Chapter 233

"This is it," Quinn told me as he pointed out the plain looking door. Whoever designed this place made it intentionally difficult to navigate if you didn't already know your way around.

I closed my eyes and cast my detection spell again and was able to confirm this was the right place. The slaves were laid out in the same way as the last group and I didn't see anyone who stood out as being a guard. I released the spell and nodded to Torien. "Okay, looks clear. Go ahead."

Torien slid the key into the lock and turned it until a dull clunk echoed through the metal of the door. She cracked it open and peeked inside before nodding and pulling it open.

I looked over our large group. "What should we do with everyone else?"

"They'll have to squeeze in," Silva said. "Someone could walk by at any moment."

"Okay," I replied with a nod. "We'll have to make sure no one gets into fights or anything though. This many people in one place might make things tricky."

We quickly herded the group into the hallway outside of the cells and had them spread out enough that they shouldn't get in the way once we started freeing the other group of slaves. I made sure to impress on everyone how important it was to be quiet but the group was large enough that even with everyone whispering there was enough noise in the room that it made me a bit nervous. I wouldn't be able to block the sound of the entire hallway, so I had to hope no one would get close enough to hear anything.

Like last time, I had Silva on the door while Torien and I prepared to open the cells and convince everyone to work with us. Mimi and Morrigan stood nearby to help while Quinn, the cougar guy, used his... clairvoyance ability, for lack of a better term.

Torien slid the key into the first door and opened the cell. Immediately after, I stepped into the doorway with my sword drawn. "The Order of Lilith is here to free as many slaves as possible." I checked the two beastfolks' karma. Both had reasonable karma and were higher level than the civilian slaves from the last room, twenty-ish if I had to guess. A foxkin and some kind of canine, a jackal maybe? The two of them eyed my sword warily but didn't make any moves to rush me or anything. The foxkin peered around me and saw the crowd of people behind my back. Once I felt comfortable that they wouldn't be an issue, I nodded toward them. "May I approach to remove your collars?" I asked.

The two stared at me blankly at first, the jackal was the first to reply. "You're serious? You can remove the collars?"

I nodded. "I have a magical tool that can remove them through touch."

"And what do you want in exchange?" the foxkin asked.

"To help fight for your freedom, help others escape, and not take it out on the civilians once all of us get out of here. I suggest fleeing to the Northern Greens, the elves will help smuggle you out of the country."

The foxkin smiled and stood up. "The others in the hallway aren't wearing collars, I don't think they're joking," he said to his cellmate. "I'll give it a shot, dying might be preferable to being here anyway."

I reached up and touched his collar while funneling magic through the bracelet. The moment my hand made contact, the plain looking slave collar fell to the ground. The foxkin rubbed his neck and both of us turned to look at the jackal.

"Are you going to put your sword away?" he asked eying it with suspicion.

"I have other cells to open and I don't expect everyone to be as cooperative as the two of you are," I replied back.

The jackal huffed and stood up before tilting his head to the side. "I hope this isn't a gigantic mistake. Unlike you I enjoy being alive," he said to the foxkin.

The foxkin grinned. "I do as well, but sometimes it's fun to take the long shot with the dice. How do you think I ended up here?"

I chose not to comment on the interaction before removing the jackal's collar. Like the other one, it fell off and he immediately rubbed his neck. I took a step away and let them exit the cells to mingle with the other slaves.

"Try to be quiet, they don't know we're down here yet. Something is going on in the bazaar right now, I'm not sure if it's the crazy cult, the Tamin church, or us causing all that racket up there."

"Do you have weapons for us?" The foxkin asked.

I looked over at Silva. "What do you think about arming them?"

Her eyes trailed over the two I had just freed. "Arming some of them is probably a good idea. We both know that not everyone will be a good fit for it though. You're probably the best judge of that."

I looked over the two again, they had decent karma. I'm not sure how skilled they are at fighting people, but if we want to get out of here we're going to need to put up an actual fight. I turned to Mimi. "Do you have any spare weapons for these two?"

She nodded. "I still have a lot of the weapons from the armory under the inn. I kept some and not all of the ones I took for eating have been... digested yet." That brought some gross pictures to mind, even though I knew that she didn't eat the weapons in the traditional sense.

"Are the ones you haven't 'digested' still in decent shape?" I asked.

"Same shape we found them in," Mimi said with a shrug.

I nodded. "Good, then arm these two with their weapons of choice. We'll move on to the next cell while you do that."

We went down the line of cells releasing more and more of the people into our growing crowd of freed slaves. The entire hallway was getting to be a little bit crowded. I was about to approach the next set of cells when I felt a spike of anxiety go through Silva again. I quietly rushed over and crouched down next to her the moment I finished with the cell I was on.

"There's a large group coming, twenty or so people. They're in a hurry."

I nodded and rested a hand on my sword. "Everyone quiet!" I whispered behind me. It was impressive how hushed the packed room suddenly became. All of the whispering and quiet chattering died off and the entire room full of people waited in silence as Silva listened to the group outside the door.

