Chapter 182:

"Where are we going next?" Rasha asked, stepping out of the portal building and planting the butt of her halberd onto the stone road. "I'm certain that Verona and Kal-"

Anton raised his hand. "No. Remember? There's something that you're going to tell me. Whatever's causing you to continuously strain your upper body, or whatever it is."

Rasha's body stiffened. "Right. I did say that, didn't I?"

"What's wrong?" Cetina's voice was very soft. "It doesn't matter if it's embarrassing or it makes you uncomfortable. I can't rely on someone in a battle if I know they're keeping something hidden from me, especially since you're Anton's bodyguard too."

Rasha bit onto her lower lip. She shuffled nervously from side to side, it was enough movement for the chest piece to rub against her chest. Pain surged over her face, far greater than before.

"Rasha." Anton waited until she looked him in the eye. "Tell me."

"It's..." Rasha looked around, to the numerous people moving back and forth.

"Let's go somewhere more private."

Rasha weakly nodded. "Okay."

Already she moved more sluggishly, holding a hand just underneath her breasts and pressing her armour down tight. In the bright light he could tell that some of the colour had left her face, her long ears sagged lower than normal. Anton directed them to a nearby storage barn, it wasn’t the best but it would provide them privacy for whatever was afflicting Rasha.

"I'll make sure no one comes in." Cetina pushed the door open and ushered them in. A passing Atros guard almost peered through but Cetina quickly, and politely exchanged a few words before she returned to Anton's side. "No one will come in new. We're safe here."

"We've got a lot of crates in our way too." Anton motioned to the fully stocked barn, bristling with crates of food and other supplies. "So they won't see us."

Rasha's fingers gripped tight on her legs, finding purchase in the small gaps.

"D...Do you remember when you..." Rasha smiled, took a deep breath and looked Anton in the eyes. "Do you remember when you bought us?"

"A day I won't forget."

Don't force it out of her. I mean, I could, but that would only hurt her trust in me. But keep her going, and let her explain it in her own words.

"And how the Seocurians made us dress."

Anton and Cetina nodded once.

"I do."

Rasha gripped her hands again. Whatever she wanted to say something was holding her back.

"Is it something to do with that translucent dress they forced you to wear?" Anton asked.

"It was more like a wet piece of thin silk," Cetina added softly.

"No." Rasha clicked her neck. "It's not that."

"So what is it then?"

Rasha sighed and unbuckled one side of her chest plate. "Apart from that thin dress they gave us..."

Rasha waved over her chest.

"Piercings," Anton said. "Golden piercings. On your...Well, through your nipples. Same with Kristof. Does he still have his?"

Rasha shook her head. "He and Marion have had theirs removed. Apparently it was really painful and bloody...And they had Kal heal them afterwards."

"I do recall them being rather large." Anton mused. "So, do you still have yours?"

"I do. But," Rasha removed her chest plate, streaks of pain shot over her face. "They shouldn't be a problem for most people, Beastkin."

"The easiest way is to have a look." Anton clicked his tongue. "If you want I can get Marion or Cetina to do it. And I just heal you when it's done."

Rasha scoffed. "Marion would laugh at me."

"Cetina it is then." Anton stood up. "I-"

"I think it would be best if you had a look." Rasha plucked at the hem of her Arachnid silk shirt. She cast her head down. "I think..."

Anton, though trying not to stare too blatantly, instantly knew something was amiss. While it was certainly bad form to reminisce about the shape of her breasts, from the times she wore nothing but thin clothes, they had changed and not for the better. More worrying were the faint yellow stains covering the centre of her breasts, allowing the silk to become semitranslucent. He could see the golden ball ends pushing against the damp silk but even they looked wrong. The bright golden colour had distorted, tiny black lines covered the bars nearer to her nipples. None of it was a good sign.

"Kal said Minotaurs produce a lot of milk." Anton kept his voice as professional, scientific and impartial as possible. "Since they are related to bovines. I take it that's what those stains are?"

"Kind of the problem." Rasha gently touched the very tip. She snarled and gripped the edge of her leg plate.

"Let's get a good look then." Anton shuffled forward and motioned her to sit. "We'll figure something out."

