I listened to the roar of the crowd and opened my arms to them. They called my name and roared ever louder for me as I killed the last man before me, I was covered in blood, half naked and breathing hard, the women hooting towards me as the men made comments about my prowess or collected their bettings.

I waited until the crowd got closer to becoming bored and then stalked off red sands of the arena. I was a fighter for Ar, killing kinsmen and strangers alike in hopes I would find a patron and win my freedom. I had spent the last several months training and fighting in fact and it had become routine for me.

I made it back to the pit under the sands and put my equipment away, thankfully someone else would clean it, my focus was on survival and the slaughter.

"We must speak" PitMaster Til spoke gruffly and I stared at him, I was accustomed to him speaking to me or giving advice, but never of announcing that we would speak. This was new and I paid him attention. "Tomorrow you fight again." He said and while this should not have shocked me I wondered, usually we were given a day off after a fight, giving us time to work up our strength.

"I do not understand, I am due a break. Why am I fighting again so soon?" I asked and his face broke into a smile. I was well liked with him as with all the guards.

"Because tomorrow is your last fight. You will either perish or win freedom." He spoke and I felt the floor start to fall away from me, I held his gaze and knew that if he joked with me I would kill him, but he had never joked with me, ever. "I speak the truth, put that look of disbelief away from you. It has been declared that you fight for the ultimate prize and already odds are being taken on this fight. You are popular you know." he said and I shrugged, I had heard as much.

"And whom do I fight tomorrow?" I asked and he shrugged, deigning not to respond, he knew all things and so wished me to stay ignorant on this point for the time being.

I thought no more of it that night, but only thought of how I would kill this last man and thereby win my freedom, it was a selfish thing but when you too have been a slave you may judge me.

It was bright sunlight and red sands that highlighted my final opponent, my best friend since I had been brought here, we had fought and bled together and now we realized that both of us would fight this last battle to be free, only one of us, friendship meaning nothing anymore.

I left my best friend on the red sand, i slew him and i walked away, sure that i would not give the satisfaction of weeping for him to those that knew what was going on.

When I reached the pit I saw the delegation with my freedom I smiled and received them, they told me that once I left through the open gate to the outside I would be a free man and congratulated me heartily, sharing in my triumph. I smiled back to them warmly, grasped a sword from the fighting racks and slew the PitMaster where he stood, throwing the sword down on his dead body while the Delegation stood in shocked awe as I stepped through the doorway, now a free man.

Slaves are not responsible for their actions, they cannot commit crimes a free citizen may and so the Pit Master died and since I was now free I was free from the taint of his murder.

I walked to the docks with a satisfied smirk on my face.

With the sudden departure of my family I had inherited an empire. It was based solely on trade and I stared hard at the fact that I was stepping away from my Caste, I had been gloriously raised to the Warrior Caste, one of the High Caste and should have been thankful for it and my Homestone did not depart from me on the walls of Port Cos, it had been family.

And while I had my fill of glory it was another thing to turn your back on it to the point that you lost social standing. It had been a hard case for me to argue within myself. Telanus for his part returned to his home and visited me often, we still maintaining our friendship earned in battle.

Peronius assembled the men guarding the estate and drilled them constantly, the fact that he was from Ar ruffled many feathers but in an impassioned speech to the men roused them to put those differences of homestones away and instead focus on their allegiance to me, which for Goreans is as alien as compassion for one's enemy.

For my merchantile interests I held three Captain who held in turn sway over the rests, I elevated them to the title of Captain which apart from commanding on the seas, on dry land conveyed to them a measure of respect that won me their hearts.

Such as it was for the next six months as I consolidated and made money through normal goods the for the realization of the taste for flesh. At once my rivals moved in on my territory thinking to grasp for themselves what my family had built up but they did not account themselves of dealing with a Warrior trained Merchant.

House Medicamae used the wiles of slaves to turn a trade agreement with me and I lost considerable influence with a mainland jungle Ubar who traded me woven cloth for their luxury face masks and tribal emblems Patrons of the Arts paid so much for. Two nights after their conquest I was ushered into House Medicamae's Dining rooms as a guest in congratulations of their victory over me, My Ubar present as a favor to the House due to the added celebration of the Compaionship of their daughter Melizasi, rumored to be so beautiful that three men had died attempting to face rip her veils from her in public.

With austere graciousness and mindful of the fact that it was considered rude to have a slave girl dance in the presence of Free Women I accepted the invitation from the Patron of House Medicamae and Our Ubar to sit as men and watch my arranged entertainment. In came the graceful slave girl dressed for the Dance of veils.

I watched My Ubar and my rivals carefully as they marveled at her grace and beauty though I could see several missteps. My Ubar noticed as well and glanced at me several times, having guessed my game but at the end of the dance when the slave is revealed naked before them it was none other than Melizasi herself, having been captured and enslaved by me the night before and gruelingly taught this single dance for this single night.

Had not My Ubar been present then men would have died that night, but as it is as the fight commenced and weapons were drawn he stopped us. Upset to say the least at my antics I held no remorse and would not back down, except to barter my trade route back with the price of a single slave, and as I had lost my route, I regained it with the tidy profit of Melizasi's ministrations to me in the process.

Many more of these examples I could repeat to you as I continued my consolidation but I had my taste and I did not waver, my men caught ships at sea, enslaving the crews and sending them to their fates as galley slaves or worse, a passenger ship laden with beauties easily sold off in markets at home.

I had just turned eighteen and I was feared.

To see me now at the time of this writing I am of a calm and wise demeanor, due mostly to my age and what I have experienced in life. At this stage I consider it a boon but not so much as back in my youth when not having age, wisdom or experience to guide me, I had a tendency to do dumb things.

Such was the return trip to Gor, having seen a new world and sampled it's wares, flush with victory and the prospect of new adventures, indeed, a girl in my collar that I, a merchant of flesh, had decided to keep. These Barbarian women were exotic, espousing their freedoms with the subtlety of a Torvaldsland War Cry. Yet get them in the furs, serving you and they gave their souls to you readily enough. Beyond exquisite.

To say I was exuberant on that trip would perhaps be an understatement, so when approached by the Captain of the ship I was informed that it was customary to drug the cargo so that they would simply wake on Gor, noticing little difference, an ease to the psyche and kindness for the girls. Of course I was not about to take that advice, indeed, I would flaunt my acquisition on this Voyage of Acquisition by locking her in the bow of the ship where she could view the entire voyage much like their RollerCoaster rides I had joyfully partaken of.

