Book Two - Chapter Sixteen

Ariya stumbled and fell forward onto her hands and knees with a shout as one of the men roughly shoved her into a cell. Her palms and legs stung as they scraped against the ground, but it was soft dirt, so it wasn’t too bad, and it probably wouldn’t leave any cuts. Having dirt all over her felt pretty gross, though. She heard the barred wooden door slam shut behind her and the lock click into place.

There were about a half dozen other people in the room. They were huddled against the walls, and each seemed to be trying their best to stay as far from the door as they could, packing them together toward the back of the room. All of them were dirty, filling the room with a thick stench, their clothes worn and ragged. Only about half of them really acknowledged her, staring as she stood. Most of the rest gave her a quick glance and looked away. One man looked off at nothing, not reacting at all.

Ariya turned back toward the door, frowning. It consisted of a series of thick wooden bars and a heavy metal lock. There was no way she was breaking either. She thought for a second she might be able to slip through the gaps between the bars, but, when she got closer, it became obvious they weren’t wide enough for that. It had seemed like such a good plan, too. The man who had locked her in was still there, sneering at her. She didn’t know his name, only that he was blond, mean, and smelly. It was hard to tell now that the whole place stank, but she sure had smelled him on the way in.

“You’re gonna wait here, nice and patient like,” he said. He wore simple clothes that were barely any better than the people’s in the room. They were just as worn out, just a little cleaner. “Just wait while the grown-ups figure things out.”

He laughed and walked a little bit away. There was a table with two chairs just outside the cell. He took a seat there and started staring into space and whistling. He wasn’t very good at it. There was no tune to it at all, and sometimes the sound almost cut out entirely.

“You’re gonna be in trouble when Lusya gets here,” Ariya said.

The man ignored her and continued his off-tune whistle.

“She’s gonna beat you up.”

Was it even whistling at this point? He kind of sounded like he was choking now.

“You better let me go.”

He groaned and glared at her. “Kid, shut up, or I’m gonna knock the daylights out of you.”

She frowned and put her hands on her hips. “I’m gonna tell Lusya you said that.”

“Girl, I swear—”

“You swear what, Flaven?” Boss said with mock curiosity.

The light-brown haired woman walked in through the door, flanked by a couple other men. Ariya guessed that the walls were thin enough for her to hear. The woman’s name was a mystery, but all the others called her Boss. She wasn’t Ariya’s boss, but Ariya didn’t have anything else to call her.

“You weren’t going to damage the merchandise over a child’s taunts, were you?” she pressed. It was one of those re…ra…rhetorical questions! That was it. Lusya didn’t use them, but Mama and Papa had sometimes.

The man, Flaven, paled and shook his head like a leaf in the wind. “No, Boss, of course not. I was just trying to…scare her a little, to shut her up.”

Boss smiled. It wasn’t fake, but it wasn’t a happy smile. “Well, I guess that’s fine, then.”

She walked over to the cell door and crouched to get eye level with Ariya. Boss had bandages wrapped around her head, focused on the left side of her head. It would have looked silly, like a funny hat, if not for the fact that the bandages were stained a dark red. Ariya hadn’t been there to see it, but it seemed Lusya had cut off Boss’s ear.

“Hey there, girl,” Boss said.

Ariya narrowed her eyes. “Hi.”

Boss burst out laughing. “No need to glare at me like that. It’s not going to help you any.” She stood and sighed. “Now, what to do with you?” That seemed more directed at herself than at Ariya. “Whatever will we do?”

“Why do we need to think about it?” one of the men who had come in with her asked. He was tall, but human, with red hair and a patchy beard, and he spoke with a high-pitched, lilting accent. “If we are not treating her as a child, we can treat her like any other prisoner and sell her off when we get the chance, no? Only a slight change from normal, no?”

“In the long term, you’re right, Garint,” Boss said. “That’s good, but you need to think more about now. The other one is almost definitely coming after her.”

“So, we kill her, no?”

Boss shook her head. “I might be able to win—”

“No you can’t,” Ariya said. “Lusya’s way too strong.”

Boss glared at Ariya. “Shut up. Anyway, I might be able to win now that I know what she can do, but the rest of you are dead meat. If that’s fine with you, then fine, but…”

“I like being live meat, thank you very much,” the other man that had walked in with her said. He was shorter than the other one, bald and clean-shaven, with a deep, gravelly voice.

Boss nodded. “That’s what I thought. Which means we need to keep the girl around as leverage.”

“Does that change that much?” Flaven asked. “It would be a while before we took her to market anyway.”

“That is what I said, no?” Garint said.

