by V. A. Lewis
I shifted my focus away from the Free City of Bys, and towards the city guards standing next to our wagon; they were caught in a casual conversation with each other, talking excitedly about us— as if we were some brand new toy.
"Ha! I told you the Mancis Company always delivers!"
"I just don’t understand how they bring in so many slaves each year! And now Beastkin, too? Where did they even get those animals from?"
"From what I hear, these Beastkin were caught in a border conflict between Anibes and those idiots at the Chalstics Confederacy. Captured soldiers that the Mancis Company bought from the Free Cities there, and is now importing into Bys."
I listened in, and noted the ‘official’ story our captors made for us. It was not real, of course. Just a fake cover-up story they created because what they were doing was illegal.
Which, considering how Bys was known as the Slave City, showed how incredibly wretched the Mancis Company is; they were literally the worst of the worst.
Granted, legality was not a good basis for creating a moral compass. But my point still stood. Everyone in the city is a jerk! You two are even bigger jerks! And Mr Jerkface (Julian) is the biggest jerk!
The two city guards continued their conversation, as I continued to call them jerks in my head. Jerks!
"Another border conflict? I swear, those idiots squabble with outsiders over territory every other year. And they’re in a confederation too! How can their members even call themselves a ‘Free City’ with a straight face?"
"Hey, you should be grateful! Their stupidity is what brings us lots of slaves and money! Thank the Goddess that we can profit from those suckers."
"Whatever, everything looks like it checks out. Let’s go and tell the captain that they’re good to pass through—"
"Wait," the first guard placed a hand in front of the second, and pointed in my direction "look at her!"
I froze as the second guard turned to face me and whistled. "Oo, black hair. Never seen that before on a Beastkin. I thought only Elves got it?"
"Who cares about those blue-skinned freaks!" the other man snapped, and placed one hand and feet onto the wagon. He hauled himself up, and turned to his companion. "She’s a Human— you know, like us! And a good-looking one at that."
I shuddered as I heard those words leave his mouth. He stared fixedly at me, and I nearly puked. Grossgrossgross—
"Huh. You’re right."
"Goddess grace us, what kind of a reaction is that? Look at her! She even has the Mancis Brand on her face!"
I reflexively reached up to cover the scar. Disgusting.
"I’m not you," the second man snorted. "Too young for my taste. Maybe if she was a decade older..."
"Whatever, I prefer them this way." The man eyed me from afar. "They just look so—"
"Oi, what are you two idiots doing?" a voice interrupted the two guards. A man who looked to be higher ranked than the two entered our wagon. "Hurry up the inspection. We need to get this over and done with as quickly as possible. We need every man we can get back on the walls— if another horde of Monsters attacked us like today and you two are busy dilly dallying around down here, I’ll have you both turned to slaves."
The two city guards paled, and quickly ran out of our wagon. I stared blankly at their backs as they left.
Shang saw my stare— my face filled with concern and worry— and smiled reassuringly.
"Don’t worry," he said, and mustered a grin underneath his muzzle. "All is not lost just yet."
"But what do we do?" I asked, still feeling completely blindsided by this turn of events. "We’re in the Free City of Slaves. There’s no way we can escape. We’ll die!"
"You’re right, Melas." The Dog Beastkin nodded his head. "This is a terrible city, full of terrible monsters. Fortunately for you, I’m a Hunter. That means I’m used to dealing with monsters."
I met his look, and almost smiled back too. The moment however, did not last, as someone felt left out, and poked her head in to be included in the moment.
"Nn! Don't you mean ‘we are Hunters’? Stop trying to act cool by yourself!"
Shang and I turned to face the Cat Beastkin who spoke; Rin saw our expressions, and blinked.
"What?"
"I’m just saying, you didn’t have to leave out the rest of us!"
"Yes, Rin."
"Look, I know you were having a moment. But we’re here too!"
"Yes, Rin. I heard you the first ten times you said it."
"If you did," the catgirl said, turning from me to Shang, before pouting. "Why are you two still giving me that look?!"
"We’re not giving you any look, Rin," Shang sighed. "You’re imagining it." He rested his forehead on the palm of his hand.
At this point, I had to tune out this argument; it had been almost an hour and it was still going!
By now, our caravan had gone through the checkpoint with the city guards, and our wagons and carts were making our way deeper and deeper into the city. The light breeze from earlier was no more, and stronger winds blew into the flaps of our wagon, allowing me to look into the streets of Bys.
The roads were empty— apart from our procession— and the streets were dark and cold; only the light of the moon and the occasional street lamps illuminated the night. A faint mist covered the city, giving off an eerie and almost luminescent atmosphere to the Free City of Slaves.
It was like a scene straight out of a slasher movie! I fully expected to see an empty street in one second, only to blink, and suddenly see a serial killer standing there. Eventually, the scenery slowly shifted from well-decorated stone houses, to dull brick buildings that were each twice as large as the previous homes.
"Slave quarters," a voice whispered the words behind me. I turned and saw Shang looking into the streets of Bys, and he slowly repeated the words again.
"Slave quarters. We’re in a slave section of the city. One of many. This one looks to be around the massive stadium we saw earlier."
