Re: The Slave

[questor]

There was no notice of death so that meant there was a good chance that his father still lived. Perhaps he was a prisoner like he had been. Only hopefully not sentenced to death. There was still hope. "There is still hope mother. He may yet return home to us." he turned to his brothers and said, take my horse and get it hitched up to the cart. We will go into town and get this letter sent off. Your sister will want to know I arrived home safely."

Justin awoke a short time after he fell asleep and laid there watching Artemis sleeping. By the way she was sleeping he assumed she was having a peaceful dream. Just having her there in bed made him relax more then he had since the war had ended. He fell back asleep and slept till morning. He awoke with the drapes being pulled back to let in the light of the sun. William was there opening them and laying out fresh clothes.

"Morning sir." he said and went to the door and pulled in a cart with trays of food and drink. "Your breakfest sir.......and....." he looked over at Artemis, food for your slave as well. I thought that you might want to ensure she was fed as well." He transfered the food to a table and then said, "Dante's slave is here to begin the lessons in musical insturments." Justin nodded, rose and slipped from the bed and pulled on his robe. He went over to the table and sat down looking back over at Artemis to see if she was awake and going to come and join him.

[Ekstaze]

Her dream only last so long before it turned horrible, that was when the tears flowed a little more freely. She didn't want it to come true, didn't want to see he father blooded and dying, or her mother and brother's enslaved or worse. It took only a few more minutes before she forced herself to wake up, Artemis couldn't take anymore of the dreams. She slowly opened her eyes to a brightly lit room, though she stayed where she was. Artemis wasn't ready to get up and start the day yet.

The words about her was what perked her up, she listened for a little bit before she finally sat up in the bed. Artemis wiped the tears from her eyes and looked around. The smell of wonderful food was in the air and she carefully let her eyes wander towards the table. Artemis realized that she had slept longer then he did and quickly got out of the bed. "I apologize for over sleeping" she said out of habit and that confused even herself. "Um...not sure where that came from" she commented softly and walked up to the table but did not sit yet. Artemis was still unsure of what she should do on a everyday basis even though her mind was still having a hard time letting go of her dream or the fact of trying to think of a way out of this place.

[questor]

Justin smiled as she came over to the table. "Sit." he told her, and William raised a brow at that. Normally a slave knelt by her master and was fed by him. Then Justin said. "Eat your fill. You will have a very busy day today. Have you ever had any experience with musical insturments?" he asked her. If not then she would have to start from scratch and learn everything that Dante's slave could teach her. "You seemed to have had a nice sleep." he grinned.

As he ate he looked at her. "You will have the run of the castle, as long as you do not try to run away. You will find that there is a lovely garden here, with many differnt flowers and trees. It was the pride of my mother. She loved it. When you are not having lessons or are with me doing other things, you can enjoy it and if you like reading there is a nice library.

He looked her over and found it hard to keep his hands off of her. But he had given his word, even to a slave, he kept it. "Now while we eat, tell me of the rest of your family." he had his reasons for asking but for now she did not need to know.

[Ekstaze]

Artemis looked at him, and even she was confused. She figured that he would have her do something else, it took her a minute to sit down but after doing so she placed some food on a plate. It was strange to her at the moment and wasn't sure what she should actually do but one thing that made her happy, he hadn't tried to grab for her. Artemis nibbled at the food waiting for the moment that he was going to touch her. "I'm sure the garden is lovely" she commented softly and kept her eyes adverted from his. "I have not had the opportunity to learn any instrument however when I was younger I was allowed to learn dance" it wasn't exactly like she told him but it came down to the fact that her family could not afford to spoil their kids in the arts. Most of the money made from their farm was to keep it running and keep food on the table as well as clothing and schooling.

When the question came of her family she didn't care to tell him, there was no reason he needed to know about her family. They were safe as far as she knew and that was the end of it. She was no longer allowed to go back to them or see them and she just wanted to forget all about that life. Artemis took a sip from her drink and squared her shoulders "my family has nothing to do with this, you do not need to know about them" she told him and continued eating. He could poke and prod her about it but Artemis would not tell him a thing.

[questor]

He looked at her and leaned back in his chair. "It is true that they have nothing to do with anything here but a master should know everything there is about his slave. Besides what is the harm in talking about them. If it please me I could allow you to see them. I will be going to Nova for a visit to the town I am helping rebuild. A side trip could be arranged. Would you like to see your family again?"

