Luka looked amused as she passed a piece of paper across the desk toward him. “I need you to sign this.”
“What is it?”
“Your ownership papers.”
She hadn’t only released her control over him, but was completely freeing him, allowing him to leave at any time, if he chose to do so. He was stunned.
He quickly read the document to make sure it was, indeed, his ownership papers, then signed them. He didn’t distrust Luka, he was just a cautious man and always read through everything before signing his life away.
“So what happens now?” he asked.
“That is up to you. You are free to go, but I would like you to remain here, at least until you have found out where Shona is being held. So far, none of my contacts have managed to find anyone matching her description.”
Kwin was aware that she could easily have been lying, but he didn’t think she was. She had no reason to help him in his search, but was doing so anyway, so why would she lie?
“For now, I have to stay,” he said. “You have a long way to go before you’re proficient in the correct language.”
His wording made her laugh. He then walked around the desk, took her hand and bent his head down to kiss the back of it.
“Thank you my Lady.”
When he looked up, she was blushing.
“If there is nothing else, may I be excused? My stomach is telling me I need to eat.”
Luka laughed lightly again. “Of course. Koal is keeping food warm for you.”
On the way to the kitchen, Kwin mentally contacted Gareth.
“Gareth my friend, I am a free man.”
Chapter 21
Those last five words were music to Gareth’s ears. Kwin was free!
“How?” he asked.
Kwin quickly summarised all that had happened. Gareth could hardly believe what he was hearing. Kwin really had landed on his feet. He would give almost anything to trade places with him.
Their conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Come in,” Gareth said. He had no idea who it could be. He wasn’t expecting visitors and Ofar never knocked.
The slave who had carried him to his room after his night in the well walked in carrying Uko’s limp body in his arms. Blood was dripping down her arm, onto the floor. Gareth thought the man’s name was Wostle, but he might have been wrong.
Gareth didn’t bother to ask what had happened; it made no difference. “Is she alive?” he asked instead.
Wostle nodded. “Barely. Can you help?”
“I hope so. Put her on the bed.”
As Uko’s naked body came into contact with the bedding, she whimpered.
“I’m sorry if I hurt you,” Gareth said softly. “But I have to examine you.” He had no idea if she heard him or not.
Her frail body was covered in small cuts and bruising was forming everywhere he looked. There were finger marks around her neck where whoever had attacked her had tried to strangle her.
She rasped as she breathed so Gareth started his physical examination with her ribs. The pattern of the bruising suggested she had been kicked, hard.
“She has some broken ribs,” he said. “And I think one has punctured her lung.”
He examined the rest of her body. One arm was broken and dislocated at both the elbow and the shoulder. Her lip was cut and bleeding and one eye was swollen shut.
As gently as he could, he rolled her over. Cuts covered her back. From the shape and uniformity of them, Gareth surmised they had been caused by a knife. He rolled her back again then contacted Kwin.
“Kwin, I need you again.”
“What’s happened?”
“One of the slaves has been attacked. I haven’t got the details yet, I’m more concerned about keeping her alive.”
“Describe her injuries.”
Gareth did as requested.
“I really want to know what happened to her,” Kwin said in Gareth’s mind. “But right now let’s get her fixed up. We need to start on the ribs then her throat. The cuts sound like they aren’t life threatening, so they can wait until later. I need to see what you are seeing. Open your mind so I can use your eyes.”
It was a strange feeling for Gareth, no longer being in control of what he saw as Kwin took over his eyes, running them over the girl’s ribs.
“Now touch her firmly. I need to feel where the breaks are. It will hurt her, but it is necessary.”
Gareth nodded, then obeyed, making the girl whimper once more.
“You’re right about the punctured lung,” Kwin said. “Place your hands over her ribs and let my magic flow through you. I will control where it goes and what it does.”
While Kwin worked, Gareth looked at the slave who had brought the girl in. As the girl’s breathing returned to normal, a look of shock took over his face. “Do not mention any of this to anyone,” Gareth said. “If Ofar finds out, we will all be in a lot of trouble.”
Wostle nodded. “How are you doing magic? The shackles prevent it.”
“Actually they don’t, they just alert whoever wears my controller that I’m using my magical ability.”
Wostle looked toward the door in fright, as though he was expecting Ofar to burst in at any moment.
Gareth smiled. “Stop worrying. I’m not doing any magic. A friend of mine is using his power on Uko. He’s just using me as a tool, an object to direct his power.”
Wostle looked at him uncertainly. Gareth continued. “I swear to Petra that I am telling the truth.”
“If your friend can do that, why hasn’t he set you free? Why hasn’t he removed your shackles?”
“He doesn’t know how.”
He was prevented from saying more by Kwin telling him to concentrate. The lung and ribs had been repaired, now he wanted to work on the young lady’s arm then throat.
Kwin mended the break, but Gareth would have to take care of the dislocations. Uko screamed out as he forced her bones back into their sockets.
On Kwin’s command, Gareth felt Uko’s neck, checking that no bones were broken. He surrendered himself to Kwin so that he could feel everything Gareth’s fingers touched. Satisfied that there was nothing more than bruising and maybe a little muscle damage, Kwin set to work.
