The Dragon Revenant - Katharine Kerr [39]
Unfortunately Porto woke him just at dawn. Yawning and stumbling Rhodry went down to the kitchen, to find Vinsima kneading a vast lump of bread dough on a marble slab.
“Firewood, boy, Short lengths, about as thick as your arm, and lots of them for the baking. The woodshed’s straight out the door and to your left.” She pointed to a rack on the kitchen wall. “There’s the axe.”
To his surprise Rhodry saw a heavy woodsman’s axe with a good steel head, a dangerous weapon in the hands of a man who knew how to use it. He took it outside, found the woodshed easily, and set to work, wondering as he splintered the kindling why anyone would leave a tool like that where the slaves could get it. In a few minutes Porto strolled out and stood sipping a steaming cup of hot milk while he watched. Finally he motioned to Rhodry to rest for a moment.
“You’re a hard worker, I see. Good. Let me give you some advice, boy. Be nice to the mistress’s friends. Smile a lot, and do whatever they ask you to. Most of them are older than her, a lot of old hens, really, and they’ll enjoy tossing a few coins at a good-looking young man.”
“I see. Does your—I mean, our mistress entertain a lot?”
“Oh yes, and also you’re going to be her footman. She needs an escort when she goes out, and I’ve got too much to do here as it is.”
“I’ll do whatever you want, as long as you explain things to me. I don’t understand all the customs of the country.”
“You haven’t been here long?”
“No, sir.” Rhodry realized that he’d better come up with some convenient story. “I came here as a bodyguard for a rich merchant and got way over my head in debt, gambling. That was only a couple of months ago.”
“Your merchant wouldn’t buy the notes back?”
“No, sir. I was nothing to him, only a kind of mercenary soldier called a silver dagger. Ever hear of them?”
“No, but I take it they have no status to speak of. Well, that’s too bad.” He paused, looking shrewdly at the axe. “Let me tell you something, boy. Do you know what happens if a slave murders his master?”
“They hunt him down and torture him to death.”
“Oh yes, but they also kill every other slave in the household, whether they had anything to do with the murder or not.”
“What?!”
“They drag them out and slit their throats, except for a few that they torture to give evidence in the courts.” Porto’s voice had gone flat and soft. “I saw it happen once, in the house across the street from the one where I was born. The master was a beast, a sadistic animal, and everyone knew it, but when one of his men killed him, the archon’s men slaughtered the whole household, dragged them screaming to the public square and killed them all, right down to the cook’s babe-in-arms. I’ll never forget that. I see it in nightmares still, even though it was over fifty years ago.” He shook himself like a wet dog. “I can’t imagine why anyone would lift a hand against our lady, Alaena, but if she accepts Pommaeo, he’ll be lord and master here. I warn you, if I ever think you’re so much as dreaming of violence, I’ll turn you over to the archon myself. Understand me?”
“Yes, sir, but as we say at home, don’t trouble your heart over it. I’d never do anything that would put the rest of you at risk.”
“I think you mean it, and you know, Rhodry, I think you’re a good boy at heart. Too bad about the gambling, it really is. I’ve always heard that you barbarians are too fond of the dice.”
“Barbarians? We’re barbarians, are we? Ye gods, your wretched laws sound savage from what you’ve just told me.”
“Savage? Oh no, merely practical. Slaves who murder their masters are very very rare in the islands.” And yet he looked away with a world of sadness welling in his eyes.
About the middle of the morning, Rhodry got his first taste of his new dudes when Alaena decided to pay a call before Pommaeo returned to her house. Porto gave Rhodry an ebony staff with a heavy silver