Chapter 99 Strays.
“I don’t like this.” Hellfire whispered to her mate. “I do not like this one bit.”
“Then do something about it.” Darkness told her with a grin. “Wherever you go, whatever you do, I’ll be your shadow.”
Hellfire rose to her feet as the auctioneer was just getting to the part about what price the bidding would start at. The man’s eyes were immediately drawn to her and her silver dress. Hellfire concentrated her aura on herself as if she was trying to enhance her strength, even though she wouldn’t need it. She stepped forwards onto the bench in front of her, between a pair dressed in workers clothes, and then took a step onto the one after that. Those in between her and the stage shifted, stumbled, or otherwise moved out of her path. There were no moves made against her. No one dared to try and stop her. Her bright orange flames danced across her skin and illuminated her approach in what must’ve felt like a divine visit. The pressure of her aura was restrained, but even so, most of those present had never been in the presence of her aura before, and for the uninitiated, it was anything but pleasant.
By the time Hellfire had made the final step onto the stage, Darkness was already standing next to the auctioneer. “Three thousand?” He questioned with a grin. “I think three thousand is fair. We were in need of servants.”
“Ah, yes, of course, servants.” The auctioneer stammered under the gaze of the dark mage. “Though, three thousand was just the starting bi-”
“No.” Darkness cut him off with one, softly spoken, word. “I made my stance on slavery clear. I, the Lord of all that is Dark, am being kind to you.”
The auctioneer swallowed hard and nodded rapidly. “Of course, three thousand for a, a finding fee, yes, a finding fee, your, my, Darkness?” His voice raised an entire octave as he said the final word. “No, ah, that’s not what I meant. I was trying to say my Lord and Your Darkness because I wasn’t sure what to call you at the same time and it just came out all backwards I-” The man rambled on until Darkness raised a finger to his own lips.
“Shhhh.” Darkness told him. “Give me your hat.”
“Huh? What?” The man stammered but did as he was told. “Why?” He was then dumbstruck as Darkness pulled out a handful of platinum coins from what almost looked like the shadow of his own arm, cast by one of the glowing stone lights. Darkness dumped ten handfuls of platinum coins into the auctioneer’s hat before he handed it back.
“Three hundred platinum coins.” Darkness told him and then turned around to see how Hellfire and the ‘servants’ were doing.
—
Hellfire stopped in front of the woman and girls that she had decided to rescue. She knew that Isaac would find some way to spin all this in their favor so she left everything, save for the three in front of her, to him. “M-mommy?” The littlest one spoke as she clung to the skirt of the oldest of the three.
“Shhh.” The mother spoke. “It’ll be alright. Just stay next to me.” She told the girl while she pulled her daughters in close. The woman looked terrified, defiant, and utterly confused. There must’ve been a dozen questions on her mind but she couldn’t bring herself to ask any of them to the figure of blazing power and elegance in front of her.
“What is your name, little one?” Hellfire asked in the softest voice she could muster. It didn’t come out as warm as she would’ve liked but at least it wasn’t cold. Hellfire bent down slightly to be closer to the child's height but her dress made any awkward movements or positions difficult. “I am…” Hellfire had to take a moment to internally debate what name she wished to tell the little one. “I am an adventurer. See?” She raised her wrist up to eye level and the pair of platinum tags jingled from where they hung. When Hellfire had changed into her dress she had opted to wear the silver and amethyst necklace that her mate had given her. When she did so, she had been forced to find a more creative way to keep her adventurer tags on her. She settled on wrapping the neck-chain that the tags were on around her wrist a number of times until it wouldn’t fall off.
The mother gasped at the sight of the tags and the power that they represented. “Th-thank you.” The mother spoke. “I’m sure this was not on purpose bu-”
“It was.” Hellfire interrupted her. “We were here as guests for the auction, not to dismantle it.”
The mother’s eyes went wide. “Wait… does that mean?” She began.
“It is, complicated.” Hellfire replied. “I will let my mate explain it to you. For now, just know that you will have somewhere warm to sleep tonight.”
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“With warm food?” The little one asked shyly.
“Not now, Mar.” The older daughter snapped quietly at her.
“Mar, that is a lovely name.” Hellfire told her. “And yes, with warm food, and clean clothes.”
“It’s Martha.” The little girl replied. “I’m not little anymore.”
“I see. Martha, that is a very grown up name.” Hellfire complimented her.
“What’s your name?” Martha demanded.
“I have many names, and I can tell you about how I got each of them later, for now, just call me ‘my Lady’.” Hellfire told her.
“That’s not a name.” Martha told her matter of factly.
Hellfire smirked. “Then call me, ‘Lenna’.” She told the girl.
“Phantom will handle the rest.” Darkness said from beside her. To the girls, it was almost like they had blinked and he was there, but the mother had been watching him out of the corner of her eye when he left behind a fading silhouette to appear next to them.
“Are we going straight back to the Dawn?” Hellfire questioned.
