A sabre! This man had a weapon – but he didn’t look to be a guard or an overseer. If anything, the way that he casually climbed the platform, and then ignored the pair of guards and me and Tamin seemed to suggest that he didn’t have a care in the world.
But the effect that he had on Dagan Mar was like the older slave master had spotted a rattlesnake in his path. Our ‘Chief’ straightened up as if to attention, though he didn’t bow or salute. Instead, Dagan raised his chin high, in defiance.
“Your lordship,” Dagan said, and the way that he dripped venom over the second word made me think that there was nothing in Dagan’s heart that meant it at all.
“Dagan.” There was a flicker of something in the young man’s eyes as he paused, making it clear that the dislike flowed both ways between these two.
“Might I ask just what brings you to my mines?” Dagan said.
The young lord ignored him, walking between us to stoop down to the metal box and pry it open. Beside us, Maribet One-Eye suddenly stiffened, and her face went pale.
Thief! I thought, and wondered if there was a way to make this noble angry with her.
This Western lord took his time carefully unfolding the roll of canvas as One-Eye shifted from foot to foot.
“Permission to get back to work, Chief Mar,” One-Eye suddenly blurted out, earning a sharp look from both Dagan and whomever this important young man was.
“Wait a minute.” The young lordling frowned. “This is… interesting,” he said as he picked up Lady Artifex’s journal gingerly between his long fingers. Eventually, he made a considering noise in the back of his throat and looked up at the chief. I had never seen anyone be so unafraid of our slave master before!
“I came down here because my sister wanted to check on the progress of the collection,” he said. “And so, naturally…” He raised a hand to indicate that here he was. Then he turned his head to look back at the journal once again. “But this is something new.”
Maribet One-Eye beside me made a small, nervous cough. She must have realized how badly she had messed up, I thought in glee.
“We’ve uncovered eighteen Earth lights for her ladyship!” Dagan said with a note of pride.
Not for your lordship, I noted. And he said that his sister had sent him. That would make him Abioye, wouldn’t it? I had heard of the brother to the Lady Inyene, but I had never before seen him down in the mines.
“Not enough,” the young man said in an offhanded way. “Where did you find this?” he raised the journal to ask Dagan Mar.
“That’s nothing, Abioye, just some trash that these two wasted their time dragging up,” Dagan said. “You can tell her ladyship that I’m resuming work right away, and I am sure that I will find more Earth lights before evening!”
“On the contrary, Chief Mar – this certainly isn’t trash,” the young man said, frowning as he looked up at me and Tamin. “Is this all that there was in the chest?” the Lord Abioye said seriously.
I froze. Now was my chance to open my mouth and say something – but the fact that I was a slave closed my throat. Even if I did tell on One-Eye, she would only get her revenge after this Lord Abioye had gone – or she could get any of the other overseers and mine guards to push me and Tamin over the Drop at any time they wanted.
And then, Lord Abioye did something strange. He looked past my shoulder, straight at Maribet One-Eye and said, while apparently still talking to me, “You know, my sister will be very displeased if anything is stolen from her mines.”
One-Eye didn’t say anything, but from the corner of my eye I saw her flinch.
The Lord Abioye sighed and returned to page carefully through the book. He paused to glance up at a picture of comparative types of animals and gave a slow exhalation of breath.
Why was he doing that? I wondered. Was it because he thought the pictures were worth something? The very thought that he might sell these rare finds I found disgusting. He set the journal to one side and flicked the corner of the canvas painting, revealing the creased features of Lady Artifex.
“No punishment for these two.” The young man frowned deeply as he studied the painting before he looked up at me again. “Where did you find these?”
He was gazing at me directly with those Middle Kingdom blue eyes. They were piercing, the color of the high Plain’s sky at noon.
And he was the brother of my captor. I glared back and said nothing.
“Can you take me to the site?” Abioye said, a little slower, a look of confusion creasing his eyebrows. I guess he must be wondering if I understood common tongue, which of course I did.
“Abioye,” Dagan growled. “It is not your place to make decisions about the running of the mine. If I say that these two are to be lashed, then that is precisely what will happen to them!”
Abioye stood up slowly and scratched his chin. “I know that you have been an indispensable servant to my sister, Dagan,” he began, and the chief slave master noticeably bristled at the very mention of ‘servant’. “However, I have to insist. I am my sister’s heir and representative. That should be enough to heed my orders. But in case it is not, I must tell you that my sister does not solely want mere rocks and metal. There is a reason why my sister wants these Earth lights. And I think that what we have discovered here,” he nodded towards the box, “is also important.”
It was the first time I had ever seen Dagan flustered. He made small chewing movements with his jaw, as if the words he wanted to spit were too difficult or too hot to even get past his tongue. In the end however, he settled for snarling. “Fine. If her ladyship wills it, then of course I wholeheartedly agree.”
“Of course,” Abioye said, looking away from the man, but there was a small, cynical smile on his face. These two had some kind of history of these encounters, I thought, and it looked as though this one was a win for ‘Lord’ Abioye.
“Shall we go?” he turned to say to me.
It was my turn to stammer and feel confused however, as none of the superiors or masters here had ever asked my opinion on anything.
“Of – of course,” I said, nodding. It was with a weird, surreal feeling that I saw and felt the guards release Tamin and me, before stepping back out of our path as I led the way.
Shame it was back down the mines, it had to be said.
Chapter 8
Opportunities
“Have you ever seen anything like this before in the mines?” my captor’s brother asked as he walked behind me. Ahead of me walked one of the mine guards with a torch and a long metal rod, next came myself, Abioye, another guard, Tamin, and then another guard. If I had believed that I might have free rein of the mines at last, then I was sadly mistaken. But of course, Inyene’s brother would require protection from such riff-raff as inhabited the mines.
“No,” I answered truthfully. I had never come across any pieces or areas of worked stone that we had not carved ourselves – and even then, anything that we slaves had carved had only ever been functional, never elegant or decorative like the worked pillars.
“Careful, sir,” the guard ahead mumbled – not caring for mine and Tamin’s safety, obviously – as he used the metal rod to tap and prod at the ledge as we stepped down onto it.