Page 9 of The Hollow King

“Master happy with Borin.”

All humans found Borin repugnant, yet this female was brave enough to communicate and touch him.

I stroked my beard.

What did she want?

Chapter 5

Iona

The chains were not a terrible price for an element of freedom. The castle had strong bones, but many sections were neglected or sealed off. Borin’s little grunts of disapproval guided me to areas that were forbidden. He had remained silent when I tried to open a locked door. It was only when I looked at him that I realised that he was paralysed with fear.

He shook his head with vigour.

“Master kill. Not open door. Never open door,” he rasped and grabbed the chain linking my hands to pull me away. “Never. Master kill.”

Yet I could not resist looking at the door. Borin’s master was planning my demise regardless of whether I opened that door or not.

“Why are you still alive, Borin?” I asked as I followed him.

“Because Borin is good,” he snapped as he dropped my chain when he realised that I was following him. “And Master give Borin tonic.”

“A tonic to live longer?”

He refused to answer, but his incessant muttering made me smile. He suddenly stopped.

“Borin said too much. Bad Borin,” he cried and turned to the wall and began to beat his head off it.

The second dull thud made me move. I placed my hand between him and the wall. He scuttled away and began again.

“No, Borin. Stop this. Borin is good. This is our secret,” I said, trying to grab his head before it hit the wall.

His head slipped from my fingers and I winced at the sound.

“I promise not to tell anyone, Borin. I will be dead soon.”

He paused mid-lament.

“Borin like,” he whispered.

“I like you too,” I sighed and eased him away from the wall. “Now show me the way to the dining room.”

✛ ✛ ✛

My hands were clasped as I thanked the gods for the food and my ancestors for their sacrifices. My eyes were still closed when I heard the heavy footsteps against wood. I knew that I was about to face the monster in the castle.

The sound grew closer and my heart beat faster. The scent of the food before me, appetising only moments ago, no longer stirred my hunger.

Praying became begging for strength. My hands clasped tighter, fingers digging into my own skin.

I opened my eyes when the footsteps stopped. I immediately wished that they had remained closed. He was so tall that he blocked the lamplight from the wall behind him, and for a moment I faced only his shape against the dark. His hair was dark brown, but I could not tell where it ended and the beard began. The tunic barely contained his hulking form.

He was not human. Mayhap at one time he might have been, but no longer. I searched what remained of his face for some trace of that man, but found nothing to hold onto.

There was no colour in his eyes. It was a black void.

A beast.