My eyelids fling themselves open, body jolting awake and launching myself onto my feet, wincing as I look around the wagon, I really shouldn't have slept in that position. The wagon's silent other than the soft breaths of another sleeping, likely Vector. I groan out an exhale as I stretch out the kinks in my back, the bones cracking loudly as I do so, thankfully Vectors breathing doesn't change, probably didn't notice it then. I yawn and rub at my eyes, rubbing away the sleep culminated during my short slumber, hauling myself out of the wagon and landing on the dry ground, a small puff of dirt kicking up, still smothering my eyes with my hands. 'Jesus Christ that was a poor sleep, how long was that?' I think to myself, mumbling non-descript words under my breath as I walk to the front, vision still a blur, blinking away removing a fair of it of it at least. I hear heavy footsteps pacing around the wagon before I see him move into vision, Edward still in his full armour getup, helmet and all too, hand at his hilt and on alert, though his normally stoic stance doesn't cover the warp of a slight surprise in his body language.
"Zeke? I didn't think you'd be up so soon." He says it in a professional monotone manner, but I can hear the underlying question underneath. I moan out a mumble of words, smothering my face in my hands again, I can hear the bastard snicker.
"I din sleep well, bite me." My words come out both bitterly and groggily, much to my surprise, the sleep wasn't that bad was it? I brush past Edward and choose to plant my face onto a particularly clumped looking batch of grass, morning dew hanging onto the blades of such greenery brushing over my fur as I hear a very confused noise from behind me. "Dis comfier"
I can hear his boots crumple and disturb the grass around me as he steps to my side, the smell and sight of the grass filling my sight and senses, theres a soft unstrapping noise as I feel something poke into my side, a cold but somewhat soft feeling jabbing between my ribs, I mumble out a muffled groan as the assholes scabbard digs against me.
"Much as I like the lack of garbage you normally spew, can't say it's particularly like you." He says, voice lined with amusement.
"Either help me wake me up or let me sleep, asswipe." I murmur into the dirt, an amused scoff is his response. At least he stops jabbing my side, though the feeling of getting stabbed is replaced by the noise of heavy objects hitting the dirt, twisting my head reveals Edward stripping himself of his armour, helmet to torso to leggings. I raise an eyebrow, the hell's he doing?
"Get up, we're gonna do hand to hand sparring, either you're gonna be very awake or you're gonna be back to sleep, Fuzz." He says in an oddly good humoured tone, though the hair at the back of my neck bristles at the nickname. 'Does he see sparring as a bonding experience, maybe?' I think to myself, but I reluctantly heave myself up, groaning all the while, I unlatch my cloak and throw it unto the grass, along with my chain mail and sheath belt, I stretch my arms and crack my hands through the gloves, the bones under it cracking with a delicious noise and turning to face Edward.
"Gloves on or off?" Is my only question to him as he discards the last of his armour, kicking his boots away. A quick look at his hands shows a thin layered glove, I assume to be worn underneath his gauntlet being held up in a preparation stance is my answer. I follow suit and hold up my hands in a boxing stance, right hand in front and legs spread to my shoulders, knees bending as I relax my lower body, bobbing slightly with energy. My visions still cloudy, but I can see Edwards eyes examining my body, his own relaxed and prepared. He's still and silent for a few seconds before his body tenses and rushes forward.
His right hand goes for a jab, swinging my shoulder into him to catch the blow, reaching for my own swing at his jaw, my hips twisting for extra force, a knuckle barely clipping his chin as he steps backwards. He throws another jab into my side, a solid hit connecting as I return it with a body check of my own. He stumbles backwards as I advance forward, a left then right punch into his gut before moving backwards, out of the way of a swing, feeling the wind of it brush past my nose, he continues to push forward with a foot planted into my stomach. The wind's pushed out of my lungs at the impact as I stumble backwards myself, raising my arms to catch another swing sent head way, slipping into his comfort zone as I deliver a short punch into his chest. I swing around him and grab him in a bear hug, lifting him up and heaving backwards, the plan was to pull him so far backwards and drop him on his head, the plan also completely fell apart immediately as I felt my paw slip on the dirt beneath us, falling backwards and dropping Edwards limp body on my chest.
