Enslaved

Chapter 14

Ryuu knocked on another cabin door, waiting for the new occupants to let him in so he could inform them of where and when dinner would be in case they hadn't been told and to make sure that they were moving in well and adapting to their new environment. He heard soft footsteps and the door opened to show Valik with damp hair and Kajeel sitting on top of the bed on the right behind him, sporting a stressed and tired face. Ryuu felt guilt flicker in his chest momentarily before he stepped inside and Valik moved back to the bed Kajeel was sitting on and sat next to him, leaving the left bed open. Ryuu shut the door but made no moves to sit down, only looking around the small room before meeting Kajeel's eyes where he sat on what had to be Valik's bed. Where was Kaida?

Kajeel met his eyes but looked away after a second, looking down and running a hand through his hair. Ryuu looked away from his second in command and met Valik's eyes, noting that some of the warmth in his brown eyes had disappeared and his expression was now both drained and cautious. Ryuu sighed and readjusted his wings before walking through the room and sitting down on the empty bed across from Valik's, situating his wings so he could sit comfortably and look at the two males across from him. He looked around the room one more time before the sound of water told him where Kaida was and looked back to the males, lifting a single eyebrow.

"How are you settling in, Valik?" Ryuu asked, locking his gaze on Valik and forcing some pleasantry in his voice. "You look much better, at least."

Valik gave him a close-lipped smile, settling down on his bed and opening his wings slightly to be more comfortable. Kajeel scrubbed a hand over his face before looking up and locking eyes with Ryuu, his brown ones meeting deep, dark green depths.

"Ryuu, Kaida didn't even know how a bath worked." The news broke the tension of the room and Ryuu stiffened at her name. "Valik had to show and tell her what the things in the bathroom did. And the bottoms of her wings are scarred and recently torn to the point where I don't know if she'll be able to keep up with us when she learns how to fly."

Ryuu felt his blood boiling in fury at what had been done to her, flashes of memories appearing in front of his eyes. Flickering torches on a craggy stone wall. The harsh line a whip made on a back with wings. The heavy, incessant weight of the chains and shackles. Ryuu minutely shook his head, forcing these memories back into the recesses of his brain before looking back to Kajeel.

"She'll be able to keep up." Ryuu's voice held no opening for negotiation; he would allow no other alternative. "Her wings are bigger than I have ever seen on somebody of that stature. She'll be fine."

He then looked to Valik and tilted his head slightly, frowning at the male.

"How come you seem to be adapting better and know basic regular hybrid and human rights?" Ryuu bluntly asked Valik, not bothering to monitor his tone as residual anger continued to pulse through him. "How come you are able to function properly?"

Valik flinched but sat forward, shifting his wings to remain comfortable.

"I wasn't born in those tunnels like most of my...companions." His voice caught and he swallowed before continuing. "I was brought in when I was barely four years old, right after the humans burned my village to the ground and killed anyone in sight. My mother hid me just outside the village but went back to get my siblings and....and I never saw her or them again. The soldiers found me not long after and one of them decided to send me to the most vicious mining camp they could think of to make up for my being born free. They sent the other children to work for the Empire, or so they told me."

Ryuu watched Valik as he spoke, his face remaining blank of any expression despite the horrors Valik spoke of.

"I remember when they brought me in." Valik's voice was much quieter now, and his eyes had a faraway look to them. "I was kicking and screaming the whole way up that mountain but right before they took me into that tunnel they stopped. One of the humans knelt down and slapped me right across the face so hard I hit the ground and that shut me up pretty quickly. He said, 'If you don't learn how to behave boy, you will die. And nobody is going to miss you.' I was silent the whole way into that tunnel, but I remembered who they chained me in front of. I remember thinking, 'if this tiny girl can be quiet and good, so can I.'"

A small smile, seeming full of memories, settled on his face at the same time as a singular tear trickled out of his left eye.

"I followed her lead from there on out." Valik's voice was barely more than a whisper. "And I want to curse myself when I think about all that I let those men do to her. Even now I can still hear them at night, walking up to her and waking her up....making her do things. Never doing anything to her, oh no. Only making her do things for them, like they knew that was somehow worse. And I hate myself even more for not being able to help her."

There was a curious ringing in Ryuu's ears as he listened and understood what Valik meant. A ringing that was turning into a roar by the second as his head filled with the thought of what those vile humans had made his poor mate do. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kajeel's white knuckles as he clenched his hands into tight fists and the mutiny in his dark dragon eyes. Ryuu stood up suddenly, closing his wings tightly with a snap and turning to the door. He heard two people also stand up, but he walked tightly to the door that led back outside, throwing it open so violently that the hinges on the door all but gave out and caused the door to hang from the frame, swinging slightly.

Ryuu heard a different door open behind him but stepped outside anyway, walking at a brisk pace so he was far enough away from that small room and the horrible knowledge that sent his mind into a rage. He vaguely heard a voice shouting his name, but he opened his wings and flapped with such fury that he shot off the ground and was clearing the treetops before he had to flap again, ignoring the strain in his wings. He continued rising into the sky, ignoring that voice and streaked over the trees, aiming for a cave he knew was set deep in the mountains. He couldn't see Kaida right now, not when his anger at what those wretched humans had done to her was coursing through him like a wildfire. He allowed himself one glance over his shoulder at where he had left and immediately locked eyes with the small, golden-haired figure who was staring at him with unimaginably sad, mismatched dragon eyes.