Fragment of Divinity

by Jamey Sultan

  A muffled “yeff?” squeezed between James’ fingers.

  He groaned. “Disgusting. Fine, I’ll let go of your mouth, but you have to promise to shut up and listen to us, okay?”

  Arik nodded in agreement, and James took his hand off of the Dwarf’s mouth and wiped it on his leg. Lucien let go of his arms.

  Looking extremely disgruntled, Arik sat silently on the floor of the cart and waited for an explanation. James took the time to examine the Dwarf. He was fascinated, like he had been with the elf, Nidra. Arik was around four and a half feet tall, well-muscled and extremely hairy. He eyed James with hostility.

  Oh, right. I’m being creepy again.

  He kept forgetting that he shouldn’t stare at the fantasy creatures around him, but it was hard not to. Trying to ignore the fact that this was the first Dwarf he’d ever seen, James explained their predicament.

  The longer James talked, the tenser the Dwarf got, until he sprang to his feet with remarkable agility and started yanking on the bars. The others tried to stop him, but they were too late.

  He’d woken Butcher.

  With an angry grunt Butcher stood up, his angry shadow looming over the cage. He lumbered towards the slaves and slammed his wooden club against the bars so hard that they bent. Alerted by the noise, the rest of the slavers woke up and came out of their tents to see what was going on.

  Vegar approached, a cruel smile splitting his face. “What do we have here?” He asked. “An escape attempt?”

  Arik swore at Vegar and tugged harder against the bars. “Orcish scum!” he spat, giving up on his futile attempt to free himself, and stood, facing Vegar. “Invoking the name of Vyher, I formally challenge you to a Duelo-Rai.” Time seemed to freeze for a second and the words hung in the air, as if the universe were registering what had just happened. An almost imperceptible energy crackled in the air between Arik and Vegar.

  Orrel growled an almost imperceptible, “No.”

  Vegar laughed, his mouth twisted into a cruel smile. “All right, Dwarf. I accept your challenge.” In a louder tone of voice that had the air of a ritual he continued, “Invoking the name of Vither, I accept the terms of the Duelo-Rai”

  James glanced between the two of them, with no idea what had just happened. By the look on everyone’s face, this ‘Duel of Rye’ was a big deal.

  Vegar and Arik’s eyes misted over as they read notifications that James couldn’t see, while the rest of the slavers were excitedly clearing a wide circular area in the center of the camp. It was the fastest James had seen any of them move. When James turned to ask his fellow slaves what was going on, he saw that they were waiting in excited anticipation. The only people who weren’t excited were himself, who was just confused, and Orrel, whose mouth was locked into a grim frown.

  “What’s going on?” James whispered to the twins.

  “A Duelo-Rai!” Lucien exclaimed excitedly but quietly, clarifying when he saw the confused expression on James’ face. “A soul-duel. They’re fighting for his freedom.”

  Can I do that? Maybe he’d request one after he watched Arik’s.

  Vegar and Arik’s eyes returned to focus. Vegar was the first to speak, calling Audun over to the cage while Arik waited patiently.

  The mage scrambled to obey his leader and met Vegar at the door to the cage.

  “Put the mage to sleep before we open the door.” Vegar ordered the hypnotist, referring to Nidra, who glared back at him.

  Audun looked embarrassed. “I can’t. My Mana hasn’t regenerated from earlier.”

  James recalled how tired the mage had looked after casting the spell on Arik earlier. How much Mana did that mesmerize spell take? If he could only use it once, that would make the ability less overpowered. James could use that to his advantage. Another puzzle piece fell into place in his escape plan.

  Vegar’s sharp voice cut through James’ thoughts. “What exactly am I paying you for if you can’t put the slaves to sleep whenever I need it? It’s not like you’re cheap.”

  Stoically, Audun replied, “You pay me to help you capture them with minimal bloodshed so you can run with a skeleton crew. I probably save you five times the gold I cost you.”

