With the start of the sixth day, Wynd was packing everything that he was expected to as he had the previous days on this job. It was simple enough, just like almost every other job he had been rented for. Carrying things was something that he was able to do and, with the magic he learned and failing mana score, was all that people seemed interested in having him do.

Keeping himself going with great stamina and amplify his natural ability to bear burdens was all he had been able to learn before he was enslaved. He was willing to learn more, but the company that owned his punishment refused to put in the time, effort, or money that it would require and, with the earring in place, nobody would offer to help him without permission. While magic would make a slave more valuable, most thought that it wasn’t worth the investment, unless it was a lifetime of slavery.

Touching his earring Wynd thought on how it had gotten there. For nearly six years he had been like this. Like with all slave earrings his was sealed shut using some magic so the only way to take it off without magic would be to cut it out of the ear. The stone on the earring indicated that he was enslaved for criminal activity and the engravings showing how long his punishment was set for.

Ten years for destruction of property. Destruction that wasn’t intentional or costly. Destruction of something that was owned by a noble. A noble who was well known for enforcing laws that many would not bother with. The lesser-known laws that nobody knows about until it is enforced, usually by people who only do so when they have a reason to want to harm the one that broke it.

“I’m almost done packing up Spina,” he said to the elf in the party who had hired him, “Should I do anything else or can I rest until after breakfast?”

The elf was checking on his equipment. The bowstring was being replaced with a new one since he claimed that the last one was wearing out.

“No, you can rest. You’re no good to us beyond carrying our stuff and even then we don’t really need you until we delve into the cave.”

“Of course sir,” Wynd said with a slight bow.

Sure he was there with them all, but he was still just a hired slave. Someone who had no right to question orders. If he was confident in what he could do he might have tried to escape. Even then however the best he could hope for would be to live a life hidden away from the world or rip out the ring. Having an ear damaged enough would make people suspect the truth and some might report him for the reward that was always out on escaped slaves.

Walking towards the fire, Wynd saw that the leader of the group was doing the cooking this time. She had the morning watch over the camp, meaning it was her turn.

“Would you like any help, Ma’am?”

She looked at him, “No I can manage this myself, but if you are that lacking for something to do go ahead and sharpen the weapons until it’s time to eat. We plan to head out right after breakfast. With any luck, we’ll be where we need to go by tomorrow midday and you can finally be useful.”

“Yes, Ma’am. I understand.”

Sharpening the weapons, cleaning the cooking tools, and packing everything up was what filled up Wynds morning beyond breakfast. He was used to the routine with what was expected of him when hired for long distance work. Hiring slaves for the more mundane jobs were fairly common for people who only needed short term help. When hired by adventurers they were even able to get out into the world for a while.

Thinking of the last time he was rented and taken two days away to the ocean and helped out on a boat. It never went far enough out that he couldn’t see the shore, but it was something that he had no hope of experiencing while in the rental shop. The experiences were the one good thing about being unjustly made into a slave. Something he latched onto hard that he hoped would help him once his sentence was over.

While they all walked for most of the day Wynd took a deep breath, enjoying the more open air with the sun shining down on him. It wasn’t until the group had just finished defeating a beast that looked to have been overtaken by a plant when something beyond Wynds’ expectations happened.

The group quickly got itself into formation in preparation to break through the hardened bark covering much of its body.

Eliessa, the groups leader, had taken the front most part of the formation to face down what was likely a dire bear of some sort when it had been infected with some parasitic plant. She was always the one who would face the enemy face on, despite wearing nearly no armor. Her one form of magic made her the best choice for the task.

Behind the beast was the beastkin Tarin with a magically enchanted warhammer. Wynd saw him recharging it with a mana core recently so it had a light glow of purple around it.

Spina the elf waited near Wynd. He found himself waiting for the chance to let loose an arrow to blind or distract it as opposed to trying to cause major harm.

The remaining three members alternated between using a shield and a spear to confuse and distract the beast. Martz was the best with the spear, Reat was the one mostly using a shield to block and hit for the noise it produced, and Pruint would alternate the most filling in any gaps that were required.

Combat followed the usual routine. Eliessa was doing her job of keeping the beast’s attention. Decoration on the handle of her weapon, moving back and forth so it was always in the creatures sight, and shouting to help ensure it knew that she was there.

The human men continued to stab at anything that was exposed as a result of the crushing impact of the beastkins hammer and occasionally an arrow would hit the beasts’ face, snapping its attention when it started to sway to intently towards anyone except the groups’ leader so she could get it back.

Slowly the beast began bleeding green blood onto the ground that had a slight acidity to it, burning the grass that it fell on and dulling the blades that were penetrating its flesh. A loud roar bellowed out freezing everyone except the elf for a moment. It was just long enough for the beast to bring its claws down upon the woman's head creating another pop like those that had been heard all during the fight.

