in here,” says Ezbeth, “Lia and Haylen, you’ll meet Calyn tomorrow morning to start work. Phoebe, Jeneth, and Eleta, you’re going to be in the sewing shop downstairs, and the rest of you will come with me and I’ll teach you how to be housemaids. Not bad duties, girls. It’s certainly better than the quarry.”
“Is this why you brought us here?” asks Lia.
“What’s that, dear?”
“To make us work for you? Is that why you stole us?”
Ezbeth giggles. “Sweetie, we didn’t steal you. We saved you.”
“You sent bad people to kill our parents.”
The slap comes hard and fast, knocking a string of spit out of Lia’s mouth and leaving her jaw slack and trembling.
“You watch it, little girl. My son is one of those men. They’ve done more to protect us than you could possibly imagine and I will not tolerate that kind of garbage.”
Lia rubs her chin and precious little tears roll down her cheeks.
“I’ve given you good work, Lia. Don’t ruin it for yourself.”
First thing in the morning the children attend their lessons. They learn about their beloved King. They learn that he is one of nearly one hundred and sixty children fathered by Nezra the First, that he was born only days after the fire that ravaged their settlement, and how his uniquely colored eyes are an omen, proof of his otherworldly origins, sent here from the Beyond to protect his family in the flesh, that without him the Rain of Fire will return and retribution will crash down upon them from angry skies. The native children, born of the Temple, chant songs and recite invocations about Nezra the Second, their protector, thanking him for warding off the destruction.
Jack, Braylon and Aiden meet with Karus after their lessons to begin their trek to the quarry. Karus leads a slope-backed horse, saddled with their gear, and they walk along beside her, leaving the Temple grounds by a dirt road that cuts through the foothills and winds north. Stone and wood outbuildings are situated just beyond the grounds, a small manufacturing district with glass and metalworks. A handful of men trudge along behind them, heading off to a day’s work. They pass farmholds set into the gentle hillside in ascending tiers, with workers, many of them children, moving about the rows and turning the soil. Beyond them lay the stables and training fields.
Jack startles with instinctive fear when he sees the pack of wolves running the fields, their snouts furrowed into snarls exposing pink and black gums and sharp rows of yellow teeth. They leap on the men and scamper at their feet, and make no move to rip out their throats or tear at the flesh of their arms and legs. Here these mean creatures seem to suppress those primal urges and the boys have never seen a lot more tame.
Some of the men journeying with them Jack knows to be warriors, but they are wearing simple clothes and only a couple of them bear weapons openly. They have cycled out of their training regimen and are being sent to the quarry to keep up their strength breaking rocks. One of the men is Halis, and Jack knows him well. He is the man whose ruthless stare kept him company for that long week he spent in his cage. He is the man whose brother Jack killed with an arrow while his village turned to ash around him.
“You boys do hard work before?” asks Karus.
“We’ve helped dig,” says Aiden.
“Well, that’ll help. None of you looks too strong, though. We’ll change that. You’ll go to bed tired, I promise you.”
The signs of Temple life fade away and they travel onward, the broad path underfoot curving through fields of billowing grass, a few odd crooked buildings poking through here and there, slanting and cracked like large tombstones. The countryside seems to have been sculpted specially to accommodate the road they are walking, and the terraforming doesn’t look to be a recent job. Pieces of hill are sliced away to allow the road’s passage, and these areas are much
“Is this why you brought us here?” asks Lia.
“What’s that, dear?”
“To make us work for you? Is that why you stole us?”
Ezbeth giggles. “Sweetie, we didn’t steal you. We saved you.”
“You sent bad people to kill our parents.”
The slap comes hard and fast, knocking a string of spit out of Lia’s mouth and leaving her jaw slack and trembling.
“You watch it, little girl. My son is one of those men. They’ve done more to protect us than you could possibly imagine and I will not tolerate that kind of garbage.”
Lia rubs her chin and precious little tears roll down her cheeks.
“I’ve given you good work, Lia. Don’t ruin it for yourself.”
First thing in the morning the children attend their lessons. They learn about their beloved King. They learn that he is one of nearly one hundred and sixty children fathered by Nezra the First, that he was born only days after the fire that ravaged their settlement, and how his uniquely colored eyes are an omen, proof of his otherworldly origins, sent here from the Beyond to protect his family in the flesh, that without him the Rain of Fire will return and retribution will crash down upon them from angry skies. The native children, born of the Temple, chant songs and recite invocations about Nezra the Second, their protector, thanking him for warding off the destruction.
Jack, Braylon and Aiden meet with Karus after their lessons to begin their trek to the quarry. Karus leads a slope-backed horse, saddled with their gear, and they walk along beside her, leaving the Temple grounds by a dirt road that cuts through the foothills and winds north. Stone and wood outbuildings are situated just beyond the grounds, a small manufacturing district with glass and metalworks. A handful of men trudge along behind them, heading off to a day’s work. They pass farmholds set into the gentle hillside in ascending tiers, with workers, many of them children, moving about the rows and turning the soil. Beyond them lay the stables and training fields.
Jack startles with instinctive fear when he sees the pack of wolves running the fields, their snouts furrowed into snarls exposing pink and black gums and sharp rows of yellow teeth. They leap on the men and scamper at their feet, and make no move to rip out their throats or tear at the flesh of their arms and legs. Here these mean creatures seem to suppress those primal urges and the boys have never seen a lot more tame.
Some of the men journeying with them Jack knows to be warriors, but they are wearing simple clothes and only a couple of them bear weapons openly. They have cycled out of their training regimen and are being sent to the quarry to keep up their strength breaking rocks. One of the men is Halis, and Jack knows him well. He is the man whose ruthless stare kept him company for that long week he spent in his cage. He is the man whose brother Jack killed with an arrow while his village turned to ash around him.
“You boys do hard work before?” asks Karus.
“We’ve helped dig,” says Aiden.
“Well, that’ll help. None of you looks too strong, though. We’ll change that. You’ll go to bed tired, I promise you.”
The signs of Temple life fade away and they travel onward, the broad path underfoot curving through fields of billowing grass, a few odd crooked buildings poking through here and there, slanting and cracked like large tombstones. The countryside seems to have been sculpted specially to accommodate the road they are walking, and the terraforming doesn’t look to be a recent job. Pieces of hill are sliced away to allow the road’s passage, and these areas are much
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