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-Arwen

Of the two roads that lead away from the manor, we, sensibly, had taken the one going away from the city.

The small ‘convoy’ had travelled down the road and away from the burning city for maybe five or so hours before the sun began to rise and we came to a halt for a small break. Cu had clambered towards the middle of the wagon to get something to eat and to give to the others.

Well, the others save the two slaves chained behind the cart. From there, the group had moved in silence, always keeping an eye on the increasingly small dragon.

This had given me with ample time to think.

Though I’d never specified in my notes nor narrative the exact number of days it took between the rampage of the escaped dragon and the summoning of the otherworldly hero, I HAD stated that the summons would happen during the solar eclipse nearing the start of winter.

That left me with maybe four or so months before the plot began to move.

The hard question was what did I want to do about it.

There may have been an argument to be made about staying in the manor and slowly gaining the trust from the others until escaping would be easier, after all, having no money and on the streets of a medieval world would be incredibly tough. Not to mention winter was approaching, so that would make it harder still.

But that idea was no longer feasible for two reasons. On one hand, I had no doubt I’d be used to recharge more artifacts, and there was no pile of gold large enough to make me willingly go through that every other day. Fuck no.

On the other hand was Thruum. By calling him I’d let him know my location and as such I had no doubt he would come to find me the moment he stopped having fun rampaging around the Frostshield kingdom with Räe. I had written the red dragon to be quite private, so the number of beings who knew his true name were, basically, Räe and myself. I definitely did not want to meet either of them, there was too great a risk they would forego the courtesy of asking how I’d known his magical name and just shove themselves down my cranium to extract everything I knew. There were too many ways to magically get information out of me against which I had zero defences at this time.

I did not want that, specially when one of those possible options was to hollow out my personality and only leave a shell behind that would have access to my knowledge but would be entirely devoid of proper cognition.

No, staying was not an option, the rampage wouldn’t last that long and I had to not be at the manor when Thruum came looking for me.

Seated at the back of the wagon with my head hanging slightly, I glanced at Uryuc. If I needed to escape soon then that meant using Blaire would be out of the picture, she was no bleeding heart and convincing her of helping would require me to be able to speak Common better than a very dull caveman.

With a nudge of my knee, I drew my fellow slave’s attention. Uryuc raised his gaze and looked at me inquisitively, I in turn looked down at the chains on my wrists and pulled my wrists apart until the chain grew taut. I paused a second, looked over my shoulder to make sure none were watching us, and then repeated the gesture slowly.

“Freedom.” I said.

The half-elf appeared to hesitate, looking at the chains and then the others. His expression grew somber and he nodded.

“Freedom.” He repeated the word.

Good.

Now it was time to make an opportunity. So I took the moment to sit and think things through.

As began contemplating the potential routes for our escape, I felt the critic in me coming up and checking over the ‘techniques’ with which the slave-owner had attempted to keep me as a slave. Beatings from Rainer, electro shock from the master, starvation and thirst, and the tender empathic shoulder of Yselda. My punishments were pain, and my reward gruel and water and someone to talk to to create a positive and negative incentive system.

I was quite certain it would be effective in breaking someone in. Just adjust the level of cruelty and punishment according to the target and presto, sooner or later the slave will be left considering the prospect of fighting for their freedom to outweigh the risks and potential punishment. From there just slowly reduce their restrictions over the years, and by the end of it all, odds were they would consider the idea of being free from being your servant to be a wholly detrimental situation.

With such a system, it would be an abject failure if the slave’s desire to escape was superior to the restrictions in place to prevent it.

And right now the only thing standing between me and freedom were some manacles, Rainer, and a miniaturized wannabe Emperor Palpatine.

Piece of cake.

The chains and cuffs... had to get them off somehow. Considering neither of us had the tools to cut, pry, bend, or break them, then that meant the keys were going to be needed. Palpatine-Jr had the keys to both cuffs and the padlock that kept us chained to the wagon. Rainer had only shown to have the ones for the padlock.

With a fake yawn, I hopped off so as to start walking behind the roofless wagon, it gave me a better position to less conspicuously check-out the others and what they were doing.

Rainer and Yselda were riding and talking in low voices with one another a dozen or so meters ahead. Too far too hear, the look on their faces were grim while they kept their focus constantly shifting on the forest around us, looking for threats. Cu was currently napping from his seat as co-pilot to the wagon. Blaire was the one driving the two horses. The dirt road had forest on either side thick enough that we couldn’t see the city anymore, actually, it was dense enough that I was quite sure the horses would have trouble were they to need to go through… something to keep in mind if we had to run.