"FFFFFFF-" I breathlessly scream, the air clearing out of my chest as pain throbs throughout it, Edward rolling off of my body thankfully as I lay still, panting and coughing, the pain already dulling moderately. Edwards laying next to me, a loud boisterous and wheezing laugh barely muffled by his hands.
"What the fuck was that Zeke?" He barely chokes out amid the laughter, swiftly turning back into a laughing mess, I hope he chokes on his spit.
"It was an attempt, I actually hope you choke you bastard." I grumble aloud, speaking my thoughts. This only really made him laugh louder sadly, I blink away the blurriness in my vision finally, though, and I do feel more awake, so mission accomplished I guess?
I continue to lay on the dirt and look up to the early morning sky, pink tinged clouds scattered across it here and there. It's surprisingly and thankfully peaceful, even with the racket of Edwards voice. He quietens down though, laugh trailing off as he silently joins me in relishing the silence and peace.
"My chest hurts and I blame you for being fat." I break the silence abruptly as I leap to my feet, Edward sighing as I do so, I can almost hear the dude pinching his eyes together.
"And thus the peace is broken." He says flatly, I give him a smug grin and hold out a hand to him. He eyes it for a few moments, as if cautious, before reaching up and grabbing it. My grin turns into a smile as I hoist him up, bringing him to his feet, I can see a small and brief smile pass by his face before it turns to its neutral pursed lips. 'Huh, I guess he enjoyed sparring,' I think to myself, patting him on his shoulder before turning and picking up my gear. Chain mail on, cloak on, strapping the belt on finally makes me feel vastly less naked, Edward jingling behind me as he straps on his guard armour.
A cheerful laugh bellows from the wagon seats, twisting my head to the noise, Gerome clapping as if reaching the end of a play with his trademarked grin on his face.
"Oy, what an enjoyable fight! Good to be seeing bonding between two friends, da?" Out of the corner of my eye I see Edward shake his head, rolling his eyes, though I respond with to him with a wave.
"Hey there Gerome! Enjoy the view?" His reply is a chortling laugh, his smile only widening and directed at me. I follow Edwards suit and roll my eyes back at him, probably thought me getting squashed was hysterical. The feel of a gloved hand wrapping around my shoulder surprises me, jolting slightly and twisting my head, Edwards face a gentle one with a small smile before turning back to its default emotionless stoic face, I saw that smile though! I give him a grin of my own and a friendly elbow nudge in return.
The rest of the morning goes by without incident, filled with naught but idle discussion, Vector eventually dragging himself out of the deep depths of sleep and into the living world, though he doesn't speak much, choosing to keep to himself while occasionally muttering to Gerome. I've since pulled my bag out of the wagon and taken a seat leaning against a wheel, munching down on some rations, turns out that the beef jerky looking food is beef jerky, go figure. It's gummy and almost leathery as I bite down on it, tasting and smelling like dried up meat, it's not inedible enough to not want to swallow it down but god I wish I had different meat, that requires actually requires finding a vendor, and using money. My ears flick up as the word 'money' pops into my mind, I actually have money now, don't I? Stuffing the rest of the jerky down my mouth, I reach down into my bag and ruffle through it, yanking the sack out of the bag and plopping it next to me, taking the time to double check the bag, rations are still there as is the journal, so nothing's out of place. I pull open the sack and go through it, the clinking of coins reaching my ears as my fingers run through them, gripping them and beginning to count them in a hand.
The counting didn't last long, the end result being three gold pieces and twenty silver ones, I look them again, squinting in faux examination before dropping them back in the sack, holding both in either hand. I have absolutely no idea what the value of what gold and silver is, is this a lot for people here? Am I being scammed out of cash, er, coins? 'Oh my god I have no idea what the economy is here, god dammit.' I think to myself, rubbing the sides of my skull, a brilliant idea flashing in my mind. I quickly move around the wagon, head twisting and turning, ears picking up as I find my favourite little guard.
