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the start...

With her back leaning against the wall, her head lolled to the side gently. Eyes closed, she almost appeared as if she were sleeping, if not for the fact that her breaths came out in shallow pained gasps. She knew she didn’t have long, that time was running out and that she may end up dead, but yet even with the prospect of dying staring at her blatantly in the face, she felt a sense of peace. For what could be the last time, her mind drifted…….to the past……

Chapter 1

Stella Green’s face was a blank mask yet nothing could hide the despair behind her eyes. Hands on the door knob, she listened attentively with a growing lump in her throat. Her body shuddered as images of her mate and another woman who wasn’t her sharing intimate moments with each other. Suddenly a painful tightening occurred in the area of her chest where her heart was, and she gasped audibly, eyes welling with salty tears. The pain she felt was like someone was constricting her heart, making it difficult for her to breathe. There was a thud on the other side of the door, and a low curse.

Stella knew she had been noticed, and without a doubt, the door to the bed room would swing open any moment and she would meet eye to eye with her mate for the first time….of course, just right after he had slept with another woman. The thought of another woman’s scent coating his own coffee one made bile rise in her throat. How could he sleep with another woman? How could she even face him?

Eyes darting around her, Stella took a step back and then another and then she was running down the hallway in blindness, oblivious to everything except the pounding in her ears. This wasn’t meant to happen her wolf howled at her and she gripped her heart, clawing at her chest in an attempt to ease the pangs of pain. Each pang felt like her breath was being knocked out and some part of her was dying. She needed to escape, she needed a moment to clear her mind and think straight. What she didn’t need was blurred images of a man and women on bed.

Throwing herself practically out of the large house, her feet carried her to the woods. The evening air did nothing to cool her raging heart and Stella dared a glance back, another strong wave of disappointment and hurt washing over her when she didn’t see anyone chasing after her. Where was he? She thought, why wasn’t he chasing me, trying to win my favour back?

Thoughts swirled in her head as she ran blindly through the woods, dirt, twigs and stones scratching and tearing at her clothes and skin. Over and over Stella tripped, fell over and got back up, and even though her cuts stung and blood gushed out of her hands and knees, none of it compared to the intense pain ravaging her heart. It was so strong that she couldn’t even scream, her mouth sealed shut and her tears scorching down her face.

Maybe it was because Stella was so full of anguish that she didn’t notice the large black pond with its still waters. Maybe her hurt had blinded her so much that she stumbled yet again, losing her footing on the damp ground around the waters edges and falling face first into the water. The splash of the water on her face and the coldness which washed over her snapped her back into reality, and Stella, now somewhat focused, looked around and for the first time felt another emotion other than hurt fill her heart. Fear.

Leaves began to stir and she shivered. Something brushed her hands which were still in the water and Stella leapt back. She called anxiously to her wolf but her wolf remained silent, still broken by the hurt it felt.

She slowly stood up, suddenly feeling greatly weighed down by her clothes which seemed to weigh tonnes. Grunting, the inky depths of the water scared her as she stared back at her frightened expression. Warning bells rang loud and clear as she tried to take a step back and away from the water, and yet, in that very moment she saw a slender arm reach out and grasp her thigh. Gasping Stella tried to scream out for help but before she could she was dragged under, the ground disappearing from below her. Black water filled her lungs, and Stella struggled to breathe, her throat burning and her arms flailing around. Black dots appeared in her vision as she was dragged further and further under, to this seeming endless pit of water.

Please, she pleaded, please, I don’t want to die….

Chapter 2

Please, she pleaded, please, I don’t want to die….

Chapter 3

The sun shined on the golden sand as the blue water lapped gently on the shore. Two young siblings, one a girl and the other a boy, chased each other gaily, there footprints being left behind on the ground. It was the youngest of them both, the girl, who first spotted the body of a person. She called out to her brother, her voice shaking in frightful fear and curiosity as she approached it carefully.

“Come quick Mathew!”

Her older brother, Mathew, rushed to her side upon hearing her urgent voice, a gasp leaving his mouth as he saw his sister crouching over a body and peering at it.

“Ellie” he said horrified as he leapt to her side and grabbed her arm, pulling her back harshly and away from the person.

