A Life Discovered Ch. 05

Chapter 5 - Arrival

Wherever they were, it was dark. Pitch dark. The three were still holding hands, but Rhys felt Jade let go. He heard her take a couple of footsteps and then heard a thud followed by her uttering an expletive. "What's that I've kicked?" she asked rhetorically. "Master, please ask your ring to give us a little light?"

Rhys held his arm up in the air and then directed the thought at the ring on his finger. A light suddenly appeared and lit the room. However, it wasn't his ring generating the light; rather, a small glowing orb was hovering in his open palm, his fingers casting shadows around the room. Surprised, he stared at it for a while before turning his head to look at his surroundings.

The friends were in a slightly dusty bedroom with a wardrobe, a single bed, a couple of cabinets with drawers and a small table with a chair. Heavy curtains covered the windows, and a dozen baskets and boxes were placed on the floor, one of which Jade had apparently kicked.

The door burst open while the three friends were getting their bearings, and three men charged into the room. The lead man had a poker held above his head, ready to attack, and the other two men were also armed, one with a small dagger and the other with what looked like a ceremonial sword that people would display on their walls.

Caught by surprise, Rhys closed his hand and dropped into a fighting posture. The orb disappeared, and the light level in the room dropped markedly. Jade spun around to face the men and yelled, "Richard!"

The first man skidded to a stop, and the other two ran into the back of him, knocking him forward. He looked at Jade in amazement. "Cha..." he started to say before stopping mid-word as Jade shook her head, eyes wide. The man recovered and asked, "Jade? What are you doing here? We thought there were burglars! Who are these people with you?"

Jade was now a picture of composure and clearly felt comfortable here. "Hello, Richard," she said, "I'm sorry for dropping in on you like this. This is Katarina. She's a good friend of mine. And this is Rhys Atherton. He's also a good friend.

"Rhys, Kat, this is Richard Spencer. He helped me get away from my slavery." She looked at Richard. "Technically, he is, or was, my owner." Rhys and Kat stared at Jade briefly before turning back to look at Richard.

"Can I also introduce you to his two compatriots? This," she indicated the man with the dagger, "is Ragnar, Richard's right-hand man and this," she indicated the man with the antique sword, "is Kaspar. He's Richard's valet."

"Rhys Atherton?" Richard asked. "After all these years. It's good to meet you again. Nice trick with the light, by the way!" He smiled and held his hand out to Rhys, who grasped it. The two shook hands. Rhys stepped forward and shook hands with Ragnar and Kaspar too.

Richard looked at Kat, who curtseyed at him. "I don't mean to be indelicate," he asked Jade, "but she is wearing a slave collar?"

"It is a long story," said Jade, "even though it's only a few days in the making. Can we go somewhere where we can all sit down, and I'll tell you what happened to us and why we are all here now?"

Richard led the party out of the bedroom, down a set of stairs and into a drawing room with six armchairs arranged around the room and a fireplace containing a warming fire. Ragnar and Kaspar pulled two of the chairs away and formed the remaining four into a semi-circle in front of the fire. Both men bowed and made their way out of the room, leaving Richard and the three friends alone.

Jade told Richard their story, from meeting Rhys in the house in Roligvan to the point where the three of them had jumped into the sea from the sinking Skotur. She then told how they'd managed to swim and stumble ashore and had met a wizard called Cadellin who'd healed them (including removing their slave tattoos) and looked after them. He'd then magicked them into the bedroom in Richard's house after Jade had shown him mentally where she wanted them to go. She omitted any mention of their journey to, and experience in, the magical plane.

Richard listened attentively and seemed to accept Jade's telling of what had happened over the past few days. Jade finished up by asking his help to get replacement papers for Rhys and her and a new identity as a free woman for Kat.

Richard nodded. "I should be able to get that in motion. We have contacts in the Seibjerg embassy who can issue papers for Rhys. And..." he thought for a moment, "... and for you too." Rhys noticed the hesitation and made a mental note to ask Jade about it.

