Asea

The bells of Beng Kishi clang in Jilian's head as she awoke. All around her it was still dark. A gentle swaying beneath her body betrayed the fact that she was aboard a ship. A bestial stink assaulted her nose. Sweat, excrement and other unspeakable smells mixed into an almost intolerable miasma. Now noises penetrated also through the steady ringing in her head. Groans, moans, cries of pain, and curses mixed with the slap of waves on a hull. Heaving a sigh, Jilian tried to sit up, but something held her fast. Only then she noticed that she was chained hand and foot. The chains were too short for her to sit up. She further noticed that her clothes had been removed. She was naked except for a loincloth. After awhile her eyes adjusted to the darkness, so that she could discern details in her surroundings. Around her were chained about twenty others. Some light penetrated through a gap in the deck. It was thus no longer night. The blow to her head must have been hard to keep her unconscious for so long. Beside her a shape moved.

"Oh, you are awake, Doma? I didn't think you would ever awake again. They must have hit you quite nicely."

"Who was that? Where are we? Who are you? Where are we going?"

"Tsleetha-tsleethi, Doma. Slowly, slowly. You are on an Argenter, which until last night lay off the coast of Vallia. Probably you were attacked and taken up ashore, like all of us. If I heard the guards correctly, this ship is from Menaham, here to take on mercenaries and slaves. But the mercenaries are nothing but masichieri and the slaves were until recently free citizens. "

"By the disgusting, dripping nostrils of Makki-Grodno! I wanted to go to Menaham, but I had already arranged for a somewhat more comfortable trip." Jilian could have bitten herself for anger.

"Hmm, I know not your Makki-Grodno, but I agree with you. There are more comfortable ways to travel. By the way, I am called Markam the Peaceable (Peaceful). "

"I am Jilian Sweettooth. You are from Vallia?" In the twilight she could see little of her conversant, but he seemed to be apim like her.

"No, I had business in Vallia and had already arranged passage to Pandahem, when I was attacked." It seemed to Jilian as if Markam wanted to conceal something. She decided to treat him with caution.

"Oh, then you must be one of Captain Nath the Barynth's passengers, who never came aboard?"

"Yes, that was the captain of Pride of Vondium. We hoped to travel aboard her to Pandahem."

"'We?"

"Yes, my friends here and I." With these words he attempted to gesture, but was immediately checked by his chains. Nath, Paline and Tarsom accompanied me on my journey."

"You are merchants?"

"Yes, something like that," answered Markam evasively. Unfortunately our official contact was out of the country at the moment and the mistrust of Vallians towards the Menaham is too great."

"You are the first Menaham I have met who want to do business with Vallians."

"Hitherto Menaham has made itself unpopular as well with all other countries of Paz. I had hoped to make a beginning of changing things."

"Well, Markam the Peaceable, it appears you have not completely succeeded," observed Jilian dryly.

"Yes, you could probably say so. And we moreover have lost our freedom."

"By Dee-Sheon! I will just see about that!"

"How will you go about this? Fettered and unarmed? Can you conjure?" Now the woman Paline spoke thus ironically. "Do you think they will let you go again so easily? Once a slave, always a slave. We will never see our freedom again."

"There is no more slavery in Vallia. The Emperor has outlawed it. No one should be slave any longer. He personally freed me from slavery, after I was taken by flutsmen and sold to Kov Colun Mogper."

"You know Kov Colun Mogper?" Sudden alarm sounded in Markam's voice.

"Know him? I hate him as much as one person can hate another." Jilian's voice trembled. "He will pay for what he did with his life."

"What did he do that was so terrible?" Was there not also a sarcastic undertone here also? "As far as I know, he did lead troops on the field against Vallia, but that does not justify personal vengeance."

"I will not discuss it. That is of concern only to me."

Paline laughed grimly. "He would have done only what almost all slaveholders do with lovely new captives. That is still nothing out of the ordinary. That is only part and parcel of being a slave."

Jilian burst into rage.

"And what do you know about it? You did not have to watch your little sister tortured to death. You did not have to stand helplessly by, as the Kov gave her to his soldiers as an object of amusement. When they had finished with her, she was dead and the Kov laughed over it. And why? Only to watch her suffer, and to watch how her suffering tormented me. I will kill him, if it is the last thing I do. By Dee Sheon, I will!"

