I didn’t dream that night and instead woke to Vilmar’s snores. At some point in the night I’d curled up in the space between his crossed legs and unfurled enough to see that the hut was still full. I debated about waking up fully to try and practice sensing mana but after the previous night I decided that sleep was the better option.

Once I finished making myself comfortable, I quickly fell back to sleep until Vilmar started to move. I could tell that he was trying not to wake me and if I hadn’t woken up once before I probably would have stayed asleep. His shifting meant I lost most of my heat source making me whimper and wrap myself around his leg. Vilmar tensed up, unsure if I was asleep or not, causing me to mumble at him so he knew I had already been awake.

A hand found it’s way to my head and I happily pushed against it accepting the scratching.

“We need to get up and head to roll call soon.”

I purred in response and started to slowly untangle myself from Vilmar.

“How’d you sleep?”

“Not great, but not bad either. So I guess alright?”

Vilmar started to walk towards the door and I scampered after him, rubbing the sleep from my eyes once we got outside.

“Thank you for last night, being able to focus on the story was much better than thinking about the delmatas.”

“I’m glad I was able to help. Hopefully people stop trying to call Selmet’s claim into question after this. I’m not sure what he did but after seeing how angry he was, it will have definitely stopped anyone for a little while.”

“He didn’t seem that angry to me.” I though for a second, “At least, he wasn’t after taking me away from the delmatas”

“That’s because he wasn’t angry at you. Selmet is many things, but stupid is not one of them. He wasn’t going to take his angry out on you for something out of your control or at how you acted while drugged. How are you feeling after now that more time has passed.“

“I don’t know. My body feels fine and I’m not having the same problems with heat or the itching but my head is still fuzzy.”

Vilmar stopped walking and knelt down to look me in the eyes. After looking for a moment he stood up, picking me up with him.

“Your eyes are still a little dilated so there’s probably still some of the drugs in you. Honestly it would be best for you to move around to sweat it out, but you’ve been very unsteady on your feet since we started walking.”

“Won’t my body get used to it? Like it did with the poetan?”

“Eventually yes, but one time…drinking it?” I nodded against Vilmar’s neck, “One time drinking it isn’t going to be enough make you immune. It took you years to become immune to poetan, but that was due more to your age than anything else.”

“So how long would it take?”

“If they didn’t make the drugs stronger, then probably a few months of taking it every day. It really depends on too many things to say exactly how long it would take.”

Vilmar bent, letting me slid out of his arms and take my place in line.

“So what would happen if the poetan was made stronger?”

“Then you would be partially affected again. You would definitely become resistant to it faster than the first time, but it would still take a little while.”

“Couldn’t I become fully resistant to it?”

“That’s a tough question to answer. I’m going to say no, but it depends on the poison. For something like poetan, I could see you getting resistant enough to it that it would never affect you again.”

Our conversation changed to talked about how Selmet was back and soon enough he started to call out names and strokes ending our conversation.

The more I listened, the more worried I became since it seemed like Selmet was making up for no one being whipped yesterday. When he finally made his way to us he stopped and stared at Vilmar for a moment.

“You should be getting strokes, but I’m not going to give them to you because you let me know about Rea. Don’t disappoint me.” Selmet paused, “You’re in the mines today.”

Vilmar nodded and Selmet turned his attention to me.

“And you, you’re in the box today.”

“The…the box?”

“Hmm. That’s right. You see Heirmess over there?”

He pointed to the edge of the post yard before ruffling my hair.

“She’ll get you ready, but make sure she lets you take your time.” Selmet started to walk away before stopping and addressing me again, “And one last thing, the box is an all day job so you don’t have to worry about coming back here.”

I nodded and made my way over to Heirmess. When I got closer, I was able to pick up the scent that I found attractive but it had been marred by the smell of sex that still clung to her. Her eyes were only half open and what I could see of her body was covered in various bruises. As bad as she looked, it was the bruise in the shape of a hand on her neck that made me shudder the most.

Even after I took my place next to her, Heirmess continued to look straight ahead without noticing me. I shuffled in place and whined hoping to get Heirmess' attention without having to actually touch her unsure how she'd react to the contact. It quickly became apparent I needed to actually tug on Heirmess’ arm to get her attention and I immediately took a step back after doing so in case she struck out at me. After looking around with bloodshot eyes, she finally saw that I was next to her and, after double-checking what my job was, started to walk off with the expectation that I was going to follow.

It only took a few changes in direction for me to realize that Heirmess was taking me to the same bathhouse that I’d been cleaned at before. Knowing that, it was hard not to want to go a little faster since I so badly wanted to feel clean. Unfortunately, Heirmess was moving at a rather slow pace, which I figured was from the drugs we were given last night. It was someone cathartic to know that others were still being affected by last night, even if the severity was different.

When we got to the bathhouse, Heirmess led me though the same door before stopping me in the room filled with cubbies. Knowing that I was going to have to take my dress and pouch off to bathe, I quickly stripped and held them out to Heirmess. She took them from me and placed the bundle into one of the cubbies that was within my reach before instructing me to sit on the ground. I didn’t have any problems with that since the ground in this room was wood, meaning it wasn’t going to be nearly as cold as stone.

Once I was seated, Heirmess started to undo the buttons holding her clothing together. Her shirt was the first thing to be taken off and added to the cubby, opening in the front to reveal another much smaller shirt that wrapped itself tightly around just her chest and shoulders. While she undid her pant buttons, I stared at the large dark bruise that covered the entirety of her upper stomach. Heirmess bent to take her pants off, flinched as her stomach tightened, and slowly rose to her full height while letting out a long pained breath. Another set of smaller pants ending at her upper thigh and going up to about her navel were hiding underneath and I mentally questioned the point of wearing a set of the same clothing only shorter and tighter underneath what you were already wearing.

She placed her pants in the cubby before sitting on a nearby stool to reach behind her and undo something on the back of the smaller shirt. Upon taking the next shirt off I noticed that the location and size of Heirmess’ breasts seemed to change, dropping more and shrinking in size. She turned to place the shirt in the cubby and I was able to make out a circle scarred onto her back filled with equally disfiguring writing.

It wasn’t large, about the size of both my hands pressed together, and was centered between her shoulder blades. Interestingly enough, it seemed as though there were a few scars that looked as if they had been placed underneath the circle and the writing. I shuddered at the thought of having my own skin burned to resemble Heirmess’ back and was grateful I hadn’t been burned since I didn’t know how my healing would deal with it.

Heirmess moved while remaining seated to take off the waist cover she was wearing leaving her as naked as I was. I blinked a few times before fidgeting in place and trying too look away without any success. Seeing hair somewhere other that a persons head was unusual and I continued to stare as Heirmess finished putting the last of her clothing into the cubby.

“Stop staring, it’s creepy.”

“Sorry.”

“Just don’t do it again. Now come on, let’s get you cleaned up.”

I nodded while standing and followed Heirmess into the next room making sure to look at her feet as I followed her. Once inside, Heirmess shut the door behind us and I made my way over to one of the holes in the ground before careful sliding into it. After a few seconds of waiting, water was poured over me and I began to shiver since it lacked any heat. I ignored the water’s temperature and started to clean myself as best as I could. The water quickly dirtied and I called for Heirmess to ask her how to empty the hole.

“What?” Heirmess seemed to have recovered the same snap in her tone of voice, possibly due to waking up more.

“How do I get rid of the dirty water?”

“How do you…? Right, you didn’t empty it last time.” She rubbed her temples while sighing, “On the bottom there’s a hole being covered. If you lift the cover it’ll empty.”

“Thank you.”

“Yup.”

Heirmess stepped back from the edge and I lost sight of her.

