We turned around a two corners. The old man seemed keep a generous distance to other people on the street. In turn they ignored us completely. It felt weird.

Finally we stopped in front of a small low stone building. Quickly the old man opened the door and we entered the building.

Inside was as single square room. He waited next to the door. After we were all inside the old man closed the door.

I couldn’t see my hands in front of my face until a few moments later a glowing light appeared hovering half a meter above the old man.

There was a hole in the ground in the middle of the room with a ladder sticking out half a meter.

The old man started to blur and a few seconds later a young man with dark brown short hair stood in front of us. His face was whiskered. He wore leather armor and was armed with a sidearm. He had a powerful build and I felt bit intimidated.

More magic. Great!

Was this another disguise or was it the real deal? And since he is not the one who officially bought us he isn’t technically our owner anymore, right?

Our captor looked at us with a smug smile. Then he tied the leash to the ladder. After that he removed the leather straps from of Alissa’s manacles, pulled it off the loop of the collar just to connect the manacles just in front of her. He repeated that with Gordon and me. Our hand were now loosely tied together in front of us.

Then he motioned us to the hole in the ground. There was a ladder in the hole.

The smell like was intense and I felt like puking .

We all looked hesitantly at the hole. After a minute he tied the leash to his wrist and disappeared down the hole with his light. Alissa shot me a disgusted glare as she was slowly pulled towards he hole. Reluctantly she followed our captor down into reeking abyss. Since I saw no point in resisting at the moment I followed her cautiously. Gordon followed our lead obviously feeling miserable.

A few minutes later we all reached a ledge near a stinking canal.

“Stand still” Our captor ordered and I couldn’t move a finger!

The stones on ring he got from the dark robed piece of shit glowed for a second. Then he tied our wrists behind our backs, shortening the length of the leather straps to pull our wrists close together. Then he took the leash again.

“Move normally!” he ordered and I could see the stones on his rig flashing again.

Holy shit, I was able to move again! With the hands tied behind our backs resistance was futile. Again.

He created three more lights. Each of them followed one of us as we walked along the slippery ledge.

Now and then I spotted a rat running along the wall or swimming in the channel beside us. One even ran over my feet!

When we reached a junction, our captor pulled a larger piece of paper out of a bag and studied it for a moment. I managed to get a peek and saw it was a kind of map.

Good. I didn’t want to get lost in this shit.

He set a slow and cautious pace. Was it worse being captured by some villain or being at beck and call of the government? Considering my situation as a supposed commodity I decided it probably won’t make a real difference.

Suddenly I was pulled forward because Alessia slipped and went down. I fell forward, unable to regain my balance. With a big splash I dove head forward into the channel of flowing filth.

I managed to take a deep breath before my head went under water.

The last I heard was a scream.

The content of the channel was more flowing mud than water at this point. Not as bad as the Angk though, as could sink obviously sink.

I tried to get out or at least to the surface again but the mud had me and I tried to find the edge of the channel, but wasn’t really sure where up and down was.

Then I something pulled tentatively at the collar. I stopped trashing and after a few seconds my head was pulled above the water. I didn’t dare to open my eyes but managed to get some slick footing. I tried to blow away the mud from my mouth to get some air again. The remaining spots of mud tasted horribly as they found their way into my mouth. Finally I was back on firm ground. Someone cleaned my eyes, mouth and nose with a rag. It was our captor.

Finally three mud covered shapes were laying on the ledge again desperately trying to get their wind back.

After a few minutes of rest our captor pulled us back to our feet. We were three mud-clad sewer monsters in a terrible mood. Groar! It stunk horrible. My hair was a muddy mess!

I didn’t know how long we were walking through the tunnels. I focused on not tripping while reeking like a literal sewer. The sludge started to dry a bit as we went on, but it was clingy. I was dead tired now and seriously hated this world and its blasted summoning rituals.

Finally we passed through a small tunnel with a less slippery floor. We climbed up some stairs and stopped in front of a sturdy door.

Our noble savior hold something small at the door. Then he pushed and the door opened with a groan.

After a few steps we were outside. Fresh air! At least fresher than it the sewers. Our captor closed the door again and put out the lights. Then he dragged us off into the night.

As far as I could see we were in a forest. Dark shadows loomed everywhere and I couldn’t see any stars. I caught occasional glimpses of moonlight though. We were still on bare feet which is quite the challenge in a dark forest.

In the beginning we hat to pass through rough and an partially spiky terrain. I heard several squeaks and whines from the others and found some spiky stuff as well. My feet were much more sensitive than before.

The terrain was slightly hilly and we had an easy climb from time to time.

Later we followed deer crossings which made walking a bit easier.

Our captor seemed to have some form of night vision I suppose. At least he didn’t press for speed.

I didn’t hear much cause my ears were still covered in mud.

While walking the concussions ached quite a bit. The branding on my sternum was worse. My feet hurt as well, which was bad while walking...

I clenched my teeth. Was being stolen really better than being at the mercy of that government?

Still I didn’t know anything about our captor, besides he showed no mercy tugging us through the night. A rest would be great.

Suddenly I stumbled, but regained my balance again. Shit! I focused on walking again.

Eventually we arrived at a small clearing. There were a few bushes sprinkled about, but it was dominated by knee-high grass. Under the branches of the surrounding trees the growth is more sparse and the grass is a bit shorter.

The center of the clearing was illuminated by pale moonlight. It had a light greenish tint though. We walked along the rim of the clearing under the branches of the tall trees approaching the far side of the clearing.

A few steps beyond the clearing ran small creek.

Our guide tied the leash to a low hanging branch of one of trees.

We looked at each other. We sat down on the moss below the tree we were tied to. Finally some rest for the legs. I felt dead tired and was really hungry and thirsty and I felt really, really dirty.

I hung my head with a groan.