5. Chapter 5

Chapter five

Tsaria’s eyes shot open in panic, and it took him a long, disorientating moment to figure out he was still in his cramped cell, and another moment to work out that the noise from the guard shouting at the kid in the next door cell was what had woken him.

He turned his head and his heart clenched. The boy was on his own. He didn’t know where his mam was, but it didn’t look good. And the guard that was shouting was one of the regular bullies. Not that they weren’t all bad, but this one seemed to take great enjoyment in it.

“I said,” the guard shouted, banging on the bars with his stick. “Shut the fuck up or I’ll give you something to cry about.”

“Put him in here with me,” Tsaria croaked out before he thought better of it, and the guard turned to look.

“Means if he continues to make that annoying fucking noise, it’ll be you that suffers,” the guard said, and his smile showed a row of rotting yellow teeth.

Like I wasn’t already.

Tsaria nodded, expecting even the tiny movement to hurt, and was surprised when it didn’t. Then memory flooded him. Tam. The emir. Wait, something about a mouse? What the hell had been in that stuff he gave him? By the time he’d decided that he didn’t care what it was, he grunted as a smelly bundle of nothing but bones and tears hit him. The guard had tossed the kid right on top of him.

Tsaria’s arms came around the boy automatically and he ignored the guard as he sauntered over to his rickety table and took a swig out of the jug that was on it. By the goddess he was thirsty. Juggling the boy, he sat up cautiously, noticing Tam was absent. But in the shadows of Tam’s empty cell he saw a clay pot, the type they used to hand out the swill they called beer in here. Cheaper than water anyway. Only the posh people in the city could afford it to be brought clean from the country.

“What’s your name?” Tsaria whispered.

“Jael,” the boy mumbled.

“Tsaria.” And he hesitated. “Where’s your mam?”

Jael shook his head and buried it in Tsaria’s shoulder. “She didn’t talk,” he whispered. “After the men came. Then they took her this morning when she wouldn’t wake up. "

Tsaria closed his eyes in despair. “I need to go use my pot. Can you wait there for me?”

Another nod, and Tsaria put him down on the pallet, managed to stand and walk to relieve himself, then thanks to the dim shadows keeping him mostly hidden, he crossed to the opposite corner next to Tam’s empty cell and reached for the clay beaker, thin enough to get through the bars. By the goddess, it was still full, but almost as if hidden. Had Tam left it for him?

Then he remembered what else he had said. It couldn’t possibly be true. He took a quick couple of sips, then returned to the pallet and whispered for Jael to drink quietly but finish it.

He sat back down and pulled Jael close, not attempting to fool himself that it was just Jael that needed the comfort and they both dozed for a while until the opening of his cell door jarred him awake.

“Get up, you’re wanted.” He got a flash of yellow teeth. Tsaria hesitated a second too long, but instead of the guard’s cane striking his legs, he hit Jael and the little boy cried out and tried to draw his bare feet away from the monster who had just lashed out at him. Tsaria jumped up and stood in front of the boy and the guard grinned, tying Tsaria’s hands before leading him out.

Tsaria sent Jael what he hoped was a reassuring look, even though he was trying not to visibly shake. He wasn’t sure he would survive another beating. Then a second guard stepped in behind him and picked Jael up, a hand over the boy’s mouth to silence him.

“What—” But Tsaria’s thoughtless words were cut off by another blow and the guard sneered.

“Told the sarge you might not squeal if they hit you, but I doubt you’d keep quiet for the rat.”

A sudden chill swept through his body, and he could feel the blood draining from his face. What had he done? He couldn’t let Jael be hurt, which meant he was stuck. What if the emir didn’t want anyone to know? What if that was why the nobleman was doing this to him? Would it put the emir in danger? He wasn’t so stupid that he didn’t know even the rich and powerful had enemies, maybe more than the poor. And it hadn’t occurred to him that his silence might be protecting the emir, not just himself. What had Tam said? His thoughts from last night were fuzzy, but he was sure—as ridiculous as it seemed—that the emir was trying to find him. But how did the ruler of the whole country not know who was in his own dungeon?

Of course he doesn’t. Of all the addle-brained thoughts he’d had since he woke, that must make the top of the list. Since when did rulers care who they trampled on?

He was dragged up a short flight of stairs and into the room he remembered from all the other times he’d been made to see the nobleman. He tried to swallow down his dry throat, convinced the small amount of beer he’d drunk was about to make a reappearance. Instead of being dragged past the desk, another guard halted them.

