Two little feet padded down a narrow wooden staircase into pitch darkness. The stench of mould, dust and stale wine permeated the air as he ventured further and further into the recesses of the old cellar chamber. Cody had been sent down five times that evening into the dark passageway, for the Duke had thrown yet another lavish banquet.
During those extravagant occasions, the grand manor bustled with activity as the slaves rushed to attend to the guests' every whim. Cody, the youngest servant of the house, was no exception. With each chime of a wine glass or the snap of a finger, he found himself darting from one end of the residence to the other, ensuring that the desires of the esteemed guests were promptly fulfilled.
As Cody descended the narrow staircase into the dimly lit cellar room, his heart sank. It seemed he was always the one chosen for the most demeaning tasks. The darkness of the cellar, coupled with his fear of what lurked within it, made the experience all the more unnerving. Nevertheless, he knew better than to disobey the master.
His obedience was unquestioning, almost automatic, as if his body moved of its own accord.
He hated the dark, and the Duke knew that. Still, he couldn’t disobey no matter how hard he tried. Whenever he was ordered to do something, he couldn’t say anything or even think. He just did what he was told.
Somehow he knew it had to do with something about eyes. He had heard some of the house guards speak of it once. White eyes in particular. Slaves had white eyes.
From as long as he could remember, he had them. It was the same with all the servants, not just those at the manor but all throughout the city. Cody didn’t really understand it but what he did know is that people with white eyes were slaves for life. No matter what, with no exception.
As Cody’s feet met with the stone floor of the cellar, he was returned to the familiar daunting sight. Rows upon rows of tall shelves packed with dusty bottles and many more barrels full of an array of different potent draughts. But Cody wasn’t here for them. In his drunken binge, the Duke Norcas decided that Cody would take on the job of exterminating the cellar of vermin. He knew Cody’s fear of dark places and those that dwell in its shelter and thought of it as the most entertaining gag, cruel as it was.
Cody didn’t want to hurt anyone or anything. He even thought the little rats that poked their tiny heads out from the little spaces in the manor were actually quite cute. But he couldn’t disobey. As he trod forward foot after tiny foot, his small figure disappeared into the darkness. Small scurrying ahead alerted his attention. Both afraid and determined the young child wondered closer to his goal. While thinking of the scary task he had before him and the surrounding darkness, he quite by accident forgot to bring any form of weapon to aid him. Any movement to go back to obtain one would go against his orders to kill the vermin and any use of nearby bottles or wooden planks would go against the order to never harm the Dukes’ property.
Two tiny eyes stared at him. Reflected by the miniscule light that trailed from the lively revelry behind Cody.
He could only watch as his body moved on its own to grab the poor rodent.
“No!” he groaned, forcing himself to stop. And to his surprise more than anything, he did. The rat dashed away as Cody stood crouched in the dark in silence. For the first time in his life, he stopped himself.
That’s impossible, he thought.
He bolted up quickly in confusion and backed up a few steps. His left foot hit something hard on the ground.
Crack.
The shelf slammed into its neighbor, colliding with another only to crash onto the ground with a symphony of broken glass and wet splashes. The sound coming from the instruments above was loud enough to muffle his mistake. Yet he wasn’t sure how loud it truly was.
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Cody stammered as he clutched his foot. His eyes started to water as the pain shot up his leg. Then it hit him; he had done another bad thing. He broke something. It wasn’t the first time he had on accident broken something but the last time he had immediately told someone and punished himself.
He lay in the darkness sprawled on the ground, massaging his foot with no desire to discipline himself.
This had to be one of the Duke’s tricks, he thought.
Cody moved his hands in the darkness till he felt a bottle that hadn’t smashed. He held it in his small hand and with a quick flick he threw it to the floor.
It was a miracle.
Pain forgotten, and task disregarded, he ran up the stairs. Huffing and puffing as he got to the top. He then sprinted into the light dominated hall grinning from ear to ear.
