"So you're being used?" Blake said.

The kid nodded.

"I don't want to believe you. I don't trust little kids. Ran into too many spoiled brats as a waiter. How old are you?"

"T-twelve..."

"Why are you doing this?"

The boy pulled his scarf down and pointed at his neck. There was a very small mark in the middle of it, but it shimmered with a strange magic.

Blake tilted his head. "You're a slave?"

The boy tilted his head. He was confused.

"Think it through, boy. I know you know the word 'slave', you speak English just like I do."

After a moment of thought, the boy nodded, uncertainly.

Blake looked back at the inn. This was bad.

Right on cue, the rest of the gamblers came around the pub on both sides, trapping them between the pub and the fence.

"Alright, you've heard enough. Give us our little genius back and you won't get hurt. We'll even give you your money back and let you go. How's it sound?" the leader-looking gambler said.

"Oh hell no." Blake drew his sword. "The thug life is over. You're giving me my money back and freeing this poor kid."

"Kid, shmid. The way this looks to us, you gambled your money away and tried to steal our Companion. Eat dirt and die, asshole!"

The leader jumped forward and swung at Blake's head with a spiked, weighted pole. They had the numbers, he thought, ganging up on him should be easy.

Blake deflected it and kneed him in the chest. Immediate knockout. The rest of them charged all at once right afterwards, and immediately got knocked away.

One of the thugs screamed. "Buh! What the fuck! Why the hell is this dude so strong!"

They all jumped at him again, desperate. They weren't going to lose here and give up the best money-making they've had in years.

Slash, kick, stab. It was a massacre.

The leader crawled up behind Blake and went for Riley. Maybe he could take her hostage and get his crew out of this mess.

She kneed him in the face and then kicked him in the chest, sending him flying into the fence, smashing through it.

After everyone was down and the dust had settled, only the Blake, Riley, and the kid were left standing.

"What's your name, kid?"

"N-Nash..."

"Nash, huh. Well, you should be free now."

"No, I'm still contracted... You can't remove this... It's why I'm..."

"Don't care, you can go to Queensland or something."

Nash's face lit up in surprise. Ever since his parents died, his life had been too terrible to consider ending up in Queensland. He couldn't even have imagined evading his captors for long enough to get there, let alone being brought there. After all, he had tried, once, in the past. Tried and failed.

A shadowy figure slid through a hole in the fence, grappling Nash from behind and putting a knife to his throat.

It was the leader.

"You guys back away now, or the kid dies," the leader said.

"You're still here? I thought you ran away," Blake said.

"Tch. You lot are a pain in the ass."

"Uh huh."

Blake dropped his sword. Riley hid behind him.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"Good, just like that. Don't move a muscle," the leader said, slowly backing up towards the road.

"Playing dirty isn't nice," Blake said.

"I'll play dirty all I want!"

The leader made it to the street and started trying to run, putting his knife away. But it was awkward, trying to pull Nash along at the same time.

"Stop struggling, damn it! Run with me!"

The boy did as he was ordered. He didn't have a choice—he was compelled to.

Down one street and then the next, then into an alleyway. It sounded like he got away. It was time to stop and take a breather.

"I'm gonna have to skip town now, damn it...! Ugh, all this for a stupid dog-whisperer!"

He put his hands on his knees and panted. He was way out of shape.

Footsteps. Running. He turned to face them. The next thing he knew, there was a sword through his chest.

"I'll say it again. Don't fuck with people's lives," Blake said, pulling his sword out.

Plop. Dead on the ground.

"That's what you get for crossing The Pack!" Riley said.

"Okay that was just corny," Blake said.

Blake put his sword away and turned to face Nash.

"Now you're safe. For real this time."

Nash nodded, still freaking out.

"Don't worry, I only kill monsters," Blake said.

Riley laughed.

"We're going to have to leave town. We don't want to attract too much attention. This girl here"—he pats Riley's head—"is technically an escaped slave. Kind of. Sort of."

"Wait! Take me with you!" Nash said.

"What? Why?"

"You killed my owner. And it was legal. That makes you my owner. Look!"

Nash invoked his own slave contract.

