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“Of course there is. But I do not think you have such monies. Perhaps if she had not shown us how fearsome she is with her sword, we would have taken that glorious shield and let you go. But she is worth much more than this. The City has a deep hunger for slaves who fight, and they pay well.”
“City?” I said. “What city?”
“Erydon. The city of the Erydoni, or half-giants.”
“I didn’t know giants had cities. No offense meant to their sweet, sheepfat hearts, but I thought giants were sort of. You know. Thick.”
“True giants, yes. But these of Erydon are another matter,” he said, then added, far too brightly, “You will see!”
“But wait, no! I don’t want to go to the city! Well, all right, maybe I do, or did, but not as a slave!”
“Ha!” he said. “And I want my nose back!”
“But my friend doesn’t know what she’s saying!”
“Oh, yes she does. She is a woman of great honor.”
“Too much fucking honor.”
“She wears it nobly.”
“So, what, you’ll nobly take her shield now, and nobly sell her, and me?”
“No!” he said, as if offended. “Do not turn my words around. I have not said that we are noble. But we cannot keep the shield.”
“Why not?”
“Because it is too valuable. There is no way for us to divide it fairly. We have discussed this. We will sell it with her, telling how she used it, and her sword, better than I have seen since … I do not know when I have seen a better fighter. I am sorry she will not join us. She is worth twenty camels.”
“Yeah,” I said, under my breath, “and just as smart.” Then, louder, I said, “What if I stay?”
Bazl furrowed his brow in a way that made his false nose sit crooked.
“You would stay with us and let your friend be sold, never to see her again?”
“I don’t know. I was just asking, for the sake of argument. No, I don’t think I’d do that. But I’m rather desperate not to be sold into a city of half-giants who like to make slaves fight.”
“A coward, then?”
“Better a coward than a fool,” I said.
“It is possible to be both.”
“I suppose,” I said, defeated.
“Anyway, we do not want you.”
“What? Why?”
“Do you remember when I said we would perhaps take you because you were not seeming a cunt?”
“Yes.”
“Well, you now seem a cunt. And a coward. And a fool. We will take you to market and sell you and your goods.”
“Great,” I said.
“Well?” said Galva as Bazl walked away and as we were led back to our cages.
