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Reuben signed the bottom of the parchment before placing it neatly in the completed pile. The stack waiting for signatures remained formidable. Since start of General Felix's leave, Reuben served as acting commander. Duty rosters, troop training and rotation, supply orders, and the dreaded Legislative reports were all his to deal with on a daily basis. His home in Greece never seemed so far away.

"Commander, at your leisure, sir," the voice at the door was that of a freshly promoted Lineman; full of himself and his new found authority.

"Ah, and what have you lot of brutes been up to?" Reuben mumbled to himself. "Enter!"

The young Lineman hurried in dragging an old village woman behind him. He shoved her to the center of the room, directly in front of Reuben's desk, before snapping to attention.

"Commander, the crone demanded to see General Felix. She refused orders to return to her home. We arrested her on the spot. What would you have us do with her?" He smirked with the arrogance of unchecked power.

"Fool," Varna hissed at the young man, "you may have cost the General his life by playing soldier instead of being one."

The Lineman moved to strike her but Reuben shouted, "Enough! Lineman, stand down! In fact, go and report yourself to the Day Officer for discipline."

"The charge, sir?" the Lineman was shocked by the order.

"Conduct unbecoming, failure to follow procedure, and insubordination. Is that sufficient for today or should I go on until you get busted back to Footman?" Reuben raised an eyebrow.

"Sufficient for today, sir." The crestfallen Lineman saluted and left before he began to weep.

"Now for you," Reuben turned his attention to the old woman. "What are you bothering my troops about?"

Varna straightened her clothes and stood to her full but limited height. She felt vindicated by the chastisement the Lineman had received. It seemed things were finally moving in her direction.

"I have information for General Felix. It could well save his life. I must speak with him at once. Now, see to it," she demanded.

"What's the information?" Reuben asked as he returned to his desk in search of parchment and a quill. "I'll send a note with your story to him at first light."

"NO!" Varna stomped her foot. "No notes! I will speak directly with General Felix. Nobody but him. Can you understand that?" She asked with a hint of sarcasm.

"What?" Reuben was stunned by her defiance. "Lady, you either tell me the what you know or we'll round up your family and torture them until you talk. The choice is yours."

"I've no family to speak of, boy. No children. He, that was my husband, is most likely dead by now. Not that he was much good alive," Varna snorted proudly. "If you try to torture me then I'll take my secret to the grave and your General will die. His death will be on your hands."

"Husband? I'm stunned any sane man would house a shrew such as yourself," Reuben was losing his patience with the woman. "Tell me, what type of lunatic would bed something like you?"

"Why you impertinent whelp! I'll have you know my husband was a well respected member of the village," Varna was incensed by Reuben's disrespect for her status.

"People can kind to the soft headed. Maybe they thought he had suffered enough having to live with you. Could that be the case, Lady?" Reuben taunted her.

"I'll have you know, I am the wife of Senecos," Varna announced like a queen.

"Senecos?" The name reverberated in Reuben's memory. "You're Dayne's mother?" Her half smile response sickened the First Lineman. "You whore! You lay with a foreigner and shift the blame the resulting babe. You ruined her life because your own is such a disgrace. May Waur's hounds devourer your carcass and gnaw your bones to powder on a fiery battlefield for all eternity!"

Reuben could contain his brewing anger no longer. He came around the desk and seized Varna by the throat. He began to squeeze the foul breath from her body. His reason was momentarily blinded by the heartless woman before him. Then, in an instant of clarity, he remembered something she said and eased his grip.

"Why did you say Senecos is 'likely' dead? Is he dead or no?" Reuben asked.

"He was living when I left but that was three suns ago," Varna tried to appear meek as she gasped for breath. "Senecos went mad when you took Dayne away. He's no longer able to care for himself. He can't feed himself or go to the pot without help. Without me, the poor old man is likely dead," Varna tried to wrangle some sympathy from the soldier. "I left him because of my fear for the General's safety. I thought I would only be away a few hours. But, your cock sure soldiers wouldn't listen to me. When I spoke of the urgency of my mission, they just laughed in my face. Oh, my poor Senecos, all alone, nobody will hear him die," She wailed.

