Chapter Four - Flores Nocte Dieque

*** Leo Cazador ***

I was back in the auction warehouse looking at the slave cages, among the new slaves was a mother and child, the woman looked haggard and worn. The child was no more than a newly born infant. The woman was a desert elf, unlike the forest elves, desert elves were tan and just as beautiful as their paler porcelain counterparts. Such elves had only one kind of life in slavery, prostitution, the child too, with time would grow in the brothels and be taught the way of pleasing entertainment.

I looked at the elven woman and pitied her and her child, it was not a fair life, more than likely the child would not reach her middle years before succumbing to the embrace of death by her own hand or disease. Their beauty was their curse. I have seen many elves go through the warehouse, some I have even seen buried while others disposed of. Not many survive the first few months, those that do only do so because they are broken. While entering the brothels is a challenge, as a child I am always turned away as soon as I am discovered, I have snuck into a few. Sometimes I still shudder at the images engraved in my mind. They are cesspools of depravity and information, if not for all that I learned there I would have long ago used my mastery of the world forces to level the establishments.

The cage was sealed with mediocre but sturdy spells, it would require me unleashing my crimson eyes to free her as my progress with simple magic was still rudimentary.

*** Yavi ***

After my caravan fell to the raiders on my way towards my family in the northern desert of my home continent I was shipped around from slave master to slave master. They had not been able to find someone to pay the price for me and my child, not that there was no one who wasn’t willing, it’s just that our kind are expensive. We rarely leave our home desert oasis so capturing one of us is rare by standard, which unfortunately makes us very sought after by slavers.

We were attacked by a great number of bandits, they were trained will in taking caravans, while taking on elves is no easy feat their experience gave them the edge. I had never seen elves be so easily slaughtered.

I was already too tired to cry and my body to weary to do anything more than cradle my child, my child that would suffer a fate worse than my own. Poor, poor child. To never know freedom and the life in the desert among her kind, how truly cursed her life will be. Many times I contemplated snuffing her life out, she didn’t deserve to suffer for years, and sometimes I would almost convince myself that it was best to suffer only for a short while. Yet, every time I would see her face I found myself losing all resolve to free her, how could a mother possibly harm her own child?

Even if it freed her I could not bring myself to do it, it started becoming clear that I should instead resolve to suffer the pain of knowing that my daughter would be the object of men’s desires and pleasure for years to come due to my own weakness. I stroked her sleeping face.

Today I would be yet again on display for another set of nobles and brothel owners, I could only hope that the person who finally buys me also buys my daughter so that we may not be separated. It was rare for family to stay together in slavery, most would even be sold in separate nations.

There was a rattling against the cage, it was barely audible, I looked up to find a young boy barely a year older than my own child.

“I can free her,” the child said, his voice was soft and it was weak as if he was not used to speaking at all. “I…can free only her.”

I wanted to believe what I was seeing but it was completely ludicrous, yet the more I looked at the child the more I believed. He placed each hand on two of the bars and began to strain, the magic seal containing my own magic popped up to defend against the child’s actions but the bars gave way regardless. The bars bent just enough for my child to fit through, I hesitated at first, the eyes of the child were unnatural. They glowed blood red and he exuded an unnatural power.

I looked down at my child one more time and resolved myself, it was better to gamble on this strange child than to leave my daughter in the hands of a brothel master. At the very least if the boy was only taking my daughter to her death then she would not likely suffer long as compared to the years inside a brothel or harem of some noble.

The boy took my child in his arms then waited looking at me intently, at first I didn’t understand what he wanted.

“The name,” his words softly left as a whisper from his lips.

“Sophia,” I said after some time.

Satisfied the boy slightly bowed his head, when he lifted his head again his eyes were glowing strongly now, it sent shivers down my spine and for a moment I wanted to snatch my child back but the boy vanished like a whisper.

*** Leo Cazador ***

I looked at the child in my arms as I moved through the city like a blur, I was cocooned in dense mana that surrounded the child as well. She had the tan characteristics of her people, her eyes were a creamy marble green that shined liked polish jewels and her silky rich earthly brown hair had gold flecks.

