Fires of Prophecy: The Morcyth Saga Book Two (24 page)

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.”

“Alright, but don’t go alone,” James
advises.

“I won’t, I promise,” she assures him.

The next morning, Delia takes Tinok and
Roland with her as well as a wagon to deliver her packages. After
they leave, James takes his mirror out and finds Miko still riding
in the wagon. “He’s heading south,” he announces.

“How do you know?” Cassie asks as she sits
next to him in order to look in the mirror.

Pointing to Miko and the wagon, he explains.
“See how the shadows fall? They’re falling to the right of the
wagon, so that means the sun is to the left of them. Which in turn
can only mean he’s heading south.”

“Oh,” she says.

Replacing the mirror back in his shaving
kit, he then takes out his shaving knife and proceeds to remove
what little stubble has appeared since the last time. While he’s
shaving, Cassie remains sitting next to him and he asks, “You like
Tinok, don’t you?”

Blushing slightly, she says, “Is it that
noticeable?”

“Well, you two are hardly seen apart,” he
explains.

“He is so nice and brave,” she says. “I
didn’t care for him at first, but now that I’ve come to know him, I
do.”

“I think you two are very good together,” he
tells her.

Smiling, she says, “So do I.”

At just that moment, Arkie begins crying so
she gets up and hurries over to help Ezra. James smiles at her
retreating back as she walks over to where they’re sitting in the
shade of the wagons.