The Story Of Dusk

"Shut her up! She is so noisy!" Carye shouted at the guard angrily, she was doing a bargain with the bald man while the guard covered Senja"s mouth with his dirty and callous hand.

The guard"s hand was so big and it almost covered all over Senja"s face, made her suffocated.

The bargain lasted very long as Carye didn"t agree with the price that the bald man gave.

"She is a highborn, you don"t need to train her, she is a natural in terms of manner and att.i.tude, she will be a good prost.i.tute in the future." Carye disapproved with the bald man"s statement that said; Senja was too skinny to be put in the brothel.

Of course, he only undervalued Senja because he wanted to get her with low price, who wouldn"t like to have a highborn girl with beautiful face like her, not to mention her smooth skin.

Many brothels would pay with high price for a girl like her. She was a rare commodity.

That words alone disgusted Senja, she didn"t believe that her stepmother would go to this length to get rid of her, she shouldn"t do this. She couldn"t do this.

But, here, she did everything that Senja thought she wouldn"t.

The girl hated her so much!

Senja hated her father!

And also her grandfather, who failed to see her agony. Her grandfather had never been there for her and took a closer to see her suffering, in spite of his repeated words that he loved her.

Senja bit her lips as she stopped pleading and crying, she came to realization that there was nothing she could do to help herself now.

Willing or not, in the end, Carye would sell her and she wouldn"t have a chance to return.

Senja held her whimper and swallow her bitterness, watching both of them talked back and forth about her value, her wrist was hurt, but Senja had suffered something worse than this, thanked to her generous father.

After such a long time, finally both of them agreed with the amount of the money.

Only then, Carye turned around and found Senja had stopped crying and was staring dagger at her. His eyes were bloodshot as if she could tear her stepmother with her small hand while her childish expression had turned a few years more mature than her original age.

She wasn"t the girl a few hours before, who was happily picking up her own dress for the fireworks festival that she would never attend.

Carye cleared her throat upon receiving Senja"s unwavering glared.

"Tie her and bring her to the guy over there." Carye pointed the bald man with her sharp chin, averting her gaze from Senja.

Carye picked up the package of the white dress that Senja had chosen. "Don"t blame from doing this, one should know how to survive and smart enough to get rid the potential trouble in the future."

"What did I do to you?" Senja asked through her gritted teeth, her voice shaking. "What eleven years old girl can do to threaten you?"

Carye shook her head and shrugged. "Probably not now, but I will not sit idle while waiting for you to do something."

Senja"s eyes followed her every move, as the guard had done to tie her, he dragged Senja to the bald man, the girl didn"t even make any sound when a black clothes covered her head and in the dark, she felt like someone put her in a sack and lifted her to the back of the bald man"s horse.

Senja"s stomach was in pain as she had to hold on the back of the horse with her stomach, her head and her legs was on the other side of the horse.

"This the money." The bald man threw the money to the guard, who gave it to Carye.

After Carye finished counting the money and it was the exact amount that she wanted, she nodded happily and waved her slender hand. "You can take her away."

The bald man grinned and gladly rode his horse away with Senja inside the sack.

No one would know about this and Senja would never have a chance to return to tell the tale, Elder Dam also would have never thought that Carye had sold his precious granddaughter to the black market.

She had come up with a story in her head.

"We go back to the mansion." Carye said as she got on the carriage.

***  

Senja felt her head was spinning as blood rushed to her head, she felt vomiting, but it would only add to her misery, with the black sack covered her head the moment she vomited, it would rub her whole face, she didn"t think the bald man would like it.

Her fever had not come down yet.

After hours of riding, the bald man finally stopped the horse and put Senja down on the ground. He opened the sack that covered her body before he opened the one that covered her face.

Even after he released her from those things, Senja still couldn"t run away as her hands and legs were tied tightly.

Senja opened her eyes and looked her surroundings, she didn"t know where she was and what this man wanted to do with her.

They stopped at the side of the cliff with harsh wind howled creepily.

"Where are they?" The bald man squinted his eyes as he scoured the area around him, he was looking for his group, but couldn"t find them. They supposed to wait for him there because he had said that he would pick a good commodity for a while.

However, apparently they didn"t wait for him and left him behind. This fact upset the bald man as he walked back and forth.

If that was the case, then he has to go to the black market alone while carrying this little girl. That wasn"t a good idea as there was a chance for him to run onto another group of villains, they could s.n.a.t.c.h the little girl and he would get nothing.

"d.a.m.n! Those people! I have told them to wait!" He grumbled while pacing back and forth impatiently.

The wind was howling once again as Senja shivered because of the cold ground. Her stomach and head were aching.

"Mm… mm…" Senja tried to draw that bald man"s attention by kicking his legs.

"What!?" He snapped at her. "Don"t be noisy or you will attract unnecessary attention, you don"t have any idea what they would do to you! It"s good thing that you meet me!" The bald man praised himself.

However, Senja didn"t stop, she tried to talk, but the clothes that shoved on her mouth prevented her from doing so.

"We will catch up with my group after tomorrow morning." The bald man decided that would be a safe decision.

Bandits would be in group when they moved, if they should find him alone with a beautiful girl like Senja, it wouldn"t end up good for him. The only option that left for him was death as that kind of people wouldn"t let his victim off alive.

"Mmm… mmm…!" Senja became more frantic when the bald man was about to carry her and put her back on the back of the horse.

"What do you want!?" He asked angrily and pulled the clothes off her mouth.

The moment the bald man pulled the clothes from Senja"s mouth, she suddenly threw up and dirtied his front robes.

"AARRRGGGHHH!" The bald man yelled and threw Senja away from him. "What have you done!!!?"

Senja also screamed when her small body was thrown on the ground and the impact made her breathless, she was coughing hard.

"You little b.a.s.t.a.r.d!!!" The bald man was so angry and he kicked Senja on her stomach two times as the little girl couldn"t avoid that because she was still being tied.

The bald man was grumbling something incoherent while he turned around and got something from his saddle bag and changed into new robes.

After he threw away the dirty robes, he approached Senja who had stopped whimper and didn"t move. At first the bald man nudged her body with the tip of his shoes.

"Hey, wake up!" He called her, but there was no response. "Once again you throw up at me, I will let you eat that back!" He nudged her body again, but there was no reaction.

He squatted down to take a closer look on the girl, but his expression turned dreadful when he saw blood was gushing out from the corner of her lips.

"Oh s.h.i.t!" He cursed under his breath. "Did I kick her too hard!?" The bald man began to panic, he had not yet received the money to sell her out, but now she had in critical condition, he would suffer lost twice at this rate.

Hurriedly, he opened the ropes that tied her hands and legs, and carried her in his arms while walking back to his horse, he has to find a physician and see what they could do to her.

However, when he was about to put her on the horse"s saddle, Senja opened her eyes and pierced the bald man"s eyes with her fingers.

Out of instinct, the bald man released his hand from Senja"s body as he covered his eyes with his hand.

"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!!!" He shouted angrily.

Once Senja"s feet touched the ground, she ignored her aching body and tried to run toward different direction. It would be her last chance if she wanted to escape from her abductor.