Ellie winced as she tugged her arm back and pointed to the person. “She’s still alive Mathew!” she announced as she began to crawl her way back to the beautiful girl. Long midnight black hair sprawled itself around the body and pale ivory skin shined with droplets of water. Red plump lips and long curled lashes, and strange clothes but no doubt she was an astounding beauty thought Ellie.

“Look at her hair and clothes! Must be royalty from the way far, far away but her ship was probably attacked! ” Ellie continued to say enthusiastically. Mathew shook his head, never had he seen of someone with black hair. All sorts of blondes, browns and even red, but he’d never seen black, and for the life of him, he’d never seen someone with her looks, pale skin and clothes!

“She has black hair, foreign looks and clothes” Mathew said as he once again pulled his sister away. “We don’t know who she is, she could be dangerous…”

The little girl was beginning to get fed up with her brother’s cowardice. “So we just leave her?” she asked agitated. “For heaven’s sake Mathew, we can’t do that!”

“Yes we can and we will Ellie. Now let’s go” he ordered as he tugged on her arm firmly but was stopped by the quite groan coming from the lying girls lips.

Both eyes snapped towards the girl on the sand, waves lapping at her feet gently. Her eyes fluttered open and black pupils darted towards them, peering at them before she clutched her heart and groaned louder, this time in pain.

“She’s hurt Mathew!” her sister cried as she snatched her arm back and knelt before the pale girl’s side. Soft and small hands touched the shoulders of the mysterious woman. “Are you ok? Can you tell me your name?”

Pupils of black yet again shuttered open and met with Ellie’s, and the woman, through much pain uttered “Stella”.

“Stella?” Ellie asked and the Stella nodded in confirmation before she clutched at her heart and screamed. Pain was ripping through Stella’s body as she remembered what had happened and sobs raked through her body. She felt as if she was burning up and yet her heart seemed frozen. She could taste sand in her mouth and she could feel a breeze and smell the saltiness, yet nothing mattered, not even the fact on how she ended up on the coast, far from where she was before.

“Are you OK?” Ellie called urgently to the woman withering in pain and Stella shook her head, her tears falling silently across her face and running tracks down her face.

“Mathew, we can’t leave her! She seems to be in such pain!”

Mathew bit his bottom lip, his resolve wavering before collapsing completely when Stella screamed yet again.

“Ok, we’ll take her…but we must not tell anyone!”

His younger sister nodded furiously and both siblings grabbed an arm and lifted Stella to her feet. Eyes opening she shook her head, words of ‘no’ and ‘stop’ falling from her mouth weakly as tears continued to fall down her cheeks. Too weak to fight though, Stella let them half drag and carry her away, her head limply hanging down. All energy suddenly seemed to seep away as she shut her eyes and let the blackness whisk her away.

Chapter 4

I woke up yet again to the strong stench of the ocean drifting through the open windows and the gentle lapping of the waves. My heart, which had ached with such an intense pain, seemed to have dulled down substantially over the course of a month. While the pain still remained somewhat, it wasn’t as great, since the pain of losing something far greater weighed down on me. My wolf.

“Stella you’re up?” Ellie said, walking in while carrying a plate of bread and a cup of water. She was such a young girl yet she acted so mature for her age, taking care of me when I had been bed ridden for three days with a high fever and lost appetite. Her conversations were pleasant, and even though it felt like I lost everything, I found myself always smiling when she came to visit me in my little home built close to the sea.

“Good morning” I said as I sat up, watching her busy herself in tidying the place up and changing the wood for the fireplace.

“You remember how you got here yet? Or better yet who you are?” Ellie asked conversationally with her back to me, and thank god, since she just missed me flinch.

“No” I muttered, when in truth I was fully aware of whom I was but I was so afraid to reveal the truth in case she thinks me crazy. Actually I found this whole situation crazy the more I thought of it, from being in my world to being transported to another realm, yet I knew it was reality. A reality I had to grasp and couldn’t escape from. To be frank, I would have liked to think that this was God’s message telling me to forget my useless mate and that I was in paradise, where I would live my life besides the sea and away from pain and sorrow. However I knew that this place was far from paradise. From what Ellie tells me, this world, this country I was in, had plagues and wars and kings and queens.

