RED SOX: Is it too early to start believing?
FEEDBACK: is welcome and encouraged p.phair@comcast.net
Jaimy decided she was mistaken. She believed at one point the tired guard showed her a small glimmer of kindness. She knew now she was wrong. Naked, hogtied and fastened face down with cargo straps in the back of an open flat bed truck was no way to treat another human being. There was no kindness in him when he tugged the restraints tighter. She promised herself she would not make the same mistake in judgment again.
The guard snored heavily next to her. His thigh was right at her nose. The smell was foul but he didn't leave her enough slack to even turn her head from side to side. She felt her stomach lurch as the truck pitched around on the dirt road. Deep breathing was needed to ease her rebellious belly. She decided mouth breathing was in her best interest.
The wind gusted again sending a shiver down the length of her bare body. Jaimy tried to remember the last time she was warm. She closed her eyes searching her memory. Images of being snuggled in blankets in her mother's arms while her grandfather tended a roaring fire filled her mind. Jaimy was just over a fever and her grandfather wanted to keep her from taking a chill. The unit was like an oven. A tear trickled from her eye and down her nose as she realized that night was the last time she was warm and loved and safe.
"No tears," a harsh voice growled in her ear.
Jaimy looked up to see the soldier was awake and kneeling beside her. He slapped his palm across her ass cheek. It was all she could do to keep from crying out at the pain. The brand on her hip was only four days healed and still hurt like rotted tooth.
"Be tough or they'll eat you alive here," he warned after the trucked braked to a stop, "and be quiet or I'll have to hurt you."
Jaimy bared her teeth and snarled at him.
"You'll have to be tougher than that Urbanite," the guard laughed at her helplessness.
Jaimy decided to ignore his comments. She stared straight ahead. Hands started to paw at her to loosen her restraints. She closed her eyes to so she wouldn't see the faces that owned the hands manipulating her bound body.
"Leave her tied. Let's get her out of the truck. Might as well mark her while we've got her down," the guard spoke to those working with him.
Jaimy's mind raced, "Mark her? Again? What the fuck? How many brands do I need? You'd think the giant S on my hip would be sufficient. Sons of bitches!"
The men moving her chatted happily among themselves. She was no more important than a barrel of rocks. In fact, she was probably lighter than one after her starvation diet.
Jaimy's only moment of relief was when they hurried inside a building. It was instantly warmer. The dim light was also a welcome change for her over stimulated eyes. Her handlers carried her down a long hall to a set of guarded double doors.
"Senator's new slave," her formerly tired guard explained. "Is the iron hot?"
"Ready and waiting, Ned," a pleasant voice replied.
"Watch it, soldier. You're still on duty."
"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."
One door opened and the squad hustled Jaimy inside. Quickly the entrance was slammed shut. The group was puffing from their burden with distance taking a toll on them over actual weight. She was unceremoniously dumped to the floor when they arrived next to a work bench.
A knee slammed down between her shoulder blades pinning her to the wood floor.
"Bite this."
"Screw you," she managed to gasp.
"You wish," the guard actually laughed out loud before shoving a leather bit into her mouth. "It's gonna hurt."
He didn't lie. The brand went on clean to her previously unmarked hip. It was twice the size of her first brand which would account for it causing twice the pain. She bit into the leather hard and screamed. The group walked away from her while she wailed in agony. Jaimy knew she shouldn't cry. The tears came anyway.
"Barbarian! Get your ass over here," the guard's familiar voice drifted over her head.
"Yes, sir?"
"Meet your new responsibility."
"Oh, no! You can't be serious! What did I do wrong?"
"Let's see, you cut Rocko in practice."
"An accident; the blade slipped."
"Yep, a dull blade slipped and gave him a six inch gash on his cheek."
"It was a lucky shot accident."
"You knocked out Foozi."
"Come on! That was forever ago. Lately, what have I done wrong lately?"
"You splashed mud on my dress blues four minutes before inspection last Wednesday," the voice was very cold.
