Chp.15: Return to the dormitory

The party officially ended around half past three in the morning. After the last dance was over, the guests began to leave one by one. As before, this time too a precise pattern was followed: the first to leave were the rulers of the other nations, followed by their noble subjects; then it was the turn of the dukes, the marquises, the counts, the viscounts and finally the barons. This was because the aristocrats at the bottom of the hierarchy had to say goodbye to their superiors, and therefore had to leave last. The only difference was king Marcus and his family, since being the ones who had organized the party they had to greet everyone, even if they were of a lower rank than them. Only when all the guests had really gone did the royal family allow themselves to relax.

The queen and the prince retired to their rooms almost at once, as they were both very tired. Marcus wouldn't have minded going to sleep either, but since he was the king and consequently also the master of the royal palace there were some things he had to supervise before he could rest. Under his directive, the servants began to clean up everything, while the guards took away the precious objects on display and the animals locked up in cages.

Haku was obviously also picked up to be taken away. This time, fortunately, he didn't have to carry his cage: since it was late at night and the streets were deserted, the king allowed him to walk back to the arena on his own legs, thus saving him a lot of time. Of course, he would be accompanied by no less than ten guards, not because there was a risk that he would escape (at least from Marcus's point of view, who was still convinced of the infallibility of the collar of submission), but because there was always the possibility that some passerby was still around and saw him, and if there had been guards watching him he would have been less frightened and would have avoided waking up an entire neighborhood with his screams.

Before he left, Marcus stopped him: "I think a thank you is in order. You behaved well tonight, and you even helped me fighting against my rival's son"

"I don't understand much about the politics of you humans, but there's one thing I comprehended: it's much more complicated than it seems" Haku said. "Rather than face a new enemy, I'd rather keep the old one"

"Mph. I see. Rather than risk that another king leading the alliance, and perhaps trying to force you to swear allegiance to him through worse means than mine, you'd rather continue your little game of strategy with me" Marcus muttered nonstop. to smile. "Very clever. You may not understand much of the politics of human beings, but you sure know how to adapt to it"

Haku nodded. Humans were really very complicated creatures. He decidedly preferred the ogres more to them: at least the ogres, with their primitive society, were easy to manipulate. Humans were much more complex: even if he had been able to find an ally among them, it wouldn't have been easy to put him on the throne or in any case in a position of power, as he had done with Sarpa.

The king pointed him to the door. "Well, I guess now it's only right that you go and rest. As a token of gratitude, I'll keep you from fighting for a whole week" he said, then his face darkened slightly. "I advise you to be careful though. You have attracted the interest of many aristocrats today. For the moment you are under my protection and I hold the strongest position in the alliance between the kingdoms, but I cannot vouch for the future. Be prepared at worst if the balance of power were to change". He smirked: "Besides, you've also earned the dislike of a lot of the noble class. Many had bet against you. You've made a lot of people lose a lot of money, and even if it's not too much for their finances, they could harbor a grudge for you"

"Really? Do nobles bet?" Haku asked with feigned astonishment: actually he already knew, since he had with his extraordinary hearing he had listened to the conversations of all the aristocrats in the hall.

Marcus shrugged. "It's not very elegant, but in a low voice... everything is allowed"

Haku let out a snort. "And you? Who did you bet for?"

"Technically nothing. A king would never stoop to betting. But like I said, in a low voice everything is allowed" Marcus replied pulling a small bag of coins out of his suit. "And as you can see, I haven't doubted you for a second"

The dragon let out a soft laugh. "Fuck you" he said, though there was clearly no anger in his voice. Marcus just smiled and waved, then went back to his duties. Finally, Haku was free to leave.

The quick paws of the dragon took little time to drive him away from the royal palace. As he walked through the deserted city towards the arena, Haku considered the possibility of taking advantage of the situation to escape: after all, his only obstacles were the ten guards surrounding him and the collar of submission that he could deactivate using the nullification rune. However, he soon dismissed that possibility. Marcus trusted his magical items, but that didn't mean he was completely reckless.

