~-~-~

Tohl is fourteen. In eleven years he will be a man. The shackles binding him cut his wrists and ankles. The other boys are crying. Not Tohl. He believes he spent all his tears years ago. More than that, their sobbing thrills him. He has never heard them suffer like this, the way they made him suffer, and this thrill is what keeps him from the same despair they are in. They are deep into the mountain now, possibly two days forced marching through the subterranean tunnels. They sit in a circle far from the phantom fire their twardow captors use for warmth. The girls are chained in their own circle. This is the first rest the youths have been allowed since capture.

One of the boys, Pil Grimsbill, cries because his feet are bleeding. When he does not stop crying one of the twardow, an elf like them but with skin stained by webbing veins of glowing teal blood, approaches. This is the warning that Pil should stop crying. He does the opposite. He wails. He begs for his mother and father. The twardow has no sympathy, no humor, no mercy. Pil is beaten with a gnarled cudgel tipped with a granite stud. When the act is finished, Pil can’t move. He is alive, but he can’t move. He never makes another sound.

The twardow seems neither pleased nor dissatisfied with this outcome. He looks at the other tuatha boys. He speaks their language —he is an elf after all— but it sounds foreign from his mouth.

“Your crying annoys us. It grates like tiny insects in our ears. We won’t kill you, but we will hurt you if you displease us. We will leave scars. No one will buy a scarred servant, and unbought servants will be Severed. Look to your kin, tuatha.”

He points to the half-dressed elf, a tuatha like the boys, tending to the colossal snails that carry the supplies of the twardow. The elf stares dumbly ahead as he does his task. He acts like he cannot even feel the chill in these tunnels. His head is shaven to display the crescent scar on his temple. Tohl and the other boys understand. The twardow spits on the quivering body of Pil Grimsbill. Last summer Pil Grimsbill threw rocks at Tohl when he swam in the river. Tohl’s mouth makes the faintest smile.

~-~-~

Tohl is fifteen. Today is his birthday, but he does not know it. In ten years he will be a man. Today is also the day they arrive in Luminosa, the mountaintop city their captors originate from. He does not know how long it has been since they left the world below, or how high they are. The city is built into a hollow in the mountain to shield it from the constant winds. The air tastes sour and chills Tohl’s lungs.

He has learned much about the Twardow thanks to his fellow captives. He knows that he and his peers are to be sold as slaves, but some of them are deemed more valuable than others. Pil Grimsbill was beaten without second thought, as were several others, but certain boys, boys like Tohl, caused them to hesitate.

Tohl determined it was aesthetics. Collin Forded was considered the most beautiful and defiant boy in their village. Girls and boys fell over themselves to look at him, and the elders said he would one day be their leader. When Collin attempted to resist orders from the twardow he would not be beaten with the cudgel. Instead, they’d starve him until he apologized. During one of their long forced marches Tohl stuck out his leg so that Collin lost his footing and fell on a sharp rock. He had a teardrop shaped scar now, just below his right eye. The twardow were less forgiving to him after that, and it wasn’t long before he was subjected to the cudgel. Tohl had ruined his beauty. Appropriate, since Collin was the one who gave Tohl his nickname of Taibful Mire, or “Vampire Ghost."

Tohl also knew there was a limit to how much the Twardow would exert themselves to keep their captives alive. One of the girls, Mieka Elysia, attempted to escape. She may have made it had the twardow’s snails not skewered her with a venomous harpoon spat from their mouths. Tohl did not know the snails could do that, nor did he know they were carnivorous until they started to slowly creep towards Mieka. The twardow watched, but made no attempt to save her. They could have, Tohl is certain of that. Mieka was the first girl Tohl had loved, and the first to reject him with cruel laughter.

They are led into a market of pale limestone. Twardow are everywhere. That was the last time any of them saw the girls for they were taken to a different area. The boys are split into three groups. From what Tohl can gather, they are split based on value. The plain-looking and scarred boys are taken to the market to be sold like produce. Tohl gets a last look at Pil Grimsbill who stares ahead, silent and dead inside as if he is already Severed.

There are five in the group Tohl is in, including the Collin. Collin wants to escape, but he has been conditioned to fear that word. Now he can only whimper. They are thrown in a wheeled cage with a black tarp over it. The first time they have been shielded from Twardow eyes. The other four boys talk about what might happen to them. Tohl is silent. His body tingles with excitement.

