Steel Maiden (10 page)

“There’s no one here but us, Kayla.” Helen
shrugged and turned back to me

“You’re tall and fit. You have the most
beautiful raven hair I’ve ever seen. It’s a little dry, but I’m
sure if you rubbed in a little oil and ate
proper
meals for
a month it would be glorious. You have cheekbones to die for, and
your dark almond-shaped eyes give you a real exotic look. You’re
really quite stunning.”

Her face became serious. “Even as I child,
you would have been beautiful. They would have discovered you. How
is it that you’re a grown woman? How did they not find you?”

I could see a flash of painful memory spread
across her delicate features.

“Maybe she’s highborn?” said the one with
the tanned skin. Her coffee-colored eyes sparkled, and a tiny smirk
made its way to her face.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Triss. She’s
not
highborn,” said Kayla, before I could reply.

I was pretty sure she was about my age, but
she looked down at me like she was about to scold a child.

“The state of your nails and your clothes,
and the way you carry yourself more like a soldier than a lady—you
might look highborn, but you can’t fool me.”

I hid my anger and smiled. “Never said that
I was.”

“She’s a witch, didn’t you hear?” Triss’
white teeth glistened as she smiled.

“Witches can change their appearance. My mom
told me that. It’s the only explanation that makes sense. There’s
no way she could have hidden for so long. She shape-changed into a
cat. Didn’t you?”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m
not
a
witch.”

“What then?” pressed Helen. Her cheeks
reddened, and she put her delicate hands on her hips. “How did you
do it?”

Although it was Helen who had asked, I could
tell that all the women were dying to hear how I’d escaped the
clutches of the priests for so long. They had stopped moving, and
their eyes fixed on me. While they were obviously intrigued, I
could also see that they were angry with me. It was unfair that I
had escaped for so long while they had been trapped.

I didn’t want to lie to them, and somewhere
I felt that I owed them the truth. They had been here for years,
probably since they were eleven or twelve years old. My stomach
twisted at the thought of the priests soiling their innocence.

I tugged on my towel.

“After my mother died when I was ten,” I
began, not wanting to tell them that she had been murdered by my
father, “I was placed in the care of a barren woman. There was a
trap door under our living area, and I’d hide there when we had
unwelcome company. The priests knew she could never have children,
so they seldom came by. But sometimes they did. They had heard
rumors over the years, and they would come and check periodically,
just to make sure. I was lucky.”

“Until now,” said Helen.

It was almost as if she were glad that I had
finally been discovered. It was plain that they all felt that it
hadn’t been fair that I’d escaped the clutches of the priests for
so long. I saw a hint of envy in their faces. And even if I wanted
to hate them for it, I couldn’t. If I’d been one of them, I’d hate
me too.

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” said Kayla, and
we all looked at her. “They own you now.”

Even if I knew this, it still stung when she
said it. She shook her head disapprovingly.

“This is a fool’s race. You’re going to get
yourself killed.”

“So I’ve been told.”

She was right. I was a fool participating in
a fool’s race for a group of men I detested. I almost trusted them
enough to explain why I was really entering the race, but I
couldn’t risk Rose’s life by telling them that the high priest was
blackmailing me.

Although they resented me, I could see that
they were also sympathetic. Maybe because they thought I’d be dead
soon. Maybe they were right. A life as a priest’s concubine was
better than no life. I couldn’t believe I was thinking this, when
just two weeks ago I’d sworn that I’d take my own life rather than
become a concubine.

They dressed me in silence, and it only made
me feel worse. But I brightened at the sight of my new clothes:
a long-sleeved green linen tunic with a leather
bodice,
a pair of soft leather leggings, knee high leather
boots, and a black cloak made of the finest wool I’d ever touched.
All my life I’d had hand-me-downs, and most of the time I’d made my
own clothes from rags that even the people of the Pit considered
trash.

I stood there gaping like a lovesick girl. I
was immediately struck with a profound sense of guilt because, for
a moment, I’d forgotten where the clothes had come from.

When they were finished dressing me, Triss
stood behind me and weaved my hair into one long braid.

“There,” said Triss. She held me by the
shoulders and faced me.

“You look beautiful.”

I envied her perfect smile and her sparkling
white teeth.

I smiled in spite of myself. “Thank
you.”

I had never really thought of myself as
beautiful. Rose had said it often enough, but with the priests
always on the lookout for me, I wore it like a shadow. My good
looks were a curse, just as they were for these women.

“That’s enough, Triss. She’s had enough
pampering.”

Kayla was all business now. She straightened
to her full height, at least two inches more than the rest of us.
“Come along now. This way.”

We all filed behind Kayla as she took us out
of the bath area and down another corridor. The only sounds were
the soft soles of my boots padding on the polished stone.

The blood pulsed in my ears. I feared the
priests, and I feared the race that I knew nothing about.

And after what felt like an eternity, Kayla
pushed open the doors to the front entrance.

When the fresh air first hit me, I nearly
laughed out loud. The clamor of voices in the distance was stirring
and exciting, and it burst our silence.

We passed through the holy district where
priests’ houses lined the streets. Their limestone walls sparkled
in the early sun, and I was disgusted at their beauty. As soon as
we entered the merchant district, the voices grew louder.

Crowds surged between the trees that lined
the broad avenues, and music bellowed around us. We made our way
down the cobblestone streets, and I could see black flags with gold
suns flapping above grand buildings and villas. Noblemen, women,
and children in colorful gowns of the richest silks waved small
temple flags and paraded in the streets.

