The moon shined brightly in the night sky along with the many stars that surrounded it. Kaiba sat at the front of the cart with the reins in his hands. He looked back into the cart and saw Mana, Shada, and Joseph resting. Kaiba yawned fighting his need for sleep as they continued onward. They had been travelling for days heading for a small city north of the palace.
Joseph stirred in his sleep opening his eyes a little. He moved closer to the front of the cart yawning loudly. Kaiba turned around and looked at him. "You should be asleep."
"Are we almost there?" Joseph asked rubbing his eyes.
"We'll be there by morning." Joseph crawled to the front of the cart and took a seat at the front with Kaiba. He sighed looking down at the small boy. "Would you like to steer?"
"I don't know how." Joseph sighed.
Kaiba smiled putting a hand on his shoulder. "I'll show you." He moved Joseph to his lap. "Grasp the reins. You need to have a good grip on them." The small boy held the ends of the reins. "You tug them if you want the horses to slow down." Kaiba demonstrated pulling back on the reins. "Then you whip them to make the horses to go forward." He flicked his wrists and watched the wave travel down the reins. "Then you pull the reins to the sides to change directions." He demonstrated pulling to the left and the horses going right. He then pulled to the right to get the horses back in the right direction. "Got it?"
"Yeah." Joseph smiled.
"Most of the time you just have to keep them steady." Kaiba watched Joseph move back to his side of the cart. "You should get some rest now."
"I'm not that tired." Joseph yawned defeating his point.
"Get some rest." Kaiba motioned to the back of the cart. Joseph sighed moving to the back of the cart.
Time passed and the sun started to rise as they entered the city. Villagers stared at him while he scanned the streets looking for children who had the possibility to possess powerful shadow creatures. Kaiba brought the carts to a small inn paying the owner to watch the carts and tend to the horses. "We should be here for a few nights. The horses need food, water, and grooming. I'm sure that you can handle that." He placed some gold on the counter.
"It shouldn't be a problem." The innkeeper took the gold trembling a little at Kaiba's intimidating presence.
"I'll be heading to my room then. I'm a bit tired." Kaiba turned around and walked away. He walked to the carts and saw Mana, Shada, and Joseph standing next to them. "I will catch up with you later. I assume you two can handle things." Shada and Mana nodded their heads. "Joseph, you do whatever Shada or Mana tells you." Joseph nodded his head. Kaiba looked at all of them one more time before turning around and walking away.
"Stay by my side." Shada looked at Joseph putting a hand on his shoulder. The group walked into the village looking around. "Mana, maybe your Millennium Ring could be of some assistance."
"Oh, I guess I could give it a try." She held the ring that dangled around her neck. "Locate children with shadow creatures." She watched the tips on the ends dangle before one of them pointed to Joseph. "I guess I need to get used to using it." She rubbed the back of her head.
"It's fine." Shada looked around the village and saw some children by a well gathering water. "Let's try over there." He started walking towards the well with Joseph tagging along.
Mana followed after them. She watched as each child froze in fear feeling Shada's hand on their shoulder. None of them dared to move or speak as he held up the key to each of them. Some were curious about what he was doing, but none of them dared to ask. After examining all of them, he sighed. "I apologize deeply for bothering you." He started to walk away.
Mana caught up to him with Joseph tagging behind them. "None of them had shadow creatures?"
"None of them had powerful shadow creatures." Shada corrected her.
"Shouldn't we do something though?" Mana asked concerned.
"They will be fine. When the creatures are weak, they can be controlled. No one will actively be hunting them down." Shada tried to reassure her while continuing to scan the streets. "We should keep moving."
"When's Kaiba coming back?" Joseph asked looking up at Shada.
"He's resting. I am sure he will join us soon. He spent a lot of his energy getting us here."
Meanwhile…
Kaiba had woken up from his rest and decided to go to a small tavern near the inn. He sat at a small table sipping from a cup full of wine. He looked around and saw some children cleaning and clearing tables and cleaning the floors. He saw one of them looking at him. He motioned for the boy to come to his table. "Bring me the owner." The boy immediately walked off behind a curtain. Kaiba could hear shouting followed by a thud. He remained calm taking a sip from his cup.
The boy ran out from behind the curtain while the man he assumed was the owner walked out. He walked over to Kaiba's table. "You requested my presence?" He put on a fake smile looking eager to help.
