by Lexi Lane
Stephen gave her a withering look and reached for her arm. He took a long hard look at the darkly inked one on the back of her hand and shook his head, “We can’t use you.” He said harshly.
Sara knew right then. She turned, her foot coming up and her fist flying out. The board crashed to the ground, the food hitting the loamy black soil where it met the dried out edge of desert sand. There were cries from the people she had traveled with and the men who had held the board. She turned to run but it was too late, her diversion had not bought her enough time after all. Hands grabbed her and she was yanked toward the gate.
Her training kicked in. She fought well, one man went down holding his crotch and groaning, another yelped in pain as she drove a flat palm into his nose and then a knee into his belly. She came up short though when she found herself staring down the barrel of a very large gun.
“Is it a trade?” Stephen asked as several other men came to the gate carrying more food. “Would you trade the women for food and walk away now, with your lives?”
“Don’t do it!” Sara yelled, “We bled with you, comforted you, we have been true to you! Think, if you do this to us, what will you do next for food? Who will be the next to be traded for something a few of you want?”
Many of the faces looking back at her wore shamed expressions. One older woman with a long scar on her left cheek from a chunk of ice that had hit the boat one night during a storm began to cry but she would not speak up for the other two women.
Sara struggled as Ben and the others agreed. She kicked and cursed and clawed, dropped her weight and made them drag her. She bit one man so deeply he bled and still they carried her, and Lily, who had gone white and silent, into the gates of the castle. Sara tried not to see Ben and the others scooping up the food that had spilled onto the ground. She understood their hunger, understood how they could justify what they had done but that did not lessen her anger or the hatred she felt for them at that moment.
The gate closed with a final and metallic clang. Then a second gate came down, this one lined with long spikes and studs of iron. The members of her party looked at that second gate with wondering expressions and Sara saw a few of them start, as if they had just been woken from a dream, then they turned away, some of them already cramming hunks of bread and meat into their mouths.
The courtyard was filled with small fires burning inside of old tires. Seeing her look one of the men dragging her said, “The smell of fire keeps the night wolves away.” Then he grinned unpleasantly.
The courtyard was just a defense ground, she saw. It was shallow and ran the circumference of the castle but it ended at a stonewall that was easily thirty feet high. At a glance it appeared to be the castle wall itself, closer inspection revealed that to be a very clever ruse, the use of an optical illusion to lure an enemy in closer.
The true courtyard was overlooked by firing towers at the top of the outer walls. Armed men sat in them. The castle itself was surrounded by a low lying moat, the portcullis was lowered and she stood firm, digging her heels into the ground in refusal but the man who had told her what the fires were for had had enough of her, he threw her to the ground and, once there, he held her face near the water. “I could let you fall off this bridge and if you struggle getting across it you may still,” he warned.
A shark broke the surface and snapped at her face. Sara screamed and heaved backwards. The bridge was too high for the beast to reach but she had a feeling that would be no comfort to anyone who first had to get the bridge down then fight their way across. Looking up she saw men waiting with large buckets of bloody meat and she shuddered and walked across compliantly enough, her eyes on the fins that floated up from the depths. She could see that the moat had been dug and recently. She had a feeling it had been placed where it was in order to take advantage of the sea creatures that swam there, there was an open channel that led out to sea.
They bait them, she thought. They feed them and so have trained them to know food is here. The first scent of blood… it was smart. If anyone tried to invade all they had to do was shoot down the people in the lead and the sharks would come hunting. If there were a lot of people on the bridge they would panic and run, some would fall, others would flee in terror. Either way it would be a hell of a deterrent to any invading force.
The castle had yet another gate, this one even more lethal in appearance. They went through that gate and came out into a small open area where men were practicing and huge fires burned. Over the fires were the gutted carcasses of large deer and elk. Sara recognized a large rack as having come from a moose.
Beyond that and stretching for acres was a huge garden. Trees and fields mingled and she could smell wheat and see fruit growing from the trees, her mouth watered at the sight of an apple tree. What place had this been, she wondered as she was ushered into the castle proper.
The room they were taken into was large and open. Long tables sat in neat rows; a giant fireplace took up an entire stone wall. The scent of meals past lingered and her belly rumbled but she held her head high, refusing to show any sign of defeat. Lily had begun to weep softly and she wanted to comfort her but she had little in the way of comfort right then.
They were seated at a table, their legs were shackled to a rough bench and a woman with shy brown eyes brought them plates of food.
“Where are we?” Sara asked and the woman opened her mouth, shut it and dashed back through the doorway she had appeared from. Sara had seen the large one on her hand as she had served them and her heart sank. It was already so obvious to her why the two of them had been bought, she wondered if Lily understood but was afraid to ask, if not she didn’t want to panic her.
Despite their fear they were famished and the food was very good: a savory and thick stew made with plenty of tender venison and starchy vegetables that resembled potatoes somewhat. Purple skinned carrots and tiny onions lent the stew flavor. The coarse bread was hard to chew but it was slightly nutty in taste and very dense without being dry. It was also incredibly filling.
