Chapter Seven
'Hurry along, Child.'
'Forgive me, I don't speak your language.' Janet recited the only full sentence she knew.
'Don't be foolish.'
"I'm sorry, I don't understand you."
'Poor thing,' Ezra sighed 'you must be so frightened. I wish I could tell you everything is going to be alright, however the way Lord Gaius was treating your Master I do fear for you.'
Janet just shook head head sadly. Ezra forced a smile and continued to lead her away in silence. They walked away from the main camp on the plains towards the near by edge of the forest where a large man stood on guard like a statue. Mixed in the shelter of the trees was another small collection of tents. Several women who were working on various tasked looked up at the new comers. A young woman in a red dress stepped out of the largest tent and approached them.
'Who is this, Mother Ezra?'
'I am not sure, Ina. She belongs to one of Gaius's captives.'
'Poor, dear.' The woman clucked. 'Sister, why are you dressed like a man?'
"I don't understand you." Janet repeated.
'Such strange talk.' Ina inspected Janet for a moment. 'She's beautiful, looks very healthy.'
'Gaius wants us to clean her, give her something more appropriate to wear.'
'I bet he does.' Ina huffed.
'Now then, Child, remember your place.'
'Yes, Mother Ezra.'
"Please, I just want to get back to Daniel." Janet said pointing back towards the camp.
'I don't know what you want.' Ina sighed. 'But it wouldn't matter even if I did. You're with us now, Sister.'
"I don't have time for this." Janet insisted. "If they ask Daniel to heal someone and I'm not there to guide him through it they are going to kill him."
Ina and Ezra just looked at one another and shook their heads sadly. Janet knew it was useless to try and argue or explain, but she couldn't help herself. Ina held her hand out for Janet to take and with a sigh of resignation Janet accepted the offer. Ina smiled brightly and lead her off into the forest behind the tents.
A few hundred yards from the tents was a large crystal clear pond that was lined with large flat stones. A large collection of glass bottles with various coloured liquids sat on the edge of the water. Ina gestured towards the pond and made a motion for Janet to take her clothing off.
"No...um...ni." Janet shook her head.
'If you will not do this willingly Gaius will have one his men force you.'
"That sounded like a threat."
'Please, bath in the pool, we are alone and safe here.'
Janet looked around the dense forest and thought briefly about bolting. With no where to run to Janet reconsidered. Ina once again pressed that she get in the water. Not seeing a better option at the moment Janet stepped into the water fully clothed.
'Well, I guess that's a start.' Ina chuckled.
Ina picked up one of the bottles and handed it to Janet. The lavender odor coming from the liquid inside was calming. As much as she hated to admit it Janet knew that being truly clean would make her feel worlds better. Breaking down Janet dipped beneath the surface to get her hair wet so that she could lather the soap into it.
Once she was as clean as she felt she was going to get Janet crawled back out onto the stones. Ina waited a moment before shrugging and leading Janet back towards the camp. By this time word had spread that there was a stranger among them and a small crowd had gathered. The women chatted to one another until Ezra spoke up and sent them back to their tasks.
'Ina, why is she still wearing those clothes?' Ezra asked.
'She wouldn't remove them.'
'Bring her inside, she must change.'
"Please, I need to get back to Daniel." Janet repeated uselessly.
Ezra and Ina ignored Janet's nonsensical babbling and brought her inside the largest tent. Inside the floor was completely covered in thick animal furs. A small shallow pan of water at the entrance kept them from tracking in dirt. There were several beds made of bone and hides along the walls. In the far corner was a large wooden chest.
Ezra went over to the chest and opened it. After searching for a moment she pulled out a long deep sapphire blue dress with black accents. She brought it over to Janet and held it up, eying it to see if it would fit. Satisfied she motioned for Janet to take off the uniform she wore.
"No...ni. I'd really rather not."
'You don't have a choice, Child.' Ezra said softly.
"I don't have a choice, do I?" Janet guessed the translation.
After looking around again for an escape Janet sighed. Grabbing the corners of Daniel's wet black cotton shirt she peeled it off. She could hear Ina gasp sharply, but she didn't know why. Ina stepped up and turned Janet around so that Ezra could see her back as well.
'By the starts, look at her back.' Ina breathed. 'It's flawless.'
'Her male must have some other way of punishing her.'
'Or perhaps he treats her well.'
'If he truly cared for her he would have used his right to kill her when he was first captured. Now that he has brought her this far it is no longer his choice.' Ezra said coldly.
Ezra shook the dress out in hopes that Janet would take the hint and change into it faster. The royal blue dress fit like it had been made for her, but she still felt awkward wearing it. Ina stepped up and pulled the bodice lacing tighter before retying the silk into a bow. The black straps of the dress went up around her neck. The back of the dress plunged well below her shoulder blades, and the loosely flared skirt brushed the tops of her bare feet.
"Sam would never let me hear the end of it if she saw me like this." Janet muttered bitterly.
Ezra went over to a small wooden desk and brought over a brush to pull the tangles out of Janet's long hair. As her hair dried it started to curl slightly at the ends. Ezra retrieved a tiny stone container that held a turquoise colored dust in it. With a small brush she highlighted above Janet's eyes with it. Janet glared at the pair spitefully as they admired their work.
'She cleans up well.' Ina approved.
'I need to return her to Gaius.'
'Must you?'
'It will only cause us more grief if I do not. She is a stranger, she is not one of us.'
'Yes, Mother Ezra.'
'Come, Child.' Ezra said to Janet.
