The sound of the mine exploding was the signal for Alex and Nicole to begin their run to the armory. They had heard sounds of what he presumed to be combat, which suggested that North had killed Galen. Alex immediately got up and hopped to his feet, his boots already on. All of the other bunks followed suit, preparing themselves for the mad dash. Outside, he could hear the sound of the guards running through the mud in the direction of the mine to fight against Elina who was probably having the time of her life. After waiting a bit, he let out a declaration to all of the bunk.

“Let’s get moving!”

There was a collective cheer of agreement as they all got ready and, in droves, ran through the door. There were over 40 male slaves, and the intent was to have the spread out in order to make them harder to hit. It was a beautiful sight, and it reminded Alex of his old days in the military. There was a slightly intrusive thought at the back of his head.

This type of thing is something a tad bit more Ireborian.

It didn’t matter. All that mattered was getting to the armory and staying alive. He turned to see that the guards, who were still confused over the entire situation, were struggling to stand still. Their balance was off and it seemed as though their vision was likely blurred. The poisoning plan had worked, which made Alex a lot more confident. The sound of burner fire and confused yells from the guards was all he needed to know that North was doing something right, no matter how inherently stupid the plan was.

North’s conviction to save others was something that Alex had missed in his years as a slave. He had been holding up a positive look to keep others from despairing, but he never had much to back it up with. All he had was the belief that if he kept moving forward in life, he would be fine and he could give his life meaning just by keeping others moving along with him. North wasn’t exactly the smartest or most eloquent leader, but he was able to get others to listen to him and he backed up his insane plans with genuine belief that they would work. The only thing he could do to support the kid in that moment was to run forward with all of his heart and soul.

Burner fire snaked around his body as he bobbed and weaved, narrowly keeping out of their way. Other slaves did the same as the overwhelmed and delirious guards struggled to deal with their numbers. Alex took a moment to turn to find that the female bunk was also following him in his dash. As he searched through them, he locked eyes with Nicole. She was smiling, proud of the chaos that she was currently partaking in. A woman like her had very personal goals, but at least she knew when to work with others. It was a nice moment.

Let’s keep moving forward until we can all smile.

***

Nicole was running for many reasons. One was to work with the extremely naive Corithian, and the other was for the simple fact that it would probably give her a greater level of trust in her journey to Mylia. Whether she enjoyed the company or not, numbers never hurt in this adventure away from the group. Having people to support her in her journey to Mylia and then back to Pluma would definitely help her, and she did see that giving a few of them a chance at a new life could easily create opportunities for future favors. Being able to call on a few mages who believed they are indebted to you with their life was not something she could refuse. The women around her were the ones who would most likely sympathize with her cause, as her work had softened them up to her as a person. Many recognized her nature as a schemer, but she was an affable schemer when need be.

The dash towards the armory, in her humble opinion, was a rather imbecilic plan. However, it had worked due to those around the Corithian compensating for his lack of forethought. Nicole had never seen the battlefield, nor did she ever desire to, but eve she understood basic battle strategy.

I will enjoy surviving this.

Nicole was not a woman who feared death. She feared being left behind. Society was there for her to keep up with, and in order to have purpose, she needed to be on top of it at all times. She understood what people wanted, and by giving it to them she could always have a chance to claim a higher position. Even with her constant vying for control in the chaos that was Plumite politics, she was not one who was considered a liar. It was true that she could lie and was very willing to, but she didn’t find as much usage in it. Information would be given to those when necessary, but distorting it would only create further problems in the future. Trust was necessary to maintain a favor, after all.

In this way, she saw North as just another person to trade favors with, although he was unlike many others. He was not the type of person to successfully navigate the nuance of politics and warfare, yet he seemed to be truly committed to fulfilling the role that he had been bestowed with. He had made alliances with powerful people, whether he had realized it or not. She knew who Elm Grayson was, but she didn’t know how North viewed him. He may have learned of his past already or would learn of his past in the near future, but she doubted his viewpoint would change. His rather simple morals would eventually come in conflict with the rather nuanced nature of Arlin sometime in the future, but that would be during a time when Nicole had already left the group.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

For now, as she ran from the bunks towards the armory of the camp, North was simply a person to trade favors with. She gave him allies, and he would give her freedom.

