Chapter - 2

DISAPPEARING WINGS

 

Feeling feverish, I was barely able to open my eyes.

 

My hands and feet felt a strong pressure around them. My body sprung up and down hitting over a rough frame at every passing second.

 

A galloping voice infiltrated my ears, and I saw the fluffy clouds drift across the blue sky. It could have been a marvelous day to take a walk around outside, which I always wanted to do.

 

I always wanted to walk and play outside in the woods where I lived, but my stay in the mansion barred me from doing so.

 

Also seeing that my hands and feet were tied with a rope and stacked like luggage on the back of a horse. The dream was still a far way off to come true.

 

Attempting to understand the situation, I heard several other men talking. I could recognize some of the faces who were there to take me out of the fall from the cliff and had taken me as a hostage now.

 

What good it would do to me if I survived the fall only to get kidnapped later?

.

“The business has been tough lately, but after that man has appeared everything has been so easy for us.” A conversation began between my kidnappers.

 

“All the lines have been secured and he pays heavily for children that are easy to kidnap.” another bandit spoke.

 

“And turns out they are not needed by their families so no one would follow after them and catch us. Ain’t that convenient.” added another of their fellows as he laughed haughtily.

 

“He calls himself a Doctor and no one knows where he keeps away all these children or what he does to them. But I never saw these kids ever return alive again.” Another guy took it on himself to tell the horror tale in a spooky tone.

 

“As long as we get our bargain. These worthless kids whom the world does not want any longer are the road to earning real gold.”

 

I thought for a moment waiting for my eyesight to recover completely.

 

“Hey! Did you give her the sleep potion? It looks like she is waking up.” One of the kidnappers saw me winking my eyes.

 

“Don’t worry she would be asleep for the next few days till we sail for the ships. To the port, men.” a bandit in the front said raising his voice as he kicked his horse on the side and they sped up through the grassy plains.

 

If only I hadn’t heard him saying it, I might have remained conscious. But without any delay, I find my body hot, the fever from falling into the water was taking its toll on me.

 

‘No, I cannot sleep…. Don’t close. My eyes feel heavy.” I repeatedly kept on warning myself until my eyelids shut again.

…

All my life I had spent like a bird in a cage, without wings.

 

And when I fall from the tree after my own family pushes me out of the nest to die. I am left in the wilderness alone, to be picked up by hunters.

 

Whether I will die or am sold off as a slave. I do not know. The choice of my life is still not in my hands.

 

This is… is not right. It seems so unfair to me. I never chose to be born in a cage. To do things as others told me or want me to.

 

Why couldn’t I be born one of the heroes or sage who save the world, who stands above all and are loved by everyone described in the books I read? The True Hero whom the world adores… I always wanted to be like her.

 

Just. Strong. Pure of heart. And loved by all.

 

And yet, I fall into despair… deep in a black plane.

 

I do not have time for this. I ran through the dark space as if I was running in an endless dream.

 

‘No…no. I have to live. I won’t die so meaningless like this. I am not their plaything. I will show them all..."

 

My self-conscious trapped in this dark plane, I run until I see light again.

 

“…I will survive,”  I yell at the same time waking up from this endless bad dream.

 

I see my hand in front. My body feels wet as I had been sweating profusely. I was sleeping on a hard bed, my hands scratch over a wooden floor, a blanket with holes covering me. And maybe I smell a little bad too.

 

I smell again... No, it’s awful.

 

For a moment it becomes hard to breathe for me and I was choking too.

 

“Uwaaahhhaahhhh…Uwhaahaahhh...” While vomiting, I avoid getting my clothes dirty by throwing up on the side. And out of nowhere a murky bucket catches all of my intestinal fluid from dirtying the damp floor.

 

“Not good with sailing are you!” I heard another female voice coming from beside me.

 

I hold my mouth close to the stinking bucket until I vomit in it multiple times.

 

“Yes, this miss is awake. She won’t die.” A girl chimes in as I feel small hands around me trying to hug me.

