The Broken Crescent ch.1

"Lekyra, I am heading to Bowerstone Castle for an audience with king Logan, make sure the floors are swept, washed, and waxed before I return," Reaver commanded to a young ebony haired woman twirling his favored Dragonstomper .48 gun on his index finger before placing it back in its holster attacked to his leg...

She looked to the man as he fixed his excessively tall top hat on his head before grabbing his favored cane, rapping it twice on the door frame before waving his hand in a pampas way as he left. She then examined the floors; they were filthy from the days of heavy parties and people tracking in mud from the Millfields. Some of the tiles were cracked the required to be repaired and sealed with a special resin and left to dry before she could wash and wax them. Pulling her hair into a high not before tying a red lace handkerchief around her head and tying her red and black maid-outfit into pantaloons for easy maneuvering, Lekyra moved over to a small sitting area to move Reaver's "priceless" furniture into his hardly used study to begin cleaning.

It wasn't always like this, just a few months ago she was painting tribal tattoos on young children on a small chain of Islands located somewhere off of Albion's enormous coastline. They were called the Crescent Isles due to the larger island where the main village was located being shaped like a crescent moon. Her family has lived there since the final days of Albion's Hero's guild almost six-hundred years ago. Reaver had shown up one day and started gathering up the villagers as slaves to be traded, shooting down any who escaped from his hired brutes. She fought against the brutes who tried to gather up the children she was giving their tribal markings with her blind-childhood friend Mikhail. She almost lost him when Reaver pointed his gun at him without taking a single glance at him, all he said was

"No my pet, if you cease your fighting, no more deaths may occur…"

Lekyra became enraged at his nonchalant remark, dropping her staff onto the sand in front of her and allowing an orange-haired man with two mismatch eyes to grab her shoulders, along with groping her as he lead her over to the man.

"Let my people go, and I will go with you," she said when she got within arm's length.

Reaver turned to her, his blue-green eyes reflecting his smugness and interest in what she had just said.

"And, how my pet am I to earn back all the money I spent on these brutes?" he asked, twirling his gun in the air.

"I…" Lekyra looked down and then to her village before returning her gaze to the cruel man "I will work for you for 2 years an-"

"Too little time for so much gold, I refuse!" Reaver said as he twirled his gun once more.

"Mastah Weavah, 'ow 'bout she sells that lovely body of 'ers?" said the orange-haired man, groping Lekyra's backside.

"I would never dream of offering myself to anyone for pleasure!" Lekyra snapped, feeling a surge of energy rush through her veins.

She flinched as the Orange-haired man began to reach for her breasts, leaning his rancid smelling body into her, making her wanting to faint for his horrible breath.

"Get your dirty hands off of me!" Lekyra yelled, feeling the energy that began to build up within her shoot out of her, knocking the orange-haired man a foot or two away.

Her ears were filled with gasps of her villagers as he tribal tattoos turned a lambent blue; she looked around, wide-mouthed before the sound of clapping from Reaver brought her attention back to him.

"Well done my pet, that little show piqued my interest of what you offered not too long ago," Reaver said in a delightful tone He put away his gun and looked to the brutes holding the villagers they managed to capture, "release them, I will be taking the girl. Now, since two years seems too little time, she will work for me as my manor's personal servant for five years, no pay, and no freedom to leave unless she wishes to work at one of my factories…" Reaver said.

The brutes released their grips on the villagers, one of them moving towards her and binding her hands with rope before hoisting her over his shoulder.

"Hey put me down this instant!" Lekyra growled as she flailed around, kicking the brute hard as her bare feet allowed her into the brute's chest.

Reaver turned and grabbed Lekyra's jaw hard, squeezing her cheeks until her lips puckered,

"Now, now pet… Violence isn't accepted in the House of Reaver; better consider that before you find that you are missing a limb…" Reaver said as he pat his gun on his hip. He gestured for the brutes to board into the boats used to row from his ship anchored in the middle of the lagoon. Lekyra's last sight of her village before being forced to sit forward was Mikhail fighting against some more brutes before taking a hard hit to the head. Reaver laughing at his failed attempt with the orange-haired man now standing beside him grinning with his dirty smile.

The bitter memory hung on the edges of Lekyra's mind as she scrubbed the floors clean with an old scrub brush, it wasn't as good as the ones used in the palace, but it would have to do. Reaver never liked to spend coin on something that didn't benefit him, if the servants wanted new cleaning supplies, they would have to save up their measly pay to get them.

