Planet Earth, Ming Dynasty year 1556
Tarkin was running out of time, he had been living in Suzu's cave for the last two weeks trying to convince her to leave with him.
Suzu had been happy for the company, apparently she had been cast out from her village and didn't get any visitors.
They shared stories of their families while out gathering food together and Suzu had grown to trust him, letting him move from the makeshift bed he had set up outside the cave into her home after just a few days.
But she still wasn't convinced about the coming disaster.
Tarkin woke early and made his way out of the cave, careful not to wake Suzu where she slept against the far wall from him.
He sat on the log where he had been the first time she saw him and prepared himself for one final plea for her to leave.
A short time later Suzu emerged from the cave and smiled brightly at him, her smile turning into a frown when she saw his serious expression.
"Tar kin what is wrong?" She asked, and sat to the left of him on the log.
Tarkin grabbed her left hand with both of his and looked into her eyes.
"I'm leaving today." He began.
"I don't know exactly how far from here this disaster will spread but it will take weeks of travel to get far enough away to be safe. Please come with me Suzu, please. If you stay here you will die."
He squeezed her hand tighter, a few tears sliding down his cheeks.
Suzu just stared at him for a few minutes and his heart broke, she wasn't going to come with him.
He rose from his seat, releasing her hand.
"Goodbye Suzu, thank you for sharing your home with me, the last two weeks have been wonderful." He said before he turned his back and began to walk away.
"Wait!" Suzu cried. "I will go, come help me pack my things."
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Planet Selara, year 2020 on Earth
After sitting on the stone floor for a few minutes replaying Zatira's jailbreak in his mind Chris decided to speak with the prisoners while he awaited her return.
He walked to the middle of the rows of cages, passing by the cells with the bird people and the vampires until he was in front of Mara and Zara's cell.
When they saw him approaching Mara rose to her feet and grabbed the bars.
"Was that a demon that just ran through here?" She asked.
"Yeah I just freed her, she's going to kill the masters and bring me the keys to the collars and the cells." Chris replied proudly.
"Your sister and you will be out of there in no time."
Mara looked skeptical but didn't respond and Zara just remained sitting on the mattress glaring at him.
"Which of the other prisoners can I free without getting killed?" Chris asked.
"All of them but the gnomes, I'd say." Mara replied.
"You mean the vampire and the orc won't murder me but the sweet looking tiny gnomes will?" Chris asked in disbelief.
"Well the vampire might take a few drinks but she has no reason to kill you, the gnomes however have probably gone a long time without tasting human flesh and will be eager to indulge."
"As for the harpies and elves, they are peaceful races, they will likely be grateful you freed them." She responded.
"Won't I turn into a vampire if she bites me?" Chris asked, thinking of the legends of vampires from Earth.
Mara snorted, "Only if you plan on having your heart stop in the next twenty four hours."
"What do you mean?" Chris asked, confused.
"Vampires feed on people all the time, there's people who make a living as vamp food and some even do it for free voluntarily."
"You only 'ascend' if you die with their venom still in your system. Lord Ranock feeds these ones every day in case he gets himself killed, that's why he keeps them around." She explained.
So vampires were walking talking one time use resurrection potions, Chris would keep that in mind.
"Ok so what about the orc? He looks terrifying." Chris said.
"Why don't you go talk to him and judge for yourself, not like I know what kinda person he is." Mara said, annoyed.
"He speaks english?" Chris asked doubtfully.
"English?" Mara repeated in confusion.
"Uh the language we're speaking." He clarified.
"Common." She stated. "No I doubt he speaks common, the elves, vampires, and harpies probably do, but for the orc just use your ring of tongues."
"Uh, ring of tongues?" He asked, brow wrinkled in confusion.
Mara pointed at his father's ring on his right hand index finger.
"Hold one of your fingers on the symbol on the ring and get him to start talking. The ring will do the rest."
Chris looked at his ring and as he examined it he could detect a faint feeling of strange energy he had never noticed on it before.
He walked to the cage directly across from Mara's, the one with a seven foot tall musclebound green skinned man in it, and realized he didn't know how to get him to start talking.
He turned back to look at Mara to ask what to do, but before he could she shouted a guttural sentence at the orc.
