Chapter 8: Curiosity killed the Fey...
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"I dreamed a dream in time gone by." Hailey quietly sang under her breath as she scrubbed the floor. "When hope was high and life worth living."
She pulled at the leather slave collar around her neck. No matter how she moved her head, it always seemed to dig into her chin or collarbone. She considered trying to get it off again but didn't want to be caught trying.
Again.
"I dreamed that love would never die." She continued singing quietly. "I dreamed that God would be forgiving."
Bracing herself, she plunged the rag into the ice-cold water to rinse it out. She winced, then started on the next section of the floor. "Then I was young and unafraid, and dreams were made and used and wasted. There was no ransom to be paid, no song unsung, no wine untasted."
Hailey felt a few tears collect at the corners of her eyes. This wasn't how her life was supposed to turn out. She was supposed to be at college, starting her career, or maybe marrying and settling down. Anywhere but this God-forsaken hellhole of a world.
"But the tigers come at night." Her voice cracked as she sang the next lines. "With their voices soft as thunder, as they tear your hope apart, as they turn your dreams to shame."
Before long, water wasn't the only liquid on the floor.
An hour and many sad songs later, she finished scrubbing the floor. She stood up, grabbed the bucket, and headed back into the kitchen. It was large and very functional, if a bit warm because of the ovens. The other slaves were busy making food for the feast after their master's victory in The Arena. He always won the judicial duels, so they assumed this time would be no different. At least he was in a better mood after winning a fight.
"Hailey, he's losing." Vienne shouted from across the kitchen.
"What?" Hailey's jaw dropped. He NEVER lost. Well, not against the helpless prisoners his father always threw into The Arena for him to fight. She didn't think he'd stand a chance against a real fighter. Maybe he had met one?
"Yeah, one of The Arena slaves told me." Vienne continued. "He's fighting some young dragon and it's basically toying with him."
Everyone in the kitchen turned to her with an expectant look. It only took a moment for her to figure out what they wanted.
"Oh no, not again." Hailey said.
"Please?" Vienne asked.
"Not a snowball's chance in hell." Hailey shook her head.
"But you're the only one who can sneak into The Arena." Vienne countered. "Besides, won't it be great to see that bastard get his comeuppance? You could actually watch it happen."
Hailey had imagined their master getting killed in The Arena more times than she could count. God forgive her, but she wanted to see him die so badly. After what he'd done to her and the rest of the slaves, to actually see him die in person... It wasn't as good as burying a dagger in his heart personally, but it was close.
"I'll sneak you a sweet roll from the feast if you go." The head chef offered.
"I'll sneak a spare blanket for your bed at night." One of the laundry ladies offered.
"But if they catch me again..." Hailey said.
"It won't matter if he's dead." Vienne countered.
Hailey teetered on the edge for several seconds before deciding. "I'll do it."
The whole kitchen cheered and clapped. Hailey stripped off her work dress to reveal a pair of very worn yoga pants and a loose-fitting T-shirt underneath; remnants from her previous life.
"Hurry, or you'll miss it." Vienne said.
Hailey turned and sprinted out of the kitchen and into the yard. She made it to the vine trellis without the guard seeing her -- not that he ever paid attention -- and scaled the twelve-foot, vine-covered wall in mere seconds. She dropped down and rolled through her landing to come up sprinting.
Thirty seconds later, she was at the slave's entrance to The Arena. She rapped on the door twice, paused a moment, then rapped three more times.
"Hailey, you're insane." The grizzled old gatekeeper shook his head as he opened the door.
"He's losing." Hailey said. "That bastard is losing right now."
The grizzled old gatekeeper stepped aside and smiled, revealing a mouth only half full of teeth. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek in thanks, then sprinted through The Arena undercroft almost on autopilot. When she reached the store room, she used a few stacked barrels to get up into the rafters. Moments later, she was high and out of sight jumping through the wooden supports.
It took her another ten seconds to reach one of the water drains lining the edge of The Arena. Five seconds later she had crawled into one so she was looking through the iron grate into The Arena. A small, steel-gray dragon had pinned the champion to the ground. It was casually twirling a spear in one hand.
"This is it!" She thought.
The dragon raised his spear above his head.
"Do it, please do it." She hissed.
The dragon seemed to falter, or at least hesitate. He shook his head and seemed to be fighting with himself about something.
The crowd was silent as the grave.
"Please finish him. Kill that bastard."
