Chapter 1

A tiny nudge at her shoulder made Amanda blink once and turn her head. "Huh?"

A naked young woman with very light blonde hair, shimmering almost platinum from the sunlight diffusing softly through the skylights above her, smiled gently at her charge and lover. "Master Vanlo asked you a question, Amanda," she said softly, smiling, her hand still lightly stroking Amanda's luxurious black hair.

"Oh..." Amanda turned her cloudy eyes towards the tall and wizened form of the Healer, her cheeks flushing, looking quite prominent against the smooth and fair color of her naked body. "I'm sorry, Master Vanlo, what was the question?"

The crinkled and kindly face of Vanlo smiled gently, looking up at Amanda as she sat on his examination table. One of her legs was extended, the foot lying in the lap of Vanlo's long robes as he sat next to the examination table, his age-spotted fingers pressing lightly against a faint scar in the calf. "Simply whether or not what I am doing is causing you discomfort," he repeated with a trace of amusement in his voice. "Since your mind wandered a bit, I believe it is a safe bet to say that it does not."

Amanda managed a weak smile. "No discomfort, Master Vanlo... Actually, I thought it healed rather well."

Vanlo gave a simple nod, as his eyes had already dropped back down to Amanda's leg, his fingers tracing the small, slightly jagged scar. He knew from Amanda's point of view, it was a well-healed wound. Caused by an assassin's arrow nearly a whole moon before -- or just under four weeks in Amanda's time reckoning -- it had almost caused Amanda to bleed to death. The fact that she had survived and that her leg was now working as it should was likely all that she needed.

However, it was not all that Roquan needed.

Each of Roquan's slaves was an important commodity. They had to be as perfect in appearance as possible. Even a small scar like this could potentially mar a future contract. While Amanda was far from graduating as a full slave -- as she still had a Trainee collar around her neck -- the longer a scar like this remained, the harder it was to eliminate. Vanlo had already reduced the original scar to this, but this last bit remained stubborn and would not fade any further under his treatments.

Amanda was oblivious to any of this. If anything, she wanted the scar to stay. She wanted the reminder of what had happened to her and what she had helped do. She felt some pride in what she had managed to accomplish for the Overlord.

She felt another nudge at her shoulder and looked up questioningly at her lover and Mistress.

"Something wrong?" Sirinna asked, concern in her face as well as her voice.

Amanda paused a moment, glancing from her to Vanlo and back again. "May I talk to you about it later, Mistress?"

Sirinna paused a moment, then nodded slowly.

Amanda felt her foot being lifted and then lowered, letting her leg fall back against the side of the examination table. Vanlo gave her a gentle smile and rose from his chair. He stroked his long, gray beard thoughtfully. "Indeed. It has healed quite well. I will need to think on this a bit more, Amanda, before I call you in for another treatment."

"Is something the matter, Master Vanlo?" Sirinna asked. She lay her hand tenderly on one of Amanda's shoulders.

"Not at all, my dear."

Sirinna paused a moment and glanced at Amanda's leg herself. "The scar is not going down any further, is it, Master?"

Vanlo had to allow himself a small smile. That was rather bold for someone like Sirinna, as loyal to a fault as she was to her slave training. Roquan was not the only one that was seeing a streak of independence growing in Roquan's best Trainer. Vanlo was simply not as upset about it as Roquan often was. "It is proving to be a bit resilient to my normal treatments, yes."

Amanda gave both of them a puzzled look, but neither seemed to take notice of her. She quietly resented that. While she had made strides to be treated a little better than a common slave would be, sometimes people still lapsed into old patterns of treating her as if she were not there. She realized that this was just business as usual, but she had secretly hoped that her actions for Roquan during the Conclave might have earned her some additional consideration.

This was a mask for the true issue. What she really wanted was to shed some of her Trainee status. Her training had been accelerated prior to the Overlord Conclave, and she had done very well at it. She had learned sexual techniques and endurance in a fraction of the time that slaves normally did. She had hoped that would have earned her some additional privileges.

