“Sacrati,” Theos corrected calmly.
“Sacrati are still soldiers, and it’s time you all remembered that. Now, get back to your duties.” The man’s eyes raked over the food in Theos’s hands. “Or yourpicnic. Whatever you were doing, start doing it again. This is none of your business.”
The next prisoner was pulled out of the pen. Finnvid. His face was tight with anger or fear or a combination of both, and his eyes skimmed past Theos without any sign of recognition. Theos was just another Torian, another slaver. And Finnvid was a leader being dragged away from his men, and being sent on a dangerous journey to an unknowable fate.
“Sir,” Theos said. “I have some concerns about this prisoner. Information I received while on the mountain suggests—”
“No, you havenoconcerns about this prisoner. He’s none of your business.” The warlord didn’t even glance toward Theos this time. “Leave the area, soldier.”
Sacrati, Theos wanted to insist again. He took half a step backward, casting around the courtyard hoping to find a solution he couldn’t quite imagine on his own. He saw Andros standing on the steps of one of the barracks’ buildings. He was leaning on Xeno, pale and weak, but he was standing. He was alive. “Sir,” Theos said, stepping forward. “As patrol leader, I have the right to first pick of the prisoners we captured. I haven’t made my choice yet.”
The warlord curled his lips into an ugly sneer. “And the business of the valley should cease while you ponder?”
Theos knew what he was doing. That was the frustrating part. Displeasing a leader of the camp, getting involved in something he didn’t understand—he knew it was stupid. And he did it anyway. “I chose that prisoner, sir. Finnvid of the Elkati. I claim him.” He pointed to the boy.
The warlord glared at him for a moment, then jerked his chin toward the office building. “So go tell them inside, and they’ll give you the coin.”
A final chance to escape, but Theos didn’t take it. “No, sir, I don’t want the value. I want the prisoner.”
The warlord’s expression became even more hawklike. “What? You want to . . .” The veins in his neck were standing out, but then he gave a smile, tight and almost more intimidating than his scowl. “You’re a young man, Theos. You’re . . . I know, I said Sacrati were just soldiers, but we both know you get extra attention as one of the chosen. You have no need of a bedwarmer. And they’re expensive, you know. If they’re not contributing to the empire,youhave to pay for their food, and for any clothing or medicine they need.”
“But if they have any income, I get to keep that, right?”
“You’re thinking of making him a whore?” The warlord shrugged a little, visibly trying to relax. His voice was lighter as he continued, “Fine, maybe that’s not a bad idea. But . . . just between you and me. As comrades. Choose one of the others, one of the more tractable ones, and I’ll mark it down as if he came from your patrol’s capture. You’ll get a better slave out of the deal.”
And the warlord would be doing it because he and Theos were comrades. Theos managed to hide his disbelief and tried to think of a way to make his interest seem less peculiar. “Thank you, sir, but I’ve already spent time with this prisoner. I like his—his way. His skills. I know he’s a nuisance, but I’ll keep him under control.”
The game was over now; the warlord wasn’t trying to control his anger anymore. He stepped closer to Theos and hissed, “Take another prisoner.”
“I’d prefer to follow the rules,” Theos said quietly. “I’ll take Finnvid of the Elkati, sir. Thank you.”
For a moment it truly seemed that the warlord would refuse. Possibly with a bonus assault. Then he exhaled some of his aggression in an angry huff. “Fine,” he growled. He turned to the woman who had just finished positioning Finnvid in the apparatus used for attaching the collars. The boy was on his hands and knees, his head stuffed between an anvil and a block of wood, strapped in place with a thick band of leather. It wasn’t a scene that should have made Theos’s cock stir.
“Let him up,” the warlord snarled, and the blacksmith undid the straps. Finnvid staggered to his feet, rubbing his neck as if the collar had actually been attached.
Theos stood quietly as the slave trader wrapped a leather rope around Finnvid’s neck. “Enjoy your new toy,” the trader said with a lascivious smile, and handed the end of the rope to Theos.
Theos forced his fingers to accept the strip, and he turned and strode away with what dignity he could find, forcing Finnvid to jog to keep up.
“What’s going on?” the Elkati demanded when they were safely beyond earshot of the rest.
“I have no idea,” Theos growled. He whirled and stared at the boy. “But I’m going to find out. And by the sword, Elkati—you’ll help me. You belong to me, now, and that means that whatever’s going on in your busy little brain is my property. You’d better spread it out for inspection.”
Chapter Six
Not surprisingly, Finnvid didn’t react too well to threats. He began by denying all knowledge of a mission, then stopped speaking altogether, and then, when Theos said he could speak or do without food, he’d started talking again: in Elkati. There was a constant song of gibberish coming out of the boy’s mouth by the time Theos finally dragged him up the stairs to Andros’s room.
He pushed the door open, shoved Finnvid inside so hard the boy tripped and landed on his hands and knees, and turned to Andros, who’d made his way up from downstairs and was lying on the bed.
“I saved his life, and he’s repaying me with stubbornness and idiocy.”
“Well, that must be very annoying,” Andros said calmly. “Finnvid, can I offer you something to eat or drink?”
“He’ll have neither,” Theos interrupted. “Not until he starts talking.”
Andros nodded as if he’d expected nothing else. “Ah, yes. Stubborn idiocy.”
Theos stared at his friend. Had that insult been aimed at Finnvid, or . . . “He was across the border for areason,” Theos insisted. Andros had known all this only hours ago. “He and his menliedabout what that reason was, so we still don’t know why they were in our territory.” Theos lowered his voice so he wouldn’t be heard in the corridor. “I couldn’t speak to the captain about it, and it’s too late in the season for a caravan to be heading off. Full of young men who should have been able to earn their chance in the army. At leastsomeof them. And when I claimed Finnvid, the warlord argued with me. He wanted me to take any other slave in the whole train.” Theos shook his head in Finnvid’s direction. “Icouldhave taken one who would cooperate and answer simple questions.”
