CHAPTER 28
Cold


The wee hours of the morning broke with a loud clang. The sound shook Jester from his sleep, and he blinked blearily in the low light, for a moment forgetting where he was. All he knew was that he was cold. The fire had long gone out at his side, and the stone floor of the cave made his aching muscles groan. He could faintly hear the sound of birds singing, dark as it was, and the incessant patter of rain had ceased. His neighbor's elbow was jabbed against his spine, and someone's foot was dangerously close to his nose. Pushing it away gingerly, Jester half pulled himself up from the ground as he recalled where he was.

The pen.

He looked around at its equally bleary occupants, but then, as if from nowhere, he was met with a clout to the head.

"Down. Nothing to see here," the guard at the gate groused, as if Jester were no more than a dog. The boy fell back at the blow, the shock pushing him down to the craggy earth and the pain echoing against his skull. It would leave an ugly bruise he knew. One more for the collection. The thought came darkly.

From his viewpoint on the ground, the world seemed to be at a tilt, as a fresh crowd of dirty and tattered feet was ushered through the gateway around the occupants of the pen. He could vaguely hear the murmurs of the guards outside, and the crack of something hard against bone. There was a muffled scuffle, and then silence.

"…and a damn rowdy shipment, this one. Be sure to keep them quiet and out of trouble, mind. Especially that one," an unfamiliar man growled, the snatch of his voice barely audible. Jester had to strain to hear, as the newcomers gingerly stepped between the occupants of the pen. Across from him, little Marley's eyes blinked solemnly in the dim, wide-awake. The child brought a finger to her lips and shook her head.

"Lie down," the barking guard commanded the newcomers. "First one to make a sound loses 'is tongue. Just ask old man Grant here if I'm bluffing – he won't be able to answer you." He pointed to one of the men who cowered at the back of the pen. Grant, Jester presumed.

Obediently, the newcomers settled down on to the hard earth. The guard closest to Jester pushed a few down roughly, before exiting the holding cell. The gate slammed shut behind him, leaving a crowded room behind him, and Jester could hear the distinct click of the lock.

"You've all a long march tomorrow," the guard jeered. "Best get your beauty sleep so as to please his Grace. The empire needs all sorts. Men. Women. Especially women." He chuckled, banging on the gate once before returning to his post.

Jester sighed, running a hand over his face. The guard's leery comment hung thick in the air, and he pitied the trio of girls from last night. He prayed they would be spared from any indecency.

He shifted to his other side, throwing a forearm beneath his head. One of the newcomers had settled beside him, wrapped in a mud-spattered cloak and cradling their face. Something dark covered their hands. Blood, he realized with a grimace. Maybe Jane had been right to call the slavers monsters. They clearly had no care for their charges. Gently, Jester reached for his half-dried tunic, which was pillowed beneath his head, and extended it to the cloaked figure. They turned in the darkness, warily accepting the proffered cloth.

And then promptly dropped it with a gasp.

Jester's eyes widened in turn.

The face was mottled and smeared with dirt beyond easy recognition. The nose was badly bleeding – maybe broken – and the lips were split. A tangled mess littered with leaves and debris passed for the golden hair that peeked beneath the hood. But Jester recognized the eyes as surely as his own.

They were the exact mirror of his own.

Blue and clear. He would know them anywhere.

"Maia?" He breathed.

There was a clang on the gate.

"No talking, or I cut all of your tongues out," the guard bellowed. "Baltor's Empire may need your hands, but don't need those."

Across from him, the shadowed figure curled on the ground bit her lip. She pressed his tunic to her bloodied nose.

And then his sister nodded.