by Susan Wright
"What does that matter? I got them out, Bene!"
Bene gazed up at me in admiration. "I knew you would, Marja. The slaves are so grateful. They want to tell you themselves. I’ve been talking to them, explaining some of the things you taught me. Most of them are eager to get out and see Stanbulin. I told them they have to wait until you say it’s all right."
I tousled his hair, knowing I would have to bed him in the next couple of days before his adoration got out of hand. "Where’s Eshter?"
"Waiting downstairs. We’re going over to the master house. People have gathered there to examine the debris."
My smile faded. I had bargained with evil spirits, yet it appeared I had somehow eluded their hold. "I must see it."
When we reached the streets, Eshter was waiting and our greeting had a few tears sprinkled amongst our relief. Eshter knew what it felt like to be a woman in the hands of brutal masters. She wordlessly took me into her arms, comforting me.
As we walked through the narrow streets, I was glad the olfs came along. They lent brightness and color to the dirty streets and dour faces.
I held on to Lexander’s arm as we walked. We both took comfort in touching each other.
As we turned down the lane, the butte rose in front of us. The top was much the same, but the front surface had sheared off, leaving a depression where once there had been a craggy promontory. The rubble sloped steeply down to the base, where the sturdy wall still held. The rocks were pressing the iron spikes outward, and in some places had bent them, spilling boulders into huge piles on the other side.
"The houses below are already evacuated," Bene told us.
"And the first good rain will bring down more," Lexander added.
People were climbing among the rubble, picking through it and pulling out things, like scavengers on a carcass. A long maroon and gold banner flapped in the breeze, with one end wedged under a pile of rocks. All those costly goods the godlings had collected to transform their dreary chambers were buried here. Only the precarious wall holding up the slope kept more people from coming to pick through the rocks, searching for gold and jewels.
A fight broke out over an object that had been found. I shuddered. "I wouldn’t touch anything from this place. The demons were trapped when the rock collapsed. They’re waiting to be released."
Perhaps my own evil deed was trapped here along with the demons, inside the very rock I had moved.
The fight among the scavengers was growing vicious, and Lexander urged us away, toward the harbor. "Did any of the masters survive?" I asked.
"None have come forward," Bene said. "It looks like you caught them all, Marja."
Dozens of near immortals snuffed out in a moment . . .
I continued walking around the butte, past the gate-keeper’s shed. Only the small peaked roof was exposed. The gatekeeper’s body was buried by the rocks.
I looked out to sea. "Another winged ship with more slaves will be arriving any day now."
"What are you thinking, Marja?" Bene asked.
"Lexander is a master. He could tell the shipmaster to do whatever he wants. They wouldn’t gainsay you, would they?"
"No, they would obey me," he said as if realizing it himself. "I could find out where the pleasure houses are on their route. But my people will eventually come to find out why the flow of slaves has stopped."
"Long enough for two or three ships to arrive?" I asked
Bene was grinning. "We’ll have a warband! We could go back to Allonis and get those slaves out. And Montplaire, too."
Lexander and I exchanged glances. We had not been counting on help from the freed slaves, but perhaps it was inevitable that our little band would grow. Bene and Eshter certainly weren’t going anywhere without us.
"We could do it," I told them. "We can find out from the shipmasters where the houses are."
"They’ll take us there themselves," Lexander agreed. "The shipmasters will swear we’re from Saaladet, giving us free rein to do whatever we want."
I glanced up at the sheared wall. "Your people may find it impossible to rebuild their slave trade."
"Once we’re done, there will be no masters left who are willing to serve them."
I bowed my head to the inevitable. The masters must be fought and blood must be spilled to free the slaves.
"You’ve cut them off at their knees," Lexander told me. "Now we just have to finish what you’ve started."
I took Lexander’s hand, feeling his cool strength supporting me. Bene and Eshter moved in close, eager to do whatever it took. In that moment, I knew we would succeed.
