LINKS - Chapter 2 - Serenity
“I’m going to die!”
Azee’s voice echoed in the cramped storage room as she wept uncontrollably into Eloise’s skirt. Her entire body shook, her breath coming in gasps as she huddled around Eloise’s feet, her tail bunched up between her legs. Every once in a while, between her ragged breaths, were quiet, high pitched whines.
“Shhh, it’s alright,” Eloise said softly, awkwardly stroking Azee’s hair. “You’re alright, you’re safe here.”
Despite Eloise’s assurance, Azee’s mind spun out of control. The flood of emotions, so long suppressed by her collar, tore through her like a whirlwind. For the months it had taken her collar to fail, Azee had had to pretend like it was still functioning, accepting each order she was given without question, never allowing her true feelings to show. Now, with the dam finally broken, she simply could not control herself.
As her tears flowed, Azee’s mind filled with visions of her sister being dragged away, shouting and screaming, as she watched from a window. Her mind had screamed at her to move, but her muscles hadn’t listened, keeping her rooted to the spot, utterly powerless to help.
As the minutes passed, Azee realized she no longer had any idea what it was she was crying about. But with each heaving sob, she felt as if a little bit of the burning inferno within her was finally being exhaled.
“Okay, come on, that’s enough.” Eloise sighed, the slightest tinge of annoyance in her voice as she patted Azee on the top of the head.
“They’re going to kill me,”Azee whimpered. “I’m going to die!”
“No, you are not. Just take a deep breath and calm yourself.”
“Die… I’m going to die!”
“Hey! Enough.” Eloise commanded, gripping both sides of Azee’s face and staring directly into her pale, ruby eyes. “Calm down.”
There was something strange in Eloise’s voice that froze Azee’s blood and instantly stilled her. It was as if Eloise had reached into her mind and torn apart the hurricane of fear and panic building within. It wasn’t so much that she felt calm, merely that the fear had been stripped from her, drawn like poison from a wound.
“No one is going to die, you have nothing to fear... at least for the moment.” Eloise paused for a moment before, with a sigh, she patted Azee on the cheek. “I... will help you.”
Azee’s tear-filled eyes widened. “Y-you will?”
“Yes, I think I will.”
“Th-thank you so much.” Azee whimpered.
"Just… Please stop leaking and shedding on my dress.”
Rubbing her eyes, Azee looked down at Eloise’s dress, still bunched up in her hands. The fine black material was covered in a thick coating of tan fur where she had buried her head.
Eloise managed a smile as she started brushing Azee’s fur off of herself. “It’s… fine. So, what exactly is it that you want me to do?”
“Chara… my sister… I need to find her, get her back.”
“Ah yes. You said she was sold?”
“Yes ma’am, four months ago.”
Eloise looked up sharply. “Four months? By the lord, she could be on the other side of the country. Hell, she may not even be in Halcyon anymore.”
As Azee started to choke up again, Eloise raised a hand, “No no, wait!” She sighed heavily again. “Look, what exactly do you want me to do?”
It took every scrap of Azee’s courage to force out the words. “Th-there must be a record of who Chara was sold to. M-master Luke keeps all of his p-papers and bills in a s-safe. I’ve tried to open it, but it’s sealed with a rune.”
“Well that shouldn’t be so hard.” Eloise paused. “Wait… your master, you didn’t... kill him, did you?”
Azee quickly shook her head. “No! I would never! I just… hit him.”
“Hit him?”
“With a pan…”
“You hit him… with a pan.”
“Then I locked him in the pantry.”
Eloise raised an eyebrow. “And you think that’ll hold him?”
Azee nodded quickly. “It used to be the cells where they would break new arrivals. Master Luke had them converted, but they’re still strong and soundproof… so even when he wakes up, no one will know he is down there.”
“The overseers?”
“They’re not allowed in the main house. After dark they’ll put the slaves in the barn and retire to their own quarters.”
“Guards?”
“A-after dark there will only be five. One guarding the slave quarters, two patrolling the grounds and two at the main gate.”
“And what about the other house servants?”
“I… ordered them back to their quarters. The house is empty.”
