The hands took a rough cloth and tied it into my mouth; the taste was of perspiration. The cloth soaked all of the moisture from my mouth. It caught strands of my hair while he secured it, ripping them out of my head. He tightened coarse rope around my wrists, which he held behind my back. He yanked me off from the tree by my arm.
“Blindfold her too,” A man with a thick black beard suggested. His voice was rough like gravel. He tossed a dark rag to the man holding onto me.
In a gesture that twisted my stomach, he winked at me before eliminating my sight. “Alright, you got the lad contained? I’ve got the girl all ready.”
Another voice replied, “Yeah, I got him, but I need some answers.” After a groan from presumably Dill, he asked, “What’s your name, kid?” He snarled.
“Fuh…Fur…Ferdinand A…Al…Alexander. Ferdinand Alexander,” He stuttered over a pseudonym. He grunted again after a soft thumping sound.
The man chuckled, “Let’s have your real name, boy before I sock you again.”
“Felix Arthur. Nice to meet you,” He said, unhesitant and unfazed by the blow.
The man shook me. “What’s your name, lass?” When I didn’t react on Dill’s orders, he grunted, “Right, the gag.” After releasing it, he snarled, “I asked your name!”
Dill intruded, “If I might interrupt, she doesn’t speak Caligerian. She’s from Lieuvenir. She speaks no language, but Lieuvi. I should know; I am her tutor.”
“A tutor huh? So, is she a rich girl?” His voice picked up, interestedly.
With those words, I felt a cool metal blade on my throat. It did not take me long to realize that if I wasn’t a rich girl then I wasn’t worth keeping alive. My heart drummed.
Dill laughed, staged and unnatural from what I’d heard of his chuckle. “Is she wealthy? Her uncle is the Duke of Chesse, the richest county in Lieuvenir.”
The blade lowered a bit, but I could still feel its presence. I swallowed loudly.
“Is she close with this uncle of hers?” Greed was clear in his slimy voice.
Dill’s voice became a whisper, “Allow me to put it this way. Her parents died when she was young in a carriage accident and she has been in her uncle’s care since.”
“So why is she dressed so simply without shoes?” One of them asked. “And why are you both in Caligeria?” He asked suspiciously. His voice was closer. “Pretty thing.”
“Sir, I found two pairs of boots, a pouch of coins, a dagger, and a pocket watch in the cases, I also found two books, some preserved meats, more coins, and arrowheads.”
“Good, bring the boots over here and pack the rest. And I asked you a question. What are you doing in Caligeria if she does not know the language and she’s so rich?”
I gritted my teeth together at the thought of thieves having my father’s watch and also my dagger from William. It was a task to keep my expression flat. I felt a weight on my thigh, a rough hand caressing me. I nearly vomited as his words rang in my ears.
“In addition to being her tutor, I am also her lover. When her uncle told her that she was to marry another, she suggested to me that we run away to my home, Caligeria.”
Most of them laughed at the thought, but whoever removed his hand from my leg.
“You…her lover…you wish.” One scoffed him. “Does she have the ginger between her legs?” The one holding me chortled. “Is she good, lover boy?” He mocked.
YOU ARE READING
Sleepwalker
FantasyBook one. I'd spent my entire life without a mother. But, when professors come to my father's inn, a cloaked figure known only as Sleepwalker begins to torment me with thoughts of her. When these dreams become too malicious, my father sends me off t...