“Um, Heirmess?”

“What?”

I flinched slightly at the annoyance in the disembodied voice.

“Could I please have some more water?”

“I think you can handle getting it yourself.”

“But I can’t get out…”

Heirmess walked back over to the edge of the hole and looked down at me.

“Try.”

I stood up and reached for the lip of the hole, my fingers just short of being able to grab the edge. A small hop let me hang from the lip, but I couldn’t keep my grip against the wet stone and fell back down into the ankle deep water.

“Fine. I’ll get you the water, not that it matters that much.”

“Why?”

Heirmess continued to talk to me from outside my view.

“Why what?”

“Why does it not matter?”

“Because you’re not using soap. This is just a rinse to get most of the dirt off of you anyways.”

“Soap?”

“And that’s why you’re an animal. How do you not know what soap is?”

Being called an animal stung but I didn’t let it show and instead finished emptying the tub while waiting for the clean water. Just about the time I stood again, more water was poured on top of me and Heirmess once again retreated out of my line of sight.

Much to my delight, the water barely changed color this time and I finally felt like I’d managed to fully clean myself for once. I purred happily despite shivering and went about emptying the tub again.

“I’m done.”

“No your not.”

I could hear Heirmess walking back over to me from outside of the room we were in.

“But…”

She leaned over the edge and gestured for me to come to the side.

“No buts. This was a good start but I’m not about to hand you off to Selmet without giving you a good once over.”

Once I was at the side of the tub, Heirmess crouched in order to reach me and placed her hands underneath my arms to pick me up. I couldn’t help but stare at Heirmess until she started to lift me, making me flail my feet in hopes of not being suspended in the air at her mercy. My right foot made contact with Heirmess’ leg and I gripped onto it lightly while still trying to find something with my free foot.

“Relax, I’m not going to drop you.”

Heirmess finished lifting me out of the hole and, instead of setting me down like I expected, she leaned me over her shoulder. Both of us changed our hold on the other and I was warned about my claws as Heirmess started to walk further into the back of the bathing area. Having the extra body heat felt amazing, especially since the water had done such a thorough job robbing me of my own, and I started to purr while attempting to hold myself closer to Heirmess.

The air around us grew warmer and Heirmess slowed to a stop in order to step over something. She started to sit down and when I felt water touch my feet I tightened my grip slightly unit I realized how warm the water was. Upon fully sitting, Heirmess slid down further to submerge herself and, by extension, me. I panicked at the loss of air, but we quickly resurfaced and Heirmess started to pull me off of her.

Once I had been pulled free, I was turned around and subsequently pushed under water again causing me to flail until I was released and allowed to resurface. I coughed a few times while moving my hair out of my face only to freeze when I felt something cold and slimy being poured on my head. A hand was run though my hair, spreading the liquid around, until all of my hair had been coated. My fidgets and sniffs to figure out what was in my hair finally annoyed Heirmess enough that she shifted to wrap a leg around to keep me in place before scrubbing my head vigorously.

I tried to separate myself from Heirmess but quickly gave up and endured the rough scrubbing while whimpering. Some of the excess liquid dripped down my face and got into my eyes causing them to sting. I tried to clean them out but only succeeded in letting more of the liquid in and started to squirm in hopes of freeing myself in order get the liquid off of me. Heirmess removed her hands from my head and I heard her dip them into the water before running them over my face. I continued to squirm and lift my face upwards as she poured water onto me and rubbed my eyes.

Even after she finished wiping my face off and returned to scrubbing my head, I continued to whimper while keeping my face pointed up in hopes of not getting anything else into my eyes. After a few more seconds of scrubbing, Heirmess loosened her leg from around me enough to push all but my face underneath the surface of the water. She started to scrub again before finally pulling me back up to lean against her.

After a few tentative tries to make sure the liquid was gone I finally open my eyes. Whatever had been put into my hair was now resting as a film on the surface of the water and I looked up at Heirmess when she started to shift around again. One hand reached into an earthen jar and pulled out a block of something that smelled like mint while the other wrapped around me while dipping into the water. I watched as Heirmess rub the bar against a wet cloth causing it to foam before she then began to scrub me with it.

Nowhere was left touched and, by the time Heirmess finished, I felt violated despite feeling cleaner than before. My skin had a red tint to it from the force she had used and I hurt in several places that were handled too roughly, like my horns or between my legs. She’d also gotten the suds into my eyes, which stung even more than the liquid. When I was finally allowed to separate myself from Heirmess I did so and retreated to the other side of the tub while turning so I could see what she was doing.

Seemingly finished with me, Heirmess started to rub herself down with the same level of intensity she had used on me. I watched as both soaps foamed, leaving bubbles in the water, and found myself popping the ones that made it to me. I continued to pop the bubbles and slowly made a game out of it, giggling to myself since this was the first time I’d actually had fun after waking up last week. I whined in disappointment when the bubbles finally ran out only to see that Heirmess had left the tub at some point without my notice.

A quick look was all I needed to find her walking back to the tub with a towel wrapped around her. She had brought an extra and I was summarily removed from the tub’s fading warmth despite my protests before being dried off. After drying me to her satisfaction, Heirmess led me back into the cubby room and had me sit on the floor again while she dressed herself. I made an attempt to dress myself but was shouted at and remained on the floor until Heirmess finished.

Once she’d clothed herself, Heirmess picked me up and carried me out of the building. It was still early enough in the day that the wind quickly chilled me causing me to whimper and press myself into Heirmess for warmth. She continued to walk towards an area of the camp I hadn’t been to before and we soon enough came to a rather barren stone building.

Heirmess opened the door and walked in without shutting it behind her. I was placed on the ground as Heirmess went to a shelf covered with glass bottles giving me time to look around the room. After a quick check, I found that the room didn’t have any windows making it completely devoid of any light aside form what was currently coming in from the door. I heard Heirmess mutter something to herself and smelled fire, which made me turn to see what the source was.

The cause of the fire was a small censer with an exposed flame that Heirmess carried to the center of the room before reaching up and placing it on a hook. I noted that since there was no incense burning, the censer’s only purpose was to add a little light to the room. It didn’t seem that important right now and I figured that it would only matter if the door were actually shut.

With the censer hung, Heirmess retuned to the shelf and took a handful of bottles off of it. She walked over to me while uncorking one of them and I was able to pick up a flowery smell from it. Heirmess lifted the bottle to her nose to smell the contents before replacing the cork and taking a seat next to me. She gestured for me to come to her and I walked over, nearly tripping a few time as me feet sunk into the mats covering the floor.

I was instructed to sit in her lap and did so, happy for the extra warmth, while she showed me that the bottles were filled with oils. Once she had shown them to me, Heirmess poured out some of the flower scented oil onto her hand and started to run it through my hair. Her fingers got stuck a few times but soon enough my hair had been coated in the oils allowing Heirmess to run her fingers through it without snagging. Before moving on to something else, Heirmess braided my hair and secured it with ties from her own.

A little bit of prodding got me on my feet as Heirmess proceeded to pour out a different oil and began to cover my body with it. I was expecting the oil to linger like it was in my hair, but my skin quickly absorbed it leaving only the smell behind. By the time she finished coating me, I was actively trying to get away from Heirmess. In order to get the oil everywhere she wanted to, Heirmess had forcibly rubbed different areas with far too much strength than some of the more sensitive locations could handle.

By the time Heirmess finished with the last oil, I had repeatedly hissed at her and been hit for it each time. The smell of all the oils blending together had become overpowering after the third and was now enough to make me dizzy any time I took too large of a breath. Additionally, the constant rubbing had caused me to heat up and I recognized how the heat pooled in my gut just like the night before but without the itching. The final oil Heirmess had applied had only been put between my legs and the focused attention had caused me to start dripping onto the floor.

