A Slave to the Servants Ch. 22

Back again! Hope everyone enjoys this installment - if you don't let me know! We're in a "healing phase" so no erotica, just plot. Fair warning.

Many thanks to Steve150177 for his work proofreading.

English is in italics when it appears.

Don't forget to vote! DW

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My eyes fluttered open and I looked around and realized I was in the bedroom. I had been moved off the punishment table. It was gone and I was stretched out on the bed. That's not to imply I was comfortable where I was. My legs and my cunt throbbed and burned with fiery intensity. For all it mattered I could still be strapped to the floating table taking my punishment.

The hum of voices was soothing, which was in sharp contrast to the searing pain my awakening mind was experiencing. Opening my eyes fully I saw all my men were seated on assorted chairs. They rested comfortably around the room. Everyone was in their linen shift and they were discussing their schedule for the coming lunar cycle.

When the men saw me looking they started to extinguish the lights in the room. Evan helped me sit up and Kein let me sip on some water. Damien told me it was time to rest and complimented me on taking my punishment well. I was a strong member of the family. He hoped his time had not been wasted and I had learned my lesson.

"Master Damien?" I whispered hesitantly as he came to lay beside me. "I hurt, Master."

For once Damien didn't seem unduly interested in my pain.

"I know you do," he said stroking my arm before I could pull it away. "You earned this with your behavior. Be good and let us rest tonight. We hope by morning you will have learned this well enough."

"But, Master, I love you...please," I begged touching his hand tentatively.

"You must learn control to be a good Sister for us," Damien said simply. "We will fix it after you have learned."

I relaxed onto the bed and felt the covers drawn over me. I hissed softly when the blanket dipped between my legs to brush the fiery flesh there. Fighting for self control I tried to ignore the burn. The men respected pain tolerance and it took all my energy to have that.

I could see they were decided. When an idea was as firmly fixed in their minds as this one was, it would not be easily undone. I was unclear if they were angry at me or just believed it would take that much pain for me to understand. Pain was associated with lessons; I should have known that about them. Either way they would let me suffer until morning.

The men's breathing evened out quickly. I lay still quietly staring at the ceiling.

What would happen, I wondered, if the slaves told their men the truth on a grand scale?

Some of the men might dismiss it, but I imagined others would seek out more information. The men were happy the way things were, in a way. The truth would only serve to make them miserable.

And thanks to me and my big mouth, that was a real possibility.

I should not have told the truth to the other slaves. There had been valid options. I could have lied or just gone with the story Nu-reeh concocted. All they had to hear was I ran away and my child didn't survive. No one would have asked questions after that.

My family was correct. I'd made a horrible mistake. The compound would suffer for this. My men may suffer for this.

I lay quietly and watched the moons run through the sky outside. At some point I must have drifted into a light sleep. Dreams of the men burning their compound in anger woke me up.

As per my regular schedule it was the middle of the night and I had to pee. Moving as quietly as I could, I hobbled to the bathroom on widely spaced feet. Everything was manageable until I tried to pee.

The burning pain took my breath away. I bit my hand to avoid screaming as the urine washed over the welts on my private area. Nothing compared to the wet fire I felt now. I sobbed into my fist and tried to control myself.

Footfalls behind me told me someone had come in with me. I wasn't sure who it was and I didn't turn to look.

"Hush now," Damien soothed from behind me.

My furious eyes turned to look at Damien and I could not believe he'd done this to me. Before I could lash out I turned my head back to the wall. I was in no position to argue right now.

Damien dabbed me clean with a cool damp cloth and dried me with soft pats. I panted on the toilet, unwilling to finish and feel the burn return again. Unfortunately, I still had to go. I explained the problem to Damien.

He hesitated only a moment before I heard him rummaging in their cupboard. He returned and I felt the cool cream being worked into and around my pussy.

"We are not cruel men," he said rubbing healing cream over my labia. "You will suffer the rest until morning, but I cannot leave this sensitive area damaged. I do not wish to cause you permanent harm."

It was better, so much better. The sting in my legs I could handle. The burning pain in my female parts was too much. Sagging on the toilet the relief washed over me.

