War's Rose

The Slave

        The sun is just starting to come over the horizon as Aries wakes.  Training will start soon, and he will need to be ready for the newcomers to his ranks. As the head dragon of their horde's forces he likes to oversee the training of the new recruits. He slowly stretches as his arms up towards the ceiling since they can’t go above his head as they would hit the wall. With his massive frame he must get out of bed to stretch completely. Even for a dragon he his rather big but as a War dragon that’s not uncommon. War dragons are made for battle so size can really help in his field. He stands near the opening of his room that overlooks the forest soaking in some of the warm rays from the sun. His skin is proof that he loves the sunlight with the tan that covers his body. He stands there a little bit longer before getting dressed. He decides to leave his hair down and dress in a simple shirt and pants as he will not be doing any training personally but just testing the kids. His long black hair would normally be braided back into war braids but today is going to be a fairly light day.

        Once ready he heads to the kitchen for a quick bite to eat. Working his way through the halls of the mountain they call home he arrives to find breakfast almost done and smelling amazing! He walks in and all the slaves give a respectful bow to acknowledge his presence. He gives a nod, and everyone returns to what they are doing. He makes his way over to the cook, who is his favorite person in the world right now. A short older woman who you could say was plump. She had a mix of silver and white hair pulled back into a bun. Aries liked the fact Ma looked like she was well feed, he wasn't sure if he could trust a cook if they were too thin, that just isn't right. He half laughed at the thought. "Good morning Ma. How is everything running this morning?" Ma looks up and smiles at him. "As well as every other morning" she laughed at him. It was always crazy in the kitchen when you are feeding a horde of dragons. Aries asks, "Is there anything I can do to help?" as he grabs and apple off the table and eats half of it in one bite. Ma looks at him and chuckled at his lack of manners. "Well yes there is something you can do. I need that pot off the top shelve and no one is tall enough to get it". Ma always used him for his height and strength.  So, with a slight smirk on his face he walks over and gets the pot for her and sets it on the stove. "Well if that's all this morning I need to be off" he says as he is headed for the door. Ma stops him and hands him a fresh biscuit while she says, "Have fun with the new ones". 

        It's still pretty early for dragons so not many were out and about yet. The young ones are up with the sun, so he must be as well. Training takes place in the forest near the mountain where they have everything set up to test the young dragons’ skills. He's been doing this for so long now he can tell a young dragon's strength and weakness within the first few weeks. Training starts when they can transform into their dragon, typically this happens in their early teens. There is only 5 in this batch to train so today shouldn't be too bad just as long as there are no accidents. 

        He arrives early and gets comfy on a large rock as finishes the last few bites of his breakfast. As he was staring off into the woods taking in the beauty of nature, he hears the giggles and laughs from his excited new recruits. It makes him smile to see them so excited to be here and he welcomes them to their first day.      

        Aries introduces himself to them and tells them about the testing they will be doing to decide where they will be placed. He tells them training will not be easy and neither will the tests, but they are going to help build them into the best dragons they can be and in turn help the Horde be the greatest it can be too.

        They tested their abilities with fire, flight, stealth and a few others for magic they might not know about yet. The 5 in this batch all seem to do well at the tests, he can already tell 2 of them will be war dragons like him. The others are showing promise in the areas of healers and caretakers. In a few more weeks he will give them a final test and place them with their new trainers to help them hone in their skills. After hours of testing the young dragons Aries let everyone break for lunch and gave them a little homework to think about. "What job would you like or think you would be good at? and how will you be able to help the Horde by doing it?"  He asked them. he told them to take the afternoon off and go explore the mountain and talk to other dragons about their stations. Knowing what the young dragons are interested in helps him place them in a station where they can grow and flourish.  

        Aries walked back to the mountain slowly not exactly happy about the happenings this afternoon. The traveling merchants were here to sell their goods and some of those goods include Humans. The Horde Aries lives in doesn't like the selling of humans at all. All the slaves in the mountain are well taken care of. Food, shelter and an allowance are given to them all. They all have the option to buy their freedom and leave if they want or stay. The Horde only buys new slaves when it's low on workers and someone has put in a request for more help. Unfortunately, we need people for the kitchen, the gardens and the infants’ room. The Lord of the Horde and Aries are the main ones to pick out the slaves but the people who need the help are welcome to come along and give input. Aries makes his way to the market area to meet up with Lord Draven and get this done and over with. Maybe he might have some time to himself if this goes quickly.

