Chapter 25 Shade, [email protected] ***Chapter 25*** We were walking down the hall leaning on each other and eagerly anticipating lunch when it happened. I felt the vibrations first, but it wasn''t long before the sounds reached our ears. Explosions were going on somewhere very close. I could hear the deep bass boom of something large going bang followed by the wet splat of displaced earth succumbing to the forces of gravity. I grabbed Rose''s hand and we pelted down the hall and fell, literally, into the central chambers of the tree house. As we breasted the entrance, something shook the tree house and knocked me off my feet. With Rose''s hand firmly in mine, we both went head first through the doorway. A split second later, something soft stopped our fall and when we disentangled ourselves from our human cushion we saw that it was RG. His grinning face hovered over a posture collar and my eyes traced the leash that led back to his mistress, Rowenna. She held his leash and looked at the three of us as though something was amusing her, but she couldn''t tell quite what. I assumed it must have been our position until she spoke. "I told you to catch them RG, I meant before they fell asleep, but you are nothing if not obedient." The smile in her voice rose to her lips and I could see the beauty that had touched RG''s heart. I still didn''t trust the cop-turned-insider, but I was willing to suspend judgment, which I guess was almost the same thing. Her smile faded quickly and she turned to look back at Devon who stood in the middle of the room, leaning on MD as she knelt, clad only in her hair and a smile, at his feet. We all turned to watch as he spoke. "OK folks, here is all the information I have at the moment. Something, or for all we know, someone, is exploding outside. It''s actually happening a good quarter of a mile from here, but this is a stressful time so we are going to move everyone out of here and through to the tunnels so that we can get out of here safely if need be. It''s going to be a little cramped while we send someone out to check on things, but I''d rather we all got a little cozy now instead of a lot cozy when the tree itself is falling over." He sighed and reached down for the cigarette MD lit for him. He took a deep drag and let the smoke spill from his mouth in a long slow cascade before continuing. "That said, I just got word that the work team has arrived on the island, and that some of the damage to the castle is a lot less extensive than we thought. So, short version, we are ready to go with at least a hundred people. Seeing that we only have a hundred thirty here and I know that everyone that is not here still has loose ends to tie up, I''m open to volunteers, or-" The noise level of the room jumped dramatically and hands started to go up as people strove to make their voices heard. "Hang on, hang on!" Devon raised his hands for silence and after a few moments he got it. "OK, let''s just say I''m asking for volunteers to stay a few weeks or even a few months." The hands in the air dropped like earth after an explosion, another of which shook the room the moment he opened his mouth to speak. "Alright, everyone out. Follow Kali and Hades out of here and we will all talk once we are safe!" One more explosion shook the room and then we were all in motion and the vibrations from our press to the doors drowned out any further motion from the explosions. As we moved I felt my mind follow two tangential paths, the first and most pressing was for Rose''s safety, and by extension, the safety of the entire group. We needed to get everyone out of the tree house immediately before the explosions, and whatever was causing them, got close enough to knock the structure from the sky. My second train of thought was much less altruistic. In the press of flesh, I was becoming highly aware of the flesh that was being pressed against not only my body in general, but a few specific points. I looked around a bit and in doing so I saw a mischievous grin on Rose''s partially turned face. I had her thrust in front of me to ensure that if need be I could wrap her in my arms to offer what protection I had, and so that I could ensure that she got to the ground as soon as possible. I looked down her arms as much as I could in the cramped space, but I could tell that she had one hand behind her in mine and the other hand was in front of her on someone''s shoulder. As we moved toward the stairs I felt strange, but nimble fingers tickling their way along my inner thigh. I was also aware of the overall press of bodies, of breasts against my back pressing pebble-like nipples into my skin while someone paused and I felt the brush of their buttocks against the back of my knuckles as we moved. But I could not pinpoint the source of the stimulation that was making it harder and harder to concentrate on the moment at hand. A brief surge in motion in front allowed me to pause long enough to follow the culprits arm from my crotch to her shoulder and I was surprised to see Nico''s slave girl grinning across her shoulder at Rose and reaching back to fondle me while we all moved as a mass. I saw Nico standing tall right next to her slave and for a moment I thought she knew nothing of the goings on, but then she caught my eye, turned to face her slave and gave an