Master and Servant part 11

A/N Well quite surprised with myself that I do have the new chapter finished and ready to post :) And the next one is already started and I have about half of the next chapter of James Collared 2 written as well :) Wanted to send thanks to the people who have actually reviewed , especially JustOldFashioned and annabellex2 who were my only reviews last week. But also to deb24, child who is cool, RockChickwrites and kaybaby1127. I will try to keep this one going as I have plenty of ideas about where it is going, even if the ideas do change continuously!

Allie )O(

They marched on into the night. Most of the high-born and their captains and most important servants were mounted on horses or riding on the carts but the soldiers and lower ranked servants were walking. Most of the children had done this before and kept up admirably, but Katie and another girl who was with the following group were having a hard time keeping up. James had been put up on a cart with Jo and the General's mother, but there was just not enough room to put Katie up there too. James had offered to swap places with her when he first saw her beginning to struggle, but his Master refused to allow it. He made the excuse that James might try to escape if he wasn't on the cart, but the real reason was that he knew his beautiful new Toy was still sore from the pounding he had received the night before.

Kendall did keep an eye on the girl, pretending to be angry with her in public but flashing her reassuring smiles when no one else seemed to be watching. Well no one whose opinion truly mattered to him. He was a little worried about the other child, if truth be told. She was clearly a new acquisition for her Master but unlike Katie she did not wear a collar yet, which meant that she could still be considered disposable. Her new Master, Lord Griffin was Kendall's uncle and known to be cruel, unjust and prone to unexpected displays of violence. Not normally by his own hand though. His greatest property was the blacksmith, Maksim, who was more than happy to carry out every punishment and execution his Master felt necessary. And most often to a sane person the acts were not necessary at all.

The reason for their departing at such a late hour was that they needed to cross a causeway back to their island home before the tide came back in and the path would be covered for forty-eight hours more. They would stop at a castle on the shore and sleep for a few hours before crossing the ocean at around midday. Once they were on the other side they could take their time again, but for now, if they wanted to get a reasonable amount of rest they really needed to make haste. And Lord Griffin was clearly becoming irritated with waiting for the two young girls to keep up with their party.

Logan did try to hasten them up but it was quickly becoming clear that he was fighting a losing battle. Out of the corner of his eye Kendall saw Lord Griffin beckon Maksim to his side. This could not be good. Turning in his saddle he saw the bearded man nod and smile the cruel smile he had seen dozens of times before in the arena back in their home city. As he turned his horse towards where the girl was struggling to keep up he began to draw his sword. Kendall could not stand by and watch was about to happen, he turned his horse and urged it into a trot as Maksim got closer to the little blond girl.

He tried to call out, to tell the man to stop, but either he didn't hear or just didn't care. It was none of the General's business as for as he was concerned anyway. Both the girl and himself belonged to Lord Griffin and his Master had given him an instruction and he would not disobey him. His blade flashed in the light of the lanterns hanging from the cart that the girl was trying to keep up with. She only seemed to notice what was about to happen at the very last moment, too late to change direction. She slammed into the tip of the sword as Maksim hung over the side of his horse, arm swinging forward towards the child with enough force to send the gleaming blade clean through her chest and out though the back of her ragged clothing.

She didn't even have time to scream. Her eyes briefly opened wide in shock before rolling back in her head as she took her last breath and her heart stopped beating. Maksim just brought his horse to a stop and tilted his sword at the ground, shaking it as the body slid from the blade and on to the ground. He swung his horse around and almost smashed into Kendall's mount. The smirk never left his face as he apologised and wove his way back to the side of his Master. Realising that he was in danger of being the one holding up the party now, a fact that was reinforced by the sound of his father's voice calling for him to return to his place at the front of the march, Kendall knew he had to move fast.

Turning his horse quickly he approached one of the soldiers who was carrying a flaming torch to help light the way. He snatched it from the man's grip and quickly cantered back to where the girl's body lay. He gazed down at her. She looked barely more than about ten years old. She was too young to die in such an awful way. He muttered a few words of prayer before dropping the torch down on to her broken body. He paused briefly to watch and make sure that the flame took before turning his mount again and galloping after the retreating mass of people ahead of him.

He heard his uncle commenting loudly about how he had done what needed to be done to stop the child holding them back. Then he mentioned that perhaps someone should deal with the other child holding them back. Turning in his saddle as Kendall came up behind him he gave his nephew a pointed look. On the cart with his mother, he saw that his Toy was looking extremely worried and seemed to be considering jumping from the cart. He guessed that he would try to swap places with his sister who was now trying to speed up, but still failing.

