I'm starting to think my story sucks, cuz I'm not getting very many reviews, though thanks to the people who have. Please R&R people, R&R!

-O-

The next afternoon was overly hot for that time of year, and the humidity rose quickly as dark storm clouds rolled across the sky and threatened rain. The sun blazed, even behind the thick clouds, and everyone on Dorobis' plantation suffered the stifling heat and even had to sometimes gasp for breath when just standing idle.

Each person had some sort of work to do despite the heat, but it was worse for the ones who did hard manual labor for hours on end, and Link was one of these. He and Artos had been outside chopping wood near the house since early morning, and the both of them watched the skies expectantly, waiting to welcome the coolness of the rain that was on its way, but though the sky was completely dark gray, not a drop of water had fallen yet.

Artos stopped chopping for a moment and wiped the thick sweat off his forehead with the back of his arm. "I don't think I've ever been this hot in my life." He took another glance at the sky. "I don't know why Master Dorobis even has us chopping wood, it's such hot weather. And I'm starting to believe that the rain is teasing us. It will be a relief, if it ever starts falling."

Link had learned by now that Artos was mainly a house slave, besides his work at the stables, and he did not usually physically work hard; the main thing he did was serve food to Dorobis and his household and do odd jobs around the house. Dorobis had not really had someone to do the hard work, and that was the reason why Link had been dragged down in the woods and brought to him.

Link did not mind hard work, for he had grown up with it daily all of his life. But to be forced against his will to work for someone else insulted him deeply, and he swung the axe harder, with bitterness, and tried to ignore the heat and the sweat that ran down his face lightly. His hair had turned dark and wet, and he had shed his thick hat and tunic, along with his arm-guards and gloves, hours before and worked in the white shirt underneath. It was neck-high, but it was thin and split open from the top down to the middle of his chest, and the sleeves only came right past his elbows. It gave him some relief at least.

He still planned determinedly to escape this place, but the weather was too bad today and he did not want to run Epona in the heat. He did not expect to be here for anymore than a few days from now, but he figured that while he was here he might as well work to avoid Dorobis and his whip.

Artos sat down on the dry grass and leaned on the back of his axe, studying Link. He wiped his forehead again. "You handle that axe very well."

Link split another piece of wood and shoved it off the chopping block with the axe blade, and the two pieces hit the ground with a thud. He never really thought about how well he worked- he just worked. And not knowing what to say, he just shrugged.

"I don't think even Dorobis himself swings the axe that well," the other continued. "You've done this kind of work for a long time, haven't you?" The young man did not sound threatening or anything such as that, so perhaps he was just giving a compliment.

"Yes," Link replied shortly. He could still not say that he trusted even one of these people here, and he thought it best not to get too friendly with them. There was no telling when someone would suddenly turn on him. But Artos remained pleasant.

"I'm not so much used to it, myself. Master Dorobis doesn't usually give me this kind of work."

Link scoffed. "Dorobis obviously can't make up his mind about anything."

Artos' expression changed from friendly to serious. "I wouldn't let anyone hear you say that."

Link stopped in mid-swing and put a knee on his chopping block. He looked at Artos and raised an eyebrow. "Say what? It's the truth."

"No slave calls the Master merely by his first name," Artos said quietly. He quickly raised his hands, both palms forward in a sign of peace. And that gave Link the impression that the other young man was afraid of him. "Not that I'm being hostile with you or anything. I just want to warn you so you can escape another whipping."

Link was quiet for a moment and ran a hand through his wet hair. "Just so he knows, I don't call anyone 'Master'. Sir is the most he's going to get out of me."

Artos clicked his tongue. "I would be very careful about that if I were you. And if you don't mind me asking, why is it that you think Master Dorobis cannot make up his mind about things?"

Link shrugged again, though he wondered the same thing about himself. Why did he think that? He was not sure, but for reason he got that impression about the powerful man. Perhaps it was the way that his children sometimes seemed to be in charge just as much as he was, or maybe it was because the way Dorobis had laughed at Henry the day before when he saw the young man's battle wounds. Link still did not know why he thought that.

