Legacy of the Golden Wielder

Chapter 8

Here we start Part II of the novel!

Part II

“The Prisoner”

When Aadi’s eyes opened, he found himself in a total different environment than he had expected. The last thing he recalled was the doctor blowing a green smoke toward him that caused him to black out.

Knowing the doctor’s reputation, he had expected to wake up tied to a table. Perhaps with a hand or leg missing. Or if he was really unlucky, he wouldn’t ever wake at all. He hadn’t thought he would wake up inside a rickety carriage. And he certainly had not foreseen being accompanied by other boys his age. Aadi counted ten of them, including himself. They all wore gloomy expressions. Thick chains encased their wrists and arms.

Aadi looked down at himself. Sure enough, he too was wearing the chains.

“Hey,” he called. “What is this place? Where are we going?”

“Shhh!” said a long nosed boy. “Do you want them to stop the horses and come in here?”

I was right. We are in a horse-drawn carriage. “Who is going to stop the carriage?”

“Shhh!” echoed the boy.

The boy beside Aadi looked up at him. “We’re being sent to Kilead Keep.”

Aadi shrugged. “That doesn’t sound too bad. At least I’m free of that man’s clutches.”

“You mean the short man with the big eyes? The one who sold you to the carriage master? He kept on complaining that you were useless to him and traded you for a few bronze coins.”

Aadi nodded. “Yes. That sounds like him. He’s a maniac who kills people for his experiments.”

“You would have been lucky to have stayed with him.”

“Lucky? Didn’t you just hear me? The man murders people!”

The boy’s frightened eyes met Aadi’s. “Better dead than where we’re going.”

“Where are we going?”

“Whoa!” called a voice from outside. The bouncing from the carriage halted.

“How many new recruits do we have today?” asked a deep scratchy voice. Aadi didn’t like it. It sounded like the man was sick.

“Ten strong boys, warden.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” countered the warden. “Let me see them.”

Loud footsteps hastily made their way to the back of the carriage. The sound of a key going into a lock and clicking came later.

The door opened. A mustached man gazed down at them. “Get out, you worthless vermin.”

The sound of dangling chains echoed against the eerie silence as the boys slowly made their way out of the carriage. Many, like Aadi, who were not used to walking while tied up, struggled to remain upright as the man lined them up in a row.

He took a glance at his surroundings and his mouth went dry. The moon provided enough light for him to make out where they were. They stood in the middle of a large opening. From all sides, thick metal walls that seemed to reach to the heavens surrounded them. A series of cabins were lined up in uneven rows. Dark holes, the size of ten horses, had been excavated on the hard ground. What have I’ve gotten myself into?