I woke up lying in a spacious tent, the bed was pretty rickety, looking to have been a rushed job, but it had soft sheets and a warm blanket. Beds stood in front of me and on both my sides in rows, the people in them were all injured to some degree, was this a healers tent? Slavers didn’t usually bother with that for their slaves, only doing the minimum amount possible to get us back into working order. Selling an Injured slave off if it wasn’t worth the money, but judging by the lack of pain I was feeling, the healer had done an excellent job. Maybe the damage hadn’t been significant. The numbers and letters flashed before my vision again, but I was too bewildered to take anything in.
“Whah he heh,” came out of my mouth, that wasn’t what I had meant to say, was I given some potion? I knew some medicines could make you feel tired or dizzy, but I didn’t feel drugged. I started trying to move my tongue around in my mouth, something moved, but my mouth felt strangely empty. I suddenly realized what it was, he had done it, the bastard had gone and cut out my tongue. I opened my mouth and stuck a finger in there to feel around, finding that I had been right was no comfort as I touched the stump at the back.
Utter horror and panic swept over me, how could they do this? It felt like such a violation, the fact that they had done it when I was unconscious made it even worse. What would I do now? I was a slave unable to speak, stuck in my body, they could do whatever they wanted to me now and I couldn’t tell anyone, couldn’t even protest. I could write I suppose, but who was I kidding? They owned me, there were guidelines on how slaves should be treated, but they were just that, guidelines, no one would punish you if you broke them. There was no justice for slaves, I would just have to make my own, oh, Demozas would pay, the price would be so high that his grandchildren were affected.
Images of what I would do to him were bloody indeed, but that would come later. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday he would pay. Tears flowed freely, my body shook and someone screamed. It sounded hysterical I thought until I realized the person screaming was me. A pair of arms wrapped around me, but for a long time I was inconsolable, the person made soothing sounds and I gradually calmed down. I looked up to see the arms belonged to a woman, she had tanned skin and unruly hair, as if she had just woken up. She was an elf, made obvious by her pointed ears. She smiled and brushed away the last tears with her thumb.
“Your master has been asking for you, I have turned him away several times. He may be a very influential trader, but when it comes to the sick or injured I’m in charge. Besides, everyone deserves some time to themselves, especially with what you have been through,” she brushed her fingers through my hair, uncaring about my horns. I opened my mouth to speak, but closed it again, remembering I had no tongue. “Yes, they took your tongue, what a ghastly thing. No one should be robbed of their voice,” here eyes briefly flicked up to my scarred forehead, “no matter what they might have done.” At that moment someone burst in through the tent flaps, and the elf rose from her seat at the side of my bed.
“I’m sorry Minalyn,” a man with mismatched armor said, some type of guard maybe, “he threatened to have his mercenaries force their way in if we continued to bar his entrance.”
“It’s alright, she is ready now anyway,” the elf, Minalyn, answered. In through the tent flaps came the man himself, Demozas, almost crashing into the guard who had entered before him.
“Ready?” He blustered, “she is my slave, I’m the one who decides when she is ready,” I didn’t hear if anything else was said, fury rushed through me. I wanted to hurt this man who had done this to me. I ripped the sheet off my body, and before anyone had time to react I was on him. I leaped, tackling Demozas to the ground, we both landed hard but I was on top. I sat up and squeezed him around the waist with my thighs, he was completely taken by surprise. My nails scratched his skin, taring long gouges into his neck. This wasn't enough, I needed to give him something to remember me by. With a quick punch to the face to stun the slaver, I bent down and bit his ear. Demozas howled like a stuck pig, finally fighting back, he punched me in the side, trying to get me to release his ear. He didn’t have a good angle so although his flailing arms hurt it wasn’t enough to get me to let go. Strong hands landed on my shoulders, beginning to pull me off. With a twist of my head, part of Demozas’ ear ripped off in my mouth. I spit it out in front of me as I was stood up, the first man that had entered held my hands behind my back in a death grip.
Demozaz’ hand flew to his ear as he scrabbled backward on the ground, our eyes met. There was a flash of fear there before it vanished under the avalanche of anger that turned his face red. He stood up glaring at me, he was about to say something but changed his mind as he turned around to storm out of the tent.
