by Deck Davis
“Traitors. What a load of shit. It was theft, not treason.”
“They can spin it how they want, you know that. I’m worried about who’s gonna try and buy us. It could be anyone. Slavers, miners, gladiator camps, people with fetishes. If someone wants to buy a criminal, they don’t have a nice reason for it. I’m not becoming an over-sexed troll’s play toy.”
Dantis had been trying to prepare himself for life imprisonment. He’d tried to accept it, and he was maybe a tenth of the way there.
This was something else. No imprisonment, no normal punishment – he was being sold? Ethan was right. Anyone who wanted to buy a criminal didn’t have rehabilitation in mind. This was the worst thing that could have happened.
“It’d be a nice time for one of your schemes right now,” he said.
Ethan shrugged. “I’m all schemed out.”
They didn’t have any weapons, and they were surrounded by an army of guards. Most of the guards looked too unfit for the real Domina Empire army, and the grudge they harbored because of it was etched in their bitter faces. Brutality wasn’t a response to violence for apes like these, it was a hobby. Forget carrot and stick; these guys couldn’t spell carrot.
Ethan nudged Dantis. “Who’s the woman? And why is she staring at you?”
The air froze in his lungs. In the middle of spectators’ rows, sandwiched between a pimp and a gladiator master, was a woman. She had wild black hair that curled in different directions, like a nest of serpents. She took a brown lump from her pocket and fed it to her hair, which wrapped around it.
Her face was paler than marble, and mist drifted above her shoulders, red one minute and purple the next. A man behind moved his head, as if the mist offended him.
She was the one who’d been in his dreams, who watched him outside his cell. Only, it couldn’t have been a dream, could it? If she was here, it must have been real.
“No idea,” he said.
“I think she likes you.”
“She gives me the creeps.”
“Shut yer mouths, you two,” said a guard at the side of the holding pen.
That sealed it. If the mysterious lady outside his cell was real, then he wanted to get out of there. She made him shiver.
What could he do? Ethan couldn’t fight their way out without a sword, so it was down to Dantis. He had one trick up his sleeve; illusionism. Now, what illusion would be grand enough to create a distraction?
A man entered the justice halls. When he appeared, the spectators stopped talking for a few seconds. He was so strange Dantis had to look once, twice, and again, and he still didn’t believe what he saw. This man didn’t have a face. Or, instead of a face, he wore a metal mask. Red gems were sitting in his sockets where his eyes would be.
“What’s with him?” whispered Ethan.
“Maybe he’s disfigured.”
“Does he even have eyes?”
“That’s what the gems are for. They must be enchanted.”
Enchanted gem-eyes were rare. He had never seen any before, but he’d heard of them. He didn’t expect the strange feeling they gave him; when the man faced him, it wasn’t like his gem-eyes looked at him, but more like they seeped into him, somehow. He wore a golden robe that flowed like water, and it looked expensive enough that selling it would have kept Dantis’s belly full for a decade.
An aura hung around him, a presence that made you pay attention. A necklace dangled from his neck. It was a gold octagon with a red eye in the center, and a blood-tear welled on the corner, so lifelike he expected it to drip to the floor.
He’d seen the red eye before, but where? In a book? He strained to remember, but a mental vice tightened around his brain.
The man carried a scepter in his right hand. He’s a mage. I should have known. Most towns employed a mage to combat magic threats. He guessed this man was Wolfpine’s resident mage, but why was he here? It wasn’t usual to have a sorcerer in a justice hall.
The guard pointed at Dantis and Ethan. “Keep an eye on these two, Lillian,” he said. “They already tried to escape once.”
The mage, Lillian, nodded. He took a vial of viscous liquid from a pocket of his robe, tipped some into his hand, and applied it on the skin around the edges of his metal mask.
“Your name is Lillian? Really?” said Ethan. “Did your parents think you were a girl?”
Lillian faced Dantis, red eye gems sending out waves of dripping hate. “I know about your tricks. Don’t try them while I’m around. I’ll burn the magic out of your arse before you can raise your hand.”