Right now there didn’t seem to be anyone else, the patches of grass that grew on the road also seemed to indicate the road itself wasn’t that well frequented to begin with.

To get the keys I’d have to get Rainer or Cu close. Rainer was too skilled and Cu had his shock-magic. Both of them presented big threats, but Rainer felt like the more dangerous one. That and Cu could remove the cuffs, so it was clear we’d need to focus on him.

But that magic… it could very well end the escape-attempt there and then.

I would’ve normally start considering ways to ensure the shock would be “grounded” and as such avoid or minimize the impact, but after a quick consideration, I was quite certain there was a component to the spell that was targeted. Either that or the shackles themselves had something about them that ensured the electricity would reach the shackled target properly. I’d been about to consider looking for a way to give the miniaturized thunderstorm a concussion quickly enough to avoid him casting the spell, but it was then that my eyes drifted to the bracelet that was on my left wrist.

It was meant to seal my magic wasn’t it? I hadn’t really paid it much attention since that first day since it wasn’t really restraining me in the sense that I had no magic spells readily available for me to use to begin with. As my previous investigation had showed, the piece of jewelry wasn’t locked by a key but rather by a sort of pressure lock that required both hands to press on four latches at the same time on opposite sides of the device.

Taking a closer look at it under sunlight, the thing looked not just very fancy but also expensive in an ornamental kind of way. Was this some magic-sealing trinket Cu had bought since he didn’t have the license to own a slave-mage?

It didn’t matter. I turned towards Uryuc and grinned, drawing his attention as I showed him the bracelet while my mind began to whirl, looking for the way for me to explain the plan through mimicry and without drawing attention.

I’d have to be thorough, if we screwed this up, odds were we’d get skewered.

Twenty minutes minutes, five failed attempts until the bracelet was removed, and several sessions of ‘charades’ later, I was confident Uryuc knew what would need to be done.

I hopped to the back edge of the cart once more, my movement drew Blaire’s attention. At first just a casual glance, her eyes quickly shot wide when she saw me reaching for an open crate filled with fruit. She opened her mouth to try and say something but froze when she realized that saying anything at all would wake Cu up. Hesitation turned to shock when I took out an apple and bit into it.

Blaire’s eyes turned from me to Cu and then back to me. She mouthed several words at me before hurriedly looking ahead at Rainer before mouthing the words at me once more, shaking her head slowly.

I chuckled and shot her a wink, tossing the apple core at Cu but missing. I took an apricot next and began eating.

Apricots, to my understanding, were reserved for the master, so the now increasingly panicked look in her eyes was quite understandable. She waved at me to drop it, to which I shrugged while continuing with my meal. Blaire was becoming growing more and more anxious as she looked at me and then back at Cu.

I tossed the apricot seed and this time it found its mark as it bounced it off the dwarf’s head.

Cu stirred and Blaire froze, her face losing color while the Master slowly opened his eyes. He muttered something in inquisitive tones, and she in turn looked my way. Cu followed her gaze. When he saw me starting to dig into the second apricot, he frowned.

Hats off to the ugly midget, I’d thought he’d fly into a rage at the sight of me eating the apricot, but the frown was instantly hidden behind a placid smile that was perhaps a bit too happy. This was followed by little man letting out a raucous laugh while he stood so as to navigate the middle of the cart towards me.

He spoke with a dumbly sweet tone of voice, the sort of tone you used when talking to a dog to get them overly eager about anything. I could see the way Blaire grew tenser as he spoke, I could hear Uryuc behind me drawing in a sharp breath, and without really understanding a single word Cu said, I knew that whatever it was that he was saying was most likely along the lines about what he’d do to me in the near future.

For my part, I was measuring distances and estimating how much closer he’d have to be to get within my effective chained-up range. But I too kept my smile on my lips much like he had, finishing the apricot and flicking the core towards him. The damp seed stuck to his tunic.

Oh wow, Cu’s self-control was on a different league, he didn’t only not instantly jump at me but had actually only frozen for a split second before smiling more widely. Silence fell as he did not speak, and I saw through the corner of my eye how Blaire was becoming paler.

Moving very slowly, Cu reached down to his leather pouch and pulled out a piece of jerky. He waved it in the air as he showed it to me, talking forcibly in an amicable tone in what I now was certain wasn’t common but instead most likely dwarvish.