"Didn't think you saw me. Does it do me any good to tell you Private Bryant was the actual target?"
"Only if you want him up your ass too. So, I'd shut your mouth and pick up your charge, if I were you. Oh, did I mention you'd be tethered for the first month? You got anything left to say, barbarian?" Silence was his only reply. "Good!"
Jaimy was struggling to stay conscious. The pain was threatening to swamp her senses. She could not understand much of the conversation around her but she gathered she was being handed off to a barbarian.
"Great, just, great," was her last thought when her body was lifted from the floor and hefted over a muscular shoulder.
Jaimy stared into the pitch blackness before her. She was trying to see something familiar. Any shape or form to give her a clue where in hell she was. Nothing but darkness surrounded her.
"Maybe if I try to remember the last thing I can remember," she thought to herself.
The thought worried her. It was a bit delirious. Jaimy realized she was feverish and knew her mind could easily slip in such a weakened state. Unclear on her circumstances, she was still certain it could be fatale if she didn't figure out very soon what was going on. She tensed her muscles readying for whatever fight might find her.
"Relax."
Jaimy knew that voice. Well, not 'knew' knew but recognized it. It was, at least, familiar.
"Where am I?"
"Oh for the love of God," the voice was exasperated. "If you don't stop asking me that question and go to sleep, I'll break your neck myself."
A moment of silence was broken by a hoarse voice.
"Sorry…,"
"Okay, fine, I give up…again…try to remember this time…you're a captured Urbanite owned by Master Fitzgibbon…you've been feverish since they branded you this morning…which was right before you got chained to me…lucky me…I'm your tutor…again, lucky me…if you ever get your shit together, I'm gonna teach to fight good enough to live through the first four rounds of war games next First Eve…,"
"Lucky you."
"…my thought exactly…,"
"Why's it so dark?" Jaimy thoughts were scattered.
"It's not. You have a cold cloth over your eyes. Leave it there. I'm trying to get your fever to break. They said you were supposed to be some kind of fighter before they captured you," the voice stated more than asked.
"No," Jaimy remembered a flicker of her life. "No, I was good with a gun. But, I'm no fighter."
"Too bad. No guns in war games. I probably won't be able to get you through the first four rounds then." There was a heavy silence between them before the barbarian spoke again, "Hey, you remembered something. You were a little coherent for a minute. Your fever might be breaking."
"That would be a good thing."
"Yep, that's good because up to now you've been a complete pain in my ass."
"So, can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Where am I?"
"Cripes almighty! I just told you! Can't you remember anything for even a minute?"
"I remember what you said but where exactly are we? It's warm and dry and no wind. Are we inside?"
"Oh, where exactly are we? Right. We're in the slave barracks. It's on Master Fitzgibbon's estate. Not a bad place, actually. Food's good, plenty of water, warm, dry…,"
"…beatings, brandings, and bindings. What's not to love? I think my fever's breaking. I'm starting to remember more. Maybe you should break my neck. I'm not really positive I want to live like this."
"Too bad. You don't get to make any decisions any more. You follow orders; Master's orders, the guards' orders, and my orders. So, shut up and go to sleep."
Silence fell between the pair again and was unbroken until dawn.
Jaimy opened her eyes and found a faded blue denim thigh next to her nose. Without moving too much, she looked down the length of the leg to a set of bare feet. Rather large bare feet to be sure but feminine none the less. She noticed her own leg sprawled nearby. Her leg was still bare as was her ass.
Forgetting her own state for the moment, Jaimy resumed her inspection of the body sitting next to her. She let her gaze travel back up the length of a long leg, the curve of a generous hip, over a flat and taunt abdomen capped by firm breasts which were loosely covered by a torn and graying shirt. The woman had her back up against the wall with her head tilted just enough to the side that her collared neck would feel it later. Her mouth hung slack jawed and an occasional snort interrupted deep, peaceful breathing. A thin line of drool trickled from the corner of her mouth. Her short brown hair was washed out from too much time in the sun. The same could be said for her skin which was browning from exposure. Judging by the expanse of the woman's shoulders, Jaimy figured this was the person who carried her; her new tutor, the barbarian.
