It was at least two hours before the bind's power dissipated on its own, and it took me just as long to recover.
Just thinking about what I'd been through and the things I'd done was enough to make me want to die, and the fact that I still couldn't deny how indescribable and different it had been only made me repulse myself, and my bodily instincts couldn't escape.
All alone in that big bedroom, I sifted through the solutions that remained for me, and they were all terrible – I could only choose whether I would become a breeding animal or the plaything of a spoiled and ambitious nobleman who I couldn't was going to do with me.
Whatever choice I made, I was doomed to a miserable existence anyway.
Meanwhile the storm was getting stronger, and by morning, half of the province would certainly be covered in several inches of snow.
Something rained down on my head as I was about to fall asleep, and when I opened my eyes I saw a small piece of metal at my feet, long and thin, but solid-looking and pointed at one end.
"But what…"
Looking up, I was just in time to see one of the ceiling boards being furtively pushed back into place, and the sound of soft footsteps moving above my head.
"Who are you?"
It was clear that someone had wanted to offer me a third choice.
In the blink of an eye, I analyzed that unexpected reversal of events and the consequences it would entail.
According to what the fat man and his son had said, I shouldn't have even been there. If something happened to me or if I fled, it would be difficult for the governor to justify my presence there, and punishing someone would be like admitting that they had attempted to steal valuable goods intended for the Empire.
I thought back to my father, my companions, even Daemon, praying to those gods I no longer believed in that I wasn't mistaken – so, making peace with my decision, I bade them farewell.
For once I would have thought to myself. It was my life after all.
"I am sorry."
With the end of the storm and the disappearance of the clouds, the night had become extraordinarily bright.
Suddenly, cries of alarm broke the silence of the night, and torches went lighting up in all corners of the building behind me.
"Alarm! The dragon has escaped! Find her!"
I ran laboriously dragging my bare feet, which after a few steps had become hard and numb due to the cold already. Every step was an ordeal, also because not being able to break the lock of the big iron collar, I had been forced to carry it with me together with the chain.
Although I was used to suffering from the cold, the tiny dress they had put on me was so thin that it was as if I were running without clothes – while the freezing air, the branches and thorns never stopped cutting my skin.
And meanwhile, I could hear the barking of the dogs thrown at me closer and closer.
But I had already made my decision. I wasn't going to get caught. I would have run, or used the last bit of strength to rip my throat out. Even such a horrendous death was better than what awaited me.
Struggling with fatigue, while the cold penetrated my bones, I kept running, more and more exhausted, guided only by the few moonbeams that managed to penetrate the branches of the trees.
Suddenly, a shadow appeared in front of me, like a featureless ghost, remaining motionless on the path. After staring at me for a few moments, he aimed his bow at me.
"I'm sorry, Scalia. You must die."
As a draft animal, Bojack was usually at the militia barracks, so talking to him was the best way to get information on what was going on in the ghetto. And when he had informed me of what had been decided on Scalia at the upper levels, I admitted that for several days I had had no idea what to do.
As Sheriff, what happened in the ghettos wasn't technically my business, but if something happened to my sister, I too would obviously bear my share of the responsibility.
On one hand I felt I couldn't risk what I was building to save a single monster; on the other, I couldn't help but think of Scalia slammed into one of those filthy reserves without feeling self-loathing.
Someone like her didn't deserve such a fate.
I could see my beloved Paolina again in her – the same rebellious spirit, the same wild and unpredictable aura.
Moreover, I owed her a lot. Not only had she found me – with a little help from Faucheur, I was sure by now – but she had also raised me, and we also trained together.
She, Zorech, and Lori were my family. And family is sacred.
Trying to think that I was probably getting into trouble just to improve my reputation within the ghetto – which obviously had suffered a major blow with the Malik affair – I began to rack my brains for a solution.
I had to find a way to save Scalia without costing me the prestige I had accumulated with the governor and the few good members of the militia.
I knew I was short on time, so for once I took the risk of acting less refined than usual, hoping I wouldn't have to regret it later.
Persuading the Governor to claim Scalia for himself was no problem – that nymphomaniac ape would have stuck his flaccid stick even inside of a cannon if that had served to satiate his lust.
What I hadn't considered was that Longinus could decide to make Scalia a birthday present for Adrian, who I understood at first glance to be of a completely different nature from his father.
There was no joke with him – so as soon as Jack informed me that the following day, they would take Scalia to Baron Mecht's castle where the governor and his son had been guests for a few days, I decided to act immediately.
Sneaking into the building was child's play, since I had often gone there to receive errands from the landlord.
Of course, this would not have been an ordinary bailout; after all, I was already risking far more than I would have done for anyone else, and Scalia had to prove that she deserved it.
That's why I limited myself to providing her with what she would need to try to escape, rather than helping her directly: to test her and her determination.
After all, she was a key component of my plan. If she had refused my help by passively accepting what fate had readied to drop on her, it meant that I had misjudged her, and therefore she was of no use to me nor she was worth the risk.
But she hadn't let me down – she had chosen to fight – even at the cost of breaking from what she had always believed in.
Once I left the castle under cover of the storm, I took the road that I was sure she would follow, waiting for her at the gate.
"Daemon!? What are you doing here?"
"Explanations later. Can you still climb?"
"I think so."
"Then climb a tree as high as you can and be quiet. I'll take care of the rest."
For a moment, I feared she would not obey me – but evidently, something inside her reminded her that after all I was still her brother, and that she could still trust me.
