Portals of Infinity: Book Four: The Sea of Grass

  Portals of Infinity

  Book Four

  The Sea Of Grass

  Published by John Van Stry

  Copyright 2015 John Van Stry

  Copyright John Van Stry 2015

  Cover Credits: eBook Launch (http://ebooklaunch.com/)

  No part of this eBook may be reproduced in any form without expressed, written consent from the author.

  Any resemblance between characters in this story and people living or dead is purely coincidental. This is a work of fiction created by the author and the author retains all rights to the material in this story.

  License Notes

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  P56609

  One

  Saladin - Barassa

  I looked around the street as I walked down it, as cities went; Barassa was okay, but nothing really to write home about. I'd entered the city a few hours before sunrise by climbing over one of the walls and was now scouting it and looking around. I wanted to get a better idea of just who they were, and what we dealing with.

  I'd scouted the city out before entering, the entire place was walled, and I didn't like the idea of entering through one of the gates. The odds that they had priests stationed there to try and find someone like me trying to sneak in I suspected were pretty high.

  The discovery that Tantrus, the patron god of Barassa, was building temples and churches on the sly in a number of neighboring kingdoms where other gods held sway, had not gone over very well. When Jane, Dezba, my sister Nikki, and I had killed their high priest and caused their champion to quit, it had left them with their pants effectively down. Destroying a church and a major temple on top of that had left Tantrus stunned and doubled his problems. So last summer and fall, several champions from these neighboring gods had infiltrated with groups of their own god's faithful and orchestrated more than a few attacks on Tantrus's temples and clergy right here in Barassa, the kingdom's capitol city.

  I was here to try and discover just what the effects of our actions, and the actions of those other groups had been on Barassa as a whole. After almost an entire day of scouting inside the city, I'd discovered that King Stivik had chosen to crack down rather heavily. Guards were doubled at all the gates, and priests were in fact assigned to check every visitor, as I had suspected.

  I learned that there had also been a crackdown on people visiting the city months ago, but that had backfired rather quickly as Barassa depended heavily on traders from outside the city to come and buy the slaves they sold. So the crackdown had been relaxed, but the priests and the extra guards at the gate were of course still there. All I needed was for one f those priests to touch me, and they'd know exactly who and what I was.

  The street I was now walking down was rather narrow; I was in one of the poorer parts of the city. Barassa might be a rich and powerful country, with the largest city on the continent, but they still had their poor, and from what I'd seen of other cities so far in my time living in Saladin, they maybe had a fair bit more than the others. What I found the most interesting was that times were getting hard for the average citizen of the city, and definitely much more so for the surrounding countryside.

  There was a lot of damage in town from the raids that was still being repaired, most of the guard posts in the poorer, and even some in the middle class portions of town, were either closed or woefully understaffed. And there were no new public works projects going on, in fact, there were several that had obviously been halted and appeared to be put on hold.

  The biggest clue to all of this was when I went to check out the slave auction blocks, there were several major ones in the city where almost all of the slave trading took place and it seemed that they had a lot more buyers now than they had sellers. Many of the pens were empty and three of the four auction blocks were barely functioning at all. Between the Hiland kingdom expanding and cutting off some of their trade and the fall of the Mulander kingdom, there had been a sharp decrease in their supply of slaves. Adding to that was that after last year's raids and other discoveries, more than a few of their neighbors apparently either weren't willing to come here any more, or they were no longer welcome.

  Now I had no illusions that the slave trade was going to end here anytime soon, too many of the coastal lands practiced slavery. When I thought about it, it was surprising to me that those up in the hills and further inland didn't practice it as well, but in those situations it really wasn't economically practicable.

  I stopped at a vendor's cart on the side of the street and bought something cool to drink. Along with the city being crowded, it was hot and muggy being this close to the sea. The narrow winding streets in the poorer parts of the city didn't do anything to encourage breezes either. At least I'd taken the time to get my pelt cut shorter before coming here. I didn't want my Hilander pelt, which was a bit longer from living up in the hills, to give me away.

  Sipping my drink I looked around for the rundown inn I had come across earlier today. I didn't want to stay at anyplace respectable, I was more interested in the kind of place where the clergy weren't likely to show their faces, and people didn't ask any questions.

  It didn't take me long to find it, the alley that ran along its side was already deep in shadows this late in the day and I could make out several unsavory characters lurking deep inside the darkness.

  The door was rather heavy, not much of a surprise there and, as I stepped inside, the place reeked of sweat, blood, and soured ale.

  "Whatcha' want?" asked the heavyset male behind the bar.

  "Room for the night, this one and the rest of the week," I growled.

  "Two cop a night," he said looking me over.

  "If I had that kind of coin, I wouldn't be here now, would I?" I growled back. "A copper a night and you throw in food."

  He grumbled but nodded, "Goth!" he yelled turning towards what I guess was the way to the kitchen and backroom. "Git yer lazy ass out here and show this'un hiz room!"

