Web of Deceit (12 page)

“Can’t you ask the clova?” quizzed Rejji.

“I have already done that,” frowned Bakhai. “They do not know anything.”

“What are you doing here?” scowled Rymaka as he headed towards Rejji. “You don’t belong here.”

Rejji rose and met Rymaka as the large man stormed towards him. “My apologies,” bowed Rejji. “I am Rejji, slave to Wicado. He asked me to stop by and make sure your new slave was doing what he is supposed to.”

“And what is he supposed to be doing?” Rymaka bellowed. “I did not request a slave. Does Wicado think I can’t handle my duties?”

“Certainly not,” smiled Rejji. “The Bursar says you work very hard at maintaining the flock. It was his hope that Bakhai could fill in for you a bit so that you would have time to pursue other things that you might not have time for. I think he meant it as a reward for your conscientious labors.”

“Really?” asked Rymaka. “I thought Wicado thought poorly of me and was trying to replace me.”

“No,” Rejji shook his head. “He thinks having clova on the estate was a smart idea. He is sure they will turn a large profit in the future. You will have added greatly to the estate.”

“Well they were my idea,” beamed Rymaka, “but I really don’t need help.”

“I can see that you don’t need help with the flock,” replied Rejji, “but perhaps you have other ideas that might make the estate prosper. Tending to the clova all day will not allow you time to think of those ideas and develop them.”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Rymaka stated. “I guess I probably do have more smart ideas, I can’t just sit around all day and think of them.”

“Why not?” Rejji asked. “Is that not what the people in the mansion do? Are not their ideas more important than any labor they can do? You have a slave now to do the labor. Just one more good idea would be much more important than controlling this flock.”

“You are right,” nodded Rymaka. “It is not worth my time to keep chasing these foul beasts away from the fence. Wicado is very wise. I think I have misjudged him.”

Rejji shook his head as the oversized shepard headed towards the mansion. He turned to Bakhai and squatted next to him.

“You have to solve this problem quickly,” urged Rejji. “If he ever finds out I was toying with him, I will be in trouble. You must make it appear that the large oaf has solved the problem, Bakhai. Can you do that?”

“I do not care anything for credit,” Bakhai declared. “I just want the clova healthy. He may claim it was him for all I care. How long will he be gone?”

“I am not sure,” frowned Rejji. “He does not appear to be too smart, but if he runs into Wicado there could be trouble. I would hurry. Once people start praising him for the healthy flock, he will not cause trouble for us.”

Rejji and Mistake sat in the communal room of the slave quarters in the Pikata mansion.

“Wicado has been teaching me a lot about finances,” Rejji said. “It is amazing how all of their decisions are based on money. What crops they are going to plant next year is based on the prices for crops this year. Attitudes towards other clans are based upon whether they are competitors in the marketplace or not. These people don’t do anything unless there is a profit in it.”

“How has Bakhai made out with the clova?” Mistake asked.

“He has it solved,” smiled Rejji. “It turns out that they were sick from drinking the pond water. The birds that lived in the trees overhanging the pond were feeding on some type of berry that caused the sickness. He has blocked off access to the pond and the flock is improving rapidly. I think he is enjoying himself.”

“I don’t understand the two of you,” frowned Mistake. “We have been here for weeks and you two are just settling in. Does it not bother you that these people own you?”

“Of course it does,” Rejji replied, “but what can we do about it. It is not like we have a choice in the matter. Is it wrong to try and make the best out of our situation?”

“Yes,” scowled Mistake, “it is wrong. These people have no right to own us. You cannot just accept it and go on with your life. We need to unite and overthrow them, or at least get ourselves out of here. I managed to retrieve our old clothes from the rag pile. I have them safely hidden so when we need them we will not be walking around in these slave clothes.”

“What about your knives?” Rejji asked.

“They were still in the bin with the rags,” grinned Mistake. “Nobody has bothered to do anything with the rags yet. We have everything back now. We just need a plan to get off this estate.”

“They will kill us,” declared Rejji. “Lam says nobody has ever escaped from here.”

“Lam is an old fool who thinks he is special because he can walk around this mansion freely,” snarled Mistake. “He is still owned, just like you and me. Maybe he would see things differently if he was doing laundry and making beds for these pigs.”

