Skana knew the meaning of that scream. She didn’t even have to hear the sound of the whip’s crack to know the cause. ‘Just like when Bodger used to keep the ambitious and foolish in line… and like how demihumans would amuse themselves to induce fear in their food before eating…’

She shivered at the memory, briefly shutting her eyes against the recollection of a nightmare, her feet began to move of their own accord, racing toward the source as fast as she could, she arrived to see people departing from the marble steps, some faces filled with sadistic prurience, twisted with desires they would have to go elsewhere to satisfy.

Most however, were pale faced as if they’d seen a ghost, like life itself ran from their flesh in fear of the pain they witnessed.

Skana pushed her way, squeezing around and through the crowd until she reached the stairs, the smell of sweat and cowardice thick in her nose well before she burst past the last of the commoners and found herself staring down the long rows of empty seating to find a pair of guards crouched over a limp, prone frame with a back torn to shreds and turned to streaks of red.

She froze, staring at the armored men whose hands stretched out toward the Maiden of the Door, Skana recalled that same screaming voice on the wall of Prioche, and her scream of defiance toward the demihuman hordes, buying precious seconds for reinforcements to come to her place on the wall before it could be overrun. ‘If you want my life, come and take it!’ The heroic defiance and mad, blood furied eyes had been enough to slow even the creatures of predation that fed on humans without hesitation.

And now that woman lay on her belly atop stone stained with blood and flesh ripped free… and Skana’s wrath overflowed.

“Take your hands off her!” She howled and raced down the steps in great leaps and bounds, skipping ten or twenty steps at a time as she ate up the distance, her arms and legs pumping and heart racing, the thought that the two full plate armored men whose halberds lay close at hand might take her to be a threat did not occur to Skana. There was only one place to be, all else was irrelevant even if it were a danger.

However, the pair did not reach for their weapons, instead they withdrew their hands, and after a shared nod, they removed their helmets instead, just as Skana reached the unconscious Speranzi.

“What were you about to do to her?! What happened here! What have you done!” She fell to her knees and thrust her hands down to check and see if her worst fear had come true. ‘Please… please don’t die… don’t be dead… please don’t let her die…’ Skana begged something… anything, to hear her prayers, and held her hand against Speranzi’s lips.

She felt the caress of breath and sighed with relief, before she could say more, the guards spoke up.

“This one, you know her?” The first of them asked.

“I do! I’m her… subordinate.” Skana answered, “Now what happened here?!” She asked and finding Speranzi’s ripped tunic lying on the stone, she leaned back, grabbed it, and began to slip her commander’s arms through it. “I’ve got to get her out of here…”

“A trial… if you want to call it that.” The other said with disgust. I, we… didn’t do it to her. Dominatus Rishalu, the head priest for the entire city had it done. She demanded a trial… she must not have known how things work here…” He muttered.

“Fifty lashes… fifty god damn lashes and she didn’t make a sound until the last one.” The first one spoke in awe, “I’ve seen people rip their throats from screaming after two.”

“She’s strong.” Skana said and pulled Speranzi’s limp body toward her, “I need to get her back to camp, we have a healer there.”

“I wouldn’t advise that. You’ll get him in trouble if you try to take her out of here like that. Better to take her to an inn, sneak the healer in.” The second of the pair explained. “There’s things here you don’t threaten or challenge, the debt leverage is one of them.” The second of the pair spoke up and shuddered.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“If you know… had a hand in this somehow, why stay…?” Skana trailed off as their heads bowed.

“My pa died in a mine because he couldn’t pay back a debt to the city.” The first of them groused.

“My wife had a hard birth for my son, I’m still paying the debt back. I’m lucky I’m a city guard, I got good terms, but if it happened with my first before I joined… I’d probably be in a mine outside of Wenmark by now making friends with a pickaxe. You can’t make a human a slave, miss, but you can make em right close if they poor enough. She had somethin’ to say about that… I was just going to help her, I swear. It was the last I could do… same for us both…”

“I’ll do that.” Skana said, “But as for you two, if I were you… if the others know you stayed back to take care of her, I’d think about clearing out of the city as soon as you can. I hope I don’t have to explain why.”

