Chapter 1:
I leaned against the door and strained to hear through it. I listened to Mistress and some man haggle over prices. The man was going to buy some of us kids and Mistress wanted top dollar.
"I'll pay two silvers a child and that's it. I will go no higher," the man stated firmly.
"For two silvers you buy at least three of the brats," Mistress snarled back.
"I shall be buying more than three. I plan to buy ten or twelve of them. That should be enough. Now shall we see the children now?" The man phrased it nicely enough, but there was an edge to his voice.
I heard Mistress hurrying back to our room and I jumped back from the door. She jerked it open and we all looked at her. She stepped in front of me to hide me from view. She didn't want to sell me because I took care of the other children and she didn't have to do as much with me around. I wasn't the oldest child, but the others just listened to me for some reason. It was probably because I have taken many beatings for the others.
I looked around her skirts to see the man and I almost jerked back in surprise. Most of the men who came here to buy children were scrubby and dirty. They were ugly and mean. This man looked kind and handsome. He had pure black hair with slate grey eyes. He had soft features that made him look kind, and he was whip cord thin. He looked around the room and made his choices.
"I'll take the red headed boy in the corner, the twin boys on the blanket, the blond girl huddled next to them, the sandy haired boy at your feet, and those two brown haired boys over there. They all look to be about six or so," he made the statement into a question then continued at Mistress' nod. "I'll take those three little kids over there, the two boys and girl. I'll also take the baby in the crib. Now, who will be my special child...." He looked straight into my eyes, "I'll take that dark girl your hiding behind your skirts. I assume she is the one taking care of the others? Yeah, I'll take her. Now, let's get them sent out to the wagon and I'll pay you."
"Ya wannum tied up?" At his nod she told him, "The rope's extra." He shrugged and she snapped out to us kids, "You ones who were chosen, get your arses out to the main room. Ria, make sure they all get out there."
My arm was twisted as she grabbed it and shoved me forward. She shoved rope into my hands and I started tying kids into a line. I had done it many times before, so it went quickly. I tied the three little ones in between the bigger kids in the middle. They were triplets so I kept them together. Our new master led us out to the wagon and then stopped. He grabbed the rope and roughly tied it around my waist. He shoved the baby into my arms and lifted us into the wagon. When all of us were in the wagon he looked at me and started the introductions.
"My name is Master Alan. I now own you. You will learn the rules when we get to your new home. Now tell me everyone's name, Ria isn't it?"
"Yes sir, I'm Ariana, but everyone calls me Ria."
"Don't call me sir, call me Master Alan." He snapped out at me.
"Yes Master Alan. Well, the baby's name is Sara. She's about six months old. We'll need to get some milk for her. The littles are triplets. They are Helena, Nathanial, and Gregory. They are about four years old. The rest of us are about six years old. It's easiest to think of us as the same age, 'cuz were not quite sure on most of us. Let's see, the red headed boy is Zachariah, the twins are Laran and Jarad, the blond girl is Raina, the light brown sandy haired boy is Gabriel, and the two dark brown haired boys are Micah and Lincoln." I tried to put the phrases that he used to the others so he'd know who I was talking about.
We rode awhile in silence then the horses stopped before a huge house. The driver didn't say a word as we all filed out and went into the house. We didn't see the sad look on his face as he watched us enter the house. He shook his head as he clucked to the horses and drove them away.
The door closed behind us and Master Alan placed a bar across it in holders to the sides. "This door will not be opened again until I say so. Now, let me tell you what will happen. I have a master, and I do her bidding and no one else's. She is a blood path mage. That means she gets her power from other people's blood and pain. In this case she gets her power from you. I am hers and I will get the blood for her and you will be the ones to bleed. I have been doing this for many years, thirteen to be exact. Mostly the groups last about two years. The groups last as long as my chosen one stays sane. Ria is my chosen one. She will take care of you after you are bled, and all other things. Eventually she will be the one whipping you until you bleed. I know this is a lot to take in, but that doesn't matter. You will bleed anyways." He grinned and his eyes clouded as he remembered past times. "Now, Ria will have full run of the house to clean and take you food and all of that. None of you others can leave your rooms unless I tell you to. Now we're going to go to your new rooms starting with the three little ones. You will share a room for now."