  A rather young and unhappy looking girl entered the room and he encouraged her with a cuff to the back of the head. "Take 'im upta four."

  She nodded as I looked her over. She was probably about twelve, her pelt was rather thin and she was definitely undernourished, with a collar round her neck. She noticed me looking at her and shivered.

  "Slave?" I asked looking up at him.

  He nodded and smiled, "For a half I can send her up to your room tonight."

  I nodded back, "Long as I don't have to share, understand?"

  "I don't know, she's rather popular," he said smirking down at the girl who cringed. "Bout all her lazy ass is goo' fer."

  "Well, I'll just have to see," I said and looked back at her, "my room?"

  She nodded and led me off and up the stairs in the back.

  The room met my expectations, which were low fortunately. The mattress on the hard wooden bed was straw. The table was really more of a large shelf built into the wall. There were no chairs.

  I sighed and took off my pack and set it on the floor by the bed and pulled the tank top I was wearing off and tossed it on the table. I didn't like wearing it much in this heat, but it was the local style and it did keep the straps on the pack from rubbing into the fur too much.

  I looked up and saw her still standing there, eyes wide and sh
ivering.

  "Can you talk?" I asked sitting down on the bed.

  She nodded.

  "You get sold to guests a lot?"

  She nodded again, I sighed.

  "How long have you been a slave?"

  "Th... three years."

  "How did it happen?"

  "Ra... raiders came, the...they got me before I could ru... run away."

  "Been here at the inn long?"

  She shook her head, "S...six mu...months. My last o...owner o...owed him money."

  I nodded.

  "Go get my dinner and bring it up here. Tell him you're spending the evening with me. Understand?"

  She shivered more then, her eyes getting wide.

  "I'm not going to have sex with a child," I growled. "But if I don't keep you in here, I'm sure he'll sell you to someone else for the night."

  She jumped when I growled, but stared at me when I finished.

  "Go. Get food." I said and motioned towards the door. She darted out of it so fast I wondered if she'd come back.

  When she came back, she set the food on the small table, along with a large jug of water. I used a cantrip on the water to make sure it was clean when she wasn't looking, and then told her to help herself to the food, but to take it slow. I didn't want her getting sick after all.

  I sat there and watched her eat and wondered what town or village she had come from. I may not be able to put an end to slavery here, but I figured I could put an end to hers. When the innkeeper had offered her to me, I just couldn't ignore her plight. I'd have to figure out how to get him to sell her to me. Things to think about tomorrow I guess.

  "I'm going to sleep," I told her.

  "You can sleep with me, or on the floor, I don't care. But don't leave the room without waking me up first, okay?

  She nodded and looked at me a moment. "Wh... what are you g...going to do?"

  "Sleep. Then in the morning take you with me. Find you a better place to live I guess, one where you're not a slave."

  She started at that, "W...Why?"

  "Because you have to start somewhere," I sighed and went over and lay down on the bed. "Put the candle out."

  She did, and after ten minutes or so came over and curled up on the bed with me.

  When I woke in the morning she was still there. Only now she had her face buried in my chest ruff and I had my arms around her as she clung to me. She was so small and thin, what a fate for a child, to live in a hell like this. I thought about just how I was going to do this. I suspected if I tried to buy her, the innkeeper would just raise the price to something absurd, and then I'd have to either steal her or kill him.

  Of course, there were other ways of doing things. I woke Goth up and told her what I was going to do. She nodded, and then watched in wide-eyed fascination as I set up the scene I wanted on the bed.

  Grabbing my things, I went downstairs to the bar and nodding to the innkeeper I ordered breakfast.

  "Goth!" he yelled. Then after a long moment when she didn't show he looked at me.

  "Where's my slave?" He asked as I sat there eating my food.

  "Oh," I sighed and tried to look a little embarrassed. "I think I broke her. Guess I'm just too big."

  "What!?" he said and looked at me surprised.

  "I sort of tore her up. Course she was still alive when I came down here, well more or less." I said and shrugged.

  "You killed my slave?" He said looking angry.

  "Well, not intentionally!" I said exasperated. "You said she was experienced. I though she could take it."

  He came around the bar and started for the staircase, I followed.

  When he entered the room, Goth was laying back on the bed, breathing rather shallow, and the blanket was covered in blood where it covered her waist. She was a bit bloody as well.

  "You killed her!" he said turning on me angrily.

  "She's not dead, look, she's still breathing!" I said back. "Go get her healed or something."

  "She's not worth that much!" He growled threateningly. "I'm going to go call the guard, you owe me a new slave!"

  "Whoa, let's not get too hasty," I said and held up my hands. "It's not like she cost you a lot of money, is it?"

  "What does that have to do with it?" He said.

  "I'll give you ten coppers if you let the matter drop," I said looking a little aggravated.

