Chapter 45

The door to the room where Ria found the clients had little reinforcement, as though it was just a safe place to keep them out of the way while the guards took care of any threats. What little reinforcement it did have meant little to Kal’s steel-covered fist as he punched out the lock. Women shrieked and men cursed as the lock bounced along the floor. Kal used the splintered hole to swing the door open and step inside.

A dozen men milled about, most of them with the women they had purchased. All of the men were topless, but a few wore undergarments, leaving the rest naked. He appeared to have interrupted two men in the back of the room who were double-teaming one of the collared slaves.

“Girls, out!” he ordered. Confused looks on the women wearing collars were replaced by winces of pain before they began bolting past Kal and into the hallway. Those without collars looked worriedly between Kal and their customers before following suit. But not all were able to escape.

“This bitch is mine! I paid good gold for her!” growled a man who refused to let his cat-girl slave leave with the rest. Two more men joined him. None of the three women wore collars.

“You’re a prisoner. Whatever you paid means nothing to me,” said Kal. “Let her go before I kill you.”

He jerked the neko up in front of him like a shield as the other men in the room all cleared the surrounding area. “You can’t kill me without killing her firs—”

The man’s threat died on his lips as Kal’s speed rune lit up bright enough to make the leather sizzle. Faster than any of the men could react, the mage dashed across the room, pushed the girl to the side, and slammed the steel plate across his knuckles into the man’s nose. Just as fast, he leapt back to the doorway, leaving the man crumpled on the ground with his face caved in and the girl holding her side from Kal’s high-speed shove.

While beckoning the girl over, the mage looked at the other two refusing to let their slaves go. “Are they worth it?” he asked with a pointed glance at the man on the floor, jerking and twitching in his death throes. Their women slipped past him and out the door as he drew a healing spell and pressed it to the shoved girl’s chest before letting her join them.

Kal spotted a nearby chair and summoned it to his hand. The cantrip wasn’t powerful enough to lift it, and the legs made an impressive racket as they scraped across the floor. The mage sat down and addressed the men.

“You came here to play with toys you could break. No thought was given to the lives these women had, the families they were taken from, or the pain they suffered. You only cared about your own sick lust, and in comparison, their lives were worthless in your eyes.

“Your lives are now equally worthless—”

One of the men pushed to the front of the group. Pushing his chest out, he bellowed, “What—”

“BEFORE,” Kal shouted, then continued more softly, “you say another word, understand that the floor outside of this room is littered with bodies of the men paid to protect you, many of them lay there because of me. Then, look at the man on the floor and decide how quickly you want to join him.”

You can’t do this! I’m the—”

“I don’t care,” said the mage. “Your status, contacts, none of it means anything to me.”

“Kill me, and it will fill this room with poison,” said another.

“Again, I don’t care. My companions and I are immune to poisons. All you will accomplish is killing the other men in the room because I won’t lift a finger to save them.”

“You obviously hate us,” said an older man in the back. “But you haven’t killed us despite showing us you have the power. How do we walk out of here?”

Kal pointed at him and looked at the others. “That man gets it.”

“Gets what?” one asked.

“Our freedom comes with a price,” another answered.

Kal shook his head. “More than your freedom, your lives. You will take a magically binding oath. Refuse, and you die.”

The older man sighed, “Let’s hear this oath.”

The men stood staring at Kal in shock.

“Ten percent of our income?” one said in hushed tones.

“Free all of my slaves?” said another. “That’ll ruin me!”

“As I said, I don’t care,” said Kal.

“But if his business folds because of this oath, then you won’t get any money from him,” said the older man.

“How many times do I have to say it?” said Kal, irritation seeping into his voice.

“Right, you don’t care.”

“The only reason you are alive is because you can prove useful to me and my new business. If you all refuse and I end up leaving a room full of corpses behind, that will leave multiple powerful companies in Silvermoon scrambling for new leadership. I have no doubt my own business will do well in the ensuing chaos.

“However, leaving you alive and ‘donating’ a portion of your income to me seems like a safer, long-term solution. And ... you get to live.”

