Chapter X, Chained
#11 of Tale's of the wanderer's
Chapter X, Chained
Marcus felt them stare at him... he could feel what he could only describe as 'Beastfolk' stare at them as they passed.
But who could not stare at the sight; A Mysterious traveler clocked from head too toe, and a fox... their interest was almost exclusively drawn to Ayden.
A fox was an incredible rarity in the civilized world; only a few isolated tribes of desert foxes existed in the continent of Var the nearest was located in the Burnt Gulf, and that was close to one hundred miles from here... But this... this was a Fire fur.
A fire Fur was supposedly one of the three rare foxes; the first the Snow fur, found only in the cold wastes. Second the black fox, a rare birth amid any fox. And third the Fire fur, named for it radiant fire red fur, only a few clans are known to exist.
It is said that in the auction houses of Krince, they are brought out shackled in gold awaiting purchase by the wealthiest of nobles and merchants, that in the Harems of Zikh a fox let alone Fire fur is a crown jewel, there are even rumors that the Prince of Aster put a single one into the dowry of his daughter to ensure the marriage from the emperor of Kuran.
So it should come as little shock that a creature worth twice its weight in gold would attract attention. Ayden was Blissfully unaware of his luck that his captors and slave traders were woefully ignorant of how much he was worth as a slave.
Unfortunately the other furs were not. While most were farmers and small trader, they had all heard rumors about the rare Fire furs, the more well read merchant were shocked to see one walking free.
"Aden [we] should move Faster," Marcus Said as he felt the eyes follow them, he clutched the cloak he had traded to Ayden for his Jacket.
"[If] [we] run it will look suspicious," he whispered to his comrade.
The furs watched them carefully, someone who was completely concealed in a clearly undersized cloak and a rare fire fur.
Ayden & Marcus had been traveling for a week, until the finally reached a small homestead, but they had run into a problem, two actually... first Marcus had thought he ran into a demon the first time he saw Marcus so how would a old farmer react, second Ayden was branded as a slave meaning he could be claimed by anyone who caught him.
The solution Marcus waited in the hills for Ayden, and Ayden wore his coat while he traded with the Farmer.
After an hour he came back with two weeks of supplies and a cloak in exchange for what little he had left from the slaver and Marcus's class ring he had in the coat pocket and some gum he found in the human pants.
So they had changed their appearance from a runaway slave and a hideous monster to a disfigured man and a fox dressed in outlandish clothing...
- + + +
Ramhoto angrily drank his wine... A fox... a Fire Fur none the less gone! As well as a full shipment of slaves just disappeared in the middle of the night!
After he had 'disciplined' the guard who fell asleep on duty he discovered how they got out... a defective chain had allowed all of them to disappear.
The Crocodiles anger had only grown when he got back to the Garrison and did not receive full reimbursement.
"A Fire Fur... A live healthy Fire Fur... GONE!" The Crocodile angrily hissed as he took a deep swig of the wine.
He could have brought it the Pharaoh of Cudea and bought himself a Title, or he could have gone to the temple cities of Kura and traded for tons of ivory, at the vary least he could have gone to Sharkport and trade it for a thousand slaves! But no, a small chain defect lost him a treasure worth all the slaves he bought and sold over his lifetime.
He cast a burning gaze at the guard now missing an eye, the boar shrank back from his wrathful master.
Two desert wolves entered the canteen "Did you see that fox earlier?" the other turned his head "Yes, I've never seen such red fur,"
Ramhoto's gaze became vacant; he gradually turned his head to the conversing wolves "Excuse me, what did you say?"
The taller turned too him "A fox, it had red fur... I've never seen such a thing in my whole life,"
The Crocodile threw a bag filled with silvers on the counter without even thinking and dashed out of the canteen, his guards struggled too keep up with their master...
- + + +
Marcus was thankful to be on the outskirts of the village. It was uncomfortable hot in the cloak. Ayden was having just as much difficult in Marcus jacket and slacks, he could not fathom how these creatures could stand something as restrictive as these 'pants' he would have preferred a kilt or loincloth at the vary least.
It had been three weeks since they left the cave, and they had almost completely broken down each other's accents. Ayden now did not feel as afraid of the 'Humon' and Marcus felt Ayden was less of a monster.
Ayden had learned that Marcus was lost on his way to a settlement Named 'Bangor' and became injured. He had a hard time believing the other things the human had told him; like the flying machine he described, one might as well assert that the living will one day walk upon the moon, or hear another's voice from miles away. However he enjoyed the Humans outrageous tales of carriages that moved without horses or of a mysterious alchemy called Electricity
Marcus now new that the fox-man had been taken from his homeland, and sold into slavery. He did not learn much about this world though, Ayden was until captured a vary sheltered fox. The human was beginning to enjoy the foxes companies vary much, and he found the foxes inquisitive nature cute.
"Aden, [where] [are] [we] going?" Marcus asked.
When he ventured into the village he learned the best place for travel was a city called Sharkport.
