Breaker of Chains 2
Despite ample forewarning from Puzzle and Strumming, I really hadn’t been prepared for how long and tedious the investigation would be. I suppose I’d gotten used to Puzzle’s ability to seemingly conjure up information-gathering miracles out of thin air. But then, I usually had him investigating infamous criminals and public figures instead of obscure nobodies.
It was probably even worse for him and Strumming than it was for me. After all, I got to skip all the grunt work and just accompany them when we had an actual lead to follow up on. Though that was frustrating in its own way, since so far none of those leads had panned out.
I was almost tempted to just give it up as a lost cause. Sour Sweet was just another orphan with no connections, and what little trail she might have left behind when she vanished had long since gone cold. It was hard to avoid the conclusion that we’d probably never find anything.
However, it didn’t seem right to give up. Maybe if we really did chase down every single possible lead and came up with nothing I could tell myself there was nothing more I could do. As long as I could think of anything else I could try ... I wasn’t going to tell Sunny she’d never see her friend again because I’d gotten bored with looking for her.
Still, the long and fruitless search was getting to me. I stepped out of the cabin on Puzzle’s new yacht, groaning as I tried to massage away a budding headache and stretch all the kinks out of my joints. It felt terribly unfair that all four of my legs were sore, considering one of them was a prosthetic I’d just put on and it wasn’t even designed to feel things like that. Phantom pains suck.
Though I could probably also blame Puzzle. His new yacht didn’t have quite as many of the lived-in creature comforts as his old one. I still hadn’t gotten the full story on what happened to his old yacht, but judging by how it made him clam up and get grouchy every time I asked, it had to be something really bad.
I stumbled half-awake into the galley and flopped down near the table. “I hope someone at least made breakfast. I’m not in a cooking mood today.”
Strumming poked her head up over the counter and smiled. She looked entirely too happy for this early in the morning after a couple long and frustrating weeks. “How does hardtack and dried fruit sound to you? It’s a true sailor’s diet, with all the flavor of ... hard work and salt? Something like that. I don’t know where I’m going with this, except that if I don’t change the food up soon I’m gonna be going ‘Yarrr, matey!’ I get that Puzzle’s still setting the new yacht up, but the pantry is criminally understocked on the good stuff.”
I sighed and tried to make myself comfortable at the table. It was harder than it should’ve been, mostly because Puzzle hadn’t gotten around to properly furnishing the yacht. Not that the stock furniture was bad, it just wasn’t as good as what he’d had on the old yacht. I grimaced and settled on something that would have to be good enough. “You sound way too happy.”
Strumming shrugged. “Someone has to keep our spirits up, and it’s definitely not going to be broody bug over there.” She waved towards Puzzle, who was sitting out on the deck and staring out over the open water. “Well, it’s not so much brooding as he’s thinking. Thinking grumpy, negative and self-pitying thoughts. Totally different from brooding, even if that’s the literal dictionary definition of brooding.” She paused, then shrugged. “Well, that or sitting on a clutch of eggs. Pretty sure he’s not doing that, though.”
Great, Puzzle was in a mood again. “What was it this time?”
Strumming passed me the plate full of unappetizing ship food she’d promised. “He woke up with this big idea to grill some kebabs for us for breakfast. Then he remembered there’s no grillables in the yacht’s pantry and the grill won’t be installed until next Tuesday.” She snorted. “I swear, there’s times I think he loved that yacht more than me. I’m not saying he would’ve banged his old boat if it took equine form as an attractive young mare, but if that ever happened I would’ve gotten a little jealous and protective.”
I rolled my eyes and ignored the tangents. “Surprised you’re not giving him a hard time for it. You always did that when I was in a bad mood.”
Strumming finished chewing on some dried fruit before she answered. “Yes, but you and Puzzle work differently. When you start brooding you keep spiraling down, and I’ve found the best way to get you out of a funk is a sharp kick in the rump to get your temper up, as long as it’s the right kind of mad. Long as you don’t completely lose your cool, a bit of angry determination is great for getting you to clear your head and focus on what’s important.”
“And Puzzle works differently,” I pressed.
“Exactly,” Strumming agreed, shooting a proud grin my way. “You’re a fast learner. He’s brooding-thinking, which is completely different from your downer-brooding. He’s thinking deep thoughts about philosophy and how best to dispose of bodies philosophically in the most efficient way possible.” She leaned across the kitchen table. “Though Bug Boy has been doing some of your kinda brooding too. You know how it is, he gets a bit moody whenever anyone mentions a certain rival of his who took his old yacht. Not to mention being a pretty safe bet for the one pulling the strings behind the huge mess he’s still cleaning up with his organization. Let’s just say there are types of cold he hates more than Northmarch winter, if you catch my drift. Hint hint, nudge nudge, wink wink, conspiratorial whispering.”
“Right, that guy he's got a grudge against.” I frowned over at our brooding bug. “Kinda surprised his thing with Cold Comfort is still going on. So they were rivals back when they were both spies. You’d think one of them would’ve gotten over it by now.”
Strumming shot me a flat look. “Cadance.”
I opened my mouth to toss out some kind of snappy comeback, but nothing came to mind. I sighed and took a bite of hardtack instead. “Point.” I was grumpy enough without thinking about Cadenza, so I changed the topic. “The plantation we’re going to is owned by one of Cold Comfort’s buddies, right?”
“Yeah,” Strumming confirmed. “Probably why he’s giving that island the stink eye. If Puzzle were any less nice of a guy or didn’t keep such a tight lid on things ... well, you know what people with a mean streak who can’t control their tempers are prone to doing. And ... Bug Boy’s great, but you do constructive anger a lot better than he does.”
“‘Constructive anger’?” I repeated. “Is that even a thing?”