indulgent smile. I relaxed when I realized there was nothing untoward going on and just enjoyed the sensation of actually following my crotch. Sadly, it was not to last, as we crowded into the stairwell, we were forced into single file, Nico led with her slave who gave me a backwards glance and a wink that held...something before they disappeared into the darkness. Rose and I followed and while I caught my breath, she reached behind her and picked up where the slave girl had left off. I caught my breath and felt a smug smile spread across my face. I reserved just enough attention to continue placing one foot in front of the other while Rose endeavored to bring my excitement to a fever pitch. My breath came hot and fast as she manipulated both my nerves and the surging of my hormones, but I also had to concentrate on the stairs as we navigated our way through the darkness and the swaying of the stairwell. In my excitement, I found a moment of near Zen peace when I realized I had long ago surpassed the point of arousal at which my body usually exploded. I was no longer sure what it would take to reach orgasm, but I knew it would have to be something much greater than the stimulus to which I had lately become used. I felt energized and aware of everything as we felt our way through the darkness. At one point I felt bare breasts pressed to the backs of my hands, and at another someone slipped the tip of a finger into the waistband of my pants to lightly brush the tip of me. I was nearly on the verge of grabbing the first person who merely resembled Rose in the near perfect darkness and taking her against the wall while the others filed by, but I was stopped when the ground we were standing on shook, just barely, but enough that our darkness enhanced fears were beginning to blossom to a mass panic. As a group we stopped moving and waited in the dark for something else to happen. A bit of dust fell from the ceiling and in it I could smell the dirt and growth of the outside world. Did that mean we were near the surface? Did it mean we were underground and about to be buried? I realized that I had no idea where we were in relation anything I knew. The slow progress of the group and my heightened state of arousal had completely robbed me of my sense of direction. And in the pitch blackness, I could not even tell if I was standing on a wide stair, a landing or a level hallway. I felt empty space behind me and I felt slowly with my heels until they bumped into a wall. I leaned back against the wall and pulled what I thought to be Rose and Nico''s Slave back with me. I could feel both of them trembling in my arms as I gathered them in and shielded their heads with my arms. For a few moments we just stood there, waiting. I felt more than heard the slave raise her lips to my ear and whisper through choked sobs of fear. "I can''t find my Mistress, please, don''t let me be alone, I don''t know where she is." She was terrified and it went beyond fear of the circumstances, she was without her Mistress for the first time in I knew not how long and it was agonizing. I tried to comfort her, pulling her towards me while I pulled Rose in to provide a protective huddle around the both of them. The moment I Rose moved closer I could tell from the scent of her that I had the right woman. "Rose," I pulled her tight to me, hugging her arms so close to me that I could feel the lines of her ribs through my shirt. "Rose, hold on to, um...to-" I turned to Nico''s slave. "What do I call you? You''re Nico''s, not mine. Don''t worry! I''m not going to leave you alone until we find your Mistress, but what do I call you?" I held her until her sobbing subsided a bit and she was able to speak a little more clearly. "I can barely remember my name these days, Nico just calls me slave and that makes me happiest. But you can call me Sindel; Nico called me that before I became her slave. Yes, Sindel is what you can call me!" She straightened, as though reminding her of the days when she and Nico were first dating had allowed given her some of the strength it must have taken to seduce as proud a woman as Nicolette. "OK, Sindel, Rose, I want the two of you to hold onto each other. I''ll hold onto the both of you, but I''m going to need one hand free to see if I can find Nico." I waited for them to shuffle behind me against the wall and then I held their hands together so that I could hold onto both of their hands at the same time. With that done I reached out into the darkness. I shuffled my feet carefully and tried to avoid both an unseen edge and stepping on someone''s feet. Now that the immediate crisis of dealing with Rose and Sindel was over, the crush of bodies and the roar of barely restrained whispers came rushing back. I was sorely tempted to return to the safety of our private huddle against the wall, but I had promised to find Nico, and find her I would. I pushed out with my hand and as I touched shoulders, chests, hands and other more interesting body parts, I whispered. "Nico, Nicolette! Nico damn it, where are you?" I held out my hand and felt my way through the group the stood in front of me, in the dark, my touches were probably mistaken for gropes or panic. Regardless of how my search was perceived, the one thing I did not find was my quarry. I called out again, hoping Nico