“Karurta?” He asked as he stepped closer, extending his hand to offer me the jerky.

I raised my brow and moved slightly away from him so I’d have more chain length to work with and drawing him closer towards a tense Uryuc who was glancing at us only through the corner of his eyes while making a show of looking away. I grasped a third apricot and bit into its juicy flesh while carefully appraising the dwarf. He had a dagger on his belt and three pouches, one at either side and another in front. I really really hoped the keys to the chains were in one of those.

Cu laughed and stepped closer. “Karurta?” He repeated while offering the jerky, too focused on his own plans to notice anything. I could see Blaire very slowly shaking her head towards me.

I ignored it, the magic-sealing bracelet was on the palm holding the fruit. Just one more step, just a little bit closer, and he would be in the perfect range for the attack. But he didn’t step further, merely holding the piece of jerky in the air and prompting me to take it.

Tch.

I’d have to improvise a bit. “Sure, karurta.” I replied, reaching to grasp the jerky. Had I not been looking for it, I would not have caught the malicious shine in his eyes, nor felt the air charge up as he’d prepared to electrocute me.

Click.

The sealing bracelet locked smoothly around his wrist, a heartbeat of silence followed as the biggest moment of panic flowed through my veins, had it worked? Was it truly going to seal magic? The power of the electric spell felt thick around the dwarf’s hands, and if this failed I was about to get one big dose of vitamin-volt into me.

Cu looked down at the bracelet, and as he did, the magic that had been a trigger away from activating suddenly vanished.

The relief surged through me like a wave. I grinned very widely as the dwarf looked back up at me with a mix of shock and confusion. “Freedom.” I whispered as my hands reached up to grasp at the collar of his tunic and pulled him towards me and rolled backwards.

The movement caused the both of us to fall from the cart, with Cu letting out a dry cough from me weight pinning against the dirt. Instantly Uryuc jumped into the pile as his hands exploded into motion to remove the dagger from Cu’s waist.

By the time the “master” recovered enough of his senses, the dagger was on his throat.

Step one, complete.

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-RAINER

Rainer had heard the scream first and had turned to see something was happening. Immediately he spotted Blaire stopping the cart and rushing towards the back, without needing to consider why, he turned his horse to follow. Deep in his gut he knew something bad was happening.

He rushed, only taking ten breaths to reach the frozen Blaire, he was closely followed by Yselda. “What is…!”

The minotaur froze when he saw what was unfolding. Arwen was pressing Cu face first against the dirt and holding a dagger to the base of his skull while the half-elf was hurriedly unlocking his own chains with a set of keys that had surely been taken from the Master.

Seeing Rainer, Arwen smiled brightly and spoke in the strange language of his while using his free hand to gesture for him to keep his distance.

The orange-haired half-elf was quick to speak as he shrugged off his cuffs. “Do not come closer or the Master will die!” Unlike Arwen, the half-elf spoke hurriedly and aggressively, moving to undo the chains that restrained Arwen while making sure the human could keep Cu pinned.

“Ignore him! They wouldn’t d-”

At Cu’s words Rainer prepared to charge at them.

“Firaga!” Arwen roared the spell as he’d aimed the palm of his hand towards the minotaur.

Rainer didn’t hesitate, any fighter worth their salt knew that all too infamous fire-spell and had learnt that the one and only way to not die from it was to leap out of the way. With practiced speed he had leapt off the horse and to the side, rolling and coming to his feet to prepare himself to dodge a possible second attack.

It wasn’t until then that he realized the fireball had never been cast, actually, nothing had happened. Arwen was now looking at him with an incredibly smug expression. With a wink, he raised his hand to show he was not wearing the bracelet. “Order, not die.” He said.

“We do not wish to kill anyone.” Uryuc spoke, now that he had removed Arwen’s chains, he’d taken position slightly in front of Arwen and Cu so as to partially block a potential rush. “But we would rather die and take the dwarf with us than be enslaved again.”

“No chains for Arwen.” The human spoke with his cobbled up butchered Common. “No chains for Uryuc.”

Rainer glanced towards the Master and restrained a growl on his throat when he noted the magic-sealing device was on him. He cursed under his breath, he had warned that using the ceremonial magic-sealing device was a risk, but Cu couldn’t purchase the slave-mage collar since he didn’t have the needed licenses. The minotaur chastised himself, the rush from escaping the dragon’s potential path of rampage had made him sloppy.

