“I’m not,” came Rose’s voice, but the priest continued as though he hadn’t heard her.
“Even in your state … your age … underneath all that filth, you are still a woman. And I have different needs than the other priests. My pleasures are of the inflicting kind. I find screaming delightfully arousing.”
I cringed as I listened to this sadistic priest. The horrors, the brutal, twisted tortures that the priests inflicted upon women were legend. The mangled, twisted bodies of prostitutes were commonly found in the ditches that divided Soul City from the Pit. The priests felt it was their right to do whatever they wished to women who weren’t beautiful enough to be concubines. “Make no mistake, peasant. If I find out that you are lying—if you are hiding a woman here—there are worse things than death.”
“As I said. I’m not lying,” said Rose. Her voice rose, and I prayed the priest wouldn’t hurt her. Not my Rose.
“You can tear this place apart, and all you will find is little old me. Nothing else.”
After an uncomfortable silence the floorboards squeaked above my head, and I heard the heavy tread of the priest’s feet to my left. I knew he had moved towards the door.
“I find no claim to these rumors, for now,” said the priest.
His voice became a little more muffled as he moved a little farther away.
“I will continue my inquiries on this matter. Pray that you do not see my face again because if you do,” I sensed the evil smile on his lips, “it will be the last face you will ever see.”
I strained to listen. My insides twisted. I was about to be sick with an empty stomach.
With a screech and thud, I knew that Rose had closed the door. But I still held on to my breath. What if the priest had killed her silently? What if this was a trick? What if he knew where I was all this time, and this was just a ruse to get me to come out. I was so panicked that I didn’t hear the table being moved until a whoosh of cool air slapped my face.
I blinked up into Rose’s flushed face.
“You can come out now. He’s gone.”
I let out my breath and clambered out of my private dungeon. Only then did I realize that the crown had gouged into my side and left an angry red mark.
As I opened my mouth to thank her, she grabbed ahold of my wrists.
“Elena. They’re on to us. I don’t know who told, but someone did. Next time we won’t be so lucky.”
I stared into the brown eyes I’d grown to love so much and nodded.
“I know.” I swallowed. “But there won’t be a next time.”
Rose frowned. “Elena, please! Don’t do this.”
Ignoring her, I ran to our single north-facing window. I could see that the shadow on the sundial outside was on the number seven.
“It’s already past seven in the morning. Damn these priests to hell if they make me miss this chance.”
“This is a bad idea, Elena,” came Rose’s voice behind me. “I beg you not to go.”
“Can’t. I’ve already made the deal.”
I turned back to Rose, grabbed her by the shoulders, and kissed her forehead.
Rose shot daggers at me with her eyes.
“Even after this, with what happened with the priest, you’re still going out? They know about you, Elena. I don’t know how, but they do. And now they’ll be looking for you, take my word for it. You must see that. You must see how stupid and selfish you’re being.”
She shook her head. Her eyes were filled with disappointment.
I felt a pang in my chest. But I was doing this for us, to save us from this hell. She didn’t get it. She would just have to trust me.
“It’s because of the damn priests that I’m doing this,” I said quickly and held her gaze.
“I’m doing this for us. I know you can’t see that now, but it’s the truth.”
Rose’s eyes reddened as they welled with tears. I felt my own eyes burn with the sadness that lingered between us. I blinked my tears away and released her.
“I know you love me. You’ve been a mother to me for all these years. It’s my turn to take care of us.”
She opened her mouth to protest, but I cut her off and kissed her on the cheek.
“I’ll be back later with the supper of your dreams.”
Before Rose could stop me, I dashed out the front door.
CHAPTER 4
I RAN FUELED BY the fear of what Mad Jack would do to me if I didn’t make our appointment. I ran on exhaustion and an empty stomach. Blood pounded through my veins, and yet I felt numb with dread.