“Sure it is.” Strumming counted off her points on her wingtips. “You think Torch and all the others who got rid of slavery weren’t mad about it? You know Celestia and Argentium were furious with Blackfyre. And even with Ushabti, he would’ve stuck with being a researcher on his private little island if he hadn’t gotten pissed about how nasty the occupation forces from Zebrica started acting.” She poked me in the chest. “And like I said, with you it can make you clear out all the mental cobwebs and focus on what’s important. Well, as long as you don’t turn into a full-blown rage monster. It’s all about keeping it under control so you can use it.”
“Huh.” I frowned and took a moment to think that over. “You know, every once in a while you say something really insightful.”
Strumming scoffed. “I always say brilliant things, it’s just that sometimes it doesn’t make any sense to anyone but me. Or even myself. Words are complicated.”
“Yeah, sure.” Just because I was giving Strumming credit for getting one thing right didn’t mean I needed to go along with every crazy thing she said. “So all the different places we’ve been checking out have started blurring together. This plantation is the one where her father used to work at, right?”
“Yep,” Strumming confirmed. “Bug boy investigated daddy and found out that he was a contract worker on Sweetash Isle. New owners bought up a lot of new labor after the old owners got killed and a lot of the facilities burned down or exploded. Funny enough, all that destruction happened while a certain bacon-maned magus was on the island.”
I rolled my eyes. “Okay, I burned down the mansion, but it was Puzzle who blew up the sugar refinery and it’s Chrysalis’s fault the owners died and the whole thing happened.” I sighed and shook my head. “Anyway, when we say her father was a contract worker...”
“It sounds nicer than ‘indentured servant’,” Strumming finished for me. “From everything Puzzle and I dug up, Silver Cane is big on cutting costs everywhere she can. Buying the island and rebuilding half the facilities cost a lot of ducats, and she’s real eager to start getting a return on her investment.” She scoffed and scowled down at her half-eaten breakfast. “Nothing official in the reports, but I’ll bet you a bag of crisps that Sour’s dad died because the owner either skimped on safety gear or something went wrong on account of all the workers pulling twelve hours a day, seven days a week, in hot, humid weather without any breaks during harvest season.” She snorted. “Modern plantations aren’t as horrible as when they were run by necromancer slavers, but there’s a lot of room to be evil before you hit that level.”
“Greed brings out the worst in everyone,” I agreed. “I’d point out that the Health and Safety in Agriculture Commission is supposed to make sure that kind of thing doesn’t happen, but...”
“But pretty much all its funding goes into paying political appointees who just so happen to be someone’s niece or nephew.” Strumming finished for me. “And when they actually do inspections, it’s less because of health violations and more because they’re getting used to give someone a hard time. Heard lately they’ve been leaning on some of the smaller farms to try and get them to sell out to Silver. Burying them in bureaucratic headaches is way more civilized than sending thugs to beat them up, and just as effective.”
“I wish I could say I’m surprised.” I sighed and shook my head. “Even if one of them actually conducted a legitimate inspection by accident, there’s always good old bribery.”
Strumming snorted. “Just saying, a lot of the inspectors can afford much nicer houses and all kinds of luxuries that were way out of reach when I was on a government salary.”
I growled and finished off the last of my hardtack. Chewing it up at least gave me a safe way to vent for a bit. “There are times when I really hate Freeport.”
Strumming shrugged. “We can move back to Equestria if you really want. Just saying.”
I’d made my decision on that front a while ago. “Freeport’s my home. I just wish it was better.” I sighed and shook my head. “One problem at a time. Find Sour Sweet, then we can start worrying about how to address systemic corruption.”
“If you can’t fix everything, focus on what’s right in front of you,” Strumming agreed. “Maybe finding one kid is a pretty small victory in the grand scheme of things, but I doubt she’ll see it that way.”
“Right.” I took a deep breath and got my mind back on the job. “From what you said, he was working at the place for three years. He probably saw his daughter half a dozen times since he started contract work.” Those words stirred up a couple memories I preferred not to dwell on. At least he’d been working to give his daughter a better life instead of running off chasing personal obsessions. “Not to mention he died a month before she disappeared. How likely do you think we are to get anything useful?”
Strumming shrugged. “You never know. If nothing else, he probably left some paperwork behind saying what should happen to his daughter if he died. For all we know, she got taken in by an old family friend or cousin and left Freeport without saying goodbye to Sunny.”
“Without packing any of her things?” I shot back.
“From what her landlord said, there wasn’t that much worth taking,” Strumming answered. “Besides, it’d be a nice surprise if we actually had a completely benign happy explanation.”
“How likely do you think that is?” I countered.
“I like to be an optimist.” Strumming tossed her empty plate into the galley sink, somehow managing to not break it in the process. “Though we’ll be looking into some of the uglier answers while we’re here. Some plantation owners can get really dirty when it comes to contract workers.”
“Like passing on the contract,” I growled.
“Indentured servants, contract workers, or whatever you wanna call them are a big up-front cost,” Strumming agreed. “One of the few reforms that’s actually stuck is that the owners have to pay a huge chunk of the contract cost up front. Good chance it's how Sour could afford to go to that fancy private school, which he was probably hoping would make it so she would never have to do manual labor.” She grimaced. “Shame the school didn’t know anything on account of her vanishing during winter break. I was sure we had a good lead there.”
“Yeah.” The school officials had lost any interest in Sour when they didn’t get paid for her next semester of classes. “So you think it’s possible the owner had someone kidnap her to make her work out the rest of her father’s contract?”
“Just because it’s massively illegal doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen,” Strumming pointed out. “If Silver Cane is as big on cutting costs as her rep says, you know it’s gotta bug her that she paid the guy for five years of work and he died after three. Especially when breaking the law is a pretty low-risk proposition out on a plantation like this.”
“Right.” I scowled. “Once they're stuck out on one of the islands they don't exactly have access to any authorities or lawyers to help protect their legal rights.”
