by V. A. Lewis
Marcus visibly hesitated, but he managed to speak. "The Mancis Company only partakes in legal transactions—"
I seized it.
"Legal?" I laughed, loud enough for it to echo throughout the room. The auditorium beyond the curtains was empty now that the auction was over, and the only people left were the ones in here. "That’s a lie. Everyone here— none of us are from the Free Lands! We were kidnapped from Rem, Felan, Elios… this entire company is committing criminal activities!"
I was not sure whether my pleas would be heard by anyone other than the Bolerian officials. I was not even sure if they would act on it. But I had to do something. Julian Mancis, the owner of the company, froze mid step as he came out of an office to see what the commotion was about.
"Is that true?" the rich man asked, cocking his head.
Julian ran forward and waved his hand placatingly. "Of course not! This is just a children’s prank— you know how naughty kids can get? We have all the legal documents—"
"It’s true," a voice interrupted the slaver.
Theodore stepped forward, glancing once at me and nodding his head slightly. I could see desperation in his eyes, and I was not even sure if he thought this ploy would work, but he took the risk just as I did.
"It is as she said. I am from a town in Elios. I was a farmer," he said, showing his calloused hands. "None of us are from the Free Lands. We were tricked or outright stolen from our families. Please, help us go home."
Julian looked like he wanted to say something in protest, but the moment Theodore stood up to defend me, another man spoke. Then another. They were voicing murmurs of agreement; it was nothing quite as loud as me or Theodore.
The Bolerian officials saw this, and they looked… uncomfortable. One of them— the brown haired woman from earlier— stepped up, glancing between us and the slavers. "Mr Mancis, I’m sure you have all the documentation necessary to prove this. However, these allegations are serious, and we’ll have to conduct an investigation if—"
"Terrible," the rich man from earlier cut her off. He walked in front of the Bolerian official, pretending as if she wasn’t even there. "This is… quite the amusing prank, is it not?"
I narrowed my eyes, while the Bolerian officials backed up, unsure of what to do; this man was trying to claim I was lying, and it would be less problematic for them if what he was saying was true. Julian caught on to this, quickly sauntering up to him with a smile.
"Of course, my good Sir. Our premium products"— he gestured at something on my face— "are well trained in entertainment as well as obedience. And now, she will stop with her little act, right?"
Julian Mancis shot me a glare, trying to intimidate me into quieting down. I met his gaze, unafraid. I opened my mouth to speak, but again, the rich man spoke loudly into the room.
"Truly remarkable," he said, smiling. He looked at me with his predatory eyes, licking his lips as he did. "I want her."
"Excuse me?" Julian asked, blinking.
"I want her," the man repeated himself, turning back to the owner of the Mancis Company. "A hundred gold. Or one platinum. That’s all I’ll offer."
"You can’t be serious?" the older man sputtered. "That’s half of the base price we’ve estimated for her. I won’t be surprised if someone is willing to pay double, or even triple that amount!"
"Oh, so she’s telling the truth then?" the rich man said, voice flat. "Because if she is, I find that I’ll be forced to report you and your company’s activities to the appropriate authorities. You and your employees will be forced to pay a rather significant fine, and serve some jail time here in Boleria. We don’t tolerate lawbreakers after all, right?" he asked, turning to the woman from earlier.
The Bolerian official swallowed, and nervously replied. "Uh, yes. But if these—"
"Very good," he once again spoke over her. "And don’t worry about this… transaction, if you choose to accept my offer. I will ensure word does not leave this room. So what say you, Julian Mancis?"
The owner of the Mancis Company grunted. "Do I have a choice? I’ll get the paperwork."
"I knew you would be amenable to a deal. You do that, and I’ll… inspect the goods." The man strutted over to me, the arrogant smile plastered on his face. He reached out towards me, grabbing for my chin. "You know, I can’t wait—"
I did not wait to hear what he had to say. I bit. Hard.
