The guard smirked.
“These are failures; please follow me to see the better ones, lady… ?”
“Miranda,” Iowen answered coldly.
I will come back for you, Addie, but now I need to survive through the night. I will definitely come back for you.
“I am John,” he smiled awkwardly then went on to lead the way. They walked fast through the town.
“How is life in the Cinderwell facility?” he asked.
“Boring. We haven’t had an escape attempt in months, so there is really shit to do aside from catching new slaves,” Iowen shrugged.
“The routine is awful here as well; fun only comes around when a bigger subject breaks free... which barely ever happens,” John concurred.
“You got something bigger? Hope it’s not soft,” Iowen chuckled and John blushed.
He took her to a lower area. Here there wasn’t one large cage, but rather a lot of smaller cages. Each cage had one inhabitant. These looked like much more deformed versions of the people she saw earlier.
Half men, half-demons.
“Not bad,” she evaluated.
“Be careful around the cages, the fuckers are smart and vicious,” John stated, visibly satisfied.
“I am almost impressed,” Iowen smiled.
“You make them in the large black building?” she pointed up to the top of the hill.
“We do. Would you like to see?” John offered.
“Definitely.”
He led her to the top of the hill. At first, Iowen was counting the cages, then she stopped. Many, too many. The smaller cages with what John called successful subjects were rare, but the large cages with more or less deformed people were countless. The ones closer to the top of the hill looked less and less deformed. She would have sworn she heard sobbing from them. There was a lot of them, likely close to a hundred. Men, women, children, they looked devastated but not starved.
“These look fresh. New subjects?” she inquired at John.
“They are. We got a good batch earlier. It was a merchant caravan that was coming for the tournament. Doc will love them,” John smiled.
“He sure will.”
I will come back for Addie and these people, especially these. They look like they haven’t been around for too long, so they have a chance to be unaffected by whatever they did to the others.
John took her to the large square building. There were guards around, but they let them in as John nodded at them. Iowen has seen a lot, but the sheer brutality of this place was breathtaking. In the rooms were large chairs and beds with metal shackles. Both them and the walls were covered with dried blood. It was obvious that people were trying to clean it up but simply couldn’t. Around the chairs and holding tables were smaller tables filled with various devices, knives, pliers, chains and saws. They went down the stairs. She heard a silent desperate pleading of a woman. Iowen lowered her hand on a sword she had by her waist. They went toward the sound. They passed another couple of guards and entered a room. Inside was a woman bound to one of the tables, above her stood a man in bloodied white cloth. The man was old and wore glasses. The woman was bloodied, her lower belly was cut open and the white-shirted man was just putting inside what looked like a black stone. Her face was covered with dried tears; she was silently sobbing and pleading him to stop. As they entered, Iowen’s gaze met that of the old man. Recognition instantly flew through Iowen’s head. They met at the party, they didn’t exchange names, but she saw him there and he must have seen her, at least during the presentation of the competitors.
Without a second thought, Iowen drew her dagger and rammed it under John’s helmet, digging it into his skull from the bottom. She ran to the window and leaped out as the men started shouting.
“Catch her!” was the last thing she heard before the fall opened in front of her.
Iowen landed on a roof of a house. She was expecting the impact so she managed to turn the fall into a somersault upon landing and leaped down from the house. Iowen ran like never before. She heard the men sounding alarm in the black building, but she didn’t look behind. Iowen ran to the side ledge and leaped again. She landed on the street below, in front of a couple of guards. They stood frozen for a second. They were too slow to draw their blades. Iowen introduced her sword to their throats before they managed to take a stance. She turned away from them and ran, jumping off another ledge. Here the fall was longer. Her fingers felt like exploding as she landed. But she was in front of the bridge on which she came in. The guard she met before was standing there, looking confused. She charged towards him. He lifted his shield, but she slid to his right, parried his blade and rammed her sword under his shoulder. Iowen spun and threw him off the bridge into the abyss below. She ran across the bridge and up the stairs. Iowen slowed her run down a bit as she knew that here they cannot see her as the area is not lighted up by lanterns. The alarm was slowly waking the small city up, but she would be long gone by the time they figure out how she left. She ran to the large door. It was still unlocked. As silently as she could, she slowly opened them and snuck in.
You lucky bastard.
The guard was still asleep. She snuck into the hallway and crept back into the complex. She met no one on the way upstairs but didn’t go to her cell. She went to the cell of the Albertti brothers. “Whaaa?” Robert Albertti breathed in confusion as Iowen shook him.
“I need you to draw something by my description, now,” she commanded him. He picked himself up, then followed her into her cell to not wake up his brothers.
“What is this about?” he asked.
“I will explain as you work. In short, I saw a place and need to capture all details before I forget them,” she insisted.
He sat down at the stone table and put a parchment in front of him, quill and ink ready.
I need to give Lucas as detailed information as I can because there are hundreds of people in urgent need of saving and a few thousands who are way overdue to getting killed.
If there is someone who can do that, it is Lucas.
