Although the nearest village was only a twenty minute walk away, it took Mike most of the afternoon to locate the cave where the Damsel was being held. The entrance to the cave was little more than a shadow tucked away in little cut into the mountain. He would have missed it if he hadn't come across the tracks of men on one of the animal trails that cut through the area.
Cat had told him to wait until after the men holding the Damsel had left for the night before attempting to free her. Following her instructions, Mike looked around for a good place to wait and watch. He found a nice spot fifty yards from the animal trail to watch for the men. He was seated on a broad tree limb about twenty feet off the ground. It gave him a commanding view of the area while hiding him from sight.
It was hard to sit there and wait knowing that there was a woman within three minutes of his position who was being mistreated. He heard two men moving down the trail. It was hard to miss them considering how much noise they made. When they came into view, he examined them carefully.
One of the men looked like a giant. He had to be nearly six and a half feet tall with arms the size of Mike's legs. He shuffled along reminding Mike of a grizzly bear. The giant said, "I wish she wasn't a burner. I hate using a sheath."
"Yeah, but she's real pretty," the other man said. He was six inches shorter than the giant and looked like he could take care of himself in a fight. In fact, he was the more dangerous of the two men. He had the look of a man who engaged in physical labor on a daily basis. He moved comfortable in his body.
"All the pretty ones are burners," the giant said shaking his head. It wasn't that he had much experience with burners; that was common wisdom among the men of Chaos.
Frowning at the giant, the shorter man said, "If you don't want to use the sheath, there's always the four town whores."
"I hate those women. They're old," the giant said shaking his head. He grumbled for a moment about the unfairness of it all. The young women in the village were all sturdy women that weren't all that attractive. They also fought like wildcats to keep their virtue.
The whores had been the wives of slave owners and they were all old. He said, "It is too bad she's a burner."
"I know," the smaller man said. He looked over at the giant and asked, "Have you got a sheath?"
"No. Do you?"
"No," the smaller man said with a sad shake of his head. He frowned and said, "I won't have one until after I butcher a sheep."
"Same here," the giant said.
"She'll just have to suck us off until then," the smaller man said.
Not quite sure that they had chosen the right woman to be their slave, the giant replied,
"She vomits after sucking one of us off. I hate it when that happens."
"All burners do that. It is her problem, not yours," the smaller man said with a shrug of his shoulders.
Mike glared at the two men as they moved to the front of the cave. If it wasn't for his promise to Cat, he'd have charged in there to take care of both of them. That would probably get him killed. Based on what he'd seen, he'd have problems dealing with either one in a straight out fight. The two men together would probably fillet him without a second thought. He took a deep breath to calm down. He knew better than to lose his cool like this.
It was less than thirty minutes before sunset when the two men finally left the cave. That would give them enough time to return to their homes without having to wander around in the dark. Mike listened to the men complain. The smaller man said, "You shouldn't have hit her."
Angry, the giant said, "She threw up on me."
"I told you to step back as soon as you came," the smaller man said glaring at the much bigger man.
"I was still coming when she started throwing up," the giant said.
"Well, I think you broke her jaw. She's not going to be of much use to us now," the smaller man said.
"I didn't break it," the giant said. He shuffled down the path for a few steps and then added, "I guess I did loosen a few teeth."
"At least she's still alive. If we get some sheaths, we can still fuck her," the smaller man said in disgust.
The giant said, "Maybe we can sell her."
"King Sid defeated the slavers. There is no one around who will buy a slave," the smaller guy said.
"Oh, yeah. I forgot," the giant said.
Mike watched them disappear down the trail before climbing out of the tree. He worked his way over to the cave and entered. There was just enough light to make out the Damsel. He said, "Hello, Erica Mayor. I'm Mike Radford from Earth."
The Damsel looked up at Mike with tears in her eyes. Barely able to move her jaw, she said, "Get me home."
"I will Erica," Mike said making his way over to her. There was a collar around her neck and a copper chain that was attached to a spike that had been hammered into the rock. He checked it and had no idea how to get her free.
"Please, get me out of here," she begged. Her jaw was throbbing in pain.
"How's your jaw?" Mike asked checking her over. The entire left side of her face was horribly swollen.
"It hurts, but I don't think it is broken. I can still move it a little," Erica answered.
Mike pulled out a knife and set it against one of the links of the copper chain. Taking a rock, he smashed it across the back of the knife. The knife broke, but there was a cut that went nearly through the chain. He put the remains of the knife in the cut and hit it a second time with the rock. The knife cleaved through the copper.
