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“Oh, it’s so much better.”
The wicked grin across her lips gave me pause. Please tell me this has nothing to do with Kal.
The guards came and escorted me, shackled wrists and all, to the large black marbled stone council room. The chosen councilmen formed a half-moon, and I stood in the center of the circular room. This is a trial for my sins. Next to me was a cage big enough for a dwarf.
Several nobles were missing from attendance, including the Madam who I hoped was on a ship bound for Sahara with everything she needed to rebuild the portal and use it. Someone had to get a happy ending here.
I heard someone cursing and struggling. The voice was familiar; it was Kal. A titan dragged him into the room, his hair was cut into a buzz cut, and the lens I had given him was removed showing his milky white eye. He wore a beige tunic with no pants, the large nasty scar on his leg was seen, but the wound was healing as much as it could heal. I watched Freda with pure hate as she took her seat and smirked at me. What the hell did she hope to accomplish? Did she think some sort of ugliness would deter me? My love was the most beautiful person in the room.
“Kal,” I spoke to him, taking my eyes off Freda to him. “Remain calm, okay. It’ll be okay.” Lies.
They locked him inside a cage and with me chained to the podium, we couldn’t reach each other.
“This is supposed to be my tribunal, not his. He was merely my thrall who did as I told him to do or I would’ve killed him!” I lashed out to the council.
“We know. It’s no surprise that a dwarf would do any base thing to live.” One man laughed, an old goat named Scribe, he was notorious for treating his servants and thralls as little more than cattle. “I wish we could conduct this in a more formal way. However, we are still cleaning up the mess from your little venture. Did you know the Madam also had hidden a portal?”
“Where is the Madam?” I said, looking around. “Why not give her a tribunal?” I said, hoping they couldn’t make due on that quip.
“We would if she were here.” He replied, not at all amused, but at least I knew she had made away from this place.
“Sounds like that bothers you. Do you not wish to hear that the possibility of returning home was within our grasps? Or do you enjoy playing at being a big fish in a small pond?” I argued hoping to keep the focus off of Kal who remained silent, his eye red and puffy from the tears, but his skin was no longer showing the signs of hypothermia or infection. I thought of what the Madam had told me the last I saw her.
I didn’t know what magic was at work, but if Kal was the same as Barras then as fated mates we really will die together.
The group murmured about what I had just said.
“Rumors.” Freda intervened. “Nothing but heresy. You couldn’t have built the portal, you had gone mad below the castles and believed you did. Let’s bring the attention back to that snotty nosed creature over there.”
“We will have a discussion later about these rumors. Whether you get to take part is determined by your answer here. Freda rescinded the deal to have you kill this dwarf as a sign of your willingness to be redeemed. But we will put it on the table, nonetheless. Why won’t you kill him?” A young noble hadspoken, I remember him trembling with fear at the party. His father was old and dying, and he was preparing to take over his house. He sat there, fingers crossed, reddish hair braided and long. His features were as delicate as a woman, soft and sharp. He didn’t look disgusted, nor mocking in his tone.
“I love him,” I answered knowing I would get laughed at and I was but not by everyone here.
“It’s okay to love your pets, but you don’t have sex with them.” Another noble chimed in, a robust man who leaned back in his chair and stroked his braided brown beard. “Dwarves love their dogs, but they don’t fuck them unless we order them to.” He added the last part, and the nobles chuckled with delight while others shifted uncomfortably.
“Have you ever thought that perhaps we aren’t really all that different, we can speak their language.” I replied, our fate was sealed, and this was a farce. If we are to die anyway, then I’ll argue my case and be damned.
“We are intelligent.”
“Our bodies are the same for the most part, they can even become our fated ones and live for as long as we do. Perhaps they can even become pregnant with our children.”
The crowd murmured loudly.
“That is impossible!” Freda yelled, standing and pointing an accusatory finger at Kal. “That thing can never replace us!”
“That thing,” I repeated, though I didn’t intend to call Kal that. “Can be the key to our race becoming more than just a few squabbling nobles hiding in a castle. I don’t see many faces here. How many nobles were killed or chose to runaway from your Draconian laws? Do you think the dwarves will stop? They’ve seen this place and most likely have it in their databases, they know the very structure of our power and sure you beat them, but those were different times and circumstances. They now know that their aren’t that many of us. When they return, theirfocus will not be on killing titans but killing the dwarves who protect you, and dwarves are very good at killing each other.”
“Hmph!” Scribe replied. “So, we should fuck our thralls to rebuild our population? What a ridiculous argument.”
My argument wasn’t meant for the hardcore dissenters, but the ones who continued to whisper uncertainties among each other.
“Give the human male the worm.” The red head requested calmly.
“Why? Even if it were true!” The old man protested.
“We have allowed you ample room to speak Scribe, because of your age and wisdom. However, many of us were born here in the world of humans, some of our parents are missing or dead and it is because of Felman’s actions. We believe that the old ways need to be reevaluated if we are to thrive here and make a home for ourselves.”
The old man sputtered before falling silent once he realized his voice was not the majority.
