“We’re not.”
“Be quiet. And get up.”
With a sulky look, the boy obeyed. Paole tugged the leash and made him sit near a wagon wheel before winding the chain around a spoke and locking it off. “So you’re like them,” Gaelin spat. “I thought you were a good man.”
“I’m an ex-slave, so I know better than you what those bastards are up to. They cheated me and you’re in on it. Any time you want to tell me the truth and where your family are, we can negotiate. I’ve spent a lot of gold for nothing, and a bunch of real Uemirien children are being sold off as we speak. Don’t talk to me about ‘good’.”
The water was boiling on the fire. He dumped some leaves into the tin, took it off the heat and left it on the ground. He needed to walk this rage off. He could end up striking the boy, and he couldn’t do that, even to a liar.
Mathias always said he didn’t have a hard enough head for business. The old man had been absolutely right.
Chapter Twelve
Yveni fumed as he yanked on the chain to no avail. That bastard. How dare he say he was like those slavers! He wasn’t Karvi. He didn’t even have a Karvin accent.
He gave up on the chain and stared at the tea, just out of reach. He was hungry and thirsty and now, angry and worried. He couldn’t be stuck with this idiot for thirty years. Thirty minutes had been enough to make him so furious he could punch him.
What now? For one brief, happy moment, he’d been sure this was his means of escape, and possibly even for the children. When he saw the pale braid and the height of the man asking about him, he hadn’t dared believe a Uemirien would be the one to buy him. He thought this could be the one person he could ask for help to reach Horches, but the man’s hostility had destroyed that hope. Telling him the truth would only lead to the same scepticism as Raina’s, and maybe also a beating. It wouldn’t get him set free.
So what to do? Escape, he supposed. Getting away from one man without weapons shouldn’t be so hard, even if he overtopped Yveni by a good fifty centimetres. He looked around the camp. The gaily painted wagon was large and might hold tools, but he couldn’t waste time looking. He might be able to steal the big brown horse and flee. Hard on the man, but right now, Yveni wasn’t feeling that compassionate. All he had to do was be a good little slave, lull the man into a false sense of security, and take off. If he could reach the west coast of Karvis, he might be able to work his passage on a boat. This fellow had money—maybe Yveni could steal some of that too.
He groaned. How had he come to this, contemplating vulgar theft against someone whose only crime was to be rightfully angry at being cheated? But if Yveni reached Horches and gained the throne as was his right, he could send the man compensation eventually. He could send enough to buy a dozen horses.
If no better plan came to him, then that would have to do. Damn it, he shouldn’t have opened his mouth. The man had been about to free him. He could have snuck back into Kivnic and found out more about the children.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
He heard twigs cracking under big feet, so he sat still and tried to look sorrowful. Waste of time. The man completely ignored him, poured himself some tea and fetched hardtack from the back of the wagon. He hunkered down by the fire, staring off into space.
“Um, may I have some tea too, please?”
The man shot him a glare, stood up and thrust the mug he’d been using at Yveni before rummaging around in the wagon for another one. He poured himself a drink and continued to ignore Yveni. Would he keep this up forever?
“I can’t tell you the truth because more people than me are affected.”
“Drop the act, boy. I know exactly what you’re up to. You forgot what I said. I’m a former slave. You think if you’re sweet and polite, I’ll be fooled into letting you off that chain, then you’ll rob me and run.”
Yveni flushed hot at the accuracy of the guess. “So why aren’t you still a slave? Your master didn’t want you for thirty years?”
“He died. But don’t go thinking killing me would solve your problem, because the slave is the first suspect. If you’ve all these secrets, you don’t want a sheriff poking his nose in your affairs, do you?”
“Look, I’m not lying to you. I’m just not able to tell you the whole story.”
“All I want, boy, is my money or the value. I know all the slave tricks, so don’t be thinking you can outsmart me.”
“Are you going to be like this for thirty years? Is this what you want from your life?”
“It isn’t. But then again, it’s not what you want either. The sooner you tell me the truth, the sooner we both get what we want.”
“I can’t. But you have to believe me, I’ve nothing to do with those men. I hate them.”
There was no sign the man was convinced. “Finish your tea. I’ve got a lot of travelling to do today.”
“Where are we going?”
“None of your business.”
“Then I’m not moving. I want to know where, why and who I’m travelling with. I don’t care what you think of me, but I’m not going to be treated like a dog. I didn’t cheat you, they did. I was their prisoner. You’re behaving the same as them. If you’re really sure I’m dishonest, then take me back. They’ll be there. Sell me back to them or sell me at auction. I’ll lie for another buyer, if you want.”
The big man’s muscles bunched in his shoulders. “I said, drink up, boy.”
“No.” Yveni folded his arms.
The man stared at him for a long time, working his jaw, then he walked over and snatched Yveni’s mug from him, tossing the tea out. He grabbed Yveni by his collar and undid the locked chain, before hauling him to his feet and over to the big horse, still waiting in harness. The man attached Yveni’s chain tight to the girth, giving him almost no play and, fetching some rope, tied his hands to top of the horse’s collar. “Walk or fall under her hooves. Makes no difference to me. Accidents happen to disobedient slaves all the time in Karvis. No one gives a damn.”
“I don’t give a damn about
you
, you bastard.”
The man gave no reaction. He walked back to the fire and kicked it out, then tidied away his equipment into the wagon. Yveni refused to beg. If this idiot wanted to murder him in this way, he’d hear no snivelling from the son of Grand Duc Arkady.
