Corruption of Fate

As the morning came Alice found herself riding in a fruit cart being pulled by the minotaur who had acted as her host, her way to the place she dreaded most in this world. Minopolis, the maze-like city that would one day be her prison if she didn’t put a stop to the vile plans of its leaders.

The night prior went about as well as she expected, staying in the sleeping quarters of Babi’s deer slaves. Once the day had come to a close, the sun setting and the moon rising, Alice got barraged by the Antlerteans with questions.

Where did she come from?

Why was she there?

How did she get to their island?

What was it like across the sea?

What did reindeer do for fun?

What did they eat?

On and on, with questions that Alice did her best to answer without giving out information she thought would be harmful. It was tiring, this inquisitorial gathering giving her little time to relax before finally Babi himself put an end to it by commanding every deer to bed. They didn’t question or complain, going straight to their beds, actual ones with frames and a mattress, big enough to fit a single creature their size and little more. Alice, not needing to adhere to the minotaur’s orders, tried to stay up a little later, but with nothing else to do once the Antlerteans closed their eyes, she found herself drifting to sleep to the wingbeats of the bat ponies heading out to the fields as they began their night shift.

“It should not be too much longer before we get to the city,” Babi said, keeping a steady pace as the dirt path he had been traveling on turned into a brick road, “A short mile away.”

“Right.” Alice said, steeling her nerves for her arrival.

“You know, you don’t have to wear your cloak like that,” Babi said, noting that the reindeer had taken to conceal herself, cloak wrapped tightly over her body, with the hood up to hide her face, “Like I said before, no one will try to enslave you for just walking around the city.”

“I don’t want to draw attention,” Alice replied, “I’m the first reindeer on this island, and even if you’re right that I wouldn’t get imprisoned, I wouldn’t get in and out of that city without being detained and questioned if they saw what I am. Best to avoid the eyes of your people.”

“Going around the city like that is not going to keep the creatures of the city from looking your way,” Babi replied, since deer almost never walked around so covered, “Though perhaps not as much as your brightly colored fur would.”

Having spent a day with the Antlerteans at Babi’s farm, Alice understood what the bull meant. From the sample size she saw, her distant cousins looked to only come in shades of browns and greys, where her body was covered in yellow fur and a minty green head of hair. Even without her other distinct reindeer features, that alone would turn her into a beacon if anyone got a good look at her.

“Look, I know what I’m doing,” Alice said, before adding I hope in her mind, “And if anything goes wrong I’ll manage things for myself.”

“Just don’t do anything stupid,” said Babi, “I will not take up any responsibility for you if you get yourself in trouble.”

“Trust me, I want to just get in and out of here just as much as you do,” Alice replied, “I’ll be happy to be nothing but a ghost among your people.”

Alice could hear Babi let out a deep exhale, assuredly not convinced by Alice’s declaration that she desired to go unseen. Or perhaps he was just displeased by his involvement in whatever the reindeer intended to do while in Minopolis. Regardless, the minotaur marched onward to the ever approaching minotaur capital.

In less than an hour, the cart came to a stop at an archway embedded in the massive walk that acted as Minopolis’ outer wall. It appeared that while the minotaur lived on this large island, uncharted by any nation beyond its shores, thus ensuring that they were at no threat from invaders, they still saw fit to secure the city with a guard station and a gated entrance. Then again, perhaps the purpose of this was to keep creatures in.

After a brief wait, a minotaur guard at the post came out, heading straight for Babi. This bull, dressed in leather armor that hugged his bulking bovine body, was a bit bigger than the farm owner.

“Bringing in another shipment personally?” the guard asked, having some sort of casual relationship with Babi. Seeing as he had to be customs, it was likely just from these interactions at the gate as Babi brought his goods into town, “This the last batch for the season or something?”

“No, we got one more coming before winter sets in,” Babi answered, handing the guard some documents that must have been an order form for what he had brought, “Been having my slaves pick every tree in the orchard clean.”

