Page 60 of Freedom Mine
Chapter Fourteen
ALLI
Alli awoke naked and in someone else’s bed. Her head throbbed and her cheek smarted, as if she’d been backhanded again. Had her owner drugged her again because she had refused to accommodate his guests? Fersith had a reputation for burning women with a poker from the fireplace.
With a jolt, Alli sat up in bed, immediately regretting the sudden action. Her head throbbed like crazy. She didn’t see a fireplace in the room. Safe, for now. Maybe.
Gingerly, she reached back and touched a tender spot on her head and winced. Her hand came away with bits of dried, crusted blood. Had her owner punished her for not performing to his satisfaction again? Had she failed to please his friends? Where was she?
A ray of light peeked through the closed shutters, enough to reveal empty white walls and a rather plain but functional dresser.
Kayo’s room.
Relief washed through her even as her memories rushed back. They’d been trapped in the mine. Jace must have found them.
Where was Kayo? Did he make it out too? Panic crept up her body, throttling her like Fersith had done in bed. Finally, her brain kicked in and the panic eased. She and Kayo had been together. If she made it out, then Kayo would have too. But why was she in his bed, and completely naked? Did they sleep together? Would she remember if she had, given she had a head injury?
On a chair opposite the door lay a dress, an actual dress and new too. The dress was a plain blue fabric with a white bodice and a zipper up the back. A pair of black panties lay atop the dress.
She rose, too fast and the room spun. Once the lightheadedness passed she dressed. Wearing panties felt odd after so many years of going without. Yet it made her feel less like a slave, and for that alone, she decided to wear them. She decided. . . the idea that she got to decide whether or not she’d wear something as simple as a pair of panties felt odd. She had been on Kayo’s property for nearly three weeks, and the awe of making decisions for herself, even simple ones, never ceased.
The dress wasn’t a perfect fit, but it was close. The sleeves reached her wrists, but could easily be rolled up in warm weather. The dress covered her knees and the fabric swayed nicely as she moved. A real dress, a free woman’s dress. Nothing about this felt real.
The boots under the chair were the ones she’d worn into the mine. Whoever bought the dress had not wanted to guess at her shoe size perhaps? It didn’t matter, the dress and panties were a nice surprise and she was thankful to have them.
Alli searched the bottom floor of the house. The kitchen was clean, but empty, as were the other rooms. As the front door sprang shut behind her, she teetered, and strong arms circled her waist, keeping her from falling.
“Dizzy,” she said, unable to take her eyes from Kayo.
His color was good, strong, unlike the last time she’d seen him. His eyes focused on her as the back of his hand gently brushed over her tender cheek.
With his hand on the small of her back, he lowered his mouth closer to her. Her fingers tangled in the hair at the back of his neck, as he held her close, making the entire world disappear.
“Incoming,” one of the men shouted from the longhouse, drawing Kayo’s gaze.
“Damn,” he muttered as he eased away from Alli.
As a landglider rolled through the entry pylons, his hand moved from her lower back to her arm, nudging her toward the door. “Go inside, Alli.”
“Who is it?” she asked. She’d never seen another landglider come here before.
“I don’t know,” he said, his face and tone far from pleased. Then he smiled, trying to hide his worry. “Go on in, I’ll join you shortly.”
Alli slipped inside the front door, leaving it open enough to watch from the shadows. Kayo limped off the porch. His right leg was wrapped below the knee, but the limp became less obvious as he neared the landglider, which had stopped a few hundred feet from the house. He was pushing through the pain, to hide his weakness.
A large man, easily in his sixties, stepped out.
“Qasig,” Kayo greeted, his face unreadable. The sun bounced off the man’s balding head as he nodded. “What brings you here?”
“I know we haven’t exactly been on the best terms, Variz, but I need some help. The dam upriver from my fields is collapsing. If it goes, I’ll lose everything. I’m two weeks from harvest. I don’t have strong slaves like you do, but I can pay for their time. I figure it’s a full day’s work, two at most. Or I can give you slaves as payment, though they’re older and not likely to be useful in your mines.”
“I’ll put a team together, and Jace will bring them over later today.” Kayo’s tone changed, growing agitated, almost threatening. “I want your word that they’ll be given food, shelter, water, and be treated well, and that they’ll return here after two days. No overseers. Jace will drop by periodically to handle any issues with my men.”
“You trust them not to run, Variz?”
“They won’t run,” Kayo said. “These are my terms, Qasig.”
Qasig breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you. You have my word. I’ll treat them well. I’ll transfer the money before they arrive.”
