Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 624 See this user's pet Can Be Found: In her throne, last seat all the way to the left of the bar (when facing it), at the Red Dragon Inn. 734.02 Silver Crowns
Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 1:12 pm Post subject: Where The Wild Things Are (Mature Content)
Nine o'clock.
The seventeenth Ahn according to the Gorean chronometer which sat on the night table beside her bed. She could hear the gears working inside of it. Turned her head and saw the tiny hand moving in what most mortals who had seen regular clocks would say was counter-clockwise. She yawned and stretched out under the luxurious black satin covers when the door opened and a slave girl entered.
Like clockwork.
For a moment she could swear the girl was wearing a lettered shirt which would have identified her as some type of cheerleader if it were anyone else looking at her but Tara did not know the difference and had looked away almost as soon as she looked her way.
She hardly ever looked at the slaves in the past and never longer than a few seconds at most.
They were cattle.
Animals.
She hated them.
"What is it, girl?" she says, almost annoyed that she was being disturbed though it was time to get up for work anyway and it was par for the course having them around, serving her as they did Brutin and his men despite the fact that she had said many many times she did not want them anywhere near her.
They reminded her of her past as had the events of the last few weeks. Brutin's return. Her parents, the DeAusters, and Rissa coming to talk to him at the tavern.
Even Anubis came to pay his respects and it is he who had been monopolizing her thoughts lately. She swings her legs over the side of her bed and stands, naked, in front of the slave. Why couldn't it be him instead? She could be attending to his needs instead of the slave standing there wanting to attend to hers.
"Master said you could show us his ways," the slave girl remarked with her head down.
Her eyes narrowed then. "Brutin would not say such a thing. He forbids me to act like a slave. You can get your tongue cut out for lying, girl," she says with a sneer and proceeded to get dressed.
"Master Philodus said so, Mistress, not Master Brutin," the slavegirl said quietly in response.
"Whose collar do you wear?" she asked as she drew the kimono about herself and tied it off on the side.
"Master Brutin's, Mistress," came the monotonous response.
"Then you can start by learning this. When referring to your owner you say 'My Master', never his name as it is generally understood who owns you and if it is ever in question or doubt all anyone has to do is look to yer collar," she said with a shake of her head. "You are not allowed to say his name unless he says so."
"Yes, Mistress," she said and her head dipped even further.
Tara looked at her then. She was indeed wearing a lettered shirt. To her eyes it was inappropriate garb for a slave even though she did not understand the meaning of the shirt itself. When did she ever see cheerleaders?
"How many of you now are there?"
"Three of us, Mistress."
"Good. I'll be in the great hall. Go get the other two and meet me there in a few minutes," she said, walking out of her chambers and into the halls. She started to walk and then threw her finger up in the air.
"Girl," she said plainly.
"Yes, Mistress?"
"Come naked to the hall. If I'm to teach you anything we are going to have to start from scratch," she said and walked in the great hall's direction.
She thought she heard a giggle behind her.
Last edited by Tara Rynieyn on Sat May 31, 2008 1:53 pm; edited 1 time in total
Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 624 See this user's pet Can Be Found: In her throne, last seat all the way to the left of the bar (when facing it), at the Red Dragon Inn. 734.02 Silver Crowns
She stops by her office to make sure nothing was disturbed while she was sleeping and was glad to see that all was in order. Next she checks Brutin's office and it is empty as it should be. She closes and locks the door.
Walking down the hall, she sighs.
She was not supposed to be doing this. Brutin had distinctly pointed out to her that he did not want her behaving as a slave. He had flipped out when she had told Anubis she wanted to dance for him the other night. She could just imagine what he might do if he came upon her walking his girls through their paces.
She opens the door to the great hall and walks to where the three cheerleaders were situated. They were giggling and talking rather loudly though when they saw her and the look on her face they quieted down.
"I will teach you what I know so long as we are clear that you do not directly inform Boss I was the one that did. If he asks you, you must not lie to him but do not offer up the information. I'm sure he'll figure it out anyway," she said with a smirk and kneeled down on the floor in front of the three, her legs closed. She placed her hands in the middle of her lap and laced her fingers together.
"Slaves do not kneel like this," she said and nodded to her legs. "They kneel with their knees parted, their palms upturned at the knee, chin up, belly in, eyes downcast. This position is the first one a slave learns. It is called Nadu in the Gorean tongue. I will teach you the language so you may better communicate with the Goreans but Brutin, you should know, speaks Common and English. He may not expect you to speak his language. I only do when it concerns private matters I do not wish others in attendance to hear."
They stared at her then, hanging on every word she said.
She smiled.