Mistake was getting a little too loud and Rejji shot a glance towards the watcher to see if he had heard her talking.

“Keep your voice down,” cautioned Rejji. “These people do not need an excuse to discipline us.”

“You get to go outside,” Mistake continued softly. “I figure our escape will have to occur during the day. There is no chance of getting out of these quarters at night. So you need to find us a place on the estate where we can hide until it gets dark. Maybe a place over where Bakhai works so he will be ready.”

“Mistake,” urged Rejji, “I don’t like this idea. There are hundreds of warriors on this estate. How far do you actually think we would get? To the road maybe? Do you think they don’t have slaves who keep track of us and would report us missing?”

“Yes, like Lam,” scowled Mistake.

“There is probably someone in the women’s quarters too,” sighed Rejji. “Lam is not a bad person. He has been here many years and he has adjusted. He probably would feel very uncomfortable if they freed him. He wouldn’t know what to do with himself.”

“Rejji,” pleaded Mistake, “you are going to become just like him. Forty years from now you will be him. We have to get out of here. I will not live as somebody’s slave.”

“I want to be free too, Mistake,” asserted Rejji. “I do not want to die to be free though. Let’s not rush into this. Give me some time to figure out how it can be done. There must be some incentive for them to allow us to go free. I just need to find out what it is.”

“You are going to try to buy our way out of here,” laughed Mistake. “You can’t be serious. Everything we own belongs to them. It can’t be done.”

Rejji saw that the watcher was paying closer attention to them and figured it was time for bed.

“Normally couples meet out here for amorous reasons,” Rejji said. “The watcher is getting suspicious and we dare not call attention to ourselves. Let’s get some sleep and we can talk about this some more tomorrow.”

“Mistake shot a glance towards the watcher and scowled. “I hate being watched all of the time,” she whispered. “You find us a place to hide and make sure Bakhai is ready when we get the chance. I am not staying here much longer.”

Mistake rose and stormed into the women’s sleeping quarters. Rejji rose to find the watcher a few paces away from him. “She’s a fiery one alright,” he said.

“She just had a bad day,” commented Rejji. “I think she was embarrassed to tell me about it and afraid someone else would hear it too. She’ll be fine in the morning.”

“You are the Bursar’s boy, right?” asked the guard.

“Yes,” smiled Rejji, knowing that the guard already knew the answer to his question because of the pin on his tunic. “I enjoy working for him. He has taught me much already.”

“I heard you were a smart lad,” nodded the guard. “Any idea what the chances are of us getting more horses? Some of our stock is getting quite old.”

“Well,” Rejji said as his eyes darted around the room, “I shouldn’t be talking about the Bursar’s business. I mean, if he wanted it to be known that he was already checking prices on new stock, he would have probably announced it by now.”

“You’re a good lad,” chuckled the guard at he slapped Rejji on the back. “You sleep well now.”

Rejji smiled and nodded at the guard as he entered the men’s sleeping quarters and fell onto his mat. As he dozed off, he wondered whether information from the Bursar’s office was worth gold to anyone.

Rejji was one of the first to wake up the next morning. He hurried up to the kitchen and got a couple of plates of eggs and bread and scampered up to the Bursar’s office. Wicado was in his office humming and Rejji entered and placed the plates on the desk.

“You are up early this morning,” Wicado smiled. “What do you know about numbers?”

“I am good at numbers,” grinned Rejji.

“I don’t doubt that you are,” Wicado said as he started eating his morning meal. “I reviewed the clova flock with our lord yesterday evening. He was very impressed. Bakhai has worked wonders on them. Of course Rymaka beamed and took the credit. What did you say to Rymaka anyway? He has been coming in here several times a week with harebrained schemes to make money. Ducks, geese, even a fish farm. You name it and he has suggested it.”

“I had to get him away from the flock so Bakhai could cure them,” explained Rejji. “I told him that if he let Bakhai tend to the flock, he would have more time to devise profitable schemes for the estate. Was that wrong?”

