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Author's Note: This work is based upon Onyx Tao's amazing piece "Cold Blood". Fortunately, he was gracious enough to allow me to steal his world by creating it under a Creative Commons license that allows such acts. Of course, this piece is licensed the same way; and I will be eternally gratified that he allowed me to play.

Lexus

This story is licensed under the Creative Commons

Attribution Noncommercial Share Alike 3.0 License

(c) 2008-2012 by GedLion

Lexus Chapter II - Mourning and Waking

I keep the subject of my inquiry constantly before me, and wait till the first dawning opens gradually, by little and little, into a full and clear light. - I. Newton.

It was a long, long night. Sleep was, to say the least, impossible. Despite his previous almost sleepless night, any relaxation left his limbs afire, and then numb if he ignored them; and responding to the pain necessitated rolling from side to side during the night, trying to get at least one limb to have a modicum of blood supply.

Almar worried about the situation developing beyond those barn doors. He worried about whether he could move his limbs, or whether the constraining ropes would mean that they were even now dying, as he lay there, despite his best efforts. It was certainly getting harder and harder to give each one a rest. He worried that the cold seeping into him from the damp earthy floor would make an end of him. He worried that the minotaur would make an end of him if the cold didn't. He was afraid of living, and yet images of a broken body having its neck twisted to snapping point haunted his waking dreams.... He was definitely afraid of dying every time he thought of that cut off scream.

It was definitely a long night.

But there's only so much weeping one can do at any one time. The floor, walls and hay didn't really seem to care, though.

He tried to console himself with the thought that he didn't actually see all the rest of the hundred killed. It was more than possible that there were other survivors. Perhaps the damned cows had it wrong. Perhaps they couldn't count, or had no idea how many had come through with him. That said, he didn't know much - he had no idea why that weird tunnel should have suddenly deposited them here. Wherever here was. He had no idea even how long he was out for when he came through, and thank the stars he wasn't injured. It must have been a million to one shot that he wasn't. He got plenty of blood on him that leaves had only barely scrubbed away. But he must have been knocked out even though he didn't remember it - all night, it seemed. So this made the third night he'd been here, and second without proper sleep.

If being knocked senseless counted as a good night's sleep. He had no memory of waking up, though - or even a head blow that would have done it. Most strange. There wasn't another explanation though - on the face of it, he must have been out for a while, and this eased the panic associated with the thought for a while. Then eventually he remembered the wet blood on his head. If he'd been out for that long, the blood should have dried, or he'd have died from the loss of it. It was late evening when he entered that tunnel, and about noon when he woke up. There was no explanation that quite fit the facts for that.

The sun was low in the sky when the barn doors were creaked rattled open from the outside. It disturbed a cockerel, who elected to crow, halfheartedly from the roof. Almar looked up, as best he could with one cheek pressed against the earthy floor of the barn.

A bovine head with stubby horns looked round it at him curiously. "Tole ya.", said the creature, glancing back beyond the door. "I tole you, Meticus. It's a a feral human!" Behind him someone pushed at the door, and a higher pitched voice said, "Lemme see! I wanna! Are we taking him back to Conunun...un..."

"It's called Conundrum, idiot. Can't you even say our city name?" There was a pause, and the door rattled. Almar rolled himself over onto his side. Even though the ropes were pressing painfully on his ribs in that position, it seemed better to face the door.

The door stuck in the soft dirt floor. "Here squirt. Help me open it!" said the first minotaur, huffing as he leaned into the wood. The door rattled again, and this time, with a heavy thump, popped all the way open as the soil the corner was digging into gave way, and allowed the door to swing inwards a few feet. Outlined in the dawn's light were two small minotaur. The smaller had no horns, the larger just the beginnings of a set an inch or two long. Both were ogling him wide-eyed. There was something odd about them that he couldn't quite place. Unusual fur. They were half shadowed, and what light there was was coming from behind them, which made their features hard to define.

The first one stepped forwards. "See! Not a monster. Just another human."

Almar squinted at the figures. He tried to say something, but his tongue had gone dry overnight, and the dusty barn floor didn't help that at all.

The two figures toddled over, and Almar gasped in shock. As they moved from the silhouetting light of the door he could see them plainly. The most obvious feature was they were both an electric blue colour. They had fur and one had nascent horns like the other minotaurs, and--apart from their lack of height and muscle--were built more or less like their adult peers, but the colour. Wow. The colour was varying shades from cobalt blue to azure. They both had deep blue eyes that glittered like sapphires.

