Free The High King: A Tale of Alus by Donald Wigboldy Page B

for more than a week through the chaos. Gerid blinked them determinedly from his eyes trying to restore his strength of spirit in the face of so much pain.
    "All right, slaves, we're here," the driver stated happily over his shoulder and pointed towards a series of buildings in the near distance. "It's your new home."
    Gerid had been so engrossed in his own thoughts that they had passed through the city's walls and then driven dozens of miles from Camerton already. He turned to face the path to the destination that the man had referred to only a moment earlier. The largest of the buildings, a mansion by nearly anyone’s imagining and painted brown with red trim, lay directly before them. It was much larger than the Aramathea's homestead had been. Two smaller buildings, that looked to be even more housing space, two tall barns peeking from behind the central home and a series of silos further out into the distance, gave evidence to the fact that someone of great wealth had acquired him as a slave.
    The wagon moved around behind the house along a little path to the living quarters for the slaves and servants. Gerid looked at the low wooden building with its green painted boards and white trim that seemed unusually bright and clean as if it had been recently painted. The whole farm seemed unusually neat, clean and very well kept up.
    "All right, everyone out!" the driver ordered as he reined in the horses to a halt. "You are now at the home of your new masters, the family of Carter Holtein. This barracks is where you'll stay when you are not working."
    Several dogs came barking excitedly as they rounded the corner. The animals jumped up and down before the men. Everyone of the animals would pause just long enough by each slave to sniff and learn their scent. As a large, black hound jumped up to greet Gerid, nearly bowling him over in the process, the driver spoke to them again, "Just a warning to you men, we will be watching you closely, especially early on. Even if you should try to find a way to escape, these hounds are for more than just keeping watch over the farm and animals. The dogs have, by now, already gathered your scent. Should you try and escape, these creatures can hunt you down to the farthest reaches of Taltan."
    As Gerid listened with half an ear, he noticed that all the dogs were suddenly surrounding him and sometimes jumping up on him. Several began barking even as others would try and lick his hands and face. Though a slight surprise, he had found that, even back home, animals seemed to have a natural liking for him.
    "What did ya do, boy?" one of the guards asked. "You roll in a meat market before we bought you or somethin'? I've never seen these critters take to someone like this before."
    "Jack!" the man who had driven cart addressed the guard. "Get those mutts out of here. They've done their job already."
    "Right, Leoltus," Jack answered as he shooed the animals away.
The slaves were led inside the building by Leoltus, an older man with gray hair and scruffy beard. Inside were mats, with hay underneath the covering, laid from one wall to another with a corridor made between them. Gerid counted thirty mattresses of hay in all. They were large enough for at least two or three people if need be. He figured the Holtein masters must be extremely wealthy if they needed this many beds. The Aramatheas hadn't needed to be able to provide for that many on their whole farm including their own household.
There were three people waiting within at the far end of the building. They stood near the fireplace at that end. The fire was lit within the hearth, though the weather was fair enough outside to forebear such a waste. It seemed odd to Gerid. He thought that he could guess the reason for such a blazing fire, but prayed that his hunch was wrong.
"Come forward, slaves. Picar and Menty are here to give you your final reason to forget about escaping."
Gerid followed the others in a knot near the two men mentioned by