“Rayshabu! Don’t do this,” Saibit said between chattering teeth as she knelt before the flesh merchant.
Before the girl could respond, Heguir bent down to gloat in Sabit’s face. He held her silver hawk clutched tight, its leather thong pulled taut around his neck, delighting to see the spear woman flinch as he came close. “You are a fool to think that Rayshabu has the power to defy to me. The girl was such a pampered pet that she was begging for the chain before I had a chance to offer it. Her every drop of her blood courses with cowardice. To think she could raise a hand to me is laughable.”
“Rayshabu, make your father proud,” Sabit stammered out. The magical fear held her like a chain of iron, cold and unbreakable.
The girl looked at the bronze dagger in her hand, but did not move.
Heguir laughed, the skin of his throat swelling against the two leather thongs pulled tight. “A proud father? If her father’s enemies weren’t paying me to keep her, he ought to do so himself. Her absence is more a boon to the house of Bouden than her presence ever was. Why, once the last of her baby fat melts off her, I think I’ll sell her back to her own father as a concubine for eight silver qirsh. And she’ll thank me for the honor so long as I let her walk the waking dream again. Rayshabu is a weak, worthless disgrace.”
Bright bronze flashed before Heguir’s face. Without thought, the flesh merchant leapt back from the sharp metal edge. Landing on his rump, she scrambled away from the girl. Rayshabu hid her face, even as she pointed the bronze knife at her captor with a trembling hand.
Heguir’s eyes were wide as saucers as he clamped his hands over his throat. “Rayshabu! You dare to ….” His fingers felt no blood. “You didn’t even scratch me. You cannot even rebel properly. You cut nothing but—”
He raised two scraps of leather thong in his otherwise empty hands.
“She cut the only chains that mattered,” said Sabit. Heguir felt long, strong fingers twine through his hair and beard.
A sudden jerk and he felt no more.
—THE END—
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Wayfarings of Sabit: Chains is copyright (c) 2018 by Michael S. Miller. All rights reserved. New chapters post every Thursday (and the occasional Monday). You can support this and other stories on Patreon: https://patreon.com/michaelsmiller Find more sword and sorcery fiction at http://ipressgames.com/fiction/.