CHAPTER 4: GORAN’S PLAN
The next morning Goran carried the two large packs to the corral where the borsin was still behaving himself. Cat struggled under a larger load of other items. They were leaving as soon as Goran made two more stops at craft shops. He hefted the packs onto the back of borsin and secured them. Cat was to secure everything else and meet him with the borsin who he talked firmly to about cooperating with his slave. Cat was surprised by the reaction from it as it looked sideways at Cat as if to say he would only because Goran wanted it. Cat shook her head. How was she going to get the borsin to respect her will?
Cat needed a ladder leaned against its side to properly secure everything, paid the stablemaster what was owned from coins Goran gave her, then walked with the borsin down the street. She was again only wearing her hide boots, otherwise naked. They drew many stares and she wasn’t at all sure if it was the borsin or her. And, if it was her, it wasn’t that she was naked, but was it her ink over her mound or her bare pussy? Either way, she stood out as Goran had wanted.
When they caught up with Goran, he was standing in the middle of the street. Cat had been with him long enough now that she normally saw him without really seeing him. Now, walking the busy street with the borsin alongside her, an image she would never fully appreciate from another’s perspective, she saw him, her Master, Goran, as he was really. He was standing with his feet comfortably apart but with a tension in his legs able to spring to either side or backward or forward in an instant. His thick hide boots on his feet and tight hide pants on his body appearing as though they had somehow been applied to his legs layer by layer. A dagger was secured to his right calf. A thick belt around his waist held a longer dagger. His upper body was bare but for the two large swords in harnesses across his back. And, of course, the medallion at his throat. She saw a man that seemed comfortable but closer examination showed her how the muscles over his body twitched and vibrated as his eyes scanned around him constantly, his entire body always prepared to move instantly to any discovered threat. It was the way of his life. A man who makes his living as a sought-after mercenary and legendary assassin has a list of known enemies and an awareness of those who would seek to make a name for themselves.
Cat now defined herself as a slave to Goran on this world and it wasn’t with reluctance. She proudly served him and honored his care with obedience. But their Master/slave situation was different from most. She was given the freedom to speak her questions and curiosities. Slaves normally remain quiet until given specific permission to speak or are asked a direct question. She was also free to initiate sex. Cat was not USED for sex. Sex was a comfortable and recurring part of them.
Both items Goran held in his hands were covered in cloth wrappings. Cat inquired, “The new sword is one, but I didn’t realize you had another item to be made, Master.”
He touched her cheek as he moved past her to secure the two items to the packs with his lance and his covered bow and quivers of arrows. He smiled teasingly at her as he leaped impossibly onto the borsin’s back with the aid of pulling on the mane. Reaching down to grasp her hand to assist her up, “Gifts… in case of someone worthy of being trained.” It was a puzzling response but she was being propelled into the air to land behind him. She wondered what kind of training lay ahead.
Goran didn’t stop the borsin for hours… many hours. They had left the roadway a long time ago and were moving cross-country. Cat wondered how he knew where he was going and concluded it must be an innate directional sense acquired with enough travel through the wilds without the benefit of GPS or maps.
The borsin was moving steadily up a hill. They had been moving for much longer at one time than they ever had before. Cat understood his desire to leave the city behind and he frequently stopped on hilltops to search behind them for anyone following. Finding none after those hours, Goran seemed to relax somewhat.
Cat ventured to allow her curious mind to verbalize her questions. “Master, where are we heading? You seem intent on getting somewhere.”
He stopped the borsin on the hilltop. “Hmmm… not so much intent on getting somewhere as resuming the journey I had been on before crossing paths with the caravan and encountering you. Finding you created a detour I had not anticipated. We will make up some of the delays and then rest… it will be explained by HOREAN time. Expectations might be set for a certain date but that is always a rough expectation. It is understood that you might arrive early or late.” He chuckled, “So, nobody arrived early…”
Catching the meaning, Cat finished for him, “Always late.” He was scanning the immediate surroundings as he always seemed to do when a good vantage point presented itself. His hand absently caressing her hand lightly holding his hard stomach. She sighed at the gentle touch from this hard man. “Where are we headed then, Master?”
