used to be. Not anymore. He’s wearing a collar. He smiles. Although what to be happy about. He is a slave. As you can see and I. He is wearing a white doctor’s coat. Nice place. Khlebnoye. Behind it are rows of flasks and beakers. I’m in the lab. Pickled heads of various creatures, humans and elves. I was scared. Although what to be afraid of. They’re all dead. But not me.
“So is this big-eared guy alive or not?” My dogs are hungry. Make up your mind Rolek the Healer
– Mr. Chief. He is alive. You Diogenes Vidoas know I’m a master of my craft.
A man is standing next to the dwarf. Man. Old. Gray-haired. In uniform. White, clean, with medals. Chief. Thinks he’s better than others. That’s how he turned up his nose. Break your jaw and pull out your teeth one at a time. Humans don’t tolerate pain. They’re screaming. That’s what my father used to say. When they started fighting against humans. But it was too late. We should have attacked when they landed. And it was necessary to sink their ships. Everyone to feed the mag beasts. I hate you all.
– Get up earwig, you will have an exciting life in our “Slave Re-education Camp”. Here you will spend a happy and joyful six months of your life.
How he lied. These were the worst months of my life. We were starved to death. Forced to learn to read and write like humans. They were taught to serve people as butlers and waiters. They checked our talents. I didn’t have any special ones. They beat me constantly, for any offense, so I became friends with the dwarf. He’s kind. I helped as much as I could. But Chief Diogenes is a beast. He fed a hundred dark elves to the dogs in my presence. I still don’t understand why. Just for fun. It’s very ingrained on me. “The eyes are painfully cheeky,” he says. But he doesn’t want to kill. “You need to be retrained.” There are many races in captivity here. All of them are wearing collars. There are no friends among the slaves, only rivals. Food was stolen, fights, violence. But I saved myself. It wasn’t easy, though. Here, after a hard day of training, I sit with others under a tree.
“We need to get out of here. You can’t live like this. Lucas, we need to get out of here.
Said my cellmate beastman Kesh with cat ears and a nice baby face. Even though he’s twenty-three. We’re not friends. But we look out for each other. You can’t survive here alone. We have a group of five slaves here.
“And how do you see it, Cash?” I’ll just walk up to the iron gate and tell you. Open up the Lord. And so they let me in. And then what? There’s nowhere to go.
“You shouldn’t be talking about Kesha like that.” He’s got a point.
The cheetah-faced man Ignat said. He can’t be more than forty. An experienced hunter. He sees it at night.
“There’s a slave show tonight. I heard from the guards, “Cash said.
Slave viewing was what they called the following. Rich ladies and gentlemen came and chose their own servants. They didn’t let us get to the status of applicants as violent ones.
“We have to kill those five, and they’ll let us in, because there aren’t enough slaves. The collection is going badly. Everyone began to resist. People are being squeezed.
“I can, but you don’t mind.
The vampire Gerard said, grinning. He’s the strongest of us all. He alone does not need food, unlike us. He was protecting us. He was our main driving force. And we, in turn, fed it with our own blood.
“Go ahead. I said. I don’t know, but I became the leader of our group. I was consulted. Maybe they think that because I’m a dark elf, I live a long time. To my objections, they said that I was lying in order to appear younger. Even the vampire recognized me as a leader. Although the scrolls in the village said that they didn’t respect anyone. So the scrolls are lying.
“I don’t mind either, even though I wasn’t asked.
Said our youngest goblin Nose. Green skin and a wart on his face. Height of one meter twenty. We keep him instead of a pet cat. It can crawl wherever it wants. He steals food for us. Useful, but stupid. Previously, he was a toy in the group of the big Gregorian Draconis. Local authority, prepare for the role of a gladiator. I wanted to make my local wife. But we recaptured the boy. Now we’re in trouble with his gang.
Having decided on this, the vampire went to the guys under another tree. Drunk, all their life force. I realized that I had had enough and came back to us.
– I did everything, when they are called to the review, they will not be able to get up. It’s done, boss.
– As soon as we get out, I’ll reward everyone.
I said, as I always do. Everyone always liked it.
“You shafki are sitting here again. Make plans, creatures.
Our enemy said. Wardrobe. A mountain of muscle. Gregorian. Three of his six werewolves were with him.
“None of your business.
“Into battle.
He shouted. There was no point in talking to them. A fight broke out. We were hopelessly losing. Although I’ve hit the ringleader in the face many times. It wasn’t served. Only having a vampire kept us from losing outright.
“You’re fighting again, my students.
A voice familiar to all of us said. We gave up the fight and lined up. Cash prayed. The werewolves whined. Everyone knew the punishment would be cruel.
“It’s good that you remember me. I thought you were forgetting about the fight here.” I love you my kids. Like these guys with me. The truth is my pets.
This man’s ugly face is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen. Our boss Diogenes, of course, with his dogs. One and a half meter long black dogs from the darkness itself. Always hungry with bloody mouths. And there are five of them. He got them for half a soul from the court magician Radius Magnus. Although I think he gave his whole soul. It was painfully small, and half of it wasn’t enough. But I wouldn’t argue with him. Otherwise, you’ll end up in their stomachs. According to the rumors that went around the camp, once you get there with your family, you will not meet after death. All lies. Death is always one. I know that. I was there.
“Why did you even come here?” I asked Gregorian very quietly. We were enemies, but we could talk. He’s not a bad conversationalist.
“We want to run away. So I wanted to negotiate. But you’re as sharp as ever.
– Keep quiet. A scream pierced our ears. The magic in him burned, as did the rage. – I’m the only one who can talk here. Take the stop lying down. One hundred push-ups. – We fell down and did push-ups. “Well done. And my boys will cheer you up. “The dogs started walking around us and barking, spraying us with their drool and blood that burned like acid. “What a nice smell.” Wet students. You guys are scared. They’ll buy you something, and you’ll remember me with a kind word. I know our aristocrats. They’re a bit of an entertainer. His ugly smile said he wasn’t joking.
After an hour of humiliation and insults from him, he let us continue to sit under the tree. Then he left, whistling a merry song. And that’s a good thing. At least
