Chapter 53 Not a Hatchling Anymore

Kaka struggled to get up, his hands trembling as he tried to push himself off the ground. The stick made it even harder for him, and he wrestled against it, his face contorted in pain and humiliation. The guards continued to laugh and taunt him, enjoying the show.

"Come on, torch-tail! Use those bony fingers of yours! Maybe if you beg, we'll help you up!" another guard mocked, kicking dirt in Kaka's face.

Sputtering dirt from his mouth and scraping his eyes, Kaka finally managed to get to his feet, his movements slow and painful. His eyes were filled with tears of shame and dirt, but he kept moving forward. The guards continued to hurl insults at him as he passed, their cruel laughter ringing in his ears.

Eventually, I saw Kaka meet up with Grill, and they both disappeared into the dimness of the cave where the hatchery was located.

I turned my focus to my work. For the entire day, I labored under the scorching sun, ripping out the accursed weeds that grew back every day due to the high mana concentration in the soil. This same mana made the crops grow much faster than in normal soil, but it also made our task endless and grueling. However, hard work was not all I did. Every spare second, I carefully looked for any way for Kaka and me to escape this wretched place. With Kaka now in a much better state than after the grizzly bear attack and able to travel, we needed to find a way to break free.

Throughout the day, as I worked, I closely observed the guards' movements, inspected the walls, and noted any small details that could aid our escape. I paid attention to their patrol patterns, the placement of the gates, and the weak spots in the perimeter. I watched how the other slaves interacted and if there was any potential ally among them.

By the evening, I was physically and emotionally exhausted. Barely dragging my aching limbs, I stumbled inside the shed and fell to the ground, gasping in pain and exhaustion. Kaka was already back, covered in the filthy mixture needed to nurture the goblin eggs to hatch healthy goblin slaves. The stink of goblin feces, urine, and other foul substances clung to him, but he managed a weak smile as I collapsed beside him.

"We made it through another day," he whispered.

"Kaka, how was it? Are you okay?"

Kaka looked at me, his face streaked with grime and exhaustion.

"It was... hard," he admitted, his voice trembling.

"Grill tried to help, but the guards... they kept mocking me, pushing me around. I did my best, but it's never enough for them."

I crawled over to him, pulling him into a gentle embrace despite our dirty, aching bodies.

"We're going to get out of here, Kaka. I will watch the guards to know their patterns. If we find the right moment, we can escape."

Kaka's eyes widened with a mixture of hope and fear.

"Do you think we can make it, little Hermit? Have you noticed any holes or crevices in the walls?"

"I do but so far, there are no holes or cracks we could squeeze through," I said firmly, even though doubt gnawed at me.

"But I will try harder. I will look and look some more. I will. We can't stay here and let them break us. We're stronger than they think. We'll find a way. We need to escape."

Kaka nodded slowly, his resolve strengthening.

"Okay, little Hermit but don't risk it," Kaka said softly, "We need to be smart about it, not rush in, we need to think. For now, watch the guards, check the walls... any gap, any crack or a hole in the ground, anything, there's gotta be a way. We just need to be patient and smart."

We spent the rest of the night whispering our plans, clinging to the hope that we could escape this hellish place. Despite our exhaustion and the overwhelming odds, the thought of freedom kept us going.

"Rest now," I urged him gently.

"We'll need our strength. Tomorrow is another day, another chance."

Kaka nodded and curled up beside me, his small frame trembling slightly. I wrapped my arms around him, creating a cocoon of warmth and safety with my body and meaty ears. As he drifted off to sleep, I lay awake for a while longer, my mind racing with thoughts of escape and survival.

But our rest was interrupted as a guard on torture duty stepped into our shed. I stirred and convulsed in fright, my heart racing. Kaka also stirred, jumping to his feet out of sheer fear. The guard snarled at us and ordered us to stand before him. Trembling and cowering, we obeyed.

Without warning, the guard began to rain down punches on my face, treating me like a mere punching bag. Each blow was a hammer of pain until I collapsed to the ground, bloodied and dazed. He then turned his attention to Kaka, a sadistic grin spreading across his face as he was lost on what to do.

With a vicious backhand, he struck Kaka so hard that Kaka somersaulted in the air and belly-flopped onto the ground with a painful gasp, "OOOOF!" The guard then gripped the torch handle protruding from Kaka's butt and pulled hard. The torch stayed firmly lodged, and Kaka screamed in unimaginable pain as the fused flesh was being ripped apart in a futile attempt.

"Wreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! REEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

The guard's sadistic grin widened as he wrapped his filthy hands around the torch handle jutting grotesquely from Kaka’s stinkhole. With a brutal heave, he lifted Kaka into the air like a ragdoll. Kaka's frail body dangled, his arms flailing uselessly, his face contorted in unimaginable pain. His screams filled the shed, each cry a piercing, animalistic wail of agony.

"REEEEE! WREEEEE! EEEEEEEK! WRAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Kaka shrieked, his voice raw and broken, echoing off the wooden walls of the shed like a chorus of torment. The sound was unbearable - his cries were the desperate howls of a creature pushed beyond the brink of suffering.

