While Rushdi was battling his fear and patriotism, Nick and Clayton discussed their options for tomorrow and decided to look for the slave trader first. Even though they had to deal with the scum which was deeply hated in their homeland, there shouldn't be any slaves on their way to the Mainland continent and maybe they could even sabotage their ship after the arrival.
They had no idea their profile has been way too high for the most of the trip, but even if they realized it, there was nothing much they could've done differently. In order to protect the girls they had to do two or even three men job each and it would inevitably attract attention. The only exception was the battle with the snake, but even that might have been the correct move since the arrival of the imperial army could become even more dangerous to them than a rank five beast. Obviously they knew of their unusual popularity and decided to change their appearance at the first opportune moment after entering Ulum.
Thus, in the morning after the caravan arrived in the outskirts of the city, the 'Southern mercenaries' stealthily left without any commotion and disappeared on the crowded road.
After entering the city, they settled in a big but simple inn not far from the eastern city gates and, while the girls were finally taking baths, Nick changed in a random inconspicuous attire and went out to investigate the overall situation and maybe already look for opportunities to leave the continent.
Just as he left the inn, while squeezing through the bustling streets, Nick felt someone trying to pickpocket him. With wide eyes, almost in shock at the audacity, he witnessed a small boy slowly sliding a little dirty hand in his left trouser pocked. He never experienced this situation and it seemed incredulous anyone would even try something like this on him – a person comparable to most Qi masters.
"Really?" Nick asked while looking at the kid who only now noticed that he had been caught, but it was obviously not the first time and the boy didn't get startled for even a moment. In an instant he disappeared in the crowd and ran towards a small alley. Nick almost lost him at the very moment the boy dashed away – the kid was incredibly fast and on the busy street could hide himself well.
Boy continued to run and changed his route few times just to arrive at a narrow, shady spot between two shacks in a small alley. He leaned forward, supporting himself with hands on his knees, trying to catch breath while heavily panting.
"You sure are fast." To his great terror the boy heard a laughing voice nearby. Looking to his right he saw Nick leisurely walk closer, widely smiling.
Nick wasn't in a rush and decided to help this boy out just like he did in Berin where he gave a local guide from slums a ton of silver for showing them around the city.
"Wanna …" Nick wanted to offer boy a job, when suddenly a broken, rusty dagger was pointed at his face.
"Don't come closer!" The kid hissed and quickly slashed with his dagger few times at Nick's direction to appear more dangerous.
The latter wanted to explain his offer when suddenly saw movement in the dark corner behind the boy, near few stacked boxes.
"Cough!" Someone coughed while obviously trying to suppress the sound, but because of the suppression it made even harder to hold the following coughs back.
"Sigh, let me see." Nick wasn't mother Theresa and had no wish to save every living soul, but there was obviously another child behind the boy and it was sick. Nick only wanted to take a look and maybe leave some medicine and then be on his way. There was not much of a future for these kids and most likely they would be caught soon and become slaves anyway. The life here was cruel.
"Stay away from my sisters, you pervert!" Little boy misunderstood Nick's intention and seeing him coming over instantly attacked.
Nick caught the small dagger in his palm and took it away for now.
"Let me take a look, maybe I can help in some way." Nick sighed and squatted down to take a closer look at the small mound of cloth that kept occasionally moving.
After removing few layers of dirty, old clothing, he saw a small child hugging even a smaller one and looking at him with terrified eyes. Nick did expect to see another kid, but the pitiful view gave him a small shock despite being prepared.
The boy he chased was around six or seven years old, and there was another child, maybe at the age of five that was holding a small baby wrapped up in a dirty linen. The baby was, maybe, two years old and a terrible stink came from it. The other two probably tried to take care of the toddler, but didn't have the knowledge nor the means to do it properly.
"Sigh, let's clean them up first." Nick took out a large bottle of water and intended to wash them and let them drink as well.
"Please don't hurt my sisters!" Boy was in panic and had tears in his eyes, but didn't run away despite understanding his chances to become a slave any second.
"Of course! Here, hold this water and help me wash them." Nick quickly used the basic parenting principles to involve an anxious child in routine duties to calm him down.
Turned out that the sick one was not the toddler but the five year old and Nick, after cleaning them up, fed her his herbal tea and some other medicine. Then made a paste from fruits and nuts and let the boy feed the smallest one. After fifteen minutes the only one who was still hungry was the eldest boy, but he pretended to not care and still continued to intuitively position himself between Nick and the two girls.
