Closed Welcoming The Darkness Within (Shai/GF'd)

[Nya Winters]

Timestamp: The Entirety of Summer 511 AVPermission to post a Grandfathered Thread.
Location: The Ebonstryfes Prison
Status: Abashai

Nya had never been penned up. In those early days in the dim light of the cell they rested in, Nya remembered little. She had no clue as to the passage of time since there was no access to the sun or the stars or even anything living - besides the occasional rat - to know what season it was. There were scents she remembered, some of them her keepers, some of them others she'd met before, out in the world. There was food when she was hungry, always tainted with an odd taste that kept her weak and pliable. In those early days, questions came frequently, often things she could not answer nor did she understand. Sometimes she'd seek to borrow the answers from Abashai's once bright mind, but it too was dull and sedated, as if there were more important things in the world than thinking.

They were kept together, but they did not have the same keepers. Abashai had people that came and took him at times which at first really bothered her, but as whatever they gave her sunk deeper and deeper into her mind she cared less and less. She remembered Almaras, for he seemed to often be around checking on her and supervising the times they let her stretch as her true form, running in staggering steps in a courtyard that did not open to the sky. On her first day in the prison, something had happened, something she couldn't remember other than the taste of blood in her mouth as she'd killed someone who'd carelessly thought to separate her from her bondmate before she was thoroughly re-drugged. The kelvic had taught her a lesson that day, shifting instantly and rolling her to the ground over and over again until he had her throat in his jaws and forced her submission. She'd regurgitated human bones later that day, ill from the drugs her body wasn't used too.

After that, there was less lucidity and everything in the early days was as a dream. Shai was taken away often, but always returned, and they were both questioned together and then apart after liquid was forced down their throats that loosened their tongues. Nya would have loved to say she told them nothing, but the truth was she told them everything. Abashai did too. They both were questioned so often and thoroughly that after a time Nya felt like her keepers knew more about her than she knew about herself.

Their prison wasn't as she had expected stories of dank dark places to be. It was gilded simplicity, elegant and clean, an open cell made of black marble that some craftsman had thought to carve decoratively even up towards the ceiling. The back wall was solid, but on three sides there were only bars separating their spaces from other spaces - some occupied, some empty - in a fashion that reminded Nya of a horse stable that was closed up tight for winter. No light could be seen at all, other than what burned from torches that gave off a blue flame. There were no furniture in their cell other than two straw pallets the two of them had pushed together and a chamberpot with no bail.

The cell was thirty paces deep and thirty across, just large enough for Nya to shift to her forest cat form and pace or and curl around Abashai when they slept on nights otherwise too cold and which Nya's keepers hadn't made her wear a collar to hold her in human form. The guards gave them no blankets. Their gear had been taken from them and they both wore prison garb. Nya had a knee-length shift, the type one pulled over ones head. It had no sleeves she could hide things in nor a belt she could hang herself with. Shai wore a tunic equally sleeveless and a thin pair of pants that held themselves on with buttons rather than a drawstring he could use for a garrotte.

For days... perhaps seasons... they'd existed as if in a dream. Nya hadn't even felt a breeze to talk to or was able to summon winds to ask after her Lord when she could be bothered to remember she served a higher power at all. Her apathy was expansive. She ate when food was placed before her and she drank when the water was refilled. She instinctively stayed by Shai's side, but his mind was equally as silent as hers under the influence of whatever it was they'd been treated with.

Nothing had changed, not the questioning, not the observations until one day Nya and Shai's separate keepers met in front of their cell. They held a meeting of sorts, one Nya all but missed due to her intense focus on a crack in the marble ornamentation at the top of their cell. She did not know if Shai knew what was going on, possibly because she did not care or more likely because she couldn't fight the haze that always kept her 'elsewhere'.

The meeting concluded and an agreement was reached. "We'll take them off the drugs. We've learned all we are going to with them in this state. All at once is better than gradually weaning them because we want to see how tough they are and how they respond to two withdrawls at once with their bond. I have a feeling the withdrawls will jumpstart a great many of their unique skills and we'll start gaining new insights." One of Shai's keepers said. He was someone important, vaguely, though Nya had no idea why.

They ate that night and their food had no accustomed strange taste to it. They ate again that next morning and some of the haze began to clear from their mind. At the same time Shai began to have slight tremors in his limbs as a strange craving - a pull - began to fill his senses. Nya was slower to react, but once it hit her the keepers had to collar her because her pacing in her true form began to endanger Abashai's welfare as her eyes cleared and turned feverish all in rapid succession the next evening.

And with that clearing of her gaze came the rage that was clouded only by the nausia that filled her physical form - withdrawals from drugs she hadn't by choice taken.

[Abashai]