I blinked, as the implications of what was left unsaid slowly sunk in: the slaves here were not builders or manual laborers, but fighters. Gladiators. People, forced to fight in a blood sport for the entertainment of others.
It was wrong; I know the Romans used to do the same, and even in modern times, things like that probably still existed in some parts of the world. But seeing it for myself made me feel sick. I hate this world, the thought once again casually passed through my mind.
Another thought crossed my mind, but this time it was one of worry. Fear. A turning of the stomach as I realized that this was our destination.
"W-why are we— here?" the words left my mouth first with a stutter, and ended like a whisper.
The Hunter shifted in his seat, and spoke with uncertainty.
"I’m not sure. But if I had to guess, the stadium is where most of us will be sold at. It will probably be a public auction, involving thousands and thousands of buyers."
For a second, his eyes flickered to something on my face; then, he qualified his statement with something that probably was not true. "Who knows? Maybe he’ll hold a private auction for us Beastkin."
I blinked, and realized he was trying to console me; he knew I was going to be privately auctioned off to only the wealthiest buyers in Bys, so he was comforting me with the thought that I wouldn’t be alone.
And perhaps he was right. Maybe a few people would be sold alongside me. You didn’t just sell single items during private auctions, right? I did not actually know how private auctions work, but the possibility that I wouldn’t be alone made me feel better.
No, not better. Just less lonely. I shook my head and dismissed those thoughts; wanting others to suffer because I had to suffer was exactly the kind of thoughts horribly cliche bad guys had! And if there were any horribly cliche bad guys here, it had to be the slavers!
If there was anything that would make me feel better, it was not being a slave. Speaking of which, it’s probably time to address the elephant in
the room. So I did.
"Hey, uh… what happens now?" I hesitated, and saw blinking faces. I was being vague! I quickly added in the important part of my question, to not appear like an idiot. "I mean what happens with our… plan? To escape. Are we… still doing that?"
I began to turn red over how stupid I sounded. Good job not appearing like an idiot, idiot! I just barely stopped myself from facepalming at myself, only because it would make me seem like an even bigger idiot.
Fortunately for me, Rin was here, and she did not judge people for being idiots. Thanks Rin! I’m really sorry again for insulting you when we first met! Even if it was in my head! That was mean of me, I was being a jerk!
"Nn, I completely forgot about that!" The catgirl perked up. She smiled at me and nodded her head and said "Of course we’ll still escape!"
From across her, Shang sighed loudly to himself.
"How did you even forget— nevermind." The Dog Beastkin resigned that point to Rin, and instead focused on the more important part of her statement. "How do you propose we escape, Rin?"
"The same way we’ve always planned to, of course!" the white furred catgirl grinned triumphantly, and puffed out her chest. "We fight."
She paused and noticed the incredulity everyone was looking at her with; the Cat Beastkin sighed, and her face turned very serious for a moment.
"Look, I know what you’re thinking. ‘Oh no! Everything is bad! We’re in the Slave City of Bys now! We’re gonna be slaves! Ahhh—’" she did a bad impression of Shang’s voice, and waved her hands in the air mockingly. Then, she simply shrugged. "And?"
She met every single eye in the room, and spoke with genuine passion.
"And? We just give up? Even after all that talk about never giving up? After all that talk about fighting for our freedom; we just surrender when faced with adversity?"
Rin stood up, and raised her voice to be carried throughout the room, bringing hope and inspiration with it.
"In the first place—"
"Lower your voice, Rin! They’ll hear us!" Rin’s motivational speech was interrupted by a Rabbit Beastkin from another cage.
"Oops," the Cat Beastkin said, sitting back down. She smiled apologetically. "Sorry."
Then, the young woman took a deep breath, and spoke again; this time, in a much more subdued tone, but with no less passion behind her words.
"In the first place," she declared, glancing around the room to make sure everyone heard her, and continued when she got a thumbs-up from the back, "did we not plan to break out in Bys?"
The young woman gazed challengingly around the covered wagon; when no one responded, she answered her own question for them. "We did, didn’t we?"
She smiled knowingly to herself, and continued her speech.
"When Melas heard our plan, she suggested the possibility of escaping before we had to fight through an entire city of slavers, because fighting through just a company of them would be easier. She did not, however, say to abandon the original plan completely. To her, it was just a worst-case scenario type of thing— am I right, Melas?"
Rin gave me a knowing look, and I slowly nodded my head.
"See?" The catgirl pointed her arms in my direction, and then around the room. "Well, guess what? It’s come to the worst-case scenario— to our original plan! And we’re not giving up! We’ve had setbacks before, but we persisted. Because, as far as I’m concerned, I could kill a hundred of these bastards with my hands tied behind my back!"
Slowly, Rin lowered her arms, and gave a smug grin to everyone in the room.
"Just because they captured us in our sleep, doesn’t mean they can do it when we’re awake. We are Hunters, after all."
The wagon went silent, and it carried on for a couple of seconds, before someone finally broke the silence; from his seating position, Shang shifted, leaning forwards and opening his mouth to speak.