The dragon's spear came down with incredible force. From her hiding place, Hailey could hear the sound soft 'thud' of it striking something solid. A wide smile crept onto her face.
She was free.
She was finally free of that monster. He couldn't hurt her or anyone else again. A wonderful lightness of spirit swept over her. She felt like a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She would probably be sold to a new master, but they couldn't possibly be worse.
The dragon pulled his spear up and all of Hailey's hopes were dashed in an instant. There was no blood on the spike at the spear's tip. The dragon must have thrust his spear into the sand.
Her owner slapped the ground three times.
He had yielded the fight.
He was alive.
A sinking weight of despair came over Hailey. The slaves still told stories about the last time he had lost a fight. He had beaten half the slaves and raped many of the female ones. For weeks afterward, every little infraction was punished so severely that a few slaves had died. With his father being the magistrate, there was nothing anyone could do.
Panic was soon replaced with a survival instinct. If she was found outside his estate when he was that mad...
Hailey's flight back to the kitchen was even faster than her run to the Arena. She scaled the wall using the rope she'd left there for that purpose while her heart pounded with fear and adrenaline. She managed to get back without being seen and slipped inside the kitchen. One look at her face told the rest of the slaves everything they needed to know about the outcome.
"He lost, but he's not dead or even injured." Hailey said.
They whole kitchen was dead silent for several seconds and then there was a mad scramble to get the work done. Hailey retrieved her working dress and slipped it on. She ran to where she had left the bucket and sponge, then ran to the next place she was supposed to clean. As luck would have it, it was the rear entryway. Far from the front entrance that her owner usually used because he liked the attention. Hailey breathed a sigh of relief and started scrubbing the stone floor vigorously.
Not for the first time, Hailey imagined how she could get a dagger and kill that bastard herself. She touched the leather slave's collar around her neck and cursed the enchantments would make that nigh impossible. With the collar on, she couldn't hurt him.
Five minutes later, she had already scrubbed a quarter of the floor. She had finally started to calm down when the back door opened. She turned around to see who it was--
WHAM!!
Something heavy and solid collided with the side of her head. She momentarily blacked out before a searing pain on her scalp brought her back to consciousness. Someone was dragging her by her hair. Hailey let out a scream and then struggled to her feet, but the person never let go of her hair.
Then she saw who it was.
It was her owner.
He was still clad in full chainmail and the look on his face was pure murder. Hailey had never seen such pure hatred before. Ever. Fortunately, it didn't seem to be directed at her, though her hair wasn't sure it agreed. She couldn't even fight back. Striking your owner was punishable by death.
She realized he must've used the back entrance to avoid being seen. He dragged her through the streets and back towards the Arena. Hailey managed to stay on her feet, even though he kept dragging her by her hair.
After several extremely painful minutes -- which sadly weren't even close to the most painful she'd experienced since coming to this world -- they arrived in what looked like a reception area inside the Arena. Her owner stopped, but he dragged her forward by her hair and threw her to the ground.
She caught herself, but barely.
Her owner touched the back of her neck, and her slave's collar fell to the floor in front of her. She couldn't believe it. She was free. With the collar gone, he had no hold over her anymore. No enchantments stood in the way of her escape...
Or revenge.
Hailey looked up and saw a clawed, steel-grey foot right in front of her face. Looking further up, found herself staring into the face of the dragon.
To say it was terrifying was a massive understatement.
The dragon looked livid. His mouth was open and his teeth were bared. They were long and looked razor-sharp. Its eyes looked like a cat's, and they were narrowed in fury. Hailey could see the muscles rippling under its scales. His hands looked like talons. His claws were out and they looked like the Grim Reaper's favorite weapon.
She wished to God that he would use them on her master.
"How DARE you treat her like that!" The dragon shouted as he placed himself between her and her owner -- no, her former owner. She was momentarily confused. He almost looked like he was trying to protect her.
"I'm giving her to you." Her owner said. "A life for a life. My debt of honor is repaid so don't even think of trying to collect."
A low growl escaped the dragon's throat and her former owner looked terrified. He backed up as fast as possible without losing face until he hit the doorway, then turned and fled the room. The dragon growled after him for several seconds while flexing his claws like he was itching to use them. Finally, it turned around to look at her.
She flinched.
"Are you okay?" It asked. There was a surprising note of concern and care in its voice. Plus, now that he didn't look livid, he seemed much more... human? Personable?
"Um, yeah." Hailey replied.
