Looking for slaves

We've been weaving through the Drachensgrab Mountains for some time. For weeks we have been following the trail of the remaining slaves brought here from the Highport Temple. It's been tricky. We've managed to avoid the myriad of humanoid tribes throughout the mountains. This means climbing across some treacherous terrain.

Saul was gone when I awoke this morning. I was about to awaken the others when he returned.

"My bad," he said. He's developed a fondness for Earth idioms. "Perhaps I should have left a gooey?"

"Sticky," I said. "Sticky note. It doesn't matter. Did you find the trail?"

He nodded. "Yep." He held up a a strip of cloth. It was the same color of Dame's dress when we left her home long ago. It was one of several we found.

"Hope she doesn't run out of clothes before we find her," I said.

"Oh, like that'd bother you," Anna said. She stood and stretched. "Any signs of uglies?"

"None," Saul said.

Audry sat in her bedroll, listening. "Odd," she said at length. "One would think they weren't paying attention."

"Suits me," Anna said.

"As I," Marc said. He, too, sat in his bedroll. "However, this behavior is uncharacteristic of humanoid behavior."

"They're morons," Anna said. She spat in disgust, something that made Audry grimace. "Children know more than they do and have a better grasp of right and wrong to boot."

"Agreed," Marc said, "but they are not ignorant of their surroundings. An understanding of their surroundings is vital to their survival. The fact they are ignorant of us means either they are busy elsewhere or...."

"Or they know we are here and are doing nothing," Saul said.

"Which begs the question: why?" Marc said.

"They're reporting our whereabouts to the Slavelords," I said. "If so, when will they stop us?"

"Maybe they are waiting for us to show up at this stockade," Aura said. "Better to let us approach on our own and enslave us there then waste the manpower bringing us in."

Anna chuckled. "They want us to deliver ourselves into slavery. Great."

"That's assuming they're following us," Saul said. "I haven't seen any sign of that. They may just not know we're here."

Marc stood. "Perhaps." He started packing. "Shall we?"

"Yeah," Saul said. "You know, I spotted something odd when I was out scouting."

"What's that?" I asked, packing my own gear.

"Signs of humans," he said. "They seem to be heading along the path toward this stockade, but I don't think they are part of the slave caravan that came this way."

"Who are they then?" Audry asked. She started packing.

"I only saw a few tracks," Saul said. "They actually cover their tracks pretty well. The slavers don't seem to care about their own tracks. If I had to guess, I'd say they were locals."

"Locals?" Marc stopped packing and rubbed his chin. "When Highport fell to the orcs years ago, most survivors fled north. But it is said that a few--mostly hunters, rangers, and their families--fled into the mountains."

"Maybe this is them," Saul said. "The only way to know for sure is to check them out."

"We've got other priorities," I said. "I mean, I'm curious as all the nine hells as to who these guys are, but we gotta find Dame and the others."

"I agree," Audry said. She pulled out the portable hole and opened up. "We should continue our mission."

We put our camping gear in the portable hole and then closed it up. The sun was low in the sky. I could feel the heat on my face, but the thin air wouldn't hold the heat. It was like a Denver day in December--sunny, but cold.

We went back on the trail.

I'm writing this as we hike. For a while, we did a lot of climbing. We know the caravan left the Highport Temple a few weeks ago. We had maps of the pass that went through these mountains, and so we took a shortcut across the mountain peaks in the hopes of cutting them off. We'd hump it all day, then crash hard at night. Marc was barely able to get his perimeter warning spells up. Instead, we missed them by a few days. Better being a few days behind than a few weeks, but I still wish we had caught up with them.

I couldn't exactly update my journal while climbing, but now I can. The magic of the journal allows me to write legibly while walking or riding a horse. I have no idea how long it will be until we reach this stockade, so I better update while I have the chance.

-------------------------------------

On Earth, most medieval cities didn't have sewers. With the aid of magic, such places can be built here. Highport used to be a civilized city, which meant they disposed of...waste in an appropriate manner. Orcs are brutish, but they are practical. They're not about to oppose the use of sewers, especially when they are being controlled by humans who would like to keep a city relatively clean so they can sell their slaves. So, in addition to human waste we get to deal with humanoid waste.

"Vile," Anna said. She tried to throw up again but she had the dry heaves.

"She'll be hungry when this is all over," Saul said.

"Not funny," Anna said. "How much further?"

"Just up ahead," Marc said. He tried to make a show of breathing easier, but even he was showing signs of stress. I hadn't puked yet, but I was damn close.

Finally, we came to the ladder. Anna went up first, more out of her desire to get out of the sewer than anything else. She climbed quickly, and then I heard a slight creak as she opened the door. Ahead I saw one of Oerth's moons shining through (I think it was Celene). After a moment she called back down. "It's clear."

