Escaping a Lord

Chapter 9 Suspicions

Kyra's pov

The lord was eating while browsing through some papers, scribbling something on the sides every now and then.
So far he hadn't spoken or even looked at me at all.
I was eating my cereal breakfast topped with forest fruits and nuts.
It had been a full week now that I was in his possession.
The point to all this was still beyond me.
But so far I was well taken care of and except for the first day he hadn't really done anything bad to me.
He rather hadn't bothered with me at all and let Sarah dictate my day to day routine.
I only saw him during meals or when he wanted me to be a decoration in a room... I think...
It wasn't like I had to do anything but sit there and sometimes accept that my head was being stroked.
As if I was a cat...

Blondy came into the room, followed by a tall man with glasses and a strict look in his eyes.
He talked to the lord and then turned his attention to me.

"This is master Ludwigg, he is going to teach you our language. You'll start right after breakfast."

I just nodded, not sure how else to respond.
It wasn't like I had a choice.

After breakfast I was taken to a room that they had prepared like a little classroom for the lessons.
In the middle was a school table and chair.
There was even a teacher's desk and school board.
The only difference was that there was a chain connected to the table.
I guess I am still considered a flight risk.
The leash may have been unhooked but my left hand had now been chained to the table.
Blondy had to put it on the loosest position to fit it over the cast around my wrist, it looked ridiculous to me.

Master Ludwigg wrote some words on the board and gave me a big notebook and a pen.
He looked at the cast.

"Are you left or right-handed?"

"Right-handed."

I picked up the pen to show him.

"Good, I'm going to teach you to speak, write and read at the same time. The writing and reading part should be easy for you. I take it you went to school before. Understanding what you're reading and writing will be more difficult, but you will learn that... Speaking will come naturally from reading and writing. You will write down every word I teach you 10 times on the paper. You will pronounce the word every time you write it down. If you make a mistake, you will be punished... Let's start with the easy and important ones. Yes, no, master, sorry and thank you."

He picked up a pointer stick and explained the words one by one.

By the end of the day my right hand hurt a lot, and not just from writing non stop.
Every time I made a mistake with the pronunciation or misspelled a letter he smacked my hand with his pointer stick.
He didn't hit so hard it would break, bleed or even leave a mark but after enough smacks the skin was becoming very tender.
The result however was that I was able to speak and understand some very short sentences and a few loose words in one day.
After one week, I could guess the outlines of the conversations the lord had with Blondy.
It seemed to be mostly work related about things that needed to be taken care of.

Even Sarah was getting impressed by the speed of my learning curve.

"You really are a good student aren't you, I can't believe how good your pronunciation is."

She seemed proud, I just looked at my right hand that was trembling from the treatment it had gotten the past two weeks.

"Yeah... master Ludwigg really knows how to keep me motivated."

I commented sarcastically.
Sarah took my hand to inspect it.

"I think it is about time we go see doctor Goodwill for your left hand. I'll ask her to take a look at your right one as well."