“Absolutely not!!!” Both Azzie and Quinn exclaimed.
“Miss Alicia, you will bring your own plate and eat with us,” Quinn said dangerously. “You are not to eat any leftovers. How will you ‘serve’ us and any of your masters if you don’t eat yourself?! Please don’t tell me leftovers are all that you eat for the entire day!”
“W... We are served food one time in a day,” Alicia said. Azzie had enough of it, believing that actions would be louder than words. He got up, into the kitchen and locked the door behind him. “Sir Azzie! You’re not supposed to go in there!”
Azzie didn’t respond and came outside with a third plate, filled with twice more food than any of the other plates. Alicia widened her eyes when she felt two hands snake around her waist and grab her, making her sit down on one of the chairs.
“Sit,” Quinn commanded, softly, yet powerfully. With the lack of distance between their bodies, and his lips right across her ears, Alicia slackened, shuddering at the warmth that he provided. Azzie set the plate down in front of her and Quinn let go of her, making sure she stayed sitting down on the chair. “And eat, with us.”
“Please, Miss Alicia,” Azzie said. “You must eat a hearty breakfast for a day full of labors ahead.”
Knowing that the 2 men wouldn’t stop at anything if she didn’t eat her food, Alicia gulped down any embarrassment and horror as she started to slowly eat some eggs from her plate. Watching her eat, Quinn slowly picked his own plate up to start eating. Needless to be said, it was the best breakfast selection he had ever eaten in his life.
“Amazing.” Azzie was the first one to comment. “This food is the best I have eaten in a while.”
“Indeed.” Quinn nodded. “Not even our chefs back home can make such delicious dishes. Truly you have outdone yourself.”
“Thank you, Sirs,” Alicia said, but didn’t stop eating as both of the men’s eyes were on her. “I try my best to please you.”
“You don’t have to try your best. Simply do what you can.” Quinn sighed. He was always a fast eater and in less than 10 minutes he was already done with his food. Azzie was eating at a much slower pace and Alicia was halfway through. Azzie had truly filled her entire plate up, knowing she wouldn’t have eaten anything else otherwise. “But, let’s forget all that. How old are you?”
“22,” Alicia said quietly. “I have been in service ever since I was 17.”
“That is an awfully young age to start,” Azzie said, his eyes hardening. “And what did your parents have to say about it?”
“My parents are dead. They were killed because they couldn’t pay their debts to Lord Vesille. In return, he got a hold of their house, property and myself.” Alicia replied, as if robotic. Quinn looked at her face and realized she didn’t want to speak about it. She was just replying because he had asked it. “Ever since then I have been a servant.”
“A child must not answer for the parent’s sins,” Quinn said dangerously, his temper rising. “No one deserves to be treated as a servant, even if they are in debt. There is a lot of things that you could have done to pay off the debt, and I am sure Vesille doesn’t intend to count your work as ‘paying off’ the debt. Is he?”
“N... No, Sir.” Alicia shook her head, not looking at their faces, slightly bitter. “He is not. He always reminds me that I am his property and will always be his and threatens me to sell me off to other people who bid on me. And I cannot do anything about it as I am a Servant.”
“I see,” Quinn muttered, looking at Azzie. Azzie nodded, similarly angry. “I am sorry to be so prodding, I simply wanted to know what a beautiful maiden like you was doing wearing that disgusting collar. Surely you have someone noble and kind wanting your hand.”
“No one will want my hand, I am a servant,” Alicia said, looking back up at his eyes. Quinn wanted to go out of the house, into the castle, drag that Fat Lord’s disgusting face all the way to the middle of the town and behead him right there in front of everyone to see at the look in her eyes. It was that of a broken tool, completely without any emotion. It was that of a monster that was bred only to obey. It was that of a slave and he didn’t want to see that look on her face, ever. “As soon as you are gone, I will be given over to another Lord to serve, and this cycle will continue until I have no use to him and will be thrown out of the town.”
