Blood Shaper

Someone ran up to Kay’s group as he stalked towards the small area the slave trader had been led to. The man was dressed in unassuming clothing and fell in step with the group. “Sir, report about the trader.”

Kay glanced over at the man he had no memory of ever meeting and grunted. “We need to start formalizing things.”

The man glanced from him to Amanda, then back. “Sir?”

Kay chuckled darkly and glanced back at Amanda. “What position do you want to have?” He asked her.

“Being your aide is fine with me, sir.” She replied.

“So, like a grand vizier type of deal?”

“No, sir. I mean-”

He waved her off. “Titles don’t really matter right now. You’re one of my chief administrators, and you’ve already gathered some power to yourself. Since you’ve been using it in ways that help Avalon and me, it’s good.” He raised an eyebrow at her.

She glanced off to the side. “I was trying to be helpful, and things got a little away from me.”

Meten laughed quietly. “I’m glad I waited to peel off. Has my daughter been playing power behind the throne?”

Amanda scowled. “No. And anyone spreading those kinds of rumors has been thoroughly dissuaded of that.” She looked directly at Kay, “I am incredibly grateful for all the help you’ve given my family and original home and for the opportunity you’ve given me specifically. I’m loyal to you.”

Kay considered making this into a moment where he could lecture about how being directly loyal to a leader instead of the nation they led could be bad, but he had enough on his plate at the moment. “Good. Like I said, we need to formalize things. Set up a military, set up more departments, give people titles and a chain of command, all the works.” He turned back in the direction he’d been moving and stormed off again. “That’s for later, though. What’s the report?”

Amanda’s spy, or informant, or whatever, stiffened. “Sir. One trader, four guards, eleven slaves. The trader is a tier four but doesn’t appear to have a combat Class. The strongest of the guards is a tier three, and he’s some sort of partner based on the conversation I overheard. The other guards are all tier twos at best and seem to be newer hires. As far as we can tell, this trader split off from a larger group relatively recently.”

“We?”

“My partner stayed behind to keep watch.”

“Amanda?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Where did the spies come from?”

She looked away again, and he saw her fighting down a blush. “I might have recruited some people while I was on my study trip.”

Kay blinked a few times, then dismissed the topic for later. “Alright, Meten, get your people for backup like I said, just in case. Amanda, did you send someone for- Never mind.” Avalon’s newly appointed Head Guard and her two subordinates ran up to the group.

“You sent for us, sir?” Head Guard Huento looked like she wanted to stop and salute or something but fell in with the procession instead.

“Trader showed up at the north gate,” Kay told her shortly. “His merchandise is problematic.”

“Sir?”

“He’s selling slaves.”

All three women hissed in surprise and anger, and he saw the immediate rage in the eyes of the fur-covered woman that he hadn’t met. The bugbear, Julia Gallows, tightened her grip on her quarterstaff and snarled, her sharp teeth poking from behind her lips as she did.

Grace looked over and tapped Julia on the head with her mancatcher. “Calm down.” She nodded sideways at Kay, “Boss is going to take care of it.”

Julia looked over and met Kay’s eyes. Whatever she saw was enough for her to visibly calm her anger. She nodded. “Sorry, boss.”

“It’s Mayor.” Sarah corrected them.

“Right now, it’s not important. Slaving is a crime in Avalon. I’m not entirely sure what we’re going to do with them since we haven’t actually sorted out a constitution or any real system of laws, but I sure as hell can have them held for as long as it takes to figure that out and try them.” He suddenly stopped in place, and his gathered group of followers had to part around him to avoid causing a pileup. “Do we have a jail?”

Everyone glanced around, looking at each other for the answer.

“We don’t.” Sarah Huento piped up, “A small set of cells is on my plans for a guard headquarters since we don’t have a lot of people or crime yet, but it’s still a few days off till they can get started on it.”

“Amanda, go find Darten and get the Head Guard’s plans done today. Cells first if possible.”

She nodded and opened her mouth to tell her spy to take the message. Kay cut her off with a swipe of his hand.

“No. Go yourself. You don’t need to be here for this next bit, and I want you personally impressing on anyone who would argue how serious I am about this.”

“Yes, sir.” She spun on her heel and took off at a jog towards the Office of Building.

“Spy person.”

“Sir?”

