A Slave's Freedom

I'm finally reaching my breaking point. My legs are weak, my mind is at its peak, and my eyes are slowly drooping over. It's close to night as we can possibly get it, and we are in desperate need of finding shelter. Unlike the tunnels downstream, there are nearly none here. We saw one pass by a while back, which is where I suggested to stop, but Rainbow Dash didn't want to. She wanted out now. I think she's regretting it though, she's been sluggishly moving closer and closer to me ever since she was leading us out.

Even though our energy is low, we keep pushing forward. Our motivation to be free from the gorge is keeping us from dying. Well, she might see it as being free, but I see it differently; a means of escape from Master. Maybe he is the cause of this... move. It might be one of his traps, like ones he set for me. Granted, he didn't want me to only be the one experiencing his traps. That's why my sister fell for a few too. We both share wounds from them, luckily more me than her. I would not want her feeling the pain of deep grooves where flesh once felt precious. I hope she's doing well. Mother and Father are probably watching over her and making sure she does not run astray. I imagine them keeping her by them while they work in the fields. The Master probably likes that, considering he hates when "those little runts" run around the plantation doing nothing but "trampling on his crop".

Imagining those times hurts me inside, since I am not there to witness them. I wish I could make more memories with them, but that'll have to wait. I am given the opportunity to finally seek freedom, something that seems impossible back on the farm.

I look at the moon slowly rising to the occasion. It shines on us in particular, and twinkles just right. It is odd to see the moon do that here, since the last time I saw the moon shine like that was under the oak tree at Sweet Acres. It was a few months before my sister fell into another one of his traps...

"Dyson?"

I look over to see Rainbow Dash's frazzled appearance. Her blood-shot eyes bore into mine, while her mangled mane and wobbly legs gives me plenty of warning of what is to come. "Yes?"

"Can we stop for a while?" she asks groggily. "I'm not sure if I can take another step..."

I rush to her side and carefully snatch her up. She lays snug in my arms and smiles. "Thank you..."

"Ya should listened to me when I said to stop in that there cave," I say, poking her in the stomach.

She growled weakly, a sign of fatigue washing over her. "Shut up."

Laughing never felt so kind. "Only if you listen to me more."

She rolls her eyes and props her head against my left arm. "Wake me up when we get there."

"Ya mean out?" I ask as I take another step towards the next turn. My eyes flicker towards the stream, the one that I stepped in when I first had walked. The stream is still flowing strong, so there must be some source up ahead.

"Dash, there might be a--Oh?" I look down and see her already asleep, her little chest rising and lowering to the sounds of the wind gently grazing the leaves above. I let my thought drift into the wind too, knowing that it held little importance for now.

I breathe deep, letting the fresh air fill my lungs. The feeling of freedom: a force of wronged labor being taken and smashed to bits. However, nothing comes free without a price tagged onto it. That's what we're doing: taking pain with our fists and hooves, searching for a way out with the desire to leave so we can someday see our families and friends again.

Turning the corner, I feast my eyes upon something great. It was a small opening jutting from the gorge side, which may block us from the slight breeze that had made its way into the gorge. A slight saving grace, something that could help her and I both get some sleep. It is a miracle, something i feel instantly pulled to, my good leg hobbling towards it. In a sudden rush to the cave entrance, I feel Rainbow Dash squirm in my arms. She slowly moans out my name, which would be disturbing if it was not for the slight murmurs of thanks and pizza right after... whatever pizza means. As I walked into the cave, her murmurs faded away, and the soft snores that I would normally hear come back in full. I'm glad, I wouldn't want to hear anything more than that.

Focusing in the dark of the cave, I search inside the dwelling to find nothing but rocks. There are lots of them. Some are hanging from the ceiling, while others are jutting down with water dripping from their tips like a leak from a roof after a bad storm. Some even stay on the ground, blocking any wind from getting to it. Searching the rest of the cave is no easy task, since light barely touched the inner walls of it. Thankfully it ended as a small hideaway, otherwise it would be another long adventure for us to handle, which in our states sounds way too out of our reaches. Just knowing that the enclosure's walls surrounded us in full makes me happy. We are safe and not of harm. We do not have to run; we can rest.

