Chapter 6: Complications

The Captain split the men up and sent two each to compass points around the village. It didn’t escape me that his closest men were the ones he trusted to send off to work autonomously.

“Gregory, Lauraphine, Mathew: you’re with me in front.”

This was also not unexpected. He wanted me with him as I was a civilian and an unknown variable. Laura was kept with me because he didn’t want to babysit me and Gregory because he was the spare. Granted, three knights wielded more authority than two.

The village bell rang and I was told it was to signal the midday meal for the workers. We would wait until the villagers retreated to their homes for lunch and then go to the town square to ask for directions. He would wait for them to bring the girl to him for testing and then make his decision from there.

When they explained the arcane bracelet that would react to the presence of magic in a person’s body, I was impressed.

“And you do this to everyone?”

Gregory shook his head. “Not everyone in the village, only those we suspect. It takes too long otherwise.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t test me when you first saw me, considering how I was found.”

The Captain chuckled. “We did. Whilst you were unconscious. Came back negative. You’re as normal as the rest of us.”

I winced internally. There was another tick there. It wasn’t overt, but something in his tone was suggesting a prejudice that made me wonder whether these ‘wild mages’ were being treated fairly.

We headed into the village, leading our horses through the outlying fields and into the centre square. There was no watch, no exterior barricade or fence even, just small houses and fields in the middle of arable land. As we arrived into the middle of the square, we saw it was empty, as most of the village was indoors, but the Captain stood and waited in the open as if he knew someone would emerge.

And he was right, no more than five minutes later, a man in his late 20s came slowly out of a door to the east and walked across to the Captain. As the two talked, quietly, people started to emerge cautiously to watch the proceedings with curiosity. The pair realised the crowd they were attracting and the villager extended his hand as an invitation to one of the larger buildings.

We followed and, whilst some of the gathering people joined us, most went back to their lunch. I began to worry a little as the majority of those who entered the hall were the men of the village and all had farm tools with them that would easily double as weapons.

But the Captain was at ease and, as we were invited to sit, he pulled a skin of wine from his travel pack and offered it around to the men. They toasted to a good harvest and I saw the power play that he had made. He was in control of the proceedings here.

In time, a young woman was brought into the hall and presented to the Captain. She was about 18 or 19, a brunette with a slim and strong figure, had obviously led a difficult life of a farm girl and was dressed in what I considered poor clothes. What struck me as most odd was her ears. They were pointy and elongated; an Elf! She was messy and a bit dishevelled from her work, but undeniably beautiful with eyes that sparkled when she walked forward and she looked every bit the way I imagined an elf would look.

“Ah, good.” Said the captain. “Miss Asha, I presume?”

The woman nodded nervously and looked away from his gaze. “Yes, my Lord.”

The captain held out his hand and Gregory respectfully handed him a bracelet with a green stone inlaid in silver. “I am going to place this bracelet on your wrist. There will be no pain. If the gem stays green, then we will leave you be.”

The girl swallowed nervously and nodded, holding out her hand. I was watching intently when a villager of around the same age as the girl caught my eye and drew my attention. He was standing behind the other men and locked eyes with me for a second. He glanced at the girl as the rest of the room was staring at the proceedings. Then, almost imperceptibly, he shook his head.

This wasn’t the right girl.

I quickly scanned the crowd and saw nervous expressions but, most crucially, they were not watching the bracelet; they were watching the Captain.

They already know the outcome of the scan, they want to know if he buys it or not.

I stepped forward, much to the surprise of the Captain and he fixed me with a stern glare.

“Back in line,” he barked.

“That isn’t Miss Asha,” I blurted out, louder than I was planning.

The Captain snapped his eyes to the girl and then to the small group of men around us. The guilt that was written on their faces confirmed my accusation and he nodded to me with a grim, but grateful, smile. Then, to reinforce that his orders were not to be disobeyed, he repeated himself.

“Back in line.”

The looks that I got from the villagers would have killed me then and there if they had their way. I nodded and fell back next to Laura who shot me a quizzical look, most likely wondering how I knew. I didn’t have time to explain when a similarly aged woman, just as beautiful but blonde this time, was sullenly marched into the room by the knights Zinithael and Pheros.

She was elven like the first woman and I could have sworn that the two were sisters. This woman was roughly pushed forward and she stumbled toward the Captain a few steps. I was quite set back by the rough treatment of this girl. I knew that she had tried to evade their scan, which suggested she was, in fact, a wild mage. But the unnecessary roughness made me grit my teeth in anger.

“Ah... the real Miss Asha.” Deriostos almost sang with a dreadful, syrupy voice. “So nice of you to join us.”

“Please...” the girl begged. “I don’t want to leave my family. I don’t want to be a mage!”