The ride passed casually, my interests over the manifests, the trips themselves brought no more than twenty women a trip and there was some danger in interception by the damned Priest Kings, but mostly they progressed and passed unmolested. With the training invested and care giving per girl I stood to make a tidy profit and though I was secondary, if not tertiary to the plans of the Kurii, they afforded me a chance to make vast sums of money and ply my trade.

Of course, once we landed I was stunned to be summoned to the bow hatch by the two agents of Kurii who stood beside the Captain and his sour expression as the ship's surgeon examined Alyssa. So in shock was she that she was insensible and her hair had turned white. All of it. Assuming she had been driven insane by my cruel handling it was the Captain's opinion she be destroyed as a mercy but shamed by my actions I determined to correct this error and continue the training.

We departed the ship, my watchful eye on the sleeping girl and returned home, to the compound in Telnus, Thassa's gleaming jewel. While I had been away two merchant families had sought my disfavor with the Ubar and the morning of their hearing in his chambers no one showed. Upon investigation the family houses were searched only to find that the men had been killed and the women missing. My Ubar cast aversion upon me but I had not been present, having arrived the night before and unable to muster a force enough to storm both compounds, and so I as found innocent. I never let on that the weapons of Kurii were effective at range and that I had not lost a man in the taking of both houses. The women currently heading for markets outside of those normally traveled by Cosian Merchants.

I set to work immediately on those voyages of acquisition and put Peronius on alert for counterattack to my move against the merchant families, but though most assumed, it was never proven and thus I profited further.

Alyssa turned out to be an apt pupil, two weeks after our voyage she recovered enough to being training and by the end of the season for pressing Ta grapes into wine she was well skilled in slavery, though she never lost her penchant for curiosity, her skills as a thief and that white hair. Indeed, she had gained one thing on her trip that I had unforeseen, a penchant for chaos. When things were calm and peaceful, trust her to stir things up and set men to killing themselves, lovers to burst apart in sharp words and nations to war. All the while she sat back innocently and drank it up, but I could not bear to punish her for it, this trait was not hers, she had not had it prior to my foolish mistake, and I considered surviving it my penance.

Such was life and I sat at it's head binding to myself wealth, reputation and the enmity of everyone I competed against. I had also the enmity of my employers the Kurii who again sent an emissary to inspect my organization. This had never been part of our bargain, I had paid my tithe to them with each ship that left and arrived from Earth but the last straw commenced when our representative inspected the slave pens and then promptly ate two of my girls in mid training, shocking the survivors and perplexing the guards. I arrived on scene as it finished the last girl and smiled at me, a meal and message to me for compliance with my masters.

I killed it right there in the pens, the girls were not allowed to flee as I wanted them to see that this beast was nothing more than that, a beast. I called it Dog as I had the last one I killed and when it was dead the girls saw not a monster but a beast that had used my guards' acceptance to impinge upon my hospitality. I sent it's head back to it's masters and thought no more of it until those familiar envoys of the Kurii arrived at my gates some time later.

I received them in my offices and they stood stoically and told me that the war was not going well, that a large contingent of them had been downed in the northern lands and gone native. I shed not one single tear for them and this seemed to cement my fate with them. Under those circumstances the voyages of acquisition were no longer safe and a new source of girls had to be established.

Since this was my sole effort for the Kurii and thinking that none could be found, I was to proceed immediately, leaving one I trusted behind to run things, this was not a request.

I was being exiled off my home world for defending my property and while I had acted within the mandate of Kurii law, I was 'needed elsewhere' in the fight against the Priest Kings.

I was to leave immediately.

There was only one destination and it was the only hope for the Kurii for resources enough to continue their war against the Priest Kings. There had been discovered a place where matter and time converged into a physical bond that allowed multiple worlds and planes of existence to co-exist at once, it had been named The Nexus by those traveling through it and dead center of this Nexus was a planet, small and green, pretty and full of resources, with a native population stemming from a walled city.

A walled city called RhyDin.

"If you think you are such a good fighter then fight me." The buxom blonde slammed her fist down on the table and got closer to my face. I sat idly watching her a smirk on my features as I lightly stroked Alyssa's hair. The woman flashed her eyes and locked on my stroking, incensed at bringing in a woman half naked and parading her about.

"I am a great fighter, why should I fight you?" I remarked and the woman looked back at me, gritting her teeth. I sat there calmly watching the emotions roil over her face, I could map out the path of thought she took and I made mental note of it. Emotions were an important tool to be exploited. Therefore I would have to watch my own.

"I want her freed. Let her go and I will leave you alone." She demanded and I chuckled.

"Why would I want you to leave me alone? You are bent over my table and I am looking down your shirt. Please continue." I said just as calmly as before and she snarled, shoving the table in anger but I was already holding my brandy. I just looked at her and smiled. I had her. "You come to the table with nothing, I fight you and if I lose, I give up my slave, what do I get if I win?" I asked and then looked at her, my glass halfway to my lips, frozen in mid sip.

I saw the conflicting emotions boiling through her, she was angry and I had goaded her perfectly. "I challenge you to an Honor Match. If I win you give up your slave, free her, and if I lose, you can have me." She finally said, her other hand coming down to the table to prop herself up. Suddenly the import of her decision had struck her. I smiled again.

"You will be my slave, you will willingly give yourself over to me, you will lose all rights as a free person and everything you own becomes mine." I said and she glared at me but even as I watched her features softened and then she put her head down and nodded. Had she realized she had been trapped? Was it at this point that she knew I had used her anger against her? I savored her suffering like a fine wine, her beautiful features locked in anger and indecision.

"Yes." She said firmly and stood up. I smiled and stood up as well, several people in the Inn turned to look at us. These were the old days, the days like America's Old West where fights took place anywhere and there was little rhyme or reason. Except for the Honor Match.

We made our way to the circle and nodded to the proctor. The man nodded back, he had heard the terms and watched us carefully, it was the first time someone would fight for their very freedom. I waited for her to pull her sword, heavy and clumsy, she would swing that with great force, if I would give her the time for it. I, dressed in tunic and with Gladius at my side smiled. The circle was large but not overtly so.

"Begin." The proctor said after repeating for the record the stakes of this battle for all to hear and then she moved. She was graceful and swift, had she chosen a weapon to compliment her advantages this would have been a rather serious fight, instead she had chosen to show the men in the tavern that she was just as capable of a warrior as they were. She was not better than me.

I sliced from her the cloak over her shoulders, the gladius is not a great slashing weapon, used primarily for thrusting but that meant I could bring stinging blows to her without worrying about causing permanent injury to her. After all, she was soon to become my property. We danced about, my mind falling back immediately to screaming shouts and red sands. My opponent had probably taken instruction, had might even fought once or twice and perhaps even killed a man. I had won my freedom on the Red Sands of Ar.

