‘Emmy, you come back here.’
Arya Andine gave him a puzzled look, ‘I don’t believe I know you,’ she said. Her voice was rich and vibrant, the kind of voice that stirs a man’s spirit.
‘Permit me, Your Highness,’ Dhakan said, stepping forward and bowing slightly. ‘This is Master Althalus, and he’s come here to discuss a business matter.’
Emmy gave another inquiring meow.
‘Did you want to come up here into my lap, Puss?’ Andine asked. She leaned forward and picked Emmy up. She held the cat out and looked into her face. ‘My,’ she said in her rich voice, ‘aren’t you adorable?’ Then she put the cat in her lap. ‘There,’ she said, ‘was that what you wanted?’
Emmy started to purr.
‘Master Althalus here is a businessman, Arya Andine,’ Dhakan said. ‘He deals in captives, and since he heard about the recent attack on our city, he’s stopped by to inquire about the possibility of buying those barbaric Arum prisoners from you. I recommend that you give him a hearing, Your Highness.’
‘What on earth would you do with them, Master Althalus?’ Andine asked curiously.
‘I have a number of contacts in Ansu, Your Highness,’ Althalus replied. ‘The owners of the salt mines there are always in the market for strong young men. A salt mine uses up workers at a ferocious rate.’
‘You’re a slave trader, then?’
Althalus shrugged deprecatingly. ‘It’s a living, Your Highness. Slaves are a valuable commodity. I buy them in places where they’re an inconvenience and take them to places where they can be put to work to pay for their keep. Everybody benefits, really. The one who sells them to me gets gold, and the one who buys them gets laborers.’
‘What do the slaves get?’
‘They get fed, Your Highness. A slave doesn’t have to worry about where his next meal’s coming from. He gets fed even when the crops fail or the fish aren’t biting.’
‘Our philosophers tell us that slavery’s an evil.’
I don’t concern myself with philosophy, Your Highness. I take the world as I find it. I’m prepared to offer ten Perquaine gold wheats for every able-bodied young captive you’d care to sell.’
She stared at him in astonishment. ‘That’s a noble price, Master Althalus,’ she said in that throbbing voice.
‘I buy the best, Your Highness, so I pay the best. I don’t deal in children or old men or young women. I buy only young, strong, healthy men who can put in a good day’s work.’ He glanced over at the youthful Arum chained to the marble pillar. ‘With your permission, Your Highness,’ he said, bowing slightly. He walked over to the pillar where Eliar sat disconsolately on the marble floor in chains. ‘On your feet!’ Althalus barked.
‘Who says so?’ Eliar replied sullenly.
Althalus reached out, took Eliar by his hair and jerked him into a standing position. ‘When I tell you to do something, do it,’ he said. ‘Now open your mouth. I want to see your teeth.’
Eliar tightly clamped his mouth shut.
‘He’s a bit stubborn, Master Althalus,’ Andine said. ‘I’ve been trying ever so hard to cure him of that.’
‘It takes a certain amount of firmness to break a slave’s spirit, Your Highness,’ Althalus advised her. Then he took his dagger from his belt and pried Eliar’s teeth apart with it. ‘Good healthy teeth,’ he noted. ‘That’s a promising sign. Bad teeth usually mean that the slave’s got something wrong with him.’
Eliar made a lunge at Althalus, but his chains brought him up short.
‘He’s a little stupid,’ Althalus observed, but that can be cured. Boy,’ he said to the captive, ‘didn’t your sergeant ever explain to you that it’s foolish to attack an armed man with your bare hands? Particularly when you’re chained up?’
Eliar was straining at his chains, trying to pull himself free.
‘Good muscle tone there, too,’ Althalus said approvingly. ‘I’d pay a premium for this one, Your Highness.’
‘That one isn’t for sale,’ Andine replied rather intensely. Her voice had taken on a steely note, and her huge black eyes burned.
‘Everything’s for sale, Your Highness,’ Althalus replied with a cynical laugh.
‘Don’t push it just yet, Althalus,’ Emmy’s purring voice murmured in his mind. ‘I’m still working on her.’
‘Do you think you can bring her around?’
‘Probably. She’s young enough to be impulsive. Ask to see the other captives. You’ll probably have to buy them all to get Eliar.’
‘We can discuss this one later, Your Highness,’ Althalus said to the Arya. ‘Do you suppose I might be able to take a look at the others?’
‘Of course, Master Althalus,’ Andine replied. ‘Show him the way to the dungeon, Lord Dhakan.’
‘At once. Your Highness,’ the silvery-haired old gentleman replied. ‘This way, Master Althalus.’
The two of them left the throne room.
‘Your Arya’s a beautiful young woman, Lord Dhakan,’ Althalus observed.
‘That’s the only reason we tolerate her, Althalus. She’s pretty enough that we can overlook her flaws.’
‘She’ll settle down, Dhakan. Marry her off, that’s my advice. After she’s had a few babies, she’ll start to grow up.’
There were nine kilted young Arums in the dungeon, and some of them were still nursing wounds they’d received during the battle outside the walls of Osthos. Althalus made some show of inspecting them. ‘Not bad, on the whole,’ he said as he and Dhakan were returning to the throne room. ‘That one she’s got chained to the post is the key to the whole arrangement, though. He’s the best of the lot. If we can persuade her to include him, I’ll make her an offer. If she won’t agree, I think I’ll have to go elsewhere.’
‘I’ll speak with her, Althalus,’ Dhakan promised. ‘You might want to describe the conditions the slaves have to live in once they get to the mines of Ansu. Exaggeration wouldn’t hurt. Our little girl hungers and thirsts for revenge. Let’s persuade her that the life of a slave in a salt mine is far, far worse than anything she can think of to do to him here. That might just tip the scales. Be eloquent, Althalus. Linger on unspeakable horrors if you possibly can. Our dear Andine is top-full of passions, and passionate people make hasty decisions based on whims. I’ll help as much as I can. I want that young Eliar out of Osthos and out of Andine’s sight. If she refuses to sell him to you, I’ll have to come up with a way to kill him. I have to get rid of him.’
‘Trust me, Dhakan,’ Althalus said confidently. ‘When it comes to buying and selling, I’m the very best.’ Then he sent his thought out to Emmy. ‘Have you got her yet, Em?’ he asked.
‘I’m getting closer.’
‘See if you can stir some interest in the salt mines.’
‘What for?’
‘So I can tell her some horror stories.’
‘You’re going to lie to her, I take it?’
‘No, I’m going to tell her the truth. Unless things have changed, the salt mines of Ansu are worse than the deepest pits in Nekweros. Dhakan thinks that might turn the trick here. Nudge her hard, Em. If she doesn’t sell Eliar to us, Dhakan’s going to have him killed.’
When Althalus and Dhakan entered the throne room, they saw that Andine had laid the laurel-leaf dagger aside and that she was concentrating all her attention on Emmy. She was smiling,