The man flicked the reins and Yveni was forced to walk if he didn’t want to be dragged along. An awkward position to maintain, deliberately so, but he was determined not to show his discomfort. He gritted his teeth and did his best to keep up. The horse’s feet kicked up stones and road dust, and his arms were in exactly the worst position for comfortable walking. Yveni would have admired how simply the man had made this journey torture, but admiration was the last emotion he felt.
After two hours and the gods only knew how many kilometres, the man reined in the horse. Yveni clung to the horse collar, his legs trembling and his back screaming from the twisted, sideways motion.
But even then he wasn’t freed. Instead the man took his time over having a piss, then stood watching Yveni with a mug of water and a piece of fruit in his hand. Yveni was starving now, and his throat felt like a desert.
“What are you trying to achieve?” he croaked.
The man took a taunting bite of the juicy fruit and swallowed it before he answered. “Teaching you the manners you never acquired.”
“Me? You haven’t even introduced yourself.”
“Tell me your real name and where you come from, and you can have that. Otherwise, I’ve just paid for your unquestioning obedience. You’re a slave. It’s about time one of your kind learned what that meant.”
To think he’d been grateful a Uemirien had bought him. He hadn’t counted on a vengeful ex-slave. Yveni licked his lips, trying to wet them. “We don’t have slaves in my country.”
“Maybe not, but Tuelwetin never lifts a finger to help our people.”
“They do! My…our duc did all he could! It’s the Karvin king who won’t shift.”
The man grunted. “So you say. Doesn’t change the fact you’re lying to me.”
Yveni could have screamed in frustration. “The secrets I hold are to protect people I love. My sisters, only fourteen and ten. My best friends and
their
children. They’re Uemirien, if you care. There are more important things than your damn money at stake here.”
“How can I believe you?”
“You can’t because I can’t tell you all the details. But I’m not lying. What you’re doing is no different from that slaver using his whip on a child to make me do his bidding. Are you proud to be like them?”
The man looked away. “I came to Kivnic looking for an apprentice. I never expected to be lumbered with a slave. Now I have someone who’ll run as soon as he gets the chance, or worse. Tell me,
Gaelin
—what would you do in my position?”
The question brought Yveni up short. “Um…I’d probably sell the slave as too much trouble.”
“But I thought you didn’t have slaves in your country.”
“We don’t. I’m just answering your question.”
The man set his jaw, then came over and freed Yveni’s hands, though he didn’t unlock the chain. He pushed Yveni against the horse, letting Yveni appreciate his great height and musculature. Gods, the man was huge. Handsome in an insistent sort of way, with high cheekbones and well-shaped brows over wide, expressive eyes, though an ugly scar on his forehead marred his looks a little. The green eyes bored into him. “The day you tell me the complete truth, I’ll set you free. Or you can pay out your price. Choice is yours.”
“And until then?”
“Then you work for me, obediently and faithfully. If you talk back or disobey, you’ll be punished. I won’t strike you or whip you, but I know a hundred ways to make your life a living hell without leaving a mark on you. I had some very ‘kind’ masters who taught me all kinds of lovely tricks. I see no reason not to use them on you.”
“Then you’ll be as bad as them.”
A muscle jumped in the man’s jaw, his eyes narrowing in anger. “I’m alive, aren’t I? So will you be. And unlike me, your freedom’s in your hands. You won’t escape from me, and I won’t sell you because I’ll lose money. I need an apprentice and you’ll do until I find one.”
“Tell me what to call you and what I’ll be doing.”
The man smiled unpleasantly. “You call me ‘master’ of course. And you’ll do whatever I tell you. It’s not a slave’s place to question the master.”
“And if I refuse?”
“I think you misunderstand. I’m not offering you a choice here. I’m giving you orders. I bought you, boy. Refuse and you’ll get more of the same. If you really have a family to protect, then it’s in their interest for you to stay alive and behave.”
Damn the bastard, but he was right. Didn’t mean Yveni wouldn’t try to escape if he could. “I hate you.”
“Good. You, I simply despise for being a thief. Now, you can ride if you behave, or you can walk.”
The man regarded him, taking his time drinking his water. Yveni dared not push him, not now. But his thirst drove him to ask for one tiny concession. “May I have a drink?”
The man stepped back and poured some water into his mug from the canteen hanging on the side of the wagon. It was only a couple of mouthfuls, not enough to slake Yveni’s thirst, but it eased his throat. “More when we stop later. Nothing if you give me any more cheek.”
Yveni thought about snapping back, but there was a relentlessness to this man that he didn’t want to test. The loathing in those green eyes was real. “I understand, master.”
The man nodded and undid the chain. No chance of making a break for it—the man’s fist was nearly the size of Yveni’s head, and he was strong as a bull kardip in breeding flesh. Besides, it would be wise to be clear of Kivnic before he made any plans. The man might travel close to a port, and that would be a better place to escape.
As the man shoved him up into the passenger seat and fastened the chain to the side, Yveni risked a question. “May I ask about those children? What will happen to them?”
“Don’t know. If they’re lucky they’ll be taken into a family business and treated decently.”
He didn’t say what would happen if they weren’t. “Will they ever be freed?”
“Some might. Usually young slaves are sold a few times. The girls will be bred to make more slaves.” The man clenched his fist. “I hate those people.”
“So do I.”
The man’s expression revealed nothing of whether he believed Yveni or not. Probably not, but it didn’t matter. It was the truth, and when Yveni became grand duc, he’d dedicate himself to ending the slave trade in Karvin, if it took the rest of his life.