Chapter 127: Picking up the Pieces
Falledge Town, Merchant District, North Star Trading
Etoro Arther paced around in his office, rubbing his hands anxiously as he waited for news from his people. The fine china holding his favorite snacks and sweetmeat were ignored as he stood before the window, peeking around to see if his people had returned every once in while before resuming his pacing.
Finally, a knock on his door and his clerk's muffled voice sounded through the door, "Sir, Mr. Bishop is here to see you."
"Let him in! Let him in!" Etoro hurriedly replied, and he stood before his office doors.
Qoum Bishop entered his office, his dark red hair plastered against his head with sweat. He quickly dropped himself onto the sofa chair, ignoring his travel-stained clothes against the rich leather and raised his hand up, and a couple of blue magic circles appeared.
A fist-sized piece of ice appeared over the magic circle before melting away into a thin fog, which covered the entire room. Qoum gave a relieved sigh as the room cooled down, and he removed his traveling coat.
"How is it?" Etoro asked as he carried over a set of tea and poured a cup for Qoum.
"Hmmm," Qoum took a sip and grimaced, raising his finger and using magic to cool the tea down before drinking it. "Job's done. 347 accounted for, 15 deaths during transportation."
Otoro sat down next to Qoum and pour them both another cup, "15 deaths? What happened?"
"The slavers were too rough, I guess?" Qoum gave a shrug, "Anyway I did my part, so where is the payment?"
"Of... of course," Otoro got up and went to his desk and opened his drawer, taking out four white coins with an image of a crystal shard on one side, and placed them on the table before Qoum who picked them up and nodded. "I just round it up to a perfect 400 royals.
Qoum pocketed the platinum crystal coins and rosed. "They are placed at the usual drop off at the warehouse, I also bribed the town guards and officials to keep it quiet."
"Thank you," Otoro said, and gave a short bow as Qoum gave a simple wave and left his office.
Otoro stood over his office window and watched Qoum disappear into the crowd before he rang a tiny brass bell, and a clerk appeared. "You called, Sir?"
"Yes, yes," He removed a key from around his neck and handed it over to the clerk and said, "Go to the warehouse and do the usual and prepare them to move at a moment's notice."
The clerk accepted the key and gave a bow before he left to do Otoro's bidding.
"Now, is to see if Tyrier can do what he promised."
-----
Somewhere in Falledge
Kaga Whitetail hissed in suppressed pain, as the boils burst open with bloody fluid leaking out from her bare feet. She swallowed back the tears threatening to break out from her blue eyes and gently rubbed her swollen ankles. Looking up at the unlit interior of the large room, she suspected that they were kept in some warehouse, where daylight shone through the eaves in the roof.
Moans and sobs could be heard from the large group of people lying on every surface or even on top of each other. She gently shifted herself to a more comfortable position against the hard packed ground and ignored the persons besides her. The thin dirty shift she wore for the last four months clung against her malnourished and wasted body, barely provides enough warm and decency to her body.
She shivered despite the being spring and in the day and hugged her dirty and matted tail, no longer looking white and healthy, her dirty white crudely cut short hair and her cat like ears drooping in sadness and pain, wondering what will happen to her and the people around.
Kaga gritted her teeth in pain the person next to her accidentally knock against her wounded feet, sending waves of pain, her tail tensing up. She cursed the Empire for causing all these hardships and tried to use magic to cast a simple healing spell, but she could not gather any spiritual power from her surroundings as the plain-looking metal collar shackled around her neck blocked her magical powers.
She sighed and curled up into as small a space as possible, hugging herself before slowly drifting off into a nightmare fueled sleep.
-----
The blue mountains outside the window brought a sharp and foul-smelling breeze into the room Kaga was in. She paused her reading of the scroll and set it aside and rosed, walking bare feet against the straw woven mats and stood before the open window and looked outside, wondering what was going on.
From her vintage view of the tallest tower in the city, she saw a plume of smoke rising off in the distance and suddenly a loud clanging sound was raised from one of the watchtowers where someone was beating an alarm.
