Heza's stomach rumbled along with the wagon as it rolled along the bumpy dirt path, her feet hanging out through the bars of the cage.

The gruel they'd been given sat cold on the wooden floor next to her, solidified into almost a paste, with a few flies buzzing around it curiously, but even they didn't seem to want to taste it. Even still, she refused to let the other slaves take it from her. They hadn't yet resorted to force, worried they would upset Ksvir for 'ruining his merchandise', which was the only reason she'd been able to hold onto it. The man was quick to anger, and despite his issues with them harming each other, his punishments always seemed to involve beatings.

Her little brother, Dimi, lay beside her, curled up against the boards. He'd been sick for days now, and had only gotten worse in the horrid conditions. The summer sun was brutally hot, and though rain was frequent during the monsoon season, it was unwelcome when trapped within the wooden cages, left huddled and shivering as they were soaked down to their bones.

Some small, terrified part of her found herself actually hoping they'd reach their destination sooner. Maybe… just maybe, if they got sold in Vuno-niwt, things would be better than this. Stuck in a cage in the sun for weeks, given barely enough food to survive. They couldn't get worse, could they?

Just a month ago she'd turned twelve. How long ago it seemed now. She'd been so happy living in their town. They were poor, yes, and she'd had to work on the farms to help fill their stomachs. But that was different, it was so much better than this.

Walking next to the cart, the slavers were engaged in a spirited conversation, hardly bothered by the groaning men and women in the cages. She wondered if they were human like her, or if they were no different than the monsters she'd heard about. She'd always tried so hard to be a good girl, so why had the monsters come for her?

"Almost there boys, I can see the river up ahead. Once we cross it, we're home free."

There were a couple cheers at that. Heza tried to get a look at it for herself, but the caravan blocked her view to the front, and the massive twisting red trees blocked her view to the side. Still, from what little she understood, slavery was outlawed in almost all of the central basin, except for the city state of Vuno-niwt to the south, just across the river. She'd thought that meant it wasn't something she'd have to worry about. It wasn't allowed. Being here now though, she felt foolish for being so naive.

At first, she'd been hopeful. They'd come across several other traders and carts on the road, even a whole other caravan. Surely one of them would help, she'd thought. But as each of them passed without so much as a word, she'd slowly lost faith. The caravan was being escorted by mercenaries, making it too dangerous for anyone to intervene. Besides, they'd be long gone before a real force could be gathered, and she'd begun to doubt that would happen anyway.

After all, they'd been given up by their own mother. If the other people were in similar situations, then who was left to care?

Dimi let out a rattly cough beside her, green phlegm spattering on the wooden boards that he lay against. He'd been getting worse for the last few days—was it something in the food? As the fit subsided, he curled up, breathing heavily as sweat dripped down his reddened face. The rest of the men and women in the cage had bunched up on the other side, staying away so as not to catch his illness.

She pressed a hand against his forehead and grimaced—he was burning up, and the summer sun was only beating down on them harder.

He looked up towards her, his eyes taking a moment to focus. "It's fine, Heza… I'm alright."

Hesitantly, she turned to the burly, scarred man walking beside the cart. It took her a moment to find her voice. "My brother needs water. He's getting worse."

He ignored her.

"Please!" she tried, grabbing the splintered wooden bars of the cart. "Can't you hear him? What good will he be to you if he dies?"

The man glanced her way. "If he dies, he dies. He won't be worth much anyways."

Her fingers clenched tighter as she pressed her forehead against the bars, squeezing her eyes closed. She cursed their mother, who'd given them up to pay her debts. She cursed the spirits who let such terrible men live, and she cursed herself, for being too weak to stop them.

She was broken out of it by a sudden commotion at the front of the caravan. There was shouting, and a loud boom as fire filled the air in the distance. The mercenaries nearby drew their blades, and in the next moment they were shouting orders and charging up towards the disturbance.

"What's going on?" Dimi asked, struggling up off the wood as he looked around.

Heza clutched the bars and strained her eyes towards the front, trying to see just that. Some traitorous part of her heart actually managed to hope that someone had come for them.

Waiting was agony, and minutes passed as the sounds from up front became more clearly the signs of a battle. Still, Ksivir, the slaver in charge, had hung back, eyes flicking back and forth between the fighting and the carts. As she watched him, she noticed a small figure approaching from the trees off to the side, a person draped in a brown cloak.

They approached skittishly, darting from tree to tree in a seemingly random pattern, stopping for a few seconds and then running closer again. At one point, they tripped and took a moment to recover before darting behind another tree.

As they reached the line of trees closest to the carts, Heza was able to make out a young woman's face, and when they pulled down their hood—seemingly to see better—dirty blonde hair spilled out.

