Authors: Rain Oxford
I finished off my meal and after catching my breath,
I stood and approached the cave entrance. It was a dark, small hole in the side
of a small cliff, covered in brush to the point where I would have missed it
had I not known where it was. As I neared the dark doorway, a troll moved,
blocking the path. It wasn’t that he suddenly appeared there. I realized my
not-yet-husband had a hand in this because he had shown me this magic before.
The Guardian was first and foremost an informant,
which was a role he had been perfecting for over a thousand years. Therefore,
his powers of stealth were unmatched. The entrance could not be concealed with
magic as well as a living being with this particular spell. For as long as the
guard of the entrance was unmoving, he was invisible. This made it easy for him
to overhear the sins of betrayers or allow his enemies to walk right up to him.
Since the guard knew me as the Guardian’s mate, he was simply informing me that
he was there.
This would be tricky. No doubt Nano would use some
powerful magic or Nila would bulldoze anyone who stood in his way… I was human,
so I had to do this the human way.
I can do this. I can set an example.
I smiled submissively and backed away, as if I had
simply stumbled upon the cave during a hike. Having learned much of the culture
of trolls, I knew they were lazy and not too bright. I made my way to the top
of the cliff so that I could look down over the ledge where I knew the guard
was, then dug the rope out of my bag. Luckily, there was a tree, because my
plan would have been ruined if there hadn’t been. I secured one end of the rope
to the tree trunk, found a large stone on the ground, and got into place. After
about an hour of waiting patiently for the guard to relax, I tossed the rock as
far as I could into the distance.
The rock could be heard rolling down the hill and
hitting another rock, which made a decent “clang,” and then went silent. The
guard took three large steps forward before stilling again. It was the
opportunity I needed; the guard was no longer blocking the entrance. I dropped
the rope and climbed as quickly as I could until I was on the ground in front
of the cave. I ran, quietly, into the darkness.
* * *
I didn’t stop running for half an hour, when I
couldn’t do so any more, but then I nearly collapsed. I had reached the
darkened tunnels of the under cities. There were trolls and goblins that would
arrest me if they found me and return me to the surface, so I wasn’t out of hot
water yet.
It was cold. I clutched my jacket around me tighter,
but I had forgotten about the unnatural chill of being this far from the sun,
thus I hadn’t brought anything better. Worse yet, I had no idea which way it
was to the High King city. What I did know was that I would have to rest soon.
An hour or so later, I arrived at a small, abandoned
city. A ghost town. There was no sound, not a footstep, yet it felt like I was
being watched. The sensation followed me even when I found a small house to
shut myself into for the night. Unable to bring myself to sleep in a stranger’s
bed, I laid the blanket on the floor and slept on top of it.
Unfortunately, finding sleep was a lot easier on the
dark, cold floor than in the empty bed at home.
* * *
I woke to a firm hand on my mouth. As I grew up in
the low-class end of Houston, this was the start of all my worst nightmares. I
screamed and kicked even as a much larger man tried desperately to pin my legs
one-handed and keep my mouth shut at the same time. Dile were ridiculously
strong people, so the only thing I had on my side was surprise.
“No scream, woman, or they hear!” the man whispered
hurriedly.
I immediately relented in my thrashing and he moved
his hand slightly so that I could breathe but not speak. An instant before I
bit his hand and demanded to be released, I heard heavy footsteps. The man let
me go and pushed me under the low bed, but it was too narrow a space for him to
hide in.
“Who are you?” I whispered.
“Name Vreko. Fight for High King.”
“You know Nila? Is that how you know English?”
“Kedgra fight for Nila seta. Kedgra all know English.
We learn English to hide words.”
Kedgra all… So Kedgra was most likely a group of
people
. “I’m looking for Nila. Where can I find him?”
I didn’t get an answer because the sound was coming
closer. There were people out there, searching. Vreko quickly hid in a chest by
the front door, which was only barely large enough. I worried, because any
bandits would check something like that, but there was no time to voice my
concern.
