Chapter 1

The following characters appear in the first few chapters:

Gabriell (Gabe)

Duke of Pembrook and Prince of the North, 5’-6” tall, 175 pounds, 60 years old#, barrel chested, gray hair, green eyes.

Cecilia (Celia)

a. Age 13#, Slave girl, 4’-11” tall, 95 pounds, 32B-20-30, long auburn hair, gray eyes, so cute.

b. Age 18, Daughter, 5’-2” tall, 115 pounds, 34D-22-34, long auburn hair, gray eyes, beautiful.

c. Age 35, Son’s lover, 5’-2” tall, 125 pounds, 34D-23-35, long auburn hair, gray eyes, still cute.

Thirteen and a half year old Cecilia lay on the cold ground with only a piece of towel for a cover. Celia was already in a fetal position trying to crawl under the towel so it would cover her small body. It was a losing proposition. What had once been a large, thick, fluffy towel was now only a thin remnant, half its original size and thickness.

The fetal position would help her conserve body heat. Her back and butt were on fire from the beating she had received for vomiting all over the young Count when he had shoved his cock down her throat and made her gag. His long cock had not stopped the contents of her stomach from flowing up and around it, and spewing out all over him and her. Her back and butt may have been on fire, but the rest of her was slowly freezing in the very cold early November night.

Celia tried to stop crying, as she was afraid the tears would freeze, and she would be unable to see. She was aware that she was badly hurt, and that the weather was not good. The north country got winter earlier than the rest of the kingdom, and winter was harder here than elsewhere. What really scared her though was not freezing to death, which was likely tonight, but the Count’s dogs. They were free to roam all over the estate and were nearly wild. All of the slave girls feared going out alone because of them. It was widely believed that they were responsible for a number of disappearances. Celia feared being eaten alive by the dogs more than anything else. Tonight she also feared freezing to death for it was very cold. The wind was calm now, but there were heavy clouds – portending snow.

But even her fears could not keep her poor tired body awake any longer. The beating and the cold had taken their toll on her, and she closed her eyes and was soon unconscious. It had started to snow, but she was unaware of that.

A short time later a gray shape emerged from the tree line near the manor. He was a man, short but broad, well built and muscular even in his old age. His clothes were a little tattered but warm. The boots on his feet were still in very good condition. He advanced through the swirling snow toward the house and its entry steps.

What he saw in the dim light of evening, as he approached the steps, stopped him cold in his tracks. What was this bump in the snow with a partial towel over it? Could it be an animal? He knelt to investigate it. His shock at discovering a young early teen girl lying there curled up in a ball was extreme. When his fingers touched her back and discovered its torn and bloody condition, it turned his shock to rage. Who would do such a thing? What kind of animal would treat a child like this? He knew that he must do something and fast. The child was very cold, and this storm looked like it would be a bad one. His arthritis had warned him earlier that day that bad weather was coming.

It was obvious that the house was not the solution to the problem. Clearly, someone in there had sent her out into the cold. It had been a long time since he had visited here, but he remembered a gardener’s shack. It was set off from the house a ways and separated from it by trees. The old gardener of the time had stayed there, and tended the house gardens and lawns. If he could find it, he knew that it had a fireplace and that there had been stacks of firewood there in the past.

Gabe picked up the girl, he had discovered it was a girl quickly, in his arms and held her close to his chest. She wasn’t very heavy even for an old man. As he held her with one arm, he pulled his cloak around more to his front to cover the girl.

In the swirling snow, it was difficult to see and get oriented. The fact that the trees growing around the manor had changed considerably since his last visit did not help. Also the fact that it had been a good while ago made it hard to remember. After several minutes, Gabe decided on a direction and headed toward the trees again. The swirling snow soon covered his tracks as it had started to snow even more heavily.

When Gabe got into the trees, he stopped and looked around more carefully. The snow was somewhat abated here, and soon he was able to make out a way through the trees and headed for it. After traveling about one hundred yards or so, he came to what had been the old gardener’s shack. It had only been in fair condition in the past and was less so now. The glass was gone from the windows, and there were boards over the windows now. The door hung open by its one remaining hinge. The roof sagged and the grass had grown tall around the shack. The chimney still stood, though how well it would work was open to question.

Even though the front of the building was a mess there was still hope as it was built into a small hill and the back portion was totally surrounded by earth, even the roof only went back halfway. The back was like a cave. If it had not caved in, it should be snug and dry in there. Still it would be better in there than out here in the snow. If the storm got worse, and it looked that way, it would be the only survivable solution.

Gabe grasped the door, pushed it further open, and moved into the shack. The first few feet were a real disaster of broken glass, weeds and garbage, thrown in by someone or blown in by the wind. A few feet in, the floor was reasonably clean. The furniture was all broken, but there was still a mattress on the floor inside the partial bed frame. Gabe placed the girl on the mattress and put his cloak over her. He removed his backpack and got out his fire starter kit. The dried weeds would do for tinder for starting the fire and some of the furniture would have to do for fuel initially.

The shack was cold, but there was not much snow, or the wind that had risen so recently, inside. He had replaced the door in its frame and propped it up there. Gabe soon had a small fire going in the old fireplace. He would need to find more firewood soon.

With the fire started, Gabe turned to care for the girl he had found. She was so small, not more than 4’-11” tall, and light, maybe 95 pounds, and just at the point of blooming into womanhood with small breasts, but breasts nevertheless. There was no hair between her legs yet, just a hint of color there. The auburn hair on her head was long and clotted with blood now from her back. She had an oval face and the cutest little nose. Her mouth and lips were bruised, and there was the smell, and a trace of vomit down her front. She was still unconscious and cold.

