Previously Unknown Mode of Transportation

[connecticut_yankee]

Hank wakes up.

Of all the usual results of a blow to the head, this one probably isn’t even in the top four. One minute a misunderstanding with a crowbar and a man called Hercules—in retrospect that should have been a warning sign—the next…something else.

This isn’t the Colt Arms Factory, and it isn’t even Hartford. He’s in the middle of a ravine he’s never seen before. Must be a practical joke by someone who’s about to be unemployed. He groans, pushes himself to his feet, and works his way up the nearest slope. On second thought, this is less of a practical joke and more of a dream. The half-clockwork dog would be decidedly impractical to fake, and the enormous bipedal beetle is far too well-dressed.

At the top there’s a fence, with signs facing the other side. No gate is in evidence, but the fence isn’t too much of an obstacle. From the other side, the signs can be read as saying variations on “beware of the magic.” Huh.

From atop the slope, there’s at least a clearly visible destination. A nearby city, it may not be any city that was nearby when he was last conscious, but it’s better than here. He heads toward it.

Comments

[alicornucopia]

The city has un-factory-tainted air, short buildings, steep narrow streets, and brown-skinned humans who seem to find him exotic. There are horses and market stalls and houses and shops and occasionally fountains.

[connecticut_yankee]

He walks a few blocks along the cobblestone roads. "Where on God's green earth is this supposed to be" is a question he can ask anyone. No hurry.

One of the vendors has some unusual wares. Each sign has a name, an age, a price... And a person chained to a wall. He stops, and addresses one of the more alert-looking captives.

"Ayabel? I'm Hank, Hank Morgan. Please tell me this is anything other than what it looks like?"

[namesthesky]

"...Why, sir, what does it look like?"

[connecticut_yankee]

"It looks like you and all these other people are being sold. As slaves. Is this a common occurrence here?"

[namesthesky]

"Yes, so I'm not sure why you're so surprised. Sir."

[connecticut_yankee]

"Call it optimism. To think a randomly chosen place might be civilized.
Actually, better start with that. Where are we?"

[namesthesky]

"Seene Market. Tayane. Did you hit your head or fall in a magic, sir?"

[connecticut_yankee]

"Yes, and, probably. Got in there somehow. Though, if that's meant to be an explanation for much of anything, it'd be the first time I ever heard of any magic that wasn't a cheap trick or silly superstition."

[namesthesky]

"...Maybe the magic took your memory," suggests Ayabel.

[connecticut_yankee]

"I do have a full set. Just of...not here. I suppose you haven't heard of America?"

[namesthesky]

"No."

[connecticut_yankee]

"And to me, Tayane is just as alien.
So I went out like a light and when I came to it had to be somewhere slavery is unremarkable and people allegedly get their memories erased by magic. Wonderful. Who runs this place?"

[namesthesky]

"What place in particular?"

[connecticut_yankee]

"Whoever it is who would be able to stop all this and hasn't."

[namesthesky]

"Do you mean the person who operates the particular slave reseller I belong to right now, or do you mean, for instance, the king?"

[connecticut_yankee]

Hank's palm briefly meets his face.
"Of course there's a king. It'd be too much to hope for a halfway decent republic... At any rate, yes, I suspect it's the king I'll have to convince eventually. Though that does sound difficult from a standing start, and far too slow to help you."

[namesthesky]

"The king's name is Oreled and he lives in Alerene."

[connecticut_yankee]

"Good to know, thank you.
On a more immediate level, I don't have one and a quarter hundred seo on me and for that matter don't even know how much that's worth. I—" he lowers his voice "—I could find something to pick the lock if you want to make a break for it."

[namesthesky]

"I can't run. I fall over if I try."

[connecticut_yankee]

"And if the reseller's out of the picture first? If we're lucky, some of your burlier colleagues and I might be able to lay him out without raising an alarm."

[namesthesky]

"I'd still have to get to Tsopix or similar, without papers and with a heel tattoo."

[connecticut_yankee]

"So there at least are more civilized places; that's something, at least.
If the papers are in his possession, can we write it out like I bought and freed you? No one else needs to know I haven't the funds, and a strange and obviously foreign person could go either way on that score."

[namesthesky]

"There's still the question of how I will physically depart the premises when everyone knows that no such transaction took place."

[connecticut_yankee]

"Who's 'everyone'?
I admit I was imagining the proprietor had some form of an office around here, where he could be captured or robbed of his papers in private with none the wiser. Harder still otherwise."

[namesthesky]

"He has an office, but he also has security guards. Stealing me is a dicey proposition unless you came out of the magic with magical powers of some relevant kind."