Page 24 of Shackled to the Orc

“Yes, sir,” he says, undoing the cuffs in a practiced movement.

“You can leave,” says Shug, eyeing me up and down, ignoring the guard as he walks back into the estate. He motions to the chair, and I take my seat. The sounds of the gladiators training endlessly travel in the cool evening air as the sun sets, casting a bloody glow over the horizon. Under the table, there’s a large leather satchel.

Shug dissects the fish like a surgeon. “My doctor said you did a good job today. Brenn will be recovered for the fight.”

“And is he planned to win that fight, or did I save his life for you to throw it away?”

“I see you’re starting to understand how this bloody business works. He’s got an even match.”

To my side, I look down over the balcony as the gladiators leave one by one, chatting with each other and stretching at the end of a long day of training. Two remain, the newcomers. Khan was right. The one who could have slept on a comfortable bed chose the sand out of solidarity.

“And those two? Do they have a chance?”

“Very little.” He sighs. “I sent my eldest son to the capital for training. I’d rather he chooses another path than this one.”

“It did well for you,” I say, motioning to the sprawling estate. “Are you thinking of leaving the business?”

“Sharp. My portfolio would be worth more with a doctor who isn’t half in drink by noon. But I didn’t bring you here to offer you a job.”

“Then why am I here?”

He twists his fork, scraping a bone clean, the pink, fatty flesh of the fish disappearing between his large lips. “I do my homework. You were taking herbs from Corwin’s swamp. Valuable ones, but you weren’t selling them. You were using them for your village. They need you,” he says, waving his fork in the general direction of my village. “I’ve got a way to get you back.”

I sit rigid in the wooden chair across from him, not trusting a word he says, but the gnawing hope makes me open my mouth. “How?”

“You’ve pieced together why I brought Khan to the slave auctions.”

I nod.

“Explain.”

“You view your gladiators as investments. Khan is nearing the end of his useful lifespan for you. There’s more value in breeding him.”

Shug smiles for a moment, but it doesn’t touch his eyes. “He’s got another decade left in him. But you’re half right. But see, you’ve put a little thorn in my plan. The same reason I’ve had to triple my guards.”

“And that is?”

“When an orc gets the scent of a woman, it drives him to madness. It happened six years ago to another pitmaster. During a fight. His orc won, but he got the scent of a noblewoman in the crowd. He had to be put down. He got halfway up the wall before they turned him into a pincushion. Khan won’t touch those three breeding women I bought. Not with you here.”

My heart quickens. I try to calm myself with the thought that if he was going to kill me to get me out of the way, he wouldn’t warn me first.

He pulls the leather satchel up, placing it on the table. “Supplies. For you to set up your little field hospital. I’ll be bringing you to the fights as well, to work in the arena’s hospital.”

I don’t touch it. I just watch him, carefully, waiting for him to speak.

He unbuckles it and opens it, pulling out a bag of dried leaves. “You know what these are?”

“Yes.”

He looks at me expectantly. I reach out to the bag of leaves, open it, and pull one out, placing it on my tongue, and wait twenty seconds. Then I pull it out, already knowing it won’t change color, that there is no chance I am pregnant. Many a woman has put the leaf in her mouth before, some praying it will change, others for the opposite result, often after a night they regretted.

“Pity.”

“It usually takes a few days to show a positive result,” I say, and I can tell he knew that before he gave it to me. He’s testing my knowledge of herbs.

“Alf, the pitmaster I’m preparing the event with, had the idea to put Khan in the ring with four of his handpicked female slaves. He would pay me a handsome studding fee, of course. But I told him it was useless with you here. He told me I should kill you.”

He reaches into the bag and pulls out a foot-long, wide glass vial. “For me, I prefer the less messy route. Fill this with his seed. Put three full vials under the bathtub in the hospital room you’ve made.”

---