THE LAST VALKYRIE
CHAPTER 1 - TRUE FREEDOM
"Some birds are not meant to be caged, that's all. Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild. So you let them go, or when you open the cage to feed them they somehow fly out past you. And the part of you that knows it was wrong to imprison them in the first place rejoices, but still, the place where you live is that much more drab and empty for their departure."
― Stephen King, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons
….LUCY...
Lucy had lost the ability to sleep weeks ago. Every time she tried to close her eyes and let her spirit drift into a world of darkness and uncontrollable imagination, the same images would immediately swoop down on her and crash onto her, making it nearly impossible to breath as her brain showed her the images of that day, again and again. She wasn't strong enough to go through that again. She still woke up in the middle of the night with a tear stained face, breathless, seeing blood everywhere. During day time, she would just walk forward, letting the slave traders pull her by the chain that was attached to her collar. And when night came, she fought sleep until she couldn't resist it anymore. Then, her tortured mind would show her images of the attack of the Royal Fleet.
This went on for weeks. Her adoptive mother had pushed her off the boat and she had landed in the small, old dinghy attached to the ship. Her head hit the side of the ship when she fell and she woke up a few hours later, surrounded by other ships. The Valkyrie, her mother's boat, was nowhere to be found. She was captured by the slave traders, they told her that the Valkyrie sank and all the pirates that were still on board died. Lucy believed them. She would never forget the way those soldiers slaughtered the members of the crew, the members of her family. She still could hear their screams of pain and fury as they desperately fought to save the ship and their comrades. Lucy wished she had died on the Valkyrie with her precious friends.
A few weeks after the day of their departure, the traders were invited to a party that was held at some rich man's place. Lucy and the others were confined to the stables with the horses and the dogs. From the mansion, they could hear the guests laugh and talk animatedly. There was music too, and they probably had a lot of food to eat. Lucy's stomach growled and she pressed her hand against it, as if it would be enough to make it silent. She didn't understand why her body was still protesting against starvation and violent treatments when her mind had already given up on survival. A light hum started to fill the stables and Lucy ignored it, everything could burn own to ashes, it wouldn't change a thing for her. But the hum wasn't a sign of fire. The hum grew a bit louder, slowly taking the form of a comforting melody. Lucy turned her head, the rest of her body staying immobile. A woman around forty years old sitting against a dirty pillar was singing. She had long, dark brown hair and had her eyes closed as her head rocking with the soft sway of her shoulders. Their keeper hit her with his wooden stick and her head hit the pillar with great strength before she fell to the filthy ground.
A few hours passed and Lucy was still able to fight the sleep. All the others were asleep, even the keepers would occasionally nod off. There was no music anymore in the mansion, but Lucy knew that most guests were still there. Some of the women had been dragged out of the stables about an hour ago, they cried when they understood why they were being taken there. Lucy had been dragged out of the stables too, but the keepers deemed her not reactive enough and took her back to the stables. A moment later, two men entered the stables, staggering and giggling. Lucy didn't recognize them, but the keepers didn't throw them out, so she assumed they were guests of their rich host. They observed the slaves, occasionally grabbing a woman by the arm to force her up and examine her, but they always ended up telling them to sit back down. Lucy turned around and ignored them. Until she heard them laugh with a bit too much enthusiasm. She turned back around and saw the tallest of them crouching in front of a girl not older than twelve. She cried, but they still dragged her outside. Lucy watched them close the doors of the stables behind them. No one moved, neither the slaves nor the keepers.
