The large wooden door opens on silent hinges and a man enters the room. Stepping up to the desk that the noble man is sitting behind, Trace bows at the waist and waits. With a wave of his hand Francis lets Trace know to get on with it. Straightening up once again he begins to report. “Sir, we have located the one that took all of the slaves from the Golden Egg. They were leaving the adventurer’s guild earlier. I have one of our best following him now. What do you wish us to do sir?”
At the question from Trace, the head of the Enlit house slams his fist onto the desk in front of him. This outburst is not normal for the noble behind his desk, but the news of losing so much last night still galls him. He takes a moment as he is composing himself once again “Nothing at the moment. There are too many guards out in the day and they are on high alert after last night’s fiasco. And who’s fault is it that even the guards say this Vol person did nothing wrong? Who was it that made the bet in front of so many witnesses?”
Lord Enlit’s voice was rising through his accusations, but it was the change intone when he got quiet midway through which sent a shiver down Traces spine. “Who was it that decided to attack in a crowded room full of people too important or too wealthy to eliminate? Yes Trace, all you. I don’t care one wit if you cheat some fool when you lose a bet and dump the corpse in an alley of lower city. What I care about is when you jeopardize my business with your foolish pride. Now the guard captain is watching my business. Bribing a few guards to stop looking into something or to turn a blind eye is no problem, but the guard captain can’t be bought off.”
“I’m sorry my lord. Please have mercy.” Trace’s tone is begging as he looks down, trying to control his terrified breathing.
“I have turned a blind eye to your activities because they always made money for my establishment, but now you are drawing too much attention. And this is the worst possible time, as it’s interfering with other projects I have. Watch his movements and hire The Couple. They are discrete and can handle the new lordling without suspicion coming back to me. After it’s done, recover my property or I will need to reevaluate your employment.” The last words sound like a sentence being handed down from the man judging him from behind the desk.
Trace, knowing this would be his last exchange, bows deeply to the noble. After holding it for a minute he sees Lord Enlit flick his wrist, clearly a dismissal. Standing up once again he quickly leaves the room, closing the door softly on the way out. The nobleman doesn’t move a muscle more until the other man has left and is long gone. That is when he retrieves a tiny bell that looks more decorative than useful from one end of the desk. Shaking it results in a faint sound that none beyond a few feet should be able to hear. Lines of blue light appear for a moment at the movement of the item. Swirls of iridescent light flow around the bell and then quickly fade a few seconds later.
“How may I serve master?” comes a deep voice from the corner. It is seductive and disgusting all at once. Neither male or female sounding, just slippery. Like oil sliding through your ears and into your brain to take root. Francis ignores the sensation, not wanting to show the discomfort it causes. Not wanting to show this thing any inkling of weakness. Knowing what he will see, but not able to resist looking, Francis turns to the corner where the voice came from. Nothing. Well, not quite nothing. The shadows are deeper, darker than they should be in the well lit room. Penetrating that darkness is impossible to the naked eye.
Francis opens his mouth to speak. “I want you to find me information on a man named Vol. I do not know if he is noble or has a house name but he is in the city. I am told he is dressed in expensive armor but without a family crest that my man could see. He may or may not be of a noble house and travels with three beautiful female slaves. Two elf slaves and a wolfkin. Find out what you can for me. Is he noble? What house is he from? Everything you can.”
The darkness itself seems to speak once more. Its tendrils slithering through the nobleman’s mind like the filthiest of sludge. “It shall be done.” And with those parting words the shadow in the corner returns to normal. The light from the sun outside filtering through the window and illuminating the room once again making it possible to see. Nothing is there in the corner of the room. Just a thin harmless shadow of wispy darkness.
*******
I could feel it the moment we left the adventurer’s guild, but I just shrugged it off as paranoia. Feels like I am being followed, watched from just out of sight. I look around nonchalantly as we walk down the road. The girls are having a conversation about the clothes they purchased today and I’m answering occasionally to their prompts, but really I’m keeping an eye out. I haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary though, and we’re getting close to the slave market. I even used Mana Sight discretely as we walked without finding anything. Not wanting to be too distracted while we are here, I push the feeling of being watched to the back of my mind.
I stay vigilant, but focused on the task at hand. As I approach, I can see that the market is really two L shaped buildings forming a square with two exits. When we walk into the middle of these two buildings, we can see that there is a large courtyard in the middle and a stage along the inside edge for the longer parts of the buildings. There are only a few people walking around in the area and it looks like they are just doing some prep work for the stages and taking care of the little flower garden in the middle of the courtyard. Just normal stuff, no slaves visible.
The four of us walk up to one of the stages and see a poster on the wall next to it. It says the next auction will be the day after tomorrow and we can ask to get a look at the products as early as today. Not having seen much that can help me at this point I decide a better look at where they are holding everyone is a good idea. The poster is on the short side of the building with the stage to right side and there is a door to the left side of the poster. I lead the others through the door and up to a desk just inside the room. A portly man with a thin mustache is behind the desk and takes notice of me when we enter.