He pointed ahead. She leaned to the side to see around him better. She saw a wide valley, a meandering river, thick and dense forest on the opposite side, and rising hills into the distance like waves on a sea. Exactly where in all that she had no idea. He chuckled and pointed her attention further. On the horizon was a ragged line of snow-capped mountain peaks. She had looked at them before… from the room… “You are going back to see those people? Where the borsin came from?” He nodded and wouldn’t offer more details but set the borsin steadily moving, again.
That night, after settling the borsin and starting supper from the supplies in the now bulging camp pack, Cat noticed Goran standing pensively between the camp and the gently flowing river where the borsin drank and grazed on the grass. She walked up and stood next to him and felt his powerful arm drape around her shoulder and pull her tight into him in an easy, natural action. She could see nothing that should hold his attention so fixedly so she remained quiet. He suddenly released her and spun around, walking deliberately to the camp and specifically to the packs and gear. He had muttered only three words, it is time. But to himself or her?
As she followed him, by curiosity rather than direction, she paused to stir the pot heating over the fire containing her latest stew variation. Goran preferred a thick broth, more like a gravy, so the mixture had a lot of heating to boil away water and to permeate the meat chunks with added flavor.
Goran held the last two wrapped bundles from the city. He handed one to Cat who looked at him questioningly. It was heavy in her hands. With a flick of his head, he motioned her to open it. She unwrapped the heavy cloth, which was a blanket. She laid it on the ground to expose its contents, already anticipating what it was by its weight and rigid shape but uncertain about its implication. What she found was the sword Goran chose from the caravan. The blade sparkled in the light and looked as if newly crafted. The hilt and guard had been retooled. She looked up to him and he again used only a motion of his head for her to take it up. It felt heavy in her hands but not as heavy as his swords when she had held them for him. She looked at him, again, still uncertain about what was happening and he gave another reassuring look. She gripped the hilt in her hand, her right hand high near the guard and the left lower. The hilt was sized perfectly in her hand. She then remembered him telling the craftsman to retool the hilt slightly smaller in diameter. As she turned it in her hands, she noticed the butt of the hilt. It contained Goran’s symbol and the braided hair from her head and the sparkling jewels he requested. It felt like a fine weapon but the marking of his symbol seemed to make it his and not a gift as he had told the craftsman.
With one hand shifted under the broad surface of the blade and the other under the hilt, she offered it up to Goran, “A beautiful weapon, Master. It will be a treasured gift, I am sure.” He didn’t move his hands, however, as she offered it to him. He just smiled. Confused, her eyes flicked from the weapon in her hands to her Master and back and forth before settling on the gleaming blade. A gift… but it bore his symbol… the same symbol on the butt of his weapons… marking it as his… but a gift…
“Master?” The only explanation hit her. The only explanation? There should be another… shouldn’t there? “Master… me?” His smile changed, softened somehow. “But, Master, I thought there was a rule against slaves using weapons except in domestic tasks.”
“There are unwritten but accepted rules that I violate regularly it seems. This will just be another.” The feel of the blade in her hand immediately became different. It was a gift from her Master but it was a gift with implications of use and purpose. “I told you, Cat, I imagined a future but it was dependent on you… on you being able to accept and thrive in your allowed role in this brutal world.” Her eyes looked into his as her hand tightened around the hilt in unconscious response to his words. “You have exceeded any expectation I could have established. This world is harsh and demanding on any woman, much less one unprotected. You have quickly established yourself as my slave, an exceptional slave, that will be remembered in that city we just left. Now, we can begin implementing my plan.”