To make matters worse, my dripping made the oils feel like they were pooling on my skin and I had to resist rubbing myself to disperse the collecting moisture. At some point the constant touching caused me to start panting but without Heirmess actively touching me, I was able to quickly cool off. The longer I ignored the wet feeling between my legs, the faster it faded, leaving me a little agitated and very fidgety.

I whimpered while looking for Heirmess only to find that she had left the room and shut he door behind her. Without anyone to tell me what to do, I started to look around the room, moving carefully at first until I was used to walking on the mats. Since there were no windows in the room my only real concern was the door and I quickly found that there was no handle on this side meaning I was trapped.

As I was looking at the area around the door, it opened and I stayed behind it not knowing who had entered. The door was shut and I was able to see that the person I was now trapped with was Selmet. He had brought a cloth bag and a stool with him and, once he sat the stool down, he looked around the room in an attempt find me. I’d made sure to stay behind Selmet as he turned and continued to do so until my foot slipped because of the oils on it.

My yelp and inability to move meant that Selmet saw me but to my surprise he didn’t do anything after confirming I was there. Instead, he moved the stool further into the room before placing the bag down next to it and walking over to the same shelf Heirmess had taken the oils from. Selmet seemed almost too big for the room, his head nearly touching the ceiling, and it made sense that he would prefer to sit and not be so close to the censer.

While Selmet was looking for something on the shelf, I crawled over to the bag to see what he had brought with him. The contents of the bag were confusing at first, a few different collars and some rope along with my dress and the pouch holding my parent’s cores. Nothing really stood out until I pulled my dress out of the bag and saw the whip underneath it. I whimpered uneasily before yelping in surprise as I was lifted off the ground.

“You shouldn’t be looking though bags that don’t belong to you.”

I whimpered in response while flailing around in hopes of grabbing onto something but only found empty air. Selmet set me down and I immediately ran away from him before turning and watching what he was going to do. He simple bent and put my dress back into the bag and slid it underneath the stool before reaching up to light a stick of incense with the censer’s open flame. Once he finished, Selmet looked around for me and sat down on the stool while facing in my direction. He continued to stare at me and I fidgeted while trying not to look him in the eyes.

“Tell me, what do you think of me?”

I stared at Selmet with a dumb look on my face.

“You don’t have to worry about being punished, I want an honest answer from you.”

“I…” I stuttered while thinking of what to say before deciding to do as Selmet had asked. “I don’t like you.”

Selmet raised his brow slightly.

“Oh? And why is that?”

“Because you hurt me and it, it hurts.”

Bringing both his hands together and resting them in front of his face, Selmet sat quietly for a moment while thinking.

“Any other reasons for not liking me?”

“No? I’m happy that you stopped Adamo, but Vilmar said…” I stopped speaking realizing that I may end up getting both of us hurt if I continued.

“No, no, no, go on. I want to know what he said.”

I shook my head while whimpering.

“How about this, I promise not to hurt Vilmar and you tell me what he said. How’s that sound?”

“Promise?”

“Sure.”

“He, he said that you only helped me because I’m yours. Not because you wanted to help me.”

Selmet repositioned himself slightly.

“Hmmm. Well he isn’t wrong about that per se, you are mine, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about you specifically.”

“If you cared, wouldn’t you not hurt me?”

My question caused Selmet to start laughing and I whined while looking at the door again.

“You’re not going to find a way out if that’s what you’re looking for. Besides, just because I hurt you doesn’t mean I don’t care. So far I’ve only hurt you when you’ve deserved it.”

“What about my ears?” I mewed angrily, “You flick them when you want and that hurts!”

“I suppose that would be an exception. I wasn’t aware it was that painful; I’ll avoid it in the future even if it is fun to see your ears twitch. Regardless, come here.” I whimpered uneasily while fidgeting in place, “Now.”

Moving carefully so as not to fall again, I half walked half crawled over to Selmet while watching for any sudden movements. Once I was within reach, he placed a hand on my head and scratched around my horns.

“Good girl.”

I purred despite myself and remained where I was while fidgeting.

“If I’m to not flick your ears, I suppose we should remove those bells then.”

Upon hearing this, my purrs grew deeper since I despised having the bells in.

“Now then,” Selmet removed his hand, picked me up, and sat me on his lap. I heard the sound of metal against metal and immediately moved to get away from Selmet only to be stopped by his arm around my waist. “Hold still and this shouldn’t hurt too much.”

I tensed myself and closed my eyes, not moving even when Selmet let go of me to hold onto my ear. My mewling slowly grew into full-blown whimpers as the knife Selmet had drawn sliced my ear open. When the first bell was removed, it felt like the muscles in my ear were being pulled out with it and I struggled to not empty my stomach despite not having anything in it. The feeling only got worse for each subsequent bell and by the time Selmet finished, I was coated with a layer of sweat.

With the chiming of the last bell being thrown to the floor, I slid off of Selmet and scurried to the corner of the room to check my ears. They had healed without any outside problems and after a few test I was happy to find they were still moving normally. I redirected my attention back to Selmet and watched as he finished cleaning the knife off and put it away. My tongue wet my lip and I swallowed to give my throat a little bit of life back while toying with a single question I’d had since being brought to this room.

“Why am I here?”

Selmet looked in my direction and gestured for me to come over to him. I hesitated but eventually made my way to the center of the room to join him.

“You want to know why you’re here? And when you say here I’m assuming you mean this room right?”

I nodded while trying to avoid eye contact.

“Take a seat then.”

Once I was seated, looking up at Selmet just served to remind me just how much larger he was.

“You’re here because this is the room we train our ginga’s in. I imagine that this is something you’re not familiar.”

I opened my mouth to speak but closed it.

“No, go on. What were you going to say?”

“I…I’ve heard the word, but I don’t know what it means. Does it have to do with the fact that I’m a slave?”

“Without confusing you with the politics of Demons, which you will eventually have to learn, your position is above a slave’s. Ginga’s are…different…in that regards, close, but ultimately different. You see, if a normal Demon citizen falls into debt and cannot repay it, they have the option of becoming a ginga and paying off their debt through indentured servitude.”

“I don’t know what any of those words mean.”

“In short, they work to return what they owe by serving as a slave but they hold the rights of a Demon citizen. How does this apply to you then? You are above a slave in that you are an extension of me in terms of social position, you are allowed to have physical and fiscal possessions if I give them to you, you can act in my stead when needed, and most importantly your children will be heirs to my house.

“However, you’re still my property, just like a slave is the property of their owner. You need to obey the same rules that slaves do yet you’re also expected to act like someone in my social position would when at formal events. This does cause some conflicts, like you not being allowed to talk to people above your status without my approval but still needing to reply when spoken to at formal events just like a woman of high status would. There are other rules and exceptions but I’m not here to teach you those at the moment because they won’t matter for some time.

“No, you’re here because you need to learn the core rules of being a ginga, the first and most important being obedience. Up until this point you’ve done a good job but there have been times where you’ve hesitated and that’s something that needs to stop. When I give an order, even if you don’t like it, you are to follow it and see it through. Now then.”

Selmet bent to pick up the bag, removing the three collars I had seen in it earlier. Once he sat the bag back on the ground, he reached into his pocket and took a small metallic object from it.

“Stand up and come closer.”

I stood and once I was basically against Selmet he handed me one of the three collars.

“You’ll notice that this one is thick and stiff. If you were to put it on it would get in the way. This is on purpose. It serves as a reminder as to why you’re wearing it in the first pace, because you are a ginga in training.”