“That was very brave, foolish, but brave,” the elf said from behind me. I began to turn to look at her, but the guard tightened his grip on my arms, keeping me in place.
“Is this really worth it Minalyn? Causing all this ruckus for a mere slave, and a branded one at that,” the guard said, referring to the scars on my forehead.
“I’ll handle it,” Minalyn answered cooly.
“But, we’re dependant on merchants like Demozas right now, he could cut trade deals increase costs,” the elf cut him off with a gesture.
“I said I’ll handle it,” she said, voice turning cold. There was a long silence before the guard nodded and left, right then Grog entered and stopped when he saw us. The guard had to sidestep him before he exited.
“You’re gonna have to come with me little demon,” punishment was incoming, I did bite off the master’s ear, after all, that wouldn’t go unpunished for long. Best to get it over with I thought but before I could go with the big brute, Minalyn leaned in to whisper in my ear.
“Stay strong, sister, you'll only grow more powerful with time. I can’t get to your master now, but this is the new world where anything is possible,” what did she mean by that? Grow stronger? “Hide your strength well and you might be able to surprise them, now go with your watchdog and good luck,” was her last whispered words before she gently shoved me towards Grog.
Grog’s grip was firm as he led me through the tents and half-finished buildings, yet there was something strange about him. I had noticed it before, back on the road, he was more agreeable I guess if you could call leading a slave to be punished that. He didn’t ridicule me or try to insult me, like usual, if I didn’t know any better I’d say he was even trying to avoid looking me in the eyes. I had no tongue to ask him or get a rise out of him, so maybe this was just acting like he did when I wasn’t there to talk his ear off, not literally.
We came to the edge of the tents and continued a bit further until we came to a cleared piece off ground, with a low wooden fence around it. Grog threw me down in the middle of the circle, so this is where it would happen, for everyone to see. Well, I’d show them, just as I did before, they couldn’t break me. To my surprise, a wooden practice sword clattered on the ground before me. I looked up to meet Grog’s eyes, he had stepped into the ring, holding a wooden sword of his own.
“Well, what are you waiting for? Pick it up and come at me, I’m sure you want to,” I grabbed the sword and stood up, glancing back at the wilderness, I could make a run for it. The idea was dismissed as I posed as I thought a sword fighter might. “Try it I dare you, I’d love to have an excuse to whip you again,” my glance must have been more obvious then I thought, but what did he mean he needed an excuse. Hadn’t he heard of my encounter with Demozas’? What was this anyway? Sword lessons? Was he following orders? He must be, Grog never did anything he didn’t have to. “You’re taking your sweet time aren’t you, do you need some motivation?” He asked with a leer and an evil grin, “guess who cut your tongue out?” My eyes widened as what he implied became clear, of course, it was him, he was Demozas’ best man after all. “Bwahaha, you should see your face, yes, that’s right it was me. Your precious master may have given the order, but you have no idea how much I enjoyed it.” My fists clenched and the knuckles whitened, fucking bastard. “What’s the matter little demon, cat got your tongue?” I flew at him then, sword held high, ready to smash it down over his head.
For such a big man, Grog could be surprisingly quick when he wanted to be. He sidestepped my clumsy charge with ease and my stomach met his upraised knee. I keeled over, going to the ground as all the air left in my lungs wheezed out of me. Grog’s sword tapped me on the chin, raising my head so he could meet my eyes, I only glared at him.
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“Anger can be good in a fight, but too much of anything is never good. Take up your sword and listen to me for a moment, or you can keep trying, but I tell you now, it will be like wailing against a brick wall,” I grabbed the practice sword again and stood up facing him, what was the point of coming at him blindly, he was a trained swordsman after all. I might as well learn all I can from him and try again from a position of strength like Minalyn had said.
