Snippet #2667702

It had to have been luck that the crowd of people in the colosseum had begun to return to their seats for the finale, for the main hall had progressively grown more and more scarce with the presence of Imperial forces. It made their job easier.
"Make a hole!" Shouted one of the lancepesades from the squad of five soldiers performing the search in this portion of the premises.
"Corporal, how're we suppose' to even find this bitch? Y'heard the lady, there's gotta be twelve dozen-or-so dark-skins in the place. How do we pick out one from the other? Hell, there's one right there!" The soldier points at a Duuthesh servant, so obviously a slave, who returns the gesture with a curious look. Corporal Titus sighs but continues looking forward, paying as little of a mind to the lack of common sense behind him as he can without being unable to correct it.

"Look, I know the Empire would rather you didn't have a brain, Ros, so you could mindlessly follow orders, but I promise you that if you were to use it from time to time, they'd promote you soon enough. What we're looking for is not a dark-skin of the house. She was a thief, barely caught after robbin' some poor, rich bastard dry. No, she'll be a pit brawler and probably quite the fresh one too. That's why, probably unlike Marus' squad o' specialtons, we aren't stopping to search every single-damn-stand and questioning all 'twelve dozen-or-so' of the Duuthesh here. No, we're going straight to the fighter cells." Titus flicks his wrist, waving his finger to point forward, deeper into the colosseum.

"Yeah," pipes up another one of the lancepesades in the squad. "I heard from a few other guys that she took out, like ten other men before being brought down." A much fresher face perks up. The group's lone private.

"Really? Tha's bleedin'-crazy!"

"Liner, don't pollute the private.-"
"Am not!" Liner exclaims defensively, only to find nobody paying attention to him anyway.
"-Callette, don't believe everything you hear in the 'hive'."

It always has been a common trait among the newer men; believing everything they heard in what has been dubbed 'The Imperial Hive Mind', or 'The Hive' for short. It is a title given to the broad spectrum of random rumors and knowledge spread throughout the network of junior members of the imperial military everywhere. While it seems to pick up knowledge at incredible rates and spread word at lightning speeds, each piece can never be completely trusted. Most often, some of it is true. Very rarely is it completely correct though.

"Excuse me? M'lord?" Titus asks a sitting man who appears to be one of the workers. "My men and I need to gain access to the slave quarters for the fighters. Would you happen to know where we could find them?"

"Hm?" The man looks up from a piece of parchment in his hand to find the squad of Imperial soldiers before him. Immediately scooting back to make room for him to stand and address the men proper, surprised to find The Empire's finest this far away from the Imperial Province, Aetille.
"Aye, I would. At least, the general area, I'spose." The man points over to an illuminated staircase down the hall.
"Take tha' an' make a lef'. It should be in tha' general direction. I haven' been down there much m'self but it should be aroun' there."

"I 'ppreciate it, m'lord." Titus gives the man a nod and makes haste for the staircase he was referenced to, his men following close behind.

"Hey, Calette," Ros said. "Word o' the wise when going down in a dark place like this. If you see any monsters, feed it Lynarson. With any luck, it'll probably mistake 'im for a small child and focus on him long enough for the rest of us to escape."

"Ros, if you have him feed me to a high-pathetical monster in the dark, I will haunt y'arse until you are too afraid to get up to take a piss in the middle of the night," the remaining lancepesade threatened.

Alner Lynarson. 19 years old and a lancepesade with 'The Wardogs of the 9th', the 9th Legio Oprisae. Under the command of Cpt. Markath and currently a part of Lt. Farnham's detachment. He may not be the youngest in his squad, and certainly not in his company, but his unfortunately youthful face has left him the butt of far too many jokes for his liking. He never had any issues with his appearance in his earlier years but, the moment he joined such an intimidation-heavy line of work, he has regretted the misfortune of being born in the skin of someone much softer than he would have liked.

The soldiers file down the steps and delve into the torch-lit depths, somewhat less touched by the night sky.

"Around this corner, he said," Titus explains, rounding the corner in question...
"...Son of a bitch."
...only to immediately find two paths to take in the specified direction...

"Alright," Titus said. "Ros, Calette; on me. Liner, take Lynarson and head down the right hallway. Stay with each other and search on your own. It's probably best we split up anyway to cover more ground. We'll meet back up top-side with the others later."

"Aye, Corporal," Liner confirmed, nodding his head before motioning for Alner to follow him. The Two groups split and into their designated halls they went.