His plan was stunning. He described the future he envisioned while eating. Between bites and chewing, he talked and explained, and addressed issues. She listened intently with little interruption through her eating, then as she cleaned up after. In short, his vision was a partner. Until he met her, he had never considered the possibility of traveling and trusting in someone. But finding her and hearing of her background and training, the image of what might take hold. The way she adapted to him, his wishes, and the role he established stunned him. How this physically strong, commandingly confident, and highly intelligent person transformed herself to comply with the only role available to her was a testament to the determination and willful internal strength residing within her. It was then that he knew it was possible and his thoughts turned seriously to what he wanted.
He stood by the light of the blazing fire and indicated with his hands for her to join him. “If you are willing to take this step with me, I think your body is.”
She stood perplexed, “My body, Master? What about my body?”
He chuckled, “Just like me. I was clueless, too. Your body has been achy, your joints sore. Your entire body has been feeling like you can’t loosen up after a night of sleep or a long time on the borsin. Your appetite has increased sharply, you crave meat and beans over anything else, and your thirst seems to be unquenchable.” She nodded as he identified all the things she had been silently putting up with over the weeks. It had concerned her that she might be weaker than she believed and the harsh life of HOR was taxing her. There was another explanation. “I didn’t notice my body changing, either. It happened so quickly that most around me didn’t notice, either. I was watching for your change, though. Remember I mentioned it when we shared our backgrounds?” She nodded. “Look at your thighs, your calves, your biceps, your stomach.” She began inspecting herself closely in the flickering light of the fire. “You’ve seen yourself without seeing. You weren’t looking for a change so you didn’t see any.”
He was right. But of course, he was right. He had been watching for it the entire time believing it would happen to her as it had happened to him. Some proteins or enzymes present in the food supply of HOR reacting in some way to their Earth bodies. What she saw of her body now, stunned her.
He stepped forward and put both hands on her shoulders. “What I propose will be very dangerous, Cat.”
She looked him in the eyes with strength and determination. “Perhaps not any more dangerous than being a common slave.”
He nodded with acceptance of her position. There was much training to be done. He was pleased that she already was training in the use of combat knives and her hand-to-hand skills were excellent, though of a nature he was unfamiliar with. She had called it martial arts. He saw the value in the movements. While he trained her in the use of the sword and lance, she trained him in the movements of martial arts.
They avoided villages and cities while keeping a general heading for the distant mountain range. The further they moved toward the mountains, the more hostile it became. They traveled for weeks. Many miles were spent with her walking alongside wielding her swords with two hands and one-handed. She gained equal ability with both hands holding the blade until it was an extension of her arm. The blade would move without effort, much like a baseball player swung his bat at a sliding curveball. When Goran decided to enter a city, the weapon was a part of her.
They entered the city with her walking alongside him and the borsin. She was a slave. Though the sight of a naked slave looking the way she did now drew some glances of curiosity, the stares, and attention when to the rare sight of the massive borsin and the imposing armed warrior on top of it. Despite Goran being heavily armed, they passed through the defensive gates barely challenged. Goran didn’t look at the two guards, he merely uttered the name, Sandini, and passed through without hesitation.
Once Goran was off the borsin at another stable ill-suited to containing him, Cat quietly asked as they gather up the equipment, “Who is Sandini, Master?”
“Someone who sent whispers out to me.” Whispers? she asked. “Few are rarely bold enough to speak his name, much less mine. So, the word is sent out with people whispering to one another. Surprisingly, it spreads quickly. I hear of his wish to meet and he hears of my agreement. It also opens the door for my arrival.” His eyes were cold when he spoke of it, however. This was not a social meeting.
“First, we have other business to attend to.” He peered down the street. He wore his two swords crossed across his back as usual with his long dagger on his belt and a shorter one strapped to his calf. “This is a dangerous city, Cat. I can’t have you wearing weapons, yet… but keep them close.” She nodded as he picked up the two packs and she gathered up the rest of them. It was then that it occurred to her that the load didn’t seem as heavy as it had before.
