightening. "Are you telling me that no one cares if a father seeks his children's bed here?"

They both looked at her, confused. "No, not at all Mistress. Cay welcomed me into the Men's Quarter's, and would have done the same, for Remmy, if he had lived. But my sister's, Great Mother, no. That is sacrilege. Only a sick and deranged thing would try to share time with his, own, daughter. And my, father, might be many things. But he is neither sick, nor deranged."

"But, you can't expect to be able to do that in my homeland. Men might be like Mer and Fain were, but a father doesn't do that with his son."

Tallin looked down. "I wish I had known that your people were so repressed before I said yes. Not that I wouldn't have said yes in the end, but I wish I had known. So that I at least had the chance to accept that when I leave here, I will be forever without anyone's affections but yours."

"Hush, Tal." Gabe fussed. "You would have said yes, no matter what, so why should knowing this be so important? Trust me love. You are worrying about nothing. You might be bound to only her from this point on, but I was with her first. And believe me. You won't feel as if you are missing anything." 'Goddess, was I ever this young?' To think, he would give anything to be fertile. And Tallin was worried about having to cleave only to his mistress. He loved the man, almost more than life itself, but there were times, he was such a child. Now being one of them.

* * *

Kaj patiently waited for the humor of Jerrick's last comment to die down. "Okay, Thalin, my son is now wedded to your daughter. So I am going to have to stick my nose into the affairs that go on in your Kingdom. If for nothing more than to see, that the Dark Mother has no call to visit your children.

"I am trying to figure out how I am going to pay you for what you have done for me so far, Kaj. You're telling me now that you plan to do more? This war has rendered even the most prosperous in my Kingdom near paupers. What more can you ask from me. I have lost half the men of my world for the mistake I made. So what else am I going to lose?"

Kaj shook her head. "Nothing more than allow me to send the Temple to collect the children that are dying in the street's. Them, and any woman that is defenseless and is willing to come here. Consider it the consort price for my son."

"And the help with the Catimine's?"

"That will be no cost to you. My son and your daughter are now lady and consort. Do you think I would allow the war to continue, with my son and grandchildren at risk? Besides, they owe me much. Fain is my second consort. He, was, held captive by them for over six cycles. Trust me Thalin. It will be much more than just my duty to grind them into dust. It will be my pleasure. Now, before I will let you leave with my son. I will stand in the Temple and witness his vows with her. But the sooner we get the children here, the sooner we can begin to give them a second chance. So, Kaylin, I don't mean to throw you out. But you have a job ahead of you. The sooner you are gone. The sooner you can get back with them."

"I do believe, that the Mother will understand the use of the Over World, this time. I'll see to it that we are a day or so ride from our lands. Give me a three weeks, maybe a moon. And I should be back with all the children and women that would come with us." She nodded to Kaj as other priestesses at the table stood.

"I would come with you Mother, but for now, I am grounded to my house." Trinna smiled at Jerrick. "Pregnancy, you know, does that to us."

"I know that Healer. I would have had your hide if you had decided to come. That man of yours needs to start worrying over you a bit more."

"Mother, if I worried about her anymore than I do already. I would be turning gray." Jerrick squeezed her fingers. "For the next eight moons I'm going to be worse than Caytin ever thought to be."

* * *

Steffon sat on one of the couches in the Men's Quarter's. He wasn't at all sure what to do. This man, Jerrick had said he could trust him. That he was safe. But this afternoon still had him a little spooked.

And he didn't understand what Jerrick had meant about him being his lover. Yes, he had lost his virginity to the man today, but he didn't know that with that loss, he would automatically belong to him. And with his mistress busy with three of her own, he would end up with Jerrick often.

"What's wrong boy? You have the strangest look on your face."

Steffon looked up at him. "What do you mean, sir?"

"Like you are almost, but not quite, a lot of things. You look almost afraid, but not quite. Almost worried, but not quite and even almost happy, but not quite. So talk to me. What's going on in that head of yours?"

Steffon looked up at where he knew by the sound of Kerfan's voice the man sat. "Would I be out of line, Sir, if I asked you a question?"

"You can ask any number of questions. I've been here for almost twenty cycles. So, I can answer any of them with certainty."

"When Jerrick called me his lover, what did that mean?"

Kerfan chuckled. "Best not ever let your master hear you say that word like that. It's not lover, but "Lover" . Hear the difference?

Steffon nodded. "Okay, what did he mean when he said I was his Lover?"

"Precisely what it sounded like? Out side of Cay, and any other consort that he takes with his mistress. You are the only man he will share time with. There are exceptions to that rule. He is Caytin's Lover, and as, such, second, only to his master. There might be times, when Cay has his hands full with one, and there is still another, like it was today. Jerrick will have to do his duty to his men. But other than that, he is yours, and only yours. It is the closest thing to the wedded state that a consort shares with his mistress. The only real difference is that we do not go to the Temple to say vows, and a mistress has to ask if a man is willing to be hers. But a man takes his Lover. Like Caytin took him, so he took you. Outside of Cay, and I, he is the only man you call master. You respect, all those older than, you are. But you do not have to bend to them. You can't bend to them. Cay took Jerrick and has gone out of his way to get him accepted in the Men's Quarter's, being as new as he is. He has now taken you as his, so you are going to have an uphill battle for a while, so you have to keep your head up, and even if you need to apologize for something, don't look down, or shamed."

Steffon shook his head. "I'm not sure if I can do that right away. I mean, I'll try, but what happens if I mess up?"

"He'll probably do you like Cay did him. Give you three try's and then punish you, then two before punishing you again. After the fifth whipping Jerrick got, he learned not to grovel to anyone, even Cay outside of, their room. Sometimes I wonder about that man. For someone who, is, so refreshingly bright. There are times he can be so foolishly stubborn." He patted Steffon on the leg. "But I don't see us having that kind of problem with you. Believe it or not, but maybe being blind is going to help you with something for the first time in your life."

"How so?"

"Being blind, has enabled you to acquire a hide thicker than a herd beasts. You have fallen down, bumped into things and been able to walk away, head up, at others who laughed at you. Now you might have went home and cried at the injustices of life, but you were able to maintain your dignity around others."

Steffon sat there silent for a moment. "Do I know you? Have you ever been to the poorer section of Merican?"

"No, Steff, I haven't. But that is not what gives me an understanding of how you think. My daughter is a Temple journeyman Healer. It is in my family. And though I am not, by any means a Healer. I don't even have the meager skills that Donnel does. My family still has the Healing gift, and all of us are touched in one way or the other."

"What about if my mistress summons me? She has three consorts, Jerrick told me about them. If he owns me, what do I do?"

"If Kaj has time to look upon you kindly. You go. Caytin is head consort, and lead in this house. Outside of me, only to him and his consorts can your faithfulness be put aside. But I have a feeling that if she doesn't act quickly, with as much as my daughter's man is going to fuss over you. Trinna might take you as her toy at the least, and second consort, more likely. Just to shut him up."

"That would make her my mistress, right?"

"Every Woman in Danes is your mistress, Steff. But yes that would make her the one that owned you, and you would answer to full time."

Steffon shook his head. "I don't understand, Master. I'm blind, why would she want me? I can't even get a grip on why Jerrick took me, but why would she?"

"Because you are a pretty boy, and you have her man's attention. And knowing her, she is going to have to see what it is about you that caught it."

"And my mistress won't get ticked at me?"

Kerfan snorted, taking his hands into his. "Steff, you are a fertile man in her home, and at this moment anyong the ranks of the breeders. So no, she won't get 'ticked' with you. It is your duty. And with as many of the new ones as we have in this house, the ladies are all going out of their way to conceive. So even if you become Trinna's toy, you will be spending a lot of time with the other mistresses in your home."

"But not the other men, right?"

Again Kerfan patted his leg. "No boy, again, other than him, Cay, his consorts, or me you are spared any of the others attentions."

"You, Master? Do you want to take me, like he did?" Again, he was torn between fear and interest.

Kerfan chuckled. "If I don't frighten you too much. I'll confess. I would like to see what Jerrick saw in you. So I will know if I should feel jealous or not."

"Are you planning on drugging me too?" Steffon started. "Please Master, you don't have too, I won't fight. I knew what I was getting into when I decided to come. I don't have to be drugged to give you what you want." He blindly reached out for Kerfan's hand. "Please Master, I'll do it, just don't drug me."

"What you didn't like what you felt after you had some of the oil soak into your skin? I won't use quite as much as I am sure Jerrick did, but I am going to have to use some. Not too, as new to us, as you are. That would be cruel, and I promised Jerrick that I wouldn't hurt you. And believe me Steff, if I tried to love you like that, dry, it would hurt you."

Steffon looked down. "But when I'm drugged, I can't focus on anything but what I'm feeling. I can't see anything, and as caught up in it as I get," he lifted his head. "Please, Master use any other oil you have, but not that one. I want to know what is going on. I won't fight you, I promise, but if this is going to happen, I want to know what I'm doing with a clear head." He reached out, seeking Kerfan's face. Finding it, he pulled the man's head to his, kissing him, not at all shyly. "See Master, I won't fight you."

"I just hope my daughter can get you healed soon. I happen to like the oil, myself. It's just a little addictive." This time it was Kerfan that brought his lips down on Steffon's. "Oh, and Steff."

"Yes, Master?"

"My name is Kerfan. Just because I am a FreeMan in your new home, does not take away from the fact that I was once a slave. The word, 'master', irritates the hell out of me. So much so, that unless we are out of the Men's Quarter's, I don't want to hear it." Again he kissed the boy. "And sugar, we are in the Men's Quarter's."

"Okay, Kerfan, I'll try to remember that." He smiled.

"See that you do. I will do like Cay does, and give you three tries, after that I'll spank you. And as, Jerrick has put you behind him. It will be him that takes the spanking's."

"I won't forget Kerfan. I promise. I won't forget." He didn't resist as Kerfan pulled him close. The memory of Jerrick's touch was still very sharp in him. He had loved it, and if he could feel it again, free of drugs, he was all for it.

"I think, I just might be jealous." He chuckled into Steffon's throat as he bit at it lightly. "Hold on to me Steff, I think we need to seek a bed, the couch is nice for sitting, but not for what I have in mind." He stood, and bent to lift the boy in his arms. "Damn Steff, you weigh less than Tam."

"Not being able to see, meant that there were a lot of things I couldn't do, so I was careful about how much I weighed. Bad enough that I'm blind, but it would be worse if I was fat too."

"Well, I guess, we are just going to have to see how your master fattens you up a little. Because right now, you could be knocked down by a stiff breeze." Kerfan stood him on his feet just long enough to help him out of his clothes. "Yes, I can see, on a purely visual point what Jerrick saw in you."

"Do you really think I look good?" He made himself comfortable on the bed as Kerfan lay him on it.

"You are going to make many of the bedwarmers very envious of your sweet looks boy. And what is more, they are all going to be jealous of Jerrick for taking you as his Lover, before they even had a chance to get a good look at you. It is going to be amusing as hell." Kerfan's clothes joined Steffon's on the floor, as he moved towards the door. "Just lay back and relax, Steff. I'm going to slip into Donnel's room and see what kind of oils he's made for us. I will try very hard not to get the one that you are afraid of."

"Thank you."

Kerfan bumped into Donnel as he came from his room. "Ah, just the one I am looking for."

"Yes, Maser?"

Kerfan was in too good a mood to even acknowledge that the boy had used a name he hated. "I have Jerrick's new Lover in my room, he's blind and well the oil Jerrick used on him earlier, it bothered him. He is something of a control freak. And what with him being blind, I can't say I blame him. So I am looking for oil, that does nothing more than lubricate. Do you have any?"

"Believe it or not, but he isn't the only one who has complained about that oil. For some reason, some of the breeders aren't happy with losing their focus to that point. So yes, I do. It still has a slight drugging effect, but nothing like the blue oil."

"Wonderful. I am sure that Steff is going to be ever so grateful to you. He's touchy as hell right now, and I would just as soon prove to him that he had nothing to fear. With, different oil that is taking steps in the right direction."

"Did Jerrick really agree to take a whipping for him?"

"He had too. The fool woman would not listen to him as he tried to explain why Steff couldn't obey as fast as they demanded. The silly bitch was going to whip a boy, because he was blind. And well you know Jerrick, he'd rather bleed than let anyone get hurt that didn't deserve it."

"But to turn around, and before the man have a chance to get his bearings, and take him as his Lover?"

Kerfan laughed, taking the gold colored oil from Donnel. "And how better to protect him?"

Steffon sat up, wary at the sound of the door opening. "Kerfan?"

"Yes, sugar, it's me. We were in luck. Donnel say's that this oil has some drugging properties, but nothing like the blue does. It would seem that you are not the only breeder in Cay's Men's Quarter's that are a little leery of it." He moved to sit on the side of the bed.

"It's not that I don't like it, exactly. Just that because I can't see, I don't want to be quite so lost as it makes me feel." Steffon gladly went into his arms. He had understood and had seen to it that he didn't end up so drugged, like he was last time.

Kerfan chuckled at Steffon's almost hedonistic response to him and his touch. "I'll make sure that I give this bottle to your master. So that he knows how you feel."

"Thank you." He pressed his head against Kerfan's chest. "Master."

Kerfan held him. Stroking his hair as the younger man eagerly pressed against him. "That's one Steff."

"No, I didn't forget." He looked up, blindly reaching for his mouth. "That is what I want you to be. For right now, you've been so good to me. Jerrick has been so good to me. I never realized that anyone would or could be as good to me, as the both of you have been so far. So, please, for now, be my master." His head moved down Kerfan's body, trying, with his limited understanding to bring him pleasure. Before Jerrick, no one had ever found him worth the effort to even touch, much-less do what Jerrick had done to him.

Kerfan just laughed softly, as he felt the younger man in is attempt to please him. "Yes, I do believe that I am going to be very jealous of Jerrick." He lifted Steffon's head, to his, lips meeting. "For now, sugar, you can call me anything you feel most comfortable."

Steffon looked up at him, smiling. "Lay back, Master. I don't need my eyes to give us what we both want.

Kerfan's laughter rang out in the small room as he did just what Steffon asked.

* * *

After the discussions were finished Kaj was ready to call it a night. It had been a very hard day. "So Thalin, before I end this for the night, should I send for one of the prisoners to come and keep you company for the night? They are after all, for the remainder of their sentence slaves to your people."

It had been cycle's since last he had felt a woman under him or over him for that matter. Reba had almost died with the birth of the twins, and the doctor had warned him, that if she ever conceived again, and tried to carry the child to term. It would kill her. "And the women you are sending with me, they are not violent criminal's? I personally would appreciate a chance to actually sleep with a woman again, but not so much that I am willing to come away from my time with her dead."

Kaj nodded. "None of those that I am sending, have ever been accused of anything more criminal than theft, and or fraud. I would not send those that would kill another with you. So am I to take it that that is a yes?"

"I have a wife, that has been at me to put her aside ever since Miri's and Rook's birth almost killed her. But I will not do that. Forget that if I did, I would lose my crown, I would gladly throw it from the highest tower of my castle. I love her, and will not put aside, not for something that is not her fault."

"Well, when my son comes home to visit me, when he brings his first born. The Catimine's should be a thing of the past, so she can come with him, and Trinna will see to it that what ever the problem is, is healed. But enough worry for now. Trinna and Jerrick are eager to hurry to get to where his Lover is waiting, and I have three consorts to deal with. So I will see to it that one is sent over for you."

* * *

Gabe had offered to leave the two for Tallin's first, but both he and Miri had begged him to stay. Why he didn't know, but he would never disobey a mistress, particularly not the one that was now his closest friends. So he lay back, watching as they explored each other. Hand reaching down, to masturbate. As he smiled at the beauty of it.

Miri had been as wonderfully vocal with Tallin as she had been with him. He had to admit, again, for such a timid woman. She was just full of surprises.

"Enough, merciful God." She pulled him up. How many times did he think she could be taken down that wonderful road that he had led her? She had only came five times already. And only the first was a single trip. The other four had been one right after the other. The cresting waves never fully ceasing before it started over again.

Tallin wrapped his arms around her as he pressed his body against her, mouth hot and hungry on hers. To roll over on his back, pulling her up and over him. "Please Mistress. If I have pleased you, make me yours."

This was something Miri had learned with Gabe. How to take a man the way they expected to be taken here. She positioned herself over him and slowly lowered herself down.

