Arlen stood staring up at the Minkies man whom was glowering down from his 7 feet of height at the Servicer blocking Aggie from view.

The Minkies man had a pink handprint forming on his cheek where Aggie had inscribed her displeasure at having her ass touched.

The man had a shaved head, and his wooden mask was currently pushed over its baldness, exposing his fierce dog-like glare. He had cold blue eyes, tanned skin, and was made of nothing but lean muscle, which only added to the overall threat of his rage at being struck by a prisoner.

The Minkies’ hands were in fists, and it didn’t take Arlen long to deduce what was coming. He gently pushed Aggie further away from himself, all the while maintaining eye contact with the hulking form of the man in front of him.

Arlen dodged the blow that was aimed at his left eye, and jumped over the leg that had swung out in an attempt to sweep his legs out from under him. The Minkies were fast, but Arlen had an inordinate amount of adrenaline pumping through his veins as he realized that he was in his first combat situation since starting his training with Tork.

What Arlen had heard about back during his lessons to be a Servicer in duty, but had not yet experienced, was when adrenaline and a Servicer’s abilities met, their rate of learning increased drastically.

He had never fathomed what it truly was like, until that moment.

As the Minkies man drew up from his kick, it was almost as though it were in slow motion to Arlen. He saw the impending jab before it came, and dodged it comfortably, but was surprised to find that he had issued a short firm blow of his own towards the Minkie’s lower abdomen, and heard the wind rush out of his opponent’s lungs.

Arlen knocked the lowered face of the Minkies male with his upper forehead sharply, and watched as he promptly fell on his ass unconscious.

Arlen failed to predict the large hand that grasped his shoulder in a painful pinch and swung him around, it was easily one of the largest pure humans Arlen had ever seen, towering over him with his colossal form and his tanned leathery fist raised high. He looked somehow even bigger than the previous Minkies attacker…

It was the massive Minkies man turn be caught of guard, when a rock thrown with great precision knocked him hard in his temple. The giant of a man stumbled back, releasing Arlen, and clutching his now bleeding head.

Arlen whipped his head around to see the remainder 3 Minkies men that had been waiting for treatment, now surrounded Aggie with their spears pointed at her. Her face betrayed no guilt as she shrugged at Arlen with an unnatural amount of casualness.

“ENOUGH!”

Everyone turned to stare at the Queen, whom looked more annoyed than angry as she walked back over to her warriors and captives.

“Lady. Servicer. Control yourselves. Otherwise I will let my men do whatever they wish to you.” The Queen stood with her hands crossed over her chest and she stared resigned at Aggie, somehow deeming her to be more problematic than Arlen.

“Stop your men grabbing my ass and we’ll be as sweet as lambs.” Aggie replied calmly but firmly as she locked eyes with the Queen.

The red-head rolled her eyes to the heavens as though asking for divine help, before turning to stare at the man bleeding, and the other man lying unconscious on the ground, then back to Aggie.

“Unless you and a mate have claimed one another, you will have to deal with this. Telling them to stop will work just fine. Though they will keep trying in other ways.”

Arlen looked thoroughly disgruntled.

“How far do you allow your men to go unchecked? Is rape allowed?” Arlen demanded, ignoring the slitted glares he was receiving from a small crowd that was forming.

Aggie winced at the word, but slowly folded her arms over herself as the thought crept through her mind.

The Queen turned, and slowly walked over to Arlen.

“We are physical people, but we are not cruel people. We express interest physically, but we do not force the shedding of clothes in the interest of seducing.” She turned towards her men and nodded curtly at them before addressing them.

“If anyone takes their interest further than what is deemed acceptable to our own kind, you will face repercussions.” She turned, and walked back to her group by the fire, and as she went 3 young children appeared around the curve in the mountain trail ahead of the campsite. Each one had flaming red hair, and they were all under the age of 5. The eldest, a boy, the second oldest a girl, and the baby it was hard to tell the gender through the black paint and animal skin cloth over their groin.

They each ran to the Queen, and all burst into chatter immediately.

Aggie wasn’t sure which startled her more about the scene before her, the fact that there were children included in the tribe of rough warriors, or that the Queen had bent down picked up the youngest, took the hand of the girl, and quietly listened as she guided them over to her spot by the fire.