The man looks behind me briefly noticing the ladies following me in before plastering a smile on his face. “What can I do for you today? Our next auction for the premium stock isn’t for a couple days, but you can take a look at them to get an idea of what is up for offer then if you like?”
I give the man a nod in way of greeting as he finishes. “I think that would be a good idea.”
At my show of interest he stands and heads to a door at the back of the room. “This way then good sir.” We follow the man through a hall that has doors on either side.
Looking into one of the doors that is open I see stacks of hay and crates. These must be where they store the supplies for the slaves that are being held. When we get to the end of the hall there is a door that the man we are following opens to a staircase leading down. At the bottom I’m surprised by a vast open area with pillars in rows to support the ceiling. In between the pillars are cages all lined up so we can walk between them and inspect the slaves going up for sale. All the cages I can see are only big enough for one person to comfortably stay, with a cot, a bucket, and just enough room to stand in.
The man, who’s name I never asked for, leads us down a couple of aisles pointing out the women slaves we walk by. I can only assume that he only focuses on the women due to the three following quietly behind me. The women are mostly elves and a variety of beastkin, with one dwarf woman that looks much like a human. There is one woman that I have never seen up close before. I read about her species from one of the books I got from Lorton but the one other I glimpsed always avoids me. She’s a lamia! In other words she looks human from the waist up and like a snake from the waist down. When she sees me examining her she bears her teeth, showing me the canines are a little longer than a human’s. Her eyes also have pupils like a snake. Overall she is still very attractive with sea green eyes that have a vertical pupil like a snake and bone white hair. My guess is she was captured in a desert somewhere since her scales have the diamond pattern I am familiar w
ith from rattlesnakes.
The men that I see are all pretty elves and burly looking beastkin. There is one centaur though included with the men. Where as the lamia I saw could coil on the bed the centaur is in a cell without a bed to make room for his bottom half, and even then he is kind of crammed in there. As we get to one side of the room I see much bigger cages that are obviously made to hold larger groups. Two of them have people huddled within. All the ones in these cages have more normal builds and I can tell that these are mostly the less attractive slaves. There are gnomes and dwarf men in the large cages along with older and younger people. All the ones in the single cages were in the prime of there lives.
“What are these cages for?” I ask our guide.
“Ah these are the ones we sell outside the auction since they don’t sell as well” he says dismissively.
He starts to walk away but I don’t move. I look into the two cages pretending to inspect what is in them. I’m stifling my anger the whole time though. It’s obvious these slaves all get treated less friendly than the more profitable ones. They are all thin and some of them even have visible bruising.
The man returns and with a skeptical voice asks “Are you interested?”
“Perhaps” I tell him. I think furiously about what I can say that won’t cause too much suspicion. If it varies to much from what he expects then he may get truly curious and start asking more questions. “I have a new estate that has many menial tasks that need to be attended and I need staff. I plan on attending the auction in a few days for more specialized help but many of the positions I need are out of sight mostly so I don’t require much from them. How much for the lot of them?”
“For one of the cages we usually sell for 200 gold, the minimum that the other slaves go for each at auction” he tells me.
I resist the urge to shake my head. One cage has about twenty people crammed into it. The other one has all the kids in it and there must be close to thirty inside. The price isn’t a problem and after my run of luck last night it can even be tracked back to the Golden Egg should someone look into my wealth. I do need to keep up appearances though. “I will give you 375 for the two cages worth.”
“I don’t know, we don’t usually negotiate when it comes to the big cages. Maybe I could do 390 though?” I can tell that he is lying about the not negotiating part.
Keeping my expression stoic I don’t even look in his direction when I refuse to budge. “ I’ll give you 375 gold for both cages.”
Now he seems a little ruffled since I presented it like a counter offer without changing my price at all. After a second, where I can tell he calms his frustration, he speaks again. “Maybe, perhaps I can convince the boss to be okay practically giving them away for 385 gold.”
Gazing intently into the cage like I picked up something, I frown to display my displeasure. “370 gold” is my terse response.
His face turns red and he nearly shouts. “That’s not how you negotiate! I’m changing mine closer to your price. Now you are moving farther away.”
Shaking my head at him I point into the cage. “I looked closer at the product during our negotiations. That ones bruised where I can see it. Who knows what abuse could have been done to make him nearly useless, the marks concealed under rags.”
“Bah” the man says loudly. He throws his hands up in the air and huffs out between clenched teeth. “Fine! 375 Gold for all of them. Final offer.”
I give him a big Cheshire grin when he says that. I think about throwing the man to all these slaves in the cage when I have removed their collars while I smile, so it was probably pretty creepy looking. Looking the man in the eyes I even notice a tiny shiver run through him. “Deal” I tell him, sticking out my hand. He shakes and I hand over the gold. After settling the price I find myself going into each cage and taking possession of my new property. There are fifty one total I’m now the owner of, for a little while at least. And now all my fingers are sore from all the pricking. Fifty one more drops of blood to keep up appearances.
