Within an hour they had arrived at Shi’Caperrnel’s estate. They had been loaded onto a flatbed wagon and had stood in a rain of confetti and cheers. Like we were some damn heroes.
Shadi had stood silently and watched the crowd, much like Kayden was. The nameless Jhakarti had lain down and ignored everything around him. Rulaf on the other hand stood in the front of the wagon with one foot on the railing. He raised his hands into the air and yelled, soaking in the adulation of the crowd lining the street.
The estate had tall marble arches that ran high over the Iron Gate that swung open as the slave master’s carriage neared the wall. With the sun an hour or more from setting, they rode through the estate garden, as if they had ridden out of the city and into a well-tended countryside. Either side of the roadway were well tended hedges broken by footpaths that led to grass covered clearings, rose gardens and ponds for fish and birdlife.
If Kayden tried hard enough, he could make out walls beyond the treeline that framed the manicured grass lawns. It was just an illusion that they were in wide open spaces, the gardeners artfully hiding walls and buildings with trees and hedges. Still, it was a massive estate.
“Shadi.” Kayden nudged the dark skinned man. “Do you know where we are? After I was taken, they put me in a closed wagon and rode me into the city. It took a couple of days… though I was unconscious for some of the way. I don’t know where we are.”
“You… you are from far away?” Shadi asked. The way he spoke was accented to his ear, but Kayden supposed that his own way of speaking was also strange to the southerner’s ears.
“Yes. From Railor.” He replied.
“Ah. I have heard of Railor. The large Kingdom in the north with massive armies, destroying whole nations on their path of war.” Shadi looked him up and down now. “So how did you come to be here?”
“Hmmm… It’s true that Railor has had plenty wars in the past and expanded its borders a lot, but there hasn’t been expansion in a long time I think.” Kayden shrugged. “I’m just a sailor. Used to sail for the navy, but I was on a trading ship of a real ambitious Captain. Then we were attacked by two other vessels. They lit us up with fire arrows and then came aboard. Knocked me out as I was helping my mates and then I woke up on the wagon. Soon enough I was thrown into that cage on the side of the arena.”
“Shi’Uzdu purchased you at random then.” Shadi told him. “Each cage had a number, containing a healthy man with weapons. That’s what Shi’Uzdu bought and that’s why he said that he was lucky.”
“I see… What about you then? How did you get here?” Kayden saw the start of a massive white building poking up out through the trees ahead where the road bisected the garden.
“I was also captured… Slavers roam the roads in the south…” Shadi looked at his feet and his face was bitter. He seemed unable to carry on.
“Don’t look sad friend!” The giant shouted and clapped Shadi on the shoulder hard enough to make him stagger. The dark man seemed about to react in anger when the big man put his arm across Shadi’s shoulder, nearly driving him to his knees. Rulaf grinned his crooked smile at Shadi. “We are alive friend! Tonight we drink! Shi’Cappa looks good after Rulaf. I have great room for great man! I kill many men in games. I get wine, beer, ale, meat, fruit…” Rulaf winked, the most cunning expression that Kayden had yet seen on his brutish face. “… and all the women that Rulaf might desire!”
“I see… you are fortunate to have such a good Shi.” Shadi replied.
Kayden said nothing. It cannot be fortunate to have any kind of slave master. “There is no slavery where I come from.” He said to nobody in particular.
“What? No slaves?” Rulaf seemed appalled. “Who fights the games? Who does the… the… dishes?”
Kayden shrugged. “People do the work. They get paid for it, they work for the Lords.”
“Oh oh, they paid. So what? Rulaf paid! I have big home.” The giant gestured at the gardens and the marble mansion that was much closer no. “I have food, I have drink!”
“Yeah… but you can’t leave here and do what you want.” Kayden replied.
Rulaf blinked down at him. “Leave? This is best place! Where I go? To desert?” The giant laughed so hard spittle flew everywhere. “Leave home and all the drink I can drink to go walking in the sand and die in the sun… of thirst… little man funny!”
So the city is surrounded by desert. That’s a good fact to know.
“Oratiga.” Shadi said looking up, his eyes wide. “We are in Oratiga!”
The giant grinned. “Aye! Oratiga. Best and biggest city there is! We here!” The wagon stopped and Rulaf vaulted down to the ground. Kayden and Shadi went down and were surprised to see that there were no guards or gaolers who came to chain and hustle them along.
Of course, the heavily armoured guards that escorted Shi’Caperrnel were there. Twelve identical soldiers, helmeted in the hot sun but upright and rigid with discipline. They seemed to follow the little man everywhere. Four of them followed the man now as he disembarked his carriage and glided towards the house. They marched like giants around him.
The old slave master glanced towards them and waved a hand. “Have a grand time Rulaf my boy! Show your friends around! There will be a feast for you as always, the cooks will make sure there is enough. Don’t forget about the other one in the wagon!” The slaver dismissed them just like that and carried on.
Kayden looked around. “I don’t get it… I expected… chains? Cages? Guards?”
“I too am confused.” Shadi admitted.
Rulaf strode back to the wagon and lifted the Jhakarti from where he lay. The creature hissed and tried to strike out at the giant who dropped him from above Kayden’s head height. The giant laughed as the other smacked his head on the ground and ate some loamy garden soil. It spluttered and tried to stand, casting a clumsy fist at the giant.
Rulaf cuffed the creature with an open hand and it sprawled on its back. Rulaf picked up one ankle and began striding over the lawn towards the mansion, dragging the unconscious Jhakarti behind him.. Instead of the main door, he angled across the garden to the right.
“Cages? What’s this Rulaf hears from little man and brown man? No cages for champion Rulaf!” The giant laughed. “Hero Rulaf! I used to be kept in cages. Rulaf break cages! Then Shi’Cappa bought Rulaf and all was better. He give me nice place. Why Rulaf leave eh?”
Kayden was at a loss for words. It seemed that Rulaf was a simpleton who had everything he wanted, why then would he want to escape. No aspirations to leave, no wants. No family or duties. Kayden had the suspicion that not all slaves lived so freely.
“Slaves are not usually this lucky, friend Kayden.” Shadi said to him in a low voice. “I can see you find all this strange, but believe me – this is the first time I have heard of the like. Usually we would be given food yes, but we would be locked up. Sometimes abused.”
“What’s with this place then?”
“I don’t know… it’s as if he’s…” Shadi stopped. “Never mind. Let’s enjoy this while we have it.”
“Why?” Kayden asked.
Shadi looked at him over his shoulder and smiled, his eyes tired. “Because tomorrow we may be dead.”