Warrior Book Five of the Hythrun Chronicles

Chapter One Selling off the slaves she had known all her life was the hardest thing Luciena Mariner had ever had to do. Watching them being loaded into the wagon from Venira's Slave Emporium, chained and forlorn, was the most heartbreaking scene she had ever witnessed in her meagre seventeen years. Some of the slaves had been with her family since before Luciena was born. Young Mankel, the kitchen boy, was born in this house. He had never known another home. Her voice quivering with emotion, she turned away from the boy's distraught sobs and instead tried to explain for the hundredth time since her mother had died how much better they would fare in Master Venira's exclusive showroom than if she'd simply sold them on the open market. Her words were little comfort. The slaves weren't fools. They all knew the chances of finding a household as good as the one they were leaving were remote. What choice did I have? Luciena asked herself bitterly, as she climbed the stairs once the wagon had left. The heavy purse she carried made her feel worse, not better, even though it would go some way to reducing her debts. The big house echoed with loneliness, the blank spaces on the walls where paintings had once hung glaring at her like blank, accusing faces. On the first-floor landing, the pedestal where her father's marble bust had always taken pride of place stood empty now. It had been one of the first things to go, sold to help pay the huge debts her mother's death had revealed. Luciena made her way along the tiled hall towards the small study where her mother had spent so much of her final days, trying to conceal the seriousness of their desperate position from her daughter. Her slippers hissed softly against floors that had been covered with expensive rugs. Luciena had sold them to pay the livery bill. The upkeep on the coach-and-four hadn't been paid for months. She'd sold the coach and the four matched greys without much emotion, but parting with her horse, Wind Hunter, had almost gutted her. And I'm not out of the woods, even yet, she thought as she pushed open the door to her mother's study. To maintain their lifestyle, her mother had mortgaged the house, her jewellery, even the furniture and the slaves. Luciena would be lucky if she could keep the clothes on her back by the time the debts were paid. She stopped in the doorway, looked at the pile of paper on the small table, and felt tears welling in her eyes, yet again. It didn't seem to matter how much she sold, how much she sacrificedthat damn pile never seemed to get any smaller. "Luciena?" She turned to find Aleesha standing behind her with a tray bearing a tall glass of something gold and sticky and several slices of flatbread and cheese. A year or two older than her mistress, Aleesha was the only slave Luciena had not been able to bring herself to part with. The young woman was more than just a slave. She was Luciena's best friend. "I'm not hungry." "You have to eat." "I can't afford to eat," she sighed, holding the door open to allow the slave through with the tray. Aleesha walked past her mistress and placed the tray on the side table by the window before turning to face Luciena, hands on her ample hips. "I'll hear none of that, my girl. I know this is difficult, but we'll find a way to survive it." Luciena smiled wanly at the slave's determined enthusiasm. "How, Aleesha? I'm running out of things to sell faster than I'm running out of creditors." [read more]