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Counter Earth Chronicles

Chapter 101: Waiting For Help That Will Never Come (The Outpost Of The Forgotten Part Three)

Day 323 continued

"What is going on here?" I stammered as the twenty five prisoners who used to be statues on this floor of the prison building closed in on us. Many of them had sinister grins on on their faces while some had a confused look and others were bemused.

Nothing good was going to come out of this.

"It is an uprising pet." Lady Ursa said studying the human prisoners- both male and female that had surrounded us.

"No." 'Warden Fields' said. "That happened prior to your arrival, this is the prison break."

As he said that he was joined by the prisoners from the lower floors. I recognized many of the convicts from the prison wings including Bertha, Nikki Waters, Chester Conner, Ricky Raccoon and Kathryn Hurt and Gorn among the horde.

(This was not going to end well.)

"You mean disguising yourself as the warden was for our benefit?" I asked while I counted how many of the outposts' 'guests' there were around us.

There were forty-five of the facility's sixty residents on the fourth floor of the prison building with us. I assumed the remaining fifteen were on their way.

"So you know about that?" A blond hair man standing next to me said. He had a tired and worn looking face denoting that he had been here for quite sometime.

"Just like we know what happened to the staff of this facility." My she beast grumbled.

"Collateral damage." The moose I had seen in the gym earlier said.

"We are leaving this place. You can come along if you agree to just look the other way." The being disguised as the warden said.

"So exactly where are you escaping too? There is nothing in either direction for thousands of miles and the jump room can only receive not send." I said gasping.

"Until now." The being said. "I have a great engineer."

It didn't take long for my she beast to render her decision.

"The answer is no." Lady Ursa grumbled.

(OH SHIT!)

"Think carefully madam knight you and your companion are in a very precarious situation and severely out numbered this will not end well for you." Warden Fields or who ever he was warned.

"Be that as it may, I am knight in service to empire. I can not simply look the other way at the atrocities that have occurred here, nor can I allow the worst of the worst to return to harm society." My warrior bear growled.

(There was that anything for the cause mentality I had seen her and the other knights display during my time on this planet.)

"Very well." The being said as he raised and then dropped his hand in a chopping motion signaling his followers.

!!!

Forty five to two were horrible odds. No, they were impossible odds! I had just enough time to think that as a brunette kicked me on my leg. As I dropped to the floor, she tried to punch me in the face. I dodged her attack right into another punch from another of the human prisoners- right to my stomach. That hurt just as much as the punch to the back of the head I received from someone else. I don't know who as I never saw it coming.

I quickly recovered and dodged another swing from another convict. I guarded my right arm as I hammer fisted my assailant on his neck and moved on to the next attacker who was.... Nikki Waters! The griffon slashed my chest with her talons- the force sent me reeling backward into Bertha who caught me.

"Hey! Let go! Let go!" I screamed.

"It is over freckles." She said crushing me in a body lock. "Or would you want me to give you to her?"

The former female wrestler had gotten to me first before the griffon could follow up her attack. In retrospect, that was a good thing, it probably saved my life.

"Aw you ruined me fun Bertha!" The griffon said as she raked her claws across my chest again.

"This one is mine!" My mistress' doppelgänger grumbled. "Move on."

Together we watched my she beast's desperate fight. For a while my warrior bear was holding her own- she dodged a punch from one of her assailants- then picked up the prisoner and spun him around knocking out all who were foolish enough to get too close.

She kicked another in his groin dropping him to the ground. Slashed another assailant in his face blinding him, she flung yet another assailant into the wall. She continued to claw and slash her attackers to the amazement of the warden and his thugs, but in the end there were just too, too many.

She smashed another human and Chester Conner together as they tried to approach her before grabbing Ricky Raccoon and tossing him into Screech as she was grabbed behind by Thud and pummeled in the stomach by Gorn and several others from the attacking horde. She dropped to her knees as she continued being punched, kicked and beaten.

"STOP! THAT IS ENOUGH!" I screamed.

"On your knees freckles." Bertha said pushing me to the ground.

"What do you want to do with them Solo?" Thud said asking as the horde got their last few licks in on the now defeated knight.

"You!" Lady Ursa said spitting up blood.

"Just who are you anyway?!" I asked.

"Why, I am Warden Fields." The man said.

"Thud called you Solo just now." I said studying the being.

