The sheriff of Boroth, Leeroy, arrived with Martin and Happy about ten minutes before there was a knock on the back door of the mansion. Brian had handed over the books that incriminated Emery, The Freedom Guild, and the person delivering the child.
“Hello Six,” The man said the moment the back door opened. The man was cloaked, and four people were lifting a cage covered with a tarp from a flat wagon.
“Good evening,” Justice said, trying hard not to twitch to the sound of his old designation. Justice touched the Blood pact with Brian and sent a feeling of urgency.
Brian headed for the back door.
“Take me to Emery,” The man said, stepping into the house.
“Emery’s not available,” Justice said.
“You must be the one with the delivery,” Brian said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the bill of sale. He showed the man the paper.
“Why’s Emery not available?” The man asked.
“He left for Graysnow to recover something and hasn’t come back,” Brian said truthfully.
The man looked at the bill of sale and nodded.
“It must be important,” the man said, “He usually insists on being the first to see his new acquisition.”
The cage is dropped off by the back door.
“You can all go now,” the man said.
The four people, Brian could see, were snickering and all locals.
“What are we having for dinner?” The man asked, sniffing the air.
Leeroy stepped out with Happy and Martin. Happy and Martin stepped outside to the cage.
“The local sheriff,” the man said, looking at Leeroy. “Where’s Heart?”
“Heart is in Graysnow, last I heard,” Leeroy said.
“He’s with Emery? Glad the man decided to finally come to our side,” the man said, smiling.
There was a bark and a growl, and Martin came charging into the room snarling and teeth bared. He lunged at the man. Brian moved just in time to grab Martin by the scruff of the neck and pull him into a hold. Martin swung wildly to try and get free.
“What did you do to that child!” Martin snarled.
There was a grunt from outside, and the sound of metal being bent was followed by Happy walking inside with something in her arms. Brian couldn’t figure out what it was. The thing was whimpering, but it looked like a dark brown patchwork of skin and fur.
The man was taken aback and it looked like he finally realized that this was not what he thought it was.
“Where’s Emery,” the man said firmly.
“He died in Graysnow,” Leeroy said, “Heart was arrested with his connection to Emery.”
Happy headed towards a bathroom, and when Martin saw the child in her arms, he doubled his efforts to try and get to the man.
“Martin, Martin!” Brian yelled, “What is it?”
“Mange, and yeast infection,” Martin said, trying to find a way to get out of Brian’s hold. “Probably one of the worst things that could happen to a young nahu’kin.”
“Martin,” Brian yelled again, “Then go heal her. The longer it takes for you to help her, the more suffering she will go through.”
“I don’t even know if that’s all she’s got,” Martin snarled and then seemed to come to his senses and tried to conjure an ice ball to attack with, but his hands couldn’t make the correct motion.
Brian wrestled with Martin and dragged the dog man out of the room to follow Happy.
“Leeroy, you have your evidence, and the man, arrest him already,” Brian said, straining to pull Martin through the door as Martin had grabbed the door jam to keep them from being pulled out of the room.
“With pleasure,” Leeroy said. He pulled out his medallion and tapped it to call for more reinforcements.
Brian let Martin twist around, and this allowed Brian to hold Martin in a hug. Kenneth crept out of the library where he was waiting with Hopper. Kenneth saw Martin still trying to get to the man. At this point, the man was being held down by Justice and Major while Leeroy put the man in cuffs. Kenneth ran up behind Martin and gripped him in a hug.
“Martin,” Kenneth said, and his voice was scared, “please don’t be mad. You sound scary when you mad.”
Martin calmed down a little bit.
“Martin,” Happy called from the bathroom, “I don’t know what to do.”
Martin relaxed, but Brian and Kenneth didn’t let go. Martin was breathing hard from the strain it took to try and fight out of Brian’s hold. Martin gave a flick of his fingers and shot out an ice dart that struck the man on the forehead, leaving a bleeding gash.
“Did that feel better?” Brian asked.
“I won’t feel better until he’s bleeding all over,” Martin growled, “but let's get that girl healed.”
Brian stood up and carefully let Martin go. Martin turned and walked to the bathroom, where Happy was with their new charge. Brian and Kenneth followed. Happy was holding the child in her arms and was rocking back and forth.
Martin waved his hands, and they glowed, and he waved them over the mangy creature. Martin snarled and growled.
