Righteous

"I had to sleep in the field that night..." A guard was chatting with someone within the cage. Wooden sticks were placed in a checkered pattern on the top and two sides, creating a cage. The last two sides were directly connected to the 'slavehouse', turning the, looking from the top, L-shaped building into a square.

The guard had his back facing my way, as I grabbed the handle of my knife and started moving, Diana stopped me. "Wait. I'm pretty sure he's against slavery. Maybe he is on our side. Even when I was first bought, he was guarding and chatted with me and others like me."

"Sure" I muttered under my breath. I was not very fond of the idea of trying to talk to the enemy. But I also did not want to kill innocent people. "You go distract him, and I'll handle the rest."

Now, Diana was having a chat with the guard. I, in the meantime, sneaked my way over the to front door situated at the bottom of the L-shaped. Slaves were usually not allowed to enter the house unless the slavemaster brought them there.

The entrance was not guarded. I slowly opened the door, but was noticed. "Come in." The deep voice came from behind the opened door. I walked in, a man with chin long, brown hair and light brown skin was sitting at a table, writing something on paper with a quill.

As he saw me the guard fixated his eyes on me. "You're not supposed to be in here."

"I'm sorry. But I have an important question." I thought I should at least try before doing something unnecessary. I stepped a little closer. "Do you think slavery is a good thing?"

Shortly after my question the man stumbled to the wall, where a sheathed sword was laying against it. He was not fast enough, on the way there, I throw myself against him, throwing him to the ground. I pressed his back into the ground and, holding him down with one hand, I stab my knife down into his stomach. What I missed in that moment was his right arm already flying into the side of my head, turning the room around me into white noise and knocking me to the ground. Unable to see, I instinctively crawled away from him.

I quickly regained my consciousness. The man was huddled on the ground with the knife stuck in his stomach. He did not move while I was walking towards his body. Carefully, I reached for the knife. Suddenly, he grabbed my lower arm, pressing a sheet of paper against it. In the same moment I reach out for the blade and pull. A short groan and my arm was free. I picked up the still sheathed sword and the paper.

Before getting the chance to read it, I had to do what I came here for. So, I hastily walked to the door, which was locked in place with a wooden latch. I heaved the heavy latch, and pushed the door open. I was met with stares by the slaves inside the cage I was now standing in. There were eight of them, mostly men. I could see Diana still talking to the guard, but he, after hearing the creak of the heavy door as it opened, looked directly at me.

"Greetings." Because I still had to convince the slaves to follow me, I decided to act more like a leader. "My name is Han and I came here to free you." They reacted positively, but a few were still wary. "But this will only be the first step. I plan on fighting against slavery in the whole Kingdom and free our people by any means." I hand one of the men the sheathed sword. "We'll start with this village." Some of them nodded, their eyes filled with passion.

We all walked through the building, I picked up the quill and ink on the way out. Just as I stepped towards the door, I halted. The guard blocked the way through the door. The shadows of the sunlight behind him shrouded his face in darkness. Behind him, I could see Diana.

"So you're finally going to try." He sounded skeptical. "Then make sure you do it right." He turned his head towards the body laying on the cold wooden floor before turning around, leaving Diana standing in front of me, cheerless.