by Dave Skinner
“I will have to borrow it. Is that okay?”
“Yes.”
It was late on the fifth day when they reached the Empire’s fortress at the mouth of the river. It had been a slower trip back, so their arrival was late in the evening. The soldiers led them straight to the exit out of the Empire, and the gates shut behind them after they passed through. Nails breathed a sigh of relief. They made camp in the trees some way from the fortress. While Shawn made a meal, Nails went to the river and stood in the water, gathering its energy to him. He returned and ate with the others. After the meal, he borrowed the Sword of Sacrifice from Feenatay then he went to Reese.
“You like Conner, don’t you?” he asked.
“I did. I am not sure how I feel now.”
“Do you want him alive?”
Her head turned to him. “What are you going to do, Nails?”
“I am going after Brayson.”
“You cannot fight the entire Empire.”
“I don’t have to. All I have to do is cut the head off the snake. Now, do you want Conner alive?”
Reese didn’t answer immediately. “Yes,” she finally said.
“Then I need your help to get him out of the fortress and into the trees.”
“How am I supposed to do that? I have refused to speak to him since we left the City of Shining Light.”
“You have to call him to the gate and seduce him. I can give you some pointers if you need them. I saw Susin seduce a lot of men.”
“Your help will not be necessary,” Reese said stiffly.
Nails gathered all three companions. “Shortly, I am going to open the gates to the fortress. Don’t worry about the soldiers. They won’t bother you. I’m going after Brayson, but I will be sending all the Empire’s slaves this way as I travel. You should point them towards Newhope.”
“How are you—” Feenatay started to say, but Nails cut her off.
“Don’t ask and stay away from the fortress until you hear the gates collapse. Let’s go, Reese.”
Nails collected his horse and walked with Reese through the trees. He stopped at the edge of the killing ground, and Reese approached the fortress alone. She banged on a small man door embedded in one of the larger gates with the pommel of her sword. A small window in the larger gate opened. Nails couldn’t hear what she said, but shortly after the man door opened and Conner stepped out. Again, Nails could not hear what was said, but eventually he saw Reese put her hands on Conner’s chest and step close to him. He embraced her and they kissed, then she took his hand in hers and led him away from the fortress. As they came past the tree Nails was hiding behind, he hit Conner and then grabbed him before he fell to the ground.
“Help me get his clothes off,” he said.
They stripped him and Nails put his uniform on.
“What if he tries to go back when he wakes up?” Reese asked.
“Kill him.” She just stared back at him. Nails stepped forward and took her hands in his. “Thank you. You have been a true friend.”
Understanding dawned in her eyes. “I will see you again,” she lied.
“Stay away from the fortress until I’m gone.”
Reese nodded. Grabbing his horse’s reins, Nails walked towards the fortress wall and stood quietly for a few moments before stomping his foot on the ground three times. The screams started some time later. He waited a long time before they stopped. Then he took the Sword of Sacrifice and cut through the hinges on the gate. He put his hands shoulder height on the rough wood and, with a powerful push, sent the gates crashing to the ground. Inside, the fortress was covered in vines and flowers. Nails walked through, stepping around the mounds of plants. When he reached the far exit, he cut it from its hinges and pushed it down.
Chapter 47
Brayson awoke. He had a vague recollection of being dragged by his arms and then thrown into a cart. The room he opened his eyes on was dimly lit by light seeping in through gaps in the walls. He was alone, although the room stank of unwashed bodies and worse. He heard a rattling from a door in one wall before it was pulled open. A large man with a whip coiled over his shoulder ordered him out.
He was grabbed by other men as he left the building, and they pulled him over to a pole sticking out of the ground. His hands were tied together by a rope that ran around a wheel, high up on the pole. Off to his left, he could see the City of Shining Light above the tops of a barrier of trees. He was in some type of compound made up of three buildings. The one he had just left was the smallest. Beside it was a similar, although much larger, building. Both were nothing more than poorly made boxes with flat roofs. The third building was a large house with a porch running across the front. All around, he saw fields tilled and ready for planting. Farther away, he could make out cultivated earth with plants starting. These were like the fields they had seen as they were escorted to the city. The same man who had opened the door to his hut now unlocked and opened the door to the second building. A stream of miserable looking fey and mixed-bloods shuffled out. They were prodded into a line. The smell of unwashed bodies and full waste buckets exited the building along with the people.
“Get into line. Hurry up,” the man was yelling. “Lots to learn and lots of work to do today, but first we have to welcome a newcomer.”
Brayson saw some of the faeries look at him and then quickly away. When they were all assembled, one of the men beside him pulled a rope and his arms were wrenched up until he was standing on the tips of his toes. He felt his jerkin and his shirt cut away from his back, and he was pushed around so he faced the post.
“Ha, this one has already felt the whip,” one of the men said.
“He hasn’t felt mine,” someone responded just as his back erupted in pain.
When the whipping stopped, the big man came to Brayson, gripped his hair and yanked his head back.