She had mentioned she had learned to dance. But probably not the dances that slave girls learned. Slave girls learned dances that excited a man and some had mastered the art so well that it drove men mad with desire. Artemis would learn those dances. He ate slowly as he had nothing planned for the day. He might watch her leasons or he might go back into the city to see a couple of his friends.

A bit latter William brought Dante's slave girl up to the room. She wore a red slave garment, denoting her as a Red status slave girl. One well trained and proven to give pleasure to her master. She came in and knelt on the floor, he legs spread wide, revealing her womanhood. She rested her ass on her heals, kept her back straight and chest out. Her head was held up but her eyes were always looking down. "Anita at your service, Master." she said as she knelt.

Justin smiled and looked at Artemis. "Remember that position." he told her, "That is how you are to be in the presence of your master, unless told otherwise. Now I will leave you to Anita. She will be your instructor in every thing."

[Ekstaze]

She didn't care what he had to say about her family and didn't really listen at that point but instead concentrated on her food. Artemis ate a little bit more and then just pushed the plate from her "I do not care to see them again. My life is no longer with them and that's the end of it. I will not talk anymore about my family" she told him sternly and took a sip from her drink. Artemis could feel her nerves started to sting with anger about the subject.

Artemis was about to say something else but her eyes were attracted to something else. She was intent on watching the woman as she entered the room and then knelt, it almost made Artemis want to advert her attention. That may be how she was suppose to kneel or sit but it disgusted Artemis, she only looked at him and gave a tight lipped smile. When he was gone from the room Artemis turned to Anita and got to her feet "I do not care to learn any instrument so don't waste your breath" she told the girl and walked away from her and over to one of the windows. Artemis knew it wasn't the girls fault that she was hear or the why Anita had been brought here to teach her but if she couldn't run then she was going to resist as much as she could, when she could.

[questor]

Anita's eyes went wide with fear as Artemis spoke. "If I do not teach you, I will be punished severely. My master has been paid a good amount of money to my master for me to teach you all I know. He will have to return that money if I fail and he will punish me for it." she told Artemis.

Johnathan took his mother and brothers into town. Some of the buildings had been burned to the ground and others damaged. The town had not escaped the ravages of the war. He found the postal rider service and gave the letter to the rider. He had no address for the Captain so only was able to give the rider his name and the name of the city. He paid him for his service and then took his family on to the market place to buy some food and some things for his brothers and mother.

[Ekstaze]

"He is not my master, that guy just happens to be someone who bought me" she snapped at the girl and sat on the window seat so she could be comfortable looking out at the castle grounds. "Then I guess today is your unlucky day" Artemis told Anita, she did feel a bit bad for the girl but she really didn't want to learn anything from the her. She just wanted to find out if what Justin told her was true about her country and what this Nova place was all about. Artemis would be counting the minutes till she could track down where the library was and do some research. "Besides you can just tell them that it was I who refused and you will be just fine. I don't mind taking the blame on this and I already told that guy that I wasn't going to just roll over and let him have his way. I already promised not to run away but I never promised that I was going to listen" Artemis crossed her arms and rested them on her knees.

[questor]

Anita now was visably shaking. "Then I must report back to my master that I have not been able to do what I was sent here to do." she told Artemis.
"It does not matter if you refuse. I have failed to do as I was instructed and my master will have to return the money. " She rose and began moving to the door, fear in her eyes and shaking. She knew the punishment for not doing as she was told.

One of the female servants came in and looked at Anita, her eyes wide. Then she turned to Artemis, "What have you done?" she asked anger in her voice. Do you know what punishment she will receive for not doing what she has been told to do? I hope Mr. Anderson whips you to within an inch of your life for not doing what you have been instructed to do."

[Ekstaze]

Artemis was trying hard to not let the girl get to her, what
was it her problem if she got punished it wasn’t like Artemis had asked for
this kind of treatment. She didn’t want to learn an instrument so why should
she have to, just because that man said so. Artemis got up from her stop when
another girl came into the room “I told her to tell them that it was my fault. If
you so want that to happen to me then tell both of them that it was all my
doing, I don’t care. Like I said before, I told him I wouldn’t run but I will
not just go along with whatever he has to say” Artemis hissed at the new girl.


She was done with all of this and walked past the two girls “If
we are finished here then I’m leaving this room” Artemis told them and just
walked out of the room. She wanted to get away from both of those girls and
everyone else in this place to just be alone for a little bit. All of this was
getting to be too much and she was already starting to breaking down inside.

[questor]

"It does not matter what you told her to tell her master. She will now be whipped, and probably given over to several men to do as they please with her and that probably will not be the end of her punishment. Go on and disobey your master, and have no thought of what evil you have done to this poor woman. When he returns he will get a full report of what you have done. I do not think he will be to pleased." The servent girl saw Anita out of the castle and handed her over to another servant that would take her back to her master.

