The Slavers - Part 11

*tap* *tap* *tap*

"Unng, just five more minutes."

*tap* *tap*

Droopy eyed and tired is how Octavia awoke, all the while feeling someone tapping her on her shoulder. She had been feeling incredibly comfortable, but as soon as she opened her eyes, a dull ache of pain tore through her body, causing her to grimace in pain. It also had the added benefit, of forcing her to recall all that had happened in the night.

"What- who."

Now knowing where she was, she looked around to find who had been tapping her shoulder, finding the rather gruff face of the dog-kin man that had helped get her out of the abandoned house.

"Sorry. I just thought to tell you that shops have started to open, including the apothecary."

Well, that very quickly knocked the sleep out of her. The apothecary. Her chance to deal with the horrible injuries she had suffered, as she was going nowhere in this state.

Her increased healing had done its job, but even it had a limit to how much it could fix over a few hours. The worst of the pain was gone, which is probably how she was even able to sleep, but the damage that she received was still abundant, being able to barely lift her arm now.

It was a start, but really, it needed some assistance from some healing potion that should be stocked in the shop. The only problem again, was that she would have to rely on Sylvia to grab it for her. And as she looked down at the gorgeous sleeping face that was now resting against her chest, she knew it would be some time before that would happen.

Well, that would have been the case if the beast-kin that came running towards them hadn't shouted in panic as well.

"They are up. I saw- I saw them…in the shop."

"Wha- what's going on?" was the groggy response that came from Sylvia's lips as she rubbed her eyes, as all the other beast-kin started to mumble.

The beast-kin that had shouted then turned to Octavia and Sylvia, and she could see the panic in the man's eyes.

"The slavers are awake. I saw them opening up the shop."

There were some worried looks around the whole group, for obvious reasons. But, Octavia in her now awake state, tried to calm them down.

"I know you're scared, but they are just doing what they normally would. Either they havn't seen that you have all gotten free, or they have and are keeping quiet about it."

That did manage to calm a few of them down, as while the man spoke out in panic about it, the situation wasn't actually that dire.

"What you need to do is watch to see if any of the men leave the shop or the house, but make sure you stay out of sight."

The man nodded and started to head away. But as he did, Octavia saw the tail he had trailing behind him, and then the cat ears on his head, which made her realise something.

"You may want to do something to hide your beast-kin features. Just so, if they do see you, they don't notice that you are not human."

One of the beast-kin nearby had a large cloak, which he promptly took off and handed to the man. Where he had ended up getting it given they had been in rags all this time, Octavia did not know and she didn't want to ask. It was large enough that it covered all the assets that made him easily identifiable as a beast-kin. All ready to go he headed off and became the watchman for the group.

With that out of the way, there were two things left to do. Visit the apothecary and help these people escape from the village.

"Has anyone seen how busy it is by the gate?" Octavia asked the group.

They all looked around at each other before, one of the dwarves in the group spoke up.

"I-I did just a while ago. There isn't much going on at the gate yet."

"Okay, we should probably wait till it becomes a lot more busy. It will allow you to slip out easier."

"It shouldn't be too much longer." Sylvia brought up now that she was wide awake. "A little while after the shops open, travellers and merchants should show up, assuming it's like in town."

So, they had some time left before they could head out, which gave them time to get themselves ready, and for Octavia to get some healing.

…

Time passed by and the first signs of life within the nearby shops appeared as they opened their doors to start the day. One of which was a godsend, being the apothecary.

Octavia, still in no state to be doing anything, all but turned to the group to ask for their help. It was a stupid thought, but she didn't really want to trouble Sylvia again. She had already written and sent off the letters the night before. It felt wrong to ask again, and besides, she needed her own rest.

But before she could even say anything to anyone, Sylvia was up and heading towards the shop, just showing Octavia how much she cared for her and that calling on her a few times wasn't any sort of annoyance to her.

As soon as she had left them, she was back with a few potions, which they both promptly downed. The cool mixture ran down her throat, and she didn't know if it was a placebo effect or something, but it felt like it started working as soon as she drank it. It was a somewhat pleasant feeling.

What was rather unpleasant, was when beast-kin from before came running towards them a look of panic on his face.

"The-they know. The slavers. They know."

They didn't need any more information than that. It was clear that time was now ticking for them. The slavers, upon opening up their shop, and probably getting their stocks out for people to buy, had found the two they had killed and that their slaves had disappeared.

The man who brought this news told the rest about how the salvers were rushing about around the store. There were a few raised voices, as well as some things being smashed, likely in frustration over the incident. What happened next, however, did give them some hope.

A guard had turned up at the store after hearing the ruckus. The beast-kin was close enough to overhear what was being said, where after the guard questioned the disturbance, the slavers played it off as them just having an argument, nothing more. If anything, this meant that there would be some friends in the guard's ranks. How many there were, they had no clue.

While that was all well and good, they now needed to act. They needed to get out of this village before they were found and the slavers attempted to reclaim their property, as well as adding two more to their collection.

So, without further adieu, the group started to make their move towards the gate.

As not to raise suspicion, they did so in several groups. Namely, they had a few adults with some children, as for one, they shouldn't just be left alone for this sort of thing. For two, doing so made them look more like a family, which would hopefully, make them look less suspicious.

To the best of their abilities, they tried to hide their beast-kin features as best as they could with the clothing they had. Some of it had been 'found' by the beast-kin, and they could have gone around pinching more off of lines, but that was sure to backfire with the number they needed. The other option was to go about buying some from the tailor, but who knew how long that would take, whereby then the slavers may find them. And besides, neither Octavia nor Sylvia were made of money. Not after the triple letter service either.

So, they did the best they had and blended in with the crowds that were leaving the village to head off to who knew where. They hid amongst them, keeping quiet as they did, and got closer to the gate.

Octavia was starting to feel a little better after taking the potion. It must have been quite a powerful one as she was even able to move, albeit slowly, without feeling like she would crumble. Because of this, she was able to follow the rest of the beast-kin out. It should be safer outside of the village than remaining in, as they waited for Lord Desmond's men to show.

The first group that made it to the gate, and as they suspected, with the influx of people, heading both in and out, they were able to slip past without any fuss. The guards were checking permits of people heading in rather than heading out, so they were not stopped.

The crowd was incredibly large, showing that now was the rush hour in this world, it being the time to head off somewhere for the day or to go and shop or start your job.

Because of this, both Octavia and Sylvia were struggling to see the remaining groups.

By now, she had to imagine two of three more had managed to get out. They had seen no commotion, aside from when a guard was dealing with a man trying to get into the town, so she was sure they had no issue.

But that all changed when as they were moving up, they saw a group of three beast-kin heading over towards them in a hurry.

"She's gone. I-I don't. It happened so fast, but she's gone."

Octavia couldn't remember who was in every group that had headed towards the gate, but she knew how they structured them. So when she looked at what should have been a four-person group made up of two adults and two children, seeing only one child with them hit them with fear and panic.