Chapter 9 - Discoveries

When I left Nalita's home, it was late afternoon. I'd almost expected it to be dark. As I made my way back to the docks, I took a moment to look at the houses I was passing. Well, in this area, they were actually estates. But it made me think. Things were different now. A week ago, I was content to sleep on the "Chelae", or spend the night at the Narwhal. But I now considered myself married, with a child that could arrive any time. (I really had no idea how long things like pregnancy lasted, but as tiny as Mia was, her belly looked huge.) I needed to give my new family a home. Maybe nothing as extravagant as the ones near Nalita's, but something comfortable. I'd also need to purchase a few slaves for upkeep and service. I thought about Kiro as overseer, but decided that it would be unfair to pile duties on her that would take her away from Mia. I'd need to hire a seneschal, too.

As I entered the Narwhal, I saw Mia sitting at a table, with Kiro kneeling beside her. "Hmm," I thought, "apparently Mia hasn't chosen to reveal her secret to Kiro yet." I never for a moment believed that Mia had any intention of keeping the person she called her friend as a slave.

When Mia looked up from her tea and saw me, she began to stand, so I hurried over and pressed her back to her chair, while kissing her softly. "Good afternoon, Beloved Wife. Did you have a nice time while I was occupied?" I pulled a chair next to her and settled down.

"Yes, my Husband, it was wonderful. Kiro and I were having a lovely time with the seamstress." Then she sighed. "Until Akira came in and told Kiro to get to work, that she had customers waiting."

I could feel the blood rising in my face, but I tried to calm myself when I looked at Kiro kneeling beside Mia. "She is here now, though."

Kiro looked up at me with moist eyes. "It is my time for supper. I wanted to spend it with my friend."

Then Akira approached. "Kiro, if you're not eating, get back to work. Take care of my customers!"

I stood up suddenly. The chair I was sitting on shot across the floor behind me and banged into the wall of the tavern. "Akira, we need to talk."

"Fine, we'll talk, but she," and he pointed to Kiro, "gets back to work."

I nodded to Mia with a smile, my eyes telling her I'd fix things, then I helped Kiro to her feet. I told her silently that it would be alright, then followed Akira back to his office.

Shutting the door behind us, I waited until he was seated behind the low table he used as a desk. "We had an agreement when I left. You agreed to sale Kiro to me. You even took my coin."

He opened a drawer on the desk and tossed a pouchful of coin to me. "I changed my mind. I can't afford to loose two girls. Mia was not a problem. She is stupid and pregnant. She is too slow, and will be worthless for weeks after the baby is born. I am better off without her. But Kiro is strong, fast. She's not so dumb, won't get pregnant. You can't have her."

I could feel a rage rising within me. This fool thought I was going to accept this? That I was going to go back to my wife and break her heart? I stepped up on to the desk and reached down and grabbed the collars of his robe. With a jerk I dragged him up from the floor and lifted him to eye level. Although much shorter than I, he was a great fat creature, and probably weighed more than Mia and Kiro combined. But I didn't notice that I was holding him twenty inches off the floor with the ease I'd have held Mia's newborn. All I knew was I wanted to hurt him.

I breathed into his face. "You don't change your mind. I paid for Kiro. I own her. You told me you'd have her papers waiting for me when I returned. Are they in this desk?" I knelt slightly and drove myself into the air perhaps twenty more inches. Akira squawked in terror as we went up, then groaned in dismay as we came down, smashing the desk in the process. I stepped from the rubbish and kicked the pieces apart, until I saw a pile of parchments that looked like the one I'd burned with Mia. I finally dropped Akira and bent over to collect the papers. And realized I couldn't read them.

"You will give me Kiro's paper."

"No. You take your money and your whore. You get out of the Narwhal. You are no longer welcome here. Leave now, or I'll cut you up. Get out now! "

Alright, I was stupid. I was extremely angry. And I didn't know what changes Nalita's blood had wrought on my body. I grabbed him by the shoulders, pulled him close then threw him across the room. It was like throwing a rag doll. He seemed to have no weight when I threw him. But the wall shook with the impact of his body, and on the other side I could hear bottles falling behind the bar. Akira slid down the wall, and groaned in pain.

I stepped over to him with the parchments. "Which one is Kiro's?"

Akira looked up at me and made told me to do something physiologically impossible.

"Fine. I'll take these to Mistress Nalita. I'm sure she can tell me which is which. Or, I could take them all out to the tavern, and burn them in front of all of your slaves. I doubt many would hang around after that."

"NO!!" I heard him struggle to his feet and stumble towards me. What I didn't hear was the dagger that he drove into my shoulder just below my neck.

"GODDESS DAMN YOU!" I screamed in pain and shock. I staggered back from him, and my rage exploded. I don't remember what I did to him in my blind fury. When I returned to my self, the dagger was lying on the floor, and Akira's body looked like a bladder filled with wine. There was no shape to him, and I suspected if I cut him, he'd leak on the floor like a wineskin. I thought I would be sick.

But I regained control of myself. And tried to look at my options. Akira was dead, and I had no way to hide the body. I looked at him again and the vision of trying to lift it up, and having it split apart in my grip made me retch. Ok, I couldn't hide him. Someone was going to find him. But what if I limited who found him. The thought appealed to me, gave me some control. I opened the door to the office, and summoned the bartender.

When he entered, I shut the door quickly behind him. He looked around at the broken furniture, and then saw Akira. He was noisily sick. Then he tried to get out.

"I killed Akira. You know this, and you know I could kill you as well." He opened his mouth to cry for help, but my hand closed around his throat and a croak slipped out. "But I would rather not kill anyone. Here is my proposal. You keep everyone out of here tonight. You tell no one what you've seen, or what you know. I'll arrange to have the office cleaned up, and Akira will disappear. And you'll own the Narwhal." Then a thought occurred to me. "Can you read and write?" At his nod, I collected the ownership forms and handed them to him. "Find yours, and Kiro's."

He went through the forms quickly, eventually pulling two of them out. "What will you do with those."

"Well, since my agreement with Akira died with him, I'm buying Kiro from you." And I pressed the heavy pouch into his hand. "This one, I'm keeping as a contract in our agreement. If no one else learns Akira's fate, I'll give it back to you, and you'll be a free man, and a business owner. If you don't, a friend of mine will own you, and inflict a slow and horrible death. Understood?" He nodded sickly. I led him back out of the office.

"Now, summon Kiro and tell her Akira sold her to me." He did so, and Kiro rushed to Mia and through her arms around her in delight. I'd guess she was pleased with her new owner.

After a delicious dinner served by Kiro, Mia sat on the bed, and Kiro knelt at her feet. I stood up and collected a lit candle and one of the platters from supper. Then I sat beside Mia and drew the parchment from within my shirt. Kiro was watching curiously. "Kiro, this is something my husband did for me last night. I choose to do it for you, because you are dear to me, and my best friend. Do you know what I hold here?"

Kiro looked closely and her eyes widened in recognition. "Those are my slavery documents? You truly did buy me from Akira?"