Bonding at Caer Catena

"Faust really wants to see them," said one of the guards. "I think they're kinda young, don't you?"

The other guard sneered and gave off a nasty laugh. "Old enough to bleed-" he started, but Kara bit his arm and he paused to slap her. "Stop that, little wench. You're lucky we don't just dispose of you two and claim you suicided."

"Half your clan already has," the first guard, a tall dark skinned man, said. "It's a pity - they just don't have the will power to do what's required of them for long."

"We don't have to do anything you say!" Kara shouted, but the escort who held her arms tightly jerked her back and forth until she stopped, holding her head low.

Little did he know that that was her First Prime: the muntjack in her telling her to lower her horns to attack. But she had no horns. Her yellow eyes blazed, but she remained silent. Her older sister cooperated to an extent, but held these two Faustas guards in such contempt that the tall man didn't want to know what she'd do if let loose.

They had spotted the sisters as they bathed, how typical, and had nabbed them just in time to see more than enough of the young women's bodies. That fact burned in Kara's mind.

The pair of Faustas guards led the girls up into the sharp hilly area below the pyramidal shaped House. The whole side of the mountain was riddled with caverns and hollows, and certainly the House had done all it could to make it hard for people outside to see what was going on inside.

Kara and Chel knew very well what would be going on in there. Faustas had always been at the throats of their Clan, claiming its lands and its people - never quite catching them all and certainly how does one pin down the territory of a Clan that wanders an entire island?

Chel was worried that their family and Clan wouldn't realize they were missing until it was far too late. Their younger sister, Kella, hadn't come with them to the stream, but they would be missed eventually. Both teens knew better than to ask about Kella - that 'old enough' statement ringing through Chel's mind made her sick to her stomach. Kella was only twelve, she'd only heard about how Faustas worked.

The lower doorway opened, and both girls were a bit surprised. The wall appeared to be made of stone, but perhaps it was only decorated that way: the rock face and vegetation moved when one of the guards did something to a nearby trigger. Kara had seen only a bit of hand motion, she wasn't sure whether he touched a button, moved a stone, or pulled a vine.

But something like that would open this door. If they needed to, they might be able to duplicate it. Kara's thoughts were interrupted when the guard holding her shoulders shoved her into the dim corridor beyond.

"Get in there, girl," he growled. "You belong to Faust now."

"I belong to no one but myself," Kara growled, and her yellow eyes reflected a bit of the rising sun - it was still only morning, after all. What a way to start the day.

"So you say now," the other guard laughed, pulling Chel along, "but you're going to be singing another tune pretty quickly."

"I very much doubt that," Chel said, and rooted herself to the spot. It was an exertion for her but once her t-power started up, it was not going to be easy for the guard to move her from that spot. He tugged at her arms, but she let them go limp. If she could sit down on the ground, it would be even harder to get her to move.

Kara grinned, knowing this game would be one that would frustrate the guards to no end. And, then they'd have to deal with her too.

Thoughts of gutting these bastards like the eels they were came to her mind, but then were interrupted - she seemed to daydream an awful lot for someone who'd been captured by the enemy - by another pair of guards footsteps in the corridor.

"It's about time," said the tall guard, "she's done something queer and I can't get her to move. Bring in one of the nullifiers. We need to be on our way."

"Can't keep Faust waiting," said one eerie blond-haired man, "and I think I can take care of this without bringing a nullifier down this far. Won't want to lose another one."

Whatever that meant was lost on Chel. She thought that she'd be able to keep up this rooted-to-the-ground routine almost indefinitely. She'd practiced with her sisters after all, and they were always badgering her to get up to no avail.

Now, here was this man, who for all appearances was clearly related to -

"Dean?" Kara spat, "is that you?"

"Hardly," the blond man said, "but close." He smirked and then turned his sky blue eyes back on Chel. "Now, dear, you must get up. There is nothing for it, you're going to have to live here, and do as we say."

"What... Who are you?" Chel said, suddenly taking a staggering step toward him and breaking her own spell. Kara was infuriated, but frustrated from doing anything by the powerful hands still gripping her upper arms.

"Now, come along." The blond said, and turned. The guards followed, neither of them letting their hands stray off the girls' arms, and they were assisted by the other two who had come from the hallway.

Up through the twisting halls and stairwells, through several mechanical lifts, and finally into a wide marble hallway which the girls just knew was at the top of the Faustas Pyramid, the Triptych girls were led.

