Betrayal's Hands

"Why have you brought our daughter to this place? At one time I believed you to have an ounce of common sense. I am finding this more and more unlikely! The battlefield is no place for women, you should return to your salon and your embroidery!" He raised his hand as though to strike her, and she flinched, just a bit, but enough to let him know that she had some fear of his anger. Lowering his hand, he turned away from her and muttered, "I will not waste my strength."

Turning to the page who stood just inside the tent flap, he growled, "Alert the men, we will be returning to Duth Darek as soon as they can muster." The boy scurried from the tent, hurrying to do his duty.

Shortly, one of the ranking warriors appeared at the tent. "What do you wish to do with the captives, M'lord?"

Makan took a moment to consider. "Load the cages on the wagons, we'll take them back to the slave market and make some money from them. Prepare the brands, and we'll make sure that this is a day they don't soon forget." The Baron laughed, a humorless cackle, totally devoid of human emotion.

"Lady, you will remain in this tent, and keep your daughter here also. I will not have you mixing with the common warriors, or the slaves. They are dangerous heathens, as like to take off your head as look at you twice." With that the baron stalked out of the tent. He never considered that his orders would be disobeyed. The woman knew all too well which boundaries could be pushed. She would not dare this time.

*****

Anna watched with hatred burning in her eyes as the Baron walked out of the tent to the places where the prisoners were staked. His men were busily readying a single fire, piling on wood, making the embers glow hotter and hotter. One man brought out a strange metal contraption from one of the wagons. It appeared to be a cage of some sort with heavy leather straps on the back of it. The purpose of the object became somewhat clearer when the first of her remaining soldiers was grabbed by two Aradmath warriors, and the cage fitted over his head. The leather straps were buckled tightly to the post behind him, rendering him unable to move his head away from them. Anna frowned, wondering what new torture the Baron planned for them. Her breath caught in her throat, strangling a scream as one of the enemy warriors brought a red hot glowing brand from the fire and applied it to the still conscious soldier's left cheek. The screams and the sickening smell of burning flesh caused spots to swim in front of her eyes. The cheering of the enemy locked into her heart a hatred of these creatures, a burning need to free herself so she could wreak vengeance upon them. Throwing herself at the bars of the cage, she screamed, a primal sound, ripped from her body by raw emotion.

Baroness N'meria and her daughter remained where the baron had left them, inside the tent. At the screaming, the baroness turned pale. She released her daughter's hand, and sank down on the baron's plank bed. The sudden scream from just outside the doorway drew T'leren. She moved, captivated towards the tent flap. Peering out, she saw the crazed heathen woman throwing herself at the bars of her cage, and wondered for a moment what she had done to be put in such a prison. Quickly the sight became too much for her, and she too joined her mother on the cot.

One by one, Anna watched as her remaining soldiers were branded with Aradmath's 'S' for 'slave'. The rope holding her cage was cut, and she fell as the cage hit the ground hard. Pulled from her prison by the two men, she was lashed to one of the posts, and for all her fighting, the cage was placed upon her head as well.

"Well, my little heathen, perhaps you have not yet resigned yourself to life as my property?" Anna looked up to see the leering face of Baron Makan. "This will be another step to breaking you..." He held out his hand and took the brand from one of his men. "I will personally deliver you into slavery, and it is by my hand that you are mine!" With that, he pressed the burning brand to Anna's left cheek. She screamed hysterically with the pain for a moment, then blissfully passing into unconsciousness.

"I had hoped for more screaming." The Baron complained as Anna slipped from the waking world. "Load her cage onto the wagon. Deliver her to my private playground upon our return to the city, and have her bathed. Even I will only stoop so low." The Baron laughed at his own crudity and went to collect his family for the return journey to Duth Darek.

Chapter 2

"My Lady General," one of the Nordlamar scouts called, hurrying up to her as she walked from one tired unit to another.

Shar stopped and returned the scruffy looking young man's salute before asking, "What news?"

"Captain Promus lives, General," he said, his voice betraying both his excitement and his anger. "As do many of her soldiers. They have been taken prisoner and I witnessed them being branded as slaves. The camp they were in was breaking up as well, I fear they return to Aradmath, to Duth Darek."

