I shrugged and walked over to them checking the tags of their collars. They had clearly heard what I had done to the other slave because they pulled back when I touched them. It didn't take me long to read the collar. I went back to the wall and where the man's number was I wrote the words to one side below. I did the same with the other four as well. When I was done I looked at my brothers, "You know how to count. These numbers go across the top then across the bottom, left to right, in order." I pointed to one, "So this is one," I then counted them off to make sure my brothers understood. "If you look at their tags, you will see the first symbol matches one of the numbers. You can figure out which number it is by counting. I will spend time filling in each of these as soon as I can. I am going to need your help coming up with pictures for the words so that you can figure out the control of a slave that won't cooperate and you don't have to find me or a priest. It shouldn't take too long for most of them to know that if you have to bring them here it will be much worse."
I reached down and pulled up the chin of the first man who had been dropped on the floor. "Do you see this on the collar?" I pointed to a spot on the collar next to the tag. "It shows how far the spell has managed to map. On a normal person it takes about three days. I can tell that this man has either been tied up or knocked out since being collared because the warm up still isn't far along. Which is why the spot there is white. I don't know if any of you have noticed but most of the collars are probably closer to his color," I pointed to one of the slaves standing where Travis had told them to. His collar had a red band. "That means it is over half mapped and some of the higher functions are now available. While the color on 10 here is what they will all turn into with time." I pointed to the other man that was on the ground. "I am guessing you let him wear himself out before you subdued him. The more they move and use their bodies the faster the collar maps, but it doesn't matter as the human body cannot stay completely still, the collar will completely finish its map even in an unconscious host in about 30 days."
I flicked my hand at the man with a red collar. His ropes untied and fell in a pile to the ground. "When it turns red the restriction on some violent acts turns on." I was looking at the man, "For me to show this I cannot tell you to hit me. I would suggest trying to do so soon before I feel the need to make myself-" I cut off as the man lifted his right arm to hit me. He didn't get very far, "Release." He was holding his arm but not on the ground. "The restriction acts a bit differently then if we activate the collar. It stops the planned movement first, then if they are not released it will move to the rest of the body." I hadn't taken my eyes off the man but I made it clear that I switched to talking to him, "You won't leave the house without the permission of someone in this room, 67." I felt the collar flash as it read the ristritions. "67, 10, 47, 32, and 24 none of you will leave this room until I tell you, you may leave."
I turned my back on 67 and looked at my brothers, "So you know that if you read the collar down it inflicts pain. The collars are meant for much finer control then that." I untied 10 the same way I had untied 67. My brothers were watching the messenger out of the corner of their eyes as I did that. They were still listening but they weren't sure how the messenger will react to me using my powers.
He started trying to attack me right away. "Release." He tried the hand, I waited an extra second, "Release." I wasn't sure what he had tried to do but he was back on the floor. I counted to two, "Release." He laid there panting for a moment. I stood over him and waited for him to meet my eyes. "I don't have to release you, that pain isn't enough to kill you. You can live with it for days before dehydration takes you, and you won't get used to it. It is a scary device, our lord came up with." I smiled knowingly at the man. When he flinched I continued, "The way it handles pain isn't the real reason it is scary."
I looked over at one of my brothers, "He is about your type right?"
"Physically, sure, mentally he isn't very stimulating."
"Yes, but he interests your dark streak" I might not care to learn my brothers names but I did pick up a good amount of information about them. "The collar should interest your dark streak too. Let me be clear brother, my expectations with your equals or even the two woman will remain the same, but the slaves." I shrugged, "As long as you don't go breaking all of them, I will hardly miss one or two. For 10 here the words are Rock and Flow. Now you know what happens if you read them in order but this is one of the things I didn't want you to find on your own because it has a more powerful reaction then you might think. So unless I have told you I think the slave is useless anyway, don't do this. Also unless I have told you otherwise, only one of us will do this per slave. I don't want them to play us off each other, if only one of us can give this reward and they will only go to that one." I looked down at the man who was still recovering on the floor. "Since he has decided to be good for a few minutes untied now, say his number and words in reverse order, please." I glanced up at the brother I had been talking to.
"Flow Rock 10?" The collar didn't care, the command was a question. It only cared that the person who said it wasn't wearing a collar and hadn't been removed from the command list by one of the imprints.
The man on the floor had a change in how he was breathing as the collar connected to a different part of the mind from what it had connected to before. "Release." I say it as soon as his eyes widened in surprise. "That is the more dangerous part of the collar, do you want to tell my brothers why?"
