PreCursive
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Chapter 38 - Stone Broken
🕑 Added 2023-07-30 21:26:04 +0000 UTCAzarus’s whole body tensed. His arm thrown across my shoulders began to feel more like a steel bar. Whatever he was planning on, he didn’t get the chance to act on it.
The guards advanced on us with startling speed.
One of the guards lunged at us once in range, arm outstretched. At the same time, Azarus first yanked his arm from around my shoulder and shoved me behind him. Then, he met the lunge of the guard with one of his own. In one smooth, practiced motion, he set his stance and grabbed the outstretched arm of the dwarven guard, and threw him. The armor-clad guard flew through the air, clanging all the while, before impacting the dirt with a crash. The entire exchange only took a few seconds.
I blinked.
Azarus reset his stance, feet shoulder-width apart, knees bent, and back slightly hunched. His arms were curled out to his sides, with his hands curled into pseudo-claws.
The rest of the guards halted their advance, wary to approach.
Someone clad in armor, not one of the town guards, stepped out of the crowd to advance on our position. After a moment, I actually recognized him. This was the guard that had been accompanying Magnus, the day that he had bought me. He was still wearing the same nearly ornamental silver and gold armor, wearing a similarly gaudy green and gold tabard with the image of a rearing bull on the front. Azarus must have recognized him as well, because I saw his back tense up even more.
“Cease this foolishness, boy.” A voice rang out from the helm. Whoever was in that tin can almost sounded bored of the situation. He didn’t even seem threatened, standing almost casually with one hand resting on the pommel of his sheathed sword.
Azarus let out an even breath. “Can’t do that, Stonebreaker.”
The knight, Stonebreaker apparently, sighed. “It’s just a slave.” He said dismissively. “There are over a hundred of them in this settlement alone. If you need another after this one is used up, I’m sure you can find another.”
Azarus didn’t answer, still standing protectively in front of me.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Stonebreaker said derisively. “You brought this on yourself.”
I couldn’t track what happened next. One moment Stonebreaker was standing about twenty feet away from us nonchalantly. The next, Azarus was doubled over in pain, with the fist of the armor-clad dwarven knight buried in his stomach, right where the diaphragm of a dwarf must be.
I…guess that Azarus couldn’t track him either.
Azarus fell to his knees, clutching his injured chest. I stood behind him gormlessly, still clutching my injured arm.
One of the guards approached the knight. “Thanks, Stonebreaker. I don’t know how we were going to-”
The guard was interrupted by Stonebreaker. Specifically, by being backhanded halfway across the clearing by the knight. He didn’t even turn to face the guard that he had struck. “That’s ‘Sir’ Stonebreaker to you maggots. Don’t forget that.” He said contemptuously. “What are you waiting for? Restrain them.”
The guards hurried to obey him. Two of them grabbed the weakened Azarus by his arms and hauled him to his feet, while one approached me. I tried to back away, but I wasn’t quick enough to stop him from roughly grabbing me and pinning my arms behind my back. The guard’s move agitated my previously broken arm, causing both it and me to cry out in pain. Both of us were hauled in front of Magnus, who had been watching the entire scene with a sick sense of glee.
He tsked at Azarus, faux shaking his head. “Now what did that accomplish, cousin? Look at you now.” Turning away from the two of us, he pointed at a handful of guards that were standing off to the side. They visibly straightened up at his scrutiny. “Go round up a few strong-looking slaves, and bring them to the back clearing. Now.”
The guards saluted at him in the dwarven manner and hurried off to do his bidding.
“Wait.” Azarus struggled to say, hoarsely. He lifted his head sluggishly.
Magnus paused, turning back to Azarus. He smirked at him. “Oh? Do you have something to say, cousin?”
“If,” Azarus said, breathing heavily between every word. “You’re going…to do this…at least…let him have…a weapon…”
Magnus laughed at him, shaking his head. “I’m not going to waste a perfectly good weapon on a slave of all things.” He said, still chuckling. He turned to Stonebreaker, who had been standing off his right. “What about you? Are you going to give the cattle your sword?”
The knight’s helmet-clad head turned to face Magnus slightly. “No.” He said with finality.
“In…the cart…spear…” Azarus managed to wheeze out.
That caused Magnus to raise an eyebrow. He flicked a hand out at another guard after a moment. The guard hurried to obey the dwarven lord and went to rummage around the cart for my spear. Shortly thereafter, he jogged back over to Magnus, spear in hand. He wordlessly handed it to him and then stepped back into the crowd of other guards. Magnus looked over the weapon he had just been handed with a sneer.
“Your work, I’m assuming?” He asked Azarus contemptuously. “I recognize the plebian style.”
Azarus didn’t answer, somehow still struggling to breathe.
Magnus suddenly smirked. “Hmph. Well, this just won’t do.” He said, holding the spear aloft. “After all, this slave is injured, isn’t he? You need two functioning arms to use a spear.”
