The Words Will Set Us Free - 3. Chapter 3

Gregor woke again, later, after unknowingly falling back asleep. He felt unclean and wanted a bath, but there was no hot water. Or was there?

By the time he rolled out of the bed and stood at his table, he saw a large wooden bowl full of hot water placed on top. There was soap and a rag, too. It wasn’t the same as bathing in a river or pond, but it would have to do until he discovered more of the castle’s facilities.

“Good morning, Gregor,” Harold said.

“Good morning, Harold, have a good sleep?” Gregor asked.

The raven flew down to the table and watched him finish bathing.

“If you put some fresh water in there I could use a bath too,” Harold said.

“Anything for a friend.”

The water in the bowl changed from warm and soapy to cool and clear, just what a raven wanted in the morning.

“Pleasant dreams last night?” Harold asked.

“Who was he?” Gregor asked.

“Can’t say,” Harold said squatting down into the water bowl and fluttering his wings. “Promised not to say.”

“Was it the Master?”

“Would you be mad if I said no?”

“No, then who?”

“I promised not to say,” Harold said, turning his head around to nibble between the feathers on his rump.

“I wonder if I could turn you into a mouse,” Gregor said out loud. “Oh, you’d still be able to talk. You’d definitely need to talk if you should come across a raven who wanted to eat you. You could tell him a sorcerer turned you in to a mouse. It shouldn’t be too difficult. Should it? I could add an escape clause. If a fair, virgin maiden kissed you, you’d be turned back into a raven. How’s that sound?”

“Michael, his name is Michael.”

“And, who is he?”

“A ghost. Likeable chap, but he’s still a ghost. One of the early ones from what I gather. Really liked doing it with the dukeling, or so he says. Until he died of course.”

“Why does he only come to me in my dreams?”

“Dunno, more’n likely that’s what ghosts do. Was it good? You know doing it with Michael.”

“Yes, it was good.”

Yes, it was good or maybe it was just being young and asleep. Of course, one can do a lot of things when you’re asleep and dreaming. Once, years ago, he dreamt of falling huge trees in the forest. It seemed to be a common dream among boys in the village. As he grew up the dreams changed as reality changed. Until finally toward the end when there was no hope of a future in the village or anywhere in the entire valley, that the dreams became troubling, full of things he didn’t know and couldn’t recognize.

Once it was time to set off on his journey, the dreams became better, almost playful, as were his dreams of youth. Often he dreamt of saving fair maidens and being rewarded with a fine castle in a beautiful valley filled with happy people. He and the maiden would have many happy children and he would grow old knowing he’d done a very good thing saving the fair maiden.

But, it wasn’t a fair maiden who was saved. There were no females here at all. Why was that? All men, even the monster was essentially a man as he definitely had the equipment for it. Why were there no women?

There were so many questions about this place and he hadn’t seen much of it at all. He hadn’t even looked out his window, which is what he did at that very moment though he did have to stand on the chair to do it.

The castle was smaller than he imagined. Directly below, the roof of the great hall extended back against the sheer rock wall of the mountain, which rose up into clouds above. Between his tower and the great hall, a lower building extended back to a rather large garden where he could see Roger hoeing a row of seedlings. The two other towers, both taller than his, stood on the other side of the great hall. Beyond them, another low building extended out to the castle wall. To his left was a broad courtyard, across which stood a low building he assumed was the horse barn. In many ways, it looked rather idyllic, except, of course, knowing that he was a prisoner.

The one thing he noticed that wasn’t part of the castle was a gate to the outside. Of course, it might have been out of his view, but down through the latrine there wasn’t anything out that way except a lot of air until you reached the valley floor. Besides, why have a gate if there was no road? Or, was there?

“Hey, Harold, is there a road or trail leading out of here?” Gregor asked.

“Nope, nary a one,” the raven said, “and no gate neither. Got you locked in all nice and pretty. Speaking of which, are you gonna put some clothes on?”

“Fine,” Gregor huffed, “be that way. You don’t have any clothes on.”

“Feathers hide the necessaries. Your’s right out there, ’specially your thingy.”

“Why are you so concerned about my thingy, as you call it?” Gregor asked. “You’re a strange bird.”

“Birds ain’t got thingies. All smooth like, ’cept ducks, of course. They got thingies, but not like yours. Your thingy gives me the willies.”

