by Sharon Green
"The fact that the paddling I gave my own slave last night was harder and lasted longer than I'd intended it to when I started," Jake answered, needing to mention aloud what had been eating at the back of his mind. "When you can do anything you like to the girl you bought, the unusual freedom seems to encourage … excess."
"Right now that's probably a good thing rather than a bad one," Tandro said, his voice lower than it had been. "If our enemies find out about what you did they'll be confused, and confusing him is the best thing you can do to an enemy aside from killing him. If we don't have any more attackers sent after us, you won't find me complaining."
Jake lost no time agreeing with that sentiment, and as he and Tandro turned away from the lattice wall they saw the guard captain they'd spoken to the day before, coming up the stairs. The captain saw them at the same time and headed for them without hesitation.
Captain Sovri joined Jake and Tandro in walking to a couch, then he took off the hooded rain cape he wore before sitting down. Under the cape he had a map tucked into his knife belt, and once the map was spread out on the low table near the couch he had Tandro point out the area where the four bodies had been left. Once that was done to his satisfaction, Sovri refolded the map and tucked it away again.
"Thank you for your help, men," he said as he stood up and started to get back into the rain cape. "Now once the rain stops I'll be able to send out some men to retrieve what's left of those attackers. If we can identify any of them, we might be able to figure out who sent them. In the meantime three of the horses showed up this morning when the gate was opened. Since there was nothing on any of the horses to identify their owners, the horses were sold to one of the town's merchants. Half the proceeds of the sale goes to the town, and the other half will be sent here this afternoon for you two. In case you didn't know, there's a bounty on assassins around here."
Jake joined Tandro in thanking the captain, then the two stood and watched the guard leader leave. Once the man was gone, Jake chuckled.
"Now I'm even more glad we killed those assassins," Jake said softly to a pleased-looking Tandro. "Putting a bounty on assassins is a good idea to discourage men from taking up the trade, but how do they know that the body they're being offered really is an assassin?"
"When it's a matter of four against two and the two report the incident as soon as they get to town, there are probably very few doubts," Tandro answered. "In other cases they might have had to execute a claimant or two for murder before the false reports stopped coming in, or maybe they just question the claimants very thoroughly before allowing the claim. Whatever they do, they seem satisfied with the results."
"And since this is their town, it's also their business and none of ours," Jake agreed. "Now it's time we found that exercise we were talking about earlier before I fall asleep standing up."
"Rainy days tend to do that to you," Tandro said with a faint grin. "Most of the men I know don't fight the urge, but I've always enjoyed being different. The exercise area ought to be that way."
Jake followed Tandro in the suggested direction, and a minute later they found the uncarpeted circle meant for exercise. Arranged around the circle were small tables holding wooden knives that were obviously supposed to be used as practice weapons, so Jake and Tandro took off their knife belts and left them on the small tables in place of the wooden weapons. Then they moved to the center of the circle and faced each other. With no other men around intent on their own exercise, Jake and his companion didn't have to worry about how far they spread out.
Tandro was a trained fighter and had good instincts, but Jake still had to take it easy with the man to keep from ending the exercise in no more than a couple of minutes. He also had to be careful not to show that he was taking it easy so he didn't insult the other man, and somehow he managed it. Tandro didn't seem to have a clue that Jake wasn't using every bit of skill he had, and the sparring became really enjoyable.
Until two other "guests" joined them, men who drew their real knives rather than taking up wooden weapons. The two came at Jake together, obviously meaning to put him down first before they then went after Tandro, and Jake wondered distantly if that meant the two considered him the weaker fighter or the better one. Some people believe in taking out the weaker fighter first so that they can concentrate on the better one without distraction, and some prefer to leave the weaker fighter for easy polishing off once the better fighter is down and done.
But whichever idea they had it still didn't work out, since Jake combined unarmed combat with knife-fighting techniques as he faced the two. While he used his wooden knife to block the real weapons, it took no more than a kick to one face and a second kick to a groin to put both attackers down. The shouts and screams forced out of the two assassins drew the attention of other guests as well as men who worked for the hostel, and Tandro silenced the noise of their demands to know what happened by holding up both of his arms.
"We need to have the guard sent for," Tandro said once the noise died down a little. "These men attacked us for no reason."
"It's perfectly obvious that you were attacked," one of the men from the hostel said, gesturing toward the real knives the assassins had dropped. "The guard has already been sent for, and I'm sure they'll have the same question that I do. Since it is obvious that you were attacked, why didn't you kill those two the way you're entitled to do?"
"I didn't kill them because it isn't possible to question dead men," Jake answered when Tandro didn't. "This isn't the first time we were attacked, and we'd like to know who has it in for us."
"But you won't get any answers out of assassins," the same man responded with a short laugh. "Most of them even refuse to talk under torture, so trying to question them is a waste of time. Don't you know anything?"
"Maybe I know something you don't," Jake returned, not about to mention the idea he'd just gotten. "In any event, it can't hurt to try. A prisoner can always be killed later, but once he's dead you can't change your mind and make him live again."
