Laodoc shrank back in his chair, gripping its arms, a look of terror on his face, his tongue flickering in bewilderment.
‘Miss Daphne!’ Douanna said. ‘Please leave the room immediately.’
Daphne stood up straight, and held her head high. She caught the eye of the slave Simiona, who was staring at her in utter astonishment. Daphne flashed her a quick smile, then turned and walked from the study, closing the door behind her.
On the opposite wall of the landing was a glass door, through which she could see an exterior balcony. She opened it, stepped outside, and took a long, deep breath. She shook her head. Had her outburst just ruined any chance of Douanna winning Laodoc over?
She stood at the railings, and realised that she didn’t care. Her thoughts raced back to the three Kellach in their basement cage. She remembered the way that she and the man had stared at each other through the bars that separated them. Her heart filled with painful longing. Why hadn’t she asked his name?
She heard someone, turned, and saw Simiona standing to her right.
‘I came to see if you were all right.’
‘Thank you,’ Daphne smiled. ‘I’m fine.’
‘May I ask you something?’
Daphne nodded.
‘About what you said in there. Are there no slaves in the Holdings?’
‘None,’ Daphne said. ‘It’s illegal, and even if it weren’t, everyone is taught from a young age that slavery is a great evil. And,’ she went on, ‘like the Kellach Brigdomin, I was once a prisoner. No, twice,’ she corrected herself. ‘Once in a foreign land, and once in my own country.’
‘How did you get free?’
‘I escaped,’ Daphne smiled. ‘Both times.’
Simiona grinned back at her.
‘Now,’ Daphne said, ‘it’s my turn to ask you something.’
‘Please, ask me.’
‘Have you spoken to the Kellach captives in the basement?’
‘I have,’ the slave replied, her eyes lighting up.
‘Do you know their names?’
‘Yes,’ Simiona nodded. ‘The most talkative one, the woman with dark hair, she’s called Bridget. The other woman, the gorgeous one with red hair, she’s called Kallie. She doesn’t speak as much, often just sits quietly, but she takes everything in. The man is called Killop.’
‘Killop,’ Daphne repeated, her face flushing as soon as she realised she had said it out loud.
‘Yes,’ Simiona said, studying Daphne. ‘He can speak Rahain well, though not as fluently as Bridget. It is amazing how quickly they have picked up the language!’
‘My heart aches,’ Daphne said, ‘to see them caged like animals.’
‘I feel the same way.’
There was a noise from the corridor, and they turned to see Douanna leaving Laodoc’s office. Daphne went back through the balcony door.
‘Ah, there you are,’ Douanna frowned. ‘My incorrigible companion. Come, let us be away, before you threaten any more respectable citizens.’
Daphne nodded a silent goodbye to Simiona, and followed Douanna.
‘I think I may have just about repaired the damage you caused in there,’ she said as they descended the stairs. ‘I explained to him that you were still suffering from the after-effects of your own imprisonment. I had to exaggerate your torture somewhat to suggest that you were a troubled individual, prone to nervous episodes. I also had to promise him a whole box of free samples. His slave is being sent over later to collect it. Did you see her, Daphne? Of course you did, you were just talking to her on the balcony. An old man like Laodoc, getting himself a pretty young thing like that as his personal slave? I didn’t think he had it in him!’
Daphne shuddered at the thought.
‘Now,’ Douanna went on, ‘I think it’s about time that you started to pay your way, and earned some wages.’
Daphne looked up. ‘You have something for me to do?’
‘I might have just the thing.’
Chapter 8
Bridget in Chains
Rahain Capital, Rahain Republic – 26th Day, First Third Summer 504
Killop watched Bridget from the dark shadows of the cage as she crept over to where he sat on the dirty floor.
‘That’s her asleep,’ she said in the dim lamplight, scooping a mug of water from the little barrel.
Killop looked over her shoulder at Kallie, rolled up in blankets by the rear wall.
‘Now,’ Bridget whispered, ‘will you tell me what the fuck was going on today? What were you thinking, staring at that woman?’