The subject of the conversation was lost as Artos quickly rose to his feet and looked past Link towards the house. "There is Miss Memnet," he said. "You don't have to worry about her, though. She is more of a friend than the master's daughter."

Link studied the young woman from a distance. She held up her long skirts as she made her way out of the house. She looked just as overly hot as Link felt, or probably more. Women wore layers and layers of clothes around here, and the only thing that could be exposed to the air was their faces and forearms, for anything else they showed was considered improper.

Link was still unsure at what to think of her in general, for he was certain she did not trust him. But she did not really have a reason to, though, because all she knew about him was that he had killed five of her father's men and that he was stubborn and strong. Every time she came in visual contact with him, she eyed him suspiciously and kept her distance, just as she was doing now.

"Is she as distrustful of you as she is of me?" Link asked. He had not really meant to ask it, but it seemed to have come out of his mouth before he could stop it.

"Miss Mement? Oh no. In fact, we've actually been friends over the years." Artos laughed suddenly. "She does seem to be wary of you, doesn't she?"

Link nodded, though the answer was obvious.

"Well, I wouldn't take it personally. She probably thinks you are a brute or something." Artos frowned at his own words and spread his hands. "Not to say that you are or you aren't; I don't know. You haven't done anything to prove yourself as either, and self defense does not count. Maybe you should somehow prove to her that you come here peacefully, but not in front of Master Dorobis of course."

Link coughed slightly. He had given the wrong impression to Artos- that he had an interest in Memnet. That was not the case at all, and he stammered to cover it up. "But I didn't come here peacefully. And anyway, I didn't mean for it to sound like that."

"Really? Well then, I understand."

Link swallowed. "Tell me about her brother and sister."

"Certainly. Well, Matayo takes a lot after his father, but he is much more pleasant to be around. He-"

"What about that dark-haired girl?" Link interrupted.

A knowing smile spread across Artos' face. "Ah, Jennan. She's a beauty, she is. Every man and boy in this area has his eye on her. Not that she ever pays them any mind, though." He stretched slightly and massaged an aching muscle in his arm. "Dorobis seems to have a favor for her, and that's why she has not been married yet. She doesn't want to. Memnet is the same way."

Link took another expectant glance at the sky, then turned back to Artos. "Is there anything else I should know about Henry?"

Artos cackled loudly, and Link jumped at the sudden volume in the other's voice. "Henry! All you need to know is that you can take him on and only come back with a mere bruised eye!" He continued to laugh, but Link did not get what was so humerous. The bruise had already healed by now, anyway. The laughing died down, and Artos finally continued more soberly. "On the serious side, now, Henry is Dorobis' leading soldier of his group of men, though he is by far the youngest. Though you won't find many of us around here who have taken a liking to Henry, we all have to admit that he is very good in combat. But obviously not one-on-one!" At the last line, Artos fought a grin.

"I can tell that he can fight with a weapon," Link said quietly.

"Yes, that is true. But Henry tries to be in charge of everyone, and he has a selfish side to him." Artos looked sheepishly over his shoulder to make sure no one was listening. "He's had his sights set on Jennan for a while, and he's even tried to court her a few times."

Link picked up his axe again and laid out another piece of wood. "Oh." He swung the axe hard. Not only did it split the wood, but the blade embedded deep into the wooden chopping block, and Link had to muscle it back out.

Artos stumbled all over his words. "Well, it is not exactly... she doesn't really- Jennan brushes Henry off every time, like the bother he is. I did not mean to make it sound like she was taken by man."

"What does it matter?" Link said bitterly. Surely he had not given the impression that he had his eye on Jennan as well. Or at least he did not mean to.

Artos shrugged. "I guess it doesn't." He looked at the ground, as if thinking quickly for another topic. He obviously found one. "What did you think of Ima?"

"She's... hospitable."

"That's very true. She takes care of everyone." Artos pulled up a handful of grass and let it slowly fall back to the ground. "She's almost like a mother to me."

