A Warrior's Redemption (The Warrior Kind) (49 page)

Work! Work! Work!

But it had been good for her. The town wasn’t wealthy by any means and her customers couldn’t pay her with money, most of the time, but her work was so rewarding and she made enough to get by.

She wouldn’t starve that was for sure. She had run out of uses and appetite for the never ending flow of eggs that her poorer customers paid her with. If it wasn’t eggs it was fur pelts. She’d run out of uses for those to. She still had some of the money that Sebastian had given her if times did get too hard. She made her way through the hustle and bustle of the village. Shyly she waved and greet
ed fellow villagers that greeted her along the way.

It had been awkward at first to be treated as an equal, but she was getting used to it and in fact enjoyed every moment of it, as she distanced herself from her past life as a slave. It was new and exciting this freedom that she was experiencing every day. She never got tired of it. She’d work for free just to be treated like this. Her little herbal shop was nestled in between the butcher’s shop and a barrel makers shop. The town’s one main com
merce item was the woodland ale that they brewed and sold to the lower settlements.

The main ingredient for the ale was derived from the bark of a rare tree that grew in great abundance in the forest that surrounded the little village. The same forest that was utilized for its rare trees was also rich in herbs. The town hadn’t had a healer in years due to the poor nature of the populace and they had received her with open arms of invitation once it became clear that she knew what she was doing. They had given her the shop she worked in free of charge and her position in the town had only risen with every grateful new pa
tient she had helped to overcome whatever malady they had come to her with. Life was good.

The mood of the townspeople had brightened considerably with the news of the Zoarinian Empire’s great loss in the Valley Lands. Everyone breathed easier now that the domination of the entire world by the Zoarinians had been thwart
ed, but they talked about it quietly. The village of Lornas lay nestled in the Hills of Ernor directly above the menacing Zoarinian Empire that lay to the south. It was not good to
speak to loudly in jubilation over their loss for obvious rea
sons.

The Zoarinians may have lost a fleet and a great army, but they were still a powerful force to be reckoned with. Many stories had filtered down about the great battle that had taken place in the north. Krista tried not to listen to the stories, but it was impossible not to. Roric had seemingly one the day sin
gle handily if the exaggerated stories were to be believed. While there had to be some exaggeration going on she did not doubt that he had played a major role.

She hoped that he had found peace along with the praise that greeted his name everywhere it was mentioned. Surely he had everything he could possibly want after such a victory? Her thoughts were interrupted as a frantic knock sounded out on her door. She opened the door and saw no one at first, but then looking down she saw little Talus Tolok stand
ing on her door mat wringing his hands together as he bit his lip hard.

Krista kneeled down placing her hands on the boy’s thin shoulders, “What is it Talus? What’s wrong? Is it your mother?”

“Yes ma’am! She’s in an awful amount of pain! The midwife wanted to know if you could come and help her with your stuff. There’s lotsa blood and she won’t stop screaming. I’m scared!”

“Give me a moment to gather some stuff and I’ll be over!” Krista straightened and turned to hurry back into her shop, but Talus’s tugging hand on her dress stopped her.

“Father said to tell ya that we can’t pay anything and that we’d understand if ya can’t come on account of us al
ready owing ya.”

“Sush now don’t be silly! I’ll be there as quick as I can! Now you run ahead and tell them that I’ll be their soon!”

The little boy’s face brightened like he had been given the sun and he raced off toward the even poorer section of the village. Krista grabbed a bag and threw everything she might need and some she might not into it.

It was better to have it than to not have it, if it became needed later. She rushed out the shop door with the bag not even bother
ing to stop and lock the door. She raced down the muddy street ducking in and around people and horse drawn carts that were in her way.

She didn’t see the rough looking man with the eye patch over one eye standing in the door of the town’s only tavern. He turned and said something to a companion further inside the tavern, who came to the door and stared after Krista’s retreating form.

