Darkest Night [DragonSong] [M]

[Zero]

Everything fell into place smoothly as the guards rounded up all the girls and started them marching with the rest of the group. Honestly the first half of the day was almost exactly the same as the day before. Cole would have been out of sight and the women walked in subdued terror around her.

When the stop for water happened Cole didn't appear, though. Instead, a woman approached the group. A woman that stood out drastically with her long white hair, deep red eyes, and grey skin. The guards eyed her with tight frowns, but they didn't stop her from walking straight up to Zahra and examining her with cool intensity.

After a few moments she grabbed Zahra's hands and unbound her. The guards scowled but didn't stop it. If their boss's bitch wanted to untie one of the slaves, then they weren't going to stop her.

"Follow." The command was given and she turned, walking briskly away towards the front of the group. No one stopped them or gave more than a passing curious look. A few men leered at her, but a sharp glare from Kyandria had them looking elsewhere quickly.

[DragonSong]

Zahra looked up at the woman's approach, startled, and her eyes went wide.

She'd seen her before. The woman from her dream.

She was so stunned that she didn't react until the elf woman was pulling her to her feet and dragging her away. "W-wait!"

Catching herself, she snapped her mouth closed and ducked her head, allowing the woman to pull her along. Still, her eyes flickered around nervously, searching for Cole despite herself.

"You-" She winced, telling herself to be quiet, but she couldn't stop the soft question: "Are you...Cole's mother?"

[Zero]

Cole was nowhere to be seen as they hurried along the lines.

Kyandria glanced back impatiently at the young woman when she asked her question. There were only two with drow blood in the entire camp. Her mouth twisted into a thin frown. She was a beautiful creature, or would be if she didn't look so very angry. "Yes."

She didn't pause to answer the question, still dragging Zahra behind her. At least until they came to the front of the group. Kaleb was standing next to a kaadir, talking with a few other men.

They took one look at Kyandria and scattered, slinking away further down the line to leave the elf bitch with the boss. Despite being a slave, nobody wanted to draw her wrath. She had a surprising amount of sway with their leader. Kaleb just looked at the pair of them with some amusement.

"You should stop terrorizing my subordinates, pet. I might have to punish you later." Kaleb's eyes turned to Zahra and he smirked. "You really are cute, you know. Jarvis said Cole almost started a fight over you last night. Now, I understand the boys will scuffle from time to time, but this is quite unusual, you see. Cole seems to have taken some kind of shine to you, girl. I'm tempted to see if you've got an exceptionally nice little body to make him behave that way."

Kyandria glared at Kaleb and he chuckled, raising his hands in a peacekeeping gesture. "My little pet seems to think that would be unwise."

He stopped speaking, merely staring at her with a devilish smirk, waiting to see how she would react.

[DragonSong]

All the color drained from Zahra's face as she heard Kaleb speak. What was she supposed to do, to say? Should she just keep silent? Should she call for Cole?

Scrambling, she was left mute, shrinking back on herself as she wrapped her arms tight around her middle and her eyes flicked from the man to the elf woman. "I- I don't-"

She swallowed thickly and dropped her gaze to her feet. "Please...don't," was all she could get out in a rough whisper.

[Zero]

Kaleb practically roared with laughter, obviously enjoying her terror. Kyandria reached out a hand and gently stroked her arm reassuringly.

"Girl, if I was going to fuck you you'd already be sitting on my cock." His eyes glinted as he leaned in closer to her. "No, I'm not going to fuck you. You've been pretty well-behaved. Haven't even heard much screaming or sobbing coming from Cole's tent. Maybe you're a dirty little girl that likes what he's been doing to you."

The drow woman held her arm to keep her from bolting like a frightened rabbit, which she actually thought might happen. Zahra didn't strike her as particularly strong.

"When we get to Essyrn, all the slaves we've collected are being auctioned off. Now, that would normally mean you as well, but I don't think Cole is going to let you go that easy." Kaleb obviously had no real idea what Cole was up to with her. "So I've made a decision. My Cole is getting to be a real man, and he's even made me proud a few time. If he likes that little cunt of yours so much, I'm going to give it to him."

He turned from Zahra almost as if she didn't exist anymore, looking at Kyandria with a grin. "Take her with you and make sure she doesn't go running off. Can't have Cole's little present getting lost."

[DragonSong]

Zahra swallowed thickly, her knees trembling and threatening to give out at any moment. She nearly cried with relief when it became clear that he didn't hold much interest in her as a new plaything, though she flinched a bit at his coarse language.

Then her eyes widened and her head snapped up. She might have tried to bolt from instinct alone if it weren't for the hand gripping her arm.

"No," she whispered, shaking her head almost vaguely. "No, no please..."

She didn't want to be sold, but she liked the idea of being prisoner to this group of men even less. Cole had made it very clear that her chances were better in Essyrn- slave or not, at least there she might have a better shot at a real life, at escape.