"Katarina will be more difficult," Richard continued. "You say that she only speaks Reijik, so she cannot realistically be given any identity other than a Reilander. We will have to get one of our friends in the Reiland government to work on this. Kat, what's your surname?"

"Slaves don't have surnames, sir," she said, "but my family name from several generations ago is Wildwood."

"Katarina Wildwood, then," Richard said. He then stopped for a moment as though half-remembering something. "Wildwood?" he continued, speaking to himself. He shook his head and continued, "I'll make provision for that." He rose, pulled a bell cord by the door, and then returned to the fire. "We also need to remove that collar," he said to Kat, who nodded emphatically.

Kaspar came into the room, and Richard asked him for writing material and to bring tools to remove the collar. Kaspar bowed and exited the room.

"I promised to tell you both my story," Jade said, addressing Rhys and Kat, "and I've been dragging my feet about that. I'll tell you the end of my life as a slave so you will understand how I know Richard and why I asked Cadellin," she looked a bit embarrassed, "to send us here.

"When I passed my final tests to be a pleasure slave, I was put up for sale. My asking price was the highest of all the women who trained with me, so much so that most people couldn't afford me. I was kept naked in a cell in the showroom, chained to the back wall by my collar. The other three walls were bars so people could see me. The chain was long enough so I could move around, but not reach the door.

"Over the whole time I was in the cell, many people came to look at me. When the salesmen brought someone to me, I had to stand in the 'present' position. That's my hands behind my head, legs at shoulder width apart, and my body arching slightly forward. I had to stand by the bars at the front of the cell so that the prospective customers could see me in closeup and even feel my breasts or," she blushed and looked at Richard, "my private parts.

"It was difficult to judge how long I was in there, but I would guess it was about three weeks before a woman came to my cell. She checked me over, nodded to the salesperson, and left without saying anything. Shortly afterwards, I was taken out of my cell, given a bath and dressed in a tight-fitting long dress that showed a lot of cleavage. Guards removed my steel collar and fitted a smaller leather one with a D-ring at the front, fastened with a lock at the back. They fitted me with some lightweight manacles that held my hands behind my back and some more manacles for my ankles that meant I could only take small steps. They clipped a leash to my collar and led me away.

"They led me outside - I'd been indoors for months - and helped me into a grand carriage. The woman who'd come to see me was there. The carriage started, and we sat there, neither of us saying a word. The carriage took us through the outskirts of Chatamor and, after about two hours, brought us to a grand estate. We went through the guarded gates and up to a fine house.

"The woman who'd accompanied me helped me down from the carriage and took me into the house. There, I met my new owner. He was an older man called Lord Aspell. It turned out that he loved socialising and especially dancing. He's paid a small fortune to buy me so that he could take me to dances. I'd been given top marks for dancing by the slave dealers. I spent the next few months practising new dances in his ballroom, eating with him at the table and sleeping in a small bed in his bedroom. Every week, he'd take me to a social occasion, dress me up as a lady, clip a silver leash to my collar, and we'd dance until late. He never touched me sexually.

"After around six months, he died in his sleep from a seizure. The woman who'd chosen me from the slave traders was his only child and heir, and she didn't want me around after his death, so she sent me back to the slave traders.

"Fortunately, Richard here," she gestured to him, "came and rescued me. When we got back here, to this house, he removed my slave collar and let me stay here."

Kat and Rhys were listening with rapt attention and nodded to her.

Richard then picked up the story. "I've been a member of the Minshull Foundation for years. Jade was on our wanted list as someone who was missing, suspected captured by a slaver raiding party." He stopped and looked at Jade. "I hope I'm not saying too much, but we had a very lifelike painting of her from her previous life, and one of the Foundation's other members recognised her at one of the events that Lord Aspell took her to. We try to keep an eye on slave markets and dealers, but we didn't spot her when she was initially sold. When we heard Lord Aspell had died, we stepped up surveillance in case his heirs put her up for sale. When she went to the public slave traders, they bought her and registered her with me as her new owner.