“Arwen, please don’t do this.” Yselda kept her distance from her horse as she looked at him, clearly troubled by what was happening. “Master is strict but-.”

The human shook his head at her, the expression resolute. “No chains.” He repeated bluntly.

“Get off the horse.” The half-elf told her.

Yselda ignored the order, keeping her eyes on Arwen, the hold on her spear growing more firmly, the both of them appearing to measure one another. Rainer moved a step to the side as he began to reach for the pommel of his sword, and Arwen’s glare was instantly on him. The human used his free hand to point at the sword and then at the ground. “Order.” He growled, the amicable smile having vanished into a glare.

“Don’t you fucking do it! They can’t run away! Without me as hostage they… urk!” Cu’s shouts were cut off when Arwen pulled the dagger from the throat, and while using his free hand to keep Cu’s neck pinned on the ground, he moved the weapon to press against his groin.

“Order.” Arwen’s face twisted with a cold grin of amusement.

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Cu squeaked. “T-t-t-there’s no need to be rash!” He’d gone deathly pale. “D-do as he says.”

Rainer cursed as he grit his teeth, reaching for the sword and very slowly dropping it to the ground. “Kick it over here.” The half-elf barked, and after a moment’s hesitation the minotaur did as told.

Armed with the short sword, the half-elf then stared at Yselda. “Get off of the horse and drop your weapon.”

Though she got off the horse, she didn’t drop the spear, instead she kept her eyes on Arwen as her weapon tightened in her grip. “You can’t kill Master, the moment you do we kill you.” She replied. “A threat that can’t be carried out is no threat at all.”

She took a step closer. Arwen frowned and applied more pressure from the dagger, the dwarf screamed.

She froze at that, concern fleeting across her face, the expression turning to shock as Arwen shifted his hold on the weapon slashed across the back of Cu's thigh, neatly cutting through the pants and leaving a shallow cut that quickly began to stain the clothes crimson.

The dwarf screamed and did his best to escape, but the bloodied dagger was against his throat the next moment causing him to freeze. Arwen had not stopped looking into Yselda’s eyes the whole time. “No chains for Arwen.” He said, his voice thick with purpose.

“Don’t do it you stupid cow! I order you! Don’t you fucking dare do it!” Cu roared as he groaned on the ground. “What use am I alive if I’m cut into pieces! Stand down or I swear I will leave you ten times worse!”

At his words, all three slaves flinched. Yselda’s eyes moved to the wound, it was superficial and it was bleeding, nothing dangerous, but the threat had been clear, Arwen was not going to hesitate to do more if she persisted. A long weary sigh escaped her. “No chains for Arwen.” She agreed, dropping the spear and kicking it over to him.

The human stepped on the weapon while keeping his eyes on the two minotaurs. “Uryuc.” He spoke the name and made a gesture towards the horses.

“Don’t try anything.” The half-elf spoke with a warning tone as he carefully moved to grab the reins of both animals, his eyes remained firmly on Rainer as he kept the sword raised and pointed at the minotaur’s head. Slowly, carefully, he pulled the two beasts towards Arwen and Cu.

“Chains.” Arwen spoke, and that made Uryuc pause. The human pointed at the chains, and then at Yselda and Rainer.

“You’re crazy if you think we’ll let ourselves be chained up.” The male minotaur growled.

“Order.” Arwen spoke tiredly, the dagger pressing against Cu’s throat tightening. “And no die.”

“Ju-just do it.” Cu stuttered, paler by the second even as his wounded leg trembled.

Rainer growled but nodded, glaring at Arwen and then at Uryuc when the half-elf had approached to chain them up. The minotaur was well aware he had the key to the padlock in his pocket but not saying a word. He knelt next to Yselda as instructed by the half-elf, but rather than have his hands chained, he was surprised to see as the cuffs were placed on their ankles instead.

Rainer’s right ankle was chained to Yselda’s left one. And then, the second pair of cuffs was used to restrain both of Rainer’s ankles together. This made the minotaur feel a wave of powerless rage surge through him at the realization of what the intent had been.

“No follow.” Arwen spoke at their startled expressions as he dangled the keys he’d stolen from Cu while Uryuc mounted Yselda’s horse.

The human had shifted his gaze towards the second horse, but as he began to lift the dagger away from the dwarf’s throat, he paused as he looked towards Blaire. There was a shift in his expression, seeming to doubt, something about it seemed anxious before he tilted his head towards the blond dwarf.

