John Brosnan - The Sky Lords

Jan attracted attention along the way, most of it antagonistic. Men, and quite a few women, jeered at her, calling her ‘amazon’, ‘earthworm’, ‘earth-scum’, and worse. At one point an angry man stepped in front of Tanith and demanded by what right he brought a disease-ridden earthworm into the centre of their town. Tanith put his hand meaningfully on the hilt of his sword and told the man to get out of their way. The man did so, but not before spitting at Jan.

A short time later Jan was caught off her emotional balance when a woman stepped up beside her and said to Tanith, “The child looks famished, soldier. May I give her this?” And she extended a large, red apple to Jan. Jan’s stomach immediately started to rumble, though at the same time she was suspicious of the gesture. Was there something wrong with the apple? Was it poisoned?

Tanith gave a shrug. Jan took the apple and mumbled her thanks to the woman. She studied the apple suspiciously but her stomach overruled the misgivings of her head and she bit hungrily into it. It was full of juice and tasted delicious. At that moment she didn’t give a damn if it was poisoned.

She was just finishing the apple when Tanith came to an unexpected halt in front of her and she bumped into his back. He took hold of her wrist and said gruffly, “Through here. …”

They had stopped in front of an open doorway which had a sign above it reading: THE GUILD OF GLASS WALKERS. Jan realized that this might be her last chance to try and escape from Tanith; despite her weakness from lack of food she was confident she was still capable of knocking him unconscious with a quick, surprise blow. The problem was where could she possibly escape to after that?. Swift recapture would be almost certain, and then would come the long drop. …

So she allowed Tanith to push her through the doorway and into a dimly-lit lobby. Two men were lounging on a low bench against a wall while a third sat behind a big desk made of wicker work. All three men were heavily built and dressed in black one-piece suits. Unlike the other sky people Jan had seen so far they were heavily tanned.

The one behind the desk put down the cup he’d been drinking from and said cheerfully, “Is this our new earthworm, Warrior Tanith?”

Tanith gave her a shove forward. “She is indeed.”

The man looked Jan up and down in the same slow way as the man in the quarantine room had. This time, at least, she wasn’t naked but it felt as if his eyes could see right through her clothing and her skin crawled just the same.

“Benny,” said the man. “Take them through to the boss.”

One of the men sitting on the bench got up and beckoned that they should follow him. Jan noticed that his only weapon seemed to be a small club hanging from his wide leather belt. He led them down a short corridor, then through a doorway and into a large room filled with a haze of perfumed smoke. The walls were hung with crude tapestries and large cushions covered most of the floor. Sitting on a pile of these cushions in the centre of the floor was the fattest man Jan had ever seen. To be totally accurate he was the only fat man Jan had ever seen—obesity being unknown among the Minervans. She supposed he must have weighed at least two hundred and fifty pounds. His one-piece garment, decorated with coloured designs, revealed massive rolls of fat around his stomach, chest and thighs, and his neck was so fat he seemed to have no chin at all.

But he wasn’t the only odd sight in that room. Kneeling behind the fat man on the pile of cushions, and gently massaging the back of his huge neck, was a young girl who, at first glance, appeared to Jan to be entirely naked. However Jan then saw that the girl was wearing a very small loin cloth that was little more than a few strips of leather. Her lack of clothing, and the obsequious expression the girl wore as she kneaded the fat man’s neck, made Jan feel both ashamed for her and disgusted.

“Aha, the amazon!” exclaimed the fat man in his deep voice as Tanith pushed her forward. “And a meaty little item she is too, by the look of her.”

As he leered at her Jan had the horrible thought that he was going to make her undress as well but to her relief he simply chuckled and said to Tanith, “She’ll make a dandy glass walker. Are there any other amazons to be had?”

Tanith explained what had happened. The fat man made sounds of regret then reached under one of the cushions and brought out a small leather bag that jingled metallically when he shook it. “Your agreed price, soldier,” he said and tossed the bag to Tanith. “You may go now.”

Tanith slipped the bag into his belt pouch without checking the contents. “Thank you, Guild Master,” he said then turned and exited quickly from the room. Jan felt a mild regret to see him go. He may have been her captor but he had been a tenuous link with her former life. She stared anxiously at the fat man, who had now picked up a wooden implement from a bowl in front of him and was sucking on it. Smoke poured out of the end, to Jan’s wonder.

“Well, amazon,” he said, “I hope you appreciate your position and don’t intend any displays of disobedience. I trust the consequences of such behaviour have been explained to you?”

She nodded and tried to look meek.

“Good. You look as if you’ll be a valuable worker. I’d hate to lose you too soon. And mind you obey whichever of my male slaves ends up with you. I hear you’ve been trying to keep up any of that Minervan foolishness and I’ll have you whipped. You live in a man’s world now, amazon, where women have no power at all.” He suddenly laughed. “Not that my late wife ever did accept that fact of life.”

The other man laughed too but abruptly stopped when the fat man’s expression grew serious again. “Hmmm, it occurs to me that a spicy little piece of meat like this may cause trouble among the slaves. Benny, when you take her to the quarters you’d better stay awhile and supervise the argument over who gets her. Try and make a decision that will cause the least friction.”

“I understand, boss.”

Jan was wishing now that she had gone back into the cage with the other women. There was no way she was going to become the carnal property of some brutish male slave. She would have no choice but to defend herself, an action which would end, sooner or later, in her death. The sooner she could find a way of setting off her bomb, the better.

The fat man was reaching again into the bowl from which he’d extracted the smoking implement. This time he took out a small metal rod with a star on the end of it. The star was glowing red. He sighed. “I’m afraid there is a slight unpleasantness to attend to before you can be on your way, amazon. Please come here and kneel before me.”

Jan saw at once what he intended to do, though she didn’t know where exactly he intended to do it, and took an instinctive step backward. Immediately a powerful hand closed around the back of her neck and she was stopped from moving any further.

The fat man shook his head, making all the fat beneath his mouth wobble obscenely, then said sadly, “You must never ever disobey me, girl. But as you have just arrived I shall be lenient. Benny, just a quick touch of your razzle stick, if you please.”

Before Jan knew what was happening she saw, out of the corner of her eye, the man apply the tip of what she had thought was a club to her upper right arm. She discovered instantly it was no club. Every nerve cell throughout her entire body seemed to burst into flame. She experienced agony infinitely beyond anything she thought the Mother God would allow to exist in Her universe. She screamed. …

Then the pain was gone and she was on her knees and retching fluid on to the floor. She’d emptied her bladder too, she realized, but nothing mattered now that the terrible pain was gone. And when Benny then dragged her closer to the fat man, who deftly applied the red hot, star-shaped brand to her right cheek, she didn’t even make a sound. She just stared into the empty eyes of the other girl who continued to massage the fat man’s neck even as he applied the brand. Jan no longer felt contempt for her. To avoid being touched again by that black stick she was prepared, at that moment, to take the girl’s place and do exactly the same.