I toyed with her, cutting this and that, deciding that my audience would need some prompting, so I slashed her leg and caused it to bleed. I opened up her right arm and she lost the strength to lift her weapon. I remained untouched by her, my deft parries succeeding and deflecting her blows, nothing more fancy than that. I had been a gladiator and entertained thousands, I knew how to draw the crowd out and bring them into the pit with me and so I worked, never once feeling the touch of her blade but exacting my toll on her for impudence.

There was little of her modesty left when the proctor finally finished the fight, declaring me the winner. And still I was untouched. I heard the murmurs of the crowd that had come to watch. Never had so one sided a battle been seen before and yet I was not done, I walked to my new slave, she was kneeling in the middle of the circle where my last blow had placed her, she was stunned, uncomprehending her situation. Now I finished her humiliation with a word.

"Strip."

She looked at me and then at the crowd and I only smiled, that same smile I had given her repeatedly at my table. No one said a thing about my demand, the proctor's only function was to make the fights fair, he said nothing. The girl removed her clothing and I leaned over and placed my steel collar about her throat, letting it click closed in the ensuing silence of a pregnant pause on my part.

"This can't go on!" A feminine voice behind me and I turned to see another chainmail beauty glaring at me. Her fists were clenched, her right hand by the pommel of her sword. I smiled.

"It is going to go on, and furthermore, tonight she is going to put a smile on my face, the things I am going to do to her would shock a whore." I teased and the woman's eyes rolled up into her head.

"I will kill you first." She declared and I laughed.

"Kill me? I am perfectly legal in what I am doing." I said lying through my teeth. I had not bothered to check the ordnances of RhyDin since being here, but the Magistrates had said nothing about Alyssa. I would have to fix that to my benefit soon. "You just threatened to kill me in front of all of these witnesses. Should something happen to me, you will be the first to be questioned." I mocked her and again her eyes rolled up into her head.

"I will stop you!" She spat and I smiled again, that seemed to be so damn effective.

"How."

"I challenge you, an Honor Match!" She smirked at me and I smiled. Of course I had won this sweet morsel through bad luck, it had nothing to do with my skill.

And so I was at it again, my blade flashing out to bring down another victim. This time she was able to score several hits and I found myself paying the price for her but in the end, she was mine, the Proctor called an end to the battle and she also dropped to her knees. I wiped sweat from my brow, having fought two battles back to back I was well winded but I still managed my smile.

"Strip."

People looked, even those that had returned to their seats when they realized this would not be such a one sided battle. The girl started plucking her clothing off, she was kneeling next to my first victim, both of them stunned. I was standing there watching and recovering when I heard footsteps behind me. I turned to see another woman glaring at me. There was no end to them!

"I want my sister. She was wrong in challenging you, give her to me."

"No." I said and then thought on it. Three. "Tonight they will both keep me warm and I will listen to what they sound like when I ravish them, then perhaps in the morning I might sell her to you." I said and that look in her eyes at my words. She was hooked, angry and going to make me pay. She was mine.

"I will fight you, an Honor Match for both girls." She demanded. "I will give myself to you if I lose." She added quickly and I smiled. I was about to learn my next very important lesson in RhyDin.

"What makes you worth two women? No, you may pick one or the other to fight for, but not both." I said and she stiffened. "If you win the first you can fight me again for the second." I allowed and she smiled. She thought she had me but little did she realize the odds were stacked in my favor. I would have to lose twice to come out even, three times to lose. I smiled again.

"Fine, my sister." She pointed and again I squared off with a woman, my arm was significantly weaker now, I was tired, but even with a combat so close I won. I threw my sword down in the circle and looked about, people were back to watching now. No one had ever fought three matches in a row and won. The first bloodless.

"Strip."

The woman began taking her clothing off and I watched the crowd as they stared at her. The crowd were like hungry dogs, intent on the next morsel they could fight over, wanting the depravity of it even as they lamented of it. I would give them a show.

"Oh, the things I am going to do to these three women...."

Brutin the Slaver was born.

The Association flourished, slavery was new, I was an oddity and though the influence of slavery was small, it had not gone unnoticed. Already there were ten of us, fledgling little slavers learning to perfect a trade that had no precedent. And as I sat in the Inn with a naked girl on my lap night after night I was attacked.

Those attacks had stopped becoming Death Matches and became Slave Matches so long as I profited from it but they were learning, these drones. Until one day I discovered the common thread in those attacks.

I sat at my usual table and calmly glanced at the face of a man who made a beeline for me, dressed in his tight crisp military uniform. He was surrounded by soldiers in white armor and carried crossbows without bolts. I had had enough time to get used to a great many things in RhyDin to that point, but nothing had prepared me for this. He sat down and smiled to me, ordering up a drink that I did not recognize and then after sipping it he stared at me.

"You are the one that interests me, not the others. I have put a lot of research into this slavery problem and I find you are the source. Not Vizier." He remarked stoically. Straight out of the gates the great sham had been unearthed by a single man. I would have to kill him.

"I do not know what you are referring to." The most effective ploy in any battle is to get the enemy to reveal his plan. You would be surprised how often it worked. "I have never been introduced to you, I have no idea who you are." I said calmly and his smile widened.

"I am Admiral Lar Jerrod of the Steel Rhinos. I am the Governor for this sector and someone has brought it to my attention that you are not paying your Imperial Taxes." He said with a slight flair of his hand. I studied the man as he studied me, each looking for the weakness of the other. Taxation? I had been lobbying for Slavery to be made legal with the locals and while that hadn't taken place yet, I had been told to act as if it was. I had not paid taxes on anything it would seem.

I smiled.

"And just why should I pay Imperial Taxes to the locals of RhyDin when those tax monies rightfully belong to the Emperor?" I said clearly and the man's eyes flashed. Clearly I had hit the mark. This would be a simple if costly fix. "Perhaps I simply waited to speak to the proper representative to my government to assure that my taxes were being set in the proper hands and used properly." I spoke sincerely, after all, I was about to pay an extreme amount of money to someone else's cause, I would make it my own.

"I see, and you wish a...tour?" He asked and I smiled and nodded to him. I slapped Alyssa's ass lightly and she stood quickly so that I could get out of my chair. Together Lar and I headed to his shuttle and I soon found out what the Imperial Navy consisted of.

We spent three days touring his facilities which included his flagship, the Supremacy. I was impressed, and they all used advanced weaponry the Priest Kings of my homeworld never allowed my people to use.

