Euriche's Gold (On Hold)

{17} Friend on a wagon

____________________________________

Maud!

I was in that state because of that stupid pig. He had sold me off hadn't he?, I cursed him with silent swears.

I sat with my two legs folded up and my hands wrapped around them. I placed my mouth on my knee as though I was kissing it. I cried silently, continuously looking at all the unencouraging things in the wagon, from the structure of the thing, to the dirty state and to the helpless girls around.

Honestly I felt so pitiful, the one thing I truly hated. I was the exact shade of helplessness as I sat crouched in the wagon. I would be sold off soon enough. I was going to be a slave; I would have indeed appreciated it if it was more like the ship, but my work would be something different. I was going to work like a prostitute. For a bunch of stupid and promiscuous men.

Thinking of the ship, I wished I was there, as unbelievable as it might have sounded to me, if said by someone else, I would have loved to be cleaning and working for Perses than to be in the middle of .....whatever the place was called. I did feel less safe in that wagon.

It was obvious the Captain wouldn't bother about my well being. Even if someone had told him i was about to be thrown into a boiling volcano he wouldn't even fringe one bit. He had found his gem I was sure and I was as good as useless to him.

As I sobbed for myself and my unfortunate life, the girl by my side began shouting from her sleep. She kicked at the air and seemed to be fighting with something or someone in her dream. I thought she might have been possessed by a spirit or demon, that's if those things were in fact real.

"Why the noise there!!?" someone said hitting the wagon. "You better not disturb unless you'll get marks all over yourselves you hear me!!!!"

Ignoring the dumb person that spoke from outside the carriage. I scooted away from the girl who had been shouting. I stayed still using my hands as support on both sides on the floor of the wagon, waiting for her to make one more scary move before I would spring away to the other end.

When I was sure she had stopped I relaxed a bit and then she turned staying crouched and facing the floor. She then sat up and brought her palm to her face and began crying uncontrollably.

I felt sorry for her. I stared at the girl for a bit, she was younger than me and looked about fifteen years of age, she had black rough hair and lots of bruises especially on her legs. Whatever she had been fighting off in her sleep had to be really frightening.

Trembling slightly unsure whether it was wise or not, I stretched my hands and tapped her.

"Are you okay?"I asked. She looked up at me for a moment.

It was just as if the pain stopped for a moment and then flooded her once more, because the next thing I knew she leaped into my arms clinging tight and crying. I held her tight and tried to console her.

"Shhh"I said"it's okay, you'll be fine"
She began crying even more as though my words of comfort were actually worsening her pain instead of easing it.

Unsure of what to do, I began singing for her.

My rose you're like the blood in our veins
My lily don't fear, forever you will reign
Although the time is hard my precious
I promise you love, we'll be victorious.

It was the exact same song grandmother used to sing for me when I was younger, whenever I was sad. I reminisced about home, about my family, how close I'd have loved to be to my Father. I wondered how his health was, I wondered if he still though about me, if he still loved me as always.

The girl seemed to relax in my arms. "You sing like my mum"she said when she was better. I smiled at her and she forced back a smile.

"And you do look quite like her, your hair, your smile"she added before dropping her face.

"Well I'd love to meet my look alike someday, when we make it out of here"I said looking around a bit before facing her again.

She moved and sat down properly, resting her back on the wood and brought her knees up, close to her chest. "You won't"she said. She laughed shortly but not a laugh of humor, one that radiated pain. I noticed that because a tear rolled down her cheeks. "She's late, she was killed by the fire soldiers. I'm sure you've heard of them."

My heart seemed to have dropped in my chest. Those fire soldiers, wherever they were from, they seemed to love trouble, from the little I had heard about them, I concluded that they were heartless. "I..I'm soooo s-sorry" was what I managed to say.

"Don't be,"she said and looked away from me, her eyes trailing down to her feet. "It's not like you killed her.....besides I'm already used to loss, pain is the entire figment that makes up my life"

I looked at her shocked and sorry at the same time. "Sorry to ask but how?"

She looked at me and forced a painful smile on. "Well.... My dad was killed close to two years ago by the same people and my mum was killed for no good reason, many months ago. It'll be a year in a few weeks." She said "I alongside my older brother Noah, were taken to stay with my uncle though....but my was he mean"

She looked away. "He made my brother sleep in the barn and despite he's married, he actually slept with me on a few occasions and threatened to kill me if I spoke."

My eyes widened. "What!!!, that's...that's......"

"Horrible?, I know"she said with a dry laugh. "When his wife found out she did beat the living daylight out of me, I had tried to run away though but she caught me and sold me off to these traders, so I practically belong to them now"

How could her own uncle have done that I mean judging from her appearance she was still little. These sort of maltreatments were among the reasons men could not be trusted. All the men I had encountered and had been close to, to an extent were all wicked. Otto was a cheat and a liar, Perses was arrogant and heartless, Maud was a traitor and was deceitful......her own uncle was evil, heartless, a cheat, inhumane, deadly...... He was a frigging monster!

"Don't feel sorry for me though"she said on seeing my expression. "I think I deserve it, I was born to live a curse. It's pretty obvious"

"No!. No you don't, no one deserves such and I promise you it will all be better soon enough"I said. I was going to help her even if it meant saving her at my own expense I would, she had suffered enough and didn't deserve to go through more pain.

There was silence between us before she spoke again. "What's your name?" she asked.

I thought for a while. I couldn't tell her my real name but she had opened up to me about a lot, keeping that from her didn't seem fair.
"Astris"I whispered "but I go by the name Diana, for purposes I can't quite disclose yet, so please do call me Diana."

She nodded."How about you, what's your name" I asked.

"Fira" she said."nice to meet you Ast...sorry I mean Diana"

"Nice to meet you too Fira"I said with slight a laugh.

We stayed quiet for some time, while I thought. "How many men are escorting this wagon?"I asked.

"Six" she said.

I counted the number of girls in the carriage. We were thirteen in number. "I think I have an idea to get us out of this place"I said to her. "But I'll need your help and that of everyone in here".