A shimmer shortly after surrounded her body again as she was the last of her group to gain their senses, the beast once again slashing at her body only to create another popping sound seemed unable to get to her.

“It’s on the ropes, everyone! Tarin circle around and get the arrows deep into the back of the beasts head. If we can get one in deep enough I think it will be enough to end the battle!”

Listening to Eliessa the beastkin circles around to the front of the beast. Rotating the hammer to his side he started to bring it up, the enchant of the weapon starting to engulf both the weapon and the man's arms nearly up to his shoulders. A form of magic that, Wynd assumed, the beastkin was used to and had managed to use many times.

“I hope this thing was worth our time.” The beastkin cried out as he started to bring the hammer down, connecting with the beasts head.

Stopped from the impact the beast couldn’t avoid Eliessa forcing her sword into its throat until it fell where it stood. Leaving the sword in place the party all backed away from the target, sword left in the throat of the beast instead of being salvaged.

After that they waited a bit for the beast to stop moving. When it twitched Tarin let loose a couple of arrows to the back of its’ head that caused it to stop moving.

Once it was no longer moving, Reat picked up a piece of the bark that broke off the creature and hit it with a small knife he had at his side.

“It’s pretty durable,” Reat declared, “I think this would make some good armor if we lucked into having the right shapes and sizes. Wynd, gather up all the pieces while we string the beast up to let it drain. Spina do you got anything to store the blood that won’t dissolve?”

“Yeah, I might have something.” The elf said as he started to look in his pack.

Walking around the battlefield Wynd started to organize the broken bark into piles while doing his best to avoid the blood as it burned the ground slightly. Being careful not to miss anything he heard a beastial scream that tore into his ear, freezing him in place.

“Was this one of a pack that had been infected?” He thought to himself.

Another growling sound and a low roar came from the mouth of Tarin, while he held his wrist to show some blood dripping down to his hand.

Realizing what this meant the rest of the team took a position with Spina and Tarin surrounding the others. Tarin held her backup sword while the others had their shields held aloft looking in all directions.

“Did you see where it came from?” One of them inquired.

“No.” Tarin groaned, “I just felt a slash along my arm.”

Doing his best to hide, Wynd watched what he could as the party got into their defensive formation. He hadn’t realized there was an ambush, but how quickly they got into a defensive formation told him that there was likely something about to happen.

Time slowly stretched on before one of the men holding a shield called out, “I see a small knife in the ground. It’s a throwing knife.”

Moving to hold the shields in front of them, in order to provide cover for them from where the weapon had been, Spina held his bow ready.

Taking a deep breath Eliessa yelled out, “I am the leader of the rising flames! We don’t know why you chose to attack us, but we are not who you want! We are only here to exterminate some beasts in a cave! If you leave now nothing will come of this and we can all go our separate ways! Let us know if you agree! We won’t attack unless you do so again!”

Spina kept his bowstring drawn as every eye searched for any movement on the horizon. The stillness and silence only broke with the occasional sound of a bird in the sky. Every moment that passed caused the group to grow more anxious in their demeanor.

Peering out from behind a tree, Wynd spoke softly to himself

“If I go over there they have shields,” he rationalized, “but I might be seen if I move. If I stay here I stay hidden, but I have nothing….. except this piece of bark, but like this, it won’t help anything. What should I do?”

He knew, logically, that something like this could happen if he was rented for several days. There were stories of ambush or party failures that were unable to accomplish a job, but he never thought about what he would do in that situation. Only a few slaves were reported killed while out doing work that he knew of. It was most common during someone's first few missions. Usually because of a mistake made on part of the slave.

“I’m over halfway to my freedom, I don’t want to die.”

Making his hand into a fist, Wynd hit it against the tree just enough for him to feel some pain.

“I could run but…… either I’ll make it back and be punished or maybe killed for abandoning them or have to live in hiding. What am I supposed to do?”

A hand suddenly found its way to Wynds mouth and a sharp point touched his throat. The voice of a man was in his ears as stubble rubbed against his cheek.

“I have a soft spot for slaves. If you keep quiet I think I’ll let you live. If you make one sound however I’ll have to let one of them live instead. Probably the beastkin. I’ll steal his hammer, but let’s be honest he is the weakest of the group.”

Wynds voice felt trapped in his throat as he stayed frozen, making it easier to stay quiet.

Slowly the hand moved off of his mouth and the point from his throat while slowly turning him around so they were facing each other.

Wynd found himself facing the man who only had the start of a beard. If not for that the man would look almost like an elf or like someone who lived a noble life of some sort. He opened his mouth and silently asked his question without making a sound.

A knife traced along Wynds cheek and then down his neck.

“You have no need to worry. This knife will not hurt you. It won’t hurt anyone worse than if you were smacked a little. The blade is unable to cut anything. Anything that can lead to injury at least. It is great to see the look on people's faces when they feel it though and you are no exception.”

