a slave no more

Bradin looked at the slave crystal in Ivan's hand.

" you want me to change the slave crystal?" he asked

"yes. if you can change this it will show just how powerful your magic is."

"ok. i'll try."

Bradin took the crystal from Ivan and held it in his hand. As he started to gather his magic once more, all his time as a slave flashed before his eyes. all the beatings, starving and over all mistreatment. it made him angry.

how dare they treat him this way. Bradin opened his eyes and concentrated on the crystal. before he could even say anything. the crystal slowly dissolved into sand and ran through Bradin's fingers on to the ground.

as Bradin and Ivan watched the sand fall to the floor, Bradin felt a tickling around his neck. he looked down and saw sand running down his chest. he felt lighter. Bradin reached up to adjust his slave collar, but it was gone.

Bradin felt his free bare neck, not fully believing that this was real. Bradin looked over at Ivan and said

"i'm free."

as he said those words his emotions raced wildly and he burst into tears. Ivan on the bed next to him and put an arm around his shoulders. Bradin turned into Ivan's chest and sobbed. Ivan held onto Bradin until he had calmed down.

"you alright?" Ivan asked as Bradin stopped crying

Bradin nodded and sniffed.

"sorry." he said

"you have nothing to be sorry about." Ivan said "now if you are ready you can get dressed and we can continue our journey."

"ok." Bradin said with a sigh "where are my clothes?"

"oh well. i burned them in the fire. after you passed out we both where dirty so i cleaned us both up and there was no way to save your clothes. i do have some extra clothing but it will be a little big on you."

"when we get to the Earthmother's temple we will get you some clothing that fits you."

"alright." Bradin said

"sorry i don't have any extra breach cloths just a shirt and trousers." Ivan said handing the clothing to Bradin.

"that's ok slaves aren't given breach cloths so i'm use to it."

Ivan excused himself and went outside so that Bradin could change in privacy. he could tell Bradin was not comfortable changing in front of other people. Bradin sat there for a few seconds processing what had just happened.

he looked at the black shirt and black trousers. why does Ivan love black so much? he wondered. Bradin shrugged his shoulders and put the clothing on. length wise it was only a little big, however Bradin was much skinnier than Ivan.

Both the shirt and trousers, where very loose. when Ivan came back in and saw Bradin he started laughing, as he saw Bradin standing there holding the trousers up with both hands.

"i've got a rope that you can use to tighten the waist." he said after he finished laughing.

once that had been taken care of, Ivan gathered everything into one of his bags. when they had exited the snow house Ivan used his magic to collapse it. Bradin was startled, but when he asked why Ivan told him that it would have collapsed at some point anyway.

if he did it himself there was no chance for some one to be inside when it did collapse. as they turned to continue down the road Bradin caught sight of three horses. Ivan explained that they where the same three Bradin had used his magic on.

Ivan told him if they rode them to the next town it would be much faster and they could be sold for some coins to use for Bradin's mage education. Bradin understood and with a boost from Ivan, he was soon riding his first horse.

Ivan took the lead and they where soon on their way to town and after that the Earthmother's temple.