Free Blood and Iron: The Book of the Black Earth (Part One) by Jon Sprunk Page B

gotten the night before. When the guards yelled, the slaves rose to the jingle of rattling chains. Horace began the slow process of standing up as the coffle was dragged and shoved into a semblance of order. The soldiers lined up in formation, and then everyone waited. Horace risked a glance over his shoulder to the elaborate pavilions where Lord Isiratu and his entourage had spent the night. A manservantemerged from the largest tent, a long wooden chest in his arms, and was soon followed by his masters, Lord Isiratu and Lord Ubar, and the priest Nasir.
    My masters now, too.
    Horace found it difficult to accept the idea, but this was his reality. He was a slave.
    While Isiratu entered the wagon, his son walked to the center of the camp. Horace watched as the young noble closed his eyes and held out both hands at waist height. It almost looked like he was praying. A dark spot appeared on the ground at Lord Ubar's feet. The spot grew wider and became a muddy puddle. Horace almost swallowed his tongue when a knee-high jet of water spurted from the wet earth. Ubar stepped away from the newly made spring, and several slaves approached with buckets, which they used to refill the caravan's water barrels.
    Horace grunted as a line of pain sliced across his back. A guard growled in his ear. Horace balled his hands into fists, but he didn't move. Fortunately, another guard called down from the front of the line, and his tormentor hurried off. Horace kept his head down as the procession started moving and focused on maintaining the pace.
    As he had already learned, the end position was the worst place to be. He was continually breathing in the dust kicked up by the many feet ahead of him, and if he failed to keep up, the others could simply drag him along. Yet being alone at the back also allowed him the illusion that his suffering had no witnesses, even if he was only fooling himself.
    The big man glanced back every once in a while. The guards didn't notice, or perhaps they were willing to let it go as long as the giant kept moving. Horace caught one of these glances and acknowledged it with a nod. The big man did nothing in return.
    He probably thinks I'm insane, and he might be right.
    Horace couldn't help but admire the man, who marched with a straight back and shoulders thrust back as if he were leading a victory parade. The nearby captives gave him as much space as their chains would allow, and even the guards left him alone. Horace tried to emulate him, standing up tall as he marched along.
    The sandy waste continued ahead of them for as far as he could see. This was, he comprehended with a shock, what they called a desert. He'd heard of such places. Apparently the east was rampant with them, great dry seas of sand where a man could die of thirst in hours. The sun's heat became even more oppressive as the day wore on, but Horace didn't die, though he began to feel light-headed and his mouth became so dry he couldn't summon enough saliva to swallow.
    “What is this place?” he croaked.
    “The Iron Desert,” the big man said.
    Horace blinked and tried to clear his throat. “So you speak Arnossi.”
    “I'm better with Nimean. Arnossi is too hard. The words have too many meanings.”
    Horace might have laughed if his situation weren't so dire. He held out his hand. “I'm Horace from Arnos. From Tines, specifically. What's your name?”
    The big man ignored the offered hand. “Jirom, son of Khiren of the Muhabbi Clan.”
    “Good to meet you, Jirom. Where are you—?”
    A guard walked by, brandishing his whip, and Horace closed his mouth. Jirom faced forward as if he hadn't said anything. The procession stopped for a break at midday. A man came around with the water barrel, and Horace gulped down the cup offered to him. While they rested, he shaded his eyes against the intense sunlight and tried to make out the landscape ahead, but all he could see were a few clouds in the eastern sky, highlighted in gold. And more sand.