Chapter 7

After the two villagers and Daniel's body were dragged out of the room the scene deteriorated to that reminiscent of the sack and pillage of a city rather than the end of a gentlemen's dinner. Shasta, more than a little sick in the stomach, backed out to the room while most of the "officers" grabbed whichever girl they could get at first and emulated their esteemed leader.

She felt lucky to escape the feeding frenzy, although pulling her blouse collar down to fully display her salidin might have helped. Rushing back to the kitchen she quickly told the remaining girls to hide wherever they could, for at least the next hour or so. At least until the initial lust crazed activity had died down. She didn't stay long. She said what needed to be said and then hurried off to a storage closet where she picked up a few empty chamber pots and some spare bedding. Without stopping she headed back to the room where Nesho and the rest were being held. There was only one guard posted there now and although he grumbled somewhat he let her in.

Telling the others there was no time to answer the many questions being fired at her she left again and quickly retraced her steps to the kitchen. She was relieved to find that the remaining girls seemed to have heeded her advice and gone into hiding; at least she hoped that was the case since there was nobody in the kitchen when she got there. Quickly she threw together a tray of bread, cheese, water, wine and whatever leftovers from the dinner she could find and hauled it back down to the room.

"I'm sorry; this is the best I could do," she apologized. "Everything is going crazy out there!"

She began telling them the story as she passed out the food. By the time she finished with Daniel's murder and the bedlam afterwards the three women were white as sheets with Sosho and Clarise holding each other tightly on one of the beds, crying softly.

"We've know Daniel since we got here," Nesho explained. Her eyes were glistening with unshed tears but her face remained as expressionless as a stone statue. "He was a dear old man and a good friend." Nesho set down the sleeping Marko next to her brother, stood up and walked slowly to the tiny window. There she remained, staring out into the dark nothingness.

"Those poor girls!" Sosho sobbed. "What will happen to them?"

"They'll live," Shasta said without any compassion. "If they're smart and take my advice."

"How can you be so heartless?" Sosho shouted.

"Experience," Shasta said looking the younger woman straight in the eyes.

"But..."

"That's enough, Sosho," Nesho said quietly, turning back to the room. "Shasta is quite right. They will probably live through it. Remember, we have seen this before." While on a trip with her nephew, Dent, their ship had been captured. The women aboard that ill-fated vessel had been taken as slaves, but before being sold in Harv'el they had been repeatedly raped by the privateer's crew. Nesho and Sosho had been saved that fate by the quick-thinking Dent claiming them as his slaves and personal property.

"Remember we were saved from that fate only by Dent's wit and strong right arm," she paused momentarily and her hand went to briefly touch her salidin. "Even as he still protects us. If they live we will deal with them later. Right now we have other, more important, things to worry about. This general is obviously either stupid or insane, possibly both. As I see it one of two things will happen now: Either the villagers will completely submit; or they will rebel. Knowing them I think it will be the latter. The question is how do we, or can we, use this?"

"Use this?" Clarise said with a shaky voice. "How can we do anything when we're locked up here?"

"As I said," Nesho repeated, "that is the question. Our husband will return for us and we must prepare for that. Do you have any doubt about that?" The two young women suddenly sat upright and with eyes wide shook their heads in unison. "Well I don't propose to sit here on our bottoms waiting for him to pull our fat from the fire again. He'll be busy enough when he gets here. We need to make sure we're not part of what he needs to worry about."

"How?" Sosho, Clarise and Shasta said together. Nesho just smiled.

"I don't know, exactly," she said. "But we will begin to find that out. Shasta," she said and Shasta's head popped up, "you seem to be able to come and go without hindrance."

"So far," Shasta agreed nodding.

"This could work out well," Nesho mused. "It could be dangerous for you though." Shasta just shrugged. "They haven't connected you with us, except maybe as a servant, or a nanny perhaps. Do you think you can find somewhere else to sleep, somewhere safe?" Shasta looked thoughtful then nodded. "Good. This is how we should start..."

The four plotted together for the next few hours.

+ + +

Shasta knew of a secluded storeroom away from the main hallways, which had often been used for trysts between servants or afternoon naps. There was an old mattress on the floor that was comfortable enough, and the room was sufficiently secluded that she felt safe sleeping there.

She woke early the next morning and carefully snuck out, making sure nobody saw where she was coming from. Her sleep had been fitful; she had been dreaming about that man again. Although this time she couldn't pass it off as a spillover from his passions with another woman. Chiding herself for acting the moonstruck girl she took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and got back to work.

Taking care of her necessary business she headed back to the kitchen. Surprisingly, she met no one on either trip, neither one of the officers billeted there nor any of the guards supposedly posted to the mansion. As she crept into the kitchen she recognized three or four of the girls who had hid themselves after the previous nights dinner. They were busy fixing a morning meal of salted fish and fried oat-mash and steadfastly ignoring the sobbing girl huddled against the wall behind them. It was Zsofia.

Shasta crossed the room to her and bending down bodily lifted the girl up into a standing position. Zsofia offered no resistance but just continued sobbing with her eyes closed. Shasta's heart when out to the lass like it hadn't before and she pulled Zsofia in against herself, hugging her tightly.

"It's all right," she whispered. "It's over for now. You're alive and that's what's important." After a few minutes of this Shasta felt the girl stir and try to push her away.

"How can you touch me?" Zsofia cried. "I am so... so... unclean!"

