Chapter 8: Weena

Weena woke as the light dawned over the mountains. The woman that had gone into labor overnight had not been able to prevent the delivery and the baby was taken away from her as soon as the cord had been cut. Weena couldn’t be totally sure, but it had looked to be a boy. She didn’t resist when she was grabbed by several very large men and dragged to a nearby, long building. Weena could see now that this encampment had been here for some time and was a permanent base of operations. She noted the heavy smoke coming from the chimneys and the lines of men entering and leaving the long building. Each had a large bowl that steamed slightly as they exited back out in the cooler air. Now Weena understood what was going on. They ate the women after they had given birth to six live babies. These were monsters, not humans. Her escaping this hell was no longer optional if she wanted to continue living.

Weena watched everything going on around her carefully throughout the first day, doing her best to not draw attention to herself. This situation didn’t last long. All the women in the cage stood at a barked command and moved to one side of the cage, nearest what she now knew to be the cooks shed. She joined the women in line, watching as a large, steaming cauldron was pulled out of the kitchen on a large, wheeled cart. She saw wisps of steam rising from the substance in it. Another barrel was rolled over to the cage, it was filled with small, wooden serving bowls. Each woman walked by a small opening that was opened for this, picked up a bowl that was then filled at the next opening with a thick gruel of some sort. She watched as each bowl was filled, the woman would put it to her lips and suck down the food as quickly as she could while still moving in the line. They had to finish before they reached the next opening in the cage wall. As they passed the opening, an observer looked to ensure the bowl had been emptied. At his gesture, the woman dropped the bowl into another barrel. They would then move in line to the main entrance and wait for whatever was fated for them that day.

Weena took the next bowl in the pile and had it filled. She sniffed at it a second, put it to her lips, sipped it. She tasted only oats, dried then boiled. She sucked it down as fast as she could. ‘No meat in this at least,’ she thought. She held the bowl out for the inspector, he nodded, so she dropped it into the waiting barrel and moved to join the others in the lines at the entry. She watched as the women were divided into groups and led off to different areas. Weena was pulled along by a rough hand on her throat without warning. She tried to not resist, but she was in terror now, wanting to run, to hide, and escape this nightmare. The man spoke to her, but she didn’t understand him. She found that odd as everybody south of the Spine spoke pretty much the same language. He pulled her to a building that was large enough to hold several hundred large men at once. It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the dim light inside, and when she could see again, she wished she could not.

Stocks, dozens of prisoner stocks, lined up from one end of the open building to the other. Most had nude women locked into them. Worse was how their legs had been strapped to the floor so they couldn’t shift or move. She saw that the fate of the women in this hell was to serve the men’s sexual wants and needs, at any time. She started to resist, but her body refused to obey her wishes. Her mind grew fuzzy as they dragged her to an open stock. They held her wrist in place, slid her head into the lower half cutout and lowered the top into place, then locked it with a heavy spring pin. She tried to think, to struggle, but she was in a fog now. Faintly, she thought, ‘The food must have a drug in it.’ She felt her legs being spread and strapped down to the floor.

She wasn’t expecting what came next. She felt something shoved into her anus, then she was filled with warmth. The object was pulled out, and another shoved in, opening her wide. The fluid that had flooded her insides poured out of her. She could feel the cold air reaching places that it should never be able to reach. Hot water was poured on her, and she was scrubbed clean. Another nozzle was shoved into her vagina, and the same thing happened, fill up, drain, then scrubbed. She whimpered as a stiff brush was used to clean the delicate skin. She couldn’t resist, she tried, but what she thought to be a drug kept her weak and docile. The rest of the first day in hell for Weena was one cock after another filling one hole or another. She had not gotten to liking the taste before this, now she despised it. The light faded and more men lined up to use her and all the other women in the breeder racks as she had heard them called. ‘This isn’t considered torture then, this is to get me pregnant,’ she thought. ‘That is worse.’

