Page 6 of A Broken Promise

My only friend, Viyak, was chained up deep in the cave right now. I shut my mind from the cruel despair taunting me within. No, I wouldn’t let it in. Not yet.

A short, round figure was ambling ahead of us. His walk was heavy with a limp, a cane in his right hand to balance him. Each step was accompanied with a huff and a grunt. He didn’t stop to look at us.

We followed him to the main entrance. It was a large, wooden door with intricate carvings and a huge, golden door knocker in the middle, the faded red paint chipped in chunks around its edges.

The air was pleasantly warm inside. The dark hall looked like a throne room. Though “throne” was quite an overstatement for the large chair on a pedestal. Bear, deer and tiger skins were thrown around on the stone floor. The room’s ceilings went up three stories; a grand chandelier made out of elkhorns was the only source of light in the dim space. Big, wooden beams framed the stone walls with the occasional tapestry quieting the echoing of our steps.

“Geez, Dimitrii, keep the filth off the carpets,” the guard behind mescoffed. Dimitrii tugged on my leash to force me to move further away from the plush furs. I didn’t blame them though. The silky fur carpets looked very nice, and I was covered in my own piss and dirt from the Quarries.

Dimitrii yanked on the leash again, pulling me closer to him. “Lord Inadios paid more for these skins than for you,” he whispered, just loud enough for me to hear, flashing a small, crooked grin at me. I wanted to spit in his repulsive face, but I chilled that defiance.

One day, I would let it roam free, but not today. Not right now.

I heard much worse too. After all, I was a human child with an elf for a mother-maid, existing in a place where elves were not tolerated, but hated and despised. I had learned about human cruelty before I could understand their tongue.

Lord Inadios appeared from the dim shadows.

“Oh hell, she reeks even from across the room.” His puffy face filled with disgust. He took a few weighty steps closer to me. As he approached, Dimitrii shoved me down to my knees and I didn’t fight him as I landed on the cold floor, scraping my dry knees.

Viyak’s words rumbled in my head as I bowed down to the floor.

“You might not like it, but obedience and meekness will help you survive more than that stubbornness and defiance will.”Though my face was down, I made a conscious effort to relax my jaw, to still my body.I knew Viyak was right after the third brutal beating I received from the slave watchers for looking them in the eyes. As my bruises and torn flesh were healing, I had made a mental note toalwayslisten to Viyak’s advice.

I wasn’t sure what their plan was for me yet, but I knew if I obeyed and showed zero resistance, I would have a better chance to find an alliance; a better chance to survive.

I was a slave, after all. And nobody liked a stubborn slave.

Long scars on my back served as a constant reminder of that.

I closed my eyes, letting darkness soothe me as the fat figure of Lord Inadios hovered over me.

“What are you, girl?” he snarled.

“A Creator, my Lord,” I lied, shifting my voice to be as soft and gentle as possible.

Up until this moment, I had debated.

I debated whether to tell them that I was no Magic Wielder at all, that the Kahors were wrong. But in that precise moment, I decided. Truth could cost too high of a price, and I was in no position to pay.

Though I was most definitely looking forward to seeing his gnarly face when he found out that he wasted his money on nothing. That he wasted his money on me.

Lord Inadios’s sweaty sausage fingers grabbed my matted hair and yanked my head straight up. Grimacing from pain, I willed myself to keep my eyes down.

I stayed silent even as I could feel my hair almost peeling off my skull from his harsh grip. He ogled down at my freckled face.

“I knew they were going extinct, but hell, this is the ugliest Creator I’ve seen.” He huffed with displeasure. My head almost hit the floor as he threw me down. I clenched my jaw, anger gnawing on the thick doors within me. I closed my eyes. It was better in the darkness. Tranquil. “What’s your level, girl?” He nudged me with his foot.

“I am a low tier Creator, my Lord. My abilities never went past the shifter stage, my Lord.” I meekly repeated the words I had heard just hours before.

“Show me,” he angrily demanded. My heart plunged at his request. Kahors might have tasted my blood and Lord Inadios might have paid a high price for a Magic Wielder, but I could barely function as a human, less so perform any magic.

“I would, my Lord, gladly. But forgive me, my Lord, for I cannot. Magnesium still deeply flows through my veins… my Lord.” I spun a half-truth and braced myself, hoping that it would work or at least buy me enough time to figure out a way out of this.

He grouchily huffed again. I counted seconds.

It was that second breath of his—that longer than a second pause—that let my heart ease.

It worked.

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