Griffin's Shadow

by Leslie Ann Moore

  “I’m second-born. The House of Sakehera always pledges its second-born child to the king’s service. I’ve been a soldier my entire adult life.”

  “Ah,” Gran nodded. “And I remember that in your mother’s family, only the girls receive any formal magical training.”

  “Yes, that’s right,” Ashinji said. “So, you see, I never had any chance of developing my Talent much beyond the basics, even had I wished to. I think my mother must have blocked me in order to make it easier for me to accept my fate.”

  “I sense this has caused you pain, my son,” she said. “Have you any sisters, then?”

  “I have three sisters, but none of them have been sent to mage school…at least not yet.”

  “Such a pity you were not sent to the Red Order,” Gran replied, shaking her head. “You could have been a formidable mage. Still, there is much you can learn, even now. I can’t remove the block without hurting you, but I can teach you how to use the Talent you do have to help you survive this place. Even blocked, you are still stronger than you realize.”

  “I have a wife and a baby on the way, Gran. I need to survive for them.” Ashinji paused, then added, “Somehow, I have to find a way to escape.”

  “Ai, son,” Gran sighed. “In all the years I’ve lived in this yard, I’ve not once seen any slave escape, save through death.”

  “I don’t understand why you’re still here, Gran. Surely, a sorceress of the Red Order is too powerful to be held against her will.”

  “Mistress de Guera has offered me my freedom any time I choose to take it, but I have declined,” Gran replied.

  “But…but why?” Ashinji asked, astonished.

  “That is a long story, young man, and one day, perhaps I will tell it to you.” Gran’s tone and the set of her jaw warned Ashinji not to push any further. “Now, tell me about your wife. Who are her kin?”

  “My wife’s name is Jelena…” Ashinji began, but Gran interrupted him.

  “Jelena…that’s not an elven name,” she said.

  “No, it isn’t. She’s Soldaran-born.”

  “You married a human ?”

  “Jelena is hikui. Her mother was the sister of the human lord whose lands border Kerala to the south.” Ashinji told Gran of Jelena’s childhood as a drudge in her uncle’s house, her reasons for fleeing north into Alasiri, and of how they had found each other.

  “Your wife sounds like a remarkable young woman. Did she ever find her elven kin?” Gran asked.

  “Yes, and when she did, it was almost more than either of us could adjust to. She had always been told her father came from a noble family, but just how noble proved to be a great shock. Jelena is the daughter of our king.”

  “Silverlock’s daughter! Keizo Onjara sired a child on a human woman?” Gran had drawn herself up on her stool and her face wore an expression of consternation.

  “Yes. The king met Jelena’s mother before he came to the throne.”

  “Tell me, does your wife have any Talent?” Gran peered intently into Ashinji’s face.

  “Yes, she does, but she’s unable to use it much. My mother, as well as Jelena’s aunt and her father’s Companion are both giving her some training…”

  “Her aunt…Do you mean Taya Onjara?”

  “Princess Taya Onjara, wife of Crown Prince Raidan, yes.” Aware, now, that Gran’s interest in Jelena had become much more specific, Ashinji asked, “Why all of these questions about my wife?” He felt uneasy .

  She’s behaving as if she needs to find out something about Jelena that’s of vital importance to her…but how could that be? Until this moment, she had no idea my wife even existed.

  As if sensing his growing discomfort, Gran settled back onto her stool and patted Ashinji’s knee. “Don’t mind my nosiness. It’s just been so long since I’ve spoken to another elf. I’ve been trying to teach that imp Seijon some Siri-dar, but all he cares about are the curse words and the vulgar names for private body parts.” She smiled, but her eyes remained troubled.

  They sat in silence for a time.

  Gran finally spoke. “You’ll find that life here isn’t so bad, as long as you follow the rules. Mistress de Guera takes good care of all of us. I, myself, have special privileges. The mistress allows me to come and go as I please. I’ll bring you special treats from the market now and then!”

  “How can life as a slave be anything but bad?” Ashinji did nothing to hide the bitterness and anger in his voice. “My wife must surely believe I’m dead by now. She faces the birth of our child without me by her side. My brother…” He stopped himself before spitting out the angry words that burned his tongue, and glanced at Gran. Her eyes narrowed, but she remained silent. “What hurts the most is the realization that my child and I might never know each other.”

