It was early in the morning. The camp was deserted of almost any slavers, who had long gone to rest in their tent. Outside, the slaves were sleeping on the bare ground, trying their best not to invade each other’s personal space. Had it been winter, they would all have slept together, snuggling up, but it was summer, so overcrowded places could soon become unbearable. Fortunately for them, this year’s summer was relatively mild, so the nights weren’t too hot.
It was still dark outside, and the air was still cool, filled with moisture. However, the first signs of life soon started to show, as the birds began their morning chorus. It was only a matter of time now before the early sun started to rise, dyeing the sky to a soft gray color. But amidst this musical silence, birds were not the only one that could be heard.
In the camp, a man was trying to make his way through the sleeping slaves. In a too great rush to watch where he put his feet, he stepped on a couple of them, as they groaned upon their brutal awakening. But the man didn’t care to apologize. They were, after all, only slaves. He had something much more important on his mind. Something much more preoccupying.
Finally reaching his destination, he stormed into one of the tents.
“Ed!” he shouted, his eyes looking for someone.
Inside, another man was trying to finally find some sleep, after pulling an all-nighter. It was Eddie, the camp’s accountant. Unlike most slavers, Eddie was not physically bulky. He was of an average size, not very imposing, and quite boring looking. But he was also one of the highest ranked slavers here. He was, after all, the brain of this camp. Eddie was one of the very few members of the slavers’ gang to be literate. Among all the musclebrains, he was the only one truly proficient with numbers out there, which is why, despite not participating in raids, he was promoted to accountant.
These past few weeks, Eddie had been very busy. The gang had recently received a huge order of slave supply. Five thousand of them, regardless of their gender, age or race. It was the biggest order the gang had received ever since Eddie arrived, and naturally, they didn’t have this many slaves in stock. The gang frequently needed to resupply the market in slaves, so they never accumulated more than a thousand of them at once. But this order was also a golden opportunity for the slavers. Slaves did not all hold the same value. While it was easy to find buyers for strong men and beautiful women, it was already much harder to sell children, elderly or weaklings. But this time’s client offered to buy anyone. And not only were they willing to buy anyone, they also offered one silver coin per head. A total of fifty gold coins. A golden opportunity.
For the gang, it was absolutely out of question to miss such a great deal. In order to satisfy the client’s order, they had temporarily stopped resupplying the market and recently multiplied their raids, capturing as many slaves as possible. In the matter of only a few months, they had achieved their goal, accumulating over five thousand slaves. But this sudden growth in the number of slaves also brought a few problems. The camp was not capacitated to hold this many slaves and quickly became overcrowded. Outnumbered, it was difficult for the slavers to keep an eye on everyone. It didn’t take long before the first revolt emerged. Revolts were not so uncommon. They happened once in a while, so the slavers were used to it. But this time was more challenging considering the number of slaves involved.
All of this because of one man, Troy. The idiot had been enslaved a few weeks ago, after he failed to pay back his debts in time. Completely wild and dissident, the slavers had been unable to completely tame him. Too entertained by his behavior though, they had also completely underestimated the threat he represented. In only a few days, Troy had rallied hundreds of slaves to his cause, provoking a major uprising. Still, with the slave collar on, they didn’t represent a real threat, and the rebellion was easily put down. However, dozens of slaves were killed in the process. And those losses weren’t insignificant. Each one of them was worth one silver coin after all.
After the uprising, things calmed down a little bit at the camp, but the atmosphere was still as tense as ever. While most slaves didn’t dare to do anything, fearing reprisals, others didn’t care to hide the spite in their eyes. And if no other major uprising occurred since, a few insurgents did appear from time to time, causing trouble.
It was amidst all these disturbances that the camp’s accountant needed to keep track on each one of the slaves. The deadline for the order was approaching and the leader was soon going to return. In order to arrange everything before that, Eddie had been working non-stop for the past few days, sorting out the remaining slaves. After a sleepless night, he ultimately went to rest in his tent, only to be disturbed as he was finally starting to fall asleep.
“Ed, Ed!” the slaver rushed to his bed.
“What?!”
The accountant got up at once, shooting the slaver a deadly glare.
“We have a problem!”
His eyelids suddenly twitched, as this is exactly what he had been fearing to hear.
“What is it?” he asked with a much calmer, but serious voice.
“We have escapees!”
The accountant frowned.
“I just went to check on the insurgents,” the slaver continued, “and the gate was opened! Three of them are missing!”