I was shocked at the display of sparkling
jewels. Just one of their trinkets would have fed Rose and me for
years.

Merchants stood by kiosks filled with exotic
meats, and servant girls filled the goblets of the wealthy with
wine. Although the smell of roasting meat and spices was almost
overwhelming, it couldn’t suppress the fear that twisted my
insides.

This is it. This is how it starts.

I followed the line of courtesans through
the streets of Soul City, but no one paid any attention to the
gorgeous, nearly naked women who walked by with their heads held
high and their shoulders back. I couldn’t help but admire their
courage. I wasn’t entirely sure I
could
do what they did.
They were by far the most beautiful women in the city, and I’m sure
they pulled courage from that. But even then, they were still the
priests’ property. It didn’t matter how beautiful they were—they
were still slaves.

The people of Anglia were more interested in
the clothed woman who strolled between the concubines.
Me
. A
few men looked on, curious, but the women caught my attention.
Their leering, cruel faces surprised me, and I couldn’t look away.
When they saw that I had become self-conscious because of their
stares, they burst out laughing. The blood rushed to my face before
I could stop it. Everyone could see my face and ears turn red. They
laughed harder because they knew they had struck a nerve.

The courtesans didn’t flinch. I guess they
were used to this sort of thing. I wasn’t.

I did my best to ignore the laughter behind
me and searched for any signs of the other competitors. But there
were only merchants and the wealthy here. Where were they taking
me?

With every step closer to the race, my
breathing became more rapid. I knew I was having a panic attack,
and I clamped my trembling fingers into fists. I wouldn’t show
fear.

I was distracted from my panic when the
concubines suddenly stopped in front of a large wooden building. A
giant man stood just inside a set of double doors. He wore a
stain-covered gray apron over his uniform, but it did nothing to
hide his bulging muscles. A symbol of the sun was stitched over his
right breast. Although most of his face was covered with a thick
brown beard, I could still see lines around his eyes that revealed
years of hard labor.

“Follow me,” he said, his voice deep and
without feeling. He turned and made his way inside the
building.

“Um…” I whirled around. “Am I supposed to
follow him?”

The concubines were gone.

CHAPTER 10

I
WAITED FOR A moment, searching the
streets for the women who had scrubbed me clean, but they had
vanished like specters. Slightly annoyed at being abandoned without
a goodbye or even a
good luck
, I turned and walked into the
building.

It was blazing hot and smelled of burning
coal, wood, metal, and sweat. A sheen of sweat quickly covered my
body. The building was an armory, and the walls were lined with
shelves that overflowed with swords, daggers, spears, regular bows,
crossbows and longbows, battle-axes, maces, bludgeons, picks, and
an assortment of deadly looking weapons I’d never seen before. Long
wooden tables were piled with shields, metal helmets, mail
hauberks, and hundreds of leather and metal gauntlets. And through
a small opening at the back was a blacksmith shop.

Fire blazed in a giant stone forge at the
back, and an anvil sat in the middle of the shop. Tongs, bellows
and a variety of hammers varying in size for shaping and finishing
weapons were piled on top of worktables. The mystery man was no
doubt a blacksmith.

“Take what you like,” said the strapping man
without a glance in my direction.

I walked over to the nearest table, but I
didn’t take anything. I had hoped my own weapons would be returned.
I missed my lucky dagger. But I was fooling myself. I didn’t
know
what I needed.

The priest had said that this race was
deadly, and that most of the competitors never made it back. But
what did I need? I was skilled with a blade and a short sword, but
I wasn’t trained in combat. It just came naturally to me. Worse, I
didn’t know how to use most of these weapons. If I was meant to
weapon up, it confirmed my suspicions that the race was going to
get ugly very quickly. What kind of weapons would the others bring
with them? I was probably the only inexperienced peasant in the
damn race. I had to be smart and stick with what I knew.

I swallowed hard. “What should I take?”

I hoped I’d hidden the tremor in my
voice.

The blacksmith turned and watched me for a
moment.

“Nothing fancy. Go for something that you
can easily draw and use, like a dagger or a short sword. You’re too
thin to wield a regular sword. And anything else you can carry,
nothing too heavy, you need speed.”

I smiled. He hadn’t insulted me and had made
a truthful and helpful judgment call.

I strapped a leather weapons belt around my
waist and selected two daggers, a large hunting knife, and a silver
short sword. I bound my forearms with thick leather bracers.

I spun around and grinned. “Done.”

The blacksmith raised his eyebrows in
approval, but before I could ask if I should use a leg strap, a
temple guard appeared.

“I’m here to escort you to the race.” He
stood with his hand on the hilt of his sword. The hard expression
on his face made it clear that I should expect no charity from
him.

“Yes, sir,” I murmured under my breath.

“The high priest instructed me to give you
this.”

He handed me an oval-shaped cage made of
gold. It was the size of my hand and looked like a small birdcage
with an opening and a lock.

“If you get the stone,” he raised his brows,
obviously questioning my abilities, “you’re to put the stone
inside. Understood?”

He was very specific.

“Got it.” I tested the weight of the cage.
It wasn’t too heavy, but the gold would feed a thousand hungry
bellies.

“Why do I have to put the stone in
this?”

The guard ignored my question completely and
turned to leave. After I’d mumbled my thanks to the blacksmith, I
followed the guard back through the streets.