  Vegar’s mouth twitched into a frown, and he turned away from the mage. He gestured to Butcher and Sinew. “You two. Let the Dwarf out of his cage.” He then turned to Nidra, who was glaring at him. “Watch yourself, Elf,” he hissed before stepping back. “You’ll regret any funny business.”

  As soon as Butcher and Sinew opened the doors, to the surprise of no one, Nidra started casting. A fiery glow surrounded her body and she let off a bolt of crackling fire, targeting Butcher’s head. The bolt hit dead-center and the Orc burst into flames. He screamed in pain and rushed off looking for water, leaving the exit unguarded.

  James tensed, getting ready to run. The gate was open. He could cast Shadow Step and be gone within seconds. They wouldn’t be able to follow him if he used his spell to get across the river. But James couldn’t leave the other slaves behind.

  There was a black flash, followed by a scream as Orrel slashed Nidra across the face with his paw, carving three deep furrows into her skin and interrupting her next cast. The glow surged back into her body and she fell, writhing in pain from magical feedback. Orrel stepped back. “I’m sorry. I had no choice,” he whispered.

  Sinew pulled Arik out from the cage and slammed the door shut.

  Silence.

  Then Vegar spoke. “You absolute fool! Do you understand how much gold you just cost me? You better hope that doesn’t scar.”

  Orrel stared at Vegar, his expression unreadable, unwilling, or unable to reply.

  Vegar pointed at Orrel, then turned to Arik. “That will be your fate. A soulless husk. You’ll belong to me for all eternity. Even death won’t break our bond.”

  Arik ignored him and held out his hand. “Give me my hammer.”

  Vegar laughed and handed the Dwarf his enormous war hammer as the other slavers encircled them. “Let’s begin.”

  The two fighters circled each other. Vegar made the first move, drawing his cutlass and pointing it at Arik. A spectral chain extended from his sword and wrapped around Arik. It slithered down his body and squeezed before vanishing.

  Arik retaliated, swinging his hammer at Vegar. It arced slowly, as if it were being swung through molasses. Arik frowned and tried to move faster, but to James it looked as if the Dwarf were pushing through honey. But as the hammer moved it changed shape, lengthening so that Arik could hit Vegar without closing in.

  Vegar easily stepped under the blow and smiled. “Can’t do much with your movement speed slowed, can you?” He taunted, raising his sword in the air. An orange aura surrounded his body and James got a notification.

  You are inside the area of effect of the Crush Uprising spell.

  You have been affected by the status effect [Aura of Ogses]

  - 50% to all stats to all enslaved beings in the aura

  James felt his body weaken as the aura’s effect took hold. Vegar stepped forward and spun, slamming the butt of his sword into the back of Arik’s head.

  A desperate “How?” escaped the Dwarf’s lips as he fell into unconsciousness.

  Vegar quirked an eyebrow. “You really think I don’t have a way to put down rowdy slaves?” He laughed, tossing Arik’s limp body into the cage. Nobody moved when the door opened.

  Chapter 22

  Arik didn’t speak for the rest of the night.

  He ignored the food and water that the slavers laid out for him. He just stared blankly out through the bars of the cart.

  He didn’t even crack a smile when Sinew attacked Butcher because she thought he had cut himself a larger piece of bread than her at dinner. Their fistfight had levelled two trees before Vegar put a stop to it, telling them they would pay if anyone heard the racket and investigated the camp.

  James gave up on his attempts to console Arik, and his thoughts drifted to the escape plan that had been brewing at th
e back of his mind. He thought about how magic affected the cart, how slowly Mana regenerated, how at least two of the slaves were bound to the slavers and wouldn’t be able to help. Slowly, he assembled the bones of a plan, but he needed to wait for the right moment to pull it off.

  That night James had the best rest he’d ever had while stuck in the cart. He dreamt of freedom.

  When dawn broke over the slaver camp, Lucien started to hyperventilate. The cumulative stress of the past few weeks had built up to a boiling point. He freaked out, rocking on the floor of the cage and moaning as he held his head in his hands. “I don’t think anyone is coming for me.”

