Chapter 9 - Local Policits

I was a bit surprised by the queens question. Slaves where quite common outside of the tribes so we accepted that other cultures have them. "No member of the tribes would willingly own slaves unless it was to get them out of a desperate situation like smuggling them out of the country. That simple comes from the fact that when we used to be slaves ourselves. Well not me personally but the first and second generation were as you might know, so they engrained into us: never hold a person against their will for personal gain. Only if they endanger their health or are being punished." They nodded.

"However, I know that if I were to just release them without care they would starve and die or be just captured by someone else. So if I were to come into the possession of slaves I would have to work hard to provide for them and give them a chance to build a future. I bet someone as rich as the duke had a lot of slaves? The queen chuckled. He owned the most private owned slaves most of them working in his plantations and mines.

I nodded. "So I have my work cut out for me. But let me return this question. How do you feel about slavery?" I asked the king and queen. Somewhere in the two-hour lessons we dropped the your majesty and similar things. "The trade is a blight on our society. There is little as despicable as it, but they are a foundation at the moment because their labor is in charge of much of our infrastructure." I nodded.

"We are trying to reduce them over time. There are rules that slaves have to be released after a certain amount of time and being taken care off until they find a paying job, but the bastards are crafty, and corruption make it hard. However if we were to just abolish it there would be a risk of a revolt of the nobles. Because much of their luxury comes from the slaves. And then there is the fear of the common people that view the freed slaves as a treat that would take away their work." She sighed.

"So instead we make it harder and harder to get new slaves and to keep them. Increase the costs of owning one and make certain that they cant just be killed or ill treated. Of course proofing that is difficult. Because it will take years to completely abolish it. However, we think it is the right thing to do because it is an institution that bases on pain and suffering and that cant be right."

The queen explained. "But there is some personal motivation too. There where slaves that we grew up with and our parents just disposed of them like old socks. People we loved and cared for. They were sold to some Nobel. We still have not found out which one since there wasnt much of a record about them. They are part of the motivation for us to keep fighting that system."

"And with you in that position a big player in the slave market is suddenly gone. And another part was the removal of those corrupt officials that prevented the slaves from claiming their freedom. So even through you are not in a position of power you are already changing how things are around here." She smiled to me.

I pondered about that when the king did put his hand on her shoulder. "I think however that is enough talking for one day." He smiled to me. "Enjoy the luxury of the palace for the rest of the day. We will see each other in a week or earlier if we need to discuss more, Captain Elaina will stay at your side and guard you till then." I smiled back to him and stood up together with him. "Then I will take my leave for now." Aunty remained seated but she knew for certain what she was doing so I wasnt bothered by it.

The next few hours went by rather quickly. I first just walked around admiring the surrounding areas until I found the Library where I remained until they captain gently mentioned that it would be wise to catch some sleep. She herself had done some paperwork which this kingdom seemed to love. I looked out and saw that the sun had went down ages ago. The night looked so beautiful without any metal bars stopping me to enjoy it. No screams in the night from desperate prisoners. No night patrol disturbing you with their jelled commands.

I took a long relaxed undisturbed bath in the luxury of the guest villa and this time I could really take it the full glory of it. There were multiple large basins as well as a large washing area. It was separated by gender which made me smile a bit. I did went into the woman bath after a moment of thinking but found it empty anyway. When I returned to my chambers I stripped out of my cloth and just went back nude into the giant bed. Sleep did come easy even though I did have worry about how I and my new wives would get along in a week.

I awoke in with the morning sun shining on the wood floor. I loved so much waking up like this so I walked out on the balcony to enjoy the view from my room. Below me was a beautiful charming garden which was apparently for the guests of the king. I saw a young woman taking a stroll through there a large book firmly in front of her while she slowly walked towards the other end where I could see a pavilion that was nestled against a wall. She was sadly to far away to tell more but well she seemed like she belonged here. Most like the other guest Elaina mentioned.

I could feel the sun and the wind on my bare skin and I took some deep breath and started my normal morning training routine. It helped me to clear my mind even through I could feel the worry loom just under my skin. The new title and all the new people after been alone for so long was going to be a bit much but on the other hand I liked the idea a lot.

When I was finished, I went back inside to inspected what clothing they had prepared for me today. It was a summer dress that I took one look at and gently put it to the side. A skirt was fine especially if it was long enough but this dress was really not to my liking. Instead I spend the next half hour going through the wardrobe. I had a lot of options and most of them did contain a tailhole or enough space to keep it below the skirt. In the end I decided on a set of tight pants elegant but a lot more revealing then what most seem to wear at court and a nice frilly top.

Additionally I took out some tight high boots and gloves and inspected myself in the Mirror. I looked ... different but the cloth was off high status and well made so people could tell the money. The color scheme of black and white looked extremely nice together and it framed my trained body quite nicely. It was amazing how quickly they got the collection of fitting cloth for me after the first day. As a last touch I decided to wear the dagger on a belt. I did ponder for a moment if a duke had certain requirements of style to wear but I guess that my future wife's would know stuff like that.

I Inspected myself one more time in the mirror before going outside of my room. Today I was greeted by a sleeping Elaina and Johanna who was playing some kind of card game with herself. She had exchanged her uniform with a more civilian attire. However she still had her old trusted sword to her side and wore some kind of Royal badge on her chest.

"Good morning." I greeted her with a big smile. "How are you?" she looked up from her cards. "Morning, i am ok. Just the last days were a bit much. They really are pushing me to learn more so I can advise you correctly on all things military." She shook her head. "Marie has it even worse. They brought her to an old hag that has basically written all the crap about how a Nobel should behave and are frocing that knowledge into her." she chuckled to herself. Her weather hardened face wore a bright smile that reached her eyes as well.

