The Red Scourge Ch. 02

Rinessa stepped out into the hot sun, squinting at the glare. Seva quickly shielded Rinessa's face with an umbrella, but it was little protection against the oppressive heat. Sprawled before her was the trading party sent by her father; A number of locally hired porters, three apprentice kavens, a tailor for the clothes, several drivers, and, of course, Umbroze surveying it all. He turned when he saw Rinessa emerge from the inn.

"Ah nothing like some sun, eh my Lady?" he said, grinning like an idiot. Rinessa glanced at him as he ran a hand through his thick black mane.

"I find it appalling," she replied in an icy tone as she strode to the gilded carriage with Seva staying close behind her. "The sooner that this deal is done the better I will feel." Rinessa stopped with one step in the carriage as she heard the dismissive snort of laughter from her kaven. Rinessa gripped the handle of the carriage door. That was it. She turned her head, her silver hair flying angrily as she laid her cold golden eyes on him.

"Something funny kazen Umbroze?"

If Umbroze was intimidated by Rinessa, he didn't show it as he gave her what seemed to be his favorite smirk. "No, forgive me my Lady! It's just that, in my opinion, an obdinika should not think like..."

Rinessa unfurled her whip and sent the lash across Umbroze's face so fast that he only saw a blur. If nothing else, Rinessa was incredibly quick. Seva gasped a little and, soon, everyone in the trading party was staring at the two of them.

Umbroze held the bleeding gash under his left eye, looking like he was in more shock than pain. "Your job, kazen Umbroze," Rinessa said, slowly and deliberately, "is not to tell me your opinion. It is to do what I say." She shook the whip, sending flecks of blood flying this way and that. "So now I'm saying that the next words out of your mouth, should be 'What is your command Lady Rinessa?'"

"When your father..." Rinessa was almost glad that he said that. Her next lash had far more fury and hate than the first. The new, much deeper, gash on Umbroze's right cheek began to bleed profusely.

"I'm sorry," she said sweetly. "What did you say again?"

At first, Umbroze looked like he was going to defy her again but thought better of it. He bowed his head and muttered, "What is your command Lady Rinessa?"

Rinessa watched a drop of blood fall from his cheek and splatter on the cobblestone road. She gave her own sarcastic smile to him. "Your experience with the zobzi is well noted Umbroze, they seem to be quite obedient. Therefore, I see no need to bring you along to the sale. You may remain here and guard the baggage."

Umbroze suddenly looked up at her and almost quivered in anger, the grave insult of not being allowed to attend the meeting being worse than the wounds he had suffered. His hand brushed the tip of his sword lightly but Rinessa didn't flinch. The two stared at one another until, without another word, he spun around and stormed off to the inn. Rinessa turned back to the carriage and subtly breathed a sigh of relief. She was well trained in the sword and whip but Umbroze had been a soldier before his current job. If it had come to a fight between the two, she was hardly certain to be victorious.

As she sat in the carriage and ordered the driver to the market, she saw, with satisfaction that Seva was looking at her with stunned amazement and more fear than usual. Rinessa may have not cared for the job forced on her, but it felt good to reassert her dominance, especially at the expense of a shit like Umbroze.

She carefully coiled the whip as she watched Seva bite her lip, looking like she was struggling to decide something. "Is something amiss, Seva?" she asked as she hooked the whip on her belt.

"N..no Mistress." Rinessa noted that the girl tended to stammer often times. Maybe she really was slow. "It's..." the girl paused.

"Speak."

"Don't you fear Umbroze Mistress?" she suddenly blurted. "He's quite...quite effective with us oft times, is all Mistress." She covered her mouth a bit, as if terrified she was going to suffer the same fate as the kazen.

Rinessa scowled. Did she have anything to worry from Umbroze? She would have thought being the Grand Duke's daughter, illegitmate or otherwise, would be enough to protect her from harm but after the way Umbroze had treated her...

Despite her thoughts she said, "Fear him? No, he's learned his lesson." As if on cue, she spied another kazen out of the carriage window. The man was older and rougher than Umbroze and was snapping a girl, about the same age as Rinessa, into a pillory. A crowd had already begin to gather. She spied the man pulling out a whip and heard a cheer or two from the crowd. Apparently the pusta had refused a customer and was being publically flogged.

For some reason, Rinessa thought of the dream she had last night. "In..." She drew the curtain and crossed her arms. Gods, she thought, not for the first time, I can't wait to be rid of this city.

* * *

The buyer, it turned out, was a nobleman from Hobitsani, a land known to be flooded with an excessive amount of titles, make up, and hair oil. This Count Harman didn't disappoint. He had half a dozen meaningless titles that Rinessa forgot the instant they were announced, more makeup than an acting troupe splattered on his face, and hair styled to look like ridiculous devil horns.

