Faren City
It didn't take more than half a day before the caravan was trundling down the road, leading to the gates of Faren City. From a distance, Faren City didn't look like much, just a bunch of mismatched roofs in a rough circle situated in a deep valley with high rocky mountains to either side.
It was only after you passed through the massive metal gates that were part of an enormous stone wall that spanned the whole valley's length and passed the first couple of buildings that you might notice that city is a hole. Yes, a literal hole. A huge hole almost a kilometre in diameter was going down so far into the ground of the planet that the bottom can not be seen while standing at the top. Faren City itself circles the hole on a ledge that angles down and seemingly endlessly stretches around and down the monumental hole in the ground looking like a screw the size of mountain was drilled into the ground then carefully removed, leaving behind this ledge that people have then come and built a city on.
The slave sat on an uncomfortable perch attached to the back of one of the large carts of the caravan holding on to prevent herself from falling and looked around as the carts rolled along the road in a line of other similar carts making up other caravans. Some of these other caravans were also made of metal, some were crafted from wood, and some even appeared to be made from more exotic materials she could not identify. Also, even more strange than the vehicles were the variety of sentient beings going about their daily lives. There were a lot of lizardlike beings identical to her owners and they seemed to be what made up the majority of Faren City's inhabitants but in addition to these there were strange and exotic beings ranging from similar to almost grotesque in appearance. The slave saw beings that walked on two legs, beings that walked on three, four, or even more appendages be they legs or otherwise. She saw beings made entirely of metal rolling along on wheels she also saw vehicles that appeared to be floating off the ground and moving on their own without anything dragging them. Wonders and excitement surrounded her on all sides as well as poverty and despair as she noticed beggars and homeless beings grovelling in the street beside everything else. It is not that she has never been here before but the last time she was too young to remember and only now she is a little older can she recognise what she is seeing.
One thing she does not see is any beings that look like her, not one.
The caravan finally reaches the gates and she looks around to see Gold talking to one of the official looking people who is wearing lots of metal clothing that looks the same as what other beings standing around the gate are wearing.
Gold appears to be gesturing quite animatedly with excitement and having a great conversation.
Soon, Gold places something into the palm of the person's hand, they step back, and the caravan starts moving through the gate and into Faren City.
Past the gates, the streets of Faren City run straight and are clean and wide. The buildings on either side were constructed mainly of grey stone bricks that shined slightly in the twin suns light intermixed with a deep reddish wood that grew commonly in the great forest that lay beyond the other side of Faren City from the opposite direction they first arrived.
Looking around, the slave didn't notice as many homeless beggers as outside of the gates, although she did see shadowy figures fliting around in the darkness between buildings and reminded herself to keep her head down and eyes averted so she didn't accidentally look at someone she should not.
The caravan slowly made its way down the streets of Faren City and soon the slave noticed quite a few streetlights were burning with cold blue flames, despite the time only being early afternoon, looking up she saw that the caravan was passing under the ledge that curled around the edge of the hole that decended into darkness sparkling with many different colours and sizes of lights. The slave realised that all those sparkling lights were streetlights and other sources of light lighting up other areas of the city, and some areas lit up more than others.
She wondered to herself how far the hole actually went down and what it would feel like to run and jump into the abyss, arms stretched out to either side, the wind rushing by her as she plummeted to her fate. She then wondered why there was nothing stretching across the gap, no ropes, bridges, or anything to allow someone or thing to access the area past the ledge.
Shivering to herself, the slave decided it was nothing to do with her and went back to sightseeing.
The caravan made its way along and soon came to another line of waiting caravans, leading to another wall and gate going through. This wall was very high and actually reached up so high it only left a one and a half meter gap between the top of the wall and the ceiling made from the ledge curling around the hole that resided in the middle of Faren City. The wall in front of them stretched out from wall of the hole and the ledge they were on, completely blocking them from continuing down the hole and deeper into the city.
Gold appeared to have a much more subdued conversation with the lizardlike being standing at this gate again dressed in metal clothing the same as other beings standing around close by.
Again, after handing over something to they person at the gate, the caravan was waved through, and they kept going on their journey.
They continued down the well-lit streets of Faren City for a while longer, and the slave marvelled at the view of the top of the hole receding and shrinking in size as they decended. They passed two more gates on the way through Faren City before the caravan turned into some buildings surrounded by their own short wall and pulled up in front of a building, which was an obvious stable.
Knowing her role, the slave jumped down from her perch before the carts had stopped completely and grabbed the pole and buckets then while dodging kicks from Purple and Blue as she made her way to get water from a trough with a familiar spigot attached to the side of the stable. She saw Gold nod in her direction and turned to show she was paying attention when he said to her. "When you finish stabling the Boruun, come find me in the tavern, I will have more instructions for you for while we are here, do not tarry and be quick about it or you know what will happen."
The slave's eyes widened in fear as yes, she knew what would happen, and immediately rushed around first giving the lizards a drink then leading the large reptiles known as Boruun around and parking the carts behind the stable along side of other carts and assorted vehicles then unhitching them and bringing them around and into the stable and one of the unoccupied stalls inside.
She quickly rubbed down the big lizards with skill born from much practice and opened the stall door to look for something for them to eat. Lounging against the stable wall staring in her direction, an obvious young lizardlike being slave had an expression on thier face of mostly boredom but also slightly puzzled as they said in an accent so thick it was nearly unintelligible. "Nev'r seen an'thin lik you b'fore, wha' by da darken' aby's be you scal'lis one?" They slowly circled her while saying this and couldn't seem to keep their hands to themselves as they poked her arms and stroked her cheek.