“Yes.” Darkness replied. “Back the way we came.” He explained and then turned to regard the mother. He had questions for her but it would be best if he asked them in private. He wanted to know if there were others who were with them and if they had been captured and turned into slaves, sold off by someone with power over them, or taken for their debts. Those questions could wait, for now, he had work to do. He turned back to Hellfire without a word towards the three that she had just rescued. “The key.” He told her and it appeared in his hand.
“Thank you.” Hellfire told him as she took the key. She was about to offer to unlock the mother’s shackles but Darkness put a hand on her arm. When she looked at him he made the slightest gesture towards the mother with his chin and she immediately knew what he meant. She handed the key to the mother. “Leave those here.” She instructed the woman.
The mother barely hesitated for a moment before she took the offered key and got to work. There was quite the commotion going on in the stands as onlookers whispered to each other. Someone jeered at them and the mother caught movement out of the corner of her eye. She looked up from where she was kneeling to undo the shackles around her ankles and realized that the movement was the man in black vanishing again. Her eyes searched the room for him. She caught sight of him and watched as a man, presumably the one who had jeered at them, crumpled to the ground clutching his throat at the man in black’s feet. A blink later and he was back as if nothing had happened.
“There is a child present.” Hellfire spoke almost scoldingly at him.
“That is why he’ll live.” Darkness replied flatly.
The family were finally unchained and Darkness turned to leave. Hellfire nodded after him to the mother and her daughters. “Come.” She told them. “He is impatient.” As she turned to follow after her mate she felt something brush against her hand. She turned back and looked down to see Martha rubbing one little hand with the other. “Be careful, fire is hot.” She told the little one and then continued after her mate.
Darkness led the way out of the auditorium and past both of the guards without issue. At some point they had all stopped making sounds as they stepped down. The bare feet of the slaves no longer slapped the stone ground as they walked and it felt almost as if they weren’t walking on anything at all. The oddest part was that none of them had noticed it happen. They had been so focused on following the torch of a woman that led them through the dark tunnels that the ground turning black hadn’t even registered in their minds. “Mom, what is that?” The older daughter asked in a whisper as they hurried after the purposeful strides of the ones that had purchased them.
“I don’t know.” The mother replied honestly. “Just keep going.”
Eventually they came to a deadend. Darkness stopped and looked around for a moment. Eventually he found the small symbol carved in the stone that Phantom had told him to find before he left to get help. That short conversation was why Darkness had only appeared next to the auctioneer as Hellfire had finished her walk to the stage. “A fox… of course.” He grumbled and pressed it. The ceiling overhead opened up where they had fallen through to enter. He turned and looked back over Hellfire and the family. “Lenna, I’ll get them, help them at the top.” He instructed her while his hand continued to press on the fox symbol. As long as his hand stayed on it, the cover would stay incorporeal. Once he let go then he would have twenty seconds until it turned solid again.
“That is quite the jump to make in a dress.” She commented. The ceiling was seven feet off the ground and Lenna really didn’t want to get her dress dirty if she could help it.
“Take my hand,” He told her and offered her his hand with a grin. “my Lady.”
“Thank you.” She told him and gingerly took his hand to let the shadows under her feet raise her to the surface. It took a few seconds as it required conscious effort to keep the ascent steady but soon enough she was at the top.
“One at a time.” Darkness told the mother and daughters. “I don’t care who is first and who is last, just pick one.”
“Me first.” Martha insisted after she watched Lenna fly through the hole in the ceiling on a pillar of shadows.
“My my, you are a brave one.” Darkness told her. “Very well, take my hand.” He told her and offered the little one his hand in the same way he had offered it to Lenna.
Her mother moved to stop her but she had already wormed her way through her mother and sister to stand where Lenna had stood. She tried her best to copy what she had seen as she gingerly rested her hand on his. “Thank you.” She told him. Darkness smirked at her and raised her to the surface where Lenna was there to help her step onto solid ground. “Cold.” Those at the bottom heard her complain as her feet touched the stone once again.
“Next.” Darkness insisted.
“I’ll go next, mom.” The older daughter said resolutely and repeated after the first.
Once it was just the mother and Darkness in the tunnel, she finally worked up the nerve to ask: “What will be done with us?”
“Indentured servitude for the three thousand gold I spent on you.” Darkness explained. “Our manor needs staff and two and half able bodies just so happened to be in my debt without a job or a place to stay.” She stared at him for a long moment. “Take my hand.” He instructed her and she did so without even realizing it. As the shadows beneath her started to raise she began to wobble. “Stand straight.” He ordered and she did her best to stand upright. Once she did, the ride was much smoother to the top.
Once the mother was on street level, Darkness appeared next to them. “Phantom?” Lenna asked.
“Is not getting this mask back.” Darkness explained. “I think I like it.”
“Maybe you should get one that will double as head protection, since you refuse to wear a helmet like some hero on a mural.” Lenna offered as she took off her mask. “So? Phantom?”
Darkness looked over his shoulder at her as he started walking towards the end of the alleyway. “Getting someone more… experienced with strays.”