The orc stared angrily at Chris for a moment before rapidly talking in his strange guttural language.
Whatever he was saying along with the gestures he was making seemed quite offensive, and Chris turned back to see Mara covering her mouth with her hand trying not to laugh.
Chris realized he could understand a few of the words and looked back at the orc in astonishment.
After a couple minutes of the orc's colorful tirade, just as he was saying something about Chris' mom and the dog she had met, Chris decided he had heard enough.
"ENOUGH!" He shouted, and was almost as surprised as the orc at the harsh strange sounding orcish word that had just come from his mouth.
"Apologies, I did not think that you spoke orcish. The dryad asked me to vent my anger by ranting at you for her amusement." The orc said looking sheepish.
Mara failed to hold in her laughter any longer, letting out a loud snort before erupting in giggles while Chris glared at her.
"In a short while I will have the keys to these cells." Chris said angrily, turning his attention back to the orc.
"I need to know you won't attack me if I let you out."
The orc looked into his eyes and responded. "If you release me from this prison I, Ghull of The Blood Tooth tribe, will owe you a life debt."
"I will fight by your side while we escape and if you ever have need of an ally you can come find me in the Northeastern quarter."
Chris had a few questions but settled on one, wanting to speak with each of the prisoners before Zatira returned.
"Northeastern quarter?" He asked.
Ghull looked puzzled. "Yes, the Northeastern fourth of this continent. Home of the orc tribes."
Chris nodded, "Alright I'll be back when I have the keys, sit tight." He said before moving on to the other cages.
He walked to the set of cages closest to the staircase and examined the innocuous looking gnomes before moving over to the cage holding the trio of elves.
He kneeled down before the cage containing three beautiful but dirty and injured elves so as not to startle them.
They stared back at him blankly from their seat on the mattresses and Chris spoke to them soothingly.
"Hello my name is Calibra, you can call me Cal."
Sometime over the last two months of interacting with the fifteen women Chris had stopped thinking of himself as Chris, he was Cal now.
"Soon a woman will come down here with the keys to your cell and I will let you out. My friend Mara over there is a dryad and before you go she will heal you."
He pointed in the direction of Mara's cage even though it was impossible to see it in the darkness, the only source of light being the torch he was holding.
None of the elves spoke but one of them nodded to him so he slowly rose to his feet and went back past the middle set of cages belonging to Mara and the orc to the final two cages at the end of the line.
He introduced himself to the harpies and told them the same thing he had told the elves, but unlike the elves they spoke to him.
"What is your full name?" The female harpy asked.
"Calibra Dair." Cal responded.
"The flock will know the name of Calibra Dair." She said, and all three harpies bowed to him.
Cal saved the vampires for last, Mara told him they wouldn't kill him but the red eyes and sharp teeth were frightening all the same.
Just like the last time he looked into the cage the adult vampire snarled at him, but this time the little girl was awake and the woman pulled her behind herself defensively.
"Hi I'm Calibra, you can ca..." Cal began his same spiel again but she interrupted him.
"I heard your promises to the elves and the harpies human." She seemed to spit out the last word like it was distasteful.
An odd way to view your food. Cal thought wryly.
"Yes well, promise not to bite me if I let you out?" He asked, caught off guard.
"It has been three days since my daughter has been fed, Lord Ranock likes to make me eat while she goes hungry to torment me."
"If that demon you set free kills all the humans above she will starve before we can find more. I will do what I must to protect my daughter even to the man who frees me." She responded icily.
Cal gulped, "Um maybe I could just feed your daughter?" He asked.
"Just this once and then you can both leave to find food elsewere when I set you free."
She considered him for a moment before replying.
"Very well human, if you feed my daughter this once I will leave without harming you. Stick your arm through the bars and don't try anything."
Cal walked up to the cage with his heart pounding in his chest. She's just a little girl, it won't hurt too bad. He told himself.
He stuck his arm through the bars and the woman grabbed it by the wrist, her grip like iron.
"Mia honey it's okay, come out and drink." She said soothingly to the little girl hiding behind her back.
Mia walked out from behind her mother and cautiously approached Cal's arm, grabbing at him with her tiny little hands while Cal braced himself for pain.