“Because the oath will be passed on to our sons when they take over the business,” growled the man with all the bluster earlier.

“Or if you sell it. Which is unlikely given the terms,” Kal added.

“You will still be taking money from us for generations to come.”

“How much is your life worth?” said Kal, with a wave at the corpse on the floor.

“Not enough to leave my family beholden to you for generations,” said the man before launching himself toward Kal.

The mage slipped off the chair and into a crouch before bounding to the side. A giant blue hand reached through the unnoticed illusion of darkness cast over the doorway behind Kal and grabbed the man by the head. The man clawed at Ikuno’s arm, then began pounding on it with his fists as the oni sidled through the doorway and into the room.

She jerked the man from his feet, leaving him holding onto her arm to take some of his weight off his neck. Like a cat playing with a mouse, she tossed him into the air before placing a hand on his back and slamming the man into the floor. Those in the room winced from his ear-splitting scream as Ikuno’s claws sunk into his back.

“What, Kal didn’t tell you,” she said, placing a knee on the man’s back as both hands came down to grab either side of his head, “is that if you chose death, we make no guarantees it will be quick or painless.”

Kal looked away as the oni began to pull, staring at the men watching with varying degrees of horror on their faces. The man’s screams continued for far too long until a loud pop and the tearing of flesh silenced him.

All but a few men in the room had gone deathly pale. One whispered, “He’s still awake,” before dropping to his knees and vomiting.

The group’s elder was slightly less pale as he turned to Kal. “I’ll take your oath.” The rest of the men also agreed moments later.

“Is the money worth letting scum like that live?” Ikuno asked as they watched the former ‘customers’ pile into one of the facility’s carriages. Ria pulled pairs of pants off dead guards and gave them to the naked men. But considering the temperature, it would be a dark, cold ride for the passengers. The driver at least had some heavy winter clothes stored beneath the seat to keep him warm.

Kal shook his head. “No, but the money combined with some of the major influences in Silvermoon abandoning slavery will surely make waves.”

“Not to mention one of Silvermoon’s high council denouncing slavery,” said Kashka.

“I didn’t come to Silvermoon planning to turn it away from slavery, but if that’s the outcome, I won’t complain. Where is our orc friend?” Kal asked, turning back toward the house as the carriage drove off and disappeared around the corner of the building.

“She saw me rip the guy’s head off, and now she wants to worship at the temple of Ikuno,” said the oni, flipping her loincloth up and flashing her strip of white pubic hair. “I had to leave her guarding the entrance to the second floor just to leave me alone.”

“She got turned on by that?” Kal asked with a shiver.

“She’s an orc,” the oni said matter-of-factly. “She’s like Bea but rougher and with a love of gore and guts. Show her how strong you are, and she won’t be able to keep her legs closed around you. On the other hand, show any sign of weakness, and she will be happy to make you her little fucktoy. Orcs don’t have a middle ground.”

“In one of Sir Stormhammer’s ballads, he had a similar issue with a goblin queen and ended up becoming king of the tribe,” Kashka offered.

“I remember that one, but it’s a warren,” said Ikuno. “Goblin camps or communities are called warrens. They used tribe because it sounded better, and goblins can be very tribal, much like orcs.” While talking, they made their way back downstairs. Ikuno repaired the stairs with a spell, but the damaged part creaked alarmingly when the oni stepped on it. Once below, they made their way over to the orc standing with a mercenary’s battleaxe in hand, glaring at a door.

As soon as she noticed Ikuno, the orc’s eyes lit up with adoration. “I guard door like you say.”

“Very good, Brugga,” said Ikuno, then looked toward the cages. “How are the girls doing?”

“Go slow, but keep going. Be done soon.”

Most of the kitchen and housekeeping workers were milling about the cages tending to the recently freed while another group looked after the girls who had been the customer’s personal slaves. Kal felt a pang of guilt knowing that the bastards were still alive, but trusted that his oath would lead to them eventually doing more good than the harm they caused.

Kal beckoned over one of the housekeepers, a dark-skinned human, who seemed to be directing things. “How close are we to being ready to travel?”