Each of the guards accompanying Haku was a level mithril and at least three of them were level adamantium. Even using his best strategy and catching them by surprise, Haku wouldn't stand a chance against them. He had managed to beat prince Augustus, but only by using various tricks and a lot of inventiveness, and even then the victory had been very difficult. It was impossible for him to take down ten such strong guards by himself. And even if by some miracle he succeeded, the noise would surely attract more guards: Haku soon realized that the streets of the city were full of them. He could have used the invisibility rune to escape, but he would have had no way to hide the bodies of his victims: once they saw the corpses, the other guards would have alerted every soldier present throughout the city. The streets would be overrun with legions of guards and it would be impossible for Haku to hide even using the invisibility rune. He could have tried to escape before they could do it, running as fast as possible and hoping to get out of town before they organized, but that was impossible. Not to mention that he still didn't know the topography of the capital and most likely he would have ended up going in circles several times.

The chances of being able to escape were so low that it wasn't even possible to calculate them. Haku wasn't someone who liked to gamble, much less on his life, so he forgot it. The time had not yet come to attempt escape; he couldn't risk exposing his cards prematurely.

As he was approaching the arena he tried to rethink the words of that strange elf, trying to understand something, but he just managed to give himself a headache. Had he to understand? Understand what? How could he know something if he didn't even know what it was? And the prophecies... were even more enigmatic. What was the Silver Gate? Too many questions he couldn't find answers to. In the end, he decided that he was too tired at the moment and that the best thing to do was get a good night's sleep and think about it calmly the next day.

He reached the arena after less than twenty minutes of walking, much less than the time he had taken with the cage. Once there, the guards opened the doors for him and escorted him to the gladiator dormitory. At least in doing so, Haku had the opportunity to review the route, thus being able to memorize it even better. Once he reached the door to the dormitory, the guards went away and he entered, and was finally alone again.

Of course, the dormitory was deserted. It was now four o'clock in the morning, so all the gladiators were in their beds sleeping. Haku could hear them purring in the adjacent room. He too would have done the same: he wasn't too tired, but he still wanted to get a good night's sleep. He walked towards his bed, when he suddenly realized something: in the air he perceived the smell of Misune, and it was fresh, a sign that it wasn't an olfactory trace but that the girl was there in the dormitory.

He was surprised that she was still there: usually at this hour she was sleeping in the slave dormitory. In any case, he didn't mind at all: after spending hours inside a cage and even fighting against an adamantium level warrior, he didn't dislike cleaning himself up. Perhaps before sleeping he could ask Misune to wash his scales thoroughly, or at least his teeth and claws where there was still some blood.

Where was she? He followed the smell and noticed that it came from the bathrooms. He had hardly ever gone in there, since due to the strong smell they were an uncomfortable place for him (not that the rest of the dormitory was perfumed, but it was still better). He considered waiting for her outside, but after five minutes he began to get annoyed. What was she doing to stay in there all that time?

Eventually he got tired of waiting and went into the baths. The disgusting smell made his nostrils wrinkle, but he endured it and went where Misune's scent trail led him. "I hope for you that you have a good reason to be here" he grumbled. "I'm very tired and I need to clean up. Come quickly..."

He froze. Now that he was closer, he could smell another scent in the air. A sweet smell that he knew well, because he had smelled it so many times that he could no longer remember them. Blood.

The dragon was somewhat intrigued by this. Conflicts were common among gladiators, and so were murders: it wasn't uncommon for a slave or weaker gladiator to be killed just for fun. Maybe that was what had happened to Misune, and that was why she was still there. Haku snorted in annoyance: if his slave died, then he couldn't have his bath that evening. That was the only reason he was angry… right?

However, a very small part of him was anxious. He didn't understand why, since he didn't care much about her. He never considered Misune different from a tool. He remembered that many newcomers had pets, and that they worried about them even if they weren't of the same species: perhaps he had developed a similar relationship with Misune? Even if she wasn't important, did he still enjoy her company?

