the wine and the food please you?”
“I’ve never tasted better wine in all my wanderings. But now I have to train with the men, and too much spirits make a man weak. If I have to make love to you each night, girl, I’ll need all my strength.”
“Nicar worried you drank too much, that you couldn’t be depended on. I heard him say that the day he gave me to you.”
He sighed. “Nicar was right. In the last few months, I spent too much time in the alehouse. If I’d had more coins, I’d have drunk even more.” He laughed, then his voice took a serious tone. “The night Ariamus ran off, I passed out in the tavern and the men carried me to my bed. I could have been killed in my sleep. That must never happen again.”
“You are wise to keep your head clear, master… Esk kar. You will need all your wits, especially when you work with Corio.”
“I’m glad the Families will accept Corio into their ranks. He’s a good man, I think.”
During dinner Nicar had agreed to elevating Corio to the rank of Noble, mentioning that the nobles had considered his name before.
“Young Caldor didn’t think much of your suggestion that Corio join the noble families.”
“Caldor’s just a boy, Trella, fresh off his first caravan, if you can call it that. Scarcely more than sixty miles to the east and back. Two days’ ride for a man with a good horse.” He kissed the top of her head. “How much gold do you think they took from Drigo’s house?”
Nicar refused to reveal how much had been found, though he did say one — quarter of it had been given to Drigo’s wife. She and her daughter, along with their most trusted servants and guards, had boarded a boat and been sent downriver to return to her father’s village.
“At Nicar’s house, I worked with his clerks, and they said that Nicar had more than twelve hundred gold coins,” Trella mused. She remembered her first day in Orak. Nicar had questioned her for almost an hour, tested her, to ensure she could count and write the symbols before he assigned her to work with his senior clerk. She needed only a single day to learn the differences between the symbols used in Orak from those in her native village. Nicar’s clerk soon found her more useful than the other two slaves who served as Nicar’s record keepers. She’d quickly learned the full extent of Nicar’s holdings.
“The clerks gossiped that Drigo was nearly as rich as Nicar. I’d guess at least a thousand gold coins were found, more than enough to start paying for the defense of Orak.”
“No wonder Drigo walked the streets as if he owned them. So much gold and he sought even more. And he wanted to be the First Family in Orak.”
“My father said greed can do such things to a man. Drigo would have torn Orak apart. Do you regret killing him?”
“If he were a beggar in the street, I’d have killed him for insulting you.
No one will ever do that again, I promise.”
His words pleased her, and she turned to him. They shared a long kiss, enjoying the taste of each other. That kiss led to other caresses, and Trella sighed contentedly as she felt Esk kar becoming aroused once again.
“Trella, tomorrow will be a special day for you. After I finish the morning training, we’ll stand before Nicar and the other Families.”
Startled, she raised herself on an elbow to face him. “What? Why do we need to see them?”
“Tomorrow I’ll give you your freedom. I spoke with Nicar when we were alone and asked him how the thing could be done. Nicar will enter it as a contract, with another of the nobles as a witness.”
His words caught Trella by surprise. She pushed herself upright in the bed.
“Why are you doing this, Esk kar? This isn’t the time for such a thing.
Later, perhaps, or when the barbarians are gone. Now, as your slave, I have your status, and I can speak for you. As a free woman, I’ll be just another camp follower, a soldier’s woman.”
“I thought you’d be pleased.” Esk kar sounded stunned. “Besides, I don’t want brats like Caldor looking down at you. As a free woman, you can choose to be my servant, and you can still speak for me.”
“Is that why you’re doing this? So you won’t be embarrassed by a slave who thinks and talks too much?”
“By the gods, no! I do this because I want you with me.” He grasped her roughly by her arms. “And I want you to choose me freely. All my life I’ve never cared for a woman as I do for you. If you say the word, we will leave Orak tomorrow and let the village fend for itself. Orak means nothing to me. Only you mean anything.”
Trella stayed silent for a long time. When she spoke, her voice was firm.
“No, we must stay here, and you must defeat the barbarians. Only then can we have power and be secure. And…” She hesitated now, unsure of what to say. “You say that you want me… that… do you wish to take me for your wife?”
When he didn’t answer immediately, Trella poked him sharply in the ribs. “Well, what are you thinking about? Can’t you make up your mind?”
He laughed and rubbed the spot where she had hit him before lying back on the bed. “Well, I hadn’t thought about taking a wife. I was thinking about that new slave that Lesu had brought back. She looked pretty enough, and well rounded as well. She might do…”
Trella pushed him away and tried to leave the bed, but Esk kar caught her and pulled her back. She struggled hard to break free, but he pinned her with his weight and held her by her wrists as he rolled on top of her.
“You’re very strong for a girl, Trella. I suppose we could be married at Ishtar’s temple after Nicar seals your freedom. Though I’m sure you’ll make a terrible wife, and I will have to beat you regularly.”
He bent down to kiss her but she turned her head away, still struggling.
When she wouldn’t meet his lips, he kissed her neck and her hair, then forced her legs apart, letting her feel his desire against her. Finally she turned her lips to his.
“Trella, I’m not sure what people mean by love, but I’m sure I love you, and want you to be my wife. I swear it before all the gods in the sky and under the earth.”
His body had aroused her. She stopped struggling and moved her legs farther apart, and he slid easily inside her. Her body remained moist from their earlier lovemaking. Trella gave a long sigh of pleasure and her legs slowly wrapped around him.
“I suppose I could marry you. You need someone to look after you.”
Her arms went around him, and she suddenly tightened all of the muscles in her body, gripping him as hard as possible. After a moment, she slowly relaxed, letting Esk kar move against her once again. “And our children will need their father’s name.”
“Children? I hadn’t thought about children.” His hand slid down to her hip.
“Yes, master,” she answered, reverting to her role as his slave. “If we make love like this every night, the gods are sure to send a child soon. Or hadn’t you thought of that?”
The thought of getting her with child excited him. He thrust himself against her even harder, moving faster and faster until she cried out at the pleasure he gave her.
Esk kar made no answer, just forced himself against her with all his strength. Trella felt her body begin to spin out of control and she heard herself moaning. He held back, waiting for her, until her moans of pleasure increased, until she tightened herself around his manhood and cried out his name. She felt his seed flow as he cried out, and a wave of pleasure rippled through her, through both of them, that went on and on until they were exhausted.
He stayed inside of her, not moving, for a long time, until she could barely breathe and she had to ask him to move off her. They held each other for a long time, until her pleasure subsided and she could think again.
Trella felt him drifting off to sleep, so she raised her voice to keep him awake. “You need me to manage your household, to make sure everything is done properly. And there will be many tasks to make sure the village is safe. Drigo’s house is ready for us. We can move in there tomorrow.”
She stayed silent for a few moments. “But you will not free me or marry me yet, though your offer pleases me greatly. I can better help you in the coming months as your slave than as a wife. I will wait. When the barbarians are driven off, then you can set me free if you still wish to.”
“I never heard of any slave refusing their freedom. Suppose I change my mind?”
She touched his lips with her finger. “Then I still have my coin, master.
Or have you forgotten your words already?”