I had seen the tears in Rose’s eyes, but I hadn’t said anything. I would see her smile again when my pockets were filled with coin. She had sacrificed her life to keep me safe. It was my time to pay her back. She deserved a good life, and I was going to give it to her.
I pulled my hood down and kept to the shadows as I ran through the mud in our ramshackle village. I passed the small square in the center of town. People were already setting up for the day’s market. Some looked up as I ran past, but most were preoccupied with displaying the paltry goods they were hoping to sell. There were no stone houses here like in Soul City. Our homes were a cluster of scrap metal and wood planks. They looked particularly grim in the bleak light of the early morning. It wasn’t the scent of spices, sugar, and roasting meat that I smelled, but rather the stink of horse manure, vomit, ale, and human waste… I did my best not to take it in, but the hot, toxic air always seemed to find a way into my skin.
My lungs burned, and I ran desperately to make that appointment. I just had to. I had nothing left but a fool’s hope that Rose and I might finally get out of the Pit.
With the town square behind me, I made for Bleak Town, the deepest and most crowded area of the Pit. The deeper I ventured, the worse the smell got. The buildings were worse here, too. The crude structures toppled over one another dangerously and looked as if they would fall apart in a gust of wind. Barefoot children with worn-down clothes hanging on their skinny bodies played backgammon in the street. They were coated with grime and looked like they’d never bathed once in their entire lives. The air was hot, and my clothes stuck to my body. The taverns that lined the road were busy.
I made for Mad Jack’s lair, the Dirty Habit. It was the only inn in the Pit, and the only two-story building in the village. It stood out among the other buildings, but not in a good way. The second floor had burned in a fire three years ago, and it had never been replaced. Now, the top of the building looked like a skeleton of a dead animal.
There was no front door to the building either, so I stepped up quickly and made my way inside.
A few harlots raised their brows at me, their cleavage spilling out of their barely-there outfits. Their eyes were lined with black kohl and their lips were swollen and red. All the sofas and chairs were occupied by clients. A plain but curvaceous woman winked at me as she passed by, completely naked.
Although I blushed a little, it wasn’t new to me. I’d been here before. I moved as quickly as I could as I negotiated my way past the tables, the half-naked women, and the many hands of men that tried to grab me as I headed towards the back.
I could see the small office area behind two bodyguards, and I caught a glimpse of Mad Jack sitting at his desk. I felt my knees give way. Thank the Creator! He was still there.
The guards looked at me, but before they could stop me I blurted, “I have an appointment with Mad Jack.”
At the mention of his name he looked up.
He was young for a street lord, older than me, but no more than thirty. His black hair was oiled and neatly pulled back into a ponytail. His white shirt was opened at the collar and revealed his strong muscles underneath. I wondered what it would be like to touch his golden skin, to trace my hands along those powerful shoulders. Although most of the women in my area said he was a vile and ugly man, I’d always thought he was handsome, striking really. If it weren’t for the long scar on his right cheek, he would have been gorgeous. No doubt t
hat scar saved him from the clutches of the priests who did not discriminate between the sexes when selecting the beautiful ones for themselves.
His eyes were dark, with the thickest lashes I’d ever seen on a man. They were the kinds of eyes that held you paralyzed just by their beauty, like they could see into your soul. There was no doubt in my mind that Mad Jack had broken many, many hearts.
When his eyes met mine, I couldn’t help but blush. He did that to me. But I didn’t have time to bat my lashes at him, even if I was that kind of woman, which I wasn’t. I was here on business.
I smiled as I lowered my hood. My heart raced as I imagined the surprise he would feel when he saw that I had stolen the object he had told me no one could ever take. I was very pleased with myself.
Taking his silence as an invitation to enter, I pushed past his guards, rushed into his office, and plunked the crown his desk.
“And you said it was impossible,” I purred. “What do you think now, eh?”