“I know something’s wrong, but I can’t quite tell. I can tell something is up with her lungs as her intestines, as well as her skin,” Martin shook his head, “I can tell it’s mange by the appearance, and I can smell the yeast infection. But I can’t don’t know what the others are,” Martin grimaced and dropped to the floor.
Brain thought about it for a moment.
“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try,” Brain shrugged. “I pray to know what ails this child.”
“Unknown spell, attempting,” the voice said.
“Spell acquired,” The voice said.
“This child has the following conditions: pneumonia, tapeworm, ringworm, mange, and a skin yeast infection.” The voice said.
“That worked,” Brian said.
Martin repeated the prayer, and his face grew stern and fearful.
“A prayer of healing should still work,” Brain said.
“I tried that outside, and it just said unable to comply,” Martin said.
“The payer works on one thing at a time, maybe we need to do a separate prayer for each condition?” Brian surmised.
“We can try that,” Martin said, perking up. “Worst conditions first. I pray this child is cured from pneumonia.”
The girl gave a little cough, and suddenly her breathing became clear and unlabored.
Martin sighed in relief.
“I play this child would be free from all the tape worms,” Martin said.
They couldn’t see anything, but they could all feel a wave of energy wash over the child.
Martin prayed for the mange, the ringworm, and the yeast infection, and then a general prayer of healing to heal the wounds left from curing the other afflictions. The child was still shivering, and Marting bent down and hugged her with Happy for a few moments. They released the child and draped her with the nightgown.
Brian wasn’t able to see what was going on until now. The child still looked even more gaunt and starved than Kenneth did when Brian first met him in the mountains. She was rather tall, but Brian could tell she still had all her baby teeth. That meant she must be younger than Kenneth. How big was she going to grow up to be? She also had scars on her arms and shoulders like Kenneth did, well, just like all the others that were turned into slaves had, except Happy.
“Justice,” Brian called out, “are they gone?”
“Yes, Leeroy just left with them,” Justice called back.
“Is dinner ready?” Brain asked.
“Yes, it is,” Justice said, “Is the child going to be all right?”
“Yes, she’s going to be fine,” Martin called back. “Once her fur grows back, she’ll be better than she’s ever felt in her life.”
Brian and Kenneth left for the dining room, and Martin followed. Happy picked up the girl and carried her. They all sat down around the table.
“Happy, I should feed her,” Martin said, “Even though she’s better, we need to make sure she doesn’t eat too quickly or it could cause more problems.”
“I understand,” Happy placed the girl next to Martin at the table.
The Nahu’kin looked around. She was shy and uncertain, but still ate with everything Martin gave her. She didn’t use the utensils next to her plate, but no one cared. Everyone was quiet and gave her gentle smiles when they looked at her.
“I think I want to call her Bella,” Martin said, cutting up some more food to put on the girl's plate.
“I like that,” Happy said.
“Yes, that’s a good name,” Brian agreed.
Martin patted her on the head and smiled.
“From now on, your name is Bella,” Martin said and put more food on her plate.
After dinner, they sat in the library as Brian found a new book to read. The book was called Tears of Sorrow. It was supposed to be a book with a happy ending. While Brian read it, Bella took turns sitting in Happy’s lap and Martin’s lap. She finally decided to stay in Martin’s lap.
Martin and Happy washed Bella before everyone retired for the night. Bella was given a choice and went to sleep in the same room as Martin.
In the morning, Brian was happy to find that only Kenneth had found his way to sleep on him again. Brian touched the Blood pacts to see where everyone was. Happy and Martin were in the library, presumably with Bella. Justice was in the kitchen. Now that Brian was awake, he could smell bacon being cooked. Major was near the front of the house.
“Brian,” Major’s voice called up the stairs, “Leeroy wants to talk to you. He said it’s important.”
Brian moved Kenneth. Then Brian got out of bed, dressed, and headed downstairs.
“He’s in the library,” Major told Brian the moment Brian reached the first floor.
Brian headed to the library. Leeroy was standing, looking around the room.
“Good morning, Leeroy,” Brian said. “What brings you here this early?”
“The prisoner is trying to cut a deal with the kingdom for his release,” Leeroy said.
“He was barely locked up,” Brian said. “I know this kingdom doesn’t have communications that sophisticated to be able to do everything that quickly.”
