The late October heat had given way to the cold heralding of mid-November, the first snows already kissed the mountains and threatened to come lower each day. The keep was quiet. Hunger makes humans quiet, quiet and focused. Three nights running there had been slave escapes, but the terrain was tricky, the forest thick and the dogs keen for a chase. Lyeo sat as always in His chair on the battlements. His was the only vantage point distant enough from the holding pens to eliminate most noise and the worst of odors. The gatehouse was the only out building He could not see without turning. At night the sentries would tiptoe past below His perch on their way to change guard for fear of His attention. He looked shorter sitting, less imposing, but still the eyes glinted with danger. Sometimes He would sit here all night sleeping fitfully. Thoughts ran deep in Him, memories, learning and the future all run together into a web of abstract probabilities. Nothing surprised Him anymore, no action, no feeling and no occurrence. It was as if the world and time ran down a path He had traveled before.
"Lord."
The voice at His side was pleading.
"Lord, you must eat and sleep properly. Three days you have sat there staring down the devil."
Lyeo laughed, starting just as a chuckle then building till the air seemed to shake with it.
"Sometimes Octavius the devil is the only one who will stare back."
'Lord, Gatherer, you must eat."
Wolf raised a hand and gestured indifference. It mattered little what He did Octavius would bring food whether He said yes or no. Sometimes the servant is the lord.
The silver dish that was offered was piled with rolled meat. Even to Lyeo's uninterested stomach it smelt good. Food had no excitement to Him, you ate you lived, you starved you died. One meal was as good as the next with a half full belly, a feast was a waste of future material. He took a piece and was about to swallow when a small light hand grasped His wrist. For a second He began to rise then looked and realized it was the girl. Octavius's hand was reaching for his knife but Lyeo shook His head.
"What do you want slave?"
The girls eyes never left the floor, but her other hand reached forward to take the meat from His grasp. Instantly she swallowed it. For what seemed eternity there was silence. Lyeo waiting, Octavius twitching over his lack of attention, the girl still as a corpse, as if counting away her life.
"Lord Gatherer, the food is safe."
The girl slowly backed away, eyes still rooted to the floor till she reached the parapet wall, then knelt and waited.
Hours later Lyeo awoke with a start. The night was dark, the torches at the corners of the tower barely broke the blackness. He tried to recall when He had fallen asleep but His mind was hazy. A blanket was laid over Him, covering Him from chin to toe. He recalled the meal and the girl. She still knelt as she had before, silent, still and beautiful.
He looked at her attentively, studied the graceful curve of her neck, the mane of dark hair falling around her shoulders. A door opened behind Him and Octavius appeared with a cup. He smelt the sweet wine from a distance, the richness cutting through the air like a knife. The servant stopped momentarily as if in two minds, then deciding waited. The girl rose, took the cup and carried it to the Wolf. She knelt at His side, never looking up from the floor and sipped the dark redness.
"Lord, the wine is good."
The cup was offered to Him with hands that trembled just enough for him to notice. He took it willingly and as He did their hands touched for a moment. The trembling stopped.
The wine was indeed good. He remembered when He had first tasted this vintage. It had been His habit sit at the edge of the great square of Gulle each morning and night directly opposite the great temple doors and drink a flagon or two. He looked around at where He sat now and smiled the smile of the condemned seeing a gallows tree. How far He had traveled from there to here yet is seemed He could return with the blink of an eyelid.
The girl had moved back to the corner from whence she had risen and knelt quietly waiting. He rose from the chair stretched long and hard feeling His bones and sinews stretch and creak. As if absentmindedly He picked up the blanket took the few steps necessary and placed it round the girls shoulders. Behind Him Octavius watched wonderingly and suddenly felt a surge of joy. Lyeo looked alive, more alive than he had seen in many a year.
The morning saw prisoner punishment. Set up in the center of the yard in front of the keep was an upright wagon wheel. The wheel was at an angle of 10 degrees off perpendicular and held firmly in place by support beams running to the ground. The wheel was used to tether anyone caught breaking camp rules or guilty of the displeasure of the Gatherer or His aides. Today four prisoners stood to the side of the menacing apparatus, three men and a woman. As was the usual practice the least offenders went first. The first man was tightly lashed to the wheel and given ten strokes of the whip, his offense spitting in sight of a guard. The second man received twenty lashes, his offense fighting over a bread ration. The third man received thirty lashes, his offense insolence and refusal to obey instructions.
Finally it came to the woman's turn. Strangely the crowd of onlookers seemed to expand at this moment. She was lashed facing the wheel and her ragged clothes cut from her body exposing her back and buttocks to the onlookers. She had been found guilty of selling herself to the guards for extra food, but was more likely guilty of not going willingly with the guards. Lyeo watched interestedly as the lashing began. The sentence was for thirty five lashes but the man with the whip was obviously taking his time over the punishment. The whip arm was slow, metronomic, blows starting at the thigh and rising along and up the buttocks till the back as reached. Lyeo by chance glanced at the girl, still kneeling quietly, but now her face was flushed and her breathe faster. Eyes now glued He noticed the beads of perspiration forming on her forehead and neck, the slightly drawn back lips and the eyes dreamy and glazed. Her abdomen was rippling and her knees parted. The thin dress showed clearly her hard fully erect nipples and a dark stain was forming on the floor beneath her sex. Swallowing hard He noticed His manhood was hard and twitching with desire.
The guard had reached thirty strokes and was sweating like a pig. His arm was beginning to tire but with gritted teeth he laid the last five lashes on hard. The woman's back and buttocks had striped quite beautifully. The guard took a pail of icy water and emptied it over the woman who was now sobbing through gritted teeth. He began to untie the ropes holding her prone body.
"Stop."
Lyeo voice rang out and silenced what seemed the world.
"Leave her there for a while."
The guards saluted smartly and did as He commanded leaving her moaning as they ushered the onlookers and prisoners away. Lyeo looked back to the girl who was now staring wide eyed at the woman's body. He recognized hunger in her eyes and smiled. Rising from His chair He crossed to where the girl knelt. Her body was filmed in perspiration and the smell of her sex delighted His nostrils. Silently His hand reached down and took the hair at the nape of her neck firmly. She gasped but remained motionless. He drew her head close to His left thigh and saw her nostrils flare at the nearness of His scent. Pressing her face to His hardness He felt her tremble and saw the flush of desire fill her face and upper body. Slowly He raised her to her feet and still holding her black mane tight led her into His chamber. The room was dark and musty, He had not used this space for many weeks but now He felt invigorated.
He led her to the center of the space and slowly circled her still body. True she was young, twenty at the most, but her breasts where ripe and her abdomen nicely swelled, her ass cheeks rounded like plump fruits ready for plucking. He reached up and undid the bows at her shoulders and the shift she had been wearing dropped to the floor. Her face neck and arms were colored from the sun but the rest of her skin shone alabaster white even in this half-light. Her nipples where hard, the surrounding circle flushed with color, her pubic area shaved and He admired the shape of the lips that parted slightly because of the glistening liquid secreted there. He reached down and ran His finger through the valley of her sex and was rewarded with a copious flow of juices. Her scent reached His nostrils and He inhaled the pungent delicious odor.
