I do not own Chaotic nor anything related to it. It belongs to TCDigital.

-\/\/\/-

THe DeTouR

-\/\/\/-

Everyone in my company is packing up the tents they'd set up in anticipation of a much longer stay outside Underworld City. Well, everyone except Ashley, because she's never camped a day in her life and doesn't know how to pack a tent.

"So Sett and I didn't really need to come." Ashley glances across the camp at her husband. "Guess all we accomplished was bring back that awful cough of his."

As if on cue, Sett's chest seizes up as if he was holding back a cough, which is probably exactly what's happening. He doesn't let it slow him down while he loads the wagons.

I chew on the inside of my cheek. "I thought that had been taken care of solans ago."

Ashley shrugs. "I guess I'll have to make him see a doctor when we get back to Al Mipedim." Then she brightens up. "Still, a creature frozen in ice, that had to have been amazing to see."

It was amazing, so what's with the chill I feel when I think about it? "Perhaps I should let everyone meet him."

I hear the hum of an engine, and I turn in time to see Austin drive out the gates of Underworld City on some kind of hovering vehicle. It's much smaller than any vehicle I remember in the show, and it reminds me of a motorcycle. The old Human-Overworlder decelerates as he approaches.

"Hello again, Prince Osiris," he says as he slowly passes the camp. "I would stay to chat, but Maxxor will probably launch a full-scale invasion of Underworld City if I'm any later than I already am."

"You're that important?" I ask in surprise.

Austin shakes his head and smirks. "It was a joke. Give my regards to your king." He presses the throttle, and soon he's a quickly receding figure in the distance.

"Who was that?" Ashley asks.

"Probably the coolest old man you'll ever see," I say. "He came up with a solution to the reason we all came here after maybe a minute of thought."

"What did we come here to do?" Ashley scratches the side of her head. "For the life of me, I can't remember at all."

"Join the club," I sigh.

"Michael!" Isis shouts from where she's helping pack. "The sooner you start helping the sooner we can go home!"

And of course the moment Isis says that, I spot a Danian caravan leaving Underworld City. If they keep the current path, they'll pass right by us. "Sarah and her troop will be here in a minute," I call back. "We should probably give them a proper farewell."

"If only we natives of Perim got along as well as you Humans seem to," Isis sighs as she joins me. "Hello Ashley."

Ashley presses her lips together. "You wouldn't say Humans got along well if you saw what Earth was like."

The Danians are pretty close now. A cluster of mandiblores surround a curtained chariot being pulled by what look like enormous rhinoceros beetles.

Isis and I approach slowly, and I raise my right hand. "Safe travels to Mount Pillar."

The caravan pauses, and a curtain pulls away to reveal, to my surprise, both Sarah and Phelphor sitting inside. Sarah leans out and responds, "And safe travels to Al Mipedim to you."

I'm so startled by the extra passenger that I forget my manners for a moment. "What are you doing in there, Phelphor?" I blurt.

Isis softly elbows me in the ribs. "Don't be rude," she whispers.

If I've offended Phelphor, he doesn't show it, though I'm having trouble reading his body language through the bulky black coat he's wearing anyway. "His Majesty Chaor...well, objected to my staying in Underworld City," he explains. "Which is the least imaginative name for a city I've ever heard, by the way."

Sarah sits up straight again. "Seeing as Phelphor doesn't have anywhere to go, I invited him to come to Mount Pillar with me. Purely out of the goodness of my heart, of course," she adds quickly.

Of course it's nothing but altruism, Sarah. It's not like you got excited or anything when you saw Phelphor naked. Rather than voice those thoughts aloud, though, I simply say, "Well, then I wish the best of luck to you, Phelphor. I hope you find a place in the Perim of today."

"I hope so to," is all Phelphor says in reply.

...Phelphor, why do I get the feeling you're up to no good?

{FoR THe LoVe oF THe CoTHiCa, MiCHaeL, HoW aRe you ReSiSTiNG? THe CReaTuRe iS oBViouSLy HaRMLeSS.}

Ah, I'm probably just being paranoid. He's two thousand solans displaced from everything he knows, there's no way he's planning anything.

{i CaNNoT SiMPLy LeT you ouT oF My SiGHT MiCHaeL, NoT WhiLe you STiLL HaVe THe aBiLiTy To DiSTRuST Me. SaRaH, He MiGHT Be aBLE To HeLP you WiTH youR ProBLeM aT MouNT PiLLaR.}

Sarah pauses as she closes the curtain, then slides it open again. "Prince Osiris, Princess Isis, I'm sorry to spring this on you so suddenly, but I've been having an issue at home that I desperately need solved. Will you hear me out?"

Isis and I exchange a look. Isis mutters, "We really should be going back to Al Mipedim..."

{iSiS, MiCHaeL, you MiGHT Be aBLe To MaKe aN aLLy oF THe DaNiaNs iF you aSSiST THeM.}

Isis's expression becomes more hopeful. "But since we're already in the Underworld, it wouldn't hurt to see what we can do."

"If everyone else agrees," I add. "A lot of our company has been itching to be out under the open sky."

{oH, Do NoT WoRRy. EveRyoNe WiLL aCCoMPaNy you.}

-\/\/\/-

It's less than a day's journey to Mount Pillar. We'll be there by late afternoon.

