Kidnapped

Wolves howling in the background distract me from my woe for a split second, causing me to stumble over a prominent root protruding from the ground. I fall, pulling my maidservant down with me.

"Are you alright, my lady?" Michelle's voice comes out in a rushed whisper. My heart's beating faster than it ever beat before, and I can hear the sound of twigs cracking under rough, bare feet nearing us.

"Shh," I whisper, wiping my tears with a shaky hand. "I can hear them. They're close—you know what they do when they find women hiding."

The maid's eyes widen. "I feel as if I am too afraid to ask,"

Michelle whimpered. Hidden in the brush, I peer through the leaves to look at my surroundings. The sound of barking wolves can still be heard, but the footsteps have gone deeper into the forest than we have. "They take them as sex slaves. I thought you knew."

A crunch of a twig and the swift rustling of leaves makes Michelle yelp and shake uncontrollably. "We can't be captured, my lady. We must run!"

"No!" I growl while pulling her back to the ground as she leans back on her haunches, readying to dart out into the forest. "We cannot risk that. We cannot outrun the barbarians, so I say that our best chance of survival and escape is to sit and wait them out. Wait 'till they clear the area."

Michelle groans. "I'm afraid," she whispered. "I don't want to be their slave."

I don't tell her about the other stories I'd heard about the barbarians, like how they would sell their slave to other men to bed, after they grew tired of their own, how they would rape a slave if she did not submit willingly, and how sometimes barbarians would put their women on display in horrid public events.

I'm determined to get us out alive and free, and I'm determined to find Cordell again. I want to see his red-brown hair, bright green eyes, and a sunny smile. I want to hear him laugh and feel his rose-petal lips on my skin when he kisses

my hand politely

"Three Horses!" A voice calls in the distance. They speak in a language that I do not understand. Michelle and I crouch back into the leaves more, hiding our bodies from barbarian

eyes.

"Paleface trinket," one, holding up a silver necklace. I refrain me from gasping, my hand flying to my neck where my mother's necklace should have been. It must have come off when I fell, and now it was going to be stolen by those beasts.

"Drinks of Waterfall," the other says. "Paleface…close."

The bone chains on their necks, arms, and feet jingle as they crouch closer to where we hide. I bite my lip and I see Michelle panicked, muttering silent prayers with her eyes glued firmly shut.

I decided to pray as well, bowing my head and letting my curtain of chestnut hair cover my face. I had thought that they'd gone, but I'm wrong. A curious hand feels around through the brush where we are hiding.

I stay as still as possible to try and avoid contact with the rough hand and cease my noise, hopelessly thinking that perhaps they'd leave if they didn't hear or feel anything. But

I'm wrong again.

Michelle shrieks like a pig being butchered to death when the rough hand grabs a fistful of her black hair and tugs her up by the soft strands. The barbarians laugh and the one

called Drinks of Waterfall pushes my maid to the other one named Three Horses. Three Horses grabs Michelle and ties her flailing hands with rope as Drinks of Waterfall holds her arms down.

My maidservant is gagged and slung over Three Horses' shoulder. I slink down into the brush as Drinks of Waterfall nears again. He sees me. I know he sees me. He reaches down, winding his fingers into my soft chestnut locks of hair, yanking so harshly that I feel my scalp begin to bleed.

I squeal in pain, grasping at the barbarian's hands. Three horses look back and, muttering something to his colleague. It was probably praise and approval for my capture.

I put up a fight as Drinks of Waterfall tries to tie my hands with leather strips of rope. The barbarian growls in frustration when I hit him hard in the stomach, then laughs at me when I whimper in pain from the wrist ropes being too

tight.

"Let us go!" I hiss at him through my teeth. I kick at Drinks of Waterfall as he slings me over his broad, copper-toned shoulder. He doesn't listen to me—but what do I expect?

He's a filthy barbarian. And barbarians show no mercy to palefaces.

I struggle as he carries me through the woods like I'm a mere sack of flour, ignoring the profanities I spew from my mouth, ignoring the cries and ignoring the pleas.

"You're an animal!" I scream, kicking my feet hard against his chest. Drinks of Waterfall growls viciously, raising his hand to my bottom and smacking it down hard on the silk-covered skin.

I yelp out in shock and anger. I struggle even harder. "You beast!" I scream. "You'll rot in Hell for this!" He whips me down from his shoulder and carries me baby style in one arm as he fishes a ragout of his leather satchel he carries

on his shoulder.

The rag is brown, but it has a strange white substance on it.The barbarian stuff is inside of my mouth against my will. I manage to bite his finger as he does so, and it draws blood.

But the white substance on the rag was making me feel drowsy and like I was full of jelly and had no bones. My eyes fluttered shut as the barbarian cussed and wiped his bleeding finger on my beautiful red silk dress.

I hate him…I hate him…

0o0o0o0o

When I awaken, the smell of cooking meat holds my interest. I lift my head off of the warm shoulder that I'd been slobbering all over and my eyes flicker open. Music was playing, meat was cooking, and women dressed in animal skins were weaving baskets and tending to little naked babies running wild all over the ground.

I wrap my arms around the person carrying me as my eyes slip shut again. It's hard to keep them open and I still feel so weak. I don't know where I am, and I don't remember much of where I was before I went to sleep.

My eyes flutter open and look at my surroundings. Stone buildings, tents, and strange wooden houses attract my attention. I see the same woman weaving a basket while her naked, copper-skinned baby boy ran naked around the fire, over which another woman roasted meat over.

"Michelle," I mumble, finally coming to. I look up, frightened. Where am I? The last I remember was the forest, hiding from the barbarians And then I slept or fainted due to exhaustion.

To Be Continued.