By Bolgerjc
“We are taking you to the slave markets,” the large man answer and turned to the unconscious Albert. “You fought well for your lady so I will at least give you a chance.”
The man tied up Albert but did no more harm to him, but he gave a look to Samantha that he would finish the man if she tried anything more while they were here, so she sat down in the cage and waited for the wagon to start heading to it’s destination. The other men looked like they wanted to finish off her apprentice but they only made moves to be on their way.
“You may be able to get out of those ropes in time but not before we have put a great deal of distance between us,” another of the said as they passed the unconscious form of Albert. “But I hope you find us because I would like a rematch with you.”
Samantha said a prayer to the gods to protect her squire while they were separated, because he had never fought on his own. This would be a harsh lesson for him that he would be the better for experiencing but there were real dangers of him not surviving. She had no ideas about how sever the injuries he had experience were, and she didn’t dare ask the slavers because with the mood they were in they would likely injure him more if she asked about him.
She felt naked without any weapon, she had always had some sort weapon with her since her childhood in the the halls of the Order of the Griffin. The paladin gave a slight laugh as she realized she was nearly naked already with her sweat from the combat soaking her clothing making much of it transparent. She was thankful the weather was warm here, but the night was likely to be unpleasant for her as she realized no one had any blankets, so she set her mind to escape from the cage. There was little to work with but she would find a way out of this threat to her freedom in time. Albert would come for in time if she failed.
It would be at least two nights until they were outside of the kingdom at the rate they were traveling, she thought as she watched closely the ways they were traveling. These were certainly back roads that were in serious danger of monster or bandit attacks, but they were likely trying to avoid any guards of the kingdom, so their activities were not entirely sanctioned despite what they said about being legal debt collectors. If they saw someone on the road they might be able to get some help though Samantha wanted to make certain she didn’t put any innocent people at risk because these slavers had already shone themselves to be dangerous.
Quietly as she could at the back of the cage Samantha tore a piece of her shirt off and wrote a message calling for help on it to be used if she saw a chance. The guards seemed to not notice what she was up to, or more likely they didn’t care what she up to at the back of the cage as long as she wasn’t near the lock. They knew there was little she could do to escape or threaten them, so why not leave her alone as long as she left them alone. The slavers had searched her for weapons and lock picks she remembered with a blush. Their hands had probed her body and crevices with a practiced touch from years of experience.
