We silently creep through the forest, the brown bark and green leaves casting a shadow over our advance. We watch our every step to limit the sound we make; scanning our environment to make sure no one spots us.

Vern guides us with a leash around his neck, taking us where we need to go. I gag him so that he can’t give away our position. We couldn’t let that beast take away our element of surprise.

The entire process is slow. What should have taken us two days to get there would take almost three. I suppose matching through the forest trying to stay undetected will do that.

Vern has been given us useful information on the names of things, like trees, leaves, mountains, rivers, and oceans. The string stick is a bow and the little spears are arrows. He even taught Alex the basics of how to use it. He explained to me that their Empress doesn’t live at the fort. Nor do any slaves, a shame really. I can’t kill their bastard of a leader.

Still, I’m not sure I can fully trust the information he provides us. It is fair to cast doubt on what he says, even if they might be useful. Cinari are like that, they lied about our potential for so long, I can see them lying about the world to us even when they are under my command.

Eventually we approach the end of the forest. To a wide, open area with a sudden drop at the end. I raise my hand to halt our advance. We all take a knee as we ready our weapons.

I pull Vern towards me. As I remove his gag, he coughs as he gasp for air. I cover his mouth before he can cough again.

Alex carefully moves up to me with his bow with an arrow attached to its string.

‘Where are we?’ I whisper to Vern.

I place one hand on my makeshift sword while I move the other away from his mouth, making him realise that any wrong move can easily be his end.

He fumbles at his map and points at a cliff side that should observe the fort. ‘We are here. You should be able to see the fort if you look over the cliff.’

Alex hops up, but I grab his arm and nod to him to sit back down.

‘Keep an eye on him, Alex. I’ll check it out myself.’

I lower myself as I crawl to the cliff side. At the center of the forest and the open field, I turn around to see Alex and the other Dogs anxiously watching me. I can see the fear in their eyes, their legs are ready to spring into action to fight when the time calls for it.

But Vern is different he is not his usual cowardly self. He seems hopeful. Something is up; I need to see why here.

This is a tactical position. The vantage point should give me a good look at the fort, yet this place is too conveniently open. Perhaps the fort has towers that watch over this area.

I scan the area, looking for another advantageous position that can help me make a plan to take the fort. I see that further east there is a hill with lots of trees and shrubery for us to hide behind. A spot perfect for overlooking the fort and to stay hidden.

I head back to Vern and Alex. Vern’s hopeful expression fades into dread as I make my way back.

‘Change of plans. We go to that hill.’ I point at the hill to Vern.

‘But that won’t give you the view over the f-‘

I slap Vern before he can finish as I forcefully put his gag back on him.

‘Follow me, this place isn’t safe,’ I say to Alex.

I gesture a raising motion, signalling all the Dogs that we are moving out.

I lead them to the other hill while pulling on Vern’s leash. As we arrive at our new spot, the fort is finally in sight.

The walls are damaged, falling apart from years of neglect. In the middle is a tall stone tower. It doesn’t seem to be anything important. The watchtowers of the fort are at every corner of the wall. Two of them perfectly overlook the cliff that we were previously on. If we stepped on that cliff’s edge, even prone, they will have seen us.

I can see a Cinari patrol on the walls and towers, but it is hard to tell how many are in the fort.

This may not be the best spot to fully over observe the fort, but it will have to do. It’s the safest.

‘What’s the plan?’ Alex whispers to me.

‘I believe we can easily overwhelm their defences. We attack them head on through the wall’s opening.’

‘Wait.’ Alex points at the watchtowers. ‘If we charge, that could give our position away and they can easily set up a counter-offence.’

‘Got any better ideas?’ I remark.

I see his concern, but I’ve already accept the risk. We have no other choice but to act now.

‘We don’t know their full strength; it could be like it was at the mine. If they see a problem, they will communicate it to each other from one tunnel to the other.’ Alex retorts, as he draws a rough map of the area.

