As we neared the line that had already formed in front of the cooking area another thought, or maybe more accurately a concern, occurred to me. Would the chef give me a full serving without participating in the prep work? If it was only lunch, I could get by with that much better than having all three of my meals shorted, but I had kind of wanted to think that at least one mind had been changed by my actions.
The feeling of nervousness about the outcome grew as we progressed in the line. We made it to the front, and I stood probably a little ridged before the chef. He gave me a quick glance before snatching up a bowl and plopping it down in front of me. A full portion. I grabbed the bowl and felt the corners of my mouth twitch upwards with a slightly appreciative smile. The chef rolled his eyes a little bit and got back to work as I got out of the way.
It was pleasing that I had managed to at least get the chef to consider me enough of a person to warrant receiving a full serving of food. It was good to see some sort of results from the efforts I put in, minor as they may have been.
We enjoyed our meal in the usual spot, then went back to the room where I expected to find Touren and his mother waiting. When we got there, however, it was just Touren, tossing some rocks and just generally doing things kids will do to pass the time. I called out to him as we approached so I wouldn’t spook him if he wasn’t paying attention.
“Touren, where’s your mother?”
He turned away from his rock throwing as I talked to him. “Oh, hi teacher, mom said I should wait here for you. She had to stay with my dad.”
“Ahh, okay then.” I guess it said something that she was comfortable enough to have her kid come over by himself. Though in the end it doesn’t really matter, she does know where I live, and all the veiled threats that come with that.
I moved on. “Well, you ready to learn?”
“Yeah!” He said with a very contagious amount of enthusiasm.
I brought him inside and we got started on the day’s math lessons. The gist of it was to increase his number sense and ability to work quickly with basic addition. Kala was even involved in this more than last time. Whenever he got stumped with a question, I would ask Kala if she knew the answer and could explain it to him. This both helped her to learn and allowed her to explain it from the perspective of another student.
I thought of a new way to show larger addition problems in a way that was easier to comprehend and allowed us to do so without an insane number of rocks. Essentially, I would make small groups of rocks to represent the number that was currently in that particular place value. Let's say I wanted to use four-hundred twelve, four rocks would be used to mark the hundreds spot, one rock in the tens, and two rocks in the ones spot. After that the same would be done for the numbers I wanted them to add to it, placing those rocks just above or below the starting value.
The visual aid, along with them working together to solve it, allowed them to pick it up rather quickly. I was feeling good about the progress they were making, and they were both intuitive enough that after the first few examples they had no problem solving them. They were really taking off with this, so I added another layer and pushed them into the thousands.
The process took just a little bit longer, but they still breezed through it. Now it was time to throw them a curveball and switch things up to subtraction. This stumped them for a moment until I explained what they should do if they try to subtract something and it ends up falling into the negatives, dragging stones from one place value downwards to compensate and how that works within the number itself. Took them a little head scratching, but after a few examples they started to understand.
We drilled over the numbers and worked the processes into their memory. I showed them a couple of methods they could use to go about adding or subtracting and let them choose the ones they found the easiest. The time flew by, and before I knew it, there was a knock at the door.
Touren’s mom was waiting behind the door and the child in question flew into her arms for a hug. There was a short conversation between the three of us as to what was learned today and how well Touren was doing in class. After she was satisfied with the progress report, she took Touren back down the tunnel. He turned and shouted back at me as he left.
“Bye teacher!” He said with a wave.
I smiled and waved back. While aware that he said it before, the second time really allowed it to sink in for me. Teacher huh, I like the sound of that. It made me feel happy that I could improve Touren’s life, giving him at least a little bit of an education.
I closed the door and turned to Kala, finding her lying down with her chin resting on the table. “You good over there?” I asked her.
She groaned a little bit before answering. “I think you overworked my brain. All those numbers are crammed in there to the point of bursting.”
That made me chuckle a bit. “Come on, you did good today. You and Touren made it through a lot of material and learned quite a few methods of addition and subtraction. I bet that you two could probably out count several officers in this camp by now.”
