Novel Square
Chapter 488
It was the middle of the night when I was startled fully awake. I’d been sleeping lightly, following the pull of the Brothers. Now Christof was rising to take his turn at watch. He Looked over at me and motioned me back down. I should rest, this was just his turn.
My eyes were wide open, though. I rose and stretched.
“I’LL just sit with you for a moment,” I smiled quietly.
“For some reason I’m too restless to sleep.”
The men relented. I was awake and not at all sleepy. It shouldn’t harm me to sit up for a moment. I felt the other four fade into Light slumber as Christof and I walked toward the cave opening. C0ntent © 2024 (N/ô)velDrama.Org.
I’d experienced them take watch in the dreams. It was always the same. They took in the surrounding area and then settled on a place where they could monitor their Brothers’ safety most effectively.
Christof and I communicated silently. He remembered nights they’d actually been attacked by things in the night. There were things to look for, telltale noises that would indicate something creeping up on us. It wasn’t hard to do if you had experience and Damien’s family had lots of experience.
We sat and enjoyed each other’s company until his turn ended. Kein met us as we walked back to the thin sleeping pallets. He bid us a good rest and patted his Brother on the shoulder. The closeness reassured all of us. At the very least we were left together for this.
Nu-reeh fed us in the morning, all of us. The men moved stones and I tagged along for the rest of the day. She fed me twice more, but not them. The men ate once a day.
The punishment continued for eleven days. I was dirty, achy, and barely rested. Sleeping deeply was prohibited and for some reason I couldn’t anyway. All night my mind stayed active and alert sifting through my family’s memories.
The men weren’t that concerned by their own circumstance, but worried about me. A human, they believed, was too weak to live this way.
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Their opinion resolved me to make the best of this. I remembered seeing stories on the television about how some humans lived. They subsisted on mountains in worse conditions than I was in now. My weakness embarrassed me, so I focused on the positive.
There was some good in this situation. The family was together and not separated. We were fed and had water to drink. There was no use complaining about the lesson.
The lesson we should be learning was obvious. All of us belonged to Nu-reeh and she could do with us what she wished. She could keep us miserable or comfortable for even the smallest reason. The sooner we did her bidding without questioning, the less we would suffer.
“Strange, though,” Christof still said, “she’s never put this much work into making us feel dependent on her before.”
She’d never asked us to stop making our own decisions before either. In fact, in the past she’d encouraged independence. Something had changed, we just didn’t know what it was. Evan would ask around once we got around the other men, someone would know.
“In the meantime…” Damien trailed off.
We do what she wants. ALL of us try to keep her happy, Nu-reeh could be a vicious bitch when she wanted. It wouldn’t be safe for any of us if we kept angering her, even if it wasn’t intentional.
“Ciara is the main priority, all agreed outwardly.
Damien stated and for safety’s sake, we
The men heard the throbbing alternate pulse in my thoughts. I would do anything for my child, including take punishment from Nu-reeh. It wasn’t what the men had decided to think, though. I buried the instinct deep, but held onto it tightly. We could survive the difference of opinion that way.
That afternoon Nu-reeh appeared and we stood watching her cautiously. She reminded us she was in charge and we agreed with her. Dinah returned our transport and we followed them back to the main mountain.