“How do you plan on getting someone to fight?” Candace asked.
“Easy” Madeline replied. “I will offer whoever I choose the chance to leave the stocks and become a worker in my house.”
“Well let’s see the two mages fight first” Holly said looking at Sawyer who still hadn’t taken his eyes off of Samson.
“Samson he is bigger and stronger than you are” Candace replied. “Look at the size of his arms and fists, just decline the fight. You are still a stronger mage than he is.”
“Yeah Samson, walk away” Sawyer said as he cracked his knuckles.
“I don’t have time for this” Samson said and put his nose up in the air. “I don’t have anything to prove to any of you here” Samson finished as he started walking towards the bath house.
Sawyer relaxed and started putting on his shirt when Madeline started speaking.
“What are you doing, you still have a fight” Madeline said looking at Sawyer.
“I don’t have any issue with anyone here and I don’t fight for your amusement Lady Madeline” Sawyer said as he put his shirt on.
“Joseph!” Madeline screamed as a decent sized man ran up. He was one of the big men Sawyer had saw the women walking with when he first arrived to the stocks, Sawyer thought their job was probably to hold down someone while they took their licks. “If you beat this man up then I will remove you from the stocks and in my home permanently!”
“You were going to do that anyway” Holly laughed as Joseph ran towards Sawyer.
Sawyer was taken by surprise from the man named Joseph, he had a wild look in his eyes and looked to have outweighed Sawyer by fifty or so pounds. Sawyer planted his feet and threw a straight left, it landed on the nose perfectly but Joseph continued straight at him. Sawyer managed to side step Joseph’s attempt at a grab and gave him a stinging blow to the ear with his right fist as he created space by moving away. Marlon was big on learning the sword, perhaps the only thing Marlon taught Sawyer as much about was unarmed fighting. Sawyer knew most power came from the hips and legs, if Joseph couldn’t plant his feet properly then he wouldn’t have any power on his punches and couldn’t move as fast as he wanted. Sawyer waited for him to turn around, Joseph had his hands up protecting his face when Sawyer kicked him hard in the lower thigh, the strike rang out loudly since Joseph was wearing that ridiculous shorts outfit and made the bigger man pull his leg back to prevent another. Sawyer went after him then, alternating leg kicks with jabs that were just strong enough to get his opponent’s attention. So far Sawyer had done well, he had stayed out of the bigger man’s grasp and used his length to keep his opponent constantly on the defensive. Joseph had taken several hard blows to his thigh which made him limp a little but had barely missed two or three big punches that would have ended the fight. When Sawyer threw his next kick he tried to exaggerate it a little, Joseph bent down to grab his leg and punch with the opposite hand, the problem he would find out later was that Sawyer went high on the kick, catching Joseph on his right temple. The big man was still moving forward and he dropped unconscious, the blow he was throwing ended up catching Sawyer on the chin but it was a grazing blow. Sawyer stumbled back as Joseph fell face first in the dirt.
“I am sure making people fight each other is against the rules” Sawyer said to no one in particular. “Whoever the proper authorities are will hear about this.”
“Relax” Madeline said looking down at Joseph. “Now you can leave here and become one of my servants.”
“I decline Lady Madeline however my statement still stands” Sawyer replied.
“Don’t make such a big deal out of this Sarlon” Candace replied. “You won the fight, that guard at the gates was right when she said you knew how to take care of yourself.”
“I am going to make a big deal out of it though” Sawyer replied. “I think I will tell whoever will listen including the Queen herself, Lady Candace. I have done nothing wrong yet I was attacked by some man on the orders of people who are supposed to have Maduro’s best interest at heart. This is supposedly a female society where women can be comfortable, is making people who have done them or anyone else no ill, harm each other part of that society? I am going to find out.”
“What do you mean you don’t want to become my servant?” Madeline asked.
“That one worked with Janessa all day and wants to go back” Holly said. “He does not like our society at all and is just trying to bring it down anyway he can.”
“Exactly what I was going to say” Candace replied. “Don’t worry about anything Madeline, he is not going to say anything to anyone here or away from Maduro. Now Sarlon come on and let's leave. You don’t have to wear any of those outfits and you can stay in my house alone without any of the servants if you wish.”
“I decline that as well” Sawyer replied. “I can't be bought, at least not when you don’t know what to sell.”
“Well what do you want Sarlon” Candace said sighing heavily.
“You have nothing I want” Sawyer replied. “No one here does. Now you have seen me and I refuse to leave the stocks until it is time to leave for good. I don’t think anywhere does it say I can't refuse your offer of employment or whatever this is.”
“Fine” Candace replied. “Stay here with Madeline and Holly and all of the men who would do anything they say to leave the stocks. Maybe some accident will befall you while you are here or maybe you will speak out of line and wind up with the whip.”
“These men hope to one day leave this place” Sawyer began. “Am I the person they really want to meet on the outside? Or even inside here? At the worst I will be punished but it is doubtful anyone would try to kill me, you said yourself that there aren’t very many mages. I on the other hand, will kill all who try me, after all, they have to sleep as well. I wonder what this Queen of yours will think about her mages being mistreated and when I threatened to tell, getting even more mistreatment.”
