“Get in and let me get your shackles on,” frowned Rejji. “I will try to talk with the merchant after we are under way. Maybe he can be bought.”
“With what?” scowled Mistake as she climbed into the wagon. “I already caused you to lose your gold. Now you have nothing to bargain with.”
“I will still try,” smiled Rejji as he fastened the shackles on his two friends. “If we are going to be near the capital, I know I can make money there. I will promise him an exorbitant sum for the three of us.”
“Maybe it won’t be so bad,” Bakhai offered. “This merchant’s horses are well cared for. Wouldn’t he care for us as well?”
Rejji looked at Bakhai and shook his head. He climbed out of the wagon to see Sebastian coming down the steps. Sebastian indicated that Rejji should climb aboard up front and then silently took the reins and started the wagon rolling. He did not speak as the wagon left the Pikata estate and turned onto the road leading to Sintula. Eventually, Rejji could not take the silence.
“How much did you pay for the three of us?” Rejji asked.
Sebastian gazed over at Rejji and shook his head. “You seek to buy your freedom from me?” he asked.
“Yes,” confirmed Rejji. “I do not have gold now, but I can make it and you know I can be trusted.”
“I know you can be trusted to ride up here with me,” Sebastian smiled. “That is not exactly the same thing as trusting you to deliver on a promise when you are out of sight.”
“But I cannot make the gold to pay you if you do not set me free first,” reasoned Rejji. “I am willing to pay you double what you paid for us.”
“That is an awfully gracious offer,” Sebastian remarked, “seeing as you have no idea how much I paid for you. I could make up any price I wanted to. Have you not thought that far ahead? Or is it that you never plan to pay me anyway so the amount is irrelevant?”
“No,” promised Rejji. “I would pay you. I guess what I am saying is the amount is not important to me. If I had work my entire life to pay you back, I would do so, as long as we did it as free people.”
“So you think your two friends would help you in repaying this debt?” queried the merchant. “Have you even consulted with them about this plan?”
“No,” admitted Rejji, “but I know they would stand by me in this.”
“They would, would they?” chuckled Sebastian. “Suppose at camp tonight I let your girl friend sleep without shackles. Would you care to wager if she would be standing by you come morning?”
Rejji was stunned. “What makes you single her out?” he asked.
“You did not answer my question,” Sebastian retorted. “I have a large bag in the back with my things. In it you will find a tin of bocco. Fetch it for me while you strive to come up with your answer.”
Rejji crawled into the wagon to get the tin from Sebastian’s bag. He crawled over to Mistake and whispered that the merchant was considering the sale so that her spirits would lift a bit. He crawled back and found the large bag. The back held mostly clothes and Rejji felt around for the tin, but the bag was too fully packed for his hand to reach the bottom. He started pulling out clothes and piling them alongside the bag so he could locate the tin. Rejji halted when he lifted a black cloak out of the bag, a black cloak with a hood. He tried to visualize the gaudily clad merchant in the black cloak and couldn’t, and yet his discovery scared him greatly. He returned to searching the bag and eventually found the tin of bocco. He placed the tin on the floor and neatly put the clothes back into the bag. He closed the bag and grabbed the tin as he crawled back into the seat of the wagon.
Sebastian pulled a pouch off his belt and handed it to Rejji. “Fill that with bocco for me, lad,” he said.
“Did you have to wait long for us in the capital?” Rejji asked as he filled the pouch.
“The timing of your return from Khadoratung was convenient for me,” answered Sebastian. “Have you thought of your answer?”
“I have,” nodded Rejji as he handed the pouch to the merchant. “If I asked Mistake to stay in camp when she was unshackled, she would stay. Now that I have answered your question, answer mine. Why did you single her out as one who would run?”
Sebastian handed the reins to Rejji and stuffed his pipe with bocco. Rejji waited patiently as the merchant lit the pipe with a striker. After Sebastian had the pipe well lit, he reached over and took the reins from Rejji.
“A number of observations led me to the conclusion that she is a runner,” smiled Sebastian. “First, she is an inside slave. As such, she is normally not allowed out of the mansion, especially unescorted. Yet after our arrival today, you had to escort her into the mansion. Additional, she was in tears and had obviously just been through a rather emotional time.”
Sebastian smiled at Rejji and continued, “Secondly, you no longer had the rather heavy pouch under your tunic that you did on the trip from Khadoratung, yet you had not yet returned to your quarters to hide it. Thirdly, two Pikata soldiers came to my wagon looking to see what I had to sell. As their last payday is a distant memory for them and soldiers are notorious for spending their gold as soon as they get it, it was obvious that they had just come into some newfound gold. When I questioned them about it, they were nervous and moved away from the wagon. Therefore, I believe it was ill gotten gains that they did not wish others to know about.”
Sebastian smiled as he watched Rejji’s jaw drop. “That was a dangerous gamble on your part,” the merchant stated. “You must care for her a great deal.”
“I do,” agreed Rejji. “Were you ever in the Inn of the Rose in Khadoratung?”
Sebastian’s eyebrows rose as he replied, “I have been in almost every inn in Khadora at one time or another.”
“I meant recently,” Rejji pushed. “Like shortly before we departed Khadoratung. Wearing a black cloak perhaps?”
“I don’t feel a need to report my travels to a slave,” Sebastian said brusquely. “We are going to test your theory tonight though. The girl will sleep without shackles. In the morning we shall see how loyal she is to you. Perhaps the boy as well. Do you think he is also loyal to you?”
“Bakhai?” Rejji asked. “He has never shown any thought of escaping.”
“That was not the question,” Sebastian persisted. “Is he loyal enough to you to avoid the temptation?”
“I have never asked for his loyalty,” frowned Rejji. “What game is this you are playing at? Do you wish the three of us to attempt to escape so that you may have sport by tracking us down and killing us? The rest of the slaves are old women. Perhaps they can not provide you with enough challenge?”
Sebastian remained silent and Rejji decided not to push the issue any further until he could sort out his feelings and suspicions. He felt confident that Sebastian was the mystery man from Khadoratung, but why would he spend days spying on a young slave? It made no sense and now he was proposing the most ludicrous thing of all, setting up an escape opportunity that almost nobody could resist. Rejji knew there was catch in all this, but what it was escaped him. Should they try to make good their escape? What was the purpose of showing their loyalty to a merchant when he was just delivering them to another master?
Rejji was still trying to make sense of it all when Sebastian pulled off the road and took a small trail to a clearing beside an icy brook. The campsite was not well used, but it was obvious that Sebastian had been here before. Sebastian jumped off the wagon and turned to face Rejji.
“Unshackle all of the slaves,” Sebastian ordered. “Have Bakhai tend to the horses and some of the women can get a meal started. There is a large case at the rear of the wagon. You will find food supplies in there. I will be back in a while. I am holding you responsible for the slaves remaining in the camp. Their safety is in your hands.”
Sebastian walked back along the trail they had come in and Mistake waited until he was out of sight.