Damien let me finish using the bathroom, without the pain this time, and then reapplied the cream. He helped me walk back to the bed. Evan was awake and commented that I may not have learned. This was an important lesson.

"I understand, Master Evan, you are right. I made a stupid choice and I should suffer for it. The compound will suffer for this choice, your friends already have. Please forgive me," I begged.

Damien shushed me and told me to get in bed and go to sleep. We would deal with the problems in the morning. In the dim moonlight I had seen Evan's face and he was pleased. Gingerly, I lay between the two men and rested.

I felt less pain now and stared at the ceiling, grateful for that. I wished I could explain to them they did not have to hurt me to teach me. Seeing Basin's family in such turmoil was enough. This was Pateria, though, not Earth. It was their compound and their rules. I looked at Damien's serene face as he slept and knew he didn't feel he'd done anything wrong.

Turning my head I looked at Evan peacefully sleeping. I wanted to hate them, all of them, for what they'd done. Foolishly I had believed this part of my life was over. I wondered what possible reason they could have for beating me in such a private way.

Looking at the ceiling I refused to become angry. My way of thinking about right and wrong did not exist here. Damien punished me with exquisite pain, because he wanted me to make decisions like the family would. I wondered if in his mind this was actually a compliment. I could take a beating just like the rest of the family.

Strange dreams plagued my sleep, but I did rest some.

Evan was calling my name when I opened my eyes. My body jerked awake and I tried to move away from him. My heart pounded in my chest and my eyes were wide open in an instant.

The reaction seemed to concern them and Christof passed a gentle hand down my arm on the other side in reassurance. I flinched at the contact.

"Tell us what you learned," Evan said after looking over at Christof.

My voice shook slightly, but they understood me. The rule was firmly ingrained in my mind. If I wanted to talk about the women or the world, I should talk to them. Speaking to other slaves about my strange life circumstance was not acceptable.

The men seemed pleased and smiled down at me. They believed their punishment had taught me well.

Damien stood at the end of the bed and started to pull the blanket from me. I grabbed frantically at the cover. Laying nude and vulnerable in front of them seemed unwise. Damien's eyebrows lifted and he stopped tugging at my cover.

"I am going to heal you. Do you fear me?" he asked quietly.

My reaction had been inappropriate. I pushed the blanket down over my breasts and stomach and tried to smile.

"Do you?" he asked again, not moving.

"No, I just was..." the sentence drifted off and I stared up at them.

"Don't lie," Evan instructed softly from my side.

The anger came and I tried to tamp it down, but I couldn't.

"You hurt me," I said harshly pulling the blanket back to my neck. "You didn't have to hurt me. I am your slave again and you will do whatever you want with me!"

They looked shocked, which even in my fear and anger, I found strange.

"You are not a slave, little Sister," Bane pleaded coming to stand beside Damien. "We were teaching you. It was very important you remember the lesson. You can't forget this instruction."

I was livid and couldn't control my temper. "You made me call you Master! I am a slave! You would never do that to each other!"

Christof sat cross legged beside me and I heard him sigh before he spoke.

"You called us Master and we never told you to. We were teaching you. We thought it would reinforce the lesson," he said.

My hands gripped the blanket firmly and I looked up into his confused eyes, but did not say anything.

"Let me heal you," Damien said tugging at my cover. "You will feel better once I heal you, but you will remember this lesson well."

"You hurt me!" I shouted. "You all said you would protect me. How could you do this?"

Kein's eyes were questioning as he looked at me. "We are protecting you," he said. "You are family and you have to learn. We are afraid they will take you away for this."

They didn't understand my perspective at all. This was instruction. It was harsh because the rule was important. The way I felt about it wasn't even considered. That there might be another way to teach me wasn't even entertained.

It took concentration, but I allowed my cover to be moved. I didn't need to look to see the bruising and marks on my legs. Instead, I stared at the ceiling and tried to calm down.

Damien nudged my legs apart and began the slow process of healing them. Just like last time, no one else helped him.

