10

It seemed to Orion that as soon as he fell asleep, he was being awakened by a loud banging on his cell
door. "Wake up, wretch!" came a loud, obnoxious voice. Orion looked up to see a strange looking black and
white Mutant grinning at him. He could not be more than thirteen years old. "I said get up, you
little shit, before I come in there and get you."

Orion sat up and immediately regretted doing so. As his mind woke up, his body resumes sending its
signals of pain to him from the whip. He fell back to the ground, tears in his eyes. "I-I can't!" he whined, trying not to move so he wouldn't be hurt any more.

The Mutant, a skunk, opened the door to the boy's cell and hauled him to his feet with an outcry from
the feline. He slammed him up against the wall, which made his scream. "Well you're better be able to, or
you'll be meeting with Blackmoor again. He's ordered all disobedience on your part immediately reported.
You want that?" The boy shook his head fast. "Answer up!"

At first there was a horrible moment when he thought he would not be able to remember what he was
supposed to say, but then it popped into his mind...probably saving him from a nasty smacking-around.

"N-n-no, s-sir," he whimpered.

"Well at least you've got some brains." he shoved the cub out. "Let's go. You're working in the
mines today. You even mined before? Probably not, a spoiled, soft little turd like you probably's never seen work in your life."

Not knowing what to say, and still trying to deal with his pain, Orion only stammered quietly the way
he was expected to.

"Well it doesn't matter, you'd better learn, or you'll be in trouble."

These words did not make the cub feel any better as he was pushed roughly along, outside the building
he had spent the night in. He just wanted to go home, that's all he wanted. He wanted to go home, wanted
everything to be all right. He had said this many times, and had only gotten smacked for it,and so he stopped
saying it. But he did not stop thinking it.

Orion was brought to a cramped looking mine shaft that descended sharply into a small cliff face. He
hesitated, and was jerked along by the arm by the strange skunk Mutant. It was dark and small, and Orion felt
uncomfortable in it...the supports looked shaky in the dim light, and they were. "I-I don't like it..."

The skunk smacked the cub upside the head. "Shut up, slave."

Orion sniffed and rubbed where he'd been hit. He did not cry; had perhaps done so too much to be able
to right now. He was led deeper into the mine, where the light brightened the smallest bit, and the sounds of
metal banging against stone greeted the boy's ears. As they turned a corner, Orion saw others working there,
some cubs like him only older, and a few small statured adults. The mines were small, and the taskmasters few,
and so it was mostly the children and the weaker adults that were sent to work there.

None of the workers looked up as the chained cub was led in, but the lone taskmaster did. "So, you're
the brat that gave Blackmoor so much trouble," the Reptilian snarled. He grabbed Orion's arm, dismissed the
skunk, and got in the cub's face. "If you cause trouble here, what he did to you would be nothing." He indicated the blood-soaked fur of Orion's side and back and legs. "Understood?"

Orion nodded hastily, and the reptile let him go. He shoved a small, pointed hammer into Orion's
hand, and dragged him to a section of wall close to the floor. The boy would have to kneel or sit to access it.

"That's your spot." He pointed to the others, and said, "You hit the rock around this silver here. You put the
silver in a pile. When you have a small pile, go over and put what you got in that bin over there. You leave too
much in the walls, or don't mine enough for my tastes, you get thrashed. Got it?"

Orion looked miserably at the soft gray Plundaarian rock and nodded numbly. Moving hurt him but he
was more afraid of what would happen if he didn't work, and so the child sat in the dirt and started hitting the
stone as he saw the others doing. At first, he got nowhere, but in a little while, as he began to get the hang of it,
he started to make a little bit of progress. As he began to learn what kinds of angles would chip rock away, and
which would merely bounce; as he started seeing how hard he had to hit to break it, he started getting the harder
metal out. He was relieved.; when he was not doing well, the reptile had been glaring at him threateningly, and
Orion was thoroughly scared of the taskmasters of this horrible place.

As most of the others in the mine, Orion worked there all day. The slaves were given a few short breaks
during the hot summer day to get water and rest a few moments before being ordered back to work. The more
experienced slaves were moved around to different positions on the cave wall, so they were not stuck doing the
same exact motions in the same positions. That was a good way to give them the tendon strain or something
similar that would make them too inefficient in their work to keep. Blackmoor was a cruel, heartless bastard,
but he was a smart Mutant. He knew what would lose and what would gain him money.

But for now, Orion stayed on that one little section of wall, and by the end of the day he had a small
pile of silver beside him. All throughout the day, he had kept glancing nervously behind him at the reptile, who
returned his glances with his customary glare. He had asked during the day when they'd have lunch, as by this
time here he was very hungry, and had been kicked in the rear end for it. He had not asked again.

At the end of the day, the other slaves left on their own for their quarters. The youngest, a little hyena
Mutant that looked a couple of years older than Orion, looked at the Thunderian cub sympathetically, then left
before the taskmaster could see him. He also was in chains.