"Please, take a seat." Kaiba showed no intentions sipping his wine examining the man sitting across from him. The man was rather large and had a very thick mustache. Gold rings adorned his fingers. "Tell me about your workers."
The man chuckled. "Slaves from a village up north. They're brought in by ships from Greece."
"They don't seem to talk much." Kaiba said looking at them.
"They communicate with each other."
"Have you noticed any odd behaviors in them?" Kaiba asked.
The man's brow furrowed. "They go into an older building at night, but they always come back by morning."
"Thank you for your time." Kaiba placed a silver coin on the counter and left.
Later that night…
"Where's Kaiba?" Joseph asked looking around their room at the inn.
"He said that he had to take care of some things." Shada said trying to comfort Joseph who was feeling a bit neglected.
"He'll be back." Mana reassured him. "It takes a lot to take Kaiba down."
Meanwhile…
Kaiba walked down the now empty streets of the city. He saw a few people wandering about, but they were of no concern to him. He walked past the tavern he went to earlier in the day. He paused at a crumbling house where a faint light could be seen. Kaiba walked inside cautiously. He hid behind a wall. Peering out from it carefully, he could see the three boys sitting around a fire. They sat around together talking in whispers. Kaiba watched them close their eyes. Each of them called forth shadow creatures that appeared to be made of metal. One was green and had spherical features, another was a silver color and had more rectangular features, and the other was a shade of pink.
Kaiba's Diadhank activated as he stepped out of hiding. The children looked scared as they stood up ready to fight. "I do not want to cause you any harm." Kaiba took a step forward cautiously. The children remained scared. "I have a shadow creature as well. Duos!" Kaiba called forth the shadow creature. He stared at the children waiting for them to make their move. "I can ensure you a better life, food, proper education, a warm bed to sleep in at night. I am sure that man gives you little. You deserve better."
The children all looked at each other. Their shadow creatures disappeared. Kaiba made his Duos disappear. One of the children walked forward and looked at Kaiba. He smiled at him before he and the other boys ran out of the house. "I'll get you out of here." Kaiba clenched his fist walking out of the old house.
The next day, Kaiba walked into the tavern. He saw the boys sweeping and cleaning; they acknowledged his presence. He walked behind the curtain and saw the owner sitting at a table, greedily counting stacks of coins. "You're back." The man smiled parting the stacks of coins. "What can I do for you?"
"I would like to purchase those children from you." Kaiba responded.
The owner's eyes lit up as a grin formed on his face. "I don't know. I have grown quite fond of them. The offer would have to be…substantial." He emphasized the last part smiling even more.
"Does this work?" Kaiba asked placing a small bag of gold dust on the table.
The man greedily snatched the bag off the table. He poured some of it in his hands sifting it with his large fingers. He then looked at Kaiba. "I think I could use some more."
"This should suffice." He placed another small bag on the counter. "That's all I have to give you."
"Well that just happens to be enough." The greedy man smiled taking the gold from him. "The children are yours."
"I'm glad that we could come to an agreement." Kaiba walked out from behind the curtain and saw the three boys standing there. "Come along." He started walking with them following behind him. Kaiba walked back to the inn and saw Mana, Shada, and Joseph preparing the cart.
"Kaiba!" Joseph yelled excitedly running over to him and hugging him.
"Joseph, these boys are coming along with us." He motioned to the three boys.
"Kaiba, you found these kids?" Mana asked curious.
"I bought them." Kaiba responded. "I also managed to get a tip on where we can find more children. Apparently there is a village to the north that specializes in slave auctions."
"Do these kids have names?" Shada asked looking at them.
"They have not told me." Kaiba responded. "They do not talk much, but they can control their shadow creatures fairly well."
"They have tags around their necks." Mana said examining one of the boys. She looked at the tag around his neck. "It's Greek. It's a Beta. Is that your name?" She asked looking into the boy's green eyes. He nodded his head.
"The man I bought them from said they were from Greece." Kaiba looked at the tag on the boy with gray eyes. "This one is Alpha."
The other boy had light red eyes. "This one is Gamma." Shada said looking at the tag around his neck.
"We need to get moving. I'm sure that they are auctioning children off as we speak." Kaiba looked at the children. "Get in the cart." Joseph immediately hopped in and got in the back of the cart. Beta, Gamma, and Alpha followed getting into the cart. They made a small circle in the back. "Shada, keep an eye on them." He nodded his head getting into the back of the cart. Mana sat up front with Kaiba who grabbed the reins as the cart started to move.