Slave Woman's Grave Eeper

Previously:

People are searching for Slave Karma who is buried out in the desert. We learn what Ileana must do to keep Karma physically alive. We also learn that not only was Karma a favorite of the recently engaged Princess Merkeza of Cowen, but she also carries a magical disease. Meanwhile, Pet is stripped of her humanity and infected with the magical disease.

***

0 - 0 - 0 - 13:20 - Divinica

Divinica stalked through the sub-basement of the cloister of the Holy Women of the Sacred Hand on the outskirts of Joppa-by-the-Sea. As the Holy Mother, this grand building, and too, all of the kingdom of Joppa were her domain. She was the head of the clerical arm of the Kingdom and answered only to the Holy Father (and successively, of course to the King himself).

Not only was this building a destination of all women, chaste, and of proper distinction. If they had been imbued with the divine, this was the place to come to and worship the Heavenly Father. But, it was also, here in the depths, a place of repentance for those who had been found guilty of egregious crimes against His Sacred Law. Divinica took a particular pride in her role as the provost of those in need of penance. She made sure that their penance was felt deeply and taken to heart. She cleansed their souls so that they may glory in His Heavenly Light in the next life.

This particular morning, Divinica was closely followed by two retired warriors from the Rolling Wars Dirt Room. Though they were past their prime they were still inordinately muscled after years of strength enhancing potions, though perhaps also a little feeble in the head. Their large size, while already formidable, was enhanced by the executioner hoods they wore. Divinica did not know their names and that was fine with her.

Next in the procession was Dr. Norost, a somewhat shapeless woman. Divinica felt that people with the depth of sadism that Dr. Norost carried were best kept properly engaged in their passions and the task that she was initiating would entertain Dr. Norost for some time.

They arrived at a large steel door with a small barred window. Peering inside, Divinica could see the two occupants within the cell illuminated by the dim recessed lighting. The room was fairly wide, as far as cells are concerned, with a metal bunk on either side, both occupied by a prostate woman. Each woman had their wrists chained behind their backs and then leashed to the wall above their respective bunks. Divinica had measured the length of the leashing chains to provide just enough freedom for the two women to approach one another, but not enough to touch.

These two prisoners, as most all those housed in the dungeons, were lesbians. For lesbian relationships were expressly forbidden as they had been deemed an offence to God. While it may be natural for one woman to see the beauty in another, it was considered blasphemy to act upon that attraction. The penitent woman understood that her beauty was reserved for either men or God.

For years the previous Holy Mother had tried to re-educate lesbians to become normal, demure, submissive heterosexuals. The programs had limited success, and even those successes seemed questionable. Now, though, Divinica was in charge, and she had her own ideas of how to force lesbians into compliance with His Will. These two lovers were to be her first subjects. Of course, the task was all the more sweet since one of the deviants was the niece of the former Holy Mother.

One of the warriors unlocked the door and pushed it open on rusting creaky hinges. The two women roused and both began to shift around into a sitting position. Both seemed worn out and achy, their chains rattling as they straightened themselves out.

"Ah, Maisie, good to see that you are well," Divinica said with a smile as she turned to the blonde woman on the right.

Maisie flashed her blue eyes towards Divinica, her mouth set in a grimace. "Fuck off!"

"Such language, my dear, and before me? The Holy Mother?" Divinica looked over at Maisie's lover, strands of brunette hiding her eyes. "She is such a pretty thing. I can see the temptation." Divinica grabbed a handful of brunette hair and jerked the woman's head back, forcing a groan from her. "Such kissable lips. I suppose that almost makes up for her odd speech impediment?"

"Leave her alone," Maisie said.

"Ah, ah! YOU should have left her alone, Maisie dear. Look at what trouble you have caused. Your poor family is in shame. Let's see... I have both your mother and your aunt in their own private cells here. Awaiting a trial to determine how complicit they were in your little affair with this lesbian whore." Divinica pushed the brunette backwards onto her bunk. "I hope that they can prove their innocence. Perhaps then, they will get off lightly and go home."