“Sorry,” Gregor said with a sigh. “Green pants, yellow tunic, green slippers, and that new belt with the gold eagles.”

Each item pulled itself out of the appropriate pile and waited for Gregor to put them on. He knew he could’ve told them to put themselves on, but he wasn’t in the mood. Quite frankly, he didn’t know what kind of mood he was in. If anything, he felt downright trapped for the first time since arriving.

“You going down?” the raven asked. “’Cause if you are, I’ll pop out for some bird stuff. Been a while since I’ve stretched the wings.”

“What’s up there?” Gregor asked pointing to the door in the ceiling.

“Garret.”

“Who?”

“Not who. It’s the attic.”

“What?”

“What were you raised in, a hut?”

“Wattle-and-daub with a thatched roof. Had a few boards across the joists, but nothing like that. Garret, huh? What do you suppose is up there?”

“Spiders and such crawly things. Cobwebby and dark, nothing I’d want to go into.”

“Well, I’m going to see.”

Gregor put the chair on the bed and climbed up to where he could reach the latch, which slid easily. He carefully let the door fall down. He had expected the garret to be dark, but instead it was filled with light. He pulled himself up and swung back to sit on the floor.

All around him were strange objects and boxes with intricately carved lids. Across from him sat a skeleton in a tattered tunic and leather leggings. Strangely, there were no cobwebs and no sign of spiders or other crawly things.

Above him, two windows were set into the roof.

He stared at the skeleton trying to figure whom it was and why it was here, locked in the garret. Had the young man been put here or had he run up here on his own, only to be locked in? Was this Michael?

He lowered himself back down and closed the door. It was obvious he had many hours of exploration ahead of him up there, if only to satisfy his curiosity. That could be something to keep him busy and away from the Master.

“Anything interesting?” Harold asked.

“Yes, lots,” Gregor said.

“Want to share?”

“Not now, maybe later.”

“Secrets?’

“Yes.”

“I don’t like secrets. I told you about Michael.”

“I figure that might be his skeleton up there.”

“Oh, not nice, not nice at all,” Harold said ruffling his feathers in a dramatic show of disgust. He flew to the window and was gone in a flash.

There wasn’t much else for Gregor to do other than go downstairs and see if the Master was still mad at him. He hoped not, then again he hoped the other way, too. Although he rather liked what he was doing with Michael, he was positively certain the Master had something entirely different in mind. It made a shiver run through him.

He just couldn’t see how it would be any good for him. Plus, the thought of the Master’s member inside him doing that thing didn’t sound good at all. Well, the Master was good looking, but could he do it with another man, willingly? He didn’t know. Of course, doing it willingly with the Master wasn’t an option. He’d have to submit to the Master’s desires whether he wanted to or not.

On the other hand, he could just give in to the Master’s desires; let himself be abused. He was fairly certain the Master would be gentle and the final taking of him would be somewhat okay, but there was just something about it, the whole idea of it didn’t sit well on his mind.

- - - - - - - -

As soon as he arrived in the great room, he saw the monster. It was in its short version and seemed less imposing, other than the incredibly long member hanging down to his knees. The length of it made it look positively hideous in its potential. Well, all of the monster was hideous, but that thing only brought thoughts into Gregor’s mind he didn’t want to think.

“Ah, the victim, how is he today?” the monster asked as he walked toward Gregor.

“Fine, I guess,” Gregor said. Something was up, something he wasn’t going to like.

“I was looking for you the past few months or so, but Willy said you were locked in the tower for being naughty,” the monster said, grasping Gregor’s shoulder with a hairy paw. “You know, that won’t do. You’re here for one purpose only and we can’t have you hiding in your tower all the time, even if Willy sent you up there himself. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yeah, I suppose,” Gregor said, cringing from claws so sharp he could feel them through his tunic.

“Look, kiddo, I’m not fooling around here,” the monster said, moving the paw from Gregor’s shoulder to his chin, forcing the young man to look at him. “We all have our jobs in this little affair. Roger’s done his part, but I decided to keep him around because, well, he was kind of nice to me, too. Willy, well what can we say about dear, dear Willy? He does you and the curse continues. I get to go out and get more young men to satisfy my evil desires. And, you submit to Willy’s desires as many times as he wants; and, mine, too, if you so choose. Come on, I want to show you something.”