He used the knife to pry the link open. The knife slipped and he nicked his finger, but he managed to get the link spread enough to slip the link out of the chain. Looking over at her, he said, "You're free."
Feeling the collar around her neck, she said, "I've still got the collar on."
"I know," Mike replied. He didn't have the tools to remove the collar. A very nasty idea came to him. Smiling, he said, "We're going to leave it on for a bit."
"What are you saying?" Erica asked.
Mike asked, "I want to hurt the three guys who did this to you."
"I want you to kill them," Erica said.
"I've got something a whole lot better in mind," Mike said thinking that this wasn't Earth and the laws from there didn't apply.
"What?" Erica asked.
"Come with me," Mike said holding out a hand for her to take.
Donaldson stepped out of his house and looked around. He made his way down the steps without noticing that his wooden leg made a small click on the steps. He might not notice the sounds that his leg made, but he felt every step he took. He looked over at the stranger sitting on the stump he used for splitting logs. Checking his sword, he asked,
"What do you want?"
"Are you Donaldson, the King's Representative?"
"Yes, I am."
"I'm Mike Radford and I have a problem with which I think you can help me," Mike said smiling over at the man.
"What kind of problem?" Donaldson asked narrowing his eyes. He didn't trust a stranger who showed up and tried to create problems for him.
In a very nonchalant voice, Mike answered, "I just rescued a slave."
"What?"
"I rescued a slave last night. She was being held less than twenty minutes from here by three men who live in this village," Mike answered slowly rising from the stump. He turned to head down the path to the road.
"Where are you going?" Donaldson asked. He was still trying to get his mind around the idea that there were still slaves in the area.
"I'm taking you to her so that you can get the story directly from her," Mike answered looking over his shoulder at the one legged man.
"Is she far from here?" Donaldson asked.
"About a mile outside of town," Mike answered.
"Let me get my crutch. I can't walk that far with this damned leg," Donaldson said turning to go into his house.
Erica sat in the inn sipping some watered wine out of a pewter mug. It tasted like heaven after drinking tepid water during the weeks she had been held in the cave. She sighed as she put the mug down on the table.
One of the women handed her a bowl of soup broth and said, "Here. Have some of this.
It'll make you feel better."
Still barely able to move her jaw, Erica answered, "Thank you."
Another of the women said, "My Henry will get that awful collar off of you in just a little while."
"Thank you," Erica said amazed at the fuss that was being made over her. The inn was completely packed with people. There were so many people that she couldn't even see the door from where she was seated.
The giant entered the inn and looked around. Grinning, he said, "Did someone say that we were having a town meeting?"
The smile disappeared off his face when he noticed that there were a dozen knives pressed against his body. Donaldson said, "Kurt, don't make a move or I'll cut you down like a dog."
"What's going on?" Kurt asked looking around in confusion.
Donaldson said, "Someone has accused you of slavery."
"What?" Kurt asked wondering how anyone found out about the burner they were holding in the cave.
"Your friends Kevin and Elroy told me that they suspected that you had a slave. They even told us where to look. Do you know what we found?" Donaldson asked.
"What?" Kurt asked looking around defiantly.
"We went to the cave they described and found a woman there with a collar around her neck," Donaldson answered. Giving Kurt a nasty smile, he said, "Kevin and Elroy are going to be heroes for turning you in."
Knowing that he was caught and that escape was virtually impossible, Kurt seemed to shrink about a foot in height. Shaking his head, he said, "They were in on it too. All three of us were sharing her as a slave. I'm not taking all of the blame."
Donaldson acted surprised and asked, "You aren't just saying that to get revenge?"
"No. It was Kevin's idea to grab her. Elroy knew about the cave. Kevin and Elroy put the collar on her. I just grabbed her and carried her there. All three of us have been using her," Kurt answered.
Kurt was condemned by the words coming out of his own mouth. Donaldson said,
"You've got two choices. You can serve a thirty-five year indenture or you can hang.
Which will it be?"
"Thirty-five year indenture," Kurt said. He was a big guy and it would be hard for them to give him work that he couldn't do with ease. As far as he was concerned, it wouldn't be much different from life as a freeman.
Donaldson turned to one of the men there and said, "Have him sign the papers and then tattoo him."
There was no punishment worse that getting tattooed as a convicted slave owner. They would write a large S on his forehead and the number of years after the end of the slave war to denote the end of his indenture. Anyone who found him more than a mile from town would have the right to kill him on sight. Stunned, Kurt said, "Not the tattoo."
"You're a slaver and you get the mark of a slaver," Donaldson said in a cold voice.
"I didn't mean anything by it," Kurt said as the full reality of the situation sank in on him.