“There are three major kingdoms, the Drogon’s, a place of sand and precious rock. The Morten’s, a place, from what I hear, of flowing water and landscape and lastly the Kurten’s who live surrounded by mountains.” Ellie told me one day when I was lying in bed. “All of them want what the other has, and battles have broken out many times, many lives being lost. The last major battle that happened was ten years ago when I was in my mother’s womb…my father died then….” When she said this, she spoke sadly and it tugged at my heart. I too had lost a parent and been raised single handily by my mother. Thus, I had never been part of a pack and never had a home, having to move around constantly because of her job, but that had never bothered me until my mother died and I was left completely alone. What luck, I thought sadly, that the first pack I go too for help had to be my mates…

“There are no….humans that transform into animals?” I asked her and Ellie had looked at me oddly. “No” she said, shaking her head, a small smile tugging at her lips. “Are you still sick?”

“Maybe” I had muttered.

“Stella? You with me?” Ellie asked, waving her hands in front of my face and I snapped back to the present.

“Sorry, what?” I enquired as I focused on her gentle eyes.

“I was telling you about the rumours going around town”

“The rumours?”

This grabbed my interest a little bit as I bit into the bread.

“Yeah. Mathew heard some travelling merchants talking when he was cleaning some tables at the bar. Apparently they were talking about the Drogon’s attacking some neutral towns; you know killing and all for resources.”

Frowning I tilted my head to the side, paying rapt attention now to what was coming out of Ellie’s mouth.

“I’m a bit worried in truth and so is Mathew, even though our Pa thinks it’s nothing but rumours” Ellie said as she sat down next to me on the bed and bit into her nails, her eyes wandering around the small hut aimlessly. “We’re a neutral town and live on the seaside and all, easy for ships to access for trade….”

“I’m sure it’s nothing” I tried to say in a reassuring manner, but even then something was telling me that I was wrong.

“Your wrong Stella” she continued to say as she bit harder on her nail. I could see she was getting riled up, bottled emotions beginning to overflow, fear for what might happen. “Everyone thinks it’s ok since a major battle hasn’t broken out in over 10 years, but there wrong, I can feel it…”

Shivering at her ominous words I patted her back lightly but no words came out of my mouth, I actually had no idea what to say to make her feel better. Ellie looked at me, some of the fear in her eyes dissipating slightly. Opening her mouth she was about to say something but was cut off by her brother who barrelled in. His eyes, so much like his younger sisters, sought her out.

“Mathew!” Ellie gasped in surprise as she stood up suddenly. I too straightened my back in alarm as I saw his dazed and confused look.

“Ellie I’ve been looking all over for you. Ma and Pa need you back”

“Why?”

Mathew shook his head, grabbing his sister’s hand as if the words were lodged in his throat. I knew something had happened and a sickening churning feeling made me feel sick and weak to the bones. Something wasn’t right.

“Men have arrived, some Drogon soldiers. Ma and Pa think it’s nothing but, I don’t know, they look…well anyway we have to get back. Ma needs your help making the food.”

“They’re staying at our inn?” she asked surprised and Mathew nodded sullenly, tugging at her arm and forcing her to follow him. I stood up, the plate being knocked to the side and onto the floor, clattering with noise and both siblings turned to me, there young eyes fearful and scared.

“I’ll come too-“

“No!” Ellie cut in, shaking her head back and forth, her blonde tendrils of hair whipping out of her bun and falling onto her freckled face. “You just stay here” she ordered me while smiling, “We’ll be fine. And if they see you now we won’t know how to explain”. Knowing she put on a brave face pained me and all I wanted to do was follow them but when Ellie looked at me so pleadingly I couldn’t utter another word, it was like the words and actions I wanted to do were sealed off.

“Don’t worry” Mathew said reassuringly, “We’ll see you in the morning when they leave; they just said they were passing through anyway”.

My feet stuck to the floor, I watched them leave and gnawing at my lips I tried calling out to my wolf. Silence met me and for the first time I felt anger and frustration at my wolf and myself well up in me. While it may be true that I still had the abilities more capable than a human, with heightened senses and healing rate, I felt completely worthless. I didn’t know anything, I couldn’t do anything and I kicked the plate to the other side of the hut in my anger as I flopped back down on the bed, my hands resting on my forehead. All I could do was wait, all I could do was sit and watch the front entrance with a feeling of hopelessness. I didn’t know alot about this world and the things I knew were very limited.

Chapter 5

By night time I couldn’t take it anymore. My body was shivering and cold sweat had broken out on my forehead. The waves outside seemed noisier, crashing on the shore and the darkness seemed more prominent. No moon appeared that night and everything was shrouded in darkness, the winds howling. I was too riled up to light a candle and every second that ticked by seemed like a second closer to something terrible.