“Hope we have enough to last the cold months,” the guard replied as he skimmed the paper, “My does hate it when I don’t bring them home an evening treat.”

“It should be enough,” Babi assured, “Even with the amount the king has been ordering lately.”

The guard reviewed the paper several times, lifting his eyes from it to see if what was written matched the number of barrels he saw in the cart. When he would look her way, Alice would turn her head as if she were looking at the grass growing off to the side of the path, while nervously side eying from behind the shadows of her hood.

“What’s with the deer?” the guard asked, not because he was catching her in the act, but because like Babi had said before, her attire and the way she wore it was making him question her.

“She insisted that she came with me for the delivery,” Babi answered, with not a second of hesitation, “But then she told me she wasn’t feeling well about halfway here. She said that she was cold, so I told her to shut her robes. Then she said the light was hurting her eyes, and I let her put her hood up.”

“Sounds bad,” said the guard, “Maybe you should get her checked out while you’re here.”

“I’m sure it will pass,” Babi replied, since the only thing ailing his passenger was that she didn’t want others to know what she was.

Watching the guard go back to his post, Babi bent down to grab the handles of his cart. The moment the gate was fully raised, he entered into Minopolis, with Alice turning in her seat to watch as the exit became closed again.

“Not complaining or anything,” said Alice as she spun back around to face the bull’s back, “But you seemed awfully comfortable with lying to that guy.”

“An important skill for business,” Babi replied, “All I need from him is to let me into the city, and it’s not important to him if the contents of my cart don’t match up exactly with what I say.”

“I thought you minotaur were honest with all your dealings though,” Alice said, thinking back to what Aurora told her about minotaur.

“Once a deal is struck we do tend to abide by it, yes.” Babi answered, “But any business man who refuses to swindle, coerce, and undercut would be destroyed by one who did. We assume a certain level of deceit from even our closest allies, and in a way that’s what keeps us ‘honest’. When everyone expects to be deceived, you have to show that you’re the one your clients can trust the most.”

Coming from a land where few had a reason to enact in treachery, hearing this minotaur talk about how openly duplicitous he and his kind were was weird. She wanted to ask more, but the streets were starting to fill up with other creatures as the two got a few yards away from the entry gate. They were entering the city proper, where the stores, homes, and public facilities were.

Alice had returned to the minotaur’s capital, while likewise entering into it for the first time. Her time in her own future prepared her for what to expect, and very little was different now from what it would be like in three years. The city itself was still comprised of what felt like a single structure, every ‘building’ part of a large wall that made this place a literal maze for those who dwelled within.

Integrated into the stone structures was the Antlertean technologies that glowed with the same variety of colors she had seen from the deer’s tattoo-like markings. Alice understood little about many of these contraptions her first time through the city, and a second time going through Minopolis’ streets did not make her comprehension any easier.

Some of them held the appearance of pony powered contraptions she had seen in major Equestrian cities, like the hanging lights above the street crossings that looked to guide traffic, but being seeing as she spent most of her time in the Gift Giver’s Grove, she did not understand the purpose of things like neon signs that many of the establishments used to advertise their businesses. It was hard for Alice to pull her gaze away from these flashy distractions, getting a blast of shapes and symbols that meant little to her.

The reindeer decide it best to look at the creatures walking by Babi’s cart instead, the minotaur, living out their lives as the dominant species of this place, and the deer, who like the ones Alice at the farm did not seem to express any ill will towards their oppressors. It was all very familiar to what she had seen in the future, except for one minor detail. Very few of the Antlerteans were being towed around on a leash, or placed in any bondage whatsoever. In fact, it looks as if a vast majority of them were walking around unattended, either walking the streets alone or in the company of other deer.

If this was something that occurred when she had seen the streets of Minopolis before, the vast amount of other species that would be here in the future, ones that were so accustomed to being free that they would require bindings and a stern hand to make sure they didn’t run off, had made it hard to spot. Had Amy been honest about how the Antlertean’s compliance granted them far more freedom than their enslaved status would imply? The answer was clearly ‘yes’ from what Alice was seeing.