He led us down a long hall and no one spoke. The only noise was footsteps and some muffled sobs of those who were too scared to hide it. I felt my eyes fill with tears as I thought through what he said. Then a question popped into my mind. I was walking next to him and looked over at him. "What happens if I go insane? You said that is how long the group lasts. Do you let the others go?"
He looked at me with the coldest eyes I had ever seen, "No. I kill everyone when my chosen one goes insane." He smiled and just led on.
He stopped suddenly in front of a door and said, "This is where the triplets go." He untied them, and then opened up the door.
I looked in as it opened and felt my eyes go wide. The room was only about six feet by six feet. It didn't have a bed, only some blankets on the floor. It also had no light, the door had some slots that could be opened and closed from the outside only. There was another door on the other side of the room and Master Alan pointed to it.
"You all see that door? That door means trouble. If that door is opened, you are going to be in pain. That means that you are going to get beaten. I don't even have to have a reason. I could just want to hurt one of you." Without warning he struck out and backhanded me into the wall.
I tasted blood and cried out as I struck the wall. I almost dropped Sara, but managed to keep a hold on the blankets.
Master Alan roughly untied the littles and shoved them into the room. They were to scared to protest and went quickly into the room. He shoved the door shut and looked at the rest of us. These doors aren't locked, but if any of you, except Ria, are out of your rooms without permission, you will get the worst beating of your life."
He led us a little farther down the hall to the nest door, "This is Raina's room. You will have Sara in here with you for now. Be happy with this, because for now that means you won't get beaten. Whoever's room she is in doesn't get beaten. She will get switched between rooms." He opened the door to a room that was smaller than the last. This room was about four feet by six feet. "The rest of the rooms are this size, except Ria's." He untied Raina, but didn't push her into the room. "You have three seconds."
"Three seconds to what?" She asked him in her light voice.
"Three."
"What am I supposed to do?" She asked with wide eyes.
"Two."
She started to shake and turned to her room to scramble in, but tripped and fell.
"One." He stepped on her leg to hold her in place and unwrapped a whip from his belt. He snapped it into her back in a quick three snaps and she screamed.
"Let me correct myself, you don't get regular beatings if you have Sara. You do get whatever I decide to give you though." He lifted his foot off of her leg and told her, "You have three more seconds."
She scrambled into her room as she sobbed in pain.
"Three, you didn't grab Sara."
She ran back out and grabbed Sara. She turned back around and ran back in.
Master Alan shoved the door shut, let his head fall back, and belted out laughing. He shook his head and looked at the rest of us. His gaze fell on me and he told me, "Open your mouth."
I slowly let my jaw open, and cried out as he grabbed it roughly. My cheek was throbbing from where he had hit it earlier. He slowly brought the tip of the whip up where I could see it, then slid it across my tongue. I tried to jerk my head back as my mouth filled with the coppery taste of blood, but he just gripped my chin harder. He held me long enough that I stopped fighting, then shoved me back.
I started to spit out the taste, but stopped and swallowed when he raised his hand to hit me again.
He put the rest of the kids in their rooms, with Laran and Jarad sharing, until I was the only one left. He led me to a room in a different hall. I expected it to be the same as the others, but it wasn't at all. It was very big, bigger than any room I'd ever been in before. Lining the walls were all sorts of knives, whips, and other weapons. Also there were shelves of books. There was a big bed with many blankets and a fireplace.
"You are my chosen one, so you get a better room. I will have tutors brought in for you only. My master doesn't like stupidity, and you're the only one she'll ever see. If you'd like, you can teach the others reading, writing, and sums. They are not to learn weapons work at all. You are going to learn, because you are...my student for a lack of a better term. You are going to learn to do everything I know about torturing people. You will attend to me at the meetings, too."