But here... She swallowed back a sob and shook her head again, eyes bright with unshed tears. "Please..."

[Zero]

Kaleb was done with both of the women, and paid not a bit of attention to her pleas not to do exactly what he'd just done. All it did was confirm to him that Cole had been doing what any of them would have done with a pretty young captive.

Kyandria pulled Zahra by the arm impatiently towards the group of women drinking and eating quietly by themselves. The women the men kept for themselves.

Some of them looked at Zahra curiously, a few even looked sympathetic to her obvious distress. None of them had asked to be here either. However, they also had no intention of helping her do more than learn her place - just as they had learned.

"You will walk with us from now on." Kyandria told her sharply. "When we camp you will help us with the chores and then go to Cole's tent. If you misbehave he will punish you."

She pulled a silver choker from her pack and clicked it around Zahra's neck unceremoniously. An engraving showed the mercenary groups sigil and Cole's name so that any man in the group would know who the new elf girl belonged to. "No man will touch you without Cole's permission, unless he's prepared to face Cole in a duel."

[DragonSong]

Zahra's hand flew up to the collar that now rested around her neck and tugged at it uselessly, silent tears trickling down her cheeks.

Slowly, she lowered her hand, eyes downcast, and nodded at Kyandria's words.

"I understand." It seemed to be her mantra lately. She sniffles and wiped at her eyes, then drew her knees up to her chest and let her chin rest on them, arms wrapped around her legs.

[Zero]

The drow simply regarded her with dispassionate eyes before shaking her head and stalking off to quietly issue orders to the other women of her group. A couple of the other young women came up to Zahra and tried to offer soft encouragement.

"Don't cry. This is good. You can work with us and the men will leave you alone!" The girl that had spoken lowered her voice and glanced warily at Kyandria, who didn't appear to be paying them anymore attention. "Well, except Cole, but that's not so bad. I know it might not seem like it right now, but wouldn't you rather just have to worry about one of them and not all of them? Cole's not so bad, he only punishes you when you're bad."

The other girls murmured their agreement, trying to reassure their newest group member that it was alright now.

[DragonSong]

The elven girl jerked back instinctively, giving the other women wary looks. She only wanted to crybharder- how broken must they be that they truly believed this "wasn't so bad"? Cole wasn't even "using" her and she was ready to rage and cry, wishing she had the power to raze this place to the ground.

But she didn't say anything, just nodded desolately and stood. "What- what are my chores?" she asked quietly, hoping to keep her mind occupied with other things for as long as she could.

Or maybe... maybe, if she paid attention, learning how the camp was run could be useful. She could use the information to...to escape? To at least try? To do something!

[Zero]

Kyandria had returned and the girls immediately backed away, those red eyes could really bore into you. "Enough, get ready to start moving again. Your chores will be explained when we camp tonight, and you will stay with me. I will show you what to do."

The girls scattered, gathering up water skins and leftover food quickly.

They spent the afternoon in their own group, with only a couple men guarding or watching them at all. Even then, the men hardly seemed to pay attention to these women, regardless if they were slaves or not. None of them were dumb enough to try to run. They knew very well what would happen if they tried it.

When the column stopped at dusk, Kyandria grabbed Zahra by the arm and pulled her to a certain spot, pointing at the ground. "This is where you will set up Cole's tent, put his belongings inside then go inside to wait for him. There are no other duties for you tonight, unless Cole gives them to you. This is your first task every time we make camp. If there is water to gather you will come with us, but tonight we will not being doing that."

She moved to haul a load of equipment off one of the kaadir, quickly setting about erecting Kaleb's tent nearby.

Cole appeared with most of his things in hand almost immediately, looking shocked to find Zahra there. He'd planned on setting up his tent as quickly as possible so that he could run and grab her before anyone else tried it again. He'd not wanted a repeat of the night before.

"What are you do-" He'd started to hiss, but his eyes fell onto the collar and widened. "Who put that on you?!"

[DragonSong]

Zahra nodded dumbly when she was given instruction. She knew how to pitch a tent, it wouldn't be that difficult. She'd just taken a breath to start on the task when Cole appeared.

She looked up at him from where she knelt and suddenly she was on the verge of tears again. Gods, she wanted it to just stop, but she couldn't control it! "K-Kyandria," she choked out, breathing shallowly to avoid sobs. She'd learned her name from the other "kept" women.

"She- your father said-" Another sharp swallow and she dropped her eyes. "He- he thinks you like me. He said I was a p-present..."

[Zero]

He couldn't stop himself from sucking in a sharp breath at the very mention of his mother's name. Cole glanced in the direction of the frigid woman who was busying herself with her own work. Well fuck him sideways.

With a sigh he dropped his things on the ground, and looked rather annoyed. "Well do your work, girl. I haven't got all night."

Kyandria glanced over at them, not seeming to approve or disapprove of her son's behavior, but she did shoot a warning look at Zahra. Obviously his mother expected her to obey her master. Equally obviously was that Cole hadn't arranged for things to go this way.