"I learn when you talk to me," I said suddenly and to no one in particular. "Humans don't have to be beaten to learn."

Slowly and deliberately each mark was coated and healed. It took time before Damien answered.

"They would take you away," Damien said quietly. "If the men were upset by you, we fear the women would take you away from us. You must not make this mistake again. Pain will reinforce the lesson. We did this for you."

I looked down and saw him working slowly and carefully to remove the markings. He worked with utter concentration, intent on taking every bit of the hurt away. Still, there was pain in his features. I recognized guilt.

Evan brushed a strand of hair off my cheek and I jerked as though he'd hit me. I looked up into his face and saw something strange in his blue eyes, uncertainty.

"You are not a slave," Christof said softly. "You are family. We cannot separate from you..."

Evan looked saddened, as did everyone else. We were all suffering at the moment.

We were at an impasse for the moment. They honestly believed I needed the pain to learn, probably from a life of being trained that way. Part of what drove them on was a righteous fear. Still, I felt beaten and scared, but I found the strength to speak up.

"I do not like to be hurt and when you do that I fear you," I said quietly and licked my dry lips. "Let us come to an agreement, you will not beat me as a lesson and I will make better decisions. When I make mistakes we can talk about it and decide on a punishment together."

This moment spoke volumes for me. If they agreed to this I wasn't a slave. If they couldn't agree my position was no better than it had been. I waited anxiously for the answer.

"Pain reinforces the instruction," Kein said watching me carefully.

"I was never, never taught like that," I told him sincerely. "I would not make the same mistake again, because I understand the damage I caused. Humans can learn by talking to one another. Slaves are beaten to teach a lesson, family is not."

They were silent and considering for a long time before Damien spoke.

"I have had to teach my Brothers with pain in the past," he said simply.

"If you hurt me," I answered him sadly, "I will only fear you. Your friends are right. Humans fear things that bring them pain. I am not like you in that way."

Their eyes showed the inner turmoil they all felt.

"We acted rashly," Bane finally said sitting on the bed by my feet.

"If you continue to do things that anger the women, they will take you away from us again," Evan stated softly. He looked haunted.

"I can be more cautious," I promised them. "I can learn from my mistakes, but I do not wish to be restrained and beaten."

The air hummed with the intensity of the moment before Damien spoke.

"You are one of us," he said slowly, "but you are different. We do not want a slave, we want a Sister. When we disciplined you, you became our slave again. None of us liked how that felt..."

"Promise me," I said sitting up, "promise me you will not do this again."

"You must learn," Damien said eyeing me critically. "You must learn when we tell you things. There is much at stake."

"I will learn."

"We will not train you like this again," Damien promised finally looking relieved.

I made them all promise. I wanted to hear it from each of them.

Kein was last and he kissed my cheek. "Please," he said, "don't make them take you away."

Once my legs were suitably less marked my family took me to eat breakfast. They were all quiet and reserved as we ate. The reason almost made me retch.

The General would have to be informed about what I had done. If the men started to act odd, he had to know what was happening. Of course, Damien and his Brothers could wait, but if it was discovered that would be bad for the family. It would be preferable to own up to the mistake now.

I was panic stricken that the General would punish me, but Damien scoffed at the idea. The women wanted me healthy. In fact, Nu-reeh would be angry if she found out about last night's punishment. The evil side of me wondered what Hannah would do if she knew.

"Will he hurt the other slaves?" I asked chewing on my nails. "Will he kill them so they don't talk?"

My wild imagination started to blossom and I found myself hyperventilating as I gnawed at my nails. Damien's reassurance was not comforting. The General would do whatever was best for the compound.

Bane scolded me for biting myself. It would be dishonorable to be walking around looking chewed on.

I was washed and the cream was rubbed back into a few stubborn places on my inner thighs. They layered several long panels so no one could see the skin they had disciplined, which was still slightly marked. Their reason for placing the marks where they did suddenly made sense. The ornamentation I wore would actually cover the evidence of my discipline.

Once I was dressed they got themselves ready.

