A young centaur ran through the stormy night. The tall grass whipped at her legs and sent water spraying everywhere as she plowed through the plains. With a bang that reverberated through bone and air alike, the sky split into a glowing wound of light. The blinding spectacle lasted for a second before dark clouds flowed back to fill the hole.

Kani stumbled when the shockwave rolled through the plains, making everything vibrate in fear and ecstasy. With a force of will, she kicked off the ground and picked up speed again. A blue light shone in the distance, followed by excited shouts and the sound of frightened horses. The wind answered them with another howling gust, ripping at anything it could grasp.

Kani pushed on. The air crackled with electricity for a second before another flash of lightning tore the sky apart only to be mended by the clouds seconds later. The centaur gave a desperate shout as an arrow grazed her side, hot blood pumping out of her and into the night. The excited shouts grew louder as she began to stumble from the numbing poison the arrow had inflicted her with.

Kani screamed in fury and forced her numbing legs to keep on moving, denying her hunters victory just yet. Rain clung to her fur and skin, cooling off her body which was overheating from the backbreaking effort of running. The wind suddenly changed direction, giving her a hard push forward. She yelped in surprise and nearly lost her balance. The edges of her vision were starting to turn black and blurry from exhaustion and the poison.

A bump in the ground caught one of her hooves and sent her crashing down. Her hunters soon caught up and she could only watch them in horror as they approached her paralyzed body. One of the hooded men dismounted his horse and jogged up to her stunned form. He held a thick staff made of some dark type of wood. She saw him grin as he swung the club-like end of the staff towards her head.

Kani woke up with a start. She was sweating and her muscles had cramped up just like that night she got caught. She took a moment to draw in deep breaths and calm her racing heart. She shifted around in her cramped cage so that her horse body lay on its stomach, giving her human body a chance to stretch. She yawned and rubbed her eyes, wiping away the tears. The large room looked the same as when she'd fallen asleep; Wooden walls with sculpted details and expensive paintings adorning them. Other cages crowded the room, all occupied by different creatures and people. Few of the prisoners were of the Sentient races, only a couple of elves and humans sat or lied down in their cages. Red carpets created paths between the cages with small signs telling of the slaves' race and details.

Kani glanced at her own sign. It had been placed a bit further away from her cage then the others' due to her grabbing and breaking it the first days of her stay. She still remembered the words on it.

Centaur, Female.

Skills: None

Titles: [River's claim] (unidentified)

Magical affinity: Water

Getting appraised by that skinny human hadn't been fun. The slaver's guards had held her still and gagged her while the smelly man fondled his tools and poked at her. The guards had long since learned to keep firm grips on her legs unless they wanted another skull kicked in. She shuddered at the memory of the guards who had held her human half still. Their grabby hands had felt hot and sweaty as they grabbed places they didn't really need to grab. Spitting and hissing through the gag had only seemed to encourage them.

The doors on the far end of the room swung open to let the first customers of the day in. Kani only saw the top of the tall doors over the rows of cages but it was enough to see the bright morning sun outside. Some of the staff accompanied the customers while explaining the details of their 'wares'. Kani huffed and rose as people came closer to her cage. A burly human man with a thick black beard stopped to look at her. He only gave her sign a quick glance.

He looked like the kind of person that would gladly wrestle a bear. The look in his eyes suggested that he would indeed take the chance to wrestle a bear but not in the normal. His version of 'wrestling' would probably involve a lot fewer clothes and another kind of penetration than the stabby-stabby kind. He snuck a filthy hand down his pants as if to make it very clear what he intended to do if he purchased her.

Kani responded by swinging around and kicking the bars of her cage hard enough to dent them. That seemed to make it clear enough what she intended to do if he purchased her. The burly man flinched away and quickly escaped into the growing crowd. Minutes later she could see him staring down a girl with gills and fins a few rows further away. Disgusting.

More people walked past her cage, some glancing at the sign and then frowning when they noticed her damaged cage. Humans, elves, dwarves, a few oni and some skulking figures who she suspected were either vampires or some other kind of shady individuals.

The few who showed interest in Kani could be convinced to reconsider with a few well-aimed kicks or rearing and screeching at them. The slavers and customers treated her like some dumb animal so she could easily get away with acting like one, the less 'tame' she appeared the less desirable she would be to those stuck up tyrants.At least that was what she hoped. She didn't plan to play the act of a pet or servant for the rest of her life.

One of the less shady shady people stopped in front of her cage. A well-groomed man with elvish features looked at her while considering something. He stroked his blond goatee while observing her. Kicking didn't seem to faze him in the least, nor did spitting random gibberish or rearing up. There was a strange shimmer in the air around him, making it seem as if light avoided landing directly on him. It made the few shadows paler and harder to spot that they should be, making him seem unreal. The small black-haired girl standing next to him seemed to be the cause of this. Her deep green eyes shimmered with the same effect and she frowned in concentration every now and then. Her legs were that of a goat and small rounded horns peeked through the curly mess of hair.

The blond man called out to an attendant and soon they were discussing Kani's worth and behavior. The attendant set a pretty high prize because of how 'easy to spook' she were, which triggered her 'violent outbursts' which in turn made her a hard to train slave that could easily hurt first-time slave-owners or people who didn't have experience with untamed slaves. He made it sound like his company was taking responsibility and being all kind and supportive by including tools or tips in the price.

The man simply nodded and kept on watching Kani, never breaking eye contact. She felt small shivers climbing up her spine as she kept on glaring at him. When the shivers only grew instead of going away she had to turn her gaze away. Something about him wasn't right.

After much discussion, the man and the attendant settled on a price and went to one of the private rooms to sign contracts and what not. Kani paced in her cage for a moment without knowing what to do before she decided to have 'a violent outburst' as a last attempt to dissuade the man.

The guards and some other staff members tried to calm her down with hushing noises and a few pokes with their sticks nooses on the end. She refused to let them grab any part of her with the noose and simply spun around whenever they tried to grab her legs. She was starting quite the ruckus.

It all ended when the man reappeared, however. He whispered something and when their gaze met her whole body froze up. A magical collar (the telltale sign of a slave) were then put around her neck to keep her from running away. Any runaway slave could be returned to their owner for a pretty sum of gold and the collars couldn't be removed by anyone but the owner so it was easy to spot them if they tried to sneak back into society.

Not that Kani would try that. Centaurs were normally nomads and they rarely left their tribes. Kani's tribe had cast her out when she had one day gained the Title [River's claim]. The elders had claimed that the river wanted her and so they had chased her into the nearest river and tried to drown her. She had escaped and fled across the Rust plains only to be spotted and chased down by a group of travelers who felt she was worth the trouble. Maybe she was, the Slaver's guild had paid well for her, not many centaurs were found alone. Tribes were usually well armed and very protective of their own, making it near impossible to snatch one of them.

Kani shook her head to get back to reality. She was walking outside in the city of Klepper, also know as the city of adventurers. At some point, she had been saddled and mounted by her new owner and were now being ridden like a horse through the city. A makeshift bridle had been made and applied to her. It sat like a vest, around her arms, torso and attached to a second collar around her neck. She had no memory of how she got there. She felt the weight of the satyr sitting behind the man in the saddle. It felt extremely unpleasant but for some reason, she couldn't resist or move as she pleased. It was as if a hidden hand had grasped her mind and steered her body in her stead. Panic welled up in her mind but none of it showed on her blank face or in her steady gait. She was completely in her owner's grasp...