Anathema - The Song of Eloh Saga, Book 2 (4 page)

Sometimes when I told tales, I forgot to
think and just lost myself in the telling. The adventure and
intrigue could sometimes keep me talking for an hour and help me
forget about life as a slave. Usually my sessions with Kandek were
filled with stories of political intrigue or of daily life of
nobles – at least the way I imagined them being. Having never been
outside of this household, I really had very little practical
knowledge of the outside world.

But this time was different. This story was
personal. Ivy’s disappearance was all I could think about and it
spilled into my story. Not once did I think Ivy would, or could,
come back for me. My carelessness got me into this situation, but I
had no idea how to get out of it.

I leaned my head back against the cold rock
wall. I tried squinting my eyes and focusing on the candle burning
outside the little barred window in my cell. Luckily I was used to
seeing in darker spaces. Living without frequent access to windows
does that to a girl.

The cell was ugly and spare, that was for
sure, but it wasn’t wholly unpleasant. At least I didn’t see any
rats, and that alone made it okay. In fact, it wasn’t so different
from my own sleeping chamber, just much smaller. I estimated it
could accommodate ten prisoners instead of the forty of us who
shared a room. And I would only spend a few short hours here until
my ceremony.

The branding, I remembered. Only a few hours
until the intense pain would overcome me. The burning feeling of a
fox seared onto the back of my head. My master’s mark on me
forever. His ownership complete.

Before this morning I hadn’t dreaded the
ownership, just the moment of the branding. Kandek had always been
so kind, to me at least. Yet such a silly slip of the tongue from a
wandering mind wound me up in the dungeon. The whole thing was
unfair. It may have been my fifteenth birthday and I may have been
heading into adulthood by receiving the brand, but I just proved to
myself I could still be careless like a child.

“It’s not fair,” I yelled.

“Life rarely is, child,” said a gravely
voice outside my door.

I scrambled over to the window in the door,
looking for the person who spoke to me. All I could see was Tod,
the huge guard, sleeping propped up against the wall. Moments ago I
had noticed his shadow falling across my view as he had been
walking back-and-forth in front of my door. To the right I made out
a figure in a black cloak. A black gloved hand was raised, palm
pointed at the guard.

His head turned to face me. I gazed at his
hood, trying to make out a face, but nothing was distinguishable in
the shadows. For a moment he stood still, watching me, his head
cocked.

“Impossible.”

“What’s impossible?” I asked.

A quick shake of the head brought him back
to his task.

“During your ceremony, when the moment
comes, run for the door.”

“Moment? What moment? What are you talking
about? Who are you?” I whispered, afraid to wake the snoozing
guard. He stirred lightly, but did not awaken.

“You will know, child. You will know.”

The other gloved hand raised and pulled the
cloak aside over his chest. Woven into the dark folds was the
family symbol on the token I found on Ivy’s pillow. I gasped and
closed my eyes, wondering if I was seeing things in the
shadows.

“What you doing, slave? Get away from the
window!” The guard snarled at me, no longer asleep and back to his
pacing.

I glanced around frantically, wondering
where the robed figured went. Was it just my imagination taking
over again?

“The cook must have sent this for you,” the
guard said reaching over to grab a steaming bowl next to him on the
table. “Move back from the door so I can give you the soup that
kitchen girl just left for you.”

I sank back on the stone bench, hands
shaking. What was wrong with me? First that ridiculous story and
now imagining a kitchen girl was a magically cloaked person. He
unlocked and opened a small door at the bottom of the cell. My
midday meal slid in, the soup sloshing out of the bowl from the
forceful shove. I sat back, grabbed the soup bowl in my hands and
forced myself to drink. The warmth settled into my body and after
eating I set the bowl aside in favor of a nap.

Wishing I had my blanket with the holes in
it, I tucked my knees up to my chest, pulling my legs up under my
dress to keep them warm. I laid my head on my arm, my best attempt
at a pillow. I closed my eyes and prayed to Eloh to grant me rest,
but before I could finish the prayer, I was asleep.

***

“Get up, slave.” The guard, Tod, kicked my
foot, stirring me from a deep slumber.