Their first stop was a tailor. Goran was greeted warmly by the man. He had been a customer before. Goran ordered another pair of leather pants for himself, then turned to Cat. When he ordered a pair for his slave, it set the man back.
“Pants for a slave, sir?” He had been looking at Cat when he said it, but when he looked back at Goran, he stuttered on. “Meaning no disrespect, sir. I’ve just never had that request before.”
“We will be spending many days… weeks… mounted.” Goran winked at him, “I wouldn’t want the insides of her thighs to become too chafed. What good would the slave be, then?” They both laughed, though the man gazed on Cat more with obvious appreciation.
“You know, sir, it is against the rules for slaves. If the wrong people see…”
“Don’t fear, friend. They will not be worn by her in the city.” He then turned to Cat and winked, “Would it help if she showed her appreciation?”
The man smiled widely and nodded. His eyes were now like laser beams focusing on her exposed body. Goran held him off until measurements were taken and his promise to have all of them ready by morning. He agreed eagerly and began measuring. On Cat, he was concerned about covering her slave marking. Goran convinced him it was a very poor job and better covered. What he wanted was for the front to dip down exposing his symbol located on her lower abdomen. The man wasn’t sure about how he might do that, then said the belt needed to be level but he could have a cutout to display his mark. They were agreed. All the while, the man was on his knees in front of her inspecting the mark but his fingers were roaming a little further down. Her legs had opened, of course. She is a slave, after all, and slaves must allow such contact if her Master wishes. And, for this order to be completed… he wished.
Goran moved to block the doorway should anyone else decide to enter while Cat moved to her knees in front of the tailor as she loosened the tie to his loose pants. She dropped them to his feet and for only a moment considered the rising cock before her. The sight was a contradiction of sizes. The man was large in stature and quite fat. His cock was quite small. She took the cock in her hand and the size was reinforced immediately. Her one hand nearly covered it and as she lowered her head to take the cock head into her mouth, her mind flashed on the contrast with Goran’s magnificent cock that her two hands didn’t cover. This cock almost seemed to be lost in her mouth as her Master’s cock passed through her mouth into her throat. It had taken her effort to take her Master fully and deeply into her throat and it was a feeling she found he enjoyed greatly.
It wasn’t long before the man was wavering on his feet, grasping for the counter as his arousal peaked. Cat had been sucking for mere minutes when she felt his balls tighten and his cock pulse. The man gasped and grunted something about Minera. Two weak spurts of his cum and he was done, pulling his already shrinking cock from her mouth and hand to retrieve his pants. He did, however, have a very satisfied look on his face when they left.
The next stop was a cloak store. Goran purchased two identical cloaks with hoods. They could be fastened with a tie around the waist or simply at the neck. Goran didn’t explain their purpose. The last stop before locating a room for the next day turned out to be a store specializing in weapons of various sorts but Goran’s interest was in bows. Curious, Cat thought, he already had a very fine bow and noticeably larger and stronger than any of the bows displayed. It took him quite a while to hold, feel the balance, and test the draw strength before he narrowed his search. All the while, Cat remained to the side in a standing presentation position drawing no attention from the craftsman or other men in the shop except to casually appraise her body. Having shaved pubes had had the effect she hoped. The uniqueness attracted attention away from Goran and gave an impression less threatening.
Goran tested two bows at a makeshift target range. When the transaction for the bow, a quiver of arrows, and extra arrows was complete, he nodded to Cat. This was new. In the other city, her favors were not given. This city had different expectations regarding slaves.
Goran gave Cat a subtle nod and flick of his head toward the man. Cat demurely stepped toward the man who appraised her more intimately before leading her behind a curtain draped across the back of the shop. The ease at which she followed the man for him to do with her whatever he might desire surprised her. Giving herself up to Goran had settled into her comfortably, almost naturally. Now, she was barely reacting internally to other men having free access to her body at the discretion of Goran with no input from her. This was not something they had discussed or been explained or warned was coming. Additionally surprising was that she not only was accepting of these new encounters but that she was so calmly accepting them. The only conclusion she could draw was the depth of her submission to the will of Goran… her accepted Master… something that may have started as a means to survival but now had become something so much deeper than she might have expected.
