Day 7

Viashna was terrified of the slave traders now that they had surrounded like a pack wolves hunting their prey. Azzard stood by her side while Darshee, Viashna’s younger sister was behind her. Both the sister were in tears and both were constantly trembling and shaking.”They truly must have been traumatized before since they react this way”, Azzard thought.

“Boys, it looks like we’re going to party tonight. We’re going to sell the three of them to the Fendrac Empire. The elves will fetch high price with the high nobles. As for the man, we can still sell him to a low ranking noble. He might be useful at a farm since he’s young.”, one of the slave traders spoke. The rest of the men cheered at the thought of  a party since it had been a long time.

Azzard as at a predicament. He knew that the current him had no power to fight against these slave trader. He knew that a single mistake could cost him his life but he also knew that he had to protect the sisters from becoming slaves. He needed help but where could he find it? Then he suddenly remembered that he was no longer alone, he had met Gerard who accompanied the great hero of the past, Brogart Azzard. So he called out to him telepathically since both could communicate in such a way. “Gerard? Are you there?”

A voice responded to his call, “Yes, Master Azzard. Do you need my help in something?”

“I do. Currently, we are surrounded by 20 slave traders and all of them are carrying swords. I do not know if there are others hiding in the forest but I must protect the two elves that are with me here.”

“I see. Well, it seems I must come out again today.” A bright light came from Azzard’s chest and in front of him, a man materialized out of thin air. The slave traders were shocked. They thought it was a god because of their limited knowledge on magic. They started to make a run for it because they thought of staying; they knew they were going to die.

“Well that was a surprise.” Gerard was amused at the situation that had just transpired. He turned to face Azzard and bowed, “Since they’re gone, there is no need for me here anymore, Master Azzard.” And so Gerard disappeared and once again transformed into the necklace that was hanging on Azzard’s neck.

Azzard breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad that the problem was solved easily and that no one was hurt. He looked at Viashna and Darshee and saw that they too were relieved. He noticed that Darshee was looking at him curiously. Viashna also saw the curious stare of her sister towards the man who had saved them from becoming slaves.

“Darshee, this man’s name is Azzard. I met him awhile ago just before you came.”, Viashna introduced Azzard to her sister. Azzard held out his right hand for a shake but Darshee did not take it. Instead, she came closer to him until their faces were only a few inches apart.

“Who are you?” Darshee’s voice was solemn and soft. Azzard liked her voice. From what he could see, she was less endowed than her sister Viashna. She had less curved and would be considered petite. She had shorter blonde hair compared to her sister. Both were beautiful but to Azzard’s taste, Darshee was closer to it. As to why he compared the sisters to each other, he didn’t know. It must have been a man’s natural instinct to assess the women around him to look for the most suitable mate. Azzard forgot to respond to Darshee since he was so busy with his thoughts that Darshee asked him again but with louder voice. “I asked you a question Mister. Who are you?” She sounded irritated with Azzard for ignoring her in the first place. To appease Darshee’s slowly growing irritation with him, Azzard quickly replied, “My name is Azzard. I meet your sister a while ago at this place.”

Darshee nodded at his response and somewhat satisfied at his answer. “I see, But who are you exactly? How were you able to summon a familiar? Are you good at summoning magic? Can you teach me?” Darshee bombarded Azzard with numerous question regarding himself. Viashna, noticing Darshee’s incessant interrogation, stepped in to stop her sister from making Azzard uncomfortable. “Okay sis. That’s enough, we still have to leave. There might be other dangers lurking around here. A beast could attack at any moment.” Azzard was pleased with Viashna’s actions since he couldn’t answer the questions that were being thrown at him. After hearing Viashna’s words, Darshee begrudgingly stopped asking questions. “Fine. Although I’m curious about Azzard, we need to leave this place immediately.” Viashna nodded at her sister’s response.

Viashna turned to look at Azzard and said, “Thank you Azzard for saving my sister and I. I wish to show my gratitude through actions and not words but our current situation does not permit me to do so.”

“I don’t mind. In fact, I don’t need you to show me your gratitude. I’ll be satisfied knowing that both of you are okay.”

“No, I must insist that we show our debt of gratitude towards the savior of our lives. According to Elven Law, ‘One must treat the other the same treatment that one has received.’”

Viashna was not giving him room to negotiate so he reluctantly agreed with Viashna’s words. Azzard thought that Viashna was going to be good in politics if she ever planned on it.

“Like what I said earlier, we must leave this place immediately and go back to our village”, Viashna spoke to Darshee. “But we cannot leave unless we show our gratitude to Azzard so I suggest that Azzard return with us to our village so that we can at least you to a meal.” Once again, Azzard felt obliged to agree to Viashna’s suggestion so he accompanied them.