"Hey, Edward! How much is money around here?" I question aloud, Edward turning around to look around to me, though his face is covered by his helmet I can still imagine the puzzled look on his face, I hold up my sack and explain further. "Like, is this a lot of ca-coins?"
He's silent for a few moments, as if he's processing the question, his lips curling down into a frown.
"I, what? Zeke do you have any idea on how money works here?" He finally responds to the question, his voice turning almost shrill towards the end as the general tone of confusion swallows the entirety of his response. I shrug at him, an awkward smile on my face while he groans once more, pinching his eyes under his helmet. "By the Gods I'm gonna have to teach you about money like a damned child."
After what feels like hours pass, because money and economy is so god damn boring, I don't have a terrible sense on the worldly economy, silver coins behaving similar enough to a dollar from home, with gold coins being the rough equivalent of a one hundred dollar note, kind of? I'm not great with maths and I stopped paying attention for a little because numbers, but I probably got enough of to not get screwed over. I'm more or less packed up and ready to go, bag thrown into the wagon and wide awake, leaning against the suns half way to mid day, so we hopefully got plenty of time to make it to the village, the merchants relaxing on a wagons seat idly chatting bout, something, there's no way I can actually figure out what they're talking about, though I can at least catch some reoccurring words, no idea what a 'moheta' is but I've heard it a fair bit. Edward continues to stand vigilant and guard the area, patrolling near the tree line, I personally think he should use the time to rest or catch up on sleep, he deserves it, or maybe the sparring woke him up too? Something catches his attention, his hand gripping on his hilt as he moves to a tree, his body covering whatever hes examining from my angle, silent for a few moments before turning around.
"Hey Zeke! Come here for a sec." He calls out to me, his grip on his sword softening slightly as I approach, poking my head over his shoulder. The tree he examining being the one I, uh, accidentally abused when standing watch, I feel myself chill slightly, uh oh.
"What we looking at? The tree cut?" I ask, Edward nodding a he digs a thumb into the cut, ripping and tearing some of the bark away and moving closer, humming quietly as he looks over it with an investigative eye.
"Seems recent, deep cut, did you see this when you were standing watch?" I hum in faux thought, trying my best to hold back the nervous cough building up in my throat as I cross my arms, covering my mouth to hide terse lips.
"Mn, don't think I did, whoever done this seems to have run off though, don't ya think? We haven't seen anyone else around here, nor has Gerome or Vector." I counter, levelling my voice as best as I could to try to prevent any inflections, I can't give myself away. He continues to hum to himself, helmet covering his face and masking his reaction. After a few moments pass, he stands up and brushes his hands over his leggings.
"Perhaps you're right, best keep an eye out though, just in case. We'll march soon enough." I internally fist pump, score one for me! He brushes past and towards the wagon, quickly approaching the merchants and given Geromes nodding, probably telling them the same thing. I turn my head back to the tree, giving it a small pat before backing away from it, does trees heal? Certainly hope this one does. A shiver goes down my spine as I look up to the smothering canopy, hands clenching before turning and heading back towards the group. I swear, there's something in the trees.
The travelling towards the village is a monotonous chore of marching, thankfully it's mixed with cheerful chatting and ribbing, definitely breaks the boredom of it at least. The sun continues its ascension into the sky, nearby flowers blooming with the birds chirping. It's a serene experience, something that I'd imagine out of a fairy tale novel, or fantasy, it's calming or relaxing, and surprisingly enough I haven't grown tired of it just yet, sighing happily as I close my eyes, the wind brushing over my face. According to Edward, the next village will be coming up soon, and it's a good deal bigger than the one I'm used to. That reminds me, no ones actually told me what it's called, which is odd to say the least, not a single mention of its name from anyone, I suppose it'll come up later though.
There's a strange niggling ache in the back of my skull, as if I'm forgetting something, is it just needless worrying or a gut feeling? 'Not much to do about it,' I think to myself, trying my best to shrug it off. I have friends around me, Gerome mostly, but the others would help with whatever else would come up, right? Anna would probably kick Geromes ass if he didn't, so that's a saving grace at the very least... I really hope she's okay, can she take care of herself if someone goes after her? Maybe I should visit her when this job's done.
