Chapter 2

When he woke up the next time it took him a while to remember everything and get his mind all clear but when he did he was really surprised. He would have expected to wake up on the floor chained like a dog to the tent post again. Instead he was lying on the bed, rolled into warm furs and he was not chained. Hope arose in him, maybe he could sneak out, surely it must be night by now and dark? He could just sneak away, glide unseen through the darkness to freedom. Those thoughts were soon pushed aside though. He knew he would not escape tonight for several reasons. First because it was night and the owner of this tent (and himself) could return any minute, fleeing now might mean meeting him in the door. Second because there would be guards everywhere, sneaking past them and their fires would not be so easy and if caught they would run a spear through his chest first and ask his errand later. Third because outside it was soon winter and he was buck naked and had no food and for several miles there were only the smoking ruins of villages left, there was no place to get help before he had frozen and starved to death. Fourth because even if he had been fully equipped he was still too weak for such ventures. Fifth because he was simply reluctant to leave these wonderfully soft and warm pelts at the moment. And last because he had by now discovered that he was not as unchained as he first had thought. He had not felt it around his neck as he woke up but now he realized it was fastened around his ankle instead. No matter his reasons, he would get nowhere tonight. Before long he fell asleep again, not able to resist the soothing warmth of the pelts, he was still so tired. Waking again it was obviously morning, and a sunny one it would seem. From a crack in the tent flap a stinging ray of sunlight shot straight at his weary eyes. He tried to move away from it and it was then that he noticed that he was in some way weighted down. Something very heavy and seemingly lose-limbed was pressing him down and making it hard to move. He felt a bit of a panic and thought for a second that he couldn’t breathe. His panic did not ease up when he realized what it was. It appeared that sometime during the night the big soldier had come back in and lain down beside him. And now he slept with one arm and one leg wrapped around him. Not able to control himself he fought in desperation to free himself from the man’s heavy limbs and finally succeeding in wriggling himself out of the sleep-tight grip he rolled noisily and stark naked onto the chilly dirt floor. This infallibly woke the man up. The boy was still clawing at the floor to get up on his feet and try to get away when the man calmly reached over the edge of the bed and got hold of the chain still linked to his ankle. Medora smiled amused as he brought the small boy to the floor with one single tug at the chain and simply pulled him close to the bed again. As he got close enough he reached for his arm and pulled him onto the bed where he easily pressed him face down into the pelts, pulling his arms up along his back rendering him totally helpless. There was some grunts from the boy out of sheer inconvenience he guessed but he made no other sounds and soon enough he seemed to realize he could do nothing and went limp and still. "Why leave these warm pelts so soon?" Medora asked mockingly but then turned serious. "You’d better behave boy or I might tire of you sooner than I’d planned…" He turned the boy over and stared at him with a stern expression. "Don’t you ever disturb my sleep again or try to run away from me like that!" The man was angry it seemed, it scared him, his life might depend on this man’s good mood. He tried to explain himself. "I…I…I wasn’t…trying to…" He cursed inside that this man managed to make him stammer, he couldn’t get a word out right it seemed. But he wasn’t listening anyway. "Now if you want to sleep on the ground then feel free to do so by all means!" He continued and then he simply hurled him out of the bed again and turned in to sleep some more. The boy sat at the floor dumb struck. He didn’t think he would be able to get more sleep now but nevertheless wrapped himself in the thin torn blanket he used before and tried to be as comfortable as possible on the damp earth. His reaction had been stupid he thought, really stupid. It had just surprised him so much, realizing he had slept along side the big man. As it was really morning the man did not sleep long and the boy who had been watching him all along as a rabbit watches a sleeping wolf involuntarily cowered as the man moaned and yawned himself awake. He did not cast a single glance in his direction though as he went out of the bed, got dressed and left the tent. Surely only to relieve himself the boy thought. He had just dressed in trousers and a shirt and it was not long before he was back. This time he did seem to notice him though. "Get up!" He ordered and as he stood there still wrapped in the blanket the big man sat down on the bed, facing him. "We will