She wasn't a virgin anymore, but for a second as the feelings ripped through her, she felt like she had been. And then all thought left her.

'Great Mother!' Tallin almost lost consciousness as he felt her soul merge with his and knew what was happening. He was more like his parents than he had ever hoped.

It was happening again, the heat and bliss, but this time it hit her much harder than it had before. She didn't cry out her joy, but screamed it.

"Please, Mistress, can I cum, please." He was begging, never before had he ever wanted to lose himself in anything as much as he wanted to lose himself in her right now. "Please Mistress, please." He was sobbing.

"Yes, oh, oh, yes." She screamed. Clawing at his chest as again her body was taken to that hazy place of pleasure. "Cum, now."

Miri collapsed on Tallin, trying to breathe. "Oh, wow."

"Do you know what just happened Mistress?" Tallin was beside himself with joy.

She shook her head. "Other than that had to be the most wonderful thing that could ever happen to me, no."

"What they don't have Soul-Matches in your land?" That didn't make any sense at all. Any child who had been even a little alert in her or his lessons knew that originally, they were all the same people. True races like the Catimine's and a few others were different, but the Danes and the Merican's were from the same stock.

"Oh, I have heard of it, but it's been more cycle's than I can' count since last we had one." She stopped. "You and me, we are Soul-matched?"

*Can you hear me, Mistress? * He tried to reach her without words.

Miri squealed. "We are, I heard you." She was stunned.

"My parent's have to feel this. It will put my father to ease in a way nothing else can." He rolled off the bed to reach for his clothes. "It will also make living with you, much easier."

"How so?" She was quick to start dressing again herself.

"I'm not like my father in many ways. One of them is, when he and my mother matched souls, he resubmitted to her. She didn't have a choice but collar him again. She had to do that, or kill him. And you don't kill your Soul-Match, unless you have a death wish of your own." He looked up at Gabe. "You are coming aren't you? You were here when it happened."

Gabe smiled. "You couldn't stop me with anything short of a direct order from 'my' mistress."

"Well, my lady isn't going to try to stop you, so come on." He threw Gabe's pants to him. 'And hurry up. I'm about to pop."

CHAPTER 16

Caytin opened the door, a mixture of irritation and worry on his face. "Tal, what has you up now, of all times? If you were worried about belonging to your new mistress, surely it could have waited for the morning."

Tallin relaxed, the light was still on. He might have interrupted their activities, but not their sleep. "I am not having problem's with my lady, father. But I had to take just a moment to show you and mother what has happened." He was grinning from ear to ear.

Caytin looked hard at his son, not understanding what he was talking about. Then he looked at Miri who stood at his side. His eye's widening. "By the Great Mother." He whooped lifting his son up and spinning him around.

'What is it beloved?' Kaj sat on the bed, holding Rook between her and Fain.

"Nothing much Mistress. Only that my son and his new lady are Soul-Matched." He sat Tallin down, kissing him. "Welcome to the world of the wonder and worry of the Soul-Matched and fatherhood, my son."

Miri, who would have never, before Tallin had dared to question anything, looked up, trying to ignore the fact that her husband was in his father's arms. "Fatherhood?"

"Yes, when two who souls are matched. On the first matching, it is well known to be fact, that they come away expecting a child. Tallin was our firstborn. He was conceived on the night that Caytin and I found each other. Congratulations, daughter. It would appear that the two of you are going to be much busier than I had first thought when I allowed my son to offer himself to you." Kaj moved from the bed, to come and hug Miri. "Now I do expect to see you both here, sometime in the next eleven moons or so. You will bear your baby here. If you don't, Tallin will be absolutely impossible to deal with. He will not have just a normal doctor no matter how good she is, deliver his child. He has an aunt that is a Healer, and it is to her that he will bring you." Then she squeezed her gently. "You do understand, Miri, that now that Tallin is your soul-match, he is your slave no more. Or at least until he does what his father did and submit to you again."

Tallin shook his head. "I love my father more than I could ever say mother. But I am not he. I wouldn't do that to her. I will be much more able to stand and support her as a FreeMan than as a slave." He moved back to where Miri stood. "And believe me mother, anyone threatens her, they will have to answer to me. And we are much stronger than the Merican's. All it is going to take is for me to render one or two of them to the point he needs the infirmary to prove it."

"Well, I usually wouldn't condone violence, but if that thing that got such pleasure out of hurting my consort decides to be stupid, then by all means, I don't want you to just put him in the infirmary, but as close to under it as you can legally. Don't kill him, or at least, try not too."

"And, if you have an opportunity, please tell him where I am, and who I am wedded too." Rook grinned with a malicious glint in his eyes. "I am his younger brother. The one that he was so sure would never amount to anything. Yet I am the one that, even if I am a slave, has more rank than he ever will."

"And now, with you Soul-Match and a FreeMan. You are a prince, my son." Kaj hugged him, kissing his cheek. "Oh, you always were a prince, but now it can be seen as a valid rank and not just a mother's love."

"Well I only wanted to show off what had happened. Now I can take Miri back to our rooms and see what I can do about sweet-talking her into taking Gabe with us. The only reason I haven't done that so far, is being your firstborn, I knew I would end up a consort at some mistresses house, and then the lead consort of that house would take me as his. Miri has told me quite emphatically that the Merican's don't do that. So if she can deal, I'd like to make it official, and take him."

"Well if you can, do. I don't cherish the thought of him moping around the Men's Quarter's for the next cycle or so until you can visit us." Kaj smiled. "Go on with you Gabe. As handy as it is to have you on hand, I am sure that Donnel can be taught to do what you are famous for doing. Miri is now your mistress, and Tallin your master. Or will be for how ever long you are with them." She looked to Miri. "I am still holding you to your word, daughter. I don't have to worry about my son. He loves Gabe too much to ever think of hurting him. But you I am still holding to your word."

"Mother." Tallin fussed at her. "Miri and I now share a soul, remember? And I feel no more likely to hurt him, than I did before I gave myself to her. If she were capable of doing anyone wrong, I would know it. "She is my Soul-Match after all."

Miri looked from Tallin to Gabe. He was giving up so much to be with her. It wasn't illegal in her, land, to own a slave. Just to abuse them. "Would it make it easier on you? If it would, I don't have a problem with it." She couldn't believe she was talking like she was. She had spent her life, going out of her way not to be noticed. But now, for Tallin she would risk anything.

Gabe went to his knees at once, kissing first her feet and then Tallin's. "Mistress, Master." He pressed his head to the floor.

"Get up, please." Miri reached down to pull at his arm. "You don't have to do that."

"Do you think we could swing by and drop the good news on her father tonight? Or should we wait until morning?" Tallin was almost floating. He had a Soul-Match that was more beautiful that any woman should have the right to be. And he had the man that he loved so much as his Lover now. No, life couldn't get any better.

"He might still be awake, but I had orders sent that he was to have one of the women prisoners sent to his room. So I really don't think now would be the right time." Kaj smiled.

"My father?" Miri was stunned.

"Yes, your father. Give him a break daughter. For a fool, he has surprising good judgments. He has been without a bedmate since you and Rook were born and the Doctor told him that if your mother conceived again, and tried to carry the child to term. It would kill her. Even I have to admit that his dedication to your mother is impressive. Think of it child. Over seventeen cycles without, her, physical love. Oh Cay and I could do it, but that doesn't count. We're Soul-Matched." She hugged the girl tightly one more time. "Now I think it best for the two of you to run on back to your rooms, and take this time to celebrate with each other and Gabe. Because, when, you finally start to show the celebration is going to calm down a lot." She kissed the girl one more time. "Congratulations my dear. You have made a mother much more at ease."

She giggled. "My father is going to be worse than you. He is going to have to realize that he almost made a fuss about Tal and I wedding. You have no idea how happy he is going t be that the first thing we did was mate for life."

"Well I suppose he will just have to feel a bit foolish." Kaj smiled at her. "Now, you take your men and finish celebrating the wonder of life. I have my hands full here doing the same."

After the three left. Caytin wrapped an arm around her. "Did you even have the slightest of hopes that that would happen?"

"Yes and no, beloved. If she were one of the women of my people, well we do tend to Soul-Match just under half the times we take our consort to out bed the first time. But what with her being a foreigner. No, I can safely say. That was not what I was expecting." She turned smiling at Rook who still lay on the bed, eyes wide. "Well my dear, it does appear that our two families are even more tightly connected than I had first thought."

"They matched soul's?" It was just so unbelievable that he was having a hard to working it out in his head. "Miri?"

"Yes, Miri. She is going to do a world of good for that boy of mine. When soul's match. Then the personalities start to balance each other out. She will become less timid. And he will have at long last a lady to worry about. And, trust me pretty face. That abusive sadist of a brother of yours won't know what hit him the first time he makes even the slightest move against her. I am going to have to warn your father of the likelihood that Tallin will kill him if he hurts her.

"No offense Mistress, but he would have to wait in line behind Dannis. Miri will give birth to his heir. And no one touches her as long as my older brother is alive."

"No, love. Your older brother will have to stand in line behind Tallin. He is her Soul-Match and anything that happens to her, happens to him. So he has the right to the first blow." She moved back over to the bed, crawling on it to join her three men. "Now enough worrying for one night. I think we were in the middle of a little celebration of our own."

* * *

Thalin opened his door at the knock. "Yes?"

A tired and bored guard stood there, a young woman at her side. Head bowed, with irons on her wrists and ankles. "The chieftess said you were in the mood for a little down time. So here is Zerifenia. All chieftess Kaj asks is that you don't hurt her unless she fights you, and then only enough to get her to behave." She looked at the trembling and cowed girl. "You listening to me girl?"

"Yes, Mistress." Her voice was soft and her tone was without life to it.

"I'm going to be outside in the hall for a while and then a replacement will come. So best you be good for the nice King. One word of complaint from him, and you know what will happen to you."

Zerifenia threw herself at Thalin's feet. "Please Master, I'll be a god girl. Anything you want, I will do it. Just please don't send me back to the dogs. I'm begging you. Please, I'll be a good girl, not fight you." She fought the urge to pull back as he helped her up. "Please Master, I'll be good. Don't hurt me."

It took Thalin a moment to understand what she was babbling about. "Okay, Zerifenia, why don't you come over here and sit by me.' He looked up at the guard. 'Thank you for taking the time to deliver her. But I think I can take it from here."

The guard nodded. "Just remember, she isn't any too happy about being sent as a breeder to your people, so there is no telling what kind of flights of fancy she is going to dream up to get out of her duty. She's a young woman, and well you know how young women get. Even as strange by our way of thinking your people are. There is very little to alter the normal process of maturity. So she give you any problems, and you can't just deal with her, just holler out and either me or my replacement will come in and deal with her.'

Zerifenia just sobbed against him. "Please, Master I won't fight you. I promise."

"Okay, I will leave her in your care, don't forget to call out if she gets to be too much for you to willingly deal with." And the guard left the room.

Thalin sighed in relief. "So, are you that much of a problem for them?"

The girl shook her head violently. "No Master. I never earned anything they did to me." She began to sob again pressing against him. "My word Master, I am a good girl."

"Then girl, if you are such a good girl, what are you doing in prison. I will not believe that Kaj had you put there if you were innocent."

The chieftess doesn't know." She whispered.

Thalin grabbed her by the arms. "What do you mean 'she' doesn't know? You were in prison. How could she 'not' know?"

Zerifenia shook her head. "Please Master, I, I can't talk about it. If I do, they'll send me to the dogs again. Forget what I said, I'm a bad girl and am getting everything I deserve." She reached out to begin to work the fastenings of his pants. "Forget this bad slaves babbling."

Thalin caught her wrists in his hands. "Girl, I might not be as sensitive as many of the women are here, but eve I can tell when I am being lied to. Now you will tell me the truth, even if I have to put you under King's Protection to get you to do it." It was rather amusing. Here he was in a land ruled by women, and he had to invoke 'King's Protection'.

She looked down, sniffling. "Please Master, it will get me hurt again. Have I displeased you so, that you will see me hurt?"

"No one is going to hurt you. You are going to my world soon enough, and if I have to keep you here with me until I leave. I will, but I will not let another harm you. Now tell me, what was done to you?"

The story that began to fall from her, in bits, fits and starts was horrifying. This child had been falsely accused of fraud, wasn't even given a real trial, neither the chieftess nor the Temple had been present, probably because had they been, this sin would never have taken place. The girl had spent just a little over a cycle of a ten-cycle sentence in hell. Whipped daily, twice or more if she was thought to have failed something. Sent to the dogs once a week for five hours of rape. Fed only enough to keep her alive. The more Thalin heard the harder it was to believe what he was hearing.

"I am sorry, Zerifenia, but I just can't believe what you are telling me. Everything I have seen in my time here, has led me to believe that thought the Danes are different from us, they are also a fine people."

Zerifenia jumped up. "I told you, you wouldn't believe me. She worked at the buttons on her blouse. "Fine, call me a liar now, Master." She turned displaying her back, which was nothing by a mass of half healed cuts and scabs.

Thalin was up and across the room to touch her wounds carefully. "My God." He was stunned. "What did you do to earn this?"

"Nothing Master, the only wrong I did was trusting my older sister when she had me sign some house documents. I was just old enough to be a woman, wasn't really one yet, and I was given a mock trial and convicted for ten cycles for fraud." She turned around to look at Thalin. "I'm not even old enough to have commited the crimes I was convicted of. Do you honestly see any woman trusting such a young woman? I was just sixteen Master. I begged to be allowed to see the chieftess, or one of the Temple priestesses, but when I did, they only hurt me more. I was beat for asking to see one of the Holy Mothers, and given to the dogs when I begged for my chieftess to see me. I knew I would never make it the whole ten cycles, so when the chance to leave and go serve your people came up. I begged one of the guards to see to it that all the women were offered. With a direct order from Kaj, not even Sasha could do anything."

Thalin's look grew dark. "You might have been denied the right to see her before now. But I will by the God I serve, place you under King's Protection, and see that you will get it now." He looked at her darkly. "Hold on, I'll see it done now. He turned and reached for the door, looking out for a moment before closing it again. He backed away, turning. "Damn"

Zerifenia looked frighten. "Master?"

He walked over to his sword, and pulled it out. "We have a problem dear. Come on with me, and do anything you can to hold on to me. Do not let us be separated." He wrapped his arms around her, after opening the door to step out into the hall. Sword in one hand, and the other wrapped protectively around Zerifenia.

The guardswoman pulled herself up from where, she, rested against the wall. "You finished with her, or tired of her?" She reached out to take Zerifenia's hand.

Thalin turned so that she couldn't reach Zerifenia. "No one touches this girl. She is going to be allowed to see her chieftess. And if I have to fight you to see to it I will. I will probably lose, but try explaining to the chieftess, who is my daughter in-law why you killed me for trying to see her."

The guard held up her hands. "I don't know what your problem is man, but why in the name of the Mother, would you think I would try to stop you?" She looked at Zerifenia. "You do know, girl, what is going to happen to you if you take your fancy tales to the chieftess, don't you?"

"Fancy Tales?" Thalin almost yelled at the guard. "Would you like to see, just how fancy her tales are?" He turned Zerifenia around, pulling her shirt from her shoulder. "It's okay Fina," his voice was soft as he used an endearment to ease her fears. "I'm here, no one will hurt you. You are under my protection." He looked up to the guard. "How fancy is this tale? The child has been beat, more times than I can even think without wanting to kill someone."

The guard couldn't believe what she saw. "Merciful Mother. Who did this to you girl?"

"Listen to me woman." 'Thalin pushed her. "The way I see it. You can lead, follow, or get the hell out of my way. I have put this girl under King's Protection, and I will see to it that Kaj sees what has been done to her. Now and not later." He raised his sword. "I have already told you, If I have to fight you, I will. Now move or die."

Again the guard only backed away. "I wouldn't care who you were, man, you're right. That girl needs to see the chieftess. I can't believe she hasn't done so yet. Or if she was afraid of the Chieftesses notice, the Temple."

Thalin walked on down the hall. "She has, both, many times. And you know what it got her? Every time she begged to see one of the Healers from the Temple, they would beat her. And should she beg to see Kaj. They turned her over to the dogs for five hours."

The guard followed them down the hall, swearing murder under her breath as she did so.

Thalin used the pommel of his sword to bang on Kaj's door. He would not let Zerifenia go until such time as he could present her to Kaj.

