A Slave to the Servants

Once the tears dried I looked around. This area once had been bustling, there were the foundations of innumerable buildings. A crumbling wall surrounded the entire area. I wandered toward the only building with a roof. There was no door, just an opening in the wall.

I reached out and touched the pink brown stone and it crumbled a little under my fingers, this place was falling apart. I stepped into the doorway and immediately stepped back out. A skeleton lay against the far wall. It was most certainly humanoid.

For a while I just stood and hyperventilated. The rational part of my brain decided to take over at some point. I tried to remember how long it would take for me to die. The lack of water would kill me first. If I was going to last I would have to find water here.

As I walked around the rocks on the ground dug into my feet. The smooth cobblestones I was used to were cracked and broken here. I tripped and stepped hard on a broken piece and it went deep into my left foot.

I sat on a stump and examined the wound. Blood seeped slowly from the broken skin and dripped to the ground below me. The injury was deep and touching it hurt. With nothing to clean or wrap it with, I ignored it.

I had to find water, so I walked around looking. The gouge was leaving bloody tracks where ever I went. I wandered all over and didn't see anything that looked like a well or a water source. Except for my sticky little footprints this place was bone dry.

It was hot, warmer than the village I had called home. I was sweating profusely. The dust I kicked up was sticking to my damp skin and felt disgusting. Limping I moved back to the building with the skeleton. I crouched inside the doorway out of the sun and watched the bones. I wondered what she had done to get left to die out here.

I looked around the room and saw there was a small alcove off to the side. Wandering around the room I glanced into the recess, inside was a small jug that bore my owners' insignia. I hadn't been this thirsty since I was in the ocean. Glancing down I noticed several small bugs swimming in the jug. Picking up the dirty pitcher I looked closer inside and saw there was a small amount of water.

The water teased me. It was dirty, I could tell just looking at it. The container was filthy and there were little silver things swimming in it. I placed the jug carefully down and looked for something I could pour the water into. If I had a cup I could pick the bugs out.

I walked everywhere in the crumbling village, but there wasn't a cup or even another jug to be found. I did find more bugs. Swarms of the nasty silver things were everywhere. At some point I thought about the funny plants that lined the walls to the compound. They obviously had been placed purposely.

When I returned to the building I went straight to the jug. I was parched and dry, bugs or not I'd drink the water.

The jug was covered with the little silver things. The water was thick with them now. I sobbed and choked down the water, drinking a handful of bugs with it. They tasted disgusting. I wanted to scream and cry, but that wouldn't do any good. In fact, it would dehydrate me faster.

I sat in the room with the remains and watched the sun's rays move across the floor. My foot was throbbing and I tried to ignore it. There was really nothing else to do.

Just before sunset I heard the hum of a transport pad outside. I jumped up and ran out the door. My eyes locked with those of a massive blonde haired man. I ran back into the building and backed into the far wall. I couldn't stop watching as the men came toward me. Most of them were large and well armed, obviously Warriors.

Five of the men entered the building and stalked toward me. I screamed for my Masters and jumped out a window on the wall. They were on top of me before I got ten feet away. It was a pointless struggle and they laughed heartily at me as they dragged me, by my hair, back into the building.

"Who are you screaming for slave?" one of them asked me. "Your owners left you here. I'm not sure why they left their mark on you though," he patted the mark on my stomach. "Do you think you are worthy of them coming back for you?"

"Why would they come back?" another man spoke. "This thing has no sense, it looks right at us and dares the consequences. It doesn't learn. What would make such proud men take this stupid creature back?"

I continued to writhe and cry for Master Damien and his brothers. The men held me tight and fondled me everywhere. They even took the chance to fully examine my marked leg.

I heard rustling as new feet came into the room. The Warriors currently man handling me held me so I couldn't see the new participants. When a sharp pain came from my tender left foot I shrieked and started to struggle anew.

"We will beat you if you make that sound one more time," one of the Warriors warned me.

The piercing pains in my foot continued and there was nothing I could do to stop them. It took every ounce of control I had to not cry out. Master Damien and his brothers had never treated me like this. I wanted them to come back for me desperately.