She twisted her head around to look at me. “You think so?”
“Of course, you’re probably one of the smartest people in the camp by this point.”
She sat up and inflated a little bit. “Really?”
“Yep, but don’t let that go to your head. There’s a distinction between just having knowledge and knowing how to use it. That’s also not to mention specialized skill sets. Don’t try to claim you know more than someone who actually works in that field, that’s a quick way to make a fool of yourself.”
She slumped back down. “I thought you were trying to make me feel better?”
“I am, but I don’t want you to say something stupid because you had an inflated ego.”
“Alright, alright I get it, no bragging. Kind of kills some of the fun of it though.”
I just rolled my eyes at her and sat down for a few minutes of rest before going out again. We held hands as we sat there, resting our heads. It was a nice moment to just clear our thoughts and let things unwind.
After we had our moment, it was time to go out and help the chef with dinner, much to Kala’s disappointment. Still, there were a few opinions that were slowly changing, at least I think that’s what was happening. If I could just manage to get a few people to not immediately look at me as comparable to a pile of shit on the side of the road, I would consider that a win.
Going out to assist the chef saw me assigned to chopping duty again. The others continued to outpace me, so I looked around to see how they handled their knives while cutting and tried to mimic them. I ended up cutting myself slightly on my finger trying to use a new method. It wasn’t bad, but the chef noticed and had me wrap it up so there wouldn’t be blood on the food.
After that I stuck with the safer method, figuring it was prudent to get used to handling knives before trying anything too fancy. While working, my mind wandered with thoughts about tomorrow. The vague invitation that was supposedly going to be of interest to me as well as the entirety of the camp being present. While he said I wasn’t in trouble for anything, he could just be lying in order to make me more complacent and not put up a fuss. I was concerned, to say the least, that this was just an elaborate set-up for an execution.
I shook the thought from my head and focused on the work in front of me. If Durdan really wanted to kill me there wouldn’t be any need for the theatrics. He could just have a dozen soldiers show up at the room and I wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. This would most likely be something else, and I would see for myself soon enough.
The cooks finished the meal, it was served, my portion was handed over, and Kala and I went to eat. We retired to our room for the night after we had finished the food, and I dropped onto the cot, feeling quite tired. Kala sat down on hers with a sigh and looked at me.
“What do you think the meeting tomorrow is going to be about?” Evidently, she was just as curious as I was.
“No idea. I’m just hoping that Durdan is telling the truth and I can make it through without being subjected to any humiliation, stoning, or lynching.”
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
“I don’t think he would do something like that, he’d have no reason to go about it in such a roundabout way.”
“I thought the exact same thing, but a one percent chance is still a chance, and I think it’s actually a little more likely than one percent.”
“Well, I think it won’t be so serious. He’s probably going to announce some rule changes, maybe he will make it clearer that you aren’t to be touched.”
I gave a little shrug. “We’ll be seeing soon enough. Let’s try to get some sleep so we are prepared for it. Oh, and by the way, I may wake up early to help with cooking, so I'll just let you sleep until you are ready to wake on your own.”
“You’re putting me in charge of waking myself up? If you don’t want to see me tomorrow, you can just say so,” she said with a wide smirk.
I huffed at that. “Yeah, yeah, it’s not the most conducive idea for getting you up at a reasonable time but do try to make an effort. I want you to be there with me, I'm... kind of nervous, really.”
She dropped the smirk and instead opted for a warm smile. “I’ll be there James, don’t worry.”
I returned her smile. “Thanks Kala.” She gave a nod, and with nothing left to say, both of us got comfortable and started trying to go to sleep.
Before falling asleep, I could practically feel the nightmares clawing their way to the forefront of my mind, like the darkness of the room summoned them from the pits. The mantra was repeated a few times in my head with the hope that a little bit of preemptive warding would have some effect. It might have worked a little bit, as when I fell asleep, I wasn’t immediately accosted, but they still came despite my efforts.
