Condemned to Be Someone's Slave

**Shaira's POV**

Assu was furious. I could see it in his bloodshot eyes and the tension in his muscles, so I stepped closer and placed my hands on his chest before he could do something reckless.
"I’ll pay you in credits, you scoundrel! There’s no way I’ll let you take advantage of my wife!"
The doctor smirked mockingly.
"Do you want to take this to court, savage?" he asked. "Because if you do, I’ll include the legal fees along with additional interest, and you’ll be buried under the lawsuit documents my lawyer will send you, arrogant savage."

The tension in Assu’s muscles eased slightly, but the hatred in his gaze remained. The doctor’s threat of a lawsuit seemed to weaken Assu's resolve.
"And how exactly do you expect my wife to pay you? You’re not suggesting she gives herself to you..."
"Oh no, of course not. That would be prostitution, and you know very well, savage, that it’s illegal. Don’t take me for a fool," the doctor responded. "Your wife will have to work at my house for six months to pay off this debt."
"Six months?! Have you lost your mind?!" Assu protested.
"We never agreed to anything like that," I said. "You didn’t even mention it was a personal debt."
The doctor glared at me with some anger.
"If you don’t agree with my terms for the price and payment, we can settle this with my lawyer."

The doctor had realized how effective his threat of taking this ridiculous case to court was. For some reason, Assu believed that this option could be much worse than the doctor’s offer.
"I propose that I work for you instead, for eight months, in the fields, for sixteen hours a day," Assu offered. "After all, I’m the one who needed your services, not my wife, who was just an intermediary."
"Of course, I’m not going to accept that," the doctor replied arrogantly. "As I said, the payment is personal. Your wife incurred the debt, and she is the only one from whom I’ll accept payment, or you can start talking to my lawyer tomorrow."
"I’ll do it, Assu. It’s no problem," I said as I grabbed his arm, trying to calm him. He must have felt terrible for getting me into this mess.
"Listen to your wife, savage..."
"Stop calling him that! You’re nothing but a despicable scoundrel," I said. My words, though spoken without violence, were delivered with such determination that the doctor felt ashamed.
"Anyway, tomorrow you’ll start paying your debt, doll. I expect you at my house at first light. You know where it is. If you don’t arrive at dawn, I’ll understand that you’re defying me and will start the legal process to collect."

Assu was restraining himself with great effort. I could feel it in the way his body trembled with pure rage and helplessness.
The doctor gathered his sophisticated equipment and left.
"I can’t allow this, Shaira," Assu said. "Because of me, you’ll have to go to that miserable abuser’s house, and who knows what could happen there. That scumbag intends to violate you, Shaira, I saw it in his evil eyes."
"Then let’s face him in court, Assu. We’ll hire a lawyer too, and find a way to fight him. Maybe his threats were just empty, and he doesn’t really intend to go through with it."
Assu shook his head.
"No, Shaira, there’s something you don’t understand, and you have no reason to know, given your situation. But no matter how good a lawyer we could hire, the judge handling the case will be an Eteri, and he will side with that bastard."
"What? But that’s unfair! Why would an Eteri judge the case?"

Assu sat on the bed where he had almost died. I sat beside him, listening intently to his explanation.
"The Opranchi of Sagoria are a conquered people, Shaira, even if it doesn’t seem like it and everything looks like we still live our traditional lives. But there’s an Eteri fortress just a few miles from here, from where their so-called 'protection' patrols depart. But they’re nothing more than gangs of looters and rapists who terrorize the native population. And as that idiot said, if he sues us, a court notice will be sent to our chief, forcing us to appear. And since the chief of Sagoria doesn’t want any trouble with the Eteri, he’ll force us to attend that trial by any means necessary. And without a doubt, we’ll lose, and the judge’s penalty could be much worse, like forcing us to work in the oramantina mines."
"Oramantina?" I asked.
"It’s the reason there’s an Eteri fort right next to our village, Shaira. It’s the mineral the Eteri extract from the nearby mines that makes them rich. That’s why we must fight, Shaira, and drive them out so they never return, because our chief is already negotiating with the invaders to send Sagoria’s people to work in those mines—a job currently done by convicts because the conditions in the mines are deadly. No one survives more than a year there."

My heart sank as I heard this, and I understood all the reasons Assu had for being an arms smuggler.
"Then let’s run away, Assu, or let me disappear."
"And where would you go, Shaira? Do you remember what Angro asked of us? Right now, we don’t know if he succeeded in capturing Omawit and preventing him from revealing the evidence that would condemn you in Zuwua. You can’t go back there until we’re sure of what happened."

I also thought about the problems my presence in Zuwua could cause for Angro’s relationship with the chief Owan’s daughter. That morning, when I left there, I promised myself I wouldn’t return for a while, at least not until my presence wasn’t a problem for Angro.
"To another village, Assu? We could start a new life. How about it? I’ll accept your offer to be your business partner, like you proposed."
"And I wish we could, Shaira. Honestly, nothing would please me more. But after that doctor’s threats to take us to court, we’ll be fugitives wherever we go. We’ll only bring trouble to any Opranchi village that takes us in, because we’ll bring the wrath of the Eteri with us."

Assu’s reasoning made sense. Whether I liked it or not, I was forced to pay that debt to avoid causing more problems for Assu, Angro, or anyone else.
No matter how I looked at it, it seemed I was condemned to be someone’s slave, either Omawit’s or that eteri doctor.
"Then I’ll defend myself, Assu. I’ll carry a weapon, a short knife or something else, so that if that doctor tries to take advantage of me, at least he’ll know he can’t."
"And do you know how to use a weapon, Shaira? Have you ever used one?"
I shrugged.
"I don’t know, but I think not. Remember, my memory is still failing. I don’t know."

Assu sighed.
"Let’s try. We’ve got nothing to lose."
From under the bed, Assu pulled out a wooden box and took out a short but very sharp knife.
"Take it. Try hitting something as if it were the doctor trying to take advantage of you."
I felt clumsy holding the knife. I didn’t even know what to hit.
"It could be this," Assu grabbed the pillow from the bed. "Don’t worry, I’ll replace it. Just stab it like it’s that bastard’s face."
Assu held the pillow, and I tried to imagine I was stabbing the doctor’s ribs.
Without knowing how, my hand moved on its own, and after spinning the knife handle between my fingers, I made a quick, precise thrust that sank into the pillow, right where my eyes were fixed.
"Wow, that was amazing, Shaira. I don’t even know how to use a knife that well. Have you regained your memory?"

Assu dropped the pillow, which was completely destroyed after my attack.
"No, it was just a reflex, like my hand knew exactly what to do and where to strike," I replied. "I imagined I was piercing that scumbag’s liver, and my hand just went there."

I saw an unusual gleam in Assu’s eyes.
"You’ve had military training, and it’s not from the Opranchi warriors."
"Are you suggesting that I’m..."
Assu nodded.
"I don’t know if this discovery makes things easier or harder for us, Shaira, but I think there’s no doubt about your origins."