I guess the new men didn't want me either. The nasty fondling stopped and they threw me into a corner of the room and left. Huddled on the dirty floor, I panted for several minutes.

When I looked at my foot I was shocked. It was wrapped tight in a clean bandage. The top of the bandage had my owner's mark on it.

Gathering myself I moved out of the corner and looked around. A small dirty water pitcher with my owner's symbol on it was just beginning to attract the bugs. Crawling across the floor I downed the contents before it attracted anymore insects. A bowl with their mark contained several worms crawling around in the slime. I was hungry and ate quickly, bugs and all, sucking down every bit of the liquid in the bowl.

Expectantly, I waited by the door and watched the moon rise into the sky. Part of me was sure my owners would come for me. They never did. Exhausted, I lay down on the floor.

The floor was hard and grimy, even worse than a lawn chair on the front porch. The temperature dropped and I curled into a tight ball trying to stay warm. My foot was throbbing. To make matters worse the bugs found me interesting and crawled all over me when I lay still.

All during the night I heard the hum of transport pads outside. Each time one passed it woke me up. My terror was two fold, when they weren't there I feared something prowling in the night. When I could hear the transports, I feared the men that would be on them. I slept a little, but was wide awake when the pad landed the next morning.

I peaked out the doorway hopefully. It wasn't Master Damien and his brothers or the men from last night. Again, I looked right at them and that seemed to infuriate them.

These men came toward me looking predatory and hungry. My foot ached and I couldn't run on it, so I hadn't even made it to the window this time. Once again, I screamed for my Masters. The men grabbed me and held me as I struggled.

"It tries to escape; yet Damien and his brothers leave their valuable mark, fix it when it is injured, and feed it. This thing has no sense to be thankful," one man sneered pulling my hair back cruelly.

I closed my eyes to avoid looking at them. That had worked before.

"Thank you, Master Damien," I cried and one of the men slapped me hard across the face. I felt my lip split at the contact.

The other man wrapped my hair around his fist until I couldn't move my head an inch. "You wear a mark but no collar, slave. If you speak to us we assume you think we are your Masters. Should we put our collar on you?" he asked.

I kept my eyes closed and my mouth shut tight. I wanted Master Christof back. I wanted Master Evan and his arrogance back. I prayed they would come and get me.

"Why not use it for its purpose brothers?" one of the men asked. "It is not currently owned and we have been curious about the appeal of an Earth slave."

I screamed and tried to get away. My purpose was sex and I was not willing to have sex with these five strange men. I cried for my owners to stop these men. Of course, they couldn't hear, but I couldn't stop trying. My struggle was pointless.

The men laid me on the floor and pulled my arms and legs apart. I tried to scratch, kick, and bite; it made no difference. They restrained me like I wasn't even trying.

My eyes should stay closed, but I had to know what they were doing. Looking wildly around I saw the man between my legs had his pants down at his knees. He was oiling his cock liberally.

I would not watch them rape me. I turned my head to the side and felt the hot tears leaking out. Willing my body to relax so I would not be hurt more, I gave up.

The man was laying on top of me now. His cock was pressed at the entrance to my womanhood. I felt his breath in my ear as he spoke.

"Were someone claiming you they would not allow this," he said quietly. "A slave that is owned can only be used by its Masters."

My own breath shuddered out and I opened my eyes watching the wall beside us. He was right. My owners, were they claiming me, would never allow this.

The man pressed against me as I whimpered on the floor with tears running down my face. He was hard and large. The bulbous head started to slip into me and he stilled his movements. Some part of me was still lucid enough to be grateful he didn't just ram himself home in a single push. I wasn't ready and, oil or not, I would probably tear.

A shadow passed on the floor from the direction of the window. I didn't look to see who it was, it didn't matter. When these men were done, the ones still outside would probably take a turn also. It would just give them reason to hurt me if I looked at them.

"Too bad," the man on top of me said and pulled himself out.