His words held a curious inquisitive tone to them. “No chains for Blaire?” He blinked slightly while looking at her. Then said the one word no one had been expecting. “Orowi? .”

Everyone fell silent, all eyes on the blond dwarf.

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-BLAIRE

Her mind ground to a halt, no thoughts made their way through the silence. She just stood there, hand on the wagon as she looked at Arwen and blinked dumbly. “W-what?” Came the one word out of her lips, confusion made sound.

“No chains for Blaire.” The human repeated with a simple shrug.

Her mouth had begun to move to say that she had no chains, but the words died in her throat, the moment of silence stretching on for what felt like a tiny eternity.

“She is not chained!” Cu had spoken out from under the human. “You stupid mongrel, Blaire would never…!” The words were cut off as the dagger tightened against his throat, a red line being drawn from the point of contact.

Arwen shifted his gaze from Cu back to Blaire, his eyes asking her for an answer.

The answer should be for her to shake her head, she knew it was what she should do, that she should refuse him. Life in the manor wasn’t bad, she loved tending to the horses, and the simple fact she had two good meals every day was also something to look forwards to. Besides how they’d affect the horses, she did not need to worry about the rain or cold, and she had a warm bed to sleep every…

Her eyes fell on Cu, brows knitting together ever so slightly in thought.

The dwarf noticed her gaze and looked back at her with a nervous smile, a silent plea for her to choose the right thing to do. To stay at his side, to… to…

A tight asphyxiating pressure formed around her heart at the thought.

Seeing her expression, Cu appeared increasingly confused. He’d tried to speak, but his intake of air was followed by Arwen pressing the blade deeper and forcing his voice to die out before it emerged. “No chains for Blaire.” He repeated firmly.

Blaire gulped down the knot on her throat. She should refuse him, she didn’t know what the human would do to her if or when they were free, she should want her warm bed and filling meals, she should want her dry clothes, it wasn’t so bad to be a… a….

“No chains for Blaire.” The words escaped her lips, a shock to herself as much as to the others.

Arwen nodded and shot a look at Uryuc. “No chains for Blaire.” Then he motioned towards the female dwarf followed by the free horse next to him, and then at the front of the cart. “Blaire, short-horse, order.” He smiled brightly while he waited for Uryuc to chew through the meaning of his words.

“He… wants you to get your own horse to ride?” The half-elf’s tense anger had shifted into slight confusion as he gestured at himself and then the horse. “Uryuc riding.”

Arwen nodded with a slight grin. “Blaire short-horse riding.”

The blond dwarf looked at the half-elf and then at the human, her mind was reeling at what she’d said, a sudden onslaught of nerves and hesitation followed. This was a horrible idea wasn’t it? She was going to ride two escaped slaves who had Lords-knew what intentions for her. She should definitely not be agreeing to this should she?

“Blaire?” Arwen called to her before she so much as took a step. He pointed at the spear Yselda had dropped. “Order.”

She froze, looking at the weapon, then nodded with a gulp, ignoring the looks of betrayal from the two minotaurs as she took the spear and began to walk towards Arwen to give it to him. But the human stopped her with a gesture of his hand, pointing it at her.

Did he… did he want her to keep the spear? She blinked, the thing was a tad too large for her, she did not know how to use it, did he really intend for her to wield such a thing? She turned to head towards the front and release one of the horses pulling the cart, since Arwen didn’t stop her, she felt sure he actually intended for her to keep the weapon.

An odd anxious numbness was settling into her thoughts as her brain kept trying to make sense of what she was doing. She was running away from every confort she had never known of in her life before her enslavement. She had every possible reason to want to stay, to not rebel, to not risk being hung were she to be found out to be an escaped slave.

And yet, there was a strange tugging at the edges of her lips that were trying to pull them upwards.

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-ARWEN

Watching Blaire walk with the spear tightly held in her hands, nothing but a smug grin could play on my lips. I honestly hadn’t expected that she’d agree, there was a strong doubt and frankly I wasn’t going to force her to come along if she refused.

It was important that she desired freedom on her own.

My thoughts came back to the present at the smouldering glares from Yselda and Rainer, and even the dwarf pinned under my knee was struggling with trembling rage. He was desperately trying to speak but with how tightly the dagger was pressing against his yugular, he was in a serious risk of cutting his throat open if he didn’t keep a tight control over his breathing.

I pulled the dagger away, it felt like my job here was over.

