Would You be Free?

“I’m going to kill him.” Savage sat on the wet stone floor on the otherside of Chavias’ cell door. His customary place. He viciously carved a bit of leather. Eyes shining gold in the blackness so he could see the piece he worked.

He means Okine.

“No, you’re not. You’ve no stake in what happens to me.”

They’ll kill you.

“I do.” Savage said tonelessly.

“You do not!” Chavias bit out from where he sat on the otherside of the door. Back propped against the stone wall. Facing the boy opposite him.

Have a care, Boy.

Radix could torture you at a moment’s notice.

Savage tossed the bit of leather aside. “You’re the closest thing I’ve known to family. Mine would have none of me.”

“Why is that?” Chavias asked curious.

“Because…I’m savage.”

I suspect it was more than that.

You’re no mindless creature.

“You’ve been a sort of family to me too.” Chavias grunted the admission.

“A difficult child, perhaps?” There was almost hope on the boy’s face.

Like a son. A broken one.

“You were never difficult.” Chavias said. “If anything, too eager to learn the art of killing.”

“I’ve learned well.”

I’d say a bit beyond that, actually.

“You have.” Chavias agreed.

“You were a good tutor.”

“Thank you. I think…” Chavias rolled it over.

Not exactly a compliment.

Savage laughed coldly.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you laugh before.” Chavias said thoughtfully.

I know I haven’t.

“Perhaps only now do I see humor in this sick situation.”

Humor? What humor could there possibly be?

“What humor is that?”

“The most powerful man in these caves sits behind these bars.” Savage gestured. “Drained of blood. Tortured and threatened with the murder of his friends. And these very tools are used to make him kill his friends.”

I don’t find that amusing. Chavias was stung by the fact that Savage thought such things funny.

“What is it you drive at?” His tone hardened.

“You mistake me. I don’t laugh at your predicament.” Savage sobered. “I laugh because, for reasons unknown to me, instead of dwelling on these things you worry for me. A child whom no one has cared for his whole life. A child who could die any moment in these raids or perhaps turning against these stinking animals.” He tossed his head to the surrounding caves.

Chavias’ anger calmed. “I worry because I see no reason for you to die.”

“Do you see a reason for me to live?” Savage lifted his chin and looked at Chavias in his piercing way.

Yes.

“You’re not evil. Boy.”

“I am not good.”

“You are not good. But you could be.”

Savage tilted his head in interest.

“Just by ensuring you do the things you do well, for the right reasons.”

Killing.

“Is coin a right reason?” Savage asked. No animosity on his face.

“Depends on your lot in life.” Chavias admitted. Wishing he could give him a more righteous answer.

But people have done worse things for less.

“I wish to free you.” Savage said decisively.

“I don’t wish you to.”

If you try you’ll be killed.

“He holds me here with more than shackles.” Chavias explained. “And there are things I’m learning to do that may help me defeat him from within.”

“You plot against him?” Savage was intrigued.

Every day I’ve been here.

“Always.” He said.

“Then I shall too.”

“I don’t want you to.”

“What is it you do want me to do, Chavias?”

Be safe. Be alive. Actually find happiness, perhaps.

“I want you to get out of here.” Chavias admitted.

“Why?” Savage tilted his head to look at him.

“So, you’ll not always be Savage.”

The boy chuckled. “Who would you have me be?”

“Savage Jaxson.” Chavias sighed. “Part of the boy you once were. Part of the animal you’ve become. Something in-between, with an art for survival.”

“With an art for killing.” Savage corrected.

“If you must kill,” Chavias said. “do so with honor.”

Savage lowered his head in deference. “As you wish. Because you ask it. But if I get word you want out. I’ll return with a vengeance to free you.”

“I know.” Chavias said.

“When will I go?” Savage picked up the bit of leather and began carving again.

Ready to leave today if I told him to.

He the strongest soul I’ve ever seen. Chavias realized for the first time.

“When I tell you it’s time. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe in sennight. Maybe years from now. When I think it’s safe.”

“It’ll never be safe.”

As safe as it can be.

“No, it won’t.” Chavias said. “But you are very good at killing.”

A lethal creature from the first heartbeat, I suspect.

“Yes, I am.”

“I need you to do something for me, though.” Chavias requested.

“What would that be?”

Reassure me.

“I need to know I’m not unleashing a wild animal into Ardae.” Chavias explained.

“You are.” Savage said simply. In his incredibly unsettling, matter-of-a-fact way.

The opposite of reassuring.

“Kill with purpose.” Chavias shifted uneasily.

“I always do.” He looked at Chavias as he sawed the leather.

With what purpose?