“As that one disreputable great-uncle my parents never liked me hanging out with always said, when there’s no cops around everything’s legal.” Strumming scoffed and shook her head. “Not to mention lots of plantation owners will have their own guards and overseers be of the thuggish variety. Might as well punch the minions into line once you’ve gone full evil.”
“I’m getting seriously tempted to arrest her once we get to the island,” I growled.
“Nice idea, if you could actually make the charges stick.” Strumming sighed. “Just saying, she’s got the money and connections to make the evidence go away and get off scot free. You wanna change that, you and Bug Boy are gonna have to start playing by a different set of rules.” She shot me a speculative look. “Though from what I’ve heard, Bug Boy’s got a couple plans on that front, and I know you’re not built to sit around complaining without doing something about it.”
“Right.” I ran a hoof through my mane, frowning when I realized I still had a bit of a bed-head. “I don’t really have a solid gameplan yet. Getting the school set up is kind of my next long-term project. Maybe once that’s taken care of...”
“Gotta put out one fire at a time,” Strumming agreed. “First we need to figure out what happened to our missing itty-bitty little changeling.”
“Yeah, at least that’s a problem we can fix.” I stepped out to check on Puzzle, interrupting his current round of brooding. “Got anything useful as far as our gameplan?”
Puzzle blinked and glanced over at me. “Right, the mission. This one was just thinking about the best approach for us to take once we get to the island. An Archmagus suddenly showing up unannounced and investigating a missing child would cause a lot of extra complications. The overseers wouldn’t appreciate you poking in their business or they’ll get in our way by trying to impress you. Not to mention if there is anything improper going on, they’ll try to cover it up. It would probably be better if we did something a bit more subtle.”
“Pretty easy to come up with a basic cover story,” Strumming chimed in. “Concerned family, perhaps. We could say we were overseas and only got back into port when we heard about her dad buying the farm.”
Puzzle shrugged. “Simple and uncomplicated, and explains why we’re asking all these questions about him and his daughter. With any luck the overseers shouldn’t give us too much trouble, and if they do ... well, overseers don’t have a reputation for incorruptibility. Especially when all of the cost-cutting Silver’s been up to probably includes reducing whatever pay and benefits they get.”
“Always nice when the corruption works in our favor for once.” I thought it over for a second. “Sounds like a plan, unless there’s any problems I haven’t thought of. I’ll need to hang back and let you two take the lead. Between being an Archmagus and killing Blackfyre, I’m a little famous, and I can’t shapeshift to hide my identity.”
Strumming shot a worried look my way. “Think you’re up for that, Bacon? You usually like to be big and obvious and setting things on fire, not sneaking around in the shadows. I guess you could use one of your new really subtle and low-key spells, like the annihilation blast.”
I rolled my eyes. “I can be subtle when I need to.”
“Of course you can,” Strumming conceded, though I knew better than to believe it would be that easy. “The thing is that you don’t like being subtle and hanging back while others take the lead. You wanna be out front and in the lead, not sitting back pretending to be the boring nobody while Bug Boy and I do all the work.”
“Yes, I do,” I growled, starting to get annoyed. “But I also know how to let you two do what you’re good at. I won't break our cover, okay?”
“Right!” Strumming grinned and slapped me on the back with a wing. “Just wanted to make sure. Plus I wanted to firmly establish my ‘I told you so’ credit for when this whole thing ends with us burning down half the island because you don’t do subtle.”
I sighed and tried to massage away my budding headache. “Why did I think it was a good idea to put you on my payroll again?”
Strumming smirked. “Obviously it’s because you can’t get enough of my charming personality.” She paused for a moment, then shrugged. “Or you’re just worried about how much trouble I’d get into if I wasn’t somewhere you and Bug Boy could keep a close eye on me. So, what kind of crazy costume should I throw together for this little infiltration mission...”
By the time Puzzle’s boat got to the plantation’s docks, the three of us had our disguises in place. Puzzle had shapeshifted into a passable resemblance of the old photo we’d found of Sour Sweet’s father: hardly a perfect duplicate, but with more than enough of a family resemblance to pass for a second cousin like our backstory claimed. Strumming would play as his wife, while I was a family friend. Hardly an ironclad story, but it would hold up to casual scrutiny.
As Strumming always liked to say, we’d have to screw up before someone got suspicious enough to start seriously digging into our background.
It also helped that by the time we got to the island there was a light morning rainshower. Nothing too intense, but enough that it gave me an excuse to wear my cloak and keep my hood up. It was always nice when the weather cooperated with our plans, not that it was all that hard to find a rainy day in the islands. Still, a hood would only go so far for hiding my identity. “You two should probably be up front.”
Puzzle nodded along. “Right, this one can do most of the talking.”
Strumming snorted. “Hey, why can’t I talk? I’m good at talking too. I’m a born talker.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, but your version of talking isn’t ... normal.”
Puzzle found a more diplomatic way to explain it. “You’re very interesting to talk to, but we’re trying to avoid standing out or drawing too much attention to ourselves.”
Strumming shot an over-the-top pout at both of us. “Bah, ruin my fun.” She poked Puzzle. “For the record, you’re admitting you’re really good at being boring.”
Puzzle shrugged. “And you’re dating this one. Interpret that as you will.”
Strumming swooned and put a hoof over her heart. “Ow. Shots fired, Bug Boy.”
I rolled my eyes at both of them. “Can we focus more on the mission and less on the two of you doing your weird version of flirting?”
That got me a poke from Strumming. “Someone who’s never flirted with anyone can’t really criticize our version of flirting. I mean, how can you even call it weird when you have no frame of reference for normal?”
“Good taste and common sense,” I shot back.