We climbed up quickly. It gets dark on Oerth, even in the moonlight. Back on Earth, I never thought much about the dark. I was a city boy through and through. When it got dark, the street lights came up. I never really understood what dark was until I came here. I could see some lights along the walls of Highport, but not much else. The good news was that no one in the city could see much either. The orcs could see out to a few dozen yards with their heat-sensing sight, but we were a good couple hundred yards from city. As for the temple itself...well, Saul and Anna would have to guide us.

"It's suppose to be just south of here, isn't it?" I asked.

Anna took me by the arm. "Let's find out."

Saul and Anna guided us through the brush and around the small hills. It wasn't long before we found the abandoned temple.

Temples. Man, I'd had enough of temples after dealing with the elemental temple. At least this one was smaller. As we approached, I wondered what in the hells could be here. It looked like a collection of burned out structures.

"A big pile of trash," I said.

"Look at the walls," Audry said. "They appear intact. I wager they would withstand a siege."

"Looks like it," Saul said. He pointed at the base of the walls. I'm not sure what his elven eyes saw, but I believed him. "It looks like this was reinforced recently."

"They've rebuilt it," Marc said, "but in a manner to make it appear as nothing more than burned out ruins. Clever."

"No one comes here because they believe there is nothing here," Audry said. "Well, perhaps we should make the illusion real."

We skirted around the back with Saul and Anna's help. We stayed maybe a hundred feet from the structure itself--far enough away to keep out of anyone's infravision if they had it. There were no signs of habitation, but we'd expected that. From the back, we made our way around to the west side.

"I guess it's too much to hope for a back way in," Saul said.

"It'd be heavily guarded," Anna said.

"So would the stables," Audry said. She lowered her voice. "Look."

A set of large doors set in the side of the wall, just as Emril described. They looked like big barn doors, but they were set into the side of the temple itself. It looked like they built the stables into the main structure, which is probably smart in terms of defense.

We approached quietly, but frankly I doubt they would have heard us. From the sounds of it, they were gambling...and drinking and carrying on and basically partying like it's 1999.

"Makes our job easier," Anna said.

We moved toward the doors. Light spilled forward, light that didn't flicker. That meant lanterns instead of torches, which made sense given most stables have hay. Anna peered through a small gap in the doors, looking back at us after a few seconds. "I see four of them. They're toward the back of the stables. They're not paying attention."

"That's good on a lot of levels," I said. "They're not on guard, which means the slavelords aren't ready for us."

"Or it's a trap," Saul said.

"Let's think good thoughts, shall we?" Marc said. "Give us the sign, Anna."

She nodded and slipped through the small opening. The men inside continued their game unabated. Saul kept an eye out around us for anyone approaching. When I looked at him he shook his head. All clear.

I looked back toward the doors. The door was opened just enough for me to see one of stalls for horses. Instead of a horse, it contained Anna. I could see her clearly, but from that angle I doubted the men gambling could have seen her. She motioned for us to enter.

We entered as quickly and quietly as we could. I glanced toward the loud voices of the gambling men. They were some forty feet away from us. They were huddled in a corner, surrounded by lanterns. It looked like they pulled all the lanterns in the stall around them so they could see their dice better. Foolish, but serendipitous for us.

That's what worried me.

We entered the stall with Anna. There was easily enough room for all of us.

"Ideas?" Saul said.

"Allow me," Marc said. He stood at the edge of the stall and uttered words of enchantment. It was quiet enough that I doubt the guards could hear. His arms moved in the patterns of a spell. It was over quickly, and as soon as it was over the little Las Vegas reenactment ended as well. Marc nodded with approval.

I leaned outside the stall. The men lay on the ground.

Anna put her hands on my back and leaned outside to look. "What'd you do?"

"Sleep spell?" Saul asked. Marc nodded.

"Good," Audry said. She stood. "Spares us some unnecessary bloodshed."

"Not that they don't deserve it," Anna said. She grabbed a coil of rope hanging on a peg. "Maybe we better take care of them before they wake?"

------------------------------------

We tied them, gagged them, and stashed them in a stall. They were still snoozing when we left.

We shut the barn doors and barred them, then left through the only other door in the stables. Emril remembered pretty well. The hall twisted north and split. We took the right fork in the hall and continued on, passing all doors. We followed the hall until we reached the stairs. We followed quickly. God only knew how long it would be before our friends were found.

The stairs went down for some ways. When they finally ended, we found ourselves in a tunnel. The ceiling looked unstable. Wooden beams supported it in places, but I wondered how often these tunnels collapsed and had to be dug out again. I wondered how many slaves died down here. The tunnel went east and west.

"Which way?" Saul asked.

"Emril said the slaves were west," Audry said. "But he knew little more."

"He didn't say anything about caves," Anna asked.

"Not caves," Marc said. He ran his finger along the wall. Dirt came away from the wall. "These were tunneled. And it doesn't appear to have been done with shovels. Or magic."

"If it wasn't people," Saul said, "then what did this?"

A strange chittering started, as if on cue. It sounded like a room full of people hammering away on computer keyboards, and it came from both directions.

"I think we're going to find out," Anna said.