“Go do… spy things. I don’t know. Just be not here, so I don’t have to explain to people who you are.”

“Yes, sir.” The man, whose name Kay purposefully had not asked for, smirked and walked off.

“Meten… already left. Good.” Kay glanced around. His entourage had dwindled down to just himself, Eleniah, the three guards, and the first messenger that had brought word to Amanda from the gates.

“Do you have anything better to do?” Kay asked the man.

“Uh,” He glanced around wildly, “No?”

“Fantastic. Any problems with standing witness to what’s about to go down?”

“Oh, no, I’d be happy to help, sir.”

“Great. Just watch what happens unless I say otherwise.” Kay took off again. “Head Guard.”

“Sir?”

“A slaver has arrived at your city with eleven souls in captivity and four guards. The slaver is a tier four noncombat Class, the head guard is a tier three, and the rest are tier twos. How do you recommend we deal with this?”

She glanced over at him with a cautious look, “Arrest them, sir.”

Kay smiled mirthlessly. “Yes. I meant the arresting part. I don’t want them getting a chance to harm their victims or anything.”

“Oh, right.” She looked at Eleniah pointedly and shrugged. “I don’t think we have anything to worry about, sir. If the slaver was a tier four combat Class, I might be more cautious, but as it is, Miss Eleniah should be able to deal with this herself.”

“We don’t have to worry about them ordering the slaves to do anything to themselves?”

“What?” She looked at him for a moment, and then her eyes widened with understanding. “Oh, no, sir. Slave collars are just a variation on an enchantment that just prevents people from accessing mana with a pain application function added in. Slaves are made to obey through force and threat of pain; the stories about the collars controlling people aren’t true.”

Kay sighed in relief. “That is a weight off my mind.” He pointed at Eleniah. “I’m in the door first, and we talk to them, but you’re free to act how you see fit.”

“You’re going to talk?”

“We aren’t storming in and smacking them around first thing. If everything goes the way I want, we go in, tell them they’re under arrest for their crimes, and they come along peacefully.” He nodded along at the various eye rolls and scoffs her got. “Yes, I know, but I’m still going to start out that way.”

They arrived at a small open area near the edge of the walls that had been set aside for building purposes but hadn’t actually been used yet.

Kay frowned at the lack of space near the gate. “How are we going to get trade in and out of her with so little space?”

Eleniah leaned in close, “These are planned to be the inner walls; the outer walls are going to be geared towards trade more.” She whispered.

“How is that supposed to work?” He whispered back.

“The Office of Planning wants to limit cart sizes in the inner walls to prevent accidents and save space. It’ll slow down commerce a little bit, but they think it’s manageable and worth it.”

“We should talk about this later,” He realized as the three guards stared at him while they waited. “Let’s go.”

Kay stepped over to and past the wagon that was parked against the wall, making a sort of impromptu barrier. He maneuvered past where the animals that pulled it would be yoked, and the four women spread out behind him.

“Ah, hello!” A jolly-looking younger human man walked over with a wide smile. “Are you the Mayor I’ve heard was going to meet me?”

Kay inspected the man as he stepped closer. He was about Kay’s age, early thirties at the oldest, and he was short and fat. That was all Kay really saw about the man because he was too caught up in trying to stare at the line of people leaning against the wall in chains, staring at him and his group with a mix of fear and curiosity.

“Yes, I’m the Mayor here.” He forced his gaze back onto the slaver.

“Wonderful! It’s nice to meet you. My name is Quinterius Maxalminan. I’m a relatively newly independent trader coming down from a supply run up north! Imagine my surprise when I run into a new town where there wasn’t one a few years ago.”

“Yes, we’re a new founding.” Kay opened his mouth to continue, but the man kept talking.

“Yes, I can see! And I’m sure a new locale such as yourself can see the usefulness in my merchandise,” He gestured grandly at the line of chained people. “As the first sale in a new town, I can offer you a generous discount.”

Kay noticed a burly-looking older man off to the side step away from three other armed people and start making his way closer. He eyed Kay and the four women with some suspicion and fingered his weapon. He saw Julia step forward slightly with her eyes on the guy, and he turned back to the trader. “I’m afraid you’re under a bit of a misapprehension.” Kay told the fat man, “I’m not here to buy anything.”

