The texture of the food make Kamri feel sick. It wasn't a solid; though it wasn't a liquid either. She placed come in her mouth only to gag and cough it up. She had worse tasting food on occasion, but the texture was all off. Why have something not quite solid but not liquid? Rather drink it or chew it! It's not that hard to pick one!
The other slaves didn't seem to mind. Everyone was generally unhappy with their food but they ate. When seeing her displeasure, the slave next to her pointed to her bowl. She gave it to him without fuss. She felt too anxious to really eat anyway. She figured she would regret it later but for now she had the choice to remain stubborn and hungry.

She looked at the circle of slaves sitting in the dirt with her. There was a sizable number here, all eating with dirtied hands.
Celery sat almost directly across from her, scarfing down the food in record time. Some of the other slaves scooted away from him to avoid his mess.
What was that room he had showed her? It didn't have anything of interest inside, and it seemed like a regular tunnel. The only difference was there where no wooden support beams to keep from a cave in. Really it was more a hazard than anything worth being hidden.
It was too dark to see the end. Maybe there was something further down?
She supposed he didn't have time to show her completely before a guard circled back. It was strange. Ever since the accident that had gotten her thrown into the mines, she noticed guards watched her more closely. And not just because she was labeled a 'troublemaker' either. Other miners where watched but she caught them keeping a closer eye on her on multiple occasions. Even now, she noticed a few guards peering at her from the ramps leading up to the main surface.
Not the group. Just her.

"Back to work. You've got an hour left and then you're all going to go sleep for the night." A guardsman swung a mallet onto a brass plate, causing an obnoxious sound to signal the end of break and the start of work.
Kamri stood up and attempted to brush the dirt off her clothes but only smudged the dirt around. Bath day was tomorrow. It was odd. She looked forward to bath day- even if it was mostly just having someone dump cold water down your back. She wanted the dirt gone from her skin.

She started to walk back into the tunnels. The sun was far from the view of anyone down here and twilight had settled upon the slave camp.
She felt the knots in her shoulders burn as she hefted a pickax from the ground and dragged it into the mine.
Many slaves had tried to free their magic depressors from the wrists using the equipment. But it rather ended in someone being caught and sent to get whipped, or it ended in severe injury that would permanently cause damage.
She wondered what happened to those who were too injured to work. As slaves they would be useless, right? So where they given treatment? Or where they discarded?
What would 'discarded' entail?

She heard a pair of footsteps behind her. Looking back, a man with dented armor followed a few paces behind. He frowned down at her. She continued to walk.
Again, she was being watched.
She thought about trying to figure out more about Celery's tunnel but with the guards watching her she would blow his cover in mere seconds.
She decided to dig down another path for now. Besides, if someone was watching her, that just meant one less guard to watch Celery. She didn't know anything, but a secret tunnel in a place like this meant an escape plan. She wasn't going to blow it for him.
She held the pickax above her head and slammed it down onto some rock. She found some rough coal and placed it in the bag she was given. She had yet to meet today's' quota.

—

The bearded man had gone around town talking to strangers and friends alike. It didn't matter who they were. Just about all of them were more enemies than friendly faces.
One after another turned the man away. Zazel had a second thought about killing the man- his life was hard enough.
But no. His honor! His pride!
Such an easy target he would make. He wouldn't let this one slip away from mere pity.

He pulled out his dual knifes. He had them custom made. The edges reflected the light and the metal was tinged a dark purple haze, each tooth sharped to a fine point.
Well, the purple was a failed attempt to dye the metal but it still ended up looking rather cool and stylish. It depended on who you asked, really. But those who disagreed where dead now, and that's all that really mattered.
He positioned himself on the roof right above the man, getting ready to jump down and slice him open before he had a moment to react.
One quick, flawless strike. Smooth and clean. Yes. His blade would taste blood tonight. He relished in the thought of the moment. It would be one for the history books!
And it would be so damn cool!
Three more seconds.
Two.
One.

He felt a rush of adrenaline hit his chest as he jumped off the building. He could almost see the blood slash across the sky now. He would be dead in just a moment and he would be none the wiser.
He kept falling.
The man below was a little bit too far to the left now.
No matter! He would improvise! A quick jab in the back of the neck! Or maybe a slice across the back?
Oh wow now he was really far to the left.
Well maybe a jump and then a slash across his calves to stun him? Finish him off?
How long was this fall?
He hit the ground with a loud, unmanly grunt. The spinning image of health and poise.
He grit his teeth as he tried to determine if his ankles had shattered. Had he forgotten to check the height before jumping?
He wheezed like a dying lemur.
The man! The man would turn around and notice him! He had to save face!
Before the captain could spin around, Zazel stood up and pointed a knife at him, his head crooked to the side in hopes to see the fear on his face. He wore a dangerous smirk which showed off his self-sharpened teeth that undeniably made him look dangerous and ominous.
"It seems we finally meet-" Ah, what was this man's name? "…Sir?"

Usually you didn't bother to name those who you were about to subdue. All they would be were corpses in the street. Or heads in his trophy room.
Well no wait only if they were animals. Human heads in a trophy room would be-
he shook the thought from his head.
Icky.
"I will give you a moment to say a prayer to the Deities before you perish to my blade. It's fortunate you are so agile, else you would not have this opportunity."

—

Nose knocked on the door to Drein’s room. He heard a grunt on the other side before the door was opened.
“What do you want?” He grumbled, his brow furrowed.
Drein was a middle aged man with greying hairs. He looked like he had frown lines already forming across his face. You could tell a lot about someone by how their face rested. Crow’s feet often indicated a lot of laughter. This man probably hasn’t laughed for a while.
Nose cleared his throat.
“Actually I was going tah ask about someone ‘ere. A slave girl. I’ve seen ‘er before and she caused me and my coworker some pain, see. I was wonderin’ if we can maybe give her a stern talkin’ to? Maybe rough her up a bit? Cause-“
“Whips and stones are in the shed outside. Don’t kill her. Have fun.”
Nose was taken back a bit by the reply but didn’t’ question it. The man rubbed his eyes. “Was that all?”
Looking just past him, Nose noticed a shape shifting under the covers of the bed. He made a hasty exit.
“No, that’s all. Thank you.” He rushed down the hall.
Bad timing. Happened to everyone.
Now where was Burt? He might be interested in chucking some rocks down into the mines.

Lost in his own thoughts, which were clouded by a growing ache in his head, Ed was completely oblivious of anything that could have been happening around him. Trying to fight through pain to work out what the next steps to the plan should be, an idiot could have dropped down from a rooftop and landed on him and he would barely have noticed. Somewhere, he was vaguely aware of someone shouting not far behind him, but it wasn't any concern of his. He needed something to drink, that would help clear his head. After that, he would be able to figure things out. He had only met with a few of his contacts, but so far Thrustbunion was the only one who had been of any help. It looked like Ed was going to need to go back to the dwarf to get his opinion on the situation, and find out when he was really going to be able to meet with the slaver. Before that, though, he would return to his room. Get an hour or two of sleep, see if that could help with the headache. A vendor on the way was selling pickled steak, a local favorite. When you spent a lot of time at sea, most of your food ended up being pickled, salted or smoked to preserve it for long times. Pickled steak was something new, however, but people seemed to be enjoying it. Ed, on the other hand, decided it would not be a good idea. What kind of fool would pickle steak?

He woke up screaming with his whole body soaked with sweat. Shooting up into a sitting position, his eyes immediately met the unblinking, glowing green of Twinkle's. She had remained in that exact position, sat at the end of his bed staring at him for the whole of the last two days. What was meant to have been a nap had extended into an exhausted collapse onto the bed, his body refusing to keep going without rest. During that time he had become violently ill. Twinkle had taken it upon herself to care for him over that time, bringing him water and goat milk, the latter a confusing addition since Ed had been demanding wine the whole time. He was beginning to forget when the last time was that he had actually had a drink. He had been having nightmares the whole time he was sleeping, though. They were a mixed bag, the most recent one having been… Something to do with Peabody. Had the man had the legs of some kind of jungle cat? Like some kind of… Pumataur? A shudder wracked his body at the memory. The crazy places his subconscious went. It reminded him of the Spider Colonies he had visited once on the Zephyr. The women there were, for the most part, spiders from the waist down. From the waist up, however, they were for the most part beautiful women. Maybe it should have been obvious what was going to happen, given the lack of men there and a little knowledge of spider mating habits. After being greeted vigorously, the male crew members had been the center of attention. The following days were a whirlwind of webs, legs and all kinds of exotic delights, right up until the Spider-women had tried to kill all of them. The details of the escape were a little hazy, Ed could just about remember one brave crew member who had stayed behind. Yes, he was sure that was what had happened. He dragged his hand over the top of his head, feeling the stubble coming in there. He needed to shave. He needed a drink. He needed Peabody, the girl and all the others, and he needed to get out of this city for a while. He needed, right now though, for Twinkle to stop staring at him.

"Don't you ever sleep?" He asked her, and was given silence as a response. "And you're a mage! Why couldn't you have healed me?" That thought had been nagging at him for a while now. Why hadn't she healed any of them? The injuries were still there, healing slowly. She could heal him right now, couldn't she? There was that blank stare again, though. He sighed. Maybe she just didn't know how. Or maybe she just didn't want to. Didn't really matter either way, since she wasn't doing it. He slipped out of the soiled sheets and went to find some water to wash up with, and was pleasantly surprised to find a basin waiting for him. He glanced over at Twinkle, who had not moved at all save her head to continue watching him. He nodded his thanks to her, and began washing up, not even registering the fact that he had collapsed fully clothed and was now completely naked.

After dressing and drinking more of the goat milk, which was beginning to grow on him he could grudgingly admit to himself, he went out. He would visit Thrustbunion and see if there had been any changes over the last two days. He had decided to keep all the rooms he had rented, despite the fact they were all going to remain empty save his own. He had some reasons for that, but looking back at them, none of them were particularly good ones. He was feeling better now, his mind clearer than it had been in a week. If it weren't for the arm and the ribs, he would be feeling great right now. As it was, they weren't bothering him too much, just tight and sore. He could manage that. He grabbed a bite to eat from a stall, staying away from any of the preserved food, instead opting for some freshly prepared meat.

"Where the hell have you been you daft sod?" Thrustbunion slid his chair out from behind the desk so he could waddle over and greet Ed properly. "You look like shit." An expert opinion provided by the dwarf. This, this is why he came here. Thrustbunion, a look of concern in his eyes, pulled a comfortable looking chair from a dark corner over for Ed to collapse into. "I got word from that slaver, he wanted you to go see him. Two days ago. Where have you been?" Ed laughed. Of course the slaver had wanted to see him while he was out. There had been no note left for him at the inn, so the likelihood of it being true was slim. "I've been busy, my friend. Any chance I could actually see him today?" Thrustbunion seemed to consider this a moment, before heading back to his desk and scratching out a note. He disappeared for a few minutes, then came back humming to himself. "Let's find out."

Ed found himself walking up to the same guard post as before, glaring at the guards on duty. The same one as before stood there, smug grin on his face as Ed approached. He steeled himself for another denial, this time ready to turn around without any acts of violence. He would manage it this time. Before he had left Thrustbunion's, he had asked the dwarf for a favor. He wanted to hire on mercenaries. The quality in this city wouldn't be fantastic, he would most likely end up with a group of thugs and deserters, but they would be good enough to assault this place with. When they did, Ed would be sure to kill this guard first.This in mind, he continued on confidently, all the while picturing just what he would do to this man. Who waved him through, same smug grin on his face. Perfect.

The walk to the main house was uneventful. Two patrols of guards passed him and his escort from the gate to the doors, and Ed spied another patrol going along the walls in the distance. They didn't cross any slaves, though. It was the middle of the day, and he assumed that any slaves would be working at this point. So, the question was, where would the girl be working? Also, what kind of work did they do here? He could see a couple more buildings, and some trees as well. Perhaps an orchard of some kind? Would she be there? If that is all there was in this place, then it would make sense the slaves would all either be there, or in one of the other buildings. So, he now had a target, and a growing knowledge of the numbers that would be arrayed against him. Already he was planning on the size of the group he would need to hire, the costs to do so, and the costs of outfitting them. Would he be able to trust the men her hired, he wondered idly, if they were residents of this city? Would they have any loyalty to this man, or would their loyalty be easily bought. Peabody, if he wasn't sequestered away, would probably have been able to help him judge such things. Without him, Ed would just need to go with his gut. Thrustbunion would probably choose to not be seen with him during the process, not wishing to be associated with an attack on the slaver. He had an idea for how to avoid being associated with such things himself. He had a reputation to maintain, even after all this was done.

