TRC - Searching for the Sky Ch. 04

The door held as Kal skidded backwards into the middle of the room. He quietly cursed himself for forgetting to anchor his feet as he walked back. It was now Daxas's turn to fight down the urge to laugh.

"Huh? What?" they heard from inside followed by an annoyed groan and some shuffling that sounded like someone getting up off the floor. The wolf's eyes widened in panic, but the mage smiled, they might be able to turn this to their advantage. Kal had expected the disgusting man who checked him for weapons to sleep elsewhere. Then again, if he were one of the slavers he doubted he would be keen on having someone who smelled so bad sleeping in the same room.

Kal stumbled and fell up against the door, "Lemme in baby," he said slurring his words heavily, "I walked all the way (hic) here to shee youu. Did I ever tell you, you live a fuck of a (hic) long way away from the tavern?"

"What the fuck!?" said the man on the other side of the door. The look on the wolf girl's face made it clear she thought the human had completely lost his mind.

"You know it, baby... I got what you need. Best dick in the city, (hic) right here. You wanna fuck? All ya gotta do is lemme in."

"How the fuck did you get past the boys?" asked the man. He sounded like he was digging around inside the room.

"Boys? You got boys in there wit you? Need ta get rid of them boys... you got a (hic)man out here to take care o' you."

"Can't you tell I'm a man!?" the slaver yelled through the door. Kal winced, that was a bit loud

"Dat's right baby, I'll be your man. Gonna beat on dis door all night long until you lemme in so I can show you how much of a man I am!"

"Like fuggin' hell you are," the man inside grumbled, the words were accompanied by the soft click of a crossbow being cocked. "Looks like the guys are going to have one to pick up in the morning," Kal heard as the man unlocked the door and pushed the handle down.

Kal moved as soon as the door began to open. Grabbing the handle on his side, he shoved with the help of the strength rune, pushing the dirty man back. As the mage stepped into the room he checked the door's momentum with one hand, so it wouldn't swing open and slam against the wall, while the other grabbed the crossbow and pushed it off to the side in case it went off. With the door taken care of, he let go of the handle and slapped the man in the forehead, a cloud of fine dust enveloping him. Pulling his hand back and letting the small satchel of dust drop to the floor, a dark purple magic circle appeared in front of it as he cast the sleep spell. When the dust began to glow, the slaver's eyes went from shock and fear to drooping and finally closing as Kal pulled the unfired crossbow from his limp fingers and leaned the grubby little man up against a nearby wall.

Once the situation was under control the smell hit him. They had intentionally not eaten earlier in the day just to prepare for this room, it appeared to have been a wise choice with how his stomach was threatening to unload its contents. Glancing behind him, he saw that Daxas had retreated to the middle of the larger room. Even there she looked like she was about to retch. The wolf girl waved emphatically for him to get on with it.

Kal picked up the small satchel of dust from the ground and stepped over the sleeping man to the door at the back of the room. He carefully pushed the handle down and cracked the door open enough to peek out into the kennels.

Only to see a bleary-eyed Sylus standing in the middle of the room, staring at the door with a confused look.

Kal stood up straight and strode through the door.

The confusion quickly changed to recognition and surprise when he saw the mage. "You..." he managed to blurt out before the small bag of powder struck him in the chest just below his neck.

The speed rune flared as Kal dashed across the room, skidding to a halt in front of the salesman. Bringing up his hand he cast the sleep spell just below Sylus's chin and pointed up at an angle, just in case he had exposed any of the dog girls to the dust. If he put one to sleep by accident he would need to carry her far away from Sylus and the other slaver, or risk waking them as well when he canceled the spell. It took a few moments longer because the powdery sand he used was all over the man's neck and face instead of the top of his head but eventually the salesman's eyes closed and he began to topple backwards. Kal caught him by the front of the shirt and picked him up, carrying him back to the small room he had just exited and Daxas was now making her way through, having taken a corner of his cloak and folded it over many times before holding it over her mouth and nose.

As Kal closed the door behind them a few of the nearby dog girls looked on with wonder at the two new people. So far, none of them showed any signs of hope that they were being rescued, despite a couple of them seeing Kal take out one of the slavers right in front of them.