Duke Norcas saw the child emerge amongst the guests, covered from head to toe with a gruesome looking dark red liquid.
“Ha, Finally one of my servants could catch those nasty vermin.” Spat the Duke. He laughed at his own joke and basked in his supreme wit. The boy ran past, ignoring the guests and other servants. Suddenly deciding that the boy was after another rat, Duke Norcas went back to the woman he’d been entertaining and burst into regaling her with another hunting story.
“Well you see we bagged the ruddy sack and…” Sounds of the party melded into one as Cody sped out of the end of the hall and into the walkway towards the servant quarters. He knew what he had to do. In his room where all the boys slept was what would confirm it.
No one stopped him as he ran and none of the other servants wanted anything to do with him. Since he was covered in what people presumed to be blood they all decided they didn’t want any part in his servant duties.
They all heard when the original order was given.
A guard looked down at Cody, a frown contorting his feature. He examined the stained child with suspicion and disgust. Ignoring the nosey guard, Cody ran around a corner and disappeared out of view.
He arrived at his dorm panting with excitement and fear. The room was dusty, small and covered in straw and towards the corner lay a large old oak box. All the serving boys' belongings were inside. He ran and hefted the lid open. And there it was. His single most treasured possession.
A mirror he found outside the manor a few seasons ago. He braced himself for a span before gazing into the reflective surface. What he saw in the dim light made his jaw drop. It wasn’t the short face looking back at him, nor the red oozing blood like liquid that matted his hair and soaked his face. It was his eyes. Never before had he seen them in earnest.
They shone in the darkness like two giant beacons of light staring back at him.
And they were green.
He was free. The excitement bottled up as he laughed aloud in the mirror. His broad grin staring back at him did nothing but to increase his joy. Cody stopped as a hard knock bounced on his door and a meaty hand swung it open. The guard he’d passed was staring at him.
“What have you got there?” he asked, sneering.
The guard looked at the mirror Cody tightly clutched in his hands. “Stealing from the Duke, are we?” The guard abruptly struck him across the face and placed a firm grip around the reflective treasure. With a flick of his powerful forearm, the handle came loose, and the man stood looking into his own reflection. He then looked down at the whimpering child and without another word grabbed a scruff of hair on the back of Cody’s head.
Pain shot down Cody’s spine as the man yanked his head violently upwards. Suddenly, the guard's face was mere inches from his own. Beads of sweat ran down the man's brow as his face took on a haunted expression. He didn’t know if the guard showed an expression of deep uncertainty or concentration. Cody pulled at the man's arms, trying to free his hair from the powerful grasp.
“Here!” Shouted the guard as dropped him and thrust the mirror into Cody’s hand. “Smash it. Smash it on the ground now.”
Cody looked at it then up to the man pleading.
“Now!” He shouted louder. When Cody refused to budge, he smacked the back of his hand across the boy's face. Real blood accompanied the old stains on his face, fresher and a deeper red. Cody whimpered as he felt tears encircle his vision.
“Break it now!” Cody felt a thud and stinging pain as the man's full weight bow down with a punch that struck him straight in the face. Blood now steadily poured in sticky founts from his nose. It made it hard to breathe, to even think.
“It’s…” Cody stammered behind a split lip. It was even painful to speak. He began to cry in Ernest. “It’s mine, sir. I found it outside the manor. It’s not the Duke’s it belongs to…”
The guard threw him sideways while yanking the mirror again from his grasp.
“Please no! It's mine!” Cried Cody. With a mighty effort, the man hauled it at the wall and with an echoing crash it shattered into many small glittering shards.
The guard stepped out of the room closing the door with a final click, leaving the distraught young boy alone coughing and crying in the now pitch black. In that moment of pure joy, he had thought he could run away from this mean place. But no longer. The darkness crept into his mind; invisible shapes elongated in the deep corners of the room. He was free, but no longer.
What a cruel trick of fate.