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“Get up, you lazy louche!” A foot lightly kicked me in the butt.
My eyes opened and I let out a yawn before sitting up. “Madame?”
Madame was the name that the Kitchen Head went by. She was usually a tough, hard woman, but she seemed to have taken a liking to me, so I was usually treated pretty well. Even her kick was far lighter than she often gave to the other girls. After two weeks in the cave complex, I was starting to get used to the routine. I may have had the body of a frail prince before, but I was still Clyburn deep down, and the thought of working hard didn’t unnerve me. Madame liked that I wasn’t afraid of getting dirty, and strangely enough that meant she gave me the cleaner jobs. She was kind of strange in that way.
She ruffled my hair with her greasy hand and then hit it with a ladle using the other. “Go make yourself look useful.”
I rubbed my head as I fell out of bed, running my way back into the kitchen. I mostly just helped the girls who looked like they were struggling the most, and the end result was that I was well-liked among the slaves, even though I often was given a lighter load. In fact, every slave in the underground mine was starting to get to know me, as I was often the one who performed the food runs. It was considered a very desirable position in the kitchen, which was perhaps why I tried to reduce jealousy by helping other girls with their jobs too.
As for the slave masters, they weren’t people that I met usually. That big breasted woman was the main overseer, and everyone under her was a slave, if not a slightly better treated slave. The system had something akin to a caste system, where as long as our goals and numbers were reached, the slaves were allowed to keep to themselves. If they weren’t, food, water, and other amenities were withheld as punishment.
It was a pretty effective system which left you too busy working hard for food and comfort to even think about escaping as a slave. For most native people, this wasn’t even on their minds. The second they heard they were owned by the royal family, it was like Uncle Sam saying he needed you. They would work as hard as they could. The only ones that would humor dissent were those that weren’t local. Most of these people ended up getting tossed into the pit.
This was how Brooke ended up in her situation. Like many others before her, she was actively looking for a way to escape. All it took was a single rat, and soon she was left to mine in the pits until she dies from starvation or exhaustion.
This was the first piece of advice that Brooke had left me when I encountered her in the pits. If I had any thoughts of escape, there was no one up top-side that I could talk about it with. Top-side is what the pit crew called everyone higher up in the mine. Although this group was a bit lawless, in some ways, they were more unified, since every woman there had a strong desire to escape their fate. According to Brooke, unless I wanted to end up among them, I needed to keep my mouth closed.
In that respect, I became Brooke’s eyes and ears on the topside. The hope was that I could come up with some way to get a message to the outside world. Brooke told me to bide my time and to just keep my ears open and look for an opportunity to exploit. She kept the other women off of me, and somehow I even had grown a rapport with those in the pit, who had grown used to my presence. That was all there was to it, and that was two weeks ago.
Brooke didn’t know my true identity. I wasn’t even sure how I could tell her. Hey, Brooke, remember your old boss and friend who may or may not be dead? He’s me! Oh… I’m also a guy and the Prince of this nation. I wanted Brooke’s help, but if she thought I was crazy and unreliable, then I wouldn’t be able to do anything for her. Thus, I could only do what she said.
Whenever I had food to bring them, I went down into the pit personally. The first time the rope girl had brought me back in one piece, she had been shocked. However, the pit crew liked having food that wasn’t on the ground, even if there weren’t enough dishes to go around. As I became known as the delivery girl the pit didn’t harass, that also meant I was put on the deliver duty even more.
Brooke seemed to hold their respect, and she for some reason decided to put her hopes on me. Perhaps it was because I got excited and kissed her the first time we met. I had told her I had mistaken her for some other bule woman. Would Brooke really be so easy to put unearned trust in me just because we shared a kiss? Well, when I finally did break the truth to her, I had a feeling a lot of trust would be lost.
“Calie, stop cleaning the floors. We have a special order.” Madame had prepared it herself, so it had to be special.