Helplessness was a hollow, wretched condition. Abashai had only been truly helpless once in his life. The two of them stood in the courtyard of Tallshade's keep, Shai in front of Nya, her chest pierced by the suvai in his hand, and he knew she was dead. He was helpless to save her, to bring her back. In that moment, help came to him by the divine hand of Dira. Now, no deity came to offer the benshiran succor, even Yahal. Not even his Nya, beloved over the ages, could do anything to ease his suffering. His body had revolted against him. It clamored for the substance their captors had supplied in their laced rations. Muscles, strong and powerful, tremored involuntarily as if he were a feeble crone. His stomach refused to settle, and the first days his body was wracked with bouts of vomiting. His heart raced, pounded in his chest, as if freed from its own lethargy and striving to escape the confines of his ribcage. But as his body hungrily processed the remnant of the narcotics in his system, the drug-induced fog slowly lifted from Abashai's mind. Little of their captivity remained. The man did not recall his arrival to the prison, marked by a violent struggle. In a rare fit of rage, Abashai summoned his gnosis of ennervism, his superhuman strength required four men to contain him, after leave three writhing on the ground with crushed bones. His only memory were flashes of questioning, nights curled up against Nya, coming and going, as his mate likewise disappearing and reappearing. As lucidity returned, Shai's indignation and rage smoldered, suppressed by the illness of withdraw. Nya appeared alright, physically, aside from the symptoms of the withdraw. He realized she wore a collar now, one he would have hastily removed had it not been secured with a sound lock. In the first days of the withdrawals, the bondmates did not speak much, and the unity connecting their minds and souls lay silent. Human and kelvic struggled alone, the distance created in their prolonged stupor only leaving them with an instinct that they belonged together. Their powerful connection had laid dormant from disuse for a period of time neither could determine. It returned as the drugs left. basic primal sensory information at first. Their suffering was doubled, as each experienced the others pain, nausea and cravings on top of their own. It rendered Abashai virtually immobile at times, leaving him curled up on the floor in a puddle of vomited bile. But as time passed, the more complex sharing of thoughts began to reestablish. Sporadic sleep and lack of any reference from the world made it difficult to determine the number of days that passed before the couple recovered, they estimate was just a few. But recover they did. Nya's animal single-mindedness was focused on becoming whole again, and the muttering of prayers to Yahal was once again heard in the marbled dungeon. Nya and Abashai recovered themselves, their bond, and their love....and a stalwart determination to survive. The circumstances of their capture was discussed, the events returning to their now coherent minds. Their assailants confessed to be Ebonstryfe. They knew about the shrine, how Nya and he defeated the Ebonstryfe patrol on the slopes of the Cobalts. They also knew that Rhysol had saved them from the mortal wounds they received in the battle. That favor was now to be repaid, the man with the ax had told them. Other than the slaves who brought food and emptied the chamber pot, and their escorting guards, there were no visits from those who had handled them. It was the first day Shai had noted the traces of physical need for the drug had subsided that vaguely familiar men appeared. Their voices, more than their appearance, resonated in Abashai's memory. Several armed guards accompanied the men, for the prisoners were no longer docile zombies. Almaras too was numbered among them. The benshiran moved to the iron-barred gate of their cell. His teeth gritted and lips curled back in a seething sneer, almost as if mimicking the kelvic cat's snarl. His hands gripped the bars, sturdy heavy bars he had strained to bend earlier, only able to elicit a slight creaking and a small bend in them even in the throes of his ennervism. Shai too had used reimancy to ply the marble floor and wall, perhaps to weaken the cage walls. But the stone was too dense, his skill too basic, or the stone protected by some magic, for the man to do much other than gouge some scratches into the surface. One of the men, the one Shai felt most familiar, spoke, his unperturbed gaze shifting from Abashai to Nya and back. "You have proven rather helpful to us, really. I apologize that we had to use such invasive means to gain the information we needed. You are grand and beautiful beings, to see you bereft of your clarity and will was somewhat saddening." The man pulled a small metal pick from somewhere up the sleeve of his cloak, pausing to use it to pry some unseen particle from between his teeth. It disappeared up the same sleeve. "Your usefulness to us is obvious, if not readily available. But it will come in time, and you will be far greater than you were when you were brought here. Do not fear, you will be released, when you are ready. In the meantime, attempts to escape are vain, and will bring...dire consequences. Cooperation, however, can expedite your release." A soulless smile crossed the man's lips as he turned and nodded to the guards and Almaras. "Separate them." He ordered. As the handlers retreated, the large lock on the door was released and two soldiers seized Abashai by the arms while two others held Nya at bay with swords. Two more waited in the corridor while a third guard unlocked the gate to the cell directly next to the couple's.

[Nya Winters]

It seemed to Nya that everything would be okay so long as they were together. The Ebonstryfe had taken great care to keep them together, and for that Nya had been somewhat grateful. The nights were cold and to her way of thinking Shai needed her protection, especially of her warmth, at night when the dark stone leached the heat right out of their bones. Withdrawl had ended that though, collaring her and effectively locking her in her human form. Still, she'd curled around her mate at night, warming him, even with her bare skin, and staving off sickness.

Now though, now that would all change. Kialandra saw to that. She was a Blacksun, as far as Nya could tell - beautiful in an unearthly way - and evidently in charge of Abashai's case. Nya was under Almaras' charge, perhaps because they were both Kelvic. And both observed when the men came to drag Shai out and into the chamber beside the one they occupied. It was identical in every way to the one they shared, and though they could see each other clearly through the bars, the only touch they had was of extended limbs... hands occasional cheeks pressed together. Nya could press herself against the bars all she wanted, but with the new situation, she couldn't keep Abashai warm at night.

Once separated, a man that gave no name, older and perhaps fifty, came to examine them. He was a physician of some sort and wore the robes of the Blacksun like Kialandra's were. He started with Abashai first, ordering him to strip so he could be examined. If the prisoner complied they would perform an ordinary exam noting his scars and any injuries he might have. It went swiftly, Abashai standing there like a lab animal while every part of him was examined carefully and blood, hair, and a small portion of flesh under his arm was taken.

"He's healthy enough. Seen many battles, but that's not uncommon. What is uncommon is the two marks from Yahal. I think we need to take this opportunity to test out the limits of what those marks can do." The physician said, nodding to the guards outside and what seemed to be an assistant standing with Kialandra and Alamaras. "Kialandra, you need to design some tests of strength and endurance for him. Find out what motivates him if he won't cooperate." He added, then dismissed Abashai without a second look and moved to Nya's cell.

He preformed a similar exam on her, though when it came to her reproductive organs, he was thorough and invasive. Nya snarled at him but Alamaras came to kneel beside her where the physician had her on her hands and knees like a beast, fisting his hands in her long brindled hair and jerking her face up to meet his gaze. "Behave." He snarled, beastlike in the manner of kelvics. "This will not be the first nor the last of this and if you don't make this easy for us, your bondmate will bear the brunt of the punishment." He said, looking irritated. Nya turned her gaze away from him, even as he kept her head firmly held, and met Shai's eyes through the bars. She bared her teeth a few times at what the doctor was doing, but didn't offer a fight, not with the collar on. When the physician was done, he shook his head and looked thoughtful.