"West," the fox said.
"Hurry you fools! If the Fire Fur gets away a second time I'll sell you in its place!" the Crocodile huffed as he sprinted to the place he had been pointed, he would not let this stroke of luck go to waste.
"Aden, [what] was [it] you were asking me this morning?"
"You were [telling me] about the realm you lived in,"
"It was called Maine, [lovely] trees there..."
The crocodiles lungs felt like they were going to burst, he did not think he could make it much further, suddenly he felt a second wind... he saw the fox walk with his hooded companion, he shrieked something at the pudgy guards.
"What is a 'Democrat'?"
"They were a [party] that was in [control] of the realm, my father hated them, something about being [socialist] [union] [basterds],"
"What is a 'Socialist'?"
The Crocodile and his lackeys were outside of the village by now, only fifty yards from his prize...
"So if that is [true] why do you not have a [chieftain]?"
"My [culture] has no [nobility]"
"Then who [rules]?"
The crocodile made a mighty leap, or as mighty as his corpulent body could leap...
"Th...!" Ayden was knocked to the ground under something heavy; the last thing he saw as he was knocked out was a fat hand slamming his companion's head into the ground...
Ramhoto huffed in exhaustion he had run halfway across town but he was rewarded for his break from his normal laziness, he smiled as he looked down at the fox. He carefully checked over the unconscious prize to make sure he did not hurt or injure the creature.
"Eh, what about the other one?" his other guard said as he pointed to the cloaked figure. Ramhoto stood up; if this cloaked man thought he could claim the Fire fur he was sadly mistaken.
Paranoia quickly turned to greed "Perhaps it is another one of my runaway cargo, lift the cloak,"
The two-eyed boar leaned over and peaked under the hood, his smirk turned in a flash from cockiness to horror and he gasped as he shrank back from the cloaked man.
"What?! What is it?" Ramhoto asked
"I-I don't know?! It's some sort of monster!" the boar said as he backed away.
The crocodile slowly crept over the man and lifted its hood before recoiling in disgust. It must have been some sort of devil.
The guard had regained its nerve and drew its saber ready to banish the foul beast back to hell, before Ramhoto stopped him. Fear had once again turned to greed, he could sell such a repulsive beast for quit a profit...
- + + +
Marcus groggily opened his eyes. His vision was blurred. He felt like someone hit him in the back of the neck with a hammer.
"...Ayden?"
His vision slowly began to improve; it was then that he noticed he had been placed into a small area during his sleep, a few small slates in it allowed light in. he attempted to move but quickly discovered he had been bound vary tightly in chains.
Outside his crate Ramhoto was hissing at his lackeys "Make sure it's tightly secured, I don't want it coming out anytime soon,"
The slaver was not a religious man, and certainly not a moral man. But the hideous face of the crates inhabitant brought back memories of his child hood in Zikh. His mind crept back to the memories of sitting on the floor near his grandfather, as he told dark tales.
Tales of Dark creatures, Tentacle beasts that plucked sailors from the ship, restless dead who emerged from their tombs to drink the blood of the living...
But one always remained vivid; one night as he sat near his grandfather he heard the tales of the Nassay's... Terrible beasts that would creep into villages at night and find a victim to drag shrieking into the night to devour. It may have faded just like any other tale, but the next night he could remember hearing piercing screams, the home next to theirs was owned by a family of sows. The terrible memories of hearing their youngest pierce the night with his shrieks still sounded in his ears...
His father had gone running as well as the other farmers... the little sow had had his throat slit and was in the process of being dragged off, they had managed to kill what had killed the piglet. Later he and the farmer's family came when they were sure it was safe.
The mother of the piglet was weeping over son's still warm corpse but the framers looked not at the dead boy but what had tried to claim him... he could still see the beasts face clenched in death...
Ramhoto the slave trader felt cold "Make sure that thing don't get out or its your hide,"
- + + +
Ayden struggled in his bonds to no avail. The lithe Foxes body twisted in the silk rope.
The crocodile watched his prize resist "Tis, tis... It would pain me greatly to have to discipline such a lovely slave," Ayden heard the crocodile, but did not understand a single word that came from his long maw.
Ramhoto grinned maliciously, as he picked up a small crop...
Ayden wept pitifully as he felt the pain on his ass, the crocodile had been easy to make sure not to leave a disfiguring mark on his valuable slave...
Ramhoto held the Crop to his side, on any other slave he would use a normal whip, but the fox was far to precious to risk tearing flesh from his back. Aside from a few small cuts on the fox's rump he was fine.
All sorts of ideas crawled into the slavers brain. From selling to fox to other traders to getting a good reputation with monarchs and become a major trader... then came other thoughts; like how he would enjoy the fox while they traveled...
(Took me a while to write this chapter, I've been in a bit of a block right now so please feel free to make any plot suggestions or story devices. Feel free to use my settings or characters, just mention me as the originator of them -Pierce)