"Good." He said. "I must concentrate, we speak later." He held up a hand.She looked where he was looking. It was the young human from the inn. The dwa...f was bidding on him. After some mutual glowering between him and the dwarf he had beaten out before, the lad was his. "Good, good." The dwarf said. "Now I have muscle to help with your dexterity."Gurdaz went over to the kiosk for the auctioneer and paid out several large golden coins for the two slaves. He returned to the two waiting tall. I fall asleep with the TV on and a half a bottle of wine drunk.A little while later I hear the door open and I look about anxiously. I rub my eyes and see you standing in front of me looking concerned, I try to smile but end up crying even more. You see that my mascara is smeared and that I have consumed half a bottle of vino. You shake your head and go to the bath room to get a wash cloth. You come back and sit beside me, you wipe the mascara off my face and pour yourself a glass of red. You. Which, it turned out, was a busy dance club in Bakersfield, Club Odyssey. Crowded, dark and very loud, it was a perfect venue to play with their new toys. Along about 11 p.m., I got a call from Stacy’s cell phone.“Hi, dad?”“Hey. Everything OK?”“That’d be a yes,” she said over the thumping music. “Dad, can you use my phone to get a bearing on our table?”She meant with Master PC.“I should. What’s up?”“I was just thinking ... there’s a Doubletree right next to us, and we’ve hooked up with these. And yet I survived … I kept returning to this barbaric world that had once, so long ago, called to me. I wore other collars and I served other men but something within me was dead. I had well hidden a torn and bleeding heart beyond a tall wall of thorns and dared anyone to try to even come close. I became almost untouchable, throwing myself in my studies, determined to become the best, the most desired yet the most elusive. Maybe I achieved that … maybe I didn’t. But I was well on my way. .