There were more guards standing outside the main door to the house, an overly expensive looking building that seemed much too large. How many people lived inside this thing? Thrustbunion hadn't had much information, but from the sounds of things this Drein man was all alone. Even if there were slaves inside, and his chosen men, there was still far too much house for just one man. Was it a status, thing? Most likely. Ed wasn't a great judge of these things, but he was able to evaluate the worth of some of the fixtures outside, and as he entered the house, the decorations. Drein seemed to be a man who wasn't afraid to waste coin. That was not a good sign, if Ed was going to try and buy a slave from the man. Then again, it might just be another transaction to him. Just another trade. Somehow, Ed doubted that.

His worst fears were confirmed. "How can you possibly say no to that offer?!" Ed wasn't shouting. He really wasn't. At most, you might be able to say he was raising his voice, just a little. But the man before him was being extremely frustrating. He had gone into this willing to negotiate, but offering a ridiculous sum off the bat anyway. He hadn't wanted to drag things out too long, just wanting to get in and out with the girl as quickly as possible. The bastard was refusing to see reason, though. "What could she have possibly done to make her so valuable?" Ed tried again, this time managing to regulate his voice a little better. There was a rather twitchy looking guard in the room with them now, who hadn't been there a moment before. "Until you came here, I had no idea she even existed." the slaver replied. "But your need to have her has made me… Curious. You may leave now." What followed after that was a bit of a blur to Ed. There had been some shouting involved, a dash across the room. He vaguely remembered someone's neck being squeezed in his hands for the briefest of moments. Then he was being pummeled and dragged away, kicking and screaming, all the way back to the gate and the smug looking guard, who took a lot of pleasure in joining in a quick, thorough beating.

Limping back down the hill, Ed's mind was whirling as he thought things through. Twenty men. Plus the slaves. That would be enough. Two nights, three at the absolute most. That would be when he would strike.

***

Burt watched the other guards taking the visitor away. What was going on there, then? He had been busy talking his partner out of going to the pit and throwing stones down into it with the hopes of hitting the girl. Nose held a grudge, too. Wanted to get even. Burt couldn't blame him, really. He just didn't feel the same way. He was happy enough to keep an eye on the girl and if she did anything, he would be there. He would even enjoy it. But he wasn't going to go out of his way to harm someone. Nose needed to understand that if their partnership was going to continue. He stepped into Drein's office, glancing around at the mess that had been made of it. The desk was overturned, broken glass was everywhere, a vase had been shattered. Had there been an attack? While he was arguing with Nose. That wasn't good.

As luck would have it, the slaver was still alive. Burt sighed. Great. He didn't have anything against the man. Well actually, he did. A lot of what the slaver did was distasteful to Burt. There was a lot going on here he didn't approve of, a lot of wastage, a lot of unnecessary cruelty. The man in front of him encouraged it all. Someone with better sense would be do a far better job in charge of this place. He had already sent a message to his boss saying as much, and received a reply telling him to continue watching and waiting. "So, want to talk about what happened?" The man glared up at Burt from his seat, rubbing at a violent bruise around his neck. "Just fetch the slave girl with the burn scars." he croaked. Wonderful, so she was somehow behind this? Cracking his knuckles, he headed out to fetch her. Maybe he had been too hasty in stopping Nose earlier.

Kamri awoke to the sound of a couple guards making their way into the building. They did their usual routine. Knock on doors, call out to get up, light the lamps, and stand in the hall to drag out anyone who wasn’t there within a few seconds.
Kamri pushed herself up with a groan, immediately heading toward the door.
She glanced at the hole in her wall as she passed. Celery had visited her last night again.
Well, ‘visit’, was a loose term. He stood inside her wall while she attempted to sleep. He was fixing it so it wouldn’t be noticed but the job was near impossible using the scraps of wood they had torn off before. Maybe he would work more on it later. Maybe she just had to hope it wouldn’t be found and she wouldn’t be blamed for it.

The hallway was already filled with slaves. Coal and dirt caked their skin from weeks of work. Today was bath day. She had not been here as long as the others but she still looked forward to at least having the water wash away most of the grime and dirt
She heard two thumps behind her.
She glanced behind her. Cel thumped his tail against the hallway floor. He looked her in the eyes for a quick moment before glancing away. Did he need something?

The line lurched forward as the doors opened and the slaves began to move. She felt the shift as her feet moved from cold stone to the dirt floor of the mine. The soles of her shoes had worn out last night. She figured it would be a while until her feet toughened up to the terrain. Until then she would just have to try and step lightly.

The sun hadn’t quiet risen yet. The mines where lit from night to morning to help see activity; in the day you had to just get used to the dark inside the tunnels save for the few lanterns in the walls.
The quarry was still cool- spiders skittered away as the lines of slaves approached. Kamri picked up a pickax and slogged her way in, feeling drained already. She decided to go down the longest path today. The further back she had to walk later, the more time she could take to pick coal from the walls if she was lucky enough to spot it. She ran a hand down between her shoulder blades and felt the welts in her back. Earning your total amount of coal was getting harder to do. She would have to be diligent.

“Sxamri”

Celery shuffled up to her with a pickax and a shovel.
“Ah, come to help?”
Celery tilted his head back in the other direction.
“You want me to come along?”
Celery clicked his tongue and turned back around. Kamri figured that meant ‘yes’ so she followed closely behind.
It didn’t take long for Kamri to realize that they were headed back towards that dark room Celery had excavated before. She thought about turning back- since she was always being watched. But she just now noticed something Celery had already figured out. Most the guards were waking people up and beating those who were late. Which meant they were preoccupied. At least, for a few minutes.

The tunnel stood in front of them. Celery did a quick check to ensure all was clear before crumbling the entrance to his strange room-cave and walking inside. Kamri stepped lightly since she couldn’t see in the room quite yet. “Hey, can you see in here?”
“Xxcilx.”
She had picked up affirmative and negative answers from Celery. He had confirmed that, yes, he could see in the dark.
“I don’t have shoes. I need you to be my eyes.”
Celery hummed for a moment, tapping his chin. He looked at the floor and then at Kamri’s feet. He groaned in…annoyance? Distaste?
He placed his hands on Kamri’s shoulders and lightly pushed back, telling her to stay where she was. He began to sweep the floor lightly with his tail, picking up sticks and rocks that might cause injury and shoving them to the sides of the room.
Looking around, satisfied with his work, he nodded his head and cracked a small smile.
“Can I move?”
“Xxcilx.”
Another yes. She walked forward deeper into the dark and away from the dim light of the entrance, hoping for a chance for her eyes to adjust.
“Is there anything in here? It’s just an empty room. Is there something at the far end?”
Celery clapped her on the back to usher her forward. Taking the hint, she quickened her pace.

“You never told me what you were doing in the walls. Did you get stuck?”
“Zixxilta”
No, he did not get stuck.
“So it was on purpose.”
“Xxcilx.”
Yes, it was. She wondered if he had been in the walls before. But she should probably keep questions to a minimum. The less she knew, the better in case she was ever asked. Though, her curiosity begged her to learn the basic reasoning behind it.
“Were you trying to get to someone in particular?”
He grumbled lowly. He was unsure how to answer.
“Where you trying to find something?”
He perked up. “Xxcilx.”
Ah, that’s something. But what?
“An item then?”
He shook his head, shifting his attention to the wall they were approaching in front of them now. Kamri tried to think. What could you find in the walls that wasn’t a physical object? You can find objects, but what else could you find?
“Information?”
“Xxcilx.”
Ah, he was listening for information. But why did he visit her? It would be more a stealth mission so why go into a random room?
She was about to ask but was cut short by a disgusting stench.
“Urgh. Celery. What died in here?”
Celery hurried forward and placed his hands on the wall. It was a wall of rock. Large rocks. Boulders, even.
“Is this what the room leads to? The wall?”
He raised a finger up to his mouth. “Zizzitxch!”
Kamri stayed quiet and listened. It was silent. She could hear her breathing, and the puffs of breath from Cel’s nose. But other than that it was just quiet.
No, wait.
No there was something.
Water.
The smell hit her again. Something with water that smelled disgusting underground.
There was a dripping sound. And it echoed.
Celery grumbled for a minute, opening his mouth to try and articulate a common word. Using human’s words in a Kobold mouth was difficult. Impossible, even. He coughed and opened his mouth at a weird angle, but finally managed to rasp out the two syllables, though heavily accented.
“Xsewer.”
Kamri’s heart stopped. “The Sewer- do they know? The guards. They don’t know about this?”
He shook his head.
“Why not just leave? You had to have known about this for a while right?”
Celery placed both his hands on the boulder and began to push, leaning into it. He used the Shovel, the pickax, and tried to get an angle on it. But it didn’t budge.
He needed someone else to help him move the boulders.
Kamri looked back towards the entrance. “The guards will be back soon. They should be about done. We need to go back.”
She turned back around and smiled. “Tomorrow? Tomorrow we’ll get here as fast as we can and move those rocks. We can do it. I know we can.”
Cel’s features broke into a determined grin, which looked odd on a kobold. Kamri immediately trusted that crooked grin. They had an escape plan.
“Come on, let’s go. We’ll plan in more detail later.”
They jogged back to the entrance and left. Celery took some time to seal it back up. He made it just in the nick of time, too. Just as he finished, patrol rounded the corner and started to watch.

- - -

Zazel sat in his room, feet bandaged up and resting on the desk. He let his head roll back as he groaned and shifted in his chair.
“He didn’t even notice me.”
He grit his teeth and rolled again.
“He didn’t even ignore me. He just straight up didn’t know I was there. How rude of him!”
He dragged his hands down his face. This wasn’t at all like he wanted it to be. He wasn’t told that the man he was trying to assassinate would be such an asshole.
This was so unfair!
He sat up, feet still resting up on the desk. He had enough money in his funds to ask for a healer. Though the healer here was somewhat sketchy and may or may not have been a con artist. Sure, his ankles where healing and at a faster rate. But it was mildly concerning that every now and then they would pulse yellow.
God, he hated yellow.
He looked out the window and watched as Ed came back to the tavern. He was probably having a fantastic day. As a matter of fact, Zazel bet that Ed had probably found a great place to drink that has three girls waiting for him in his second luxury room. All the food he could want. He probably just won a large sum of money, too.
Probably owns something cool. Like an airship.
“Moron has no idea how close to death he came today.”
He took a minute to look at himself. He really took a moment. Here he was, greatest assassin of Adeluna! Moping in a greasy tavern while his self-inflicted wounds heal.
He was a disgrace! He didn’t have magic but he did have other ways to kill a man!
He stood up, instantly regretting the decision. Right. Ankles.
He shoved the pain aside, focusing more on his diabolical plan. Poison.
The target liked beer, he knew that much. Zazel didn’t like the coward’s way to kill a man but the time it was taking was starting to grate on his nerves and he just wanted to move on from this. Maybe through drink he would have the decency to die.
He just had to disguise himself. Dress a little nicer and act the part.
There was a stable. All he needed was a little horse hair and some adhesive and he would be a proper gentleman!

He began to descend the stairs to pull his plan into action.


—

throwing rocks sounded fun. Why not throw rocks?
Nose whipped his- ah, nose- on his sleeve as his partner went into the office. The man who had previously entered had made a big Ruckus and it seemed Burt was dealing with the aftermath.

Maybe he would find someone else to chuck rocks at. The slave camp was growing much more boring than he initially thought.
It didn’t take long for Burt to step back out of the office and fill in Nose. He felt a smile creep up his lips but stopped. Burt had told him they wouldn’t be chucking rocks at her today. Maybe he should listen and give it a try. He placed his hands on his knees and pushed himself up.
“We’re ment to collect tha’ girl, eh?” He folded his arms as if thinking for a moment. “She should still be down in tha’ mine. We can probably grab her pretty easily. I told a couple o’ tha members of the Guard to keep an eye on her so she can’t be hard to find.”

He turned to walk out of the house but stopped midway through the door. “Let’s go catch that mage.”

