The Oath of an Oxblood

11

As we stood in line, I felt queasy. The scent of food made me want to vomit. I forced my eyes to stay open. Whenever I closed them, I lost control of where the ground was. Beetle was refusing to meet my eyes. I wanted to feel resentment, to feel anything toward Beetle for selling me out. I felt nothing but nausea.

"Line up!" one of the foremen shouted. "Line up!"

Beetle glanced at me and Roach who was standing close at my side.

"We didn't even get dinner," she muttered and glanced around. "What's this about?"

I didn't respond. She knew exactly what this was about. The foremen knew who had killed Tuck and they were going to make an example of her. Me.

We lined up at the far end. It was Roach, me, and then Beetle at the end. My heart was pounding in fear. The world was spinning—I highly doubted my legs could hold me much longer. It had already been such a long day. What would they do if they caught me? Kill me twice?

"Cricket?" Roach asked softly, fear flooding her voice.

"Roach, please. I'm fine. No matter what happens," I started tersely, staring at a tree and taking a deep breath to steel up enough strength to finish, "Beetle will take care of you, okay? Don't trust a soul and never trust his body."

"Relax, Cricket," Beetle muttered.

"Right," I spat out bitterly. "Relax before they kill me."

Beetle gave me a confused look. "Why would they kill anyone? There's no money in that."

"You know why," I shot back, blood rushing to my face.

"Look," Beetle said, facing me sharply. "I'm not happy you went after that foreman. You shouldn't have tried to get revenge on him for what he did. At least we should have worked together."

Her words added another layer of spider webs in my mind. "What?" I asked. "I didn't...seek Tuck out. He found me in the barn and tried to...to make me a breeder—" I stopped as a sob caught my throat.

Beetle's eyes went wide in fear. "What?" she asked in horror.

"Why do you care?" I shot back. "You told the foremen that I was the one who hurt him. I'm dead anyway."

Beetle's eyes narrowed. "I did no such thing!" she exclaimed softly. "You think I'm some sort of foreman-lover? Fugg them," she bit off harshly. "I was telling the foreman why we weren't working as fast." My brain tried to process that information. "I am pissed, Cricket. I'm pissed you will never just tell me you're a Slate even though it's glaringly obvious." The world was spinning. "And now I'm pissed that you almost got assaulted and didn't think you could come to your best friend!" she exclaimed quietly. "Cricket, I'm...not who you think I am. I knew you were lying. I'm pissed. But I'm not pissed at you, I'm pissed at myself because..." her eyes widened in determination. "I'm a Sage. I've been so wrapped up in my own misery, I totally neglected that fact that you—"

"Shut up, bug! The trader's here!" a foreman yelled at Beetle.

"Trader? Why the hell are the girls still here?" one shouted. "Get them—"

"No time, he's already seen 'em." One returned.

Beetle immediately froze and stared straight ahead. My head was spinning.

Beetle was a Sage? She knew I was a Slate? She didn't betray me.

I felt like my head was full of water and suddenly, it was tilting to one side. I felt a pair of hands right me and I realized that I had almost collapsed. I righted myself and felt a small tremor begin in my legs.

Beetle's hands were still on me, holding me still.

"Fugg, Cricket. What have you been doing to yourself?" she whispered, glancing at the foremen, who had turned to further up the line. I finally met her eyes. Her courageous idiocy was replaced with a genuine concern. Even her freckles seemed on edge. "You can't keep doing this. How much of your food have you been giving to Roach?" she asked.

"All of it," I said before my brain could stop me.

She froze and stared at me in terror. "All of it? When's the last time you—"

"Hands off, bug! Last warning; next time, I'm coming with a switch!"

"I'm fine," I told Beetle. It wasn't until Beetle's hands left me that I realized I was lying. One, singular thought crept its way into my mind with starling clarity. What was I doing to myself?

Beetle glanced down the line and stiffened. I glanced down and saw that a carriage had pulled up. The door swung open, and I almost collapsed.

It was an overlord. And this one smelled like power. Everything about him was imposing. He wore a black soldier's uniform with the dress coat over it. A black mask covered the lower half of his face, clearly concerned with catching a "human disease." He rivaled the foremen in height and his entire body looked...disciplined. He held his head straight and he didn't even look at the foremen. He knew exactly what he wanted. His eyebrow was heavy, as if he was carrying the weight of the world upon it.

My eyes locked on the magestone against his chest. It wasn't huge—in fact, it was on the smaller side. Yet, it glowed a brilliant Oxblood that almost washed out his face in the dim light. I blinked and my blood felt like it had caught fire.

How long had it been since I had eaten? I had been so frantically determined that Roach ate, I hadn't even thought about that. I hadn't been hungry.

The dewloi began muttering to themselves. Two healers stepped out behind him, wearing the Slate tunics and brown bracers on their wrists. Their magestones glowed brightly, but not nearly as brightly as the overlord's. I glanced at Beetle and realized that her face was glowing with a familiar determination. The healers took up positions behind the overlord, posing confidently at each shoulder. They only came to the height of his shoulder, creating an imposing visual pyramid of authority.

The overlord began discussing something with the head foreman, but the overlord was clearly anxious for the pleasantries to be done. His eyes kept slinking down to the end of the row. By us.

I blinked and tried to push my feet into the ground to steady myself. I glanced up and gasped audibly when I saw who was staring at me. My gasp drew the attention of a few dewloi to my left, who were eager to figure out the reason for my noise.

Tuck.

He was sporting a bandage over his left eye and head. My eyes went wide. Was I seeing a ghost?

"Surprised to see me, Fugg-bug?" he said lowly. His hand hovered on his whip. Beetle was frozen as well. "You should have let me break you in. Then, I would have been gentle. Tonight, I make no such promises. And this time, we'll have an audience," he said. "I've heard that a good revenge-fugg has healing properties," he said lowly. I almost collapsed in fear.

I blinked again and a sparkle of Oxblood out of the corner of my eye turned my focus.

The overlord was standing right in front of Roach. He reached out and grabbed her, who had frozen in place, eyes wide.

Not Roach.

Not Roach.

I made a promise.

I lurched forward and grabbed Roach. My hand found purchase on her shoulder, and I tried to pull her back to me. I couldn't let this overlord take her. Who knows what he would do to her? I had to defend her.

The overlord easily pulled Roach back and he settled her inside his cloak almost protectively. Panic fueled my veins as Roach began weeping. Tuck pulled out his whip at my insolence, but I didn't care. Not Roach. Not Roach.

Then, Beetle stepped forward boldly.

"Lord Strapos?"