I told him I was Esk kar’s woman and I needed food for your breakfast. He gave me the bread and meat. I told him you would pay him later.”
“And he gave you the food?” Esk kar asked, amazement in his voice. No one in the village had ever given him credit before.
“He was eager to help.” She chewed on a piece of bread for a moment.
“Master, may I speak?”
He rapped his water cup sharply against the table. “Say what you like, Trella. I told you last night you were to be more than a servant and that I’d need your help. So speak your mind.”
“Men say things at night they forget in the morning.” She toyed with the scraps of bread in front of her.
“As women say things to get what they desire. What is it you want, girl?
Do you want to leave? Or go back to Nicar? I’ll not stop you if that’s what you wish. So speak your mind and be done with it.”
She touched his hand again, then met his eyes for the first time. “Eskkar, I’m just a girl. No, not even that, a slave. But last night, after you fell asleep, I thought long about what I want.”
She took her hand away. “My father is dead, my family is gone, either dead or sold, and I’ll never see any of them again. So, last night I decided that I want to stay and help you. Help you succeed against the barbarians.
Because if you do, then you can have the wealth and power to establish your own House. That’s what I want now, to be part of your family. And so I’ll help you in any way I can.”
For a few moments, he just looked at her. “Last night, in the darkness, I began to doubt if I could truly defend the village from the barbarians.
This morning it seems even more impossible.”
“I can help you, Esk kar.” She leaned across the table. “I’m sure I can help. That’s why Nicar gave me to you. But you must tell me everything, all your thoughts, all your plans, everything.”
He stared at his plate while he considered her request. He’d never made any friends in Orak, certainly no man he trusted enough to confide his doubts. As for Gatus and the rest, they had little to offer. Esk kar had no doubt that he knew more about what needed to be done than they did.
He could talk to Nicar, but Esk kar didn’t want to approach Orak’s ruler so soon with his own misgivings. No, Esk kar had no one he could confi de in. Nicar said she would be useful, so he might as well talk to her as anyone else, though he doubted how much she could help. Still, he had little to lose by talking to her.
Nevertheless, he hesitated. She’d come from Nicar’s house. Perhaps what Esk kar told her would find its way back to her former master. Even if Nicar trusted his new captain of the guard, the noble might still wish to know Esk kar’s private thoughts. But she’d been given to him, not loaned, and the hatred between the girl and Creta seemed real enough.
“Master, whatever you tell me, I’ll repeat to no one.”
Her words made him wonder if she could read his mind. He more than half — believed she’d cast a spell upon him last night. In the end, the look in her eyes convinced him, a gaze so intent that it seemed to pierce his thoughts, as she leaned forward across the table, waiting for him to make up his mind.
“I’ll tell you what I know, Trella,” he began, “though I don’t see how you can help.”
“It may be I can do more than you know. Since I was a child, I’ve been trained in many things. My father was a noble and taught me to understand their ways. I sat at his feet as he worked and I listened to him advise the leader of our village. And I learned many things in Nicar’s house.
Because I could read the symbols and count, I worked with Nicar and his stewards nearly every day. I heard them speak about Orak, about Noble Drigo, and the other nobles.”
He wanted to believe her. More than that, he wanted to trust her. Even if she repeated his words to Nicar, what did it matter? Esk kar had the gold and the slave, and enough of the soldiers would follow him if he decided to leave. No one would try to stop him. What did he have to lose?
“Very well. Where should I start?”
They spoke for nearly two hours. Esk kar described building a wall, explained about using the bow to keep the attackers at arm’s length, about flooding the lands around the village. He told her how he would train the men, what arms he would need, what forces he hoped to muster, and what the coming months would bring.
She asked about the barbarians, and he described them, why they fought, and their tactics. He pointed out every detail of the coming struggle as best he could, answering her questions and endless requests for details.
When he’d finished, she leaned across the table and took his hand in both of hers. “Thank you, master. But you talk only of the fighting, of the men and the wall. You don’t tell me what you fear, what you worry about, what concerns you the most. Please, master, tell me about those things.”
Esk kar stroked her hands. They felt as warm and exciting as they had last night. The girl had surely cast a spell on him, but it didn’t matter anymore. “All right, Trella. I worry about the nobles. I don’t know how to deal with them. They’re quicker in their wits and easy with their words. Nicar is a good man, but I don’t fully trust him. He only sent for me because he had no one else. The rest of the nobles are worse. And Drigo-last night Drigo looked at me in the street, and I saw the laughter in his eyes. He mocked me without speaking a word, and I could do nothing.”
The memory stirred him to anger, and he tightened his grip on her hand just for a moment. “I’m not afraid of Drigo, but he has power and men who obey his will. I could kill any one of them easily enough, but even a small pack of wolves can bring down one man.” He took a deep breath. “But most of all, I fear looking foolish in their eyes and in front of others.”
Never in his life had Esk kar admitted fear to anyone, let alone a slave girl. Now that the words had been spoken, they couldn’t be called back. He decided to go on. “And it’s the same with the merchants. I don’t know how to ask for bows, or swords, or any of the other things I’ll need, let alone how many, or when I’ll want them. Even with Nicar’s help, I wonder if I’ll be able to get what I need.”
He’d voiced his doubts and fears. But instead of shame at admitting his weakness, Esk kar felt a feeling of relief.
Trella’s hand gripped his with surprising strength. “Master, you worry about these things because you don’t know these men. I’ve lived with such people all my life. They’re nothing to be afraid of. As you’ve spent your life fighting, they’ve spent their lives talking and counting and bargaining. But with the barbarians coming, the time for talk is past. Now they will both fear and need you, because they know only fighting men can save them and their gold. May I tell you what I think will happen?”
That the nobles might fear him seemed odd at first. “Go on, Trella.”
She told him how she thought the Five Families would react, what the men of power would likely do and say, and how their arrogant need to dominate everyone and everything might overcome even their fear of the barbarians. She told him of Nicar’s doubts and concerns, especially his worries about the other noble families, particularly Noble Drigo.
“Remember, no matter what happens with the barbarians, the nobles will never fully trust you or accept you. You’re not their kind.”
Esk kar thought back to last night, when he’d casually assumed that Nicar and the other nobles would welcome him into their circle. How childish that must have sounded to Nicar.
“I thought that they’d be grateful if I saved their village. But you’re right. They will always think of me as a barbarian.”
“They are what they are, master. And none of them likes to share power, especially with a stranger, not even Nicar. He may be good to you now when he needs you, but later he will take his authority back.”
“And what about you, Trella? You don’t mind belonging to a barbarian?”
“You are not a barbarian, master. You treat even a slave girl with respect. I saw that and more last night. And I’m a stranger here, too. Perhaps the gods sent us to each other.” Her last words came with a brief smile that disappeared quickly. “Now, can we talk about your meeting with the nobles tomorrow? You should prepare yourself to meet with the Families.”
With growing confi dence, she talked about what questions might arise at Nicar’s meeting and how he should respond. Her ideas surprised him, though once she explained, he saw how likely they were to come up. Eskkar realized his offer to defend Orak was even more complicated than he’d thought.
“Last night, you said that you came from…?”
“Carnax. It’s a large village, close to the Great Sea, in Sumeria.”
