When I woke again Argyl was gone and Jade was sleeping soundly. She had thrown off the blanket; it was quiet warm, and we lay half exposed. I checked her pulse, which seemed stronger if not strong. The light was slightly brighter, and I realized we were in a low cavern. There was only one way out, so I stooped and made my way into the larger chamber that lay beyond, full of weathered boulders, stalagmites and stalactites. The cave seemed to stretch on forever in each direction, but the light was coming from a hole partway up the cavern.
As I approached the light I could hear Argyl arguing with the tree man. The larger cavern had been cooler than our hovel, and the chill air blowing in from the entrance made me regret not putting on my dress.
“We must leave, you have, we cannot stay here.”
“You are of the mountain now. You were of the mountain and will be of the mountain.”
“We are people,” he said each word carefully. “We are only of ourselves. We must leave.”
The brown hulk of a man shook his head. “You will of the forest been. You of the mountain have been will.”
“We must go!” Argyl raised his voice and stepped forwards. The brown man shoved him back, seeming to use no effort to send him sprawling back onto the cave floor. I lunged at him before I had thought and wrenched my arm about his throat. I squeezed as hard as I could, enough to strangle I'm sure, but it was like trying to squeeze the life from a block of wood. I remember being very calm, as if I were separate from my body, commanding it as an automation. He spun, trying to reach inflexible hands behind himself. Another ill formed brute, this one black, his features barely hinted at in his form, was on me then. I tried pathetically to spin the man I held to the ground, Instead, the second man lifted me into the air and casually hurled me back into the cave.
I was in the air for what seemed an impossible time, dread of the collision growing in me, a strange vertigo overwhelming my senses. It was as a dream, time suspended, my body, not my own, hurtling towards harm. Luckily I landed on my back, although my head knocked the stone and my dizziness increased. I scraped my back on a loose stone and lost feeling in my right shoulder and arm.
Argyl was to me before I had stopped sliding. His eyes darted over me quickly, looking for damage I supposed.
“What hurts?”
“My arm and shoulder are numb, my back is scraped, my head.”
“Can you sit?”
With help I could. He checked my head first, then shoulder and back.
“Only your back is bleeding, and its more skinned than cut. Can you move your fingers?”
I managed to wiggle them a little.
“It feels more like needles now than numbness. My head hurts, I feel dizzy.”
He angled my head towards the mouth of the cave and looked carefully at my eyes. There were four tree men now, three facing us and the last away. The outside was bright and I could not make out much, but thought I saw little black figures, the size of small dogs, out beyond the men.
“I don't think you have a concussion, or at least not a bad one And I don't think your arm is broken, but we need to be careful just in case. Can you walk do you think?”
I tried to rise but faltered over my numb hand. He helped me up carefully, and I was able to stay standing with only a little dizziness. The black forms were the roach-like insects I had seen before. They were amassing in a semi-circle around the tree men. Hundreds of them at least.
“Lets get back to Jade,” he whispered, “and figure out what to do.”
“Yes Master,” I said absently. I could walk on my own, but he offered his arm to steady me and I did not refuse it. Jade was awake when we crawled into the small cavern where we had slept. She leaned against the side, a blanket pulled up about her.
“What happened?” she asked, worried.
“They won't let us leave,” Argyl said, then to me, “Lay down here on your stomach.” I did so.
“Is she okay?” Jade was leaning over me.
“I'm not badly hurt, mistress.”
“I'm mostly worried about infection,” Argyl said. “Kara, this will sting a little.”
He plastered something cold along the scrape, and it did indeed sting, but not badly, and it quickly grew warm.
“We're not proving very good at this adventuring stuff,” suggested Jade.
“Heh,” Argyl responded.
“Mistress, with our enemies, it is good that we are alive at all.”
She shrugged and said nothing.
“I wish I had a bandage for this.”
“There's a knife in the bag, we could cut a blanket.”
“Maybe, not yet.”
“Did they attack?”
“No, she did.”
“Kara, you should at least have gotten dressed.”
“Yes mistress.”
Argyl was still working my back and I enjoyed the sensation of his fingers.
