Lummatii
Lothian League
Marian Hegemony
The Periphery
4 September, 3149
The chill of the morning had slightly given way as the sun rose, but a steady breeze managed to work it's way through the city streets and buildings to ensure that no one forgot that the Autumn season had arrived with a vengeance. The provincial capital city of Abercrombie reminded Freyja of some of the ancient Terran city-states that she had read about in history studies. The city proper was ringed by a wall of moderate height, with a dotting of farms outside, and fairly densely packed buildings within. The streets were winding, and the majority of the buildings no more than three stories in height.
It lacked the feeling of modernity that she was used to in a city. While there were certainly plenty of vehicles on the streets, there were just as many carts, pedestrians, bikes, and scooters. It also had a rough, dirty quality to it, as though it were perpetually wet or dank.
At the heart of the city sat the Lord Governor's estate, a palatial stone edifice reminiscent of renaissance era European structures on Terra rather than the more Romanesque feel that one would expect of a Marian city. Nearly all the landmark buildings were clustered close to the palace, including the courthouse and what appeared to be a seemingly impressive library.
Freyja stuffed her hands in the pockets of her jacket as she walked along the cobblestone street toward what appeared to be the main public entrance of the Governor's mansion, trailing only slightly behind Ned and Peter Bakker.
"My audience with the Lord Governor is for about an hour from now," Ned said as he gestured toward the estate in front of them, coming to a halt and turning to Freyja. "I'll be suitably early, so as to show my respect for his lordship. Peter, you'll have to present your papers to the clerk at the Warden's office, inside the courthouse. I can't imagine it will be too busy today, but best not to putter about beforehand, you two should go straight away. Remember, Freyja, stay close to Peter. I want you to look after him, but remember, you've no standing here. Most everyone here in the city is a pleb, if not a patrician, you'll show them due deference and remember that you're here as a servant of master Peter."
She nodded and looked around. "I understand, my lord. I'll cause no fuss."
Ned clasped Peter by the shoulder. "I've already arranged our lodgings for the night at the Black Horse Inn, it's only a few blocks from the courthouse. You can't miss it. Go there straight away after you have your papers registered."
With that, Ned made his way towards the mansion, and Peter and Freyja walked the short distance to the courthouse building. Security seemed nothing to speak of, they were met only by a single disinterested guard inside the door. If the door guard seemed disinterested, the clerk behind the marble half wall that greeted visitors was positively annoyed to be there at all. He tersely directed them to a desk to their left, where another less than enthusiastic public servant accepted Peter's paperwork and explanation, and left with only the briefest instructions for them to wait until he returned.
After a long ten minutes, a pair of men walked towards them. The clearly dominant of the two was a rugged man, slightly short of two meters in height and with a glint in his eye that rang of trouble eyed Peter for a moment before speaking with a brogue that dripped with contempt. "Ah, so this is Ned Bakker's boy, eh? Come to declare himself all grown up and ready to serve if need be, no less. And who is this that you brought along, young master Peter, your nanny to mind you?" He chuckled, seemingly quite proud of himself, reinforced by his compatriot who joined him.
"Yes sir, I am Peter Bakker. And this is Freyja, one of our house staff. Not my nanny. If you're quite finished sir, might I ask if my registration is complete?"
The man's expression turned sour. "I'm Malcolm Connors, the Lord Governor's Warden. And you, boy, will be done and registered when I say so, not before. I'm a little disappointed your father didn't accompany you, he and I go way back."
Peter tensed slightly. "He's here to pay our taxes to the Lord Governor. And I've heard of your dealings with my father. Tried to con us out of our lands, as I recall."
Connors took a step closer. "Mind your tongue, boy. I'm sure you think yourself quite the man, but slander me like that again and I'll have your hide. You'll learn to respect your betters. Your father is a pretender as a lord, always has been. And I'll wager as his son, you're probably one too. Runs in the blood."
As Peter took a step forward and began to speak, Freyja stepped in quickly and put her hand on his arm to signal him back. "Don't, Peter. The Warden here is trying to bait you"
Connors scoffed. "I'm supposed to take you as a man when you can't even keep your servant bitch in line and quiet?" He turned his glare to her. "And you, wench, will keep your place. No slave comes into my ward house and puts on such airs around me."
She met his glare with fire, before realizing her mistake and looking down trying to feign meekness. Connors paused for a moment, then grabbed her by the chin, forcing her to look up at him. "This one has a fierce streak, boy. Best tell your father to watch out. What does she do for you anyway?"
Peter said nothing, and Freyja's heart began to race as the Warden did not soften his grip. "Did your father buy her for you to make a man of you? That would be like him, wouldn't it?" Connors laughed heartily, and his compatriot reinforced him with an affirmative.
She could sense Peter tensing beside her. The situation was rapidly spiraling out of control. "She's a Mechwarrior, she works our Mech at the mines. And she's ours, let her go.....sir."
After a few tense seconds, the warden released her with a slight shove backwards, then let out a laugh as he turned to his lieutenant. "Even better, Kilgore. Ned Bakker isn't even man enough to pilot his own Mech anymore, can't trust his little boy here to do it, so he has to buy a girl that's practically a child to do it for him. I'll wager-"
It was then that things got out of hand. Freyja had watched young Peter fight to hold his anger back, and suddenly he was about to lose that fight. She saw him tense, and knew he was going to strike out. In that instant, she made a choice that she wasn't sure was brave or stupid. She leaped forward and smashed her fist into the Warden's face with all the strength she could muster, catching him unaware and striking him squarely on the nose, which gave way with a crunching sound.
The Warden staggered back, clutching his nose as blood began to pour from it. His lieutenant stood dumbfounded, his sycophantic laughter evaporating into a blank expression at the unexpected outburst by the slave girl in front of him. She did the only thing she could think of, slamming a kick into the man's groin and doubling him over before turning to Peter.
"Run."
"Miss Freyja, you just....we can't....wha-"
She cut him off by grabbing his shoulders. "Run, master Peter, just fucking run!"
He gathered himself and in his mind decided to defer to her, turned, and ran. She turned for a second to survey the scene, one officer doubled over and the warden staggering around still bleeding from his broken nose. She locked eyes with the clerk who had taken Peter's paperwork earlier, who had returned and held a piece of paper in his hand, staring dumbfounded at the scene in front of him.
Then she turned and ran as well. She ran out the door onto the street, frantically looking in all directions, wishing she had taken better care to survey her surroundings when they had arrived. Finally she just picked a direction and ran, pushing past started people on the streets, and making it several blocks before she heard the shrill sound of constabulary whistles. She paused again, trying to discern what direction the sound was coming from, but it was hopeless in the crowded confines of the city. She caught sight of Peter in the distance, stopped and frantically looking around just as she was.
She turned in the opposite direction from him and started to run again. Then she heard a shouted command to stop. She spun her head around, looking for her pursuer, but in doing so, lost track of where she was going and crashed into a woman. She quickly pushed the woman away, but before she could resume her flight, she felt a sharp pain in her back, then almost instantly her muscles spasmed and cramped, and she collapsed to the cobblestone street.
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