With the council's demise, it was time to consolidate power for Sharla's father. For that reason, anyone loyal to his faction was kept close at hand. Anyone with an ounce of brain matter kept their head down during this time. I was freed from my patrol duties, and even guard duty as Sharla met with her father most of the day. Her not seeing a need to keep me to guard her now that the council was dead.

It was time to try and set the first part of my plan in motion or at least attempt to.

What better place to plan the downfall of the Black Dragon sect than the apartment of the sect leader's daughter. Nobody would be stupid enough to come in unannounced. And if Sharla returned she would expect me here anyway.

I got to work testing combinations of runes with the one I got from the Kin Kla-ra. Alone the rune was middling at best. It seemed to cause the wearer to grow about ten percent. While that might interest the people who invented Viagara, it didn't interest me. I needed the rune to affect the item it was carved into, not the person wearing it.

Eventually, I found a combination that worked. I ended up using the runic letter for constraint. Now the books I read didn't all agree on the meaning of some runes. Others had multiple meanings. I didn't care what those extra meanings were as long as they worked for my needs. Now I needed to enhance the first rune's effect. I decided on the rune for strength.

This is when I ran into an issue. The constraint rune reduced the power of the other runes. I had to think about the issue for a bit. Eventually, I decided to put the runes into a knot design to see how that affected them. I had to think about what I wanted. I don't think the trinity design would work. All that did was connect the runes. I had three things to accomplish with my design. I needed it to expand, to constrain the power to the item, and I would need to hide my rune from view.

I can't imagine Sharla would be pleased with me if she knew I modified my collar. If she found out before I was ready she would likely kill me. I found the perfect rune to prevent that, it would be difficult for me to carve since it was so ornate. Odin's illusionary rune stood for camouflage and deception according to my books. It fit my needs perfectly. Now I just needed to figure out how to put them all together.

The knot design I decided to go with represented eternal life, or so the book said. Two interlocking ovals looped through an outer circle. A simple design that should fit my three needs. I carved the outline of the design. Then I filled the first oval with the growth and strength rune. I filled the second oval with the constraint rune. Then I filled the last circle with four sets of the Odin rune. It was just as time-consuming as I thought it would be.

As I finished the last rune the whole design faded away on the plate. It had been a success. I tugged on the plate to try and expand it. What I found was that I could only expand it in one direction. Not exactly what I was going for. I stuck the failed piece into my ring and started over.

This time I filled both ovals with the growth and strength runes. Then I put the constraint runes in the voids made by the ovals. Last I added the four Odin runes like before. I waited for the carving to fade from view and tested my work. It worked. The plate nearly doubled in size. I checked its stats just to see.

Runic metal plate: Expands up to 75% of its original size when pulled on. Rune is camouflaged and constrained to this piece.

I gave a tired smile. My plan could proceed now. I looked out the window to see that it was starting to get dark. Sharla would return soon, I cleaned up my tools and mess and went to await her at the door.

It was another three days before I could get back to working on my plan. Not because I was busy but because I was in too much pain to do anything. Sharla had made good on her promise to restore my scars. She cooed at me during the beating, letting me know that if I just behaved she wouldn't have to punish me like this.

My bottled rage fought me the entire time. It's like it knew something was going to change and it demanded out. I fought that, more than I felt the pain from Sharla's ministrations. I kept having to repeat the mantra in my head, 'in due time, rest.' Over and over again, until the rage subsided.

As soon as I was free, I got back to work. I had two of the older style collars still, from when I was with the caravan. I took one from my ring and set it on the table. I stared at it for what felt like hours. I couldn't afford to fuck this up. I inspected the ring with the jeweler's loupe I purchased so long ago. The collar was less than an inch wide. It would take precise carving to get the entire design on the piece. I let out a breath and took out my smallest carving instrument. I clamped the collar between some large hardcover books, it would do in place of a vice.

I got to work, first laying out the lines of the design carefully. I stopped every few minutes to inspect my work. Three hours passed as I carved the last rune on the second oval ring. I had to take a break, my fingers and arms were cramping up from the strain of holding them in position so long.

It was a good thing I did. Sharla came home as I was in the main room stretching. All my gear was in "my room" although I was usually forced to sleep on a small pad next to her bed like some pet. I nearly froze as she entered. I quickly remembered that she never entered the other room unless I was there. My body was tense as I waited to see if she stumbled upon my work. The partially finished work was lying out in the open, just begging to be discovered.