Night had already fallen when he arrived at the village that Viashan and Darshee were staying at. He could clearly see from outside that it was not a thriving village. He saw that the houses were made of poor material and that some were already at the verge of being a ruin just like the house Azzard woke up in. The villagers walking about the the area were scarce. During the entire time, Azzard two beastmen and a humanoid. He did not see any humans living in the village but he would ask Viashna just to be sure.

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The group of three continued to walk and soon enough they reached a small wooden house. It was in a far better state than the others but still it was not worth being considered as a house.

“We’ve arrived at our home. Please come in.”, Viashna instructed. Azzard entered the house after both sisters. The feeling that Azzard got from the house was warmth. Although the house looked bad from the outside, one would be comfortable inside. Once the sisters entered their house, they quickly went to work. They arranged the furniture inside, cleaned up any mess inside the house and started preparing for dinner. The pleasant aroma of food coming from the kitchen enticed Azzard’s hunger and his stomach started to rumble.

When the sisters finished cooking, Azzard could barely contain his desire to devour everything that was placed on the table. After the sisters sat on their chairs, the food started to disappear at a fast pace. Viashna and Darshee was delighted to see that Azzard enjoyed their cooking even though the meal they prepared was so simple. It only consisted of warm soup with vegetables in it and no meat. Bread was paired alongside it and roasted fowl was shared among the three of them. It was clear enough to see that the sisters were indeed poor just like many of the villagers there. However, Azzard did not complain about the meal and ate it heartily.

Azzard finished eating in a matter of minutes. He never knew he was that hungry until he remembered that it had been a long time since he ate and that was just before the knights of the Bradford and Azzard parted ways. He no longer ate as he travelled through the forest and he met Viashna right after.

“Thank you for the wonderful meal. I was delighted with both of your cooking. I’m glad to have met you two because if I didn’t I wouldn’t have been this happy after eating.”, Azzard said his thanks to Viashna and Darshee.

“No worries. Azzard.”, both of them quickly replied at the same time. The sisters looked at each other and slowly laughter came from their mouths. Azzard quickly joined in.

The three people sitting at the table enjoyed each other’s company and they slowly got to know each other. Azzard had found out that the sisters were former slaves of a high ranking noble residing in Bradford Empire. Slave trading was not deemed as something illegal in the empire so the noble was never arrested for having slaves. Lucky enough for the sisters that they were still young at the time and that they were not subjected to indecent acts by the noble. At least the noble had a conscience towards young children.

Azzard had also come to know that Orym was their great grandfather. He even learned that Orym was the former King of the Elven Lands but sadly Orym had already passed away 7 years ago. He died trying to free his great granddaughters from their slavery. He caused a riot in the capital of the Bradford Empire; he fought greatly but since age was also attacking him from the inside, he was unable to fight the numerous soldiers of the empire and died. Viashna shed a few tears as well as Darshee but those tears were not a lot. They had clearly accepted their great grandfather’s death.

“I see.”, Azzard spoke after hearing the story. Then a question came into his mind, “If Orym was a former king wouldn’t that make you the princesses of the Elven Lands?”

“Yes it is true but something tragic occurred and that was also the reason why we were brought under slavery. Our uncle, Flair Biafyndar, who was the right hand of our father, the King lead a mutiny. Our father was overthrown from his throne and was exiled deep into the Mist Mountains. Our mother, who was not there at the time, followed after my father and was also exiled in the Mist Mountains. It is said that the Mist Mountains is a dangerous place.”

“Don’t worry too much. I’m sure that your parents are fine since one of them was a descendant of Orym.”, Azzard comforted the sisters. “Speaking of Orym, where was he? How come he was not able to stop the mutiny?”, Azzard added.

“Great grandfather was also not there went the mutiny transpired. He was with mother. She accompanied her in her travel to keep her safe. When they found out about what had happened, they searched for us but were told that we were sold into slavery. Our uncle sold us right after father had been exiled.”

“After that, mother and great grandfather went to the Mist Mountains to save father. Mother and great grandfather split ways. Great grandfather went to find us while mother worked to save father. Great grandfather had told us what happened before he died.”

Darshee and Azzard were just listening to Viashna as she spoke. Darshee at that time was only 4 years old and she couldn’t remember everything clearly but Viashna was already 12 years old at the time. Azzard felt sympathy towards the sisters. Although their parents could still be alive, there was no assurance to that. They had lost their family so both of them were probably lonely now.

After everything was told, they all decided to rest. Azzard was given the spare room and the sisters went to the other room and shared. As Azzard closed his eyes, he heard a voice in his mind.

“Azzard you’ve finally returned. I’ll come for you and kill you.”