Enryn

by Gerard Whittaker

  Fae led Enryn back upstairs to a room she had not seen before, showing a wardrobe of clothing taken off previous slaves. At Enryn's nod the slave laid out a purple costume on the bed, and then ran a bath for her mistress, washing her and fixing her hair and makeup in the local style.

  When Enryn was ready Fae dressed her in the costume, fastening it correctly and securing the veil. Enryn looked at herself in the mirror, knowing the Marines would throw a fit, but she now felt sexy.

  "Fae, we are going for a walk. Do you always go as you are?"

  The slave nodded, so Enryn fastened the bag on her, securing both wrists to the shoulder straps, and pulled her from the house by the leash.

  They drifted around the town without drawing any attention, just a couple of inconsequential slaves among hundreds more. While the costume left Enryn feeling quite exposed the veil made her invisible, declaring she was a man's trusted property. It was the best camouflage she had ever had.

  They met Ceri and sat in an open air cafe, among a score of slaves whiling a way the afternoon, waiting for their masters to return from work. "Any problems Ceri?"

  "None worth mentioning. Some creep mistook me for a slave," she laughed.

  "Your house is secure?"

  "Most of these idiots keep swine, and they are always looking for something to eat. Give it a week and even the bones will be gone."

  "The other girls?"

  "Some weren't sold, and are in a cell near the gate house."

  "Can we free them?"

  "We can tomorrow. My master, bless his soul, was quite well off, and I persuaded him to explain how to open his account. In the morning we can buy them."

  "And the ones who were sold?"

  "I've seen two or three looking through windows. I think they'll be fine."

  "So give it a week to get organised and we move onto phase two."

  "Which is?"

  "I've not got that far yet, but it includes finding out how to fight back. There are four turrets parked on the port, we have to find out how they were taken and how to stop it happening again. Then we get mad and rescue our boyfriends and the other crews."

  "Please mistress," Fae whispered, "may I speak?"

  Enryn had almost forgotten she was holding the slave's leash. "You have something to add?"

  Fae pointed to a bloated figure floating across a junction across from the cafe. "It is the Lords who take the ships, and none can fight them, no one, not ever."

  Enryn and Ceri looked at the floating blob of fat who sat on a golden plate and was enclosed in a sphere of energy. It was about as alien and creepy as they get, not just the physical repugnance but mental as well, as though it did not belong in this reality. "What do you mean?" Enryn gasped.

  "The energy screen is imperious to all known weapons. You can shoot anything you like at it all day long, and nothing will get through, not even ship weapons."

  "The warriors had something similar in their collars," Ceri pointed out.

  Fae sighed, "The warriors work for the Lords, using simpler items."

  "In which way are they simpler?" Enryn gasped.

  "The Lords all have self contained power cells, but the warriors use broadcast power to activate their screens; they can be turned off to prevent a mutiny."

  "I think we've just found their Achilles heel," Ceri gasped.

  "This is common knowledge," Fae dismissed it. "But no one knows where the power is broadcast from."

  "Then let's find out," Enryn snapped. "Ceri, buy the girls in the morning. Your house is big enough, yes? Then take them home and set yourself as the Lady of the house, surrounded by her faithful slaves. Got that?"

  Ceri gasped in shock, "How do you know I can do that?"

  "Please Ceri," Enryn chuckled, "we knew you weren't a slave from the moment we met you."

  "You did?"

  "If you had explained the situation you would have been free in about a minute. But you begged to serve Sal."

  "I've no regrets on that score Enryn."

  "I'm sure you don't, she's a sweet kid. I'll meet you here same time tomorrow."

  "You'll not be staying with me?"

  "It's safer if we spread out, and I want to find some more girls. We can't just kill our masters and leave the houses empty, we have to cover up their deaths and make it look like business as normal. Perhaps arrange leave or something. Fae will be useful in teaching me how to fit in."

  "I'll pass the word around."

  "And tonight I've got to check the Turrets, and see if we can get the bots to fix them."

