The air was damp and cold. Even through the burlap sack that had been shoved over her head, Lily could could smell a hint of fire and body odor in the musty air. Where were these men taking her? She had been sitting on the side of Minas Mountain when all of a sudden she had been surrounded by strange men wearing black robes. She counted four before she had been blindfolded, gagged, and tied. One of them had tossed her over his shoulder and started walking somewhere. Every now and again they had switched the person carrying her. Lily tried to keep track of where they were going, but there were so many twists and turns it made her head spin. Awhile ago, the air had become cooler and stale, and she knew that they had entered one of the numerous caves on the side of the mountain. As they got closer to the people smell, the men slowed down. The man who was carrying her suddenly lurched and she was flung off his shoulder. She cried out with pain as she hit the stone floor, but none of the men apparently cared. There was the sound of voices, speaking in gibberish, and then they left. She was alone.
* * * * * * * * * * *
He was one of the first to see that Minta, Eli, Philan, Rainen, and Samuel were back, and judging by the grins on their faces they had caught a good one. Nannoc rubbed his hands together in anticipation of the events that would soon come. The People loved fresh ones much more than the older ones stored away.
Nannoc stood up to follow the 4 when Minta turned around to face him. "Nannoc," he said, "I need you to take the new catch to the nursery. She's got to be taken care of until we can start the ceremonies." Excited to be trusted with such a special job, Nannoc said a hasty goodbye and rushed down the dimly lit tunnels until he came to the drop off point. He heard soft moans coming from the dark figure on the floor. Quickly he picked her up, tossed her over his shoulder, and started down to the nursery.
Stumbling over a rock hidden in the shadows, Nannoc started falling. Swearing he caught himself on the wall, jarring his shoulder, but he managed to keep the bundle atop it. However, the sudden movements must have waken the girl up because her moans got louder. Swearing again, Nannoc tried to ignore the small voice coming from the hooded figure. "Hey...Hey...Where am I?" She was supposed to be gagged! She must have been clever enough to work the gag off of her mouth.
"We're not allowed to talk to millah," he said, straining to see the entrance to the nursery. He had to get away from this girl.
"Well, you just broke that rule, so you're not going to get in any more trouble for continuing, right?" Damn.
"I'm still not supposed to talk to you or any of the others, so I would appreciate it if you wouldn't talk to me."
"What kind of a rule is that? What am I to you that you can't talk to me?" She continued asking questions, but Nannoc refused to say anything more. With a small huff of frustration the girl drifted back into silence. Smiling, he now saw the entrance to the nursery. He walked quickly through the entrance and past the first two rooms, wrinkling his nose at the stench.
"What's that horrible smell?" Apparently she hadn't had her fill of questions yet.
"That smell is from the other millah. They always smell this way." With that, Nannoc decided that he ansolutely wouldn't say anything from now on.
"What are the mila?" He winced at her pronunciation of the word, but continued walking. She sounded scared now, and she had every reason to be. He grinned again at the anticipation of what was in store for her.
Finally he reached his destination. There he lofted her off his shoulder onto the straw-covered floor. He tied a collar around her neck and the collar to the metal stake stuck deep into the cave floor. He untied her hands and feet. Then, before removing the cloth from her head, Nannoc lifted the hood of his robe into place so that she couldn't see what he looked like. He then removed the covering from her head.
* * * * * * * * * *
Lily looked up at her captor. Damn. He had a hood that covered his face. When he talked he didn't sound very old though. He was checking the knots on the rope that tied her to a stake in the middle room. She looked at it and gulped. The pole looked like it was steel and was driven deep into the stone floor. She felt the tears start to well up in her eyes. She crawled over to where the boy was working and watched him cover the knots in a tar-like substance, which would make it impossible for her to untie them. He stood up and she looked up into the black recesses of his hood. "My name's Lily," she whispered to her faceless warden. He seemed to shift uncomfortably, and then he left. She had nothing to do but let the tears fall from her eyes. She had no hope of escaping this dreadful place.
No comments:
Post a Comment