The gate was infused with protection magic, reacting to the slave collars. Were any of the slaves to touch it, they would immediately be thrust away, assailed with searing pain. A slave wouldn’t have been able to open it. Only a slaver could have. Which means there was an idiot out there who forgot to close the gate behind him after visiting the insurgents. The accountant grabbed his head at this thought, suddenly assaulted with a migraine. It wasn’t the first time he had to clean after his companions’ mess.
“Who’s missing?” he inquired, a long sigh escaping his mouth.
“Well, there’s number 4889.”
“Number 4889?”
With over five thousand slaves in the camp, it was impossible for Eddie to remember each one of them. But as the accountant, he had to go through the insurgents’ files several times and he did remember number 4889.
Number 4889 was a lunatic. At a first glance, he didn’t seem very dangerous. He used to only be a logger from a remote village after all. But this village was recently victim of an epidemic outbreak. And since the lord of the region refused to take action, fearing the spread of the disease, the villagers took the arms. However, a few dozens of villagers with hoes naturally stood no chance against the lord’s army of knights, and the rebellion was obliterated. Those who had not been killed were sold to slavery. Number 4889 was one of them. But that wasn’t why Eddie remembered number 4889. The real reason he remembered him is that the same day he arrived, he attacked a group of slavers during the night, managing to kill two of them. Number 4889 was dangerous. He was used to mutiny, and clearly not afraid of death. If he managed to escape, there was no doubt he would try to take up the arms once again.
Eddie clicked his tongue. They could not afford another rebellion. Not now.
“What about the other two?” he asked. “As far as I remember, number 4889 is injured. He couldn’t have gone far alone.”
“I’m not sure about the other two.”
“What do you mean you’re not sure?”
The slaver scratched his head, seemingly embarrassed.
“Well, they haven’t received a number yet,” he explained. “Remember the two little girls of yesterday? It’s them. They were just captured yesterday so we don’t have much information on them yet.”
Eddie squinted his eyes. He did remember the two new insurgents of yesterday. A chosen one and a demi-human girl. And while neither of them seemed threatening, they did cause a problem the very same day they arrived. Just like number 4889. A bunch of troublemakers.
“How dangerous are they?” he asked, recalling yesterday’s incident.
He had dismissed Reed’s words before, but now, he was starting to get cautious.
“The chosen one is pretty harmless,” the other slaver said, “but the demi-human girl on the other hand… She took out several of our men yesterday.”
“That little girl? By herself?”
“From what I’ve heard, yes. Maybe that’s because she’s a mutant? Have you seen her tails? They’re split in two.”
That could be a possibility. But in that case, it wasn’t good for them. A mutant, a lunatic and a chosen one. The risk for another uprising was real.
“We need to find those three, and fast,” the accountant declared, “before the leader returns.”
The slaver nodded and rushed to the entrance, ready to begin his search. However, as he was about to leave the tent, he bumped into someone.
“Who the hell-?!” he started, just before gasping, recognizing the newcomer’s face. “B-Boss!”
The accountant directed his attention to the entrance, where their leader just came in.
“Who exactly do you need to find before I return?” the leader asked with a hard expression.
Eddie immediately came to greet his superior.
“Glad to see you have returned safely, boss,” he bowed his head.
“Forget about that, what is this story all about?”
The accountant exchanged a worried glance with the slaver.
“It’s really no big deal,” the slaver tried to explain, “three insurgents escaped during the night. But it’s just a matter of time before we find them!”
However, his attempt at smothering the problem didn’t seem to have worked as the leader’s expression remained unchanged.
“Have you interrogated the remaining rebels?” he asked.
“They… are in no condition to talk.”
There was a very subtle change in the leader’s expression. Obviously, he wasn’t pleased to hear about this problem. He had left, a while ago, to meet with their client and finalize the deal, and the first thing he hears about upon his return is that some new problem arose in his absence. He had only left for a little while, yet, his men weren’t able to maintain order in this camp. He couldn’t help but be disappointed.
“Bring me the remaining insurgents,” he ordered curtly.
“Yes!”
Understanding that his boss was not in a good mood, the slaver quickly disappeared outside. The leader then shifted his gaze to the accountant.
“Ed,” he called out.
“Yes, boss.”
“Wake the others up.”
“Of course, but…” the accountant marked a pause, concern growing on his face, “what do you intend to do?”
“I’m going to show you how to deal with rebels.”
Lynett
“Are you not going to take a break?”
I turned to Leven.
“Look, the sun’s rising,” he pointed the sky out.
Following his finger, I indeed noticed the yellow sun shining from afar, slowly rising from the ground. Its light scattered around, filling the sky and illuminating the clouds with shades of orange and pink, announcing the end of the night.