‘We attack at night. I’ll take half of the Dogs and take them to the other side. When you attack, they will send most of their men to deal with you. But we will come in from behind and take out the towers, and attack them from the rear.’

That. That can work. Alex’s plan is surprisingly brilliant with its simplicity.

‘Okay. Take whoever you need and move out at sunset. I’ll attack during the middle of the night.’ I say to Alex as he sits back to watch over the fort.

We sit in silence, hiding behind shrubs and trees, barely moving. Watching the fort for anything of importance.

A large four legged animal with a long snout, with a Cinari riding on its back, runs into the fort, and soon after runs out with a piece of paper in hand. Vern says these creatures are horses, and the paper is probably just be a weekly update log.

This raises an additional problem. If we attack the fort and successful destroy it and take it over, then we have one week before the Cinari notice our activity. We have to be ready when they send more Cinari down to enslave us once more. But that is a problem for after we take the fort

I lie down, looking at the sky. The trees sway with the branches rattling to the wind’s blow. I close my eyes to nap, to rest for the evening.

We wait in the forest for a few hours, watching as the sun disappears into the horizon. Alex gathers a few Dogs to head out with him. He seems determined for the battle up ahead, that attitude will keep him alive for when the fighting starts.

I rub my thumb around May’s flower belt buckle, smiling at a simpler time. Her energy, her childish optimism, and her intelligence. All of these traits I can associate with Alex.

I found him in a tunnel when May was a newborn. He was just six years old. Alone, hungry, and close to death. I couldn’t leave him behind to die.

People mocked me at first for treating Alex as if he were my own son. But even if he doesn’t have my blood, he will forever be my son, related or not. Blood doesn’t matter, nor should it.

Others soon learned that I wouldn’t accept any disrespect towards him or me for adopting him. Not like they would challenge me on it. Twelve years later, my son and I are now here. On the edge of freedom.

I grab Alex’s hand before he heads off.

‘Be careful out there,’ I whisper to him.

Alex gives me a false smile as he hugs me to ease my anxiety.

‘I will. Just watch your back.’ He grabs his bow as he heads off, disappearing into the dense forest.

There is a chance that this could be his last day. I hope this plan works.

I will gladly risk thousands of my people, but risking my own son is something entirely different. But I have to for this to work.

When the sun finally sets. darkness covers the land, so dark I can barely see anything but the light emanating from the fort.

I prepare myself for the battle, grabbing my sword while I strap on my makeshift shield.

I look back at Vern to see him still gagged and tied to a tree. I could drive my sword into his chest, ending this beast as blood pours out of his worthless corpse.

My blood boils as I watch this filth panic while he sees me step closer with the thirst of blood in my eyes. He wiggles around, trying to unbind himself. But it is hopeless, for his doom is soon to come. He cries and sobs in front of me. His fear sickens me! A weak, cowardly beast sickens me. It needs to die.

‘We move out now, Chief?’ A Dog whispers to me, snapping me out of my trance.

‘Stay here with him. I can’t afford him to escape,’ I reply as I make my way towards the fort to face the Cinari bastards. Other Dogs follow me, their weapons at hand.

As we approach the fort, trying to not make any noise.

Ten guards patrol on the wall, all with spears and tall shields that I haven’t seen before. Two of the guards chat with each, ignoring their surroundings.

Crack!

I raise my hand to signal the other Dogs to stop as the sound of a broken branch echoes through the forest.

One guard notices the disturbance. He looks in our general direction, raising his torch to overlook our position. We are about a few meters from the wall.

We stare at each other in silence, waiting for one of us to make the move. The guard raises his hand above his head, looking down to get a better look.

Then, his eyes widen in terror as he sees light reflect off my sword.

‘Charge!’ I yell while I rush to the wall with my comrades. The guards swear and shout orders as we rush towards them.

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‘We are under attack!’ One guard screams.

I raise my shield above my head as arrows fly past me, some hitting the shield itself. Other Dogs weren’t so lucky as arrows strike them down.