Standing up suddenly I walked to the entrance of the hut and peered out, my hand resting uneasily on the wall. Ellie’s eyes telling me not to come popped in my mind, but the sense of something wrong was far greater. I would just take a peek I thought; see if everything was all right.

Stepping outside, a dagger and black cloak in hand, the wind of the coast whipped my hair back and the strong taste of salt landed on my nose. I let my eyes focus first before slinging the cloak around my shoulders and over my long hair (since from what Mathew had told me it was an unusual colour) and sheathing my dagger to my side. Then I began my light jog towards the lining of the tree’s, trying my best to sniff out Ellie’s and Mathews scent which seemed to have been carried off slightly by the wind and the moving sand.

By the time I had reached the enclosure of the tree’s there scent which had seemed so faint had begun to get stronger, the path they always followed leading me to their town. Leaves which appeared black hung creepily down the branches and every crunch of my foot seemed so loud in the quietness of the woods. The quite before a storm I thought as I brushed some branches away from my face. This time I treaded carefully, making sure not to fall into any mysterious ponds or pools of black water.

I smell something burning was what I first thought when finally the tree’s seemed to thin out in front of me. Squinting I gasped as I viewed smoke rising high into the sky. All my previous thoughts about being careful fled out the door as I rocketed myself down the course of the trees, not caring about anything else. The sickening feeling was back in my stomach and I had trouble breathing, my throat clogged with emotions, and breaking through the wall of branches I stumbled back at what I saw.

Houses of stone lay crumbled to the ground with a strong fire ravaging the area that I could feel it prickle my skin. Grey thick smoke rose to the air and distantly I could hear cries and pleas. My eyes followed horrified as a person ran across my vision, there skin charred and flames eating at them.

“Ellie!” her name ripped itself from my mouth as a desperate cry. “Ellie! Oh God please answer me!” I continued to scream, diving straight to the streets of flames. The fire nipped at my heels as I sniffed the air but all I could smell was the sickening smell of burnt flesh and smoke. No matter how much I looked I couldn’t see her or her brother.

“Ellie?! Mathew?!” I screamed out. Stumbling on a pillar of wood which would have held a house up not long ago, I felt the gravel graze my skin, cutting into the tender flesh. Hissing I stood up, my breath rushing in pants.

“You” I said as I looked at a girl rushing past. In her arms was a bundle of fabric which I imagined wrapped all her precious things. She glanced at me, her hair burnt black and her skin coated in soot. “Tell me, do you know an Ellie and Mathew?!”

The girl looked at me for a moment, something like recognition dancing briefly in her eyes and I clutched her shoulders hard, my nails digging into her skin. “Tell me!” I demanded and the girl flinched back, her head looking towards from the direction she had come.

“I-I s-saw them over t-there somewhere” she stuttered out, “I just…oh god I don’t know” and suddenly she began wailing, her cries reverberating from deep within her chest. She pulled back harshly from me, her teary eyes looking so lost. “God I don’t know!”

Her cries were frantic, something inside flipping to make her act hysterical with various emotions.

“LEAVE ME ALONE!” she screamed as she flung herself away from me, her staggered breaths ringing out. I tried to grab her, to hold her down but her nails blindly scratched at my skin.

“Calm down. Just-“

It was so sudden. One moment she was standing in front of me and the next she was laying head first on the floor with an arrow speared through her chest, blood seeping slowly through her back. I stumbled back, never having seen someone killed before in all my life right before my eyes. My body was numb for only a moment, my mind reeling as my eyes sought out the culprit and in the distance, with my sharpened eye sight, I saw someone once again drawing there bow and aiming at me. It was like staring at the end of a barrel.

It was in that split second that it finally dawned on me fully that I was on a real battlefield and that at any moment I could die for real. It also dawned on me that Ellie and Mathew could be a pile of burnt, shot and crumpled bodies on the floor. Feeling sickened with the dreadfulness of the situation, I narrowly missed the arrow from piercing my own chest, although its pointed edge did cut my arm. I hissed in pain as I flung myself to the floor on all fours, quickly staggering up and making a wild dash before I could be struck again. I ran through the flames once again, my eyes darting wildly. Now I was not only looking for Ellie and Mathew but also making sure I could live long enough to save them.

