267 A Forgotten Stop
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During the walk back through the town towards the docks, I recognized a few things. I thought that odd, then pulled out the maps and looked at them again.

“My lord, what is it?” Hanna asked.

“There's one more stop I need to make.” I said and rolled the maps and papers back up. “Jensen, take these and put them in my cabin. We'll work out what to do next when I come back.”

“Sir, you need to bring someone with you.” Jensen said.

“Gella and Farra will come with me.” I said and nodded at them, then looked at Hanna. “I might be bringing another slave into the room.”

“Yes, master.” Hanna said and she walked on with the others.

“We need horses.” I said and Gella led me over to the place where there were horses. It was one of the few buildings that we hadn't burned down to the ground, because no one had attacked us from there.

The slaves handed over their three best horses and told us to keep them.

“They won't like going by ship.” I said and handed the slave a gold coin. “I need another horse and we'll be back in a couple of hours.”

“Yessir! Right away, sir!” The slave said and the fourth horse was tied to my saddle and we rode out of there at a fast trot. When we reached the open road, we sped up to a full run. About forty-five minutes later, we arrived at the place that I had been converted into a slave. I had Farra and Gella use their enchanted necklaces and I hopped off of the horse.

The guard at the gate didn't recognize me and I didn't really expect him to, because I wasn't being hauled around on a cart. “State your business, slave.”

“I'm here to kill you all.” I said and my sword swished across his chest. “No one defies the Hag and gets away with it. I'm proof of that.”

The guard died with surprise on his face. We walked by him and entered the main house. Gella killed the second guard there and shocked the slaves. After that, it was easy to find the mistress of the house when the slaves were given swords to kill her for torturing them. Her screams brought us to her parlour and two of the slaves had her arms pinned and the third was slowly pushing a blade into her belly.

“I came back for you.” I said and she screamed again. “Where's the one that took care of me?”

The woman shook her head.

“Rotate the blade.” I said and the female slave grinned at me and twisted the blade.

The woman screamed and blood flowed out of her belly.

“Where?” I asked.

“St-stock... stockade.” The woman said with a whimper. “Please, let me go. I didn't mean to harm...”

“Make her like you before she dies.” I said and tossed them a healing potion. The slaves cheered as I walked away to go to the stockade. I found the older woman that took care of me with her head and hands secured through the wood with shackles. She was also completely naked.

I slashed my sword through the shackles and nodded to Farrah. She held the woman as I cut up the stockade and then handed her to me. I gave Gella a look and she nodded before running off.

“Y-you... you... how...” The older woman whispered as she weakly clung to me.

“The guards made the mistake of giving a crippled slave to pirates.” I said with a smile. “I took over after barely a day.”

The older woman laughed and then started crying. Farra wrapped a blanket around her, because there were no clothes around to give her.

I reached up and touched her forehead and shared my magic with her. I was looking for the heart device and didn't find any, so she wasn't one of the Hag's main experiments. She did have a trickle of magic in her that responded to mine, though. I dropped my hand back down to hug her.

“I've been working hard to get back home and stopped here for the information I needed.” I explained to her as she rested against me. “I almost didn't realize that this was where I was converted into a slave. Once I did...”

“You came for revenge.” The older woman said.

“No, I came for you.” I said and she cried harder. “It's my turn to take care of you now.”

We stood there and held each other as I waited for Gella to return. She came back dragging a whipped man that was crying his eyes out. When he saw me, he wet his pants.

Gella dropped him at my feet and stood beside me. “He was whipping a slave when I caught him.”

I nodded and held a hand out towards the crying man.

The older woman clinging to me put her hand in front of mine and held it, as if she knew what I was going to do. “Please, he's not worth lighting on fire.”

I smiled. “No, dear lady. He's too good to die like that.”

“Oh, thank the father.” She said and let my hand go.

“He needs to feel what it's like to be flayed alive instead.” I said and cast the latest spell I had learned. “Wind Shear.”

The crying man screamed as his skin and clothing were shredded with hundreds of little wind blades. His blood splashed over the ground and he rolled around, hugging himself, as if to try and stop the pain. All he did was make his blood flow out faster.

“Let's go.” I said and Farra, Gella, the older woman and I went over to the horses. She was too weak to ride alone, so the slaves of the house helped put her on my horse with me. They thanked me for freeing them.

“W-wait.” The older woman whispered from behind me. “The... the healer's letter. It's in... my bed.”

“Where are the healers?” I asked and the slaves pointed to a burned out building. “I see.”

“No proof.” The older woman said and started crying again.

“It's all right.” I said and pat her arms around my waist. “I doubt she would have paused long enough from killing everyone to read it, anyway.”

The older woman nodded and we trotted out of the place to head back towards town. We saw several slaves running towards the next house and enter it, then a man's yell to get out was interrupted by his scream.

“They're learning.” Gella said and the slaves came out with a young albino boy between them. They waved at us and I waved back.

“Word will spread.” I said and picked up speed. I couldn't run all out with a passenger, so we stayed at a fast trot and continued on into the town.

“You wrecked everything?” The older woman whispered the question an hour and a half later when she saw the burned out buildings.

“I told them not to attack us.” I said and went to the stable to the slave that gave us the horses. “Come with us to retrieve the horses.”

“Yessir!” He said and untied the one on my saddle and rode behind us.

We reached the docks and saw that the other ships were being stripped by a hundred slaves to pile everything into one of the bigger ships. The funny thing was, the crews of those ships were too terrified to stop them. Unlike the crew of my pirate ship, most crewmen didn't have a lot of fighting experience and couldn't handle a mass of troops.

