실종된 노예

테빈터 제국에서 노예란 없는 존재와 마찬가지다. 제국 전체가 우리 노예들의 손에 의해 세워졌음에도 말이다. 우리는 이 손으로 민라투스의 성벽을 만들었으며, 무너진 길로 다니며 부를 가져다주었다. 나와 같은 노예 서기관들은 권력의 균형을 좌우하는 말과 문자를 편지에 받아 적는 일을 하고, 주방 노예인 나의 딸, 레오노라는 밤낮없이 집안일을 한다. 매지스터 델핀은 그 덕분에 찢어진 옷을 입거나 식은 음식을 먹지 않을 수 있는 것이다.

나는 평소에 딸아이와 부엌에서 만나곤 한다. 하지만 아이와 마지막으로 만난 뒤 벌써 며칠이나 흘렀다. 누구도 그 아이를 본 사람이 없다.

이렇다 보니 노예 시장에 관한 옛 이야기를 떠올리지 않을 수 없다. 몇백 년 전, 우리 조상들은 혈마법으로 도시를 짓고, 탑과 성벽을 쌓기 위해 끔찍한 의식을 행하며 살아있는 것들을 제물로 삼았다. 당시 몇천 명이 넘는 노예들이 옛 신을 위한 제단에서 강제로 희생되었다. 매지스터 델핀의 완벽한 대리석 저택은 아마도 목소리조차 내지 못했던 백 명 남짓의 엘프들 위에 세워진 것이리라.

 하지만 지금은 시대가 달라졌다. 혈마법을 금지하라는 안드라스테의 교리에 따라, 그러한 행위는 전면 금지되었으며 기피되고 있다. 비록 잘못하면 처벌을 받지만, 적어도 주인의 손에 의해 제단으로 끌려가거나 피를 쥐어짜이는 노예는 거의 없다.

하지만 여전히 레오노라는 실종 상태다. 그리고 매지스터 델핀은 어딘가 평소와 달라 보인다. 그녀는 지금까지 보인 적 없던 기운을 풍기고 있다. 그녀가 마법 결투에서 경쟁자에게 공개적으로 모욕을 주었다는 소문이 파다하게 퍼졌다. 찢어질 듯한 나의 가슴이 답을 이미 알고 있다. 나의 딸 레오노라의 목숨이 그 대가라는 것을.

매지스터 델핀과 대화를 나누고 진실에 대해 듣고 싶은 마음뿐이다. 하지만 내가 알현을 청해도 코웃음 칠 게 뻔하다. 그들에게 노예는 사람이 아니니까.

—축복의 시대 8:65년, 노예 서기관 솔바린 브란에 의해 비밀리에 작성됨

 

In Tevinter, a slave is invisible, even though the entire empire rests on our backs. Our hands built the walls of Minrathous and carry its wealth along the crumbling roads. Scribes like myself take dictation and write letters that shift the balance of power. My daughter, Leonora, a kitchen slave, works night and day so Magister Delphine isn't troubled by a torn robe or a cold supper.

 

Normally, I meet Leonora about the kitchens. But it has been days since our paths crossed. No one has seen her.

 

I can't help but think of the old stories that cross the slave markets like lightning, how, centuries ago, the ancients built their cities with blood magic, raising the very towers and walls with terrible rituals using our lives as fuel. Thousands of slaves were sacrificed as we were forced onto the altars of the Old Gods. Magister Delphine's perfect, marble-faced mansion likely stands on the back of a hundred voiceless elves.

 

But that was a different time. Andraste's words against blood magic made the practice all but forbidden and shunned. Though we may be punished, few slaves are dragged to the altar or milked of blood without at least some reprimand.

 

Yet Leonora is missing, and Magister Delphine seems different. She carries an aura she never had before. And rumors fly that a bitter rival has been publicly humiliated in a duel of magic. Through my grief I fear, I know, that my Leonora's life was the price.

 

I ache to speak as an equal with Magister Delphine, to demand answers. But such an audience would be a joke to her. No one sees a slave.

 

—Written in secret by slave scribe Solvarin Brann, 8:65 Blessed