"Wolf, Wolf, Wolf!" They chanted.
Battered and bloodied, they chanted. Swords rattled and the marble floor rang out in short yelps as their boots rapped down on it. He looked over at them as they roared his name, these slaves, these shaggy men, his defiant ones.
Some among them had never even dreamed of freedom. They had been born of the womb of slavery and knew naught but the teat of bondage as it suckled them into a life of servitude. A life wasted.
"Let no man, in cry or whisper, deny what we've done here today!" Cregan roared and raised a fist to the air.
"Howl loud, Wolf!" Doreah cried out. In her hand was the worn brown leather of her slave collar.
There was a short silence accompanied by the busy rustle of other slaves removing their symbols of bondage. As one they too rose their fists. Bound between their calloused fingers were slave collars.
"Howl loud, Wolf!" Sienna yelled. Her small voice filled the room with rapture as the once-slaves threw their collars to the floor alongside her.
"Bind them!" Cregan said once the noise died down some. "Someone seek out the medic to see to the wounded."
"He should be in his quarters" Doreah added as she walked over to his side "Hopefully he wasn't fool enough to come out during the fighting. I'd hate for him to have been killed, he is a good man."
Cregan looked over his shoulder at her as she spoke. He said nothing. He saw everything. The way her lips curled like delicate petals as the words left them, the way her brown eyes squinted ever so slightly when she was worried. He noticed his own reflection in them, how they focused so intently when she near to him, how small everything else in them was compared to him, in her vision there was only him.
She noticed his gaze and grew quiet. For the briefest moment there was only them.
"My lady" he said and rose a tired hand to her soft face. She leaned into his rough touch. Her own fingers wrapped around his. Her fingers seemed so small in comparison.
"My lord" she replied in a whisper. The word was awkward for her, he knew. Lords and Ladies were not the custom of Essos but Cregan's ancestors had kept true to their traditions and so did he. He appreciated her effort and his chest thumped in response. "I never doubted. Not for a moment. You promised me freedom and you have given me so much more."
"What will you do now?" He asked.
"I will stay by your side." She spoke. Again, she looked into his grey eyes. "If you will have me"
"You need only give voice to your desire, my lady" He replied. "But let us leave talks of desires for another time. A more private time." He removed his hand from her cheek. "Now is the time for vengeance, I think"
Her face grew hard as she turned to the huddled mass before them. The other men had begun binding the hands and feet of the would-be masters with whatever they could find.
"Leave him for me" Cregan said to a young man who had approached Hunam. The Wolf stared at the fat man, there was a darkness behind his eyes that shifted their colouring, they grew heavy and clouded as he remembered the depths the Whipman's depravity.
The master's son, Ryol his name was, still lay at his feet. Terrified into a stupor from the looks of it. Cregan had seen this before, men who thought themselves great tended to fall so much farther when brought low by the truly exceptional.
He nodded his in the direction of the prone man and the slave he had stopped earlier obliged. He walked over and drew Ryol to his feet.
"I've waited my entire life for this day" the slave said into Ryol's ear "If I were to die tomorrow, your screams tonight will carry me through the golden gates and into eternity smiling from ear to ear."
Ryol stammered out an answer that was cut short by Doreah's hand cracking across his face. She winced quietly at the force of the blow. But the slap had the desired result, the once proud man stared on in horror.
"How, how, how dare you!" he asked. The incredulous look on his face, the sheer shock of being even so much as touched by a slave let alone slapped by one was enough to earn him another. This one however, was curtesy of the slave that held his arm in a vice like grip.
"That's how" The man said, "Another word from you and I'll show you again." With that Ryol was thrown to the feet of his father.
"Levan" Doreah said quietly in Cregan's ear and pointed to the slave who was marshalling the three prisoners in front of him.
"Is that all?" Cregan asked them. It was Hunam and his two masters piled ever so neatly before him now. "I had expected some resistance from you Whipman. Yet here you are, so expertly cowering."