I needed this man and his resources.

"I am ready to pay up my taxes to full of course, I am very impressed but I shall not pay taxes to the RhyDinian authorities, they are inept. Instead I shall wait for each of your returns and pay those taxes to you directly. This of course will cause strife, I am after all a very rich man as a trader and since I think the Empire will want their tax monies guarded I would like to request a contingent of your stormtroopers as a personal bodyguard for myself." I said and turned to look at Lar who thought for some time on it before nodding.

I had just made my first purchase.

"I see the merits of your words, I had not realized that an Imperial Citizen was constantly under attack. Since this is the case, please, allow me to present you a gift of thanks for your continued citizenship." He said calmly and reached to his holster, plucking his own sidearm from it's holster and presenting it to me. "This is a blaster pistol, it is a very powerful weapon and not to be abused, but I give it to you as a defensive weapon more powerful than your sword." He said indicating my gladius. I took the weapon and examined it. "There is no much to it, you point and pull this trigger to use it, this switch here will turn it from deadly to stun." He said and showed me. My grin widened.

"You do not say. It will knock an opponent senseless?" I asked and Lar nodded solemnly, already guessing my intent. I smiled and looked at Alyssa who was standing behind us quietly. She looked up at me and I shifted the lever and pointed it at her as she eyes widened.

As I pulled the trigger and saw the results, Slavery changed in RhyDin.

The guard looked at me nervously and there seemed a lack of merriment in the compound as I walked inside and sought out my office. When I set my things down I noticed the terrible quiet. No one was doing business. The slaves were pensive and fear permeated the place like a stink. Finally tired of wondering what was going on I pushed through my door to Viziers office and found him seated at his desk with his hands on his head. He looked up and relief washed over him.

"Thank God you are back, it has been terrible." He remarked and I stepped over to the side of his desk, the spacious office was one of opulence designed to impress those that came to visit. I had installed chains and a whipping pole in here but they remained unused because Vizier did not deal with slaves.

"Calm down and tell me what happened." I said as I looked him over, he was haggard, like he had not rested in days and his eyes were so haunted they had sunken nearly out of sight.

"A group of anti-slavers has risen up to challenge us. We agreed to a war, there was ten of them and ten of us so we decided to wage it by match and at first things were going well. But slowly they have been killing us off one by one." Vizier said and I shrugged. How stupid.

"And why did you hope to win in a war? We are businessmen, you cannot win in a war, a war damages profits, does it not?" I asked and he nodded lamely. "I have only been gone a single week, surely it cannot be that bad. Summon Hesse and together he and I will clean out this riffraff. You will stay away from wars from now on." I said and he just looked at me with that pained expression that told volumes.

"We are the only two left." I felt my blood pool in my feet. The Association had lost 80% of its strength without being directly attacked. My world had nearly come undone. What if I had not made that threat to Lord Vader? What if I was still walking around with my friend Jerrod watching him become a Sith?

"Very well. How many of them are left?" I asked knowing that at the most there would be ten but surely Hesse did not die without killing at least one? My troubleshooter was gone. Vizier had nearly collapsed under the stress, he was no more fit to lead in a time of crisis than I was of attending Sunday Mass.

"Only four remain. One wounded." He said and I nodded. I could fight that at once so the situation was not hopeless. But I would have to ensure that this never happened again. We would need a new start.

"This is how it shall be. I am going out to fight these fools and then I am coming home to fix the Association, to save it. You will remain at the head but you are a puppet. It is clear to me that you cannot run things when they get tough, therefore, let us make no mistake of things, you are nothing more than window dressing and you can disdain to walk among us so you can play with your numbers, do not get in my way and do as I say." I told him and he numbly nodded. If I died then the enemy would come here and kill him and I would not have to worry about settling affairs with him. If I lived he would hold no illusions.

I walked from him and down the street to the Inn, I was in a foul mood and passed through the door with a scowl on my face. People turned to regard me and I smirked. Perhaps they had thought I had run away, some clearly did not expect me here. Two men stood up and came towards me, grim expressions on their face.

"You did not run away after all." The first said and I sneered at him. The second put his hand to his hilt in preparation for hostilities and I decided he would be first since he was in such a rush.

"Let us not dally any further." I told them both and they bowed to me, showing me the way over to the fighting circle and our waiting Death Match. The proctor came alive and I waited patiently for them to say their overtly dramatic farewells. Since they would use them I allowed this. Then I stepped out into the middle of the circle and drew my gladius.

In my mind the crowds of Ar screamed my name and then hot sun glinted down on me. In reality we were lit by torches and for this first fight only a few passersby cared. I was so angry I lost control and killed my foe before the twentieth round, his blood flowing out towards my feet.

People watched the next fight, the body of my executed foe lying off to the side where he fell, I had not even kicked him fully out of the circle and the proctor had had to drag him out. I can only say that my lack of manners was a direct result of my anger which I allowed to control me. However, the second fight saw me in control and in the end while I won the fight, I had given the growing crowd a show.

I smiled as I directed my attention to the table from where the two men had come from even as the last man shuddered his last and died. A wounded man and a woman sat there regarding me and I never left the circle as I pointed to them. It was time to get this over with.

"Come die." I commented and the girl stood up and walked over to the circle determined to face me down. I smiled. She was no fool, she would not try to show me her strength, she was quick and agile. She would try to bleed me.

"He is wounded and can't fight, please don't fight him." The woman begged me in front of everyone and I considered her. He was her lover and everyone knew that there was no way he would survive a fight with me. I simply shook my head and her head dropped in frustration.

"I will allow you to fight proxy for him however. If you lose to me in this fight then it is his life to forfeit. Do you agree?" I offered and her eyes widened in hope. I simply smiled. She turned and consulted her lover as I stood there patiently waiting for their dreary emotion filled exchange. He kissed her for good luck, agreed to the proctor for the terms and then I stepped into the circle to do battle with this agile girl.

We began and crossed swords, just as I thought, she had no intention of impressing me with her strength, she dodged this way and that, attempting to score light, bleeding strikes against me. I would not allow it, but it took my full attention to make it so. And in reply when I finally connected with her to score a point my hand found her cheek.

She crashed back in surprise, astonished by my audacity but the effect of scoring a point in such a manner was successful. She became angry and her movements became less coordinated. I continued to strike her with my open hand, leaving my blade free to counter her strikes, which were many and fast. I did not guard them all.