  Gran leaned forward and placed both hands on Ashinji’s shoulders. “Hold on to that anger, young Ashinji! It will keep you alive… that, and the hope of returning home to your family some day.”

  “Two years is a long time.”

  “I know, but I’ll help you, and so will Aruk-cho. Though his first loyalty is to the mistress, he is a good man, and you can trust him to be fair. The other trainers, well, they are all human. Thank the One that Aruk-cho is in charge.”

  “Mistress de Guera offered to take me as her concubine,” Ashinji revealed. He laughed ruefully. “I turned her down. Perhaps that wasn’t such a smart move.”

  “The mistress has an eye for beautiful young men, and it’s a fact that humans find us especially attractive, even while they revile us for being without souls.”

  “Jelena has told me much about the religion of the Soldarans. It’s at the heart of their hatred for us, this idea that we have no souls. It makes us inferior beings in their eyes.”

  “Not inferior, no. They view us as tainted with evil, and therefore capable of tainting any Soldaran who comes in contact with us. It’s all very contradictory, you see. The average Soldaran will dutifully spout all of the racist nonsense he or she has been taught in church when asked about elvenkind, and yet, if they thought they could get away with it, many would gladly couple with us.”

  “Hmm,” Ashinji nodded, then a thought struck him. He leaned forward, excited. “Gran, you said you were a sorceress once, a very powerful one, yes?”

  “Yes,” Gran replied cautiously.

  “Then that means you are skilled at mindspeech. I’ve heard that trained mages can communicate with each other by mindspeech over great distances. Gran, can you contact my mother and let her know I’m alive?”

  Ashinji felt the tiny spark of hope that had flared to life within him die when Gran sorrowfully shook her head.

  “Mindspeech works best over short distances. The farther apart two people are, the harder it becomes. It’s true that trained mages can communicate with one another, even when separated by great distances, but in order to accomplish this, an amplifier of some kind must be used. Otherwise, it’s impossible.” Her pale eyes brimmed with regret. “I haven’t the necessary tools or materials to construct an amplifier. I’m sorry, Ashinji.”

  Ashinji lowered his head to hide the bitter disappointment on his face. “I had hoped…” His voice trailed off and he covered his smarting eyes with his hands.

  “I know…I know,” Gran murmured.

  “ Gran !” A female voice, full of pain, cried out from the interior of the barracks.

  Gran slowly rose to her feet. “That’ll be Vasta. Sounds like the poppy juice is wearing off. She took a nasty sword cut to her forearm in the Arena yesterday. Very deep. The healer spent a long time stitching it up.” She sighed and brushed back a stray lock of silver blond hair. “I serve as the yard medic for the women, among my other duties. Simple things, mostly, like tending wounds and dispensing medicines the healers have left. But I’d best go in now. We’ll talk more later.”

  Ashinji stood and as he turned to go, Gran called out to him. “Look after Seijon. He’s a good boy, really, who just needs a decent role mode
l. The humans fill his head with nothing but nonsense about our people. Your presence will help counter a lot of it.”