Paline had listened with growing horror. "Jilian, I did not know. I am sorry."

"Of course you did not know. And I wanted to say nothing about it." Jilian was agitated by the memory of that terrible day. The pain in her soul was as sharp as on the day it happened.

"Jilian." Now Markam broke the ensuing silence. "Do you really believe your revenge can possibly change anything? Nothing can bring your sister back to life. Who would profit by Mogper's death? Would that heal the wounds in your soul? It would be better to hand the matter over to a proper court. Then at least justice would be had."

"A proper court? Oh, where is the court in Menaham to condemn a slaveholder? There is not justice to be had in Menaham. Only warmongers, slaveholders, and plunderers."

With each word from Jilian, Markam became a little angrier, but he kept control.

"Now, I admit, it was so for a long time. But Menaham has changed. The people of Menaham want no longer to be avoided by all other countries of Paz. They will rebel against the slaveholders and warmongers. They are tired of paying higher and higher taxes to the nobles and in return losing their children to the slave-hunters. They cry for liberty and justice, the way these have prevailed since recently in Vallia. Many have fought in Vallia and wished to join Vallia instead of destroying her. Now they go from city to city and from village to village in Menaham and recruit more and more followers to their cause, the creation of a new Menaham."

Jilian listened, fascinated, as Markam talked with more and more enthusiasm.

"You really seem to believe that it is possible. Vallian was never so depraved and corrupt as Menaham. How can you compare the two countries? The nobles in Menaham will arrest and slaughter the few followers of this movement, before the rebellion ever really gets underway. You will see."

Now Tarsom joined the discussion. His sonorous voice showed conviction.

"We have the king's son on our side. With his help we will remake Menaham."

"'We?" asked Jilian. "You are involved in this movement?"

"But yes," answered Tarsom, who, however, receiving at the same instant warning glances from Nath and Paline, immediately fell again silent.

"Then I suppose you went to Vallia to request support for your rebellion and were rejected?"

"We never even reached the Emperor of Vallia. He was not there and none of his people would trust us Menaham."

"Trust no Menaham, or it will be the last thing you do. That was taught me by my mother. And as thanks for your efforts for your movement you turn out to be taken by a Menaham slave-hunter. That is rich." Jilian grunted with amusement. "It seems to me your rebellion has ended before it began."

"Not so." Determination and conviction sounded in Markam's words. "Others will take our place and will finish what we began."

"You have begun? This is getting more and more interesting."

Paline and Nath became ever more restless. Obviously they feared that Markam and Tarsom would talk too much. They did not trust Jilian. Markam marked their nervousness and threw them a reassuring glance.

"Yes, we are among the first to spread these ideas, and therefore are already wanted criminals in Menaham. And if we do not bring it about to escape from this ship we will probably be brought before the king of Menaham and after he has had his fun with us, he will send us to be slaughtered in the arena. "

"Why should you be recognized? Are you already so well-known? Probably you will merely be sold at some slave market as a special offer."

Something provoked Jilian to poke fun again and again at Markam. She could not simply drop it.

"No, unfortunately we are in great danger of detection. We have not yet been recognized only because it was dark when we were attacked. But I recognized the captain of this ship by his voice. And he will also recognize me, if he sees me. Then our whole group will be led before the king of Menaham."

Jilian already again regretted her sarcastic words. "We must attempt escape in any case. Unfortunately I find no weak links in this chain holding me. But we will soon find a suitable opportunity and make use of it."

"You should join our movement for the liberation of Menaham! Then you will undoubtedly encounter Colun Mogper sooner or later. He is at present the right hand of the king of Menaham and second man in the realm. I am sure, however, that secretly he yearns to mount the throne. If he now defeats the rebellion with the help of the army, he has the best chance of overthrowing the King. We must prevent this by any means. I fear only that our rebellion will not succeed without outside assistance. If these slave-hunters had not taken us, our group would have sought assistance in other countries of Pandahem. It must be appealing to any reasonable monarch in Pandahem to have a peaceful Menaham."

