Death and Honor: Book 2 of 2 Read Free

I’ve got the perfect buyer in mind for you. When she finishes with you, you’ll wish died along with your family.”
    He shoved Xander toward the cage and he clambered in beside Mary. The door slammed behind him. The new boy looked at him with wide, frightened eyes.
    “So what’s your name?” Xander asked.
    “Jackson, please don’t hurt me.” The boy trembled as he watched Xander.
    Xander smiled. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
    Jackson frowned and looked away. “I saw the other boy when they loaded him in. You hurt him.”
    “He tried to take what was mine. You’re not going to try to take what’s mine are you Jackson?”
    Jackson shook his head.
    “Good, then we’ll get along fine.”
    Jackson relaxed and for the next few days they settled into a tedious routine, the monotony broken by meals and the once a day play break. During one break four days after his fight with his former cellmate Xander sat on the ground, catching his breath after a race with the other kids. He’d come in third, but the best part was he hadn’t fallen to the ground gasping for air when he finished. Sophia came over, bearing the ubiquitous cup of bitter yellow medicine.
    “I think I’m getting better.” He took the cup from her and downed it in one go.
    Sophia sat beside him. Since the fight she hadn’t said ten words to him. She accepted the cup back. “I thought Master Hess would kill you for what you said the other day.”
    Xander lay down on the grass and looked up at the clouds drifting by. “I was pretty sure he wouldn’t. I’ve been watching and what he wants more than our pain is our fear. I showed him I wasn’t afraid of anything he could do. If he’d hurt me he would have thought he was doing what I wanted rather than me doing what he wanted. To him it would have been like losing to a slave. I didn’t think he’d accept that outcome.”
    “It was such a terrible risk.” There was a note of genuine concern in her voice that made him smile.
    “Some of what I said was the simple truth. The only thing that keeps me going is the hope that I can one day find whoever murdered my family and kill them in the most painful fashion I can think of.”
    “Such a dark thought,” Sophia whispered.
    “It’s all I have.”
----
    T he next two weeks passed with little to distinguish them until the evening of the twentieth day, the day after his birthday. The wagons stopped before full dark and after a minute an unfamiliar voice said, “What’ll you give for her, Hess?”
    A moment of silence passed then Hess said, “Thirty, take it or leave it.”
    “Deal,” the new voice said without an instant’s hesitation. “Keep a close watch on this one, she’s slippery.”
    “I haven’t lost one yet. Come on and help me load her.” A moment later the tarp pulled back and Hess’s ugly face appeared. “Get back you three.”
    Xander and his cellmates slid back from the door. Hess opened it and with the help of someone Xander couldn’t see threw a half conscious girl into the cage with them. The door slammed shut, the lock snapped closed, and the tarp dragged back into place. Outside coins clinked and laughter echoed through the dark.
    The girl groaned and Xander inched closer to see where she’d been hurt. She’d landed face down so he nudged her over on her back. A huge bruise covered the right side of her face; the blow no doubt also knocked her cold. Besides that she looked okay. She had medium length, sand colored hair, a short upturned nose, and a small chin. Her thin build suggested no one had overfed her.
    Her eyes fluttered open revealing glassy slate gray eyes. “Good evening,” Xander said.
    She groaned and sat up. “Where am I?”
    “In a cage that is now a bit more crowded than it was a minute ago. You have joined the ranks of the slave caste.”
    “Slave?”
    “Yeah, whoever brought you here got thirty gold coins for your life. I’m Xander. The boy behind me is Jackson and the girl is Mary. Do you