Chapter 6

“Ellie! Mathew!” I screamed the smoke and fumes winding its way into my lungs and I imagined it like thick black tar clogging my pipelines. Coughing I clutched at my throat feeling the immensity of struggle to breathe. I couldn’t get air; it was like I was suffocating.

“Ellie, please answer me. Mathew please” I croaked out. Please I thought desperately.

Stopping in the middle of the fire with burning buildings, screaming people and crumpled bodies, I felt fear grip my heart. I didn’t even know I had tears streaming down my eyes because all I felt was a sense of hopelessness. It was as if at that moment I realized the sheer seriousness of this world.

Someone gripped my arm, tugging me roughly to the side. I gasped in shock, eyes finding a woman who had a mean looking face and a scar running across its side.

“Who are you?” I asked weakly as I followed her blindly, running down winding streets and narrow paths which I had failed to notice. The lady didn’t even spare me a glance, her eyes focused solely on what ‘must’ be done.

“It ain’t matter who I am” she said suddenly as she shoved me against a wall, my back slamming with a thud. I was merely a sack of potatoes in her eyes I thought. “The question is who are you to my son and daughter?”

“Son and daughter?” I asked confused as I thought deeply. Did I perhaps know this woman….no that’s not right, unless…“Your children can’t perhaps be Ellie and Mathew right?”

The lady quirked her eyebrow up and I stood utterly shocked. I had always imagined the children’s mother to be a somewhat delicate looking lady, just like Ellie, but not someone who could pass for a man.

“Surprised ain’t ya” she said, grinning dryly, which didn’t seem appropriate in such a situation. “So who are you to my children?”

I swallowed my gulp audible in the tense atmosphere. Be strong I thought, don’t back out!

“Your children saved me…for the past month or so I’ve been staying close to the beach…”

“That’s where those dratted children always disappeared to” she muttered under her breath.

“Um” I asked, “are they both safe?” I couldn’t help my voice from sounding hopeful.

The mothers face darkened, her eyes flashing as she looked distantly to a place I couldn’t see. “Hope they are…my children ain’t dying without a fight though!”

“What” I demanded as I grabbed her by the shoulders, even forgetting that she was such a big woman. “What do you mean?!”

“Those two were taken”. She said it so simply, as if she were telling me the weather.

“How can you be so calm?! Where are they?! Whose taken them?!” I screamed as I shook her with my hands, using my strength slightly without realising. Suddenly grabbing both of my hands she snapped back at me like an angered and terrified animal. “You think I ain’t worried! Of course I am. These are my children I’ve born and raised taken from me! But what can I do?! There’s nothing I can do, I’m just a woman who has no home and no man. But even so, I know that my children will live and so will I, so then there will come a day when I will see them! So for now, even if I can’t be with them, I will help those who I can and then do all in my power to restore this village….”

Stepping back like I had been burnt, it dawned on me my mistakes on my rash and thoughtless actions. Here was a woman, so strong and noble, who’s had her children, her lively hood and everything snatched from her, and yet even though she must be feeling immense pain and grief, she still barrels through. Thinking so clearly, using such wisdom and never giving up hope, this was the kind of woman I wanted to be!

I’ve made my decision. I knew what I had to do next.

“I let my emotions cloud my judgement…but even so I still want to save them both so let” I bowed down on my knees “so let me save them in your stead. This is all I can do to repay your families kindness”.

“You?” she enquired with a grunt, “a woman? No way, you must be crazy; war ain’t a woman’s place. War isn’t a game, there’s killing and death and everything dark. A woman like you who doesn’t even know pain will never-“

“Then let me not be a woman” I said cutting her off as I unsheathed the dagger, pulled the hood from my head down and cutting my hair in one swipe. Still kneeling I threw my black locks at her feet to show my determination. “I may have never seen war or death, but if not for your children I would be a person who had died. Merely an empty shell” I looked at her eyes and revealed my seriousness of the situation.

I wanted to do everything for those two who had saved me that day, when they could have abandoned me. Being together with them had healed my heart from the pain and rejection of my mate. It wasn’t me who was in the wrong; it was my mate who didn’t deserve me. However even knowing this fact didn’t mean it was so easy to accept, even if the bond between us two mates was long broken and my wolf was gone. Always the thought of my wolf, my other side gone, angered and saddened me. I couldn’t feel her presence, couldn’t hear her or talk to her, she had locked herself away. Clenching my fists tightly, I realized that even if she was gone, I was never giving up. I couldn’t give up, because no matter how painful it was there were others suffering greater pain. So I would wait for her to return but now I had a reason to live, a reason to think of others and not myself.