"Damnation," Shar muttered, her soaring hopes crashing to the ground. "Which camp? What is their standard?"

"Makan, Lady," the scout said. "His forces were the ones to capture hers."

Shar scowled and looked off in the distance towards the smoke that rose in thin spires from the enemy campfires to numerous to count. The soldier read her mind and spoke without being bidden, "They are far behind the lines, General, they are lost to us for now."

"Damn," Shar muttered again, but nodding her head at the scout's wisdom. After all, he had seen the situation, she had not.

"Send word to the Captains, I want one warrior from each; their sneakiest, dirtiest, most dangerous, and most likely to survive," She told him after a moment. Then she nodded her head, determined in her course. The scout saluted and was off, hurrying to do her bidding.

"Soldier," she called after him, halting him in mid stride. "Refresh yourself first, you've the look of the wild in you."

The scout smiled thankfully and hurried off towards the mess tent, already imagining the wonderful smell of baking bread and stew thick with fish, meat, and vegetables.

"I'll get them back one way or another," Sharlotta muttered to herself after he had gone. "You just hang on, Anna, and don't get yourself killed!"

*****

The caravan rolled slowly up to the imposing stone and wood East Gate of Duth Darek. Sentries posted on the walls had been alerted by the advanced scouts about the arrival of the baron and his troop. Just inside the gates, the caravan split into two, the baron and his family moving towards the wealthier inner city, and the slave cages and the bulk of the soldiers moving south, towards the often times unwholesome auction square and slave pens.

Anna looked out from her cage at the city, trying to note the twists and turns they took as the caravan wended its way through the buildings. The out sections, near the gate, were filled with downtrodden buildings often in need of repair. The further in they went the nicer the buildings and the people looked, being in better repair and growing larger. Soon enough the buildings began to show signs of abuse and neglect again. It was then that she noticed the stink of unwashed humanity mixed with death and decay. The final ingredient in her nasal assault was the bitter sting of lime, no doubt used to dispose of the dead.

Before the slave pens and the auctions square were fully in her sight, a warrior dressed in Baron Makan's livery rode his horse back along the line to her wagon and its escort. "You're to take this one to the house and have her bathed." He ordered the driver and the escort warriors. With a nod, the wagon was turned off, and Anna could only see her soldiers for a moment more.

They moved along the twisting streets, among the buildings of unwashed grey stone for what seemed like an interminable amount of time. Anna, naked, bruised and dirty, crouched in her cage, trying not to give into self pity. Eventually, the driver of the wagon pulled up and stopped before a large house, as grey and featureless as all the others in this district. Her captors approached the door to the cage, one unlocking the iron padlock with a key from around his neck. She fought them as they dragged her from the cage, but in the end, she was one against many. She was moved, still struggling and kicking, into the house and through the halls to the bathing room. She could feel eyes upon her, but she saw no one as she moved through the building. Forced into the bathing room, she could see a large tub and smell overpowering perfumes. Anna found herself unceremoniously dropped, still struggling into the tub.

Sputtering, she surfaced, only to find herself the subject of a group of strange women dressed in simple robes devoid of any real color. They descended on her en masse, attacking her with brushes and soap, pulling at her hair as they scrubbed at it with flowery shampoo. She attempted to fight back, only to find herself pushed under the water until her breath nearly gave out. When she again surfaced, she was in much more of a mood to cooperate. The women finished her bath quickly and efficiently, washing her everywhere.

Once she was bathed, Anna was wrapped in a towel and returned to the soldiers. The eldest of the women looked to the oldest of the warriors. "Put her in the end room at the top of the stairs. I think you'll find that everything you need is there."

The warrior nodded, turning and gesturing to the others to bring the still fighting Anna. Up the wooden stairs they went, moving along the long balcony past multiple doors. The sounds coming from behind a few of them that had not been properly shut clued her in to the purpose of this house. The door at the end of the hall was opened by the older soldier, and he entered the room, watching the others as they escorted Anna inside. Against the far wall was a large, solid bed with heavy posts on each corner. Attached to each was a chain and manacle. Anna's eyes grew wide as she realized her captor's intent, and she renewed her attempt to escape with vigor. Laughing, her two escorts pushed her down onto the bed, and the free man attached the first of her flailing hands to the appropriate bedpost.

