by Megg Jensen
After finishing my tea, I settled into a story; one that had just come to me.
Not long ago…
“Always the same opening,” he chuckled. I ignored him and continued.
…a young girl moved on to a new life. She was thrilled at the opportunity she had been given, but angry she had lost the one person most important to her. She vowed to reunite, whatever the cost.
Her new companions, lovely and lively people, encouraged her to seek her fortune in another city, but she refused knowing that she could never leave her friend behind. Determined, she implored her new friends to help her. They loved a challenge, but they also believed in caution. If anyone knew what they were planning, their leaders would condemn them as foolhardy. With the limited time they had, they made a plan to extract her friend quietly.
With their strategies in place, the group moved into position the next morning. They knew there was no time to waste. The perfect opportunity was upon them. There would already be confusion and chaos and they would be able to slip in and out undetected. Everyone was charged up at the thought of rescuing another.
The morning arrived and they dressed in their finest. They would all attend the ceremony, but exit with her friend before anyone knew they were imposters. It would be easy, particularly since one of them knew the building inside and out.
Today’s branding ceremony would not take place. Not for Reychel.
I started, hearing my name slip out. I’d been so caught up in my own story, not even paying attention to the content. Telling stories was like that for me; I slipped into my own little world, unaware of what I was saying as if I was only a conduit, not the storyteller.
But the significance of this tale sunk in like a brick in a pond. I looked to Kandek, his brow furrowed, his hands shaking. He grasped the arms of his chair, his fingernails digging into the fine fabric.
“I’m sorry, master,” I stammered, quickly dropping into a bow at his feet. “It was just a silly story. I wasn’t thinking. I am so sorry if I have offended you.”
“I will not lose you.” He leapt up, knocking over the heavy wooden chair. “You’re too valuable. Don’t move an inch,” he snarled, sticking his finger in my face. “Guards!”
The door burst open as two of his honor guards ran into the room, searching for enemies but only finding me quivering on the floor.
“Tod, Dean, take her to the dungeon. Hold her there until the branding ceremony. Don’t let her out of your sight for an instant,” he growled.
“It was just a stupid story, my lord.” I wrapped my arms around his ankles. The dungeon was dank and filled with rats. “Please don’t put me in the dungeon. Please!”
Kandek reached down and for a moment I wondered if he was going to help me up. His hand found mine, but instead of taking it, he grabbed the leather bag I clutched. I burst into tears, realizing that not only was I going to be imprisoned, but I would face the branding with no help from his herbals. He had never been anything but kind to me. How could he turn so quickly? He had to know I didn’t mean any of it.
“Take her and guard her cell until the moment I send for her,” he instructed the larger of the two guards. “She won’t fall into anyone else’s hands.”
I didn’t struggle as the huge guard lifted me to my feet and led me away. What good would it do?
Walking out, I glanced over my shoulder into the room. Kandek slumped over in his chair, his head in his hands. He looked up briefly at me. I expected to see rage, but I didn’t. I only saw raw fear.
3
I sat on the damp floor in the darkness and punched my fist into my lap. Why did I have to tell such a ridiculous story? I hadn’t meant a word of it. In fact, it spilled out of my mouth without any thought, just like all the stories I had told him over the years.
Sometimes when I told tales, I forgot to think and just lost myself in the telling. The adventure and intrigue could sometimes keep me talking for an hour and help me forget about life as a slave. Usually my sessions with Kandek were filled with stories of political intrigue or of daily life of nobles – at least the way I imagined them being. Having never been outside of this household, I really had very little practical knowledge of the outside world.
But this time was different. This story was personal. Ivy’s disappearance was all I could think about and it spilled into my story. Not once did I think Ivy would, or could, come back for me. My carelessness got me into this situation, but I had no idea how to get out of it.
I leaned my head back against the cold rock wall. I tried squinting my eyes and focusing on the candle burning outside the little barred window in my cell. Luckily I was used to seeing in darker spaces. Living without frequent access to windows does that to a girl.