“Not at all,” laughed the Bursar. “It was clever. I am not sure what to do with Bakhai now though. Now that Rymaka has been praised for the flock, I imagine he will spend more time there. It would not be good for Bakhai to stay there.”

“Perhaps he could work in the stables,” suggested Rejji. “Anything to do with animals would please him I think.”

“I will speak with Seneschal Trang about him before I leave,” declared Wicado. “I have to go to Khadoratung, the capital city. There are a series of meetings being held that are important to our clan. Whenever I go to Khadoratung, I take advantage of my time there to record prices in the marketplace. With this meeting schedule, I would have to stay additional days there this time to accomplish that and I do not like being away from here for too long. I am planning on taking you with me, but I must have assurances of your behavior. When we are there you will be seen as a representative of the Pikata clan and I will not stand for any embarrassment. Can you give me those assurances?”

“Certainly,” beamed Rejji. “I will be the model of good behavior. I can take care of the marketplace for you while you attend the meetings.”

“That is what I planned,” smiled the Bursar. “You will be on your own for three days. I will arrange a room at one of the inns and your meals will be included. We will travel by barge to get there and I have arranged for a traveling merchant to provide transportation back here. Go to the kitchen and get us some provisions to take with us. We shall leave when you return. Do not dally.”

“Yes, Sir,” grinned Rejji as he hurried out the door.

Rejji walked as fast as he could, as running in the mansion was frowned upon. He mentioned provisions for the trip to one of the kitchen staff and they seemed to know exactly what was required and how much of it. Rejji tossed the sack over his shoulder and hurried upstairs. Wicado was not in his office when Rejji got there, but he entered moments later and indicated they should go.

When they exited the mansion there was a carriage at the bottom of the steps waiting for them. Rejji marveled at the craftsmanship of the carriage and almost tripped getting into it. Wicado smiled and shook his head. Instead of heading for the road out of the estate, as Rejji thought they would, they proceeded around the mansion and took a road that Rejji had never been down. The road led through fields of vegetables and ended at the Khadora River.

There was a huge dock on the river and an even larger barge tied to it. The barge was loaded with crates of vegetables, but in the center of the barge was a structure similar to a large hut. The Bursar led the way to the structure and they entered it. The inside consisted of two large rooms and a ladder going upstairs. One room was a kitchen and the other was like a sitting room. Wicado indicated for Rejji to put the sack of provisions in the kitchen and then handed him a small bag and asked him to put it in the room upstairs.

Rejji climbed the ladder and saw a large room with bunks and a door to a smaller room. He opened the door and saw that the small room contained a bed, a chair, and a desk. He placed the bag on the desk and returned downstairs. Wicado was outside watching the bargemen cast off and Rejji hurried out to join him. Huge ropes that were looped over posts on the dock were removed and thrown onto the barge. The bargemen jumped onto the barge as it started moving downstream. Rejji watched as the river took the barge swiftly away and the fields of the Pikata estate grew distant.

The banks of the river alternated between forests and estates as Rejji made his way up to the bow and sat on a vegetable crate. The river was fairly narrow here although Rejji knew it was wide enough that he could not throw a stone across it. There was little other river traffic to be seen. They passed a few small fishing boats and a ferry that moved goods and people from one side of the river to the other.

One of the bargemen came forward and sat next to Rejji. The Bursar’s slave boy started a conversation with the bargeman and asked him question after question. The bargeman did not seem to mind and filled Rejji’s mind with tales of his escapades over the years. He described the trip they would be taking and what sights there would be to see. Around high sun, the bargemen left to get food and Rejji decided to eat as well. Rejji found the sack he had brought with him and fished around inside until he found some cheese and dried meat. He climbed the ladder to the sleeping quarters and found Wicado in his private room at the desk.

“I have brought you some food,” announced Rejji.

The Bursar turned and smiled at Rejji. “You are a good lad,” he said as he sliced the cheese in half. “I see you were grilling one of the bargemen up in the bow. Did he satisfy your curiosity?”

“Some,” grinned Rejji, “but I guess I have more curiosity than most.”

“Well that can be a good thing,” replied Wicado. “I still remember the first time I made this trip many years ago. I was a young man then, about your age. It seems so long ago now.”