Finally as the last round ended the girl dropped her sword and then dropped to her knees. She cried openly and for good reason, she had lost and her lover's life was mine. Like his two friends before him I would simply run him through without fanfare and be done with it. I heard the piteous cries of the woman as her man died still sitting at the table he had been propped on, her name on his lips.

As I walked back to the circle for my last fight the entire Inn watched us. No one interfered with us however and I ignored them all. There was only one person I was concerned with in this flea bag rot gut hole in the wall. Liquid courage they sold and it profited me greatly.

"Stand and fight." I told the girl and she scrawled to me on her knees, clearly afraid for her life. I had not hesitated in killing her three friends just moments before. Now she sought to bring this war to a close without another drop of blood being spilled. I had after all just slapped her into submission at the cost of her lover's life.

How pitiful to see your enemies driven before you thus but as I said before, I was angry and had lost control, disrespect and rudeness were my calling cards that night and I suddenly realized my shame. And also...

She was pretty.

"Strip naked, kneel at my feet, cross your wrists and beg me take you a slave." I told her calmly and her eyes widened at the impossible demand I made. I stood there just watching her. I would make her a slave or kill her, either way did not matter to me and I felt a semblance of the old me take back control. I was giving her a choice. I would be interested to see what her choice would be. She stood slowly and glanced around, there were many people watching her, the women with pity and sorrow, the men hungrily.

Off came the clothing and she knelt, crossing her wrists, begging for her life in front of everyone and I glanced around the room, any one of these people could be next and I made sure to let my eyes linger on the women, for soon it would be any one of them. I accepted her and named her Poppy, throwing her naked to my guards for the night to teach her the ways of men while I destroyed every last reminder of that anti-slaver guild. Every symbol and name I found was painted over, every book and paper burned. Each person of the guild was forgotten, through excising of public records, disappearance of the families and bribes. To any person that mentioned them I sought out and beat or killed until finally a mere two weeks after Poppy became mine no one could remember the name of the guild that I had fought against.

To heighten my shame even more I had gone on to treat Poppy cruelly and finally wore her down until she broke. Her spirit departed and she became an empty shell neither willing to move nor partake in life and I stood over her and watched the handiwork of my own stupidity. I had broken a critical rule, slaves were not responsible for the crimes they had committed in their former lives and also they had no way of defending themselves to a vengeful free person.

Poppy suffered three weeks of hell at my thoughtless hands and I finally destroyed her, ending her existence alone and bereft of love, uncared for and humiliated. I stood over her long after she had died and observed my handiwork, my shattered responsibilities, my lack of control. To say that Poppy was to blame for any of it showed the highest amount of contempt for the fool speaking and so I could not hide from this and instead I embraced it. I would never forget my responsibilities again and she would become the poster child of my success. I demanded it.

I left her and went straight away to Vizier who sat at his office desk doing his stupid numbers and without another word grabbed him by the collar, physically dragging him without comment into the doorway to my office and pushed him up against my desk. I then slammed the door in his face. I had just claimed his office for my own. I turned to the man I had brought with me and he looked on me with fear.

I turned to the empty wall sitting to the right of the desk and put my hand up. "This wall will go away and a large window will be installed. It will be high and it will be wide, and below it in the grounds below will be a garden, large, pleasing to walk through, with benches and fountains to think by, calming." I said and turn to him to see him nod. "Very important is this next part, more important than any other." I said and the man nodded and listened intently as I turned back to the blank wall.

"Below this window will be a field of poppies so that anyone who stands at this window will be able to look down and see those poppies and remember."

To this day I have yet to forget.

I sat at my usual table and smiled as yet another fool attempted to end my evil ways. I smiled at him as he stood before me making speeches about how my end was near, I had no storm troopers about me, I was clearly defenseless, to include a naked slave girl in my lap and he was not prepared to give me a chance to stand up and defend myself.

How rude.

I nodded my head and to Demon sitting a short distance from me on the man's right and he looked over to him but as Demon slowly stood up to fight Onslaught and Takeda came in from behind and subdued the fool, holding him tight. Takeda took his time cutting him to pieces and I sat there watching with a lazy smile on my face. The girl in my lap got sick and excused herself to throw up but everyone else in the Inn got to stay and watch in fascination as the man was slowly carved up and then died.

Ouch, three to one. Four if you counted me staring at him.

As the body was cleared away and the constables were given their "investigation fee" into this terrible tragedy I returned to my brandy only to see it was empty. I was still without my girl so I sighed and got to my feet, heading for the bar.

At that same time a man entered the Inn and made his way to the bar, his face was expressionless and his arms were in plain sight, he neither inspired fear, hate or any hostility whatsoever. I put my hand on the bar, ordered my drink and turned to watch him approach as there was little else to do and his fist plunged straight into my face.

I was more than a little surprised as the power of the hit caused me to fly over the counter of the bar and into the wall behind it, and through. I felt Onslaught picked up debris off of me and helping me to my feet and though I was slightly off my game. Demon, Takeda and Galvan my hidden man stood around this man watching him closely but they did not touch him and he simply stood there watching me, again, not an expression of emotion about him.

As I got to my feet and dusted myself off he shook his head. "I walked in here, breached the perimeter of four killers, walked up to you and put you through a wall. Your security is a joke. If I wanted you dead, right now you would be dead." He said calmly as he pointed things out. Galvan made ready to throw in his own two cents but I put my hand up.

"You are of course correct." I said and noticed the entire Inn had come to a stand still. I had fought countless Death Matches and never lost, I have fought countless Slave Matches and never lost. I had an impenetrable shield of paid murderers guarding me. And this single man had effortless breached it and felled me with a single blow. "What is your name." I asked him and he handed me a kerchief, the apparent need of which ran down from my nose in red rivulets.

"Nokturnulz." He said without further comment or embellishment. He would not say, he would simply do.

"I want you. How much." I replied and he smiled.

"What do you think I am worth?" He asked and I smiled. "Easiest job I ever got." He said and I could not help but chuckle. He had done the impossible at the cost of a single kerchief.

"You will head my security forces, my Tarnsmen as I call them. Your say will be absolute, and in matters of security it will override my own. If something is needed to increase security your budget will be unlimited. You will also have the final say." I said and he simply nodded. It was just a job to him, he had not come for glory, he came to perform.

And he did.

I sat in the Inn and sipped my brandy thinking on my life. I had created a successful business, it was infamous and because of that notoriety I gained slaves faster than I could do away with them. Slavery was now popular, The Association had over fifty slavers in it, I was the undisputed master of slavers and I counted over one hundred and twenty girls mine.