The girl Asha looked around the room for assistance and met the gaze of the boy who had given me the subtle shake of the head earlier. He looked triumphant and sadistically satisfied with himself. My gut wrenched as I realised, I’d inadvertently helped this young man do something awful to this girl.

“DONATU YOU WRETCH!” she cried. “You did this, didn’t you? You were the only one who I told. The only one I trusted! You were my friend... WHY?”

The boy's smirk faltered and he mumbled, but it was picked up by the smooth stones of the floor and walls and rebounded around the room much louder than he meant for it to.

“If you had said yes, I would have been able to protect you.”

Asha’s sister, the brunette, turned on him in an instant. “You betrayed her to the Iron Shield because she wouldn’t sleep with you? WHAT KIND OF MONSTER ARE YOU???” she screamed at him. “Are you that vindictive?”

Donatu’s softer demeanour was short-lived and his face screwed up into a disgusted look as he snarled at her. “Shut up, you point-eared bint, just because you didn’t get any attention. You’re just jealous!”

The drama was spiralling out of control and Deriostos was letting it; he sat calmly watching it all play out. The more anger that was directed internally, the more chance they would be too busy fighting themselves to bother fighting the knights. The message being created by this circling yelling match was clear; the real enemy wasn’t the Iron Shield, they were doing their job. The enemy was within and that was what stung the most. I appreciated the tactical cunning of this man, but his lack of ethics was beginning to show.

The brunette swung her hand and slapped Donatu across the face and he clasped his hand to his cheek in shock. Hatred flared in his eyes and I saw what was about to happen when his hand went to his belt in rage. I launched myself across the room before anyone else had realised what he was doing and just as everyone saw his knife raised to stab the poor girl, I charged into him and used my momentum to send him into the wall.

The knife flew from his hand, clattering on the stone and he picked himself up to see what new threat had stopped him, leaning on the wall for support. But I was not in a mood to allow him a chance. I threw all my strength into a kick that hit his chest with such force that the crack of his ribs and sternum was heard loudly across the room.

His mouth gasped for air and his eyes were wide as he couldn’t draw breath. I was shocked. I hadn’t meant to kick him that hard, I didn’t think I even could kick that hard. My EMT training quickly assessed his symptoms; at least some of his ribs had been broken and forced through his lungs by the kick and he was running out of oxygen from several punctures in his lungs. Sure enough, he sank to a sitting position against the wall and coughed, spraying aspirated blood over his shirt.

I was somewhat confused though. Even with the fact the wall at his back had made the kick far worse, and I was younger and stronger now, I hadn’t expected to do that much damage with a single strike. But despite my disbelief, within moments, his face had become blue and he passed unconscious. A few minutes more and I knew he would be dead.

The crowd of men backed away from us and several men dropped their tools, raised their hands and left. An older man shouted in rage, presumably the boy’s father, and he was held back by the remaining men. The brunette was sobbing on her knees as she realised how close she came to being murdered and the Captain, Laura and Gregory were standing with various degrees of surprise and respect.

“Not bad...” Gregory muttered, and Laura nodded. Apparently, killing in defence of another was worthy of respect in this world. I didn’t feel that it was something to be proud of. I had killed. I’d never taken a life before. Sure, I’d hurt people in self-defence, but never bad enough to kill them. I was just staring at the boy, horrified, as his life faded away and he drowned in his own blood. It was just so... final. No chance for him to say he was sorry, no chance to learn.

I heard my name called to break me out of my reverie and looked up to see the Captain looking at me. He gave me a nod and then told me to move back in line. But I first helped the girl back to her feet before joining the others.

Deriostos turned his eyes back to the blonde elf, Asha, and slipped the bracelet onto her wrist. The gem turned from green to blue in an instant and the poor girl cried as her secret was revealed beyond all doubt. The captain nodded to the crowd and explained that she was an arcane potential and that, whilst he knew it was a sad thing to have to release her, Asha would need to be trained by the Wizards’ Collective, after which she would be able to return.

Deriostos gave Laura a nod and she moved to help Asha to her feet. She whispered some words I didn’t quite hear and I saw Asha agree and point to a side door. Laura guided her out of the room and the Captain turned to the few remaining men.

They had been speaking amongst themselves, discussing something rapidly with the brunette elf woman and, when the Captain turned to them, the man who had originally met Deriostos outside spoke up, pointing to me.

“He needs to take responsibility for his actions.”

The Captain grimaced, Gregory swore under his breath, but Donatu’s father snapped out from beside his son’s body, where he was now kneeling.

“He murdered my boy, you knife-eared fuck!! I want him stripped of his knighthood and flensed.”

The villagers obviously thought I was a knight, and given the circumstances, I didn’t blame them.

