Chp.14: Second attempt at persuasion

Darbi joined Zamor just outside the baths. Luckily no one had approached him yet, since they still didn't know what had happened in the dragon's company and didn't want to risk appearing 'involved'. As a result, they could still talk without anyone being able to hear them. "Did you come to try and change my mind?" Zamor asked.

"Well, I'm not exactly a fan of the prison life" Darbi replied jokingly. "Come on, you want to get out of this shitty place as much as we want. This could be the only chance of your life, why don't you want to take it?"

Zamor did not answer. It was true, he wanted out of there. He really wanted it. He wanted to leave that life of constant struggles for survival and return to his beloved wife. And he wanted to go back to his people to help them again. And even if he lost hope, even if he ever gave up, he still wanted to get out of the arena, take his wife, and start a new life elsewhere. Everything would have been better than that prison where he was locked up, where he couldn't even see the sun unless he was fighting. He wanted to leave, he really wanted to, and he was sure that everyone in the arena, regardless of race, belief or even perversion, wanted the same thing. After all, nobody wanted to be treated like a caged animal.

If it was just him, he might as well have accepted. Darbi gave him the idea of ​​being a good person, so he could try to believe in that escape plan even if he didn't trust Haku. It would have been ideal for a beautiful legend to be handed down: a fierce and evil dragon, a red lizardman as muscular as a closet, and a green lizardman eager to reunite with his people, who defied the entire capital guard to escape from the prison considered to be impregnable by everyone. It would have been such an interesting story that Zamor could almost have paid a bard to write a song about it.

But Zamor wasn't a fool or a dreamer: he knew he didn't have any qualities that Darbi and Haku didn't already possess, and therefore he knew they didn't need him. Therefore, if they had come to invite him to join them, there must have been something going on. So he hadn't been charmed by the nice words and had asked for an explanation, and it turned out that they wanted him to lead the gladiators in a revolt. Zamor knew that the gladiators respected and admired him; he didn't know why, it just happened. Zamor had always had the gift of making himself heard even by the most stubborn people, ever since he was just a child. The only one he had never been able to make himself listen to was his beloved Thora, who had been able to stand up to him since their first meeting. That was probably what had sparked love at first sight between them. As a result, Zamor had no doubts that with the right words he would be able to convince everyone to revolt and follow Darbi and Haku's plan.

But he couldn't do it. Zamor wasn't a general: he was just a fisherman who had found himself in that arena due to a series of bad circumstances. He was brave, sure, but he wasn't willing to sacrifice the lives of others. And in a battle someone always died. If the plan had worked, he might as well have shut down his conscience and sacrificed a gladiator or two; after all, most likely many more would die fighting in fights with the beasts or with each other, so it could be good. But there was one variable that made him think that not just one or two people would die... they would all die. "I already told you. Maybe you trust Haku, but I don't"

Darbi sighed. "Look, I understand that my brother is a little too violent sometimes, and you certainly have your reasons to fear him, but you know he couldn't break his promises even if he wanted to! Why don't you want to trust him, even a little bit?"

"Why?" Zamor made an angry sound. "Because he is what he is, Darbi! He can't be trusted!"

Darbi's gaze became slightly annoyed. "Is it because he's a dragon? Is this truly your motivation?" he asked irritated. "I don't want to judge you, but this seems slightly racist to me..."

"It's not because he's a dragon! It's because he's him!" Zamor answered. "Look, I don't care if your so-called 'brother' has horns or scales or tails or teeth or claws. I don't trust him because he's a callous opportunist. He has no empathy or morality whatsoever. I see it clearly from his eyes: he doesn't give a damn about the people in this arena, he would kill them as easily as a farmer cuts down the corn. He wouldn't hesitate for a moment to betray and abandon anyone if it was to his advantage. I know he can't break his promises, but I also know he's smart enough to find loopholes. You know what I think he'll do? He'll use us to get out of here, and then he'll abandon us, and we'll all die at the hands of the city guard. This is my reason. I really wish I could believe that it isn't like that, that we really are all going to flee, but I can't, not if the plan is his. He's dangerous, Darbi. I don't know how you can trust a creature that literally sleeps on the quartered skin of his victims. If you want my advice, don't trust him either: maybe you're useful to him now, but I'm sure he won't hesitate to abandon you too if it gives him an advantage"

Darbi had heard a similar speech before, when Rhaegal had confided in him that he was afraid of Haku. Apparently, some things never changed. Evidently while he was thinking this he must have had a sad or conflicted expression, because Zamor looked at him with a mix of compassion and resentment: "We have nothing more to say to each other. Go back to your 'brother'... and pay attention, because even if now he seems docile, he will bite you when you least expect it"

Zamor started to walk away, but had just taken three steps when Darbi said: "He almost died for me"

The lizardman turned away in surprise, expecting this to be just an apology, but from the expression and the light in Darbi's eyes it didn't look like he was lying. "What?"

