Clouded Purity - Book 2 of The Trial

Clouded Purity - Chapter 4

"Rooba," Valkean said, smiling with amusement. "An old rooster. That's quite a crude word in the Dorram. Captain Tson isn't so bad, as far as soldiers go. There are less honorable men."

"Honor? Who's carin'?" Prism asked as they reached a stretch of road filled with cages and people inside them. Huge stakes cemented into the ground held iron rings connected to chains holding men and women alike. They belonged to all different ethnicities, though all appeared human from a cursory glance.

Valkean led him to a cage with a single male inside. He wore a hooded jacket and simple pants, but kept his hands concealed in his pockets, and his face in the shadows of his hood. Intense eyes weighed on Prism from those shadows, and he pointedly avoided the prisoner's gaze.

"I'm going to let you stand here while I take care of some business. I'll even leave your hands untied, if you promise not to move," Valkean said, reaching for the ropes around Prism's wrists. He waited for Prism to nod in agreement to his terms before removing the bindings. As he stepped back he said, "But, break that promise, and I promise you I won't let it go so easily."

"What are you's up to?" Prism asked.

"I'm going to make a second pardon today. It's expected of me during each sale season," Valkean replied. "I take two prisoners to work off their debt at the Temple of the Mountain."

Prism nodded, not completely understanding what Valkean meant about a pardon. As far as he understood the term, 'pardon' meant forgiveness for a crime, and following the monk to some temple didn't seem like forgiveness. As soon as Valkean left, Prism searched for an opening to slip back into the city, wanting to put as much distance between himself and the monk as possible.

Valkean's voice immediately penetrated the surrounding chatter. "I told you not to move, Prism."

Prism turned to peer through the crowd of prisoners and found Valkean staring at him only a few yards away, speaking to another human dressed in the blue and silver livery of Duke Selfaeth's court. "Wasn't movin'," Prism said firmly.

"Good," Valkean said, turning away.

Prism sighed and settled against the wall of the cage behind him. The longer he waited there, the more impatient he became, and once again his eyes wandered to different potential avenues of escape. He took several steps forward, resting against one of the large wooden stakes for cover, thinking Valkean had moved somewhere on the other side.

He gasped and moved backward as a knife thudded into the wood next to his head, wobbling left and right as it settled into a crease in the wood. Prism dared to look over his shoulder and found Valkean and the liveried official talking together nearly thirty feet away.

"I told you not to move!" Valkean said, projecting his voice over the din without yelling. "The next one will go through your hand."

Prism gulped and raised his hands, moving back toward the cage with the hooded figure. Lesson learned, he stayed next to the cage, not wanting to earn Valkean's ire again.