Cat was prepared to give the man everything… anything… to assist in completing whatever the transaction was. Instead, the man pulled her before him and pressed her against a workbench strewn with arrows in various stages of completion. Arrows dropped off the back of the workbench as her arms braced her upper body against the aggressive urgency of the man. Although she would have had her legs opened once her balance was gained, the man was kicking her feet outward as he pressed her stomach into the edge of the bench. With one hand firmly planted on her back as if needing it to hold her in place, he fumbled with his other to loosen his pants.
Cat relaxed. Though she would have been a willing and eager participant, the man was of the mind to use her as a hole for his seed. Perhaps, that has been his only experience. It was also a reminder of her early experience on this planet as a new and lowly slave. Goran rescued her from that existence.
The man behind her rubbed his cock against her pussy lips. She knew she was wet and ready but the brutal approach was still intimidating. After giving head to the previous man, Cat’s body had reacted with a desire for Goran’s attention when they found their room. As Goran had mentioned with intrigue, Cat always seemed to be lubricated and ready to be penetrated. In Cat’s mind, it was her Master who stimulated her physical reaction. But this man didn’t bother himself to see what the potential might be; he had a slave given to him for the moment and he was going to make use of it.
The man dumped his seed into her pussy in short order after some aggressive and jerky thrusting into her. Pinned to the counter, she had little movement to assist so she endured it. When he pulled out and stepped back, she quickly turned around and dropped to her knees in front of him. She shocked him when she took his softening, messy cock into her mouth and sucked it clean before assisting him with his pants. She looked up at him from her knees and sent out a thought she couldn’t verbalize, see what you might have experienced if…
She walked from behind the curtain to take her position behind her Master. As she passed him, she rolled her eyes and he fought to control a smile that wanted to form on his mouth.
Once they were finally in their lodging room their equipment and new purchases were dropped on the floor by the door. Cat went to her knees before the bed taking the presentation position. She softly said, “Master…?” He smiled. He had recognized the frustration building within her from the two experiences with the men. He stepped before her, his crotch at eye level for her. An excited smile formed on her face and her hands moved to loosen the belt and tight pants. She flicked her eyes up to meet his, “Thank you, Master.”
He shook his head, something he seemed to do a lot in response to her. He had been prepared to make allowances if she could only manage to perform as a clumsy, reluctant slave until he could find a suitable situation to save her in this existence. Instead, she had accepted the challenge it took to remain with him, and now he saw how their partnership, as it was forming into, could balance delicately between apparent submissive slave and worthy combatant partner. He dropped his weapons from his body as she was singularly focused on his pants, which she had quickly dropped down his legs and her mouth around his hardening cock. He smiled broadly as he heard a deep satisfied sigh of contentment escaping her when his cock head became encased by her lips and mouth. It was as if it were a pacifier giving her comfort.
She alternately sucked and licked his cock with loving passion. Her eyes closed as her mouth and tongue moved over his cock, it almost gave him an impression of devout worship. He knew that was how it felt. She approached both making love and fucking with singular devotion and attention to his experience. He sighed deeply himself feeling the front of her throat on his cock head before she pushed his cock down her throat. She had a word for it, deep throat, and she had practiced long on his cock until she had mastered it. She brought knowledge and practices from the future of Earth that stunned him. Yet, here she was on her knees as his slave.
He encouraged her up, his cock sliding out of her mouth reluctantly. He shuffled to the bed with her in front of him. He struggled out his boots and pants as he watched her move into the center of the bed, her legs parting and flashing her hairless, glistening pussy. She was right… without hair, she had exposed her womanhood completely.
