Mindgames Ch. 00 Prologue

Preface

In the face of war, environmental degradation, and population collapse, many could only survive by selling themselves and their children to those who controlled enough resources to stave off certain death. As centuries passed, although the earth healed, remnants of humanity continued to live in isolated outposts where the slavery system became ever more extreme. In one such outpost, Riviera, some of the so-called humans decided that they could not be free when they lived among slaves. And so the best of Riviera's citizens journeyed forth, and created a settlement they called Harmony. Years later a healer from Harmony returned to Riviera on a mission of mercy. He found suffering like he had never imagined, and unexpected friends.

Or: This is a story of naked slaves who find love, and learn the true meaning of freedom.

Prologue

This close to Riviera the path was wide and well-kept enough to ride easily, but the stranger was on foot, leading a dappled gray horse by the harness. The stranger walked slowly but with definite purpose, his hat tilted so his eyes would be shaded and could seek out some distant goal. The afternoon sun was strong and hot, and from time to time he wiped his face with a fraying handkerchief gray with dinge.

A breeze rose from the west. The stranger halted his horse and listened for a moment to a sound beyond the rustling of the leaves. He pushed his hat back on his head as if to give his ears more room. The sound was almost like a coyote; no, it was the baying of dogs. The stranger gave a small shrug and a half smile to his horse, and continued on his way.

He took note of the changing landscape. Several days ago he had left the old growth forest, with its redwoods that reached impossibly towards the sky and plenty of soft loam between the trees. The newer woods that he had passed through were full of undergrowth and tangled bushes that encroached upon the path. He had picked up the old road in those woods. But now the forest began to have an air of planning about it; at spots old oaks and spruces lined the path on either side as if someone had deliberately put them there for shade. He thought hopefully that he would reach Riviera very soon.

The dog sounds came nearer, until the stranger could hear them quite plainly despite the plodding of his horse's hooves and his own footfall. He did not hear the girl, however, until she stumbled out of the forest almost directly in front of him. He involuntary jumped back, bumping lightly into his horse's nose. The girl, too, jumped back. For a heartbeat they stared at each other, as if they each were an animal who had unknowingly encroached on the other's lair.

Indeed, in that heartbeat the stranger felt an untameness about the girl. But in the next moment he was jolted with a sick metallic taste in his mouth as he saw that she was naked.

The slight breeze lifted the girl's dark hair, matted and dotted with brambles. Her eyes were a deep green, and for that moment she looked at him as he felt a queen of old might have.

In a fluid movement the girl fell to her knees before him, continuing down until her forehead touched the dirt of the path. The baying of the dogs sounded again and he understood that she was the prey.

"This slave begs your mercy," the girl said, her voice rough from the exertion of her running. Although she cowered before him, he could see that her muscles strained. She was poised to flee. A dog barked close, too close.

"I won't hurt you," he said. "I won't turn you in."

The girl looked up at him, her face incredulous. As quickly the light in her eyes dimmed, like a cloud moving over the sun. "A mindgame," she said, breathless and bitter. "You've caught me, master. I won't play." She waited, motionless.

The dogs sounded closer. The stranger looked towards them, and then back at the girl. "Listen to me," he said urgently. "A quarter mile back, just beyond where the path curves, there's a stream. The dogs might lose your scent in the water."

For precious moments the girl did not move. Another dog bark. "Go," he urged her. Her gaze pierced him. Then, quiet as thought, she was on her feet, running past him down the path and veering slightly into the woods to the south.

For a moment the stranger stood motionless. Then he continued forward, his face looking straight ahead but his eyes wandering as far as they could to his left. It took about ten minutes before the dogs, a mass of squirming yellow, brown, and gray, broke out of the woods and were distracted by him from their chase. They were curious and friendly, and he reached out his wrist to be sniffed by one even as his horse touched noses with another.

The five hunters were not far behind, nearly as dirty as the girl had been, their clothes wet with sweat. Upon seeing the stranger they stopped short and looked at each other in surprise. "Greetings, brother," one said, uncertainly.

"My greetings to you," he replied evenly.

The hunters shifted uneasily. After a moment one of them said, "Without meaning to be rude, you can see we are on a hunt. Have you seen signs of an escaped rag? You've put our dogs off her scent."

He regarded them for a moment. "I saw her," he said slowly. "She came out of the forest ahead of me on the path." He squinted and tilted back his hat. "I suggest you look in that direction," he said, pointing down the path in front of him and towards the north.

"My thanks," the first hunter said, already beginning to jog on with the others. He yelled over his shoulder, "The cunt's name is Mariah. Be sure to come to her execution." He whistled for the dogs.

The stranger continued on the path, steadily leading his horse, until the hunters were out of sight. He counted to a hundred to make certain they were not coming back. Then, dropping his horse's reins, he walked off the path a few feet, leaned unsteadily against a tree, and vomited until there was nothing left but the green bile of his intestines. He rested a moment, then retrieved a water bottle from his horse's pack, slowly swished his mouth, gargled, and spit. He came around to the front of his horse and touched her forehead with his own. "Ah, Peggy," he said, "Maybe this wasn't such a grand idea after all."