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This is Part Five of the text only version of The Adventures of Calan Stonebridge.

Calan Stonebridge nearly fainted as he was roughly pulled to a standing position. The man that had grabbed him was tall and muscular. Calan struggled out of instinct knowing that he had no hope of escaping this brute. "Put me down !" he tried to shout but fear made his words come out in a squeak. The large man laughed and began to carry Calan towards the open door. Calan tried again in vain to wriggle free and was delivered a cuff on the face for his trouble. He was carried past the fighting pit where two more men had taken their place for the entertainment of the wildly cheering crowd. Calan screamed for help but either the people in the crowd could not hear him or merely didn't care. The large man stopped in front of a large heavy door. He reached for a iron key and unlocked the door shoving it open with a grunt. He then tossed Calan inside. Calan hit the hard dirt floor with a rush of escaping breath. As the giant man was closing the door, Calan heard him say: " Make a crown or two from him...Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll live long enough to be profitable" With that the massive door was slammed shut and Calan found himself in the darkness once more....

Clan Stonebridge sat still for a moment and let his eyes adjust to the gloom. He had seen two bodies lying on the dirt floor as he was being tossed into the room. He could hear labored breathing from one and a soft moan from the other. He was relieved to find that neither were dead. He had had quite enough of dead bodies for one lifetime. He sat in the cell and pondered what the large man had said "Live long enough to be profitable?" Were the mans words. What did that mean? Calan puzzled over it for a few more minutes until the answer hit him like lightning. SLAVERS ! He had heard rumors in the dock ward of Riverhewn that there were still groups of people that made money by kidnapping and selling human beings. It was highly illegal and worth the instant death penalty if one was caught. Most times the rumors spoke of people spirited away aboard ships fast departing from Riverhewn Harbor to lands far away from the justice of the king. To know that it was happening in the kingdom shocked Calan. What was even more shocking was that now he would find out if these rumors were true first hand. He prayed that he would live to find out.....