"She's got scarring from some previous injuries. I'm not sure she'll be much good, but it won't hurt to try. Get her on the Lotus Vine to get her cycling and then Alamaras, I want you to breed her and see if you can't get her to catch. With our luck she'll welp out rabbits, but its worth a try. If we keep her long enough, we might be able to try different things like we have on the others to see what can be produced. Morwen knows how to make those bears of hers. It has to be an easy method, we just have to figure it out. I suspect it has to do with their dire natures, so you with her will be a good fit." The physician said and Alamaras released Nya, gave her a disgusted look, leaving. The guards remained which clued her in that the other kelvic would be back.

He was, and soon enough forcing a vial of liquid down her throat. "Four days of this and you won't hate me so much, kitten. You'll be down on the ground rubbing yourself all over me. I wonder if your bondmate will enjoy watching..." He said, then glanced up at Abashai, gave him a sideways smile, and walked out.

Nya was left alone, but evidently they weren't through with Shai. Several more guards returned with several lengths of iron bar, escorted by Kialandra, whom had the courtesy to not try and look too smug as she stared at the Benshira.

"Time for some testing... ready?" She added.

[Abashai]

Profound concern weighed on Abashai as he was dragged away from Nya and lead into the adjacent cell. It was a turn of events that he had been lulled into believing would not come. Through the entire ordeal, they were together, even if they were not always coherent enough to communicate or encourage one another. His mate's very presence had proven a precious tangible to which he could cling. The thought of losing that, unable to aid or defend her, maddened him. The benshiran resisted little, both because his body was still wracked by the symtpoms of withdraw, and the realization that escape was impossible. Nevertheless, he fixed a baleful, icy gaze on Almaras and the woman as he was stripped for the doctor. His gaze never left Almaras and Kialandra, his jaws clenched, but remained still through the examination. Not until the doctor and Almaras began manhandling Nya, treating her like a farm animal, did Abashai's rage escape. He slammed himself against the bars of his cage spitting out a deathly curses in shiber. Almaras' unphased reaction only fueled the benshiran's anger and feelings of futility. Abashai's eyes met the mossy green glance of his kelvic mate, holding it fast as if to feed her strength simply by his gaze. Shai's hands gripped the bars until his knuckles were white, hearing the doctor's orders. Breaths coming in rumbling bursts through gritted teeth, he waited as well until Almaras returned to Nya's cell, cursing him and pulling at the cell bars, watching him intently until the Black Sun left. Grateful that Nya had finally been left alone, Abashai turned his attention to the arrival of more guards, headed by Kialandra. They did not enter his cell, but stood just out of arms length. He walked to the cell door, the woman's penetrating gaze meeting her prisoner's. Testing. Abashai glanced at the iron bars in the arms of guards, then back to the woman. "I will not perform for you." He hissed, turning his back and walking over to the side of his cell adjacent to Nya's. Suddenly there was a loud clatter as Kialandra tossed one of the metal bars into the cell. "Bend it." Abashai remained standing with his back to his handler, unmoved, his gaze turning towards Nya. Kialandra's silky, soft voice drifted through the prison. "You are no common soldier, Abashai. You are an intelligent man, wise even. You can already see where this will go. Do you exhibit such boldness for her sake?" There was the snap of fine fingers, and the benshiran could see two guards unlocking Nya's cell door. He knew they would use her to coerce him. yet he burned with indignation, pride and anger. No, of course he could not allow them to harm her more, if he could prevent it. "No!", he barked at the Ebonstryfe soldiers. Turning back towards Kialandra, shooting her a sharp glance, he walked over to the iron bar on the floor and picked it up. His hand wrapped around it, a momentary wave of comfort, as if he were gripping the hilt of his khopesh. More than suitable as a weapon. In silence he held it, staring at it, imagining it crushing Almaras' skull, then Kialandra's. With a sudden burst of energy he swung it, slamming it against the bars of the cell door, the loud clang echoing through the corridors of the dungeon. The guards jumped, reaching for their weapons. Kialandra blinked, nothing more. He knew it would do no good, yet there was a satisfaction in their responses, and it helped trigger what they wanted to see. Stepping back into the center of the room, Abashai looked again towards Nya, then closed his eyes. His adrenaline was elevated, coursing through his body. The marked of Yahal once again called on his gift, the supernatural strength infusing muscle and sinew. Gripping the iron bar in both hands, Abashai began to contract his muscles, leaner and thinner than when he had first arrived. Yet it was not his strength he employed. Straining to bring his hands towards each other, the metal rod began to bend, slowly at first. But as the curve deepened, the bar creaked and bent more, until it was shaped like a horseshoe. Then he tossed it towards the Black Sun woman, the warped iron clattering to a stop before the closed cell door. Kialandra's lips curled into a slight, but pleased, smile. "It's a good start. If you can do that to iron, I can only imagine what you could do to bones..."

[Nya Winters]

The Blacksun agent smiled. She gestured for the guards, and they threw another length of metal to Abashai through the bars. It was then that he realized they had all sorts of thicknesses and types... iron, bronze, even what looked like the Izurdian Steel that seemed preciously rare throughout Mizahar.

"One at a time, bend them, and keep bending them until you can't. If you can't bend something, tell us right away and pass the metal back slowly through the bars by tossing it. You are doing well. She'll be safe tonight if you keep this up. You will also be well fed. When we move from questions to actions, we take care of the bodies that house the spirit. For more often than naught we test the spirit and it can't show us its strength unless the body is fully strong as well." Nya kept watch, pacing the length and breath of her cell on the wall that her cell shared with Abashai. There was a sheen of sweat to her brow that shouldn't have been there by the activity she was doing, as slight as it was, and through their bond Abashai could feel the way her body core was increasing in temperature and becoming sensitive. Whatever they gave her was starting to effect her deeply.

They made him bend things until he was all but weak from it. Then, when he could truthfully do no more, they blindfolded him and bound his hands behind is back with thick cords. Nya was a comforting presence in his mind, but he could feel her turning, growing more dangerous, and what should have brought him excitement brought him only unease. Their bond was unique and gave them the ability to speak through it, but Abashai could tell as the day progressed this ability would soon elude Nya, as nature took over and she grew more beastial under the influence of whatever it was they gave her.