To Nicole Garcia Pluma Allena, everything was business.

***

Two daughters of Corith sat together in the bunks, unable to leave. Sera couldn’t participate in the run to the armory due to her injury, which North had expressed a desire to heal through his newly acquired attunement, and Karla because she was only a child. They heard the battle outside and were worried that the threat would reach them, but they were adamant on staying together no matter what.

Sera didn’t know Karla’s story yet. She was reluctant to share much of it, and didn’t really have the time due to her need to adjust to the camps. All that Sera knew is that she was discovered in the capital during a raid, and had been dragged away from her home. The raids were something which she had already understood as another sin of the empire and something which had always caused her frustration. It was a sign that the empire didn’t care whether it was during warfare or not, they always would need more magically attuned people to keep their mining operations going. It was an action indicative of greed.

The one positive that Karla had, albeit somewhat bleak, was that she still likely had a home to return to. Marlisle was no longer a place, and there were no survivors other than herself and North. He was the only family she had left even though they weren’t even related. Memories, not blood, is what tied them together. She was slightly older than him, so she often saw him as a younger brother who needed help finding a clear direction. Now, he was leading a revolt for her sake because he refused to lose her. He had always struggled to act mature and was generally not the most sociable to others, but he had hung onto that bit of hope that he could change his own life. Now, he was trying to save so many others. It was enough to make her proud, even if his methodology was a bit illogical at times.

The amount of magore fire and the sounds of what appeared to be slurred yells told Sera that her mission poisoning the guards had been successful. While she had said to North that the idea of the magore poisoning came from her, Twig was the major source of it. Twig had become a similar mentor to what she imagined Elm to be for North, although she wasn’t able to teach her as much. Twig was a somewhat older lady who probably looked even older due to her constant exposure to magore. She was an odd woman, but cared deeply for the rest of the penal laborers. Her attitude reminded her a lot of one of the village elders her father worked with, Anna. That specific Elder always seemed to have an odd relationship with her father, a love-hate relationship that seemed to often be on the verge of sexual tension, which made her own mother very uncomfortable. Anna could be extremely blunt and often extreme in her methods of policy, but they were done from a logical standpoint and with the safety of others in mind. She had often internally antagonized the woman when she was young for her policies towards children, but she had come to respect the woman in hindsight.

As she sat there, holding tightly onto Karla between her arms, a stray beam of mana pierced through the walls of the bunk and charred a spot on the floor only a small distance away from them. Karla screamed in reaction, and Sera immediately cupped her hand over the girl’s mouth to try and silence her. If the guards realized they were in there, there was good chance they were both dead. No matter what, she was still a child and she was going to be scared by the sudden violence.

Please get this over with quickly.

As if to make her fears come true, she heard the door to the bunks open. She instinctively tried to hide in the corner, in the darkest part of the bunks. The guard groggily walked in, their balance messed up by the mana poisoning. They held the burner in hand, ready to fire at any moment. Karla sat completely still in Sera’s lap, but she started to lean on Sera’s broken leg. She had to hold herself back from expressing the pain, and Karla almost immediately noticed her mistake.

The guard spotted them and raised his burner, only to suddenly stop. His head seemed to cock to the side as he started to fall over. When he hit the floor, she could spot one of the penal laborers standing proudly over the body, holding what appeared to be a kitchen knife in her hand.

“Sera, you in here?”

“Yeah. You and the rest of the girls good?”

“Yup. We’re having a grand old time. Sorry you can’t join in on the fun.”

“It’s fine. You get your revenge while I watch over Karla.”

“Sure thing. Oh yeah, catch!”

The penal laborer picked up the burner from the ground and threw it to Sera, which she fumbled around with in her hands. She hadn’t used one before but had seen it used enough to the point where she had a good idea on how.

Karla was still slightly shaking in her arms, so Sera gave her a small pat on the head.

“Everything is going to be okay. Don’t worry. If there’s anyone who can pull this off, it’s our fellow Corithian idiot.”