Cregan walked forward and squatted down onto haunches as close as he could to them and whispered, "You're going to die, it won't be quick, it won't be honourable, but it will be far less than you deserve."
"I've found him!" A voice shouted behind the wolf. It was one of his men who was dragging a middle-aged man behind him. There was terror in the man's eyes as he took in his surroundings.
"Please, I've done nothing to earn this" He pleaded "I've healed and set most of you here. I've gone above and beyond the masters wishes whenever one of you has graced my table. Spare me please, I can be of use."
"Calm, Minas" Sienna said and walked up to the man. The other man released him. Sienna straightened his clothes as she spoke "Do you think I would see you harmed after all you've done for me?" she said sternly "No, you will be safe, you will be free. But tonight, you are needed. We have wounded and you're well versed in rectifying that particular issue." She smiled beautifully at him "Will you help?"
Minas looked around the room. All eyes rested on him. He took a moment before nodding quickly at her. "I'll do whatever I can" he said.
"Good" Sienna said "Start with Toho" she pointed at the Dothraki "He's bled so much"
Cregan eyed the young girl. She had a way with people. Men in particular. She could prove useful.
"I asked for music" Cregan said loud enough for the room to hear.
There was a clattering as the singers set their instruments and a moment later the plucking of strings filled his ears.
"Better" he said.
The mood shifted, as he knew it would. The men needed to come down from the high of battle. They needed a moment to take stock. Though there were warriors among them, these were mostly green boys and the odd servant girl. Their nerves would be worn by the morning, the quicker he got them to rest the better. He needed order now.
As he thought that, one of the men, a burly sort walked over to their prisoners who still lined the far wall in a quivering heap. He strode over to two women, one was a painted lady, a whore, beautiful with little more than linen rags keeping her modesty. The other was obviously a noble woman, her intricate wig and lavish purple dress stood out against the gleaming white of the wall. He grabbed one in each hand and began marching them towards his men who had gathered in the middle of the room.
"I told you, Nester" he said to one of them. Cregan new very little about his shaggy men "I told you our bondage wouldn't take." He laughed. It was a booming sound that almost drowned out the music.
Cregan eyed this Nester, he was dark skinned with a head of thick, twisted locks that ran down to his shoulders. In his hands he held bottles of what Cregan assumed was wine. "I suppose even a log like you can be right once in a while" Nester japed as he handed out the wine to those around him "Drink, drink" he said "Only the god's know what will happen tomorrow, so let us have tonight, eh?" He said to a round of laughter.
They surrounded the two women. Some even took it upon themselves to pluck others from the wall as if there were roses in bloom. Well, this one way to relax, Cregan thought. Better to leave them to it then, they'd earned some reprieve.
His focus went back to the three men in front of him. "Tell me" He said to the Master "Will be there be any more guests arriving on the morrow?"
"Yes" the man responded quickly "Temple guards to retrieve to the priest. They are to make sure he is returned to temple safely. When they see this" his eyes swept the room "They will be sure to purge the lot of you. This is a grave sin after all. It's best you run. Yes, you should run now before they arrive and put you to the stake. If you let us live, I will tell them you went North to the hills. It would take them a week to get to there. By that time, you could be as far as the Royne or Qohor to the east."
Cregan said nothing but looked on as the man spoke. When he finished The Wolf reached out a hand to the man next to him. The once slave looked at the limb in confusion. Cregan's eyes flashed to the man's belt and after a moment of realisation he felt a familiar wight in his palm. In an instant he buried the dagger into the old master's thigh.
"You are a terrible liar, old man" He twisted the blade and ignored the man's screaming. Ryol rose up to help his father but was struck down by Levan, who had remained next to Cregan. He was proving very competent for someone who had spent his life as a slave. "Lie to me again and I'll start peeling the skin from your feet. Then I'll move to your hands, then your chest and then your face. Most don't survive having their chest peeled but you're a strong one aren't you?" he spoke lowly. "I look forward to the look in your eyes when you stare at your own face in my hands."
