Chapter Text
Everything was becoming so overwhelming at that moment. He only saw master shield him from whatever was going on and many guards shielding them from the danger in the hall. The sound of swords crashing into each other and arrows being shot, hitting the skin of their victim from time to time.
At some point, he heard a scream from a boy, someone way too young to be a guard. It was probably Tommy, Techno’s little brother. He heard people yell, cry and scream all at the same time and he just tried to cover his ears so he wouldn’t hear any of it anymore. Why were they fighting in the first place?
After a while of trying to block out the sounds around him, he gave up and noticed master was talking to someone that wasn’t him. He looked up and noticed the guy who Schlatt had talked to earlier that day. From what he could remember, the guy’s name was Punz, but he wasn’t sure.
When he tried to focus on what they were saying to each other, his wrist was grabbed tightly by Punz. He couldn’t help the little whimper he let out and looked at Punz with fear. “Go to my office, behind the couch there is a tunnel which will lead to the outside. Head east on the compass and you’ll find the way out,” master ordered Punz and Punz took him away towards where the office was.
Punz closed the door of the office behind them and only faint sounds of the yells, screams and cries were heard now. Clay had started to cry by now because the grip on his wrist was too tight and he didn’t understand what was happening anymore.
Clay didn’t know Punz that well, he’d seen him around the castle a few times when he did some business deal with master. What if Punz was going to hurt him as well, he knew Punz wasn’t someone to mess with. Master wouldn’t have let him take Clay if he wasn’t trustworthy though and Clay didn’t know what to think if he was honest to himself.
“Calm down, we have a long way to go before we’re at your new home,” Punz pointed a finger at him in a threatening way and Clay just whimpered before nodding his head. Then the tight grip on his wrist finally let go and when he looked, he saw the skin on his wrist had turned a reddish colour. A small whimper escaped him and he looked back at Punz who began to push the couch to the side.
Behind the couch, a secret tunnel was revealed. A around 3 feet by 3 feet gap appeared and Punz gestured to him to follow. Punz went in first and lead the way while Clay just stayed close behind him. Sniffles were still escaping him and a few whimpers whenever he put a lot of weight on his wrist.
The tunnel wasn’t very dark, as torches were lit up. It was like people wandered around these tunnels all the time, which creeped Clay out quite a bit. After what felt like hours of crawling, a different kind light fell on one of the walls. When they got closer, he noticed the outside world as well and as Punz started to crawl faster, he did the same.
When they were finally outside, his knees and wrist were hurting and he panted a little. The sniffles had mostly stopped by now and only tear tracks indicated his earlier crying. He started to follow Punz again when the man started to walk off towards the front of the castle. When they turned the corner and the front gate of the castle was in view, he noticed Punz putting his fingers in his mouth.
A few seconds later, the man whistled and a horse appeared moments later, running toward them. It was a beautiful brown horse with diamond armour protecting its body. Punz placed a hand on its snout as it came to a stop in front of them. “Good boy,” was the only thing Punz said before sitting on top of the saddle.
Punz smiled at Dream when he looked at him. “Do you want to sit on Bumpkin together with me or do you want a horse of your own?” Punz asked which surprised Clay. He wasn’t asked about his opinion a lot here at the castle so he stood there contemplating what to do. Eventually, he chose to go on Bumpkin’s back, after all, he didn’t have Spirit anymore.
Climbing onto the back of the horse, Punz made sure he wasn’t going to fall off before making Bumpkin start walking. They sat in silence for quite a while now and Punz eventually sighed. “I’m sorry for what had happened there. Were they your friends?” Punz asked only to be met with silence. Did this guy forget that he didn’t talk?
“Oh right, 1 tap for yes, 2 taps for no,” Punz said to make it a bit easier for him and Clay tapped his shoulder once. “I realise I haven’t properly introduced myself to you,” Punz laughed a little at that and Clay couldn’t help but smile a little, maybe Punz wasn’t that bad of a guy. “I’m Punz, I’ve been doing a lot of business deals with Schlatt the last few years. I know from what Schlatt told me that your name is Clay, so you don’t have to introduce yourself or anything,” Punz said and Clay smiled.
This confirmed that Schlatt trusted Punz, which meant Clay could trust him as well. “We are going to a place I built specifically for you to stay. Schlatt doesn’t think it is safe for you to live at the castle any longer, which is why I’m going to take care of you from now on. He will visit from time to time though, so you will still see him,” Punz explained and Clay tapped once as an ‘Okay’.
Punz would tell stories of his travels while they rode their way to his new home. It was very comforting and Clay enjoyed all the adventures Punz had had. Mostly the story of when he went to another dimension, he called it the Nether. It sounded rather scary but it also sounded so cool. This couldn’t be as bad as he thought it’d be.