“Good,” he said as he removed his weapon from under my chin, “now think on this, who is your true enemy here? Me, a simple mercenary following orders, you could kill me but nothing will change if you succeed. Or Demozas, the current owner of your contract, kill him and you might be free for some time, but people will come, you’ll be hunted, probably for the rest of your life,” I could feel my eyebrows scrunching up, why was he telling me all this? “You might say that the world is your enemy, well, you need a way to fight back, especially if you are going to survive tomorrow.” Tomorrow, what happens tomorrow? “Now come at me again, and don’t let yourself be goaded use that head between your shoulders,” had he only been taunting me before? To see how I would react, had he really been the one to cut out my tongue? I couldn’t know, but one thing was for sure, I wanted to hurt him, to slap that smirk off his face. If I couldn’t do it with cutting words well, I would just have to cut him the old fashioned way instead and nevermind that the sword in my hands was made of wood.
I went for the same charge as earlier, but this time I stopped just before reaching him and used my foot to kick up some dirt into his eyes. He backed off, a hand going to his face, rubbing out the dirt in his eyes. To my surprise, he laughed, “dirty tricks, I like it, when it comes to life and death seize every advantage.” His posture suddenly changed as he struck at me with his sword, not even looking to see where I was, eyes still closed, he still managed an accurate swing. I managed to block it but the impact went all the way up the wood and into my hands and I dropped the sword, unable to keep my grip.
“It looks like we need to work on the foundations a lot more,” Grog said as he rubbed his eyes, using water from a waterskin the clean them, he gave me an appraising look. The evening went on with my watchdog showing me how to hold the weapon and letting me make practice swings against him, he never attacked me again that day, only countering when I left myself open. My body was bruised and hurting by the time Grog called an end to it. I almost didn’t notice the light starting to fade as evening set in, had I actually had fun? We had attracted a bit of an audience as I finally took the time to look around, a crowd of mostly young kids and the elderly were standing at the edge of the tent town watching us.
“It will not come down to a swordfight, the important thing is that you know the basics,” there he went again, what fight was he talking about. My confusion must have shown on my face as Grog continued, “you did not make yourself any favors by pulling that stunt with your master in the healer's tent,” I jerked in surprise at this, not having expected him to have heard about that. “Yes I heard what you did, how could I not have, Demozas’ was absolutely livid. Your fight tomorrow won’t be made any easier, although I don’t think he will kill you. Demozas’ is very protective of his investments as you know and you made yourself very important to him when you threw yourself at that light,” what was that anyway? I had expected to gain some power from it, but so far nothing had happened. Grog was in a very chatty mood, why was he volunteering so much information when he could just beat me in a duel a few times and be done with it?
Grog’s grip on my arm was just as firm as he led me back among the tents, the little crowd of people disperse when there was no more excitement to watch. I was led passed the little market square and the healers tent until we reached an area that seemed to be for the slaves. There was a wooden lean-to built, but other than that we were exposed to the elements. Slaves sat around a cooking fire, waiting to get some of the stew that was merrily boiling in a big metal pot. I recognized most of them, the rabbit-eared man was there, the old man with the birthmark was as well, he was apparently the cook. Our eyes met over the pot and I glared at him as I went to sit by the man with rabbit ears. There were some new faces and some missing, had some of them been sold to mew masters already?
“Hello there,” rabbit man said. “I wasn’t sure we’d see you again, Demozas was pretty angry you know,” I didn’t answer of course, but birthmark man, Hamda, just couldn’t let things be.
“Pretty angry he says,” Hamda burst out as he started to ladle out the delicious smelling stew. “He nearly worked us to death digging those latrines, and what have you been doing? Resting in the healer's tent all day, why they bothered with you is beyond me,” they didn’t know then, and by the conflicted looks coming from the rest of the nine or so slaves sitting around the fire, they didn’t either. An angry retort was on my lips before I stopped myself, all I could do was glare at the slave turned cook.
“Don’t look at me like that, why shouldn’t I make my life as comfortable as possible? Look, kid, I was like you once I have almost lost count of the times I’ve tried to escape, but I was always caught eventually, and that is no way to live.” And this was, serving some master, getting served scraps, we didn’t even have a roof over our heads. Rabbit man’s hand landed on my shoulder, he patted my back good-naturedly.
