Chapter 10: Pain
The creature came to a halt in front of him, its reptilian eyes squinting. The atmosphere in the barracks became stifling. Mordred felt his stomach knot under the pressure of that inhuman gaze. Had he done something wrong?
The monster sniffed loudly, then clicked his tongue contemptuously.
- You.
His voice was deep, gravelly, imbued with cold brutality.
Mordred didn't reply.
He didn't know what to say.
The other slaves kept their heads down, staring at the ground as if they'd ceased to exist.
Mordred felt his instincts screaming. Something was wrong.
The monster raised a clawed hand and brought it down on him without warning.
A searing shock exploded in his skull.
His vision went black.
The ground slammed into his back and he gasped for breath. The pain radiated up to his neck. A sticky heat ran down his forehead.
He'd just hit him.
Like hitting a recalcitrant animal.
Mordred shivered as he felt the warm liquid drip down his arch. Blood. His own blood.
- How dare you look me in the eye, you miserable insect!
Mordred's eyelids widened.
Was it for this?
He hadn't even realized...
A deathly silence reigned in the barracks. Not one slave moved, not one tried to help him.
It was normal, wasn't it?
They knew.
They knew that if they tried anything, they'd die.
Mordred, still stunned, tried to sit up.
A violent kick sent him tumbling to the side.
A bone cracked. He suffocated under the pain and rolled on the dusty ground, his body shaking with spasms.
He tried to inhale, but his ribs were screaming.
He'd broken it.
He'd really broken it.
The creature crouched down to his level and clawed at his face, digging its fingers into his cheek and chin. Its hot, fetid breath crashed against his face.
- Eyes down. Still.
His fingers squeezed even harder.
The pain was unbearable.
Mordred grunted, his pride refusing to give way, but a spasm of pain finally forced him to look away.
The monster laughed and brutally released him.
Mordred could still feel the burning pain on his face as the monster slowly straightened up, towering over him like a shadow of death. Blood ran down his cheek, sticky, hot, a cruel reminder of his weakness.
He was nothing.
The oppressive silence in the barracks was broken only by the mincing breathing of the slaves, some trembling with fear, others frozen in icy resignation. No one moved. No one dared.
And then, the monster sneered, again.
- Hmph. Weak. Just as I thought.
His laugh resounded, icy, cruel. He ran a forked tongue over his sharp teeth, as if already savoring the next kill.
Isaac didn't move. He couldn't move.
His chest heaved with difficulty, each breath a torture. He knew his ribs had taken a nasty blow. Maybe broken. Maybe worse.
But what frightened him most...
was the looks on other people's faces.
No one was looking at him directly, but he could feel their despair. Their silent pity.
As if they already knew what was going to happen to him.
As if he were already dead.
- Today's special day! Half of you will be sent to the quarries. The other half to the Colosseum. Isn't that great?
Isaac felt his stomach knot.
A murmur of terror ran through the assembly. Some closed their eyes, others clenched their jaws, fists clenched so tightly that their fingernails dug into their flesh.
- Those who come back alive will be allowed to eat.
It was like a sledgehammer blow to Mordred's chest.
He understood.
This world didn't want him to survive.
- You.
With a flick of its claw, the creature pointed to a dozen slaves.
Men, women. All as dirty, skinny and exhausted as each other.
And finally, him.
- And you.
Mordred's blood ran cold.
He forced himself to swallow his saliva, but his throat was as dry as sand.
He turned his head slightly towards the girl who had awakened him.
Mordred saw her shoulders slump imperceptibly. A tiny, almost imperceptible reaction... but one that spoke volumes.
She too had understood.
She too knew what it meant.
And yet... she didn't scream. She didn't protest.
She accepted.
Not with courage. Not with strength.
But with resignation.
She inhaled slowly, as if to steady her breath, and hesitated.
For a moment, her gaze drifted to Mordred.
Her lips parted slightly... but no words came out.
She wanted to tell him something.
She wanted to talk to him.
But she slowly closed her mouth and lowered her head.
No good-byes.
No words.
Just a mournful silence.
And all the way through, she didn't raise her head.
She didn't struggle.
She didn't resist.
She just walked.
And just before disappearing into the shadows of the corridor, she glanced back one last time.
Her eyes found those of Mordred.
And in that gaze...
There was no anger, no fear, no pleading.
Just an overwhelming sadness.
An immense weight, a terrible acceptance of his own end.
As if, until the very last moment, she wanted to say to him:
"It's all right."
As if she already knew she'd never see these walls again.
Mordred felt his stomach turn as she disappeared from his vision.
Then the creature smiled, revealing teeth covered with bits of flesh still trapped between its fangs.
- Bring them in.
Two more monsters entered the hut. Smaller, but just as terrifying.
They wore whips. And they'd been used before.
Mordred could see shreds of dried flesh clinging to the straps.
A cold shiver ran down his spine.
A man designated for the quarries fell to his knees, too weak, too thin.
- Please... not there... not yet... he whispered in a broken voice.
The monsters didn't react.
One of them raised his whip and brought it down with all his might.
An abominable crack echoed through the air.
Mordred saw the unfortunate man's flesh split open, a bright red streak opening on his back like a screaming mouth.
The man collapsed to the ground, convulsing in pain.
- Get up, slave.
A second blow landed.
Then a third.
A fourth.
The man stopped screaming.
He didn't move.
Mordred felt his stomach twist.
He was going to vomit.
He was going to collapse too.
One of the monsters turned to him, its forked tongue clicking against his palate.
- You, move.
He wanted to run.
To flee.
But he knew that wasn't an option.
So, despite his broken body, despite the all-consuming fear, he moved forward.
In this world, the only option was to obey...
...or die.