A mutter of confusion went up from the crowd, but Jake ignored the noise while he kept his attention on the two assassins. Tandro was watching the crowd, Jake had noticed, so he did his own watching to make sure neither of the assassins woke up and tried again. The unconscious men were just beginning to stir when the crowd parted to allow the arrival of Captain Sovri and some of his guardsmen.
"If the matter weren't so serious, I'd say the situation was starting to become tiresome," Sovri said, standing next to Jake and watching while his men went to chain the two assassins. "There really wasn't a reason for you to leave these men alive, but since you did we'll take care of the chore for you."
"Before you execute them, I have a suggestion," Jake said very softly, drawing Sovri's startled attention. "I know it isn't usually done, but you might try giving them the drug usually given only to female slaves. That drug won't let them refuse your orders, and then you can get them to tell you who hired them. You'll have to use more of the drug because they're bigger than most females, but the idea ought to work."
Jake could see that Sovri started out being completely outraged, but by the time Jake finished speaking Sovri had shifted to looking thoughtful.
"You know, it never occurred to me that the drug could be used in just that way," Sovri mused, his thoughts mostly inward. "Afterward the two can be sold as slaves instead of executed, maybe with the one who hired them to keep them company. That bounty on assassins isn't collected unless the victim survives, and even so hasn't been that much of a deterrent. The possibility of being enslaved like a woman should do a much better job."
By that time the two assassins had been chained up and forced to their feet, the second man still partially bent over because of the pain in his groin. Sovri gestured his men into leaving and then followed them, promising first to let Jake and Tandro know if and when anything was found out about who hired the assassins. Most of the crowd followed the guardsmen and their prisoners, so Jake used the opportunity t
o walk to the table where his knife belt was and reclaim the weapon.
"So much for our time of exercise," Tandro said as he joined Jake, exchanging his wooden knife for his own belted weapon. "I have a request that I hope you won't consider as me stepping over a line. Do you think there's a chance you could teach me that other fighting method you use? I could see how effective it is, and would love to be able to use the same myself."
"I'd be glad to teach you, but we can't do it here," Jake answered with a smile as he replaced his knife belt. "As soon as we talk to Gordi we'll leave for home, and once we get there I can start the lessons."
Tandro nodded with his own smile, obviously pleased with Jake's promise. He knew as well as Jake did that the lessons couldn't be started in the hostel, not when there were already too many people who would be watching their every move. The assassins had ruined any chance for privacy Jake and his companion had, and there was nothing they could do to change that state of affairs.
Tandro led the way out of the exercise area, and it came as no surprise to Jake when it was their suite the native headed for. Getting out of sight, at least for a while, was a good idea, but for some reason the closer they got to the suite, the more Tandro lost his air of satisfaction. Once they went inside and closed the door behind themselves, the native turned resolutely to Jake.
"I wonder if you would do me a different kind of favor," Tandro said, looking as if the words were being torn out of him. "I'd - hate to be held responsible if something - bad happened to that girl, so if you'd - talk to her…"
"That's a good idea," Jake said at once, trying to sound heartily approving rather than suddenly worried. "If she's still bothered by what happened yesterday I might be able to ease her mind. Let's go and talk to her right now."
Tandro nodded eagerly and began to lead the way to his bedroom. Jake followed silently, but his mind whirled with the question of what could be going on. The conversation they'd had about excess and sadism came back to mind, and Jake could only hope that Tandro hadn't lost himself in some way with Ennie. The native had been very firm on the fact that both women had to be treated like real slaves, and if Tandro had gone just a little too far…
Walking into the bedroom behind Tandro showed Jake a girl who lay curled up on the slave pallet with no expression on her face. If her eyes hadn't been open Jake might have thought that Ennie was asleep, but then she seemed to pull out of her thoughts and sat up to look toward both of the men. But still with that same lack of expression…
"How are you doing, girl?" Jake asked, trying to sound friendly and somewhat concerned. "What happened yesterday was hard on you, we know, so both my brother and I want to make sure you're all right."
"If you're talking about the way I threw up, I'm completely over the sickness," the girl answered without actually looking at Jake. "I've never seen anyone killed before, especially not like that, so it made me sick. If something like that happens again, I just won't look."
"That's … very wise of you," Jake said after exchanging a glance with Tandro. The other man didn't like the girl's answer any more than Jake did, and what she'd said had nothing to do with the problem. It was the way she spoke, as if all the life had gone out of her… "Yes, very wise of you, but you still seem bothered about something. Why don't you tell us what the something is, and we'll see if we can help take care of the problem."
The girl hesitated long enough to remind Jake about the way Tain had refused to answer a similar question, but apparently Ennie was the kind to make a different decision.
"There's nothing bothering me that can ever be taken care of," the girl replied after the pause, still not looking at either Jake or Tandro. "I've had to make myself understand that there's no one anywhere who will ever really care about me, and it doesn't even matter why that is. I've been fighting all my life trying to change that, but nothing I do has worked. Now I'm too tired to fight any more, so what happens to me from now on doesn't matter. From now on even I won't care about me."