Gregor followed the monster back behind the fireplace and through a small door set in the stonework. It was the kind of door that said, “Enter at your own risk.”

“Take off your clothes, no clothes allowed where we’re going,” the monster said. “And, don’t try any of that magic stuff. It won’t work around me.”

Gregor thought for a moment of what was to happen and then he thought about his clothes removing themselves from his body and folding themselves neatly on the floor. He wasn’t the least surprised they followed his instructions.

“Well, I’ll be,” the monster said. “The raven said you were good, but to actually be able to do that with me standing beside you, well that is something. Maybe, just maybe, when all of this is over and done with, I might just want your soul for my charm bracelet. My boss might appreciate knowing there’s one less of you walking around topside.”

Gregor didn’t say anything, as he wasn’t certain there was anything he could add.

“Come on, the tour continues through this door,” the monster said as he opened another small door.

The stench was nearly overpowering. Blood yes, but there was something else. Shit? Yes, there was a hint of shit in the air, but blood, old and new, seemed to take up most of what assaulted his nose.

What had the Master said about going down to the dungeon with the monster, something about not coming back up? But, nothing could happen until he fulfilled his purpose of being here. So, whatever was going to be shown to him was meant to be an example of what could happen if he didn’t follow through by allowing the Master to fuck him. A shiver went through him at the thought of lying under the Master while it happened. Could he look up into the Master’s eyes as if to say what was happening was pleasurable?

As they went down and down, further and further into the bowels of the castle, the stench grew stronger until it felt as if it was burning his nose. And, still they hadn’t come to the bottom. Was the monster taking him to the Gates of Hell? The Master said the monster was his personal devil. Was that true? Were they actually going to that evil place?

It didn’t seem that way to Gregor, though, for no matter how many times it entered his mind, it wasn’t getting any warmer as you might expect being close to the lake of fire. If anything, it was getting cooler. Not cold, but cool enough to bring up goose bumps on his skin.

Then they came to the bottom; or, rather, a landing as the steps continued down further in darkness to God only knows where.

“Here we are,” the monster said. “Kind of stinky, isn’t it?

“Yes,” Gregor said without enthusiasm.

“That’s why I was thinking you could be my pantry boy,” the monster said. “You know, sort of clean up afterward. Maybe freshen up the place at bit so it isn’t so scary when I bring in a new victim. Well, you’ll see in just a sec.”

The monster opened the door and the full force of the stench nearly forced Gregor off the landing, but the monster grabbed him and pulled him into a large chamber of nearly indescribable horror.

“Well, this is my little corner of the castle,” the monster said with a smile. “This is where I have all my fun.”

Gregor was simply aghast at what he saw. The room was generally squarish. Along the wall to his right, there were a series of four doors set into a floor of grating. In front of the doors stood three large tubs full of putrid, rotting offal and a fourth that appeared to have only blood. The back wall was empty, except for a rack of some sort hanging from a thick iron rod that ran across the room to a point near the junction of the front and left walls. A naked young man hung from the rack by means of some sort of attachment that wasn’t obvious from where Gregor stood. There was, though, a long, pointed metal prong sticking out of the man at about the middle of his chest that could’ve been a hook.

A large furnace stood near the left wall, bathing the room with an uncomfortable heat. Bellows stood between the furnace and the wall. In the center of the room there were various instruments of torture, many of which his father had made for their Duke and some priests that came to their village some years ago when they had a problem with witches. There were other things too, like an arrangement of toothed rollers in front of a chair. Gregor could almost imagine the victim’s feet then legs being slowly pulled into those rollers. It must be excruciating, which would explain the screams.

The man who was hanging from the rack had portions of his lower legs and arms torn away. Gregor looked at the monster—who looked back and smiled—and imagined the monster’s teeth gnawing away the flesh.

Huge rats hid in the shadows, their eyes sparking with anticipation. Had they been eating the victim?

“He’s still alive or was when I left this morning,” the monster said. “Can you see yourself hanging there?”

“I’d rather dash myself on the rocks below the castle,” Gregor said.

“Wouldn’t let you,” the monster said patting Gregor’s buttocks causing him to move a little further away. “I like it when they scream. It makes my heart pitter-patter funnily like. I get all giddy thinking about it. I eat them, you know. Look at his arms and legs, ate them last night. His screams were music to my ears. I roast their limbs over the forge, first. Ever have cracklings from a roast pig?”