‘It was shock, Bridget,’ he said, almost certain he wasn’t lying. ‘I was just surprised.’
‘Come on, Killop, I’m not stupid,’ she said. ‘I was surprised. You and Kallie on the other hand…?’
He brooded in silence.
‘Fine,’ she said. ‘So neither of you will tell me.’
Bridget sipped her water, then gathered some blankets round her, getting ready to sleep.
‘She’s not supposed to exist,’ Killop whispered, just as Bridget was lying down.
‘Who?’ Bridget said. ‘That woman? Daphne?’
‘Aye, her.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘Neither do I, Bridget. Last year, me, Kallie and the rest of the squad were travelling with the old Kell chief, and we stopped in at this place in the mountains where a holy man lived. A crazy old holy man. He used his strange mage skills to see where the Rahain armies were, and then afterwards he told some of us our future.’
‘Whose?’
‘Mine, Kallie’s and Keira’s,’ he replied. ‘He told me that he saw me with another woman. A dark-skinned woman. Of course, I told Kallie not to worry, that there was no such thing.’
Bridget swore. ‘That explains what Kallie was saying to me before, that it was destiny, and that she couldn’t stop it.’
‘Maybe she’s right.’
‘Oh Killop, don’t you start!’ Bridget said, rolling onto her side to see him better. ‘Telling the future? What a load of crap. No one can see into the future.’
‘That’s what I thought,’ Killop said. ‘Until this afternoon.’
‘What else did this holy man claim to see?’
‘For me, just about being with a dark-skinned woman, and something about fighting death, or the dead. For Kallie, he said that the Rahain would kill her soul, but that she would be reborn when the Fire Goddess came to her.’
‘The Fire Goddess? You mean Keira? That’s what the captives were calling her, back in the transit camp.’
‘My sister is many things, but a goddess isn’t one of them.’
‘What did the old man say about her?’
‘That she would destroy half the world with fire.’
Bridget smiled. ‘So what’s new?’
‘And,’ Killop continued, ‘that she would topple an empire.’
‘He was probably just saying this stuff to wind you up.’
‘Aye, but he was right about a lot of other things,’ Killop replied. ‘About where all the armies were positioned. And about what would happen to the clans.’
‘Sounds like you want it to be true.’
‘No,’ he shot back. ‘I love Kallie.’
‘Aye,’ she nodded. ‘I believe you. But the way you and that woman were looking at each other? Well, if I were Kallie, I’d be angry too.’
The door to the animal room opened, and Simiona walked in.
‘Hello,’ Bridget called out as she approached them.
‘Hi,’ Simiona said, smiling. ‘I heard you met with someone from the Holdings today.’
‘The Holdings?’ Killop said.
‘The place where Daphne is from,’ Bridget said.
‘Yes,’ Simiona said, her eyes shining. ‘Daphne. I spoke with her. There are no slaves in the Holdings, did you know that? She was very angry…’
‘Angry?’ Bridget queried.
Simiona acted out anger for them, until they nodded.
‘Why was she angry?’ Bridget asked.
‘Because she believes it’s wrong to put people in cages,’ Simiona said. ‘As do I.’
‘Can she help us?’
‘I don’t know,’ Simiona said. ‘She was asking me about you, asking for your names.’ She glanced at Killop. ‘She shouted at my master,’ she went on. ‘Terrified him.’
Bridget shrugged. Simiona mimed being scared witless, and Bridget laughed and nodded.
‘I like this Holdings woman,’ she said. ‘Do you think what she did will make any difference?’
‘To what?’ Simiona asked.
‘To what Laodoc thinks about us being in here.’
‘I don’t know,’ the slave pursed her lips. ‘He sat up alone all evening. I don’t know.’
Bridget nodded.
Simiona pulled up a chair. ‘Listen,’ she said, ‘I have decided that you should continue with your tuition, but the academy is no place for a young boy like Paeotan to be alone at night.’
Bridget and Killop looked at each other.
‘So,’ Bridget asked, ‘who will be giving us lessons instead?’