  “I’ll do what I can,” Ashinji promised.

  ~~~

  Later that day as the westering sun bathed the yard with ruddy light, Ashinji, along with the other newcomers, received a wooden practice sword and paired up with a veteran so the trainers could assess the skills of each new slave.

  Ashinji’s sparring partner threw down a casual insult by way of introduction then sprang to the attack. Ashinji countered each blow with ease, and in a matter of moments, he knew all he needed to about his opponent’s style. He hung back on the defensive, letting the larger, heavier human tire himself. Then, when he had wearied of the game, he disarmed the man with a deft maneuver. The human cursed as his sword went spinning out of his hand.

  Ashinji had to restrain himself from whacking the man across the top of his shaven head. Instead, he dropped his guard and stepped back, inhaling a little more deeply to catch his breath.

  “Aruk-cho said you were a professional soldier,” the trainer who’d been observing the sparring remarked. A tall, lanky, hard-bitten man with a weathered face and big hands, he sauntered forward, a lopsided grin distorting his already uneven features. He hawked and spat on the sand at Ashinji’s feet. “You’re good, tink. The best I’ve seen in a long time. It pains me to admit it, but ‘tis so. From now on, you’re swordmaster to the newbies.”

  “C’mon, Joktan, you can’t be serious!” Ashinji’s erstwhile sparring partner protested. “You know I’m supposed to get that job!”

  “Shut yer hole, Leal!” Joktan growled. “I am and it’s done, so deal with it!” The two men glared at each other for several tense heartbeats.

  “You promised me,” Leal muttered, backing down. He shot a venomous look at Ashinji, who met his furious eyes without flinching.

  “I do not want the job. Give it to him,” Ashinji said, keeping his gaze firmly affixed on Leal’s face.

  “You think I’d let you off the hook so easily, tink? Forget about it! The job’s yours. Neither of you has got any say in this.”

  Ashinji swiveled his head slowly to face Joktan. He stared at the trainer for a moment, then said, “My name is Ashinji.” He pronounced each word with deliberate force, saving special emphasis for his own name. “Not… tink !” Anger propelled the slur from his mouth like a projectile.

  “Yeah, sure, whatever…” Joktan sniffed. “As long as you teach the rest of these sorry shitballs how to handle a sword, I’ll call you ‘sweetheart’ if you like.” Raucous laughter erupted among the other slaves. Only Leal remained grim-faced and silent.

  I’ve made a dangerous enemy, Ashinji thought, a nd I’ve only just arrived!

  Joktan clapped his hands and the laughter ceased. “That’s all for today,” he announced. “Veterans, Aruk-cho has posted tomorrow’s matches on the board. Two points melees and one lethal. Check before you go to bed, idiots! Newbies, report to the infirmary before dinner, so you can all get your fine new marks. The mark of de Guera means a lot in this town! You should all be proud to bear it.” He paused, as if trying to remember something important, then exclaimed, “Shit! Almost forgot! It’s the last Torsday of the month tomorrow. You all know what that means!”

  “Yeah, it means we all get laid!” a male voice called out.

  “You wish you were gettin’ some!” a female voice responded.

  More laughter.

  Ashinji sighed and looked over his shoulder, searching for Seijon. He spotted the boy at the back of the crowd, jumping up and down in an effort to see over the taller bodies blocking his view. Seijon must have seen him at the same moment, for his face broke into a huge grin and he waved.

  Joktan dismissed the slaves, who began dispersing, women to their side of the yard, men to the opposite. Ashinji remained standing in place while the others drifted past.

  Leal swung in close and bumped Ashinji hard enough to stagger him. “Watch your back, tink,” he growled. The human’s voice dripped with menace.

  “Leal’s insane,” Seijon said quietly as the big man stalked off toward the barracks reserved for the veterans.

  Ashinji shrugged. “He does not scare me.”

  “Well, he should. I saw him beat a girl to death ‘cause she wouldn’t do what he wanted. One of the girls who comes for pleasure. The mistress was furious! She had to pay off the girl’s owner for the loss. Leal spent a week in the hole for that one and lost all his points for the month.”

  Ashinji didn’t know what “the hole” was, but he guessed it to be some form of punishment. He looked down at Seijon’s face and saw a flicker of raw emotion pass across it like a cloud across the noonday sun.

  “Was your mother a prostitute, Seijon?” he asked, his voice gentle.

  The boy nodded. “She died when I was a little kid. Some man hurt her bad…so bad she spit blood before she…well, it was a long time ago.” He refused to meet Ashinji’s eyes.

  “Not so long ago, I think.” Ashinji laid a hand on the boy’s shoulder and squeezed, thinking about Gran’s request. “When do we get fed around here?” he asked.