Internally praising the Lord, I slowly prop myself up against the rock before setting Rainbow Dash to the ground. The reaction to me releasing her was priceless, considering her little tail flicks when I'm away, and her body twitches when the warmth is gone. It makes me scoot over a bit, which her tired body apparently sensed, since she flips over in a matter of seconds to simply place her head on my leg. She then purrs, surprisingly, before letting sleep overtake her (if it hadn't already). I guess she's a different sleeper.

I don't know how long she'll sleep for, since sometimes she's a deep sleeper, while other times she's not, but hopefully she won't be long...

...I still have to sleep too.

Sleep is a great thing, except when you wake up by feeling a leave tickling your skin. I felt that immediately, and I woke up to see myself sitting in a room, where my friend Leo was sleeping in too. He was snoring like he always does: his head dobbed down and his body propped up against an old table leg. He could sleep anywhere, while I... well I am a different story. The wall felt nicer than the table; didn't want to get splinters is all. Unfortunately, the wall had to scare me instead. On its surface has the blood of another painted in its white center.

"L-Leo?"

I see his head twitch slightly. I sigh and repeat his name, only louder this time. He twitched even harder, his ear joining in. Then, after a third time, the deep sleeper woke up, his eyes peering at me.

"Dyson?" he whines. "What ya want from me? Can ya see me ain't got time to be wakin' up now?"

I shush Leo up and say, "That ain't what I'm gettin' ya up for, Leo!"

He sighs and lowers his tone of voice. "All right, then what is the big--"

His question gets interrupted by the sound of rather heavy footsteps walking outside the room. Whoever owns those footsteps sound pretty near our door, which is near the old table Leo was leaning on. I quietly shake my head, at my friend's inquisitive look, and roll my eyes and close them barely shut, as if I am feigning sleep. I watch as Leo gets the message, one that is passed down from slave to slave. He feigns sleep too, but in a style unlike mine, where his eyes dart to and fro and his hands cover his face. I think his eyes are barely closed too, but one things for sure is that his head is still dobbing down. It's a perfect thing to see, knowing that the Master wouldn't be getting us now. His reign would not come tonight. Not come at all.

Outside, I hear rumbling and grumbling. Something about another letter and another day of feed before he turned from our room and walked away, keeping his loud, banging footsteps to himself, and his rude demeanor hopefully burying another stake into a man's wretched heart. Once the footsteps left, I sigh and nod. "Be all right now to keep talkin'."

He takes a deep breath. "Me guessin' ya wanna still be findin' your sis?"

I nod. "Sophie gotta be 'round here somewhere, she jus' gotta!"

"We be lookin' all ova for days now, Dyson," Leo says as I begin to search the room. "And ya betta tell me why me and ya were sleepin' here?"

I sigh. "We were tired from workin' and findin' her, ya know? Besides, Master want nobody in his rooms; they're his alone, so we had to get here in a rush when nobody ain't lookin'."

Nodding, Leo stands on both his feet, legs wobbling as he does, and walks over to the only window in the room. "Ya think this be the place where she be?"

I frown (one that he didn't see). "I'm guessin' Leo, I mean what can I do? Wait on'er for 'nother day while Master talks about a new slave girl he pickin' from them other white men?" I choke back a sob. "S-She my sister, Leo... I can't give up now!"

Leo turns to face me. His face is blank, but as he sees me, his eyes waver, scoping the ground beneath my feet. I wiggle my toes a bit; seeing if he's staring at the ground or if he's got his answers on the floorboards, but maybe we can find her together. She's been gone for a long while after she ran off in the night. Those guards have trouble finding lost slaves, good ones too. She is a good one, my sis. Sophie knows those fields like the back of her hand. Yet... We are still worrying. The Master says he had her when I asked of her. Probably not though, she is not here.

Or is she?

Not hearing a peep from Leo, I turn away (growling) and walk over to a large pile of tables. The Master uses this room for torture some nights. My sister and I were in here once. She didn't get whipped though, just a spanking. I... got a piece of him, though. He laughed as he hit me. He called me whatever he wanted. He never called my sister anything, which is something he saw as prompting the brother.

Guess he knew his place.

Yet something is still wrong. He is here still, harboring her. He's got her somewhere. I need to find her.