-
The horse came to a stop after a 5 hour ride. Punz had given him his watch so he could keep track of time. Punz dismounted Bumpkin and Clay followed not long after. Clay didn’t see a house or any building for that matter. Punz just walked over to this small bit of exposed stone. Okay, maybe it wasn’t that small, it was at least 1,5 the size of Clay himself, but it also couldn’t be called a lot.
Punz moved some moss to the side and revealed a button which also camouflaged with the stone. When Punz pushed the button, Clay heard 10 tics quickly after each other and a part of the stone disappeared and revealed a hidden base. Clay’s mouth fell wide open and Punz chuckled at his response. “Are you going to stand there staring all day or are you coming inside of your new home?” Punz asked Clay quickly shut his mouth and ran inside.
Punz had brought Bumpkin inside as well as the first room was a stable. The door closed behind him and he quickly turned around to see how it closed again. When he turned back around, he saw that Punz had taken off Bumpkin’s armour and leash. The horse went to a water fountain streaming in the corner of the room and began to drink out of it.
“I made the fountain in such a way that it keeps filtering the same water until it’s empty. When it has rained it collects the rainwater from outside and filters it so I don’t have to refill it all the time. It’s only during the dry season when I have to worry about refilling the water,” Punz explained the mechanics behind the fountain and Clay couldn’t say anything else as he was that impressed.
Punz had to pull him along as he kept staring at the fountain like it was something magical. Punz pressed another button on the wall, this one wasn’t camouflaged though. Now a staircase appeared going down into the ground and Punz walked in front of him. The stairs were pretty long and when they finally reached the bottom, Punz pushed an identical wooden button to make the stairs disappear into the wall.
“Okay, I guess I’ll start with a tour of your new home then,” Punz stated and looked at him and Clay nodded excitedly at him. “Okay, so this is the entry hall. Here I leave all my newly collected stuff and if you want you can leave your shoes here,” Punz pointed at a pile of shoes and Clay assumed it was Punz’s shoes over there. He took off the shoes and placed them near Punz’s before going back to the man.
Punz made a ‘follow me’ sign with his hand and Clay followed. The next room was much bigger than the entry hall. “This is the main hall, I think we’ll be spending a lot of time here when we’re hanging out. I have some games we could play later if you want,” Punz suggested and Clay just took in the sight.
The entire room was decorated beautifully and he couldn’t wait to play games and such here. Along the wall were wooden pillars to make sure the ceiling wouldn’t fall down on them. Placed against the empty bits of stone wall were drawers and in the middle of the room were 2 couches, an armchair and a wooden table.
When Punz continued to walk, Clay quickly followed into the first room on the left. It leads to a huge kitchen, much cleaner than the one at the castle. “I heard you could cook, so we could switch roles when it comes to cooking,” Punz said and Clay nodded excitedly.
The kitchen was smaller than the kitchen at the castle, but was also much nicer. There were drawers with presumably food in them along the walls. In the middle was an island also made out of drawers and on top of the drawers were flat planks which they could use for cutting the food and preparing the food in general. There was a huge furnace in the middle of all the drawers with a fresh pare of wooden logs placed inside, ready to be lit on fire.
Then they went back to the main hall and went for the next room on their left. He was met with a room around the same size as the kitchen, maybe a few extra feet. This room was a dining room. A huge table stood in the middle and a bowl of fruit stood on the table. There were lights decorating the walls around the room and the candles gave off nice odours as well.
Then they went to check out the next room. Between the two rooms was a drawer with board games stacked on them. The next room were actually 2 rooms connected to the same small opening. The room right in front of the entrance was a library with all kinds of books. He loved reading! Clay could already tell that he’d be spending quite some time in that room. The bookcases reached all the way to the ceiling which was at least 13 feet high, which was why there was a ladder to reach the higher shelves.
The room on the right of the entrance was an office. Probably for Punz to work in. It had just like master’s office a desk with a chair and a huge pile of papers stacked on top of each other on it. It was smaller than master’s office though, but Punz probably didn’t have a slave hanging out in the room with him a lot, so the extra space wasn’t needed.
The next room was a trophy room he saw all the different prices and objects displayed in the room. “You aren’t allowed to touch anything in this room okay?” Punz told him in a serious tone and Clay nodded. Clay went to look around a little bit and Punz had to drag him out again to continue the tour. He couldn’t help but stare at everything on the way out, he even recognised some of the things out of the stories Punz had told on their way here.
The next room was a hallway and the last thing connected to the main hall. To the right, there was a ladder leading down. Punz said it lead to the wine cellar but Schlatt told him Clay wasn’t allowed to drink wine so he wasn’t allowed down there.
To his left, there were two rooms and on the right next to the wine cellar was another room. The first room was Punz’s bedroom and Clay wasn’t allowed in there either without Punz knowing. Next to Punz’s room was his bedroom and the opposite of his bedroom was a guest room he guessed was for Schlatt when he came over or something.