‘Me,’ Simiona said. ‘What would you like me to teach you tonight?’
‘Angry, terrified,’ Bridget answered without hesitation. ‘Words like that.’
‘Feelings? Emotions?’
‘I already know happy, and sad,’ Bridget said. ‘Teach me more.’ She looked at Killop. ‘Teach us more.’
‘Should we wake Kallie?’ Simiona suggested. ‘Maybe she’d like to join in?’
‘No,’ Killop said. ‘She is sad.’
Bridget glanced at him. ‘I think you mean angry.’
Several days later, Killop sat at the bars of the cage, listening as Paeotan chatted to him about his schoolwork. The boy was setting out chairs for that morning’s lesson and Killop wondered what it would be. The previous day, guards had escorted Bridget out of the cage, the first time she had been selected, and Killop and Kallie had sat worried sick for hours until she had been returned to them.
The students had been drawing her, just as they had done with Killop before, and Bridget laughed to see the relieved expressions on Killop and Kallie’s faces. Until that moment, it hadn’t occurred to Killop what it must have been like for Bridget and Kallie, each time he had been led out of the cage for another lesson. Waiting for Bridget’s return had felt worse than being taken. He wasn’t sure how he would react if they came for Kallie.
She was still being cold to him, not that he could blame her. Why had he stared at that Holdings woman? The truth was, he didn’t understand why. There had been something about her that had held him frozen, a spark deep within her green eyes. He had stared at her, and she had stared back as if she had wanted to devour him whole. No one had ever looked at him that way before, not even Kallie. If the bars hadn’t been there to separate them, he wasn’t sure what he would have done, so lost had he been.
He saw Bridget sit to his left, eating an orange.
‘Hi, Paeotan,’ she said. ‘What are you doing to us today?’
The boy flushed. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Will the lesson be in here?’ she asked, pointing at the chairs in front of the cage.
‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘The other rooms are busy.’
The door opened, and Paeotan straightened up as the teacher entered, followed by six guards, armed with crossbows and long pikes.
Kallie joined Killop, sitting by his right. ‘They’re coming for one of us.’
‘Aye, no doubt,’ he said, then nodded towards the chairs. ‘Though this time the others will get to see what happens.’
‘I’m not sure if that’s better or worse.’
‘I hope they don’t want to draw you again, Killop,’ Bridget said. ‘I’ve seen quite enough of your hairy arse.’
‘Then I’ll be sure to point it the other way.’
‘Fuck off,’ she said. ‘That’s even worse.’
The teacher approached. It was Niniat, the biology professor. She pointed at Bridget, and gestured to the guards.
Four of them pushed their pikes towards Killop and Kallie, forcing them to the rear of the cage, while the other two levelled their crossbows at Bridget, who walked casually to the side door.
Niniat unlocked the gate, and Bridget went down the steps, two crossbows trained on her. The professor relocked the cage, and the guards fitted Bridget with heavy shackles. They led her round to where the seats were laid out.
The students were sitting in rows, in front of a selection of metal equipment. Bridget was placed against a tall board, etched with numbers and lines, and measured. The students wrote in their jotters as Niniat lectured them. Killop concentrated, and tried to pick out words he knew, but Niniat was speaking too quickly.
‘She is saying,’ Kallie whispered in their own tongue, as they crouched together by the front of the cage, ‘that Bridget is shorter than you and me, but she is still taller than any Rahain.’
Bridget was then made to stand on a squat metal platform, attached to an arm, which was balanced by weights. Niniat placed several metal blocks onto the balancing tray, counting aloud, until Bridget’s platform was raised just above the ground.
‘It seems,’ Kallie said, ‘that Bridget is also heavier than any Rahain. Though please don’t tell her I said that.’
As Bridget was being led down from the platform, Niniat reached up to touch her face, and the Brig woman brushed the Rahain’s hand away. Four crossbows closed in on Bridget, one of them jutting into the skin of her neck, under her left ear, a loaded bolt two finger-widths from her skull.
Killop tightened his grip on the bars as he watched.