—

More coal was chucked into the bucket by Kamri’s side. She was doing well today. She might be able to meet today’s quota early. She might be able to take it easier soon. Naturally, Celery had met his goal a while ago. He was collecting extra to store away for tomorrow so he could get a head start. Doing so was strictly against the rules, but it was only a problem if you got caught.
He had a knack for sensing when Guards where coming, which came in handy.
She tried not to stick around Celery too much to avoid suspicion. Besides, with constantly being watched, she didn’t want to endanger him, too.

Celery suddenly stopped digging and looked past Kamri and further back into the tunnel. He squinted his eyes then made a high pitched chirping sound. He continued to dig. Someone was coming.
Standard procedure was to keep your head down and keep working. Mind your own business.

Two men sauntered into the tunnel, one with his hands in his pockets and the other with a large nose. Kamri didn’t pay them any mind at first, thinking it was just another pair of guards. She didn’t look up at them.

“Slave thirteen, Kamri.”

Kamri recognized that voice. Her heart dropped as she dared to raise her head to look at the two men.
“You’re from the warehouse. That’s impossible. Out of all the places in the world-“
“Drien as requested your presence. Come along,” one informed.

She took a few steps back and began to look for something to fight back. She had no chances, and she would only get in trouble. But her fight or flight response had already started to kick in and she felt the panic begin to take over her body. The man with the large nose lunged forward when he noticed that she wasn’t going to go quietly, but the other was faster, seizing her wrists and pulling her back.
“What is this? Why does he want to see me?”
“Dunno.” The big nosed one grumbled.
Kamri kicked and tried to pull her wrists free but it was no use. Without magic, she had no real advantage.

Celery growled as she was taken away. He grabbed a pickax and took a quick step forward.
Nose and Burt stopped to look back at him. Kamri twisted around so she could see Celery.
Flashes of the warehouse came to her mind. Being thrown into that room, bound. Being forced to wait as she was gambled away by her so called captain.
He had merely stood there.
Celery was ready to fight. Was it because she knew his secret now? Was she dangerous to let go of?
Because he needed help to obtain freedom? Or maybe he had formed some sort of bond?
No, couldn’t be. It had only been a few days.
But she had somewhat formed a bond with him.
She hated how easily she grew attached to people. It was a deadly flaw. But right now all she knew was she needed him to be safe. The escape plan required two people and she couldn’t risk losing him.
At least, that’s the reason she told herself.

“No, no. I’ll go.”
Celery’s face fell into worry and confusion. Kamri looked back and gave a reassuring smile. She would find a way.

The two guards carted her away. She gave no more resistance. If she focused more on getting to wherever she was being taken, she could plan more on how to get out and back to the mines.
She would just have to wait and see.

—

There stood a house with lavish décor and a well kempt garden.
Kamri was escorted inside. She couldn’t believe someplace so nice existed in a place so dark.
The walls had paintings that had remarkable detail. It was clean, not a speck of dust. She immediately felt out of place here.
The floor had hand-sewn rugs that had ornate designs and tassels.
The floors where polished wood and the curtains baby blue silk.
Seems Drein had been living comfortably.

She was pushed up some stairs and into a room down the hallway. As she turned around to face the guards, the door was shut and locked in her face.
She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips, annoyed.
The window was barred and the door locked, but the room itself wasn’t so bad. A nightstand, a bed, and a lamp. A single rug adorned the floor. There where curtains on the window, too.
Something was off.
It didn’t matter. She was getting out of here anyway. But first, she would wait. She had to figure out the right opportunity to strike.

"So, do you know Drien? Yeah? Who doesn't, am I right? Well, let me tell you. This plan, all his idea. While he's busy, living it up, we're down here gathering men. Expanding the operation, is what we're doing. One small compound just isn't enough for the boss. Nah, Drien, he has his sights set on grander things. That's where you come in. Get in on this now, and you'll have a place within the new order."

Ed was sat across from a miserable looking man, couldn't tell what race he was a mixture of but he certainly wasn't a pure bred anything. This was the, what, third tavern he had been in today? Thrustbunion had arranged for flyers to be dispersed over the last couple of days, as per Ed's instructions. All that was left after that was for the mundane interviews. He had hired on help, also. But he wanted to be seen out here doing the work himself. Dressed up in his finest yellow suit, gloves on, cape still on with the hood up and mask in place, he knew he looked intimidating (ridiculous) to all who he met with. The smell of the wine and ale around him had his mouth watering, but what he was doing now was far too important. Perhaps later. Or tomorrow. Then he would allow himself to indulge. He would be celebrating, then, wouldn't he? The man was taking his time considering the proposal, obviously not one to rush into such decisions. Not quite the type he would want on this venture, but at this point, anyone would do. He wasn't getting desperate. He had enough people to make this work, he just didn't want there to be any surprises. He wanted this done right.

"Listen, friend. There are seven more people behind you, waiting to get in on this too. Either you can make your mark, receive your five pieces of silver and show up at the Silver Moon inn tomorrow night. Or, when Drien's name is being shouted throughout the city, praised for his daring and that of the wise men and women who joined with him, you can sit here and complain to anyone willing to listen for the tenth time about how you had a shot to be a part of it and missed it."

He wasn't trying to be quiet. The more people who heard about this, the better. It would also mean the other people in the line would have heard the whole speech and made up their minds before reaching him, weeding out those who were just going to be wasting his time. He drummed his fingers on the table top while the man in front of him hummed, obviously on the verge of making his decision. "Ummmmm….. Sign me up, I guess. There's no way Anomander will find out about this before we attack, right?" His voice was dull and boring, even as he glanced around nervously. Ed smiled behind the mask, holding out his hand to shake that of the pirate in front of him. He knew for a fact that those who were signing up here were some of the most vile, violent, deceitful and traitorous of the pirates in the city looking for work. Perfect for what he had in mind.

The trip down to the mine had been simple enough. Walk in, talk to the guards. Nose had taken care of most of that, having shown a lot of initiative in the way he set eyes upon the girl. Meant they wouldn't be traipsing through this place all day looking for her. The two of them followed the guide down deeper, and he left them at the mouth of a tunnel. Looking down into the dark, Burt sighed. Great. It was going to be a little cramped in there. Heaving a sigh, hand on the club hanging at his side, he realised there wouldn't be any room for someone his size to swing it in there. Which left the dagger. Great, if things got gritty in there, it would end in blood.

He could hear hissing coming from ahead as he made his way down the tunnel. Nose close behind him. Sounded like a disgusting bag of snakes and insects rubbing, hissing and clicking all over each other. As he stumbled across the girl and a kobold, it made sense. Disgusting little creatures, kobolds. Worse than their taller cousins by far. Being covered in scales, a forked tongue and sharp teeth was bad enough, but throw on top their small stature? He shuddered just looking at the kobold. For a moment it looked like the situation was going to get a little complicated, the girl resisting and the kobold, another shudder, giving the pair of them a look filled with rebellion. Why was he so interested in this little human girl? There was something going on here. There was that itch again, the same one he had when seeing that bearded fool from the warehouse. He knew how that had ended. He would have this kobold watched closely. He couldn't afford to be seen making another mistake like the one before.

The girl was quiet the whole way up to the house. That was good. When they entered the house, Burt slipped away, leaving the girl to Nose to sort out. Slipping back out, he went straight back to the mine to speak with the same guards as before. He wanted more information about that kobold. He wanted to know if there had been any suspicious behavior. He wanted to know a lot of things. In the next day or two, time permitting, he would need to inspect the kobold's rooms, too. Maybe he was being paranoid, but he didn't care. Better safe than sorry. Worst case scenarios started playing through his mind. A slave revolt. They had the numbers, if not the weapons. If they somehow managed to access the mining tools, well, they would have themselves a little army. Not on Burt's watch.
"Sho wha yer shayin ish Anermander and Drien, righ', they're plannin' on asshaul'in' Bronk'sh for'resh. Kill 'im, take hish, urr, bishnesh?" Ed stared. He was glad of the mask, as it hid the expression on his face. The orc in front of him had the tendency to repeat everything that Ed had said to him, droning on. It might not have been so bad, if it wasn't for the accent. Thick and gravelly, it gave everything a rough edge. Add to that the tusks jutting out of his mouth, everything was just… Garbled. He was finding it hard to understand, and even harder just to keep up his own side of the conversation here. He needed this orc. Without him, the other captains here would't agree to the plan. It was the morning of the third day, and tonight everything would need to be put into place. He only had a couple more stops after he was done in this inn, and then he would need to go back to his own and get some rest. He couldn't afford to be tired, not tonight.

"Listen, my friend. What is happening tonight is going to make history. You have the chance to aid a growing alliance, to be the muscle that makes the greatest coup in this city a success. Without you and your men, this doesn't happen. And if this doesn't happen? Well, you're going to be stuck scrounging around for contracts attacking caravans still. Small, no account jobs that will never raise you up out of here. You do this, and all your dreams could come true."

The orc just stared back at Ed, as his small brain caught up with all the words. Maybe Ed should have slowed down that speech a bit, or kept the words simple. Well, it was too late now. He watched as a light was lit behind those small, black eyes, which narrowed in what Ed supposed was meant to be a cunning look. "Sho we getsh the shilvah up front, yesh?" Ed heaved out a very long, very loud sigh. He wanted his exasperation to be audible to the orc, and to the others who were waiting for their own chances to talk to Ed. He was pushing his luck, he knew it. If the orc took offense, this could get ugly quick. Almost as ugly as the orc. Ed forced a smile onto his face, hidden behind the mask but still enough to get some cheer into his voice.

"We've been over this. But you know what, I'll make you a deal. I will hire you and your company on for the full amount of silver, for just this one job. I'll pay it to you now, even, just on the hopes that you won't take that silver and never turn up. But, when tonight is done, our business will be done. While all these other people here are being hired on as full time muscle, expanding the influence of the newly formed alliance, protecting it's interests, making huge piles of silver and never needing to look for work again, you sir, will still be here. Or! You can take the deal I've made with you already. You can take your five silver per head, when the job is done tonight you can receive your full pay, and starting tomorrow you can be part of something bigger."

"Listen, Dave, just take the damn deal!" a voice cried out from behind the orc. Obviously, the other mercenary captains were getting tired of the wait and were looking forward to their own turn at the table. Fortunately, the orc had already covered most of the questions so everyone here would know all the answers already. That was fortunate, since Ed didn't think he was going to be able to sit through any more of this without screaming. The orc lifted a meaty hand, finally, to shake Ed's own gloved hand. When the orc had seen him originally, sat here in his bright yellow suit and cape, he had made some very choice comments. Ed had weathered them, explained what had needed explaining, and then the hair pulling and teeth grinding had begun as he had slowly tried to make the orc understand what was happening. It was worth it now, though. Tonight, the lowest of the mercenary companies in the city, those known for their tendency to rape and murder, would be meeting at the Hidden Crag inn to begin their assault.

Celery watched them drag the girl away, hissing to himself as he watched them go. He was shaking with anger as he began to pace back and forth. What would he do now? Were they taking her away to hurt her? Question her? Reassign her? He needed to know, but there was no way of knowing. If he tried walking out of the mine to follow them he would be quickly beaten. Or killed. Then what would happen to her? A slight creaking sound came from his hand, and he looked down. His claws had sunk deep into the handle of the pickaxe without him noticing. He threw it away in anger, knocking over her bucket of coal. They had left it there. Quickly, he gathered it up, taking his own and filling it with his stash as well. He had far more than was necessary, but this was far too important to hold anything back. 

Seeing his haul, they allowed him to leave early for the day. He hurried up the slopes, accompanied by a guard who would follow him all the way back to the slave quarters. There would be no slipping away from him. He tried to catch up with the guards taking the girl away, but they had had too much of a head start and his legs… Well, they were shorter. There was no way to catch up without making it obvious that he was running. No matter though. He would be in his room soon, and then he would figure something else out. He had an idea already, but it was extremely dangerous.

The door locked behind him as soon as he entered his cell. He waited for five long minutes, listening at the door to be sure there were no guards out there. Satisfied, he began removing panels from his wall. They had him locked in, but it would make no sense for them to lock an empty cell…

"The reason I need assassins for this job, my friend, is really quite simple. I already have crews lined up to take the ships, but the ships need to be cleared first. Who better to do that than assassins! Especially assassins famed and feared throughout the city! Why, with your skill alone you could probably take three ships before anyone noticed! But why make you do all that hard work alone? Bronk, you see, wants this done quick and quiet. He wants Anomander's ships for himself, you see. So, everyone I hire here today will slip onto those ships, take care of the wet work quickly and quietly, then the pirates," Ed scoffed at the word, "come on and do what they do best. They sail away and take all the credit. And the anger of Anomander."

