Living In the Past Book 2 Chapter 5A
“Ow!” The man complained as his wound was stitched on one of the cots in the healer’s hut. “Shit, woman, I could do a better job if you’d untie my fuckin hands.” Then as an afterthought: “Do you girls drink around here, or is that too much of a man thing?”
Varia sighed at the prisoner as the healer tended to him. He’d done nothing but joke and berate since he’d arrived in camp. She paced back and forth in front of Khepri and Sarah.
“What was your name again?” She asked, losing patience.
“Arsen.” He said.
“Arsen, I want you to tell me exactly what you were doing on Amazon territory today.” She said.
“Ah Zeus, this again.” He growled in frustration. “There’s a pretty large group of slavers that came into the area about a month ago. They need slaves. However, they sure are some lazy sons of bitches and don’t want to do the work themselves. So they said that if I brought them some slaves I’d get to live and keep my home. One more instance in my life where I have to deal with a bunch of shit that has nothing to do with me.”
“Why did you choose the Amazons?” She asked, anger tempering her voice.
“Well you’re prices have gone up here lately.” He explained. “Something about people disappearing in your woods. You’ve got all the locals thinking you’re these super warriors and they don’t want to come near here. I can get rid of the slavers twice as fast if I give them Amazons instead of regular people.”
“And he would have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for those pesky kids.” Sarah said, not caring that no one would understand.
“What are the chances of us being attacked again?” She asked, ignoring the girl’s comment.
“I’d say pretty good.” He answered. “They told me that they wanted at least ten Amazons before they leave to trade and they’ve only got one so far.”
“They have one of our sisters?” She asked; fury in her voice.
“That’s what they told me.” He said, annoyed he had to say it twice.
“Where is their camp?” Varia said after violently grabbing him by the shirt and dragging him to his feet.
“First of all they don’t have a camp, they have a fucking makeshift fortress, and you and your tribe are never gonna get in there from what I’ve seen of your forces. And second of all, you don’t have to do all this macho shit to get me to answer your questions. You girls are supposed to look down on that remember.”
Sarah couldn’t help the chuckle that came out of her mouth. She wondered if Arsen was really as ballsy as he seemed, or if he was just plain nuts.
Varia was not amused. She slammed him up against a wall so hard the entire structure shook a bit.
“Or not.” Arsen said with a laugh.
“You listen to me; I don’t want any more of your lip.” Varia said. “You were caught trespassing on Amazon territory with the intention of kidnapping one of my subjects. The only reason you aren’t dead right now is because I need more information out of you.”
“Really?” He said sarcastically. “Wow, when you put it that way it really makes me want to tell you everything I know.”
She growled and forced him to the ground and walked toward the door.
“Have Ava torture him for an hour.” She calmly said to the guards. “We’ll see how reluctant he is to talk after that.”
As they bowed and grabbed the man by the arms Sarah’s eyes grew wide with disbelief.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Sarah said to both the guards and Varia, neither of them halting.
They took off in two different directions, so she decided to follow the Queen as quickly as possible with Khepri at her heels.
“Varia.” She paused, and then corrected herself. “Queen Varia, when you say torture what exactly do you mean?”
This made Varia respond with a quick laugh. “Surely with all your worldliness you know what torture is, Sarah. Ava will make sure he suffers a life sustaining amount of pain so we can get the information we need.”
“You can’t just do that to the guy.” Sarah said, immediately knowing how wrong it was once it left her mouth.
Varia stopped and swiftly turned to meet her gaze.
“What I meant to say, honored Queen, is that the torture may not even work.” She looked to the ground with as much deference as she could muster. “I understand that it can be very persuasive, but the prisoner has so far shown an aversion to fear tactics. Perhaps we could try another angle.”
“And what would you suggest, foreigner?” Varia crossed her arms. “Dazzle me with your superior intellect in these matters.”
Sarah clenched her jaw, but continued to look at the ground.