He was going to support his companions speech. He was going to give his own inspiring words to stir up the room even more. He was going to—
"Hrn, did you really say all that, just to get back at me for saying ‘I’m a Hunter’, and not ‘we’?" the Dog Beastkin sighed and began to rub his temples. "And in the first place, weren’t you the one who dozed off during your shift to keep watch at night— which led us to being captured while asleep?"
Shang looked accusingly at the young woman; Rin’s face immediately turned beet red, and she began trying to defend herself. "W-w-what? No, I—-"
Then I laughed.
At first, I giggled, as if someone made a bad pun that was slightly amusing; then I started to chuckle, the kind I made when I was watching a really funny family movie; and finally, I guffawed, laughing and laughing like some sort of insane woman— as if some sort of madness had taken control of me, forcing me to laugh against my will.
It was not a happy laughter. It was certainly not something that came about from being entertained. But it was laughter nonetheless.
And what did laughter even do? Supposedly, it secreted endorphins— some sort of happy hormones— to stimulate my brain, making me happy. That was science. Something which I vaguely learned about in my world. But I was not in my world.
Did laughter work the same way here? I certainly did not feel happy in the moment, so clearly it did not. Or maybe, I was taught wrong; after all, I did learn this from the internet, and not some science textbook.
But there was something which laughter did, that certainly did work across worlds. It did not always do it. But when it did, it just happens, almost like—
Magic.
Not the kind that would get you killed for doing in this world, or the ones that only existed in fiction back in my world. But the kind of magic that just works. That just happened.
And the magic that laughter brought about— the thing that would happen, inexplicably and only occasionally— was a simple thing: it lightens the mood!
Laughter was contagious. It spread like a disease in an airtight room, with everyone in the room squished together, and naked. That’s a graphic thought— in more ways than one. But when laughter spread, it eased the tension of the room; it lightened the severity of the situation, because how could you be serious while laughing?
So when I laughed, at first, everyone stared at me confused. Rin, Shang, and all the other Beastkin in the wagon were simply bewildered.
But as I continued to laugh, Rin joined in, then Shang; and from that moment, it was a domino effect. Dog, Cat, and Rabbit Beastkin alike all laughed together with me, a Human. A young Human girl that gave them false hope that could never be; and yet, because we were together, we laughed together.
The laughing kept going, on and on, and would have lasted forever if we were left unchecked. But that never would have happened, because we were slaves. We had no freedom. And without freedom, we would always be checked.
"Oi! Shut it, you noisy fucking animals!" a voice bellowed into the wagon from the outside. The wagon driver shouted, and spoke in a quieter voice to himself, "It’s even worse than a zoo."
All at once, everyone stopped laughing. A hushed silence enveloped us, and brought us back to the moment. But the moment was no longer one of dread and hopelessness; although it was not one of hope and joy either. It was just different. It was… calm.
Our nerves from before were gone, and we looked at each other with a readiness that will never be enough for what was about to happen. But we had to be ready. And we had to be calm.
So when we finally arrived at our destination, the wagons stopped moving, and the night returned to its natural quietus, I whispered something out for everyone to hear.
"Same plan, different place, but same outcome."
Shang looked at me, and he simply nodded. He did not ask if I was certain or sure any longer; there was no time for that any more. If I were not prepared like during our last escape attempt, then we would simply fall into the fate we had been expecting since we were chained up. Or die.
Rin looked at me and grinned. Sh
e might have had a thousand words she wanted to say to me at the moment, but now was the time for action: so the grin sufficed.
The Mancis Company began unloading their goods into their warehouse, and I saw Julian gleefully looking over us with money in his eyes.
The warehouse was large; there were more guards in the building than there were escorting us throughout our trip, and Marcus began ordering them around. Slaves— not the ones with us— but slaves that were already in the warehouse, slaves that have been in Bys for years, came out, and began unloading the cargo and bringing it into the structure; as they did this, they were being loosely supervised by their masters, almost as if they did not expect them to do anything suspicious.
And they probably would not have done anything other than what they were told. They looked worn down, broken and crushed from years of hard labor and torture.
When I looked at them, I knew I did not want to be like them. I was never going to give up. I would never be broken; neither my legs, nor my will. I was going to escape their shackles, and run away from this bondage.
I will be free.
So when we were brought in our cells to a room to be stored; when the door was shut and locked behind the slavers as they left us alone; when the darkness of the night closed in, and the world slept in silence. I did not sleep.
Instead, I reached out. I raised my hand in the air, and felt something. A dim circle of light appeared, and then—
The world opened up.
Chapter 19: Live
I held the keys in my hand, and smiled. The deed had been done, I had learned from my past mistakes. We were locked in a cold, dark room with only a single metal door and a small window, yet I somehow acquired what I needed.
It was not difficult when I could use magic to solve my problems; I was more cautious this time around, when it came to stealing the key with the levitation spell, which ended up eating an hour of my time. Furthermore, I was aided by the fact that the walls in the warehouse were incredibly thick, which let little noise escape from the room. I had the key ring now, and unless I decided to bang the metal keys against the bars of the cage, there was no way any guard could intercept me.