The burly men laughed as they circled me on their horses. One said, “Only a fool or a zealot would venture away from home unarmed. I don’t take you for a fool so you must be a zealot.” He leaned down. “I hate to tell you this, but it appears as if your faith is too weak, zealot. I don’t think your god or goddess is going to save you.”
No, I thought. Not when I’m here to save her. I opened my mouth to say something else and turned around just in time to see a boot coming for my face. My head snapped back and I spat blood. The bag slipped from my shoulder and I’d just raised my hands to fight when I felt a sharp pain on the back of my skull. There was a roaring in my ears and then the sky went dark.
***
The first thing I became aware of was a steady rocking motion. It made my stomach turn, and it was all I could do to shift my head enough so the contents of my heaving stomach wouldn’t end up all over my chest.
I groaned and lifted a finger to gingerly touch my swollen cheek and feel the lump on the back of my neck. A wet cloth landed with a splat next to my leg, followed by a querulous voice. “I’ll thank you to clean up your own sick,” it said.
Squinting in the dark, I could just make out a large shape in the corner. “Who are you?” I asked.
“Humph,” the voice said and the person shuffled closer. “Don’t matter much, does it?”
With a sharp hiss, I sat up, my back against the wall of the cart, and heard the jangle of iron. My ankles and wrists were chained to the floor. “I’m Kishan,” I offered. “I’ve come to rescue a girl.”
I heard a scornful cackle. “Found a girl then, haven’t ya? Though seeing the state you’re in, fat lot of good you’ll do me.”
Picking up the damp cloth, I touched it to my check and then pressed it against the back of my head. Pain was a fleeting thing for me. Even the worst pain faded quickly since I became a tiger. It was the only thing that gave me comfort when I knew Ren had been kidnapped by Lokesh. His torture had been terrible. We’d talked of it once and both of us vowed never to tell Kelsey all that had happened to him. It gave me nightmares to think about it.
The pain I felt now was nothing in comparison to what he had suffered, and yet it was something I had to consider. I could be killed here. These men could maim me enough to prevent me from achieving my purpose. I’d have to be more careful. It was indeed foolish for me to wander through the countryside unarmed. I’d never been unarmed before. I’d always had tooth or claw. Durga’s weapons were now gone. In hindsight, I should have looked for a weapon at Anamika’s home or asked Kadam to bring me one.
Of course, knowing him, he’d come up with some reason it would ruin the timeline for me to bring a weapon from the future into the past. He’d personally packed my bag…wait…my bag! I felt around in the dark, patting the floor of the wagon.
“They took whatever you had, foolish boy,” the woman said with a mocking tone. “You’ll not find your things here.”
“Do…do you know where they’re taking us?” I asked.
“The slave auction,” she answered. “I imagine a strapping lad like you will fetch a nice price.”
“Where is it?” I said. “What city?”
“It moves. Sometimes, it’s in the middle of an oasis. Sometimes a city. Other times it’s by the beach. I like it there best.”
“So, you’ve been with them for a while?”
“I keep the captives alive,” she said.
“Then you must know the girl I’m looking for.” I could feel her eyes on me, even though it was darker than pitch in the wagon. “Please,” I begged. “I’m the girl’s protector. Just tell me, is she alive?”
There was silence for two long breaths and then the woman said softly, “Yes, boy. She’s alive.”
I didn’t know I was holding my breath until I let it out. “Thank you,” I said.
“Seems you’re not much of a protector, seeing as how you’ve been captured yourself.”
“My incarceration is just temporary,” I said.
There was a rasping response and I thought the old woman was choking for a moment. Then I realized she was laughing.
“You doubt my ability to free us?” I asked.
“Son, I’ve been here a long time,” she said. “Longer than you’ve been alive, I’d wager.”
She’d lose that bet.
“No one’s ever escaped. At least no one who’s survived.”
“Then I’ll be the first.”
“We’ll see, boy, we’ll see.”
I twisted and dug my fingers between my ankle and the manacles, trying to find a weakness in the chain, but after several moments, I gave up.
“Best rest for now,” the woman warned me. “They’ll want you fresh for tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?”
“The auction is tomorrow.”
One day? I only had a few hours to try to figure out a way to save not only Anamika but myself. It wasn’t enough time.
The next day I was dragged out of the wagon and doused with a bucketful of water before being unceremoniously dumped into a building. I was forced to sit in the dirt with a dozen other captives, and I scanned the group, disappointed to find only men. The old woman I’d met in the carriage shuffled with a basket of flatbread and handed one to each of us, then came back with a ladle and a jug of water. We each were allowed only one cupful before she moved on.
When she came to me, she leaned down and murmured, “Try to catch the eye of the man in the purple turban. He’s the one who’s going to buy your girl.”
Before she left, I caught her hand. Our chains clanked together. “Thank you,” I said. “When I get her out, I promise to come back for you.”
Her wrinkled face lifted in a weary smile, but she said nothing and shuffled on to the next captive. The afternoon passed slowly as the men were taken out one by one. I heard cheers and boos as the auction went on and then it was my turn. I was dragged out of the building by a burly man with a wicked-looking blade at his hip. When I struggled, he cuffed the side of my head, and the ringing in my ears replaced the sounds of the crowd.
The area was packed with people. Slaves stood holding parasols over their owners and fanned them as they sat on rugs or chairs beneath the garish sun. I was led up to the dais and was turned one way and another so everyone could get a good look at me. My shirt was torn from my body so they could see my arms and chest, and the auction began.
It only took a moment to spot the man with the purple turban. He appeared bored with the auction and perused a tray of food instead of watching the proceedings. I didn’t know at first what I could do to catch his attention, but then I noticed the trembling girls who sat around him. Their faces were covered and they were young. Anamika was about the same age.
The serving boy accidentally spilled something and he froze. Terror turned his skin white. The man just smiled and patted the boy’s cheek. He traced a scar on the young man’s face, and the trembling boy left, visibly shaken. So, I thought, he likes to hurt kids.
Immediately, I knew how best to get him to buy me. Quickly, I shoved aside the man holding my chain and leapt down from the dais, landing right in front of the man in the purple turban. The girls didn’t even move though I could have easily fallen on them. I shouted at the slave buyers, kicked sand at the man in the turban, and spat in his face before telling him I knew what he liked to do to children.
Slowly the man stood up, smiled, and offered quite a sizable sum for me just as my handlers were drawing me back. The offer was immediately accepted and I was taken away. Just before they pulled me back inside the building, I heard cheers and turned to look at the dais. Anamika stood there in the middle—alone, dirty, and innocently beautiful. The man who bought me stood up, hunger obvious on his face.
I wished I could have felt happy that I’d accomplished my goal after I heard the auctioneer shout that the man in the turban had bought Ana, but a sick dread filled me instead. My stomach wrenched when she was brought into the same building. She was chained to the spot across from me.
Within the space of a moment, I scanned her from head to foot and felt relief to see she was relatively unharmed. She hung her head, her dark hair covering her face.