Chp.44: I'd rather live in a real cage than in a fake freedom

Misune bowed immediately as Hara entered the room. Haku, on the other hand, remained expressionless. "What do you want?" he grumbled.

The woman furrowed an eyebrow. "Yes, the politeness has definitely remained the same" she murmured. "But you were kind to free this girl from her burden"

In reality, Haku never had any intention of helping Misune; the girl was simply shaking too much and if she tried to touch his teeth she would almost certainly have injured herself. Haku doubted that the slave had great value, but he still didn't want to risk hurting her: it could have created friction with the other newcomers. Until he knew how much the king tolerated him hurting the other newcomers, he couldn't afford to even cut them. That was the only reason he'd decided to clean his teeth on his own. But if Hara wanted to delude herself that he had done it out of a strange admonition of kindness, then he had no problem making her believe it: the more he gained her sympathy, the more he had the opportunity to manipulate her. "I'm not someone who likes to scare the weak. If she was someone capable of standing up to me I'd have no problem using terror as a weapon, but she's so fragile that I could crush her with a blow of my tail" he said pretending that that had always been the intent, then he looked at Misune: "Can you pass me that rag now, please?"

The half-elf seemed to remember his request only then; however, instead of granting him, she exclaimed: "I can clean them for you... really, I can do it!"

Haku looked at the slave girl bored. It was clear that her sudden confidence stemmed from Hara's presence in the room; of course Haku wouldn't dare hurt her while she was there. However, this also worked to Haku's advantage: if Misune hurt herself cleaning his teeth, Hara could testify that it wasn't Haku's fault. "Mph. All right" he said opening his mouth.

Misune shivered slightly as she saw the many razor-sharp teeth, but she steeled herself and started cleaning them. Haru was pleased: due to the sandy ground of the arena a lot of dust got into his mouth and got stuck between his teeth, and now it was finally being carried away.

While Misune cleaned his teeth, Hara sat facing Haku. "I have to admit you fought well. I've never seen anyone move like that before" he said. "You are truly an amazing fighter"

"I'm just someone who has learned how to exploit other creature's weaknesses. You have to do it if you want to survive" Haku replied, albeit with a little effort since he couldn't move his jaws much. "A predator doesn't wait for you to reflect and decide how to defend yourself. You have to be quick and hit it first. Either you kill it, or it kills you. There is no alternative"

"Yeah. I forgot what kind of life you lived" Hara sighed. "Listen... the king will come here soon, he sent me to check that everything was in order before his arrival, but I would like to ask you... why did you refuse?"

Haku looked at her confused. "Refuse what?"

"His Majesty's proposal, of course" Hara replied. "It was what you always wanted, wasn't it? Peace, stability. You don't have to be afraid of everything and everyone. If you agree to swear allegiance to this nation, you will finally be able to live and not just survive..."

"How many children do they have?"

Hara froze. Haku's question had left her shocked and confused. "Um... what?"

"The dragons who have agreed to cooperate with the nations of newcomers. How many children do they have?" Haku asked.

Hara didn't understand the reason for that question, but she answered anyway: "I don't think they have any..."

"Impossible, we dragons reproduce by instinct. They must have children" Haku said. "Where do you think they are, then?"

It took Hara a few moments, then she understood where Haku was going. If the dragons forced themselves to breed every certain amount of time, but none of the collaborator dragons had children… then that meant someone had taken their children away when they weren't even born. And the prime suspect was... the nation were they lived itself. A single dragon was easy to feed… but so many dragons growing exponentially over time? Impossible. So how to get rid of them? Easy: not even allowing them to come into the world. "Couldn't they have eaten them? Like how your parents try?"

"My parents lived in a completely different context. They had to fight to survive, for them there was only that. A dragon raised in a peaceful context surely would have developed at least some sympathy for their offspring; not enough to become a model parent maybe, but surely enough not to kill them" Haku replied. "Oh, and here's another question: how many domains do these dragons have?"

"Domains?" Hara didn't know much about dragons, but she knew that the domain was the element any dragon could wield. "Well, I think almost everyone has one..."

"That means none of these dragons are older than 400 years. Are you leading me to believe that it's only been in the last 400 years that you newcomers have begun to agree to live next to dragons if it benefited you?" Haku snorted. "Or is it more plausible that when a dragon is about to become too powerful is eliminated?"

Hara wished she could say that that wasn't something humans, or newcomers in general, would do, but she knew it would be a lie. Eliminating someone when they risked becoming too powerful was exactly the way people of power acted, like kings, nobles, dukes or emperors. It was entirely plausible that when a dragon started getting too strong people would start to fear that one day he (or she) would find a way to break his (or her) oath, and so they would rather kill him (or her). As long as a dragon had only one domain, he (or she) could still be faced, and therefore the risk was still acceptable... but two? Maybe three? Absolutely not.

Or they could have been killed by someone else. Other nations might frown on the growth in power of a dragon and therefore of the nation he (or she) was affiliated with. It was natural for him (or her) to become the victim of an intrigue. That too was something humans, as well as all other newcomers, would most likely do.

