Captive Read Free Page B

dung-gatherer, who was the victor, broke it with some implement of his trade. He had her in the town square, across the prone body of the defeated butcher.’
    ‘An honourable man, this dung-gatherer, if a pariah.’
    ‘Not all low born are necessarily churls, this was Sulitea’s argument anyway. My uncle was not impressed.’
    ‘I can imagine! I am sorry, Talithea, truly sorry. Are you close?’
    ‘As close as sisters. Indeed, as the youngest in my own family and she being two years my junior, she was my preferred playmate. I would always protect her, and I will do so now. I intend to bring her free.’
    ‘Bring her free! How? Come Talithea, you forget your position. Besides, if she is unable to get out of Kavas-Arion, how will you get in and bring her out? It is on an island! The walls are said to be a dozen man-heights! A hundred matrons guard the place, woman chosen for their muscle and ill-temper, trained in controlling wilful girls! Can you imagine what they would do when you are caught!? You will be stripped, spanked naked, shorn of your hair, tattooed on your breasts and bottom, put through erotic exercises with the matrons…’
    ‘The island is linked by a tidal causeway, the walls are no more than five man-heights, there are no more than thirty matrons.’
    Elethrine began to speak, evidently intending to bring up more objections, but Talithea raised a hand.
    ‘There are many difficulties,’ she went on, ‘but I have found a way around each.’
    ‘What will you do?’ Elethrine demanded.
    ‘Myself? Nothing,’ Talithea answered. ‘My rank makes it impossible for me, being with child the more so. Circumstances also make it impossible for you, although I at least can offer shelter in Ateron. No, it will be Aisla who goes, and Aisla who brings Sulitea free.’
    ‘Me?’ Aisla said weakly.
    ‘You,’ Talithea answered with confidence. ‘Look at you. You stand a head taller than any other girl around. From your father you know far more of arms and such than is proper for a maid. Your natural low-born submission has been worked out of you by your time in Apraya, yet you have no rank and would not be recognised. You are ideal.’
    ‘Thirty matrons?’ Elethrine put in.
    ‘You would not have to face all thirty,’ Talithea insisted. ‘Besides, if you are caught, as a mere artisan you will suffer none of the shame involved in the various punishments and erotic exercises.’
    ‘What about the pain?’ Aisla asked.
    ‘Not that I expect you to do it for nothing,’ Talithea went on, ignoring Aisla’s question. ‘Succeed or fail, Elethrine can urge her father to make Uroth a Reeve for a lifetime’s service. You yourself will be elevated as his daughter and thus your reward is the highest you could hope for. Think! The honour, the prestige! You will be able to add a letter to your name! Your children will be high-born! Who knows who might want you? The Aeg are not too particular about virginity, either.’
    ‘But…’ Aisla began.
    With an exhausted sigh Aisla pulled herself up among the jumble of rocks that crowned the ridge. Far beneath her spread the sea, placid and grey under a ragged overcast, its surface broken by darker bulks where the Grey Dean stacks pushed through it. The view was the same to the horizon, grey sea and grey rocks, fading into the haze of distance. Only near the shore was there any sign of human existence, a single ship waiting out the tide in the lee of a high stack, and a jumble of walls and towers that seemed to grow from the rock of the nearest stack - Kavas-Arion.
    Even as she looked at the celibentuary her heart sank. The stack was connected to the mainland by a narrow causeway, now a line of boiling water as the tide tore across it. High grey walls rose in an uneven shape, the lowest perhaps four times Aisla’s height and these built above areas of natural cliff. Twin towers flanked the gate, each some eight man heights tall. Within the walls a jumble of buildings was