"Y'see, Met." Said the tallest, "Just a feral. No hurt there!" he laughed, and scratched his rear while staring at the human, who matched their gaze wonderingly.

Meticus, who was more than a head shorter, stepped forwards slowly. "He looks jus like the other ones. Arden. Woss the difference?"

Arden puffed out his chest, perhaps in emulation of a teacher. "Well, the ferals are untaught. There aren't many of em - a few escapees and stuff. Father thinks that this one might have come from one of the surrounding lands where they still have...er...enclaves and some freedom. Or something" he finished lamely.

Almar tried to spit the dust out of his mouth. "Don't suppose you could untie me, could you?" he said, softly.

Both youngsters froze. Meticus, who was in the process of leaning over to look at Almar more closely took a pace backwards, and looked at the elder minotaur.

"Not allowed," said Arden carefully. "beside, you might run away!"

Meticus grinned, and turned to kick at the prone human. "Yea! Feral! You might run away!"

Almar grunted as the hoof impacted his stomach, and instinctively doubled forward - which led to him wrapping bodily around the leg. Predictably, the youngster fell over, sprawling over the human; and perhaps more predictably started to scream in terror at being this close to a perceived threat.

Arden gave a cry and charged over, trying to pull his flailing younger brother off the human. Almar was mostly trying to keep his head down so the youngster wouldn't hit him. Even though Arden was only a few feet tall, he was way stronger than a human child of similar proportions; and even human children can land a nasty punch.

Arden, almost frantic, finally pulled the crying Meticus away from the human and screamed incoherently back at Almar. The door to the barn burst open, and then several things happened at the same time.

Arden closed his eyes, brought up a hand and pushed it towards Almar. A yellow flame shot up from his hand, and the youngster prepared to launch it at the human on the floor. Almar gave a startled shout and pushed back and was able to see a fully grown minotaur - also blue - charging through the door. The adult raised a cry when he saw Arden's action and shouted "Arden! NO!" and reached for the youngster, but far far too late. As the flame leaped forward from Arden's open palm, the elder pushed an arm forward himself. Waves of blue energy coruscated away from the outstretched arm, and Almar curled into a fetal position.

The flames in Arden's hand went from warm yellow to intense blue, and then exploded outwards wrapping around Almar without touching him and blasted into the oncoming blue energy from the older minotaur. With an enormous bang the minotaur - and those who were coming in behind him - were blasted out of the door, and flames licked across the wooden walls all around those remaining inside. In a flash--literally--the whole barn was enshrouded in flames and the temperature went from seeping cold to an intense inferno.

Almar gasped as his breath was sucked from his lungs by the fire and crawled towards the door before stopping in shock. The bonds that held him had fallen away in ashes--he now wore nothing but his skin, but that was miraculously unharmed. He rolled back forwards, flexing his numbed, but warming wrists and stared at the remains of his breastplate on the dirt in front of him. The metal was bubbling liquid, beginning to settle into the bumps and curves of the dirt floor.

Behind him was a muffled cry. He glanced back and there, again silhouetted were the two younglings, both huddling together terrified.

He swore a curse and leaped for them. He grabbed the two and pulled. "OUT! That way! NOW!" The smaller one, Meticus, was being held under the older one, and as he looked, Almar realised the younger one was apparently unconscious. The taller one looked staggered.

With a cry of exasperation, Almar grabbed the small form into his arms and pushed the standing one towards the door. The flames swirled around them - but fortunately never too close and as he forced the two to run for the door a break in the flames appeared long enough for the three of them to shoot out of the door like a cork from a bottle.

Behind them the flames, as though enraged at their escape, intensified and engulfed the doorway in a wall of flame again.

Almar staggered a few more paces, and dropped to the floor, lowering the still form in his arms to the ground as the energy left him. He gasped for air, filling his lungs with the cool fresh morning air and dropping sideways to the floor to pant. Around him were stunned Minotaur, staring at the barn, and him. More than one had their swords out, though clearly they were not sure if they should point them at him or not.

The human released the youngling and caught his breath. Then he leaned forwards and listened for breath. Those surrounding him still seemed too shocked to speak, but when, finding nothing he placed his lips against the young bull's face and attempted to inflate the youngling's lungs to encourage him to breathe again he found himself lying on the ground, seeing stars and a ringing in his ears. One of the blade wielding Minotaur had belted him off the still form. Fortunately, he had used the flat of his blade. "Get off him, cursed slave. Let him die in peace if he's going to die. He doesn't need the likes of you fawning over him, that's for sure."