"She stayed here with me while we waited a few weeks, then smuggled her out of Reiland. We sent her to Seibjerg so her slave markings would not be problematic. We created a new identity for her as a resident there. And that's where you," he indicated Rhys, "met her."

By then, Kaspar had returned with a writing set, two secure message containers, a hammer, a chisel, and a small saw. Richard excused himself for a few minutes, moved over to a table at the side of the room, and started to write.

"May I attend to the young lady's collar, sir?" asked Kaspar. Richard looked back and nodded. Kaspar looked at the lock on Kat's collar. "I think the chisel may not be an option, madam," Kaspar told her. "It will be very close to your neck, and the hammer blows would be painful. I shall try the saw." Kaspar started to saw at the metal that was holding Kat's collar closed. After a few minutes of effort, he stopped and looked at the almost untouched lock. Kaspar shook his head. "We'll have to find a smith, but it will be difficult to find one without arousing suspicion as to why we want a slave collar removed."

Richard had sealed the message containers and handed them to Kaspar, who bowed and hurried out of the room.

"To finish the story, the room we found you in," said Richard, "was Jade's bedroom while she was here. It has not been used for several months, and we've started to use it for storage. I've asked my housekeeper to clean it up so she can sleep there again. I hope it's not too presumptuous of me, but I've also asked for two folding beds to be put in so Rhys and Kat have somewhere to sleep. We can open up other guest rooms for you tomorrow, but sharing Jade's room is the best we can do on short notice."

Rhys and Kat looked at Jade, and they all smiled. "Thank you, Richard," said Jade. "We can make that work."

"Dinner will be ready shortly," said Richard, "and I've asked for three extra places. Will you eat with my family and I?"

Jade looked at the others and said, "Thank you, Richard. We would be honoured, and it would be lovely to meet Sarah, Violet and Lars again. May we retire to rest a little before dinner? It's been a tiring few days."

"Of course," said Richard. "I know you can find your way back to your old room, so please listen for the bell and come to the dining room."

With that, Jade curtseyed at Richard, and Kat followed suit. Rhys gave a formal bow, and the three excused themselves and headed back to Jade's bedroom. Once they were there, Jade opened the curtains to let light in, then closed and locked the door.

"I saw what happened when you asked for light," Jade told Rhys. "It was you who made it, not the ring. The ring just enabled it. I also saw how fascinated you were with the fire when we were in our cottage in the magical plane. I think one of your talents might be fire magic. Can we test that? If it works, we can also remove Kat's collar."

"I'm happy to try anything to help Kat," Rhys said. Kat was looking hopefully between Jade and Rhys. Jade nodded and told Rhys to undress - he looked slightly surprised but did as he was told. Jade went into the small bathroom attached to the bedroom. Rhys heard water running, and Jade came out, naked, with two wet towels. She pulled the chair away from the table and sat Kat down on it.

"Hold her collar so the fastening is as far away from her neck as you can," she instructed Rhys. Jade then took one of the wet towels, folded it, and tucked it between Kat's collar and neck. She folded the other towel and draped it over Kat's shoulder. She moved Rhys over to Kat's side, then moved behind him, pressing herself up against him and wrapping her arms around him. Rhys immediately felt the warmth of Jade's flux flowing into him from their full-body contact. He also felt her breasts against his back. She moved one hand down to hold his cock.

"Now," said Jade, "hold the lock with your left hand and put your right arm away from us. Spread the fingers of your right hand." Rhys did as she had asked. "Good. Now ask the ring to help you to remove the lock." Rhys sent the thought to the ring. The tip of his right index finger started to glow and fizz.