She sank her teeth into his forearm and Cal flinched, but it just felt like getting pricked with a needle.
The feeling of his blood flowing through his arm and out into her mouth was strange though and it made him feel queasy.
She only drank for a couple of seconds before unlatching and sitting down on her mothers lap.
"Thank you for the food." She smiled up at Cal with blood dribbling out the corners of her mouth.
Cal thought she was incredibly cute, and a little terrifying.
"Yes, thank you Cal. My name is Vera." The vampire's mother said and released his arm.
"You're welcome, I will be back to release you soon." He said.
Cal pulled his arm back through the bars and left to speak with Mara until Zatira returned.
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Zatira was having a ball, she couldn't remember the last time she had so much fun.
She made her way out of the dungeon and was immediately stabbed through the back by a human guard she didn't notice waiting outside the dungeon door.
It hurt a bit but after tearing off his head she removed the sword and the wound quickly closed back up.
Her regeneration was fast with all the suffering and sexual energy she had soaked up in her prison over the decades.
Being more careful from then on out she cautiously entered the entryhall she vaguely remembered being dragged through in chains all those years ago.
It was exactly how she remembered it, except for the four guards that rushed at her with nasty looking black metal halberds and blood red chainmail.
Zatira caught the first halberd descending on her by the blade with her right hand, the metal liquefying and running off her palm as she called purple flames to her skin.
She simultaneously held her left hand out with her palm pointed at the two guards rushing at her from the base of the twin staircase, launching an orb of purple flame that grew to the size of a beachball before impacting the floor right before the rushing guards.
It burst as it hit the ground, splashing liquid fire across the guard's legs and lower stomachs that ate through their chainmail and black steel greaves before melting the skin off their bones.
Their screams sounded to her like the laughter of children and she exulted in the agony that was rippling off of them, feeding her even more energy.
She kicked off the ground throwing herself to the right, into the guard who's weapon she had melted.
Her hand formed into a fist just before impacting his stomach, tearing through his rib cage and exploding out his back.
The final guard stared at her in horror, stopping his charge and standing still. Zatira smelled the sharp scent of urine running down his leg.
She threw the man who was stuck on her arm at the horror stricken guard, knocking him to the floor.
Then she calmly walked up to him and raised her right hoof, bringing it down on his skull and ending his terrified screams as it burst like a melon.
Her foot cratered the floor beneath his now missing head as gore sprayed out in a circle from the site of impact.
The large double doors between the staircases opened and the man she was looking forward to killing the most stepped out.
Zatira laughed in delight.
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Taro Ranock awoke to the sounds of screams and hastily extracted himself from Kira's arms.
They both quickly pulled on the clothes they had discarded on the floor around the bed earlier and ran over to the wall.
Taro held his ring up to the symbol on the wall that opened the hidden door behind his throne, Kira right behind him.
He unsheathed his sword and rushed down the red carpet to the double doors leading out of the throne room.
Taro opened the door and took in the scene of slaughter, the stench of burnt flesh made him gag and the sound of demonic laughter caused his skin to break out in goosebumps.
"Kira hide!" He yelled, turning and shoving her back through the double doors before closing them behind him.
Taro held his sword in front of him gripped in both hands, glaring at the demon standing before him and waiting for her to attack.
The demon's hands burst into roiling purple flames and she held them together in front of her aimed at Taro as a ball of flames grew bigger on her palms.
The fireball launched away from her hands and screamed through the air headed straight for his chest.
Taro drew on his telekinetic energy and pushed with all his might, causing the ball of purple flames to veer to the right and splash across the staircase melting the steps.
He leapt forward at the same time while using his telekineses to aid his jump, crossing twenty feet in a second as he flew at the demon.
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Zatira launched a massive ball of flames at the son of the man that had imprisoned her, looking forward to seeing his skin slough off his bones.
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The mark on his hand flashed with silver light and her fireball veered off to the side, splashing harmlessly against the stairway as he launched himself forward at her.
As the man flew at her through the air with his longsword gripped in two hands and raised above his head Zatira frowned and simply stepped to the side, letting him fly right past her.