"Oy Zeke, you paying attention?" Geromes voice knocks me out of my thoughts, shaking my head and looking up to him with a 'hng?', the sun masking his reaction, were we walking for that long? I squint my eyes to shield it from the glare and refocus my mind, smiling sheepishly and scratching the back of my head
"Uh, sorry, what's going on?" I reply to him, a chuckle being my more immediate reply as I hear a soft sigh from the other side of the wagon.
"Zeke, we're in the middle of a job, a very important one too, please be more attentive when on guard." I hear Edward pipe up in a scolding tone, my ears flattening as I huff. He might got a point, but still. "We're coming up on the town, these two aren't going to stay here for trading for too long according to Captain, but its a necessary stop."
I nod, a mostly useless reaction due to the whole wagon obscuring our view of each other, so I follow it up with a quick affirmative grunt so he can at least hear me understand him. The forest peters soon after, replaced with long stretches of open fields, up ahead from dirt roads wooden houses stand tall and proud, even from here I can see rows and rows of flowers surrounding the area around them, a friendly and welcoming sight. Moving closer I can see a sign, of the same make as the one from Annas' town, equally as unkempt and rotten, thought I can at least make out the word 'Bex' before it's snuffed out. 'Bex, Bexton? Bexley? At least I have a name for this village.' I think to myself as we stroll into the town, passing vendors of mixed fruits and different meats, thankfully separated from each other. My nose crinkles as a particularly awful scent invades my nose, an almost burning sensation filling my senses as my ears flattens again, I cover my nose as best as I can and throw over my hood, doing so at least seems to circumvent whatever's ruining my nose at least mildly, though I keep a firm hold over my nose nonetheless. We continue to move deeper into the village, no interruptions from what I notice, though my hood does obscure any side eyeing humans that could be sneaking a peak. Further and further we go, the houses blurring together in a mish-mash of brown and white, the stench helpfully dissipating as we move away from its source, throwing off my hood again to take in the surrounding area.
There before us stands a tall building, wooden as is the rest of the town from what I've seen, angular roof with multiple stained glass windows occupying the upper row of them, atop the highest part of a roof stands a large brass bell, vendors still clutter around the building itself which seems to be selling trinkets and books, the merchants covered with thin robes. A church, maybe? Or a town hall, maybe both?
"Alright Zeke, the two here are going to set up shop for a the next day and a half, afterwards we'll be onto Wreathwood, don't get into too much trouble." Edward speaks up from behind me, jumping slightly in surprise. Did I not hear him, too engrossed in observation? Nonetheless I turn around and give him a mock salute and tilted head.
"Aw, come on Eddy, when do I ever stir up anything?" He crosses his arms and continues to look at me, head and helmet tilting forward slightly. I roll my eyes, killjoy. "Alright alright, I'll do my best."
The merchants set up shop near the town hall church, thing, an elder man coming out to greet them, a polite smile on his face, shiny bald head but with a face full of stark white bearded hair reaching down just below his chest. Gerome responds to his greeting with his regular grin and clasping his oncoming hand with his own, an almost rough handshake leaving the old man looking a little worn, Vector being a little more reserved simply gives a small nod to them. Their horses are taken away by guards, to stables I'd imagine, as they walk into the building, spare guards watching over the wagons in return. I scratch my head and continue to look around, Edwards already marched off somewhere, I can see him turn a corner, what the hell am I meant to do here?
