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"Do we HAVE to go through Thornmouth?" Mallory asked. There was a clear tone of annoyance in her voice, but there was something hidden deeper too. Worry and fear were being kept just under the surface.

They had already passed through a few smaller towns before, but Thornmouth was the first place with an official checkpoint. The town was positively a nexus of trade in comparison to the backwater villages they had been in, but that coupled with its location guaranteed tighter security. It sat directly on the border of Sansus, the kingdom they made their home in, and the principality their destination occupied, Cantala. That made it the prime way to get between either kingdom legally or illegally.

Alexander sighed and Amber reached over to give her a comforting pat. Mallory purred a little at the physical contact. Alexander's voice was terse as he walked her through it for about the third time this trip, "Either we go through Thornmouth and receive our official permit to enter, or we avoid every single town, village, and patrol from here to Halcard. Your choice, but if we're avoiding roads then I nominate you to carry the cart."

Mallory couldn't find any flaws in that argument. A bit of pain and annoyance now would drastically speed their journey later. But that didn't make it any less painful or annoying now. "Easy for you to say. Must be nice to be on the permit as a person instead of as cargo." Mallory said with much more grumpiness than she usually displayed.

"And would we get more questions with a pred, a prey, and a domestic all travelling as free persons or as a predator and his two slaves? We've been over this Mal. Our mission is to get to Halcard, and this is the easiest way to do that." Alexander's tail flicked with the mild annoyance from the situation. "Now, won't you please save this for later? Any closer and the border inspectors will hear."

That last point did get Mallory to pipe down. She had never personally been through inspections and border crossings before, but a chatty slave would stick out like a sore thumb.

"State your business, cargo, destination", came the monotone droll of the hawk who was apparently in charge. He was flanked by a wolf who looked like he must be in a competition with his Officer to be the most uninterested in their job. That was good, but hanging slightly back was a third, a fox who seemed much more engaged. The off-putting glint in his eye was trouble for anyone trying to keep a low profile.

Alexander had a weapon of his own though. He knew that if there was one surefire way to avoid scrutiny from overworked and bored guards, it was enthusiasm. He pulled out his lute with a wide smile on his face and strummed a chord. "Why, it's Peter the Lyrical of course! Carrying me and my sumptuous notes all the way to the capital! Would you like to hear a song?" He said it with such a bright and sunny disposition that he was sure to turn away all but the most insufferably cheery of people. The guards were most certainly not that.

"Yeah we'll skip it this time. PasSun?", asked the hawk, holding out his hand. Alex handed him the booklet emblazoned with the stylized Sun logo of the Church and the simple word, "Passport". The guard cracked it open and was about to stamp it immediately when he noticed some writing inside. "Says here you got cargo. Any restricted or limited items to declare?"

Alex had been humming to himself, feigning that he wasn't paying attention to the official. "Hmm? Well, only the magic of song!" An enthusiastic chord filled the air! "Oh yes, my two stagehands too. They're in the back." He tried to bring as little attention to his companions as possible, but the fox guard peered into the back of their cart regardless. That caused the first twitch in Alexander's countenance, but luckily none of the guards were paying attention to him right now anyways.

Amber and Mallory kept their gazes low, knowing too well how to act like beaten-down slaves. "Mouse has got some fat on her bones", commented the fox suspiciously. Mallory was so tense she was hardly breathing. If this came to a fight they'd be fugitives for the next week of travels there AND the next week back. She just wanted them through this checkpoint.

Alex shrugged. "Just the way I got her. Her last owner must have been nice." His casual tone of voice hadn't cracked in the least. Again he strummed the instrument, anything to distract the guards from their search. The fox continued anyways, his voice getting more derogatory. "That's just the way I like 'em. Give me something to grab onto when I'm railing 'em." He made a thrusting motion to emphasize that, positively leering at the lesbian mouse while he did. Amber looked like she was going to be sick.

