The Serpent's Chains

Chapter 60: Here We Go Again

Sabine

I met with Wyatt in the slums of Vagra. My dark cloak rippled around me in the cool night air. At this time, not even the thugs who roamed the streets in search of easy prey were out. With the gray of dawn on the horizon, the entire capital was quiet.

"Did you have trouble getting out of the palace?" Wyatt greeted.

"No." I shook my head. "Even the guards start to nod off this time of night."

"Do you think you're ready for this?" Wyatt headed down the alley.

"We won't know until I try."

He brought me to a crooked, leaning house with a caved in ceiling. No one lived there anymore. It was probably abandoned years ago.

"She's a little shy. I'm guessing her master didn't value her abilities as much as yours did." Wyatt paused with his hand on the door.

"What do you mean?"

"Apparently, magical slaves fetch a higher price when dealing in flesh."

"Oh..."

My heart clenched. Since coming to the palace, I hadn't seen the slave trade up close. It was almost easy to forget how bad things could get. I couldn't, I wouldn't let myself forget where I came from until no one had to suffer that life. 

"Let me go in first."

"Are you sure?" Wyatt stepped back.

"Yes. I don't want to crowd her. Besides, trying to convince her you're not like the other men she's been brutalized by..."

"Alright."

I pushed the door open and the rusty hinges creaked. The entire house frame shuddered when I stepped inside.

"W-who's there?" a soft, meek voice called from the shadows.

"A friend." I conjured a small light in my hand and pushed the orb into the center of the room.

A dirty, wide-eyed face peered back at me. Her stringy, knotted hair framed her face like a lion's mane.

"Y-you're a mage." Her thin, cracked lips barely moved as she spoke.

"I am. But before I was a mage, I was a slave, like you."

She gasped and retreated into the shadows.

I saw the glint of her collar as she tried to hide.

My light followed me as I walked deeper into the room until all the shadows bowed to the light and there was nowhere for her to hide.

"If you'd let me, I'd like to help you."

"Help me? That man out there... he grabbed me right off the street!"

I winced.

Wyatt and I discussed how we could help magical slaves. The collars prevented them from running away and any act that could be seen as fleeing would result in a lot of pain. 

The only way to get them in a safe place where we could work on the collars would be to essentially kidnap them. Their masters would write them off as losses that way and not come looking for them.

It wasn't perfect but it was the best we could do.

"He wants to help you too. I know it is hard to believe, but he was also a slave once. Now, he helps others when he can."

The girl wrapped her arms around her slight form. Her dress, so similar to the one I used to wear, was stained with more than dirt and blood. She leaned against the wall like a cornered, wild animal.