Meanwhile I could already see the lights of the torches approaching us through the bushes. Just as Scalia had climbed up, I took the corpse that I had already prepared the day before out of the snow. One of Borg's thugs, not very discreet in robbing from his boss, whom I had offered to eliminate, by setting him on fire with the magic arrow that the Governor himself had given me as a gift.
The hunters arrived while the body was still burning.
"I am sorry. She left me no choice."
The next morning the Governor was furious.
Besides me, he had also sent for Captain Oldrick and General Ron.
"This is intolerable! That dragon was a gift I had personally chosen for my son Adrian, and now she's dead!"
"My Lord, please forgive me," I said prostrating myself in the most dramatic bow. "I have no excuses for what happened. I take full responsibility."
"They told me you made a pile of ash out of her. Was it really necessary to go that far?"
"I was forced to, my Lord. That beast tried to attack me. I could barely defend myself."
"I didn't give you that star just for beauty. You could have tamed her using the bind."
"I tried, but it didn't work."
"I'm afraid it's my fault, father. The little filly was kicking, and I may have gone too far in trying to soften her."
"With all due respect, Governor," said Ron, staring at me more than meaningfully. "Reducing a body to such state is a great way to make it unrecognizable."
"Are you insinuating something, General?"
"A fertile female dragon is worth a lot of money, especially now that the Empire is actively looking for them. And you, Mr. Haselworth, are no stranger to doing deals with people who are anything but honest."
"This is a slanderous accusation!" exclaimed Oldrick. "The Sheriff's behavior has always been beyond suspicion. I also want to remind you of the matter of the stone."
"What are you talking about?" asked the Governor.
"As I suppose you know, my Lord, that dragon was nearly two hundred years old, which means that her servant stone was of a very old type, which has not been used for some time. Our inspection revealed that the stone found among the remains of the monster killed by the sheriff was not only actually broken, but it also turned out to be of that type."
And you have no idea how hard I went to find such an old stone. Not to mention what it cost me! But Hell, Borg really can find anything.
In the end, Ron was the only one to lose out, which gave me enormous pleasure. Even if with his brutal behavior was making things a lot easier for me, his excessive zeal had cost me several contacts and potential clients over the years, and having him confined to the Castle for a few months was certainly good news.
As for me, I came away completely clean. Indeed, I even earned a bonus of two hundred gold pieces, because by offering to sign an official document claiming an inevitable kill in transit, I provided the Governor with the perfect way to solve the problem of having to explain Scalia's disappearance to Imperial officials.
And it wasn't over yet.
Scalia certainly couldn't go back to living in the ghetto, so I decided to host her in my house.
Although at the beginning it was difficult for her to realize that she was now completely free, it only took a few days for my recommendation to go out only after dark to begin to hold her close, for how the thought of being able to go anywhere and do whatever she wanted strongly burned inside her.
There is nothing better than giving someone what she has always wanted in her heart to gain loyalty.
For obvious reasons, I couldn't run the risk of someone revealing to the rooftops what I had done; to prevent anyone from snooping around in the house, I even proceeded to build a heavy gate halfway through the tunnel, too thick and heavy for any monster capable of slipping into that hole to destroy it.
For that investment to give the best results, however, it was necessary that at least someone knew about it.
The opportunity presented itself only a few weeks later. The barometer I'd built had warned me of the arrival of a difficult winter, but the storm that had swept over us that night was something almost never seen in West Eirinn.
Commander Beek and his men had shown up at the ghetto even before sunrise with the Governor's strict order to assign every single slave in the region to clean up the Via Imperiale. However, they found me waiting for them in front of the gates.
"I need three monsters. The storm took away half my roof, and my slave and I alone are not enough to clean up all that mess."
"How sorry I am," said old Passe in a low voice, perhaps thinking that I could not hear him.
Clearly, the news of what had happened had already reached them too. If looks could kill…
Beek protested once again, but at that point the governor thought so highly of me that I might as well have ordered that goat to pull down his trousers and suck his thumb without him being able to disobey.
In addition to Passe, I also took Zorech, Lori and the ogre Grog with me (the only four I could really trust) leaving the two escorting guards behind at the first opportunity and continuing alone with them towards the cabin.
"Daemon, listen. Tell me the truth. Those rumors are not true, am I right? If you did it to save your sister though, maybe I could figure it out. But you must tell me. I beg you."
"You're wasting your time, Zorech."
"I know you're not like that Daemon. You really can't have done that. Scalia is your beloved sister. Okay, she's short-tempered and violent, but deep down you loved each other."
"Forget Lori. Grog is right. This bastard has sold out for good. If it weren't for us all getting involved, I'd be tempted to tell the guards a thing or two."
"Well said. So maybe they'd send you off where you could personally apologize to Scalia."
"Passe! Grog! That's enough!"
"But how can you speak like this, Zorech? This human killed your daughter!"
It's easy to imagine how they reacted, when even before arriving at the cabin they heard Scalia's voice calling me from inside.
"You're finally back! Do you know how long we've been slaving? This is supposed to be your home!"
"Scalia!? Are you alive?!"
"Of course I'm alive, Father. Did you doubt it?"
Therefore, I explained everything, obviously keeping to myself the aspects that Zorech and the others might have objected to.
"I knew it! I knew you couldn't have done such a thing!"
"Lori, damn you, leave me! Do you want to break all my bones?"
We worked all day, and by sunset, the cabin was at least habitable again.
Before we said goodbye, I made sure no one else knew about it, but in reality, I had no doubts that eventually the news would go round Ende, reaching at least the ears of those whom Zorech and the others trusted. Exactly what I wanted.
Once again, I had performed a small miracle. Now we were almost at the grand finale.