The guard swung him wildly, laughing as Kaka's body whipped through the air, slamming against crates and splintered walls. 

"Look at him! HAHAHA!" the guard bellowed, his voice shaking with cruel amusement. 

"Like a shitty goblin kite, ain’t he? Flying around just waiting to drop!" With each violent swing, the torch handle remained firmly lodged, making every movement a fresh hell for Kaka.

Kaka's screams grew louder, more frantic, as his gaunt frame twisted and writhed. His eyes bulged from their sockets, veins visible on his neck, as his entire body spasmed with the brutal motion. 

"Please...!" he gasped between screams, barely able to form words through the torment. But the guard ignored his pitiful pleas, swinging harder, faster - relishing every second of Kaka’s suffering.

Satisfied with the torture and the screams he elicited, the guard finally tossed Kaka into the air and delivered a brutal kick to his butt, sending him crashing into the wall. Kaka fell to the ground in a heap of tangled limbs and misery with a painful gasp, "OOOOOFFF!"

"Still stuck in there, huh?" the guard snarled, inspecting the torch handle with twisted amusement. He gave it a sharp tug, causing another agonizing scream to tear from Kaka's throat, but the torch remained lodged, mocking him with every excruciating second.

 "Guess you’ll be carrying that tail around for a while longer, you worthless slave!"

The guard, satisfied with the torture he delivered, left our shed with a playful whistle. With him gone, I crawled over to Kaka, my own body aching with pain.

"Kaka, are you alright? Did he hurt you badly?" I whispered, my voice trembling.

Kaka's eyes were barely open, his breath ragged and shallow.

"It hurts, little Hermit," he whimpered, tears streaming down his face.

"It hurts so much. My stinky hole... it... it got ripped. It hurts so much, it feels like I am torn in half, it hurts, it burns."

"I'm sorry, Kaka, I'm sorry I could not help you, I'm sorry," I said softly, wrapping my arms around him as best I could.

"But we're still here. We're still alive. We can recover from this. His beatings were brutal, yes, yes it was but it was nothing compared to Slasher's tortures."

Kaka was in pain, and I knew I had to do something to ease his suffering. I laid him on his belly on the straw bed and gently massaged his hurt butt, trying to alleviate some of his pain. After a few minutes, Kaka's pained grunts stopped, and he slowly succumbed to sleep. With him finally asleep, I nestled next to him and fell asleep as well.

In the morning, I was gently stirred awake by Kaka. He was already up. We got up and, before heading to our labor, Kaka hugged me tightly.

 "Little Hermit, you have grown so much," he said, his voice filled with a mix of pride and sadness.

 "It's been a little more than a month, and you are now a fully grown gobbie, just like me. You are not a little Hermit anymore, you are a Hermit now, no more little, not a hatchling. I am happy for you, not many of the hatchlings survive this long. Most of them fall along the way by the brutal hand of the evil goblins. You are my pride and joy, Hermit. I love you, son."

I took a better look at myself and Kaka. We both stood at the same height now. Not so long ago, Kaka was a towering giant whose palm could hold my entire body, but now I was as big and tall as him. I realized that I was a fully grown goblin slave now, not a hatchling anymore.

We embraced for a moment longer, drawing strength from each other, before heading out to our tasks. Kaka went to the hatchery, and I returned to the crop fields. The work was grueling as always, but the knowledge that I was no longer a hatchling gave me a small boost of confidence, not that it changed anything. 

I continued to observe the guards' movements and the layout of the area, looking for any opportunity to escape. 

A few days had passed, and I was once again battling the nasty weeds in the crops, their sharp blades scratching my skin and drawing thin lines of blood. The sun beat down on me relentlessly as I toiled away, my hands dirty and my body aching.

 As I worked, I noticed Kaka wobbling awkwardly in the distance, his torch tail wagging as he carried a few eggs in his embrace. I froze in fear as I saw him getting surrounded by a group of guards, the bullies who relished tormenting him.

The guards mocked Kaka relentlessly, doing everything they could to get in his way. They tried to trip him, spit in his eyes, and threw clumps of dirt at him, hoping to make him drop the eggs and get in trouble. Despite their harassment, Kaka protected the eggs with his life, with all of his feeble strength. Watching from a distance, I trembled with fear, my teeth clattering uncontrollably.

The guards grew bolder and bolder, their harassment escalating. One of them finally grabbed the torch handle sticking out from Kaka's butt and, with a sadistic grin, lit it on fire. Kaka scuttled in circles, his eyes wide with panic as the torch heated up and began to burn. The guards laughed cruelly, enjoying the show of Kaka's torment.

Desperation filled Kaka's eyes as he tried to protect the eggs, but the guards showed no mercy. One of them tripped him with his feet, and Kaka fell face-first to the ground. The eggs tumbled from his grasp, shattering upon impact. Kaka lay there, sobbing, humiliated, and abused, the burning torch in his butt casting an eerie glow that highlighted his misery.