  Leaving Fae bound securely in the house Enryn walked to the wall and found a safe place to climb over it. She ghosted through the night heading towards the port, dodging security patrols and off duty engineers.

  Turret One was hardly guarded, her own security was better than the one provided by the piratical locals.

  She slid underneath the Turret and tapped out the security code opening the maintenance hatch, then wriggled inside. She soon reached the command centre, which now seemed large and empty, with nothing to fill it but memories. Enryn saw Ace's dress uniform hanging next to her black dress, and fought to hold back the tears.

  "Alright you bastards," she gasped, "let's see if you can get round this." She changed the security settings on the computer, and then linked in to the other Turrets, resetting their security as well. Then she ran a diagnostic on all four Turrets, finding what was wrong and telling the maintenance-bots to fix it.

  Now all she could do was wait till they were fixed.

  She crept back home, seeing Fae sleeping at the foot of her bed bound so tightly she could hardly move, and released the worst of her bonds; the girl stretched in her sleep, smiled and rolled over to a more comfortable position.

  Enryn watched the girl sleeping for a few minutes, wondering how long it took her to learn to sleep like that; then leaving the slave secured at neck, wrists and ankles, she went to bed.

  Enryn awoke with the dawn, feeling someone climbing onto the foot of her bed and wriggling underneath the sheets. She ignored it for a few minutes as the intruder wormed between her legs and crept ever higher.

  She peeled the sheet down to see Fae's face between her thighs, and reached down placing a finger under the girl's chin forcing her to look up. "And what may I ask are you doing?"

  "Trying to save my life mistress," Fae replied with total honesty. "If you leave me they will kill me for sure. Slowly."

  "Oh, what am I doing?" Enryn sighed.

  "Please save me mistress," Fae sobbed in desperation.

  Enryn reached down to unsnap the short leash from her collar, and holding her under both armpits pulled the girl up to sit on her lap so she could examine her, while still cuffed at wrists and ankles.

  She looked closely at the girl, seeing that the pallor was natural, her skin was of pure alabaster perfection that would not tan. Her hair was not white, but white gold, and her eyes were of rose gold with tiny specks of yellow that glowed in the morning light. Her lips were of pale red and built to laugh. But it had been many years since she had reason to find anything funny. All in all Fae was lovely, and had a sort of doomed alien beauty about her.

  Enryn sighed, "This is down time so we can have a chat."

  "As you wish lady."

  "What's your real name?"

  "I have not got one. My birth name is long forgotten and my masters did not talk to me. If they wanted me to feed them they would drag me to the kitchen. If they wanted sex they would drag me to the bedroom, or where ever they wanted it. And if they wanted to punish me they would hang me from the ceiling. We never had a conversation like this."

  "By the Ship!" Enryn swore. "They died too easily."

  "Can I serve you mistress?" Fae begged in desperation. "I'll do anything for you, please save me."

  "If you give yourself to me," Enryn sighed, "I can't promise to save you. But I will try. My mission comes before even my own life."

  "But you will try?" Fae gasped.


  "When this goes down it will be chaos! Shooting everywhere. Everyone will be running round in panic and if you can't keep up I won't stop for you."

  "I used to be able to run like the wind, but it is many years since I have tried. Lady, if you lead I shall follow, for the rest of my life."

  "Your life!" Enryn gasped, thinking back to her own past.

  "Save my life and I belong to you mistress," Fae said simply.

  "I might be able to sponsor you," Enryn sighed. "But you will never be a Marine, too dainty and fragile." She freed the girl's wrists saying, "Very well Fae, I will take you."

  Fae smiled and twisted to snuggle with her back to Enryn, who put her arms around the slave's breasts and between her thighs holding on positively. After a few minutes Enryn sighed, "You are so soft."

  "Did you then expect to find me hard lady?"

  "I've my share of that too."

  Enryn pulled Fae through the town in the morning, seeing Ceri buying a dozen girls and lead them home in chains, while they were all pretending to cry.

