Secrets at the Keep (Kingdom of Denall Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

was shocked by what he saw. In the distance there was a small encampment of four makeshift tents similar to those carried by the men. Worn canvas was thrown over ropes that were strung between trees. While the canvas could not provide complete protection from the wind, it provided some shelter from precipitation. In the camp he counted fifteen men in all, mostly thin and wearing little more than rags. They had a look in their faces that was not consistent with their destitute condition: hope.
    P slowed her pace and walked her horse next to Kaz. “I wanted you to see this,” she said as she jumped down from her horse. “You’ve already met Digger and Pence,” she said, pointing to the two men they had been walking with. “This is Asher,” she said, motioning to an older man who grabbed the reins of Kaz’s horse and held out his hand to help Kaz dismount.
    Kaz got down from his horse and stood face to face with Asher. “It’s nice to meet you,” he said, extending a hand.
    Asher looked questioningly at Kaz’s hand and instead threw his arms around Kaz’s neck. “You’ve come to help free my people. That makes us family, and in my family, we hug,” he said with a broad smile.
    “I’ll do what I can,” Kaz said, not sure if he had done anything to earn the man’s affection, but hopeful that he could save the people of Hess and bring down Omer. While P spoke with Digger and another slave he hadn’t met, Asher pointed to the other people who were thronging around. First Dirt and Smudge, a father and son approached. The father, in his mid-thirties proudly introduced his teenaged son. After hugging them, Kaz leaned over to Asher. “Dirt and Smudge? How did they get those names?”
    Asher sadly shook his head. “I think it’s a bit of a joke among some of Omer’s guards. They give names to the slaves who are born in Hess, so we’ll never forget our place.”
    “What about you?” Kaz asked, now wondering more and more about Hess and the people who were there.
    “I wasn’t born in Hess,” he said with a far away look. “I was brought here and sold to Omer’s father forty years ago. Some of us were brought in secretly, but most of the people in Hess now are ones who were born into bondage under Baron Luc. There used to be slave quarters all over the Luc Barony. When the old king abolished slavery, Omer’s father realized that he would be ruined without the free labor the slaves provide. He freed the slaves from most of the locations on his land to make it seem as though he was willing to comply with the new law, but secretly kept the slaves from three of the locations and established the village of Hess on a barren section of land far from any of the main roads.”
    “How many people live there?” Kaz asked as he looked around at the men who had come to meet with him.
    “About three hundred families, and nearly two hundred single men and women. No one gets married without approval from the Keep.”
    Kaz felt a slight hug from his side and turned in surprise to see a thin young man looking up at him with extraordinarily large, blue eyes. He moved to put his arm around the youth and return the hug, but when Kaz patted his back, the young man moved away hastily and held his hands in front of his face defensively. “It’s okay,” Kaz said reassuringly. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
    Despite Kaz’s words, the young man ducked away behind the other men from Hess. “That’s Seed,” Asher said, pointing. “His mother died when he was very young, and his father was killed shortly after that by one of the guards who oversees our village – got caught trying to organize a school of sorts for the young ones.”
    Kaz’s eyes shot open wide at hearing this. “He was killed because he wanted the children to learn?”
    “Oh yes. The intellect who comes through every now and again to evaluate how our village is being run explained to the guards one year how keeping our minds dull would keep our bodies