I am increasing the rate of chapter updates. They should now be out every Wednesday and Saturday, barring horrible catastrophe.
Once again, thanks to the brilliant PieisGood4U for editing.
Have Fun
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I couldn’t help but feel guilty as the dogs marched us along the plains to their cave. The blue coated mare beside me looked completely dejected and it was, to a reasonable standard, my fault. Evidently her escape from the grasp of the slaver dogs had been halted by my sudden appearance and our subsequent collision. Considering that my patron goddess was the Lady of Luck that was a bit of misfortune.
Or should I say, Miss Fortune?
See what I did there?
Yeah anyway, I came to the conclusion that when something wildly coincidental happens, something that goes against all expectations and probabilities, it was probably due to the interference of my goddess. Luck is a double-edged sword as it comes in two distinct flavours; good and bad. I only hope I get treated to more of the former and less of the latter.
The dogs had initially set us off at a running pace however that hadn’t worked too well as my stumbling stride was unable to keep up. They had been forced to escort us along the plain at a brisk walking pace, which I was glad of for two reasons. It allowed me more time to get used to my new legs and coordinate my balance. It also gave the unicorn mare beside me a chance to rest up. After her mad dash to escape the dogs she was quite exhausted. I worried if she would have even survived another high speed run.
It took most of the day for the dogs to return us to their mine, a fact that they were not very happy about as they kept on poking me with their spears. Their very sharp spears. In addition, they had confiscated my belt of tricks after they had caught us, thus preventing me from using any of my tricks on them. Not that any of them would have worked, there isn't much shiny powder and cards can do to stop a spear thrust. As we approached the cave entrance I noticed that the dogs had far more than mere spears at their disposal when it came to defending their territory. On either side of the entrance were ballistae, huge crossbows capable of firing giant bolts at a target. Evidently the dogs had gotten a bit more creative than just huge bolts though, the ballista were also equipped with a large sheaf of ordinary crossbow bolts, bound together with what looked like twine. Their purpose was immediate. It was essentially a huge single-shot shotgun. The ballista would fire the bundle of bolts forward, breaking the twine that held them together. The bolts would then fly out in a giant arc, eviscerating whatever stood in front of them. Truly a deadly anti-infantry weapon. I’m not ashamed to admit that I was more than a little scared as I passed between those great bows. Wild Card I may be but I would need a whole hell of a lot of luck to survive being shot at by those monstrous weapons.
The inside of the cave was dimly lit, the dogs must be much better at seeing in the dark than I was as I could barely make out anything in front of me. The only thing I could make out was the unicorn mare beside me and the shuffling shapes of the guard dogs.
Heh. Guard dogs. Funny.
We were escorted into a large, hall-like chamber. Unlike all the other chambers I had seen so far this one actually was well lit, which only served to portray its cavernous expanse. Pillars held up a ceiling that was barely visible, even with the light of the flickering torches to illuminate the room. Guard Dogs, in better armour than the ones who had brought us here, were evidently some sort of honour guard for the lord of this place. They lined the walls, anywhere there wasn’t a torch, there was a guard. The hall led up to a raised dais on which sat a huge throne carved entirely out of marble. Upon the throne sat a huge figure, an enormous mound of flesh and muscle that vaguely took the shape of a Diamond Dog if you squinted and turned your head a bit. So this was their lord? He really was the big dog around here, literally. Even seated he towered over every other dog in the hall, he must have been around seven feet tall if he stood up fully. His muscles bunched grotesquely underneath his pale, translucent hair. The most striking thing about him though was not his enormous size but rather his eyes. They were deeply set inside his face and moved around with a manic energy. Their intense gaze would immediate land on any of the shadows created by the flickering torches.
“Bow before his Majesty! Lord High Alpha Redtooth!”
The butts of spears were slammed into our legs as we were forced to prostrate ourselves before the alpha. His eyes, with their extreme energy, locked on to us as our fates were declared by our guard.
“The mare slave is recently recaptured after an escape attempt whilst this mutated minotaur” he spat those words with disgust “was captured as he tried to assist her escape”
So not true! I impeded her escape…oh wait, that’s not much better. Carry on my good gentle dog.
The big dog was regarding us with his beady eyes. He considered us carefully before questioning his guard.
“Are they working with the shadows? They whisper to me you know, whisper such sweet honeyed words”
“um…no sir, I believe they are just regular prisoners. What would you have us do with them?”