  "Shush," Enryn turned at the sound to see one of her girls looking through a window.

  "Safe Oana?"

  "Come on in."

  Enryn slipped through the door into a neat little house. "How's it going?"

  "Fine, I'm happy here. My mistress Sharral is a nice woman and has two great kids."

  "Cadet Oana, you are a Marine first, not a slave! We came here for a mission, to free our Platoon, not to baby-sit."

  Oana snapped to attention, "Yes Sergeant!"

  "Good, now keep that in mind."

  "I'm just saying Sharral the nicest lady I've ever worked for..."

  "I'm not asking you to kill her. But she can't be allowed to get in the way, do you want to see your man again?

  "Yes Sergeant." Oana said sadly, "I'll make plans, just in case she rumbles me."

  The plan was moving forward slowly, as girl after girl reported in, only a couple weren't found, and Enryn feared for them. Many were living in fear with terrible masters, but were prepared to endure the abuse, knowing their time would come. But like Oana a few had found nice families and were torn in two over what to do. But Marines always protected their own.

  Using a hand scanner from Turret One the power transmitter was traced to a field outside the town. Enryn took Fae for a walk and found the transmitter disguised as a tree. She was throwing a ball for the slave to catch while deciding on the best way of disabling the transmitter.

  "Hey you!"

  Enryn looked up to see a security detachment running towards her. There was no chance to talk her way past them, not with three half eaten bodies in her sty and holding a scanner that pointed to the transmitter even they did not know about, so she turned and fled into the wilderness with Fae running along side.

  Twelve men chased her through low bushes that she slipped through like an eel, while they fought their way through with brute force. They were expecting the usual fun and games of hunting down runaways, punishing them severely and a gang rape to round off an exiting day. They were about to have the most exiting time of their lives, but being raped wasn't on Enryn's agenda.

  Enryn soon encountered an area of ravines and small rivers, and she jumped from bank to bank with ease as the men stumbled along behind her through the muddy water. She glanced back to see three men climbing from the ravine covered in mud, and took time to bury the scanner.

  "Can you keep up mistress?" Fae sobbed as she paced her mistress, running as lightly as a leaf through the wilderness.

  "Believe it or not I'm at home in the wild," Enryn laughed. "I'm going slow to lead them far from the town."

  "Why?" the slave sobbed.

  "Because I can't let them report back," she explained simply, "so I'm going to kill them."

  "But how?" Fae gasped in shock. "You haven't any weapons."

  "I've got your leash," Enryn laughed.

  Being careful not let the Patrol loose heart and go home, Enryn enticed them ever further into the wilderness, appearing and disappearing at will; appearing to stumble and flounder when they could see her, and running like a gazelle when they could not. The pantaloons were slowing her down so she slipped them off, tearing them into strips to use as bait.

  The men grew ever more angry and determined to hunt her down, thrashing through the bushes and tall grass with sticks and bayonets.

  Enryn lead a man off to one side with a bit of purple fabric fastened to a bush, crawled behind him and slipped the leash around his neck, then twisted and threw him over her shoulder. He fell to the grass silently with a broken neck.

  She pulled off his weapon belt and rolled the body under a bush, then fled the scene as two more men came looking for their friend.

  Fae had watched the assassination with disbelief, the dozen men were not hunting the runaway slaves, Enryn was hunting them!

  She appeared on the other side of the Patrol, leading them away from the body, and set her next trap with one sleeve hanging on a tree, killing a second man with the leash and hiding the body.

  Soon both her sleeves were lost and she ran for her life in a tiny bra and loin cloth, relishing the freedom.

  Letting Fae carry the pistols, she explained to the sport that if she fired even one shot the Patrol would scatter and high tail it back to the town looking for re-enforcements.

  Twelve men didn't bother too much, but a hundred?

  Night was drawing in and the Patrol took shelter starting a small fire, calling out for their missing friends. It never occurred to them that they were dead, slaves might run away but were always harmless.