Then the dwarf began to scream at me, his face becoming increasingly redder as he became louder and louder. I’m quite sure he was mixing several languages together in an attempt to chain profanities, but since I didn’t understand a single word I didn’t really give a damn. I just turned him around and straddled his hips, the dwarf had a surprising amount of strength in his attempts to hit me from where he was, his face twisted into red fury.

I had to struggle a bit to pin his arms, and even then he was kicking and screaming even more loudly. Inwardly, I was sure that now that we’d taken “his woman” away from him, he would go through extreme lengths to find us. Frankly speaking, it made little sense to keep him alive, he posed a massive risk to my continued existence.

Hesitation spread through me as my free hand took the handle of the dagger, the blade at my flank as I used me one hand to keep the dwarf’s arms pinned. My eyes looked into Cu’s as he kept screaming profanities and throwing spittle all around while he raged on, completely ignorant of what thoughts were crossing my mind.

My pulse hastened and I gripped the dagger’s hilt tighter. Was I really going to kill someone in cold blood? I felt like a cold sweat ran down my back as I kept glaring at the dwarf’s thick throat. All I would need to do would be to plunge the dagger there, just stab him and there would be no way for him to survive. Just make a single cut and he wouldn’t be a threat to me.

I needed to do this, if I didn’t, he was sure to make an attempt on my life through some hired proxy or another sooner or latter. He had enslaved and tortured me, he deserved this, he needed to die, he HAD to die. I would kill him, there was no other option.

I had to do this. But...

My breath hitched and I held it, moving the blade out of its sheath…

“Arwen.” Yselda’s voice broke my concentration, and I turned to look at her. The kneeling woman was looking at me with pleading eyes. “No kill.”

Hesitation, I froze and blinked, and looked between Cu and the minotaur. A moment of silence followed and I let out the breath I’d been holding, the dagger returning to its spot on my hip. I had promised not to kill him hadn’t I? It felt like a cheap excuse, but… I sighed. “Yeah, no kill.”

Turning towards the dwarf, he had quieted down but not quite, still quite energetically struggling and growling and saying things that were surely threats or insults.

A wry smile crossed my lips… yeah, I wasn’t going to kill him.

With my hand wide open, I slapped his face with as much force as I could muster. The dwarf became mute from shock, but that didn’t mean I was going to stop. Releasing his held fists I balled both my hands and punched his nose with as much force as I could. Thoughts about the torture he had put me through bubbled out, the pain from the shocks and the altar very quickly creating a frothing anger.

I punched again, he raised his arms fro protect himself, I slapped them away and punched again. And again. And again. And again.

One, two, three, I lost count. I was dimly aware Yselda was saying something but I didn’t stop. I wasn’t going to kill him, the words repeated themselves inside my head as I hit the fucking dwarf over, and over, and over again. Head, ribs, arms, head, ribs, arms. My targets shifted in a rotation, I just swung down at him with everything I could every time he tried to block me, or I would switch to his sternum to punch even more harshly if I couldn’t slap his feeble guard away.

I don’t know how long I went at it, but by the time I stopped I was panting heavily and Cu was sobbing loudly. His face was swollen and no longer recognizable. The moment I stood up he curled into a ball and shuddered and whimpered and spoke words that sounded a lot like begging.

But he was alive.

“Fuck you.” I spat down at him, giving a kick to his shins as my final goodbye before hopping on to the horse.

Yselda’s eyes were teared up, and Rainer had a mix of concern and hatred as he glared at me. Behind them, Uryuc had been holding the tip of his new sword against the minotaur’s head, but was looking at me with something that seemed half-afraid himself.

I just shot a glare at the minotaur. “No kill.” I spat the word before moving the horse to move ahead in the same direction we’d been originally travelling.

Pausing for a second, I reached into the pouch I was wearing and took out the set of keys that would free them from their cuffs. “Rainer.” I called out to him, noting he had never stopped glaring at me. I raised the hand holding the keys and recognition flashed through his face.

Then, I tossed the keys as hard as I could towards the forest to the left of the cart. “Fuck you.” I said, maneuvering the horse to continue, Uryuc following close behind.

Blaire was waiting for us at the front on her own horse, her eyes looked tense and the way she held to the spear as she avoided looking directly at me spoke of fear. I didn’t care right now, we needed to get far enough from here.

With a gesture, she fell in line behind Uryuc, the both of them following me as I spurred the horse into a fast trot.