There was a deathly quiet. The music had stopped when the master cried out. Everyone in the room had heard the threat. The nobles against the wall looked on in horror, their whimpering gave way to stunned silence. Even the crying women being stripped by Nester and his group grew silent. The smell of piss filled his senses and he looked over to Hunnam who swallowed heavily, paying no heed to the growing puddle under him.
Levan laughed loudly. "He's pissed himself!" He shouted. Laughter erupted around him. Breaking the spell of Cregan's menace. Not that he minded, he had made his point.
The men and women lined up against the wall of the manse cried and pleaded as he looked them over. He felt no remorse, no trepidation. If he were to be honest, he felt nothing. He raised a hand and pointed at Hunam. "Put a sword in his hands" he ordered. It was Levan, again eager to prove himself useful, who dragged the fat man to his feet and threw a sword at him. The sword sprang off his swollen gut and rang mournfully as its blade clattered on the tiled floor. Hunam begged and pleaded and shook with fear under the gaze of the wolf.
Cregan held out a hand and was pleasantly surprised when Siena placed the mace he had given her earlier in his palm. She looked in him in the eye and said, "Make him suffer, for me Wolf, make him suffer".
"You'll have your satisfaction, I assure you" He replied. "Pick it up or die a coward" Cregan said to the whipman.
"Please, I can be of use" Human begged. "I.I..I know the routes that the slave catchers take through the lowlands. I can show you how to avoid them. Please, Wolf, please!"
"Do you see" Cregan said to the room around him. He raised his hands out as if in welcome of the adoration that flowed from his compatriots. "See this whimpering quim, see how he cowers before us. This is what free men do to tyrants." He turned his back to the fat man and was pleased when he heard the scrape of steel being picked up off the stone tiles. Hunam was slow, when he reached for the sword, Cregan heard the crease of his fine leathers. Hunam took a quick breath as he came upright in Cregan's blind spot and as he reared his arm back to deliver a cutting blow the collective gasp of those around him was almost deafening to Cregan's well-tuned senses.
Cregan turned in time to meet him as the fat man let out a lion's roar and put his considerable weight behind his blow. He met the steel bulb at the top of the Wolf's mace. Both men recoiled from the force of Cregan's parry. The young man held up a hand to stop any interference from the men around him. Toho had quickly raised to his feet and Levan looked murderous as he approached Hunam.
"Easy now" He said to them "He did promise me a dance and a dance is best with only two partners" He chuckled
Hunam was visibly shaking but deep down Cregan was glad the man had found some fight. He had to make this worth his while. It would also be the perfect distraction for his people.
Resolved, he pressed on. As he drew closer to the fat man he shouted "Singers! Music, if you stop once more it will be your heads." The jaunty music quickly resumed.
He tried a few tests swings at Hunam, the old Whipman backed away but there was something behind the fear in his eyes. It was resignation. He was going to die and he knew it. "You're not the first to try and stab in the back, you know" He said "Many better men have tried. Yet only one lives to tell the tale, you will not be a second" With that the Wolf tore at his opponent with vigour. Short, quick swings of his mace clattered against the sword in his hands causing him to stumble behind his guard, one particularly vicious strike connected with the back of Hunam's sword hand with an audible crack. The sword went flying and the Whipman let out a pained howl that screeched against the nothingness of the massive hall. He grabbed his bleeding and broken hand and tried to retreat.
"Please!" he said and was cut off before he could say anything else by the mace cracking against his jaw and spilling him out on the cold floor. He spat out a slurry of blood and teeth on to the floor as he propped himself up on his good hand and covered his face with the other. He whimpered out something, but Cregan did not listen. He stood over him and with a roar brought his weapon down onto Hunam's other hand. The force of the blow broke every bone under it. What was left of the bloody mess of a hand was limp and useless. Another pained cry leaped from Hunam's mouth, he openly cried as he used his elbows to crawl away.
Again, he whimpered out a plea of mercy. Again, it was ignored. As he slithered away on his giant gut the room grew silent but for the fast-paced music that sailed from the assorted strings of the musicians, who all looked on in terrified fascination. The silence of his people was telling. They anticipated the killing blow, and he was sure they each wished it was by their hand that it was delivered. That thought gave Cregan pause, he had an idea.
