The Monster Inside: The First Vampire 192 The Island of Herguard

Nearly three weeks in the brig had done little to improve the situation of the remnants of The Miranda's crew. The only thing that had had any improvements was Ebony's leg, and that was only because she hadn't had any broken skin and was lucky enough for the bone to have had a clean break. Thanks to the brig's nature, she didn't have much room to move around, and whenever she did, Aegin helped her hobble there. He was very strict about her putting weight on her leg.

In short, she wasn't allowed to.

Finally however, after those three weeks, there was a shift in the atmosphere of those aboard the ship.

The crew of the Miranda were not privy to the sights outside thanks to their current incarceration, however, the gloomy, eerie feeling of the outside world didn't escape their notice.

The ship they were aboard moved slowly through a maze of fog and jagged rocks that seemed permanently shrouded in a wholly unwelcoming aura. Despite this however, the pirates all seemed quite joyful. Aegin and Ebony thought that perhaps to them, this unwelcoming aura was akin to coming home, a feeling that neither Aegin nor Ebony were accustomed to.

Finally, after nearly an hour of crawling through the treacherous waters, the fog began to thin, and an Island at least as large of Rouke if not bigger was revealed.

It did not appear to be overly wealthy nor high class. In fact, most of the Island seemed quite run down and dilapidated despite the clear evidence of residents. There were only two buildings that seemed to stand out from the rest even from the bay. The first was a massive castle, the likes of which even the Eldovian Emperor may be jealous of. The second was an even larger building that the entire port city on the island seemed to be centred around. It was at least six storeys tall, and as circular as one could make it. There appeared to be no roof however, and great roaring cheers echoed from within.

The Warrior's Arena.
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The Pirate Ship pulled into port, and the pirates both on board and on the docks rushed to see the boon that the great Pirate Lord Zanvar had returned with.

The Pirate crew descended down into the belly of their vessel, and after a few minutes, returned with a line of chained prisoners, pale and sickly from their less than accommodating voyage below decks.

Aegin and Ebony squinted as they saw the light of the day again. Despite the cloud cover, the day was still surprisingly bright, especially when compared to the dark brig.

Ebony held onto Aegin's arm as she hobbled. It was the only thing she'd been allowed to do. Any effort by Aegin to support her beyond that and they'd be separated. It was painful for her to put weight on her leg. Aegin had told her that bones healed only after about a month and a half, if not two months. The fact that he had experience in such things had made her curious, but like most things to do with their past, Aegin never offered any further explanation.

They hobbled up onto the deck, then after being crudely sorted into groups of ten, were tied together then marched down onto the docks.

Jeers and taunts and leers were what greeted them as they walked the city streets. There was no effort to pave their roads, and a horse and cart were rare. In fact, the only ways that Aegin and Ebony were able to distinguish between status were the quality of clothing and the fact that some of the richer folk road around in tiny carriages that, rather than having wheels and being pulled by horses, were instead about half the size and carried by collared slaves.

It seemed far more inconvenient to Aegin and Ebony's eyes who had both grown up on the Eldovian Continent. However, they supposed that it was a far more obvious way of displaying one's superiority over their 'lesser' slaves.

Ebony however was particularly disgusted by the prospect. It made her feel ill to think that she might one day soon be in that position. Aegin's expression remained impassive.

After some time, they arrived at a large building that stood on the port side of a market square. On the opposing side stood the imposing figure of the Warrior's Arena. The cheers from within were near deafening at this range, and they were still on the outside. They only received a brief glimpse of the building before they were ushered to cells on the underground level, but it was enough for any of the crew to fear being sent there. The whole place, despite the atmosphere around it, carried a dark and deadly aura, worse even than the jagged maze they'd passed through to get to the Island.

The underground was lit only by torches, and as they moved through a series of complex corridors even larger than the building above, Aegin ascertained that they were in fact underneath the Market Square.