“What’s he doing out of his cell?”

The third guard sitting behind the desk grunted in annoyance. “I’ve gotten an order saying his lordship wanted him, and Simms here thought the lad would provide added incentive.” Tsaria could feel the guard holding him puff up a little, as if he was being praised for threatening a child. The other guard frowned in annoyance.

“That doesn’t make sense. He’s in a meeting.”

And then Tam’s words hit Tsaria harder than the guards’ fists. He was getting out. Somehow the miracle was happening, but Jael? He couldn’t leave the child.

And just as what seemed like two shadows in the corner of the room sprang to life, Tsaria twisted out of Simms’s clutches and lunged for the boy. He didn’t have to hear the gurgling sound of a throat being slit to know what was going on, and he held Jael tightly to him as he was hustled out of another door.

He heard Jael whimper slightly, but he didn’t have any words of reassurance to offer before they were suddenly out a door and Tsaria inhaled fresh air for the first time in what seemed forever. Then he was simply lifted and thrust on a horse, still clutching the child. He had a moment to register that he’d never sat on a horse in his life when slim arms surrounded him, grabbing the reins, and then they were off.

It was barely dawn but instead of fearing the horse couldn’t see either, he simply closed his own eyes and held onto Jael. They seemed to gallop forever. Jael fell asleep, but at last they reached cobbled roads and Tsaria tried to widen his gritty eyes. They must be on the outskirts of Rajpur. Somewhere large enough the road was paved, but far enough away he didn’t recognize his surroundings. Not that he’d ever spent much time away from his home, even before he’d been sold to Ishmael. The carriages that had been sent for him were always covered so the neighbors couldn’t see the upstanding mayor or priest calling for a pleasure slave.

The horse slowed and a man in a cloak suddenly appeared at his side and reached for Jael. Tsaria automatically cringed back, forgetting he was on a horse and nearly falling off the other side. Only the slim arms that were stronger than they seemed stopped him. “It’s me, Tam,” the man on the ground hissed and tried for Jael again.

Tsaria blinked in shock, although, why he was surprised at Tam appearing, he didn’t know. He let the child go, then looked down at the ground. It seemed an awfully long way down, and he wasn’t sure what to do. Then a large man appeared and reached up, lifting Tsaria as if he were the child, not Jael. It was a good thing the man held onto him though, because Tsaria’s legs didn’t seem to want to hold him up, and before he knew it they were bundled inside what seemed to be a small cottage. Before he could ask what in seven hells was going on, the large man glanced at Tam. “Help them both bathe and get food. Be ready when we get back.”

A chuckle which seemed more as if it came from a female than a man sounded. “We’ll be back as soon as we secure Kamir.” Then, with a swish of a cloak, she was gone.

Tam grinned. “The bath’s ready. Think you can both fit?” He was still holding Jael, who was beginning to stir. “Think he’ll be happier with you.”

Tsaria nodded fervently. He didn’t know what the hell had just happened, but the words bath and food mentioned in the same sentence were the stuff dreams were made of. He looked over to where the tin bath sat in the middle of the room with sheets draped to lend comfort, and he could smell the fragrant water. He didn’t need to be told twice, and as Tsaria had long since given up any shame associated with being naked, he simply let the rags that barely covered his bottom-half fall and eagerly climbed in, holding his arms out for a still sleepy Jael. Tam made short work of Jael’s rags.

Jael’s eyes barely opened as he touched the water and Tsaria quickly washed him, glad the boy’s hair was shorn like a slave, so he didn’t have to wash it or inspect it for anything nesting in there. Tam lifted him from Tsaria’s arms and wrapped him in a rough but clean cloth. Jael never stirred. “He needs food. I’m going to wake him, then hopefully he will sleep on the journey.”

Tsaria looked over at Tam. “What journey? And why are you here?” No, Tsaria thought. Why am I here?

Tam chuckled. “Get clean and dry while I get some food for you both. Then I will tell you what I can.”

What I can? Not the same as telling him all he knew. But Tsaria didn’t press Tam for more, just got himself dried and accepted the plain but clean clothes Tam brought in for him.

“I don’t have anything small enough for the kid, but we can rip up some cloth and a shirt and make do.” Then Tam came back with two huge bowls of meat broth and some plain bread just as Tsaria was finishing dressing Jael. The smell roused Jael enough to dive on the food as if he was starving, but for the second time Tsaria called himself a fool, because the little boy was more bones than meat. He shook his head when Tam looked like he was going to offer more. “Not if we’re travelling. I doubt if he’s eaten like that in a long time. And sure enough, Jael was back asleep pretty much instantly.