Krista completely out of breath stormed into the humble one room shack at the outskirts of the village. Mrs. Tolok was breathing heavy and lying on the only bed in the room. Mrs. Lantas the town’s only midwife looked up relieved to see Krista.

“Oh good you’re here Krista! She’s
not doing well and
she isn’t dilated enough to push yet! Do you have anything that can help?”

Krista nodded as she rolled up her sleeves and ap
proached the bed.

Little Talus hadn’t been wrong about the blood. Krista kept her face serene and confident as she looked down at Mrs. Tolok’s wea
ry and fearful face.

“Relax Tarsa we’ll have that little baby in your arms be
fore the sun sets.”

“The blood?”
Mrs. Tolok responded with in question as her face reflected her worry.

“Taken care of Tarsa. Now you lay back and relax be
cause the sooner you relax the sooner you’ll be holding your baby.”

Krista turned to a relieved looking midwife, “Is there any hot water? I need it for seeping some of the herbs in.”

Three hours later a new life came into the world.

Krista held the squalling little boy in her arms for a mo
ment. She cooed and rocked the baby gently as she cleaned him off with a soft towel. She stepped forward and laid him in Mrs. Tolok’s arms as Mrs. Lantas helped her sit up a little.

The picture of the mother with her suckling child caused an ache to well up in the pit of Krista’s stomach that wouldn’t go away. She shoved her desires aside though and started collecting her herbs and tinctures. With one last glimpse at the mother completely engrossed in the new life that wrig
gled and cried in her arms Krista smiled and went out the door closing it behind her softly.

Mr. Tolok, a little wiry form of a man stepped forward out of the shadows and held out a little basket full of brown eggs. Krista just held up her hand and kept walking up the dirty path to the main street. As she passed by the tavern a rough hand shot out and caught her by the upper arm and dragged her toward the horse pen at the upper end of the town.

She had screamed initially out of surprise at the rough hold on her arm, which had caused her to drop her bag, but she started to fight when her other arm was seized by a se
cond man. There was little she could do to resist the men who were quickly dragging her up the street so she screamed for help.

Shopkeepers and townspeople alike rushed out into the street to see what the cause of the commotion was. A chat
tering throng of people formed. Krista had only been in the town for a short time, but she had already left a favorable impression on almost everyone. The two men dragging her were forced to a halt by the congested crowd of people.

“What is the meaning of this?” Bellowed out the burly form of the butcher, as he waved a knife in the air.

One of her captors growled out, “Step aside and let us pass if you know what’s good for you!”

“I will not! What is it you do with our herbalist?”
Replied the angry butcher.

Her captors responded, “She’s no herbalist! She’s nothing but an escaped slave and we’re taking her back for the re
ward on her head. Now stand aside!”

Both men drew their swords and the crowd moved back
ward slightly.

“Is this true Krista?” The butcher asked.

Tears in her eyes Krista nodded, “I was a slave, but I’m not any longer! My master is dead and he gave me my free
dom and some money to make my own way. I swear it to you!”

The half truth came easily to her lips in her desperation. Her captors moved forward and the crowd hesitantly parted be
fore them. What were they doing?

“Wait you can’t let them take me! I’m one of you! I’ve treated your sick! Mr. Solat if it hadn’t been for my medicine your son would have died! You can’t let these men take me!” Krista twisted her neck around to look back at the townspeople, imploring
ly begging for them to come to her aid, but they stayed where they were as the two men drug her to where their horses were tied up.

They pulled another horse from the coral and threw her across it and tied her hands to her feet beneath the horse, as she screamed and pleaded to the townspeople to help her. But the townspeople remained standing as they were their faces downcast as one by one members of the crowd slipped away from the scene.

The two men mounted their horses and loped out of the town tugging Krista’s horse along after them. After several miles the two men stopped and one came back and cut the rope binding Krista’s hands to her feet.