“The team securing transportation has reported back that all the remaining carriages are ready for departure. Lady Ikuno’s healing has taken care of most of the injuries, and Lady Ria is being aided by two of my girls collecting all of the droosa available to keep the addicted calm out on the road.”

“Hopefully, we won’t need them. Excellent work. Do you know where the coffers are?”

“Upstairs in a locked room.”

“Show Ria where it is when she gets back. I’ll need that money to send you and the others home once I get those collars off you.”

“I don’t have a home to go to, Master Kal. The slavers set my village on fire and caught us as we were trying to escape. Those who survived have been sold and scattered to the wind.”

“Then, for you, I may have a place to do what you are doing but without collars and while getting paid an honest wage. But first, I think we have some rats in the basement to take care of?” Kal asked, directing the question at Kashka.

“There is a small arena off the dungeon where they had slaves fight to the death, taking bets on who would win. The artificer mage that made and took care of the collars and two bookkeepers have holed themselves up in a room with a thick steel door where Darrow kept the gold from his client’s gambling.”

“Or fuck beast,” said Brugga. “Tie to table. Throw girl beast piss on puss. Let beast in. Beast fuck girl. Girl usually not live.”

Kashka shivered. “We found a few animal corpses in a side room filled with cages connected to the arena floor. I had a feeling that’s what they were for.”

“Let’s go deal with these couple of holdouts.”

“Cornered animals fight hardest,” said Brugga.

“This won’t be much of a fight. Besides, like the rich bastards who made all this possible, these three are more useful to me alive.”

The arena and surrounding rooms were all cut out from stone. Kal didn’t think they were deep enough to be in bedrock, so before they arrived where the remaining staff had barricaded themselves in, he filled himself with magic and sent a pulse through the surrounding stone. With his sight, it looked like they were inside a gigantic granite slab resting on the bedrock.

As they reached the room, Kal called out, “If you stay in there, it will become your grave.” The intensity of the fight and the emotional toll of deciding which of the slaves were worth saving and which were better off dead was wearing on him, and he didn’t feel like wasting any more time. “I’m know geomancy and will erect walls so thick around this room you will suffocate by tomorrow morning. However, you all have information I want and I will spare your lives in exchange.”

“What information?” a voice from behind the heavy steel door asked.

“Records of this place’s previous customers.”

“Our lives will be forfeit if they ever find out that we gave you their names!”

“So you choose to die here?”

“Wait, no.”

“And what of me?” said another voice.

“I’m guessing you are the artificer?” Kal asked.

“I am.”

“You know how to craft and maintain the slave collars, I want that knowledge.”

“Why,” he asked cautiously.

“So I can combat it more effectively. Now, are you coming out peacefully or slowly suffocating in a tomb of rock?”

After a few moments of hushed whispers, the artificer announced, “We’re coming out.”

Kal shifted his staff into a short spear and brandished it as those on the other side grunted to lift the heavy beam barring the door.

The artificer was the first to peek out and see the spear.

“You said you wouldn’t kill us.”

“I won’t,” he said, waving them forward with the tip of the spear, “but cross me, and I won’t hesitate to end your life. Hold out your wrists.”

The artificer scowled and opened his mouth, then glanced at the spear and thought better of it before holding out his arms with wrists together. Frowning, the bookkeepers did the same. Kashka quickly snapped shackles on their wrists, placing a special set of runed cuffs meant to prevent monster girls from using magical abilities on the artificer. The cuffs also had the side effect of preventing any magic use that required your hands. With his runes, Kal was one of the few who could still use magic with them on, but only the runes on his back, assuming any captors would automatically remove his bracers.

“Keep your mouths shut, and don’t say or do anything stupid,” said Kal after the bindings were secured and he’d returned his staff to its original form. “I promised not to kill you, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to go out of my way to save you if one of the girls upstairs decides you need to die for what you did to them.” He stepped around behind them. “March.”

“Ikuno, what’s the situation up above?” he asked over the bond.