Mad Jack stared at the golden crown with disbelief. My smile faded when I met his eyes again. He wasn’t looking at me with the shock and envy I had expected. He was looking at me with a mix of fear and regret, like he hadn’t expected me to hand it to him, like he didn’t want me to. I got the sense that he didn’t want me here either.
His eyes darted behind my shoulder, but I didn’t turn around. I looked at him and then raised my hands.
“I know I’m late but I can explain. See, there was a priest who came around looking for me, and I had to hide and wait till he was gone before I could—”
“You won’t be hiding no more. It’s over.”
The rest of my excuse died in my throat.
I turned to look at the man who had just spoken. Two temple guards stood behind me. I hadn’t even thought to look and hadn’t noticed them, even though their black and yellow uniforms were a dead giveaway. But there they were. They had been waiting for me with their hands on their swords.
I felt the blood drain from my face as I took in their confident smiles and the wicked intent in their eyes.
But the betrayal, Mad Jack’s betrayal, pierced my heart and shattered it.
I felt the angry tears run down my face before I even realized I was crying. In a fit of rage I whirled around.
“How could you? You bastard!” I spat. “How could you betray me like that? To them? How could you do this to your own people? You double-crossing son of a bitch!”
I knew it was crazy and foolish to scream my head off at someone who could just as easily cut it off, but he just sat in his chair looking uncomfortable. For a second his face and eyes showed pain and regret. It was fast, but I saw it. And I also noticed how fast his expression hardened when he noticed the men watching him. He composed himself, straightening, but I had seen it.
“I’m sorry, Elena,” said Mad Jack, his voice stripped of emotion. He avoided my eyes.
I squeezed my fists hard. My nails bit into my flesh.
“Why would you do this? Look at me. Look at me, traitor.”
His eyes snapped to mine. His expression darkened, and I could see his anger as clearly as I could see his betrayal. So many emotions went through me as I stood there shaking. I was losing myself. For a moment I thought I’d gone too far and braced myself for the assault that was coming. He was going to hit me.
Mad Jack’s dark eyes pinned me on the spot. He didn’t move, and I didn’t understand the struggle I saw on his face.
“Because, like you, I’ll do anything to get out of this dump.”
He opened his mouth and then closed it again. “I saw an opportunity and I took it.”
“By betraying your own people.” My lips trembled, and the room started to spin.
I felt the temple guards move behind me before I saw them. They stood on either side of me.
I kept my focus on the traitor.
“…by giving me up to the very people who put us in this cage,” I hissed.
He looked down at his desk. I leaned forward, my voice quivering with anger and fear. “You know what they’ll do me,” I breathed. “You know. And still, you’re handing me over to them, like you own me, like you had the right. You had no right. Nobody owns me.”
Mad Jack clenched his jaw and breathed loudly through his nose. His eyes darted from me to the guards. He grabbed the edge of his desk with his fingers. His knuckles turned white as he said softly, “There’s nothing I can do.”
I frowned. “You’ve been working for the priests all along, haven’t you? You’re one of their spies.”
My eyes burned as the exhaustion and the hunger of the day spilled out of me through my tears. I thought of Rose, and it was all I could do to keep standing.
Mad Jack pressed his lips in a hard line, but said nothing.
Everything became clear to me. “You’re the one who snitched. You told the priests where to find me. You traitorous piece of shit!”
He shook his head. “No. I promise you, Elena. I didn’t betray you.”
“No?” I spat out a laugh. “What the hell do you call this? You’ve just killed me. You’ve just killed Rose. You bastard!”
I spat in his face.
“May the devil curse you. May you rot in the hell with him—”
Mad Jack’s eyes widened. It was my only warning.
Something hard collided with the back of my head. I fell sideways to my knees and tried to blink the black spots from my eyes.
“Don’t hurt her!”
Through my blurred vision I saw Mad Jack move from his desk.
“Don’t even think about it.”
A guard held a sword to Mad Jack’s neck. “A deal’s a deal. The whore is ours now. Get her weapons.”