Strumming was about to snap off a response, but cut herself off when she spotted someone approaching our boat. The hefty zebra stallion slowly waddled up to our boat, staring up at it and us as if we existed solely to make his life more inconvenient. Though considering he’d probably been sitting somewhere warm and out of the rain until we showed up... “We don't have anyone scheduled for today,” he grumbled as he gave Puzzle’s yacht a quick once-over. “And you’re obviously not here for a delivery or pick-up. Who are you and what do you want?”
“Family business,” Puzzle answered. “My cousin Sour Struggles worked here. I heard he died in an accident. I wanted a bit more information about what happened, as well as collecting his personal effects and taking care of wrapping up any business.”
The dockmaster shrugged. “Never heard of him, but I don’t know all our workers.” He scowled at us. “We don’t like random nobodies wandering all over the place.”
Puzzle put on his best relaxed, friendly smile. “It would probably speed things up if you escorted us to wherever it is we need to go, if you don't mind.”
The dockmaster started looking more annoyed as he pulled his cloak around himself. “I got more important things to do.”
Puzzle sighed and pulled out a couple ducats. “I know it’s an inconvenience, but we would be very grateful for any assistance you can provide.”
The zebra’s eyes lit up, and he quickly snatched up the coins. “Ah ... well why didn't you just say so?” He tucked the money away. “Not like watching the docks is all fun when there’s no ships coming. Sorry about your cousin, but I hope you weren’t coming here to collect any death benefits. The accident happened because he was drunk on the job.”
Puzzle turned to him with a faint frown. “I thought you said you had no idea who my cousin was, and weren’t even sure he worked here?”
He overseer snorted. “That’s the official cause for any accidents that happen. Funny how that always happens, considering the one shop on the island doesn’t sell booze.”
“Ah.” Puzzle did a much better job of hiding his reaction than I would’ve. I suppose I should’ve seen that coming. Of course someone as cheap as Silver Cane’s reputation said she was would make sure the accident reports said whatever they needed to in order to save her money. Blaming every single accident on the dead being drunk would look suspicious if anyone investigated, but bribing a few officials was no doubt cheaper than paying out benefits.
Puzzle managed to cover up whatever disgust he felt with a facade of cynicism. “The money would’ve gone to his kid anyway. What about personal effects, and any other final business we need to take care of?”
The dockmaster shrugged as he led us towards the central manor house. It was nowhere near as big and impressive as the one I’d burned down years ago. “I’ll have to check the books for that, but I wouldn’t hold your breath for much in the way of stuff. Might be a will and some letters, but once someone dies their bunk gets picked clean of anything worth ducats. As for final business ... well, we’ll find out soon enough.”
We headed into one of the smaller side-buildings. Inside was a single harried-looking gryphon surrounded by a chaotic mess of paperwork and ledgers. The dockmaster walked up to him. “Hey, you got anything on a worker named Sour Struggles?”
The bookkeeper groaned and ran a talon down his beak. “Silver has me doing a job that should take at least two accountants and paying me half the wages I deserve. I don’t have time to do you or anyone else any favors.” Puzzle sighed and dropped a few more ducats on the desk. The gryphon quickly scooped them up. “But it should only take a minute to check, and I could use something to break up the routine.”
“Gotta love the employee loyalty here,” Strumming murmured. “Though I suppose I should give Silver credit for underpaying and overworking everyone working for her, not just the drudges.”
“Who would’ve guessed that could lead to all the employees being willing to take bribes?” I whispered back.
“So that’s why you give me such a good paycheck.” Strumming looked around the room, then nudged me and pointed out some of the papers left out on the bookkeeper’s desk.
A quick look showed exactly why she wanted me to notice it. “The pay isn’t in ducats.”
“Huh.” Puzzle rubbed the back of his head and put on his best gullible idiot voice. “How does that even work? What do they do, pay in Equestrian Bits or Griffonian Talons?”
The dockmaster snorted. “Nah, nothing like that. We’ve got a shop on the plantation that sells all the necessities and a few luxuries. Outside of their contract pay, everything’s in credit at the company store. It’s how our oh-so-generous owner makes sure none of the employees accidentally spend their contract pay on anything they don’t need, like contract lawyers to go over the agreement they signed years back or trips to the mainland.”
“Sounds like an interesting system,” Puzzle answered neutrally.
He was doing a much better job of staying calm than I was. We’d definitely made the right call by having him take the lead, because I was starting to get seriously pissed off. Only giving them credit at a company store for pay other than what they got for signing and completion of the contract was an obvious power play. It meant all the employees were all but being held prisoner on the island. The workers here were slaves with longer job descriptions and a paper-thin pretense of legality. Even by Freeport’s standards, this was dire.
The bookkeeper continued paging through ledgers, oblivious to my mounting fury. “Ah, here we are, Sour Struggles. Died in an accident while drunk on the job three months back ... Looks like he had a five year contract with us. I’ve got some good news for you though: we’ve already got his daughter here taking care of the balance on his account, so you don’t need to worry about that. No personal possessions to speak of, and it looks like the will we had on file left everything to his daughter anyway.”
So Sour Sweet was here. While it was a relief to finally find her after a couple weeks of searching, knowing she’d been used as child slave labor for the last few months made it hard to be happy about the news. It also made me absolutely certain about one thing: I was taking this island and everyone involved in it down. All the way up to Silver Cane herself.
Puzzle did his best to continue playing the idiot. “Huh, what do you mean by saying Sour Sweet is taking care of the balance on the account?”
The bookkeeper shrugged. “Silver paid for five years of work, she’s getting five years of work. If he can’t fulfill his end of the contract, his next of kin has to take care of the debt. She didn’t have enough in her bank account to cover it, especially when it was set up as a trust she had very limited access to. Thus, she works it off.”
Puzzle put on a confused frown. “But Sour’s only a kid.”
The gryphon shrugged again. “Someone’s gotta finish the contract.”
Strumming cut in. “I thought contracts would only cover her father? Pretty sure I heard you can’t inherit that kind of thing, especially for a kid who can’t even enter into a real contract. Like, isn’t that a law or something?”