Once all of her internal injures had been dealt with, Kwin withdrew his magic.
“How bad are her cuts?” he mentally asked Gareth. “Can you fix them manually? Will just cleaning and bandaging them be enough? I’m exhausted, but will continue if I need to.”
Gareth could hear how much the healing had taken out of Kwin. “No, I will see to the cuts. There are a lot, but they are not too big or too deep. Go and get some rest.”
When Gareth felt Kwin completely withdraw from his mind, he turned his attention to Wostle. “My friend has done all he can. We will have to take care of the rest. I need clean water and cloths to wash her wounds, some sort of antiseptic and bandages.”
Wostle almost ran from the room, returning much sooner than Gareth had been expecting. He carried a bowl and some clean cloths and another of Ofar’s slaves was with him, carrying the rest of what he had asked for. She had even brought a blanket with her, to wrap Uko’s naked body in once they had finished.
Gareth and the maid set to work cleaning all of the knife wounds on Uko’s back while Wostle cleaned up her arms. Then they turned her over and repeated the procedure on her front. The liquid antiseptic was applied liberally to each cut before her entire torso was bandaged.
When the task was complete, the female slave covered Uko with the blanket and Wostle picked her up. “I will take her to her room. Thank you for your help,” he said to Gareth.
“Any time. When you have her settled, please come back here. I want to know what happened.”
Wostle paled, but nodded his head.
The other slave quickly stripped Gareth’s bed. The sheets were covered in blood, water and antiseptic fluid. He wouldn’t be able to sleep there until the soiled linen
had been replaced.
Gareth was pacing the room when Wostle returned. He glanced at the woman, who was just putting the final touches on Gareth’s bed, and waited until she had left the room before telling Gareth what he wanted to know.
“Raina went into the town. From what I can gather from his ravings, he was refused entry into one of the shops until his bill had been paid. The tavern, it seems, was happy to serve him though. He was drunk and in a foul mood when he made it back here.”
“Let me guess,” Gareth said through clenched teeth. “He wanted to take it out on someone and Uko was the first person he saw.”
“I wish that was the case. Unfortunately he hunted her out. He found her in Ofar’s suite, hanging up some of her clean dresses. He dragged her from the room and into his own suite. Had Ofar been there, I like to think she would have stopped the attack, but she wasn’t. I tried to stop Raina, I swear I did, but he has dual control of my shackles and used it against me. I had to watch, helpless, curled up in a ball with agony flowing through me, as he beat her then cut her. The sound of her screams and the sight of her blood seemed to encourage him.”
Gareth was glad when Wostle stopped speaking. He didn’t want to hear any more.
“Where is he?” His voice was full of ice. Anyone who knew Gareth would understand what that meant.
“I don’t know. He left his suite when he had finished with Uko. As soon as I could move I brought her to you.”
Gareth turned around and strode out of the room.
“Where are you going?” Wostle called after him.
“I’m going to find Raina and when I do, I am going to kill him.”
Anger was surging through Gareth as he stormed through the house. Other slaves saw the look on his face and quickly moved out of the way.
He started his search in Raina’s suite, just in case he had returned, but nobody was there. The stained sheets on his bed demonstrated that Wostle had not been lying.
Ofar’s suite was down the corridor. He decided to try there next, in case she had returned and knew where her brother was.
Gareth knocked on the door but there was no reply. He went in anyway. A smile spread across his face when his eyes fell on Raina, slumped across one of Ofar’s sofas. There was no sign of Ofar though.
“Just the man I want to see,” Gareth said loudly, startling Raina awake. “You are going to pay for what you did to Uko.” He didn’t care that he was letting the man know he could speak his language; he was going to die so wouldn’t be able to pass on the secret.
Raina sneered at him. “You can’t do anything to me. Raise your hand against me and my sister will make your life not worth living.”
“What makes you think it’s worth living now?”
“You don’t have the guts to find out what she would do to you.”
“Watch me,” Gareth said and stepped closer to Raina. Seeing the man go pale was incredibly satisfying. Raina was right, Ofar would punish Gareth severely, but whatever she did, it would be worth it. Gareth put the consequences from his mind, grabbed Raina by the throat and threw him at the nearest wall. Something broke as Raina’s body made contact. His scream suggested it was one of his bones.
Gareth strode over to him, picked him up by his hair and punched him in the face, once, twice, three times, breaking his nose. Then he let him fall to the ground. He stepped back, allowing Raina to struggle to his feet.
“You are going to regret attacking me,” he gasped.
“I haven’t even started yet.”
Gareth punched him in the stomach, forcing the air out of his lungs. Raina bowed over and slumped to the ground once more.
Then Gareth kicked him, breaking a rib with each contact. Once he was satisfied that he had got them all, he kicked him where no man ever wants to be kicked.
“That’s for attacking innocent young women,” he said, his voice surprisingly calm. “I am going to make sure you never do that again.”