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Taro had her, he pictured his blade coming down and cleaving right through the demon's grinning face, her blood splattering to the sides.
As he flew at the demon her smile flickered down into a frown and she moved faster than he could comprehend, stepping to the side and letting him sail past.
He landed in a crouch and turned to block her attack but before he could bring up his sword she headbutted him, her black curved horns smashing into his chest with tremendous force.
His sword fell from his grasp and he flew backwards out the open doors, sailing over the steps and landing in a heap at the bottom.
He could tell all of his ribs were broken and at least one was piercing a lung, he could barely breathe.
He lay on the ground looking up at the demon in disbelief as her right hand reignited with purple flames and she grinned at him.
Taro saw the doors to his throne room open past the towering form of the demon, and Kira stepped into the entryhall wreathed in flames.
Mustering all the strength remaining in his broken body he grabbed his sword with his telekinesis, ripping it through the air point first to stab through the demons heart from behind as her purple fireball flew through the air and splashed across his body.
Taro had a moment of intense pain as the flames ate through his skin and with his last seconds of life he saw the demon pull his sword the rest of the way through her chest by the blade, the hilt tearing out of her chest with a sickening schlorp.
Taro died.
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Kira tumbled back through the doors as her master pushed her backwards, yelling at her to hide.
"Stupid master." She grumbled as she stood up off the floor and rubbed at her sore backside.
She coated herself in flames and went to go help him.
Kira opened the doors just in time to see the man she loved lying outside at the bottom of the stairs.
A ball of purple flames and Taro's sword flew through the air in concert, the flames splashing across his chest as his sword stabbed through the demons back up to the hilt.
Kira was paralyzed with horror and could only watch as the demon ripped the sword out of her chest and walked calmly down the stairs, stopping on the bottom step and raising the blade in the air above Taro's smouldering corpse.
Kira snapped out of it and ran across the room, but by the time she reached the doors the demon had already decapitated her love.
She screamed in agony as her last hope died, he wouldn't be coming back as a vampire without his head.
With no regard for her own life she leapt from the top of the stairs at the demon, she was going to latch on and burn it until it was nothing but a pile of ashes.
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Zatira got her wish after all, instead of ripping off his head she headbutted him out the open doors and took the time to craft another ball of fire, she wanted to see him burn.
She regretted it a moment later as his sword flew through the air behind her, three feet of metal impaling her chest.
She grimaced and grabbed the blade, she couldn't reach the hilt at her back so she just ripped it the rest of the way through, she'd just regenerate anyways.
She knew this man had been feeding the vampires down in her dungeon, so she moved forward to decapitate him.
As his head seperated from his body an ear piercing shriek came from behind her and a flaming woman jumped on her back, latching her arms around her neck and her legs around her waist.
Zatira was startled, she didn't expect some crazy lady to throw herself at her with no weapon.
The flames didn't bother her at all of course, she was a demon afterall.
Zatira dropped the sword and reached up to the arms around her neck, digging her claws into them and ripping them off she dumped the woman on her back on the steps.
She turned around and raised her hoof and the sobbing woman made no move to escape as Zatira brought her leg down on her stomach, ripping her body completely in half.
Zatira returned to the house, she had a lot of people to round up and kill as well as one woman to bring back to her new friend Cal.
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Cal was growing impatient, it had been over an hour since he freed Zatira and Mara wasn't willing to humour his constant barrage of questions any longer.
Maybe dryads are antisocial, Zara hadn't said a single word to him though he had asked her several direct questions as well.
Just as he was about to head upstairs to check things out he heard the clomping of hooves coming down the stairway.
Zatira walked into the torchlight absolutely drenched in blood with pieces of flesh stuck on her horns and in her hair, and she was humming a cheery tune with a big smile on her face.
In her arms she held an unconcious Lilly in a princess carry, a wrought iron key ring and a small black stone triangle resting on Lilly's lap.
"Your lady love and the keys, as promised." Zatira said while laying Lilly on the ground in front of him.
"She should wake up in a few minutes, she didn't want to come so I had to put her to sleep." Zatira shrugged off a blood covered leather backpack.
"I also took the liberty of packing you some provisions, I'll give you a moment to free the prisoners but then I'm gonna burn this place down."