The dockmaster shrugged this time. “You’d have to ask the owner and her lawyers about that. All I know is that’s how she does business. Dunno how you are on ducats, but if you’ve got enough to burn I’m sure you could buy off the balance.”
The bookkeeper nodded along. “Most of our underage staff aren’t exactly great workers anyway. If you want we could probably arrange a bit of a discount.” He tallied up a few figures. “Call it even at thirty thousand ducats.”
Puzzle let out a low whistle. “That’s not exactly a small amount. I’ll need to think about it for a bit. Can we go see Sour while I’m doing the math?”
The dockmaster smiled. “Sure thing. Looks like she's working the east field today.”
The three of us headed back out into the light drizzle. Puzzle took the lead, keeping up some small talk with the dockmaster to keep him distracted. That gave Strumming a chance to drop back and put a hoof on my shoulder, shaking her head.
“What?” I whispered.
“You know what.” Strumming murmured. “You’ve got a look on your face that says you wanna carve your way through everyone on the island and then set all the bosses on fire.”
I snorted. “Like you’re not pissed too.”
“Oh, I’m internally seething,” Strumming growled. “But I’m hiding it all under my poker face instead of glaring at the guy’s back like I’m trying to decide between setting him on fire or lopping his head off with Chainbreaker.”
“Why not both?” I grunted.
“Remember how the plan was to be subtle?” Strumming shot back. “Thirty thousand ducats is a drop in the bucket for your bank account, and then we get out of here with Sour Sweet and a paper trail proving just how dirty this place is. If you and Bug Boy both kick up a big enough stink with some evidence to back it up, all the folks who’ve been looking the other way won’t have any choice but to do something.”
“I’m not leaving kids chained up when I leave here,” I snarled. “And I’m not going to let Silver take my money for enslaving children.”
“So we’re back to the bloodbath plan.” Strumming sighed. “Well, good thing I’ve been reading up on the most efficient ways to dispose of a corpse. Tossing them into the ocean is pretty obvious, or we could always burn them up, then toss whatever doesn’t burn into the ocean. Or we could do something more exotic like dissolve them in lye. Just figured I’d lay out all the options for if we wanna go on a murder spree. Though I gotta warn you, the smell is nasty.”
“Right, point taken.” As much as part of me liked the idea of carving a bloody swath through all the overseers on the island, I’d probably feel different once I’d calmed down and had a bunch of dead bodies in front of me. Not to mention ... well I had no idea how guilty everyone on the island was. Some of them were probably bad enough that I wouldn’t lose any sleep over killing them, but what about the likes of the accountant back in the records room? Doing the books for a dirty business like this was wrong, but it didn’t feel like something so evil that it merited summary execution.
That’s kind of the whole point of trials: to try and figure out who’s guilty, exactly how guilty they are, and try to come up with a somewhat fair punishment for them. Not that I trusted Freeport’s justice system to actually be fair, but taking the role of judge, jury, and executioner for myself was a pretty damn problematic solution.
I had to keep reminding myself of that as we passed by a group of workers out in the field. They all looked utterly exhausted, shuffling through the fields like half-dead zombies. Puzzle asked one of the many questions on my mind. “So, what are the working hours like here?”
The dockworker shrugged. “Sunup to sundown, with days off whenever a big storm hits. Last time the owner made us try to work in wild weather, we lost money. Too many damaged and lost tools and workers, not enough work getting done to make that worth it.”
“Right right, that's usually the way on farms.” He glanced at one of the nearby workers, chained in place as he slowly cleared an empty field.
“Disciplinary issue,” the dockmaster answered the unspoken question. “The one thing about contract workers, we can’t really fire them once they’re hired. Means some of the overseers get real creative about how they handle that kind of thing.” He snorted. “Then again, with how little Silver pays them, pretty sure most of the thugs she hires for that work enjoy coming up with ways to creatively punish anyone who misbehaves.”
He was not making it easier to talk myself out of killing these bastards.
It got a lot harder once we got to the eastern field. I didn’t spot Sour Sweet right away, because there were several kids working in the area. Their coats were matted by sweat and filth, making them all blend together, and their manes and tails looked like they hadn’t been brushed for a few days. Some of their hooves were overgrown and in need of trimming while others were haphazardly cracked, as if they’d tried to file them down themselves on whatever was available. The worst part of it was their eyes: they kept their gaze low, on the ground or else on their work to avoid any unwanted attention. They’d been told where their place was, and any spark of hope had long since left.
One child slave was bad enough, seeing that they had an entire corps of them...
My jaw hurt from how tightly I clenched it, my teeth grinding against each other. Strumming paused for a brief moment, and while Puzzle kept that same blandly friendly smile on his face it no longer reached his eyes. “Seems like you have quite a few children working here.”
The dockmaster shrugged. “Yeah, apparently being lower to the ground and with smaller hooves helps with some of the work. Seems to me like you’d get better work out of adults who wanted to be here, but I don’t make those calls.”
Puzzle grimaced. “Even during my brief stay here I can see where the owner’s priorities are.”
The zebra snorted and shook his. “Money, as quick and effortless as possible. From what I’ve heard she’s still working on recovering the cost of buying the place and fixing it back up after the old owners got killed and half the buildings burned down or blew up. Maybe once we’re in the black it’ll ease up.”
“The owners dead, several buildings gone ... sounds like there was quite an incident.” Considering I knew the context, it was hard not to detect just a little bit of smug satisfaction in Puzzle’s voice.
The dockmaster shrugged. “Yeah. It was before my time, but apparently Archmagus Shimmer burned out some bad guys after they killed the owners and took the place over. Crazy to think a single pony could do that damage without anyone backing her up.”
