The stages of Atra Oblor and Ethana, both of which are theocracies, are ranked like their clergy. First comes Acolyte, followed by Disciple, then Preacher, Pastor, Priest and then High Priest. For Atra Oblor, the highest Stage is called Dorn, and, for Ethana, the highest Stage is Diviner.

Excerpt: An Examination of Power – Shouza Namano

It had been a little over two weeks since Sammath had arrived in the camp and, if he were being honest, slavery wasn’t nearly as fun as he’d been hoping. Serving people for free was something he’d been doing all his life, something all Volkarians had learnt from birth, but this wasn’t serving someone because you loved and respected them. Slavery was… different. As a slave, Sammath was forced to work himself to the bone for people he’d never cared about and for no return on his effort. Slavery was a perversion of humble servitude and, if he was being honest, Sammath… hated it.

Hating something was, to say the least, a new experience for Sammath. Sammath had never felt such strong negative feelings for something in his life, but he embraced the novelty of the emotion. After all, he had left Volkar to learn about the world and to experience new things. Sammath mentally shrugged, though; he was enjoying his newfound friend, Ashoka. Ashoka knew a great many things about enchanting, a topic Sammath knew nothing of, and Sammath found himself enjoying the discussions he had with the younger boy.

Over the past week, though, Ashoka had been getting a little uneasy and Sammath was getting slightly concerned about the boy. Then there was that girl… he’d barely said anything more than a few words to her, in fact no one had. In every way, she played the despondent, meek slave. But Sammath knew she was a lot more than she appeared. Every night, she was the last one awake in the hut, Sammath could tell by the Motion of her heart, and Sammath knew she’d been paying close attention to everything.

Some nights, she woke up when she’d thought no one could detect her and wandered around the camp. Sammath could feel her Motion, though, whenever she left the hut and, if he focussed enough, could see a little bit of the distance outside the walls and could tell she was up to something. One night, he’d gotten up to go to the bathroom and test a theory and, while the Motion of the woman’s breathing and sleep hadn’t changed, he knew she was awake as soon as he’d sat up, simply based on the increase in her heart rate and the Motion of her eyes behind her eyelids.

Sammath was drawn out of his thoughts as he felt the Motion of one of the guards behind him. Stepping to the side, the whip that he’d seen the Motion of snapped past him and hit the wall. Sammath hid a small smile as the guard missed him; at least dodging whips was fun. According to what Sammath had heard the guards complaining about, he was the last misbehaving prisoner who had yet to be marred by a whip and Sammath took a great deal of petty pleasure in his status as a troublemaker.

All too slowly, the day ended, and Sammath found himself strolling back with Ashe, dodging the occasional strike from a guard and freeing himself whenever they tried to tie him up with ropes or shackles. While they’d mostly given up on trying to chain Sammath, they still did it occasionally and he still took joy in escaping.

Sammath jauntily strolled down the path towards the camp, twirling around the rope that the guards had tried to tie him up with. Ashe looked over at him, “I don’t understand how you can be so cheery”.

“It’s easy,” Sammath responded, sticking out his tongue at one of the nearby guards, “I just make the best of things. Even if that happens to be slavery that I willingly put myself into.”

“What do you mean willingly put yourself into?”

“Oh right,” Sammath said, “I forgot to tell you how I got here, didn’t I? Yeah… I left my island so that I could explore the world. Thought slavery might be fun. So far, though, I’m not a fan. I’d rate it a three out of fourteen, would not recommend.”

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Ashe choked back a little laugh before his face, once again, turned sombre, “Why’d you make it out of fourteen? Everyone else uses ten because, you know, we have ten fingers.”

Sammath shrugged, “Why wouldn’t I? There’s no reason not to, after all.”

Ashe was a little stumped by the question so, even if he felt it was weird to count in fourteens, he didn’t have any comeback. Ashe and Sammath walked a little further along the path in silence before the younger boy spoke up again, “So… do you think we’re ever gonna get outta here?”

“Of course,” Sammath answered with certainty, “In fact, if I wasn’t certain that something interesting was going to happen soon, I wouldn’t be here right now.”

