Whatever It Takes 3: Love in Chains - EXCERPT

Chapter 9

Lamar wasn’t sure whether to be hating Ersey or thanking him. Both, probably. The scumbag pirate didn’t sell Laina to a brothel or to some sick f**k looking for a young girl to play with. That was the good news. But the fact that she was in the middle of the most heavily guarded place in the entire empire made things more than slightly problematic.

The Blessed District was a dangerous place even for normal people. For two Orellians sent to Cchen-Lian by king Hayden to spy on the emperor and try to find out which of the noblemen would be willing to betray their country, it was a death trap. But Laina was there and Lamar couldn’t exactly leave her behind. So, after some more time spent on his knees in front of the pirate captain, begging, groveling, and swallowing silly insults, Ersey agreed to sell Lamar to the palace.

It sucked and Lamar hated every single second of it. The metal collar on his neck felt like it weighed a ton and the way some dumb asshole in a uniform dragged him and two other unfortunate souls through the city in chains and on a leash was beyond humiliating. The soldier stopped at some square and forced them to watch a disgusting torture show. Lamar understood only about half of what the guard was saying but it seemed that it was a place where they publicly punished slaves who tried to escape. Savages.

By the time they reached their beautiful new home, a dark, windowless cell with a bucket in the corner and a thick iron loop sticking out of the cold, dirty floor, it was evening already. And they just missed dinner. Or at least that was what Lamar gathered from the long stream of words the guard growled at them while shoving them inside the cell and using short chains to attach their collars to the loop on the floor. It looked like the cellmates were going to have to get quite close to each other to be able to sleep at all. Things were just getting better and better.

The door slammed shut, leaving the three men in complete darkness. There was some quiet shuffling and groaning as they tried to find a bit more comfortable position. Something touched Lamar’s foot. His elbow poked a thigh. By the smell of it, his head was near someone’s armpit when he finally placed his body into a horizontal position. He tried to break the ice. “Hello.” That was a word he did know.

While they were walking through the city, he got a good look at his current roommates. It was impossible not to since they were chained together and herded like livestock. One of them was a local, his light brown skin and narrow eyes gave him away. He was short and scrawny, it didn’t look like he was used to manual labor. The other man must have come from the eastern continent, his skin was dark and his hair black and curly. This one was tall and muscular, with lots of scars marring his body.

They were quiet for so long that Lamar gave up hopes of getting an answer but then one of them sighed quietly. “Hey.” It must have been the one from Cchen-Lian, since his pronunciation was better than even Laina’s. Someone farted loudly and there was a quiet growl from the other corner. “Sorry,” the first man continued in a shaky voice, “I’m nervous. You think … I … nothing wrong … home.”

Lamar cursed his brain for not being able to remember more words of that stupid language. Now he couldn’t even talk to this guy since he could barely understand him. “Sorry.” Right, that was a word Laina made him repeat over and over, claiming he was going to need it a lot. She was not wrong. “I understand little. Only. I’m Lamar. You?”

“I’m Fu.” Lamar had to suppress a chuckle. Stupid language, stupid names. This whole country was stupid and he hated it. Why did he ever agree to come here? Sure, it was flattering to know he was one of the few people Hayden could trust. And that was even before the king found out one of his most trusted diplomats was betraying him and planning to murder hundreds of innocent people to undermine his rule.

But Lamar was not a spy. He was a soldier and he was bloody good at that. He was good at fighting and he was good at following orders. This whole mission was something huge he had no idea how to tackle. It was part of the reason he didn’t fight Laina too hard when she decided to join him. She was smart and always seemed to know what to do. That, and the fact that he liked being around her, even if most of the time he had to listen to her rants about devious horses and dumb soldiers.

“Pleased to meet you.” These basic phrases weren’t so hard. “We… friends… together?” He desperately needed some around here.

Fu stuttered something unintelligible and a deep voice laughed heartily. “You’re funny, Orellian,” the other man said in the common tongue. “I don’t think our Cchen-lianese compatriot with incredibly smelly feet ever got an offer to s**t with someone together.” Crap, did Lamar mix up those two words again? Laina would have such a laugh over that. Why did every thought of her hurt so much?

