“Well, shit…” Ves sighed, “Can we just pretend the last few minutes were just your imagination?”
Lyra raised an eyebrow, “I just saw you steal meat from the butcher's stall and eat it… raw… then I see the rest of you acting like it was no surprise at all.” Lyra finished speaking as she looked around the group. Most of whom were averting their eyes.
“I did say I still had secrets I wished to keep to myself,” Ves added.
“I have been watching you gawk around like a tourist who has never been in a city before. Only to follow up with what just happened.” Lyra placed her hand on the hilt of her sword, “Who are you really? Are you truly my lord’s granddaughter?”
Seeing this, Ryuko and Hiroko also prepared to draw their own weapons. As the rest of the group staggered off to the side to give them space, unsure what to do. Or at least everyone but Xeeta, who seemed to find the entire situation amusing. To which Ves shot her a glare for.
“The granddaughter thing was news to me as well,” Ves said.
“Can you prove you are who you say you are?” Lyra asked.
“Are you really doubting everything now? After you met Taythes even?” Ves asked as she saw the woman flinch after hearing Taythes name.
“Let alone this!” Ves then pointed to her brand.
Lyra removed her hand from her weapon, “I don’t really know if he is a dragon, but regardless, I know he isn’t someone we can handle without major losses. I don’t think anyone would be insane enough to fake a brand. Even still, I have a duty to this city and my lord, and your story just doesn’t add up.”
“She has you there Ves,” Xeeta commented from the sidelines.
“Xeeta, you’re not helping,” Ves sighed.
“So you really are hiding something!” Lyra shouted.
“Well, yeah, but it’s not like Ves was hiding that she was hiding something. She even told the City Lord as much,” Ryuko chimed in.
Lyra opened her mouth as if to say something, then stopped herself. “Fine… just know I will be keeping a close eye on you. Let us return to our original plan, just please, please, don’t do anything to stand out again.” Lyra said before the group resumed their walk to the Labor guild who handled all the affairs related to contracted. Thankfully, Alice had a spare veil on hand, so Ves’s face was once again hidden.
Quietly, Lyra leaned over and spoke to Ves, “Why did you want to come yourself anyway? Isn’t that a big risk?”
It was, wasn’t it? She now knew Berkanidis was in Corinth. Honestly, aside from her trip to the temple, staying hidden away in Varsray’s manor for the whole trip was the safest option. Still, she couldn’t do that. She felt a responsibility for the people with her, one she felt she needed to see through to the end, foolish as that may be under the circumstances.
“That likely would have been the smart thing to do.” Ves quietly admitted.
“Then why didn’t you?”
“I’m done letting that bastard control my life. I can’t let my fear control me. Otherwise, it's like I never escaped.”
“Foolish,” Lyra said before adding with an ever so slight smile, “but I can respect that.”
Eventually, Lyra brought them to a large, welcoming, and well-maintained facility, the Labor Guild branch for the city. No matter how much they may polish it up at the end of the day, it was still basically a slave market. Though admittedly, they also helped match people up with work even outside of contracted. Common as contracted were, it wasn’t like someone would become a contracted just to dig a ditch for the afternoon. Contracted were limited to longer-term, more specialized, or, most importantly, more secretive work. As such, like the group with Ves now contracted were often used in less than legal operations. Even now, they were magically compelled not to divulge the operations or secrets of the slavers. Not that it really mattered, seeing as they were all dead in the forest.
Upon entering, they were quickly greeted by well-dressed and friendly staff. Ves noted the staff were all contracted. They just wore ornate bracelets over more obvious slave collars.
“Lady Lyra, what brings the vice-captain of the guard here today?” spoke a torgal woman who Ves guessed to be in her thirties. She looked to be in charge based on her nicer attire, but at the end of the day, still another unfortunate contracted.
Alongside humans, torgal were the most common race in Kohdessia, with the royal family themselves being torgals. They were a slightly more bestial race with two sets of arms covered in very short fur. While the upper set of arms was largely like a humans, the lower set was smaller and located closer to the waist. Their fingers all ending in small claw-like nails. Their face pretty much looked like humans, with, on average, longer faces, the only notable difference being that they had horns.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Ves had heard the size, shape, and number of horns could vary wildly but tended to stay consistent within a given family line. The woman before them had only one small horn poking through her bangs on the right side of her forehead.
Lyra shook her head. “Nothing for me today, I’m simply escorting guests of the City Lord. They are the ones with business here.”
The woman turned to the group, “Greetings, my name is Cassandra. How may I assist you?”
With that, Ves stepped forward, “I wish to pay off the remaining debt on the contracted with me and have them freed.”
Cassandra’s eyes widened a bit before returning to her prior calm and welcoming expression. “Understood, my Lady, if you will follow me, we can perform paperwork in a reception room”. The group then followed the woman into what looked like a mix of lounge and office. From what she could tell, the place had a number of these rooms, likely for private negotiations over the contracts. In most cases, the exact terms were known only by the contracted, contract holder, and the labor guild as the ones overseeing the transaction. In this case, though the room seemed a bit higher-end, it was likely one reserved for important guests. It even had refreshments waiting for them.