A nervous laugh rang out from Alex as he tried to relieve the tension. "Oh she's not that kind of slave." The guards instantly stopped what they were doing. Apparently that was the wrong answer. The fox looked up at him like he was crazy, and even the uninterested hawk glanced up from the paperwork.

"What da ya mean? All slaves are "that kind of slave". Especially with a rack like that." No amount of awkwardness stopped the fox from being just as crude as ever. Amber clutched her shirt a little tighter to herself.

Alex quickly realized his mistake and desperately tried to laugh it off. "No no, I mean I could. It's just I prefer the cat for that. The way she purrs, that tongue of hers. Mmf, there's a reason I paid extra for a common domestic like that. Never known a better trained dick-sucker."

Mallory concentrated on her magic just in case, the silence in the air making her fur stand on edge. Amber tried to figure out how she could reach for a knife subtly. But thankfully that crassness seemed to satisfy the three men. The hawk went back to his paperwork and the fox pulled his head back from their cart, knowing that as much as he wanted to rut the 'slaves' they'd probably have to be on their way. He didn't have enough authority to stop them for his own purposes alone. All three of the travellers breathed a sigh of relief.

The hawk had had quite enough. He stamped the booklet before handing it back to Alex. "Welcome to Halcan." His voice was just as unenthusiastic as ever. If it hadn't been for his horny partner Mallory thought they might not even have looked in the cart at all.

The wolf had one more piece of advice though. He leaned in towards Alex, gesturing for him to come a bit closer. "Hey wolf-to-wolf, a bit of advice. I see they both got those magic cuffs. Smart move, but I hear there's gonna be new orders about witches soon. Kill On Sight kinda orders. If you wanna protect your investment I recommend you hide that part of 'em, yeah? Good talk."

"Kill On Sight? I paid good money for those two! What's that all about?" Alex said with indignation in his voice. Only Mal and Amber knew it was an act to provide a thin coat over his fear.

A shrug from the wolf guard answered him. "I dunno. Just what I hear. Above my pay grade to ask."

Alex struggled for a moment to come up with a response to that. Not only were they at risk, but practically everyone they knew couldn't be seen in public anymore. "Well wolf-to-wolf thank you for that! I can't be throwing away money in this economy."

With that ominous message the trio of guards started to head for the next cart. An extremely bored looking bear at the gate waved them though, which Alex complied with by urging the horses forward. Amber and Mallory both looked at each other as the cart trundled forward, disgust and fear written in their features. That and mulling the knowledge that their mission was going to be much more dangerous than they thought.

---

Julian jumped in surprise when a harsh, almost blue light illuminated the room. Whatever was making it made a strange buzz and he immediately looked to one of the light sources to try to see how it worked. He could feel the magic running through it, but he'd never seen anything like it before.

"They are naturally occurring crystals", Catherine said, noticing his interest. "The smoke of candles and lamps was a cause of interference in other experiments. They are expensive, so do not break them." Looking around, everything in the lab looked expensive. It had a similar design to the place where Amber and Julian had been slaves together, but everything was newer and cleaner. Compared to what Julian had been working in after he had escaped this place was incredible.

He just wished it was under better circumstances. As it was right now he felt terrible even being here. If they got the knowledge they were looking for out of him, things would be truly dire. He knew he had to stay strong.

But every day the cracks were getting bigger. He hadn't even spoken at all for the first two days. Then it had been a week before he'd started addressing Catherine as Mistress. But now it felt like there wasn't a day that went by where she didn't shove the wedge deeper in, reinforce that little buzz he got when he submitted.

He shouldn't be here at all. He told himself that it was just to correct the massive errors in what she had shown him in their work. He was here to make sure they wouldn't cause a different, completely unpredictable catastrophe. Better the disaster he knew than the one he didn't, right?

The guilt he felt about it let him know it was a weak excuse. He'd given in. Again. Catherine had promised him bliss for one little day of corrections. How could he say no to that? So much pleasure, so much relief from torture, all for one more little yes. He'd been giving her a little yes here, a small acquiescence there in greater and greater numbers ever since that first submission. Every single one was rewarded so well too, blessed with the kind of pleasure that some men would kill for.

