Minirtha: Warrior Woman Ch. 02

The two guards by now had gotten the man to his feet and one asked, "Is this the truth?"

"Yes the other woman is my property but the woman here tricked me to take her away for herself. I want her charged with theft of my private property."

The two guards looked at one another before they pulled their iron bindings and, to everyone else's surprise, but the on the barbarian's hairy wrist.

"What do you filthy animals do to me? She is the thief!"

"You cannot steal a person away. It is not theft, it is kidnapping. But this woman did nothing wrong. You however have committed a crime in this city by imprisoning this woman as a slave. We will be taking you to our stronghold until you can go before the judges in a few days."

The man went away screaming, dragged off by one of the other guards. The other looked at Minirtha.

"Has the woman said anything about what he has done to her?"

"No," the redhead replied, "She does not speak a language I understand. What will happen to him now?"

"Since he probably brought her in with him, he did not kidnap in the city, or maybe even the nation. We will never get conviction on that. However, seeing this and her state at the moment, he will most likely get the imprisonment conviction and will be banished from the kingdom. What do you plan to do with the woman?"

"I am hoping one of the sailors at the shipping office can speak with her. We are on our way now."

"I wish you luck then," he offered as he rushed off to assist his partner.

The two women soon found the door to the shipping office opened and went in. Minirtha spoke to the head clerk and he looked the freed slave woman up and down closely. He rose and said he would return momentarily. In no time, he reentered the room followed by an olive-skin man dressed as a sailor.

"I believe that this man could be from the same chain of islands as her. He knows several languages and I am sure he can speak with her. The man stood there, his long dark hair flowing from under hat, and said several words that Minirtha did not understand. After trying three or four tongues, he spoke words that caused her companion to verbally reply. Soon the two were speaking with one another, as the warrior woman waited for translation.

The man turned to her to speak. "She says her name is Lai, and she comes from Second Island off the northernmost chain in the Sea of Gath. About four months ago, a band of pirates invaded the island and killed off many of the men. All of the young women were taken away, stripped and shaved before being boarded onto ships bound for strange lands. She was kept in this state until several weeks ago, when she was given to a hairy man as payment for mercenary work he had done."

"No doubt that was the man I rescued her from." Lai went on to speak to the man more, pointing at Minirtha the entire time she did.

"She says she owes you her life for saving her from him. Apparently he was quite brutish and unkind, as she would prefer not to talk about it. However, she says if you want you can claim her as your own property and she will gladly go with you."

"I will not do that. I myself have done mercenary work but would never accept payment in that manner. She is a human being, not some object." The man seemed to translate this to Lai, who understood. She spoke something else to him.

"She has said she is torn, as she wishes to go with you as a companion, but she feels she must return to the islands as she most likely has family that needs her to provide care."

"My life is not for her," Minirtha said. "I am a warrior and wanderer, not the kind of life for a woman like her. Please tell her I would love her to stay, but she must go home to the land she belongs to." He translated this and although Lai looked sad, she also knew this was best.

"Tell me," Minirtha asked, "will it be possible to get her home? I am afraid I cannot afford passage for her."

"We can get her home. There is a wagon leaving for the seaport in an hour and there are ships going to the islands near her home. I can send her on the wagon, with a recommendation she be signed on as a dishwasher and cook in the galley. That will get her free passage and enough money earned to get a ship to take her the rest of the way home." He told this to Lai, who looked sadly at Minirtha before turning back to the man to offer a reply.

"She says she will go, but is sad the two of you must part suddenly. I am afraid she must be going now to catch the wagon before it leaves."

Minirtha approached Lai and bent down to allow the two women to share one last kiss. Lai had tears in her eyes as Minirtha turned to depart. In truth, the proud warrior woman wanted no one to see that she too cried a few tears at their parting. While she was happy that she had rescued Lai and gotten her a way back home, she was sad as she felt a closeness to the woman. It was bitter that they had to leave in this manner. Minirtha dried her eyes before returning to the main roadway.

Satisfied but sad, Minirtha took a walk around the capital city. She could not dwell on the thoughts of losing Lai to her homeland, as she was there for a reason. She decided to focus her mental efforts on her mission, knowing she had her audience with the Queen coming up the next day. She continued on, readying herself to do the job she had been hired for.

To be continued...