“Bastards,” I managed to say and was immediately recompensed with a brutal kick to the stomach. I screamed in pain as I fell forward, clutching my stomach. I couldn’t get enough air into my lungs, and the searing pain told me that I had broken a rib. Cradling my ribcage, I stood up and looked my attackers in the eyes.
“Why does a whore need so many weapons, eh?”
One of the guards held my lucky dagger and my short sword. “Well, it doesn’t matter. It’s not like they were any use.”
He tossed them on the ground.
“Go to hell,” I wheezed.
Another brutal blow crunched the bones in my face, and I screamed in agony. My knees buckled and I fell. I tried to keep from passing out, but the pain was too much.
The room spun, and my world darkened around me. I heard Mad Jack yell something angrily at the temple guards. Someone was calling my name. A shadow passed in front of me, and I saw the traitor’s face, masked with worry, hovering above me. Then I slipped into the darkness.
CHAPTER 5
I WOKE UP TO the sound of gravel crunching. I felt a searing pain in my lower legs and wetness against my skin. My eyelids were heavy and stinging, but I forced them open. As my world slowly came into focus, the ground moved beneath me. I blinked the heaviness from my head. I was being dragged by my armpits.
The same two temple guards that had knocked me unconscious were dragging me like a corpse. My lower body bounced on the hard ground as rocks and dirt tore into my clothes and into my flesh. The more aware I became, the more I felt the pain, and the more I wished I could be unconscious again. I moaned as the wounds on my legs ripped open again and again.
As soon as they heard me, they dropped me.
My chin hit the ground hard, and I tasted blood in my mouth. I winced at the pain. Then I remembered what they’d done to me, to my face, and I was surprised I wasn’t in more pain. Maybe I’d been wrong. Maybe they hadn’t hit me as hard as I had first thought. Technically, I should still be unconscious.
I was too hot. Was it a fever from infection? I’d never felt like this before. I’d never been sick a day in my life.
“The peasant bitch is awake,” said one of the guards. “Get up and walk. We’re tired of dragging your sorry ass around. Up.”
Somehow
I pulled myself up and stood. Anything was better than being dragged. My head felt heavy and light at the same time, and my legs burned in protest. I looked down and gasped. My breeches and part of my tunic were shredded and covered in dirt and blood. My exposed flesh was torn and raw. I swallowed my panic and looked around.
I blinked in the brightness of the sun. Immediately I recognized where we were. The tall stone walls, the manicured, glorious gardens, the radiant stone buildings, the clean air, and the spotless and nearly sparkling streets all told me I was back in Soul City. The only thing out of place was the long trail of blood that marked the road behind me—my blood.
A waft of roasting meat nearly sent me to my knees again. My mouth watered and my stomach ached. My throat burned nearly as bad as my legs. I needed water more than I needed food. I didn’t know how long I’d been unconscious. The short shadows along the buildings showed that it wasn’t midday yet. They probably dragged me out of the Pit as soon as they had finished beating me.
Something hard hit me in the lower back, and I went sprawling. I used my hands to break my fall, and I cursed as my hands became as torn and bloodied as my legs.
“Better get used to the beatings, whore. This is nothing to what’s coming to ya.”
I whirled around angrily, but froze when the tip of a sword was pointed at my face.
I could blame Mad Jack all I wanted, but deep down, I knew this was my fault. Sure he had deceived me, but I had had been reckless. I knew that I had made the mistake of stealing the crown.
“How does a whore from the Pit get her hands on a kingly crown, eh? Thought you’d give up whoring and try your hand at thieving?” said the same guard. His imp-like face was hard and unforgiving. Years of battle showed in his cold and beady eyes. He shared a look with his comrade, and they both smiled.
I studied the guard’s finely crafted sword. Its shimmering pommel was engraved with a sun, a mark of the high priests’ temple guard. When he noticed that I was staring at his sword, his troll-like features hardened in a smile.
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