  Seijon looked up and smiled. “Soon! The food’s real good here, and we get all we want. When I first came, I couldn’t believe it, so I used to hide stuff, like when I lived on the streets. I don’t do that anymore.”

  The food proved similar to typical elven cuisine, though a bit heavier and oddly spiced. The main course consisted of a thick stew, rich with fatty meat. Boiled root vegetables and grain, baskets of coarse brown bread, greasy yellow cheese, and jugs of decent quality, dark beer rounded out the meal.

  While they ate, Seijon kept up a steady stream of questions, which Ashinji did his best to answer. Appalled at the amount of falsehoods the hikui boy had been fed concerning elves, he determined, if nothing else, to serve as a living rebuttal to all the lies.

  The other men in the newcomer’s barracks proved more curious toward Ashinji than hostile. He could see their interest writ large on their faces as he spoke of Alasiri and his former life. In the company of the new slaves, at least, Ashinji felt the first stirrings of a strange kind of camaraderie.

  After the evening meal had been eaten and the remains cleared away, Ashinji took a stool outside to sit and savor the cool evening breeze. Seijon followed and hunkered on the ground with his back against the wall.

  The sounds of muffled laughter and a snatch of song drifted on the dusty air. Somewhere in the compound, a man sneezed. From across the yard, in the direction of the women’s barracks, a female voice cried out, whether from pain or pleasure, Ashinji couldn’t tell.

  “Ashinji,” Seijon murmured, “D’you think you’ll ever get to go back home to Alasiri?

  “I was not so sure a short while ago, but now…Yes, I believe I will see my home and family again,” Ashinji replied, and he surprised himself with the surety of his resolve.

  “Will you take me with you?” In the waning light of dusk, the hikui boy’s eyes looked like huge, dark stones in his lean, humanish face.

  “When the time comes, Seijon, we will speak of it. It is too soon now.”

  The sound of approaching hoofbeats heralded the arrival of Aruk-cho. The akuta greeted Ashinji in Siri-dar. “Good evening, my friend. I have come to find out how you are doing.” He halted just beyond the awning and stood with one back foot flexed, horse-like. His long black tail swished gently to and fro.

  “I’m as well as can be expected, I think,” Ashinji said. He glanced down at the fresh mark on his right shoulder-a stylized lily flower seared into the skin by a red-hot branding iron. “Gran’s salve has eased the pain of this burn quite nicely…By the way, I must compliment you on your command of Siri-dar.”

  “Can I have a ride Aruk-cho?” Seijon jumped to his feet, bouncing like an eager toddler.

  “Not now, young one,” Aruk-cho replied. “I have work to do. Perhaps tomorrow evening.” The ghost of a smile played about the akuta’s fierce countenance. �
��Gran instructs me in your tongue when time permits,” he said to Ashinji. “She has attempted to school that one as well,” he indicated Seijon with a lift of his chin, “but he is very impatient, as all young ones are.”

  “Joktan has made me swordmaster for the new slaves. I am to train every one who needs basic instruction,” Ashinji said.

  “So Joktan told me. He is a man who sees very little to praise in this world, but he praised your technique when he spoke to me. This is a good thing, Ashinji. Your usefulness will keep you out of harm’s way much longer. Slaves with skills that are needed in the yard face far fewer lethal matches.”

  “I made an enemy through no fault of my own,” Ashinji said with a rueful shake of his head. “The human called Leal seemed to expect that he would get the job. He has threatened me already,” He tugged at his bare earlobe, missing anew the feel of the rings he used to wear there during his old, lost life.

  “Yeah, Aruk-cho! You’ve got to do something about that crazy shithead!” Seijon cried. “Give ‘im nothing but lethal matches ‘til someone finally guts ‘im!” Ashinji no longer wondered at the boy’s obvious hatred for Leal, given that a man like Leal had murdered his mother.

  “I do not fear Leal, Seijon,” Ashinji said reassuringly. “He is a good swordsman, but I am better.”

  “He won’t come at you with a sword. It’ll be a knife in the back, in a dark corner,” the boy muttered.

  “The young one is right. Leal is treacherous, and much more clever than he looks. Watch yourself at all times. Now, I must go. The mistress has tasks for me to complete before I can seek my bed.”

  Ashinji bid the akuta goodnight, and watched as he melted into the darkness.

  “Get Leal before he gets you, Ashinji,” Seijon whispered.

  “It is time for bed, Seijon,” Ashinji replied.

  That night, Ashinji dreamed of a faceless man, standing over him with a knife, poised for the downward stroke that would end his life. Ashinji opened his mouth to scream, but his tongue froze, unable to form any sound. Just as the glittering blade began its descent, a huge black shadow blotted out the light and the faceless man vanished.