I lay still and waited for him to continue, but he didn't. The man just got up and I could hear him dressing. Suddenly my arms and legs were free, but I didn't move. Something had made them stop.

The men were jovial as they left. They were busy talking about their next coupling. I was left, forgotten, on the floor.

When I heard the hum of the transport glide away I pulled my legs up and wrapped into a ball. I felt gross and violated. My owners never left me feeling this way.

I watched the dust dance in the light and thought about my circumstances. For all practical purposes I had been taken without my consent multiple times, but it never left me feeling like this. My owners were gentle and brought me pleasure. These men would have just used me on the hard dirty floor and left.

Everything would have been about them. The oil was probably more for their pleasure than my comfort. I remembered my old boyfriend with the Chevy complaining because it chafed him when I wasn't wet enough. He'd brought Vaseline one time, because he hated the dryness. My owners were never like that.

Finally calmer, I took the chance to look around. The pitcher and the bowl were there again, but this time they had a mark I didn't recognize. I was so thirsty, but something was wrong here.

If I didn't recognize the logo then it wasn't my owners feeding me. Master Damien had never said anything about that. I reasoned if I wasn't supposed to speak to or look at other men, I probably wasn't supposed to take gifts from them either. If I wanted to go back home, I had to prove I was loyal to my Warriors. Begrudgingly, I left the food and water to the flies.

By midmorning the insects had filled up the jug and the bowl. My parched tongue could ignore their taste if I just took a sip of the water, I kept thinking. That kind of idea was going to get me into trouble. The decision was already made, I would wait for my owners to provide for me.

Desperate to distract myself, I set about recreating my owners' mark on the floor. Perhaps showing them how much I liked their symbol would make them want to forgive me faster. Outside I found a piece of white stone that acted like chalk when pushed against the floor. Using the design on my belly and foot as guides I did my best to recreate it.

The stomping feet came out of nowhere and I hurriedly moved to huddle in the corner. I didn't look up at who was there. Praying silently they wouldn't want to use me, I just stayed very still.

The feet walked all around the mark I had made on the floor, left, and then came back. They never spoke to me or approached me. Sitting in the corner had worked! I finally found what they wanted me to do here.

When I dared to glance up the fly ridden jug and bowl were gone, but a fresh set had replaced them. When I was absolutely sure the transport was gone, I crept across the floor.

The large jug that now sat in the middle of the room had my owners' mark on it. The water inside was clean and I gulped it down. A tiny cup sat beside the jug with that weird medicinal tasting stuff in it and I drank it quickly. A bowl of food sat beside the liquid and carried the same logo. I ate and drank my fill.

After I had all I could take there was still water left in the jug. I didn't want the flies to get it. Apparently neither did the men who left it. A small plug was present and I used it to seal up the water. My owners were taking care of me.

I had nothing but time on my hands and I could only do one thing that pleased them. I filled the floor with their insignia. After my "chalk" was exhausted I decided to put my message outside. Limping around I cleared a large area in front of the building and used stones to delineate their mark.

My hands and body were filthy. I was slightly hungry and I ached all over. I missed being clean and comfortable. Overall, I felt awful. As I wandered back inside to sit with the skeleton I thought about what I had done to end up here.

I wanted to be free, so I pretended I was. This was not a planet to pretend on. It was harsh and I was not suited for it. Without the protection of my Masters, I was as good as dead.

It pained me to realize how much I needed my owners. I didn't know how to find water or which foods I could eat. The inhabitants on this planet obviously thought I had only one use. If they didn't own me, it didn't matter if I was happy about that or not. My survival was only important to one very small group of men and they had disowned me.

I watched quietly as the sun travelled across the sky. Transports flew by quietly in the distance, but they never stopped. Eventually the fear waned some and I started to recognize the pattern.

The transports were watching the village. There were six different transports as far as I could tell. They did regular sweeps in a set series. Someone was monitoring me, keeping me safe, with the exception of the near rape.

I watched the sky and pondered that horrible experience with new eyes. My owners had said they disowned me and I was being left to fend for myself. Someone fed and watered me twice a day, though. They sent someone to tend my wounds. Master Damien and his brothers had not left me.

