James digs out a gold piece and offers it to the slaver as he tells Roland, “Ask him if there is any way he can expedite it for us.”
When Roland asks the slaver, the slaver takes the coin and nods. He tells Roland that the earliest is in two days and when Roland starts to protest, he says no matter how much they gave him, there is no way it can be done any quicker.
“He says two days and that is the best he can do,” Roland explains to them.
Jiron looks back to his sister and says, “Two days then.”
The slaver then leads them back out to the courtyard as Tersa is returned to the pen. Jiron glances back to her just before they leave and sees her there, staring at him, her hands gripping the bars. Jiron hates leaving his sister in there but doesn’t have any choice.
“Can we see the young men now?” James asks, intent upon finding Miko.
Roland asks the slaver who nods and then alters his course as he takes them over to the other side of the courtyard. He leads them through a door and down a hallway which runs between several pens of young men and boys.
Two slaves are busy scrubbing blood stains off the floor and James asks, “What happened here?”
Roland asks the slaver and then translates the reply, “He says last night several of the new arrivals had tried to escape and two of them were killed.”
James and Jiron glance at each other, suddenly worried about his friend. Hoping to find him still within one of the pens, he walks down the hallway. His nervousness rises when he fails see him within any of the pens. Chills run though him as he fears the worst.
While waiting on James, Jiron looks at the faces of the men and boys in the pens. His eyes widen in surprise when he recognizes a couple of the fighters from the fight clubs that he had fought with and against. One, a slim individual who is exceptionally deadly with sword and shield is leaning against the bars near the hallway. He walks down the hallway slowly toward him, acting as if he’s inspecting them. Roland and the slaver remain back near the door.
When he comes close to the one by the bars, he whispers so only he may hear, “Don’t move, say nothing.”
The young man’s eyes flick to who’s speaking to him and widen when they recognize Jiron. He starts to say something when Jiron barely shakes his head and whispers, “Quiet, man.” Sudden understanding comes over him and he settles down.
“How many are here?” Jiron asks in a voice barely audible.
“Five left that I know of,” he replies softly. “There were more but a bunch made a break for it last night and two died, the others got their backs flayed off them this morning as an example to the rest of us.” Then in an urgent whisper, he says, “Jiron, get us out of here!”
“I’ll see what I can do,” he says. “But don’t tell anyone and I mean anyone that I am here, understand?”
With a slight nod, the young man agrees. Jiron turns and walks back toward where the others are and has Roland ask when these are scheduled to be auctioned off.
The slaver replies and Roland says, “Three days.”
James is getting frantic at not finding Miko here and Jiron worries he may do something rash. Roland asks if there are any more fresh arrivals and the slaver replies, no.
Roland thanks the slaver and tells him they’re ready to go. Grabbing James’ arm, he gets him moving as they follow their guide out of the slaver’s compound.
Once outside the compound and back on the streets of Korazan, they head back toward their caravan. James is quiet the entire way as he deals internally with not finding Miko. Roland says to him, “You don’t know he was one of the ones killed last night.”
“That’s right,” agrees Jiron. “There are many other reasons that could explain why he wasn’t in the pens with the others.”
“Like what?” James asks.
At a loss, Jiron just says, “I don’t know, but you can’t assume the worst until you know for sure.”
“I should raze the whole place to the ground,” he threatens. “Do the world a favor.”
“But you won’t,” Jiron says, “you just aren’t that way.”
“I can think it though,” growls James.
When they arrive back at the caravan, Jiron explains what’s happening to the others. Delia says, “Can’t you do some magic thing to see if he’s still alive?”
As if the thought hadn’t even occurred to him, James sits up as an idea forms in his mind. Excitedly, he says, “There may just be.” He hurries over to the wagon and pulls out his shaving kit, removing the mirror.
Sitting down, he looks into the mirror and concentrates on seeing Miko’s face, his face as it is right now. Everyone gathers around him and he can hear them gasp as the image in the mirror begins to blur and then refocus on a boy riding in the back of a wagon. “That’s him!” James exclaims excitedly. “He’s alive!” In his excitement he loses concentration and the reflection returns to normal.
Behind him he hears Delia say, “Now all we have to do is find out who has him and where they are going.”
“Maybe tomorrow we could ask around and find out?” suggests Tinok.
“Alright,” James agrees, “just be careful and don’t draw attention to yourself.”
“That’s right,” says Jiron, “we still have Tersa to save.” He pauses for a moment and then adds, “We may be in luck as well.”
“How do you mean?” asks James.
“Well, it seems there are several guys back there,” he points back toward the slaver compound, “who were participants in the fight clubs back in the City. If we were to buy them, we would have ready made, loyal guards.”
“Who?” Tinok asks excitedly.
“I talked briefly with Yorn,” he explains. “And I saw Scar and Potbelly over in a different pen. Yorn said there were another three in there somewhere, but I didn’t see them.”
“Can they be trusted?” James asks.
“After what they’ve been through,” Tinok exclaims, “you can be sure of it!”
“I agree,” adds Jiron.
“So,” James begins, “we have Tersa’s auction in two days and I believe they said that the guys were to be auctioned off in, three?” He looks to Roland for confirmation who nods in agreement.
“Since it’s beginning to get late, we may as well stay here through the night and then see about discovering where Miko is heading first thing in the morning.” James looks around and everyone seems to be in agreement.
“It will also give me time to drop off the packages that I have for Korazan,” Delia announces. When James looks to protest, she says, “It will give us more coins for the auctions and supplies.”
“Alright, but don’t go alone,” James advises.
“I won’t, I promise,” she assures him.
The next morning, Delia takes Tinok and Roland with her as well as a wagon to deliver her packages. After they leave, James takes his mirror out and finds Miko still riding in the wagon. “He’s heading south,” he announces.
“How do you know?” Cassie asks as she sits next to him in order to look in the mirror.
Pointing to Miko and the wagon, he explains. “See how the shadows fall? They’re falling to the right of the wagon, so that means the sun is to the left of them. Which in turn can only mean he’s heading south.”
“Oh,” she says.
Replacing the mirror back in his shaving kit, he then takes out his shaving knife and proceeds to remove what little stubble has appeared since the last time. While he’s shaving, Cassie remains sitting next to him and he asks, “You like Tinok, don’t you?”
Blushing slightly, she says, “Is it that noticeable?”
“Well, you two are hardly seen apart,” he explains.
“He is so nice and brave,” she says. “I didn’t care for him at first, but now that I’ve come to know him, I do.”