"Isn't it a little uncomfortable being basically on Underworld City's doorstep?" I ask Sarah, making sure my kozorr keeps pace with her chariot.

"You have no idea," Sarah sighs. "At least there's no way that Chaor will decide to attack."

"What with Mount Pillar basically making sure Underworld City continues existing," I agree.

We're interrupted by a mandiblore running up the Sarah's side. "The last of Chaor's spies have turned back to Underworld City, Lady Sarah."

"Then I guess we can speak more freely," Sarah responds. "Thank you, you may return to your position."

The mandiblore slows and falls behind. Isis speaks up from where she sits behind me, "Now, what did you want our help with?"

Sarah leans back in her seat and presses her fingertips against her forehead. "We're having a bit of a... slavery problem in Mount Pillar," she sighs.

I feel a jolt shoot down my spine. "What?"

"Humans are being abducted and infected with parasites, and then they're being sold." She closes her eyes and grits her teeth. "And I haven't been able to come up with a permanent solution."

My heart is racing. "Wait... Are they being sold under Illexia's authority?"

Sarah takes a little too long to answer. "Not... exactly. You see, they're being disguised as indentured servants."

"I don't follow," I mutter. This is sounding more and more unpleasant the more I hear.

Sarah glances sideways at Isis and me, and she takes a deep breath. "The reason Humans are allowed to live in Mount Pillar is because we have the option to spend some time infected."

"The option?" I say, my voice almost tightening to a squeak.

"Let me finish," Sarah snaps. "When we first arrived in Perim, Queen Illexia said she'd let us stay if we followed Mount Pillar's laws, and any criminals would serve the Danians as infected servants for the duration of their sentences. Work was hard to come by, so eventually people started offering themselves as infected servants simply so they could have a place to live and enough to eat. Nowadays people are allowed to sell months of their lives as servants in exchange for money."

My stomach is twisting into knots. "And people are being sold into this service against their will," I state. It's a guess, but I'm absolutely certain I'm right. "They're being infected and sold, and whatever countermeasures you've come up with are quickly being overwhelmed."

"Exactly," Sarah sighs. "First I came up with registration papers. If you couldn't produce the proper papers, then your servant would be taken from you and an investigation would be launched."

"Then came the forged documents for the slaves," I guess.

"Indeed," Sarah says through gritted teeth. "I tried using unique paper materials. The formula was copied before the end of week. I introduced special hidden marking for the servants. Those lasted about a month. Now I have random checks for every little thing, and two weeks ago it turned out one of the Danians doing the checks was in on it!"

There's silence for a while. Finally, I clear my throat before stating, "When we agreed to help, we didn't know the scope of your problem. I hope you don't expect us to solve your entire-"

"Oh no, not at all!" Sarah blurts out. "You simply arriving at Mount Pillar should cause enough of a commotion to help me flush out the people responsible for the kidnappings."

Isis narrows her eyes. "You had better not be thinking about using my husband as bait."

Sarah blinks. "Oh. I should have thought of a better way to phrase that."

"Do you have any suspects?" I ask, eager to steer the conversation away from its current direction.

"Thousands." Sarah slumps dejectedly against the back of the chariot.

I sigh. "Rephrasing. Who do you most suspect?"

"Thousands," Sarah repeats while glaring at me, "and the one Danian I would have accused immediately can't have done it."

"Why not?" I ask.

"He was executed more than ten solans ago." Sarah faces forward again. "Three or so days after Humans arrived in Perim, in fact."

It feels like I just got splashed with cold water. I'm going to have to learn who that Danian was. It might be exactly who I suspect.

Phelphor finally speaks up from his long silence. "You keep mentioning Humans arriving in Perim. Are you not from this world?"

Sarah turns to him. "That right! You don't know!"

I steer my kozorr away from the chariot as Sarah starts to explain. To Isis, I mutter, "I'm starting to regret agreeing to help. I have duties in Al Mipedim that your brother has to deal with while I'm gone, and we're missing out on Hera's lessons in mugic."

Isis hugs me tightly around the chest. "I'm just hoping this is all worth it in the end."

"Me too." We need a change of subject, so I ask, "Given any thought yet to who should help us with our next child?"

"No," Isis sighs. "There really hasn't been much time to think, really."

We need a mood lightener. A goofy grin crosses my face as I suggest, "How about we choose from who we have here with us and get busy when night falls?" I turn around as much as I can to see Isis's reaction.

Isis rolls her eyes. "We have three servants, ten soldiers, and Sett, and I'm not keen on any of them being the father. Sett's married, so he's ineligible anyways, along with maybe half the soldiers and that one servant."

I crack a wide grin and joke, "You know, if you did choose Sett, I could help him and Ashley out after he helps us out."

Moments later, I hit the ground after Isis pushes me off the korozz. She takes the reins and smirks at me as I pick myself up, and she shouts, "Yah!"

"I was joking!" I cry out as I chase her. My voice is drowned out by the footfalls of the other kozorr as they also speed up.

-\/\/\/-

uP NeXT: THe DaNiaN HiVe

-\/\/\/-

Like I said before, Chaotic belongs to TCDigital.

If you like the story, please follow and leave a review!