She hesitated for a brief moment, and then seemed to toss something into the air, then charged towards the slaver. The tiny red object sailed true, landing a little ways in front of him. There was a flash of light, and a roar like thunder as the object detonated an instant later, ringing Heza's ears.

The woman didn't stop though, rushing in from Ksvir's blind spot. She pulled a dagger from her cloak and pulled it back, ramming it into him from behind with her whole weight. Shockingly, Ksvir managed to stay on his feet, turning around in shock even with the blade embedded in him. In the time it took him to process what had just happened though, the woman drew her fist back, and slammed it into his face.

Ksvir hit the ground.

The young woman yelped, shouting a few choice curses as she cradled her hand and bent over in pain. She soon managed to collect herself though, and quickly started rummaging through Ksvir's things. She found whatever she was looking for and rushed over towards the cart.

Heza watched in awe as the woman approached, mumbling something under her breath.

"...didn't think they meant that bad. Kings, is it broken?"

She stopped as she reached the cages, plastering a warm smile on her face as she fumbled with the keys. "Hey, it's going to be alright now, we're getting you out of here."

Heza didn't respond at first. In fact, her first thought was to turn back and look at the others. Unexpectedly, most had actually huddled further back in the cart, even as the door swung open, as if they still might've thought it was some sort of test. Still, a few hesitantly stepped forward, eyes widening.

"C'mon," the girl said, grabbing Heza's hand and pulling her forward. "The rest of you too! Hurry up!"

"Wait—" Heza protested hazily. "My brother." She reached for Dimi, who was already on his feet. She pulled him into her arms as the girl dragged them both from the cart.

They stumbled onto the ground—legs weak from disuse, and Heza stared back at the girl helping people from the cart.

Within a minute, the rest of them had filtered out of the cart, and were running towards a tree the girl had told them to meet at, but Heza was still stuck. Her legs had begun to work again, but Dimi had collapsed and didn't have the strength to get up.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"Go on ahead," the girl said as the last of the slaves ran past them. "I'll carry him."

Heza shook her head desperately, panicking for reasons she couldn't explain. "No! I won't leave him here."

The girl smiled, then crouched down to Heza's level. "Is this your brother?"

Heza nodded.

She looked at Dimi, helping him up off the ground. "Does your big sister look out for you?"

"She does," Dimi nodded. "Heza always helps me when I need it."

"That's good. I have a brother too, you know…"

Over her shoulder, Heza noticed a man running towards them. She recognized him as one of the mercenaries. She tried to warn their savior, but the girl just kept talking.

"He's older than me, and when I was younger, he'd always make sure I was doing okay."

"Miss—"

"I think I was really lucky to have such a good big brother."

"Please!" The man was almost on top of them, he drew his spear back to strike.

The girl just smiled, placing a hand on Heza's head. "What I'm trying to say is, you're very lucky to have such a brave big sister."

Heza screamed. "Behind yo—"

In the next moment, the man was blown through the air and into the next cart over, smashing through it with the crashing sound of wood splintering around him.

In his place was a young man with ash-white hair, and a wide grin stretching across his face. He carried a wooden blade, but it seemed to Heza like the air was shimmering around it as he glanced at the girl with blond hair, then at Ksvir's body slumped on the ground.

He whistled appreciatively. "Not bad Kei! But I think I heard a firestone—that might be cheating."

"Oh shut up Corrin," the girl laughed. "I took care of him didn't I?" Her expression suddenly soured. "And by the way, you guys way undersold how much a real punch would hurt! I'm going to kill you for that later! I think it's broken!"

"Make a fist for me?"

She made a rude gesture.

The boy just snorted. "Yeah, you're fine."

"I think he's getting up over there," She looked over towards the man who'd been launched into the cart.

The boy's eyes widened a bit, as though he was mildly impressed. "He's a sturdy one huh? Well, we're mostly cleaned up here. Wyn should be over soon."

With that, he dashed off towards the mercenary. Heza turned to look, but found the view blocked by the girl's hand.

"Don't worry about them. Let's just get you guys out of here for now, okay?"

Heza looked back into the girl's deep hazel eyes, and for the first time in weeks, she remembered what it felt like to be safe.

The girl, whose name was apparently Kei, picked up her little brother, carrying him in one arm with no small amount of effort while holding Heza's hand with the other. She led them over to the shade of a tree a little ways away from the caravan where the other victims had gathered. Kei started promising them all water and food shortly, they would just have to wait a little longer.

Soon after that, another boy showed up, tall and broad-shouldered, with eyes that glowed a comforting shade of purple.

