'We're starting to look like a real team, Raef. We could plow every crop field in my village in a day.' Vallum told his companion while they were walking back from their latest fight. It was the day after the banquet, and they had faced an archer who contracted a panther. It was a tricky fight with the range of the arrows and the way that the archer would cover for the panther to get in tricky positions. In the end, Vallum rode Raef like a massive shield so that he could get in melee range of the archer and the fight went quickly after that. When he had asked Brick about the 'Minotaur' moniker, Brick had said, "You have the strength of a monster and your team is half man half bull, so the name is only natural."
When they got back to the room, Vallum was met with a pleasant surprise. He let the door close and waited until the guards had walked away before calling out, "Sari!"
The young girl's head popped out of Raef's stall.
"Big bro! They sent me to clean as soon as your match started, hoping that I would be done before you got back. I didn't know how much longer I could stall." Her eyes had a smile in them that they probably hadn't had in a while. She was so excited to see someone familiar that for the time being, she had forgotten the terms that they had parted ways on. From the way she kept calling him 'Big bro', Vallum wondered if she was just pretending, they never had the fight.
'Moo?' The big bull looked at the small girl in front of him and questioned Vallum.
'No, I told you that Kenra had blonde hair, not brown. Also, Kenra is my age. I'm not a weirdo.' He explained.
Raef mooed a 'whatever' and walked into his freshly cleaned stall to start munching on food in his trough. Vallum was noticing that the longer he spent talking to Raef, the more he could start to interpret the meaning behind the responses that the bull would give.
"It's great to see you, Sari! But..." Vallum's face clouded over, "It isn't great that you are a slave."
Sari giggled, "Oh, farmer boy."
Vallum stared at her.
"That is what Vynn would have said," She explained.
"I know, so why did you say it? Vynn can hardly pull off being Vynn."
"Yeah," Sari looked far off at the wall, "I miss big sis, though."
"Hm. Yeah, I would like to see her too. Especially if she was captured. We have to save her." He had a determined look in his eye.
"So, you really do still like her!" A tear dropped down Sari's face, "I can actually have a family." She shook her head and dried her tears. "We just have to save big sis first, wherever she's at."
Vallum didn't know what to say to the girl. For someone who can play the part of regular at a tavern and steal from babies without remorse, Sari was a sensitive young girl.
"Look. I can't be with her, but I can get you two back together. And I have to set things straight between us."
"Oh." Sari gave him a big smile, "Sounds great!"
The power behind her voice was unnatural and her posture was not her own. She adopted a shell to hide what she really felt. If he wasn't going to be with Vynn, then she didn't feel like she could be her real self around him.
Vallum looked sadly at the girl and sighed inwardly.
"Are you ready to go?"
Sari looked up at him suddenly.
"Right now?" She asked.
Vallum gestured to Raef in the stall, "We are strong enough now. We can go and fight our way out of here."
Sari looked at him hopefully.
"The only problem will be the court mage, because I don't know what they are capable of. And beyond that, I don't know where we will go after we get out or where to start looking for Vynn."
"Give me a day to get my hands on a map. We can start by going back to warehouse and looking there. That is where she was when I was bought. You focus on an escape route and how to deal with the court mage." She started walking toward the door.
"I know you have to go but thank you for cleaning out the stall."
"Because of you, I have t-"
Vallum cut her off by wrapping her in a big hug as she passed by him. She pounded him with her fists and stepped away, flustered. "Save that for sis!" She said as she hurried out of the room, "I'll be back with a map early tomorrow."
Vallum looked at Raef, who was happily munching on some hay.
'What do you think, Raef? Are you ready to get out of this place?'
'Moooooo (Hmmmm)'
'We will get to charge at a lot of people.'
'Moo (Of course I'm ready.)'
'You will have to listen carefully to who you are supposed to charge, though.'
'Mroo (Fine.)'
'That's enough sass from you.' Vallum said.
A while later, he was collected for his second fight of the day. On the way there and back from his win he bombarded Brick and Pony with questions. "What do you know about the court mage?", "Where is the nearest exit from my room?", "How many guards use crossbows, and where are the towers they would shoot from?", etc. He didn't learn much about the court mage, but he did learn some valuable information about the guard and the layout of the encampment. As they got close to his room Vallum asked one last question.
"I am sure you know what I am about to do. Do either of you want to come with me? I will happily bring you along."
Brick and Pony looked at each other, before Brick responded. "You are a real strong kid and I am glad that you offered, but me and Pony will just slow you down. And don't get me wrong, I don't like being a slave, but in our positions, we aren't mistreated. Life on the run is a hard one. In some ways it is harder than slavery."
Vallum offered his hand and shook both of the men's hands. "Thank you. I'll be gone tomorrow."
Both men wished him good luck as he and Raef went in their room and readied themselves for the morning.
'I am about to be free, Kenra. Maybe I will be able to make our meet up in a year.'