"Okay, brat, I get the unpleasure of escorting you to the training room to be branded, then I guess you
can eat." Blackmoor had said that if Orion behaved sufficiently, he could be given supper, and if he had not
caused any trouble at all, he would be given painkillers. But he had also said he wanted Orion marked. He
wanted the child marked as belonging to him. The collar was also for ID, as brands were easy to hide, whereas
the wide collars were not; but the brand marked who the slave belonged to. And brands could not be removed.

"B-branded?" Orion said. He was not sure what the reptile meant. He knew that farmers sometimes
marked their meat animals like that, but that meant burning their fur, which never grew back. That wasn't what
the reptile meant...was it?

The reptile grinned. "Yeah. Blackmoor wants you branded. You know, putting a hot iron to your hand
so it makes a mark."

Orion stopped walking and gave the reptile a terrified look. "No, don't brand me!" It WAS what he'd
meant, but worse! "I-I didn't do anything wrong!" His lip trembled as he drew his hands to his chest protectively.

The reptile gave him a nasty grin. "And if you give me any trouble of it, you won't be fed tonight,
either. I hear you didn't eat much in training, and didn't eat yesterday. You must be really hungry, too. Too
bad."

The boy put the fingers of his right hand in his mouth as he considered...but he was hungry, and he
did want the painkillers, for after the long day in the hot cave, his muscles ached, and his wounds burned fiercely.

Looking at the ground, he reluctantly began walking again, now dreading where he was going.
The reptile raised an eyebrow. He had expected the boy to make a fuss, but he was tougher than he
seemed, apparently. He took the boy's arm again and led him.

"W-w-will it h-hurt?" Orion asked fearfully, not turning his gaze from the dull brown dirt he waked on.

"Of course it's gonna hurt, it's gonna hurt like hell. If you're good, I'll put something on it to soothe it.
If not, you can suffer." The boy did not answer, but he did not make trouble, either.

When he saw that where he was going was the same place he had spent a seeming eternity of hell being
"trained", Orion had balked again. But once more, the threat of no food and further punishment made him walk
again.

Trying not to look at anything there, Orion sat in the chair he had sat in so many times over the last two
weeks. The reptile admonished him that if he had to strap him in, he would not be happy, and Orion said he
wouldn't have to. The reptile stoked up a fire and put the branding iron in to heat, and saw that although
Orion's eyes were full of fear as he watched him, and began to realize exactly what would happen, he did not
move. Whether that was because he was too afraid to, or because he wanted to eat and was making himself do
it, the taskmaster did not know. But either way, he was surprised.

Orion had finally looked back at the ground while the iron heated up, his thumb in his mouth...and when
the reptile finally approached him, the iron so hot it glowed red, he still did not move. But he did begin to cry.

"Give me your hand."

The cub was shaking, and he tried, he tried to do as he was told, but he could not bring himself to do it.

The reptile fully expected this as a natural reaction, and simply strapped the boy's arm to the chair, palm up.
"Open your fingers. If I have to do it, you will be sorry." The boy finally did, and he taped them down. No
matter how much the kid wanted to, he wouldn't be able to keep from trying to close him again when the brand was applied.

As soon as that was done, with no further warning, the reptile pressed the hot metal to the boy's palm
and held it there.

The young slave shrieked, and as a normal reaction, did try to jerk away. But he could not move, and he
only started crying in pain as the reptile calmly held the brand in place. When it was finally removed, Orion
felt like his hand was still burning, his cries continued as his other hand clenched and unclenched. The reptile
came back with some clean gray ash from another of the little coal furnaces, and dumped a small pile onto the
boy's hand to ensure a clear scar. Orion cried out again, expecting it to burn even more, but to his surprise and
relief, the ash felt cool, and as the reptile lightly rubbed it into the fresh burn, Orion's cries quieted.

"Good," the reptile said, as he released Orion's hand, The boy immediately grasped it with his other
hand and drew it to his chest. "You keep behaving, and you'll not endure any more pain than necessary." He
pulled the boy to his feet and marched him out of the building. He would never tell the boy, but he held a grudging admiration for his courage and stamina. He was a tough little shit.

Orion was brought back to his cell, and the reptile's report to Blackmoor was satisfactory. Orion was
given supper that night, a large bowl of stew, two small pieces of bread, and a large glass of water. Most of the
slaves were only fed once a day, and so it had to be adequate. Sometimes it was only barely so.

With this food, Orion was also given two blue colored pills, and was told to take them. He did so before
he dug into the food, almost forgetting his pain and fear as he ate, his stomach finally getting what it had been wanting. He ate it all.

When the slave whose duty was to pick up the dinner dishes did so, Orion was lying tiredly on the floor,
curled up lightly on the side that had not taken the beating. He had his thumb in his mouth, his branded hand
away from his body so he did not lie on it.

After a few moments, Orion began to notice that the pain was beginning to fade, and although it did not
go away completely, it was enough. With a sigh of relief, Orion fell asleep at once, for the first time since he
had been in the work camp.

Chapter 11

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