"It makes sense now." My bear knight said to me. "Solo is failed lab experiment who is adept at deception." My she beast added. "We arrived during their prison escape and he disguised himself most likely to throw us off track."

"Very good madam knight!" The being said as a beam of light enveloped him and he 'de-cloaked'.

When it had dissipated we were staring at a yellow and white furred creature that resembled a canine but was missing distinctive canine features- he had a long nose, long fox like ears, but slanted looking eyes, long claws with weird symbols and drawings on his face and limbs. He looked more like a mannequin dummy than a living breathing creature.

"I say we kill them in the most vicious way possible." The raccoon said. "I still owe that human for putting me in here and the knights for my brother's death."

"Doesn't matter to me- throw them off of the roof, let them freeze outside or beat them to death; what is a few more corpses?" Solo said emotionless.

"I don't think that would be a good idea." Bertha volunteered. "Killing a knight of the empire would cause hell to rain down on you and the rest of us." She said directing her attention to the canid looking mannequin.

**ZAP**

"Nope, I have something even better in mind." A familiar human said stepping in front of the horde holding a paralysis weapon. "Hello Mr. Winter remember me?"

"Mike Anger." I said trying to stare at Lea's former boyfriend, but for some reason I couldn't move.

"I remember you Alex and they way you taunted Ms. Waters and Ms. Hurt and myself during our final judgement." The human said.

"You got what you deserved for trying to kill Sorren and myself after you framed Lea." I countered.

"Your point Mr. Anger?" Solo asked.

"I was a 'stiff' for the last nine months because of that beastial lover. I say we let our knight and her pet here experience what I and twenty-four of my fellow prisoners have experienced for the rest of their lives or eternity whatever comes first." Mike Anger said to the others on the floor.

"What do you have in mind?" Kathryn Hurt asked.

"The living death- place them somewhere where they will never be seen or heard from again."

"NO!!!" Lady Ursa and I screamed.

"I have the perfect spot. How about the floor below us?" Screech interjected. "The south west corner is pretty isolated."

"You can't do this!" I screamed trying in vain to make my body move. It wouldn't.

Solo nodded. "Make it happen."

Lady Ursa and I were picked up and carried to the floor just below. Like the fourth floor, the third floor of the prison building was entirely open, no rooms or closets; it was an additional art gallery- an expansion room to store more prisoners who were sentenced to the living death. It even had an in-animator machine.

"You probably wondering why you can't move." Mike Anger said taunting me.

"The thought had crossed my mind." I said.

"I hit you with a paralysis ray. A tool the former guards used and a taste of what is to come."

Lady Ursa growled. At that revelation.

"BEHOLD! This is your new home. A lonely corner of a forgotten floor- you even have a window view!"

As Mr. Anger continued to scoff, Gorn repositioned my mistress from a kneeling position to a standing position he then did the same to me- my right foot forward, left one behind, my arms at my side, my head staring straight ahead.

All the while Lady Ursa and I were struggling to move, something, anything trying to escape the predicament we found ourselves in. The paralysis ray Mr. Anger shot us with was still in effect.

My she beast was the first to be placed under the in-animator machine which was made up of a simple platform with two pedestals- one below where the condemned stood and one above. Next to the platform was the control screen.

"I am sorry pet for getting us into this." Lady Ursa said apologetically.

"Aw quit whining." One of the beastial prisoners- a sergal said. "You two still have each other."

"And you will be together for ever and ever and ever." A female wolverine added.

One of the prisoners pressed a few buttons on the control screen.

"GYAAARGH!!!" My she beast roared as beam of light shot from the upper pedestal traveling through her body into the lower pedestal.

"MISTRESS!!!!" I screamed.

My brown bear was turned into a living statue. She was then picked up and moved into the corner as I took her place on the platform.

"Not to worry your next!" One of the human prisoners said to me.

I wondered what it would feel like to be in-animated by the machine. I didn't have long to wait.

"GYAH!!!"

My whole body tingled as the wave of light went through me- it felt like every cell in my being was being frozen along with every atom and molecule. After the procedure I, like my mistress, became a living statue. I could barely breathe let alone move my eyes.

I soon joined Lady Ursa standing in the lonely corner of the floor. Solo's thugs decided to leave my she beast and I starring at a wall and a support pillar. Our backs to the windows and the entrance to the floor.