Still, she did not look to the front of her cage. Instead she paced the joint wall, shivering slightly even when the temperature shouldn't effect her. The guards had left them, amused for the day with their data on Abashai's capabilities and with the promise of a return for dinner and more activity in the morning. Still, Abashai was surprised when footsteps approached and paused not before his cage, but Nya's. They stood there a long time, so long in fact that Abashai had started to wonder if they had departed.

Nya could smell the visitor though, and in the way that the two of them had been together for a long time, Shai knew what she knew through her nose, even if her eyes never left the prisoner beside her. Alamaras. It was Alamaras. After an eternity, Alamaras spoke. "I don't think Kialandra will be able to break you like I'll be able to break you. She just wants to study you. But I... I want to see you and all filthy humans that seek to enslave my kind... I want to see all of them bleed." He said, the sneer on his face obvious, speaking to Abashai, but his eyes on Nya. "And I think you'll break when you feel her need and how she comes to me, not because we have a bond, but because I am male and big and what she needs. She'll come to me and beg me, son of Yahal. You know she will. And she won't half kill me because instinct is strong in her kind. We breed with the strongest. And with me here, she knows that is not you. She knows that will never be you." He said, reaching out and unlocking Nya's cage. He walked through and locked it again behind him.

Nya kept pacing, but Abashai could feel her attention swinging from him to the big male kelvic. Shai could feel how tense Nya was, how violent, even as the creak of more restraints reached Shai's ear. "I've pinned you before. Don't make me do it again. This time I'll taste your blood for fun, little one, if you make me do it again. Now down... kneel down..." Shai, through the bond, could feel Nya's fury and the slowness of how she responded to Alamaras. There was so much anger there, so much defiance, and he could feel Nya's thoughts on how weak Alamaras was, how unsuitable.. how he wasn't her bondmate. The big males reaction was immediate, as soon as Nya didn't cooperate, he was on her. Knocking her to the ground and rolling her to her back, even as Nya snarled her defiance and tried fighting back. The collar and the half rations had done its work nicely though, for her slender form didn't have the strength to win free of the big male's pin. He held her on her back, where Shai could feel the hard cold stones cutting into her shoulder blades, hips and feet... and clamped first his human teeth onto her shoulder, and then shifted, shredding the robes he wore until his cat teeth bit into her form, his enormous Talderian paws holding her chest down.

Nya shook with fury, even under the big cats growling, as he both sampled her blood and then ran his big tongue down her still human form possessively. His tongue was rough, sharp almost, leaving red marks where it scrubbed her skin. The entirety of the sensations that filled Nya also filled Abashai. He could tell, even though she fought the cat, that she was testing his strength. They'd gave her something to make her come into season late, and that was driving her humanity back deep within her. The cat was first and foremost out front, and she shuddered because the big cat held her easily. Slowly, ever so slowly, she relaxed beneath him, and the cat shifted back to human, smiling. Shai could see nothing, blindfolded like he was, but he could feel every emotion rolling off his kelvic mate and knew... just knew... the moment her emotion turned from rage to interest.

Alamaras continued stroking her body with his tongue, human this time, moving downward like the cat had until he traveled far enough to bury his face between her legs inhaling deeply. Nya clamped her knees against his head and he bit the inside of her thigh sharply, drawing blood. She yowled and released him with a hiss, and he laughed. Pleased at her attitude, he dipped his head, tasted her, and scowled.

"You aren not ready... the drug should be acting faster." In a fury he grabbed her body, rolled her over to her knees, and covered her in a show of dominance without actually doing anything else. He sank his teeth into the back her her neck and kicked her legs open, sliding more firmly between them and forcing her down until her face and chest were pressed into the stone floor. "Feel this position, Nya. Feel your submission. I am your leader. I am the alpha. I will hold you like this every day until this is normal for you, until this is how you greet me without thought and care. I want your knees this wide. I want your delicate face pressed against stone looking back over your body at me, waiting for my pleasure and my command. I want you to hear my voice and automatically assume this position. If you do not, there will be no threat of violence. I will not beat you, not when my Masters want you bred and healthy for the breeding. But I will beat your bondmate. He's expendable. Once they get done discovering what his marks can do, they will kill him unless I say otherwise. His life is in your hands. I am your new master. Not him. He never treated you like a forest cat should have been treated to begin with. You need firm leadership, discipline, training... he's spoiled you. But I'll fix you. I promise little one. And you'll be so much happier because of it." Alamaras reached forward and stroked her hair, running his hand down her back and putting more of an arch in it, lifting her pelvis up more.

"Good. Just like this. Every time, Nya... every time." The kelvic said, rising to his feet and smiling down at how the forest cat was prostrated on the ground. He left her, though he did not turn his back on her. Walking to the bars, he lowered his voice and pitched his tone so Shai could easily hear him.

"You should see her. So lovely. So submissive. You've all but ruined her by spoiling her and letting her be so independent. But I think I can fix it. She's young so its not too late. Females should be at home, raising young, not wandering the world being treated like equals. There is only one thing they are good for. You should have taught Nya this a long time ago, son of Yahal. But I'll have to do it for you now. And it won't just be me... you'd better hope she takes and takes quickly or she won't be of any use even to us. And once that happens, the real fun begins." He said softly, staring at Abashai with hate Abashai could not see filling his eyes.

"And don't worry. I didn't touch her this time, not really, because I won't waste it on a female that isn't ready. But make no mistake, I will, and I'll make you watch each and every time... or at least listen if Kialandra hasn't decided you've earned the right to see. Tomorrow, the next day, soon enough she'll be begging me for it." He said with a slight laugh. "If we're lucky, she'll have a litter, maybe even dires. Would you like that? Your bondmate heavy with another kelvics kittens? I know I will like it, when she breeds for me like she hasn't for you." He added with a sneer that said Shai wasn't up to his standards.

With that, he turned to leave, but not before he paused at Nya where her head was still flat on the ground, her knees still open, lifted a foot to press it on her head. "You live because it pleases us. Keep pleasing us." And with that he departed, though they weren't left alone for long. Nya slowly climbed to her feet, resumed her pacing, ignoring the submission that had just been forced upon her.