The cell was ugly and spare, that was for sure, but it wasn’t wholly unpleasant. At least I didn’t see any rats, and that alone made it okay. In fact, it wasn’t so different from my own sleeping chamber, just much smaller. I estimated it could accommodate ten prisoners instead of the forty of us who shared a room. And I would only spend a few short hours here until my ceremony.
The branding, I remembered. Only a few hours until the intense pain would overcome me. The burning feeling of a fox seared onto the back of my head. My master’s mark on me forever. His ownership complete.
Before this morning I hadn’t dreaded the ownership, just the moment of the branding. Kandek had always been so kind, to me at least. Yet such a silly slip of the tongue from a wandering mind wound me up in the dungeon. The whole thing was unfair. It may have been my fifteenth birthday and I may have been heading into adulthood by receiving the brand, but I just proved to myself I could still be careless like a child.
“It’s not fair,” I yelled.
“Life rarely is, child,” said a gravely voice outside my door.
I scrambled over to the window in the door, looking for the person who spoke to me. All I could see was Tod, the huge guard, sleeping propped up against the wall. Moments ago I had noticed his shadow falling across my view as he had been walking back-and-forth in front of my door. To the right I made out a figure in a black cloak. A black gloved hand was raised, palm pointed at the guard.
His head turned to face me. I gazed at his hood, trying to make out a face, but nothing was distinguishable in the shadows. For a moment he stood still, watching me, his head cocked.
“Impossible.”
“What’s impossible?” I asked.
A quick shake of the head brought him back to his task.
“During your ceremony, when the moment comes, run for the door.”
“Moment? What moment? What are you talking about? Who are you?” I whispered, afraid to wake the snoozing guard. He stirred lightly, but did not awaken.
“You will know, child. You will know.”
The other gloved hand raised and pulled the cloak aside over his chest. Woven into the dark folds was the family symbol on the token I found on Ivy’s pillow. I gasped and closed my eyes, wondering if I was seeing things in the shadows.
“What you doing, slave? Get away from the window!” The guard snarled at me, no longer asleep and back to his pacing.
I glanced around frantically, wondering where the robed figured went. Was it just my imagination taking over again?
“The cook must have sent this for you,” the guard said reaching over to grab a steaming bowl next to him on the table. “Move back from the door so I can give you the soup that kitchen girl just left for you.”
I sank back on the stone bench, hands shaking. What was wrong with me? First that ridiculous story and now imagining a kitchen girl was a magically cloaked person. He unlocked and opened a small door at the bottom of the cell. My midday meal slid in, the soup sloshing out of the bowl from the forceful shove. I sat back, grabbed the soup bowl in my hands and forced myself to drink. The warmth settled into my body and after eating I set the bowl aside in favor of a nap.
Wishing I had my blanket with the holes in it, I tucked my knees up to my ch
est, pulling my legs up under my dress to keep them warm. I laid my head on my arm, my best attempt at a pillow. I closed my eyes and prayed to Eloh to grant me rest, but before I could finish the prayer, I was asleep.
“Get up, slave.” The guard, Tod, kicked my foot, stirring me from a deep slumber.
I shook my head and rubbed my eyes. It took me a moment to remember where I was, but the damp smell and cold bench thrust me back to reality. I wanted to ask if it was time for my ceremony, but slaves weren’t permitted to ask questions of anyone above them. The last thing I needed was to anger someone else.
Even though I’d been mentally preparing for the ceremony the last couple of weeks, today’s upheaval had shaken any confidence I’d built up. First Ivy’s disappearance and then the comforting thought of the herbal poultice Kandek had given me only to have it taken away in one fell swoop. So far everything was worse than I’d imagined. Then there was the mysterious cloaked figure. Was that even real or just my imagination running away with me again? I rubbed my temples, hoping to banish my anxiety. It didn’t work.