“Whatever” Candace replied. “Do what you want, I only came here because the High Mage told me too. I only wanted to see Samson and make sure he was okay.”
CHAPTER 5
“Sarlon I want to ask a favor of you” Janessa said as she looked over Sawyer’s work mixing the different metals. “You can tell me to kiss your ass and I wouldn’t think any less of you.”
“I would never say something like that to you” Sawyer replied shocked. “You are the only person here I get along with, the only one that I think gets me.”
“I want you to spare Madeline” Janessa replied. “She was wrong for what she did and I am sure she is thinking heavily on it now that you have threatened her. I don’t want to make excuses for her but there are only three kinds of women here in Maduro. Mages, the extremely wealthy and the mistreated. You already know my story, most of the women here were mistreated by men and Madeline’s story is about the worst I have heard. She has done a lot of wrong but she is a broken woman that has rarely been shown a kindness.”
“Are you asking me or is someone asking me through you?” Sawyer asked.
“A little of both” Janessa replied.
“Tell her not to do evil things like that anymore and we are square” Sawyer replied. “And let her know the only reason for my change in attitude is because you asked me to.”
“Thank you Sarlon” Janessa replied. “I didn’t know how to bring it up to you and you have been working here all day.”
“So you heard about my fight” Sawyer replied.
“Who hasn’t heard about your fight?” Janessa laughed. “They said you moved like water and was way too fast or skilled for one of Madeline’s oxes to get his hands on you.”
“He is lucky he didn’t” Sawyer replied. “I know grappling better than I know striking, striking is just safer for me in the long run. If we were grappling he most likely would have a broken arm.”
“I don’t doubt it at all” Janessa replied. “Right now you are the talk of the town, people either think you are stuck up or some fairytale
knight.”
“Stuck up?” Sawyer replied confused.
“Well believe it or not there are plenty men who refuse to work for certain ladies” Janessa began. “Now I doubt you are stupid enough to believe things never get physical. Now officially that is not supposed to be part of the job, but any man who would rather work in the much tougher stocks than work at a lady’s house is doing so because the lady does not have what he is looking for. Now most of the women here would not be considered pretty outside of Maduro, pretty women rarely have trouble finding a man or being mistreated since most men want to please them.”
“So because I don’t want to work for a woman that tried to have me pounded on then I am stuck up?” Sawyer replied.
“That is the short of it” Janessa replied.
“You said something about rich women being in Maduro?” Sawyer asked.
“Well not just rich women” Janessa replied. “Rich and powerful women. The Queen gives small homes to broken women here, each of them can have one servant based on the size of their home. The wealthy have to pay an extremely high tax and continue paying it every year, that money helps Maduro run and pay for the broken women like myself. Rich women though tend to have rich husbands that would forbid them from ever coming to Maduro, they see this as a place they would come to cheat on their marriage although the man could be doing the same thing on the outside. Rich and powerful women though do not have any man to answer to will be here. They pay more money for a bigger home, a bigger home means more servants to please them. The High Mage gets a nice home as part of her title, most of the other mages receive a very small home like most of the women here. Her apprentice though has a decent sized home and three servants which is quite a lot. I am one of the few that makes money instead of getting a stipend so my home is a bit bigger but I have no need of servants. I like to do everything myself, if I could still work this anvil I wouldn’t even ask for help, but for some reason they love sending lazy folks to me, mostly so they can have a reason to kick them out of Maduro.”
“So what is the reason for all of the half naked people running around?” Sawyer asked.
“Just a way to give women some eye candy and demasculinize the men a little” Janessa replied. “I admit to looking a few times but most are so air headed or full of themselves that I wouldn’t even bother. And the fact most of them are kids like yourself, maybe not as young as you are but younger than I like them. A lot of these old women here want a young man but not me, I don’t see the point in all of it. I am sure if our positions were reversed you wouldn’t be eager to rush out into some girl’s skirts either.”
“That would be disgusting” Sawyer replied. “That sounds like a great way to catch the pox or any number of things that can make it fall off.”
“You would be surprised how many women have caught stuff like that” Janessa laughed. “The man is instantly expelled if they are even suspected of having anything like that but it is too late most of the time. Most of the affected woman’s servants are given the opportunity to work elsewhere after that, you should hear the scandals.”
“Serves them right” Sawyer replied. “You can let them know I am not interested in sleeping with any woman or bowing and scraping to any of them either. I also don’t care what they think about me.”
“What if I told you I have received a missive from one of the most powerful women here asking about you for her daughter?” Janessa asked.
“Any woman who would live in a place like this is not the kind I would try to be with” Sawyer replied. “To me this is like a woman saying she wants to be with a man that visits the brothels as often as possible. Besides I recently heard I can’t marry a woman here even if I wanted to, which I don’t.”
“There are rules and there are rules” Janessa replied. “I doubt the Queen would care if you marry the daughter of a duchess, sure she would lay on a stiff fine but that would be to keep the rest of us happy.”
“Doesn’t matter” Sarlon replied.
