Things had settled down after that, no one wants to burn to death. It’s an ugly, ugly death. Stavi was feeling pretty good about it, though. He had established himself as someone not to be fucked with, and had also managed to take in some vitality so that the small pool around his core was at maximum capacity. Most people would probably not think that enough to kill a man over, but…

They aren’t fuckin’ kidnapped slaves!

One of the scrawniest of them all, a young kid named Kola, had immediately sidled up to Stavi and started spilling his guts in an effort to ingratiate himself. Apparently the man who had kidnapped Stavi was named Kreg, and he made a practice of stealing children on the road to sell for profit. Simple enough to understand, but it made Stavi feel like even more of an idiot.

Yeah, he knew that I had no backing, so he could just take me. I’m tired of having my life tossed around like I’m some kind of toy. I need more power…

It was easy to feel powerless when he was sitting there, naked and bruised, and still covered in shit. It was easy, but the easy path had never been the one for Stavi. If it was, he would still be living with his mother and stepfather, relaxing in luxury and slowly dying of boredom. No, now it was time to do the hard things needed to escape.

Stavi leaned in close to Kola, and whispered, “I get the feeling you might like to escape. Maybe you were the one being covered in shit before I got here, eh?” He didn’t bother looking the younger boy in the face, he could feel him tense up at his words.

“You think it’s bad now? Try to escape and see what happens. Kreg isn’t afraid to lose a few slaves, in order to keep the rest of us in place. Trust me, I’ve seen it.” Kola whispered back furiously, after having shaken off his decision paralysis.

“I don’t care. I’m leaving, either on my own feet or in a coffin, but either way I’m done letting someone else control the story.” Stavi turned to look at the younger boy, he was malnourished, with his bones clearly visible through his pale skin. He had hair that was a dark red color, and a splash of freckles across his face. They couldn’t look more different, but something about the kid sparked a sense of recognition in Stavi’s mind. “We’re leaving.”

Kola nodded back at him, a shock of red hair falling down over his eyes. He made a sound of disgust and flipped his head back, which made Stavi laugh.

After a few chuckles, Stavi turned his attention to making sure the slaver was nowhere near, and that the bullies were on the other end of the enclosure.

“Alright, alright. I am going to cut you, and I need you to yell real loud. I’m going to use some of your blood to do a little magic. I’m not gonna lie, it’s going to feel weird, but just suck it up.” Stavi shivered slightly at his memory of the old witch doing that to him.

She wanted me to know what it feels like. Well, it feels like shit!

Kola nodded back at Stavi in response, and Stavi could see that he was gritting his teeth in anticipation of being wounded. He pulled out a sharp-edged stone he had dug out of the ground, and lashed it across the outside of Kola’s forearm as hard as he could. Bright red blood spurted out, soon followed by a darker variety.

Kola started screaming, and if Stavi hadn’t known the boy was playing it up he might have thought Kola was on the verge of death. The smell of vitality was filled the air, and Stavi started preparing his mind. The bigger bully from previously rushed over, follow by his hangers-on and ran up like he was going to smash Stavi.

Stavi inhaled all of the vitality in the air, and shoved in every last drop from the pool around his core, and spoke a single word. It was a word of power, of course, but not one he had used in actuality before.

“Kart.”

The word seemed to split the air, like a blade cleaving through, and then the big bully, and two of his followers, were sporting slash-marks on their upper chests. Blood started pouring out, and vitality with it, even as the other slaves came closer. Kola stopped screaming and tried to roll out of the way. Stavi barked out his word again, and again.

“Kart.”

“Kart.”

Each time used up the vitality in him, but each time opened a new wound on the boys who were now trying to punch and kick him into unconsciousness. He chanted the word as fast as he could, drawing in more and more vitality with each breath. So much of the energy was pouring into him that he was actually starting to feel better, not worse, even as the punches and kicks continued.

Soon though, the punches and kicks stopped as the slaves keeled over. They were all covered in bloody slashes, some of them little more than half-butchered slabs of meat. Stavi, contrarily, felt better than he could remember. He could see there was a red haze of energy surrounding him, but he could also see it dissolving very fast. He rushed over to the gate to the enclosure and punched out at the locked door with his fast as he chanted once more.

“Rujati!”

As his knuckles hit the door lock he could feel the metal it was made of coming apart just before it would touch his skin. The door blasted open, freeing Stavi and Kola, and using up much of his store of vitality. Stavi took a second to compress the aura hanging around him into the energy that surrounded his core, although it felt slightly ‘thicker’ this time for some reason.

Kola scampered out the door, keeping low to the ground as he scouted their escape.

Surely Kreg is going to notice something before I get away. I can’t be that lucky, an I?

“Hold it right there…”

NOPE! Everything as expected!

“We’re leaving, Kreg. You can get out of the way, and we’ll leave you be, or you can be a shithead and we’ll take you out.” Part of Stavi was hoping the slaver made a big deal out of this. It really wasn’t worth it to fight him, over just escaping, but dammit if he didn’t just want to.

“You’re not going anywhere…ever…again.”

Nice…