It came to a sudden end after what had to be several days. She had been fed and cleaned several times along the way. But she couldn’t remember how many days had passed either. Her mind cleared as soon as they dragged her out of the building. That confused her even more. Not a drug in the food then? It had to be a device of some sort that fogged the mind. A very targeted fogging, indeed. One thing she had noticed but not paid attention to before she was taken to the breeder building was a mark on her stomach, right over the womb. She noted on many it was black; On a few, it was red, others it was white. If it was white, she saw that all were with child. She looked down at the mark on her, it was white. ‘By the lady, no,’ was all she thought as she was pulled back to the prison cage.

She picked one woman that was far along to question. Weena quickly found that she could not understand this woman either. The girl she had spoken with the first night was nowhere to be found. She sat alone, away from the cage walls to avoid grabbing hands from the outside. She cleared her thoughts, tried to listen, to hear the thoughts around her. At first, nothing was there, just a dark emptiness. As she relaxed, she began to hear faint whispers in her mind. She continued to stay calm, not push or strain. The blow to her head had done damage and it was only now beginning to heal enough for her to hear those around her. What she heard made her want to cry. It was thousands of voices crying out in despair at the fate before them.

Sleep came and she dreamed, hearing the voices crying out in fear. There was an undertone as well. Hate. Absolute hatred. She could only hear women’s voices in her dream. All filled with fear and hate for those that had done this to them. Weena wanted to wake up but found she could not. She was in the dream when the green eyes appeared. They looked at her, studied her closely. She heard a voice say, ‘Tell me everything.’ Weena let her memories of the last weeks play out. The eyes went wide when she told of what she thought the fate of the women was after the sixth birth. The eyes moved in her dream to the building in question. They went through the walls, then backed out quickly. Weena could see that the eyes owner was in shock by how they seemed to drift without focus for a moment. ‘Thank you, child. I will pass on your condition and the situation in the Ice Spine. This answers so many questions.’ The eyes vanished and the dream ended. Weena slept deeply for the rest of the night.

Morning came and everything went as it had been doing. The morning waste, the bowl of cooked oats. Today, she was sorted into a different line. As she stepped out, an iron collar was fixed around her neck, and wrist chains held her arms close to her waist. She was pulled along with fifty others towards the cut in the mountain. This was the first time she had been able to view things clearly on the ground. Lines of ore carts waiting to be pulled or pushed. The carts all rested on metal rails that ran down into the cut. The floor of the cut was about one hundred feet across. The walls went nearly straight up several hundred feet before they angled away from the wall a bit. The floor was littered with loose stones that had fallen the night before. The wind had picked up overnight and she could feel there had been some rain the previous night in the cut, but none made it to this side of the cut. Several women on long leads were gathering as many of the stones as they could and carrying them to a point around the outside of the cut she could see.

The rails did go around that way, so she figured she might get a chance to see what was hidden over there eventually. Weena was dragged to a cart, a heavy leather harness was placed over her body, then she roughly was shoved at the cart that the harness was hooked to. The lines were pulled in and as the track opened ahead of her, she started pulling the empty cart down the sloping path. The cart pushed at her, so she did what the woman ahead of her did. She rested the cart on her back, keeping it from running away on her. The walk took close to an hour to reach where the digging was taking place. Now she had a good look at what was happening. The upper cliff had broken away and filled the cut nearly halfway to the top with loose stone and boulders.

Weena saw other slaves breaking the boulders with iron tools, others shoveling the smaller bits and debris into the ore carts as they arrived. When it was her turn, she stopped where she was pointed to, then waited. It took the diggers less than a minute of frantic shoveling to fill the cart. When it was filled, the overseer lashed out at her with a short whip to get her moving. Weena pulled hard and fast to get away from the monster that had just cut a slice across her lower back. She pulled as hard as she could, but the weight of the dirt and stone made it hard to get it moving. She leaned into the harness and soon was moving fast enough to close with the woman ahead of her. She found if she stepped just right, her feet would push into worn spots that uncounted thousands of feet had worn into the stone between the rails. These gave her better leverage as she leaned into the harness.