"Welcome to the living death." Mike Anger said punching me hard in my gut before turning off the lights and leaving the floor. "I hope you enjoy the experience. I certainly didn't."

"The night's entertainment is over, I think it is time we leave." Solo called out to the other prisoners from the stairwell. Bertha, who was there for the whole procedure was the last to leave the floor.

About a minute later the lights to the room turned back on. She had returned. She brought a healing kit and proceeded to treat our injuries we had received during the fight. Especially my mistress'.

"I am sorry you two got mixed up in all of this. I warned you both to stay out of trouble." The ex-wrestler said apologetically. "Now it is too late."

After treating the claw marks on my chest, and my mistress, bumps and bruises, Bertha started to descend the staircase again but stopped and turned around at the two statues now occupying the lonely floor of the art gallery; she came back up the steps to stare at Lady Ursa and myself where we stood.

Was she going to re-animate us? No that didn't happen. Instead she repositioned Lady Ursa slightly so that her paw was touching my shoulder before she left to join the prison escape.

I couldn't believe what had just happened. This truly had been the vacation from hell. I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream, but all I could do was blink.

Lady Ursa and I had received the living death, a punishment reserved for some of the most heinous criminals of the empire. We were left alone on the third floor of the prison building as Nikki Waters, Kathryn Hurt, Mike Anger, Chester Connor, Ricky Raccoon, Boris, Bertha, Spirit, the criminal mastermind and failed lab experiment Solo and the rest of the prisoners left the outpost to return to the empire.

My mistress and I remained in suspended animation in that art gallery; we stood there in our stances, in our positions for 24 hours a day every day- for days, weeks, months. I lost track of time. The living death was the perfect name for it. We weren't quite dead and yet not quite alive in that we were awake and alert for all of it- just frozen for all time. We couldn't talk, shout, scream, or move except for our eyes to stare out at that wall and support pillar of the floor; we were with all alone with only our thoughts.

The living death. More like the living hell. What we experienced was beyond hell. I would not wish this on anyone- anyone. Death would have been more pleasurable. This experience, our experience was beyond punishment, beyond pain, beyond misery.

My she beast and I lost count of how many sunrises, sunsets we experienced, how many blizzards and storms we heard or how quiet the forgotten outpost had become. We had assumed that Boris had somehow fixed the jump platform and the sixty prisoners had used it to return back to the empire leaving us and the outpost abandoned.

Day 323 -> Day 688 (Sometime Later)

The quietness of the outpost was shattered one afternoon. I was alone in my thoughts, I assumed my she beast was as well- most likely reliving our lives within our minds when the prison building shook violently.

Some how we managed to stay upright. Then we heard footsteps, a lot of running and screaming up and down the stairwell as the building shook violently again. Then silence.

(Was that a Counter Earthquake?!)

Day 902 (Six months later)

It was months later before we heard more signs that there was activity in the outpost. One evening my mistress and I heard footsteps coming from the stairwell. We were not alone!

As I was thinking this, the lights to the room became illuminated. From the sounds of it we were being approached by a number of individuals. I recognized Bertha and Boris among group but they sounded different. Like they were stressed.

(I thought they had escaped?)

"These two will do nicely. FREE THEM." We heard a female voice say.

"Yes, yes Boris will do as ordered." I heard the brown bear say.

We were turned around from the wall to face Boris and Bertha who didn't look quite like I had remembered them. They were accompanied buy three beastials a female hare, a male eagle and male vulture all were dressed in black pants, shirts, with some type of padding on their chests.

(They must be guards.)

Lady Ursa and I were doused with some type of liquid and placed back under that damn machine which re-animated us. We could move again! But it was not as you would think; we crumpled to the floor as our muscles had atrophied from lack of use.

Bertha picked me up and carried me toward the staircase. As she did, I noticed that she was no longer wearing the prison uniform I had seen her with the day we were de-animated. She was wearing a white skirt-like loin-cloth that was all. Her chest visible for all to see.

The three guards helped Boris carry my mistress to the stairwell. I also noticed that he was wearing the same clothing as Bertha! This new clothing hugged their hips and was barely enough to cover their unmentionables.

(New prison uniforms?!)

"Welcome back freckles." My mistress' doppelgänger whispered.