Haku took the woman's silence as confirmation that he understood her point of view. "What your king is offering me isn't peace and stability, but a life as a prisoner" he said. "I'll be out of here and I won't have my collar on, but I'll have an invisible chain hanging around my neck. And I won't be able to do what I want, like the king said. He'll start by giving me all the latitude, and then he'll restrict the field more and more. I won't be allowed to have children, I will have to constantly watch my back, and I will most likely end up confined to the territory he decides for me pending being called up to fight, and I will have to answer to the orders of whoever will govern the Jurao Kingdom as if I were a little dog. This is not freedom, is a prison masquerading as freedom. For me there would be no difference from being out there. I would always be in a cage. A cage made of hypocrisies and falsehoods, to which I'd probably end up believing in the end too. So thank you, but no. I'd rather not"

Hara looked at him with pitying eyes, and perhaps a little angry at times. It was clear by now that Haku would never accept. She could understand his point of view, but it was still illogical for her to spend her life locked up in the arena. So what could have changed there? Did he delude himself that he could escape? He would lose that illusion very soon.

But before she could say anything the door opened again and Thornag entered. "The king is here. Show respect" he said, and Marcus entered as soon as he finished announcing him.

Haku stared at the king. Marcus watched him with a strange look: he was at the same time amused, irritated, curious and inquiring. In a way, it reminded Haku of the look that he had when one of the pieces of his plans didn't move in the right way due to an unforeseen factor. The emotions were the same: amusement at the ridicule of the situation, irritation at the pawn's failure to obey, curiosity at the unknown factor, inquiry to discover this new factor. Haku had to admit that he and the king were, in a sense, very similar, though profoundly different in many respects.

"I've heard your words, so I won't waste time asking if you've changed your mind" the king began. "I guess promising I'll treat you right isn't going to convince you, is it?"

"No, since I know that promises aren't as binding on you as they are on me" Haku replied. "You promised not to kill me unless necessary, but instead you deliberately put my life at risk by sending me to fight the lindworm"

Marcus raised his right hand and showed the rings that controlled the collars. "Don't be so sure. I would have stopped the fight if your life was in danger. I wouldn't have let you die so easily" he said. "Besides, I had completely faith in you. I knew you were very skilled, but I must admit that you exceeded my expectations. The trick of the rune hidden in the mouth was very clever"

"I told you: knowledge is power, and I don't give it away for free. Don't expect to be able to fool me, if you want it you'll have to pay" Haku replied. "Console yourself. At least your people had a good time"

"Oh, rest assured. People are already wondering when your next fight will be and who or what it will be against" the king said. "I still have to decide... assuming you don't change your mind and accept my proposal, but I doubt you will"

Haku shook his head violently. "Don't get your hopes up. I'd rather live in a real cage than in a fake freedom" he said. "Make me your best gladiator if you wish, you will never get anything from me. Neither my loyalty, nor my knowledge"

The king and the dragon looked into each other's eyes for a moment, and both read the challenge in the other's eyes; then the king walked to the door. "So be it. Miss Hara, take him to the gladiator quarters. If he wants to be one of them, let him live with them"

"Among the gladiators? Er... Your Majesty, is that a good idea?" Thornag asked worriedly. "Wouldn't it be better among the beasts?"

"He's not a beast, Thornag, he's a dragon, and as such he's a thinking being like a human or a beastmen or an elf or whatever. Therefore he'll stay with the gladiators" Marcus said, then he looked at Misune. "That slave girl is now assigned to you indefinitely, Haku. She'll be the one to wash, heal, or satisfy you. All gladiators have one, so I'll leave you one too. Oh, and you can take this back"

The king took something from his pocket and threw it at the dragon. Haku took it and he saw that it was his dimensional bag. "We took everything of value, but left your supplies" Marcus explained. "Use those as your lunch and dinner. At least this way you won't weigh on my finances for a while"

"Mph. I guess I should thank you" Haku said sarcastically. "Just one question: since I'm going to live with the gladiators, if any of them attack me, can I defend myself?"

Marcus nooded. "Do what you want. Nobody gives a damn if gladiators or slaves live or die here. The only ones you're prevented from touching are the guards, otherwise you can even eat the slaves who bring you dinner. If any gladiator is dumb enough to challenge you, then you're free to show them who's boss. Just try not to mess around too much, okay?"

Having said this, the king left the room followed by Thornag. Hara looked at the door for a moment, then she turned to Misune: "Finish cleaning his teeth quickly, then I'll take you to the gladiator dormitory"

"Yes, ma'am" the slave replied, immediately getting back to work.

Hara looked at Haku. "I hope you know that the life ahead of you will not be easy"

"Do you happen to suffer from amnesia? Don't you remember where I'm from? Difficulty and I are old friends" Haku replied without any sarcasm in his voice, then his gaze became suspicious: "Wait... what did the king mean before saying that Misune is also in charge of satisfying me?"

Misune blushed slightly, and so did Hara. "Well... gladiators get stressed sometimes, so... they need a way to relax..."

Haku was tempted to hit his head on the floor. "He remembers I'm a dragon, doesn't he? There are some anatomical problems here! She doesn't even have a tail!"

Hara shrugged. "Well, actually, in many stories from the past your kind abducted women of other races... so I guess there's some way..."

Haku's eyes widened. First the love for the gold, and now this? 'What's wrong with my kind!?' he screamed in his mind.