She tittered. “Na, na she’s not, I’ve always said there’s something wrong with her, just you wait… not that it’s going to matter anyhow. The queen will be taking care of her soon, so don’t you worry.” She said this like she was telling a sick person that they were going to get better.
Her statement pushed any kind or nice feelings from his mind. If any man had just made the statement that Moleth had, Legon would be all over him. He attempted to hold back his fury and counted to ten slowly in his mind. He tried to keep his voice calm but the attempt didn’t work.
“Sasha is not going anywhere, Moleth, so get used to it!” He felt his hand tighten around the handle of the cleaver.
There was a warning tone in his voice that a person with any sense would heed unless they were ready for a fight. Moleth did not have this sense and she pushed on, oblivious to the now quivering man in front of her.
“Oh come on now, you people can’t keep paying the taxes that she costs you. In the spring they will take her away and be gone with her. I dare say the queen’s men will have a lot of fun with her, don’t you think? She is a pretty girl after all, and the queen’s men do deserve it. They work so hard to keep us safe.” Her voice was warm and a smile came over her face as she winked at him.
Legon’s face contorted and rage filled his body, tearing through him like a wild animal. All rational thought left his mind, replaced with an overwhelming bloodlust. The arm that was holding the cleaver jerked up of its own accord. Edis seized Legon’s arm hard, all the man’s strength holding him back. With his other hand Edis threw the packages at Moleth, who stepped back with the sudden weight of the packages, and barked “Get out!”
Moleth looked perplexed and angry. Her voice was rough and irritated as she spoke.
“What, what’s the matter with you?” She was oblivious to how rude and dangerous her comments had been.
“I think it’s time you leave, Moleth. Legon and I have a lot of work to do.” This time Edis’s voice was calm and controlled, but he still had a look of murder on his face. Moleth looked at them both reproachfully and left the shop muttering about rude people under her breath.
After that the morning went by quickly. Legon was still fuming, and the hard work was good for him. For once in his life he was happy about the prospect of a long and difficult day. He and Edis brought in a cow carcass and hung it from the ceiling. He felt the rage in his heart dissipate as he heaved the cow. Work had a way of clearing his mind. He looked back on the morning and felt a twinge of shame. If Sasha had known that he was planning on hurting, if not killing, Moleth, she would have been very disappointed with him.
Sasha knew what people said about her, and Legon knew that it hurt and bothered her, but that didn’t mean that she would be ok with him attacking a woman in cold blood. Sasha was a kind person and couldn’t stomach violence or cruelty in any form. She had always been a compass for him; she made him a good person. Sasha was sweet and innocent, kind to everyone, and would do anything to help. It tore at him watching her do kind things for people in town who, as soon as her back was turned, said things like, “Don’t think that will buy you any grace with me freak.”
“How could people think so poorly of someone so good?” he thought. Legon turned his attention back to the bloody carcass in front of him. He now understood his father’s approach to Moleth-it was better not to acknowledge her rather than do something rash.
“Thanks dad, I’ll split it and then I’ll need your help again to put one half in the ice box until I’m ready for it.”
“Sounds good. I’m going to get started on that deer that we got the other day.”
Legon smiled at Edis and said with a playful taunting voice, “The deer we got?”
Edis looked confused for a moment and then said sarcastically, “Oh, forgive my mistake, o mighty hunter, the deer you got.” As he said this he gave Legon a slight bow.
“Very good, peasant, you may go back to your work now.” Legon tried to make his voice sound pompous and important.
Edis laughed and shook his head. “You should respect your elders.”
Before Legon could retort, Edis walked to the ice box to get the deer. Legon walked back to the wall and grabbed a large cleaver. This one boasted a three foot handle and a blade that was about a foot and half long and six inches wide. They used this one for splitting carcasses. He walked to the cow hanging from the ceiling, raised the cleaver high above his head, and brought it down on the center of the cow’s back. His aim was perfect; the cleaver cut right against the vertebrae about two feet down the back. Legon pulled the cleaver out and repeated the cut, and within a few minutes the cow was split in two. Legon and Edis took one half to the ice box and then placed the other half on a counter in the back of the shop. He spent the rest of the morning cutting up the piece of meat.
They didn’t break for lunch until two. When Legon walked into the house he saw Sasha sitting in the kitchen looking put-out and talking to their Mother.
“Mom, I’m okay now. Everything is fine. Let me help you,” she said.
“No no, dear, I can do it myself. I have been making meals without your assistance for some time now and I can do it today. Besides, you need to rest,” protested Laura, waving her arms and hands in a dismissive manner.
“Hey Sash, how do you feel?” Legon asked sitting next to her at the table.
“I’m feeling fine. I can help mom, but you know how she is,” she said, shooting a look at her mother and folding her arms.
He chuckled. Laura placed a plate of food in front of him. She’d made chicken and some flatbread for lunch. He began to eat his food with delight. He was very hungry from the day’s work, and they ate fast since they didn’t have much time.
“Ey ash ii,” he began with food in his mouth.
“Swallow,” Sasha said flatly, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. “Boys they can be such animals,” she thought.
Legon swallowed and began, “Sorry Sash, but if you’re feeling a bit useless you can always get me some water. You know, if it will make you feel better.”
“Put the food back in your mouth. I liked it better that way,” she said, giving him a stern look, but she got up and brought him some water. Legon nodded in thanks.
“Are you going to go over to Kovos’ today?” she asked.
He began to talk with food in his mouth again but he realized what he was doing, swallowed, and began again. “Sorry, no. We have too much to do. You know how it is- either we are bored to tears or there’s not enough time in the day.”
“I’m sorry I made you late this morning.” She sounded mournful.
“Don’t ever say that, it’s not your fault.” He was serious. He hated her thinking that things like this were her doing.
“It’s not you, its dad, because he’s such a slave driver!” Legon said in an elevated voice to Edis.
Edis gave him a wicked grin. “Ha! Wait until this afternoon!”
“I love you too, dad.” At this, Edis nodded his head and took another bite.
It was a hard afternoon, but it wasn’t the work that weighed on Legon. The work was nothing to him; he was in good shape and his dad had been training him to be a butcher from the time he could hold a knife. In fact, Legon would be setting off in a few months to start his own shop. He was turning eighteen this year, which meant that he would be a man. His family would keep him around for a while since he was a help to them in the shop, but the problem was taxes.
In The Cona Empire, the queen had decreed that all should be taxed fairly. This meant that families who pooled their resources together were treated as though they were trying to put themselves above their fellow men, or at least this was the queen’s public stance on the matter. Therefore, a house consisted of two adults and however many underage children they had. If a child grew to be eighteen and still lived at home, you had to pay considerably more on your taxes, and if you could not pay that amount, the member of the family that was the cause of the increase went into the queen’s care. The queen’s care was slavery; people could rent you for a price from the empire, or you were sold to Iumenta for their own uses. This exact thing happened just a few months ago to Sasha’s friend when her family couldn’t afford her. When it was time to pay the annual taxes, the queen’s tax collectors took her into the queen’s care and she had not been seen since.
The problem now was not Legon; he made the family a good sum of money and his mother, who was the