Lucy's eyes stayed open wide as she stared at the doors. She was cold and hungry. Her body was alive even though she wanted it to die. She wanted to stop feeling. Suddenly, a very painful feeling seized her heart and squeezed it. She felt tears run down her cheeks. She wasn't dead, her mother saved her. She was alive, and she was the last representative of her adoptive mother's Valkyries. She would burn in hell before she let a child be raped in front of her. She was ashamed, but she was back to her former self. She jumped to her feet and the keeper that was the closest to her immediately ran toward her with his whip. The other slaves watched quietly from their resting spot, not bothering to move an inch. Lucy let the whip bite the skin of her forearm and wrap itself around it before she grabbed the leather cord and pulled on it with all her strength. The keeper didn't let go of the whip and was rewarded with her elbow crashing against his nose, knocking him out. With her newly acquired weapon, she took the remaining two keepers out without any real effort. They weren't trained fighters. She bent down to pick a sickle up and kicked the doors of the stables open. She could already hear screams near the mansion, someone had warned the masters about her rebellion. Whatever. The air was cooler now that it was so late and all the stars seemed to be shining brighter than ever. Lucy's blood was rushing through her body at a mad speed, it was like she was reborn.
She found the two bastards that had taken the girl quickly enough thanks to her young fellow's cries. The taller man was holding her wrist above her head while the other was freeing his sex. Lucy threw the sickle in expert gesture and it planted itself in the stripping man's skull. His friend jumped back to his feet, confused and furious. He hesitated when he saw Lucy, but she didn't. She smirked and snapped the whip to produce a crack sound. He flinched and took a step back, but Lucy sent the whip toward his neck and it wrapped itself around the fat, batrachian throat. His hands tried to unfasten the leather rope, but it was too tight and Lucy kept pulling on it to make sure he wouldn't actually manage to free himself.
"I beg you," he rasped, "I wasn't going to do it! I was only holding her, I wasn't going to do anything to her!"
Lucy's smirk melted like snow under the sun. She gripped the whip tighter and pulled a bit more on it. The man choked and cried. She took a few steps forward, rolling the leather rope around her arm to keep it short and tight. She crouched in front of him and glared at him.
"You were only holding her?" she repeated. "Only? Then, I'll only hold you too."
She unfastened the whip for a second and, before the man could even take a breath, the whip was completely wrapped around his fat neck. Lucy pulled on it with both hands and looked him in the eye as he tried to scratch her face and hands. She soon heard the sound of people running toward her and glanced at the petrified little girl.
"Go back to the stables," she ordered, "lie down and close your eyes. For all you know, nothing happened tonight, you were asleep. Now, go!"
Surprisingly, the girl nodded and immediately jumped back to her feet before running back to the stables. A minute later, three or four men were pouncing on her, kicking and punching her with a bit too much enthusiasm. Lucy wasn't stupid, she knew that the punishment for a slave that killed someone was death. So, she surprised to hear the leader of the slave traders yell at his men.
"Stop that, you scumbags!" he roared. "Stop hitting her, bastards!"
Lucy was already very close to lose consciousness when he finally reached them and stabbed one of the men to make the others stop.
"That girl had two major capital gains I was really counting on," the trader explained with a low voice, filled with anger, "the first is her name... AND THE SECOND WAS HER FACE, YOU PIECES OF SHIT!"
Lucy was surprised that he managed to keep calm enough not to kill another man. Lucy laughed and kept on laughing as she was dragged back to the stables. She was alive. She was beaten up and covered in her own blood, she had killed two rich guests and defied her masters. And she was finally starting to feel like she used to feel when she was fighting alongside her adoptive mother aboard the Valkyrie.
That night, when Lucy closed her eyes, she saw the birds plane over the ocean and felt the slow swaying of the boat on the waves. She felt the cool wind run through her hair and enjoyed the deep feeling of serenity that went hand in hand with the absolute certainty that she belonged there. Even when the wind was tempestuous and the ocean was raging, she still wouldn't change places with anyone. When she shifted in her sleep, she imagined that she could feel the comforting weight of her sword at her hip and she heard the laughs of her comrades when her hand went to rest against her heart. When she closed her eyes that night, she was back on the Valkyrie, before the attack of the Royal Fleet.
oOo
"They're too slow," the leader of the slave traders sighed, "can't you do something about it? We won't get there in time, at this rate..."