  Ophel tried to comfort his brother, but nothing he said reached Lucien. Eventually Lucien stopped moaning and, with a wild look in his eyes, shook the bars of the cage just like Arik had done. The noise woke the slavers and Vegar stormed out of his tent, fire in his eyes. He wasn’t smiling this time.

  “Do you know who I am?” Lucien screamed. “I’ll kill you.”

  Vegar approached the bars and placed his face against them, staring directly into Lucien’s eyes. “I know who you are,” he scoffed. “A dirty, pathetic slave.”

  Lucien growled and spat directly into his captor’s eye. Vegar stumbled back, rubbing at his eyes. He glared at Lucien and pulled out his cudgel, advancing on the cage. Before he’d taken two steps, he stopped. An evil grin spread across his face and he gestured for Audun to join him.

  Vegar pulled a crystal out of the pocket of his robes and handed it to the mage as he approached. It looked like the Mana Crystals that James had picked up in the Lion-Ant dungeon, but much more complex. Its geometry was difficult to look at, and it glowed much brighter than the Average Mana Crystals that James had.

  Audun took the crystal hesitantly and stared at it. “Are you sure?” he asked. “I used one a few days ago, and—” He stopped speaking, cut short by the expression on Vegar’s face. “Of course, sir.” Without further hesitation, he crushed the crystal between his fingertips, releasing a blue energy into the air. He inhaled deeply, pulling the energy into his body and held his breath for a second, as if exhaling would allow the energy to escape. Then he started chanting, his fingers contorting into arcane shapes.

  A cloud of energy engulfed Audun’s body. Through the haze, James could see the mage’s tattoos dancing frantically as if they were trying to escape his skin. Before James realized what was happening, it was too late.

  You have been [Mesmerized]

  James watched helplessly as the slavers entered the cart. But to his surprise, they pulled out Ophel instead of Lucien. They dragged him to a nearby stump and forced him down into a kneeling position.

  Spit dripping slowly down his chin, Vegar spoke. “You think we don’t know about your nightly chatter? Do you think we’re stupid? Do you think we put you to sleep instead of punishing you for stepping out of line because we don’t like to hurt people? Do we seem like pacifists to you?” The more he spoke, the redder his face got. “We don’t hurt you because we don’t want to deliver damaged goods. You’re worth more to us uninjured, but sometimes,” he sneered, “sometimes we need to teach you slaves a lesson.”

  By the end of his speech he was spitting out every word, and his eyes were bugging out of his head. Then, like a summer rainstorm, he calmed. His face smoothed out and his smile reappeared, but the evil glint remained behind his eyes. He gestured to the slavers holding Ophel, and they pushed his head down, so he was kneeling with them, holding his head to a tree stump.

  “Ophel!” Lucien screamed. Somehow, in his grief, he mustered the strength to break the Mesmer debuff and move. He stumbled to the bars and shook them, sobbing. “He didn’t do anything. Take me instead.” But his pleas fell on deaf ears.

  Vegar’s voice had the ring of ceremony to it, as if it were a ritual he had performed many times before. “We have gathered together to witness the execution of the slave Ophel. He has been found guilty of insubordination and insurrection.”

  At those words, Lucien collapsed to the floor of the cage, sobbing.

  Vegar lifted his sword above Ophel’s head. “I, Vegar Heziel, execute this slave, severing his bond with this world for eternity. May he find peace in the next world.”

  An ominous orange glow gathered around his sword, then he brought the sword down on Ophel’s head with a meaty thwack, followed by a thump as the head hit the ground.

  James’ eyes snapped to the stricken man’s brother. A grey glow built up in Lucien’s eyes and faded, streaming away like smoke in the wind.

  Vegar sheathed his sword. “Time to get going. We don’t know who might have heard us.” There was no trace of a smile left on his face as he turned and looked each of the remaining slaves in the eyes.

  Lucien threw up and promptly passed out, while the rest of them just sat in stunned silence at the horror they’d just witnessed.

