Chapter 40 A Rusty Nail

Kaka took a good look at the nail, inspecting it with suspicion. After a moment, he said, "Yes, little Hermit, this would do just fine. A sharp, pointy bit. Just what an adventurer needs. With this, we can get out of here, and as soon as possible. But somehow, this does not feel right. I have a bad feeling about it. Slasher was acting a bit different than usual. I hope it's just me being silly."

We both knew that we couldn't delay any longer. Every moment we stayed in the shed we increased the risk of Slasher or another guard discovering our plan.

I wrapped my injured hand with a strip of leaf torn from my ragged bed, wincing as the material pressed against my raw flesh. Kaka, still limping, gathered the hatchlings and whispered reassurances to them, trying to keep them calm and quiet.

We moved quickly, our movements fueled by desperation and a flicker of hope. Kaka led the way, limping toward the adventurer's cage, the hatchlings left huddled safely in the shed. I followed, clutching the nail tightly in my good hand.

The adventurer was awake, his eyes widening as he saw us approach.

"You've got something for me?" he asked in a hushed tone, his eyes flicking to the nail in my hand.

I nodded, handing him the nail.

"This is it. Use it to free yourself. But we need to move fast."

The adventurer took the nail from me and hid it, pushing it into the mud. Then he quickly told us the plan.

"Listen well," he said in a low, urgent voice.

"Tonight we will make a run for it. Be sure to be ready because if you two do not show up, I will go alone. Keep a close look; when night comes, the orc guards take a shift in guarding me. There's a window, just a tiny one, a few moments. I will make a run for it then. There will be little time, so you better be ready. Now go, before someone sees us."

With his words ringing in our ears, we rushed back to our shed. We went about our daily tasks as usual, doing our best to blend in and avoid drawing any attention. My body ached from the beating, and Kaka moved with visible pain, but we pushed through it. As I worked in the fields, every glance from a guard made my heart race but I managed to keep my composure.

As the sun began to set, casting long shadows across the camp, the air grew heavy with an unsettling silence. Inside the shed, a taut, almost unbearable tension hung over us. We huddled together, our breaths shallow and ragged, trying to ignore the gnawing anxiety that clung to our every thought.

The hatchlings, sensing the dread that gripped the air, clung to Kaka, their tiny, trembling bodies pressing close against him for what little comfort they could find. Kaka, though visibly weakened and gaunt, tried to offer a semblance of reassurance, his hand gently stroking the small heads huddled around him.

As the evening crept closer and closer, a horrifying disaster struck. The shed's door burst open with a jarring creak, and Slasher stormed in, his sadistic laugh slicing through the tension like a knife.

"Did you miss me, you shitty slaves?" he taunted, his voice dripping with malicious glee.

"Oh, silly me, no need to ask. Of course, you missed me. How could you not? Who else will deliver that sweet, sweet punishment you’re so fond of?"

A collective shiver of terror rippled through us, and our bodies began to tremble uncontrollably. Slasher’s cruel presence was like a knife at our throats, and his laughter echoed with chilling menace.

He took a mocking, leisurely inspection of Kaka’s bloated belly, his gaze lingering with a sinister satisfaction.

"Shitty slave," he sneered, "I see you did as told and kept your butt clenched. You did not shit in days. Good, good, very good. Maybe I won’t even beat you to death today."

As Slasher drew closer, the hatchlings' terror reached a fever pitch. They darted around the shed, their tiny feet pattering frantically as they sought their hiding spots. Desperate to escape Slasher’s wrath, they scrambled into the smallest, darkest corners they could find, their frightened whimpers barely audible over their panicked movement.

Kaka, his voice quivering with desperation, tried to reason with Slasher.

"Please, great master! Mercy! You’ve beaten us too much, too much torment. We cannot survive this! Leave us be, please! Leave us be at least for one day. We can't go on like this. Too much, too much!"

But his pleas fell on deaf ears. With a brutal, contemptuous swipe, Slasher’s hand connected with Kaka’s face, the force of the slap sending him sprawling violently to the ground. The air filled with Kaka’s agonized cry, a sound that was both heart-wrenching and haunting.

I sprang to Kaka’s side, desperately trying to shield him from further harm. But before I could reach him, Slasher’s boot met my face with a vicious kick, sending me crashing to the ground in a haze of pain. My vision blurred, and stars danced before my eyes as I lay there, dazed and disoriented.

