It was settled. “Yes, you are… I’m gonna break you out of here.”

                “You… you’re insane!” He whispered, still in shock. “You can get out! You can just leave me and go do something else, who cares if I’m stuck, I’ll be fine!”

                “No, you won’t!” I replied and he groaned in frustration as I expected he would. “You need to get out of here, I can feel it… You want to be free.”

                “Well that is every bloody prisoner dream isn’t it? Why aren’t you saving them as well?!” He once again lashed out.

                But by now I understood that this was his way of expressing his concern. “Because you’re different. You’re not like every prisoner out there, and you’re not like the other half-breds either, you’re… Different.”

                “What do you mean different?” He raised an eyebrow.

                “You’re just…” I gazed at him measuring, unsure as to my ability to explain what was on my mind, I sighed and gave it a try… Even If I didn’t understand it perfectly myself. “…. Ever since I was little, there was this thing inside me-”

                “Thing? What thing? You’re talking nonsense!”

                He cut me short, but I tried to ignore it. “I-it tells me when something is wrong, I can’t explain it I can just feel it.”

                “Like a consciousness… You don’t like me being in chains? Is that it? Cause that is a heck of a stupid reason to meddle in this!” he was clearly trying to contain himself but he just sounded more and more impatient. “An aching head can be silenced Vernon, you shouldn’t risk your life for me.”

                He seemed genuinely mad at me, and I felt stupid saying all that, but it was the truth… And it was so very complicated.  “That’s not it!” I frowned. “I’m being honest here! It’s not a joke!”

                “You’re talking about risking your life for a little… Thing… What is it a voice?” I shook my head. “Something you see then, like and arrow?” I again shook my head. “SEE!! That IS nonsense, it’s nothing real, it’s just you feeling bad for me and wanting to help… I get it! I really do! But you NEED to LEAVE! It’s just guilt, ignore it and you’ll be fine!”

                My mind was the one racing now, I shivered in anger and clenched my fist as to try and contain it but my tone just went up. “FINE! If you don’t want me to help that’s your problem! I’m doing it anyway!”

                “Vernon… Listen to me-”

                If there is anything that caused me to lose my temper it is when someone treats me like an idiot… Like even suggesting something is stupid. “NO!”
                I’m many things, but I’m not that dumb. “I’m not a very smart guy, or a strong one and I’m not good at talking or fighting or whatever, but I’m not wrong about this! I know when something isn’t right, I can feel it! I always felt it!”

                “You’re…” He started saying something and was about to reply with the same rage and aggravated tone…  But he stopped halfway through it…
                He took a long look and it was like he was trying really hard to see something in me, I don’t know what it was, but I felt somewhat relieved, like he was actually trying to understand me. “… You’re not gonna back down from this are you?” He completed, sounding a lot more lenient than before.

                I was still trying desperately to make my point, I began to tear up as I often do when I’m stressed. “I can’t, when I back down from these things my heart burns! I feel like the whole world is crushing me and everything around me loses color… It FEELS wrong Azreth… I know I should just run and hide, I know I sound crazy right now, bu-”

                “You don’t…” He stopped me, and lowered his head, he sounded distant for that moment. “… it sounds… Like your heart is in the right place Vernon.”

                For a moment there I felt at loss of words, I’ve always had these strange things in my head, these thoughts that didn’t quite match… Whenever I spoke about them before people said I was going crazy, or being naïve, or being flat out dumb.
                Ever since I left home, I thought I’d never hear these words again, but there they were… Laid out before… I thought no one got me, I thought no one would ever be able to understand it again, but Azreth did.

                “But promise me this… If things get ugly and you can’t do it without hurting yourself, you WILL back down and you WILL leave me behind… Are we clear?”
                I was still appalled, I never thought anyone would ever agree with me… Not on something so reckless. “Are we clear Vernon?!” He repeated.

                “Yeah…” I said trailing off, still incredulous on the inside.

                “Great, glad that’s settled…” He motioned his head towards the door and followed seeing a shadow beneath it. “… Alex is here.”