Divinica turned back to face Maisie and began making "tsking" sounds with her mouth. "No such luck for you, dear."

"I'll fight the whole way," Maisie said through gritted teeth.

"Oh, good!" Divinica said pacing over to Maisie and placing a hand under her chin. "Dr. Norost likes a little resistance. It makes the job... interesting."

Maisie jerked her head back and out of Divinica's grasp. Divinica simply smiled, "You will learn to take comfort in a moment of human touch in the future. It will only happen very rarely."

"Fuck you," Maisie mumbled. "Fuck you and your fucking sham of a religion."

"Oh, dear," Divinica said pacing back over toward the brunette who was sobbing. "Do you have so little faith, Maisie dear. After all, your aunt was the Holy Mother, and now, thanks to your dalliances... I am the Holy Mother." She stroked her fingers through the brunette's hair. "I have so much to thank you for, Maisie."

Divinica suddenly grabbed the brunette's left arm and wrenched it out to the side with a clatter of metal chains and a groan.

"Look at this," Divinica addressed Dr. Norost, painfully lifting the brunette's bound wrists higher, forcing her to lean over so much she was forced to push her face into the thin mattress. "See how these ill-fitting manacles are causing her to bruise? We can't have that. These girls are going to be models for my new gender reorientation program. I don't want ugly marks to cover their bodies."

The doctor stepped closer and examined the brunette's wrists, pursing her lips, shaking her head.

"So, for starters, let's find some better fitting cuffs for their wrists. Cuffs that they can comfortably wear for a long, long time." Divinica dropped the brunette's wrists and started to head towards the door. "And strip them. Let them lust after the naked flesh of their lover. They need help learning to resist temptation. Besides, their new wardrobe will be only metal."

A crooked grin slowly formed on the doctor's face. Divinica walked past the two stoic warrior guards and from the cell with her robes rustling in her wake. Some would suggest that the feeling in her loins was sexual arousal. Divinica preferred to think of it as being touched by His Sacred Hand.

0 - 0 - 0 - 15:49 - Ileana

Ileana lay in the darkness of the human woman's grave. She had just arrived through the portal in the footboard and crawled up to a comfortable position alongside the chained and sleeping form of her ward. She watched the heat shift through the woman's body, following the lines of major blood vessels, intensifying in areas where major organs were located. She lazily placed a fingertip along a particularly bright line that went from just inside her hip bone, tracing slowly across the woman's abdomen and to the base of the swell of her breast.

The woman moaned quietly and Ileana looked up to her face in time to see her eyes open. She let her hand stroke softly across the woman's stomach and left it resting lightly. "It's time for me to revitalise you," she said quietly.

"Oh," the woman groaned. "I'm still here. I was hoping I'd wake up somewhere in the castle - that this would all have been a dream."

Ileana didn't respond. Rather she began to shift her body over the human woman's. "Let's clean you up first."

Despite the woman's hesitations, Ileana was able to take in the her wastes without too much coaxing. Next she climbed back into position to feed the woman again.

"Are you drugging me?" the woman asked. "I'm so tired."

"I do not know what drugging is. I just feed you and it seems to keep you alive," Ileana said as she positioned her nipple against the woman's lips.

But the woman didn't seem eager to nurse right away. "How long was I asleep? I've lost all track of time? How long have I been here? Two days?"

"I don't know about time, either," Ileana said.

"Have you been with me the whole time?" the woman asked.

"No, I left and came back when I felt the compulsion to do so," Ileana answered.

"Were you away for a long time?" the woman asked.

Ileana could see that the woman's heart rate was going up. The glow around her chest was brightening. "Do not think of time anymore. You must not."

"No. I need to keep track so I can figure out..."

"Shhh... There is no time in the grave..." Ileana whispered as she placed her hand gently on the woman's cheek and guided her lips to her nipple.

