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55. Spirit
Edmund couldn't decide whether he hated or enjoyed being a server in Mahir's household. On the one hand, he was always within earshot of Mahir, and, more often than not, less than an arm's length away. It was common for him to be abused over the smallest issues. Usually Edmund would have become fed up with the treatment and defended himself. He was rather skilled at hand-to-hand combat, though not nearly as good as Peter. However, Mahir had what some called a little bit of a rage problem, and if he didn't take it out on Edmund, he took it out on his son, and Edmund didn't want that.
It wasn't until a week after Edmund had joined the house staff that he even found out Mahir had a son. Everyone knew about little Sanaa. Even though she was only four years old, she seemed to be the pride of the household. Mahir coddled her like a bear with its cubs, defending her and loving her and taking care of her better than he took care of himself. Edmund had figured that, if Mahir had any other children, especially boys, he would treat them the same way. Apparently that wasn't the case.
Edmund found out about Yasir, Mahir's son, on accident. Asha had asked him to fetch a pair of knitting needles from the parlor. He did as instructed, but on his way back, he heard a strange noise coming from one of the bedrooms. Worried that it might be little Nasrin going into rooms where she shouldn't be, he opened the door and looked around. It wasn't Nasrin he found, but Mahir in the middle of beating a young boy, no older than thirteen. Edmund didn't remember much after that. Mahir beat him senseless, to the point where he was bedridden for two days with a concussion and yet another dislocated shoulder.
Despite all of that, though, Edmund was able to find some upsides. He had a chance to meet Nasrin, for one. She was a dainty thing, only eleven years old. She was a sweet little dear and reminded Edmund so much of Lucy. She spent her days in the nursery playing with Sanaa, and from what she told some of the slaves at bedtime, they had quite the adventures in that little room. Whenever she saw someone crying, be it Sanaa or Asha or any of her fellow slaves, she would sit next to them and pat their back comfortingly until they were all cried out and then give them a tender hug and a kiss on the cheek. She didn't talk about her parents much, and whenever someone tried to bring them up, she would go quite solemn and sit in a corner by herself until she had calmed down. All she would say about her past was that she was sold to Mahir at a slave trade for fifty crescents. She didn't understand money much, nor did she care to, but she never forgot that number.
Another plus was the food. Usually slaves were given lower quality meats that Mahir had bought for them, or bread that had gone a bit stale, or cheese that was bad on the edges. Edmund, however, was permitted to eat whatever scraps were left on the plates after the family finished eating before he washed the dishes, and every now and again Asha would set aside a good piece of meat for him as a treat. He liked Asha a lot and had to wonder how such a sweet woman could marry such a violent man.
As time went on, Edmund was trusted with more duties, and one of those duties was fetching necessities from the market place. The market was a very exciting spot, always filled with new people and a few sweet vendors who were willing to give a bruised apple or a broken watermelon to starving slaves. It was also a very informative spot to travel. Through several trips to the market, Edmund quickly learned that a Calormene population had sprung up on the little island. He overheard gossip, most of it worthless but some answered a few questions he had had. He learned over the course of a few weeks that most of the Calormene citizens had smuggled their way onto the island to avoid some sort of punishment, be it debts or crimes they were convicted of or mistrust among the government. They would flee onto Narnian soil, usually that particular island, and live out their lives taking advantage of the Narnian laws. Of course they still hated the Kings and Queens, and almost every Calormene wanted the barbarians dead, but no one could argue that they had some very convenient laws.
Every few days, Yasir was permitted to go out with Edmund. At first he was very quiet and spiteful toward his slave, much like his father. After some time, though, he began to open up to Edmund. At first he only told him little pieces of information. He was twelve years old and was going to be sent off to train for the army when he was fifteen. He had a brother who was already a soldier. He had a royal family member somewhere down the line.
