7It was hard to believe the old witch had the gall to think she could just waltz right into his lair without any repercussions. But then again Wuya had never been all that intelligent.
She stopped just a few yards in front of him a somewhat smug smirk on her face. "Chase."
He grudgingly acknowledged her as his minions moved on either side of the room leaving no place to go but further toward him or back out the way she came. "Wuya."
They stood in silence for a few moments till he began to lose his patience with his fellow Heylin. "What is it you want Wuya? I have little time for your petty words."
Her smirk turned into a sneer for a split second before she fixed it, no point losing her temper, it would completely ruin her plan. "Why Chase dear, I've come to offer you a deal."
"A deal? And what could you possibly have that would interest me?"
"Something I'm sure you'll like. But first my terms."
He didn't respond and she took that as a means to continue. "I want an alliance."
"Ally myself with you? You must be joking. I have no use for you. In fact it would far benefit me to dispose of you now."
Panic flooded her system as his warriors began to growl and advance on her, but she hid it well. "Now Chase, don't be so hasty. I hardly like the idea of being any ally of yours but I'm willing to compromise. How about a truce of sorts?"
The dragonlord held a hand up and his warriors retook their previous places. "A truce? I hardly think I have anything to fear from you. And I find myself asking once again, what you could possibly have to offer me."
"I'm glad you asked." With a snap of her fingers several golems entered through the oversized doors. This spurred the big cats into action again, thinking the witch about to attack. They were stilled however as Chase once again held up his hand. The golems weren't moving to attack and even if Wuya were dumb enough to try something it was nothing he couldn't handle. Besides, he was curious to see what she's brought him.
Five large golems that towered over them, each of them nearly fifteen feet tall, moved in a square formation with one taking the point lead. The one in front blocked his view of what they were guarding and it made him all the more curious to see what the witch thought was worth so much security. They stopped a yard or two behind the woman, if you could call her that, before the leader trudged forward and dropped a thick chain in his mistress's waiting hand and stepping aside. The Heylin witch yanked the chain harshly at the same time Chase went to look at his offering. What he saw both surprised and disappointed him.
A young man came stumbling forth before falling to his knees midway between them when the witch pushed him further forward. He kept his head down and shook faintly either from cold or fear. He was a teen really, no, he could barely be considered more than a boy. At the other end of the proverbial leash the chain wound tightly around the boy's wrists digging into the tender flesh there. It would likely leave bruising. Especially on one so fragile looking, the teen had little, if any, muscle definition and looked easily breakable.
But he ignored that in favor of letting his golden eyes travel upward, Chase couldn't help but to notice the boy's strange coloring and lack, for the most part, of clothing. He wore only what was absolutely necessary to cover the essentials, which left the rest of him exposed. His skin was pale, beyond that of what would be expected of a humans', so pale in fact that Chase assumed the witch had gone to the trouble of covering the boy, head to toe, in makeup. Not only that but his hair was a brilliant red, the color of freshly spilled blood. Wuya had gone to quite the effort to make the boy look interesting and Chase couldn't quite say he disapproved of the outcome. It was a shame though, to think that all that work would be wasted if the boy was to so much as brush up against anything.
"So, what do you think?" she inquired as she stepped forward and ran her fingers into red hair, a self-satisfied smirk on her lips. It amused him, however, when the boy jerked away from her hand purposefully, clearly not wanting the old hag to be touching him. Of course this angered said hag who grabbed a fistful of hair and pulled back, baring his face finally.
Eyes, squinted in pain, widened in something akin to awe as they set upon him. Now that sincerely surprised him. If anything people usually cowered in fear when they saw him but never had he received a look like this before, one so full of admiration; and from a slave no less to his potential new master. If the cloth firmly gagging him hadn't been there Chase was fairly sure his mouth would be hanging open as well.
"You can do whatever you like with him of course, as long as we have a deal."
She was so confident that he'd agree that he almost wanted to turn her down on principle, even if the youth had managed to pique his interest. The only thing genuinely stopping him was staring right up at him unmoving, and barely blinking. It was almost unnerving yet oddly captivating. He took a moment to study the face that had been newly reveled. It was pale like the rest of him, save for the black lines under his eyes, eyes that weren't far from the same color of his hair. It was a bit much if you asked him, eyeliner and contacts? Really, did she think he didn't know about these things? He may have lived over 1000 years but he still kept up with the world.
"You expect me to be impressed?" his observations had taken no longer than a few seconds, none of which were express at any point.
"Well, I do know you have a thing for… how should I say this… Exotic things?"
It was almost too pathetic, what this woman thought she could get away with. But he had to admit, at least to himself, he'd always had a penchant for exotic things. Why else surround himself with priceless artifacts he'd found on his travels around the world, or turn his warriors in varying kinds of wildcats? The woman had a point.
"I'm hardly in need of another servant." At that the big cats encircling them moved restlessly as if to emphasize his point, "Especially one that can't even fight."
Wuya scowled at that, this could ruin everything. Maybe it was a mistake to bring the boy after all.
"However, I suppose I can find… some use for him." That brought a grin back to the old witch's face and she took the last few steps towards him holding up her hand, the chain held securely there.
"So it's a deal?"
Sighing in slight exasperation he answered, "Yes I believe we've reached an accord."
Her grin widened further and she dropped the boy's leash into his offered hand. "Good."
Turning on her heel she made her way to the exit, her golems already on their way out. Stopping right in the threshold she turned to look at him over her shoulder. "His name is Jack Spicer if you'd care to know. And he's a bit of an idiot so I'd recommend keeping the gag on… unless you plan to use his mouth for something else, that is."
Amusingly enough the slaves head whipped in her direction as he sent her a scathing glare that quickly lost any intimidation factor it may have had when it turned into a blush at her last words. It surprised him though, when the witch dignified the look she'd received with a smug one of her own. How strange that she found the need to rub a slave's enslavement in his face, it was below her. Then again she had never been any respectable kind of evil.
Once the large doors of his throne room had closed he looked back down at his new slave. As if sensing his gaze Jack turned back to look at him and proceeded to give him that awestruck look again. What had he just gotten himself into? His inner dragon didn't answer but instead supplied him with a rather vivid picture of what he could be getting into.
Calling on a few of his cats, Chase instructed them to take his newly acquired slave and clean him up, his inner dragon once again pestering him over how it would be such a shame to waste all that hard work without being able to thoroughly enjoy it first. It couldn't be helped, he wanted to see what he'd actually been given without the makeup, hair dye and contacts. It was entirely likely that the boy would be nothing special under it all. The evil overlord had made the trade for something exotic but as long as the boy was still something to look at he'd consider keeping him.
If the lack of such enhancers proved to be insufficient he'd merely dispose of Spicer and cancel his truce with the witch. It didn't take long for his warriors to finish and within the next half hour Chase found himself entering the room he'd instructed the boy be left in. He was once again surprised that day. The boy's eyes and hair were still the same vibrant color and his skin still overly pale. He'd instructed his servants to clean the boy! How incompetent could they be? Storming over to the bed he grabbed the youth by the chin and ran a thumb harshly over one cheek. How hard could it be to- it wasn't coming off. The boy, Spicer, was naturally this pale. Staring directly into the youth's eyes Chase found the there were in fact no contacts either. In a last ditch effort to prove that Wuya hadn't actually done something right, he ran a hand through the slave's hair, looking at the roots. The roots matched perfectly with the rest of his hair, it was also natural. This Spicer boy was an albino with strangely red hair, truly a rare find, and now part of his collection. Lucky for Wuya.