Glade crawled through the sparse grass until he came to the crest of the hill, carefully positioning himself to mask his profile as he looked out over the bay far below. The sun hung low to the west casting a golden gleam across the water that highlighted the slaver’s ship anchored a few hundred feet from shore.
A great deal had happened since he had woken from his stupor. Not only had they completed all their intended tasks, but after hours of diligent work, Glade finally managed to bring his mana channels to level two. At first, he hadn’t understood why Bragden and the others had made such a big deal about leveling his channels. That ignorance evaporated the moment he cast his magic for the first time after the change. Not only could he cast 20 MP instead of his usual cap of 10, it granted him the ability to use both his telepathy skill and mana manipulation at the same time.
“We’re in the clear,” he projected, looking over the bay with a critical eye for any danger. While he kept his telepathy active, Glade also cast manipulate mana, looking over the area for any magical anomalies that might indicate danger his telepathy skill didn’t register.
A smile graced his lips as he watched the thin flows of mana dance around him. He could most definitely get used to this.
Minutes later, Bragden, Kedryn, and Gent joined Glade in the grass, their heads peaking over the crest of the hill.
“All this sneakin around is bad for me back,” Bragden grumbled, sidling up next to Glade before casting his gaze over the bay.
“Shhh!” Gent hissed, shushing the older dwarf as he cradled his well-built dwarven double shot crossbow in his arms. “Gnoll’s may have crap eyesight, but their hearing is better than you and me put together.”
Glade kept himself from chuckling at the hunter’s actions. Krazzik’s team had cleared the catacombs, bringing back a small fortune in astral shards as well as Kedryn’s star silver, the slime that was still attached to said star silver, and the Gnoll’s equipment. The crossbow had been amongst the looted gear which Gent had promptly liberated.
Glade didn’t complain, seeing as he and Kedryn had taken the Alpha’s twin long swords.
“I sincerely doubt they could hear us whispering from here, especially over the wind and waves,” Kedryn said in a low voice. “Especially since we are downwind from the ship.”
“That only accounts for our scent,” Gent breathed, his voice barely audible over the breeze coming in from the bay. “And ye can thank the Mother for that minor miracle. If’n the wind was blowin the other way we would have already been found out at least a mile back.”
Setting aside the incredulous senses that Gnoll’s possessed, this sort of reconnaissance was nothing new to Glade. He agreed with Gent that taking precautions now would give them the element of surprise later.
Before anyone could say another word, Bragden fished out one of the star silver daggers from his belt and deftly drew a series of runes along the blade. In moments, the world around them went silent.
“There, we have a bubble o’ silence around us,” Bragden huffed. “No sound will escape the bubble, but neither will any sound come through from the outside. Happy now?”
“Aye,” Gent growled. “How long will the enchantment last?”
“At least 15 minutes, maybe more. The blade can take more mana if’n we need to extend the time.”
“No, that should do. Between my hunter’s eye skill and yer aura sense we should get a pretty good understanding o’ what we be seein,” Gent said, straining to look at the ship.
Glade ignored the discussion, taking in the scene that lay before them in an instant. A three masted ship straight out of the history books lay before them, anchored within the small bay. While the setting sun created a glare from the water, he was able to make out seven shapes lumbering around the deck with one more in the crow’s nest. Large cages tied down with thick rope were clumped together and easily visible from their vantage point.
“What do you remember about your time aboard?” Glade asked, scrutinizing the magnificent ship. Years of reconnaissance had taught him to look beyond the obvious to see the truths that were hidden in plain sight. For instance, none of the deckhands were Gnolls. They were all humanoids that moved about with the careless attitude of complacency. Even the man in the crow’s nest wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings.
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“I been tryin to forget that particular nightmare,” Bragden said with a dark undertone. “They treated us like we were diseased dogs, they did. See those cages on the deck? We was housed and fed in those, usually eight or more to a cage.”
“That’s…,” Kedryn stammered, clearly at a loss for words as his nostrils flared with barely constrained rage. “That’s just vile!”
Glade didn’t need telepathy to know what was going through the Corporals mind. He felt it just as much as the Kid but had years to learn how to compartmentalize the emotion.
Knowing Kedryn wasn’t going to get a handle on his emotions any time soon, Glade did what he could to help and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.
