Eventually and unknowingly I fell into a fitful slumber. One that was plagued with a new vision. I vividly saw my mother weeping as she and my young brother stood in front of a funeral pyre as my father added a torch. They were holding a funeral for me. To them, I was dead.
Chapter 3
“Up. Up now.” Mara’s voice filled my ears, jostling me awake. Sun was streaming steadily into the chamber. I sat up quickly remembering where I was and what I was. I was a prisoner. I was a slave to the Chieftess. “Come. You cannot be late. Up now.” She placed a bucket of water near me to wash my face and another, I assumed if I needed to relieve myself. There was a mix of fruit and baked bread spread out on the table I had eaten supper at the night before. Kiatra’s bed was empty.
“Where is Kiatra?”
Mara thwarted me hard against the head. “You will not address her as Kiatra. Do you understand? You will call her mistress or my lady.”
“I meant no offense. It is only us here. I thought there was no harm—"
“You don’t know who is listening. People will be looking for a reason to speak against you and showing open disrespect to your master is means for a slave to be executed.” I swallowed hard and nodded. I was sure to be executed before I reached a month here, not realizing I had broken some rule.
“I’m sorry—”
“Your mistress has started her day hours ago. She listens to the grievances of our people with her father and the lines start before the sun rises. Get ready quickly now. Your training will begin today.”
I nodded and quickly washed and shoved a fruit in my mouth as the golden-haired woman who attended to me in the jail cell entered. She leaned against the entrance of Kiatra’s bedchamber and scanned me over once. Her garments were again tightly woven to her body, revealing her midriff, toned and muscular, matching her arms and legs. Were all the women here equally beautiful and frightening?
“Is he ready?” This woman also spoke in words I understood, surprising me.
“Yes. Kiatra wishes for him to train with Dante.”
The woman frowned. “Dante? Is she certain?”
“If you wish to question her Natalie then do so. Otherwise bring him to Dante.” I began to worry what or who Dante was. The woman, Natalie, said nothing more as she stood straight and motioned for me to follow her. She led me outside as my eyes adjusted to the sunlight I had not seen in days. I had never seen the Fortress in light. The night we were being led for sentencing, I only briefly noticed the surrounding homes, all made of stone bricks which I thought was simply reflecting black because of the lack of light. Yet the day revealed that all the homes within the walls of the Fortress matched the dark stone of the center construct where the Chief and Chieftess resided. It was all uniform with little difference, though some were a single level while others looked more like villas of two or three levels. There was something startling about the uniformity. It was beautiful, yet rigid. Commanding attention though modest. It was different than what I was familiar with at home. In my village all the homes were mostly made of red or brown clay bricks. None were exactly the same, although all of them were only one level.
I felt the eyes of many upon me as they stopped their daily activities just to stare at me as I followed Natalie. We stopped a short distance to a winding path.
“Remember your way here. Tomorrow no one will accompany you.” I nodded but cursed internally. I had already forgotten the way. The woman didn’t continue moving but kept her eyes on me. “You need to learn to hide your fear better. Dante will relish in your fear if you let him.” She surveyed me. “Stand up straighter. You slouch too much. It is not becoming.” I did as she said. She started to move forward then stopped again. “This will not be an easy time for you. Dante is very skilled, but he is hard and at times cruel. Your trainings may seem more like beatings. Force yourself to get up. No matter how many times he strikes you down, will your legs to keep bringing you back up. In this way you can earn his respect. With his respect, he will train you well.” I nodded again, silently resolved, biting down the fear boiling in me as she continued forward.
We approached a clearing where several men were sparring and laughing with staffs in hand. They stopped abruptly and silenced as they caught sight of me. Some smirked, others looked more hostile. There were a few who just backed away slightly. The general demeanor of those who backed away compared to the rest, gave an indication that they were also slaves that were training but I couldn’t be certain.
