“What are you doing here?” Suha asked when Rahma finally let go to wipe her eyes.
“Rescuing you, silly!”
Hope flickered in Suha’s mud-brown eyes. She flashed a look at As’ad, then grabbed Rahma’s hands.
“I’ll fake a stomachache so I can spend more time out here. Give me thirty minutes.” She squinted at Rahma’s face in the half-light. “Eat something while you wait.”
As’ad’s estimation of the girl went up. Even in her desperation to leave, she kept her head and looked out for her friend. “We will. See you soon.”
Suha slipped into the outhouse, careful to catch the door so it didn’t slam. When she emerged a moment later, she did let the door bang shut behind her. As’ad and Rahma watched her walk into the house. A single light glowed through the open door.
Circling the house to return to the cart was more perilous than the first trip. The fading light transformed the smallest obstacles into major hazards. Somehow, they made it without alerting anyone or twisting an ankle.
The waking rats were overjoyed to see them. As’ad placated their need for affection with copious caresses while Rahma refilled their water and portioned out food. He could tell she needed an outlet for her nervous energy. Being this close to Suha and unable to speak must be torture.
Once the furriest members of their party were sated, As’ad made sure that Rahma also ate. Not being able to light a fire reduced them to cold rations, but he doubted she even noticed what she was eating.
His earlier experiments with one-way disguises gave him the idea of a light illusion that only they could see. He practiced creating a ball of light similar to the expensive faery lights humans could purchase from certain faeries. Setting parameters to keep the light invisible to anyone but him proved difficult until he thought of using it in conjunction with the one-way rock. After testing it out with Rahma, he was satisfied that it would function as he desired.
The trial and error productively occupied Rahma’s attention but almost made them late for their appointment. The hidden light helped them navigate the loop soundlessly and with greater speed, so they were ready behind the privy shack when Suha stumbled out of the house with a small lantern and staggered quickly toward it. She flung the door open so it would slam after she tucked the lantern inside.
Suha then scooted cautiously around the wooden cubicle. Rahma reached forward and pulled her inside their fake rock wall. The sudden illumination surprised her, but she launched into speech at once.
“How did you find out about the slavers?”
Chapter Twelve
In Which Perceived Elimination Aids Plotting
As’adandRahmaexchangeddread-filled glances.
“So we were right?” Rahma grasped her friend’s hand. “Hadia’s behavior was suspicious, but I was kind of hoping you weren’t about to be sold as a slave.”
Suha was shaking her head. “Hadia deceived us all. She’s been collecting orphans and other people who won’t be missed and bringing us all here. It’s lucky you got here when you did. They’re shipping us out the day after tomorrow.”
“How does that work?” As’ad couldn’t resist asking.
“The dwarves wait until they have a full house, basically. They have tunnels through the mountain to get us into Bavenpier. From what I overheard, I think they’re sending us to Diomland to be sold there.”
Rahma frowned and squeezed Suha’s hand tighter. “We won’t let them.”
“What else can you tell us?” As’ad refocused the conversation.
“I arrived the day after a shipment,” Suha said. “I’ve been doing my best to pick up information from the dwarves who guard us. There are only three in the house right now.”
“That’s good!” Rahma dropped Suha’s hand to clap once.
As’ad was more suspicious. “How many of you are in the house? And how are they keeping you here?”
Suha’s answering look was dark. “There are twenty-two of us in total. I’m the oldest, and a few of the boys are fifteen or so, but the rest of them are between twelve and six.” She ignored Rahma’s outraged gasp. “The guards have knives and whips. The little ones are too scared to step out of line, and the older ones who tried now have scars on their backs.”
The injustice galled As’ad. He burned to rush in and fix everything, armed with nothing but his righteous fury. Suha’s cool manner helped him focus on more productive steps.
“Usually, the guard who sits by the stairs watches from the side door when one of us needs the privy. I have been very, very careful not to test them in any way. They now trust me to use the privy alone or take the youngest ones.” She turned to look toward the house. “Speaking of which, I can only be gone for so long. My ‘tummy troubles’ are keeping everyone away from me and I can be back again soon, but I need to leave now.”
Rahma wanted to keep her friend in sight, As’ad could tell, but she let the younger woman slip away to retrieve her lantern and enter the house. During her absence, they discussed the new information. As’ad hadn’t truly entertained the idea of sneaking Suha out and leaving any others behind, but the knowledge that several of the captives were so young only solidified his resolve to free everyone and take permanent steps to prevent this from happening again.
By the time Suha reappeared, he had a number of questions to ask her. The slender actress crashed through the side door at a run and hurtled into the privy shack to deposit her light. As far as As’ad could tell from the lights on the second and third floor, no one was peeking out to witness her dramatic exit, but he mentally applauded her dedication to the act even as he prepared his first question.
