30. The Warehouse

"Sir I am going to need a few minutes. I would like to stop by the temple for some more healing and then I will head to the warehouse. If you want to walk with me that far so that you are aware of my progress or if you want to just head into that area and wait for me to walk by it will be fine."

"I have healers here Novum."

"I assumed that they were spending all their energy on Aureus to try and figure out a way to get the chain off of her. I am more than willing to go to the temple. And please let me know what I owe you for the chair, it appears that I was still leaking a little blood and it soaked into the fabric."

"Thank the gods."

"What?"

"My wife, whom I love dearly, decorated the room and I have hated it. Now it will give me and excuse to change it to something I like. I just have to do it before she finds out and decides that she needs another project. But never mind that, lets go get you healed up."

Sir Lions led him down a few turns and gently knocked on the door. A older woman in a serving outfit opened the door. As soon as the door opened there was a scream, "Daddy!" All noble behaviors left the man as he rushed to give his little girl a hug. Novum and the Captain stayed outside the room and waited. Novum was not familiar enough with the man to intrude on him in a vulnerable moment like this one.

As he stood there a woman who radiated beauty and refinement came out and pulled Novum into a hug. "Thank you so much for bringing my little girl home."

"You are very welcome ma'am but I am still covered in blood and you will ruin your dress."

"Just hush up and let me hug you. It is just a dress." She held onto him for a few more minutes and he did not resist her in any way. He knew that it would not do him any good. Finally she stepped back from him. It was then that she noticed that he was dripping blood on the floor. "By the Protector, I thought you meant there was still blood on your armor not that you were still bleeding. Abigale come and heal this young man."

A priestess that was about the same age as the woman shuffled over to him quickly and he could feel the warmth of he healing power as it washed over him. It took her three times before she stopped feeding energy into him. "You were in pretty bad shape young man. I should have come to you."

"I knew that I would be fine but I was not sure about the Lady. I was a little concerned that when the stone came out of the wall that it would cause issues with the magic. I honestly took a bigger risk than I should have without knowing more but I did not have a lot of options at the time. And it has worked out."

The captain looked at the block attached to the end of the chain. "By the way how did you get the stone out of the wall?"

"He ripped it out of the wall, uncle. He grabbed the chain, braced his foot on the wall and ripped it out." They all looked at him and they had assumed he had used tools to get the stone out but apparently they were wrong. "And then he carried me all the way around the outside of the city with the block."

Novum was not sure why but he felt color flushing his cheeks at her words. She made it sound like it was some heroic act. But he was simply doing what needed to be done. "Well, now that I am healed up I think it is time that I head to the warehouse and start taking care of things there as well."

Aureus sat up. "You are going already?"

"Yeah your dad, the captain, and I came up with the plan to get our hands on the key for the chain while killing as few people as possible as well as helping a few more." He gave her a wink and a wave of his hand and headed out of the house. He still had a lot to do before he could go back to his house. As he and the Captain walked he swung by his wagon and paid for two more days as well as grabbed a couple of items out of his bag.

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The Earl looked as man in a little bit of shock. "They made it back to the house and a guard captain has shown up. This might complicate things. Randell go and get a few bags packed in case we have to leave in a hurry. I might have to go stay with my son for a few days." The man bowed and left without a word.

"Okay since you guys could not manage to kill one man and a girl here is what I want you to do. Set up guys on every street leading up to the property. If the boy, the guard captain, or the knight head this way let me know. And also let me know if any of them head for the Duke's manor. I will adjust my plans as needed." He thought about letting his wife know what was going on but thought better of it. She was his third wife and a political marriage. If she found out what he was up to she would run and tell her father and that would complicate things.

No it was best to wait for things to develop and then run at the last minute if he had too. "Modify my last order as well. If any city guards start coming this way in a group of four or more let me know as well."

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They were almost to the warehouse when Paul split off from Novum and grabbed a few of his guards that were close by. They would normally be patrolling in this area but he was not sure how long he would have once Novum made his move. Or even how long it would take Novum to make his move. "Okay men in a few minutes were are going to see a group of the Earl's guards come running by. just like that group....." Paul was shocked that it happened so fast. "Shit follow me and follow my orders exactly."

Paul and his small group of guards followed the group of guards that ran down the street and seen they heard a man between two warehouses yelling about a fire. Novum was quick and efficient he would give him that. The Earl's guards moved to stop Paul and he ran right past him. "Out of the way idiot if there is a fire the entire city will be in danger."