The fat, grumpy man that was riding his horse beside the carriage wiped his clammy forehead with his clammy hands. The sun was high and the air was stifling. He looked like he was melting under the scorching sun.
"I'll try," he told the trader.
The carriage was massive, far too large for only one person. But the trader was an important person, he traveled for weeks to find his goods and had a schedule to respect. His clients were important people. The trader was a small, thin man with a neatly trimmed black beard, black moustache and black, curly hair. He was wearing a sophisticated and obviously expensive silk tunic along with gold jewels ornamented with colorful gems such as rubies on his necklaces, rings and earrings. He waved the horseman off and closed the little curtains of the carriage.
"I don't pay you to try," he spat from behind the curtains. "When I tell you to do something, you do it."
The fat man growled, upset. Lucy snickered and he glared her. He didn't like to be treated in such a way, he wasn't one of the trader's slaves, he was a former soldier! And yet, even he was prohibited from laying a hand on her. He pulled violently on the reins and forced his horse to turn around abruptly, probably hurting the poor beast's neck in the process. He scowled in disgust at the line of slaves following the carriage, unfolded his whip and started hitting some of them arbitrarily.
"Move your asses, you miserable pieces of shit!"
The whip flew around like a mad flying snake for a few more minutes, leaving deep cuts and gashes on the skin, before the horseman finally stopped and smirked down at Lucy. She had her wrists and ankles chained since that night, even she wasn't able to save everyone. Four more horsemen were escorting this procession, all of them having swords, spears and whips at the ready. The slaves that fell under the furious attacks of the whip were forced back on their feet and pulled by the chain of their collar. It was a large, heavy piece of black metal that easily caught the eye of anybody looking at them. The collar and the simple, worn out beige tunic attested of their position. Lucy hated that collar. They had been walking for hours now, only stopping to eat a piece of bread and drink a bit of water while the horsemen took care of the horses and the traders had to meet some important people. Two slaves, a couple, tried to escape when the keepers were pissing. They were caught and killed in less than ten minutes. A few others died of exhaustion, most of them died mentally.
They reached the capital city before six in the afternoon. The streets were large, noisy and crowded. People walking, people riding horses, people pulling carts along the pavement. Some citizens sent dirty glances to the slaves, insulted them, took a few steps away to make sure they were out of reach. None of the slaves would have tried to do anything to those people, but whatever. The most frustrating part of this walk through town was that women had to lower their heads and act as if they couldn't see the men's leers or hear their crude words. Lucy never lowered her head, though, and would occasionally bare her teeth at the most persistent males, just like an angry dog would. One of the horsemen saw her and hit her back with his whip, they were allowed to hit the parts of her body that weren't visible. She spat on his foot.
The trader gave directions to the horsemen and the slaves were brought to a back alley near the huge market place, where they were caged in tiny, wooden cages. Lucy felt like an important person when she saw the individual cage that was destined for her. She would have laughed if she wasn't so hungry. They weren't given anything to eat or drink and had to wait for the sale to start, about two hours later. To kill time, Lucy picked up a few small stones and threw it at her keeper, aiming for his head. She burst out laughing when he turned around to yell at her and swallowed the stone she had just thrown. He almost died, but he was an ass, and he survived in the end, so it was ok to laugh at him. The sale started a few minutes after that incident and Lucy glared at the keepers as they dragged several slaves out of the cage and toward the market place.
"Ladies and gentlemen," the trader announced. "Today, I will show you my latest acquisitions..."
From the back alley, they couldn't hear everything he was saying since the place was very noisy, but they could make out some key words such as young, vigorous or resistant. Lucy heard applause, laughs and whistles when the trader introduced one of the young women the keepers had picked. She gritted her teeth and her hand gripped the bars of her cage. In the common cage, an old lady with silver hair was hugging a young woman around Lucy's age, rocking back and forth in a soothing rhythm. Lucy stared at them. She was willing to bet her life that the old lady wasn't worried about her own fate at all, she was heartbroken that her granddaughter had to go through all that. Lucy couldn't help admiring her. She really hoped they would stay together.