Eloise raised an eyebrow. “You ordered them?”
“Master Luke told the other slaves to listen to me.”
A genuine smile crossed Eloise’s face. “Clever girl.”
Another shudder ran through her body as Azee gripped her arms. “No… I- I struck my Master! I knocked him out and ran away!” Azee wrapped her arms around herself. “Th-they’ll hang me…”
“Well then it’s a good thing you didn’t kill him.” Eloise mused, continuing to brush Azee’s fur off her dress. “If you had, they would hang all of the slaves at the ranch.”
Azee knew well, the laws of Halcyon were very clear:
“Be it the holy law of the land of Halcyon that, should the occasion should occur, wherein a slave does injure its master, and in so doing cause grievous bodily harm to come to their aforementioned rightful owner, then that slave shall be culled in the manner dictated by the holy lord. If the aforementioned master should die, all slaves upon the property wherin the attack took place shall be culled.”
Memories tore unbidden through Azee’s mind, images of other slaves, some of whom she had been close to, thrashing about and dying on the end of a rope. A few had been captured after trying to escape, others had been accused of some violation or another of the holy laws. Each had died horribly, bloodshot eyes bulging and filled with such pain, begging anyone to help them as they desperately kicked and thrashed helplessly.
Each time such an execution had taken place, Azee and all the other slaves at the ranch had been forced to watch, in order to remind them of the terrible price of defying their human masters, and the holy laws.
Azee had been young, no more than seven, when she had first borne witness to such an execution. She’d only been at the Windhill ranch a few years at the time. The slave, Kashin, was male feline, about ten years Azee’s senior, with whom she had played since her arrival at The Ranch two years before. He even made her a doll from old scraps of cloth stuffed with stolen fragments of cotton. With his own sisters sold off years before, he had taken a liking to Azee and Chara, protecting them both.
Unfortunatly Kashin was hotblooded and reckless. Over the years he had tried to escape several times, but never with any success. It had almost become a game, once or twice a year he would try and escape, and each time the hunters would find him and drag him back. Some of the other slaves even took to placing bets on how long it would take for Kashin to be caught.
However, on Kashin’s final escape attempt, one of the hunters had decided to try and teach the unruly slave a lesson and had beaten him. During the beating, Kashin had managed to bite the hunter hard on the hand. The bite had become infected, and the town doctor had been forced to amputate the hand. What was going to be a whipping offence had become something far more serious, for which there was only one punishment.
Azee had been busy fetching water for the slaves in the fields when she and all the others were rounded up and marched to the dirt yard of the slave quarters. Her sister had found her quickly and held her close. At first Azee had been excited, perhaps there was a festival, or the slaves were being given the day off. However, the shaking in her sister’s arms, and the downcast eyes and hushed crying of the crowd, quickly told Azee that something was dreadfully wrong.
She had been just about to ask her sister was was happening, when she noticed the noose, swaying from one of the larger branches of the great oak that grew in the center of the slave yard. Even at a young age, Azee had learned to fear that terrible, deadly shape.
Moments later, a pair of overseers had arrived, dragging an already bloodied and bound Kashin between them. Kashin’s big, kind eyes had been all-but swollen shut, and streams of blood from his nose and ears had stained his greying orange fur.
“You have to be brave,” Chara had whispered in her ear. “Whatever you do, don’t speak or cry or look away, or they’ll hurt you. Just stay still and it will be over soon.”
Azee had watched in horror as the overseers dragged Kashin to the oak tree and set him up on a short stool. He’d been beaten so badly he didn’t even resist as the overseers put the noose around his neck and drew it tight.
There had been no words, no ceremony, just a simple yank of the rope tied around one of the legs of the stool and a final desperate cry from Kashin that was abruptly cut off. Chara had held her shoulders, but Azee’s body was frozen, transfixed with horror as she watched Kashin strangled to death. She couldn’t look away.