I sat back in my self importance and allowed the common peasants to view me, I was royalty. I had ascended Godhood and played nightly for the entertainment of the masses and soaked up the accolades as much as they enjoyed the show.

If I was not full of life at this point, I was certainly full of myself.

Already two slaving houses had risen up against me, trying to prove they were the better slaving house but they had no concept of what slaving was, for them it was the path to fame. Nothing more. They had no clue how to treat a girl or train her.

Once I had shamed them I physically destroyed them, killing their slavers, stealing their slaves, utterly obliterating them for their gumption. This added fuel to the fire that was my raging ego. The Wardens had come to me demanding that the Association join the group of guilds that had founded their tenure. This way all guilds would be fair and wars could be controlled.

But my memories were not so long that I had not forgotten my own war and it's toil. I flat refused to join and Ranger made great threats against me as I was the weak link in his plan, the first guild to deny joining. He pleaded with me very politely and I did not rebuff him for any perceived rudeness but for the fact that I was not a guild, I was a business and therefore outside the constraints of what he proposed.

So started a very bitter relationship. While other guilds joined and evened out under the guidelines he set forth, the SA continued to grow in both reputation and power. We had no business in guild wars. I would make sure we were never prepared for one ever again.

People approached me and worshiped at my feet, just wishing to speak to me, others rushed up and died in an attempt to do what no one else ever could, to kill me. Nok and my Tarnsmen stood daily vigils over me and felled attacker after attacker but still those young fools came.

And I sat there.

I sat and collected more women, putting the collar around their throats and passing them back to the compound for processing. Just another woman in my chain. They came to me now, for no one else did women submit to the collar but for me they came in droves and I quickly passed them through the system and collected my profits.

It was just a regular night for me that night. The Inn was quieting down, the patrons having drunk their fill or taking their lovers to their beds. Only Nok attended me now, the other guards were done for the night, two had died and no others would try. I had spent most of the night with three girls in my lap, at my feet or attending me in some way but I was alone now and preparing to call the evening a success and end it.

I stood up and watched as a girl dressed in my livery stepped through the door, her hair disheveled, her face splotched from tears, her body was lean and unkempt, the livery itself was torn and dirty. Her eyes were haunted, filled with fears and broken promises. She spotted me and came stumbling up, her inability to walk a straight line.

She was small, petite, lips full, had she been healthy she would have been a stunning beauty, her tiny fists were balled up and she used these to support herself as she fell against me and I barely caught her weight before she fell. A weight that was insignificant.

She burst into tears against me, her goal had finally been reached and I was sure she had doubted she had the strength to reach me, it had been a near thing. The thought of this creature lying on the side of the road, dead because her energies had been spent seeking me out.

I looked down into her face and allowed her to cry but she did not have the strength for this either and she stopped, looking up into my face, the hurt so raw, the need so great, the pain so abject that I nearly staggered back under that gaze.

"Why?" She managed to say and as if a dagger had been plunged into my chest I felt my heart harden against me. She had asked and pleaded in a single word.

"Why what?" I asked her, encouraging her to speak.

"I loved you." She said, her breath coming in ragged strips. It was killing her to speak but she would not be dissuaded, she had earned this. "I came to you freely...." her words trailed off to be taken over by breathing, a simple task for us all but for her a chore. "You left me behind...." I remembered her then, that surprising young beauty with the energetic bounce in her step, the bright chestnut hair, the quick smile, the gleaming eyes.

All of that was gone now. I had destroyed all of it.

I picked her up and walked out of the Inn, Nok trailing behind me but he said nothing. I said nothing, I just let my feet carry me south of town to the compound as the girl labored to breathe against my chest. "I used to look for you ever night...." She continued. "You never came though....."

I reached the compound and the guards stirred but could do nothing so they returned to their posts as I passed them by. "I thought maybe if I could be a little prettier....." She had stirred back to life as I crossed the threshold and down the hallway. "I wanted to be pretty for you...."

I set her down gently on the top of my desk since it was the flattest spot in the room and then froze. The girl stared up at me with blank unseeing eyes and I stared into them and waited for her to blink as the doctor finally arrived and checked her. He said nothing and did not try to help her, answering the question that roiled around in my head since I had seen those blank eyes.

I looked up at the doctor and he took a step back, the look on my face must have spoken volumes. "Follow me." I said and he nodded as I passed him into the hallway and to the holding pens. The Association was large and had many slavers in it. But I had my own little world, pens for my girls set off to the side so that mine mixed with no others. I stopped in front of those doors and opened them, stepping inside.

The pens themselves were small apartments for the girls, cubicles where they slept and prepared themselves for the day's labors. I glanced over the sleeping girls and felt my heart harden again, their blankets and pillows were worn, the place was dirty, it smelled and the girls looked gaunt, haunted. The stable master came up to me and waited patiently as the doctor glanced inside some of the pens and then blanched.

"How?" I asked hollowly and both men looked at me as if I had sprouted a second head and started dancing.

"It has always been this way, there is little time to spend on so many girls when we process hundreds every day. And since they are your girls they are exempt from working so here they sit waiting for you to call them." The Stablemaster said and I nodded. That sounded so reasonable when he said it but looking over this mess as the words flowed painted a decidedly different picture.

"Get me the manifest." I said and the stable master rushed off to comply as I stood there rooted in fury. The Great and Wonderful Brutin had done this, he had been so busy loving himself he had been blinded. He had made a promise a long time ago and now he found he had broken that promise for his own gain. This however was not profit from business.

The Stablemaster returned and one by one the cells were opened up, the girl was woken up and examined by the doctor. One hundred and fifty seven girls. I had collected one hundred and fifty seven human beings and stored them in concrete cubicles so that I could have the necessary bragging rights of having the most slaves. A game I had been dragged into by those lesser slavers that had become such for popularity and fame.

I had allowed myself to be sucked into this nightmare and now I was reaping my rewards. Some of the girls could not walk, none were in fit condition, many were starved and over half were near death. There was only one girl that had been spared the blackness of my ego. The very first girl on the list, my First Girl. Alyssa.

She stood off to the side and helped the doctor where she could, personnel had been summoned to carry the girls to the infirmary at his discretion. By the time he was done examining the girls only twelve girls remained in my kennels. Twelve.

"I am not to be disturbed." I said and Nok nodded, he had stood by silently without saying a word. I walked quickly back to my office with Alyssa in tow, she said nothing but gasped when she saw the girl laying on my desk. "Who was she?" I finally dared and Alyssa looked up at me, tears in her eyes.

"Minipaws." She breathed and I nodded. I had a growing collection of failures. Everyone did, that was life people would say. I wish. I only traded in death.

