Solo Unease

[Kaiphur]

88th of Fall, Year 513 Dusk was settling over the city. Rows and rows of tents surrounded the small group, many alight with a warm glow from candles, wicker lamps and fire. A few tradespeople were arranging their wares for the next day, others packing their goods and heading home to their pavilions and warm beds. Grass had been trodden and worn to form obvious paths that snaked through the various stalls, homes and points of interests. This place would be wonderful to see and explore, if it were not for the shackles that bound Kaiphur to his fate. Unable to have a decent sleep in months. Unable to focus. To see past the fact that he had left behind all that he knew, tried to escape. That he had failed. No one in the group of slaves spoke, not even the slaver himself. They all just stared fixatedly at a point somewhere in the distance. Maybe it was home, maybe it was a new life, maybe it was at some children they had left behind. The half-shut eyes of the red haired boy stared at nothing. He had nothing worth looking at anymore, and nothing in his future that was promising or certain. His wrists ached, but he had numbed to it. His tummy let out a feeble grumble every now and then, but he was used to it. Walking the road etched into the grass had taken its toll on his body and mind. He had already been unstable and unsure before being captured, but they had taken him and found him out. Atleast back home he had food. No. No, no, no. Kaiphur bent over and rested his head on his knees. Home was never truly a home. Not anymore atleast, when a rich landlord’s son had been waiting to marry him. It made him feel disgusting and unwanted when he thought about it. A pawn, a tool. Used for social standing and to get money back into his own family. His father had never accepted or loved him, he had seen Kaiphur as a product that could be manipulated and played in his twisted little games.

[Kaiphur]

The slaver sat up straighter as he recognised a tall, tanned man who had the tattoos that marked him as one of the Drykas. His skin was inked with various dark patterns- swirls, arches, symbols that meant nothing and marks that adorned scars that may have hinted at their origin or just served to make them more distinct. He may as well have been a Zith, he looked so alien. “Kayinar, hello. You said you had lodgings? Temporary? Aphiro sent word to me several weeks ago.” The tall man smiled and nodded, gesturing for him to follow. Kaiphur felt a harsh tug on his shackles - could it have broken the skin around his wrists again? – and the band of recruits, captives and those born into slavery wearily rose up and followed the man who held their contracts. They ambled slowly at first, and then began to keep up as they remembered the threats of wippings and food restrictions that had kept their pace on the Sea of Grass. Endrykas was like a maze- streets wound in seemingly chaotic directions, open paths would be stopped as a tent sprung up out of nowhere… Yet the Drykas man knew where to go. Eventually, they stopped at a small tent that looked lively and busy inside. “This is where I leave you tonight. Rest well, or drink up… whatever you prefer! It may not be too comfortable, but lots of people tried to get here before Winter struck. I do hope you understand. It is difficult for even a skilled horseman to withstand the frosts and the creatures it brings. Just tell them I sent you, and they will understand.” The slaver lead his train inside and revealed a comfortable tent with cosy rugs and many people dancing and laughing. A man came over to talk to the slaver, but his voice was drowned out by everyone else. It looked like a very large family home that had accepted a few too many travellers for the night. Maybe this was common in Endrykas, maybe not. The landlord would never accept such a rowdy bunch into his stiff and unwelcoming home. Kaiphur didn’t know what he preferred – undisturbed but uneasy quiet, or many noisy folk and their bodies crowding around.

[Kaiphur]

The owner of the home directed the slaves towards the back, leading them through an exit into a place that was not so well covered. There were no rugs here, only grass. A few others – fellow slaves by the look of things – were tied up or sat here, not even the will left in them to run away. Many looked quite exotic, with darker skin or strange clothes. It seemed that many slavers were attracted to Endrykas to do their trading. The cloth that made up the “walls” of the thent was thinner here, and it bulged when the wind came into contact with it. The slaver released his hold on the chains and tied them up to a sturdy piece of wood. Kaiphur felt a chill penetrate the room… it was even more unsettling when he could still hear the happy people in the other ‘room’ (if tents could even be separated into such a thing) and he struggled to keep warm. His clothes were thin and itchy, and his shoes had worn away so that his toes just poked through onto the cold grass. “You guys keep quiet and sleep. Tomorrow I’ll hopefully be rid of you, and you’ll have a new master.” The slaver surveyed the room, looking at his competition. All were skinny, some were injured. Some were too young or too old… it seemed like the fellow slavers hadn’t bothered to fatten up their product either. “Now, you are slaves to be bought and owned. You do what you’re told by your new master, you do as they say and what they want. If they want you to hunt and gather for them, you do it. If they want you to look after their horses, you do it. If they want a breeder out of you, then you give them what you want!” Servitude, what a life. Kaiphur remembered there were servants in the old house, but they had all been paid. He hadn’t given much thought to slavery before it had personally affected him. Until he had been forced into it. Maybe he should have thought about what he was doing or where he was trying to go before he had set out? There had been no time, though. His mind had withered and he had almost given up when the thought finally struck him to leave and try and give himself a chance out there in the world beyond fancy homes and obscure places of education. A place where he could be himself. No luck…