"Use your finger to cut the lock off!" Jade said. Rhys moved his glowing finger over to Kat's collar. He'd noticed that it wasn't actually his finger that was glowing - a small blue flame seemed to be coming out of it instead. He directed the flame at the lock's shackle and watched, amazed, as the metal of the shackle seemed to disappear slowly. It didn't seem to be melting; it simply evaporated into the air.

After a minute, Rhys had cut through the collar, and it fell open. The flame from his finger immediately vanished. Jade reached around him, took the damp towel from Kat's shoulders and used it to cool down the hot metal. Once she'd done that, Rhys removed the remains of the collar from Kat's neck. She immediately got up, spun around and made Rhys into a woman sandwich by embracing him from the front.

Kat nuzzled Rhys's chest hair, rubbing her head into him as she gently squeezed him. From behind, Jade whispered, "Well, Mister Fire Wizard, that was a job well done." Rhys had questions he'd love to ask Jade, but now wasn't the time. Now was family time.

They stayed that way for ten minutes, standing, holding, and enjoying being together. Eventually, they heard a bell ring, and Jade and Rhys rushed to find their clothes and get dressed. Together, they trooped back down the stairs, Jade leading them into the dining room. Inside was a long table, laid with three chairs down each of the longer sides and one chair at the head of the table. Rhys, Kat and Jade took the chairs down one side, sat and waited.

Two pre-teen children, one boy and one girl, came in, followed by a woman. The children yelled, "Jade!" and rushed up to her; she had got out of her chair and had knelt to be on the children's level. They cannoned into her, and she hugged her arms around them. The children whispered to her and looked around at Kat and Rhys. Jade, in turn, was whispering to them and smiling broadly. After a couple of minutes, the group hug broke up. Jade stood and hugged the woman, each rocking the other slightly like old friends meeting for the first time in ages.

The children were still standing by Jade. She took each child's hand and held them. She turned to Rhys and Kat. "Rhys, Kat. This is Violet," holding the girl's hand up momentarily. Violet curtseyed shyly. "And this is Lars," she continued. Lars bowed formally from the waist. "And this is their mother, Sarah. Richard is her husband."

Sarah curtsied to them, but Rhys stopped her by holding up his hand. "Please, let's be more informal. Any friend of Jade's is a friend of all three of us." He also stooped to be on the children's level, but didn't move to hug them. "I'm Rhys. I'm Jade's friend. And this is Kat," he gestured at Kat, who smiled. "She's friends with both of us. We're coming to live in Chatamor for a while, so I'm sure you'll see more of Jade."

There was a knock at the door, and another woman came into the room pushing a serving trolley. Sarah introduced her as Elaine, one of the people who helped around the house. Rhys noticed that, like Ragnar and Kaspar, she didn't have a slave collar. Elaine curtsied to them, then took requests for drinks. Rhys, Kat, Jade and the children chose various fruit cordials; Sarah asked for red wine and the same for Richard. Elaine placed plates of salad at each of the seven set places, curtsied again and left.

Richard arrived, kissed Sarah and the children, greeted the other three and took the place at the head of the table, and Sarah, Violet and Lars took the remaining seats. Richard started to eat his salad, and the others followed suit. Kat was taking her cues from Jade, who was clearly the most familiar with the family. Rhys saw that Richard glanced a few times at Kat, but she didn't notice, and Richard didn't make a point of it.

Conversation flowed as they ate. Jade repeated a simplified version of the story she'd told Richard about how they'd made their way to Chatamor and that Kat had been on the same ship and they'd made friends there. The children loved the part where Cadellin, the wizard, helped them recover from the shipwreck and magicked them into the children's home.

Rhys explained a little about his childhood in Solvstrom. The children hung on his every word and explained that they'd never met anyone who wasn't from Reiland before. He noticed the brief smile that flashed across Jade's face before quickly disappearing. Kat told a few stories about her childhood, which games she'd enjoyed playing, and who her friends had been, obviously leaving out the detail that it had all taken place in a barracks.

