Everlasting Chains

Routines

As a young male slave all I did was dig, all day, since we were assigned cultivation. I didn't really know anything beyond the realm of grass and dirt. At times I thought the Sun would be too disappointed in me to rise again.. but it did.. and its rage embraced my skin with fearsome intensity.

We all ate once a day at the end of our labours a morsel of bread. To be honest all I'd ever tasted since birth was water, bread and milk since everything else all belonged to the tribesmen of the lord of the settlement. I had never really seen this mystical being myself that owned everything including our lives since we were supervised by his tribesmen. All I knew is that we could never escape him.. never escape them.

"What are you thinking about Basha? You would do well to remember your thoughts belong to the taskmasters too."

In an attempt to silence this buffoon, "Speak with your hoe and not your words!"

Wiping the sweat off his brow he smirked, leaning on his instrument of labour as he stared at me heaving a sigh of exhaustion.

Before he could take his break any further the voice that broke out from the distance seemed to instill in him untold stamina,

Dig slaves! Dig like your life depends on it ..because .... IT ACTUALLY DOES!!

And so we dug, we cultivated and that was the cycle of my life day in day out.

However, when we broke off that day we encountered a rare but educative sight, a slave opening the door of death through defiance.

The sound of a whip tearing flesh really reminds you of what's important in life.. well for most of us it does..

Leaning in from behind I asked one of my brethren in bonds what offense had led to this gruesome punishment to which he whispered,

"He offended the lady of the house of Vesto"

Slowly turning my head at hearing this my shock resonated with the surprise on Hasan's face.

The house of Vesto; the family that owned the land we toiled in, the Vesto plains. I and Hasan were sold to them when we were of age and one thing we learnt is to steer clear of the main family. To think one would offend them, it would most likely be the end of his employ but then again leniency could be extended given the gravity of one's trespass.

But a lady of the house was off limits even to the free men in those parts for they were the daughters of Master Vesto, our employer and thus held irreplaceable value to him.

Employer is rather kind, but for the sake of my own sanity I decide to see it that way.

Squinting my eyes I noticed the lady offended and nudging Hasan with my elbow I whispered, "Look, It's Lady Ameretat."

As far as forbidden beauties go, she was in a class of her own and a certain someone was obviously slain at every glance from a distance.

"Basha! How many deaths are you willing to die to spend a night with her?"

My eyes widening to remind him to keep it down I answered, "None ..my life is too fleeting to be thrown away for a fling... but I guess you're not so level headed.. how many..?"

"Not nearly enough brother.. not nearly enough," as he stared at her lost in one of his delusions.

"Falling in love with her just asking to die fool," smacking him on the back of the head.

Tears welling up in his eyes he looked at me desperately "And who did I ask to live Basha? That granted me a life worse than death?

I had no answer ..more like there wasn't an answer that could satisfy a man clouded by such thoughts induced by carnal desires..

Thoughts I had resolved long ago to bind up and cast into forgetfulness no matter how many times they surfaced. For we are not born the same as free men Hasan. There are those who live above the sword.. and those who live below it.. and so I keep my head where it should be lest it come down ever so swiftly and split me in half.. but this would not be sound reason to Hasan.. so I kept it to myself.. as I did many other things. For if there was one thing I feared more than death, it was losing Hasan..

Before I could finish that thought our taskmaster's voice rang me back into reality, "GET A MOVE ON IF YOU STILL VALUE YOUR FEET!"

Upon hearing this, we all made a beeline for the slave quarters which was the fancy wording used to refer to the barn in which we spent our nights.

Our numbers however, exceeded this barn's capacity for hospitality and the lot of us that were left made our shelter beneath the night sky-- chained to wooden posts ofcourse, built around the cattle's grazing grounds.

It wasn't so bad at times, sleeping under the open sky I mean, as the moon seemed to grow more luminous at every appearance.. and at times we slept under the wrath of heaven, from which many would emerge sick and weak but the tolerance built up under the hand of b*****e was not to be frowned upon.

This is why some of us that had been in longer service often opted out of squeezing ourselves into the pregnant barn, in consideration of the newer slaves that wouldn't last harsh nights.

It was under these somewhat unbearable conditions that Hasan accosted my ears with his trivial fantasies..

Of a world without b*****e where the plains would embrace him not as a mule but as a man, one worth yielding over to their increase.

Of lands beyond the one burnt into his his fingers as he toiled for what seemed like an eternity...

"My eyes Basha," he said, "Grow red with anticipation and longing for such days," and I could only respond with the reality we were faced with..

"Then you better close them, perhaps, it'll be easier that way."