Screaming in anger, Anna swung her other fist, hitting the warrior in the side of the head. His tooth bloodied her fist, but she had the satisfaction of seeing his pain. Quickly, however, the warriors had chained all of her limbs to the bed. One of the younger ones draped a sheet over her naked body, and all three left the room. Anna heard a key turn in the lock, and then footsteps down the hall.

****

Baron Makan led the convoy of his family through into the luxuriant architecture of the inner city. The closer they came to the palace, the larger and more ornate the houses became. They stopped in front of a nearly palatial estate. As the carriage pulled to a halt, the Baron rode back along the lines to speak to his wife.

"Lady, I will be out for most of the evening, I have several meetings to conduct. Do not wait supper on me." Nodding brusquely, he turned his sturdy horse and rode off towards the city.

The baroness sighed. She rightly assumed that his 'meetings' would be conducted in the gaming parlors and brothels of the outer city. She longed for the days when she held his interest. After the birth of their last child it was rare that he visited her bedchambers, and romance was nearly unheard of even then.

Baroness N'meria let a servant assist her in departing the carriage and looked about, wondering where Karoak was, the Captain of their Guard. He had been the most recent of her servants to sooth her loneliness on many nights and she was beginning to feel particularly lonely again. Of course if Makan would simply remember his love for her she would gladly give up her lover and return to his arms, but it seemed the older and the more influential the King's Baron became, the less human he seemed.

"Lady T'leren, Lord's Baron Darleth dep Katal called upon you while you were out," another servant said.

T'leren's face almost remained impassive. After a very brief pinching of her eyebrows she smiled and thanked the servant. "I shall have a letter sent to him right away," she said, inwardly dreading the experience.

"Nonsense, daughter, you should visit him! Yes, on the 'morrow, I think. A good night's rest and a bath and then we shall head out for there," the Baroness said.

"Shouldn't we wait for father?" T'leren said quietly, hoping.

"He worked hard for this union, of course he'll approve."

T'leren smiled again, hiding her sigh of discontent. She had no interest or desire in the ruthless Baron. Her mother might have high hopes for her, but her mother was a hopeless romantic and a hypocrite. T'leren knew full well that she was having an affair on her father; many of the staff knew of it. In fact, rumor had it that over the years more than a few of their servants had taken their turn at warming her mother's bed.

Yet all the while the baroness proclaimed such virtues as undying love and eternal companionship. Not for the first time, T'leren dreaded her future and wondered what could possibly be worse than to live in such slavery.

An image of the caged woman, naked and shameless, came to her mind then. T'leren shivered and realized that there were indeed worse things. The chains she dreaded were not the ones that the Nordlamarian wore. Then again, thinking of the many nights she had witnessed her mother hiding her tears at her fathers actions, she wondered whose servitude was worse.

*****

Shar stood on the wooden tower and watched as twenty sweat-stained warriors fought against another twenty. She marked several of them as they were defeated. Soon only a handful remained, defenders of the scenario that they had established. It was the fourth one of the day, and she was keeping a list of each soldier's performance.

"Regul," she said, turning to the older sergeant standing near her.

He turned to her and said, "yes, General?"

"Narrow it down to thirty by tomorrow morning, then give them two days off. Keep an eye on them. I only need twenty, the rest are to be returned to their units."

"My Lady," Regul acknowledged, saluting her with a fist to his chest. "I can tell you now who will lead them, he is a scout named Corillius Argondiir. I believe you know him."

Shar nodded. Corillius was her cousin, the son of Bethel Promus, her aunt and her father's, the Speaker's, sister. He was also the grandson, through his father's side, of Argondiir Fireeye, the chieftain of the Nordlandiirs when her people had fled Aradmath in secrecy. They had joined forces and created a new nation. She knew her cousin well, but not as well as Anna did. They had grown up together and fought and played together. He would see her free or he would not return.