Deriostos stood from his chair and I saw the man flex his muscles under the pretence of rubbing his shoulder. The Knight knew how to use his presence to intimidate a crowd.

“As far as I saw it; the civilian Mathew, as he is a rescue and not one of my command, acted heroically to save an innocent girl in immediate danger of life and limb. Therefore, I deem he saved her life and that the methods he used were within reason.”

“The majority of us agree, Sir Knight,” responded the spokesman. I noticed, when his hair shifted, that he too was an elf and suddenly realised he was probably the two elf girls’ father.

“That being said...” the man continued, “... he must take responsibility.”

The Captain looked mildly irritated, but nodded, and motioned to Gregory, who grabbed me by the arm and started to pull me out of the hall. When I objected, I was shushed, and I didn’t know what was going to happen. I’d been cleared, hadn’t I? That’s what the captain had said earlier, wasn’t it? To my surprise, the brunette elf followed us and before long we were standing outside, in the idyllic village, with me wondering what the hell was going on.

“What is your name, girl?” Gregory asked her, roughly.

“Erica” came the reply and I recognised that, whilst previously she had been genuinely timid and nervous, there was now courage in those eyes.

Gregory sighed and passed his hand through his short brown hair.

“And do you intend to take up the right of indebted servitude?” he phrased the question as an aggressive demand, leaving no doubt in anyone’s mind that he would rather she wouldn’t do whatever that meant.

“I am considering it,” she answered. The elf girl looked at me up and down, seeming to pay attention to me for the first time and then I swore she blushed.

Gregory sighed. “You realise that he’s coming with us? By shackling yourself to him, you’ll be forced to leave your home and family. Exactly what you didn’t want to happen to your sister.”

So they were sisters...

“Wait, would someone explain to me what is happening?” I asked, thoroughly confused.

The elf became aware that my accent was not local and raised her eyebrows.

“You aren’t from Grixoninia?”

Gregory chuckled. “Worse than that... he’s suffering from amnesia. He has no idea about anything.”

“You revealed my deception in front of the Knights, but then you saved my life... why?”

I scratched my head in embarrassment, mumbling out an explanation. “Well, call me old fashioned, but I believe that a man should always protect the people around him and that dipshit of a human being was going to stab you, and you didn’t deserve it, and I didn’t want you to die and so I acted.”

Gregory shook his head in disappointment.

Erica glared at him. “Hey! My life might not mean much to you, SIR KNIGHT, but I’m pretty grateful to be alive.” She turned to me. “You don’t know what saving a life in Grixoninia means, do you?”

“Not a clue.”

She thought for a minute. “Then I invoke the right of indebted servitude.”

“WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?” I ask, exasperated.

Gregory rounded on me. “It means, you fool, that you have a willing slave that is going to be following you around doing your every whim. And in return you’ll be responsible for her food, clothing and board.”

Now I understood why he was upset and I looked at him in horror. “Slave? I can’t have a slave! That’s barbaric!! That can’t be legal!”

Gregory shook his head. “It’s an old law from the early days of Grixoninia from before the Gods went silent. A life saved must be repaid. Some deep, divine magic used to enforce it and protect it, but that faded since the Gods abandoned us. But the King’s law remains. It is up to the saved individual to invoke it though; if they believe the life was saved for the wrong reasons, or that it did not deserve the full right of servitude, they could offer a smaller reward. This is what happens most regularly in the cities.”

He looked at her expectantly as he finished, hinting that she should change her mind and take the lesser option, but the young elf stayed firm. “We don’t abandon our honour so quickly here in the countryside. To repay this man with anything less than my life would be a shame on my family. I am invoking the right.” She told him with as much confidence as she could muster, whilst turning slightly red. She looked at me. “I am yours to command... Master.”

Master???

“Master?” I choked. “No... no no no no. This is not right. Don’t I get a say in this?”

The two shook their heads, Erica in satisfaction and Gregory in resignation as I looked at the two of them, speechless.

“You don’t understand. Her father will be indebted to you for saving her life. A debt he is honour-bound to pay or he will lose respect and standing in the village.”

“I don’t give a shit about his good standing...” I interrupted.

“BUT HE DOES!” stressed the Knight. “And they do. And these small villages trade on favours and debts. Almost no coin changes hands at all. So, if he is indebted to you in this way, no-one else in the village will risk him being in debt to them because your debt will always come first. How can he ever repay you? That debt can never be cleared. Before, everyone was owed more or less equally, but now you hold such a debt over him that he will be honour-bound to default on everything else to repay you for saving his daughter.”

I suddenly understood what he was getting at. “Wait… so, by taking on the debt herself, Erica here is allowing her family to continue living in the village.”

