Shackles
Chapter One
The figure walked through the barren wasteland for hours, the rain never stopping, keeping pace with his footsteps. As he walked, he realized that his throat had become rather dry. He removed the assortment of cloths that covered his head, trophies from each diamond dog he had killed. He opened his mouth and stuck his tongue out, facing directly towards the sky. He simply stood there and let rain fall into his gaping mouth. When he was satisfied, he redid the cloth and continued walking towards his destination; the camp where he had been enslaved for the past year.
As he entered the caverns he took note of the lack of corpses. His hand slowly drifted to his side, and he reached for the sharpened piece of metal he had made into an impromptu knife. ‘Maybe they were just eaten.’ He thought, trying to reassure himself. He drew the small weapon just in case, and hid it in his long, tattered sleeve. He proceeded through the caves, slowly running his hand against the wall, recalling the memories of the accursed structure. The creature winced at the thoughts: whippings, rape, starvation, slavery, executions... ‘No, he thought, it’s all over, time to go back home.’ He moved further into the caves, where he could hear cries of despair and sadness, creatures who had lost hope like he had at one point.
As he passed the cages he was met with varying responses or lack thereof. He walked up to the rearmost wall and removed a key ring that could hardly be considered a key ring due to the scarcity of keys on it: three in total. “First things first” he said to himself. He walked to a cage with a broken chain, and a small group of small equine figures trying to undo their bindings.
He stepped into a cage and selected a key, he reached down and stuck the key into a hole in one of the metal rings bound around his legs. He tried turning the key, but found that it would not. He switched to another and was rewarded with a click. Taking note of the key, he pried open the metal ring, and lifted his pant leg, he smiled at the sight of his now bare ankle. “Good to see you, buddy.” He smiled. He took the same key and moved it to his other leg. After repeating the procedure for both his arms, he turned to the small group and made his way towards them. He unlocked the shackles that were attached to their chests and then walked out of the cage. The small equine creatures backed away, looking at the creature curiously. The creature moved from cage to cage, unlocking the doors and shackles of the inmates. He turned to leave the room as the caged stared in disbelief. Many were elated, smiles gracing their impoverished an overworked faces. Others simply stood or sat in their places, minds broken by the cruelties of life.
The creature stood at the entrance to the room, watching its occupants. Some stepped out of their cages while others stared dumbly at the opened door, the idea of freedom lost upon them. Slowly but surely, the residents who were aware of what they were now presented with they immediately began rousing all the inmates. “Everyone, wake up!” Hoarse voices called. “We’re finally free! The gates have been opened!” They slowly brought even the catatonic inmates out of their trance-like state. As they all filed out of the cave, one of them, an equine walked up to the creature and thanked him.
“My name is Inky Quill.” She said, “If you’re ever in Canterlot, try to look me up.” The creature grunted in response and watched her leave.
As the inmates left their prison, the creature decided to go to the mess hall. “All they ever gave us was that inedible slop, let’s see what the slavers ate.” He said to himself all while scratching his stomach. He paused to consider his actions. ‘The bodies I left disappeared. That doesn't make sense. This must be some sort of trap.’ He mused. His stomach’s growling tempting him to follow his base desires.
As he took a tentative step towards the kitchen, he stopped to the sound of whimpering. “What the hell?” he whispered to himself. He walked towards the noise. He reached a cell in a dark corner of the room. He walked up to it and peered inside. The sight he was met with was that of three small equines. They were all cuddled up against another equine, this one clearly dead. ‘Oh god no, I hate kids.’ the creature thought to himself. “Still, if their mom is dead” the creature paused “not my problem.” He stood at the door and watched the infants. He watched and waited... until one of them took notice of him and began crawling towards him. “What?! No, get away from me!” the creature yelled. This did nothing to stop the infant, as it finally crawled up to his leg and grabbed on to it. It whimpered and looked towards the creature. “Get off of me,” the creature said, and began shaking his leg. The infant was thrown off, back into the cage, and began crying. The other two infants followed suit and soon, the caverns were filled with the cacophonous noise of crying.
“What!? No! No! Don’t cry! Don’t cry!” the creature reassured. He walked towards the infants and picked them up in his arms. Nearly instantly, the infants stopped crying.
“Clever bastards,” the creature muttered.
The creature’s stomach grumbled and he decided to go to the kitchens. He was greeted with what was to be expected of a kitchen meant for serving many; multiple stoves, pantries and of course, an access to running water. He opened one of the pantries to find darkened corked bottles. The infants in his arms looked up at him expectantly.
The creature paused. He looked around the pantries for milk for the expectant infants. He searched until he finally found a door labeled in a strange alphabet.
He opened the door to find stairs leading into a poorly lit basement. Torches placed at regular intervals dimly illuminated the scene and gave it an eerie glow. He grabbed a torch from the sconce nearest to the wall and proceeded down the stairs.
As he finished walking down the flight of stairs, he noticed a warmth on his left shoulder. He turned his head to see that one of the infants had an expression of sheer bliss on its face. The other two, noticing the warmth, were giggling.
The creature growled and continued, deeper into the basement. He suddenly stopped, a metallic shine drawing his attention. As he turned to face it, he dropped his torch, freeing a hand in the process.