Fires of Prophecy_ Book Two of the Morcyth Saga - Brian Pratt [76]
“You sure?” Roland asks as he locates the girl he’s talking about.
Jiron just stares at him like he’s stupid or something.
“Okay, okay,” he replies. Then he turns to the slaver and points her out saying they want a better look at her.
The slaver motions for two guards to come over and they enter the pen. When the girls realize they’re going to enter their pen, many squeal and they all press as far away from the door as possible.
When Tersa realizes that they’re coming for her, she tries to escape to the back of the pen but the guards grab her. Scared and terrified, she tries to get free of them but to no avail, they drag her out of the pen and bring her to stand before them. The slaver asks Roland if this is the one they’re interested in. With a nod from Jiron, Roland says that she is.
As Roland makes as if he’s inspecting her, Jiron stares intently into her eyes. Suddenly, her breath catches as she realizes just who is standing there.
He barely shakes his head, telling her to say nothing and then gives her a wink.
With a barely perceptible nod, she tells him that she understands.
Jiron indicates to Roland that he’s ready to go and Roland tells the slaver that they’ve seen enough. Once Tersa is put back in the pen, Roland asks if this batch will be auctioned at tomorrow’s auction.
Shaking his head, the slaver says that these won’t be ready for auction for at least a week.
When Roland relays that to the others, Jiron exclaims, “A week! We can’t wait a week.”
James digs out a gold piece and offers it to the slaver as he tells Roland, “Ask him if there is any way he can expedite it for us.”
When Roland asks the slaver, the slaver takes the coin and nods. He tells Roland that the earliest is in two days and when Roland starts to protest, he says no matter how much they gave him, there is no way it can be done any quicker.
“He says two days and that is the best he can do,” Roland explains to them.
Jiron looks back to his sister and says, “Two days then.”
The slaver then leads them back out to the courtyard as Tersa is returned to the pen. Jiron glances back to her just before they leave and sees her there, staring at him, her hands gripping the bars. Jiron hates leaving his sister in there but doesn’t have any choice.
“Can we see the young men now?” James asks, intent upon finding Miko.
Roland asks the slaver who nods and then alters his course as he takes them over to the other side of the courtyard. He leads them through a door and down a hallway which runs between several pens of young men and boys.
Two slaves are busy scrubbing blood stains off the floor and James asks, “What happened here?”
Roland asks the slaver and then translates the reply, “He says last night several of the new arrivals had tried to escape and two of them were killed.”
James and Jiron glance at each other, suddenly worried about his friend. Hoping to find him still within one of the pens, he walks down the hallway. His nervousness rises when he fails see him within any of the pens. Chills run though him as he fears the worst.
While waiting on James, Jiron looks at the faces of the men and boys in the pens. His eyes widen in surprise when he recognizes a couple of the fighters from the fight clubs that he had fought with and against. One, a slim individual who is exceptionally deadly with sword and shield is leaning against the bars near the hallway. He walks down the hallway slowly toward him, acting as if he’s inspecting them. Roland and the slaver remain back near the door.
When he comes close to the one by the bars, he whispers so only he may hear, “Don’t move, say nothing.”
The young man’s eyes flick to who’s speaking to him and widen when they recognize Jiron. He starts to say something when Jiron barely shakes his head and whispers, “Quiet, man.” Sudden understanding comes over him and he settles down.
“How many are here?” Jiron asks in a voice barely audible.
“Five left that I know of,” he replies softly. “There were more but a bunch made a break for it last night and two died, the others got their backs flayed off them