The man said a few quick sentences from which Lamar only recognized his name and “Orellia”. Fu squealed in horror and tried to shuffle away from Lamar while the second slave laughed and snorted. “What the f**k did you tell him?!”

“You know, just the usual. That it is customary in Orellia when you first meet with someone to rub each other’s s**t all over your faces as a sign of good faith. These uptight Cchen-lianese bastards consider the rest of the world to be barbarians anyway.”

Gods, what a dickhead! Lamar kicked in the man’s direction. “Tell him the truth or I will smear s**t all over your face, asshole!”

“Haha, I’d like to see you try.”

Taking a deep breath, Lamar tried to calm himself down. “Look, we are all in this mess together. Do we really need to make each other's lives harder? What does it matter where we are from now? I mean, you are what? Dabu tribe? Igama?” The man had some tribal tattoos that looked familiar but Lamar wasn’t an expert on the matter.

“Xolani,” the man sighed. “My name is Gavali. And fine, Orellian, I will calm your friend down. It’s not like he is going to survive more than a few days here.” As much as Lamar hated to admit it, he had to agree with Gavali. Fu certainly didn’t seem like he would be able to survive the hard work that no doubt awaited them starting the next morning.

Gavali said a few quiet sentences to the other man that seemed to have calmed him down enough to lie back down on the ground next to Lamar. Fu muttered something angrily, probably pissed that Gavali was making fun of him. “Hmm, I don’t even know that one,” Gavali snorted upon hearing one of the curse words.

“I think it means something like pissy-pants.” The swear words and insults were actually fun to learn. “What was he saying before? I only caught a few words.”

It was quiet for a few moments. “He said that he didn’t do anything wrong and didn’t commit any crimes, so he hopes this misunderstanding will be cleared out soon and he will be able to go home. Naive idiot.”

Lamar couldn’t really object to those words. They lay in silence after that, each lost in their thoughts and memories, trying to fall asleep. Quiet sniffles from Fu’s direction didn’t really surprise Lamar and he reached out to the man, his fingers scouring the floor until he found what he hoped was a shoulder. Gently patting it was a lame form of providing comfort but the only one available at the moment and Fu looked like he appreciated it, grabbing and squeezing Lamar’s hand in return.

Too soon the darkness was pierced by sharp light as the door flung open and a man placed three pieces of bread and a bowl of water on the doorstep. Gavali was the closest to it and immediately snatched everything, raising an eyebrow in Lamar’s direction as if challenging him to fight for it. Based on the sounds of struggle coming from other cells, it was probably a common morning routine here.

“Really?” Lamar scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief. “Wow, man. You are such a dickhead.” He didn’t want to fight but couldn’t exactly go without food all day either. Fu had no chance of overpowering either of them and just sat there with a resigned look on his tear-stained face.

Gavali smirked. “I didn’t survive three years of this bullshit by being weak, Orellian. But there is still hope for you.” The man tossed a piece of bread in Lamar’s direction and quickly devoured the other two. Lamar understood his point. He really did. Still, he split the bread in half and gave one piece to Fu, earning a surprised thank you. “Or maybe not. Compassion is a weakness. Remember that.”

There was some construction going on in one corner of the Blessed District and all male slaves were sent there every morning to work until nightfall. Digging piles of dirt, taking them away on a wheelbarrow, or moving huge stones and hundreds of heavy bricks was tedious and exhausting even for Lamar and Gavali who were used to hard labor or exercise. Fu was constantly falling behind, tripping over his own feet, or dropping things. By the afternoon of the first day, his back was already covered in red stripes from the whip and when he stumbled and fell into the ditch the three of them had been working on, he simply refused to get up again.

After quickly checking that there were no overseers in the immediate vicinity, Lamar dropped his shovel and jumped after him, trying to pull him up to his feet. Fu just groaned in pain and shook his head, blabbering something about death and home. “Get up, you i***t,” Lamar hissed at him and yanked him up, throwing the man’s arm around his shoulders to keep him standing. “Can’t you help me?!” he called at Gavali who ostentatiously ignored them, minding his own work.