Azee had been forced to watch as her friend slowly died, no more than four paces away from her. He had fought hard, and it had taken an agonizingly long time for his struggling to slow, his frantic kicks losing their strength as the life left him bit by agonizing bit. As Kashin’s struggles had neared their end, Azee had managed to gather the strength to cry out, to tell them to stop. Before the words left her mouth, Chara had held her muzzle shut. Even after Azee had managed to fight free of her sister’s grip and sank her teeth into her wrist, Chara had held her tight.
She still clearly remembered her sister whispering, again and again, through gritted teeth; “I’m sorry Azee… I’m sorry, but you have to watch.”
When it was finally over, it had taken more than ten minutes for Kashin to die.
“Never forget.” Chara had whispered as the slaves were ordered back to the fields. “This is what humans are. This is what they will do if you give them an excuse.”
For a long time after that, all Azee had been able to see each time she tried to sleep was Kashin’s eyes, staring at nothing as the life faded from them. She would awaken, panting and screaming in the barn, her heart racing and her fur drenched in sweat. She would whine and cry in terror, Chara would pull Azee into her strong arms, holding her against her own body. She would whisper to her, gently stroking her hair and ears until Azee’s breathing calmed, her heartbeat slowed, and she drifted back to sleep.
Kashin was the first of four executions Azee had been forced to watch. Each one had left scars, each one seared into her memory, to haunt her dreams. And now, if anyone ever found out that she had struck her Master, Azee knew she would face the same horrible fate.
The cold and damp of the storeroom seemed to dig into Azee’s skin at the thought of a rope around her own neck. Fresh tears built up in the corners of Azee’s eyes as she envisioned herself, slowly suffocating, her life draining away as she fought, clawing at her throat. Her shoulders shook and her legs began to violently tremble as a powerful rush of terror flooded through her. Suddenly her collar felt very, very tight.
“I’m going to die.” Azee whispered, her vision swimming in front of her as she swayed, unable to take a breath.
“Hey!” Eloise leaned forward and clapped both sides of Azee’s face. “Calm down. I said I would help you, and I will. Do exactly as I say, and you will be just fine.”
"I… Y-yes ma'am."
Eloise finished brushing Azee’s fur off her dress and climbed to her feet. As she worked to straighten the crumpled folds, she noticed a thin film of saliva staining the knees of her dress.
“Oh for the lord’s sake…”
A fresh rush of fear pulsed through Azee as she desperately looked around for a rag. “I’m so sorry! Please, let me get that ma’am.”
“Relax!” Eloise commanded, her voice cracking through the air like a whip. Immediately, Azee froze.
“Strange…” Eloise crossed her arms . “Stand!”
Azee jumped to her feet.
“Sit!”
Azee dropped back to the floor, blinking in confusion.
“Why did you stand up and sit down?” Eloise asked.
“Y-you told me too…”
“But why? Why follow my commands like that?”
“I…” Azee paused for a moment, her hand drifting to the collar around her throat. “I don’t know.”
Eloise leaned forward and frowned, shooing Azee’s hand away. “That is very odd…”
“May… May I ask… what is odd?”
Elloise didn’t answer at first, and instead gently tapped the dark maroon catalyst stone. Small wisps of light blue energy crackled as she drew her index finger across the eye-shaped glowing blue symbol carved into the stone.
“This rune is called ‘serenity’ if I am not mistaken,” She pondered aloud. “With this… you shouldn’t be able to feel much of anything. Yet you seem to have overpowered it.”
Eloise shifted her gaze back to Azee’s eyes. “And you say it failed after your sister was sold.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Describe it for me.”
“M-ma’am?”
“What happened? I want to hear it, every detail.”
“I… I was in the house, preparing lunch. One of the other servants came to tell me that there was a guest arriving. I went outside to greet him and there was a man in a grey coat with strange hair.”
“Strange hair?”
“His hair was white, like cotton.”
Eloise paused and raised an eyebrow. “Was the man old?”
“No… that’s what was strange. He looked young, but his hair was whiter than any hair I have ever seen before, even more than the fur of a Snow Wolf-”
Azee’s breath caught. “I-I’m sorry, I mean northern pelt.”
“What did he say his name was?”
“He introduced himself as Mister Reach.”
The look that crossed Eloise's face at the mention of the name sent chills shooting down Azee’s spine.