"Priestess!" The wood and paper sliding door slid open and two handmaidens in white and red long billowing robes, "The Empire has attacked!"
"What?" Kaga spun around, "We had an agreement!"
"They broke it!" The two girls, one with brown ears, hair and tail cried, "They are storming the Beast City as we speak!"
"Quickly, we must head to the Formation Array!" Kaga said, "The guards? Takao, go inform the elders to gather at the Formation Hall!" She instructed the brown-haired girl who bowed and dashed off.
"They are mobilizing to the walls," The other girl with grey-blue ears, hair and tail replied. She waved for the two Kobold guardsmen stationed outside the Priestess room to follow them and the two dog-like looking humanoid carrying curved sabers followed faithfully along.
They hurried down the wooden steps and out of the Tower and headed past a large stone courtyard and up a flight of stairs again, before reaching a huge building with a large and gently curved roof with many pillars supporting the structure.
Kobold guardsmen bowed as they approached and they quickly pushed open the doors for the Priestess's party. Once inside, Kage's eyes took a short while to adjust to the darkness inside and hurried down into the middle of the empty hall, where a large complicated looking magic formation was etched into the tiles.
The interior pillars had runes carved into them and what appeared to be talismans were stuck all over the hall. A simple oil lamp sat in the middle of the formation, the tiny flame flickering slightly in the breeze that the party brought in.
"The elders?" Kaga asked as she knelt next to the lamp, checking the oil levels. "Are they here yet?"
"Here, Priestess," A mellow voice rung out from the main doors as another party of robe dressed beastmen entered. "We await your bidding." The group of elders with Takao bowed to Kaga.
"Quick, we need to bring the barrier up to stop the Empire," Kaga responded, pointing to each point of the formation. "I need all your help in this."
"Are we too rush to use the Formation now?" One of the grey-furred elder asked as they hurried in their own pace to the formation. "The guards should be more than able to handle some weaklings."
"No, I have seen their powers," Kaga said, "That is why I agreed to a non-aggressive pact and open borders with the Empire, just that, I never expect that Varacen to attack so fast! I miscalculated, I thought we had at least a year more to prepare!"
The seven elders muttered something among themselves as they start surrounding Kaga in the middle of the Formation, "We are ready."
Kaga nodded and sat down cross-legged in a meditative stance, while the elders followed suit, and started chanting. The magic formation and runes started glowing brighter and brighter before the countless talismans sudden burst into flames one by one and a bright beam of energy burst out of the building into the skies before exploding into a shimmering dome that covered the entire city.
Kaga sighed as powering the formation had drained her of all her energy. "Keep watch over the flame, do not let it go out!" She ordered the Flame Keeper at the side, who nodded.
Suddenly screams and cries could be heard outside the Formation Hall, and Kaga looked up in surprise. "The enemy? Here!"
The doors exploded into wooden shards and splinters and a kobold guardsman flew into the hall, his chest caved in, and blood pooling around its broken body. Two dark figures stood against the light and sniggered as they casually strolled in.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" One of them mockingly spoke. "Cute little kitties aren't they?'
As the two walked in, their features could be seen clearer, both were dressed in typical Empire plate armor, but more ornate and delicate looking. The one that spoke had his long blonde hair tailed in a ponytail and specks of blood could be seen on his smooth white face while the other Knight had a full faced helmet covering his head.
"Kill them!" One of the elders yelled and she conjured up several magical flames and shooting them at the two figures, while another elder took out a handful of talismans and chanted something before tossing them out. Kaga's handmaidens instantly took up positon in front of her, shield her with their bodies.
The spirit fires shoot towards the helmeted Knight and the Knight just casually sliced the fires away with his long sword, while the other Knight laughed as the talismans stuck onto his body and exploded.
Kaga looked in wild-eyed horror as that giggling Knight that exploded, emerged from a glow of a magical protection spell and causally dusted himself off unharmed from a spell that is equaled to an Empire level 4 spell! "Quick! Summon the guardians!"
The elders looked at each other and nodded before forming complex hand seals and chanted an invocation under their breaths.