"I will be very honest with you girls. I do not like slaves despite the fact that I work here and have since I was sixteen. I do not like being referred to as Mistress or even Lady but I understand that you must refer to me as Mistress in accordance with the rules. When we are alone you may call me Tara. You will *not* do so around men, I do not care who they are, and you will not speak to me as freely as I will allow you to do in this room. If you do, I'll cuff you across the mouth myself. Is this understood?"
They nodded.
"Excellent. Kneel down as I have said and look here," she said and waited for them to comply.
When they did, she shifted and pulled the kimono's material up high so they could see her thighs. She opened her knees slightly and gestured to the brand on the inside of her thigh.
"This is referred to as the Kef branding. The Kef is the Gorean letter 'K'. It is the most common branding a slave receives though this one is a little different as it was the design of House Locke. I will show you pictures of what it should look like so you know," she says with some degree of sadness.
"Mistress?"
"Tara. Aye?"
"Tara...why do you have a brand if you are not a slave like us?"
She looked down to her lap then and covered herself with the kimono once more. Answering her was going to be more painful than the brand itself was.
"Because I once was," she said plainly though she could feel the corners of her eyes starting to burn some.
They gasped.
"It was a long time ago, girls. A part of my past I don't bring up often in conversation. It is also a bone of contention between my Boss and I so I keep quiet about it."
"Who did you belong to?"
"A slaver by the name of Kain Locke," she says and starts to grin, thinking of him. "He was, once, almost as powerful as Brutin himself. I fell madly in love with him."
"Did he love you?" one of them asked.
It took her a moment to respond. She tilted her head back and looked up to the ceiling. A deep sigh.
"Yes, I believe he did."
"Where is he now?"
Her eyes flashed then. She knew where Kain was but she was almost afraid to say it for fear he would materialize and punish her for betraying him. She did not expect them to understand any of this. They were just some girls her Boss and his friends had enslaved and she was not entirely sure even the girls themselves understood the gravity of their situation. They would eventually but for now they were giddy and excited because this was something new. It amused them though if they had spent as many years in the slavery circles as she had they would not be as excited.
She almost pitied them.
"Exactly where he wants to be," she said softly and wiped her eyes.
Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 624 See this user's pet Can Be Found: In her throne, last seat all the way to the left of the bar (when facing it), at the Red Dragon Inn. 734.02 Silver Crowns
She produced a gold coin then and handed it to the blonde with a warm smile.
The slave girl took it from her hands and looked it over with a twinkle in her eye which only died when Tara leaned forward and slapped her across the face. The slave cried out in surprise, as did the two others and the gold coin fell to the floor.
"What did I do wrong??!" she shrieked holding her face.
"You touched it. Slaves are not allowed to touch money with their hands. You are not allowed to have money of your own and if you need to give money to your Master you are to carry it with your mouth," she explained and sat back on her heels, smiling again. "Now pick it up off the floor!" she screamed and all three of them jumped.
The blonde again reached out for it and she slapped her hand.
"I don't know how!" she cried in frustration.
"I just told you how! With yer mouth! Like so," she said and bending forward at the waist, her hands moving behind her, she closed her mouth over the coin on the floor and sat back up. Using her tongue she flipped it so it was laying flat in her mouth and then she pushed it out between her teeth. She spat it back out on the floor and pointed to it.
Tara knew she was making it look easy but she had learned the hard way herself. Between Savior and Kain, she was lucky she had skin left on her back because of all the hard lessons she had had to endure at their hands. Picking up money with one's mouth was nothing! Wait until they had to dance without picking their heads up past their Master's waist!
"Each of you will practice this because if you ever touch money with your hands you could very well be killed. No man is going to slap you as I did. Remember this lesson, girls, for if you make a mistake it could be fatal. A friend of mine, long ago, had her throat cut right in front of me for daring to touch money. I would not want to see the same happen to any of you."
The girls looked at her with contempt then.
"Watch yer eyes as well or shall I slap each of you to get this message across?"
They shook their heads quickly.
She placed two new gold coins on the floor so that each girl had one to practice with and stood up.
"I will be back in a few moments. When I come back we will see how each of you are progressing. Make me proud, lovelies!" she chimed and walked out of the room.
Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 624 See this user's pet Can Be Found: In her throne, last seat all the way to the left of the bar (when facing it), at the Red Dragon Inn. 734.02 Silver Crowns
She returned pushing a mop in a bucket on wheels across the floor. In her other hand was a medium-size box.
She sets the mop before the three confused slave girls and knelt down before them as she had earlier. One of them (not the blonde) had a coin in her mouth. The other two had just managed to make the floor wet in their trials.
She smiled regardless.
Opening the box she takes out a baby bunny, followed by a rock. She sets them both down on the floor before the girls and calmly pets the scared animal before sitting back.
"Which one has more rights than you do as a slave?" she asks and crosses her arms.
