The Scumbags Guide to Enslaving Demon's

The Court of Hooks filled before sunrise.

White banners blanketed the floor around its center. Hook badges dangled from every citizen, silver pinlights against the dark world beyond the windows. Taken together, they made the crowd resemble a field of knives.

Austin Veyron stood inside a black circle painted into the floor with Elena, Sarielle, Rin, Kaela, Seven, Tessa, and Orena behind him. Arctos hovered above them beneath the insignia of a broken crown.

"Today," he declared, "we answer a simple question."

Can an unregistered devourer leave my Court with property claimed by it?

Tessa snorted. "People are not property."

"That is what they say," Arctos replied. "Trial by choice will determine if they are right."

One hook descended from the ceiling. It hovered in front of Austin Veyron.

"The first choice." Arctos tapped his throne. "Claim former sentinel Tessa as your lieutenant. If you accept, Court records will acknowledge her transfer and you will be permitted to leave with your delegation. Should you decline, she will remain property of the Court."

The crowd grew quiet.

Austin turned to Tessa.

She locked eyes with him. "Don’ worry about claiming me just to save me."

"I won’t do that."

Arctos nodded like he had known Austin Veyron would say that. "Then you refuse to protect her."

The hook dove towards their feet.

Hooks Authority flared inside Austin Veyron. He knew he could stop it. Every chain in the room would obey him on command. Below his teeth thrummed raw power, elegant and violent.

He could destroy this place.

He opened his mouth to refuse it.

Then Orena stepped forward.

"No." She stated flatly. "You’re lying about choice."

The hook froze inches from Orena’s neck.

She yelled up at the galleries. "They told you badges keep you safe. They told you contracts provide for you. But every time you need something, they make it a debt. Every debt becomes obedience."

A whisper spread across the Court.

Arctos’ smile twisted. "Captain, you are still on trial."

"So is everyone else."

Hooks claws stabbed through the black circle below their feet. Contract paper blossomed around their ankles, waves of rising walls. Names filled each scroll: Citizens of the Court. Below each entry was a number: How much they owed.

"The second choice," Arctos continued. "Destroy the Court ledger. This will void all badges, all debts, and all protections. If you do not choose that option, you leave it intact." He gestured to where the wall had risen around them. "Freedom or stability. Which will it be?"

Elena scanned the list. Her eyes hardened.

"This Court didn’t build anything but debt," Elena murmured. "If Austin scraps every badge every food route and medicine contract dissolves with it."

"It is true." Arctos smiled greedily. "Freedom comes with sacrifice."

Austin stared at the contract ledger at the heart of his Court. Hunger flared against his better judgment. All of it was food laid out on a table. Contracts. Authority. Fear. Dependence. One bite and he could swallow it whole.

Break the cycle.

Destroy the hooks and everyone inside would truly be free.

Would starve by nightfall.

He looked out over the galleries, meeting eyes with every person who stared back at him. Some mouths moved in silent hope. Others prayed that he would choose. People who wanted to believe. Fearful of what he was actually capable of doing.

"What do you want?" Austin called out.

Arctos chuckled. "They have no say."

"They do now."

He raised his voice for all of the Court to hear. "Badges shouldn’t decide this for you. If you want them gone, make a sound. If you don’t want anything more than what they offer. If you have an answer at all." He paused, pointing to the cage between himself and Arctos. "We can burn the claim without burning everything it touches."

Silence met his proclamation.

Then a woman raised her hand.

Thin sleeves peeked from beneath her jacket. Merchant’s coat, Rin whispered under her breath. Someone who relied on her badge to pay for her children’s meals.

"A man in the back." Elena spoke softly. "Claims guards raid his store. He wants protection without bounties to the Court."

Quietly, more hands shot into the air. Badges bobbed among the sea of white.

Never had the Court of Hooks been so silent. Never had anyone spoken up to ask these questions.

Arctos lurched up from his seat. "Silence will not end the trial."

Rin smirked. "Appears healthy to me."

Arctos raised his hands.

Hooks throughout the galleries tightened their grip.

Pain radiated across the room. Screams filled the Court. People howling in agony as they crumbled beneath the assault. The circle around Austin’s group contracted with each pulse, ready to collapse on top of them.

