by Dixon, TJ
Rin ports us outside of the Great Library so we can take a look, but obviously we can’t enter. We are about to head to the city port hub to get a boost home when I notice something. There are soldiers running inside the library with ten mages following immediately after them. They look in a hurry and we hadn’t seen that many together until now. In fact the most we had seen together were two.
“I’m curious.” I say and close my eyes. I sense them inside the library but otherwise it seems empty. Then I notice someone above us. They seem to be hiding their presence somehow, but they can’t quite hide from me when I am focusing my wind sense. Wait it isn’t just one person. Definitely two. A sneaky suspicion is aroused inside me. Two people hiding? Could it be those two?
“Lucy? Is there way to hide myself in the air from other mages?” I ask.
“Yes. It may be a bit difficult for you though.” Lucy replies.
“Do you know how to?” I ask.
“Yes of course I do, but I don’t have the power.” Lucy replies.
“You’d better not be thinking of using it to enter the library. You’ll be killed if they catch you.” Rin says angrily.
“No, not that.” I tell her.
“So what are you planning?”
“Nothing important. Just a test. Lucy how do I hide myself?”
“The last time you said nothing important you fought an army!” Rin protests. “Tell me what you plan to do and why it has to be here and now.”
“I think I may have found those two everyone’s looking for, but I don’t want to show the soldiers where they are.”
“You what?!” Rin exclaims.
“Quieten down.” I say alarmed. I don’t want to be overheard.
“How did you find them?” Rin whispers.
“I don’t know it’s them but there are two people hiding in the sky. It could be them.”
Lucy looks at me and says. “I can probably hide you for about two seconds before I faint from overusing my magic. Port up there with me, and then port them and us somewhere outside the city. Rin, do you know anywhere outside the city that isn’t too far to port, but isn’t too close either?”
“Yes. There’s a forest all around this city. I explored it a bit when I was younger.”
“Port us all there.” Lucy says and it sounds like an order but Rin doesn’t seem to mind. “Yes this will do. Peter port just us two back.” I do so. “Tell me when you are ready and I will start the magic. You will only have two seconds though, so you will need to be quick.”
“Now.” I say and then port us up, grab two shocked hands and port back to the forest. The young man and woman in front of me are definitely the people on the poster. They both have a black leather collar with a broken chain attached.
“I won’t let you!” The woman cries leaping in front of the man and clearly trying to protect him.
“Don’t worry. I mean you no harm.” I say and then hand an unconscious Lucy over to Hermes to hold. “Are you brother and sister?”
“Yes.” The woman answers. “We escaped slavery together but can’t go too far from our master without removing the collars, and removing them would kill us. Do you really not intend to collect the bounty on us?”
“Like I’d do that.” I laugh. “I used to be a slave too.”
“Seriously?” She asks taken aback.
“It was a while ago now but yes. Rin, would alchemy allow us to break the collar without harming them?”
“If my mother was here she could, but not with my skills.” Rin says apologetically.
“Then we just need to get her. Could you port back and get her for us?” I ask.
“My power is a little drained. Hermes, could you go?” Rin asks.
“Sure.” Hermes says and tries to port but collapses to the floor as if hit in the stomach.
“What happened?!” I exclaim.
“Barrier.” Hermes groans and suddenly I sense something really ominous.
“Hide us all now!” I call out to the woman and man, praying that they are able to. It is Yu Kii though who hides us. I can feel the gentle power of earth cover us like a blanket. Suddenly the sky goes dark. It was already shaded by leaves but this is more like a starless night falling on us suddenly.
Reaching out with my wind sense I feel sick to the core. There is something in the air that it is both powerful and pure evil. It is surrounded by weaker creatures that reek of the same evil. The small creatures look like giant flying ants whilst the large creature looks more like a huge fly the size of a small town. I sense a rush of power as it sends a river of something foul flowing through the air. It strikes the city wall and the part that is struck dissolves in seconds.
A beam of light shoots out from the centre of the city and strikes the foul beast, but it just roars in anger and the roar chills me to the bone. It is the roar of death reaching out for us. Yu Kii shrieks, Hermes faints and Rin goes pale and falls to her knees. The young man and woman are holding each other in tears. I create a wind shield around us and the noise softens but it is still there. I fall to my knees too now as I hold back this sickly sound.
The sky above the city is now filled with mages and a shield of solid magic now holds back the river of death that is starting to flow into the city as well as the roar. The smaller creatures have now almost reached the city skies and it becomes a battle of mages versus creatures. Fire, ice, earth, wind and lightning turn the sky into a blaze, but the attacks are doing little damage. Mages too slow to dodge are finding themselves in the jaws of the creatures. I wish I could help them. I may not like them but I don’t want them to die like this. And what will be the fate of the people of the city if their protectors fall? I curse my weakness and tears flow freely from my eyes as I watch helplessly as mage after mage dies.
The shield starts to falter and the flow of that river of death starts again. Suddenly there is a great flame covering the huge monster. I recognise this flame. It is the queen’s flame without a shadow of a doubt. This time though she doesn’t hold back. The roar turns into a cry of agony and then fades altogether. I drop my wind shield and looking at Yu Kii realise we are no longer hidden. The creatures are falling back but that means they will fly over us again.