I shrug and instead choose to walk down a random street, though the area around the church is bare of people other than the scant merchants scattered around it (maybe those trinkets that's there are enchanted through a divination to a god? Is that a thing here, or a scam), the same does not mean the same around the streets, various other citizens darting around doing jobs for others, or just chatting, or just walking around with their children, there's a lot more humans around than Annas' village, that's for sure, even in this singular street. I hear whispering as I continue to walk down the street, ear twitching as I look out the side of my eyes to catch them. Woman pull their children away, 'what's that, mommy?', their questions unanswered from their mothers as they pull them inside, the other men around either side eyeing my or openingly glaring in my direction. The hair on the back of my neck stand up at the open distrust, choosing instead to simply walk down the street faster, I guess they don't like non humans either, and I don't think I can kick them around like I did to Edward. I take a right, thankfully I feel the pressure of glaring and staring lay off of my skull as I move away from them, instead that pressure is replaced with that god awful stench, I feel my nose crinkle again as I grimace. I swear to fuck I'll find out what's making that smell and I'll break it if I have to.
I feel like I have to fight against my own body as I stride towards the source, each step towards it only making the thrum of pain in my nose worsen, I resign myself to breathing in and out of my mouth instead, thankfully circumventing at least part of the pain. I walk and walk and walk, the road a straight line, at the very end there's a group of humans, along with their own wagons. Squinting to try to see what else is happening is fruitless, and so I continue to walk forwards, at least the pressure in my skull is lifting.
I finally reach the group of humans, none too much paying attention to my entrance, instead focusing on whatever's being presented, their chattering masking whatever's being shown, or sold. I look over them, at least the crowd is short enough, though I can't hear the presenters I can at least get a better look at them. The two of them are dressed in a similar enough garb, brown robes that hang loosely on their bodies, underneath that robe, dirty white shirts cling to them with varying degrees of tattering, at least the one slightly taller one on the right seems to have theirs mostly holding together, the other being torn near to shreds. Their faces are masked by their hoods, though their disgusting grins are still visible, curled up in a malicious manner. Their wagons aren't exactly wagons, not all of them at least, at least three of them being more box shaped than the others, a thin sheet covering it, the roar in my gut mixes with the chill tingle going down my spine, teeth gritting as I hold the hilt of my sword even tighter, a failure of an attempt to sooth and centre myself. I've a terrible feeling about this.
Despite the urge to do so, I continue to watch in a sense of morbid curiosity despite the screeching of danger coming from my body, the throbbing in my skull reappearing despite the neglect to smell the air. The duo continues to talk, their words not properly reaching my ears whether from the continued roaring of the crowd or through something else, the cheers of the humans around me only increasing in volume. Finally the taller of the two turns around and tugs at the rope, the covering of the boxed containers falling away to reveal their contents as the crowd cheers, multiples of them reaching up with sacks of what I assume to be coin. The box 'containers' sure are containers, a jail for the beings in there, covered with ragged scraps of cloth, torn from miss-use and a lack of care, they all look afraid or dead inside, keidran from various species, wolves, foxes, dogs and larger looking cats are smothered together, bound by chains to their feet and body connected to the floor. Their cells are un-maintained, straw and other stains splattered across the bars, walls and floor. Woman, men, children are treated with the same maliciousness as a cruel master to its dog, their eyes sharing a similar pain with the children themselves huddled against whoever's closer, eyes brimming with tears at the cheer of the disgusting crowd around me, the bile rises up in my throat as I feel my senses focus on them, a dog keidran being dragged from one of the cells to the stand that the merchants are on, a whip bringing him to his knees, though he doesn't react to it, a dead face looking downwards like a damaged dog. Is that what the smell was then? Unkempt slaves abused and treated like trash, they're sentient you fucking bastards! A barely containable rage runs through my veins, my teeth clenches further into the point of a snarl forming on my face, hands shaking, should I draw on them? These disgusting animals don't deserve anything more than to be treated like the keidran they abuse, they deserve nothing less, just one swing and I will set them fre-
"Excuse me, may I ask something of you?" A voice knocks me out of my thoughts, though I still feel myself brimming with fury which should be used on them as I turn to face whoever spoke. The speaker himself being a tall albeit lanky man, his mere presence emanating a hoity-toity almost 'holier than thou' sense from him, clad in a well made but simple purple robe reaching from neck to feet, his face a perfectly punchable smug looking one, how one manages to be baby faced while having a receding hairline is beyond me, but that along with his dull green eyes puts together a perfectly awful figure of a man. I continue to look at the man, my reply being an acknowledgement of him, I'm trusting my own tongue to speak, though his should be removed.