-

Shitshitshitshit!

Zilindar, in a mix between a power walk and a jog to not attract suspicion, hurried to his block of cells, frustrated with his inability to use the most direct route, as to avoid the search.

How could this have happened? I didn't know the girl was being sold illegally! That fucking asshole! Because of him I MAY BE RUINED!

The slave master, blocked by a crowd, passes around the other side of one of the stanchions.

Dammit, if I make it out of this without any chains around my wrists, I'm going to be one lucky guy...

Thoughts of his daughter pop in his head.

FUCK! I don't have anyone here I can trust! How am I supposed to support Tika from a cell? If I am put away, she'll be put in an orphanage!

Finally, Zilindar reaches one of the other entrances and darts inside.

Just got to get to one of the entrances for the slave quarters and I'll set her loose somewhere. That'll at least keep my head above water and disconnect me from this mess...

-

That IDIOT. I told him to wait up for me! I TOLD him 'hey, wait up a bit, I think I saw something', and I swear that asshole looked me IN THE EYE when I told him that, but did he listen to me at all? No! I swear, Liner, if you give me shit when I get back, you're going to get one HELL OF A mouth-full!

Alner scans his surroundings while walking through the halls. Despite the fact that he knows his target is a slave, he cannot help but let the thought of her ambushing him from the shadows creep into his head, causing him to swallow a rather harsh gulp.

-

Dammit. That is definitely the jingle of imperial mail. One of them is coming closer...

Zilindar stands, his back to a wall, quietly listening to the sound of a soldier slowly making his way down the hall toward him and keeping him from scampering across. This had to have been a nightmare. He did nothing wrong, yet here he is, hiding from an imperial soldier so that he may have a chance to clear his name.

"No," he thought. "No, he has to believe me. I'll explain everything to him to clear up this misunderstanding and we can go to the cell together and, in exchange for my cooperation and leading him directly to who they've come here for so that he can take the glory of finding their prize himself, maybe he'll help me clear my name when we get back."

He takes a deep breath.

Okay, he's coming. It's now or never. Alright, three...two...

-

All of the sudden, from the shadow around the corner, Alner spots a silhouetted figure moving to confront him. Startled, he brings his shield around to the immediate front and twists his hand around before tugging his sword from its sheath and twisting his hand back around, raising the tip of the blade, all the while yelling at the shade in fear.

IT'S HER!

Zilindar, seeing the soldier draw his weapon and go into a full combat stance, immediately yells back at the boy.

THIS LITTLE SHIT IS TRYING TO KILL ME!

"WAIT-WAIT!" Kail cries out, moving forward slightly and bringing himself closer to the light.

Seeing the different skin color, Alner stops yelling but loudly curses into the air before dropping his arms to his sides and vigorously sighs. The slave master puts his hands to his chest before beginning to quickly explain himself.

"I'm sorry for startling you, m'lord, I mean you no harm! I think you guys are looking for me and there has been a big misunderstanding."

Alner looks the man up and down, then back up again before curiously questioning him with a clearly confused expression upon his face.

"...Va...dania?"

...

Kail glances to his left and then to his right...and then lightly shakes his head.

"Uh....No?"

The soldier slightly puckers his lips and noticeably blinks.

Yeah, I probably should have guessed that...

"So, who are you then?"

Kail takes a deep breath.

"If you are looking for a Duuthesh by the name of Vadania, then I am her master. It appears there was a mix up and I mistakenly purchased her illegally. I bought from some gentleman not too far from here. I was not very concerned with where he got her since, you know, obviously when slaves are bought and sold enough, their story becomes a bit unclear. I had figured this was one of those cases and so I purchased her to make her a fighter here. Little did I know you gentlemen were looking for her."

The man quickly raises a palm.

"Before you take me, though. Let me help you. I can-"

Alner, knowing standard procedure is to take the man into custody, attempts to quiet him down.

"M'lord, I'm sorry but I-"

"-Please, I can take you right there! My cells are but a short distance from here.-"

"M'lord, I can't. I-"

"It will only take a second and you would be saving a lot of trouble for your guys!"

Alner quiets down. Looking at the gentleman, he can already feel that the man is generally sincere, or at least seems to be. He silently thinks to himself. With a turn of his wrist, his sword flicks back around to point back inward, down at its sheath before he slides it back in.

You are so lucky I have a heart.

"Take me to the fugitive then."

With a sigh, Kail cannot help but but feel relief.

"Yes. Right away."