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Story:Chapter 3 – The Slaves of MeruArbrathUpon our return, our masters declared our apprenticeships over, and offered us full membership in the Green Arrow Path as Adepts of the First Circle. However, B'gyrh also gave Eldan a sound tongue-lashing for having even considered selling the four prisoners into slavery, which is – or should be – an abomination for all Barsaivian Namegivers. Eldan took the edge off his frustration by working the prisoners hard at cleaning the Citadel. A few days later, Skira Mathoren disappeared abruptly, as he so often did, leaving a note for me: Honorable and Wise Kata, I have had a sudden and unexpected opportunity to research some records pertaining to the family history of Family Nate - Terron Nate's family - in Syrtis. I will be gone for some time. During my absence please see to it that the genealogies of the orkish Windfather tribe are compared with the manuscript on pre-Scourge orkish culture that you have been working on - we are looking for potential matches or partial matches to family names that may give us a better idea of the Windfathers territory. Also, the damaged manuscript recently delivered from Iopos - the one that appears to be a treatise on the theology and practices of Quaestors of Dis - should be recopied on clean parchment. I realize that the document is in elvan, a language with which you are not conversant, but I am certain that your copying skills are up to the task required of you. Which reminds me - once I return we simply must begin your elvan language studies. Finally, there is a faint possibility that I may have a particular visitor while I am away - an elf by the name of Zadoren may arrive with documents for me. Please do your utmost to make him feel at home - he is an honored guest and an old friend, and I am most distraught that my absence may inconvenience him (though you must admit, a chance to research Terron Nate is worth a little inconvenience!). Should he bring documents please see to it that they are left in a secure location and undisturbed. I believe the possibility of Zadoren's arrival during my absence is slim, however, so do not hesitate to take advantage of opportunities that may present themselves to you. In my absence you may check in with B'gyra for guidance should you need it, and as a favor to me please check in with her periodically for the sake of friendship. I worry for her - I think that she has lost more than a limb, and I fear that she has concerns regarding her former apprentice. Necessity, I fear, more than desire forced that choice upon her. Still, perhaps the lad will grow wiser with experience. I suspect that Arbrath will also wish to speak with you at some point, now that you have accepted membership in the Green Arrow Path. Until then, however, do not trouble her for minor matters. I should be back within a month or two. Yours, Skira P.S. If you have time to sort the documents currently in the left-hand piles next to my writing desk - the ones bound by twine - it is my thought that they be sorted in chronological order, but that an index by author also be made. If you have time, please see to that, and to the rebinding of the twelve volume "History of Kaers and Citadels". Since Master Skira Mathoren frequently thus disappeared, this only made me sigh when I contemplated the laundry list of tasks he had left me. About a week after his departure, Ka'El informed Eldan and myself that we were all invited to dine with Arbrath in her living quarters at the top of her tower. He was wide-eyed, since even he had never been there. As for Eldan, his fruitless attempts to trespass, resulting in encounters with Arbrath's wizardly traps and wards, had earned him his nickname "Smokey". Arbrath's quarters were very finely appointed, the food and wine were sumptuous, and her conversation was urbane. We all tried to show our best behaviour, with varying results. After dinner, she gradually started to question us about our motives for joining the Green Arrow Path. She seemed to evaluate the worthiness – or lack thereof – of our answers. She then announced that the prisoners we had brought back from Lorin could not stay at the Citadel indefinitely, and we had to take them to Syrtis. We would book passage, she announced matter-of-factly, on the Foolish Venture, the showboat that was Erengazor's main wealth; the vessel was headed upriver through Lke Pyros and Lake Ban, detoured down the Coil River to Urupa, then headed up the Serpent River to Syrtis. We would leave the prisoners there, then return home. After we left Arbrath's quarters, we quickly prepared to travel. The Foolish VentureThe Captain of the vessel, Voosta Laskis G'Dorren, met with us the next morning. Captain Voosta was a lean and happy-looking female T'skrang of middle years, not an Adept but an expert river captain. After briefly questioning us, she assigned Ka'el to work in costuming, Eldan was put to work in set construction, and I, the only one with some sailing experience since like most T'skrang I had spent my kaissa working on a riverboat, got a minor position in ship's maintenance and was also expected to help out the act as a clown. The Captain then turned us over to one of the mates, a human by the name of Koreg Harnen, who would be the one we actually answered and reported to. Everyone was assigned a bunk, though quarters were scarce. We travelled about a day upriver before reaching our first stop, a plantation operated by niall Meru, one of the great families of House K'tenshin. The plantation was both large and relatively new, having been established during the current year and pulling in their first harvest only recently. The main products of the plantation were sugar cane and bananas, though there were smaller crops of flax, cotton, and tea. There were around one hundred settlers, mostly T'skrang, but with a smattering of other races – and, as we discovered, around two hundred slaves of various races. These were worked mercilessly for sixteen hours a day, and kept chained in foul-smelling pens at other times. Everyone on board the Foolish Venture hated the very thought of slavery, but the crew and performers kept a stoic face on as they prepared to give their travelling show for niall Meru. Eldan, Ka'El and I, however, had rapid whispered conversations as we worked, trying to devise means of freeing the slaves. Koreg Harnen kept us busy, however, so that we did not have a chance to plan well. The matter was made even thornier when a large and well-armed Theran vessel came to moor near us, dwarfing our showboat. EscapeEldan, full of fire and impetuosity, did not wait for Ka'El and I when he saw an opportunity to slip inside the slave pens under cover of the night and the distraction provided by the preparation of our travelling show. He managed to open the locks securing the slaves' chains, and told the prisoners that they should flee while the show provided a distraction. He then slipped back to rejoin us, looking smug. As it turned out, the slaves seized this opportunity as best they could. However, they were not armed, and many were in no condition to run; most were not likely to survive the perils of the Servos Jungle. Soon the alarm was raised, and perhaps fifty of the slaves were rounded up and recaptured. The Human who seem to command the Therans, a man called Fegis Kul, was livid with anger. To make an example, he had us all gather at sunrise and line up to watch the slaves' punishment. All fifty of them were beheaded. Our crew looked very grim, and I could tell both Captain Voosta Laskis G'dorren and Koreg Hanen were furious with us; they seemed convinced that no one else could have been foolish enough to do this. Foolish Venture set sail as soon as we were permitted to leave. Eldan was much subdued and somber. A few leagues upriver, however, my companions and I spotted some movement along the bank. Somebody saw us and ran deep into the jungle. Koreg Hanen saw it too, but said nothing. It would not go well for the crew if we were caught aiding fugitive slaves. Nevertheless, we convinced him to have a boat drop us off on the bank, for we were certain that the escaped prisoners would die in the jungle if we did not help them. Eldan put all his energy and skill into following their tracks through the thick vegetation. We moved away from the riverbank, deep into the understory. Eldan said the tracks indicated a group of twenty or so. Then we reached a point where, he said, some tracks had broken off from the rest of the group. We decided to follow the two trails separately. Eldan, who was faster and a better tracker, would try to catch up with the main group, while Ka'El and I would look for the stragglers. After some effort, Ka'El and I found one haggard-looking man with a broken ankle, trying to hide in the bushes. We were trying to coax him out, when suddenly we were attacked by a giant insect-like creature, a sort of mantis which Ka'El recognized as an inshalata, native to this jungle. Between Ka'El's Mind Dagger spell and my shortsword, we barely managed to destroy the creature, but nearly at the cost of our own lives. The escaped slave looked at us with widened eyes and accepted the notion that we were not his enemies.
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