"What meetings," I asked cautiously.
"You know I have a master. Well, she and some of her associates decided to form a group. Each of them has someone like me. Someone to serve them and give them power if they can. Master Natalia is the most powerful. She is the only blood path mage. The others have other gifts. All of us who serve them have slaves like you whom are beaten. Not all of them get power from it, but they all like to cause pain in others. We meet every once in a while, to see what is happening. The Masters have different things that they do, but I don't always know about them. One time they tried to kill the queen of Valdemar, but it didn't work. There have been other things tried, and some have worked. Well, I'll bid you goodnight for now." He turned and walked out the door, closing it behind him.
The next morning I woke up to the snap of a whip by my head. I jerked awake and sat up quickly.
"Get up. It's time for everyone to be branded. Follow me. You can eat breakfast after we're done." He turned around and started walking away.
I scrambled up and hurried after him so I didn't get whipped. I walked behind him through a beautiful set of doors into a small room with a table in the middle of it. The table took up most of the room, and next to it was a fireplace. There were no windows, but a fire was burning and that gave off enough light to see pretty well.
Master Alan turned to me and said, "Go, until you find one of the other's rooms. Bring one child at a time. You will go last. If you even think of taking off with a kid, you both will be beaten unconscious. Now go." He turned away to put some sort of metal rod into the fire.
I turned and walked slowly out of the room. It took me a while to find the correct hallway, but I eventually did. I could tell it was the right one by the slots in the doors for light. All of the slots were closed and I could hear muffled sobs from the inside of some of the doors.
I opened one at random and saw the twins, Laran and Jarad. They looked out into the hallway in fear, blinking to see in the sudden light. They both had tear stains on their cheeks, but weren't crying at the moment.
"One of you needs to come with me. The other will come next." I barely said it loud enough to be heard, but they nodded.
Jarad came walking out and I closed the door again. He followed me down the halls and told me that Master Alan had come back the night before.
"He snapped the whip and struck each one of us. Everyone was screaming. Then he said that if we stopped crying we could have light for the night. No one could stop, we were so scared. He snapped all of the light slits shut. That just made some of them scream louder," he stopped speaking as we reached the room. We slowly entered the room and saw Master Alan sitting on the table waiting for us.
Without saying anything, he grabbed Jarad and put him on his stomach on the table. I saw that there were chains on the four corners of the table to hold his hands and feet.
Master Alan looked at me and nodded to the chains, "put them on him, now."
I did as he asked, then he turned some crank at each one that took the slack out of each chain. He did something to the chain of one foot that made it so Jarad couldn't move it at all. He could wiggle his foot, but it wouldn't move much at all.
Master Alan let go of Jarad and he started struggling to get the chains off. Master Alan looked at me and nodded to a bucket in a corner I hadn't noticed and told me to wash Jarad's foot off.
I did as he said, and then moved to a corner as he pulled the rod out of the fire. I said a strangled, "No." He didn't even look at me, but pushed the rod into Jarad's foot.
Jarad screamed shrilly, then passed out. I turned around and lost all that was in my stomach. Master Alan started chuckling and didn't stop. He grabbed my head and made me look at Jarad's foot. On the heel, was a raised burnt spot. That spot was in the shape of a whip.
So on it went, but Master Alan went and got the kids this time. He had to carry the branded ones back to their cells. He smeared something on the burns and said it would heal quicker, but leave the scar. Later, he said, they would get color added to them.
When all the kids were done but me, I huddled in the corner hoping he would forget about me...he didn't.
He grabbed me and dropped me onto the table. He put on the normal four chains, then added more. Soon I couldn't move more than jerking my shoulders a bit. I was sobbing and trying to get away, but nothing loosened. Then he pulled out a knife and slit the back of my shirt. I started screaming in fear. He put a different rod into the fire with a bigger head on it. When it turned orange, he lifted it out, looked at me, smiled, and pushed it into my back. I screamed in pain, and welcomed the blackness when it came.