"But sir this is private property." The man sounded like he was genuinely insulted by the situation.

"A fire in this city would be devastating and fall under the city guard no matter who property it is on."

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Novum did not even let the guard get to him before he sucker punched him in the mouth. The man went down in an instant. The other guard came running at him with a sword out but the look on Novum's face told him fighting was a bad idea. The man put his head down and ran into the wall just hard enough that he could pretend that he was knocked out. Novum smiled at the man. It was not an attempt to sneak up behind him but to protect himself after.

Novum did not wait and kicked open the door. He felt the same magical release and stepped far enough in that he was out of site and started screaming about a fire. He was not sure of this part of the plan when he got here but there was not that many people and he doubted anyone would be badly hurt. He also pulled out one of the items he got out of his bag. Once he was in he cracked the stick and smoke started pouring out. There was way more smoke that he was expecting but there was nothing he could do about it now. He simply threw it into the corner out of the main path and jogged deeper into the warehouse.

Novum passed through the magical barrier and could hear the panic. "Okay everyone it is not a real fire. It is a smoke stick so that I could create an opportunity for the city guards to come and find you. I will getting all of you out in just a couple of minutes. I just need to the guards to see you so that the asshole that did this will be put on trial and destroyed."

Novum heard a gruff voice from the cage beside him. "You swear?"

"Master dwarf I swear on my very life." He heard someone enter the building and start yelling about the smoke. He took a few quick steps so that he could put his head out of the magical zone and started yelling help as loud as he could. He heard Paul yelling about hearing someone and to follow him. He stepped back and waited for them to come through the enchantment. He told Paul about it so it should not be a big surprise to him.

The city guard came running through the enchantment and the only one to not stop moving to try and figure out what was going on was Paul. The rest of the guards all stopped and looked around. "Hey move you idiots get these cages open and don't let those guards go anywhere." Since the guards saw them Novum walked around and simply grabbed the chains and snapped them. Even Paul was shocked at the casual strength the was on display.

As the doors of a few of the cages opened people ran together and hugged. Novum was having trouble keeping his temper in check. If he did not know what was coming he would simply march over to the manor and kill the man without a thought. He was about to head over to speak with Paul when he noticed that the guards were having trouble with the last cage. He stared at it and realized that it was different from the other cages. They could not touch it and they could not see in it. They were only trying to open it since it was locked and it didn't feel empty.

'System please start an active search on the crate for a magical trigger.'

<Timeframe?>

'Deliberate search.'

<Please stand by.> Novum knew that if he was deliberately searching it would take longer and he would not rush the system. <Trigger found.> Novum followed the indication provided by the system and used the trigger to disable the barrier around the cage. Once that came down he checked the door and it was still locked. Novum did not even bother looking for a key he simple ripped the door completely off the cage. When he looked inside his rage was to the point people were about to start dying.

When the door came off the enchantment that kept the inside dark was lifted and they all saw that it was full of smaller cage. Novum pulled the first cage out and ripped the door off of small cage and a small creature that looked like a beautiful two foot tall person with wings. A few more of the cages had what looked like living clouds crammed in them. He went through cage by cage and after thirty small cages Novum was about to blow the plan off and kill the man responsible for this.

Novum tore the last cage open and the creature came over to him and without a word floated up and kissed him on the tip of his nose and then she led the few remaining ones followed her out of the building. That little kiss on his nose seemed to siphon off his rage and he was just sad about the entire situation. With the rage gone he walked over the Paul and heard the last of the conversation.

"That is everything commander. Fifty slaves and about the same in magical creatures. Yes sir. There was smoke coming from the building and we ran in to prevent the damage from spreading. Okay sir. I will meet you at the courthouse."

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The commander looked at the Duke beside him and the Duke looked at his mage and nodded. He waved his hand and a portal appeared and the commander stepped through followed by the mage. The Earl's guard saw the portal and ran towards the house without waiting to see who was stepping out. He did not even make it to the house before he was locked in place.

The mage passed him and then he could move again. The commander did not even bother knocking as he entered the house and then the Earl's office. The Earl felt the people enter his house and knew that it was not good. The magical energy was strong enough that he knew it was the Duke's mage. This was not good.

The commander looked at the man. "Earl James, you are summoned to the high court to answer for the slaves that were discovered in your warehouse."