Confused, the three of them did not answer. They just stared at her.
"You may speak freely, ladies," she says softly.
After looking to her two sisters-in-bondage, the blonde spoke up. "We do not know, Tara."
"Both of them do," Tara responded and watched as the blonde blinked.
"But it is just a rock!" she grinned.
"And you, like it or not, are less than that rock. If I were to be walking and you were laying on the ground aside that rock I would sooner step on you than I would it for it deserves my respect. Understand this and commit it to memory, girls. Free people will disregard you now unless you are needed in some fashion and sorry to say, most of it will be sexual. You are vessels for pleasure, nothing more," she sneered.
The blonde looked hurt as did the other two.
Tara leaned forward. "What? You doubt me?"
She shook her head.
"Men are like that rock. They are hard, can withstand almost anything including the test of Time in some respects and they do not yield. Slavegirls are soft, like the rabbit. They are pretty to look at and each of you will strive to achieve not only an outer beauty but an inner one as well. See what happens when I put my hand near the bunny?"
She did now and the bunny squinted.
"It is afraid of me because somewhere in its mind it knows that I am more powerful than it is. It assumes I am going to hurt it because it does not trust me. You must not ever shy away as the bunny does. You are subject to everything your Master wants to do with or to you. You have no rights, you are completely beholden to Brutin and all of you will uphold the standards he has set forth. You will respect his House, you will behave accordingly and should any of you ever embarass him," she grinned and leaned even further toward them. "I will make your lives a living Hell."
Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 624 See this user's pet Can Be Found: In her throne, last seat all the way to the left of the bar (when facing it), at the Red Dragon Inn. 734.02 Silver Crowns
When the blonde recovered from the psychological blow she sighed.
"Were you ever his slave, Tara?" she asked carefully.
"Nay," she answered softly and smiled.
"Why not?"
"Because I am forbidden to *be* Kajira," she answered.
"I do not think I understand. Before you said you were a slave and now you're saying you cannot be one?"
She nodded. "It is because of my being enslaved by Kain that Brutin decreed I can no longer be one. It caused a rift in our relationship, what I did. To this day if I mention it or he should see the brand he frowns. And since seeing him frown makes me frown, I make damn sure I do not disobey him."
"What would he do if you disobeyed him?"
Tara blinked. Since she had only ever disobeyed Brutin twice and each time was different in circumstance, she could not be sure but she answered her anyway.
"I suppose he would not speak with me which he knows upsets me greatly. We are so in tune with each other, I often refer to us as soulmates although I know I will never be anything but his secretary, never his wife. I love him completely, any way. If I am slave to anything it is making Brutin happy, keeping his affairs in order, and seeing that he is safe from all harm."
This made the girls smile.
"How did you come to work for him instead of being his slave?"
"I was sent to kill him," she said with a tiny grin at the corner of her lips. It was not, by itself funny, killing Brutin but remembering how that night went down, the first night she met him, made her heart swell.
The girls gasped, the blonde seemingly more offended than the other two. "You what!"
She put a hand up. "I did not try to kill him. I was sent to kill him. Big difference there."
"You just walked up to him and told you were going to kill him?"
"Certainly not," she chuckled.
"Then what did you say to him?" she asked, her eyes widening.
She looked up to her, her own eyes widening in the retelling and she broke out in laughter anew.
"I said 'Lord Brutin, my name is Lady Tara Anne Rynieyn LeVey. It is my understanding you do not have a secretary. Hire me.'"
The girls laughed. "And what did he say after that?"
She stopped laughing but the smile was wide there on her face.
Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 624 See this user's pet Can Be Found: In her throne, last seat all the way to the left of the bar (when facing it), at the Red Dragon Inn. 734.02 Silver Crowns
After more girl-talk, Tara let the girls have a break. She sent them off into the gardens to play while she got up and circled the mop in the bucket.
"This will perhaps be the most difficult lesson of all," she said and ran her hand down the mop's handle.
"I do not doubt you can teach it, Tatrix," came the male voice behind her.
She jumped and turned around to see Philodus walking into the great hall. Instantly her eyes lowered as she raised her palm to her shoulder. "Greetings Philodus," she said softly. If most slavers made her nervous, Goreans scared the hell out of her and it showed.
He was quiet for a moment, studying her. When he spoke again he looked to long table that was low to the floor and smiled. "I hear you are planning a party? Is that the word?"
"Aye, alia," she said using the Gorean word for "celebration" so he would know. Her eyes still downcast then her training kicked in. "Can I get you a drink?"
He shook his head. "No. How are the girls coming along?"
"It is slow-going but I think they should be ready to dance soon," she said with a smile.
"That should make Brutin happy," he said with a smile and moved off.
When he was gone she looked to her hands and noticed her palms were bleeding.
