Lee never knew it was so much fun to run. When Butalax took off his shackles, he felt so light as if he was made of cotton candy. Every step he took was three yards wide, and for a brief moment Lee got scared that if he jumped, he would depart from the solid ground and fly directly towards the ominous red moon.
After they departed, Butalax observed Lee at first, but then bit by bit began to increase the pace. And while running with giant steps was fun, soon Lee realized he was completely out of breath. Fortunately his older companion noticed that and they continued to run just barely within Lee's limits.
***
Lee had no clue how long they were on the way. They periodically stopped to have a slurp from their waterskins, rested for a brief moment and then rushed further.
The red moon had long set, but the never disappearing sun right above the horizon was getting on Lee's nerves.
From the moment he arrived to this strange place, he hadn't experienced a bright day, but the same problem was with the night. He really wished for the sun to finally set so he could have a good night's sleep.
In addition, his left hand and chest hurt, and he needed a period of rest so the damned spark could regenerate the damage caused by the kids, or rather – the pack resembling human-looking beasts.
After a long time they arrived at a more rocky area with high cliffs sticking from the ground, and at this point Lee was completely spent. Fortunately next to one of the cliffs there were numerous wide, one story buildings, and it filled him with hope this was their final destination.
The place looked like a large warehouse district with many people rushing about – some in armor, some dressed like the guys at the blob farm, but Lee was too tired to think of any implications. By now their waterskin bags were long empty, and he felt as if he could pass out any moment.
Butalax slowed down and exchanged few phrases with one one the locals who pointed towards the cliff, apparently giving them directions. But after another couple hundred yards a feeling of dread made Lee's hair stand on end.
At first he thought he was seeing ghosts.
The almost naked, starved to the bones people were basically such. There were probably hundreds of them, carrying boxes and baskets, and slowly moving in two orderly processions to and from the tallest cliff.
A bunch of guards, dressed in the familiar armor, were making sure no one stepped out of the line, but it was hard to imagine anyone would, because the shackles that everyone had, made any thought of disobedience laughable.
Indeed, the ghost-like people were chained with actual shackles, not wearing the bracer-like items Lee was put on before.
Seeing the horrified look on Lee's face, Butalax shook his head, and said something with deep regret in his voice. He mentioned the Lunax deity and patted Lee on the shoulder as if praising him.
But the guy misunderstood his young companion.
Lee wasn't worried about himself – he always had a way out in case of emergency, although dying was never a pleasant experience. In addition, it was followed by the annoying years of childhood during the start of the next life, during which no one would ever take him seriously.
No, what terrified Lee was that he realized that under the thick layer of dirt he could recognize, probably, tens of different races the ghost-like people belonged to. All of them were humanoid, but of races Lee had never seen before in his lives.
Different height of the slaves, them having scales or feathers, varying numbers of eyes and forms of their extremities could make one think they were in an amusement park, but what Lee saw was anything but funny.
Turns out the princess's group gave the invaders the most fitting name – they were thescourge. It was clear they went from world to world, plundering goods and abducting children.
From the looks of it the scourge themselves were formed by myriad of races – the guards varied just as the slaves did, but Lee was not clear how it was decided who became a slave and who could wear armor and carry weapons.
'You should try to invade a more advanced society.' Lee snickered to himself, remembering how the superhuman four-armed guy was taken care of with automatic weapons back in the underground pyramid. And if the weaponry was even more advanced, no superhumans could ever stand a chance.
But then again, how the hell did they get from one world to another? And how could they know which one to invade? Was there an investigation beforehand? Or … was it somehow connected to the eyes everyone saw above Sunwell for several days in the row?
Thinking gave Lee migraines, but he was saved by Butalax and the guards dropping to their knees, and kowtowing to the blood red moon that just rose above the horizon.
"Lunax! Lunax!"
Everyone kept praying, everyone except for the slaves.
Noticing this nuance Lee joined the kneeling ones and heartily chanted along with the rest. Meanwhile the slaves kept moving, not daring or not being capable of lifting their heads.
It was as if the two groups of people, slaves and their guards, lived in two parallel dimensions and were oblivious to each other's existence.
One thing was clear – Lee had to become the perfect devotee to not suffer the fate of a slave. It didn't matter who the Lunax guy was or what the religion was about. In the future he could take the kowtowing as an exercise for his back muscles – this time, though, he first had to pull though with actual pain in his chest.
***
When the prayer was over, Butalax brought Lee to the cliff, to a large opening in the cliff wall through which four carriages could go in side by side. There were several people next to it, but they seemed more like clerks than guards. From the looks of it they were controlling the continuous flow of slaves.
Butalax greeted them, said a couple of words, and one pointed towards the tunnel entrance, urging the pair to go in. For a split moment Lee felt this was the last place he would enter in this life, but the cheery mood Butalax was in dispelled the thought.
No matter how tired Lee was, he got caught by surprise after getting in the tunnel.
There was no electricity in this world, but there were spots on walls at both sides that emitted weak light. It still was rather dark, but one could easily discern people and objects. Lee didn't have time to carefully inspect the sources of light, but it seemed that it came from whitish stones, embedded in the walls.
The tunnel was unexpectedly long.
Lee guessed they walked for over half a mile with the route continuously going downwards until they arrived at something that could resemble a large village, or maybe even a small town.
Indeed, there was an enormous grotto that housed tens of different buildings, and people were rushing between them as if going on their daily errands in a regular surface settlement.
Butalax loudly sniffed the air and rolled his oversized eyes, indicating he didn't like the conditions here, but Lee was pleasantly surprised.
The air was much heavier than on the surface and felt much fresher, even slightly humid. For the first time he could take a deep breath and enjoy the sense of dizziness that came from the slight oxygen overdose.
'Give me an underground lake to take a swim in and I'll forgive you all!' Lee snickered to himself, surprised by how modest his needs had become.
Sadly it was meant to remain an unfulfilled wish.
Butalax brought him to the place for a reason, though. Between several buildings there was a larger square where a bunch of men busied themselves around several cauldrons.
These were partially buried in the ground, but it was easy to tell that the cauldrons were several times larger than the oversize kettle used in the blob farm. Unfortunately the ingredients that were thrown in them were similarly rotten.
'At least I'll get a free meal.' Lee sighed to himself, 'Although there are no free meals in the world ...'