We made our way downstairs in silence. The men weren't bothered, but I fought the urge to pant and cry. The walk across the courtyard seemed to take an eternity and a moment, both at once. I couldn't believe I'd gotten us in this mess.

The General and his Brothers were talking and looking out the large window when we entered. They greeted Damien and his Brothers politely. There was no wasted time and Damien told the General they needed to talk.

I saw the faces of all the girls I'd spoken to. They wanted to live, none of them wanted to die. How horrible it would be to go to an empty Keeper's and know it was all my fault. Every death would be on my head.

Fat tears rolled down my face and a sob escaped my throat. How foolish I had been to condemn all those innocent girls to death. I was a pariah and damned anything I touched. The wretched sobs wouldn't stop now and I heard Damien's exasperated sigh.

"Ciara," Bane said sharply, "we will put calming cream on you if we need to. Stop this behavior right now."

I looked up at him and the tears just continued to fall. Somehow I managed to stay silent, though.

The men sat and I knelt in their sitting area by the fire. It was a cozy space obviously intended to entertain guests. The first time I'd knelt here I'd been safe and protected by the General. I doubted that would be the case today.

Damien told the General that the slaves recognized the way I looked when I carried a child. They'd all figured it out before I left. Once I returned they had wanted to know what had happened.

When Damien explained what I had told them, the General leapt out of his chair. As he paced, he clarified several times exactly what I had said. The fact I hadn't shared everything was pointed out on numerous occasions.

"Do the slaves know how this world is organized?" the General asked pointedly.

"Two know, sir," Damien replied and the General lunged at me.

It was Christof's quick reflexes that kept the General's hands from closing around my throat. I was jerked off my kneeling place and shoved between Bane and the wall. My family took a defensive posture between me and the General.

"They do not want her harmed, General," Damien said with authority. "Nu-reeh will destroy your family if you do that. This is a breeding slave, she holds more value than all of us, or so I am told."

I peeked from behind Bane's back to see the General fuming. Two of his Brothers were holding him back, but the others looked just as angry. He sputtered a curse when he saw me looking at him, so I dropped my head.

"This is my compound, my men!" the General fumed. "Do you know how difficult it is to organize the men? To keep them happy and busy? Who Damien, who knows?"

The General wasn't surprised Basin and his Brothers knew, they'd been acting odd for days. He was surprised Fuji's owners knew, they had not seemed upset ever. They displayed the same cool temperament they'd always had. The General wanted to speak with both groups though.

Once the General was calm, he assessed the situation more thoroughly. The things I'd told the majority of the girls would actually not cause too much damage. The slaves had been left to think the women took me and kept my child. I'd never said the women had any authority. That I'd been pregnant may surprise the men, but it wouldn't break them.

Bane didn't move me back to my kneeling place. While we talked to the General I stood against the wall and Bane stood in front of me. His posture looked relaxed, but I laid my hands on the small of his back and felt the coiled muscle. He was ready for anything that came at him.

"I will not harm it," the General finally said gesturing to me. "The behavior was unacceptable, but I will not risk my family."

Damien thanked the General, but Bane didn't move. The conversation about what to do continued for a while longer. I stayed standing against the wall and staring at Bane's wide shoulders.

The General made sure I understood now. There were just things I could not say. At Damien's prompting I assured him I would not talk about the world's secrets.

"The other slaves that know," the General said sitting down and watching me. "Do they pose a danger?"

Hersham, the General's Brother, spoke then. He seemed to be the Brother that understood slaves the best. He noted Fuji was from Batra, she would never say anything her owners didn't want her to. The human slave may be an issue.

My hands tightened on Bane's waist. I was terrified they would kill my friend, my best friend. Before I had the chance to say anything the General stated his decision was made and he excused my owners. Bane grabbed an arm and propelled me toward the door.

I tried to speak and was harshly rebuked as we left the General's house. Now was not the time for questions. Kein whispered we would talk when we could. Damien led us across the courtyard and I followed him obediently.

Upstairs, when we could finally talk, I expressed my fear. If the General killed Rose I felt like I'd never survive. She was a link to my former life and the best friend I'd ever had. Rose had supported me through everything.