26
Luna
The victory celebration party was awkward. Finubar and his men tried to do what they could to make it pleasant, but the awkwardness in the air was impossible to ignore. Yet the wine tasted well, Sana was good at playing the lute and it was a nice change for once. From the stories they told, the Reavers were an old adventuring group with over fifty years of history. Only Nam was from the first generation; all others joined sometime later. They would normally hunt monsters, criminals, seek treasures or do whatever else paid well.
But that was a different thing that caught her eye, because she suddenly realized Raven is gone and, in fact, has been gone for over an hour. She went to where he last sat and easily caught his scent. The lavender fragrance she has been throwing at him for months has paid off. First, it made him smell nice instead of the usual stench of sweat and blood; now it also made him very easy to track. She went by the scent, slipping out of the room like a ghost. Nobody noticed her leaving and she intended to keep it that way. She stalked through the hallways of the large complex. She got to a balcony and saw it was snowing outside. There was a soft melody accompanied by a lovely voice in the air. Silently, she went to the side to peek in. Raven was sitting by the side of the balcony. He had a hood covering his face and a long battered cloak covered his body. From above, the charming voice was singing a strange tune. Raven sat there in the snow, motionless, staring up at the sky. The song was amazing, the voice singing it felt almost divine. Luna started from the entrance of the balcony. It looked as if the snowdrops were dancing to the tune as they were falling down. She listened to the song until the end.
“How about this one? Was it better? Don’t be shy, Rael, I need to know which ones are better and which ones are worse so I can work on them for the match. So which one of the five was the best?” she blurted out once she finished.
RAEL?? That name would better be fake because I will rip you to shreds if you forgot
to mention you have something like a real name.
“The second one still felt the best, this one felt a bit repetitive in the second half,” Raven replied calmly.
“Repetitive, alright, I can help that. I will try the last one again with a slight twist!” she said quickly then her head disappeared. Soon after she started singing again.
I know that girl… she was at the opening event. Yvonne of team Xona.. wasn’t it? Did Raven disappear from the event because he was with her? HER?!
Luna’s cheeks flared up, she felt like destroying the window next to her. The next one and the other one too. Hell, she felt like turning the entire building into rubble.
Luna left the arena complex and headed to the town.
I need to find Yen to salvage the evening. I can’t believe Raven just left me there at the sorry attempt at a party and instead went to her! HER!!!
She headed straight to the most luxurious part of town. Yen wasn’t the type who would go to a second rate inn. No, Yen was sure to be staying at the most luxurious place she could find. A few hours later, Luna indeed caught the scent of Yen’s perfume. It was around the Golden Tower Inn. Luna didn’t feel like using the door and knew exactly where Yen would be. As expected, the topmost apartment in the golden tower of the inn was a room full of flowers. She knocked on the window.
Soon after she saw Yen’s gorgeous face at the other side, Yen was dressed in a combination of robes and armor, but she still had the sharp red color on her lips. Yen opened the window.
“Found me again, haven’t you?” she smiled at Luna.
“You said I should, so I did,” Luna smiled back.
Yen made space to let her in.
“We don’t have much time, I have business to attend to in the morning,” Yen breathed.
“That’s still a few hours away,” Luna grinned and stepped towards her. She wrapped her hands around Yen and pushed her face in front of Yen’s.
“Not the patient one, are you?”
“Why should I be?” Luna said swiftly before she kissed her. She got lost in the kiss as the passion flew into her.
27
Salazar
Salazar was not pleased. The team of Illysaeas swept all the momentum out of him. He was enjoying the tournament before, the competitors were slow and boring, running like dimwitted mice through the maze. Then came in the team of Illysaeas and all hell went loose.
How am I supposed to steal the crowd when they did it already?
He did not doubt that the couple of the girl and the man in white armor, Raven and the monster girl, would make the headlines in print all over the city and soon across most of the world. The Slaver Union would make sure of that; it was their team after all.
I guess I will need to do something larger.
“The match starts in ten minutes, everyone get ready,” Katherine repeated for about the tenth time.
Way larger.
As they walked into the arena, Salazar made his mind.
“After the match starts, nobody move for the first two minutes,” Salazar said in a deadly cold voice.
“What?” Katherine and Mark turned to him instantly.
“Just do it,” Salazar wasn’t in a mood for discussion.
Nobody protested. Not even Katherine dared to oppose him; nobody said anything. He was angry, he knew it. The others felt it too, felt the ice cold rage beneath the mask of his face and knew better than to oppose him.
As they entered the arena, Salazar took the prime position. When the announcer started introducing the teams, he closed his eyes and focused.
Mark had no idea what to make of this. They spent past two days making a plan and that was apparently off. Katherine was the captain of the team but said nothing to the count. Nobody said anything to the count and he wasn’t surprised. Salazar was overflowing with murderous intent. It was so strong everyone could feel it even before he spoke. When he spoke, it felt like the air in their lungs turned to ice and froze them. All his instincts were screaming RUN!. He looked at the others and they all apparently felt it too. The match was officially started, the opposing team rushed into the maze and their team didn’t move.
