Chapter 106

Chapter 106: Chapter 106

Sally

The stagecoach came to a sudden halt, and the movement immediately stirred everyone inside.

I opened my eyes and straightened from where I had been sitting against the wooden wall. Around me, bodies shifted and nervous whispers passed through the cramped compartment. There were about fifteen of us packed inside, shoulder to shoulder, and the air had become unbearably warm from having so many people confined in one place for so long.

Nobody knew exactly what waited for us outside or perhaps some of them already did.

I heard the heavy lock being pulled from the outside then the doors opened.

"Everyone out!" The command came from one of the guards.

People began climbing down one after another. I waited until it was my turn, then stepped onto the ground.

The first thing that hit me was the smell of blood and something else that I couldn’t immediately identify.

I covered my nose with the back of my hand and looked around.

We were standing outside a massive building that looked nothing like the noble estates I was accustomed to seeing around the upper parts of Blackbourne. There was activity everywhere. Workers moved in and out of wide entrances while others pushed heavy carts across the yard.

I knew immediately where we were. The slaughterhouses.

My stomach tightened.

Tadgh had told me he was taking me to a noble house where I could be sold as a servant. He hadn’t told me this was part of it.

Then again, perhaps he had deliberately left that part out.

I glanced at the other people who had arrived with me. Most looked frightened but a few looked confused.

One woman had already turned pale from the smell. Another person suddenly bent over and wrenched.

"Keep moving," a guard barked.

The woman wiped her mouth. "I can’t..."

"You can." The guard shoved her forward and nobody dared argue.

As we were moved inside, I realized something else. Not everyone here had agreed to this.

Some of them had been abducted.

I had overheard enough while we were being transported to understand what had happened. People had been taken from different parts of the lower belt and sold as what the Hawthornes called free labour.

Free... The word almost made me laugh. There was nothing free about any of this.

I had willingly allowed myself to be sold because I needed to get in but the others had not been given that choice.

We were taken through several corridors, each one smelling worse than the last.

I kept my eyes moving around for anything that might become useful later.

I had learned long ago that whenever I entered an unfamiliar place, I needed to remember how to leave it.

We eventually reached a large study and it was strangely plain.

There was a table and three wooden chairs, but none of the elaborate furnishings.

It didn’t look like a place where someone sat for hours handling tedious paperwork.

It looked more like a room designed for quick instructions.

We were ordered to stand in a line and I kept my expression neutral.

While we waited, I remembered the unloading section we had passed.

Massive nets filled with fish were being dragged from somewhere and dropped onto tables. Workers inspected them, sorting and grading them before sending them in different directions.

The scale of the operation was enormous. This House wasn’t merely wealthy... They had built an entire system around the workers beneath them.

A door opened and an old man entered. At first glance, I thought he was genuinely elderly, but the way he moved quickly changed my mind. His face looked old, but his body was surprisingly energetic.

His eyes moved over us. He examined everyone without the slightest embarrassment, lingering on the women in particular.

I immediately disliked him.

He stopped in front of a young woman who looked extremely weak.

Her cheeks were hollow, and she seemed to have trouble standing.

The man frowned. "You." She lifted her eyes. "Can you work?"

She said nothing, making his expression change. "I asked you a question."

She still didn’t respond.

He slapped her and the sound echoed through the room. Several people flinched while the woman staggered.

"Take her to one of the storage units."

A guard grabbed her while she struggled weakly. "No, please..."

The guard dragged her away.

The old man turned back toward us. "Let that be a lesson." His voice was harsh now. "You are here to work for House Hawthorne. You have no life outside of that."

My hands curled into fists.

"You don’t escape." He pointed at us. "You don’t steal."

His eyes swept across the group. "And you certainly don’t revolt."

Nobody answered.

"You belong to this house now."

I forced myself to remain still.

"Tomorrow, Lord Hawthorne’s main inspector will arrive. He will decide where each of you will work across our various enterprises. Until then, you will assist with slaughterhouse duties."

He gestured toward the guards. "Separate them."

We were moved again. After several minutes, I found myself being taken toward the main slaughter section with two others.

The room was enormous.

Workers stood around long tables, chopping and cleaning fish with brutal efficiency. Blood covered parts of the floor. Fish scales clung to clothing, boots and wooden surfaces.

Nobody looked happy. Nobody even looked particularly interested in what they were doing.

They simply worked and that was the most disturbing part. There was no enthusiasm, no pride... It was just exhaustion.

We were brought before the head of the section.

He looked us over and laughed. "Let’s see how long you three last."