"Get Jakis," Daxas whispered, "Once you have control of them make them obey my orders and we can get them all out of here."

"You're sure, 'orders' not 'commands'?" he asked.

"We only need the collars to punish them if one goes rogue." She said removing Kal's cloak and handing it back to him then going to work on the rest of his clothes she was wearing.

"Got it," he said, nodding then softly calling out, "Ria."

The sprite materialized next to her bag and flitted up to his shoulder, absent her normal greeting when she realized where they were.

"Grab her clothes and I need my staff."

------

Jakis was just beginning to wonder what was taking Sylus so long, it usually only took the man a couple of minutes to drain his balls.

"Don't move," came a voice from behind him and to his left at the same time a piece of cold metal pressed against his neck.

The accountant just barely turned his head to see the man who had bought the wolf standing in the doorway by his desk, he held what appeared to be a sword with a three-foot blade and an equally long handle.

"Give me ownership of all of the girls," said the man in the cloak.

"I don't have ownership, Kogen does."

The money-changer felt a slight sting as the blade just barely bit into his skin. "Liar," said the man, a moment later the wolf he had bought stepped through the doorway behind him, without any sign of a collar.

Jakis wasn't strong or brave, but he was smart, which is why Kogen hired him. He had also been fiercely loyal, up until the point Kogen nearly beat him to death, those days were in the past. "On one condition," the cloaked man's eyes narrowed in suspicion, "I'm going with you. If you take the girls there's not a doubt in my mind Kogen will kill me. Take me with you and I'll help you however I can."

The man pulled the weapon away from his neck, "Done. I need ownership of the girls and the locks on their chains."

Jakis took a deep breath. This was his point of no return, once he gave this man control of the slaves his life was forfeit in this city as long as Kogen was alive. That thought brought up another question. "Is Sylus..."

"Sleeping," said the man, "I'd rather be out of here without any blood on my hands."

That certainly wasn't the answer of a man who would run him through as soon as he had the women. "All of the collars within my possession now belong to..."

"Kal."

"Now belong to Kal."

"Come," said Kal.

"One moment," Jakis opened a drawer and tossed Kal a familiar looking bag, "That's the money you paid for her," he said nodding at the wolf, "Kogen hasn't been here to collect it yet. There's a key to the locks in here somewhere," he said as he began quietly shuffling through the drawers.

Kal whispered something to his weapon making it change into a metal capped staff before looking back at the accountant. "I don't need a key I just need ownership of the locks," he said. "It doesn't need to be anything ceremonial just state that they now belong to me."

"Th... The locks on the girl's c...collars now belong to Kal," he stammered, completely confused.

"That'll work," said the ghostly image of a sprite sitting on Kal's shoulder. "Say the words, boss."

"Ria store the locks on the girl's collars."

"Got it!" said the sprite excitedly before jumping off Kal's shoulder and zipping through the leather curtain which the naked wolf girl was holding open.

Jakis grabbed the bag that held his personal money, he hesitated briefly before taking the bigger bag that held a sizeable chunk of the money Kogen had made in the last week. He then followed the man into the kennels.

------

Barely discernable strings of magic moved from the accountant over to Kal, tying him to each of the collars in the other room. They had gone unnoticed before and probably would have remained that way if not for so many moving at once. It was a stark reminder that he owned these women and not in the loving selfless way that he owned Ikuno and Bea. The feeling didn't settle well with him.

As he and Jakis entered the kennels specks of light were floating up from the individual cages as Ria flew past, making a beeline for the bag at his waist. By this time there was enough of a commotion that even those who had been sleeping when they first entered pressed up against the metal bars of their door, peering out at the trio standing at the end of the room.

Kal raised his voice as much as he dared, "I am your new owner, for the time being. You will do whatever I say as well as obey any orders given to you by Daxas here." Ria flitted back across the room and under the piece of hanging leather to collect the lock on Rose's cage. At the same time, a wide array of emotions appeared on the faces of the dog girls. Some were filled with hope while others seemed to fall further into despair, seeing him as just another human master and not yet understanding that they were being rescued. A couple of them were casting hate-filled glares at Daxas. "You're up Dax," he said, smiling.

