A Slave to the Servants Ch. 17

Nu-reeh came at the end of the fifth day to our quarters. Hannah had packed a bag to take with her. Inside were several blankets I had knitted. I had also stitched her name in English into a piece of my ornamentation. I had nothing else to offer her.

There was no preamble and Nu-reeh just told her simply to leave. If she came back the women would attack her for being near their men. Nu-reeh warned her to get far away before the morning sun broke the sky.

I dropped to my knees and hugged Hannah tight.

"No tears, Mama," she whispered fiercely in my ear. "I love you and I will be back for you. This is not good bye for forever, just for now."

"I love you, too, Hannah," I whispered fighting the desire to scream and cry. "Be strong and succeed, Baby Girl."

Nu-reeh led Hannah out and my family and I followed them. At the first exit to the cave system my girl took flight. She looked back once and waved before she disappeared into the clouds.

I felt numb and raw. Like a strange type of sentry I stood in the exit and started at the sky. My family stood with me, silent for the most part, allowing me to grieve. Eventually Damien picked me up and moved me back to their quarters.

I sat stiffly on a chaise by the fire and stared straight ahead. In my mind I saw Hannah's birth and I remembered her first words. Her happy little face the day she learned to fly swam in my mind. She was perfect in every way, except her temper.

Damien and his Brothers jumped when I started to laugh. When I started to cry I had their full attention. Hannah's fiery temper was such a nuisance. Certainly it had come from her father, his temper was legendary.

Would it make her powerful in the world or would it be her downfall? I suddenly wondered.

"Should we use the calming cream?" Kein asked softly from my left.

The men debated and I roused enough to speak for myself.

"No," I told them in a cracking voice, "it makes me forget and I want to remember Hannah. It makes me sad, but I want to remember her last days with me, even if it hurts."

Christof sat beside me and held my hand. Leaning over I lay my head on his shoulder. Damien sat on my other side and lay a hand on my thigh.

A new thought brought a new round of tears.

"She is all alone," I whispered. "I have you all to comfort me as I suffer this and my poor daughter has no one. Hannah is being shoved into this world she doesn't know without any friends."

Sobs broke through my emotional defenses and and I shook as the tears poured. My men pressed closer next to me. It was Christof who spoke.

"I think," he said with authority, "that is not the issue you think it is. The women here are solitary creatures, I've been watching them. Yes, they have Sisters, but they aren't like us. Watch them, they like to be alone and in the wide open sky. They always seemed happiest when they were about to leave the mountain."

Kein and Evan agreed with him, so he continued.

"Hannah, as much as she wished to stay with you, she struggled here. These last days you spent in the wind swept hallways contending with the cold. Hannah knew you are not suited for this environment, but she could not stay in our rooms with you."

I nodded and dried the tears on my cheeks.

"You think being free will make her feel better?" I asked quietly.

Affirmative answers came from all the men. They thought Hannah would be sad to leave me, but happy to finally be able to fly and explore all day. She would not feel the crushing despair I felt right now.

"Whether she likes it or not," Damien said. "She is of this world. Once she is immersed in it, she will do fine."

I wasn't convinced, but I had no option. Nu-reeh was in charge and she had made her feelings known. Things would be as she wished them to be.

I crawled in bed that night and snuggled close to Bane. Kein seemed to sense my need and curled around my back. I lay quietly surrounded by them and listened to them fall quickly to sleep.

It struck me as I lay there what all the men and I were. All of us were slaves, we all fell under Nu-reeh's rule. If we did not obey any of us could be destroyed at her whim. My old tutors had been evidence enough of that.

Hannah had obviously already figured that out. It was probably what she meant about coming back for me. I wasn't sure what she planned to do.

I fell asleep finally, dreaming of Hannah.

Nu-reeh was at our door the next morning. After the morning meal I was to pack what the men would take back to the compound. The men would go to the sorting room after they pointed out what they wanted me to pack.

Damien was angry. He hated to see me used to work for them. The Brothers could get the job done, but Nu-reeh's word was law.

A pile of large sacks were waiting outside our quarters when we returned from the dining hall. The men pulled them inside and pointed out what was theirs. It was easy, if it was blue it went. Their clothing went. The stones absolutely went.

By the noon time meal I had the closet packed and I went to eat with my family. At mid-afternoon different men came and took everything. I waited in the empty apartment, but my owners did not come at dinner. Nu-reeh came and demanded I follow her.

I jogged to keep up with her; she just yelled at me to hurry up. We were at the women's wall when she picked me up and flew to the entrance of her living quarters. Once we were inside she handed me a plate.

"Eat this," she said.

It didn't look appetizing and the plate appeared dirty, but I didn't complain.

"You sew," she said simply, "make these into a cover you can wear."

She pointed to a collection of dirty rags and filthy furs in a pile on the floor.

"Yes, Mistress," I said quickly.

"Save enough to sew as covers for your feet," she said.

"As you wish Mistress," I answered.