Although now that he thought about it, this was the best way to keep her safe from the other men. He'd just been afraid asking to keep her would make it seem like he cared too much. There wasn't much else to be done about it for the moment, so he settled down to watch Zahra work. It felt weird to not be doing it himself, but if he tried it would look wrong - now that he had his own woman to serve him.

[DragonSong]

Zahra stared at him for a moment, then nodded jerkily and got to work.

Her tribe was traditionally nomadic, so she had a lot of experience pitching a tent quickly and efficiently. The task was completed easily enough and, remembering what the drow woman had said, Zahra cast Cole a quick look before crawling inside.

Once hidden from sight, she folded in on herself, her hands flying up to tug futilely at the collar around her neck. Her fingers curled over the metal and she tugged, but it wouldn't budge. She hadn't really expected it to, but she'd had to at least try.

Her eyes flicked to the tent flap, waiting warily for Cole to enter. This has changed things- hadn't it? Now that she was officially "his" would he... She swallowed thickly, fear sending a shiver down her spine.

[Zero]

There was a mixture of impatience and tension inside Cole. While he thought that this might be something of a blessing in disguise, not knowing why it had happened unnerved him. Who had decided that he liked the little desert elf? Sure, hitting Jarvis with a rock hadn't been the smoothest move, but it wouldn't be the first time two (or more) men got into a fight over wanting to take a particular girl to bed with them.

Cole had never gotten into a fight over one of the slave girls, though.

The question was, who had told his father? And more importantly, why had his father decided to give him the girl instead of punish him? He glanced at his mother, but she didn't look at him.

When the tent was done and Zahra disappeared inside, Cole gathered his belongings and dumped them inside, following and closing the flap securely behind him. "You should have brought my things in. I don't think anyone was paying attention, though."

He dropped her pack on her lap, face looking drawn and tired. "So my mother put a collar on you, for me. Well that's one way to solve the problem of keeping you safe."

Jarvis was probably going to be pissed.

Well, it served him right, and now he could worry less about keeping Zahra safe and out of harms way. At least a little.

[DragonSong]

Zahra's heart jumped into her throat and she gasped at him.

"S-so you're not- you're not going to-" She took a deep, shaky breath and covered her face with her hands, breathing through the threat of tears. Whether they were relief or just the combination of tension and fear that had been welling up in her, she wasn't sure.

Once she'd gotten a handle on herself, she murmured, "I'm sorry about your things. I'll- I'll remember next time..."

[Zero]

Cole looked confused for a few moments before he realized what she thought he was going to do to her just because she had a damn collar on now. He rolled his eyes and rolled out the bed for them. It irritated him just a little that she thought he was going to turn into her rapist at any moment. Or maybe it just hurt a bit.

It wasn't like he was an angel or saint, though. Cole hated thinking of it, but he'd forced himself on almost as many girls as the next guy in the group. He had to! If he didn't they'd have thought something was wrong with him. If he didn't fit in he'd end up worse than...a slave?

"No, I'm not going to hurt you." He said quietly. "I told you I don't want to hurt you, and if I don't have to, I won't. Don't apologize to me. Remember because that's what is expected to keep up this stupid charade, but not because I deserve you waiting on me for some arbitrary reason. If I could still do the work myself and get away with it, I would."

Cole stretched out and laid down. Closing his eyes immediately. He wasn't asleep, of course, but his head hurt and he was exhausted. Worrying about someone other than himself was hard work.

[DragonSong]

She nodded slowly as she watched him get settled. Maybe it seemed strange to him that she was still so cautious, but what could he expect, really? She doubted she'd ever loose that caution, not in this place.

Noticing there was really only one place in the tent to sleep, she bit at her lip, then murmured, "Do I, um...should I...?"

Her hands fluttered toward him, caramel cheeks flushed as she couldn't seem to get the question out. "Together?" she finally mumbled, hands still fluttering about nervously.

[Zero]

"You've slept near me the past two nights, Zahra, just lay down. I'm not going to bite you." Cole grumbled softly, but then remembered that he had bitten her before. "Er...again."

He sighed and patted the place next to him. They wouldn't have to cuddle up or anything, but she was going to have to deal with sleeping beside him for a while longer. There just wasn't much else for it. If she wasn't with him, someone else would have taken advantage of the situation.

"It's only a few days to Essyrn." He's seen her touching the collar. Cole would have taken it off her, but she had to wear it for her own protection. At least he didn't have to tie her up anymore.

[DragonSong]

Zahra nodded again and cautiously crawled onto the bedroll beside him, pressing herself as close to the edge as was reasonable.

She probably could have just slept on the ground, but honestly she was sick of the sand. Not to mention she was suddenly wondering what would happen if aomeone happened to burst in in the night and she was some feet away from the man who now...owned her.

She gritted her teeth. "In Essyrn...you'll sell me?" she asked quietly. "Can you still- won't your father be suspicious?"