I leaned against the door and strained to hear through it. I listened to Mistress and some man haggle over prices. The man was going to buy some of us kids and Mistress wanted top dollar.
"I'll pay two silvers a child and that's it. I will go no higher," the man stated firmly.
"For two silvers you buy at least three of the brats," Mistress snarled back.
"I shall be buying more than three. I plan to buy ten or twelve of them. That should be enough. Now shall we see the children now?" The man phrased it nicely enough, but there was an edge to his voice.
I heard Mistress hurrying back to our room and I jumped back from the door. She jerked it open and we all looked at her. She stepped in front of me to hide me from view. She didn't want to sell me because I took care of the other children and she didn't have to do as much with me around. I wasn't the oldest child, but the others just listened to me for some reason. It was probably because I have taken many beatings for the others.
I looked around her skirts to see the man and I almost jerked back in surprise. Most of the men who came here to buy children were scrubby and dirty. They were ugly and mean. This man looked kind and handsome. He had pure black hair with slate grey eyes. He had soft features that made him look kind, and he was whip cord thin. He looked around the room and made his choices.
"I'll take the red headed boy in the corner, the twin boys on the blanket, the blond girl huddled next to them, the sandy haired boy at your feet, and those two brown haired boys over there. They all look to be about six or so," he made the statement into a question then continued at Mistress' nod. "I'll take those three little kids over there, the two boys and girl. I'll also take the baby in the crib. Now, who will be my special child...." He looked straight into my eyes, "I'll take that dark girl your hiding behind your skirts. I assume she is the one taking care of the others? Yeah, I'll take her. Now, let's get them sent out to the wagon and I'll pay you."
"Ya wannum tied up?" At his nod she told him, "The rope's extra." He shrugged and she snapped out to us kids, "You ones who were chosen, get your arses out to the main room. Ria, make sure they all get out there."
My arm was twisted as she grabbed it and shoved me forward. She shoved rope into my hands and I started tying kids into a line. I had done it many times before, so it went quickly. I tied the three little ones in between the bigger kids in the middle. They were triplets so I kept them together. Our new master led us out to the wagon and then stopped. He grabbed the rope and roughly tied it around my waist. He shoved the baby into my arms and lifted us into the wagon. When all of us were in the wagon he looked at me and started the introductions.
"My name is Master Alan. I now own you. You will learn the rules when we get to your new home. Now tell me everyone's name, Ria isn't it?"
"Yes sir, I'm Ariana, but everyone calls me Ria."
"Don't call me sir, call me Master Alan." He snapped out at me.
"Yes Master Alan. Well, the baby's name is Sara. She's about six months old. We'll need to get some milk for her. The littles are triplets. They are Helena, Nathanial, and Gregory. They are about four years old. The rest of us are about six years old. It's easiest to think of us as the same age, 'cuz were not quite sure on most of us. Let's see, the red headed boy is Zachariah, the twins are Laran and Jarad, the blond girl is Raina, the light brown sandy haired boy is Gabriel, and the two dark brown haired boys are Micah and Lincoln." I tried to put the phrases that he used to the others so he'd know who I was talking about.
We rode awhile in silence then the horses stopped before a huge house. The driver didn't say a word as we all filed out and went into the house. We didn't see the sad look on his face as he watched us enter the house. He shook his head as he clucked to the horses and drove them away.
The door closed behind us and Master Alan placed a bar across it in holders to the sides. "This door will not be opened again until I say so. Now, let me tell you what will happen. I have a master, and I do her bidding and no one else's. She is a blood path mage. That means she gets her power from other people's blood and pain. In this case she gets her power from you. I am hers and I will get the blood for her and you will be the ones to bleed. I have been doing this for many years, thirteen to be exact. Mostly the groups last about two years. The groups last as long as my chosen one stays sane. Ria is my chosen one. She will take care of you after you are bled, and all other things. Eventually she will be the one whipping you until you bleed. I know this is a lot to take in, but that doesn't matter. You will bleed anyways." He grinned and his eyes clouded as he remembered past times. "Now, Ria will have full run of the house to clean and take you food and all of that. None of you others can leave your rooms unless I tell you to. Now we're going to go to your new rooms starting with the three little ones. You will share a room for now."