Compounding the inanity of her client was the fact that she had failed to remember to bring the special silver and gold cat-o-nines that Grand Duke Osten had wanted to offer as a token of gratitude to the buyers. Short on time, she sent Seva back to retrieve the cat-o-nines while she talked business with Harman.

She let him drone about how his wife and he were so desperate for a number of slaves to fill their new summer home. As it turned out, this Harman was quite interested in seeing how his soon-to-be male slaves could take a whip, particularly one wielded by Rinessa. Although she wasn't thrilled with the prospect, Rinessa merely smiled and bowed demurely and set her whip to the softest and prettiest rozki in the menagerie, a fair haired Omani elven boy, hoping that a few lashes would make the dirty bastard happy.

Unfortunately, it wasn't until the boy's back was criss crossed with wounds that Count Stupid Hair declared himself satisfied, though his dreadful erection still showed through his thin loose fitting robe. As the two wrapped up the details of price and transfer of the slaves, Rinessa realized that Seva had yet to return with the token cat-o-nines. Another bother she'd have to sort out when she got back to the inn.

After Rinessa politely excused herself and began to travel back to the inn, she found herself thinking about the young roski, who had been turned into a sobbing pathetic little thing after she had whipped him close to unconsciousness. Her thoughts drifted from there to the young pusta being publically flogged and humiliated, to Seva clutching the rug this morning, then to the dozens of other slaves and servants she had seen tortured throughout her life. Then she thought of her mother...

Rinessa attempted to distract herself by yelling angrily at the driver to speed up. No. She wouldn't think about her mother. Not in this place while doing this job. As she struggled with her thoughts she finally felt the carriage stop.

"About time," Rinessa snapped as she stepped out. In fact, the driver had made it there remarkably quickly but she was irritated. She glanced around. No sign of Seva. As she stormed off to her room in the inn, she began to regret going easy on the girl that morning.

Rinessa approached the door of her room and heard a thumping from inside. Odd, she thought. Then the thumping became rhythmic and, as she approached, Rinessa heard sobbing. Instinctively, she drew her sword and unfurled her whip as she opened the door slightly ajar.

Umbroze's pants were gathered at his ankles and Seva's slave robe lay huddled next to them. He had bent her over the bureau as he prepared to take his pleasure from behind as was the style for men to take a slave woman. Seva cried out and struggled uselessly in the strong man's grip as he grunted an animal like sound. What happened next would change Rinessa's life for good.

Before Rinessa could even lift her sword a flash blinded her and an invisible force lifted her up and threw her across the room as effortlessly as if she were a piece of glassware. Rinessa found herself slumped up against the wall when she opened her eyes, and saw Umbroze thrown against the bureau with enough force that it lay in pieces around him.

Rinessa stood up, groaning in pain and glared nastily at Umbroze. Before she could say anything, Umbroze put his hands up defensively. "My Lady I...I know what I did was wrong I know that but..." He pointed an accusing finger at Seva who had clutched her thin robe and retreated to a corner of the room, huddling in a ball. "The salve uses sorcery! She must be taken to the authorities!"

What he said was undoubtedly true. In Otreki, as was standard throughout the Free Kingdoms, slaves with sorcerous powers had to be turned over to the Order of the Drekavac for proper training. Ones that hide their powers, and are later discovered, usually found themselves the subjects of magical experiments that would turn the stomachs of even the most jaded folk.

Rinessa stood up slowly, still in pain. She pointed her sword at the whimpering Seva. "You started this, you take her," Rinessa ordered the still half naked Umbroze. As the kazen approached the trembling Seva, Rinessa couldn't help but think of her father.

It wasn't until she heard the gasp of shocked pain and saw Seva go wide eyed with fear that Rinessa realized what she had done. Umbroze's sword dropped from his nerveless fingers as Rinessa pulled her own out from his back. The kaven stumbled forward into a bloody heap in front of the bed. The thump that came afterwards was Seva, fainting from the trauma.

Rinessa stood over the lifeless body of Umbroze, stunned. Something had come over her unlike anything she had ever felt before. Anger? Frustration? Commotion from beyond the inn's room caught her attention. She looked at the bloody mess before her. The best thing she could do was to take the unconscious body of the sorcerous elf girl to the city guard and do her best to explain why she lost her temper when she saw Umbroze forcing himself on her property.

Rinessa slapped Seva across the face waking her. Seva cried out as Rinessa roughly pulled her up on her feet. "We must move now!" she snarled. "Get the money and two rukuvus." Seva stared at Rinessa, teary eyed. Rinessa slapped the girl again. "Now!"

Minutes later, after the two had changed out of their bloody clothing and gathered as much money as they could carry., Rinessa and Seva snuck out of the window. Rinessa heard the inn keeper yelling loudly about how the daughter of the Grand Duke was in room where all the noise came from. She felt Seva clutch her arm. "W...w...what do we do now Mistress?" the slave girl stammered. Rinessa knew by sundown the two would be hunted down like dogs and her father...

"Run," she glanced at Seva. "We run."