Between the Storms

Chapter Twenty

20. Captured For Games

Baxton had been sent ahead to scout out their path through the Death Realm, there had been rumors of thieves in these lands. She had asked a farmer who was pleased to see a visitor and offered her a place to rest but she declined wanting to keep moving. She was listening to the forest as she walked between the trees, Gilthunder glad to stay off the road. Suddenly two children appeared brother and sister both looking frightened and sad, Magdelena thought there was something off about them but was willing to see what they wanted, "Can I help you two?"

"We were playing in the forest but we got lost," the young boy said his sister grabbed his arm tightly, "Our parents told us not to play alone in the forest but we didn't realize how far we had come in till it was too late and we were hopelessly lost."

"We must be home for supper Titus!" the young girl cried out tears brimming her eyes as Magdelena watched them carefully.

"Find the road and follow it one way or the other," Magdelena says, "I am sure you can find your way once you reach the end." 

"You will not help us?" the girl asked slightly shocked by the woman's refusal to help, most people wouldn't hesitate to help them.

 "What kind of monster are you!?" the boy snapped the word monster struck a cord in Magdelena who jumped off her horse. 

"I can only help for a little, I must return to my own home soon as well," Magdelena says the children smile running to hug her, "Where is your home?"

"We live on one of the forest's edge," the young girl says, "Our father was in a clearing chopping some wood for a fire." 

"Then let us see if we can find this clearing or better yet your father," Magdelena says leading Gilthunder who seemed a bit peeved by their break-in mission but Magdelena had him keep watch as she followed the children the way they had run.

They entered a clearing but there was no sign of a man or that someone had been cutting trees, Magdelena looked around trying to figure out what had happened. There was a swift hit to the back of her neck and she felt herself fall as figures came from the trees before her world blurred and went black.

Magdelena woke with a jostling movement of a wagon, her weapons were gone, and her leather hip bag was no longer on her side. The wagon reminded her of the Witchfinder's, it was just four grates showing her the plain grasslands. There was another person in the wagon chained to the far side away from her, he was snarling at her but she just met his glare with bored disinterest. 

She was in the wagon for a fourteen days before they came across a large strange building, the like of which she had never seen before. It was tall as any castle maybe taller than some, made entirely of stone which was matching the sandy color of the environment, blue flags flew at the very top of the building. Arches were evenly placed around the entire circular building, entrances or windows Magdelena was sure they were in the Forbidden Lands but unsure wherein the vast sandy areas. 

Gilthunder wasn't with the wagon and she hoped that he got away from these men when she was captured. The man with her didn't speak just scowled at her or the driver of the wagon who had a sword on each hip, with a pile of weapons beside him, two of which were hers. Three men rode behind them hidden on horses, the man spared them a few moments of his glares. The wagon rode through one of the holes showing a large area surrounded by stone benches, and one large platform which took up seven rows and large enough to fit the Great Hall of Camelot on it. 

It held couches and tables of the finest making, seeming for a King to sit an watch whatever happens on the sandy floor. The place reeked of death and blood, and she assumed fights were the main attraction if not the only attraction. The wagon turned and backed against a small ramp which leads to a dark tunnel where men with swords at the ready as the opened the door to the wagon.

A man in nicer clothing than the ones with swords and the whips on their hips but ready to be pulled out an used in an instant, "This girl won't last long in the competition, better put her as a servant," she growls at the overseer as she has now labeled him as, "Master might even take her as another wife."

"I am no whore for your damned master to use," she snaps at the overseer going to lunge but the nearby guard grabs her and stops her from moving forward. 

The man smirked at her, "Take her to the Master let him decide where she goes," the man says her lips rise to bare her teeth at him in a silent warning to the man. Two guards lead her away from the dark tunnel which seemed to go under the main arena, toward a large wall with large iron gates which were open.

They made their way further into the halls, turning into a large area where steam fogged the vison and the heat fogged the mind. Magdelena was already sweating in her clothes as a woman in a dress which reminded her of Gwen's normal dresses but was a pale yellow and was lighter in fabric than what this woman wore. The woman herself was older, not Uther old but not as young as the Lady Morgana.

"Who do we have here Detrick?" the woman asks staring at the young woman with such scrutiny and such a judgmental glare. 

"Lawrence thought she might be able to please the Master but she has some fight in her," the guard to her right explains to the woman, "Lawrence thought the Master should choose whether or not she competes or is she would be a better wife."

"I already told him I will not be some whore for your master," Magdelena growls at the guard and the woman who looked a little pleased by the girl's fight. 

"Well no point in waiting any longer," the woman says sending the guards out who quickly followed her orders leaving the two woman, "We can get you cleaned up for the Master, but know your harsh words might cause you to have to fight will men trained to do so. You may be better off his whore."

"Trust me, Madame, I would be better off in the ring," Magdelena tells the woman, "I may look defenseless but I would be better off in fighting." 

"You can call me Mable dear," the woman says, "Alright strip your clothes and go get into the water, I will be back to wash your hair and back." 

"I have to bathe before I see this Master of yours?" Magdelena asks removing her boots then her crimson cloak, the began to untie the strings to her corset.

"All the woman that Lawrence sends for the Master to inspect are cleaned and put in fresh clothes before they meet him," Mable says earning a growl from Magdelena who had already taken off her shirt showing off her bare torso, as she began to remove her belt with the reb fabric over one leg, "You are dressed unlike most woman we find coming these ways, or further down."

"I am on a quest," Magdelena says dropping the last of her clothes on the floor ina pile as she shied away into the steaming water of the room, "How many women does your Master have?" Magdelen asks once Mable was back in the room and now behind her scrubbing her hair with jasmine smelling hair soup.

"Well, some woman become servants. Most that end up here are servants, some men who are younger are turned into guards," Mable explains, "Though those the Master deems beautiful enough become his wife. I think he currently thirteen wives." 

"What is this place anyway? I have never seen a building like it," Mable was now scrubbing Magdelena's back, arms, legs, and went to get her chest but Magdelena snatched the sponge from her hands and cleaned them herself.

"We don't have any more time to chit chat dear," Mable says, "Now let's go dry you off while I get you a dress and shoes." Magdelena is put in an even hotter room but there was no moister as it dried her damp skin and her wet hair. The door was opened and Magdelena pulled out and handed a bottle of what smelt like vanilla. Mable quietly handed her the dress and shoes and quickly helped her get it no before getting the two guards who had taken her here to take her to the Master.