My hands were shaking. The adrenaline high had crashed down a while ago and my hands were shaking and I felt cold and in pain. My body was reminding me it was bruised all over with a vengeance, every shift of the horse’s weight made me want to groan and stop, but we had to move so I didn’t, the other two were following close behind without having said a word.

I was sure they were thinking about the consequences of their attained freedom, but for me, my thoughts were lingering on the cuntish-dwarf. I had wanted to kill him, I felt like I had been very close to actually doing so, but Yselda had stopped me.

That consideration made me shake my head and sigh. No, rather, I was fairly sure I wasn’t going to be able to fully carry through with murder in cold blood. And though I regretted that he would have a chance (and motivation) to hunt us down and kill us, I didn’t feel as conflicted about it as I knew I should have.

I still couldn’t stop chewing on the stupidity of it. Logically, it made every little bit of sense to kill the dwarf and the two minotaurs. We could then just hide the bodies in the forest away from the road and we wouldn’t have risk of things like retaliation or of being discovered to be escaped slaves. Killing them would ensure safety in the long run.

Scratching my head I groaned inwardly, I didn’t regret what I’d done on an emotional level, but intellectually I had yet to find a logical reason for sparing them besides “I felt like I couldn’t do it, and Yselda had been nice to me”.

Pushing the thoughts away, I realized I had the luxury of being certain I had a lot of ways to distract myself from mentally wrapping my mind into knots. One such way was instead discovering that riding a horse when I was only wearing a modified burlap-sack for clothes was not comfortable. This was going to chaf.

Fortunately this was not a state that would last for very long. I very much intended to get something more to wear very soon.

It had taken much less convincing than I’d thought I’d need, but we were now heading back towards the manor. We just had to go away from the wagon until they couldn’t see us, then go into the forest and then backtrack through the woods for three or so hours before getting back to the road.

The reasons for doing this were simple, first, the city was in a state of panic, Rëa might still be wrecking their shit even now, and even if she’d left, there were fires and panic and dead people to deal with. There would be no guards or soldiers patrolling, they would all have their hands full with the shit-show of the calamity and its consequences.

Second, Cu had prepared to leave the manor either for a short period of time until the calamity passed to then return, or permanently and had intended to settle in some other place he owned and arrange for everything that hadn’t fit in the cart to get sent over to his new residence.

That meant the manor was, right now, unprotected and filled with everything that didn’t fit in the wagon. Which was a lot. Even if they’d locked the doors, we only needed to break through a window and we’d have access to whatever we could get our hands on.

There was a lingering fear that Uryuc or Blaire would turn on me, but it seemed they trusted that I had a plan and were slightly afraid from the beating I’d given Cu. That should keep them from jumping me… and if they wanted to run away? I wasn’t going to try and stop them.

That was the reason why I only had a dagger while I’d let Uryuc keep the sword and Blaire the spear. I would not give them any reason to want and cut me down, and with them having better weapons it meant they had a certain level of safety knowing I couldn’t attack them.

It was in silence that we travelled, uncomfortable and tired we moved on while keeping a sharp ear and eye out in case we stumbled on to anyone undesired. We’d also given a wide enough berth to Cu&Co that we couldn’t confirm whether they’d managed to get the shackles off of their ankles by the time we’d passed them, so it was a definite risk we’d have to keep an eye out for.

The memory of bashing that fucking dwarf’s face in gave me a happy smile even after six exhausting hours on the road where the only thing we had to quell hunger and thirst had been the snack-jerky from the dwarf’s pouch we’d split evenly.

We reached the manor a couple hours past noon. We were careful to hide the horses in the forest and approach from behind while checking whether there was anyone there. Fortunately there were no signs of life. We circumvented the manor’s short stone wall and once sure there was no one we brought the horses along, leaving them tied up next to the wall on the back side, we’d left them there since the area was invisible for anyone entering through either of the main roads.

From there Uryuc and I forced our way in through the kitchen window so as to open the door from within. Blaire had remained hesitant and not very interested in coming along, instead staying with the horses while holding her new spear tightly.

There was a risk she’d run away with the horses, but I didn’t really care. Those horses were branded so selling them was surely going to be a pain, not to mention that when Cu reported the theft they would be on the lookout for them.

I left Uryuc eating to his heart’s content while I filled a small satchel with food and brought it out to Blaire who had yet to run away. The dwarf glanced at the meal and then at me, nervous. I shot her a smile, dropped the bag in front of her and simply walked back to the manor so I could have my own fill.