The assassin was wearing a mask of his own, making it hard for Ed to gauge his reaction to all this. He needed instead to watch for subtle clues. The twitch of an arm, movement of the hands. Ed… Was not great at this, but he was learning fast. He would of course need to pay these assassins more than all the others he had spoken to the last few days. He had started with a few thousand silver. After this, he would be lucky to have one hundred left over. It was eerie, and silent. Ed didn't see any obvious signs of the other assassins he was meant to talk to today, but then, if they were good at what they did then would he even know that they were there? The question.. Unsettled him. Just when he thought the person in front of him had fallen asleep, they reached over and took Ed's hand. Deal done. Perfect.

The sun had started to set upon the busy campsite. The earlier, and luckier slaves started to turn in their hauls early for the day to line up for their bath before everyone else. Kamri was still covered in muck and dirt. She ran her fingers through her greasy and unwashed hair. What bad timing to be pulled away.
But why? Why was she here?

She let the thought tumble around in her mind for a while, trying to figure if she had done anything significant. The escape route came to mind, as well as the hole in her wall. If that was the reason why, she found it ironic it was she who was caught and not Celery. Not to say she was hoping he would be captured instead of her- just that it was unlikely.

If the escape route had been found she wouldn’t have been brought here. She would have probably been beaten and maybe killed. Celery would have been carted away to meet a similar fate. What mattered most right now was that signs pointed to the escape route still being hidden. As long as there was no punishment, it was apparent that they had not yet found anything out.

The door shook as it was unlocked from the outside. Kamri stood up and bunched her hands into fists, trying to calm her nerves. The door creaked open to reveal two lovely women standing in the doorway. Both looked to be in their younger to mid-twenties.

“Thirteen,” The first woman spoke, “My name is Gardenia. This is Olive. We've been sent to escort you to the washroom. What is your name?” Kamri’s hands loosened. They were slaves, just like her. “My name is Kamri. What do you mean by escort me?” Olive stepped into the room. “We take you into the washroom and bathe you, obviously.” Kamri’s brow crooked up. “You two watch as I get a bucketful of water poured on my head?” Olive smiled. “No, no. You get a bath. Everyone here gets a bath. It’s important we stay clean in such a nice home.”

It was true. The house was nice. Having dirty and ragged slaves would make the place a mess if not smell. She was looking forward to that bath, too.

“Well? Come along now,” Gardenia prompted. Kamri looked at the two, trying to decide if they were really slaves. They both looked so well taken care of that it was hard to tell. They both had magic depressors, so she saw no reason to immediately distrust them.

She walked out into the hallway between the two women. Olive shut the door behind her as she excited.
“This way,” Gardenia bowed her head and pointed down the hall to a single wooden door.
Olive walked ahead and opened it. It was strange to be treated this way by other slaves.
“What’s going on? We’re all slaves but you’re treating me like I’m your master or something.”
Gardenia smiled wide, perfect teeth gleaming. “You’re new. You just came from outside. Think of it as a warm welcome.”
“Well I suppose but this doesn’t seem-”
Olive nudged Kamri into the bathing room and handed her a towel. “Don’t worry. It unnerved me too. You’ll feel better after that bath.”
The room inside was warm. Humid, even. Did they have access to warm water?
Gardenia pulled back a curtain to reveal a large bath with warm steamy water. Both girls rolled up their sleeves up to their elbows.
“Go ahead and get in. We’ll retrieve some brushes and items to help you shortly.”
Kamri shook her head. “No, I’ll be fine. You guys can leave. I can take care of myself.”
The two looked at each other skeptically. “Well,” Olive piped up, “We’ll wait outside the curtain. Take your time.”
Kamri thanked them both and waited for them to close the curtain. She turned back to the bath, ready to finally relax a little.

- - -

Zazel had tried many, many different ways to kill this man. He had tried to poison his drink the other night, only to have him pass out before he even took a sip.
Some other poor bloke drank the beer. Zazel tried to stop him but once the deed was done he just walked backwards out of the room. He wasn’t going to deal with that.

He had stolen a horse drawn coach and attempted to run him over himself. But his target had turned at the last second, and wandered into a building. The horses where going too fast and immediately stopped, throwing Zazel off the coach and into the mud.
He had rigged The man’s room so when he next entered, a vial that would emit a poison gas would be shattered. However he forgot about housekeeping and the poor old woman also met an untimely demise.

He had spent the better part of his day so far hiding the bodies. When a man on the street saw him, he had to kill him too and… well, by the end of the day he had killed five innocent people.
It was the Noodle incident all over again.

As of now he watched as Ed was signing up some assassins for some sort of plan. He would have listened in and maybe even joined the group if he had the time today to even figure out what he was doing. But he had been too busy today hiding many, many bodies.

He had tried poison, carriage accident, classical assassination, hordes of cats, poison again, and then even bribing some street people to stall him long enough to keep him still.

Nothing had worked. Nothing. He couldn’t go back. He couldn’t show his face at the warehouse! Not until he had killed this man!

How pitiful! Disgraceful! Absolutely useless!
He sat on the rooftop, trying to overhear what was going on. It was all a garbled mess though. However, this held opportunity.
If he was busy running something big, some sort of large event, then he would be busy and surrounded by assassins. And as such, he himself would blend right in. after all, most of these assassins wore masks, so a disguise wasn’t even needed.
Jump in, kill him, and leave. Easy.

He didn’t know what was going to happen, but he knew it was going down tomorrow.
“I’m the best assassin.” He chuckled to himself as he ran into the night.

—

Kamri allowed herself to soak in the warm water. She had ample time to scrub out her hair and to take off the grime from the last few days. Olive and Gardenia idly chittered to each other just on the other side of the curtain.

“I’m thinking it will be salad again tonight.”
“I am getting rather sick of salad. I hope its soup this time.”
“Whatever it is, I’m looking forward to whatever fresh bread is baked for it.”

The two talked away, almost forgetting about their newest slave. Kamri raised herself so her face was entirely out of the water. “What are you two talking about?”

“Dinner tonight, of course.” Gardenia answered. “We’re trying to guess what Drien has asked to be prepared for us.”
Kamri thought for a moment. “So, how many other slaves are there? Here in the house, I mean.”

“Oh,” Olive spoke, “Let’s see. Katlyn, Madelyn, Gardenia, Myself, You, Aubrey, Mary… a few others I don’t yet know.”

Kamri wrung out her hair. “And everyone is taken care of like this? Why?”
“Well, we need to stay healthy, don’t we?” Garden smiled. She grabbed a towel and reached through the curtain to hand it to Kamri. Kamri took it and began to dry off.
“Everyone else is treated so poorly though! Why are house slaves so well taken care of?”

Olive sighed, “We’re just lucky, I suppose.”

Kamri didn’t like that answer. She dried herself off and got dressed. As soon as she was clothed, both girls came through the curtain with a comb and some minor keep-up supplies.
“Are you both treated as nicely as I? This seems like a lot for me.”

they both laughed. “Of course we are!” Gardenia ran the comb through Kamri’s hair. “We all take good care of eachother! As long as we all behave, we’re well taken care of.”

“What do you mean by ‘behave’?”
“You know. Don’t cause trouble, get along well with others.”
Kamri let them brush her hair for a while. Olive reached up and began to add some powder to Kamri’s face for color.
“Oh, uh makeup isn’t necessary.”
“Oh but it must have been a while since you looked nice, right?”
“Well it’ll just be all smudged when we get back to work. What is it we do in the house anyway?”
Gardenia started to furiously work on some knots in Kamri’s hair. “Clean, cook, the usual.”
“And the makeup doesn’t get smudged?”
“No, not really.”
Kamri laughed. “Well if we all look so nice then I’m sure all the guys look great too, right?”

Both girls suddenly stopped talking. Gardenia stopped brushing Kamri’s hair.
“What, they don’t get treatment like this?”
Olive coughed weakly. “No, not exactly.”
“Well why not?”
Gardenia shifted uncomfortably. “We can’t say why.”
“I guess I’ll just ask some guy why, then. How many men are there here?”

Silence.
“What? It’s not just females, right?”
Olive quietly muttered something under her breath. Gardenia glared at her.
Fear set in as realization hit her. “Are the only slaves here female?”

They said nothing.
Of course.

Kamri ripped herself free of the two, abruptly standing up. “You can’t be okay with this. This is wrong!”
“Shh! Not so loud!” Olive cried, standing up.
“I will not allow myself to be touched by that man. Put me back in the mines! I won’t behave here so it’s no use keeping me in this place!”

Gardenia reached up and placed her hand over Kamri’s mouth.
“He doesn’t allow us to go back to work. He doesn’t want us talking. If we don’t do what he wants then we’re killed. Why do you think he has to buy new slaves?”
Olive wiped her eyes. “If he finds out we told you, we’ll be killed too. Please, you have to just stay quiet.”

this was unfair. This was wrong. Kamri wanted to yell but it wasn’t just her life on the line right now. She ran her fingers through her hair and felt her face redden.

Olive sniffed. “He wants to see you once you’re done here. I don’t know the details but I know you were brought here because someone from the outside inquired about you. I don’t know who or why. I don’t think Drien wants you in his bedroom right now but I can’t guarantee that so-“
Gardenia barked. “Olive shush! You’re going to get us both in trouble!”
Olive burst into a fresh set of tears.

Kamri slowly slid her fingers from her hair. She took in a deep breath, and steadied herself.
“I won’t tell him.”
Both girls looked up at Kamri.
“I’ll play along for as long as I can. But I won’t let him touch me.”

Gardenia turned back toward Kamri.
“He wants to see you when you’re done. Let us brush your hair and cover your burns and we’ll send you out.”
“No, let me go out like this. After all the people who have made fun of my scars, I think it’s finally time I use them to my benefit.”

—

Nose had an armful of figs he was snacking on. They were sweet and aromatic. He had picked some up from the slave kitchen within the house. He had been assigned to watch the house today. Lots of lovely women, which was nice, but Nose didn’t see the appeal himself; though some of them where nice to talk to. A few avoided him, probably due to his unruly appearance, but that was fine. It was part of who he was now.

He heard some shouting upstairs but he figured that in a house full of people that a fight was bound to break out. He let them be.
He handed a few figs to some other guards on duty. The nice thing about being a guard here was that there was plenty of food to eat.

His shift would end in three hours. After that he figured he would relax with a book. This was much nicer than that dingy old Warehouse. He hoped he would stay here for a long time.

—

Kamri was escorted out of the bathroom a while later. She was told to go down the hall and down the stairs, then take an immediate left and down the second hall. Proceed until you find some large double doors. Knock there, and wait for an answer.

After she knocked, there was a stirring inside. Some papers, and a chair that scraped across the floor.
Drien opened the door and peered down at her. The corner of his mouth tugged down. “I thought I instructed them to do something about those scars.”

“Nothing worked.” Kamri lied. “They’re too dark to really be covered by much. What do you want?”
“Don’t speak to me with such distaste.”
Kamri’s face scrunched up at him in defiance, which earned her a slap across the face. It made her eyes water but she held strong.

“Someone came for you. Offered a large sum of money right off the bat. Would you happen to know why?”
“Maybe. I could tell you if you told me who wanted me.”
Drien’s voice dropped to a low pitched grumble. “You don’t ask questions here. I do. Your insolence might get you more than you can chew.”
“Then send me back to the mines.”
Drien looked at her up and down, contemplating something. “You will be broken in time. I’ve dealt with many who thought themselves strong. Revolutionaries. They break easy when they lose and their confidence is shattered. You will tell me why you think you were so special.”
Kamri honestly had no clue why. Who would come for her? Her family had no clue she was here and her ties with them where weak at best. Any friends she had left a long time ago to pursue their own families.
Who was left who cared for her? Only her mentor came to mind.
Her mentor.
Was it her Mentor who had come for her? Was he back?!
She lost her act in a moment’s notice, the idea striking adrenaline.
“Was he tall?” She asked, eyes widening. “Large black cloak? Short black hair and-” She earned another slap across the face.
“I told you. I ask the questions here. Now tell me why this man thought you so special?”
So it was a man. She had information that would indeed make her valuable, but it was entrusted to her by her Mentor.
Drien’s face crept into a smirk. “Oh, I know. How about a trade?”

