Kara

I rushed through the streets, jostling a portly man with a thick black beard and a young couple as I made my way through the labyrinth I knew so well. The man with a beard cursed me as I past but I barely heard him over the din the crowd around was making. Anyway I was far too busy and focused to take much notice.

I darted into an alley, the shade a momentary relief from the glare of the mid morning sun. I slowed down for a second as I clambered over a few empty crates then I was off again, my package wrapped in dark cloth cradled close to my pounding heart. I had to get back quickly, if I was caught… I couldn't suppress a shiver at the idea of what would happen to me if I was found with this package. I picked up the pace again and a second later I was back in the streets, under the sun, between an old beggar on the ground and a surly looking man who was carrying a sword as wide as my hand.

I hurried on, not wanting to linger too long in any one place.

On a different day I would have stopped and maybe given a few coins to the beggar, but not today. Today I just needed to get back as quickly as possible and get rid of the bundle in my arms.

I was on a busy market street just above the boundary of the lower third. The sand storm that had engulfed the city for the last ten days had finally passed, leaving only a few remnants clinging to the sides of buildings and atop awnings as proof that it had ever existed. Because of this the trade quarter of the city was packed, as those who had been denied the streets for so long took to them in droves.

I fell into step with the crowd and kept my head down, pulling my blue headscarf lower over my face. I just needed to stick with the crowd until I could get back and I would be fine.

Mothers and children walked hand in hand, mercenaries and hired swords milled around taverns and street corners, playing dice games, comparing scars and exchanging tales. Here and there among the throng would be carts and wagons pulled by cow and oxen. There were men and women dressed in the red headscarves and white tunics of The Count, who rode atop horses and cut through the crowd as easily as a hot knife through butter.

Musicians playing lutes and pipes and drums sang and charmed passers by with their soft lilting words and provocatively dressed dancing girls. There were walking chairs born on the shoulders of slaves, their occupants obscured by tents of coloured silk. From every side came the smell of spices, of cooking meat and hot bread, people calling out to one another, drunken yells, mothers reprimanding unruly children, young men joking with one another and young girls whispering and giggling as they passed them, sending lustful glances over their shoulders.

Vendors with stalls or carts or even just mats on the ground peddled their wears, calling in every voice, dialect and accent this side of the great river. Here in The Edge you could find pretty much anything from across the twelve nations, providing you knew where to look.

There were dried apricots from the south and summer peaches from the west; bitter apples for the pot and sweet ones for those who could afford luxury; dates and raisins and tobacco from the Anrem hills along with nuts, flour, sugar cane and coffee. Then there was jewellery hand crafted by the master smiths in Central; rugs and tapestries weaved with threads of every colour imaginable, depicting scenes of faith and legend I had heard of as a child. There were animals from distant lands, stacked in cages outside a shop, and beasts of burden or livestock either in pens or being driven through the streets by their haggard owners.

The Edge was a metropolis for certain, a city that spread thirty miles from side to side and filled with life. I loved it and yet right then I wanted nothing more then to be back in the valley I had been born in.

Then ,while trying to overtake a slow moving cart, I collided with something. Whatever it was was solid and tall and the sheer resilience of it sent me flying to the ground. My headscarf fell from my face and to my horror the package tumbled beneath the feet of the horse I had hit who had come mercifully to a stop. Panic flooding me I scrambled forward and grabbed the package, clinging to it as though it were my own babe.

Then I looked up at the man riding the horse above me.

He was tall and muscular but that was all I could tell of him for his face was covered by a travelling mask and his eyes shielded by a cowl. For a split second the blackness beneath the hood looked right into me and me into it. Then I turned, snatched up my headscarf and was away, running now. It had been close, too close. If the bundle had been picked up, if the coverings had come lose, if anyone had seen what it was I was carrying… I would have been dead.

I pelted down another alley and a few backstreets before I finally reached 'Erosis'. I stumbled through the doorway and, ignoring the whistles and drunken calls of the customers, made my through the heavy curtain behind the bar into the backroom.

The room was lit only by the dim flicker of oil lamps but still I could make out the tall, thin figure of Sanis reclining in a corner in a pile of cushions, busily being pleasured by a young girl.

"Thena get out." I ordered. Thena's blonde head lifted from between Sanis' bare legs and looked at me confusedly. Sanis growled low in his throat and grabbed the girl by the hair forcing her back to where his need waited to be attended to.

"Sanis." I said, my voice full of warning.

Sanis held up a long, tan finger and I fell silent, waiting. Sanis closed his eyes letting his head fall back on the cushions and used the hands buried in Thena's hair to quicken her thrusts. Then Sanis groaned and slowed. His back arched, his hips lifted and his whole body spasmed with pleasure. Thena choked and spluttered and though she tried to pull away Sanis didn't release her until he was done.

