Discoveries

39

"...plus lease, for the trial time," Nadja said. "What do you offer?"

"Do I get to bid? Hmm, ten thousand golden stallions plus a few Niandori pros–"

"No'in' for yer skinny asses, tha' bein' sure," said the second Fæ. Of course what I had to say was fully ignored. "She be ours 'o sell, i' any'in', bu' she ain't for sale. Tha' be gi'in' ya two options: 'eave now unharmed or 'ind the vul'ers peckin' yer eyes out wi'in no 'ime."

What exactly it was saying was a mystery to me, but the message was clear.

"I think we've forgotten who's outnumbered at the moment, ha'en't 'e?" Rita stated, extra mock sneakily tucked into the last two words.

"Numbers mean nothing when skills fail," the female Turned said, much like a cat boredly playing with her mouse, ready to kill it at any moment.

Without any warning the Reisch lashed out, catching my current captors unawares. They recovered with amazing speed and struck back hard.

This would have been the perfect moment to make the grand escape that nobody noticed until the fight was over, if one of the Turned hadn't decided to guard me whilst fighting off a few Reisch.

How wonderfully convenient. As life always was.

Within myself I discussed wether or not to make that Turned trip or something. Which side did I want to win? Neither were very appealing, but I supposed that the Reisch at least would give the Niandori a chance to bid. And who knew, I might get high in the process. Choice made.

I lunged forward, knocking my body into the guy. He lost balance for a moment, enough for the Reisch to knock him out. Of course he decided to land on top of me, his heavy body knocking the breath out of me for a moment.

Absolutely awesome.

I was actually quite hungry.

My captors were fighting really impressively, and it looked like they were winning. The Fæ had the advantage of being able to change shape really quickly, confusing their opponents. I dragged myself from under the body towards one of the Fæ. With I knife I'd pulled from the Turned's belt, I struck him in the calf. His scream turned into a caw as he turned into a jackdaw and flew up. The other followed his example and together they flew away.

So much for comrades.

The two Turned left didn't stand a chance. They fought till the end, when they were knocked out – not killed – and sank to the ground.

How tragic. You see, in a way they were heroes too. In the end they believed in their cause, and would fight to the bitter end for it. Rosalinda was right, good and bad weren't as easy as they had seemed.

This was my chance. I turned to run – how I had been planning to run was something else – and hardly made one step before I was caught by Rita, who pulled me back by my chains and whispered into my ear, "I left you in that tree for a reason, you little bitch, why didn't you stay with them, huh? You'll pay, I swear." And a little bit louder, "Did you really think you could escape so easily? Tut tut tut, they didn't teach you very well, those elves. Oh well, I don't mind." She pushed me forward. I stumbled and she pulled me back up again. For some reason I was very calm, maybe even a bit too.

"So what's the plan now? Do I get tied to a wagon again to be sold? I don't know how welcome the Turned feel now, and what if nobody else comes? What'll you do then, huh?" I asked.

"Oh, they'll come back. As for the others, they'll come too, mark my words," reassured Nadya. "Any other questions, Your Highness?" she asked mockingly.