Fires of Prophecy_ Book Two of the Morcyth Saga - Brian Pratt [3]
Miko does the best he can with his hands tied behind him and manages to make it to the ground without falling over. He sits there and rests, looking back to the City that’s now securely in the hands of the Empire. All that keeps him from totally losing it is the belief that James will find him.
Over the next hour, several more slave lines are brought from the City and join with the rest. There are over a dozen different lines trailing behind several different wagons. With each line that comes, several of the guards that were guarding them grab crossbows and join their fellows in keeping watch.
At one point shortly after Miko arrives, a slaver begins moving down each line and unties the hands of the men and boys. Once they are all untied, another slaver mounts the wagon and addresses the people in the slave lines. “We will be passing out food and water shortly,” he announces. “Don’t waste any, it’s the last you’ll see until tonight. Your hands shall remain free, but if you make trouble, they will be secured again. If you try to escape, you will be shot. This is the only warning you’ll be given.”
Once the slaver is finished, other slavers begin passing down the lines, giving each captive a small cup of food and allowing them a single drink from a ladle, filled from a water bucket one of them carries. When Miko gets his, he eats the food ravenously, even though it tastes pretty bad. He drinks all the water and is about to ask for more when a girl of about sixteen in another line holds out her cup to a slaver and asks, “Can I have more?”
The slaver comes over to her and slaps her hard across the face, “Impertinent slave! You take what we give you and be happy that you were given anything at all.”
The girl cries, “I’m not a slave!”
All the slavers standing within ear shot hear her and break out laughing. The slaver who had come over and slapped her says, “You are now,” and laughs at her.
The girl starts crying hysterically and the man slaps her across the face again. “You shut up or it’ll be worse for you.” He grabs her by the hair and pulls her head back so her eyes stare right at him. “Do you understand?” he asks with an expression that says, ‘The only answer better be yes’.
Tears streaming down her face, the girl just nods. The man releases her hair and walks away. She sits there and sobs to herself quietly.
Miko looks around and can see that until that moment, some of the people who were tied to the line hadn’t come to that conclusion yet, that they were slaves. Some begin to murmur amongst themselves, others start crying. One of the slavers shouts, “Slaves only speak when spoken to, break this rule at your peril!” The people begin to quiet down until only muffled sobs can be heard. Several slavers come and collect the food cups that had been handed out.
An older slaver walks from the City and begins speaking with one of the others for a moment. After they are done talking, the older slaver returns to the City of Light. The one he was talking to turns to the slaves and shouts, “Everyone on their feet!”
Miko quickly gets up as do most of the people around him. Several others, either through stubbornness or not understanding, remain on the ground. Those that fail to stand quickly enough for the slavers are whipped until they are up and standing.
The one that ordered them to their feet announces, “When slaves are told to do something, they do it quickly and they don’t ask questions. A slave who doesn’t learn that rule fast, tends not to survive very long.”
Miko begins to think that the man who’s been giving them orders is the lead slaver for this group. He hadn’t noticed it before, but the man’s clothes look slightly superior to anything any of the others are wearing.
The lead slaver gets up on a wagon and with a nod of his head to the driver, it begins moving out, pulling the line of slaves behind it. Soon all the wagons are rolling, each with the