It would have been very rude to ask about Artos' true mother, so Link did not. Instead, "Don't Miss Jennan and her siblings have a mother?"

"No," Artos said seriously, rising from the ground and brushing the grass off himself. "She died giving birth to Jennan. I was no more than three years of age at the time, and yet I still remember how Master Dorobis seemed to fall apart after that. That's when he started getting slaves."

Link was curious, but he refrained from asking more questions. As Artos picked up his axe and continued chopping, Link just stood and stared at him to prompt him for more information. He knew it was rude, but he figured that he should know at least some of the things that were going on around here.

"I was not a slave then," Artos said, as if he read the question on the other's face. "Master Dorobis and his wife had taken me in, almost like another son, but after she died... the master turned hard and started raking in slaves. But he was too overcome to grief to keep a hold on them, for most of them ran away early on, and he didn't put up much effort to go after them."

"It's strange you even remember from that early age," Link said. He set his axe down once more and ran his hand through his hair again. He was sweating so hard that he would not have been wetter if he had jumped into the creek.

"I remember some, but the rest was told to me later on." Artos rubbed his arm again and grimaced. "You're lucky you didn't get branded yet. Master Dorobis got me when I was only five." He pulled up his sleeve to reveal his upper arm, and Link saw the same branded mark as he had seen on Ima.

"It's not anticipating the pain that gets me fighting," Link said honestly. He did not mean to sound conceited, but it was only the truth. "I'm not taking a mark that claims me from anyone."

A smile spread on Artos' face again. "So you're independent. I could tell that from the beginning. And if I would have thought about spitting in the master's face, I would have done it a long time ago!"

Link could not help but half-smile a little. "Don't think it went unpunished."

"Oh, I am sure it didn't. Ima took care of your whip lashes... after you passed out."

Link suddenly thought he might be acting too friendly with Artos, who he still did not have a solid reason to trust, and the small smile he had on his face faded. He was ashamed of fainting under the the force of the whip, and he tried to hide his shame with anger.

Artos seemed to notice this sudden change, and he said, "If you were a dog, I believe you would have just now raised your hackles at me. Any other man would have passed out, in your condition. You were weak with hunger, and they had treated you badly for nearly two days. I'm sure it's hard to get rest in shackles, anyway. You were exhausted to say the least. No reason to be ashamed."

Did Artos see through everything? Link had not let on that he was ashamed, but he guessed it had showed anyhow. With his eyes still on Artos, he reached down to pick up his axe, and suddenly jerked back as if he had been struck by a snake. He turned his hand over to look at the palm and saw a thick pool of blood, which ran down his wrist and was making its way towards his elbow. He did not know how he could be so clumsy, but somehow he had managed to slice open his hand on the axe blade without even thinking twice.

"Ah, you'd better take that to Ima," Artos said. "That looks like a bad cut there."

Link's whole hand went numb with the pain, but he stubbornly refused to show that it hurt as he clutched it tight with his free hand to slow down the bleeding. "Dorobis isn't going to come whipping when he finds out I'm not working, is he?"

"Not if you're wounded," Artos replied, shaking his head. "Now you'd better get that bandaged before you lose too much blood."

-O-

Link came upon Ima's dwelling alone, and seeing no one in sight outside, knocked a few times. The door was so thin he feared it would break to pieces if he hit it too hard, so he stopped knocking quickly and returned to putting pressure on the bleeding hand.

After a few footsteps sounded from inside, the rickety door opened in, and Link was surprised to see the pretty Jennan standing in the doorway. She seemed as equally surprised to see him, and a light color rose in her cheeks. "Hi," she stammered, and Link nodded at her. Before he could even ask for Ima, she spotted the blood on his hand and gasped. "Oh my goodness, what happened?"

"The axe," he said plainly. He was too tongue-tied to say else besides that.