Finally naked like her, he moved between her widely spread knees. He stopped to gaze at the woman before him. Her legs spread, her pussy glistening with her juices of anticipation, the lips of her pussy open with an occasional pulsing as if winking at him, her tight stomach and body that has responded to this world like his body had, her large breasts heaving with her excited breath, the nipples sitting proudly erect as an additional display of her willing offering, and the face that reflected the lusty eagerness of what was to come. As if needing any more enticement, she grabbed her knees and pulled her legs back towards her, pivoting her pussy up and spreading herself even further before his eyes. He shuffled forward, his hand guiding his cock to the gaping pussy before him, all of it occurring without thought or plan as if cock and pussy were of some unique magnetic properties to be brought together. When cock head opened pussy, they both gasped and sighed as if beginning a duet of experience.
He inched his cock forward, spreading her pussy as he did. Her pussy clenched around his cock as if merely being inside wasn’t enough contact. Her eyes were closed, her mouth gaping open, and each inch of penetration brought a gasp and sigh from her mouth. He had used inch-long movements and was halfway in her when her eyes opened. The eyes looking up at him were like a gateway to her erotic soul, revealing the fiery lust that resided there. Her lips moved as if forming words but nothing came out as he continued to move in small movements in her.
Finally, the words boldly escaped her in a desperate plead, “Master… please… fuck me…” Her pussy was a warm, wet, pulsing, clasping sleeve around his cock. Already he could feel his own rising need within him. He smiled down at her: such a lusty woman she was.
He toyed with her a moment longer, moving his cock inside her only inches at a time. She shook her head from side to side. Her mouth opened and closed, knowing she had already made her plea to him. Her need was great and he knew it. The fuck she had received was completely inadequate for her… it served the man but not her. And, she did her duty, receiving the man’s seed while denied her satisfaction without comment or complaint. She understood the role she served. But she had needs, strong needs that matched his own. So, as her eyes focused on his eyes, pleading with them rather than her voice, he slowly pulled his cock until just the head remained inside her clenching pussy. Her eyes continued pleading. He moved a hand to press the thumb down on her clit. She gasped and her eyes closed… only for a moment, but when they did, he thrust fully into her, their bodies impacting with a smack. She cried out. He began fucking her hard and fast. Each thrust brought gasps, moans, and grunts from her. He could see her body and face begin to tense and shake as an orgasm rose within her. He continued, which was only moments until the need that had built up inside her exploded out with piercing cries and a quivering body.
His cock was the most magnificent sexual tool she had ever experienced and he knew what to do with it, at least for her. Cat relished sex with him. She had become a willing, greedy slut for him. Being given away to other men was new since he had taken her away from the caravan, but she never lost sight of the fact that a slave, even his slave, was subject to potentially random and casual use in demeaning and degrading ways. He had prepared her, though. Different regions of HOR were even more primal and barbarous where men took what they wanted and assumed favors from slaves in general. His words had been to prepare her, not to seek her acceptance. At the root of her psyche, it had stunned her to realize how accepting she responded to all of it. She didn’t understand if her accepting attitude had something to do with a reaction of something of HOR that inertly affected females or if there was a latent personality in her that had been hidden and suppressed deep inside her. She also understood that Goran was acting with the role allow for him and allow independence of action and movement. He assumed the persona of brutal, violent efficiency that stood out in a world of brutality and domination. Maintaining and affecting that persona was his survival. His plan for her had evolved to transform her into a two-headed viper; she could be a distracting, compliant slave who oozed sexuality, or she could be a worthy weapon alongside him in conflict. The plan, ironically, seemed to also heighten and deepen the feelings between them. It would always be Master and slave, but it was different, too.
It was that difference that she felt when his cock drove into her. It was that difference that exploded within her body. He didn’t slow or hesitate in his wild fucking as her body shook in response to her orgasm. She wanted to pull him into her arms to ride out the quaking of her body, but he remained in a position over her to thrust deep and hard into her. Her orgasm seemed to explode, then crest anew as he continued his assault on her. Orgasm after orgasm as she cried out in delirious wonder.