“It’s morning already?”
Realizing how much time had passed, I stepped up the pace.
“Hey, hey, slow down!” Leven tried to reason with me. “You’ve searched for them for the entire night! How about you rest a little?”
“I don’t have the time to rest, Leven.”
“You haven’t gotten a wink of sleep!”
“I’m fine, I’m not tired.”
It wasn’t a lie. Although my legs were starting to be sore, I really didn’t feel sleepy at all.
“Are you?” I then redirected the question to him.
“Don’t worry about me,” he smirked, “I’ve rested long enough while I was crippled.”
And I guess it’s pointless to ask Cottontail.
After escaping, the three of us sneaked back into the camp, where we’ve been actively looking for Troy, Olivia, and the slavers’ leader. However, by the time our search started, the sun had already set, making our search even more difficult. I knew Troy, and I had a vague idea what his wife looked like. Leven knew the slavers’ leader. However, in the dark, it wasn’t easy to find them among such a large crowd. Ultimately, we had spent the entire night wandering in the camp, seeking for either Troy, his wife or the slavers’ leader. But we couldn’t find a single one of them.
“I don’t know about Troy, but what are you going to do when you meet the slaver’s leader, anyway?” Leven suddenly asked.
“Don’t know, I’ll improvise, I guess.”
“Are you going to make his stomach burst?” he continued.
I furrowed my brows.
“What?”
Leven smiled.
“You know, I’m not much of a believer so I don’t know a lot about divine retribution or stuff like that,” he explained, “but I remember my wife once telling our daughter to eat slowly, otherwise, if she swallowed any seeds, the gods would punish her by making it sprout in her stomach, bursting her belly from the inside.”
…
What the actual f***? What a thing to say to a child!
“A very efficient lecture!” he casually continued. “She stopped eating like a pig and properly chewed on her food before swallowing it after that!”
Of course she did. That poor child was most likely traumatized.
“So you have a wife and a daughter, huh?” I commented, realizing I knew pretty much nothing about him.
Leven gave me a half-smile.
“Had,” he corrected.
Oh…
“So! What exactly are you, anyway?” he continued, completely changing the subject. “You never told me, have you?”
“What do you think?” I inquired, not pushing the matter any further.
“I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking! I haven’t been here for a long time, but I’ve heard a lot of different rumors about you.”
“What kind of rumors?”
“Well, some say that you’re a hero, some a divine messenger sent by the Gods. Others believe you are the reincarnation of all the deceased slaves’ spite. There are even some who claim you are a Goddess yourself.”
Yeah, it’s consistent from what I’ve heard yesterday.
“So, which one is it?” Leven pressed with a childish curiosity.
“What do you think?” I asked, one more time.
The young man pondered, carefully studying me with his eyes.
“I think you look kind of weak to be any of those things,” he eventually answered.
I smirked.
“Well, you’re not wrong.”
At that moment, I noticed some movement within the camp. Slavers started to run back and forth the tents, and a few minutes later, they scattered amidst the slaves. But what truly concerned me was the fact that they were all armed.
“What’s going on?” Leven muttered, his eyes now tight and worried, also noticing the slavers weird behavior.
“GET UP!!” they all suddenly started to shout. “Move your lazy asses, you little s****, it’s no longer the time to sleep!”
The slaves woke up in confusion. Disoriented, they tried to inspect their surroundings. But the sudden commotion didn’t help, as each one of them turned to the other, in an attempt to understand what was happening.
“We said get up!” the slavers continued to bellow, kicking anyone who wasn’t fast enough in waking up.
In the matter of only a few minutes, all slaves had been woken up. But the slavers didn’t let them the time to recover from their brutal awakening.
“Now get on the move! And faster than that!”
As the slavers led the slaves to one same place, Cottontail, Leven and I had no other choice but to blend in.
“Lower your head,” Leven advised. “Some of them might recognize us.”
Leven was right. Among the slavers, a few of them could be seen surveying the crowd with their eyes, seemingly looking for someone. And after our escape from yesterday, it was without doubt us.
The slavers guided us to the outskirts of the camp. With all the slaves now assembled together, it was more crowded than ever. Some groaning could be heard, as people stepped on each others’ foot. The only benefit of this was that it was easier for Cottontail, Leven and I to hide ourselves amidst this crowd.
“Oh, s***,” I then suddenly heard Leven mutter.
“What is it?”
Following his gaze, I finally noticed something. In front of us, about twenty meters from here, there was a row of slaves on their knees. Their hands tied in their back, I immediately recognized these lifeless eyes of theirs.