A few more moments later the door swung open, and a very sleepy eyes and irritated Caytin stood there, in all his glory. "What do you want?" He snarled at Thalin.

"I need to see the Chieftess."

Caytin shook his head, finally recognizing who it was, and the girl at his side and the guard behind them, also the sword in his hand. "She's asleep."

"Well, wake her up. I have given my word to this girl, that I would see to it that she got something she should have had a very long time ago, and he case pleaded to the Chieftess.

Caytin looked at Zerifenia. "I don't know you, and that is odd. I know all of those that have been sentenced to prison time." He backed away, motioning them to enter. If he didn't know the girl that meant something was wrong.

"Mistress," he leaned over and touched Kaj's shoulder. "Please, forgive me for waking you, but there is something you need to see."

"Give me ten minutes to rest Cay, the three of you have made me scream enough for a little while." She tried to turn over and resume sleeping.

Caytin rolled his eyes. "Mistress, please. King Thalin has brought one of the prisoners to see you. She is one I don't remember."

Kaj groaned as she rolled over, taking her robe from Caytin. "There is over ninety-five women in our prison Cay, is it any wonder you have forgotten one or two?"

"This one is so very young Mistress, that I would have remembered her."

Kaj stood, smoothing her gown over her body, before turning to Thalin. "Okay Thalin, I'm up. This had better be good."

"This girl, she's been whipped Chieftess!" The guard reached up and ripped Zerifenia's shirt from the collar in the back, in half.

Kaj stepped one single step forward. "Who did this girl?" She was more than just stunned. She was enraged. "Come on dear, my word as chieftess of your people, no one will harm you."

"My sister, she had friends in the guard that did this." Zerifenia blushed looking at Fain and Rook.

Kaj turned to Fain and Rook. "Would you two please go and get Trinna. This girl needs a Healer, and as fast as possible." She turned back to Zerifenia. "Do you need Caytin and Thalin to go as well? I am going to want to keep the guard here, so that if she is guilty of any of the wrongs done to you, I can see her punished at once."

Zerifenia shook her head, tightening her grip on Thalin. "The guard, she didn't know, I have never seen her before. And Caytin has always been good to the men of my house. I'm not afraid. I've been trying for over a cycle to get someone, anyone to listen to me."

"Well, you have my complete and undivided attention now, child. Tell me how it is you were in prison, and I never saw you tried?"

And again the horrifying tale fell from her lips. Only this time she held nothing back. The kangaroo court, where not even the Temple was welcomed her sentencing of, ten cycles, for fraud.

"Ten cycles? You didn't kill anyone. I don't understand, how a woman your age could ever warrant that kind of sentence for anything less than murder."

"I didn't do it Chieftess. My only, crime, was that I trusted my sister. She had me sign papers that she said were family related, and I believed her. I wasn't even fully a woman when she sent me to the prison. I was just a maid my first time was with the dogs."

"How old are you girl?" Kaj was getting angrier by the second.

"I will be eighteen the twentieth of the ninth moon."

"Wait a minute here Kaj. I was told only between nineteen and thirty were being sent. And yet here stands a girl not even eighteen yet, that is being sent. Why is that?"

Kaj looked at Zerifenia. "Yes child, why is that?"

Zerifenia looked from Thalin to Kaj and back again. "I begged to be allowed to go. They were killing me Master, Mistress. I couldn't, bear the dogs again. I had to get out, so I lied about my age." She looked down, crying. "Forgive me, but I had too."

Thalin tightened his hold on her. "Ssshh, Fenia, there is nothing to be sorry about. Of course, you lied. If I had been in your place, I would have too, and no one could say they wouldn't have done the same."

"Quit being foolish child. Of course, I would have done anything to be free of that kind of sadism. Punish our slaves yes, and when you were accused and convicted of a crime, you became a slave, and so you were due to be punished. But you were not the criminal in this, but your, sister and even if you had been. No citizen, of, Danes free, or slave. Should ever have done to them what was done to you, for doing nothing more than cry justice and begging for a Healer." Kaj had no doubt that she was telling the truth. Like she has said often, she might not be quite as sensitive as Caytin was, but he was here, and if she had been lying, he would have called her on it. Not that it would change anything other than the fact that she would never be treated as she had been so far. And perhaps, if she still felt safer going with the other women that were being sent with Thalin, she would be allowed to go, in a modest attempt to make up for what was done to her. But she was innocent. Had been a sixteen cycle old virgin when they had falsely imprisoned her. Had be just a maid the first time they sent her to the dogs. And no one was sent to the dogs, other than slaves that are due to die.

"Yes, she is still welcome to come with me. Good God woman, do you honestly see her being able to stay here, after all that was done to her? People saw her with dogs, so many times. She will never be able to hold her head up in public."

Kaj shook her head. "You have seen my people at their worst Thalin. It isn't a fitting comparison. But then again, perhaps it would be better if she did go with you, at least for a while. When she makes it back, if she makes it back. She has a house to rule. With her sister's crime, she is a free citizen no more, and all that belonged to her is now Zerifenia's."

Zerifenia wasn't listening to anyone, but just clung to Thalin weeping. "I kept begging to see you Mistress, but she would never let me. No matter how many times I was beat, or thrown to the dogs, I still kept begging to see you. I swear. I didn't give up my rights willingly."

Caytin reached for her, looking Thalin in the eyes. "Until such time as the Healer gets here are reads her soul, she is still a slave. And as such, my responsibility."

Zerifenia clung to Thalin. "Please, Master. Don't push me away."

Thalin looked up at Caytin. "The others might be your responsibility. But I gave Fenia here my word that I wouldn't let anyone take her from me until this was all worked out. And no one will. I'm a old man Caytin, what pride would it give you to kill an old man?"

"Let her stay where she is love. For some reason she has found solace in him." Kaj smiled at Zerifenia. "Don't be afraid dear. No one is going to take you from your master." She reached out to pat her arm. "For an old fool, Thalin, you surprise me."

"I made a mistake Kaj. And I have paid for it. But not even as foolish as I was by sending men to you, to steal children. I would never allow anyone to be treated as she has been treated. She looks like she is an escapee from the Catimine's. I saw Fain when Mer brought him in. And she looks worse than he did. I might be a fool. I'll admit it. But I'm not a sadist."

The door opened. Trinna slipped in, followed by Jerrick, Steffon, Fain and Rook. "Fain came and woke us up to tell me I was needed." She looked up to where Zerifenia stood. Back still exposed. "Oh, my Goddess." She was moving across the room. "What happened?" Her hands touched the cuts and welts, and the infection.

"So tell me Healer. She proclaims her innocence. Is she?"

"Other than having a crush on her older sister's consort, she is as pure as sunlight." Then Trinna pulled back a horrified look on her face. "No, Goddess protect us." She turned to press into Jerrick's arms. "They sent a virgin to the dogs." She started to cry, drawing upon his support.

Caytin headed for the door. He would see that this woman was killed.

"Slave." Kaj barked.

Caytin stopped, turning to kneel slowly. "Mistress." He almost snapped at her. She never called him 'slave' unless she was mad at him. And he knew he hadn't earned her wrath so far.

"I'm sorry beloved. But that was the only way I could see to it that you did stop at once. She can wait. Let her think that all is going as she planned. Zerifenia has seen countless horror's, we will not add more."

Caytin sighed. She was right. No he hadn't done anything wrong, but if she hadn't stopped him that way; he would have. "Yes, Kaj, I understand completely." No that wouldn't' be right. Poor thing, to think what that mad thing had done to her. "Now that we know the truth, Mistress, shall I help to see you are a maid no longer. I refuse to consider anything that was done to you by anything that isn't human as taking your virginity.

She stared at him for what seemed like forever. "If it is permissible Master. I would rather stay where I am. He listened to me, he believed me. And he brought me here and saw to it that the mistress believed me too."

"We had nothing to do with proving your innocents Zerifenia. Your very soul screamed it. That is why you were never allowed a Healer. Your sister knew that." Kaj tried to explain.

"She is not my sister. She is no daughter of my mother, to think that you could do that to your own blood." Zerifenia almost screamed. Holding on to Thalin even tighter.

"I understand woman of the Danes. She is no one, and is no longer one of my women. And as your, Mother is dead. Your house will be yours and everything in it. You are now a very wealthy woman."

"I don't care. I begged to be allowed to go with my Master when he left. I am a woman of my word. I will go, and stay there, and breed as needed until such time as my original sentence is over."

"Didn't you hear Caytin, Fenia? Your innocents has been proven, and you are a slave no more." He smiled down into her confused face. "He called you mistress. And believe me girl. If you were still a slave, that is one slave that would let his heart be cut out of him before he called you it."

Zerifenia looked at him in shock. Then to Caytin, who wisely went to his knees, head bowed. This young woman had been through more than he could ever imagine, he had only been sent to the dogs once. To think she had been forced time and time again, for five hours at a time.

Zerifenia looked at him confused. "Get up, even if I am free now, like you say. I never was one that wanted that kind of thing. I am not that thing that used to be my sister."

Caytin stood smiling. "Yes, Mistress. Now I ask again, now that you understand what I was saying. Do you wish to honor me with your first?"

Zerifenia shook her head. "No, I meant what I said. By begging to come, I got more than I ever hoped to get. So I will live up to my promise. I will go back with him, and stay with him for as long as he will have me, and then I will go and serve my time as a breeder for the next ten cycles. Yes I know, I have served over one so far, but for what he made possible, I will turn back my time. If it wasn't for the fact that I had to return here to run my house, I would leave and never return."

"If that is how you feel, You can take everything but the house with you Fenia. Sell it if you want, or rent it. Now that we have, what we do with them. We are going to be having very close ties with the Danes. There will be a letter carrier. Their son is wed to my daughter. And mine is to her. Call me old fashioned, but I was raised in an age before the Catimine's where families even if they branched out. Kept in contact with each other. I will insist her son keep her abreast of what is going on in his life, and I will demand that Rook do the same. Even if I was willing to see him die. Not only didn't he, he is a married man. So when the rider returns from here. It will mean nothing to him to bring back your package. Only the most trusted rider will be sent, so you have nothing to worry about on that score."

"Well, if she is intent on this. You both might as well know. She shares her time with you tonight, she will without a doubt come away from it with child." She yawned. "Oh, and Kaj. Just so you know. My man nagged me into taking his Lover as my second consort. Knowing full well, that with as young as I am. It will be cycles before I am in a position to take a third. And as soon as the fully trained Healers get back, and everything gets settled. I am having my man taken and having one of the better trained Healers heal his eyes. I know what is wrong, but the scar tissue is just too close to the nerve that enables him to see for me to try and touch it."

"You do realize Trin, that if it hadn't been for the fact that you had nabbed Jerrick before Caytin saw him, he would have been the one to nag me into it." Kaj hugged her sister. "Now, if we are all settled for the night. I 'was' asleep. Not that, I, would begrudge anyone for waking for this. But it has been seen to, and I want to go back to sleep. Those three monsters wore me to nothing in a frighteningly short time. Must be getting old."

"You think you had it bad, Jerrick's got such a monster, and Steff, being blind has taught him to be very talented with his hands." She laughed leaving the room. Jerrick, with Steffon on his arm followed.

"Thank you, Kaj. You proved to me again how safe my son was in your keep." Thalin shook her hand. "I'll take Fenia out of here and let you go back to your rest."

Kaj touched his arm. "Before you go, I have to know. Why is it you keep calling Zerifenia, Fenia?" She cocked her head to one side.

"It's a hell of a lot easier to say all the time than Zerifenia. That name is too much of a mouthful." He hugged her, not having to worry about the slightest touch causing her pain. "She seems to like it."

"I would prefer anything to what they called me every time they took me to the dogs."

Fain turned his head into Caytin's chest. The, very mention, of anyone being forced to let dogs do that to them upset him. It had been his life for too long.

"Ssshh, love, wait. As soon as the, mistress, is gone from here. And won't have to see anything. I am going to demand justice. Falsely accused she might have been, but she was still a slave and under the rules of slavery, under my protection. Your mistress will see that my demands are given weight. That thing will at best be whipped and thrown from our city. But if there, is, true justice in this world. My mistress will see to it that the men of her house are allowed to see to her beating. And it will be a long one. Trinna is a Healer. Any time she looks like she is going to escape the pain in death, healing her only enough to see to it that she does not die. The thing, that, killed my son. The only reason, why, he is still drawing breath? Is he has a purpose. That bitch has none. She will die by the hands of the men in 'my' Men's Quarters. For what she did, the bedwarmers are welcome to join."

Kaj turned to see Fain, pressed against Caytin. "Oh dear, lover?" The rest forgotten, she moved to where Caytin held Fain. "Ssshh, I know. The little boy is gone. You are a man now, one that I happen to love. No one will ever hurt you like that again. My word."

Rook moved as Kaj and Caytin dealt with Fain. "See you in the morning Father. Don't mean to be rude, but we have our hands full, and I am sure you do too."

Thalin looked down to where Zerifenia hung close to him. "You're right, I probably do. Come on Fenia, let's let them see to Fain. I'm going to take you back to my room, and remind you that every time someone touches you, it doesn't need to hurt." He slipped from the room.

CHAPTER 17

Zerifenia walked quietly by Thalin. She had known that she was going to be required to have children, but not as soon as this. "Ma, I mean Thalin. Do you want a child? If not, I can't share time with you. The Healer has already told us, if we did. I would be carrying your child by morning."

Thalin stopped in the hall, looking down at her. "I already knew of the likelihood of you coming away from me with child. Yet I was willing to accept the responsibility of it then. Why do you think, now, that I know you aren't a slave I would change my mind? I will escort you to my lands. My wife will be more than happy to see you. She has been at me for over the last seventeen cycles to put her aside. She does not dare get pregnant. If you are willing to come and stay with us in my home. She will treat you like a sister, and stop nagging me. I won't put her aside. Like I told Kaj, I don't care about the crown, Dannis can have it for all I care. I love my wife, and would never do anything to hurt her."

"But won't some of your people see you as forcing her to live with your whore?"

"Not more than once. Then it isn't you or I who will have to do anything about it, but Reba. She is a mother at heart, and hasn't held a babe in cycles, not since Miri and Rook became toddlers. And then neither of them wanted to be held. You let her help raise any child I give you, and she will be your sister at heart and treat you as such, and God help the man that says anything to you." He led her on down the hall.

"It really doesn't hurt? Every time they sent me to the dogs, it hurt so much, every time. It won't be like that, will it?

Thalin opened the door before turning to look at her again. "Listen to me Fenia. I am a man not, a, dog. On my word as such, if at anytime you feel any pain, even the slightest twinge of it. All you have to do is tell me, and I will stop. Remember that I am a man, and I can control myself."

Zerifenia giggled as he led her into the rooms that he had been given during his stay. "What is so funny, Fenia, I haven't even begun to undress?"

She shook her head, still giggling. "No, Master, it's just that when Sasha finds out that I won anyway. That even after all she did to destroy me, I survived and prospered. Oh she is going to be so upset."

"Well, if it wasn't for the fact that none of us want you to ever see that madwoman again, I would gladly escort you to your house to let her see you. You wouldn't even have to tell her the truth, just hiss and spit at her for seeing to it that you were taken away. But I happen to agree with Kaj. You don't need that kind of stress so soon after being freed." He touched her cheek. "The offer is still yours if you are not afraid of me Fenia. I would like very much to hold you for the night, and if we work well together, who knows perhaps for many more nights to come."

Zerifenia stepped closer to him, wrapping her arms over his shoulders. "You saved me from the hell I had been living for over a cycle. I don't think I could be afraid of you, not even if you tried to make me. Nothing you could do to me. Could ever compare to what has been done already. So no, I'm not afraid of you. And if you are still willing to touch me, knowing what I have done, then yes, I want to share your bed with you." She leaned up and kissed him.

Thalin smiled down at her. "There is something else I happen to agree with Caytin on. The dogs don't count. As far as I am concerned, you are still just a maid, and I am going to be your first."

"It's almost a pity." She stepped back to begin pulling the rags from her. "If you were unwed, well it is considered lucky to conceive the first night you share in bed with a man, and even more so if he is your consort. But you have a wife, so I suppose I am just going to have to accept the smaller good luck."

