Red dust and resolve

“Four.” Gab said, holding up four fingers.

The slave shook his head, holding up three in return.

It would have to do.

Gab reluctantly handed over his shoes, holding out his pouch as the Tah filled it with a meager amount of dust.

It wouldn’t get him much.

He joined the line to the keepers, listening to the murmur of voices and coughing of slaves echoing through the cavern.

A few more days of life at most.

Gab licked lips that were cracked and bleeding, every breath of dust prickling his parched throat.

“You look a step away from the dead kid.”

The line passed a man sitting on the crumbling masonry, his skin smooth and hairless.

A Gor.

“Seen it before.” The man said, shaking his head sadly.

Gab ignored him, eyes fixed on the keepers as they poured water into a slaves cup.

“Hey.” The man asked, getting up and squinting at Gab. “What are you kid?”

“Human.” Gab whispered, his voice cracked and weak.

The man’s eyes widened in genuine surprise, his voice smooth like gurgling of water beneath the gift of tongues.

“The new race…”

The man looked furtively around, his voice lowering. “Look kid, there’s a place you can get more.”
Gab squinted at him, hand covering the pouch beneath his clothing.

The man’s eyes softened, his voice turned gentle. “You might not know yet, but my kind…the Gor.. I couldn’t lie to you, I couldn't take from you, even if I wanted to.”

“Here.” He passed Gab his water skin, which Gab greedily held to his mouth, the few splashes inside wetting his throat in blissful relief.”

“Sorry.” The Man said as the skin ran dry. “All I've got at the moment.”

The line drew closer and the man’s eyes flickered nervously to the keeper.

“Want in?”

Was he lying… no it would be too easy to check, and if the Gor truly were a race that could not lie…
Gab nodded, following the man out of the line and through the tunnels to another pen.

“Just don’t tell anyone.”

The man whispered as they went, his voice barely audible over the roar of the great furnace beneath them as it fired up once more.

“Don’t want the keepers to find out.”

At the back of the pen a group of misshapen Tah were gathered around the bars, their leader turning to eye Gab warily as they approached.

“It’s ok.” The man whispered, pouring a small amount of dust into a tray before them. “He’s with me.”

Gab looked on with shock as they poured water out for him, double what Gab had ever seen in return.

Hand shaking Gab passed his skin and dust, watching greedily as it was filled almost half way before snatching it back and pressing it to his lips.

It was repulsive.

The water leaked from Gab’s mouth as he retched, collapsing to the pen floor as his skin fell beside him, leaking water stained a dirty red.

“This isn’t..” he said before vomiting over the floor, his hand reaching up towards the dust before it was slapped away.

“Got exactly what you paid for.” A Tah said, turning to the man who had brought him. “Barely had any dust at all.”

He pushed the man away as they left the pen. “Go find us someone worth our time.”

“The boy?” The man asked, looking down at Gab as he struggled to rise, wiping vomit from his stinging lips.

The Tah laughed.

“Let him live, won’t be around much longer anyway.”

Delirious Gab grabbed a hold of the man, hand clutching his leg before he could escape.

“You lied.”

“No.” The Gor man looked down at him, eyes cold. “Everything I told you was true.”

“Sorry Child.”

He shook Gab’s hand free.

“Better you learn this now.”

…

Leaning against the wall to keep from falling, Gab returned to his pen, looking deliriously at the mass of dust covered new slaves flooding the chamber.

The long march was back.

He stumbled through the pen, searching frantically…

Please, he needed help.

A familiar pair of ears protruding from the crowd, a woman turning to face him as he grabbed her.

“Fight?” She growled at him, her face vicious and unforgiving as she pushed him to the floor, his head banging against the pen walls.

“You’re not… No, Sorry.” he whispered as hair that was a dusty brown instead of grey bristled and she mercifully turned away.

Damnit.

He knew.

After all this time he knew.

He breathed deeply, struggling not to throw up as the taste of the water tainted with dust filled his mouth.

Those that went on the long march, how few of them ever returned.

…

Impossible.

Gab felt his heart race, beating out of his chest as he split the rock open, the core of the rock shimmering a brilliant red.

He’d heard about this, live rocks from the long march that the foundry missed, the crystals whole and untouched, glowing with a mesmerizing red light that played across his eyes.

It was beautiful.

And it was valuable.

He knelt down, looking furtively around as he covered his find beneath his shirt, if anyone found out…

It was too late.

An emaciated Demi had begun yelping, pointing at Gab’s find, drawing a crowd of the slaves skittering and hopping over the dump.

Gab desperately began scooping the inside of the rock into his jacket, the other slaves drawing nearer and nearer.

A little more.

He scraped at the rock with his fingers until they were bloody, liquid red mixing with the broken crystals as he frantically gouged them out.

A little more.

He looked up as the first demi neared him, striking him with his foot and rolling him off the precious rock.

It hurt.

They continued to strike him over and over, long after prying the rock away, vicious blows that tore his skin and rattled his bones.

It hurt so much.

He lay there listlessly as they pulled his pants and shirt off him, tearing open the pockets to search for any remaining dust.

Why?

A yipping mess of guttural growls and voices echoed through the dump as they fought amongst each other, eventually throwing his tattered clothing away.

It wasn’t fair.

He was left alive only in the hopes that they could take more from him tomorrow, lying weak and wheezing amongst the rocks of the foundry as it began to heat up.

It was getting harder and harder to move.

…

Stumbling to his feet he followed the slaves in a daze, his legs buckling as he reached the edge of the mines.

He didn’t know if he could make it the rest of the way up.

“Need… Help.”

A ghostly voice echoed up from the depths of the void, a voice not of this world.

“Please.”

He took a step, drawn towards the void.

“Help.”

He blinked, and in his addled mind he could see her, Mel standing over the void, her arms outstretched towards him

“Please.”

He knew it couldn't possibly be real, and yet…

Another step and he stood before the void, a rare breeze blowing down from above carrying away the ever present dust.

Gab closed his eyes.

Just in this moment… It almost felt pleasant.

He began to sway, his body leaning forward when a patter of bare feet sounded on the trail behind him…

…and he felt arms wrapping tight around his body.

“Live.”

The beast woman whispered, her canine ears folding as she pressed her head tightly against his back, an unknown warmth in the cold mines.

“Live... I don’t know why anymore.” Gab said, voice dry and rasping from disuse.

“I don’t have anything.”

No, that wasn’t it.

Gab paused, watching as the vision of Mel faded away with the wind.
“I don’t have anyone.”

He felt her arms tighten around him, refusing to let go.

“Then… For me, please…”

Her cheek pressed against his neck, her lips brushing against his ear.

“...live.”

Gab felt his body begin to shake pathetically, crying for the first time since entering this world as he leaned involuntarily back into the woman's arms.

“Have food, drink now. Share.” The woman declared as she forced him to drink from a water skin, coughing as the liquid hit his parched throat.

“What’s… what’s your name?” he asked the woman once the coughing subsided.

His first question.

“Awa.” she whispered into his ear, holding him close as his legs began to wobble.

Gab bit his lip hard enough to draw blood, the numbness that had consumed him slowly giving way to regret, grief…and more than anything Rage.

He looked up towards the demonic buildings that loomed high above the mines.

“Never again.”

His first promise.