"I know how to get to Collafloore. Just follow my directions."
Caspian smiled when he heard those words. It was just as he had expected from Elincia. She had likely gotten into contact with Snotra, the Nordic Clan's spirit of wisdom.
"I'm listening."
"Once you leave your room, travel left down the hall."
Caspian acknowledged Elincia's words as he turned to Christo and Derek, relaying his sorceress' orders to them. Being the rogue that he was, Christo went up to the door and picked the lock. No doubt Sebas had locked them in because he didn't fully trust them. The man had sharp instincts.
After leaving their room and relocking the door, which they hoped would buy them some time, Caspian and the other two moved left down the hallway. They tried to move swiftly but also silently. Their feet padded against the carpet, and they kept a constant eye out for any sign of other people.
It was fairly late at night, so most everyone had likely gone to sleep. That said, they knew that relying on the idea of everyone being asleep was foolish. Caution was what they needed right now.
"Once you reach the next intersection, turn right."
All of the hallways looked the exact same. The floors were made of tile that caused their boots to make a tap-tap-tap noise as they raced along it, and the walls formed an unusual shape. The left wall was taller than the right. Meanwhile, several pillars half-embedded into the wall on the right shifted into a ribbed ceiling that appeared only half formed. It was an unusually asymmetrical aesthetic.
"When you reach the end of this hallway, you'll come across a pair of double-doors. That's the kitchen. Collafloore's room is the next door over."
Caspian increased his pace. He was eager to reach Collafloore and escape. He didn't want to remain in this mansion any longer than he had to.
They soon reached the door that Elincia spoke of, and though it was locked like theirs had been, Christo quickly managed to pick the lock and open the door.
The inside was dark. Caspian blinked several times as his elf eyes adjusted to the light quickly. The room was nice but plain. There wasn't much aside from some furniture and a bed.
Caspian ignored everything as he went up to the bed and looked at the sleeping half-elf boy, who he easily recognized. It was the same boy who had tried to steal that woman's money back when he'd been Erica's temporary knight, the same boy who had been adopted by Erica alongside Tiffania.
"Hey!" Caspian barked, causing the young man to sit up with a jolt. "Long time no see."
"Long... what? Time... who...?" Confused, Collafloore turned his head around in a daze before his eyes landed on Caspian. He blinked several times before they widened. "C-Caspian?! What are you--"
"Obviously, I'm here to get you out of this place," Caspian said. "Come on. We don't have much time."
Collafloore obviously realized the truth of his words. He stood up and quickly donned his clothes, a white collared shirt, black pants, a black vest, and brown boots. As he turned to Caspian, he opened to mouth to speak, but then his eyes widened.
"E-elves?!"
"Huh?" Caspian didn't understand why Collafloore would shout that... until he remembered Christo and Derek standing behind him. "Those two aren't elves. They're disguised by an illusion."
"Hee hee." Christo giggled with a mischievous voice. "That's right. No elves here. Just a pair of disguised humans."
"I... see..."
It was clear that Collafloore did not see, but Caspian didn't have time to explain Elincia's power in detail. They needed to leave.
"Ele?"
"Don't worry. I'll lead you out of the mansion."
With Elincia's help, Caspian led the group through hallway after hallway, until they came upon the entrance hall. However, they were forced to stop upon reaching it.
"Well, this isn't good," Caspian murmured.
"We're definitely in trouble," Derek admitted. "I don't even have my claymore."
Several people were standing in front of the entrance. Ameralda was one of them. However, standing in front of her were nearly 20 individuals dressed in full plate mail and bearing a variety of weapons. Most of them were men, though there were also a few women. Caspian assumed the men were Ameralda's slaves.
"I thought something fishy was going on," Ameralda said when she saw the four of them. She was smiling, but at the same time, it wasn't a smile. "A woman comes to my dukedom with three handsome slaves, two of them elves and one a half-elf. I could not help but be skeptical."
"So you knew we weren't really slaves, huh?" Christo chuckled. "I guess our acting was just that terrible."