  Over the next three days, nobody spoke. Each slave was lost in their own thoughts, imagining the personal hell that would be the rest of their lives. Every once in a while, one of them would try to comfort Lucien, but he never reacted, staring at the ground with dead eyes.

  The slaves weren’t the only ones on edge. A few days ago, they’d crossed the river and entered the Witchwood. A constant, thick fog surrounded them, caressing them with its cool touch. It made it impossible to see over ten feet away, and the slightest noise caused the slavers to twitch. As they walked, James could see the tension in the slavers backs as they tried to move the cart through the fog as silently as they could. But who, or what, the slavers were worried about still remained unclear to him.

  A few nights later, James had had enough. Making sure that Orrel and Arik - the two soul-bound slaves - couldn’t hear him, he pulled Nidra and Lucien aside and whispered to them. “I think I can get us out of here. If I unlock the cage, will you fight?” Lucien ignored him and turned away, but Nidra looked interested.

  “How exactly are you planning on getting us out?” she asked skeptically.

  “Let me handle that,” James said. “I’ll let you know when it’s time.”

  As more days passed, James watched and waited. He made a mental note of everything he saw and heard, planning for the moment of escape. A raven flew by, and James had a strange feeling of déjà vu.James tried to put the bird out of his mind but couldn’t. For some reason, he had this feeling in the back of his mind that something was wrong with the bird. He examined it, trying to figure out what was bothering him. That’s when he noticed the runic symbols on the tips of its wings.

  The symbols were subtle, and he wouldn’t have noticed them if he weren’t looking for something off. He tried to interpret the symbols, but he couldn’t recognize any of them.

  Suddenly, the bird gave a loud caw before turning and staring directly into James’ eyes. It held the gaze for a second, then turned and flew away, disappearing into the mist.

  That night James decided it was time to put his plan into action. He should have done it earlier, before Ophel died, and that would haunt him, but he couldn’t let his mistake keep him down. There were other people that needed saving.

  The first step was to test to see if it was possible. He needed to be discreet; he still didn’t understand the soul-binding, and he was worried that Arik or Orrel would be obligated to try to stop him. Once he’d made sure that everyone, including the other slaves, was asleep, James cast Shadow Step. He disappeared and in a flash of darkness reappeared on the outside of the cage.

  You are affected by [Property]

  -20% to all stats while disobeying orders or attempting to escape.

  James was elated.

  When Nidra had explained that the cage blocked magic, James had initially lost hope. But when he thought about the practical implementation of magic, something hadn’t seemed right to him. It was only after a few days of wondering that he realized what had been bothering him.

  How had Audun used magic to mesmerize them while they were in the cage if it blocked magic?


  Now, James didn’t know much about magic, but he had an extensive history of playing magical role-playing games. With his gaming background, James assumed there had to be some rules behind how the cage worked. He came up with two possible theories. Either the cage blocked all attack magic, or it blocked magic coming in one direction.

  Of those theories, the first one was much more likely. James figured that blocking magic one-way would be much harder than just targeting damage-dealing spells. He wasn’t sure why he’d figured that, but it felt right.

  He stood in the shadow of the slave cart. As soon as his legs touched the ground, he collapsed. Groaning softly, he glanced around to check if anyone had seen him. Once he’d made sure that he was still hidden, James arduously worked his way to a standing position. It had been almost a week since he’d last stood or walked, and his legs were killing him.

  James took a step, reveling in the bliss of extended legs. After a few minutes of experimentation, he felt confident enough to walk again and hobbled to the cart where he rifled through the slaver’s possessions, looking for anything useful.

  The slavers had stocked the cart with bags of rice, vegetables, and stewed meat on top and less immediately useful items deeper in the pile. There was no organization, and finding anything was a challenge, but eventually James found a set of brutal looking curved daggers crafted from a shimmering orange metal. Each dagger had a gemstone pommel, one brown and one white.

  Orichalcum Dagger of Density:

  Rank: Unusual

  + 10% Armor penetration.

  This dagger has been forged from Orichalcum; a dense metal found in deep in the Crimson Mountains.