General Tiberius Kingley’s horse shifts underfoot as the men lead keep the slaves quiet. General Tiberius grinds his teeth at having to personally move the slaves but there is no other choice. There is no one the Queen dared trust with the task other than himself.

            After that woman implanted new additions to the military, the security border was tightened and impossible to pass through. With the aid of night goggles and the new wyverns flying patrols, this would be the last cargo. 

            Thankfully a no few men still owed General Tiberius and with some persuasion the border would be open only for tonight.

            Some of the slave children in the wagons whimper and are immediately hit and silenced. General Tiberius nods in approval as his horse snorts at the sound of the whip. General Tiberius frowns and muses to himself, to be rid of the horse. A horse that flinches at violence is of zero use.

            The silver moon continues to rise as the night grows darker. Finally, the sound of leaves rustling is heard as they halt before the forest line that marks the border of the Kingdom of Ivy.  The silence grows as does his easy. Did they change their minds about the slaves? Or a trap?

            The sound of soft feet among the leaves is heard as a cavern emerges from the shadows to reveal at the head, a beautiful young with flowing peach colored hair, glowing crimson eyes and juicy pink lips riding a horse as dark as midnight. Her hair though loose is held together by a lacy head band. She wears a black knee high dress customary of unwed girls in Ivy to wear until married accompanied by red slippers with red strap ties around the ankle.

            The young woman comes to a halt and slowly rakes her eyes over them either in lust or something more sinister. After a moment or so, she warmly says, “Is this all? I thought we paid for 50 children and 100 untouched youths. From the looks of it, there are only 50 youths and 30 children?”

            The last of her words carry a hint of threat as General Tiberius stiffly replies, “No, the contract stated this would be the final transport. Take it or leave it.”

            “My, my, how the mighty have fallen.” The young woman snickered as the men behind her rustle with silent laugher.

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            General Tiberius grinds his teeth as he coldly spits out, “The transaction is complete. Take your cargo and leave.”

            The young woman pouts at failing to get the desired rise as she turns her horse around. “Take care to not damage the cargo,” she sternly said as she rode away into the darkness of the forest, vanishing like a soundless phantom.

            The men hand over the cargo as the shadowy men remain in eerie silence. The youth and children of fear soon vanish into the forest as General Tiberius turns his back on them. After all they are merely peasants, ordinary people of the kingdom, who no one will miss.

            Sufficiently far away General Tiberius takes his flail and attacks his men on foot. The men scream and try to flee, but with ease he catches them on horseback. Soon the men are dead for dead men tale no tales.

            Ordinarily there would have been no such need, but that woman managed to seduce the council as well. A new force was to be implemented called the Investigation Unit. The entire purpose of the unit was to find evidence and bring criminals to justice.

            Any form of slavery is a crime punishable by death. And all it took was one loose mouth to be at the executioners’ blade. Even his Queen would be unable to save him.

            General Tiberius rides back when a familiar sound is heard as his horse pricks it’s ears. The horse snorts to the side as an arrow whistles past them. General Tiberius ducks low, leaning against the mane of his horse and whips the horse forward.

            The horse neighs as it gallops at full speed. A barrage of arrows fall from the sky as the horse’s flank is pierced through. The horse lets out a shriek of pain as it stumbles forward, throwing General Tiberius to the ground.

            General Tiberius lays stunned on the ground before scrambling to his feet and darting through the forest. The sound of pursuit grow faint as he sneers at the attempt to pursue him. He was General Tiberius and he would not be caught so easily.

            General Tiberius clears the forest with ease and rushes out into the clearing. Suddenly the dark of the night is filled with glowing mage lights as an entire army squadron stood before him. Impossible, they shouldn’t be here. Only the Queen-, General Tiberius eyes widen in realization of the betrayal.

            The troop leader lowers their hand in signal as a rain of arrows fall towards General Tiberius. Still stunned General Tiberius watches as the arrows pierce through him with the ease of a doll. Gasping and still unable to comprehend, General Tiberius eyes grow dull as the soldier’s march forward to dispose of his corpse.