When I bought Heather at the market place, there was a certain defiance in her eyes. Her gaze could cut steel. She sat alone, her clothing in tatters, a scowl marked across her face. I would have bought a male slave since I did have plenty of labor that needed to be tended to, but all the males were used exclusively by the empire during a time of war.
So I bought Heather instead. She was a remarkable specimen. Creamy white skin, chestnut hair, and she had all her teeth. Her cheeks were rosy. In a word, Heather was healthy. Which was odd.
She'd been lucky; whenever the royal guard captured adversary prisoners, the males went to the work camps and galleys and the most of the females went to the army brothels. The only reason she didn't end up in a whore house (probably an upscale brothel for the nobility, but a brothel all the same) was because the slave merchant still owed me a debt and thought this would be a great opportunity to be rid of it.
"Hey Treyjan, I heard you've been looking for a slave," the slave merchant told me as I walked through the bustling square. I bit the apple that I had just bought from a little girl and her brother. I didn't say a word. I just looked at him and waited for him to proceed talking. He needed to make a sale and to be rid of a debt from me, more than I needed a slave. "Look here," he said, "you have no idea the trouble I had to go through to get this one. She's special, I tell you."
"I don't need a used whore," I told him.
"She is neither a whore nor used."
"Come on, now--"
"Look, I'm serious. The debt I owe you is no small matter. I had to call in a few debts of my own and go into new ones to make sure I could bring this one to you. She'll clear my debt. I'm sure of it."
I looked at the girl. She looked nothing special.
"Tell me, Temerus, what is so special about her?"
"I'll show you." Temerus replied. He handled me a scrap of paper with ink scratched messily across it. The message on it was a plea for help
"So? What of it?"
"The girl wrote this!"
"So? It is not unheard of that a peasant teaches himself to write."
"Oh, but this one is no peasant."
"And how do you know this?" I asked. Temerus flung something metallic at me. As the trinket flew through the air, the slave girl stood up suddenly and attentively looked at my closed fist. I opened it to reveal the item I had caught; it was a ring and as I inspected its engravings I felt the blood leave my face. I turned to the girl.
"Where did you get this ring?" I asked her. She just looked at me, then she looked at the ring, then back at me.
"It's mine," she replied with gritted teeth.
"Do not play games with me, girl. Where did you get this ring?"
"I told you, it's mine!" I felt my blood boiling. I took a few deep breaths and waited for the calm to come over me. "I'll tell you what: you can either tell me where you go this ring and have it back, or I can simply take it from Temerus here and erase his debt. You will never see it again." For the first time since he had seen her, the girl lost her look of defiance and replaced it with one of desperation."
"No, I'll tell you, just swear that you will return it to me," she pleaded.
"I will swear nothing, and you are in no position to negotiate. Now stop trying my patience, girl, and tell me where you got this ring."
"It belonged to my father," she clumsily let out. Heather tried her hardest not to weep. She failed. I was stunned by her answer. He had a daughter? I thought to myself.
"Temerus, consider your debt paid." I pocketed the ring. The girl flew into a rage; she demanded I give her the ring back.
"Don't worry girl," I said, "You and the ring are both coming to my house."