have a little talk you and I." He said. "Do you have any understanding of your new standing in life?" He asked simply. The boy was quiet for some time but then answered bitterly. "I suppose I am a slave now…" Medora laughed. "So! You are a creature of intelligence after all." He was mocking him again. "You don’t have to suppose it, you are. Though it seems to me that you do not really know how a slave should behave, right? Or are you just being defiant with me here?" The boy looked down, this "little talk" would obviously be a rather humiliating experience for him but he had no other choice than to go along with it. "I am not trying to be defiant Sir…" He answered meekly. "So, you behave out of ignorance then?" Silence again then… "Yes sir!" Medora smiled. "Good, then I expect you want to learn?" The boy nodded and answered that he did. Just comply he told himself. That was the only thing to do. He had nothing to oppose. He would just comply then run off as soon as he got the chance. It seemed it was working, the man looked amiable right now. That would change soon enough though. Before he had time to react the big man had risen from the bed and hit him. He was backhanded across the mouth and the blow was strong enough to send him sprawling at the floor. For a time he was all but unconscious. Red mists flew across his eyes and there was a deafening ringing in his ears. It was not until he regained himself a little that he actually felt the pain flowing through is head like a wave going back and forth. Moaning and shaking he dragged him self onto his knees and felt at his mouth with a trembling hand. It got instantly red. He wasn’t really surprised at the bleeding, not after such a blow. He realized soon that that wicked whack had split his lower lip and that was what caused the bleeding. His lip would be pretty swollen pretty soon which right now didn’t worry him as much as his still throbbing head. He was still too whimsical to be afraid but when the big man reached for him and pulled him at his feet he got really scared, cowering and putting his arms over his head and whining. "Please don’t hurt me…please… What’d I do? I said I would learn…" He was sobbing now. "That was what you said yes, but you didn’t mean it, right? In fact, you where lying to me, telling me a bold-faced lie right to my face. Well, you still asked to be taught boy and remember this then, as a first lesson. You do not lie to your master! Now I’m willing to be lenient here, but you do that again and you will soon learn what a real punishment would be like. Do you understand me?" He nodded with some fervor and swore he did, swore he wouldn’t lie again. "See, now I believe you. Now stand up straight and stop sniveling!" He obeyed, trying to stop shaking and trying to dry the blood up with his hands. "I’ll ask you some questions, and you’d better answer me truthfully and respectfully if you don’t want another across your mouth. "Do you have a name boy?" He nodded "Seka Sir…Seka Talisin…" The man smiled somewhat contemptuously. "Talisin? That’s a family name?" The boy looked down; it felt really hard being mocked about having a family name. His family was dead long ago and they had not been prominent people by all means but they had been free and proud people, owning land and he had a name. He felt a certain despair when he realized he wouldn’t even dare to defend it. Tears of frustration rose in his eyes but he nodded. "Well, you keep that inside of you if you want to but remember this for your own sake; never use it, never mention it. Slaves don’t have family names…You don’t claim it I don’t have to beat it out of you." He looked up surprised. The man actually sounded like he understood how important it was to him. That was not a threat but as near a friendly advice one of his kinds would ever give a simple slave. What he actually was saying was that he could keep it as long as he didn’t let anyone know. That was a nice gesture and he was touched. "Thank you Sir…" He whispered. Medora already regretted showing this much goodness and didn’t acknowledge his proofs of gratitude. "I might use your given name though if it amuses me, I might give you another if it amuses me more but you might just as well get used to answer to slave, if you hear it enough times you might even get it one day… And now slave, what’s your age if you know it?" Seka lowered his eyes not to add to the provocation but still couldn’t refrain from answering in a slightly provocative way. "I know my date of birth Sir. I’m eighteen…and two months!" He added as if showing that he indeed knew exactly how old he was and that he wasn’t as ignorant as this man would have it. He cowered expecting this small proof of a lingering pride would be met with the same harshness as before but the man just laughed. "Really? One would have thought looking at you that you were not a day over fourteen. Eighteen ha? As good as a man in most cases, you however… Well, there’s not much of a man in you…" He laughed even more and Seka felt himself turn crimson from shame