Unbound: Slave to the Desert Sands

A Real Man

     As the day started to fade into evening, Kaia was exhausted. Her feet were sore and her mind was tired from being on edge all day. Mary had been almost silent since her beating after the accident. Her face had instantly swollen up leaving one eye almost entirely closed and black around the edges. Kaia knew it would bruise terribly and be sore for many days. Mary had shuffled along behind them, not wanting to speak but not willing to stray far  from the other two. 

     "Kaia," Sarah spoke for the first time in what seemed like a couple hours, "How did you know they wanted the water?" Kaia froze, she had anticipated this question but had still not quite decided one what to say. She was unsure of how her companions would react if they found out she spoke the language of her captors. Would they think she's a spy? Razaaki was an incredibly rare language to hear in Creed, and unheard of for a girl to speak.     Women of Creed were often not even taught to write or do numbers in their own language let along speak a foreign one entirely. Kaia could not remember her life before coming to live with Miss Bucket. She had been only eight years old when a stranger she could not recall had brought her there and asked Miss Bucket to look after her for a while and that he would return for her. But months had passed and then years and the plump inn keeper had happily accepted that the man was not coming back. It didn't take long for her to notice that little Kaia was incredibly advanced in numbers and could speak various languages that little Miss Bucket could not even hope to identify. 

     Kaia was shaken from her thoughts as she realized that Sarah was still looking at her quietly. 

      "I just knew they had to wash out the wound, it was covered in dirt." She said hastily, trying to avoid lying to the girl. Sarah stayed silent for a moment, as though she was lost in thought, until she said,

     "That's very smart of you. I always knew you were smart in school, I was never good at that kind of stuff." Her voice faded off rather wistfully and Kaia remembered that Sarah had been pulled out of school at the age of thirteen to be married. It was common enough for girls in Bleakburn to not return to school after marriage, because they were expected to raise a household. She didn't know what to say and so she decided to stay silent.

    Once the sun went down the procession came to a stop. It was quite cold out now and the men were quick to start fires and light torches to see by. The slaves who were further back in the line were the ones who assembled the tents and they got to work right away with the King's guard barking orders from every direction. 

     Kaia and the other girls were set to work, with Naji and Pasha overseeing them. They were quickly taught how to cook the meat over the fire in the the right way so the outside was crisp but the inside was juicy and tender. Kaia had no idea when the anyone had time to go hunting. But the meat they cooked, which from the looks of it belonged to an enormous stag, was very fresh. Some of the king's guard must break off from the line during the day on horseback and catch up with precession later she assumed.

     Eventually the camp was settled, and although many men and Kala’ree still moved about purposefully, many of the King’s guard had sat down out  the large fires talking and laughing raucously with each other. Pasha approached the girls with bowls full of the men’s supper and handed two each to Kaia and Sarah.

        “Start handing these out to the men. Remember do not speak unless spoken to, be respectful.” Sarah gasped and Kaia gaped at Pasha, who had seemed to  forgotten they were supposed to interact with the men at all. Pasha’s face became irritated and she snapped. “There is too much to do for you Varuuks to sit around all day! Do as you’re told!” Kaia flinched at the contempt in her voice. Pasha looked coldly at Mary. “Not you, your face would insult the lords, find Naji and have her give you something useful to do. Mary scurried off  managing even with her bruised and swollen face to look rather relieved. Kaia couldn’t really blame her. 

      Pasha led them to an edge of a large gathering of the king’s guard sitting around a huge fire. Kaia noticed with puzzlement that many of not most of them already had bowls of food and were deeply engrossed in conversation. If they had already been fed why had they been told told bring more? Pasha gestured for Sarah to moved into the circle in one direction and for Kaia to take the other way. Kaia tried to take a steadying breath and hold her shoulders high as they approached. A quick glance at Sarah showed the girl looked ready to be sick. Kaia glance over her shoulder quickly at Pasha who had been joined by another Kala’ree, the purple silked woman with the heavily drawn kohl around her eyes whom Kaia did not know the name of. Both the women stared directly at Kaia with open hatred. Pasha made an impatient gesture telling her to get on with it. Kaia turned back around feeling confused. What was that about? She thought wildly. Unable to hesitate a moment longer she stepped into the ring of men behind Sarah. The men looked up at her as she passed some jeering loudly at her others just watching with curiosity. All of their masks were pulled down below their chins now and Kaia was able see their faces for the first time. Like the few faces she had seen the previous day they all had similar golden tan skin and glossy black hair. Their facial hair ranged wildly spanning from wild bushy long beards to  the same short well kept styles like she had seen on Zahir and Aseem. Kaia was shocked to see some boys, probably around her age, who were not even able to grow facial hair yet. These boys all appeared rather shy and quickly averted their eyes from her as she passed. They were all drinking some kind of strong ale by the smell of it, it radiated off their breath as they talk to her. The blood roaring in her ears and her heart which seemed ready to pound right out of her chest prevented her from comprehending anything they said. Like Kaia had guessed all the men had already been well fed and refused the bowls she offered. Kaia felt foolish as she made her way slowly around the ring, stepping carefully over legs and items that  had been strewn on the ground in front of them. She could not even see how Sarah was faring due to the large bonfire that roared between them. Finally a large man took one of the bowls she carried. He was smiling at her and patting his belly. He had a kind twinkle in his eye that made Kaia almost want to smile back. But instead she bowed her head respectfully like she had been shown and continued on. She only had one bowl left and she was over half way around the semi circle. Just a little bit more to go and then she’d be out of here. Suddenly she felt something snake around her ankle and pull her feet out from under her. The bowl went flying from her grip and in the back of her mind she realized she never heard it clatter to the ground. Before she could think she realized one of the men had caught her and was cradling her rather like a mother would a baby. The position was utterly humiliating and the men all around were roaring with laughter. Kaia struggled to sit up when she realized her hands were pinned over her head, rendering her struggle useless. The man gripping her had a thin face with a sharp hooked nose and his hair fell in greasy drapes till just below his chin. He sneered down at Kaia, his breath was stale with the smell of ale.

     “What a clumsy Varuuk,” he purred at her in Razaaki, gripping both her wrists with one hand and stroking her face. Although Kaia was sure this man was the reason she fell, she was not exactly in a position to argue. The men around them just laughed. To her horror she felt his free hand snaking along her tunic, searching for the opening. “Your little forest kingdoms don’t have any real men. I’m sure you’d love to finally get a taste of a real one,” His hand had finally found entry into her tunic and were now playing along her hipbones trying to pull at the underclothes beneath.

     “No!” Kaia shouted, struggling with all her might now.

     “Enough!” A cool commanding Razaak voice sounded through all the noise around them. The man instantly dropped Kaia as though she had burned him and she tumbled to the ground in a heap. She sat up cheeks flushed to see who had come to her rescue. The group of men had parted instantly to let them through and Kaia looked up into the face of Azra, who was not even looking at her, but instead glaring rather coolly at her attacker. Over Azra’s shoulder Kaia saw another figure, a man wearing all black except for a red belt around his waist. His mask was down this time and Kaia instantly recognized the face. It was Zahir.