"God, you don't seem too brainless. Where is your Master? I wish to discuss a potential purchase." He smiles smugly, truly befitting of a disgusting human being as him. I blink, what, oh my god wait does he think I'm a fucking slave. I continue to say nothing, though my eyes narrow as I look down to him, grip ever tightening on my hilt. His condescending face falls flat, grin turning to a frown.
"Anything in there? Or are you a mute? Not sure on whether or not that'd increase the price." He mutters to himself towards the end, humming to himself as his eyes turn in thought, I can imagine ping pong balls knocking side from side in that head of his. With shaky hands and a shuttering breath, my hand latches to his throat and squeeze it tightly, dragging it upwards as I lean down to his height, the audience none the wiser due to their disgusting attachment to the devilry in front of them, the rich bastard splutters, any words that he could spout from his throat I would make very painful.
"I am not for sale, I am no ones master but my own, and if I ever see you approaching me again, I will personally remove you from this realm and shorten your disgusting and puny life. If you raise hell with the gaurds, that'll only make your judgement come as quickly as it by earthly should, though karma is never quick enough to act, do you understand?" My voice is a cold fury, barely keeping in rage from beating the shrivelling man to the dirt he ought to be buried on, the grip on his neck only tightens, the noises from him being a spluttering and incohesive mess, but he manages to nod lightly, I can see the fear running through his eyes, darting left to right. I hold the maggot there for a few moments longer before finally dropping him to the ground, hands covering his throat as he continues to cough and splutter, breathing in deep gasps of air. I look around, the debauchery and disgusting practise of slavery seems to capture the rabbles attention far more than it ought to, but it works to my advantage here, there's no guards either, odd considering the spectacle here, and I instead walk past the groveling little man, taking a small bit of pleasure in his fear as my own smug grin brushes over my face, turning my waltz into a quick job to get out of the scene as fast as possible.
The glee of it all fades quickly as I pelt myself down the street, turning second to the right into another thankfully clear street, no citizens prowling around, probably at the slave drivers auction likely. The bile in my stomach returns with a vengeance, unable to resist it, I succumb to its demands, bowing over and emptying the non existent contents into the dirt, tears stinging my eyes as my mind races. Holy Jesus, they, were they alive? Mentally, they all looked so dead inside, as if the light behind their eyes were switched off, did they have collars? I didn't see many on them, maybe they were just broken? Oh god there were kids there, they're just kids, they don't deserve to be treated like farm animals. I remember the fear and tears in their eyes as I breathe in a heaving sob, tears running off of my cheek and onto the ground, can I go back to them? I might be able to save one, but there's that noble bastard there too, he'd ring the guards on my ass and I'd be done for, oh god I wanted to tear him apart, that's not me is it? I don't remember being like this, who am I?
..Zeke, you're Zeke, at least now anyways, but now is what's important, calm down and breathe, I can't save them all, even though the heart inside me wants to rage and run them down, I can't put anyone else in danger, too. I raise onto shaky feet, stumbling up the road, I'll just rest in a wagon, or ask for an Inn, I can't be out with people any more, or at least for the next while, I hope I'm not bit in the ass for it. I wipe the tears away and continue the slow walk, with a heavy heart. I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry, I can only hope they're given good lives, better than what the cells are. The wishes inside feel so, hollow, but they're all I have for them just yet, but I'll free them, someday, I'll tear them down
Authors note: I did take a few days with this chapter, and I'd like to think it came out well, though I'd love for people to leave some reviews, or PMs about it cause I'd always love to improve. God the part with the smug dude actually had to go over a massive rewrite because I realised just as I finished it that what I described didn't exactly fit the T rating, which I might boost up to M later depending on where the story goes, because I do wanna keep a T rating, but even that didn't fit an M rating with how almost needlessly graphic it was. Anyhow, I hope everyone enjoys that, have a good day.