From the market place, Lucy suddenly heard the trader raise his voice and ask for everyone's attention. He apparently wanted to tell them about a very precious item he had found out in the sea. The place was even noisier than before and Lucy could barely hear a word, but one word in particular struck her with great strength: Pirate.
"You heard me, my dear friends," the trader repeated. "Today, you will get to buy the daughter of a pirate queen!"
….IGNEEL...
Igneel frowned when he found the garden empty as well. He had looked everywhere, through the whole property, there was nowhere else where he could be. So why couldn't he find him? He walked back inside and wandered around the ground floor until he remembered that his wife was home today. He then headed toward the marble double staircase and climbed them up as fast as he could. He had to walk along the huge corridors and take two turns before finding the right wing. His wife was in the library, as he expected. He knocked to let her notice his presence and invited himself in before she could do it herself. The perks of being the husband.
"Hello, my dearest love," he smiled playfully. "You wouldn't happen to know where your idiotic son is, would you?"
His wife raised her eyes, but didn't put her book down. She smiled sweetly, trying to look innocent.
"Which one?" she asked.
Igneel cocked an eyebrow at her and lazily snatched the book from her hands to have a look at the content. He frowned and gave it back to her, visibly not interested in romance.
"You know which one," he sighed. "He was supposed to train with Freed this morning. The poor man is still waiting in the training room..."
"I think he told me that he didn't need any training before leaving with his friend. Why didn't you send his fencing master back?" his wife interrogated him. "They obviously won't have enough time to train today."
The lieutenant shrugged.
"I don't know," he admitted, "it's funny to walk by the room and see him wait inside for nothing. Should I tell him to go back?"
His wife laughed softly and nodded, going back to reading the passionate love story of Edgar de Something and lady Sophia de Something Else.
"You should," she agreed. "Don't forget to pay him for the time he spent here."
Igneel arched an eyebrow upon hearing this.
"Why should I pay him? He literally did nothing to be paid for..."
His wife sighed.
"Fine," she said, "don't pay him. Let the word spread that your son is a slacker and his father a thief."
Igneel laughed and ruffled his wife's hair, who kept on reading.
"What an exemplary family!" he agreed. "I have work to do, so I'll leave you alone. For now."
He walked out of the room and headed toward the stairs. He climbed them down and got out of the mansion, looking for the stables. He was already a bit late, but he was never on time, so his companions were used to it.
oOo
They patrolled around the city, conducted investigations in crowded inns and doubtful shops, and generally just doing nothing really important. His team visited one of those shops in the middle of the afternoon after several locals reported suspicious people coming in and out of it, exchanging money and preparing chains and fancy, revealing clothes. Igneel knew that some foreign traders were supposed to be present in the capital for the night market, but he had naively hoped that they wouldn't be selling slaves.
"It's not illegal," the shop owner shrugged when interrogated by Igneel's men, "the customers come here for a reason."
"It's not illegal, but you need specific authorizations," Igneel protested. "And it's well known that these practices are firmly discouraged."
The owner shrugged.
"I have the needed authorizations," he assured. "And the customers don't care about these practices being discouraged. They pay, I sell."
The lieutenant clenched his fists. He was well known to be an important member of the newly created anti-slave trade movement and often had to deal with haughty traders who despised him.
"I'll come back tomorrow," he warned, "to make sure your purchases respect the laws. The trade of children is forbidden in the capital."
The owner smirked down at him atop his ridiculous five foot height.
"I know the laws," he drawled. "You can leave now, lieutenant. But, please, feel free to stop by whenever you want a distraction."
Igneel first glared at him, but then snickered and took a step forward to go stand right in front of the owner. He was much taller than him and the owner stopped smirking when he understood that the lieutenant wasn't a man you wanted to anger. Igneel bent down to talk in a low voice.
