Chapter 16
The farm, Geraint told me was owned by a consortium of a family of farmers–half bloods that had formed an alliance. Their politics weren’t directly against the King but much more overt. Half of their yield went directly to the Lyr’s Army and capital city. The other half was theirs to sell and profit off. The only way that the farm owners could survive this arrangement was to use slave labor. This prompted a sudden rush of new industries–like slave markets, slave bounty hunters and mass kidnappings of those unfortunate humans who had stumbled across the Border and survived. It also started a rush over the Border by intrepid rangers and hunters who actually went looking for humans to capture and sell. You would think that the half-bloods would be more sympathetic to the humans but were in fact, the biggest buyers of slaves.
Overall, we were treated fairly well as we were an expensive and valuable commodity. There were more men than females and most were soldiers left for dead or captured as prisoners of war. I had heard there was a war ranging between the Newlands and the Border. So far, it was a stalemate as the Emperor’s soldiers still had not breached the Wall in any great numbers nor was their wizard able to hold the opening for longer than an hour.
I asked them if any of them had tried escaping, their eyes went dull and their faces flat. Markus spoke this time. He said, “Don’t you think we’ve all tried? Us, several times. Once, we even made it out of the orchard to the woodlot. That’s when the master put these collars on us.”
“What are they?”
“Something you hope you never have to experience,” he said grimly and hurried to catch up to the group nearly dragging me in their haste.
We left the grove and I paid particular attention to the way but it seemed all the same. Rows of trees, red and green fruit, one lane looked the same as its neighbor. Somehow, they knew the way when I could not discern it. The trees parted to reveal a wagon drawn by heavy built creatures called sylphs. They were equine but strangely different. Taller and more snaky than a horse with pointed split ears and hooves more like a deer with the same graceful legs. Longer necked with wispy tails and brush-like manes, these two were clearly built to haul heavy loads and were both colored a pale fawn with greenish dapples. They would blend in with the trees.
The half-blood boy was driving, dressed in good quality twill trousers, leather jerkin and a blousy white shirt with the sleeves rolled back. He was around the same age as the brothers–late 20s with pale blonde hair and lavender eyes. More of the Elassai showed in him than the human. He was almost too pretty to be a boy and looked as if he wasn’t quite sure if he was grown up or still a child. He studied me but said nothing to us, the late arrivals.
Dioneses told us to get in and the group climbed up into the back of the spring wagon making room among the tools. I saw hoes, pickaxes, mattocks, saws and axes before one of the slaves in the back reached down, grabbed me by my shirtfront and hauled me up with one giant heave. Behind me, Geraint had his hands on my legs pushing as if I were a sack of feed. I flew into the back bed, shoved down on the seat behind the driver and then both brothers climbed on behind me.
“Morning, master,” Dioneses greeted the youngster. His answer was a grunt as he gathered the reins. “Woodlot today?”
“Yes. Pitcher Hill Woods. Any issues? The new slave, he is able to work?”
“He must be. I found him coming up from the Galantine Lot,” the overseer’s lips were grim.
The half-breed turned around to stare at me, his mouth hanging open. I stared back. He had weird eyes–one was the purple of an Elassai, the other a pure brown like dark honey. “I’ll have to tell Agenor and the Factor,” he said.
“Yes, master. I’m scheduled to speak with him at sunset.”
“I’ll notify the smithy that there will be a need for another collar. Agenor said he was sure this one would bolt. Your name is Reuven?”
“That’s when Agenor called me. I don’t know my name,” I returned not looking away. He smiled ruefully.
“This one is as bold as an Elass’i noble. Was your mother or father one of the Elass’i?”
“I don’t know. Was yours?” I sniped and the overseer hit me across the back. The slash reopened the wounds and the pain nearly dropped me onto the belly of the wagon. The boy stopped the next stroke even as I turned and grabbed for Dioneses’ hand.
“Stop, Dion. If you injure him where he can’t work, you’ll pay as well.”
I closed my fingers on the man’s arm and he turned white as the bone began to crush. “Master!” He gasped and the boy tried to peel my fingers back. He could not. I broke his arm in two and the sight of his blood entranced me. With belly-fluttering delight, I licked the sweet blood off his skin, saw his heart beating in his chest and whispered to him. All of them in the wagon fell into my enrapture as my teeth slid gently into the overseer’s neck. I bit deep and ambrosia filled my veins. I was entranced as I fed and he mewled under me in a frenzy of his own passion. Abruptly, I was torn backwards to land like a cat on the edge of the cart where I looked up at the enraged driver.
“Yfed gwaed!” He cursed and said it in words I could understand. “Blood drinker!” He blew a sharp whistle that hung around his neck and held out a tube-like device, which he pointed at me. I jumped down from the wagon and smiled, blood staining my lips and teeth as energy filled me and raced through my veins.
“Come closer, child,” I soothed. “Let me show you what joy it is to submit to my pleasure. You will swoon in ecstasy.”
“Father!” He shouted and triggered the wand. Red lights flickered out of the end and hit me on the chest. It did nothing yet the cuffs burned once and stabbed me with fire that made my arms go numb. I fell to my knees and he hit me on the back of the head with the tube. That hurt. I saw stars, sound dimmed and the last thing I saw or felt was the ground on my face.