“Yes.”

“Same thing. Kind of sweet, too. Tonight I’ll gut him and eat his heart while he still has a second of awareness left in him. Then I’ll eat him at my pleasure. Probably take a week or so. Care for a nimble?”

“No!”

“I thought not, but had to ask to be nice,” the monster said with a deep chuckle. “Anyway, all this is for you if you fail to satisfy Willy’s desires. You understand?”

“Yes.”

“And, I want you down here to tidy up a bit. Even I think it’s a bit dirty. I do my best, but I’ve got so many other things to do around here, I haven’t spent the time to clean. So, you can do it. I’ll make it worth your while, too.”

“How?”

“I can make it easier on you when Willy finally gets around to pounding your behind.”

“How?”

“Do it myself, first.”

“No!”

“Har! Har! Har! Right off the bat you were. No thinking, no considering your options, just come out and deny me a bit of pleasure.”

“You do it to them, I suppose,” Gregor said pointing at the latest victim.

“Oh, sure, but they’re not the same as you,” the monster said extending his arm to where his paw could give Gregor’s bottom a good feel. “You’re pure and sweet and honest and humble. Plus, you’re a virgin and full of magic. I’d like to get a bit of your magic. That one there wasn’t any of those things and he’ll pay for it with his life and tonight his soul.”

“What are you, anyway?”

“Technically speaking, I’m an anthropomorphic being, mostly. It’s all in your head and Willy’s and Roger’s and, well, the fellows I bring down here. There’s some other stuff to scare their souls right out of them and then they’re mine to do with as I see fit. Have a bit of fun for a day or two and then a nice juicy nibble until they get sourly rank and putrid.”

“Anthropo what?”

“Anthropomorphic. Willy said you can read, right?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, look at your roots. I’m not much of a teacher, it’s from the Greeks and then the Romans, of course,” the monster said softly caressing Gregor’s butt.

“Uh, let’s see, anthrop is human being, right?” Gregor asked, trying to ignore what the creature was doing to him. For one thing, it was beginning to arouse him, a bit.

“Yes.”

“And, morph is having a form. So, anthropomorphic wouldn’t exactly describe you. Well, you are somewhat in human form, but you’re exaggerated in certain areas.”

“The scary parts like my male part? It’s rare on a demon like me. The boss upstairs didn’t provide them when the others were sent down, but I came along later, see? My boss downstairs made me to look like a man so I could tempt them, tear out their souls, and then eat them at my pleasure.”

“Gregor, you’re getting a bit excited,” the monster said. “But look at mine if you want to see arousal. Look at it grow! Have you seen anything like it? I bet you haven’t. It’s nearly as long as your arm and you being a tall man, that’s mighty long. Thick as your arm, too. Look at it throb. Gregor it’s anxious for relief. Look at it. Look at it, Gregor! Don’t be shy. Touch it. Don’t be a coward. Touch it. Come on, Gregor, I know you want to touch it! Hold it in your hand. It’s yours now to do with as you want. Yours to give me the pleasure I desire. Look at it. Feel its excitement. Feel the power of it. It likes you. It wants you to pleasure it. Look at it. See how long it is. Touch it. Rub it Gregor. Rub it hard. Faster Gregor. Oh, yes, like that. You’re doing it. Yes! Yes! Yes, Gregor, you’re doing it right. This is what you want. I know you want it Gregor. Touch it as you please. Oh, yes!”

Gregor watched it erupt bloody masses of putrid slime and then looked up into the monster’s eyes. They were smiling at him. He had given in to the monster’s desire. A little bit of him was now held by the monster.

“Don’t let it worry you, Gregor,” the monster said with a wry grin. “It’ll get easier next time. I can be very gentle, a lot more gentle than Willy. He tends to be forceful the first time, but I’ll prepare you, teach you how to take it, so that when he does take you it won’t be so excruciating, won’t make you scream. Willy liked his littlest boys to scream from the agony, but you’re too old for that. He’ll want you to beg for it.”

Gregor looked around at nothing in particular, anything other than the monster. Anything other than that thing, that horrible, hideous thing that he’d touched, held, rubbed, nearly kissed, yes, kissed just to satisfy the monster’s desire for him. If having your soul torn from your body was the same as Gregor felt right then, he knew there was nothing to save him from the horrors of this place. He had to find some way to escape this madness.