"Hmph!" Ameralda snorted as the men and women around her drew their weapons. "It is not that your acting was terrible, though it certainly wasn't great. There's no way a group of elves would allow themselves to be captured so easily, and they certainly wouldn't have acted so docile. There were also those two elf women. I can't imagine a pair of elves who are willing to protect a woman who's going to sell their own kind off to a human. I can only conclude that you three are not really elves at all but humans in disguise."
While Caspian didn't want to, he felt respect for Ameralda's deductive reasoning rise. It seemed she hadn't earned this dukedom due to her family's reputation at all.
"So what happens now?" asked Caspian. "Are you going to attack us? Subdue us and keep us here? If you let us leave, I promise that we won't cause you anymore trouble. We only came here to pick up Collafloore."
"So you work for Erica then." Ameralda narrowed her eyes. "I thought that woman looked familiar. In either event, there's no way I'm letting any of you leave, especially after you tried to trick me. I'm afraid my men here are going to subdue you, and then I'm going to punish you for breaking my heart."
The woman didn't look all that heartbroken, but Caspian couldn't comment on it as the 20 odd men and women charged forward. If it was just those 20, he wouldn't have worried overly much. However, Caspian soon realized there were more people charging out of adjacent hallways and even coming down from the stairs.
"We're surrounded," Christo announced.
"Thank you for telling me," Caspian snapped. "I didn't know that."
"There's no need for sarcasm."
"How should we do this?" asked Derek. "I don't think I need to tell you, but I'm not as strong without my sword."
Caspian grimaced but came up with an on the spot plan that he hoped would work. "Just protect Collafloore. I'll take care of them."
While Christo and Derek acknowledged Caspian's words with a nod and closed ranks around Collafloore to protect him, Caspian did not intend to fight alone.
"Ele, I'm going to need your help. We're surrounded."
Caspian thought he heard Elincia acknowledge his words, but he had no time to pay attention as the warriors who'd been charging forward finally reached them.
"Vahvista."
The first thing Caspian did was activate Vahvista, the spell that physically empowered his body so it was several times stronger than normal. As he felt the mana flowing through him, Caspian sidestepped a sword swing and slammed his fist into the flat of the blade, snapping it in half. His opponent gawked at the now broken sword. Caspian used that opportunity to grab the man's arm and pull him into another of his enemies, using him as a meat shield.
"Guwa!!"
A scream erupted from the man as he was smacked in the chestplate with a hammer. Caspian stepped aside as the man flew backward, then took two steps forward, which brought him into the guard of the hammer wielding man, and rabbit punched him in the throat. Because his body was enhanced, the man's throat nearly caved under the assault. He grabbed his throat and fell to his knees.
A little ways over, Christo and Derek were fighting against the men and women who came at them. Neither were as well-versed in hand to hand as Caspian, who had the benefit of his enhancement spell, but they were still stronger than a group of slaves with no actual combat training.
Christo used his wits to outmaneuver people. He moved constantly, not only presenting a hard to hit target, but forcing his enemies to back off unless they wanted to hit their own allies. His enemies reluctance to swing at their allies was also to his advantage. He capitalized on that reluctance to deal several swift blows to the various unprotected parts of his opponents.
Meanwhile, Derek had used his superior strength to disarm one of his enemies, grabbed the dropped broadsword, and was now swinging it around like it weighed nothing. He couldn't generate vacuum blades. The broadsword was not heavy enough for that, but his swigs were still so powerful that anyone who got hit was sent flying. Those people were lucky they were wearing armor.
Two people came at Caspian at the same time. One wielded a sword and the other a spear. He took a deep breath and slid his feet apart, waited until the spear wielder had thrust his blade forward, and then leaned back and grabbed the spear. With his superior strength, he yanked the spear wielder forward--right into the path of the sword wielder. The man with the sword was forced to halt his swing, lest he kill the other slave, and Caspian used that hesitation to knock them both unconscious with a powerful blow to the head.
