Page 39 of Beholden
When Tilde and Signe had first moved to Rockland, I’d hoped we could be like sisters. If nothing else, I’d been excited at the prospect of companionship, especially since I’d been lonely and missing my father. However, after the months of hurtful criticism and petty accusations, I learned my hope had been in vain. The Scripture imploring us to pray for those who persecute us had taken on new meaning.
The duchess lifted her chin, her flesh wobbling slightly. “Take her away and work harder to make her the fairest maiden in the land.”
Vilmar
As one of the overseers stepped into the doorway of Curly’s hut, I forced myself to remain in my place in front of the fire. I would have to wait to make my escape until after the overseer retreated.
The burly man squinted through the haze until he found Curly. “You know you ain’t supposed to have gatherings of more than five.”
“Aye, we know.” Curly wiped at the blood still flowing from the cut on his face. “We be trying to calm Vilmar. He’s taken Gabi’s leaving hard.”
The overseer’s attention shifted to me, and he nodded, his expression almost sympathetic. I guess he’d seen me with Gabriella oft enough to assume, like everyone else, that we cared deeply for each other. “We’ll miss her, aye, that we will. She was a rare jewel, that one.”
“She was indeed.” And now I needed to find a way to rescue my rare jewel.
Was she mine?
The claim had entered my thoughts unbidden. But once there, I couldn’t dislodge it. We hadn’t made promises to each other. In fact, we’d put all thoughts from our minds of a future together. Why, then, did I feel as though, in her leaving, I’d lost a part of myself?
The overseer leaned against the doorjamb. “I remember the time back a few months when good ol’ Paddy had a heart attack and she nursed him back to health.” The overseer seemed intent upon recalling each and every instance of Gabriella’s kindness. While the reminiscing was a fine tribute to her memory, every minute of delay could mean the difference between her life and death, and I grew tenser with each passing moment.
Finally, the overseer straightened. “She’ll be missed around here, that she will. But can’t say I’m sorry, since she gets to be in a better place.”
If only he knew the truth. A truth I wished I’d discovered long before now.
“See that you keep to the limit in here,” the overseer said amiably. “Or next time the guards might insist we start locking you up.”
While congregating outside was permitted, large gatherings within the dwellings were prohibited to prevent us from plotting rebellion. It was a foolish rule, since if we wanted to plan an uprising, we could do so underground while we worked.
I sat forward and didn’t dare glance at Ty sitting beside me for fear he’d see my thoughts.Plotting rebellion.Plan an uprising.Was it possible for me to lead a rebellion here? Tonight? A bolt of energy raced through me, but I forced myself to remain as nonchalant as possible until the overseer sauntered away.
Even then, I stared at the hearth fire, a dozen plans formulating all at once, even in light of the tales of past failed revolts, of slaves rising up only to be slaughtered by the guards with their superior weapons and armor.
I certainly didn’t want to put lives needlessly at risk. If such a rebellion was doomed to failure, I shouldn’t even think about starting one. And yet, what if I could succeed and set every slave in this horrible place free?
My mind warred with itself. Already I was overstepping my bounds in planning to escape and kill a berserker. But if I led a revolt amongst the slaves in the mine pits, I’d be involving myself irrevocably in this country that didn’t belong to me and in problems that weren’t mine to solve.
I couldn’t barge into Warwick’s problems and assume I could make them better. In leading such a revolt and in killing Grendel, I risked angering the queen and making things worse for the people. I also chanced making an enemy for Scania.
I buried my face in my hands. I couldn’t plan an insurrection, and not just because it might make things worse for everyone in Warwick, but because doing so would likely put an end to my Testing. There weren’t many rules regarding our Testing, but one regulation was clear enough. If we abandoned our Testing, we would forfeit any claim to the throne. Of course, a provision existed for leaving temporarily. If we had to go away from the place chosen for us, at the very least we must return and finish the Testing.
But if I led a revolution and freed the slaves, there would be naught to return to. And even if the queen kept her mine operational after a revolt, how would I be able to come back? The queen would surely want me captured dead or alive.
At footsteps in the doorway, I glanced up to see Molly enter. With only one arm, she attempted to carry several of our buckets after standing in line with our diggings to receive food rations.
She fumbled with the containers, and at the sight of the empty sleeve where her arm should have been, a low burn flared in my gut. I’d been working at keeping the anger under control these past weeks. I’d labored as the slave of all and was doing what I could for the people while I was here. I’d thought that was enough. But what if I was capable of doing far more for them?
Curly jumped to his feet to assist Molly, taking the buckets and glancing inside to the food she’d brought us.
Why should any more people here have to lose their limbs to the rats? Or catch fevers from the fumes? Or suffer hunger because they were too exhausted to meet their daily quota?
I could feel Ty watching me. With his uncanny insight, I couldn’t keep from wondering if he was able to see inside my head and read my thoughts. At the very least, he was proficient in reading my face. The other men who’d pretended to slumber during the overseer’s visit had arisen and were beginning to disperse for their own evening rations, and I needed to do the same before I went through with my idea.
As Curly bent and gave Molly a tender kiss, I couldn’t avert my gaze. Suddenly, all I could think about was how the two deserved to be free, to have a home of their own, a place where they could raise a dozen wee infants.
This love. These people. They were more important than anything my Testing could accomplish. I had to stop holding back and start doing whatever I could to truly help them. And if I lost my chance at being king because of it, so be it.
“Curly, I know what we must do to escape.”