The people in town could make him do anything they wanted. He looked over at Jimmy and saw that the man was smiling at him. A worm of fear started eating through his stomach. It was well known that Jimmy liked to have sex with men. Whenever it was his turn to use one of the indentured slavers, the screams of the man filled the night air.
Jimmy stood up and said, "I'll take care of him tonight."
"No!" Kurt screamed as the men began to strip him of everything except his pants.
Starting today he'd have to live life with nothing. Anything that he earned would have to be used to cover the basic necessities. He couldn't buy his way out of this kind of indenture.
Donaldson said, "Get this piece of shit out of my sight. Someone go tell Kevin and Elroy that we're having a town meeting."
Mike turned to Erica and, with a smile on his face, asked, "Does this satisfy you?"
"Yes, it does," Erica said looking over at the giant thinking that he'd find out what it was like to live as a slave. She said, "It is a worse punishment than killing them."
"I think so too," Mike said nodding his head.
Donaldson walked over to Mike and Erica. He dropped all of Kurt's possessions on the table and said, "These are yours as well as anything you want out of his house."
"Thanks," Erica said looking at the pile of stuff on the table.
Mike sorted the stuff on the table separating clothes, weapons, and the coin purse. He opened the coin purse and looked in it. Glancing over at Erica, he said, "There's three quad in here."
"Use it to buy everyone a drink," Erica said wanting to repay the kindness everyone had shown her.
Mike tossed the coin purse to the man behind the bar and said, "For the drinks tonight."
"Yes, sir," the barman said opening the coin purse. It wasn't enough to cover the bar costs for everyone, but it would add an extra pitcher of watered wine for each person.
The door opened and Kevin entered the inn. He looked around at the crowd of people and asked, "Why are we having a town meeting?"
"We're here to talk about you," Donaldson answered.
When he found a number of knives pressed against him, Kevin asked, "What in the hell is going on here?"
"We've got three witnesses who've testified that you are a slaver," Donaldson answered.
"That's ridiculous," Kevin said looking around the room confident that he'd be able to lie his way out of it. Some of his confidence started to fail when he spotted Erica seated in the corner with the collar still around her neck.
"Kurt told us all about it," Donaldson said.
Looking around the room for Kurt, Kevin said, "I'll kill that dumb ass."
"No you won't," Donaldson said. He looked at Kevin and said, "You've got two choices.
You can serve a thirty-five year indenture or hang in the morning. Which will it be?"
Kevin said, "I've got a right to defend myself."
"How do you expect to do that?" Donaldson asked.
"I deny the charges," Kevin said.
Donaldson said, "Everyone in the inn heard her story and then heard Kurt verify every part of it. We all know that you've been disappearing every other afternoon. No one has seen you at any time when you've been accused of going off to the cave."
"They are all lying," Kevin said.
Donaldson turned to the room and asked, "Is there anyone in here who believes Kevin to be innocent of the charges against him?"
The silence in the room was deafening. Shaking his head, Donaldson asked, "Is there anyone in here who believes that Kevin is guilty?"
The roar that filled the little room was overwhelming. Donaldson shook his head and said, "What punishment do you want? Indenture or hanging?"
"Indenture," Kevin said with a smile. He figured that he'd slip out one night and they'd never find him again. It might take him a month or two before he had a chance to escape, but they wouldn't be vigilant forever. They had no idea what he was capable of doing.
"Have him sign the papers and then tattoo him," Donaldson said.
"No! Not the tattoo!" Kevin shouted.
"You're a slaver and you'll bear the mark of a slaver," Donaldson said. There was no hint of compassion in his voice.
"No!" Kevin shouted in horror as the men started to strip him.
Erica said, "He was the nastiest of the three men who kept me. The big one was a brute, but that guy liked to hurt me."
Mike leaned over to the guy sitting next to him and asked, "Every town has a guy that prefers men. Who is it in this town?"
"We got two, Jimmy and Timmy. They're brothers. They don't actually like men, but they view it as a way to punish those who took advantage of them when they were slaves," the man answered. The two men had that soft appearance when they were boys that seemed to attract the attention of twisted men. They had suffered horrible hardships as slaves.
"Which ones are they?" Mike asked.
The man looked around the room for a second and then shouted, "Timmy. Come over here."
A rather slender young man came over to the table. He said, "You wanted me."
Gesturing to get the young man's attention, Mike said, "That Kevin fellow likes to hurt people when he has sex with them. I'm not suggesting anything, but I'm reminded of a little saying — Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Keeping that in mind, I just have to imagine that he would enjoy the same kind of treatment in return."