Instead, she still had her collar. She was still led around outside by a chain. She still had to have her hands bound behind her whenever she was outside and not actively training. And then there was the last problem, the one that really irked her.

"It is not a concern," Vanlo said as he turned away. Once his face was out of sight of the others, he let it reflect a little of the pain that was throbbing in his temples. He walked slowly to a counter top and started putting away the vials that contained ingredients for mixing his latest salve for the scar. "I shall do some more research, and come up with an altered formula for the salve. She is yours again, Sirinna."

Sirinna nodded slowly. She was unsatisfied with the answer, but knew not to question him further. She came around so that she was facing Amanda and gestured to her. With a small sigh through her nose, Amanda pushed herself off the examination table and automatically turned and crossed her wrists behind her back. Sirinna secured the leather cuffs to Amanda's wrists and reattached the chain to her collar. She gave the chain a light snap, and Amanda dutifully walked out ahead of her and into the light of day.

"Now, what's bothering you, Amanda?" Sirinna asked as they headed towards the main path.

"I'm not sure I should tell you, Mistress. You'll think it wasn't important."

"We've talked about that before," Sirinna said with gentle admonishment in her voice. "Everything you tell me is important."

"Yes, but not more important than my slave training."

"You know how I feel about that. It is important, but your happiness is equally important to me."

There was a long pause as they turned down the path towards their shared quarters at the southwest corner of the Manor. "I think Master Roquan forgot," she finally said.

"Forgot what, Amanda?"

"To keep his promise to me."

Had this been a moon ago, Sirinna would have immediately snapped the chain and lectured Amanda on having proper respect for the Overlord. To suggest that he would go back on his word was tantamount to insulting him. But things had changed since then, and she held back. "Go on," was all she said in response.

"He promised to get those scrolls for me to read. I haven't seen them yet, and he's always too busy nowadays for me to talk to him."

Amanda let the resentment show openly in her voice. She didn't care if she got in trouble for it. She could accept being a slave. She could accept that her primary purpose in life was to provide sexual pleasure for others. She could not accept letting her intelligence go unused. During the Conclave, she did not care for being put into harm's way, but at least she got to think for herself.

All she wanted to do was educate herself on the world in which she had to live for the rest of her life.

Sirinna admitted that she did not completely understand Amanda's desires. While it was true that some clients liked slaves to be versed in some intellectual matters -- and Roquan valued intelligence in his slaves anyway -- that was something which was always determined by the client and the Overlord, never the slave.

At the same time, she loved Amanda and wanted to see her happy. And she knew that Roquan had indeed agreed to provide the scrolls that Amanda wanted.

"It takes time to procure such things, Amanda. He cannot give you his copies, he needs those himself. He has to have the Writing Guild pen copies for him and send them to the Manor."

Amanda sighed. She knew that the technology of this world was more "primitive" than the Earth she was from, but she also knew they had magic. She wanted to say that they could use magic to speed delivery of the scrolls, but she knew that to do such a thing just because a mere slave wanted them was likely unheard of.

It was the same conflict that she had been dealing with since the end of the Conclave. The knowledge that she should know her place in this world was at odds with her desire to better herself.

As their residence came into view ahead of them, accompanied by the gentle roar of the ocean, Sirinna gave the chain a snap to stop Amanda. She came around and faced her lover. In a gentle voice she said, "Please, Amanda, be patient. Master Roquan has been very busy since the Conclave decided to give him their support."

"Do you have any idea what he's doing, Mistress?"

"No, not really. Only what you've told me."

"Master Roquan hasn't told you anything?"

"No."

"But he's called on you in the evenings quite a bit recently." There was a trace of resentment in her voice at this as well. Evenings were the only time that they had together, where they could be just lovers and not Trainer and Trainee. Yet Roquan was calling on her "services" almost every other night now.