Kal didn't really have any idea how this whole alpha-wolf thing really worked but what he saw shocked him.

Daxas dropped down on all fours, trading out her human limbs for their canine versions, but the transformation didn't stop there. Long gray hair sprouted from her back in the shape of an arrow pointed at her tail, at the same time the hair in her head grew out becoming shaggy and almost mane-like. The last glance she spared for him showed her teeth had grown out the same as when she had gotten angry with him. However, nothing prepared him for her eyes. The kind, lusty, vulnerable, determined, human eyes were gone, replaced by the glowing golden orbs of a wolf.

With a slow, determined pace she stalked over to the closest dog girl, her hackles raised and teeth bared. Kal opened the door to the cage, the girl inside looked to take after a beagle and was plainly no match for the much larger wolf. Kal worried that he might be throwing the women from the frying pan into the fire as the smaller girl crouched down on all fours, backing away and whining in fear. The beagle bumped into the back of her stall and yet Daxas kept coming. With a cry of despair, the dog rolled over onto her back in submission. The wolf bent her head growling and snapping her teeth right next to the beagle's neck while the dog girl tried to look anywhere but at the wolf girl. After a few tense moments the hair in Daxas's back laid down and the wolf licked the smaller girl's cheek.

The woman looked up at the wolf in surprise, in turn, Daxas retracted her fangs before leaning down and kissing the girl tenderly on the lips. It didn't strike Kal as passionate or sensual, more like one woman saying, "Welcome home," to another.

By the time she exited the kennel, Daxas once again had fangs and was eyeing up the girl in the next stall. Meanwhile, the beagle girl bounced back up onto her feet and followed the wolf out of her prison, coming over and sitting by Kal and Jakis, content with staying out of the way of her pack alpha. A few seconds later Ria and Rose joined them, the golden-haired dog girl taking up a spot next to the beagle.

The wolf girl repeated this process three times until she came to one of those who had been giving her hate-filled stares. The girl was nearly the size of Daxas and had copper colored hair with a white streak down the middle faintly bordered by strips of deep brown, almost black. He was fairly sure that someone in the church had named dogs with those markings after Saint Something-or-other. Like the wolf girl, this one was in what Kal was coming to think of as 'alpha form.'

"You sold us out to a human," she snarled, her body twitching from the punishment exacted by the collar. "You're covered in his scent," the girl's voice dripped with accusation

"Shit! Shit! Shit! You can all talk freely now!" said Kal in a panic, he'd forgotten about that restriction.

Jakis leaned over, "It will also hurt them if they try to open the doors to their kennels."

Kal was about to make another declaration but stopped. "I think I'll leave that one in place until Dax is done. We don't need the girls bolting and causing issues."

Kal's sudden announcement caught the dog off guard. "Not only is his scent on me but his child grows within me," growled the wolf girl. "He could have taken the golden one and been on his way, his contract fulfilled, but instead he is here rescuing you," the wolf's voice took on a dangerous tone. "Do you think I have made a poor choice of mates?"

Instead of answering the woman laid down on her belly her look apologetic and contrite but without an ounce of submission.

Kal opened the door and Daxas stepped in, like the others she licked the girl's cheek, but something felt different. "Come," said the wolf girl, "we are taking too long. Help get the rest of these bitches straightened out, so we can get out of here."

"Open all the cages," suggested the large dog girl, who appeared to be Daxas's new beta. "You go down the middle, I'll have a word with any that don't get in line."

There was little reason to worry about dissenters, the two largest women walked almost side by side, the dog keeping one to two steps behind the wolf, snarling and snapping at the rest of them. If Kal was completely honest with himself, even he felt a little intimidated by the display.

As Daxas neared came to the last few girls Rose popped up beside Kal, "Question: why are you doing this now?"

"Because right now I own all of these girls and I don't want to. Dax is taking them so I only need to use the ownership for their safety."

"I understand that, I meant why now? Wouldn't it have been better to get us all out of here with the collars and then do this?"

"Probably, but the sooner she does this the sooner I can lift the rest of the restrictions on the collars and won't have to worry about them getting punished by accident."

"Kal you're putting us in danger by doing this here and now, any one of the slavers could want a late-night piece and walk in here."