“So I take it that you are not going tomorrow then?” Janessa replied.
“Going where?” Sawyer asked.
“Tomorrow is Founders Day” Janessa replied. “It marks the founding of Maduro, almost everyone in the city will be there. All of the servants from every house will be there, the only people that will be working are those from the stocks, unless someone invites them of course. It is the only time the ladies will be allowed to freely talk with servants from other houses about possible employment or other dalliances without reprisal. The Mr. Maduro contest will be held there and there will also be a lot of food, dance and the men can even drink. All the women have to be there, at least all the ones that the queen sponsored.”
“I think I will pass” Sawyer replied. “That does not sound like anything I want a part of, I like being here and making things, inbetween my practicing fighting it passes the day easily and I have learned a lot about making things. I am amazed I didn’t try this sooner, I could make my own weapons when I leave.”
“Well you are welcomed to stay here when I leave” Janessa replied. “This is my daughter in law’s first year here at Maduro.”
“Your son was married?” Sawyer asked.
“Only for a short while” Janessa said shaking her head. “He married a girl more mannish than I am, took her for all of her money and swindled her dying parents. I wrote the Queen on her behalf, poor girl has a good heart but bad luck to run into my son. At first she tried being with the random men around here to make her feel good about herself but soon learned it was an empty feeling. Women love to lay in the sheets just as much as men do but for us there is emotion attached to it. It is hard for us to see the act as just exercise, well most of us anyway. Drowning yourself in beautiful men is how a lot of them cope, Yesenia though has learned that is not the way. I wonder how long will she live here, this is not really a place to have a relationship. Once a man has served his time he is sent to the nearest city, Yesenia though eventually wants children and this is definitely not the place to raise a child.”
“Well good luck to her” Sawyer replied.
Sawyer heard Janessa’s door open and walked further to the back, her smithy was pretty open and there wasn’t a real store front, the door on the street led straight to her forge. Sawyer went to go grab more ore from outside, it was like very heavy rock that had to be melted down and all the garbage thrown out so only the pure metal remained. Sawyer had just grabbed another big chunk of ore and walked back when he could see Janessa talking to a woman that looked familiar somehow and another woman.
“Sarlon this is my daughter Yesenia” Janessa said as she looked at Sawyer and pointed to a rather stocky woman. And this is Claudia, she is one of the mages here in Maduro.”
Sawyer eyed the women and finally remembered where he had seen Yesenia from, she was the guard at the city gates. The other woman Claudia wore mage robes and had an arrogant look in her eye as she looked Sawyer up and down and turned away.
“Pleasure to meet you both” Sawyer said as he dumped the large rock in the bloomery. Sawyer had paid too much attention in eyeing the women in his peripheral vision that he got too close to the bloomery and set his shirt on fire. The bloomery was a type of furnace that heated the iron ore with the help of someone working the bellows, right now thought it was hot enough to set the flammable burlap on fire and Sawyer quickly took it off and barely avoided burning himself.
“Be careful Sarlon” Janessa laughed. “I have burned myself more times than I can remember.”
“Do you happen to have another shirt Lady Janessa” Sawyer asked.
“I don’t think you really need one” Claudia said looking Sawyer over. Claudia looked maybe a little older than Sawyer, she wasn’t fat but she was far from skinny and had big brown eyes and hair that fell over her shoulder in curls. Sawyer could see how many people would think she is cute, her comment however ruined things.
“I think I have decided I don’t like you Lady Claudia” Sawyer replied.
“I can get you one” Janessa replied. “When I give Madeline the news I am sure she will make sure you have one.”
“What do you mean you don’t like me” Claudia said irritated. “I was paying you a complement, just like the many complements women have had to deal with.”
“Sarlon is a little different than most of the men around here” Janessa replied. “He is what the both of you have only heard about, a gentleman. Gentlemen tend not to like leering women, at least those they have no relationship with.”
“Well he sounds boring, only a little better than Samson” Claudia replied.
“I am nothing like that dandy” Sawyer said. “He is an idiot who thinks too highly of himself while I just want to be treated with the same respect I show everyone else.”
“So you have been hiding the killer” Yesenia said looking at Janessa. “I have his sword, it is the sword of a killer. It is unadorned and made for one thing, the fact that he had it special made means he is not a man to take lightly.”
“This is the one you were talking about?” Janessa laughed. “Sarlon is not a killer, he is good company for a bitter old woman. I think any woman would be happy to have him.”
“He must be the man who beat Joseph” Yesenia replied. “Sarlon do you give sword lessons?”
“Me?” Sawyer asked. “I think it shouldn’t be too hard but I have never tried to teach anyone.”
“I would interested in learning” Yesenia replied.
“How could this work if I don’t have my weapons?” Sawyer asked.
“We could do it outside of the city” Yesenia said as Sawyer could see she was trying to come up with a plan.
“The High Mage forbid me from leaving” Sawyer replied. “And I don’t want any of those guys in red following my every move. It is the reason I would rather work at the stocks.”
“You don’t like the high mage?” Claudia asked.
“And she knows it” Sawyer replied.
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