“The Queen, those can’t be-”

“All of them hers. Yes. Remember what the King said to you? It is rare for a Minkies woman to not have children at your age. The Queen I believe is also older than you.” Arlen provided the information as he returned to Aggie’s side while the crowd once again dispersed and the soldiers begrudgingly sat on their log for treatment.

“Only by a few years at most!” Arlen and Aggie slowly returned to their task of bandaging the wounded men they had moments before been about to engage in combat. There was a collective look that the men shared as they watched the Lady and her Servicer behave all too calmly after their altercation.

“I admit it is rare for a Minkies woman to have so many already. Her mate must be in her tribe which is not the norm.” Arlen knelt back down, and began methodically bandaging an angry burn wound on another Minkies warrior’s leg.

“Minkies don’t stay with their mates?” Aggie tried to follow Arlen’s system of applying the honey, resting the mint leaves over the wound, and bandaging them, but found her hands becoming abundantly sticky and difficult to use.

“They do not typically. They face skirmished with animals and other forces in the mountains, and believe that having your loved one present with the children, makes you more likely to abandon the needs of the tribe in order to serve your own family.”

“Only part true.”

Aggie looked up into the deep green eyes of a lean Minkies man with sandy brown hair, who had his nose and cheeks painted black. He gazed at her levelly as she knelt before him, and tried to wrap the bandage around his calf properly.

“We also live apart because if we didn’t, we’d spend our days fucking instead of travelling.” A ripple of deep throaty laughs echoed down the line of warriors, and Aggie’s eyes widened.

“Do you all speak English?” She asked her tone jumping an octave.

Even Arlen seemed somewhat surprised.

“We do.” He continued staring at Aggie directly, eventually making her squirm with discomfort.

“I thought only a few Minkies could speak English. Though, I figured out you all understood it well enough when the Queen addressed you all.” Arlen cut in smoothly, narrowing his eyes at the Minkies man suspiciously.

“We prefer others to think that. We don’t like to talk often anyway.” The man reached down, and finished tying the bandage around his leg as Aggie fumbled for the third time.

“I am Mek.”

“A-Aggie.”

“You are virgin, yes?”

Aggie turned bright red, and shuffled over to the next warrior who seemed truly delighted at witnessing her discomfort. She was not making fast friends of these people.

“It isn’t your business.” She snipped heatedly as she began with renewed vigor to focus on bandaging another wound.

“It is if I want to mate with you.”

“Not if I don’t want to mate with you.” Aggie no longer cared that her bandaging job was going to fall apart the moment the man stood up, she shifted down another person, and set to work on his extended forearm.

“You will. I prefer to know ahead of time. Preparation makes a difference.” Mek had a small simle on his face, and his eyes were bright with mischief.

Aggie was about to stand up straight and shout at the belligerent Minkies man, when Arlen appeared in front of him instead.

“If you try to mate with my Mistress against her will, or don’t heed her rejections, I won’t stop until you are dead.” The levity in the men’s eyes faded as they all stared at Arlen with renewed darkness.

“Servicer if you are so concerned, then you two should claim each other as mates.”

Arlen didn’t respond, and instead returned to his original position bandaging an older warrior’s upper arm.

Aggie felt the burning in her cheeks lasting for the rest of the morning.

She also found it hard to lock eyes with Arlen after the fact, but appreciated that Mek had stopped shamelessly inquiring about her sexual prowess.

By midday the group had begun to move out from the camp, and they began traveling West through the mountain’s winding paths.

Aggie and Arlen were forced to carry the old weapons that would need the attention of blacksmiths once they went to civilization.

Aggie had been able to make a makeshift bag from an old canvas tarp, and Arlen had attempted to do the same, but the amount of weapons he had been given had been determined by the man he had knocked unconscious, and so he found himself with shaking arms by the end of the day.

They had made camp after descending half the mountain, and though they were not tied up in the evenings, they were always surrounded by the unsettling large Minkies men, who only grunted at one another, despite having made themselves abundantly clear that they were all perfectly capable of communication.

Between the crackling fire, and full bellies of goat meat, Aggie found her eyes closing against her knowledge, as she waited to be told where she and Arlen were to sleep.

She was unaware that as she swayed, Arlen gently pulled her to rest on his shoulder. By the time her cheek touched his wool shirt, she was gone to the world of dreamlessness.

