We had waited a long time, especially considering how hungry I was. As I was starting to be reminded of other needs and was about to ask where I could find a chamberpot, one of the double doors opened.
A man stuck this head through the gap, and narrow-set eyes stared at me from under a mop of blond curls, set in what I guessed was an intentional style even though it looked more messy than anything else.
"Enter." The voice was a bit nasal, and the word short and clipped. I was about to find out how deep into the manure I had fallen.
The room we entered was not as grand as I had thought it would be inside the Chatheza. A very fat man sat at my right, on the far end of a rectangular room. There was a sparse amount of furniture. A desk and a chair for the fat man, a carpet on the floor and some Mage-Lights. There was also another four Guards, two near the man, standing behind his chair to either side, and two next to the door on the opposite wall from where I had been made to enter.
I blinked in surprise, there was another man as well. One I had not noticed at first, which seemed more than a bit strange as he stood next to the fat man's desk, in plain sight watching me with a strange expression.
"Cell 12?" The fat man asked of my Guards, cutting my study of the room short.
"Yes, Sir!" The man answered promptly and with more than a bit of deference.
"Destruction of property and disturbing the peace. Twelve gold fine!" The fat man did not even look at me, but there was something in his expression that sent shivers down my back. He shuffled the papers on his desk and made a note.
"Collar her and send her to the pen."
I gasped in shock, was that it? No defense? No asking if I could make the payment? Which I could not, but this was not justice, was it? I had no recollection of destroying anything, but it was not impossible considering my state during the Infusion Sickness. But should there not at least be a witness of my escapades present? Or was that what the strange man was here for? I was not sure what I had been expecting though, fair treatment and justice like in mother's books was a fairytale.
With that in mind I decided to fight, I raised my manacled hands and froze. I had no Mana, wore shackles and was a small woman in the room with eight rather large men. Fighting would only give me bruises or worse. They would not kill me, that would mean a loss of coin after all. The city would get whatever my price ended up being at the market, so they would want me alive.
My thoughts were cut short as something cold locked around my neck. I looked up in surprise at the Guard who held the collar, and met uncaring eyes.
The world started to slip away, I got vague images of doors and hallways, open air, more hallways and rooms and an increasing stench of something foul.
**
I came to with a gasp which I immediately regretted, wherever I was stank horribly. The shock of the smell was followed shortly by the reminder of the fact that I had still not eaten, and hunger gnawed at my guts. As bile rose in my throat I wished I had not thought of eating, wherever I was made me feel that eating was not something I wanted on the agenda.
My mouth felt sticky and strange and I had to repeatedly rub my eyes to see properly. I looked around the room and took in yet another cell. This one was far larger than my previous one and it was full of people. Dozens sat slumped and immobile. It took me a moment to get it, but my disgust heightened even further as I understood where the smell came from; all of them were sitting in their own feces. Most of them still dressed, but all just sat there in their own filth. I closed my eyes for a moment in silent hope before taking in my own state.
Having finished dry-heaving, which seemed to have become a recent habit of mine, I felt my neck for the slave collar. Finding nothing raised the question of how come I had been sitting here, obviously as catatonic as everyone else. Up until; what? What had changed.
"Status"
Ewynne
Age: 18
Level: 3
Experience: 11/300
Race: Half-blood
Class: Enchantress
Strength: 6
Dexterity: 14
Agility: 12
Constitution: 8
Endurance: 8
Intelligence: 20
Wisdom: 12
Willpower: 15
Perfection: 14
Charisma: 12
Health: 34/80
Mana: 42/470 (12/minute)
Stamina: 28/80 (16/minute)
Unallocated Attributes: 0
My Health and stamina had kept going down. That was something that did not give me a warm and fuzzy feeling. My lack of Mana seemed to indicate I had still been suffering from Mana drain until recently. With the low amount I had currently, the point at which I started to regain Mana should have been just a short while ago. At that time it seemed like everyone around me should have been a catatonic slave. So what had happened?
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All this was moot though, I should be getting out of here, get clean and get new clothes and something to eat. Not necessarily in that order, but it was the most realistic one. It seemed like any attempt at a stealthy escape would be hampered by my fragrance o de excreta. Though how carefully a place like this would be guarded was up for debate, considering even the Guard seemed to be involved, and the slaves were not likely to even attempt an escape.
As opposed to my previous abode, here the ground was littered with stones, unmentionables and pieces of torn clothing. As I found a tiny finger bone it sunk in that even parts of the dead littered the cell.
I had never thought particularly well of the powerful people in Logate, but having seen this place, I did not see how I could think any less of them. At least Syvon was easy to understand. It was all about coin and control. This, was just slowly killing people for no discernible reason.
I looked at a man not too far from me, his face was so pale that I first thought him dead, but the minuscule movements of his chest showed that he still clung to life. His frame was beyond skeletal, his face so emaciated that it looked more like a skull than anything else. I did not know you could still live while being that thin, what was the point of this? Why did not the slaves get sent to the market, to get whatever coin the city could?
I prayed to whatever gods would listen that the slaves here were as unaware as I had been until recently, or this horror would be even worse than it seemed.