“Daylight has begun to last longer.” The words made Sara and Lily both jump. The man who had spoken leaned against one wall. Sara blinked, he was far more than good looking; he was gorgeous. He had a chiseled face that featured high cheekbones and a full mouth, steely gray eyes and dark eyes that sat under eyebrows the same midnight black as his hair.
He had broad shoulders that tapered to a narrow waist, lean hips and long legs whose muscles were evident in the tight blue pants he wore. Her eyes went to his crotch involuntarily, there was just a hint of a bulge there, a suggestion of a larger mass that made her face go scarlet.
“It must be good for the garden.” The words sounded inane and she blinked again, her face reddening even further.
He walked toward them. Lily, her mouth literally agape, watched as he picked up her slender arm and looked at the back of her hand. “You have never borne children.”
“No.” Sara said, “I think that’s why we’re here, because we were never sterilized. I think that is why we were chosen.”
Lily choked but it was too late in the game to sugar coat it all. A thick eyebrow arched toward his hairline. “That would be the correct assumption. I can assure you that you will be treated well. You will be fed and tended. You will be given a job as well, everyone has a place in this castle and everyone keeps their place.”
“Are you saying we’re here to be bred?” Lily asked. Her green eyes were wide with terror.
“That is exactly why we’re here.” Sara said wearily. “Isn’t that right…whoever you are.”
“My name is Lucas. I’m the Master of this place. I built it, to be honest. I was a scientist back before the drowning and I warned the governments but they would not listen so I took my own advice. I went to the one place on the planet that I knew would be safe and I built this castle. I gathered people who would be useful and who were friends, we laid in seeds and animals and waited for the rains to stop. They did eventually but the landscape ar
ound us was considerably changed. The worst thing was that none of us had stopped to consider the government’s ban on having children. See, we were so worried about over populating the planet we never stopped to think of the consequences that action would have if some global event occurred that wiped out a lot of our population.”
“Why didn’t you get on the colony ships? Surely they offered you a seat.”
“Why didn’t you?” He challenged. “I am a Master here, better to be a Master in Hell than a servant in heaven, eh? Do you know who said that?”
“The devil.” Sara shot out. “Are you the devil?”
“That depends on your point of view.” He said with a smirk. “Louise will take you to the women’s hall if you are finished eating.”
Louise was the woman who had brought them food. She waited until their shackles were opened then led them toward a long winding staircase. “Aren’t you going to tie us up again or have the men drag us?”
“There’s nowhere to go,” Louise said simply. “Out there is nothing but desert and the wolves of the forest. If you run they won’t come after you, not unless they find you very valuable, but even if they do they may not get to you in time. I can’t believe you made it through the desert.”
“We traveled well and we were able to find water. One of our group members had been a dowser back in the United States, he had found water in the deserts there. Where did this place used to be?”
“I don’t know, I washed up from a boat. Most of us did.” Louise said. “We came ashore on this side, those of us that made it past the sharks and the mutated whales that is.”
“Mutated whales?” Lily asked with new fear in her eyes.
“A lot of animals changed. The climate and the sudden shift in land mass forced evolution. Only humans lack that adaptability now. Here’s the women’s hall.”
The women’s hall turned out to be a long and narrow space filled with beds covered with plain sheets of the same fabric used to make the clothing everyone wore and furs. The windows were narrow slits covered by wooden shutters, the floor was covered with small rugs but the walls were plain.
“So much for a decadent harem,” Sara said sarcastically as she sat on the bed she was told would be hers. “So the men just come in here at night and pop in and out of the beds or what?”
“Oh no, the breeding rooms are downstairs.” Louise started to say something, changed her mind and pointed to a low dresser against one wall. There are clean dresses in there. They are new and they may or may not fit very well but they will be better than what you have on. There’s a bathtub behind that screen, you will want to use it. Then take a nap, you’re going to need your rest.”
* * *
Several hours later Sara woke up. She would not have believed she would sleep, but she had. The bath and food had relaxed her it seemed. She looked over at Lily, who was sleeping with one arm dangling off of her bed and her red hair tossed across the pillows.
Dusk was fading, the cold darkness pressed at the windows and she shivered. There were voices and then footsteps on the stairs and two women, one obviously pregnant, came in. Before she could engage them in conversation, four men entered the room. Lily was shaken awake and they were told to move. They walked down a long hallway, their bare feet sliding on the cool stone, and down to the room where they had been fed earlier.
Several dozen men stood there and all of their faces lit up when they saw Sara and Lily. Terror squeezed the breath out of her lungs but Sara stood straight and tall. She expected them to fall on them like ravenous wolves but instead she and Lily were seated and food brought to them.
It didn’t escape her notice that all of the men had stood when they entered, and sat when they did. There seemed to be some type of order in place, women with the one on their hands served them but none of them seemed particularly unhappy and none looked beaten or hungry. It was a strange place though; something dangerous lurked right below the surface of it.
