Chapter 1

Yozak gently brushed the hair out of Conrart's eyes as he carried his friend through the sewer system in Big Cimeron. He'd had to sneak into the castle's prison, where they had been holding Conrart for nearly a month. Despite Yozak's desire to simply barge into the prison and bust his friend out, he had taken his time to do the necessary research and prepare a plan, not to mention he had been delayed from the beginning when his ship had been waylaid due to a bad wind.

Now he wished he had not taken his time. His friend, who had always been thin due to the hours he devoted to training and exercise, had become emaciated. His face, on the other hand, was puffy from beatings, and a slight discoloration in large areas around his torso could have been either bruises or dirt in the dim light. A knife had been run over his skin and sliced delicate designs and patterns over every inch of Conrart's body. Conrart had been dangling from the ceiling of his dank cell by his wrists – passed out and completely nude – to show off the carvings in his skin. But what terrified Yozak the most was the blood running down Conrart's legs from his rectum.

He'd pulled Conrart down and picked the lock on his chains. Then he'd dressed his friend in a spare set of clothes he'd brought along to disguise his friend. After checking to make sure the coast was still clear he hauled the hurt man to his feet and pulled one arm over his shoulders, supporting most of his light weight on his hips. Then, after closing the cell door behind him, he started walking toward a side exit most commonly used by soldiers on duty.

As they'd reached a busy corridor Yozak started grinning at the men who looked at him as he passed carrying his precious cargo. At one point he was stopped by a man in a higher ranked uniform than either his or Conrart's, so he stood at attention as best he could, looking the part of a good soldier of Big Cimeron.

"What is wrong with that man, corporal?" the sergeant barked.

"He's sick," Yozak said in the appropriate subordinate tone, his eyes staring at the wall above the superior officer's head. "He received a letter from his girl today. She's marrying a man in her home town instead of waiting for him, so he drowned his sorrows."

The sergeant looked at Conrart's limp form and then back to Yozak. Then he seemed to shrug and wave them off. "I want to see him in my office first thing in the morning. No point doling out punishment if he isn't awake to appreciate it."

Yozak let out an invisible sigh of relief before offering a salute to the man and hurrying off. Before he reached the exit nearest the barracks, he turned into a room at the end of a small corridor and locked the door behind him. Then he set Conrart down on a pile of spare linins and got to work moving the floor grate out of the way. He then grabbed up his best friend and slowly made his way down into the sewer system below the prison, being careful to pull the grate back into place once he'd passed.

That had been several hours past, if his sense of time was anything to go by. Conrart hadn't woken up once, but Yozak wouldn't have, either, had he been in that much pain. Judging by the way some of Conrart's ribs and bones shifted around when he was moved they were broken, and having his lacerated skin brushed and pulled against the rough fabric of the uniform he had been stuffed into had to be agony as well. Yozak checked frequently to make sure no new blood soaked into the uniform, but the lighting in the sewer was poor, and the torch he had lit upon entering had burned out a while ago. Now he was making his way in part by the small beams of sun that shone through the grates to the road above, but mostly by feel.

He reached what he thought was the right exit and set Conrart down on the ground so he could climb the ladder up to the street. He popped his head up out of the street to see that he had, in fact, arrived at the sewer exit he wanted. By the time he managed to pull his Captain up to the street they were in an alley by the city gates on the opposite side of town from the prison.

Yozak walked Conrart into a nearby doorway and laid him down on a bed made up of rough linens partially hidden behind a cloth partition. He popped out of the room to a door located on the opposite side of the stairway in search of the shop's owner.

The small room was made from dark red brick with dark wooden doors and small windows, creating a generally gloomy atmosphere. One door led out the front to the street, one led to the privy, and one led out to the alley that Yozak and Conrart had entered from. The windows were covered with ratty curtains that once probably had a cheery pattern, but had since been bleached by the sun and covered by dirt and allowed in very little light, hence the overall dreary atmosphere.

The true beauty of the room, however, came from the partitions placed strategically around the large main chamber to create little private areas for the beds. The partitions were soft cloth, each with a different pattern of butterflies or flowers. Six of them were placed around the room in disorderly rows, leaving just enough room for the desk to the side of the main entrance.

Of course, that was just the downstairs. Yozak had never been allowed upstairs, because that was where the owner and her family of healers lived.

When a middle aged woman came bustling down the steep set of stairs – without Yozak since he was still in the privy taking a leak – she sighed at the feet she saw dangling off the edge of the bed and made her way over. She pulled a chair from behind a neighboring partition, and set about undressing the brunette before her. Yozak entered the room from the behind her and started up the stairs before he noticed the lady bent over his friend. Quietly, he walked up behind her and studied his friend from over her shoulder, for the first time taking in the damage his friend had been dealt before he could be saved.

The cuts in Conrart's skin had already scabbed over, and in some areas the scabs had flaked off to reveal fresh new skin. They covered him from the base of his neck down to his fingertips and the bottoms of his feet. Yozak winced as the woman gently moved her fingers over the lines covering Conrart's body, tracing the path the knife had probably taken to create the geometric pattern. Even his penis and testacies hadn't been spared, although there were only a few lines in those areas.

Then she laid her hands firmly over his ribs and gently pressed on the bruises, checking underneath them for broken bones. Her lips tightened, but otherwise didn't react, causing Yozak to relax: the damage she felt wasn't dangerously serious. But then she moved Conrart's legs open and lifted his knees, leaving his most private areas revealed for her to see. She gently pulled his cheeks apart and took a good look at his anus, even going so far as to open his hole with two fingers. Yozak moved the lantern so she could effectively see inside but couldn't bring himself to look with her.

Once she'd gotten a good look she removed her fingers and scooted away from the bed, turning to look Yozak in the eye. "You will want to sit down for this," she warned, and Yozak sat at the foot of Conrart's bed with his hand on his friend's leg.

"He has five broken ribs and two dislocated shoulders," she began none too gently. "The cuts are partly healed and were obviously disinfected before you dragged him through the sewers, but the damage is extensive enough that he will be scarred…" She paused, giving Yozak an appraising look before she said, "…and he was raped."

Yozak bit his lip as he rubbed his friend's leg in a motion he'd used for decades to comfort him when he was sick or injured. Now, since he was asleep, Yozak was the one to feel comfort from the motion. "How long until I can move him home?" he asked in a wavering voice. He swallowed his fear down, but his lips still trembled with intense emotion.

Her expression gentled, but she didn't move to touch the redhead sitting before her as he bravely contained his anguish. "I have a cart," she said in a soft voice, "so I can bring you to your boat today and do what I can for him on the trip over if you drive. I'll give him a sedative to keep him asleep for the ride, but he will wake up on the boat. Let's hope your Great One grants you fair sailing for your trip home."

"Yes, if the Great One will grant it," Yozak hoped weakly. Then he stood and helped the human healer collect the items she needed for the ride to the port.