"I will personally see to close this place as soon as I have the opportunity," he warned. "Mark my words."
He walked out of the shop with a slow, confident step, followed by his men. But this apparent calm of his was just a mask he used to hide his frustration. His only hope of closing definitely this shop, and all the others of that kind, was to gather five hundred signatures of political figures willing to support his project of making slavery a crime. If he could gather all the signatures, he would be allowed to speak at the Congress in front of the president of the Congress and all the political leaders of the country. They would be the ones to decide if his project was adopted or refused. The Congress would be held at the end of the year and he still needed forty signatures.
While his team was walking along the crowded main street to end his patrol, he heard a very loud and agitated neigh, somewhere on the left of the market place. Igneel frowned when he heard laughs as well and told his men to continue without him.
"I'll just have a look," he assured, "don't wait for me."
The soldiers obeyed and continued up the street. Igneel was a respected, competent lieutenant of the army, they trusted him. He apologized when he bumped someone's shoulder while trying to get out of the busy street and walked a bit faster. He quickly got away from the market place and the main street, walking toward what he assumed were the wheat fields. They had been partly burned down a few days ago and the fire had made a ring-shaped dead spot in the fields. The young men of the capital often went there to spar of play around. Three of them were in the ring at the moment and Igneel sighed when he recognized them. The stupidest of them was riding a wild horse under the amused eyes of his friends, the seller looked a bit worried. The lieutenant walked down the small, grassy slope and went to stand beside the young men he had known for years, arms crossed over his chest, looking very unimpressed.
"Hello, Igneel," Gray smiled politely. "Your son is an idiot."
The other young man snickered his agreement. He was taller than Gray, almost as tall as Igneel, and was almost always scowling. The children of the city were scared of him, probably because of his red eyes. The older man sighed and nodded in approval as he watched the pink haired moron have fun on the demonic beast's back. The black horse was bucking madly and Igneel could swear he saw it try to bite the young man. After a few minutes of resisting, the horse gave up and accepted Natsu's dominance. The horseman smirked and patted the beast's neck gently.
"This guy said I could the horse if it let me ride it," he smiled at his father, "so now, it's mine. I'll name it Storm."
"Freed was still waiting in the training room when I got back home," his father retorted.
The young man arched a brow.
"Seriously? I told mom I was going out, I thought someone would escort him back home."
Igneel shrugged with his arms still crossed over his large chest.
"Well, no one did. Why did you skip training?"
His son smiled and lifted both hands, which was a very stupid thing to do when riding a wild horse.
"I don't mean to sound pretentious, but I obviously don't need it," he laughed. "I'm the best swordsman of the capital. Even the wild horses have no choice but to admit my superiority."
While his friends only snickered and shook their heads at the stupid statement, this made Igneel laugh wholeheartedly.
"Your superiority?" he repeated. "Get down and show me how superior you are, then."
Natsu laughed in response and shook his head.
"No way," he refused, "I'm superior to normal human beings. You're a monster."
"What a big mouth you have," Gray snickered. "Does mister Superior need me to remind him how many times I kicked his ass?"
"I kicked your ass more times than you kicked mine."
"But you never kicked mine," Gajeel smirked.
"Alright," Igneel interrupted. "I'm sure your conversation on the subject would be fascinating, but I need my stupid son to jump down his demonic horse and follow me."
Natsu obeyed and handed the reins to the seller along with a few golden pieces.
"Follow my friend to the mansion's stables," he ordered, "they'll take care of the horse for me."
Gray arched an eyebrow.
"Since when do I work for you?" he retorted.
"You just started, don't disappoint me, servant."
Igneel extended an arm to prevent the young man from fighting with his dumb son under the eyes of a very amused Gajeel.
"You'll settle things later," Natsu's father declared, "when the lieutenant isn't watching, for example."