He took the collar back before handing me the next one.

“This one is smaller and, if you feel it, is more comfortable. It’s flexible enough to not get in the way but still heavy enough to serve as a reminder. The last collar here, is the smallest, barely noticeable because once you have this one it means you are fully trained. Other Demons will recognize these collars and know what you are which will in turn protect you. This,” He held up a metallic object which I saw was a lock, “Will let them know who you belong to.”

The collar in my hands was taken and Selmet place it and the thinnest collar into the bag while standing from the stool. He then took my clothing, the pouch, and the thickest collar and placed them on one side of the stool while placing the whip on the other.

“I had planned on having this be a little more dramatic in order to make a point, but your nosing around has lessen that to an extent.”

Selmet start to walk around me and I heard him knee down before placing a hand on each of my shoulders.

“As we go through this training you’ll be awarded either a reward for acting correctly,” He pointed to the pile with my clothing, “or punished for not acting correctly or for resisting.”

His finger moved to direct my attention to the whip.

“I know you don’t like pain but you need to realize something. Pain is the best way to make people do what you want them to do, and if it doesn’t work on them, you use it on the people closest to them instead. This was a lesson that I learned the hard way, just like many of the things I’m expecting you to learn are going to be hard for you to grasp. All I’m asking at this stage is for you to try the harder things, even if you fail, but to do the easy things without question. If all goes well, when we leave here you’ll not have needed to be whipped and no one in the camp should try to hurt you anymore. We’ll start with this.”

Selmet moved to pick the collar up from the pile and knelt down in front of me. He placed it around my neck and pulled it tight enough to allow me to breath and swallow but not put a finger between it and my neck. Once he clamped the collar shut with the lock, he stood and let me move my head around.

The collar itself was stiff and didn’t readily bend when I tried to stop it from digging into me. It made using my full range of motion difficult and unpleasant while sitting heavily enough to be both uncomfortable and annoying. I tried taking my claws to it but found that the thickness in combination with its proximity to my neck made doing so useless.

“And?”

“I don’t like it.”

“Then all you have to do is earn one of the better ones. For now though, I think we’ll get started on those lessons.”

—————

I woke up and immediately emptied the contents of my stomach, creating a pile of semen and stomach acid on the floor in front of me. The taste of bile, blood, and Selmet clung to the inside of my mouth even after I finished voiding my stomach. I gagged again as a string of unbroken semen caught in my throat and began to dry heave until I removed it.

After I finished dry heaving, I spat several times in an attempt to clean my mouth out. I moved off of my knees and leaned against the wall, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. My breathing settled into a ragged huff as the nausea slowly faded only to be replaced by the feeling of something heavy resting inside my gut. I was reminded of the first time I woke up like this and how wrong it felt to have that weight there. This time wasn’t any different except I knew the cause now and I fumbled with my dress in an attempt to remove it.

The inside of my legs were still slick with a mix of blood, semen, and my own juices which only served to make me want the semen inside of me gone even more. I clumsily put my fingers inside myself, hesitating when I reached the thin barrier of flesh that had been repeatedly broken yesterday, but ultimately pushed forwards only to discover that my fingers didn’t reach nearly as far as Selmet’s had.

I started to shake while removing my fingers, doing my best to ignore the smell of fresh blood. In another bid to empty my guts, I pressed on my stomach as hard as I could manage hoping to squeeze something, anything, out. After my stomach started to bruise I gave up, having to admit that I wasn’t willing to press as forcefully has Selmet had. This left me in a state of limbo as I struggled to think of something else I could do.

The fact that I couldn’t get anything Selmet had put inside of me out finally sunk in, causing me to dissolve into tears. My fingers traced across my stomach letting me feel how it was still slightly distended. I continued to run my fingers over my stomach and at some point extended my claw enough to dig into my skin.

In a desperate last attempt, I started to rake my claws across my stomach in hopes of cutting myself open enough to remove what Selmet had left behind. My clawing became more frantic as my skin parted like water for my claws only to flow back into place just as quickly. The fact that I couldn’t make any lasting impact was the tipping point and I started to tear large swaths of my stomach open.

I was only vaguely aware of someone shouting at me and when they tried to grab my wrists I fought back, hissing and attempting to continue clawing at my stomach.

“Rea! Stop! It’s okay!”

One of my hands was pulled away from its target and I shrieked in protest while trying to pull myself free. I continued to fight to free my hand while clawing at my stomach only for my other hand to be restrained causing me to cry out again.

Using the claws on my feet, I lashed out and was released allowing me to continue my assault on my stomach. My hand was grabbed again, this time from behind me, and lifted to my eye level.

“Come on, you need to stop. This isn’t going to help.”

“No!”

I pulled against the living vice my hand was in to try to free myself while protesting and screamed even louder when my other hand was forced upwards.

“Rea, it’s ok-“

“No!”

“Rea.”

“Noo!”

“R-”

“Nooo!”

Once again, I tried to lash out with my feet but my attempt was met with empty air leaving me to struggle and scream at my captor.

My gaze focused on the arms holding my hands away from me and I lunged myself forward to sink my teeth into the closest one while growling. The person holding me hissed in pain but didn’t let go and I sunk my teeth in further in hopes of freedom. I continued to bite until I couldn’t close my jaw anymore, having fully embedded my teeth just below the wrist of whoever was trying to stop me.

The taste of blood filled my mouth as I continued to release and reapply pressure while growling in hopes of having my hands released. When even my teething failed to loosen the grip on my hands, I started to sob and shake uncontrollably while thrashing about frantically.

Eventually, I ran out of energy to keep fighting and slumped in defeat against the person holding me in place. Gradually everything around me came back into perspective and I recognized Vilmar’s scent but didn’t see him. As I continued to slowly drain of tension, I started to focus on the words of the person speaking and how they were telling me that I was okay. They were lying though, I knew I wasn’t okay and the reassurances felt false and hollow because of that.

When the taste of blood in my mouth finally grew too strong for me to handle, I relinquished my hold causing the person behind me to hiss in pain again. Their grip with that hand loosened slightly and I tried to pull my own hand free only for their hold to tighten in response. I looked at the blood running down their arm, unsure where the blood dripping off of my hands ended and the blood from the wound I’d inflicted started. All the blood made me feel sick, reminding me of what Selmet had done with me.

At some point my mind put everything together and I realized the person holding me was Vilmar. He continued to keep me from clawing myself for a little while longer before tentatively releasing his grip on my wrists to see what I would do. I let my arms fall unceremoniously to my side, no longer having the energy or the drive to fight against the lingering traces of Selmet.

“I want it out.”

“I know but there’s nothing we can do that isn’t going to take time and be painful.”

“I don’t want his child Vilmar.” I pulled my legs up and curled in on myself, “I want it out.” The volume of my voice went from quiet to a whisper but the same desperation remained. “Please.”

“You don’t need to worry about that right now.”

“What? But, but he sexed me. That’s…that’s what you said made children, that’s why Selmet did it, why wouldn’t I worry?!”

Vilmar ran a hand through my hair and I stayed still even though I wanted to pull away from the contact. I really didn’t want people touching me right now but it was Vilmar, he was just trying to help, right?

“I wish Lindi was here for this, she’s much better at explaining it than I am.”

“Vilmar…I need an answer.” I made myself even smaller, “Please. I can’t do this anymore.”

“You can’t have children yet. Your body isn’t ready for it. If you were a Demon, you would have been able to have children for two years at this point, but you’re not.”

“When then? How long do I have?”

I shifted myself against Vilmar, fidgeting while waiting for his response.

“In less than three months you’ll turn sixteen. At that point it’s only a matter of time, another two months at most, before you’ll bleed by yourself.”

