Part 7A

Danica spent the remainder of the day relaxing, trying to forget her anger at Zoraster for his deliberate taunting of her. She worked in her lab studying some notes from her spell research. She felt nearly ready to try to create her first original spell.

The next day, she spent a great deal of time at the scrying pool observing and exploring Omark's slave house. Open doorways and corridors dominated the building, and she saw no evidence of magical protections in most places. Only his private chambers and the two rooms Zoraster wanted her to learn about appeared to have any sort of protection at all.

Danica discovered only four men other than Omark who didn't appear to be slaves. Besides the female slaves in their cells, the servants of the place appeared to be enslaved as well. Danica could tell by the way the people she observed acted that the area was extremely hot. Few moved around during the day, and the corridors were quite often empty.

Danica determined it would take little effort for her to sneak into nearly any part of the building under cloaking power of her magical rings. Danica turned her study to the runes on the two doors. They were not true runes, but instead runes of warding in the language of magic. They had power, no doubt, but were not the stronger runes that Danica feared her ability to decipher would fall short of decoding.

The runes warded against magical scrying of any kind. They also protected the door against physical force, and the skills of a thief. They had no protection against magical passage at all.

Danica decided that the best course of action she could devise, based upon what she had learned, was to use the Passwall spell to enter the rooms. It was another difficult spell Danica had never thought to master, but now she felt it was possible.

She made her way to the library, and quickly found a copy of the spell. Returning to her chambers, she studied the spell. Mid-afternoon the next day, Danica felt her body surge with magic as she mastered the spell. She immediately went to the door of her chambers, cast the spell, and took a step directly through the door. The sensation was unnerving, but not terribly uncomfortable. A second casting brought her back into her room.

Danica spent the remainder of the day ensuring her rings were fully charged. An idea came to her the next day, and she went to speak with Damian about it. She wanted to have a ring of spell storing enchanted for Andrea and charged with the fertility detection spell. That way, Andrea would know when it was safe for her lover to fill her up without Danica being there. Another inspiration struck her as she spoke about the item for Andrea, and she asked Damian if he could enchant an item with both spell storing and spell turning.

Damian said such was possible, and that he had actually done so before. Danica smiled a wicked little smile, and then untied her robes. She showed Damian her hood ring and explained that was the form she wanted for the item. He laughed and fetched a caliper to measure the ring, remarking how pretty it looked as he did so. He finished by saying that he was quite sure he could make something even prettier for her, and much more useful.

Neither of them could have resisted the urge to couple if they had wanted to. Damian's position on his knees, so close to Danica's folds as he measured the ring made it impossible. Danica returned to her chambers satisfied both intellectually and sexually, having obtained Damian's notes on the spell storing and spell turning enchantments, as well as his promise to craft the items Danica had requested for her.

The next morning, Danica prepared to leave. She dressed in a light colored, long sleeve blouse. The cut was loose, allowing plenty of air to flow through the fabric. She chose a pair of pants that were similarly light and loose. From her observances, she knew that the place where she was going would be hot, and the sun oppressive. She needed to be covered to protect her fair skin from burning, but wearing clothing that did not trap in the heat of her body. She stuffed similar clothing and several mundane objects she thought could prove useful in an emergency into a bag of holding. She picked up her coin purse and took it as well. Finally, she put on all her magical rings and decided she was ready.

She was about to seek out Celes, but it appeared Zoraster had already dispatched her. Celes knocked even as Danica reached the door to go seek her. Celes picked up her own bag, joined hands with Danica, and in an instant, they were gone — riding the wings of magic.

When they arrived at their destination, Danica knew her choice of clothing was wise. The heat slammed into her like a sledgehammer from the moment they materialized in Zoraster's outpost.

This house was much smaller than the rest of Zoraster's outposts. It consisted of only a common room, two bedrooms, and servant's quarters. The cooking was done in the common room, and the house's servants had prepared a meal when they arrived.

Celes was quite uncomfortable in her robes, and scandalized the servants of the house when she changed into her light sleeping shift. "Bah, it's hot as the hells, an' I'm not for bakin' in them damn robes. Ye'll get over it," she said when the eldest of the servants told her it was unseemly, while trying to avoid looking at her.

Danica concentrated in the second sight for a few seconds while saying goodbye to Celes, and knew instantly why the old man was so uncomfortable. He obviously saw Celes as she should be, and in the light sleeping shift, she was so arousing it made Danica ache.

