"I don't wish to do what pleases me I wish to do what is best for the Fortress and what is best for my people." I sat on a chair and looked up at him. "What were your people's thoughts of the leadership of the Fortress?"
He shifted uncomfortably back to his anxious state. "We had no reason to complain. We were protected and well fed before the drought. But, even so, we felt we served an invisible ruler. You and your father do not visit the villages and mingle with the people nor are we free to see you without invitation or concern."
“The Chiefs and Chieftesses before me believed that the unknown would garner more fear and obedience. Not all our rulers were very fearsome. Some were sickly. Some were very short in stature, not opposing or threatening in any way. We feared if the villagers caught sight of them, they would think the Fortress could easily be overthrown. My father wished for more visibility. He is the one who started inviting the governors to take counsel with him and address their concerns.” I motioned for him to sit as I leaned closer to him. “Of course, we couldn’t have been a complete mystery to you. Your father must have told you something of this place?”
His voice became low and distant. “Not anything of benefit to me. Not anything that would have prepared me for slavery.”
I studied him. The topic of his father seemed to give him a distinct discomfort. "Tell me, Isaac. Why were your people so willing to give you up?"
His eyes went wide before darting away from me. "I gave myself up— “
“And no fight was given. Not even by your father. Why?”
“I am not certain, mistress."
"You are certain, but you hesitate to share. Had you done some unthinkable crime in your village? Insulted the wrong person?"
"The latter is closer, I suppose." He said quietly. "I had a tendency to question my father and the elders of our village. Much to my father's disappointment. He wished for me to follow in his footsteps and lead the way he does. Give a command and expect obedience without question. How did it appear when his own son undermined everything he did or said?"
"You said you were set to succeed your father as a leader in your village? Not every village chooses a leader from the same family line."
"It was my right to at least be first considered, but it was unlikely to happen. My father's disapproval of my ways was clear. He wanted to choose someone else and now he can without question. My brother would be a good choice though he is still young now and still too compassionate for my father’s liking, but I suppose my father can shape him as he sees fit." His eyes looked distant for a moment and his brow furrowed in disapproval.
"Why do you not have a wife?"
My words seemed to break him out of his trance. It was something I wondered often as I observed Isaac these last six months. No, the man was not overtly attractive. With the exception of his fiery eyes, his features were not distinctive. He had good height but no mass to balance it. Yet the short time I had known him, there was something captivating about the man. He seemed kindhearted. There was a warmth that resonated from him and in those rare moments where he would smile, it brought every aspect of his face together in a beautiful harmony. If I had discovered these things in such a short time, certainly the women of his village had noticed this and more that would make him an appealing husband.
“Why do you not have a wife?” I repeated in his stunned silence.
"I am only 21, it is not uncommon—"
"It is not uncommon for a boy set to succeed the current leader of the village to be betrothed at a young age, is it? Yet, you said you do not even have a woman at home who is waiting for you. It seems peculiar." I leaned closer toward him and spoke in a whisper. “There is nothing physically wrong with you, is there? There is no reason for a woman to believe you couldn’t grant her a child?”
He cleared his throat loudly and leaned away from me. “Not that I know, mistress. I am sure if you are truly curious about that you could confide in your handmaidens. They’ve seen me fully bare more than once.”
The boldness in his response caused me to break my composure and laugh in surprise. He shifted uneasily and looked at me in astonishment. “Forgive me. I only jest.”
His eyebrows rose in surprise. “About my manhood? What a peculiar thing to jest about.” He smiled slightly before the humor left his eyes. He went silent for a moment before speaking with a voice that was low and flat. "I was betrothed once but her family broke off the betrothal when I was sixteen. They found me unfit for their daughter."
"Unfit how?" I asked curiously.
He hesitated for a moment before speaking. "I did not have the natural gifts or beauty which tend to attract women like my betrothed. She was married to a man that more fit her and her parents liking." He looked me squarely in the eyes as if challenging me to further question him on it.
“Natural gifts or beauty? I find that difficult to believe. What was her name? Your betrothed?” The man looked taken aback by the inquisition. We spoke little during our evening meals each day. I spent most of the time conferring with Mara and would briefly ask Isaac on his training. Though now, it was evident that I had not taken enough interest in the man. I knew little of who he truly was, and it was clear he did not feel at ease to be honest with me on how he was faring. I would have to change that.
“Judith.” He answered hesitantly, waiting for my next question.
“Judith?” I repeated. It was not the name I was expecting. “Then who is Helena?” His mouth opened slightly in surprise but his eyes furrowed in curiosity. “Be at ease. I have not had you watched before you’ve come here. I assure you I knew nothing of you. You’ve spoken the name in your sleep many nights.”
Isaac looked down at the table. "She was a good friend of mine.” He said simply.
“A good friend.” I repeated.
He breathed deeply as if trying to gain the strength to continue. “Unfortunately, I took her friendship for more than it was. I told her I loved her and asked for her hand, but she was in love with another one of our comrades, Jason. The girl was so kindhearted that she became distraught over rejecting me. Unfortunately, she confided in the man she loved on the matter.”