and anger. Medora turned serious again though. "Actually, had I known you were that old, I probably would have let my men proceed in beheading you… The older they are the more trouble they cause. That’s my experience. Now you tell me, are you going to give me any trouble at all?" Seka shook his head frantically as it dawned on him what he was actually saying. "I will not… I’ll make no trouble, I swear…" Medora smiled at his obvious horror. That dull axe out there would scare anyone into submission he guessed. "So, do you have any family out there or did they perish in the battle?" Battle? Seka thought it was rather preposterous to call what had happened at his village a battle. It had been pure slaughter and nothing else. He answered meekly though, having in mind the threat of the axe. "No Sir…I’m…I’m an orphan Sir. My entire family…died a long time ago." Medora nodded. "Is that so? So how did you support yourself?" Seka blushed again but he told the big man the truth. Seemed he could smell a lie anyway. "I didn’t exactly have a way of supporting myself Sir… I stayed… at a few farms… and worked for my food…" Medora nodded and smiled again. "You mean that a few families took pity on the village beggar and let you sleep in the barns when it got too cold and let you have the scraps of their tables if you worked hard enough?" Seka turned an even deeper red. That was closer to reality than he would have liked to admit even though he hadn’t planned to actually lie. "Well, little man, can you tell me how such a miserable life differs from a slave’s?" He didn’t answer that. No, how indeed? His dependence on those families had made him some sort of a slave to them he must admit to himself. He had worked his fingers to the bones at their farms for stale bread; rancid meat and lice infested sleeping places among the farm animals. They had treated him with contempt most of the times and didn’t miss any opportunity to tell him how grateful he should be that they provided him freely with food and shelter. They did it only out of the goodness of their heart they told him, because he was none of their kin and he couldn’t really contribute with anything useful. He had hated them so many times but had to keep it inside. Where would he have gone and what would he have done if he’d told them what he really thought of their "kindness" and they would have thrown him out? The big soldier was right in one thing. Freedom and a family name weren’t worth much when that family was gone and with it land property and money. Poor people have to depend on others just like slaves and it will not cost people with means anything to treat them with the same contempt they would a slave. He hung his head in despair. "I tell you, as long as you bend under my will you’ll be a lot better off than you have ever been… One always has to pay a price boy. I think you know that already." He knew and he understood the reasoning. He had paid with his pride to those families for food and shelter. Now he had to pay with even more pride, probably all of it, and for something that he didn’t know yet what that was. But he had no more choice now than before if he wanted to live on. >>> * <<< Two weeks later Medora was actually surprised that the boy seemed to take so well to slavery. He had chosen between beating him into obedience or trying to talk to him to make him see the futility in resisting and that the best he could do was just to bend under his will and accept his destiny. He had decided to talk first and continue with his fists if that would not have worked. But it seemed it had. They boy was obviously smart enough to see it was for his own good to yield. He had really tried his best to learn and remember the rules of conduct that Medora wanted him to learn and to act with the proper manners of a slave. He made many mistakes of course and Medora had not let many of them go unpunished but since the boy seemed so honest in trying he had been lenient with him. He mostly yelled at him and didn’t beat him much at all. Of course he suspected constantly that the boy might just be trying to lull him into a false sense of security. Keeping up a show of submission so that he would let his guard down and he might find a chance of running away. And listening to this inner voice of suspicion he had occasionally been really hard on him too, just so that he wouldn’t forget where he was, and who he was and what kind of man now owned him. Be that as it may, he did have some use for the boy now and he still chained him to the post now and then (though not as often as in the beginning) so whatever he might plan inside his head he would not get the chance anyway. In the beginning he had not protested against the chain from fear. Now it seemed though he had simply accepted it. His expression and eyes never showed anything at all as he put it around his neck. He just bowed his head and lifted his hair up to make it easier for him to do it. Medora would have thought he would beg to be spared it, probably thinking he had shown by now his good