Free Master of Chains by Jess Lebow

weapons.
    Purdun straightened his shirt and collar and collected himself, then he nodded to the bodyguard. “Put him down.”
    The creature released Liam, and he fell to the ground, landing on the wooden floor with a thud. Liam scrambled away from the bodyguard and lifted himself to his feet.
    Purdun looked him over from head to toe, spared a glance at his bodyguard, then took a step toward Liam, holding the key out.
    “Please,” he said pointing to Liam’s shackles, “I’d prefer if you weren’t wearing those.”
    A shudder ran down Liam’s spine. He’d heard about this sort of thing.
    He took a quick glance around the room. The other guards were still motionless in their alcoves. The door he’d come in was closed and presumably locked. The only other way out was the stone archways in the far wall that looked out on the bay and the ships in the harbor. It was a long way down—too far for Liam to jump.
    Liam shuffled away from the baron. “Is this some sort of game?”
    Purdun stopped, still holding the key out before him. “Game?”
    The brutality of Purdun’s elite guard was common knowledge. Liam had heard the tales of Captain Phinneous letting prisoners free only to claim they were trying to escape. He’d let them get into the courtyard, then sound the alarm. From what Liam had seen on the way in, a prisoner wouldn’t stand a demon’s chance in heaven of getting out. Anyone caught in that courtyard would be picked to pieces by the first volley of arrows. After that, there probably wouldn’t be much left. It was a sick game, another abuse of power and another way to dehumanize the citizens of Duhlnarim.
    Liam held up his hands. “Why drag me in here and shackle me, only to let me go?”
    Purdun grimaced. “I apologize, Liam. It was never my intention to chain you up.”
    “I’m not going to give you an excuse to torture me. I’m not going to try to escape.”
    One of the freighters in the harbor began to weigh anchor, its chain clanking as it rose out of the water. Liam looked out the window, once again longing to be aboard that ship bound for a new place.
    Purdun chuckled. “Is that what you think this is?”
    Liam’s attention came back inside the room. He never would have imagined his life ending like this. Three days ago, before he’d jumped out to attack the carriage, he knew that his actions could get him killed. Somehow though, he figured his end would be a bit more heroic.
    He looked Purdun in the face. “There’s no one here except you, me, and your goons. You can do what you want to me and make up whatever story you like. You don’t need me to play along.”
    Purdun waved his hand, and the bodyguard took several steps back. “Liam, I have no intention of harming you.”
    “Then what did you bring me here for?”
    Purdun stepped forward again and grabbed Liam by the wrist. Liam jumped back but not before the baron had unlocked and released his right wrist. The shackle swung free.
    “I brought you here, Liam,” said Purdun, “to offer you a job.”
    Liam stopped his retreat. “A job?”
    Purdun nodded. “Yes, Liam. I want you to join my elite guard.”
    Liam wasn’t sure he had heard the words right. “You want me to join your guard?”
    “That is what I said,” confirmed the baron.
    Liam laughed. “What makes you think I’d want to join your elite guard?”
    Purdun shrugged. “The money.”
    Liam was confused. Less than a tenday ago he’d attacked one of the baron’s carriages, and somehow that had qualified him for entrance into the baron’s elite guard. “Are all of your thugs ex-criminals?”
    Purdun smiled, ignoring the question. “You’d get the best training and the best equipment. Three square meals a day, and extra provisions for your family. You could improve that run-down house of yours. Get your mother a proper wardrobe. Buy your father a new horse.”
    “I don’t think you get it, Purdun.” Liam narrowed his eyes. “I despise you. I hate everything you