He stopped speaking and turned his head away as if recollecting the time. The silence stretched on until it seemed like he forgot I was in the room with him.
“And?” I said gently.
He turned his amber eyes back toward me, studying me for a moment before speaking. “And that man, who once was like a brother to me, decided to publicly humiliate me concerning it. He accused me of being a man of no honor coveting a taken woman. He made me a pariah in my home." He exhaled heavily. For a moment I glimpsed sorrow in his eyes, but it quickly vanished. "I had the least to sacrifice out of the young men who came here. I suppose that is reason enough for my people to be willing to release me to you."
A pariah in his home, the man had said. Coveting another man’s woman was still ill reason for a village to give up a man. Especially the eldest son of a governor. He knew the reason why his father and his people gave no fight for him, but he would not share it with me. He did not trust me with the knowledge.
Isaac looked down at his fingers that tapped erratically on the wooden table as I considered his words. He was too much of a dejected man. He carried the pain of betrayal from his village. It wouldn’t do here. He needed to build his confidence. More so, he needed to forget about his home and his heartache in order to be fully useful to me.
He glanced up at me, looking as if he was going to speak but then seemingly decided against it.
"You wish to ask me something. Go on then." He shook his head without looking back up, but I pressed on. "Speak freely. I will not count your words against you at this moment." He stopped tapping and met my gaze.
"Mistress, it seems odd to me that you are so curious on this subject when you are two years my senior and unwed. You are in a higher position in your family than I was, and I would think the timelines would be more pressing on a woman given the need to,�
� He paused and looked uncertain before continuing. “Conceive."
I sighed and gritted my teeth. Now he sounded like my father. As if I had no value if I did not marry and bear children. Though I had bated the man on the subject and told him to speak freely. I could not blame him for doing so.
"It is not such a simple process for me. There is much to consider when choosing a husband. I will always question whether men come to me honestly or with selfish ambition."
“Selfish Ambition.” He repeated almost in a whisper as if the words had meaning to him. "It is right for you to be cautious, but I wonder how will you ever know for sure? Whether someone comes to you honestly or not?"
I thought about the question not certain about the answer, though I asked the very same thing to myself often. "I would think that the circumstance that he comes to me would have to be so unique I could only account it as divine intervention. As if the Lord himself had brought the man to me for this very purpose." I smiled and stood. "Or perhaps I will just choose whatever man irritates me the least." I winked at him, trying to make light of the situation, as I went toward the doorway. "Mara tended the animals today. I will have food sent to you and then you can get some rest. I will not be returning for the night. There is a matter I must attend to that will take some time. So, you may use my bed if you wish." I smiled deviously remembering his words to me this morning. "Without fear of impropriety."
“The same matter that bruised your face?" He asked, raising one eyebrow. I nodded and started to depart. “Mistress.” Isaac called after me. “Has-did my father return here since I was taken? It is the time when the governors come and take counsel with you and your father, is it not?”
It was a question I hoped he wouldn’t ask. One month ago, the governors from the villages in our province met with us as they did every year. Yet, Isaac’s father, Aaron, did not come. He sent word that he would no longer be coming and would send any concerns through our tax collectors. It was our right to force his attendance, but it was no benefit for us to do so. It would have been every benefit for him to come and plead for his son’s life but instead he stayed back like a coward.
“No, Isaac. Your father chose not to come.” It was hard for me to register how the man felt by my words. He was becoming very good at masking his true feelings and acting neutrally on all accounts. Perhaps, he was becoming too competent in having me see and know only what he wished.
As I left him, I felt guilt and another strange emotion I couldn’t quite explain. His declarations of love followed by rejection to women I did not know sat uneasily with me. I pushed the feelings aside and went to meet my father in the main hall for Dante’s final sentencing.
Chapter 10
By the time I had been with the Fortress for a year, I had fallen into a routine. I woke up before the sun rose. I let the animals out to graze. I trained with Titus for two hours before the young boys came and joined us, where I would continue for 14 hours, breaking once for the midday meal and returning the animals to the barn. I departed, bathed, ate and went to the Fortress study where I re-copied and learned centuries of accounts before returning for a few hours of sleep.
In my eighth month Kiatra had added the new vow of responsibility to me. A new vision plagued me in the middle of the night, and I had woken and sat upright in a cold sweat.
“Shhhh. It’s alright. It was only a dream.” A voice said from behind me as fingers gently caressed into my hair and onto my back, coaxing me to lean back into sleep. To my horror I realized I had awoken from Kiatra’s lap. Instinctively I wiped my hand over my mouth hoping I hadn’t driveled on her as she sat on the floor by my sleeping mat.
“Mistress, I woke you—”
“You didn’t wake me. I was already awake.” She said simply as she rose to the table which we shared the last meal. I noticed then a candle flickering illuminating a stack of thick, leather bound books. “What did you see?”
I had a moment of panic with the question and croaked, “See?”
“In your dream. You must have dreamt something dreadful. Your tears soak my dress.”
I felt relieved that she had not known it to be a vision and shame for weeping like a child in front of her. I considered what to say. The woman would know if I lied to her. She seemed to have a sense of these things, so I told her plainly.