So that was why Lilian was here. He knew about Dantis’s magic, and it was his job to make sure nothing happened. Their last, slim hope of escape was gone.
The judge banged his gavel. “Ladies and…gentlemen,” we said, eyeing the pimps with disgust, “we have before you today two specimens of the lowest order; the Ashwood brothers, Dantis and Ethan.”
Dantis cleared his throat. “Your honor, may I say something?”
“You are speaking out of turn, boy.”
“With respect, since our arrest we haven’t had much chance to talk at all, and there’s one point I have to make clear. My brother Ethan had nothing to do with this. It was all my idea, my plan. I masterminded everything, and Ethan was only there because he’s scared of me.”
“Scared of you?” said Ethan. “At least make it believable.”
“He’s also a little simple minded, your honor. You can’t believe what he says.”
The judge shook his head. “I don’t believe a word of what either of you say. Denied.”
Murmurs spread across the rich crowd, while one pimp nudged another and then winked at Dantis.
“You have all seen them in some guise or other. Perhaps they posed as apprentices seeking work, then stole from you when you turned your back. Or maybe they shoved you to the ground as you walked through town and stole your purse. That is the kind of people we are faced with, my good sirs and madams.”
“Hey!” said Ethan. “I would never shove someone to the ground to steal a purse. And we’re not on charge for taking purses, are we? Let’s stick to the facts.”
The judged nodded. “He is correct; the charge today is treason, not assault and theft.”
“Besides,” said Ethan. “You know how easy it is to unclasp a purse? Depending on the way it’s fastened, you wouldn’t feel me take it. Unless it’s doubled looped, of course, but I’d just cut through it. I’d never need to knock you down. I’m not a street thug. I have more class than that.”
Dantis jabbed Ethan in the ribs. “You never know when to shut up,” he said.
The judge addressed the audience. “We have the Ashwood brothers for auction today, ladies and gentlemen. First, a few facts about them. The ones we know of, anyway, since disguise and deceit come natural to these urchins. They have no family, no job, and no home. In short, there is nothing decent about them. They have bounties in many of the towns and cities in our fine isle. They are nothing but scam artists, thieves…and traitors.”
Hmm. Part of that was true. It was fair to call them thieves, no doubt about that. But common? That was a travesty. They targeted wealthy families and merchants with sour reputations; rich people who gained their fortunes by stepping on the heads of the less fortunate. Nothing common about that.
In short, they targeted people who were the opposite of their parents. Their mother and father were wealthy traders who sold original recipe elixirs that their father concocted using alchemy. Their mother, an ex-tourney fighter, had a flair for marketing. They made a great team.
Alchemists could be found in any town or city, but their parents stood out; their potions worked. Not only that, but their father made a point of selling his potions at a loss if a poor family needed them. They had morals and a code of decency, but that hadn’t stopped them being murdered.
With Mum and Dad gone, he and Ethan only had each other. The survival skills they’d developed complemented each other; Ethan could use a
blade, and he could pick a lock easier than picking his nose. Dantis was the more studious one. When they planned a theft, he gathered all the information they needed. He tried to think about everything that could go wrong.
This time, to his shame, he’d missed something, and they’d been caught. Worse, he’d underestimated the political importance of their target, and they wound up getting charged not as thieves, but as traitors to the empire.
“Now,” said the judge. “You are all no doubt wondering, ‘why would I want to purchase two thieving traitors?’ The boys have certain talents that make them not completely worthless.
“The older boy, Ethan, is fit. He could be used to wheel dung carts around, shift stone, you name it. I chance to say he could last a year or two in a mine. The younger boy does not possess such attributes. He isn’t unhealthy, but If I were to say he had muscles, it would be false advertising. He could probably sweep a floor, though I wouldn’t bank on it. He is weak, insolent, and stupid.”
Weak? Stupid? Did they know he could conjure illusions out of the ether? No…they didn’t. And thinking about it, it was better it stayed that way. If you had an advantage, you didn’t give your enemy advance warning of it.
“I feel so loved,” said Dantis.