Nu-reeh gave me a thin piece of sharpened bone and many long strands of plant like material. They would act as needle and thread.

"You sleep there," she said pointing to a spot on the floor near the fire. "You will stay warm there at night. If you move from that spot I may accidentally attack you. There is a pot there," she pointed, "that you may use to relieve yourself."

She left me with that information.

I stared between the plate in front of me and the dirty rags on the floor. It had finally happened. I was living as a slave lived.

The food was dull, but it made me full very quickly. I finished my dinner and started to pick through the pile on the floor. Most of it was small animal skins, virtually none of it was fabric. I thought once it was sewn together I'd probably look like a cave woman.

Sewing was a good distraction. Otherwise I'd focus on my current situation or the fact that I didn't know where Damien and his Brothers were. Even worse I'd think about Hannah and worry about her. I focused on piecing the scraps together to make a dress.

Eventually, I got tired. I used the skins as a pillow and lay down in front of the fire. It was like sleeping in the village had been. I woke uncomfortable and barely rested.

Nu-reeh looked at my progress on the dress and snorted. I ate the strange gooey food again, along with the contraceptive drink. Once I was done, she grabbed me and took me outside.

"Carry these rocks up that hill," she pointed. "Pile them at the top. Work quickly, I will punish you if you are lazy."

I looked up the long slope and then at the pile of rough, heavy looking rocks. It wasn't clear to me why this grouping of rocks needed to be moved, but I didn't argue. I just set myself to work as Nu-reeh flew away.

The rocks were nominally heavy, the real issue was the incline. It was steep and long. I walked as quickly as I could and piled the rocks at the top.

The work was hot and dirty. Some of the stones were covered in a layer of thick dried muck. It stuck to me, stuck to my clothes, and got in my hair.

At noon that strange filling food and a jug of water were given to me. The woman delivering the food demanded I work faster. I wasn't nearly as far along as I should be.

When the sun set I was delivered back to Nu-reeh's quarters. She fed me my dinner and demanded I work on the outfit. I worked until I nearly fell asleep sitting over it and then crawled to lay down by the fire.

My days took on a terrible monotony. I moved stones all day. It was very boring and repetitive.

The stones were a game I assumed. It hadn't taken me long to realized I moved the same pile of rocks up the hill every day. Part of me was tempted to just throw them off the cliff that lay several yards away. However, I realized how tenuous my current situation was.

I was sore and tired most of the time. Although I was fed at regular intervals weight dropped from me almost daily. There was never hunger, which I was grateful for, but I started to look starved.

For some reason bathing was also prohibited by my new Mistress. The streaks of dirty sweat caking my features seemed to please her. I truly looked the part of the downtrodden slave now.

The only time Nu-reeh seemed at all concerned about me was the day I fell and cut my hand. She had me wash and wrap it. The healing cream was applied to it generously. I failed to understand why that cut was healed and the rest of me was left to look so bedraggled.

As I walked up the now familiar path with my burden, I often thought of Hannah. I hoped her life would be filled with wonderful adventures. I wondered where she was and what she was doing. Looking ruefully down at my heavy load, I knew it was better than how I was living.

The current situation did not change my mindset. Even now, I made up my mind to be happy. I sang songs to myself. Sometimes it was songs I had made up, other times it was songs I had heard. Anything to keep my spirits up in this dreary existence.

Nu-reeh appeared one day when I was smiling and humming nonsense to myself as I worked. She looked at me as though there was a question she wanted to ask. Instead she handed me the outfit I had pieced together.

"Change," she told me, "foot covers, too."

We were outside and I placed the stone I had been carrying on the ground.

I took off the warm blue outfit, which was now mostly brown anyway, and put the rags on. Pulling off my foot covers, I put on the scraps I had sewn together for my feet. It was a fitting outfit for my current position.

Wind whipped around the mountain and I was pleasantly surprised. The stitching was done well, I barely felt a draft. A smile crept onto my face when I realized what a good job I had done. Since I only had small victories in this life, I opted to celebrate them.

"You are a strange creature," Nu-reeh said watching me carefully. "I think you will still be good for them."

"Thank you, Mistress," I said automatically.

"I have heard you when you comfort them," she said suddenly. "I heard you convincing them they were not slaves. That is a lie and I think you know it."

"Yes, Mistress," I answered softly.

I heard feet approaching behind me, but I didn't dare turn my face from Nu-reeh.

"It made them happier, though," she mused. "Continue to be their comfort and I will continue to let you live."

Before I could answer a hand was across my face, nearly smothering me. I was pulled back against my attacker. I had no idea what was going on.

The hands parted and I saw men using two small jars to cover me with cream. It was the calming cream, I recognized the small jars. The way the men were using them, I'd sleep for a week.

"Mistress," I called frantically, "this is too much cream!"

She ignored me and I suddenly didn't care anymore. The men released me and I slid to my knees. I would have smashed my face into the rock in front of me when I fell, but a hand caught my hair. The last thing I remembered was staring down the long, winding trail I'd walked for so many days.

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