William and Justin were still on their way into the city. Justin had some plans of the town that was going to be rebuilt. Already he had paid for food, clothing and other essentials to be delivered. It would cost him a small fortune but it was a worthy cause and would cement relations with Nova and Kardova. He would make what he spent, back with in a year from his mines.

[Ekstaze]

Artemis made her way through the castle looking into every room that had an open door. This place was pretty nice and she wondered just how many rooms there were and how many people stay in this place. Thus far she hadn't seen many and that seemed lonely to her, Artemis always had her brothers around and her mother wasn't too far away either. Even her father spent lots of time with the family when he could. She quickly shook her head to try and dislodge those memories from her mind.

She walked down a few more corridors and finally found the library, it was a lot bigger then she had imagined. Artemis worked her way around the room looking at all the books, at first she just wanted to see what types he had and then she remembered her conversation with the man. Artemis wanted to find out if what he said about her country was true or not but another thought that nagged her. Were the books that he had true or were they just what his people thought?

[questor]

There were many books on the history of Kordova, poetry, biographies and autobiographies of important people. There were fictional tales of high adventure and love stories and books on geogrophy. On a desk there were a number of papers, that looked to be reports from Nova, mostly letters from business aquaintences of Justin. But in them were also mentioned the worries of the Novallians that they were going to be invaded by Jakar. That word had come from the capitol that spies had found out that the King of Jakar himself wanted to rule over Nova. Behind the desk was what looked to be an open safe, from which the documents had more then likely had been taken or were being put into.

While Artemis was looking over the library William and Justin came to their destination. It was a warehouse that had all the materials that were to be going to Nova. Here he met with the Builder's Guild Representative and they went over the plans to rebuild the damaged parts of the town and renovate the other parts.

[Ekstaze]

Artemis looked over the whole room, it was fascinated how much people wrote down though she was familiar with works that portrayed fantasies and not the truth. She wondered if there were any here like that, that she could be interested in. It took some time but Artemis' eyes were caught by a desk filled with papers, she was curious and just quickly scanned them like she was going to be hit over the head any second and then looked around the room. There was no one there nor anyone near by that she could hear. So she walked a little closer to the documents and began reading them over one by one, her stomach dropped considerably and it started to get harder to read the papers. She looked around the room once more trying to find some stability but even the shelves of books wobbled from side to side. She finally tossed the papers back on the desk and hurried out the room, Artemis needed fresh air.

She rushed to find a door to the outside, it was hard in this big of a place. Every door that she found and ripped open was just another room, or bathroom. Artemis was starting to feel dizzy Need air She thought to herself and tried another door, praying that it was the right one.

[questor]

The door lead out into a large garden. There were trees, flowers, bushes, all neatly trimmed and taken care of. Stone walkways laced the ground and here and there there were stone benches for people to sit. The scent of the flowers filled the air with a mixture of smells. At the center of the garden was a statue of a woman, a beautiful woman, dressed in not your typical fashion of the day, but more revealing, yet not to much. The sunlight filled the garden with its warmth and added to its beauty.

From the distant wall of the garden a low rumbling growl came. It came from behind a metal barred grate in the wall. One could see laying beyond the grate a very large feline. It was laying down and watching Artemis with large golden eyes. Its tail swished back and forth.

[Ekstaze]

She succeeded in getting outside, Artemis stopped right after exiting and took a deep breath. She felt somewhat better but as she looked over her shoulder back inside the castle she felt herself start to hyperventilate more so she just walked further away from the place. Artemis let her eyes wander on the area that she was in, it was beautiful and she found herself relaxing more. She could also see herself in this place more then before, all the flowers and structures that were around her just made everything that more extravagant.

Artemis walked further and further into the garden and stopped. Something was odd about this place, it was just too perfect, there had to be something wrong with it. She felt as if someone was going to jump out at her any second now and tie her up. Actually she had been expecting someone to yell at her at the very least because of her little stunt earlier but nothing had happened thus far. 'Must not have heard about it yet' she thought to herself referring to her new owner.

[questor]

Sitting on a stone bench that circled a very large tree, was an old man of about 60 years of age. His hair was white as snow and his face was wrinkled with time and the sun. When the door to the garden had opened, he had heard it and waited to see who it was that was coming into the garden. Not many of the servants came to the garden. They knew it was the Captains place to get away from the world, since he got back. In the shadows of the tree he sat and watched the young woman in slave atire approach.

