Human slaves, tied like hogs in the back of his carriage, three of them. The girls were bruised and wet, their skin laced with gashes as they laid there unconscious. Rufian didn’t notice at first, but when I broke my pace, he looked over my shoulder and stopped too.
“Prisoners of yours?” Rufian asked, pivoting around to Bo-an.
“More like merchandise to be traded for goods. Interested?”
“Bo-an!” Tras cried, clearly objectifying as her boss entertained Rufian.
Rufian smiled. “Perhaps.”
“Then today is your lucky day! I am Bo-an Pridicore, a human tradesman. I travel to the land of the dead to find perfect specimens for trade. Usually my customers like to cyberload my items, but others tend to get creative. Very creative.” He tittered.
“And by items you mean humans, right?” I said, trying to hide the furiousness in my voice.
“Well, obviously!” He laughed. “I also carry an array of accessories for these monkeys, gears that would make you think I’m a tinkering man myself! Now, don’t let my appearance fool you. I am not biased when it comes to my customers. Money is money in the land of Thalian, my biggest consumers being dragons.”
“Oh, well. I must say, I am a little shocked they don’t use you as their toothpick in their prime forms,” Rufian insulted, Tras not taking lightly to his words.
“Either buy something or fuck off!” she hissed.
“How much are you selling them for?” I asked curiously.
“A fix each,” Bo-an said, and I looked over to Rufian subtly for clarification.
“Ahh, a thousand sammies per lady? Now, that’s steep for a human, wouldn’t you say?”
“The males go for 800. You’d be surprised how many of my loyal customers breed them underground! Heh, but-eh, don’t tell anyone, all right?”
“Oh no, your secret is safe with me. As a matter of fact, I’m inclined to take all of them from you!”
Bo-an’s eyes glinted. “Oh, a wealthy fae! Come across a couple of those in my days!” He chuckled. “Tras, Binti, unload the cargo. And to you good sir, that will be three-thousand sammies.”
“I think you misunderstood his statement,” I retorted, pulling out my long sword and lunging at Bo-an.
The goblin shrieked, my attack catching him off guard. He mentioned doing this for a living, that fact infuriating me all the more. He was on the wrong side of the trades business, and I was going to put a stop to it.
As I swung my sword, Bo-an stumbled back, falling on the canopy of his carriage. When he noticed how relentless I was, he rolled off, dropping on the other side of his ride. I chased after him, ignoring the girls warning me to yield. When my feet met the ground, I was in for a rude welcome, two of them defending Bo-an with their mouths wide open, ready to break out into a deadly scream.
I bolted backwards, jumping right into the carriage holding their things inside where the seats were. Luckily I had time to wedge in between the bags, bottles, and bins of human parts for sale, coming out of the other side just as the girls penetrated their carriage with their banshee scream. They said fuck the horses and their captives, but luckily, Rufian had already gotten to the girls.
The horses scrambled up on their feet and bucked it with the shattered carriage. Amid the thick fairy dust and the debris, I squared my eyes, paying sharp attention to my surroundings. The goblins were quiet, using the mess they created to their advantage. As if they weren’t beating me already with the odds and their ability to shift into any fucking creature they wanted.
“You’ll regret that, you uncivilized swine!” Bo-an spat from behind the rising dust, and then I heard the sound of a dozen footsteps circling me.
I took a deep breath, my hand tightening around the handle of my sword. I knew that I had to be extra careful now, the goblins already shifting in my blindness. With a cautious step forward, I scanned my surroundings, my eyes flicking back and forth as I searched for any sign of movement.
Then, out of nowhere, one of the goblins lunged at me in the form of a giant tiger, its claws and huge teeth bared inches in front of me! Instinctively, I reacted, bringing my sword up to block the attack. The sound of my blade slicing the air warbled through the clearing, a jolt of adrenaline surging through me when I noticed there was nothing on the other end of my blade.
I swear my heart stopped beating when I missed it, the giant cat vanishing in the cloud of dust again.
I didn’t have to guess—this was Bo-an playing with me. A low emitting growl echoed through the field, barely audible over the sound of my heartbeat. Reduced to patiently waiting again, I couldn’t cave into what he was trying to do—get me anxious to strike, on the edge of my feet so I could fuck up my reaction time and get myself killed. But once the fog began to clear, he was forced to attack, and with my luck, he was hovering right behind me.