Once she finished speaking the girl lay down again, her eyes still open but apparently seeing nothing but inner visions. Tandro's face looked pale and drawn, and when Jake only hesitated a moment before leaving the room again, Tandro followed.
"Now what?" Tandro said to Jake once they were in the common area, a plea for help rather than a demand. "I've never heard a slave say anything like that, and I don't know what to do to pull her out of it."
"You and me both," Jake muttered, rubbing his face with one hand. "I wish I could say it was your problem and just walk away, but I can't do that, can I? The only thing I can think of to do is talk to Tain and ask her opinion. They're both females, after all, so maybe Tain can think of something that we can't. I'll be back in a couple of minutes."
Tandro nodded with what looked like faint hope, so Jake left the man and went to his own bedroom. When he opened the door he was startled to find Tain lying in the middle of the floor on her back staring up at the ceiling, and all at once Jake remembered the state he'd left her in.
"Is it lunchtime already?" she asked suddenly before Jake could blurt out some kind of demand about how she was feeling. "Time does fly when you're having fun, and now I imagine you want an answer to the question you asked before you left."
"Are you going to give me that answer?" Jake put cautiously as he moved closer to look down at the woman. "I noticed how disturbed you were before I left, so if you need a little more time - "
"I wasn't disturbed, I was in shock," Tain interrupted to correct him, her blue eyes holding his gaze with what looked like no trouble at all. "Being forced to act like that almost killed me when I finally knew what was going on again, so I've decided to give you the information you want. After all, it doesn't make much of a difference now."
"What is it that doesn't make a difference?" Jake asked, for some reason now almost dreading what she would say. "If keeping quiet was all that important to you, maybe I shouldn't have insisted - "
"But you did insist, so now you get to hear what I didn't want to talk about before this," Tain interrupted again, and Jake had the impression she was controlling some kind of anger. "What was bothering me was being this close to you and having to act like your slave, because I've always found you more attractive than I could handle. Does that tell you what you want to know?"
"I - don't understand," Jake responded as he crouched down beside the woman, part of him silently admitting that he didn't want to understand. "If you find me as attractive as I find you, we can both relax and enjoy our time together instead of fighting about every little thing. If, that is, you … still feel … the same about…"
The humorless smile curving her lips answered his question even before he finished it, making Jake feel as if someone had punched him hard in the middle. He'd been an idiot with the woman he felt so attracted to, and instead of making things better between them he'd managed to kill the interest she hadn't wanted to admit.
So what other brilliant ideas would he find it possible to come up with to make things even worse…?
Chapter Eight
"I … think we're going to have to talk about that later," Jake finally got out, now very much relieved that there was an actual problem to discuss with Tain. "At the moment I have to ask your advice about something, and I sincerely hope you can help. There's … something wrong with Ennie, and I don't have a clue about how to handle it."
"What do you mean, there's something wrong with the girl?" Tain asked, a small frown denting her forehead. "Is she still bothered about the attack yesterday?"
"No, she says that isn't the problem," Jake responded at once, encouraged by Tain's immediate concern. "When I asked about what was bothering her, she said something about no one ever caring about her and now even she doesn't care. It's almost as if she's given up on life, and that isn't good."
The frown creasing Tain's forehead deepened as she sat up, but then she looked directly at Jake.
"There's a good chance the girl has given up on life, and
oddly enough I'd guess that being a slave has little or nothing to do with it," Tain told him. "If you get to the point in life where you suddenly realize that no one has ever cared about you and no one probably ever will, the understanding leaves you very little to live for. Just existing for the sake of existing isn't enough to keep you going."
"I'm glad to see you understand the problem," Jake said, forcibly keeping himself from smoothing back Tain's hair. "Now all you have to do is tell me how to solve the problem, or else volunteer to do the solving yourself. The girl may not believe that Tandro and I care, not after the way she's been treated, but you ought to be a different story."
"I'm no different from you two, and chances are I'm worse," Tain said with a shake of her head. "Ennie was supposed to be my partner, but all I did was treat her like an unwanted burden. If you want me to talk to her I'm willing to try, but I don't really expect it to do any good."
"The only thing we can do is try," Jake said, rising from his crouch to hold a hand out to Tain. "Let's go and talk to her and see what happens."
Tain gave a small shrug before getting to her feet, making absolutely no effort to take Jake's hand. She'd pretended not to see the offered help, but Jake knew it was an unwillingness to touch him that had made her stand up alone and that thought turned his hand into a fist of frustration. Well, he and Tain would still have the rest of the day to talk about their own problem. Right now there was someone else to think about.
Jake opened the door into the common area, almost pausing to let Tain go first before he realized that the woman was waiting for him to go first. Her actions were perfectly in keeping with the required behavior of a slave, and if Tandro hadn't been hovering just outside the door Jake might have groaned. Tain was behaving exactly the way she was supposed to, but suddenly that didn't suit Jake at all.
"My slave is going to try talking to your slave," Jake made himself tell Tandro, hopefully without showing anything of how he really felt. "The talk may not do any good, but at least we can try."