Afterwards, it took me a good fifteen minutes to explain to Uryuc that we had to gather everything important on the kitchen table, and that we had to keep watch to make sure we would have a chance to escape if someone came. Such as Cu returning or some guards or something.

As soon as I’d gestured towards the outside, Uryuc stepped out and loudly said some things towards Blaire. Whatever those words were, she came into the kitchen looking at either of us nervously while Uryuc spoke some more. Then, he looked at me and gestured at Blaire and at the chair she’d sat on.

I only nodded as we set out to do what we had to do.

Uryuc took first shift, and after I set out to look for some tools. I found a hammer and chisel and with it made my way into the basement and towards the altar. The metal door was less of a pain than I’d thought it’d be to open. Also, and much to my luck, the altar had been too heavy to be moved in a rush, which was why Cu had had no choice but to leave it behind.

Chisel in hand, I wrecked the magic circuits on the side of the altar where one had to press the object they wished to enchant. I was sure it was repairable if Cu paid out of his nose, and I’d want to fully wreck it had I the chance, but at the same time I wasn’t going to spend the remainder of the day completely destroying the thing with a chisel when there were more important things to do.

Then I set out to prepare for the trip.

Room by room, I first sought clothes I could wear which… well, there didn’t seem to be too much to pick from. I had to settle for some itchy wool pocketless pants with a tunic with pockets as a shirt and a piece of string working as a belt. Then I grabbed what sort of looked like a warm… mantle? It had a hole so it was sort of like a poncho and it was warm so at least I wouldn’t be cold. As for shoes…

Well, I kinda cried inside when I found that the shoes available here were basically a swath of leather wrapped around wood. I felt a mixed sense of dread and an ever growing longing for the sneakers that had been taken from me. Where were they? If I ever found those kids who’d stolen them from me...

One convenient rudimentary leather backpack later and I’d collected everything I could think of that I might need in the kitchen table. I’d also found a some coins, but those I decided we’d split with Uryuc and Blaire after we were done with his bit of resource gathering.

The dwarven woman kept giving me odd glances every time I’d enter the kitchen with my arms loaded with stuff and dropping it all on the table.

Returning to the office, I found the half-elf with a letter opener in his hand looking boredly out of the window. He turned to face me and raised a brow at the look of my clothes but said nothing. “Your turn.” I muttered with a thumb over my shoulder.

He readily understood what I meant and got to work so now that I was the look-out.

Up here on the second floor of the manor, I could see the smoke rising from the city, the fire was still roaring, but there was no dragon. That was good… I think. Still, better not spend more time in the manor than absolutely necessary…

I quickly became bored and looked back at the office Cu would probably spend countless hours in every day. There were plenty of books throughout the shelves, and a lot of empty spaces where the more important objects had been removed. I opened a couple of them at random and found no less than four different alphabets.

As much of a cunt as Cu was, he was a well read cunt it seemed.

There was little else to be found in the office, everything in the drawers and cabinets had been emptied.

At least, until I laid my eyes on the map that hung on the far wall.

It was drawn on parchment and detailing a myriad of cities and names of locations, with one such location seeming to be a large city. I didn’t need to be able to read the glyphs to know instantly that it was a map of the Frostshield Kingdom. It was a piece of a map I had poured countless hours drawing and refining. My fingers danced an inch from the fragile paper as I looked at it.

Frostshield, the kingdom that split the continent in two. With seashore to the north and the south, and mountains to the north-east and south-west. And near its center, almost at the very tip of its largest easternmost river was Highcastle, the capital.

Something stirred deep inside me when I looked at the map and realized that someone, somewhere, had spent more hours pouring over every inch of this drawing than I ever had in creating it in my mind. Every name and crevice and route had been painstakingly etched into the parchment with the utmost care for when dealing with paper and ink there was no such thing as Ctrl + Z.

I sighed as I turned away.

The map made me feel perturbed for some reason, uncomfortable.

I had spent years writing the story and the background and the rules, giving each little facet I noticed as much attention as I was able to manage, to make it as close to “real” as possible. But here I was, looking at a map with the names of cities I’d never thought of, written in a language I hadn’t come up with, with squiggly sigils of an alphabet that had never even formed in my mind.

It was as if I’d been working to draw a square and had only made a dot and considered it complete.

My eyes drifted back towards the burning city.

I felt like I’d spent all those years trying to write the story of a world I’d been looking at through a cracked and foggy lens, and it was only now that I had been allowed to see it in vivid detail.

I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or to cry.