by Kyra Alessy
‘Enough,’ Lucian finally called, and, just because he said it was, the beating was done. They untied the unconscious man and carried him to one of the outbuildings.
‘What will happen to him?’ she asked before she could think better of it.
Still holding her chin, he turned her to look at him, ignoring her question. ‘Everyone here knows the rules, girl. Learn them, for if you break them, nothing would give me more pleasure than to drag you up there and flay your hide myself.’
She took a shaky breath and realised her face was wet. When had she started crying?
He wiped her cheek with his thumb and rubbed the moisture between his fingers, a strange look on his face. It looked almost like pity, but it was gone in an instant. She froze as he traced the lash marks on her shoulder. ‘You’ve never had a real whipping, have you?’ he said softly.
She didn’t want to tell him anything, but she found herself shaking her head.
Unexpectedly, he released her and she stumbled back, tripping over her still-bound ankles and falling hard on the ground with a cry. He stood over her and laughed. She looked away, promising herself retribution even as she tried outwardly to swallow her pride.
In the end, Mace cut the rope around her legs and pulled her to her feet. She was grateful but wondered why he bothered. He’d tied her up and brought her here, after all.
Lucian turned and began to walk towards the entrance to the keep itself. ‘Come,’ he called over his shoulder.
Mace urged her forward. ‘Get Davas to see to her.’
She hobbled after Lucian, trying to keep up with his long strides. It was shady and cool inside. Sconces with torches burned in the darkest corners, but in general there was more than enough light to see by. Lucian led her down some stairs. To the kitchens. An older man in a dirty apron was chopping vegetables behind a massive wooden table. He grinned as Lucian came in.
‘Heard Nathan getting his due.’
Lucian glanced back at her. ‘Aye, he won’t be stealing again, that’s for certain.’
Kora eyed him dispassionately, though in truth she was sickened. He’d ordered that many lashes for the poor man just for taking something? She was frightened enough. If she really was a thief, she’d be even more so. This man, like Mace, was truly without mercy.
The cook’s brow furrowed for an instant and then he noticed Kora. ‘Aye, for certain,’ he repeated.
Lucian took hold of her arm and drew her forward. ‘You said you needed someone. Mace brought … this.’ He gestured to her and she fought the impulse to shake off his hand. ‘She’s a house slave.’
‘A house slave? Here?’ The cook chuckled.
Kora bowed her head to hide her scowl. It wasn’t as if she were useless.
‘Well, she’s pretty enough to look at, I suppose,’ he continued as if she wasn’t even there.
Lucian shrugged. ‘Put her to work and, by the gods, get her some fucking clothes before the men begin neglecting their duties. If she isn’t a good enough worker to help you properly, tell one of us and we’ll make use of her another way; perhaps tie her up in the men’s barracks to earn her keep.’
Kora pulled away from him with a gasp. He let her go, gave her another nasty grin, shot the other man an undecipherable look and left.
Kora eyed the cook. He took a step forward and she skittered back, feeling the cold stone wall behind her. She quivered. This room was made to be cooler than the rest of the keep, even in the high summer, so that the foodstuffs lasted longer. Without anything to wear, she was going to freeze down here. Quite different from yesterday, that was for sure.
The cook put up his hands placatingly and halted his approach.
‘I’ll not hurt you, lass.’ He looked grim. ‘Gods know I have no liking for slavery. I’ll treat you fair.’ He caught her eye. ‘But don’t make me regret it.’
He started her cutting up carrots and other vegetables. She wasn’t as quick as he was, having very little experience of this sort of labour, but she did as she was told. He didn’t speak again for a while, but when he did, it was to swear colourfully under his breath.
‘Stay here and keep doing that,’ he barked out and left through another door. He returned a while later, carrying some bundles. One looked like blankets, which he dropped by the hearth. The other, smaller one he held out to her.