They arrive in a large hall filled with finely dressed twardow. One by one, they are dragged onto a platform and auctioned. Numbers are the same everywhere, so Tohl knows how much they are being sold for. Tohl feels satisfaction when there are only a few low bids for Collin.

Tohl is the last boy to be auctioned. He is their jewel and he has gone out of his way to not incur the wrath of his captors. When he walks out the audience gasps. Immediately there are many high bids. The twardow shout and squabble amongst themselves over who will claim Tohl Bahn, the albino elf.

~-~-~

Tohl is twenty-three. In two years he will be fully grown. A man. Eight years ago he was bought by Mistress Imelda Zasobny, a widower who controls the cinnabar mines for the city. She calls herself the Cinnabar Empress. Her home is a castle larger than all the houses in Tohl’s village combined. More than any twardow, she values aesthetics above all else. Her outfits are more jewelry than cloth and it takes a team of five servants to dress and paint her for even the most minor events. Tohl is another of her jewels. She parades him at parties like an exotic pet, leash included. When not doing that, he is her attendant. He assists in her day to day life by fetching her clothes, delivering her food, drawing her baths, and other things she does not want to dirty her hands with.

The first few months she would squeal with delight when he entered the room.

“It’s like he’s made of mercury or chalk!” She’d coo, even if there was no one to talk to. “—And he’s all mine. The only albino in the city, and he’s all mine.”

Tohl smugly believed this made him too special to harm, similar to the twardow who captured him. He would soon learn the dangerous temper the Cinnabar Empress had, and how she personally dealt with those that displeased her. The first time Tohl spoke, perhaps a week into his service, she flew into a banshee-like rage and lashed his backside until the blood pooled past his toes. It was the first time Tohl had felt pain as deep and stinging as that. Mistress Zasobny did not want a pet that spoke. When she was finished with him she hired a healer to mend Tohl’s scars.

Still, Tohl was bold. He knew she wouldn’t kill him, and for some reason that gave him the courage to press the boundaries of her displeasure. The lashings were painful, but he could adapt. He adapted to the hatred of his peers back in his village, and he could adapt to this.

Now he is twenty-three. He speaks to Mistress Zasobny regularly, even reads her correspondents aloud for her and discusses her day’s plans. She still parades him at parties, and she still beats him, but now Tohl is ingratiated to her favor. He is valuable beyond his skin.

Today, Mistress Zasobny takes Tohl to examine her businesses in the city. They ride in her personal gondola, which rests on the back of a massive blue tarantula. When she purchased the beast the merchant tried to discourage her. The hairs of the blue mustard spider irritate the skin and can even cause death if ingested. It was used for the military, not civilians. The Cinnabar Empress ignored the merchant. She just wanted something exotic. Aside from a few incidents, the spider has caused little harm to those that mattered. The Twardow value spiders, and all web making creatures. Their mountaintop cities connect by celestial threads to the Cracked Moon, where their glowworm goddess dwells. The Silk Maiden, as they affectionately refer to her, puts value on connecting threads and weaving traps. It shows dominance and intelligence. Mistress Zasobny is quite adept at this. Though she is a widower, she has retained control over the cinnabar trade and has the influence and wealth to do almost anything she pleases.

At one of the jewelry stores Tohl observes what’s become of Collin Forded. The boy had his tongue removed and now serves as a model for the jewelry on display. His merchant master has deigned to give him a scar under his left eye to match the one on his right. Collin does not look at Tohl but he knows the beaming smile Tohl makes when he sees him.

Once their business is complete, Tohl and his mistress head to the slave market. A caravan has recently arrived from a far off city and Mistress Zasobny hopes to find something as equally exotic as Tohl.

“My Albino, I want to try something interesting today.”

She never used his real name, only “My Albino”.

Tohl looks to her with curiosity, which is no doubt what she was fishing for. Her lips purse. “Today I want you to pick out a slave for me.”

Tohl is confused. Of all the things he was expecting, this was not it. Slaves make no public choices. That is the normal Tohl has come to expect. She titters at his expression. He wants to ask her why this is happening, but he sees her preemptively grab the hilt of the lash stowed under her seat. He resists the urge to ask, to challenge her decision, and she is pleased. He is not lashed today.