"Yes, but not for talking," Sirinna said with a soft smile. She hesitated a moment as if considering her next words before continuing. "He's feeling a little... stressed. I've been helping him relax a little."

Amanda paused before nodding once. As much as she hated to admit it, it made sense to her. She knew the Overlords had agreed on nothing short of an overthrow of the current Emperor of Oceanus. Roquan had claimed to Amanda that he intended it to be bloodless. She couldn't understand how that was possible, given that the Emperor probably already knew that the Overlords were plotting against him.

It was something she tried not to dwell on. She had had her fill of political intrigue, enough to last her a lifetime. She didn't want to be part of that again. But it was hard not to worry.

And it was easy for Sirinna to pick up on this, as well as she knew her Trainee and lover. "There's no need to be so concerned about it. Master Roquan knows what he is doing. But it means that much of his attention is focused on it. He has to be allowed to do what he thinks is best for us."

Amanda nodded at this again. Still, she had her own ideas about what she thought was best for herself, and she was not at all sure that they were in sync with the Overlord's priorities. In fact, she was sure that they were not.

And if he knew what he was doing, he wouldn't have needed my help in the first place during the Conclave, Amanda thought, not daring to voice that aloud. As much as she knew Sirinna loved her, Sirinna was also her Trainer, and a statement like that would have earned her a paddling.

"Come along, Amanda, it's getting close to the midday meal," Sirinna said, gesturing rather than tugging on the chain, much to Amanda's relief. "We have a lot to do this afternoon."

Amanda looked at Sirinna in surprise as she started to walk again. "We do?"

"Yes. Remember, I told you this morning, we were going to start you on the next major part of your training."

"Oh, um, yes," Amanda said awkwardly.

"You forgot what I told you, didn't you?"

Amanda sighed. "Yes, Mistress."

They came to the door to their quarters, a set of connected circular structures made from wood poles and thatch. Sirinna reached forward and opened the door, letting her charge in first. Inside, a large bed was located under a wide window that faced the ocean, a cool breeze blowing in from the water. Opposite her, a veiled doorway led to Amanda's room.

Before Amanda could get more then halfway there, Sirinna snapped the chain sharply.

"Do you remember anything that I told you this morning, Amanda?"

Amanda immediately detected the change in Sirinna's tone. "No, Mistress," she said resignedly.

"I did tell you that it was important for you to listen, didn't I?"

"I think you did, yes, Mistress."

A despondent sigh. "Bend over, Amanda."

Amanda was already in the position by the time the words finished coming out of Sirinna's mouth. She did not brace herself. A good slave simply accepted punishment and did nothing to try to diminish it or get out of it. She winced each time Sirinna's hand slapped one of her ass cheeks but made not a sound nor shed a single tear. She received five swats on each cheek.

"Stand."

Amanda straightened and silently cursed when she felt warm dampness in her sex.

Sirinna stepped around in front of Amanda. She gave Amanda an admonishing gaze and spoke in a serious voice. "Remember what I told you, Amanda. Indiscretions are tolerated less the further you are in your training."

"Yes, Mistress."

Sirinna reached up and stroked Amanda's hair. "I don't like having to punish you."

"I know, Mistress," Amanda said in a lower voice.

Sirinna smiled softly and released Amanda from the cuffs and chain. "I'll tell you again what we're going to be doing," she said as she slipped the items under her bed. "Now please, Amanda, pay attention to me this time."

"I will, Mistress, I'm sorry."

"The next thing I'm going to start teaching you is orgasm control. You know how I have been giving you those exercises to do the past week?"

Amanda nodded. She remembered them well because they left her sore in odd places the first two days she did them before she realized she was doing them wrong. The exercises were hard to do at first because she had not been consciously aware of the muscle until after some coaxing.