"The laws are different here Fenia. And even though I could never see you at home as anything more than a very dear friend. There are going to be times when I come here to visit. Like when my daughter finally conceives and goes to give birth. I have already been warned that she will be delivering here. That man of hers won't have it any other way. And just as soon and the Danes teach those sadistic madmen what it means to hurt what she claims, I can bring Reba here and hopefully one of their Healers can see to it that she is healed. Then the two of you can share the joys of motherhood together. So no, in Merican you can be nothing more than my friend. But here, if it would help you, I will consent to be your man. Just as long as you understand, I'm not wearing a collar."

She snorted as she began to help him disrobe. "Of course not. You are a FreeMan, and as such will wear a thin gold chain instead of a collar. Think of it as jewelry." She whimpered at the scars she found on his chest and sides. "First thing, please, have Trinna tend to these. Wed to me is, going, to, have many hidden assets. Healers, that are able to heal almost anything, are one of them."

"At the rate I am going with my daughter's in-law's, I will end up owing her my Kingdom."

Zerifenia pushed him back to the bed, being stronger than he was. It was nothing for her to see to it that she made him sit down. "I don't think you understand how we work here. You risked war to see to it that I was finally allowed justice. For that, any help she can offer, she will. And do so gladly." She worked on his boots. Unlacing them, before tugging one and then the other off. "Is your son really her third consort?" She moved up to begin working on the fastenings of his trousers.

"Yes." He watched her as she methodically removed his pants to expose a rapidly hardening cock. She giggled.

"Good sir, I do believe it is happy to see me."

"You have no idea Fenia. It has been over seventeen cycles since he has seen anything, but my hand. Believe me my dear, he is far from just being happy to see you, he is bloody thrilled."

Zerifenia was far from innocent. Even if the only males she had ever done like she was preparing to do to Thalin had been dogs. She knew what to do. She finally pulled his pants from him. Freeing his leg's one at a time, throwing the discarded garment back behind her. "This is going to be such a wonderful changed for me." She was talking to no one as she moved up between his legs. Licking his balls, nibbling one and then the other.

Thalin stroked her head as he felt her lips open to slowly pull him inside her mouth. "Be warned my dear." He moaned. "I don't think," he gasped at the slow tongue that bathed the head of his shaft, poking at the opening there. "I don't know how much of this, I am going to be able to take." He was almost whimpering as she pulled him deep into her throat.

She pulled back, kissing the head. "It's okay, you're not that old, I am sure that between the two of us, we can figure out a way to make you rise to the occasion again, please, just enjoy." She lowered her mouth back to where it was. "I know I am." She went back to what she was doing with an almost aggressiveness.

Thalin moaned softly, he had never had this done to him. Reba, his lady wife, who he loved more than life, had never been willing to do this, and after the doctor had diagnosed her unable to bear children anymore. It just wasn't something that ever came up. But now with this sweet young, girl, he was finally at long last able to experience what he had been missing for so long.

He tightened his fingers in her hair, and he held her head to him, as his orgasm, that sweetest that he had had in cycles, rolled down his spine to explode from his cock into her warm and hungry mouth.

It had been so long for him. His orgasm just kept cumming and cumming, he knew that he surely must be choking Zerifenia with the amount of seed he was pouring into her mouth. But she just kept pulling and swallowing, greedy for more. Hand lifting to squeeze his balls gently to see that he gave her all he had for her.

Thalin lay there, struggling for conscious thought as he hung in the haze of bliss that he hadn't felt for oh so many cycles. "You are a witch, girl, you do know that, don't you?

She crawled up onto the bed beside him. "That is what your people call our Temple Priestesses isn't it?" She smiled at him. "I'm no Healer, but my mother was, so I do believe that I can take that as a compliment." Her smile turned a bit mischievous. "And even if I'm not a full Healer, I can do a little healing work, that was why I assured you that we could see that you were able to rise to the occasion. If that doesn't bother you, that is if you aren't worried that I would do something I shouldn't to you."

He laughed at her. "My sweet witch, you can do anything you think to do to me. I trust you. You were judged completely innocent, of all wrong. So by all means if the thought of an old mans child does not repel you, have your way with me."

She giggled. "You're what, fifty, sixty cycles old? That's not old. We have men here that have reached the two hundred, mark, and still do their duty by their mistress. True as a woman, it is frowned upon over a hundred to try to carry a child, but it can be done. It's very dangerous though. That is how the Chieftesses mother died. She was a hundred and twenty, when, she took her last consort and carried and delivered the Healer Trinna. She was just too old to do that. If it had been a cycle or two earlier, who knows, but the timing was all wrong."

"I am almost sixty-two. Was thirty-one, when, I wed Reba. Who had been such a sweet young thing back then, she was nineteen. Emily was born almost eleven moons to the day of our wedding. Dannis just over a Cycle after her. Kerri was born when Emily was ten. The Twins were born when she was twenty. The war stared five cycles later, and the twins were seven when they watched their sister tortured to death before us all. That, was, just four moons more than thirty cycles ago.

Zerifenia wrapped her arms around him. Heart going out to this man for the pain she knew he had lived through. But she would change the subject, if only to see to it he forgot his pain. "You're only sixty-two, that's not that old at all. And that would make your wife, what, fifty or so? If the Healers can help her, she should with support have at least one or two more for you in her." She, propped, herself up on her elbows. "And if you mean what you said, about making me make an honest man out of yourself, while you are here, and take you as my consort. Be your lady. Then I will gladly give you as many children as you wish."

"You do know that if this gets out in my lands. There will be other men who will demand the same. Why should I have two wives, when there are so many women left without men," he sighed.

"I'm not sure how our chieftess will see that. But if you present the bear facts to her, she might. Just make sure you take Caytin aside and get a copy of the laws that we live by. On the lands ruled by us, we have been practicing true slavery for more cycles than you can imagine. Caytin is not only the lead consort of this house, but head of all the slaves in our land."

"Remind me to do just that tomorrow. I'm not positive that I want the extra women in my city enslaved. But for many of them, who have suffered so much already. It might be the only thing that will give them a feeling of stability." He turned on his side to meet here. "But enough talking for now witch, if you can help me to 'rise' to the occasion as you said, I will be eternally grateful."

Zerifenia laughed. She had laughed and smiled more in the last hour than she had in more than a cycle. But it was different. She was free. Had at long last been allowed to plead her case to the chieftess, and been found innocent of all counts. Her mother's death hurt her, but now that she was the eldest daughter of her mother. She was the heir, and all that she had grown up around would be hers. And this man, as strange to her as he was. It was all because he believed her to begin with. So 'yes' she would take him as her consort. She would bear young by him, even going to his lands for ten cycles, more if their mating was a good one. "Why is it do you think I was engaging in conversation with you Thalin. I'm not a Healer, so the little gifts I do have, take a little time to take effect." She grinned down at his hardening cock. "But it does look like I have revived you."

Thalin looked down at his manhood that was standing at half-mast, and gaining length. "I do think you are right." He pushed her over to lie on her back. "Shall I return the favor, witch?"

Zerifenia pushed him away. "You can't. The last thing that touched me was a dog. I would have to be cleaned completely before I could ever think of allowing that."

"Then I am going to have to wake that girl up a second time. Because, as, much as I want you. You do have a point there. I won't go where there is still remains of a dog."

She looked worried. "Don't you think she will be upset with me? She's been woken once already tonight, I don't want to bother her again." Too many moons of bowing prevented her from just acting without worry.

"She has a problem with it, she can take it up with me. But she was the one that assured us that if we were together tonight and did more than just sleep together, you would come away from it with a child. And believe me my lovely little witch, I want that child." He got up, looking down at his full erection, chuckling. "Well, pants are out for the moment, but my night robe should at least make this a little less obvious." He looked at her still on the bed as he pulled on a deep purple velour night robe. "Come on Fenia, time to get dressed. I will not have you parading around the house as you are now."

Zerifenia struggled back into her prison garb. "Are you sure this is going to be okay?"

He just chuckled at her. "And precisely what is she going to say. Regardless of where I am, I am still a King. What is more, the Chieftesses first born son is wed to my heir." He watched her finish the hurried dressing. "Now, come on with me. I think I know where the Healers room is. If not, I do know where my daughter's room in this sprawling place is. And I will go there and see to it that boy wakes up long enough to lead me the way."

In the end, he ended up knocking on his daughter's door. Because he could not find the Healers rooms. Tallin opened the door, a sheet wrapped around his waist. "Sire?"

"Not right now boy, you are my daughter's husband. That does entitle you to call me father."

Tallin smiled sheepishly. "Thank you Father, now what has you seeking Miri's bedroom at this time of night?"

Thalin pulls Zerifenia forward. "This one does. I need to seek out a Healer for her, and well, I don't know this place as well as I originally thought."

"Is she hurt Father?" Miri with the blanket covering her so that there was nothing exposed stood up moving to where Zerifenia stood.

"Yes and no. I won't go into what she still needs from the Healer, but suffice to say, we were told if we shared our time together tonight, I would be a father again. But as she is right now, I will not go there."

'I don't think now is the time to surprise him with all that has happened between us.' Miri knew that look on her father's face. He was very upset.

Tallin nodded. No this, wasn't, the time. "Give me just a moment to put on something so I don't run around the halls like just a pleasure slave. And I'll take you."

"Well while we wait. I am very pleased to tell you both," then he noticed Gabe curled up on the bed, a pillow between his legs. "All three of you. Fenia here has been finally allowed to see her chieftess, and has been judged innocent of all the crimes she was accused of. Her trial was not a real one. Kaj wasn't there, neither were any of the Priestesses from the Temple. She was tried and convicted in a mock trial for fraud and sentenced to ten cycles."

"Ten cycles?" Tallin was tying the knot at his waist. "Who ever heard of a woman being sentence to ten cycles for fraud. It's not like she killed anyone." He turned and leaned over the bed to kiss Miri. "Be right back, beloved. Gabe keep her company while I'm away."

"Yes, Master." Gabe pulled Miri close.

"Okay, Father, let's get you where you are needing to go. I understand why you are hesitant to talk about why the lady still needs a Healer again, with Miri here. I don't want her upset any more than you do. But perhaps she will be willing to explain it to me on the way."

Zerifenia hung close to Thalin as they followed Tallin through the halls. "What happened Father? I would have thought, in the situation she found herself in, she would be terrified of you."

"He believed me. Put me under his protection so that he could take me to my chieftess so she could hear my side. Then when the lady Healer came to see to my wounds, I was judged innocent." As worried about this stranger as she was. Thalin had protected her, had seen to it that she was allowed to come and plead her case. She would do anything for him, anything at all.

"Well, if Trinna healed you once already, if it is not rude to ask, why am I taking you to see her again? I know my aunt, and when it comes to healing, she is a bit of a perfectionist."

"There are some things that she didn't have with her in her healing of me the first time." She looked down. "I need to be cleaned inside from over a cycle worth of weekly to daily trips to the dogs."

Tallin stopped. "Miri and I weren't going to say anything tonight, not with as upset as Thalin is. But I am a slave no more. By Soul-Matching my lady, I am a FreeMan. And on my oath as such, I will kill who ever did this to you. You were a woman, falsely accused, and abused and humiliated for Goddess only knows how long. If my father, as a slave can't see to it that there is justice. Then Kerfan and I as FreeMen will be more than happy to do it. We will be overjoyed.

"I will congratulate the two of you later, when I don't have as much to worry about, Tal. But you don't have to worry about your father being a slave. He is head consort of all slaves in your lands. And before tonight, my pretty little witch here was a slave. That places her under his protection. All the men of his house, all of them, fertile or not. Will seek justice for what was done to her. But it will happen after we leave here. Fenia, nor Miri need to see what is to come of her."

"Well, here is the door to Trinna's room." He knocked softly. "She is probably not asleep, what with Jerrick taking a new Lover, he and that boy of his are probably keeping her awake with all the activity they are up too. Had you showed up at Miri's door just a few minutes earlier than you did, you would have been snarled at, I was just as busy with mine."

The door opened, and Jerrick stood there, quite nude. "Now what?" He snapped, and Trinna and Steffon in the background giggled. "Oh, I'm sorry Master, what can I do for you." He went to his knees.

"There is nothing you can do for me Jerrick. Fenia has a rather delicate problem that she needs to seek a Healer for." He helped the younger man back to his feet. "So, Tallin was right, my apologies soldier. My word that as soon as your mistress sees to Zerifenia, I will not bother her again for the night."

"She is the Healer of our house, Master, I am getting used to these late night visit's. It's one of the reasons I took Steff as a Lover, so that when she had to be out. For hours at a time, I wasn't alone." He grabbed his pants and her gown from the floor. "Mistress, there seems to be a problem with the little mistress."

"Intercourse paining you dear?" Trinna threw on her gown.

Zerifenia blushed. "No, we haven't gotten that far yet. I can't, not with what is still in me. I was taken from the kennels. Bathed quickly, to, be sent here. I still have that in me."

Trinna shook her head. "This is my promise, as the Healer of your Chieftesses house. It will be a long time, her dying. I will see to it that she can't pass out, no matter what is done to her. And will heal her enough to keep death away every night. By the time Caytin finally lets her die, she will be madder than she already is. To think, a woman could do this to a child of her mother's." Trinna took her hand. "Come on dear, let's go see to taking care of that."

"Master?" Steffon looked around blindly from the bed. "May I be given permission to help in this. I know I'm blind, but as I have proven, I have very talented hands. They can bring pleasure, or in this case, I can hurt this madwoman almost as much as the whip did you." There was ice in the boy's tone.

Jerrick moved to sit beside him. Taking his hand in his. "Caytin said all the men of his house. Are you not one of us? You are my Lover and your mistress's second consort. Yes, you can help."

Tallin laughed. "Goddess, Jerrick, this night has been a busy one for the men of my father's Men's Quarter's. I accept a mistress and she up and Soul-Matches with me. Has taken my Lover, a bedwarmer or not, as her second consort as well. And here, you nagged yours into taking your Lover as hers too."

"Must be in the water here. Because, before I leave here, I have given my word, old man, or not. I will consent to be Fenia's consort too. Or at least I will be when we come here to visit. A lot of things are going to change in Merican. We have almost no men, and all these women, who are alone and defenseless. I am going to have to talk to your mother about how she would feel about us trying it in reverse. With the women as slaves instead of the men. If she agrees, then your father and I are going to have to go over a lot. I do not think that the rules we have for the few slaves we have, or should I say had. Are the same rules? Here it is a way of life, and is very firmly regulated. If I am to go home and do this, that is what I want for my women, solid rules that protect them and promise a future that they have so far been denied."

It was about another half-hour before Trinna led Zerifenia from the infirmary that was off her rooms. "There we go. That should see things put to rights." She hugged the girl. "Now you go and take that man of yours and see what you can do about making a baby."

"Once again, Healer, thank you." Thalin took Zerifenia into his arms. Noting her tremble. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's just I never knew that there was that much in me. But I'm clean now."

"Yes, and you can take her back to your rooms and see to it that you make her forget her past." Trinna yawned. "And I can get back to my men, and try sleeping again."

After they left, Trinna broke down into tears. "Damn her, damn her to the ninth hell of ice."

"Was it that bad, baby?" Jerrick's protective streak rose in him. His mistress, the woman he loved, who was carrying his child, was hurting.

"I had to do like I did with Cay, three times, it was like there was more than a gallon, and when I cleaned her womb, it was almost as much. I missed the infection there, if I hadn't caught it this time, the child she will carry this time, would have been her last. That sick bitch would have seen to it that if her little sister didn't die, that she would never have a child of her own." She just lay against him sobbing. "It was so much, I couldn't believe it. It was just so fucking much." She had been picking up Jerrick's vocabulary. And though usually that was one word that no matter what the situation was, she considered it a strictly one used by the men, but after seeing and feeling all that she had, it come out without a thought.

* * *

Thalin was glad to make it back to his rooms. He had, had, to practically carry Zerifenia most of the way. She was shocky. "I think it is probably better if I just put you to bed for the night Fenia, we can worry about the rest later. You've had five or six too many horrors tonight." He helped he to lie on the bed.

