What the fuck is with this guy? And how is he so good at tracking me… I was sure I wasn’t being followed… I didn’t even smell anything from him. He must have been paying attention to the wind direction.

  Dwynfel: “What the fuck do you want from me?”

  Kin’Ayesha: “Your life.”

  He lunged forward at me slamming his mace down. I was able to draw my parrying dagger and deflect his blow. I quickly drew my attacking dagger and took up a defensive stance.

  Dwynfel: “If you wanted to take my life, then why not kill me before I knew you were here? Why push me down here instead of just smashing my head in?”

  Kin’Ayesha: “There is no honour in a sneak attack. When I kill you, it will be face to face.”

  He took another swing at me… this time he attempted to sweep my leg after the initial blow… but I wasn’t going to fall for that again. I took a step to the side and brought my dagger down on him this time. It clinked off his armour and did no damage at all. He hopped back and looked at me with a look of frustration.

  Dwynfel: “Why do you want me dead? What the hell did I do to you?”

  Kin’Ayesha: “What I want is immaterial. I do as my lord commands.”

  He advanced on me again… this time with a flurry of blows that I struggled to keep up with. For somebody so little, he is disturbingly strong… fuck… he’s knocked my parrying dagger out of my hand. He just keeps swinging at me. I’d be able to keep up better if he hadn’t just pushed me down a fucking ravine. Ah… my eye. He’s hit me in the fucking eye… fuck… I can’t see… everything is red… fuck.

  He hit me in the face again and I fell to the ground. I wiped the blood away from my non-injured eye and saw him kick my remaining dagger away. He stood over me with a look of accomplishment.

  Dwynfel: “If I am to die here, at least tell me who this lord is that I have pissed off so much!”

  Kin’Ayesha: “Second prince Gustav Alstababitch, of the Anubis Empire. Now die, you filth!”

  He lifted his mace above his head, ready to smash my face in, when suddenly something smashed into him and he went flying several metres.

  I blinked a few times to clear up my vision. Oh, thank fuck… it’s Damecus. He must have shield bashed that psycho away from me. Kin’Ayesha gave an angry scowl at Damecus before glancing at me.

  Kin’Ayesha: “Your lizardmen can’t protect you forever! I will not return without your head!”

  He threw something on the ground… the area erupted in smoke and when it cleared, he had gone.

  Damecus: “Friend of yours?”

  Dwynfel: “That’s the second time that nutter has tried to kill me!”

  Damecus: “Why?”

  Dwynfel: “Says I pissed off Prince Gustav… but I don’t know how… I’ve never even met the guy… hang on… where’s the kid?”

  Damecus: “Safe. I collected the supplies that we hid before heading to their camp. He is with them, in a bush a few kilometres to the north.”

  Damecus helped me up and we travelled to collect the child. He was tied up with rope and gagged.

  Dwynfel: “Why is he like this?”

  Damecus: “He fought.”

  Okay… yeah… that makes sense. I told him to keep fighting until he saw me again. I untied the boy and removed his gag. The boy said nothing… simply stood up and looked at me… as if awaiting instruction.

  Damecus: “This child is unnerving. We should move. There is a lake to the north. We should go there to clean away the blood and fix your eye.”

  I can’t really argue with that. I can’t see out of my left eye at all… and Damecus and the child are drenched in blood. It didn’t take us long to get to the lake… only a couple of hours walking. The child never complained… never made a noise… never spoke unless directly asked a question. He is completely different to Tadwick.

  Once we arrived at the lake, Damecus tended to my eye. He drained the fluid from my eyelid and stitched the large cut just above my eyebrow. It hurts like hell… but at least I can kind of see out of it now. He smashed the skull mask that he had been wearing and threw it in the lake. The entire time the child just stood by my side… obediently awaiting instruction.

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  Damecus removed the loin cloth that he had on and waded into the river to wash off the blood and the war paint. I went to undress myself and the boy stepped forward and began to undo my britches.

  Dwynfel: “What are you doing?”

  Boy: “Assisting you, master.”

  Dwynfel: “I don’t need your assistance to undress myself.”

  Boy: “I apologise, master. Please forgive my impertinence.”