A guard rushes in to the gap in the wall to prevent us from getting into the fort, pointing his shield and spear at me. Without a second thought, I knock his shield away as I drive my sword through his throat. I yank the sword too hard, causing it to snap in half, but I continue rushing in, knocking a few guards over so the other Dogs can finish them.

In seconds, we swarm the fort from one side. Dogs and guards alike locking themselves in a brutal melee. But there is no sign of Alex and the other Dogs.

One by one, Dogs and guards alike topple over as we slaughter one another, but it is clear we are losing ground, now that we have lost the element of surprise.

A guard charges up to me with a two-handed axe. I raise my shield, but with an effective swing, he shatters my shield into pieces.

I stagger and fall onto my back. The guard raises his axe above his head as he grits his teeth for the kill.

This is the end for me? All of this for nothing?

An arrow strikes his gut, causing him to drop the axe. I rise from the ground, I grabbing the axe to chop the guard’s head off.

As I stand, I turn around to see the other Dogs standing on the watchtowers and joining the melee. Alex on one watchtower, draws his bow to launch his arrows at the guards below.

The tides have turned!

The guards split themselves up, trying to fight off from both sides.

I run back into the fray, swinging my axe at any Cinari near me. Using their gore to decorate the fort’s walls.

My body fires up as more and more Cinari bodies fall and their blood splatter all over me.

I love it! The taste of their blood, how their fight is ultimately pointless. The enjoyment of killing them makes me push harder and harder to kill more of them, even if it means I take the kill from other Dogs.

A Cinari falls in front of me as I cut his left leg off. It tries to crawl away to safety. Its pathetic attempt ends as I swing the axe into his back. Blood gushes from its body, I look around for more targets. Only for me to see the battle is already over.

Puddles of blood fill the fort’s floor. Mangled corpses and dismembered limbs litter the ground in front of me. My hands and body, covered in the blood of Cinari, the blood of monsters. I lick my lips to have one last taste of their demise.

‘We did it! The fort is ours!’ One Dog announces.

The others cheer and laugh, giving each other hugs while they brag about how many they killed.

‘Enough!’ I shout, ending their early celebration. ‘We need to tend to the injured and count our dead. Victory is earned once we finish the job.’

The celebrating attitude becomes serious as they search around the battlefield. I turn around to see a brick tower with the lights casting a shadow of a Cinari inside. A lonesome crow sits on near the tower’s door. Its bright blue eyes gazing at me, observing my movements as if it is judging me.

I lift my axe from the Cinari corpse and head to the building. The crow flies away when I get closet to it, I suppose it doesn’t matter.

I smash the door down with my axe. The flames of the candles and the glow of the lanterns illuminate the room making the blood on me shine like a sparkling crystal.

A Cinari sits on the chair, motionless and unaware of my presence. I grab his body and turn him to face me, but he was already dead, his throat is cut open with a knife that is still held in his other hand. Pathetic of him to go out like that.

The room is decorated with rusted weapons, paintings, and well-crafted wooden furniture. On one wall is a map, but unlike the map in the mine that shows part of the land, this map shows the entire island. A piece of land surrounded by an endless sea. I compare the map of the region to the island.

This couldn’t be! The region is tiny. My eyes widen as realize the size of the island and what this means.

The map labels kingdoms, cities, towns, and villages. Places where the Cinari stay and where more slaves could be.

Then I see the mines, mines similar to my own. Letharus Mine, Ruby Mine, Bravens Mine, and more. There are more of us, more Dogs, slaves to the Cinaris Empire.

I grin in delight. This is what I need. I have an army already, but this. This means everything. If I take the mines, I can free my people to take over this island.

‘Dad?’ I turn to see Alex with blood covering his feet and hands.

‘Are you alright?’ I went up to hug him. Holding him tight while I pat him down him to see if he injured. Thank goodness I can’t find anything. He is unharmed.

‘Don’t worry about me.’ He lightly taps my shoulder. ‘You owe me for that guy with the axe.’

I shake my head as I smile at his joke. ‘I could handle him myself.’

