Life in Augiery Sequence of Events
Their fists flew for a few more moments, until the draw was called, much to the catcalls and boos of the women watching the fights. Lork came over to help Vethril back to his feet, and another of the fellow fighting slaves went to the opponent, doing the same for him.
They went over toward the changing areas, and Lork as he did made conversation in Yari on the way. "You know." He began, "I hear the new mother is on the hunt, since slaughtering her last."
Vethril took a moment to process what he'd said, and then frowned, "Another...?"
"Tell ya." Lork snorted, "These Naer are some of the randiest bitches you'll find. Getting children in them gives them bigger status in the city, and young ones are always clawing their way up."
"Let's hope the next poor sod doesn't get his neck slashed." Vethril sneered.
Lork gave Vethril a thoughtful look, and stopped him in their tracks toward the dressing rooms. "What was that turning your back on her, during the whole event? You trying to get her attention?"
Vethril hadn't thought of it that way, and shook his head, "She abused her own daughter, spilling the father's blood over her as she bawled. Just something in my Yari upbringing that hates seeing children treated in this way."
"Hmm..." Lork thought on that, and then slapped his back to get them going on their way once more. "Lothar are much the same. About children anyways. We usually give our women sons, though."
Vehtril shrugged, as they arrived at the dressing area. There, their wardrobe for the night's activities was set out for them. When it came to Vethril's apparel, he was surprised to find something quite different this time. A quartet of leather strips, and strangely enough a robe that resembled the one he'd attended the birth of Lizarra, the new daughter of his mistress. "The Beneath is this shit." There was a belt to go with it, and a pair of cuffs.
Lork frowned as he looked over the aukari's shoulder, at his laid out wardrobe, "You meeting someone tonight, Vethril?"
"Is that what this is for?"
"Yeah, you're meeting one of the shadows. See the short leg cuffs, so you can't run away, or kick too much, but enough that you can walk." Lork pointed out the arm bands, and the leashes connected to them. "The arm restraints, attach to the hips, prevent full extensio of the arm. Makes fighting hard."
Vethril sneered, "I thought all Naer were masters at the art of fighting unarmed. And anyway, they can always use their tricks to put us down."
Lork shrugged at him. "Maybe just a statement, or precaution. Either way, looks like you got a date."
Vethril took the array of clothing, and began putting it on one article at a time, first the loin cloth, the robe, the harness that was meant to restrict his movements. Once it was all on, he looked down at himself, and thought he seemed like an overdressed pleasure slave. "Fuck."
"Damn." Lork said, "Don't give them ideas." He smirked with a fatalistic wink. How Lork was always able to make the best of this life was beyond Vethril's imagining.
Vethril was prompt to the audience. If he had a choice, he would've been in any case. Best to get it over with, and stood to reason the sooner started the sooner finished. Why this woman wanted his company was beyond him. Perhaps a whim, perhaps there was a purpose, or perhaps it was a consequence of his gesture at the birth of the shadow babe.
Nevertheless, he was fettered by binds as he arrived, silken binds to keep his arms from full extension, and his legs to keep from sprinting. He arrived soon, nonetheless, to the portion of the Margotu Estate where Livose was waiting for him.
He spied her through the arched aperatures in the leadup to her chambers. The false light illuminating her activity, feeding her shadow babe from her own breast beneath the robes. The shadow made noises much like any infant, strangely to Vethril's ears. And all along the perimeter of the chamber were lit braziers, burning what smelled like...
"Frankincense and Myrrh." Vethril said, as he entered the vicinity. "They grow in the badlands south of Sirothelle, near Hiladrith, dry lands." He muttered, "In our lands as well." He surmised they must grow here in the south as well, or else were taken from a shipment that was pirated by their people. Both substances were known to chase away the stench and taint of corruption. How appropriate that they be burning here.
Livose looked up at him, her expression a mask of indifference. Yet her words seemed a contrast, "Most slaves wouldn't be so bold to speak before I address them, or bid them to." She spoke now in decent enough Yari for him to clearly understand her. Had she learned of his origin? Or did she have some other interest prompting her study of the language?
Vethril gave her a hard stare, as he walked through the chamber, a few meters away. She was unguarded, but he had no illusions of his own advantage here. A gift of shadow would see him rendered helpless enough that a few discrete knife thrusts would render his struggles inert. "I wager most slaves value their lives only a little more than freedom. It's how you keep them under your heel."
She continued to look at him as her child fed, then smiled, "I think we will soon come to an understanding then. Provided you're given good care and inducement to the finer things in life."
The aukari had no interest in becoming a pampered shadow of himself, clinging to the granted pleasures of life without the freedom to pursue his own independently. "We Yari prefer to earn our pleasure. We do not accept grants of the same."
She turned from him, to look at the shadowy wisp that was her babe. Still smiling. "And you will be given a chance to earn it, make no mistake. You are no pet to be coddled." She spoke to the child as much as Vethril.
"Why did you turn your back on me, as the other was bled?"
Vethril thought about it, not quite knowing the answer himself. Was it disgust for the way the slave was treated? Revulsion for the brutality of it all, or the treatment of the child in all of that. In reality the truth was somewhere in the middle of those three points. However the aukari saw for whatever felt it might avail him to express concern over the child in Livose's arms. "It was the treatment of the child in all of that. Showering her in the blood of her own father, was ill-done."
Livose nodded, "Her name is Lizarra." She cradled the child, and withdrew it from the folds of her robes, holding it now in both arms. The child had its fill, seemingly. "Would you like the honor of holding her?"
Whatever Livose's game was, she seemed to know the Yari culture. He couldn't imagine she'd be so careless with the welfare of her own child had she not known that he would never harm a child. Right now, he was balancing the need to keep her placated, and not becoming her next target for mating. It seemed a fine line to dance along. Little did he know, she'd already made up her mind, and was just now in the process of seducing the aukari.
He nodded to her, and then accepted the child into his fettered arms. It was neither small nor large for a infant just born. He thought this one was a healthy babe, with bright silver eyes shining out of the silhouette of a face, with long shadowy hair streaming from her head, unlike most infants. He reflected that Naer children, in their true form, were perhaps some of the most charming-looking creatures on Idalos. If it weren't for the monsters they eventually became, he might even feel a sense of affection for the little Lizarra.
Livose watched him carefully with the child. It rankled Vethril's nerves to think that she was getting some sort of maternal pleasure or thrill out of sharing her child with a male slave. Watching as he looked on the child with anything other than fear or revulsion. She appeared to come to some conclusion, as her expression shifted. And then she reached out her arms, to receive the child back.
Vethril hesitated. But only for a moment before sliding the child back into Livose's grasp. She smiled at him, and then nodded to the exit. "You are dismissed. But do expect another call soon."
The aukari nodded solemnly, and then shuffled off towards the exit. He'd started a dangerous game, and wondered if his fate wouldn't be any different from the sputtering weakling that she'd bled over the newborn Lizarra, at the end of it all.
Time would tell.