He approached his prey quickly and rattled him with a hefty boot to his ribs knocking the wind from him. Hunam rolled over to catch his breath and spluttered mightily as his blood filled his throat. Cregan took that opportunity and hammered his weapon against his left knee. This crack made even his bones rattle. The older man's knee bent awkwardly now. He would never walk again. Not that mattered much. A throaty scream greeted his ears and he looked down with some satisfaction as his enemy let out a silent cry, too pained to do much else. Cregan doubted Hunam even registered when he broke his other knee. He was naught but a bag of meat now. He sucked in deep breaths of air and let them out as rattling, tortured sobs.
Cregan dropped his bloody mace to clang against the ground. All eyes rested on him in quiet awe. He walked over to Sienna.
"Does it please?" He asked her.
"It pleases" She replied through a toothy grin.
"Good, I have had my satisfaction. He is yours." He said and walked over to the manse master and his son.
Sienna immediately began barking orders at some of the men and stood over what was left Hunam. She looked for all to see a predator under the flickering lights of the braziers. Her porcelain skin had a deathly glow to it, almost ethereal under the reflective shine of her pale blue eyes.
"Do you see, master?" he asked the man in front of him. "Do you see my works?"
"You are indeed to be feared" The master said "I would spread your name far and wide none would dare..."
"My name" Cregan interrupted "Far and wide?" He asked "Fool man, I am Cregan of house Stark, I wear the skin of the Dreadwolf. Men from Tyrosh to Yunkai and black Ashai fear my blade. My ancestors shook the very earth and set your sky alight with the pyres of burning Andalos. My name is known, I am known." He breathed heavy now "Whatever misfortune brought me under your lash..." He chuckled "Mayhaps you sinned in a past life, please feel free to tell your gods that I send my regards." With that Cregan brought a heavy boot down on his once-masters head. His son attempted to intervene but Levan, who had yet to leave Cregan's side, was there to meet him. He was strong for a slave-born and used that strength to pin the maters son under his weight. Cregan looked at the struggling young man as he frothed in rage at was happening before him. Cregan stomped again and again and again until the old man was naught but blood and hair under his boots.
Levan's concentration broke for a moment and Ryol escaped his grasp. He made to lunge for Cregan but Doreah was there to meet him. A short sharp knife held in her hands disappeared into the man's abdomen. He let out a rattling breath and almost bowled her over with his momentum. But she held firm.
"Now it is you on the end of my blade" She whispered to him. "Tell me" She drove the blade deeper with some hesitance "Is this your first time? Am I too big? They say I'm larger than most men, but I will not be gentle." Cregan knew she was familiar with those words. This time she drew the blade sidewards across his stomach. "Do not worry, you will get used to it. May even learn to enjoy it." She grit her pearly teeth in an angry scowl "If I let you". She then ripped the blade from him and let his guts spill out onto the floor with a wet squelch.
Tears had formed in the corners of her big brown eyes as she stared down at the dead man. Cregan knew what she was feeling. He knew she would find no joy in vengeance. It was not in her. She was fair and good and compassionate. All that was good in this world but now the rot would set in. He knew it well. He placed a hand on her slender shoulder.
"You did the hard thing, Doreah. It will get easier with time, but you will never forget this moment. Do with the memory what you will." He said. She nodded slowly and covered his hand with her own.
"Thank you" she whispered huskily.
Behind him he heard the renewed cries of Hunam as he was striped and roped on all four broken limbs and held tight on the floor. Four men each held a rope and pulled them taught. The fat man was spread wide, still bleeding from his hands and knees. Cregan looked on puzzled as to what the girl had planned.
In her hands she gripped a carving knife tight. Her slender fingers trembled around its wooden handle. He chose not to enquire and simply watched her as she approached her prey slowly, as if stalking him. Every step echoed through the room as all eyes followed her in grizzly realisation. Even Hunam, dazed and bloodied as he was began to struggle and thrash with renewed vigour when her small frame crept between his fat legs.