“Leaving isn't really practical anyway, we'd freeze. How much food do we have?”
“A few days,” Argyl said.
“Water?”
“Less, very little.”
“Okay. How long until her cut is healed?”
“Um, the only real danger is infection. It's pretty long and wide, but not deep. She could move now, although she'll be stiff. I'm more worried about the arm, I'd like to see how it is in a couple hours.”
“Okay. I say she rests here then. You explore the cave. Finding water is the most important thing, but there may be other exists too. I'm going to try to rig one of these blankets into clothes of some kind. I don't fancy running around naked as much as Kara here seems to.”
“Okay. Let the poultice stay on her skin and exposed to the air. I'll clean it up when I get back.”
“Okay.”
He went out. After a moment Jade shifted to her knees and, after giving me a glance, pulled the blanket off herself. Her skin was very pale in the dim light and she was very beautiful. I watched her.
“Like what you see?” she asked sarcastically.
“Yes mistress, you are very beautiful.”
She snorted, then paused and looked at me.
“Well thank you.” She experimented with wrapping the blanket about her in a few ways, although she did not seem satisfied with any of them.
“Mistress?”
“What Kara?”
“Mistress, when I was a young whore, we wore cloth wraps.”
She regarded me a moment, then, “okay, teach me how to dress like a whore.”
That she could not stand made it more difficult, but I managed after a few tries. Her skin was smooth and warm against my fingers.
“Did you enjoy that?” Her tone was sharp.
“Mistress, yes. The wrap is such that it will come undone if you pull your shoulders too forwards. Also, it was customary to show more of the breasts.”
She looked down at herself. “It is very flattering. I don't think I could run or fight, but that's okay, I'll just stun our enemies with my beauty and you and Argie can run 'em all through.”
“Yes mistress.” I dropped my eyes and kneeled.
“Are you doing that just to piss me off?”
“No mistress, I accept your anger as just and subjugate myself to it.”
“No, don't. Bitch at me. Tell me how you want to fuck my husband and take him from me and how you're not sorry you fondled his cock when you thought he was sleeping. Yes I know, he feigned sleep but he told me.”
I felt my face burn with shame, and I bowed lower, pressing my face to the floor before her feet.
“Get up.”
“Yes mistress,” I scampered up to my knees.
“Look at me.”
It was hard, I hesitated, then looked into her eyes. They were very crisp and sharp with anger.
“Look. Kara. I like you. I really do. You've had the shittiest life I've ever even heard of. I don't blame you for being fucked up. For not knowing how to be around people. You've saved my life once already and tried to a few more times. Thank you. Really. I'd like to be your friend. But you are not a slave or a whore anymore. You are a woman. An equal among equals. That means you don't fuck my husband. You don't fondle him. You don't run around naked all the time so he can ogle you. Okay?”
Tears were in my eyes but none fell.
“Yes mistress,” my voice cracked but I got it out.
“Okay. Thank you. Also, you don't fuck me either, okay? You don't seduce me. You don't have to fuck anyone.”
“Yes mistress.”
She looked at me. Tears streamed from my eyes but I did not sob. I felt very small beneath her gaze, like I was shrinking into nothing. A bad dog desperate to please her master.
“Okay, thank you.” She was less sarcastic now. “Rest now, try to sleep. I am going to walk around the cave a little, stretch my legs and explore.
“Yes mistress.”
I did lay down but sleep was long in coming. I heard Jade stoop out of the small space.
What I did was not exactly thinking. I replayed it in my mind, the feel of his cock, of her hips and breasts, the rage in her voice, what I was sure was disappointment in his. I was sure I loved them both, wished to be with them both. And her rage cut me, rent the muscles from my bones. I was ashamed. My heart had betrayed me. My heart was a black and tarred thing, unacceptable to the world. I was an injured bird, a pretty songbird with a crushed wing to be pitied and nursed. Not a woman to be loved. I wept, not hard but steadily, for a long time, and then sleep claimed me.
Again, I did not dream. Or rather, I dreamt of nothing, some colors perhaps, abstract and undecipherable.