I shrugged off my coat, I had gone from my Gorean Tunic to hand tailored suits. I was a rich man. The suit had cost me nothing, but it had cost this girl her life. I picked up her as tenderly as I could and walked back out of my office, Alyssa following me. I kicked open the door to the garden and stepped through, Alyssa was right on my heels. "Come no closer." I told her and she obediently stopped.

My Ego. Me. I had put myself in front of the slaves. I was no different than those lesser fools who played at being a slaver desiring popularity. I had become the monster I saw in the dark.

From now on I would only keep the best girls, the most highly trained and cared for girls. They would become the talk of RhyDin, they would gain the accolades, they would be the stars. There would be a reason to become a Brutin Girl and I would never again collect for the sake of my Ego.

I finished burying Minipaws as the sun rose. I was kneeling in the dirt with my hands a mess and stared at the freshly turned earth wondering how I had fallen so low. My mistakes killed people. And then suddenly I felt thin weak arms hug me from behind and it was as if I had been thrown a life line. A second chance.

Alyssa laid her face against my back and just hugged me without saying a word. There was nothing to be said. No words to console. What was done was done. Fix it and move on. But never again would I ever go to bed or wake up, conduct business or sit back in pleasure where that one undeniable question would race through my head. It controlled me now and defined my life.

Why?

I was sick of using the Dragon for business. So many people bothered me now and I was so notorious that those lesser rude peasants whose parents had never raised them properly felt it completely justified to simply walk up and take over a conversation or ruin a meeting. There was little respect left despite the high death count, those smarter people who had spent time in the Dragon knew better but with the Nexus opening to more dimensions we had a huge influx of young, stupid patrons that had a tendency to expire within twenty four hours of setting foot in RhyDin.

I had decided that I would simply open up my office to outside business. Only those intent on doing business with me could get in, the young foolish squaters died at the gates if they tried to force themselves in and those that managed to sneak in Nok dealt with fairly quickly, depending on his mood.

So I went to the Dragon only to have fun, drink, visit and see if there were any promising beauties in need of the collar. It was one such night that I met her. The woman whose beauty would cause me to lower my guard. Everyone sought her attention but she had eyes for me and I sat there and engaged her in idle conversations leading to nothing on several occasions when she finally sought to delve into my head.

"People do not observe their surroundings, they do not see their fellows on either side of them, they do not see the sword descending, they cannot foresee the traps and pitfalls, they are mere peasants, passing from one point in history to another as witnesses perhaps but not of any import. Those around them that are successful are such simply for the fact that they pay attention." I have finally complained one night and instead of arguing with me had countered with the fact that should even an observation be made, nothing would be said or done about it by them, they were content to play the sheep.

In a world full of heroes we had a gaggle of them along for the ride.

To illustrate her point she stood up and sat down in my lap, her dress falling over both of us and as she kissed me people took notice, complained and did nothing else. It was a shock to me to find that she wore no undergarments and her intention on this move to my lap became plain.

We sat there locked together and moved slowly, continuing our conversation while the bewildered would look over occasionally and comment or wonder. No one called us on our behavior even as we both spent our passions together sitting there in the middle of a public venue like that.

So started a whirlwind relationship, the talk of which would be someone such as myself taking a partner, I had sneered at my fellow slavers for holding loved ones and having children, weapons all to be used against you and while I was much admired for my beliefs, I found out I had also been pitied. Now as I grew closer to this woman my many friends showed their true faces, having worried behind my back about my well being and whether or not my lifestyle choices would cause me to fall apart.

For her part she smiled and rubbed elbows with everyone, played the political games and hostessed several parties to which I participated which caused a murmur through society. While there were many parties hostessed by many society ladies, I had never attended a single one. But for her, for the girl I engaged in nightly conversations with, who had publicly had sex with, who had allowed into my office during business negotiations, I would attend.

Business increased with the influx of new dimensions and as RhyDin grew so did my stables and I became busier. But she was there to take up the slack and run some of the operations.

Our first argument was regarding marriage.

As a gorean I do not engage in marriage, the concept of taking a partner for life for the simple act of procreation seems utterly stupid to me. Sire and raise the child but do not force yourself upon someone else simply because you made a promise to her years earlier. This is also in part due to the fact that Goreans do not die of old age. Marriage would be a long time indeed for any couple when you only perished to war or famine. Disease of course does not exist on Gor and Age is considered a disease.

She wanted the white dress and ceremony, she did not seek children from me, she was living according to her culture and I refused her because of mine. At this point I had not given her the serum to stop her aging and this factored into the talks, her unwillingness to do so triggered from the fear that I simply wanted to do it to keep her from marrying me. But I would not be deterred and told her that there were Free Companionships on Gor, a ceremony not unlike marriage except that it existed for a single year of time and then had to be redone.

There were couples on Gor who had been Free Companions for hundreds of years but this did nothing to calm her, she was adamant and so the rift remained and we stayed apart attempting to come to terms with our differences when I suddenly broke my plans and went to her.

I was supposedly with my good friend Larr Jerrod on board the Supremacy talking Rhetoric with him but instead I stepped up the hallway to my office prepared to track her down and speak with her however I heard her voice coming from my office, from my desk. I never shut my door to my office, yes it had a door, symbolically it could be closed and shut people out but I never did and she followed my example, leaving it open, so I could hear her plainly as she spoke.

Two confederates stood with her as she outlined her plans, though they cared little for slavery itself they were overwhelmed by the amount of money that could be made with it and they wanted more. They had helped place her close to me you see, she had plotted to get into my good graces, marry into my fortune and then ride the good life and these two gentlemen had facilitated that for her. Provided her references, pointed my people out to her and even went so far as to buy one of my slaves and question her at length about SA operations.

I stood there with my back to the wall and listened, their threats to turn her over to me for these crimes they recited unknowingly already submitted. She held her own however and though treated them with respect she promptly warned them that regardless their lives would be forfeit and their continued silence was inevitable. She was now set on the cusp of having everything she wanted and assured them that she would pay one single more time for their continued silence and after that, her goal met and their fees tripled, their business was over.

Their meeting concluded my position was threatened and so I retreated back down the hall and to the garden, the only place I could go to so that I remained hidden from her eyes. I could see through my window as she dismissed them and stood there over my desk pondering work papers. I had already notified the guards at the gate from one of the sentries guarding my garden, the two men would be picked up and their bodies never found again.

