Chapter 15- The Border (Vin)

Know the Tauron laws, the ones that enslave you and the ones that free you. All teachers must be freed, pay for their freedom any way possible. Know that if you ever leave Taurus, you are freed as well. This is by God’s decree and the Law of Taurus. Enter it again, however, and your freedom dies, unless it has been bought through Taurus law. -The Torment, Chapter 17, verses 1 - 5

The next few days went by quickly. Horace, Cas, Shalin and I would exercise in the morning and learn about weapons. She gave the three newly freed Gar’shan swords that she collected off the dead patrol. They seemed eager to learn and get their revenge. They worked determinedly hard and were extremely motivated. Horace still would not talk, but he was friendly enough. His anger was never directed towards us, but it was always there and present.

Cas, however, talked a mile a minute. Sometimes it was about silly things like the weather and our surroundings, but mostly it was interesting bits of information on his life and times. Cas and his brother, Ames, were both strapping men and were bought and sold a few times before they were bought by Master Gyles. They were often sold as a pair since they worked hard together and complimented each other. Once on Master Gyles’ land, Ames and Cas both fell in love with the same girl.

Instead of getting angry and jealous of each other, they approached the girl and told them of their feelings. It was up to her if she would like one, both or neither man. She chose Ames and Cas backed away peacefully, if not a little depressed. Almost three years after Shalin was born, Ames and Shalin’s mother were sold. Cas swore he would protect Shalin and he made sure to work extra hard so he would not be sold. He raised the girl as his own, though he would often tell her stories of her parents.

As Cas aged, he wasn’t as much a hot commodity as he once was. He tried to work as diligently as he always had, but he was slowing down. A life of back breaking work had started to take its toll. When Gyles came on hard times, He had to sell more than half his slaves at once. He almost sold Cas and Shalin separately, but in an ironic move, Cas worked impressively hard when Unther came to look at the slaves to purchase. Cas also made sure Shalin looked as pretty as a button, her hair in a pixie cut, barely short enough. She wore one of Mistress Gyles’ old dresses. Unther saw this and bought them both.

Cas would sometimes say wise things that I had never considered. For instance, “There is a small sort of power in being a slave. The Taurons see you as nothing, so you can impress them easily if you want, or you can live your life almost unnoticed. Taurons are easily manipulated because of this. When you expect so little from someone, it isn’t hard to impress them.” I thought about this and it was true. Even Master Palion had been constantly impressed by the little things, enough so that he never expected big things from his slaves. He never got the work a free man would give for being paid fairly. He just got barely more than the minimum. Not that his father hadn’t worked hard- he had. His father had been forced to work in tough conditions and he worked his fingers to the bones, but his heart and soul were never in the work. He never produced something that he was proud of since the product wasn’t his or made by his free will.

Even thinking about my father made me a little depressed. I missed him and my brothers, our house and the other Gar’shan. I might never see them again, and that made my heart beat sorely for my loss. I even missed Palion a bit, but any time I thought that I pushed that feeling down and dismissed it. He was a slave master, not a friend. I wanted to feel hatred towards him, like Horace felt towards Unther. It was cleaner, somehow, to hate him. I worked at it every day.

We moved a little more slowly, as there were more of us. Grimshaw had to work to cover our tracks, ad we would walk through streams and creeks as often as we could to hopefully lose any trackers. The patrols weren’t due back for a week, but we couldn’t take chances. Grimshaw was happy when it rained, even though it made us miserable, as it would help us cover our tracks.

Shalin slowly became more friendly to us as time went on. She would talk sometimes, tentatively, as if she were afraid that we would lose our temper at even the slightest word. I had to admit I found her attractive. Her pale head, bright blue eyes and the rare times she actually smiled made her more beautiful than any other Gar’shan I have ever seen before. Despite this, I kept my distance from her, out of respect to her and what she had been through. She had a lot more healing to do, and I didn’t want to hinder her while she was doing it.

The night before we were at the border, Kingsley told us about how we would cross the border. Yeshua and Taurus were separated by natural boundaries across the thousands of kilometers. Some had mountains that separated the two nations. Luckily where we were crossing, this was not the case. Unfortunately, we did have to cross a river. The Fluvius River was wide and had a fast current. It flowed west to east, toward the ocean on the eastern shore.

The last patrol was likely around where we would cross, as it was one of the easier parts to cross. Also, patrols were on the stretch of river between two border towns that were about 80 kilometers apart. Trade was also on the river as well as fishers and other people. We had to get across unnoticed, and it would be difficult, to say the least. This was the most dangerous part of the trip by far, Kingsley warned.