Jennan quicky took him by the arm and led him into the dwelling, fretting over his sliced hand in a way that all women do. Link had been too light-headed to pay much attention to the room the first time he had been in it, but now he took a moment to look around as Jennan dug through the drawer on the left side of the bed. As soon as one came in the door, to the left was a small bed with a nighttable on each side of it, and to the right was some sort of desk and chair with a mirror propped on the wall above it. Straight across from the doorway looked like some sort of clothing trunk on the floor. The small room had no windows, and so it seemed to be continuously lit by lanterns, and not to mention stifling hot.

"Sit down," Jennan instructed, her back to him, and Link sat hesitantly on the side of the bed that was closest to the door. He studied Jennan from behind with interest, as she continued to rummage through the drawer. Her dress was two different colors, the top part over her torso a light pink and the thick skirts a soft white color, and they brushed the ground when she moved. Her build was so small that Link figured he could span her waist with his hands if he tried. Her hands caught his eye, thin with long fingernails, and then she came to him with a white porcelin bowl full of water, a few bandages, and something liquid with a dark color in a small bottle. She pulled over the chair from the desk and sat down in front of him. She took a cloth and turned his hand over palm-up, holding onto his fingers lightly and gently dabbing away most of the blood from his arm. Then she laid his hand in the bowl of cool water and watched the liquid turn slightly red in color. "Oh, that looks so painful," she said.

"I'm all right," Link mumbled.

"But you're bleeding badly," she argued lightly. She removed his hand from the water and dried it off, then opened the small bottle in her hand and dripped some of its contents directly on the wound. "That's for infection. I'm sorry that it burns."

No need for her to be sorry, but she was right that it burned. It felt to Link as if someone had just shoved his hand over an open flame, but he did not want to let on that it hurt, especially in front of Jennan. To get his mind off the pain, he tried to make conversation. "Is this Ima's dwelling?" It seemed like a nosy question after it came out, but it was too late to take it back now.

"Yes, it is," Jennan replied sweetly. She looked at Link carefully as she wrapped his hand in a bandage. He was something to look at, even if he was sweating and bleeding. Henry and Artos were handsome in their own ways, but something about Link captured her attention. Perhaps it was how fair he was. Everyone on her father's plantation seemed to have a dark complexion, but Link had golden blond hair and deep blue eyes. And now that Jennan thought about it, she did not think she had ever seen someone with blue eyes, especially with the color of Link's. The bluest blue; those were the only words she could think of to describe it. And she really liked his voice, though he did not talk much. Most of the men she had met either had voices too deep or too high, but Link's voice matched his look and build just right. And she had never seen a man with an earring. "It seems like either me or Memnet is in here more than Ima, though."

Link watched her movements carefully as she wrapped the bandage over his palm and across the back of his hand. She made sure to wrap it just right, where he could still clutch an axe handle and make a fist. Link felt compelled to pay her a compliment, so he tried clumsily. "You're good at this. Are you training to be a nurse, or...?"

"Not exactly," she replied, and laughed good-naturedly. Such a beautiful laugh she had. "Us girls learn a lot from Ima, though. She's very good at doctoring. She's done it for all of us as long as I can remember."

Link was at a loss of words, so he just nodded.

Jennan stood and pushed her chair back, then smoothed her skirts. "Don't work too hard with that hand," she said. "You shouldn't have to work at all until it's healed, but my father..."

"I know," Link said, and smiled. It was not so hard to smile around Jennan.

The door to the room opened suddenly, and Memnet froze in the doorway, one hand on the door handle, the other holding her blue skirts. She looked from Jennan to Link, back again, and then rested her firey brown eyes on her sister.

"Thank you," Link said quietly to Jennan, then got up and quickly made his way out the door, brushing by Memnet without making eye contact.

After he was gone, Memnet turned her wary gaze from him to Jennan. "What was that about?"

Jennan picked up the unused bandages from the bed and the bottle of dark liquid. "If you have to know, he sliced open his hand on the axe, and Ima wasn't here. Keep that door open, it's warm in here."

Memnet came into the room, her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Well, then. Anyway, how does one cut their hand on a chopping axe? Unless they're very careless."