“That is a sample of what you get, crossbreed, if you don’t work hard enough. Listen to instructions and follow them. You belong to the Emperor now. Say it. Say you belong to the Emperor.”
Brayson gathered some moisture in his mouth and spit it directly into the man’s face. The big man smiled at him as he wiped the spittle away with his sleeve.
“A fighter, are you? Well, we’ll see how long you last. All you fighters break eventually.”
They gave him five more strokes before he was cut down and pushed over to the others. They worked all day planting seeds one by one into the ground. A meal and some tepid water were handed out midday. Brayson’s back was in constant agony. By the time they were locked back up in the larger building for the night, he thought he was in a nightmare. He found a place on the dirt floor and stretched out on his stomach. A while later, a hand caressed his back and he jumped.
“Easy,” a voice whispered. “I mean you no harm.”
Brayson struggled up onto an elbow and turned his head. He could just make out the features of the woman kneeling beside him. For a moment, he thought he was dreaming because that was where he had always seen her face before.
“They will kill you if you refuse to say it. You do belong to the Emperor,” she said.
***
Nails travelled until the moon disappeared before he stopped to rest. As the grey light of dawn was creeping into the sky, he left the road. Before long, he located the first farm and found a place to watch from. On his first trip to the City of Shining Light, he had counted the overseers whenever he saw them. It appeared there were only three or four at each farm, but he watched to make sure. By the time the sun had lifted above the fields, he had seen three overseers have a morning meal and then get the workers out of their building and lined up. He was sure by then that they were the only ones. Mounting his horse, he rode forward through a field of tall grain towards the farm with his sword held down at his side. One of the overseers saw him and told the others. As he drew closer, an overseer stepped forward and yelled at him.
“What are you doing riding through
our field?” the man called. “Get out of there before I take my whip to you.”
Nails rode up to the man, his sword flicked up, and the man’s head jumped from his body. He plowed his horse forward into the other two who had conveniently stayed together. His sword killed one, and his horse knocked the other one over. Nails slipped from the saddle and finished the man with a quick thrust. He cleaned his sword on one of the bodies, sheathed it and walked to the group of workers.
“Are there any more?” he asked.
The workers said nothing, in fact, most of them would not even look him in the eyes. He started towards the overseers’ house but only got a few steps before he heard someone say, “no.” A gnome stepped out of the group of workers.
“There were only the three,” the gnome told him. “Sometimes there are four, but not right now.”
“Is there a spell on these people?” Nails asked.
“No, why do you ask?”
“No one except you answered my question.”
“I think they are trying to fathom what is happening.”
Nails squatted down by the gnome.
“You are free. Gather whatever food and goods you want and head up the road. There is a fortress about a half-day’s walk to the north. The gates are down, and the soldiers are gone. Go straight through the fortress and leave the Empire. There are people there who will help you, but first I need you to answer a question. When someone is first made a slave, where are they taken?”
“They are taken to farms like this one.”
“Any farm? I need to find someone who was taken six days ago.”
“For the first moon, they live at the training camp,” the gnome explained.
“Where is it located?”
“Just outside the city in the direction of the rising sun.”
“Thank you,” Nails said. “Can you make these people understand they are free?”
“Leave that to me, my friend.”
The gnome turned and started calling names and issuing instructions. Nails remounted and headed south. By the end of the day, he had been to four farms. At one, the overseers managed a fight, but they weren’t good with swords and their whips were useless on his scales.
***
Brayson had lost all sense of time. As he hung on the pole, he tried to count the number of days since this nightmare had started. He had been whipped twice the first day. That was when he spit in the man’s face. He only did that once, two whippings in one day were not worth the satisfaction the spit had given him. Then he was whipped again the second day. On the third and fourth days, he had been beaten. Then had come a whipping day, he was sure, then another day of beatings. After that, his memory failed him. Moiya, his dream girl, told him to give in, but he refused. He was not sure that Moiya was real. For all he knew, she was imagined. There were two things that kept him going. One was the look of anger on his tormentor’s face every morning when he refused to admit he belonged to the Emperor. The other was his belief that Nails would come.
Last night, when they returned from the fields, he had been taken to the pole and strung up again. Three overseers took turns beating him and then left him hanging. His legs had given out almost immediately. His shoulders and arms felt like they were burning, but finally even that had stopped. Now, he was dreaming that someone had cut him loose, picked him up and carried him to the well, before easing his body to the ground. Water was dribbled into his mouth, and a voice had told him everything was all right. Something, a cloak perhaps, had been thrown across him. He felt hands pressing in several places around his body. Warmth flowed from those hands and the pain stopped wherever they touched him. He floated in a dream instead of a nightmare.
“Brayson,” he heard someone whisper. “Brayson, how many overseers?”
Brayson opened his eyes. The sky was starting to brighten. Nails was leaning over him, and there were tears on his face.
“You came,” Brayson whispered.
“Of course,” Nails said. “I’m sorry it took so long. I had to get the others away first.”
“We should get away,” Brayson said. “Before they wake up.”
“I have some business in the city,” Nails told him. “We have lots of time.”