When she was closer he spoke. "You must be the new slave the servants have been talking about." He stood and the growl from the metal grate was louder now. "Oh hush Zeus. Is that any way to greet the newest member of the castle." He slowly walked forward out of the shadows of the tree to stand before Artemis. "Now what brings you to the Captains Garden?"

[Ekstaze]

Artemis continued to admire the garden, she was sure that many of these flowers never grew near her home and wondered what they were called. The colors were so vibrant and it was hard to tear your gaze away from them. With the sound of the voice Artemis blinked her eyes while trying to get her breathing under control "I had no idea this was here...I just needed some air" she told the old man, her eyes shifted briefly to the animal in the cage and felt a twinge of pain. She knew that the animal was in there for probably good reason but Artemis felt that it would probably be much happier running around, kind of like what she wanted to do. "I'm Artemis" she told the man and bowed her head as she was taught by her mother from a young age, those things would probably never leave her which was why she figured it would be harder for her to learn another way of doing it. "Your feline is beautiful as well as this garden" Artemis looked around a little more and then returned her attention to the old man.

[questor]

The old man smiled, "Not my garden and not my feline, though Zeus and I get along. He walked over to the grating and pressed a section of the wall. The grate opened and the large cat rose and emerged to stand next to the old man. "Now you be a good boy Zeus. We have a visitor." the old man stroked the large cat's head and it purred. "He is an old softy once you get to know him. Captain found him in a circus that was mistreating him. It is amazing what a little love and proper attention will do."

The big cat looked at Artemis and sniffed the air and growled. "Easy Zeus. She is the Captains new slave and might be allowed here." he looked at Artemis, "Oh where is my manners. I am Carl the grounds keeper and gardener. I took care of the garden for the Captain's mother." he nodded towards the statue. "She was a beautiful and lovely lady." he shook his head sadly. "Now the garden is the Captains place of peace and comfort." he patted Zeus side.

"Come back inside. We let Zeus out here as well to enjoy some running around room." He walked over to Artemis and took her gently by the elbow. and escorted her back to the door. Zeus followed sniffing Artemis. "Yes Zeus, she will be staying here and might come back to the garden if the Captain allows it. So you behave yourself." Once at the door he pointed back to the garden and Zeus turned and ran off into it.

[Ekstaze]

The old man was quiet nice, she liked the fact of how he talked to her and even though he referred to her as a slave he didn't make it sound demeaning to be one. Artemis held out her hand so Zeus could sniff it but that only lasted a little bit as she was escorted back to the castle. She really didn't want to go back inside but the man had been nice to her "I'm really sorry for intruding" Artemis finally said to both Carl and Zeus and then she took a step away from the guy. "It was a pleasure to meet you Carl and I hope that I get to enjoy your work again but I'm going to walk around some more" she told him and bowed her head once more.

Artemis turned and walked away from the door, it was true that she wanted to check the rest of the place out but she really just wanted to be outside and if she wasn't allowed in the garden then maybe she could find the back area of the castle or maybe even the front part. Just some where that was outside and away from all who dwell inside the castle. She looked and judged everything that she saw, from the drapes to the carpet, even the paints that hung on the walls. She could think of so many more things that would look better in a place like this but she was sure that the Captain didn't really want to hear her opinion on it. So she just continued on her way through the castle exploring.

[questor]

On the second floor of the castle, a door lead to a large room that looked as if it might be some sort of banquet room. At the far end was a balcony that over looked the sea. A couple three mast ships were sailing out of the harbor and into the open sea beyond. Both were merchant ships, flying the flags of two different kingdoms. Below she could see a large area of the island that stuck out in to the harbor. It had lush grass and some trees and a small cottage. She saw the old man moving towards it and a dog come running out to greet him.

Unlike the day before the breeze was warm. The storm had passed and the sun gave its warmth to the world. It was now later in the morning. A few hours had passed since Justin had left.

Concluding his bussiness at the warehouse, William and him began their way back home. Justin wanted to see how well Artemis' leasons were progressing. Upon his arrival he was given a full report of what had happened. He was not pleased at all. "Find her and bring her to THE ROOM, and bring my whip." His eyes and face showed how angry he was and the servants trembled. William went with another male servant to find her. When they found her the roughly took her by the arms and dragged and pulled her to the room Justin had mentioned.

Inside the room there were all sorts of devices, couches, chairs, chains hanging from the ceiling with manicals at their ends and shorter chains with manicals on the end of them. The same was with one of the walls. Justin was already there whip in hand. he pointed to the wall and William and the other man snapped the manicals on her wrists and ankles so that she faced the wall. William then undid the slave garment at the neck and let it fall to the ground.