The pair swallowed thick lumps in their throats.

They thrust their hands into the pouches at their sides, withdrew a handful of coins, and thrust them toward Skana. “The inn across from here, tell the doorkeeper Sudaj said not to ask any questions. He’ll take you through a back entrance. And make it quick.”

“Thank you.” Skana said when she looked down at the coins pressed into the palm of her hands. “I’ll take care of her from here.” She promised and with the help of the pair of guards, she hefted the limp woman onto her back, arms draped over her shoulder while the first of the pair picked up Speranzi’s armor and gear.

“I’ll at least carry her things, you get going, Sudaj.” The guard grunted out as he hefted the material with a grunt.

“Fine, join me later, Gil.” Sudaj answered him and cast an anxious eye up at the wooden towers in which archers stood watching. A knot formed in his stomach as he stood up after grabbing his halberd again. Then on long, steady steps, he walked away.

Long hours over what now felt like long years, made Skana strong enough that rushing up the steps with her commander on her back was not that difficult, she clung to the sweat stained pants and asked, “Were they just going to leave her here?!”

“Yes. She wasn’t sentenced to death because she’s of noble birth, but if nobody came for her, she’d have been left there to just…” Gil didn’t finish his sentence. Skana’s grip on her leader’s thighs tightened a little.

“Damn…” Skana muttered under her breath as she emerged onto the street, she got a few looks from passersby, but thanks to the general darkness, few saw the drops of red that fell from the shredded back to stain the stones of the city interior.

“Let me get the room, you just go around the side.” Gil urged as they rushed across the square.

Skana did not so much as nod, she just did as the guard urged and raced along the side of the building, watching out of the corner of her eye as the platemail armored guard addressed a modestly well dressed young woman clad in white shirt and a short blue dress that hung loose around her knees.

She lost sight of them and turned into an alley between the inn and another building of unknown purpose, then turned to face the street and wait. “You’ll be okay, I promise. I promise you.” Skana spoke to the unconscious woman and tried not to think of the blood that was trailing down into the tight space between Skana’s fingers before falling away to the dirty ground of the unkempt alley.

Skana did not have to wait long.

The woman appeared a moment later, her red hair done up in a tight bun behind her head, she raced past Skana and reached to the belt around her waist to draw out a key. She then nudged a pair of stacked crates out of the way and shoved a key into a latch on a door that was less ‘wood’ and more a termite city.

“It isn’t much, but it’ll have to do. Tell Sudaj this makes us square. And tell him I said he’s a greedy asshole.” The woman said and swung the door open, she slapped the wall and a glowstone began to pulse, bathing the room in low white light.

There was a bed against a far wall, far from luxurious, it was at least cleaner than Skana expected, it even had a basin of water, a pillow of cloth wrapped straw, and a thin rough wool blanket.

The rest of the room was just crates and barrels, mostly dusty from lack of attention. “Be gone before tomorrow night, or I won’t be held responsible for anything.”

“Understood.” Skana answered and raced down the steps.

Gil followed, setting the halberd aside, he reached under Speranzi’s arms to allow Skana to move freely, and together they awkwardly but gently laid the limp body on her belly on the bed.

“Thank you. Now I’ve really got it from here, you shouldn’t be here, Gil, you might get in trouble.” Skana remarked, but had only the corner of her eye turned up toward the tall soldier.

“Yeah… yeah, and it’s not ‘Gil’ it’s short for ‘Gilcrest’. Actually… no, just call me Gil. If we ever meet again, I mean. And… when she wakes up, tell her I said she’s the bravest woman I’ve ever seen.” He swallowed hard, then took his weapon in hand again as Skana gave a tiny nod of acknowledgement, and left the pair alone, closing the door behind them and leaving with the red haired servant.