He turned to the tubs of offal and blood. He looked at the doors in the floor by the right wall until they rose and attached themselves to their individual hooks. Looking at the first tub, concentrating until it rose up and moved over to the opening in the floor, Gregor smiled when it tipped slowly over and spilled its contents down into the depths below. It returned to its place and the door shut. The other tubs followed in turn and when the last door was shut, he turned to the monster.

“Set the bloody tub in front of the young man,” the monster said. “I’m going to bleed him first. You’ve given me more pleasure today than I expected so I’m giving him a present of an easy exit. Do you know how to bleed a man?”

“No.”

“Want to learn?”

“No!”

“Thought not. Well, maybe sometime in the future. You could say you have a chance of spending an eternity with me. Why don’t you go on upstairs and spend some time with Willy. I’ll be fine down here. Maybe next time we can go further with your apprenticeship as a pantry boy and, well, we can proceed further with your other lessons, too. Maybe I’ll change myself into a young man like you to make it easy. I can do that, you know.”

“Yes, sir.”

- - - - - - - -

By the time Gregor made it to the great room the only thing he was interested in was climbing the steps to his tower. He felt overwhelmed and exhausted from what he’d seen and what had occurred. The last thing he wanted was to spend time with the Master, but he knew it was his duty to at least check in. Plus, there was Roger, too, who might need some help with something.

Whatever was to happen right then was beyond his interest. He felt drawn to the monster as if he alone held his key to an escape from this horror. He almost wanted to go down and debase himself further, but his first duty here was to allow the Master to have his way with him. That, too, might hold a key to his escape. If all else failed, he could join the skeleton in the garret.

The Master was, of course, poring over his scrolls and books in the library. Gregor watched him for a moment through the shelves. In a way, he felt sorry for the man because as long as the monster kept bringing young men, the Master continued to insist on seducing them. Finally, seeing no option he stepped around the end of the shelving and stood before the Master.

“M’lord?”

“Yes, well, it’s late, where have you been?”

“The monster wished to teach me a lesson.”

“Ah, yes, well, did you learn anything important?”

“Yes, m’lord.”

“And, what exactly was that.”

“I am to perform the task to which I have been assigned or suffer the consequences, m’lord.”

“Then I think we should begin, but I want this understood from the beginning, I do not expect you to give yourself freely. I know you do not wish to do what I intend, but in the end, I wish to be satisfied that you enjoyed the experience. Too many in your position simply gave up and made it too easy for me. There was no pleasure in the chase. No excitement in taking down the prey and little satisfaction once my desires had been met. Do you understand, Gregor?”

“Yes, m’lord.”

“Do you really understand?”

“At each step I am to be fearful, disgusted, reviled, and wish only to postpone the inevitable. And, if at such time you do turn me, I will still fight until there is no fight left and I finally succumb to your carnal desire.”

“Well, then, I guess we see eye to eye on this. I want you to start reading over that way in the Greek section. You do know how to read Greek?”

“A bit, I’m better at Latin, though, m’lord.”

“Excellent. Go on, that is all.”

Gregor knew that wasn’t all. He didn’t know how long he had, but the Master was certain to be over sometime soon and want to start the hunt. What was he to do, give in or stand firm against the onslaught?

He found a small table and stool and pulled a book from a shelf. The Devil himself stared out from the leather cover. Was it fortuitous he chose that book or had the magic helped? Opening the book, a full page showed the Devil standing among many of his subordinates who were chasing sinners around a field of fire. In the corner of the page, one of the demons, one that looked very much like the monster in the cellar, was devouring whatever human came too close. Gregor turned the page.

The Greek was poor, almost as if someone not familiar with the language had written it. On the other hand, maybe, it was that Gregor didn’t have a full command of the language, yet. The text appeared to be about various demons that frequented the surface of the Earth to tempt people to sin and, therefore, cast their immortal souls into Hell. As he read, the language slowly opened up and a fuller understanding came through. Each of the demons was named, described fully, and various means of defending oneself against the demon were described.