"Hahahaha, what toys are the kitties trying to bring out this time?" The Laughing Knight asked, as he stood casually and waited for them to finish.
"Don't waste time," The Helmeted Knight said, "Kill them off."
"Alright, alright," The Laughing Knight grumbled, "You spoil all the fun," He reached to his back and drew out two wicked looking daggers, "Greater Agility!" and vanished from sight before appearing in front of a startled Elder.
"Hi!" He grinned and sliced the jugular of the shocked Elder, sending a spray of blood out. "Who's next?"
The Elders stepped back in horror as their concentration broke and Kaga quickly tossed out several talismans and quickly chanted a spell, turning the talismans into flying eagles, that swooped down at the Laughing Knight.
"Protect the Priestess!" Cries rang out from the rear as dozens of Kobold guardsmen rushed in and died as the Helmeted Knight sliced and diced with his swordplay against the badly matched guards.
The Elders quickly resumed their spell as the Laughing Knight was distracted by the paper eagles when suddenly the Helmeted Knight seemed to get impatient and threw his sword with full force at Kaga, "Greater Strength Up!"
"Noo!" The two handmaidens screamed as they quickly used all their power to boost up their protection spells, blocking the silver Mythril sword's passage and flew back into Kaga who was supporting the Formation Array.
As they fell back, the Spirit Lamp which was used to gather spiritual energy was knocked down and the flame went out, almost immediately the flow of energy into the Formation Array ceased, and without Kaga supporting the Array with her power, the city protection spell faded away.
The Laughing Knight grinned as he shredded the last paper eagle, his handsome face blooding from cuts from the attacks of the paper eagles. "Damn, that was interesting, your useless papers and actually able to hurt me, little kitty!"
"RUN!" Takao pushed her sister and Kaga to the back, "I will hold them off! GO!"
Takao's sister grabbed Kaga and dragged her away, much to the amusement of the Laughing Knight, "Trying to run, kitties? I so like a hunt!"
"Die!" Takao charged forward and the talismans in her fingers turned into daggers and she slashed at the Laughing Knight, aiming for his neck, but he just laughed and punched out, breaking her weaken protection spell, breaking her ribs and causing her to vomit out the contents in her stomach before collapsing in a heap in front of the Knight.
"Now, for the next kitties," He rubbed his hands gleefully when the remaining Elders lobbed spirit fire and exploding talismans at him.
"Nooo!" Kaga screamed weakly as she watched the Knights massacred everyone in the room before her mana drained body gave up and she lapsed into darkness.
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Chapter 128: Freed
Kaga jerked awake, shivering an shaking as she curled up on the hard floor panting. Tears flowed down as she recalled the sacrifices made by others for her. Her last handmaiden hid her in some shacks and switched clothes before leaving her to draw away the searching Empire soldiers.
Without the Spirit Lamp and her as the key to the CIty Protection Spell, the Empire's dragons swooped in and tangled with the city's griffins while siege engines attacked the city walls. With the Empire Knights wreaking havoc behind lines, the city fell rapidly and the city inhabitants fled.
She was later captured by slavers who followed behind the Imperial Army, who traded gold for life, healthy bodies. Cutting her long hair short with a dagger and being on the run for over two weeks, she looked like any other refugee on the run. It was also probably due to her depleted both magic and physical powers from casting the City Protection Spell, the slaver's appraisal of her was that she was unfit as a prime slave, and was cast with the undesirable and dying leftovers.
She attempted to escape when her magic recovered, but unluckily she was stopped by an anti-magic formation cast into the slave holding pens which earned her a beating and anti-magic collar. She and many others were transported from one holding pen to another before reaching the southern trade hub of Woschester.
After a week of horrible treatment in the pens, a buyer came and said he needed bodies to clear the land near the uncharted forest and they were sold. Another two weeks of hard travel, several died along the way from the harsh conditions before they arrived at this place. Kaga laid shriveled up wondering when they will have some porridge to eat and drink.
