Silk and Sand – Chapter 4
Peace and rest... that is what they got over the next three days, just as Betto had promised. However, those days went by far quicker than Kahlan would have liked. After their first night, the doors to their quarters were not locked and they were allowed to wander the floor they had been assigned to. Kahlan thought this was amusing, because they were still held captive on the floor. Allowing them some freedom was not really any freedom at all.
It did not take Kahlan long to learn that the floor she was on was the one for the virgins. There were not really that many of them, leaving most of the rooms empty. They were all treated kindly, fed generously, and—with the exception of that first night, where that guard forced Cameron to take him in her mouth—they were left alone and not harassed by anyone. Except the locked door and guards, an outsider might not have realized that they were prisoners. But no matter how gilded with gold and furnished with opulent beds and other such things, this place was still a cage, one Kahlan desperately wanted to escape from.
The most difficult time was night. Since their cells had been unlocked, Kahlan found Cameron bunking with her. They shared the bed in her quarters and snuggled close. Kahlan was grateful for the comfort, but she thought Cameron needed it more than she did. While Cameron slept, Kahlan struggled to, constantly fretting over the depraved things she was soon going to have to perform in the service of the master's clientele. Sometimes, at night, while she laid sleepless in bed with Cameron nestled close, Kahlan could hear the sounds of the women who were not fortunate enough to be spared having to work. It made her shudder, hearing all the terrified screams or false moans of ecstasy drifting down the halls.
Kahlan resolved that she would never moan like that. She would be a fighter, and none of the clients were going to get her to moan like that, either falsely or not.
Inevitably, as all things are, her thoughts would turn to Richard. Had he been taken captive, like she had, and if so, had he really been killed in the Pit? She loathed the latter, but feared the former just as much. Kahlan also pondered over where they were. She had traveled throughout the entire Midlands in her duties as a confessor and she had never once heard of an arena called the Pit, or encountered a region with such a strong negative field that it suppressed her powers to the extent it was if they had never been.
In her dreams, when she did manage to sleep, Richard had not been captured or killed, and would come to her rescue. He would come charging through the House of Betto like an avenging spirit, cutting down all the guards, save Necor. With the turn in the tide, the fair-haired guard would then get to take his revenge on Betto for the death of his sister Licinia.
And then, with Betto dead, Richard and Necor would free all the slaves. Kahlan would then announce herself as the Mother Confessor and use her authority to seize control of the town. She would then legally recognize Necor and Paullina's marriage. Then, finally, staying within the negative field of the region, Kahlan would sneak off with Richard somewhere and make fierce and passionate love to him.
But then she would always wake up, realizing it was all just a dream… a wonderful sweet dream. However fleeting, the fantasy kept her alive and gave her the strength to survive, allowing her to hope that some day it might just come true.
For morning and evening meals they were let out of their floor and allowed to congregate in a common area. Kahlan would sit with Cameron and the other virgins, taking note that even though they were free to choose where to sit, almost everyone sat with their assigned group. Alissia sat over with the other brunettes, but would occasionally come over to chat with Kahlan, seeing how she was doing. She would always walk in a suggestive manner when she went past the guards, winking and pursing her lips at them.
In the evening, they were all taken to the baths, where Kahlan would silently wash herself and listen to Alissia gossip with the other veterans of this trade about the little things they had each learned to do to derive some pleasure in their time with a client. It was during one of these times that Kahlan learned some interesting and vital information. According to one of the older whores, the House of Betto operated in the Angress Valley, not far from the wealthy cities of Tartum and Septor, and was about a week's distance from the farming community of Cornvale. Finding out the location of her captivity provided Kahlan with the reason behind her seemingly lack of confessing powers.
The Angress Valley was situated in the low lands surrounding the Roh'machtig Mountains. The name of those mountains was no mere coincidence. Ages ago, when the Midlands was still sparsely populated, wizards, who where traveling through the Angress Valley, discovered that within the shadow of the mountains, their powers were useless, caught in a negative field. For all extensive purposes, their powers were non-existent. So they had then named the mountains accordingly.
And if Kahlan had not studied at the Wizard's Keep as a young confessor, learning some of the older tongues, she would not have been able to decipher the meaning. Roh'machtig was an ancient form of D'Haran, meaning "powerless." This knowledge answered some of Kahlan's questions, informing her why her powers would not work, but it did little to ease her worries.
As the sun rose on the fourth day of her captivity, Kahlan knew that today would be the last day of peace, because when night fell, she would be purchased for the evening and be forced to entertain a client. Kahlan had been dreading this day, and was debating what she was going to do. She knew she had two choices, but she liked neither. Either she would have to submit and allow her maidenhood to be taken, or she would fight and be killed. This decision was all she could think about for the entire day. It was not until they had been taken to the baths to wash up for the viewing that Kahlan began to grow more worried and fearful.
Alissia stayed by her and helped her wash, noticing her mood. "Do not worry, Kaya," she said, rubbing Kahlan's back with a washcloth. "Just calm your breathing and relax and it will be over before you know it." She paused. "And don't think about fighting, because if you injure your client in anyway, Master Betto will see to it that you are given to one of the arena fighters. He will not hesitate to give you as a reward to the most blood thirsty arena fighter."
