beth

bethany...

It began in September, with a strange dream, a sharp feeling of pain, and waking the next morning with a "k" imprinted into her flesh...how it ends, has yet to be seen.

Barbarian they called her, though she did not understand the term in their language yet. A plain steel collars rested around her throat, and she was initially given only rags to wear, the garment covering less than the sundress she'd worn when taken from her home. She was allowed no name, and her true name was not asked. No Name Slavegirl is what instead he called her, when he was not calling her pet, his hand in fact patting her lightly upon the head, as though she were only an animal. She was deemed property of the city of Helmutsport, under the hand of Coyle Dread, and she understood this at least. She learned Gorean and the ways of service, foods, drinks, and pleasing the men she must call Master. She went through the motions of obedience, though in her heart, she yearned to be returned home, to escape these barbarians.

As the feeling began to subside, so did it also return in full force, only a short time later. Set free from the kennels with the other slaves of Helmutsport, she had to find a new place, a new existence, a new way to understand.
Having wandered out from the now deserted city, she went back to the arena, seeking the guard who'd brought her to the slaver. Shift after shift she waited, but he did not surface, and she decided to take matters into her own hands, rather than letting herself succumb to a fit of self pity. Lifting a fragile voice for the masses to hear, she offered service, the answer called by a pair of free persons. One of them was a warrior, and he rescued her from the wandering state. She now lives with a new circle of steel, this one marked, "Property of Dar Patton."