"But anyway should I start to call you, your grace now?" Her eyebrows were raised and I could see a teasing smirk on her. My answer was a loud laugh while we walked out together. "Misra or hey you!" will always be enough for you my friend. I teased her. Hey you! Was the first thing she ever said to me and while she did become a good friend we never evolved far from that. We started the day with a healthy breakfast and decided to take a short stroll together over to the library.

She told me a bit more in detail about what happened to them yesterday. For her it started with a bit of practical weapons training, but she easily passed that then she was brought Infront of wide array of different teachers. "They are all bonkers I tell you. But it is clear that they know what they speak off so its all good. They really want us to be able to support you. Mostly support you in finding the right people but meh its a way better job then guarding prisoners." She chuckled I had not seen her so happy in the last five years. "I am going to meet the combat teacher in the library today I bet its a old retired general or something."

The library was close to the center of the whole palace and quite an beautiful building. Most people here were visiting nobles, court officials and their families as well as a lot of servants. So when I saw a three people walk towards us, two men dressed like court officials, and young lady in the gowns of a nobel, I didnt paid to much attention to them. Because of that my first reaction was to try and catch her when she was suddenly pushed towards me.

And for a normal human it would have been the end right there. But sadly for them my kind was created for war. And even through that was generations ago I still had the reflexes of a cat. Because of that when I noticed the dagger there was more then enough time for me to do a sidestep and leash out with my claw forcing her to drop it. She screamed in pain but was well trained and without any hesitation she had another dagger out ready to swing it towards me. But the result was the same, only that now both of her hands were bleeding.

Johanna had noticed the commotion and her battle-hardened reflexes took over. Her sword was out quicker then the second assassins dagger. He most likely had expected her to focus on me and wanted to stab her into the back, but all he managed to do was pointing his dagger towards her, before a quick slice through his unprotected arm and leg caused him to drop to his knees in pain.

The third assassin tried to get close enough to stab me, but was delayed by pushing the girl and when he managed to maneuver close enough, Johannas second strike went through his side while my claws scratched through his face, dropping him in agony as well. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed another man sprinting towards Johanna. I just started to jell "Behind " when a heavy book hit him square in the back of his head, causing him to topple over. Just a short moment later he screamed loudly when a thin sword pierced through his shoulder and one more lay on the ground screaming.

Behind him I could see now the one I saw in the garden earlier holding a thin elegant sword that had been hidden somewhere under her large skirt. For the first time I could clearly see her. She looked like any other court lady with straight black hair tied into a neat long braid. Her skin had a soft sprinkle of summer freckles but apart from that she didnt looked to remarkable. If I had not seen her swift sword play, I hardly would have spare her another glance.

The remaining assassin meanwhile had keep running ahead, after both of her attempts to hit me failed so badly. Her steeps were struggling first but got more steady and stable quickly while she did run straight towards the nearest wall. None of the guards were close enough to catch her but she woke my hunting instinct.

I ignored everything around me when I started to sprint after her while she had just started to climb the wall. It was an impressive feat even without bleeding hands as she was using an corner to climb up on it with an remarkable speed. I noticed that the madam was close behind me her sword hidden away again. When I reached the corner, I used my claws to imitate the assassins performance and followed her up there.

On the other side was a large beautiful garden. Full of hedges, trees, a small lake and similar places were one could easily hide. Behind me I heard a silent curse and a soft thud. When I turned I saw the lady who had a bit difficulties to climb in her elegant court dress, swearing constantly under her breath about what she would do to some damn court penguins and their stupid ideas of blending in. I suppressed a smirk when I bend down and offered her a hand to help her climb easier.

She smirked and looked me straight in the eye before accepted my help. I could clearly feel the muscles of someone who was used to do long hours of heavy work like sword training when she took my hand. Once she joined me up on the wide stone wall she muttered a quite "thank you" before joining me in scouting out were the wounded prey might have tried to hide.

"Over there!" With that she spotted our target half way across the garden. The Assassins hands were covered with a white cloth while she now sprinted at breakneck speed towards a small building at the opposite end that was sitting nestled against the wall. It was most likely just a small storage hut discreetly tucked away.

She did manage to climb up and over it in an amazing short amount of time. Her hands must have been on fire from the pain during all of it but we were to far away and moving to quickly to hear anything beyond the rushing of wind and our own pounding steeps. This time the young lady was the first over the wall only a few steeps ahead of me. I could heat loud yelling from the garden we just had rushed through, but I wasnt to worried about that at the moment. Rather more worrisome was the steep hill directly behind the wall that I just had jumped on. I did my best to keep control and remain upright while sliding downhill over the soft mud and grass still damp from yesterdays evening rain.

Down below I could see the young assassin reaching the bottom of the hill and using her speed to rush up the walkways of the outer palace wall. One lonely guard on there tried to stop her but she dogged his feeble attempt. Two more nearby just stood gawking for a moment being totally surprised by a young woman sprinting like that. One more guard on the wall came up from someone where Infront of her on the wall but she jumped without any hesitation off the palace wall which was at last 6 meters on this side.

When we finally managed to reach the top of the wall and looked down all I could see was a really busy street full activity. You could see people out on a walk. Some wealthy stores and dinner across the street and lots of pedestrians. On the street itself were a lot of carts and carriages of all classes. As well as some exotic animals. But no matter how hard I looked I couldnt see the girl anywhere.

We both stood there staring down. Our breath accelerated but not to heavy. I could feel the missing training in my legs but thanks to my strict morning routine I still had some stamina left even after all those years. The wall guards had stooped next to us too looking down with confused looks. After a short moment the Lady turned to them.

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And with that i finally finished my first peace of action writing. It was hard to write and i am not 100% certain if it was the right thing to put there in story but ;) i hope you guys enjoy it =)