Sol was untrusting by nature... When he heard that his story will be recorded, he felt uneasy. Yet, there was no other choice, no other options, the only lead he had to his freedom was this man. Knew too well that this could be a waste of time, like many others before.
But this one was like a light in a dark tunnel... was it leading to the outside or was it only a candlelight?
Stared at the cup of coffee in front of him for a while... His weak body was still disturbing him. Gathered up his strength, a long breath from his cardamine mask. He started to speak slowly about things he never forgets.
"My first memories... I woke up in a 'cage', my hair covered in dried blood, my body full of bruises, feeling weak and small... There were many people around me, they were terrified, nervous, some were angry... But none of them dared to speak a word, not even with a hushed tone or with a shout charged with anger. The guards on the other side of the metal bars were laughing about their catch merrily, other's misfortune was their fortune..." he let out a silent sigh. "I don't remember a thing before that, don't know my exact age but I must be around five or six years old when I got captured..." he was avoiding eye contact while speaking.
"When we reached Malta, we moved from town to town, city to city, stopping in each of them, and there were less of us everytime... A don called Leon bought me, I was helping his servants in his villa until I grew up enough to work in the plantations. Made a friend there, he was like me... slaves also gave us names since we didn't have any, they called him Seth, I was called Sol... He was someone I could truely call a brother... But one day..." he stopped there for a second. "One day an 'assassin' attacked our master Don Leon. I saw the assassin, in his hand a gun pointed at the Don who was sitting next to a fireplace totally unaware of the danger... I jumped in front of the bullet, don't know why I did that... risking my life to save the master, it was not something I did knowingly... The assassin seeing me hit was taken aback, he couldn't move or run. I killed him. I saw his face later, he was Seth, I don't know why he tried to kill the master, and why I didn't realize who I attacked." no expression could be made out of Sol's face.
"The don was impressed, he made me a bodyguard of his... He was a bit adventerous, smuggled cardamine to liberty so I was taught to fly a sabre to keep him safe in his travels. He died of old age, his son Rodrigo however was nothing like him, couldn't manage the wealth passed down to him by his father. He lost everything to the master of XTF while gambling... I must have made a name for myself as a sabre pilot, he decided to recruit me to the private militia he owned. I followed orders, they told me to shoot, I shot. They told me to kill, I killed... No questions asked, no reasons given... I was doing what I was taught all my life, follow orders... it was easy."
"I was not happy one bit however. Still felt a slave, I kept my contact with the communities formed by slaves secretly, helping them however I could. There was a man, a leader, who preached that one day we would be free. I was there listening to him from afar, as the heavily armed men came and shot him down, no one could do a thing... Hired guns were laughing, like they enjoyed it..." Sol's face became grim after he said this...
"They enjoyed doing something I was forced to do all my life... But I wasn't innocent either, what I did - hurt people... It is easy to hide behind that, 'I am following orders, I am a slave' thing. But I know, that's a lame excuse. That day I decided to leave Malta."
"I don't know if it was by luck or if it was a test of some power, I stumbled upon a slaver putting down a slave riot harshly. I destroyed her escorts and disabled her ship, slaves heartened by this took her down. I carried the slaves to the freeport all day long, bought them a way back to home with all the money I had, savings earned from the militia. There was no going back now, I was an enemy of Maltese. I thought I could free myself though."
"As I got further away from Malta, I realized that I still needed Maltese cardamine to survive, I was not free of the Maltese yet. I asked around, they first told me that there are facilities that could help me in Liberty. Went there, nothing... For some time I have been asking everyone how to get the cure, for myself... but also to help my people to get cured..."
"Luckily I met Concordia, who has been very helpful for some reason, even brought me here herself. She told me that I should find you, and there is a possibility that you could help me, even if it is slim..."
With this he shot a glance at the doc, then moved his eyes back to the cup in front of him.
"Doc... can you help me?"
Sol straightened his back on his seat, nervously waiting Doc's his reply. His answer would probably seal the fate of this lost man. He somehow heard a sound resembling the one made by chains as slaves moved around... Wondered if his mind was playing games with him now.