“Once you set your feet on the opposite shore, you will truly be freed” Kingsley said to Cas, Horace and Shalin. We all knew this. Tauron law said escaped slaves were freed when leaving Taurus and could not be hunted down in other lands. However, if the slave were to ever enter Taurus again, their original status was renewed. Freed Gar’shan, ones who bought their freedom, would always remain free, no matter where they travelled. Of course, Freed Gar’shan were not allowed to leave Taurus legally, so that law was moot.

“We will have to make a raft, or find an old one, to pass. And we will have to time it do no one can see and stop us. We also can’t allow the river’s current to take us too far downstream, as the closer you get to the border town, the more dangerous.”

“Why can’t we just swim?” I asked.

“Not everyone knows how to” Cas responded.

“Even if we all did, the river current is too hard, and the distance is too wide and deep.” Kingsley added, helpfully. She continued “I will see if the raft I used last time is still available. I hid it pretty well, but the patrols routinely look for them and burn them if they find one.”

The next night, we made our way to the river. This River showed up in many of our tales, songs and stories. It was a river of freedom, the Fluvius River, and everyone knew if they could just cross it they would be freed.

It was a river I had always wanted to see, and when I first laid eyes on it, my mouth dropped. It was huge. You could barely see the other shore, but you could see rapids in the middle of the river. It looked downright dangerous to cross. The water was a beautiful blue and frothy white in places. It looked like a painting.

“We are going to cross this?” Shalin said doubtfully. She voiced what we all felt.

“I have done it a dozen times, and Teacher Kingsley many more times than that,” Grimshaw said. He was trying to give us hope, but the idea of crossing the monster of a river looked impossible.

“Stay here, hidden behind the trees so people on the river can’t see you. I am going to look to see if I can find my old raft. If so, we likely can get you across tonight. If not, we will have to make a raft. I do think the raft I made is a little too small for 6 people, but I think three or maybe 4 can fit on it. It will likely take two trips.”

We did as she asked and an hour later, Kingsley returned with good news. The raft was still there and looked in good condition.

We made our way slowly to the raft. The night was pitch black with no moon. The best time to cross, Kingsley said, but also the hardest as it was difficult to see landmarks and tell how far you have gone.

“I will drive the raft. Shalin, Cas and Vin you will come on the first crossing. Teacher Grimshaw and Horace will come on the second. Teacher Grimshaw, you and Horace will stay here, hidden in the tree line. Be careful of the patrol, if they see you, they might signal on the river for back up. Then they might attack with a force even a teacher cannot withstand.” She said this more to Horace than to Grimshaw, and Horace nodded. He seemed relieved to have Shalin cross first, out of danger.

“Cas, Shalin and Vin, be careful on the other side once I drop you off. Taurus has very few monsters, and their land is safe, comparatively speaking. Yeshuan is not. There are many monsters about and you will want to stay hidden and move very little. Also, after I drop you off, wash yourself in the river, as that will cause you to have less of a scent to the monsters that are hunting.”

I shivered, monsters. I have heard about them my whole life. Palion used to caution us, saying that Taurus was a great place to be because there were little to no monsters. Yeshua, on the other hand, was dangerous. Gar’shan should have been happy to be in Taurus under the protection of the vigiles and the masters, according to Palion.

We boarded the raft, and Kingsley started talking while we were rafting across, she let the raft drift a little, but she was paddling hard to get across as fast as possible. As she talked, she looked like a hero of old, her muscles bulging as she forced the small craft across the river.

“I am a crusader, Vin. And most of the Talents (that’s our power) given to me is based on fighting. But not all. Crusaders must travel a lot, so we get some abilities that make travelling safer or easier. I have skills in rafting, and can increase stamina to amazing heights when travelling, as I am doing right now. That is why I am not having any of you paddle, as it would just slow us down.”

We were making good time, and about 1 hour later we safely made shore. Kingsley quickly left and went back to the other shore, this time fighting against the current in hopes of landing closer to Grimshaw and Horace.

After she left, all three of us quickly took a bath in the river. Shalin’s spirits seemed to lift after doing so. And why not, she was free and clean! We then went away from the shore and made it to the tree line.

I nervously looked for monsters, glad that I had been able to get my Zeal back up to full. 15 minutes passed, we were all tense. We knew we would have to wait out here at least two hours, if not more. We were cold, wet from the river, and the early spring night was no help.

I started to hear something move in the trees. I couldn’t see what, but I got out my dagger. Shalin and Cas got out their swords. Suddenly, a massive beast came out of the trees. It looked like a bear and a crab mixed. It was as big as a bear and had fur and a bear’s head, but also it had 10 legs that were crab-like in nature. Two of them were giant claws that looked like it could cut us in two easily. I gulped, nervously. We didn’t have Kingsley or Grimshaw to protect us. I knew that I had to take the lead. I had no idea, however, to kill this thing.

We were in danger, and help would not arrive until it was way too late.