Fires of Prophecy: The Morcyth Saga Book Two (23 page)

Once they’ve been in their pen for awhile,
one of the lads a few years older than Miko comes over to him and
says in a whisper, “We gotta get out of here!”

Miko just looks at him and asks, “How?”

“Rush the guard, or something,” he says.

“I don’t think it would do any good,” Miko
tells him.

Obviously not getting any support for his
idea from Miko, the lad goes over to another group of boys where he
can hear them whispering amongst themselves.
I hope they don’t
do anything stupid to get me killed,
he thinks as he glances
over to the older boys, huddled with their heads together.

He gazes over to the other pens in the area
and sees many such as his, holding young boys and men. The women
and girls must have been taken elsewhere for he doesn’t see any
sign of them.

Another young man in the pen with him comes
over and says, “Wonder what’s going to happen now?”

Shrugging, Miko says, “Don’t know.”

“Name’s Viktor,” he says holding out his
hand.

Taking the hand, he replies, “Miko.”

Viktor glances over to the group of boys who
are conversing together quietly. “Think they’re right?” he
asks.

“What? Those guys?” Miko asks, indicating
the group planning escape.

When Viktor nods his head, he says, “I doubt
it. I would think the slavers are going to anticipate something
like that, they’ve been doing this for a long time.”

“But what choice do we have?” Viktor asks,
his voice trembling slightly.

“Right now, none,” he replies.

Viktor starts sobbing, “I want to go
home!”

“So do we all,” Miko says, uncomfortable at
the show of emotion Viktor is displaying.

Viktor goes back over to a corner and sits
down by himself, with his knees up and lays his head in his arms,
silently crying.

Doing his best to hold back his own
emotions, Miko sits and stares out of the pen.

An hour passes before several slavers come
and bring them food and water, as well as a bucket for use as a
slop bucket. When they get close to the door of his pen, the boys
from the group move closer to the door and Miko gets set for
trouble. Two of the slavers have crossbows, armed and casually
aimed at the boys while another says, “Back up!”

When the boys don’t move, he signals the
crossbowmen who take direct aim on them and then he says again,
“Back up.”

With two crossbows staring down at them, the
boys back up several feet, allowing him to open the door and place
a platter of bread and old meat on the floor. Stepping back, he
closes the door and then proceeds down to the next pen.

When the door shuts, Miko dives for the food
and grabs himself two big handfuls of meat and bread before the
other boys have a chance to take it. The meat is a little ripe but
the bread is only slightly stale. Not caring, he wolfs it down
quickly before someone gets it into his head to take it away from
him.

Two of the boys are left with nothing to
eat, one of them is Viktor. He just sits and stares at the empty
plate, as if not believing that there’s nothing for him. Miko sees
him start to say something to one of the slavers, but then he
remembers the girl that had complained on the road and shuts his
mouth. Rolling onto his side, he gets into a fetal position and
starts sobbing all over again.

The other boys look on him with disdain, and
one of them says, “You better be faster next time.” The others just
laugh. Miko feels bad for the boy but is unwilling to share his
meager food with him. Even though he got as much as his hands could
grab, it still wasn’t enough to quiet the grumbling of his
belly.

Miko goes over to a small window that
overlooks a large inner courtyard. Looking out, he sees a large
platform on the other side that looks like it could be used for
auctions, though it’s empty now.

Smelling something foul, he turns around and
sees one of the boys using the slop bucket and he thinks it could
get pretty ripe in here after a while. Leaving the window, he finds
a spot as far from the bucket as possible and settles down to rest.
The light outside is beginning to fade as night falls.

During the night, he hears many of the boys
crying and sobbing all around him, some crying out for their
mothers. He eventually breaks down too, as silent tears roll down
his cheek. One boy in a nearby pen loses it and starts screaming
and trying to break through the bars.

Suddenly, the door at the end of the pens
opens up and two slavers come in with torches and long sticks. They
move to the pen where the boy is screaming uncontrollably and opens
the door. As soon as the door opens, the boy tries to leave and
that’s when they start beating him with sticks until he quiets
down. Either he stopped on his own accord, or they beat him into
unconsciousness, Miko couldn’t tell but he was glad when the
screaming ended.

Once the guards left and it was again dark
and quiet, he begins to hear whispers coming from others in his
pen.

“…there were only two of them…”

“…no crossbows…”

“…might be our only chance…”

He hears some of the boys begin to move
toward the door and then lie down near it. All of a sudden, one of
them begins to act just like that other boy, screaming and banging
on the door trying to get out.

Just as before, the two guards enter the pen
area and open the door to their pen. When the door opens, the
slavers rush in and begin beating the one who’s crying out. With
the landing of the first blow, all the boys who had stationed
themselves by the door spring up and attack the two slavers. In
short order, the slavers lie on the ground unconscious at the boys’
feet.

The boys, now with the torches and sticks,
and filled with hope of escape race out of the pen. Miko stays
where he is and watches as they race down the hallway toward the
open door the slavers had entered through. Suddenly, he sees one
fall backward as a crossbow bolt strikes him in the chest. Another
boy twists about then falls with a cry when another bolt strikes
him in the shoulder.

Soon the hallway is filled with slavers and
the ill fated escape attempt is soon squashed. The boys caught
outside of the pen are taken away and a couple slavers come back to
where Miko and a few of the others had remained. They remove the
unconscious slavers the boys had attacked and then begin to leave.
One slaver pauses a moment as he looks at those remaining in the
pen and then says something before closing the door to Miko’s pen.
He turns to follow his fellow slavers across the room and through
the door, closing it behind him. When the door closes, the pens are
once more plunged into darkness.

Miko can hear Viktor giggling over in the
corner. He tries to shut out the noise and attempts to fall
asleep.

Early the next morning, shortly after sunup,
they begin to hear a commotion coming from the courtyard outside of
the small window. Miko rushes over to it, as do others in the pens
along the same wall. Outside, they see the boys who had been
captured in the escape attempt the night before being marched over
to where a pole stands near one side of the courtyard. A hushed
whisper can be heard as some of those in the adjoining pens relay
what’s going on to those on the other side of the holding area.

When the boys reach the pole, one slaver
stands there as he begins to address the slaves still in the
holding pen. “Last night, a few of you decided to try to escape,”
he says loudly, so all can hear him. “These eight here are those
that survived. Should any of you be contemplating similar attempts,
let this be a lesson in what happens to those slaves who try to
flee.”

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.

_________________________

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.