Rasha slowly removed her shirt. Every part that brushed against her akin elicited another jolt of pain. Rasha grunted and ripped her shirt free. Anton wasn't entirely sure what to expect: Rasha was heavily built, a greater proportion of muscle than Cetina but with a thicker layer of fat covering her muscles. However his attention, and Cetina's, lay squarely on her chest. Anton knew they would be huge, he knew that the moment she was dragged out onto the seller’s platform in Danafra, but he immediately understood she was in serious trouble. Her breasts were swollen, like the worst example of plastic surgery and jutting out rather than resting naturally. The tissue beneath was pushing against her skin extremely hard. Veins pulsed angrily underneath the tiny stretch marks.

"Fucking hell," Cetina whispered.

Though not the most appropriate word it was exactly what Anton thought. Rasha managed a grimace as she laid her hands back onto her legs and gently pushed her chest out.

"Oh," Anton said softly. "I think I know what happened."

The source of the problem lay in the centre of Rasha's breasts, the large golden bolt piercings that travelled through her dark blue nipples. A thin and sickly coloured liquid, milk, clung to the bolt. Anton blinked again and he realised that it wasn't the milk that was causing the colour change. The metal itself had corroded.

"How long have you had these?" Anton turned to Cetina. "Could you please get me a piece of cloth?"

Cetina began to rummage through some of the nearby boxes.

"Since they brought me to that horrible place." Rasha too kept herself speaking calmly as possible, ignoring the fact that she was topless. "So a while."

"And when did it start happening?" Anton received a cloth piece from Cetina. "Right away? During our trip or when you were in Atros itself?"

"It started on the journey." Rasha frowned. "A couple of nights after you healed me. I don't understand. I thought it would make me better, not worse. Not that I think you did this."

Anton grimaced. "You're right. So far the healings have helped people. But...But I think I might have caused this." Both women began to object but Anton raised his hand. "Inadvertently. But I have an idea. Rasha? Could you please wipe one of your..."

Rasha did as she was bid. Each time she removed the milk it simply continued to seep out. Her eyes began to water from the pain simply touching her breasts caused. Rasha’s tolerance to pain was truly immense.

"Clearly those piercings are the cause of this." Anton shuffled forward. Rasha kept herself still and allowed Anton to manoeuvre himself. "The part inside has corroded quite badly."

Anton drew his small blade. Rasha's eyes fell upon the glint of metal, genuine fear in her eyes.

"I'm not going to cut you or anything like that." Anton waited until Rasha calmed a little. "But I do want to see. This might hurt a little."

Rasha gripped her hands even tighter as Anton drew close with the blade. He manoeuvred the blade’s tip to the edge of her skin, keeping his own hands clear, and prodded the distorted metal. Flakes fell free along with a large chunk. Anton picked it up with the blade.

"Smells pretty bad." Anton sniffed at the metal after cleaning it. "Like some vile metallic concoction."

"I thought gold didn't have a smell." Rasha mused.

"Do you think they would put that much gold in you, when you're just going to be sold off?"

Rasha frowned deeply, even Cetina looked more than a little disappointed.

"Perhaps the wrong phrase-"

"It's true," Rasha grumbled. "It is true. I wasn't going to go for much. Not compared to Marion, at least."

"Whatever this is." Anton flicked the metal away. "It's leeched back into your body and contaminated your mammary glands."

"My what?" Rasha and Cetina looked equally confused.

"Think of them as the parts of your breasts that actually make your milk. Men don't have them and that's why we don't have breasts...Well, you can if you eat too much." Anton waved his thoughts down. "Regardless. That's what's caused the inflammation and why your milk looks so wrong."

"But why now?" Rasha gripped the ends of a piercing and pulled. Her arms twitched and shook but she could not break it. "Damn these things. I can see why they cut them out."

Rasha looked to Anton, his face his deep thought. "What's wrong?"

"Why did my healing make this happen? Did it corrode...How sour is your milk?"

"What?" Rasha looked quite bemused.

"The Seocurians wouldn't want you to die from an infection they caused before they could flog you off, that's bad business, but they've surely done it to other Minotaurs before." Anton smiled. "But not one crossed with a Blue Oni."

