A Deal Beneath the Rubble
At last the collapse stopped. Feeling the ash in the air brush her face, she opened her eyes a fraction.
The slave boy's face was inches from her own. His body bore down heavily on hers, for he was carrying the wreckage of the fallen tent across his back.
"Hah... ngh..."
A strained groan slipped from his mouth. Elona stared up at his contorted face, helpless to know what she should do. Timbers and lumps of iron had come down over them both, and neither of them could move.
But he was shielding her.
"You..."
When she murmured it in a stunned voice, the boy's red eyes turned to her. The arms braced on either side of her face trembled. She forced herself to go on.
"You're... you're bleeding so much."
A trickle of blood ran from his body and soaked the hand she had flung out on the ground. At the wet, hot touch Elona flinched, and he nodded.
"I know."
"Why... why did you do it?"
Instead of answering, he let out a pained breath. Elona glanced at the forearm shaking beside her eye.
He was only a child, the same as she was. That those arms—not even particularly thick—had not snapped while holding up the wreckage was nothing short of a miracle. From the press of his body against hers, she could tell he stood only a little taller than she did.
She watched his lashes quiver, then rushed to speak. She was afraid he would pass out like this.
"Listen—my name is Elona. Elona de Parsion. What's yours?"
"I'm... Kazan."
Kazan. Elona repeated the name under her breath and carved it into her heart. She swore she would never forget it.
"Kazan, I'm fifteen. You're the same age as me, aren't you? I heard it when they introduced you."
Kazan started to answer, then broke into a racking cough. What if he dies? Elona hurried on, trying to shake the fear loose.
"You said you came from Ashatra, didn't you? Is it really nothing but desert? Is it much hotter than summer here?"
"Yeah."
"You're..."
Dust sifted down over them. The body that had been holding the weight sank closer against hers. Elona watched Kazan's eyes squeeze shut in pain, and her chest ached with pity.
"Kazan, why did you save me? You could have run."
He did not answer at once. He gathered his arms, and the chain still biting his wrist scraped the ground as his body lifted a little. Only after he had desperately cleared a space for her did he mutter:
"Because... then you'd die."
His voice was hoarse, but his eyes and his tone were utterly firm. Elona stared at him blankly, then said:
"You know... I'm actually this country's princess."
Kazan said nothing. Perhaps he did not believe her. Elona went on anyway.
"If we get out of here alive, His Majesty, my father, will reward you."
Those red eyes looked quietly into her blue ones. He frowned.
"You're a princess, and no one protects you? That man ran."
"Th-that was my brother. My brother doesn't protect me."
"Why?"
"Because he wants me dead..."
The confession had slipped out before she knew it, and she faltered. She regretted being so needlessly honest. But Kazan nodded as if he understood exactly what she meant.
When the dust fell again, he blurted:
"Make a deal with me."
At the unexpected offer her eyes went round. He looked straight at her and said, resolute:
"When we get out, you buy me. Make me your slave."
For a moment she thought she had misheard. But his face was utterly serious. Half doubting, she asked:
"If I buy you, then what? What will you do for me?"
"I'll set you free. So that nothing can bind you."
Elona quietly looked away. It was a preposterous offer. How could a mere slave give freedom to a royal like her? Was it not far too bold a thing for a slave boy with shackles on his wrists? But... Even so, there was a strange power in Kazan that made a person want to believe him. In the end her heart leaned toward him.
"Then... it's a promise?"
"I promise. On my life."
"Y-you don't have to stake your life..."
She was stammering in alarm when it happened.
The body that had been holding so firmly suddenly gave way. She startled at the sight of his eyelids dragging down, as if he were slipping into sleep.
"Stay with me, Kazan!"
She wanted to move, to help him somehow, but all her hands found was the blood pouring from him. He was bleeding far too much.
"Get up, Kazan... you can't die!"
Elona gathered his slowly collapsing body into her arms. Even unconscious he was still straining to hold, but it was not enough. She was panting, shoving desperately at the wreckage, when she heard it.
Wood snapped, and then came the sounds of something being cleared away above them.
"They're here!"
It was a rescuer's voice. The instant Elona breathed out in relief, Kazan's body went limp across hers.
Light spilled through the black hair that had covered her eyes.
The morning after the banquet, Elona woke in her bedchamber at Mano Palace.
"Ngh..."
Her whole body ached, and the groan came of itself. Elona looked down at her naked body beneath the covers and sighed. The marks... Last night had been unusually fierce; her nape and breasts were covered in bite marks and the traces of kisses. Shift even a little, and her overworked waist hurt badly enough to kill her. How long am I supposed to live like this? I don't think I can last half a year.
Biting back a groan, Elona sat up, and the thin wool blanket slid from her bare skin. As she drew it back up over her chest, a maid knocked at the door.
It was breakfast. There was brown porridge, wheat bread, and some unfamiliar sauce. When Elona looked at her, the maid recited in a bored voice:
"Twice a day. Morning. Evening."
The maid set the meal on the table and left at once. Eating alone was familiar, but Elona still could not get used to the smell of the food. She was hungry, yet in the end she managed only a few bites before setting the spoon down. They kept me in a carriage the whole way across the desert. What will they have me do here? What was required of her at night was plain enough. But no one had told her what she was meant to do by day. Would she be put to work like the other maids? Or was some other grinding labor already prepared for the slaves? Whatever they order, I have to do it properly. If I don't, I'll only be condemned all the more for coming from Parsion.
The memory of stones striking the carriage sank her mood. Elona drew water in the bath adjoining the great bedchamber and washed. She combed her hair and made her clothes neat. When she was ready to go out, the maid who had brought the meal returned.
"You left the food?"