“Your hair….” She said and I bit my lip remembering Mathew telling me that it was an unusual colour. “It is black…”

“Please let me do this” I said “even if I have unusual coloured hair or I am a female!” For a long moment we stared at each other before the foot falls of many people getting closer snapped us out of our world and into reality. The lady snatched my arm roughly and threw open a door which seemed to blend with the wall that I didn’t notice. Dragging me inside I was consumed with the darkness but my eyes adapted quickly to my surroundings before a dim light filled the space.

It was a small storage room, no bigger than a few steps with shelves lining the walls and on each shelf were bags of food, clothes and bottles of a mysterious liquid.

“What is this, a secret room?” I asked and the woman grabbed a bottle filled with a white paste and rummaged through some clothes, pulling out this and that from the sack.

“You said you wanted to save them?” she asked after a moment as she wrapped everything in a cloth and handed it to me. I was still with shock as she continued to stuff food in a leather bag which she grabbed from the shelf. “Well for now you can’t do anything looking the way you do. So for now go back to the sea and dye your hair, change your identity and forget that you’re a woman. Woman like you can’t live in times of war without being sold to men.” Handing me the bag she looked at me. “I hope you are true to your word girl, and don’t take it back as soon as you see danger” she muttered.

“I won’t” I answered sharply and the lady shrugged as if she didn’t know whether to believe me or not.

“Either way, I don’t care what you do after this since it ain’t my problem. But for now you can’t stay here, you have to leave and get away” she paused. “But if you still want to save my children then first head to Morten’s main city, south of here.” She suddenly began to shove me towards the back wall when we heard to heavy sound of multiple steps. “Here take this”, handing me a rolled paper and a sword which she pulled from behind the shelf she pressed her hand to the wall. The wall shuddered before opening up to reveal a passageway which seemed to stretch for quite a distance. “Take this route and you should reach the sea. When you get there, quickly change yourself and escape”

“What about you? Aren’t you coming?” I asked, taking a step into the passageway and looking back at her.

She shook her head, her hair falling on her scarred face. “I have a duty here. I can’t leave” and then I was plunged into darkness.

Chapter 7

The cart hit another bump in the rocky road and I clutched the sword and bag closer to my chest. It felt sweltering under the unforgiving sun; the bandage which I’d wrapped tightly around my chest was becoming sticky with sweat.

“How much longer till Morten?” I asked no particular person and the man next to me who had huddled into himself spared me a glance. His eyes were fearfully wide and his mouth was quietly muttering unknown words, with hands tightly clasping a silver chain. The chain must have been something very special to him for him to hold it so close to his heart. But when I thought about it, everyone here was much like him, to taken from the horrors of the battle and trying to hold onto something gone.

Horrendous I thought, the wars were horrid and terrible. But even so, I needed to know how close I was to Morten. “Excuse me?” I asked the man in front, his whip lashing at the horse to move forward. “How far are we to Morten?”

“Quite boy” he snapped back at me his accent thick with annoyance, not even turning around. “You’ve been asking that dratted question for long time going. If you don’t shut up I’ll chuck you out”.

Unconsciously I touched my short hair, now dyed the brown of chestnuts, which fell in locks to just past my ears. That’s right; right now I was a boy, leaving behind the identity of a girl in the waves of the sea that night.

“Sorry I…“I began but stopped when I smelt something like blood and sweat thick in the air. No one else could smell it but with my heightened sense it was like being rammed with the scent so strongly disturbing. Something wasn’t right, I thought unnerved. I looked to the tree’s and the area around me.

“Stop the cart” I demanded and the man grunted in annoyance.

“Look here boy. I don’t know who you think you are but here I make the-“

No one could even take another breath before the cart was rammed to the side and toppled over. Everyone fell to the side, bags, things and bodies scattering on the road. I sat up quickly, having prepared myself somewhat for something dangerous the moment when I smelt the blood and having jumped out mere seconds before. Grabbing my sword and swinging my bag around my body, I got up into a low crouch. Be calm, don’t rush I thought as I took everything into perspective. All types of men were rushing from behind the rocks, ditches, and the shrubs by the side of the road, swords raised in the air.