At first the woman struggled, trying to say something, but Ileana continued to shush her and pushed her breast in around the woman's mouth until, she gave up talking and began to nurse. Ileana sighed as she watched as the human woman's eyes move from side to side slowly, blindly, gently sucking upon her breast. After a while, Ileana extracted her nipple. "Let's switch to the other side for a bit. Otherwise, you'll leave me unbalanced."

"Do you think that my eyes will stop working?" the woman asked as Ileana crawled over her seeking a more comfortable position to provide access to her other breast. "Maybe they already have..."

"You can not see because there is no light here," Ileana explained. "We are underground. There is no way for light to get in here."

"I know, but... Do you think that my brain will decide to just give up on my eyes and sever the connection? Maybe they will stop working before I am rescued."

"Shh..." Ileana whispered. "Your eyes will be fine."

"Would you tell me if there is any light?" the woman asked.

"Of course, now nurse," Ileana said.

"You seem to be able to see," the woman said. "Can you?"

"I can," Ileana said.

"Ok, what color are my eyes?" the woman asked quietly.

"There is no light. That means that I can not see colors," Ileana explained. "Instead I see heat flowing from your body. It is a glow that is shaped by the contours of your skin. And your eyes are bright and your tongue and the inside of your mouth... And your hair... I can see the heat roll off you along the strands of your hair." Ileana raised a hand to the woman's head and began to stroke her hair watching the glow ripple off, shining upon the woman's pinioned arms and their cuffs and tightly pulled chains, dissolving into the void of darkness near the headboard of the casket. "It's beauti... well... it is interesting to watch."

"How well can you see me - my features?" the woman asked.

"I will touch the very tip of your nose with my finger," Ileana said. She saw the woman scrunch up her face. "You do not need to flinch, I can see you perfectly." Ileana lightly placed her finger on the woman's nose.

"How can you see me?" the woman asked.

"I am not human like you," Ileana said. "Now hush, I need to nurse you on this side, or I will feel aches."

As Ileana began to position her nipple against the woman's lips, the woman spoke again with a sob and a tear dripped from her eye. "Will you," the woman asked, "will you stroke my hair some more? It feels nice..."

"Of course."

The human woman fed for a while, but shortly drifted off back to sleep.

0 - 0 - 0 - 19:02 - Aife

Evanescent, the Princess' Witch, stood about a foot taller than Aife. Regardless, Aife learned early in life to use her diminutive size to her advantage. Her flexibility and body control allowed her to move with feline grace, changing direction with split-second reflexes. Her small size allowed her to squeeze through impossibly narrow cracks and crevices. But not only that, her brain was as sharp as the witch's though much more focused on the physical world, not so much the airy, ethereal magical crap.

"Are you not traveling with the Princess today?" Evanescent asked.

"No, the Princess wishes for me to stay here in Cowen to look for the lost slave," Aife said turning from the witch to look at the convoy of steam trucks and soldiered horses.

"I searched for her half the night..." Evanescent began, but Aife interrupted, rarely one to waste words.

"I know. I saw your report." Aife looked back up at the witch from beneath the loose hood of her dark gray cloak. "I've been tracking down her movements yesterday. After she left the castle, she made it to the pharmacy where she picked up a healthy collection of nutritional minerals - iron mainly - supplements. It was a shockingly large number of bottles."

"Karma... the slave... had a condition... some kind of strange disease. She tended to get sick if she didn't take her supplements regularly," Evanescent explained.

"'HAD a condition'?" Aife asked. "You think she is dead?"

"Well, most certainly, she has been separated from her locator charms. I detected no sign..."

"I know. I saw your report," Aife said again. "Do you think it was intentional foul play or just a random act?"

"I don't know," Evanescent sighed. "Seems strange that she would go missing the day before her departure with the Princess..."

"The Princess feels the same," Aife said.