She pushed herself up on her elbows. "No, something you don't know is that when the Healer helped me, she found I was suffering from an infection our ancestor's once called ovarian cancer. We haven't seen the likes of it, in, I don't know how long. But had she not found it this time. The child I carried this one time, would have been the only child I would have ever carried. Not even a Healer, as talented and gifted as they are, can force life back into dead tissue. Stop it from spreading, always, but by the time my child was born. Too much of my ovaries would have been dead to ever give me the chance to bear again. So, no matter how foggy I am right now, trying to deal with what that woman who I had loved as a sister for the first sixteen cycles of my life did to me. I will not give her the satisfaction by letting her be the cause of me pulling away and hiding." She lay back, holding out a hand to him. "Now, I'm clean and healed. If the thought of touching me does not repulse you, please. I've fought hard to get to this point."

He smiled at her, dropping his robe from him, to stand before her, as naked as he had been just about an hour before. "If that is how you feel, then my dear, I am at your disposal."

She moaned as Thalin helped her from her clothes again. Being naked was something that she had become accustomed to over the past cycle. It no longer embarrassed her like it once did. Thalin parted her legs smiling. "Where was I?"

She giggled. "I think you were about to make me scream."

"Oh, yes, now I remember." He lay over her bending to kiss her inner thigh, before moving up to look down upon her sex. It was hairless, but as far as he had seen, everyone was here, so it wasn't an issue to worry about.

His tongue ran up the folds of her sex, parting them to nuzzle against her labia smiling to, himself, as her little clitoris began to poke out of it's protective hood. 'Make her scream'. Oh yes, he had every intentions of doing just that.

She tangled her fingers in his hair as her hips lifted to encourage him and his actions. No one had ever done anything like this for her. Oh the guards used to be amused when she was tied down and the dogs would lick her to the point that she was sobbing, but he wasn't a dog. He was a wonderful man, who had saved her. And she would be willing to give him anything he wanted for that help. Even if it came down to her being his willing slave for the rest of her life, giving him everything she owned.

She caught her breath in her chest as she felt him lock on to her clitoris and suck, licking teasingly. "Yes, please." She held his head to her, lifting her hips even higher to meet his mouth.

She wanted this. His worse fear was put to rest. He had been so sure, after all that he knew this poor girl had been forced to live through that she would never welcome anyone, man or woman to her again, but she wanted him. He felt her jump a little, as he bit her lightly, getting a good hold on the tiny bud so he could continue to toy with her. Lifting his hand to add his fingers to the play. Listening to the music of her mindless whimpers as she held his head even tighter to her.

"Ease up there dear." He had to stop. She was crushing his skull in her desperate search for pleasure. "Don't let go, I don't ever want you to let go, but my dear, I do want to live through this night, so remember. I am not a Dane."

She giggled, letting up on her hold, but not letting go. "I'm sorry, it's just, Goddess you make me feel . . .."

"High praise, Fenia." And he lowered his head, trusting her to remember that he wasn't quite as spry as he was in his youth, and she was much stronger, even in her weakened state, than he was."

The pleasure just kept building in her as he continued to love her with his mouth and fingers. "Oh, oh, Goddess, yes." She screamed as a wash of heat took her and she thrashed with her first, human induced orgasm.

She bucked so hard that she threw Thalin to the floor. Laughing as he pulled himself up off the floor to return to the bed. "You are going to be the death of me love."

She said nothing, only pushed him over on his back so she could mount him. She looked down into his eyes as she lowered herself on him. Moaning softly at the feel of him inside her. "Let's make a baby, shall we, my Lord?" She began to move over him. Sliding up and down. "I want your child, know that. No one is making me be here. I could have went with Caytin, but I want 'your' child."

He grabbed her hips as she worked over him. "Then by all means, M'lady, let's make a child." After that, words were not needed.

If he thought it was odd for her to be on top, he only had to remind himself where he was, and who was the dominant sex here, and it all made sense. Besides, having her on top gave him ample freedom with his hands to move over her body, her breasts that were still small, even at her age, but quite firm. Her belly and the dip to her sweet sex, which drew his hands, much as it had drawn him, mouth only moments ago. At least this way, with her on top, she couldn't throw him off.

She cried out as his thumbs zeroed on her clitoris again, rubbing it with such purpose. He was going to drive her mad before he was done with her. She leaned over him, picking up her pace as she kissed him, with true passion.

Thalin broke the kiss, gasping for air. "Best you cum again love, I don't think this old thing can keep up for much longer." He warned her.

'Cum.' Yes she was indeed cumming, she threw her body back crying out mindlessly as her second orgasm took her. Her exposed position only enabled Thalin to grab her hips and begin his own as it rolled down his spine and out of his balls. His voice joining hers as they came together.

She rolled off him, curling up beside him. "I really should probably go clean myself up, but great Goddess, I am tired."

"Just stay here, love, I'll sleep in the wet spot tonight. I am after all, just a man in a city run by women." He moved her over on the bed, but stayed by her "Now, go to sleep Zerifenia. Tomorrow is going to be a very busy day. I start to make my plans to leave, and we still have to go to that Temple of yours so we can be wed here. And we won't be the only two. My daughter will not be allowed to leave here until she weds Kaj's son. And I will not leave here until she does the same for Rook. And while I'm here, I will see to it, for Mer. That she weds Fain as well. And Jerrick, I am not overly worried about that soldier. I think he is going to be a bit peckish unless his mistress does the same with him and that boy of his. He did take a little time to speak to me earlier when I cornered him to see how they were being treated. His mistress is pregnant with his daughter. He is going to be such a proud papa."

"That isn't going to take as long as you think it is, milord. Usually taking a man as your consort doesn't take more than a few questions and the man submitting to this mistress. The cuffing, no time at all, and the marking, though that takes a little time. There are many of the Healers who know how to do it. Trinna, being one of them. All in all, it should take no more than three hours or so, for Trinna maybe six or seven. I am sure she will insist on marking her two." She yawned and snuggled closer.

"There is still no way I can leave tomorrow. But before light the next morning, we will have to be ready. So that we can move at the first hint of light." He kissed her. "Now, go to sleep."

She snuggled even closer, closing her eyes. Giving in to the fatigue that she was feeling. "Yes, Master." A whisper as she finally gave into sleep.

Thalin lay there, stroking her hair. Thinking about all the things he was going to have to take back to his world. Taking these women with him, as slaves to start to create another generation of his people. They would force him to change so much. He would in the end have to put his women in chains. Not his wife, or daughter, of course. But any that were not of noble birth. That worried him as he began to slip down into the void of sleep. Following Zerifenia into sleep. "Night my Little Mistress." Then silence, as they slept.

CHAPTER 18

Caytin roused Fain and Rook. "Come on you two." He pulled at Fain's hand.

"Where are we going Cay?" Fain whispered Rook echoing him.

"It's your wedding day. It's bad luck for your mistress to see either of you before you present yourself to her at the Temple." He looked over at Kaj, who lay there, eyes closed, but a smile on her face. "She's away already, move."

Caytin met Jerrick and Steffon as he led Fain and Rook into the men's dining hall. Kaj's great, great, great-grandmother had put it up. For just this, sort, of thing. There were times that a man found it wiser to be out of his mistresses' sight. "So, did you both get out without Trinna seeing you?"

"It was a close call there for a second. But she remembered that neither Steff nor I would know what to do, she yelled at both of us to get the fuck out. She's picking up way too much of my language. So we got dressed as fast as we could and I brought him here. This is where she yelled at me as she heard the door open to come."

Now I wonder if my son will remember his training?" Caytin mused.

* Beloved, don't open your eyes. Gabe and I have to leave your for now. It is considered bad luck for your mistress to see you before the wedding. Take all the time you want in getting up. I have to go and grab a bite to eat, then he and I are going to have to go to the Men's Quarter's to get all prettied up for you. * Tallin kissed her before moving to join Gabe at the door. Taking his pants from his Lover, he hurried and donned them. * When you hear the door close, love you can, if you want, open your eyes. * He and Gabe slipped from the room.

The sound of the door closing was all she needed to sit up. 'She was getting married today! Great God, she was getting married today.' Then Kaj's words echoed in her mind. No she wouldn't, be able to leave until she wed both. Oh God, what a mess this was going to be back at home. She had two husbands and one of them the other's Lover. Well she was the heir after all. Her and Tallin's child would rule one day. So of course, she had to adjust, or at least partly. She just could never accept that it was normal between fathers and son's to do what they did here in her world. That was one of the reasons she had accepted Gabe. Tallin was her Soul-Match. She would do anything for him. Even if, that, meant taking another man in her bed. It really wasn't so bad. She had lost her virginity to Gabe anyway, she knew he was a gentle lover.

"Time to wake up sleepy head." Thalin kissed her shoulder. "Lots to do today."

"I am awake, Thalin. Have been so for what seems forever. But it is bad luck to see your consort on the day of your wedding before you meet me in the Temple. Go to the men's dining hall. If you don't know where it is, just ask anyone, even the children know where that is. But you have to get up and out of here before I can open my eyes."

"Fenia, all my clothes are in this room. I am not going to show up in your Temple dressed as just a soldier."

"I will be out of here, as soon as I can get cleaned up. Send one of the bedwarmers to make sure I'm not here. Then come down and get anything you want. I plan to take a few guards with me and go to my home and get the things I will wear today. I also plan to take a document from the chieftess ordering her arrest. That is what the guards will be for. No I don't want to be here when she dies. But I must know she is in prison. Let her sit there naked in a tiny room, leered at by any who pass by for a few days, long enough for me to get out of here. Now please Thalin, leave."

He was impressed with her calm this morning, last night she had been a little giddy, he guessed it was because she was free at last. But today, she was showing her true self. And though she did not want to see what was once her sister die. She would see that the wheels of justice begin to turn. "Give me a minute, Fenia. Let me throw something on, then I will go. This is very much like a tradition we have at home, but there it is the groom that can't see the bride before the wedding."

"That would be very had here, we sleep with our men. It's a man, who should be a virgin when he takes a lady. Not the mistress."

Thalin was wondering about that as he slipped from the room. Almost running into Tallin. "So, your mistress threw you out too?"

"No sir. Miri and I share a soul. I am a FreeMan now. But did I get out without her seeing me, yes. Drug Gabe with me as well. Never thought there would ever be any advantages to being someone's master, but I'm beginning to see just how much like my father I really am." He led the two men towards the men's dining hall. "My mother will see to it that Miri and Trinna are not in the hall as we go to the Men's Quarter's to finish preparing for our mating."

"And Fenia is taking a written order from chieftess Kaj and two guards with her and going to her home to finish fancying up for her wedding day. Smart girl there. I don't expect that her sister will be any too happy to see her."

"And even less to read what my mother will write down. The guards will take her into custody the moment she reads the paper. What she did was unforgivable. Trinna and Jerrick stopped by our rooms to tell us what had happened before taking her two to bed. It took Gabe and I forever to calm Miri down. I didn't know that her older sister had dogs turned loose on her too." Tallin opened the door to be greeted by five other men.

"So, did you get out without your lady seeing you?" Caytin hugged him. Kissing him lightly.

"Yes Papa, but I have a warning for you. She isn't at all comfortable with the idea of a father and son sharing time. Don't ask me why, but she got rather upset at the mention of it. So if you can keep displays down to just hugs, I'd appreciate it. I don't like it any more than you do, but she's been willing to do a lot for me. The least I can do for her is make this sacrifice.

"Relax Tallin, she is a woman. And I never looked at Kerri, but before the war, we too didn't think a thing about a father teaching his son the art of love. I'll have a word with her after the two of us wed our perspective women.

"Well for now, I don't have to worry about that. My mistress is carrying a girl, and even if the next child she gives me is a boy, you're still looking at what, fifteen or so cycles from his birth."

"And just think. You have in your Lover, a fellow consort that is very skilled with his hands." Caytin smiled at him.

"Thanks Master, that is just what I needed to worry about." He knelt, by force of habit.

"Would you like to eat breakfast first, or a morning pick me up before breakfast?" He stoked the man's hair.

"Here, now?" Jerrick looked around at all those that were in the room.

"Rook and Fain will think nothing of it. Your boy is blind. And Tallin and Gabe have shared plenty of time with us. The only one here that is new is Thalin, and you have already heard him speak of how it used to be normal for father and son to explore the wonders of love together. So yes, 'slave', now."

Jerrick shook his head. "Forgive me, Master. But you're going to have to punish me. I can't. Please, sir, understand, I just can't."

Caytin only chuckled. "We'll discuss your punishment later Jerrick. I knew eventually, you would not be able to obey me. But I won't have you whipped on your wedding day. Your mistress would have my hide, and rightly so. Now get up and let's go and get some breakfast. Later you and I can talk more about what it means to be my Lover and slave."

Tallin was busy filling his plate. "I take it back." He whispered to Gabe. "I really am nothing like my father. I would never do that to you with strangers around. Or worse the, man, that was once your King. How could papa do that to Jerrick?"

"He is your mothers Soul-Match. And she has always run to the unlimited humiliation of her toys. She might have gotten a good dose of his stability in their tie, but he came away from it, much more the sadist than he was before they were mated. I'm not old enough to remember a time when they weren't together, but I have heard from Warrel, master Kerfan and most of the other men and bedwarmers, who have been here long enough to remember a time before Caytin's wedding. In the Men's Quarter's how Caytin changed after binding souls with your mother. Oh he is still a kind master, and a loving father. If he weren't he would have been called down by mistress Kaj long ago. And as a head consort he is without compare. Just ended up with a little of your mother's aggressiveness and love for humiliation that your mother has. That's all." He took Tallin's plate. "Where would you like to sit Master?"

Tallin nodded over to an empty table. "You do realize that once you wed us, the only time you are to call me master is when I am being just that, right?"

"Just so you realize Master, that I am probably going to be as forgetful on that point as Jerrick is with Cay."

Tallin just laughed softly. "Goddess protect me. I'm doomed."

Gabe leaned closer. "Think on this, Master. If it had been you to order it, I don't care who is in the room. I am proud of my feelings for you, and are always willing to show you how much, anytime, and anywhere." He kissed his cheek before turning back to his plate.

'Great Mother, help me. He means it.' Suddenly Tallin just wasn't hungry.

* * *

Kaj looked up at the light knock on her bedroom door. "Yes?"

Zerifenia poked her head in. "Can I have a minute of your time Chieftess?"

"I just got word that Thalin is in the men's dining hall with the rest. Am I to take that as a positive sign, or is he just making sure that Tallin and Rook are there?"

"He and I had a talk last night. With as closely as our two peoples are going to be. He has consented to be my consort here."

"Good for him. Now what is it I can do for you my dear?"

"I need a document from you for Sasha's arrest. And the loan of, two guards, to come with me. I don't know if I will still fit into the gown I had always planned on wearing to take a consort in, but I am going to try."

"Are you sure you want to see her?" Kaj pulled out a piece of paper.

"I don't want to see her die. Whether or not I am willing to claim her as my mother's daughter anymore. She is and I can't watch her die. But have her arrested, and do to her what they did to me that first day, and throw her in an open cell, naked, tied to a wall and have the Healer, come and remove all marks of her adulthood as a woman. Yes I can do that, can't I?"

Kaj wrote, a, quick but very official letter. "Well, so that she can't say it is a fake, I will have Wren and Kari go with you. And they will initial my order for her arrest. Do you want her stripped first and marched through the city? I know it will probably upset some of the children, but with as often as they see our men like that, it should pass quickly."

Zerifenia smiled. "Would you be so kind to me, Chieftess? I am not one of your home. Your hearing my plea and having me judged as innocent is more than I ever hoped."

"Look, dear. I didn't judge you innocent. Trinna did, and I am, not, fool enough to question the word of one of the Temple Priestesses, even if she is younger than I am. So yes, I will add this to the order and Wren and Kari will be more than happy for follow my orders. They didn't know about you. Had they known, you would have been here a long time ago and your sister dead by now. Neither Wren nor Kari have any use for men, Wren has a child, only because she came to me, and was willing to tolerate Cay's touch once. Kari is waiting for that animal that killed my son to produce enough seed that it will be her turn. And being as gender biased as they both are the thought of dogs, is enough to set their blood to boil." She walked to her door. One of her house guards was close by her, be it her office or her bedroom. "Wren, run and get Kari quick. I think I have a job the two of you are going to like."

"Yes, Ma'am." The older woman turned and began to jog down the hall. "There, she should be back momentarily. Now, what are we going to do about your mating dress? How too big do you think it is going to be? I have a few in my Men's Quarter's that are not your man who happen to be very good with a needle."