"You're right, we should have done this later. Thankfully, it looks like she's almost done. 'Late-night piece?' never thought I'd hear that out of your mouth."

Rose shrugged, "You hear things, sometimes those things stick."

Daxas came walking up with the rest of her pack in tow. Taking a close look at the faces before him, he realized that Rose may have been wrong about letting Dax form her pack now. Some of these women had looked broken beyond repair, only good as a wet hole for a man to put a cock into. Now, while some of them still wore a haunted expression from their experiences, there was an undercurrent of determination.

Of course, there were a few who were still in heat and were eyeballing him and Jakis like fresh kills ready to be dug into.

As silently as possible, Kal made his way just inside the doorway to the slavers' sleeping quarters. Embedding the view into his mind he wove an illusion that closely matched what he was seeing and put it up in the doorway, obscuring the gaggle of dog girls that was about to pass by. It wasn't perfect, but it was still better than what Ikuno could manage.

Stepping through the illusion he went over to the exit. Instead of a lock, this door had a flat metal bar with a handle that rotated around into a metal bracket set into the doorframe. It took nearly a full minute for him to open the door without the metal screeching as he rotated the bar.

"Ria!" he whispered waving her over. "Do you have anything that could lubricate these hinges?"

The sprite seemed to look through him for a moment as she searched, "Nope nothing, there's some lamp oil but that leaves a nasty smell and I don't know how well it would actually work as a lubricant.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jakis go over to his desk and pull out a small brass oiling can. Tiptoeing across the room, the accountant handed it to Kal. Taking the can, he gave his staff back to the sprite while he started oiling the hinges. "It's for my scales," he explained, then shot a wistful look back at his desk.

"Give it to Kal and he can have me store it," said Ria.

"What if he keeps it?"

Ria giggled quietly, "Wait till you see the inside of the tent, your desk doesn't have anything on the stuff in there. Besides, Kal isn't like that."

Jakis gave her a confused look. How much stuff could a person pack into a tent? Aloud he said, "I give my desk and all its contents to Kal."

Ria looked to over at the mage, who just finished oiling the last of the three hinges. Once she saw him nod, she waved her hand and the entire desk with all its contents turned into a single mote of light before floating across the room to the sprite's bag.

Kal straightened up and squirted a copious amount of the thin oil around the locking bar's pivot before looking at Ria and pointing at the oil can. Once she stored it, he carefully tested the door. It wasn't silent, but it was a vast improvement. He had expected the smell of the river to waft in but as he opened the door he instead felt a draft at his back. The sound of rushing water wasn't terribly loud but should have been noticeable for someone imprisoned where the wolf girl had been, however, he was curious how she had known the water was dirty with the air flowing away from the hideout.

Ria darted down the tunnel behind the door and was back in a couple of seconds "There's room," she stated.

Kal looked back across the room at Daxas and made a beckoning motion. The wolf girl turned to her beta and sent the woman over after a couple of words, then another girl a couple of seconds later. Kal noticed that the two coming towards him had switched to human legs along with the third the wolf now making her way towards the door. More girls stood and switched to human legs at the wolf's words. He was glad Daxas had thought of the clicking of their claws on the stone floor, it hadn't even crossed his mind.

"Don't go past me or you will end up in the river," Ria said quietly to the first dog girl. Once the woman nodded the sprite zipped off down the tunnel. As girls came through one by one and disappeared beyond the door, Kal took a small rock out of one of his pockets. Pushing some magic into the little stone, he turned it into a rod about as long as his finger then wrapped it around the handle of the lock. When he looked up, Rose and Daxas were the last two passing in front of the opening covered by his illusion. They had yet to hear a peep from any of the sleeping slavers.

The mage stepped through the door and turned. Ropes of magic extended from his hands down into the stone beneath his feet, turning and moving forward for a moment before surrounding a rectangle just in front of the door about as wide as his hand. After carefully transferring both tethers to a single hand he pulled the door closed as quietly as possible. His strength rune glowed as he held the hand with the magic cords flat and lifted his wrist while keeping the tips of his fingers in place. Kal smiled as the torchlight coming from beneath the door vanished, blocked by the rocky lip he had just made that matched the angle of his hand.