In the depths of an abandoned mineshaft, the sounds of metal clashing against metal and flesh resounded throughout the area. A rough and dirty looking man fell on the ground, the gash on his neck creating a pool of blood surrounding his body. He was one of the many slave traders whose bodies were sprawled on the ground.

Due to the union of the three great nations, the possession and market of slaves, especially elven and beastfolk, has now become a hot commodity amongst the underworld. With rumors appearing regarding a potential hideout of slave traders, the local lord quickly rounded up his forces and assaulted the compound. If he were to ignore these rumors and the council discovered he made no effort in investigating, his nobility may be at risk like others who supported or didn’t care about the slave trade.

Geoffrey Wilmont, a man who has made his views on slavery clear from the beginning, scrunched his face in disgust due to the mixture of smells assaulting his nose. He covered his mouth and nose with a handkerchief, while navigating with his personal guards through the passageways. They arrived in a wide room with dead or subdued traders sprawled about, and their leader sporting bruises all over his disheveled body. They were clearly the result of being thoroughly beaten by the surrounding soldiers.

“Lord Wilmont, we believe we may have found the prisoners. All of the other possible holding locations were clear.” One of his men reported and motioned towards the set of large steel doors at the back of the room. The noble approached the door with his guards, who promptly opened the door only to be assaulted by a repulsive stench. Ignoring the smell the guards entered the room followed by their lord, and were greeted by rows of cages.

They were filled with men and women, elders and children, elves and beastfolk, who all would have eventually bore the mark of a slave on their bodies. Nowadays it didn’t matter how big or small they engraved it on people, the effect of total obedience would be the same. Thankfully they arrived in time before they shipped the group away.

Geoffrey looked around and noticed the piss and feces made in some of the children’s cages, or the unnervingly still bodies found in others. He grimaced and berated himself for believing in the false hope that there would be no casualties. They were all clearly showing signs of malnourishment, some of them barely having anything but skin on their ragged bodies. A tactic the traders would use to weaken the wills of their captives, which would lessen the chance of any potential blowback from the mind domination process.

“Free them at once, and we can escort them and our prisoners back to the city.” Wilmont commanded and his soldiers promptly obeyed. He wanted to quickly leave the area, as seeing children near his daughter’s age put through such abuse hurt his soul deep. However, one of them caught his attention due to their vibrant purple eyes.

A small boy with brown skin suffering from the effects of malnourishment and occasional beatings. He was on the floor hugging himself, with his eyes peeking out of his messy black hair watching his fellow prisoners being released from their cages.

The baron was internally shocked, as this boy exhibited traits of the former Amazon tribe. The dark skin and unnatural eye color signified his heritage. The noble could only imagine the amount of money they would have received from this boy.

The child kept staring at him even while he was released from his cage, even while he was directed to follow the former prisoners, and an odd sensation started to envelop Geoffrey. He couldn’t abandon this child, his gut told him it was an unwise decision. Although there were other minors and it may be perceived selfish of the man to ignore them for a human considered a commodity, Wilmont just couldn’t shake off this feeling that if he let that boy go he would regret it the rest of his life.

So he approached the child and asked “Hey it’s dangerous to stay down here, so how about you stick with me ok?” as he offered his hand. The boy stared at the hand for a moment before gingerly reaching his hand out.

Geoffrey noticed the bruises on his skin and remarked to himself how the traders only cared about protecting his face. This practice was unseen when observing the other male prisoners.

As everyone exited out of the mineshaft to reveal the long abandoned quarry, Wilmont counted 29 survivors with 17 females and 12 males. There were three beastfolk and four elves amongst them, which was one of the bigger questions in his mind since they were nowhere near the Dungeon and far from the Beast Lands or Elven Republic.

Then there was the Amazon child. Wilmont glanced down at the purple eyed child who was still grasping his hand. He couldn’t understand why his gut was pushing him towards this boy, but Wilmont knew he always regretted not listening to it.

So he would trust it once more, and bring him back home with him. However right now he had to escort these people back to the city, and figure out how far from home they were. He especially needed to write to the king about this situation, before some of the more radical members of the elven and beastfolk hear about this.

So the group navigated out of the quarry and back to the city Wilmont governed, Rockhollow. He could only imagine his family’s and the city’s reaction to an Amazon child living in his household. His wife and daughter may not mind, but there could be others with the same opinion as the slave traders about the boy. Just to be safe, Geoffrey planned to conduct another investigation in the city within the year. For his sanity, Geoffrey hoped he wouldn’t catch anyone off guard.