In the courtyard of a mountainside bastion a slave owner cries, "We have got the two runaways, gather the slaves in a crowd around me." His roars for attention echoing out across the desolate and cold building, the sound of shuffling and shackled feet soon followed as they abandon their military training and gather around to see two beaten and bruised slaves laying on the cold cobblestone ground.
One slave clenches his teeth and avoids looking up while the other looks around towards the crowd, his eyes pleading for some sympathy from the onlooking audience.
Standing beside the slaves is Chief Abe, a man who towers well over seven foot tall, his body muscular and bulky making for an imposing figure, His hair is short and beard well trimmed while his face is wrinkled and aged despite being in his early 40's. Next to Abe standing up to his chest is Johnny, with long and dark brown hair that is tied up into a man bun as well as a goatee adorning his face.
"These two men attempted to run away earlier today. We must punish them harshly for their actions." Says Abe in a calm and collected voice, his face stoic and devoid of emotions.
"Oh god no.." murmurs one of the slaves before Johnny pulls him up by his hair to face the crowd. "Shut up!" he shouts at the slave before the slave is hit with a knee to the face.
The slave in his dishevelled state looks around until his eyes meet a young boy who stands close to the scene, not even 5 metres away.
"Not in front of the kid" he pleads before Johnny looks over at the boy and walks towards him. The boy's eyes dart from looking at the runaway, to Johnny and back to the ground, fearful to look at the master directly.
"What is your name?" Says the master, the boy looking towards the ground fearful to answer his question.
"Gabriel…" He says looking up, the wind blowing his hair, obscuring his face and his reluctance.
Johnny takes a moment to look at him before he grabs Gabriel by the hair and drags him towards the middle of the crowd, he pushes the slave down to his knees and infront of the runaway.
With a smirk and a hint of anger Johnny tells the slave, "I'm going to give him a real close look you little runaway."
Abe looks down with a small bit of distaste painted on his face before saying,
"There is no need, Give this runaway his final wish." In a calm yet demanding tone.
Johnny's eyes rush to meet the chief's before yet again staring down at Gabriel.
"As you wish chief!" replies Johnny with forced enthusiasm before grabbing Gabriel and getting him to his feet.
"You're going to kill us?" Screams the other slave who has remained silent up until now, his eyes welling up with tears and his body quavering.
Gabriel looks back at both the slaves before being paraded through the crowd and losing sight of the scene, the distant cries and pleas for mercy falling on deaf ears to Gabriel.
Johnny aggressively drags the young boy back to the living quarters before the door is opened and Gabriel is thrown into his sleeping hall and told
"If I had my way you'd be with them brat, slaves are slaves for a reason, because they do not fight for their freedom. Why should they have it then? Maybe you don't wanna be free" says Johnny, both of their eyes meeting for a short period before Johnny turns his back and slams the door shut.
Gabriel sits in awe for a moment before he starts to struggle and shake trying to get out of the shackles.
"Maybe I do want to be free." He whispers to himself, the rusted and cold shackles holding firm against him. In his struggle to break out his wrists become raw and his muscles fatigued yet continuing to try to break free of the old chains that bound him.
Johnny eventually walks back to the centre with both slaves lying on the ground cowering in fear. There is a short moment where the slaves wait in silence before four men walk through the crowd holding nooses, pitchforks and torches. The slaves look up to see the four men standing over them with their various tools. They put up a struggle before they are hung to a small wooden pillar erected in the centre of the crowd, a small peg poking from it ripe to place a noose.
Choking and suffocating they struggle but to no avail as all they are met with is burning hot pitchforks piercing their torso along with torches being held under them, the men try to scream but can't in their current state.
eventually the slaves are taken down off of the nooses and thrown to the ground, they heavily breathe as they try to fill back up their lungs with air.
The smell of petrol fills the courtyard as the slaves feel their backs become wet, they turn to look up just to see the same four men standing over them and pouring it onto their body. Before they had the time to process what was going on an inferno bursts out in the middle of the courtyard and so do the screams of the men.
The sound of fire and screams linger in the air as well as the scent of burnt flesh until it simmers down and all that is left is 2 carcasses burnt to a crisp, their corpses mutilated from stab wounds.
…
A few hours later a lone hooded figure wearing a large and dark brown robe walks along the country roadside in the dead of night, the rain lashing against him and the wind blowing through his clothes and deep into his bones.
In his eyes is a determination that one might not see on the surface as the rest of his body is worn out.
The road is in the middle of a valley, between two mountains. To either side of the road is a thick dense forest that would seem to sprawl on forever if it wasn't for a lone bastion a fair distance away and the summits of the valley that could be faintly seen in the far distance.
The figure constantly looks back towards the fortress and the road behind him in paranoia, as if he is expecting something or someone to be following him. His breath is heavy and the only thing of value on him other than the robe he is wearing is a singular small dagger that he clenches onto in his pocket out of fear.
Some time had past and he glimpses back yet again, this time seeing something that made his skin crawl. In the distance was a horse and carriage with 5 men seated inside, the glow of lamps piercing through the darkness of the night.
"Gabriel… forfeit yourself now for a painless death!" Shouts Johnny —the loudest slaver of them all— from the top of the carriage.
Gabriel hears his name and turns around in a panic as if he had been spotted,
He grabs onto his wind beaten hood and turns to face the forest before running off into the abyss of the forest.
After some hastily running he cowers behind the trunk of a tree, his blade clenched firm in the palm of his hand and concealed in his pocket, In his breathlessness he gasps for air.
"Not here, I don't wanna die." He whispers to himself, his voice quaking as he slides his back against the tree and down in to a sitting position.