“Yes, it is.” Puzzle said with just the tiniest hint of irritation in his voice. Considering I’d spent a lot of that adventure poisoned and semi-conscious while Puzzle did all the hard work, I couldn’t exactly fault him for being grumpy that I got all the credit. He shot a quick look back at me, and I shrugged. It’s not like I’d been going out and publicly taking credit for his work.
Before I could think of a good response to that, one of the children collapsed. That would’ve been bad enough, but a second later one of the overseers started stomping towards the child, pulling out a club and giving it a few wind-up swings.
Puzzle stopped pretending to be nice, and there was a threatening edge to his voice. “Is that necessary?”
The dockworker snarled and averted his gaze. “Probably not. They say the hard rubber clubs they use don’t actually hurt that much, but considering the kind of guys they hire to smack the kids whenever they don’t work fast enough ... let’s just say some of those sickos wouldn’t use them if they didn’t hurt.”
I’d heard more than enough. Subtlety be damned, I wasn’t going to sit back and watch a kid get beaten just because we needed to preserve our cover. I teleported between the overseer and the child, then called up Chainbreaker. The sword easily sliced through the simple rubber club, and the thug staggered back in shock. “What the...” I hammered him down with a sledgehammer of raw kinetic force before he could say anything more. I probably broke several bones with that spell, but I was way past caring about that.
Puzzle and Strumming snapped into action backing me up, putting two blades at the throat of the dockmaster. “This one suggests you surrender before this becomes unpleasant for you.”
“No, no, let him struggle,” Strumming growled. “It'll be more fun that way.”
The dockmaster stumbled back and sat on his haunches, throwing his hooves up in surrender. “Oh, I do not get paid enough to try and stop a prison break! Go ahead, take the kids! Do you want your money back too?”
“Good.” I tossed my cloak to the side and flourished Chainbreaker. “I’m shutting this whole place down. If you want to survive, stay out of my way.”
If anything the dockmaster looked even more terrified once I unmasked. “Oh buck me sideways! There’s not enough money in the world to make me fight her!”
“Guess you have a working brain after all.” I quickly made my way through the field, chopping off chains wherever I saw them. Far too many of the kids were still bound in place. I probably should’ve stopped to try and identify Sour Sweet among the crowd, but things had gone way past just rescuing one child.
Puzzle cleared his throat. “Looks like we’ve got more of them incoming.”
I spotted a small crowd of goons converging on us. Apparently someone noticed the scuffle. Not that I was going to complain. “Good. If they all come to me, it saves me the trouble of hunting them down.”
“You got this?” Strumming asked. “I can watch your back, but Bug Boy should probably get started on escorting the kids back to the boat.” She paused. “Assuming we aren’t planning on purging and occupying the whole island.”
“I’m not stopping with freeing the kids,” I growled. “Keep them safe and get everyone else out of their chains. I’ll deal with the bad guys.”
Normally I might have blasted the incoming goon squad with some wide area evocation, but I didn’t want to risk unleashing anything too heavy in the middle of a sugarcane field. Any fires could burn out of control, and other magic still created a risk of collateral damage.
Good thing I had plenty of other options. I teleported straight into the middle of the group, lashing out with Chainbreaker and scoring a few quick hits. No killing blows, but a couple of them would probably be walking with a limp for a long time to come.
Once they got over the initial shock from my arrival and started forming up for defense, I switched tactics. A solid wall of ice crushed one of them into the ground, and two more got taken down by amethyst tendrils that wrapped around their bodies and slowly drained their life force. Not enough to kill them, just leave them in no condition to do much of anything for the next couple days.
That was enough to send most of them scattering. Something in my subconscious tickled the back of my mind, and I brought Chainbreaker around in a backward block to defend against one of them who thought he could take me if I wasn’t looking at him. Strumming dropped the goon before he would’ve hit me, but having the sword in place to block that attack still seemed like the smart thing to do.
With the goons in the field scattering, I made my way straight for the manor house. The overseers tried rallying in front of the entrance, but now that I could tell the civilians were all clear I didn’t need to worry about collateral damage. Aside from not wanting to completely level the building behind them, there was no reason to hold back.
I didn’t bother with anything fancy, I just unleashed a brief burst of gale-force wind. More than enough to knock them all sprawling, and at that point they all seemed to have enough sense to stay down. Especially since Strumming would be behind me playing clean-up for all the goons who surrendered.
With that taken care of, I blew the front doors off their hinges. I’d burned the manor house down the last time I was on this miserable island, and I was very tempted to do a repeat performance. Maybe after I’d taken care of whoever was in charge.
I slammed into the manor’s main office only to discover that whoever was running things had added a panic room during all the rebuilding. Probably a smart thing to do considering what happened to the last owners. Too bad nobody short of Celestia could build a panic room good enough to stand up to me. My annihilation blast tore through the thick steel door like a hot knife through butter.
A crossbow bolt shot out of the ruined doorway a second later, but I’d seen it coming and dodged out of the way with plenty of time to spare. The manager tried to dive for cover, but his next move was so obvious I’d fired off a silvery kinetic bolt at where he was diving towards before he’d even started moving. The blast caught him in mid air and slammed him back against the wall with a very meaty and satisfying crack.
The manager, a very weedy-looking hippogryph with a cracked pair of spectacles, slowly picked himself up off the floor and did his best to puff himself up with self-importance. “Y-you can’t just come in here and threaten me, I have rights! My boss has connections to the Council, and they’re going to come down on your head like a ton of bricks when they find out about this.”
I didn’t break stride, leveling Chainbreaker at his throat. “Do you have any idea who I am?”
The manager let out a nervous squeak as his eyes flicked down to the sword at his throat. “Y-yeah, and I'm going to tell everyone exactly what you pulled here.”
“Good,” I growled. “I want the whole world to know about it. You and all your employees are under arrest for slavery, false imprisonment, child exploitation, and a laundry list of other crimes. I’d ask if you want to come quietly, but I think I’ve shown by now that whether or not you resist really doesn’t matter.”