I sigh as I move another piece of furniture out of the way. Large table after large table stacked high on each other, and under them was a bag.

I look inside...

I gasp and drop the bag. It plops on the ground like a bag of dish rags. Inside the bag was an arm, a leg, and a rib or two, all of which were black and small, like someone who was young and lively. I almost puke at the sight of the body parts, but my hand clamps quickly over my mouth in hopes of keeping it together. Of course, keeping it together meant holding your lunch, so I kept it to myself. Leo on the other hand is staring at me, probably wondering what the heck I just saw. I shake my head at him and tell him not to take a look, but he does anyway. Then, sitting up straight and attentive, Leo looks at me and says,

"Ya okay?"

My stomach flips on cue. "I--Don't ya got food still in ya?"

He shakes his head. "Didn't have any. I guess dry heavin' don't got nothin' to deal." He smirks. "Besides, haven't ya seen the other bag?"

I mirror his shake. "Ya mean... there's more?"

He surprisingly nods."Master be collectin'. Don't know if he crazy or what!"

I can't even handle the information I'm being told. As I look at Leo, I see his finger pointing towards another one, giant worn bag left under the old table. Even though my curiosity is dead by the first bag, a fleeting sense of wonder compels me to shuffle over and look inside it too. Inside it yields the same results, except of a different variety. The body parts are all hairy and cyan colored. Most of them wore burns scorched on, while others lay in shambles. But that was not all. There was a wing in there too. It--I look away from the bag, clearly drained of anything I had in my stomach. My head aches, my stomach wishes it could not have seen those parts, and my mind wonders what my Master is. Is he a good Master? Or is he...

...a murder?

I wake up--wait, I fell asleep?

Looking around, I see we're in a cave. Yes, the cave we huddled in; the one that has no other connections to any caves or large eels. Just a small quaint cave. As I begin to adjust to the light, my eyes slowly set their sights at the pony near me, who is resting her hooves around my body. She's smiling while her stomach rises and lowers with each breath she takes. I smile too, knowing that she is okay. However, I am not. The event, whatever it was, is still replaying in my mind. All I know is that it isn't true. For starters, some of those tables were never there. Instead, they were counters, and most held children's projects in their grasps. But it wasn't the only thing . Those bags... they were never filled with body parts, but I remember taking those bags out, washing the bags and their contents, hang drying the wet laundry while my mother looks over at me and tells me what I did wrong. I even remember her telling me how to wash them:

"Gotta put some elbow grease in'er!"

My mother was the best. I still miss her and sis. I really do...

I sigh and raise to my feet, or well, one foot. My other is like a boulder that can't be moved. With my boulder leg, I somehow get myself propped up against the cave wall. I am panting hard though, since I barely have any energy left. Taking the final step to stand on my own, I poke my pony's head and rub her mane. She stirs at first, but as I poke her again, she gives me a rather annoyed snort before slowly opening her eyes. She stretches for a few seconds too, before looking up at me. I probably look like I'm standing tall with a smile on my face, but I'm not sure, I feel really numb at the moment, and it's killing my senses.

"Dyson, are we out?"

I laugh. "No, Dash, we're not." She frowns momentarily, but as I hop over, she tries to force a smile. I can tell when she forces it now, her lip twitches a bit and her ear becomes crooked for a few seconds. "Ya don't need to force 'em."

Her resolution falls short and that forced smile turns into a natural frown. "But we're not even close to being out yet! And we--"

"Stop that!" I see her freeze in response. "Ya wanna be out?"

She nods.

"Ya wanna see your friends again?"

She nods once more.

"Then why we mopin' around? We gotta get out of here!"

She stands on all fours (or attempts to, only three keep up). "You're right! We can't wait for them to get us, we have to find them!" She shakily runs to the cave entrance and looks at me. "Let's go! We have ground to make up!"

The smile we share before she leads us again is different. It feels like hope that we're sharing, something that I never felt on the farm. It feels nice against the numbness of death, like the hands of Mother being wrapped around me while she tells me a bedtime story. The feeling changes however as I see her smirk at me. I felt confident. I felt strong. I felt free.

With a newfound sense of energy, the two of us walk outside the cave and into the world of the gorge, our bodies staying strong for another round...

...and hopefully a couple rounds more.