Noting Azee’s concern, Eloise nodded. “Continue.”
“H-he said he had business with Master Luke. I brought the man to Master Luke’s study, they talked for a time, and then Master Luke ordered me to stay there while he and the man went outside.”
Azee swallowed hard, doing her best to resist the urge to cry again. “I started doing some tidying… and then I heard screaming from outside and… and I saw…”
Fresh tears ran down Azee’s cheeks as she spoke. “Three men were dragging my sister to a cage in the back of Mister Reach’s waggon. They had a rope around her neck, but she still fought them, so they hit her. Chara tried to bite one of them, so they muzzled her. She fought hard but...”
Eloise watched with interest as the rune on the collar flickered and dimmed as Azee spoke.
“I wanted to help her,” Azee continued, her hands clenching slowly into fists. “But I couldn’t move. All I could do was watch as they took her away.”
“You wanted to help her… so you were resisting.”
Azee blinked in surprise. “I…. I suppose I was…”
‘A traumatic moment like that… could that have done it.’ Eloise frowned, tapping her foot against the ground. ‘No… that’s not how it works… How the hell did she break loose…’
“What exactly did you feel?” She demanded, leaning closer. “Tell me in detail.”
“I was… angry. I felt so helpless… They took her away… and all I could do was watch.”
Azee’s whole body shivered, her voice barely above a whisper. “She saw me watching her from the window as she was taken away. Even though they had muzzled her she still tried to call out to me. I could see in her eyes she was begging me to help her!”
Anger swiftly replaced Azee’s pain and regret as her hands bunched into fists and her teeth flashed. “I tried to move, but I couldn’t! I was frozen! I was trapped!”
“There must have been more. Something more than that.” Eloise leaned forwards, staring into Azee’s eyes. “Come on girl, what did you really feel?”
“I… I felt like… I felt like my mind and body were being torn apart,” Azee replied after a few moments. “All I wanted to do was rescue Chara, but my body wouldn’t move."
Her voice shuddered. "There was a gun… Master Luke's duelling revolver, right there on the desk, I’d picked up dozens of times before, but in the moment I needed it, I couldn’t touch it! If only I'd been able to grab it…"
A single tear rolled down Azee's cheek. "I felt like I was being torn to pieces.”
“And then the rune stopped working.”
Azee nodded, her anger slowly fading. “After that first time… after Chara was taken… something changed. It wasn’t all at once… but each time I remembered my sister the feelings came back. They were weak at first, more like little annoyances... but they kept getting stronger and stronger. I started to feel again...”
“What? What did you feel?” Eloise demanded.
As Azee looked up at her with wide eyes, Eloise sighed heavily and put her hand on Azee’s head again. “I know you were trained never to talk about yourself, or how you feel. But this is important.”
Taking a deep breath Azee looked down at her knees. “I’m sorry, I just… I’m not used to any of this.”
“How long have you had the collar?”
“Five years. Ever since…”
“Ever since what? Speak!”
Again the rune glowed, but Azee refused to speak, locking her jaw shut to prevent any words from escaping. She shivered, her ears pressing against the side of her head as she expected Eloise to shout or strike her.
Instead of getting angry, Eloise seemed fascinated, watching as the rune sputtered and eventually faded back into its dormant state.
‘Well, someone at Legacy Runeworks would be very, very distressed to see this.’ She mused, a small smile drifting across her face. “Keep talking.”
“After Chara was taken… I noticed that every time I was around Master Luke… I started feeling angry. Other things started happening as well. I used to be afraid of the dark, after I got the collar… But after Chara was gone, every time I went down to the cellar my skin started to crawl. My duties started to seem boring… irritating even. I… I even started to feel hesitant about joining Master Luke in bed.”
Eloise’s eyes widened. “Wait, his bed? Are the two of you…”
Azee’s face turned bright red and her ears drooped even further.
“Well well, the young Windhill Master and a pelt slave…” Eloise leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs, her lips cracking into a grin.
“How fascinating. I’d heard of the more depraved masters using their slaves for such thing.
But to think that the ‘noble’ young Windhill himself would force his slaves to-”
“No!” Azee barked, her voice startling Eloise.