"Lord" Aries says as he sees Draven at the opening of the market. Draven tells Aries the slave traders are at the other end and have slave in cages. Aries finds himself balling up his hands into fists and clenching his jaw as not to go off on them. Soon he hears a familiar voice, Ma is here to help pick out the kitchen help. She does a slight curtsy to the Lord and Aries before asking "Is everything ok?" Lord Draven lets he know of the conditions the slaves are in and she does a slight gasp before shaking her head in a sad manner. They all make their way over to the caged slaves and Ma hold back some tears for the poor souls. Aries hangs back as he is not sure how he will react to the display in front of him. Draven starts talking to the Merchants and seeing how much it's going to cost to buy the 4-5 slaves they needed. Money isn't an issue, but he doesn't want to give any more than need be to these horrible people. Ma sees 2 young boys that would be great in the kitchen and as they grew up, they could transition into roles more suited for men. Draven agrees, he pays for the boys and hands them over to Ma. Ma looks at the boy who are maybe around 9-10 years old and says, "I bet you boys are hungry, would you like some stew for lunch?" The boys node in a nervous manner. Ma holds out her hands to the boys and they slowly take one hand each and follow her to the kitchen. Seeing that Ma has that handled Draven and Aries move on to looking for the other stations needing filled. They find a male and female to work in the gardens. And now we are just left with someone for the nursery. They keep looking and walking down the row of cages. All of a sudden Aries grabs Draven’s arm in almost a death grip. Draven looks at Aries and asks, “What is it?" As Draven is not sure what's going on for Aries to be acting like this. Aries and Draven mind link to finish this conversation as Aries doesn't want the merchants to hear.    

"Lord, I think that one is my mate . . ." Aries says as he finally starts to breathe again. Aries nodes towards a girl in a small cage on the floor. The cage is so small she can’t even sit up straight. Her long brown almost black hair is finding her face and most of her body is hard to see cause of the way she is sitting. Draven looks at Aries trying to stay emotionless as to not give anything away. "Are you sure? Draven doesn't know what to think mates are so hard to find and people will try and use them to gain leverage against a dragon. Aries Looks at Draven and gives him a slight nod, that told Draven everything he needed. Draven got one of the merchants and told him they would need one more slave. Aries went and found another female to fill the remaining station as Draven paid for His Mate and the last slave they needed. Once done they took the adults to the kitchen to be feed because who knows when they were last feed a decent meal. Draven lead the way as Aries followed behind them. His mate was last in the line and he couldn't help but stare at her. He could smell her more clearly now that she wasn’t surrounded by all the other slaves and it was so sweet that he imagined she would be sweeter than any desert Ma could make. Aries was able to see some of her figure for the first time as she stood up, he could make out bits and pieces of what curves she still had the outfit she was wearing was not helping with how large it was. She was so small compared to him, she almost looked like a child next to him.  He still has no clue as to what she looks like, her face was still hidden by her hair and she looked down the entire time they walked. He watched as she followed the other slaves, her hair was longer than he had thought, and now in the light the color seemed to change a bit the undertones gave her hair a deep red glow. Her hair swayed back and forth as she walked, it was so long it was down past her hips. Aries was using all his will power to keep his distance and not too scare her. Dragons are very overprotective of their mates and he was already starting to feel it. 

        Draven brought the new slaves to a small room off the kitchen to explain to them how this Horde is run. Aries still having control issues stayed at the back of the room near the door. Draven started to talk "I am Lord Draven, I run this Horde. You have been bought to fill station needing help. As slaves you will be given food, clothes and shelter. We will feed you first and then move on to getting you clean and clean clothes for you to wear. In this Horde you will not be treated as you have been previously. We believe you are an extension of us, and we don't want our slaves looking like this. As long as you do your work and behave you have nothing to fear from us. However, disobey or cause chaos and you will be punished. This is a lot to take in, so we will get you settled in and show you who to report to in the morning. As for now eat and we will get you bathed and clothed before showing you your rooms."  Draven gives me a nod and I look over to Ma who has the boys we got earlier ready to go with food for the new slaves. As the boys serve them with Ma watching over, Draven and Aries step just outside the door. Draven "What do you want to do with her? . . .”