Elevation of Mana Chapter 56 Sleds and Slaves

As I rose, finding the sun just cresting the edge of the sky I looked around in brief confusion.  Moments passed as my mind righted itself, reminding me where I was and what I was doing before I rose.  There was much to do today, and in the coming days.  I had only a limited amount of savings and there was no easy way to put it, but I needed to get working or I would find myself in a rather hard place sooner rather than later.

First came the general cleaning and organization.  There wasn't much to it, as there just wasn't much here, but it was the right place to start, so there I did.  Once I was sure that everything was in order I began the process of getting set up to restart on my labors.

I needed a forge of at least some form, and had none of the materials required for it.  Luckily these were fairly simple for the moment, primarily consisting of mud, hay, and other building materials.  A small off-room from the house which lacked a proper covering would be the location, and after making some measurements I began to go about gathering.

The city would not serve for most of what I needed today, so I made my way to one of the gates before heading out into the countryside.  This was not at all unusual, and in fact a huge number of people were doing just the same, mostly headed towards the nearby sea, but some were off to similar goals as my own, and I fell in with them on some of the paths leading from the city.

Most of what I needed for now was either plant material or clay, and once I'd arrived at a small creek cutting through the local brush I began getting things.  A small sled was easy enough to throw together with magic, cuts to shape it and shims to hold everything in place made the construction speedy and clean, the wood would serve later as well, the item itself serving many purposes.

I got looks from some of the other elves, but nobody bothered me as I heaped a mixture of clay from the creek-bed and dried grasses atop my small vehicle.  I knew what I wanted, and roughly where it would all be.  Most of those around me were far more interested in the edible plants than I was, since I only needed to pick up a few for my meals today.

Before long I realized that the people here were in smaller groups, all very spread out.  With each there seemed to be a magic-user, who was making the plants grow to be harvested, but they were all so far from one another.

Except for one girl, who had moved over to my sled while I was ,meticulously choosing some clay and was nearly hovering over it.  The rest of her group wasn't far off, getting baskets of nuts and the like, but she'd come over.

“Can I help you?” I asked, appearing behind her with an armload of my own choices.

“Eep!” she said, turning quickly.  Now I could see the markings on her shoulder, a large number of hashes under something that looked like a shell, with a few characters under it I didn't know.

I looked her over.  Other than the marks on her skin she seemed fairly normal.  The basket in her hands held a variety of small plants, but none that I'd been after, so it was immediately clear she hadn't taken anything.  That said, I still didn't love a stranger getting too close to my things.

“Well?” I asked.

“Ah, please, I meant no offense, I was just looking at the thing you made,” she stammered out, clearly nervous.

“A sled, it makes carrying things easier.”  That at least wasn't an odd concept for this world.  People would sometimes built things like this to drag loads on the ground, though normally it took a lot more work from them then I'd put into this one.

“Oh, yes, it's just that some of the connections are a bit different, and you made it very fast...”

I looked at it briefly.  Without really thinking I'd put several of the joints used back home into it.  There were a few quick dovetails, and many mortise and tenon connectors.  I'd nearly forgotten that things like that weren't very common around here.

While I went over those things, another from her group arrived.  This time it was the caster, who immediately took the girl by the ear and twisted harshly, far more harshly than I'd ever seen anyone do before.

“I hope my girl Sala isn't bothering you sir?  Sala, apologize to the nice man,” she said with a slight smile.

“AAH, I'm sorry, please forgive me!” the girl, clearly named Sala quickly said, her head bending, dropping as the other woman brought her hand down to force her to bow.  Somehow, either luck, or long practice, she didn't drop the basket she was carrying.

“That's enough,” I said, feeling a bit of the anger at this casual cruelty slipping into my voice.  While that escaped only a little I felt my own aura flare, magic responding to the unhappiness I felt.

With a slightly shocked expression the newcomer released the curious girl, hand snapping open.  Sala though didn't rise, shaking like a leaf as her eyes stayed low on the ground.  Putting two and two together wasn't hard, clearly this girl was property, owned by the other woman.

“If you say so sir.  I'll make sure she doesn't bother you again.  Come along Sala,” the owner said, turning on her heel and leaving.

As the two retreated I wove a small spell, one that would amplify the sounds from their direction, letting me listen in.

“Well, how did he put it together?” the magic-user asked.

“I-I saw some of the things he used, and we could copy them easy, but some I didn't get a good look at...” Sala explained, clearly still a bit afraid.

It seemed that my demonstration had attracted attention, and rather than just coming to ask me someone had decided to spy.  That was stupid beyond reason, as if they'd just requested it, I could have made another, but some people weren't like that.  There was also no doubt in my mind that the girl had been sent, and not come on her own.  It was an insight into the way things worked in this area, and one I didn't much like.

“Tch, useless, why do I even keep you around.”  A small whimper followed, but I didn't look, pretending instead to be absorbed in my own work.

“He didn't seem unkind, maybe he would trade you one?” Sala suggested in a small voice.

“Oh?  And what would I trade him?  You?” she was asked with dripping sarcasm.

I let my eyes wander over to their group and saw that other than the mage all the other members of the group were marked.  With a  brief look over the area I could clearly see that many of the groups, though certainly not all of them, were of a similar makeup.  Perhaps that was one of the ways that people with magic made money around here, using their power to control groups of slaves.

As for those I was spying on, I could see that other than Sala and her owner, all the rest were studiously keeping quiet and out of the way.  I had some thoughts on this as well.

In both worlds I'd noticed that men were more prone to acts of extreme violence.  Men killed for the most part, and often were the ones killed.  However, when it came to casual cruelty, women reigned.  Even in my village, the boys might fight, but after that it tended to be over.  Some of the women on the other hand had kept small time grudges going for years, snipping and being mean for as long as I had paid attention.  It was one of the reasons I had no doubts Elaya would deeply regret sending me away.

Briefly, very briefly I considered going and finding some way to buy the girl.  It was clear that she was the whipping boy for any bad mood her owner had.  There'd be no issue with the wealth I had affording her if I was any judge.  However, what about the next slave I met, or the one after that?  I couldn't afford all of them, and even if I could, there'd just be a new crop taken.

No, this girl wasn't one I could help now, but there was a solution.  It was simple enough, and that was to get enough power, be it magical, political, or otherwise, to end the institution once and for all.  That seemed a good goal for me, and bringing society into a more modern world would help on all fronts.

Nothing left to do here for the moment, I took the hauling ropes of my craft and pulled.  After all, I had so very much work to do.