"You disobeyed me. Refused to begin your lessons and there fore caused another slave to more then likely be whipped and punished. Now you will feel what she is probably feeling." he drew back the whip and brought it forward, lashing her back. The whip was designed to inflict pain but not leave any permanent marks. He whipped her a few more times and then let her hang there, watching her.

[Ekstaze]

Artemis was enjoying a tapestry that she had found when she was pulled in a direction, she fought against he men for a little bit and then let herself be dragged. She had expected some kind of scolding but something liked this not to mention being dragged into a wet cold room and chained to a wall. It took Artemis a few seconds to realize what was happening though that was only till after the first crack of the whip.

She bit back a scream but her lip paid the price as her teeth pierced the sensitive flesh to the point of bleeding. This was new to her and she dreaded being hit again, her parent's had spanked her when she was little but this was a thousand times worse. Artemis had to remind herself to breath but told herself not to scream, the other slave girls had told her this was going to happen and even she knew that herself but Artemis had never expected it to hurt this much. "I told you before. I would not run but that didn't mean I was going to listen" she bit out through a sharp intake of breath trying to displace the pain blooming in her back.

[questor]

"You will learn to obey and lean what it takes to become a pleasure slave." he told her. "Tommorow you will again have a pleasure slave here to teach you. If you do not do as you are told, you will feel the bite of the whip again." He threw the whip to a table and then told William. "Place her in the kennel tonight. Maybe a night there will teach her something." he was angry. His friend would be forced to whip his slave because Artemis refused to take the lessons. He knew how much his friend cared for his slave and he hoped that he would not punish her at all.

William and the other servant released her and took her to another room. It had a large cage in it, along with some other furniture. Into the cage they pushed Artemis. In it was a blanket and a straw matress covered by a coarse cloth. Instead of the soft bed of Justin, she would be sleeping there. William looked at her and shook his head. "Mr. Anderson has told me about your brother and family and what he has done. He has treated you well and you have repaid him with disobedance. He is a good man but you have made him very angry." he shook his head again and left the room after locking the cage.

A bit later the door opened and the old man entered. He looked at her shaking his head. "Why did you do it?" he asked sadly. "Now look at you." he went over to a table and put some food on a plate and brought it over to her cage.

[Ekstaze]

It was hard to deal with this pain but she kept biting her lip, that as well would be sore the next day but when she was released from her binds she was happy. Artemis didn't care to fight back at that moment but she would have liked to walk out of that room by herself. The pain in her back wouldn't allow her because it shot all the way through her body and her legs were affected the most. She just left her body limp and then the bite of the cold floor was enough to jolt her a bit.

Artemis sat up as much as she could and wrapped her arms around her knees. Her mind was numb to just about anything and barely caught the guys words. Artemis' eyes were red from her tears but she didn't sniffle, she understood why this happened but in her mind she knew that she would do it again. She didn't want this mans help with anything, didn't want to listen to him no matter the cost, as long as her family was safe then she would continue to be this way.

She stayed in that position for a while till her mind cleared and she heard that sweet voice from earlier. Artemis wiped at her eyes and looked up to find Carl "I told him..." she started to say and then just dropped her head to her knees "I don't know...I really don't know" she didn't want to move because Artemis was comfortable right now and was a bit afraid that if she moved that her body would start hurting again.

[questor]

Carl pulled up a chair and sat by the cage. "You think being a pleasure slave is bad?" he shook his head. "A slave in the mines or on the farms is a lot worse then being a pleasure slave." he slid the plate into the cage so that Artemis could have something to eat and drink. "Long ago I was once a slave in the mines at Karack. Now that is a place one should call hell." he told her. "Some of the task masters would whip you just for the fun of it. I still have the scars on my back. Well that was before Mr Anderson's father took over the mine. He changed things and freed me and brought me here to be the grounds keeper."

He closed his eyes and breathed slowly. "Being a Pleasure Slave, you don't have to worry about anything but making your master happy. You don't have to scrub floors, clean clothes or do anything like that. I have known women that were brought in from various kingdoms that had a hard life, trying to live a life the best they could. They saw how being a pleasure slave was and never looked back on their old lives again. I am not saying that being a slave is a good thing, but what harm is there in learning something new. It is something to keep you occupied. Music, Dancing, singing." he smiled warmly at her.

"Now lay down on your stomach and i'll put some of this ointment on your back. It will help take the sting of the whip away."

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