His squat and bulbous manhood visibly retracted when she palmed it strongly. She squeezed hard and even Cregan's spine cringed at the sight. A part of him clenched when the fat man gurgled out for mercy. Sienna cared little. In a flash her gleaming blade slid between Hunam and his manliness. She released it onto the floor in a dull thud onto the pristine tiles. Cregan grew pale. As did every man around her. He swallowed heavy and made eye contact with Toho. Even the hardened Dothraki screamer clenched his jaw and drew back ever so slightly.
The wolf was almost grateful for the man when Hunnam's eyes rolled back into his head and he went limp. He was not dead yet, but the ocean of blood soaking Sienna's feet would end him soon enough. She turned to face Cregan, he expected her to be recoiled by the gore but still that bright smirk filled her features.
Her eyes grew stone-like and she let out a shrill cry into the air and held her slick blade above her head in triumph. It wasn't long before the others joined her and the room was a cacophony of yells and stomping feet. He didn't notice Doreah leave his side.
Cregan sighed and allowed himself a moment. He sat down again. He ached. "Levan" he said and the man at his side grew alert and looked down at him. There was something akin to fear in his eyes.
"Yes, wolf" he answered.
"You have proven useful" Cregan said. "Who are your people?"
"Truthfully, I do not know. My mother was a slave. Died before I was born. The master bought me as a boy. These fields are all I've really known. And I cannot wait to be out of their sight." He said. "If I may ask, wolf?"
"You may"
"I would…" he hesitated. Cregan waited patiently for him to continue. He was a tad surprised when Levan threw himself at his feet in a hasty and sloppy bow. His head held low and his right arm was crossed over his heart. A needless gesture. "I pledge you my life. Take me with you when you leave this place and I will be yours to command in all things from this day to my last."
"You know nothing of me" Cregan said. "You don't know what I've done. What I will do. I may ask things of you that will betray your honour."
"With respect, my master" He said and Cregan cringed at the word. "I am slave born. I've never had honour."
There was a moments pause before Cregan spoke. "Fine. You, Levan, are my man, from this day to your last. My will stands above all, my words law and should I demand the very breath from your lungs you will deliver it to me on a gilded platter."
"Yes, my master" Levan said. There was weight to his words.
"Good" Cregan said. "You will stop calling me master. That is your first order. Captain will do, for that is what was before this place, and it is what I will be again soon enough."
"Yes, Captain." Levan corrected as he rose to his feet. Cregan eyed him precisely. He was of medium build with shaggy black hair and green eyes. He had light stubble over a defined jaw and rather large ears that splayed out from his head at an angle. A lifetime of labour had worn him into a sinewy figure that his bloodied rags hung from loosely.
Cregan sighed audibly when a commotion broke out behind him. "With me" he said to Levan before turning to deal with what sounded like a fight.
"What is the meaning of this!" He yelled out. Before him was Doreah. Her back was to him and behind her were the two women that had been removed from the wall and brought to Nester moments ago. In Doreah's hands was a blade, it dripped blood freely onto the floor.
Sienna was on the back of another man raining her little fists down on his chest as he attempted to throw her off. All of this ceased at the sound of his voice.
"Answer me!" Cregan shouted.
"Your women have taken leave of their senses, Wolf" The burly man said " The bitch cut me deep. Put a leash on her or I'll.."
"You'll what?" Cregan asked and walked closer "Put a leash on her or you'll do what?" he asked again. He was inches away from the man now. There was a difference in height that while not great was still pronounced.
"I meant no disrespect to you, Wolf" The man stepped back and placed his bleeding hands up to placate Cregan " But look what she did. For no reason. Surely I have a right to defend myself?"
"Sienna!" Cregan thundered. "Get your ass down, now!" The blond girl released the poor man under her and climbed down to the floor. There was fire in her eyes and he could almost hear the pounding of her heart as her chest rose and fell rapidly. "I will have no more of this. We've come too far, done too much to be fighting among ourselves."