His submission would kill others though. He had to stay strong for that reason. He had to stay strong for Amber, and every other witch out there.

"Julian", Catherine said firmly, snapping him out of his reverie.

"Yes Mistress, sorry!", he looked at her feet as he said it, reverently avoiding eye contact. The habits he had worked so hard to get over from his life as a slave were now seeping back into his actions at her behest. It was just so much easier to submit and enjoy. Even if his thinking brain was screaming at him not to.

Catherine smiled at his obedience. Her training was working well. "Good slave", she said, the words sending a shiver down his spine. Even something as simple as that phrase was now becoming irrevocably intertwined with thoughts of pleasure. "As I was saying, you will work with two of our top magical researchers. They are experts in combat magic primarily, so their specialization is not ideal. However they are the best we have on hand."

The lack of relevant experts was no surprise. Working for the Church in magical research was not a stable profession. Getting funding cut off was common, as was being suddenly labeled a heretic. But working outside of their control would earn you a heretic or witch label immediately. The choice was a rock or a hard place.

Combat magic being mentioned did stir a memory in Julian. If they were experts in combat magic at Halcard that meant they likely knew someone he knew. "Oh, did they work with Mallory, Mistress?"

Julian had thought the question to be pretty innocent, but Catherine openly snarled at the mention of that name. That predatory noise made the hairs on the back of Julian's neck stand up and his ears flatten against his head. Through gritted teeth Catherine answered, "I do not know who you speak of."

It was clearly not true. The vicious anger boiling just under the surface said far more than her pre-prepared words ever could. Julian wished he could somehow have stopped himself from ever mentioning it. The only other time he had seen her this mad he'd nearly not lived to see her calm down. "I... I'm sorry Mistress! If, if it helps you should know she is safe and hea-GRK"-

He's cut off by Catherine violently grabbing his shoulder and slamming him into one of the counters. The sound of glass shattering from an expensive and intricate looking piece of glassware knocked aside largely covers the mouse's squeal of pain as he's held there for a long moment. All he can do is whimper out little apologies pitifully while Cathering looks like she's debating how best to take him from a slave to a mere piece of meat.

The sound of the laboratory door creaking open interrupts her just before she can make her final decision. Two scientists are standing awkwardly in the doorway looking inside. "We- uh, we can come back later", one of them suggests, the other already turning around to try to leave.

Catherine drops Julian to the counter, a little bit of blood trailing down his shoulder as he rubs it tenderly. She shakes her head, "No, come in now. I was merely punishing this slave." She had almost instantly regained her facade of cold professionalism, as if the anger had all blown away in an instant. Julian knew it was there, but she hid even the faintest traces of her emotions so well. On this topic anyways.

"In fact you should get to work." Catherine continued, wiping her hands of the few drops of mouse blood. "His assistance is only for today, so I recommend you make good use of it. If you are not ready by the next full moon then I will not be so kind as you have grown used to."

---

Everyone in the cart was silent, tense. What were any of them supposed to say, especially here? The Church bans on magic and persecution of witches had been going on far longer than any of them were alive, but killing on sight? That was a huge escalation, especially given how they hadn't even shown any signs of magic aside from the fairly common runic cuffs they were wearing.

Mallory silently removed hers, but Amber didn't follow her lead. It couldn't be easy for her, Mallory knew it. She either had to wear the symbols of her oppression or see the painful results of fighting it every time she looked down. There was no good option for her.

At least they had each other. Mallory reached over to Amber's shoulder, but that little bit of contact wasn't enough for the mouse. Amber moved closer, leaning her entire body against the cat. Mallory softly stroked her curly hair in response, keeping the mouse as close and safe as she could.

