The Warlord's Prize

Chapter 8 - The Beating

I looked up while sitting with my legs tucked in the cold brook to see Shan Yu above me. His face was stern, and I did not know if that was better seeing than his lustful wicked smile. He seized my arm and pulled me to my feet.

"Good enough," He growled, walking out of the brook, dragging me with him.

He picked up my tunic and headed towards a small tent near another set of black pines. I hope they don't look at me. Shan Yu did not allow me to put my clothes back on and I didn't want more lustful eyes tracking my body. While we were passing a series of tents, Chi Zhong walked by and glared at me with a lustful smile. I had not seen him since he and the others had found me in the snowdrift. I could tell right away that he was jealous of his own leader for claiming me. Along with him were five other men who I did not recognize, they too had the same expressions looking at me, and the fear of them doing dirty things was not what I wanted. I truly hoped that not all of Shan Yu's men were like this, Yong Ro and Xu Ling seemed to be the only two who were not interested in me.

Once entered the tent, I spotted the familiar post in the center, including the table and large pelt of fur. We were back inside the tent I had awakened in. I felt relieved inside, anything was better than that black one across from the mess hall.

Shan Yu released me and tossed the tunic at my feet. I put it on in silence and I longed to ask him questions, but feared he would get pissed if I did. But instead he spoke,

"You've done enough for now; you're smarter than you think. In a way, I pity you, being stuck like this,"

I did not respond at first, there was not a single word I could think of saying, he had taken me for his own desires, and treated me like a servant to his men. It could have been worse being his prize, he could have kept me tied up in that pitch black tent all day long and only used me as his fuck toy when the pressure of defeating the Imperials became too much for him. The thought of that scared me, and inside I was almost grateful that this was what I was getting instead.

Yong Ro came into the tent carrying a plate; his jet black hair seemed to cover almost half of his face as it blew from the breeze outside. "You requested this Shan Yu? The wind is strong, but it's slowly calming down. If you wish to ride....."

Shan Yu nodded and interrupted, "Yes Yong Ro, we will ride and nightfall, perhaps even earlier if it has calmed down by dusk. Send word to the other nearby camps at once that we shall move soon,"

"As you wish," Yong Ro said, as he set the plate down on the round table and left the tent without even looking at me.

Shan Yu gestured me towards the table and I sat down. On the plate Yong Ro set, I never thought I had seen this much food before: There were some fresh fried noodles, a neatly wrapped spring roll, and crispy orange chicken that must have been obtained from raiding a nearby farm, and it was covered in sauce. I felt like I had not had this much to eat since Meiying's dinner gathering. There was no set of chopsticks, but I barely cared as I picked up the spring roll, and sank my teeth into it.

It was warm and crispy with strips of lettuce and carrots inside. Shan Yu stood across from the table next to the tent's open flap watching me. "Like the food?" He asked,

My heart jumped, I was not expecting him to actually care about my well-being, unless he truly needed his prize to be in good condition for whenever he was ready to do his worst.

"It's good....thank you," I replied softly, still uncertain why he was being nice to me, I felt afraid that any second he was going to seduce me again or make another threat.

He walked closer to me as I ate some of the chicken. It had a sweet taste to it with a slight amount of spice. The noodles I had no choice but to pick up a small handful and eat it; they were dry and lacked flavor but were still warm, delicious and filling.