[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

bells that had been soldered to ruby and diamond studded
146
Judgment
by Denise Hall
rings along the sides singing pleasantly, a happy noise in my
ears. My hand began to shake. I dared not close my fingers
around it.
"Put it on your ankle," Captain told me firmly.
I began to breathe a little faster, looking at my own foot
with moistening eyes. It blurred as my tears welled.
"Put it on," Captain ordered, his voice rising sharply. "I am
giving you an order! You're a slave, aren't you? What's a
matter? Your master didn't teach you obedience? Put them on
now!"
I dropped the jesses when he began to shout at me.
Panting, I tried to crawl backwards away from him, but a
restraining hand clamped down on the back of my neck.
"Wait a minute here," the Detective held up his hands.
"Don't do that! I told you, she's not faking this! She can't be!
Come on—"
Captain stood up, towering over me as though enraged. I
gasped, shying away when he shoved the jesses in my face.
"Pick them up! Put them on!"
I clasped my hands behind my back and bowed to press
my forehead to the floor between his black shoes. With eyes
squeezed tightly shut, at any moment expecting punishment
to lash into me, I panicked. Where was my Master?
Screaming, I pleaded into the floor for him to save me.
* * * *
The next morning, Tane said nothing about my foray
Outside and for a short time I thought it might go
unpunished. Maybe he didn't know after all. Maybe he just
147
Judgment
by Denise Hall
thought I'd gone to the bathroom. I should have known
better. Though I rarely saw the cameras, there were always
watchful eyes in Judgment. Nothing ever happened here that
Tane was not aware of.
But he said nothing to me right away. He only fed me bites
of breakfast from his plate while I sat upon his lap, my back
against his chest, my hips so sore that I could not kneel down
or sit cross-legged on the floor. Not even on a pillow. He
showed me the greatest kindness by not forcing me to try
more than just the once.
After breakfast, he washed my face and brushed my teeth.
He even showered with me, his body propping mine upright
as my knees wobbled in and out and my legs ached and
throbbed. I hurt more now than I had last night, and for a
while I panicked that I might be permanently crippled.
"I left you hoisted too long for your first time," Tane said.
"We will not have a repeat session tonight. I can be patient.
I'll wait until you've had time to heal before we try again."
He brushed my hair, too. I liked it when he did that. He
was so gentle, so careful not to pull and the rhythmic motions
of the hairbrush were so relaxing, it almost put me to sleep
right there on his lap.
"Sit up, Mischief." He had to tell me twice, but the third
time, he only chuckled and did not punish me. There seemed
no end to his kindness today.
Summoning a guard, I had to be carried to Deaton's skill
room. I don't know if I was expected to actually work on my
sculpture. I would have liked to but every time I raised my
arms higher than my waist piercing shocks of agony raced
148
Judgment
by Denise Hall
through my shoulders. I had the will to finish my female in
Posture One, but the body simply couldn't comply. I could
barely move. It even hurt to breathe.
Despite this, I was the envy of every Lesser in that room.
Tane had provided cushions for my chair, both on the seat as
well as the back. There was also a beautiful mother of pearl
hair piece with matching earrings laying beside my sculpture,
waiting for me. I was the only Primary in Judgment with
jewelry of such Elite quality. The covetous looks cast at these
gifts made no sense to me. Had my peers but known the
agony it took to win them, I doubt if they'd have been so
discontented.
But they didn't know, and they responded to what they
perceived to be my favored treatment in the only way they
could. They ignored me. I was never spoken to. No one sat
next to me in the dining hall, not even Honey after that first
time. No one even looked in my direction, or at least not if
they thought I might see them. This is what Tane's extra
attention won me: the complete and utter banishment of my
peers.
Not that I minded not having anyone to talk to. Well, not
really anyway. The daily torture inflicted on me was hard
enough to suffer through without my having to reminisce
about it as well. So I listened to the others busily writing their
poems or their stories, and I stared at my malleable clay
lump, wishing I could move just enough to continue to mold
her a little closer to life.
I'm not sure exactly when I first became aware of an odd
prickling at the back of my neck. But by some newly found
149
Judgment
by Denise Hall
sixth sense, I cocked an ear expectantly toward the door.
Tane was in the Pit. It was as if I felt him striding down the
hall. The knowledge of him shivered down my spine even
before he opened the door and that long-legged stride, that
was by now so familiar to me, carried him into Deaton's skill
room. In attendance to him was Sub-Master Gansel and
Masters Hutch, carrying a long seven-switch birch, and
Boyden, who had a ledger clasped in one hand. From the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

  • zanotowane.pl
  • doc.pisz.pl
  • pdf.pisz.pl
  • thierry.pev.pl

    •