Slave of Froize: A Froize Trilogy Novel Page 12

  "We shall see Margot, right now we have to make sure that you are properly settled in your room. I will have another slave come along and set up your room."

  I started to walk out of the chambers. "No, I want her to do it, she needs to realize how good she has it."

  "Then who will aide me?" Jett enquired with a slight smile on his face.

  "I would only need her for a bit, and then you can have her right back." She put up her hand like she was swearing for a court.

  "As you wish, my Queen." Jett trained his eyes on me, silently willing me to just go along with the day no matter how much I wanted to strike back. "Laramie, assist your Queen in getting her staterooms in shape."

  “Yes, my lord." I started to walk toward Margot, awaiting instruction from her.

  "Does this look like my fucking stateroom?" She screamed at me so suddenly that I physically jumped.

  "No, my lady," I mumbled and backed away with my head down.

  "Then get your ass out of here and into my stateroom, I want everything perfect when I get there! The heavens help you if it’s not!"

  "Yes, my lady."

  I hustled in the direction of her stateroom, not really knowing where it was. It didn’t go unnoticed by me that she hadn’t given me any directions, I knew where this was headed. She would walk in, and no matter how perfect I had her room, she would find something wrong, and she would beat me for it. I only hoped I could get it as close to perfect as I could, so the beating would be less severe.

  I turned the corner to see Helene bent over, clutching at the wall. Her fingers were white, and she was sweating furiously.

  "Helene, what is it? What’s wrong?" I ran to her, trying to keep her steady and walk her somewhere so she’d be able to sit.

  "She made me eat lorsa berries."

  I looked at her like she was crazy. The vampires do partake in food occasionally, not for the nourishment as it does nothing for them, but the taste. The only difference was that they would be able to eat anything, and nothing would happen to them. Lorsa berries were very poisonous to a human body. It wouldn't kill us, but we would be in pain and sickly for a while. "Why? That doesn't make any sense."

  Helene sat there with her head tilted back, taking great care to breathe in and out, I could hear her swallowing as if she were trying to keep herself from being sick.

  "She wanted to make sure that no one was poisoning her, so I was to be her food tester for the night. I told her that the lorsa berry was poison to us, and she didn't seem to care. The queen simply said, well, don't get poisoned then. She forced me to eat, and when I got sick, she said that someone was trying to kill her, and I should organize a special guard."

  "She's crazy; she has to be." I shook my head from side to side as I rubbed Helene's back, trying to comfort her. Though there was not much that I could do, she would just need to let the poison run its course, and she would be good as new in a few days.

  "I think so, my dear, I really do, but never mind that I must get to my work."

  "Wait, your work, there is no way that you will be able to work in this condition. You can barely stand!" I tried to hold her down in the seat when she tried to rise.

  "Well, child, I was given no days off and was told that I needed to have a running catalog of all the castles artwork, she believes that someone is stealing prized artifacts."

  "That’s going to take you forever. By the gods that would take me all day, and that’s when I’m in most pristine health."

  "She wants it done by nightfall."

  "What!" I practically screamed. Another job that was designed to be a failure. There was no way that one person would be able to complete that task by nightfall, especially not one in her condition.

  "Laramie, please just go on about your chores. I know what is to come, and I am at peace with it."

  "No, you shouldn't be at peace with this! This is madness! Have you spoken to the king?"

  "Don't be ridiculous! He would never go against his queen, never!"

  I knew that she was right, but I didn't want to believe it. Someone had to do something. She couldn't be put to death just because she was being tortured by the new queen. I didn't know what I could do, but I knew that I had to do something. "Helene, you set yourself down here right now and do not move. I will be back." I hugged her as tightly as I could without hurting the frail feeling woman.

  I took off in the direction of the king's quarters as fast as my legs would take me. My good leg taking most of the pressure as I propelled forward, barely letting my bad leg touch the floor. I was ready to barge in but at the last minute remembered that was no longer acceptable. I knocked hastily instead, and after waiting for a second, I knocked again.

  "Who’s there?" The harpy screamed.

  "It is I, Laramie. I must speak with the King at once, it is important." No response from the other side of the wooden door. "Please."

  Finally, after what seemed like forever, the door swung open. The king was standing as stiff as a statue in front of me. "What’s the problem now, slave?"

  I cringed at the word. I knew Jett was saying what he thought he should say, and it stung, but not enough to deter me from the task at hand. "My lord, I request that the slave Helene be released to the infirmary."

