Foster laughed at me after introducing himself, eyes glittering cruelly. "I've always wanted my own faerie to do the work for me."
I growled, eyes narrowed, head splitting with a hangover. Whatever the pot-bellied bastard had put in the cream had a hell of a punch. I could barely think, let alone put up with his voice.
"Hopefully you're smart enough to understand what you're supposed to do, because you won't like it if I gotta show you twice." Foster moved to the bench, started naming the tools.
I tugged at the cuff around my ankle, barely listening. The band itself seemed like steel, but the lock and chain were cold iron. Not close enough to make me sick, but impossible for me to touch or break. Who was this human that he had this equipment on hand?
He cuffed me in the head, and pain nearly blinded me. Once the stars clears, I turned and growled at him. If I had my sword...I hurt too much to finish the threat, even to myself.
"You need to listen a whole lot closer," he snarled. "Because if you so much as make one pair wrong, I'll whip you raw."
I gritted my teeth. "You captured me so that I might make shoes?" This could not be possible. I had to be dreaming. A nightmare, rather.
Foster smiled, revealing several missing teeth. "I heard about what the fae did for them cobblers near Hammsville. Figured I could use a little bit of that magic for myself."
I crossed my arms, ignoring the splitting headache. "And what if I say no?"
He smirked, pulled a knife from a sheath on his hip. I smelled cold iron from here, and I attempted not to react. "You make them, or I make a pair out of your soft little hide, and catch some other foolish little bitch stealing cream."
If I weren't chained, I'd fight him. I'd show him exactly what the warrior class could do, with or without their armor.
But I wasn't free. I was poisoned, and surrounded by the worst metal known to my kind. I'd have to bide my time, find some other way to get free and take my revenge.
I lowered my arms and my eyes. "Show me what to do."
Foster's laugh was short, but dripped with victory and conceit. "That's a good little girl. Now, pay close attention." He began showing me all the steps to boot making, and I began looking for my way out.
I would enjoy making a new human hide cloak when I left.
