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I tell you this to keep you safe, for there are one thousand ways to be a slave but a hundred thousand ways to be free.
One day Ekkreth the skin-changer was walking though one of Depur's cities when he saw an outworlder chained like a slave in one of Depur's forges, his skin burnt in the sun and his hands blistered from the heat and work. Curious Ekkreth changed his skin to one of a wealthy outworlder whom the overseer would answer to, then went to the overseer and asked.
“Who is this slave that looks so unlike every other slave on this planet?”
The overseer answered because he took Ekkreth for a friend of Depur and even he feared Depur's anger.
“He was a warrior who Depur hired for some work, unfortunately he failed and cost Depur a great deal of money, more then the sale of his weapons and armour would make so Depur took him as payment.”
Ekkreth looked at the outworld slave and saw a tear in his eye at the mention of the sale of his belongings. Ekkreth thought to himself, ‘This man is my brother as much as any born on this world, but he does not know any of the things that even the youngest of Ar-Amu’s children does. I shall have to introduce him to grandmother tonight.’
Ekkreth went on his way promising to himself to find the slave later that night.
That night Ekkreth went to the quarters to find some people he needed to speak to. First, he found a young woman who had to give comfort to Depur’s overseers. After speaking to her about the overseers and their habits he asked her about the outworld slave.
“He is an outworlder what do I care what Depur does to outworlders?”
Ekkreth replied, “He wears the same chains as you do and he thinks he is alone in being a slave as no one will talk to him. Imagine if you had to deal with the overseers, and the wounds they leave you with without anyone in the quarters to help you.”
The woman was ashamed and promised Ekkreth she would convince the outworlder he wasn't alone.
Next Ekkreth found a young boy who cleaned Depur's palace and after talking to him about Depur’s vaults and chains and cages he asked the boy about the outworld slave.
“He was often a guest of Depur and frequently drank the night away at his table, what do I care about the downfall of an outworlder?”
Ekkreth frowned and replied, “And now he wears the same chains as you and Depur has taken everything from him. even his hope for I doubt he knows of the hundred thousand ways to be free but the overseers teach him everyday of the ways to be a slave. Imagine if you thought that Depur owned everything about you even your soul, he feels that fear and shame everyday”
The boy cried for the outworlder and promised to find the outworlder and teach him the things
Depur can never own.
Next Ekkreth went to the grandmother of the quarters and spoke to her about those that were missing and the preparations that were underway. With that out of the way he asked about the outworld slave.
“He knows nothing of the desert and the ways to be free, at his age he should be telling stories not learning them.”
Ekkreth shook his head and spoke to grandmother, “Well he has spent many years alive he has only recently become a slave and so of course he knows nothing, nobody has taught him. I remember when even you grandmother knew nothing and had to be taught and now the outworlder at his age has been thrown back to being a child.”
Grandmother nodded at the sense of this and told Ekkreth to send the outworlder to her after they spoke and he would be taught. At last, Ekkreth found the outwolder in a lonely bunk and asked him to tell his story and the outworlder spoke.
“I was a hunter in a skin of iron and this skin held my soul and I hunted for the one the others call Depur, to satisfy his tastes of exotic meats, the skins of rare beasts for him to clothe himself in and to drape over his walls. Sometime in the last year he asked me to catch for him a rare and dangerous beast. I told him that to catch it would require weapons and other things that I do not have and if he wanted me to catch it, he would have to provide me with them. He did, saying that such a fine beast would be the only payment he would accept for these things, alas after trying to catch it for weeks my supplies ran out and my injuries grew too great. I was forced to return to this Depur empty handed. When I stumbled from my ship without his prize he accused me of stealing from him and stripped me of my soul right then and there.” Then the outworlder broke down into tears and cried. “How can I return to my people without my soul? How can they remember me when I march far away if they have nothing to recognize me by”
At this Ekkreth placed a hand on the outworlders shoulder and spoke to him kindly, “We are brothers in chains and I tell you now that Depur’s eyes do not see as much as he would like us to think and his chains are not as strong as he says they are. I have a plan to free those here and you might be the last piece to take them to their freedom and away from these chains for I am Ekkreth the slave who makes slaves free and I say to you now if you help us, we will see your soul returned to you. But for now, you must learn our ways to survive here and we will teach you.”
and thus finished, he took the outworlder to grandmother and she embraced him and began to teach him the stories that would keep him safe.
Some time later Ekkreth presented himself at Depur’s palace as a food tester and was hired quickly as the previous tester had died the day before. Thus, Ekkreth's plan was put to action for that evening the kitchen slaves dosed every dish with a potion to put all who consumed it to sleep, and the young cleaning boy stole the codes and keys to unlock the vaults and loose the chains. The slaves quietly bashed in the heads of every overseer as they patrolled into places they would be slow to be found. Thus, the freed took to Depur’s hangars and his ships for the outworlder taught them to fly them as they taught him how to survive. Before the ship the outworlder piloted took off the young boy presented him with a prize from Depur’s vaults, his own armour mistreated but intact and unsold and thus his soul returned to him. The outworlder and the freed flew into the depth of the desert following a red bird to where their brethren lived free and to teach them of this new way to freedom they found.