He walked back into his room and rummaged around in the bookshelf to his left. Kamri tried to see what he was doing but the room inside was lit only by two small lamps and it was hard to see.
Drien came back with a small black book in his hand.
Her journal.
“How did you-“
“When you caused that commotion back at the fig plant we had to search your old room before another slave could take up residency in it. This was found inside. You really haven’t noticed that you didn’t have it?”
Kamri reached to get it but was pushed back by a blow to the chest.
“You tell me why you’re so special,” Drien reached up and took a single page between his fingers and slowly began to rip off the page. “And I’ll leave your precious book in one piece.”
What would she do? She could tell him of what her Mentor had taught her but it would easily place her in danger, and betray him in the process. But if that book was ruined she would never find him.
What if it was her mentor?
“I can make money.” She lied. “I can create it. With magic. But a large sum of life is needed for energy so I was never supposed to tell anyone.”

Drien’s face crooked into a devious grin. “Is that so? Well, I have all the money I could ever want. But someone else could offer something grand for a runt like you. Something money can’t buy. Yes.”

He would have to keep her alive now. And more so, he couldn’t call her on her bluff without taking off the magic depressors.
“I told you what you wanted to know. Please give me back my journal.”
He laughed. “I never said I would give it back. Only that I would keep it in one piece.” He threw it carelessly over his shoulder. Kamri watched it fly across the room and hit the opposite wall. Drien leaned down and looked her in the eyes, whispering.
“And if you want it to stay that way then you’ll do as I say.”
Kamri grit her teeth and stared him down. Drien pressed a finger against her nose and stood back up. “Dinner is at seven. Be there or you lose a page.” He placed his hand on the doorknob. “Oh, and Thirteen, don’t think you’re untouchable. There are many fates worse than death.”
He closed the door.

—

Kamri awoke the next morning, staring up at the ceiling of her room. She had been awake for hours and the sun was high in the sky by now. There had been a knock at the door by a woman named Madelynn who slid her some food but other than that she was alone today.
The food had long gone cold. Soup again.

Her mind reeled as she thought about the events of last night.
Dinner was uneventful. Despite how hungry she was, she couldn’t find it in her system to eat.
She might have at the soup later but the idea of having anything go down was accompanied by the feeling of something trying to come back up.

She turned in her bed and looked out the window.
She wondered how Celery was doing.
Had he found a way to escape? She hoped so. Though she hadn’t heard anything.

When you were a slave out there, the other areas didn’t exist to you. The fig trees where the entirety of a fig worker’s life. The tunnels where everything to a miner.
The lumber area was unnoticed. The lake to the side was unspoken of. The house merely didn’t exist.
She pulled the blankets close to her body. She had spent most the morning crying and her eyes still stung. She had enough of that for one day.

She watched everyone outside work away. She tried last night to even step outside but that dumb guard from the warehouse stopped her.
God what an ugly guy. Both of them! Ugly.
Gross.

She finally sat up, getting sick of laying down. She needed out of here. She needed to get to that tunnel. She needed to find Celery.
She stood and paced the room, trying to think. What would need to happen to ensure her escape?
First off, she had to collect her journal. No leaving without that.
She would need a way out of the house. Maybe there was a time where there were less guards posted outside?
A distraction?
How would she set one up from inside?
Not to mention it might endanger some of the other girls.
She placed her face in her hands. How long would she be here for?
If she was sold, then she would be expected to make gold. In the long run, that was a dumb lie to tell.

She looked at the soup. She would eat. Just the soup. She could stomach it. After all, she might just stay in her room for a few days to plan in peace. One thing was for sure though, she had to get to the mines.

Peabody leaned against a pillar, smoking on his pipe as he watched the training continue. Time was rushing by now and Peabody was unable to do anything about it. He had been in the mansion with the freed slaves for five days now, but this was only the second day they had been training. The captain had found a way to contact him only this morning, by a carrier pigeon of all things, to give him his deadline. He had two more nights with the recruits and the third would be the real test. They weren't ready. There was no way to make them ready in this short amount of time. Give him six weeks and he could have them in shape, but four days? All he could think to do was drill them with crossbows. They were simple weapons, easy to use and didn't require you to get too close. Light armor wouldn't provide much protection, but it would allow them to retain their mobility. His original plans just weren't feasible. He had thought to arm them with shield and spear, but there was no time. So he had them drilling all day with the crossbows. There were a couple of them there were actually pretty decent, but none held a candle to Fieri. He had asked Twinkle to find him a hunting bow, and the stone girl had come up with a beauty of a weapon. With it, Fieri was an artist. She must have had some prior training but she remained silent, refusing to answer any questions. She followed him everywhere, though, like his own personal bodyguard. Right now she was out there, nudging limbs and bows to help get the others into better positions. A knock at the gate had Peabody's head spinning towards it, rapier in his hand.

The wall surrounding the mansion was eight feel tall, an old grey stone that in places had begun to crumble. For the most part it was in good shape though. The main gate was a thick oak deal, solid, with all it's original fittings. They had shored it up with beams they had found inside the manor itself as a way to bar it, just in case. They all slept better with the beams in place. The escaped slaves began chattering nervously, all signs of professionalism disappearing as their fears took over. It wasn't a good sign. Luckily, Fieri was already on moving. She seemed to glide across the ground, scaling the wall and peaking over. Looking over at Peabody, she shrugged and held up her hand with one finger extended. So, one person outside then? A few barked orders had his troops lined up, weapons aimed at the gate. Taking a breath, he knocked aside the beams and swung the gates open to reveal Thrustbunion.

Burt trudged down into the mining pit, looking for the tunnel they had gone down earlier. First, he would check in on the kobold, then he would post guards to watch him. Except, as he reached the tunnel and entered it, there was nobody down there. The whole tunnel was empty. Sure, before it had just been the kobold and the human girl. Where was he now? Spinning in place, he took off to find the nearest guards as quickly as the old injury to his knee would allow him.

"The kobold! Where is he?" he practically roared at the guard as he made his way out of the pit. He was near the top, and this was the first one he had spotted. Dangerous, leaving the slaves so much freedom down here. They could be up to anything down there, and the guards were too busy messing around up top to do anything about it. A small part of his mind told him how paranoid he was being, tried calming him down so he could assess the situation more clearly. The itch was too much though, the feeling that there was something going on. Something he was close to. He could almost reach out and touch it… "Sir, the kobold, he finished early, sir. Met his quota, didn't he. Should be at the bath, or in his room by now." Furious, Burt took off. He didn't understand why, but he needed to see that kobold immediately.

Celery squeezed his way through the walls, holding his breath. He had to be very quiet which made his progress painfully slow. With nobody else in the slave quarters apart from the guard, any sounds he made would carry. So, inch by inch, he made this way through the space between the walls. Countless times now he had wondered about this space. What had this building been in the past that would need this much room? It didn't matter, the fact was the space was there and that was enough for him. It was just something to occupy his thoughts until he reached the… Light poked in ahead of him. He was there.

He crouched down by the door, having let himself into the room and allowing himself some time to stretch and breathe. He waited. Five minutes. Ten minutes. He had to be sure, but he couldn't afford to wait much longer. If he left it too late, others would be arriving back here. If he was going to move, he would have to do it now. He had tasted the air, listened for sounds. The guard wasn't nearby. With only one slave to guard he was most likely off somewhere relaxing. Perfect. If the guard was busy somewhere else… With a deep breath, he slowly pushed the door open. There was the slightest of creaks, a sound that would go unnoticed in the day to day noise of the building as slaves came and went. In the silence, it caused his heart to stop within his chest. He froze in place, waiting for the sound of the guard to come crashing down the hallway.

Nobody came crashing down the hallway, but he decided to be especially careful after that. Each step was slow and measured. Over the weeks he had tested most of the boards methodically, noting which ones would creak when weight was applied. This plan had been some time in the making, and here he was. Once he was outside, the next test would begin. In his mind he had always imagined this taking place at night. With most of the guards being human, the darkness would have provided him with excellent cover. He could have moved easily within the shadows. Too late for that now, though. It was day, and he had to move. Find somewhere to hole up and come up with next steps. Find a way to get to the girl, and get out of this place. The walls were always an option, but they were guarded very well. There was also something about the shackles. He wasn't a shaman, so he couldn't tell exactly, but they had the smell of magic about them. Could he risk going over the walls if they might do something to activate the shackles? Also in his original plans had been the idea to get his hands on some tools, get these things off. That was still possible, but would need to wait until tonight. Until then, there had to be somewhere he could hide… An idea struck him, then. Yes, there was one place he could go that others couldn't follow.

Burt tore the meager little room apart, shouting at the top of his lungs. Guards flooded in around him, drawn by the sound. The kobold was gone! Gone! How? He turned on the nearest of the guards, lifting him by his collar and slamming him up against a wall. "The burned girl. The one Drien took to the house. Which room was hers?" He roared into the scared boy's face, spittle flying. The lad shook, and two other rushed forwards to try and ease Burt away from him. It took a little time to calm him down, but they managed it and led him to the girl's room. The door was wide open, and inside there was a hole in the wall. That scaly bastard. Burt swung around and punched the guard who had been standing behind him across the jaw. He wasn't normally one to act in such an aggressive manner, but the thought that he had been right and so close to uncovering this plot before it could happen… It burned inside him.

"I want the kobold found. Gather everyone. EVERYONE! And have them outside by the main gate in thirty minutes." with that he took off again, heading for the house. The girl was involved in this. That was clear enough. He needed to find out in what ways.

Entering the house, Burt ran into Nose almost immediately. His friend looked him in the eyes, soothing his rage down to a manageable level with soft words and calming gestures. The girl was with Drien, and they were not to be disturbed for any reason. Burt wondered if that included if a slave had escaped, but thought better of barging into the room to find out. Rubbing at his temples, he took a moment to calm down and think things through. It was true, the kobold could have already escaped. More likely, however, he was still somewhere nearby. He had escaped through the girl's room, and had almost risked his life to stand up for earlier. No, Burt had a feeling the kobold wouldn't be leaving without her. A simple plan began to form.

"Where are the other?" Burt asked, looking at the assembled guards before him. There were some missing. If he had to guess, at least six of them. The same boy he had almost throttled earlier stepped forwards timidly, looking at the ground, shaking visibly. "Sir… Someone in town… Sir, they were hiring muscle. A good price. They've gone down to check it out, sir…" Burt suppressed a groan. Just what he needed, the guards here were being poached by someone else. He would need to talk to Drien about hiring on new hands, and fast. That itching feeling was coming back, and he didn't like it. "Listen up, the lot of you. There's been an escape, but I don't think he's gone far. We're looking for the kobold. Double duty for everyone until he is found, understood?"

Celery's eyes emerged from the water of the small lake within the compound. It was more of a large pond, really, but the water was murky enough that it hid him quite well. Given the fact that he could remain under the water, nestled in the mud at the bottom. Well, he could wait here quite comfortably until it got dark. Then he would need to do some scouting, carefully. There was a lot riding on him being extremely careful, and he didn't want to blow it.

Over the course of the next two days, many people entered the mansion. At first it had made Peabody extremely nervous, but the dwarf had stuck around. If the captain trusted him, well then Peabody would have to trust him too. The came in ones and twos, careful not to attract any attention. Soon enough, though, there were an additional thirty bodies within the walls. The dwarf explained that some of them were earmarked for other things, though twenty of them were dedicated to the assault. They were to be commanded directly by Peabody, until Captain Ward arrived. That brought their numbers to near enough thirty five. The newcomers were all sailors though, many of them having served on ships for many years. Not exactly the mercenary soldiers Peabody had been hoping for, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Ed smiled, looking at the sun.