They weren't left alone for long though. Kialandra reappeared. She was followed by a servant that carried a hug tray of food. "Abashai. We've been neglecting your nutrition. I've come to feed you. From now on, you will only eat by my hand and only after you've asked for every bite and thanked me properly for it. Now, come to the door - you know where it is even blindfolded - and show me your bound hands. Then... move to the center of the cell and kneel down. I want you on your knees. Then your going to invite me in, Abashai. You will say please and thank you and I will feed you. Do you understand? Now please begin... exactly as I told you too... " She ordered.

[Abashai]

As the presence of adrenaline subsided, so did Abashai's strength. The curious steel bar was the last, his power sapped, the benshiran could not budge the length of metal. Tossing it through the bars, exhausted, he offered no resistance as he was bound and blindfolded. He reached out again for Nya, sensing her. Abashai could feel his bondmate's awareness, the forced changes in her system, the hint of something primal and vaguely familiar that resonated deep in his core. Mental words were sparse. She wrestled with the cat within, the raw animal they were manipulating. The sound of Almaras sent Abashai's pulse racing, livid hatred flooding his awareness. Every word, every touch of the male kelvic on his mate's skin Abashai suffered, knowing Nya was feeling them. She was beyond communication. He wanted to yell into her brain to resist, not to give in to the bastard. He didn't care if they killed him, his soul writhed at the thought of what Almaras was doing...and what he planned to do. But if he died, so would she. For a moment, he wondered if it would spare her, if it would be better than living though this hell. He had been forced to kill her with his own hand once before. The thought of doing it again twisted his guts. He simply utter "No..." as he felt her resolve give way to animal instincts, Sensing the stirring interest in the big kelvic. He wanted to vomit. He did not blame her, they drugged her, he told himself. He remembered his first experience mating with Nya during her cycle. He had to prove his worth to the forest cat. It was dangerous and savage, and her powerful hormones had fed his own primal needs, until they came together in a violent, incredible union. Even now, he knew those elevated hormones activated his own. Even as Almaras shot his parting insults and threats at the benshiran, Abashai shook with rage and despair, knowing he was helpless to stop Almaras, knowing he would have to sit by and witness the unthinkable. He could not bring himself to reach out to Nya, simply standing in his cell, breathing short, heavy breaths, straining to contain the emotional onslaught of desperation, helplessness and the strong instincts seeping in from his kelvic mate. Abashai smelled Kialandra through Nya before he heard the sound of her voice. Her scent was pleasant, and he hated that. In contrast to the gruff and course Almaras, Kialandra addressed Abashai with civility, a matter-of-fact tone that seemed to imply what she asked of him was reasonable and his cooperation was simply his part of a cordial agreement. But the benshiran was still wracked by what Almaras had done. he stood still, yet the tips of his greasy locks swayed slightly, betraying his trembling as she spoke. "Petch you." He muttered. He heard the woman sigh. "Abashai..." She knew the intimacy of the relationship between Nya and the man. The past season was spent extracting every piece of information from the pair. Kialandra knew how Almaras' actions would effect her prisoner. She had orchestrated it. No amount of physical torture would break Abashai, Benshira pride would allow him to die first. And that would be a shame. He was a fine specimen, handsome and strong-willed, virtuous and loyal. Her interest was breaking his spirit without breaking his body. These qualities could be used against him. A fine servant or body guard he would make. No, she would make him more than willing to forget that filthy animal he had bound himself to. "Almaras is patient, but he is ....a cat. You know there is a limit to their patience. Both are victims of their instincts, and both are dripping with hormones that crave another of their own kind." She paused. "I am putting him off for now, for you. Do not test my benevolence. I have no qualms about allowing him to have her right now. He wants to make you watch, you know. I may allow that." Abashai's strained in futility at the ropes around his wrists. He wanted to slam himself against the wall, to batter his head against it in wanton frustration. But that would not help him, nor Nya. His shoulder's sank, his awareness reaching out to caress Nya's mind, already becoming numb to him. Then, inhaling deeply and standing tall, he strode towards the door, knowing when to stop. The prisoner turned around, showing the woman his hands, balled into fists and bound at the wrists with thick rope. Then he returned to the center of the cell, turned to face her, and slowly lowered himself to his knees. There was a long silence. "I am waiting, Abashai." Her voice was smooth, but laced with an assertive impatience. He muttered something in Shiber, but she could not determine if it was an invitation or a curse. "In Common, I want to hear it in Common, ask me to come in." She insisted. "Come in." Abashai growled. Kialandra waited a moment. "Uh?" She quipped, hinting she needed more. Through gritted teeth, Abashai repeated. "Come in....please." He heard the cell door open, light steps crossing the marble floor towards him. Abashai felt Kialandra standing before him, his senses filled with her scent, both from his nostrils and Nya's. It triggered a twitch in his core, one he suppressed, pushing back the rising need borrowed from the forest cat nearby. There was the aroma of fresh food and his stomach rumbled in rebellion against his will. Abashai felt the woman's hand lightly stroke his dark mane, the tip of her finger moving to rest beneath his chin. She added a bit of pressure, urging him to lift his head to her. Abashai resisted at first, but she did not relent until he conceded. Kialandra looked down at her blindfolded subject, her smile of victory unseen by him. "You are hungry, Abashai." Kialandra cooed. "Ask for food and I will give it to you." She took an apple from the tray of food held by the servant. Abashai heard the juicy crunch of the fruit as she bit into it. His mouth began to salivate. "Mmmmm..." The Black Sun taunted. But the benshiran remained silent. Another crunchy bite. He felt a drop of juice land on his cheek, then run down over his chin. Kialandra's presence drew near as she leaned her face down near his. the tip of her tongue, warm and soft, caught up the drop of juice. An involuntary grunt slipped from Abashai's throat, the woman's proximity playing havoc with his elevated hormones. The next thing he felt was the sting of her hand slapping his face. "Why do you make this so hard. Are you not tired of it? Are you not weary of tending to her, feeding her, trying to turn an animal into a civil person? I will take care of you now. But there will be things I ask of you that will require you remain healthy and strong, Benshira, so you must eat." The captor traced the tattoo on Abashai's cheek with her finger as she audibly chewed her bite of apple. "All I ask is for some respect." He heard the rustle of her garments as she stood again. "Perhaps the violation of your mate has upset your stomach. I will be back, and you will eat, from my hand. Pray to your absent god that I do not bring Almaras back with me." With an casual flick, Kialandra tossed the apple through the bars into Nya's cell.