Eventually, Gregor came to their monster, the name was clearly in Greek, but it had been mostly covered over with black ink. So with his magic, Gregor drew out the name and it lay above the black as if written in silver thread. Gregor knew enough about demons, from what his priest had said, that it was not safe to state their names, but the demon portrayed on that page was definitely their monster. The characteristics included a predilection for human flesh, often being blamed for partially devoured corpses found in forests. Its enormous member, shown both normal and erect, was said to prefer sodomizing men to natural sex with women. Also, it could change its size from something as small as a mouse to a giant as tall as a tree.

Probably the most important part, though, was its connection with curses. The text clearly stated that once the demon was named in conjunction with a curse—and fault or sin had to be the ultimate in cruelty—there was no way to remove the demon except by completing the conditions of the curse. If the curse was indefinite, then the victim was doomed to spend eternity suffering the demon’s wrath. From the way Gregor read that, though, it wasn’t the Master who was suffering at the behest of the curse. It was all of the young men, such as him, who were the victims. Obviously, the only way for the Master to get out of the curse was not to have sex with him, but how would Gregor convince him that was the solution without angering the demon, who would surely put him in the cellar for a very painful death.

- - - - - - - -

“Surprise! Guess who?”

Gregor’s body locked in place with the hands over his eyes. It was more than obvious who came up behind him.

“M’lord?”

“Right!”

“Has the hunt begun so soon?”

“Turn around; I want to show you something.”

Gregor turned to where he was facing the Master, who was completely naked and whose member was engorged from anticipation. Gregor looked at it, studied it, and came to the conclusion that it was quite small, less than a couple knuckles in length and not quite as thick as a thumb. It was quite simply a young boy’s tool and when shrunken it must be very insignificant, maybe embarrassing for a full-grown man. In a very small way, Gregor rather felt sorry for the Master.

“Ah, m’lord, we’re jumping a bit ahead of ourselves, aren’t we?”

“I just wanted you to see what you’re up against,” the Master said excitedly. “Big isn’t it?”

“Yes, m’lord,” Gregor said, trying very hard not to sound as if he didn’t mean it. Obviously, the Master was very proud of his measly, little tool.

“I bet you haven’t seen any bigger,” the Master said as he began to stroke it. “I know you don’t want it now, but watch as I make it perform. It puts on quite an act for newcomers.”

Where upon the Master began to rub the thing with his right hand, while his left hand at first played with his testicles and then ran over his body until settling down over one of his nipples, which were quite large for a man, and began to aggressively pinch it as if expecting milk to issue forth.

“It’s no use m’lord,” Gregor said. He knew where this was going and turned back to his book. “I know you want me to get excited over what you’re doing, but I’m sorry it isn’t working, not this soon in the hunt. Maybe if you took it a little slower I’d be interested.”

“Gregor! Turn around and watch me,” the Master demanded.

“Yes, m’lord,” Gregor said, not expecting so much anger at such a time, though the monster had said the Master could get aggressive. Was this a sample of what could come later?

Gregor half turned with a frown and watched the performance, which was rather pathetic really. The Master was just making a show of it, expecting him to be impressed by the size of the little thing that was practically hidden within the Master’s hand.

“Look at it Gregor! Look at what’s happening! Look at it NOW!”

A couple spurts, small ones at that, followed by a few dribbles forced out with the Master’s hand.

“By the Holy Mother, m’lord, that was something,” Gregor lied.

“I knew you’d like it,” the Master panted. “It is quite impressive.”

“But, m’lord, it doesn’t change the fact that I am not interested right now. You’re going to have to do a lot more to convince me that you have genuine feelings for me before I’ll be willing to proceed. I’m not some slutty whore who’s going to bend over just because you’re my Master.”

“Oh, well, I thought you’d want to see where all of this was going to lead,” the Master said. “I just thought you’d be impressed.”

“M’lord, I am impressed, that’s a mighty tool you have,” Gregor said with a soft smile. “But, it’s too soon. You know I’m not all that interested in doing it with men. You’re going to have to do a lot of convincing before I let you take me in your arms and show me how one man can love another. And, I’m afraid that doesn’t include little performances like we just had.”

“Okay, okay, I guess I see your point,” the Master said with a sad frown. “Why don’t you go see Roger, he might need some help in the garden or maybe some other task needs to be done.”

“Yes, m’lord. And, m’lord?”

“Yes, Gregor?”

“You do have a very nice tool. I’m sure it knows how to make a man happy.”

“Thank you, Gregor.”