“You really think something interesting is going to happen soon?” Ashe asked the older boy, wringing his hands.

“You haven’t noticed our roommate’s infrequent trips out at night?” Sammath asked the younger boy. When Ashe said nothing, Sammath knew he had his answer, “Perhaps we’ll have to work on your awareness while sleeping, then. Even I, someone who tries to see the best in things, knows that it’s folly to sleep in unfamiliar territory without being aware of what’s happening around you”

“Thanks,” Ashe was quiet in his response but, to Sammath at least, he sounded relieved. For the life of him, Sammath couldn’t figure out why Ashe would be relieved, but he also didn’t really care. If it mattered, he would find out eventually.

After a few more minutes of walking, Sammath and the rest of the group came up to the Runed walls of the camp. Sammath skipped inside, ignoring the glowers of the guards. Once everyone else had had their chains removed, Sammath dragged Ashe to the baths before all of the other prisoners could fill them up. As the two stripped down to their undergarments and grabbed some soap, they chatted lightly.

Sammath eased himself into the cold water and pushed the Motion of the water so that all of the dirt swiftly flowed away from him when he scrubbed himself off. Ashe and Sammath relaxed a little bit more as the water ran around them. After a few minutes, though, they both got out of the water and dried themselves off with the ratty towels they’d been given.

Laying down on their beds, Ashe and Sammath talked for the next half hour while some of the other slaves made dinner. All of them were on a week-long rotation to make dinner for the rest of the slaves, each having one night that they were scheduled to cook. As the sun was touching the edge of the horizon, Sammath and Ashe made their way to the food tent and grabbed their daily ration of gruel.

Poking it with his finger, Sammath internally grimaced, but he plastered a smile on his face anyway, “You know, Ashe, I don’t think very many people have experienced cuisine quite like this.” Ashe snorted, the gunk flying from his mouth and more dribbling from out of his nose.

“Awwww,” Ashe groaned, putting down his bowl and, shaking his hands free of the so-called food, he cleaned up his face as well, “Thank you sooo much for making me get this all over me.”

Sammath grinned in response, “You’re quite welcome.”

Ashe rolled his eyes and went back to cleaning himself up. He couldn’t help the smile that spread across his lips, though, and Sammath started eating his food, satisfied that the younger boy’s mind had been distracted from whatever was worrying him. Sammath finished up the gruel and dropped the plate into a pile with the other dishes.

Not for the first time, he thanked whatever gods were out there that they were being treated somewhat humanely. From the tales of the Elders on Volkar, Sammath knew how poorly some of the great powers treated even their own citizens, let alone their slaves. As Ashe finished up, Sammath grabbed the boy and took him back to the tent; he didn’t want to spend too much time in the eyes of the guards. Entering the cool shade of the tent, Sammath went straight to his cot and lay down. Spreading out his Motion Sight, Sammath could tell that there wasn’t anyone nearby.

“So, Ashe” Sammath spoke to get the younger boys attention while he put his arms behind his head and relaxed, “What’ve you been on edge about all day?”

Ashe started in Sammath’s Motion Sight and then checked to see if Sammath was looking at him. Sammath nearly grinned at how pointless it was. He could still see Ashe anytime he moved and, well, people moved a lot.

“I just want to get out of here, y’know. I never meant to end up here. I just wanted to get out of Shinia, not get into a slave camp.”

Sammath nodded, though he didn’t think that was the actual cause for Ashe to be so antsy. Talking for another hour, Sammath eventually decided to get some rest and bid Ashe goodnight.

Sammath closed his eyes and kept his Motion Sight open so, when Ashe began getting up in the middle of the night, he was surprised by the boy’s movement. Sammath opened his mouth and whispered to the boy, “Ashe, are you alright?”

Sammath saw the boy’s head as it turned backwards slightly. A red glow emanated from his eyes and Sammath frowned internally, hoping that he wasn’t planning on using magic. When Ashe spoke, his voice sounded… different. It was gruffer, “No. I’m just going to the bathroom.”

Sammath didn’t really believe him but, figuring he probably shouldn’t interfere, decided not to say anything to get Ashe’s attention.