-----
UNS Singapore, Command Bridge
"Gods, what a mess! It's been three days since the goblins landed yet they are still running around... like a cockroach!" Captain Blake sighed as he read the after action report from Major Frank. "The goblin mop up is taking too much time and resources away from us."
"Yes, Sir," Frank agreed, "But we need to clear them out thoroughly or we have an unknown cancer at our flanks."
"Agreed too," Commander Ford added, "Despite the overwhelming victory at the defense of the beach, there are still hundreds shattered and hiding along the beach. We can't take the risk of having an enemy there. It's better to finish them off once and for all, or we have to spend resources just guarding against them."
"3 deaths and 47 injured from Delta company, the recruits suffering no deaths only 5 injuries due to mishaps," Blake read from the report. "And we lost a single F/A-1 Cobra on landing."
"Sir, the pilots are still new to night combat and landing," Lieutenant Commander Tommy replied. "The good thing is both the pilot and co-pilot suffered minor injuries and will recover in a couple of weeks time."
Blake nodded as he continued reading the report, "Ordnance used, 70% of all rocket stocks, 80% of all mortar bombs and roughly 295,680 6.5 mm Black Powder (BP) rounds fired."
"Estimated goblin deaths at roughly 21,000, with roughly 2,000 still hiding along the beach still," Blake put down the tablet and looked at the three commanders. "That's not counting the 12 deaths and 24 heavily wounded Marines of Alpha Company. That's almost half the fighting strength gone from an experienced combat unit."
"Sir," Frank spoke up, "It's my fault, Sir!"
"No, no," Blake waved Frank down, "I am not assigning blame here, we just could not foresee what dangers are in the dungeon. Even with having an entire platoon fighting the Boss of the level, it was almost wiped out even with all kinds of precautions we took."
"I think we should suspend exploration of the Dungeon till we consolidate our forces first," Blake said. "What do you all think?"
Ford looked at the other two and nodded, "We have been constantly encountering external threats without having a proper chance to rest and recuperate. Thou the Dungeon did offer us substantial rewards like the nitroshroom, but its dangers are just too overwhelming at the same time."
"What you are saying is?" Blake raised his eyebrow at arched his fingers together.
"Stop digging deeper," Ford replied.
"Sir, I think we should stop the exploration, and limit it to Level Two for our resource needs, and avoid deeper exploration," Frank said.
"I concur too, Sir," Tommy replied.
Blake looked at the three standing before him and nodded, "Ok, from now on till further notice, exploration of the Dungeon will be stopped, harvesting teams are only to have access to level two that has been cleared. No one goes down into Level Three, anyone caught will be prosecuted."
"And be shot," Frank grinned.
"And survivors will be shot again," Finished Tommy.
"Get out of here, kids..." Blake rubbed his face, covering the smile he had.
Both Officers gave a salute and left the Bridge leaving Ford behind with Blake. "Captain, regarding the trade deal with Falledge, you think its a good idea?"
Blake nodded, "We can secure a line of supply from the town, why not?"
"But it's in the enemy territory," Ford replied. "It will not be a stable source of supply."
"Yes, I know," Blake agreed. "That's why I want to milk it as much as I can before it gets discovered."
"Well, 10 tons of seeds, a thousand heads of muffalos and two thousand egg-laying bird wyverns," Ford replied from memory, "It isn't a lot to support our population of fewer than 9000 humans, elves, orcs, and three hungry dragons..."
"Well, its a start," Blake said, "City Hall is still at its baby steps, but these are seed stocks crucial for our food needs for the future. Besides, we do not know if the merchant friend of our Claymore One leader is reliable yet. It's like a test to see if he can deliver."
Ford nodded, "Then how about the transporting slaves crap?"
"If what Sergeant Tyrier reports is true," Blake rubbed his chin, "I don't mind opening up the Pass for the freed slaves. In fact, I would even like to meet with the person doing this, especially if they are from the Isles. That's another trade option there."
"And you can poach on the freed slaves to join us too right?" Ford shook his head.
"Hehehe," Blake grinned, "You know me too well!"
"Well, according to our good Sergeant there, the merchant Otoro Arther should have a batch of freed slaves to be transported to safety within the week," Ford said. "But do you think this Otoro guy will accept?"