‘Put this on, girl,’ he said gruffly, deliberately not looking at her. It was a dress. Thank the gods! She hurriedly donned it. It was rough and too big, but it was practical and it could be a sack for all she cared at this point. After two days, she was finally clothed.
She smiled at the cook, tears coming to her eyes. ‘Thank you,’ she said with all of the emotion she felt.
He waved her away, but when he thought she wasn’t looking, she could see he was pleased by her reaction. Perhaps she could make an ally of him.
They worked side by side for the rest of the day in an almost companionable silence. She could almost have believed that she wasn’t a slave. When the sun was setting, he took the large pot of stew they’d made away – for the men, she supposed. By then, she was dead on her feet and seeing stars. She wasn’t used to going so long without food. She splashed some cold water on her face to revive herself, remembering what Lucian had said. She had to do everything that was asked of her or she’d be earning her keep with the men outside. She trembled at the thought. She doubted she’d survive that sort of work.
When the cook returned, he scraped the meagre leftovers into a wooden bowl and handed it to her with a chunk of bread. She ate it quickly while she stood, thankful she had been given something. When the kitchen had been cleaned and the moon was high, the cook finally showed her where she could sleep and left for the night. She gazed longingly at the blankets, but she needed to have a look around before she slept.
She crept from the kitchen and through the dark halls of the keep. All was quiet. Everyone was probably asleep by now. The main door was still open, so she slipped through it and out into the courtyard. There was a fire, and some of the men sat around it, drinking ale and laughing. She hid in the shadows and skirted around them silently. If there was anything she could do after twenty years in her father’s house, it was sneak around and not get caught. The portcullis was down, of course, and the outer walls were too high to jump from despite the sorry state they were in. If she was going to get away from here, it would have to be during the day. She muttered a curse, using the word she’d heard Lucian say earlier in the day. What would her father say if he saw his prim daughter now?
She lingered by the fire for a while where no one could see her, listening to their conversations. It was nice to be around people, even if they had no idea she was there. She was just turning to slip back into the keep when she heard her name. Afraid someone had noticed her, she held her nerve and slowly stepped further away, deeper into the darkness.
‘… Kora?’
‘Aye, that’s her name. A thieving house slave, I heard tell. Far cry from a family estate here.’
‘Did you see her face during the lashing? Thought she would faint.’
‘I was too busy staring at her tits. Nice and meaty.’
Someone chuckled. ‘Couldn’t miss them, the way they jiggled about. Wouldn’t say no to some time with her.’
The talking died down and she saw that Lucian and Mace had appeared, tankards in their hands.
‘Don’t stop on our account.’
‘She looked weak,’ came a voice she didn’t recognise. ‘She won’t last long here doing cook’s labour.’
Someone else laughed. ‘She’s probably doing her labour on cook’s cock, the lucky bastard.’
The men chuckled.
Deciding she’d heard more than enough for one night, Kora began to ease her way back around the periphery of the yard. She was halfway when Mace’s eyes turned in her direction. She was no more than seven paces from him and he was looking directly at her. She picked up her speed as she saw him reach for a torch from the fire.
He held it up, illuminating where she’d just been, but she was already up the stone steps of the main door.
‘What is it?’ asked Lucian.
‘Thought I saw a shadow move.’
Kora ran back into the keep and all the way to the kitchen, not stopping until she was under the blankets and breathing heavily. She closed her eyes. How was she going to get out of this place?
Chapter 3
The cock crowed at dawn and the cook was kicking her awake not long after. She stood and rubbed her eyes, her feet aching but better than the day before.
‘Light the fire,’ he ordered and began getting ingredients together. ‘You shouldn’t have let it go out,’ he admonished. ‘Breakfast will be late now and, mark my words, I’ll make sure everyone knows they have you to thank for it.’
She stared at the hearth, her stomach sinking. She hadn’t known to keep the fire going and she had no idea how to light it now. She saw some sticks in a basket and scattered them in the grate haphazardly, wondering what to do next.
‘The flint’s on the top of the mantle there,’ he called.
