chapter 2!
sry if its a little strange this document has been giving me problems ^.^U
ENJOY!
After many tears that never fell, Neci got up and began to walk. She didn't know where too for she was so numb she could not tell, she just walked, across the rocky terrain her feet burning the ground she walked on. She walked for two days strait till she reached the water's edge. Neci's legs and body became so weak from walking that without her knowing, she collapsed into the salty, icy sensation was unbearable, it was like she was melting; her skin was literally smoking, her insides burned and felt like they were disintegrating, the water putting out her flame. Her whole body stung with the feeling of the water on her skin, for golden dragons could not go in a sapphire dragon's territory or else they would be melted by the water. She got out of the water as fast as she could and what felt like hours of torture were only seconds. The sensation of melting immediately brought back to her senses. Neci had no idea where she was and realized that now that a dragon knew that she existed and pretty soon others will come to try and kill her because she was a half-breed, something that should not exist. And all half-breeds were looked down upon by all, both humans and had to leave. But she did not know if she could cross the ocean, it was so vast and she did not know where she was going. But she had to cross it, she had to live.
"This is for Sol, and our father," she said, and, clutching her father's staff, she took off.
She flew for what seemed like weeks, without food or water Neci felt like she was dying. Her wings were like lead and the water was spraying her so her skin felt like it was burning, though she could not actually burn. Neci was so tiered and weak that she let her eyes close and she let herself fall head first, into the water. But to her great surprise what she hit was not the cold water, but firm ground. She had made it to the other side of the ocean. But since she landed head first she was knocked out so she couldn't celebrate making it to the other side. But it was only a short time till she was discovered.
about an hour after she passed out, two men came to the beach to see if they could steel something then sell it for an insane price. They happened to stumble upon Neci's sleeping body "Hey Balbo, come cheek this out, I think you will be interested in this," said a fairly skinny man with buck teeth and almost no hair and a neck like that of a giraffe.
"Wha' is it Calvin?" asked a man with slurred speech. He had absolutely no neck and he was so fat it was surprising that he could even stand up.
"Take a good look at this Balbo and tell me what you think it is," said the man named Calvin pointing to Neci.
"It' look like a haf' breed," said Balbo, "do ya' think' it's dead," he said as he kicked her, Neci groaned.
"No it isn't dead, it looks to be around seven or so years old by the looks of it," said Calvin crouching down next to her. Her stared at Neci for a few minutes longer then a huge smile spread across his face. "Oi' Balbo I just came up with an amazing plan," said Calvin, his smile widening, "lets sell her in an auction on the black market, we could make billions off of her,"
"Good plan Calvin, but uh, how we goin' to find a black market auction?" asked Balbo.
"I already know where to find one. Come on, let's get it in the cart, be careful not to wake it up, its half golden dragon so it could burn us," said Calvin loading her into the wooden cart filled with straw carefully.
"Oi' Calvin what should we do with the stick she was carryin'?" Balbo asked, the first time he showed any sign of actual intelligence. Calvin looked at Aurelius's staff and shrugged, "Just leave it, it's only a stick," The two of them headed to the front of the cart after they finished loading Neci into the cart where her hot skin slowly burned through the straw, Calvin grabbed the reins and went north.
Neci woke of to find herself in a cage filled with straw with shackles on her hands and feet. Outside her cage was a small platter of food that consisted of stale bread and rotten cheese. She was so hungry that even though she was a carnivore she would eat the bread. Neci looked around and she saw that she was not only in a cage, but in a dungeon as well, she had no idea how she got there or why. But other than that her mind felt surprisingly clear but she felt as though she was forgetting something important, something she should not have scratched her head and felt her horns, she didn't know she had horns, she tried to look at them but it was impossible. She leaned against the bars but it hurt her back. Neci looked behind her and saw she had wings, they were a pretty mustard yellow color and the bone part was covered in scales. So this is what she was forgetting, she was half dragon.
Neci put her hand, it was throbbing like crazy and it wouldn't stop. It was like being hit in the head twenty times per second by a stone. "Ah, I see my prized possession has finally woken up," said a high male voice. Neci looked up and moved closer to the back of the cage, she was looking at a large bald man with an extremely long thin neck that seemed out of place with is short fat body. "You've been out for a week, I was starting to doubt that you would wake up," he said with a chuckle. Neci didn't trust him, he seemed too unreal.
Neci, still keeping a watch on him finally asked "who are you, and where am I?" the man smiled, he looked like he knew something I didn't.
"Why I am Abundiantus your master, you obey me," he said pointing to himself with a malevolent smile. "As for where you are you are in my dungeon. So you could recover from…. Uh … your fall," he said in an uncertain voice.
Neci was not convinced, "Where did I fall and when?" Neci asked skeptically. Abundiantus look nervous. He was sweating a little bit but his breathing was controlled. He took a deep breath before saying "last week, you were to close to the edge of the cliff and you slipped and fell off the edge in to the canyon. Luckily you landed on a rock that was sticking out of the side of the cliff, but you landed head first and you have been unconscious for a week," he said with a straight face. Neci's head hurt so much that it was very difficult for her to concentrate on anything. She tried desperately to remember but could only remember shapes and colors. She remembered something that looked a lot like a cliff but couldn't clearly distinguish it. She couldn't see any other way she could have hit her head. Neci closed her eyes and took a deep breath to try and dispel the pain.
"alright so fell off a cliff, what do I do now?" she asked.
Abundiantus smiled "well seeing as you are up you better get back to your chores," he said his smile widening "starting with dusting the main room, then sweep the entire home, this is your punishment for getting yourself hurt," Abundiantus unlocked her cage, and walked away.