While the three of them were holding their own just fine for the moment, it was clear that they were still had a disadvantage. There were dozens of enemies attacking them. They couldn't attack at the same time because they'd likely get in each others way, but simply by sending one or two enemies in one after the other, they were slowly whittling away at his, Christo's, and Derek's strength and stamina. If this kept up, it would not be long before they simply lost from exhaustion.
Just as Caspian was beginning to worry about that, a loud rumbling echoed from outside of the mansion. Ameralda turned her head to look in that direction. While nothing seemed wrong at first, a massive explosion suddenly blasted the door apart. Ameralda, who had been standing just a few meters from the door, screamed as she was blasted off her feet.
"Ameralda!!!" all of the slaves screamed in fear as the woman tumbled across the floor.
Not one to let an opportunity like that get away, Caspian picked up a sword, darted forward, and grabbed the woman before anyone else could respond. He lifted her up by the arm and placed a sword against her throat.
"Everybody, back off or I will kill her lady--I mean Ameralda!"
The men who had been surging forward stopped in their tracks, unable to do anything but stare at him with undisguised hatred. Caspian didn't care for those looks. All he wanted was to make them stop attacking.
At that moment, Elincia and Sylvia strolled into the woman. Elincia had her bow out, an arrow notched against the string. It was clear that she was the one who had caused that explosion. She'd probably had one of her spirits bless the arrow.
"Caspian! Are you okay?" asked Elincia.
"I'm fine," Caspian called back.
"Sylvia... de Floresca." Ameralda's eyes widened as she stared at the silver-haired woman in fear. "Why are you here?"
"You do not need to concern yourself with that," Sylvia said. Ameralda scowled, but it was clear to Caspian that her expression was only to mask the fear she felt. "So long as you let everyone here go, we won't trouble you."
"Everyone?" Ameralda paled again. "You mean..."
"Slavery is illegal," Sylvia declared. "I cannot abide by a noble who owns slaves. If you do not release them, I'll have no choice but to persecute you."
Caspian almost winced at the woman's high-handed words. Sylvia was still very much trying to keep her actions in line with her previous role as the continent's greatest sorceress, but she seemed to have forgotten that she was no longer in a position of authority.
Her words also invoked the wrath of Ameralda's slaves.
"How dare you tell her ladyship to let us go!" one of them shouted.
"Yeah! Do you think we'll willingly leave just because you forced her to free us!" said another.
"Her ladyship is our savior!"
"We don't want you here! Go back to where you came from sorceress!"
As more and more slaves came to Ameralda's defense, Sylvia gawked at the men with a truly flabbergasted face. It was like she couldn't figure out why these people didn't want to be free. Caspian suddenly had this strange feeling as he watched her. Could it be that Sylvia was actually incredibly naive despite being over 1,000 years old?
Realizing that this situation was taking a turn he didn't like, Caspian screamed at the top of his lungs. "BE QUIET!"
Everyone stopped talking. Ameralda, who literally was right next to him, winced because he had screamed in her ear.
"We're not going to do anything like pull you people away from Ameralda," said Caspian, much to Sylvia's displeasure. "We only came here because our friend had been kidnapped and sold to Ameralda. If you let us leave, we won't do anything more to you. However... if you try to keep us here..." Caspian let the blade in his hand caress Ameralda's jugular. "Well, I don't think I need to tell you what will happen."
While Ameralda and her slaves were clearly angered by his actions, nobody could do anything about them. They didn't want their mistress to die. Caspian knew this and used that to his advantage.
With Ameralda as his hostage, Caspian, Christo, Derek, Elincia, and Sylvia walked out of the entrance under the watchful eyes of Ameralda's slaves, who followed them from a distance. Elincia and Tiffania were sitting on the carriage's driver seat. Tifania waved and screamed her brother's name. Collafloore saw his sister and ran over to greet her.
"I see." Ameralda gazed at the little girl as Collafloore began doting on her. "So the boy had a sister. I understand now why he didn't want to become mine."
Caspian rolled his eyes. "He didn't want to become yours because unlike the other people you bought, he was not broken to the point where showing a bit of kindness would earn you his affection."
"Hmph!"