The manager tried one last bit of bluster. “You'll never make those charges stick! We've got lawyers, the best money can buy!”
“Your employer has good lawyers,” I snarled. “I doubt she gives a damn about you.” I pressed the blade a bit closer. “Then again, why take the risk? Maybe Freeport is dirty enough that all of you could get away with it. Maybe I should just kill you all right now, or just give all your victims some weapons and tell them to do whatever they want to you.”
The manager’s legs started trembling. “Y-you can’t do that!”
“Oh really?” I smirked. “Who’s going to stop me?”
A second later I felt a hoof on my shoulder. For a brief moment I thought about lashing out at whoever this new attacker was, but then my mind caught up with my instincts and I realized it was just Strumming.
I was expecting some big speech about how murder was wrong and these bastards all deserved a fair trial, but that’s not what I got. Instead she just asked a single question. “Are you sure this is what you want to do, Sunset?”
That was a very good question. I wanted him dead. I wanted every single corrupt monster on this child-exploiting island dead.
But ... did I want it right now, or did I really want it?
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I thought back to the conversation I’d had with Strumming a couple hours back, about the difference between using my anger and being used by it. It ... I didn’t think killing every last one of these bastards was wrong, but I also wasn’t sure that carving a bloody path through all of them was the right thing to do.
Besides, they were just the low-level thugs. The real enemy was Silver Cane. She was the owner of the plantation, and probably other ones like it on other islands. Bringing her to justice was way more important than venting my anger on a few thugs.
I slowly removed the blade from his throat and conjured up a set of ice shackles. As I tied the prisoner up, I felt like I needed to make a point. “Torch would've either killed you himself or given all your victims weapons and told them to do whatever they wanted to you. Ushabti probably would’ve killed you and made your corpse do the work all your slaves used to do. Consider yourself very lucky that I'm not either of them.”
Strumming nodded. “Good call, Bacon. Though if you had gone for the bloodbath plan, I would’ve helped get rid of the body. S’like they always say: a good friend will help you move a couch: a great friend will help you move a corpse. So what’s the game plan now? ‘Cause between us taking over an entire island and you calling up your good old anti-slavery sword, there’s gonna be a lot of fallout from this one.”
I took a deep breath. “Secure all the evidence you can find, and let’s get a message to the Doos, the Free Companions, or whoever else we can trust who can get out here to help hold the area. Then we head back to Freeport, and put all this evidence right in front of the Council. This doesn’t get buried, and if they don’t do the right thing...”
In all honesty, I wasn’t sure what would happen then, but it wouldn’t be pretty.
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Ah. Puzzle didn't share much about the... aggressive reorganization while Sunse was in Canterlot. Not surprising, but good to get confirmation there.
Echoes of Belladon.
You know, between the bribes to lean on smaller plantations, the bribes to overlook safety violations, the employee turnover, and so forth, I have to wonder if it would be more cost-effective to be less evil. Silver Cane seems to subscribe to dragon economics: The best course is whatever makes her part with the smallest amount of her hoard right now, return on investment, employee loyalty, and the sheer amount of effort required to keep the ship afloat be damned.
Seems likely to me.
Oh wow, company scrip. There's a classic scumbag tactic.
... Yup. At least there's no fire.
Echoes of Torch. Careful with those extra soul-bits in your head, Sunset.
This is a lot bigger than just one crooked plantation. If Sunset doesn't see some real justice, this could be the straw that makes the unicorn explode. We'll see what comes of it.
That was intense.
Damn. So, there are connections to the council, huh? Not surprised, given the story description. Wanna bet Cold Comfort is the/one of the contacts Silver Cane has on the council? Given what we know about him, its the kind of thing he'd do.
Considering that there is a possibility that they might be heading into a direct conflict with Cold Comfort or his "friends," they are gonna need all the help they can get.
New chapter! Ima read this while I donate to biolife in a few hours. Ima get paid to read this! Look up biolife, it's where you donate plasma, not blood. If you are decently healthy, have good veins, drink lots of water, eat plenty of iron, and protien. its good money. Even if they turn you away it's worth looking into.
If Cold or anyone on the Council does try to make this go away, well then I think we've just found the catalyst for Sunset becoming Archon. Viva la Revolution indeed.
Calling it right now. Boss doesn't just have "connections" to the Council. And THAT will be the spark that sets off the fire.
Sixteen tons of sugar eh? What a lowlife.
Yeah, this isn't going to end well for anyone involved.
All it takes is a spark. This is going to get political and ugly, fast.
This...... is going to escalate.
Well, that have gone south quick. Sunset git the fiver of a Liberator within her it seems.
From the loom of it, that island is cursed to attract horrible peoples. Or because it's Freeport. One or the other.
10080815
Yeah, this rock is cursed. I’d say once they've vacated the island, just set the whole thing on fire and salt it.
Damn... I’m glad she held back but a large part of me would have liked to have seen bodies.
I think this is the beginning of the end for the Council and the beginning of the rise of Archon Sunset. I just wonder how big the pile of bodies will be (and if Cold Comfort will manage to wiggle his way out from inside it)?
I'm starting to wonder what else Sunset picked up from her merger with Ushabti's and Torch's magic. Well, not like she would have been happy to see the slavery before but now she seems particularly angry. Not like she's the only one outraged either.
So how much of the story about the island's previous owners survived? I'm not sure if Puzzle would have wanted to keep a lower profile or to get the credit of taking on multiple drones (and kind of Chrysalis) and winning. That is if the Council didn't just cover up the whole thing with Chrysalis (letting her almost get a foothold in Freeport is not good news for anyone). Of course Puzzle is in a much worse mood these days than back then. And apparently hasn't shared all the details about his ongoing war with Cold with how Sunset dismisses it (less a rivalry and more a power struggle to be top spy in Freeport).
