by C. Swallow
I wasn't so sure about that.
"Deal," I reply, our feet burning from the hot sandstone tiles as we cross the courtyard to the indoor pool area.
Despite how exhausted we usually were by the time we got to the pool area to clean, it was our favourite area. The whole building was separate from the Golden Palace, covered in vines with generous shutters that opened up to let in cool air... as well as leaves, dirt and dust; which is what we had to clean out. However, we didn't have to start anytime soon.
We silently do what we had now engrained into the back of our minds as we walk up the steps and enter the temple-like pool. We start to open all the shutters to let in cool air and as we do so we slowly tread our way along the limestone walls until we intercept and high five as we open the last pair of shutters together.
"What do you think the Others will do all day?" I ask her quietly, as we both stare out into the lush, dense, fairy tale like forest, which was just beyond this indoor pool, "Do you think it'd be easy to escape?"
"Where to, Sapphire?" Celeste asks, looking slightly frustrated by the question.
"We steal the spaceship, obviously, and fly it back to Earth," I state, shrugging my shoulders when I see her roll her eyes.
"That's cute that you think we can just up and away in a spaceship we have no idea how to fly," she turns from me and starts stripping from her slave clothes, before elegantly sliding into the water, completely naked but relaxed as she slips almost silently into the water.
I suspiciously look around the indoor pool area, looking for any sign of the Others. However, it looks like we are utterly alone and will be for awhile. I slip out of my wet short-shorts and top, laying the clothes on the window sill in the sun so they dry as I also jump into the pool.
Celeste and I float on our backs, both staring at the ceiling which depicted the most beautiful group of Others all lounging by the pool. As we both study the picture, it's not long before we are suddenly on our feet in the pool, pointing at each other.
"You're in the picture!" we both state in unison, looking up at the ceiling as we both grin and start laughing.
"How did we not notice this before?" I ask, slapping my palm to my forehead.
"I don't know, probably because we're always exhausted by the time we have to clean this place! How come you're near the centre and I'm the slave on my knees at Traegr's feet?" Celeste pouts and we both study the ceiling a bit longer.
"If I was a princess in a past life, maybe you were just a slave," I wink at her and she considers it and then actually accepts it as a plausible answer. We continue to stare at the picture and I can't help but say, "It's so eerily creepy, isn't it?" I ask, my mood slowly turning sombre, "Those girls look like us but I have no memory of... all that."
"I don't have any memories either," Celeste puts her hand over her heart and catches my eye, "But I do sometimes... feel weird."
"Like your heart is emotionally attached to these walls?" I ask, because I had the same feeling sometimes. There was something eerily familiar about these walls, the air, the plants... the Others.
"Exactly," she slowly comes closer to me, her eyes narrowing as she looks at my eyes intensely, "Stay still," she whispers, "I thought I saw your eyes change..."
I stare back at her but a chill goes up my spine, the hairs standing on end like we are being watched. I want to look over my shoulder but Celeste grabs my shoulders gently, her eyes widening.
"Don't move... there!" she whispers, astounded, "Your eyes have changed completely!"
A door slams open and we both spin to face the intruder with a few huge ungraceful splashes. We both submerge at least our chests beneath the water as we both face the interruption.
Except it's not just one Other that catches us. Celeste and I had separated at the sound of the door slamming open, but now we instinctively shuffle close together again for protection as we silently watch the room fill with more and more Others.
I wanted to swear, I wanted to kick myself for being caught naked in a pool as the whole room continues to flood with more males.
When Traegr eventually comes into the middle of the crowd, Celeste quickly grabs my hand and I squeeze it back to comfort her. I also spot Sabir close by as well as Hraken.
I keep my eyes downcast.
"Well isn't that a sight to see," Traegr comments, frozen when he sees us both naked, in the middle of the pool.
"We were cleaning!" I speak up, trying to think of an excuse, any excuse, "The, ah, we were picking up leaves off the bottom of the pool," I look to Celeste who nods quickly, agreeing with me.