"Bullshit!" Shasta hissed, grabbing the girl by the arms and shaking her, hard. Zsofia stopped sobbing for a moment and looked up at Shasta.

"What happened was done to you!" Shasta continued heatedly. "You had no control over it! You were raped! Do you understand that? Raped! By the gods, you stupid little bitch, do you understand? You didn't have anything to do with it except to be there!" Suddenly she hugged the younger woman to her and whispered, "Just thank whatever gods you worship that you're alive." Still holding Zsofia she turned her head and looked at the other girls in the kitchen. To a one they were staring at her with their mouths open.

"And you!" her eyes encompassed them all. "She needed you to be there for her and you just ignored her. What friends are you? It may scare you, you may not want to look this horror in the face, but last night it was Zsofia, tonight it could be you!"

"But what can we do?" one wailed.

"For one thing, you can offer comfort to the ones these beasts take," Shasta said.

"B-But she didn't want anyone to touch her," another added softly.

"Of course not," Shasta scoffed. "She feels like it was her fault. She feels damaged, like nobody will want her ever again. She needs you here with her, for her. Hold her even if she fights you. Tell her you're here for her. Remember any one of you may be right here in her place tomorrow morning, or the next, or the one after that... Be a friend." As a group the remaining girls came forward and placed a hand on Zsofia's.

"We're sorry Zsofia."

"We still love you."

"We're here for you."

Shasta released Zsofia and stepped back.

"Good," she began. "One of you will stay with her. You others, get busy and make some kind of morn meal for the pigs. When you finish, find the other girls from last night. You know what to do. I have things I need to be about, the mistress's business. Now, does anyone know where the captain of the guard is hiding? Or whatever other idiot they have that claims to be in charge around here?" One of the girls pointed through one of the doors. "Oh, if someone asks for anything other than salted fish, tell them we are out. Understand?" With that Shasta marched off through the indicated doorway.

It didn't take very long to find the one she was looking for. A harried looking non-noble with the stripes of a sergeant was issuing orders to a group of seemingly uninterested, and Shasta thought, rather slovenly lower ranks.

"I don't want to hear your excuses," he said rather tiredly, "I want it done."

"But, Sergeant," one of the ranks blurted out, "there ain't nobody in the village 'cepting a couple of old codgers maybe on the high side of seventy seasons. Them bodies and heads was gone this morning and there ain't nary a soul in the town. Shit, even the whores in the houses is gone."

"Now how would you know that? Never mind," the sergeant waved off the question. "The general said he wants a work party of fifty locals to unload stores on the docks; we get him fifty locals. If you have to send patrols out into the hills, they have to be holing up somewhere. Find them."

"Yes, Sergeant," they all answered listlessly, sketched something that could be taken as a salute and shuffled off.

"What the hell do you want?" The sergeant grumped as he turned to Shasta.

"Sir," she said lowering her eyes, "we are running out of food in the kitchen. Where do we go to replenish our stocks? We have little left except salted fish and oat flour."

"Fuck if I know," the sergeant replied. "Hell, they make us eat rations out of our own stocks, crap I wouldn't even feed to a slave." He paused for a moment. "Shit, if we don't get something decent for the high-and-mighty officers' mess he'll be on my back like a fucking blood-sucking leach." He sighed, "Go down to the village and see if you can requisition something halfway decent.

"I've just received reports that all the villagers seem to have disappeared, but see what you can do. Maybe you can scrounge up something. If not we'll have to have it brought in from one of the cargo ships; salted beef instead of salted fish, but what can we do? Go on. See what you can do. Here," he said, pulling a small wooden disk from his belt pouch, "this pass will let you through the guards. If you're stopped, tell them Sergeant Dejan sent you and show them the pass."

"Yes, sir," she said demurely. She was careful not to let the elation she felt show on her face. This is exactly what they had hoped would happen!

Quickly she made her way back to Nesho's room to let her know what was going on in the village.

+ + +

Getting into the village was easier than she expected. She was stopped only once, and that was by a pair of rather lethargic soldiers lounging at the mansion gate. Nobody else was visible until she entered the village proper. There she saw a couple of squads of soldiers poking around the houses, ostensibly looking for something. They did stop her, but immediately lost interest, other than a few ribald comments, once she showed them the pass and mentioned the sergeant's name. Other than these two patrols the village seemed to be deserted.

Shasta decided to look around anyway. She tried a number of the shops but didn't find anything except overturned display cases and litter on the floor. Either the villagers had taken everything when they left or the soldiers had stolen it all. Despairing of finding anyone she stuck her head in the fishmonger's shop.

"Is anybody here?" she called out. Pausing for a moment she was just about to leave when she heard a rustling in the back of the shop, and then a voice answered.

"Who is that?" the voice said in raspy tones. "You don't sound like them soldier boys none."

"It's Shasta," she said stepping into the shop. "Shasta torDeSiso." For the first time that she could remember she actually felt proud using her house name. Briefly she wondered if she were finally being "broken" to her status as slave, but with a little shrug she let the thought pass. She was proud to be associated with the master; a warm shiver ran through her body as she thought of him and his women. Almost without thinking she turned her head in the direction she knew he lay, and reached out for the bond between them. It wasn't the first time she had caught herself doing it, but this time she didn't try to stop herself. This time as she opened herself up to the experience she could almost feel what he was sending. She could sense a happiness, intermingled with sadness; overtop a simmering anger so hot she hoped to never have it directed her way, ever! Suddenly she realized someone was talking and she had no idea what she had said.