Chapter Five #2
“I was told to,” the slaver grunted.
“It’s going to be winter before you get anywhere. You’ll be lucky to make it to the next valley before you’re snowed in.”
“Extra risk means extra rewards,” the man said with an oily smile. Then he turned away.
Theos stepped back and tried to find sense in the situation.
The chosen prisoners were young. They were all male, but that made sense; females were captured when the Torians took over a valley, not when they captured trespassers, and there’d been no new valleys claimed recently.
But still, there was something about the prisoners . . .
The boys were all pretty, and didn’t seem to have anything else in common. “You’re taking them to be bedwarmers?”
The trader wagged his eyebrows. “They’ll fetch a good price back east.”
It didn’t feel right. This many young, healthy men had failed to meet the army standards? It was unheard of. “Who authorized this?”
“I did.” The voice was chilly, and Theos turned to see the warlord striding toward him. Tall and lean with a hawklike face and eyes that seemed to see everything, the man was imposing. But Theos was Sacrati.
“Why are you sending them? They haven’t been here long, have they?” The pens had been almost empty when Theos had left on patrol. “They haven’t been given a chance.”
“Remember yourself, soldier. Remember your place.” The words were wielded like a whip, but they didn’t sting when they landed.
“Sacrati,” Theos corrected calmly.
“Sacrati are still soldiers, and it’s time you all remembered that. Now, get back to your duties.” The man’s eyes raked over the food in Theos’s hands. “Or your picnic. Whatever you were doing, start doing it again. This is none of your business.”
The next prisoner was pulled out of the pen.
Finnvid. His face was tight with anger or fear or a combination of both, and his eyes skimmed past Theos without any sign of recognition.
Theos was just another Torian, another slaver.
And Finnvid was a leader being dragged away from his men, and being sent on a dangerous journey to an unknowable fate.
“Sir,” Theos said. “I have some concerns about this prisoner. Information I received while on the mountain suggests—”
“No, you have no concerns about this prisoner. He’s none of your business.” The warlord didn’t even glance toward Theos this time. “Leave the area, soldier.”
Sacrati, Theos wanted to insist again. He took half a step backward, casting around the courtyard hoping to find a solution he couldn’t quite imagine on his own.
He saw Andros standing on the steps of one of the barracks’ buildings.
He was leaning on Xeno, pale and weak, but he was standing.
He was alive. “Sir,” Theos said, stepping forward.
“As patrol leader, I have the right to first pick of the prisoners we captured. I haven’t made my choice yet. ”
The warlord curled his lips into an ugly sneer. “And the business of the valley should cease while you ponder?”
Theos knew what he was doing. That was the frustrating part. Displeasing a leader of the camp, getting involved in something he didn’t understand—he knew it was stupid. And he did it anyway. “I chose that prisoner, sir. Finnvid of the Elkati. I claim him.” He pointed to the boy.
The warlord glared at him for a moment, then jerked his chin toward the office building. “So go tell them inside, and they’ll give you the coin.”
A final chance to escape, but Theos didn’t take it. “No, sir, I don’t want the value. I want the prisoner.”
The warlord’s expression became even more hawklike.
“What? You want to . . .” The veins in his neck were standing out, but then he gave a smile, tight and almost more intimidating than his scowl.
“You’re a young man, Theos. You’re . . .
I know, I said Sacrati were just soldiers, but we both know you get extra attention as one of the chosen.
You have no need of a bedwarmer. And they’re expensive, you know.
If they’re not contributing to the empire, you have to pay for their food, and for any clothing or medicine they need. ”
“But if they have any income, I get to keep that, right?”
“You’re thinking of making him a whore?” The warlord shrugged a little, visibly trying to relax.
His voice was lighter as he continued, “Fine, maybe that’s not a bad idea.
But . . . just between you and me. As comrades.
Choose one of the others, one of the more tractable ones, and I’ll mark it down as if he came from your patrol’s capture.
You’ll get a better slave out of the deal. ”
And the warlord would be doing it because he and Theos were comrades.
Theos managed to hide his disbelief and tried to think of a way to make his interest seem less peculiar.
“Thank you, sir, but I’ve already spent time with this prisoner.
I like his—his way. His skills. I know he’s a nuisance, but I’ll keep him under control. ”
The game was over now; the warlord wasn’t trying to control his anger anymore. He stepped closer to Theos and hissed, “Take another prisoner.”
“I’d prefer to follow the rules,” Theos said quietly. “I’ll take Finnvid of the Elkati, sir. Thank you.”
For a moment it truly seemed that the warlord would refuse.
Possibly with a bonus assault. Then he exhaled some of his aggression in an angry huff.
“Fine,” he growled. He turned to the woman who had just finished positioning Finnvid in the apparatus used for attaching the collars.
The boy was on his hands and knees, his head stuffed between an anvil and a block of wood, strapped in place with a thick band of leather.
It wasn’t a scene that should have made Theos’s cock stir.
“Let him up,” the warlord snarled, and the blacksmith undid the straps. Finnvid staggered to his feet, rubbing his neck as if the collar had actually been attached.
Theos stood quietly as the slave trader wrapped a leather rope around Finnvid’s neck. “Enjoy your new toy,” the trader said with a lascivious smile, and handed the end of the rope to Theos.
Theos forced his fingers to accept the strip, and he turned and strode away with what dignity he could find, forcing Finnvid to jog to keep up.
“What’s going on?” the Elkati demanded when they were safely beyond earshot of the rest.
“I have no idea,” Theos growled. He whirled and stared at the boy. “But I’m going to find out. And by the sword, Elkati—you’ll help me. You belong to me, now, and that means that whatever’s going on in your busy little brain is my property. You’d better spread it out for inspection.”