They were met in this wide hall by a balding dark skinned man, handsome but cold. His keen eyes looked them over, and he turned to the blond. "Good work Damian."

"It was not me," he said, indicating the guards. "It was these two. I hope they are commended. I merely escorted them to your presence."

With a creeping coldness, Kara looked at her sister. Damian? Dean? How many of them were there in that family - all of them looked so much alike. Dave and Dane were twins, but ... could there have been more? Triplets? It wasn't unheard of in the Triptych clan, but ... To have this one be in the lap of the enemy?

Kara spat at Damian, snarling, and had to bite her tongue lest she let off words she'd regret. Bemused, Damian walked away, and two of the guards followed him. There were another half dozen in the room, the girls didn't dare pull anything now.

"So," Faust said, "another pair for the collection. These two are sturdy," he said, admiring the taller Chel's posterior. She hid a blushed face, but his strong fingers found their way to her chin and held her eyes up. "Like all your clan, worth breeding, but not worth talking to. I shall be requiring you to have tests. I already know you can use the earth magic as a Gryph does," he looked at Chel's eyes closely, noting the fear there, "but I know you have other talents. All of your Clan do."

"It's nice of you to recognize that, it's a shame your House doesn't have its own to occupy you." Kara said, "filthy -"

Faust's hand left Chel's quickly and found itself balled into a fist when it impacted Kara's cheek. She held her ground, but said nothing more. Her skin would bruise, but she hadn't lost any teeth or gotten cut from his silver rings.

The guards led the pair away again, using long-bladed spears as guides. "In here," said one, pointing with his nose at a simple door. Chel opened it, and was separated from her sister.

Though they were about to break into panic, the other guard told them, "you'll be allowed a room together, I suspect, so keep your heads on right. Just behave, and you will not be hurt."

"We're already hurt, you moron," Kara said, and her sister suddenly wished that she'd just keep her big mouth shut.

Kara was escorted down the hall, into another room.

***

"Turtles are stupid," she'd said. "They're slow just like you!"

"They weather a storm better than any birdie," was the response that the older sister had. Their third was too young to contribute anything. "And besides, it's not a turtle, it's a tortise. They're different." An 8 year old Chel stuck her tongue out at her 6 year old sister, while Kella played in the mud oblivious.

"It's no where near as cool as a muntyjack," Kara had said. They were given their first Totems together, Chel's came on typically, Kara's a bit early, and Kella's would not appear for years yet. But for generations, the Miller family had been thus. Always extreme and always going in several directions at once.

"It's munT-jack," Chel had said, "not muntY-jack. I can't believe you got yours the same day as me."

Chel huffed, but then turned back to her clan's chosen Totem. She had found a small tortise wandering through the dusty landscape on the north end of the Plains, about the same time that Kara had discovered her ability to jump halfway up a rock and stick there. Both animals seemed drawn to the girls, as their later Primes would do as well.

Kara didn't poke at her sister for long. She knew that they didn't have much in common and would be very different indeed when they grew up. Kara always on the offensive, Chel always able to deflect an attack.

It would be that way always and forever, to a six year old who'd just been honored by the Clan.

***

"Stop sticking that thing at me," Kara grumbled. "It hurts and it's dirty."

"That makes it sound so much worse than it really is," the medic said, "and besides, this is not dirty at all. We clean everything every time we use them." He held the metal probe into the air, and then prodded Kara's side with it. He wasn't doing anything naughty, though Kara suspected he might if given a moment alone.

Two guards always attended the girls, one perhaps to guide them, the other to keep him honest? Or, to intimidate the girls into believing that they'd simply gang up if they felt like it.

They noticed there were other women in the House, but not too many, and certainly not many in any kind of authority. Cooks, cleaning women, servants, but here and there were 'size x-l' women guards or nurses.

Both girls knew that the rest of the women, the bulk of any House normally seen elsewhere, would be down hidden in breeding rooms and harem chambers. And, they knew as well that since they were not going to cooperate and be willing to change their allegiance to the House, they weren't going to be given anything nice like a cleaning job.

After a while, and the medics had determined the extent of any damage that the girls had since their capture, they were given their room. It was a temporary one, they knew, but it was enough for them.

"I can't believe this," Kara said. She was on the verge of tears, since she hadn't been able to defend herself she was starting to show the wear and tear. Chel played better as a hostage, really, her Totems allowing her to move with the flow of things and remain unharmed most of the time.