Shar watched a moment longer and then turned and walked away. They truly were a dangerous group of people, she admired their skills and their dedication. They could sneak through the sparsest of cover as silently as a shadow, spring up and strike without warning, then be away before anyone knew they were there. She needed them, her sister was in trouble and well on her way to Duth Darek. Her little sister and her brothers and sisters in arms.

In three days they would be on their way to getting them back and avenging their fallen. Shar only wished she could go with them. The mantle of leadership was more responsibility and duty now than it had ever been in her life, and not for the first time she wondered when her duty to her people would be served.

Chapter 3

Corillius bit back the oath he wanted to mutter. It would do no good to his warriors if they saw his spirits flagging, theirs were already running low. They had lost two solid women within the first two days, both felled by spears and bows from trolls in the fens they had crossed. Long a nuisance, the Nordlamarian army had sent a detachment many years ago to beat the trolls back into the fens and try to eliminate them once and for all. It had been thought successful, but now Corillius and his unit knew better.

Once they were free of the fens and within the border of Aradmath the going had gotten easier. Unfortunately they had to move as stealthily as possible, and none of them knew the terrain well. They had all committed to memory the ancient maps of the Kingdom, but an overhead map was of little comfort when skulking through the wilderness in the middle of the night.

Now, nearly three weeks later, they came within sight of Duth Darek. Patrols had been few and far between, with so many of the kingdom's warriors tied up at the border, but now the going was going to get much tougher.

"Captain, them walls is 30 feet tall if'n they's an inch!" One of the soldiers, a short but powerful woman named Marta, hissed, her voice carrying to him in the night air.

"Aye, hope you don't fall if we have to climb them," another soldier named Veera growled; she was Corillius' second in command, a solid veteran of many campaigns.

Some of the others laughed, but Cor shot them a look to silence them. "We go in small groups, if they ask your business, say you are travelers, mercenaries looking for work as caravan guards. Whatever you do, do not claim to be from the northlands! You've cut your hair and changed your clothes to avoid that, do not give it away now! Remember your squads and where to meet up."

They all nodded and then, with another gesture, Cor started them off towards the gates. With no sign of anxiety or nerves, both Veera and two others stood and headed into the town. Because of the Aradmath attitude towards woman Veera went with no weapons, her two male escorts bore them all. They would quickly arm her once inside. Other groups were similarly arrayed as well. It was a gamble, but one they had rehearsed many times.

Corillius dispatched every group until, several hours later, he went in with two women, his pack on his back laden with knives and bucklers, in addition to the longer sword he wore at his side and the daggers in his boots. As with the others, the guards at the gate were lazy and uncaring. Duth Darek was the capital of the mighty Kingdom of Aradmath, what fool band of warriors would dare to assault it?

****

King's Baron Makan did not hear the ringing of his horse's hooves on the cobblestones. He did not see the giggling group of lower house maids returning home with their laundry. His mind had moved on to far more interesting and enjoyable pursuits. Upon reaching the city, he had sent a messenger to invite Lord's Baron Darleth to meet him at his pleasure house. Makan knew that his power and the possibility of his daughter's hand would ensure no refusal of his request. As his horse turned the final corner, he smiled. Darleth stood outside the house, leaning on the gate post. Makan dismounted and handed his reins to the boy who appeared from the stables.

"Well Darleth, are you ready to inspect my newest acquisition?" Makan clapped the younger man on the shoulder hard enough to stagger him. Together they proceeded to the front door. Inside their cloaks were taken, and a scantily clad young female appeared to lead them to the bathing room.

"I trust you don't mind if I bathe first?" Makan began stripping off his gauntlets.

"Of course not," Darleth replied, his eyes passing coldly over the young slave girl in front of them. There was no passion in his gaze, no admiration, and no lust or desire.

Both men stripped down and let themselves be tended to in the large bathing pools by teams of naked serving women. Makan's treatment of them was chauvinistic and crude, but if any of them had been asked afterwards each would have said they would have far preferred his pinches and slaps to the cold disinterest and cruel look in Darleth's eyes.