Next time I woke up I was dizzy, sick and with an upset belly that the up and down of the carriage worsen by the second. It took me all my will power to calm down and not throw up, taking a deep breath and trying not to cry or scream simply break down here and there, and all of that before even opening my heavy glued eyes.With my face on the ground I can directly feel the wooden floor shaking against my cheek, the rattling of the wheels and the neighing of the horses filling my ears along with low soft sobs and whispers.
Only then I manage to open my eyes, dreading what I was about to see and with reason.
The first thing I notice is that I"m inside a cage, right at the middle-back of the carriage, and all the other free s.p.a.ce was taken by other kidnapped people. Overwhelmed by such view I craw to the side and hug my knees, wide eyes looking over and s.h.i.+ning in the dark, looking at the bruises, the sad faces hidden by messy hairs, at the chains around the necks and wrists that the other sobbing children carried, thin fingers embracing themselves, and the last children of the row caught my attention as he laid there, unmoving, being hold in an awkward position by the chain around his neck; and something told me that he would not stand anymore.
I feel a sob growing at the back of my throat as my insides seem to twist, tears acc.u.mulating on my purple eyes right at the moment when a hoa.r.s.e voice sounds beside me.
"Don"t." Someone says, and I search around the sobbing kids for the carrier of such deep voice. "They don"t noise."
I finally find who has spoken sitting right beside me, at the back, hidden in the shadows, only a pair of white eyes glimmering and telling me that there was someone there.
"W-who?"
He doesn"t have time to answer as suddenly the carriage stops, all too sudden, all too overwhelming, not giving me enough time to adapt to the strange situation I was flung in when I hear voices outside.
"We will camp here, get a move on! Any smart a.s.ses will get a beating!"
A man says from the outside, his face hidden from me with so many people in between, but I can barely make out him kicking the first kid of the line, the one laying down, and when the kid did not react he screamed back to his colleagues: "One more dead here!"
Saying that I was terrified was an understatement.
I try to fuse my back with the iron bars of the cage, but of course all was useless and I can only watch in silence as the kids start to stand and walk out, having a clear vision of the chains linking their necks together with short chains.
The guy that screamed stays at the front, watching the kids move while another one, with a fancier garment, comes by only to take the chain off the dead kid"s neck, turning the key and detaching the body from the chain link to the other children.
Locked how I was I could only stare outside, not other places open nor windows to let the light in or give any view from the side, only to discover that the there was a way to worsen even more my situation at the moment, and it was by being left alone with one of these guys as I was right now.
P-please don"t leave me alone! I wanted to scream at the other kids, but the last one, the child who warned me beforehand, only gave me a deep side-glance sharp enough to make me shut my mouth.
And just like that I"m alone with my captors.
I-I don"t want to be in here.I clench my teeth, holding the tears in.
One of the captors go in and whistle. "We got a little fairy in our hands this time hey, she will fetch a good penny."
"Hands of the merch!" The other said.
The first one didn"t dare to respond since the one holding the keys seemed to be of some importance, gritting his teeth as his big hands reach out for my cage and pulled it with no regards, making me bang my hand on the iron bars a couple of times.
I"m blinded by daylight and my new reality hits me in the face. After blinking a few times unshed tears acc.u.mulate on my eyes from the abrupt light and from the terrible situation I was in, making my purple eyes even brighter.
And the first thing my eyes meet after getting out of the dark was a pair of cold dark voidness eyes evaluating me on the fancy man"s face.
A s.h.i.+ver runs down my spine, making me hug my legs even closer to my body.
I really don"t want to be in here.
"Well well, at least we can agree in the quality of the merchandise this time." He says with a chilling smile that showed all his teeth and did not reach his unnerving eyes.
I look away, terrified, and even though I could still feel his piercing gaze on me I try to ignore it by observing my surroundings.
It was what one should expect from a bandit camp; lots of tends, lots of unfriendly men walking around with weapons ready to be drawn, and the goods piled up right in the center, close to the fire but not out of kindness, but so that the light would reach all the kids laying around on the ground, and so that anyone, anywhere, could keep a watchful eye at them if they tried to escape.
Any warm the fire could give was frozen up by the predatory watchful eyes that prevented us from leaving.
The other kids were bound up at each other in a long chain, but at least they were able to stretch and sometimes stand; my little cage barely fit me curled inside, standing was a feeble dream and I could only endure in silence.
I could only silently s.h.i.+ver, wide eyes observing everything like a small animal encaged, my mind blank at the unnerving situation, my emotions frozen as if in an act of self-defense otherwise I may break under the enormous pressure.
That night was one of the longest ones in my life, and worst of all is that I didn"t need to sleep for my nightmare to come to life.