Chapter 7. I AM THE MASTER NOW

"You loved him and I respect that…but I am the Master now …SLAVE! Rise and show me respect…" Grey Worm ignores Azheme. "Did you hear me?" He finally stands and looks at Azheme. "A slave should not look his master in the eyes."

"You are no master of mine…"

"Guards!"

They rush in and start punching and kicking Grey Worm. He fights back breaking the nose of one guard. He flips another onto his back and Grey Worm puts his foot in the guard's throat breaking it. The next man stabs him in the leg and another bashes him in the head. "Take him to the dungeons." Azheme orders. As they drag Grey worm through the house Loen appears.

"What the hell is this?"

"Watch your tone! With my father dead I am the Lord of this House…"

"Lord Heim Nevarro was planning on giving Grey Worm and the other slaves their freedom…" With a hand gesture Azheme's guards surround Loen. Azheme had Heim cremated and his ashes thrown into the city refuse. At the will reading Azheme is left everything. He summons the slaves to main courtyard, Mandely and Gizelle are not present. "My father is dead and he made you all promises he couldn't keep. I am your master now…Some of you I will keep…The rest will be sold or traded for new slaves…Those I keep will speak to me as a slave should his Master. No more reading or writing…If I catch anyone doing so…I will have that slave's eyes plucked out and their tongue removed…"

After addressing the slaves Azheme had many documents signed then he sent many slaves to the auction house for trade or to be sold. Then Azheme goes to a private room in his uncle's brothel. There is a knock on the door. "Come in."

A hooded man enters, "You are called Iliam…"

"I am and who are you?"

"A man has many names…Call him Hakeem…"

"You serve the many faced god?"

"Hakeem serves the many faced god…Who does Iliam Nevarro want to offer to the Many Faced god?" Iliam as he changed his name too said their names one by one. Adnan and his entire family, Ymell, and the healer Vasan who helped him poison Heim. "The cost will be high…"

"No price is too high as long as it looks as if the slaves killed Adnan and his family, then make the deaths of Ymell and the healer Vasan look like accidents. Can it be done?"

"It can...Hakeem collects 100,000 gold Harpies now and 50,000 for each name given…The many faced god will dine well…"

"I will leave your gold here in this room…"

"Turn your head and say Hakeem's name…"

"Hakeem!"

"Face me!" Came a woman's voice from behind. When Heim turned a beautiful redhead was behind him.

Grey Worm

Grey Worm had been chained to the ceiling of his dungeon cell for the past week, his feet barely touching the floor. He was given bread and water once a day. A slave girl he had never seen before brought the unsatisfying meal. Grey would ask her for news but she never responded. Always keeping her head down when she came. Grey could hear the keys jingle and in walked Azheme with four guards.

"You poisoned Master Heim…"

When Iliam smiles Grey spits at him, "You filthy…No…No you will learn your place. I will break you…No I did not poison our father…I say our, because he loved you like a son. A filthy slave with no breeding no proper name…or family…I can forgive all that…if you call me Master Iliam." Grey Worm remains quiet. Iliam walks up to him, "Everything that happens from this point on is on your head…Bring her in…"

When Azheme, because Grey Worm thought of him as Azheme said this his heart jumped and his eyes stretched when two more guards dragged in Gizelle. "Grey Worm!" She pulled away from the men holding her and ran up to Grey Worm. They let her hug him for a brief moment then they pulled her off him.

"Let her go you bastards!"

Iliam/Azheme started walking around the guards and Gizelle, "Do you remember my fifteenth name day…Of course you do…My friends and I were planning to go to the brothel…My first woman…Ezar suggested I practice on a slave…I decided to use her…and that is when you interrupted me…" When Iliam/Azheme starts to fondle Gizelle Grey Worm goes berserk. He rubs her breasts through her clothes and then down her stomach to her vagina. "…and placed your filthy slave hands on me and my friends. Dam her tits are soft." Gizelle flinches from his touch and struggles to get free.

"Please!" Grey Worm begs.

Iliam walks around Gizelle and the guards to stand in front of Grey Worm, "What did you say?"

Tears are falling down Grey Worm's cheeks, "Please."

"Please what?"

"Please master…Grey Worm asks Master not to do this spare Gizelle and Grey Worm will serve Master…Iliam"

Grey Worm had to swallow his pride and call Iliam Master. He wanted to save the woman he loved from a fate worse than death. "You sound sincere slave…and it moves my heart…but a Master must be made of iron…" He walks back toward Gizelle and wraps his arms around her abdomen. "Slaves do not make deals with their Masters…I will finish what I started five years ago…"

"No!" Gizelle screams as her clothes are ripped from her body. Her tits are squeezed, her nipples are pinched. Her butt is rubbed.

"Gizelle!" Grey Worm screams, "You fucking bastard! I'm going to kill you!"

"Shut him up I want to enjoy this…" They punch Grey Worm in the gut then the guard gags him. Grey Worm watches in horror as the woman he loves is bent over and raped.

"Dam she's tight…You should have fucked her when you had the chance…" Gizelle screams as her hymen is broken. Blood runs down her legs as Iliam thrusts himself into her over and over again.