Drawing the knife away from Wynd's face the man looked at a bracelet on his arm, “Nothing amazing, but I would rather keep these full.”

Putting aside the knife, the man took out three more throwing knives. Doing a bit of light juggling with one hand, he pressed the other against Wynd's throat.

“Do you think I can get three for three? They all think I am over there. Not smart enough to think a person might take a route around them. Let’s make a bet. If I can end three of their lives with just these the moment I attack I’ll help you remove your earring.”

Self consciously, Wynd touched his hand to the earring that had him marked while the man walked by past and let loose his three knives one after the other in rapid succession. Each blade met its target at nearly the same moment.

The first one hit Reat deep in his right shoulder making him drop his shield. The second of them sunk right behind Pruint's knee making him fall to the ground, his shield pulled back onto him as he fell backward. The last one was on a path to hit Eliessa where the skull would meet the spine, only to bounce off with an audible pop.

As Wynd watched, the man moved forward with two new blades in his hands, the one that was used to trace against Wynd now tightly latched against the bracelet.

“Sorry boy no freedom for you today.” The man says while he walked forward flicking a blade between his fingers speaking loudly, “So I take it you have some sort of defensive spell about you or some reactionary magic am I right?”

Looking down at her teammates who had fallen on the ground Eliessa took a position upfront. Martz tries to get into a position as well to keep in front of Spina, but without everyone, he found himself a little lost.

“You hit me!” Tarin bellowed, his fangs slightly visible.

“Yes I hit you, but the poison on that blade was very weak. I originally planned to let you live so I planned to make you unable to move, but that was before I realized you had a slave. That is your bad luck.” The man stated as he walked forward.

“And yes your two fallen flames will die soon so don’t bother with them. If you are smart the rest of you will run away in different directions. If you’re lucky maybe one of you will live to see the next sunrise….. or at least this sunset. If I’m honest neither seems likely.”

An arrow flew from Spina's bow right at the unknown man's head, but a little wind caused it to go off course and fly past his left ear, nearly close enough to take a piece off.

Touching his ear with one hand, the man let loose two more throwing knives after pulling one more from his knife belt. Sinking into Spina's chest, the now freed blood slowly leaked into the leather where the knife penetrated, while the second knife pinned Martz's foot which was visible from under the shield.

Before either of the men's bodies fell to the ground Tarin was running. Wynd watched as the man drew another knife from his belt and let it fly towards the fleeing beastkin. A stumble as he ran was the only thing that prevented the blade from sinking into Tarin's shoulder. Instead, it glanced off of it at the same time that Eliessa charged at their assailant.

Drawing the blade attached to the bracelet he jammed it against one of the gems .leading to a spark of color, “Your magic will work properly sometime in the night slave! I’m going to borrow it for a moment and steal this woman's little bubble.”

Attempting to disarm the killer Eliessa felt the blade briefly against her forehead, but no pain registered as she knocked the weapon aside, causing it to pull back and attach to the bracelet. She had done as she told the others, including Wynd, about on many occasions. Removing distance from someone who wanted to fight at a range.

As she went to grab the other wrist to disable the assailant she felt a tug on her arms and was suddenly on the ground in an instant, screaming in pain that shook Wynd to his core.

“Not a bad attempt,” The man said putting his foot on her chest, “But I’m using your little slaves personal magic. Pretty simple but impactful. Pure strength and endurance. Power can’t hope to defeat a speed it can’t touch. The thing is speed can be defeated with proper tactics and there are times regardless of any plans, strength can just rip your everything apart.”

“Without your shield,” the man growled, “you have no chance against quality strength.”

Pressing down with his foot, Eliessa screamed and Wynd covered his ears from behind the tree, but it wasn’t enough to stop the screams or the sound breaking bones and worse from assaulting his ears.

It was only when the man came up to him that Wynd moved his hands from his ears.

“I’m done,” the man said bluntly, “The beastkin likely got away, but that will make what you tell people verifiable. But I know some people in Orlayn wave so if you tell anyone about the knife I’ll end your slavery…”

Grabbing his ear the killer looked over the earring, “Four years early. I trust you know I am a man of my word.”

Wynd cleared his throat a little bit.

“I’ll listen to you, sir. I’ll even um…… say you did more than you did if you like.”

With a smile, the killer pulled the slave out to where the combat happened, “If you really think you have to exaggerate go ahead, but only after you get a good look at how these flames were snuffed out. The smoke a bloody mist in the air. Now I’m going to walk to where I think the beastkin went. If he falls before getting to town you better hope your owner trusts your word.”

Watching the man leave Wynd found himself unable to move. The team now nothing more than a few bodies with blood pooled around them. Eliessa only recognizable from her outfit that now held only bone and gore between them. Her face was nothing recognizable. this left him even more thankful that this man had a soft spot for slaves and hoped that the man's soft spot wouldn’t harden any time soon.