“Right. And whilst this type of thinking is unheard of in the larger urban centres, it is still seen as necessary and even a source of pride here. So if you reject her, not only are you disrespecting her offer and implying she is not worth her own life, but you are also undermining the ability for her family to support themselves.”

I was understandably distressed. Erica was nodding along as if this was all common knowledge and something I should just know.

But then I saw something in the woman’s eye that made me wonder. Sisters... he said. I thought about it carefully and realised it wasn’t all about the debt. Whatever her motives; I would discuss it with her personally, in private.

The knight looked annoyed but suppressed it enough to mutter something in a language I didn’t understand but I would come to understand was a prayer.

“Not that the Gods are listening...” he added before taking both our hands and joining them.

“By the authority vested in me by Lord Arnias who recognises the Iron Shield as his hand in all of the Athnian Highlands, I witness that this woman, Erica, has invoked the right of indebted servitude to her Master Mathew in return for his saving of her life from immediate peril.”

Erica looked at me with a satisfied, but bashful smile. I looked to Gregory with a plea for help, but he just shook his head wordlessly. Then, he went back inside the hall, leaving me with this woman who, half-an-hour ago I would not have known existed, and yet was apparently pledged to me for...

Shit.

“How long does this indebted servitude last?” I asked her.

“Until I either save your life, or one of us dies.”

I felt like I should have seen that coming. “You know your sister is coming with us?” I asked her, and she nodded knowingly.

“…and of course the fact that I now need to take you with us as well is just a happy coincidence?”

Erica’s beautiful brunette face grinned in sheepish confirmation of my suspicions.

“I was going to sneak after you and the other knights, and follow you from a distance, but when you saved me, I knew it would be easier and safer to follow her this way.”

I raised an eyebrow, “And all of that business about your father and the debt?”

“Oh, that’s all true, Master. There is nothing about this situation that is anything less than total gratitude. Even if my sister was not coming with you, I would be honour-bound to submit to you.”

I shook my head at that. “No. Not at all. Abso-fucking-lutely not. I have no problem with you accompanying me as I travel, I might, MIGHT be able to come to terms with you technically being my slave in words or in law. But there is no way in hell I am going to have you submit to me. You are an intelligent, sentient being with wants and needs and hopes and dreams. Surely you don’t want to give all that up for a man you just met?”

Erica smiled at me and wrinkled her nose in a way that melted my heart. “I want to be protected, respected and with my sister. You have shown me already that you will take care of the first two much better than my options here. My sister had suitors, but options for me were slim and I would have been forced to marry one of the older men of the village as a third or even a fourth wife.

It would have been treated as a ‘favour’ to my father, for taking on the responsibility of feeding and clothing me. And the older wives would have resented my intrusion for being younger and more desirable. But with you, well, you have already protected me from harm, and you seem to value women as much or more than most men here. And I can hope that when we get to the capital, you will let me stay in contact with my sister as she studies her magic.”

“Well, of course, I wouldn’t stop you, but...”

She cut me off. “Thankyou, Master. Under these conditions I will be happy to be your slave.” And she blushed again, looking at me in a way I’d seen hopeful young girls look at the star football players back at school. It took me a moment to remember my youthful transformation and that if I had asked her on a date under normal circumstances, she might have said yes anyway.

My mind swirled with the implications. The culture was different, and wrong. So very wrong. But I wasn’t in my world, their morals and ethics were different. Personal liberties took second place to survival and maybe these people prized life and security over liberty.

But I was also well-read. Earth’s history had been full of arguments for how slavery could be done positively and all of them were full of crap. Not a single culture had slavery where the majority of slaves were happy and treated well. It always, always led to an abuse of power. Voluntary slavery existed, sure, but it was usually a nice way of phrasing that someone had coerced a poor soul until it seemed that selling themselves was their only viable option. Wasn’t that what this was? Just the pressure wasn’t from me, but her own society and family. And did she say ‘wives’, plural? Polygamy exists here? I could be saving her from a life of sexual abuse. Still, I couldn’t help feeling I was a monster for entertaining this woman’s delusion that her submission to me was acceptable.

“Master?” I was roused from my thoughts as the young Elf looked at me concerned. “Are you alright?”

I shook my head. “No. I think this will take some getting used to. Uh... do you need to pack anything before we go? Say some goodbyes?”

She nodded excitedly. “Oh yes, I must gather my things and say farewells to my family. Is it alright if I take the afternoon and evening with them and begin with you in the morning?”

I nodded in a daze, trying to understand how my life got so complicated, so quickly.

“Thank you, Master.” Erica said sweetly and then, after sneaking another look at my new, toned physique, slipped off to somewhere, leaving me bewildered in the village square.

Unfortunately, I was not alone, as Laura was striding toward me, her braid bouncing behind her like a war banner, and the heat in her eyes…

She was pissed.