Natalie went to a man that was tall and thickly built. He had skin lighter than Kiatra’s but still bronze. Not a natural bronze but darkened by the sun. His hair was a dark red that went loosely down his back in a mane. His dark eyes remained set on me as Natalie approached him. She spoke a few words that I couldn’t understand. The man, who I assumed was Dante, held a menacing expression as his lips curved up slightly. He threw a staff in my direction, which I caught off of impulse. The man spun his own staff slowly in his hands, giving me the impression that he wished for me to mimic his movements. I started but as I made the attempt Dante’s staff came as a sharp blow against my ribs and then behind my knees, causing me to fall flat on my back.
My head pounded against the ground. The men around us gave loud, bellowing laughs and jeers. My head spun. I tried to catch the breath that was knocked out of me. I wobbled back to my feet. Natalie pounded a fist against Dante’s chest and rose a finger at him as if in warning. He shrugged her off and went toward me again. I realized I had foolishly gotten up without my staff and Dante knocked me off my feet again, to the delight of the others around us. This time Natalie crouched by my side. She shot a string of what seemed like curses at Dante, before she looked down at me.
“Keep getting up.” She said sternly as she rose to her feet, shot a disgusted look toward Dante’s direction and left back the direction we came. I felt utterly unprotected with her leaving, but I did as she commanded. I forced myself to stand, though within less than a minute Dante threw me to the floor again. The assaults seemed endless, though in periods of the day they would leave me alone to nurse my wounds and spar with each other. Someone would throw me a flask of water which I would accept with gratitude, though no one was overtly kind to me.
I had no experience in this. Yes, I was used to being treated as a pariah, but no one in my village used that as an excuse to bring physical harm to me. I hadn’t even sparred with Jason and Benjamin since we were twelve or thirteen. We quickly grew out of the enjoyment of combat. But here, it seemed it was not just an enjoyment but a necessity. Every man and woman I had seen were better built than I was, and the men here seemed to want to prove it as they pummeled me to the ground over and over again.
Finally, as the sun went down, everyone started to depart. I didn’t move, fearing it was a trap. I didn’t wish to give Dante an opportunity to add additional assault.
“Go.” Someone finally said to me. “Go back to your mistress.” I nodded my thanks but lingered as I regained my footing. I felt bruises forming on my body though it looked like none of the attacks broke my skin and drew blood. I wobbled back to the path in which I came, quickly getting lost. The path started to open up into four smaller winding paths and I didn’t know which way to go. I finally stumbled to the floor and leaned against the trunk of a tree. I didn’t know when sleep got to me, but suddenly I was jostled awake. I caught Natalie’s green eyes. We were surrounded by darkness. The sun had completely made a descent.
“By the Lord, we feared what became of you! Come. You can’t sleep here.” She pulled me to my feet and dragged me along back to Kiatra’s chambers.
My heart started to race. Natalie didn’t seem to be angry when she found me, but what would be the consequence of my tardiness? What would be the report of my poor showing the first day of training?
Mara looked me over once when I entered into the chambers but asked me no questions. She made a gesture hurrying me to the bathing chamber. “Hurry and wash up. Your mistress will be here at any moment.
”
The evening repeated much as the day before. The young women assisted me in bathing again. I needed more assistance than yesterday as simply taking off my clothes was painful amidst my festering bruises. After I bathed, Mara brought me to a kitchen and had me serve Kiatra her supper. I stood near her until she gestured for me to sit with her. She cut everything in half again and tasted it in front of me before offering it to me. I ate as she scrutinized me silently. After a short time, Mara joined us and chattered in words I did not understand to Kiatra. No questions were asked of me of my day.
I ate more than yesterday though my appetite had not returned. I helped Mara clear our plates, as Kiatra stood and disappeared behind the partition to the bathing chambers. “How come none of the others in her service sup with her?” I whispered.