“Hide us again! Quickly!” I urge Yu Kii.
“Ughh.” She answers and vomits before falling to the floor. We are in real trouble now. If we are spotted it will be all over. The creatures are overhead and haven’t spotted us yet though. Maybe we will be lucky. I cross my fingers. Most of them have now passed and I am about to breathe a sigh of relief when one falls out of the sky unable to fly any further. It is injured but still deadly. I strike with a slice of wind but my attack does nothing. Rin has recovered enough and sends a hail of ice at it. It hits the wound and the creature shrieks but lunges at Rin. I strike with lightning and port the attack inside.
It falls to the ground again and turns its attention on me. I strike again but it does no good. Rin’s next attack is really weak and doesn’t stop its lunge. A fierce wall of flames rises in front of me and the creature unable to stop itself becomes mostly ash. I am covered in the ash and bits of goo but am unharmed. I look to Hermes but she is still unconscious. I look to Yu Kii and Rin before realising it wasn’t any of our attacks.
“It was me.” The young woman says.
“That’s a powerful attack. How did you become a slave if you’re that powerful? And why was the reward so low to capture you?”
“My master knew I would never be loyal to her if my brother is killed. The bounty and rewards are required by Mayor Perry every time a female slave escapes with a male slave. One gold is the minimum.”
“They aren’t going to drop the barrier so we’ll not be able to port back.” Rin says worried. “We can go through the gates but it will be a problem for these two. There will be search parties for monsters like the one we killed. Are you two able to hide in the wind still?”
“No. I used too much power.” The young woman says worried.
; “What if you were no longer escaped slaves?” I ask.
“You mean return to our former master?” She asks shaking her head. “We escaped for a reason. We would never return to her.”
“No. What if your master sold you both and you ‘returned’ to your new master?”
“I suppose that would work, but who would buy an escaped slave? The minimum would be five gold to buy a female slave and one gold to buy a male slave.”
“Wouldn’t your master prefer to get six gold, than to have to pay one gold and get a slave who will most likely try to escape again?”
“Sure, but who would buy us? You?”
“Sure.” I say with nod.
“You, an escaped slave, have six gold to spare?” She asks in disbelief.
“I’m a freed slave, not an escaped slave, but yes I have six gold. That’s most of my money but it would be worth it.”
“Would you free my brother and allow me to serve you in his place?”
“Jenny!” He cries out. “That’s not fair! Why should you alone have to serve him?!”
“Neither of you need to serve me but if you would be willing to join my company when I form it I would appreciate it.” I say.
“You’d give away most of your money to free a stranger?” Jenny asks stunned.
“Yes.”
“Then you are worth serving.” She says and kneels before me with her head on the ground. Her brother does so immediately after her and my face must be red by now.
“Get up. You don’t need to kneel. Anyway who is your former master?”
“It is Lady Butterwell. She lives at 35 Unhinged Road. That’s near the palace.
“Rin, how do I prove who I am to get past the city gates?” I ask.
“I’ll go too. It may make things easier. Do you actually have your gold on you though? I leave mine at home with my mother for safe keeping.”
“Yes I have it. I can’t exactly leave it in my room unguarded.” I say.
“I suppose that makes sense.” Rin says. I take her hand and port us both to the city gate. There are lots of guards, many of whom are mages. They are clearly weary from battle.
“Who are you?” The guard asks, clearly suspicious.
“I’m student mage Rin.” Rin says and shows a piece of paper. “This is student mage Peter.”
“You may enter.” The guard says and passes us both through but glares at me. I can feel her glare on my back even when we are right through. I then take Rin’s hand again and port us close, but not too close to the large building that looks like a palace.
“It’s this way.” Rin says and leads the way. We reach Unhinged Street. The homes here are mansions with plenty of land around them and not all are numbered. It takes a while before we reach 35 but there is no doubt that this home with a massive 35 sign bigger than some homes is what we are looking for.
We walk up the front path, which takes a minute. I go to knock on the door but Rin stops me and points at a rope next to the door. I pull it and hear loud bells ringing. The door swings open and a young woman is standing there wearing a black collar and a very thin dress. It is almost transparent. I blush and look away.
“We’re here to see Lady Butterwell.” Rin says.
“Is she expecting you?” The slave asks fearfully.
“No, but she will want to talk with us. It’s about her escaped slaves.”
“You have them?”
“We have a proposal for her.” Rin says and I wonder whether someone rich enough to live in a home like this with slaves is really going to be interested in six gold.
“I will tell her. Please wait here.” She says and the door swings shut as she walks away from us into a long corridor. After a few minutes a rather fat old lady ports in front of us.
“I am Lady Butterwell. I hear you have a matter to discuss with me.”
“Yes.” Rin says. “We would like to buy your two escaped slaves. The ones with the bounty on.”
“If I had them to sell you I might be willing to, but as you said yourself they are escaped.”
“We only need their ownership papers. We can only pay the minimum, but just for their ownership without them present that is surely a good deal.” Rin says.
