A Slave to the Servants Ch. 32

We worked in the field pulling up the vines and the root, which was the edible part. We were most of the way through the field when a shout went up and the men around us all drew their weapons.

Rose and I drew our weapons too and looked where the men were. Scars were crawling en masse out of the forest toward an isolated group of men.

Adrenaline shot through my system as I watched the drama unfold. I'd never seen scars behave like this, but the other men had. In this part of the world, the nasty creatures had the benefit of numbers.

When a second set emerged to cut the men off from the rest of us, Rose and I screamed a warning, but it was too late. Three families were cut off from the rest of us and surrounded.

The war cry was loud and compelling. Those in our camp would not die without a fight. Rose and I threw ourselves into the fray, attacking the eyes of the disgusting creatures with everyone else. Transports overhead told me more men were arriving, but I didn't glance up to see.

Somehow Rose and I were with the family that broke through the circle to get to the three trapped families. I lunged and jabbed like I had been taught, doing everything I could to help the effort.

Hannah landed heavily beside me and killed three of the creatures in quick succession. The scars scattered and ran at the sight of the woman.

"Get underground!" she ordered. "Slaving women have been sighted! Get on the transports and hide underground. They heard the commotion and are coming this way!"

I saw a man on the ground and rushed to him, he wasn't moving, but I knew him. It was Abram's brother, Ruse. He had a bloody bite on his lower leg. Abram lifted him and ran to a transport that had landed. I followed him and jumped on, not even noticing it was Damien's transport I'd boarded.

"Solar!" Ra ordered as the transports lifted almost silently.

We rushed into the forest and suddenly dropped down through the floor. Transports followed us until fifteen transports were inside and then the 'ceiling' of our cave moved to conceal us beneath the stone.

The lights of the transports flickered on as they all settled to a stop on the floor. For a moment, no one moved.

"We are dying!" I heard Abram gasp as he looked down at his Brother. "He cannot breath! I cannot stand it!"

A scar's bite would paralyze so the creature could take its time dismantling the victim. The man's ability to breath would be forfeit to the toxin. Anyone bitten by a scar would suffocate as everything shut down.

"Help him then!" I said fiercely stepping forward.

The wounded family took a defensive position around their Brother laying on the transport and their teeth dropped.

"He is wounded," Bane whispered in my ear pulling me back, "they will attack any who come near him. Let the man and his family die in peace."

Everyone around us seemed to have the same sentiment. Let them die in peace.

"NO!" I shouted. "You can breath for him! It can be done! I learned on Earth. This man doesn't have to die."

In health at my high school they had taught us CPR. I'd even taken the class the community college offered so I was certified to baby sit. Paterians were like humans, certainly it would work here also.

I looked at Damien and pleaded with my eyes.

"Give me a chance to help him," I begged quietly. "I know what to do! I just have to touch him."

There was an unspoken agreement that passed between Damien and Basin before they acted. I saw it and was shocked at what they did.

Damien and his Brothers were fast. Faster than I remember them being, they had restrained Abram's family and pulled them away in a flash. Basin's family stood between my men and everyone else. The men from the camp roared in outrage. I knew I had to act quickly.

I rushed to the fallen man and knelt at his head. My memories of CPR were distant, but I pulled them up. A hand on his still chest proved he had a heart beat. I tilted his chin to open his mouth and held his nose. I breathed a huge breath into his mouth and watched his chest barely move. I counted to five and did it again and then again.

The cave was silent watching me. The fallen man's Brothers were no longer struggling with my family and I looked to see if perhaps they were still dying, maybe this didn't work here.

They were staring at me, all of them. No one looked angry, just shocked. The men in the cave seemed to have paused, just before attacking Basin's family. Now they watched me looking utterly amazed.

"Teach us," Abram demanded hoarsely, "show us what you are doing. We feel this is helping."

Damien's family released them and they came to kneel beside their Brother.

In the silence of the cave I taught them the basics of 'rescue breathing'. Since they could feel their Brother's needs they could tell after a while he only needed one of their breaths at the count of seven, not five.

I stood back and looked up into Damien's amazed face. He looked stunned as he held his hand out to me. I took it without thinking and continued to gaze up at him.

"You knew what to do," he said quietly. "You knew how to save that man..."

"Because Ciara can take care of herself," Christof finished in a near whisper. "She is powerful in her own right."

"We are proud to call you Sister," Bane said leaning over to kiss my cheek.

The whole family followed him. The gentle brushes of lips to skin held so much love, so much respect, that I could feel it.

We stood in the dimly lit cave and I felt something like a breeze. It wasn't from outside, it was from inside. When I wanted to, I could reach into the undulating swell and feel what my family did.

If I wanted to be I could tap into my family and I looked at them amazed. It was a bond, I'd experienced this enough to tell that much, but it wasn't like before. This wasn't forced on me, it was something I wanted. This connection was gentle and subtle, not overbearing and controlling. It was a choice we had all made.

"It is a connection of equals," Christof murmured brushing a strand of hair off my face. "Like we have always shared, Brothers."

Dipping into the feelings I knew what they knew. The other men, when they talked to them, had smugly bragged about the bonds they had with females. They were mate bonds, different from a bond with Brothers, but still powerful. There could be no fear and no disrespect in a mate bond. It had to be as pure as what a man shared with his family.

Damien and his Brothers had not known the word 'mate' before they came here. It was a new phrase meaning connection to a female, but they never thought they would share such a sacred thing. No one knew a human could form this type of bond.

You could call out to your mates from long distances through the bond. Experiences could be shared, but things could also be kept private. This was different from anything we had experienced before.

"We are honored, Sister," Evan said quietly as I stared up at him. Through his mind I felt our son, the strong vibrant pulse bonding us as family.

I smiled with a new found peace. We were finally and truly family.