Triple Strength

268. Troll Shit: Wiremu.

We kept anyone with weak mental shields away from the meeting. Mainly, this meant Umreti, Mayakku and Astrid. Rodion stayed with them in case of a backstab along with their bonds. Tabitha, Ruku, Runa, Modrica and I met them at our campsite's edge. Težka was behind us, and Dusk and Horny were just off to the side. Tāoke was following the Slaves as they approached. There was no sign of the extra person.

Nelson only came with Todd and Sandra. All the others were packing up the camp. We were planning to move on today, but that now depends. The four slaves joined them, and the seven walked toward us. They were all dressed for a fight. The way they formed a group indicated they had been together a long time. It was like everybody just slotted into place around Nelson. Looking at them, I realised that none of them were young. Nelson was pushing 150, but I would be surprised if any of them were younger than middle-aged at around 80. The elf was probably older, but who can tell with elves? Todd and Sandra were probably the youngest. What this meant was this was a very experienced and highly skilled fighting team who were very much used to working together. If this turned into a fight, I think we would be on the losing side. Mutual destruction was probably the best outcome. And their stealth expert wasn’t even here yet.

Except that the stealth expert was suddenly there. It was like she stepped out from behind Nelson and had always been there. When I saw her, my jaw dropped open in surprise. She was an elderly Foxkin. This was the fox bond, but it wasn’t a fox. Nelson had a partnership bond with a sapient being! I didn’t even know that was possible. How? Why? The bond was clear and strong in my senses, and it was definitely a healthy bond. When I thought about it, bonding with another sapient is possible. That is what the slave bond is. A full partnership bond, though? Would that come from a Class? I don’t understand.

“I thought you had some sort of bond class,” Nelson said as he approached and saw my astonished face. “She,” he pointed to Tabitha, “was too knowledgable about bonds but obviously lacked the skills.”

“How?” I asked.

“Siùsaidh and I have been bonded for almost a century now, and we only have a few years left in this life. We are not going to spend our last years in a war. I will tell you this. You won’t find answers about Sapient Bonds on this continent.”

“War?” Ruku asked.

“You really don’t see it, do you? I thought you were agents from the kingdom here to stir things up, but you are not agents. You are just being played. I don’t know why the kingdom wanted to poke this dragon, but the dragon is now awake and very unhappy. The Emperor is marching south with a good portion of his main army.”

“You think the Kingdom is doing this?” Ruku asked.

“Over the last five years, there have been three main skirmishes and the deaths of five Empire affinity users. The Kirghiz Navy and paid private operators continually hampered empire shipping. A plague is ravishing the northern regions, and it came from the Kingdom. As I understand it, the last straw is this attack on Slave Taskmasters, which also came from the Kingdom. No individual is going to finance a contract of that size alone. It has to have Kingdom support, probably this Wiremu Hunter is just a frontman. This is undermining and reducing the basic workforce of the empire. There is going to be a war like we haven’t seen since the Orc Rebellion centuries ago.”

“You are not staying to fight?” Tabitha asked.

“Absolutely not. When we met, I was in the middle of being drafted, and you enabled me to extract myself with minimal bloodshed. Those mercenaries were with the Imperial troopers, but with some influence and appropriate bribery, I was able to split them off, and the Patrol Leader was out-maneuvered. It was less bloodshed than my team coming to get me, which was the last resort option.”

Then it clicked for me. The Mental attack at the camp. His ‘influence’ on the mercenaries. Bonds share affinities.

“You have an affinity,” I said. “A Mental Affinity.”

“It is the reason I was being drafted,” Nelson replied. “I agreed to the trip to Almaeadin as a way I could get out. The Provincial Commander wanted me to make a slave army.”

I looked at the slaves here. The highly skilled slaves who have been with him for years. Slaves don't grow in skills because of the reduced mental attributes.

“Your affinity can counteract the reduced Mental Attributes of the slave class. You can help them grow in their skills,” I said. Nelson nodded. “But you could also free them.”

“It is not always kindness to free slaves, especially long-term slaves,” he said with sadness. “They don’t cope with life, and many have been abused.”

I frowned. I am not sure I agree with him, but I have seen some of the effects, and he has a point. I have no answer to the rehabilitation of long-term slaves.

Nelson interrupted my thoughts, “We are leaving now. Eiko,” he indicates the Avion, “tells me the rest of my household are only two days away. We will go and meet them. I have released the mercenaries from service, and we will be getting far away from the empire. We will probably leave the continent.”

“I have a request,” Ruku said. Nelson raised an eyebrow at him, so he continued, “I want you to take the last two slaves with you.”

“Really?” I said.

“We have no way to rehabilitate them, even if we can free them,” Ruku said to me. “At least with him, they have a chance to grow, and with his other bonds, especially her,” he pointed to the Foxkin, “they are not likely to be abused.”

I frowned.

Nelson frowned, “They will slow us down.”

“Not by much once we join with the others,” the Foxkin, Siùsaidh, said.

Nelson frowned again. I got the feeling he didn’t want to stop and pick up strays. “OK, but then we are gone.”

It didn’t take much for Ruku to transfer the slaves to Nelson. He didn’t say, but I think keeping the slaves was bothering him. I still wasn’t sure I trusted Nelson, although he didn’t lie in the conversation.

I glanced at Runa. She hadn’t reacted in the conversations. Was the King using us? Was she here to keep us on track? I am pretty sure Ruku is a true part of the Clan, but the King, her grandfather, assigned Runa. We are going to need to talk about this after Nelson has gone. For now, we need to show no dissension.

What would be the purpose for the King to arrange a war? The recent skirmish was Noble run as far as I could tell, possibly Empire initiated, but that information also came from the king. Nelson believed what he said, but that didn’t make it true. The plague was Gwaed’s doing. The Kingdom didn’t even know she was in Obalno until she helped Tabitha chase out the Empire assassins. The kingdom has certainly made use of the plague, from what I hear, but they are not responsible for sending it. I guess from the Empire’s view, it is all far too convenient, so they must have orchestrated it.

Now that I thought about it, the King knew some of the blame from my contract on the Slave Taskmasters would fall on the Kingdom. He could have stopped me, but he didn’t. He had a warning from Tabitha of what I was going to do, and he let it happen. We have been used. His making Tabitha a Countess was probably all part of it. Bloody goblin shit I hate politics.

Then it hit me. Kelda worked for Military Intelligence. Was she involved? I don’t think so. I don’t want to think so. She was the one who took me to see the Mental Healer and slaves in Kirghiz. Was she manipulating me? Shit, this sort of thinking can undermine everything. I refuse to believe so. I got to know her very well. That doesn’t mean she wasn’t manipulated to being a string to tie me to the Kingdom. Like Tabitha being promoted to Countess, but much more effective. Bloody Troll Shit on politics.

I just want to set people free from slavery. That is it. Now, I am being used to start a war? Really? Tabitha is better at this shit than I am. I need to talk to her, but I am feeling used. I need to pull in my emotions until I talk to Tabitha and we talk to Runa. Just because Nelson believes it does not make it true. Just because I can see connections that support it also does not make it true. Will I ever know what the truth is?

I need to centre my mind. I will spend some time out hunting as soon as I can, but for now, my mission has not changed regardless of who is trying to use me. I will find a way to remove the slave class, and Tabitha can deal with the rest of the troll shit.