Freedom Bound

Night Terrors

The screaming started midday. Ava was hard at work trying to get a gravy stain out of Hariana's second favorite party frock. Able, Hadriana's favorite bed companion, was watching and munching a hunk of bread. His day was quiet because his night was often filled with their mistress's disgusting fantasies.

The cry that rent the air startled Ava so much that she dropped the frock into the soapy water and splashed herself. Able choked on the bread. Both hunkered low without thinking. Making themselves smaller in case their voices would shortly join that of whoever was already screaming. But no Master appeared. No magic sought them out, so they straightened, looking at one another with alarmed expressions.

The screaming carried on. Horrible, ragged cries of someone in obvious agony. They cut Ava to her bones. Every instinct told her to gather her people. Like a mother hen might draw her chicks under her wings. One of hers was being tortured, but she didn't knew who. What must they have done to scream so? She tried not to think about it.

As she charged into the kitchen from the small, highly fenced work yard where she did laundry and sundry other outdoor tasks, she tried to clear her thinking. The screamer was male, and adult. None of her women were in danger, nor little Ben. But there were many male slaves in the house. More so than female. In the kitchen the doors and windows were open to allow air flow as the cook worked on dinner. Everyone inside had stopped moving, trapped in that same moment of frozen panic that Ava and Able had just experienced.

"Gather everyone in the compound!" Ava barked. "We need to know who is being punished!"

A particularly loud scream, ragged as a dull knife, snapped everyone back to reality. The kitchen was alive with bustle as everyone rushed to find their friends. House slaves slunk in shortly after. Ava and a few of them went back out to find anyone who had not come.

Everyone was gathered in the dimly lit slave compound, sitting on their little pallets or pacing the room. Ava and Sol struggled to count heads with all the movement. The screaming had not abated. If anything it might have grown worse. Whoever was making those horrible sounds would surely lose their voice soon, Ava thought with an odd sort of desperation. Every time a fresh cry rattled through the house she felt her heart squeeze. As though she were bracing each time for a lash to descend on her back. Several of her fellows felt the same, flinching each time a new scream sounded.

"Ben? There you are, Ben. Don't hide, sweet one, I want to see you," Ava urged the little boy, who kept crawling under his blankets.

"Is that everyone?" she turned to Sol, desperation clear in her voice. She knew they could all be punished for leaving their posts and tasks to regroup like this, but she was ready to take the brunt. She needed to knew her people were safe. Her people. So strange to think of. She was only the head slave because Hadriana had purchased her. Perhaps natural bossiness made her a sure fit into the role, but it still seemed odd at times none the less. "Fenris? Where's Fenris?! Fenris?"

"I last saw him with The Master," Hetta spoke up, her voice timid. Almost drowned out by another horrible scream.

"Oh Creators, no..." Ava muttered. All of the punishment that Fenris had mysteriously avoided, was it all being heaped upon him at once? A horrible back payment? What kind of sick plan did these magisters have for the elf?

"Is Fenris being killed?" Ben asked, throwing the blanket over his head again.

"I...I don't know," Ava swallowed her muscles tight with the desire to flee or fight for her life. Her blood burned through her veins as Fenris's screams sliced the air. Now that she knew it must be him she could hear it, and of course it was his voice. Another yell and she felt ready to vomit. What the hell could the Master be doing?