fantishu
Chapter 25
I imagined I must look Like a brown Lump from the outside.
“Ciara,” Master Damien said facing me, “outside these walls are others who will not appreciate you. Having a slave is a privilege, most cannot afford it. Speak to no one, including us. You will be punished severely if you speak in the village. Can you do this?”
“Yes, Master Damien,” I said.
We walked out a thick door nestled Low in the wall. The men allowed me to follow Master Damien out and then took up positions. The men were on either side and behind me; I was surrounded.
The way they moved and the tight grouping they held told me two things First, I couldn’t run from them out here. It wasn’t Like I had anywhere to go anyway. The second thing was that no one else on this street was going to touch me. Since running was out of the question and I felt safe, I was able to just look around,
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The area was alive. There were men everywhere standing outside the large buildings that lined the narrow streets. Everything looked like it had been made out of putty colored sand. Strange paintings adorned the outsides of the buildings. I wondered if that wasn’t their ‘language.
I had shopped a lot at flea markets and it felt like that. The street itself was crowded with tent vendors outside the main buildings. No one said a word to our entourage. I made good use of my ‘peripherals’ and noticed almost all the vendors held something out toward my owners. It was a silent request to look. They never got in our way or spoke to us.
One man up ahead with a stand had what Looked Like earrings and they got my attention. Despite my circumstances, I still noticed the beautiful jewelry. Shiny things always grabbed my eyes. My mom had
teased me about that.
I tried not to turn my head as we passed the earring vendor’s cart and sort of succeeded. One pair had a silver loop with a blue stone floating in the middle. I liked those.
From behind me Master Bane made a sound and Master Damien stopped. He came to a stop in front of the vendor’s cart and my owners rearranged themselves around me.
“Point to what you are Looking at,” Master Evan said gruffly under his breath.
I had tried to be sly, but I must have been obvious. I quickly gestured with my mittened hand to the set I had seen, but retracted it quickly.
The salesman had Looked curiously at it; like he wanted to touch me.
Master Damien bartered with the man and handed him several pieces of stone from inside his belt. He retrieved the earrings from the salesman and passed them to the back of our group. Master Christof placed them in a small pouch at his waist.
As we walked away Master Evan quietly asked Master Damien, “Do you know what we just bought, brother?”
“No, but it does and the things are in our colors,” he answered and kept his brisk pace through the vendors.
We came to a Large wall and Master Damien didn’t even have to knock, it just opened to us. I followed him past the guard at the gate. We were in a courtyard with what seemed Like Little shops all around.
I saw other groups of armed men present with Little brown bundled creatures in their midst. It was quieter here and only Warriors with slaves seemed to be present. These shops must cater to them, I thought.
The guard relaxed a little around me as we walked toward a large storefront. Light colored fabrics blew in the breeze outside. Now I was sure those symbols were a Language. They looked different on every building.
We entered the store with all the fabrics and Master Damien was warmly greeted by an older man inside.
“So you finally gave in old friends. I wondered when you would,” he laughed grabbing Master Damien’s arm.
The room was full of fabrics and shiny metals. It looked to me like a woman’s shopping paradise.
“So this is better than the Life of a Warrior, Fredrik?” Master Evan asked curiously looking around.