"That's was in preparation for this. You can use those muscles to control how quickly you cum. You can use it to slow down your buildup towards release, or stop from cumming altogether. Or you can go the other way and speed up your orgasm. Some are able to achieve enough control to use it to stimulate themselves to climax without touching themselves. Not many are able to get to that point, so don't worry if you don't make it."

Amanda just nodded again. She was not surprised that this information had not stuck with her that morning. With everything she had on her mind, plus the complexity of this task, it was little wonder she had forgotten most of it soon after it had been told to her.

"What's important, Amanda, and this is where you need to listen carefully... don't attempt more than you think you're ready for. The last thing you want to do is seriously strain that sort of muscle, because it takes awhile for it to heal, even with the help of someone like Master Vanlo."

That was another thing that was weighing heavily on Amanda's mind. She was sure that there was something wrong with Vanlo. He didn't seem to have the same spirit he once did. It was clear during the examination that he had given her that morning. He had ended it rather abruptly, without even so much as giving them a final smile and good wishes as they left like he used to do.

She was frustrated. She was coming to like more people here in the Manor than perhaps she had intended. She was becoming more part of the Manor than she had expected. Until now she had not seen past the blinders of her relationship with Sirinna, which had been her sole reason for staying in Narlass and becoming a slave.

Amanda suddenly felt a touch on her arm. "Yes, Mistress?"

"Are you sure you're listening, Amanda?" asked Sirinna.

Amanda paused a moment before replying. "Don't strain the muscle because it takes time to heal. Got it."

"Please remember that, love. It's very important. I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Well, I don't want to see me get hurt either." When she realized how sarcastic that might sound, she amended it with, "I'm sorry, Mistress. I just don't want you to be worried about me."

"I'm allowed to worry about you. I'm more than just your Trainer, you know."

Amanda smiled. It helped to hear Sirinna say this.

Sirinna's hand left Amanda's shoulder and trailed gently down one arm. She smiled and slid her hand across to one of Amanda's round breasts, stroking the nipple. Amanda closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting it go as a pleasant sigh as her nipple rose and hardened at her lover's touch. She felt a tingle of anticipation go through her body.

"Let's have the midday meal inside today, Amanda," Sirinna said softly, giving Amanda's breast a gentle squeeze. "And I'll make up for having to see Roquan last night."

Amanda leaned into the touch, quivering slightly as heat gathered in her sex. "Thank you, Sirinna," she said huskily, snuggling against her lover.

Sirinna slid a hand behind Amanda and drew her close. It slipped down over the backs of her thighs, nudging them. Amanda slid her feet apart and let Sirinna reach between her legs and touch her moistening folds. She closed her eyes and moaned into the side of one of Sirinna's breasts.

Sirinna gave Amanda's slit a few slow caresses with her fingertips before withdrawing it and reluctantly pulling away. She gave Amanda a knowing smile. "Let me go get some food for us before we get any further. I'll be right back."

Amanda smiled and nodded as she watched Sirinna turn and leave. She was not entirely sure if they would get to the meal first.

Vanlo walked the paths of the Manor in the bright midday sun as he always did in lieu of taking the midday meal, his robe swishing about his legs. Despite the lingering throbbing in his temples, his mind felt unusually clear this far into the day. He was having more of these episodes of increased lucidity, telling him that perhaps some of the side-effects of the potion were temporary in nature.

Yes, side-effects. The pain and fogging of his mind were not the intended purpose of whatever formula had been foisted on him without his knowledge in the waning days of the Overlord Conclave over a moon ago. To do such a thing would be meaningless, unless as a particularly cruel prank. He had not been in any position to uncover some great truth about the conspiracy against the Overlords, thus it made no sense to wish to remove his mental faculties at that particular time.

These were the conclusions he had come to about what had happened to him. Now he had the unenviable task of informing his Overlord.

As he turned onto the northern-most path of the Manor, the one that passed the Overlord's quarters, he passed a group of three slaves. As was typical in an Overlord Manor, they were young, beautiful, and nude. They smiled and waved at him as he passed.