“Nearly done loading up the survivors and the bedding they will need to keep warm. The kitchen workers ensured all of them had full bellies for the trip and made up a large pot of porridge for those who couldn’t eat just yet. We found a few more girls upstairs. Three dumped the droosa powder the men used to control them into their noses when their clients ran for safety. One is dead, and Brugga said the other two are unlikely to wake up after taking so much. This powder is a highly concentrated form of droosa used to reward the girls and keep them compliant or keep them so drugged they can’t feel what is happening to them.

“Thanks, as if I needed to feel guiltier about letting those assholes live.”

“Your choice, you gotta live with it. Anyway, the head of housekeeping is giving some of the slaves a crash course in driving a carriage, which could be a disaster in the making. We’ve set one aside for you and the prisoners.”

“The mansion has a jail in the basement, doesn’t it?” he asked Kashka out loud.

“So does the office in Silvermoon,” said Kashka. “Two cells across from the wine cellar.”

“I ... didn’t even notice there was a basement,” said Kal

“You were occupied with other things. I was bored and went exploring. The stairs are behind Olvo’s desk.”

“I thought that was a closet. I’m sure I saw someone pull a broom out of there.”

“You did, but further in is a set of narrow stairs that lead to the wine cellar and the cells. Olvo said he had to put his foot down with Darrow about bringing slaves to the office as they were too disruptive, especially once they hired their first woman. The last time they were used was when one of the employees purchased a slave, and she only spent a single night in there.”

“At least we have someplace to keep these three,” said Kal.

“But for how long?” asked the artificer.

“Those two could be out in a few weeks, depending on when Scarlet thinks she’s gotten every ounce of useful information out of them. As for you, you are essentially going to be writing a comprehensive text on how to manufacture and defeat slave collars. I imagine that will take some time. Expect at least a couple of years since Ikuno or I will verify your book before we free you, and we will soon be leaving for the other side of the world.”

“Years?”

“Compare that to the time you’ve taken from so many human and monster-girl women, and a few years in a cell writing a book is hardly a slap on the wrist.” Kal turned to the bookkeepers. “Gold was kept in there?”

Both nodded.

“As expected from the weight of the door. Any traps?”

The nearest bookkeeper spoke up. “Neither of us had seen the safe in there until today. Only Hefess could open it in Mr. Darrow’s absence.” The other nodded in hasty agreement.

“Hefess?”

“The facility’s Magus,” said the artificer.

“Hmmm, unless there’s a necromancer or cleric handy, I don’t think we will be asking him anything,” said Kal. “Ikuno, take these three up to their carriage. Kashka, find Ria and send her down here to collect anything of value.”

“Do you want me to look for traps on the safe first?” asked the cat.

“Nope. Since I apparently own this building and everything in it. I’m going to cheat.”

It took another hour to get everyone loaded into the facility’s carriages and underway. Kal had never driven a carriage, but fortunately, it wasn’t much different from driving the farm’s wagon back and forth from Telsin. While Kashka could pick from his mind how to drive one, her speed and night vision made her far more useful for reconnaissance. Ikuno could drive a carriage, but with all of them already loaded so heavily with rescues, she couldn’t climb into the driver’s seat without risking the entire carriage collapsing. Instead, she walked along beside the horses while holding the reins.The head housekeeper was familiar with driving teams of horses and taught a few others how to drive, but none had any experience with horses, much less directing them in a straight line.

The first half hour after setting out turned into a hectic mess as Kal flew back to correct wayward carriages while the slave girl sitting with him fearfully held the reins. He was already exhausted, and keeping his charges from wandering off into the woods quickly wore on him. The mage finally snapped at the new drivers, explaining that the horses could feel their nervousness and that they needed to manage the reins and crop with confidence. His tone must have been severe enough to be taken as an order because a few dozen winces from the new drivers over the next half-hour straightened things out as they got the hang of acting with a confidence they didn’t feel.

Kal hated that the collars were still on the girls. But, like when he was escaping Carriston, he felt it best to wait until they were somewhere safe before removing them.

As they approached the main road, Kashka reported back there were no travelers to worry about seeing them as they passed through the illusion.

