It was a time when the will of the powerful prevailed over entire villages and the law of the strongest prevailed. The governor of Monteverde greedily ruled the destinies of the inhabitants and profited from the taxes he collected from everyone. This had caused some to rebel and form an army against the governor.
A rebel faction ambushed a contingent of the guard of the governor of the province. All the soldiers were killed, except Pascal Trigger. He threw himself off a cliff and fell into a fast-flowing river, whose waters carried him far away from the place. Badly wounded, Pascal took refuge in a cave and spent weeks healing himself with medicinal herbs.
He was 19 years old and had joined the army since he was 16, because he wanted to escape from his home, where his despotic father was the boss of a small village. His father had 3 wives, 6 concubines and many slaves that he had acquired as payment for debts that the locals could not pay. He had a small army that protected him and dominated the villagers.
Pascal had developed excellent skills with weapons, especially with the use of a bow and arrow and knives. But, after escaping the attack of the rebels, he decided not to return to the army. His plan was to become a hunter, buy a cabin near the forest, a couple of horses and get a wife, living away from danger.
Pascal hunted a large boar and took it to the first farm he found, and exchanged half of its meat for a horse. The rest he sold in a nearby village and bought a change of clothes, a bow and arrows, an axe and several knives. He had coins left over to pay for a meal and a room, where he could bathe and sleep in a bed again, after weeks of sleeping on the floor.
The next day he hunted a huge deer, butchered it, wrapped it in cloth, and brought it back to the village. He was able to sell it to a butcher, who paid a good price for the meat.
A man from his own village recognized Pascal and gave him some surprising news. His father had put his young mother up for sale at the next slave market. Pascal was not surprised by this because his mother was very rebellious and had never bowed to his father's will, even though he had bought her from her parents when she was 14 and had impregnated her with Pascal at 15. He then relegated her to service and continued to find more women.
Pascal rented a wagon pulled by two horses and headed out to the prairie. He hunted a bison, butchered it, wrapped it in cloth, and put it on the wagon. He returned to the village and sold the bison for a large amount of coins to the same butcher, who was happy to do business with the skilled hunter.
Pascal made his way to his village and arrived one night before the slave market opened. He stayed at an inn and reviewed his plan for the next day.
At the slave market, Pascal put a hood over his head so as not to be recognized. He looked at the hundreds of men and women, naked and chained, frightened and demoralized, sitting on a wooden platform.
Pascal identified his mother among the slaves. She retained her haughty and defiant bearing, despite being naked and chained. She was still a pretty woman. They would surely pay a good amount of coins for her.
But, he also recognized among the slaves Lucia, the pretty and fiery 18-year-old daughter of a neighboring family. Pascal assumed that Lucia's stern father had discovered her in the hayloft again with one of the village boys, and had grown tired of watching her without success and decided to sell her into slavery.
Pascal bid at an auction with three men to buy his mother as a slave and had to offer more than he expected, but he managed to buy her. He had coins left over and decided to buy Lucia as well. He received a certificate for the purchase of each of them. He put tunics on each of them and put them on the horse he had rented. Lucia was crying and Sonia, Pascal's mother, remained silent, while their new owner, whose face they could not see, led them out of the village, to a small house he had rented.
When they reached the house, Pascal helped them down and let them in. He removed their chains and
handed each of them a dress. They took off their tunics and dressed quickly, waiting for the next order. In a way, they both felt relieved to be slaves to a single man, with no property and no other slaves, who, up until now, had treated them with some consideration.
"I am a hunter. You will be in charge of cooking and cleaning the house, and sometimes you will go to the village to sell the meat of the animals I hunt, and you will buy provisions and anything else that is necessary. You will not go out without permission. You will obey what I tell you."
He spoke to them calmly, without removing his hood, keeping his identity hidden.
"I am going hunting. Bathe and rest while I return." He said, and left the hut, carrying his hunting gear. He mounted his horse and galloped off into the nearby forest. The two slaves stood there in silence. This was their new life. They belonged to an unknown man and they had to obey him.
Sonia and Lucia left at the same time and reached the well of clean water near the house. They stripped and bathed side by side, taking buckets of water in turn. They looked at each other's bodies, appreciating each other's beauty and knowing that they were competitors to win the favor of their new owner.
An hour later, Pascal returned to the hut, bringing with him the meat of a deer. He left two large pieces in the kitchen and went out again with the rest, announcing that he was going to the village to negotiate with the butchers. The two women watched him, with growing admiration. Sonia took the lead and began to light the stove. Lucia went to get water and, together, they began to prepare the deer meat. In another hour, Pascal returned bringing provisions, vegetables, grains, rice, salt, and charcoal. The women smiled with pleasure and began to prepare a rich and abundant meal.