Natsu smirked and waved at Gray as the young man saluted the lieutenant and took the seller to the Dragneel's mansion. Gajeel said something about helping out at his former orphanage and left right after Gray, hands in his pockets.
"He'll make you pay for this," Igneel smiled.
"I know," his son laughed. "It wouldn't be funny if he didn't."
They walked back to the heart of the capital, where the traders were getting ready for the night market. A lot of people were gathering in front of the improvised rostrums made of wooden boxes or, if they were rich enough to afford it, real small stages. The temperature was starting to drop slightly and made it a bit easier to breathe even while standing among the crowds of customers, tourists and bystanders. A dog managed to break in a small hen-coop and the distraught chickens ran around to escape the playful, but rough dog, causing more damage than Igneel would have thought possible considering their size. While he was arguing loudly with a fellow slave trader, a chubby man with pale skin bumped his shoulder against Natsu's and didn't apologize as he didn't seem to notice it. Igneel knew what his son thought of slave traders, and he knew he had quite the temper, but he wasn't fast enough. His son grabbed the man by his collar and brought him right in front of his face.
"Watch it, old man," he growled, "we don't have collars here."
His father's large hand settled firmly on his shoulder and pulled him back without a word for the terrified trader. He did keep a wary eye on the two men that had pulled knives out during the incident, though, probably the trader's bodyguards.
"You have to be more cautious," he told his son, "these guys are never alone."
A dry laugh escaped the young man's lips.
"So what?" he retorted. "I alone am more than enough to knock them all out. This place makes me sick, I'm leaving first. I'll wait for you at home."
Igneel watched him leave the market place at a fast pace, bumping into traders with a very obvious will to show his contempt for them. The lieutenant shook his head in defeat and sighed. What was he going to do with this kid? Natsu was a fast learner, he had quickly mastered the various arts of sword that existed in the capital. Even Freed couldn't beat him with a sword anymore. But it didn't mean that he was unbeatable, the day would come when some vicious bastard would find the perfect occasion to strike and take his son away from him forever.
He turned around to go back to his team and bumped into a tiny lady holding a large basket full of vegetables that scattered on the dusty ground. He apologized and kneeled to help her pick it up, but she saw his uniform and got a bit scared. You don't make a soldier of the royal army kneel in the dust to pick up your vegetables... Igneel reassured her and patted her head, it was his fault, he was only doing the right thing. The small girl – that looked to be around 20 despite her height – insisted and tried to pick everything up on her own until she froze and stared at something near Igneel's feet. She tried very hard to look like she hadn't seen anything, but Igneel noticed her distraught look and searched the ground for the thing that was so important to that girl. He found it quickly, the small iron knife was right beside his left foot. He picked it up and the girl watched, petrified. The blade was small, rusty and blunt, she wasn't going to stab anybody with that.
"What were you going to do with that?" he asked.
She stared at the knife and tears filled her eyes. It looked like she had failed to save someone she loved when she lost the little blade.
"I..." she sobbed.
"AND NOW, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!"
Igneel gritted his teeth when the trader started to yell. The man had quite the loud voice, but he had been selling slaves for the last hour and hadn't been that loud. What the hell was wrong now?
"I TOLD YOU THAT I WAS HERE TONIGHT WITH A MARVELOUS PRESENT!"
Igneel glared at the trader that couldn't see him among this large crowd and turned his head back to the young girl, who obviously wasn't there anymore. He growled and stood back up, determined to arrest this trader for noise nuisance.
"YOU KNOW I'M A MAN OF HONOR!" He went on. "TONIGHT, I OFFER YOU THE DAUGHTER OF THE INFAMOUS PIRATE QUEEN 'THE VALKYRIE'!"
Igneel froze, his whole body suddenly weighting tons, his lungs contracting painfully in his chest. He stared at the makeshift stage as two bulky men dragged a young, blonde woman behind them. She was kicking them in the knees and fighting back like a lion. One of the men holding her tripped on the wood and she immediately jumped on the occasion. She kicked the side of his knee and used the chains that were tying her wrists to strangle him, threatening to kill him if they didn't let her go. This was the adoptive daughter of the Valkyrie's captain? The last time he saw her, she was a little girl, not older than five. It took five men to neutralize her and the trader didn't look so proud anymore.