The first part of the trip was mostly uneventful. Other slaves took up positions next to those driving a carriage so they could learn what to do and give the drivers a break once in a while. Kal let one of the new drivers take his spot as some of the girls who had been deeper in droosa’s stupor began coming out of it. The head of housekeeping spread out the girls in this state across the carriages so no one slave would be stuck dealing with a bunch of them at once. When Kal arrived at the first girl, a dog-girl of the shepherd variety by the color of her ears and tail, she was conscious but had gone pale and was sweating profusely. Immediately upon seeing him, she began begging for more droosa. Kal pulled a small vial of the green powder out of a pouch but then decided to use that as a last resort and put it back as the shepherd whined in desperation. Healing the girl didn’t appear to do much of anything, and casting Cure Poison shifted the girl’s expression from desperate to manic. The mage quickly dipped his fingers in another pouch and sprinkled some of the sand inside onto the woman’s head before putting her to sleep with a spell.

Kal worried that he would have to cast the spell numerous times during the trip back to the mansion, but Kashka came to the rescue with her poisons. She gave him a vial filled with a smoky gray liquid with instructions to rub it on the girl’s tongue or inside of their cheek after putting her to sleep. The poison was intended to be dripped on food or into a drink and worked more slowly, taking about half an hour for full effect, but the girl would stay asleep for nearly half a day.

Aside from those dealing with the effects of droosa, there weren’t nearly the complications Kal expected by the time the sun began to lighten the eastern horizon. Even the problem with the chill in the air was barely an issue as the carriages packed with former slaves stayed plenty warm from body heat, and Kal and Ikuno could cast acclimation spells on the drivers so they didn’t need to worry about the cold.

The biggest issue, oddly enough, was girls needing to use the bathroom, specifically the girls who had been put to sleep. Those who were awake could do their business by the side of the road and run to catch up to their carriage since they weren’t moving particularly fast. But the women Kal put to sleep weren’t so lucky, and when their bladders couldn’t take the pressure, the mage found himself called upon to spell the mess away since the other passengers didn’t have cleaning supplies with them.

Shortly after sunrise, Kal’s stomach growled loudly enough to get the attention of the collared woman beside him driving the carriage. As if in answer, her stomach growled equally loud. The mage sighed, thinking that he had failed to consider feeding his charges before remembering the kitchen staff had brought an enormous pot of porridge. Kal took the reins from her. “Go get something to eat from the second to last carriage.”

“Shall I bring you some as well, Master?”

“Only if the rest of the girls have eaten first.”

Shortly after the girl left, a messenger parchment flew up and landed in Kal’s outstretched hand. It brought news that he was officially no longer married. Kashka hooted in triumph over the bond while he could feel Ikuno’s grin.

His driver returned a short time later, but as she climbed back up into the driver’s seat, another person grabbed ahold of the ladder on the opposite side. He turned to see the head cook shoving a small bowl of the porridge at his face.

“You fought your arse off to rescue us last night. I’ll be damned if I’m going to let our savior collapse on us from lack of food,” she growled. “And you didn’t think about the ones you put to sleep and how they can’t eat. Because of that, she couldn’t bring you this, so I had to.”

“Thank you,” Kal chuckled, taking the bowl. The head cook hung onto the carriage’s side, glaring at him until he brought it to his lips and took a sip of the flavorless, cool paste. With a satisfied grunt, the woman let go of the carriage and stepped back to wait for hers to roll by.

“I bet Darrow wouldn’t have gotten a bowl,” Ikuno sent over the bond with an accompanying laugh. Darrow would have demanded his food before anyone else, but Kal smiled at the point she was making.

Just before midday, they finally arrived at the front gate of Kal’s estate. The guards raced to open the gates as soon as they recognized Ikuno, Kal, and Kashka, who had taken his helper’s place in the driver’s seat.

A short time later, Kal pulled up to the front door where Mori and Esk waited for them. Mori did not look happy to see him.

“I have prisoners,” he said.

“Take them around to the service entrance. It’s closest to the cellar,” Esk instructed.

“The rest of the carriages are filled with slaves. Some don’t have collars but are badly addicted to droosa. See what you can do to help them as they recover. Mori, I received a letter this morning...”