Finally finishing her food, Alicia got up and started to clear out everything from the table so she could go and wash the dishes.
“That is wrong,” Azzie said, shaking his head. “Very wrong. No one deserves to be treated this way. Lord Quinn, is there anything that you can do.”
“No.” Quinn sighed, but inwardly his mind was racing. “No, there is not. I can buy her off from Vesille to protect her, but something tells me that Vesille won’t agree to it.”
Both of them looked at Alicia, who was out of earshot to hear what was going on between the 2 men. Not wanting those thoughts to distract him from the tournament, Quinn got up and headed inside of his room to freshen up and grab his training equipment. While he was bathing he had spotted a large backyard which was perfect to train and Azzie had agreed to be his training partner, like always. He wasn’t about to do anything idiotic, he simply was going to practice his strokes and slashes. Inwardly, though, his thoughts were always on Alicia and her treatment.
‘She shouldn’t be here.’ Quinn thought, deflecting a stroke from Azzie. ‘She shouldn’t be here. She doesn’t deserve to be here.’
As an idea came to his mind suddenly, Azzie stopped mid-stroke when his friend and Lord stopped fighting back, wondering what was wrong.
“Azzie,” Quinn said softly as to not alert the woman working inside. “Can I ask a question.”
“Yes.” Azzie nodded, wondering what was wrong. “What happened?”
“The prize is said to be 8 ‘kingly horses’ right?” Quinn asked. At Azzie’s nod, Quinn’s eyes started to glint as well. “Well, what if I win the tournament and strike a wager before the final match?”
“A Wager?” Azzie asked, surprised. “What Wager? You do know that Vesille is a gambler right? He’ll refute any wager against you.”
“Well, this is my plan, actually,” Quinn said, looking around before whispering inside of Azzie’s ear. “I’ll go to the party before the final match, and have a wager with Vesille. No doubts that he is going to be drunk at that point, so what I am going to do is simple. I’ll make a deal with him. If I lose, he can ask for a favor of the Suthell family any-time. If I win, I get to take Alicia with us.”
“That is.....” Azzie opened his mouth, then closed it again. “I don’t even know what to say, My Lord.”
“Just tell me if it will work or not,” Quinn said, impatiently. Azzie thought about it for a moment. “Or any changes in the plan if you think so because I am not letting Alicia stay here, not at all.”
“Well, if you’re ready to take the risk, then sure,” Azzie said silently. “But remember if you lose, then it will be troublesome for you.”
“Well, until then if I remember something that I can give to Vesille, then I’ll change it, but I am sure I won’t lose.” Quinn snorted. “Did you see the opponents? They’re pathetic!”
“Alright, I get it.” Sighing at his Lord’s Arrogance, Azzie took a couple of steps back and got into a stance. “You can do what you want, you are my Lord and not the other way around. But right now we need to finish our practice.”
“Alright.” Satisfied with his progress on the ‘free Alicia’ plan that he had made up, with three times the previous determination, Quinn got on to sparring with Azzie faster, wanting nothing more than to go out there and win the battles that he was undoubtedly going to face. The time whirled by as they sparred and practiced, to make sure that Quinn was in the top of his form. By the time they stopped, it was late in the evening, nearing 5:30 PM and Alicia hadn’t moved from her spot from the back of the house, her eyes wide as she looked at Quinn and Azzie sparring.
“Oh, sorry if we distracted
you, Miss Alicia,” Azzie said, finally sheathing his sword. In the number of times they had sparred, for over 10 to 12 hours straight, they were both tired and filthy, but incredibly satisfied with their sparring practice. “We were deep in our practice to make Lord Quinn ready for his battles.”
“Indeed.” Grinning at the girl, Quinn walked towards the house. “I expect you to root for me Alicia, don’t ‘betray’ me, okay?”
“Of course not!” Shocked by the thoughts, Alicia bowed. “I will not tell anyone anything about your training and style, please, you can be sure of that!”