[Nya Winters]

Nya was seething with rage and she didn't bother to hide it, not from Shai, though the woman in his cell would only see the cold emotionless stare of the forest cat wearing a human body. When she threw the apple into Nya's cell, the cat pounced on it, growling, wanting to rip it to shreds though the collar prevented such things. Instead she hovered over it, the ruby fruit hidden by her hands, and growled until the woman's footsteps had retreated down the long marble corridor. Then she picked it up with her mouth, forgetting for a moment she was human, and walked to the adjoining wall. When she got there, she took the apple from her mouth and reached out across the bond.

Shai's scent was starting to drive her deeper into the state the drug she'd been given had urged her, but there was enough of her left to speak, to reason, like the human he'd taught her to be. "Shai... Abashai..." Nya said softly, her voice rough from disuse. She paused, lleaning her forehead on the bars. "Here. Eat. They give me plenty of meat. Come closer... come to the bars." She urged, growling softly, still sweating. Neither of them mentioned most of the meat Nya was fed was other prisoners who were dead or near death. He could feel within her how much of a battle she fought. Nya was not human, though he'd taught her a great deal about being human, it was only a game to her most of the time. "Closer. So I can reach you." She said, guiding him with her voice. When he reached the bars she licked his cheek through the gap in the iron and caught his blindfold with her teeth and pulled it off. She tugged it into her cell for it smelled like him, not giving it back. Then she took the apple in her hand and offered him a bite on the far side of where the woman had bitten into it.

"Eat.. take a big bite then turn around. Let me see your hands... push them through the bars." She paused long enough for him to take a big bite of the apple, then when his hands were where she could reach them, she began gnawing on them with her human teeth that were only slightly more sharp than an average woman's. She paused often, rubbing her cheek and her forehead against his bound hands where they were thrust through the bars. She purred lightly, even with her human form, the sound was a close approximate of her feline's happy sound. She worked with the bound rope, pausing only to offer him more bites of the fruit if he wanted them. She snipped and worried at the woven cotton, removing tiny pieces of it at a time, knowing with patience she could get him free of the binding.

"Abashai..." She started to say, her eyes blinking as she refocused on the rope, gnawing at it. With their link, they didn't need to do much talking, but sometimes words came out better for humans, especially for the Benshira that was slow to come to acknowledge all this feelings. "Abashai... close your heart to pain." Her tongue licked across the back of his hands then she kissed him gently on the roughness of his palms before she came back and began chewing on the bindings once more. "The Cat inside... she's strong. This isn't for her what it is for you. When she bares her neck to him, it costs her nothing, not like it costs you to ask the woman for food." Nya said softly, bumping his hands again with her forehead. "I will kill that woman for what she thinks is fun, for tearing at your soul. I can feel her joy and her pleasure. She wants to control you and that feeds those things within her, and what is within is very damaged. Shai.. I am afraid. I am afraid if she breaks you she will kill you for you will not feed that part of her that is so sick and then you won't be of any use to her. While you are strong, you are a challenge, a riddle she cannot solve. You must not let her feed you. You must not let her win." Nya said softly. "Do you understand? They need something from me. But you.. I don't know. They don't know if you die I die and if I do, you do. They do not know about the healing. We must keep each other alive. I must do that by being the cat. She is not going to care... not if they keep giving me what they gave me... soon enough what Alamaras does to her. He is right in that. And they will make you witness. I am sorry for that. But you can't let it break you." Nya said softly with a growl, suddenly getting his hands free.

"You must not let her loose interest in you. Not now... not ever. I think... she looks for someone stronger than she is, someone who won't back down. The guards are afraid of her. Alamaras is afraid of her. You can't be afraid of her. If you are, you won't be anything to her anymore. Shai do you understand?" Nya was insistent as she sat back on her heels and offered him the rest of the apple through the bars.

"Turn the tide on her. Use what they do to us to your advantage. Use your rage. She's sick. She craves it. If you can, make her do what she would do to you. Be harder than her. Make her take food from you.. ask for it... if not food something else. Anything. Be stronger than she is. You already are." Nya said softly, her mind sending images to Shai of Shai being defiant, pushing the woman around, pinning her down and making her bare her throat to him.

[Abashai]