"I don't know Chieftess, I have lost so much weight. It is probably going to swallow me. But my mother helped me to pick it out. I wasn't going to give up my maidenhood to anyone but my consort. I had hoped for a soul-match. There is a good fifty- percent or more chance if you share your first with your consort, who is also untried, that you will come away sharing a soul, and with child. But Sasha stopped that hope."

"No, Hon, Thalin isn't your soul-match, but he became your consort last night when he agreed to be so. And as you know, it is almost as good luck to conceive your first night with your consort as it is with your souls-match."

* * *

Miri was in a flustered mood. She had nothing to wear that could possibly be accepted for what she was going to do. She turned around at the knock. "Come on in, it isn't locked." She threw the dress she was looking at on the bed, in tears.

Trinna slipped in, carrying a beautiful blue dress. "I thought you might need this. I don't remember seeing you with any fancy dresses." She held it out.

Miri looked at it in shock. "I can't take that, it's yours. What are you going to wear?"

Trinna laughed at her. "I haven't been able to fit in this thing in moons girl. I'm pregnant. Don't worry about my mating dress, I have it all ready. Just thought I would come by and offer you this. And see if you would like to come and let me help you with your paints. It's not just the men that get fancied up at their mating, you know. I'll have to get Donnel to come by and shave you. You are going to be a mated woman now. And not just a girl." She laughed again as Miri blushed. "How you, who are so easily embarrassed ended up with two men, is beyond me."

"You mean shave, 'there'?" She had never heard of anything like that before.

"Unless you plan to keep running around looking like some half grown girl, yes. There at the beginning, you are going to have to have either Tallin or Gabe shave you everyday because at the beginning it is itchy as all hell. But after a moon or so, it gets to the point that you only have to have it done ever three or four days, just to make sure you don't start looking like a little girl again." She picked up the dress again. "Now come on with me. The boys are with out a doubt in the Men's Quarters now, so you won't run the risk of running into them on the way."

She blushed. "One moment, please, I have to make sure." Tal, love, you and Gabe are in the Men's Quarter's now, right? *

*Yes, and Gabe is bouncing off the walls. But I have him on a short leash, so do what ever you need to. *

Miri looked up, smiling. "You were right, they are all tucked away where we can't see them."

"Then let's go."

Wren and Kari looked over Kaj's orders. "Sounds fair enough to me." Kari commented, initialing the thing.

Wren, taking, the pen after her and doing the same. "This woman, are we going to need a Healer for her? She saw to it that her sister never looked like anything but a girl. Turn about is fair play Chieftess." Wren's voice dripped with hate. Any woman that would do this to another woman, much less her own sister, was not one of them.

"Oh yes. Zerifenia asked for that specifically. She is like any other woman. We don't mind humoring our men and shaving, but to have it burned away, completely, never to return. That was almost as much a crime as her tendency to send the girl to the kennels. And make sure which ever Healer that is left that can do this, doesn't block the pain. I want her to have at least a taste of what her short and horrible life is going to be like." Then she looked to Zerifenia. "If the dress is too far gone to ever hope to alter it and still maintain the beauty of the dress, my eldest daughter is about your size. And if she knows your dilemma, you don't have to go into details with her, but if she knew you are to wed, and had nothing that would fit you, she will gladly open her closet to you."

Zerifenia looked at her in amazement. "Why is it you are willing to do so much for me Chieftess. I am no one. And you have treated me like your own daughter. Why?"

"Firstly, stop calling me chieftess. Kaj will be just fine. And second I am treating you like I would treat any young woman of my people who was coming to her wedding vows without a mother. If it will help you, you don't have a mother, I will stand for you in her stead." She touched Zerifenia's cheek. "Then you can dispose of anything but mother from this point on. And see to it that that psychotic bitch knows who your new family is."

Zerifenia broke down into tears. It was just not anything she had ever even hoped for. "You would have me call you Mother?"

Kari laughed. "She really doesn't know you very well does she Ma'am? Girl half the young women, who are orphaned, call her mother. She is our chieftess, she is the mother of us all."

"No, Kari. True I answer to mother with many, the priestesses of the Temple are mother to us all, even me. Now run along, and I'll have Rhea go through her closet and pick out only the prettiest gowns for you. And then I am going to get dressed in something that honors the occasion. I am taking not one, but two new consorts. I simply have to look my best."

* * *

Wren and Kari led her to the Temple first. To see whom was left. The others had left last night on a mercy mission to Merican. Only the pregnant and the very young and old were left. "May we speak to Mother Anna?" She asked a young novice who answered the door. Not a Healer just called to the Mother's service.

She nodded and hurried off. "Mother Anna used to be one hell of a Healer, but with age they begin to lose their abilities. All she can do is hair removal and verify fertility. But even a half dead Healer can do that."

The same ancient looking woman who had worked on Rook moved down the stairs slowly. "So, what is it that Nina is saying, you have need for me, guardswomen?"

"Yes, Mother. We are going to arrest a vile thing. She falsely imprisoned her younger sister for over a cycle, beat her daily and sent her to the kennels every time she begged to see the chieftess, to have her case reviewed. Many of the times she was whipped it was because she had begged for a Healer." Wren, being older than her partner by many cycles did the talking.

The ancient priestess looked horrified. "That can't be right. Every prisoner in the prison knows that all they have to do is plead their need to one of the guards and they will be granted both. To think that this girl was denied what is hers by birthright. Pity I didn't die before hearing this."

"Well, it happened Mother, all you have to do is ask the young Healing priestess Trinna. She was the one that saved me. I had what was once called ovarian cancer. The child I now carry would have been the only child I carried. She flushed more dog seed out of me than she believed anyone could ever have in them. I am going home to prove to her that she did not win. My house and I are now part of the Chieftesses house. I call her mother, because while I was in prison, my mother died." There were tears flowing down her cheeks. "She was only in her nineties, but knowing that her daughter had been tried and convicted of fraud, it killed her. Sasha owes me for my mother's death as well."

The priestess moved to wrap her arms around Zerifenia. "I knew your mother child. And you are right. The horror of losing her youngest that way, it did kill her, by simply making her stop wanting to live. That is a very dangerous emotion for a Healer. They can with no effort will themselves to death." Then she looked up at the two guards. "I can do what you ask, but I must warn you. My effort to attempt to block the pain for Kaj's boy took all I had. If I block hers, one of you might very well have to carry me back and hand me to the other priestesses here."

"Don't waste your energy Mother. I want her to hurt like I did. One of the guards had just enough of a healing talent to burn mine from me, and it hurt for days afterwards." Zerifenia whispered.

The old woman nodded. "So be it. I will feel no pity for the thing that could do what this one did to you and your mother. I am an old woman. It might take me longer than it used to."

"Can you still do piercings, Mother?" Zerifenia had an idea.

"Yes, just not heal them. But I do not think, if you want her to feel the full burn of her hair removal, you want her healed." Mother Anna smiled at her. "Shall I bring the largest rings I have for this?"

Zerifenia looked to Wren and Kari. "Do you think chieftess Kaj will be upset with me if I do this?"

Wren smiled at her. "She is your mother now girl. And she will support anything you do to that soulless bitch. By all means, the bigger the better, and as many as you and Mother Anna think will work. They won't be in her long. Only until after you leave with your new man."

They walked slowly, conscious of the ancient priestesses weakened step. Two more guards passed, and Wren nodded at them to follow. This might take more than just her and Kari. So she was seeing to it that they had plenty of backup.

Sasha opened the door, all grins. Her smile faded as she faced her little sister. "You!" She hisses.

"Yes, me." She held out Kaj's orders to her. "I finally was able to see the Chieftess. And she had her sister, the young Healing priestess. Trinna heal me. I was judged innocent of all I was accused of. Here is a letter from my new mother for you." She smiled at the frightened look Sasha had on her face as she took the folded paper from her. And laughed as Sasha tried to back away, shaking her head. "You are going to die Sasha. You falsely imprisoned me, killed my mother, and had some of the most unspeakable things done to me that anyone can ever imaging." She looked to Wren and Kari. "If you would strip her for me, please. Let that be the, first, thing she gets as a reminder of what she did to me.

"You stupid girl. Why did you think I did it? I was the heir, and because I didn't show any healing talent at all, not even the pathetic ones you have. I was pushed aside. Even my own first concert loved you more than he did me. I got rid of you, thinking that without you here, mother would have to finally accept that I was all she had. But the fool didn't. She just closed down and died. But know this little girl. She died knowing you were a criminal. That is something that no matter what you do to me, you can't change. The knowledge that her perfect child was in prison, had been convicted for fraud killed her. She is beyond any hand to tell her different. So kill me. I should have killed you back when I had the chance. But I figured that eventually the prison would do it for me, and I wouldn't get any blood on my hands."

"You sent an innocent woman to prison? Killed your own mother?" A, soft man's voice, from the door.

Sasha turned and looked at her first consort. "Merrel, I did it for you. I did it for my house. Mother would have found a way to see that it wasn't me that was her heir but this silly girl. I couldn't let that happen."

"I don't know you. I am ashamed that I ever accepted your proposal. Any who would do what you did are without a soul. I can only thank the Great Mother, that we have no children. I am shamed enough, with out they're being little ones to bear in the shame." He looked to the guards. "She is not my mistress, do what ever you wish with her, I will not protest. Just please, mistress, pass the word on to mistress Kaj, that I never knew." He bowed his head.

"He didn't know." Zerifenia echoed his words. "I've known Merrel since he came here to be Sasha's consort. It isn't in him to do what she did."

"Mistress, should I take you out of here. I am pretty sure that what the guards have in plan for her is not going to be pleasant." Merrel offered, worried about how Zerifenia, who had always been the most gentle of the women in his house, surpassing even Sasha's mother, who was a Temple Healing Priestess.

"No, Merrel. I'm not the little girl you used to tease anymore. I am a woman grown, and with child." She looked back at Sasha. "That is right. I am now the heir of my house, and I will have a son in eleven moons. I go to my mating today, to take a man as my consort. I won," she slapped Sasha. "Do you hear me you heartless, soulless thing? I won. I am with child, and wed the King of the Merican's. He is taking me away from this place, and I am taking everyone and everything in 'my' house with me. That includes Merrel. He isn't yours anymore. He's my slave. Not a consort, or at least not yet." She hit Sasha again and again. The guardswomen just held the older woman still while Zerifenia vented her anger and pain.

"Are you finished, child, or do you need to rage at her more?" Mother Anna looked at Sasha with cold hate in her eyes. "If you are quite finished, the guards will strip her and I will burn her woman's hair from her, and every scrap of hair left on her body. Not having to block the pain, means it costs me nothing." Sasha screamed, fighting as hard as she could as Wren and Kari along with the other two guards ripped her clothing from her. Wren finally had enough of her noise and backhanded Sasha across the mouth, much like she had done with Durn. And got the same response. "Shut up. This is what you deserve."

"No," she moaned as the ancient priestess neared her. "Please, Mother, mercy."

Mother Anna said not one word as she lay a hand on Sasha's woman's hair. Burning it away.

Sasha threw back her head and screamed. Goddess it hurt so much. It felt like some one was using a burning branch between her legs. But as the Mother parted her lips, to touch her labia and clitoris, Sasha went crazy. "No, you can't!" The howl of agony drowns out all other sounds in the house.

Mother Anna stepped back. "Her hair as well child?"

"All of it Mother. If it pleases you, and the Temple, turn it all to dust." Zerifenia would have never thought of doing this to another, only a cycle or so ago, but after living through all that she had, there was no forgiveness in her heart for the woman who did this to her.

Sasha screamed again as Mother Anna clasped her hands on her head. "Stop, oh Goddess, stop. It hurts."

Again the Healing priestess said nothing, just worked from her head, down her face and her arms. "I am too old to kneel to deal with her legs girl, so alas they will have to stay as they are."

"It's okay, Mother Anna, you can, if you feel like it, deal with that when she goes on the table to be pierced." She picked up one of the large and heavy rings that would be going through a nipple. "Good Goddess, this has to be a quarter of an inch thick, and five or six inches in diameter. And this one, you are gong to put it in her clitoris right?" She held up the largest ring that she had ever seen. Half an inch thick, and, a foot in diameter. It was going to be almost impossible for the woman to walk. "How do you work these Mother. I can't see a needle this big being used. So how do you work them, and why do you have them?"

"They are punishment rings for some of the pleasure slaves that have displeased their mistresses and master's. And in some cases, they ask for them. You know how pleasure slaves can be. We also have bars for breeders and consorts that either displease their mistress, or have a need for them, themselves." She took one of the 'smaller' rings, and unscrewed it. The tip was very small and very sharp. It went from the tiny point and grew in size to the size of thickness of the ring. "Her hood ring will do the same. Now, if you would be so kind and to place her on a table somewhere, I will see to my duty."

Sasha had long since gone past speaking. She just let them drag her into what had been her house, and forced her on a table. All that had happened to her was too much for her to understand. How could everything she had worked so hard for be gone?

"Oh, and child. Just so you know. Your mother might indeed be dead, but that does not mean she is beyond us. You have my promise, that as soon as I rest up from this. I will petition the Mother to allow me to speak to her. I will let her know what had been done to you, and of your innocents." Mother Anna smiled at Zerifenia. "After all, I refuse to let it lie as it is. I might be an old woman, but I still am a woman. And no woman should have had done to you what was done. And no mother should die, believing a lie."

Zerifenia grabbed her hand, kissing it. "Thank you, Mother. You have no idea how much that eases my mind."

Wren looked at Kari. "Run home, and get a triple leash, we are going to have to drag her to the prison, and the most effective way will be by her rings. I want to see that stupid thing fight the pull."

Kari snapped to attention. "Yes, Ma'am." And she was off.

After all the pain she had felt so far, Sasha didn't think she could feel anymore, but as the needle began to pass through her right nipple, she knew she was wrong. Then when the sharp thin point of the ring began to work it's way into the hole that was there, widening it as it moved up to the true thickness of the ring, the only thing that kept her where she was were the hands that held her in place. As Wren and one of the guards that had come with them held her down.

Zerifenia watched, untouched by her sister's pain. "Merrel, as Mistress of this house, I order the fire oil for her. Go and get it for me."

"Yes, Mistress." And he was gone. Feeling just a little concerned. Zerifenia had always been such a loving girl. If what his ex-mistress had done to her had taken from her that loving heart. Then he was more than only ashamed. It would take many of the men in the house to keep him from cutting his manhood from him. It had been inside that hideous creature so many times. It surely was poisoned. He had worried that he could not beget a child on his mistress, but the Healers all kept assuring him that he was not the problem. And Sasha had been tested as well. Perhaps it was the wisdom of the Great Mother that held back any new life from them. She knew all, and knowing all, she knew what was going to happen and in her infinite mercy protected any child.

Kari made it back, as the Mother was finishing the third and final piercing. Sasha had long since passed out from the pain, and unfortunately she was not strong enough to force her to wake from where she was hiding. But Trinna had come with Kari. "I see that sadistic bitch is getting a taste of her own medicine." Was her only comment as she touched Sasha? "Wake up you motherless thing. You are far from the point that you can consider your day finished." She touched her head, seeing to it that no matter what happened next, she would not hide again. "Well, I've stepped in, and done my duty. Had I known that Mother Anna was going to be called to do this, I would have offered. But I think she's pretty much done with her. And I got to go home and finish getting ready for my mating. See, you, there Zerifenia." She just floated from the room, grinning.

"Mistress?" Merrel stood in the doorway, with a bottle of fire red oil. "You ordered this." He held it out to her along with a tube. "Please, Mistress, allow me to attend to her. You have faced enough for anyone of any age. She shamed me too."

"I'm almost finished here Merrel, so be my quest. I want it in both her sex, and her rectum. I want her to know what true pain is, and as far as I know, having only heard of the effect of this oil, it will do the trick."

"No, you can't." Again Sasha tried her best to break free from the hands that held her down. "I'm your mistress. You can't do this to me. I forbid it."

"I am a slave, Sasha. But then so are you. And I am not the consort of any slave. I don't know you, and it would seem, I never really did." He waited for the guards to force her legs apart before he shoved the tube into her virgina. Uncorking the bottle and pouring close to half the bottle into her.

Sasha froze a silent scream as the oil burned like acid deep inside her. He was her consort. He couldn't be doing this to her. But he was, and it was a pain that far passed any she had felt so far.

"If you would turn her over mistresses. I will see to it that I finish trying to make up for what ever part I had in this, unwitting though it was."

"You had no part in it Merrel. I know that, and as pathetic as my healing gift is, I can detect a lie." Zerifenia fussed at him.