If one took a picture of this scene going on around Alice, others would not have been able to tell that the deer were treated as property. They might have even made bad assumptions about the deer for not having anything on save for loosely fit parkas, while the minotaur wore enough clothing to maintain their modesty at all times. Alice was able to occasionally catch a peek at their nudity underneath when one had an arm lifted up, unintentionally of course, while she hadn’t seen so much as a hair of a bovine crotch since she arrived on the island.

“We’ll be making a few stops,” Babi said suddenly, now several city blocks into the minotaur capital, “A few of which you’re probably not going to be happy with.”

“Are you going to the… um… wherever your king lives.” Alice didn’t know if it would be called a castle, a palace, or something else altogether, “I really don’t want to be anywhere near him.”

Babi gave a heavy exhale, “You mean the Forum. Yes, I will be there at some point today to drop off a majority of what I brought. If you don’t wish to go with me, I’ll have to drop you off with one of my associates.”

The minotaur’s proposal of how she could avoid the minotaur’s king was not appealing, as it probably meant revealing herself to another minotaur, but it’s not like she had any other options. Wandering around the city would only get her lost, and loitering would lead to her getting noticed.

“I guess I did want to meet more people here,” said Alice, trying to be optimistic, “Anyone in mind?”

“Pasion would probably take you in for the time needed,” Babi replied, “He enjoys the company of you deer more than his own kind, and would find it amusing to learn of the arrival of a new breed.”

Alice blinked a few times, shocked at how Babi put that, “Maybe ‘breed’ is not the way you should be saying that.” the reindeer said under her breath, knowing Babi was speaking of how she was a different type of deer than what this other minotaur would be used to.

“We’ll be arriving to our first destination soon,” Babi said, not noticing the muttering of his passenger, “Try not to get excited by what you see.”

“What will I see?” Alice asked, right before the cart was pulled off the corridor-like street, into a more open section of the maze city.

Like the place where she would one day be to sit in on one of her future master’s meetings, this part of the minotaur capital was basically a large, ceilingless ‘room’ within the maze, used as a place of gathering and commerce for the city. The last one had, from what she understood during her short visit there, a building that served as a restaurant there, and probably other establishments of that nature within the other buildings she saw.

This one however was much different, as there were no buildings within the space, save for the ones that were part of the maze wall, and instead had a bunch of booths, pens, and tents set up. While the dining space had small planters of flowers and grass along its roads to give it a cozier appearance, there was little sign of greenery here, the patches of visible ground covered in sand, making it resemble something akin to a market bazaar she had seen in books about Saddle Arabia.

She sat still, as the cart went down a path that traveled through these tents, while taking in her surroundings, quickly getting clued in on why she had to remain calm. This was a market of sorts, but not for produce, goods, or fineries. The only thing being peddled here were lives, with flesh put on display from behind the stall counters. Alice had entered into a slave market.

Everywhere she looked there was some creature put on display for the express purpose of being bought. A vast majority of those being sold were the Antlerteans, and those bat-like pegasus ponies, as this was so early in the minotaur’s history that they didn’t have access to any of the other species they would come to acquire. While the selection was slim, they were in no short supply, as Alice could hardly shift her eyes in any direction without seeing doe and stags alike tied to poles by a shackles attached to their wrists, or a fanged mare within a cage being visually appraised by a potential bovine buyer.

The pens were filled with those awaiting their turn to be put up for sale, Antlerteans roughly Alice’s age, or up to a year older, having reached an age where they were considered viable to fulfill their role within the society the minotaur had forged. Signs were set up at some booths with cash values listed next to strings of numbers and letters, which had to be some sort of code to identify what a corresponding slave was worth. Others had their cost of purchase painted directly on their bodies, in places eyes would be drawn to such as on the breasts or just above the crotch. More still could be seen off in the distance, standing in line on a stage, presumably less desirable ones that were now being auctioned off to the highest bidder as their cost of maintaining them surpassed what their slaver would make back.

