A Change of Fortune

Chapter 6:

  At breakfast one morning, Abensur appeared and made an unexpected announcement, that six of them were to be moved back to Enclosure 1. “I will consider volunteers first, though no-one over forty. So think about it, and I’ll return at dinner.”

  There was a lot of discussion that day. Deirdre said straightaway that she’d volunteer, explaining that she’d never been hurt when in Enclosure 1, and someone said it was because with all those ‘favorites,’ there were fewer available for everyone else to choose from.

  Gloria said, “I’d move back in a flash, but it’s seems I’m too old.”

  Farfalla said, “Me, too. To do what Helene’s gang are doing - trying to find out information - it’s worthwhile.” She grimaced, “And besides, at least you get enough sex there, if not too much.” Her eyes rested on Valencio. But surely he must get tired sometimes. There were several of them who needed him now and then.

  Tiffany said, “Botan’s a regular customer. They say he likes the young ones best though, poor kids.”

  Carol said to Tiffany, “You’re bright enough to help us...”

  “I’ll think about it.”

  “I wonder why they’re not just getting in new young ones.”

  “Helene thinks Suma won’t give permission.”

  “That’s a mercy!”

  Valencio lounged close to the fence that day, watching as Zeeko supervised the construction of six additional bedrooms in Enclosure 1. Shar-kutsu worked under him, and there was another he didn’t know. Zeeko appeared confident in his role, very different from the shy youth whom Valencio had known.

  Zeeko glanced in his direction and Valencio retreated. Zeeko was married now, he knew, and wondered what it would be like to be properly married, maybe in a church, and set up a home with a wife. Zeeko and his wife were el-Kobi and could not have children. Tasha couldn’t have children either. But it was silly to think of that. There was no such thing as a normal life in the Enclosures.

  Tiffany, Amreeta and Deirdre volunteered and were accepted, and Abensur chose another three after dinner, first dismissing anyone over forty, dismissing Thierry, Emma, Valencio and Tasha, then Shirley, and frowning over those left. He made his choices, and six women packed their bags, and before breakfast the next morning, moved back to Enclosure 1. Twenty-six, when there had been only twenty allowed for generations.

  There was a sigh of relief from the overworked inmates of Enclosure 1, especially the younger ones, Ingrid, Treen, and poor little Inge, who was very much in demand. Margaret, who hadn’t wanted to move back, consoled herself with the thought that at least she was at a reduced risk of being ‘culled,’ and could maybe even help as the young girls were helping.

  Valencio watched them leave, gave Tasha a squeeze, and said how glad he was that she wasn’t chosen. Tasha kissed him, thinking that if he’d been chosen, he probably would not have lasted the week. It hadn’t even occurred to him that he might be chosen. He was a full grown man. They wouldn’t want a man.

  She said, “Let’s have something like a marriage ceremony.”

  Valencio kissed her tenderly and said that he’d like that very much.

  Tasha said teasingly, “It means you can’t have sex with anyone but me, of course!”

  Valencio was astonished. “Does it?”

  “I think it mostly does, but I think Farfalla and Gloria and a few others would go bananas if you didn’t visit their rooms now and then.”

  Valencio said tenderly, “You’re the one I sleep with, you’re the one I want to be my wife.”

  Valencio was thirty, Tasha nine years older. Kaede devised a marriage service, and Valencio and Tasha were married, and then Clarence and Bernice, who also wanted to marry. There was no special meal, no honeymoon of course, but there was a commitment to each other. It was held at the usual meeting place, and nearly all the prisoners were in attendance. Not Mariabella, who was with Hicham, and not Georgia and Adelbert, as they were held unconscious in the small end enclosure while the trainee healers learned the spells to clean beds, keep comatose patients clean and get a little pure water into them so they didn’t die of dehydration. The patients were starving, as wizard healers had no way of feeding a deeply unconscious person. The slaves were assured they would not be allowed to die.

  There was no shortage of bedrooms, and Valencio and Tasha continued to use both bedrooms they were allotted, though always sleeping in Valencio’s bedroom. It was no longer bare, but showed a gradual accumulation of personal possessions. Not many, as there were no gifts now, not that there ever had been more than a very few. But paper and pencils were provided, and Emma had discovered a new interest in sketching. It probably wouldn’t last long, as the scenery was so limited, manicured lawns, garden beds flowering, irrespective of season, tiled paths, order and symmetry. She briefly tried portraits, but somehow all the faces wound up looking thin and anxious, though she didn’t think they were, really.