Shades of Grey

ACAVIA— MAY 1843

That night I sat in the corner, curled into as tight a ball as I could form my body in order to combat the cold of the stone cell. Just as I was about to drift off to sleep, Forma’s voice shook me awake.

“Prepare yourself. I’ve just entered the camp. I’ll tap you into my eyes and ears.”

I sat up and waited for the familiar ache to rip through my head, wincing mildly as it passed. Afterwards, I opened my eyes and watched as Forma slipped easily through the wooden door leading to the underground slave camp.

Forma entered a small opening behind a large rock face which took her down a flight of stairs into a great room where the entire slave population turned to her with flagrant hostility. I had a biting suspicion we would see this expression a lot on the faces of many people we would meet in our future.

“Who are you?” asked the tall man who had been sceptical of my age earlier. “This meeting is private.”

“I am Forma. I am a Maisling Fairy,” she began. “Please, I’m only here to help.”

“What, like the Hunter we saw being dragged through the city earlier today?”

There was a sarcastic murmur of disbelief. Forma didn’t bend, though.

“Yes. That was my partner, Grey. She was unprepared for the strength of the sentry guard.”

“Have you come to slay the Treptiks?” came another question from the crowd.

A flurry of minute hope shuffled through the crowd. I saw Lanek looking at her with cautious optimism.

“Tell them yes.”

“Grey, I don’t think we’re prepared to induce that sort of mutiny.”

“We need to. If this really is the last of the lost Cambrians, we have to do something. They’ve been enslaved for centuries: this is the first real good we can do. Even if it’s not the Cambrians, we could save a population from extinction!”

She took a minute, the people staring at her, and continued.

“We do not intend to leave until you are all free.”

They looked at her cynically. Forma decided to turn the conversation.

“What can you tell me about yourselves? About your culture?”

One of the older men stood up.

“Do you know of us? Are Hunters taught of the Cambrian Elves?”

Forma and I shared a small gasp of excitement.

“Yes. We know of your disappearance and of the rich culture you once had.”

Several of the older Cambrians frowned, crestfallen.

“We are wasted shells of what our ancestors once were. No one here knows life outside of captivity.”

There was a brief murmur of regret and shame among the older Cambrians. The younger slaves looked at Forma in hope.

Lanek then stood up and the room fell silent.

“You say the Hunter is your partner? The one who worked the mines? Grey?”

His voice was suddenly pointed and challenging.

“Yes.”

“What if she breaks under Treptik torture? They don’t take kindly to Hunters.”

An air of brusque coldness suddenly deadened the room: they had been through this before. I may have underestimated this particular Treptik clan…

“Exactly how many Hunters have you met?” Forma asked slowly as she shared my conclusion.

“Five have entered; none have lived past their third week in the cell,” said Lanek softly.

My stomach dropped and I felt Forma gulp apprehensively.

“We are not the same. I have spent these past two days learning the routine patterns of the Treptik guards. Our plan is this—”

“Wait, what plan? You have told me anything about a plan!” I asked quickly.

“Shut up and I will,” she snapped back.

“—I have recently come into contact with another Fairy who has contacted their Hunter, and they are interested in helping.”

This idea was met with indecision. After the last five Hunters who had tried to help, they did not want any more false hope. I, however, reacted with euphoric astonishment.

“What?! Who?!”

“The Hunter’s name is Loria and she is quite skilled in dealing with Creatures of such brute strength. Her Maisling, Scepta, has agreed to ferry three Cambrians across the forest at a time to the nearby Elf City of Granyah where you will be safe.”

“How will we get past the guardsmen?” asked a woman towards the front.

“When did you contact Loria and Scepta?!” I inquired furiously.

Forma sensed my eagerness and ignored me, returning to her speech.

“I haven’t worked out the particulars yet. I need more time, but I swear to you we will free you and restore you to your former glory. Everyone will know of the Cambrian Elves.”

I shook as I realised that I would soon be seeing another Hunter. Questions for Loria then flooded my mind: Where had she gone after the attack? Did she know if anyone else was still alive?

“How long will this take?” asked a young girl in the middle of the crowd, interrupting my excited fervour.

“A while. I need to learn the specifics of the Treptik slang and learn their routines, find the time gaps and figure out how to best help you escape. Loria and Scepta are stationed nearby. They are also training and preparing.”

The Cambrians looked at Forma with slight doubt. They did not want to get their hopes up that a Hunter would finally save them, but they were optimistic nonetheless.

“Alright, Forma, we will trust you, but you must swear that an attempt will be made. More than once has a Hunter tried and then forgotten us,” said a very old man to Forma’s left.

“We shall not leave you,” she assured them as she bowed in respect.

“One more matter must be addressed,” said one of the younger men. “We will not be ferried away in secret while you fight our battle for us. You will need our assistance. The Treptiks are too many for the four of you to fight alone.”

There was a general murmur of agreement as fervent rage began to grow amongst them.

“I admire your bravery but you are far from the noble warriors your ancestors were. Does any one of you possess knowledge of battle?” Forma asked in a careful voice.

“We all possess the knowledge,” replied Lanek strongly. “We possess none of the skills or the strength.”