"Is it over?" Kei asked him.

He shrugged. "Corrin wanted the rest for himself. Figured I'd come take a look at things over here. How are they doing?"

"Mostly just malnourished and dehydrated."

Heza's eyes widened with a start. "My—my brother is sick!" She grabbed Dimi's hand. "He needs water, or—or medicine!"

The boy smiled warmly and squatted down, looking at her younger brother. He held out a hand, calloused and worn. "May I see your hand?"

Dimi reached out and clasped the boy's fingers with both hands, looking up and down, trying to figure out what was happening. Then, his eyes flared purple as well, and he gasped.

"What is—!" He looked around, amazed, and Heza wondered what was happening.

After a brief moment, the boy let go of his hands and wiped a small bead of sweat from his forehead.

"Feeling better?" he asked.

"Y-yeah!" Dimi nodded enthusiastically. Suddenly it was as though life had returned to him, and though he was still weak from lack of food and water, the sickly look in his eyes had seemingly evaporated.

Next the boy turned to Heza, meeting her eyes with a warm smile. "How about you? Are you alright?"

Heza felt her heart skip a beat, and her face heated just a little. She nodded, responding with a quiet, "yes."

"That's fantastic. I'm glad. We'll have you guys taken care of real soon okay? Just sit tight."

Laughter echoed out from the caravan, where the battle still raged.

"He's enjoying this huh?" Kei muttered.

Heza turned back away from the fighting. Honestly, that white-haired boy scared her just a little.

***

Corrin cracked his neck as the last mercenary collapsed into the dirt. Twelve channelers in total, and six of them had partial mantles. The slavers had spared no expense on the mercenaries, of that he was certain.

"But it seems your luck is bad," Corrin smirked as he hooked his blade back onto his belt. One of them groaned from his spot on the ground, and Corrin spit on him. "Which, to be clear, is exactly what you deserve."

He heard the sound of a snapping branch to his right, and he looked over at its source.

The slaver Kei had punched had gotten back up and was scrambling towards the river. Corrin watched him for a good ten seconds as he stumbled and tripped over himself, and only then did Corrin start to lazily pursue.

Shrouded in a full mantle of ash and still bursting with mana, Corrin could've caught him in an instant. But he wasn't above admitting he enjoyed watching the man panic and flail desperately, like a cornered animal.

The river was shallow here—no doubt the spot chosen to make crossing easier considering the lack of a bridge. Still, the man had to thrash through the water, swimming most of the way before collapsing on the other side.

Corrin, instead, simply leapt over it, landing lightly on the other side.

"Wow," he said, walking towards the man slowly. With each step, the grass beneath his feet blackened, some even turning to dust as it touched his mantle. "Kei really clocked you huh?"

The man held up a desperate hand in warding, his speech slurred and mumbled through his swollen lips and nose, both of which leaked blood.

"This is Vuno-niwt!" he shrieked. "You can't attack me here! I haven't done anything wrong!"

Corrin raised an eyebrow, stunned by the man's sheer audacity. He took a step closer, and the grass sizzled. "Ah, but you're forgetting two simple things!"

The man's arm flinched.

"Firstly," Corrin said, holding up a finger. "I really couldn't care less. I'd kill you right here without a second thought. I don't concern myself with the lives of monsters, even if they don't have cores."

The man's eyes widened as Corrin reached out and grabbed his vest, the fabric slowly getting eaten away by his mantle.

"And secondly. Even if I did… Well, I could always just do this."

Forcing mana into his arms and legs, Corrin spun around and threw the man back across the river. He sailed through the air flailing like a ragdoll before splashing into the shallows on the other side. Within moments he was crawling back onto shore.

Corrin watched him with no small satisfaction. In truth, while he likely could have killed the man without losing much sleep, it wasn't something he wanted to make a habit of. Besides, there was a town relatively close, and they'd already commandeered the perfect solution to the issue of transporting them!

***

"Please sir! I have to relieve myself!" One of the mercenaries pleaded from within the cage.

"Then go through the damn bars!" Corrin shot back, lounging on top of one of the carts cloud gazing. "And I already told you to drop the fake politeness! It's disgusting for lowlifes like you to pretend to be cultured."

"But si—" the man caught himself. "It's just so dehumanizing, pissing on the move like a damned animal."

"Oh, is it now?"

They didn't respond, and a minute later Corrin heard some shuffling coming from the cage. He tilted his head just enough to notice one of the men grabbing the bars tightly. He glared at them, flaring his aura once more.

"If I see even a single one of you trying to break out again, I swear to the spirits—I will stop being so damn polite."

They behaved themselves after that.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.