This time, when he poured the rest of the bottle of oil in her rectum, her scream was not silent, but long and chilling. Merrel was in tears as he threw the bottle and the tube to one side, and went to his knees at Zerifenia's feet. "For you, Mistress."

The screaming woman on the table was forgotten, and Zerifenia dropped to her knees and pulled Merrel close. "No, that was for you. She lied to you as much as she lied to my mother. But you won't have to worry about anything anymore. I am not my sister. And when I leave here, you will come with me. If, Thalin can, have a wife and a lady. Then surely I can have two consorts. And I plan to make you my consort, one day." She wiped the tears from his face. "Now, tell me. Do you have any idea where the gown my mother and I bought for the purpose of a mating gown?"

"It is long gone Mistress. She," he gestured to Sasha. "Shredded it the day you were convicted, saying you would never need it again anyway. I, begged her to spare it, it was so pretty. But she only had me beat for speaking for you, and while I hung there bleeding she took a knife to it and cut it to ribbons."

Zerifenia nodded. She had feared that something like that would have happened. "It was probably going to be too big for me anyway. But I would have liked to keep it for my daughter one day. Well, I suppose I am going to have to take my new 'mother' up on her offer and borrow a gown from what is now my fifteen cycle old little sister, who is about the same size as I am."

The guardswomen had sadistic pleasure in pulling Sasha through the streets, naked, with the leash hooked to all three rings. The bottom ring made it almost impossible for her to walk. The oil felt like it was eating her insides alive, and the piercings were sheer agony. The pain of having her hair burned away was long forgotten in the pain of the piercings and the oil. She didn't even notice those around her whom gasped, or giggled at her as she was dragged through the streets to the prison.

When they finally made it to the prison. They chained her to the wall in an open prison cell, that any guard that passed could see her. "Now, if we have any man sent to be punished. With that oil in your ass, he will be made to fuck you, and that is by far punishment enough. There will be no need for the whip for a while." Wren chuckled. "But I thing that for now, the men of our city will be on their best behavior. A whipping is one thing, but having to touch you, even without the oil, would be a much greater punishment." She spat at her and turned to leave her hanging there. Arms chained above her head, and legs chained spread so that all her weight was on her wrists. "Oh, yes, I almost forgot. Before the head consort takes you, I will put on a heavy glove and fist you everyday until you die." With those last cryptic words she left.

CHAPTER 19

Miri looked in the mirror, amazed at how lovely the dress she was wearing was. The blue was as deep a sapphire as her eyes, with pristine white lace at the collar and cuffs. And the design that was sewn into the bodice was one of flowing eddies and waves, all done in silver. "You can't mean for me to wear this." She turned to look at Trinna as she slipped back into the room.

"Why not? You look absolutely stunning in it. If it weren't for the fact that my nephew would raise all kinds of a fuss. I would forget the mating ceremony all together and take you to my bed. Trust me dear, in that dress, you look good enough to eat." She laughed as Miri blushed. "Oh dear, have I touched on something else that is just not done in your lands?"

She shook her head. "No, I know many of the women who serve my father faithfully as his guards and soldiers, that keep a girl at home. But I have never been propositioned by one of them."

"Well, with as sweet as you look, Tal is going to have his hands full, there are many of our guardswomen who have no taste for men, at all. But you would do more than just stir a little interest in them. They, if your man let them, would follow you around, tongues hanging out. For that matter, if it wasn't that you are now my niece by marriage, and taking two consorts myself. Would be as bad as the guards in trailing behind you. I am going to have to borrow that brother of yours, just once. Because, I, would love to have a child with your color hair. Now I have to wonder, which would be the dominant gene, my families red hair, or his black. Looks like we are going to find out in a few cycles. And if it breeds, true. Then I want one of my own." She headed for the bathing room. "I feel dirty, I had to go with Kari and tend to that thing that did my adopted niece so wrong. And I will not go to my men, with her stench on me.

* * *

Steffon held onto Jerrick's arm as Donnel went to do something about his facial hair. "I'm sorry Jerrick, if I could stop it from hurting, I would. But even though my mother is Mother Kaylin, I can't heal, this is the best I can do. So while you are at the Temple, and he is being marked. Ask your mistress to attend to the other hair on his body."

"She did last night. I probably should have asked her to see to it that I didn't have to shave him anymore, like she did me. But we were a bit busy, and then Thalin's lady needed her, and after that, it slipped my mind."

"He isn't burning me, is he Master?" Steffon got out between gritted teeth.

"No, baby, it just feels like he is. There will be no scarring or burns. And afterwards, if you need it, I'll work a little of the blue oil into your face. "I know how much you hate that one, but this time, I think I am going to insist. I've been told that they block the pain for a reason." He supported his Lover. "Is it that bad baby?" He was worried about this one. Had already put him where no one could hurt him. Not even Caytin if he needed punishment, he would stand for him, and take it. Being blind was punishment enough in his mind, for any man.

"It feels like he is burning my face." He wouldn't cry. No matter how much it hurt. He wouldn't cry.

"Go get the oil Jerrick, I am done with him." Donnel backed away, a look of sympathy on his face. "I'm sorry Steff, I would do anything I could to prevent the pain I just caused you. But there was nothing I could do, nor was there anything your master could protect you from. It had to be done."

"Good Goddess, Jerrick, you spoil that boy more than I spoil you." Caytin laughed, as he stood in the door, Fain and Rook, in their wedding finery. "So, what do you all think? Do I still have it or do I still have it?"

Both the men and the bedwarmers, who had any skill with a needle had been working non-stop since it was decided that their mating ceremony would take place at the same time as Tallin's and Miri's. And well it sort of snow balled down hill from that to include Jerrick, Steffon and Thalin.

Fain was not dressed in what was the norm for the house. But in a blouse like shirt, with an embroidered vest in bright emerald greens. Caytin had decided it matched his eyes. And with his red hair, un-braided and flowing down his back in loose curling waves. Green shading dusted his eyes, and just a touch of blush and a light tent to his lips. He was without a doubt beautiful.

Rook stood at his side. His clothes almost matched Fain's. His tunic was the same deep sapphire blue of his eyes, but the vest was black, with, silver- embroidery. His black hair gleamed in the light as it hung straight down his back. A, slightly, darker dusting of blue on his eyes. But still, just, a touch of blush. But his lips were tined a deeper red. He was truly stunning. "Jerrick. Tam is in there, and you and Steffon have mating garb and paint to have dealt with."

Jerrick smiled, moving to reach for Caytin. "Thank you, baby." He hugged his Lover close, kissing him.

"Steffon's were my gift to you. But yours were my pleasure."

"I'm sorry, Master, I retract my refusal, anytime, and anywhere. I don't care who is in the room."

"And I wasn't going to punish you love. I knew my gift to you of Steffon's mating garb would end all questions in your soul." He kissed him one more time before pushing him back. "But we can, you and I discuss this later, you and your Lover there need to hurry up and get dressed.

Tam greeted them with a hug. "Come over here, and see what Cay has for you both. Jerrick, he out did himself with yours. I've been told it is even finer than his was. And you know what kind of a dress horse he is.

Jerrick looked down at his clothes in awe. The, tunic wasn't the right work, but it was as close as it could come. To what he was looking at. It was designed so much like his dress uniform, he wondered just how much the Danes knew of the Merican's. It was gold with, red, tassels from the shoulders, and a red vest embroidered in gold. The, pants were, gold, with red piping down the sides. And the boots were red with gold designs sewn into them. "My God." He whispered. "Baby, I would give a lot for you to see this." He turned and pulled Steffon close. "It's almost as beautiful as you and our mistress are."

"I have lived with the knowledge that I would die as blind as I lived. But now, our mistress assures me that even though she can't help me, that the High Priestess of her Temple can. I will see you in it one day. Promise me, when I can finally see again. Promise me you will let me see you in it."

Jerrick laughed softly, kissing him. "Have another excuse to put it on trust me, baby, that's a promise."

"And what does mine look like? I can wait to see yours before I know what it looks like, but I'm wearing this today."

Jerrick looked down at it and laughed.

"What, does it look funny?" He was worried.

"No, baby. The color of it just struck me as amusing. It's white, from the bright white of the poet's shirt with loose baggy long sleeves. To the vest and embroidery the pants and even the boots, are all the brightest of white, the tie in your shirt, the piping and embroidery and where the designs were sewn into your boots is a very shiny white. The rest is just normal. You are going to look like an Angel in it, Lover." He cupped his chin kissing him. "And with the auburn hair and blue eyes you have, a very pretty Angel."

"Well if you both could hold off on the love fest you are having. I have work to do. Kindly get dressed. Jerrick, you worry about your outfit. I'll take care of Steff. Please assure him that I'm not going to hurt him." Ever since his mistress had taken time to notice him. His place here was a little more assured.

"It's okay Steff. Tam is about as likely to hurt you as I am. And you know the odds on that."

"But, I, I'll have to strip infront of him." Steffon was blushing.

Tam snorted. "I am a fifteen cycle old bedwarmer. It is not like I don't know what a man looks like, have been fey since my Master welcomed me into this house. I'm not going to giggle or get upset." Then he looked over at Jerrick who was stripping. "Unless of course, you are built like your master is."

That was all it took. Steffon finally relaxed. "No, I don't think I am a small man, but I'm no where near what my master is."

Tam chuckled as he pulled Steffon's pants from him and a very hard cock almost hit him in the face. "Jerrick, with your permission, would be a shame to stain his new clothing, so soon."

Jerrick looked up from putting his pants on and burst out laughing. "Hold on a sec, Tam." He came up behind Steffon, holding him tight against him. "Don't be afraid, baby. But Tam is right, you'll be dribbling all over the place for the rest of the night." He looked down at Tam. "If you are willing to help, I would be grateful."

Tam stood and moved to the table by the bed and took the bottle of oil that was there. It was blue, and even though Jerrick knew that Steffon wasn't overly fond on it, it would help him to calm down. Besides, he wanted to see what Tam had in mind.

Tam returned to kneeling before Steffon, reaching to tongue bathe his balls, pulling one and then the other into his mouth, sucking on them gently. His tongue slipped to that space between Steffon's rectal opening and his balls, running his tongue back and forth.

Steffon leaned back against Jerrick, mouth open to his, tongue dancing a mad and erotic dance with his as the feel of a tongue moving up to ream him, made him cry out in shock and pleasure. "Jerrick, oh what?" He cried softly as the mouth and tongue moved back up to his balls.

Tam was moving very slowly while he teased Steffon, to pour oil in his hand, coating his hand and fingers. If the man was used to having Jerrick as a Lover, with as huge as Jerrick was. He would have to use more than just one or two fingers with him. Knowing the oil like he did, he could work his whole fist into him without there being anything but pleasure.

"You know what baby, Tam is taking care of you for me, I would hate you to end up looking like a fallen Angel before I get you and Trin back home and in a bed."

He ran his tongue up the length of Steffon's cock, thinking to himself that the man had been right, he was not small. Even if he wasn't the monster that Jerrick was he was much larger than some of those that he had shared time with. For that matter, he was larger than he was.

He held the hardness in one hand, licking the head, as the other began to tease his puckered hole. Listening to the half pleasured, half-confused moans from Steffon and he began to work him deep in his mouth. Thrusting first one and then two fingers deep, working them around, so that as he pulled back to catch a breath he was able to slip a third and then a fourth finger in.

Steffon was caught between wanting to push forward into the warm mouth, and thrusting back to feel the fingers as they filled him. "Master," he lifted his arms up to wrap them around Jerrick's neck. "Can I cum?" He had been taught last night that he would have to beg first, to be allowed.

"Not yet. But soon baby." Jerrick was impressed. For someone who was so young, Tam was quite a surprise.

Tam finally worked his thumb in, pressing his hand farther up so that he could make a fist. And as he took Steffon fully down his throat, he thrust hard.

"Steffon all but screamed. "I'm sorry," He couldn't stop himself as his orgasm exploded out of him. Shooting through every nerve in his body before it burst out his cock. It just kept up, one blinding flash of heat after another. Until Steffon began to believe it would never end, and as he had another ripped from him, he started to pray that it wouldn't.

Jerrick had to hold him up as he hung there lost as he was in orgasm. "It's okay baby, nothing to forgive." He whispered kissing his shoulder.

Steffon, whimpered, at the feel of a firm hand on his balls squeezing lightly to see him fully drained.

Tam pulled back, catching the little of Steffon's seed that had escaped from the corner of his mouth, with his tongue. "There, that should see him at least long enough to be cuffed and marked. After that, I make no promises of what his pretty outfit will look like."

"Damn son, I'm impressed. Where did someone your age, learn to be so fucking talented?"

"Cay taught me much of what I know, the others, well they have furthered my education. Ever since my mistress chose to honor me while she was here watching that thing pay for what he had done. But knowing what he was used to with you. I had to improvise just a bit."

"Thank you." He helped a stunned and silent Steffon to sit by his own clothes. "If you don't mind, after helping me as much as you have so far, I have to finish getting dressed, do you think Steff could get dressed now, without a repeat of what he just had?"

"Jerrick, if he could rise again, after what I just did to him. I would have to say he was not human. Go on and finish getting all dolled up. I'll see to him. Then I have to do both your painting and color dusting. I must say, Cay picked out just the colors for both of you. You think Steff is going to look like an Angel in the outfit he has, just wait until I finish with his paints. Lucky are you indeed that the material your pants are made of is of a much thicker material than Steff's is."

Jerrick only laughed as he finished donning his tunic. Buttoning the collar and slipping into the vest. Lacing it up the front. It was a perfect fit. His amazement of his Lover grew every time he turned around. "What do you think I should do about my hair Tam. It's longer than it was when I got here, but it's still nothing like any ones but maybe King Thalin's."

"It's clean, it's wavy, and it is a lovely shade of rust. I'll just brush it and sprinkle a little gold dust in it, and you will look truly edible." He was working on Steffon's vest. The only one that was had no shoulder straps, but just encircled his waist, coming to a point about mid chest. "Now, Steff, you do know right from left?"

"I'm blind, not witless." He smiled at Tam. "Yes, why?"

"This is your right boot." He handed him one. And this is your Left one. I've already been on my knees for you once already, and I don't think I need to do so again. At least not to put your boots on." He chuckled as Steffon blushed. "Don't forget to tuck the pants into the boots."

Jerrick sat where Tam indicated that he should. "This is going to be a new experience for me. Men don't wear make-up in Merican. Oh Mer had made Fain wear it a time or two when he was punishing the boy. But never like what he looks like now. That boy is almost pretty enough to make me wish I had taken him as my Lover." He reached out and squeezed Steffon's fingers as the younger man looked up in his direction. "Almost, baby, but not quite. Fain happens to come with too much extra baggage for me to deal with. And as pretty as he is, you have him beat hands down."

"I never considered myself fey before you, but I must be, how else could I love a man as much as I love you Master?"

"You're not fey, baby. Caytin took me as his lover, and I had never thought of loving a man before. Had nothing against it, but just never thought it was for me. And then I up and took you as mine. But love you both as much as I do. I would die for my mistress. She is my wife and carries my child. I know that that isn't proper for the way they look at things here, but that is how I see it, and it would take my Master hours of cutting my back from me for me to change the way I think. I know she is my mistress, and lady. But she is still my wife."

"Okay, hush and look over at me. It's going to be hard to do your paints and dustings, as Cay wants them if you keep looking at your boy there. Chill Jerrick, he isn't going anywhere."

By the time he was finished with Jerrick he smiled at his work. "Care to take a look?"

"Yes, if I'm going to be painted like some whore, I want to see the damage." He smiled, taking the sting out of the words.

He had to admit he looked good. A little heavy on the gold dust that covered his eyelids, and a fine black line under his eyes, drawing attention to them. A lighter dusting on his cheekbones, and a clear, colorless shine to his lips. But it was the gold that highlighted his freshly brushed hair that made the effect complete. "Good God, I look like a golden statue."

"And that is precisely what he was looking for. Now, if you would move please, I have to see if, I can do Steff as well as I have done everyone else so far. I won't have to worry about master Tallin, or Gabe. They are doing each other, and have been locked in Gabe's room since they got here."

"That is going to take a little getting used to. The idea that Tal is a FreeMan, and is now called master by all men, even his father."