There was a dark pause as the rest of the crowd agreed. I saw immediately what Lanek was hinting at and the potential of such an idea.

“Agree,” I urged Forma.

“Agree to what?” she asked, confused.

“Agree to teach them to fight.”

“WHAT?! Are you mad? I can’t teach them!”

“Why not? You’ve gone through ten years of battle training.”

“Grey, have you seen these people? They are so thin and frail, I don’t think they could fight the wind!”

“So steal food for them. Build up their strength. Teach them to ignore the Treptik abuse. Teach them to fight.”

I noticed the Cambrians beginning to whisper as Forma continued to not address them, but she then sighed and ran her fingers through her hair, turning to them one more time.

“Alright. I will teach you to fight and together, we will take down the Treptiks.”

They cheered in elation and began talking excitedly to each other when Lanek stood and sat closer to Forma.

“Is Grey listening right now?” he asked. “I’ve heard legends of the Hunter/Maisling senses.”

“Yes. She can see and hear you,” she replied, turning her head so that I could see him.

“Well…erm… Grey, I just wanted to let you know that I really appreciate what you are trying to do. We all do despite the appearances.”

Forma then looked down and I saw that Lanek had picked up her hand and gripped it strongly for emphasis. Forma looked up at him again and smiled.

“Tell him I say thank you and that I will not let him down,” I said quickly.

“She says thank you and that she will not let you down.”

Lanek nodded and faced the centre of the circle as the group laughed at someone telling a story. I recalled how quickly I had developed an attraction to Rodag and resolved that I would not make the same mistake again. However, I could not deny the fact that he truly wanted to help. He wanted so badly to see his people freed…

“Forma, I really have good feelings about this man.”

“You had good feelings about the last one too, and look how that turned out,” she shot back.

“Relax, I do not intend to make the same mistake twice. I meant for him to be our ally. He could be useful somehow. What do you think?”

She was silent for a minute and I could very nearly hear her scattered thoughts and she tried to articulate a negative attribute.

“I suppose I like him too. But if he offers to guide us somewhere and it turns out he sold us out, I will not hesitate to say ‘I told you so.’”

“No, I’m sure you won’t,” I replied with a smile as I drifted off to sleep.

Two months passed as Forma honed the fighting skills of the Cambrians in secret nightly training sessions. Two months of manual labour, two months of Forma secretly stealing food from outside to build up the strength of the Cambrians, two months of constant flagellation, two months of being ridiculed and laughed at in a language I only barely understood and, oddly enough, two months of growing closer to Lanek. In between the lashings and scarce meals, I had managed to form a friendship with the Cambrian.

“You really kill monsters?” he asked me one night as we tended the diamond fields.

“Yes,” I laughed. “I really kill monsters.”

“That sounds exciting.”

I laughed again.

“I suppose, when I’m not sleeping in mud or running for my life or being tortured…or betrayed...”

Lanek was silent for a moment, staring at me with alarming acuteness.

“What?” I asked.

“Who was he?”

“Who was who?” I redirected, slamming my pickaxe into the rough ground.

“The man who betrayed you?”

My amusement faded. Was it that obvious?

“How did you know?”

“It’s not a difficult conclusion to make,” he replied, bringing his axe into the ground. “Especially since you just snapped your axe.”

I looked down in embarrassment: my axe blade had broken cleanly in half upon my last strike.

“You’re clearly on your guard,” he continued.

“Of course I’m on my guard, you don’t know what he did to me.”

“Then tell me.”

I stared at his expectant face, words escaping me.

“No. It’s in the past; it’s not important,” I replied, returning to my work. “Why don’t you tell me of your life? Do you have any family?”

Lanek nodded, indulging my abrupt and sudden attempt to change the uncomfortable subject. He told me of his sister who worked to cook the food for the Treptiks and Cambrians alike. He told me of his brother who had been killed in an attempt at revolution several years before and he spoke of his parents who had gone missing a year ago.

“What a story,” I breathed as he finished.

“It’s not an uncommon one, unfortunately. We have all lost someone close to us.”

A pang of impatience struck me. Forma had to hasten her practicing: we had an entire population to save.

“Are you almost ready?” I asked her.

“Nearly there. I’d say two more days for both me and for the Cambrians. Then we can begin.”

I smiled unknowingly. Lanek did not appreciate this.

“Why would that make you smile?”

I looked up, having forgotten that his last words had been that everyone had lost someone close to them.

“Oh, no it wasn’t you. Forma just told me she’s nearly ready to implement our plan. Two days.”

Lanek’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Two days?! Good God…”

He grew laconic for a moment. I frowned in concern.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes… the prospect of freedom being just two days away is a little much to take in when one has spent their entire life in captivity. I’ve only just begun to master the basics of handling a sword.”

I laughed again.

“How do you feel her lessons have gone? Do you feel prepared to fight for your freedom?”

A sudden darkness clouded his face and I grew worried for a moment.

“I have been prepared to fight for freedom my entire life: Forma has just given me the skills to do so.”

He grew quiet and I returned to gathering the diamonds I had unearthed, eager for these two days to pass quickly.