The Delta's Daughter Chapter 139

I pointed to my chest “This is a mark of a Knight, I am one of the Queen's Knights.” His eyes widened in shock and his mouth parted, jaw slack, just showing the stump of his tongue, Realization dawning on him. He took a knee and bowed down to me, then crossed his arm over his chest.

“Get up Rogue,” I hissed looking around hoping no one would see. “This is not the time to pledge your loyalty, I am not a King or Knight here.” I bent and lifted him by his elbow “I am nothing here, I can't even shift. A true King would never have been caught; a true king would have found a way out of this mess by now.” I wasn’t sure why I was voicing my thoughts out loud to him, but I knew he wouldn’t tell anyone. Probably because he, well… He couldn’t.

“A Knight is meant to protect his Queen, not get abducted and sold.” I sat on my cot feeling sorry for myself for the first time since I woke up on that goddess-awful boat.

“A Knight has their own path, not just to protect his Queen. A Knight must go through their own trials. I believe you came here for a reason. I believe you are here to help us. I believe the Moon Goddess set you on this path for a reason.”

I looked up to see Teal standing in the doorway, his arms crossed, leaning against the red stone frame. Standing in the same position as when I first met him.

“Well I wish she would show me what that path is, so I can get on with it,” I grumbled.

“The Gods and Goddesses work in mysterious ways, I’m sure in time all will be revealed.” I was sure his words were trying to encourage me to not give up hope and keep faith.

No matter how low I felt, or how useless I saw myself, I would never give up hope. I would find a way out of here and I would find a way to bring this Alpha Vargr down.

Just then the guards entered the barracks with the rolling tray, the scent of charred meat wafting from the cart.

A few of the men came and lined up at the cart to grab their portions, none would look me in the eye. I noticed the line much smaller than usual; the absent men were probably still licking their wounds. It could take up to two days for a shifter to heal from a break depending on the strength of their animal.

‘Don’t eat the meat’ I heard Conri’s voice fill my head.

Once I got my portion I sniffed the meat and dropped my plate in horror. Underneath the charred burnt outside, I could smell the type of animal it had come from.

Human.

Rogue was just about to take a bite from it and I quickly raised my hand smacking it out of his. He gave me a look like what the fuck

“Human,” I said and he began to gag and dry heaving.

“For Fucks sake, the first time we are given meat and it be human!” Ajani was also making a face like he was ready to empty his stomach.

“So they are also cannibals” I asked Teal who came in with his own portion, minus the meat.

“No.” He let out a hearty laugh “They just try to feed it to us, thinking it's protein before the games. A few of the guys will eat it, but they are the worse. Eat enough of it and it will send you crazy.

At least they weren’t cannibals, but still, that’s fucking sick to try and feed us, humans.

*****

The next day was much of the same. I exercised, and then trained with Ajani, Teal, and Rogue. While training with the swords and going over basic movements, two more Gladiator slaves came up to us, making us halt our practice.

“We would like to join you if you will let us” One of them asked. I looked at Teal and he grinned. I nodded my head at the two men and told them to fall in. They grabbed a weapon each and paired up.

Ten minutes later, we had an additional four more men come to join us. By the end of the afternoon, all but five of the men were lined up and training with us. We moved from weapons to sparing and general defensive moves.

“You did good young King.” Teal patted me on the back as the group broke up.

“Thank you, I felt like a leader again today,” I smirked because I truly did. For a while, I forgot where I was and it felt like I was back home leading one of our mandatory training exercises with the elite warriors.

“You are a born leader, Kellen, I see it, these men see it. Soon they will all see it.” He said motioning to the arena that lay outside the barrack walls.

After showering I took time to lie on my cot before the guards rolled in dinner. Thankfully there was no 'surprise meat' this time. Instead, they had given us a baked Potato, fruit, bread, water, and… chocolate I picked up the brown square and sniff it; warily I lick it, Yep definitely chocolate.

Teal, Ajani, and Rogue come into my area, took a seat on the floor, and begin eating. We ate in silence until I looked and saw one of the slaves who joined in our training session today standing at the entrance.

“Can I help you” I asked arching my brows at his fidgeting stance.

“No Alpha,” He said before taking a step in and placing his square of chocolate on my dish, bowing at me, and then leaving quickly.

That was weird.

Another Gladiator slave came in and did the same thing, dropped his square of chocolate on my dish, bowed, and left. This carried on until my dish was piled with the squares. All but 3 of the other slaves came in and gave me their square.

“They see you as their leader now. It is their way of showing you respect and telling you that you are of a higher rank than they are. They are paying you tribute.” Teal smiled at me and then added his piece of chocolate to my pile. Ajani did the same, Rogue just looked at me and held his hands up in a sorry gesture, then pointed to his mouth.

I laughed, he had eaten it, and I didn’t care. I felt guilty that they had all given me their portions but I also understood the meaning and sentiment behind it. They respected me, they had all seen my display of power when I stopped the assault on Rogue.

And in their own way, they had all just pledged their loyalty to me.

I laughed loud and fully at Rogue's expense, his gesture and expression comical and I felt an ease in my soul as the four of us sat there and conversed. Of course, poor Rogue did more listening than trying to join in.

‘Give Rogue our blood’ Conri whispered, I don’t know why he was whispering, it was only me that could hear him.

‘Why’ I asked super curious.

‘Because then he can mind-link with you’ He said like I should have known.

‘How can I do that when you have been restrained’ I was confused at Conri’s request; I couldn’t establish a link with Lamia or the other Knights, so how would I establish a pack link with Rogue

‘Just try it’ He pushed. So I pushed him to the back of my mind, not something I wanted to do after fearing that he could never return but he was talking crap.

Tomorrow the Games began.