"Save it." Reuben pushed the woman away from him with a curse, "Bitch! Senecos and Dayne deserved better than a faithless harlot as wife and mother. I'll send you on to tell your story to General Felix. Perhaps, he can find a means to best put an end to your horrid existence. I'll not sully my hands with you putrid blood, woman. Go, make your case to the General and may Waur's hounds nip constantly at your heels."

Reuben stalked out of his office. Varna waited a few heartbeats before smirking at her success.

Becca strolled down the rolling field to the work shed. She found herself unable to stop smiling. Dayne left their bed before sunrise to begin her work. Becca lingered over memories of Dayne lavishing tender kisses on her bruised flesh while pleading with the smaller woman to sleep a bit longer to rest her wounds. Becca finally agreed after Dayne tucked her into the bedding so snug and warm that sleep took hold of her ever fiber.

"Seems we have a distraught Egyptian slave destroying the kitchen's clay jars and swearing to bloody his fists on the barbarian's face," Becca greeted Dayne. "Do you know anything about it?"

"Everything," Dayne began to explain but looked up and caught sight of Becca drenched in sunshine. "You are lovely. The site of you makes me ache. Please, follow me."

Dayne stopped what she was doing and extended a hand to Becca. The pair proceeded to disappear behind the shed. Dayne backed Becca up against the wood before falling to her knees before her lover.

"Dayne, we shouldn't do this outside, should we?" Becca giggled when Dayne lifted her skirt and kissed her sex.

"Why not?" Dayne grinned and kissed Becca's soft fur again. "Becca, please, don't say no. I need you again. Don't know why so soon but I have to taste you again. Now. No time to go back to the room. Please, let me, please. Please tell me I can love you."

Becca relaxed against the wood of the shed. She ran her fingers through Dayne's sweat soaked hair. Becca understood Dayne's desire. Her own need was gathering momentum.

"You never need to ask permission. I'm yours, Dayne. I belong to you. My body is yours to take," Becca spoke quietly as she stroked the dark head kneeling before her.

Dayne shook her head no and looked Becca in the eye, "I promise, I'll always wait for your consent. Each and every time. The simple fact that you are willing to share yourself with me makes me twice blessed. I won't risk your kindness to me for the heat of passion. No, Becca your body is your own to control."

"And what about you?" Becca asked with a wink. "What about your body? I claimed it as mine the other night. Took full command of you, if memory serves me. I'm not willing to give you back your autonomy. If you ask me, doesn't sound like we have a fair exchange."

"I'm not looking for fair exchange," Dayne hugged Becca's thighs. "I want you to always love me. I need you to forgive me for what they did to you. I don't want you to be afraid I'm like them."

Becca's mouth went dry. The only person in the world she loved, feared Becca would blame her for moments beyond either of their control. Becca sank to her knees and took possession of Dayne's mouth in a passionate kiss.

"We belong to each other. Your body is mine and my body is yours. It's a give and a take. We share, we dominate, we submit to each other's desires." Becca took a deep breath and cupped Dayne's cheeks in her palms, "I expect to wake up some mornings with you making love to me. And, I expect to wake you some mornings with my unquenchable longing for your body. We are two parts of one whole." Becca cleared the tears streaming down Dayne's face with several kisses. "I forgive you everything you need to be forgive for but I don't blame you for what happened to me. Never will."

"Can…, may I…," Dayne tried to silence her tears to no avail as she begged permission.

"Dayne, I want you to make love to me: kiss me, suck me, lick me, make me scream your name. Do what you do best and touch me. Dayne, take my body because you own it."

"I love you," Dayne mumbled as she suckled the raw skin where Becca's collar had been. She would leave a her imprint of ownership on the blonde slave.

The gray eyed wolf lifted his head and yawned. He and his pack mates spent the night huddled around the old man who smelled of the Master. They were able to warm him but he would not take fresh kill or a bitch's tit to feed. If the Master didn't return soon the old one would perish. The wolf settled in closer to the man for the few hours left before the hunt.

