Rise of the Godking - Chapter 15

"… and that's the task."

As the old man's words bounced off the walls and faded into nothingness, sixteen slaves stared at him, their eyes fraught with incredulity and even downright mistrust.

Four were woman, while the rest were men. No two of them looked like. They had different shapes and sizes, but one thing was common among them all: they stared at Reese in exactly the same way that he had stared at Daneel when he had been told about the task.

There was one slave who was the biggest among all those present. Standing behind the old man while wreathed in shadow, Daneel studied him. He had no idea how he had succeeded in retaining his muscle, and he was of a mind to ask…until he saw the man stand up violently and shout.

"That's…ARGH! Everyone says that I should control my anger, but they don't know the kind of situations I have to deal with… before we get started on how foolhardy and utterly fruitless it is, who the hell is the one giving the task?"

"And what is the payment?"

The second question was from a woman who had been sitting beside the large man. She was an oddity, too. She almost looked… healthy.

'Are they not slaves? How can they be different from all the others?'



Daneel's question went unanswered, and he put it to the side, knowing that it was time to make his entrance. It had taken three days to set up this meeting; three days spent with him doubting whether the old man was even up to the task. Each day, he had gone to Reese to find out an update, and he had come away convinced that he was making a mistake by trusting him.

Yet, in the end, he had come through. The hard work needed to set up just one such meeting was unbelievable. First, they had had to identify a mining shift where the enforcer was known to be lax. Second, Reese had either bought off or requested the slaves assigned to the shift so that they would shift places with the ones who would be involved in the discussion. Third, the enforcer was seduced by a slave and taken to one of the caverns nearby so that he wouldn't be present while they talked.

That last step had felt… wrong, to Daneel, for some reason. He had asked Reese whether there was any other way, but after being told that there were some slaves who were always happy to carry out tasks like this in exchange for his healing salves or food secretly squirrelled away from the eating area, he let the topic drop reluctantly. Besides, half the uneasy feeling he had felt had disappeared after finding out that they were not forcing anyone, and afterward, he had thought about this and decided that even if he was a conman in his past, he must have been an altruistic one.

Finally, it had all culminated in the gathering in front of him. He had arrived first and made sure he was in a spot so dimly lit that he wouldn't be visible, and even after the others had arrived, they hadn't bothered to ask about who he was, trusting Reese who stood in front of him and hid him from the view of the rest.

As the questions echoed in the cave, Reese opened and closed his lips, but said nothing. It seemed that he had considered giving some sort of introduction in the hope that it might dampen the reactions of the others, but he gave up and simply stepped aside.

When Daneel took a step into the light, the cave went still for a moment, and then, pandemonium broke out.

The three slaves closest to him lunged in his direction, as if determined to get rid of him now that they had found such a perfect opportunity to do so. The big man started shouting at Reese, but the healer hardly had a chance to listen and respond as he had thrown himself in the path of the ones who wanted to kill Daneel.

The rest muttered between themselves while looking at him with dark faces. He registered all of it in the span of a second, and then… he breathed in, absorbing power from another crystal he had managed to sneak away from one of his mining shifts.

With the energy flooding through his veins, it seemed as if his voice had been amplified, too, as when he shouted, the sound drowned out all the noise in the cave, ushering in a spell of silence.

"SHUT UP, ALL OF YOU!"

He looked around, meeting the eyes of each and every slave, and he held their gaze until a change came over each and every one of them. He succeeded in making only two slaves look down, but even though the rest were as defiant as ever, he knew that he had earned an opportunity to talk and be heard.

"Yes… I am the one who gave the task. As for payment… how does meat and vegetables for all the slaves sound? Once, we were able to eat our fill even if we were worked to the bone. I want those days to return. And I'll make it happen with your help."

His far-fetched claim brought about even more shock.

The big man was the first to recover. Raising his hand and pointing his finger at Daneel, he snarled, "Who the fuck do you think you are? You think you can come down here, and order us around as if we were still under your command? You're nothing!"

There were many nods as they heard him, and while Daneel watched the man speak, courage filled his mind like a drug. He walked forward until he was standing right in front of the big man. From such a short distance, he could see that each ounce of muscle on the man's body had been built painstakingly as green veins could be seen rippling across them all, and as the man tightened his fist and ground his teeth, his arms bulged.

Without the energy, Daneel would have stepped back right away, convinced that his head would be wrenched off his neck if he stayed any longer. Yet, he felt slightly crazy right now, and he knew exactly what he was supposed to do even though it sounded mad, even to him.

He looked up at the man, and tried hard not to wrinkle his nose due to the stink that was coming off of him. A coarse beard covered half his face, and the rest of his body was hairy, too. He was so tall that Daneel only reached his chest, but still, raising his finger, he tapped on the spot right in front of him and growled, "You were born here. Have you done anything? No! Yes, I came down from the surface! And I will make my words come true, or you can do with me what you wish!"

He turned to the others, then, and maintained the aggression in his voice.

"I'm telling this to each and every one of you. Put all this silly pride aside. I will do what I promised, or I'll pay willingly with my life. If I succeed, eat your fill. I don't care if you still cursed me after that, too! And if I fail… take your revenge. Isn't it a good deal?"

He grinned, then. It was the grin of a man betting his life, and after watching him for a few moments, the others began to whisper between each other.

"He's different from us. We were raised while repeatedly being told that our lives are meant only to serve, while he… was promised the world. I believe him. I vouch for him. It might seem fruitless, but it is a simple enough task. If nothing comes out of it, we will only pay a small price. A few whippings, a little blood. But if he succeeds…think about everything that will change! Do it for the food, Baroq. Without you, the task will fail."

He felt like kissing the old man as he heard him. He hadn't had the time to learn anything about these slaves, so he couldn't manipulate them like Reese… but still, he hoped that he had done enough.

The hope vanished with a puff of smoke when three slaves cursed, and walked out.

But it returned, greater than before, when he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder, and a voice behind him.

"Well… it's your life. Courage is one thing that is very, very scarce in the pit. You have enough of it. But if you fail… I promise that I will show you pain that could never have imagined. Heh…I always did like lost causes. That's why I'm even here, so why not take on one more? Reese! I'm in! "