Amber was the first to break the silence. "What are we going to do? It's going to be hell if those are the standing orders, especially as we get close to Halcard. And just... all the innocent people they're going to go after. Should we... should we attack somehow?"

Mallory shook her head. "We're not an army. Who would we attack, what would we gain? It's not our fight. We... well, we can contact home and warn them. And we can get regular shackles instead of the runic ones, that should pass inspection. As long as we're careful and avoid trouble we should be fine."

Amber frowned. She wasn't happy with that answer. "I'm not worried about US. We can manage on our own and warn the others of course, but like, you know how bad the Church is at identifying witches. All their false positives, are we really just going to let that happen?"

Alex growled back at them from his seat up front, "Quiet down back there or I'll quiet you myself!" It was a convincing delivery of the message that they were getting too loud, but the slave-owner attitude still made Amber's fur ruffle.

Mallory responded to Amber more quietly. "There's just... there's nothing we can do. So what, we attack some guards, put ourselves in direct danger, save one person? There's still thousands of others that we can't save, so what does it matter?"

Amber knew she was right. They just didn't have the resources to act on it. But that didn't make it any easier to just give up. "It would matter to that one person." She practically whispered it, but the words still rang loudly in Mallory's ears.

---

"This... this is really how you decoded my work?" Julian asked with distaste in his voice.

The two Church scientists working with him shrugged, looking rather sheepish. They were both big cats, one a puma and the other a jaguar, but neither of them looked predatory now. "Well we pieced together some of it, but lots just didn't make sense at all."

The mouse pointed to one line in particular that had been crossed out and re-written many times over. "Do you even USE magic? Because this makes me think you do not."

The looks from the two big cats got even more evasive, as if they were trying to avoid so much as the idea of eye contact. That gave Julian his answer, further validating his frustration.

"Goddess above, it really is just a field of study for you, isn't it? If you actually went through with casting that it would have put everybody in this castle at risk, if not everybody in the town nearby too! Even a novice mage should have spotted that!"

While the magic scientists he had working with him were the best the Church had in the area, the problem came from the Church itself. Without allowing their researchers to actually use any magic and having their research always a half step away from being banned for heresy they could never really master the subject. Especially not to the standards required for such a powerful spell.

Julian was still trying to convince himself that this was the real reason he was here to help. These mistakes were awful and were even worse than he thought. He still wished that was his true reason. But even as he worked to fix their more egregious errors his mind was still thinking about how good Catherine would make him feel.

"And don't even get me started on what you were thinking with the catalyst. That could have killed or sickened everybody on the PLANET with ANY amount of magical attunement. Not just witches, EVERYBODY. In case you didn't know that's probably three out of every four, if not four out of five people!"

One of the researchers interjected there. "Are you sure? I thought the numbers were closer to half that."

His interruption only pissed Julian off more. "THAT is your concern? That your mistake might not have killed enough people? Goddess have mercy on you, those numbers are old Church propaganda, I thought at least you would have known that. Ifera help me with these thick-skulled predators."

That was apparently the final straw for the fox guarding the room. "HEY! MOUSE! I know you THINK you're important, but you're one useful discovery away from the slave pens. So quit your bitching, respect your handlers, and I won't have to call Catherine in here. Understand?"

Julian was feeling about ready to yell at that meathead too, right up until he mentioned Catherine. He did not want to bring her into this. Didn't want her to know about him being anything but submissive. Not at all. "I... I understand." He said begrudgingly, ears flattening to his head as he quieted down.

"You understand SIR", the fox corrected.

"I understand Sir." Far too long spent in captivity was echoed in his actions. It was so much easier to just obey sometimes. Fighting your oppressors was morally right, but it was just so exhausting. And when your oppressors gave such exquisite treats it was even harder to say no.

"That's a good squeaker. Now get to work, and if I ever hear that name again I'll teach the tongue it came from a lesson. Ya' got that?"