There is a good distance between Gabriel and the side of the road, many shrubs and fauna lay between him and the pavement, the wind and rain makes it hard for him to determine whether or not the men are near and he wouldn't dare attempt to peek out of his cover.
"His footsteps stop here, I'll go look… Albert watch my back" says a man faintly in the distance, their carriage now pulled over by the side of the road, the flames lighting deep into the forest, the wind and rain covering their footsteps.
Gabriel lays his head down in submission and fear as he is left in anticipation waiting for the moment he is captured, the reality of what will happen if caught coming to surface in his mind. He begins to remember what happened to the last 2 slaves, how they looking him in the eyes, he remembers all the other times runaway slaves were caught escaping and executed, he reminisces on all the brutality and evil that has happened ever since he was born.
He clenches his teeth and rage comes over his body, his flesh once shivering with fear now overcome with the will to survive and punish those who have done wrong. He lifts his head back up and slowly stands to his feet, his knife in his pocket ready to suprise any man who tries to capture him.
He sees and hears something to his right so he turns his head in shock before he notices it was only a stone that was thrown as a distraction, he turns to the left to see Johnny pouncing at him and forcing him to the ground.
"I found him, come over here Albert!" Screams Johnny in a disgusting form of ecstasy.
A loud primal cry erupts from Gabriel before a small dagger is pulled out of his pocket and driven deep into the back of Johnny.
A large splurge of blood comes out of his mouth and a groan of pain before the knife is withdrawn and both stand to their feet.
"You had a weapon?" Asks Johnny surprised and terrified, the once proud and mighty demeanour shifting to a more fearful one, all he is met with is silence as Gabriel's eyes narrow in on him, his hand shaking and his face half filled with reluctancy.
"You killed an innocent slave!" Shouts Gabriel who rushes in for an attack, not giving Johnny enough time to say anything, although nothing could really justify what Johnny had done.
Johnny attempts to land one punch in on Gabriel but it was too late as the dagger sliced right through the slaver's jugular.
Gabriel is grabbed by the robe and is pulled close to Johnny's face as the once proud man collapses and falls, leaning his body against a tree.
"I'm sorry, please, I'm sorry." Johnny tells Gabriel in a teary and scared tone, both their eyes meetings for a brief second before Johnny's are sucked of life, the once firm grip against the slaves cloth now loosening.
Johnny's body slides against the trunk of the tree before he looses the support of the tree and lays lifeless on the ground.
Gabriel falls to his knees and grabs the dagger from the neck of the deceased man before pulling it out.
He looks at the corpse and feels a sense of disgust in himself although that is soon drowned out by remembering the sort of man he was, the last words of the slave master sticks with him, he wondered what Johnny meant when he said he was sorry, did he realise his wrong, did he want sympathy in his final moments, or was it something that Gabriel couldn't comprehend.
Gabriel's thoughts were soon disturbed by an arrow which flew past him, his body just barely leaning back for it to miss.
"Submit yourself now!" Shouts the short man who wielded a bow, his voice filled with spite.
Gabriel looks up at the man, the young slave's eyes filled with grief as if he felt remorse for killing the master, although this was most likely the shock from his first kill.
"Why capture me." Says Gabriel, leaving a small silence before continuing on,
"I have nowhere to go, what more could you do. I will likely die out here, but the least you can do is give me the dignity of dying a free man and not infront of a crowd as some sort of lesson."
The slave master lowers his bow, his expression changing from one of hate to one of sympathy.
As quick as the man could lower his weapon the young slave dashed off into the night.
Three other slave masters run up to the scene,
"Where is he, did you just let him get away." Shouts a fellow slaver, his eyes looking for a response off of the man who just let Gabriel go, the rest of the masters looking down at Johnnys dead body in horror and rage.
"I felt bad, I let him go." He says stoically before another man pipes up,
"Johnnys dead and you let him go?"
All three men tackle and beat the archer to the ground before they go and drag him back to the carriage, the man taking his punishment quietly.
Further into the forest Gabriel dashes, constantly looking back in fear of being followed, the light from the carriage slowly becoming darker and darker before it completely disappears.
The young slave eventually comes to a halt and tries to catch his breath before a spell of dizziness comes over him, he finds himself in a pile on the ground, his body heavy and his consciousness fading, he makes one last push to get up before his body stops him.
"This is how I go." He mutters before he drifts unconscious.
————————————————————
Three men walk before Big Abe, the corpse of Johnny and a shackled man laying before him on the harsh and cold ground.
"This is not the slave that has escaped, who is this chained man before me, and how did Johnny die." Says Abe who sat upon a high and mighty throne perched upon a pedestal.
"Gabriel killed Johnny and the man before you is Albert." One of the three men announce.
"And why is Albert chained up, and let him speak for himself." Abe barks at the men.
Albert looks up towards Abe and replies in a somber tone,
"I felt sorrow for him, he said he was going to die out there anyw—" His words falling upon deaf ears before a guard steps out behind the throne and slices the man's head off.
"A tragedy! Almost half of your crew slaughtered, we will give Johnny a funeral and we will torture five men in the place of Gabriel. Let the death of Albert be a lesson to you, although his reasons for letting him go sounded reasonable, we cannot forget that we will be the tortured ones if the local government catches us hoarding slaves, even one runaway can jeopardise our way of life if he survives to tell the tale." Says Abe before a silence befalls the room and a heartwarming smile fills Abe's face, the chief then signals for the three men to leave and they promptly do.
"Dispose Albert's corpse to the pigs and bury Johnny's and send more scouts out for Gabriel" Says Big Abe to the guard in his room.
…