“You can just call me Madam after my title. Now why would I want to join you?” She looks at me suspiciously.
“Please” I try to give her an innocent smile but I’m kind of enjoying the moment so I don’t think it convinced her.
Azzaria seems to convince her though when she rolls her eyes at my secretive antics. She elbows me to take the, possibly creepy, smile off my face. “Ignore him. Won’t you join us please?” Looking back and forth between us she makes her decision and sits at the offered spot. When Madam is in place the door is closed and when I go to speak I get elbowed again and Azzaria continues the conversation. I just sit back as all the ladies speak with Madam freely. All the while Azzaria is plying her for information while keeping a pleasant conversation going between all the ladies. I was impressed with her skill even though I was left out of it all.
Turns out the owner of all the women here is also in a real relationship with the Madam in front of us. If they are married or what is uncertain and I don’t even know if marriage is possible between a human and another race in this kingdom. On top of that I get the impression the owner treats all of the ladies like his own little family and everyone is happy as they earn a good living. Finally I interrupt the conversation when I address Azzaria. “Are you thinking you want to show her?”
When she turns to look at me I can see the answer before she says anything. “She might be able to help, and maybe even move too at some point.”
It’s a huge risk so early in our journey, but she knows this. I give her a nod and she turns back to Madam. Reaching up to the collar around her neck she wraps her fingers around it. With a gentle tug and a mental command it comes right off. There is a gasp from the visitor and she looks around at us with wide eyes. As she does, Timbre and Thia do the same and show her that their collars come off too. Soon they all put the collars back on once their point has been made.
Complicated emotions filter across her face so fast I can’t interpret them. When her features smooth out to neutral after a minute she addresses us all again. “My name is Jadelyn, and it’s a pleasure to meet all of you.” We make introductions properly and then Jadelyn speaks to me. “I now see that these here girls are free, but you must know that a fake collar won’t hold up to scrutiny. If you all are caught then you’ll be truly enslaved and possibly killed. Even a human like yourself.” She nods to me at the last part.
I chuckled a little to myself for what I’m about to say. “They are not fake collars. In fact, as an enchanter I can’t tell the difference myself.” I let her confusion set it and I can tell when I’m milking it too much because of the sharp pain in my side where Azzaria is starting to bruise my ribs. “Maybe if I sat and studied one of these side by side with yours I could find the difference in the enchantment, but I’m pretty sure it would take a long time.” Seeing the disbelief on her face, I wave to Azzaria. “Go on and try to take her collar off.” After she spends a minute tugging and fiddling with Azzaria’s collar I explain. “I had a good friend of mine make these but disable the failsafe that prevents the wearer from being the one to bind it. So they are fully functional slave collars, as I said, but for those wearing them they are their own masters.”
Let there be light! I can see the understanding light up her eyes and a wicked smile appears on her lips. “So even if someone tried to put another collar on one of them the enchantment would never take because of the already active one. On top of that the only ones that can remove their collars are they themselves. Tricky” she says with some admiration.
“Yes, my friend is very good. And not even I, their fake master, can take the collars off.”
“So you don’t take advantage of them then?”
The four of us break out into laughter. Jadelyn seams a little surprised and miffed about our lack of seriousness on the matter. “Sorry.” I tell her when my laughter is under control. “If anything it is the other way around so there isn’t anything to worry about in that regard.”
Thia telepathically contacts me at this point. “Do you want me to shift so she can see that?” I think about it for a split second but reject the idea. “No Thia, let us keep a few things to ourselves. I’m already uncomfortable with what she knows and what I suspect Azzaria plans on telling.” There is a little confusion from her on the last statement before our contact fades back into the corner of my mind.
The whole time I’m having a mental conversation with Thia the madam has been looking at me blankly like she is thinking. Eventually she nods as though coming to a decision and starts to get up. “I will be back shortly.” With that as parting words she opens the door to the booth we are in and leaves. Looking to the three women sitting with me still I tell them to keep on guard. I don’t think that Jadelyn is going to betray us but we just met and we honestly don’t know her.” I watch as she heads behind the bar and through another door.
On high alert for any danger we don’t see anything and after five minutes or so Jadelyn comes back but this time accompanied by a human man in an apron. He is also carrying a plate with meat and bread on it bless his heart. I’m starving and was hoping to get something to eat before Jadelyn arrived at our booth. He sets the tray on the table and we all eat. As we eat, I observe the man, tension thick in the air. He is short for a human, just a little over five feet tall, and stocky. Brown hair and eyes with a slightly bulbous nose and a short beard. After a while the door is closed again and the man speaks up. “Is it true what my wife says?”
“So you two are married? I didn’t think that was legal here” I ask him with some genuine curiosity.
“No it isn’t legal and no priest would perform the ceremony. Even still, we said our vows to each another and it’s good enough for me.”
“And I” chimes in Jadelyn.
“Fair enough. Now I don’t know what exactly she told you but I imagine it was about the collars these lovely ladies are wearing.”
