Master Asuras entered the room with Sister Emorgen. They were soon joined about an unmasked chief, who I recognized was the person who had seen to us after the mine car trip. The henchmen stood at attention and gave their superiors a stiff and cordial bow. Edde prompted us to do the same. We followed her example of keeping our heads lowered in their presence. Although, my head kept inching upwards as I peered at them.

They talked for some time amongst themselves until the chief called out to me.

“Girl. Who said you can raise your head?”

My eyes darted to Kalia and Edde who were doing their best to keep out of his line of sight.

“Um, well, my neck was getting stiff, sir.” I responded with a lame answer that prompted the chief to stomp his way toward me.

I felt his heated gaze on the top of my head.

“Look at me.”

I stared into his small gray eyes, which held an expression of sternness but also a feeling of jadedness. His squarish jaw was clean-shaven but showing tiny nicks and scars. A long scar was visible to the side of his thick and reddish neck. My eyes darted to his carpet of graying blond hair shaved low to his scalp.

He held my eyes for sometime with a thought brewing before stepping back to say his next words.

“Your eyes are definitely black.”

I blinked with a hope that it wasn’t a statement to bring me more troubles.

“Aren’t they? A rare color indeed.” Master Asuras added, sounding proud of the fact.

However, it made the room go heavy with tension. I felt an astute glare aimed at me from Sister Emorgen.

“Well, while we’re talking, we’re taking away the time these boys have for learning the skill.” He added to change the subject.

He gave the four henchmen a gesture that they could remove their helmets.

My heart raced at seeing our friends again. I noticed Troy’s eyes lingering on Kalia who averted his gaze, looking less impressed to see him.

Master Asuras formally introduced us to the chief, who we came to know as Chief Randall. He was something of a commander of the Rose Reach barracks and a rank higher than Chief Morrisett, even if they were both titled chiefs.

It seemed there were various seniority levels of chief’s depending on their scope of responsibilities. Chief Randall controlled the henchman tower as well the commanding forces within the Upper-East quadrant of The Zone. Whereas, Chief Morrisett managed a squadron on the Lower-East quadrant. That difference in importance between them was what gave weight to opinions amongst their peers and within their order. Combining this with their external influence, which saw slave ownership as the added value to the public. Rose Reach contained many slave guards to Anwar’s Henchmen Order. More so than the other religious sects and factions. So, the temple held a lot of sway within The Zone. So much so, that dedicated sign language training could be given to three henchmen. Otherwise, they probably wouldn’t have bothered.

“You, black eyed girl, you better have my men fluent with the fingers by the end of the month.” Chief Randall stepped up close to eyeball me. “Or I’ll cut out your tongue and fry it for breakfast.”

I held his stare, not flinching or backing down.

“Duly noted,” I nonchalantly said whilst picking wax from my ear and blowing the residue off my fingertip.

Kalia and Edde cringed and shuffled away from me.

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“Insolent girl! I’ll flog you for your rudeness.” Sister Emorgen snapped at me.

An expression of pleasant surprise was visible on Chief Randell's face before it was resettled to his usual stern, crankiness. A smile twitched the corner of his lips. “Sister Emorgen. No need to go to extremes. She is my men’s trainer. Certainly can't have her keeling over too soon.”

He turned, but said over his shoulder, “I can see the master’s interests now.”

He coolly left the room, with Sister Emorgen following his lead.

Master Asuras gathered us into one circle and had us sit down.

“Excellent. Now that pleasant introductions are out of the way. Let me go over the process.”

That was pleasant introductions? I brushed off my thoughts on the matter and attentively listened to the training method the master laid out before us.

Khes, Troy, Zak and their squad leader, Quicksilver, were going to live in the dungeon section of the temple whilst we were training them. During the training session, we were exempt from all other duties.

I raised my hand.

“Yes, Neven.”

“Master Asuras. Don’t yah think plonking our guests in a dungeon cell is hostile and not hospitable?”

Quicksilver stifled his coarse chuckle.

Master Asuras laughed. “They won’t be in dungeon cells, Neven. No, they will be stationed at the guard quarters at the dungeon entrance. When they’re not training here, they will be on temple guard duty.”

“Aah.” I blushed, thinking that would’ve been the obvious arrangement. And felt awkward by the weird stare that squad leader was giving me.

He flashed me a wink and gulped at Edde’s curt glare. Master Asuras continued his information session, oblivious of the exchanges.

The training would occur from dawn to dusk without breaks. The boys would be tested by a senior on the day shift guard duty roster every day. Should they fail to replicate the conversation they had been learning, they would be punished.

“And what happens if they can never learn the language?” Kalia asked

“Kalia. They have no choice but learn. A lot of effort is being spent on them. More than any other slave guard, and for a certain reason. Failure is not an option.”

I nodded and smiled at my friends. “They’ll be the best sign language freaks in all of Rose Reach by month’s end.”

Master Asuras bellowed with laughter, which rang around the room. “Excellent! Then I leave them in your care, girls.”

Edde had been observing the exchanges quietly and carefully from her spot. Now that she and Quicksilver were the seniors in the room, she was the focus of attention.

I noticed her keen glare for her counterpart.

Quicksilver was indeed good-looking with near flawless dark-toned skin saved for a few fine scars here and there. A nice set of round brown eyes, broad nose, thin mouth on a squarish jaw and against a wide chin. His reddish-brown hair was cropped short in small and stylish layers, with a short, wispy fringe framing his forehead. Whereas his juniors had their hair shaved low to their scalp, so it was the same length all over. On Khes and Zak it made their features more manly. But on Troy, it made him seem younger.

The men’s necks were covered to their chins. I glanced at their helmets, wondering what it was like to wear it all the time. Quicksilver clapped his hands to draw his attention to me, and signed if I wanted to take a closer look at his.

“No, thank yah.” I signed my response.

“You signed thank you to me last time, too.” He smoothly signed.

I frowned.

He explained that he had been with us from the Shadow River fields as we entered The Zone, and believed it was providence when Zak, Khes and Troy became members of his first squad.

“Then yuh better not let yuh changers down. And let’s not give our masters and seniors a reason to be disappointed with their decisions,” Edde soberly added and prompted me and Kalia to start with the training.

“You know sign language?” I asked Edde, not hiding my surprise.

“Hurry up.” She sternly responded.

I rose and saw pieces of charcoal near one of the blank walls, and began to draw the alphabet. Kalia stood next to me. We began our teaching.

We didn’t stop; only pausing to catch our breath and not burn out, but no one wanted to be left behind. The light was waning in the sky to indicate sundown when one of Quicksilver’s peers entered the room to test the men. Khes and Zak had passed, but Troy had stumbled on one word to sign it wrong. So all three of them were punished with no meals for one day. They could only live on water during this time.

It was then that we parted ways. They would begin their guard duties that would last for a few hours, then given a few more to sleep before commencing with the training the next day.