“What can you tell me?” Tsaria asked, making no attempt to hide that he knew Tam was keeping things from him, but no matter. Who was he to insist on another’s secrets?

Tam smiled ruefully, clearly catching the carefully worded question. “Some I either don’t know or aren’t my secrets to share.”

Tsaria accepted the explanation, then tried a question. “The person on the horse with me. Was that a female?”

Tam’s eyes danced with humor. “Yes, but I cannot name her.” Tsaria sighed and waved a hand, silently wishing Tam would just give him something.

“And the man?”

“Not a fan of bullies. What I can tell you is I was deliberately arrested last night to give you the warning message.” He glanced at Jael, who was curled up next to Tsaria, his small hand on Tsaria’s leg as if Jael wasn’t letting him go. “Who’s the boy?”

“He was in the cell next to me, along with his mother. I think they’d been in there a long time. The guards raped her yesterday, and she was gone this morning.” Tsaria knew from the anger in Tam’s eyes that he didn’t need any more explanation. “Jael was about to be beaten himself this morning because he was crying for her, so I told the guard to put him in with me.” Tsaria sighed. “It was foolish. I put a target on him. They were going to use him to get me to answer their questions.”

“Maybe not so foolish,” Tam said. “He’s here now.”

“And where is here?”

“We’re in the trade district.”

Which made sense. The trade district was made up of businesses that accepted deliveries of large stocks of things like grain, which was then sold to the shops that bakers kept. The tax collectors worked from here, and other businesses importing things like fish. Rajpur didn’t have its own coastline, so fish was a delicacy for the rich. Not that he was about to complain about what he’d just eaten, which reminded him. “I don’t know what was in that awful stuff you gave me last night, but not only did I sleep, I was able to stand when I woke.” He tried to sound thankful.

“My mam used to keep her own garden,” Tam said by way of an explanation, which Tsaria understood. Some people had a talent for growing certain herbs that they would sell to apothecaries and such. It was a tricky business. Many plants simply didn’t flourish and keeping them from being stolen was a constant challenge.

“I am grateful,” Tsaria said in case that wasn’t plain.

But before Tam got a chance to answer, Tsaria heard a noise outside and the same large man from before stepped into the cottage. He glanced around and nodded at Tam as if he was pleased, then looked at Tsaria. “We need to go.”

“Go where?” He was getting a little sick of not knowing what was going on, even if they had rescued him from hell.

“Cadmeera for now,” the man said softly, and Tsaria gasped in shock, a million questions crowding his mind.

“But—”

“Safety,” the man clarified. “But we have to be quick. The guards have left the palace and are starting to search.”

Tsaria didn’t need a second bidding. He stood and bent to pick up Jael, but Tam stopped him. “Let me, you get in the cart.”

“The cart?” Tsaria repeated as if half-witted, but then snapped his mouth closed. Why was he complaining? He doubted he could have stayed on a horse for much longer, and certainly not all the way to Cadmeera. So, he simply followed the man out and accepted his hand to climb up. The cart was typical. Nothing fancy. Something a farmer would use, but it had an oiled cloth over a rig. Typical for transporting things like flour and grain that needed to be kept dry. There were no formal seats, simply padded cushions, and Tsaria sank down gratefully, holding his arms out for Jael, then settling him carefully beside him, cocooning him in a blanket and wedging him between two more so he didn’t roll. Then Tam turned and sketched a bow at the figure in the cloak sitting opposite him who Tsaria hadn’t even noticed, then jumped out. The flap fell closed on the wagon and he heard Tam say something to another man and felt the movement as Tam climbed up with the driver. Then they were off, and Tsaria didn’t know what to say or where to look. Who was this person?

Then the figure moved before Tsaria could react, clutching the hood of their cloak and pushing it back to fall around their neck.

Words failed Tsaria, and he just stared at the beautiful man he thought he would never see again. The emir smiled and Tsaria felt the warmth radiating from him and the temptation to smile back. “We’d better not touch. I am told it won’t happen again unless I will it, but as you can see, we are in a confined space.”

Tsaria gaped. “I didn’t dream it?”

The emir’s smile widened. “No, but I can understand your disbelief. I share it. Let me explain what I found out on the way here.”