I stood there in shock and considered my next move as I watched her, this beauty so ambitious she would enter the lions lair for her unearned share of a slaving empire. I watched as she tucked her hair behind her ear, standing there gazing down at the papers she studied and noticed those soft lips move, she read by speaking out loud, this girl who had picked herself up out of the gutter and used her one single asset to best effect. Pure chance had revealed her plan to me and now I had so much to consider.

I was tested yet again, my fate to decide. How should I proceed? What should I do? I had opened myself to this woman on a pretext, a lie. She wanted what I could not give her not for love but for Empire. She had used me and sought to squeeze me dry, not for love but for money and prestige. I had taken the chance and opened myself up and been crushed under that ambition.

All this seemed so rational and yet as I stood there outside in the middle of the night I could only think of how much it hurt, of how I could not stop thinking about her, of how I could convince myself that she meant well and this would all pass, that things would get better, I would not marry her but she would reap my wealth through devotion.

She left me standing there, her time in the office over but I kept my vigil at that window, now reversed, me standing outside looking in until I could feel a presence. Nok. The men had been detailed and dispatched, their bodies were already disposed of. She had gone to the Dragon for a drink and some socializing.

He stood beside me as we walked up the path to RhyDin and entered the Dragon, she sitting with her friends gossiping like any other night of the week and her face brimming with a smile as she saw me. She got up and came to me, her arms thrown round my shoulders as she raised herself to tiptoes for a greeting kiss.

She grunted and stiffened in my arms, releasing her hold on me to look down between us, her hands holding mine. She looked up at me, her blonde curls spilling down her back in ringlets and her eyes looked up at me in surprise, so blue that no spring sky had ever been so blessed. A question formed on her lips unspoken as the lower one trembled, her skin so smooth you thought of butter.

She stumbled back and I caught her weight, her friends crying out in shock and turned to see her bloodied hands fall away from the blade I had pushed into her stomach. "You know." She managed, her hand coming up to cup my face, her cooling blood on my face signaling her imminent passing.

I knelt there holding her weight as she smiled up at me, no hatred, just surprise. "I do love you...never forget that...please..." She said and I saw that there was no guile in her, she knew she would not survive, she was simply stating a fact. It reminded me of those many conversations we hand, our various topics and conclusions. I knew this woman enough to know even why she had done it. I forgave her.

She died with her eyes open, those wide blue orbs able to drown a man. Her lips were softly parted and her face still showed surprise though it was light, she was beautiful even in death. I gently set her on the floor and left so that those she loved could say their farewells.

Though the funeral took place in the rain a large amount of people showed up to pay their respects. I was not there and people just added it to my reputation despite the fact that I paid for the funeral, the room and refreshments for the bereaved and the wake. I was still the bad guy and I always would be. Even when I was the one to suffer loss.

They left and as the last one disappeared I stepped out and stood over the fresh grave in the downpour and repeated the only words I had spoken in the Dragon the night I killed her.

"I love you too my CandiMoon."

Never had the Association been so powerful, over one hundred slavers, everyone looked up to us as the defining rule of slavery. Respect was ours and nearly every single slaver I had was stable, successful and feared.

Vizier continued to play with his numbers and now that I was more wise and more centered it was time for me to consolidate and remove the last reminder of the old ways. I stepped into Vizier's office which would soon host my secretaries instead of his august body and we sat down to discuss the matter.

We tracked the sales of slaves and assigned ranks within the SA based on this. The announcement was simple, For a single month all sales would be calculated and at the end of that month all sales tallied, whomever had the most would become the new leader of the Association. Anyone without the Association could participate and therefore rule and as the contest started I stepped out and conducted business. Slavers swamped Vizier in hopes of slowing him down and thereby take the reins of power from him never realizing his was a puppet anyway.

I picked up steam and recorded my sales, channeling a few to Vizier to make it look like he was trying, but while he was dealing with the day to day aspects of the Association and all eyes were on him, I was free to take and sell.

Perhaps this was my nasty period, it is hard to say, but I was a dynamo and the Tarnsmen had a very hard time keeping up with the incoming threats and pleas for their loved ones. I did not hesitate nor listen, if you had the cash you could free anyone and there were instances where I would wait for an unsuspecting lover to use the restroom, enslave his woman and then offer her back at a phenomenally low price. I drugged, stunned, ambushed, beat, dueled and challenged, swimming through the morass of danger that came with it and lamented the fact that those girls who gave themselves to me I usually kept.

In a fit of genius I called in favors and sold those girls to friends who gifted them back to me, the sales earning me points despite costing me money.

At the end of the month I stood victorious, over fifty sales more than the next closest slaver, which surprisingly was not Vizier. I was exhausted, the supreme ruler of the Association for which I had created oh so long ago and replaced my last confederate.

It was while sharing brandies in my office with Vizier late on the night of my victory that I toasted him in the light of the moon coming in through my window and then ran him through with my sword. So hard was the thrust that I drove him back against the wall and pinned him there, spilled brandy soaking my left hand, his blood staining my right.

He looked at me like I had finally done that one thing he had always feared, as if what I had done to him was not a surprise but rather a fear he hoped never was fulfilled, but having come, was resigned to it. He made no recriminations of me, did not deride me, not cast aspersions towards me nor cursed me. He simple held on to the blade as long as his strength allowed him then seemingly aware of his last moments looked up at me in wonder and then expired.

I watched passively in the light of the moon shining through the window. I would not turn away from this, I had caused it, it was my obligation to see it through, I owed him that much and would not allow him to die alone.

When he finally passed I unpinned him and summoned Alyssa to clean my office while I took his limp form out to the garden and buried him amid the splendor that it had become under the tender care of Kit. The blood on my hands were covered by the dirt I sifted for his grave and as the sun rose over the compound there was no sign of his passing save the score in the wall where my blade had passed into it.

As the day wore on I had a great many people come give me well wishes and congratulate me on my success before returning to their own lives and the business at hand.

Business in fact continued to flow inexorably forward and I knew just what the administrative system in place did. I had to make a choice, I would either have to spend less time slaving and more time doing paperwork or I would have to hire a secretary to do it for me.

Not a single one ever wondered what happened to Vizier, not a single one searched for him, felt concerned or asked after him, he simply disappeared into nothingness as if he never existed. Some few people did remember him however and would let slip his name in my presence and I suspected that rather than inquire after him in concern, suspecting the worst, they kept it to themselves and only revealed it as they let their guards down months later.

In a twist of irony it was I who stayed his vigilant keeper with all the other lost hopes and memories, spending what time I could standing in the bay window and looking out over the ghosts of my past and sometimes, just sometimes I thought I could see Vizier sitting on one of the stone benches in the garden waving back to me.