4
Kalal stoked the flames in the smoky hut in the farthest corner of the Rasheed estate. The busy street noise floated in with the dust. Medi was tied face down to a table and writhed like a snake against the bindings. He had a cloth stuffed in his mouth which stifled his screams. Jakira could taste sweat and vomit on the cloth that bound her mouth and it made her gag, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the boy.
“This one was a slave before, so you’ll need to scrape off his old mark and add a new one,” said Big Bulai to Kalal. She sat on a stool by the door, enjoying what little breeze there was. She lifted a heavy rock up and down, flexing her muscles, bored.
Kalal looked at the soles of Medi’s feet, found the mark and pulled a hot metal poker from the fire. He started to scrape at th
