Page 51 of Steel & Thunder
“I hardly think that—”
“No!” I am so tired of him justifying this shit. “You keep acting like I’m crazy for not just rolling over and smiling about the fact that I’m your slave. Like there’s something wrong with me. Everything I’ve done has been out of survival because as you have so helpfully pointed out, I don’t have any other options. I had a life before all this, a life I plan on getting back to!”
Ironstorm goes quiet at that, his chest significantly less puffed up, not looking me in the eye. “I was never going to keep you here permanently, David.”
“Great, so you keep me here a few years until—”
“A few months,” he cuts me off, looking at me again. “I only intended to keep you until your friends were released.”
Things are silent between us for a moment. “Why didn’t you tell me that?”
“What reason did I have to?” He stares me down. “From the moment I met you, you have been nothing short of an unrepentant antagonistic prick. For all the indignities you have suffered, you seem to forget that the only person you have to blame for being in this situation is yourself.”
“I told you the guy who cast the fire—”
“We are not talking about your friend, David. We are talking about you.” He starts to close the distance between us. “Or did the blow to your head make you forget about how the rest of your group charged us right after the fire was thrown? How you came at me personally? No one forced you to do that. Just like no one forced you to trespass on our land and no one forced you to challenge me. You made all those choices, David, and all you have done since is try to shirk any responsibility to avoid the consequences!”
“Because if I knew that this,” I gesture back and forth between us, “was one of the consequences, I never would have challenged you in the first place!” We’re just yelling at each other now.
Ironstorm rolls his eyes and shakes his head at that. “So you keep saying. What exactly were you told about the ritual? How did you even know about its existence to begin with?”
“Redwish told me about it.” Only after I really pressed him for it though. “He said that if I challenged you and won, me and my friends would go free. If I lost... Well, he didn’t actually say anything there, just let me assume the worst and my mind went to death. There was no mention of sex or being a slave. Not to mention that if I knew what the actual rules were, I never would have hesitated and won. But instead, here we are.” I sink onto the couch, crossing my own arms. “I wish you had just fucking killed me.”
He winces again. Okay, maybe I said that just to be hurtful, but this is one of the first times it feels like I have any power between us. “When Redwish came to issue your challenge, I was going to say no. I saw no reason to accept. But before I could answer, he launched into a frustrated tirade. Said that from the moment you woke up, he found you to be rude, demanding, and possibly even prejudiced against orcs.” I bristle at the description but find myself unable to deny it. “He told me that while he did not think you would be a threat, I still needed to be cautious because you would do or say anything if it meant sparing yourself. That I should not trust you. He did not say anything about you being unaware of what would happen if you lost. He certainly did not tell me you thought it to be a fight to the death.”
“Well, he’s the only reason I did.” Even if he didn’t like me, I don’t understand why he would do that. I really could have killed someone.
“I believe you.” Ironstorm sighs and crosses his arms. “While possible, I find it difficult to believe that Advocate Redwish would make an error of omission of this magnitude. Twice: a different one for each of us. Something is not right here.”
I sit there in silence while he stands for two, three, four minutes. He’s thinking, but I don’t know what to do. I’m not really sure what I expect from him now after saying all that. I don’t think we can go back to the way things were.
“Come with me.” He gestures for me to get off the couch. I follow him down the hall to the guest room door again.
“Oh, come on!” He’s going to lock me in there again.
“It is only temporary,” he assures me, though his voice doesn’t sound very convincing. “There are some things I need to discuss with others, things I need to think on. I will return in a few hours.”
“You can’t just lock me in a dark room when you don’t want to deal with me.” If this is going to be my new existence, I’d like to at least be able to see. “Can you give me a light or something?”
“One moment.” Ironstorm goes back into the living room and returns holding an already lit lantern in one hand and a book in the other. He hands them both to me. “I will be back before dinner.”
“Thanks.” The sarcasm drips from my voice as I take the objects.
I walk in the room of my own accord, placing the lantern on the table and hopping onto the bed, book in hand. I open and pretend to start reading, not looking up when I hear the door being closed. As soon I hear the lock click, I throw the book down in a huff. I’m feeling a little like a bratty teenager, but whatever. I needed to say all of that. I just wish I had some idea of what he’s going to do now.
Eventually my boredom gets the better of me, and I pick the book back up. It’s the one I started the other day on sword technique, the one written by the old soldier. Ironstorm must have been remembered. It’s also the one I hid the hypnograss in. I ignore the guilty feeling nagging at me and start reading again. After the old man finishes talking about his childhood, it’s actually not half bad. He starts to talk about some of his adventures and battles when he was older. He’ll describe a particular fight and what he did during it and then the next couple of pages have diagrams demonstrating his techniques.
I wish I had a sword or something to practice with. Would certainly make the time go faster. I put the book down and look around the room for anything suitable, spotting a broom in one corner. Hmm...
A minute later, and I’m standing in the center of the room, book in one hand and broom in the other.
“Okay, so first I raise it up and to the right.” I lift my “sword” over my head, grabbing it just above the bristles. “And then I’m supposed to bring it down and spin...” I try to follow the diagrams, still looking at the book while I do. When I swing downward, I manage to catch my hip on the other end of the broom, which combined with already trying to twist my body around sends me tumbling right to the floor. “Oww.”
The door handle jiggles, drawing my attention. The lock clicks and the door opens, Ironstorm’s eyes scanning the room for a moment before settling on me on the floor. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah.” I close the book and toss the broom to the side. “Just screwing around.”
“I think you and I need to have one more talk.” He offers me his hand to help me up.