One thing she had noted as she had gone down the cut was how dark it was at the dig site. The daylight did not make it down there much except for a dim twilight glow. The light increased as they pulled the load to the opening at the top of the slope. Once in the daylight, the cool breeze felt good on her sweating body. She waited her turn and then took the cart around the bend. A handler had her stop the cart at a set point next to a deep-drop-off. Two men pulled pins from the bottom side of the cart and a woman lifted and pushed the cart over. The wheels bounced a little as the hopper portion tipped and emptied its load down the cliff. The stones clattered and made a noise that in the open would have her running to escape a rockslide. When the hopper was empty, the woman pulled a chain on the side and brought it back upright. The men slid the pins back into place and Weena was shoved to get her moving again. On the way around the bend back to the cut, she was watered, then a slice of dry bread wrapped around a bit of meat was shoved into her mouth. She had chewed and swallowed before she realized what she had probably just eaten.

Weena fought her stomach and managed to keep the food down. She knew she would never feel right after she escaped this hell. What she did know, she would kill every man from the Ice Spine if ever given the chance. The trip was repeated four more times that day. The last time back up took every bit of willpower she had to pull the cart back to the dump point. This time no food was shoved at her, so she was thankful for small favors. The handlers at the cart parking released her from the harness, another man grabbed the chain attached to her collar and pulled her around to a small waterfall next to the mountainside. The water ran a few yards then disappeared down a hole in the ground. He shoved her into the ice-cold water and Weena was able to wash herself off. Next, he took her to wait at another station. This one had a hose that a man used to remove the waste from her legs and crotch. It was on the second trip she figured out what the slippery stuff in the walkway was. She had not been given a break to relieve herself at any time during the day. He said something and pointed at her belly. The spot was black again. He checked and found a small trail of blood running from her vagina. She had miscarried from the strain of the work. She thought about her situation as it stood. How would this event affect how she was being treated? So far, they had not been beating her much, but that could change with this occurrence.

The handler dragged her back to the prison cage for the night. The evening feeding was gruel, like the morning. She tried her best to not think about what she had been fed earlier in the day. She went back to the corner she had been using to sleep and soon was back in the dream.

Tara had found Weena in the prisoner work camp at the cut. Aston had been correct in his assumption that Weena had survived her being captured. She drifted from mind to mind, learning as much as she could from all the sleeping women. She entered dreams of the men and recoiled from what she found there. ‘How can something like this exist?’ she wondered. ‘How could the Lady have allowed such evil to persist.’ When she finally went and checked the girl she was seeking, Weena gave her a full report on what she had seen and had been put through. Tara already knew what to expect when she peeked into the cook’s shed. The reality was more than she could deal with. She saw women’s bodies skinned and cut up, waiting to go in the pot. The worst was the half dozen hanging upside down, heads removed, blood being caught and used in the cooking. She saw the heads in a barrel that would be taken away later.

Tara woke in her bed screaming in horror, bringing her guards and family in at a run to find out what had their leader in such a state. Tara told her people what she had seen at the camp. The rage that built that night would impact events for years into the future.

Aston

Aston heard the faint whisper of Weena in his mind. He reached out to her, but her thought faded away before he could fix on her. Aston and the rest of the party did not get on the road as fast as they wanted to. They were able to pack and load, but they ran into problems with the bards, thieves, and assassins. The bards refused to release Robin from her studies and practices. The Thieves and Assassins wanted Brena to stay on and run things.

Brena took the simple measure of appointing several men to run the thieves according to the rules and regulations that had been in place for decades. The Brotherhood was easier. She told them she would get back to them when she returned as she was not yet in charge of that side of the business. That was when she learned a small number of artifacts had been stolen after the floods. This included the vial with the creature imprisoned in it. Bloodrend was not happy when that was disclosed to them. The last delay came when another heavy rainstorm blew in off the sea and did more damage to the roads that had just been repaired.

