

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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