‘Oh, I bet you could without me,‘ Alex replies sarcastically. ‘So what did you find in here?’

Alex looks around the room while he touches the ornaments.

‘You should pay attention to the map, Alex.’ I grab him and turn his body to face the map of the entire island. His mouth drops as he sees the scale of the whole thing.

His voice shakes, barely able to muster a word. ‘My goodness... h... that’s our home?’

‘It has eight mines, maybe more, full of our people.’

‘W... What are we going to do?’ Alex asks, his voice giving off a sense of fear, mixed with excitement.

‘We free them, Alex. Starting with us.’ I tap him on the back after I rip the map off the wall to hand it to Alex. ‘This time, they won’t stop us.’

Alex tries to speak, but no words comes out of his mouth. Realizing the stakes, and the potential of success. I pull him close for a hug, as to tell him everything is going to be alright.

We exit the tower to see the casualties outside. Some Dogs line up the dead of our own, others proceed to chop off the limbs of the Cinari to feed us on our travels.

In the middle of all of this is Vern, and in front of him a surviving Cinari, on his knees and tied up. A Cinari with winkles and long blond hair with the blood of his comrades soaking his clothing and staining his armour. His face is visibly bruised, his left eye is black and swollen.

‘We captured this one trying to escape, Chief,’ a Dog says to me while holding down the Cinari. I crouch down to be level with him, looking into the eyes of a monster.

‘What is your name?’ I demand.

The man looks at me and gives no response.

‘I won’t say this again. What is your name?’ He keeps his silence while fury radiates from his face. On his shoulder are three stripes. I look at Vern to see if he has the same thing on him, but he doesn’t. He only has two stripes.

‘Vern, what do the three stripes mean?’

‘He is a Sergeant, master,’ Vern hastily replies.

The Cinari looks at Vern, staring him down with a deathly glare.

‘And what does a Sergeant do?’ I ask Vern.

Vern gulps as he stutters, ‘It... it means they are just a basic foot soldier. It is a job role.’

The Cinari soldier’s expression relaxes as he ends his death stare. What an obvious lie, and what a total fool the Sergeant is.

I continue to ask questions about the Fort and Cinari, trying to get truth from lies. The Sergeant refuses to answer my questions verbally, but body language confirms whether Vern is lying or not. From what I can see this Sergeant is more knowledgeable than Vern. And he seems to be in a position of power, trying to intimidate Vern. From what I can see, he is more useful than Vern in the long run.

‘That is very good Vern. It is a shame that the Cinari Sergeant isn’t able to respond. That would usually mean death, refusing to follow your master’s orders. Am I correct Vern?’

‘Yes, you are, master!’ He replies to me.

‘Good.’

I kick Vern in the chest, forcing him to the ground. The monster gasp and wheezes for air.

I don’t need dead weight. With all of my strength, I stomp on Vern’s head, cracking and bursting his skull, his brain matter spitting out on to the ground.

The Sergeant looks at the squished head of Vern in terror, but soon turns to me with a wrathful frown.

I burst out laughing. ‘You really think you can fool me?’ I rest my hand on his shoulder. ‘In no time I will make you talk, but for now I will call you Vern.’

The Cinari spits on me. That dammed beast! I punch him in the temple, knocking him out.

I look around to the other Dogs to see that they have finished with their tasks and are waiting for my command.

‘There are more of us!’ I declare, the Dogs looking confused. ‘There are more Dogs on this island, slaves like us under rule of the Cinari beast. Slaves who will never have the luxury of freedom that we are fighting for.’

They talk amongst themselves; they seem shocked that there could be more of us, that the surface world can be so big to begin with.

‘Today is the day, the first steps towards freedom. The Cinari locked us away for a reason, they fear our strength and resolve. They fear us, for are the truthful heirs of this realm. Today, we will take what is ours, and today we will be free men!’

The Dogs cheer and howl into the night sky. Their blood cries bringing shivers down my spine as our time for war has come.