"I don't know," Jennan said, shoving the things in her hands back into the nighttable drawer and slamming it closed. She turned to glare at Memnet. "Why, what do you think he was in here for?"

A brief moment of silence passed. "Nothing."

"Memnet, you shouldn't be so untrusting of everyone."

"Perhaps you shouldn't trust everyone you come in contact with without reason," came the snippy reply.

Jennan considered stomping her sister's freshly polished shoe. "Stop being so difficult! Link hasn't done anything to make you so wary of him."

"Have you forgotten that he killed five of Father's soldiers?"

Jennan's expression turned stony. "I would have done the same thing if someone was trying to drag me down in the woods. Wouldn't you?"

Memnet's voice suddenly went soft. "All right now, let's not bicker about it. I would have helped him if he came to me, so let's just forget about it, all right?"

Jennan did not feel so forgiving, but she nodded anyway. She held her own arms and walked to the door, stopping in the doorframe and staring out at the dark sky.

It had still not rained a drop.

-O-

Later on at dusk, when the sky had finally opened up, though it was only a light sprinkle of rain, Jennan and Memnet sat alone in the kitchen of the dark house, a lone lantern burning dimly from a hook in the middle of the low ceiling. Memnet stared into the flame with her chin on her fist, and Jennan was tapping her fingernails on the polished surface of the table.

"Did Father have enough candle wick for his lanterns?"

"No, and that reminds me to tell Artos to go fetch some wax before this rain gets harder." Memnet began to rise from her chair, but her sister stopped her.

"I'll go," she said.

"Jennan, it's nearly dark outside and you don't need to be walking around in the woods. And not to mention it's raining."

"Memnet..." Jennan began, annoyed.

"All right!" Memnet gave in. "But hurry back."

"I will," Jennan assured. She left the table and made her way outside, taking in a deep breath of the humid air as she let the door swing shut behind her. Dorobis had a small dwelling farther up the trail where he organized his trading, which was mainly how he made money when he was not fighting in some battle, and he slept in the small space by himself, leaving the house to his children, Ima, and Artos. He was continuously burning lanterns the whole time he was there, even when he slept, and so he burned up wick quickly. He had had Artos build a very small shed way out in the woods that held tools and supplies, and Jennan knew she could find some extra wax to make wick if she looked hard enough. As she made her way down the trail, she realized that she should have taken a lantern or would have to feel her way around in the shed. But it looked like it was going to start raining hard any second, so she decided to just get there and back as quickly as possible.

After a few yards up the dark trail, she had to turn a sharp left into the woods, and she paused before entering through the trees. It looked even darker than it had from the house, but it seemed too late to go back now, so she lifted her skirts slightly and went in over logs and thorns. A very thin trail, mostly just beaten down grass, led her on the right path to the shed, but it was still a little while of walking before she would reach it. She tried to ignore the night sounds and the strange feeling she had in her stomach, and picked up her pace hastily. She felt like a foolish child for having a fear of things she could not see, and she would not say she had a fear of the dark, but perhaps just an uneasiness. She tried not to focus on the darkness and silhouetted trees around her and just concentrated on her steps.

She would have ran if she did not mind behaving like a scared little girl, but she did, and so she did not run. And for a moment she almost wished that she had let Memnet send Artos out to do this, but she just told herself to stop being immature and got angry at herself, which made her walk more determinedly and with purpose.

Finally she could see the outline of the shed up ahead, and felt more confident. Just hurry up and get back to the house. She finally reached the shed and tried to open it, but the door only rattled. The last person in had locked it after they left, and it frustrated her to where she felt like kicking the door.

But her anger quickly diminished and a sudden bolt of fear shot through her like lightning. None of her five senes had alarmed her, but something else gave her an ill feeling, and she quickly turned back towards the house. But before she knew what was happening, a rough hand grabbed her arm and another slapped over her mouth. Jennan sucked in a sharp breath, eyes wide with fear, and let out a bloodcurdling scream.

-O-

A cliffhanger, take that! Mwahahaha! Remember to review, please. )