"Don't worry," he said, "we will obviously tame her before giving her to the buyer."
Tame her. The words made him sick and furious. Lucy arched a brow at the trader and her eyes then scanned the crowd. She snickered and it quickly turned into a dark, menacing laugh.
"You want to tame me," she repeated. "Mark my words, I'll kill anyone who buys me and you won't even have enough time to see it coming."
The trader glared at her, he looked ready to beat her to death on the spot. Instead, he breathed in and forced himself to smile.
"All bark and no bite," he laughed, "but I'm sure the desperate words of an idiot female won't be enough to scare the brave men of the capital. The auction starts at 40 coppers!"
An old man with rotten teeth raised his hand. Another one, tall and fat raised his own hand to offer more. At some point, when the highest offer was 75 coppers, Igneel heard someone say that he'd gladly tame her from the back and ride her until she had no strength left, after what he'd let his brothers and sons do her too. He turned his head and saw that the man was a regular of the shop he had visited with his men, a few hours earlier. The auction reached 90 coppers, it was more than a whole monthly pay for most commoners. Igneel looked at the girl. She was calm, observing the bidders, most probably starting to think of various ways to kill them. The trader never gave them her name, but he knew it, her adoptive mother told him when he last saw her and he still remembered. Lucy. Igneel grabbed the shoulders of the man standing in front of him and pulled on it. He pushed everyone out of his way and no one dared say a thing to the pissed off officer that was progressing quickly toward the trader's stage. The trader saw him when he jumped on the stage and dropped a small bag at his feet.
"5 golds," he announced.
Silence filled the place and everyone stared at the small bag. 5 golds represented years of salary for a commoner. The trader bent down and picked the bag up as Igneel did the same with Lucy. She pulled away when he grabbed her elbow and he laughed when she growled and hissed. She was perfect. The trader snapped out of his trance when he saw the very rich officer walk away from him, holding the pirate by her arm.
"Sir," he called, "you can't take her immediately. We still have to tame her."
Igneel glared at him and he gulped.
"You got your money," the officer growled, "now, fuck off."
Lucy arched a brow at the officer and turned her head to smirk at the trader, who seemed to have lost the ability to talk. The crowd made way for them when they jumped off the small stage and walked away.
"Just because you told that bastard to fuck off doesn't mean I won't kill you," she warned him. "I'll just do it quickly so you won't feel pain."
Igneel laughed wholeheartedly. She really was perfect.
"I think it might be a little too difficult for you at the moment," he smiled, "but feel free to try."
Lucy stared at him with inquisitive eyes.
"Are you going to rape me?"
"No," he immediately answered, "no one will harm you where I'm taking you. You have my word."
She didn't look convinced, though.
"You spent 5 golds on a mere human pet?" she asked, incredulous.
The officer smirked when images of his son on the black horse's back came to his mind. This was one beast he wouldn't be able to tame.
"Not quite," he laughed.
….LUCY...
Lucy stared at the jar with a frown. How was this old thing considered art? The drawings weren't even that well done. She sighed and went to sit back on the soft sofa. The officer that bought her had told her he needed to make some preparations for her arrival and made her wait in a large living room, with no one to guard her. The female servants took her to the bathroom and actually had to help her wash herself since she had never used a bathtub before, they didn't have this luxury on the ship. They left when Lucy told them that she could do the rest on her own and found a very sophisticated gown when she walked out naked of the bathroom and into the bedroom that had been given to her. She would die before agreeing to put such a thing on. Her old shirt and pants were nowhere to be found and she knew that the traders had given them to the officer, so she called one of the servants, who blushed madly and covered her eyes when she entered the room and saw her in all her glory.
