The Vixen Trials

An Unwelcome Decision

"I love you more than starberries"

Dakkoul

Dakkoul raced down the stairs, aware that Malek was following him. Malek. He ground his teeth together. The anger in him was rising but he felt too shaken by his encounter with Lord Rustavan to speak now. It had been even worse than he feared. All the things he valued. His privacy, his daughter, Tarryn and even his shame. In front of Keilah too. What must she think of him?

Hopefully Lord Rustavan meant it, when he said if he ran he might catch them. Dakkoul threw himself into the chase, as fast as he could go, haring around the corridoors, turning left and right, grimly dodging other slaves and amused at the sound of Malek following. He probably thought it was a test, that he was trying to lose him. There would be time enough to play those games, once he'd said goodbye to his daughter. He ran through the kitchens to the workyard and saw the Tasker there, a gloating expression on his face as he watched Tarryn, trying to calm a crying Tallie.

"Stay here," he growled to Malek who was panting behind him.

"Hattavah, I could follow them for you. Find out where they are going. I can be very, very discreet."

He did not trust Malek at all. But he didn't trust anyone, except Tarryn. His daughter was leaving and he wanted more than anything, more than his distrust, to know where she was going. He shoved Malek against the wall. "You asked to be my slave so you could spy on me. So you could get me in trouble."

"No, Hattavah, that was not why," said Malek his eyes wide. In the distance his daughter's sobs got louder. "I won't tell."

"You told him you wanted to be a Hattavah. I don't believe you. No one could want that and certainly not you."

Malek did not even squirm, only held up his hands. "I said what would be believed. I tried to talk to you, remember? I wouldn't have had to lie, if you'd just let me speak."

In the distance, he heard the Tasker telling his daughter to shut up, that they were going. It would have to do. He slammed Malek against the wall, harder this time, as a warning, then let go. "Find where she goes. Don't let the Tasker or the guards see you." He handed Malek the token that gave him permission to exit the gate.

Malek brushed himself off and sauntered out, exiting with a jaunty air, casting only a glance at the scene around the cart as Dakkoul ran to Tallie and hugged her from behind.

"Daddy, daddy." Tallie spun around on her good leg and clasped him with her tiny hands. "Tarryn said you aren't coming with us. Why not?"

"Daddy has to work," he said, teasing her dark curls so that they stood on end. "But I'll come as soon as I can. I love you more than starberries."

"I love you more than," but they were interrupted, his daughter dragged off him by the Tasker and thrown onto the cart with a roughness that infuriated him.

Dakkoul clamped down his fury. The Tasker knew where she was going, was accompanying her. It wouldn't pay to anger him yet, when Tallie was still at his mercy.

He raced over to Tarryn who was getting in the other side of the cart, her bags at her feet as tears spilled from her eyes. "I'm sorry Hattavah. You were right." She reached a hand out to him, which he took, even as he tried to control the anger that flooded him, anger at Lord Rustavan and even at Tarryn. Where would Lord Rustavan send them? Would they really be safe? 

"I'll stay close by Tallie at all times. I'll fight for her and if I can I'll get her to her mother's House. I'll do my best, Dakkoul, I swear it."

His anger towards her shrunk. She would do all that. He was sure of it. She loved Tallie almost as much as he did.

"I know you will," he said gruffly. The cart lurched forwards, separating their hands. He waved until they had disappeared and the gates shut and went inside. The fury inside him still simmered. To have to rely on someone like Malek! To need him to find the location of his precious daughter! He could not bear it.

It was nearly the time of last-meal when he heard footsteps outside his room. He flung the door-curtain aside and saw Malek, such a knowing, smug expression on his face, he wanted to slap him. "Where she is?"

The whiteness of Malek's teeth showed. "I know who has her."

Dakkoul wondered what it would cost him to find out."Who?" He said, barely restraining himself from shaking Malek until he talked.

"A couple of Lords came to meet the cart on the North side of the city. They put Tallie and Tarryn in with them and sent everyone else back."

"Which Lords?" Dakkoul ground out.

A look of uncertainty crossed Malek's face. "One of them said to tell you he was the boy who dropped the parchment and that Tallie would be safe with him."

All the tightness in Dakkoul's chest eased. "The boy who dropped the parchment." He leaned against the hallway wall. Jarren, Lord Jarren now. That was good news. Tallie would be safe there. All he had to do now was to win back Lord Rustavan's trust and prove to him that he was still worthy of being called 'The Hattavah'. He needed to find the spy, then he'd petition for Tallie to come home.

Dakkoul raised his eyes to Malek's. "You did well," he said, though he made the sound of his words cold and hard. It didn't change anything of course. Malek was still a firesnake around his neck who would bite him. The only question was when.

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