would hear me, and confused as to where she had gone. I knew she would have to have been near until a moment ago or her slave would have begun to panic earlier. When my hand touched a soft rounding in the dark, I could not tell if it was hip or breast, buttock or shoulder. Without thinking I pressed with my fingers as I tried blindly to find details that my eyes could not see. A moment later my explorations were rewarded with the sharp impact of a riding crop on my fingers and a hand grasped my wrist firmly. I twisted my hand and grasped the wrist that held mine and together we pulled her from the crowd. As she came closer, I gasped in relief. I could here Nico muttering under her breath, and while I couldn''t make out the words, I could tell by the familiar lilt of her voice that it was her. A moment later I could also tell that she meant to deal me quite a bit of harm due to my unwanted manhandling of some part of her body. "Nico!" I hissed, pulling her to me. "Nico! It''s me, Xeno. Your slave is freaking out here and she needs you!" I felt Nico calm and begin to follow my arm through the crowd. It felt as though we were becoming more compressed. I couldn''t tell if people were moving backwards from ahead of us or forwards from behind, but there were definitely more people around and I had to push to get us back against the wall where both Rose and Sindel had a firm grasp on my other hand. When we were all pressed into the wall and Nico and her slave were wrapped in each other''s arms, I rolled my shoulders and gave Rose a hug. I was no longer being pulled apart by my arms, but we were still trapped in a dark stairwell with no idea what was going on around us and the occasional report of an explosion sounding outside. Could you call it an improvement when you had only gone from very bad to mostly bad? We huddled together, finally too frightened to be aroused by the press of bodies. I could hear them all around me, the people of the club, their breathing sounded like we were moments from mass hysteria. I wasn''t in much better shape myself. The close quarters combined with the dark were beginning to press on me and I felt suffocated. I felt as though the night in which we were locked would never end. Someone near me began to gasp in air, and I knew that we were seconds from hearing the screams of panic. I didn''t know if I would be able to resist the tide as we all descended in to raw fear. I gathered Rose to my chest and wrapped my arms around her ears. I felt shifting beside me and thought I could just see the outline of Nico doing the same with her slave and then it dawned on me, I could see her outline! At that moment the light broke over us like a welcome heat. There, at the bottom of the stairs, not so far from us, the door had opened allowing the sunlight to pour in. The crowd surged forward, too long pent up in this chamber of darkness, and I allowed myself and Rose to be pulled along with the wave of motion. *** We emerged, blinking in the bright afternoon sun from beneath the limbs of the false tree the concealed the entrance to our hidden tree house. I shaded my eyes and looked around at the confusion of dust and smoke that drifted through the forest. I could see nothing, but from the distance I could hear explosions, and what sounded like gunfire. It was that sound that I recognized first. I had mistaken it as the falling of earth near the tree house while we were inside. A moment later Devin began to curse under his breath and then he turned to explain that the explosions were cannon fire. And the gunfire was muskets and flintlocks. What we were hearing was the semi annual meeting of the civil war re-enactment society. They were replaying some battle that had probably taken place hundreds of miles from here, but which provided a perfect excuse for the society to make lots of things go bang while they ran around like children at play. We looked to Devon and Kali as they were standing apart from the group conferring about something, probably our future, I thought. A few moments passed and then Devin grabbed Kali by the ears, kissed her on the forehead, and turned to face the group. "OK folks, listen up. This is total and complete bullshit. We are running scared for two reasons. The first," He held up his index finger for emphasis, "is that we have been attacked, once at the club and once here when the police showed up. The second," He held up an entirely different finger, gesturing defiantly at the sky as though to give the world and all who were not of our group the proverbial bird. "is because we believe our opponent to be completely insane and as such, she and her group are completely unpredictable. To us this means that any possibility, no matter how remote, is possible and even likely. The more whacked out the thought, the more likely we are to consider her guilty of planning it. And while I know I said there were two reasons, the third is very simple and usually assumed, but I think it still needs stating. We all have something to lose. Many of you are looking forward to the move from here to the island. Others of you are planning to stay and maintain our presence here on the mainland. Those of you who would stay risk your reputations and livelihoods, those of you who would come are risking your chance at the new beginning we