"I can't find my clothes," Lucy explained, not bothering to cover herself.
She almost laughed when the servant stuttered and pointed blindly in the direction of the gown, on the bed.
"We... we brought you new... new clothes. If it doesn't... fit, we can find you another..."
"I want my own clothes back, she interrupted her.
"But..."
Lucy sighed and leaned on the wooden pillar of her bed.
"If you won't bring them here," Lucy warned, "I'll go search for them on my own. As I am now."
The servant blushed even more and bent down, quickly leaving the room.
"I understand," she assured, "I'll bring your clothes back. Please, don't go out..."
Lucy grinned and thanked her before letting herself fall on the thick mattress, genuinely laughing. Someone knocked on the door a few minutes later and Lucy allowed them to come in. Another servant had been sent with her old, but washed, clothes. This one had long, wavy, brown hair and didn't look embarrassed at all, even though Lucy was still dressed with thin air.
"Did I scare the other girl away?" she laughed.
The servant smirked and invited herself in, walking toward the bed and putting the clothes on the mattress.
"You did," she laughed, "I think you scarred her for life."
"You don't look bothered, though," Lucy noted.
The servant cocked an eyebrow and eyed her appreciatively.
"With all due respect," she smirked, "you're not the first naked woman I find lying in a bed. Though I usually find them in my own bed."
Lucy sat up on the bed and grabbed her shirt, smiling as she shrugged it on.
"Should I fear for my virtue?" she bantered.
The servant's smile suddenly turned much softer as she shook her head.
"No," she said, "my heart is taken. By a man, mind you."
Lucy jumped to her feet to pull her pants up. God, did it feel good to look like her old self again.
"A man?" she repeated. "You like both men and women equally?"
It was probably considered a very private subject, but Lucy was a pirate, she didn't care about the rules of etiquette.
"I used to," she confirmed. "Now, I can't think of anybody but him, even when a gorgeous woman invites me in her room, lying naked in her bed."
Lucy nodded comprehensively and slipped her boots on.
"I'm ready," she said. "Am I allowed out of the room now?"
oOo
The servant guided her through the huge mansion until they finally reached a large wooden door that most probably served as the lieutenant's office. The servant knocked and the officer told them to come in. The door was heavy, but the brown haired servant pushed it open pretty easily. The office was a large room with hardwood flooring and ugly paintings on the walls. In the center of the room was a large mahogany desk buried under a large number of files. Two men were sitting there, one of them was the officer, Lucy didn't know the other one.
"Thank you, Cana," the officer said, "you can leave now."
The servant, Cana, bowed down - slightly - and left, closing the door behind her. The officer stood up and the other man turned around to frown at her.
"Young lady, you look lovely," the officer smiled. "I thought you wouldn't like the dress, but my wife really wanted to see you in it. She's always wanted a daughter, you see. And instead, she had this blockhead here. Say hello, Natsu."
The other man was younger than the officer, but probably still a bit older than Lucy. He was looking strangely at his father, and Lucy was looking strangely at his pink hair.
"Who's that?" the officer's son asked, sounding very suspicious.
Igneel smiled and wrapped an arm around Lucy's shoulder, the young woman immediately shaking it off.
"Son, this is Lucy," he declared. "I bought her for you today."
"What!?"
"Here's the deal," Igneel continued without paying attention to his son's angry look. "Lucy, if you can bring Natsu to his knees, you're free. Natsu, if you can defeat me or pay me back what I spent on her, I'll set her free."
"I never agreed to this," the pink haired young man protested.
Lucy snickered, poor baby whose father bought him a human being as if it was a dog. Who was wearing the collar here? Igneel laughed as if his son had just made a very funny joke.
"That's what being a father is all about," he smiled, "if I tell you to do something, you do it!"
Natsu glared at him and Lucy watched as the officer kept on smiling as if the situation was really funny. For some reason, she got the feeling that her time at the Dragneel's would be everything but peaceful.
End of chapter 1