All afternoon Timanror had his head stuck between countless papers. Several days had already passed since the losing battle his slave had caused, but the aftershocks were still being felt. Apart from the financial damage, he also noticed that he was earning the ridicule of the nobles. Just as everyone knew how he got his slaves, everyone from the nobility knew that Roxa's fights were completely under Timanror's control. If a fight did not turn out the way Timanror bet it would, it showed the others that he was not in full control of his own slave.
'A slaver who lets his slave make a fool of him!'
He could already literally hear the mockery of the posh people. How they laughed and mocked him in their small, arrogant meetings. Publicly they would never dare, he knew that. After all, he controlled the entire slave trade in Floris. But just knowing that they would secretly make fun of him gnawed at him incessantly.
But how could he become master of it? Among the countless requests for various slaves he glanced over was also an old parchment, older than himself and the Colosseum. The black lines were clearly faded in contrast to the other documents on his desk and he would soon have to redraw them, but they were still legible enough.
'Damn yokai....'
"My lord, why do you continue to keep him? You just let him rot down there for days anyway since he blew the last fight?" asked Lannis.
Lannis was one of his oldest house slaves and had accumulated quite a bit of knowledge, but even he knew nothing about Roxa's origins. Of course, he could only be puzzled why Timanror let himself be led around by the nose by a Yokai. But explaining to him that Roxa was not just a frail old Yokai, but a 500-year-old powerful Yokai, made no positive difference in his eyes. On the contrary, it would be another source of danger.
"This is not something a mere house slave knows anything about," he grumbled. "Roxa is not just some run-of-the-mill yokai like those fire bulls or other lowly beasts....All that people need to know is that he is a slave. One of many. "
'The less know about him, the better.'
"Forgive my foolish question, my lord."
After a bow, Lannis turned and left the room. Timanror had instructed him to cancel all meetings for today. Whoever wanted advice from him personally could wait another day. He took this arrogance upon himself as the ruler of the slave market. Instead, he knocked a stack of parchments off the table with the flat of his hand. They were all about slave requests. A young, pretty slave girl to warm a noble guy on cold nights. Strong, young men for backbreaking work. Slaves with knowledge of finances who could be trusted with unobjectionable financial management. The requests were far-reaching and there were many nobles who sent them to him. Some even sought female slaves to escape the marriage bed for a few nights.
They all posed no problem compared to the beast that dwelled in his dungeon
'I must find something with which to circumvent this contract and make him compliant...'
No matter how much he racked his brains over Roxa, he could not think of a way to gain complete control over the Yokai. How did one gain control over a being that had the strength to wipe out entire armies and then relax and have breakfast as if nothing had happened? Was there even a possibility? The only reason Roxa was in Timanror's possession at all was because he held it in his hands. A centuries-old parchment with some words on it. A contract between Roxa and Timanror's ancestors in which Roxa agreed to serve in exchange for some conditions. Nothing he wanted to rely on if the Yokai ever wanted to get serious.
"Damn monster!"
Angered, he threw the old parchment aside and straightened up. Through the window behind him, he looked out at Floris. The royal city was growing with each passing year and Timanror had contributed extremely to that growth. It was thanks to his methods that people could be legally enslaved. It was not for nothing that he was considered one of the most influential men in the city, even if he himself did not have noble blood in him. In the end, they were all dependent on him.
But his reputation had been wearing a little thin lately. Whenever Roxa defied his master, his position was shaken. To the common people, this action was almost invisible, but the nobles of the city were in a completely different league. Rumours circulated there that Timanror, the city's biggest slave trader, could not chastise his own slaves and bring them under control. And even though most knew it wasn't true except for Roxa, the rumours hit where they were supposed to hit.
'Until I sort this problem out, I will never be able to become the ruler of the city!'
"No! Let me go!"
Shouting intruded from outside the study, jolting him from his thoughts. In the commotion he perceived the voice of Lannis, but also that of a girl.
"What's going on?" he shouted while still crossing the room.
With a jerk he pulled open the door and saw a young girl desperately trying to defend herself against two guards. She tried with all her might to free herself and did not refrain from even biting her attackers.
"Forgive me, my lord," said Lannis. "This ungrateful servant has neglected her duties, and instead loitered in the dungeon again to shirk! I will have her punished immediately, there is no need to sacrifice your valuable time."
'The dungeon? What was she....'
With a wave of his hand, Lannis gestured to the guards to take her away.
"Twenty lashes should do it for now," he said.
"Stop!" shouted Timanror. "Take her to my study."
"As....you command, Lord," Lannis stuttered. "You heard the master! Take this ungrateful slave girl to his study and then back to your posts!"
As ordered, the two guards took the young girl to the study. After Timanror also re-entered the room, the guards bowed, left the room and closed the door behind them. The young girl remained standing in the middle of the room while Timanror went back to the window and looked at Floris.
"There is no activity scheduled in the dungeon today," he opened, "so may I know what one of my slave girls was doing there unasked?"
"I..."
The blonde girl started to reply, but fell silent again. When he turned his gaze from the window and fixed it on her, Timanror realised she was biting her lip lightly. Whatever she had been up to down there, she was uncomfortable reporting it. But fear would probably get him nowhere, so he tried something else.
"What is your name, little one?" he asked instead.
"Faera, my lord," she replied, bowing.
"Very well, Faera. If I am to believe my faithful servant, you have been in the dungeon more than once, although you have no activities to perform there. Can you explain why?"