Kamri waited in her room for what felt like eternity. She had eaten the rest of her food but refused to go out. Slaves had knocked on the door and told her she had to work but she ignored their pleas. She had no choice in the matter when one of the journal pages was slipped under the door that afternoon, ripped from the rest of the book. It had the words ‘get to work, thirteen’ scribbled over the page. She grit her teeth and collected the page, folding it gingerly and placing it safely in her pocket.
She left her room, leaving the bowl and spoon to clean up later.
She had been given new clothes. All the slaves here wore nice clothes, long dresses, some more showy than others. Kamri kept to her old worn robes. Most took the newer clothes just to feel clean. Kamri kept her own as a form of protection.
Evening had set in and she had been assigned to the kitchens to work. Olive and gardenia where nowhere to be seen. Luckily, Kamri was not the only one cooking.
There was a recipe pinned to the wall for some sort of roast and bread to accompany it. Kamri was assigned to making the bread and cleanup.
She thought about poison but again that would put the other girls in danger of being poisoned themselves. Drien was a bastard but he was cunning enough to put the girls together so they became each other’s weakness. Besides, Kamri had been snooping around since this afternoon and found nothing of use that would really be used for poison. There where the obvious cleaning supplies but those where kept under lock and key and chore time was oddly enough one of the most guarded times of the day. Probably for this specific reason.
Drein had his dinner sent to him via Guard so he didn’t have to mingle with the girls as a group. Another wise decision, as Kamri realized that not all girls where contempt with the arrangement and would attack if and when given the chance.
She had learned a lot about how things worked here, and she didn’t like it one bit. Though she did gain the ability to somewhat scout around while doing chores. She noticed where guards where posted and what times they would switch out.

She also noticed that when he took one of the slaves with him to bed, surprisingly all nearby guards would leave that area despite Drien being alone with a potential attacker, which meant he probably had a way to defend himself.

If Drein had a way to defend himself then attacking him was out of the question. This would require stealth, not aggression.
Guards where posted outside their rooms at night, leaving the perimeter of the house lightly guarded. If she found a way out from her room, she could probably sneak away before she was noticed.
If she could blend in with the slaves in the mine, she might buy herself and hour or two.

The windows where barred though and where firmly reinforced. Breaking out through that was impossible- much less to do it under stealth. She could unscrew them but the window itself was glued shut. She had tried to open it earlier but couldn’t do it on her own.
Breaking it would cause too much noise and she would be caught.

She was certain she could open it if she just had some leverage. If she could just find something to pry it open with she could get to work on unscrewing the bars; sneaking something like that into her room would be painfully difficult. Bringing anything into her room would be deemed suspicious let alone some large bar.
Then it hit her like a brick.
Cleaning.
She could bring items with her to clean the bathroom. Sure, if she tried to leave some sort of chemicals she would be told to go pick them up or even called out on it- can’t have slaves leaving poison in easily accessible places after all.
But a broom, if done correctly, would go unnoticed. She could easily turn that into a crowbar.
Getting it to the bathroom was her best choice. Her room had one sheet and blanket for her bed. The bathroom had a curtain and multiple linens. She had a safe way down to the ground from the second floor.

And since the perimeter was less guarded at night, sneaking away could be doable if she took her time.

She snapped out of her realization when she noticed she smelled the bread burning. She pulled it from the oven and had a look at it. It was a bit charred, but still completely edible. ‘Toasted’ would be a better description.

She fussed about getting dinner ready, planning all the while.
She would be escaping tomorrow night.

Celery made himself as comfortable as he could at the bottom of the lake. It was only a few more hours until it would get dark on the surface so he needed to begin planning, if for no other reason than to pass the time. It was relaxing, being underwater once more, but in the end it was also extremely boring. He found himself nodding as his mind wandered, eyes closing and sleep beckoning to him. He was forced to keep snapping himself out of it. With no way to secure himself to the bottom, if he fell asleep he might find himself waking on the surface, surrounded by the guards who must by now know of his escape. Escape was a strong word to describe what he had done, since he was still trapped within the compound. As far as he could see there were four ways out of this place, alive anyway. The first was the main gate. Since it was always guarded by more than one person, with patrols moving past it regularly then that was unlikely. Alone and unarmed, with the guards on alert, there would be no way to attack them or slip past them. The second option was to go over the walls. They were tall, even for people much larger than Celery that option would be hard. Ladders, or rope, or another person would be needed, and some way to get past the broken glass that was embedded in the top of the wall. He had noticed it twinkling in the sun. Add to that the patrols that patrolled the walls, he wasn't sure of the frequency but he had a guess the time available to go over the walls would be short, the walls didn't look like they would be a good option. Then there was option three, the tunnel. He couldn't move the rocks blocking that tunnel alone. He couldn't break the rocks without making a lot of noise. He probably wouldn't be able to get into the mine any more because of the guards. Even if things had gone as planned and he and the girl had moved the rocks, there was no telling where that tunnel might have led. It could have taken them to a dead end in both directions, leaving them trapped or forced to return to the slave compound to face the consequences for trying to escape. All that left him, if he remained alone, was the cliff. He had never been over in that direction, so he hadn't had time to evaluate it himself, but he had heard the stories. The guards rarely had anyone posted there, because apparently there wasn't any need. The cliff was sheer, too hard to scale unaided. Celery had claws, of course, that might help. But from the sounds of things it was a long was down, and that one guard who showed up occasionally would be enough to see anyone climbing. There had been attempts, that had never ended well. Others had apparently tried diving off the cliff into the ocean below, leading them to be cast down upon the rocks at the bottom. From the sounds of things, diving wouldn't work. Perhaps, if he was unable to get to the human, he might consider the cliff as a way out. Truly, it was the only other option left. He sighed, thinking about the way she had been so excited to call him Celery that he had been unable to finish writing out his full name.

Burt stomped through the house, pushing past slaves and guardsmen like they weren't even there. Without knocking, he burst through the door to Drien's room. He was occupied, but that didn't matter right now. The man needed to know what was going on and take action. 
"What the hell is going on here?!" the man on the bed roared, rolling off the girl who he sent scrambling off the bed with a kick. It was just another one of the house slaves, who gathered up her dress and began cowering in a corner. There was already a blade in Drien's hand as he made his cautious way across the room towards Burt, but he wasn't bothered by it. He had taken the measure of this man days before and found him wanting in so many ways. Burt already knew the exact way in which he would disarm him if he tried to attack. He would make it humiliating, earning the man's hatred but putting him in his place. Attack me, he thought. He needed the burst of adrenaline that action would bring. Drien paused, though, three feet away. Coward.
"Explain yourself, now!"
"A slave escaped while you were up here enjoying yourself. You brought a slave into this house who is involved, somehow. And your men have been slipping off to work elsewhere! I need to know what you are planning to do about all this!"
Drien barked a derisive laugh at the outburst. "Who in all the hells do you think you are?!"
This caused Burt to pause. He had been sent here to assess the situation going on here at the slave compound by the order of his boss. He had been given authority here. True, Drien wouldn't be aware of the full extent of his real mission, but he had never actually thought about what Drien had been told. Since arriving here, Burt and Nose had been given freedom to do as they pleased. Burt had easily fallen into the role of leading the other guards, organising them better and holding them accountable.
"I was sent here to help you. So here I am, helping."
Drien scoffed at this. "You were sent here because you were a nuisance. Back in Adeluna you were a mascot, an old timer! Nobody wanted to kill you, so you were sent here to die quietly you fool. I've let you run around doing as you please because I actually found you useful. You do this again, though, and I'll have you thrown from the cliff. Now get out and take care of this before I decide you are worthless!"
Burt stood frozen for all of a second, blinded by the thoughts of rushing the slaver and finishing what the other man had started days ago. He could throttle the bastard. Throw him through the window behind him, the only window in the whole house without bars on it. There was another guard nearby, there always was. Burt could take care of him, too. Grab Nose, get out of here before anyone knew… But then, what was the truth really? Had he been sent here to die, or sent here to spy? It would be just like the boss for both of those to be true. There was no way of knowing for sure though. Turning on his heel, Burt exited the room. Better to play it cool. Keep doing what he had been sent here to do. Prevent the escape situation from getting any worse. Tonight they would hunt for the kobold, tomorrow he would see about hiring on new guards. The whole time he planned on thinking up new and inventive ways to kill Drien.

Celery emerged from the water again, having waited for full darkness to descend on the compound. The dark didn't bother him, his eyes adjusting to see. Everything was in shades of black and white but he could see clearly. Only the top of his head was above the surface, just enough for him to see. What he saw was disheartening. Guards were everywhere. He had never seen this many patrols out at one time, torches marking them clearly. They were everywhere. His plan had been to sneak over to the house and scout it out. See if he could find a way in, or at least a way to see in to see if he could find her. But there were more guards outside the house than normal. He waited for what he felt like was a full hour, counting in his head. There was no change. He could spend the whole night watching the house and gain nothing, or he could start looking at the rest of the compound. He had a list of things he needed, tools, food and weapons. Necessities if he was going to make it through the next day or two. The girl might not even be in the house any more. Maybe they just questioned her and took her back to the slave quarters. There was no guarantee they would have kept her in the house, but something kept him there for two more hours. The stationary guards remained where they were with the patrolling guards coming and going. For tonight, at least, the house wasn't going to happen. He had wasted half the night already. He turned, very slowly so as to cause as few ripples as possible, and began looking out over the rest of the compound. Slave quarters were guarded by extra people now too. There were no guards at the top of the mine, but he still had no way of escaping through there. Even if he had a pickax there would be no way of breaking up the boulders without causing far too much noise. His stomach growled, reminding him how hungry he was. Slaves were fed just enough to get them through the day and to the next. Having food withheld was pretty much a death sentence. If you didn't make your quota one day, then you couldn't eat. The next day you would be too weak to make you quota, so no more food. You would be forced to starve to death. Celery hadn't eaten for a while now and he could feel himself growing weaker already. He looked over at the fig orchard, hoping that if the mines weren't guarded then they wouldn't be either. Unfortunately, someone was thinking. There were two guards walking through the orchard. He would have hissed if he could have risked making a noise. As it was, a guard was stood only a couple of feet away from him now, back turned to the lake. A part of Celery wanted to grab the leg, yank it out from under him, drag him under the water… It wouldn't be possible. Not without alerting every guard that he was here. Stomach growling away, Celery slipped back under the water.

Burt roused the next shift of guards, allowing the first shift six hours to get some rest and get back up and ready for duty. He hadn't taken any time for himself yet, having been up since the previous morning. There was no sign of the kobold anywhere, which was impossible. They needed more men on the search, Nose would be the best one to send into the city below and find men to bring back more men. They hadn't searched the mines yet, though Burt had had men posted down there, hidden. The kobold had been stationed in the mines for a while now. If he had had an escape route, that was where Burt was betting it would be. So men had hidden in the dark and waited for the shape of the kobold to come down and reveal himself. It hadn't happened, though. It was unlikely the kobold had made his way down there before. During the day there had been guards posted, making sure slaves couldn't get out. The benefit of that was also that they would have seen any slaves coming back in, something that they assured him hadn't happened. Where could the kobold possibly be hiding? They had searched everywhere, so unless he had been moving all night too, staying ahead of the guards…  The question now was whether or not to wake the slaves and continue as normal. Having more bodies out would make things more complicated, but on the other hand… More eyes. He had an idea. Offer the slaves a deal. Anyone that helped find the kobold would be offered… Something. He was having trouble thinking things through completely, he was too tired. Maybe after the slaves were out working he would close his eyes for a couple of hours, get his head back on straight.

Celery spent the whole day beneath the water. He had fished out some rocks from the bottom and found a way to keep himself anchored so he could rest. The process had been slow, painstaking. He couldn't move to fast in fear of any sign of his presence being seen from above. Settled down at the bottom, with nothing else to think about, he finally noticed fish were in the water with him. Not a whole lot, and they weren't all that big, but if he could find a way to get one or two of them then he could stave off starvation.  How could he get them, though, without swimming around and grabbing them? He closed his eyes, slowing his breathing and allowed himself to rest. It was hard with his stomach growling away, but eventually the water caressing him, reminding him of home, lulled him into a doze.