Ameralda clearly didn't like Caspian calling her out on what she did, but she also didn't say anything to deny it.
The others climbed into the back of the carriage. Caspian remained standing by the cart, keeping the blade on Ameralda's neck. When everyone was inside, he removed his blade from the woman and gently pushed her forward.
"I'm letting you go, but remember that we have three sorceresses with us," Caspian warned her.
"Do not worry. I'm not so foolish as to believe I can keep you from leaving." Ameralda turned her head and dismissed them. "Just hurry up and leave."
Caspian climbed into the cart, Elincia cracked the reigns, and their cart soon began moving at a quick trot as the land dragons pulled them forward. They passed through the destroyed gates. Amedon's road opened up before them as they continued picking up speed. With a tired sigh, Caspian sat down next to Elincia and leaned into the girl, who wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tight.
"You succeeded," Elincia said. "I knew you could."
"Yeah, though I was a little worried at the end," Caspian admitted.
While Elincia supported the tired Caspian, Cassidy fussed over Christo, who could only grin and blush as the woman acted like an awkward mother hen who didn't know whether she should scold him or praise him. Caspian once again wondered if the two of them were dating. At the same time, he didn't think it was any of his business.
Collafloore was up front with Erica and Tiffania. Caspian couldn't see that reunion, though he imagined the half-elf with a massive sister complex was gushing over his sister. As he thought about that, snickering just a little, he noticed Sylvia staring out of the back with a deep frown.
"Is something bothering you?" he asked the woman. Elincia heard him and also glanced at Sylvia.
The sorceress sighed at his question. "I simply do not understand. That woman enslaved those men. Why did those people not wish to be freed?"
"Who knows?" Caspian said with a shrug. "Everyone has a different way of living. What makes sense to you and me might not make sense to others. I cannot fathom the idea of being enslaved to another person, and I don't think it's right, but those people clearly have a different view than you and me. Who are we to question their desires?"
Sylvia frowned at his words, but she didn't say anything as she went back to staring out of the cart. They had already blasted past the gates and were now on the open road. The scenery outside the cart past by in a blur. Erica was really hauling butt.
"Where should we go now?" asked Elincia.
"We should travel to Axium," Sylvia answered before Caspian. She turned away from the view outside the tarp and moved until she was leaning against the cart wall. "We need to discover what happened while we were away. However, my status as a criminal means we have to be careful with who we contact. Lisander has always been incredibly loyal to the Sorceress Council. I believe he can not only offer us sanctuary, but he can provide us with information on what's happening in Arcadia."
Nobody had any better ideas, and Caspian would admit that heading to meet with Headmaster Stratello sounded like a good idea. Sighing as he left Elincia's warm embrace, he crawled over to the front of the cart and stood up. He looked at Erica as she sat in the center of the bench, Tiffania on her lap and Collafloore looking incredibly disappointed for some reason he'd rather not contemplate.
"We've decided to head back to Axium," he said.
"In that case, we should return to Ashtown, where we can get on a train to take us there," said Erica.
Caspian nodded and wandered back over to Elincia. The girl had already fallen asleep. She'd stayed up late, kept the gate open for Loki's illusion spell for several hours, contacted Snotra to provide him with directions, and then had one of her more powerful spirits bless her arrows. With all that, it was amazing she'd been able to last so long.
Grabbing a blanket, Caspian sat down next to her and pulled the sleeping girl onto his lap. Elincia immediately snuggled against him as he leaned back. Ignoring the knowing grin of Christo, the blushing face of Cassidy, and the disapproving but oddly contemplative frown of Sylvia, Caspian wrapped the both of them in the blanket and closed his eyes.
He was so freaking tired.
***
This was an interesting chapter to write, especially because I hate the idea of slavery. It bothers me even in some of the novels I read (cough The Rising of the Shield Hero cough), but I wanted to present different opinions on the idea here. To the men who Ameralda enslaved, she's the savior who rescued them rather than a slaver who imprisoned them. Saying that, I don't think enslaving people is right even if you treat them well. Do any of you have thoughts regarding this subject?
I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know how I'm doing!