The door opened and five large men swaggered in. They
searched the place, tipping over the table and destroying pottery, and found
nothing of value. With every heavy footstep, my heart thundered until I was
sure they would hear it. Luckily, they never checked the chest or under the
bed.
When each man left one by one, I almost sighed with
relief… but then one reentered. He was the smallest one, but his face looked
sort of mouse-like. If there was a person who looked like scum, it was him. He
scowled suspiciously at the blanket on the floor, which all the men had
overlooked before.
I knew I was in trouble when he went to it, got on
his knees, fisted the blanket, and sniffed it deeply. Just as I expected, he
started sniffing the air like a dog, then got up and sniffed in a wide circle
around the room. He repeated his sweep, slowly getting closer and closer to the
bed, until he kneeled beside it and contorted to see under it. I knew it wasn’t
dark enough to hide, that I was caught, so I did what any frightened, desperate
Texan girl would do; I kicked him in the face with my boot.
First he grabbed his face in pain, which gave me a
chance to crawl out from under the bed, but then he recovered quickly and
reached for me. Although he was bleeding profusely from the nose, he was able
to see well enough to chase after me. I threw open the door to escape only for
my exit to be blocked by the largest of the five men, who obviously knew how to
throw his weight around. He pushed me back with one massive hand into the
smarmy arms of the bleeding blood hound.
The bastard immediately snaked his hand under my
shirt and leered. I wished very much that I didn’t understand what he said to
the larger man. I wanted to call Dylan or Nila… but most of all I wanted Nano.
He would have smacked them around and used powerful magic. All I could do was
shudder and keep my mouth shut, not allowing them the pleasure of my scream.
Funny… they were the first men who had ever
successfully shut me up.
As they started to drag me from the house, I was
thankful they hadn’t found Vreko. There was a resistance, and the last thing I
wanted to do was hinder that in any way.
Just as I thought it, I heard the obvious opening of
a chest a second before I was thrown to the ground. Vreko and the rat-man were
fighting. The larger man, clearly uninterested, picked me up by the scruff of
the shirt and dragged me outside.
The abandoned town was crawling with scumbags
carrying torches as they raided the homes that were once lovingly maintained.
These were homes in which babies were born, children played, and men came home
to their adoring wives. Everything that wasn’t taken was broken.
The man set me down roughly in a large wooden cart
with three other women and a little girl. I started to lean over the side when
a sharp bark startled me and snapping jaws were suddenly an inch from my face.
The animal had the scruffy look and head shape of a hyena with the lithe body
structure of a wild dog.
I jumped back, barely resisting the urge to shriek,
and barreled into one of the women. All four captives had obviously seen better
days. They were covered in dirt and grime, clearly starving, and shivering in
the ragged tatters they wore. Why the little girl was on her own, I didn’t
know.
“Come here,” I whispered to the little girl and held
out my arms. She looked at me, but huddled deeper into the corner of the cart.
Obviously, my mothering skills were bad enough to physically repel even the
most unfortunate children.
I turned at the sound of a commotion to see Vreko
being dragged out of the house. He was bleeding from a cut on his head and
seemed very dazed. Instead of being put on the cart with me, he was cuffed to a
thick metal chain that dragged behind it. The dogs, who were attached to the
front of the cart, dragged the wagon into dark tunnels.
Most of my life was devoted to being an avid feminist
and animal rights activist, which meant I had a horde of supporters in whatever
I did and people to scream out if anyone ever tried to shut me up. I was always
bleeding about rights on somebody’s carpet every time the opposition sneezed in
the wrong direction. I was aware of this, but didn’t think it was wrong. On Dios
I had no supporters, no causes, and nobody who wanted my help.
We traveled for several hours without any talk,
breaks, or water. It was impossible to sleep. I understood the danger we were
in and that while trying to find Nila to help him stop the slavery, I myself
ended up caught in it.