The crowd muttered to each other. Dantis needed a friendly face, so he looked for the pretty woman who’d smiled at him. When he saw her, noticed something else. The man next to her was starting straight ahead at the judge, but he was slowly reaching to the woman’s handbag.
“Your bag,” said Dantis, pointing.
The man jerked back liked he’d been zapped by a mana stick. The woman gasped. Across the justice hall, the judge glared.
“Guards,” he said. “Ready a cell for the thief, here.” Then, he looked at Dantis. “It seems not every honest bone in your body has been corrupted, after all. But still, onto the charges. Ladies and gentlemen, If you’re buying a criminal, you have every right to know what he did. Although the boys look like deviants, their crimes are not violent or sexual in nature. Rest easy on that account. Their crimes, while not aggressive, are heinous.
“They were caught in a trader’s yard, trying to steal a…uh…valuable item. This yard belonged to Onderill Answerpe. Yes, the Onderill Answerpe. I’m sure I do not need to highlight to you the importance of the emperor’s cousin.”
A man in the crowd stood up. Rings adorned his manicured fingers. He held a tomato in his hand, took aim, and threw it at Dantis. The fruit smashed into the dock. Some juice splashed Dantis’s face, while the rest soaked the hay on the floor.
Others joined him, until soon, onions, oranges, apples, and cabbages thudded on the dock like rotten cannonballs. So that’s why they cover the floor in hay.
Ethan gave Dantis a sidelong glance. He didn’t need to say anything, because Dantis knew what he was thinking; he’d messed up.
When he’d planned the robbery, Dantis hadn’t unearthed anything that would alarm him. Maybe he’d gotten cocky, and that was his undoing,
What Dantis didn’t know was that Onderill Answerpe, the emperor’s cousin, used fake names for his trading operations. He knew if he used his real name, the one that tied him to the emperor, he would become a target for thieves. That explained the mind-wyrms and cogmen in what was supposed to be a regular, if a little rich, trader’s yard.
Unwittingly, Dantis and Ethan had tried to steal from a relative of the emperor. This caused the emperor to take interest in their case, which resulted in their charges growing from theft, to being traitors.
“We’ll start bidding now, ladies and gentlemen. First, we will begin with the elder of the two, Ethan Ashwood.”
Dantis leaned forward. Had he heard that correctly? “You’re selling us separately?”
A guard lashed out with his club. Dantis flinched from the blow, but it wasn’t aimed at him. Ethan cried out. He held his right hand in his left, moaning in pain. Dantis grimaced at Ethan’s index and forefingers, which were bent out of shape.
“What was the meaning of this?” said the judge.
The guard lifted Ethan’s hand up, while Ethan gasped in agony. “Little bastard was trying to pick his cuffs.”
“True,” groaned Ethan. “I was.”
The judge faced the audience. “Yet more proof, ladies of gentlemen. The Ashwood brothers are dangerous when together, and they will not be sold as a pair.”
Dantis leaned in toward Ethan and whispered. “I don’t get why they’re selling us separately. Dangerous? What a crock of shit.”
“You’ll…be fine…Dan,” he said, gasping. “Keep your chin up. This won’t be forever. Wherever they send us…we’ll both escape.”
Watching Ethan in pain made his stomach sink, and he felt guilty talking about his own problems.
“Are you okay?”
“They’re broken,” said Ethan, gritting his teeth. “Guess I won’t be…fighting any…duels for a while.”
He was trying to be strong, but Dantis saw through it. Swordplay was Ethan’s talent, and he couldn’t use it with broken fingers. Hell, he wouldn’t be using it for a long time if the wrong person bought him in the auction.
“Hey,” said Dantis, looking at Lillian. “You must know a healing spell.”
Lillian gave a smug grin, but he didn’t move.
“Bastard,” said Dantis.
“Don’t let him know he’s got to you,” said Ethan.
The judge pounded his pulpit with his fist. “Enough. We’ll start the auction for the older one at one gold piece. Let me hear your bids.”
“One gold!” shouted a girl from the back of the room.
“We have a bid,” said the judge. “Do I hear two?”