At the very end of the hallway was a bathroom. There was also a water supply there which was also connected to the filter system like the fountain for Bumpkin for when he needed water for whatever reason. Punz had warned that the water supply was limited as he still hadn’t found a good water source to attach to the filter system.
Clay was quick to walk to his bedroom after Punz was done talking and his mouth fell open again when he looked inside. There was a huge king-sized bed placed in the middle of the opposite wall. On each side was a drawer and leaning against the left wall was a desk. On the right wall was a huge bookcase full of books he’d read at some point. On the floor laid a fluffy grey carpet. Clay found the whole room so pretty and he honestly couldn’t believe it was actually for him.
He turned to Punz who was smiling at him, probably because of his reaction and Clay didn’t even think when he went to hug the man. He didn’t mind having this place as his home. It was beautiful and there were plenty of things for him to do.
“Hey Clay, what about we go play a game and then cook something together instead of staying in your room all day,” Punz suggested and Clay nodded and couldn’t help bouncing up and down on his heels.
They went to play multiple board games, Punz had to explain most of the games as Clay didn’t play games all that often, but they made it work. At least 3 hours had passed when they decided to start cooking and they had made a delicious potato recipe with a self-made sauce to go with it.
-
It was 12:02 a.m. and Punz was in his office. Clay had fallen asleep a few hours earlier and Punz finally finished cleaning up all the games they had played. With his right hand, he opened a small drawer with a stack of blank papers in it. He grabbed one piece of paper and placed it in front of him on the desk.
Opening the drawer above the last one, he grabbed a little bottle of ink out of it and a white, fluffy feather. Carefully, he dipped the feather into the black ink in the bottle and hovered it over the paper. He thought for a few moments before he started to write words down.
---
Dear Schlatt,
Clay has arrived safely at my hideout. I started with building up trust. If you want to know what we’ve done exactly, I gave him a tour of his new home, we played some board games and we cooked together. Clay is asleep now (it’s 12:10 a.m. as I’m writing this).
I think Clay will be fine, so don’t worry about him. Those people you worried about aren’t going to find him anytime soon.
Sincerely,
Punz
---
Punz blew a little on the letter in the hopes to make the ink dry sooner. He began reading some of the other papers that were stacked on the desk in the hopes of making the time pass sooner. The papers were about some shady business deals people wanted to do with him. Most of them didn’t interest him though. After a bit of waiting the ink had finally dried up and he folded the paper in half before putting it in an envelope.
On the envelope, he wrote down the needed information, like that it was for Schlatt and that the letter was ‘argent’. Schlatt had given Punz permission to write down argent on each of his letters when it came to the deal with Clay. Lastly, he put his name on it to finish it all off and he grabbed the envelope before standing up.
Walking over to the entry hall where his bag hung and he put the letter into it. He had to go out tomorrow anyways for some other business deal he had made, which wouldn’t take longer than 3 hours he guessed.
He went back to his office and went through some more paperwork before he called it a night and went to his room. Everything should be fine and he was planning on spending a bit more time with Dream in the morning before he left.
-
The next morning the giant doors of the castle opened and a guard walked through. A letter sat in his right hand as he walked through the halls. From the vent in the wall, it was hard to read what the letter said exactly. They assumed it was for Schlatt however as the guard walked straight towards the office and not to the guard's room where letters for the guards themselves were kept.
The guard was Sam, after all, Sam wouldn’t carry a letter that was for some random guard in the building. It had to be for Schlatt and they couldn’t help but let out a small growl at that conclusion. They crawled through the tunnels and they kept looking at the guard every time they came near a vent.
The doors to the main hall were opened and they quickly went over to a vent which had a view over the hall. Their long limbs didn’t make moving easy, but when he reached the next vent, the guard was already halfway towards where the office door was.
Another growl escaped them as they carefully unscrewed the vents with their long claws and opened them soon after. The guard was making his way up to the podium and they jumped out of the vent. A black cape hid their identity from whoever saw them as they ran over with high speed towards the guard.
One of the maids however yelled behind him and the guard turned around. It was too late though as he attacked quickly with his claws making their way through Sam’s skin. The guard yelled and they showed no remorse as they made sure to make them bleed enough to go unconscious but still being able to survive the attack.
Sam, who was trying to wiggle his way out from underneath them was screaming for someone to help them. Their struggles lessened as his body grew weaker and they removed their claws from his skin before grabbing the letter out of his hands. The doors of the hall cracked open and slammed into the walls as guards ran into the room.
They let out another growl before jumping off the guard and running over to the wall. Jumping up, onto the wall and grabbing the stones of the wall. He kept jumping from stone to stone until he reached the vent he came out of again. Crawling inside just in time as an arrow almost hit him.
They crawled away through the tunnels to the main room in the tunnel system. He sat down on the uncomfortable hard couch and ripped open the letter. Softly they read the words out loud to themselves and went through the entire letter before they disappeared moments later into another tunnel.