intentions. But he didn’t. He had also accepted sleeping beside him. Medora let him do it for several reasons. First that the floor was simply too cold, he would get ill, second because there was only one bed and third because he might as well get used to being in his bed. Now Medora did want a servant to wait on him and keep his things in order, help him dress, scrub his back bathing and all such things but he had chosen the boy for his looks and he intended to use him for other needs as well. He hadn’t touched him so far, though it had taken some will power some nights feeling the boy’s lean and warm body beside him. He hadn’t because he didn’t want to scare him too much. He would give him some time to adjust to the loss of his freedom first he thought, because he was not a cruel man. He would have his way with him and he would not take any consideration into the boy’s will concerning this. But just because he intended to use his law given rights to his property he didn’t have to be cruel about it. Didn’t need to take it by ruthless force and violence. He had patience; he could afford easing the boy into it. He let another week go by… >>> * <<< Seka did dream still of freedom; he would not have been normal if he didn’t. But he had listened to what Lord Medora had told him a couple of weeks ago and he knew every word of it to be true. He had seen it all very clearly and the more he thought about it the more he realized how harsh reality really was. Medora had laughed at him being so small for his age. It was true, he was! But inside he was turning into manhood he told himself and a man must put childish thoughts and silly dreaming aside and see things for what they really were. And the truth was painfully clear to him. He had nothing and had nowhere to go. Running away would be pointless even if he did get a fairly good chance to get out of the camp. He had lived from sheer charity at his village. People had been taking pity on him because he had been born in their village and they had known his family. Still, see what good that had done him. He had lived a miserable life. Now that village was gone, they were all dead or slaves too. If he ran away no village anywhere would take pity on him whatsoever. Why would they? He would soon peril. Starve or freeze to death. He knew no profession of which he could support himself. No one had wanted to take him as an apprentice when he had had no means. He could not read or write. He knew nothing of use. Now, if he stayed here though, with this man he would not starve and freeze. He had learned quite soon that even though a military camp is no luxury establishment he was already better off than he’d been since he had been a small child and his parents still lived. Lord Medora had given him simple clothes but they were warm, clean and whole. He gave him enough food to not feel overtly hungry and he lent him the warmth of his pelts at night. He did recognize serving him as humiliating. But it seemed it was a little less humiliating every day, you got used to it somehow, and it really wasn’t hard work. It wasn’t like bending your back over a beet field for days or dig ditches… It wasn’t much of work at all actually. He paid a price that was true. He paid a price every time he had to call that man "master" or "sir". He paid a price when falling at his knees in front him. He paid a price accepting the word "slave" as his name. Lord Medora rarely called him Seka, when he did he had to consider that a momentarily privilege, that was a part of the price he paid as well. He paid when he asked permission to speak and to move about, when he bowed and obeyed in silence. And he definitely paid when he was chained like an animal. He hated himself for it sometimes because he would have liked to say that he had no choice but that was not true. He did have a choice but he had only two things to chose from. Be a slave or die! He hated himself at those times when he told himself that he was a coward who didn’t chose death over this constant bargaining with his pride. But mostly his will to live was stronger and then he was not ashamed about giving in the way he had but accepted that as long as his life meant anything to him this was really the only thing he could do. And he had still hope. He thought that if he was able to please Lord Medora enough than maybe, just maybe he would not kill him the day he tired of him but maybe, just maybe would set him free? Or at least sell him to a good home where he could again start hoping for manumission for good behavior. Now he knelt at the earth floor of the tent in front his master whose feet had been frozen from walking around in the snow and he had warmed water for him to soak them in. And he felt a bit unfairly treated today because after he had come back he had not removed the chain. He used it less and less and never when he himself was around these days. But now Seka had already tended to his master’s need for a few hours and the chain was still on. What had he done? He honestly didn’t know. He had really tried these