Steffon closed his eyes as he felt the light tickle of the brush as it left just a hint of light blue on the lids of his eyes. A light dusky rose was brushed on his cheekbones and a light silver tint to his eyes. His dark Auburn hair was brushed out so that it hung almost as long as Rook's. Tam thought about a silver dusting, but as he pulled back and looked at the young man, he decided against it. His hair was clean and gleamed well enough in the light. "There you go." He looked to Jerrick. "Does he pass your approval, sir?"

"I would kiss you boy, but then I would smear my lip paint. And my master would sulk. He is an absolute Angel.

Caytin, Fain and Rook were waiting out in the living area of the Men's Quarter's as Tam led both Jerrick and Steffon into the room. "Sorry it took so long Cay, but they like to talk so much and moon over each other. I am going to have to go to Donnel and get something to stave off sugar shock."

"I can just bet talking was the only thing they did, boy, or do you think the rest of us are deaf out here?" Caytin teased him. "No matter, I'm sure you will fill me in on what happened later. For now let me see how good my Lover looks."

"If she had waited a few more moons, I would actually have hair to work with. But the best that Tam could come up with is dusting it with gold. I like it." Jerrick smiled. "And Steff, Master, how did you know what I always thought he would look best in?"

"I didn't. He was the only one to come to this completely innocent. Even Rook, as unwilling as his had been, was no innocent. But your boy there, if he had been anymore innocent, he would be an Angel. So I went to see if I could make him look as Angelic as his innocence make him. Did I do what I had aimed to do?"

Jerrick grabbed him. "I wouldn't muss my lip tint for him, because I knew you would pout, but for you, I can always have it redone." And his mouth closed over Caytin's "This is a promise from me Master. Just as soon as I can spare time from my mistress and my Lover, I will see to it that I show you just how much what you have done for me means to me."

"If it weren't for the fact that I won't have you muss your lovely new clothes, I would suggest now. But I worked too hard to design that tunic to have if wrinkled so soon. Besides, I have to go and get ready." He kissed him again. "What I am wearing is nothing compared to what the lot of you are, but I think it will do." He pulled away to go to his room.

"Here you go Jerrick, let me fix your face. You were right, you have smeared your lip tint all over the place." Tam wiped around Jerrick's mouth before applying another coat. "There you go, good as, new."

* * *

Kaj stood with Trinna, Miri and Zerifenia. All four women dressed in the finest of silks and velvets. Lace, and embroidery was on all four gowns. Kaj's was a deep garnet color, with jewelry of gold. A lovely gown, but simple in it's beauty. Her hair that was usually kept in a bun on the top of her head hung down her back, with garnet stones braided into it.

Trinna stood there in a dress of white and gold. Caytin had warned her, what he was planning for her new mates. And she so wanted to blend in with them. The fullness of her skirt covered her slightly perturbing belly. And with no mid vest, she had, no, worries of it being too tight for her.

Miri stood there, in her borrowed gown of the most gorgeous sapphire blue she had ever seen, Trinna had even insisted she borrow some of her jewelry, piercing her ears for her, painlessly, of course. And a pair of sapphire studs now decorated her ears. A sliver and sapphire necklace lay over her exposed throat. The gown was deeply cut, and the only thing that made it modest enough for Miri was the lace that was at the collar of the deep plunging neckline. The embroidery of eddies and ocean waves didn't stop at the dress, but carried on to her slippers. Both were done in silver.

Zerifenia was self conscious in the gown that Rhea had finally been able to find for her. Eighteen and she were smaller than a fifteen-cycle old girl was. But even as young as her new sister was, the gown was not one you would find on some little farmer girl. It was silver with gold trimmings, real silver and gold. The vest was the only thing that had anything other than silver and gold to it and the designs in it were white. It was beaded no lace. It really was a much older dress than the girl should have had. And to think it was too small for her now. And it weighed a ton. Rhea had admitted that it had been one of the gowns that she had had made for a celebration dinner, where she was acknowledge as Kaj's heir. Which probably was the reason for why it looked too old for her. She had gone back to her house. Just long enough to get what had been her mother's jewels. Gold dangled from both ears, and a thick necklace with a single black opal hung at her throat, the ring that was like it, fit on her middle finger."

"The four of you look like you are about to burst." Mother Anna teased. "When I heard from Zerifenia that you all were to mate today. I invoked my right to see you all wed proper. I am the oldest still living, after all." She looked to Zerifenia. "I sought the Mother, to speak to your mother dear. Your sister was wrong. Upon her death, she was shown the truth. She knew you were innocent. And is so very proud of you. Wishes you only the best, and hopes that the Mother blesses you with many more children other than just your son."

"Thank you Mother, she does know of my love for her?"

The old priestess chuckled. "If she knew of your innocence, what great feat would it have been for her to know your love? Yes child, she know, and returns it many fold."

"Oh, my." Kaj smiled as Caytin led Fain and Rook to the Temple. *Beloved, you have out done yourself. *

*For you, Mistress, it is always a labor of love. * He knelt at her feet, Fain and Rook following.

"Jerrick." Trinna almost cried as she watched her two mates coming up behind Caytin and his two. They were unbelievable. She always knew that Jerrick would look good, no matter what he wore. But Steffon, he glowed in his brilliance.

Jerrick helped Steffon to kneel before going to his knees beside him. "Mistress." He hung his head, Steffon echoing the word and deed.

Thalin came up next, dressed in his finest dress uniform, medals gleaming, to stand beside Zerifenia. "Fenia." He bent to kiss her cheek. "You look wonderful."

"So do you." She wrapped her arms around him. "I am going to finally know what luck is, milord. I carry your son."

"You're going to be good for this old man, girl."

Miri gasped as she watched her Soul-Match and consort lead her second consort up the stairs. Never had she ever seen anything that looked anything like them. Even as incredible as the others had been. Her two were unbelievable.

Tallin was dressed in a poet's shirt much like his father and Steffon's. But his was the lightest of blue, as almost to be white. He wore no vest, but a tie belt that was a slightly darker blue, with sapphires hanging from it, and spiraling designs on it in the same color as his shirt. The shirt was open to his waist, and he had had bars of sapphire pierced into his nipples. His pants were so dark blue that they rivaled black, and his boots had no design, but were powder blue herd beast hide. His gold blonde hair hung loosely down his back. No adornment in it either. He was not his father, and clothes had never moved him quite the way they had his father. But his carriage and step made the look.

Gabe was dressed in a simple silk version of his normal clothing, only change was the leash that was hooked to his collar. The handle was in Tallin's hand. He had insisted on it. There would probably be very few times once they left here that he could be Tallin's slave, fully. So for this one time, he wanted it to be known to the world."

"So, I see we have all gathered. Who would like to go first?"

"Let me be first." Miri stepped forward. "The sooner I can make him my husband, the sooner I can get his collar off him. He is my Soul-Match. And by your laws, free."

Mother Anna just nodded, smiling. "Who has brought this man here to be taken by his lady?"

Kaj and Caytin looked at each other a slightly sad smile on their faces. "We have Mother."

"He will be leaving our lands. If it were just that he was moving far away, it would be one thing, but he is going to be with his lady in her land. You must cast him out."

"Tallin, my son." Kaj picked her words very carefully. "I cast you out, you have no place here anymore. But know this. You are my son, and you will always find welcome and love in my home." And she turned her back on her son.

Caytin followed her lead. But pulling out a small mirror and handing it to her. "We might not be able to look upon him now, but that does not mean we can't watch our son give himself to his lady."

Mother Anna nodded. "And as your people are different from ours Miri, who gives you to this union?"

Thalin stepped forward. "I do, Mother, she is pregnant with his child, he had best be planning to wed my girl."

Tallin looked at him as the old priestess laughed. "She is my soul Father, I couldn't live without her." He then looked at her. "I love you. I will always love you. You are my life. I will always support you and any child you bless me with." He took a single gold cuff and slipped it on her left wrist, squeezing it so it closed, so that it wouldn't fall off.

Miri looked at him. This really wasn't like any wedding she had ever seen. "I said yes last night, because, with saying yes, I knew that nothing your mother's people did for us would ever be called upon as a favor, and we would never owe her anything. But upon our souls becoming one, I discovered something I didn't think I could still do. I found that I knew and could feel love again. And like you, I will protect you, in anyway I can, and if you like children as much as I do, then I will gladly give you scores." She took the other cuff and put it on his left wrist, trying to tighten it, but she just wasn't strong enough.

"Here, beloved, let me." His hands covered hers and helped her to close it. He then went to his knees, and pressed his mouth against her belly. "Hello my daughter. You have no idea how much your papa loves you. But you will soon enough." He stood again hugging her. "I promise you love. No child you ever give me will ever doubt my love for them." He held her head in his hands as he kissed her again.

Caytin moved up, waiting patiently for the two to notice him.

Tallin pulled back. "Cay?"

Caytin calmly took the lock for Tallin's collar, and removed it. Taking a medium thin gold chain and locking it around his throat. Then he, followed by every man in the area, Knelt. "Master." His was the first voice, but the word echoed out through the area.

Tallin grabbed his arm, blushing. "Cay," then even softer. "Papa, please. Don't you think I would like to do nothing more than what you did when you matched souls with my mother? But I can't. I know that. Her people would never allow me to become part of them if I was her slave. Gabe doesn't count. He is my Lover, a slave, and he will be looked at like Miri trying to give me something of my old life, in her taking him as her second consort. He is sterile, so there will never be any doubt who is the father of any child she gives me. I wouldn't care if Gabe weren't a bedwarmer. I would raise his children right along side my own, and never treat any of them different. So please, Cay, don't kneel to me, and please do, not, ever call me master. I can accept it from Gabe. He's my Lover. But not from you, not from my father." He pulled the older man up, going into his arms, forgetting how upset his lady would get at seeing this. He kissed him. "I love you. You are my father, first and foremost. You are my father."

After that, the other mating's, went, smoothly. There was a moment, when Rook became tongue-tied. There, was, a moment's amusement, but other than that, the rest, even Thalin and Zerifenia, went off smoothly.

It took Thalin and Miri a few moments to come up the mark that they thought would be appropriate. Thalin was even touchier about this than Miri was. It was going to be on his hide it was tattooed. They finally decided on the Merican emblem. He was the King after all, and Tallin being the heir's husband was his son in-law.

'Are you sure you want to do this Thalin?" Zerifenia fussed at him. "It is I who is going to serve my ten cycles with you. Longer if possible, but you don't have to do this."

"Yes I do, my lovely little witch. You have given me back more than I could ever tell you. The boy in your womb is not the only thing. Thanks to you and your people, I can see my wife healed. That those of my age are not seen as old, only mature. The Catimine's, I know Kaj says that that is her pleasure. But it will help my people in so many ways. The women who are being sent, they are the hope for tomorrow that just a moon ago, We didn't have. I can't be your slave, but in everything else, I will do my best to be your consort, for as long as you wish to be my lady."

"Well, if that isn't a declaration of love, I don't know what is girl. Hush and let your man do what he can for you." Kaj laughed. "Don't worry Zerifenia, the tattoo, the pain is blocked, Mother Anna might not be able to do it, but there are novice Healers here, close enough to the end of their vow, that the sight of a man's backside will not embarrass them. As long as Thalin doesn't try to do full frontal nudity on them, they should be fine."

Thalin looked at her shocked. "I am going to have trouble enough baring my backside to everyone Kaj, I am not going to run around in the raw and scare little girls."

Zerifenia laughed at him. "You won't be out in the open, Goddess what were you thinking? You will go to a small room, where only I and the Healer who is tattooing you will be." She shook her head. "You thought it would be public, and still you were willing to do this, for me?"

"You have accepted me, as I am. Old, and already married. How else could I hope to make you understand how grateful to you I am?"

"So, Chieftess, is this the man that has the special tattoo?" Jaffrey stood there smiling.

"Good God, she's just a kid." Thalin was beginning to rethink his idea.

"I am also just a few moons from completing my vow, sir. I healed the Chieftesses consort when he was still just a pleasure slave, and he was much more exposed than you will be." She sat down and picked up the ink needles. "It is done on the left upper, outer thigh here, do you wish is elsewhere?"

"No," he muttered as he turned around and began to loosen his pants. He had given Zerifenia his promise, and as embarrassing as this was, he would live up to it.

Steffon touched where Trinna had just tattooed him. "What does it look like Mistress?"

"It is the standard shield and sword that comes from Kaj's house. But it has my name on it, and the title of Healing Priestess with it. So that all who see it, will know that not only do you belong at Kaj's house, but your mistress is the Healing Priestess Trinna."

"It could be worse, you know." Fain stood there, smiling. You could get the standard tat and, a, list a mile long of who your mistress is and who her mother was and so on and so on. It's a big tat. Went from the side of my ass down to my knee, and it is all, the, and so on's.

"Oh I could do that too, but since I'm not the chieftess, I don't have too." She patted Steffon's leg. "We're done here honey, why don't you finish getting dressed. I have such plans for the two of you tonight."

* * *

Thalin caught Kaj and Caytin as they were heading off to celebrate their new wedded state with Fain and Rook. "One moment Kaj, if you would."

"That girl must not be doing something right, if you can slip away from her so easily." Kaj joked. "What is it Thalin, or should I start calling you, Father as your son is my mate and consort?"

"Thalin will be just fine Kaj, start calling me father, and I'll start calling your Daughter. But what I stopped you for was this. Taking the women home, is going to present something of a problem for my people. I have so many women, who have lost their husbands, and boyfriends to either the war, or my own stupidity. And having women come in as slaves, even if it is only for the time of their sentence, is going to make my women begin to wonder, and when a woman wonders in my land, they begin to fear. Slavery is going, to, be practiced full time for the first time in over twelve cycles, we have too. But unlike the last, I want to know what is expected, of a slave, and of a master."

Kaj looked at him for a moment. "Don't we still have that old paper of the laws of mistress and slave, Cay?"

"Yes Mistress, and more than one copy. I pull it out every now and then to refer back to something if I am unclear in a situation."

"Well, before he leaves tomorrow, make sure he gets a copy. They really aren't hard rules to live by Thalin. Our people have been living by them and adapting them as we grew since we first come to this world."

"You go on in Mistress, while I am thinking about it, I will see it done. I am not at all sure I will be in any kind of mindset to think about it tomorrow. My Son is leaving. If it were not for the fact that his lady needs him tonight, I would beg off to spend one last night with him. First Remmy, and now Tallin, I have lost all my son's."

"No you haven't. You have sons all over the place. And you have the one that is growing in my belly now. Tallin is not gone forever. You will see him. Soon if Miri's father knows what is good for him. I meant what I said. He is my son, and I had to cast him out so he could leave, but he will always find love and welcome in my home."

"I have been told that Miri will deliver here, and Reba needs to see one of the Healers. Nine moons, maybe ten, you have my word on it."

* * *

It only took Caytin a moment to locate the small stack of papers, pulling one copy from many. "Here you go, Thalin. Most will stand for she as well as he. On the few that do not work out, my son will be there and he and his lady will help you to adapt them. Just remember this. We will crush the Catimine's for perverting the sacred pact between mistress and slave. We will not hesitate to do the same to you, if you pervert them as they have."

"Before the war, we didn't have quite the system that you do, and there were some problems with abuses, but nothing to the extent that the lightest perversion the Catimine's consider normal."

"Then take them, and, later after you have put Zerifenia to sleep, start reading them. I am head consort of all the slaves, male or female in the Danes. You will, for a time, have to stand as such until our son is old enough to rule. By the time my son's daughter is, it should be standard practice for you as well."

"It will be what ever man that weds her that will be King, Caytin."

"No, my son is giving up most of all that he has grown to know as truth to wed your daughter. Male or Female, the first child born will rule. After her, if she has a son, then he will rule, and his sister will bear the next ruler. But that is how it is going to be. I will not allow you to make my granddaughter into nothing more than a pawn for power."

"That is going to take a little work to get past my council." Thalin warned.

"They will accept it, or Tallin will bring his lady and daughter here, and refuse to return unless they accept it."

Thalin nodded. "You've give me a lot to think about Caytin. Least of all, how I will handle the slavery issue."

"Welcome to the wonderful world of ruling without having a war at your back. Consider them gone. My Mistresses Soldiers and Warriors are already prepared to march. All it will take is an order, and my mistress will give it tomorrow so that they can march with you, protecting all that you have with you."

Bound And Chained

MORE BDSM STORIES @ SEX STORIES POST