Nails gave him more water.
“Is Andoo with you?”
“No.” Pain showed in Nails’ eyes. “The Emperor’s wizards almost killed him. They wouldn’t return his staff and then they just blasted him forever. He is alive, and I think he will recover.” Nails glanced towards the house. “It looks like the overseers are up.”
Brayson turned his head to see.
“How many are there?” Nails asked.
“Four.”
“Which one did this to you?”
“They all took turns beating me, but the big one whipped me. Hurt him if you can.”
Nails stood and stretched. Brayson heard the door to the house open and bang shut.
“What do you think you’re doing?” someone yelled.
Nails smiled. “I’ll be back in a minute,” he said. Brayson saw his scales appear as Nails walked towards the house.
“What are you doing here?” the man on the porch asked.
Nails stepped up onto the porch and hit the man in the face. He flew backwards through the door, and Nails followed him in. Brayson heard curses and shouts. Breaking sounds filled the air. A body flew out through a window, and another crashed right through the wall of the house and landed on the porch. Nails reappeared, dragging the big overseer by the hair.
“Is this the one?” he asked when he got close.
“That’s him.”
Nails dragged the big overseer to the pole, slapped him once, which left the man dazed, and tied the rope around the man’s neck. Standing him up, Nails pulled the rope tight before walking back to Brayson.
“Are you feeling any better? Andoo only showed me one healing spell, so I have done all I can for you right now.”
“I feel better. Are you going to leave him there?” Brayson asked, nodding his head at the overseer.
“Yes, but I’m going to hurt him first.”
“Before you do, let the other slaves out of the big shed.”
Nails walked over to the shack, ripped the lock off the door and pushed it open.
“Everybody out!” Brayson heard him roar. “Time to leave.”
As the slaves left the building, Nails walked back to the overseer. What followed was not as satisfying as Brayson had imagined it would be. He had seen Nails fight a few times, but he had never seen him as mad as he was now. Moiya knelt beside him.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
“I am alive,” Brayson told her, “and this nightmare is over.”
A scream from the overseer interrupted them. Nails was just letting one of the man’s hands go as Brayson looked. His fingers were bent backwards. Nails grabbed the other hand and bent those fingers back until they broke too. He then grabbed an ear, his knife appeared in his other hand, and he sliced the ear away.
“Wait! Wait!” the overseer screamed, as Nails reached for his other ear. “It is the big stone building just inside the closest gate. All the soldiers who are not on duty will be there.”
Nails resheathed his knife and pulled the Sword of Sacrifice from his back.
“No. Don’t kill me,” the man wailed. “I told you.”
“But look at what you did to my friend,” Nails said.
The man was trying to say something when the sword slashed down and removed the lower part of one leg, just below the knee. He screamed and started to fall, but Nails grabbed his arms before the rope around his neck could choke him. Nails made sure he could stand on his one leg before he returned to Brayson.
“Nails,” Brayson said as he knelt beside him. “This is Moiya, my lovlan.”
“I am happy to meet you, Moiya.” Nails smiled at Brayson. “I am going to the city. Do you think you can get these people mov
ing north?”
“Help me up,” Brayson told him and Nails obliged. He leaned on Moiya and took a few steps before he sat down on the rim of the well. “Without soldiers chasing us, we could make it. There is a horse and a cart in the corral we can use.”
“I will leave my horse for you as well. I can pick up another in the city. There are no overseers or soldiers in your path, and I don’t think any will follow you.”
“Should we wait for you?”
“No, my friend. I have accepted my magic and what I am. It will be better if I go somewhere else. The others are waiting for you. Say hello to your mother for me.” Nails walked to his horse, grabbed his pack and headed towards the city. Watching him, Brayson felt tears rolling down his face.
“Goodbye, Nails,” Brayson whispered.
“He must be a good friend to come back for you,” Moiya said.
“He is the first big-person I ever trusted and a true friend. If I see one hundred name-days, I will never forget him, nor find another I would trust as much.”
Chapter 48
Once he was through the fields, Nails entered a growth of trees that formed a barrier around the city. He changed back to his own clothes among the trees, Conner’s uniform had served its purpose. It was cut in a few places from overseers’ whips and had spots of blood almost everywhere; there was no way he would be able to pass as one of them when confronting real soldiers. As he was changing, he took a moment to consider what he was doing and whether he wanted to proceed. For all his life, he had denied his magic, this dark ball he felt within him. If he continued on this path, if he gave the magic freedom, he knew he would never be the same. The few times he had allowed it to come forth, he had felt its nature. It would happily tear everything apart. It would kill both foes and friends without care. But an image of Andoo writhing on the ground under the blast of the city’s wizards rose before his eyes, and an image of Brayson’s broken body followed it. His magic was dark and dangerous, but it wasn’t evil. The evil was there ahead of him. He could see it through the trees. Nails shouldered his pack and stepped forward. When he reached the edge of the killing ground around the city, he started to run. There were two guards stationed at the gate as he sprinted up.