As time passed, Yasir became more and more willing to talk. He began to tell Edmund things, threatening to have him killed if he uttered a word to anybody, even a fellow slave. But he told him things nonetheless. His father used to be a good man, he said. He was respected among his peers and very wealthy. However, things were a bit rough at work, the specifics Yasir did not know. He did know, however, that his father was becoming angrier and angrier with his coworkers and people in general. He drank a lot, which seemed to calm him down, but when he didn't have a bottle in his hand he could become rather violent. One day, Yasir remembered, his father came home and the first sound he heard was a plate that Yasir had dropped shattering on the floor. That was before they had very many slaves and Yasir had to help in the kitchen. His father took him into the master bedroom and beat him as punishment. Yasir was only six at the time.
For a few weeks after that, Mahir went back to acting like his usual self. Until, that is, he came home one day covered in blood. The next day, he packed up his family and they moved to Redhaven. Yasir never was told what his father had done that day, but he had a sinking suspicion that he had killed a man and had had to flee with his family for fear of being hanged. Within a few weeks of moving, his father started dipping in the slave trade. He was rather good at it, too. He would buy slaves for cheap, pack them with muscles over the course of a year or two, and once they had either cracked or looked like they would sell for a good profit, he sold them. He made quite a bit of money off of that and sold over two dozen slaves in the first two years. There was one slave whom he didn't sell, though. Yasir said that Mahir had taken a shine to Nash because of his resilience and ability to adapt quickly. He said help like that would be good for the new arrivals.
After all of that had been revealed, Edmund started asking questions. The moment he started asking questions, Yasir stopped giving information. The only words he would say were death threats, and Edmund was fairly convinced that he would go through with them if he was pressed too far.
One day – whether for better or worse Edmund couldn't tell – Yasir stopped joining him. Usually Edmund would wait for him, but whenever he hesitated by the door, Mahir would strike the back of his head and he would have to bolt before being hit again and risking a concussion. One day, 104 days after being taken captive, Edmund ran into Yasir in a back hallway. He tried to get some answers out of him, but Yasir simply threatened to kill him. Edmund continued to press him, desperate for his new friend back, but all that earned him was a sharp punch in the shoulder. With a sigh, Edmund turned to go back down the hall and ran right into Mahir. He looked up in horror as Mahir smirked proudly at his son, nodded, grabbed Edmund's arm, and pulled him into the master bedroom where he beat his slave to unconsciousness.
From then on, whenever Yasir made a mistake, Edmund would be the one to be punished for it. He hated it, but he had been threatened that, if he cared so much for Yasir, he would have to get used to it or else Mahir would go back to beating his son. Edmund didn't want a twelve year old to have to put up with abuse, not after six years of dealing with it and finally getting a break. The kid deserved to no longer live in hiding for fear of upsetting his father, so Edmund said nothing and allowed himself to be tortured twice as often as before.
Despite Edmund's resilience and his will to listen to Nash and tough out the treatment, he knew the human spirit could only take so much before it broke. His breaking point came on the 121st day of captivity. He could trace it down to an exact moment. He was being punished for something Yasir had done, again. Mahir for some reason was angrier than usual and there was extra, almost superhuman strength behind his punches. Edmund's shoulder, the same one that had been dislocated twice before, snapped out of its socket. He cried out in pain and his arm dangled limply by his side, but rather than decide that that was enough like he usually did, Mahir continued to beat him.
At that moment, Edmund knew there was no hope for him. This man didn't have an ounce of human left in him, and when he sold Edmund, he would probably sell him to someone who was just as cruel or worse. Edmund's life was going to be an endless cycle of masters and abuse, and there was no breaking out of it. Calormenes would only sell to other Calormenes they trusted, which meant there was no chance of revealing himself without being killed. No one recognized him or knew him as anyone other than Emad, so there was no hope of sending out a messenger for help. He had been gone for four months, and if his brother was going to find him, he would have been found already. At last, the goal Mahir had been trying to reach for the entirety of those four months finally came about. Edmund's hope vanished, and his spirit broke.