Bandits?!

After I noticed the man who had been driving the cart forward lay dead on his side, a rock having cracked his head open, blood pouring out and tainting the ground. The horse which had fallen picked itself up and looked upon everything in confusion. The cart was dented on the side, having being rammed by a man standing six foot tall and weighing 200 pounds who too got up from the floor, being thrown back with his own force.

“No!” the man who had been next to me on the ride said as he held the chain closer. “NO!”

The tall and scary looking man smirked, a smile so sickening and evil it sent chills down my spine. He enjoyed seeing suffering and anguish was what I thought. I couldn’t die here, I must not die here.

“Give us your valuables and the women. Men will stay behind to die!” a man who I assumed was the head leader said, stepping from behind the buff six foot goliath. Wearing dark pattered clothes, he looked like an ordinary man except for the various mutated scars on his body.

“No, not the women” a husband pleaded as he held his thin wife to his chest, sobs wracking through her body as she grasped tightly onto his thread worn shirt. “Please spare my wife, we’ll give you anything so-“

One slice was all it took to take his head. One clean slice from a sword sent his head rolling to the side, his eyes and mouth opened in shock. Blood spurted out and the wife screamed. Her cry so shrill and painfully tormented as her husband’s dead body flopped forwards and onto her chest. The tangy smell of blood filled the air and I covered my mouth, too horrified too look away.

“What you lot waiting for?” the leader grunted as if this one kill from his sword meant nothing to him, which it probably didn’t. “Give us your stuff or you’ll end up like that fellow!”

Meekly everyone followed the instructions, too afraid to do anything else. Some however did try to escape only to have their arms and legs cut off and themselves screaming in agony. It was either try to escape and have your limbs cut off or follow through with what they asked to keep all your body parts.

Staring at the sword, I struggled to part with it. Though it was heavy, it was the only weapon given to me by the children’s mother. And if I were to give up my sword, even though I had never before learnt how to use it, I’ll be left with no weapon, my previous dagger having been left at the place where I cut my hair.

One of the men looked at me, seeing what I’ll do next and I bit my lip and threw the sword onto the pile of valuables. Its ok, I thought, I still had the map with me, which was wound around my body and tied with string to keep it in place.

“Ok you lot” the leader said as the women and girls were loaded onto an iron cage sitting on top of a sturdy looking cart which they had brought from behind the tree’s. “We’ll take the women and the horse, and since we’re such kind people, all we’ll do is tie you up and leave you here. You can choose to escape or die”. He smirked pleased with himself as if he really thought that what he was doing were the actions of a generous and good man.

I came to understand with clarity why it was so important for me to dress up as a boy, and the true gravity of the situation. It took all my self-control not to act rashly like the last time and just plunge straight into an attack, which would undoubtedly cost my life.

The bandits tied the rope not to lose but not too tight around everyone’s hands and legs, throwing each man to the side of the road. The rope was probably done in such a way to give an opportunity for escape if a person tried hard enough. “If you’re lucky” the leader continued to say as he got on a horse, “Maybe some travellers or merchants may stop and help. Heaven forbid though if you run into Drogon soldiers!” When he said the last part of his sentence, he didn’t look that unpleased or distressed, in fact I knew a part of him was hoping for such a thing to befall everyone.

I watched as they left, the youngest of the women crying and the more mature ones already resigned to their fates. The six foot man walked behind everyone, his eyes eyeing the females through the cage like they were meat put on sale in a butchers shop.

Wishing I was strong enough and wishing that I had more power to do something coiled itself in my heart. Being a female, I understood somewhat the feelings that all of the girls went through as they were being dragged off. But having said this, all I could do for now was follow the instructions to head into an unknown city of Morten, where I had no idea what to expect when I reached it. Just keep going south I thought firmly, implanting that thought firmly into my mind. I couldn’t do anything anyway except follow through with it if I wanted a remote chance of saving Mathew and Ellie.

The sun was beginning to set and I had been working tirelessly on the ropes. Nearly all the men who I had been stuck with had long given up, their eyes lost in their one world, some of them even dead with their heads pitifully buried in the dirt. Twisting and shifting the rope around my wrists till my skin was rubbed raw, I knew I had to hurry up. Night was dangerous, beasts and animals coming out and without my wolf; there was no saying what would happen in this uncharted and unknown territory.