He led us down a long hall and no one spoke. The only noise was footsteps and some muffled sobs of those who were too scared to hide it. I felt my eyes fill with tears as I thought through what he said. Then a question popped into my mind. I was walking next to him and looked over at him. "What happens if I go insane? You said that is how long the group lasts. Do you let the others go?"
He looked at me with the coldest eyes I had ever seen, "No. I kill everyone when my chosen one goes insane." He smiled and just led on.
He stopped suddenly in front of a door and said, "This is where the triplets go." He untied them, and then opened up the door.
I looked in as it opened and felt my eyes go wide. The room was only about six feet by six feet. It didn't have a bed, only some blankets on the floor. It also had no light, the door had some slots that could be opened and closed from the outside only. There was another door on the other side of the room and Master Alan pointed to it.
"You all see that door? That door means trouble. If that door is opened, you are going to be in pain. That means that you are going to get beaten. I don't even have to have a reason. I could just want to hurt one of you." Without warning he struck out and backhanded me into the wall.
I tasted blood and cried out as I struck the wall. I almost dropped Sara, but managed to keep a hold on the blankets.
Master Alan roughly untied the littles and shoved them into the room. They were to scared to protest and went quickly into the room. He shoved the door shut and looked at the rest of us. These doors aren't locked, but if any of you, except Ria, are out of your rooms without permission, you will get the worst beating of your life."
He led us a little farther down the hall to the nest door, "This is Raina's room. You will have Sara in here with you for now. Be happy with this, because for now that means you won't get beaten. Whoever's room she is in doesn't get beaten. She will get switched between rooms." He opened the door to a room that was smaller than the last. This room was about four feet by six feet. "The rest of the rooms are this size, except Ria's." He untied Raina, but didn't push her into the room. "You have three seconds."
"Three seconds to what?" She asked him in her light voice.
"Three."
"What am I supposed to do?" She asked with wide eyes.
"Two."
She started to shake and turned to her room to scramble in, but tripped and fell.
"One." He stepped on her leg to hold her in place and unwrapped a whip from his belt. He snapped it into her back in a quick three snaps and she screamed.
"Let me correct myself, you don't get regular beatings if you have Sara. You do get whatever I decide to give you though." He lifted his foot off of her leg and told her, "You have three more seconds."
She scrambled into her room as she sobbed in pain.
"Three, you didn't grab Sara."
She ran back out and grabbed Sara. She turned back around and ran back in.
Master Alan shoved the door shut, let his head fall back, and belted out laughing. He shook his head and looked at the rest of us. His gaze fell on me and he told me, "Open your mouth."
I slowly let my jaw open, and cried out as he grabbed it roughly. My cheek was throbbing from where he had hit it earlier. He slowly brought the tip of the whip up where I could see it, then slid it across my tongue. I tried to jerk my head back as my mouth filled with the coppery taste of blood, but he just gripped my chin harder. He held me long enough that I stopped fighting, then shoved me back.
I started to spit out the taste, but stopped and swallowed when he raised his hand to hit me again.
He put the rest of the kids in their rooms, with Laran and Jarad sharing, until I was the only one left. He led me to a room in a different hall. I expected it to be the same as the others, but it wasn't at all. It was very big, bigger than any room I'd ever been in before. Lining the walls were all sorts of knives, whips, and other weapons. Also there were shelves of books. There was a big bed with many blankets and a fireplace.
"You are my chosen one, so you get a better room. I will have tutors brought in for you only. My master doesn't like stupidity, and you're the only one she'll ever see. If you'd like, you can teach the others reading, writing, and sums. They are not to learn weapons work at all. You are going to learn, because you are...my student for a lack of a better term. You are going to learn to do everything I know about torturing people. You will attend to me at the meetings, too."