“I did not mean that you silly girl,” Quinn muttered softly, shaking his head. “But, I need to take a bath. Now if you excuse me.”
“Wait, I’ll prepare the bath for you!” Alicia exclaimed as she swiftly tried to run and catch up to Quinn, but Quinn already had locked his door. Alicia sighed. These men weren’t going to let her do any jobs.
“He likes to bath alone,” Azzie said, his eyes amused. “But I’m sure he won’t mind you joining in.”
Satisfied with the red exploding on her face, Azzie chuckled and walked into her own room. Yup, it was going to be amazing with Quinn’s plan. This tournament just got all the more interesting.
***
The next day, bright at 8:00 AM in the morning, Quinn was waiting at the contestants stand in the stadium, watching Vesille open the tournament.
“Today we gather here for the wonderful Nephil Tournament, the ‘Grand Nephil Sword Challenge’!” Vesille, sitting in his box all the way up in the crown seat, said in his loud voice, hands embraced. “We shall see over the span of 3 weeks the best of the warriors in the country of Marqueis to every single warrior that has participated from the continent of Beni, fight out in the middle of the Nephil Coliseum! The winner, of course, will get the prize of the 8 Kingly Horses that I will be giving from my own stables! So please, welcome our judges!”
A loud cheer overtook the crowd as two warriors walked in the middle of the stadium. They were wearing the clothes of the armed forces of Nephil. Both of them looked incredibly familiar but for now, Quinn didn’t find himself caring who they were.
“Welcome to the Grand Nephil Sword Challenge!” the soldier in the left exclaimed out loud. “Both of us, the Captain and the Sub-Captian of the 3rd squadron of the Nephil Army shall be your judges along with the rest of the Squadron!!!”
“Due to the absolutely massive amount of participants, we have decided to have multiple matches at the same time! Hence you can see the lines!!!” Indeed, there were small rinks inside of the large stadium, 10 of them, in a circle. “Inside of this Circle, the participants will battle out with their swords. Once again, a reminder to all. The only weapons allowed in the battle are any and all kinds of swords and nothing else! Not even Sheilds!!! Once a battler is either knocked out, injured too badly to continue, cannot continue or is forced out of the rings, they will lose!!!”
“A total of 2500 participants have enrolled themselves in for the tournament!!” The first soldier announced. “And out of those, only 256 will move on to the main part of the tournament!!! Until then, let us have the qualifier rounds!!!”
And then it was all chaos. The crowd wouldn’t stop cheering and clapping for the contestants, as they were announced. Quinn, who was standing on the side of the field, only looked at the tag he was given, number 1847 as his names and times were announced. Apparently, he had to win 12 out of his 15 battles to qualify, however, Quinn was aiming to win all of his battles whether he liked it or not, and he was going to win the said battles without any sort of problems or troubles.
His first round fight of the day was against a massive, giant of a being, undoubtedly there to intimidate him. He had a large, giant long sword, more like a butchers knife, and compared to Quinn he looked absolutely massive. Quinn only shook his head and got ready. For all that the man was, he certainly wasn’t all that great.
Within seconds, he was able to parry his strong strikes and get to his legs. With his size, the man reached all the way up to 8 feet somehow, Quinn ducked underneath his legs and slashed them both so he could be brought all the way down to his knees. Once that was done, Quinn stabbed him in the shoulder making the man cry out in pain and lose his sword, with the edge of Quinn’s sword pointed at the face of his opponent.
“Yield,” Quinn muttered, his eyes narrowing down. The judge looked at the giant man unable to continue and declared the match in Quinn’s favor. That is exactly how his first 15 matches in the span of eight days went ahead.
In the eight days, though, it wasn’t only the tournament he was focusing on. He was also focusing on Alicia, trying to bring out the girl in her, trying to make her at least show one emotion other then submission and a face most of the broken people would show.
“So what is your favorite color?” Quinn tried. He found himself unable to sleep one night after 10 of his 15 matches were over. The next day he didn’t have any matches and he didn’t need to go to sleep so easily. Of course, he wasn’t going to be careless and go all out with the drinks, so he did the next best thing. He sat with Alicia to try and make her talk to him.
