He says something to the other slavers with him and then the first boy is taken over to the pole where his arms are tied to ropes. A slaver behind the pole pulls on the ropes, pulling the boy’s arms high above his head, stretching him until only the tips of his toes are touching the ground. Then a man with a multi tongued whip comes forward and begins to lash him.
As the lash strikes him for the first time, a hushed silence falls upon those in the pens. The boy cries out as the lash strikes him the second time. Each time the lash strikes, it leaves long, red welts which after the fist couple of strikes, begin to well blood.
After ten lashes, the boy is screaming incoherently and blood is flowing freely down his back. At twelve, he loses consciousness and they remove him from the whipping pole, taking him away.
Once he’s been removed they bring up the next boy, who by now is gibbering with fear. “I won’t try to escape! I won’t!” he screams, pleading with the slavers. As they string him up, he continues to cry and plead, to no avail. When he’s struck for the first time, his bowels let go and he soils himself.
Boy after boy take their turn at the whipping post until they’ve all either been given fifteen lashes or they’ve slipped into unconsciousness. As the last boy is taken away, the man in charge looks around at the faces peering in horror out of the windows, then turns without a word and walks back into the building. The ground at the base of the pole is stained red with the blood that the whip had drawn out of the boys’ backs.
Not long after that, they begin to bring in food and water again. This time, when the plate is placed within the pen, there is enough for everyone. The screams of the boys as they were being whipped continue to echo through Miko’s mind, causing him to shudder.
A couple hours later, the courtyard begins to fill up with all sorts of people and a string of girls are brought out onto the platform. One by one, the girls are brought to the front, have their clothes stripped off and then the people begin bidding for them.
Miko watches through the window as girl after girl are auctioned off, knowing that soon it will be his turn. He turns his attention back inside when he hears a commotion brewing at the entrance to the slave pens.
A man of obvious importance is entering with a slaver walking beside him that Miko has seen here in the pens before, obviously distraught. The slaver appears to be pleading with the other man, but whatever he’s saying is having little effect.
Several guards are following them and as the man walks through, he points to pens and the guards begin taking out the boys within and tying them to a line. When he gets to Miko’s pen he points to it and soon Miko and the others are tied to the end of the line. The guards come to Viktor who is lying on the floor, gibbering to himself. They look back over to the man and one of them says something. The man looks to Viktor and then shakes his head. His men leave him there as they move on to the next pen.
After half the pens have been emptied, he says something to the slaver who looks to be about ready to argue with him. With a stern look, he stops any complaints the slaver might have had about him taking the slaves. With resignation, the slaver follows him back outside, the boys he’s selected following along behind.
They’re marched through several adjoining pens until they come to the outside where several wagons are waiting. The guards untie the boys from the line and then direct them to climb up onto the wagons. The official gives a letter to another man who then climbs up onto the lead wagon and then they begin to roll out.
Miko isn’t sure just what is happening, but at the moment he’s just happy to be out of there. They roll through town and are soon exiting through the southern gate. Unbeknownst to Miko, on the far side of town, James is entering Korazan from the north.
Chapter Fourteen
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As they approach Korazan from the north, a large complex of buildings comes into view over on the eastern edge of town with many pens full of slaves. “That must be where we’ll find them,” observes James.
“Let’s go,” Jiron urges.
“We need to get the caravan settled in first,” insists James. “Then we can go scout around for Tersa and Miko.” Seeing that Jiron is going to be stubborn, he continues, “If we don’t behave like an actual caravan, we might gain attention that could prove awkward.”
Seeing conflicting emotions running across Jiron’s face, he waits. After only a moment’s deliberation, he nods and says, “Okay, but let’s do it fast.”
“Agreed.”
During their approach, they notice a large caravansary off to the north of town, closer to the lake. When they turn to leave the road and head for it, Hakir and Hakim take their leave, continuing on toward town to deliver their goods.
At the caravansary, they find a suitable location and quickly settle in. After the horses and wagons have been taken care of, Jiron looks to James and urges, “Let’s go!”
James turns to Tinok and says, “Stay here and take care of things, okay?”
Tinok’s face begins to fall as he realizes he’s being left behind. Just before he starts to protest, Cassie calls over and asks, “Tinok, can you help me please?” Torn between conflicting desires, he finally says to James, “Alright,” as he heads over to see what Cassie needs.
By this time, Jiron has changed into native garb, having chosen one that partially covers his face. If there are people from the City of Light in the pens who would be able to recognize him, they won’t inadvertently give him away.
Taking Roland with them to act as translator, they make their way to the main gate leading into Korazan. Here, as nowhere else, the ratio of slaves to citizens is staggering. Wherever he looks, James can see slaves engaged in almost every facet of work. Hardly anyone is walking down the street without at least one slave of one kind or another trailing along behind. Many are carrying packages and other items, most though are simply following behind their owners.
James is totally disgusted by the whole thing and almost intervenes when they come across a man beating a young female slave for some slight infraction. Jiron takes hold of his arm which causes him to stop. “Not now,” Jiron cautions when James turns to look at him, “we have people, our people, depending on us.”