OWNER: BLAKE JACKSON

"Oh, come on, another?"

Silence.

"And why the actual fuck do these contracts work this way?"

More silence.

"Fuck it. We'll figure it out on the road. We're going to Queensland anyway. Come with us."

They left. Blake was sure the guards would ask bystanders what happened and get a good picture of it. It would be easy to close the case as 'someone walked in and killed those thugs we've been having so much trouble with', and there was no need to stick around over the dead bodies to explain it.

----------------------------------------

It was camping time.

"Listen up. I'm not a fan of slavery. I'll get you to Queensland as soon as I can. Until then, uh... Did those guys have friends?"

"They did."

"Did those friends know these guys owned you?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think they're gonna hunt you down once they they realize these guys are dead?"

"I think so... They did the last time I escaped. I only lasted a little while before they got me."

"So, if they're well-connected, and I just erase this contract right away, and then they chase us down and nab you in the middle of the night, you're fucked. Because they'll just reenslave you."

"I guess..."

"Okay, so this is basically the same problem as Riley. What a mess." He paused. "I know this sounds bad, but hear me out. Until I get you to Queensland, you're still going to have this slavery magic stuff on you, but you're going free. It's, uh, bad. I know. I get it. This is a really fucked up situation. I'll let you go right away if you want me to. But I think this is safer for now, if they're really after you."

Nash opened his mouth to speak, but faltered. He wasn't sure what to say. It was a mixed feelings kind of thing.

Blake smirked.

"Don't worry, I've got a trump card. Rewrite."

He did the same contract trickery to Nash that he'd done to Riley. A weird feeling struck the back of his awareness when he did so, like he'd just opened up some sort of sixth sense, but it was too faint for him to notice or be distracted by, so he ignored it.

"Seriously? You can do that? That's amazing! I wish I was that good at cheating!"

"Don't call it cheating! It's just semantics!"

They laughed.

Riley gnawed on some meat behind them.

"I guess with Nash we can't really take it slow anymore," she said.

Blake still felt bad about this. It wasn't right. Here he was, maybe one of the most anti-slavery people in this fantasy world, with two underage slaves to his name. Wait, no, Riley wasn't underage, she just looked it. Okay, double no, maybe that made it worse.

"Back where I'm from, we got rid of slavery a long time ago. A lot of people died in the process, but we did the right thing. Even if half of my friends were racist assholes where I grew up."

"Do you feel responsible?" Riley said.

"No! Of course not. I'm just thinking back on it. Well, people tried to keep it going. Prison labor! So fucked up. Maybe I wouldn't be on the right side of this if it was all settled and I grew up in a perfect world. Maybe I would've ended up like how most people here seem to be. Man, this crap is way too hard to think about. It's not my place to talk about this. Anything I say is bullshit."

Nash spoke up again, despite the tense topic.

"Why was it such a big deal? Sure, this is all wrong, but..."

"I can't answer any difficult questions. I'm not qualified. Well, I guess, uh, the magical contract binding stuff you guys have going on makes things different here, but I'm not sure how."

"You mean Dominion? Slaves over there didn't have that?"

"Nope. Just a paper record."

"That..."

"Easier to escape, but easier to get cheated into slavery, I guess, maybe. Just needed some guy that people trust to lie on paper, or rope you into a scam. No magic required at all, zero skill."

Nash gulped.

The conversation ended on a very long awkward silence, after which they retired to sleep.

That night they slept in tents. Nash was hard to put to bed. He wasn't used to sleeping in the great outdoors, and even when Blake thought he finally fell asleep, he would get up and walk around outside, staring up at the moon.

Blake decided to try to figure out what was going on.

"What's wrong? Can't sleep on the ground?"

Nash didn't respond.

"Miss the city?"

"No. I just..."

"Oh. Right. How long were you a slave? I guess this is a big change for you."

"I have these... bad dreams when I'm out here. That's all."

"Huh. Maybe it's kind of scary out here for a kid your age."

"Maybe..."

"Think you'd do better to sleep in the carriage? I can box it in with the tents if it makes you feel better, so it can't roll away without us noticing."

"Yeah. I can go with that."