"Well, we do have to get out of here, we can't expect a rescue party to come zooming in just yet." Chel said. "It'll be a day or more before they send anyone."

"I can't wait that long," Kara said, sobbing into her sister's open arms. "I hate this..."

"You want to be free," Chel said. "It's in your nature. I know. We've got to be brave."

"Chel, when was the last time you counted your days?" Kara asked, a whisper next to her sister's ear. Kara felt Chel go stiff, and trembled with her.

"Not long enough ago," Chel said. "If they... if they ..."

"Then we can't let them," Kara said. She would turn this situation into something she could deal with, whether Faust wanted it or not.

***

It was three days later, after a bit of a tussle with a guard, and a sullen move to the inner "habitat", that Chel and Kara were shown what might be in store for them.

There were ... people, that's what they thought they were, lining the walls. Young, small, perhaps no more than older children. They had been preserved somehow, but they were clearly dead. Some of them had animal heads, or fur, or tails, some had limbs misshapen or hooves where their hands ought to have been.

"You can provide us with stock," Faust said, "or you can become another experiment like them. Your choice."

"I won't pair with you," Chel said, hard and fearful.

"I never said I wanted to touch you," Faust said. "I have your own Clan members to do that for me."

He waved his hand at a selection of young men - some of whom the girls recognized as 'vanished' years past. They didn't look all that healthy, nor happy. All of them had chains around their neck, most in shackles.

Faust left them in this large spooky room, the chamber doors clanging shut and obviously being barred from the outside. There were five men, in bedraggled clothing, they knew were Triptych. Two others, they didn't recognize but were clearly from the Nsomeka plains as they were quite dark and very tall.

"Well this is a miserable condition," Kara said, and slunk to one side of the room. She moved when she realized that the corpse-thing above her had its foot quite near her shoulder.

"This is a miserable place," said one of the men.

"So," Chel said, guarded but with half a smile, "you're supposed to come ravish us or something? And we're not supposed to stop you?"

"That is the general rule," said another. "But I've already sired enough creatures for him. No more. No more." He shook his head, trying to shrink from himself and failing.

Chel looked up behind her, noting the eerie similarities between him and this ... creature slung on the wall. "I'm so sorry," she whispered.

"We're all sorry. But there's nothing else to do," said another, younger man. "He'll just be beaten again, and then probably slaughtered like his children."

"What a horrible thing to say!" Kara yelled. Tears were in her eyes. "We have to get out of here, and you should be trying to help!" The girls clung to each other, at the far side of the room. The men remained where they were.

***

Something made a noise, outside. It was quite late at night on the third day of the girls' captivity and both of them snapped awake as one.

"To the ceiling?" Kara whispered, nodding upwards. The room had only gotten smokier by a little, no darker, but the men had gone to sleep since they knew better than to try on the first night.

They'd all been there much longer, and knew they would either have time, later, or have their eyes scratched at now. They wisely chose the former.

Kara and Chel located a pole which was low enough jutting from the wall (probably for another corpse, or what should have been a banner in a happier hall) and Kara climbed up first. She was lighter, even though she looked a bit more fleshy than her sister. She pulled Chel up, who felt uncomfortable on the beam.

"This way," Kara claimed, scuttling to the wall, and gripping it deftly. "You've got monkey paws, let's go."

Chel silently chuckled. Her Second Prime was indeed a monkey, so she should by all rights feel more at home swinging about. But this room was so... She shuddered and climbed past another dog-headed creature slung carefully on the wall.

Kara stopped when she reached the ceiling. It was vaulted, dark, and smoky. But there was a smoke hole, and from it, fresh air circulated. Leave it to her to spot one way out of a sealed room.

"We're not going to fit," Chel said.

"Yes, we are," Kara said, "if we try hard enough. Monkey fingers." She said again.

Chel furrowed her tan eyebrows, and looked at those hands. She was way up in the air, slightly dizzy. Kara was the climber. But still, monkey fingers indeed.

Kara vanished into the air hole, and there was an odd sound of clicking-scraping from it. When Chel looked... she saw nothing but darkness. Though a strange outline against the sooty hole seemed to be rather...

"You shifted?" Chel whispered. Below, the men had begun to stir, hearing the clattering of tiny tiny hooves on almost-vertical stone above them. Before she could even think of what else to do, Chel instinctually sought out her middle Prime. Her Totem, climbing up through a hole not meant to be big enough to escape through.

She emerged into the night air, soot faced and monkey-tailed.