“Thanks for the horses.” I said as Gella helped the older woman down from behind me. I hopped off to clomp my boots onto the wooden dock, which surprised the older woman. I handed over the reins of the three horses and the slave nodded and rode away.

“I can take her from here, Master.” Gella said.

I shook my head and she handed the older woman to me. “I always accept my responsibilities.”

She nodded and we walked slowly down the docks towards our ship. The older woman gasped when she saw the ship up close. She didn't say anything, though.

We were helped onto the deck by several of the crew and none of them asked what had taken so long. They either guessed or had someone follow us.

“Prepare for departure.” I said to Jensen as I passed him to go inside the ship.

“We've had a formal request to wait from the other ship.” Jensen said and pointed to the partially loaded ship that the slaves were commandeering.

“Really? A formal request?” I asked and he grinned. “Was it at least on a piece of paper?”

“No, a cloth napkin!” Jensen said with a laugh.

“Good enough.” I said and he nodded. I went inside the ship and brought the older woman to the bath room. When she saw the place, she started shaking. “It's all right. I know what I'm doing.”

“No, it... I haven't...”

“Did it discourage any men from taking you at the stockade?” I asked.

The older woman gave me a harsh look. “How could you ask something like that?”

“It's a valid strategy. It worked for me until I made a woman so horny that she jumped me and then had to take a bath afterwards.”

She blinked her eyes at me for a moment and then nodded. “I was too soiled for them to enjoy themselves. One came close and all he did was rub it with his hand, then threw up at the stench.” She said, as if to shock me.

“Good. They didn't deserve to have you like that or to force you to feel good while using you.” I said and she stared at me. “Yes, I know the difference.”

She let out a sigh and I sat her on a chair as I prepped the water for her with lots of bubbles. She didn't question me as to where the bubbles came from or how I made the water hot almost instantly.

“I'm still too weak to bathe.” The older woman said, sadly.

“I promised to take care of you.” I said and slowly pulled off the blanket she hadn't let go since Farra gave it to her. I picked her up and she started to protest at dirtying my clothing. “It's a costume I wear to make the crew laugh.”

“Wait, it's not a real uniform?” The older woman asked as she settled down in the water. “Ohhh, thank you.”

I chuckled. “I guess it would look real for anyone not seeing it up close.”

“I thought you robbed a Gulf Kingdom ship or something.” The older woman said and laid back as much as she could in the tub. “If this is a dream, I don't want to wake up.”

“I haven't started bathing you yet.” I said and she smiled.

What followed was a thorough scrubbing that had the older woman so embarrassed and blushing at the end that she wouldn't even look at me. I dried her off and put underwear on her, then a very nice pair of pants that were better than the old mistress' clothing and a stylish tunic that made her blush even more.

“It's all right to enjoy the bath.” I said to her and helped her to walk down the hallway to the captain's cabin.

“It wasn't the bath.” She said without looking at me. “I enjoyed you touching me so tenderly.”

“I have a personal maid and she does the ritual after every bath.” I told her and she stumbled. I held her up and didn't let her fall.

“How are you so steady on your feet? You don't have any toes.” She asked to distract me.

“My slave and maid bought me these great boots.” I said and showed her before sitting her down on my large bed. “I want you to relax and I'll bring you some food to eat.”

The older woman looked slightly panicked. “I.. I can't eat...”

“It's all right. I'll take care of everything.” I said and helped her recline on the bed. “You won't be weak for long and then you can decide what to do with the rest of your life.”

“The... the rest of my life?” She asked, unsure.

“You're free now, so you can do whatever you want.” I said. “I'll be right back with some potions for you and some broth and bread.”

The older woman nodded with a thoughtful look on her face.

I left and gathered what I needed and somehow also gathered Farra, Gella, and Hanna. It was almost like they knew I was going to be using my nutrition dispersion trick and wanted to participate.

They followed me back into the captain's cabin and introduced themselves and their roles. Hanna, my slave. Gella, my sworn sword. Farra, my apprentice.

“I'm his personal maid, Ann.” Ann said as she entered the room as well. “My lord, do not do as many feedings as you did on yourself for every meal. She's not as robust as you are.”

“Just two then.” I suggested and she nodded.

The older woman was giving us all furtive looks.

“Can I ask you your name?” I asked as I placed the tray on her lap and then handed her the healing potion first before the general health potion.

She drank both before answering. “I... I... don't have one.”

“Nana.” Hanna said immediately and we all looked at her. “What? She looks like my moth... my-hurk!”

“SHE IS!” The other slaves yelled immediately and rushed to her side to hug her. “She is! She's your mother now! She'll take care of you!”

Hanna's red face and laboured breathing slowed down and she started to nod. She nodded for nearly ten seconds before stopping. “Th-thank you.”

I watched as the older woman's hand reached out and took Hanna's.

“I've always wanted a daughter.” She said with a smile.

“Nana!” Hanna exclaimed as tears came to her eyes and she leaned down to hug the older woman as if she really was her mother.

“You can feed her first.” I said and moved to let Hanna sit where I was on the bed.

“Thank you, Master.” Hanna said and wiped at her face, then she sat down and carefully fed her new mother.

The ones that wanted to share in the flow of magic touched her arms when Hanna was done and I used my trick to make her digest the food and spread the nutrients out. Nana gave me a shocked look for barely a second before her stomach grumbled and she blushed. The others laughed and told her that my stomach rumbled a lot louder than that.

“I can do this one.” Ann said and she fed Nana the meal she would digest normally and left with the tray.

“Sleep if you can.” I said. “I'll be back later to check on you.” I glanced at Hanna. “Although, I may have been replaced in taking care of you.”

Nana nodded and held her arms out to Hanna, who took the invitation and climbed onto the bed to lay down with her.

We left them there to bond over old losses and new happiness.

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