"Haku. He almost died for me" Darbi said. "Long ago, when we faced the hydra... I was about to be killed. He could have escaped. He had all the means necessary to do it and get to safety. He could have abandoned me. He chose differently. To save my life, mine and that of some of our other... friends... he chose to die. He was convinced he was going to die. He killed the hydra and exposed himself to its venom in the process. Miraculously he survived... but he didn't think that he would. He was convinced that he would have died that day. And yet, he chose to save my life and that of many others by sacrificing his own"

Zamor was speechless. He kept looking for signs that Darbi was lying, yet he found none. The tone of voice, the look, the expression: everything presaged sincerity. Either he was a very good liar, or he was telling the truth. But Zamor had a hard time believing that Haku actually almost sacrificed his life for someone else. "I never thought it was possible"

"I know" Darbi said. "But that wasn't the only time he helped me. There was a time in my life... not so long ago... when I felt like I'd lost everything. I didn't know what would happen to me. In which I saw nothing but darkness in my future. Haku could have left me there. To him I was just a burden, a useless burden. He could have abandoned me and many others, and thought only of himself as dragons normally do. He had all the means to survive alone in this cruel world, he didn't need me, he didn't need us. Yet, despite this, he still chose to take us with him. He studied a way for us to reach a secure future, he worked day and night to prevent anything bad from happening to us, he did everything for us. Many of us would have died of starvation or killed by animals or... other people... if it hadn't been for him. He didn't surrender, not even in the darkest moments. He gave us a goal, no... he gave us hope"

Zamor listened to her every word with great interest. If someone had told him that one person did so much for other people, he might as well have believed it... but Haku? He didn't think it was possible that the psychopathic dragon he knew was capable of such actions.

Noticing his uncertainty, Darbi put a hand on his shoulder. "Look, I know you don't trust him and you have every right not to. You've only known his worst side, the brutal and heartless side, because that's what he chose to use when he came to this place. But Haku is more than that. I know he's opportunistic, calculating, and even manipulative sometimes... but he's also very protective of those he's attached to, and he'd give his life to protect them. He'd never leave anyone behind. He has a big heart, even if he buried it under several layers of violence, ferocity and cruelty, because if he didn't, neither he nor all those who were dear to him could have survived. But like you and me, he too has dreams, hopes, joys, love, fun, affection. He's not a monster"

Zamor remembered how Haku had protected his slave girl after what had happened a few nights before. Indeed, his actions and his anger did not seem to be dictated solely by the idea that the slave was his property. If it had been for that alone, he would have given a shit about her after punishing the perpetrator. Instead, Zamor had noticed that Haku had begun to behave less dictatorially towards the slave girl after that fateful night, as if he wanted to avoid upsetting her or overstraining her. That wasn't what a cold-hearted monster would have done. Maybe he was really something more than he think?

Darbi shook his head and let out a deep sigh. "Look, I'm not going to ask you to trust him. I know trust can't be built in a day. But think about it, what alternatives do you have? If we stay in this damned arena, none of us will survive another year. We will all die torn apart by the beasts or pierced by the weapons of our own comrades. And you know well that ours will be a dark life, without even seeing the sun except when we will fight, and we will spend every single moment waiting for our time to come. What do we have to lose? If you screw up this opportunity, you screw up your whole life and that of a lot of other people, whether they are the gladiators, your wife or your entire people, and that's... well, that's selfishness"

Zamor bit his lip, then scratched his head. "Well... I guess you're right" he said uncertainly. "I... let me think about it, okay? It's not a decision I can make right away"

Darbi nodded. "I see. Well, I'll tell Haku that you're thinking about it then. I hope you make the right choice"

Zamor inhaled deeply, then walked away and went to sit in a corner alone, thinking. Darbi let him go and went back to the table where the gladiators hadn't yet started playing cards again. "So? What happened?" Gord asked worriedly.

Darbi shook his head. "Better not tell you, trust me. Just know that at least for today Haku won't do anything to him. And that's a good thing, because he was really pissed" he replied trying to make his words seem as plausible as possible.

Brenno let out a soft bellow: "If so, then we need to send you more often to mediate with the dragon. It's the first time anyone has spoken to him and hasn't been torn apart"