Hours later, his eyes opened with a snap. The same sound his jaws made as they closed suddenly around the fish that had wandered too close. He chewed it thoughtfully, eyes closing again. Become a feature of their home and the fish eventually forget about you. It was growing dark again up above. Releasing his anchors, he rose slowly to the surface. If anything, there were more people out tonight than previously. It was becoming less and less likely that he was going to be able to get to the girl, which meant the only way out would be to go over the cliff. He couldn't leave her, and he couldn't get to her while unarmed. Turning slowly, he looked over at the cliff. Just one guard there. He could already see the path he could take to get over there. Then, there would be just the one guard to deal with. It was possible…

Ed looked around at everyone gathered in the grounds of the mansion. There were a lot more people here than he had expected, Thrustbunion had really come through for him. Along with the slaves, which Peabody said were nowhere close to being ready for this, Ed had twenty more men at his disposal. Hardened sailors and soldiers that Thrustbunion assured him could be trusted, even after this was done. He suspected the dwarf would be hiring them on permanently, to make sure they kept their silence. Along with the other ten men who were right now picking over a pile of bright yellow clothing. Turning away from the preparations of the men and women who would be risking their lives tonight, Ed looked over those who were closest to him. Peabody, Twinkle, Thrustbunion and the new girl Fieri. They were poring over a map of the compound that Thrustbunion had come up with. There were really only two approaches. One was to land on the beach below and climb, something that nobody here thought would work despite it being Ed's favorite option. Or an attack on the main gate. With their superior numbers, they could quickly overwhelm any resistance. The guards at the gate would have to be dealt with first, by one or two people, so the main force could approach without an alarm being raised. It looked like that was the option they were going with. Drat. Ed had wanted to scale the cliff.

The girl came with Peabody, the two of them sticking to the shadows as they made their way to the gate. She had her bow at the ready, and Peabody had his blade drawn. He had blackened the blade already to prevent stray light catching it. The plan was simple, he would take one of the guards with his blade, Fieri the other with her bow then the others would come up the path behind them. Simple. Or it would have been. As Peabody slipped around the corner, plunging his blade into the chest of the guard he had approached stealthily, he noticed the three men standing behind him. Two men after an arrow took one in the throat. What had happened to cause them to be on such high alert? Cursing to himself, Peabody lunged forwards, but not before a guard had taken off, shouting for help.

Awoken by the sun, Kamri turned in her bed and got up with a push. She felt tired. The work here wasn’t as labor intensive and the slaves where groomed and well fed but the mental aspect of it was dragging on and on. Planning what had to be done for that day was enough for most, but Kamri also had to devise ways just to keep Drien off her. She was getting tired of fighting mental battles.

She pushed herself out of her room and down the stairs. Drien had increased her amount of chores far more than the other slaves. He had told her that if she wouldn’t make herself useful to his needs, then she would make herself useful to the house as a whole. Any chore gone undone by the end of the day would earn her ‘a fresh new scar’ as he put it, since she seemed to love them so much.
Her face scrunched up in anger at the thought of the man. Repulsive.
Her mind swam with all the chores she would have to do just to keep from getting in trouble. She started to wonder just how hard it would be to survive a fall from the cliffside. If only he didn’t have her precious journal, then maybe she could retaliate a bit more.
She shook her head, muttering curses under her breath.
She walked to the dining room and began to sweep away. Other girls became busy cooking breakfast or setting the table. A few guards oversaw the process to ensure the food was safe.
Guards. Always guards. It was impossible to escape this place, it really was. She needed to get down and into that mine- she had to. Maybe Celery had found someone else and escaped by now. The thought made her feel hopeless but she wouldn’t hold it against him. He was probably here much longer than she was and she would understand if he left. She might be angry, but it was all well within bounds. He owed her nothing.

Would she even bother to check if she ever got out? Even assuming he was still around, there was no guarantee that the sewer hadn’t been found.
She finished sweeping the dining room and placed the broom up against the wall. Next she would probably wash all the linens.
A voice snapped her from her thoughts.
“Good morning, thirteen.”
Drien stood behind her, looking at the girls working in the kitchen. Kamri tried to walk away but he grabbed her shoulder and kept her from leaving.
“I hope you got plenty of rest last night. I have another job for you today. Do you know what it is?”
Kamri fought the urge to bite his hand.
“No, I don’t.”
“No I don’t- what?” He gripped her shoulder tighter.
“No, I don’t, sir.”
He hummed. “Better, I suppose. I need you to dispose of something. Something that got a little too out of hand last night, so to speak. The guards will give you a shovel and watch you. You will find this thing just behind the house.” He let go of her.
Without another word, Kamri drudged to the front door. A guard stood waiting there with a shovel for her. He handed it to her as she stepped outside.
She thought crossed her mind to attack but again she would easily be overpowered. She followed her instructions and rounded to the back of the house.
Her eyes set upon a young girl- one she recognized. Olive’s body laid haplessly in the grass, eyes wide and looking into the sky. Multiple gashes and stabs riddled her body. She sat just underneath Drien’s window.
Kamri swallowed the block in her throat, and started to dig. The guard nearby kept a close eye on her, but seemed to also be preoccupied with something else. She didn’t know exactly what it was but she didn’t focus on it. She was too busy digging.
She heard a shout in the distance. She ignored it at first, just making the hole big enough for a body.
A second shout came, then a third.
Something apparently was going on.
The guard kept glancing over across the compound. Kamri didn’t know what was causing the commotion. Probably some slave attempting escape. It happened every once and a while, but it always ended up in failure.
The guard walked over to Kamri and took the shovel from her hand.
“I have to go see what that’s about. I’m escorting you back inside the house. I’ll explain it to Drien later.”
Kamri glanced in the direction he was looking but the compound was so big she only saw trees and guards.
She was pushed around the house before she could even object.
“What about Olive? She deserves to be buried-“
“Not now. Later. She’ll be buried later. Get inside.” He pushed her into the building and closed the door behind her, locking it.
Kamri tried to open it but it seemed she was trapped inside again.
She heard Drien talking to a guard in the dining room down the hall. Should she report back?
Then it struck her.
She wasn’t being watched. Everyone thought she was outside.
And Drien was out of his room.

She quietly but quickly slinked down the hall, her eyes locked on the door ahead of her. She prayed silently for it to be unlocked, for Drien to stay in the dining room for just a little longer, to be quiet and for the door not to creak.
She placed her hand on the doorknob and slowly turned it. It clicked, which made her flinch, but was indeed unlocked.
She pushed it open silently, the door hinges not making her any trouble.
She had moments, seconds even. Where was he keeping the book?
He didn’t care for it aside from leverage, so it probably wasn’t being taken well care of. She skipped the Bookshelves for now, too much time to look through them all.

She began to look on his desk or his dresser. When those failed, she moved onto looking under all the items on the floor. No luck.
She cursed. Did he have it on him? She wouldn’t leave without it. She couldn’t leave without it!
She caught a glimpse of the corner of a black book on the floor. She turned. Stuffed there, underneath the bed, was her journal.
She raced to it, grabbing it and pulling it out from the clothes and mess stuffed underneath. She had it!
She hugged it tightly to her chest, standing up to make her escape.
There were no guards outside the house. She could make a move!

The door creaked open.
Drien stood there with a knife in his hand, face deepened into a scowl. “Oh, thirteen. What have you done now?”
He took a steady step forward, closing the door and locking it behind him.
“I kept you fed and clothed here in exchange for some housework. Now is it really that bad?”
Kamri’s eyes flittered to the blade in his hand and back to his face, trying to judge if she could fight.
She was fed much better than other slaves, sure, but without magic she had nothing. Nothing but maybe agility or luck.
“Don’t take another step closer!” Kamri yelled on a whim, trying to sound intimidating. Drien laughed.
“Give me back the book, girl. If you do, then I’ll be a little more forgiving with you.”
Kamri hugged it tighter. His grin widened. “Fine, have it your way. I told you I would break you. I guess I just have to be literal.”

In a flash, he lunged forward. Kamri dived to the side, trying to get to the window- the only unbarred window within the entire house. If she could get it open then she had a chance.
Drien grabbed the back of her clothes and pulled her back. He raised the knife and slashed downwards. Kamri ducked out of the way, the knife catching a lock of hair as she drove out of the way. She caught the look on Drien’s face. He was laughing. Rage filled her and she struck a blow, upper cutting him with a blow to the jaw.
He yelled as her fist made contact, letting her go. She ran back to the window, trying to escape one more time. She placed her palms on the window and pushed outward, discovering it was locked in place. She found the lock and fiddled with it, trying to get it open.

Drien stood up, whipping blood from his mouth. Seems he had bit his tongue. “You bitch.”
He took two strides and met with Kamri. He grabbed her shoulders and spun her around. “Look what you’ve done. Now someone’s going to have to bury two bodies.”
He raised his knife and sliced down, aiming for her chest. She swerved to the side, avoiding the fatal blow but catching in in her shoulder instead. At first, she just felt a dull sensation run through her arm, but as the realization kicked in she felt the sharp pain emanating through her shoulder. She screamed, pushing Drien back, making him stumble. God, it was bad. It was a bad cut and it hurt like hell. She had one working arm. One arm to keep her journal, keep the bleeding under some sort of control, and to fight. Her odds dwindled.
She grit her teeth, dropping the journal to the ground. She placed her hand on her shoulder to keep from bleeding out.
“See what happens,” Drien stood back up fully, “When you don’t listen to me, Thirteen?” Kamri huffed, pushing the window open with her good shoulder. She had to leave.
“Like hell you do!”
Drien bolted forward, journal in hand to stop her from leaving. Kamri ducked at the last second, then kicked at his legs.
The momentum of his chase pulled him down, forcing him onto the windowsill, his legs kicked out from under him.
Kamri stood and spun around, placing a foot on his hip and forcing him out the window. He grunted as he hit the ground just on the other side.
Kamri wasted no time. She collected a tunic from the floor and leapt out the window herself, landing both her feet on his chest. He coughed and sputtered, trying to get up. His eyes fluttered for a moment before they shut. The blow knocking him unconscious.

Kamri grabbed her journal which lay still in his hands. She had a few moments to leave.
Guards from left and right where moving in one direction, distracted by the calls for help at the gate. This was her moment. She placed the journal into her pocket and took his knife as a last minute decision. Pocketing the knife, she then continued to keep the blood from gushing out. Spare tunic in hand, she rushed off in the direction of the mines.

—

Nose watched as guards from left and right began to respond to the distress call. He would have checked on it himself but as a temporary guard- more an overseer than anything- he wasn’t properly equipped.
However now that guards where flooding one area, it left other places vulnerable.
The first place he would check would be the lumberyard. With less guards, visibility would almost be none existent and slaves would flee from there quickly.
He spent the afternoon checking each area. After the lumber, it was the figs. After the figs, it was the mines. Each area had enough guards to keep a general eye on them. The house itself however was usually lightly guarded from the outside. His worry of there being an issue was confirmed when he finally arrived, noticing Drien, Leader of the camp, unconscious outside the house window.
Nose ran to his body and began lightly tapping his face.
Drien coughed weakly and gasped but he was indeed alive. He just needed some time.

Nose dragged him back into the house and into his room, where the scuffle obviously had taken place. Blood splattered the window and the room was an absolute mess!
Nose placed Drien in his bed. Nose placed a blanket over Drien’s body.
“What ‘appened ‘ere?”
Drien forced his eyes open.
“Thirteen. The charred girl.” His eyes drifted to the window. Nose pieced it together and set his jaw into a grimace.

Nose called out the window, grabbing the attention of two guards. He told them to watch over Drien while he healed. Both gave a weak nod before obeying Nose’s orders. Nose himself would go after the girl.

—

Kamri had bandaged her wound with the tunic from before. It was poorly done, but it kept her from bleeding out.
God, it hurt like hell. How would she move rocks like this?
She decided not to think about that now. Her first goal was to find Celery. He would probably be in the mines, right?
The Lack of guards had her thinking, though. Not everyone was sent to check out the ruckus but a large chunk was. Maybe they were in lockdown? That would be the smartest move to make.
She was halfway to the mine. She had to take time to ensure she wouldn’t irritate her shoulder but also to duck and hide from any patrolling guards.

She tried to listen in on any conversations to figure out what the hell was going on, but everyone was surprisingly tight lipped.
Not that it mattered too much to her. As long as she got out.
She had made her way steadily there, feeling better knowing she had Drien’s knife. She might have some sort of chance.
Her fear was confirmed when she stood on the other side of the quarry. Slaves were being filtered from the mines and into their quarters. Guards heavily watched over them, waiting for the whole issue to blow over.
Kamri started to make her way around the quarry, hiding behind rocks and rummaging through bushes.
If she got close enough, she would watch for patterns in patrol and try to make her way into the slave quarters.
She hoped Celery would be inside.