Abashai was grateful for the bite of apple, chewing at it hungrily. He leaned back on the bars between he and Nya, pressing his back against them, not only to give her better access to his bound wrists, but to get a close to her as possible. As she gnawed at the bindings, his fingers flexed to brush her face, to touch her as much as possible. Physical contact was important in their bond, as significant as any spoken word or communicated thought. Listening to Nya's words, Abashai's stomach knotted in sickening rage at the thought of her with anyone but himself. It had taken years for him to begin to separate the appearance of the human woman from the reality of the kelvic cat. Of course, Shai accepted her, loved her, for who she was, long ago giving up trying to make her human. It was a goal that would destroy her beauty if attained. But he was a man, a human. Looking over his shoulder at her as she fed him the apple, Abashai struggled to separate humanity from who Nya was at her core. He tried to understand that what was to come, what was to be done to her, would not have the same heinous implications a human woman would experience. And he knew, for her sake, he would have to witness it with steely silence. "I am not afraid of her, Nya, or any of them." He did not want to submit to the Black Sun bitch, and neither did Nya. But would he have the strength to do it, knowing his rebellion would be taken out on his bondmate? Once his hands were unbound, Shai turned to look into her eyes. Words lingered on his lips, explanations as to why he had submitted as far as he did. But Nya knew his thoughts and intents, and his words fell silent. The flash in his tired blue-green gaze assured his mate that he would be the alpha, defying Kialandra. Nya's inspiring mental images, her touch, her pheromones, bolstered his resolve, even his need to dominate. Abashai laid his chin on her head, or what he could fit between the bars, lovingly asserting his own dominance over his mate. Even as she had learned the ways of humans from him, Abashai had learned the ways of the cat from Nya. Reaching through the bars, he took her face in his hands. "If our gods are faithful, one day we will rend the flesh from their bones, and you will feed on it." He shoved the remains of the bindings under his sleeping pallet. Pressing his face against the bars again to meet hers once more, he made a request. "Put the blindfold back on me." With some reluctance, the kelvic wrapped the dark cloth around her mates eyes. He gave her a slight smile, before moving to stand in the middle of his cell, facing the door, his hands hidden behind his back. Not long after that, Kialandra appeared again, with the slave, the tray of food, and two guards. Standing at the cell door, the woman called to him. "I know you are aware that I am here." But Abashai remained silent. He reached through the bond to Nya, drawing on the rising animalistic instincts from his mate. He heard the door unlock, the sound again of Kialandra and the servant approaching, this time with the heavy booted thud of a guard. The door clanged shut behind them. "When will you give up this foolishness, Abashai," Kialandra uttered, frustration in her voice. Suddenly, Shai felt the length of a metal bar, or the haft of a weapon pressed against his neck, forcing him down until he was on his knees again before Kialandra. Then, too late, the guard noticed Abashai's clasped hands were no longer bound. Suddenly, with one hand the benshiran ripped the blindfold from his eyes, the other hand thrusting out, palm open, smashing against the side of the guard's knee. It popped with a sickening sound, and the Ebonstryfe soldier collapsed with a groan, grasping at his leg in pain. Launching to his feet, Abashai's hand shot to Kialandra's throat, his fingers wrapping around her slim neck. The slave shrieked, dropping the tray of food with a clatter. Outside the door, Abashai could see the second guard fumbling with the key, trying to get it in the lock. Kialandra raised her hand to halt the guard. Unsurprised, Abashai felt the prick of a dagger blade against his abdomen, the weapon suddenly appearing in her other hand. In a tense moment, he stared into the Black Sun handler's eyes, cold and dark. Well trained, they revealed nothing. But for an instant, Shai saw a flash of surprise, and satisfaction. The grip on her throat was firm, but left her airway open. He felt the throb of flowing blood in the arteries pressed against his fingers, noting the elevated pulse. The sensation gave him a thrill, one he openly shared with Nya. The corner of his mouth curled up slightly, seeing Kialandra's chest rise and fall sharply, betraying her own excitement. He knew she would not kill him, as much as she knew the benshiran would not kill her. Then he released her. The woman cleared her throat, but resisted the urge to reach up and rub the reddened hand print on her neck. In one quick move, Abashai crouched down, snatching up the roasted leg of some fowl from the spilled food to stuff in his mouth. Grabbing another, he walked over to the joint wall and handed it through the bars to Nya. "Sorry, its already cooked." His display of defiance was calculated, and carried out with some effort, still aware of the unpleasant things it may invoke. But he would not let the Black Sun woman see any hesitation. He had a small victory that he could share with Nya. "Hmmm..." Kialandra hummed, as if a review of some data revealed an unexpected discovery. She nodded curtly to the slave , "Clean this up," then to the guard outside, motioning offhand to the injured soldier, "get him out of here. Then call for Almaras." With a final glance at her prisoner, Kialandra spun on her heels and exited the cell. She did not go far, standing tall with her arms crossed as she turned back to Abashai. They did not have to wait long for Almaras to return.

[Nya Winters]

Nya watched the exchange silently. She half wished Abashai would eat the knife if only in exchange for crushing the woman's throat. It would be worth it, she decided, if the opportunity ever came upon her. Abashai picked safe, and that was fine. Nya knew why he did it. But she suspected there would be very few chances left for opportunities such as Shai passed up. Almaras was indeed fairly quick in putting in an appearance. He carried a length of chain with him and a thick neck collar. Dragging the chain with him, he surprisingly didn't enter Nya's cell but rather Abashai's. Guards were with him and quickly swarmed the Benshira, holding him while the collar was applied and Almaras attached the chain to an iron bolt in the center of the floor with a whispered word of power. The chain was long, but it wasn't long enough to let Abashai anywhere near the joint bars on either side of his cell. It also wasn't long enough to wrap up on anything above them to hang himself. All it did was keep Shai separate from Nya.

"You know its going to be bad when I bring a healer with me." Almaras said, chuckling softly, as he whispered in Abashai's ear. His hand stroked Abashai's long hair. "Defying Kialandra is never a good idea. Nya isn't safe, not yet, not until she's carrying my kittens. As much as I enjoy breeding the dires, I enjoy breaking them even more. Your defiance has bought Nya her first session. So far there's been only questions. Now I'm going to teach her about pain. I'm curious to see how far I can take her without breaking her. Of course, around here, Rhysol likes his pets broken. We'll make sure, before she comes fully into her season, that she's good and docile. You just speed things up. I hope you enjoy this. Rumor has it you can feel everything she feels." He said with a growl then turned, walking out of Abashai's cell.

He didn't pause. He didn't give Nya any warning, though she knew what seemed to be coming. He only took a large bullwhip one of the guards offered him, and walked into the forest cat's cage. There was no talking, there was no banter, he simply uncoiled it and let its cruel bite lash out. There was no where for Nya to go, no place she could cower out of the way. The first strike laid her flesh wide open across her shoulder. The next across her back. The pain was immediate and wicked, coursing through the forest cat's human body. She turned, looking for a place to run, and ended up bolting in a panic from one side of the cell to another while each exposed side of her body took cuts. There was no protection from the thin cotton tunic she wore. Soon, it was stained with blood, and she was screaming. Almaras gave her no commands, asked nothing of her, just stood across the room and opened her flesh wide in stroke after stroke from the whip. Fifty bites... no a hundred later... she was cowered in a corner, blood streaming from her body, howling in pain and rage, back to him. When she tried to run no more, he coiled the whip, collected its punishing end, and tossed it as he walked closer, catching her around the throat with it, gripping the handle and the biting end. He brutally dragged her out of the corner by the throat then twisted her around caught her hair up and all but forced her into the center of the room by the long bloody mass of it.