Austin shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other.

Authority whispered temptations into his ears. Chains littering the Court begged to be taken from their anchors. Leadership needed him to do something. Give them something.

Snap Arctos’ throne in two.

Release every chained banner from the walls.

Claim the Court of Hooks as his own.

Walk away.

But to do that he would have to murder hundreds if not thousands.

"No." Austin shook his head.

Hook Authority leeched off of him in waves. "Release them."

Every hook inside the Court unlocked.

Hooks badges worn by the citizens inside shattered free.

Slipping from clasps and ropes.

Half remained clinging to each volunteer.

One represented service.

The other represented ownership.

Hooks yanked away the service halves.

Ownership badges shattered apart.

Citizens stared blankly at their hands.

Arctos turned ashen.

"You can’t."

Austin shook his head, refusing to watch.

"I just did."

Banner after banner slashed across the ceiling. Badges shattering against walls. The black paint around them vaporized into nothingness. Orena grabbed a white hook blade from beneath a fallen guard’s belt and tossed it into Arctos’ lap.

"If any of you wish to stay." She addressed the crowd. "If leaving will keep you safe better than staying. Then no one will have to choose at all."

She eyed Tessa, wordlessly kneeling beside her.

A boy kicked at the ground in one of the galleries. Badge shards floated from his grip. Servicing only half of his insignia. His mother began to wail.

Someone screamed.

Then everyone was screaming.

Go. Break them. Freedom!

Refusal layered on top of refusal until the Court of Hooks couldn’t hear itself think.

Person by person they ripped off the ownership badges they wore. Merchants. Guards. Servants. Court hunters gripping knives that were technically nobody’s anymore. Chains clanged wildly off-key against the grand hall.

Arctos stared down at everything he had built. At what happened when you actually listened to your people.

He wanted to lash out. Austin could see it boiling in his eyes. Instead he just shook his head. Didn’t rain destruction down on people who had never once stopped believing he had their best interest at heart. Arctos knew better than most what would happen if he forced hooks onto good people.

They would find out the truth about the Court of Hooks in an instant.

Slowly, Arctos began to laugh.

"You’ve just made this place unmanageable."

"Good." Austin agreed.

Arctos reached underneath himself, extracting from beneath his throne a second slab of black glass identical to his badge. He threw it towards Austin.

"This was the secret exit." Arctos voice was calm, even. "Discovered on Vharra’s ship grave. Travel it through flooded rail vaults if you wish. I’m sure you will be able to."

"And why would you give us that?" Elena questioned.

Arctos glanced down at the courtyard. Debris of empty badges scattered across his floor. "Because nothing she can do will punish me more. Because I’m curious to see how long freedom lasts around her."

The gates slid open.

Tessa stood tall next to them. Able. No longer chained to the ground like the hunters behind her. All of them slowly rising to their feet. Feels.

Together.

Austin placed the second map plate alongside his.

Heart- road waited just past the city gates.

Silence greeted them on the other side.

A screaming mob had never dispersed like this before.

Violence still rattled off alley walls around them. Echoes of cracks and cries woven into a medley of liberated Hooks chanting at their severed chains.

Freedom was loud, Austin realized.

It would be.

He watched as one guard threatened another about who would be on patrol that night. A healer scolded citizens about authoritative medicine allotments. Merchants argued over trade ledger ownership.

Austin lingered at the gates, hands raised to every citizen who remained.

"The service ledgers can still be of use to you." Elena said. "Retain them. Hold counsel. Keep ledgers open. Elect representatives before anyone convinces you they are necessary."

Orena rolled her eyes, slumping against the wall behind them. "We’ll make it work."

Tessa eyed their two pieces of the map. "Should we leave?"

"We have to."

Rin carved her blade across her own neck. "At least we leave them a city that knows how to speak."

And speak they did. From the hollow halls of Hooks and stretching into every street corner Austin and Elena knew personally.

"We stopped all of them!" Someone cried out above the Court.

"No badges!"

The chant splintered off white streets, choppy at first before it gained momentum.

And gained volume.

People screaming.

Austin waited until he could hear nothing at all in return.

Then he turned east,

toward Vharra.

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