“He would like that, Selmet I mean, that’s what he wanted me for. Not to just hurt me, but to make me bleed. He seemed obsessed with it.”

“That’s new information to me. This is, admittedly, one of only a handful of times you’ve not forgotten everything after Selmet has you. You never really talked after the other times either.”

Vilmar paused as if considering what to say.

“To answer your immediate concern, you have until you bleed. Once that happens you can have children from sex.”

“But not before?”

My question was met with silence.

“Vilmar?”

“Technically, no. You bleeding just means Selmet knows for sure you’re able to become pregnant, but even before you bleed for the first time you’ll have become fertile. If you bleed, it just means you’re not pregnant.”

“How, how often does that happen? And does it hurt?”

Vilmar shifted himself as if he wasn’t comfortable even though he was sitting the same way he normally did.

“For time, most women of our tribes bleed about once every month and a half.”

“So with the new moons.”

“That’s right. As for it hurting…it depends.”

“On what?”

“On you. For some, it hurts to the point it’s debilitating but for others they don’t even notice until they’re bleeding. I don’t know what it’ll be like for you because you haven’t bled yet.”

I remained silent as Vilmar started to scratch around my horns finally making me shake my head to remove his hand.

“When,” I dislodged a lump in my throat, “When I talked with Lindi yesterday, before the delmatas, she said I forgot things a lot and that the longest I made it was a year until Selmet started to hurt me. But,” I paused not sure I wanted to know the answer to my question, “But how long has it been since then? How long have we been here?”

Vilmar took a deep breath before slowly releasing it.

“Our war with the Demons started when you were three but there was no real conflict until you were five. We fought with the Demons for four years before they finally rounded all of us up.”

“How long Vilmar. I can’t do this right now, just, just tell me how long.”

“Six years. You’ve been here for six years. Selmet started to take you to the box when you turned fifteen. He didn’t touch you before then.”

I started to shake and sob, letting Vilmar hold me in his futile attempts to comfort me. The weight around my neck and in my gut served as reminders of what my future was going to be. My fidgeting grew worse and I tried to get the collar around my neck off, pulling at first before scratching at it. When my assault on the collar failed, I returned my attention to my stomach, scratching now out of desperation more than anything else. Vilmar responded almost immediately, grabbing my hands and holding them so I couldn’t hurt myself anymore.

It was pointless to fight against Vilmar or Selmet; they were too big for me to overpower simply leaving me at their mercy. Even though it was suppose to make me feel better, being next to Vilmar only made me uncomfortable and I struggled to free myself from him. He let me go without any real fight and I paced around the hut a few times before returning to Vilmar’s lap.

“We’re going to have to go to roll call soon.”

“I…I can’t. I can’t do it.”

“What do yo-?”

“He pulled my guts our Vilmar. I can’t go out there.” I curled in on myself while grabbing my stomach, trying to become as small as possible and disappear into Vilmar. “I’m terrified of him. Of what he’ll do to me.”

Vilmar shifted and stood, picking me up in the process.

“We still have to go Rea.”

“No! I don’t want to.”

I started to struggle against Vilmar but he was holding me too tight for me to slip free.

“We don’t have a choice Rea.”

My claw raked down Vilmar’s chest in an attempt to get him to release me, but he just held me closer against him, trapping my arms between us. I bit into the area between his shoulder and neck; sinking my teeth in as far as they would go while trying to pull myself free.

“I’m sorry, but we have to go.”

I released my hold on Vilmar as small sobs shook me. Vilmar carried me to roll call without saying anything. I had expected him to set me down when we made it to our places in line but he continued to hold me, most likely out of fear I would run.

About the time I had started to calm down, I heard Selmet start to say names and strokes, causing me to fight against Vilmar. He continued to hold me and I bit him again hoping that maybe, just maybe, he would loosen is grip enough that I could break free. I started to cry again, knowing that I wasn’t going to be able to free myself before Selmet got to us.

“Set her down Vilmar.”

“She’s going to run if I do.”

“That’s fine, I’ll deal with her.”

Vilmar released his grip and I squirmed against him only to have Selmet grab the back of the collar around my neck. I tried to shake Selmet’s hand loose but only ended up choking myself.

“What did you learn yesterday about obedience?”

I immediately froze and started to whimper. Selmet stepped closer to Vilmar before looking at his shoulder and wrist.

“You need to go to Gerin and have him look at those bites before they get infected. After that go help the masons, I don’t expect you to do anything too intensive today with how bad those look.”

I watched Vilmar walk away and whimpered again while trying to hold back tears.

“Now what am I going to do with you? It’s obvious that I can’t send you off alone seeing as there’s no guarantee you’ll actually go there. I guess that means you’re with me for now. Stay behind me and follow along. If you’re good we’ll see about sending you to work with Vilmar.”

Selmet released me and I fought the urge to run, the unknown punishment being the only thing keeping me where I was. I followed behind Selmet as he finished going down the rows of Deamons telling them where to go. If it wasn’t for Selmet being absent two days ago, I wouldn’t have noticed that he knew everyone by name and seemed to know exactly who needed to go where without referencing anything.

Once he finished roll call, Selmet started to walk back towards the Demon’s part of the camp. More than once I contemplated just running since Selmet had yet to look back and make sure I was still there. I couldn’t decide if he knew I wasn’t going to leave because I was afraid or if he was just that confident in his training. Regardless of how he viewed it, the only time he checked to make sure I was with him was when he entered one of the wooden houses and held the door to make sure I came inside.

“Find somewhere to sit. I’ll have something for you to do in a minute.”

Selmet walked off into a different part of the house and I heard him start to move things around and curse to himself. I had been told to sit somewhere and looked around the room for a place to do so. It was hard to find any clear space due to all the papers, books, and plants haphazardly strewn everywhere and I didn’t want to sit on or next to anything that may be important. I thought of leaving the room and following Selmet further into the house but the clatter of glass followed by an overly loud string of curses dissuaded me from pursuing that idea.

Instead, I sat where I was currently standing since I wasn’t going to risk breaking something while trying to clear a space elsewhere. After a second look, I found that the roompast the one I was in reminded me of Gerin’s hut even down to the smell. I continued to look around, acclimating myself to my surroundings and searching for anything I could hide under.

After another small string of cursing, Selmet returned with a few books in one hand and several vials in the other. He looked around the room for me and sighed when he saw that I’d sat down where he left me.

“Here,” Selmet took a few steps closer and held out the books for me to take, “read these. Let me know if you get stuck or have any problems.”

I nodded and watched as Selmet used his free hand to clear a space at the small desk in the corner of the room. Once I saw that he had occupied himself with the books and papers on the desk, I opened one of the books Selmet had given me.

The inside of the book was a mess of different pictures and shapes leaving me confused as to what any of it meant. I sat that book next to me and opened the second of the three books Selmet had given me. This book was also far too complex for me and a quick look confirmed that there wasn’t a single thing I could read in any of them.

I whimpered at the thought of having to purposefully draw Selmet’s attention to me, but he had said to ask for help and at this rate I was just going to spend my time sitting on the floor. It wasn’t a bad way to pass my time with Selmet, the preferred one actually, but I didn’t know if he would get angry at me for not reading anything.

Looking over at Selmet, it was clear he’d become absorbed in his work and that I was basically without supervision if I was willing to take the risk. Getting up from where I was seated, I carefully tiptoed my way across the room until I was next to Selmet. I griped the hem of his shirt, retracting my hand quickly after I’d given it a light tug. It took two more progressively harder pulls to get Selmet’s attention and, when I did, he only glanced at me before reaching over to scratch my horns.