The man screamed; his index finger interlocked between my teeth. I held on, as he tried to back up, pulling me along with him. I knew a single bite— especially from a kid— would not be enough to sever his finger.
So I grabbed onto his wrist, holding onto the man as he flailed around in pain. I opened my mouth, momentarily releasing his finger from my jaw. Then I bit down again. And again. And again. And—
Finally, there was a crunch. I felt something come loose, still in between my canines, as the rich man let out a final guttural scream. The man kicked me, knocking me back a foot, as he panted.
"My...fingers…" The man held up his hand. Blood was pouring down from it, dripping onto the ground. He turned to me and screamed.
I ignored him, smirking triumphantly as I spat out the half of man’s index finger still in my mouth. I stared at it for a second, realizing the blood covering my lip and the ground below me. I felt woozy for a moment, fighting back against the urge to puke.
Then I was struck across the face. The rich man was looming over me. His eyes were bloodshot— his smug grin had twisted into a face of pure anger.
"You… I’ll make you suffer!"
He brought his leg down on me, pinning my head down on the floor. I squirmed on the ground, trying to get up, but he pressed his entire body weight down on me. My cheeks were being squished against the cold stone floor, and all I could see was the terrified looks on all the slaves as they watched.
Theodore seemed like he wanted to come help me, but was stopped by the rich man’s bodyguards. I felt the pressure on me release for just a brief moment— before I found my body limply being kicked aside. I rolled on the floor for a moment, before something went wrong.
My right foot was bent and struck the floor at the wrong angle, twisting violently to the side. I felt a crack. A flash of extreme pain surging through my leg. Before the back of head finally slammed into the wall.
I collapsed to the ground in a daze. I tried to collect myself, but I could not feel anything; my senses were almost muted. I could not hear more than muffled sounds. I could barely make out the argument happening in front of me. Even the extreme pain from my broken ankle was gone.
I blinked a few times, trying to keep myself from falling unconscious. I pulled my head off leaning against the side of the wall. My vision cleared ever so slightly, and I could hear better now. The pain returned, just as I caught the tail end of the conversation between Julian and the rich man.
"—or consider it reimbursement for what she did to me," the rich man said, clutching his finger. His bleeding stopped, having taken a healing potion. However, it was nothing more than a stump— the quality of the potion not high enough to undo amputations. "Regardless, I will have her for free," he finished, voice final.
"That was not part of the deal," the owner of the Mancis Company argued. His face was red with anger, seemingly unhappy that his prized good was being taken away from him. "You said you would pay us a hundred gold coins."
I stared at the rich man. The detestable, cruel, abhorrent creature disguised as a Human being. His eyes flashed as his gaze bore into the older man. He started.
"I am altering the deal—"
Then his head exploded.
I watched in horror as the man’s body dropped lifelessly to the ground, blood and gore spilling from his empty neck. Marcus, the head guard of the Mancis Company, lowered his still-smoking pistol and drew his scimitar, pointing it at the dead man’s bodyguards and servants.
"Kill them all."
Chapter 14: Troublemaker
"Kill them all."
; Marcus, the head guard of the Mancis Company, declared to the room. For a moment, everything was stunned silence. The rich man’s body dropped lifelessly to the floor, his head blown apart as if it were a watermelon being blasted by a 12 gauge shotgun.
Then, as if the dull thud from the fallen corpse were some sort of cue, everyone immediately broke into action. I watched as the room erupt into chaos; the bodyguards of the rich man drawing their weapons— mostly guns— while the guards of the Mancis Company grabbed for their swords, daggers, and cudgels.
The guards of the Mancis Company far outnumbered the bodyguards, yet only a select few of them even had a long ranged weapon, let alone a rifle or a pistol. Marcus had what seemed to be a flintlock pistol, but he had holstered it for now, opting to charge with his scimitar into a group of riflers shooting at his men.