"Dayne, my Dayne, is that you?" Senecos patted the furry head cradled in his arms. "I'm so glad you came back home."

"So, what are you working on and why is the Egyptian so angry?" Becca held on to Dayne's hand as they walk back to the front of the shed.

"The Egyptian is mad because I took his glass bottle and shattered it," Dayne blushed at Becca's horrified reaction. "It was for a good cause I assure you. Behold, a weapon of silence."

Dayne picked up an ordinary looking mug from the work table. She showed Becca the common features of the outer mug first. Then she turned the cup so the sun shone inside.

"Sparkles," Becca whispered.

"Broken glass." Dayne was grim, "When it is filled with wine, the shards of glass float free of the sides. As the victim drinks, the glass slices his gut to pieces. Most of them won't know they're dead men until they start coughing up blood."

Becca felt sick, "Such a terrible way to die."

"Dying is terrible. No way is better than the other," Dayne felt accused and tried to defend herself.

Becca put her hand over Dayne's heart. "You have no choice but to make these things for the General but don't blind yourself to the horror. Murder, killing, battles are all horrendous wastes of life."

"What I do for him is heart breaking," Dayne clutched at Becca's hand like a lifeline.

"My love, it is better to have a broken heart than no heart at all."

"And, who are you?" Pia strolled into the garden to meet the village woman. "Demanding to see my husband as if you were among the privileged class. What, has he left you with a bastard?"

"In a way, yes," Varna smirked.

Pia looked the woman over very carefully. She checked one side and then the other. With a snort of laughter, Pia clapped her hands.

"A joke, right? Friends from Elos sent you?" Pia sucked a tooth when the woman did not confess to a hoax by friends. "Tell me what you came for then. Don't try to make me believe Felix bedded you. I know him to well. He'd sire a colt before he'd have you under him."

"Mock me all you want, Lady Pia. It will do nothing to ease the danger your husband is in." Varna spoke with confidence. "Your husband's greatest enemy is living under his own roof."

"Do tell," Pia was unimpressed. "There isn't a slave or servant here who wouldn't slit our throats in our sleep if they thought they could get away with it. My husband is a harsh task master. His household trembles in his wake. As it should."

"What of his child? Eh, what of the ridded?" Varna taunted.

"Which one? I bore four, no five daughters. Felix left them all to the wolves. Ghosts are no threat to living flesh," Pia replied with a yawn.

"You're wrong. One lived. One is not a ghost but a woman who can do you very much harm," Varna watched as Pia's face went crimson.

"Not possible. They were all sacrificed to Waur! All my babies are dead, all my daughters were slaughtered for Waur's sake," Pia made it sound like a matter of honor.

Varna looked out onto the field below. She saw the an unmistakable, tall figure near the shed. Her bony finger pointed the woman out to Pia.

"She stands taller than you, a little taller, but not as tall as Felix. Her hair is thick enough to hide the mark from a passing glance but not so thick one can't route it out if one looks for it. And, she knows the way of Waur but never set foot in Elos." Varna turned back to see a trembling, teary eyed Pia studying the figure in the distance. "My husband broke curfew the night Felix left her in the Forest of Lost Soldiers. Senecos brought her home to raise. Idiot that he was. I told him over and over, you can't raise an animal in the house."

Pia lunged at Varna. At first, Varna thought the General's wife was overcome with grief and collapsing. It wasn't until she felt the sharp edge of the knife tear her belly open that Varna realized her fatale misstep. Varna gagged as her insides spilled out. She dropped to the floor shuddering in agony.

Pia knelt next to Varna's head. She wiped her gore covered blade on the pale cheek.

"I like the side slash method with a short blade best. It takes longer for all of your strength and blood to drain away. You'll probably remain conscious long enough to see me have a chat with the ridded." Pia tisked as she patted Varna's head, "When will your kind learn not to interfere with your betters, Waur's favored."

Pia stood and strolled back inside the Villa. Her voice echoed off the marble, "Abel, bring Dayne and her slave to me immediately. Oh, and have her bring the silent weapon whether it's finished or not."

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