Bertrice Small - Lara

“Aren’t you afraid of being left with the Forest Lords?” Noss asked Lara.

Lara sighed. “Afraid? Perhaps a little, but I will master my fear, for to be afraid of these men will give them power over me. I do not want that. They have some plan in mind for me, but I sense I will not be with them for long. My road does not end here in the Forest. It is longer and more complex.” She smiled at the girl. “Come, let us roll up our mattresses and fold our coverlets. It is almost time for the caravan to depart. We have a long day ahead of us.”

Noss shook her head. “You are so brave,” she said.

“Will you try to be brave, even when I am gone?” Lara replied.

“I will try,” Noss promised.

They left the Head Forester’s compound just as the first rays of the sun crept over the horizon, traveling at a steady pace as they had since leaving the City. At midday, the wagons stopped to allow the animals a small rest. They ate and then were on their way again, not stopping until the summer twilight had almost faded into night.

Rolf Fairplay came to see how the two girls were doing. He patted Noss’s cheek telling her, “I will only sell you to a kind master, little one. I have promised Lara.”

“And I have promised her to try not to be so fearful,” Noss said.

The trader chuckled. “Excellent!” he said.

“Will we reach the border tomorrow?” Lara asked him.

“Late, probably. The exchange between the Head Forester and myself will take place the following morning. Lara, I could slip over the border and refuse the sale. One of the Coastal Kings will pay just as much for you.”

“You would make a fearsome enemy, my lord,” Lara told him. “One who would complain to your Guild, who would probably attack any trader’s caravan that entered his precincts from now on. Even Gaius Prospero would disapprove of such behavior, and your good reputation would be ruined. You have agreed to the bargain, and you must keep it, but I thank you for your kindness.”

“It pains me that a slave as fine as you should be condemned to life with the Forest clan,” Rolf Fairplay answered her. “You are meant for a better master.”

Lara laughed. “Do not compliment me so, my lord. I might begin to believe you. I did not know my mother, but believe me I am protected by her faerie magic. This star I wear about my neck is proof of it. I will be fine.”

“Lara says she will not be long with the Forest Lords,” Noss spoke up.

The trader looked askance. “What is this?”

“An instinct, my lord, nothing more,” Lara told him softly.

“Faerie magic,” he said, nodding. “Only those with it know such things. It sets my heart at rest, Lara. I am a trader by profession, and commerce is in my very veins. But I am also a man like my cousin, who likes to see fine merchandise with fine people. This sale I have made is grand in scale, but far less than I had hoped for-although I must admit to you that I have made an outrageous profit, and obtained more for you than my illustrious cousin would have dared to dream.” He chuckled. “I intend to send the gold directly back to him from the Desert Kingdom.”

“Is that not dangerous, sending so much coin by another caravan?” she asked him.

“Nay. I will give the gold to one of the Desert men who acts as a banker for the Shadow Princes and traders like me. The banker will send a faeriepost to the City crediting my cousin’s account for the amount. He, in turn, will have his banker credit my account for the commission. I would not travel a step farther than I must with all that gold. It is not likely I will see the City for another seven or eight months.”

Rolf bid them goodnight then, and the two girls unrolled their mattresses and their coverlets, and slept again that night in their wagon transport. The next day was very much like the previous, but the landscape began to change as they traveled. The Forest thinned out, and then was gone entirely. During the last few hours of daylight they traveled across a flat terrain of scrubland with stunted trees and bushes rising from an increasingly sandy soil. Finally, as darkness was falling, they reached the border station between the Desert and the Forest.

Grumbling, the border inspectors from the Forest painstakingly inspected the bills of lading. “Why do you carry two slaves instead of only one?” one of the guards demanded.

“One slave was considered unfit. I only delivered the order, but I agreed to see the inferior one was replaced. I am taking her for sale elsewhere,” Rolf explained.

The guard grunted, satisfied with the answer. Content with his inspection, he passed the caravan through into the Desert realm. There Rolf Fairplay requested permission to camp for the night.

“The Head Forester from the Forest District will be here on the morrow to complete a sale,” he explained to the Desert official. “I expect he will arrive shortly after the sun is up. There is much involved, and I thought it better to finish our transaction here rather than at his hall. Have you a banker nearby?”

The official nodded. “I will send one of my men for him at dawn. You need not depart until you have put your monies with him for credit in the City.”

They ate, and prepared for bed once again. The sky above them was darker than any Lara had ever seen, and filled with bright crystal stars. While the blue moon of the Midlands had been new when she left the City, the deep red-orange Desert moon was a full glorious globe. The Forest moon, a first quarter the previous night, was a pale green. She wondered what hue the coastal moon was, and whether she would ever see it. Or if one day she might stand somewhere in the Outlands and see all the four moons of Hetar.

“Come to bed, Lara,” Noss called to her.

“In a moment,” Lara responded. She wanted a few last minutes alone in the night to enjoy her freedom. She knew that once she came into the possession of the Head Forester and his brother, she would not find much time if any to be alone again. She had always enjoyed her solitary time. She looked down into the crystal that hung around her neck. The little flame flickered and grew brighter.

What do you want? Ethne asked.

To remain brave. To not show fear before the Forest Lords.

The strength is within you, came her reply. You have but to use it.