In the end, they did manage to leave the city in the dead of night a full week later than they had wanted to. The roads being as messed up as they were, slowed them to a crawl. Ledger proved to be a lifesaver when it came to crossing raging rivers. He would enchant several fallen trees if they were available and move them, so they formed a bridge. The one time no fallen trees were around for him to use, he began pulling rocks and boulders into position. It was a rough crossing, but they managed it. That crossing did cost them a wheel. They had to replace it before they could continue. They had six spares with them to start with.

It was on the seventh night on the road when Tara came to Aston in his sleep with the news about Weena. She had held off a few days on telling him. It had taken those several days for her to recover enough from the evil nightmares she had witnessed in the minds of the men of Ice Spine.

“Aston, she is trapped in a prison you will have no hope of freeing her from.” She had pulled all six into the dream so they could be briefed directly on what she had seen. “The men have a system in place that is the cruelest I have ever seen.” She looked at Brena, Aco, and Robin. She shook her head sadly at them, “Women are to bear six children, then they are slaughtered to supply meat for the male population.”

Ledger somehow managed to turn green in the dream state and become ill. Aston and Andrew both went red with rage and understanding. The mystery of why they kidnapped so many women from the south was answered. The three-women remained silent, just looking at the pair of eyes floating in front of them.

Brena finally spoke, “Assume human form Tara, we need to talk, kick the men out for now.” Tara shifted and an older red-headed woman stood before them. The men faded out as they dropped into a deeper sleep. “Are you sure of what Weena told you is fact?”

Tara was shaking, not in fear, but red-faced rage. “Sure of it?” she almost spit, “Sure of it!? I looked into several of those bastard’s dreams. You can’t hide the truth in a dream, ever.” She started to pace back and forth, “The men of the Ice Spine see our kind as breeders and food, nothing more.” She pushed all she had seen and heard into the three’s minds; they woke seconds later screaming in terror. This woke the men, and it took most of the night to calm them enough to be told what they had witnessed.

Andrew scowled, “This explains so much about them. So far as I know, they have never allowed an ambassador in their lands. All trade is done on our side of the cuts.”

Ledger was green now for real, just thinking about it. “They eat them?” he said more than asked. “Monsters,” he muttered darkly. “They are monsters.”

Robin hummed for a minute. “I think I know where those folks in that one village came from now. They used and abused the women badly. I was captured by them but escaped with the help of one boy that felt bad about hurting me.”

Ledger chimed in, “I think I know which one you are talking about. I passed through a year or so after you. It had been burned to the ground by then.”

Andrew brought everybody back, “We have a long and hard road ahead of us from the conditions we have already encountered. Number one concern, freshwater, and food.”

“I can handle the meat side of things,” said Aston. “Water, not so much.”

“We have enough for five more days, then we need to find a clean source. The rivers are a mess from the mud.” Andrew looked at Aco, “Any ideas on your side?”

“I wish I did Andrew. My skill set is limited in so many ways.” Aco seemed dejected. She was fighting a war inside her mind. Claw was awake and trying to take over. “I am having issues right now because of what Tara showed us.”

“Claw,” asked Robin? “Yes,” Aco replied, her face twisting as the other half of her mind tried to take over the body. ‘Claw, stay down, you will have your day once we are up there, not before.’ ‘No, I will take control, I will get us there far more quickly. Shed the males and travel will go faster,’ Claw growled in her mind.

Aco stood, “If you will excuse me, I need to move away from the camp for a bit. This is going to get ugly.” Only Robin spoke, “Come back to us Aco when you have dealt with Claw.” Aco strode off into the darkness.

The others looked at Robin, “Aco is two minds living in one body. The Aco you know is a good and loving person, be glad of that Aston,” she said, looking at him. The other was created during the time of pain from the acid burning her face. It is a creature that kills for the pleasure of taking lives. ‘I have met the Claw on a few occasions,’ said Bloodrend in their minds. ‘Believe her, that thing can make what you are about to face look friendly.’ Bloodrend went silent.