Once they'd finished the salad, Elaine returned and replaced the dirty plates and cutlery with clean ones. Then, she took a silver salver from her trolley and served large portions of hot sliced beef, mixed roasted root vegetables, and gravy. The children got smaller portions. Richard started to eat; the others followed suit.

Jade noticed that Kat seemed a little fazed. Jade leaned over to her, and Kat whispered, "I've never had such a large portion of food!"

"Don't worry, no one will think badly of you if you don't eat it all," Jade replied, and Kat tucked in.

Once everyone had eaten their fill, the three friends made more small talk and then excused themselves, claiming to be tired after the adventures of the past few days. Sarah and Richard promised the children they'd see the three at breakfast the following day, and Kat, Jade and Rhys returned to Jade's old bedroom.

Once inside the bedroom, they noticed that someone had been in, had stoked the fire, lit some candles, and closed the heavy drapes across the window while they were at dinner. It was also immediately apparent that the two folding beds had arrived. Unfolded, they took up most of the available space in the room. The friends immediately folded them up again and stored them by the window. They had no intention of using them and gave themselves the space back.

The three friends sat at the end of Jade's bed, faced the fire, held hands and were quiet together. There was a knock at the door, which Jade went to answer. Outside the room stood Elaine again, this time with three mugs of steaming liquid on a tray. "Cocoa, Miss?" she asked Jade.

"Oh, that's perfect! Thank you, Elaine!" exclaimed Jade. She took two mugs and handed them to Kat and Rhys before taking the third herself.

"Begging your pardon, miss," Elaine said, "But Mister Spencer asked me to tell you that if you all leave your clothes and shoes outside the door tonight, they'll be freshened up and returned to you before breakfast. Being as how your luggage went missing and all." Jade thanked Elaine, who curtseyed again and closed the door. Jade returned to her spot at the end of the bed, and the three sipped the cocoa together, staring into the fire, each deep in their own thoughts.

"Jade?" asked Rhys after a few minutes, "What did Richard mean when he said it was good to meet me 'again'?"

"Oh," replied Jade, "well, it meant he'd met you before." She fell quiet.

"And?" asked Rhys, a tiny bit irritated at Jade.

"I don't know where or when," she told him, "if that's what you're asking. He's a member of the Minshull Foundation as were your parents. They may have met at an event or something when you were small. It would have been long before my time. You'll have to ask him yourself."

Rhys thought that was reasonable, but had more questions. "Richard said that he'd get Seibjerg identity papers for you," he said, "but he didn't seem sure?"

"Richard already has a set of papers for me," she said. "Reiland slave papers from when he purchased me. But when I started to help the Foundation, I couldn't travel around freely on those papers, and if I were in Reiland, being a slave would be a problem. So they got me a new identity as a Seibjerg resident, Jade Niain. Those are the papers I need, and that's the identity I will use from now on as a free woman."

Rhys nodded. "When we were cutting Kat's collar off," he continued, "you seemed to know a lot about what to do?"

"I've been around magic since I was a baby," she answered. "I've known I had talent since I was small. As you know, I don't have the sort of talent that lets me focus flux and 'do magic'. Having said that, I probably need to take another look at that after what Cadellin said. But I have been around the magical community and seen what wizards, sorcerers, mages, witches, sorceresses, and whatever else they call themselves can do and how they do it. I noticed your interest in fire and how you made the light earlier, and then I tried to get you to do what I've seen other people do. I have no special knowledge if that's what you're wondering."

Rhys squeezed her gently. "I'm not accusing you of anything, my love. You're such a mystery that almost anything you do has scenarios and questions running through my head. Please don't read anything into my curiosity."

Rhys saw Kat looking up at him, and he knew why. "I love you, too," he said quietly.

She beamed at him. "I love you back, master scary wizard Rhys!" and all three chuckled. They went back to staring at the fire together.