"Tethered," Jaimy remembered the guard saying.
Around each of Jaimy's wrists was locked a thick leather cuff. However, her wounds had been wrapped in clean white bandages and the cuffs were fitted behind the bulk. Her left wrist cuff's D ring sported a chain. Jaimy followed the links but knew they would end at the barbarian's wrist cuff. Even in her sleep, the barbarian had a firm grip on the chain leaving no slack.
"Shit!" Jaimy let out a hiss of disappointment.
The barbarian startled and snapped her hands up defensively. She was strong enough half asleep to haul Jaimy over her lap.
"Whoa girl, I like the arm in the socket!" Jaimy struggled to reclaim the appendage.
The barbarian shifted from defense to offense in a heart beat. She floored Jaimy face down. Jaimy's left arm ended up under her with her hand pulled up passed her ear. The awkwardness of the position rendered Jaimy's free hand useless.
"Who the fuck…who the fuck are you?" The barbarian sounded dazed.
"You're a real sound sleeper, ain't you?" Jaimy actually laughed but stopped when the hold got tighter.
"Oh, come on! Wake up, woman! They said you were gonna be my tutor. You said, you'd teach me what I need to know to survive the war games. I ain't gonna be any good if you snap my arm off."
"No, I didn't," her voice was distant. "I never said I'd teach you to survive. I only said, I'd teach you to get through the first four rounds." The pressure on Jaimy's arm increased causing her the whimper before it was freed. "There's a big difference."
The barbarian unwrapped the tangle of chain and arms while Jaimy caught her breath.
"Sorry about that. I always sleep alone now. Not use to waking up with anybody else watching me anymore," the barbarian explained when she settled back into her corner.
Jaimy massaged her sore shoulder. "Maybe you should tell 'em we shouldn't be shackled together. Maybe I could sleep someplace else?"
"Right! They'll be all over that for you. Maybe they should get you a room in the Master's house? Would you like the second floor or third?"
"Look, you don't have to be sarcastic. I just meant it might be better if you didn't kill me before breakfast some morning because you had a nightmare or something."
The barbarian snorted. "It'd only be better for you. If I kill you in cold blood, Master will chalk it up to good practice for me and weeding out a loser, namely you. Better we find out here than in the middle of the games that you suck."
The weight of the words silenced Jaimy. She was nothing; absolutely nothing. Her life was reduced to fodder for a perverse game of chance. She was dumped unarmed into a place filled with vicious fighters refining their killing arts. If by some miracle she lived to see the games, she would most likely be an early fatality to her Master's drive for political power.
Jaimy looked down in an effort to hide her growing hatred. She noticed, for the first time, she was wearing a fairly new cotton top. The sleeves were ripped off but it covered her chest and back well. It was a small provision for her privacy but it made the lack of pants suddenly unbearable.
"My ass is getting cold. You got anything I could borrow?"
That got a throaty laugh. "No, nothing that would fit you. But, these will do well enough."
The barbarian tossed a still blue pair of jeans at Jaimy. She bobbed her head in thanks but kept her eyes her pants. A couple of tugs got them up and buttoned. The material was rough over her new brand but she was grateful to be covered.
"Wow, you are a bitty little thing! Those are boy's and you're gonna have trouble keeping them up, I think."
"They'll do."
Jaimy was anxious to get the topic off her size before the barbarian decided she was too pathetic to teach. Jaimy was short and thin. Fighting with a gun evened the playing field for her but hand to hand battles were a different matter. She needed to get strong, get quick, and learn every dirty trick in the book to have a half of a hope of staying alive to First Eve. The barbarian was the only one at the moment who could help her do that.
"My name's Jaimy. What should I call you?"
The barbarian shook her head. "You don't ever call me anything, little pig! You keep your trap shut and do what I say, when I say. Understand?"
Jaimy obediently nodded her head.