• interwoven sword.
  • balthazar's flame.
  • dwayna's kiss.
  • grenth's shadow.
  • melandru's branches.
  • lyssa's mask.
  • the godless.
  • voice of the ancestors.
  • book of secrets.
    • back
    ~well of silence~

    Face in the Crowd

    My first lesson was carved on them. I learned it well.

    I saw a face today that gave me chills. I remember every line of the scar that twists his face into a permanent sneer. That cruel grin belongs in my nightmares, not walking around in Kamadan.

    I can still feel the knife blade as he cut the day’s lesson into my flesh. He considered it merciful and kind, telling us that our future owners would do far worse if we failed. I never want to find out if it’s true.

    Some Pets were docile, broken before they saw him, learning lessons once and never requiring a reminder. I came late to him. My parents had tried to save me from him, hiding me, letting no one know they’d had a child. It didn’t last. How could they expect it to? He trained us to be spies. My parents didn’t have the skill to hide anything from him, or the training to fight what he put them through.

    My first lesson was carved on them. I learned it well.

    Zara Amaya