I expected Sunset would have to take on Freeport's systemic corruption eventually but not this soon. Especially with slavery one of the few things not legal in Freeport even though a lot of things come close to it. On the other hand, with the fame from killing Blackfyre still pretty recent, maybe it is a good time for Sunset to take on the Council? Puzzle losing most of his organization hurts her chances but I expect Puzzle is eager for payback against Cold too. And even if they had gone through the proper channels, well, this is Freeport so maybe Sunset's flashy approach will work better. I was expecting a(nother) dark magic threat but Sunset taking on Freeport sounds even better.
Irony, the Council was formed to end slavery and now under their rule child slavery is a thing. If only Torch and Belladon could see it.
10080698
A part of me wishes Sunset having to face some consequences for ditching the smart, careful way to deal with the situation.
10081141 Belladon would not be the least surprised, I suspect.
10081333
He would probably say. Called it
10081312
To be fair, it’s probably not easy to watch a child slave be beaten for not performing their compelled labor as well as the adult overseer would like.
The Council will be pissed. The people of Freeport when they hear the news will riot. Slavery is not something there going to forget when Chainbreaker is involved. And there going to see its wielder as the second coming of Torch himself. Sunset needs to make this news heard before the Council can attempt to manage the news. Thd interesting thing will be the Mercs. Many have ties to the bad old days. And wont want to be linked to a Council that's fallen to supporting Slavers even secondhand.
Oaths like this are why I read this series.
Wasn't expecting it to get followed up on almost instantaneously, though, geez. Time to see if political fallout can be a bigger mess than an elder dragon.
Something tells me this wont end well for the Council. Given the history of Chainbreaker.
I think at least a few members of the council will, and maybe, have seen this coming. No one with sense will stand against Sunset openly given recent events. I'm sure a few are out of town or will side with Sunset if things get to the point of open conflict.
Can't wait for more. Keep it up.
Hmn. On the one hand, those connections in the council will complicate things. On the other, as much as we hate the council, the one thing they don't tolerate is slavery. Wonder how things will go.
10079801
Have we ever met Belladon? Alive I mean.
Personally I think it's doubtful that the council will mishandle this. One thing they go get right is being big on no slavery. I doubt this slavery but with extra steps will go over well. Additionally, I think the council will have at least an inkling of how pissed Sunset is over this, and try and calm her down. At least, some of them. Silver and Cold will probably piss her off more.
10080509
Wonder who they have instead of St. Peter
10080942
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam!
10081061
I think yes and no. Yes, because I think this is when she is just done with the council because even if they address it properly, the fact that it happened at all, the fact that it would've gone on for who knows how long if Sunset hadn't gotten involved, and that the systematic corruption allowed by the council was one of the main reasons it happened in the first place will leave a far worse than usual taste in her mouth.
No, in the sense that it's the beginning of the beginning, at the latest. Unless something comes in out of left field I doubt the council will be hurt by this, least publicly
10082389
We have actually met Belladon. He’s the perspective character in The Last Charger.
10082764
Oh! Him. Figured he was talking bout that necromancer
So we've got slavers operating in Freeport with Council ties, and a legendary hero standing against them with Chainbreaker. Freeport's finally come full circle again. I'm greatly looking forward to the fallout of this, especially since I suspect this'll either conclude or continue the Cold Comfort arc, in addition to being an important step in the rise of Archon Sunset.
The only question is, how long and complicated is this gonna be? Because with how quickly Sunset and the gang solved the initial mystery, I honestly can't tell if we're setting up for another epic like Northern Venture, a mid-lengther like Old Wounds, or a surprisingly short fic like Metamorphosis where this'll all be concluded in another chapter or two.
Chengar, Ponibius, pls update your user page release schedules and spare me these quandries.
I love, love, love that Strumming only wanted confirmation, and didn't try to talk her out of it.
10082839
The necro's Ushabti.
I find Strumming much more entertaining now that she's on Sunset's side. :D
Now that's just deeply unfair.
Also unfair.
Taking down one of Cold's allies would be a nice outcome to this.
Oh shit, we're returning to the scene of previous righteous arson.
Torch would start a new rebellion against modern Freeport.
Now that it's been described it sounds pretty likely.
Give it time, that may be necessary.
He's not selling "we don't deserve to be burned down" very well.
Oh shit.
Oh shit.
Oh, she's not the only one.
Subtly goes out the window when there are children in chains.
Okay, times up on subtle.
Good instincts.
Efficient!
Maybe that'll teach everyone in general to stop kidnapping children to this island.
I wonder how much Torch from inside the sword might be affecting Sunset's reactions here. Not that she's not fully capable of righteous anger entirely on her own account when it's deserved. That said, it's really good that she resisted the desire to just start killing these guys, however deserved it might be.
10080815
In this case, the island was in a near-useless state when it became available: the only possible buyers would be somebody with the spending cash to rebuild who really wanted a private island for some non-sugar reason or somebody who thought they could turn a profit even after rebuilding. Unless the economy was doing great you'd almost have to expect the least reputable buyer would get it. And unless I'm misreading the timing, Silver Cane paid for it with money diverted away from government construction projects issued by the Council, who are already pretty unhappy with Ms. Cane as a result.
10082389
Strange thing is, Sunset-as-Archon benefits the Council in a number of ways. Either the right kind of sales pitch or the right kind of scenario to serve as a counterpoint could result in them being mostly willing to accept the idea. (There are trade and diplomatic options which simply don't exist when no other nation knows - at least to admit - who's in charge. And their particular form of anonymous unity only works until somebody finally makes it in who's willing to say things with the council's voice they in fact don't approve of and can't afford to ignore. Push Cold far and long enough and it's clear he'll either try for a coup or to leave the city in flames behind his escape.)
I wonder if Puzzle's brooding has focused on the value of getting the jump on that sort of issue before the big breakup happens and people start dying?