She stared at him speechless for a few moments. She had seen the lizardlike beings young before but never been close to one, and his accented voice meant she had to think about his words to try to parse some sort of meaning to them.
"I don't even know what thing you are, let alone what I am. Master does not allow questions." I said to him quickly, I needed to get the food for the Boruun and get back to Masters side, or the punishment would happen. She spotted what she needed in a barrel next to the wall and dodged around the lizardlike being, and grabbed what she needed.
They looked at her, confused for a bit, until they finally figured out what she said. Comprehension appeared to dawn in the eyes, and their expression turned slightly pitying. "Wel' I be Zafreen, same a' you' Masters an' da masters tha' own this plas'." They eyed her as she quickly took the Boruun's food into the stall and placed the grains and dried protein pellets into the trough for them.
"I ca' see you busi' at moment, mayb' we'l fin' the tim' to talk lat'r." His gaze followed her as she finished what she was doing and rushed toward the large multi-storey building that looked like the main building of this place.
The room she first entered as she opened the front door was not a large room and most of space was taken up by a desk that appeared to split the room into two parts from one wall to the other. There were big double doors to the left that were open and she could see stairs leading down and then turning to the right which made her wonder if there were more rooms under the ground level of the building, she could hear faint sounds of a crowd and possibly music from that direction. There were also more big double doors to the right, but these were closed, and what was behind them remained a mystery.
Looking around, she was a little hesitant about which direction she should take, but before she could decide what she now knew was a Zafreen came down some stairs that ended behind the desk and peered down at her. There was an absolute smorgasbord of colours on this Zafreen's lizardlike features swirling around in such intricate patterns that trying to follow them made the slave a little nauseous, so she tried to focus on just the large Zafreen's eyes as they twinkled down at her in what she could only think was amusement. "Ay, you mus' be the wee'un tha' ol' Markus brough' wit' em. My nam' be Brigella bu' you can jus' call me Mam whil' you'r stay'in here." As they said this they made their way to one side of the strange desk, pressed something from behind it and part of the desk folded in on itself to make a hole that the Zafreen came through and they made their way over and just like the young Zafreen from the stable proceeded to poke, prod and turn her this way and that clicking her tongue, "Skin n' bone, no scales anywher' no ye, dirty as wyldthin' fro'm da for'st too. Ay, Markus no' be da bes' at raisi'n a young'un, tha' be sure." The Zafreen also ruffled the cloth she had wrapped around herself that she wore as clothing. "Tch, wear'un little mor' than rags, too. I gues' we'l git you some'ting to wea'r, can't have you scarin' da gues'ts."
Finishing their investigations the brightly coloured Zafreen pointed toward the open doors and stairs leading down and said ,"You'l fin' you'r mast'r dow' thos' stai'r an' sitti'n at a tabl'." They gave her a slight push in that direction.
Not wishing to waste any more time, the slave rushed down the stairs and found herself entering a large crowded and smokey room with six bench tables leading up to a desk similar to the one upstairs but with high stools with backrests on them lined up in front, behind this desk stood three figures, two Zafreen and another being the slave had never seen before that looked like a humanoid bird with two arms but large feathered wings on their back. Other beings consisting mainly of Zafreen were standing or sitting in front of the desk shouting to the three ones behind the desk and were being passed bottles or mugs of liquid the slave could not identify. There were beings sitting at or on tables as well as a few who appeared to be sleeping on the floor. In one corner a small band played a subdued ,
Along the sides on the room small alcoves that appeared to be pushed into the walls were situated and she saw that within one of these alcoves on a cushioned bench seat that lined the wall circling a round table that sat in the middle, the Zafreen she used to know as 'Gold' but now knew was actually named Markus was sitting along with two other Zafreen she had never seen before.
Markus' eyes considered her as she hurried over and for so long she started to worry she had taken to long and was going to be punished, she didn't say anything though, no matter what trying to speak excuses would only make the punishment worse, so she kneeled at the table edge eyes down and did not move a muscle.
To her surprise it was one of the other Zafreen that broke the silence, "Is this it Markus? The mysterious creature you found in the forest on that failed mission?" Looking up quickly at those words she studied the one who spoke with a glance before looking back at the floor. The Zafreen that had spoken looked much older than Markus as far as she could tell with her limited knowledge of Zafreen aging biology and had scales the colour of deep green and rich vibrant gold not too different to Markus' gold, although the gold scales Markus sported were much more subdued.
"Yes Theo, this is it, made a good slave over last year or two, despite taking longer than that to train properly, was completely useless when I first found it. I thought it was defective until I had it examined and was told that the species profile it had likely had a long nurturing period after live birth. Can you imagine a species that gestate a child inside themselves instead of laying a proper egg! Ha! How barbaric!" Markus and the other Zafreen shared a laugh at the slaves expense for a little while before Markus focused on her. "Right slave, listen up, " the slave raised her eyes to look at Markus. "From today, you will be staying here at this inn. Most likely, you'll be working in the kitchens, but you will do everything asked of you by either Theo here, the owner, or his life-mate Brigella, who you met upstairs. Now go." Dismissing her, she bowed her head low, mind reeling with the thoughts of not being a slave to Markus, even if temporarily. She stood and made her way back to the stairs and returned to the room she had met Brigella.