"I..." Rasha scratched her horn. "I've been told Minotaur milk is a little sour. But Oni milk is really bitter and sour. Do you think-"

"That's why it corroded." Anton looked at the still weeping milk. "Constantly covered in it, as a mix yours won't be as strong as a full Blue Oni, but...Did the Seocurians use a hot needle to make the hole?"

Rasha frowned. "They did. And it was extremely painful."

"Especially there." Cetina mused.

"The red hot needle would have cauterised your wound. My healing would have removed the scar tissue which prevented it from flowing around it. Now that’s gone the milk completely coated it and there was no way to get it out from deep in there. Or stopping the contaminated milk from travelling back in. Maybe. I take that it was a little difficult to..."

Rasha's ears reddened as she cast her head down. "It was. It was very difficult."

Anton clapped his hands. "I think this is the first time my healing has made someone worse."

"I-"

"I know." Anton smiled. "But now we know it's not something like a magical disease. We just need to get those out of you and everything will be fine."

"But I can't." Rasha tried to rip them apart again. She fought back the tears as her fingers finally gave up. "See? And it won't go through."

"Not without ripping that apart." Anton nodded glumly. "Kind of what the Seocurians were hoping for. But, thankfully, we have people incredibly skilled with metal and delicate work."

"Who?" Rasha held the cloth to her chest.

Anton and Cetina exchanged a look. The answer should have been obvious.

---[]---

"You poor thing." The female Dwarven Smith could only look at Rasha with pity. "Who would do such a thing to a beauty like you?"

"The Seocurians," Anton said softly, though even he felt the anger through his voice. "They do these things to demonize and belittle the Beastkin, weakening their strength to resist."

"Seocurians?" The dwarf pointed towards the door. "You mean-"

"The Seocurian Empire," Rasha said, though there was a slight happiness to her smile. "The ones in Atros are good. The Seocurians that didn't want us as slaves."

"They're not the only ones," Anton recalled their time in Danafra, their walk towards the Slave House particularly. An elderly man and two children had caught their attention, the old man pointing to the dead Beastkin and shaking his head in disgust. When they realised they were being watched they scurried away. Not an action taken by someone that despised Beastkin and thought them nothing but meat.

It's inconceivable to think that every Seocurian believes that wholeheartedly. Although, the Beastkin have been nothing but slaves for generations. Breaking that mindset will be difficult, doubly so when their entire economy is so reliant upon them. But who would we even talk to? The old man? How could we find him in a city as densely packed as Danafra? One problem at a time. Especially if it's right in front of you.

Rasha grunted as the Dwarven Smith finally finished her work. It was a painful affair but Rasha kept her objections and noise to an absolute minimum. Both of the piercings had been removed, the mangled pieces of gold-coloured metal lay discarded on a nearby crate. While the ends were of good condition, the rod had cracked and split, throwing up great shards now stained with fresh and old blood. He wondered how Rasha had endured such a menacing and painful object embedded into her body. And more importantly, why.

"There's nothing left inside." The Dwarven Smith mused. "Though it'll be painful for some time. You'll need to be careful about infections and diseases for a long time."

"Don't worry about that." Anton laid his hand on Rasha's shoulder and chanted a healing prayer. Rasha's swollen breasts lost their discolouration and returned to their normal size, albeit still ludicrously huge. The wounds healed as her skin regained her normal blue tone.

The Dwarf looked stunned. "You...Did you heal a Dwarf when you arrived at The Isles? Young Dwarf, missing a leg?"

"I did. And he seemed extremely happy to be walking properly again."

"He's my grandson." The Dwarf tapped the table. "Thank you. He was having some...Dark thoughts."

Anton gently nodded. He didn't know, or want to know, what life would be like if he permanently lost one of his limbs. Temporarily losing his hand was bad enough.

"Be sure to send any Dwarf that requires healing our way. Kal is a better and more efficient healer than me but together we'll get them as good as new."

"I'll certainly keep that in mind." She picked up the rotten piercings. "I'll dispose of these."