"What meetings," I asked cautiously.
"You know I have a master. Well, she and some of her associates decided to form a group. Each of them has someone like me. Someone to serve them and give them power if they can. Master Natalia is the most powerful. She is the only blood path mage. The others have other gifts. All of us who serve them have slaves like you whom are beaten. Not all of them get power from it, but they all like to cause pain in others. We meet every once in a while, to see what is happening. The Masters have different things that they do, but I don't always know about them. One time they tried to kill the queen of Valdemar, but it didn't work. There have been other things tried, and some have worked. Well, I'll bid you goodnight for now." He turned and walked out the door, closing it behind him.
The next morning I woke up to the snap of a whip by my head. I jerked awake and sat up quickly.
"Get up. It's time for everyone to be branded. Follow me. You can eat breakfast after we're done." He turned around and started walking away.
I scrambled up and hurried after him so I didn't get whipped. I walked behind him through a beautiful set of doors into a small room with a table in the middle of it. The table took up most of the room, and next to it was a fireplace. There were no windows, but a fire was burning and that gave off enough light to see pretty well.
Master Alan turned to me and said, "Go, until you find one of the other's rooms. Bring one child at a time. You will go last. If you even think of taking off with a kid, you both will be beaten unconscious. Now go." He turned away to put some sort of metal rod into the fire.
I turned and walked slowly out of the room. It took me a while to find the correct hallway, but I eventually did. I could tell it was the right one by the slots in the doors for light. All of the slots were closed and I could hear muffled sobs from the inside of some of the doors.
I opened one at random and saw the twins, Laran and Jarad. They looked out into the hallway in fear, blinking to see in the sudden light. They both had tear stains on their cheeks, but weren't crying at the moment.
"One of you needs to come with me. The other will come next." I barely said it loud enough to be heard, but they nodded.
Jarad came walking out and I closed the door again. He followed me down the halls and told me that Master Alan had come back the night before.
"He snapped the whip and struck each one of us. Everyone was screaming. Then he said that if we stopped crying we could have light for the night. No one could stop, we were so scared. He snapped all of the light slits shut. That just made some of them scream louder," he stopped speaking as we reached the room. We slowly entered the room and saw Master Alan sitting on the table waiting for us.
Without saying anything, he grabbed Jarad and put him on his stomach on the table. I saw that there were chains on the four corners of the table to hold his hands and feet.
Master Alan looked at me and nodded to the chains, "put them on him, now."
I did as he asked, then he turned some crank at each one that took the slack out of each chain. He did something to the chain of one foot that made it so Jarad couldn't move it at all. He could wiggle his foot, but it wouldn't move much at all.
Master Alan let go of Jarad and he started struggling to get the chains off. Master Alan looked at me and nodded to a bucket in a corner I hadn't noticed and told me to wash Jarad's foot off.
I did as he said, and then moved to a corner as he pulled the rod out of the fire. I said a strangled, "No." He didn't even look at me, but pushed the rod into Jarad's foot.
Jarad screamed shrilly, then passed out. I turned around and lost all that was in my stomach. Master Alan started chuckling and didn't stop. He grabbed my head and made me look at Jarad's foot. On the heel, was a raised burnt spot. That spot was in the shape of a whip.
So on it went, but Master Alan went and got the kids this time. He had to carry the branded ones back to their cells. He smeared something on the burns and said it would heal quicker, but leave the scar. Later, he said, they would get color added to them.
When all the kids were done but me, I huddled in the corner hoping he would forget about me...he didn't.
He grabbed me and dropped me onto the table. He put on the normal four chains, then added more. Soon I couldn't move more than jerking my shoulders a bit. I was sobbing and trying to get away, but nothing loosened. Then he pulled out a knife and slit the back of my shirt. I started screaming in fear. He put a different rod into the fire with a bigger head on it. When it turned orange, he lifted it out, looked at me, smiled, and pushed it into my back. I screamed in pain, and welcomed the blackness when it came.