"Hey, aren't you going to take off the shackles?" Neci asked.
Abundiantus stopped "no you shall keep them on for the time being, also as part of your punishment," he said, and kept walking. He went up the steps and left the room. Neci sat in her cage for a few more moments, pondering over what dusting or sweeping was. She hoped that she could find someone to help her. Neci tried to get up but her legs felt like led and her head was pounding harder than ever, but she muddled through, she opened the cage door and walked up the stairs. What she first saw was quite strange, there were at least ten girls working and when Neci closed the door they all stared at her. The first thing Neci noticed about all the girls was that they were in rags. Neci looked at her clothes and noticed that they were rags as well so the thought that she did work here grew more likely.
"Um… hello" she said uncertainly. The girls just looked at her and then began to work again. Neci was extremely nervous. First she didn't remember how to dust or sweep, and second everything would be harder due to having to wear shackles. But she summoned her courage and went up to one of the girls to ask her for help.
"Um, excuse me" she said timidly,.
the girl turned around "what do you want" she said with a hint of annoyance in her voice.
"Well I wanted you to help me with my chores, I seem to have lost my memory on how to do them, and can you please just help me refresh it?" Neci asked politely. The girl thought about it for a minute and then came to a decision.
"alright, what do you need to learn"
Neci smiled, "well, that man said I had to dust the main room and sweep the entire house" she said.
"Ok, come with me" she said grabbing Neci's hand.
"I will show you where the cleaning supplies are. A will give you a demonstration of each tool" the girl said had short brown hair that was very tangled and deep brown eyes that never looked happy even when she smiled; she was extremely skinny but was strong in Neci's eyes. She could be no older than 14 or 15 years old, around twice the age of Neci. The girl gave Neci a quick Demo of each item and told her when to use each one. Neci paid attention to every word she said. The girl's voice was beautiful and familiar, like a mother's voice would be.
"You got that, ummm…" she paused seeming tongue tied.
"Its, Neci" said Neci.
"Right sorry, it slipped my mind, ok well here you go, use this for dusting and this for sweeping," she said handing Neci a feather duster and a straw broom.
"Thank you so much um…" Neci realized she did not know the girls name.
"It's Mirabelle," she said.
"Sorry, I forgot," Neci said hanging her head.
"That's alright, don't worry about it, I didn't know your name so we're even," said Mirabelle smiling, her smile was so beautiful that Neci couldn't help but smile back.
"Well you better get going before the master gets angry," she said. Neci nodded and took off towards the main room that Mirabelle pointed worked and worked till there was not a speck of dust left, to reach the higher spots in the room she used her wings to fly up and reach them. The task took a long time due to the fact that she had to wear shackles and that it was her first time and she was only 7 years old. When she finished dusting the main room, she picked up the broom and started to sweep. It took Neci the rest of the day to clean the entire home, she was afraid of doing something wrong that she did each room twice. By the end of the day she was exhausted, and could barely move an inch. She was starving and craved meat, she didn't know how long it had been since she had had meat, but that didn't matter, she wanted meat now! Neci walked slowly to the kitchen where Mirabelle told her to go after finishing her chores so she could get something to eat. Neci walked there in hope she could get just a little meat. But when she got there her hope vanished. She could not smell any meat, nor anything she recognized. Neci was so hungry that even though there was no meat she grabbed a bowl and took a ladle full of the Gruel that was in the pot, and walked into the servant's quarters to eat. When she walked in she saw that most of the servants were done with their meal and only a few remained eating. Neci saw a group of them sitting and talking while eating. They looked friendly enough to Neci so she walked over to sit by them. Neci sat down and said "he…hello" timidly. The girls looked at her in disgust and moved away, leaving Neci alone.
"Did I do something wrong?" Neci whispered to herself. she didn't let it get to her though, she just began to eat. The food was horrible, but she muddled through and ate it because she knew she wouldn't last long without eating anything. After she finished eating she fallowed the others to the sleeping area. Neci took the farthest corner of the room, right by the window, as her sleeping that night Neci couldn't sleep, she felt that something was missing, but she didn't know what. She sat on the window sill and looked out. She saw something running on the ground. It was small and furry, and didn't have much meat on it. But Neci didn't mind I had meat and she had to get it. She swooped down on it and caught it in a mere 3 seconds. She broke its back and ripped of its skin. She didn't bother to cook it; she was so hungry she didn't care. Neci ate until there was nothing but bones she finished she was happy, she finally had some meat. But before she went back Neci examined herself. She was covered in blood and was extremely filthy. She couldn't go back looking like this; she had to find a way to clean up just a bit. Then she heard something she hadn't heard earlier when she was eating. It was water, running water, which meant that there was a creek nearby. Neci set off in the direction of where the sound was coming from. In a few minutes she found the creek, it was shallow but it had clean water so Neci took off her clothes and washed them as well as clean herself off a bit, at least removing the blood from her body.
After few minutes she had finished cleaning up, and put her clothes back on. They were cold and wet but she had to endure. Neci used her wings and headed back to the house, her home. She went in threw the window she went out of and stepped down softly onto the floor. She lied down and fell asleep immediately. However she did not sleep peacefully. That night she had a nightmare, but she couldn't tell what it was a bout. It was about two little birds and one daddy bird; the daddy bird flew off and returned with something meant only for one of the baby birds. She saw that the baby bird that didn't get anything was being pushed out if the nest by an invisible force but the other two birds didn't notice. Then a hawk came by and killed the daddy bird and killed one of the baby birds. The other baby bird flew away but the hawk fallowed close behind. The baby bird was becoming tired and weak, slowing down. The hawk gained and gained on the baby bird until it swooped down and Neci woke up.