I moved the plot forward a tiny bit here. How fast it goes from here depends. I still don't want the story to go by too quickly to avoid making it feel rushed or unnatural, but also I don't want to stretch it out too much. We'll see what happens. Changes will happen soon, though.
*****
I followed Bologal through the tunnel, forced to walk at her pace as the chain she held in her hand kept me from falling too far behind. When we were about to enter the part of the mine where the prisoners were held she suddenly took a turn into a tunnel I hadn't been in yet.
This one was dark, and soon I saw nothing but the movement from Bologal. As my eyes slowly adjusted I saw that there were in fact torches on the walls, but they were obviously unlit. That told me that this wasn't a place that was visited very often.
That got me thinking, every room in this mine seemed to have a purpose benefitting the bandits. But that was clearly not what they were originally meant for, so why were they there to begin with? Was is really this common that miners just dug out a tunnel ending with a nice little cave and then moving on? Or was all this added when Bologal took control and what was that stench?!
A sickening odor was floating past us, previously kept away solely by the tunnel's length. I couldn't figure out what it was, but it made me want to puke. Did it smell like rotten meat, maybe? Well, it was similar, but it was worse.
I wanted to hold my breath, but I knew that wouldn't do me any good. So instead I just tried my best to breathe through my mouth and was relieved when Bologal finally stopped.
I heard her make some noises and then a blinding light flared up. When I could see again, she was holding a newly lit torch.
"Here we are," she said and I turned my eyes to the cave before us. And what I saw made me want to puke even more.
We were standing on an edge, about half my height. In the hole that this edge helped shaping, there were three piles of corpses. The corpses were all in different states of decay, and it was clear to me that they were the source of the stench.
"This is our little graveyard," Bologal said. She held her torch towards the first and largest pile. "These are the prisoners that didn't want to follow me when I conquered the mine."
She then moved the torch to the next pile, the second smallest one.
"These are workers. Most of them died of exhaustion, but a few were put down because they refused to work no matter what I did to them or were simply sick or otherwise useless."
Finally she moved on to the last pile, which only consisted of four corpses.
"And this is the pile that you should be concerned about. These are my previous sex slaves."
A powerful chill went down my spine. I wasn't the first? And the other ones had ended up dead? Was I next? Was Bologal going to kill me here and now? What had I done wrong?!
"Now, you have been well-behaved so far, but so were they. So I wanted to show you what you can expect if you defy me.
"W... What did they do to make you do this?" I stuttered.
"Well, two of them tried to escape. Several times. The first times I punished them in other ways, but they wouldn't give up. And the other two... they simply couldn't satisfy me anymore. They got lazier, sloppier, didn't act the way I wanted to."
"Why are you showing me this?" I asked, still terrified. "You've already demonstrated what happens if I disobey."
"True. As I said, I was going to show you this much earlier. But I had a feeling it would still be effective. Was I right?"
I nodded violently, unable to take my eyes off the scene before me no matter how much i wanted to. The slaves seemed to have died in horribly painful ways. I didn't want to join them in that pile.
I felt Bologal's hand on my shoulder, and the touch made me flinch in fear.
"Just make sure you keep doing well and you'll never have to come back here," she whispered in my ear.
She then pulled my chain, indicating that we were leaving. I followed her back through the tunnel, relieved to get away from the smell.
I had been well aware that something like this could happen, but this had still had a great impact on me. It was as if a vague theory had suddenly turned into solid facts. I couldn't stop thinking about what I had seen. The decaying faces of those poor men, how they seemed to beg me to put them out of their misery even though they already were.
The day passed by rather smoothly after that. Some more work regarding the goods from the bronze-skins, as well as a few sessions with Bologal. When dinner arrived I was for once allowed to eat without first pleasuring my mistress, but I had no appetite after what I had seen. The smell was still fresh in my memory, and the meat before me reminded me of it.
Bologal was emptying mug after mug of mead, seeming unaffected by the alcohol until she had drunk more than she should be able to contain. Then she was finally getting tipsy.
It was while she was in this state that Ebba sat down next to me.
"You gotten time to think 'bout my proposal?" she asked, making sure to keep her voice down so Bologal wouldn't hear.
"You only asked me earlier today," I mumbled.
"Yeah, but I saw boss take you to where we keep dead people. I thought that would give you some more to consider. So answer me, have you made up your mind yet?"
I hesitated, looking up at Bologal who was busy eating while rambling about something that made the bandits around her laugh. She seemed distracted enough for this conversation to go by unnoticed.
"Yes," I said. "I want your help. I don't want to end up like the others."
"Say pretty please," Ebba said with a grin. I responded with an angry glare.
"Alright, alright," she said. "Gods, you got no sense of humor at all, do you?"
"I can't really afford it. So can you help me?"
"Sure. I'll teach you all the tricks you need to thrive down here. So let's start at once, since we won't be gettin' much time to talk without boss listenin'."
Ebba looked at Bologal again, and when noting that she still seemed to not even have noticed she was there she continued.
"Okay, lesson one: Give up on thoughts 'bout escapin'."
"What?" I hissed.
"Don't act like you haven't been thinkin' of ways to get outta here, fuckboy. But trust me, it won't do you any good. The ones before you never escaped, and your chances aren't any higher. The only thing that makin' up escape plans will do is distract you from doin' well as a fuckboy. And you don't want that. 'Course, you won't have to entirely give up escapin'. But only think 'bout that if you get a chance to flee that's so foolproof not even a blind chicken could fail. Set your mind to bein' stuck here forever. The sooner you accept that, the sooner things will tip more in your favor."
"Do you have anything else than hope-crushing preaching?" I muttered.
"No reason to get hostile, fuckboy. Sometimes the truth sucks. Denyin' it will only make it suck more. But anyway, lesson two: Make yourself useful in more than one way."
"What do you mean?"
"Boss kills people as soon as they're useless to her. In your case, you'll be useless the moment it stops bein' fun fuckin' you. If you can be of use other than as a fuckboy, she won't throw you on the pile when she's bored of poundin' your ass."
"But what can I do other than that?"
"You're a merchant, right? You could help her out with the sand people. Get her better deals and stuff."