Bertha, Boris and the three guards carried Lady Ursa and myself to the third floor of the administration building. We were brought in to one of the rooms on the floor and placed in a kneeling position facing a six and a half foot bald, grey skinned man, broad shoulders, big powerful abdomen, large arms and legs despite the black eyes with white pupils, He appeared to be of the same race as the High Evolutionary and Warden Fields, but was clean shaven (and grey). His clothing was simple yet very imposing- black leather pants, black boots, chainmail looking type of shirt topped off with a long black type of jacket. Quite imposing to say the least. Oh and that thrown he was sitting on- looked like a raised hand rising from the floor. Did I say very imposing?

The three guards stood at his side next to a brown ibex who was holding a medical pad and scanner. Boris and Bertha were off to my right in the same kneeling position.

"Kai." The grey skinned man said to the ibex.

The guards lifted me off of the floor as the beastial female hovered a scanner type device all over my body.

"His muscles, are in atrophy from lack of use and bones are softening from being in suspended animation for the last year and a half. He is also dehydrated. If you get some fluids into him, he should be up and about in a couple of hours."

"Excuse me did you say a year and a half?!" I said as I was returned to my kneeling position.

"That she did." The female hare said. "That is how long you were de-animated."

I had spent my all of second year on this world and part of my third as a statue- a prisoner of this facility!

"It felt... much... longer..." My mistress mumbled as she was lifted up by the guards.

The female ibex examined her too. "She is a bit worse off than the boy I will have to rehydrate her too. But both will do nicely sir."

"Excuse me but who are you?" I managed to ask the grey man.

"You may call me Warden King. I am the leader of this facility. You two are quite a curiosity." The grey man said.

"How so?" My she beast managed to ask him.

"How is it that you two were the lone occupants in the art gallery when I took over this quaint facility, quelled the uprising and its attempted prison break?"

"There is a story to that sir." Lady Ursa started to say.

"Your highness will do." He said staring at us coldly.

"My charge and I are from World One..."

"On the other side of the planet? How did you get out here?"

"Well you see we went camping in the Dark Forest south of the city." I said continuing.

"I am listening." He said studying us.

"Well the trip didn't go well, we were abducted by beings not from this world." I said trying to make our story sound believable.

"Really?" He said leaning forward. "What did they do take you for a ride around the galaxy?"

"No. They experimented, probed, poked and studied us." My she beast said continuing the story.

"For how long?"

"We are not sure. A day. Perhaps days before we were sent back to the planet's surface."

"How did you wind up here?" The Warden said studying us.

"They dropped us off on this content far from where we were camping." Lady Ursa said.

"In a snowstorm. Through a whole lot of luck we found this place to shelter in." I said.

"But we arrived during a time of turmoil. The prisoners here at this facility had killed their captor and the support staff and were plotting a escape." My bear knight said.

"When we found out what had really happened we were placed in suspended animation and forgotten about until today when we were reanimated."

"That is an amusing and fantastic story." The man said laughing.

"It is true sire." Boris said addressing the warden. "That was story they told to me."

"Well I don't believe any of it!"

"But sire, that would explain why there isn't any record of them on the outpost manifest." The female guard said.

"But they do have medical histories from a year and half ago." Kai said.

"That was the day they arrived here sire." Bertha said. "I was also present when they were de-animated during the escape."

"It is a likely story. You two most likely ran a foul of the ringleader and were left behind as the others tried to escape." Warden King said coldly.

"What did happen to Solo?" I asked.

"You mean him?" The grey man said showing us a pad of a vaguely looking canid beastial with a white and yellow body. "He is dead now."

My mistress looked at the man funny as he said that.

"He paid the ultimate price for his treachery. Those who were also involved in that incident, even the accessories, were also punished." The man said glancing at Boris and Bertha who looked down at the floor as they continued to kneel.

"So what happens to us your highness?" My lady bear asked.

I admit I was curious too, but also scared to know the answer.

"As of now you are possessions of mine and of this outpost! Obedience will be rewarded, disobedience will also be rewarded." He said looking at us emotionless. "Welcome prisoners 69 and 70."

(Prisoners?!)

"Ursa you will be housed in cell 52 on the second floor of the prison wing. You are mated to Boris; he will be your breeding partner. Mr. Winter you will be housed in cell 51 on the second floor of the prison building. You will be paired with Bertha. She will be your breeding partner."

My brown bear's jaw dropped wide open when we heard this as did mine.

"What did you mean by that sire?" I asked.

"Oh yes, you are probably wondering why I had you re-animated?"

We nodded.