This time my reflexes didn’t protect me from being pounced on. He made me knock my sword out of my grip as my back dropped to the ground, the massive weight of the cat nearly taking me out. The beast’s powerful jaws opened nice and wide, snapping at me relentlessly. Bo-an wanted to take a bite out of my face, my shaking elevated feet pushing against his chest to keep him at bay. Drool and the heat off his flaring nostrils bathed me while my hands fought to restrain his claws from sinking into my skin, the grip I had on his fur slipping quickly.
His two hyena pals crept up behind me. My eyes caught them cackling and wheezing from above my head, the two girls ready to munch on my face like a buffet. I gritted my teeth and tossed my fears on the backburner. Pushing my Enrage to its limits, I allowed the power of the orc to fuel my strength and multiply my options.
Just like that I gave Bo-an a 180 he’d never forget. My grip on him buckled down, Bo-an whimpering in pain as I crushed the joint of his forelegs. The girls were caught off guard, their eyes preoccupied with their hurt go-man. I made one move go a mile, following up with a sharp gut kick that flung him off of me. Without wasting a second, I grabbed him right back up again and swung him by his long tail, letting him crash against his minions like bowling pins. The fact that I got out of that unscathed shocked me, seeing as I was fucking terrified of cats easily twice my size.
The human trafficking goblin shifter and his two girls scrambled themselves up again as I picked up my sword, their fierce glares focused on me. It looked like Bo-an’s handicap benched him for the fight, his two girls covering for him. The hyenas circled me while I considered pulling out my gears again, easing this fight for me. Taking them on would be a whole lot easier since my minions had a big upgrade, and I was dying to see what they could do.
The girls advanced, slowly but cautiously. After that show of strength, they didn’t know what else I was capable of. Better safe than sorry, but as they began to draw closer, a random wooden plank from the rubble came flying across from behind me, bonking Binti between the eyes.
I glanced behind me, noticing the brunette out of the bunch of captives standing there skittishly. When she realized it did nothing edgewise, she took one hard gulp and huddled behind Rufian.
I turned my head back with a side smirk—at least she tried. The goblin girls turned animals weren’t impressed though, the furious Binti charging for the girl.
Too bad for Binti, her luck had already ran out with Rufian being back in action. She was greeted with a fiery phoenix familiar, the arcane mage summoning his flame-feathered friend. Rufian finally pulled his bird out of his hat, the majestic creature sending out a wave of heat that drew a clear line between predator and prey. The goblin girls didn’t falter back from the towering flames, one of them shifting into a giant eagle mid-leap to avoid the inferno. She turned her attention to the problem, opening her mouth to beam the familiar with a deadly scream. The phoenix avoided it, maneuvering around the goblin shifter, trying to tire her with flame spit balls and gusty fiery winds.
As for Tras, she wanted to square off with me.
I had to hand it to them—despite the odds clearly turning against them, they stood to protect their master. She burrowed out from underground, outside of the ring of fire. From a hyena to a badger, and again to a gorilla. Big beefy animals—I was beginning to see a pattern here. The stronger they were, the better their chances with my assets, but after throwing hands with a goddamn tiger, facing a gorilla was just another day on the job.
I stepped up to meet the goblin girl, ready to defend myself against her primal attacks. She charged at me with a ferocity that surprised me, but I was quick on my feet. I dodged her first few strikes, then countered with a swift kick to her side. She stumbled back, but quickly regained her footing and lunged at me again.
Her slight limp after I kicked her was obvious. It made it easy for me to swing my sword at her, my blade catching her brawny arm. Unfortunately without my gear attachments, I couldn’t use my long sword to the full extent of its power, so I was stuck with shallower strikes than usual, but it was enough to slow Tras down.
She backed off again, but not from pain. Her eyes glared me down as we circled each other, both of us looking for an opening. She was testing her approaches, and I knew I couldn't let my guard down for a second. Unlike her master, she was a strategic fighter, while Bo-an was an attack now, ask questions later type of guy. But my patience with these goblin shifters was growing thin. I danced around Tras, using her size against her.
Finally, I saw my chance. She overextended herself, and I darted in, delivering a swift punch to her gut. Same spot, different pain. For a second it looked like I nearly hit her out of her shifter form as she fought to maintain her appearance. She grunted and stumbled back, the intensity making her close her eyes for a second, but it was a second I needed to go full gorilla on her.