A small burst of purrs escaped me and that seemed to finally draw his full attention.

“Done reading already?”

“I don’t understand any of it.”

“Can’t say that wasn’t expected and sadly I don’t have anything easier for you to read here. Gerin knows where some things are but he's busy at the moment so that plan’s out the window. What else can I have you do?” Selmet looked forward after setting his pen down. “I can’t have you organize things since you won’t know what needs to go where. You’re too small to do any of the cleaning that matters and I’m not going to have you collect the alchemical ingredients from the plants since you don’t know how. For now then I guess you’re with me.”

Selmet reached down and picked me up, placing me between his legs before he continued to work over the top of me. Being this close to Selmet made me nervous, especially given my state of undress, but after going unmolested for long enough that I got bored, I finally relaxed. In an attempt to entertain myself, I sat up enough that I could see what Selmet was working on. The long listing of numbers and words I didn’t know was enough to make me slouch against Selmet and groan in boredom.

A hand found it’s way to my head and began to scratch. Selmet didn’t seem have problems multitasking and I quickly found myself nodding off from the warmth despite my current location. I took a deep breath before releasing it and shifting to be more comfortable. My eyes gradually shut and I drifted on the edge of consciousness for what felt like an hour.

At some point Selmet had stopped working and changed his focus to making me purr. I stretched slightly when I woke and Selmet reached over his desk to grab one of the vials off of it. The vial was placed near my mouth and I tilted my head to sniff it. It wasn’t something I’d ever smelled before but the texture of the smell made me want to drink it.

Selmet let me take the vial from him without any fight and I put my tongue into the liquid to see what it tasted like. I was a little disappointed that the vial’s contents didn’t actually taste like anything making the smell its only unique trait. At this point I had been expecting to be forced to drink but Selmet had returned to writing numbers on his papers.

I was torn between trying to give the vial back and drinking it but in the end my curiosity got the better of me. Licking my lips to get the few traces of the liquid off of it, I mewed at Selmet while nudging him with my head. He started to absentmindedly scratch me while as he finished what he was doing. When Selmet finally looked down to see what I wanted, I held the empty vial up for him.

“Good girl.”

The way Selmet was scratching changed, rubbing areas that felt much better which caused me to purr deeply and push against his hand. Once he’d taken the vial from me, Selmet returned his attention to the papers on his desk and I yawned while leaning into him. It was subtle, but I noticed that I was loosing control of my body and was gradually sliding out of the chair. I was able to pull myself back into a sitting position a few times before Selmet had to stop me from falling onto the ground.

“That took a little longer than I was expecting.”

I whimpered while trying to free myself anticipating the worst as Selmet picked me up and started to walk deeper into the house.

“Relax. It’s just a weak paralytic so your immune system has something to work with. I don’t need you getting sick with winter getting closer since it would just take away time from more important things.”

After walking through the room that looked similar to Gerin’s hut, Selmet placed me on the edge of a bed in the final room of the house. Still not wanting to take my chances, I tried to leave but only succeeded in clumsily falling onto the floor. I landed with a small yelp and had to stay in my awkward landing position until Selmet picked me up.

Selmet returned me to the bed, making sure I was at the center and wasn’t going to fall off again, before walking over to the doorway and pulling the curtain dividing the rooms shut. While my eyes adjusted, I followed what Selmet was doing by watching the heat in the room shift. I kept expecting him to repeat what he did to me yesterday but every action Selmet took seemed to run counter to my fears.

A pile of cloth was placed over me and I struggled to track Selmet as he left the room leaving me in the dark. I gradually warmed up and the darkness made it hard to avoid growing sleepy. Soon enough, I’d nodded off again and only woke when I felt someone moving me. In my barely awake state, I didn’t really care who it was, just that they were warm, as I wiggled to press against them.

When I woke up again, I was slightly confused as to why I was laying on something soft. I pushed myself harder into the person next to me for warmth until I remembered where I was. My panic caused me to get caught in the blanket I was under as I fell off the bed.

Afraid to move, I lay where I was listening for any signs of movement but was only greeted by Selmet’s breathing. Once I knew I wasn’t going to draw attention to myself, I slowly untangled myself and stood. Wrapping the blanket around me, I took a look around the room and saw that aside from Selmet nothing had changed. It was clear I had slept the entire day and I was able to confirm this when I left the room and looked out a window.

I made my way through the house to the door and debated with myself for a fraction of a second before reaching up and opening it. Doing my best to shut the door quietly behind me, I pulled the blanket tighter in hopes of keeping the night’s chill away.

There was something I wanted to check and I slowly made my way towards where I though the fence keeping us in should be. There were a few Demons still walking around, most likely looking for people trying to get out, but it was easy enough to slip by them undetected when I could see the air turning warmer whenever they walked towards me.

Even though I’d called it a fence, it was more of a wooden wall, and when I reached it I took my time looking it over. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to break though so I spent my time looking for a place where I would be able to climb over. The best place I found to do so was at one of the beams keeping the wall upright and I tentatively sunk my claws into it to see if I would be able to grip it.

The wood wasn’t particularly hard and I could just barely sink my claws into it meaning it would actually be easirt to climb than I had initially thought. After a quick look around to make sure I was still alone, I let the blanket fall to the ground and tried to claw my way up the fence. Without anything to protect me from the cold I started to shiver making it hard to keep my grip.

I made it about halfway up the fence before someone wrapped their arm around my midsection and pulled me off. The sudden appearance of another person caused me to hiss and flail in panic.

“I was wondering where you were going. I didn’t think you’d be brave enough to try and escape knowing what the consequences are.”

Realizing whom it was, I began to struggle even harder, going as far as scratching at Selmet’s arm with my claws.

“Ow, son of a - STOP. NOW.”

My continued squirming and scratching finally made Selmet release his grip on me enough that I slipped part way out of his grip. In an effort to keep me in place, Selmet tightened his arm around me, choking me in the process, which only served to make me fight more.

The awkward position Selmet was trying to keep me in gave me some room to maneuver and I sunk my teeth into the first thing I could reach in hopes of getting air. Selmet started to swear and released one hand holding me in an attempt to pry my jaw open. When that failed, he started to pepper my head with slowly strengthening blows. I didn’t let go until the front of my face flared up with pain as something finally broke and Selmet in turn let me fall to the ground while he looked at his arm.

I felt my nose and hissed in pain as it started to fix itself. This delay was all Selmet needed to regain his bearings and forcefully yanked me to my feet by my hair.

“You see this?” Selmet placed the arm I’d bitten in front of my face, “This is a good way to get in trouble.”

I snarled at him and tried to bite again but instead yelped when my head was forced in another direction.

“No.” I was hit upside the head again, ”Looks like we’re going to have to deal with this behavior tonight.”

Selmet started to walk along the edge of the encampment dragging me along by my hair. He moved at a pace that was much too fast for me and didn’t hesitate to keep going even if I fell.

When Selmet finally reached where he was taking me, I was dragged inside a building smelling of blood and thrown towards the back of the room while Selmet shut and locked the door. I righted myself and watched as Selmet crossed the room to get a pair of manacles before slowly making his way towards me. Getting cornered was the last thing I wanted and I started to move parallel to Selmet in an attempt to remain out of his grasp.

“We can make this easy or hard, it’s up to you how it gets done.”

I hissed at Selmet and a scowl settled onto his face.

“Hard way it is then.”

We continued to circle until Selmet lunged at me and I just barely scrambled out of the way. After making sure I’d put some distance between us, I quickly looked around the room for a way out. Selmet lunged again while I was dividing my attention and I just barely got out of his reach. It looked like we were going to circle endlessly until Selmet started to move as if to lunge but stopped partway through.