"I was trying to save his life." Almar responded, rubbing at the lump forming on his skull. A blue form stepped forward, bodily pulling the guard out of the way. "You can do that?" the minotaur said, leaning forwards. Almar gave the odd creature a steady look. "Perhaps." he responded, guardedly. "If he's made to breathe quickly, the body may catch on and breathe for itself. Sometimes." He looked across at the still form on the floor, attended by one mourner: his brother, who was crying over him. He looked back up at the towering form in blue fur who stepped back and waved him at the youngster.

Almar got to his feet, a little unsteadily and again tried to make the still form breathe. A commander-of-ten should know how to stop his men dying, and he'd listened when they gave basic lessons. He blew into the mouth, which didn't really work - the air flowed out of the muzzle. Thinking quickly, he tipped the head back and blew into the nostrils, watching the chest rise as he did so. "Breathe, dammit." he muttered. "Breathe!" Listening at the chest, he could hear nothing. With a frustrated cry he whacked the child on the sternum with a fist and with that, Meticus coughed and started to move. As the human watched, the child turned his head and vomited. Hard.

Almar stepped back as the guard rushed in, and shivered. One side of him was heated by an inferno, but the other was cold as sweat evaporated into the morning air. He took a few paces, and then dropped to his knees. Mostly ignored by the minotaur who seemed completely focused on the youngling, he decided that now would be a good time to get a little.....more.........sleep.

---

He woke and stared fuzzily at the wooden ceiling. It took a few seconds of confusion, and then he sat up with a start. He was in a bed. Admittedly a rough one, but a bed nonetheless. He had a mad moment where he wondered if he'd dreamed the whole thing, but then he tried to get up and found that his leg was shackled to the bed by a short chain, which made him fall to his knees with a thump.

The room he was in was a fairly rough affair, and he could smell hay and horses. The walls were wood, reminding him of the barn. With a sigh he realized he was still probably at the farm. Those scents and the rough wooden construction were becoming familiar. He tugged forlornly on the chain, pulling the bed across the floor a little. The metal loop around his leg had a lock shackling it into place. Almar sighed. Unless he wanted to sprint across the fields carrying a bed, he wasn't going anywhere in a hurry.

He crawled back onto the bed and massaged the tender spot on the back of his head. Life had certainly been bizarre over the last few days.

The door opened gently, and a pair of horns entered, followed by a fully grown azure minotaur. What could only be the minotaur the had described "Lord Blue" looked over the human, a slightly puzzled expression on his face; though Almar couldn't be quite sure of that. Reading minotaur expressions was still a new concept to him.

"Feeling better? I was concerned about your head, feral."

Almar nodded, automatically reaching up to probe at the sore point again. "I think so. Sore." He looked around. "Thankyou for improved accommodations, at least."

A half smile twitched the lips of the minotaur. "I could hardly put you back in the barn. It's burned down, after all." He paused and looked down. "Besides, you did save my children." The minotaur pulled a stool out from under the desk at the far side of the room. "It is certain that I owe you a debt for Meticus at least. It would seem for both my children." He looked down and frowned. "Some would say that it is not possible to owe a debt to a feral human, but I would disagree. Quite aside from this I would wish to find out why my attempt to bind Arden's power failed so utterly. The child has quite a remarkable gift if he was able to push past my restrictions." There was a silence while the blue minotaur studied Almar, then he said, "By law, a captured feral belongs to the minotaur that captures them on their lands. I have arranged to buy you from the landowner here, which makes you mine. Luckily for you, my plans are somewhat different to the farmer, who tends to geld the male slaves he keeps in order to keep them compliant if he thinks they may not be so naturally."

Almar winced. His objections to being owned by the minotaur dying in his throat. He blinked owlishly at the big blue. Suddenly painfully aware of how much he was in the power of these creatures.

"I don't know how far you came from, and I'll assume you don't know proper custom. You will call me 'Sir' at all times, or possibly 'Lord Blue' if you wish to be formal or specific. But, I would have your name, human."

Almar tried to take all that on board. Lord Blue wasn't giving his own name, he noted. He swallowed, and looked down at the chain fastened to his leg. Choices were pretty slim here, and somehow he didn't want to be left to the farmer with the knife. "Almar, Sir." He managed to spit out. It tasted like ashes in his mouth - an acceptance that this creature owned him.

Lord Blue produced a key from a pouch hanging at his belt. He unlocked the fetter on Almar's leg and dropped it on the ground with an expression of distaste.