Immediately Azee shrunk back down, trembling in fear. “I’m sorry… I- I just mean… Master Luke never… never forced me. Not like that."
Eloise frowned. “But it’s not like you could say no, even if you wanted to.”
“I…”
Sensing Azee’s unwillingness to continue, Eloise leaned forward again. “So, the rune’s mental blocks stopped functioning. What about the activity inhibitors, when did they fail?”
“A little at a time… I started noticing that I could resist in small ways… Putting too much sugar in Master’s coffee, taking longer to do a task than normal… I even deliberately knocked over a vase and then claimed it fell on its own…”
“And he believed you.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“So you kept up the ruse… even as the collar stopped affecting you.”
“R-ruse ma’am?”
“Ruse. You know, an act.” Eloise sighed in irritation. “I mean that you tricked him.”
Azee nodded quickly. “Yes ma’am.”
“And today?”
“I was making lunch. Master Luke came into the kitchen and… and I hit him.”
"Why?"
Azee's face turned bright red. "He was… he was touching me. He kissed my neck, I wanted to tell him to stop but I knew I couldn't… and then I suddenly got… so, so angry. I didn't even think about it, I just grabbed a pan and struck him!"
"And then you locked him in the pantry."
"Yes ma'am, after I made sure he was breathing."
“Hmmm.” Eloise extended her hand. “Your collar, may I?”
“Yes ma’am.”
With barely a thought, Azee reached to the back of her Azee and touched the brass clasp. The moment her fingers touched the metal, a searing jolt tore through her head, freezing her muscles and it felt as if her heart stopped for a few beats. The intense pain and dizziness sent Azee crashing to the dirt floor, Her breath came in whining gasps as she twitched.
“Stranger and stranger.” Eloise pondered as she stood from her chair and dropped to her knees at Azee’s side. Azee gasped like a landed fish as she stared up at Eloise.
“Wh-what was that?”
“A secondary rune, affixed to the locking mechanism. I expected it to have been overridden as well… but it’s still functioning.”
Awkwardly she pet Azee’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you. Are you alright?”
Slowly Azee got back to her knees and nodded, her breath still coming in gasps. “Y-yes ma’am.”
“Well let’s just try this instead…” Eloise reached around Azee’s neck. The moment her fingers touched the clasp there was a sharp snap and Eloise jerked her hand away. Azee flinched, but this time there was no pain, only a minor twinge up her spine.
Eloise looked down at her hand, thin wisps of steam rising from her fingertips as the smell of
singed flesh filled the air.
“It would seem your master spared no expense. I imagine the collar is keyed to him and him alone.”
A half smile crossed Eloise’s face. “Well, in that case, I suppose I am going to need a different set of hands.”
Climbing to her feet, Eloise strode over to the stockroom door.
“Charlie, can you come back here for a moment,” she called down the hallway.
Stepping away from the door, Eloise returned to Azee. Moments later, the door opened and the bartender stepped inside.
“What ken I do yeh fer?” he asked, looking at Eloise and paying no attention to Azee.
“I need you to take her collar off.”
“Sure.”
“B-but won’t he get hurt?” Azee stammered as Charlie walked over to her. She tried to pull away, but the bartender’s hand shot out and seized hold of her collar, dragging her back.
Azee tried to fight, but Charlie was freakishly strong, his hands like vice grips. Even as Azee fought, his gaze didn’t change, as if he were totally detached from the situation.
In desperation Azee tried to bite, but even though she managed to twist around and sink her teeth into Charlie’s upper arm, the man didn’t even flinch.
“Gentle!” Eloise called out as Azee coughed and choked
Immediately Charlie loosened his grip and Azee was able to catch a breath, collapsing to her knees. Before she could move, Charlie bent down and seized the back of her collar. There was a loud snap, followed by the smell of burning flesh. Another twinge ran up Azee’s back, quickly growing in strength as the collar crackled with energy.
Then, all of a sudden, it was over. Azee felt her collar slide free of her neck and drop to the ground in front of her.
Azee reached up and gently felt her neck. It had been so long, she felt strangely naked without the collar.