"Stop it! Stop this…NOOO!" She pleads. Grey Worm can do nothing. He grunts with enraged eyes looking on Azheme/Iliam.

"Damn!" Grey sneers as Azheme/Iliam looks up at him, "Should I cum inside her slave…Oh what the hell…Ahhh! That was so good." He backs away looking at the guards, "Would you good men like a turn?"

"Aye!" They all say at the same time. Grey Worm struggles more as the men throw her to the floor and start taking turns on Gizelle.

"Make sure you probe that ass…" Azheme/Iliam walks up to Grey Worm. "Enjoying the show?"

When the men finish with her Iliam grabs her by the hair and places a dagger to her throat. "I love you…" Gizelle says looking into Grey Worm's eyes.

"Isn't that sweet, but love between two worthless slaves means nothing…"

Grey Worm growls from beneath his gag as blood sprays his face and chest. Gizelle hits the floor. Iliam walks up to Grey Worm and that is when he raises his foot and kicks Iliam in the face breaking his nose and splitting his lip. "You son of bitch!" The guard punches Grey Worm in the face then he removes the gag.

"You punch like a girl…"

"Really! Strip him!" The guards cut Grey Worm's clothes off, then a large man with a whip enters. "Damn!" Azheme says looking at Grey Worm's cock, "you could have killed her with that thing, "Aren't you glad I spared her from it…"

"Fuck you! Fuck you all to hell!"

"You didn't scream out the last time you were whipped…Perhaps you will break from forty lashes…" Iliam steps to the side, "Hoist him up!" He commands. A guard cranks the lever around then he spins Grey around. The whip hits him across the left side. "One!" Iliam counts down the whip every time it strikes Grey Worm's flesh. No matter where it lands Grey Worm remains silent with his eyes closed. He did flinch when the whip strikes him across the face. His right eye swells.

By the 32nd lash Iliam is aggravated as Grey Worm has yet to make a sound. "Give me that! " He says snatching the whip from the guard. "SCREAM! SCREAM! YOU WILL SCREAM1"

Grey smiles as Iliam easily tires, "Pussy!" He manages to say.

"Let's go let him stare at his dead whore of a love…"

Grey Worm is covered head to toe in lashes from the whip. His body is also covered in blood and he is naked. He falls to sleep begging for death. He read in a book written by a freed slave, death is the only freedom a slave knows. He tries not to dream, but the dreams come. He sees Heim in his mind, Mandely, Loen, and finally Gizelle. Then something weird happens he actually hears Mandely's voice. She is crying, Grey Worm's eyes pop open and there she is standing in front of him.

"Thank the gods you are alive…"

"Man…de…ly!"

"Shush do not speak…"

"What the hell!" Iliam screams, the guards rush in and grab her. Behind her Grey Worm struggles.

"How could you?"

"You don't question me. I am the master! The only reason I didn't sell you is because you are like a mother to me…"

"No son of mine would rape an innocent girl or commit such cruelty…" She says pointing at Grey Worm.

"Cruelty! Cruelty! How long have I suffered at the cruel cold upbringing of that man? Mocked looked down upon and cursed with a name that means fool…No I have done what is just."

"And what did Gizelle do to disserve your justice? What did Loen do to deserve chains and slavery?"

"Gizelle loved the wrong person…Loen stepped out of line…"

"I beg you don't do this…"

"Take her back to her room and make sure she stays there…"

"Don't ever call me mother again…"

Grey Worm and Ilaim stare at each other, "You are still alive…Good the best is yet to come…Prepare the wagons…"

Grey Worm spits as he walks out. A few minutes later a few guards walk in to collect Gizelle's body and clean up the blood, piss, and shit. There was no bucket so Grey Worm had to piss on the floor and shit where he was dangling from. Sometimes urine would run onto his leg and wounds burning him. When the tears fell from his eyes the wounds on his face and upper chest burn. Soon he falls asleep, death was so close but it refused to take him.

Is it a dream or a vision Grey Worm cannot tell. He opens his eyes and blood pours from the walls. The door opens and in walks Gizelle. "Why didn't you protect me?" The corpse asked with its slit throat gushing blood. "Why didn't you love me…" Then…

"Is he dead?"

Two days had passed; the sound of Azheme's voice infuriated Grey Worm. Then he heard a strange voice then a hand was on his neck. "He's alive!" The voice said. Grey Worm's eyes pop open and he bites two of the healer's fingers off; the man backs away cradling his hand as he screams. Grey Worm laughs with the fingers in his mouth. Part of him wishes to swallow as he is hungry, but he comes to his senses and spits them at the guard.

"Mother fucker!"

"No…" Azheme says stopping the guard, "He has a little fight left in him…He will need for where he is going…Bring him!"

Grey laughs as they take him down and drag him through the dungeons to the courtyard. They lay him on a blanket on the back of a wagon. "Grey Worm! Grey Worm!" He looks up recognizing the voice, its Loen. "By the gods what have they done to you?"

"Shut up!" The new house captain commands.

"Let's move out!" Azheme orders. Grey falls to sleep as he is rocked back and forward on the cart.