Gabe moved her closer to the fireplace and added more wood to the fire, which soon picked up. At this rate of usage it would soon be gone though. He needed to find more. Leaving the girl wrapped in his cloak by the fire, he moved the door aside and went out into the storm, carefully pulling the door closed behind him.

In the time that he had been in the shack, the storm had significantly increased in intensity. The wind, in particular, was very strong now. Gabe knew that they would need a good supply of firewood if they were to have a chance of surviving the storm.

It was difficult to see, as the wind was now driving the snow in all directions as it constantly shifted. He found a stick, and used it to find his way in the storm. On the backside of the small hill, he found the wood pile. He also found another door behind the wood pile. On opening the door, he discovered a small tunnel that led into the rear of the gardener’s shack. Someone had tunneled through the small hill at some time to get to this wood pile. It certainly was lucky for him, as otherwise he would have had great difficulty carrying in enough wood to keep them warm during the storm.

Gabe stacked as much wood in the tunnel as was possible and then returned down it to the front of the shack. The tunnel, like everything else about the gardener’s shack, had not been well cared for. It did not look like it would cave in though, at least not for a while. The tunnel led into the back of the shack – to a storage area there. He could tell that there were some things against the wall, but it was really too dark to see anything well. He would have to check it later.

Carrying an arm load of firewood, Gabe returned to the front of the shack. He stored most of the wood by the side of the fireplace and carefully placed two pieces on the existing fire so they could catch and burn well. The wood was old and dry, and would make a nice fire without a lot of smoke.

Now with the fire secured, Gabe turned his attention to the girl. Even though she had been wrapped in his cloak and near the fire, she was still very cold. He sat down next to her, and began rubbing her arms and legs to return circulation to them. He needed to do something for her back also. The problem being he had brought very little in the way of medical supplies with him, also very little in the way of extra clothes, and this poor girl needed both. For now the most he could do was try to clean up her back as best he could with what was available, and see what he could locate here in the shack. The storm made it unlikely he would be going anywhere for some time.

On the side of the fireplace was an old cast iron pot and a kettle. Both could be hung from the rusty old crane in the fireplace. Gabe took both to the door. He carefully opened it and went out into the storm to gather snow in the vessels. Upon returning and closing the door, he hung both on the crane to heat over the fire and melt the snow.

Gabe then took the small candle from his pack, lit it from the fire, and returned to the storage room. It proved to be a real treasure trove. The old gardener had certainly been a meticulous and neat person, and had kept his things in order. There was a partial box of candles there. There were two small men’s shirts, one woolen and one linen, and a pair of heavy canvas pants for a small man or a boy. All were folded nicely on a shelf. There was dust on top of them, but they were otherwise clean.

There were also several small crocks marked grain on the next lower shelf. There was a small jar of some kind of salve on the shelf with the crocks. There were numerous gardening tools all hung neatly on the walls. Obviously someone had taken considerable care in setting this room up. Lastly there was, over in one corner, a large, clean, empty crock. It was clean because it was turned upside down and nothing could fall into it. Gabe gathered the clothes, candles, salve, and one of the grain crocks; and placed them in the large crock. Lastly he selected a clean trowel, placed it in the large crock and returned to the front room with everything.

The snow had melted by now and the water in the kettle was quite warm. Gabe took the towel remnant and used it with the water to cleanup the girl, starting on her front to remove the smell of vomit from her. Then he turned her over on her belly and started on her back with a clean section of the towel. As gently as he could he wiped the girl’s back to clean up the dried blood and debris there. She moaned in her unconscious state. Finally he placed the jar of salve in the pot of hot water to warm and soften it. He then applied the salve to the girls back as gently as possible. The girl moaned some more.

Having accomplished this much, Gabe removed the old mattress from floor below the partial bed frame and moved it close to the fireplace. He removed his blanket from his pack and placed it on the mattress. He then placed the girl on the blanket and folded the other half of the blanket over her so the open side was toward the fire.

Donning his cloak, Gabe took the large crock and the trowel, and went outside to gather more snow in the large crock. When it was full, he returned to the shack and carefully closed the door. The storm had picked up even more, if that was possible. It would be a while blowing over. They were fortunate to have this place to stay in, as anyone out in the storm would not survive. Gabe took the large crock, now full of snow, over by the fire to warm up and melt the snow.

Next Gabe opened the small crock of grain. It was well sealed with wax and the grain was still good. Taking the pot and emptying the water out of it into the large crock, he sat it near the fire to dry. When the pot was dry he placed some of the grain in it and used the end of the trowel handle to mash the grain as best he could. When satisfied with his work, he poured water from the kettle into the pot with the mashed grain and hung it on the crane to cook.

He checked the girl, and finding her still asleep, decided to leave her that way till the food was done, or she awoke by herself. The fire and blanket had warmed her up considerably, though she was still a little cold.

Gabe sat and relaxed for a while as the grain was cooking. It was the first chance to relax that he had had since finding the girl out by the steps. He definitely thought that he was getting too old for this.

He had come up here to check on stories of a radically reduced deer herd in the area. This area, Buckland, had always been known for its large deer herds and excellent hunting. Yet this year, early hunters had returned with tales of poor hunting, and a drastically reduced herd size. No one knew why, but certainly this had not happened in one year. He had come to see for himself.

It was during these musings that the door gave away to the increased winds, and the shack was instantly flooded with blowing snow and ice cold air. Gabe jumped up and quickly moved to the doorway. He picked up the fallen door and managed to jam it back in place. The last leather hinge had given way, which allowed the wind to blow the door down. That same wind still pushed against the door with considerable force. How he would keep it in place was the question, and he didn’t have an answer right now. He had nothing to repair the hinge with and no tools in any event. Perhaps he could find something in the back room, if he could find a way to keep the door up while looking.