I pushed myself up using the wall for support. Though I was awake, I didn’t have my strength yet. My post-nap stupor turned my legs to jelly and my arms to lead weights. Tod grabbed my arm and pulled me up the rest of the way. He wound a rope around my wrists, tying a tight knot. I could not pull my wrists apart so my fingers laced together and my hands fell in front of me.
“What’s the matter slave? Not excited about your branding?”
Another guard joined us, flanking my left side, Tod on my right.
I tried to ignore other slaves gawking at me as they marched me down the hallway, but it was impossible. Every time I passed a slave, he or she would slow down and stare at me. Unlike Ivy’s walk a few weeks ago, I walked without friends surrounding me. Even the lowest of us were allowed friends to walk us to the branding ceremony. Our master was one of the few who allowed it. But no one had ever been led by guards with her hands bound. Until now.
I saw them whisper to each other. I even heard a few snicker. I spied Ella, hidden partially behind a curtain as her fear overcame her sense of new-found loyalty to me. I wasn’t offended. I wasn’t sure how I would have reacted in the same position.
As I rounded the next corner, Grey stood in the middle of the hallway, his messenger bag hanging from his shoulder.
“I believe Reychel has the right to be escorted by a friend,” Grey said, drawing his shoulders back. He lifted his bag off and placed it on the floor. I smiled at him, grateful he’d overcome whatever concerns he had about me.
The guard on my right looked to the guard on my left, who shook his head.
“We have orders,” Tod said, “to deliver her to the great hall. She lost her rights when she admitted to treason before our lord, Kandek.”
Treason? He asked me to tell a story and I had.
“And,” the other guard continued, “we have orders to arrest anyone who gets in our way. Step aside, boy.”
“Then I’ll be waiting outside the door to take her back to her room,” Grey said, standing firm.
“You’ll be waiting a long time.” Tod laughed. “We’re taking her straight back to her cell after the brand is burned into her neck. Master Kandek has yet to decide how to punish her.”
“No!” Grey said. His left foot stepped back into a fighting stance and he raised his fists in the air.
“It’s okay,” I said, nodding my head and trying to look brave.
It must have worked because Grey’s shoulders relaxed as his feet shuffled back together. “Are you going to be okay?”
“I don’t think I have a choice,” I said. “Don’t worry about me. It’s all a mistake. I’m sure everything will be cleared up before too long.”
I could only hope Kandek’s anger diffused over the day and I would be allowed back to my chamber to endure my pain instead of facing it in the dungeon. I hadn’t done anything wrong. He had to know that.
Grey grabbed his messenger bag and slung it over his shoulder. Scrolls threatened to spill as he walked past me and bumped the guard’s shoulder. I held a smile back, knowing he had hit him on purpose.
“Watch your step, boy,” he snarled. “Or you’ll be in the dungeon too.”
The guard jerked my arm as he led me into the great hall. I searched the crowd for any sign of the cloaked man from the dungeon, but I didn’t see anyone out of the ordinary.
Men dressed in their finest breeches and tunics and by their side stood lavishly dressed ladies with the ridiculous birds’ nests sprinkled in their hair. It was the height of fashion, but Ivy and I always giggled that it was the height of ridiculousness. The men sat with their hats in their laps. No one wanted to obstruct the view.
“Second one in less than two months, huh Kandek?” A fat man played with the rings on his fingers while nudging Kandek with his shoulder. “You’re a lucky man. So many slaves.”
I stood so near I could hear their conversation and smell the other man. His perfume did little to cover his sweaty stench.
“You’re a lucky man, you know. Very few have ever been able to acquire so much from so little. What’s your secret?”
Kandek laughed. “No secret, Blorn. Just hard work.”
“Anything to tell about this one?” Lifting his stubby thumb in the air, he pointed at me. “You had some interesting stories about the last girl.”
I drew in a sharp breath. Interesting stories? About Ivy? What had he told that man next to him? I could barely look at him without staring at the rolls of stomach fat peeking out from the sides of his tunic.