As Eloise bent down and picked up the fallen collar, the smell of burning flesh drew Azee’s attention. Behind her, Charlie’s hands were extremely badly burned, wisps of smoke curling up from blackened flesh. On several fingers Azee could even see the ivory white of exposed bone.
“By the lord!” Azee gasped. “S-sir, are you alright?”
“He’s fine,” Eloise replied, staring down at the collar in her hand.
“B-but his hands.”
Eloise looked up for a moment. “Hmmm? Oh yes. Charlie, come here.”
Charlie stepped forwards and stopped in front of Eloise, turning around so that his back was turned to her.
Pushing aside Charlie’s greasy, shoulder length hair, Eloise laid her finger upon a small rune carved into a catalyst stone charm embedded in the back of his neck. Thin lines of red light spread outwards from the rune, tracing all across Charlie’s body. As the lines reached his hands, the flesh on his fingers swiftly regrew, strands of new flesh and skin knitting themselves together. Within moments, Charlie’s hands looked as good as new, free of any trace of damage.
Azee’s jaw fell open at the sight. Never before had she seen rune magic accomplish anything even remotely close to that. She used runes used to treat minor cuts and bruises before, even used them to erase minor scars on slaves that were meant for sale.
“Go back to the front and close up.” Eloise ordered. “Then go and get Dusty ready; I’ll be going for a ride.”
Eloise paused and looked back at Azee. “How did you get here?”
“How did you do that?” Azee breathed, Eloise’s question going completely unnoticed as she stared at Charlie’s hands.
“Hey!” Eloise snapped her fingers and barked. “Pay attention. How did you get here?”
Shaken from her amazed trance, Azee spoke quickly. “I… I walked.”
“Right, of course. Bloody laws.” Eloise turned back to Charlie. “Get the cart hooked up then. We’ll join you shortly.”
“Sure.”
As Charlie left, Eloise went back to looking at the collar.
“Strange… This is a high grade catalyst stone, no flaws or imperfections… The rune still has power and the behavioral control link is still working. There is no reason it shouldn’t be working… and yet...”
“H-how did you heal him like that?” Azee asked again, staring after Charlie.
“Hmmm? Oh, that. Well I didn’t so much heal him as I repaired him.” Eloise turned the collar over, examining the writing on a small metal plate affixed to the stone. “Due to expire… five years from now. So it’s not out of power… and it’s not malfunctioning….
“R-repaired?”
With an irritated sigh, Eloise looked up at Azee. “Yes, repaired.”
“B-but how?”
“Because he’s not technically alive.” Eloise raised an eyebrow. “Why are you so surprised? Was it not you who came to me because you thought I was a ‘witch’?”
“I… I suppose so.”
“Charlie died of dysentery two or three years ago, and I couldn't have that. Say what you will about his hygiene and manners, he is a competent bartender and I wasn’t interested in training a new one. I animated his body, and let him run the place.”
Again Azee’s mouth dropped open. “But that’s… that’s impossible!”
“Not at all, just indecent and immoral.” Eloise disagreed, rapping her knuckles against the catalyst stone. “But then again, good bartenders are hard to come by, so when needs must, you make do.”
“B-but-”
“There is far more magic in the world than runes that make guns fire, start fires, and enslave people.” Eloise shrugged. “Then again, I guess you could say that the rune on your collar here is a distant cousin to the one that keeps Charlie’s corpse walking around. He can only follow basic instructions of course, but serving low quality booze to ragged drunks isn’t that complex.”
“I… I see…”
“Not that anyone would believe you if you told them of course. So, if the thought of trading this information for your own life were to cross your mind…”
“I would never!”
Ignoring Azee’s denial, Eloise turned her focus back to the collar. Taking hold of the clasp on the back, she reached up and withdrew one of the long pins holding her hair, which was in fact a hidden throwing needle, the sort used by assassins, designed to be loaded with some sort of poison.
With the sharp point of the needle she began scratching a pattern into the brass clasp. Azee watched, fascinated, as Eloise carved an intricate rune into the brass, muttering under her breath the whole time.