"Those housed here are my possessions, part of my collection. Over the last seven months I have noticed certain gaps in my collection I wanted to fill. I have centaurs, chakats, bovines, lizards, hogs but I only have two bears. I want more. I also could use a few more of your kind around here the man said gesturing to me- young ones."

"We are to be your breeding stock?!" My she beast asked horrified.

"Precisely. Take them."

With that our meeting with the new warden ended. Lady Ursa and I had our clothing removed much to our objections. But we weren't in any condition to resist. The guards reclothed us in the same white skirt-like loin-cloth Bertha and Boris were wearing. While larger than the one my mistress dresses me in, the small articles of clothing barely covered the hips and rumps of the owner and allowed everyone to see their unmentionables if they stare at just the right angle. If you were a female your breasts were fully exposed for all to see.

From there we were taken back to our cells. My mistress was placed with Boris in the cell adjacent to mine and I was placed with Bertha and Spirit in the cell adjacent to hers.

"Welcome home roomie." The Tian mountain dog said greeting me. "I see you were given the latest new look."

"So this is where I am supposed to live?" I said looking around. There was a chair, desk, bunk beds, bookcase and bathroom with a shower in the 16' x 16' cell I was to share with two others.

"Give him some space Spirit we will have time to get acquainted later."

Bertha placed me on a chair at the table facing the adjoining cell wall with Boris and my mistress.

"You can be as nice to me all you want." I said directing my attention to the ex-wrestler. "I still owe you a thrashing for what you did to me that night in the art gallery. Oh and there is the year and half I lost of my life as well."

"Alex much has happened since that night." Spirited said trying to calm me.

"There is nothing she or anyone can say to make up for I have been through!"

"Be thankful I did." Bertha responded as I scowled at her.

"WHY?"

"You have quite a lot of enemies here freckles, if I hadn't gotten to you first that evening Alex- your beating you received would have been the same as your companion or worse. I seem to recall that griffon was coming for you."

"Oh." I said meekly.

"You should also be thankful I convinced Solo and his thugs not to kill you like many of them had wanted to do." The dark skinned woman added.

(Damn, that was a good answer.)

"Bertha after we were de-animated you adjusted our positions so that we were touching. Why?" I asked her.

"I knew from observing you, that you two were close and given the circumstances probably didn't want to be too far from each other."

It was that singular act of kindness that kept Lady Ursa's condition from proliferating while we were 'stiffs' for the last eighteen months.

"By the way how is it that you are still here at this outpost?" My she beast asked from the other side of the wall. She had been listening to our conversation as Boris was similarly helping her to recover.

"I didn't know you two were listening." Bertha said pressing on the adjoining wall the desk was at. It turned transparent and we were able to see into Boris and my mistress' cell which was quite similar to ours.

"Boris made a few modifications so he and Bertha could talk." Spirit said.

"To answer your question- after you two were de-animated, Solo had Boris continue to work on the platform in the jump room. The plan was to fix the jump device so that it would become fully bidirectional." The dark skinned woman said.

"Solo thought Boris had reverse engineered the platform so that it could not only receive but send." Spirit added.

"Boris was not entirely successful. Boris could only send few prisoners at a time. Boris found out prisoners weren't being sent anywhere, instead prisoners were being stuck in machine."

"It took wonder bear six months to correct the problem. He finally did managed to establish two direction transportation but only when receiving something via the machine." Spirit said. "As for those who were stuck in the machine, he wasn't able to bring all of them back."

"So Solo made his escape during the next transport. He took As many as he was allowed to transport." Bertha said.

"So some were left behind." I said.

"Plan was to have rest of us escape when a shipment was received every quarter." The dark brown bear with the v shaped mark on his chest said.

"Several more escaped during the next jump shipment but that was also when Warden King arrived with guards. He captured the remaining prisoners who were waiting to escape. You probably noticed that the commotion the day it happened. Over the next few weeks he conducted an investigation as to what had happened to his predecessor and the support staff." The spotted dog said.

"Affirmative. The bodies of the previous staff were recovered and those who were directly involved were beaten, brutalized and tortured. Those who were indirectly involved were also punished. Boris received several rounds of lashings." Bertha said.

"Boris now regret helping Solo." The brown bear said. "Boris received twenty five lashes and has been model prisoner ever since."

"They removed Spirit from the kitchen. It has been hard on him mentally and physically because he loves to cook." The ex-wrestler added said.

