One of the soldiers opened the doors of the cage.

“Get out.”

Galar was the first one to exit and to Raijen’s surprise, but evidently not to the others, as they were all waiting for it, he hurled himself onto the soldier. Taking him down with a knee into the face cracking his neck with the kind of noise Raijen didn’t hear that often. In the stunning moments of silence Raijens mind was in chaos.

What is the plan? Was I so out of it, that I have missed the whole planning on our way here?!

Staring at the others as they followed the cadet out of the cage he saw the boys scatter. Causing chaos in the attempt for at least some of them to make their escape successful in the cracks of the slacking soldiers, who didn’t expect any resistance from mere slaves.

Raijens could tell his mind was processing the information in an overly logical and complicated way again, unable to make the decision if to follow or not. He saw Maori take down one of the soldiers and make his way for the streets of the city.

Two of the cadets were taken down, one got spear rammed into his back, black iron tip spilling blood and guts all over the paved road. The other got his hand cut off when reaching for the spear on the ground. The last two made it to the alleys killing four soldiers between themselves. Taking one sword and a spear and disappearing in the bustling streets of the border city.

“After them! Don’t let those bastards get away!”

The commanding officer bellowed and fifteen soldiers immediately followed the cadets into the streets of the Merqes.

There is no way I can manage that.

Still sitting in the cage Raijen’s mind was justifying his inability to act in any way.

The chances of escaping are pretty much the same as they killing me. I don’t like those odds, I can’t risk it, can I?

“Check the corpses, I want to know who the fuck are these slaves if they are slaves at all!”

Staring at the alley the commander turned to look at the cage with rage in his eyes, they went wide, with surprise quickly turning into hate. His face quickly turned into a frown, his mouth twisted in disgust and savage smirk manifested on his lisp as he realized there is still one left.

“Get that one out, carefully, bind him, and get him here.”

Five of the soldiers followed the orders coming near the cage, shields up and spears leveled.

“Get out, slowly.”

One of the men growled, his eyes didn’t even blink. Lovering his head and rising hands Raijen slowly shuffled out of the cage.

Yea there was no way for me to escape, I was right. This is the right decision.

Getting to the border of the cage exit one of the spears dug into his gut, the sharp point sends chills through his belly and legs, penetrating the skin.

“Far enough, try something and I’ll spill your innards on the ground like the other rat.”

Giving into the pain Raijen sunk onto his knees, feeling the cuff of his shirt pulled, someone dragged him out on the ground and across the cobbles in front of the commander.

“What the fuck are you?”

“Slave.”

Before even finishing the sentence his head rolled back, jaw on the verge of dislodging from the steel cap of the boot. Pulling on Raijens hair hard enough to rip it from the scalp the men groveled into Raijens face.

“Lie to me again, and I’ll personally take you apart in one of the torturing chambers in this city. And then sell your parts as the pig food.”

Raijens stomach churned at the smell of wine and grounded beef from the men's mouth.

“Commander, none of the bodies has any sign of the brand. I don’t know who they were, but it sure as hell wasn’t slave trade which we intercepted.”

Of course! None of the kids had any branding when we first come to the Vultures, they couldn’t, so we would not be traceable back to our origin. And you don’t get Vulture brand before you are fully initiated. If you die in the training you are just a nameless corpse, you don’t belong anywhere.

A small smile almost broke on Raijens face, but realizing what they could and would do to him if he started grinning made his face froze. He gripped his tight and forced the fingers into the skin, drawing blood under his nails. His face turned into one full of pain, contorting muscles in his face to fake fear and obedience as they were taught.

Raijen looked up at the commander when he heard his voice again, feeling the real tears in his eyes from the pain in his leg.

“I don’t know who they were, I was taken from Kargar and they put them in the cage on the road later.”

Wind run out of his lungs as Raijen was sprawled on the paved road. Feeling the blood on his tongue from the kick in his belly he could see the red clouds in the sky as the tears seeped from his eyes. He didn’t need to fake anymore, genuine fear started to set in for the first time in the last five days. Raijen could feel his breath quicken, with a sheen of sweat spreading over his body.

These people aren’t listening! They probably didn’t even care, for all they care I can die as well. I will die regardless of the truth, fuck I don’t even belong here!

Grabbing the left sleeve of his shirt Raijen gave it the last of his fading strength and resolve to tear it off. Exposing the tanned hand with the scarred skin of the badly healed brand.

The commander was looking at him, with his hazel eyes, not sure if he should just kill him, or believe what he just saw. Raijen wasn’t sure what was in the man's head, he was clearly struggling, emotions surging in his mind, anger battling with the logic and orders. He was told to sell the slaves and bring extra food in for the unit. If he were to return, with nothing but dead bodies of his soldiers flogging would be the least of his punishment. Looking at one of his soldiers he forced the words through gritted teeth.

“Which house is that?”

“Looks like chain links, but it is disfigured and badly healed, I have never seen anything like it.”

“We should kill him, commander. Little buggers killed three of ours.”

The soldier said as he leveled the spear at the boy, ready to run him through. Staring at the guy in the lead all Raijen could hope for was the commander obeying his orders to at least some degree.

“Go find someone from the local House of Chains. I want to set up an auction. Tell them we found a battle slave with the training.”

“You can’t be serious!”

One of the soldiers shouted in the protest.

The officer slapped him across the face with the gauntlet, bringing him to the ground.

“You should remember with whom you speak! We were given orders by the senior captain, and we are going to deliver what we can. If I was you I would prepare for whatever punishment he decides to give us for fucking over something as simple as selling a bunch of filthy slaves.”

Soldiers grunted while squeezing the wood of the spears, one of them went to the town while another started pulling Raijen up and binding his hands by a cord around wrists and elbows, with one loop going around his neck, to make it extra uncomfortable.

Going bound through the Merqes with no shoes and on a display for everyone to see, was more degrading then Raijen imagined. In the past life, the imagination of similar situations prevailed in his mind. Raijen was always imagining the situation, how he would handle it, how to find an escape through the defenses of the soldiers. How to get rid of the chains and escape the city into the wilderness to survive the mountain and the forest.

And now, everyone was looking at him and even if their attention was not entirely on him, but on the soldiers escorting him in what he thought was the center square, he couldn’t shake the feeling of their eyes off of him. The pressure building inside of him, the realization that the fantasy and reality are simply two different concepts, which he couldn’t hope to comprehend entirely in the comfort of his bed with a book in the hand.

Now people were judging, evaluating, dismissing and pitying. What was really in their heads might have been just indifference, as there were dozens of slaves around, bound, on a display or working for some master or another.