Danica slipped out of the second sight, used her ring to become invisible, and walked out into the village. She explored the cluster of small buildings, situated around a small pool, fed by a spring. The land around the village was not quite a desert, but it was certainly arid and barren.

The people here were of the Eastern desert race, Danica could tell as much from their dusky color. They had apparently given up the wilds of the desert for a slightly more stable existence in the small village. They traded goods with both the desert nomads and city dwellers, serving as a sort of intermediary between the two cultures that were so alien to each other.

Danica walked a short distance outside the city, out of sight. She then walked into the village and into Zoraster's outpost, not wanting to rely on invisibility to enter and leave the dwelling. The village was small enough that she considered it likely she would have aroused tongue wagging if no one had seen her enter the village, only to see her emerging from the house.

She left the house again a short while later, and finally persuaded a woman to part with some native clothing for gold, which was an uncommon thing in the small village. Danica changed into the clothes, finding that they were more comfortable in the heat and provided extra protection against the blowing dust and sand.

Celes gave her directions to the slave house, and Danica determined it would likely take an hour or so to get there. She decided to wait until closer to nightfall, and observe the house tonight.

Danica lay down and dozed, then rose as evening drew near. She cloaked herself in invisibility and started down the road toward the slave house. She saw more people out and about as the sun set and the air grew cooler. She soon reached the slave house and settled down near the front door when she saw a group of men going inside. The new arrivals were Eastern city people, all finely dressed and wearing a lot of jewelry.

Danica followed them inside, a short distance behind the men. They arrived at the open courtyard where Danica had first observed Omark examining the slaves. The women, with the exception of the young blonde girl, were all here again. The men examined the women, who no longer had the blank expressions Danica had seen at first. They all now showed the signs of fear and longing for freedom she would expect to see in the faces of recently captured slaves. Several cried openly as the men poked and prodded them under the watchful eye of the Omark and the other four slavers.

Negotiations ensued, and Danica maintained her composure as best she could. She wanted nothing more than to drop a fireball on the lot of the disgusting men, but knew such would invite dire punishment. Agreements were reached, and all the women were dressed in their slave shifts before the slavers led them away.

The house was busy with slaves moving around on tasks, so Danica went back outside for fear of someone jostling her and causing her to lose her invisibility. She decided her best opportunity to enter the building and explore would be during the day, when fewer servants were around. That would allow her to find a place to wait for an opportune moment, and then learn what Zoraster wanted to know.

Danica returned the next day, and found it quite easy to move through the slave house while cloaked in invisibility. A new group of slaves arrived and the slavers ushered them immediately to the slave cells after examining the women. The slaves all had the same blank look when brought in and examined, but seemed to wake up when placed in the cell.

The slave cells were clean and dry. Simple pallets lined the floor for the women to sleep on, and there were chamber pots at one edge of the room. Apparently, you take pains to see that your merchandise is well cared for and in fine condition, Danica thought with anger.

She continued to explore, finding nothing more to see than what her observations in the scrying pool had revealed. The place was simply a warehouse for slaves, and living quarters for the slave masters.

Omark went into one of the rooms Zoraster wanted Danica to investigate upon examining the women. Danica waited in the courtyard directly across from the room. She thought to wait until he left, assuming that he would not likely return to the room for a while after leaving it.

Omark left the room a short while later and walked in the direction of his private quarters. Danica crossed to the rune marked door and paused a moment.

She took several slow, steady breaths, watching and listening intently for any sound or movement. She would become visible for an instant as she cast her Passwall spell, and she didn't want anyone to see her.

Danica fell into her spell casting. She completed the spell and the magic of her rings faded. She quickly took a step forward into the room.

Danica found nothing more than a desk and several chests in the room. Danica took out the magic item Zoraster had given her and examined the mostly bare room.

The desk held a neat stack of parchment, and the slate Omark wrote on when he examined the women. There were detailed descriptions of each of the women, taking special note of which ones were virgins. Notes of acceptable prices appeared below each woman's description, save one. A page detailing a very young red haired girl had no price. It was otherwise no different from the others, though she was the only virgin amongst the group brought in this day.

Danica went to one of the chests and opened it. Inside she found sacks filled with coin. The other two chests were the same. Omark's accounting room, Danica thought.

Danica carefully examined the room, but determined there was nothing else to find here. She returned to the door, noticing this side covered with runes as it was on the other.

Danica studied the runes and found a group amongst them that allowed one on the inside of the room to see outside. Danica pressed her fingers against the runes, joining them and activating the magic.

