70 The Distraction - Part 3

"So, what do we do?"

That was the question.

It was clear that slavery was occurring in this village. But was it known by everyone?

They had to use a hidden door in the palisade wall to bring the slaves in. They transported them in a carriage that many would immediately see as a prisoner transport.

To Octavia, that meant either slavery was being kept hidden to the rest of the village, or something else was occurring. It was entirely possible that the village knew, but the secrecy behind it was so travellers and outsiders didn't find out.

Figuring out which it was, is what they needed to do.

Whatever the case, they needed to be careful since both of them were just the right type to be captured as slaves.

…

As they continued to contemplate the situation, they watched more and more carriages go by. Some went into the village and others just headed around it. No more ended up going through the hidden door.

What they did notice however was that not all of the people that entered the village were human.

There was the occasional beast-kin and elf, but what also gave them hope, was that they also left the village as well.

They saw a couple of wagons and carriages leave the village that had the odd beast-kin, elf and dwarf, and it was clear they were not there as slaves. With the joyous interactions they had with the others surrounding them and the lack of a collar, it looked like they were there of their own free will.

Given this, it seemed like it would be fine to just enter the village. But given their plan to find out about the slavery, Octavia figured some precautions were necessary.

Namely, disguises.

…

Leaving their vantage point, they headed towards the houses outside of the walled village. With the village expanding as people within gave birth and others decided to settle there, houses outside made sense and were common for all villages like this. Luckily for the slavers, opposite their entrance was the forest, and it would take some time to make space for houses there. So, it was on the other side of the village which was mostly plains, that over time farms and buildings have cropped up.

As they looked around, they saw a good number of people manning the fields, toiling away at the soil and crops, watering, harvesting and planting depending on where each set of crops was in its cycle.

The colours were vibrant and varied between the different fields and was quite a beautiful sight.

But what was even more beautiful, was the washing that was hanging outside of one of the houses. Well, beautiful to them in the moment.

"Stealing from these people just doesn't feel right." Sylvia quietly said as they headed towards the clothes.

"I know it doesn't. I don't like it either. But we need something before we enter the village so it's not immediately obvious, we are not human. And besides, we don't have to 'steal' it, we could 'pay' for it. Well, pay for it without informing the owners I mean."

It would seem a little odd to everyone else, but neither of them were bad people, and the ones that they were planning to steal from were just innocent people, as far as they knew. So, in order to bring about some form of karmic balance they left an equivalent amount of Pica by the clothes they took.

Not that they had to leave to much anyway given the quality of the clothes.

The clothes were very simple in design. Well, more like they didn't have a design. They took from the line a couple of coifs, which was a common sort of headwear in this time and likely helped a lot dealing with the sun when on the fields. They also grabbed a couple of cloaks, one of which was more of a cape, just covering the back and around the shoulders of the person. The other was more of a full body cloak, which could be wrapped around the person and went all the way down to the ground, both of which they had to get from another house nearby.

The idea behind this was that they needed to cover up their distinguishable features that showed they were not human. For Sylvia, that was pretty simple, in that she could easily cover her ears, which she could help do by flattening them a bit. Then there was her tail, and like the ears, she just had to keep it wrapped around her body as best she could, and the cloak and the clothes she currently had would cover it up.

Octavia on the other hand. Well. It wasn't as simple.

The only thing they could do was for her to wear the larger cloak and the coif, and hopefully, that would cover up as much of her green skin and fact that she slithered as possible. But really, neither of them had massive hopes that they could keep the charade going for long.

But, with the village not being part of the slavery operation, they should be fine if they see her. Thankfully, she also had an idea of how to remove any suspicion with how she was dressed, as that was bound to crop up.

The only problem would be if one of the slavers spotted her.

Sure she could leave Sylvia to go in on her own, but that did not sit right with her.

And so, kitted out with their tails tucked in, they headed into the belly of the beast.

…

"Why are you wearing a cloak that covers you completely?"

The entrance was very well guarded. Several guards were out front inspecting carriages, checking out individuals, and what they were bringing in. It was a well-thought-out set of security measures.

Along the palisade walls guards stood at the ready with bows in case some criminal decided to do something dumb.

The guards were outfitted with mostly leather armour. Being a village out in a forest it probably wasn't flush with pica to go about outfitting its guards with metal armour and the like. But even then, the numbers they had would be enough to hold off a small force of enemies.

It was as they reached the gate, that they received some odd looks. Well, Octavia did mostly.

It wasn't a hot day, but it still didn't warrant someone needing to be completely covered in a cloak, which is why she wasn't being received very well by the travellers and other people heading into the village.

This is also where the question had come from the guard they reached.

"I'll say it again, why are you wearing a cloak like that?"

As the man's voice grew louder, his hand started to reach over to his sword, as if he was waiting for some sort of attack to come from the cloaked individual. He grew agitated, and a few of the guards nearby were getting worried and moving their own hands over to their weapons.

Both of them were getting a little worried, wondering why they were being so jumpy out of nowhere. They barely had time to give an explanation before they were reaching for their weapons. It was odd.

Thankfully, having discussed this as they were walking to the village, Sylvia jumped in with a rehearsed speech.

"Sorry, this is my friend…Leah." She almost forgot the fake name they came up with. "She wears this outfit because she was horribly disfigured in a magical accident. She fears taking it off, not wanting anyone to see what she has become."

The guard who had spoken to them slowly stopped edging towards his weapon as he heard that, and started to relax. He probably figured if some sort of attack was coming, it would have happened by now, not some lousy excuse. He internally scoffed at the response, disfigured by a magical incident, really. Not that he had any idea for another reason the girl would be wearing a cloak like that.

But, with no real reason to keep them out, he got on with his job, once everyone had relaxed and got back to their own.

"Okay. That will be one silva pica each for an entry permit."

Following what he said, Sylvia reached into her pouch and pulled out the money for her own permit, leaving Octavia to do her own.

This is also part of the plan in order to sell the idea. If he hadn't asked, Sylvia would have paid for both, but this opportunity could not be wasted. So, reaching into her own pouch, which was hidden under her cloak, she pulled out a silver pica and handed it over, giving the guard and the other people around him a very clear view of her green hand and arm.

The guard was taken aback and so were the people around him, instantly believing that the story actually was real. As far as they knew, there were no races that were green. Even demon's skin tones varied as shades of blue, red and grey.

Although, it almost worked too well as the guard was reluctant to take anything from the sickly green hand.

"As I said, magic disfigured her where but one symptom is her skin turning to this green colour. I can assure you though, the magic only affects her. You will not catch or be changed by her touch." To prove it Sylvia took hold of Octavia's hand hoping that would be enough for the guard.

The guard seeing this relaxed and, reluctantly, took the offered pica, and provided them with slips of paper that were the entry permit.

Now free to get on with their day, they headed into the village to see what's what.

…

"I'm surprised by the number of stores in this village," Octavia said as they wandered around. She had expected a small village to mostly be made up of houses and have a general store of some kind and not much else. But as they headed down the few roads it had, they found almost everything you found in Caldaria. There wasn't any duplication like in Caldaria, as with the small size it wasn't needed, but they found a blacksmith, apothecary, general store and tannery among several others. There were even training grounds for which several guards were being taught how to fight. It was very surprising given the size of the village, but it generally made sense given the number of carriages that were travelling to it. How Lord Desmon did not have information on this place she didn't know.

But while they were shocked and surprised by all this, as well as looking forward to a little shopping, they came across one building they knew they would have to enter soon to accomplish their goal.

The building that was standing against the palisade and was very close to the hidden entrance.

A…grocery store?