"They were going to rape them!" Sienna shouted. She pointed a pale finger at Nester. To his credit the man didn't look phased by the accusation. He smiled brightly at her and shrugged his shoulders.
"So?" He said after a beat.
"So?" Doreah asked. "So?!" She was furious. "You will not have them. No more. No more men will use us as they see fit. I swear it on the gods of my mother and my mother's mother." Her voice rang through the smoky hall. "Any man that thinks himself possessor of any woman here will have to go through me to get to her."
"Even them?" One of the slaves asked and pointed to the painted and oiled semi nobility of Norvos. Women with hair dyed in all shades of reds and blues and greens. Their dresses were lavish with frills and sequence and glistening stones. They stood pressed against the wall wallowing in fear, not dissimilar to the painted whores who mewled alongside them.
Doreah stilled for a moment as if the weight of her declaration had just dawned on her. "Even them" She replied. There was uproar immediately, even from the slave women around them.
"That is not for you to decide" One roared.
"They deserve as good as their husbands" Another slave shouted.
"That they will receive" Doreah shouted over the noise. "But I will not stand for rape. Any among you who have tasted the bitterness of the act will not be so quick to wish it upon others. We did this for freedom from tyranny, not to become the very thing we have broken free from."
"Speak for yourself, girl. It is my right as victor to take from these men their women." Nestor's friend spoke. "It is my way. My people's way."
Cregan observed with growing ire. Maybe he was wrong to stop them from simply slaughtering everyone. It was not his way to spare his enemies, but he wanted answers. Too late now anyway.
"Enough!" He roared above them all. "Before us kneels the men who bound and disgraced us. Let us, brothers and sisters of the whip, drink hearty from the well of their suffering." There was a brief silence then a cheer of agreement.
"Doreah" He said "Take the whores. They are no different to us. I've seen the schools that turn slave children into bed warmers in this part of the world. There are few worse fates." He walked over to the noble woman that was weeping next to Nester and grabbed her firmly by her oiled hair. "But these women, these are no different from Ryol Lahas and his ilk and they will have no mercy here!" He looked at Doreah's brown eyes as her jaw clenched in rage. He held her gaze to make sure she would do as commanded. She did and went over to gather the whores.
"You are free men now!" he yelled "And freedom brings hunger. "He threw the woman in his grip to Nester, picked up a small blade from the floor and passed it Nester's friend. "So I say feast!"
-0-
It was not an honourable thing that he presided over that night. Music roared but did little to disguise the revelling of his men. None of the slaver's guests had survived the night. Not the men. Not the women.
The musicians and the painted ladies were scurried away by Doreah and Sienna and the other women. He had yet to see any of them. Probably for the best. He doubted either of the two women that made their freedom possible were pleased with his actions. He could not blame them. He understood. But this was the way of the world and no longer would they have the naivety of slave-hood to hide their blushes from the reality around them. There would be worse yet to come. Freedom was anything but free.
He had managed to get a few hours of sleep during the early hours. Mid-day had long passed and now the alcohol and madness had worn off, his men looked almost repentant. Good. Soon they would see that it was a fine line that separated the righteous from the sinner.
Levan sat to his left and Toho to his right around a large table that was being used during the wedding ceremony. Next to Toho was the still unnamed slave who fought alongside him when they assaulted the main room. Across sat Nestor and his men as they tore into what remained of the food. The floor was littered with dead. Most of the other slaves had retreated into the manse to find lodgings. They trickled in and out of the hall for food and water.
"You know" Nestor began in a cool voice. His brown eyes landed on Cregan. They always seemed crinkled in a laugh. "We never did find out which one was the bride to be." He gestured with his head towards the body of a woman in the far corner.
"She was not here" Levan said. "It is there custom to bless the match, which is why the priest was here, then they do the ceremony at one of the temples on the Hills of the city."
"Question answered then" Nester said.