“Hey, aren’t those the other insurgents that were with you in the pen?” I turned to Leven.
“Yeah, they are…” The usual playfulness in his face was totally gone. “This is not good.”
Right next to them, a few slavers could be seen. I recognized the secretary from yesterday, but couldn’t recognize the others. One face was familiar to Leven, though.
“Aileen,” he called, “that’s the leader.”
That’s the leader? So he finally shows his face, huh?
As the leader loudly clapped in his hands to attract our attention, the slavers immediately demanded the silence among the slaves. Terrorized, it didn’t take long for them to fall quiet.
“Greetings everyone!” the slavers’ leader started.
His voice was unexpectedly loud. Unlike at the academy, I couldn’t detect any magical device. Yet, I could perfectly hear him. Despite being twenty meters away, his voice was loud and clear.
“I apologize for interrupting your night,” he said, clearly not being sincere, “there was a problem we needed to take care of.”
There was something very condescending in his expression. He was smiling, but there was nothing genuine about it.
“I hope we have all slept well,” he continued with the same deceitful smile, “because your peaceful days are over.”
At this announcement, the slaves grew restless, exchanging a couple of worried glances.
“Word has reached my ears that there has been some… disturbances, lately.”
The slavers’ leader gave a quick glance above his shoulder. He brought his palm upwards and moved his finger repeatedly towards him, in a gesture to invite someone to come over. At that moment, another slaver showed up. He approached the leader, dragging someone behind him, before tossing him in front of him, at the sight of everyone.
“Oh my Goodness!”
“Is that…?”
The slaves gasped in surprise as they all immediately recognized him. And they weren’t the only one. This face was familiar to me as well.
“It’s Troy!”
“It’s really him!”
“He’s alive?”
The slaves took out the words from my mouth. It was indeed Troy. He was in bad shape, but it was definitely him. His clothes were ripped, soiled with both dirt and blood, and his face was swollen, covered with bruises. The slavers clearly didn’t go easy on him. But at least, he was in one piece.
“There was no need to look for them, after all,” Leven sneered, “they both showed up on their own.”
True. With Troy and the slavers’ leader now in our radar, only Olivia was left to be found.
“Looks like you all recognize him,” the slavers’ leader continued, a grin forming on his face. “That’s right, this is the fool behind your recent uprisings. And these,” he moved to the insurgents, “are the idiots who were stupid enough to follow him, and unlucky enough to get caught.”
The leader marked a pause, as the tension was slowly rising among the slaves.
“In other words, these are the nuisances who dared to break the peace in my camp, and I really f****** hate nuisances,” he then added, the smile on face his vanishing in an instant. “I thought I made that clear already, but clearly, you guys seem to have forgotten your place.”
The first signs of panic started to show in the crowd, as a couple of slaves lost their nerve, feeling the retribution coming. As the leader raised a hand, a few other slavers showed up. They stopped right behind the row of insurgents, and placed a knife against their neck. And this is when hysteria broke in the crowd. In a desperate attempt to escape the upcoming slaughter, the slaves tried to run away. However, surrounded with slavers, there was nowhere for them to go. The slavers beat down anyone trying to step out of the line. Despite being outnumbered, they were armed. They had no problem pushing back the swarm of panicked slaves. In a few minutes, they managed to restore order in the crowd, as the slaves understood it was pointless to try to escape.
“Calm down, you morons,” the slavers’ leader spoke up, “you’re not going to die, I need you alive.”
He shifted his gaze to the insurgents.
“Them, on the other hand…”
The leader extended his arm forward, as someone came to bring him a glaive. He took the the blade in his hand, and grabbed Troy by his hair, forcing him to raise his head. Barely conscious, Troy groaned painfully, as the others watched in distress.
“Let that be a lesson to all of you,” he threatened, “this is what happens when you forget your place.”
“Troy…!”
“May the Goddess protect him…”
“I can’t watch this!”
“That f****** maniac is going for a public execution!” Leven ground his teeth, his eyes burning with rage.
“But I’ll offer you a chance to save him,” the slavers’ leader suddenly proposed, to everyone’s surprise, “to save him, and the other rebels.”
Confused, the slaves exchanged inquiring looks.
“You see, I’ve heard something interesting,” the leader continued, a smirk forming on his lips. “I’ve heard that among the insurgents, three of them managed to escape this night.”
Oh, s***. I can see where this is going.
“The slave numbered 4889, that you might know under the name of Leven, and two new captures. A demi-human girl with two tails, and a chosen one.”