"Swallow." he ordered and I felt bile rise in my throat. It took Thena three seconds of fruitless struggling before she obeyed. Once she had Sanis let her long hair fall from his grasp and Thena fell to the side, breathing fast and hard as though she'd just had her head held underwater.

"Get out." Sanis ordered, pushing Thena with his foot towards the door. "Go and make my customers happy."

Thena didn't have to be told twice. She got up and wiping her mouth on the back of her hand positively ran for the door. She made very sure not to make eye contact with me but I saw her face as she passed. She was crying.

"Thena," Sanis called to her, his voice amused. Thena wiped the tears from her eyes as she turned to look back at him. "Don't forget to smile." he grinned.

I wanted to hit Sanis for that. Thena was just a game to him. She was just a toy to be broken in and then hired out to whomever could pay. But that was what Sanis did, and he was good at it.

With what I knew must be a great effort Thena smiled, her slave collar glinting in the light from the bar as she left. I watched the curtain flutter back into place before I turned and stared daggers at Sanis. Sanis merely looked at me with satirical, wide eyed indignation.

"What?" he said, the quiver of a laugh making its way into his words.

"You know what." I said with as much venom as i could muster. "She's just a girl, she hasn't even started her bleedings yet and you've already got her doing that?"

Sanis leaned back, putting his hands behind his head to survey me. He didn't even bother to cover his nakedness and it was all I could do to keep my eyes on his face instead of on his fresh erection.

"The girl needs to be trained. It was alright to send her out blind when she was a virgin and a fledgling -men like ignorance sometimes- but now the girl needs to learn some skills. You of all people should be able to appreciate that Kara. I mean you had to do the same when you first came here."

I turned away to hide my shame. I could feel Sanis' smirk on my back. Yes, he was right, but I didn't want to think about that, now or ever. It had been a long time ago.

Instead I looked down at the package I was holding and saw my knuckles go white against it. With all my anger and frustrations behind me I turned and hurled it as hard as I could at Sanis' smirking face. He caught the package effortlessly which only did to piss me off more.

"Ah, good. I've been waiting for this." he said, unwrapping the fabric to reveal the wooden box inside. He opened the lid and chuckled at the two hundred or so small white pellets -about the size of peas- inside.

"My customers will be happy to know we've got some more in stock. Thank you Kara, I'll have another lot in next week, you can go pick that one up too-"

"Like hell I am Sanis!" I yelled. "I'm done playing your errand girl. I nearly got caught today!"

"Then you're not doing it properly."

"Sanis, I'm through. Find someone else to fetch your orders but it's my neck on the line if I'm caught not yours. They'll hang me if they ever catch me carrying this stuff."

"Exactly." Sanis laughed, getting to his feet and walking slowly towards me. I backed away until I hit the wall. Sanis came so close that our bodies touched and his face was barely an inch from mine, all humour suddenly gone. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't look away from his eyes as he whispered soft and low to me.

"You are dispensable my dear. I am not. You are replaceable my dear. I am not. You are a whore my dear. I am not. And who would mourn a whore?"

My stomach felt like someone had stabbed it with an icy blade. No one. No one would mourn me. Of course I should have seen his reasoning before.

"Send a disposable whore to do your dirty work, so you don't have to." I explained, to myself more then Sanis.

Sanis smiled wickedly, his stunningly white teeth positively glowing from between his thin lipped mouth. He pulled away and walked back to his cushions where he lay back down, took out a pellet from the box and began inspecting it more closely.

I felt empty and angry and a thousand other things I couldn't put into words. But somehow i did manage to croak out a final, feeble defiance.

"Go find someone else. Darin or Gennet or one of your other 'helpers'."

"Fine," Sanis said not looking up. "I'll have Thena do it. Although the girl is quite clumsy at times I'm sure she would be able to get away from a group of armed guards far easier then my little Kara ever could."

He'd got me with that. I clenched my fists and jaw and stared at him with utter loathing. Sanis knew I would never send Thena or any of the other Redbands out in my place, not when I knew the dangers. Sanis had me trapped like a rat in a corner, caught by my own morals.

I gave in. He'd won and we both knew it. I sighed and turned to leave. I couldn't bring myself to even look at Sanis again.

"That's my girl. Next week then, same time same place. Now get upstairs and change. There are customers down here who've been asking for you. And for the love of the Gods bathe with the fragrant oils; I won't have one of my products reeking of sweat and horses."

I nodded silently, heading out of the door and across the bar to the stairs which led to our rooms.

It was all I could do not to cry too. But I had sworn never to cry again a long time ago.