“If she hadn’t been taught this kind of thing, we’d still probably be prisoners in that room,” Killen pointed out, his hands playing with the body wrap he hadn’t been told he could put on again. “Would you be happier if we were still prisoners?”
“I get the point and I’m not arguing,” Tandro said after taking a deep breath. “Funny how outrage disappears in the face of a good enough cause.”
There wasn’t anything to say to that, so both men were silent as they paused to pick up their rifled but otherwise untouched saddlebags, put the bags over one shoulder, then followed Tain to the back door of the warehouse.
Tain stepped outside with every one of her senses alert, but the night still felt empty and calm. It wouldn’t have surprised her to find that the man in the vest was paranoid enough to set up a trap in case anyone came to free his prisoners, but it looked like the man had been sure no one would come. If the man in the vest knew about the missing female slaves his captives had had, he’d dismissed the slaves as being completely unimportant. More fool, he.
Tain had to slow her pace to allow the men to follow her without trouble, but they all finally reached the back of the other warehouse and slipped inside. The candle wasn’t hard to find but the firemaker was another story, and it took a good deal of groping before Tain had the thing in her hand. Shortly thereafter the candle was lit again, so Tain led her small parade toward the door where Risdin was supposed to be waiting. When
Risdin opened the door wide Tain felt a bit of relief, but her relief increased when she saw the grin the other woman wore.
“I forgot to ask how you would let me know that the men were in your control rather than you being in theirs,” Risdin said as she studied
Killen and Tandro. “The point worried me, but I’m not worried any longer.
Have you asked them how they liked being treated in the way they treated others without the least hesitation?“
“I thought I’d leave that for you to do,” Tain said as she moved toward the room and the door that could be closed. “As a reward for the patience you were forced to have. After you’re done I’ll put the questions I have.”
“The coffee is still hot if you want some,” Risdin said as she stepped back out of the way to let the three people enter, her gaze still on the men. “I couldn’t wait that long without having coffee to sustain me, so help yourself while I put these slaves to their knees the way I was put so often.”
“I don’t want them on their knees,” Tain said at once as she headed for the coffee pot that stood above dully glowing coals. “That man, Himlin, I
think his name is, kept them on their knees for hours, and doing it again could cripple them for a time. If we’re going to move, we’ll want them with us.“
“All right, then let’s have them sit down,” Risdin said, having taken the candle to circle the two men after she closed the door behind them.
“A lot of times a slave is sent to sit on a wooden bench or a high stool after a switching, and she isn’t even allowed to scream.”
“Listen to me,” Killen said to an angry Risdin before Tain could answer, his words gentle and filled with understanding. “I know how furious and hurt you feel, and I knew it even before I shared your experience as a slave for a few hours. I hate the idea of slavery and always have, and now that I know how damaging it is to everyone involved I hate it even more.
We didn’t mind risking our lives to put an end to this horror before now, but from now on we’ll be dedicated to the idea with a passion only a former slave can appreciate. Do you understand?“
Risdin stood in silence for a time, staring first at Killen and then at
Tandro, seeing the way neither man made any effort to avoid her gaze. Tain knew that Risdin had been looking forward to getting some of her own back, but she was now being forced to admit that these men weren’t the ones she wanted to get even with.
“Hurting them would make me as bad as the ones who hurt me, wouldn’t it?” Risdin said, finally breaking the silence. “I didn’t understand that before, but now I do. Just because it was men who hurt me, I can’t put the blame on every man alive, can I.”
“Some people do, but they’re the ones who let their fear and hatred rule them,” Tain answered, since she was the one Risdin had spoken to.
“Just as some men blame all women when it was only one who hurt them. Killen, you and Tandro can make yourselves comfortable in the best way you can, and then we’ll talk. I have a few questions for you that may let you complete your chore faster and easier than you were expecting to.”
“Wait a minute,” Risdin said as the two men began to look around at the bare floor. “I’ll get out blankets for them. Letting them lie down on the floor will make me feel like a savage.”
“We very much appreciate that thought,” Killen told Risdin, then he turned his attention to Tain. “What do you mean, I can finish my chore faster and easier? I thought we’d be heading back home right away.”
“Not quite yet,” Tain answered after sipping at the strong, black coffee. “Before we go home we’re going to try to end slavery.”
If for no other reason than to make sure we don’t have to come back here again, Tain thought as Killen stared at her. Once I’m off this world I don’t ever want to have to come back…
4
Green Jake Killen was still in quite a bit of pain and had only a shaky hold on his sanity, so he gave himself a good talking to while he adjusted the blanket he’d been given. The worst of what he’d been put through was now over, he pointed out to himself, so losing it at this point would be stupid. He’d been dreaming of getting back to base and having that lousy drug cleared from his system, but listening to what Tain had in mind didn’t mean he’d never get back.
Easing himself down on his left side on the folded blanket was a relief to his legs and knees even if his pride was still taking a beating. Tain hadn’t told him and Tandro that they could put on the body cloths they were still just holding, and without a deliberate order they continued to be bound by what Himlin had told them. Jake understood now why Tain hadn’t let them dress earlier, but now that the woman they’d met had calmed down…
You seem to be forgetting something, pal, Jake said to himself as his previous thought petered out. You still have no interest at all in sitting down, so what makes you think you’d enjoy having that cloth touching your behind? Will being covered again make the pain worth it? The ones who laughed aren’t here anymore…
Jake felt the urge to close his eyes, but instead he looked at Tain where she stood drinking coffee. At some point during the torture of the day, he’d managed to remember that he’d given almost the same humiliation to Tain that he was being given. He’d let that female slave into the room while he spanked Tain, and the girl had laughed just the way everyone now laughed at him. He no longer wondered why the episode had been so shocking to Tain; what he wondered now was how she’d retained her sanity. And why she hadn’t made any effort to kill him…
“Let me start by asking a question that’s been bugging me,” Tain said suddenly, claiming Jake’s attention. “Not that I’m really complaining, but why were you two taken captive instead of killed?”
“We filed a formal complaint against the slaver Himlin, who was responsible for hiring those assassins sent against us,” Jake answered, hating that he had no choice but to answer. “If we leave or die without withdrawing the complaint, Himlin can be arrested the first time he shows his face back here. That’s why Himlin did what he did to us, to make us really want to withdraw the complaint without messing around. He told us that if we did anything to let people know we were under his control, he’d have someone find us wherever we went and bring us back to him.”