  "That bitch!" The queen screeched, barreling up to the door, pushing her way past Jett and standing squarely in my face. "I already told her she was not to go to the infirmary! She is playing up her illness and needs to be taught a lesson! And to have you, another slave come and interrupt the King and Queen in their stateroom is beyond forgiveness! Her stuffed head will be upon my trinket table before the day is done!" Her nose was up, but her lips were so turned down; it distorted the rest of her face. It was an ugly sight. I thought quickly to try and salvage what I could.

  "My lady, I assure you she did not tell me to come here, she asked me not to. I-"

  "You should have listened, lowborn! Now I am particularly peeved, and you are here instead of cleaning my stateroom as I have instructed. I would think that you had better things to do besides getting your friend killed!"

  "But, my lady!"

  My world spun, as I felt the burn on my face where her hand had just been. I fought with everything I had to stay conscious. "My Queen, my King, I humbly and desperately beg for your audience." I closed my eyes, struggling to get my equilibrium back under control.

  "Speak quickly and be gone." The king spoke up, and I couldn't tell if he was actually annoyed or if he just wanted to help me out and had to make it seem as though he was.

  "Helene is one of the most senior slaves here, and she knows the ins and outs of the castle. She is in tune with the King's wants and desires and has served the previous king and queen. The majority of your help here is new, and if she were to perish, it would be the deaf leading the blind. A leaderless ship, we need her to teach and mentor the new slaves so that we may better serve both of you. I am not sure if she is just having a terrible reaction to the lorsa berries.."

  "Lorsa berries? Why on earth would she eat that?" The king seemed utterly baffled. I didn't want to be the one to tell him that his wife ordered her to do so.

  "But she is not doing well at all, and she is still trying to ensure her work is being done. I am offering to do her chore after, of course, I have completed those you both wish for me to do. I would not be able to complete it by the time you originally wanted my Queen, but I would get it done."

  "Who do you think you are? Why should-"

  "My lovely, the slave girl, although annoying, does have a good point," Jett interjected, swiping a soft hand down her arm.

  "Really, and what is that?" She pouted and turned her attention to him.

  "Helene has been working for the courts for years. I don't have the patience to teach the new ones that come here what to do and when to do it, so I really do depend on her to do all that mundane nonsense. If she were dead, we would have to find someone else for the task. There is no other."

  She huffed out, h
er neck straining at the effort. "Fine, take her to the infirmary."

  I quickly turned and started to walk away.

  "Slave!" I stopped and turned back toward the queen. Her nostrils were flaring. "Did I dismiss you?" She rushed toward me and dug her hand in my head, pulling my hair hard, and I am sure pieces of my scalp ripped off. "You need to learn respect. You are severely lacking in this department."

  "I am sorry, my lady," I said between gritted teeth.

  "I’m sure that you are, your chores, plus whatever my King has for you to do, plus Helene's chore will be done before you eat or sleep. If you have to stay up for a few nights to do so, you will! If I find out that you have not completed these tasks and have taken nourishment or rest, I will drain you myself."

  "Yes, my lady." I felt the blood rush to my head as she released me. I stood in place, waiting to be dismissed, too scared to feel how bloody my scalp was.

  "Why are you still here?" she wrapped her arms around Jett seductively. He stood stock-still, looking past her and me.

  "You have not dismissed me, my lady."

  "Ugh, you are so daft. Yes, get out, go!"

  I took my leave as fast as my legs would carry me. As soon as I turned the corner, I reached up to rub my tender scalp, no bloody clumps of hair came out. Great!

  I found Helene in the same position she was in the first time I’d approached her, bent over clutching the wall. I wrapped my hands around her waist and began to direct her to medical.

  "Wait, what happened? You got her to take away the chore?" She looked up to my face and sucked in a deep breath through her teeth. "Child, you shouldn't have intervened. You shouldn't have..." her eyes never left my face.

  I reached up to touch my cheek. It was already puffy, and I would bet that it was discolored. I was going to have a nasty bruise for a long time.

  "Come, Helene, we have to get you to the infirmary."

  "And what of you? What will you do?"

  "Me, I have tons of work to keep me busy, but don't you fret about that. I will be fine."

  She shook her head as we continued to walk down the corridor.

  Chapter 13

  *BONG BONG BONG*

  No matter how many times I heard that bell, it somehow always caught me off guard. I was at Jett's cache already when the tolls started, so I really didn’t have to rush. I knocked on the door, still remembering my run-in with the queen and how just entering was no longer permitted.

  "Come," a male voice spoke.

  I opened the door slowly, walking toward his desk. I did not even bother to look around lest she say I was wasting time when I had other things that needed to be done. In the time that she’d been at the castle, I’d become as equally her aide as I was to the king. That just meant double the work. Helene looked out for me anytime that she could, even letting me know when either of them were in a particularly bad mood. But there was only so much she could do.

