Chapter 3: An Unlucky Number

With a gasp the boy's eyes shot open, his heart rate slowing back to normal as reality brought with it the pain from the events before his slumber and the harsh light of another day across the desert. "Well will yah look at that, he's finally awake!" a man's gruff voice exclaimed from somewhere behind the boy. The boy tried to turn his body towards the new sound but pain surged through his whole being once again. That's right, the last thing I remember was that explosion, but how am I alive, and why can't I move? The boy began to truly take in his situation, and was surprised to find that he was perched across what seemed to be a camel with his hands and feet bound with rope. He still couldn't find the person who had commented on his awakening so he tried to get the man's attention. "Excuse me sir, but could you untie me? I mean you no harm or trouble." This statement earned a loud guffaw that now originated from the front of the animal. The boy tried to turn his head towards the new location of his apparent savior but the camel's wide girth made it almost impossible for him to see anything but the neck of the camel itself.

"Boy, I'm more than aware you can't harm me, ignoring your scrawny size alone I'd bet you wouldn't be able to lay a finger on me with all of those wounds you're sprouting." This made the boy look down at his body again, even though his legs were on the other side of the camel, he could at least try to survey the damage from that blasted crystal. One look at the grizzly scene that was his arms and the boy felt more light headed than he had moments ago. His arms sported a series of deep almost arrow like wounds that had at the most dried up enough to prevent any further bleeding. Even so his arms felt sore and tight as if any major movement could undo what ever healing had taken place while he was knocked out.

The boy looked away, feeling queasy enough that any further inspection would cause him to lose what ever resided in his stomach currently. Which after everything he had been through the day before, was probably nothing at all. With a sigh and more questions on his mind the boy decided to find out why all the blood was currently rushing to his head. "Sir, why am I tied up and slung across your camel?" This seemed to gain even more amusement from the man leading the boy's unconventional transportation. You may find this entertaining but after everything I've faced yesterday, I'm about to quit using honorifics, even if that gets me kicked off this smelly camel.

The mysterious man moved to the right of the camel so that his back was now viewable by the boy and without a break in his march, angled his head back as if to speak. "Son, I found you in a cave bleeding full of holes and about to succumb to dehydration. I figured you wouldn't be fit to move on your own anytime in the near future." That answered the reason for him currently balancing across the back of this truly disgusting camel. But you haven't given a good reason why my wounds aren't wrapped and why my limbs are tied.

"Sir, if you were feeling so inclined to be charitable, why have my hands been tied and my wounds ignored?" This caused the man's back to stiffen, a sign the boy was not happy to witness. The man commented under his breath, "the dirty whelp is smart I'll give him that." With a pause the man relaxed and replied to the boy, "its because I'm not sure if you'll be a good investment yet, the water I gave you when you were out was more than enough of a risk as it stands." Investment? That confused the boy greatly, how could he be any use to the man in the shape he was in now?

Any further questions were halted as a shadow loomed over the boy, with difficulty he craned his neck upwards too observe the cracked pointed tips of a log barricade. The camel and man came to a stop and the sounds of far off foot steps indicated that another person had halted the groups journey.

"Ahh Derik, your back, and I see you've brought another unlucky bastard. Where did you snatch this one from eh?" This statement caused both men to chuckle, almost as if they were old friends. "You'll be surprised to hear that I actually stumbled across this kid as I was making my way back from Nayso!" The newcomer took a few steps closer and continued, "looks like he put up one hell of a fight!" This caused Derik, the newly named owner of the camel to laugh and slap his knee. "Actually I found him like this, passed out in a cave system a few meters underground." Derik paused as if considering something then continued on. "Strange thing was that the entrance to the cave was above ground, and it contained no signs of life other than the boy. I'm not really sure how he got so many holes in him to be honest." The other man seemed to ponder this shortly but continued on with his conversation with this Derik person. "Well I don't see how you can get much from the kid but I'll leave that up to you, if this is all you have with you, you can come on through."

Derik quickly thanked the apparent guard and pulled the camel forward with a casualness that deemed him a regular. The boy watched wordlessly as he was brought inside the camp, worrying more and more about the way the two men had been referring to him as an object. On the side the boy could observe from, he watched as tents and small campfires passed by as the animal he was perched on led them to who knows where.