She must have squeezed them too tightly with her nails.
"Damned Goreans," she muttered and went to go wash her hands. "They'll be the death of me yet."
Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 12:38 pm Post subject: Sad Reminders
Brutin felt his head go back against the cool wall behind him, his back to the wall. He had been listening in to Tara and her teachings of the slaves but the rock and the bunny had sent a pit of despair through him. He closed his eyes and suddenly the memories came rushing back in to him.
Tara had gotten herself enslaved and he had thrown her out, cast her out as surely as a father would disown his daughter for being the opposite of everything he had ever taught her.
He had his own problems, people insinuating themselves into his life to soak up his fame if not his fortune. He had become a celebrity with what he did and who he was and at first like minded people joined him but the more popular he got, the more infamous he got, the more sycophants showed up trying to leech the life right out of him.
So when Tara experimented and was claimed by another, and that man had the audacity to throw it in his face, the face of the one who had given that man a home, had taught him, had provided for him Brutin had cast her out, better to learn the hard way and have those illusions shattered, she would come back eventually. And she had, after a small period of time she had come back to him, none the worse for wear and he had stopped his killing spree.
He had killed so many back then, every bad apple in his own back yard, every so called wannabee slaver who thought grabbing a woman and slapping her around made him a man and a slaver had died at his hands.
He had thought the blood would make him feel better and it had until that last victim, that last betrayal, the last person in RhyDin he thought would betray him had been brought to justice.
He had removed his sword from her belly, the bright red blood splashing out between her two hands which were incapable of stemming the tide of her life as it flowed from useless fingers.
He had knelt down and put her head in his lap and brushed her hair aside as she gasped through the pain and looked up at him, her face paling as the blood rushed down to her wound to seek the open air.
"You have a weakness....like us..." She had forced through the pain and he had merely shook his head at her, sad it had come to this. He never stopped massaging her face, making those last few moments of her life now ending at his own hand as pleasant as he could for her, there was no malice, it just had to be.
"I have no weakness." He had replied, a simple fact, no pride, no boasting.
"....you..." her face relaxed from the pain, so far gone now that she felt none, she was nearly gone. "...love....like us..." she managed to say weakly and he had smiled to her and shook his head. He cradled her for her last winch of pain, her last sob, her last breath, her last shudder, her last gasp, her last moan. No, he did not love, he had tried that once and it hadn't worked out.
But was he not cradling the head of a murdered lover by his own hand for having repeated that mistake? He had trusted her and she had betrayed him and now she was dead. History repeated itself.
But she had been right all those years ago, she had seen what he himself refused to see until just now. It was hard to swallow the proof of misdeeds, harder still when they were your own.
He opened his eyes to see her ghost staring at him, that smile on her face of indulgence and pity that she had used right up to her betrayal of him. She blinked as he sighed coming to grips with the situation.
"You were right." He admitted and the ghost nodded to him, confirming her dying words. "But you were also wrong." He replied and the Ghost blinked. "So she did not betray me as I had betrayed her but after I killed you I knew my daughter and she never betrayed me. I have known love without betrayal and now I know it still." He said and the ghost shook her head in denial. "My so called weakness has given me a gift for myself, but at what cost?"
He stood up and narrowed his eyes at the Ghost. "I have bequeathed a curse to RhyDin but I am not in control of those fools who pat themselves on the chest and say they are slavers or that they think they know how the world works. They are fools." He said and pushed off the wall, the ghost reached out a hand to stop him, silently pleading but even had she been solid, he would have ignored her. As she lost her hold on his memories she faded back into the past where she belonged, his lesson learned.
"Good bye Candy." He remarked off handedly and pushed through the door to join Tara and the girls just loud enough so that Tara with her back to him could hear him enter. _________________ Brutin Vitellus
Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 624 See this user's pet Can Be Found: In her throne, last seat all the way to the left of the bar (when facing it), at the Red Dragon Inn. 734.02 Silver Crowns
Normally when she began to feel tingly in her fingers it was because another vampire was around. This pins and needles factor was a warning system programmed into every vampire she supposed so that they would be alert. However, now as she hears the door open she knows it is not one of her own kind walking toward her but Brutin.
For he could do the same to her and had many, many times.
Swallowing a lump in her throat, she stands with her back to him and she frowns.
Caught.
Tingle-fingered and red-handed.
"Greetings Boss," she says and turns round to smile at him. It is very likely he will not smile or perhaps he would. She had not yet acted like a slave which she promised him the other day she would not but perhaps what she was doing would not sit well with him.
He always surprised her with his reactions to things and because they had been apart for so long it was very likely that he would not react as she thought he would.
The thought of his silence was terrifying to her.