Of course. She grabbed the stones and looked at them. She’d seen this done a hundred times. Surely it wasn’t hard. Kneeling down, she thrust the stones together again and again. They didn’t spark even once. She made a sound of impatience.
‘Did you not hear me, girl?’ he asked from just behind her.
She turned. ‘It won’t light.’ Ugh, she sounded like a fool even to her own ears.
He gave her a hard look and took the stones. ‘Not that way it won’t.’
He grabbed some dried moss from the basket, bent down, cracked the two stones together and it lit immediately.
The day proceeded in much the same way. The cook would tell her to do something and she wouldn’t have the slightest idea how to do the thing he asked. Scouring the pewter, baking the bread, making porridge; she could do none of these things. By the afternoon, he was at his wits’ end.
‘Did you not work when you were a house slave?’ he yelled at her, frustrated. ‘I’ve heard your kind are indulged, as slaves go, but I never thought … you can’t even make gruel, girl.’
She cringed at his words. ‘I-I’m sorry,’ she said lamely.
‘I can see why they wanted to be rid of you,’ he finally said quietly, standing with a heavy sigh. ‘I’m going to tell one of the Brothers.’
Mace and Lucian are brothers?
She grabbed his arm with a gasp. ‘Please don’t,’ she pleaded. ‘I will try harder, I promise. I’m sorry I don’t know these things. I was … coddled.’ Not a lie. ‘But I am a quick study. If you show me how to do things, I will learn them in haste.’ He hesitated and she fell to her knees. ‘I beg you.’
He swore as he often did. ‘Ach! Fine, but you learn quickly. I won’t show you anything more than once.’
That night she was too tired to think of anything except sleep. She hadn’t been let out of the kitchen even once since she’d been brought here. She was asleep as soon as she closed her eyes.
The next day started much the same, but this time she’d fed the fire during the night. When the cook woke her, he glanced at the hearth and grunted his approval. She almost grinned and was surprised to find that his praise made her feel better.
They made the breakfast porridge and he even gave her a bowl. She did smile at him then, and for a moment his customary frown melted away.
‘What is your name?’ she asked him suddenly.
‘Davas.’
‘Davas,’ she repeated. ‘I’m Kora.’ She bit her lip and looked back up at him. ‘May I call you Davas?’
He didn’t answer immediately. She thought he would tell her off for asking, but finally he shrugged. ‘I suppose.’
He ladled out three more bowls.
‘Who are those for?’
He gave her a funny look. He was thinking her a simpleton again. ‘Lucian, Mace and Kade, of course.’
‘There’s a third?’
He gave her another look. ‘There are always three,’ he said slowly as if she were an idiot.
She didn’t have a chance to ask him anymore because someone entered the kitchen. She felt rather than saw him, but she knew it was Lucian. She shot to her feet and busied herself with chores, ignoring him completely. Apparently that was the wrong thing to do.
‘Girl!’ he barked.
She turned to face him, staring at the floor. ‘Yes, my lord?’, she ground out.
Having snared her attention, he now ignored her, instead addressing Davas. ‘Mace is upstairs trying to make sense of the account books again. He’ll take his breakfast there.’
The cook nodded. ‘Aye, sir. I’ll just take this to – ’
‘Let the slave take Kade’s,’ he interjected.
The cook frowned. ‘Wouldn’t it be better if I – ’
‘No, it wouldn’t.’ Lucian’s tone was hard.
Davas sighed. ‘Aye, sir.’ He picked up both bowls and thrust one into her hands. ‘Take this to the other side of the square. You’ll find a door into the smithy. Put it on the workbench on the other side of the room quietly and then come straight back here.’
She took the bowl and nodded, wondering at these very specific instructions. Lucian had a nasty, mischievous gleam in his eye and Davas was very nervous. Something wasn’t right. She was being tricked, but she couldn’t see how. And there was nothing she could do. She had to obey or face punishment. She turned to go, knowing that Lucian’s eyes followed.