They passed by a few meeting rooms and bunk rooms then what could only be described as a dining hall, with kitchens on one side and table after table lined up. They had to be able to feed at least five hundred people in the large room.

At the end of the dining hall, they were lined up next to each other, and a man in far better apparel than the other black clothed guards walked out to appraise them.

"They're so sickly," the man remarked after a few minutes, turning his nose up at the slaves before him.

"Three weeks on limited rations isn't exactly a great environment for nurturing health," the Pirate Lord himself stated as he marched through the dining hall to greet the man, "Slave Master".

"Lord," the slave master stated, "Well their condition means I can't sell them for a good price immediately, and the only female you've brought me is clearly broken".

The Slave Master indicated to Ebony who was still using Aegin for partial support as she leaned her weight on one leg.

The Pirate Lord's gaze hardened, "You promised me fifty percent of the sale's price plus the cost of transporting them here, which I estimated to be at least fifteen thousand gold given that I lost two ships in capturing them".

"That's your problem," the Slave Master, "Our deal had nothing to do with your method of capturing, only the transport, which considering their state can't be more than a thousand".

Zanvar gritted his teeth, "That's a complete rip off".

"I'm a Slave Master, not a bank teller," the Slave Master replied, "What did you expect? You'll get 40% considering the fact that I've got to spend at least a week getting them healthy again, that's if the worst of them don't die. And with her you'll get 20% at best. Nobody likes broken goods".

"35% for her," said Zanvar.

"25%," bartered the Slave Master.

"30%".

"Done," said the Slave Master, then he turned to a man with grey robes to the side, "Write up the new deal for the Pirate Lord".

The Slave Master turned to Ebony, then pointed to her with a finger, "Take her to the Madame to be washed, then get the physician to make sure that splint is actually doing her good".

Ebony's fingers dug into Aegin's arm, and Aegin moved between her and the guards, his unexpected movement causing the line of slaves he was tied into to shift.

The Slave Master's eyes narrowed, "Don't make things difficult. I'm not in the mood for heroics. Save it for the Arena if you're so keen".

"Then that's where we'll be sold?" asked Aegin.

"Some of you, perhaps," the Slave Master replied with a condescending grunt.

"We're a pair, you can't separate us," Aegin stated firmly.

The Slave Master smirked, "I can and I will. Whatever I need to can maximise my profits. Women aren't in abundance on this Island despite the fact that the residents are quite fond of raiding and pillaging. You aren't worth a fraction of her, even if she's broken. Now move, this is your first and last warning".

***

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hey! Welcome to 2020 everyone, figured you needed something to bring in the New Year!

That poem I wrote will be available to see on my P*a*t*r*e*o*n for those who are interested. It also has the beginnings of Jane's short story series at the Academy as well as Vol.1 and 2 in PDF form to download. Other content will be uploaded as the following there increases so would appreciate the support (especially seeing as now that Chaptail has shut down I won't be releasing any Premium Chapters on there).

As you should have seen in the note a couple of chapters ago, I rearranged Vol.3 to flow in Chronological Order rather than whatever I had it (sorry, it probably got confusing for you cause it was confusing even me). You shouldn't need to read all the way back to the start as the 3 chapters I added are within the last 5 chapters but if you want to read all the way back to see if the flow of the story is better I would appreciate your opinions.

As for that 30 chapter mass release I promise. Don't worry, that'll be the next thing out within the next fortnight. I've decided to write the rest of the novel differently as the multiple story lines were getting a bit confusing and I think that was part of the problem why I needed the break. I'm now writing the story lines separately before I'll put them together in chronological order to post (hence why I still need a couple of weeks at least to write those 30 chapters).

Apologies that you still have to wait, but there's plenty on my P*a*t*r*e*o*n as mentioned above to tide you over (will be more if goals are met on there).

Wishing everyone the Happiest of New Years and all the best for 2020!

-Jelim

Chapter end