“I saw my brother, older than he is now, with my mother, her hair almost fully gray, weeping over a funeral pyre. I believe it was for my father.”
Kiatra looked up from her stack of books. “That is a dreadful dream. You haven’t been sleeping well, since you’ve come here. Do you have nightmares often?” She returned her eyes to her books as she awaited my response.
If it was only a dream. My brother looked about 14 or 15 in age, which meant the vision would come to reality in three or four years. Shortly after they buried me, they would put my father to rest. And I would not be there to lead the family through the grief. The burden would fall on my brother’s shoulders and the kindness of our neighbors.
But I couldn’t make Kiatra understand that without revealing my abilities. Instead I changed the topic. “Why are you up so late, mistress?” I asked her as I approached her by the table. She didn’t answer, instead she stood and motioned me to follow her as she led me out to the hall and into a chamber lined with shelves across all walls from top to bottom.
“Is this a library?”
“Of sorts. It’s a record of accounts. Every grievance that has been brought to the leaders of the Fortress for the last five centuries. Every answer that has been scribed. The writing is fading, so every now and then we re-record them, but my scribe is getting quite old and his eyes nor wits are as sharp as they once were. So I’ve been managing what he is unable too. I have tried to have someone train under him for years, but the man is quite prideful. It would be considered an insult to have someone else do the work until he passes. If he wasn’t a friend of my father’s I would have forced the man out.”
“Perhaps, I could help you, mistress.” I had offered. “It may help me learn your language and customs better if I had more exposure to it. And I am but a slave. Certainly, your scribe couldn’t find so much offense for me to assist him as I am no real suitable candidate to take his place.”
She considered it for a moment, then smiled slightly. I should have known the woman was up to something by the deviousness of her smile. Little did I know then that the work of a scribe was not just recording a chain of events but knowing them. Memorizing them. Being a point of reference if a similar occurrence were to come up. Little did I know that Sir Jeffrey who currently managed the accounts was more far gone than Kiatra had led me to believe. The work needing to be done was endless and tiresome.
Yet, I enjoyed the responsibility. I felt as if I was doing something of true value for Kiatra. I knew I would never amount to much of a warrior though Titus trained me hard and my skills had improved greatly. Tending to her animals and bartering for cattle were only minor tasks, but taking care of the accounts had become a burden to Kiatra. I was pleased to be able to lift some of that burden off of her shoulders.
When I busied myself in this way, it was easy for me to forget what I was here. When I made Kiatra, Mara or Titus proud, I felt a sense of acceptance. As if I was more than a slave and a sentenced criminal. I was eager to see Mara now as I just returned from bartering competently for a new calf from a merchant in the market. Though I had done so somewhat deceitfully. The man had swindled me last month charging me twice of what Mara thought was appropriate for a calf that size. Since the time I had met the man, a vision of him with his wife’s sister appeared to me. I had not overtly told the man I knew of his adultery though I implied it transparently enough. He returned almost the entirety of the coins I had purchased for the first calf and gave me a plump second one in recompense. I headed to Kiatra’s chambers smugly, eager to share my accomplishment, when Mara cut into my path.
“I was just in search of you—” I started.
“
Isaac come quickly! Kiatra has asked for you to join her in the main hall.”
“What? Why?” The main hall was where Kiatra and her father heard grievances and tried men for crimes. I had not entered there since the day my father and our men entered for judgement.
“Because your mistress has summoned you! Come quickly.” I followed Mara’s quick short steps to the entrance of the main hall, as she motioned me in. As I entered Kiatra was seated by her father’s side. Her father’s chief guard Sebastian stood next to him and three women who served as judges and counseled on grievances in the Fortress were standing in front of them. They all turned toward me as I entered.
“Come forward, Isaac.” Kiatra said evenly. The woman always made for an intimidating figure, but it was emphasized as she sat in her chair on the raised marble pedestal, slightly overlooking the rest of the hall. She wore a sleeveless, white, wool dress that went to her feet, though there were matching slits up each side, as was common with her garbs, reaching her knees. There was something so regal about her, as her hair was tied tightly in the back of her head and went down into a braid that rested on the seat with her.
Her father leaned forward as I approached them. “My daughter tells me you have been assisting our scribe on recording our accounts. There’s a matter we are trying to settle that perhaps you can offer some assistance.” It was the first time the Chief of the Fortress spoke to me directly. In the year I had been with the Fortress I was learning other languages, but he spoke in the united language of the Fortress. Was it possible he no longer considered me a criminal? The Chief motioned to Sebastian who shot me a look of distaste before speaking.
“An eleven-year-old girl has just been orphaned. Her mother died from childbirth. Her father passed away from heart failure just six days ago. She has no family in this village, but her father has a cousin who would be the girls next suitable caretaker. That is what our law dictates as appropriate. However, after the girl’s mother passed, her father hired a housekeeper to raise the girl as well as handle household chores. She has been the only mother the girl knows and has pleaded with us to be caretaker of the child. We have no reason to hear her claim. She has no blood connection with the girl, but she has made quite an outcry, and many support her. So the matter has come to our attention.”
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