The Stol Saga

Captured

Bryon was ready to agree and return as quickly as possible, but a sudden pain in the back of his head and darkness suddenly engulfed him. When he awoke he found himself tied, hands to feet, between Marcus and Halley, who was bashing his skull with her forehead. They couldn't use their hands or legs, so Halley had used her head, literally. They seemed to be in a small basement or cellar, with a single bare bulb hanging from the ceiling in the dark room.

Goodness, I thought you'd never wake up." cried Halley. "You were out a whole hour longer than me and Marcus." After a little shuffling, it became apparent they couldn't move, and observed their surroundings. The room was bare, except for a door to what seemed an old, dirty bathroom. The three looked at each other, losing hope.

Suddenly the light switched on and Bryon had to close his eyes, and his friends did as well, judging by their pained cries. A small section of wall opened up and slid sideways revealing two men and a young woman around the age of seventeen. They quickly walked in and the wall slid shut behind them. "You must be horribly scared, but we could not take any chances of being attacked after what you witnessed. We know you are from Stol because this young man is wearing a Stol City High School jacket." the taller of the two men said, approaching Bryon.

"I am Jack White, this is my brother Zeke and my daughter Morgan. We brought you here because you are very interesting to us. Citizens of Stol fleeing to Derson as soon as we attack you. You may have not known we were attacking," he mused, "but I assure you my people are not like the rest of the nation, who either want you Stols dead or governed. Who are you?"

"Well," began Bryon, but was interrupted by Halley, "Turn just a bit so I can talk to this jerk." After shuffling a bit, it was done. "Well Mr. Jack, why should we answer to you? You kidnapped us and why why should I believe your story? Why if I wasn't tied up to these..." "Enough, I was afraid of this. Gag her, and let's move on." Jack said. The brother, Zeke, came forward and gagged Halley, much to her protestations, which he muffled, though not before almost losing a couple of his fingers.

"So, we go back to you, Mr. student. Who are you, and try not to end up like your girlfriend." continued Jack, ignoring the muffled screams of fury at his last comment. "Hey," replied Bryon, "were not like that! We're just friends." "Of course, my mistake. Please continue." Jack replied curtly.

"Well this is Marcus, son of Richard, Halley daughter of Dirk and I am Bryon son of Jason, the Chief of Stol Agriculture." Spinning, Jack began to pace. "Great goodness, the son of the Stol enemy... well this changes our situation quite a bit." Jack's daughter and brother ran up to him and began conversing in hushed tones. They quickly walked to the wall as it opened again and exited swiftly. As the door was closing Marcus started yelling, calling for them to come back and explain themselves, but the wall door slid into place.

Halley emitted a brief, but very piercing, muffled scream of anger startling the two boys. "Here, let me get that off." offered Bryon and tried to move, only to remember that his hands were tied to his feet. "Oh boy... ummm... here turn your head this way and Marcus, we'll have you try and untie it from behind with your teeth." With their proximity it sounded reasonable until Marcus brought up the next dilemma. "Hey, the leather only goes back to her ears, then it turns into an elastic like a sweat band." "Here, on three we both will pull it up with our teeth." said Bryon.

Carefully, trying not to bite Halley mouth, Bryon bit into the leather front, while Marcuse bit a mouthful of elastic. "Own... Eww... Eee!" mumbled Bryon and pulled the gag out onto Halley's forehead, but Bryon accidentally brushed Halley's lips for a brief moment. Now, the next problem, they couldn't get it any higher. "Oh well, that will have to do for now." said Halley, seemingly startled by Bryon's accident and would not look him in the eyes. It was tough, considering their proximity.

"Plew, plew! Nasty, I got hairs in my mouth!" said Marcus as he tried to spit out the culprits. "Well," he said after wiping his mouth on his shoulder, "now what are we going to do? Oh, and one slight problem... I've got to go to the restroom." Bryon and Halley groaned and immediately started protesting, but stopped once the wall started to open again.

Three steaming bowls were pushed into the room. "Well, I don't know about you two, but I can't eat with you sitting on my shoulder." said Marcus. Just then two women walked in with a pair of scissors. They cut off the ropes, then left, closing the door behind them. Marcus ran to the bathroom, the came back out to join Halley and Bryon. All of them ate silently, forming plans of escape. After he finished, Marcus pushed back his bowl, and said, "I don't know how you two feel, but I'm not filled with a bowl of soup."

Again, the wall opened up and in walked Jack, Zeke and Morgan, and the men, Bryon noticed, were now armed, and Morgan had a knife at her side. "Our wives told us you had already escaped the gag when they came in so please, do not try to interrupt again, or we'll have to use force again." said Jack as he started pacing once more. "We have come to the agreement that we will hand you three in to the government in order for us to remain free. We will try and rebuild our lives on the island in Stol lake as a governed province under a Derson Empire. We will be rewarded handsomely for bringing in the son of the powerful, Jason Christianson.

"What?! I'm not a piece of meat you can just sell on the market! I'm a living, breathing young man!" interrupted Bryon. "We know,but you are our only hope of remaining a semi-free people from the rule of this Tyrant King." replied Jack, though as Bryon looked into the fire burning in his eyes, he saw that this was a man who would never back down. "We shall talk of this later, after I talk with our monarch, King Crighton." Jack said. With that, the three of them left, though Morgan glanced back at Bryon for a brief moment before the door closed once again.