In any case, he wanted to understand what had happened. He followed Misune's scent to one of the latrines, and with a swipe of his claws he broke down the door. And finally he found her.

Misune was trying to cover herself with her clothes, which were ripped in multiple places. Her skin was red in various places, as if she'd been scrubbing herself with a sponge for hours trying to wash off something she couldn't get off. There was a trail of blood on the floor, and judging from the position the slave girl had dragged herself into that latrine and locked herself inside, perhaps to feel safer. Judging by the furrows on her cheeks, she must have cried a lot, and her neck and wrists showed clear signs of having been gripped by very strong hands.

As soon as she saw him, Misune jumped. Even though Haku had called her before with a voice so loud that it echoed throughout the restrooms, she didn't seem to notice, as if her mind was elsewhere at that moment. "S-Sir! Forgive me! I..."

She tried to stand up, but het legs gave out almost immediately. Haku noticed that the trail of blood seemed to come from her pelvis. Just like something hit her right in the…

Suddenly everything was clear to him: his nose confirmed his suspicions, for he could clearly smell someone else's scent on Misune, especially in the loin area. He'd heard it happen to other slaves at times, but this was the first time he'd seen the results. "Someone… touched you?" he asked.

Misune was still trying to get to her feet, though it clearly caused her a lot of pain. At Haku's question her body visibly trembled and she let out a sob, as if she was trying her best not to cry again. Weakly, she nodded her head.

A soft growl emerged from Haku's throat. For some reason, he felt a fire stir inside him. "Were you... consenting?" he asked again, even though he already knew the answer.

At that point Misune couldn't hold back anymore: tears started flowing from her eyes again, her body started shaking like a leaf in the wind, and her voice became like a whisper: "P-Please... I will continue to work... it won't be a problem... no... I'm not to be thrown away... I assure you..."

Haku wasn't listening to her anymore. His mind was in turmoil. His gaze was fixed on Misune's eyes. He had seen those eyes before. He clearly remembered those empty globes, dull, filled only with despair.

They were the eyes Darbi had when their mother had told him that she didn't love them. When his brother had momentarily lost the will to fight, and had become unable even to move.

They were the eyes Rhaegal had had when they killed their father. When he had begun to vent on his dead body, in an attempt to drive away the fear and despair.

They were the eyes Kotaru had when he confided in her his plan to kill their mother. When his sister had desperately tried to change his mind, being right on top of that, and he hadn't listened to her.

They were the eyes Tikka and Teramon had when food started to run low. When they had been cut off from meals and were so desperate they could do nothing but hold each other to comfort each other.

They were the eyes all his sisters had had when their mother kicked them out from her territory. And when he, idiot, had hit Rhaegal scared them to death.

Those were the eyes of a person who no longer had the strength to fight. A person who couldn't even get up on his own anymore. A person who had lost all hope, all dreams, all joy, and in whose heart there was now only pure darkness and despair.

A flame seemed to ignite in Haku's heart as images of all his siblings flashed before his eyes. Suddenly anger exploded in him like a volcano, and his body tensed like a violin string. Even when the images of his siblings faded and Misune's tiny figure reappeared before his eyes, that didn't stop his fury. Maybe it was because all the time they spent together, maybe it was due to the gratitude of her continuous work, or maybe deep down he was a little fond of her, but in any case at that moment he made no distinction between her and his siblings: the same anger he would have felt if someone had tried to touch them, he now felt towards the one who had dared to touch her.

CRACK!

The floor split in a multitude of cracks that spread in all directions. Unconsciously, Haku had dug his claws into the tiles, tearing them apart. Misune jumped at that sight and started shaking even more. "I... I swear! I'll work even harder... please... don't... don't eat me... I can still be... useful... to you..." her little voice lost more and more intensity until her words were unrecognizable from her sobs.

"I won't eat you"

Misune looked up in surprise. Haku's face was contracted in fury and was even scarier than normal: the monstrous teeth became more visible every second as the dragon's lips rose. "I'm going to take care of this" he said in a voice so angry that Misune felt her blood freeze. "You stay here. Or come if you like. You may like the show"