The Given Children

Hey sorry I've been gone for so long, but I''m back now. This is a new story, I hope you all like it!

-Kam

Now

I was fighting the hold the guards had on me when the captain of the guard reached forward and in a move to sudden for me to react to, ripped the dull metal cuff I wore off my right wrist, scraping my skin. I cried out in protest and scowled angrily at the dark haired man and tried to hold my arm against my chest, trying to hide my now bare arm but the guard signaled one of the other men to hold me in place. I shook my head trying to get farther from him but I only succeed in getting a mouthful of my own, short, pale brown hair.  Daven and Lapis struggled next to me, held back by guards of their own. Daven looked outraged but was trying to be calm, trying to be the leader and get a hold of the situation. His lips were in a pale, tight line against his dark skin with his fists clenched at his side, leather straps covering both his wrists. The only ornament to his plain, dirty clothes- a thin, worn tunic that had once been white but was now a yellow-brown color a bit small for his broad shoulders, with pants that were torn at the hem; unlike other men though he did not wear a leather belt or some type of cord around his waist.

 Lapis was clearly frightened, her dark blue eyes wide, as though she couldn’t believe what was happening, gleaming red hair swinging around her face, just above her shoulders as she squirmed against the guard’s hold. Her stained apron tangled with her too-long skirts and she would’ve fallen over if she wasn’t being held up in the strong grip of the guards. On her right wrist a light pink handkerchief was tied like a bracelet. They had already taken our bags and looked over all our things. It had made me sick to see these crude men pawing through the only things we owned. When one clumsy soldier had nearly dropped a small glass vial, which would have surely shattered, as he rummaged through my sack I’d started swearing at them all, much to their amusement.

The sneering leader dug his dirty fingers into my forearm and dragged it out, my muscles shaking in the effort to resist his pull but in the end my arm was yanked straight out in front of me, my uncovered skin now on display. The guards all stopped for a minute to stare and the captain’s hands tightened on my arm, a wicked glint coming into his eye. From elbow to fingertip my otherwise too perfect, smooth skin had small white scars- but that wasn’t what they were staring at. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Lapis sag, her head nodding to the ground, losing hope now that we had been exposed.

At the base of my hand, where blue veins could be seen in my wrist was what appeared to be a bright gold tattoo of a sun with a line cutting it in two. It glinted in the light ostentatiously and the sight of it made me want to look away in shame. The leader ran his thumb over it and I tried unsuccessfully to wrench my hand back.

“Orphan-serfs.” He announced to the guards around him in a mocking tone that conveyed the distaste he felt for us. “From the House of Sol.”

 There were a few snorts and one man laughed, making Daven burn red as he stared down the guards. His and Lapis’ coverings were ripped off to reveal their own gold Marks.

 I wanted to hit myself for being so stupid. Our skin was too perfect; we looked too healthy for the rags we wore. We shouldn’t have risked coming to the city’s fair held in the governor’s palace, we should’ve kept to the surrounding streets and marketplaces even though we were miles away from our home. We’d gotten cocky after moving place to place for the past two years, avoiding guards, traders and anyone who worked in a governor’s house. I shouldn’t have drawn attention to myself by wearing the cloth leggings and long tunics I preferred instead of the hot and cumbersome apron and skirts a girl like me was supposed to be wearing.  Our biggest mistake though, what had led to us being caught, was not watching our words and using the skills we had learned as children in that giant, bright House.