The slave auction is just how Tohl remembers it. The first three items are Infertiles, Twardow born sterile. Because of their cursed blood, half of all Twardow were infertile and lower class for it. Twardow that could bear children, especially women, they were the masters of this culture. Mistress Zasobny is silent as the Infertiles were brought out. Each had their talents explained and otherwise demonstrated for the bidders. Tohl feels anxiety he hasn’t felt before. This had to be a test. He could feel his Mistress’ cruel smile hidden behind her hand. Tohl decides she wouldn’t want a plain infertile as her newest servant.

The tuatha slaves are next. They were all career slaves that had the same defeated look in their eyes Collin had. Tohl is still immobile. His Mistress isn’t even watching the slaves. She focuses entirely on Tohl. None of the tuatha shown are interesting enough for his Mistress’ tastes.

Then the auctioneer brings out the final item. An elven soldier from the lower lands captured during an attempted liberation of the slaves. The soldier is brought out bound like a wild animal. She’s sedated into a deep stupor. The auctioneer assures the audience this is done so that she does not try to escape, as she has many times before, otherwise harm may come to her great beauty.

And she is beautiful. Even from the distance between them, her perfect face is enough to make Tohl’s heart skip. He wants her.

Mistress Zasobny easily makes the highest bid. She seems pleased with his choice. That night Tohl stands over the woman as she slowly wakes from her sedation. He asks her name and she weakly answers “Billis."

~-~-~

Tohl is twenty-five. He is a man. He looks at Billis as he enters his Mistress’ bed chambers. Billis’ dead eyes stare ahead, the same as they have for the last two years. She was Severed the day following her purchase. His Mistress had told her dinner guests what an amusement it was to watch Tohl panic when the beautiful slave he had picked was taken away and forever robbed of her ability to think for herself. Tohl accepted it as something he should have anticipated. He had let childish emotions control him. He sees Billis often, as she is a bodyguard for the Mistress. Though she was Severed, Billis still retained whatever incredible ability she had as a soldier and, with additional conditioning, she was made into a powerful sentry for the Mistress.

Tohl is a man now. He has had enough of this painful existence. His Mistress thinks she owns him, body, mind, and soul, but today she will learn just how well her albino has learned to act as a weaver.

The seeds of the plan began with the revelation that Mistress Imelda Zasobny, the Cinnabar Empress, was an Infertile. She had done well to cover it up. She was an only child and her parents, both nobles of the city, lied about her true status. When she was wed to the owner of the cinnabar mines, it had always been done with the intent of murdering him before he learned the truth. Tohl knew all this because Mistress Zasobny had told him as much, after he had filled her wine glass a little higher than normal one evening.

Tohl looks at his Mistress, wondering if she has any idea what is about to happen. She is not happy with being bothered at this hour. He tells her that the Master Physician is here with five armed enforcers. Evidently, the Physician is investigating wide circulating rumors that the Cinnabar Empress is an infertile unworthy of her status. Mistress Zasobny is livid. She hasn’t had the time to think of a ruse. She collects several bars of platinum, the most precious of metals, and gives them to Tohl. She intends to bribe her way to a positive diagnosis. She doesn’t remember the night she told Tohl everything.

They meet the Master Physician and her five soldiers in the sitting room. Mistress Zasobny orders wine for herself and her guests. Tohl obliges, bringing a tray with her finest goblets filled with her finest wine. Once she has made herself comfortable, Mistress Zasobny orders Tohl and the other servants to leave the room. This is so they cannot learn the truth about their Mistress should it come up. This is fine for Tohl. He bars the doors to the room.

For an hour the doors of the sitting room are assaulted and pounded on. Horrible screams and choking can be heard. When Tohl reenters the room he finds his Mistress on her knees coughing up bile and blood. She’s dying, but she still wastes her energy screaming at Tohl. Demands. Orders. Threats. He is too busy collecting the bars off platinum off the dead body of the Master Physician. It is only when he hears a sob that he looks to her. She’s begging him to save her. She’s holding on remarkably long. He could say every foul thing he’s ever thought of her. He could beat her just as she beat him. He won’t, because Billis is watching and she still belongs to the Mistress, so Tohl just smiles.