“Come on” I mumbled, “just a little more and then it’ll be off”. I gave another sharp tug on the rope and not a moment later I felt it loosening considerably till it fell limp against my wrists. I had done it and grinning in accomplishment, I let myself bask in the feeling of doing something right for once. Few seconds later I was untying the rope wound around my feet, discarding it to the side in distaste.

Standing up and stretching, I tried to shake the feeling of exhaustion from my bones while glancing around at the detached faces of men.

“I’m free…” I said lamely into the air and it was like a pin could drop and the noise could fill the thick silence in between everyone. No one even spared me a glance, let alone a grunt or movement and I knew with a sickening feeling that they had given up all hope. They would rather die I thought, no longer having any meaning in this world. And yet even knowing this I couldn’t help but stupidly attempt to ask “does anyone need help escaping?” Of course what met me was the bitter taste of being ignored.

A part of me didn’t want to leave. To abandon them, but reasoning told me that I had too if I wanted to survive. I couldn’t very well drag every single person with me to Morten, some of them being twice my size with a larger build. Even with heightened strength, it was still impossible.

“How can you give up?” I asked them in an final attempt to stir up there consciousness and at least get them thinking once again. “Aren’t you going to go and try to save the women who were taken? Why are you giving up so soon into-“

“Those women” a man mumbled into the dirt, his face saddened and stretched with age, like he had had twenty or so extra years added to his own. “Are probably being sold off…no one can ever save them from the market….no one….”

“But still!” I argued, “those women are probably waiting for you to come and save them…”

“The moment a woman is taken, she knows her fate, for that is the fate of captured women”

I was stunned. Even though selling women in my world existed in third world countries, I had always just heard stories, like through a glass, but never witnessed such things first hand. Things like the black market, and slave trade always seemed so distant, and living in my safe bubble of a world, I couldn’t have cared less but a passing thought. My original problems I has when I first came to this world all seemed to pale in comparison to this worlds issues. I had been so blessed with my lifestyle I thought.

“Just let us die” the man continued to say. “For that is the last wish of ours”.

“What kind of last wish is to die?” I asked him in a pleading tone but the man had already shut himself up, seeming to become tired with conversing for so long. His head had lulled to the side again and he seemed to haven taken on a look of content. He had accepted death the moment he had been tied up.

“Is there anyone who wants to be saved?!” It was like talking to a collection of walls built around me and clenching my fists I heard some rustling in the darkened leaves, alarming me greatly. Night had come, the cold air creeping up and wrapping its icy hands around the body, sending goose bumps running up and done ones legs and arms. Knowing I couldn’t stay here any longer, I did one of the hardest things I had to do so far, abandoning people into the clutches of death.

“Goodbye” I whispered and just like I expected no one answered me. Just step away I told myself as I took a single step forward in the direction we had been travelling previously. Every step I took after that and with the increasing amount of distance becoming greater, it got easier to move forward and think about what I was going to do.

First I needed to find some place to rest I thought, looking around and deciding it best for now to camp close to the path but just far enough that I wouldn’t be seen. I didn’t want to be seen, but I didn’t want to enter the forest in fear of the unknown either.

Settling down a little ways into the forest, shrouded in bushes and such but still close enough to see the road, I huddled close to keep the warmth in my body. Naturally I had a high body temperature than humans, but yet still the cold seemed to seep in.

I busied myself with thinking about tomorrow to distract from the weather. I’ll find a village or something I thought, and then I’ll need to find some money to buy my own stuff. Stuff like a horse and blankets and clothes for the cold and hot weather. I can hunt food probably, so then I’ll need to buy a weapon which will allow me to kill. But then I should probably buy a book or something about poisonous food….

There was so much to take into consideration and for the first time I wondered if I was in this way above my head. Can I even do this? I wondered and being alone and isolated made me feel like I was being dragged underneath by my worries with no one to pull me back.

Suddenly there was a noise, a murmuring from deeper inside the woods. I was startled, not thinking that someone would actually be there. Damn I cursed inside my mind, fear and a sense of alertness creeping in. I wanted to rest so badly I thought as I got into a crouching position and waited in the darkness. The murmuring was getting closer, drawing towards me as if they knew I was there, which couldn’t be.

Impressum

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 19.05.2015

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