Boss shrugged. She didn’t acknowledge that Garint had spoken at all. “True. If it’s been long enough to sell her, we’re probably in the clear. Still, bump her back just in case. We can use her for our needs like the others but be careful not to break her.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Flaven said. “I’ll make sure the others know too.”

“Good,” Boss said. She walked back over to the cell and crouched again. “Here’s the deal, girl: you’re going to do whatever we say. If you don’t, we can make you hurt real bad. And if your friend doesn’t show up, we’ll sell you to the highest bidder. Maybe they’ll be nicer than us. Maybe they’ll be worse. Either way, you just be a good girl and wait, okay?”

Ariya huffed and crossed her arms. “I’ll wait for Lusya to come and beat you up.” She stuck out her tongue. “And my name is Ariya, meanie.”

Boss just laughed again. “Feisty. Let’s see how long that lasts.”

She stood up again and took a step toward the door, then started to lurch forward. She slammed a foot on the floor to regain her balance, but she still swayed slightly, clutching her head.

“Boss?” the deep-voiced man asked, taking a step toward her.

“I’m fine,” she growled. “Back off. I don’t need help or concern from the likes of you.” She stood straighter and glared at Flaven. “Flaven, who’s shipping out next?”

“Cell One, I’m pretty sure,” he said, pointing down to the cell on the opposite end of the room.

“Pretty sure?” she asked, eyes narrowing to slits.

He shrugged. “It’s not like we have it written down someplace, Boss.”

Boss stepped closer to him. “Oh, are you complaining about how I run things?”

Flaven shook his head, just as frantic as before. “Of course not. I can’t read anyway. I-it’s Cell One, I’m sure of it. At the end of the week.”

“Good, that’s all I wanted to know,” Boss said, smiling. “There’s a real looker in there, right? Don’t look at me like that. Women buy slaves too, you know. Anyway, I’m sure we’ll get a good haul, but make sure to replace the stock as soon as possible.”

“We are getting closer, no?” Garint said.

Boss nodded. “Yeah. This land is ours now.”

With that, she walked out of the room. The two who had come with her followed her, while Flaven sat back down in his chair. Ariya didn’t have anything more to say to him, so she turned and sat down against the wall. Sitting on the ground was far from new to her, but the bare dirt of the floor felt way grosser than when it was covered in grass. It was probably getting her dress dirty too, but she wasn’t going to stand for who knew how long. She was next to an older man, with long black hair speckled gray and a bushy beard to match. He stared at her for a couple minutes, silent, with his wide, pale blue eyes. It was kind of creepy, but he eventually managed to speak.

“Are you not scared, girl?” he asked.

“I’m Ariya,” she corrected. Only Lusya was allowed to call her other things.

“Ariya, aren’t you scared?” he asked again.

“Of what?”

He nodded at the cell door. “Of them. They’re strong, and there’s nothing you can do against them.”

“Well, maybe a little bit,” Ariya admitted. She knew they were strong, bad people who could hurt her a lot. “But I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

The man grunted in response and looked away.

“What’s your name?” Ariya asked. Didn’t he know it was rude not to introduce himself after she had already done so?

“Hm?” The man jumped a little, like he’d forgotten she was there. “It’s Boyan.”

“Nice to meet you!”

A ghost of a smile broke through his dejected expression. “Nice to meet you too.”

The woman sitting opposite Ariya let out a derisive snort. It looked like she was about the same age as Mama, in her late twenties or early thirties. “Are you two stupid?”

“No, I’m super smart,” Ariya said with a frown. “Don’t be mean.”

“Don’t act like this is some kind of play date, then,” the woman said. “Do you understand the situation we’re in, girl?”

Ariya scowled. “It’s Ariya. And pretty much.”

She understood the concepts of prisoners and slaves, and she knew these bandits took people to make slaves. They had said Ariya had to stay here and listen to them. That sounded a lot like a slave from what Ariya had read. But she knew it wouldn’t last.

“Lay off her,” Boyan said. “We could use a little sunshine in here.”

“I’d rather not be teased by a little bit when I’ll never get the real thing again,” the woman said. She turned her attention back to Ariya. “If you understand, then you should keep your head down and behave. You’re only going to get yourself in trouble. Or worse.”

“Mama says if you let someone push you around, you win,” Ariya says. “You have to brave and stand up for yourself. And now I know that’s true.” That was how Lusya lived. She didn’t let anyone else decide anything for her. “I’ve seen it.”

“Standing up to them is brave, but it’s also stupid,” the woman said. She crossed her arms and sneered. “You look old enough to know that. Standing up to a bully is all well and good, but you should know when to be scared. There’s a lot worse than some harsh words at risk.”

Ariya tilted her head, blinking twice. “There’s no way anything is going to happen to me.”

“And how do you know that?” the woman asked.

“Because Lusya’s gonna save me, like always.”