My sleep was once again sporadic, interrupted by the bite of a knife or the chilling calls from dead faces. In the end it was about an average night for me, getting only barely enough sleep to keep me going for the day. I woke up for the last time, seeing Kala sleeping soundly across from me. It was probably early morning at this point, so I investigated that possibility.
Silently peeking out the door I saw the early dawn light coming in from the entrance. I slipped out of the room without a sound and made my way out into the frosty air of the camp. Shivering a little, I made my way over to the prep area for breakfast and found the chef and the cooks making the normal preparations. Some of the cooks, particularly the Trelnval, were sluggish as they moved. Starting up the fires for the cooking helped a little bit, but the early morning work was evidently still weighing on them.
The chef sarcastically applauded me showing up on time before putting me to work. I moved a lot of heavy things that morning, making sure the cooks had enough food to work with and that the refuse was tossed out and kept off the workstations. Maybe after the cutting myself incident last night he decided to just have me do the lifting so I wouldn’t bleed all over the place.
It was a fairly standard few hours of work when compared to the other times. The cooks seemed to be getting used to my presence as well, they didn’t really devote much time to sneering at me anymore. I noticed Kala in line when we were serving the meal, so it was good she actually remembered to wake up.
After I got my food at the end of the shift, I ate with Kala, mind wandering to what would be happening today. Durdan said that it would be after everyone had a chance to eat in the morning, and that was fast approaching. I had only just finished my meal when it came upon us.
A pair of soldiers, a Droln and an Ulgor approached us. I felt myself bracing, becoming more on edge as the duo approached. They did not have weapons drawn, nor did they seem to be hostile. They stopped a respectable distance away before talking.
“The general sent us to escort you. He said you agreed to be present.”
“That I did.” I took Kala’s hand. “She’ll be with me for this.”
The Ulgor looked up at his compatriot who just shrugged a little. “The entire camp has been ordered to attend, that would include her as well. The general will have final say in the matter though.”
“Fine, lead the way then.” The duo turned and marched back into the camp with us trailing behind. My grip tightened around Kala’s hand the deeper we got, and she just squeezed mine back to comfort me. After a moment of walking, I saw the area where we were heading.
True to form, most, if not all, of the camp had shown up. Hundreds of bodies stood around shifting and making idle chatter with one another in low murmuring voices. A lot of them appeared to be just as unsure of what was going on as I was.
We were led around the crowd and eventually came to an elevated patch of earth where Durdan and the others that I had seen in the council tent were standing. Durdan was in the middle of a conversation with the others as we approached, and I only caught the back end of it.
“If you’re not going to tell us what we’re all doing here, then I would very much like to get back to work. I have supplies that need to be cataloged and accounted for and this is already putting me...” They stopped as they noticed our approach.
Durdan turned around and offered me a slight smile. “Ahh James, thank you for showing up.”
“I said I would, didn’t I? It would be rude to back out after that.”
“And thank you for keeping your word. With you here now, we can get started.”
“Is it a problem if Kala stays with me?” I asked.
He gave her a quick glance before answering. “I don’t see why not, if that is what she wishes.” That put me a little more at ease as I wouldn’t have my support structure completely ripped away. “If you would stay just behind me and off to the side that would be great.” He made a small gesture to the starting position he wanted, and I assumed it. With a nod he turned towards the crowd and with an air of command strode forth.
Stopping at the highest point of the elevated land we were on, his presence there, looking over the crowd, slowly drew everyone’s attention. I could feel my heart rate start to elevate as more eyes turned on us. I was suffering from stage fright tenfold right now, my only wish being he wouldn’t make me say anything.
Durdan surveyed the crowd a couple of times, sweeping his head back and forth until the last of the murmurs died down. With one last sweep across the sea of faces, he took a deep inhale and spoke in a loud, powerful voice to reach the very back row.
“Why are we fighting?” His opening statement was... strange, to say the least. Many people in the crowd started looking around, probably wondering if they were supposed to answer that. It turned out it was rhetorical as Durdan kept talking after the question had a moment to sink in.