He pulled his leg back to kick him in the head. It would have been a killing blow, but he was prevented from doing so by agony flowing through him. His bracelets moved with such force they rang out loudly as they clanged together. Gareth’s legs gave way and he fell to the floor.
Fighting against the pain, he raised his head and looked at Ofar, who looked terrified rather than angry. “He deserved it,” he managed to gasp. “After what he did to Uko.”
He heard someone translating and turned his attention to the man standing beside Ofar. The translator was looking at him with sympathy, as though he knew what was going to happen to him.
Pain continued to surge through him as Ofar looked from him to her brother.
“Kill him,” Raina managed to say. “Slowly and painfully.”
“No.” Ofar’s voice was cold and hard. “I will decide what to do with my slaves, not you. And I want to know the full story first. Guards.”
Two guards entered the room, took one look at the situation, and grabbed hold of Gareth, who was unable to defend himself.
“Take him to the cells,” Ofar commanded.
Gareth had never been sent to the cells before, but he knew where they were. Located under the house, they were cold and damp, with no natural light. The rest of his day was not going to be pleasant.
Ofar decreased the pain she was still sending through Gareth’s body enough for him to stand and walk unaided. As the guards dragged him away, he turned to the translator. “Speak to Wostle,” he said before one of the guards hit him in the head and told him to be quiet.
The cells were as bad as he had been expecting. On top of everything else, the smell was almost unbearable. They had not been cleaned out since the last poor slave had been forced to spend time in them.
Other than stains, and a pile of old excrement in the corner, the cell Gareth was thrown into was completely empty. There wasn’t even any straw on the floor. He was to be treated worse than an animal, it appeared.
Given the only options were to stand or to sit on the cold stone floor, he opted to sit. The guards said nothing as they locked the door then left, taking their torches with them. As they were the only source of light, darkness soon consumed everything.
“Kwin,” Gareth mentally called out. “I think I’m in a lot of trouble.”
Chapter 22
Shona laid in bed a lot longer than she usually did, the grumbling of her stomach telling her she needed to eat something. As Brend was recovering, Dani would not be allowed in Fillen’s suite, just in case she saw or heard something she shouldn’t, so Shona would have to get herself dressed and go in search of breakfast.
She went to the kitchen first, but was told that the master and Brend were still in the dining room and was advised to go and eat there.
Reluctantly she did so.
Fillen was back to his normal self and greeted her warmly. She forced herself to politely reply. Brend was still a little pale and had a blanket over him, but the fact that he was finally out of his room was a good sign that he had almost fully recovered. He smiled at her. She couldn’t bring herself to smile back.
Without speaking, she took a seat and helped herself to breakfast. Eating in the presence of the two men made her stomach churn, but she made herself keep eating. Fillen and Brend chatted amiably, the way they always did, as though nothing had changed. It was as if they were pretending that Fillen never attacked Shona, or they no longer thought it mattered. If they noticed how quiet Shona was, they never mentioned it.
Brend said he was feeling well enough to leave the house for a short while, as long as he got to rest all afternoon, so Fillen said a shopping trip was in order and that Shona would be going with them.
Finally leaving the estate after a week trapped inside its borders should have made her happy, but instead it made her shudder. The thought of having to spend time alone in the coach with these two men, even though it was only a short journey, filled her with dread.
She found the morning tedious. At one point, Fillen spotted a friend and
went to speak with him, leaving Brend and Shona alone.
“Are you alright?” he asked as soon as Fillen was out of earshot. “You don’t seem your usual self.”
Shona stared at him incredulously. “Are you trying to be funny?” she asked. He looked puzzled, so she continued. “I thought we were friends, but you made it abundantly clear yesterday that that is not the case. I am your master’s pleasure slave, nothing more, so drop the pretence and stop being nice to me.”
“What are you talking about?” Either he was a good actor or he was genuinely confused.
Shona looked around to make sure nobody could overhear her before she responded. Dropping her voice, she said, “You told me I was here to obey your master and do whatever he demanded, no matter how sick or depraved, and you were going to punish me if I ever refused.”
“I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Are you sure you weren’t dreaming it?”
Could he be telling the truth? Did he really not remember saying those words to her? There was no way it had been a dream, but could the fever have still been in enough control of him to make him say things he didn’t mean and then make him forget? Had he been delirious?
“I didn’t dream it,” she said defiantly.
Brend shrugged his shoulders. “Then I don’t know what to say. I’m not aware of saying those things and I don’t believe I ever would.”
Fillen calling out to Shona prevented her from replying. Was he being sincere? Could she still trust him? Could she still be friends with him? She didn’t know, but she would have to at least try if life at Fillen’s estate was to remain bearable.
She didn’t see the sly smile that crossed Brend’s face as he watched her walk away.
————————————-∞————————————-
Luka couldn’t help smiling at Kwin’s language. She had no idea what he and Gareth had been mentally talking about, but the look on his face had told her that was why he had suddenly gone quiet. Whatever it was, Kwin was not pleased about it. He was speaking his own language, but had taught her the meaning of most of what he was saying. When her lessons first started, he had told her that there was no point in learning a language if you didn’t learn how to swear properly.
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