The First Book of the Pure Read Online Free

Pure
today, one who may interest you more because she survived as a
woman through more years than you yet believe. Her name is Ruby. We
meet her in Crete.”
    “Wait a minute now,” Kenneth interrupted,
“you’ve been pretty civil about most things, even though you had me
kidnapped, and now it seems like you want to tell me some tall tale
every day about someone you’re supposed to know, but what I want to
know is, just when are you going to let me go?”
    His host moved inhumanly fast, seized Kenneth
by his throat and lifted him from the table, letting his feet
dangle a few inches above the floor. Kenneth tried to protest, but
the hand gripping his throat blocked any and all attempts, and
terror set in immediately.
    “I could snap your neck, or choke you to
death in a minute, you stupid boy.” He shook him to drive home his
point. “While I desire to tell you these ‘stories’ as you so
disdainfully call them, still I might decide to end your short,
pitiful life. Don’t even begin to think that it’s your worth that makes me want to explain the lives of these
people to you. It is I who feel a need to tell them, and I
could tell them just as well to someone else. You live at my
discretion, I’m afraid. I’ve been known to lose my temper and that,
in turn, makes other people, well, not to put too fine a point on
it, dead. Do you want to hear my stories or not? Answer me with a
head nod before you pass out, or I promise that you won’t wake up
at all.”
    Kenneth inclined his head and tried to nod.
It was quite difficult with his neck in the vice of his host’s
steel grip. It took absolutely no soul searching to know he’d
rather listen to this raving maniac’s stories than to be choked to
death by him. Desperately nodding, close to passing out, he stared
into the eyes of his captor, this powerful madman who defied logic
and followed no creed but his own.
    Kenneth had never been so terrified in his
life. In fact, that life had somehow become more precious to him
now that he felt it slipping away.
    After holding his eyes until he apparently
thought Kenneth was either really willing to listen, or that he
didn’t want to lose his audience and have to start over with
someone else, his host abruptly dropped him, which made a mess of
the table and breakfast. He stared at Kenneth on the floor for a
minute, then seated himself, looked thoughtful, and began his new
story as though nothing had happened.
    Kenneth just lay there for a few minutes, as
his host started his new story. Knowing he was being ignored,
Kenneth wasn’t sure what to do. If he lay there, his host could be
angered, and if he got up, or cleaned his clothing of food and
settled into a chair, that could anger him even more, since it
might feel like an interruption.
    Well, I can’t just sit here in the
food . He made his decision, got up, brushed off his clothes,
and slipped into a chair, his kakis looking worse for the
experience.
    He looked at his host as he droned on about a
woman named Ruby.

Chapter
5
     
    Ruby
    The First Woman
     
     
    Ruby had been raped many times, owned by
several different masters, had a razor sharp mind, and while not
beautiful by the current standards of Crete, being too thin, she
would have been striking by most other standards, and a very
desirable woman. She stood very straight for her five feet three
inches. Her hair was shoulder-length with some curl, and in the
deep brown trusses there was a hint of red. Her skin was alabaster,
and her features classical. Through some of her life her height was
considered well above the norm. Though she was never allowed any
formal education, she had learned much from those around her, and
from her own innate intelligence that rivaled any she had come
across to date. Once she realized she was different, she used it to
great advantage. She helped her current owner make great profits
through her intellect, and earned his respect, though in their
world he could hardly admit it.
    She had