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Planting season. Janiya, Alibek, and I rode past farms of slaves planting
crops in neat-furrowed rows, stooping to drop seeds into the wet ground. Men
and women bent side by side. Watching them made my own back ache, and
I rubbed the base of my neck, imagining the tickle of prickling sweat.
Only the rivers return can free them all, Alibek said.
It was an old saying, something I d heard from my mother. I d said it a few
times myself, but now it irritated me.
How is that supposed to work, anyway? I asked. The rivers will come back,
and& then what? The Sisterhood of Weavers will decide to free all Danibeki
slaves?
Alibek shrugged. I ve always figured that the point of the saying is that all
our people will never be free. Only
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Freedom sSisters the rivers return can free them all. The rivers will never
return, so& some of our people will never be free.
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Surely you ve known slaves who wouldn t take freedom even if it were handed to
them.
I ve freed slaves who turned away from the gift.
You freed others who should have. I met one who had nothing to say but The
food was better when I was a slave and My bed at Sophos s house was softer
and I m tired, Sophos didn t make me work as hard as I have to work here.
I hunched my shoulders. That s his problem.
Ha. It s the Alashi s problem.
Do you think that the only people who deserve to be free are the ones that
free themselves?
Alibek shrugged ruefully. Well, I really like Uljas. But I also think some
people are better off as slaves. It s what they want. Or it s what they
deserve.
Has Uljas ever told you about Burkut?
A little bit. I was there when we buried him.
Well, no one but Lauria and Uljas would ve freed Burkut. He didn t want to be
free. Uljas had to talk him into escaping. But Uljas believed in him.
And then he died on the trip, right? Sounds like Lauria and Uljas should have
left him alone. Maybe he d still be alive.
I wasn t sure how to explain what I was trying to say. I wanted to ask him who
should decide who ought to be free, or why ought to be the one to decide. I
didn t know which question to ask, so instead I rolled my eyes he and urged my
horse ahead a little bit so I didn t have to talk to Alibek anymore.
Alibek caught up with me a few minutes later. Burkut escaped once, anyway. It
was Lauria who brought him back.
He wouldn t have made it to the Alashi that time. He ran away without water.
If Lauria hadn t gone after him, he would ve been dead.
And then he died after she freed him? Sounds like the gods wanted him dead.
Free, but dead.
I shrugged.
I sort of remember Burkut, from when he was owned by Kyros. He was always
sick. I figured he was just trying
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Freedom sSisters to get out of work.
I d have figured the same thing.
But he wasn t.
Well, unless you think he wasted away and died just to get out of the trouble
of serving in a sword brotherhood
no.
Alibek fell silent for a little while, to my relief. Then he said, You know,
you re not at all what I expected.
What is that supposed to mean? You only met me once.
He shook his head dismissively. I was in a clan with some of your sword
sisters. I heard stories about you all winter.
I glanced at Janiya. Who told stories about me?
Zhanna, mostly.
So what did she have you expecting?
Alibek shrugged, to my annoyance, and said nothing.
What stories did she tell you?
She said you were really good with a bow.
I opened my mouth to say that I
was really good with a bow, then snapped it shut. My bow was tied to my
saddle.
I untied it, bent it against my horse s withers to string it, placed an arrow
against the string, and looked at Alibek challengingly.
He raised an eyebrow. I see a rabbit over in the grass, he said, and
pointed.
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We had the rabbit grilled over the coals that night. It was tough but still a
welcome change from the lentils and rice. Alibek chewed his thoughtfully,
picking the bones clean. Good shot, he said, as we laid out our blankets to
sleep.
H
ow do you think we should approach the farm? Janiya asked the next morning.
Openly? Or should one of us sneak in and try to talk to Lycurgus?
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Freedom sSisters
I can show you where we camped, if you want to hide, I said. Lauria went in
and pretended that she needed a job. Solon hired her. We don t want to talk to
Solon. We want Lycurgus, but that could be hard Lycurgus was supposed to be in
charge, but he was drunk all the time and Solon ran the place. I thought it
over. If we go in openly, we definitely won t be able to talk to Lycurgus
without Solon knowing. If we sneak in, we can probably go talk to Lycurgus at
night. One of us, anyway. Janiya looked at me. Oh, all right, I said. I
could do it. At night. Though I didn t see the farm when I was here with
Lauria. I stayed with the horses.
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