Before Lamar could even curse the man, an all too familiar sting of a whip bit into his back. He groaned, not letting go of Fu’s arm, pushing a handle of a pickax into his other hand so it at least looked like the poor man was doing something. “WORK!” the overseer above them yelled and, after striking them again, moved to harass someone else.

It was nearly impossible to do work for two for the rest of the day and keep Fu out of the overseers’ sight but Lamar somehow managed to do it. By the evening, his back was bloody too and he could barely stand, stumbling several times when they were hoarded back into their cells. It was the short man who held him up in return, helping him walk back. Three bowls of stew were placed on the doorstep this time and Lamar was too weak to fight Gavali for them.

“You are seriously unbelievable, Orellian,” the dark-skinned slave shook his head while slurping the stew. “You’re gonna die for that worm? He’s some noble-born asshole. If you two met under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire.”

Lying down on his stomach, since his back was too sore, Lamar sighed in relief as he stretched his limbs. They took the shackles off the slaves’ wrists but kept their ankles chained together. The chain was long enough so they could walk and work but not long enough to run or climb. “You are the only asshole around here, Gavali, don’t pretend any different. I’m gonna find my friend and then I’m gonna get out of here. If you aren’t interested in helping me, you can rot in this hellhole, I don’t care.”

“Get out of here,” Gavali scoffed. “You know how many times I have heard delusional madmen rant about that? There is only one place slaves go from the Blessed District and that is the Square of the Crescent Moon. And you don’t seem like you need my help getting there.”

Yes, the odds weren’t in his favor, but that has never stopped Lamar before. “I thought the Xolani people were proud and fierce warriors. I guess I was wrong. I would rather die trying to get out of here than live a long life as a good pet, licking my master’s hand to get an extra treat. Like those lap dogs who watched over us today. Those were slaves too, I guess they just kissed the right asses for long enough to be able to stand on the other side of the whip. Is that what you aspire to become, Gavali?”

Lamar knew he was playing with fire but couldn’t really stop himself. When a heavy body landed on his sore back and strong hands grabbed his neck, he only managed a feeble attempt to fight back.

“HEY!” an angry voice hollered from the door, pulling Gavali off Lamar. “If you kill him, you will have to do his work too!” Gavali growled angrily but retreated into his corner. The overseer stepped into the cell and crouched next to Lamar. “And you, my friend, should really watch your mouth. If it were any of the other ‘lap dogs’, as you so nicely called us, they would beat you unconscious. Not that you would need much at this point,” he smirked, brushing a few strands of long, dark hair off his face. “I’ll let you off with a warning this time. And you,” standing up, the man frowned at Gavali, “give them their food. They need to be able to work tomorrow.”

He said a few quick words to Fu before he left, making him nod vigorously, eyes widened with fear. Lamar only understood the words “work” and something like “moon square”. It wasn’t hard to decipher the message though. Work harder or get sent to the Square of the Crescent Moon. The only way out of this place.

The next day was worse. Fu could barely get up and Lamar wasn’t much better. They stumbled around the building site, desperately trying to keep up and avoid the more vigorous overseers. When Lamar tripped over a forgotten shovel, only a strong hand stopped him from falling into a pit with a big pile of stones. Broken bones were guaranteed with such a fall, which would be a death sentence. A slave who couldn’t work was worth nothing.

“Thanks,” he muttered in Gavali’s direction, stopping for a moment to wipe the sweat off his forehead.

“I haven’t given up.” The man wasn’t looking at Lamar, he was observing the people around them, probably because there was a trace of shame in his expression. “I haven’t forgotten. You have a plan, Orellian? If you do, I’m in. I’ll even help you keep the worm alive if you love him so much. But it better be worth it.”

Now that was a surprise. Gavali had a stern expression but his words sounded honest and Lamar nodded. “I’ll figure something out. But we need to get Laina first.” There was no chance he was leaving the girl behind. He just needed a bit of help.

His eyes found the dark-haired overseer from yesterday. Lamar realized how lucky he got last night. Insulting these guys and even talking about an escape could have earned him a one-way ticket to that dreadful torture square. But the man didn’t even punch him, just gave him a “warning” and made sure Lamar and Fu got their food. He seemed almost… kind, like someone who didn’t really belong here. Like someone who could be their ticket out.

***

Next update: Tuesday