"What are your plans" Cregan asked Flatley
"I am to go north with my men" Nester said "We were captured a few years back in Lys. We actually arrived on the same ship as the girl, the blond one." he paused and shivered slightly "Gods, what she did to the Whipman, that's going to take some forgetting. It's no so much the gelding of the fucker, it was the look in her eyes. Careful with that one, Wolf."
"Noted." Cregan said "North is an odd direction. You could be in Pentos long before Braavos."
"True, but let's just say there are those in Pentos that would rather my stay here was permanent. I still have loyal hands in Braavos. You may not know, Wolf, but I was a terror of the Stepstones. My fleet rivalled Salladhor Saan's."
"Yes, I've met him" Cregan said "I've dealt with him on occasion. He thinks you dead, you know. What shall I say to him when next we meet, any words from son to father?".
Nester laughed openly. "And they say I look like my mother. You tell him nothing. I would prefer my blade to greet him as a surprise" He grew serious. "What of you, what are your plans, surely the Dreadwolf will not suffer this rabble of slaves for much longer?"
"I will retake what is mine" Cregan said with finality.
"News does not travel here so I've missed much of the gossip, but before my capture your name was heavy on the lips of every would-be mercenary and your deeds were plentiful beyond measure."
"Fanciful stories, I assure you" Cregan said
"Modesty does not become you, friend. I saw the aftermath of what your family did to New Sar Mell. Both our fathers were merciless it seems."
"Fathers are complicated" Cregan said
"Not mine. A liar and thief, easy as that. But you and your cousin, the last of the Starks, eh? Does he still live?" Nestor added.
Cregan's face turned to stone and there was a fire behind his grey eyes. "He does but worry not I'll be sure to relieve him of that soon enough."
"Family is complicated." Nester said. With that he rose to his feet and his two men rose with him. "It's time we made headway."
Cregan rose with him and took the arm he offered in a firm grasp.
"If ever you have need of me, Wolf, whisper my name into the Shimmering Ocean and I will bring the very sea itself to your aid."
"The sea?" Levan asked.
"Yes, the sea" the dark man responded, "My ancestor bedded a sea goddess, so great was prowess that she granted him command of her great and terrible fleet of ghost ships." He said "Now if we could only find where he docked the damned things" he finished with a laugh. "Till next time, Wolf. I will listen for your name on the wind".
With that he and his men made for the door at the end of the long corridor that they stormed the night before.
"How do you fare, Toho?" Cregan asked.
"I fare well" He said.
The man next to him spoke next "The medic says he will recover, so long as he rests."
Cregan looked at him long and hard. "What is your name?"
"Ren" The man replied. "I owe you much Wolf. I owe all of you much. I had never dreamed this all possible. Now I am freed. I will repay you, both of you. You have my word."
"We shall see" Was Toho's response. He turned to Cregan. "I am with you, for now. What next?"
-0-
He knocked as softly as he could but wasn't sure she heard him on the other side of the giant doors that opened up to the master's suite. She seemingly did not. This time he rapped hard and heavy.
"Who is it?" Her voice was a balm. She had locked herself away from him. They only saw each other was when she ventured out for food for her and the other women. She had taken to leadership well it seemed.
He pushed the doors open with some effort. He was sure he had a cracked rib or two. The room was as expected. Gilded with golden inlays carved along the white walls. They shimmered in the torchlight, light traced the gold painted bronze that filled the inlays, glowing all the while as it raced across the room. The bed had four posters with soft silk covering it in its entirety. A bath was dug into the floor in the far side of the room and Doreah sat at its rim pouring what was left of a jug of boiling water into it as she made sure he was aware that she was not going to look at him.
"My Lady" he said.
"Wolf" She replied sharply.
"Is that who I am now" he asked.
"It seems the only thing you care to be." Now she looked at him.
"I am The Wolf, but I am Cregan Stark before that. I thought you saw that"
"I see many things when I look at you but last night was the first time you were unrecognisable."
"I will be a stranger again, if you so wish."
"I.. I do not wish for that. But how can we be better if we live and act the way the masters do?"
