The Distraction - Part 2

With their break over, they were raring to go. All they hoped for was a short and simple trip to the next village, with no problems along the way.

With their gear packed up, they headed towards the treeline, just in time to see a few travellers pass by.

They saw a carriage heading opposite to where they were travelling, along with a waggon that looked like it held a bunch of different vegetables, heading to where they were.

But, as they got ready to move down to start walking along the road, a sight shocked Octavia, making her hold Sylvia back.

After the waggon carrying vegetables had passed them, another waggon behind it came into view. However, rather than have a load of vegetables in the back, this one had people…in a cage.

"Wha- what is that?" Octavia asked wondering what was going on.

"Huh. Oh, it's just a prison waggon. Criminals are carted around in waggons like that and are taken to quarries and farms to work in servitude for their punishment." Sylvia responded with a non-committal shrug.

It was not a pretty sight and Octavia did not like the look of it. But, she realised that there were still things in this world she would have to come to terms with. The world was rudimentary, even with the addition of magic. They didn't have machines to help with mining and farming so they found a use for criminals rather than just keeping them in a prison.

Some would see it as cruel, and some would see it as just and a good way to make use of them. For Octavia, as she thought about it, she realised she was on the fence between the two. But whatever her opinion, it didn't matter, as this was how this world worked. All she had to do was make sure she doesn't get branded a criminal and end up with the same fate.

But, as she came to terms with this, her discerning eye noticed something.

As the waggon rolled on and the people in the cage sat there waiting to reach their destination, she noticed something.

Not one of them were human. Which to her felt very odd.

That's not to say a scenario like this couldn't happen. There could be more prisoners wherever this one came from and that just because of space in the cage, they couldn't take them all, and some of those may be human. But it still seemed odd for the whole cage to be filled with multiple races aside from humans.

She could see several elves and beast-kin. There were also a couple of dwarves and as far as she could see, a demon as well. This was the first time seeing one, but really he did not look much different from the beast-kin…aside from the dark blue skin and the horns on his head that is. But like she thought, not one human, aside from the driver.

"Doesn't that seem strange to you?"

"Well, a little. We are in the human kingdom so for there to be no humans in the waggon at all is a little odd."

It was entirely possible that this was a prison waggon that just happened to contain races other than humans.

But her first thought went to slavery.

It seemed to Octavia that these people had been captured and falsely imprisoned. This then meant they could be forced into servitude when they shouldn't be…or other more horrible things.

"That could be possible, right?"

"Maybe. I don't see how this could be happening in Lord Desmon's land though." Sylvia responded with a stumped expression.

"True, but it's not like he can enforce the law everywhere in his land, he doesn't have that many guards."

"Yes, but the baron that resides on this part of the land would be the one to do that. If this is kidnapping and slavery, then they should be putting a stop to it. If not then-"

Sylvia trailed off as she said that. They both realised what this meant. If this was slavery, this meant the baron that was in charge of this piece of land either knows nothing about it or does and is allowing it to happen.

"We need to find out. Lord Desmon needs to know if slavery is happening here."

By now the waggon had travelled quite a distance from them, but thankfully they could still see it down the road. So, not one to say no to Sylvia, Octavia agreed, and they both headed off after the waggon.

…

They kept to the tree line as they moved. If this was slavery, then if someone involved saw them, there were sure to be hunted down and captured since they were not human. Obviously, neither of them had plans to live out the rest of their lives as slaves.

They sped down the forest in order to catch up to the waggon and kept up with it as it moved. It was by no means a fast vehicle. With two horses pulling the front and a dozen or so people in the back, it could not move very fast. This gave them ample time to reach it and stick with it.

With a better look at it, they could also see collars of some kind around the necks of each of the people. These slave collars looked to be just thin circles of metal, and Octavia thought it might mean she was right, but Sylvia put that to rest when she told her all prisoners were made to wear one. This was done so that if any of them fled, you would know by the collar that they were a prisoner and a criminal. But again, it's not like they were impossible for someone to replicate and use for slavery in order to pass them off as official prisoners.

…

Before long, they saw what they had hoped to see. A village.

It was a good size for a village. Not as large as Lord Desmon's town, but large enough that it probably had a few shops, as well as some places to eat and rest. There was even a decent amount of security in the village as well. Along with the palisade that circled it, there were also guards at the entrance and quite a few posted along the top of the wall.

A dirt road also circled the village, likely a path for those who hadn't planned on stopping in the village and just wanted to go around.

The wagon they were watching took this road.

They thought that this meant the village had nothing to do with the possible slavery. But, once it reached halfway along, a section of the palisade, which should have been solid all around the village, opened.

It looked like a hidden entrance of some kind. From the distance they were from the village, it had looked just like part of the solid wall. But, all of a sudden, two side opened out, the waggon went in, and then they closed up.

It happened in seconds, so fast that no other carriage or waggon heading around was close enough to see them disappear. Not that they could as the majority of them were held up waiting to enter the village.

Now, Octavia was not a genius, but even she could see that if this was just a normal prisoner thing, bringing them to work in the fields around the village or something, you wouldn't need to use a hidden entrance to do so.

Neither needed to say it, as it was clear to both of them that this was slavery.

And this was something that both wanted to stop.

…

But they couldn't.

That didn't mean they wouldn't try, but no means. If someone said to them to give it a go, they would surely rush in there to try and free the slaves.

It just wasn't possible.

They were just two people. One was a non-combatant and the other only had minimal training with her weapon. How could they take down a group that was involved in slavery.

And a group it likely was. There was obviously the driver of the waggon, then the two people who opened and closed the hidden doors. Who knows how many others were involved in this. There obviously had to be people involved with actually capturing those people.

They couldn't dismantle a slavery ring. But what they could do, was get proof that it existed.

If they somehow managed to tell Lord Desmon about it, they were certain he would agree with them. But, he couldn't just send a load of guards or soldiers to take them down, without some proof that it existed. It was a load of bureaucratic nonsense as she was sure some of the people that worked under Lord Desmon would care about expenses and the like, so proof would be needed to make sure it happened.

Then there was the Baron in charge of this land. Sylvia didn't know his name, but they would need some proof to either show he didn't know or that he was involved in the slavery. Because if he was, and they didn't find out, it would probably just happen again.

This was the right thing to do, and they were going to do it. All they had to do was formulate a plan and execute it, all the while making sure they don't get captured and forced into slavery.

And so they got started on figuring things out.

But as they did, a little thought entered Octavia's head.

Could this slaver group be part of the ones that were after her…The Hidden Collectors.