Bewitched (Snow White with the Red Hair Fanfic)

17.Trap

"What exactly happened to the woman you said you captured before?" I heard. A man with a stern voice and certainly wasn't the man who caught me.

I seemed to have been tied on my wrists and my ankles. Laying in the cold stone floor wasn't quite a pleasure either.

"Like I said, this woman here somehow got in and let the country woman escape," I felt his glare on him despite pretending to be still knocked out. "Besides, this woman was trying to escape too but I got her."

I felt his boot touch my stomach. "Oi! Woman, wake up! I know you're awake." How the hell did he know!?

I quickly fluttered my eyes open and looked at my capturers. One had greenish hair with a clear face and he almost looked like a girl. Another had hair covering some parts of his face.

The man who caught me steadily crouched down on his knees and reached out his hand to place my hair gently behind my ears. "Now that I see your face. You look as good as nobility." he said.

"Who are you people....?" I managed to ask. "Wha-" the same man gripped my hair roughly and pulled me to face him directly. "You don't question us. We own you now. Your only choice is to obey us. Specifically me since I was the one who caught you."

I stayed silent but I was shaking with fear. I was too scared for my own good. "And you shall refer to me as Master Kaine. From now on, you shall be in our hands and be a good little obedient slave."

Become his slave? I shuddered at the very thought. But I had no energy or power to fight back. The men before me could do anything they want and I wouldn't be able to do a crap thing about it.

"A-as..you wish...."I responded and the man smirked before finally letting go of my hair. "I'm glad you came to save that petty peasant. At least now we know that you can fetch a better price for us." he chuckled.

"Kaine, I'm not interested in seeing you threaten your catch. I have better things to do than this..." the other man said. He finally turned towards the door to leave.

"Oh, by better things, you mean that red headed feisty woman? Right, Kazuki?" Kaine said with a grin. Wait...red headed? Could she be Shirayuki???? But I thought she was at the castle!?

"Think what you want. As long as you don't interfere with my business." the man who could be referred to as Kazuki replied. Then he left the room leaving the door to close with a loud bang.

I was going to relieve myself but the horrors hadn't ended yet. Kaine was still here. "Aww....don't give me that face. Since you're now my slave and all, I do have a duty to take care of you." he smiled.

"We'll start with your clothes. It looks expensively torn so why not change?"

By that point, I had only one raging thought of fear inside my head.

"Come on, I'll help you change."

There it was...

Kaine let my restraints off and I rubbed my wrists hoping the pain would go away. "Um...c-can I change myself? I promise I won't run away...." I asked sheepishly.

Kaine was silent before erupting into laughter. I was stunned and left silent. "Well, I suppose you could, I am in no place to rush a lady. But do remember..." he pointed my dagger towards me. He must've gotten it from my bag.

"If you even pose a suspicion of trying to escape, I will make sure you never see daylight again."

I nodded out of fear. He pointed to the clothes on the table and said, "Tell me when you're done." With that he left the room but I could feel that he was just outside the room, leaning on the door.

Since he had my bag, I had few chance of being able to escape. And supposedly, the red headed girl that was mentioned could be Shirayuki. Whether it was Shirayuki or not, I still needed to find her regardless.

But for now, I need to act like I have given up on escaping...

I quickly changed my clothes, leaving my green silk but torn dress laying on the floor. Now it was some sort of theatrical dress with unique and exotic patterns on it.

At least he was kind enough to give me a change of clothes.

I finally knocked on the door. "I'm finished..." I said and the door opened immediately. He seemed to have paused for a while. But I felt too inferior that I kept looking down until I heard a cough.

"Well, uh-hum....you...you don't look too bad in it." he mumbled. Was it a compliment? "Um...thanks?" I responded. He flicked my forehead. Ouch!

"That's Master Kaine to you. Come on, you need to go to your new room." he grinned and grabbed my wrist harshly. He dragged me across the halls of the establishment and finally settled on one room.

It looked like any other room from the exterior. Kaine dragged me in before letting me go free from his grip. "This will be your room for now. A bed, food and change of clothes. You have everything to survive here. So you better not escape, squirrel face."

Squirrel face? Me???

"Supposing I shouldn't always refer to you as squirrel face, mind sharing me your name?" he asked and sat down on one of the chairs.

It would be dangerous to tell him my name was Lera since he might have heard my name from somewhere. And no kidnapped victim should gladly offer their names to their captors. That would be a foolish act.

"...Hira.." I mumbled. "What was that?" he demanded sternly. "My name is Hira." I said louder. "Kinda suits you. Then I shall call you that. Well, I have some work to do so you better be clever staying here. And even if you did manage to cut through that chained window, you need to know that this is the fourth floor. Thanks to your little friend escaping, we had to move all our work here."

"Then, have a good night." he smirked and left the room. I could hear the door lock from the outside as he left with the sound of keys dangling from what could be considered his belt.

I sighed. What was I supposed to do now?

I ate some bread and soup that he left on the table before laying on the hard wooden bed. The ragged blanket was my only hope of warmth from the coldness of the night.

I hope both Izana and Zen won't be too worried....Oh, who am I kidding? The both of them probably detest me....but I do so long for their aid....

With that, I fell asleep. With darkness surrounding me and the sound of crickets and wolves howling from the outside, I fell asleep with quite a lullaby in my dream.

At least, this, all of this, could end up being just one dramatic nightmare.....