I tripped trying to correct the direction I was moving and Selmet quickly got on top of me so I couldn’t move. My hands were forced together and a cuff meant for one hand was clamped around both my wrists. Selmet stood as I struggled to pull myself loose to no avail.

The rattling of chain caused me to flinch and I turned to watch Selmet loop the links attached to the cuffs through a loop of metal on the ceiling. I realized too late what was about to happen as I was yanked off the ground and suspended in the air by my wrists.

I started to flail but only succeeded in rocking back and forth against the wall. At this point, Selmet had returned from the other side of the room with a whip in the hand I’d bitten. I hissed and flailed my feet at him to try and keep him away but quickly sought to make myself a smaller target when the whip struck me.

Selmet struck indiscriminately, not caring where he hit, and I struggled to face away from him since having my front whipped hurt several times more than my back. When I failed to turn, I tried to curl in on myself but found I lacked the strength to hold myself up for any duration of time. At this point, Selmet seemed to work himself into a frenzy and the blows came harder and faster until the whip hit me from Selmet loosing his grip on it.

“Fuck!”

I whimpered as Selmet stormed closer and picked the whip up only to have it fall out of his shaking grip. Selmet threw the whip on the ground before walking over to the door and opening it roughly before slamming it behind him. Once my wounds closed, I began to attempt to free at least one of my hands since it would free the other as well. The only result I got was cutting my wrist against the metal and I hung listlessly until I heard talking.

The door to the room as thrown open again and Selmet came in with a very tired Gerin behind him. I noticed that Gerin had brought a bag with him and watched as he sat it down to get what he needed from it. Gerin pulled a metal tube from the bag that I recognized from when he checked my teeth and when he started to walk closer I hissed and kicked at him.

“Easy. I’m not here to hurt you.”

Despite what he said, I continued to kick at Gerin any time he got within range leading to a stalemate.

“For fuck’s sake.”

Selmet got up off of the ground and walked over to me and I repeated the same offense against him only to have one of my legs grabbed. I started to whimper and tried to free my leg only to have my other leg restrained as well, but I was able to free it due to Selmet’s surprisingly weak grip. Selmet swore before releasing my leg and slamming his fist into my gut nearly knocking me out from the force of the blow.

I curled in on myself to protect my stomach and Selmet took the opportunity to restrain both of my legs. This let Gerin approach me and I hissed as my mouth was forced open and the tube was pushed onto one of my fangs. Gerin held it there for a moment before pulling it away and I was able to catch a glimpse of a red liquid on the top of the tube.

“Well?”

“She definitely venomous now but I won’t know if it’s naturally produced or what she’s ingested until I check the venom itself.”

“I’m fairly sure it the second one. I gave her a paralytic earlier today.”

“You’re probably right but it doesn’t hurt to double check.”

Gerin started to do something that I couldn’t see before holding up a glass vial and shaking it slightly.

“Yup, that’s blood alright. How strong was the paralytic?”

“Not strong enough to make my entire arm go numb. It was a small dose too.”

Gerin shook his head while pulling various things from his bag.

“It doesn’t matter. This was more localized and her body probably created more of the paralytic once she could resist it.”

“I though you said this wasn’t naturally created.”

“It’s not. If you hadn’t given her the paralytic she wouldn’t have been able to do anything but, you gave her a poison to use and now her body’s going to produce it for a few weeks, possibly indefinitely if she can sustain it.”

Selmet sat against the wall next to Gerin.

“And how do I stop this from happening again?”

“Don’t get bitten?”

Gerin handed a vial to Selmet who downed its contents and coughed after doing so.

“As long as she has that poison in her bloodstream, she’ll be able to use it. Your best options are to make a few antidotes or to gag her until she behaves. Personally, I think the first option is the better one but I’m not going to tell you how to train her.”

“Yes, you’ve already made your stance on it clear.”

Selmet flexed his right hand a few times to make sure it was moving properly before standing and walking over to me.

“Want me to heal your arm?”

“No, there’s enough blood here to do it.”

I fidgeted as Selmet knelt down and placed the hand of his injured arm on the puddle of blood underneath me.

“It’ll probably scar.”

“That’s fine. They’re tiny marks.”

“Suit yourself.”

I felt my skin crawl as the blood on the ground slithered up Selmet’s arm and to the punctures I made. The blood pooled on his skin before dripping off revealing almost fully healed scabs where I’d bitten him. Selmet stood and glared at me before turning to Gerin.

“You need anything else?”

“No. I’ve got enough of her blood to make a few antidotes for you. Am I done here?”

“I don’t need you for anything else at the moment and even if I hurt her,” Selmet gestured to me, “I’m not having you heal her until she behaves again.”

“I’m going back to bed then,” Gerin stood and made his way towards the door, “still not sure why this couldn’t have waited till tomorrow.”

“If she hadn’t tried to climb the fence there wouldn’t have been any problems.”

Gerin shut the door behind him leaving Selmet to turn his full attention to me. I started to struggle against the cuff as Selmet retrieved the whip and walked back over to me.

“Now then. I’d thought you’d learned your lesson after last time but it seems you need a reminder.”

I hissed as the whip crossed my body.

“We have three rules here Rea. First: You do what you’re told. This is just you being obedient which we’ve now found out you don’t like to do.”

As the whip struck me again, I started to struggle harder against the cuff and whimper in desperation.

“Second: You stay in line. There have been no problems here but this is really just an extension of the first rule. A test if you will.”

Selmet paused before winding up and sticking me as hard as he could ripping large gashes down my body. I continued to struggle against the cuff while sobbing as Selmet walked closer and used my hair to force me to look at him.

“Third: You. Don’t. Try. To. ESCAPE!”

My body shook from another sob as Selmet released me and walked back to where he’d been whipping me.

“Now then. We’re going to be here until I think you’ve learned your lesson. Then, then you’re going to prove you’ve learned it and, even if I’m satisfied, we’re going to do this again. Just to make sure you’ve really learned.”

—————

At some point the next day, I managed to regain enough sense to see I was still in the same room sans Selmet. My body was a mess of pain and any attempt to move hurt despite all my injuries having healed. While I wasn’t able to see it, I could smell just how much fresh blood there was in the room and that smell in addition to the new weight in my gut made me want to vomit.

I’d thought I’d seen the worst of Selmet but I’d been so, so wrong. He’d taken joy in ripping my flesh to shreds before finally making me relive everything he’d done to me in the box the previous day. This time though, Selmet hadn’t worried about making sure I was going to be able to function the next day and had left my stomach distended to the point it hurt to breath.

I began to cry knowing how close I’d been to being free while also dreading when Selmet returned later today. He’d made it very clear that he was far from done with me and I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to make it through another day as bad as yesterday.

Selmet finally made his return later in the evening and a brief look at the light through the door was the only way I knew this aside from hunger. That night I was forced to prove to Selmet I’d learned my lesson and even when I did everything he asked me to without delay or hesitation he still strung me back up onto the wall and repeated the process.

On the third day, I was finally let out of the room but Selmet wouldn’t let me leave his side. I’d barely slept the last two nights as the brief bouts of being knocked unconscious didn’t count since they weren’t restful. After being dead on my feet for the entire day, I was finally allowed to rest but still wasn’t allowed to leave Selmet.

Soon enough, another week had passed and a return trip to the box was the final push that sent me over the edge. I withdrew and became lifeless unless told what to do, simple staying still and staring straight ahead unless told otherwise.

When I was finally allowed to return to Vilmar, it broke my heart to see how destroyed he looked at the lack of life I was displaying. I wanted to say something, but it would require me to come out of the shell I’d been protecting myself with and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to handle dealing with the previous week if I was forced to confront it.