Uh, I mean, that wasn’t technically true. I could probably still use the spear with one arm fucked like this. It’s not like the spear Azarus had given me was a pike or something.
A few of the guards exchanged glances as well, while Stonebreaker audibly sighed inside his helmet.
Magnus either didn’t notice or didn’t care. “No, no, no. This won’t do at all.” In a sudden move, he gripped the spear with both hands and brought the shaft of the spear down upon his knee. With an audible crack, the spear splintered in half just below the point of the spear. He tossed the broken shaft off to the side, before holding up the blade. It only had a few inches of haft left, sticking out of the bottom of the socket. “A dagger suits a slave better, I feel.”
Azarus stared up at Magnus, despair creeping onto his face.
With a smirk, Magnus threw the ‘dagger’ at my feet. I just stared down at it blankly for a moment, before looking back up at Magnus. His smirk shifted to a scowl.
“Are you going to scorn my generosity, slave?” He growled, threateningly.
I didn’t even know what was going to happen to me, but I guess I should take my new ‘weapon’. It probably wasn’t anything good. I bent down to pick it up, careful of the splintered end. When I looked up, Magnus had turned away from me.
“Well, time to get this show on the road,” Magnus said, grinning wickedly.
……………………………………..
The guards marched Azarus and I through town, and along the side path that I was familiar with by now. Before long, we had passed right by the path that led to Azarus’s house. I couldn’t help a longing glance in that direction.
Strangely, Azarus was still hunched over, gasping for breath as we were both marched along the path. The guards had stopped manhandling us by this point, assured we were cowed. I sidled up to Azarus, keeping a wary on them anyway.
“You okay?” I whispered to him.
Azarus cast a side eye at me between labored breaths. “I’ll be fine.” He wheezed. “Stonebreaker just has some strong afflictions, that’s all. You should worry about yourself.”
I furrowed my brow. “What’s going on? What’s a hunt?” I said to him, careful to keep my voice down.
Azarus opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted.
“Quiet.” Someone said behind us. I started, turning my head slightly to see who had spoken. It was ‘Sir’ Stonebreaker, which surprised me. Somehow, he had snuck up on us in full armor. “If you ruin the lordling’s fun, I’m the one who’s going to have to listen to his whining.”
Azarus turned to face Stonebreaker and glowered at him. “Fuck you, Vincenzo Stonebreaker. You know this shite is evil just as well as I do.”
The knight just hummed noncommittedly. “Maybe. But I don’t care. The Prince ordered me to obey his son, and that’s what I’ll do. That’s what loyalty is.” He said pointedly.
“Piss on your loyalty,” Azarus grunted.
Stonebreaker didn’t reply. He just kept walking behind us at a steady pace. I guess he was our watcher. Or rather, Azarus’s watcher.
Azarus looked back over at me and worked his jaw for a moment. A resigned, almost defeated look fell over his face before he shook his head at me slightly. “You’ll see.” He said quietly, almost ashamed.
The rest of our walk along the path was spent in silence. I kept a white-knuckled grip upon the ‘dagger’ that Magnus had given me, trying to keep myself calm. I was sure that whatever was going to happen to me was going to be unpleasant.
Before long, we had exited the path out into the small backyard of Magnus’s manor. I could see that across the clearing, the guards at the back gate clearly hadn’t been prepared to see their liege-lord. Much less the large party that was following him. Magnus just strutted across the clearing as if he owned it. Which, I guess he did.
He didn’t even need to say anything to the guards, they just moved to immediately open the gate as we drew nearer to it. Without even glancing at them, Magnus strode through the gate, everyone else following him. Once everyone had passed the gates, he glanced around and frowned in irritation.
“Where are those fools?” Magnus muttered to himself audibly, tapping his foot in impatience.
Everyone in the clearing beyond the gate stood around awkwardly in silence, while Magnus began to get more and more annoyed. We must have been waiting around for nearly five minutes before someone cleared their throat nervously behind me. Craning my head slightly, and seeing that everyone else did the same, I could see that it was one of the guards. He was pointing a finger over his shoulder in an awkward, anxious manner.
“Ah, my lord?” The guard said uneasily. He fidgeted when Magnus turned around to glare at him. “They’re here.”
Following his thumb, I could see three guards just exiting the same path that we had.
They were herding three other slaves, all of them male. All of them whipcord thin, and emaciated. All of them visibly terrified.
I guess they knew what was coming.
I could see Magnus smile malevolently out of the corner of my eye. “Excellent.”
Once the guards had prodded the other slaves into the clearing with us, Magnus turned to face me and crooked a finger. Before I could even think about disobeying, one of the guards shoved me. I stumbled forward, almost tripping and falling on my face. When I found my feet again, I discovered that I had been forced to the front of the group. Right next to the rest of the slaves. They didn’t even look at me, too busy watching Magnus with wide, frightened eyes.