Coming to his senses, James realizes he was about to jeopardize the whole mission and says, “Sorry.”
“We understand,” Roland assures him. “But it’s too ingrained, too well established to do anything about.”
As they resume walking, James tries to shut out the crying, begging of the girl as she pleads with her master to stop, that ‘she will do better’. Similar scenes are played out over and over again as they continue toward the slave markets. All he can think of is to get Miko out of this as quickly as possible.
When they finally reach the fence surrounding the slave pens, the guard posted at the entrance holds up his hand and says something. Roland makes a reply as he slips him a couple copper pieces. The guard takes the coins and then nods as he waves them on through.
“What did you tell him?” Jiron asks once they’re past the guard.
“I simply told him that we wished to view the slaves before the next auction,” he explains. “It’s really quite common for a prospective buyer to do that. Usually you give some coins to the guard for the privilege”
“You seem to know a lot about slave market customs,” Jiron accuses.
“I took a trip down here a while back with an associate who was interested in purchasing some laborers,” he replies.
Once through the gates, they find themselves in a large courtyard with two large platforms on either side that most likely would be used during auctions. Off to one side, James notices several posts sticking up from the ground stained a dark red, it looks like its blood. One appears to have been recently used. Whipping posts, he assumes, shuddering.
Another slaver greets them as they walk across the courtyard and he exchanges words with Roland. Turning to the others, Roland says, “I told him we wish to see the
girls. That we are from a northern brothel and wish to purchase some at the next auction.”
“When will that be?” Jiron asks.
Roland asks the man and then says, “Tomorrow.”
Jiron nods his head in understanding, “Thanks.”
The slaver leads them to a set of pens holding females and they walk slowly through them as if they were actually who they claimed to be. As Jiron searches the pens for his sister, James looks closely at the faces of those in the pens. The hopelessness, the fear and the degradation he sees there is almost more than he can bear. He feels a strong desire to let the magic destroy this entire complex and free everyone here.
Jiron looks anxiously at all the girls within the pens and then turns to Roland and James, shaking his head. Roland turns to the slaver and exchanges a few words before saying, “There is another pen which is full of recent arrivals. He says that you would not be interested in them as they haven’t yet learned their place and would be difficult at best to handle.”
Excited, Jiron says, “That’s where she would most likely be.”
Roland turns to the man and explains that they wish to see those girls as well, that many of their customers like to ‘break them in’.
The slaver nods in understanding and then leads them out of this holding area to another. The noise level in this one is much greater than the last as the majority of the girls are either crying or talking amongst themselves. When they enter, all the girls turn their attention on them and it suddenly gets very quiet.
James can tell the difference between these girls and the previous ones. Some of these still have a defiant look about them that the previous ones had lacked. Some even look with content upon them as they pass by, others are fearful and sobbing.
Suddenly, he hears a barely audible gasp escaping Jiron. Glancing at him, he sees him nod his head, indicating that he’s found her. “Roland, that’s her,” he says quietly, indicating a young woman with long auburn hair.
“You sure?” Roland asks as he locates the girl he’s talking about.
Jiron just stares at him like he’s stupid or something.
“Okay, okay,” he replies. Then he turns to the slaver and points her out saying they want a better look at her.
The slaver motions for two guards to come over and they enter the pen. When the girls realize they’re going to enter their pen, many squeal and they all press as far away from the door as possible.
When Tersa realizes that they’re coming for her, she tries to escape to the back of the pen but the guards grab her. Scared and terrified, she tries to get free of them but to no avail, they drag her out of the pen and bring her to stand before them. The slaver asks Roland if this is the one they’re interested in. With a nod from Jiron, Roland says that she is.
As Roland makes as if he’s inspecting her, Jiron stares intently into her eyes. Suddenly, her breath catches as she realizes just who is standing there.
He barely shakes his head, telling her to say nothing and then gives her a wink.
With a barely perceptible nod, she tells him that she understands.
Jiron indicates to Roland that he’s ready to go and Roland tells the slaver that they’ve seen enough. Once Tersa is put back in the pen, Roland asks if this batch will be auctioned at tomorrow’s auction.
Shaking his head, the slaver says that these won’t be ready for auction for at least a week.
When Roland relays that to the others, Jiron exclaims, “A week! We can’t wait a week.”
James digs out a gold piece and offers it to the slaver as he tells Roland, “Ask him if there is any way he can expedite it for us.”
When Roland asks the slaver, the slaver takes the coin and nods. He tells Roland that the earliest is in two days and when Roland starts to protest, he says no matter how much they gave him, there is no way it can be done any quicker.
“He says two days and that is the best he can do,” Roland explains to them.
Jiron looks back to his sister and says, “Two days then.”
The slaver then leads them back out to the courtyard as Tersa is returned to the pen. Jiron glances back to her just before they leave and sees her there, staring at him, her hands gripping the bars. Jiron hates leaving his sister in there but doesn’t have any choice.
