HOUSE OF PAIN

Joda had been dragged by the two scowling men who turned out to be the guards of the Merchant, Thrall. They had moved from the shores and into a waiting carriage. The Merchant and his guards had debated loudly to Joda's annoyance whether they should let him get dragged behind the carriage or allow him to board the small vehicle.

The Merchant had finally decided to let the young slave walk along with two others. He had told Joda and two more slaves he had bought that day that it was the young boy's fault they were going to walk and this had caused glares and looks of hatred from the two new slaves as their bounds got attached to the carriage before it started moving.

Joda had ignored the young children and instead focused on the town they were traveling through. He made a mental note of all the things he saw. Their architecture, their fashion, and their general way of life. After traveling for about twenty minutes, they made it to Thrall's house. 

The Merchant's house was nothing too impressive. It was a fairly big two-story house with a small stretch of land Infront for the Merchant's carriage. The house was fenced with wood to keep nosey neighbors away but Joda wondered if it would be enough. The fence wasn't even that tall, it only came to his host's head.

The house had not impressed Joda but from what he had noticed as they traveled, this house was probably among the best in the town, compared to the tiny shacks and cottages he had seen belonging to others. Also, he noticed that Thrall had more guards and servants in his compound. Joda counted five more guards patrolling the small property and he was sure there were more in the house itself.

The slaves had been led away by the two scowling guards who had come with them and Joda watched as the other two were taken to a separate part of the house whiles he had been led through the back room and into an underground chamber of sorts. The place was cold and gloomy, much more like a dungeon than anything. It was divided into many small rooms, easily reaching a dozen and Joda had been unceremoniously thrown into one of the rooms and the door locked from outside by the guards who had escorted him over.

Joda's room was small, like a hen coop from his kingdom. There was a tiny, cover-less bed in the corner made of straw. Joda sighed as he saw the state of his makeshift prison. He wished he could escape right at the moment. It was possible but he knew he wouldn't make it far before he was captured.

He had no geographical knowledge of this strange land and an escape attempt in his current sorry State would make things even tougher for him. He was already dreading his singular duty as a slave, it wouldn't pay to add more fuel to the already raging fire. He would escape, but not now. He would do it when he had some knowledge about this place and when he had made this current body stronger.

That night, left alone in his prison, Joda had plotted many escaping scenarios in his head for when he was finally ready. He had finally resigned himself to sleep after a long time of planning. All the planning was making him hungry and nobody had bothered to bring him any food after he was dumped in his room so the Prince had gone to bed. 

The following morning, he had been rudely awoken by having a bucket of cold water poured on him by one of the guards who instructed him in a yell to wake up and get moving. Joda had been tempted to trample the guard for his behavior but had refrained. Once again, it wouldn't pay to endanger himself so the prince had instead asked the guard why he needed to move. The guard had been annoyed by the question but had decided to answer anyway. 

"The lady of the house has asked to meet all the new slaves immediately. That includes you, as filthy as you may be." The guard insulted but Joda ignored him. The lady of the house, huh? Did that mean that ugly Merchant actually had a wife? How did he even manage to get one while looking the way he did? Joda wondered as he trudged ahead of the guard.

He had gone up to go join the two other slaves he had been bought along with. They looked different in clean clothes that he had only seen the servants wear and smelled clean whiles he was still his old dirty self in his still tattered clothes.

When the lady of the house entered the room, Joda had been surprised at her youthfulness. She was younger than his host with her long black hair and beautiful features. He had initially thought her the wife of the Merchant but she had quickly debunked that theory by stating that she was the only daughter of the Merchant and that she wanted their full respect at all times. She had started sweetly but as she spoke more, her true self started getting revealed.

Here was a spoilt brat that thought the whole world ought to bow to her every command. She had informed the new servants that they were to follow her every order to the finest detail else she would have them whipped raw. After some more threats, she had turned her attention to Joda.

"Odin's eye, you stink!" Was the first thing she said to a bristling Joda who had to take in quick heavy breaths to calm down.

"My father mentioned that you had a sharp tongue and a fighting attitude. I can tell by looking at you that he was right. Too bad you're only here to take a beating." She giggled as she said this. "You're so unlucky. My father has quite the temper and so does my brother. In fact, he's worst. I'm afraid your job is even going to be harder than you think. Still, even I wouldn't want to hit you under all that stink. Get him cleaned up, his stink is giving me a headache." The girl held her nose and made a shooing motion with her free hand.

Joda frowned at her as he got dragged by one of the guards towards a different room. He had been shoved into a bathroom and asked to bath himself which he had found a little difficult to do under all the stares and glares of the guards who refused to turn away no matter how many times he demanded privacy. they had told him point-blank that as a slave, he had nothing like privacy so he better hurry up or they would call in one of the female servants to bathe him. 

This threat had worked and Joda had quickly learned to ignore all the looks and do his business. After bathing, he had been given a new cloth just like the ones the other servants wore which he had put on. He was then sent back into his room which now had a tray of food waiting for him on his bed. Joda had wasted no time and gone straight to dive in. He was still eating when his door got yanked open from outside and in walked three guards.

The guards slapped the food the prince was eating away and Joda felt his heart drop as he watched the little food in the bowl spill onto the floor. He was dragged from his sitting position on his bed and roughly pulled out of his room and out through the dungeon.

"Hey, what's this? What did I do now?" Joda asked as the guards pushed him roughly through the dark and cold place. Honestly, he was expecting them to ignore him, but one of the guards surprisingly answered him.

"The young master has returned from one of his hunting sessions in a bad mood and demands to see you so you could discuss the terms of your duty." The guard answered coldly and Joda's felt his Insides tighten in worry. He hadn't healed completely from all the beatings he had suffered at the hands of the soldiers back at his host's village and his side still hurt from that kick Thrall had given him the previous day. He was in no condition to take any more punishment. 

Joda prayed fervently as they neared the large hall he and the other slaves had met the lady of the house earlier. He prayed the young master should just be a frail weak individual whose punches wouldn't do much damage. He prayed for the young master to have enough humanity in him to change his mind the moment he saw what a frail thing his host was. He prayed the young master would be calm enough to schedule their meeting for another time. Joda prayed for many things but all his prayers came crashing down around his ears the moment the door to the hall was opened and he set eyes on the tall, muscular, broad shouldered, and very angry man standing in the middle of the hall with a long whip in his hand.

The man turned to look Joda straight in his eyes with a face full of rage and Joda gulped as the man flexed his muscles and rolled his arms. Joda was in deep shit, and he wondered if he could ever crawl his way from it.