"I've heard that the Princess had an affinity towards this particular slave," Evanescent stated. "Also, I've heard that the new Holy Mother in Joppa - I believe her name is Divinica - is a real stickler for enforcing laws regarding non-sanctioned relationships. Reportedly, she has begun a brutal campaign to rid the kingdom of all Sapphic elements. Maybe someone is concerned that the relationship between the Princess and this slave was jeopardizing the upcoming nuptials."

"I assume by 'someone', you mean the Queen... Yes, a conspiracy... And that brings up a good point, old friend," Aife said as she turned to look out at the convoy. "Where do our allegiances lie? If I am working for the Princess and you for the Queen's Witch, we may find our purposes in conflict."

"Astute," the witch said. "The Princess, the Queen, the people of Cowen? We should not act upon any findings until we can determine who our actions will benefit and who they may harm."

"Agreed," the diminutive woman said. "And now I must catch the Princess before they set out."

0 - 0 - 0 - 19:14 - Pet

Pet looked through the bars of her kennel at the long narrow room in which she had been left. When she had awoken, she knew something had changed about her. She vaguely remembered the old witch stabbing something into her, but little else about the night before. She knew that she had once walked about and interacted with other individuals, exchanging a barrage of vocal sounds with some agreed upon meaning. Unfortunately, she could not conceive of how she had ever done that. Even now, her thoughts were no longer linked together by a narrative of words in her mind. Instead, there were images, visual and auditory memories keyed perhaps by some aspect of her surroundings.

She knew the Alpha that sat upon a structured set of soft cushions. She had a sense that the Alpha was kind and protective, even though she rarely had had interactions with her before. She would not bite the Alpha's hand, were she to offer it. Pet was concerned at how unhappy the Alpha was. She wished she were not in this small cage and able to nuzzle the Alpha - make her happy somehow. Perhaps if the room had openings for the outdoors to shine in, and not the dreary artificial light sources.

A small woman entered the room and the Alpha stood and nuzzled her. Pet had a hard time sensing whether the little woman was a threat or not. She was wrapped in dark grey skins that covered her head with strands of midnight hair poking out haphazardly around her face. She made vocal sounds that were quiet and devoid of emotion. The Alpha made her own set of vocal sounds back which seemed friendly, yet perhaps tinged with a quality of desperation.

After a moment, the small, grey woman looked at Pet and pulled a hand from beneath her wrappings - a small, yet strong looking hand with dextrous fingers. She pointed at Pet while vocalizing at the same time. Pet had a moment of memory, she had fingers too. At least she did at some point in the past. She wasn't sure anymore. When she looked down, her arms were tipped by some sort of protective artifact made of a combination of soft animal skin surrounded by inflexible silver metal wrapped irremovably around her wrists. Certainly, no sign of fingers, now. But the wrappings were comfortable when she rested on them, when she used them to move around in her small cage.

The two women walked over to her cage and looked in. The grey woman seemed wary. She seemed ready to jump into action if necessary. Pet looked into the grey woman's black eyes, searching for intention, for a sign of danger. Pet began to feel anxious and was compelled to look away, slowly prostrating herself onto the soft bed lining the bottom of her kennel. She heard a shuffle of cloth then jumped a little when she felt something softly touch the top of her head. When she looked up again, the grey woman was gone and the Alpha had reached between the bars and was lightly stroking her head. Pet leaned into the Alpha's hand. It felt good.

She watched a drop of water plop on the floor next to her cage. Then another. The Alpha was crying.

0 - 0 - 0 - 20:06 - Karma

The Princess, Pet, a convoy of steam trucks carrying the Princess' retinue, and a cavalry regiment traveled across the scrublands, into the desert, towards the Ailyan canyon. As they crested a nondescript rise along the road, they passed within a half click from the place where Karma lay chained in her sarcophagus, deep under the desert sand, recently awakened from her sleep - her eyes staring blindly into the darkness.

She was alone. Her grave keeper had gone away, leaving her. Her thoughts were her only companion and they were beginning to work against her. She couldn't stand to just lie there waiting for someone to save her. She had to get out of the grave.