I clutched the small finger bone in my hand, what had a child done to deserve this fate? What crime would fit this punishment?
**
I crawled around picking up stones and some small pieces of metal while dodging things I did not even want to think about. All the while fighting off morbid thoughts, until I finally sat down against the back wall to enchant. Though it took me quite some time to gather enough focus to be able.
The disgust at my surroundings along with my ever present hunger faded into the background, as I focused on my work and started to enchant my weapons. I decided to start with what I had practiced before and began with the stones, which I had a couple of dozen of.
I enchanted, rested and then enchanted some more, for an indeterminate amount of time until I had 21 enchanted stones like the ones from before. My failures amounted to twice as many as the successful enchants. While I was getting better, but my experience had also taken a hit.
You have created 21 Stone of Fire Burst!
Experience gained: 21
This made me think that by the point I could make an enchant with every attempt, it would give no experience. Which sadly made sense, there was nothing else left to learn from the mass production of something trivial.
Having rested to full Mana, it was time to start with the metal pieces. I had a bit of fear that they would turn out to work completely differently from the stones. But to my surprise it was easier than expected, or I just got lucky.
You have made a discovery!
You have discovered how to create a Iron Scrap of Fire Burst!
Experience gained: 55
I inspected the small strangely shaped piece of metal.
Iron Scrap of Fire Burst
Will explode with a burst of fire when hitting a target.
Damage: 14
Quality: Average
Making a direct comparison after a single enchant was not all that informative, but it seemed like metal was easier to work with and a bit more powerful than stone. So far though it had not seemed like shape, size or purity had an impact on the effect of my enchantments. If it did matter, then it was strange that all damage was uniform for the Stones of Fire Burst. Even the Mana it took to make them was not constant, indicating that Mana did not affect the strength either. Enchanting the scrap of metal had taken 41 Mana, which was on the high end of what enchanting a stone took. Could damage be decided by the type of material used? I had little knowledge of stone, but I did not think they would all be the same. In the end I had more questions than I started with and few answers.
I used up the last two iron scraps with no success and closed my eyes to regain my Mana before I tried to get out of this place.
I got shakily to my feet. My stamina and Health had dropped a few more points while I enchanted, at this rate I would soon be among the catatonic ones even without the collar. I pushed the melancholic exaggeration aside, I had not even dropped low enough to stabilize into starvation yet. While I would be more frail than preferable, I still had quite some time before I would sit down to die.
The cell was enclosed by stone walls on three sides, lit by two high hanging lanterns placed on the side walls, no doubt to make it possible to see everyone in the cell from the outside. The remaining side was covered in steel bars, with a door constructed in the same fashion. It was similar to my last cell, though of far less quality.
My first thought was to blow the door up, but my enchanted weapons were not likely to do much damage to it and were more likely to fuse the lock than blow it open if I focused my attentions there.
My failed enchantments so far had made materials disappear and change in a manner of ways. While some of them were uncomfortable, none had seemed all that dangerous. So I decided to try failing to enchant the door, and thus remove it. I put both hands on it and focused. I started out with the 41 Mana I had used for the scrap metal, trying to find a base for what was needed.
The sensation I got was reminiscent of a drop of water falling into a well. The echo of nothingness made me think that the amount of Mana provided was by far too insignificant to have any effect on an object this size. Curious.
I tried again, preparing the mental structure I had used for all my enchanting so far. I then poured 200 Mana into the metal while holding the spell construct with my mind inside the door. I followed the Mana flowing through the metal, until I felt it rebound, coming back towards the point of origin like a wave of thin threads. But it ended up fading just about halfway. The feel of what I was doing was far more vivid and with more feedback than I had ever gotten from the stones or scraps, the whole experience was fascinating. I rested a while before trying again with 300 Mana.
The same thing happened all the way up until the Mana wave was coming back and kept going until it touched the end of the spell structure I was holding in place. The whole thing thrummed for a moment and then the structure of Mana felt as if it solidified, into a crystalline structure of something I could not define within the metal.
You have made a discovery!
You have discovered how to create a Steel Door and Bars of Fire Burst!
Experience gained: 92
Congratulations! You have learned the Skill: Enchanting!
Enchanting, tier 1
You have begun to grasp the fundamentals of enchanting!
Skill: 1/5
Effect: You understand how to enchant new materials slightly faster.
I was not really impressed by the skill, and turned to inspect my new enchantment.
Steel Door and Bars of Fire Burst!
Will explode with a burst of fire when hitting a target.
Damage: 205
Quality: Good
I tried to wrap my head around the increased damage. Was it dependent on size? But all stones had not been uniform in size. Did the enchantment consume the material during the explosion to fuel the effect, thus making it a question of mass? And did I really just enchant the whole wall? I stood there in silent contemplation until the cramping of my stomach reminded me that I was trying to escape.
I stared at the now enchanted door and wall in horror. I had gotten so caught up in my work that I had forgotten what my plan had been, ending up completing the enchantment successfully rather than failing. Though my failures had not had any side effects, raising further questions.
I had read somewhere that it took intelligent people to be creatively stupid, I felt like there might be some truth to that.