There were shouts and screams as people fell all around me; the Bolerian officials huddled themselves in a corner of the room, trying to avoid any of the fighting— perhaps hoping that their status would get them through this mess unscathed. The battle unfolded before me, and a loud bang finally broke me out of my stupor.
I turned to the source of the noise, and saw Marcus had fired another shot of his pistol, blowing a man’s shoulders off; I felt my stomach lurch, watching the bits of gore splatter across a wall, as the man fell into a pool of blood. I tried to look down— avoid the sight of death— but I was faced with the rich man’s dead body lying a few feet in front of me, the gaping hole in his neck turned in my direction.
It had been so sudden; everything happened too quickly. My mind was still trying to register what happened to the rich man. He was deplorable— every sense inside of me told me that he deserved his death. Yet, the brutality of it all still drove me into shock: it was complete and utter chaos.
But, a thought crossed my mind, that’s what you needed, right?
I found myself glancing back up into the impromptu battlefield once again. My body tried to force me back down; my instincts told me to stay low and keep myself as small as possible to avoid getting caught up in the battle. But I pushed my arm off the floor, ignoring both the screams in my head telling me to stop, and the screams of death happening all around me.
The fighting continued in the background, and although blue bolts of energy came flying from both sides, the Mancis Company guards dropped left and right from the larger barrage of gunfire coming from the rich man’s bodyguards; not only did the former have less weaponry, theirs also fired at a much slower rate than the latter.
One of the bodyguards— a man with a rifle— backed up to a corner, as three of the slavers from the Mancis Company surrounded him with swords and a dagger. He fired a shot as they lunged at him— killing one of the slavers— then rolling out of the way of the other two’s attack. The man with the dagger quickly followed after him, deflecting a blue bolt of energy as he did, and then brought his weapon down on the rifler as he got close.
The rifler quickly knocked aside the dagger with the butt of his gun, and pushed the man to the ground. With the quick reprieve, he turned to shoot the other slaver running at him through the chest, then flicked back down at the downed man, and executed him. The rifler sighed in relief, and was rewarded with a bullet to the head from afar.
More scenes like this happened throughout the impromptu battlefield; the rich man’s bodyguards were well-trained fighters with advanced weapons, and as such managed to kill three to four of the slavers at a time, but they were getting overwhelmed.
That did not mean the Mancis Company’s guards were untrained fighters who simply charged to their deaths; they were skilled too, strategically using their numerical advantage to take out their foes, while trying to minimize casualties. Plus, Marcus was on their side.
The head guard of the Mancis Company ran up to one of the bodyguards, deflecting bolts of energy as he did. He blocked one, then two, and three; he was getting closer— three, four— then he reached his opponent, and sliced the gun in half. The man tried to back up, but Marcus was fast— faster than anyone on Earth could have been. He impaled the man with his scimitar, before slicing his sword upwards, cutting the man in half.
Another bodyguard saw this happening, and took his chance. He got on his knees, aiming carefully at the head guard’s face, then squeezing on the trigger. Marcus saw this coming, but it was too late; the bullet was already reaching him by the time he had cleaved through the first man, he was going to die—
Marcus instantly rolled his shoulder, harmlessly deflecting the bullet of his armor. In the same second, before the man could take another shot, Marcus quickly drew his own pistol, and hand still on his hip, blasted the man.
A flash of red energy flew across the room into the man, and exploded on impact, completely obliterating the man’s chest. It was like a mini-rocket launcher built in the shape of a flintlock pistol. The head guard of the Mancis Company re-holstered his pistol, and continued tearing through the remaining bodyguards. He was slaughtering them!
The battle was coming to a close. The hundred guards in the Mancis Company were finishing off the remaining few dozen bodyguards of the dead man. It was a massacre. It was… an opportunity.
The chaotic battle gave me my only chance of escaping; I had to somehow free the other slaves and myself. I picked myself up fully, but fell back to my knees. My right leg was not giving me the support I needed to move. I grimaced, trying once again to stand back up. It was no use— I had to have broken my ankle, or at least, sprained it.