It was becoming increasingly clear that there was something wrong with Lord Redtooth. He didn’t exactly look like the healthiest dog in the house, despite his massive bulk. Not to mention all that business with talking shadows.
It was at this point that one of the torches nearest to us flickered and went dim, sending shadows scurrying across the floor and towards Redtooth’s throne. The shadow managed to just touch the edge of the floor before he leapt backwards in fright, a whine escaping his throat as he jumped on his throne like a startled child, staring down at the shadow fearfully. One of the dogs that flanked his throne came forward with a large chalice, which he handed to Lord Redtooth. The huge dog greedily gulped down the liquid as if his life depended on it. Once he was finished with his drink he threw the chalice upon the ground and returned to his regular seating position, one of the guards hastily driving the shadows away from him with a torch. His eyes were no longer fearful or paranoid, but instead gazed at us with a burning anger.
“It is clear to me from your attempts to corrupt my person with your foul, malignant influence that you cannot be trusted with normal slave work. To the Hole with them!”
The mare beside me gasped in fear whilst I just looked confused. What was the Hole? Why was it so terrible as to deserve a capital letter? The dogs around us just grinned at the proclamation of our fate, some of them even drooled a bit. Whatever the Hole was it was very bad for us but very good for the dogs.
We were once again marched through dimly lit corridors into another cave, this one smaller than the throne room, less decorated and far less lit. a couple of torches were all that spluttered on the wall of the cave, feebly trying to beat back the darkness. The chamber was taken up mainly by an enormous pen made of twisted scrap metal. Inside the cage figures moved about in the blackness and I could see the forms of guard dogs patrolling the edges. Some kind of large prison.
The guards were swift in their movement to open the gate to the twisted cage. We were rudely thrown inside to land face first in the dirt as the gate was hastily slammed shut behind us.
As I pulled my face out of the mud and the mysterious unicorn mare struggled to her feet the shapes around us began to move, the other prisoners approaching the fresh meat. Oh god! I’m too pretty to be in prison! I’m gonna get raped!
Imagine my embarrassment when, instead of the leering face of Uncle Bad-Touch, the kindly face of an aged zebra appeared from the shadows. His face was deeply set by the wrinkles and his eyes held a deep sadness. His white mane hung down his face in wisps, barely holding on the their roots.
“Are you okay, young ones?” his voice was comforting and deep, despite having a rasp to it that spoke volumes about his health.
The unicorn had managed to gain stability on her hooves by this point and greeted the old zebra.
“Yes, I’m fine. Just a little shook up, may I ask your name?”
“I am Zende, and you are?”
“Summer Storm”
“and who is your unusual friend?”
“He’s no friend of mine” Hey! That’s rude, I’m standing right here “If anything he’s the reason I’m in this place”
“Okay that I really must protest. First off, my name is Ace. Secondly, You ran into me” I figured I may have sounded a bit whiny here but there was no way I was taking all the blame for this.
“Only because you decided to get in my way. I mean, how dumb are you? Couldn’t you see that I was running away?”
“I didn’t see you at all! One minute I’m walking out of a forest the next minute BAM! I’m covered in unicorn mare. And not even in the good way.”
Our argument had managed to attract the attention of the prisoners around us as well as, worryingly, some of the closer guard dogs.
“Hush! Stay quiet! Don’t let them notice you” warned Zende “don’t you know where you are? This is the Hole!”
“Yeah, so?” I was still confused about why this place was so scary.
“You don’t know? The Hole is where prisoners are kept who will be fighting in the sand ring. The guards will randomly select one of us to fight the champion. A huge, constantly enraged minotaur who can rip apart anything that stands in his way. It’s said that he even scares Lord Redtooth, who fears no living thing, just the shadows”
Well that’s worrying. If there is even a chance that I will be fighting something that puts the scare into that monstrous dog then I want nothing to do with it. I shouldn’t be so worried though, judging by the amount of fighting slaves inside the Hole the chance that I would be fighting anytime soon must be like a thousand to one.
I mean I would have to have bad luck of epic proportions to be picked on my first day.
It was then that I noticed all the prisoners had gone quiet and backed away from me. Even Zende and Summer. I turned around to see the armed contingent of guard dogs coming straight at me.
Oh, Bollocks. Sometimes I hate my luck.
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Author's note:
To any who are curious about the name of this chapter. Yes, I deliberately went out of my way to name the cage the Hole so I could make this chapter's title a pun.
I just couldn't help myself. Please forgive me.