With her body quaking uncontrollably underneath him, he abruptly pulled out. He didn’t think she even noticed. She was a quivering mass of muscle twitches and bouncing legs and arms. Her eyes had rolled back to only show the whites. Her open mouth took a breath in jerky, gasping pants. He rolled her over onto her stomach and lifted her hips into the air. Her knees moved underneath her instinctively but her upper body and head remained pressed into the bed. He thrust back into her pussy and her body quaked, again. He fucked her from behind with a primal energy that amazed even him. Holding onto her hips, he slammed into her drooling, pulsing, hot sleeve that seemed to grip his cock tightly even in her semi-conscious state.
He leaned forward to force his hands between her body and the bed. He pulled her upright in front of him as he continued thrusting into her, his hands moving from gripping, mauling her breasts to rolling her nipples to moving one hand down her body to strum her clit, all while holding her sagging body against him. A constant flow of gasps, moans, groans, and grunts came from her mouth and throat. Her arms hung limp at her sides and her head lolled back or forward.
His mouth next to her ear, he grunted out, “What are you?”
“Your… slave… Master.”
“What is the primary duty and the deepest desire of a slave?”
“Absolute… obedience… and… to… please… you… Master.”
“You wish to please me, slave?”
“Ai Sar!”
“Then, cum now!”
He was sure in her state she was functioning purely on the subconscious level. The words came out jerky not because of thought but between grunts and gasps that interrupted her response. But, still, her response was immediate and heartfelt. And, she exploded into orgasm at the command as he released his built-up need and semen into her greedy pussy. Spurt after spurt powerfully shot up into her body as her pussy flooded his cock and cum with her overpowering release. They were like two wild beasts, their cries and groans like howls into the air signaling their mating.
He gently lay her down, still embedded in her, his cock seeming to refuse to soften inside her still clenching pussy. He held her tightly against his body, his fingers lightly stroking her breasts, nipples, and stomach. He held an extraordinary woman in his arms and he thanked whatever gods existed on HOR for putting them together.
Cat was disoriented when her eyes fluttered open. The room was mostly dark except for the flickering glow of a couple of candles. Outside the window were darkness and a welcoming coolness to the night air. She turned in the bed in search of Goran. She found him mostly dressed and putting on the harness for his crossed swords.
“I thought I might have to wake you.” He smiled. “You were amazing, Cat. You bring out a response from me I have never experienced with any other.” He sat on the edge of the bed and touched her cheek with surprising gentleness for such a man. “I would have liked to remain with you in my arms, but…” he stood, finishing the securing of his weapons, “we have been summoned.”
She rolled out of bed, moving quickly to the washbowl on the table. Wetting a cloth in the water, she quickly cleaned herself, as inadequate as such cleaning was. “Santini, Master?”
“Ai… I am not sure what to expect, Cat. I have never had a slave with me, before. He likes to have a party before getting down to business. There will be his closest and trusted advisors and commanders. There will also be lots of drink, food, and slaves to enjoy.”
“I will be one of those slaves, then, Master?”
“Quite possibly.”
They approached the main gate to Santini’s compound within the city. She was wearing the gown that flowed around and behind her as she strode to keep pace with Goran. At the gate, the guards stood in front as if to block their entrance but meekly stepped aside without a word uttered.
Inside the compound walls, Cat uttered in a hushed voice, “Did they know you, Master?”
“No. I’ve never seen them before. They are new, at least at the gate. They only knew I was coming.”
Cat chuckled under her breath, “Pretty weak security, Master, to let The Demon stroll through the gates heavily armed and unescorted.” He only smiled.
He didn’t break stride but was quiet as his eyes scanned the surroundings as they approached the main building blazing with light from inside with additional guards at the main door. “If this is anything but what it is supposed to be, take my dagger until you can acquire one of their swords.” This time, she smiled. She had felt she had proven herself in the training. Now, she knew he believed it, too.