"Bed?" asked Kat, and the other two nodded. Kat jumped up, shucked her clothing off until she was naked and padded across to the small bathroom. She closed the door behind her and made her nightly ablutions. When she came out, the other two were also naked and had put everyone's clothes outside the door in a neat pile.

Once Jade and Rhys had had their turn in the bathroom, the three stood, looking at the bed. It would have a squeeze for two to sleep in, let alone three.

"Right," Jade said, "if we're not going to fit in it horizontally, we'll have to fit in it vertically. Rhys, get on that bed!" Rhys, always one for doing what a strong woman wanted, lay on his back in the centre of the bed. Jade looked at Kat, flicking her eyes at Rhys and wiggling her tongue. Whether it was some form of unseen communication or the two women simply thinking in the same way, Kat's eyes went wide with surprise, and a mischievous grin appeared. She climbed onto the bed, put her knees on either side of Rhys's head and sat down with her pussy on his face. Jade signalled that she should turn around to face his legs, which Kat did after some muffled complaints from Rhys about the wriggling.

Jade climbed onto the bed and knelt with her knees on either side of Rhys's thighs, facing Kat. She raised herself, wiggled forward until her pussy was over Rhys's cock, moved her hips to line her tunnel up and dropped down, impaling herself on his cock. Immediately, Rhys felt the connection with Jade that had previously been a constant but indistinct presence in his mind swim into sharp focus. He could feel what she felt; he could hear what she was thinking; he could see what she saw.

Judging by the way her eyes widened, Jade felt something similar. Not to be denied, though, she started to gyrate her hips, signalling to Rhys that he should begin to work on Kat's pussy. He did so with gusto. He used his fingertips to part her labia before sticking his nose between her nether lips. That immediately gave him access to her tunnel, which he explored with his tongue. He extended his tongue as far as he could, making his jaws ache in the process, before being stopped from going any further by her hymen.

In the meantime, Jade continued gyrating her hips, and the two women leaned into each other. Jade put her arms out and clasped them behind Kat's head, pulling their heads together so they could kiss. Kat reached for Jade's breasts and cupped them, kneading and rubbing the nipples gently with her thumbs.

Now that Kat was leaning forward, Rhys's angle of attack on her pussy had changed slightly, and her clitoris was now in position for more attention from his tongue. He licked around the little button, flicking it occasionally with his tongue. Kat was properly balanced on his face, so he stopped holding her hips and reached up. Her petite size meant he could reach her breasts, and, unknowingly, as he couldn't see, he started doing to Kat what Kat was already doing for Jade.

Jade started to use her powerful thighs to move herself up and down on Rhys's cock, changing the angle of his cock inside her as she moved. Her breathing was getting rapid, and she increased the urgency of her kisses with Kat. Kat, too, was kissing Jade more and more passionately and was increasing her ministrations on Jade's breasts.

Kat's juices now ran over Rhys's face, and he was, at the back of his mind, slightly concerned he might drown if she got any more excited, but the feelings on his cock from Jade's bouncing and wiggling and the sensations he was getting from her via the connection were incredible. He was clenching his pelvic muscles to try to delay his orgasm and mentally reciting the list of the previous head boys from his boyhood school to try to distract his mind.

Kat made all that impossible, though, by cumming. Her rush of pussy juice over Rhys's face set his own orgasm off, and that, in turn, set Jade off. Each of them tried to suppress their cries as they came for fear of attracting attention from the rest of the house. Jade let go of Kat, and they collapsed in a sweaty heap, each rolling to the side to accommodate the other. Rhys's cock popped out of Jade's pussy, and he could finally breathe normally again as Kat fell off his face.

The two women had already passed out and lay partially on top of Rhys. He could also feel himself falling asleep, but in his last waking moments, he noticed the now familiar warmth of the flow of Jade's flux where their skin was in contact but also a small buzz of something from Kat. He wondered about that as sleep overtook him.