The two other guards approached Bridget, carrying a tall metal frame, to which they attached her chains. Her wrists were clamped by each side, and her ankles were fixed to the bottom of the frame. A thick leather strap was fastened around her throat, and the guards retreated, keeping their weapons trained on her.
Completely secured in an upright position, Bridget could only glare at her captors in defiance. Several of the young students shifted in their seats, their faces pale.
Niniat approached the captive. She reached up, and with her thumb and forefinger pulled Bridget’s right eyelid wide open, all the time talking to her students.
‘Our eyes are different,’ Kallie translated, her voice low.
Niniat spoke to a guard, who approached Bridget. With one hand on her forehead, he prised open her mouth. Killop could see the hatred burning in Bridget’s eyes, and the fear.
‘Niniat is telling the students to draw her tongue,’ Kallie said, spitting each word out.
‘I can’t stand this,’ Killop said, his knuckles white.
Kallie looked at him, her face fierce with anger.
Killop got to his feet.
‘Stop! We are not animals.’
There was a collective intake of breath as everyone in the room turned to look at him.
Niniat stared, a look of surprise and confusion passing over her face. It hardened, and she gestured to a pair of guards.
Two Rahain strode towards the cage, their pikes levelled. Killop backed away from the bars, watching as one approached him. The other came at Kallie, who also stepped back. The guards were relaxed, having carried out this procedure dozens of times before. The one in front of Killop glanced at his colleague, a complacent smile on his face, and the Kell man struck.
His left arm flew out, and he gripped the shaft of the pike, just behind its serrated steel blade. He heaved it as hard as he could, and the guard was pulled forwards, cracking his forehead off the bars of the cage. He groaned, and slumped to the marble floor. Transferring the weapon to his right hand, Killop hurled it, blunt end first, and it struck the other guard on the temple. As he fell, Kallie relieved him of his pike, pulling it into the cage, and spinning it round so the blade pointed outwards.
Children screamed, while the four guards who were still standing looked at each other in alarm. Niniat called
to them, and they pointed their crossbows at Kallie and Killop.
‘Don’t shoot!’ Paeotan cried, jumping up from his seat, and running towards the cage, as the guards took aim.
The boy stopped halfway between the guards and the cage.
‘Paeotan!’ Niniat cried. ‘Come away! They will hurt you!’
‘We will not!’ Kallie shouted back. ‘Unlike the Rahain, the Kell do not harm children.’
Niniat’s tongue flickered, and she stared at Kallie in amazement.
The guards glanced at the professor, waiting for their orders, as they kept their weapons trained on the captives. Bridget squirmed against the shackles keeping her to the upright metal frame, while children sobbed, or sat frozen in terror.
Killop stood by Kallie, looking from guard to guard.
Niniat appeared to have made a decision, and she started to raise her arm.
The door swung open, and Laodoc strode in with Simiona at his heels.
The old man’s mouth opened as he surveyed the scene.
‘Nobody move!’ he commanded, his voice filling the room.
‘Patron!’ Niniat cried. ‘The Kellach slaves have injured two of the guards!’
‘They were only trying to protect their friend!’ Paeotan yelled.
Laodoc approached, saying nothing. He glanced at the two unconscious guards on the floor, then over to where Bridget was shackled, and finally up at the Kell in the cage.
‘Put the pike down,’ Killop whispered.
Kallie paused for a moment, then threw the weapon to the ground.
Laodoc reached the cage.
‘We are not animals,’ Killop said to him, holding his palms aloft.
Laodoc stared at him a good while, before looking down at the dropped pike on the cage floor, lying amid the dirty straw.
‘They are dangerous, patron,’ Niniat said.
‘Yes, professor, they are.’
Simiona stepped forward.
‘Master,’ she said. ‘This is Killop and Kallie. Bridget is the one in chains.’
Laodoc nodded at his slave, his face emotionless.
He turned to Niniat.
‘Have that one escorted back into the cage, if you would, professor.’
She nodded, and the guards obeyed. One started to unshackle Bridget’s restraints, the others covering her with their crossbows. Laodoc turned to Kallie.
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