William took me the long way back to the cave. He admitted it to me later. It was what Kasra wished. He did not want me to have contact with any other Chosin except him at least until I became more acclimated to my new home. It was for the best. Otherwise, I would have probably turned around and run back into the forest.
It was a long walk through the green forest. I took thick air into my overworked lungs. It smelt different than the air on Earth. Probably less pollution on Cho, I thought to myself with a smile. I guess I was in denial. I did not really understand how I got here. Maybe it was a dream and I would wake up. Maybe it was not real at all. I smiled again at that thought. It gave me some comfort.
Everything here seemed so deeply green! I could not get over how clean and green everything was. There were some sounds in the forest, normal sounds you would expect to hear. Some chattering of animals, what would pass for birds here I supposed. An occasional squawk of something larger, a growl from some type of beast and hisses of hidden snakes were but some of the noises I heard. I could also hear the babbling of a nearby brook, the sound of water tumbling over loose stones comforting to me. I was afraid.
I knew that Kasra lived in a cave on the mountain called Phenta-tak. I did not know much else about him. But our long trek through the forest made me think and also realize that I must have run quite a distance before finally collapsing on the forest floor.
William, who was taller than me at probably close to 6', was able to take long strides through the overgrown paths. I, at a measly 5' 4", did not have that luxury and was barely able to keep up with him. My long brown hair was also a hindrance, constantly getting tangled in low hanging branches. I was about ready to scream the fifth time it happened but William just turned around, came back to me and calmly untangled my locks from their captor.
I was weary by the time we reached the base of the mountain, if you could call it that. It really did not seem any different than the forest except it was a steeper uphill climb for both of us. I was nearly breathless from the climb when we finally paused before a small gathering of trees. I had seen quite a few of these on our trek uphill. Admittedly, the mountain was not as verdant as the forest. The ground was green, true, but the trees seemed farther apart and set in small clusters, almost as if they had been planted that way.
William pressed inside the small cluster of trees and I followed. Sure enough, the trees WERE planted, as foliage to hide the entrance to the caves. Hidden within, I saw the opening above which was a plaque of some type with raised letters. Reaching up to feel the letters on my collar, I instinctively knew they were the same as the ones on the cave. William, seeing my gesture, nodded his head and stated, "Property of Kasra".
I trembled at this moment. I had no idea what was ahead of me. But I knew it would not be anything like I could possibly imagine at this moment. I stood here in a strange place completely naked except for a collar, my hair in tangles from the hike through the forest, about to meet the man who owned me for the first time. I was terrified!
I could not move. It was if I had suddenly been frozen to the ground. My eyes grew wide with fright. For a moment, I considered running again. But where could I run to? I knew no one here but William and if what he said was true, there was no place I could go, no place I could hide. I was trapped.
Looking down at me, William quickly saw my fear and reached out to take my hand. "It will be alright, Lena. Trust me. You will survive", he calmly reassured me as he led me inside the entrance of the cave.
It took a few moments for my eyes to adjust to the interior. It was darker but light enough that I could see where I was going. There were torches spaced out upon the walls. I could see that the roof of the cave was high, I would estimate from my height and William's it was 12 feet up or more. The path inside the cave led forward and slightly down to a fork. William led me to the right fork and we walked down it a few feet before it opened into a large room within the cave.
There were more torches in here so it was easier to see. Again the roof was high and the ground well worn. There were the wooden storage boxes again, along the one wall. There were also odd things in wood and metal hanging from the walls. I assumed they were decorations. In one corner there was an odd pile of what appeared to be bedclothes. There was none of those cot-like things I saw at the building so I assumed Kasra did without. I stood there for what seemed forever, taking in the room, before I heard William whisper, "Sit and stay here." Doing as he asked, I took a seat on the floor of the cave as there were no chairs to speak of. He then left through the opening we had entered.
Shortly thereafter I heard voices. I could not understand what they were saying, I assumed they were speaking in cho, but I knew one of the voices was William's. I sat and waited, barely daring to breathe. I was nervous and frightened at the same time. I had no idea what was going to happen to me, who Kasra was, what he was like, how he would treat me and here I was owned by him!
There was a noise in the cave and I turned to the entryway. I covered my mouth to quiet my scream as I saw Kasra for the first time. I never had considered that the cho would not look human. But they most certainly did not.
Kasra was very tall, as I would discover most cho are. By Earth standards, he was probably close to 8' tall. He was humanoid, being he walked on two feet and had two arms. But that was about as close to human as he got. His skin was shiny and wet looking. It was the color of old parchment or newspaper left too long in the sun. His body was hairless or furless so to speak, just skin. His head was larger than a human head, with a large pronounced forehead. What appeared to be his ears were mounted high up on the sides of his oversized head. His eyes were a startling shade of yellow, the kind popular in horror movies back on Earth. His mouth was very wide, going nearly half way around the front of his head. It was filled with very pointed teeth and a long, forked tongue. What passed for his nose was extremely flat with two small openings through which to breathe and smell.
His arms, if you will, were long and thin. They hung down longer than human arms, nearly two thirds of the way down his body. At the end of each arm was a hand, five fingers like a humans (thank God for small miracles!) but the fingers were extremely long, each one at least about 6" and the middle ones possibly 8". His legs were about half his height, long and thin like his arms, ending at feet with much shorter toes than the fingers. But the toes were, as I would later discover, very flexible which came in handy for the cho since they did a lot of climbing on their world.