"I'll be upstairs, don't take too long now." Zatira turned and walked back the way she came while Cal checked on Lilly.
She seemed to be sleeping peacefully so Cal left her alone while he examined the small triangular black stone.
It was an exact match to the leather triangle at the front of his collar he had seen in his rooms mirror.
He touched the stone to the triangle on his collar and the seamless leather seperated right down the middle of the triangle, falling off his neck and onto the ground.
He rubbed at his neck, after over two months of wearing a collar constantly day and night it felt strange to finally have it off.
He picked up the key ring and started trying the keys on Mara's cell, finding the right one on the third try.
The door swung open and the dryad sisters stepped out. Cal was about to take off their collars with the black stone but decided to ask one last question while they still might answer him.
"How come you were able to heal me and um... do those other magic things while wearing the collar? Kira said they block magic."
"The collars are designed to block human's magic, not the magic of other races, the command function still works on us though." She responded.
Cal held the stone to their collars and they fell off, both of the dryads rubbing at their necks.
Cal went to Ghull's cell next and after the door opened the orc followed him while he opened the rest, the dryads remaining by Lilly's side.
He released the harpies and the vampires next, then went over to the elves.
As soon as the harpies were free Mara and Zara set to work healing them, their sores closing up and their wing-arms sprouting out fresh sky blue feathers.
The harpies left as soon as they were healed and Mara and Zara moved over to heal the elves.
The elves each spoke one word to express their gratitude, saying thanks and then rushing up the stairs.
Cal turned back to see to Lilly when Ghull spoke.
"What about the gnomes?" He asked.
"I was planning on leaving them here." Chris responded.
"Leaving them to die of starvation in this place would be barbaric and wrong, I will protect you if they try anything, please let them out."Ghull said.
Cal looked from Ghull's face to the gnomes, he didn't doubt the orc could take them easily.
He used the last key on the ring and opened their cell, hastily retreating behind Ghull as the door swung open.
The pair of gnomes ran out of the cell and raced to the exit, and Cal went back to Lilly's side.
The vampire Vera was holding her daughter Mia in her arms and waiting by Mara and Zaras side.
Cal gently shook Lilly and spoke to her. "Lilly wake up, we have to go."
Lilly sleepily opened her eyes. "Cal? Where are we? What's going on?" She demanded.
"I'll explain later, we have to go now." He told her and grabbed her hand, pulling her to her feet.
Ghull led the way to the staircase and the rest of them followed.
Cal could smell burnt hair and flesh before they reached the top of the spiral staircase.
By the time he made his way through the upper dungeon and arrived at the bottom of the staircase that led up to the entry hall he was breathing through his mouth and trying not to puke.
When he entered the entry hall he lost his struggle with with not vomiting, emptying his stomach to the sight of mutilated corpses spread across the room.
Their group hurried out of the building and Cal stared at Kira's two part corpse on the steps, her sightless eyes seemed to follow him as he passed by.
Zatira was waiting for them in the fountain, scrubbing at her bare breasts in the now pink tinted water.
The elves and harpies were already gone and Cal saw the gnomes working together to drag the headless corpse of a guard off into the woods to the left.
He gave a shudder as he looked around for the slaves. "Where are the slaves?" Cal asked.
"They're dead." Zatira replied, her smile turning down into a frown. "I hope you didn't want me to spare them too, you only asked me to save the prisoners."
His blood ran cold and he replayed his deal with Zatira in his mind, she was right he had only said prisoners.
Cal sank to his knees.
Sera and the other three slaves carrying his children along with all the men that worked in the kitchen, they were all dead, all because of him.
"I'm sorry, had I known you wanted them to live I would have let them go." Zatira said, and Cal believed her.
Zatira held her palms out towards the estate behind him and a huge ball of purple flames grew on them, rocketing off at the house and setting it ablaze.
Lilly set her hand on his shoulder. "It's not your fault Cal." She said, but he knew it was.
Zatira stepped out of the fountain. "Well it was nice to meet you Cal. If you ever make it to the Twilight Realm don't be a stranger!"
She bent forward and pressed one of her claws into the stone of the courtyard, turning in a circle and gouging out a deep line.