I shook my head and rubbed my eyes. It took
me a moment to remember where I was, but the damp smell and cold
bench thrust me back to reality. I wanted to ask if it was time for
my ceremony, but slaves weren’t permitted to ask questions of
anyone above them. The last thing I needed was to anger someone
else.

Even though I’d been mentally preparing for
the ceremony the last couple of weeks, today’s upheaval had shaken
any confidence I’d built up. First Ivy’s disappearance and then the
comforting thought of the herbal poultice Kandek had given me only
to have it taken away in one fell swoop. So far everything was
worse than I’d imagined. Then there was the mysterious cloaked
figure. Was that even real or just my imagination running away with
me again? I rubbed my temples, hoping to banish my anxiety. It
didn’t work.

I pushed myself up using the wall for
support. Though I was awake, I didn’t have my strength yet. My
post-nap stupor turned my legs to jelly and my arms to lead
weights. Tod grabbed my arm and pulled me up the rest of the way.
He wound a rope around my wrists, tying a tight knot. I could not
pull my wrists apart so my fingers laced together and my hands fell
in front of me.

“What’s the matter slave? Not excited about
your branding?”

Another guard joined us, flanking my left
side, Tod on my right.

I tried to ignore other slaves gawking at me
as they marched me down the hallway, but it was impossible. Every
time I passed a slave, he or she would slow down and stare at me.
Unlike Ivy’s walk a few weeks ago, I walked without friends
surrounding me. Even the lowest of us were allowed friends to walk
us to the branding ceremony. Our master was one of the few who
allowed it. But no one had ever been led by guards with her hands
bound. Until now.

I saw them whisper to each other. I even
heard a few snicker. I spied Ella, hidden partially behind a
curtain as her fear overcame her sense of new-found loyalty to me.
I wasn’t offended. I wasn’t sure how I would have reacted in the
same position.

As I rounded the next corner, Grey stood in
the middle of the hallway, his messenger bag hanging from his
shoulder.

“I believe Reychel has the right to be
escorted by a friend,” Grey said, drawing his shoulders back. He
lifted his bag off and placed it on the floor. I smiled at him,
grateful he’d overcome whatever concerns he had about me.

The guard on my right looked to the guard on
my left, who shook his head.

“We have orders,” Tod said, “to deliver her
to the great hall. She lost her rights when she admitted to treason
before our lord, Kandek.”

Treason? He asked me to tell a story and I
had.

“And,” the other guard continued, “we have
orders to arrest anyone who gets in our way. Step aside, boy.”

“Then I’ll be waiting outside the door to
take her back to her room,” Grey said, standing firm.

“You’ll be waiting a long time.” Tod
laughed. “We’re taking her straight back to her cell after the
brand is burned into her neck. Master Kandek has yet to decide how
to punish her.”

“No!” Grey said. His left foot stepped back
into a fighting stance and he raised his fists in the air.

“It’s okay,” I said, nodding my head and
trying to look brave.

It must have worked because Grey’s shoulders
relaxed as his feet shuffled back together. “Are you going to be
okay?”

“I don’t think I have a choice,” I said.
“Don’t worry about me. It’s all a mistake. I’m sure everything will
be cleared up before too long.”

I could only hope Kandek’s anger diffused
over the day and I would be allowed back to my chamber to endure my
pain instead of facing it in the dungeon. I hadn’t done anything
wrong. He had to know that.

Grey grabbed his messenger bag and slung it
over his shoulder. Scrolls threatened to spill as he walked past me
and bumped the guard’s shoulder. I held a smile back, knowing he
had hit him on purpose.

“Watch your step, boy,” he snarled. “Or
you’ll be in the dungeon too.”

The guard jerked my arm as he led me into
the great hall. I searched the crowd for any sign of the cloaked
man from the dungeon, but I didn’t see anyone out of the
ordinary.

Men dressed in their finest breeches and
tunics and by their side stood lavishly dressed ladies with the
ridiculous birds’ nests sprinkled in their hair. It was the height
of fashion, but Ivy and I always giggled that it was the height of
ridiculousness. The men sat with their hats in their laps. No one
wanted to obstruct the view.

“Second one in less than two months, huh
Kandek?” A fat man played with the rings on his fingers while
nudging Kandek with his shoulder. “You’re a lucky man. So many
slaves.”