They jumped when a scream broke the night, a scream of rage and hate for all things living. Robin looked out into the night and whispered, “Oh Aco, please keep it down inside. I don’t want to have to kill you to protect the rest.”

Aco/Claw

Aco had fought Claw before. Now it was harder. As her skills had improved, but so had Claws. Now they fought, each showing deep cuts, dark bruises and their mental clothing was in tatters. “Claw, go back to your cage now, this is your last warning.”

“Hah! You? Warning me?” Sneered the mirror image of herself. “Without me, you would be nothing, I taught you everything you know girl.” They circled around each other, looking for an opening through which to strike the other. “You have a problem; you need me to help fix it. Kill the men and part of the problem is solved. We go north and just slaughter them all.”

“I am not a murderer like you Claw. I want to end that system as much, maybe more than you. But I will not allow you to harm my mate, nor my friends.” Aco feinted a jab and Claw moved to counter but backed away.

“Slick move girl, but not good enough to fool me.” Claw seemed to blur and charged Aco with her hands in her trademark claw-strike pose. Aco saw her coming and stepped back half a step, causing Claw to miss. Aco grabbed the arm and pulled it down and out, sending Claw rolling across the arena they had appeared in.

Claw stayed down for a second, breathing deeply, fighting to regain control of herself. “How. How did you do that, what did you do?” said Claw. Claw had a look of panic in her eyes now. “What did you do?” She screamed at Aco.

Aco looked at Claw with pity and said, “I got faster, and stronger. Didn’t you?”

Claw looked at Aco, realizing she could not defeat Aco at this time. “I will, and when I do, I will come for you and yours.” Claw vanished into the depths of Aco’s mind and was silent.

Aco fell to her knees in the woods, crying for what she had just done. She knew she would need Claw at a later date, but now Claw would work to improve herself. Aco knew that when Claw felt she was ready, it would not be pleasant for her. Dawn was coming on when Aco returned to the camp. She sat on her pack and stared into the glowing embers of the fire. She didn’t say anything for several minutes. When she did speak, it was with a tone of sorrow and regret. “There will come a point in time you will have to kill me to protect yourselves from the other. Claw wants all of you dead and will stop at nothing to achieve that eventual goal.”

Robin sat up and looked at the eastern sky that was starting to glow with the light of dawn. “We can stop the Claw without killing you Aco, you know that.”

“Not this time Robin my dear and love. When that time comes, I will already be dead. She wanted to kill me this time, but I stopped her by being stronger and faster. Next time, I won’t be so lucky.” Aco opened a pouch and pulled out a bit of dried meat and chewed on it. After she swallowed, she sipped a bit of the wine she had brought. The river waters so far had not been drinkable by them. Even the horses were reluctant to drink from natural sources.

The others had listened in silence as the two women spoke quietly in the growing light. Aston broke in finally, “I know you can hear me Claw, you can’t have her. Aco is my mate for life, I will not allow you to harm her in any way.” As he spoke openly, he sent the same words deep into Aco’s mind where Claw was hiding. He didn’t expect a reply and was not disappointed.

Ledger watched and listened to the two women as they quietly talked. He knew they had been lovers for some time, but he didn’t understand how deeply their feelings truly went for one another. Now he had a bit of an understanding, and strangely, he felt a stab of anger at the thought that Robin would be with another. He stomped it down savagely and stepped into the brush to empty his bladder and contain the feelings.

Robin had been paying attention to the others even as she tried to ease the emotional pain Aco was enduring. She silently cursed the bastard that had burned and scarred Aco’s face as a child. The damage was far more than just the skin. Her mind had shattered in the agony and the Claw had risen from the remains. What was left of the real Aco hid away from the world, afraid of being hurt again. It was the events of the previous year as they had traveled across the lands east of the Ramparts that Aco had been able to recover herself enough to come out of hiding and take over.

Ledger didn’t know the history of Aco. Robin had not told him about her past either. She knew it was time for him to learn the life she had lived before coming to the Cove. Robin had been keeping an eye out around the campsite while she comforted her friend. She noticed the expression on Ledger’s face and recognized it for what it was. She would need to take care of this new problem right away.

