Tales of Torment The Sadism of Slave-Breaker Hadi

Tales of Torment  The Sadism of Slave-Breaker Hadi

By Raunrai.

I pen this tome for three reasons, which I shall name. The first  as instruction  so that all may know this fiend be wary and know his ways. The second  so that his foulness may be recalled and  perhaps, avenged. And thirdly as a form of therapy, that by writing these words, I may find some peace with the horrors that beset me.

I vow now  by Oghma himself, and upon my own soul  that all words within this are true. Some do not paint me in a good light. I am not a good elf. I am just learning to be an elf, and I have some sins and failures behind me. But compared to the subject of this book  they are as nothing.

I had been a slave all my life- some four hundred years, and first met Hadi after I was purchased by the drow Lavok. At the time it was Lavok I feared, I remember being so afraid I vomited on his shoes. How wrong I was. For it was his chief slave, and titled 'slave-breaker' Hadi, who was to become the true terror of my life.

Upon my purchasing I was given a light lashing by Hadi. Just two upon my back. I dislocated my shoulder from the agony of it and I passed out quickly for I was weak of body. I knew must remain such. There is a balance, when one is a slave. To be to firm and healthy is to be able to withstand and thus be meted out much punishment. But to be weak and sickly means that one will be saved, for it could result in death and a dead slave is of use to no one.

He tended my wounds, and feigned gentleness. Despite the merciless whipping I had perhaps thought I might have an ally. How wrong I was.

Later I revealed to him that I had certain magical ability  such as to scry. The only name I knew to scry was that of my master, Lavok. I showed him this ability and, for my openness I was dragged away, and once more lashed  three times now. It was then that I suspected Hadi's true colors and loyalties.

Hadi ordered me to eat more, and to bond with the other slaves (Lavok had three others, at that time). I am not a fool though and have survived as a slave longer than Hadi had been alive. I knew the game. Lavok is a master of psychological torture, and as such one of the surest ways to torture someone is not through harm to them, but harm to those they love.

By encouraging bonds of love between slaves, one ensured that even the purest and kindest slave will think twice before escaping  because even if they avoid punishment, those they love will not. As such, I refused, I had learned from my last lashing Hadi's true nature. I would be proved correct, but also that I underestimated him. For when my refusals became to 'uppity' he dragged me into a cell.

There he bound me, covered my face with a wet towel, and drowned me over and over and over. I lost consciousness many times, but still no mercy. He electrocuted me with a white rod (no doubt the symbol of his faith) until I awoke and continued the process. I screamed for those I loved and lost, I screamed for my mother, I begged for cessation, but there was nothing. Nothing until at last, after what seemed hours, days, he relented and left me on the cold floor of the cell.

This is the hardest to write. I still awake with memories of this, screaming into the night. Even the sight of towels and water make me shiver with terror. This is a scar, deeper than anything physical, that I will carry for the rest of my days. This is but one example of his art as one who tortures, one who breaks down.

They say such atrocities break anyone. Did this break me? Perhaps. Before this I had never truly hated. But after this, I hated him, and that hatred has kept me alive. This  and this only do I owe Hadi. That every time I have considered ending my existence, the hatred of him, and the evil he has wrought, to myself and others- keep me breathing.

Hadi's torments left me with pneumonia, and then a ruined lung. But this was not the end to the horrors he inflicted on me. He healed me after, took 'care' of me, forced me to eat and recover, showed 'tenderness.' During my convalescence he tried to 'seduce' me (If his attention could be called seduction). I was able to turn into a dragon however, and inform him I was certainly not interested, my preference being to women, and that any further attentions would result in a fight to the death, even if it was mine.

He let me be after that, thankfully, though if I had not made it clear that continued attentions would result in my or his death, I don't believe he would have.

For this is how he works, dear reader. He torments, tortures and mutilates, then he is kind, and gentle to his victim, seducing them with sad looks, gentle tones, and even suggestions of love and carnal desire.

'Oh' he says 'You made me do it. Oh, it was for your own good! It is a kindness I show to you! You made me hurt you!'

And in your moment of weakness and fear you believe him. You believe you deserved the torture, the humiliation, the ruination. You believe that you are filthy, wrong, evil, and that the kind and gentle Hadi as beaten the evil out of you. What a kind and good violator. What a gentle and loving tormentor.

That is how he breaks his slaves, that is why Lavok adores him so!

He makes fellow slaves think they he is on the same 'side' as them, when in truth he allies with his master, at worst  - no one but his own.

I have seen him work with others. Lavok told me that his other slave, Pet (short for Petricia) was 'broken on the anvil', bound to it and had her limbs smashed, and then made to sleep there. She was quite insane. I have no doubt it was Hadi that did this deed. And later, when she disobeyed Lavok, it was Hadi that executed her, Hadi who wore her head on his belt, and still does  last I saw.

Lavok himself despises physical torture. He has no stomach for it. Indeed, I once saw Hadi teaching Lavok  yes  Teaching Lavok! How to wield a whip. The whip was then used against another slave, Unella (who I had, foolishly become close to, but more on that later), for failing to complete a task. This speaks of the incompetence of Lavok  that he cannot even lash a helpless girl without Hadi's oversight.

When he was not torturing Lavok's slaves, or teaching Lavok how to do so himself, Hadi was rented out as a pleasure slave, and a torture slave. I seldom saw any injuries upon Hadi, so mostly I suppose others, such as the Von Brandts (good friends of Lavok) hired him out to torture others or teach them torture.