"Carlos!" His friend had been trying hard to ignore what had just happened behind him but turned when his superior called for him.

"My Lord?" He replied coming up beside his friend.

"The girl is holding us back. Please deal with her."

Carlos gave a nervous smile. What did he expect him to do?

"You're light. I'm sure that your horse can carry both of you."

Carlos smiled and nodded. He could never see Kendall asking him to do something like that in a million years.

"Yes, my Lord. Of course." He trotted his horse up to Katie and he saw the fear in her eyes immediately.

She began to try to run, but her legs and underfed body would not let her and she began to fall to the ground. She had clearly not heard anything more than Kendall telling the other man to 'deal with her'.

Carlos' agility in the saddle was quite breathtaking. He swung over the side of his horse, one hand holding on to the pommel while the other swept out to catch Katie around her waist before she hit the ground. She began to struggle and squeal as he came back to his seat and he couldn't help but chuckle at the fire in the little girl's tired body.

"Hey! Stop it! I'm not going to hurt you! Be still!" He told her as she hung from his arm at the side of his horse. Bringing her up closer to him as she stilled a little he brought his mouth close to her ear.

"Shh! Didn't I tell you that I wouldn't let anyone hurt you?" She stopped struggling completely and hung limp in his embrace. Her eyes flicked up to examine his kind eyes.

"Yes. You did." She whispered. He gave a sharp nod of his head and began to pull her higher up.

"Then how about you stop scaring the hell out of Matilda and slip on to the saddle in front of me?" She looked puzzled.

"Matilda?" He grinned wide and finally hauled her across the mare's back before him. He adjusted his position in the saddle to make it a little more comfortable for them.

"My horse. Her name is Matilda." He told her as he kicked her on to rejoin his brothers at the front of the line.

They arrived at the castle on the coast while still in the depths of the velvet night. Beds were immediately found for Lord Knight and Lord Griffin but Kendall chose to go with his brothers and servants to a large, warm stable. They spread cloaks over piles of soft, sweet-smelling summer hay and settled down to sleep until it was time to leave again. Katie watched as her brother settled between his new Master and Jo, a little disappointed that she couldn't snuggle with him. She felt a hand touch her shoulder and turned to see that it was Carlos. She smiled at him as he dropped down into the hay beside her. He already had one of the smaller kitchen maids curled in one arm and reached up for Katie with the other. She had enjoyed the rest of the journey, riding in front of the young warrior on his horse. They had talked as they rode about all kinds of silly things. He had explained to her about who everyone within their group was, told her the names of all the other children, the horses and told her about the hound that he had left behind at home before they left for battle. He was gentle and amusing and if she couldn't be with James, she was perfectly happy to be with Carlos.

As tired as she was, sleep did not come easily. Every time she closed her eyes the image of the other girl dying by Maksim's hand would fill her mind and she was soon awake again, sweating and panting with fear. She was glad that the big man was not in the stables with them, his Master had taken him into the castle with him. In the small amount of time she had been the property of her enemy she had experienced his disgusting lustful comments and now she had seen him murder a girl a little younger than herself in cold blood. And he seemed to get great pleasure from it. He scared her very much. She glanced across at where James lay. The General was curled over his back with his hand across James' body and his fingers entwined with those of the blonde girl whose head was nuzzled against James' shoulder. Carlos moved beside her, his arm around her waist pulling her closer as his eyes watched her with concern. He didn't ask what was wrong, he guessed that what had happened earlier was preying on her mind. He dropped his lips to her ear and whispered to her.

"It's alright. I really won't let anyone hurt you. I promise."

She lent into him, enjoying his embrace and trying once more to clear her mind of the terrible images her mind kept creating behind her closed eyes. It was quiet in the stable only the sounds of breathing and the occasional snore, she glanced round again, in the gloom, before trying once more to fall asleep. It did surprise her when the young man with the golden skin leant in close to her again and began to softly sing to her. She guessed that it was a lullaby but, as at breakfast earlier, he was using a language that she didn't understand. She briefly wondered where he came from and how he had come to be living with the people he did now. She'd never heard the language before, he must come from a long way away. Had he originally been a slave too? Or a gift from a distant land. Whatever the answer and whatever he was actually singing to her she did find it soothing and calming. Finally she drifted of to sleep.

Carlos smiled to himself as her breathing slowed and steadied before pulling the already sleeping girl beside him up into his arms and on to his chest before snuggling closer to Katie and slipping into sleep himself.

Until next week :)

Love and Blessings

Allie )O(