The Core

‘A tribe of eunuchs.’ Abban attempted to sit up. ‘I don’t suppose you have something I can use to poison the meat?’

‘If we had, I’d have used it long ago.’ The woman held out a hand to pull him to a sitting position. ‘I’m Dawn.’

‘A beautiful name,’ Abban said. ‘I am Abban asu Chabin am’Haman am’Kaji. I’ll need your help if I am to prepare a feast. I fear I will not be able to stand without crutches, and poorly even then.’

‘We have a chair with wheels my grandfather used before he passed,’ Dawn said.

‘Creator be praised,’ Abban said. ‘If you can help me into it, I would thank you. If Hasik wants a feast, we would be wise not to keep him waiting.’

Dawn nodded, leaving the room briefly and returning with the wheeled chair. It was handmade and crude, but sturdy enough to hold Abban’s considerable bulk.

‘How many warriors does Hasik have now?’ Abban asked as she wheeled him to the kitchen. Three women, one older and two younger, were already at work preparing the evening meal. A few had bruises, and all kept their eyes down.

‘Six still able to fight,’ Dawn said, ‘though all walk tenderly now. Two more with broken bones. Three left out in the snow.’

A shriek and a flash of light drew Abban’s attention to the window. It was dark, with snow blown up against the panes. No doubt the Sharum were out clearing the area of demons, eager for the healing magic to soothe their wounded groins.

They won’t grow back, Abban wanted to tell them. Magic would heal the wounds and broken bones, but it would not grow back what was severed.

‘And your family?’ Abban asked.

‘Seven.’ Dawn nodded to the other women. ‘My mother and daughters, my son-in-law, my husband and father-in-law.’

‘Did the Bajin kill anyone?’ Abban asked, reaching out to sniff at the spices on the rack.

Dawn shook her head. ‘They didn’t speak a word of Thesan, but it was clear they wanted slaves, not killing.’ One of the younger women sobbed at that, and her sister moved to comfort her.

‘Survival is hope,’ Abban said.

‘You’re not like the others,’ Dawn said. ‘You and the new master speak our language, and they treat you …’

‘I am khaffit,’ Abban said. ‘A coward. In the eyes of warriors, I am worth no more than you. It will be all our lives if the feast is not satisfactory. Let us look at the pigs.’

Abban shivered as Dawn wheeled him out into the evening snow, crossing the lamplit yard to the slaughterhouse. Sharum flitted about in the darkness beyond, illuminated here and there in a flash of wardlight.

The Bajin had killed most of the other animals, but the pigs they disdained. There were seven of them, fat and healthy. Abban’s mouth watered at the sight.

These will sell for a thousand draki apiece, to the right buyer. He shook his head at the useless thought. The bazaar was far away, and it was inevera whether Abban would ever see it again.

Live in the now, he reminded himself, or there will be no future.

Three chin men were in the slaughterhouse, all of them bruised and moving stiffly. Two were in their prime, the other older but still sturdy.

‘That one.’ Abban pointed to the best of the lot. The plump young hog squealed as the chin men slaughtered it. Abban left the men to the work, Dawn pushing him back to the kitchen that they might plan a menu.

Hasik found them in the yard. ‘It is good to see you awake, khaffit. I have not forgotten your promise to me.’ He seemed almost jovial, as if every man he gelded lessened his own shame that much more.

‘I always keep my promises,’ Abban said. ‘It will take a night and a day to roast the pig properly.’

Hasik nodded, touching the diamond in the centre of his kai’Sharum turban. There was a kernel of demon bone within, and when next he spoke, his voice boomed through house, yard, and barn. ‘The Eunuch tribe fasts until sunset! Any caught touching food before I give word at tomorrow’s feast will lose his tongue as well as his cock.’

‘You’ll recall how such taunts ended for me,’ Abban noted.

Hasik shrugged. ‘One day I will be weak, and man or alagai will kill me. Until then, I am strong, and will taunt as I please.’ He looked out into the night. ‘Already the wounds to their flesh have healed. A fast and a feast will help them begin to accept their new lives.’

Abban nodded. ‘The kai is wise. It will be a meal they never forget.’

‘It had better,’ Hasik said, ‘Or the chin women will roast you next.’

Abban passed out in the barn, cradled by the wheeled chair, basking in the heat of the coals and the scent of roasting pig. It was the closest he’d been to comfortable in all the weeks of his captivity.

Which only made the white-hot spike of agony that woke him all the worse.

His eyes snapped open to see Hasik kneeling before him with his small hammer, dawn light coming through the barn door. While Abban slept, he had freed the khaffit’s foot from the chair, placed it on a block, and broken another bone for Everam.

Hasik laughed as Abban screamed. ‘I never tire of that sound, khaffit! I want you to know what it means to wake in anguish every day.’

‘You …’ Abban coughed.

‘What was that, khaffit?’ Hasik asked.

‘… didn’t …’ Abban laboured for breath, every word heavy on his tongue. ‘… even … let … me … offer … my … bribe.’

Hasik smiled. ‘Was it a good one?’

Abban nodded. ‘A … pleasure even the … Damaji fear to … indulge.’

Hasik stood, crossing his arms. ‘This I must hear.’

‘A dozen heasah,’ Abban said. ‘Chosen because they look nearly identical to the Damajah, to pillow dance for you.’

Hasik grew red in the face, and Abban realized his mistake. ‘And what am I to do with heasah, without my cock?’

‘There are straps heasah sometimes wear, to simulate having a man’s spear,’ Abban said. ‘I did not lie when I said I could give you a cock of gold, smoother, larger, and stiffer than the real thing ever was.’

‘If I wanted to shame myself with such a harness, it would not be the Damajah I would wish to fuck.’ Hasik leered at him. ‘No, it would be you I make howl, khaffit. Louder even than your daughters and wives.’

He stuck the hammer back in his belt. ‘Now get back to making my feast.’

Everam, if I but had a drop of tunnel asp venom, Abban thought, but he knew it was a lie. Here, crippled deep in the green lands with Sharum deserters looting and pillaging, he would be a fool to poison Hasik. The powerful kai’Sharum was his only hope for survival until they reached Krasian lands or Abban’s network in the Hollow.

‘Better a bone at a time than a spear in the back, or a chin noose around my neck,’ he muttered.

And so he roasted the pig with utmost care, glazing the skin to a hard, delicious shell connected to the moist, hot meat by a melted layer of fat. He directed the women as well, teaching them to roll couscous and prepare dishes suited to Krasian palates. There was a Bajin pea dish that could be reasonably approximated with Northern corn, and Abban had them make it in plenty to honour Hasik’s new men.

Hasik was in good spirits throughout the day. Abban made sure the chin fasted as well, and the smells teased everyone at the farm. By sunset, even the Bajin seemed eager when they were called to the table.

The Sharum had taken a pair of Northern feasting tables and cut the legs short, laying them end-to-end. Hasik was already kneeling upon a bed of pillows at the table’s head when the others arrived. ‘Orman.’ He gestured to the single pillow to his right. The Bajin leader glared at him but wasn’t willing to challenge Hasik again. He knelt, eyes down. The other warriors followed suit, kneeling on the bare floor four to a side.