“If we were to offer him his freedom in exchange for help in taking down the slavers we may have a better chance of saving your subject. He seems to hate them as much as we do.” Sarah said, knowing this was probably not what the queen wanted to hear.
She was right.
“His freedom!” Varia growled. “That man came on my land and tried to kidnap my subjects. You think I can just let him go?”
“While he was on Amazon land, he technically did not attempt to kidnap any Amazons. Khepri and I are not a part of your tribe.” Sarah tried to reason.
“Exactly!” Varia said. “My subjects wouldn’t dream of questioning my authority in this matter.”
“But Queen Va…” She was cut off.
“This conversation is over. The prisoner will be tortured, questioned and killed in that order. Another word from you and you can join him.” She threatened.
Sarah was livid enough to try to speak again, but Khepri grabbed her by the arm.
“You aren’t gonna do him any good by getting locked up.” She whispered. “We’ll figure out a way around this.”
Sarah clenched her jaw and said nothing as Varia shot daggers with her eyes before turning to leave. As the two women were left standing there Sarah shook her head in anger and Khepri looked at her quizzically.
“I do think your argument makes sense, but why are you so opposed to him being tortured and killed?” She asked. “Had he captured an Amazon they wouldn’t have been left with any life worth living.”
“Torture is wrong, Khepri.” Sarah said as calmly as she could. “Plus it’s not as if he’s the slave trader. He was just doing what he had to in order to save his life. And if you look at it logistically he would have been saving more lives by handing over some of the Amazons.”
“You seem to have a soft spot for him.” She said, somewhat jealous.
“I just don’t think he’s a bad guy for wanting to save his own life.” Sarah said, and then paused. “Plus he makes me laugh.”
Khepri furrowed her brow. Sarah was, quite possibly, one of the strangest women she’d ever met.
“Talk to Eve.” She said.
“What?” Sarah asked, completely confused.
“Eve will agree with you.” Khepri said, and then smiled mischievously. “And she’s sleeping with the queen. I don’t know how many relationships you’ve been in, but the object of one’s affections usually holds more clout than a meddlesome foreigner.”
Sarah smiled.
“Beautiful and smart.” She said before kissing Khepri on the cheek and running off to find the Messenger.
Arsen’s hands were tied and hung above his head on a hook while he waited for the Amazon to enter the room. There were various whips, restraints and other torture devices hanging from the walls.
“Well this outta be fun.” He said to himself.
Arsen was no stranger to pain. Being bucked from the horses he tried to break had given him more permanent injuries than he could count. But he’d be crazy to think this was going to be a pleasant experience.
The door to the hut opened for the first time since the guards had secured him and a small, but capable looking Amazon entered. She was short, with a tight body and a cute face. If they’d been in a tavern instead of a torture chamber he would have bought her a drink and tried to find out more about her.
“You must be my new friend, Ava.” He said with a smile.
“You must be the pig that wants to capture our sisters and sell them off to slavers.” She quipped and smiled back. “How do you know my name?” She asked.
“I pay attention. And the word ‘want’ isn’t exactly accurate in this whole ‘kidnapping your sisters’ situation. I never wanted to put up with this much shit just to stay alive and keep my land.” He said flippantly as she moved closer to ensure his restraints would hold. “Man, you smell good. You must be one of those Amazons that bathe more than once a month.”
She hit him hard across the jaw with a closed fist, causing his lower lip to bleed.
“You’re going to make this a lot easier on me.” She said with a smirk.
“Well, I do aim to please.” He said. The punch had not knocked the grin off his face.
She studied him. His confidence was impressive, but it wouldn’t last much longer.
“Since I’m under no orders other than to make you feel pain for the next hour I should probably make up a game plan.” She said aloud as she paced; trying to let the gravity of the situation set in on him.
“It’s always good to think ahead.” He joked yet again.
“I think a gag is in order first.” She said.
His main defense at this point was acting as if he had some kind of control over the situation by making light of it. She would be sure to put that to an end.
.