Night Thirteen #5

There were occasional noises coming from outside of the location where Inis was hiding just after she had hidden herself.

Heavy footsteps started to become louder outside of the door before the sound of the door being pushed open had followed.

The heavy footsteps followed up with creaking noises of the floor as the person walked further inside.

There was yet another noise created by them finding their way towards their seat and sitting down.

The person in charge of the current building and oversaw the documents or plans had sat back in their chair with their feet up on the desk as they recalled their previous meeting just moments earlier.

A grin appeared on his face as he stroked the stubble under his chin. 'I hope they come to me soon.'

After leaving the building, he went to the restroom nearby that was being used by others who were still patrolling and working late into the night.

Several of his fellow colleagues and subordinates usually ran into him there and he often got to listen to the usual gossip and news that spread around the settlement.

Just as he was growing uninterested, one of the men he was listening to had brought up a topic that interested him.

There were new slaves being brought in and there were so many of them that were still in a decent condition while some were quite pretty.

Some had already been distributed to some people and locations while others would be sent towards the mines after being held in one of the buildings and watched over until they were trained enough to be obedient and carry out tasks upon being commanded.

The man was very bored of seeing the various slaves who were in such poor conditions and were unappealing to look at so he stepped out from his stall before approaching those who were speaking.

He handed them a little of the settlements currency moments later to have someone brought to his room so he was very excited.

Most of the slaves had been through a lot after being used up by their masters or whatever kind of work they had been given.

The slaves were barely even treated like humans and had very little food and water which was only enough to let them continue working.

They were all kept weak enough so they could carry out tasks but not be in a state where they had the power to fight back.

If they had been sent to the mines or a cruel master then their fates were never good while their bodies continued to grow thinner and paler everyday with the addition of whatever wounds and scars they added to what they had already gained.

Some new slaves would receive some interest some those that could afford to purchase them or pay to spend some time with them while they were in a good condition but most usually lost interest in them once the slaves had been worn down by their poor circumstances.

Inis was staying still with her blade readied for combat as she listened to the movements within the room until there was a knock at the door.

An excited voice came from the location of the desk. "Come in."

The door was pushed open and there were some more hurried footsteps which was accompanied with the sounds of something being dragged across the floor and some grunts.

"Is this one satisfactory sir?"

"Hohoho.. you really outdone yourselves this time. You can go now."

"Eek.. no."

The footsteps started to sound fainter as they reached the door and the people exited leaving behind the figure of the person they dragged inside.

Inis started to put together the information from the current series of events along with noises she heard so she quickly came to understand what was taking place.

Her grip tightened on her curved blade and it seemed like she was readying herself to jump out but then suddenly stopped herself.

Her more rational side kicked in all of a sudden even as there were some tearing noises and muffled screams coming from within the room.

"Stop.."

"Shut up slave! Know your place!"

"Ha.. ha… "

As Inis could hear it all taking place from where she was hidden, she thought to herself as if to stop herself from rushing out to slit the man's throat. 'No.. I cannot do that. It would be of no help to anyone.

All I would be doing here is worsening whatever situation they may be in and it would be even more difficult to let myself leave without being discovered if I suddenly rush to help.'

More panting, screaming, sobbing and creaking noises continued for some time which caused Inis to feel more pity towards the woman slave and more murderous rage towards the man yet she continued to repeat her reasonings in her head like a mantra in order to stop any impulsive actions.

Despite wanting to slit the man's throat, Inis continued to remind herself of the current reality.

Each person within the settlement had no status and they were slaves.

They were the property and tools of others with no rights so they were expected to be subjected to such cruel treatment and not be treated like humans or with any kind of respect.

Even as there were sounds of violence and other acts being forced upon the woman who had just become a slave, Inis continued to suppress herself telling herself that she would only make things much worse for the woman.

If she took action then she needed to be fully determined to rescue the woman but that would be unfair to each slave that was within the settlement.

She did not have enough resources to be able to take so many under her and it was much too problematic to try to get even one slave outside of the walls alive especially when the woman slave was unable to take the same route Inis used to enter the settlement.

The only option left was to go through the front gate and that was the most risky plan since it put her on the path to fighting any that blocked the way out.

Another major flaw in killing someone when there was a witness was that the witness could be loud enough to alert others and help expose her being inside the settlement.

The sight of blood and a dead body was more than enough to make anyone scream out loud even if it was done to someone who they held great hatred towards.

It was even more of a problem that Inis was a Gremlin monster which would be seen as something that would kill both people in the room.

It would be very difficult to stop the woman from screaming right away once the man was killed then it would be just as difficult to convince the woman to trust in and leave with her.

The only way to truly save the woman was to commit fully to saving her and helping her escape since any actions taken by Inis would end up coming back to the woman slave who would be punished for what Inis did even if Inis was discovered to be involved.

The woman would be used as an example of what happens when a slave tries to go against their masters so she would have a much crueler end and that was if was given the opportunity to die to end her suffering.

The sobs coming from within the room started to become quieter as the man's groans and breathing became heavier the more time that passed until the room was filled with some footsteps once more followed by the opening of the door and dragging noises once again.