“The guards take their meals by their posts usually and the handmaidens share the mid-day meal with her and return to their parents to share the evening meal. Often, I join her in the evenings to discuss our inventory and shortages. And you,” She looked at me bemused. “I suppose we will see how long she wishes to share a meal with you.”
“Ah.” I simply said in response. I was growing tired. I knew it was earlier than we had ate the night before, but for the first time in days I longed to sleep. In truth, I longed for the darkness where I could wallow in self-pity and nurse my wounded pride in peace.
“Come.” Mara motioned to me. “I will show you the stables. I wished to do it before you bathed and ate if you were not late.” I had forgotten about the stables and my duties taking care of the animals under Kiatra’s care. I masked my disappointment and nodded as I followed her outside a short distance away to what I assumed was the stable. The building was twice the size of my father’s home and built with a dark oak. Inside, the stable had six stalls and a large open field behind it where I assumed the animals grazed. Two of the stalls were occupied with a black horse and a deep brown horse. Three of the stalls held oxen of varying sizes. The remaining stall was empty.
Boldly, I went straight to the horses and extended my hand out to the black one. The horse snarled slightly, clearly unimpressed by me. If there was any room for me to debate the fact, it snapped its teeth at me. I quickly yanked my hand back. “Which is my mistress’s horse?”
“That very one.”
“Ah. Of course. Fierce and beautiful, just as she is.”
Mara smirked at this. “Also, stubborn. You will soon see.” I extended my hand again to the horse’s mane. The horse seemed to already have lost interest in me as it started to pick at hay and didn’t refuse my touch. Surprisingly, its mane felt soft and not coarse and rigid as I expected under my fingertips. The room spun slightly as I turned away from Mara, bracing myself for another vision. A scene came to my mind of a man struggling on his back as he was dragged through a forest. The man opened his eyes wide in pain. Amber eyes. My eyes. I was being dragged through the dirt. Unseen was the owner of the tanned hand that’s fingers were dug into my hair, pulling me forward.
I pushed away from the horse and exhaled sharply as the stable came back into focus.
“What is it—”
“Where do I get their fodder?” I asked, trying to push the image out of my mind.
She studied me for a moment before motioning for me to follow her out the back door of the stable. We were faced with green pastures and from a distance I could see the river. Far to the right, I could see the trees. There was something odd about it. There were no dark fortified walls blocking my view from anything other than the sky.
“Are we outside the walls?”
“Yes. Most of our stables and fields are outside of the walls, in order to give the plants and the animals adequate sunlight and room to graze and grow.” She pointed to her right. “Continue to go straight down until you hit the first field. Tell one of the field laborers that you need hay, when you run low. Directly adjacent from that field, you can ask those laborers for crops. Specify that it is for your mistress’s cattle and that I sent you.” She pointed straight ahead of us. “In the distance you can see the river. Lead them toward it to drink and let them graze when the weather is warm. On colder days, you can use the troughs in the stable to bring the water to them. You will ensure the stables are kept tidy, the animals are bathed and groomed, and when the time comes, you will slaughter the oxen.”
“Will I be told when an ox should be prepared?”
“Yes. When one is slaughtered, you will go to the villagers and ask if any wish to sell a calf for their Chieftess. There will be many offers. You will learn to decipher which is the best and get the fairest deal for your mistress.”
“Alright.” I said dully though my mind went to panic again. How would I manage this? I didn’t barter very much in my village. The bartering was left to my mother. How would I decipher the best calf for the fairest price? What if I made a poor choice? Mara thwarted me on the head, forcing me to focus on her.
“Your fear will do no favors for you here. Mask it— “
“So, this is him.” A voice came from behind us. I turned to face the young woman approaching us. Her hair fell straight down in black locks, resting on narrow hips. Large hazel eyes sat boldly on porcelain skin. She walked toward me with a confidence that made me shrink back, though the woman was likely no older than 17. Fortunately, Mara stepped in between us.