The man shook his head, "Good then I cut it off fast enough, it is very addictive. You will get to the point that you will do anything to get more. You will want it more then sex, food, or air. I do intend to let my brother turn you into the living example for the others. An important thing to remember is that any of us can start the pain and release either the reward or the pain even if we didn't start it. Anyone figure out what the reward is?"
One of my brothers nodded, "Pleasure."
"Yes and there isn't a filter on it, the command that way is limited the same as the pain comand is. It will not kill them even if you leave them for days."
"But the collars were meant to have more control then that I suspect. So how do you adjust the effects?"
"By stating it at the start." I looked at my brother who I had given 10 to effectively. The man started backing away, "Try quarter and top to bottom, I will let you release it this time. Since it is you he is trying to run from."
"Quarter 10 Rock Flow." He sounded more confident.
The man, 10, bit his lip as the collar tightened, "As you can tell, he can still think through that level and he has control of his movement still. You can go the other way as well by saying another number in front. Unless you want to risk their heart stopping, it is better to let the punishment go on for longer then to turn up the punishment. 4 or 5 was the level that people started dying within minutes of the order. The same goes for the other way, I would guess the good news for those people was that they died happy."
10 had stopped moving as he bit his lip trying to fight the pain. "Release." 10's face relaxed but he didn't move. I smiled at him while my brother asked a question, "What if you only want to release one?"
"Say their number and then release." I then signaled my brother, "Let him run." I turned to face the group. "You can also activate only half the body, the first word if the top and the bottom word is the bottom. It divides at the belly button. 10 Rock hands in the air." The man lifted his hands over his head. He tried to pull them down but found they wouldn't move.
"The collar has mapped the signals you use to move, since all those signals go through your neck. The collar can block ones it doesn't like and send ones it does. You will stay that way until someone tells you that you may have your body back. So we can turn you into puppets but it is annoying because you have to give the command for each muscle group you want to move and when. Or I can just order you to walk somewhere and the collar will punish you unless you are doing it. Then when you get there I can order each muscle into the position I want, or I can just order you to do what I want and let the collar punish you if you don't. I can also give the collar an amount of time you have to do the task before it starts punishing you for being too slow. I can have it start as a warning and get stronger the longer you delay." Number ten was not the one that tried to break for it.
I frowned at 67 as he fell to the ground in front of the door, "I haven't released you yet." The man's eyes got wide as I said the word that should end the torment but nothing happened. "It only works if given as an order. It only ends punishment or reward; it doesn't change existing orders. I could stop your punishment, but I am not going to because if you want it to stop all you have to do is decide to obey." The man relaxed and laid shaking on the floor. "See."
The man who was still tied up on the floor stopped moving as I stepped near him. "You see 24, the only reason you aren't in the same spot as 10 there is because you have been tied up so even if you struggled against the bonds your collar could not map correctly what would happen." He closed his eyes and his fear skyrocketed as his restraints fell to the ground. "So you have two choices since I can read your collar. You can either start doing 10 push ups, 10 sit ups, 10 squats, 10 knee highs, and 10 of anything else you can think of until one of my brothers tells you, you can stop. Or I am going to find out if you like being the ass of a slave party for any who have activated their collar but don't believe they didn't survive the arena." The man's eyes grew wide, and he rolled over starting to do push ups. "Good choice, when you get back to the basement you might want to remind the numbers that no man survives the arena but the victor. You didn't win, so our lord is just taking his time collecting you."
I put my back to the man but I kept my senses on him, the collar wouldn't stop him from trying to hurt me until it turned red. "Now let's get this worked out."
We spent the rest of the morning, going through the slaves and making sure all my brothers understood the options and the limits. As well as coming up with pictures that helped them figure out the collars. I sent the slaves down to bring up the ones that would come willingly. Only 10 stayed the whole time. My meaner brother had ordered him to sit on the floor at his feet. He would play with 10's ears and hair when he was bored between discussions. He would make 10 into a good example as to why you don't want to make me angry.
Clearly the slaves were convinced of what might happen if they didn't come when called because My brothers only had to look for eight, which became the personal projects of each of my brothers.
My wives came home before dinner. They had gotten enough food to last us two months at the rate we were going and had spent less then 1. My brothers had intercepted them while I had gone back to reading. They made the slaves help them with anything they could want. They had even gone over most of what the women needed to know to control the slaves themselves. By the time I came down for dinner they had made quite the spread.
My wives seemed to be getting more at ease with my brothers. My brothers were also getting used to having the women around. They were more reserved when they were around and they kept an eye on me to see how I would react. Women around during the normal course of the day was a new experience for them. Overall it was a good dinner and rest of the night. Bella even stayed with me until I fell asleep.