For as long as she could remember she had been having this recurring nightmare where she walks into a chapel and sees him lying in a coffin. She tries desperately to wake him, screaming his name at the top of her lungs and still he does not open his eyes.
It is this constant fear that makes her so protective of him.
Afterall, she has loved him more than any other man she knows or knew.
He stood there staring at her for several seconds, the time passing by ever so slowly, so much had transpired in their past and they had survived so much against so many odds it was pitiful and yet it seemed the most telling damage to be survived had been dealt by each other.
"Tara." He started but closed his mouth. He steeled himself and walked over to take her by the shoulders, looking down into her eyes. She was a tiny little thing, a wisp of a woman and yet to discard her out of hand would lead to a swift death. "Kain Locke was a good employee. When Alyssa was my first girl and the talk of the Red Dragon Inn and her mouth was constantly getting her in trouble I sent Kain to baby sit her, pull her out of trouble, kill those that would harm her and ultimately punish her. He had a cruel streak, cold, remorseless. He was a killer incarnate." He spoke the words and realized he was opening a wound he had forgotten he had. He turned away from her to hide his features and desperately wished for his bay window.
"When I had finally run up against a man that thought he could put me out of business by murdering my girls and had finally gotten his hands on Alyssa Kain went crazy and tracked him down, saved Ali and then when it appeared this foe of mine was scared of nothing, Kain sodomized him and then slit his throat. Kain was the end of the story, a proper finish to those problems that I could not solve any other way." He could remember back over the years to all of those faces as surely as he had seen Candimoon standing before him moments ago. Their faces haunted him.
"He shone like a bright star among my Tarns before they were called Tarns. Demon, Ashe, Dave, they all held their sparks but Kain had no limits and always got the job done regardless of the cost to anyone. And if it bothered him I never knew about it, he was always tight lipped and I wondered if he loved Alyssa all those years ago, wondered if he hated me for keeping her in bondage and to this day I do not know if she ever served him but in my heart I hoped she did, he deserved it." He sighed and smiled inwardly, his reminiscing had almost derailed his point but he would not shirk his responsibility. Not to her, ever.
"But Kain left my service because he thought he could do what I did just as well as I did. He did not ask for leave, he did not ask for instruction. He thought he did not even need to stand back and watch me to learn little tidbits of this and that which could help him later as he came to grips with his new life as a slaver." Brutin turned to look directly into Tara's eyes.
"No. He was caught up in the stories of me, what I did to my girls behind closed doors intoxicating to him and fueled by the inhuman things I asked him to do in my name. And he left to do this recipe he had formulated in his head by himself without benefit of friends or peers to help guide him. But he was no slaver, he understood nothing about it, had no inkling of what it meant. His trade was cruelty and death and he had no concept of what it was I did. There was no way he could compete with me had I let him walk away unscathed." He made sure at this point to look her in the eyes, a quick glance around to room to make sure no one had entered to interrupt them or witness this breach of decorum.
"I had problems the moment he left, he abused and mistreated, he killed and punished. He was just as I feared him to be and he cut a swath of destruction through the community, the imbalance of what he was and what he did effecting everyone. And then he took you." His words started to spindle down into a whisper as he resisted the urge to reach out and touch her.
"It almost killed me..." The whisper a wistful remembrance of pain and disbelief.
"I knew what I had to do, what must be done. But I was weak and I hesitated. I should have killed him, I should have stormed his home and slew him and burned it to the ground, killed everyone that worked for him and then salted the earth it had stood upon to remind people that to each has he is and no other. But I did not. I could not kill him. So I began killing his friends and his compatriots. I killed those that did business with him and I killed those that sold girls to him. No one around him could survive doing business with him and all the while I kept my machinations a secret so that his feelings would not be hurt. Even then I could not bring myself to confront him directly and tell him this was something he could not do. Slaving was beyond him, beyond understanding. But he had you and perhaps secretly I had thought you would temper his cruelty." Now he turned to look back at the wall, his bay window down the hall and away from him and his need to lose himself yet again.
"When you came back to me I tried desperately to ignore that you had even left because I did not wish to think of what you had been subjected to while you were away and if you were hurt by it, then I was satisfied to think that this had been your punishment for your foolishness just as I had been punished in losing you." He glanced down to his shoes, the hand made leather a cold sheen in the light amid the carpet.
He looked up as his own words sunk in and he laughed. He had spent centuries not saying the words about to pour out of his mouth. "Kain was a failure as a slaver, he lost reputation switching professions because as a murderer he had in abundance what was needed to do the job, but as a slaver he would always lack the one skill most given and seldom seen. To truly be a good slaver above all other things one must include love." There , he had said it, may the Kurii develop heartburn as a people.