At that moment, a sparkle lighted in Troy’s eyes, as he finally showed some kind of reaction.
“W-What did you say…?” he managed to articulate. “A chosen one? W-What did she look like? What was her name?! Did she-”
But the slavers didn’t let him finish his sentence. One of them kicked him in the stomach, while another pinned him to the ground, forcing him to bite the dust.
“Silence, you piece of trash! You shut up and listen!”
The slavers’ leader didn’t even care to give him a glance as he casually continued his speech.
“I can’t have three rebels on the run in my camp, you see? But if those three surrender right now, I’ll consider sparing the life of the others,” he offered. “So if anyone has seen them or is hiding them, I really suggest you step forward. It is a golden opportunity to save your peers, isn’t it?”
My eyes locked on Troy, who was still struggling to shake the slavers off, I couldn’t help but think about Axis. A promise is a promise, isn’t it?
I stood up, ready to raise my hand, but Leven grabbed it before I could do anything.
“What do you think you’re doing, right now?” he scolded.
“I’m surrendering,” I replied.
“Are you crazy? He’s going to kill you!”
“Well, if I don’t, he’s going to kill them instead.”
Those people aren’t related to me. Whatever happens to them isn’t my problem. But if they die because of me, that’s a whole other story. And I needed to speak with the slavers’ leader anyway.
Leven winced at my gullibility.
“Don’t be stupid, he’s going to kill them either way!” he stressed. “Don’t tell me you actually believe him?”
“It’s worth a try!” I assured. “What’s wrong with you? I thought you weren’t afraid of death!”
“I’m not, but I refuse to die pointlessly! The only reason I followed you is because I thought you’d allow me to bring a few of those slavers down before I die!”
I sighed.
“Fine, do whatever you want, but Cottontail and I are going. We’re busted anyway.”
Leven finally noticed the few glares directed on us. While not everyone might know him, a chosen one and a two-tailed demi-human girl were definitely not something that goes unnoticed. It didn’t take long for the slaves around us to spot us.
“Hey, isn’t that them?”
“It is, isn’t it?”
Understanding that it was pointless to stop me, Leven let go of my arm. He clicked his tongue before letting out a sigh of resignation.
“Yes, we’re here!” I stepped forward, loudly announcing myself.
The leader grinned at my sight. He gave his men a quick gesture of the head, and two slavers immediately came to subdue both Cottontail and I. They grabbed us by our collar, ready to drag us away, but were distracted by a loud noise as Leven loudly cleared his throat.
“Uhm… I’m number 4899,” he revealed, raising a hand in the air.
Confused at first, the slavers quickly called a third one to capture him.
“I thought you didn’t want to die pointlessly,” I told him, as the slavers dragged us away.
“Yeah, you better make their stomach burst,” Leven smirked, “otherwise, I’ll curse you even after I’m dead.”
The slavers brought the three of us to their leader. As they tossed us at his feet, the leader smirked, shifting his attention to the one beside him: the secretary dude from yesterday.
“See? It wasn’t so difficult,” he said with a smug face.
However, it was also at that moment that my eyes met with Troy’s.
“Your Holiness!!” he suddenly exclaimed.
Using the confusion created by words to slip away from the slavers’ grasp, he came to kneel in front of me, burying his head into the ground.
“I am honored by your presence! I knew you would make the righteous choice and come to save us all!”
“Shut up, Troy,” I immediately cut him short, shooting him a deadly glare as I felt the annoyance coming back.
“What’s he saying?” the slavers’ leader inquired, his eyes squinted.
“Please don’t mind him, boss, he’s delirious.”
He furrowed his brows, inspecting the man on the ground, but he quickly lost interest in him.
“Whatever,” he said. “Bring him away, I don’t need him anymore.”
Two slavers nodded. Complying with his order, they grabbed the poor man, forcing him to raise his head.
“No, wait!” Troy tried to put on a fight as he was dragged away a bit further. “I’m not done here! Your Holiness! Your Holiness!”
Ignoring his cries, the slavers’ leader shifted his attention back to us.
“So! I believe we have some accounts to settle,” he started, a vicious smile playing on his lips.
My eyes locked on him, a sudden rush of adrenaline surged within me as my mind was flooded with past memories. In front of me was the slavers’ leader. According to Axis, the one man responsible for all the slave operations in the capital for these past twenty years. In other words, this man was most likely my mother’s abductor.
My lips stretching, I slowly revealed every single one of my teeth as I returned him the same vicious smile.
“Yeah, we do.”