"I can't save you or offer you a home, but I can let you earn some good silver." Nick finally brought up the reason for following the boy, "I don't know how much it can help you and how long you can continue to avoid getting caught, but at least it can give you a chance."
"What do you want?" The boy stared at him with wary eyes.
"I'm new here and need someone to show me around. If you know the city – bring me to the harbor first, then we'll probably need to visit few other places." Nick explained and gave two silver coins to the boy.
The kid looked at the windfall in his hands in disbelief, "And you won't sell us?"
"Why would I? I don't need money, but I want to spend it. So how about it?" Nick grinned.
"Alright!" The boy nodded and they both left with the new guide continuously glancing over the shoulder at his sisters who were trying to 'pack back up' in the heap of the dirty clothing.
Nick's heart was in pain knowing that the two little souls were left in the dark corner, but he kept repeating to himself that he had to save his friends first and these children were not his responsibility. In fact, they will die in few months or, in case they got caught, in few years. During his time spent on the Nestri continent Nick saw how the slaves were treated and understood there was no future for these three.
While he was trying to suppress his natural instinct of helping those in need, they arrived at the docks. According to master Solomon's instructions, the slave trader whom he was looking for was in the southern part of the port and they slowly strolled that way while looking around.
This port was similar to the one in Beliz or Berin, maybe a tad bigger. Ulum definitely didn't have the biggest harbor, but it was the bustling inland trade which made it so prosperous and important to receive the title of 'the biggest port on the west coast'.
Nick could already discern Mudin's slave 'warehouses' when he recognized another person on the distant pier. After spending two and a half months in one caravan it was difficult to miss the vice caravan leader's face, but what alarmed Nick were the three men in black uniforms Rushdi was talking to.
Few moments after Nick noticed them, one of the men in black ran off in a lightning speed towards the west while Nick froze in realization. They have been found out!
Nick wasn't angry at Rushdi and didn't even think about him, but tried to figure out how to leave the city as fast as possible. The man who just left definitely will lock down the gates starting with the closest. And, while Nick had to pick up his friends from the inn, the other gates will probably be locked down as well.
Of course, the 'locking down' didn't mean the actual closing, but the increased inspection the people and their cargo will receive. Within hours the city will be swept as well, so he had to think of something fast.
The boy looked at Nick in confusion, but the latter stood in the middle of the street and only started to react a minute or two later. He took few steps to the side and leaned at the nearby cargo boxes while still observing something in the distance.
Nick decided to watch the men in black and Rushdi for a bit before deciding on what to do next. There was no way he could make it out of the city before the alarm was raised, in addition, the stealthy approach on how these people acted gave him some hope. It would be hard to escape if the army simply blocked everything and stripped down every person, but, by the way it looked, these people definitely will watch the gates from the sides and use Rushdi's description to try and find them on the streets – there won't be extensive search of the buildings, at least for now.
Soon Nick's suspicions were confirmed when one of the men like a lightning jumped on two people who were going down the busy docks and tore off their head covers and the upper closing as well. The two half naked angry men drew their swords, when the man in black flashed his token and gave the duo few silvers, probably to buy compensate for the clothing. Despite this incident it was obvious the castle's forces will not look at every covered person or even strip everyone on the streets just to confirm it wasn't a woman.
"Bring me to the biggest market." Nick finally told the boy and they quickly mixed in the crowd.
During the next hour the boy witnessed the most bizarre event of his life. After entering the market his new employer bought a bag and went around purchasing large amounts of clothing and different wares, and kept stacking those in the same bag. The amount of luggage already exceeded the capacity of that bag multiple times, but he still kept on buying. Then he suddenly stopped, stared somewhere and with a smile approached an old woman who was selling random things from her wagon and bought the whole thing and the two mules as well. The happy madam was left speechless, counting the three gold coins in her hands over and over until finally hiding them in her bosom and disappearing in the crowd.
Nick sat on the wagon and called the boy up as well. Soon they slowly moved through the crowds while Nick was deep in thoughts thinking about their next move.
"I will offer this only once and think carefully before you answer." After some time Nick sternly said to the boy, "I'm a thief, just like you, and am now on the run."
Boy's eyes widened, but then he nodded in understanding, 'Of course, only another thief could catch me!'