“I don’t have one.” Was her automated response. Quinn looked at her face, her twitching eyes and the way her mask of submission was slipping. He knew that he was close to making her snap and that was what he was looking for. The next question, though, was enough for her.
“What about your favorite time of the day?” Quinn asked and that was enough for her.
“Damn it! I keep on telling you I don’t have any favorite colors! I don’t have any favorite books! I don’t have any favorite people and I most definitely don’t have any favorite times of the day then why do you keep on asking me unnecessary questions?!” Alicia exclaimed. “Why can’t you just give up on me?! I am simply a girl that doesn’t deserve anything so stop trying to butter me up for something! I am going to be forever stuck in this place whether you like it or not and there is no hope for me, so stop trying to do whatever you are doing and be my charming handsome friend!!!”
Realizing what she had done, Alicia slapped her hands over her mouth and looked at him in horror. Quinn stared at her, his eyes wide, as she found herself once again unable to speak.
“A ‘charming handsome friend’?” Quinn asked, an eyebrow raising in amusement. “Well, thank you, Ms. Alicia. I really like the way you think of me. I honestly was looking at that very description of me. I indeed am a friend, especially if I rile up young women like you. But honestly, you are not a servant and a useless pathetic waste of space that you think you are. There is a lot of hope for you, and you have a lot of potentials.”
“I... I am so sorry!” Alicia wailed, crying her heats out as finally, all the things inside of her left her. “Gods I am so sorry. I don’t know.... I..... I don’t want to live!”
“What? Why?” Realizing that something else had happened entirely, Quinn looked at her, alarmed. “You’re a great woman, Alicia, why do you not want to live?”
“W What do yo you think I c can do?” Alicia sobbed, her body shaking. “I am a servant of Vesille! He... he’ll never let me go!”
“*Sigh* That is not your reason to kill yourself,” Quinn stated. “You want to be free, don’t you? You want to explore the world, to find out your own passion and complete your own dream.”
“Yes! Yes, I do!” the ‘servant’ shouted hysterically. “Yes, I do! I don’t want to stay here! I don’t want to live here! I don’t want to be a servant! But I am nothing! I don’t have anyone that can go up against Vesille and I most certainly don’t have anyone that can help me out! So please! Just kill me! Just..... put me out of my misery.”
Alicia exclaimed, finally giving up as she slumped down, crying. She certainly didn’t expect the man in front of her grabbing her and she certainly didn’t expect him pulling her into a hug. She gasped at the warmth he seemed to emit, but didn’t protest and instead continued to cry against her shoulder, tears freely flowing down her eyes as s
he grabbed his shirt tightly.
Quinn sighed, guilt racking him. He had taken it too far. Of course, she didn’t like this. Who would? He shook his head and sighed once again, and let her cry her heart out against his chest. Inwardly, though, he found himself blushing at the feel of her soft body, no matter if she was crying, close to his. The way that her body felt against him, with her rags she called clothes, was perfect. They were sitting in the backyard, beside each other, with Quinn having Alicia on his lap, literally. By the time she stopped crying, she had cried herself to sleep and there was no way he was letting her sleep alone in this state. He picked her up, carefully, as to not wake her up, and walked inside of his room, setting her down on the bed.
‘I will not let you live this life.’ Quinn thought to himself, looking down at her body. He had covered her up entirely and was watching her sleep. Sitting down on the chair in front of the bed, he raised his legs so they were on the bed, and looked at her. “I promise you, Alicia, you will be free and coming with me.”
He really liked the girl. She was loyal, didn’t ask of too much, took care of him and at the same time wasn’t that type of a girl. She would listen to all he would say to her and she would not protest no matter what he did, not that he did anything except for maybe ‘inspect’ her living arrangements. He also had taken her out to the village once to explore around. He guessed that was the time when they started to get closer than ever.
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