'Too bad,' the man had said when he was over me. There was movement at the window and no one else ever came in. Someone had stopped him. My owners had stopped him. They were here somewhere, still protecting me.

I smiled and leaned against the rough wall. My body ached, I was dirty, and I couldn't rest well, but there was a reason to be happy. I had not been left. I was just on a longer leash to demonstrate a point.

It was a strange train of thought, but I suddenly wondered how far out in the ocean I had been. If I had to guess I'd say farther than I was from the village now. I wondered how my owners had found me way out there. Perhaps all that tasting Master Evan loved to do really did have some purpose.

I remembered the times he'd tasted me, everywhere. I'd never seen him taste his brothers, except the one time. He'd probably done it long ago.

A transport came close to the building, but didn't stop. I was getting used to the pattern; it was comforting now. There was just someone watching me.

I lay my head back against the wall and continued to think about Master Evan and his sense. He had to be good to have found me. It was dark by the time they located me in the water and he obviously knew exactly where I was.

A thought niggled in my brain. He hadn't been able to find Master Christof in the mountains. It was a shame. If he had they could have avoided all of that stress. One day when they were in the mood for my questions I'd have to ask them about it. When the men came later that night I got in my corner again. One came to stand over me, but I didn't look at him. It took them longer to leave this time. They started a fire in the fireplace before they left. Once they were gone, I found a new clean jug and food.

Privileges, it felt like I was earning privileges.

I slept in front of the fireplace and that seemed to keep the flies away from me. The floor was still uncomfortable, but I slept more than I had the night before. Every time I rolled over I felt a nagging soreness from sleeping on what was essentially concrete.

"It is amazing humans manage to keep an entire planet to themselves," I heard Master Evan say.

I thought I was dreaming and groaned as I sat up. The first thing I saw was several sets of boots standing around me. Shrieking, I dove to cower in my corner.

"Ciara, come here," Master Damien said.

As quickly as my sore body could I rose to stand trembling in front of him. Out of habit I looked at his feet. I'd spent the last two days learning not to look at anybody.

"Look at me," he commanded.

I complied quickly and saw the deep frown marring his features. He looked as tired as I still felt. Evidently they weren't sleeping well either.

"You have seen what happens to slaves that try to escape repeatedly," he said gesturing to the skeleton along the wall.

"Yes, Master Damien, I won't try to escape again. I promise," I said meekly.

Master Christof placed my collar back around my neck. The ornate cuffs were reattached to my wrists and ankles. Master Evan laid a kneeling place at my feet and gestured. I knelt down and took a long drink from him. They also fed me a large portion of the worms.

Once I was done they stood me up and wrapped me in the bulky brown tunic. Master Damien motioned for me to follow him. I did, but the wound on my foot gave me a nasty limp. Master Evan slung me into his arms and carried me to the waiting transport pad.

Once we were home they took me straight to the shower. I panicked when they removed my collar and cuffs, but they just wanted to clean underneath them. As they scrubbed and washed me Master Bane spoke up.

"We know you did not try to escape from us in the way most slaves do, but it seemed that way. The compound demanded punishment for you. Don't ever do that again," he said seriously.

"I won't Master Bane, I promise," I said quietly.

"It is not safe for you outside our care, Ciara. We will take you to explore if that is what you wish to do, but you cannot go alone," Master Christof advised.

"Yes, Master Christof."

"You understand we treated you better in the village than any slave has ever been," Master Evan said pulling through knots in my hair.

"Thank you, Master Evan," I said automatically.

"We were very upset when Randolf struck you and more upset when he tried to..." Christof didn't finish and his eyes closed for a moment. He had looked horrified.

"Although you did speak to him," Master Bane reminded me, "we had not given him permission to strike you or to use you. He overstepped your punishment. Damien beat him for that infraction."

"Thank you, Master Damien," I replied watching the dirty water drain away.

"We would not let them handle you after that," Master Kein explained kissing my shoulder. "We could not bear to see them touch you. Your pain affected us deeply..."