Some people thought that Madame wasn’t a slave at all. Many believed her to be a real cook hired on and brought down here. She kept the other girls in line and wasn’t above paddling girls who misbehaved. She also enjoyed special privileges that it didn’t seem like any other slave got. Most slaves got a handful of vegetables in a soup. Those in the pits got basically slop. Meanwhile, Madame had access to meats, carbs, and vegetables. I wasn’t that bothered by it, but a few of the other girls were jealous.
One such fine plate was handed to me. Some of the other girls stared jealously, licking their lips. Madame was giving me a great bit of trust. The other girls would certainly pilfer off some of the food on the way. They wouldn’t eat enough to be obvious, but they might take a few fried vegetables here, and a spoonful of desert there, whatever they could get away with and not be noticed. As for me, I wasn’t interested in something as inconsequential as some slightly better food. Rather, I had taken Brooke’s words to heart, and my mind was focused on the big picture.
Whoever I was being sent to was someone important to this organization. This was exactly the break I was looking for. Keep my head low, wait for the opportunity. No, I couldn’t get too excited. This was just one opportunity. There was no saying I’d learn anything here. I just had to perform well, and then I could open even more opportunities.
As I had such ideas, I took the plate and bowed, then listened to the directions she provided. The location was past a checkpoint. This was the highest point I had ever been to before. It was the absolute closest to freedom. Yet, my chances of making my break were slim to none. I understood that all too well. This was nothing like the day or wrath in Amaryllis. These guards were far from terrified high school girls being pushed into doing something they weren’t even sure they wanted to be a part of.
The guards waved me right through with a nod, and I continued on down a long corridor. Although I was still underground, this area looked less cavern-like and more like a basement cellar. The floor was flat and clean. The walls were more uniformly chiseled out. The place had a clean feel to it. I finally came to the door that had been indicated to me and knocked softly.
“Come in, already!” A voice on the other side said.
I felt a tinge of familiarity as I opened the door and stepped in. Immediately, my eyes landed on a woman who was casually drinking some wine. She was dressed in a nice dress and didn’t show any signs of being beaten down or living underground for the last couple of weeks. This was meaningful, because the last time I saw Angela, she was being sent away to the slave blocks as soon as me.
“A-a…” I let out a noise of surprise as my eyes popped open.
“Move… girl!” Another woman sitting across from her barked. “Bring the meals.”
I jumped and immediately started putting the meals out on the plates. When Angela noticed me, a smirk appeared on her face.
“A small world. It must be fate we meet again.” Angela spoke to me.
I shot the other women in the room a look. There were two when with veils wrapped around their heads, obscuring their expressions completely. One of the women looked to be pregnant, and pretty far along too. As for their figures or bodies, they were completely covered by their unique garb.
“My lady, I thought you were a sent to do mining,” I said as politely as I could, making sure I didn’t pause a second with the work as I spoke.
“I told you before, I always land back on my feet.” Angela grinned and then brought out her hands gesturing. “Come, girl, sit next to me and enjoy a meal. What these two are bribing me with has to be better than the filth they feed the slaves.”
I hesitated for a second, but when I saw the other two women not react, I moved to sit by her. Getting in close with Angela was a good idea if I wanted to escape this place. I was just a fly on the wall, listening to the conversation, buying my time until I could do something that would free me and Brooke. Well, as long as I was freed, I’d be able to free Brooke. In an instant, I could summon an army and wipe this entire place out. If I could get to the castle, that’s all I needed.
The door opened again and the big-breasted woman walked in. She took an glance at me, who was seated next to Angela but didn’t say anything more. Angela had a grin on her face and she wrapped her arm around me, pulling me closer to her. She lifted the lid off the platter of food I brought them and seemed intent on feeding me the first spoonful herself. She even made me say “ahhhhh”.
“I’m sorry I am late.” The big-breasted woman said, finding a place to sit for herself. “The Queen is tearing the city apart looking for that silly Prince of hers. Keeping her people from noticing the mines has been a strenuous duty. What I wouldn’t give to know the location of that damned boy.”
