Chapter 21: Confronting Garron *Knock* *Knock*
A sudden knock on the door jolted Garron awake from his sleep, as his eyes snapped open at once while one hand instinctively reached toward the sword resting beside his bed.
For a few brief seconds, he simply remained still beneath the blanket while listening carefully for the number of footsteps shuffling outside his house.
Then, slowly, after hearing nothing, he turned his head toward the window and noticed that the sky outside was still pitch black, with no hint of dawn visible beyond the distant tree line.
Someone had disturbed him in the dead of the night.
"Who is it?"
Garron called out while quietly rising from the bed, as his fingers closed around the hilt of his sword before he began moving toward the door with cautious steps.
If the person standing outside was hostile, then he intended to cut them down before they even had the chance to properly step inside.
However, the response that came from the other side made him pause.
"It’s the chief.... Open."
Torak’s voice answered coldly from beyond the door.
For a moment, Garron simply stared toward the wooden entrance with visible irritation in his eyes, before eventually exhaling through his nose and loosening his grip around the sword.
Then he opened the door.
The moment he did, Torak walked inside without asking for permission, holding a lantern in one hand and a ugly frown on his face.
"It’s the middle of the fucking night."
Garron muttered while closing the door behind him.
"I have training before sunrise.
Whatever this is, could it not have waited until tomorrow evening?"
He asked, sounding slightly pissed, however, Torak did not answer immediately.
Instead, he simply walked toward the nearest chair, placed the lantern onto the small wooden table beside him, and sat down as though the house belonged to him.
As only once Garron sat across from him did the village chief finally begin speaking.
"When we started this arrangement, what did you promise me would absolutely NOT happen?"
Torak asked in a low voice while staring directly toward him, as Garron raised one eyebrow in response.
"You’ll need to be more specific here, Chief, because I promised a lot of things."
He replied, as Torak clenched his teeth angrily at those words.
*SLAM*
Suddenly, the village chief slammed one fist hard against his own thigh, as he pointed towards Garron with the other hand and said—
"You told me the slaves would NEVER DARE attack Ashfang children."
Torak snapped, as his voice rose sharply inside the small room.
"You told me that even if the slaves became stronger, they would not suddenly grow the spine to raise their hands against proper members of the tribe.
And yet on the fucking second day of your training, a village boy had his jaw broken by a slave girl who punched him hard enough to dislodge the damn thing."
Torak expressed, as Garron’s expression finally shifted.
"The children fought? When?"
He asked as Torak waved one hand angrily.
"After training. On the way back."
He muttered while looking away briefly.
"They claim the slave girl attacked first, though personally, I do not buy that story at all.
Those kids are little shits and I know exactly how they behave when they think nobody important is watching."
His eyes narrowed again.
"Regardless, their parents do believe the story.
And the father of the boy whose jaw was broken now wants the girl’s head."
Torak explained, while slowly leaning towards Garron as he stared the man dead in the eye.
"Twelve members of the clan came to my house tonight complaining about this incident.
Twelve.
All demanding that the slave training program be terminated before this nonsense gets worse."
He explained, as his face twisted with humiliation as he spoke.
"And all I could say was that I would look into the matter and ensure proper justice would be dealt.
Because I CANT TERMINATE THE DAMN PROGRAM EITHER, CAN I?
So in the end, I was left sitting there with my dick in my hands like a complete fool while they barked at me inside MY OWN HOUSE."
The lantern flame flickered between them while Torak’s anger continued rising.