It took me a moment to realize that I had taken on a responsibility that was far greater than I had expected. Where would I keep her? How would I feed and care for her? I stopped midway to the castle rather shocked that I had acted impulsively, even more so, stupidly. I panicked, the child’s life and future now completely depended on me, what have I done?

After a moment I noticed the baby stirring. Its feeble hand reached out towards me.

I wanted to smack myself, but that would require putting the child down, no, instead I resolved myself to take full responsibility for her.

My decision to save the child had me lurking for a week getting milk from the few cows I knew existed in the city milking them before their owners had a chance to. I kept Sophia hidden in the emptier wings of the castle moving her around so that she would not be found during the few moments I would leave her alone. I was constantly tired due to the fact that I had to keep her cocooned so that her cries would not give her away. The strain on my mind was draining, but it did not feel like a burden.

In time I warded a room with powerful seals using spell circles that were of my own making, this room was in an empty part of the castle. The wards would keep people from thinking about the room, from finding it, and from entering it as well as from hearing or sensing anything from within. There I began to raise her in seclusion from the world and from those who would choose to do her harm.

And like this time went by.

When she finally turned two, and I four, I started bringing her with me to the outside world beyond the castle walls. She would meet with many of the people I had grown acquainted with, her favorite was Helton and his daughters, one of which was just a year older than her which was just perfect.

Many of the times we went to Helton I contemplated leaving the girl with them, but it was far too dangerous and irresponsible to do so. I have confidence that unless I face a mage of greater power no one can take the girl directly away from me, but from Helton? He is no warrior much less an apt practitioner of magic to face off against mages. If anyone discovered Sophia they could easily take her away from him and probably end up killing him and his entire family.

That was the value of a desert elf.

I found myself playing the daddy, I trained her and taught her as needed, shaping her into the lady she would one day be.

I largely didn’t mind taking on the responsibility of being the girl’s guardian, she learned quickly and was rather obedient for her age. She had even begun to talk though her speech was still rudimentary.

*** Gianna Cazador ***

“What do you mean it’s decided?” I asked with clear venom in my voice.

“We will win the other tribes if they know the fallen chief’s daughter is marrying your son,” king Edwards replied in a calm manner. I wanted to rip off his head and feed it to the fish in the lake beyond the city walls, my hands trembled from so much anger that I slammed them down on his desk. We were in his office, he was sitting while I couldn’t find it in myself to sit down and stay calm, I needed to pace.

“The other tribes mean nothing,” I retorted. “An organized campaign could crush all the known tribes in just a few years.”

“I don’t need them against Boraia,” he replied. “We will benefit if they side with us willingly. Marrying your son to Eleanor is not so bad if it means the prosperity of the country.”

“You should have talked with me before giving an official statement to all the remaining chiefs,” I gritted my teeth restraining myself to speaking as calmly as I could muster.

“The marriage is years away,” he stated. “Anything can happen between then and now. I apologize for deciding your son’s future without giving you time to adjust to the idea but it is a necessary action.”

There was a brief moment of silence.

“Besides you have grown attached to the girl no?” he stated more than asked. It was true, I had been treating the baby girl as if she were my own almost since she had been brought to the castle. The child was simply adorable and I did love her as if she were my own. Thinking about it now in a much more calmer state of mind I don’t think I would in fact mind seeing my son marrying little Eleanor.

“Yes, you are right,” I nodded my head calming down further. “It just took me by surprise, your decision that is, that it clouded my mind for a moment. I am sorry.”

“No, you were right,” he said accepting my apology. “He is bare four years of age, a new mother always is most aware and ready to strike for the sake of her own children, I should have eased this matter on you.”

“Thank you for your consideration,” I sighed. “Though it may be in retrospect.”

“By the way,” he changed the subject. “How is my grandson? I have not seen him lately.”

Neither have I, I almost said then held my tongue. What kind of mother hasn’t seen where her own four year old boy is currently? What has he been doing lately? He was far too independent for his own age, it made me feel rather lonely and empty to know he only sought me for meal time nowadays. The gaping hole he left was what probably made me draw in little Eleanor into my own heart to fill the emptiness of always finding my nest empty.

“I’m sure he is wandering around as usual,” I replied. “The boy loves his independence.”

“Indeed,” the aging man nodded. “The boy was never a normal one was he? I have great hopes for him.”