If I had the body of an adult, I might have been able to force myself forward— it was hard, but possible. Yet, the body of a kid was much more fragile, especially when injuries were involved. I could not muster up the strength to stand. I was already too physically weak, and being underfed for the past few weeks did not help with this.
I collapsed to the floor, giving up on walking. And just as that happened, I saw one of the bodyguard’s back up to my corner, fighting off three of the slavers. He was cut down before my eyes, and the Mancis Company guards left, moving on to support their other teammates.
I averted my gaze for a moment, but quickly looked back up; the corpse lay there, dead and bloodied. But there was something there I saw— something the man was carrying before he died. There!
It was a pistol. The bodyguard had dropped his rifle as he died, and while his killers sequestered the large gun, they did not see the small weapon hanging around his hips.
If I could get to the gun, I would be able to free myself by shooting the chains free. I might have also been able to pass it to Theodore and get him to free the other slaves. We would be able to arm ourselves off the weapons on the ground, and overwhelm the slavers through sheer numbers.
The hopeful thought forced me to act. I brought one arm forward, followed by another, pushing my body as I did. My hand splashed on a pool of blood, getting bits of gore on my face, and causing me to cringe. But it did not stop me.
It was so far. Too far. I brought my arm out as I exerted the last of my physical strength. If I can only...just...reach...it.
I was halfway to the weapon when I realized that I could reach it. I pulled my hand back, hiding it underneath my body. My fingers twitched, and a small light shone, hidden away from sight. I felt a third arm sprout from me. An invisible arm that could stretch far beyond where my physical body could.
It was the only spell I knew at the moment, and I cast it easily after weeks of practice; I moved it as easily as I would my regular arm now, and I directed it to the pistol on the corpse’s side. I was glad this basic levitation spell only touched what I wanted it to touch, because I was certain I would be puking if I had to actually rummage through the dead man’s body.
I pried the weapon free of its holster, and to avoid as much attention as possible, I slid it towards me with the spell. It stopped within arms reach for me, as I felt the magic dissipate, the glowing circle disappearing along with it. I picked the gun up, aiming it down at the chains at my hands first. I closed
my eyes— praying that it would work— and fired a shot.
I heard a metallic clink. I opened my eyes slowly, and sighed in relief to see that not only did I not accidentally shoot myself, it also managed to break the chain connecting the shackles. I broke the bindings at my feet next, then turned to Theodore.
He was a few dozen feet from me, together with the rest of the slaves; they were all watching the battle slowly come to a close. Only a handful of bodyguards remained against the Mancis Company. I called out to the man, waving at him as I did.
I finally got his attention, and indicated the pistol and my chains. Theodore paused for a moment, realizing what I wanted to do. He hesitated, but nodded slowly as I readied to throw the weapon to him.
I stopped myself when I saw his face twist into horror. He was staring at something behind me!
I spun around quickly, raising the gun as I did. But there was a flash of light. Before I could even react, I found myself rolling on the ground, covered in… glowing chains?
Julian Mancis, owner of the Mancis Company, lowered his cane, the mana crystal on its tip dimming. He strolled over to me as I struggled against the bindings made of mana, but I could not break free. I glared up at him as he picked up the pistol I dropped, and inspected it slowly.
"You’ve caused me a lot of trouble today, girl," Julian said.
The sounds of gunshots and fighting died down. The last of the rich man’s bodyguards were finally killed— their screams the only thing indicating to me that any of them were still alive. Eventually, it stopped too, and the owner of the Mancis Company sighed.
"For your sake, and mine, I truly hope you were worth all this trouble."
Then it was over.
The battle ended with the slavers of the Mancis Company winning; Julian went to speak with the Bolerian officials— probably to bribe them to cover up this entire ordeal— while the remaining guards rounded up the slaves and brought them somewhere else.