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She looks at me with narrow eyes, but then she must decide to trust me.
“Not sure. We were just told to be ready for extra work today. As if we didn’t have enough to do already.”
I ask more questions of the people around me as we walk, but no one seems to know anything about the King or his movements.
Maybe this wasn’t the best place to get information. You need to get closer to the castle.
I am about to slip away from the group as we near the center of the village when I hear shrill shrieks and screaming coming from the village square.
The naga around us lift their spears and swords, and we all come to a stop.There’s no fighting your way out of this,I think to myself as I look around doubtfully. I examine the naga and keep my hand on my waist, where I have several knives holstered.
The naga around us mutter excitedly to one another before they start to yell. They shout orders at us, and we all put down the bags of grain we are holding before we walk in a straight line to the center of the village.
“What’s going on?” I hiss at the woman behind me. The woman I helped earlier with her bag of grain. I twist around to see her answer. She shrugs and sighs.
“It could be anything. These bastards are always going on about something. But don’t let them hear you say anything. They killed Jenny in the town square just the other day.”
I am inflamed with rage at the news of Jenny’s death, who I will never know, but who was just another victim of the naga.
I’m sorry, Mama. I know you’d disapprove of this plan. But I have to do it. For you. And for Daddy. And for Jenny.
4
SLYTH
The whole village smells like filth.
Frankly, the whole state of Yadat seems ugly to me. I’ve been here for a week, and I’m already tired of it. Everywhere you go, there are humans trying to avoid being hunted down and soldiers trying to hunt them. No one trusts anyone here, and they are all afraid of the very land, because it may be hiding the humans they live off enslaving.
As for the humans that have been caught and put to work, they are constantly chained and humiliated. Having the most of these broken creatures is considered to be glorious, and so every petty rich man competes to be surrounded by dirty, sad people whose eyes are constantly on the ground.
This is not the kind of nobility I care for. There is none of Zalith’s even-mindedness or fiery spirit. This country turns men into mean-spirited, small-hearted tyrants, and the sooner I get out of it, the better I’ll feel.
I walk down the streets of the town, making my way towards the center, where I assume there will be a marketplace. I do my best to offer smiles to the naga who go past me and to avoid the eyes of the humans.
I reach the village square and stand, looking around for somewhere to set up a booth. It isn’t too long before one of the other merchants walks over to greet me.
“You look like you’ve just arrived. Looking to buy or sell?” He’s a short man with green scales and a big, fanged grin that’s probably fake.
“Sell, at least at first.” I notice that there are two humans setting up the booth he was by. One of them is a man with a heavy chain around his neck. The other is a woman with a scarred back. “Can I just set up a booth anywhere?”
“Well, that depends on what you’re selling,” he replies, peeking at the packs on my back. “I’m guessing medicine, based on your bags.”
“That’s right,” I say, not unimpressed. “Healing potions from Lodra. From the look of things, it looks like I’ll be making good sales.”
His eyes narrow. “What does that mean?”
I point at the woman. “Well, that slave isn’t the first I’ve seen with some rather unsightly scars on her. One rub with one of the lotions I’ve got in here and all of that will be as clear as fresh snow.”
The merchant laughs. “Well, you’re not going to sell anything with that pitch! A human without scars is like unground nabella. If those creatures learned you could just get rid of their scars, they wouldn’t learn a thing from them.”
I don’t like this man. I don’t like the way he laughs about ugly, violent things. I also don’t like how he slips in little boasts like mentioning nabella, which I’m sure he absolutely drowns his food in just to show he can afford it. Still, I nod and do my best to fake a smile. “Of course. Silly of me not to have thought of it.”
“I take it that means you come from somewhere outside of Yadat? May I ask your business? I doubt you came all the way here just to sell a few healing potions.”
“I go anywhere there’s money to be made. There’s not much more to say about my business unless you want to be a part of it.”
“And Yadat just happened to be where you thought you could make the most money?”