All the Others simply look on with disapproval as they start to undress as Traegr comes to stand at the edge of the pool, looking down on us with a cocked eyebrow and a smile plastered on his lips.
"Do you need to hold hands to do that, girls?" Traegr speaks up, and instantly we let each other's hands go, pretending we weren't caught even though we so obviously were.
"Some things haven't changed," Sabir comes to stand by Traegr.
"Get them out, we want to swim," one of the other males speaks up, "They shouldn't be here anyway, cleaning the pool is always started after we've had our morning swim."
"Morning swim?" I mutter under my breath, trying not to scoff. Celeste stays silent, her terror evident as she can't take her eyes off Traegr's glare her way.
"You know exactly where you need to be, you've been given the same schedule you used to have," Sabir squats down at the edge of the pool, hand outstretched towards me. He beckons me forward with a crooked finger, "Come on out, girls."
Traegr also leans down, but he gets down on his knees, also offering a hand to us.
Seeing them bent, supplicating themselves to us, was a tad odd and very suspicious.
Celeste and I don't hesitate but we do approach slowly. Ladonna said if we didn't obey our Master's instantly, the repercussions usually involved, humiliating, degrading punishments.
She never went into detail.
Celeste and I certainly didn't want to find out what those were, hence we decide to obey them.
"Good girls," Traegr mutters under his breath as we get closer and closer, other male Others already jumping into the water, behind us.
Celeste and I make it to the edge, both slowly, reluctantly reaching up our hands. Traegr and Sabir clasp onto our wrists and haul us suddenly out of the water. We both stumble as we try to regain our footing and some personal space, but they hold us unrelentingly close. If we try to pull back, their grip just gets crueler.
Traegr and Sabir share an arrogant smile.
"Our clothes," Celeste begs, looking at the ground at her feet.
"Can we please –" I add in, hating being naked before both of them.
"No," Traegr snaps, cutting us off.
"If you are so keen on being in the pool area, you can clean it without your clothes," Sabir catches the look of betrayal in my eyes, not that I should have trusted them to let us off so easy in the first place.
Celeste and I stay silent.
"What do you say, girls? I don't want to keep asking for this – it should be engrained in you already," Traegr growls.
"Yes, master," Celeste and I both mutter instantly, in complete unison.
"Finally, how long will it take for you two to be good little pets? You can continue what you were doing," Sabir commands, their hands releasing us. Celeste and I both instantly try to get away from them, seeking some distance – yet suddenly their hands are on us again, holding our arms.
"These human replicas of our women must be stupid," Traegr growls at Sabir while glaring at both of us, "Continue with what you were doing, get back in the pool, girls, now."
Celeste and I are turned in unison to face the pool, Sabir and Traegr holding our arms in secure grips as they make us face the water.
"Go on, get in," Sabir and Traegr growl at us together, pushing us forward so we have to quickly jump into the water together.
As Celeste and I go under and come up for
air, we look at each other, trying to speak with our eyes.
We then watch Sabir and Traegr start to undress, about to join us.
"Let's start," I rush in a panicked tone to Celeste, who nods and we both disappear under the water – looking for leaves. What we were really doing was trying to get space from our two Masters.
We both knew, through our silent look – that they weren't done with us yet.
Now we had to pick leaves and dirt out of the pool, swimming between so many huge, terrifying male bodies, toned to perfection – but that just made it more intimidating.
The sooner we finished our chore in the water, we could escape back to the bedrooms.
That's if Traegr and Sabir didn't decide to punish us properly.
I was terrified that they hadn't even already begun.
S~11~C
Celeste and I pick up the leaves – hardly any, off the bottom of the pool. We are thankfully left relatively alone to do our job... but every time we turn around it is as if Traegr and Sabir are always swimming somewhere close by.
Even if they do not talk to us or touch us. They watch.
