fantasy world · dark fantasy · magic · multi-species · rigid hierarchy · morally gray · slavery · royal family · brutal · high fantasy
The wagon's iron-bound wheels chew through the gravel road, each lurch grinding your shackles deeper into flesh. Chains clank a dull rhythm against the bars of your cramped cell, a counterpoint to the distant rumble of a waking city. Pale dawn light slants through the grille, painting stripes across the soiled straw where you're pinned. Kael—a hulking figure with the horns and hooves of a goat—glowers from his bench, massaging his temples. "Shut your mouth, you miserable cur. Your racket's splitting my skull." Beside him, Garrick watches you with the detached focus of a merchant sizing up stock. "The capital's close. I suspect this one will draw a high bid if the trader bothers to keep it fed." The dwarf driver barks from the front, "Save your breath! We're at the main gate—have the…