"Very discretely please." Anton caught Rasha's worried look. "Very discreetly. Please."

"I understand." She wrapped them inside some cloth and placed it inside a small leather bag containing her tools. "It'll go into one of the scrap forges. No one will question it before it's gone."

"Thank you very much."

"Thank you," Rasha said softly. The Dwarven Smith had to ply over Rasha's breasts near continuously to free the metal but both acted professionally. Anton did catch her compare Rasha's breast size to her own head. It had baffled the Dwarf, that something could be that big.

Cetina opened the door and gave orders to the men still standing guard. As Cetina talked it gave Anton a moment to think. Think about what he would say next.

I don't think Rasha wants to hear that ‘everything's fine’ and ‘it doesn’t matter’. Don't think she's that sort of person. If she's to be a bodyguard...

When Cetina returned Rasha nervously tapped her knees. Anton could tell something was still coursing through her mind, and it wasn't pain.

"Best get dressed then." Rasha chuckled nervously. "If I get seen like-"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Anton asked, his voice was calm but it unnerved Rasha more than if he had been shouting.

"I...I was embarrassed." Rasha put on her shirt. "Someone as big and as old as me, I am just a bit younger than Marion, shouldn't have to ask for something like that."

"And if you had been travelling with us and you'd fallen ill. What then?" Anton folder his arms. "We could be in a life or death situation, where we needed every bit of strength we can muster. And then you fall down or make a bad decision because that infection has spread?"

Rasha bit her lip, refusing to look either of them in the eye.

Anton sighed. "It's sorted now. I don't think there are going to be any more complications."

"I-"

"I am not done talking."

Rasha tensed.

"But…Look at me." Anton waited until Rasha met his gaze. Her eyes were not so much on the verge of tears but of regret and a little shame. "If. If you do something as stupid, as idiotic as that again, keeping something from me that could affect your life, I'll have you not only banished from my side but I'll make sure that you spend the rest of your days working some menial task in some dead-end backwater while you contemplate what you've done. Do you understand?"

Rasha nodded.

"I didn't hear you."

"Yes! Yes, Anton."

"Good." Anton felt his shoulders relax. "There are still a few things I'd like to see before today is done. Do you need help to put your armour back on?"

"What?" Rasha blinked at Anton, then threw a confused look to Cetina.

"Do you need a hand to put your armour on?" Anton folded his arms. "You aren't released from my service yet."

"No." Rasha near effortlessly picked her chest armour up with one hand. "I can do it."

"We'll be outside when you're done."

Rasha nodded and began fastening her armour even before they had left. Outside, Cetina dismissed the guards and waited until they were gone before speaking her mind.

"Was that-"

"The best thing to say?" Anton leant against the door. "Possibly not. But if told her that it didn't matter, that everything was going to be alright...She knows that it was stupid not to say something and if she gets away with it the guilt will fester in the back of her mind. Not that she would do it again but that it isn't fair that she wasn't punished."

Cetina leant against the door, gently holding his hand. "You never would have thrown her away."

"Not the best phrase to a former slave, but yes. The threat is punishment enough. I think she knows that." Anton shrugged. He kissed Cetina's cheek, she flushed lightly and made sure no one was looking. "And if she had started to break I would have stopped."

"I don't know how many people think that I'm your concubine." Cetina murmured. Anton could only chuckle as she refused to relinquish her hold.

"Doesn't matter. They think we're all weird and strange anyway. They barely batted an eye when they found out I was with Kal. Quite a few thought we already were."

Heavy footsteps emanated from within. Cetina finally let go of his hand, resting it on her sword. Rasha emerged, fully armoured but with a somewhat despondent look.

"Everything good?" Anton asked.

Rasha nodded.

"Let's go then."

Anton stepped forward but Rasha hesitated to move. He stopped and motioned with his head for her to follow. Rasha took a deep breath and joined them. At first she walked behind, hesitant to even cross his shadow, but Anton slowed until she was by his side. She was clearly quite depressed but Anton exaggeratedly straightened his back. Rasha frowned until she understood and copied him. Almost immediately she appeared happier and a slight smile formed on her face. Anton began to walk, now with both walking proudly by his side.