Free TST by Brock Deskins

men. They captured many of the younger women and older children and put us into cages. They took us far from our village and put us on a boat. We floated several days downriver before reaching the sea. After two days at sea, we came to an island and were unloaded at a slave market. The slave master purchased several others and me. Lord Xornan then bought me from the slave master,” Delinda morosely told Azerick her story.
    “How long have you been here?”
    “Four years I think. You start to lose time after a while. How did you come to be Lord Xornan’s favored pet?”
    “I am nobody’s pet!” he exclaimed more vehemently than he intended. “I’m sorry. I did not mean to shout like that.”
    “That’s all right. I should not have called you a pet. That is all we are to him, all of us. We are nothing more than animals to him and his kind.”
    “I will change that one day. One day this pet is going to turn on his master and tear his throat out,” Azerick promised.
    “No, you mustn’t say that! You must not even think that! He will punish you terribly for any thought of dissidence,” she cried, suddenly fearful.
     “Don’t worry; I don’t think he will do anything unless I actually manage to act against him, which so far seems highly unlikely.”
    “So how did you come to be here?” she asked, wanting to change the subject.
    “I was on a ship, a huge storm came up and blew us off course, and when it cleared we were attacked by a minotaur ship. I killed one but a psyling did something that rendered us unconscious. Then we were brought here and bought by Xornan,” Azerick recounted his story without emotion.
    Azerick then told her about his parents, Jon Locke, the Academy, and the death of Travis. He didn’t know why he told her so much. Azerick was so accustomed to holding everything in and keeping others out but as he talked to Delinda, everything just poured out of him and it made him feel almost relieved to share so much.
     She laughed a pleasant light-hearted laugh at his tale of how he and the younger students beat Travis and his friends and their pranks but became somber when he told her about his part in Travis’s death. He left out the fire at the guild house, the man that attacked him in the alley, the innkeeper, and the details of how he killed his mother’s murderer. Those things were too dark for him to share and it might make her afraid of him.
    “That must have been terrible for you,” she told him, laying a sympathetic hand on his arm, “but you must not blame yourself. You did what you had to do. They gave you no choice. Much of your life sounds just like the arena, just an arena of a different sort.”
    He greatly appreciated her understanding. The last thing he wanted was for this young woman to think he was a monster. He turned off the oil burner to allow the potion to cool while they continued to talk about their lives. Delinda told him about the psyling city, at least what she knew, and Azerick told her all about Southport. The potion was finally cool enough to drink and he downed the bitter concoction with a grimace.
    “Well, that should do it. Would you like to learn how to make a real healing potion with me some time?”
    “I would like that very much. Do you think I could practice making the fast heal draught? It would be very useful.”
    “Of course, how about tomorrow? I can take an inventory of all the ingredients down here to see if I need anything else for the healing potion,” he said, ecstatic at the thought of spending more time with her.
    “I must tend the garden tomorrow, but perhaps when I finish?”
    “That sounds fine,” Azerick replied and led her back up the stairs.
    As they stepped out of the stairwell and into the main room Lord Xornan stood in the center of the room with his hands tucked into his voluminous sleeves.
    “Lord Xornan, Azerick was teaching me how to brew a potion to aid in the healing of wounds,” Delinda explained nervously.
    “I