The First Underground Meeting (2)

The well-worn door was pushed open revealing a small group of people walking through it. At the head of the group was Cyrus' main contact between himself and the underground. Cyrus looked at them fleetingly before looking away, while saying

"I see you have finished with wasting my time"

The head of the group, an old man who was missing his left arm, bowed in a servile manner while saying

"I am sorry sir, we moved as fast as we could."

Cyrus snorted in response, before beckoning with his chin that they should continue. The old man graciously accepted this and led the three people behind him into the room.

While the old man had acted in a servile manner, he still had a rough air about him and walked with a certain confidence. These three, however, were so thoroughly in deference towards the 'highborn' Cyrus that their heads would no doubt smack into the table if they were close enough during their bow.

"Introduce yourself" said Cyrus, after having observed their humility for a few moments.

One of the three, perhaps the bravest of the lot, stepped forward slightly and said

"We are but three humble workers Milord. Years ago, before the War of Nobilis, we were farmhands in a settlement located deep within the western region under Lord Helios of the Asinus family. We will answer any questions that you may have Milord."

"That you will" said Cyrus while pretending to be in thought. Breaking from his 'thinking' he said,

"First, tell me of your life under Helios and how it was on a monthly basis. Speak of things such as your treatment by the lord, payment, rewards, and punishments. Paint me a picture, knave, of what type of lord he was as well as the reason for your eventual move towards this region."

"Understood Milord, this one will answer all your questions and more" said the man with another deep bow.

"Life in the west is not as easy as it is here, but normally it is still not too bad… this was true for most of the commoners living in the area from what I had heard but for me my experience was very different" started the man.

From then on the man did as he was told, and like an experienced painter he slowly began to create a vivid series of recollections of his old life. He told of how from morning to night he toiled in the fields during the warm seasons. During the cold seasons he was either cleaning snow from the ground by order of the lord's henchmen or picking up rocks that had come from the ground during the later months of the cold season. His pay was meagre barely enough to live off, his real reward was working for his lord… or so he was told.

"During the winter, it was not uncommon for many men to freeze to death while clearing the streets, roads, and property of the lord. Deaths from the cold were plenty, but equally so were deaths that resulted from the goons of the lord that would come from their cozy stations to harass us. Being a new settlement being funded by the Asinus family, we had little in the way of entertainment available to us. For the ruling class this was not too much of a problem, as their entertainment often came at the cost of us common folk" the man's expression hardened, as he began to recount various 'punishments'.

"Often we would be refused chances of rest in order to warm ourselves up. We were accused of being lazy and unwilling to work and possibly traitorous. Much to the enjoyment of the lord's men, they would choose people at random to be made of an example of. These people were stripped of their warm clothing and forced to continue their work in the freezing cold. If they refused? Death. And not a quick one either, no, these beasts were not so kind" said the man, freezing for a moment as he realized that the man he was talking to looked to be of the noble sort. Daring to take a quick glance at his apparent better, the man saw Cyrus' face in a scowl. Taking this as a sign of displeasure, perhaps even anger, from his tale he quickly prostrated himself on the floor while stammering

"P-p-Please Milord, I meant no offense! I was wrapped up in my silly pointless emotions that only trash like myself could have!" said the man as he buried his head on the floor.

"What horrible things must this poor soul have witnessed to show such fear from just possibly upsetting a noble" thought Cyrus, as he realized where the misunderstanding had come from.

"You have done no wrong" said he in an authoritative voice. "I was merely displeased at the treatment of the commoners in your story." Cyrus paused for a moment, remembering that he was in the midst of his façade once more.

"Commoners have their value after all just as any tool does. Use them correctly and they bring great profits to one's land… use them incorrectly and not only do they not perform as well they may even harbor rebellious thoughts. Continue your story, do not leave a SINGLE detail out" commanded Cyrus once more.

The man got up once more, thankful that the supposed noble in front of him was the practical sort and began his story once more.

"Thank you, Milord. Pardon my misunderstanding…" after bowing once more, causing Cyrus to start to question how much time this behavior seemed to waste, the man began his story once again.

"The deaths given to those who were 'disloyal traitors' were never clean. They would chop off a limb or two and watch as the victim ran terrified while slowly bleeding to death. They would force poison down the throat of the victim and watch in amusement as they tried to guess which poison was used, making sport of it. They saw us not as fellow humans Milord, but as nothing different from cattle…" said the man, traces of anger and sorrow mixed in his voice.

"Over all the amount of people killed was not many, but the impact it had on us was profound. But…Whatever horrors were done during the winter were nothing compared to what was done during the warmer months though… it was during these times that both the lord and his men would seem to be in heat, wanting to relieve their sexual frustration on anything that moved. Much to our dismay, it seemed the lord was extremely fond of young boys…" said the man, disgust clearly evident in his voice.

As he began to explain the various suspicious 'disappearances' of a number of young boys every year during the first few months of warm weather, Cyrus stopped the man's heartbreaking and revolting tale.

"Enough, I plan on eating later today" said Cyrus as he waved the man away, inwardly wishing for the death of this lord. He then looked at the other two and ordered them to tell their tales as well, having also come from lands owned by the Asinus family… hoping that their tales were not as horrifying, though he did not let it show on his face.