“Oh?” Something moved behind the slave trader’s eyes, and Kay discarded the jolly little man as a persona. “Then how can I help you today?”

“I’m here to inform you that slaving is illegal in Avalon.”

The slaver’s guards all pushed themselves up from their seated or leaning positions where they’d been eating and chatting and started moving closer. The older man adjusted his mace so that he could draw it easier.

“Oh, is that so?” Maxalminan drooped theatrically and sighed, “Oh, well. If you’ll allow me to pass through your town and be on my way, I’ll get out of your hair.”

“No.”

“No? It would be quite a trek to have to go back out the way we came and go around your settlement. You’ve walled off the best travel route through the area.”

“I’m afraid I might have not been clear enough. Absolutely everything related to slaving is a crime here. Owning slaves, selling slaves, capturing slaves, buying slaves, all of it.” Kay gave Maxalminan a cold look. “So you are all under arrest for your crimes.”

The small trader’s face turned ice cold. “I see. And the reason you think you can do that to me is… what, exactly?”

“Besides the right to do what I want in my territory?” Kay looked up at the thin woman from the guards idly scooting her way towards the line of slaves with a knife hidden badly in her hand. “Eleniah.”

With a whoosh of rushing air, Eleniah vanished from next to Kay and appeared next to the woman. Seconds later, her knife clattered across the ground as Eleniah easily disarmed her and slammed her to the ground with one hand.

“I have tier five Combat classes.” Kay continued. “And my people outnumber yours by quite a margin.” He paused dramatically as the sound of onrushing feet got closer in the distance.

Maxalminan stared up at him with undisguised rage and hatred but didn’t move. The rest of the guards reacted much more poorly.

The oldest guard, and presumably the tier three, drew his mace and charged. Julia met him immediately with her quarterstaff, slamming it into his weapon hand and driving him back with her longer reach. Grace lept forward and caught one of them that was charging the line of slaves around the arm with her mancatcher and dragged him towards her. The last one looked around worriedly, then got knocked off their feet by what looked like a Jujitsu move by Sarah.

Kay looked back down at the trader. “So, as I was saying. You are under arrest for your crimes, namely slaving. Depending on the results of an investigation into your crimes, you may be charged with more. You will be held until such time as a trial may be brought against you, and the sentence for your crimes is decided upon.” He turned his head to look over at the wagon, and the slaves lined up against the wall. “At the very least, your possessions will be seized by Avalon, and all of your victims here will be freed.”

The slaves, former slaves, looked back at Kay with expressions that ranged from disbelief to stricken hope.

Meten and a group of his adventurers ran up. “Sir!”

Kay gestured at the trader and his guards. “Help the Head Guard round them up and all that. If The Office of Building isn’t done with the job I set them on yet, put them somewhere secure until they are done.”

“Yes, sir.” Meten acknowledged the order and strode towards the still struggling older man. His arrival ended the last bit of fight left in the guy.

Kay stared at the collars on the necks of the now-former slaves as the criminals were taken away. He waited until Eleniah stepped up next to him. “We have some things to think about for the future.”

“Like what?” She muttered back.

“Criminals, what punishments are acceptable, that kind of thing. How do we keep powerful criminals from escaping or wreaking havoc without using enchantments like these?” He nodded at the collars. “And, is making criminals work as part of their sentence count as slavery?” He sighed, “Those kinds of questions that I wanted to avoid for a bit longer.” Kay straightened his posture and nodded again at the line of people. “This next part, at least, I have zero problems with. I’ll even enjoy it.” He popped open his magical blood canteen and addressed the line of people. “This next bit might look alarming or feel weird, but please don’t freak out.” He paused and looked at Eleniah. “I can just break these like other enchanted items, right?”

“Oh, sure. Break ’em, and you’re done.”

“Fantastic.” Kay reached out and covered all of the collars with blood that he flowed from his canteen to cover the people’s necks. Some of them gasped and twitched, while a few tried to dodge or jump away. More than one opened their mouth to shout something, but Kay ignored all of it. With a clenched fist and burst of will, he crushed all of the collars at once. Pieces of blackened metal fell all around the former slaves as Kay withdrew his blood into the canteen.

Kay took one step forward towards them and gave a small bow. “Welcome to Avalon. My name is Mayor Kay. I hope your stay, however long it might be, is pleasant.”