“Aston,” said Robin, “Come and comfort your woman. She needs a man’s arms now, not mine.” She stood and Aston sat where Robin had been and took over holding and stroking Aco’s back. Robin followed the direction Ledger had gone off in when he left the clearing. “Ledger?” she called out lightly. She heard a muffled cry a few yards off in the brush. She pushed through and found the boy, still young compared to herself, sitting on a rotting log, his eyes red and face puffy from crying.

Robin sat next to him and pulled him to her. ‘I am the mother comforter today, I guess,’ she thought. “What’s wrong, Ledger?”

He didn’t look up to meet her gaze, “You want her more than you want me,” was all he got out before a deep shuddering ran through him and more tears welled up, dripping down to the ground.

“Oh Ledger, there is so much you don’t know about Aco and me.” She pulled his face up and wiped away some of the tears under his eyes. “We have been through hell together. We have been lovers. We are friends.” She felt the shuddering again. This wasn’t helping matters. “Ledger, please, you have to understand, Aco and I only had each other for a long time while we traveled.”

“Lucky you then, I was alone the entire way to the Crossing,” Ledger whispered.

“That had to be hard on you Ledger. Before I met Aco I was alone too.” Robin began to tell Ledger about her life and some of the things that had been done to her. “All my life I have known I would never be able to bear children.” She kissed Ledger lightly, “Now that has changed. I am having my woman’s monthly for the first time in my life now. I can have children.” She kissed him again, this time adding some heat to the kiss. He didn’t respond right away. “I am hoping to have your children Ledger Fireham.”

This got his attention fast. She hoped he would be happy at that thought. Instead, she saw fear spring up in his eyes. “Ledger, now what’s wrong?” she asked.

Ledger didn’t try to escape, but his mind was wandering far and distant paths, memories of his childhood appearing before him. The indifference of his parents, the brutal cruelty of his brothers, and the murderous hatred his sister had for him. All these memories flashed before him, reminding him of the pain he had suffered. “Robin, you told me about your life, now I will tell you about mine.”

As Ledger told her about his childhood, the pain, the suffering, the beatings, Robin had tears running down her face as well. “Do you want to know what finally broke me, Robin? The one thing that made sure I would run away at the first opportunity?”

Robin nodded, dreading hearing what horror had been perpetrated on him to make him leave his family so willingly. “My sister killed a frog. A simple, innocent frog, just to hurt me.” He sank down, feeling the pain of that day running through him once more. “It was about, oh I guess six months before I began to manifest my ability to change the state of an object. Making it glow, get hot, or cold. Simple things.” He rubbed his left shoulder at some memory of pain there. “My oldest brother, he beat and tortured me when he found out I was showing our mother’s talent. He was going to use me, then hand me off to our sister too, as she called it, to play with me.” Robin could feel the pain pouring from him now. She hummed a gentle tune to try and settle Ledger down a little.

“Stop it, Robin. I know you want to help but using your voice on me will only make things worse.” ‘He felt that.’ she thought. “Robin, when I crossed a threshold, my parents kicked me out of the house, sending me to the Cove to escape the others. I had dreams of them murdering my parents, then trying to find me on the road. I foiled that by going further north on an indirect path. That is also what caused my discovery of the Weave.”

Robin motioned for him to come into her arms, and he did this time without resistance. “I met a lot of good people along that road. I met some bad ones as well. It was when I had to abandon the population of a small town to the slavers that I broke more.” He was sad now, not running. “By the time I made it to the Crossing, I had missed the last Caravan out.” This brought a chuckle from Robin, “What’s so funny about that, I was stuck in the city for the entire winter.”

Robin thought about how to tell him this, “Well, Aco and I had been in Terin’s Crossing for several weeks by then Ledger. I’m laughing because that is the caravan we went with. We missed each other by that much.” He pulled back, looking at her in disbelief.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Nope. Aco and I were more than ready to get out of that city when it rolled west.”