She waved at them and shouted. "Bye everyone!" Then purple flames rose from the circle in a curtain obscuring her form for a few seconds, and when they died down she was gone.
Ghull picked up a sword Cal recognized as Lord Ranock's, which told Cal who the skeleton with almost no flesh and a severed head was, and walked over to him.
"Cal I am sorry to leave you like this, but I must hurry to my home, every day I am missing is another day my wife is in pain."
Cal numbly nodded his head, lost in the pain of losing so many people he had cared for.
Ghull ran past the fountain and up the driveway out of sight.
"We are leaving too." Mara said, and her and Zara ran off into the woods in the same direction the gnomes had gone.
Lilly knelt next to him and wrapped her arms around him but the heat from the inferno behind him quickly grew unbearable and he rose to his feet.
They walked past the fountain and up the driveway without looking back.
The driveway led right up to a massive white road, and as they stepped onto it Lilly turned right.
Cal shot a questioning look to Vera, who was still walking behind him carrying Mia.
"I assume we are all headed to Crossroads, it will be safer to travel together." She said.
Cal looked to Lilly who had turned around when Vera spoke. "She's right." Lilly said.
As the sun started to rise directly in front of them Cal took in a deep breath of fresh air, glad to finally be outside for the first time in over two months despite the sense of loss he was feeling.
They walked on the road for the whole day, Cal taking in the massive trees and strange wildlife with wide eyes.
Mia's shyness dissapeared now that they were outside, and she talked almost nonstop.
Lilly by contrast was completely silent and Cal began to worry, did she hate him for getting everyone she knew killed and her home burnt to the ground?
On their first break after a few hours of walking Cal asked Lilly to step a ways away from the vampires to talk.
They sat against the base of one of the large trees and Cal nervously twiddled his thumbs, trying to figure out how to begin.
"Lilly," He started. "I overheard Lord Ranock and Kira saying they were going to kill me today. I had no choice but to make a deal with the demon, I'm sorry. I understand if you hate me."
Lilly grabbed his hand and waited for him to look into her eyes. "I don't hate you Cal. Anyone would have made the same choice, You even got her to spare me."
"I'm the one that should be appologizing, I was working for the man that enslaved you and you still rescued me." She leaned forward and Cal got the hint, leaning in and pressing his lips against hers.
They resumed their journey hand in hand, Cal's mood picking up a bit as they walked and exchanged small talk.
When the sun started to drop from the sky they moved off the road to camp for the night.
Lilly lay down in front of Cal and he wrapped his arms around her, listening to her breathing grow still.
He stayed awake for an hour or two just listening to her breathe and holding her, thinking of what would come next.
He could settle down with Lilly and raise their child, maybe in this Crossroads Vera had mentioned.
Cal fell asleep happy for the first time since his life was ruined in a car crash.
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Cal and Lilly finally walked into Crossroads and said their goodbyes to Vera and Mia.
Mia was sad to see them go and kept waving and shouting "Bye!" until they were out of view, Cal thought it was adorable.
Exhausted from their journey they set off to find an inn.
Lilly told him she had been here many times before and led them unerringly between dozens of buildings before stopping in front of a white stone building that looked the same as all the others.
She pushed open the door and Cal followed her in, taking in the few tables with even fewer customers.
Only three people were in the lobby besides them, and one of them was the bartender.
Lilly walked right up to the bartender. "One room, two hot meals, and a hot bath." She said, and the man pulled a key from below the counter, sliding it over to her.
"Room 8." He said. "Bath water will be up shortly, and dinner is in an hour."
She headed to the stairs at the back of the room and Cal followed her. "You didn't pay him." He observed.
"They know Taro's household here." She said.
Cal felt something was off, Lilly seemed cold again like she had at the start of their trip.
He pushed the thought aside as they reached their room and Lilly unlocked the door before stepping inside.
Lilly turned to face him as he entered, "Stay in this room, I'm going to go buy us some clothing and supplies." She said as Cal shrugged off the backpack Zatira had provided him.
It was mostly stuffed with food and two waterskins, but there was also a heavy sack of gold coins.
He didn't know how much they were worth but they were gold, so he assumed a decent sum.
