1st Saun, 717
Had he paid more attention in his studies, Rafael would have known what awaited him beyond the great stone gate. He’d have known that the bridge over the Oceanic River was like a crossing between worlds. The one he came from - harsh but indifferent, and the one he stepped into - dark and unjust. The carvings on the wall told dazzling tales, with a stark recurring theme of the female Naer conquering their male foes.
He led the company of captured travelers as the stout Naer at the front tugged him along like a dog on a leash. Each of the captured men responded differently to their new life as the ventured further and further into the dark. Some resisted and desecrated the air with curses while others filled the caverns with a lamenting song of cries and whimpers. While his disbelief was as great as any other, Rafael kept his lips sealed. He would not grant his captors the satisfaction of hearing him cry out. They might have taken his belongings and put him in chains, but they would never be able to collar his mind – a mind already at work, already doing it’s very best to remember every detail of the way in.
Soon enough they climbed up a wet, rocky slope before the city of Augiery loomed before them. Like a great monster rising from a lake it appeared, rising up and further up from the cavern floor, swimming in baleful torchlight and the company halted for a few trills to take in the city of stone.
“Take a good look at your new home, Txeri,” the woman who held his chain spoke to all of them. “This will be the only time you’ll it from this distance.”
For the shortest trill, Rafael wished that he might have the courage to throw his weight against the sneering petite and topple her over the edge of the precipice. In the end, his instincts won out and he remained still, unable to bring himself to his own end, no matter what awaited him in the cave city. Hope was a treacherous domain, his father had always said, both capable of instilling great endurance and futile suffering. He was unsure which kind swelled up in his chest before another tug saw him move on.
--
Up close the cave city was even more dazzling than it had appeared from afar. There were many steps leading up and down and he couldn’t spot the end of the buildings in either direction. Aside from a few cursory glances, no one seemed to pay him much mind and within a handful of bits they arrived in the aptly named Slave Pits. The dour looks plastered on the faces of the slaves that scampered out of the way told Rafael everything he needed to know, though his mind could not yet rationally comprehend it. Everywhere he looked he saw the same face, the same wild longing, the same brokenness, the same despair. How long would it be before he too carried that expression?
The Naer leading the group whistled between her teeth and a strong, bald man with tatoos crawling up his exposed chest came rushing forth to offer his services. Rafael spotted a bronze collar around the man’s strong neck.
“Titho, show the new ones around,” the petite Naer commanded him as she handed over the chain tied to Rafael’s collar. The strong, pale slave offered a bow in reply before hooking the chain to a nearby pole.
“Let me be clear,” his gruff voice boomed as he marched past the column of miserable newcomers, “you’re all equal here. You’re all scum, dirt, and muck here. Forget your dreams, forget your fathers and mothers, cast aside the vile thoughts that poison your mind. You will not escape. You will never escape. You will work, and you will work well, or you’ll taste my whip. Am I clear?”
A few reluctant nods came, but Rafael wasn’t the only one to remain still and silent. The next moment, Titho flew up into his face, his breath nearly suffocated him as the strong slave repeated his thunderous words. “Am I clear?”
“Yes…” the weak answer came.
“AM I CLEAR?” Titho barked again and a few drops of spittle splashed onto Rafael’s face.
Titho was about to shout again when Rafael grimaced. “You’re very fucking loud.”
A trill of silence was all it took for him to realize the graveness of his mistake.
“Congratulations kid,” Titho sneered, “you’ve just volunteered yourself for latrine duty. Unless you have some other witty remark to make?”
Heat rose to his cheeks as he matched Titho’s seething stare with one of his own. All this time, all this time he'd stayed quiet, kept his head down. He could no longer muster the discipline to do so.
“You have bad breath,” he hissed through his teeth.