"Berry hatch sees a lamb that hasn't met the lion's chops…" said Reaver's prized man-servant.

Lekyra looked up from her scrubbing at shot daggers at the man; he was leaning on the railing of the stairway, practically drooling at the way she was bent over scrubbing the floors. He smiled, showing off his rotten teeth before standing straight and beginning to walk down the stairs towards her,

"Don't worry sweetheart, Barry hatch is here to take care of you…" Barry said in a smug tone.

Lekyra got yo her knees and grabbed the nearest cleaning implement- a broom- to guard herself against the drooling Letcher. She managed to get to her feet as he reached her, pinning her against the wall, breathing his smelly breath into her face, making her want to faint.

"How about you forget your chores and we can have a quick jig?" he grinned, causing Lekyra cough at his rancid breath being blown at her as he spoke.

"Not even if Jack of Blades returns and destroys Albion!" Lekyra growled as she pressed the end of the broom handle against his Adam's apple.

"Come now, don't be shy, you never experienced a man like Berry Hatch!" hatch exclaimed in a strained voice.

"Hatch either you step away from the girl or I will toss you into Reaver's prized  Wheel of Misfortune room and watch you fight for your life against the Sand Furies he imported!" a feminine voice growled from behind Hatch.

Hatch gulped as he backed away from Lekyra turning to face the female who openly threatened Reaver's right-hand man. His eyes settled on a tall woman with mismatch eyes, one deep blue, the other a vivid green, brown hair and wearing an outfit similar to Lekyra's except for the slightly different collar housing Reaver's infamous industry logo.
"Come now Maibi, I need a little fun while the cat's away…" Hatch said as he turned his full body towards the angry woman.

"Help yourself to any of the tarts in Bowerstone, but not her, me, or any other woman working in this manor!" the woman growled.

Hatch sighed heavily, grumbling as he climbed the stairs, leaving the woman alone with Lekyra.

"Thank you Maibi, I owe you one…" Lekyra said as she relaxed and placed the broom against the wall once more.

"It was no trouble Lek," Maibi said in a calmer tone.

As Lekyra returned to her work polishing the floors, Maibi joined her, using a cloth to help her fellow colleague and friend.

"Say, how about we get back at Reaver tonight? He won't be expected back until really late, giving us plenty of time to 'clean' his special room… maybe misplace his undergarments, letting it somehow get into his crazed admirer's possession?" Maibi said with a devious grin playing at her lips as she held up a key with Reaver's logo at the end from under her uniform.

Lekyra nodded as she tried to hold back a giggle, tossing the scrub brush into a bucket of water and rising to her feet.

"I am almost done with these floors, just need a new bucket of water and then we can get to work in the Master's room, those floors need some cleaning too," Lekyra said with a wink.

******

Maibi and Lekyra held back giggles as they 'cleaned' their master's room, hiding his most favored toys and implements he used for his private parties. Releasing the animals he had caged for Avo knows what, and wrapping up his solid underpants in a thick cloth sack to bring to his adoring fan who was restrained from being within a certain amount of distance that keeps changing as the weeks go by.

When they finished "cleaning" Reaver's private room, they picked up their cleaning buckets and locked the door using Maibi's special key, stilling their laughter as they walked down the corridor located behind a bookshelf in Reaver's main room. Once they were in the hall, Maibi locked his main room's door before following after Lekyra to empty their buckets and arrange a meeting with Benjamina.

******

Lekyra pretended to sleep that night in the servant's quarters, listening for Reaver's explosion as she heard him return with the loud drunken laughter of two women he probably picked up from Bowerstone Industrial. She sat up, clad in the undergarments of her uniform, tying her hair into a knot before slipping her feet into black slippers she wore with her outfit.

Maibi was waiting behind a portrait of Reaver that his a secret passageway that went all over the manor, They moved down the passage way after closing off the entrance, holding a small candle as they navigated the passage way into a spacious corridor where two different passageways shot off in different directions. One just outside of Reaver's "private" secret room, the other to the grand hall that Reaver turned into his Wheel of Misfortune room, where he forced his unsatisfactory secret society party guests to fight to their deaths, they waited in the dim light of the candle light for a few moments before two shots ringed out into the air, accompanied by two loud thumps from Reaver's special guests for his private party fell dead. A very angry Reaver roaring into the night over his special surprise that his two mischievous servants left for him, it was only the beginning of the torments they did to him for forcing them into servitude.