Kahlan swallowed and looked over her shoulder at the woman. "Are they so bad?" she did not know why she was asking, but she felt like talking… almost about anything.
"Not so much, I guess," Alissia said, shrugging. "The Pit has been around for decades, and the arena fighters have not always been brutes. In fact, Jenn," she gestured to the woman who seemed to be frequently sent to the Pit to please fighters, "says that some are actually quite handsome."
Kahlan nodded, but only absently. She was thinking of Richard, remembering what Alissia had told her about Jenn being sent to a fighter who would not sleep with her and had then subsequently died in a bout against Rook, the arena champion. Kahlan remembered thinking that that had to be Richard, because only he would have turned down the offer of a red-haired seductress like Jenn. She sighed, missing his warm brown eyes and his adorable boyish smirk when they were teasing one another.
"She's been bedding Traken," Alissia went on gossiping, gesturing towards one of the guards, who had stationed himself close to where Jenn was washing in the pool. "Has been for years, apparently. Thinks she's in love, she does. If Jenn is to be believed, Traken only sleeps with her. Poor girl... she thinks he loves her."
"He doesn't?" Kahlan asked.
"Well, if he only slept with her, he would not have started visiting my bed," Alissia laughed. "Don't you remember?"
Kahlan looked blankly at Alissia, confused.
"Our first day… in the sorting room? I asked the guards which one thought they could satisfy me?" Kahlan nodded, remembering the incident. "Well," Alissia continued. "It was Traken who took me. And I'll tell you what, Kaya, I can see why Jenn's infatuated with him. Oh, girl, does he have a cock!"
Kahlan blushed, not really understanding what Alissia was going on about. To be honest, she knew little about sex, other than the biological functions of it and that it involved the man inserting himself inside the woman and releasing his seed. When she was younger and was taught about such things, the older confessors never really described sex in terms of deriving pleasure from it. Confessors had long ago realized that such things were beyond their grasp… things like love. Because of this lack of knowledge, Kahlan did not know why Alissia was making such a fuss over the size of Traken's manhood. Kahlan truly did not understand why it mattered.
Surely, if you loved the man, such things did not matter, because it was your love for him that was the most important thing. At least, that is what Kahlan thought, when she contemplated what it was like to make love, something she had never even expected she would ever get to do. Kahlan knew that eventually she was going to have to take a mate and couple with him, but that would not have been lovemaking.
It was times like this, when Alissia started talking about such things, that Kahlan felt wholly unprepared for the matters of the bed. Hearing some of the things Alissia said made Kahlan worry that if she and Richard had ever found a way to be together, her lack of knowledge in that regard would have displeased him.
"Can… can we change the subject?" Kahlan asked, trembling slightly.
Alissia narrowed her eyes and ran her fingers through Kahlan's long hair, massaging the soap into her scalp. "All right, Kaya," she said. "I… I just want you to be prepared for what will happen tonight."
"Alissia… before I was brought here…," Kahlan spoke tentatively, not knowing why she felt the need to confide in the woman, but she felt the need to speak, and Alissia was the one there. Cameron hardly drifted away from the other virgins. Kahlan was the only one out of their group that spoke with anyone else. And besides, Kahlan needed to say what she wanted to say; otherwise she would suffocate with grief and heartbreak. "I… I was with a man… a man I loved when I was captured."
"Are you trying to tell me that you really are not a virgin; that I, not to mention Betto, was mistaken?" Alissia asked, pausing.
"No, you were right, I am a virgin… we never really got that far. I wanted to, and so did he, but we just never really… it was mainly just some quick kisses and… and some touching," Kahlan blushed slightly, remembering the feel of Richard's hand sliding down to the small of her back when they had been walking side by side along the trail after Zedd had departed.
She knew her words were probably misleading, because that was the extent of the touching. He had caressed her arms and hugged her, and he had cradled her head in his hands as their eyes locked in a battle that was almost as intense as anything she had ever experienced. And the kisses she had given him were all chaste and hardly with any passion. Yet, despite that, Richard's desire for her seemed constant and unwavering.
It was one of the things that confused Kahlan, because she never thought she was that alluring in either her white gown or green traveling dress. But, whenever she would catch Richard gazing at her with lust-fogged eyes, his cheeks would flush and he would try and hide the bulge that had grown in his trousers. There was always some awkwardness after those moments, but Kahlan secretly relished them, because it was proof of just how much Richard desired her.
Now, instead of sleeping in her bedroll, not far from his, Kahlan was fated to share a bed with a man who would purchase her for the evening. She trembled slightly and bit her lower lip, not knowing how she was going to live with herself, knowing that her virtue was to be taken from her against her will. If she ever made it back to Richard, would he even look at her the same way? Would he still desire her?
"You're thinking of this man, yes?" Alissia's voice called her out of her thoughts.
Kahlan gave a reluctant nod.
"Good, that will help," Alissia asserted with a wiry smirk. "When you're with the client tonight, think of your man… it might make it easier."
"But will he ever look at me the same if I ever get out of here?" Kahlan asked in a weak voice, afraid of the answer.
Alissia looked at her with sad eyes. "Best not to think of that," she said.
Kahlan slumped her shoulders and turned away, allowing Alissia to finish washing her in silence.