"It is good to meet you, Almar. For the lives of my children, I give you thanks. I suspect you do not know how honored you are to be called by your given name. For my children alone, I feel honor bound to do this, however." He gestured at the chain on the floor. "I trust this will not be necessary, and that you will come with me and obey?"

Almar looked down and rubbed his leg ruefully. "If I have to be honest....Sir...where would I go? I've lost my whole legion somewhere, somehow. I heard someone say they were all dead." he closed his eyes at the memory. "I have no idea how they died, or even if they are all dead...but..." He gritted his teeth and added the honorific, " ...Sir...I have no idea which way to run."

Lord Blue nodded. "True. And calling me that will get easier, I think, Almar." He frowned. "Legion? You're soldiers?" he reared back on the stool. "Nobody told me that. Just that there was a group of six that died in mysterious circumstances." He frowned. "The feral humans are arming up in legions now?"

Almar shook his head. "Empire legions. We're that far away from the conflict?"

Lord Blue raised an eyebrow. "sir..." he said pointedly.

Almar swallowed. "Sir." he echoed, dutifully.

Lord Blue smiled. "Good. We have to keep the forms, slave. There are other bulls out there that would tear your head off for disrespect. It protects you, you know." He paused. "It doesn't matter what you call yourselves now, you know. How many came here with you? I should know how many...." he broke off as he saw Almar's jaw line firm. "Ah yes, you consider us the enemy. Perhaps it was an unfair question."

"Perhaps, Sir."

"Would it be unfair to ask who trained you to warp tempus like you did yesterday?"

The legionnaire - ex legionnaire, it seemed - shook his head. "What...is tempus? Sir?"

Lord Blue frowned. "How on earth can you not know that? It's the ability of some of our strongest warriors to slice time," he paused at Almar's blank look, and added, "go faster?"

"I'd heard about something like that, but never seen it. I haven't been in combat with minotaur...we were supposedly just scouting."

Lord Blue raised an eyebrow, causing Almar to add the "Sir" belatedly again before the minotaur spoke. "I'm not sure I understand quite what you say, slave. But the idea of the ferals banding up like that is quite disturbing. The council will have conniptions. Lord Watched will go on one of his rants again, I fear. The minotaur shook his head, slowly and gazed out of the window. "Change. Too many of us have issues with that in the first place. And this sort of change is...well. Harder than ever to respond to in a measured way."

Almar considered this, and then decided to remain silent. It didn't seem to need a response, and the large creature occupying a significant chunk of the small room appeared to be lost in thought for a moment.

The furred head turned back to the human after a few moments. "Will you obey, slave, and behave?" Lord blue gave a sigh. "I can protect you, somewhat - I think I need to learn about you at least - but if there are any incidents, or makers forfend you try to run away, there will be little I can do. If you stay close, and accept that things have changed and you are now a slave, well, perhaps you'll survive a little longer."

The blue eyes stared at Almar unblinkingly. The human looked around, and then shrugged. "As I said, Sir; where else would I go? I don't know how I got here, or what happened to your soldiers."

Lord Blue laughed. "Hardly mine, Almar. Though I am responsible for them, after a fashion." He grinned. "Duty," he said - as though this explained everything. "But I will have your word, and I will trust it has worth until I'm told otherwise. I'm not quite sure what to make of you, slave, but I cannot have you being a square peg. I'll round the corners off if I have to. Pray that nobody else has similar ideas. I'm considered quite the unusual bull for my experiments and learning. But first, I say again: your word, please, slave."

Looking up into the Minotaur Lord's eyes, Almar had an inkling that being asked, and being trusted was something unusual - and he had an odd feeling that he didn't want to disappoint this strange hulking blue creature. As though he was being given something precious and didn't want to break it, even though he couldn't have said what that precious thing was. He nodded, slowly, eyes never leaving his new master. "I give you my word, Lord Blue, that I will try not to embarass you. At least for now, I'll give you my parole."

"For now?"

"Until I tell you otherwise, Sir."

There was a moment of silence, then the minotaur grunted. "Have to do. Though that's precious little promise. I suppose, trying to look at your point of view, you've had a rough couple of days. Did you actually eat anything while running out in the woods there?"

Almar shook his head.

"Then I'll make sure there's food on the way for you. We're leaving before anyone else gets interested in this mess. At least I fervently hope so. This is complicated enough."

The blue minotaur stood up and bellowed through the door. "Get the carriages round, and pack some food. We're leaving. Get this messy human washed, into some unripped clothes and into my carriage. We roll in half a stick."