The Traitor Queen

never to lower themselves before another man or woman again.

“It’s time?” one of them asked, gazing up at her eagerly.

“Yes,” she said, then nodded toward the buildings. “You know what to do?”

“Stay out of reach,” he replied. “Move away from the city. But we can’t get much further away than here.”

“No. Just stay away from the house until we are done.”

He frowned. “If I go back I can tell the others to get out.”

“That would be very brave. You must not let the Ashaki suspect we’re coming, though.”

“We won’t. We’ve all been planning for this for years.”

“Go, then.”

As the boy ran toward the buildings, Savara straightened and beckoned to the Traitors. They continued on, quickening their pace. A thrill of excitement and fear ran down Lorkin’s spine. Some of these outer estates were run by trusted slave masters, so they might not encounter an Ashaki. Or the Ashaki could be out visiting or tending to business. But the boy would have told Savara if that was so.

There’s little chance we’re not heading toward our first fight.

All too soon they were within a few hundred paces of the buildings. Then they were stepping through a gate in the low wall that surrounded them. As the Traitors spread out, in twos and threes, to approach the building from different sides, slaves emerged. They hurried, some running, past the invaders and the low wall, and out onto the plain in all directions.

Spreading out, so that even if the Ashaki used magic to drag them back, he’d have to use more magic and time collecting all of them. Some might still escape.

The Traitors split into smaller groups so that they could enter the buildings from different directions. Tyvara grabbed Lorkin’s hand and drew him toward what looked like a stable.

“Stay with me.” She plucked at her vest. “I’m carrying plenty of stones, but we’re supposed to avoid using them until the battle. Our own power can be replaced, but most stones are single-use.” She glanced at him. “I’ll make sure you have your own set, for the final battle.”

Once in the stable he saw the stalls were furnished with benches covered in blankets. He realised with a shock that this was where the slaves lived. Several were hiding there now, looking confused. Tyvara ordered them out, telling them to run away and come back in a few hours. One very pregnant woman shrank back into her stall, shaking her head.

“Come on,” Tyvara said, extending her hand and smiling. “We’ll protect you. It won’t be for long.”

“What’s going on?” a voice demanded.

They turned to see a slave with a red cloth wrapped around his brow emerge from another building. Judging from the smoke wafting up from a chimney pipe, it contained the kitchen and perhaps other domestic rooms. Lorkin’s stomach turned as he saw the man was carrying a short whip.

From somewhere beyond the building the man had emerged from came a boom. They all jumped and looked up to see fragments of what might be roof tiles flying into the air.

The man turned back and stared at Lorkin and Tyvara, his eyes widening. “It’s time?” he asked.

“It is,” Tyvara replied.

He grinned and tossed the whip onto a pile of firewood. “At last.” Turning from them, he strode away from the buildings.

Lorkin looked at Tyvara, expecting her to stop him, but she only smiled.

“Wherever we could, we let the slave masters know that if they weren’t unnecessarily cruel, we’d consider giving them some of their Ashaki’s estate when we took over.”

More slaves darted from the buildings, some looking terrified. Tyvara glanced back to the pregnant woman, then turned to Lorkin. “We’ll stay here and keep watch in case the Ashaki comes after them.”

Lorkin did as she asked, but the next person to emerge was a Traitor, Adiya. The woman looked around and, seeing Lorkin and Tyvara, walked over to meet them.

“It’s done,” she said.

Tyvara nodded and looked over her shoulder at the pregnant slave. “You’re free now. Our work here is finished. Soon the others will come back and join you. They’ll keep you safe.”

The woman stared at her and said nothing, but she seemed a little less afraid now. Tyvara started toward the building Adiya had emerged from. Lorkin followed her inside. They wound through the familiar layout of passages and emerged at what must have once been the Master’s Room. The roof had been blasted away, and the walls bulged outwards or had toppled into rubble.

A middle-aged Sachakan man lay slumped on the floor, blood seeping from a shallow cut on his arm.

Dead? Yes. Lorkin stared at the corpse and remembered the Ashaki who he and Dannyl had stayed with, when they’d first entered Sachaka. The man had been friendly and generous. Perhaps this dead man had been kind too. Perhaps he had kept slaves only because it was what powerful Sachakans like him had always done. Perhaps he would have surrendered if given the chance. Surely he didn’t deserve to die like this?

It was impossible to know. The Traitors couldn’t imprison all Ashaki and put them on trial to decide if death was an appropriate punishment. To imprison them would take too much of the Traitors’ time and energy.

The Traitors are at war with a way of life, not the individual people, but individuals will pay the price. He suspected, though, that many of the Ashaki would refuse to change their ways, even if they were given a choice.

He looked around and saw that Tyvara had picked her way across the room to one of the collapsed walls. Making his way to her, they helped each other over a pile of rubble into a courtyard. There, a richly dressed woman stood glaring at Savara, her face streaked with tears.

“The Ashaki’s wife,” Tyvara murmured. “We’re hoping it won’t be necessary to kill the women and children.”

“They won’t obey you,” the queen was saying to the woman. “You had better get used to that. My people will do what they can to protect you, but they won’t guard you day and night. The rest is up to you.”

Two Traitors stood behind the queen. As Savara turned away they moved to stand beside her. Tyvara and Lorkin walked over to join her.

“We’re done here,” the queen said. “Time to gather everyone together and move on.” She looked over her shoulder at the broken building, her expression grim. “It’s too much to hope all estates will be this trouble- free.”

More Traitors arrived. As the last pair appeared, one hurried forward to the queen.

“I just heard that Chiva’s group had to fight four Ashaki – a father and his three sons. Vinyi was killed.”

Savara stopped to regard the woman with dismay. “A loss already.” She sighed and started toward the main gates of the courtyard. As she reached it, she stopped abruptly. Lorkin looked beyond and saw what had surprised her.

A crowd of about twenty slaves – ex-slaves, Lorkin corrected – waited outside. As they saw Savara they hurried forward, stopping a few paces away. From the adoring way they looked at the Traitor queen, Lorkin expected them to throw themselves at her feet. None did, though a few looked as if they had to work hard to resist the habit, bending forward then jerking upright again.

Nobody spoke. The foremost ex-slaves glanced at each other, then one held out his wrists to the queen.

“We want to give you... we have nothing to give you... do you need to take power from us?”

Savara drew in a quick breath. “We don’t need to yet but...”

“Take it,” Tyvara murmured. “They will feel they had a part in the fight for their freedom.”

The queen smiled. “I would be honoured.” She looked down at the knife at her belt. “But not with this. This is for our enemies.”

One of the ex-slaves stepped forward. “Then use this.”

In his hand was a small knife obviously meant for a domestic task like tailoring or wood carving. Savara took it and felt the edge for sharpness. She nodded and handed it back. The man looked confused.

“You must make the cut,” she said. “I will not deliberately harm my own people.”

He ran the blade across the back of his thumb, then held out his hand to her. Touching the cut lightly, Savara closed her eyes and bowed her head. The man closed his eyes.