Again the camel came to a stop at the command of its master, and without a word, Derik walked away and entered a tent in front of the boy. As the man left, the boy noticed that the camel that he had earlier associated with manure, no longed smelled any bit nose scrunching. In fact, it smelled slightly hairy and sweaty from the sun, but that was it about it. With another look towards the tent Derik entered, the boy gave the camel an apologetic look. "Sorry boy, I assumed that was you, I guess there was more than one of us suffering." The camel gave the boy a look of understanding and snorted back in reply. In silence the boy went back to staring at the ground, deciding that keeping his already sore head up was worse than dealing with increased blood pressure.

After a few moments of watching the sand do absolutely nothing, foot steps caused the boy to look back up. Maybe this time he'd at least see Derik's face. No such luck, out of the tent walked a burly elf, with a beard as rough as his complexion. With ease the man pull the boy off the camel and slung him over a wide and tough shoulder. This caused the boy to release a yelp of pain as contact was made with an extremely sore and still damaged chest.

The camel quickly left the boy's view as he was carried through more of the camp to what seemed to be the section farthest from the entrance. From what the boy could gather the barricade that made up the camp's walls created a complete circle that had only one entrance that also served as an exit. Without warning the man tossed the boy down on his back, which elicited a sharp yelp of pain upon impact.

The boy's eyes filled with tears as his ears picked up the clicking of some sort of locking mechanism. Urging himself up the boy wiped his eyes and ignored the stinging sensation as his salty tears met his wounds. He crawled to the now closed door and examined the bars in front of him. A cage?Oh no, no no non, please no! With desperation he spun around and finally noticed the bars surrounding him on all sides. "What's going on!? Someone please let me out! I haven't done anything to be caged!" His screams met deaf ears as the camp's occupants went about their daily routines. The boy slumped against the barred entrance.

This doesn't make any sense, why would someone want to cage a helpless and defenseless child. It's like I'm nothing but a piece of...property. His thoughts quickly snapped to a moment years back when he had been as old as his sister was now.

The boy had been 9 years old at the time, full of boundless energy and refusing to go to bed even at the insistence of his mother. Anusha had been at her wits end when she had chased him all over the house, not once but twice, finally trapping him in his room and demanding he go to bed not only for the sake of his mother's sanity but the well being of the house he had used as a playground during pursuit. She had swiftly tucked the boy in with enough blankets and sheets that every counter measure must have been taken to keep him in place for at least the required 12 hours.

Just to be safe though she knew she had to take extra precautions. "Son, do you know why I chased you all over this house trying to get you into your bed?" The boy popped his head up from under his restricting covers and gave a curious shake of the head. "Its for your safety you see, there are things that stalk the desert at night, things that prey on people such as your self. They wait that person has worn themselves out and isn't in the safety of their bed." The boy gave her a skeptical look, "but mama, if the night is so dangerous, why am I safe in my bed? Wouldn't I be safer with you?"

This wisdom from a child so young almost caught Anusha off guard, but she was used to her adopted son being so quick witted. "Because I'm needed to make sure your sister is safe as well, you see at night, the dark slavers awaken and try to steal people from their beds." This made the small boy duck his nose back under the covers so that only his wide eyes could be seen. "And your bed is not big enough to hold you, me and your sister so I must make sure every night that you two are in your beds before I can go to bed myself."

This had answered half of his question, "what makes my bed so safe?" A chuckle escaped Anusha's lips, as if the answer was so simple. "Because even though the dark slavers make it a habit of stealing people from their families, they are far too short to snatch anyone from their beds. So in case they manage to sneak into our home, you'll be safe in you bed since they can't reach into it." This seemed to sooth the fear in the boys eyes, so Anusha made her way back to the entrance of the young boy's room.

She turned back and made sure to seal the deal. "Just remember, if your out of your bed tonight you may be snatched up by the slavers. Then they'll force you to do all sorts of horrible things." The boy quickly started shaking again, "like folding clothes!?" The woman chuckled, her son really disliked doing house chores. "Yes, and even worse, they'd make you clean their rooms and wash their dishes after dinner!" That was enough for the boy, he quickly wrapped himself up in his blanket with no plans of leaving till the morning.

Anusha smiled and waved her hand over the crystal lamp near the door way to the room, diminishing all light in the room. Before leaving she must have felt slightly remorseful for she turned back to her son, "dear, you do know I love you and would never let anything take you away right?" The boy looked at her in the door way and relaxed slightly. "Yes mama, I love you too, I'll be a good boy and be in bed before dark fro now on!" With a nod the woman slowly closed the door and with a soft click the memory ended in darkness.