"Yes Sir", came the immediate answer in the same downtrodden voice. Julian forced himself to calm down, to breathe. This wasn't ideal, but at least he could stop them from really messing up. "Alright. We'll start with a primer on self-perpetuating spells. Listen closely, and don't hold your questions."

---

Amber and Mallory were still caught in that awkward state where two people who were very close disagreed very strongly. It wasn't new to them unfortunately. Amber had never had strong magical abilities, so when she saw Mallory's natural prowess her first thought had been an all-out offensive. To use her as a battle-mage like the church had meant to.

But to Mallory those powers of hers were just a normal part of the world. Something she had always had, and in a way were even responsible for the worse parts of her enslavement. To use them more would only put her and everybody she knew at risk to fight a battle she couldn't possibly win.

The topic had come up from time to time while they were inside Se Lalin's walls, but then it had mostly been limited to hypotheticals and scenarios. Would Mallory really hide her powers even if it meant saving a life? Would she avoid a conflict even if she might tip the scales?

Back then they had always been remote possibilities. Things Amber said to rile Mallory up, try to make her see the mouse's side of the argument. But now that they were rolling through an active slave auction it didn't seem so hypothetical anymore.

"Slave auction, starts in five! Come inside, get a good seat!" The announcer had trained his voice to pierce through the crowded market. His whole job was telling people where they could turn their dollars into misery at the best rates in town or their money back. "We've got prey, we've got domestics, we've got 'em all! Sheep, rabbits, mice, dogs, even cats, we've. Got. It. ALL!"

The enthusiasm behind his tone made it feel like he could have been promoting a circus or a show, some joyous event. Like it was anything but what it actually was. Selling lives for profit.

Amber turned to Mallory again, who looked away to avoid the mouse's gaze. "You could do it you know. Probably what, a half dozen guards? About ten locked pens. That's only two spells for you and they're all free."

Mallory didn't like where this was going. "And then what? Every guard in every city for miles is looking for them, and us. I don't even want to know what kind of an Inquisition team we'd have on our ass if I went flaunting that much power."

The crier continued, this time finding an individual in the audience to focus on. A grey wolf with his own instrument and cart, Alexander was just the target market of the auction. "You Sir, you look like the type with a discerning eye, with tastes refined! You're the kind who would want a fine and fully trained rabbit with fur as pure white as snow! Other venues would charge you double my price, I can tell you that!"

Alex ignored the salesman's pitch, just happy for something that drowned out the two in the back. This city was really bringing out the animosity between them and he didn't need the trouble of anyone else hearing them.

"Better than not using it at all." Amber answered. "You've got an incredible ability to change lives. You could take down a whole platoon of soldiers at once if you ACTUALLY fought. But I don't know why I'd expect that from someone who can't even tell her boy-toy she's pregnant"

Mallory instantly puts a finger to her lips, eyes wide with shock. She barely whispered her response so she wouldn't be heard by Alex over the auctioneer. "I will tell him soon, ok? He doesn't need more stress on this mission." With that particularly sensitive topic covered she spoke a bit louder again like she was trying to convince Alex these were her first words. "And if I take out a platoon they send a battalion and if I beat that it's an army. We just have to make the world safe when and where we can."

Amber really didn't like that answer. "You're probably the most powerful single person in the world. If you're really this weapon that they say then you could at least act like it."

That was apparently too far. "I am NOT a weapon!" Mallory's anger caused a crackle of red energy to spark off of her hand and ground itself on the cart. A small burn mark was left behind. "I am not a weapon", she repeated more quietly. With how she looked down it was hard to tell if she was still talking to Amber, or just trying to reassure herself.

Amber could see she had struck a nerve, and while Mallory's first angry snap nearly made her snap back, the quieter repetition made her realize she had struck a nerve. "No you're not. I'm sorry Mallory."

"I know", Mallory practically whispered. The cart rolled on throughout it all, the barking of the salesman piercing through the fabric even as they started to leave him behind. All three of them were forced to hear his pitch, forced to know what they couldn't change. To know just how many people they were leaving behind.