“What are you doing here, Sabrina? You have never found interest in your sister’s cattle before.”
The woman smiled deviously at me. “She never had one that was interesting before.”
“Sister?” I said in surprise. If the woman was indeed Kiatra’s sister, the resemblance was not clear.
Sabrina lifted an eyebrow at me. “It is surprising, isn’t it? I have been told I am much more beautiful than Kiatra— “
“No.” I spoke without thinking. Her eyes went down to slits. “Forgive me, I only meant you look...different.”
The woman flipped a long lock behind her shoulder. “My sister takes more after our father, where fortunately I take after my mother.”
Our father and my mother, the woman had said implying that her and Kiatra had different mothers. I didn’t question it. It was clear Mara was uncomfortable of this woman even speaking to me, which meant Kiatra wouldn’t wish for it either.
“We should be going, Isaac. Come.”
“What of the animals— “
“Come now.” Mara said sternly.
“So soon?” Sabrina crossed her arms around her and cocked her head to one side as if she was curious why Mara was departing so quickly. Something about her expression made it clear she knew exactly why. “Peculiar why my sister took this one. He’s not so handsome, is he? Not hopeless though. There are some aimable features.” She said with a smile as her eyes floated down my body. “Perhaps after some hard training his appearance could be improved.”
“Enough Sabrina.”
“Oh, forgive me, old woman. Did my sister procure him for you? Well done then. I am sure he will keep your bed warm”
“That is enough. Come Isaac.” Mara started to drag me as Sabrina grabbed my other arm.
“It will serve you well to know where your allegiance should lie. Not everything is as it seems here. Not everyone can be trusted.” She dropped my arm but framed my face with her hands, pressing her fingers into my skin. Her face turned into a blur before me as another vision prepared to overtake me. I pulled away from her and covered my hands with my face, hoping it would pass quickly.
What did you do to him! I could hear Mara say. I didn’t know if Sabrina had a response as I lost their words to the new scene that emerged in my mind.
You should have listened to me, sister. I knew that man was no good. I knew he would bring nothing but chaos to the Fortress. But you let him into our home. You trusted him. You fell in love with him. And what good was it? You never meant anything to him. For ten years he deceived you.
“Isaac!” Mara’s hands were pressed into my shoulder, shaking me.
“I’m alright. I’m alright.” I repeated, as I rose to my feet. “I was just...lightheaded.”
“Come. You need some rest.” I only nodded, not meeting her eyes. I looked up at the woman, Sabrina, Kiatra’s sister. It was her face I saw in my vision. Older than she was now. She was in a cell similar to where I was kept the last several days. Though she was not the prisoner. She was looking down at Kiatra.
She looked at me with one eyebrow raised in curiosity, though she said nothing as Mara started to pull me away. “Keep away from that woman.” Mara said tersely. I nodded though my mind went to the words spoken in the vision, fearing who Sabrina could be referring to, and what it meant for Kiatra.
Chapter 4
The following morning, I found my way back to the clearing where I trained but was lost several times before I reached the destination. My tardiness seemed to be a reason for extra beating. I did as Natalie commanded and continued to will my feet to lift me back up. Yet my force of will only seemed to anger Dante, not gain his respect as Natalie had surmised. Each day he was harder on me. Every day I would leave with a new injury. My lips were bruised and bloodied. My ankle was sprained. My ribs ached. I had no advocates on the training field. There was no community between me and the other slaves who trained. It was clear they despised me for the extra favor I was granted as Kiatra’s slave. Those native to the Fortress despised me for the same reason. All who observed Dante’s training enjoyed the abuse I was receiving. All except for one it seemed. Kiatra’s sister. After our encounter at the stables she started to come to where I trained. She would look at me in concern before placing her hands upon Dante’s neck in a way of affection. I didn’t understand the words though it seemed she was trying to coax him. It never worked. The man was only crueler to me after these encounters.
Premonition Page 4