“Can we see the young men now?” James asks, intent upon finding Miko.
Roland asks the slaver who nods and then alters his course as he takes them over to the other side of the courtyard. He leads them through a door and down a hallway which runs between several pens of young men and boys.
Two slaves are busy scrubbing blood stains off the floor and James asks, “What happened here?”
Roland asks the slaver and then translates the reply, “He says last night several of the new arrivals had tried to escape and two of them were killed.”
James and Jiron glance at each other, suddenly worried about his friend. Hoping to find him still within one of the pens, he walks down the hallway. His nervousness rises when he fails see him within any of the pens. Chills run though him as he fears the worst.
While waiting on James, Jiron looks at the faces of the men and boys in the pens. His eyes widen in surprise when he recognizes a couple of the fighters from the fight clubs that he had fought with and against. One, a slim individual who is exceptionally deadly with sword and shield is leaning against the bars near the hallway. He walks down the hallway slowly toward him, acting as if he’s inspecting them. Roland and the slaver remain back near the door.
When he comes close to the one by the bars, he whispers so only he may hear, “Don’t move, say nothing.”
The young man’s eyes flick to who’s speaking to him and widen when they recognize Jiron. He starts to say something when Jiron barely shakes his head and whispers, “Quiet, man.” Sudden understanding comes over him and he settles down.
“How many are here?” Jiron asks in a voice barely audible.
“Five left that I know of,” he replies softly. “There were more but a bunch made a break for it last night and two died, the others got their backs flayed off them this morning as an example to the rest of us.” Then in an urgent whisper, he says, “Jiron, get us out of here!”
“I’ll see what I can do,” he says. “But don’t tell anyone and I mean anyone that I am here, understand?”
With a slight nod, the young man agrees. Jiron turns and walks back toward where the others are and has Roland ask when these are scheduled to be auctioned off.
The slaver replies and Roland says, “Three days.”
James is getting frantic at not finding Miko here and Jiron worries he may do something rash. Roland asks if there are any more fresh arrivals and the slaver replies, no.
Roland thanks the slaver and tells him they’re ready to go. Grabbing James’ arm, he gets him moving as they follow their guide out of the slaver’s compound.
Once outside the compound and back on the streets of Korazan, they head back toward their caravan. James is quiet the entire way as he deals internally with not finding Miko. Roland says to him, “You don’t know he was one of the ones killed last night.”
“That’s right,” agrees Jiron. “There are many other reasons that could explain why he wasn’t in the pens with the others.”
“Like what?” James asks.
At a loss, Jiron just says, “I don’t know, but you can’t assume the worst until you know for sure.”
“I should raze the whole place to the ground,” he threatens. “Do the world a favor.”
“But you won’t,” Jiron says, “you just aren’t that way.”
“I can think it though,” growls James.
When they arrive back at the caravan, Jiron explains what’s happening to the others. Delia says, “Can’t you do some magic thing to see if he’s still alive?”
As if the thought hadn’t even occurred to him, James sits up as an idea forms in his mind. Excitedly, he says, “There may just be.” He hurries over to the wagon and pulls
out his shaving kit, removing the mirror.
Sitting down, he looks into the mirror and concentrates on seeing Miko’s face, his face as it is right now. Everyone gathers around him and he can hear them gasp as the image in the mirror begins to blur and then refocus on a boy riding in the back of a wagon. “That’s him!” James exclaims excitedly. “He’s alive!” In his excitement he loses concentration and the reflection returns to normal.
Behind him he hears Delia say, “Now all we have to do is find out who has him and where they are going.”
“Maybe tomorrow we could ask around and find out?” suggests Tinok.
“Alright,” James agrees, “just be careful and don’t draw attention to yourself.”
“That’s right,” says Jiron, “we still have Tersa to save.” He pauses for a moment and then adds, “We may be in luck as well.”
“How do you mean?” asks James.
“Well, it seems there are several guys back there,” he points back toward the slaver compound, “who were participants in the fight clubs back in the City. If we were to buy them, we would have ready made, loyal guards.”
“Who?” Tinok asks excitedly.
“I talked briefly with Yorn,” he explains. “And I saw Scar and Potbelly over in a different pen. Yorn said there were another three in there somewhere, but I didn’t see them.”
“Can they be trusted?” James asks.
“After what they’ve been through,” Tinok exclaims, “you can be sure of it!”
“I agree,” adds Jiron.
“So,” James begins, “we have Tersa’s auction in two days and I believe they said that the guys were to be auctioned off in, three?” He looks to Roland for confirmation who nods in agreement.
“Since it’s beginning to get late, we may as well stay here through the night and then see about discovering where Miko is heading first thing in the morning.” James looks around and everyone seems to be in agreement.
“It will also give me time to drop off the packages that I have for Korazan,” Delia announces. When James looks to protest, she says, “It will give us more coins for the auctions and supplies.”
Fires of Prophecy: The Morcyth Saga Book Two Page 18