last days to behave, as good as possible and he learned every day, did he not, how to behave right? But he hid these feelings as well as he could. He did not complain about the chain and washed and massaged Lord Medora’s feet. Medora looked down at the boy at his feet. To keep a boy he preferred them no older than 16 or maybe 17 and not younger than 14. He wasn’t interested in children and certainly not in grown men. Most boys in their late teens started rapidly to lose their appeal in becoming men and normally an eighteen year old boy would have been too old for his taste. But this one… He had rarely seen anyone as adorable as this one. He obviously developed slowly, being so small, lean, lanky, hairless and soft-skinned that Medora had really thought him much younger. Sometimes he wondered if he had simply lied about his age, but it really didn’t seem so. Well, people were different. Some where that way others this way. He himself had bedded girls at twelve and at thirteen had been much more of a man than this one was now. Sometimes the thought had struck him that he ought to cut him. Being as slender-limbed, small-boned and pretty as he was already by nature he might as well make a eunuch of him and try to preserve that rare beauty as long as possible. But he put that thought aside. He was too old, it would probably kill him and it did seem unnecessarily cruel. Besides, it wasn’t like the boy was in any way feminine. He was mild and easily subdued yes. But that was probably more due to a bit of intelligence. He knew when he had lost and that he had no strength to fight them with. Probably thinking he ought to just do the best he could about the situation fate put him in. And though his body and features were slim and smooth he didn’t exactly look like a girl. His body was small and lean but not weak considering its size. He’d worked hard in his life and had a sinewy and stringy musculature to prove it. His face had no growth of beard and it was beautifully symmetrically sculpted with high cheekbones, nicely curved lips, neither full nor thin, a straight nose with a thin ridge and a slightly pointed chin. His skin was pale and blemish free and his eyes were the most wonderful eyes. Big, gray and with long black lashes. His hair was black too. Long and silky it contrasted nicely against his white complexion. Yes, it was a very pretty face but it was a boy’s face, not a girl’s and it would be cruel to deprive him of a manhood that would surely come, though delayed, and make a woman out of him. Now Medora had watched this face and this body every day these last weeks since he saved him from the axe and he liked it better all the time. He decided he didn’t want to wait anymore. The boy took well to slavery, feigned or genuine didn’t matter. If he faked his submission then the worse for him as he now would take his slavery a bit further. He had given him more time to adjust then anyone could ask for. He could have had his way a long time ago. No, no more pampering this boy, it was high time he learned to serve him fully. He had decided and that was why he had not removed the chain today. Not that he feared him running out of the tent and away from him. Should he try that he would soon be caught and taken back. No he did it to play with his mind knowing fully well that the unyielding chain’s cold weight on his neck would not let him forget his slavery so easily. It would help keep him in a more docile state. The boy rose and put the bowl of water away soon returning to dry his feet on a towel. As he did so Medora unexpectedly twined his toes around the chain close to the boy’s neck and jerked it quite forcefully downwards, almost forcing him to rub his nose against the ground. This produced a small outcry of surprise from the boy but nothing more; he just seemed to be waiting to be let up again. And as Medora finally let go he rose only partly, not looking up, he was obviously a bit startled and confused. Don’t worry, Medora thought, you’ll get it in time. "You don’t like this, do you? He asked grinning and rattled the chain with his foot. "I would lie Sir, if I said I did." The boy answered cautiously. Medora grinned wider. "If I didn’t use it on you whenever you are not in my sight, would you try to run away?" He looked up then. "No Sir." He said and actually managed to look angelically honest in denying it." "Why not?" Medora asked, still amused. "I don’t have anywhere to go…" Medora stopped grinning looking at the boy’s utterly sad expression as he confessed this simple fact. That was a reason as good as any to yield to slavery he thought. "So, you would run away at first chance if you did have somewhere to go then?" He asked coldly though. The boy’s reply was fast. "Wouldn’t you?" Too fast for him to have time to consider the consequences of such a rude answer. It was clear from his expression though that he understood it well as Medora reached down, grabbed the chain and pulled it even more forcefully upwards. "Not if I knew I would be found and punished very gravely, no…" He