Lilly opened the pack and removed the sack of coins quickly before exiting the room and shutting the door without waiting for him to argue.
Not that he would have, Cal was dead tired. He went to the queen sized bed in the room and flopped down on his stomach, quickly falling asleep.
He woke up to the sound of running water and flipped over to see a woman in a maid outfit holding her hand out over the large metal tub in the corner of the room, steaming water spewing out of her palm.
She saw Cal get up from the bed and apologized for waking him.
Cal raptly watched the water pour from her hand, he had only seen a few people use magic so far and was still amazed each time.
When the tub was filled three quarters of the way up the woman left the room, leaving behind a towel, a huge sponge, and a bar of soap.
When Lilly got back twenty minutes later he was sitting on the edge of the bed wrapped in a towel.
She shrugged a new pack off her back and pulled out some brown robes, tossing them to Cal.
He stood up and let the towel drop, no longer embarassed to be seen naked after the last couple months.
He got dressed while Lilly stripped down, sighing as she stepped into the bath.
"Want me to wash your back?" Cal asked her.
"No." She snapped.
Cal was taken aback, "What's wrong Lilly?" He asked her as he approached the bath.
She sighed, "Nothing Cal I'm just tired."
A knock sounded at the door and Cal left her side, cracking it open and peeking out to preserve Lilly's modesty.
It was the maid holding two plates of food so Cal slipped out of the door and took them from her hands.
Cal waited for Lilly to finish bathing and getting dressed so they could eat together, and then they sat down on the bed to eat.
They ate in silence, a tension in the air that Cal didn't like.
When they finished eating Lilly took the dishes and set them outside the door, locking it when she was done.
He tried again, "Lilly whatever is wrong you can tell me."
Lilly looked at him and seemed to be struggling to decide what to say. Finally she spoke, "Let's get some sleep, we have a long day tomorrow."
She went to the side of the bed and slipped under the covers before covering the lamp on the bedside table so the flame went out.
Cal sighed and joined her under the blankets, "Good night Lilly." He said, and struggled not to tell her that he loved her, unsure how she would react.
She didn't tell him good night back and he fell asleep with a pain in his heart.
Cal woke in the middle of the night when he felt something he never though he would feel again, a leather collar clasped around his neck.
He reached his hands up towards his neck in the darkness and Lilly's voice rang out before he could touch it and shock himself.
"Stop." She ordered.
His hands stopped moving, the warning tingle of electricity racing through his body telling him what would happen if he disobeyed.
"Lilly what?..." Cal asked, confused.
"Do not harm yourself, do not harm me, do not try to escape, do not tell anyone you are a spatial mage or that you are my prisoner, stay within twenty feet of me at all times." She shot out commands rapid fire while Cal's mind raced.
"Lilly." He started to talk again but she cut him off.
"I'm sorry Cal but I have no home now, no money, and no job. I will bring you to Ranock and sell you to the king."
"Lilly I love you!" He blurted out. "We can have a family, please don't do this."He pleaded.
"Stop talking and go to sleep Cal." She said, and his next words died in his throat, the tingle of electricity forcing him to stop.
Cal lay in the darkness crying, he had just been dreaming of his life with Lilly and imagining what their child would look like, and the whole time she had been planning to betray him.
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Vera crouched in a bush a few miles north of Crossroads, waiting for a smaller group of humans to come by.
She didn't know when it had happened, she hadn't been to Crossroads in over a decade since she was pregnant with Mia, but now vampires were no longer allowed in the city.
The had been chased out of town the day they arrived two days ago, and she was getting hungry.
A few groups had passed by on the road north, but they were too big for her to swoop in and grab one.
Finally a pair of cloaked figures appeared on the road approaching her position.
She waited patiently while they drew closer, preparing herself to jump out of the bushes and kill the man, then pull the woman off the road and tie her up to be a traveling meal.
Just as she was about to jump out she stopped, the man turned his head in her direction and she saw his face under the hood.
It was Cal, and he looked terrible.
His eyes were red and swollen with tears leaking out and streaming down his face and she saw why.
He was once again wearing one of those leather collars he had on the first time she saw him.
Whoever this woman was must have captured him for some reason, she knew.