"I have collected a regiment of Jikai Vuvushis in Vallia, in order to support the Emperor. If I can free myself, I will ask for volunteers to fight for your cause. This would be a good opportunity to destroy Mogper."

"Jikai Vuvushis?" Paline was surprised. "I had no idea that there were women allowed to carry weapons. That is not permitted to us in Menaham."

"You Menahams are indeed an evil people. Why should women not be allowed to carry weapons? I want to be able to defend myself if attacked. And why do you join rebellion, if you are unwilling to fight?"

"I am Nath's wife. I must follow him anywhere he goes. That is as it should be."

"That is no better than slavery. I do and leave undone what I wish. What do you then think of the rebellion? Do you also want a new Menaham is that only your Nath's desire? If it does not match your own wishes, you should not also be involved."

"How can you say such a thing? That is obscene! A woman has to follow her man and do his will. For such was she born."

"Enough!" growled Nath. "It is proper. Markam, you should speak no further to this Vallian slut. I have clearly told you that nothing good comes from Vallia. We must fight for our liberty and self-determination alone, lest the Vallians and other foreigners completely flood us with their strange and obscene ideas. We want to overthrow the government, not change our entire way of life." After this long speech Nath lapsed back into silence.

"Nath, Nath, when will you finally understand, that this is exactly what I want? Unless we also change our way of life, we will never be able to live in peace with other peoples. And really why shouldn't it be that women may enjoy their own opinions, self-determination, and freedom of choice? Why shouldn't they be allowed to carry weapons? Only because they are women? That is quite primitive and backward. Menaham must change and her people, too, if she wants to survive."

"And I tell you, that is wrong. A woman is unable to make her own decisions. She lacks the necessary understanding. Queyd-arn-tung. There is nothing more to be said."

"You will soon understand, Nath. And you, too, Paline, learn from Jilian instead of insulting her!"

Jilian had several times taken a deep breath and prepared an outraged answer to Nath. Each time, however, Markam had shushed her. Now he regarded her apologetically and shrugged.

"Now you see how backward we still are, Jilian? It will not suffice to overthrow the King and replace him with another. No, we ourselves must change, in order to co-exist with the other peoples of Paz. The common people of Menaham are merely exploited and are no more malicious than others. I have spent some years in other countries. That opened my eyes. But the best model is Vallia. If we emulate the Vallians, we will be able to reconcile with the other peoples of Pandahem defend ourselves against other enemies, while Menaham comes into a new Renaissance."

"Other enemies? You mean Vallia or Hamal?" Jilian asked sharply, alarmed.

"No, I mean these new enemies, who for some time have come across the sea and threaten our coasts."

"Diffs with fish faces? Wild, warlike marauders, who destroy everything in their path?"

"You know these creatures?"

"They are Shanks. Everywhere in Paz they attack the coasts and try to conquer whatever they can. It is an invasion against which we must all stand together. Alone, no nation can resist this powerful enemy. If Menaham could indeed finally decide to make peace with Vallia and other countries, it would be a powerful and welcome ally. It would be really necessary."

The discussion trailed off and each mused to him- or herself.

Close to noon the slaves were doused with a few buckets of sea-water and received some foul-smelling mush to eat and some stagnant, brackish water to drink. It was hot belowdecks and some of the prisoners continuously moaned to themselves.

That night nightmares returned such as Jilian had not had for a long time. The discussions of the day and the memory of her sister's death had thoroughly upset her. In her dream she relived the last minutes of her sister's life again and again. She heard the sickening, evil laugh of Colun Mogper. She saw into her sister's eyes, which had regarded her with their last tormented glance. Then her gaze went blank and only the laughter of Mogper echoed in her ears.

When Jilian awoke, she felt miserable and completely exhausted. And not only because of the hard deck and the chains.

In the following days her only pastime was discussion with Markam and his companions. They were fed once a day and were occasionally doused with water. For the typical Kregan, who takes at least five meals a day and counts among his or her favorite leisure activities the Baths of the Nine, this treatment was intolerable and humiliating. When a prisoner weakened and died, he was unchained and thrown overboard. Eventually they lost all sense of time. But even this journey had an end. One day the roar of the sea changed. Jilian heard the waves breaking on rocks. Shortly after the sails were furled and the anchors dropped into the water.