“That does bring up a good point,” Angela spoke casually, her arm slowly making its way down my skirt as she tried to feed me a piece of fruit. “What are you looking for down here? It’s a pretty big operation just for some diamonds or gold.”
“This is not something you need to know.” The non-pregnant woman in the veil snapped. “We have dug you out of your hole for a different reason.”
“Right, right… you wanted to ask me some questions?” Angela responded casually as she stroked my hair. “Ask away. I’ll kill who you need dead, I’ll steal what you need stolen. I’m a lady of many talents.”
The other girl put a paper on the table and slid it in Angela’s direction. “Have you seen this boy?”
The pair of us looked down at the image. I let out a gasp, but at the same time, Angela had clenched her fist in my hair. The image was someone we were both familiar with. The image was of me. Clyburn Bonholdt, it was a student picture I had taken when I had joined Amaryllis. My slip was completely covered up by Angela’s action, and I managed to school my face before anyone realized anything was amiss. What in Gaia’s name would these people want with my old self?
“Why does it always come to this boy,” Angela growled, her expression turning quite ugly.
“We know you were hired to capture him.” The girl said, her voice less angry sounding than the other girls. “We want to know where he ended up!”
Angela frowned, one hand nervously stroking my leg while the other reached out and poured more wine. “I delivered the damn kid. It cost me a boiler. I don’t know what else to tell you. I handed him straight to the people that hired me. My reward was my ship burned to the ground and my crew killed.”
“Who were the people that hired you?” The woman demanded.
“I don’t know…”
“Angela!”
“They covered their faces. The same as you. In fact, you could be the same bitches for all I know. One of them was pregnant. The other was short. Had a temper. Who the hell is this kid?”
“A name… a description… anything?” The non-pregnant one stood up, her eyes glaring.
Something about the way she acted tugged at my memory, but I was a wallflower. I couldn’t look at them too closely or I’d bring their attention. I was just Angela’s little plaything. Don’t mind me. Her hand was starting to work its way up my skirt now. She had already groped my chest, but finding nothing there she had moved on to greener pastures.
“Uh… the pregnant girl… yeah… she used the other girl’s name. She called her… lily… or lisa… or something.”
“Lilith?” The girl snarled. “Was it Lilith?”
Angela snapped her fingers. “Yup, that’s the one. She called her Lilith.
She picked up her plate of food and the bottle of alcohol. I didn’t understand why until a second later the veiled woman overturned the table, sending everything else flying.
“That demon hunting bitch!” She cried out. “Clyburn… what do you have on Clyburn? What did he say? What did he do?”
Angela blinked. “Ah… you didn’t hear that part?”
“What part?” the pregnant woman sat forward anxiously.
“He died. He blew up in a boiler explosion. What I delivered was nothing but an ashy corpse.”
The pregnant woman suddenly let out a hiss of anger. “Impossible.”
“We’ve scryed for him. He’s in this city.” The other girl announced. “We’re certain of it. We just can’t get a read on his exact position. Someone is hiding him.”
The conversation was really interesting, but I was much more distracted by Angela, who was taking considerable liberties with me. In the darkroom, we had been chained to opposite sides of the room and the closest we got to each other was our hands. Now I realized that had we not been chained up, we would have spent that week in captivity much differently. This girl was a total horndog. Actually, wait, she shouldn’t grab me there.
I reached down to stop her wrist, but I felt her fingers grab around it before I could stop her.
“Eh?” She made a light noise only I could hear.
The two veiled women were discussing something between the pair of them and didn’t notice this exchange. Her hand slowly cupped my balls, and then pulled out the head of my cock. It was only then that her eyes started to widen and her mouth fell open. I could only give a wry smile in response.