  "Ten! She's worth a silver!"

  I laughed, "Oh please, her? Not hardly, and especially not now."

  "She was before you ruined her!" He glared and started to step forward to go past me and out the door. "I'm calling the guard!"

  I pushed him back, surprising him with my strength.

  "Now look," I growled, "you should have known a little girl like that couldn't handle a big male like me. You're as much to blame for this as me, I'll give you fifteen coppers."

  "Twenty!"

  "Fifteen and I take care of the body," I growled.

  He looked at me, then back at the mess on the bed.

  "Done."

  I nodded and gave him the money, then let him pass.

  "I want you out of my inn, now!"

  "Just give me a minute to wrap her up, and I'll be gone." I said.

  He nodded and stormed off down the hall.

  "Up, Goth," I said and she got off the bed and handed me the blanket.

  I cut the bloody end off, wrapped the rest of it around her and tossed her over my shoulder and left the room.

  "Now, play dead," I told her and we quickly made our way out of the inn.

  When we were a couple of blocks away, I set her down and had her wrap the blanket around herself. Then we spent a few minutes looking for a clothing vendor and I bought her a better outfit to wear, as well as a sturdier change of clothes for when we left the city.

  "M...master?" She asked as we walked away from the shop.

  "It's Will," I told her.

  "Y... Yes, Master."

  I sighed, but she continued.

  "Do you think we could find my mother?"

  I stopped and looked down at her. "Your mother?"

  She nodded and I could see her eyes were starting to tear up a little, "She was caught with me."

  I said a little prayer in my head to Fel, a bit surprised that he wasn't laughing at my predicament.

  "Do you have any idea where she is?" I asked.

  She shook her head no. "W...we were sold to di...different owners."

  I grumbled and shook my head, "What makes you think I can find her?"

  "W...well m...master, after you c...cut your arm..." she said looking at me with a mixture of fear and hope. I had slit my arm open to get the blood I had used on her sheets to make it look like I'd torn her up, and then simply healed myself. Yeah it hurt, but it had worked.

  "Let me think about it," I said. "Maybe it'll come to me, or we'll get lucky while walking around."

  'Well, Fel, you're a god,' I thought to myself, 'where is she?'

  I jumped as what felt like a hot lance stabbed me right between the eyes. I got the impression Fel was perhaps a little annoyed with me.

  "Well, excuse me," I muttered under my breath. "But like most men, a crying little girl is my worst nightmare!"

  I didn't get poked again, but I got an urge of where to go, so taking Goth's hand, I went.

  "Any other family members we need to find?" I grumbled as she hurried to keep up.

  Goth shook her head, "No, D...daddy died."

  I tried not to feel like a complete louse for that, and led her through the city as I followed Fel's urging. I knew I was going to have to make this up to him, I was sure he had a lot better things to do than help me find Goth's mother.

  I did take advantage of the time to continue making notes of where everything was, the defenses, the guards, and the condition of both. My whole reason for coming here was to get an idea of what shape Barassa was in and what it would take to mount a successful attack on the city. I could see now that Hiland didn't have the ability to do it by t
hemselves, well not yet at least. But Barassa's neighbors weren't very happy these days, so an alliance just might.

  It took us three hours to cross the city to where the feelings finally stopped. We were outside a rather nice house, a rather nice and large house. I hoped at first it was a bordello. Then I could get in rather easily. But as I watched, I realized that somebody important lived here.

  The guard post at the corner, along with the ones standing at front and rear entrances sort of gave it away.

  I looked around, and found us a place in the shade where we could sit and watch the house. It was a small cafe of some sort, so I ordered us food so we wouldn't stand out.

  "Is...is my mom in there?" Goth asked looking at me.

  "Yes. And probably a whole lot of other women. Now I just have to figure out which one."

  "Th...that's easy!" Goth said smiling, "I'll rec...recognize her!"

  I sighed and shook my head, "That isn't the kind of place you can just walk in. I'll have to sneak in later tonight and find her."

  "Yo...you can d...do that?"

  "Not like I have much of a choice," I sighed. "Just keep an eye on the place and if you see her, let me know so I can get a good look. Okay?"

  Goth nodded wide-eyed.

  We got up when we finished eating, before we drew attention to ourselves, and spent the next couple of hours lurking in the area and trying to stay out of sight. Eventually we got lucky when a procession of slaves carrying a sedan chair approached; I was rather surprised to see that all of the bearers were females! There were twenty of them, five on a pole, all naked, and all rather attractive.

  The man sitting on the chair looked to be middle aged, in halfway decent shape, not muscular, but not fat either. He had a bored look, reminding me of some of the insufferable glitterati I used to see back in New York City. Rich, spoiled, and better than everyone else.

  "That's my mom!" Goth said tugging on my arm and pointing.

  I pushed her arm down. "Which one?"

  "In the back, on this side."

  Well that narrows it down to five, I thought.