“No, we don’t. However, when money and power are involved, it’s surprising how quickly communication gets done. Between my reports on Emery and the books you have in your library that belong to the Freedom Guild. The fact that the books were trapped, and they acknowledged they forgot to inform me of those traps. Proof of the Freedom guild aiding Emery in both procuring unbound children and giving him the knowledge to form a slave blood pact. Then, catching the person who was delivering an unbound child. All in a kingdom that doesn’t allow people to make slave blood pacts inside the kingdom. And well, a lot of talking was done while we were asleep. I had five people come to my house regarding this situation, because they were too scared to come here. For you being so new to this kingdom, you have made a lot of noise.”
“Well, I’m sorry,” Brain said and looked around the library too. Martin was playing with Bella and Happy.
“Honestly, it’s not your fault,” Leeroy said, tracing Brian’s gaze, “I see the child’s doing better.”
“Bella, Martin named her last night,” Brain said.
In the daylight, the nahu’kin looked very strange with her patchy fur and mostly bald brown skin. Brian could see her bones and how thin she was. She didn’t look too strong at the moment, but Brian could tell that once she was back up to a decent weight, she would be powerful. It was surprising how much a good meal and a good night’s rest helped her.
“What kind of deal are they wanting to discuss?” Brian asked.
“They want you to destroy the book The Secret of Blood Pacts, both the kingdom and the Freedom Guild,” Leeroy said.
“What? I don’t have a problem with that, but it is destroying proof that the guild was involved,” Brain said.
“In return, they will turn over all unbound children that are currently in the kingdom over to you and your guild,” Leeroy said.
“What?” Brian, Martin, and Happy asked all at the same time.
“Do you know how many there are?” Martin asked quickly, catching a ball to the face.
“Martin, you need to learn not to look away from someone who’s throwing a ball,” Brian said. “But I echo his question.”
“They claim there are only two,” Leeroy said. “But we also release the prisoner, then he and I watch you destroy the book, and then the children will be sent here.”
“It makes us sound like terrible people if we don’t accept the offer,” Happy said, catching the rag ball Bella threw.
“I’m pretty sure that’s why they made it as part of the offer,” Brian said, “What about the other two books?”
“They said you can keep them,” Leeroy said.
Kenneth wandered into the library, still in his pajamas. He looked up at Brian.
“Smile,” Kenneth started, “Can you please read me a book before breakfast?”
“Sure, but pick out a short one,” Brian said, nodding and patting Kenneth on the head.
Kenneth headed over to pick out a book.
“We’ll do it,” Brian said. “It feels like we’re just helping cover up a problem, but we’ll do it.”
“We don’t have a choice in the matter if we want to save those children,” Happy said.
“Agreed,” Martin said, tossing the ball he just caught to Bella.
“Breakfast is ready,” Valient announced as he entered the room, “You can stay if you want, sheriff, I’m sure there’s enough.”
“I wanted Brian to read,” Kenneth complained, holding the book in his hands.
“I’m sorry, little buddy,” Brian said, patting Kenneth on the head, “Put it on the desk and we’ll read it right after we eat.”
“Okay,” Kenneth said, sadly putting the book on the desk before heading to the dining area for breakfast.
“I think I will accept that offer for breakfast,” Leeroy said.
Brian explained to the rest of the guild what the offer was. They all agreed it was the best option. Brian said that they would have to wait until after he did the free lessons for the day. He had already promised he would and wasn’t going to disappoint people wanting to learn. When Leeroy asked how they were going to destroy the book. Brian explained that he was going to have Kenneth do it with acid ball. Martin shuddered but agreed that it was the fastest way to do it. After breakfast, Brian read to Kenneth, and then it was a normal day of teaching. Leeroy appeared on the doorstep just moments after the last student left for the afternoon lessons. The man who delivered Bella was with him, and the man had a bandage on his forehead where Martin struck him with the ice dart.
“Are you ready?” Leeroy asked.
“I will be, just let me get the book,” Brian said, “Kenneth I’m going to have you do some magic, okay?” called into the house.
“Okay Brian,” Kenneth called back.
Brain went to the library and retrieved the book in question.
“Got it,” Brian said, holding up the book. Kenneth was close behind Brian.
“How do I know that’s the right book?” the man asked.
Brian held the book down and opened it to the cover page. The man flinched, before his eyes grew wide.