“A b-“
I lunged forward and kissed her, sticking my tongue down her throat in order to silence her as effectively as I could manage. It worked wonders, and her tongue quickly explored mine. Unlike before, when she had me locked in the captain’s quarters of her ship, my penis reacted completely, leaving no doubt. Feeling the hardening thing in her hand, her eyes opened and she stared at me, her eyes taking on a strangely feverish light.
“Will you quit it with that in front of us, you lipstick slut.” The big-breasted woman sniffed.
Angela finally pulled her lips away, and then pulled me even closer to her, turning my legs to make sure that no one could see my erection. I coughed in embarrassment, but Angela seemed to grow even more domineering now that she knew my secret. I wasn’t sure what to do about it either. Now, I was seemingly at Angela’s whim. My first attempt at spying and I was already caught by the balls, literally.
The two other women turned to the pair us, displeased expressions on their faces. “Unless you can offer anything else on Clyburn, you can return to your place until we find something useful for you to do.”
The two women seemed to be dismissing Angela completely now.
“Hey! What about my airship? You promised me-“
“We promised you a ship if you were useful to us. Your information has almost been a waste of our time.” The veiled woman snapped. “You’ve been cleaned, given a better room than the slaves quarters, and even fed a decent meal. I’d say our generosity knows no bounds. If we find a need for a captain, we can always pull you out of your captivity later.”
“You…”
“Unless you have anything else for us?” The pregnant woman asked.
Angela froze, but then her eyes flickered to me. “Her.”
I bit my lip, not able to stop the ugly expression on my face. Sold out so quickly, I should have expected as much, but it still stung a bit when it happened. I was a lower slave still, and if I didn’t anything to shut Angela up, it could have some consequences.
“What about her?” The two women’s eyes fell on me, and I felt my spine tingle uncomfortably.
“I’ve taken a liking to her. I’d like her to have access to my quarters so that I might… indulge.”
I let out a long slow breath as she said something I hadn’t expected. On the other hand, there was an edge to her voice that suggested to me that she was likely being honest. I remembered that Angela had taken an interest in me as Clyburn too. Now that I was Caleb, she seemed to be still interested in my dick. I honestly didn’t know how to respond to that.
I could tell that the woman was sneering behind her veil. “Commoner women and their lusts. Truly disgusting.”
“When men were wiped out, I never thought the females would resort to such profanities just for entertainment. I still don’t understand the appeal of having sex without the intent of creating a baby.”
I hadn’t noticed it before, but something was very familiar with their voices. Neither woman spoke with any emotion. Their deadpan way of speaking had prevented me from noticing, especially when I was focused on Angela’s roaming hands. However, now that I thought about it, something about them tugged at my memory. Was this something I was getting from Caleb? I shook my head. I didn’t want to remember anything that man knew. I decided I was better off pretending that I never met these women, especially if dwelling on it summoned some repressed memory of abuse.
Perhaps these women had met Caleb. Their veiled faces could be because of the scars he gave them. That baby could very well be his own. No! I said I wasn’t going to think about it!
“Very well,” The veiled woman finally snorted, shooting the big-breasted woman a look.
She nodded in affirmation, and the two women left. A familiar scent caught my nose, causing my body to stiffen. What was that smell? Sulfur? Well, we were in a mine, after all. Once the two women were gone, the big-breasted woman looked at the pair of us, Angela still holding me tightly and snorted.
“Consider yourself lucky girl, you just got upgraded from kitchen staff to a special guests sex slave!”
Angela let out a relaxed laugh. Even though she had been informed her freedom was restricted and she’d be kept in the upper portions of an underground mine for the days to come, nothing about her expression seemed worried or unhappy about it. In fact, Angela came off as the perfect example of just rolling with it. I’d admire that part of her, except the way she was looking at me suggested that my future duties genuinely would be shifting in the immediate future.
Angela gave my cock one last squeeze. “Lets go… Calie… I’m eager for you to show me what you’ve got.”
I gulped. Why did I keep ending up in these kinds of situations?