A month passed.
Nyiko's teaching style had needed to change for it to actually be effective for someone like Hectre. He figured out after the lesson where they promised to be friends Hectre was not a student who would learn by simply sitting down, listening to his lectures and taking notes. No, he believed from seeing her habits that she may learn better by being more active. So to test that he had asked his lady to make a request on his behalf.
Being allowed to walk around together.
Soon they were strolling about the hallways of the keep side by side, conducting the lesson as if it was a friendly conversation. She asked about the differences between the ranks and classes of Noble and corrupted creatures, he gave her rapid-fire questions about the best stratagems to implement in battle and even acted out scenarios where she would have to play diplomat both domestic and foreign.
Those were probably the hardest lessons since Hectre didn't bother to take it seriously. She'd often break character to make references to some fictional character he didn't know about or do accents of cultures he also didn't know about, his response to these outbursts was to just give her a blank look before continuing the lesson.
'She takes all her other subjects so seriously, why can't she take this one seriously. Gods she better not screw me over if the Frontier lord asks to see how she's doing'
He let out a deep sigh from the thought. Despite his worries her shenanigans hadn't ruined a single session, he just hoped she would retain the knowledge on how to greet her fellows rather than how to greet her superiors.
'What am I thinking, she's a noble! That was surely drilled into them at birth,'
He was deep in thought as the sun dipped into the horizon, its bright light growing more and more orange as it sank under the city's mighty walls. They had finished their last lesson of the day in one of many balconies of the great keep, particularly one connected to a banquet hall or would they call it a feasting hall? Whatever it was called, the heir's guards stood halfway between him and Hectre, who were at the balcony's parapet, and the arches of the great hall. They kept their gaze focused on him and Hectre the whole time they conducted the diplomacy lesson, though he could hear Pike loudly yawn from that great distance.
It bothered the two of them, but Hectre didn't seem to care enough to tell off the awakened.
'He's just helping me, in his own villainous way' she excused.
Nyiko didn't like the two guards, which made sense since they were his wardens. One of them seemed to take pleasure in tormenting him about his unfortunate state.
'Bastard,'
He shook that man, no tall imp out of his head and ended his study of the keep guard patrols. It was bearing some fruit but nothing substantial enough for him to use, yet. He turned back to look at his pupil.
She sat cross-legged on the marble floor, her open palms laid on top of each other below her navel, her back straight as a longsword. In addition to her closed eyes, Nyiko initially thought she was meditating the first time he saw her do it. It was weird honestly, he didn't take Hectre to be the spiritual type, all about one's being and detaching their spirit from their body or so he read. He didn't know anyone who practiced such ancient techniques. Though as he continued to watch her he could no longer say what she was doing was in any way similar to what he had read in the waking world.
She didn't look serene like the diagrams he'd seen did, instead she looked strained. Her jaw was tight, sweat glistened on her exposed skin and her nostrils flared occasionally. Sometimes she'd be slightly shaking, forcing every muscle to flex and draw tight as if to push some object he couldn't see. She had done this every time they neared the end of their time together and each time she did he couldn't help but feel concerned. Eventually, her posture relaxed and her eyes opened slowly. She collapsed onto her back in a sweaty heap then let out a loud groan.
"I presume things didn't go as expected?" Nyiko pried a little, a teasing note in his voice.
Hectre shook her head before gulping down her own exhaustion.
"No. It's fine, I just wish it would go faster. Gods, to be a Noble Creature. In the right species I could have been born already awakened AND with more than one soul core! Lucky bastards"
"I completely agree" He echoed her opinion because he did not understand what the hell she was talking about.
'What do Noble creatures have to do with what she's doing?' he wondered.
He had just learned about the existence of Noble creatures, something that he had never heard of through his nine years of being terminally online.
"Nyikooooo!" Hectre groaned out to him.
"Come down here and hang out with meeeee!"
A small smirk placed itself on his lips before he stepped over to her and lied down next to her. She turned her head over to him with a tired smile and a giggle.
"When I said get down here I didn't mean it so literally,"
"I know, but I thought it'd be nice to lay on the floor with you. I'd always imagined doing something like this"
The two of them stared into the sepia tinged sky as the night came to blanket the city in it's deep hues of blue.
"So about what you asked me yesterday, about the whole culture thing. Well my castellan has agreed to lend me a slave of his for a while, isn't that great! And I heard she's a rare one too!"
Though interest shined brightly in the deeming light, Nyiko could not help but cringe a little. Thank gods Hectre could not see that.
