Wandering Monster Follows the Road!

Part of I-95 was closed today due to a “Debris Golem” that appeared in a construction area. No lives were lost…

Monsters Outside Dungeons!

Six giant monsters killed …

Personal Safety in a Monster-filled World

Click here to find out what weapons YOU should have to ensure YOUR SAFETY and the SAFETY OF YOUR FAMILY…

Monster Waves Predicted!

According to a source inside the military, the government is preparing for monster attacks on cities and towns of all sizes…

The inside of the slave market was surprisingly nice, with a clean if clearly abused wooden floor and whitewashed walls. Serenity wondered if it was kept that way using the slaves they sold. Probably not; you’d want someone more long-term for that. Wouldn’t you?

They were led through a large open room with a raised stage at the side; it looked like a small auction hall. As if to confirm Serenity’s guess, the salesman commented, “The next auction will be in two days. This will be criminal slaves from three Court prisons. They have not been delivered yet, so I cannot show you the slaves. They are unlikely to meet your wishes, as criminal slaves are highly restricted, but if you are looking for general labor they are a good choice.”

“I don’t need laborers. I’m looking for something special, something I’ll know when I see it.” Andarit sounded serious, but also a little naive. “I’m sure you’ve heard that before.”

“Properly cared for slaves can be good long-term investments,” the salesman agreed politely. “Many people prefer them as staff, since they do not require additional resources once the purchase is complete.” He turned his attention to Serenity. “Are there any slaves in particular that you are looking for, Lord?”

Serenity found the lack of names odd; on Earth, at least in America, a salesman like this would usually have offered his name by now and tried to learn theirs, to seem more personable. He decided to keep quiet about it, in case it was something cultural. Yes, he was obviously foreign, but that didn’t mean he needed to act like it.

Serenity shook his head and carefully avoided Andarit’s name. “We are not here for me.”

It was both true and not true at the same time. He was the one behind the trip, but they were here for the kidnapped Earthlings. Fortunately, it seemed unlikely that a salesman would have Skills that let him sniff out truth the way Vladimir did. Serenity thought the Duke might, but he could see where knowing the truth could be useful for a ruler.

Serenity’s guess must have been correct, because his words focused the salesman’s attention back on Andarit.

They were led only a few steps down a brilliantly white corridor before the salesman opened the door to a small room. There were four seats and another door at the far end; other than that, the only furnishing was a pair of waist-high rusty iron posts with a ring on top, part of the post itself. They were separated from each other, flanking the far door, and were clearly built into whatever was under the floor, as Serenity could see some small gaps where the floor was fitted around the posts.

“Please wait here,” the salesman told Andarit. “I’ll be back shortly with a few of the slaves that match your request. Do you have a preferred number?”

Andarit shook her head. “I’d hoped to get a look at all of them. I’ll know the ones I want when I see them.”

Serenity had wanted to simply see all of the slaves they had, but that simply wasn’t a realistic option. The slave sellers kept them in secured areas and didn’t let customers wander through them. Serenity suspected that this meant slaves were at least somewhat expensive; no one would bother with extensive security if they were cheap.

There were four people in the first group of slaves that the salesman brought for Andarit’s inspection, three men and a woman. They were all dressed in similar clothing, a grayish-white jumpsuit that was loose on all of them. It was completely unflattering; Serenity couldn’t tell anything more than the very basics.

Serenity looked them over to see if he could tell if any were from Earth. He was in the middle of using Basic Analyze on the woman when he realized there was something different about her. Something familiar. She felt just a bit more touched by Death than the other three, or perhaps simply a bit more tolerant.

For a moment, Serenity wished that Rissa or Ita were there instead of Andarit. Not only would he appreciate the company more, but they’d be able to hear him talk without speaking.

Serenity allowed a little of his Incarnate to slip into his aura. Not much, certainly not enough to seem like the Death-tainted areas of Tzintkra, simply enough to feel like Earth. He carefully kept his emotions out of his aura and spread it towards the slaves.

No one reacted at all. Perhaps the female slave relaxed a little, but if so Serenity wasn’t certain. That meant this clearly wasn’t the correct method to determine who was from Earth. Serenity was somehow confident she was in fact from Earth, but he couldn’t confirm it yet. There had to be another way, and all he really had was his knowledge of Earth.

His knowledge of Earth and his knowledge that Earth was new to the larger universe.

Andarit was quizzing the salesman about the slaves when Serenity interrupted. “What languages do they know?”