This time when Ezra held out her hand Janet took it instantly. She had the feeling that now that she was dressed for the part that they'd be taking her back. When Ezra got to the edge of the forest two of Giaus's men were waiting. They knew better than to have come into the camp to retrieve the captive.
'We will take her from here.'
'On who's authority?' Ezra demanded.
'Lord Gaius himself.'
'Very well.' Ezra turned to Janet and kissed her cheek. 'Good luck my Child. Remember this is only our first world, a better one lays beyond.'
"Thank you, I guess." Janet replied.
Janet peacefully walked between the two men as they made their way back to the main camp. Halfway through into the camp the two men came to a stop. They reached out and stopped Janet as well, she turned to look at them but they said nothing. Janet was about to try and ask them what was happening when suddenly a blood curdling scream tore through the air followed by the sounds of a crowd laughing before the cry of agony repeated itself.
"Daniel!"
Trying to rush forward Janet found herself being held back. Daniel wailed again and started chattering in the strange language in what sounded like a desperate pleading tone. His voice was left unheard by the cheering men as he cried out again. Janet couldn't see what was going on, everything was happening on the far side of camp, but Daniel's voice carried.
'It is not proper for a woman to see what is happening, but Gaius wanted you to hear your Master's pain.'
"Daniel!" Janet called out again. "Daniel!"
The horrifying sounds continued and Janet could only imagine what they were doing to him. Tears traced down her face as Daniel's voice became raw. She fought against the men holding her until she was exhausted. She hadn't even noticed that Daniel had gone silent. Gaius stepped into view with a broad grin on his face.
'How did she take it?' Gaius asked.
'You would think we had been torturing her.' One of the men chuckled.
'Wonderful.' Gaius nodded. 'I will take her from here.'
"Stay away from me!" Janet snarled.
'I like her.' Gaius approved. 'We've beaten all the fire out of our women, they have no more spark like this one.'
Gaius grabbed Janet's upper arm and forced her along through the camp. When they came to a medium sized square tent Gaius brought her to a halt. There were two armed men guarding the flap of the entrance that greeted Gaius respectfully. He pulled Janet closer and bit down gently on her ear before shoving her into the tent.
Janet whipped around to face the split in the tent cloth fearing that Gaius was going to follow her. With her heart racing it took her a full five minutes to realize that he wasn't going to join her. Convinced Daniel had been slowly slaughtered at Gaius's hand she wasn't even interested in her new surroundings. She settled down on the fur floor on her knees. Janet closed her eyes and allowed more tears to slip down her face.
A low moan of pain caused Janet to jump to her feet. She turned around and gasped sharply. Against the far wall Daniel was laying on one of the bone and fur beds. His chest was heaving with each labored breath. He ground his teeth together and growled in a mixture of pain and anger. He had been washed down as well and fitted with a white shirt and a pair of deep brown leather pants.
"Daniel?"
"Janet?" Daniel replied weakly.
"I'm here." Janet said softly.
Janet stepped up and carefully sat down on the edge of the bed. Daniel swallowed hard and looked up at Janet. He forced a brave smile, but winched in pain as he did so. He was still panting heavily in pain. Janet reached out and ran her hand through his hair.
"Daniel, what did they do to you?"
"Punishment for saving the General's life." Daniel replied ruefully.
Daniel lifted up his arm and displayed a set of nasty marks that ran down the underside of his forearm. Janet critically inspected the gory fourteen diagonal lines that marred his skin. Each one was a four inch long, half inch wide strip of missing skin. They were surrounded by red, angry skin. His wrist and elbow had bruised skin where he'd fought against the restraint that held his arm in place.
"Are these burns?" Janet asked.
"Yes." Daniel replied through his teeth. "Hot metal."
"They knew what they were doing." Janet sighed.
"What?"
"These are full depth second degree burns, the most painful. A few degrees hotter and you'd have third degrees that ruin the pain sensors."
"Nice to know I was in the hand of artists." Daniel rolled his eyes.
"I wish I had my tackle box, I could ease some of the pain."
"It makes me feel better to know you haven't been hurt."
Janet smiled and stroked at Daniel's hair again. He closed his eyes and worked on calming his rapid shallow breathing. Janet looked around and spied a bucket of water. She walked over to it and tore one of the cotton banners down off the tent wall. Dipping the cloth in the cool water she brought it over and very carefully wrapped Daniel's arm with it. Daniel groaned in relief and relaxed a bit.
"Better?"
"Much."
"I'm afraid those marks are going to scar."
"That's the point. Their standard punishment is thirteen scars to brand the person a traitor for life and steal his luck."
"But there are fourteen marks."
"Well...no one wants an unlucky doctor working on them."
Janet couldn't help but chuckle. Daniel smiled brightly and reached up to brush away the tracks from her previous tears.
"You look tired." Daniel said softly.
"Exhausted." Janet admitted.
"We're safe tonight. Get some sleep."
Daniel pulled on Janet's wrist to get her to lay down. She was extremely grateful that he hadn't mentioned the revealing dress, she really didn't want to talk about it. As she laid down next to him she discovered that the fur bed was amazingly comfortable. Particularly when compared to the hard wooden floor she'd been sleeping on.
Having trouble keeping her eyes open Janet laid on her side next to Daniel. Laying on his back he put his uninjured arm under Janet's head so she use it as a pillow. He seemed unsure where to put his hand so she took in and laid it against her stomach. Daniel pulled at the edge of a large fur blanket and covered them both with it. Nestled in the warm fur Janet closed her eyes. Daniel chuckled softly.
"What so funny?" Janet asked sleepily.
"I think the fourteenth mark worked."
"Why do you say that?"
"Suddenly I'm not feeling so unlucky."