I stood so near I could hear their
conversation and smell the other man. His perfume did little to
cover his sweaty stench.

“You’re a lucky man, you know. Very few have
ever been able to acquire so much from so little. What’s your
secret?”

Kandek laughed. “No secret, Blorn. Just hard
work.”

“Anything to tell about this one?” Lifting
his stubby thumb in the air, he pointed at me. “You had some
interesting stories about the last girl.”

I drew in a sharp breath. Interesting
stories? About Ivy? What had he told that man next to him? I could
barely look at him without staring at the rolls of stomach fat
peeking out from the sides of his tunic.

“This one? No, I barely know her. I didn’t
even realize she was the one getting branded today. After some time
they all look alike,” Kandek said.

Blorn snorted, his nostrils flaring out.
“It’s true isn’t it? One slave is just like another in my book. As
long as they get their work done, follow the rules and don’t cause
trouble, they’re all the same.”

Kandek and Blorn clanked their mugs together
in a toast. A drop of ale flew out of the mug, landing on Blorn’s
hand. Like a dog, he lapped the droplets up with his tongue.
Disgusted, I recoiled at his bad manners.

A twang in my gut pulled my glance away. How
could Kandek say those things? Of course he knew me from the other
slaves. Maybe after my mistake today, he had decided to treat me
like the rest of the slaves again. Would it make my confinement
worse? Would I ever be allowed to see sunlight again?

Kandek stood up and straightened his golden
tunic. With a low murmur everyone in the room turned to face him.
There must have been at least a hundred spectators, all waiting to
watch me experience the most excruciating pain of my life. I felt
the soup in my stomach begin to churn. Maybe it was a mistake to
have eaten, but it was too late now.

“My friends, fellow councilmen, and dear
ladies. Thank you for coming today to celebrate Reychel’s fifteenth
birthday. It is a big occasion in a girl’s life. In society it
means she is eligible for marriage, but for a slave it means she
becomes permanently joined to her household. Today, Reychel is
delighted to earn the mark of the fox. Isn’t that right, my dear?”
he asked with a quick flick of his hand in my direction.

I looked into his eyes and saw a flicker of
panic but he broke our gaze, looking back to his friends. If I was
ever to get answers, now might be my only chance. I opened my mouth
to respond, but was interrupted by a boisterous laugh.

“She thinks she’s allowed to respond!” Blorn
roared. The entire room filled with laughter. My face reddened as I
looked to Kandek again, but his eyes refused to meet mine.

“Bring in the brander!” Kandek ordered,
throwing his arms in the air. A cheer arose as another slave,
Mollor, a metalworker, walked in with the brand. He held it up for
all to see the sign of the fox. Another cheer waved through the
room.

Tod pushed my shoulders down until my knees
buckled. I dropped on the waiting chair. He grabbed the top of my
head and pushed my face into the hole in the middle of the table.
My forehead rested on the splintered wood and I thought of all the
slaves who’d been here before me. I stared at my shoes, my throat
constricting as I swallowed. My breath became shallow as the sharp
edge of the wooden table pushed into me.

My hands were still bound behind my back and
I wanted to fight but knew I couldn’t. Again I felt my stomach
turn. The cloaked figure hadn’t appeared. My master wasn’t going to
save me. My best friend was missing. All of this followed by
another trip to the dungeon.

A pair of shoes shuffled closer, the toes of
the boots just peeking under the table. Mollor’s boots. It was
time.

I took a deep breath. My eyelids fluttered
closed, surrendering to the inevitable. Small droplets of sweat
balled together, rolling down the sides of my neck as the poker
hovered over its target.

I knew Mollor was waiting for the signal to
brand me. One simple word from Kandek’s lips was all it took.

“Now,” Kandek roared. I sucked in another
breath as a cheer rose from the audience. I waited for the pain and
wished it would just be over.

“Run,” a voice whispered in my ear as I felt
the binding cut from my wrists. “Run now!”

I lifted my head. No one was moving, the
voices as silent as their motionless bodies. The guard’s hands were
hanging limp at his sides, no longer restraining me to the table.
The vacant stare of his eyes sent shivers through my body. Mollor’s
firebrand hovered in the air sizzling with life, quite the opposite
of his slack mouth.