Lara dropped the crystal, and it fell to lie in the valley between her breasts. She felt its subtle warmth against her skin. She wondered once if the voice she heard was her mother’s, but her father had said no. Ilona had given her the chain and pendant from her own neck. She, too, had heard the voice, for so had she told him when she first showed him the crystal star. Still it was faerie magic, and Lara was glad to have it. It was odd, but she did feel strong. It was a sensation she had never truly experienced until recently. With a final look at the sky she returned to the cart to sleep. Too soon morning would come. Climbing into the cart, Lara sighed softly. Noss was already sleeping, no doubt relieved that she would not go to the Forest Lords tomorrow.

Yet the next day Noss was awake early, and again she brought food for Lara, and water for her to bathe in before she left them. Lara thanked her once more, and when she had finished her food she washed her face and hands in the warm water even as the Forest Lords arrived at the border. Hearing the approaching hoofbeats, she brushed out her hair and plaited it into one braid, knowing that she would be sent for when it was time. Rolf Fairplay would not let her go until he had counted and weighed every coin.

In the end, it took several hours, for the trader was a suspicious man where transactions of this sort were involved. Each coin was checked to be certain it was pure gold, and not a baser metal merely gilded. Some coins weighed a bit more, and others a bit less, but the final weight was exactly what it should be.

The Desert banker was standing by on his side of the border to take the gold that the Head Forester passed over. Lara was called to come. Hugging Noss, she reminded her to be brave, and kissed the girl’s cheek. Then the papers transferring Lara’s ownership from Gaius Prospero through Rolf Fairplay to Durga and Enda of the Forest Kingdom were signed. And finally, Lara, daughter of Sir John Swiftsword, stepped across the border separating the Desert from the Forest, and into the custody of her new masters.

“CAN YOU RIDE?” Enda asked Lara.

She shook her head in the negative. “But I can learn,” she told him.

Reaching down, he pulled her up and settled her before him on his saddle. His free hand smoothed over her breasts. “Sweet,” he murmured in her ear.

She probably should be afraid, Lara considered, but she wasn’t. It was a childish display of ownership. She said nothing as he drew her back against him, his sinewy arm clamped about her slender waist.

“We won’t go very fast,” he told her.

“If you expect to return to your hall tonight you will have to eventually,” Lara said. “If it took Rolf Fairplay’s caravan two days to reach the border you must have ridden quickly to reach here in just a day.”

“You are educated?” He was surprised.

“Enough to understand time and distance,” she told him.

“You have not been raised a slave?” His voice was hot in her ear.

“No,” Lara replied shortly.

“Tell me,” he said, curious now.

“You know my mother was a faerie woman. She deserted us when I was an infant. My father was a member of the Mercenary Guild,” Lara said. “My father’s mother raised me, and then my stepmother, Susanna. My father is a great warrior, and very much wanted to join the Crusader Knights, but he had not the means until it was suggested that he sell me to Gaius Prospero. And so I am now in your possession.”

“Did your father at least win his place among the Crusader Knights?” Enda asked.

“Yes,” Lara said. “I saw it all, and he fought well.”

“Why did not Gaius Prospero sell you to one of the Pleasure Houses? You are obviously meant for one,” Enda probed.

“That was his plan, but the Head Mistress of the Guild of Pleasure Women would not permit it. My beauty was already causing dissension among the women, the owners of the Pleasure Houses and their patrons. And then there is my faerie heritage. Some feared it,” Lara concluded.

“I do not fear it,” he said softly, and she felt his hot mouth on the back of her neck. “For centuries the Forest folk and the faerie folk have been allies. We enjoy making love to faerie women.” His teeth nipped her flesh.

“I am not a faerie woman,” Lara protested softly. “I only had a faerie mother. I know nothing of magic or spells. If you have purchased me for that reason you have cheated yourselves. There is still time to catch Rolf Fairplay, and have him return your gold. He will do so, and the Coastal King’s son will not be disappointed.”

Enda laughed. “No, we will not return you, and poor Arcas will never know what he has missed. The trader is satisfied with the transaction, and the banker who took our gold has already sent a faeriepost to the City to credit Gaius Prospero. You belong to me and my brother now, Lara. Best to get used to that fact.” The hand fondling her breast pinched the nipple sharply, making her gasp in surprise.

He laughed, and they continued on their way. After a short while their pace increased until they were cantering along a barely discernible trail, and the Forest around them was deep and dark. The caravan had not come this way, Lara realized, but it occurred to her that the traveler’s route might not necessarily be the fastest route, but the easiest. Their path led up hills and across meadows. The horses never seemed to flag, and Lara wondered if they would stop before they reached their destination. But as the sun reached its zenith in the summer sky the brothers drew their mounts to a halt in a small clearing with a stream.

Durga was off his mount first, and coming over, lifted Lara down from her perch on Enda’s saddle. He tipped her face up to his, saying, “Do not be fearful, faerie girl. We will treat you well, and you will do our bidding obediently, eh?”

“Yes, my lord,” Lara told him. His black eyes were small and piggy.

“Restrain your lust, brother,” Enda said joining them. “Remember your promise to me.” And he chuckled.

“Do not take long, then,” his elder replied. “If you were not so delicate in your manner we could have her here and now on yon mossy bank. Think of the pleasure we would gain, and ’tis a fine day for it,” Durga concluded.

Enda laughed aloud. “No,” he said. “Our seed will grow more potent if we wait.” Then he turned to Lara, who had been listening to them and struggling to restrain her aversion. “Go into the bushes, girl, and relieve yourself. We will be doing the same. Are you hungry?”