Dannyl took the other seat, then ordered the slave master to enter. The man related how two slaves had arrived with an empty cart, the male apparently new but lacking in muscle for a delivery slave, and the woman there to show him the route. While they’d loaded the cart one of the kitchen slaves had suggested to him that the pair might be the people they’d been warned to watch out for. She suggested drugging their food, as they would be less dangerous asleep.
At the mention of drugged food, Dannyl had to hide his dismay. Fortunately Lorkin and Tyvara hadn’t fallen for the trap. They’d slipped away.
He then questioned the woman who had suspected the pair weren’t who they said they were. As she entered the room, Dannyl noted that her gaze was sharp, though she gave him only one quick look before bowing her head and prostrating herself. He told her to get up, and she kept her gaze lowered.
Her explanation matched the slave master’s, including the contents of the message warning of two dangerous magicians posing as slaves.
“What made you think they were the people you’d been warned about?” Dannyl asked her.
“They were as described. A tall man with pale skin and a shorter Sachakan female.”
Pale skin? Dannyl frowned. The slave master didn’t mention Lorkin’s skin, and surely it would have been unusual enough for the man to notice. Wait... didn’t the woman I healed at Tikako’s home say Lorkin’s skin had been dyed?
Had the dye worn off, or was this woman feeding him the information she thought he expected?
“Tall, short, male, female – none of these things would make them stand out from other slaves surely. What made you notice they were different?”
The woman’s gaze, fixed on the floor, flickered. “The way they moved and talked. Like they weren’t used to following orders.”
So not the pale skin. Dannyl paused, writing down her answer as he considered what to ask next. Perhaps it was time to be more direct.
“A slave I spoke to a few days ago thought the woman was a Traitor and that they mean to kill the man she has abducted. Do you think it likely they will kill him?”
The woman was very still as she answered.
“No.”
“Do you know of the Traitors?”
“Yes. Every slave does.”
“Why do you believe it is unlikely the Traitors intend to kill the man?”
“Because if they wanted him dead they would have killed him, not abducted him.”
“What do you think they intend to do with him then?”
She shook her head. “I am only a slave. I do not know.”
“What do other slaves think the Traitors will do with him?”
She paused and her head lifted slightly before bowing again, as if she resisted the urge to look at him.
“I’ve heard some say,” she said slowly. “That the woman is a murderer. That the Traitors want you to find them.”
Dannyl felt a chill. Tyvara had killed a slave. What if that slave had been the Traitor, not Tyvara?
“Who said this?” he asked.
“I... I can’t remember.”
“Are there any slaves who are more likely to say this sort of thing than others?”
She paused then shook her head. “All slaves gossip.”
After a few more questions, he knew he would not get anything more out of her. She’d said all she wanted to say, and if she was withholding information he would not get it out of her voluntarily. He sent her away.
I’d wager she does know more. And then there’s the description of Lorkin’s pale skin. She wanted me to be sure Lorkin was here. Which makes sense if this rumour that the Traitors want me to find Tyvara and Lorkin is true.
But it could be a decoy. Still, the slave he’d helped at Tikako’s home had spoken the truth. Tyvara and Lorkin had come to his country estate.
What if the Traitors did want him to find the pair? Then they’ll make sure we find them. Though I can’t imagine Tyvara will let us capture her without a fight. And we’ll have to be prepared for any reaction from Lorkin. It’s possible she’s convinced him to accompany her – perhaps even seduced him – and he’ll resist being rescued.
He wanted to believe Lorkin was more sensible than that, but he had heard the gossip in the Guild that the young man had a weakness for pretty, smart women. Being the son of Black Magician Sonea and the late High Lord Akkarin didn’t mean the young man had any of his parents’ wisdom, either. Those characteristics could only come with experience. With making mistakes and choices, and learning from the consequences.
I just hope this isn’t a serious mistake, and that the consequences are the kind he can learn from, not ones that will lead to me spending the rest of my life in Sachaka for fear of what Sonea might do to me if I ever return to the Guild.
Lorkin would have thought that a male and female slave walking along a country road in the middle of the night would raise suspicion, but the few slaves they had passed had barely glanced at them. A carriage had overtaken them once, and Tyvara had hissed something about it probably containing a magician or Ashaki, but all she’d had him do was scamper off the road and keep his gaze lowered.
“If anyone asks, we’ve been sent out to work at Ashaki Catika’s estate,” she’d told him. “We’re both house slaves. We’re travelling at night because he wants us there by tomorrow evening and that means walking night and day.”
“Ashaki Catika is known for that sort of cruelty?”
“All Sachakan magicians are.”
“Surely there are one or two good magicians.”
“There are some who treat their slaves better than others, but ultimately enslaving another person is cruel, so I wouldn’t call any of them good. If they were good, they’d free their slaves and pay those willing to stay and work for them.” She glanced at him. “As Kyralians do.”
“Not all Kyralians are kind to their servants,” Lorkin told her.
“At least those servants can leave and find a new employer.”
“They can, but it is not as easy as it sounds. Servant positions are in high demand and a servant who quits may find it hard to get work elsewhere. Households tend to hire servants from the same family over servants they don’t know. Of course, a servant can try other work, like a trade, but they will be competing with families who have practised that trade for generations.”
“Do you think slavery is better then?”
“No. Definitely not. I am only saying the alternative isn’t easier. How well do Traitors treat their servants?”
“We are all servants. Just as we are all Traitors,” Tyvara explained. “The term isn’t like ‘Ashaki’ or ‘Lord’. It is a word for a people.”
“But not a race?”
“No. We are Sachakans, though we don’t often call ourselves that.”
“So even magicians do the tasks of servants? They clean and cook?”
“Yes and no.” She grimaced then. “At first that was how it was supposed to be. We would all do the same work. A Traitor might clean dirty dishes one moment and then vote on important decisions, like which crops to plant, the next. But it didn’t work. Some bad decisions were made because people who were not smart or educated enough to understand the consequences chose badly.
“We started a range of tests designed to find out what a person’s talent was and to develop it, so the best person would end up taking on the tasks that required their skills. Though that meant we weren’t all doing the same things any more, it was still better than slavery. So long as the tasks required for maintaining our home and feeding our people were met, nobody was forced to do a certain job, or prevented from doing something they were talented at, because of their family status or class.”