answered, bringing the boy’s face at level with his own, making him look away from his stern staring and spitting in his eyes as he roared these words out. He gave him a bit of a leeway on the chain though enabling him to sink back down onto the ground but still holding on to the chain. "Now I think that you will never answer me like that again, am I right?" The grin came back as the boy indeed confirmed that it was really so. "Instead of thinking so much of getting away from here, and that can only end up with you dying, you should be more grateful that I took you in at all. Have you never wondered why I did?" The boy swallowed hard and rubbed at his neck where the sudden jerk had made the chain cause a small chafing wound. He seemed definitely to be choosing his words now. "I have Sir, many times… And I am grateful but it makes not so much sense to me. I am quite worthless, or so I imagine that a man like you must think… Not that I assume to know what you…" He silenced and seemed to be biting his tongue, clearly nervous about again putting a foot in it. "You are worthless." Medora agreed. "And mind you, I haven’t decided yet if I really will take you back home or dispose of you as soon as we break this camp. There are more things I must know about you first." The boy looked pale. "Dispose of Master?" Medora noted how the boy changed from the more neutral but respectfully addressing "Sir" to the much more humbled and subdued "Master". Medora nodded gravely. "You know what it means. War prisoners are just not released, they either serve or die." "But…" The boy started to protest but cut him self short at once remembering he had just promised never to answer rudely again. Medora wanted to hear it though. "But what? Go on, I’ll allow it!" "But if…they want to serve Master…but are not allowed…" Medora laughed out aloud, so now he was singing a different tune, was he? "It doesn’t matter. Your willingness is touching but in the end I decide. But you don’t have to worry that much; I’m leaning much more to keeping you than not but…you never know. There are a few things that are in your favor. Your attitude is good. I think you really are trying to accept your fate. I know it’s not easy for a freeborn to suddenly find him self in a situation like this and it is commendable that you try so hard. You make mistakes but they are easily forgiven. The more you keep that trend going the less I’m inclined to whack that head off your shoulders. You are also fast in learning and I suspect that all this together is proof of a somewhat bright mind. However, sadly uneducated and rough of course. I value a spark of intelligence in my slaves Seka, one is surrounded by enough idiots." He smiled amiably while reciting these good things but as his expression grew sterner Seka expected the downsides to be recited next and he feared to hear them. "But as it is now I can’t really say that I have much use of you. You do me these small favors here, but they are things really that I can as easily do for myself and they are certainly not enough to convince me to undertake the problems of bringing you to my country. And on top of it all, you are pretty small and weak what guarantees do I have that you can manage the march? If you can’t then I might as well put you out of your miseries right away." The boy looked consternated. Medora smiled, not cruelly but because he knew he had him now. He had of course already decided or he would not have kept him this long. And he had noticed lately that after plenty of rest and enough food there was really nothing wrong with the boy. He had a smallish frame yes, but wasn’t in any way weak in a sickly way. He had appeared that way the first days yes. But who wouldn’t, having lived through what he and the other prisoners had just before being taken here? So he was tricking the boy, leading him into a trap but he wasn’t exactly lying. What he was saying was a possible turn of events. A slave’s life was never sure. So now he had laid it out for him and just waited for his reaction. "Now could you tell me why I should keep you?" The boy looked even more consternated. "I…I don’t know… I admit I know nothing…but I’m willing to learn anything… anything at all Master…" There were tears in his eyes as he swore this. Medora actually felt sorry for the poor thing and felt a bit cruel. Simple fear of death drove the boy to this touching confirmation of his submissiveness. "And I’m sure I can make the march and I will not trouble you in any way Master… I am not so weak now, I feel much better, I swear I do." Medora still held the chain and as their talk went on he had little by little been reeling him in until Seka suddenly found himself standing on his knees between Lord Medora’s parted legs where he still sat on that stool. It made him feel a bit uneasy but he was held steadily by the chain and didn’t dare to try to wiggle his way out of this grip. His look was stubbornly downcast but Medora forced his head up high by lifting his chin up pulling at the chain. "You may feel all right being