  Enryn rested and asked Fae to find a few items that she described exactly, carrying a captured knife the slave took off into the dusk trusting to great night vision as she searched for the shopping.

  An hour later Fae returned with the items and a couple of dead animals, that she expected to cook. Enryn surprised her again by eating her meat raw, and working on three light lances and a spear thrower.

  Finally Enryn managed to get a couple of hours sleep, guarded by her slave, and awoke with the dawn stretching in freedom.

  "You are enjoying this mistress!" Fae gasped in wonder.

  "First time I've felt free since joining the Marines. This is how I used to live, but then I was terrified all the time, now I know what I'm doing and I'm a lot fitter; I could run rings around those idiots down there."

  One man was walking back to camp, to report on the hunt and look for his missing friends.

  Enryn stood up on a low hill and waved at him. He took off at full speed racing up the bank drawing his pistol. She waited for him as if giving up, he was sure she was terrified, cold and starving.

  At a range of twenty feet she bent to pick up the spear-thrower and cast a lance straight into his guts. She dropped flat as he died, in case he fired at her, however he had been so confident he hadn't even cocked his pistol.

  Fae collected yet another pistol and ammunition, holding them in a shoulder bag, and was beginning to trust her new mistress. For the first time she thought she might even live.

  Enryn rolled the body into a ditch, casting brush and leaves to hide it, and shortened the weapon belt, fastening it around her hips.

  Going through the man's shoulder bag Fae found some food and other supplies.

  "I meant to ask, why don't you have nails?" Enryn asked as they ate ration bars from the dead man.

  "I used to mistress, long and sharp they were, but I ran away once up here, and when they caught me they de-clawed me." She held up her hands to show that her fingers had all been shortened by a digit. "My toes too. It was months before I could walk, let alone run."

  "But you're such a good runner I'm surprised they caught you."

  "I spent a few months here and ran freely, and unlike you always away from trouble, but there was little to eat; even the rodents don't have all the proteins needed to support life. So I had to try stealing from the town. I'm a good runner but terrible thief."

  "In
my service you will always be able to run," Enryn snapped, "so long as you run back to me."

  "In town too?"

  "I've still got your leash, and enjoy using it," Enryn laughed. "No Fae, I had some thought to free you but decided against it; you're an accident waiting to happed, so I'd better keep you safe."

  "Then I am your slave!" she gasped in delight. "I am sorry, but I need someone to tell me what to do."

  "I understand that," Enryn said kindly. "Just don't ask me to brand you!"

  "If it's a nice brand, tasteful and in a good place..."

  "If I only had a couple of hours to spare," Enryn sighed. "But there are a lot more to kill before this day is through."

  "Then can we have a fire tonight?"

  "I'm in charge of the killing, when it's safe I'll leave the cooking up to you."

  They turned and jogged around the Platoon, leading the doomed men ever further from the town; while developing a true friendship and mutual respect.

  The greatest difference between the girls was that Fae would always run from trouble while Enryn would always run towards it.

  Enryn got lucky and took out two men urinating in a stream, her lances piercing their hearts from behind, they dropped without a sound. Fae rushed to collect the lances, knowing it would take hours of hard work to replace them.

  But as she reached down to ease them free from the bodies two more men walked from behind a bush to see her. They gasped in horror and ran for the startled girl.

  Then Enryn stood before her, knife in hand and a savage grin on her lips. The men drew their own weapons and ran her down.

  She dropped flat, kicking out at a man's ankles, and he went flying towards Fae. The second man ran past Enryn, slowing and trying to turn. She flipped back to her feet and lunged with the knife, ripping out his throat.

  Then Enryn turned to see Fae impaling the first man with one of the lances, pinning him to the ground as he aimed a pistol at the Marine's back; the slave quickly stood on the pistol saving Enryn's life.

  Grinning at the terrified girl, Enryn walked forward and casually slit his throat, dodging the spurting blood.