She looked at me briefly before she headed to her room. Upon her return, she stopped.

"You have been lazy these past few days. Go train in the arena, I can't have you going soft on me," She said with a leer towards my crotch.

Screw cold water, her gaze caused more shrinkage. If my balls could shrink inside my stomach they would have.

"Yes, mistress," I replied, heading straight out the door. I couldn't give her any reason to look into the room. I could only hope the item sat undiscovered until I returned to retrieve it.

It was three agonizing days before I could check to see if the item was undisturbed. I was almost manic with worry. As soon as she left me to my own devices I hurried back to the apartment as quickly as I dared, without raising any alarm.

The modified collar was where I had left it, untouched. I collapsed to the floor in relief. Once I managed to pull myself together I got back to the work. I managed to finish the rest within an hour. I felt like I was running out of time and needed to finish the first stage of my plan before someone found out or something went wrong. At least then I could just escape.

The carving faded from the collar. I could feel that it was stable, my runes were not designed to interface with the enchantment this time around. So there were no worries of the collar exploding. Time to see if all my hard work paid off.

I tugged at the collar. It expanded in my hands like one of those Hoerman spheres, only in two axes instead of three. The girth did increase along with the diameter but it was minuscule so I deemed it unimportant. I pushed the ring back down to its original size. I needed to be faster if I wanted this plan to work. That's when an idea hit me.

It took me twice as long to carve my new idea out. Making sure to hide my work if I ever left. Over the next week, I finished my project. In my hand, I held a stamp with the reverse of my design. It had taken me much longer than my first successful carving because doing a reverse design was extremely difficult. I had to start over three times.

I also had to figure out how to harden the piece of metal to make it last. Judicial use of my lava and regenerating rain made it so I was at least partially successful. I took out a plate and tapped the end of my design into it with my little work hammer. The stamp worked, transferring the design correctly. I waited nervously for the image to fade. After about thirty seconds it faded away.

It was much slower than when I carved it manually, but it looked to work. I let out a sigh of relief, then checked the item.

Runic metal plate: Expands up to 50% of its original size when pulled on. Rune is camouflaged and constrained to this piece.

Ok, so not as effective as carving it manually but it should be sufficient for anyone to slip the collar off of their head. I stamped it on my last collar to make sure. It would be a tight fit for some people but it should be enough. Now for the tough part.

I lay my head sideways on the table. I had a hard surface supporting the collar, and I was looking into the room's mirror. I gingerly positioned the stamp on the flat of the collar. Then I brought my hammer up, resting it on the stamp. I double-checked everything was flat and in position and gave the end of the stamp a solid whack.

The blow seemed to echo in the small room. I sat up and turned the collar to get a good look. All of the lines seemed to transfer over correctly. I waited in anticipation for the design to fade. Eventually, it disappeared like the others. I had done it. I even avoided the command not to damage the collar, because I knew it wouldn't harm it. Getting up I cleared my workspace, then I walked to the front door making sure it was locked. I gingerly grabbed both sides of the collar and pulled.

The collar expanded and I was able to slip it over my head with an inch to spare. I held it in one hand while I rubbed at my neck with the other. For almost four months I wore that damned collar. I looked at it, wanting to toss it to the side and escape right now. It would be so easy to just run away. Instead, I slipped the collar back on and shrank it back down to its original size. It was time to start getting my revenge.

I had a general idea of what I planned to do. I wanted to create sleeper agents in the guise of slaves. This was easier said than done. First off, I didn't know who to trust. I would need to find people smart enough not to blow their cover, as well as those motivated to see the downfall of the sect.

Some slaves had embraced their condition and were in support of the Black Dragons. Those were usually the ones not forced to fight daily or were not tortured like I was. While I could hate these weak individuals, I couldn't fault them for their choice. Who wouldn't choose to live in relative safety and security?

This limited my options as I didn't know that many slaves. Eventually, my decision came down to Moana the chemist. While she was a non-combatant she also fought regularly in the arena and was good friends with Sheila, who I also wished to pull to my side. I didn't completely trust Sheila though so thought it better to have her friend at risk of discovery along with me. Perhaps that would keep her honest. Now I just needed to get Moana alone.