I wrote this last year. Still coming together. I'll post one a day or so.

Karl muttered to himself as the cart gently swayed under him. Bunny's tail flickered occasionally to let some dung loose making the air not only warm, but moderately foul for a few minutes. The trip to town was onerous for so many reasons. He would have to deal with people and then have to get things he could not make. It enraged him because his independence was called into question. It broke the reality he was trying to create in isolation.

Veterans like him were met with mixed feelings, especially out in the country. When he got mustered out, he used his money to buy an abandoned homestead and more or less participate in the regional economy. The locals tolerated him since he kept to himself, but other vets from the wars were barely feral after years fighting Orcs, Elves and Drow and were totally avoided.

When Karl finished his shopping, his journey out of town took him past a veteran's encampment. He knew he should just head home, but these are the only people that he thought he could find commonality. It did not happen often enough, but it was nice to see if they served in the same area or battles. The years since the armistice seemed to drift by.

While thinking about his own history he thought about his anger at his own independence. He had recently been struggling to complete work at the farm and thought that maybe some ex-soldiers could help him out on a temporary basis. It might be a good fit.

Their camp was farther into the woods giving them some privacy and cover. He understood that mentality. He hobbled Bunny and made enough noise to let them know he was coming up to the camp.

The dream of having them work at the farm withered pretty quickly when he got to the camp. It was an absolute mess. Any semblance of order or cleanliness stopped long ago. Fallen structures and garbage appeared to be interchangeable even at close glance. He saw three men in various states of dress, but all universally filthy and unkempt. They eyed him warily but seemed relaxed and alert. Somethings never go away. As he checked out the men, he noticed that they had a captive off to one side.

This heightened Karl's state of awareness. He had not seen that kind of thing since the wars. Men were base and venal especially after combat had ceased and wanted some kind of way to export their adrenaline and emotions. Captives were the easiest method. Internally, Karl tried to guess how long they would have had a captive. He thought it was around three seasons since combat operations ended, but really had not kept count. In passing the captive Karl notice they were not moving so possibly the men never got around to burying them.

Karl kept his eyes on the men. Veterans would know if his attention strayed. That would initiate a predatory response so he was limited on what he could guess about the captive for the time being.

"What can we do you fer?" mumbled one of the three.

"I think you know we can all tell what we used to be and all. No reason to have a song and dance about anything. I just wanted to see where ya'll saw action, maybe we have something in common". Karl stood at ease but keep his hand in a place where he could get to his knife it the conversation soured.

The men relaxed their stances and the conversation started flowing. Although they had not shared any battlefields, they all recognized the names of various commanders and soldiers that merited recognition. Eventually the conversation turned to their "prize".

"Yep", the one named Kyle mumbled, "we got her at our last go round with the Orcs in the Southlands. I thought they were going to roll us over, but we flanked them. Not too much left of them in the end. Not much in terms of booty either. I think their side was the seeing the ends of things, so we decided to take her instead of having the slavers picking her up later".

This conversation allowed Karl to have a long appraisal of the female orc. He assumed she was dead at first glance which made him cringe on the inside that they had not treated her with any dignity, but he noticed slight movements in her chest indicating shallow breathing.

"We ain't got much use for her anymore. We dun figured she'd pass on way before now. She weren't no good at choring and such, so we pretty much been using her as a comfort lady for real long time now."

Karl covered the rising bile in throat with a hacking cough. She was completely covered in filth and when he leaned over to look into her eyes, he saw nothing but a thousand-yard stare.

Karl felt a plan welling up that felt like hope. "Well, she looks pretty strong".

"Oh, you shoulda seen her when we first got her. It took all three of us to knock her down and tie her up. And that was after she got banged up pretty good by a warhammer."

The conversation meandered a bit, but the man named Kyle sensed there was something coming up.

"I will say Kyle, that this has been a lucky moment for me. I have been thinking about finding someone to help me out at my farm and this big lass looks like she could pull stumps on her own." The men responded with wet, thick laughter.

Kyle idly scratched at himself, "we tried making that happen for a long time, but she didn't understand none or she was wicked stubborn so she took beatings instead".

Karl tried to raise a brow to make his original comment seem like there might be some lascivious to his interest.

Kyle slowly made the connection between the brow and interest.

"So whatcher thinking Karl?"

"Would you three be open to thinking about doing a little trade for the Orc?"

One of the other men sidled forward.

Karl tried make a show of having a lustful face but figured he had failed at that. But the intent was noticed by the others.

"You don't look you have any experience in peddling flesh so how's about you give us a number and we'll think it over."