Trell woke in the evening to the sounds of the creatures that were wandering about. The group now had a cart and the big man that had been carrying him before was now sitting next to him, when he saw that Trell was awake he grunted at the other members of the group. Trell attempted to move but found that he was tied up and gagged, was this some plot to kidnap him? And who was the she-demon that his father was talking about? The leader stepped back into the cart and took out a strip of black cloth that he tied around Trell’s eyes. Trell decided that he couldn’t do anything so he simply waited until he fell asleep. It seemed all Trell could do was wait until they arrived at their destination. Questions haunted his dreams as he came up with wild reasons of why the group was taking him away.
The few times Trell woke up, he always noticed that the cart was still moving along, they hadn’t reached their destination yet he thought. It seemed like days had gone by and Trell was beginning to get hungry when the cart finally stopped and he heard a group of voices as he was unloaded from the cart. The blindfold was torn away and he blinked at the bright sunlight. When his eyes adjusted he saw that he was in an encampment of some sort with a makeshift prison of sharpened stakes pointed inward and a couple of guards guarding a makeshift gate. The men that had taken him undid the ropes around him and motioned for the guards to open the gate. Shoving him into the prison the people that had brought him here walked over to a spot where food was being prepared and stood there watching the sky. There were a multitude of people in the prison, all of them around Trell’s age. The few girls that were in the prison were mostly sitting around crying, the boys were attempting to look brave in the face of danger but their faces betrayed their true feelings, they were scared.
Two guards soon came and delivered a large plate of meat and vegetables along with a large basin of water for everyone to share. Trell tried of thinking of any reason why they would want any of them, but couldn’t find any reason for him to be taken. Most of the children started out avoiding the plate of food as if it was poisoned but after some reassurance from the guards that it wasn’t they ate. After the meal, Trell decided to see if he could find out anything from the other prisoners. Although he asked everyone he could the effort was pointless in that no one knew why they were here.
“Guard!” Trell shouted at the nearest guard for the makeshift prison who turned around. “What are we all doing here? We have done nothing wrong!” The guard only shook his head in sadness and turned away lowering his head a little. There was something about the guards that were guarding the prison; they didn’t seem have the same demeanor as the people that had hauled him here. Trell was about to yell at the other guard when another boy stopped him.
“There’s no point, we all tried at one point but they just ignore us.” The boy said and Trell looked at him. The boy was a little bit younger than he was and had fiery red hair. Trell sighed to himself and was about to reply, but a steady drumbeat broke through the camp and the area began to get darker as if some gigantic cloud was blocking the sun. The camp bustled into activity as two tables were set up near the prison and a lot of spiced meats and cheese were put on them. A lot of people lined up by the edge of the tables, among them were the people that had grabbed Trell. Who were they setting up for? This question was going through Trell’s mind as everyone in the prison began to get up and watch. Soon the black clouds in the sky swirled around and descended until they began to take form of a rough black stone tower that sat hovering above the ground. A doorway appeared on the front of the tower and a woman dressed in a black gown stepped out of the doorway of the tower and gently floated down to the ground. All of the people in camp bowed to her and did not stand until she passed them and sat down in front of the two tables. Looking around at some of the other people Trell recognized the town’s mayor and several of the local merchants and guards. What was going on here?
“These are the finest spiced meats and cheese we could find, we hope they are to your liking.” the mayor said as he offered a bottle of wine to the woman from the tower in a kneeling position. The woman reached her hand onto the table and let her fingers brush against the various foods on it. Any villager would have killed for the foods that were there. The woman picked up a piece of cheese and bit into it, letting her face scrunch up in an instant she spit the cheese out and threw the rest onto the ground.
“This is peasant food!” The woman said throwing the wedge of cheese on the ground and stomping on it. The woman strode over to the prison door and motioned for the two guards to open it. Two more of the guards immediately rushed in and forced everyone into a line where she could view them one at a time. Striding down the line she examined each of the children individually and whenever she pointed to one of them the guards took them a couple steps forward. Reaching Trell she looked him up and down and he let a scowl take over his face, at this she only smiled a little and pointed to him. There was no warmth in the smile she gave, a hint of amusement perhaps but no warmth. When she reached the end of the line there were four children that had stepped forward, all of the children looked very nervous. Trell tried to put on a reassuring face for the others but he found that he just couldn’t, there was something about this woman that he didn’t like.
The woman stared at the four children and waved at two of them at which point the guards came and took them back into line. All there was left was Trell and the red haired boy that he had been going to talk to. “Bring a wedge of cheese to me.” The woman said to one of the guards in a commanding voice.
“But didn’t you say it was peasant food?” The guard said and quickly found himself thrown onto the stakes that lined the prison. The action happened so fast Trell didn’t even see what the woman did but he was sure that she was responsible for the action. The woman looked over at the other guard who had already hurried off to get a wedge of cheese. Taking the cheese wedge from the guard she offered it to both boys but neither of them dared move.
“It seems as if they are afraid of me and what I might do to them, but if they were really smart they would accept the offer or they could end up like that guard.” The woman said waving her hand to the guard impaled on the stakes. One of the girls began crying at the sight of the dead guard and the woman turned to her, letting a line of smoke come from her hand she let it come together in the form of a big black whip. Trell never considered himself to be very brave, but his father had taught him to protect those weaker than himself. In that moment knowing what would happen next he began to move and threw himself over the girl as the whiplash took him across his back splitting open his shirt and cutting the skin. Trell tried hard to not cry out and give the woman the satisfaction but he couldn’t help himself and let out a growl instead. Again and again the whip fell and Trell could feel the pain but he knew that the woman would get to hear him scream but he would spare the girl. The girl looked up at his face with tears in her eyes as she huddled down, but her face told him that she was grateful for his help. Anger coursed through his veins as he turned around and grabbed at the whip as it lashed out. Catching the whip he held it looking at the woman with intense anger in his face. The whole camp seemed to gasp together.
“Leave now!” Trell snarled at the woman whose face was growing happier and happier by the second.
“So you think you’re a bit of a hero eh? Well we’ll see how brave you are later! I will take him.” The woman said attempting to pull the whip back but Trell held it tight. The woman then dropped the handle of the whip and charged Trell with lightning speed and struck him in the stomach which knocked him off his feet. “Your mine now boy!” Were the last words Trell heard before he hit the ground and was beaten by the guards until he lost consciousness.
Veritas Secundum Veritas
-Botched
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