She debated leaving him to his fate but his expression tugged at her heart, he had saved her and her daughter after all.
Plus he had been kind and patient with Mia on the journey to Crossroads, even feeding her again when she complained about being hungry.
Maybe if she saved him he would be grateful enough to feed her daughter again, and maybe even her before he returned to his Lilly.
Vera let them pass and crept back through the bushes, finding Mia where she had left her and telling her she would have to remain quiet for longer.
She scooped up her daughter and followed alongside the road after Cal, deciding she would wait until they made camp and kill the woman in her sleep.
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Cal stumbled after Lilly still crying occasionally.
He had only gotten one day to recover from the journey to Crossroads while Lilly went to gather supplies, ordering him to remain in the room.
They had set out the next day at sunrise and other than giving him orders she hadn't said a thing.
He also hadn't said a word, as she was still using the collar to prevent him from speaking.
Lilly called a stop when the sun had completely dissapeared, nothing but a dim glow on the horizon.
She ordered Cal to set down his pack and eat some food so he pulled out some dried meat and a loaf of hard bread, nibbling at it numbly.
He didn't have the will to eat at all but the collar could not be ignored.
After eating his food he curled up in a ball and tried to get some sleep.
Someone shook Cal awake and he opened his eyes, it took him a second to realize he could still see the silhouette of Lilly's sleeping form in front of him.
He crawled to the side while looking behind him and trying to make out who had woken him but it was too dark to make out their features.
"It's Vera, Cal." Vera said.
Cal tried to warn her to be quiet, she would wake up Lilly, but he still couldn't speak.
"I took care of your captor." Vera said. "Don't worry."
Fear clutched at Cal's chest and he rushed to Lilly's side, her throat was torn open and her eyes stared sightlessly ahead.
Cal pulled her head into his lap and stroked her hair, loud sobs wracking his whole body.
She was going to sell him back into slavery but Cal couldn't help how he felt, he had loved her and she was carrying his child.
His sorrow suddenly turned into anger, anger at Vera, anger at Lilly, anger at himself, anger at this entire evil world.
He gently laid Lilly back down to the ground and searched through her pack, pulling out the black stone triangle and unlocking his collar.
"Why did you kill her!" Cal screamed at Vera as his collar fell to the ground. "WHY!?"
He couldn't see Vera's face but she flinched back. "I saw you on the road, you had a collar on again, is that not your captor?" She asked gently, trying not to provoke him.
"Lilly, oh Lilly." Cal moaned, his anger returning to soul crushing sorrow once again.
"Lilly? Lilly collared you?" Vera questioned.
"I'm so sorry Cal, if I had known it was her I would never have done this, I swear."
Cal shouldered Lilly's pack and moved over to his own picking it up as well, he couldn't stay here by Lilly's body.
"It's ok Vera." Cal said, even though it was not ok. "You couldn't have known, you were just trying to help me. Thank you."
"I am glad you feel that way Cal, because I have a favor to ask of you. We could not get any food in Crossroads, vampires are not allowed there anymore." She said.
"Ok, I'll feed Mia." Cal said, knowing what she was going to ask.
"I need to eat too, Cal." She said. "If you do not mind."
"Sure Vera. Bring me to your camp, I cant stay here any longer." Cal said, walking towards her.
Vera nodded and led Cal away from Lilly's body.
Mia was ecstatic when she spotted Cal and rushed to tell him all about the kitty she had pet in Crossroads, the tree she had climbed at her camp last night, and the lizard she had seen earlier.
Her excited babble loosened the clamp pressing down on Cal's heart, but after feeding both of the vampires he still couldn't stop the tears from escaping as he lay down to go back to sleep.
He lay there and thought of all the lives his freedom had cost.
He thought of the dozens of male slaves that worked in the kitchens and gardens of the estate, some of them he had spoken to a few times during his imprisonment.
He thought of some of the nicer masters that he had known intimately.
He thought of Sera and the three other female slaves who he had gotten pregnant.
He thought of all ten of his unborn children who would never take a breath.
And finally he saw Lilly's sightless eyes staring at him over her torn throat.
That was the price of Cal's freedom, and as he lay there sobbing he questioned if it was worth it.