Danica could see the hallway outside; even the walls of the room seemed to be transparent. She could see no sign of people in the hall. There were no runes preventing normal opening of the door from this side, so Danica activated her rings and stepped quickly back out the door.

Danica followed the hall in the direction Omark had gone. She found him standing near the door to his chambers, speaking with one of the other male slavers.

"These are an acceptable lot. Tell the men to pay closer attention as they seek those they would capture. Virgins are our goal and we have but one out of fifteen this day. Once they have been fed, take number thirteen to the solitary cell. I shall retire to my chambers for a time. You may otherwise take your leisure," Omark said to the other slaver.

The man nodded and turned to return to the slave cells. Danica pressed tightly against the wall as the man passed to avoid him brushing into her. Thankfully, the hall was wide, and he came nowhere near her.

Omark went into his chambers, and Danica waited a few moments, listening carefully at his door. She heard little from inside, but decided it was likely the man was resting.

Danica looked at the rune-covered door across the hall. It was identical to the other in every detail. Once again, Danica stood very still and listened carefully for any signs of movement. She cast her spell and entered the room.

She knew it for what it was immediately — a wizard's lab and library. Danica pulled out the magical device and looked over the things in the room. Preserved animals and body parts held a prominent place amongst the more common spell components. The room had a faint cloying scent of death to it as well.

Danica pulled out and examined books on the shelves at random, placing them on one of the tables and quickly flipping through them. She found many interesting volumes, and large numbers of necromantic texts.

She then turned her attention to the tables in the room, looking through the notes and books there. The man was researching flesh golems, those horrible creatures pieced together from body parts and given a mockery of life. His notes indicated he was working on some sort of process that made the creatures appear less horrific, and more lifelike. His notes made it quite obvious that he was near to a breakthrough, and that his whole line of research aimed at creating slaves. These slaves would be remarkably strong — and utterly subservient.

Something struck Danica as odd as she examined everything. There was a lot of dust gathered on things in the room. Dates on the notes were several months past — nearly a year. It appeared as if little research had happened here in some time.

There was one place where no dust gathered. A large stone table stood at the back of the room, surrounded by candelabras, with a large brazier at the head. Faint bloodstains darkened the stone near the foot of the table. There were manacles attached to the head of the table, and about three quarters of the way down as well. Both sets were very small, and seemed too close together to Danica.

Danica examined the runes carved into the table, and into the stone of the floor. They were unlike anything she had seen before. Danica started to move closer, but something about the pattern of the runes on the floor made her skin crawl. She stayed outside the pattern of runes and continued to look around.

There was little else in the area to see, save for boxes of candles for the candelabras and fuel for the brazier. Danica determined that she had learned as much as she could, and so went to the door to leave. The door had identical runes to those in the previous room, but also had additional runes. Those structures would dampen any sounds coming from the room to such a point that they would be nearly inaudible outside.

Danica activated the runes that let her see outside the room, and she was frustrated to find there were servants moving about. They carried various bundles, and were moving in both directions.

Danica waited, becoming worried when the bustle of servants showed no signs of waning. The servants were obviously moving some sort of supplies from outside to a storage room of the slave house, and apparently, there were a lot of supplies.

She waited for nearly an hour before she saw the door across the hall open. Danica activated her ring of invisibility the moment she saw the door move. She reached out and touched the runes to deactivate them, and then moved to a corner of the room out of the way.

After a few minutes, she returned to the door. She activated the runes once more and found the parade of servants still passing by.

At last, she started to see servants make their trip and not return. She prepared to leave the room, waiting for the last two to make their way back through the hall and safely out of sight.

She saw the two servants returning together from the end of the hall, but they stopped and turned around with a look of fear. Danica looked to the other end of the hall and saw Omark coming down the hall leading the red haired girl, the youngest of those brought in this day. The girl had the same blank look she had worn when brought in.

Omark's eyes fixated on the door, and he was obviously leading the girl toward it. Danica cursed, refreshed the magic of her rings, deactivated the runes, and moved once again to the out of the way corner.

This time the door opened, and Omark entered leading the girl. He took her directly toward the stone table at the back of the room.

Danica clenched her teeth. She wanted nothing more than to fall into her magic and bring it to bear on the disgusting slaver. She knew to do so could invite disaster, however. She had seen the man's research, and that told her that he must be well versed in powerful spells to consider pursuing it. It was unlikely that even the element of surprise would guarantee her being able to stop him, and the possibility the little girl dying in the process was much more likely.