"They're almost here. Can't tell if they're going to check here or not," she whispered.

I could feel my heart beating and my stomach roiling in anxiety as we patiently waited for Silva to relay more information. Quinn was crouched next to us with his eyes closed and his brow creased. He looked just as tense in his scouting. Suddenly I could feel her relief through the bond as the group marched past us. They were so loud that even those of us with less acute hearing could hear them marching past us through the hallway. Despite our relief, the long moment dragged on as we waited for the entire group to pass. Eventually, the hallway quieted once again, and everyone who was aware of what was happening let out a collective sigh.

"They've passed by," Silva whispered.

-- "Lilith," -- Silva said to me through the bond. -- "I could hear people talking as they went by. There are live demons in the capital city right now. They didn't know the details but the Tamin church are fighting something off outside. No one has said anything about the Tamin paladins being attacked yet." --

I turned to look Silva in the eyes. -- "What would Sophin do if there were demons loose outside?" --

-- "He would wait until they finish fighting each other," -- she replied through the bond.

-- "Would he step in to kill the demons?" --

-- "I'm not sure. Maybe, maybe not. Getting into a fight at his level invites others here, he might not do that if he can avoid it. He thought it was worth getting involved to kill enough of the Tamin church to hurt their control over this city. I don't know if he would step in to kill the demons if the elves are already coming to take over the city though, he may choose not to step in at all." --

-- "What about non-combatants in the city?" --

Silva shook her head. -- "I don't know if he would get involved for them." --

I frowned and scratched at the spot my horn was normally at, it felt less satisfying this way. This sounds like it could turn into a Goldenheart situation or worse. Fighting demons was a whole different animal, I'm really not sure if it's better or worse than trying to fight off slavers or city guards when everyone escapes.

"What's wrong? The two of you suddenly went quiet," Quinn asked while carefully studying my face.

I looked at him, not sure how to answer.

"There's problems outside, I think my face gave it away to my boss," Silva told him.

His eyes trailed back and forth between us and he shook his head. "Fine, you don't have to tell me. Is it an immediate problem?"

"No," I said while standing up. "It's a problem for later. I'm going to get back to the cells."

Before I could make it all the way back, an older looking demi-bearkin that I had released stopped me. "You need help managing everyone. Let me help. I used to command soldiers in the army."

I glanced at the people around me. "These aren't soldiers. They're mostly civilians and adventurers."

He nodded. "I know it won't be the same, but you need someone to help you organize everyone. I can tell the friends you came with are trying, but they're not as intimidating as this old bear. I can help tell everyone what to do, even if I'm not shouting orders at them."

He was probably right. "Fine, you can help lead everyone out of here. But remember, the objective is to escape with as few deaths as possible. Our goals aren't revenge, it's escape."

"Good, I don't want to die wasting my time. I want to get out of this hole and enjoy my retirement," he replied gruffly.

With that settled, I met back up with the twins and opened the next door. The next four cells went without incident but I had a bad feeling when I reached the one after that. Inside this cell were two slaves. One was a dappled horsekin that looked scared and the other was a handsome demi-wolfkin with gold-furred ears and a charismatic look to him. He lit up and smiled the moment the door opened. Unfortunately... this was the first slave I've come across that has had deeply negative karma. More than negative four thousand. He also was higher level than average, only slightly weaker than myself. The horsekin was looking back and forth between the two of us in worry and the twins didn't know that this was any different yet.

-- "Mimi, signal the twins. This wolfkin isn't coming with us," -- I told her through the bond.

I nodded to the horsekin. "You, out of the cell."

The wolfkin's eyebrows furrowed. "That's not what you've said to the other people in their cells. Kieran, sit back down." The horsekin's expression paled and the larger guy sat fully on his bed without any hesitation. "You said you were freeing as many slaves as you could, what changed? Is it because I'm a threat to you?"

I adjusted my grip on my sword. As I started to answer the demi rushed forward and deflected my blade away with his hand, his other hand wrapped around my bracelet, and his foot met my breastplate all within less than a second. I was pushed back and the bracelet was painfully jerked off of my wrist. Before I could recover he threw the collar he had been wearing at me and his hand touched the wall behind him. The back wall of the room loudly exploded and filled the area with a cloud of dust. Morrigan's magic lit up the haze and the cloud of dust scattered in moments, but it was too late. The beastkin had escaped out of the open wall and into a hallway. The horsekin that had still been in the cell was blown up with the wall, there wasn't much left of him after it violently exploded on him. The bracelet he had taken from me briefly was lying in the pile of gore, discarded after he got what he wanted.

I could hear shouting coming from down the hall, the guards had obviously been alerted to the sound of the explosion. The bearkin pulled me back into the hallway by my shoulder. "Finish getting everyone else out, I'll hold this opening." Since I had talked to him, Mimi had equipped him with a shield and an iron mace.

"Okay, time isn't on our side anymore. Let's get through the rest of them out as fast as we can," I told everyone around me.

There goes our stealth.