Preitus' men took me, one by each arm, as he paid my mother 85 gold pieces, enough to pay even two dowries. I could not keep the devastated, angry glare from my eyes as she looked at me, before I was whisked away. A hard woman, my mother was, as she'd learned young the place of women in this world. But I was still young and the world had not yet made me so jaded, though I was fast becoming so.
I never saw my mother, father, or sisters again.
Since I wasn't to be valued for my strength or endurance, I was set in a cart with other girls and women, the men and boys tied in lines behind it. None of them looked on me with any pity, and why should they? They were of my same fate, all destined to serve some stranger who was able to pay the price.
For the weeks that followed, I did not have a name. Not a soul spoke to me other than to bid me to drink and eat. I grew filthy and thin. My hands and lips became cracked. My wrists were rubbed raw from my bindings. My legs were cramped and sore.
The tears stopped falling after my third day of travel, unable to squeeze past my exhaustion. I watched the land pass away under us, leaving the hills that were my home for the strange sands of a desert and then to more, alien hills with trees of a different shape and name.
I lost count of the days we traveled, but when we finally stopped in a new city and I was untied to help prepare the tents, my legs were uncooperative. The man who untied me had little patience and dragged me to my feet by my matted hair, but he didn't hit me as I might've expected. Perhaps so I didn't bruise.
With the preparations set and Preitus' men and women made comfortable, I and the rest of the slaves were filed through a line so that we could be washed. Like horses and sheep before auction. My hair was ripped free of its braids and drenched in water, a comb yanked through it without sympathy for its natural curls. My skin was scrubbed so vigorously that it shone red in some places and the fine hairs on my arms and legs were nearly completely gone. The completion of my bath ended with an iron collar that locked loosely around my neck, a ring set in the front so that I could be led around by a rope. My degradation did not have much further to go.
As I was being ushered back into the tent where the women were being guarded, a server woman in the fine robes of Preitus' entourage appeared to take me away, joking and flirting harmlessly with the guards as she led me away. She did not tell me where I was going and I did not ask.
We arrived at another tent, this one only slightly finer than the previous one. There, I was stripped of my ragged, stained tunic and wiped all over with rags that were soaked in sweet-smelling oils, my hair hurriedly and messily styled away from my face. Then I was wrapped in a loose white robe that allowed my arms and collarbones to be seen, and pushed to stand with the other girls huddled in the back of the tent, all dressed in a similar robe with their hair in the same sort of organized disarray.
"Eat," a fine-looking woman told me, handing me a roll of hard, grainy bread that I all but devoured.
I was thoroughly miserable and bewildered now, as I waited for I didn't know what. My entire body ached and I missed my sisters, my mother, my father; I missed the cool windy air of my home, the fierce blaze of the forge, the stretch of my muscles as I hefted the heavy shields and swords for my father's repair. But, though the tears burned in my eyes and threatened to spill, I didn't let myself cry. My mother's words became a mantra in my head: "Work hard. Do as you're told. Take care of your face and body. You will do well."
As the sun neared the center of the sky, the guards came through with a length of rope, stacking the girls up with the rope through our collars, and then we were led out to the wooden platform erected in front of Preitus' tent, jostled against one another, trying not to trip on each other's robes. A tall man with a loud, long, clear voice stood at the top, beckoning the passersby to stop and take a look at the slaves his master sold.
Hours of hot sun and yelling ensued. Thrice during the rush of midday, a different, richly-clothed man stopped to peer into my eyes and pinch and prod at my body before moving on. I tried not to protest, to not call the attention of the guards, but I did not flaunt myself as my sellers might have wished. A line of sweat drew down from my temple to my chin and I left it to dry, focusing on the crust it left in its wake, thinking that my tears must find their trails in my sweat for I would not allow them their usual route.
I recognized Preitus as he walked by once throughout the day, but he did not even glance up at the line of girls where I stood. He was speaking reverently to a tall, handsome man. The stranger's garb was plain and efficient, but not lacking in quality. I noticed him for his silvery, icy eyes and smooth, warrior's gait.
One man stood in front of me and haggled over my price for a few minutes before moving on, taking a girl from further down the line.
Memories flitted through my mind as I stared at the stone beneath my bare, torn feet: I could hear my sister, Zomira, singing to the beat of my father's hammer, in between the hisses of the red-hot iron as it was plunged into water.
The girls on either side of me were taken by a highly-powdered, elderly woman who had a train of similar, flaxen-haired girls trailing behind her litter.
I remembered Tidres' childish promises of love as we fondled and kissed in the stables at midnight, and I remembered his wedding celebration only days after.
A messenger boy, not much younger than my youngest sister, Bernice, looked up to me as he was about to pass. He cocked his head curiously at me, then hurried on.
The sky cooled and darkened as the day progressed, and I was still tethered like a dog with the remaining girls, neither anxious nor relieved that I hadn't been chosen and paid for. I was nearly dropping with fatigue, the muscles in my emaciated legs beginning to quiver. My heart was too weak to grieve any longer this day and my head was stuffed and hot with the hours of sun that had beaten down upon it, without the relief of my tears.
My family would be sitting to their meal now, my sisters throwing jokes and squabbling among themselves while my father wolfed down his food and my mother tried to keep some semblance of order, serving her savory stew and bread, flavored with herbs she bought from Old Hima down the hill.
As the salty moisture threatened and burned in my eyes, I slowly became aware of a commotion coming down from Preitus' tent, the well-dressed servants scurrying around, ushering the crowds of curious children away.
I was aware of all this, but my head was so heavy that I did not understand exactly what was happening.
I recognized Preitus and I recognized the man from before, the man that Preitus had been talking to, with silver eyes. He was standing somewhat away and behind the others, watching carefully. I wondered what his history might've been, who he lived his life for and the places that he saw in his dreams; those wise, silver eyes must've seen many places.
"What is her parentage?"
I flinched and brought my lacking attention to the man who'd come to stand directly in front of me. My eyes were swimming with the orange sunset that flooded the sky behind him; I could not focus on his face.
"She is the daughter of a smith, my lord," Preitus told him. "I bought her only two weeks ago, as I was passing through Reima, as I recall."
"And her name?"
"I'm sure, you will have to ask her," Preitus said sheepishly.
"Well, girl? What is your name?"
I opened my mouth, my heart in my throat, and choked, "Syn... Syntyche... m-mmmy lord."
A hard hand pushed my chin up and I guessed that he was examining me, though I could not return his gaze. I very nearly fainted.
"She is a beauty, for sure," he said, releasing me so abruptly that I swayed, blinking away unconsciousness. "Though a little worse for wear, I think. She is barely staying upright." He sounded amused.
"She is unused to the climate, is all. Just a day and she'll be to her full strength. If you do choose to take her, I will be waiting out the week here in the city, if you should find any fault. That goes for any stock you might purchase from me, of course." I saw Preitus bow his head from the corner of my eye.
"That will not matter. I will be leaving tomorrow morn. Hmmm." My potential master reached out and pulled at my hair, causing it to fall down my shoulders, the wide curls billowing in an earthy-brown cloud around my vision. "I think I will take her."
"Excellent," Preitus said smoothly. "I'm certain you will be satisfied, my lord. After all, she is untouched, as of yet."
"She may just remain so, too," my new master said, as one of Preitus' guards jostled me away from the other girls.
I was able to hang on to my awareness just until the man with the silver eyes was stepping forward to collect me. Then I slept, my dreams full of the fires of the forges and of girls in white robes.