I oversaw Hadi's tuition as a Torturer myself a few weeks months later. I had tried an experiment which had gone horribly wrong, and I was to be punished for it.

I fairness, I will admit that this specific punishment was at the orders of Lavok himself, and not for Hadi's own twisted pleasure. But Lavok ordered another of his slaves, a woman named Reis Oeilvert, to do the act. Hadi oversaw, and gave many suggestions, informing her where to cut, how to slice and where would cause the most pain, like a dutiful father. Fortunately, I was weak enough that I swiftly passed out from blood loss, so they resorted to shoving hot chili oil, Chultian Reaper, down my throat, leaving me burning from the inside out, screaming into the darkness. I still have mild burns on my lips from that, and more nightmares.

However, that situation did have an unintended benefit. Hadi is loyal to Lavok, but he is loyal to coin first. The experiment impressed him, and he believed I was trying to kill Lavok (at the time I was not) and as such offered, we were able to strike a deal. He would leave me alone (so long as Lavok did not directly order him to torture me) and in return I would aid him against Lavok, should it be needed. I also provided him with five hundred thousand coin.

It was an expensive deal, but in the coming months he did indeed leave me alone, and I knew a little peace. In fact, Lavok was also impressed by the experiment, that he allowed me a lab. Perhaps even in that horror I would have found some peace in my intellectual pursuits, but then Hadi decided I should put on a 'fair' of my inventions, and as was his custom wheedled and nudged and manipulated Lavok into agreeing with the idea.

Shortly after I had started work, Lavok added (or perhaps, Hadi suggested to him, I think that more likely,) that the fair should be more dire. A selection of horrific torture implements, items of execution, torture and horror.

I am not a brave man, dear reader. I did not wish to die or face more torture. And I am not a good one. I can never perhaps be a good man, not after the things Lavok made me create. I tried to make 'back gates' into most of them, but some were unavoidable  such as the nerve swimmers. Gods save my soul.

It was all becoming too much, and in the end  faced by the horror I was creating, the horrors threatened at me, inflicted on me, I was close to breaking. I got drunk one evening, and this was deemed unseemly. I was so tired of the torment, so tired of the suffering, being made to be a monster by Lavok and Hadi.

Lavok summoned me, for my insolence he ordered Hadi to lash me. I confess I smiled. For a truth had become known to me... but I shall explain this later. My smiles made Lavok even more furious. He went to torture me with my own items, but when it became clear I might use magic to bypass them, he ordered Hadi to tie me to an anvil, and cut me open  to place some weird gem into my chest.

This was my breaking point. I did not know what that gem was, but I knew it would be terrible. I cast a teleportation spell (I am a master transmuter) and fled. Before I vanished Hadi got several sharp stabs in my side, into my kidneys. I remember the agony even now, but I survived it and, on the brink of death, crawled into Cordor, away from the slave callers, where I found sanctuary.

I managed then, over the next six months, to gain freedom  even with the collar. I had to be careful, for Lavok had put a bounty of over one hundred thousand coins on my head, but I managed it. Even with the collar on, I managed it. And if any read this who is a slave  remember that. Even amidst the worst of situations, with the aid of good men and women freedom is possible.

There was a price, however. I had, despite my caution, become friends with one of the other slaves. Unella. She was absent at the time of my escape, but returned later. After six months of evading capture, Lavok met me at the Shadovar Trade Post and made me an offer. To pay him five hundred thousand gold, and he would let me be. I knew the offer for what it was  a gateway to later bribes, and an incentive to do this to others. I refused and left before he could add more.

This was perhaps a mistake.

Because I did not take up the offer, he tortured Unella. He used the Nerve swimmers on her, and almost destroyed her. He also had Hadi beat her, I saw the bruises on her face and body, where his cudgel had landed again and again. He has told me she will be tortured over and over and over, until she begs for death. I have been told by others that my decision was still right  but I do wonder.

My freedom comes at a terrible price, and some of that price is of my own making.

But I will say this.

Lavok is as nothing to Hadi. I saw how Hadi operates. Lavok is a petulant child, keen to do nothing but look big and scary, to be the 'slave master' of Andunor, to be seen to be smart, and terrifying, and murderous.

In truth he is none of these things. The reason I laughed whilst Hadi lashed me, just before my last escape, was that I had seen the truth. There is nothing that Lavok does, that does not have Hadi's hand behind it. No action that Hadi does not quietly goad him to, with soft words and gentle suggestions.

It is a symbiotic relationship  Lavok has the social acclaim, the attention. Hadi  being a slave and unable to attain these, has a master he can manipulate, persuade, and yes, even seduce perhaps. Lavok stands in front, claiming the glory, Hadi behind, whispering and plotting and enjoying the subtler pleasures. As much torture and pain and agony and experimentation as he desires, to have toys to beat and torture and break until they bore him, and he bids his master sell them on.

Lavok is nothing more than a puppet, a child, a front for the true mastermind of torture and competence that is Hadi. Hadi  the master of his master. Hadi  the greatest slave breaker, the most terrifying torturer in Andunor.

I warn you now, any who read this book. Fear not Lavok, but fear Hadi, and should you ever find yourself in their clutches  it is Hadi you must appeal to. But do not sad eyes and gentle touches, for behind them is a cool and vicious mind, gleefully using Lavok to fulfil his sadistic desires.