Shadows Beyond

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The night in the rocky alcove was bitterly cold. Zeff slept very little, not only because of the low temperature, but because his leg was extraordinarily painful. ZefShad had been half a second too slow back in the cave and, consequently, caught by one of the Rooter's wild dogs. Although Zeff had been some distance from his shadow when the dog had struck, he had felt every one of those savage, slathering, canine teeth ripping into his shadow's flesh.

Tagg had dragged ZefShad to safety, but the damage had been done. Both Zeff and his shadow had been seriously wounded. For some moments both had slumped in the tunnel, too shocked to react, while the dogs had constantly thrown themselves frantically at the wall, hysterically trying to reach the shelf so they could rip their prey apart.

When Tagg had suggested Zeff and his shadow should merge, Zeff had agreed. It had seemed the only option. The brothers had instinctively known, or perhaps they simply hoped, this would aid their recovery.

As Zeff now lay in the shallow cave, with his arm around Tagg, trying to compensate for the fact that Tagg’s jacket was mostly serving as a bandage for Zeff’s injured leg, Zeff noticed Emtani shivering with cold. He felt no compassion. It was her own fault if she had chosen to sleep separately from them.

He resented her for being the cause of so much trouble and wanted her gone, but, being Nye’s sister, the need to protect her was strong. It was difficult to be in command of such conflicting emotions, especially when mixed with guilt, anger and the overwhelming sorrow he felt about Nye.

Nye Freeworker had been the one person Zeff could say anything to, even more so than Tagg. With Nye he had had no secrets and, as he thought about this, so his gut constricted with the unbearable realisation that such openness may have contributed to his death.

Zeff had not held back. He had told Nye pretty much everything, even though he had known how dangerous that might be for the Judge was utterly ruthless. Zeff realised he should have been more guarded, more protective. The Judge would willingly have killed any number of people in order to control his enemy, and Zeff Esterhausil was proud to be considered the Judge’s enemy.

But this had left Nye vulnerable.

Zeff shifted position, trying to get comfortable, and made a decision. He would leave Emtani to shiver tonight, but tomorrow he would agree to take her to the City and there he would help search for her sister for the sake of the brother. He knew it was unlikely they would ever find her. The City was a big, dangerous place and slaves were numerous.

As soon as they were sold, names were forgotten and slaves were allocated numbers. Most spent their entire lives working in obscurity. Emtani would never have the chance to see the vast majority, but some owners used good-looking child-slaves to wait on them at dinner parties. Nye had once described his sister as pretty. If so, she might be used like this and there would be an outside chance they may bump into her.

As children grew, they were often sold on and allocated new numbers. No records were kept. Most owners referred to “numbers” so they did not have to use the vulgar term “slave”. Once Galeena was a number, she would be lost in the system and it would be almost impossible to track her down.

Even if Galeena was located, there was not an owner in the City who would willingly give up a slave to her birth family. The legal formalities to reunite Emtani and her sister could take years going through the courts. Their only chance would be to snatch the girl, and that would be hazardous. Not that Zeff shied away from danger, but rescuing a slave might get in the way of his main objective and he would let nothing, not even the memory of Nye, do that.

He wondered if using Emtani might be too big a risk. He hardly knew her. She could turn out to be a liability. But Tagg needed an edge and she might just be the person to provide it. Tomorrow, he would tell her the cover story he had planned and Tagg had agreed to, albeit reluctantly. He doubted she would like it any better, but she would have no choice. If she did not accept it, he would take her back to her village. Lord Thrakken would never pardon her for leaving without a permit and she would be sentenced to several moons working down the mines. It gave Zeff no pleasure to imagine her serving her sentence there. They were grim places, but she would survive the experience, which was more than she would do if left alone on the plains.

He wondered how Tagg would feel about Emtani being returned to her riverside village and given up to her Over Lord. Tagg was more thoughtful around this country girl than he had been with any girl before and this bothered Zeff. His only comfort was that she appeared to feel nothing other than distain for his brother. Although this annoyed him, for Tagg was worth ten of her, at seventeen Zeff considered Tagg too young to lose his heart. Zeff had not lost his until he was twenty. He gave a deep sigh. No good dwelling on such things.

As these thoughts ran through Zeff’s mind, he fell into a restless sleep, finally awaking to the sound of distant barking. His eyes popped open. To his immense satisfaction, Emtani looked scared. It would do her good to realize that the plains were dangerous. Perhaps this would make it easier for her to understand that the City, in its own way, was every bit as hostile.

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