“Do I look like I am worried about six gold?” She says with a scornful laugh. Rin seems hard pressed to answer.
“Isn’t your reputation much more important than the price?” I improvise. “With the queen in the city surely having posters of your escaped slaves everywhere isn’t going to be good for your reputation.”
“The queen is in the city?” Lady Butterwell asks shocked. “Why would the queen be here?”
“Given the attack surely you must know why. Those were her flames.” I tell her.
“What attack?” Lady Butterwell asks and my mouth goes wide. Rin laughs for a moment but then restrains herself.
“The attack that almost destroyed this city.” I say and point at the smoke still coming from the city walls, and of course the gap. Lady Butterwell pulls the rope with magic. The slave opens the door and is thrown against a wall by a force of wind. “Why did you not tell me about the attack?!” For a moment I think she is about to be killed. “I will continue your punishment later.” The door slams shut. “I will sell them to you. It is up to you to catch them though, and the reward should someone else do so will be yours to pay. I want nothing more to do with them. You have the money on you?”
“Yes.” I say and go to hand over the six gold coins.
“Give it to the girl to give to me. I don’t want to dirty my hands.” Lady Butterwell says pointing at Rin.
“OK.” I say with a sigh and give Rin the coins. Taking the money from Rin the lady ports away and a few seconds later ports back. She gives two pieces of paper to Rin.
“They are your problem now.” She says with a snort and then ports away. I take the papers and port us back to the city gates.
“You want to leave the city?” The guard asks and laughs at us. “Do you seriously think we are going to let you?”
“We have important business to attend to.” I say.
“What important business could a little boy and girl have?”
“We are student mages.” Rin tells her.
“Student mages don’t have important business.” The guard says firmly. I close my eyes and try to sense the barrier to look for weaknesses but I can’t. I grab Rin’s hand and fly us past the shocked guard through the open gate. I dodge a hail of ice and past the gate I port us back to the others.
“You idiot!” Rin shouts at me. “How are we going to get back in!?”
“We can just use the gate on the other side of the city. It’s not like we’re their top priority right now, is it?” I answer.
“Did you persuade her?” The young woman, who is now my slave, asks me.
“Yes. We have your papers here. Yu Kii, are you okay now?”
“Yes. I’m terribly sorry for earlier!” She says and bows even lower than normal for her.
“No harm done, but I’m glad you’re ok. What about you, Hermes?” I ask.
“Not feeling great.” She says and that is clearly an understatement.
“And I’m fine too, thank you very much.” Lucy says sounding annoyed.
“I hadn’t forgotten you.” I say apologetically.
“Well you better not either.” Lucy says glaring at me.
“Who is this?” The young woman asks as if just noticing Lucy.
“I’m his pet. My name’s Lucy.”
“His pet? What sort of pet?” The young woman asks.
“A human pet of course. Did you think I wasn’t human?” Lucy says with a mischievous smile.
“Umm…” She says but avoids answering.
“So what are we waiting for?” Lucy asks.
“Hermes, how is your power?” I ask.
“I have plenty left.” She says sounding a little embarrassed. “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to help earlier.”
“You can help now by portin
g us all to the gate on the other side of town. Rin, you can show Hermes, can’t you?”
“Yes.” Rin says and we all hold onto Hermes. There are so many of us it feels a little silly now but it is much more efficient than having two of us port. The guards are shocked to see us all appear and after a moment they recognise the man and woman we are trying to help.
Before the guards do anything dangerous I call out to them. “My new slaves are not to be harmed. I have the paperwork here if you wish to inspect it.”
They do of course. A guard escorts us to the transport hub to avoid every soldier we pass causing us trouble. The port back is more expensive than the port here now that we are porting two more people, but compared to the six gold coins it is nothing. Arriving at the town hall we all breathe a sigh of relief. As we leave the town hall though, Rin’s mother is waiting and runs up to Rin. She hugs Rin tightly.
“I was so worried! I heard that a dragon, or a horde of demons, or even the fallen angels attacked Utopia Camerona!”
“I don’t know what they were but it wasn’t a dragon or fallen angels. I don’t think they were demons either. The queen killed the big one and the others fled though, so we were OK.” Rin answers.
“Who are your new friends?”
“They were escaped slaves but Peter bought them.” Rin says.
“Do they become free if I free them?” I ask.
“How old are you both?” Rin’s mother asks.
“We’re both twenty. We’re twins.” The young woman answers.
“Then yes they would be free. You must have spent most of your money to buy them though, so are you sure that’s what you want to do?”
“Slaves or free we will serve you as our master.” The young woman says.
“How do I free them?”
“Just register them as free people at the town hall. But maybe you should think about it first.”
“No. We’re here so let’s do it now.” I say.
“There’s a fee of one silver each. Do you still have enough?” Rin’s mother asks.
“Yes I can afford that.” I say. “We were going to do some work for you and some bounty hunts over the time off so I should be able to earn more fairly quickly. I earned most of my gold from the Tree Ent bounty and with so many of us we should be able to do harder jobs much easier now.”