Blake flipped open his tablet and pulled up the files on Otoro Arther, "Owner of North Star Trading, 31 years old, Son of Baron Arther, Kingdom of Goldrose..." There were several pictures of Otoro in the file too, most likely taken from a recording camera from Tyrier.
"Well, we can only wait and see," Blake said. "And hope our good Sergeant can convince his friend."
Ford nodded, "I am assuming you going to authorize the mission to extend over the one month period?"
"Of course," Blake grinned, "There is still so much to learn!"
-----
Somewhere in Falledge
The large barn-like wooden doors swung open and several figures stood before the flood of sunlight shining into the holding room. Kaga sat up slowly and squinted her eyes against the bright lights.
"Alright, everyone!" One of the figures spoke in a loud voice. "We are going to clean you up, feed you and have proper places to sleep. But I need you to be orderly! Come along now!"
Hearing the word food, the hungry people got up and slowly exited the room, and Kaga dragged her swollen and bleed feet along. As she came out of the room, she found her self in a large courtyard with three other warehouses like structures. People wearing white aprons were helping the slaves too weak to walk out of the warehouses and led to what appears to be a healer.
Stalls were set up along the courtyard where bowls of soup or porridge were handed out to the starving slaves while another area was covered up with cloth for people to shower and clean up. She limped her way to the shower area first, as she desperately wanted to feel clean again after so many months of filth.
Entering one of the shower stalls, she found a wooden tub filled with hot water and a female wearing one of those white aprons was saying, "Just wash up and I will remove the dirty water for you," And she placed a pile of clean clothes on the side for her. "For your dirty clothes just dump it here," she pointed to a basket, "We will burn them later."
Kaga nodded and stripped, dumping her dirty rags into the basket and slowly climbed into the tub. Her body was thin to the point where her ribs could be clearly seen, and her tummy was bloated due to malnourishment. Soaking into the hot water, Kaga gave a sigh of relief as the aches and pains in her body faded, despite her burning wounds on her feet.
Using a scrub, she washed off the layers of dirt and filth and had to ask the attendant for the second fill of water in her tub which had turned into a dirty grey soup. After that, she raised off and used a coarse soap to lather her whole body until she was sore and pink before exiting the shower, dressed in a simple clean dress.
Next, she limped her way towards the healers and had them help her with her feet. She was curious as to why there was such a good treatment but decided to just make the best out of the moment first.
The healer wrapped her feet in a foul-smelling salve which was cooling to her feet. The healer also brought along a Magesmith who carefully removed the anti-magic collar from her chaffed neck, and more of the foul-smelling salve was applied to her.
After thanking both the healer and Magesmith, she left to find food at the food stalls. The smell of food made her mouth water and after queuing for a while, she has gotten a bowl of porridge and she sat down on the floor and wolfed the hot food down.
Once satisfied, she started to observe her surroundings, finding it strange that someone would spend so much effort for some slaves. She wondered what their agenda could be and she watched the crowd of people and beast men mingling around, holding bowls of hot porridge and dressed in clean clothes.
Suddenly someone stood on top of a small raised platform and rang a small bell, catching the attention of everyone. "May I have your attention please?" Once he has gotten everyone's attention, he continued, "I have good news for you. From now onwards, everyone is free, no longer a slave."
After he spoken those words, the crowd broke into a wild discussion. "But, it is still not safe for you to be here, therefore, we will have to move you out to another place where you will be safe!"
Kaga touched the slave brand burnt onto the top of her right hand and wondered where will they be bringing them to.
"Where will you bring us to? Is this real?" Someone yelled, asking the question Kaga had. "What if we want to stay?"
"There is no point staying here," The man replied, "Staying here and getting caught by the Empire will be death waiting not only for you but also those that helped you! Therefore, you must leave here!"
The crowd kept quiet after hearing that. "Don't worry, we will bring you somewhere safe, where the Empire won't reach you."
"But where is safe from the Empire?" Someone yelled again. "
"We will bring you to The Isles."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Neobear
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