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40
I think they bathed me after they were finished. Since I passed out once Master Damien was done with me, I wasn’t sure. Considering how sticky I felt the next morning, they might not have, though.
I woke before anyone else and wandered out toward the bathroom. It was one of those mornings where I would have drunk coffee back home. I felt like a zombie. I was sitting on the pot before I realized there wasn’t anyone to wipe me. As I reached for the rag on the counter, I was stopped. Master Christof laid his hand over mine and looked pissed.
“What are you doing?” he asked. He towered over me the way Master Damien did when he was angry.
“I’m sorry, Christof… Master Christof. I forgot to get someone to come with me,” I stuttered.
He’d never been so harsh with me. As he picked up the rag and cleaned me, it finally hit me.
“Your bond with your brothers is fixed isn’t it, Master Christof?”
“We are bonded again, yes. It will take time to become as strong as it was, but it is fixed,” he answered cleaning me.
It was my own private horror. My friend was gone, lost into the chasm that was their collective mind. All that trouble to save him and I’d helped to send him away permanently. A single tear ran down my cheek as I stood up.
“Why are you making tears, Ciara?” he asked curiously taking it off my face.
“Sometimes humans make tears when we are happy about something. I’m really happy for you Master Christof,” I lied.
I don’t think he believed me, but he let it slide.
I was so depressed. The one person here that didn’t insist I act like a mindless slave was now a mindless slave. I barely noticed when Master Damien let me choose between two different pieces of ornamentation to wear to the Keepers today. They’d never done that before, but I was too upset to give it much thought.
The men were still in phenomenally fabulous states of mind. They didn’t seem to notice my mood, which was a good thing. It would have been impossible to explain.
After all the exertion last night I was really thirsty. They had set me between Master Bane and Master Kein and I kept asking for a little more water during the morning meal. Master Kein must have gotten sick of me, he handed me a full cup and went back to the conversation.
I just stared at him. Nobody else even looked at me. Tentatively I took a sip and looked up. They were still talking about a new sword someone had gotten. I drank the whole cup and handed it back to Master Kein, he filled it and asked if I wanted more.
I shook my head ‘no’ and he laughed tousling my hair. It struck me to wonder if they could just stick to their own stupid rules. That would make my life so much easier.
I was still down when we got to the Keepers compound. They weren’t though. Master Damien kissed my cheek and told me to have fun. He said we would go for a fitting in the next couple of days. I needed to describe to the tailors how the outfit I danced in was made. They were all acting so off, I couldn’t figure it out.
The girls were sympathetic to my problem when I told them about it. They didn’t really understand though. Even Rose had forgotten what it was like to have a special relationship with just one person. They tried to cheer me up, but it didn’t really work. I was in a funk.
Master Christof came to feed me for lunch, in the lunch room, of course. I ate what he gave me and didn’t complain. He talked with the other Warriors about the campaign and who was going for a coupling next. They gave each other pointers on how to best subdue the women. He didn’t seem at all upset to be lying out his ass.
I missed him, the real him. I missed talking to him about how he was raised and what it was like to use a sword, all the stupid stuff we used to talk about at mid day. At some point during the meal I started to cry again. He brushed the tears away and looked at me questioningly.
Recovering quickly I told him I was thinking of my family again. He said the same thing Master Damien had, I wasn’t permitted to think about them. They had not done a good job protecting me. In truth, I had to agree with him about that.
After lunch I swam out my little hole. I surfaced and saw the Keepers were busy with the girls on the beach. I was glad for the way they obsessed on us. It made it easier to disappear in the afternoons. They were always helping someone undress or walking them to the bathroom. It was stupid the way they acted like we were all little kids.
I took a breath a dived deep. There were all these little yellow fish that hung out at the edge of the rock wall by the inlet. I chased them sometimes. I saw a cluster of them now. Swimming toward them, they scattered and then all went left. Weirdly enough, they all kept going and didn’t go back to the wall, neither did I.Text © 2024 NôvelDrama.Org.
I was caught in the current. I’d forgotten it was higher up now. The undertow sucked me along at a rapid pace. Back at home, I’d been taught never to fight an undertow, but I’d never been in one this strong or fast. I remembered an old lifeguard telling me to relax and use my hands to guide me to the surface.
My lungs were burning for air and I couldn’t tell which way was up. I let out a little bubble and watched it as I flew past it. I tilted my hands so they took me that direction. Slowly the light started to get brighter. I was going the right direction. Just a few more seconds, I told myself. Just hang onto your air just few more seconds.
Gasping for breath I broke the water’s surface and continued to be dragged along. I couldn’t get out of the current and I watched the shore and the rocky inlet getting smaller and smaller. I screamed for the Keepers, but I was already so far out. Much to my dismay, I was being dragged out to sea.
It took forever to get out of the current. Finally, I was dumped unceremoniously on what was essentially a large sand bar in the middle of the ocean. I looked around and realized I was in the middle of nowhere.
I couldn’t see land in any direction. If I could tell which way home was I could swim toward it. The current had twisted me around for so long I wasn’t even sure of that anymore. Not that I could fight the current to get back there anyway.
My eyes started to tear up, I was going to die here. No one would ever find me. I fought for control of myself and it was a losing battle.
As the sun set, the water started to rise. I had no idea how big the change in tide would be. By the time that awesome ringed moon rose into the sky the tide had risen significantly. There wasn’t sand underneath my feet anymore, just deep dark water. I drifted aimlessly in the ocean trying not to panic.
I was thirsty, so thirsty. Televisions shows back home had taught me you can’t drink salt water. This water tasted like the ocean on earth. I doubted drinking it would help me feel better. I’d seen some shows where drinking the ocean killed you faster.