As we lead the slaves back outside I turn my thoughts inward to send them through my bond to Thia. “Can you go ahead to The Pony and warn Marcus that we are coming. You can relay anything back to me he wants to know telepathically.”
Sensing my concern she gives me a wordless acknowledgment, but I feel her echoing concern when she responds. “Is there something wrong Vol?”
“Nothing really, just felt like someone was watching us since we left the guild building and I don’t want these people standing around in the open for too long. I want to store them in Marcus’ basement if he will allow it. You should also keep an eye out for anyone that might be watching us.” Her head turns to me and gives me a nod before we all start exiting the door into the courtyard between the two slave market buildings.
After we’re outside I lean into Azzaria and quietly tell her to start leading the others to The Pony. I instruct her follow the road next to the wall between upper and lower city. As she starts leading them away I turn to the man who was showing us around. “Thank you for your assistance.”
In an overly friendly way he responds. “Not a problem. My pleasure. Should we be expecting you for the auction the day after tomorrow?”
“Yes, I do plan to be there. I saw a few of your premium stock that I am quite interested in. If you will excuse me I need to secure the new additions to my staff.”
He gives me a nod and I turn, following the others out of the courtyard and onto the road once again. As I walk along beside the two person wide column of slaves I get contacted by Thia. She has already dipped into a secluded alley, shifted, and flown low all the way to the inn. Thia transmits the conversation she is having with Marcus like a live stream over the internet. He is worried about drawing attention to himself and his family by bringing in so many slaves. When I have Thia ask him if he would like to join us when we return home tomorrow night he stops to think about it. During the momentary pause I take a moment myself to heal my fingers with Reverse Pain.
“I don’t think I will be able to leave the city with them. That is the biggest problem we have, getting people that we are helping out of the city. I’m pretty sure they will stop you if I am there.” Thia actually chuckles at this while Marcus is looking confused. “I guarantee that won’t be an issue” she tells him in my stead. He sighs and then tells her to have us bring them around the back and down into the basement through the stairs back there. When the group gets near the inn I lead them down a little space between the buildings just big enough for a wagon to pass through. In the back of the inn there is a courtyard big enough for a wagon to turn around in and near the inn itself is a door that reminds me of a storm cellar entrance. I open it and see a ramp leading down into the back of the basement for The Pony.
I have everyone enter and follow after, closing the door behind me and latching it. When I get through the crowd blocking the bottom of the ramp I find Thia and Marcus standing there with Azzaria and Timbre. “Hey Marcus. Ready to see how we all get to Thunderbird’s Roost with no one seeing us leave the city? You’re about to get a little preview of what’s to come.”
“Let me go get Maka and Rin then.” He is obviously confused but heads off to get the rest of his family.
While he is gone I get my three ladies to help arrange everyone into a double line around the cellar, much like last night at John’s house. When the newly reunited family comes down I turn to Marcus and Rin. “Maka saw this last night but if you come with us tomorrow night then you will know what to expect.” Marcus looks to Maka but she just shrugs and they both watch. I clap my hands to get everyone’s attention. When the low key murmuring calms down I give the people gathered in front of me the same speech as last night.
“Here is how it’s going to go. I will open a portal to a town where there is no slavery. I am ultimately in charge of the land but I will not force any of you to stay. The thing is, it will only be open for 30 seconds. That means I will need you to run through the portal and clear
the other side before it closes.” Just like last night I get a lot of disbelieving looks. I can’t blame them really since I just purchased of them. Those looks start to change into hope though as I begin removing collars. The children among them are especially exuberant and ten or so of them try to run around and start a game of tag or something.
It takes a few minutes to restore order and assign a few of the other newly freed people to hold the hand of a child each. When that is done I step to the front of the line and raise my arms in front of me. “Remember everyone, move through as fast as possible and then move out of the way on the other side.” Focusing on the Spatial Door spell I gained from my subclass I funnel mana into the spell circle that pops into my mind. The whole time I do I concentrate on an image of the door being just tall enough for me to step through and as wide as possible. I even try to force more mana through the circle in order to over charge it and make it bigger or last longer.
When the spell reaches the required mana to cast and I hold it back while feeding more mana to it I get resistance from the circle in my mind. I start to push to get through it when I notice mana is going into the spell but not much. That is when I feel a spike of pain in my head. I push through the pain and redouble my focus. I feel like I’m starting to get through the resistance in overcharging the spell, but I get an ominous feeling. I don’t think pushing through that resistance will be a good thing. My mind starts to wander as I think of a few nasty things that might happen if a powerful casting of space magic should go critical. Could it form a black hole or something like it to another dimension all together. Maybe it will just randomly open a portal to an uncontrolled destination. Like somewhere in the middle of deep space, or in a star somewhere.
A Mage Rising: (The Chronicles of Herst 2: A LitRPG Saga) Page 33