The salesman started, seeming to have forgotten Serenity was there. Serenity couldn’t help but grin a little at that; he wasn’t usually someone that was forgotten. The man must never have fought other humans, and had quite possibly never fought at all.

The salesman tried to cover his surprise. “Ah, we’re teaching them Aeon, of course!”

Serenity gave Andarit a pointed look. She seemed to get something out of it; hopefully it was the right thing.

“That’s not what he asked. What languages do they speak? Do they already speak Bridge?” Whatever Andarit had read in Serenity’s look seemed to be close enough to what he wanted, based on her questions.

The salesman clearly didn’t immediately know the answer, by the way he hemmed and hawed. Eventually, he hooked the slaves’ chains to the posts in the room and vanished through the other door to check their records. Serenity took the time while the salesman paid attention to Andarit to check the room for any active spells or enchantments. If there were eavesdropping enchantments on the room, Serenity wanted to know about them.

As far as he could tell, there weren’t.

Once the man left the room, Serenity put together a Liminal Nullity sound barrier spell, then shaped it to include only himself, Andarit, and the woman. It took several minutes, but Serenity was confident he had the time. Salesmen were almost never fast about returning with that sort of answer.

Serenity turned to the woman then, in English, asked her, “I assume you’re from Earth?”

She jumped, then stared at him. When she didn’t reply, he tried again. “Please answer if you can understand me. Are you from Earth?”

“Y-yes. Is this still part of the Tutorial? It doesn’t seem like the first part at all.” She rubbed at her left wrist, which was the only part of her that was actually shackled. It probably meant she hadn’t fought too hard. Perhaps because she’d assumed it would end when her Tutorial ended?

Serenity shook his head slightly. “No, this is another world. Be patient; I think we’ll have you out of those chains today.” He paused, then frowned; he might have just given away too much information. If she said something, the entire scheme could fall apart. “Please stay quiet about it. You aren’t the only person we’re here for, and if they know we intend to free you, they may not sell you.”

“Was my question what you wanted?” Andarit asked shortly after Serenity stopped talking and the woman from Earth sat down and started sniffling.

Serenity knew she couldn’t understand them, but he moved the sound barrier to enclose only Andarit and himself anyway. “Yes. I didn’t think of the fact that Bridge isn’t known on Earth earlier; it’ll make a good way to filter people out, since it’s pretty common elsewhere.”

Andarit nodded, then frowned. “So why would I want people that can’t understand me? I know they understand you, but we’re supposed to be concealing that, aren’t we?”

“Hmm.” That was a good question. “Maybe we just don’t answer? I can’t think of a good reason, but I can come up with a couple of bad reasons. Hard to escape if you don’t know the language or customs.”

Andarit looked at Serenity skeptically. “Is that really something they’ll believe? Aren’t slaves bound somehow?”

Serenity shrugged. “I don’t know.” Despite all of his past experiences, being a slave wasn’t one he’d had. “But I’m pretty sure they’ll accept you saying that it sounds like a good idea, then not being willing to say why. They may think it’s a bad idea, but if you’re willing to pay extra for it, they should accept it.”

Andarit thought about that for a minute before she replied. “People are often willing to believe the worst of others, aren’t they?”

Serenity didn’t think that question needed an answer.

It was a solid twenty minutes later when the salesman showed back up. It reminded Serenity of the last time he’d bought a car; it wasn’t much like how he’d expected buying slaves to go. He’d expected a hard, quick sell as the merchant tried to keep the transaction as unobtrusive as possible. This wasn’t like that at all.

“These three understand Bridge,” the salesman said, indicating the three men. “This one doesn’t. I can remove it if you aren’t interested?”

Andarit smiled and shook her head. She had a predatory smile on her face. “No, you don’t understand. Leave her here, take the men. Do you have any others that don’t know either Aeon or Bridge?”

The salesman blinked, startled. “Why would you … never mind, I don’t want to know. I’ll have to check.”

This time, when he disappeared into the back, he took the three male slaves with him. Serenity felt a little bad that he couldn’t do anything to help free them, but ending slavery on a foreign planet wasn’t within his power. It wasn’t even something he was willing to try to work towards; he had enough problems of his own that he had to deal with.

Plus, ending slavery wasn’t something that could easily be imposed by strength. Serenity knew that even though it was quite illegal, there was something all too similar to slavery happening in his own homeland; there was no good way to stop it, because people would always want to control others. It was something that the authorities simply had to deal with one way or another.

Ending slavery was a task for a visionary and a whole lot of other people, not for a man far from home who simply wanted his people safe.