"I declared you should never be slave again because I feared that some other fool would grasp at you and subject you to his idiotic ideal of slavery and again you would be someone's punching bag. I could not bare it. I barely survived the first one and so many people did not. So much blood..." He recovered himself suddenly, he would not allow his failures in life to overshadow his message to her. "...if a slaver, a real slaver came to me and wanted you I would have allowed it, because then you would have had what those idiotic droolers lacked. But the real slavers respected me and stayed away from you out of course and I realized too late that I had made you to suffer yet again."
He let his shoulders slump. What was he trying to say? Was he coming clean now after all of these years to clean his own conscience or was he trying to explain things to her? Was he doing this for himself or for her? It just needed to be said.
He gripped himself and felt the wash of shame as he let his humanity show through. He pushed himself away from the wall and ripped open the door, he had had enough, he needed to escape, even if was from himself. "I am sorry...."
He slammed the door behind him. _________________ Brutin Vitellus
Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 624 See this user's pet Can Be Found: In her throne, last seat all the way to the left of the bar (when facing it), at the Red Dragon Inn. 734.02 Silver Crowns
Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 624 See this user's pet Can Be Found: In her throne, last seat all the way to the left of the bar (when facing it), at the Red Dragon Inn. 734.02 Silver Crowns
But she had remembered despite Ashe's threat to the contrary. He had never been given permission to slay Kain. None of the boys had. It was a forbidden subject at the SA for some time. Ashe held a grudge. To some extent even Nok did too and there was rarely a day where he tolerated her let alone liked her but in kidnapping Tara, Kain had made a serious error in judgment. Wolf, while annoyed, was indifferent to the situation. He felt so long as Tara was back, there shouldn't be a war but should a war present itself he would participate, guns blazing.
She was like their little sister. Her position as Brutin's secretary, while certainly a bonus, did very little to affect their opinion of her. She had had to work her way up in their eyes like any other woman in their world. She may not have worked the hardest but over time she grew on them. None of them could deny her that.
With Nok it was the creation of Arthur that softened his resolve to obliterate her and although he still chased her and threatened her with death and doom around every corner, after the voodoo doll came into being, Nok started to let her have a head start each time.
With Ashe it was that she had chosen him to be her guard although Brutin had actually voiced the words. Ashe knew it was Tara's doing. She got whatever she wanted and she had picked him. He took the job seriously, sometimes too seriously, but no one could ever say he was a slacker where it concerned her safety. What Kain had done was not only a slight against Brutin but to Ashe as well. It wounded his ego, his manhood. As a Tarn it was his job to provide protection. As Tara's bodyguard, he was never to let any harm come to her and somehow she had been. He did not understand how.
With Wolf it was the fact that she had asked him to be her date for the Valentine's Day dance at her summer camp and on occasion they would have casual sex with no strings attached. And when they played poker even though she was very bad at it, he let her win because he had a soft spot for the little Cockroach Killa.
Each of them had a special relationship with her though none of them could compare their feelings for her to her bond with Brutin. It was because of this they could not understand why Brutin did not react to her kidnapping nor did he even look at Tara when she had brought to his office, naked, bleeding and collared. Nok suspected Brutin, would, in his own good time, make his feelings known and Wolf agreed with him.
But Ashe, he took Brutin's silence as an affront to what Tara represented to the Association, to them all. Ashe was not the type to mull things over. He was a brute and was made for quick-fixes to problems. Whenever someone had to be dispatched immediately Ashe would be sent so not being able to punish Kain ate away at him and although Tara tried to smooth things over, Ashe was furious with Brutin all the same.
Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 624 See this user's pet Can Be Found: In her throne, last seat all the way to the left of the bar (when facing it), at the Red Dragon Inn. 734.02 Silver Crowns
She remembers now the collar Kain had made special for her.
It was that of a crown made of solid gold placed upon her neck upside down to mock her station. The inscription read:
Tara Rynieyn - Queen of the S.A.
Property of The Black Dragon
House Locke
"Let him try to get this off you," Kain had said up against her ear as he put it around her neck.
Her eyes closed when she heard the clasp close on the collar.
"He will come after you with all he has for this, Kain. Even I won't be able to stop him this time, you've gone too far."
"What did you just say! Insolent slut!"
The force of his hand striking her cheek caused her to fall to the floor. The other slaves in the corner cowered in fear. She could hear their thoughts. They were all terrified but were glad it was her and not them he was doing this to.
She sighed and gripped the floor. She dared not look up at him or say a thing. Furious, he swept his arm over the table, knocking all the food the slaves had prepared, along with the glasses and dishes onto the floor. The tension in the room was incredible now and she knew if she did not do something quickly to calm him down, it would quickly go from bad to worse.
"You will address me properly or you will not speak ever again," he said, his eyes burning as he looked to her.