“Now, before we start, do you have the original bills of sale?”
Ves shook her head, “I do not, their original holders recently passed away in an attack by wild beasts at the edges of the fangswood.”
Cassandra responded, “My apologies, then my Lady, we must perform a proper investigation to confirm the fates of the prior holders before these contracted can be transferred to your person and have their debts paid. Being that the incident took place in the forest beyond the legal borders of our jurisdiction complicates things even further.”
“Wave it,” Lyra spoke up.
“Lady Lyra?” Cassandra looked surprised as she turned towards the vice-captain.
“Wave the investigation,” Lyra repeated.
“Lady Lyra, I’m sorry, but that goes against proper procedure.” Cssandra protested.
“On the City Lord Varsray’s authority wave it, consider the matter already investigated.”
The woman took a moment to collect herself, “Understood, do remember this will be noted in the records.” Lyra clicked her tongue at that but nodded for the woman to proceed. The actual process of removing the contracts and collars was not one Ves had ever seen before. Cassandra removed an odd necklace that turned out to be a magical device used to interface with the physical medium for the contract, in this case, the slave collars.
One by one, Ves could see the looks of relief on each person as the collars were removed. The dragonewt mother embraced her child in a crushing hug the moment the boy’s collar was removed. It was clear by the look on his face that he didn’t really understand what was going on, nor the fate he had just been saved from.
Ever stoic Alice, for her part, even let out a little sigh of relief as her own collar was removed. However, she did promptly return to attention, standing behind Ves and refilling Ves’s drink whenever it ran out. As the process was time-consuming, for each person, there was a small mountain of paperwork to be filled out and signed.
As to the device Cassandra used, it apparently connected every location of the labor guild and allowed them to maintain up to date records of contracts and their status. The proper documentation with full details would still need to be filled out and delivered to the guild’s headquarters. Lots of documentation, which someone had to sign. Thankfully, Lyra did the signing on the City Lords' authority, with Ves only providing the coin. Time consuming as it was, all the contracted with them were freed, all save for one, Xeeta.
“This isn’t right.” The torgal woman mumbled to herself.
“What’s wrong?” Ves asked as she glanced at a nervous-looking Xeeta whose hand rested on her own collar.
“Miss Xeeta’s contract, it's locked.”
“Locked? What does that even mean?” Ves asked, now worried.
“This is the first time I have seen one myself. It means I don’t have the authority to alter or even view the contract.”
“Then who does?” Xeeta asked.
“Only the contract holder, locked contracts can only be issued by the head of the guild, and not even they can alter it once created. You need to be someone with incredible influence and coin to get one. It’s beyond even most nobles.”
“Damnit,” Xeeta cursed as she tugged on the collar still locked around her neck.
“Is there nothing we can do?” Ves asked only for the torgal woman to shake her head. “No, not unless you can find the contract holder.”
“Can you at least see who they are?” Ves asked.
“No, locked contracts have the utmost secrecy. Though I may be able to check Miss Xeeta’s contract against the missing list.”
“Missing list?” Ves asked.
This time Lyra stepped in, “It’s a way for contract holders to report missing contracted. Or a way for the authorities to report they found a contracted. Sometimes the holders will leave instructions on how to contact them.”
“Don’t the contacts make it nearly impossible for one to run away?” Ves asked, confused, as the contracts should have prevented escape.
“This is true, it’s unfortunately most commonly used to report the remains of a contracted when found. Many contracted do dangerous, secretive Jobs. So sadly, it’s not that rare of an occurrence,” Lyra answered.
“The vice-captain is correct as much as I wish that were not the case.” The woman, Cassandra, responded.
“Then can you check that list?” Ves asked.
Cassandra hesitated a moment before turning towards Lyra, “Vice-Captain, may I be candid a moment, off the record?”
“You may,” Lyra responded as she looked at the women with wary eyes.
“I assume if you’re using the City Lords' authority to bypass the normal checks and balances, that there is more going on here than you told me.”
Lyra looked at Ves, “I can’t answer that. Why do you ask?”
“I don’t recall the City Lord ever using his authority to bypass the rules of the Labor Guild in the past. That alone speaks volumes. But add on that one of the contracted in your group was a child, let alone that you found them in the Fangswood. I think I can make a safe guess as to the situation you found these people in.
Which is why I want to warn you. If I check Miss Xeeta against the missing list, the contract holder will be notified via means outside of my control. They will know she is here. Do you really want to take that risk?
While I don’t know who holds the contract, there are a few I can think of who would have the money and influence needed. Add in the Fangswood, and it turns into a very small and worrisome list. None of which are friendly to the City Lord.”
“Why do you say that?” Ves asked.
“Let me answer that. The labor guild is operated by the Denger family, and while not nobles per se, they do have very close ties with the royal family. Long and the short of it is our mystery contract holder could be beyond even Lord Varsray to handle on his own,” Lyra explained before adding, “I hate to say it, but I think Miss Cassandra is correct, checking the missing list is too big a risk.”
“Well, shit,” Xeeta muttered.