This was the scene one would need to show to an outsider to show how barbaric the minotaur were, as their oppressive behaviours were on full display. Seeing this would immediately put into context what a threat the Minopian minotaur were to the rest of the world. All they would have to look at was one of the stalls offering to test the merchandise, with written out policies of ‘Try before you buy’ and ‘You breed it, you buy it’ on display to know that this place was awful for all, save from the minotaur exploiting their life long captives.

And yet, as Alice rode the cart casually through her worst nightmare, she could not see nary a frown on the faces of those there to be bought and put to the shaft. There was the occasional expression of boredom, from those whose patience had run dry, and some who looked as if they were being distracted by a daydream as they sat in their private cages, but not a single expression of sorrow or fear, hatred or despair.

On the contrary, some were doing their best to entice their potential masters, pushing out their chests, wiggling their asses, and going so far as to press themselves against any bovine who got too close. Alice still couldn’t believe that this was considered normal, that so many accepted their enslavement so willingly, and were willing to do these degrading acts so they could be bought and bred as soon as possible. Not a legitimate frown among the lot of them, being kicked off by the sound of a gleeful squeal, Alice’s head turning to see a bound up bat mare bouncing on spot, her sizable breasts attempting to follow her ecstatic movements, as she watched one minotaur count a bag of coin a minotaur on the other side of his counter had handed over.

“I don’t get it,” Alice said bluntly, truly not understanding how an Equestrian mare, who currently had her muzzle strapped shut, her bat-like wings tied together, and her ankles and wrists shackled to their respective counterparts, could be so ecstatic about being bought like a piece of furniture.

“You might want to keep your opinions to yourself,” Babi replied, hearing Alice’s objections to the dealings going on around her, “That is if you want to keep your identity concealed.”

The reindeer had to adhere to Babi’s warning, as he was right. All the does she had met and seen in this place were so culturally indoctrinated that it felt like saying anything negative would be a dead giveaway that she was not one of them.

Alice sat still for the remainder of the ride, the cart pulling so deep into the market that it gave her a good look at many of the deer, who she hoped her eventual fate altering action would save. When the cart eventually came to a stop in front of what looked to be the largest tent in the market, Babi went to a bell stationed outside its entrance, giving it a good ring.

Must be the place this shipment goes, Alice reasoned, climbing into the back section of the cart to help unload. The barrels of fruit looked heavy, but she might have been able to lift them over the top of the cart to hand them to Babi.

The minotaur, seeing the reindeer getting to work, called over before she could get too far. “No need to do that. I’ll have plenty of help in a few seconds.

Alice sent a glare in Babi’s direction, seeing his words as criticism for preemptive attempts to do her part. His terms for entry into Minopolis was that she helped unload the cart, and the moment the reindeer tried she was told not to. It was hard to see this as less than jerking her around, and might have made her argue with the minotaur if not for the fact that she was in the center of what she considered hostile territory, with creatures at all sides that would shove her into one of the conveniently located cages if they know what she was. In a bit of a huff, she set the basket back down, and returned to her seat.

While she moved back to the front of the cart, the cloth covering the tent was pulled open from the inside, making way for two minotaur to exit. The first one out looked notable, a bigger minotaur with the tip of one of his horns chipped off, wearing a leather tunic, and what now seemed to Alice to be the traditional minotaur attire of a furred loincloth. In the places where this minotaur’s fur was showing, which was mostly at his arms, legs, and head, it was all graying to the point it was turning white. Alice took this as an indication that he was aging, but if he was he didn’t look it, as the muscles on his body looked more defined than Babi’s farm crafted physique.