She glared back at him despite it all. The way he spoke to her was outrageous! She wanted to stand up and belt him across the mouth herself but something stopped her.
Jeremiah Locke, his brother who was seated in a chair nearby, shook his head then and she looked to him, distracted. He mouthed "No, Tara," and frowned. She could tell he was fond of her as he would later tell her on the nights she shared his bed with him instead of Kain.
Her eyes lowered and she rose up to her knees to kneel before Kain as was expected of her.
Kain caught the silent exchange between her and Jeremiah. He seldom missed a beat. He looked from her to his brother and growled. She could hear Jeremiah sigh and then it occured to her what she should do. It was risky because he was furious and though it may not be enough, by itself, to change his mood she would try nonetheless.
She reached up to the loop on her shoulder which held the brief piece of red silk she wore together and discarded it off to the side.
Then she swept her long hair to the right side of her neck and tied her hair into a loose knot.
She counted the seconds it took him to get to her and throw her over his shoulder.
Twelve in all.
Later as she lay in his arms sleeping he untied her hair and kissed her brow.
Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 624 See this user's pet Can Be Found: In her throne, last seat all the way to the left of the bar (when facing it), at the Red Dragon Inn. 734.02 Silver Crowns
She jumped at the sound of the slave's voice and turned around. There were tears in her eyes and it was killing her to appear so weak in front of them. Brutin's words had hit home hardest. She would have preferred his silence, anything, over what had just transpired.
"What is it girl," she said trying to affect at being annoyed rather than face up to the fact that the memories Brutin had drummed up were just too painful to bear.
"Did you?"
"Did I.....what?"
She was blinking now. He had slammed the door. Someone would die yet this day. She frowned, wondering who would lose their life for her carelessness.
"Did you temper Kain's cruelty as Master had hoped?"
The question horrified her and she brought her hands swiftly up to her mouth. Falling to her knees, she began to sob.
The slaves exchanged worried glances. The blonde reached out to her first, not knowing what else to do. "I am sorry, Tara."
Bent over with her forehead pressed to the floor, she began to choke as the tears continued to flow. Few things could make her cry like this.
Kain was one surefire way to do it.
"Nay, girl, I made it worse. I was its kindling. I was his conquest, his One and he was......my monster," she breathed through her tears and rose up to sit back on her feet.
Her arms, crossing, went up to her breast as her head tilted back completely. She took a deep breath, her lip trembling again as her eyes closed in the anguish of the moment.
"But, God forgive me, how we, loved, one another," she whispered and began to rock back and forth.
Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 624 See this user's pet Can Be Found: In her throne, last seat all the way to the left of the bar (when facing it), at the Red Dragon Inn. 734.02 Silver Crowns
"Are you always this way together?" the blonde asked.
She laughed. "Contradict each other you mean?"
"Yes, that."
"It is our way. He says white, I say it is black but it is really grey."
The slave blinked, not understanding her at all.
"Does he not get angry with you for disagreeing with him?"
"No, of course not. It is because I disagree that he likes me even more."
"I had a different impression of him."
"You do not know him that well yet. In time you will learn all his idiosynchracies and, perhaps, mine."
"Did he not say this Kain was incapable of love?"
"Aye."
"But you said you loved one another."
"As a man and a woman we loved each other but Kain could never love me as a Master is supposed to love his slave which is why he returned me to the one who does know what he is supposed to do."
"So you are in agreement then?"
"Aye. I never disagree with Boss."
"You confuse me."
"It is what I am best at."
"I think I understand," the brunette who had been the only one to pick up the coin with her mouth, said suddenly.
Tara grinned. "Oh?"
"It is not what Master says you are in disagreement with, it is how he says it. You both speak of the same thing yet in different words."
The grin on her face widened.
"You are smart, girl."
"But black is black and white is white," the blonde interjected with a furrowing of her brows. "They are not the same thing."
"And it is still grey," Tara pointed out with a snicker.
"Yes, sister, but see the definition of the word is not what the Master and Mistress care about. It is the individuality of their expression. When he says it is black and she says it is white, they are both saying it is grey."
"That makes very little sense to me. Why not just say grey?"
"Because *he* says it is white," Tara said with another grin.
The brunette giggled. Tara nodded to her, impressed with her so far.
Brutin stood in front of his bay window, arms clasped behind his back and frowned. How many times had he derided parents for the behavior of their children while he enslaved on, the other or both? He had enslaved them for their pride and their lack of self preservation. Yet when he was guilty of the same crime people perished.
The crime of course was that he endured.
He knew now that he could not die.
A fantastic statement on it's face but his frown did not soften.
