Part 44

“He agreed?” Duke Verin asked.

“Indeed, my Duke,” Greza said and handed over the message.

“I must admit that I’m surprised.  I didn’t think he’d agree.  I’ve been planning my campaign under the assumption that he wouldn’t participate.”

“Greza here spoke up and said a bunch of stuff that pissed Decaron off, but somehow he still agreed.”

“What did you say to him?”  Verin asked her.

“I asked him what he had lost to the Empire.”

“And what did he say?”

“Nothing.  He left the room.”

Verin smiled and shook his head. 

“You are a strange one, Greza.”

She didn’t want to be strange.  She knew her life was anything but normal, but strange made her feel like some kind of freak.

“Umm…thank you, my Duke.”

“I could use more strange like you.”

After they were excused Onata went off to the baths for her traditional hours long bath after a long mission. 

Greza was more hungry than anything and went to the chow hall.  It was late at night and no one was there.  Only a solitary lamp lit the room.  She walked over and picked it up before going into the kitchen to see what she could scrounge up.  She found a loaf of bread and began looking through al low cupboard for some cheese, dried meat or anything else that looked good.

“What do we have here?  Good evening, pretty,” a man’s voice said from behind her.

She turned to see a soldier with a sergeant’s uniform.  He was a large man with scars on his face, clearly a veteran of many campaigns.  She didn’t recognize him.   But she saw the way he looked at her.  She knew that look.  It was the same look the Imperial nobles made when they eyed a servant or slave they wanted to take to bed.  The blank stare came from the surety that they’d get what they wanted no matter what.

This was not a kind man. He was one who was used to getting what he wanted.  He also reeked of alcohol.  Whatever reason or restraint he might have were probably gone from him now.

Greza stood up to face him. 

“I’m Seargent Greza of the Scouts.  Can I help you?”

“Oh?  A woman scout, eh?  What they keep you around for?  You keep up the moral I bet.”

“You’re drunk.  Go sleep it off somewhere.”

He took a step closer.

“I wasn’t thinking about sleeping, darling.”

“I’m going to get my food and leave.”

“You’re not going anywhere, love.”

“Leave me alone or you’ll be subject to the Duke’s justice.”

He laughed.

“Was that supposed to be a threat?”

He then reached for her and she batted his hand away.  This made his face contort to one of complete rage.  His skin turned red and veins popped out of his neck and forehead. 

“Who you think you are?  A man’s got a right to get what he needs.”

With that he lunged at her.  She side stepped and brought her knee up to his groin.  The impact brought him to his knees where instead of red his face was now purple. 

“Did you get what you needed?”  She asked and then kicked him in face, knocking him out.  He fell to the ground in a clatter of pots and pans.

It was men like him that brought so much pain to the world.  They abused anyone they thought lesser than themselves.  She hated him and everyone like him.  How dare he think he could do whatever he wanted with someone else?

Then she grabbed the bread and a wheel of cheese and left the kitchen. 

The next morning as she was walking from the barracks to the Scout’s instruction room she heard someone yell, “stop right there!”

She turned to see the drunk from last night with two guards trailing behind him. 

“That’s her.  She’s the one that attacked me,” the man said.

“I didn’t attack you,” she said.

“Then how do you explain my face?  Guards, arrest her,” the man said. 

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Come with us, girl,” the guards said. 

There was nothing she could do.  If she fought, she’d be breaking the Duke’s law.  This would get sorted out. 

They tied her hands and led her to the fort’s dungeon, a place she never thought she’d see. 

“Go find Onata of the scouts and tell her I’m here,” she said to the guards. 

“Don’t give me orders, whore.”

“Whore?  Why do you call me that?  I’m not a whore!  How dare you call me that!”

If her hands weren’t tied she would have struck him, laws be damned. 

“We know your kind, girl.  You sleep around with everyone in the barracks and when they get a little rough you get rougher.  You can’t beat up a respectable soldier like Seargent Karak and expect to get away with it.” 

“You animals!  I’m innocent.  Go tell Onata or tell the Duke!”

Then one of them punched her in the gut, knocking the wind out of her.  A second later another blow struck her face.  For a human he hit hard.

They tossed her in a cell and slammed the door.  She fumed for a while before regaining control of her temper with the meditations of St. Tarilian.

It didn’t matter.  As soon as Onata finds out she’d be here to get her released.  It should be any minute. 

But the day wore on.  There was no window but she knew it had to be around midday.  What was taking Onata so long?

What if she didn’t know where she was?  She’d be looking for her but who would have thought to look in the dungeon?  That was the last place she’d expect to find herself.  Yet here she was.

What if no one believed her?  What if they took that man’s story over hers?  She’d be imprisoned or worse, thrown out of the Company.  She could bare prison and animosity if it meant she could continue to serve her Duke. 

The lone lantern in the hallway burned out and the faint light she had was gone.  She was left alone in the darkness, a place she was used to but hated. All she could think about was her captivity as a prisoner of war. 

Judging by her sleepiness she guessed that night had come.  What was taking them so long?  She lay down in the moldy hay and went to sleep.  There wasn’t anything else to do.