While Quinus and the rest of the crew was preparing for their expedition to save Rya, there were four figures walking through the city of Ironside and stopping by a sewage grate on the street floor in a back alley of the red light district.
"Open it" Jeremiah commanded Rya as the slaver item glows in his hand.
Her body goes into autopilot and opens the gate with her magic.
*Crush!* Goes the metal sewage grate.
"Hahaha! She's going to be fun to use." Jeremiah says as he pats Rya on the back.
'God dammit Ryan! What the hell were you thinking! No wait! I wasn't thinking! What do I do!' Rya thinks to herself.
She stands in front of the sewer drain and starts to cry.
"Let's go. Sims is waiting to meet up outside the city walls." Dietrich commands as he walks past everyone and jumps down into the sewer.
"What are you waiting for? Follow him." Jeremiah commands.
Everyone follows Dietrich into the sewers of Ironside. It would be impossible for human eyes to see in the darkness of the tunnels if Dietrich didn't have a strange magical lantern that was on his hip that lit up the area around him.
"Damn this is cold. One would think the sewers would be warmer?" Devin grumbles as he continues to walk deeper into the sewers.
"You should only speak when you have something useful to say." Jeremiah snarls as he walks behind Devin.
Devin showed panic in his eyes as he turned around. "I'm sorry, I forgot myself."
'This Jeremiah guy seems to be an asshole.' Rya thinks to herself.
Jeremiah didn't care what Rya thought of him. He was more concerned about his mission and that was to regroup with the rest of the Black Roses.
***
After traveling through the sewer system for an hour they finally reached the outer wall of Ironside. There was a giant grate blocking anyone from getting in or out of the city.
"I see the grate." Dietrich said.
"Do you think she's strong enough to open it?" Devin asks as he looks at Rya.
The sewage grate looked like it was enchanted and reinforced with magic of some sort that kept the metal from rusting.
"Looks like a tough task but I think she might be able to open it." Dietrich replies.
"Only one way to find out. SLAVE! Open the grate!" Jeremiah commanded Rya.
"Y-Yes Mas-ter!" Rya said. She tries to fight her body from bowing her head. But in the end the slave collar was too much for her to resist.
She then starts to use her earth magic to destroy the stone surrounding the giant 25 foot grate.
*Crush! Crush! Crush!*
The Black Roses thought the sewage grate was just going to fall over but it was floating there.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
"Huh? What's she doin~" Devin halted his speech when he saw Rya morphing the metal grate into a 50 foot staircase and placed it on the edge of the wall.
'Please someone see this thing!' Rya thinks to herself hoping the city guards notice the staircase.
Dietrich, Jeremiah, and Devin all looked at the black elf and the strange magical floating stairs hovering by the edge of the sewer opening.
"Don't try anything stupid bitch." Dietrich warned.
"No sir, I won't. Just making sure no one gets hurt," Rya replied in a nervous tone as she continued to focus on keeping the staircase stable.
"She's good! I can't wait to take over this city and end that "Toothless Lion" life! If only he was a king, I would have added him to my collection!" Jeremiah said with excitement.
'Toothless Lion? Is he talking about Quinus!' Rya thinks to herself.
"We don't have the city yet. Let's get the hell out of here." Dietrich told Jeremiah.
"You're on my good side Dietrich. Don't make me change my mind." Jeremiah said with a wicked smile. "Let's go!"
With that they all descended the staircase. It was still the dead of night when they reached the ground floor outside the city walls. The streets in the distance were empty and there weren't any guards nearby.
"That's a lot of stairs!" Devin said surprised.
"Yeah, there's not that many mages that can do what she's done. She's pretty impressive," Dietrich said.
"I'm impressed that she didn't collapse from exhaustion at the top." Jeremiah chuckled.
***
The group started walking towards a hill in the distance. They had their eyes set on finding Sims. They needed to find him so they could get him out of the city limits before anyone noticed them.
"Where the fuck is Sims? Why is he such a dick?" Devin asked himself, annoyed.
"He will show up. He's just hiding. That's what he's best at." Dietrich explained.
"Haah... He better have the horses ready." Devin sighed.
"Calm yourself, Devin. We shouldn't be too far from his location. Don't worry." Dietrich said comfortingly.
They kept walking until they reached a path leading down to a small river.
"That's where we'll meet him. Go and tell Sims to meet us here by the trees." Dietrich ordered.
"Yes sir!" Devin saluted and ran off.
Dietrich and Jeremiah climbed down the steep cliff.
"Come!" Jeremiah ordered Rya to follow.
'There has to be some kind of loop hole with this slave collar? If only I come grab that item in Jeremiah's hand,' Rya thought as she followed the two down the cliff.
After reaching the bottom she saw several trees surrounding a small clearing.
"Go ahead!" Jeremiah told Rya. She walked closer to the tree line and stopped in front of a large oak.
After a few minutes Sims and Devin suddenly appeared and came riding up with four horses.
"This way!" Devin yelled.
"So, this is the dark elf you were talking about, Dietrich? Oh she's a looker!" Sims said excitedly.
"She is not for fucking. This one is more important than the others." Jeremiah said with a stern face.
"But she's hot! You know I'd be quick." Sims said smiling.
Rya started panicking. She was horrified that she would be used as a sex slave. 'No! I don't want to become an object.' She thought. But she knew that she was going to be sold off to whoever bought her if she doesn’t find a way out of this quickly.
"SLAVE! If anyone touches you sexually you have permission to harm them." Jeremiah said coldly.
‘Huh? I can protect myself? I’ll take it.’ Rya felt a little relief.
Sims looked annoyed, "Fuck! You're no fun Kings Slayer."
In a blink of an eye Jeremiah threw a dagger at Sims in who looked to be startled. Just as the dagger was about to strike Sims his body vanished like it was an illusion.
'What the fuck? How did he do that?' Rya thought.
Jeremiah turned back to the tree line and saw Sims walk out from behind one of them.
"Fine. FINE! I won't touch her unless you want me to." Sims said angrily.
"One of these days I will kill you and your illusions, Sims. The day Rudolf finds you useless is the day you die." Jeremiah said menacingly.
"Haha! Oh don't worry about me, Kings Slayer. I'll make sure no new member will have my set of skills," Sims replied with a shit eating smile.
"I think we should leave now." Dietrich said.
"Agreed." Jeremiah agreed.
They mounted their horses and headed towards the forest.
'Fuck! Are all the Black Roses psychopaths!' Rya thought nervously.