For the first time in awhile, Vanlo smiled back. This seemed to please them.

Vanlo turned up the path to the Overlord's quarters. It rose ahead of him, similar in shape to the slave quarters, with three adjoining circular sections. The one immediately ahead of him, the outer chamber, was different from slave quarters in that it was made of the more common wood and stone construction. Since it was often used to receive guests of the Manor, or to conduct a Farview audience, a more "impressive" structure was required.

Vanlo hesitated at the door. He hated to bother Roquan. The man was so busy and so stressed lately. While walking the Manor grounds, he hid it well from his slaves, but none can hide such things from one's Healer. Even though officially he no longer considered himself the Manor's Healer, old habits died hard.

Vanlo lifted his hand to knock, and was startled when the door abruptly opened before him. A somewhat harried Overlord looked back.

"Begging your pardon, your Lordship..." said Vanlo.

"My apologies, Vanlo..." began Roquan at the same time.

The two fell silent for a moment.

"If this a bad time..." Vanlo finally began in an uncertain voice.

"No, not at all, I was just heading off for the midday meal," replied Roquan, his deep and steady voice betraying a slight bit of agitation.

"Then I can come back another time..."

"Nonsense," Roquan snapped. He stepped aside and gestured into the outer chamber of his quarters.

Vanlo hesitated a moment, but then nodded and stepped inside.

The first thing that struck him about the place was the lack of order. This was most unusual for the Overlord. Roquan prided himself on being organized and neat at all times. His outer chamber was his work area, and he always felt that a cluttered work area was the sign of a cluttered mind. The fact that appearance was no longer as important to him meant that something was not right with the man.

Roquan's desk sat near the door. Parchments lay strewn haphazardly across it. A partially unrolled map of Oceanus lay nearly buried beneath them. Some scrolls lay on the floor. Vanlo felt almost embarrassed for the Overlord at the mess.

Roquan strode past him towards a small table near the entrance to his bedchamber. He picked up the goblet that sat upon it and took a long drink of the red wine contained within before turning and facing his Healer. If there was one thing that had not changed, it was his bearing. He held himself proud and erect, his head lifted high and his gaze as cool and steady as always. His dark brown hair, graying at the fringes, was impeccably groomed.

He put down the goblet, folded his hands behind his back and squared back his broad shoulders, his shirt stretching across his chest and showing the bulge of his musculature as he strode calmly towards his Healer. "What may I do for you, Vanlo?" he asked in a much more controlled voice.

Vanlo glanced at the desk again for a moment, then looked back at his Overlord. "Hmm, yes," he mumbled, thoughtfully stroking his beard. "It seems I am in a bit of a quandary, your Lordship."

One of Roquan's eyebrows rose slightly.

"I am not at all sure if it is appropriate that I bring this to your attention at this time."

Roquan sighed. "What has gone wrong now?" His voice remained steady and commanding, but there was a hint of resignation in his eyes.

"Oh, no, nothing like that, your Lordship. I do not bring words of disaster to you."

"That is well and good. I already have enough disaster to deal with as it is."

"Oh?"

This simple syllable, spoken as it was, was Vanlo's way of gaging his Overlord's stress. If his stress were low, he would wave a hand and dismiss it, and insist that Vanlo get to the point. If his stress were high, he would actually confide in Vanlo what was bothering him.

There was a long pause. In the silence, Roquan stepped over to his desk and sat down heavily in the chair, turning it to face his Healer. He gestured at the documents littering his desk. "We have nothing."

"I beg your pardon, your Lordship?"

"Nothing. No contacts. No inside men. No favored clan members. No related nobility in good standing. Nothing at all."

Vanlo looked thoughtful for a moment. He was quite surprised that the Overlord was speaking of this. In fact, it was such that he had to confirm it for himself. "You speak of the Overlords' decision at the Conclave?"