Arlen’s eyes locked on Mek who was watching them with a wolfish smile on his face from their right. Arlen ignored his weary arms, and light headedness, and instead stared into the flames until his eyes burned.

The silence around Arlen was alluring in its dare to make him fall into his own deep sleep, but he couldn’t leave Aggie unprotected. He clenched his fist, as he felt her gentle breathing beside him. He would never claim her as anything other than his Mistress, even if it were for the sake of safety.

So he had to protect her as much as he could, simply as her Servicer.

As he grit his teeth to force himself to stay awake, he couldn’t help but wonder why the bond magic wasn’t allowing him to easily stave of sleep, as he had been told would happen in times of jeopardy.

“Perhaps… because she feels no danger…” Arlen’s eyes fluttered, and as he began to wonder about his odd bond with his odd Lady, he failed to realize he was now fast asleep with his head resting on the unwashed frizzy mess that was Aggie’s hair.

The Queen watched with her mate at the Servicer and his Lady, then nodded to the men that had walked beside their charges for the day, and they stood up, and convened further from the fire, knowing that there was no chance that the Servicer was still awake.

“How are they faring?” The Queen asked as she rocked her youngest son in her arms.

“Weak.” Tieg answered gruffly, his wound from Aggie’s thrown rock still looked painful, but he had refused any treatment out of pride.

“Yes. The Servicer is not strong enough yet. Their bond is-”

“More and less.” Keynan provided the broad end to the sentence. His daughter fast asleep over his shoulder as he met every warrior’s gaze with his own chilling one. Some of them still winced whenever they locked eyes with the seer, but at his summary of what they all saw and sensed, nodded with agreement.

“There is much that is strange with the Servicer. I cannot see what, but anything to do with the Lady matters greatly.” Keynan continued, and once again the group nodded.

“How can we train them without it seeming… too strange?” Tieg asked trying to lower his normally booming voice.

“Goad the Lady. Mek. You are the easiest person for that.” The Queen addressed the warrior who though stood head to head with Tieg, was half the girth. “You harassed her enough today. She will be easy.”

Mek smiled while Jed and Nola rolled their eyes. Jed was the shortest of all the Minkies, but he was actually the younger brother of Tieg. His mother had birthed him too early, and no one had been able to stop her death.

He shared a knowing look with his brother at the new plan.

“She has aim.” Tieg offered gesturing to his wound. “She has trained some. Knives probably. Do what you can to keep one nearby.”

Mek chuckled. “I will keep one within reach. Though being stabbed by the scrappy Lady isn’t what I’d had in mind for fun with her.”

“The Servicer experienced his adrenaline burst today. Hate when they do those.” Nola volunteered with a small shiver. “They don’t move normal when that happens.”

Nola was a nervous person, but she was a good calming influence once some of the more violent and reckless notions were suggested in such meetings. The Queen liked hearing from a wide arrange of careful thinkers before making any firm decisions for her tribe or people.

“It was his first time judging from the look of surprise he had.” Mek pointed out for once looking serious. No one found the Servicer’s powers particularly funny.

The Queen nodded, let out a small breath, then glanced over her shoulder towards the Servicer and his Lady.

“He still is not powerful like the others. It could be that their bond is focused in only one area.”

“A Singular Bond?!” Nola squeaked her dark eyebrows shooting up towards her hairline.

“I have a suspicion actually…” The Queen’s voice dropped even lower. “I think it isn’t just the Servicer’s blood making the bond abnormal. There was once an old legend about the Beatha family… I will tell you all once I have found more. For now, sleep.”

“I have seen the ghouls in our futures. Either tomorrow or day after, but it will be a chaotic battle to be certain.” Keynan added as they all shifted to retire for the night.

Everyone groaned.

“We have the untrained Servicer and Lady to protect now, as well as children.” Tieg grumbled, and quickly looked contrite at the venomous look his Queen shot him.

“My children, and Nola’s children are all of 5. Not hard. Plus who knows. The Servicer may have another burst, and that may make it interesting.”

They all nodded stiffly, and quietly retreated to their own designated areas, knowing that the upcoming weeks of travel would be remembered in the coming centuries as part of Agnes Beatha’s story.

They all knew that their own individual parts would be quickly forgotten from history’s mind, and yet they knew their part was integral to the outcome of the story.

That was always how it had been, and how it was always meant to be.