Alongside this elderly minotaur was a younger looking bull, with dark blueish gray fur and a head of messy black hair that went down his cheek and chin to make a beard. He did not really match up to the white minotaur in stature, and even Babi looked like he was more physically fit than this bovine male, making Alice assume that he was a lackey or assistant to the white bull.
“Cephalus.” Babi said, greeting the white bull.

“Babi.” the larger minotaur replied in kind. “Glad to see you are on time, as usual. I can practically set my schedule to your arrivals.”

“You speak too highly of me,” Babi replied in a stoic modesty, “It’s simply good business to make deliveries when the client expects them.”

“You wouldn’t believe how many fail to share the same sentiment,” said Cephalus, “But enough banter. How many buckets of the stuff do you have me down for?”

Babi pulled came back to the cart and opened a compartment at the edge of Alice’s seat. She watched as he pulled from it a book, which had to have been his ledger, “Fifteen, paid for in advance, of course.”

“Of course,” Cephalus replied, before turning his head to the minotaur beside him, “Go round up some of the others and get this inside.”

The younger bull didn’t give a word in reply, only a nod before going to his task. A moment later he returned with four other minotaur, and together they swiftly retrieved Cephalus’ portion of the shipment cart.

“It’s a shame Lon never gets to see you work,” the white minotaur stated as his men gathered up the produce, “He rarely leaves the dairy farm these days. Sends that new boy of his to make deliveries.”

“I’ve met him,” Babi said, “A bull just out of calfhood, who has the same name as our shared mentor.”

“Bares a striking resemblance to him too. Do you think this bull is one of his actual sons?” Cephalus asked, looking for idle gossip.

“Why even question that?” Babi answered, “He is the son of all minotaur of Minopolis. As am I. As is all who will come after us. To speculate a blood tie is a fruitless endeavor, as beyond that it does not matter.”

“You’re right,” Cephalus agreed, “Then I suppose the real question is if you think he’s intending this one to inherit his farm?”

“It’s likely,” Babi said, this time hinting as a bit of sorrow, “I fear Lon’s days are coming to a close, and he knows it. Might just have a few years left before I can no longer hear him scold me about how crooked the alignment of my trees are. I only hope he lasts long enough to finish training the boy.”

“So you have no interest in the property itself?” Cephalus asked, “I seem to recall catching you watching his favorite doe more than a few times.”

“Do you mean Malon or Cermia?” said Babi, listing two of his mentor’s does, “Because I enjoyed being around both. But no, I have little interest in his ranch. I’ve hand squeezed enough breasts, and lugged around enough milk jars, to last a lifetime.”

“Good to see you understand then,” Cephalus said with a smile, “I’ve been having some issues of my own from some of my former pupils. Each wants to be the next head of the slave market guild, and have been trying to challenge Sartek for the position.”

“They do not appreciate the role you bestowed on them already?” Babi asked, “From my understanding, some of the more successful slave merchants studied under your tutilage. They should be more than wealthy enough to satisfy them.”

“You underestimate the greed our kind can possess,” Cephalus said, smiling as he contained a laugh, “But I suppose none of them like the idea of paying a cut of their profits to some youngling I pulled from the nursery. What they don’t understand is that I taught them to be merchants and slave trainers, while I am teaching Sartek to lead. They’ll all see how fit he is when I allow him to take charge under my watch in a year’s time.”

“Perhaps you need to bulk him up a bit,” said Babi, “Take him to the colosseum to learn how to fight. If the others get physical, he’s gonna need to defend himself.”

“I’m hoping that the quality of his work would be enough to quell such acts,” Cephalus replied, while watching his protegee finish up with unloading his shipment, unable to not compare his size to the others helping him, “But perhaps you’re right. Bulls respect the powerful, and it might be time he fit that definition visibly.”

“I’m sure you’ll make the best decision,” Babi said, stepping away from the white minotaur, taking up his cart now that this delivery was complete. “Good day and good profits to you.”

With that, Babi made his way out of the slave market, having concluded his business there, none there having the slightest hint about the true thing of value he was hauling around.