"Doreah, notions of better are best left within these walls when we depart." He drew close to her and kneeled by her side forcing eye contact. "We do what we must to survive. We could not leave those women alive and hope for any degree of secrecy and the men needed a release, something to bind them to a common cause. The same way you needed to kill Ryol."
She stared at him long and hard. The memory of last night played on her face in real time and tears welled to eyes. He wiped them away as they fell and leaned in to trace a delicate kiss on her high cheekbones and whispered "You are strong. Strong enough for what is to come but there will be much to learn along away"
He made to lean away but she caught him in a blistering kiss. "Then teach me" She replied when she broke from him.
He took a moment and stared at her pink lips, the flush of her cheeks, the husky blush of her exposed chest, the longing in her brown eyes and he had to have her.
His first kiss was tender, then he grew intense, sucking and pawing at her lips with own. She breathed heavy and gave into him when his tongue parted her lips and found her own. Her moans were pleasant and sultry and hungry when his rough hands roamed the exposed skin of her silky legs. His muscular arm wrapped around her slim waist and he drew he up with him as he stood. They pressed hard into each other as their kiss grew ferocious. He broke away and sucked and bit at her neck. She had recently bathed. Her hair was damp as it came undone and tickled against his forehead. She melded into him and ground her sex into his leathers mewling into his ear as she wrapped her arms over his broad shoulders and rubbed her fingers though his matted hair.
Both of hands found their way to ass, she giggled into him at the contact. In a swift motion he raised her off the floor and carried her over the bed. She bucked and writhed in his arms as she bit down hard on his lip, leaving tooth marks red along his lip. He gave her particularly hard squeeze for efforts and was rewarded when she gasped loudly and threw her head back.
He flung her, bodily, on the soft bed and smiled down at her as her hair sprawled beneath her. The force had freed her bosom from her dress and exposed even more of her alluring legs to him. His leathers felt much too small in that moment. When she bit her bottom lip and lured him in with her finger before placing it in her mouth he decided it best to rid himself of everything that kept him from her.
He was free from his breaches in less than a moment. She appraised him with hooded eyes and her gaze rested on his manhood with heavy anticipation and he stood ready to exceed her expectations. Cregan clambered down onto the bed and was once again upon her. This time he tore her linen dress from her lithe frame exposing her fully to the night air. He could feel the gooseflesh on her skin as his calloused hands traced great arcs across every inch of her. She brought his head down into a deep kiss.
"Teach me" she whispered into his ear.
He entered her with a crash that shook her whole frame. She gasped out a sharp breath and then sucked it all back in when crashed into her again. Her body rocked and ripples ran up the length of her from the force behind his thrusts. He could feel her wetness on his length as it dripped and ran along his legs and onto the creaking bed beneath them. Her hands struggled for purchase as his pace grew and grew. She cooed and cried and moaned his name when drove deep within her welcoming core and bit down at her ears.
Her moment took her not long after and she quaked beneath him with a shrill cry that became a husky, throaty moan as he raked along her walls in slow deliberate motions to prolong her sweet agony. Sweat raced along her body in a sparkling sheen when she arched her back under his ministrations. He grabbed her breast in a tight grip and brought the other between his teeth. He closed his lips and sucked with abandon while nipping at the brown bulb in his mouth. He felt her quiver under him once more, his name was all she seemed be able to say now. "Cregan, Cregan, Cregan." She mewled. "I'm yours" she moaned. His pace was blistering "Teach me" she whispered. His breath hitched and his heart raced. He drove deep into her and with a great groan he poured all he was into her. His hips jerked fitfully, and his head roared back. His legs grew weak and he fell heavy upon her bosom.
Both of them breathed harshly into the night air. Doreah brought him up into a tired kiss and leaned into him when he rolled off her and rested on his side.
"I think there's more wolf in you than man" She teased though heavy breath.
"You haven't seen the wolf yet, my lady. A few moments and he will be with you hence" He replied.
"When do we leave?" She asked as her hand crept down to stroke him back to life.
"At dawn"
"Good, I hear wolves are more ferocious at night."