The wine had been poisoned. A slave can’t purchase poison without their owner present, and Imelda Zasobny kept her poisons locked where Tohl didn’t have access, but he did have access to his Mistress’ blue mustard spider and its toxic hairs. Once Imelda Zasobny chokes on her last breath, Tohl turns to Billis. What’s left of her mind is shattering. She has only one duty: to protect the Mistress, and now the Mistress is dead. Tohl holds her face. He tells her she belongs to him now. This makes sense in the mind of a Severed and she ceases her panic. She will do whatever he says now.

~-~-~

Tohl is twenty-six. He is a free man. He and Billis have been on the run for many months, descending the mountain tunnels until they reach Saknussemm, the Under Continent. Billis protects Tohl, and Tohl gives them direction. They have found safety in a cavern of dwarves. The dwarves have seen runaway slaves before and give the two food and bedding out of the goodness of their hearts. For the first time Tohl feels the kindness of strangers. The dwarves bring a healer who could start the process of mending Billis’ wounded mind. Tohl cannot have that. He orders her to kill the healer. She obeys. When the dwarves attack in defense, he orders their execution as well. They flee the town.

In one of the dark tunnels the two find a spot to camp. Billis is crying. Tohl doesn’t know how she is doing it, but her eyes are leaking tears and she's making soft sobs. He holds her face and explains his motives. He cannot have her be healed because she might leave him, and he loves her just the way she is. For the first time, Tohl kisses her. Holds her like a lover.

She doesn’t stop crying.

Tohl becomes angry. He shouts at her. Tells her that she owes him everything and that her tears displease him.

She doesn’t stop crying.

Tohl no longer touches her as a lover. He strikes her like a master. He is weak and can’t even bruise her, but he still does it. He believes violence may be the only language she understands now.

She. Doesn’t. Stop. Crying.

Fed up with this, Tohl orders her to be silent. She obeys, even if her soul desperately doesn’t. She ceases her sobs and soon her tears dry. She has not made a sound since.

~-~-~

Tohl is twenty-seven. He has been a free man for two years. He and Billis made it to the surface and found the light blinding. Tohl can’t stand to stay in Old Vadalis. The faces of his kin spark nothing but hate in his soul. The two board a ship bound for Finis in the Western Continent. They receive much attention from the other passengers, but Billis makes an example of one and the rest keep their distance after. Tohl does not know what life he’ll live in Finis, but with the platinum bars he can afford whatever life he wants. He finds he cannot stop seeing teal lights everywhere.

~-~-~

Tohl is twenty-eight. He has been a free man for three years. He looks out over the horizon. He must decide what he is to do. The guards will be here soon.

It didn’t have to happen like this. He and Billis have been in Finis for a year. They do not need to work, for Tohl’s fortune provides for everything. Billis still protects Tohl from prying eyes and Tohl still festers with hatred.

Tohl is something of a local oddity, and the stories of him spread to the king of this land, an old coatlmade called Fernnal the Seeker. Fernnal is obsessed with finding immortality and he has heard of obscure legends that albinos have hidden magic. It’s not true and never has been. The king personally visits Tohl and makes an offer to live in the palace as a servant to the king. Tohl refuses. The king insists. Something in his tone stirs a deep memory within Tohl. It is the same tone his Mistress used.

He demands Billis gore the king on her sword. She obeys. When the king’s protectors attempt revenge, Tohl fears Billis cannot match them, but she does. She is wounded in many places, but she is victorious.

They must flee again, but to where, and what will they do?

Tohl looks out over the horizon. He notices a glowing worm crawling up his hand.

~-~-~

Tohl is thirty. He has been a free man for five years. He has just returned from his visit to Outpost Onx. He cannot linger here, there are preparations to be made in Spiral City. There is also an interesting development in Ramuff that he could use to his advantage.

Tohl has learned much since he was fourteen. He knows how to control people, how to manipulate fear and hate, he knows what it looks like when someone is eaten by a snail, he knows how much gold his person is worth, he knows that some nights he wakes up in pain as old wounds aches, he knows that no one can best Billis in battle and that she is entirely loyal to him alone, he knows the steps he must take to fulfill his mission, and he knows that he will never allow himself to be beneath anyone ever again.