Just then Lucas appeared and she had to admit that he looked damn good, and incredibly dangerous. He was dressed all in black, in marked contrast to the blue worn by the others. His powerful body moved with a grace she could only define as feline: his muscles bunched and moved right below the surface of his skin and his steps were silent and cat-quick despite the boots on his feet. There was a certain arrogance in the tilt of his head but there was also calm and power there as well. It was palpable, that power, and she knew she was not the only one who could feel it. The men put a hand to their chest and bowed their heads in what seemed to be their salute and the women curtseyed.
Sara looked around and saw that Lily had actually curled up next to Stephen, who was feeding her by hand, as was a second man who sat on the opposite side of her. There was a happy gleam in Lily’s eyes that stunned Sara; the other woman wore the contented expression of a well-loved pet. Under the surprised shock though there was something else, an emotion Sara did not want to examine because it felt a lot like recognition.
“You,” Lucas’ fingers caressed her cheek. She had not been shackled to the table and she came off the bench in a long fluid movement. Her foot lashed out, his strong hand caught it right before it could crash into his cheek. He neatly flipped her across the table, using her weight against her. She crashed down hard, food spilling and plates shattering on the floor. She kicked and struggled, rolling over off of her belly and onto her back so that she could bring a fist up into his gut.
His belly was like corrugated iron. Her hand didn’t sink into it, it bounced off. She didn’t take time to think, she simply reacted and her other fist swung into his groin but he deflected that blow easily as well. She went back down onto her back, her head slamming into the table. She could hear Lily crying out and people moving but otherwise there was no sound.
She rolled off the table; a knife in her left hand and Lucas let her come at him, his gray eyes wearing a thinly veiled amusement as she did so. Her blow was aimed and timed but he was faster and her arm was seized in his powerful hands and forced up behind her back. Her fingers went numb and the knife dropped to the floor.
“You,” Lucas said in her ear, “Are worthy of carrying my child.”
She managed to turn her head around and spat, hoping to hit him but even that missed. He laughed and whipped her around so that her face was resting right above the heavy leather belt he wore around his waist and her belly was lying over one of his broad shoulders. The indignity of that position made her angry and she beat her fists into his back but he seemed impervious to the blows. He walked off with her perched there and from behind them, even more humiliating to her, came the sound of spontaneous applause.
The room he took her down to was long and wide. It seemed to run the entire width and breadth of the castle. The floors were carpeted, oddly enough, and there were several types of apparatus around that she was unfamiliar with. A low bench, covered in black leather that had been fitted over padding and then studded into the wood below, sat in the corner of the room. Further along the wall boasted what looked like an old fashioned peg board, on that were neatly coiled lengths of leather: whips, she realized with a sinking heart. There were heavier floggers also hanging there, their wooden handles gleaming from polish and use.
A series of chains dangled from one wall and an X shaped creation, also outfitted with padded black leather, stood near the other wall. Manacles dangled from the cross, giving off a low silver sheen in the dimness.
Lucas carried her to the center of the room and dropped her on a small mattress that had been laid there. She scrambled up immediately, her eyes flashing with anger. “You can’t make me do anything that I don’t want to do!” she yelled.
Lucas chuckled and the sound of it made a not unpleasant shiver roll down her spine. “I can make you do anything I want, but I won’t have to you see, before this night is over you will be begging me to fuck you.”
“Oh so you plan to drug me?”
“I can do better than that.”
“Oh
I bet,” she said sarcastically.
He moved closer and she had to clamp her mouth closed to stop the scream from escaping. The knife in his hand was sharp and long. The lights flickered and sparkled off the blade. He tested the edge with the ball of his thumb and a tiny drop of red appeared on the fleshy pad.
“Sharp,” he said with a grin. “Did I mention that before I was a scientist I was a medical doctor? It’s true. I was something of a prodigy. I can use this knife with surgical precision, remember that. And don’t move.”
The knife went to her throat. Her breath caught and her head wanted to jerk downward to track the blade but she knew better than to do that. For a moment the blade rested there against the tiny and wild pulse at her throat, the steel cold against the warm skin. Just when her knees began to go weak and the words ‘please don’t hurt me’ were rising up in her mouth the knife’s sharp edge moved down to the collar of the simple dress.
His hand grabbed the collar and the knife slashed through the material with a long terrible ripping sound that made her breath explode from her mouth. The dress fell away, she was naked below it and he stood there, watching the dress fall to the floor at her feet in two jagged pieces. His eyes rested on the pink-capped flesh of her breasts, the brown thatch at the junction of her thighs and the delicate collarbones and slim hips. Her hands twisted as she fought not to cover herself, she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing her discomfort.
He tangled hard fingers into her hair and dragged her face to his for a long kiss that left her senses reeling. When he let go she stumbled forward a step, he laughed as he righted her. Her face turned a solid shade of red and she clenched her fists, wanting to punch his handsome nose.
Before she could think much past that desire he grabbed a long coil of soft silky rope from the pegboard, and two sets of leather cuffs with small silver rings dangling from them. He pulled her arms behind her back and slid the leather cuffs up on her wrists, fastening them tightly. Next he yanked her feet up one at a time and fastened the matching leather cuffs around her ankles.