all crave." Devon paused and looked at Kali, his glance shifted to the pall of smoke rising over the unseen war games, and finally, he turned his eyes to take in the crowd that gathered around the base of the tree. His eyes looked pinched and I thought for a moment that he looked old all of the sudden. The burden of actually running the show was taking its toll on him, but we had turned to him for guidance like a slave to its master. I smiled inwardly at the analogy, and I wondered if there was a ladder that led all the way from infant to the highest ruler, one that encompassed everyone in its carefully placed hierarchy. I didn''t wonder for too long though. Devon began to speak again. "We have arranged passage on a cruise ship headed for an island near the one we own. From there we will simply have to make our way across the three or four miles of sea in groups. I think we can probably rent a fishing boat or something to spend a day taking us across. We had intended this to happen anyway, but I''m sick of this shit and I''m moving the date up. I know many of you have things to sort out here. The fact of the matter is that while we are running, I do not feel at all that what we are doing is showing fear or disgrace. I know many of you come from backgrounds and cultures where honor is an issue, and in this we are showing greater honor than our aggressor. We must choose between a conflict in which we may regain some of the face lost in the acts of aggression, and defending the debt of honor we take upon ourselves when we take on a slave or a master. This group cannot face the enemy as individuals because we are not challenged as individuals, and we cannot face them as a group because doing so endangers those of us who have not chosen to fight. In following our original plan, albeit a little earlier than initially anticipated, we maintain honor and save ourselves and our slaves further trauma. And, above all else, we do not risk this dream that is swiftly becoming a reality." He paused and looked over us like a general looking at his troops. I realized how difficult it must be for him and many of the other members to retreat in this circumstance, but I could see his point. If we allowed this to become a major battle it would sprawl across not only back alleys, but court rooms and living rooms and it would ruin a large number of lives. Rose had told me that we had quite a few members who were in positions of prominence in either business or community. Here in the US, the prevailing attitudes towards any sexuality was such that exposure would mean ruin and even for the members who were leaving with us to live on the island, there were some who would continue to work for their companies on either a consultant basis or continuing full time employment as telecommuting employees. Again, exposure could ruin them professionally and leave them with no way to give back to the community which would be nurturing them and allowing them to grow without the fear of prosecution from which we were all fleeing. Devon sighed, cast his cigarette to the ground and stomped it with repressed anger. "Enough rambling, we are leaving in three days time. The ship''s captain has been notified and has agreed to take on as many of us as show, we had to purchase every cruise package on the damn thing for this to happen, but it''s worth the price. The cars are here to return everyone to the city and in each you will find a number of envelopes. Each has an invitation which will allow the bearer and as many guests as you bring to board the ship. However!" He paused as we all started to buzz at this announcement. "However, there will be a list of names at the gate, if your guests name is not on that list, they will not be allowed. We are not taking on new members at this time, the unlimited guest rule is to allow you to gather other members and bring them aboard without the need to contact everyone and deliver the invitations in person. R.G., your guest is on the list as of now, she has not had a chance to prove herself, but I would feel more confident bringing her along than leaving her behind to grow angry at her abandonment, and I do not want to deny you because of her possible history. The rest of you, the cars are here. You have three days. Take care of yourselves and we will see you on board." Devon stepped away to stand with Kali, Hades stepped up from behind the tree and patted his arm in a comforting manner and together they turned to step into the limousine that pulled up beside them. Rose, by my side as always, held my arm and pointed to an old Mercedes that had pulled up near us. We entered and the driver sped off without asking where to take us. I did not recognize the driver, and I was to deep in thought to introduce myself. I directed him to take us to the diner where this had all begun. I had to find a way to free Dream from the nightmare that had her in its grasp. Ariana still had her and I could not leave until I knew she was safe. I fervently hoped she would come with me, with Rose and I, I mentally corrected. I hoped that she really did hold no grudge against me for my immaturity when we had first met all those years ago. I hoped she would accept my apology and my love, but for the moment, I had to find her and give the option. 2006 ©  Shmeng http://www.shmeng.com/