By the time we've reached the opposite end of the pool, Celeste and I unsurprisingly surface at the same time, right in front of each other. We both meet each other's eyes and nod, an unspoken agreement transferred between our gazes.
Traegr and Sabir suddenly approach as we put our hands on the edge of the pool, about to haul ourselves out.
Celeste and I hear their rapid movements towards us in the water but don't hesitate to get out as quickly as possible before they catch us.
Celeste and I make it out just in time, both of us running for our clothes. As we shuck them on as quickly as possible we glance back to see Sabir and Traegr having a good chuckle together at the edge of the pool, eyeing us like predators.
"Nearly done..." Celeste whispers to me and I nod, before we part ways and start cleaning the rest of the pool with the brooms.
As we continue our duty, finally fully clothed, I find solace staring out the windows to the forest beyond as I sweep.
It's as we are finishing up sweeping that I lean on the broom stick for a break, and I watch a blue bird flitter to the nearest windowsill, it sings happily, dancing along the wood.
I freeze as I watch it, fascinated and trying not to laugh at it's erratic excited movements. It flies away into the forest and I turn to see Celeste coming towards me, her broom stick now stored away.
I just shake my head at the weird occurrence as I glance at the windowsill and then I focus on Celeste's rapid eye jerks to the exit, she wanted to leave and I didn't blame her. The Others were chatting away in a foreign language and were starting to climb out of the water.
I walk fast to put my broomstick in the small storage facility near the entrance and Celeste and I try to inconspicuously exit the pool area.
We manage to leave uninterrupted and step onto the hot sand stone tiles, breathing in the freedom. All that male testosterone was becoming hard to bare.
"I'm going to grab some water," Celeste starts off towards the kitchens, expecting me to follow, but I have my eyes trained on the forest.
"Sure... uh..." I think for a moment and she spins on her heel and watches me curiously.
"Sapphire?"
"I'll meet you at the slave quarters, I'm going to take a quick peep into the forest," I whisper. Celeste's eyes widen and she hesitates.
"But the bedchambers?" she asks.
"Are already clean," I remind her, "We may as well retire to our rooms and have the rest of the day off. I'm going to do a little research first, I'll report back to you what I find out."
Celeste shrugs.
"It's your risk, not mine," she turns on her heel, her wise words ringing through my ears.
I frown, great, now I was questioning myself as doubt floods through me.
However, not for long when I turn on my heel and I hear the Other's voices getting louder from inside the pool temple. I decide I better not wait any longer before I'm caught.
I quietly and quickly as possible, skitter off into the forest. I'm almost instantly engulfed by the full lush green leaves that are... everywhere... in every direction. It's almost like a maze at first as I quietly explore the different flora.
I find myself exploring so far down an old, almost invisible track, that I don't even take notice of how far neither how long I have been away from the Golden Palace.
It's like my thoughts, my very soul, is distracted by the call of this forest. I felt safe here.
I eventually sit down at the base of a tree, and listen to the calls of the birds and insects.
I actually doze off, it was probably a stupid thing to do, but something about this place calmed me – even if I didn't know if there were carnivorous animals about.
I don't dream, however, I just seem to take in the smells of my surroundings, my head lolling back against the tree trunk.
And in the next moment, I seem to be waking up, slowly.
My eyes take in the forest and the orange coloured sky – twilight.
My mind is clearer now after my nap and I realise my long trek through the forest felt like a blur. Nothing had processed in my mind, I couldn't remember what I had learnt about the plants and animals. It was almost like I had been compelled to follow this path and my mind had only been at half capacity along the way.
And now the day was nearly over.
I'm about to jump to my feet in a panic, when my eyes suddenly rest on the tree opposite me. I start walking towards it when I think I spot something familiar. I approach slowly, my eyes scanning over foreign letters that slowly evolve from the lines of the bark on the tree.
Either I was going crazy or I could read a foreign message in letters I swear I had never been taught.
It said... Seraphine, fire is my fury.