"That would be something that Jimmy would enjoy. He was treated very brutally when the slavers took him. He likes to dish it back to them every chance he gets," Timmy said.
He shivered at the reminder of their first nights as slaves. He knew that he was going to have nightmares that night if he managed to fall asleep.
"Just mention it to Jimmy," Mike said.
"Sure thing," Timmy said.
Remembering the number of times that she had thought that Kevin was going to twist her nipples right off, Erica said, "Let Jimmy know that Kevin likes to make it hurt as much as possible."
It was an hour before Elroy showed up at the bar. He came in looking for Kevin and Kurt to let them know that the slave had escaped. He was surprised by the welcome he received. It didn't take long before he was crying out his objections. Mike watched the man squirm as he was stripped.
A woman came charging into the inn. She took one look at Elroy and attacked him while screaming like a banshee. It took three men to pull her off of Elroy. She continued to scream at the man and fight to get back at him. Mike leaned over and asked, "Who is that?"
"That is Elroy's wife," the man answered. It was obvious by the disgust in his voice that he didn't think much of Elroy or his wife.
Erica said, "She looks mad."
"She probably feels that she's going to suffer the fate dealt most wives of convicted slave owners," the man answered. He gestured over to four women watching events and said,
"They were the wives of the men who owned us as slaves. All four of them are prostitutes. My wife still insists that I come over here and take that one in the gray dress in the ass once a month. My wife really hates that woman."
Bothered by hearing of women being mistreated, Mike sat up and asked, "Were they sentenced to be prostitutes?"
"No, but that is the only thing anyone will pay them to do. They can't leave the area and they have to live on what work people are willing to give them," the man answered.
Seeing the expression on Sid's face, he explained, "You've got to understand what those women did to us. I've got ten scars on my back because of a whipping that woman demanded that I get. My wife was taken to the whipping post four times and given five lashes each time because the owner liked to rape her and his wife wasn't happy about it.
She figured that if my wife couldn't lie down on her back that her husband wouldn't be interested in her."
"Is that woman going to end up being a prostitute?" Erica asked feeling sorry for the wife.
The man shook his head and answered, "No."
"How do you know?" Mike asked looking over at the woman. She wasn't all that good looking. He was trying to judge her age, but she looked a lot older than she really was.
The man answered, "She's my daughter from my first wife. She was born into slavery.
Everyone in town knows that she knew nothing about what her husband was doing.
She'd have killed him if she had heard about it."
Mike shook his head and said, "I'm really sorry to have caused your family problems."
"I'm not. I've been trying to get her to leave that bastard ever since she took up with him," the man said disgusted.
"I'm glad that she's not going to get punished," Mike said.
The man shook his head and replied, "Oh, she's going to get punished. She threw that relationship in my face every chance she had. She kept trying to tell me that he was actually a good man despite the fact that he was a miserable lowlife scumbag. Everyone told her that he was a piece of shit, but she defended him."
Looking at the fury on the woman's face, Erica shook her head and said, "They should have offered him a third choice as punishment."
"What?" Mike asked.
"To spend ten minutes in a room alone with her while she has a knife in her hand," Erica said.
Resting a hand on her arm, Mike said, "Tomorrow morning we'll leave here. It is time to get you back home."
"You've got to go through their houses and take what you want," the old man said.
"Oh," Mike said.
The old man said, "I would keep a low profile for a few days. I think you're a good man, but this whole affair is going to raise some ugly memories. It is not going to be pleasant around here for a week or two."
"I kind of figured that out," Mike said. The crowd in the bar was basically a surly lot and could turn violent very easily.
"After you go through the houses, you'll be able to put the rest of their stuff up for auction. We'll hold the auction the day after tomorrow," the old man said.
Erica looked at the old man and asked, "How do you know all this?"
"I'm the Mayor of this little town. Donaldson and I discussed this matter earlier," the man answered with a tired voice. He was the longest surviving slave of the four plantations that had been set up in the area. The other slaves had always turned to him for advice. When they had been freed, everyone turned to him for leadership.
Smiling at the old man, Erica said, "I'm the Mayor of the town where I live."
"Really?" the old man asked sitting up a little straighter.
"Don't you hate it when you have some public works project and everyone in town is telling you to do it a ninety different ways?" Erica asked.
"Tell me about it. Putting in the town well nearly caused a riot," the old man said shaking his head.
While the old man and Erica were discussing the woes of town leadership, Mike watched the rest of the proceedings in the inn. The three men were returned to the inn with tattoos on their foreheads. They were now and forever marked as having owned slaves. Mike smiled thinking that not all weapons had to be wielded by a hand. The most effective weapons were wielded by the brain.