lazy in here but going on a march is quite a different thing. You think you will get a horse? Oh no you will have to walk all the way… Besides if your body is not in good basic condition you will soon wear out again. So let me look at you…" He raised a hand and put five fingers strong as steel around his chin trying no doubt to pry his mouth open. Seka tried instinctively to shy away from this but was held too well. "Now, now… Take it easy, I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to look at your teeth, if your teeth are rotten then so are you, inside." He felt the boy relaxing just a fraction and eventually he opened his tightly clenched jaws slightly. Medora refrained from kissing those moist, red slightly parted lips with some difficulty and told him to open up wide, he obeyed and he turned his head a bit towards the light so he could see better. He could see right away that his teeth looked just fine. They were not brightly white but not yellow or grayish or stained or anything like that either. He could spot nothing that looked like any uncleanness. He ran his thumb under his lips to see even better and noticed that the rows of teeth were not perfectly set, some of them being a bit ajar, but not so much it was ugly. In fact it added quite a charming twist to his face that was otherwise very symmetrical. A little flaw makes beauty so much more beautiful. The boy certainly wished for this examination to be over soon, he cringed a bit but Medora had no intentions of stopping just yet. Looking at his teeth (though the health of them did interest him) was not the main reason for doing this. He started to investigate his mouth cavity more forcefully and excessively more deep. Pushing his big fingers so far back into his throat that he all but threw up. He gagged and coughed and his face flushed and his eyes watered. Medora could very well imagine that this was both very uncomfortable and humiliating and he could feel the boy’s apprehension. But he didn’t protest and didn’t try to get away. He took it. And that was what he really wanted to know. So far he had hardly touched the boy at all. The way he would now react to this intrusion would show the way. And he took it so then he would take a lot of other things as well, Medora was sure of that. Maybe he needed to approach some things differently, maybe he would force sometimes, cajole sometimes, trick him sometimes and reason with him sometimes… but he would get exactly what he wanted in due time and that without too many tears and bruises and without bloodshed, he would take it! He pulled his hand out of his mouth and smiled friendly at him. "Your teeth are just fine, if the rest of you is as good well then just maybe you will be able to keep up." The boy had a strange mix of terror and happiness on his face. Happiness that he was going to live? Terror of the thought of being further examined? Medora didn’t want to push it too much all at one time though. It could backfire at him. Didn’t want to scare the boy into a full fledge panic attack that he could not be either beaten or reasoned out of. But he would give him something to think about, a small hint of what to come. "Relax! This will do for now! I will leave you be and release you from the chain as well. But I will tell you one reason to why I did chose to rescue you from the pillory and not anyone else. I took you for mine because of the simple fact that no other prisoner there, male or female, was as pretty as you are…" >>> * <<< Seka wasn’t stupid; he could add things up. There were signs, the way he put an arm over him in sleep. The way his eyes followed him around sometimes. A fleeting caress at his hair as he put the chain on, the strange intrusion of his mouth and last but not least that he had actually said to him that he found him pretty. He had noted these signs; it was just that he refused adding them up in his mind. He chose to not draw any conclusions from this. And so he wasn’t sure what conclusion to draw even if he had added it all up. He wasn’t unaware of what men and women did under the blankets with a shield of darkness around them. But to his shame he had to admit that he had no first hand experience of it. He was still a virgin. Unlaid, unkissed. So he was very unsure about if he read these signs right. There was a gut feeling. Some innate instinct but he didn’t know if he could trust it. What did he know of such things? Well a few things he did know, for example that such things occurred between men and women! Lord Medora was without doubt a man, very much a man and so were he, though a much weaker sort, he still was one. Such things should therefore not occur between them and he must be mistaken. And if he was not mistaken…? Well it was somewhere in that vicinity of his inner landscape of thinking that he did not went any further. He knew deep inside that if he wasn’t mistaken he could not defend himself. Not in the long run. And that was something that he just refused to think about.

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