Page 51 of A Drop of Corruption

“A fortress, or perhaps a prison. And several painted men, who apparently serve the court of Yarrow.”

Malo went very still. “I see…Come. Walk with me and tell me what you saw.”

I dismounted and led my horse as I walked with her, describing the chained people I’d found in the carriage, and my confrontation with the purple-faced Pavitar.

“Ah,” said Malo bitterly at the end of it. “Naukari.”

“What’s that?”

“Those folk werenaukari.Ancestral servants. The Yarrow of old still thrives in the west of here, living under the rule of the king. There the nobles and chief men have inherited many elder things. They have inherited lands from their fathers, and the oaths of loyalty that their fathers made to the king…and they have inherited people.Naukari.The ones bound to serve.”

“The realm of Yarrow practices slavery?” I asked, surprised.

“No, for slavery means markets, and prices and such. The folk in the west do not deal in such abstract things. They keep to the old ways—one who is born to the servant of the land is also bound to serve that land for all their lives.”

“There’s no way out of it?”

“Only if the king or a lord or a landowner decides you are no longernaukari.Yet that is a rare thing. Many run away. Some, as you saw, are captured and returned.” She spat rather viciously into the trees. “The purple-faced man, Pavitar, is the jari of the court. A priest, like Kardas said, but one that enforces oaths and ancestral fealty—including those governingnaukari.That fortress you saw indeed serves as a prison, where they keep the servants who tried to flee to the Empire, before returning them to their lands.”

I reflected on this dismal thought for a moment. “They were from the court of the king, you say…but their teeth were rotted and had to be quite painful. Why do they tolerate such a thing?”

She cawed with laughter. “The Yarrow court disdains all thingsimperial, Kol! They would not accept the Empire’s gifts to save their own lives.”

“I see. And their painted faces?”

“A sign of prestige. Certain roles at court are color-coded. Just as the Iyalets themselves bear a color. Though I do not know this Darhi. He must be new. Let me see the coin he gave you.”

I gave it to her, and she studied it with her augmented eyes.

“An oathcoin,” she said. “Granted by a Yarrow noble. Quite the boon!” She let out a laugh again, but the sound was black and cruel. “Imagine, an oathcoin in the hands of an imperial! Perhaps the Elder West truly has changed, for it seems this Darhi is willing to owe you a favor.”

“But why? All I did to earn this was ride a horse up a damned hill.”

“My guess? I think while Pavitar wishes to intimidate you, Darhi attempts to buy you.” She smirked and flipped it back to me. “Ididsay you looked expensive, Kol.”

I snatched the coin out of the air and glared at her. “What of Kardas? Does he happily tolerate this abuse of the Yarrow people?”

“Happily? No. But you want the world run your way, walk a few weeks in that direction.” She gestured southwest. “You will find the Empire soon enough.”

“It all sounds…” I said, but then held my tongue.

“Barbaric?” she ventured.

“It is not my place to criticize another culture, I suppose,” I said stiffly.

This drew a morose chuckle. “Truly? I myself think the practice abominable. I am glad it shall die in a matter of years, when this realm is adopted by the Empire. But until then, there are many servants who flee, and risk their lives doing so.” She peered up into the hills. “The ones you saw today…their mistake was they didn’t run far enough.”

I glanced at Malo and saw the disdain in her face. Suddenly it was very easy to think of her as one such child, slipping away from the demands of the soil to become a warden of the Empire.

“Did you?” I asked.

“Did I what?”

“Run far enough.”

She turned her gaze on me, eyes sharp. “I sought you today to talk business. You want to do that, or you want to keep pissing the day away on things we cannot change?”

“All right. Have you found someone resembling your sketch of the impostor?”