  I placed the cup down and turned to walk out. "Laramie?" The sound was soft, questioning. I looked at the king over my shoulder, noticing how utterly defeated he looked. I turned my whole body toward him.

  "My King?" I started to walk toward him but stopped myself to keep a proper distance.

  "Speak plainly; it’s just us."

  I took that as my cue to turn off all pretense. I walked right up to him. "You look like hell, what’s happening?"

  "You were right. The Makins are in the neutral zone. I had a single soldier scout the area. He says there were dozens of ships, if not a hundred. They had weapons that he’d never seen before."

  "Oh, goodness!" I raised my hands to my mouth. I had suspected some but not that many.

  "Yes, we have to go to war, and we are nowhere near ready. From the report he gave, it seems as though the ships had been there a long while. They were just preparing and counting on the fact that no one ever goes to patrol that area." He grabbed me by the shoulders and looked me square in the eye, "Again, Laramie, you are responsible for saving my life."

  "Oh, don't be ridiculous, you are no way in danger."

  "But I would’ve been, we did not expect this kind of force and would not have prepared for it. I, along with most of the guard, would have probably been massacred."

  I shrugged, I didn't want to admit it, but I’m happy that I was able to help. "So what’s the plan now, and why does war have you in this state. You’ve fought before, never have I seen you like this."

  "It’s the Queen," he snarled the word. Like it was poison sitting on his tongue, and he wanted it out of his mouth at soon as possible.

  "I don't understand."

  He sighed and walked past me. "She wants to enforce a draft."

  "So, isn't that normal?"

  "No, we haven't had a draft in centuries."

  "Well, with the force that you are talking about, wouldn't it be a good thing that she does this?"

  "No, not at all. The draft starts at the age of thirteen and goes all the way until the age of sixty. It is commonly known that if you have enough money to pay the enforcers, your home would be overlooked. Men, women, and children will be ripped from their homes and dumped on the battlefield. It would be different if we had enforced some sort of training, but we never have, so instead of being an asset, most of these people will be killed. On top of that, ninety percent of the draft is always humans. They would stand no chance against our kind, even if they are just Makins."

  I couldn't believe this, what did she think a human was going to be able to do to a vampire besides piss them off for being in the way? He was right; there was no way this could go down. No way.

  "In my county, the draft was only men twenty and up, and they needed to have an heir." I shook my head at the mere notion of going along with this.

  "Not here."

  I looked up at him and saw the strain on his face. “Why do you care?"

  "What do you mean, she’s going to cause us to lose the war."

  "Yes, but it has yet to start. Yet here you are looking like you might be sick."

  "I don't want to lose."

  I raised my eyebrows, knowing that wasn't the reason.

  "It’s going to be a massacre, and I don't want to be responsible for that."

  "What would it matter if we won the war?"

  "What good is winning the war if all the subjects are dead?"

  "The humans you mean?"

  "Yes, Laramie, the humans, the vampires, lowborn, royalty, everyone that is on my land. I don't want them to die."

  Finally, a hint of the man I thought him to be. He was concerned not because we would lose but because so many would die. Compassion. A trait of a good king.

  "And there is nothing that can be done to keep her from doing this?"

  "I have been trying, but she will hear nothing of it. She feels they all need to carry their weight."

  I turned, searching for an epiphany, calculating a way to keep my fellow humans from being killed in the near future.

  "Well, she is right in a way, this is our land as well, we need to pull our weight even if we do no good on the field."

  "What do you suggest?" he looked at me intently.

  "We could be the backup, and we can set the traps, the ambushes. We can make weapons. You said the soldier told you there were weapons he’d never seen before if he could describe them. I know of some very talented woodworkers and engineers that might be able to make these weapons for us. We also have alchemists. We may not be as strong, but we have talents as well!" I was excited about the possibility, and this could work. If we were as prepared as the Makins, there was no way they could win. It could mean we wouldn't have to lay down our lives for something that had no chance working, like a human fighting a vampire.

  He paced in place from side to side again, clearly pondering this.

  "You would have less to worry about, and you can focus on getting your army trained and ready. If the Makins are there and have been for a while, there’s no reason to think we’d be doing anything different. Pray
that they do not send scouts here to check on us."

  "We can hope."

  Then the King of Froize did something that I would never have expected in my lifetime, he walked over to me, and he hugged me. Nothing sordid or sexual. Just one arm around my shoulder and a small squeeze.

  "Who would’ve thought out of all the people in this castle, it would be you that would give me all the best ideas," he smiled. "Go on. I am sure that you have a few other things that need to be done."