Dace walked down the alley, following the others in front of him. Behind him was the man dressed all in yellow, the one who had hired them all for this job. Job was simple. Kill the men outside the warehouse then smash and grab. Break anything they couldn't carry. Dace liked the simple jobs. They were right up his alley. Heh, alley. That was a good one. He chuckled to himself right up until there was a shout up ahead. Hefting his axe, he ran forward to see what was going on. Up ahead there was definitely something happening. Bursting out of his end of the alley he saw people fighting all over. There had been twelve of them hired for this, the yellow bloke making thirteen. There was only meant to be four guards, but there were far more than that. People were shouting and dying everywhere. Something crashed into the back of him, sending him stumbling forwards and into the path of one of the men he had been sent here to kill. Without thinking he lashed out with his axe, sinking it into the man's leg. This made him scream, which was good. It also made him swing his own club, which caught Dace above the ear. The world spun and suddenly he was on the floor, his axe no longer in his hand. He patted himself down, looking for another blade. He had a dagger somewhere… Ah, there it is! Nodding, a bad idea since it made him dizzy, he lay where he was and gripped the dagger tight. He might throw up now. Another bad idea since he was lying on his back but he didn't care. Just wanted the world to stop spinning. A yellow blur jumped over him, fire in his hands. A torch? Where was he going with that? A spear, coming out of nowhere, caught him in the throat around the same time the warehouse caught fire.

Shadowfingers lounged on the docks, looking at the other assassins who had been gathered.Their targets were seven ships which were all anchored out in the bay. There was some debate on how they were all going to reach the ships, the man in yellow standing silently off in the background. He was a strange one. He had been awfully talkative back when they were being hired, but now? Man hadn't said a word to any of them. They way he stood was a little off too. It was something he was trained to notice. He suspected the man was not the same one who had hired him. He had also heard other rumors about a man in yellow hiring other people for other jobs. It would make sense, if there was more than one job there would be more than one man dressed in yellow. A disguise that was easily recognisable, bright enough to stick in your mind and distract you from differences in accent or stance. It was a solid enough idea, to be sure. As long as they were getting paid, Shadowfingers didn't care who was there with them. As far as he knew, the costumed person wasn't going to be going along with them anyway. He was going to be leading the crews over to man the ships, once he and the other assassins had done their part.

The decision in the end was simple. Shadowfingers, along with some of the other assassins who could perform magic, drew shadows around the boats. Others moves the water to propel their little skiffs forwards while silencing the sound of them moving through the water. There had been suggestions for hiding in barrels, swimming, disguises. All nonsense. This plan was the best plan. Three skiffs, seven ships. It would take some doing to get them all without any alarms being raised, but luckily they were all professionals. Also, the crews were meant to be on land enjoying shore leave, which meant only skeleton crews left behind. Easy.

As it turned out, the skeleton crews were a little more than was expected. Shadowfingers was set to be on the second wave, having just deposited assassins from his own skiff onto the side of a ship and moving on to the next target. As the skiff was approaching the ship, screaming and the sounds of fighting began to erupt from all around them. Shadowfingers swung his head around. What was going on? He dropped the shadows then, giving up on stealth and adding his own magic to propel the little boat forwards faster. They weren't even at the ship before he strengthened his own limbs and leaped up and onto the deck of his own target, blades in hands. Nearly twenty men were on deck. Far too many to have been just left behind. Their information was bad, they would need reinforcements from the shore. Creating a light, he sent it up into the sky. It was the agreed upon signal for the relief crews to be sent forward.

The battle went on, but no relief came. Ships burned. People died.

Thrustbunion sat in his little shop, reports flooding in quickly. Ten assaults, ten targets. Ten successes, or so it seemed so far. He was keeping an eye on the eleventh, on Ed's own attack, but in truth that wasn't as important to him. He had done his part in providing the human with everything he needed and now it was up to him whether or not he would make the most of it. While he had been taking care of Ed, finding him people that could be trusted, Ed had been putting things into place for him. He had hired the lowest criminals in the city, the worst of the worst. In a city full of criminals, these people were still hated. Ed had gathered them all up, and some others, true. They needed the numbers. With the promise of easy scores they had been lured into attacking Thrustbunion's greatest enemies. Even if the attacks weren't completely successful, key places would be weakened. Thrustbunion would be able to move in over the next days and weeks and complete his plan. He would soon be one of the key players in the city. He chuckled to himself. He hadn't even lied to Ed. This was helping him. Causing diversions, just in case any reinforcements were somehow mobilised. Causing misdirection. If Ed wanted to return to the city after this, he was free to. Nobody was going to suspect him after this. There was just too much going on, too much happening by people who were dressed in the exact same way Ed would be. Any survivors of the attacks, and Thrustbunion planned on there being survivors, would all give the same description of the leader of the attacks. There would be rumors started, legends born. All based on tonight's activities.

Darkness grew once more and Celery rose again from the water. His stomach growled and gurgled, though he wasn't as weak with hunger as he could have been. He looked around, searching for the guards. Still everywhere. Still on alert. He hissed beneath the surface, causing bubbles to form. A careless mistake, but given the guards were nowhere nearby, not a fatal one. Still, if he was to be successful tonight then he couldn't make any more mistakes. He would need a lot of luck on his side to do this. He slipped silently out of the water, taking a breath of air for the first time in days. He had some distance to go until he reached the cliff, but he could already see a path opening ahead of him. It was now or never.

Keeping low to the ground, Celery crawled to his destination. It wasn't exactly the pride filled march of a hero, but it got him to where he needed to go. Up ahead of him, stood near the edge of the cliff was the human guard. He had a torch stuck in the ground to free his hands, spear in one and pipe in the other. He seemed to be enjoying a quick smoke on his rounds. With everyone else so on edge it seemed like this guard was suspiciously relaxed. A sign that this was a trap? Celery froze where he lay in the dirt, eyes darting back and forth as he searched for a sign of movement. Anything that might give away more guards hidden nearby. Tasting the air, looking for any other signs, it became obvious why that guard was so relaxed. He had something mixed in with his pipe.

Finally at ease that he wasn't being led into a trap, Celery made his move. He had one human, far enough away from the others that anything could happen. A convenient place to dispose of a body. With a sudden burst of speed he leaped forward, his plan was simple. Overwhelm the human, kill him with his claws. Arm himself, dispose of the body. Find the human girl. Simple plan. But when he connected with the human, the human collapsed immediately, pipe and spear falling aside as the human fell over the side of the cliff. The strange thing was, he didn't let out a single cry of fear the whole way down. Celery looked around and shrugged, picking up the human's spear. Well. He had a weapon now, that was something.
Burt rubbed at his eyes, exhausted. Since the kobold had escaped he had managed to sleep for all of three hours. He knew the men hadn't had much more than that, and it was beginning to show. They trudged through their rounds, ignored the slaves, got into fights with each other. They couldn't stand much more of this. Burt was going to have to admit the kobold had beat him and truly escaped. Sighing heavily, he stepped out of the house and into the night air. He would head down to the gate, send the extra guards there to get some rest, then make the rounds himself. All the extra patrols could be sent to bed. Light duties for the next few days to relieve the stress. Yes, that would be the best course. He had a sword at his side, having given all guards permission to use deadly force if needed, and considered leaving it behind. The damn thing was irritating him, had been all day. A lot of things were irritating him. He could tell his temper was short right now. He would make it to morning and then, then he would get some rest himself. Maybe take Nose and head into town tomorrow night, get a few too many drinks.

Shouts ahead of him alerted him to trouble. There was a scream that was cut off. His first thought, however self serving, was of grim satisfaction. He had been right after all. He ran as fast as his bad knee would let him for the front gate, in the dim light just making out a figure standing there, soon joined by another. He had to hope that others would have heard the shouts and would be joining him, because if these two had taken out the four guards posted here then Burt wasn't going to stand a chance alone. He slowed his pace, coming to a stop and standing awkwardly with his hand on the hilt of his sword. There were just two of them. Did he want to die alone, just to buy his men a few more seconds to get here and stop whatever was happening? Not really. He wasn't going to run away, either. At least, he hoped he wasn't. The decision to run or fight was taken away from him as three patrols ran up behind him, forming up with Burt as their center. Seven against two. Much better odds. He drew his blade, ordering the men to charge. Let the six of them fight the two people. He was too tired for this crap.
Celery was just wondering how he would make it back to the house when there sudden shouts coming from the other side of the compound. Had he been discovered? Had all this really been a trap meant for him? He would kill many of the humans before he allowed them to take him anywhere. He prepared the spear, but nobody came for him. Judging by the direction the torch wielding patrols were heading, though, there was something going on at the main gate. This was good. A distraction. It would ease him on his way to finding the human girl he was looking for. If she wasn't in the house, he would head to the slave quarters then, and see what would happen after that. He didn't want to leave without her, that much was certain though.

With everyone running in one direction, it was surprisingly easy for Celery to make it to the house. There was a crashing sound from around the corner, a window breaking? That wasn't good. There were no guards outside the front door right now, though, giving Celery access to the house. With a spear in hand there was little room for maneuvering, he would have much preferred a dagger or axe. But it had a pointy end and that was better than nothing. He ducked inside quickly, and began his search. He opened doors, finding empty rooms until finally coming across one with slaves inside. Slipping inside, he closed the door behind him just in time. From the sound of things, a body was being brought inside. This followed by some shouting. What could possibly be going on here? He looked the slaves over, but none of them were the one he was looking for. He considered for a moment telling them they could take this chance to try and escape, maybe even offer to help them. They could get out through the tunnel with him. But if he couldn't find the girl here, he would need to go to the slave quarters next. He couldn't risk leading these women, they would make too much of a target. He regretted it, but he left the door open for him as he left. Maybe they would take their chances.

Celery took off, back into the night, heading towards the slave quarters. It wasn't long before he reached them.

Hiding in the trees, thirty some people behind him, Ed waited for the signal. Nervously, he toyed with one of his throwing knives. He had wanted to spearhead this attack, but Peabody had told him those behind needed the morale boost his presence would bring. It made sense. Some of them would be seeing battle for only the second time! A shout came from the gate, and Ed froze. Something had gone wrong. Immediately he took off, magic fueling his steps to make speed him up the hill. Twinkle and the rest would be behind him any moment, but he couldn't allow Peabody and the other to come to harm while he stayed behind.

Peabody readied himself as six men rushed at him. Five, as an arrow took one of them in the chest. Another arrow took one in the leg, dropping him with a cry and causing him to trip up the one next to him. That girl really was something else with a bow. A fourth guard dropped, a knife sprouting from his stomach, and then the final two were upon him. He dispatched one quickly, a few strokes of his sword doing the job. A yellow blur next to him knocked the last one back, giving Peabody the room he needed to finish him. All in all, it was very quick. Not bad. The plan was ruined, though. They had wanted to take out the patrols quickly and silently, but with all this noise the whole compound would be up in arms. Already he could count more than a dozen guards running his way. There had been one more man, standing back as the others attacked. A commander? Whoever it was, they were now running back the way they had come, shouting to get the attention of his men. At this rate all the guards in the compound would be gathered together, ready in one place to repel the attack. 

Burt stood with his men, outside the main house. He knew there were others who were out patrolling, and more still who were stumbling up from their beds. With what he had, though, they could repel the attack. Surely they could. He had heard the sound of dozens of feet marching up towards the gate, but had no way of knowing exactly what they would be facing. Had one of the pirate lords decided they needed to take Drien out? Was this what was happening? Burt chewed at his lip. There was no sign of Nose anywhere. He worried for him, but had no time for that now. He gave the order for the men to begin moving forwards, in a tight formation, when a cry came out from behind him. Stumbling out of the house was Drien, that hateful man. Crying for guards to join him. It seemed someone had told him of the situation and he planned on fleeing. Sure, Burt knew about the secret tunnel leading from the house to the beach below, where Drien kept one of the ships from his fleet at anchor. It seemed like the precaution was justified. There was a brief back and forth as Burt ordered the men to remain in formation, but the weaker willed of them saw their own chance to flee and took it. That left Burt alone, with ten men willing to stand with him and face whatever was coming. 

Burt wasn't stupid. He could see this was a losing fight. Perhaps if he went to the mines, he could wait this out until morning. He left the men to the defense of the house, slinking off into the night with his tail between his legs.