Chapter 23
23
My five Warriors stepped off the pad and came toward me, I just kept backing up. Master Damien's eyes were searing into me, he was really mad. I stopped when I backed into a wall. Master Damien stood beside me and knocked several times on the wall. He didn't say a word to me. He just glared. The wall opened and a skinny guy with dark hair greeted him.
"Go in," Master Damien commanded.
I was still shaking from head to toe, but complied and slid into the doorway.
Master Damien followed me in and turned me to face him, "These are the Keepers, you will address them as such. They will feed and clean you while we are gone. You will obey them. If you cannot obey them, they will tell my brothers and 1."
He turned to leave and then spoke to me one more time. "Your behavior on the travel pad is unacceptable, never act like that again,” he said before stepping out the wall.
I turned and looked around. The skinny man turned and left me. I was in a small courtyard surrounded by several large open doorways. Flowering plants lined the walls along with flags of bright pillowing fabric. I followed the skinny man through one of the doorways.
Fuji was in my face a minute later, pulling me along with her. She took us to a group of females already there. We all sat on pillows arranged in a circle. Actually, thanks to the thing in my butt, I knelt down, sitting wasn't comfortable.
I recognized the voices of the women from the chuke games. Rose and Tamia were both there. Rose had beautiful brown hair that cascaded in curls down her back. She was small woman with perfect pink tipped breasts and a tiny waist. She was dressed in bright flowing red fabric that sort of covered her. The thick strips of fabric all hung from her collar to her knees, when she moved they shifted around. She laughed when she saw me watching her.
"Are we allowed to be out here, Christof?" I asked curiously.
We walked into what I would have considered a forest at home, along a little path. The plants were all different and I looked at them fascinated.
"Yes, I can take you out here. Most Warriors just come and feed their slave a mid day meal. I thought you might be curious to see outside the compound,” he said watching me with interest. "Yes, I'd love to see this,” I said inspecting a bright yellow leaf growing from the ground.
"I am curious, also,” he told me.
I asked simple questions at first, the names of plants and about things around us. He didn't seem to mind telling me, so I got bolder and asked about the planet.
"I don't know the whole planet, Ciara," he laughed. "The Administrators placed me in this village as a child and I have never lived another place.”
"Where was the slave auction? Is it on this world?" I asked hesitantly. "Do you know how I got there?"
"My brothers and I took a transport to the edge of the mountains. There is a place there our leaders allow the portals. We took the one that leads to the slave auction. It is in center space on a small neutral planet. We were told the portals can make a human sick if they are awake, so my brothers made sure you slept,” he told me.
He mused a bit on the second part of the question. "I have heard it is difficult to operate a portal on your home planet. They are often destroyed by Earth's natural defense. The slavers must have found a place the defense wasn't strong to take you.”
Christof sat for a moment and watched me looking around
"I feel as though we should not have taken you," he stated bluntly. "You should not have been made to be a slave.”
All my resolve about just making the best of this broke and I threw my arms around his neck crying. "Please, take me back. I don't want to be a slave. I want to be free," I cried brokenly.
Christof seemed stunned by the sudden contact and almost pushed me away. After a moment he wrapped me in his arms
"The kneeling is horrible," I sobbed into his neck. "I know how to feed and clean myself. It should be my choice to have sex. Please, I beg you, take me back.”
Christof stayed quiet for a moment before he spoke.
"I cannot take you back. The portals do not open naturally on Earth and usually whoever is in them gets destroyed when they are forcibly opened on that planet. You must stay here with us. I will do my best to protect you. My brothers will not wish to harm you, they also wish to see you happy and well. Please understand, Ciara."
"It is all so demeaning,” I told him still clinging to his frame.
"I will not demean you," he said softly stroking my back. "You do not need to kneel when it is just you and I. I will let you feed yourself. Sex with me will be your choice..."
We stood for a moment and I calmed down. I repeated to myself I had decided to make the best of it. At least now I had an ally. I tried to slow my breathing and focused on the joy of having someone to talk to.