She was picked off the horse and thrown roughly to the ground onto her face. Eve
rything hurt from the rough ride.

She started to push up weakly from the ground when a voice from her past spoke, “Well, well, what do we have here but old scarface herself!”

Krista’s insides clenched as she looked up through the tangles of her hair and saw the fat corpulent form of Es
meralda standing before her, who had only grown uglier with age.

“You’ve only gotten prettier with age honey. You brought me big money once and I’ll bet you’ll bring me even bigger money this time! Throw her in the wagon boys, but be gentle! She’s a high priced sex slave if you ever saw one.”

One of the men near Krista groped one cheek of her bottom cruelly, but let go at Esmeralda’s shriek.

“Let go! Look is all you can do, you bunch of mangy cutthroats. She’s arriving at the slave market in Capeacal unspoiled!”

Krista was led to a wagon with a cage on the back of it and pushed inside it. The door slammed shut behind her.

“Pack up boys! The gods of fortune have been kind to us today!” Esmerelda said gleefully.

Krista fell to the straw floor of the cage and quivered as her body was wracked with sobs that didn’t seem to end. An older woman, who was already in the cage leaned down and pulled Krista’s head up into her lap and brushed her fingers through the wild tangle of curls trying to comfort as best as she could a prisoner of the same fate as her own.

Krista leaned up against the side of the small room she was locked in. She was the only one in the room, for which she was grateful. They had reached the city in the late after
noon and it wasn’t long after that she had been separated from the rest of the women in the wagon and sent up to this upper room of the slave market building.

All her tears gone she sat in complete apathy of emotion. What did it matter anymore anyway? No matter what she did nor how hard she tried she couldn’t escape the curse of her birth. She was a slave and no matter what she did to wipe the ugly stain of her life’s history out it just came back to plague her again and again.

The illusive dream of gaining her freedom had been crushed once again. There really was no point in searching after freedom anymore, in fact what was the point to even living? Her hand closed over the little piece of broken pottery that she had found earlier in her cell and she brought the little piece of pottery up to her face and contem
plated it more closely.

The shard of pottery had one sharp edge. It was sharp enough to do the job. She bit her lip as she brought it up and held it to her wrist. Scared by the decision she had made, but seeing no other way out, she glanced up.

“If you’re up there God I’m sorry, but I just can’t take it anymore! I know what’s going to happen tomorrow and I would rather die than experience anymore of what this life has to offer me!”

She looked down at her hand and made to pull the pottery across her wrist, but her hand wouldn’t move. She tried again and it still wouldn’t move. She could move her hand back from her wrist, but when it was against her wrist it wouldn’t move!

She gritted her teeth and strained with everything she had but her hand wouldn’t move. Uttering a cry of sheer frustration and anger she drew the piece of pottery back and hurled it against the opposite wall of the room.

It shattered into dozens of tiny little pieces. As the pieces fell several dusted down onto the robe of the figure of a man sitting against the wall across from her. The man calmly reached up and brushed the fragments of baked clay off of his shoulder. Krista gasped and flattened herself back against the wall.

“Who are you?” She whispered out in fear.

“A messenger from the Creator of all life.”

Krista choked out, “God?”

The figure nodded solemnly and real fear fell upon Kris
ta, as she realized that the Creator had seen what she had been trying to do.

Was this messenger going to kill her for what she had tried to do? The absurdity of the situation, given that had just been what she had been trying to do caused her to almost laugh out hysterically, but she held it in at the last second.

The messenger across from her smiled. It was a nice smile, surely he wasn’t about to kill her she thought to herself.

“Peace Krista. I have not been sent to cause you harm, but rather to bear you good tidings.”

Good tidings? She was about to be sold as a slave for the third time in her life. What could possibly be good about anything that could come of her current situation? The messenger across from her had claimed to have been sent by the Creator and he had appeared out of nowhere, which testified to a higher power at play within the room than could be faked.