"I cannot die because I am the Scourge. I am pain and suffering incarnate, and I shall plague mankind for all of their days. I will know neither joy nor happiness. I will never be content without another paying for my pleasure. And the things I touch shall turn to ash." He spoke firmly through the window pane to garden before him. It was newly restored, fresh and green and he absently wondered who had suffered to make it so.
"Are you sure this is something we want to be starting?" Vizier stood behind him fidgeting. The man was an accountant with magical skills and secretly Brutin did not like him nor trust him. But he needed him. Brutin listened but did not turn around, he didn't need to see him to know that like Candimoon he was being plagued yet again by ghosts. Vizier was dead.
"There will be a lot of resistance from the people." Hesse said excitedly, his hand rubbing subconsciously at the pommel of his sword. "When we put down the uprising we can fuel our coffers from their sorrows." He said breathlessly as if he mentioned the assignation of a lover to come.
"What I propose no one has ever done before but it will work because I have sat in that dark dirty tavern and seen what happens, you people have no understand whatsoever about your very natures. You are sick and unhealthy. Your men dream of lives they cannot have and your women pine for the men who need not dream but do." Brutin spoke to the garden, reciting from memory.
"I don't understand why I have to be the leader, I don't know what I am doing!" Vizier complained but Hesse only laughed and looked at Brutin. At the time Brutin had looked at Hesse, returning the smile. He would not turn to face ghosts, they no longer belonged here. This was not their home, it was their tomb.
"Because I am clearly a threat, if I take charge these damnable heroes will rise up and meet me before we have a chance to set ourselves. I need you to be the face of the organization, Hesse, you need to distract these heroes and kill as many as you can, that will allow me the freedom to enslave without interference." Brutin spoke his part with his eyes closed now, he was standing in this same room but facing inwards, the world before him and his dream unfulfilled.
"I think this is a good idea, everyone has a right to make money and if it involves mayhem..." Hesse grinned like a boy, he was a Peer of the kingdom and his first thought should be his people. Brutin had looked at him and grinned. Oh yes, he certainly was giving them first consideration all right. There were not enough torches in RhyDin to burn the city down to Hesse's tastes.
"Then we shall do it." Vizier proclaimed and Brutin remembered he had smiled broadly. Accountant and murderer in tow he was ready to begin.
"I had my tools, someone to hide my actions and other to count my money. It was the perfect plan and according to them, it was all their own ideas." Brutin spoke to the roses in the garden again.
Hesse stepped up to Brutin's left and Brutin gave him a glance, sure enough, just like Candi he could be seen through, a ghost from his past, fueled by guilt. "I died before you really got things running smoothly. Damn anti-slavers. But you avenged me." Hesse said simply.
"It was a mistake to try to conform to Ranger's ideals of guilds and their rules. The Anti-slavers trapped us and I could not get us out. I apologize for that, I miscalculated." Brutin admitted and Hesse nodded.
"None of them survived, that is all that matters." Hesse said and then faded away, nothing more to say. Brutin turned back to the garden and knew what was coming next as Vizier stepped into view on his right, glancing out the bay window.
"I remember when you had demanded this be installed." Vizier glanced at the workmanship. "I was so proud of you when we got the Association running properly, we made more money than you can ever hope to spend, things went according to plan, why do you seem so unhappy?" Vizier asked him and Brutin grinned. Vizier was a ghost, he was speaking from Brutin's own mind, a small attempt to make himself feel better.
"Because once I consolidated I no longer needed you." Brutin admitted.
"Yes, and we had our little bidding war to see which of us was the better slaver." Vizier filled in and Brutin nodded.
"But you never left your office, you had no idea what you were doing and you were going to lose anyway, this was the way we set the rules so I could 'legally' gain control of my organization." Brutin said and Vizier gave him that tight lipped smile.
"Still, I never knew you were armed, and I was surprised when I looked down and saw the blade." Vizier said wistfully and Brutin nodded.
"I did not want to chance you calling up your magic." He replied and Vizier shrugged.
"Why did you murder me?" Vizier asked and Brutin sighed.
"I do not like magic." He said firmly and glanced around the garden. Vizier for his part nodded as if that explained everything and faded away into memory where he belonged. Brutin slumped against the glass, his forehead soaking in the coolness as his left hand steadied himself.
He had built the worst organization with the most evil intentions on a foundation of suffering and death. He had everything to show for it and lacked for nothing. He even had warmth and love, things he had never thought he would enjoy and certainly didn't deserve.
Yes, he had been betrayed by those he had helped form and sheltered, but were they any more guilty than he was? Indeed, did they have the foresight to commission the large bay window and garden now splayed out before him in all of it's glory the day after their betrayals?
Mercifully most of his betrayers did not live long enough to truly suffer. Not like he had, no, for he had obtained everything at the cost of nothing.
Because Nothing was all that remained inside him. _________________ Brutin Vitellus
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