"Ok, Sapphire, keep walking," I turn from the message and trudge my way back along the faint trail, light fading fast. I start to run, my feet occasionally hitting rocks and getting scratched from my fast pace.
I was trying to stop tears coming to my eyes, tears I didn't understand.
Something was overpowering me, a memory after reading that name.
Seraphine.
My heart aches, I continue my weary journey, physically demanding while my heart feels torn.
Words also filter through my head.
Justice. Escape. Thief. Anger. Rebellion. Separate.
When I eventually reach the edge of the forest, about half an hour later, I'm overwhelmed with confusion. Or quite the opposite – utter clarity.
I fall to my knees, tears running down my face as I look at a ground I remember and a palace that suddenly is strikingly different to my original memory of when Celeste and I first arrived. Don't be mistaken, I'm not saying Princess Sapphire's memory, if that is what it was, flooded completelyback to me.
I didn't truly believe full memories could ever come back to me from a person I knew I had never been... or refused to believe I had been.
But something did come back, very particular feelings.
I saw that passage on the tree and I felt pain.
When I thought of Celeste I feel intense companionship.
Sabir... I feel lust.
Traegr... there is no trust.
The Golden Palace?
I stare at it, eyes wide as I see all the lights start to flicker on in the dining hall. It was nearly time for dinner – which meant I had to see Sabir beforehand.
However, new feelings flood me about this gorgeous, three story palace. It glowed with fiery torches in the bright moonlight which was quickly taking over duty from the sun's rays in the almost complete twilight.
At first I can only describe my feelings as mixed about this place.
I stay on my knees as I watch the sun finally disappear over the horizon and the moon prevails.
Now only one feeling floods me about the Golden Palace.
Intense fear.
S~12~C
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br /> I walk quietly through the moonlit garden, knowing I have to find Sabir before he starts searching for me. A sick feeling twists my gut and I decide I better just head straight to the dining hall with the rest of the 49 other girls. I didn't feel safe at the thought of going straight to Sabir.
I decide just putting all my problems to the back of my mind was pointless, but it was the only thing I felt like doing as my stomach grumbled and my thoughts focus solely on food and Celeste.
Seraphine, fire is my fury. I wanted to tell Celeste about my message – hopefully she wasn't too angry that I had disappeared all day.
I wonder if she had told anyone?
I enter the Golden Palace from the garden, the first thing I notice is how utterly quiet it is coming from the dining room where the slaves eat separately from the Others.
I unwittingly walk right up to the huge closed double wooden doors and push them open, walking quickly through... to find the whole dining room crowded – but dead silent.
Two steps in and I freeze.
The girls are all sitting silently at their tables, no food out. The Others are walking around inspecting all the girls' faces while at the front of the room, arms crossed over their chests; Traegr, Hraken and Sabir along with a couple more highly ranked Others.
My arrival causes everyone's eyes to swing toward me.
"Sapphire!" Traegr growls out accusingly, "Where have you been?"
"I..." I see Sabir's narrowed eyes as he inspects me from across the room and I hesitate, "I don't... really know."
"You don't know?" Traegr asks, "Foolish decision to be dishonest, I can see where you've been just looking at you. You have dirt on your hands, leaves in your hair. You left your duties and went into the forest – it is forbidden to leave the Golden Palace. You are a slave, not a free girl, Sapphire, I wonder when my words will have to turn into direct punishments? Perhaps now is a better time than any."
I stay silent, what was I meant to say?
"Let this be a lesson to all of you," Traegr now directs his commanding tone to everyone, "If you leave your duty – if you especially leave the boundary of this palace – no one gets to eat and right now none of you inferior slaves will eat tonight because of Sapphire's actions. In fact, here's another lesson to you humans. You don't have one ounce of power here and if you think you do, think again. Now you have a choice – go to bed with an empty stomach or come begging, on your hands and knees into our dining den – and if you please us..." Traegr can't help but slowly smile, masculine laughter flowing from too many of the amused Others, "... perhaps then we'll give you something to satisfy your hunger."