                 I moved over and leaned against the wall, shortly after a shadow denounced the presence of someone, the door creaked once again and the familiar face of the Shepperd got up. He looked around and groaned in surprise when he saw me sitting upwards.

                “*Hu*… I’d thought you would be dead now for sure.” He was almost relieved, but there was a hint of guilt still in his voice.

                “I choked on some leftover blood… I was lucky the wagon rolled me over or I would probably have drowned in it.” Words could not describe how lucky I was at that moment.

                He immediately resented. “Shit… I didn’t notice it before, I tried to get you some more help… But the captain forbade me.”

                “I thought as much, don’t worry too much about it…” I knew it wasn’t his fault, even if a part of me still felt bitter about it. “Azreth told me you left my meds behind… Thanks!”

                “Don’t mention it…” He said with an awkward smile
                He then looked over from me then to Azreth back and forth rapidly and tilted his head slightly. “… Are you two… good?”

                Azreth on the other reenacted the same tone he had when I first saw him, it was kind of chilling to hear it again, however now it felt less life threatening and more theatrical. “Well you see corporal, being locked alone with someone helps build a relationship… It’s inevitable.”
                He then fixed his eyes on the Shepperd and smiled deviously. “You want me to leave you two alone for a ‘bonding’ experience? I’d be happy to oblige since you’re so fond of him… Maybe put him in my chains.”

                The reaction was immediate, I’m normally not that keen on these things, but even I got that one. And it worked doubled on Alex. “Shut it, you sleazy cunt!”

                “Ah… C’mon… All guys have needs corporal! It’s only natural!”

                Alex turned to the side and bit his lip, he was clearly as bothered by the comment as I was… He blushed and shook his head violently before he spoke again, for some reason he sounded apologetic. “Don’t let him get to you Vernon, he is like this all the time.”

                “Or do… Maybe he is into it, what if he actually wants to give you a try, hu?” Azreth teased again.

                “Grow the fuck up!” he snarled and grit his teeth at Azreth.

                Who responded with the usual amount of sarcasm. “Oh, what are you even on about dog? You are the one tossing him to the reds for a petty amount of coin.”

                “It’s not like that!” He snarled once again, I’m sure Alex was well used to this side of Azreth since he had to deal with it for a lot longer than I did, I didn’t know why he was so defensive right now... Again, back then I was not too keen.

                “What do I not get? That you’re just doing your job? So all it takes is an order and all that nice guy façade disappears!? How noble of you…” Azreth just kept going and going, it was like some part of him enjoyed this.

                Alex was ready to get the baton, his eyes locked onto the smiling trickster with a deadly rage… That was when I decided to intervene. “Azreth…” I called him in to try and clear the air.

                He saw that this was me asking him to stop. “*Tssch*… You’re too nice.”

                Alex had to stay his hand and was visibility confused by Azreth showing some restraint. He sighed to cool off, but still sounded ready to break someone in half. “I brought you something… Should at least ensure you don’t pass out again.”
                He placed a small can by the cage, the lid was already off and from inside came the unmistakable smell of beans. “You’re gonna want to eat those while they’re still warm… Need me to loosen up the rope for a bit?”

                “I’m good…” I tried to not let him notice I had loosened it already. “… Anything else corporal?”

                For a moment he dodged my eyes again, something was clearly disturbing him. “Just that… Leave it outside the bars when you’re done, I’ll pick it up in the morning.”

                “Thank you…” I said in a dismissive tone. Thought it wasn’t something I was doing consciously; I just didn’t want to make him attached to me… Or at least, more than he already was, after all when I left that would harm his feeling.

                “Yeah…” He looked around and stalled a bit, unsure of what to do with himself. “Yeah… Just… Take care.” He started to head out but stopped once he opened the door, turning around one more time and fixating on me.
                His eyes felt heavy and miserable. “I just have to do this… There’s no other way.”
                And then he left.