“This one? No, I barely know her. I didn’t even realize she was the one getting branded today. After some time they all look alike,” Kandek said.
Blorn snorted, his nostrils flaring out. “It’s true isn’t it? One slave is just like another in my book. As long as they get their work done, follow the rules and don’t cause trouble, they’re all the same.”
Kandek and Blorn clanked their mugs together in a toast. A drop of ale flew out of the mug, landing on Blorn’s hand. Like a dog, he lapped the droplets up with his tongue. Disgusted, I recoiled at his bad manners.
A twang in my gut pulled my glance away. How could Kandek say those things? Of course he knew me from the other slaves. Maybe after my mistake today, he had decided to treat me like the rest of the slaves again. Would it make my confinement worse? Would I ever be allowed to see sunlight again?
Kandek stood up and straightened his golden tunic. With a low murmur everyone in the room turned to face him. There must have been at least a hundred spectators, all waiting to watch me experience the most excruciating pain of my life. I felt the soup in my stomach begin to churn. Maybe it was a mistake to have eaten, but it was too late now.
“My friends, fellow councilmen, and dear ladies. Thank you for coming today to celebrate Reychel’s fifteenth birthday. It is a big occasion in a girl’s life. In society it means she is eligible for marriage, but for a slave it means she becomes permanently joined to her household. Today, Reychel is delighted to earn the mark of the fox. Isn’t that right, my dear?” he asked with a quick flick of his hand in my direction.
I looked into his eyes and saw a flicker of panic but he broke our gaze, looking back to his friends. If I was ever to get answers, now might be my only chance. I opened my mouth to respond, but was interrupted by a boisterous laugh.
“She thinks she’s allowed to respond!” Blorn roared. The entire room filled with laughter. My face reddened as I looked to Kandek again, but his eyes refused to meet mine.
“Bring in the brander!” Kandek ordered, throwing his arms in the air. A cheer arose as another slave, Mollor, a metalworker, walked in with the brand. He held it up for all to see the sign of the fox. Another cheer waved through the room.
Tod pushed my shoulders down until my knees buckled. I dropped on the waiting chair. He grabbed the top of my head and pushed my face into the hole in the middle of the table. My forehead rested on the splin
tered wood and I thought of all the slaves who’d been here before me. I stared at my shoes, my throat constricting as I swallowed. My breath became shallow as the sharp edge of the wooden table pushed into me.
My hands were still bound behind my back and I wanted to fight but knew I couldn’t. Again I felt my stomach turn. The cloaked figure hadn’t appeared. My master wasn’t going to save me. My best friend was missing. All of this followed by another trip to the dungeon.
A pair of shoes shuffled closer, the toes of the boots just peeking under the table. Mollor’s boots. It was time.
I took a deep breath. My eyelids fluttered closed, surrendering to the inevitable. Small droplets of sweat balled together, rolling down the sides of my neck as the poker hovered over its target.
I knew Mollor was waiting for the signal to brand me. One simple word from Kandek’s lips was all it took.
“Now,” Kandek roared. I sucked in another breath as a cheer rose from the audience. I waited for the pain and wished it would just be over.
“Run,” a voice whispered in my ear as I felt the binding cut from my wrists. “Run now!”
I lifted my head. No one was moving, the voices as silent as their motionless bodies. The guard’s hands were hanging limp at his sides, no longer restraining me to the table. The vacant stare of his eyes sent shivers through my body. Mollor’s firebrand hovered in the air sizzling with life, quite the opposite of his slack mouth.
“Go, child! Run as fast as you can and crawl out the window. We only have thirty seconds to spare.” The cloaked figure waved his arms toward the windows.
I slipped off the chair and ran as fast as I could. Standing underneath the stained glass window, I glanced up at its height. I faced a choice: either find a way up and out or lose my chance to escape. I glanced around and saw the masses of petrified guests. These cruel people had been here to watch my branding. It was like a sick, disgusting sport to them.