“Do we just… stand here and wait?” Mark asked, visibly unsure.
“I don’t know,” Katherine was flustered.
“I suggest we do exactly that. I mean, I have no intention of being a collateral damage,” Zacharias joined the discussion.
“Is he seriously making us stand here and wait for him to show off?” Mark asked in an annoyed voice.
“Apparently,” Zacharias stated dryly.
“I mean, does anyone have any idea of what he is doing right now? I don’t,” Zacharias added.
“Weren’t magic users supposed to be able to tell what other magic users are doing?” Katherine asked.
“We normally are,” Ludwig joined into the discussion, “but at least both me and Zacharias are completely clueless about what the count is doing.”
“Same here,” Yvonne said awkwardly.
A full minute has passed without anyone moving. The crowd grew restless and started booing; some even tried to throw fruit at them, which was luckily stopped by the magical barrier protecting the arena. The enemy team was moving well. It was the team of local slavers of Grimdawn. It was a bit different from the standard slaver’s teams for here the monsters weren’t massive aberrations that defy natural order, but rather something between a monster and a human. It was scarier in a way, scary in the sense that the beings felt human, but were clearly not. Just seeing them made Mark’s skin crawl.
“So… we continue doing nothing?” Mark asked carefully. The tension in the air around the party was so high he would swear he can cut it with a sword.
“Did you manage to catch anything, Ludwig?” Zacharias asked.
“No, you?” Ludwig answered
“No.”
“What are you two trying to do?” Katherine asked.
“We are trying to figure what type of spell is the count preparing and judge where can we move safely,” Ludwig explained.
“And you found nothing?” Katherine was visibly irritated.
“Yes, all of us have found nothing,” Yvonne added.
“How is that possible? I don’t think Salazar is just standing here doing nothing!” Katherine protested.
“There are multiple options,” Zacharias started explaining.
Suddenly the entire maze twisted as if it was a massive muscle that got a spasm. The arena went silent. The now twisted maze crashed loudly to the ground. It looked like a dried up octopus. The stone that marked victory was lying in the sand in front of Salazar, not even a meter away. Where the enemy team was in the maze was just a red paste oozing from the twisted remains. Nobody said a word. It was like the world went mute. Salazar made a couple of steps forward and picked up the stone.
“I win,” he announced calmly as he lifted the stone above his head. He tossed the stone back to the ground, spun and walked away from the arena.
The announcer finally managed to get a hold of himself and announced the official victory of the team of Xona.
“What the hell was that?” Katherine shot at Salazar when the rest of the team reunited with him in the changing rooms.
“A clean victory,” Salazar smirked.
“Why did you even make the team if you plan to do things this way?” Mark asked.
“I will take the bench next round so don’t worry; you will get your chance to shine. I will also pay out the victory rewards exactly how they had been set in the contract,” Salazar countered.
“That’s not the point! All we need is to know what the plan is so we can act accordingly. Today we just stood there like idiots!” Mark contested.
“Then I recommend you to start standing differently,” Salazar smiled as he took off the leather armor he wore under his robes and started heading towards the cleaning room.
“You do realize that the Slaver Union will send at you every assassin they have, right?” Kathe
rine inquired poisonously.
“Yes and I expect you to keep them away from me, as you have always done, captain,” Salazar didn’t look back as he left the room towards the bathroom.
“What the hell do we do now?” Mark asked.
Nobody answered at first.
“Me, Ludwig and Yvonne should research whatever we can about the magic Salazar wields. A better understanding of it would let us prepare accordingly. The first question is simple – how did he do this?” Zacharias collected himself and revealed a hint of a plan.
“Sounds good. The rest of us need to prepare to fend off whatever assassins may be sent to him and us,” Katherine added.
“For starters, nobody goes anywhere alone, always be at least two, ideally three people at the same time. Do not take any food or drinks you haven’t bought yourself at the market. We shall keep constant guards when we sleep, both over ourselves and all our supplies. Those we will move into our room immediately,” Katherine announced.
“Shall the count heed this advice?” Mark asked cautiously.
“No, so we need to manage to do his part of the job and hope he isn’t too successful in getting himself killed,” Katherine conceded.
“I wouldn’t be too afraid of that,” Zacharias smiled grimly.
“What do you mean?” Katherine shot back.
“I think that the count is going so quickly to the bath and has instantly announced that he will take a break during the next round to create the impression of him exhausting himself today,” Zacharias revealed.
“He hasn’t exhausted anything. I mean, he twisted the maze and wiped the opposing team and won the match by himself… but it’s not like he put in any real effort. He feels the same before and after… how to say...” Yvonne blurted out.
“Indeed. The trip to the cleaning room is to mask the fact he didn’t break a sweat. Now he’s attempting to camouflage that he didn’t use nearly as much of his strength as we would expect. I would bet that, right now, he is drenching himself with the coldest water he could find to fake having a backlash," Zacharias smiled.
Legacy of Dreams: Freedom Page 18
