"Ok that's enough, leave the poor thing alone." Aryzath snapped pulling Magnius aside and away from Silf who flinched rather drastically. "Yah can do all that later, let me get the poor girl's hair set right."
Magnius scowled but relented. He had enough to work with, for now, he hoped. Not that it was much to work with honestly. He'd have to make due for now though.
"Ok deary, stand up," Aryzath said, setting the bucket of hot water on the table. "I need'ya to lay on the table with yah head hanging off the edge. Got to soak that matted mop of your so's I can work them knots out." She said setting two different bottles beside the bucket.
As Silf stood, confused but complacent, Aryzath poured from each bottle a generous amount of whatever strange substance was held within and stirred the mixture with her hands. A thick frothy foam formed on the water's surface.
Silf could smell it. Lavender. It was shampoo.
Magnius wasn't exactly sure how she intended to do it but this sounded a little ... much? "Really, on my table?" He asked, crossing his arms as he looked to Aryzath for an explanation.
"Yes, on yah damn table." She barked back, getting in his face and prodding his chest with a finger. "I'm not about to ask her to get on all fours like a bloody undignified animal!"
Magnius wasn't sure he agreed or understood the reasoning so he simply shrugged. "Just clean up when you're finished." He sighed, starting to understand after a little thought.
By having Silf lay on the table she could lower her hair into the bucket positioned on a chair under her. It would probably be easier than having her hang her head under a sink or kneeling on all fours.
Silf didn't look reassured with the entire affair then he did she but didn't look the part to argue. She'd been trained to do as she was told. It would make working with her easier, but that sort of mentality needed to be broken.
Maybe a little confidence building would help, he wondered? If so, this might help her."Silf, please do as Aryzath askes. She'll take good care of you." Magnius said as he turned to leave. "In the meantime, I'm going to the study. When you're finished please bring her there."
With that, he departed leaving the pair to further his preparation with a new blade for a second attempt at removing the collar. The longer Aryzath took, the better actually.
He still hadn't any idea of how the collar was protected but now he knew the length's the collar's craftsmen had gone to ensure obedience. He could assume the same sort of length had been taken to ensure its protection. The logical assumption was that normal means probably wouldn't work.
Cutting it off without a reinforced Chain Breaker was out of the question, and without a buckle or lock, he couldn't simply unfasten it. Not that any collar he'd ever encountered had ever been so simply.
There was also the question of how it was a single strip of leather, to begin with. The work involved to craft such an item would have been far too much for an ordinary leather-smith.
Stripping the hide off an animal and tanning it couldn't have been easy. And that wasn't even accounting for the difficulty of ensuring it didn't rip in the process.
It would have been much easier to have cut a strip, tan it, and then sow both ends together but this was one perfectly circular strip of leather. No seams or faults. By his understanding of the craft that would have been impossible, right?
Back in the dining room Silf had climbed atop the table and laid down with her hand hanging off as instructed. Work was slow going but progress was progress. Aryzath only cut off what couldn't be saved. Corrections to the length could be made later, she told Silf. For now, the goal was to save as much as possible.
Silf winced at every tug and pull as Aryzath worked the knots out slowly but surely loosening years of matting and tangling and in the process removing layers of dirt and filth still left untouched by the bath. Soon brown turned to gray, turned to white, revealing Silf's true hair color.
"Yah hairs gonna be a nice beautiful pearl when we're done deary I promise yah that!" Aryzath remarked combing from scalp to tip a strand of Silf's hair that she'd successfully redeemed.
"Yes ma'am," Silf replied, trying to relax against the constant pulling and repositioning.
"There ain't no need for that now. Yah don't need to be so polite with me."
Silf strained to look up, relatively speaking. "I can't help it, ma'am. The collar forces me to be."
Aryzath paused with a frown. "So the collar makes'ya huh, nasty little thing it must be. Freat, not though. By days end I'm sure you'll be a free woman."
Silf tried to smile but still wasn't sure she believed any of this was real. "Can I ask you a question, ma'am?" Silf asked softly.
"Of course." Silf closed her eyes trying to relax as best she could. "Is he really going to set me free?" Aryzath laughed. "It's what he does. He's a chain breaker."
~~~
About an hour later and a knock on the study door. "Come in," Magnius called out, looking up from his work. He'd finished the Chain Breaker and had been focusing on other matters to come.
A thick hardwood desk took center stage in the room. Bookshelves lining every wall filled to the point of overflow. Magical artifacts taking up random positions haphazardly here and there.
As the door swung open Aryzath stepped in. "Come on deary, don't be shy." The Red-head said, pulling Silf into the room by the shoulder.
What had once been a long mated lump of tangled brown hair was now cut almost shoulder length and stark white. Wavy curls pulled back behind her short pointed ears. Magnius was floored.
The transition was tenfold. She still looked emaciated but now at least she wasn't filthy. If not for the collar that clung tightly around her throat he wouldn't have thought she was a slave at all.
She could still do for a proper set of clothes though. The robs were wet on the shoulders now but he would consider that a mild inconvenience.
He was honestly at a loss for words. "Well, don't just sit there staring like a dumb fish, say something yah damn fool." Magnius recoiled and made to stand.
"Im impressed." He began. "I wasn't sure you could do it, to be honest. Well done." Aryzath scowled. "Remind me to knock yah upside the head for that later." Magnius smiled.
"Now then miss Silf lets remove that collar." He said brandishing a blade off the desk. Its edge gleamed in the light. The blade was so well polished Silf could almost see her reflection in it.
Silf cringed at the sight of the blade as the man approached stopping at the center of the room and waving his free hand in a circle in front of her. The floor lit up as lime green glyphs erupted into existence forming a circle.
Arcane markings beyond her understanding, the likes of which she'd never witnessed before. She likened the circle to an alchemic circle used by potion-smiths. Something she'd only seen once.
This was a type of magic she'd never seen before however. Something strange and powerful, and rare beyond measure.