Slavers, these must be the slavers mom was talking about...or at least using as reference for a tale to keep me in bed at night. The boy slowly slumped down the bars of his cage, curling up on the wooden base beneath him. He tried to fight back the tears but they slowly slid down his cheeks the more he contemplated the situation. How could you make that promise mom? How long had you known I'd be exiled if I failed all of the tests? Did you even really love me? If so why did you let them take me without a fight?

All these questions had no answers and from the looks of things, the answers would never come. With a sniffle the boy looked up as the door to the cage opened with a click once more and allowed an older elf woman to enter. Her face sported frazzled white hair and wrinkles that appeared to have seen more years than the very sands of this forsaken desert. Her eyes spoke of routine, this was something she had done before.

"Up" she commanded with a sternness that matched the expression on her face. The boy with great pain lifted himself to his feet, using the cage as support since his legs were still getting used to keeping up his weight after last night's events. She stepped closer and removed his blood stained cloak discarding it into the cage's corner. With well practiced ease she grabbed his left arm and lifted it examining the wounds that had slowly started to scab over. With a tut she grabbed his shoulder and ignoring the boy's hiss of pain quickly spun him around so she could examine his back. This time she actually questioned the boy. "Why is only the front of your body damaged?" she asked. The boy quickly tried to form words to answer the lady he hoped deep down would be able to help heal his wounds. "I-i-i was in an explosion miss." This caused the old woman to pause a few second before spinning him back around again and examining his face. With a sigh she produced a canteen and handed it to the boy. "Drink this and rest, I'll be back later with food." With that she exited and re-locked the cage before heading off towards the tents closer to the camp's entrance. The boy fought the urge to fall down and slowly rested himself on the rough floor of the cage. With slow movements he gingerly opened the canteen's lid and began to sip the container's lukewarm liquid.

The child never guzzled the water though, after the reality of his situation had settled on him, he didn't even want to drink the water he knew his body needed. His thoughts could only focus on the fact that he had been better off in the desert. At least he had found water, until me made such a simple mistake of getting close to an unknown magical object. He mentally berated himself, many of his classes at the academy had made it a big deal to mention that any unknown magical object could be dangerous. At the time he had nodded and recited the precautions one would take in the theorized situation. But in the moment it had actually become reality, he let his situation control his thoughts and he could only blame himself for his mistake.

All that time his mother had spent praising his had all disappeared the moment he had been truly tested in real life. With a final sip the container was empty and the boy's body pleaded for him to rest. Without complaint he slid the rest of the way down until his back and the rest of his body were touching the floor. With a long drawn out yawn the boy let his mind blank out, hopping that this time his dreams wouldn't turn on him as he awaited the old woman's return.

With luck his sleep had been dreamless, which made it much easier for the boy to be awoken to a painful pricking in his right shoulder. With a gasp he sat up and pulled his arm from the thing that was stabbing his shoulder. This response earned him a slap to the back of the head as low mutters informed the boy of the old woman's return. "What are you doing to me?" The woman gave a harumph and picked up the needle she had been stabbing into his arm. "If you want to eat you'll sit still and take this like a man. You're property now, you don't get to question your betters and if you don't want something worse than a slap I'd suggest you stay your tongue." With that she grabbed the boy's arm and yet again went back to sticking him in the shoulder.

He held back another grunt as the old woman worked, losing track of time as he fell into the rhythm. Stick, dip, stick, repeat. The pain in the boy's shoulder began to lessen as time went on until the only thing he felt was a constant burning sensation and the occasional spike in pain when the woman stuck him slightly harder then she had planned. After what seemed like an hour of uncomfortable prodding the woman finally stopped. The boy looked over at her as she pulled out a jar and applied some sort of cream to his shoulder. She then wrapped a cloth around the area she had been working on and stood up.

"You took that well after I knocked some sense into you, keep that shoulder clean and wrapped, also make sure not to let the sun touch it for at least a week. One more piece of advise, I don't care who you are or what you did before you came into this camp. You are now the property of this camp, slave 13, and you better make sure to only respond when spoken too." With that she slid a plate of bread and cheese through the bars and left as quickly as she had arrived.

The boy's heart sank as he slowly unwrapped the cloth to discover that his shoulder now sported a pure black number thirteen surrounded by red puffy skin. He slowly re-wrapped his shoulder and pulled the plate towards him with his left arm. The only thought that crossed his mind as he stuffed the now tasteless food into his mouth, was how such bad luck could befall someone like himself. This time his answer rested solely on his shoulder, an unlucky number for an unlucky soul.