                It was a moment of silence that felt awkward to me, on one hand I hated that I was locked up, yet the only person in this convoy that seemed to be troubled by it was Alex so I couldn’t help but to empathize him… Something just told me there was more to him, I couldn’t blame him for it, let’s call it another one of my hunches.

                My moment of introspection was abruptly cut short when I felt a foot…. Yes! A foot!… it touched my face as to call my attention. “You gonna eat that?” He then pointed at the beans and then I heard a loud growl coming from his stomach, like a menacing beast hungrily anticipating a meal… The message was clear.

                I moved away from his feet’s range, before continuing. “You want some?”

                “YEAH! They don’t feed me every day, I’m starving! And that smell is driving me crazy!” He then tried to do what I thought was supposed to be puppy eyes but it just didn’t fit him.

                “No need for that… I’ll share.” I took the can with still free part of my hands and lifted it up for him. “Here have it…”

                “No, no, no…” He shook his head vibrantly. “You eat first, I get the rest once you’re sated… I eat like a pig, if I get started, I won’t stop until I’m done.

                Rude, but at least he was honest. “Well then… Ok…”

                We proceeded to share a meal.
                I wasn’t in any rush, it would be better to act once they all went to sleep… So, I took my time savoring the canned beans, they were moist and sweet, the can was freshly opened and still had that first scent to it.
                I took about half of it out before I served Azreth the rest… And he wasn’t joking about the pig part… It took me a few minutes to eat it and I stopped because my muzzle couldn’t reach further inside without hurting myself on the lid, but when he got in there he literally devoured everything inside like a machine.
                I was sitting there holding the can for him to eat and he just pushed on it sinking his face deeper and deeper, when he was done the can was practically inside out and shredded.
                He was completely covered in gunk, but promptly licked most of his face clean and to no surprise there wasn’t a single cut in his muzzle... It was like he was made of steel or something.

                He sighed in satisfaction. “Ahh… It’s nice to eat something that isn’t dried rations. Never realized how much I miss a proper taste in my food.”

                “Yeah… That was nice…” I said still terrified of the horror show I just witnessed… I joke of course, it was amusing to watch.

                He smiled at me, I don’t think he even realized he did, he just sat there grinning like we might be in a sunny day at the beach, or camping in the woods… Just happy to be there.
                For someone who just criticized me for being so happy in this situation, he seemed more out of place than me, however I wasn’t going to call him out on it… So I just let him stay like that as time once again passed us by…

                During that time, there came the question, what do I do to get him out? I looked at his bindings and they didn’t seem to be made out an ordinary metal… It wasn’t like anything I had seen before. “Azreth do you know what those are made out of?”

                “The chains?” He asked then rattled them a bit. “It’s draconite.”

                “Draconite?”

                “I’m not surprised, it’s not a common metal, it drains the powers of…” He seemed to flow well in his word but stopped abruptly and then cleared his throat.  “*Ahem*… Those with dragon blood, like me or captain douche outside.”

                “Really? Never heard of such a thing…”

                “There is something else too, draconite is strong but not THIS strong… I suppose there is Adamantine in there… If it were anything else I would have broken them by now. I’m a pretty strong guy.” He boasted. “Ah… And the pins are made of it too.” He waved his tail around a bit making a rattling noise as the metal reverbed.

                “Let me try something… Keep watch.” I went down behind him as he stood up to peak over the air vents.
                 The mechanism that held his hands followed along the ceiling and probably outside, so they were completely out of reach save for the part that was built into the auto-wagon wall, I decided to forgo that as it looked too complicate and risky to mess with, so I approached his tail, taking a look at it first… It was pretty secured on the floor with those heavy black pins, the strong metallic smell denounced a lot of blood.
                I touched one of the pins and started focusing, my energy began flowing and the golden aura started expanding enveloping the pin. However I tried doing every trick in the book, moving, splitting, bending, shattering, nothing worked on that thing… It was quite impervious.
                I stopped before I my arms started hurting from the magic. “No luck… It’s too tough.”

                “Hummm….” He pondered, more interested in me than whatever progress I made... “I never asked, what is it you do? I’ve never seen a power like yours before.”