Greggan

It was night time outside the cave and Greggan had just noticed that the large man had brought three other men with him and those men had a two young boys shackled sitting next to them. They were a group of nine, five slaves and four sell swords. The man grabbed Greggan by the lead of his shackled and drug him behind him, the mans stride was so long Greggan had to run in order to keep up and not be drug against the rocks on the cave floor. " keep up boy or you'll get a beating you won't right forget. My name is Lord Malith of the Deadmen, recruiter of soldiers. You are now our property, if you're a good lad we'll teach you to fight and you'll be a soldier give us trouble we'll knock your fucking teeth out and you'll be a soldier with no teeth." Lord Malith said as he pulled Greggan hard towards the entrance of the cave. One of the other men handed a small handful of silver coins to the slaver and the group headed towards to beach.

"By land or by sea." Greggan thought to himself, " i hope not by sea i really hate water." It didn't really matter, he would go where he was led these men had a reputation for murder and a small child would be no problem for them. The Deadmen were on the side of the great eastern continent during the war of spices, to this day no one in Thre'a has ever tried the great cuisine of Varonea due to the loss the realm incurred thanks to the help of the Deadmen.

Now he was traveling with four of them as their property dirty with mud and dried blood and a swollen broken nose. The walked down the beach towards an inlet where a small ship was anchored. It had only one main mast flying the deadman's crest. The ship could hold around twenty men and only need three men to run her soundly. Right now they had only nine passengers and had intended to fill the ship but with war comes a need for soldiers and most orphans and bastards are being given to the armies of whatever family they're governed by.

An orphan wondering the streets had become more scarce than usual and the Deadmen's services more sought after than before.

The boarded the small ship and the boys were put below shackled to the floor and sat on a bench away from the food and drink. The night sky was full of beautiful stars that shined as the moon hung like a giant pearl in the sky. Greggan hated the sea and was not exceptionally fond of being shackled to the floor of a small boat. One of the other men, a young soldier no older than seventeen came to tend to Greggans broken nose.

" they messed you up good didn't they lad. Never did like dealing with those lot, preferred getting volunteers but with there being a war every free man is already holding a spear. Nast bit of luck that you got nicked by that fat old bastard." The young soldier rambled on as he pushed Greggan nose back into place( a loud cracking noise was heard as he snapped it as close to straight as he could). The pain had lessened and the pressure in his face finally wained. "You'll still swell up a bit but you should be good as gold boyo." The soldier smiled at Greggan, he was by all standards a charming young man and most likely had been bought just as Greggan, he thought maybe it wouldn't be so bad with the Deadmen. The giant square door that led below deck was closed and locked creating complete darkness.

They felt the anchor pull itself from the seafloor and the sails catch hold of the wind and the boat lurch forward. The other boys sat quietly in the dark sniffling holding back tears, Greggan assumed they were also orphans like him. He looked at the closest boy to his right, who was about and arms length away but noticed a pair of bright green eyes staring at him from further back. " hey you there, what's your name?" Greggan whispered loud enough for the eyes to hear. " Ertimus of house Windall." Greggan was shocked to hear this boy was from a non magical noble house. " House Windall! How did you end up with us!"

"I suppose just like you did, i was on my own when i was hit with something, when i came too i was being sold to these cunts." His shackles clanged together as he spoke, " but don't worry friends we won't be on this ship for too long, i have a plan." He eyes flashed emerald green, Greggan was locked on them. " how do you suppose we do that." One of the other boys said, his voice was deeper his shadow much bigger than the rest of the boys making him most likely the oldest of the bunch.

" these are Deadmen! They'll slit your throat without a second thought! we can't take the ship without weapons. We have no magic and we're shackled, children is all we are with no training on fighting." The eyes flashed green again " you're right about most of that except the magic part." He stood up and the boys could hear his shackles hit the floor. " funny thing about deadmen, in their part of the world autumn witches are still red headed blue eyed fucks. They don't know green eyes and black hair also means you have an autumn witch. He cast a spell that created a small orb of light which revealed long thick black hair hitting his shoulders and his bright green eyes shining back.

" The windalls have an autumn witch in the family!" Greggan gasped,autumn witches were indeed rare but a non magical family having an autumn witch was even rarer. " My mother was an Oakleaf, my grandfather felt it important to intermingle with magical families to strengthen our power. When i was born my father declared house Windall to be the future of Thre'a." The boy grinned showing of his white crooked teeth, " where's your daemon if your an autumn witch?" Said the boy next to Erlem, he was scroney with curly black hair and skin as dark ink. "If you are an autumn witch shouldn't have one?" The boy asked again, Ertimus's grin grew wider as if he held a bold secret. " you are right, if i am in deed an autumn witch who can use magic to help us escape then i should have a daemon." He was toying with the boys, his daemon was above deck hiding in the shadows waiting for Ertimus to make a command. " when the time is right ill set us free. For now we need to rest." He walk back over to his seat and placed his shackles back on. " them mages are a strange lot, autumn witches even stranger. Can we even trust a mage right now?" The largest of the boys was from a village on the outskirts of the long road and the dusky desert. He had witnessed the destruction of La'velle from the distance, he saw the arcane storm explode and the city turn to melted stone. They say the city glowed a purple so bright you could see it all the way to Aridtown and the Elvish isles. He was weary of mages and their magics as most non magical people had became.

"If he fails we all die, and if he doesn't then we are free again and maybe we will have this boat and we can sail somewhere safe from all this nonsense." Greggan did have a secret lust for adventure, he had wanted to travel when he got older and maybe become a soldier and battle orcs. He didn't care he just wanted to not be the whores bastard anymore.

The night was beginning to shift to daylight as dawn rapidly approached and Greggan had not fallen asleep. The aching in the his face had wained finally but his mind was still reeling from the events of the past few weeks. So much death and destruction had happened in front of him, and he himself had a brush with death multiple times it was a lot for a small boy to process. He say on his little stool as the other boys laid on the floor sleeping. A small port hole gave them glimpses of the sky while bringing in small amounts of light. Before long the sun had risen and movement above deck could be heard. Greggans stomach rumbled, he realized he hadn't eaten since the bald men. His sat and listened to his stomach as it growled more and more angrily, before long the door opened again letting in large amounts of light and fresh sea air. The boys all lifted their heads to see the young soldier bringing down a basket full of bread and cheese in one hand and a basket with some cups and a jug.

"You boys hungry? Its a gorgeous day on the water so i believe we'll be leaving that open for you today. We have a long voyage ahead of us and if you're to be deadmen you're gonna have to prove your worth on the sea. Anyone who can't pull their weight will be thrown overboard for the denizens of the deep sea. Rest while you can and recover from your ordeals, before too long the captain will expect you to become apart of the crew." Greggan groaned, he hated the sea and didn't care for the rocking of the boat or the monsters in the water.