He never once glanced at Abashai, though Kialandra watched him with a smug smile.

"When I enter this cell, kitten. I want you on your hands and knees kneeling to me. I want your forehead on the ground and your ass in the air. You will not even look at me. Not once. Do you understand?" Nya hissed at him, swiping him with a human hand in an incredibly cat-like gesture. There wasn't a single part of her that wasn't bloody or welted. Almaras caught the arm, laughing, and broke it neatly at the fibula. "All that aggression little one. You are not the alpha here." He said, dropping the useless limb even as Nya screamed and scrambled backwards. He caught her by the hair again, dragged her forward, and planted a boot on her neck, making her assume the position he'd described. Her knees were tucked up under her, but her broken arm was sprawled out useless to one side. Blood pooled on the floor around her knees, running off her back and legs, and she whimpered before she relaxed, her body starting to tremble in the shock.

When Almaras removed his foot from her neck where he pressed the collar down onto the floor, he stepped back to look at her. "Every time, Nya. I don't want you to forget. This is how you greet your superior." He said with a chuckle, then looked up and at Abashai for the first time. "This... is what she gets when you are less than polite to my associate. She is, after all, a lady." Almaras said, then calmly walked behind Nya. He studied her exposed body, leaned forward over her in a very dominant position, and lapped the blood off her back, digging his teeth in right below the collar for a moment until his mouth came back bloody and he licked his lips with a purely predatory expression.

Shai could read more on his face. He could read arousal too. "She's sure pretty like this isn't she? I'll ask to have the collar off next time... if shes good. Because as beautiful as she is human, it can't compare to our true forms." He looked at Kialandra a moment in a gesture that Abashai could clearly see was permission, and the woman nodded. She spoke from the darkness of the corridor. "He was very defiant. Teach him a lesson." And rather than turn away, she stood watching as Almaras lifted his robe and draped it partway across Nya's hips as he shifted his stance, pushed his body forward a few moments, and then began moving against the kelvic roughly in a way that meant he was doing the one thing he'd threatened to do. Nya opened her eyes suddenly, howled in painful rage, and tried to surge upwards. But with one arm useless, it was a jerking empty gesture of defiance for the other kelvic easily caught her hair and forced her back down.

"Every day, kitten... every day ... you give me a reason... an excuse or he does... and I'm going to do this. I might even do it if I'm in the mood and feel like it though you've given me no reason at all. And I'm going to like it because you know how it makes me feel, especially after a good thrashing, and especially if your bloody. We can start the day out this way, and end it the same. And I'll I hope your bondmate is very badly behaved. Very bad... indeed." Almaras spoke, his voice grunting as he did so. He took a long time, hands with iron grips on Nya's hips, holding her in place as he moved. After he worked into a rhythm, he caught Abashai's gaze and held it. He smiled in a way that was cruel, pure cruel, never blinking or looking away until he groaned loudly and held himself against the cat's crouched form for several small hard jerks of his hips. He then pulled back, letting his robe slide back into place and lifting a foot to push her away by shoving his boot against her hip.

"Bring the physician in. Clean her up. I want any blood on her to be fresh, not soured and smelling of decay." He said, moving past the crumpled form of the kelvic and walking to the door. A young man, one who had stood quietly in the shadows until summoned, came forward and knelt by the kelvic who was crying without a sound. He examined her impersonally and then gestured to the guards. "She'll need the clinic. He did lots of damage. We can scrub her down there too." The guards came in, two big ones, and grabbed Nya. They lifted her between them, letting her feet drag and uncaring about her broken arm. She was removed from the cell and taken down the maze of corridors towards the clinic. Shai had been there a time or two himself.

Two hours later they brought her back without a scratch on her, with her arm fully mended. Her hair was wet and she was shivering from what had obviously been cold water. They dumped her on her pallet and left her.

[Abashai]

Standing in his cell, Abashai witnessed Almaras begin to punish Nya. His breath drew in with a sharp hiss as the first lash struck his bondmate, horrified at the sight of the whip tearing her flesh, feeling the residual pain through the life bond. But the benshira steeled himself, clenching his jaw to contain himself. As the beating continued, Abashai did not avert his eyes, forcing himself to watch with stone-like resolve. Nya would want him to, if only to deny their captors the sight if him weakening from the sight. His hands balled into a fist until his fingernails dug into his palms, groaning through his teeth as his kelvic mate crawled across her cell, unable to escape the whip that shred her shift and her skin. It was worse than he imagined, the Black Sun kelvic's beating ruthless and cruel. In order to endure seeing Nya suffer so, Shai focused on her pain. It was not the full tormenting pain Nya felt, but sufficient to bring him to one knee. He was glad he felt it. He wished he felt it full force, so he could focus the conflagration of rage inside on the seering pain, so she would not have to endure the torture alone. At one point, seeing her covered in blood, her arm dangling limply, Abashai wished Nya would die, then he would die, and they would be free, perhaps to be reborn together, like they had so many times before. Then Almaras forcefully took Nya, mounting the bloody, broken heap. It was brutal and Alamras delighted in every thrust of it. At that moment, feeling the sensation of Almaras' intimate invasion of Nya, Abashai's mind revolted. Inside, sorrow and despair were seared with hot fury, engulfed in hate and single-minded consuming rage. He would not release it. Instead, he allowed it to tear him apart inside. He tore his gaze away from the assault to stare at Kialandra with dripping menace, every intent of his glare promising that he would do that same to her, given the chance. Then it was over. He barely heard Almaras' word, simply staring coldly at the beast. The bloody form of Nya was dragged from her cell, followed by their handlers. Once they were all gone, Abashai collapsed to his knees and groaned mournfully. His soul was lifted when Nya was brought back, healed and cleaned. She lay still on her pallet. Abashai reached out through the bond to his mate, searching her awareness, sending a message. Nya, are you alright?