The Licensed Mage

34 The Girls

        The room was quiet as it’s always been. Nony coughed as she huddled closer to Sli. It was cold in the dark, damp room. They had barely enough blankets to keep warm and the only source of light was a crack in the wooden wall but the light was gone now as the sun disappeared. The light hanging from the ceiling was broken and swayed constantly. Sli brought Nony closer and rubbed her shoulders as they started to shake with sobs.

        Sli leaned over to whisper in Nony’s ear speaking in their Slyvan language, “Shh, it’s ok, it’s alright. We’ll get out of here soon.”

        The girl called Cat came over and offered the last of her meal to Nony. The little girl looked up into Cat’s cat like eyes and smiled, “I can’t, it’s yours.”

        “She wants you to have it so take it already.”

        “Nalia there’s no reason to talk to Nony like that,” Sli pointed a look at the young 7 year old as she appeared by Cat’s side. Cat has never spoken a word so Nalia took it upon herself to become Cat’s voice for her.

        Nalia blinked at Sli, “It wasn’t me. Cat said it.”

        Cat herself ignored the other girls and offered her meager mush food to Nony. The little girl finally nodded and slowly ate.

        The room became quiet again as the four girls huddled together, waiting for their fate to change. Suddenly light flooded the room as a door was slammed opened. The girls were blinded as some thugs threw a limp body into the room. They threw out moldy bread and bottled water as the girls clamored over the unconscious girl. The sound of the door slamming shut was lost as the girls cried for their friend to wake up. Finally, as their eyes readjusted to the darkness, the girl’s eyes fluttered.

        Sli gave Nony to Cat as she backed the others up, “Back up, she needs air. Baylie, Baylie can you hear me?”

        Baylie moaned as she turned over. Everyone gasped as they saw the shiner on her eye. She slowly sat up, Sli helping her as she tried to look at her eye in the darkness, “What happened?”

        Baylie looked at her then glanced at the others. Getting the message Sli sent a look to Cat who then nodded and led the children away. Sli picked up some bread, ripping the mold off and handed it to Baylie as she grabbed a water.

        “What happened Baylie?”

        Baylie slowly chewed the bread, working around her sore jaw as she whispered, “They wanted Nony. Those…bastards wanted to trade me for Nony. I couldn’t let them Sli, I just couldn’t.”

        Sli saw tears shinning in Baylie’s one good eye and hugged the girl. Being the oldest at 12 Baylie has always looked out for the others, especially for Nony and Nalia. Sli felt tears burning her eyes as she felt powerless to take Baylie’s place. Not only was she the oldest but she was also half-human. Her build was bigger and stronger than any of the other Slyvanian girls so she always took it upon herself to keep everyone safe.

        Sli sat back on her hunches as she and Baylie ate what little bread they could find, “Did you hear anything?”

        She glanced at the door and leaned over to whisper close in Sli’s ear. Their kidnappers spoke only English and Sli was the only one who knew the language well enough to understand what was being said. Baylie refused to let Sli go out when they demanded a girl and would go in their place, memorizing every strange word, sound and syllable that was being said around her. Since they knew the girls only spoke Slyvanian they felt it safe to say anything around them. Baylie sat back and drank some water as Sli thought over the words Baylie had whispered, trying to piece them together into words.