Part two “Are you insane? Why did you do that?” “I must look as if you dont care what happens to me,” she explained patiently. “and as if I struggled when you caught me.” Jade Rose knew what would happen when the slavers thought her to be unruly and ready to escape, but she would not tell him lest he refuse to help her. She was afraid that he might not be able to kill them all, regardless of how good a warrior he was. “No matter what happens when you turn me over to them, my lord, you must show no distress. It is the only way our plan can work. Oh yes, do you have a piece of rope?” Lion nodded. He had long ago learned never to be without several things, including rope and a small ax. What was the real plan of this small tiger? He knew that she had not told him the entirety, At her request, he tied the rope tightly around her wrists, and watched her chafe them until they were bloody. “I am ready,” Jade Rose said. “You must ride ahead and drag me along. You are disgusted with me and ready to sell me to them for little, just to get rid of me. Can you sneer, my lord?” She swallowed suddenly. “That will work, but you must not scare them, so maybe a bit less?” She reminded herself of the Dance of the Mother Bird, a way to distract an enemy from what is happening. She was the mother bird, who had to put on the show. The closer they got to the slave train, the worse her behavior got. “You will never keep me! I shall escape and kill you! I will never be a slave again!” That last part was true. She would die first. A man rode up to Lion, swords drawn. “What do you here!” he demanded. “ I am supposed to take this,” he jerked on the rope and Jade Rose fell to her knees. “to a kingdom in the East, but she is a wildcat and I am tired of fighting her!” Jade Rose looked through her tangle of hair. “Coward! Picking on a defenseless woman.” She sneered. The slaver eyed her carefully. “We...might be persuaded to take her off your hands. We have ways of dealing with unruly slaves.” He jerked up her sleeve. “This is a royal owners mark!” The reward for returning a royal slave was as high as the consequence to the slave. Avarice overwhelmed caution. “Come with me.” As they approached miserable wagons, Jade Rose trembled inside. She would have to make one more show to bring them all. “Never! You shall never keep me!” Struggling against the ropes, she fought madly when they untied her. The leader walked over. “I think our new guest needs a lesson in what happens to disobedient slaves.” Although this was exactly what Jade Rose had meant, she felt true dread. She had never been whipped, but it was the only thing that would keep the slavers attention while Lion cut his people free. She was dragged to the wagon and tied. Her shirt was torn to bare her back and she heard the hiss of a whip being unwound. The only good thing was that she could scream her heart out. The more commotion, the better. “Make it hurt!” The head slaver said with a note of excitement. She begged her gods for the strength to endure this. The snap of the whip was heard before the fire streaked across her back. She shrieked and struggled against the ropes that tied her. The next one was even worse, as it hit the broken skin. Lion watched with concealed horror, realizing that this had been her plan all along. The excitement on the faces of the slaver sickened him. But he must use her sacrifice to free his people, so he eased away and opened the wagons, giving the fighters of his village the arms he had secreted under his clothes. They were out and the women and children safely behind the wagons when he realized that Jade Rose had stopped screaming. They attacked at that very moment. Killing the slavers was easy, once they started fighting. The anger they all felt made the battle short and brutal. The one with the whip pleaded for his life before Lion removed his head. When it was over, he rushed to Jade Rose, who was hanging in the ropes. Her back was striped five or six times. “Poor kid,” he said. “I was as fast as I could be.” He picked her up gingerly. “I hoped that if I fainted it would slow them down,” she whispered. “It was not...so bad.” One of the women from the village handed him a soft shawl. Even that on her back was almost enough to make her scream, but she stayed quiet. “So everyone is safe?” “Yes, my small tiger, everyone is safe.” She let out a sigh. Good.
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 18:06:43 +0000
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