I closed my eyes, put my hands together, and did
something I had not done in fifteen years; I prayed.
Zer, I know you weren’t
my god growing up, but I need someone now. I’m Nano’s mate, so maybe it matters
to you. Please don’t let me die here… especially when Nano probably thinks I
ran away.
I was startled by a gentle hand on my knee and opened
my eyes. The little girl gave me a look of concern before she slowly crawled
into my lap and curled up against my chest. She was maybe six or seven, had
blond hair covered in dirt, and huge blue eyes. I really didn’t want to be a
mother, let alone a foster mother, but I could be someone’s pillow for a while.
* * *
A sudden jerk had me sprawled out on the floor of the
cart. The little girl never moaned or cried, even though it must have hurt her.
Sometime during the trip, I had fallen asleep sitting up, which led to my
disorientation. I tried to sit up and give the child room to breathe when one
of the hyena/dog creatures leapt part of the way into the cart and tried to
bite me.
I flattened myself over the little girl as fast as I
could and the dog gave up trying to get in the cart. He gave a low growl before
he joined the other six of his pack to get fed what looked like steaks. I sat
back up and the little girl crawled right back into my arms.
We were stopped outside a large shack. The largest
man came around the side of the cart and reached for me. I pushed the child
away from him and didn’t fight him as he wrapped his hands around my waist and
pulled me out. The one thing I was good at was arguing, yet I couldn’t speak
enough Dego to do so properly.
I was set down and pushed gently towards the shack. I
stared at the face of the man for a moment before walking, slowly. This man was
unreasonable and unmerciful, but it seemed he would be gentle for as long as I
cooperated. I knew how strong the dile were, so my only chance was to outsmart
them.
The door was opened and when I saw my fate, I gasped
with horror. Lining the walls were cages, each barely large enough for an adult
woman to lie down in. In the center of the room was deplorable furniture
consisting of two metal beds, two metal x-shaped contraptions, and a black
cushioned bench. Most of the dozens of cages were full and closely resembled
enclosed dog kennels. They were about four-by-four wide and six foot tall. The
tops were made of what appeared to be glass or clear plastic. Against the back
wall of each was a two-by-four bed that consisted of an inch-thick mattress on the
floor.
I was shoved into a cage in the middle and the little
girl was put into one almost directly across from me. Vreko was taken to
another room, while the other three women were put into the last remaining
cages of this room.
I sat on the bed to work out my strategy. The locks
on the cages were built in and opened from a key which only the big man seemed
to have. I needed to gather information, like when they brought food, let us go
to the bathroom, or if they cleaned the cages.
This turned out to be a waiting game. For the next
three hours, a man came in to check into each cage every hour. He was a
middle-aged man with short black hair, a slim build, and angry eyes. His
clothes consisted of a white tunic and dark blue pants. Every time he entered, he
had a small brown notebook with him, but he never opened it.
Unfortunately, he was the only man who checked on us
and his notebook was the only thing he brought. I fell asleep cold and hungry.
* * *
When I woke, it was to the sense of something wrong
more than any sound. There were two men speaking in Dego when I sat up. I took
a moment to get the cricks out of my neck before I moved to the bars and looked
around. The two men were standing outside the little girl’s cage. One of the
men was the big one, but the other was unfamiliar.
The large man opened the cage, then the stranger
reached in and pulled the girl out.
“Let her go!” I demanded, standing. They ignored me,
so I started banging on the bars.
This got their attention at least. The stranger
considered me for a moment before pushing the girl back into the cage and
closing the door. The child didn’t make a sound the entire time. Unfortunately,
both men approached my cage and the big man unlocked it. When they stood back
and waited expectantly, I came out. The stranger took my arm in a firm grip as
if he expected me to try to run away.
I focused on controlling my breathing as he took me
into the next room, where I realized with horror how much trouble I was
actually in. Barely reacting in time, I gripped the doorframe to try to prevent
him pulling me further in. Still, it was useless, for his strength was too
great.