His eyes moved to the blood-covered tables. "Can you handle that?"

Neither of the others answered, then he looked at me. "And you?"

I shrugged. "Probably."

He grinned. "Probably?" He picked up a long knife then he walked toward me.

The blade moved slowly around my face. He wasn’t actually touching me, but he wanted me to flinch. I didn’t.

He moved the knife closer while I watched him. He seemed disappointed that I wasn’t frightened.

So I reached out and grabbed the knife from him.

His eyes widened then he shrieked and jumped backward. "What are you doing?"

I didn’t answer. I simply walked to his table where a live fish was thrashing inside a container nearby.

I pinned it down then I brought the knife down once. The head separated cleanly.

Silence filled the section.

The man stared at the fish then back at me.

I held the knife out and he slowly took it. "Right," he muttered.

He cleared his throat. "Everyone get to work."

The two people beside me hurried toward their stations. Fortunately, we weren’t expected to chop every fish’s head off.

Our task was to stun the fish, remove their gills and allow the blood to drain.

It was still disgusting. Blood covered my hands, scales stuck to my clothing and because we were new, we weren’t even given gloves like the main workers.

I tried not to complain. Instead, I watched.

The workers around us never looked our way, not once. There was no curiosity or excitement about new people.

Either they had been forced into this work as cheap labour too, or they were simply too exhausted to care.

Hours passed and my arms began aching but I continued working.

Eventually, I was sent to collect another barrel of live fish. At the entrance, the head of the section was seated at a small table with another man.

They were drinking so I slowed when I heard their conversation.

"That prisoner is still in the waste rooms?"

"Yes and she wasn’t taken to the boss."

I stopped pretending to adjust the barrel.

"It’s strange that she wasn’t even brought to the study for an assignment. They dragged her straight there."

The other man shrugged. "She could be a criminal, a debtor or maybe a debtor’s daughter."

They laughed while I stared at the barrel. Something about their words made my heart begin beating faster.

A prisoner taken directly to the waste rooms. Not assigned work and no one had seen her since.

Could it be Selena? I immediately tried to dismiss the thought.

There were probably several prisoners in a place like this. It could be anyone but Selena had been missing from the castle for an entire day and she had no family outside the castle.

I swallowed hard. I need to find out if it’s Selena or someone else.

I returned to the slaughter section with the barrel while my mind raced.

I couldn’t simply walk into the waste rooms. I needed a reason.

An idea came to me. A terrible one but possibly the only one that would work.

I needed to get myself into trouble. If I became violent, they’d have to remove me from the main work area.

And if they took me to the waste rooms... I could find out whether that prisoner was Selena.

The inspector was coming the following morning anyway so surely they wouldn’t keep me there permanently.

I looked at the workers beside me. One of them had been quietly working beside me for hours... he hadn’t spoken once.

I lowered my eyes. "This is insane!" I knew that but Selena could be somewhere inside this place. I couldn’t sit still and wonder.

I picked up another fish while my heart pounded then I looked at the man beside me.

Before I could reconsider, I lunged at him. The knife entered his shoulder and he screamed.

I immediately stumbled backward. The sight of blood pouring from the wound made my stomach twist.

I had seen violence before but this was different. I hadn’t expected the reality of it to look so horrible. "I’m sorry!"

The man collapsed against the table. "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean..."

He cried out again, clutching his shoulder then guards came rushing in. "What happened?"

"She attacked him!" They immediately seized me then one of them slapped me making My head snapped sideways.

"Don’t!" The head of the section immediately stepped forward. "Don’t damage her."

The guard frowned. "She attacked someone."

"She’s Lord Hawthorne’s property now." His voice became threatening. "Do you want to explain to him why you damaged something he paid for?"

The guard released his grip slightly. "Then where do we take her?"

"Put her in the stores."

"We can’t." The guard gestured toward the entrance. "The stores are already full."

"Then find somewhere else."

"We had an unusually heavy batch of fish tonight."

The other guard nodded. "There’s barely room anywhere. Let’s take her to the waste rooms."

The head of the section expression immediately changed. "No way."

The guard frowned. "You said we should take her somewhere else."

"I said somewhere else. Not there." He glanced toward me. "Lord Hawthorne hasn’t even met her yet. I’m not putting his property in that place before he decides what to do with her."

The guards exchanged looks. "We don’t have a choice."

The head of the section looked at them as they added. "We are also obligated to remove violent workers from the workspace."

His jaw tightened. For several seconds, nobody spoke.

Finally, he waved his hand dismissively. "Fine."

The guards grabbed me and I allowed myself to be dragged away.