Replacing the pin in her hair, Eloise placed her fingers upon the rune she had carved. There was a sharp crackle of energy, and when Eloise withdrew her fingers, the rune she had carved glowed a pale blue.
“Here.” She tossed the collar back to Azee. “Put it back on.”
Azee froze, staring down at the collar. Suddenly it felt very heavy in her hands, the glowing eye rune seeming to stare into her soul.
How hard had she fought when Luke had first tried to put this on her… How scared she had felt when it started to fail. But accompanying that fear had been something else, something that burned in her very soul.
The touch of Eloise’s hand on her shoulder made Azee jump, nearly dropping the collar with a yelp.
“It’s alright.” Eloise urged. “I’ve disabled the rune that prevented you from removing it, and the behaviour control link. You can take it on and off as you please now.”
Her throat extremely dry, Azee nodded and raised the collar to her neck. But as her hands drew near her neck, they began to shake. Her heart began to beat faster and faster, her tail curling between her legs.
“C-can you help me.” she whispered, looking up at Eloise.
Irritation flickered across Eloise’s face, but was swiftly replaced by pity as she met Azee’s terrified eyes.
“Very well. Hold still.”
Eloise stepped behind Azee and drew the collar up as if she were placing a necklace around Azee’s neck. As the steel reinforced leather wrapped around her throat, Azee felt as if she were being strangled. Her heart pounded against her ribs, every instinct told her to flee, but she forced herself to stay still. The sound of the lock snapping closed rang so loud in her ears that she thought she was going to faint.
“There.” Eloise stepped back to Azee’s front. “Now, take it off.”
The desire to remove the collar clashed against the fear of another shock as Azee reached up. Her hands shook violently as she squeezed her eyes shut and touched the lock.
There was no shock, no snapping sound, just the gentle click of the lock opening. Azee’s eyes flew open and she gasped from breath as she felt the collar come loose in her hands.
Eloise smiled. “There we go, your first step towards freedom.”
“F-freedom…”
Azee’s head spun and her legs quaked. All of a sudden her legs gave out under her. Eloise leapt forward, catching Azee as she dropped to her knees.
“Easy, easy there. It’s alright.”
“S-sorry,” Azee whispered.
A look of genuine warmth crossed Eloise’s face as she stroked Azee’s hair. “It’s alright little one, we’ll get you through this.”
The door to the stockroom cracked open and Charlie stuck his head inside. “Miss Eloise, the cart is ready.”
Helping Azee to her feet, Eloise smiled. “Well, shall we go and pay your Master a visit?”
===
The western sky was ablaze with brilliant colour as the sun descended towards the horizon. As the light began to fade in earnest, a withered old slave made her way down the decrepit wooden walkway, lighting the lamps that lined Lillyvale’s main road. Exhausted workers and slaves from the docks made their way home, or to one of the taverns. Several stopped at the Old Crow, but found the door locked and the lights doused.
Across the hardened dirt road was a small stable with a barren yard, enclosed by a dilapidated old cedar rail fence. An ancient riding hound lay on an island of dry ground in the center of the yard, in the shade of an old willow tree. His fur was long and matted, his days of carrying riders or pulling waggons long over. The hound’s ancient eyes turned downwards as with each breath he unleashed a typhoon upon the ants crawling over his paws. A man sat against the base of the tree, his hat pulled over his eyes as he snoozed.
As the door to the Old Crow opened, the man shifted ever so slightly, peering out from beneath the brim of his ratty old hat.
“There yeh are, you pretty lil thing.” Bill snarled as he watched Azee exit, his fingers running over the handle of the knife he kept at his belt.
His sneering smile faded as Eloise followed Azee through the door and locked it behind her. Moments later, Charlie appeared around the side of the tavern driving a small cart hitched to a pair of draft hounds.
“The hell they up to,” Bill grumbled as Azee climbed into the back of the cart, while Eloise climbed into the driver’s seat.
As Eloise whistled and the cart began to roll down the street, Bill pushed himself to his feet.
“What is that cussed strump doin’ with that pelt?” Bill watched as the cart rattled towards the road leading out of town.
End of Chapter 2
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