235
We walked to the opening of the cave and found there was a sizable width before the drop off. It would be a near impossible feat to climb safely down, though. The men inspected the length of the shelf, counting their steps. It was perhaps a fifteen hundred steps each way. They found a pile of large rocks at one end.
I remembered my time in Nu-reeh’s care and knew what the rocks were for. Christof had done a similar chore when he was first brought to the mountains.
“They aren’t for Ciara, I’m sure,” Evan said. “I am quite certain we will have a chore every day, Brothers.”
Moving the rocks was boring, repetitive work. The men hated the sorting room, this would be so much worse. At least with the sorting room there was a point to the moving of the ore.
The sun was low but there was still some daylight left. The men took that as a sign they should start.
The rocks were obviously not intended for me. I just paced with the men and attempted to entertain them. I sang and told stories, anything to make the work more bearable.
I tried to enjoy the beautiful mountains, but that only went so far. The wind was cold and the men felt the chill even through their jackets. It got worse as the sun dipped lower in the sky. The mountains were not a place they enjoyed.
I wasn’t silent until the huge shadow passed overhead. Nu-reeh dropped in front of us and we all stared at her. She dropped a small, wrapped container on the ground and glared at us.
“Do you know why you are here?” she asked.
“We disobeyed, Mistress,” we said as a group.
She explained to us our faults in detail. The men had used the plug when she had told them not to. I had gotten in a fight and then allowed myself to be injured. We had all refused healing when it was initially offered.
“You had no right to make any of those choices,” she explained cooly. “You are mine. The breeder is mine. I want the vessel protected even at the expense of a life of one of my own. She will make many more for me, as long as she is healthy. You did not pay enough attention to her safety. In addition, never refuse the Healers and treat her as I wish, do you understand me?”
“Yes, Mistress.”Property © NôvelDrama.Org.
“This is for the slave only,” she said pointing to the small lump on the ground.
With that said she was gone.
I was shocked and appalled. If I was injured she would sacrifice the child to keep me healthy. I would just make another one. It was a numbers game for her and it was truly sickening.
“Enough with this thought,” Christof scolded pushing me toward our cave, he felt the despondence creeping into me.
Night was falling fast. We didn’t want to be standing on a mountain ledge in the dark. Evan stooped and picked up the small package Nu-reeh had dropped. It smelled familiar.
The curse words were in my head. She was feeding me and only me. The men could tolerate that, it would just be uncomfortable. Nu-reeh had doubled the punishment by feeding me meat soaked in tami. The smell would make the men crazy and she knew it.
“We’ll split it,” I offered hopefully.
I’d feel awful being the only one to eat.
That idea was met with fury. Nu-reeh would just devise worse punishment if they did something like that. I’d eat and they would suffer. That is how it had to be for now.
None of us voiced it, but we all hoped, one day we would be free to make our own choices.
The men did not mind going hungry, they’d done it before. In the past they’d not been subjected to smelling tami all night, though. We settled just outside the cave and Evan opened Nu-reeh’s package. I would eat out here, so the whole cave wouldn’t smell.
Leaning against the wall Bane thought of whole new realms of curse words to describe Nu-reeh. The meat appeared to have been cooked just the way they liked it. She was being particularly malicious in this punishment.
I tried to eat quickly, but Damien scolded me. If I didn’t chew I was likely to get a stomachache, that was common knowledge. I slowed down, but ate as quickly as I could.
“Strange,” Evan said looking out over the mountains, “Ciara does not taste the tami the same way we do.”
As I ate dinner the men discussed my human differences. They suppressed their hunger by distracting themselves. We sat outside until I’d finished and left the fragrant container many steps from the cave’s entrance.
“A bit of this, too,” Kein said pulling a package out of the pouch at Christof’s back.
As we walked into our cave Kein handed me a bit of the dried root that treated vomiting. Christof had thought to bring it in case we couldn’t get it in the mountains quickly. Lucky for us, he’d tucked it into the pouch at his waist. There was enough in there to last several days.
After we all took a drink from the back of the cave, we sat and talked a while more. The stars were coming out, so we sat and watched them until Damien declared bed time. Evan took the first shift on watch and sent the rest of us to sleep.
Stretched out on the stone floor I had to laugh to myself. I’d never slept on the floor on Earth, but it was almost becoming a habit here. I almost missed the uncomfortable chair on Mom’s front porch.
The men were not at all bothered by our circumstances. They trained in much rougher conditions than this. Being in a cave, sheltered from the elements, would have been a luxury during their younger years.
“Still,” Bane warned laying on one side of me as Damien laid on the other, “the mountains are a dangerous place. We will not sleep deeply here, Ciara. You must not either. Be prepared, little Sister, you must be ready,” he warned.
Damien found Bane’s concern unnecessary.
“We will protect her, Brother. Let her sleep if she can,” he encouraged patting my hand.
Damien had no doubt of their ability to defend me. Neither did Bane and he was frustrated by Damien’s refusal to understand. He propped on his elbow and looked at his lead Brother sternly.
“She is part of the family,” he said with emphasis. “This is how the family handles this situation.”
Damien’s personal thoughts on the matter were fluid. If Bane wanted me to integrate into this part of their life, he had no qualms with it. Damien shrugged and Bane lay back down relaxed. We were a family and this is how the family slept when we were in possible danger, with one eye open, so to speak.
It was the middle of the night when I was startled fully awake. I’d been sleeping lightly, following the pull of the Brothers. Now Christof was rising to take his turn at watch. He looked over at me and motioned me back down. I should rest, this was just his turn.
My eyes were wide open, though. I rose and stretched.
“I’ll just sit with you for a moment,” I smiled quietly. “For some reason I’m too restless to sleep.”
The men relented. I was awake and not at all sleepy. It shouldn’t harm me to sit up for a moment. I felt the other four fade into light slumber as Christof and I walked toward the cave opening.
I’d experienced them take watch in the dreams. It was always the same. They took in the surrounding area and then settled on a place where they could monitor their Brothers’ safety most effectively.
Christof and I communicated silently. He remembered nights they’d actually been attacked by things in the night. There were things to look for, telltale noises that would indicate something creeping up on us. It wasn’t hard to do if you had experience and Damien’s family had lots of experience.
We sat and enjoyed each other’s company until his turn ended. Kein met us as we walked back to the thin sleeping pallets. He bid us a good rest and patted his Brother on the shoulder. The closeness reassured all of us. At the very least we were left together for this.
Nu-reeh fed us in the morning, all of us. The men moved stones and I tagged along for the rest of the day. She fed me twice more, but not them. The men ate once a day.