A sizable sampling

“Dim!” The big captain’s face split open with a wide smile as the door opened and there was a warm twinkle in his eye. “Getting settled in? Do you like Eerie? Are you comfortable? You look well. Do I need to apologise for my subterfuge? Where is Blackbird?”

“She is playing poker with some bushwoolies,” Dim replied, then, much to his own surprise, he felt his cheek muscles tighten and he smiled. He stood in the doorway for moment, looking up at Captain Melvin, but this ended when Dim felt another pair of eyes upon him. Melvin had a companion, a young looking unicorn that appeared to have just entered the gawky, awkward stage, that point where the body just could not decide what it should grow next.

“This is Marlow—”

“What a peculiar name,” Dim said aloud, interrupting without meaning to do so. “For a unicorn, I mean.”

The unicorn, Marlow, stepped forwards, and in a creaky voice he introduced himself thusly, “My name is Marlow and I am a monocerus raised by a minotaur.”

“You use the ancient ancestral name for unicorns,” Dim remarked in reply. “How does a unicorn get raised by a minotaur?”

“Um…” Marlow squirmed a bit and the sounds of Melvin’s heavy breathing filled the room. “Uh… well, you see, Mirabella was a grieving widow in need in comfort and company. She purchased me—”

“She bought you?”

“It’s not like that! I was never a slave to her!” Marlow’s voice cracked and the colt looked panicked. “I wasn’t a pet or a slave to her… she was kind to me… she was already on trial once for her ownership of me and Eerie was merciful when the truth was revealed. Mirabella was sentenced to be my mother for the rest of her days.”

“I see.” Dim’s eyebrow lifted, dropped, and then lifted again as he thought about everything said. So, Eerie had placed citizens on trial for slave ownership. This was interesting, and revealed much. She was also merciful and just in her dealings, which he did find just a tiny bit surprising.

“Yes, as I was saying, this is Marlow and he’s an apprentice within the Merchant’s Guild. He came with me to act as their formal emissary. We’ve come bearing gifts, and a payment.” With a broad, sweeping movement of his massive hand, the minotaur gestured at some boxes on the table. “Your Majesty, Prince Dim, the Merchant’s Guild of Istanbull welcomes you.”

As fascinating as all of this was, Dim’s curiousity was piqued. “So Mirabella purchased you as a foal to ease her loneliness? What of your birth-mother?” The colt appeared crestfallen, stricken even, but Dim was so eager to know more that he failed to notice or even care. “Most of the time, when somepony is grieving, they buy a cat, or a dog, or even a bird… purchasing a unicorn seems extraordinary by any rational measure.”

“The wealthy and well-to-do purchase unicorns for domestic work and as something of a status symbol.” Captain Melvin reached out and patted Marlow on the head. “Well, they did, at one time, but Eerie, Mars, and Modesto put an end to that practice.” Melvin’s big calloused fingers gave Marlow’s ear a gentle tug and the colt slipped into complete foalishness for a moment, though again, Dim failed to notice.

For a moment, Dim was about to say something, the words were even on his tongue, but then he thought better of it. He understood all too well how a unicorn could be made subservient and turned into a slave. With his eyes hidden behind his goggles, he stood thinking about his own comfortable prison as well as all of the niceties that had kept him shackled. With much care and effort, he had been educated, his horizons had been broadened, and Dim liked to think that he was somewhat enlightened, naive as had been, but one thing stood out. He had been a slave and his entire existence was to serve the agenda of House Dark.

Was all of Eerie’s kindness just a ruse to leave him indebted to her?

Unsettled, Dim thought of Marlow’s amicable relationship with his purchaser and was filled with far too many dark, uncomfortable questions. This sense of affection, of course it existed, he had been raised by this minotaur cow. Something about Eerie’s acknowledgement of it disturbed him, the very fact that she had embraced it. No doubt, Marlow’s mother was owned by another family, and like dog or a cat having kittens, Marlow had come along into the world. Or perhaps she was owned by some slaver guild or similar agency. It didn’t matter to Dim, not really, the end result was the same; a mother and her foal had been separated, with the foal becoming a grieving widow’s distraction.

The very thought of it caused Dim’s lip to curl back from is teeth in disgust.

It's still pretty crude and getting fleshed out a little here and there. Right now, it is ungainly because of the interruptions and the pacing feels more than a little off. Not sure how to fix that, to be honest. Or maybe I am wrong. Anyhow, I've been hammering away at this for a while, but it is slow going.

Comments

[lordofmyth]

do you have anyone who acts as an editor, besides yourslef that is? get a second opinion.