“They’re going to get what’s coming to them, but in order for us to have the best possible outcome I need you to focus. Can you do that for me?” Glade asked.
Startled, Kedryn glanced between Glade and the ship before giving him a quick nod.
It wasn’t much, but it would have to do. The only real way to learn to deal with these kinds of situations is through first had experience.
“What else can you tell us,” Glade asked Bragden and Gent. “I don’t see any Gnolls down there, only what appears to be humans. I thought it was just you and the Gnolls?”
“Oh, it was just the Gnolls and us slaves I can tell ye that. But there were more than just us dwarves collared on that ship,” Gent growled.
“What Gent means is that the sailors on the ship are slaves as well,” Bragden explained. “In reality, the ship, the sailors, and us dwarves were owned by the slave guild. They rented us out to the Gnolls for this here expedition. Course, the bloody dogs only rented out the bare minimum required to crew the ship. If I remember right, there was only ‘bout 11 or 12 of the poor buggers. Worked to the bone they were.”
That answered the question as to why he saw humanoids on the ship. But where were the remaining Gnolls?
As he opened his mouth to ask that very question, two of the large dog like creatures strode onto the deck from what Glade assumed was the quarters section of the ship. They roughly shoved a sailor out of their way, much to dismay of the crew.
There was a moment where the sailors started yelling at the Gnolls but were cut off as the larger of the two doglike creatures held something up in his hand that Glade assumed was a slave rod.
The Gnoll gave a loud bark and every one of the sailors fell to the deck writhing in pain.
Stunned, Glade and the others stared at the blatant disregard of human decency until the sailors’ screams reached their ears, followed quickly by the Gnolls’ sharp laughter.
“No!” Kedryn hissed, raising his arm in an act Glade had seen a dozen times. Knowing he had mere moments before Kedryn cast his fire magic and alerted the Gnolls to their presence, Glade grabbed onto the Kid’s outstretched arm and forced it down.
“Stop!” he hissed. “You’re going to give our position away!”
“But they’re torturing them! I can end this right now!” Kedryn protested.
“Are you certain there are only two of them?” Glade asked bluntly, forcing Kedryn to look at him instead of the screaming sailors.
Kedryn’s mouth open and closed, his eyes darting between Glade and the ship below.
“Well?”
“I… I don’t know,” Kedryn said as he tried to sort out why Glade was stopping him.
“Let’s assume they are the only two, are you certain they are within range of your fire attack?” Glade asked, forcing the Kid to see the potential danger if they acted rashly.
“I don’t know…” Kedryn said, his eyes staring imploringly at Glade. “But we have to at least try! They’re being tortured!”
“Aye, that they are lad,” Bragden said in a subdued tone. “But they aren’t in any danger at the moment. The Gnolls need ‘em to sail the ship. That makes the poor sods valuable. If’n we’re to help ‘em, we need to make sure they don’t know we’re here. If we attack and they survive, they’ll know the Black Robe, the Alpha and the rest o’ their Rake be dead. They won’t hesitate to put out to open water.”
The group was silent for a moment as they watched the scene play out below, Kedryn turning his head to the side as the screaming continued for long minutes.
“Bragden, why didn’t you mention that the sailors were slaves?” Glade asked once the screams had ended. “We can use them to sail ourselves along the coast. It would save us a huge amount of time…”
“It won’t work lad,” Bragden said with a shake of his head. “That there slave rod be a step or three higher grade than the one that controlled us and be attuned to the Slave Guild and the Gnolls who funded this expedition only. No one else can use it. If’n it wasn’t set up that way every pirate ship from here to the Scattered Kingdom would be hunting slave ships non-stop.”
“So what happens when we take out the Gnolls?” Kedryn asked, his voice dark as he glared across the bay.
“There be a strong geas on every collar that forces a slave to return to the guild whenever a master be slain. In this case, the navigator on the ship would likely take control o’ the crew and sail it straight away to the nearest slavers guild.”
“What would happen if the slave collars were removed?” Glade asked, giving Bragden a meaningful look. He had learned how to use his manipulate mana spell to remove slave collars, which was why the dwarves were all free.
Bragden opened his mouth to say something, then paused, realization dawning on his face as he realized the implication Glade was making.
“Hell, if I know,” Bragden finally said, flashing Glade a smile full of teeth. “Why don’t we go and ask ‘em?”