Looking to Azzaria who is closest to him he reaches out for the collar she wears but looks to her and asks “May I?” She gives him a nod and he tries to take the collar off. A moment later when he has failed she reaches up and easily pulls it off. After she replaces it around her neck, he turns to me. “Please, if you have another, can I get it from you? I will pay, whatever you want.”
The desperation in the man’s voice throws me off and makes me really uncomfortable. I can tell he really wants this, so I stick my hand under the table like I am reaching into a bag and pull it back up after taking one of the modified collars from storage. I place it on the table and push it toward him. “No need for that. If I had many more I would give you enough for all the girls you have here. Unfortunately I don’t have enough for that, but I can spare one.”
With a look of glee on his face that eases much of my previous concern he reaches over and removes the collar from Jadelyn. Handing the new one to her, she follows our direction to bind it with blood and places it around her neck. “Thank you so much. I am Dale, and I own this place.”
“It’s nice to meet you Dale and you’re welcome. I’m Vol and these ladies are Azzaria, Timbre and Thia.” I point out everyone and sit back.
“Now I have another question for you Vol. Why are you here? It’s obvious you knew bringing your companions would be dangerous. So why take the chance?”
“Well I’m somewhat of an adventurer and wanted to see a little more of the world. These fine young ladies here refused to let me go alone, so we came up with a solution.” When I stop, I get an elbow in the side again for the umpteenth time tonight. At least it was more of a nudge this time. Releasing a sigh I give them the rest of the reason we are here. The one I didn’t want to mention, but I knew Azzaria would insist. “I also happen to know of a safe, relatively, place that some former slaves may find to their liking.”
That gets their attention and the couple share a look, clearly communicating something. “Since you have been so helpful to us we will help you a little. I know someone in the capital that might be of help to you.
For tonight though, do you have a room somewhere?” Dale’s question reminds me that we never got to an inn.
“No. We were passing here on our way to an inn when we stopped. We would be grateful if you could give us a suggestion as to where we should stay. We are on our way to Riverock and any information about where to stay there would be appreciated.” I tell them.
“Great! You will stay here for the night and I can tell you about who you should talk too at the capital in the morning.” With that he steps out of the booth to see a couple of the waitress’s waiting anxiously nearby. They look relieved when everyone gets out. Then Dale starts giving one of them instructions to take us to a room. She looks a little bewildered about her master’s obvious good mood but leads the way for us. Soon we are in a lavish room decorated in red with a table and two chairs in one corner of the room. A large bed takes up most of the space left.
“So what do you think?” I ask the others.
Azzaria answers first. “I think we can trust them. Maybe they will even join the town.”
Timbre just shrugs but Thia speaks up when I look to her. “I think we should trust them for now, but don’t give them any unnecessary information. Even if they’re completely trustworthy they could be tortured for information if our association is known and our identities are discovered. Anyways, they don’t need to know stuff like where the town is or who is in charge.”
After that some what dark possibility I decide to give them a little plausible deniability. “Alright, it’s settled then. We trust them, for now. Lets get some rest. We will be heading out tomorrow and I want to get moving early.” The next thing I know I’m getting sandwiched by three beauties in nightwear. It’s pleasant and the girls don’t even seem to care that we are in an unfamiliar place. They just locked the door, stripped down and hopped in bed with me.
Chapter 13
In the morning we are awoken by a knock on the door to our room. Again I feel that sense of missing something. Like I‘m missing something important that is just out of reach for me to remember. There is an urgency that I just can’t place that lingers from my dreams. It isn’t every morning that I feel this, but today is one of them. If only I could remember the dream. We untangled from each other in the bed and I go answer the door. Standing there is the same waitress that served us last night. “Hello sir, I was sent by the owner to invite you for breakfast.” She looks down shyly as she says this and fidgets a little.
“What is your name?” I ask. “I didn’t catch it last night.”
She looks up at me again briefly and then back down as her checks start to turn red. “Fura sir” she says quietly.
“Well Fura, It’s good to officially meet you. I’m Vol.” The longer I talk to her the deeper her blush gets. Taking pity on her after a moment I end the interaction. “Please tell Dale that we’ll be down shortly.” With a jerky nod to me she turns and heads to the stairs leading down. I turn back to the other three. “That was the waitress from last night. She says Dale is inviting us down for breakfast. We shouldn’t keep him waiting.” After that it only takes a moment for us to get our clothes and armor on. We could wait to put on our armor but it’s easiest to just equip it from our storage and I don’t want to do that out in the open where anyone can see.
Back in a booth in the main room we’re sitting with Dale and Jadelyn. We exchange some small talk and Dale starts telling me about the capital. It’s separated into districts and the main castle is located at the center of the city. The castle is obviously where the king and other royalty reside. There is a wall around each section of the city in ever larger circles making it sound like a large target with the castle as the bull’s eye. The circle closest to the castle is for the residences of nobles. The next circular section is that of the higher class citizens. This includes wealthy merchants, lower nobility and other high class businesses. The outer, and biggest, ring is for the low class citizens and also where the docks and warehouses are.