“We’re going to have to destroy the book outside the city limits,” Brian said. “I don’t want to be charged for destroying part of the city again.”
“I said sorry,” Kenneth explained.
“It wasn’t your fault, little buddy,” Brian said.
Leeroy just sighed, and the man looked confused. Leeroy led the way just outside the city. Brian put the book down.
“Kenneth, I want you to hit the book with your acid ball,” Brian said, “Do you remember how to do that?”
Kenneth nodded.
“This is stupid,” the man started, “He’s just a kid, what’s he going to . . .”
He was silenced when an acid globule hit the book and stuck. The glob didn’t cover the entire book, but it did start to eat away at what it was touching.
“I need you to cover the book with acid, hit the part of the book that doesn’t have your ball on it,” Brian instructed.
Kenneth nodded again and threw another acid globule, and when Kenneth saw that there was still part of the book uncovered, he threw a third acid globule.
“Good job, Kenneth,” Brian praised the dragkind and patted him on the head.
Leeroy stepped closer to watch, the man on the other hand looked horrified as the book was slowly being eaten away, as well as the ground beneath it. It took a few minutes for the acid to work its magic, and soon all that was left was a puddle of goo. The man picked up a stick and poked and stirred the mess.
“It’s gone,” the man said. “Wait, he didn’t chant anything.”
“I could have done the job myself, but Kenneth was the only one who could do it that quickly,” Brian explained, rubbing Kenneth affectionately on the head, “and we don’t need to chant.” Brian flicked his fingers, sending a fiery dart into the goo, making the mass sizzle again.
“So, are you satisfied that the book is destroyed?” Brian asked.
“I am,” Leeroy said and turned to look at the man.
“Yeah,” the man said slowly.
“And we will find you if those children are not delivered as quickly as possible. Make sure they are properly cared for, or Martin will be upset again. Only next time, I won’t hold him off,” Brian said.
“It... it’ll take some time, but they’ll ... they’ll be here,” the man stammered.
“I just hope your numbers aren’t off,” Brian said softly, “I would hate to see unbound children forced to be slaves in the kingdom.”
Brian tapped Kenneth on the head.
“We’re heading back,” Brian said, waving goodbye, “Take all the time you need. Goodbye.”
“Goodbye,” Kenneth said and followed behind Brian.
Brian couldn’t hear what the man asked Leeroy, but he did hear Leeroy say. “They all know magic.”
Before dinner, a courier arrived at the house with a letter for the Open Hand Guild. At the dining table, Martin was laughing as he read the letter.
“What’s so funny?” Brain asked.
“Upon further inspection, additional unbound children have been found. We have instructed all couriers to be polite to the children and deliver them safely and well-fed. We ask you not to kill any of our couriers. We understand taking in new children is an undertaking. Please accept this small donation to help with their initial care, ten gold per child.” Martin read, “and they gave us a bank transfer notice of fifty large gold. What did you say to that man?”
“Just that I hoped the numbers were correct, and we would find him if there weren’t. Also, that I wouldn’t stop you from attacking him if the children were hurt when they arrived, or something like that.”
“Five more children?” Happy asked.
“I think we have enough rooms,” Brian stated.
“But not enough beds,” Major said. “We’ll need to make or buy some more.”
“Martin, weren’t you family getting pretty close too?” Brian asked.
Martin suddenly looked scared.
“I think they’re a few weeks away,” Martin said. He cut some more food and put it on Bella’s plate.
“Did you still want to find your own home?” Brian asked.
“I uh, haven’t even started looking yet,” Martin said. “My wife can be scary sometimes. I didn’t want to find a place and her not to like it.”
“How scary can your wife be?” Major asked. “You fought Emery and won, and even tried to wrestle away from Brian to get to that man who delivered Bella.”
“Brian was never going to hurt me,” Martin said dismissively, “and at the time we fought Emery, I thought we could heal ourselves indefinitely. I mean, yeah, both were reckless, but my wife. . .” Martin said slowly.
“I’m sure you are blowing this all out of proportion,” Brian said, “You wouldn’t have married her if you didn’t love her and she wouldn’t have married you if she didn’t love you.”
Martin looked down at the table and smiled, and gave a little head wobble.
“Now you just need to stop trying to sneak into other people's beds at night. If she were mad about her things, just imagine how mad she would be about that,” Brain teased.
“Not helping!” Martin growled.