Another week passed and I found that everyone, even Vilmar, generally ignored me. I continued to do what I was told, only really leaving my shell when I noticed something out or the ordinary happening. It wasn’t uncommon to be lead around now and a few other Demons had finally worked up the courage to force themselves onto me due to my lack of response.

I didn’t really pay attention to what was happening when a pair of Demons I didn’t know pulled me away from where I was sorting. They talked as we moved towards wherever they were taking me and I simply followed along without questioning. Even if I didn’t know why I was being taken, it wasn’t hard to make an assumption, but I found myself lowering my guard slightly when I realized where I was being taken.

It didn’t make sense to take me to the mines if they were going to sex me and I started to actively look around when I was directed towards a set of tunnels I’d never been down.

“Hey, I think she finally realized what’s happening.”

“What’s she going to do? Run?”

“I don’t want to take any chances. We’re already stepping out of line to get back at Selmet.”

“Put her in front of us then.”

I was pulled ahead of the men and any time a split in the path appeared they would tell me which one to go down. We continued to descend deeper into the earth and I began to worry about what would happen.

Eventually we reached a section of cave that was boarded up and one of the Demons set about removing some of the planks. Once that was finished, I was pushed through the opening and the boards were put back in place.

“Think she’ll be able to get out?”

“Maybe. What do you want to do about it?”

“We can collapse this tunnel.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Before the Demons had even started to walk away I began to push at the boards blocking my pathway. I focused on the area that had just been replaced and had managed to remove one plank when the area around me started to shake.

A few rocks fell on me, causing me to back away from the exit as even more stone began to fall. Without any light to tell what was happening, I ran blindly away from the collapsing tunnel and the chance of being buried alive. When the shaking and noise stopped, I began to stumble in the direction I’d just come from.

It took two more falls for me to remember that I knew how to create light and I cast the [light] spell in hopes of finding a way out. After a few minutes of searching, it became clear that I was trapped and no amount of time I spent trying to dig a way out was going to work.

So, without having any other options, I began to walk deeper into the cave. There was nothing of real interest in the tunnel, just rock and stone, but the creeping cold made it clear I was going to need to make a choice soon. Having the light to see where I was going would be key to finding a way out but that was only if I didn’t freeze to death in the process. This placed a very real limitation on how long I could survive especially since I wasn’t confident that I could wake up if I repeatedly got too cold.

I continued to walk through the tunnel after casting the [ember] spell and used the little bit of light it provided to travel. My pace gradually slowed as I realized that the roof of the tunnel was getting farther away from me and I eventually came to a complete stop. The reason was fairly simple; I had run out of tunnel.

In front of me was a void in the earth that seemed to go down forever. I looked for a rock and dropped it off the edge to see if it would be possible to climb down. After waiting till the count of ten I heard the clack of rock hitting stone. My chances of making it to the bottom of the ravine were okay if I was careful, but I wasn’t sure once I went down I was going to be able to get back up. It was; however, better than just waiting for someone to come and find me, assuming that ever happened.

I cast the [light] spell again and lay down on my stomach before sliding my legs off of the edge. My feet found places to grip and I slowly lowered myself down into the darkness.

—————

It had taken two days of searching before Selmet found out why his ginga had gone missing. His initial thought was that she had managed to escape, but, without Urik to use his innate magic to locate her, we had to rely on other methods to find out what had happened. A quick check was all we needed to confirm that the wires on top of the fences were still in place, something that wouldn’t be possible if she had gone over the fence. There were also no signs of digging and all of the Deamon stone shapers were accounted for which meant she hadn’t gone underneath the fence either.

By the end of the first day, Selmet had worked himself into a frenzy I’d only seen once before when the Emperor demanded a show of loyalty from him. I’d helped him back then as well but it had soured most of the relations he’d managed to build up outside of our hometown. Selmet had always attributed the fact that it never got back home to the town’s remoteness, but I’d long since learned that when you knew the right people it was easy enough to keep things quiet.

It was fortunate then, that there were more of us here that liked Selmet than those who didn’t since a few rounds of questioning routed out the inconsistencies in the days happenings. We’d always had a small faction in our troops that disliked Selmet’s way of doing things so I didn’t find it that surprising that this was how they chose to attack him. What was surprising, was the lengths they’d gone to in order to make sure the damage was permanent. Most of us knew why Selmet needed the ginga, but only Gerin and myself knew the actual ramifications of her dying or escaping.

I paused to open the door to Selmet’s house and waded through the swamp of papers in order to get to his potion room. With the number of things Selmet was required to keep track of the mess was expected and order was quickly restored once I entered the next room. Labeling potions and regents was usually a must for alchemy but I understood why Selmet wouldn’t label the potions that were keeping him alive even if it was a pain to search through two-dozen vials for the right one. Seeing that there were two left, I pocketed one of them before making my way out of the house. I reminded myself to tell Selmet he was down to one week’s worth of medicine left, as I doubted he was thinking about it right now.

My destination was the interrogation room on the outskirts of camp and I headed that direction at my usual lackadaisical pace. Selmet had had Mattia and Renzo taken to the interrogation room yesterday but hadn’t actually gone inside till this morning. If it weren’t for the fact Selmet had asked me to retrieve his medicine, I would have stayed away since I couldn’t stand the screaming. This wasn’t to say I didn’t agreed with Selmet that violence got things done, I just preferred the easier ways of manipulating people into doing what I wanted.

My thoughts continued to wander until I reached my destination, knocking a few times to make sure Selmet knew I was entering before opening the door. For the disaster this had been, Selmet had been rather lenient on Mattia and Renzo since their backs were still in one piece despite the telltale marks of the nine-tails. Selmet himself was sitting on a stool in the back of the room hunched over with a look of contemplation on his face.

“I brought what you asked for.”

I walked up to Selmet and waited until he turned to look at me.

“Thank you. Any longer and I would have needed to drain someone.”

“You’ve got one left. Gerin’s going to need to make you more soon if you don’t do it yourself.” I handed the vial to Selmet and he uncorked it before downing the contents. “What have you found out?”

“They took her to the mines and collapsed the fucking tunnel.”

I leaned against the wall while thinking of our best course of action.

“What’s the plan then?”

“From now on these two,” He waved one of his hands at the two Demons suspended on the other wall, “are going to be removing the rock so we can get in. We’ll probably have to send a few of the Deamons to help move the stone as well.”

“That’s…going to set us back quite a bit.”

Selmet sighed and ran his hands over his face.

“I know but it has to be done.”

“Look, I…I know you’ve set your sights on her, but are their really no other alternatives?”

“Nothing. I’ve got people in all the debt towns looking for greater regenerators but there’s been nothing. Rea’s the first one I’ve found in almost a decade of searching. If I had more time this would be easier but the Emperor expects me to have an heir before we start our next campaign.”

“You don’t think it’ll happen.”

“There are just too many things that can go wrong between now and then. I’m hoping he’ll be forgiving but…”

“But you have no guarantee. That’s fair.” I ran my hand through my hair while thinking, ”So what do we do about Rea?”

“Leave her for now. I just have to hope she survives long enough to dig her out.”

A brief look was all I needed to see that Selmet wasn’t comfortable with that idea.

“Selmet, both of us know what’s down that tunnel. There was a reason we blocked it off in the first place. If that thing gets out we’re all dead.”

Selmet sat upright and leaned against the wall.

“It can’t leave the dungeon Icuis, we spent two years making sure of it.” Selmet sighed before standing and heading towards the door. “Honestly, I’m more worried about her starving to death than stumbling into the dungeon. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time she’s conquered it.”