‘Well, at least you found her some clothes though she looks ridiculous in them,’ he said loudly.
Kora had to stop herself from turning around and demanding to know why he was such an insufferable arse. She tried not to let his words bother her and was angry that on some level they did. It was better not to look tempting in her current position anyway, she told herself.
She walked from the keep, noting that the portcullis was open again. They must have it raised all day and only shut it at night. So day was the best time to leave, but with so many men milling about, it would be nigh on impossible to get through the gate without being noticed. She made her way through the yard, head held high, ignoring the lewd comments she heard and trying not to remember that every man had seen her all but naked the day before.
She opened the door to the smithy and walked inside. The door swung to gently behind her and she looked around. It was so dark compared with the bright sunshine outside that it took her a moment to locate the table Davas had spoken of. It was hot in here as well. She couldn’t see the fire, but she could hear the roar of it under her feet. She wiped her brow, already slick with sweat, and crossed the room. She put the bowl on the table next to some objects she assumed were for intricate metalworking. Unable to help herself, her finger traced one of the small metal tools.
Suddenly she found herself pressed hard against the warm stone wall, a massive hand wrapped around her throat.
KADE
‘Who the fuck are you?’ he roared.
He squeezed the boy’s throat just enough to scare him shitless. Little bastard thought to come in here and see the beast of the keep, did he? He’d give him a fucking monster to tell the other village lads about. He snarled at the boy when no answer was forthcoming. He was breathing fast; short little pants that made Kade grin evilly. He hadn’t had this good a diversion in a good long while. Not since they’d come to this place to begin their new life now that their old one was closed to them – or at least his was.
He sighed despondently at the familiar thought, terrorising the small boy no longer such an entertaining prospect.
He knew what was said about him, the beast from a dark realm with the melted face and body. The stories the locals told in the tavern while in their cups usually had him chuckling quietly in the corner, hiding behind his tankard with his hood pulled well up. He’d heard that one of his legs was gone, his fingers were fused together into a claw that he killed with and his cock had been burnt away; that he wandered th
e woods late at night and would snatch unruly children from their beds to feast upon during the dark moon. The stories were what they were, but he wasn’t going to be gawked at in his own smithy. Everyone knew not to come in here. The trespass couldn’t go unpunished.
His fingers flexed and a low cry erupted from the boy; a very feminine cry. In the darkness he froze, listening for more, but none was forthcoming. He sniffed the air. Yes, she was definitely a female. His other hand reached out slowly and touched her. Long hair. Lower. A gasp as his fingers brushed over a rather bountiful breast and a nipple that beaded at his touch.
Suddenly he was furious. So she thought she’d come to ogle the monster without a weapon between his legs, did she? His eyes narrowed to slits in the darkness. He’d teach her how wrong the stories were.
She gagged, her hands trying to pry the thick fingers away from her neck. She couldn’t breathe! Blackness invaded her vision and she felt her legs give out. She awoke a moment later. He hadn’t moved his hand from her throat, but she could take in air, barely.
‘Who the fuck are you?’ he demanded again even more angrily, punctuating each word by shaking her.
‘Slave,’ she gasped out, afraid he wouldn’t hear her feeble voice.
‘What slave?’
She pulled at his hand. ‘Please.’ She was getting dizzy again. He let her go and she slumped against the rough wall, gasping. ‘Mace bought me in Kingway,’ she wheezed. His fists moved to the wall on either side of her, caging her in. She felt his hot breath as he leaned down towards her, but she still couldn’t see his face.
‘You?’ he sniffed. ‘What are you doing snooping in here?’ His voice was still low, but it wasn’t nearly as menacing now.
‘I wasn’t snooping,’ she said, realising as the words came out that she sounded as arrogant as Lucian. ‘I wasn’t snooping,’ she said again, meekly as she could. ‘I was bringing your breakfast.’
‘Davas does that.’
She shuddered. She couldn’t help it. ‘Lucian wanted him for something else, so he sent me.’