“I have a contact for you in the high class section of the city. He is near the wall to the lower city. His name is Marcus and he will help you if you can gain his trust. He runs an inn called The Pony.”
“Thanks for the information Dale. I will seek him out when we get to the city. We had better get going though, it’s a long trip to the city” I say. “Thank you for the hospitality.” Then I lay two gold coins on the table between us and get up without letting Dale try and refuse.
With that we say our goodbyes and leave the brothel. There are only two girls out front and they are far more subdued than yesterday with their attempts to draw in customers. Makes sense as it is still pretty early. One difference today is they don’t stop when we get within sight. They don’t call out to me but they don’t stop talking altogether like they did yesterday. We continue down the street in the direction that we did before we stopped yesterday and a minute later we arrive at the main square where we were told the inns were by the guard. Having no need to stay here we make a right and go down the street that exits the city and should go to the capital following the river.
Along the street here are different shops from general to armor and potions. Nothing on display seems to be worth stopping for but we do stop at some open air stalls near the gate leaving the village to pick up provisions. We still have a good amount of meat left over but we’re running low on other stuff, including eggs. We bought more than we needed to since it shouldn’t spoil and it only cost us twenty silver. Taking our purchases we leave Gan behind and start down the packed dirt road. From what we were told it should be about four or five days to Riverock along this main road. We will need to take a ferry when we get there because the city is on the other side of the river and along where two rivers meet. If we crossed now, we would have to cross another river later.
We walk at a brisk pace to make sure the trip goes quickly and because our stats allow it without wearing us out. Small talk helps pass the time when there isn’t anyone around. I do make sure the girls start wearing their hoods up so they don’t draw too much attention as we travel. It’s pretty warm out but they aren’t uncomfortable as the wind from the plains is a constant. Everything goes smooth for two days, with us walking in the day and camping off to the side of the road at night. We passed a lake on the second day and before noon on the third Timbre walks up to me. No one was on the road here except us but she speaks to me in a low voice. “I smell other people nearby but I don’t see anyone. They are ahead of us a little ways but it’s obvious they are hiding.”
“Thanks for the heads up Timbre. Have your Mana Barrier at the ready for when they show themselves.” I step close to Azzaria and tell her the same thing while I use telepathy to tell Thia. I cast my own Mana Barrier and then start charging spells for both arms. I hold the spells at the ready when they start to get more difficult to control. I don’t know how long I’ll need to hold the spells so I don’t want to struggle with them and possibly lose control. A couple minutes later a large man with a ragged beard steps out of the long grass that has gotten close to the road in this area. He is wearing studded leather armor that looks like it has seen better days and in his hands a large double bladed axe. Joining him a moment later are two thinner men in plain leather armor with a pair of daggers on their hips.
I can hear people moving off to the sides as well. We stand there in the road for a moment looking at each other and I take the chance to check what we are up against. The big guy in the middle is a level 13 warrior and the two with him are level 12 rogues. Looking to either side of me I can’t tell how many are out there but the two I do catch a glimpse of are level 11 archers. Not very impressive on any of their parts, but I guess that most regular people would not be able to handle so many. Looking back to the thug in the middle who seems to be the leader I catch him smirk in our direction. “As you can see you are surrounded. Just hand over everything you have and maybe we will just have a little fun with your slaves before leaving you alive” he says with much bravado.
I’m p
retty sure he is lying when he says he will let me live, if the rye smirk on his face is any indicator. He obviously doesn’t find me to be a threat because his eyes leave me frequently to eye the curves of my female companions. They may have the hoods up but their figures make it obvious they are women. “How about this, you apologize for wasting my time and for leering so distastefully at the ladies here. Then you swear to your patron you will stop being bandits and go legit, with me as your witness, before you scamper off.”
At my mention of swearing to his patron his head swivels back to me from Timbre and he sneers. “What are you? Some pampered noble that thinks we’ll just bow down to your birthright? We have you outnumbered and surrounded. What are you going to do when we fill you all full of arrows and take everything from your corpses? Though, we won’t be killing the little pretties you have with you. They should fetch decent money when your bond to the collars is broken. And all we got to do is kill you!”
“So scary” I say exaggeratedly while waiving my arms around as though I am frightened. Yeah I’m baiting him. Not like this was going to be resolved with a handshake and a pint anyway. “Yo scruffy? Anyone ever told you that you bit off more than you can chew? Let me show you.” Without further conversation I point both hands forward and release the spells I have been holding. They were really starting to get distracting. It was like an itch in the back of my mind and, like any itch, the longer you ignore it the worse it gets. Dual Flame Waves form on the road in front of me and combine to create one larger, hotter wall of fire that covers the entire width of the road. The fire rushes forward before the surprise can even leave the faces of the three would be bandits.
A Mage Rising: (The Chronicles of Herst 2: A LitRPG Saga) Page 26