Speaking of, Magnus spread his arms wide and fixed a manic grin on his face. “Welcome, slaves! To my little monthly hunt!” He cackled. “While I recognize you three sorry ingrates, there’s a newer slave in our lot! I’m sure you know what this is, but I doubt the new cattle does.”
The other slaves didn’t even turn to look at me they were so petrified.
Magnus snorted. “Here’s what’s going to happen. You four,” He said, pointing at us. “Are going to enter the forest. But, you see, you’re not going to be doing any traditional hunting, oh no. Rather, you’re going to be the ones that are hunted. Not by anyone here, of course. We’re not savages after all.” He broke into a chuckle.
The guards broke into an uneasy, forced chuckle as well. As for me, I felt a chill down my spine and tried to fight a sense of growing panic.
“You see, you’re going to be hunted by the monsters that are lurking just beyond the wards.” Magnus continued after he stopped chuckling. “Your job is to herd the monster that hunts you back to this clearing so that I can kill it. After all, I need to continue getting levels somehow, don’t I?” He chuckled again, shaking his head. When he finished, he held up a finger. “However! There are rules to this little hunt. Firstly, you need to herd a monster back that is actually worth my time to kill. After all, it’s not like I’m going to get much Aether from some piddly level five monster, now, am I? Secondly, there is a time limit to this hunt. You have until sundown to successfully herd a monster back to me.”
Magnus looked up at the sky, shading his eyes with his right hand.
“That might just be a little under six hours, I believe.” He looked back at us. “Now, ‘Lord Magnus’, you must be thinking, ‘how am I supposed to do that when my virtues and skills are suppressed? We can’t even use Observe to tell what monster is good enough!’. Well, that’s just not my problem, now, is it? Because here’s the final rule. If you don’t succeed, you die.” He smiled, almost benevolently at us. “If you herd a substandard monster back here, you die. If you don’t complete your task in the allotted time, you die. If you try to run and never return, well, you get the idea. And that’s all thanks to what I have right here.” He finished, drawing a polished slate of black stone from an inner pocket in his robe.
I furrowed my brow seeing it. I swear to God, it looked similar to a tablet computer from back home. It wasn’t, I know, as it was very obviously stone. But the resemblance was there.
Azarus audibly grunted in disgust at the sight of the stone tablet. “Swiped that from Orin, did you?”
His words made Magnus smirk, but he didn’t acknowledge them beyond that. “With the press of a rune on this slate, I can kill any one of you instantaneously. And the beautiful part? I don’t know how you’ll die. Every slave I own is fitted with a collar that has a random death enchantment on it. Poison, beheading, or even explosions, I truly don’t can’t tell which you have. But you’ll be dead all the same, so I suggest you try hard.”
When Magnus finished, he made a motion to the guards. The guards that had been looming over us four slaves stepped back. I never took my eyes off of Magnus, however. He had stepped to the side, and made an almost sweeping bow in the direction of the forest. When he straightened back up, he found that we hadn’t moved an inch. He raised a mocking eyebrow in our direction.
“Well? If I were you, I’d get to it. You don’t have all day, you see.” Magnus said, tauntingly.
None of us moved for another moment before one of the other slaves took an unsteady step forward. As if he had broken something that was holding the others back, the other two slaves broke out into unsteady and panicked runs in the direction of the forest. Nearly tripping over his own feet, the last slave took off into a stumbling run of his own.
I just stared disbelievingly at Magnus for a moment, before a shout broke me out of my stupor.
“Go!” I heard Azarus cry out behind me. “He’s not joking! Go!”
Nearly out of instinct, I broke out into a run of my own, as if I was a rabbit startled by a gunshot. By the time I had crossed half of the clearing, I was full-on sprinting. Before long, I had reached the tree line. Risking a glance back over my shoulder, I somehow caught Azarus’s eyes over the distance. He mouthed something to me, but I couldn’t quite make it out.
Resigned to my fate, I turned back around and entered the forest.
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Comments
PreCursive
Nate was not legally transferred to the ownership of Azarus. Instead, it's mentioned that Magnus is only lending Nate. In the sequence where Azarus talks about asking Magnus about assigning Nate to him, Magnus is said to have waved him off, uncaring about one human slave when he has hundreds. If instead Azarus had asked to purchase Nate and transfer him to his ownership, that would have caught Magnus's attention in a very negative way. Azarus deliberately did not do this, as he's used to Magnus's shit. Magnus wouldn't have done it, anyway. It's not in his nature to surrender any kind of control, especially not to his Florens half-breed cousin.
The Human
So, I don't understand. I thought part of the point was that in chapter 9, Mc legally was transferred to and registered as azarus' property. And that he was the only other person there who could own slaves properly, as another noble? So how come azarus can't say 'nope, sorry, he's my slave not yours he isn't doing this hunt thing'