 

I look away from my own vomit and the stinking bucket before it induces another stroke. Only to find a girl older than me and a girl younger than me. They were in meager clothes, their hair all messy. Their bodies smelled just like mine, covered in mud and dirt.

 

I look at myself, and my state was no better than theirs. Except for the clothes I wore were exotic and now ruined.

 

“Wa-Water… Please.” I asked, finding it difficult to speak with my throat so dry.

 

I slowly drink the water. The only abnormal thing was that it was salty. I looked around myself while drinking.

 

We were in a small wooden room cubicle with metal rods barring us.

 

⸺A prison cell.

 

And the space moved and hovered, which might have been the reason for my headache and upset stomach.

 

“Where are we?” The first thing that came out of my mouth.

 

Whether I was worried… I do not know.

 

But, I was scared.

 

But I wanted to know, my eyes were eager to and open wide. Till now I had only heard it from my mother and read about it in books.

 

“We are in the ocean. We might as well be crossing the human continent itself.” The elder girl said.

 

“Little Miss. Are you going to die?” The small girl again talked about my ill fortune.

 

“No. I won’t.” I disregarded her thoughtless question for her innocence.

 

“Don’t mind my sister. You were unconscious for four whole days and had a high fever during the entire time. Even the men who kidnapped us said the same. But you are a strong girl, I suppose.” It was the same older girl.

 

I also look at the bucket with a bit of clean water and a wet cloth in her hand.

 

“I do not know how to thank you. I am really grateful to you for nursing me back to my health. You have saved my life.” I bowed elegantly.

 

“Don’t be. There are fewer of us by each day. It wouldn’t have made a difference.” The girl said without putting much thought.

 

I knew that our fates were doomed and we would be most probably sold into slavery or auctioned in slave markets for horrible acts and heinous jobs. But her concern made her look like she had already given up hope.

 

I wondered whether she was actually worried for my life or not. But she did help me.

 

The two of them were also reduced to a bag of bones. I felt hungry and still thirsty. I wanted clean water to drink, but beggars can’t be choosers.

 

“My name is Shae and this is my little sister Dia. What’s your name?”

 

“My mother called me Caige. Nice to meet you, Shae and Dia.” I smiled at them hoping for a positive response.

 

But they only look at me blankly.

 

“Aren’t you supposed to be noble with your fine clothing and high accent? Isn’t anyone coming to save you?”

 

“No, I don’t think I am one, at least not anymore.” I was emotionless when I said that. All pain as if had left me. I felt free from the suffocation I endured in the mansion.

 

Abandoning my ties and attachment in a single stroke freed me from the prison they had always tried to keep me inside.

 

From there we talked for a bit. Shae told me of how she and Dia were sisters and were kidnapped by these bandits. They lived in a farm village and wanted to go back home to their parents who would have been worried sick for them.

 

I too wanted to help them in any way I could. But for now, I could not find a solution.

 

We were in the middle of the sea. Escape from these kidnappers was only possible on land.

 

Grrgrrr….

 

“Is there food?” I finally asked unable to keep my growling stomach shut. For a change I decided to not think of the problem or what was about to happen when we land in a foreign place.

 

“They feed us once in the evening.” The elder girl informed me.

 

“…but only if you are lucky.” The small girl added as she played around with a hay-stick in her hand she might have pulled out from the below rug.

 

“What do you mean by lucky?”

 

Just when I was about to ask them for more, the elder girl tightly held her little sister’s hand and forced her to sit at one place.

 

Tun—Tun…---Tun—Tun…

 

One of the bandits came in as he hit his metallic sword on the iron bars of each prison cell.

 

Waking all the children up, there may be about fifty of us held captive.

 

“Wake up you little runts. HAHA...”

 

The man announced and from the wails, and I could hear from the other prison cells while little Dia shook with fear in Shae’s arms eating on her fingers.

 

I knew something was aggressively wrong with this place as everyone slowly walked out of their small little cages while they were unlocking the bars for us.

 

Like little chicks ready to be slaughtered we followed them.

 

“To the deck… Fast. Move...move. It’s time for a food carnival.” A kidnapper menacingly laughs as he led us all from our cages to another slaughter house.

 

***

 

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