“When was the last time you asked yourself that question? I know it has been years for me. It is a question we all asked ourselves at one point, either when we first joined the war effort, or when we survived our first battle. Everyone had their own reason; everyone could confidently claim they fought for something. So... when did we stop asking ourselves that question?” This was left to hang in the air and drew out some more awkward shuffling and staring around.
“It can be hard to tell, I know. I didn’t even realize it myself until recently, that I had lost my reason. All that mattered to me was the fight, making sure the next battle could be won, making sure that my troops would be victorious against the enemy. It didn’t matter why anymore, it just mattered that we won.” The tone of the speech was far from inspiring. It was melancholy, filled with a sense of loss and shame.
“When I started to consider it again, when I started to think about the motives behind the violence, it made me realize just how far we had fallen. So, I ask you again, why are we fighting? Is it so we can be the conquerors? Is it so we can pillage and destroy? Is it so we can be the slavers?” I felt more than a fair share of eyes shift over to me for a second after he said that last one, and it made me extremely self-conscious. Durdan half turned, keeping his eyes on the crowd but pointing at me.
“This man is not even a Thrainian!” That started up another round of murmuring. “Yes, it is true. Our head researcher, Sert, confirmed it. He may resemble them on the outside, but despite how impossible it sounds, he can survive without magic in his body, making him fundamentally different from any other being in the world.” More muddled conversation sprung up in the crowd.
“I have walked around the camp during the time he has been here. I have heard the curses, the hushed talk about retribution for sins not his own, and I am ashamed to admit I did nothing to stem them, for at some level I thought the same. Revenge, it has corrupted us. Our pain and loss are as poison to our ideals, for even if this man was a Thrainian, what we have subjected him to would make us no better than those we fight!”
“He could have set fire to the camp; he could have slit throats in the night and made an escape, and you know what? If he did, it would have been justified. Yet he did not raise fist nor voice against his tormentors. His only act of defiance was to stand and serve as mirror into our hearts, to suffer our violence as a canvas would paint, displaying our sins as a woeful masterpiece of tragedy. I say no more! We will paint over the sins in pure white, we will reevaluate our ideals and motivations, yet always remember this dark pit which we have fallen into. For we cannot undo the past, it will always be just beneath the surface.”
He turned fully to me, reaching into his pocket to remove a key. He walked confidently towards me, stopping just in front of me. His hands came up and grabbed hold of the lock on the collar. A little wiggling and a click later, the latch came undone, the collar removed, and my neck free to feel the air once again.
He turned back to the crowd and held the collar up. “We can only make sure that we do better.” He dropped it onto the ground and held out his other hand in the direction of the Ulgor soldier that had escorted me here. At the prompt, the soldier presented a sledgehammer he had acquired at some point to the general.
With tool in hand, he raised it above his head, and in a majestic arc, brought it down upon the cursed circle. A resounding clang of metal on metal echoed out over the camp. The process was repeated with surgical precision in every strike. He pummeled the collar over and over until it was just a mangled piece of metal that could no longer serve its dark purpose.
He picked up the hunk of metal and handed it and the sledgehammer back to the soldier. With the demonstration done, he resumed his speech. “No longer will we stoop to the level of those who would enslave others for their personal gain. Today, we will recommit ourselves to the betterment of all. To create a world where none need fear the burning of a collar, the kick of a tyrant, or the bite of a whip raised so unjustly against them. So, join me, we will go forth with this singular goal in mind, to see a world remade where everyone can be happy. We fight for a better world!” He shouted that last part out as he raised his fist into the air. The reply was deafening.
“A BETTER WORLD!” The camp replied with thunderous vigor. Cheers filled the air afterward as people sprung into conversation and deep thought alike. I could only stare out in slightly stunned silence. So much just happened in such a short time. I was no longer collared, the camp knew I wasn’t a Thrainian, and they now seemed to be refocused on a singular goal of positive change. There was no way to know just how much this would change them, but I found myself feeling just a little hopeful.