At this, a man in the front row lifted his hand. He wore leather armor on his muscled frame, and a sword hung in a sheath on his waist. Faint scars lined what Dantis guessed some people would have called an attractive face. They were deep and red, and formed rune letters. His grey hair was tied back in a ponytail.
Was this man in charge of a gladiator camp? Is that where Ethan would go? Ethan could probably cut it in a place like that, but Dantis would end up as monster meat.
“I have two. Do I hear three gold?” said the judge.
The girl stood again. “Three gold!”
The girls who had become obsessed with Ethan had banded together to buy him. For what purpose, Dantis had no idea. Maybe they wanted him as a sex toy. Poor bastard.
On and on the bidding went. With every bid from the girls, the man with the sword answered. Soon, the girls reached the limit of their funds. The man won with a final bid of fifteen gold pieces.
“Sold!” said the judge. “Ethan Ashwood, you have been sold to Bander Brigan, of the heroes’ guild.”
“Wow, the heroes’ guild?” said Dantis.
Ethan smiled. “Is this real? The heroes’ guild? I thought I was gonna end up in a salt mine in the arse end of nowhere.”
This was a welcome turn. Heroes guilds had codes of honor. They wouldn’t buy a criminal if they planned to work him to death or make him fight in gladiator arenas. Such things were legal, since the worst criminals didn’t have rights, but he had to question the morality of it.
Heroes’ guilds only ever bought criminals if they saw potential to reform them. Not all guilds did it, but the Wolfpine chapter must have been one of them.
Relief broke through his mental dam and flooded through him. Ethan would be okay. Better than okay. This was a second chance. Dantis’s own auction didn’t seem so grim anymore. It stood to reason that Bander of the heroes’ guild wouldn’t buy one brother and leave the other.
“And now we move on to Dantis Ashwood,” said the judge. “I’ll open the bidding at twenty silvers.”
Dantis stood involuntarily. “Twenty silvers? You’ve gotta be kidding me!”
He sat down, wary of the guard with his club. Maybe he should have told them about his mage skills – that would have raised his price. But no. A secret lost its power if you blabbed ab
out it.
The bidding started for Dantis but soon, his flicker of hope was snuffed out. As he watched on, the girls didn’t bid for Dantis. That wasn’t unexpected. The problem was that Bander didn’t bid for him either. The heroes’ guild leader was sitting silently on the front row and watching the auction unfold, rubbing his rune scars with his fingers.
With an increasing sense of dread, Dantis could do nothing but spectate as two rival parties bid for him. One was a dwarf who owned a coal mine in the east. Dantis grimaced. Mine owners had no regard for the criminals they purchased, and would work them until they dropped. You never heard of a miner slave living long enough for retirement.
If the dwarf wins, I’m gonna bash in his skull and take my chances. I’d rather die trying to escape than in a mine.
The other bidder was a man wearing a black robe with golden flames drawn on it. This man answered each of the dwarf’s bids, and he eventually won. Dantis didn’t get a good feeling from the man. Who was he?
The bidding ended at three gold pieces. What an insult. The judge ended the auction. “Dantis Ashwood,” he said, “You have been sold to the Brotherhood of Fire.”
Brotherhood of Fire? Dantis’s stomach turned to water.
Ethan leapt to his feet. “No! You can’t do that! It isn’t fair! Bander, or whatever your name is, fix this! You can’t buy me and not my brother.”
Bander didn’t move. He wore a tight expression, as though he fought to appear neutral. Unlike the other spectators, Bander didn’t seem to find the auction process entertaining. He gripped the edge of the bench in front of him as if he was going to stand.
Flickers of relief shot through Dantis’s stomach. He’s standing up. He’s going to help. If Bander bought him, at least he and Ethan would be together.
The struggle in Bander’s mind wrought deep lines on his face, which met with his rune scars. Dantis had learned how to read a man, and this one was conflicted. But why? Was it about buying him?
Bander sat and lowered his head, and Dantis’s relief fizzled out.
The audience muttered amongst each other, while the representative of the Brotherhood of Fire approached the bailiff and paid three gold pieces.