About three days ago Nyiko had given Hectre a suggestion that could improve her diplomacy skills. He had suggested, through interacting with someone else of a different culture, she could learn how to communicate with others with differing values. Now hearing her talk about it, he was having doubts about his plan.
'Just remember what you said Nyiko, we'll figure it out as we go. She's a reasonable person, I think. She can be shown the light, that slavery is wrong and that will lead to her sneaking me the out of here!'
The last rays of sunlight left the horizon and now the navy sky lay above them. Soon there would be stars up there. Nyiko had never seen actual stars due to the light pollution of the WQSC, unfortunately he wouldn't get to see them today either.
A dual set of metallic boots marched towards them, causing the both of them to stand up.
"Lady Hectre, it is time you retire to your room" Hagh spoke in his usual stern, emotionless tone though Nyiko couldn't help but think that the stone faced man was glaring at him.
She shrugged and beckoned Nyiko to follow. He did, at least he tried to do before Pike stepped in, a scheming smile plastered on his handsome mug.
"I apologize my lady but I think It'd be best if we escort you and the scholar slave separately from now on"
She gave Hagh a quizzical look, but she didn't pry any further.
"Fine then, Nyiko, I shall see you tomorrow"
And just like that Hagh escorted her away, leaving Nyiko alone with Pike. The Awakened guard turned his head to him, a menacing grin displayed clearly even in the recent fallen night.
"Well, no reason to look at me in confusion. Let's be off to the dungeons,"
***
Another strike of the Awakened's fist embedded itself into his gut causing him to double over in pain and clutching. He felt the bile trying to surface from his stomach but the steel tipped boot of Pike put an end to that, with pin-point accuracy struck between his rips. Air left Nyiko's lungs and he couldn't force to come back in. Wide eyed, his eyes burned as panic set in.
If his body would let him he would have tried to crawl away at least to get away from his tormentor but instead it was stuck in place, basically hyperventilating. Swift and accurate, Pike delivered another sharp kick, this time to his liver. A short, gross mix between a sob and yelp broke away from his constricted throat, the noise he made since the Awakened guard began his assault.
"There it is! Doesn't that feel good? It's not good to keep such things bottled up, after all" Pike boasted as he circled him.
"I honestly didn't take you for the 'endure it quietly' type of guy. Oh, I misspoke. You're not a guy anymore and I shouldn't address you as one" He looked away, pretending to be deep in thought.
"Well, I can't treat you like a woman; you'd make a horrible a lay. Hmmm, I guess I'll call you 'it' then. Oh, and Halfman, Halfman is good. So, Halfman, ready to pour out all that knowledge from your guts."
All Nyiko did was finally draw a deep inhale of air into his lungs before pressing his forehead to the chilly stone floor. Pike frowned, not liking the lack of a verbal answer. He grabbed a few large braids of the slave scholar's hair and pulled him up by it till they were level with him. Nyiko had to stand on his toes to alleviate some of the pain from the hair pulling.
"Listen Halfman, Lady Hectre may treat like some kind of equal but that doesn't change the what you are… a putrid thing, a slave under Lord Soren"
Nyiko didn't react to his words, he just clenched his jaw to stop it from quivering open and braced himself for more in lonesome silence. Pike threw him to the floor and like clock work, continued his attack.
***
The beating probably lasted around ten minutes, he thought. The awakened was really pulling his punches. If he had used his full strength, Nyiko would be nothing but a bloody skin sack filled with shattered bones and mashed organs. Instead he was a quivering, quietly sobbing mess on the floor whose entire upper body would be covered in deep dark bruises and swelling welts. At some point, he hadn't bothered to keep track of how long he sobbed for, he transitioned from the floor to his hammock and tried his best to collect himself.
'Think happy thoughts, remember all the good times back in the waking world!'
His eyes prickled with tears
'I miss the waking world, I miss my communicator.'
It was the one thing that reliably calmed him down, with all his favorite videos on it. The thought made crack in his dam of bottled up thoughts which began to leak out.
'I miss Mom, I miss Naa, Olu and spell, I even miss Dad!'
He never thought he would ever miss his family, he was always near them after all. He didn't even think he'd miss them when he would move out but here in this nightmare, he craved for the comfort of home. He hugged himself to a lusterless sleep, waking up once to receive food from Ma Akra when the other slaves were escorted back to the bunker. It was just a loaf of old bread and he didn't have an appetite, but he forced himself to eat it. He couldn't afford to be weaker than he was now.
'Tomorow…' He thought
'Tomorrow I make progress'
He repeated that thought to comfort himself, till he fell into pained slumber.