Slasher’s voice, cold and derisive, sliced through the darkness.

"I’ll show you mercy, you shity slaves! Just you wait!"

He grabbed Kaka’s legs with a brutal grip, lifting them and forcing him into a vulnerable position on his back, his filthy butt sticking out grotesquely, his dirty anus twitching. The sight was both dehumanizing and deeply disturbing, a perverse display of Slasher’s power over us.

Turning his gaze to the hatchlings, he roared, "Listen up, you shitty runts! Line up in front of your beloved caretaker’s stink hole, now! I will show you what the name Kaka truly means!"

He kicked Kaka in the face and shouted again, "If you don’t, I’ll beat him to a bloody pulp until there’s nothing left of him! If you want your beloved Kaka alive, you do as you’re told! You love your Kaka very much, right? You love Kaka, right? Then do as told!"

He shouted, kicking Kaka's face again, "Tell me how much you love your precious Kaka, now!" 

One of the hatchlings, a frail, trembling creature with wide, tear-filled eyes, took a hesitant step forward. Its voice, barely more than a squeak, trembled as it tried to respond, “W-We love Kaka… w-we love him very much… p-please don’t hurt him! We do what you say, w-we do anything!”

Another hatchling, smaller and even more terrified, stumbled over its own feet as it tried to move forward. It collapsed onto its knees, its tiny hands shaking as it clasped them together in a desperate plea.

 “Please, please! Don’t hurt Kaka! W-We’ll do anything! We love him, we love him so much! Please, don’t hurt him anymore!”

A braver hatchling, still shaking but driven by sheer desperation, stepped forward with a shaky voice, “Kaka… Kaka is the best… he takes care of us… p-please, we love him… we’ll do anything! Please, don’t hurt him, don’t hurt him anymore!”

Slasher shouted again, "Then gather around his filthy stinky hole!"

The rest of the hatchlings, their faces pale with fear, slowly emerged from their hiding spots. Their tiny bodies quivered as they formed a ragged line around Kaka’s exposed butt. Their movements were tentative and trembling, driven by a desperate desire to avoid further violence.

Slasher’s voice thundered with fury, "Closer, you shitty maggots! I said closer!"

The hatchlings, startled by his bellow, edged closer with hesitant steps. Each movement was fraught with terror, and their small, frightened faces were etched with horror. Their big ears fluttered and quivered in the air. The oppressive darkness of the shed was punctuated only by the low, guttural chuckles of Slasher as he watched the hatchlings squirm closer to Kaka's butt. The scent of fear mingled with the stench of sweat and dirt, creating a nauseating haze that clung to our throats and made it difficult to breathe.

Kaka lay there, his figure reduced to a trembling, pathetic heap. His face, already swollen and bruised from Slasher’s earlier assault, was contorted with a mixture of pain and helplessness. His pleas for mercy had been replaced by silent sobs, his body shivering uncontrollably in the cold, unforgiving air.

The hatchlings, their small faces etched with fear, slowly formed a ragged line. Each tiny step they took seemed to echo in the stillness of the shed, their movements driven by sheer terror. Their eyes were wide, glistening with unshed tears, and their tiny bodies trembled with the weight of their fear.

Slasher’s malevolent gaze swept over the hatchlings, taking a perverse pleasure in the anguish he had induced. His eyes darted from one terrified hatchling to the next, his smile widening as he observed their fearful faces.

The air was thick with tension as Slasher loomed over Kaka, his shadow engulfing the cowering figure beneath him. The hatchlings, a motley crew of younglings, huddled together in front of Kaka's anus, their eyes wide with fear. Kaka's face was contorted in a grimace of pain and humiliation, his body trembling under the weight of Slasher's boot pressed firmly against his bloated belly.

"Ready to let it out, slave?" Slasher taunted, his voice dripping with malice.

"Or should I say, let it all splash out?"

Kaka's eyes darted around, seeking any escape from the impending degradation. His hands clenched into fists, nails digging into his palms as he fought the urge to shit himself. But the pressure on his stomach grew unbearable, each breath a struggle against the rising tide of gas and waste.

Slasher chuckled, a low, sinister sound that sent shivers down the spines of the watching hatchlings.

"Hold it in all you want, but we both know how this ends," he said, leaning closer, his face inches from Kaka's.

"You're going to make a mess one way or another."