"What about you?" I asked the human female.

"She was thrown outside during a storm for her role and left to freeze." Spirit said. The warden broke her as well."

"He did not Spirit!" The dark skinned woman said.

"You have been very submissive and obedient ever since."

"Well, he realized my role in the prison break was minimal. Instead, I was demoted to assistant to the outpost healer and now serve as a medic."

"So you all have been model prisoners ever since. What happened to those that escaped?" My she beast asked.

"Most were cornered and captured by knights. Well most of them. Like warden said, ringleader Solo vowed not to be taken alive. Solo wasn't. Other prisoners confessed as to how they had escaped and were sent back here." Boris said.

"So now the outpost is under new management?" I asked.

"More like a new regime. His majesty Warden King is tyrant in a way that Warden Fields never was." Spirit said as we watched a guard walk by our cells.

"How so?" My she beast asked curiously.

"This outpost is a microcosm of the empire and he is the ruler. He has his own support staff to carry out his orders what ever they may be." Spirit whispered.

"So it seems that this place is operating like a prison again." I added.

"More like an empire. He considers us something more than his subjects." My mistress' doppelgänger said.

"What is that?" My she beast asked.

"His collection." Bertha responded.

"Like in a tool set? Or cards, or toys?" I asked.

"The same. We are nothing more than his possessions to use, play and manipulate for his own amusement. We have no rights, or purpose other to please him." Bertha said.

(Something about her admission disturbed me.)

"I noticed that with the change in uniforms." My warrior bear said.

"That was one of his first edicts, a change in the prison uniforms. This is it. All his possessions are to wear these loin-cloths. I think it is to ensure that no one tries to defy him or even tries escaping the facility ever again." The ex-wrestler said.

"Now everyone here fears new warden and obeys him." Boris said.

"Is he really that scary?" I asked.

"He has powers like High Evolutionary." The dark brown bear said.

(Hmm....)

"It is best to comply with his wishes other wise..." The bear trailed off.

"Otherwise what?" Lady Ursa said.

We didn't have to wait long to find out:

"The warden wants to see you!" We heard one of the guards in our wing say as centaur was released from his pen several cells away from ours.

"For what?" The nervous centaur asked.

"Failure to obey." The guard said bounding the beastial's hands. "This way."

The guard followed the now terrified half human half equine out of the wing.

"I am sorry. Lotus is quite hideous! I can't even look at her!"

"What was that about?" I asked.

"Sodus' was paired with Lotus to make more centaurs for the king. He wouldn't." Spirit said. "Now he is going to see the warden about it.

"What type of punishment?" My warrior bear asked.

"Something quite severe, thrown outside to freeze or taken to the arena downstairs to fight for life." Boris said as I gasped.

"It is getting late, we best call it a night." Spirit said placing his arm around me and lifting me from the chair I was seated on and placing me gently on the bottom bunk. "I have been dying to break this one in." The mountain dog said giving me a snide smile.

"Say what?"

"Remember what the king said freckles?" Bertha said walking over to me.

"Something about you and I being breeding partners."

"The reason you and Ursa were re-ainmated was because the warden wants to increase his bear collection and human collection through additional offspring."

(What?!)

"You and I freckles are to breed until we make a child for him." Bertha said solemnly.

"We are to do same my lady bear." Boris said taking my she beast's paw.

Lady Ursa gave the dark brown bear such a dirty look.

"Sorry lady bear. Refusal to follow King's edicts will lead to serve punishment of you and Alex. It is order of things now." The bear with the white v mark on his chest said. "Outpost is very different now. We do what we must to survive."

The transparent wall between Boris and Bertha's cell was deactivated giving both sides their privacy. Meanwhile Bertha and Spirit joined me on the bottom bunk. I noted that they had removed their clothing.

"Cosy?" The dog beastial asked.

"Don't we have separate beds?"

"Sorry freckles there are three of us but only two beds, so you either share or its the cold floor." Bertha said.

This was horrifically bad. After loosing a year and a half of our lives to this place, my she beast and I had now also become permanent residents; the new warden refused to believe my mistress was a knight in service to the empire and that we were just individuals hopelessly stuck in a bad situation.

"You know we do what we have to to survive." The Tian mountain dog said snapping me back to reality. He then started sniffing me all over my body. "Mmm.... you have a nice smell."

To Be Continued....