"I.... I was on cleaning duty there, my lord! I'm sure the man made a mistake in the duty roster!" she stuttered.
"You know that lying can cost you your tongue?" echoed Timanror. "I myself divide the plans for the dungeon activities and I can assure you that the name Faera is not there, at any time. So once again..... What were you doing in the dungeon?"
At the threat of cutting out her tongue, Faera gasped and held her breath in shock. Her eyes moved from left to right and right to left again. It seemed she was considering what she could say without betraying her true intention. But Timanror had no desire to hear another lie from her until he would eventually learn the truth.
"You visited the slave fighter, didn't you?" interjected Timanror.
"Uh-huh." She confirmed his assumption with a sheepish nod.
"You know that no one is allowed except those who receive my permission?"
"I'm sorry my lord!" she brought out angrily. "The first time my curiosity brought me there. I first saw him fight from afar a few days ago and wanted to look at him up close....."
"But it didn't stop there, right child?"
"No...." The cat was long out of the bag and yet she still seemed to be struggling with herself.
"I see.."
Roxa was a well-kept secret and there weren't many who knew where exactly Timanror locked him up when he wasn't letting the slave fight. But somehow this girl had managed to find out. At first he had intended to simply punish her if she had really only been there to avoid her duties. But what if....?
"Now that you have seen him, what is your impression of him? Speak."
For a moment she seemed to hesitate, almost as if she suspected a trick question behind it. But after a few more seconds she began to tell.
"I found it exciting to talk to him, master. Even though it is me who does most of the talking when we see each other. But he is different from the other slaves. I think he is intelligent and reserved, strong but not arrogant. I don't know anyone like him and I wonder if all Yokai are like him.
As she spoke of her meetings with Roxa, the fear drained from her face and gave way to admiration and also relaxation. If Timanror guessed correctly, these two had unexpectedly developed a good rapport. That the Yokai was even capable of putting up with someone for longer than five minutes was already amazing, but if she had actually managed to befriend Roxa, maybe this could solve his problems! As long as he had this slave girl as leverage, he might be able to build up enough pressure on Roxa to make him obey his orders completely! All he had to do was make it clear to him that a quick death would not be an option for the girl. Instead, he would torture her for a long time. But first.... He would confront Roxa with reality as hard as nails!
"My lord," she said hesitantly, "please forgive my behaviour. If you wish to punish someone, take me. After all, Roxa could not help listening to me."
"Oh don't worry," he retorted with a grin. "I'm not going to make a fuss over such a trifle after all. You will be punished with 10 lashes for your disobedience. Now go!"
'I have something much better planned...'
'Who would have thought that a child could be the solution to my problem?'
At times, Roxa never showed any interest in company. He made no distinction between the social classes, for he detested nobles as well as human slaves alike, it seemed. But a young girl, of all people, managed to arouse his interest? Anyone else in his position would probably have ignored this and punished both bluntly, perhaps even executed the girl. Timanror, however, had better things to do and for the first time since the fight, his mood visibly lifted.
[ several days later ]
His mood had been rising for days. For the past few days, he had permanently posted guards in the dungeon and temporarily assigned Faera to other duties so that she and Roxa could not meet. In his good mood, he made his way to his strongest and most dangerous slave. After a few minutes he had arrived at the entrance to the dungeon and grabbed one of the burning torches from a wall bracket. This time he descended the cold steps into the darkness without any guards. Only his one torch gave some view of the stone steps of the spiral staircase, which led deeper and deeper down, where no light penetrated. Arriving at the end of the spiral staircase, he noticed the extinguished torch lying in front of Roxa's cell.
'So she was actually here...'
He approached the bars and held the torch a little higher so that it could better illuminate the cell. From the other end of the cell he heard a low grumble.
"I didn't disturb your beauty sleep, did I? I'm sorry about that!" he scoffed.
Roxa didn't seem to want to respond to the provocation, however, so Timanror simply ignored the Yokai's grumbling and continued.
"As you notice, I'm not in as bad a mood as I was before, and that's despite the fact that you unimportant piece of shit caused me a lot of trouble. Don't you even want to know where my good mood comes from?"
Of course Roxa didn't care, Timanror knew that much. But he had to provoke the Yokai a little to find out how much power he could wield with Faera as leverage. Did this young friendship have enough substance for him to use her as another shackle for his slave? At least it seemed Roxa was more angry than before. Maybe he realised that Timanror had something to do with the girls absence?
"You don't want to answer? Fine, then I guess I will...."
"WHAT?" growled Roxa.
Within a moment he had straightened up and was face to face with Timanror again. But did his bad mood come from the fact that Timanror had denied him food for days, or because he had made sure that contact with Roxa's new friend broke off? That was what needed to be found out.
"You are quite disobedient for a slave. You should take this young girl as an example. What was her name again...Faeri....Faere.....Faera?"
At the mere mention of the name, Roxa's eyes snapped open and his whole face tensed.
'Bingo! So even a yokai can't suppress his emotions!'
"What have you done to that girl?" he growled.
"Oh, I can assure you she's fine. Better than you at least. I don't know why she means so much to you, but now that I know, you'd better obey me without reluctance."
A grin flitted across his lips. Could it really be true? A few days of meeting with a human child was supposed to be the solution to his problem? Not that he cared much about the Yokai's motives, but until that moment the thought had been just too good to be true.
"You will fight tomorrow and do as you are told no matter whats the situation" he said, turning away. "I told you that you would yet see what you got from your disobedience...."