The slaves lay in a line, bound and motionless less like people and more like objects on display.
Zach mind raced it was his turn to push the carriage, he had to calm himself down, and steady his breathing, it was his turn..
..To push the carriage...
A steady yank jolted Zach, a rough calloused hand gripped the chain binding him, lifting him off the ground like a suitcase.
Cedric, towering and merciless loomed above him, and with a single wave of this wrist tossed Zach onto the freezing snow.
"Arghh...", Zach body crashed against the biting cold of the snows touch, cold bit into his skin as he winced.
The chains clicked and loosened, Cedric had unbound him. "Move.." Cedric's voice cut thought the blizzard like a double edged sword as he pointed at the front of the carriage.
The carriage towered like a boulder, and at it's sides two ropes end to end connected to a horizontal wooden pipe. This carriage was made to be pushed by human hands.
Zach rose slowly, his muscles sore. The metal links were etched angry red welts into his flesh forming jagged patterns along his arms and waist. He clutched his wrist.
Zach glanced at the other slave carriages lined along the snowy trail. A man stood hand gripped the wooden pole, as his palm bled onto the snow.
His eyes hollow, trembling against the longitudinal pike, his lips cracked and bleeding, knees buckled with every step but the driver lashed out a whip, driving him forward.
Other slaves were not in perfect condition either, blistered feet, trembling hands, and blood coming out of their hands or feet.
Zach turned to the carriage in the distance, the other vessels were made of ow brown wooden materials but this carriage was pure black, seem to be mad with a rare material, In front pushing this carriage was a blond youth, a little bit older than Zach, his eyes were focused though they were hollowed his arms hurdled the carriage with ease, the biting blizzard seemingly not affecting him.
Zach swallowed hard, a bitter taste of bile rising in his throat as Cedric's word yanked him back into existence.
"Pick your rope", these word sent chills down Zach's spine as he stepped forward, crossing the frist rope. Now standing in-between the ropes he grabbed the longitudinal pike, and pushed.
The rope stretched as Zach pulled on it with all his might, he could hear the wheel clicking, it was like carry a human sized boulder in wheels, the blizzard continued as Zach hurdled the wooden giant through the snow.
The slave before him laid dead in a pool of his own blood, seems like they kill you when you get useless so he had to avoid that at all cost.
*****
The blizzard was unforgiving, and so was Cedric's gaze looking and looming over Zach with an iron whip in hand.
Zach waited until the Knights focused their attention on the squabble in front, two slaves had fainted, hennet sighed as he walked over to deal with it, Cedric's attention was also brought to the predicament.
It was his time.
Zach let go of the wooden beam he was hauling and knelt by the faulty wheel of the second carriage, pretending to vomit from exhaustion, one of the knights saw this, laughed and walked away like there not a care in the world.
"Dammit I'll make these bastards pay.." he muttered.
Zach quickly jammed the wood shard into the wheels pin and twisted. The axle cracked violently violently. The carriage lurched.
The knights quickly ran to the carriage, "Get him up, move it".
'perfect'
While the knights focused on the carriage, Zach used the wooden splinter to slash through a secondary strap still attached to his wrist. He slowly and carefully slipped behind the closest carriage—unoticed in the chaos.
He quickly and quietly went around the carriage and when the knight was out of sight, bolted towards the snowy expanse.
"And where do you think you are going", Zachs heart fell into his stomach as he heard a voice behind him, it didn't belong to any knight he remembers, was his calculation wrong were they more knight than he initially thought.
Slowly his neck turn and his eyes fell upon a red haired youth wearing a cape, he had half armor on him so Zach could think he was a knight in training but the presence was too foreboding.
"Umm,..", Zach word hung in his throat, the red haired swordsman unsheathed his blade was he looked at Zach pointing his silver blade at his neck.
His cold icy gaze locked onto Zach's as his voice echoed through the blizzard, "let's fight" he paused, as the whistle of the strong wind reduced, " if I kill you you don't get the freedom you want, bit if you kill me, you get to be free, so what do you say?.." the young han grinned as the readied his blade. " Not that you have a choice anyways..".
[Fighting spirit detected]
[Get ready for combat]
Inventory [sword of skies]
"Huh?.., what am I seeing?.." it looked like a buched of golden lines morphed in the air to form golden letters.
Zach saw the icon of the blade he recognized it, 'masters blade', Zach always Wondered where that blade went, part of him wondered if it was back at that lake, but it's stored in this thing called 'inventory'.
Zach looked at the sword and another notification popped up.
[Summon blade of the skies]
'yes'
A black blade appeared in Zach hands as Zach with his ragged cloth unsheathed the sword.
The knight opposite him eys widened as his neutral expression crack revealing a hint of surprise, so you are a knight, his voice a bit shocked. "Judging by your stance and your aura you're not that strong, maybe just trash that was trained by a proper knight", the red haired assumed a pose.
Zach too readied his blade ready to showcase all that his master taught him.