Her sister remained sitting on her haunches, tiny sharp horns making a path for them in the leaves. The air hole simply led directly out of the House, into the higher portion of the mountain.

There were people waiting for them, and ...

"Dragons!" Exclaimed Kara, suddenly switched back to her human shape. "They found us!"

"Kella found you," said a familiar voice. It was Drake, near his red Antoneth. Their little sister rushed forward, arms spread.

"Leave it to you to get your Prime this late," cried Chel. She could sense it, her Totem had been chosen, and it appeared to be some form of beagle or pointer. The dog sniffed at Chel, and whined at Kella.

"Yes, boy, that's the one!" Kella said. "Now can we please get out of here? It's really spooky."

Chel and Kara looked at one another, eyes teary and faces showing the fear that they couldn't while they were still captive. They were lead to the big red Caer Talor dragon, Antoneth, who could easily fit them all on his wide back.

While they were in flight, Drake leaned his head around and called over his shoulder. "Did I see right?"

"You did," Kara said. "We both did."

"Then you're really special, I guess there's a reason that Antoneth was so eager to find you." He said, but didn't elaborate until they got back to the Clan's hidden locale.

***

"We missed you," the Miller girls' father said. "We knew you would be all right, but we missed you..." They had a teary eyed family reunion but it was quickly replaced with a stern gathering.

Dave and Drake both stood talking to one another beyond the camp fire, and the girls knew they were going to get yelled at - though neither felt they deserved it.

"Before you start in on us," Kara said, standing and putting her fists on her hips, "I want you to know that we were in our own territory and those guys captured us, we didn't exactly walk right up to them and say 'hey, we want to spend three horrible days in your House, can we do that?'"

Chuckling rippled through the Clan's elders, they were all gathered. Dave turned with his eyebrow way up, and was about to say something, but Chel stood too.

"And you should know that we met another of your brothers," she said, and his face turned ashen. "His name is Damien, do you know him?"

With a long pause, and one obviously pregnant with communication between he and Dane his twin, Dave said, "... yes, I know of him. We've met."

"He can cancel out powers," Chel said.

"No, he can't," Dave replied. "He can coerse but he can't make your powers do anything else." He turned to the other elders, "this complicates things."

"Faustas complicates everything," said one of them. "But we're not here to worry about them any more. The girls have given their information, and we've become better for it. They are all right, let them go sleep."

"In a minute," Drake said, nudging Dave. "Antoneth and Saoith both think that you two need to be bonded to dragon kind. That's what made finding you that much easier."

"They're searched?" Their father asked, "really?"

"Really," Dave confirmed. His bronze Saoith gave a grumbling trumpet as though anyone would doubt his rider.

"Then," Chel smiled widely, "when? Where?!"

Any thoughts of sleep were put right out of their heads.

***

"Caer Catena has always been a good ally of ours," the Caerlord, Qalam, stated. "We've gotten word that they do need some more human bonders for their current nest, it's been on the dunes for a while, and stands to hatch soon. We can have you there quickly, if that's where you'd like to go."

Kara watched the black haired man with glazed eyes. She blinked, shaking off her girlish crush when his wife snuggled up to him with a stack of paperwork.

"We will," Chel said. "It's an honor! I can't even begin to say."

"It is an honor, and I'm sure that your Clan will appreciate having another couple Dragons on their side. If I could," Qalam said, "I would evict those Faustas people from the Isle. But they do live here, and they won't be put off so easily."

"If the other Houses knew what they were doing," Kara said, sharply, "they'd put a stop to it."

"Practically everyone knows what they do," Qalam's handsome wife said, "but they have strong medicinal cures to trade, money to be had from other Isles, and money talks. Everywhere. It can't be helped. Some day," she said, "perhaps we can arrange a more forceful set of rules on the Houses, but they all must vote on it, as well."

"Houses are notoriously difficult to play with," Qalam agreed, and they and the Triptych elders who had accompanied the girls up to the Caer began a conversation about politics that neither Kara nor Chel wanted to listen to.

"So we can go?" Kara finally said, interrupting them.

"... Yes, of course," Qalam laughed, "sorry. We get carried away. We'll arrange your transport. Be aware that you'll probably be taken by a Blackstone dragon, since some of them are far better at teleportation than ours."

"Whatever works," Chel laughed. "We're already packed. We're always already packed."

Being in Clan Triptych was like that. And it was a good thing too. No one knew what they might bond, but everyone wished the girls well and would move along. When they got back, the clan would indeed be better off.

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