About an hour later a voice comes from behind Cinis, "Hello,"
Cinis turns around to see the beautiful Icewing that gave him the bracelet at processing, "Hello. What do you need?"
She runs her talon down his neck while lowering her voice to a sultry whisper, "I'm Moroz. I saw how you handled Lamprey."
"I'm SK-99845," replies Cinis after he glances at his wrist.
"No need for numbers where we're going," she stops at a door just big enough for one dragon to enter. "I know you desire for a forbidden lust."
"I don't actually," comments Cinis.
"Your mind doesn't, but your body says otherwise," she motions to the door. "The best night of your entire life is just through there."
Almost of their own volition, Cinis' legs start to move, and he enters what seems to be a storeroom. "Are you sure this is the right pla-" Cinis is cut off by a strong hit on his snout that sent him flying through several steel shelving units.
Once Cinis' vision stops spinning, he sees a large muscle-bound IceWing towering over him, "First and foremost, don't try telling the others of what happens here. They don't care," The large Icewing growls before continuing. "And do you realize how rude it is to kill a dragon's punching bag?"
"N-no," stammers Cinis, still a bit shocked.
The IceWing firmly grasps Cinis by the neck before lifting him, "It is incredibly rude. Now you are to be his replacement." He hurls him into a wall across the room.
"I've held up my side of the bargain, Frost," interrupts Moroz, "Now don't damage the goods too much."
"Bargain?" wheezes Cinis through the pain.
"Yes. I lure you here and he lets me 'have my way with you' so to speak," explains Moroz.
"Relax…there will be no permanent damage," says Frost as he slashes his claws across Cinis' side before dragging him by the horns to a thin mat in the corner. "There you go, Moroz."
"This is so forbidden!" calls Moroz as she approaches, "An IceWing and a SkyWing! Being in a war makes this so much better."
After they leave, Cinis manages to drag himself across the mine and into Garnet's bunk room.
Upon seeing the state he is in, Garnet rushes to his side, "What happened!"
Still in shock at the brutal abuse, Cinins stammers, "I-I was attacked."
"By who?" asks Garnet, anger evident in her voice.
"Don't," says Cinis, his voice barely a whisper. "You can't win."
"I don't care, just tell me who!" demands Garnet.
"Two guards, Moroz and Frost," relents Cinis.
At that explanation Garnet turns to leave before being stopped by Cinis, "Garnet, please, just stay here. I need your support."
Garnet drapes her wing over Cinis as she settles next to him.
After a moment of silence, Cinis is the first to speak up. "I've never felt so helpless. I wanted to fight but couldn't. It was like something was stopping me from fighting."
"It's alright," coos Garnet. "I know exactly how you feel. The sense of helplessness is something that will never leave you…but you can learn to deal with it."
"What do you recommend?" asks Cinis.
"Surround yourself with friends and do the things you love. Maybe even pick up a hobby," explains Garnet.
"Did you pick up a hobby?" asks Cinis.
"Honestly no, I was too scared that Lamprey would find and destroy anything I got attached to. I was too afraid to even make friends," Garnet pauses to wipe some tears from her eyes. "So I just accepted it as part of my life."
"You're free of him now," Cinis wraps Garnet in a hug. "I'll always be there for you."
Many more weeks pass of Cinis being continuously beaten for the pleasure of a pair of sick, twisted Icewings. Then, one day as he is transporting ore from the mines to his assigned smeltery, he overhears a pair of drunk IceWings. "Say…how do you think bracelets work?"
"What do you mean, Blizzard?" slurs the other. "You grab them, slide them over your talons, and let them sorta hang there. Some also have a clasp."
"No no no, Snow. The ones the slaves use," the first Icewing clarifies.
His interest peaked, Cinis hides in some rocks. "Oh, The Gift of Control, uh…it was made by an ancient IceWing Animus to allow prisoners to be controlled. It prevents the wearer from taking any action that will harm any IceWing. All you have to do is speak to it in some language that only the Keeper can speak. A-and it does whatever it was told to do. The coolest thing is that just one of them will self-replicate to fill any container it was put in."
"I heard that the keeper wrote down their secrets on a scroll that was stolen from the forbidden Treasury," slurs Blizzard. "By a SkyWing, nonetheless."
"What if that SkyWing was my father? He did tend to steal a lot of top-secret stuff. But which thing was it? Which scroll could contain an ancient Language for the IceWings?" After a moment of thinking, Cinis tries something.
"Otkryt," To Cinis' surprise, the bracelet opens immediately. Deciding to hide his discovery, Cinis quickly closes it and goes back to his work to bide time until he can talk to Garnet.