Alice sat silently for a while after leaving the slave market, the experience having left a lasting impression on her. This a natural response, as the things she had seen would have been enough to trouble all but the most evil of creatures, but this was not what was bothering her. At least not the main thing bothering her.

While Alice wasn’t exactly pleased with having to see the Antlerteans like that, the reindeer had seen and experienced enough to be acclimated to it. What was bothering her was more personal, because while the Cephalus and Babi were having their conversation, they didn’t bother to keep their voices down. To them it was a simple conversation between two bulls, but for Alice a single word was enough to pull her attention away from the minotaur working around her to grab their produce, that being the name of slave master’s apprentice: ‘Sartek’.

He looked different enough for the reindeer not to recognize him on sight, but having connected the name to the minotaur, she could see that he was the same minotaur that sat with her future master, who years from now would not only be the head of the slave merchants, but would be Bori’s master. She was so worried about running into the minotaur king she didn’t even think of his associates. That this person would one day be the cause of such strife among the Gift Givers stirred up a storm of negative emotions in her, made all the worse she remembered that it was her future self that caught Bori to eventually have her enslaved by him. This was certainly something she was supposed to see, since if history leaned to the side of good, this had to be a detail she needed to know to correct it.

For now though, she had to think about something else, lest she fall into a state of self loathing for the deeds she had yet to, and hopefully would never, commit. “Babi, is it ok to ask you some questions?”

“If you must,” Babi replied, “Though if it’s about the city, I might not know the answer.”

“No, I overheard your conversation with that older minotaur,” she said, making her intended topic clear, “And I heard that your mentor owned some does you took a liking to.”

“Ah, yes.” Babi answered, “My mentor had a pair of deer in his personal collection that enjoyed helping me with my tasks when I was first learning under them. As a younger male who never interacted with females outside of my den mothers, I couldn’t help but see them as potential mates. ‘Young love’, one might call it, though in honesty it was just my minotaur urges telling me to breed them.”

“And your mentor didn’t allow you to do anything with either?” Alice asked.

“He might have, if I ever came to him with my problems,” Babi said back to the deer, “But I didn’t want to beg him for a night with his does. A male needs to have some pride, so I took control of my feelings, and restrained them until I got a doe of my own.”

“You mean Amy,” the reindeer answered, remembering that Babi’s mentor got the doe for him as a gift, “But now that your mentor is… Uh…”

“Getting old,” Babi said, so Alice didn’t have to say something rude.

“Yes,” said Alice, “Now that that’s happening, some other bull might get them?”

“Not necessarily,” Babi said, “I have no doubt Lon will give his land to his new student, along with the full rights to his milking females, which he has my blessing to do. Malon and Cermia have both been retired from that duty for a while now, and put into storage. He may still allow me to have the rights to them, so I may enjoy their final years of use after he is gone.”

“Storage?” Alice said, her face crinkling as she tried to envision what the minotaur meant. All she could come up with was some form of long term imprisonment, like placing the does in a kennel to be taken care of because their master got bored of them.

“Hmmmm…” Babi said, pondering over what he would have to say to give the reindeer an answer, “Knowing how you see our culture, this might be something you learn about in a second visit.”

Little did the bull know, this was the reindeer’s second visit, and she really didn’t have time to take in everything there was to know about the minotaur bit by bit. “Is it that bad?” Alice asked.

“Not bad,” Babi replied, “Just shocking, perhaps, to a creature of the same species. Honestly, the Deer Depository is…” Babi’s words trailed off, as he figured he had said too much. “Let’s just say it’s a safe place to put our deer when they aren’t in use. Anyways, no more questions. It won’t be long before we make our next stop.”

Babi’s statement wasn’t really reassuring, but at least Alice weaseled a name out of him. The minotaur might have gone tight lipped, but maybe his deer would be more forthcoming when they got back. Or perhaps… Alice would get the chance to ask about it even sooner, if those Babi intended to leave her with where the talkative type.