Felix collapsed onto his knees from the blow, carefully cupping his hand where the metal gauntlet hit the side of his face, the same place Lord William’s ring struck. Felix’s eyes immediately moistened with tears from the pain. He kept his head bowed in submit, because the worst thing that he could do was to look directly into their eyes and make the guards even angrier.

“Someone is going to get the cart. How else is Lord William’s little pet going to be fed?”

Felix continued to look at the floor. He hoped that he misheard the guard’s words. He hoped that when the guard said that someone had to get the cart back it didn’t mean him. He wished that he wouldn’t have to go back into the cell and face that monster anytime soon, or ever again for that matter. But Felix knew that these were only wishes and dreams running through his head. He knew what the guards were really saying to him and he knew that no matter what happened, even if he didn’t have to retrieve the cart, he would still have to go back in to feed the creature. He was a slave and he had to do what he was asked to do. He didn’t have any choice.

The guard’s boot kicked Felix’s side. Felix had felt harder kicks, but he knew the kick wasn’t meant to cause him serious pain. The kick was meant to just get his attention, but that didn’t make the kick painless.

“Did you hear me, slave?”

Felix stayed silent.

“Get up and get the cart back.”

“Me?” Felix still wished that he was mishearing the guard.

“It’s not my fault the cart is still in there. It’s your problem, slave.”

“But, I,” Felix looked at the other guard for help, but the other guard just stood there with a blank face that didn’t care and wouldn’t help. “But the monster tried to eat me. If I go in there-”

“It’s not our problem.”

“It will eat me.”

“Again, not our problem. Why else do you think Lord William chose a slave to feed that monster? Because no one would care if you are killed.”

“Please.”

The guard grabbed Felix’s wrist as tight as iron cuffs and pulled Felix onto his feet. With the force of the pull, Felix thought his arm was going to pop out, but luckily Felix only received a brief minimal amount of pain from the pull. But it didn’t end when Felix got up; the guard pulled again, but this time pulling Felix to the door.

Normally, Felix would have started obeying the guard with the fear of being punished even more. However, this wasn’t a normal situation. He knew that if he obeyed and went through with what he was told to do, he would die. He would have no chance against the giant beast and it would swallow him whole. For the first time in Felix’s five years of slavery, Felix said, “No!” Felix pulled back, trying to escape the guard’s grasp, but no matter how far he leaned back, the guard didn’t release him. He just dragged the young slave towards the door while the other guard unlocked it.

“No! You’ll kill me! It’ll kill me!”

“You’re getting that cart.”

“Please, don’t make me!”

The door opened and Felix could see the large fox head staring back at him. Felix pulled and thrashed, looking away from the terrible monster and towards the only way out of the dungeons. But he just couldn’t break free.

The guard twisted Felix’s wrist. Felix’s legs buckled and he screamed. The guard twisted it more. Felix continued his pleas, but the guard twisted till there was a crackling sound. Felix’s whole world became blurry and watery due to the tears.

“Get in there and this time, bring back the cart!”

The guard threw Felix in the cell and locked the door back up. Felix stumbled and fell on his broken wrist. Felix rotated onto his side and curled into a fetal position on the cold, rocky floor. He cradled his wrist against his chest, but of course, the pain didn’t go away. He felt nothing else but the pain. He couldn’t see anything but the blackness the pain caused. It drowned out all his other senses until it filled his entire body.

He only kept his eyes shut and wished that the pain would end soon, because he knew that he was well within the beast’s range. He knew it would eat him now and that he could do nothing about it. He just hoped his pain would go away once he died.

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The hydra kitsune heard and saw the whole thing. The smaller human, the one that escaped, couldn’t escape the bigger human’s grip. The smaller human didn’t want to go back in the prison cell, it was absolutely terrified. The hydra kitsune heard the crack and knew it was the sound of a bone breaking. The bigger human threw the littler one in the cell and within the hydra kitsune’s reach. The hydra kitsune moved one of its hydra heads to look at the cart full of already dead deer and water which sent images to the main head. And all of that for this cart?

The hydra kitsune focused its main head on the small human. It was curled up and shivering on the floor. Not only was it smaller than the other humans, but the hydra kitsune noticed that the human appeared to be even more different. The human wore dirty rags for clothes. It had long, greasy, tangled hair. The human’s skin and hair were just a dirty and smelly as its clothing.
I put that thing in my mouth? The terrible after-taste of the creature kicked in and the hydra head tasting it had to spit the taste out as best as it could.

But there was something else other than disgust for the small human. The hydra kitsune felt…