“I for one think you had a pretty good chance if not for Hamda over here, the rest of us have learned he’s a snitch, if only we’d talked before, I could have warned you,” yes if only, now I couldn’t even do that much. Hamda’s eyes traveled over my scarred forehead before he sneered.
“It’s not like she’s some saint, she only thought of herself, after all, she didn’t even try to free anyone else,” there was an uncomfortable silence before the rabbit man scoffed.
“It’s just as well, you would have given us away anyway,” they continued to bicker, by the sound of it these two had been together for a long time. I wasn’t listening anymore though, it was true what Demozas had said. I had only thought about saving myself, bringing anyone with me hadn’t even entered my thoughts. Was I really that selfish? But bringing a group this size into the wilderness and trying to survive would be very difficult. I was brought out of my thoughts by a wooden bowl that was shoved under my nose, the food smelled heavenly. My stomach rumbled as I realized I hadn’t eaten anything all day.
The stew tasted just as good as it smelled, at least the snitch was a good cook. I tore into it ravenously, the other slaves seemed to have the right idea as all conversation had stopped to focus on eating. The stew was soon gone and the rabbit man turned to me.
“I’m Dexter by the way,” he said and held out his hand I took it and we shook, but I stayed quiet. “What’s with you anyway? I remember you being more… outspoken shall we say,” how did I answer that? Should I just open my mouth and show him? Bah, what business was it of his? But the decision to tell them was taken out of my hands.
“Demozas was livid after she jumped between him and that Naga. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had her tongue cut out,” everyone's conversation stopped as all eyes turned to me.
“Is it true?” Dexter asked, disbelief in his voice. I nodded slowly before I turned to study the empty bowl in my lap, there was an awkward silence before someone spoke again.
“Damn that’s rough, I didn’t actually think they did that anymore,” Hamda said, looking a bit lost for words.
“I’m sorry,” Dexter said, “I never caught your name, and now,” I stopped him as I bent down to scratch it into the dirt, Dexter leaned over to read when I was done. “Millie, huh, that's a nice name,” he said as his eyes traveled first to my horns and then to my tail. “It doesn’t suit you though,” I burst out laughing at that, this guy was very blunt. He was right though, I had a common name for a common girl as my parents first thought I was. I hadn’t laughed in a long time, not out of joy anyway, it felt good. Dexter looked uncertain at first before he chuckled slightly.
“I’m sorry again, I know I can be blunt sometimes,” I patted him on the back, as he had done to me, to show I hadn’t taken offense. The atmosphere lightened and the conversations around me picked back up, I sat there listening for a while until the mercenaries told us we had to get to sleep. I had been so focused on trying to escape I hadn’t taken the time to really notice the other slaves around me. It was ironic, now that I had taken an interest I had no tongue to talk to them.
Our beds consisted of animal furs and blanket on the ground, we had a roof of sorts but the sides were completely open. All twelve slaves had to cram in under there or sleep under the stars, it was a cold night so most of us slept close to warm each other up. I had a hard time falling asleep, sure, I wasn’t very comfortable but I had slept in worse conditions. No, what kept me up were the letters swimming in my vision above me, no matter where I turned they followed, I could even see them when I closed my eyes.
Status:
Name: Millie Goodfellow Species: Human/Demon Sex: Female
Lvl: 1 Mana: 120
Bruised
Prehensile Tail: +3 Dex +2 Agi
Demonic Heritage: +3 Cha/Lvl +50 Mana
Branded slave -3 Cha
Lost tongue -2 Cha
Attributes
Strength: 13 Endurance: 10 Constitution: 10
Dexterity: 14 Agility: 12 Perception: 10
Intelligence: 12 Willpower: 15 Charisma: 7
+3 Attribute points/Lvl 0 attribute points available
Skills:
Gained, Swords: Novice Lvl: 1
Small Blades: Novice Lvl: 5
Lockpick: Advanced Lvl: 7 Options for advancing Dex/Agi/Per
Pickpocket: Apprentice Lvl: 9 Options for advancing Dex/Agi/Per
Dancer: Novice Lvl 3
Cook: Novice Lvl 5