Caliope awoke very slowly and to a terrible aching sensation. Her whole body felt stiff and heavy and when she shifted to rise she felt a wince inducing pain between her thighs. She struggled to a sitting position, her vision still bleary with sleep. She groped for bed side table fruitlessly and was about to call for a servant when her hand encountered fur and she realized she was sleeping on a pile of skins and pillows instead of her linen bed. Caliope managed to blink herself into surprised wakefulness and her memory returned in a rush as she checked her surroundings. The stone walls and floor, the skins, and finally a telling stain beneath her served as efficient reminders of where she was and what had happened to her.
The creature, Thelios he had called himself, was gone. She poked at the dried reddish patch on one of the skins and blushed. That would explain the soreness. She groaned herself onto her feet and made her way to a washing bowl she spotted on a small table in the corner. She dampened a cloth and carefully surveying the damage. Her thighs were streaked lightly with diluted blood and the folds of her sex were sore to the touch...or rather, more so. She ached badly enough that she found herself walking rather slowly as she moved to collect her things.
Her clothes were still in a pile on the floor, and therefore still damp, and not particularly wearable. She picked up one of the unmarked skins and held it in front of her as she tried the door that she assumed led to the hall. It was unlocked and she poked out her head, spotting the servant Demitri walking away from her down the hall.
"Demitri" she hissed after him. He stopped and turned, arching one dark brow at her.
"Yes?"
"I need help." He turned and walked towards her, raising both brows as he spotted her hide covered form hiding behind the door.
"I have no clothes." She explained, not quite able to cover the plaintive quality of her voice. His face twitched into a smirk.
"Got rough did he?"
"No," she said with a sigh, "my dress is wet, I can't wear it." He nodded and fingered his chin for a moment.
"Come with me."
"I can't." She pointed to the hide and he waved her off.
"Just wrap it around you. I won't look too hard." he turned and walked off down the hall. She hesitated a moment and followed with another sigh, it was that or nudity. He led her a fair ways into the tunnel before pausing at a locked room and letting her in. She entered and looked around in amazement. The room was stuffed full of all sorts of wonderful things. Tapestries, urns and vases, handsome chests likely filled with treasures, cloth, plates and bowls, gold and marble statues and ornaments. She ran her fingers over a small golden likeness of Apollo who stood looking gallant with his bow drawn back and aimed high, as if he would shoot down the sun itself. She thought of the nearly empty rooms she'd seen and wondered why more of these lovely things weren't on display.
"In that chest there," Demitri said pointing to a box in the far corner, "you'll find clothing. Something might fit you."
He threw something at her that she caught it one handed at the last moment, pressing it to her stomached to keep it from slipping. It was a key.
"Lock up when you're done."
She nodded and turned to the chest, finding it full of all sorts of clothing. Some were for men, though much of it seemed to be for women, and most of those were either very elegant or suggestively minimalist. There were only one or two pieces that seemed reasonable to work in. She took both but looked longingly at the other clothes. One of the reasonable pieces fit well and the other could be made to fit when double belted so she took both. She also gave into temptation and claimed an elegant deep blue dress made of a heavy rich fabric, telling herself it might be appropriate when entertaining his lordship, if that was indeed to be her role. This same argument applied to two of the more revealing dresses she also chose...though with slightly different connotations.
She locked up tucking the key into a fold of her new simple white dress. The stone was frigid on her bare feet and she recalled taking off her sandals in the bath room. They were still there, though the bath had been drained, and everything else tidied up.
What next? She thought looking back toward the room where she'd spent the night. She wasn't sure how she felt about the whole situation...let alone what she should do about it. Mostly she was just confused, and completely out of her element. It was not a place she enjoyed being.
Last night had been strange and unexpected, and she knew she should have felt some how used or unclean. He was, after all a monster...yet there was nothing really monstrous about him, except his size...which was apparently nominal, and his unusual coloring, which had little bearing on her circumstances. At least in so far as she was concerned. So she felt nothing. Well perhaps not nothing, she admitted hesitantly...but compared to her previous trepidation, she felt rather calm, normal even. Well...normal might be a relative term in this case. Still, she wasn't going to complain. It wouldn't do her much good if she did.
She gazed back into the drained bath and was drawn back into a remembrance of the evenings events, particularly her own aggression. She remembered his horns, how she'd caressed them. What must he think of her? Yet...they held a strange earthy appeal. Was that wrong of her to think so? She had to admit, after last night she found herself thinking of him in a distinctly new light. He had done things to her, made her feel things she did not know were possible. She sighed heavily resting her head on uplifted knees. She had much to consider.
The girls! She'd been so distracted she'd forgotten.
"Selfish girl," she chided, getting to her feet and ignoring the slight ache. They must be terrified by now. She still had the key so she could go talk to them, let them know everything was alright. She checked the hall, it was empty. She had a vague sense of where she was going, the direction and the general distance down the hall, but she wasn't entirely sure which door it was. Luckily it wasn't far and the second door she knocked on got a response when she hailed them.
"Hello?" A soft voice called from the other side. She unlocked the door and slid in, closing it carefully behind her.
"I can't stay long," she began looking around to check that they were all still there and all in more or less one piece. They were. "I came to tell you not to worry, that we won't be hurt, and certainly not killed or eaten." A few looked vaguely relieved, but most looked confused or suspicious.
"How do you know, asked the angry girl from before who'd been so certain they would die.
"I asked."
"And you believe them?"
"Yes. I think he only wants slaves."
"Who, that nasty man?"
"No the master, or...er, the giant."
"Slaves for what?" Asked another girl.
"Well, for the obvious reason..." she remembered they'd only seen him as a giant, "he can change his shape, you know. Become smaller if he wills it."
"Why young women though?" And this from the angry girl. Calliope had hoped that she'd at least figure that out on her own.
"Well," she started patiently, "he's male, we're female...don't any of your fathers have a young attractive slave around that you mother despises?" She saw the light go on in a few faces, but frowning confusion was still the norm. She sighed. "Sex, he wants sex."
The reaction was one of general horror, even the angry girl looked ashen. "I'd rather die, whispered one girl reverently.
"Really?" Calliope looked at her with open disbelief.
"Yes! Than be touched by that creature!"
"But...he's...he can be very pleasant." Now it was their turn to look incredulous.
"We thought you were dead." She turned and saw the doe eyed girl looking at her. "How did you get out?"
"I didn't. I mean I just stayed in the cave when you were taken back." Her eyes turned into plates.
"Alone! With the giant?"