“As did I,” she said, scowling. “I’m feeling very hurt and unwanted at the moment.”

“Understandable. But you aren’t unwanted. Your position would have caused friction among my women, which would have caused more problems than your hurt pride. Once I drop off and secure the prisoners, I’ll be in the master suite, sleeping. You are invited to join me if you wish.”

“That feels like a slap in the face after annulling our marriage.”

“It is not, but I can see why you would feel that way. Help Esk deal with the arrivals before you make a decision. You’re a beautiful woman. I wouldn’t offer if I wasn’t interested,” said Kal before snapping the reins and directing the horses around the side of the mansion.

“These are housekeepers,” said Ikuno as she pulled up after Kal. “The addicts are in the middle carriages with the worst ones in a magical sleep.”

Mori and Esk exchanged a look. “They will be a big help,” said Mori. “Without Kal here, more of our staff left this morning.”

“Just remember, these girls will get the same offer, so there’s no guarantee they will stay.”

“I know, but a few might and that would be enough to fill our ranks again.”

“Kal! Kal!” Ikuno shouted over the bond, waking him up. Kashka stirred beside him in the master bedroom’s palatial bed.

“What?” he replied, his grogginess coming through in his mental voice as well.

“The girls without collars are becoming unmanageable without just putting them to sleep.”

“Unmanageable how?”

“I’ve had to heal a few of the housekeepers because they are getting violent from their need of droosa, and a couple of your guest rooms have been thoroughly trashed.”

“And the millennium-old oni needs my advice?”

“Your decision to get them. Your call on their treatment.”

“Then give them some.” He sent an image of one of the small vials of green powder. Ikuno took out the stopper and pressed her finger against the opening before inverting it, then quickly righting the bottle again leaving a faint dusting of the powder on her finger. He then showed her an image of her approaching a feral-looking woman and swabbing the inside of her nose with her powdered finger. A few seconds later, the woman calmed down enough to regain her senses, but she still begged for more. “If we sate their need, then that will just feed their addiction, so we give them just enough to calm them but leave them wanting.”

“My finger would probably rip out the side of their nose, and my claw might pierce their brain. Besides that, it’s a great idea.”

Kal rolled his eyes. “Then have someone else do it.”

“‘Here, put this stuff on your finger and shove it up that girl’s nose. Which girl? The one that’s thrashing around with four people trying to restrain her.’ I’m sure that will go over well.”

“Your other options are her mouth, sex, or backside, and, from what my relief driver was telling me on the way here, those all need more time to take effect than the nose.”

“In a different scenario, I would be more than happy to stick a finger in their pussies, but in this situation, that would just be messed up. How does this girl know so much about this stuff?”

“It was part of her job to instruct clients on how to use their vial of droosa. Since it was an order, there was no chance of her forgetting any details.”

“I would have expected the mages to do that.”

“They did for new customers, but only the first time. Those who returned got the housekeepers.”

“Have you ever wondered why?” The oni asked after a short pause. He could tell Ikuno was giving orders to the staff as she spoke to him.

“Why what?”

“Why not just buy a slave and do whatever with them. Why come all the way out into the middle of nowhere to have your sick little brothel.”

“I am too tired to come up with an answer for that,” Kal replied.

“Slaves are an investment,” Kashka chimed in. “A man who buys and kills slaves regularly was frowned upon in Fazal. It gives the impression that a person doesn’t care about money, which can hurt his trustworthiness and business prospects.

“Darrow offered slaves that were fanatically obedient, disposable, and had their own secluded building where his clients could play out their twisted fantasies protected by guards and mages. I imagine those men were paying a hefty price while Darrow spent little on the girl’s upkeep since they were meant to be thrown away.”

“That’s as good of an explanation as any, I suppose,” replied the oni.

“Get some of the sundew-girl’s sap from Ria if they are getting too violent,” Kal suggested. “A drop on their skin should be enough to stop them long enough to get the powder in their noses.” Kal curled his arms around Kashka. Moments later, the cat-girl began purring.