Fires of Prophecy_ Book Two of the Morcyth Saga - Brian Pratt [2]
The man on the floor begins to topple over and falls to the ground, remaining motionless. The slaver checks him and then turns to the one by the door. “He’s dead,” he tells him. Then he glances over at one of the slavers and says accusingly, “You hit him too hard and cracked his skull.”
The slaver being accused just shrugs and says, “Oh well, happens sometimes.”
Giving him a dark look, the man by the door says, “Next one you kill, you’re paying for. I don’t intend to lose money because of a heavy handed thug.”
“Thug?” the man asks, his face going red in anger.
“Yes, thug,” he replies. “Now, let’s get ‘em lined up and back to camp.” He stares down the man until he backs down and joins the others in tying the naked people together in a line.
Miko is tied in line between two children. Once they are all secured to the rope, the man takes the lead and they head out the door.
The sun is already beginning to rise above the horizon as they leave the building. Miko squints in the glare, eyes unaccustomed to the light after having been in a semi dark room for hours.
One of the women begins wailing and crying. A slaver comes over and uses a whip across her shoulders saying, “Silence!” When the whip strikes her she cries out with pain and shock. After two more blows of the whip she tries to muffle her cries and the whip stops.
Miko just looks on in shock at the red lines across her shoulders and back from where the whip struck her. He keeps his head down as he plods along, doing his best to not think about being paraded though town naked. The enemy soldiers they pass hardly even give them any attention, except for a few calls to the ladies in the group.
After moving down several streets, their group joins with another slave line and together they make their way to the southern wall. More and more of the enemy’s soldiers can be seen. When they draw close to the gate, the head slaver brings them to a halt and has them wait while he talks with the guards. After a few words are exchanged, the slaver shows them a letter and they are allowed to pass through.
Outside the walls, Miko sees teams with carts filled with the dead as they take them over to a large, communal grave where they are deposited. Soldiers are everywhere, a veritable forest of tents covers the area outside of the gates for over a mile. When they pass a tent with several men standing in line outside, Miko can hear the cries of several women coming from within.
One of the smaller children asks, “Mama, what’s that lady crying about?”
The woman, trying to hide the tears in her voice replies, “She’s just sad,” her voice beginning to crack. “That’s all it is, don’t worry about it.”
Then a slaver comes and whips both of them saying, “No talking!” When they both remain silent, he goes back to his position next to the line.
Out away from the encampment of soldiers is a large area with many wagons and strings of people tied in lines just as they are. The only difference between those people and Miko’s group, is that those people have clothes. The males all have a cloth wrapped around their loins while the women have a very short dress, all a drab brown in color.
When Miko’s group arrives, they are taken to an open area nearby where they’re told to stand and be still. The lead slaver moves to a nearby wagon and begins pulling out garb, similar to what the other slaves are wearing and begins handing them out to the other slavers. The slavers then take the garb and tie it around the men, and with the women they untie their hands before putting it on them. Miko feels somewhat better for having his privates covered. All the captured people visibly relax once they’re dressed and covered.
Several of the slavers then move to another wagon where they remove crossbows which they hold ready to prevent anyone from trying to escape.
One of the slavers climbs onto the bed of a wagon and faces the newly arrived slaves. “Go ahead and sit down and rest,” he tells them. “This may be the last chance