I already know the beastmen are going to want to repay the debt of being saved, but I certainly don't want an army of beastmen following me around. I somehow need to shift that debt to the rebellion, with nine thousand beastmen serving her Mercy should be able to retake the country. Or at least everything but the capital, even the shadow demons might not be a match for the beastmen though.

"Humans, move over there and sit down! Beastmen, rise!"

As the beastmen stand up and the humans move away from them I hear someone complaining. When I look over I find a fat slave complaining to Justin, demanding he do something about me. Without saying a word I walk over grab the slave by the neck and drag him over to the other humans.

Justin and Giles say "Calm down, Ash!"

"You! Tell me, how is it that this slave is so fat?"

Slave says "He worked for the guards and bullied other slaves into giving him their food. He was an important person or something before he came here."

With a twitch of my wrist I snap the fat slave's neck and still only using one arm throw him a hundred yards or so to the corpse pile. Justin and Giles are just staring at me open mouthed, the other human slaves however look really happy.

"Were there any others who collaborated with the guards?"

Slave says "No, sir."

"Okay, good. Justin, where are the girls?"

Justin says "We found the commander's quarters but he fled through a secret tunnel, Koko went after him. Rachel and Emmy are in the other slave barracks trying to help the women there. They were pretty bad off, Rachel isn't sure she can help them."

"Okay, see what you two can find in the way of foodstuffs, maybe ask the slaves. I want everyone here to eat a good meal for once."

Justin says "Yes, sir. Right away!"

'Drog? Can you hear me?'

Drog 'Yes, master! I am with Zamart, he says everything is ready.'

'Good, where I am standing now is good enough if he can lock onto me. Also ask him if the portal will be two-way, if so tell Leyla we have wounded and could use her help.'

I get no response from Drog, but a minute later a vortex of energy appears a few feet in front of me. It takes a few minutes before it solidifies and looks like a large oval of colored glass. Seconds after it solidifies it ripples and Drog walks through, Zamart and Leyla follow him closely.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

Drog says "Hello, master!"

Zamart says "Greetings, Lord Ash."

"Hello, Zamart. Thank you for all your work."

Zamart says "No need to thank me, it is all for the princess."

"Well, since this was all my doing, thank you anyway. Is it hard to maintain? Do we have a time limit?"

Zamart says "No, no time limit, it is easy to maintain."

"Alright, excellent. Is it possible to enlarge it so wagons can fit through?"

Zamart says "For a period of time yes, why?"

"Well, this is the kingdom's biggest mine, there should be ore stored around here somewhere."

Zamart says "Ah, good point. While we can't use raw ore directly, if we take it to Illium it can aid our supply of arms and armor."

"Either way, I don't plan to leave anything here that could be of use to the king."

Zamart says "Fair enough! We have people standing by on the other side to receive the freed slaves, but we should keep it to groups of five hundred at most at a time."

Leyla says "Where are the injured? I will get started."

"Leyla, you are needed in that building. Giles escort her. Justin, let's send the five hundred humans who are the worst off first."

Giles leads Leyla away as Justin and Zamart head over to the humans to select the first group. I walk over to the beastmen who are still standing watching me.

"First off, the humans will be leaving first because I don't want to listen to their whining. Now that being said if any of you are injured or sick let me know, I have a priestess who can heal you. Now I want a spokesman, someone who has been here a long time and knows this mine well."

The beastmen talk for a few minutes before one steps forward. He is a wolf, he has gray patchy hair, and he is obviously old. The beastmen of all types seem to respect him, even though they normally only respect strength.

Pol says "I am Pol, I have been here over ten years and I know everything about this place."

"Alright, Pol, first of all any sick or injured should move over to that building for healing. Second, we need to get everyone fed and rested."

Pol says "I will take care of it."

Pol walks away and quickly gets the beastmen organized and moving, it's fairly impressive how fast he takes control. Seeing Rachel come out of the building I head over to talk to her. Seeing me she turns to head towards me.

Rachel says "Leyla is amazing! I have decided, when we have time, I would like to meet the goddesses."

"Alright, that shouldn't be a problem. Can you help those beastmen until Leyla is done inside?"

Rachel says "Sure thing!"

With that taken care of I go back to find Pol, as I pass I see several big pots have been brought out. Justin seems to have found enough helpers, everyone should be able to eat soon. After a good meal and plenty of rest there should be enough healthy beastmen for me to put to work.

"Pol, I have some questions for you."

Pol says "I will be happy to answer, if I know the answer."

"First off, do you know where they stored the raw ore?"

Pol says "Yes, the easternmost mine played out, afterwards they widened it and used it for storage."

"So there is no processing done here?"

Pol says "No, the raw ore was transported by wagon to the capital and processed there."

"So there should be wagons here?"

Pol says "Yes, also stored in the eastern mine."

"Okay, I will take a look tomorrow. Whatever is there, we will be taking back with us to the rebellion."

Pol says "Are we to join the rebellion?"

"Those who are willing to can, but I won't force anyone to fight."