  Dwynfel: “You weren’t impertinent… you were trying to help. Listen…

  Hang on… fuck… I don’t know his name. Why did nobody tell me his name this whole time?

  Dwynfel: “I’m sorry… nobody has ever told me your name. What do I call you?”

  Boy: “I have no name, master. My kind are not worthy of such things. Names are for people of importance, not those such as I. I am simply referred to as Petri’s Anubis.”

  Oh, fucking hell… I am so glad I killed that guy. That family has gone out of its way to degrade these people. Hang on… Kiyui called his father Annis. Did Gustav give him that name… I doubt it… I bet Kiyui gave him that name when he heard about the nameless thing. Kiyui would not have agreed with this kind of dehumanisation.

  Dwynfel: “You are not Petri’s possession anymore… you do not belong to anybody. So, you should choose your own name. I need something to call you.”

  Boy: “I do not know of many names, master. As my master, you should decide how you wish me to be designated.”

  He really is not understanding me when I tell him he has no master… how on earth do I get this through to him?

  Dwynfel: “I am not your master… this decision should be yours.”

  Boy: “How did you obtain your name, master?”

  Dwynfel: “My parents gave it to me.”

  Boy: “You did not name yourself? I believe that as my master; you should decide my designation.”

  Dwynfel: “A master is not a parent… and I am not your master… please stop referring to me as that.”

  Boy: “What designation would you prefer?”

  Dwynfel: “Call me by my name… which is Dwynfel Vesidia.”

  Boy: “Understood, Master Vesidia.”

  Dwynfel: “Just call me Dwynfel. Listen… if I agree to give you a name for now… do you agree to choose your own name when you feel you know enough names to choose one for yourself?”

  Boy: “I will do as you command.”

  Oh… fuck… what on earth do I call him. I’ve never named anybody before… umm… it needs to be something that sounds relatively distinguished… but not one of those stupid posh people names… umm… only name that is in my head right now is Alexander.

  Why is that the only name that I can think of? Nothing wrong with it though… could call him that… but, is it too much of a human name? Maybe I should alter it a bit. Kiyui called his dad Annis… maybe if I merge them… Annexander? No… that’s fucking stupid. Alexi? It’s still a human name… but it is more of a child name to me… Alexander makes me think of a grown man. Probably because the only Alexander that I know is a fully grown man. Yeah… I’ll go with Alexi… that’ll work.

  Dwynfel: “Okay… until you decide on a name that you would prefer, I shall refer to you as Alexi.”

  Alexi: “As you wish, Master Dwynfel.”

  Well, thank fuck that discussion is over with. Now… back to cleaning all this blood off myself. I resumed taking my clothes off.

  Dwynfel: “Take your clothes off too, Alexi.”

  Alexi: “As you wish, Master Dwynfel.”

  I removed my clothes then turned round to head towards the lake when I caught sight of Alexi. He had done as instructed and was stood completely naked, awaiting further instruction.

  His face is completely lacking emotion… as if he has shut himself of to all feeling. His face is perfectly maintained and beautiful. But gods… below the neckline he is covered in scars. Cuts, slashes, whip marks, burns… the only part of him other than his head that isn’t scarred is his tail. When in his uniform, his head and tail are the only parts of his body that are visible. This has been done strategically.

  This is sickening. All of this was previously hidden by his clothes, how could I have been so stupid? Kiyui told me what Petri was like… I assumed he meant the fairly standard beatings that slaves often receive… but fuck… even the females who are rescued from Grim nests have fewer scars than this. What on earth did that sick fuck do to this kid?

  Alexi: “You appear troubled, Master Dwynfel. Did I do something wrong?”

  Dwynfel: “No… no… gods… no… you did nothing wrong… you have never done anything wrong… you are perfectly fine… please go into the water and wash the blood off yourself.”

  Alexi: “As you wish.”

  He turned towards the water and fucking hell… his back is even worse… how many times has this boy been whipped? Gods… his arse is nothing but scar tissue. How is he not constantly screaming in pain?

  Damecus emerged from the water and started getting cooking supplies out.

  Damecus: “The boy looks as if he could do with a good meal.”

  He turned to look at Alexi… then he turned to me.

  Damecus: “No matter what happens in this life. No matter what you have done before. One thing you can be sure of… what we just did, was the right thing to do.”