The Winglies of Hellena

Chapter Two: Capture

Disclaimer: You know the Characters from LoD aren't mine, but all the others are. No stealy. .

How long had he been walking? Hours, at the least. The dark sky was beginning to gray, signaling the coming of dawn. He had made his way out of the desert, and was walking through the woods now. He could have sworn he'd passed that rock three times already. Sighing, he continued on, and nearly tripped and lost his footing as he came upon a road. Well, this was definitely an improvement. But where to go? Right or left? Hoping that he wasn't making a mistake, he turned and headed to the right.

Weariness dragged him down with each additional step, hunger and pain gnawing at him relentlessly. His throat was dry and parched. What he wouldn't do for a full water skin right now. He was even beginning to imagine things... The sound of wagon wheels seeming to draw nearer. He sighed and moved off to the side of the road, slumping down against a tree. His legs were drawn up to his chest, his head down between his knees as he closed his eyes.

Those damn wagon wheels were growing louder, along with the added stomping of horse hooves. He'd never get any rest at this rate. The sound of the turning wheels and pounding hooves on the dirt road grew louder, and louder, until it seemed that there would be a wagon almost on top of him. A voice yelled out, and the noise stopped.

Lloyd blinked as he felt a boot nudge into his side. He lifted his head wearily, crimson eyes looking dimly up at the blurred figure above him. He guessed that they were humanoid... But as he squinted up at them, he couldn't be sure.

"This one looks like he's been to Hell and back," one of the figures grunted.

"Do you think he'll live?" the second man asked.

"Dunno. Maybe. Question is, will he be worth it?"

Lloyd drew back slightly as the second figure knelt down next to him, his eyes narrowing. He didn't like the sound of their voices, but if they could help him, he could stand to be poked and prodded a bit. The man took hold of one of Lloyd's long slender arms and whistled lowly. "Hey James, take a look at this. Not a spare ounce of fat on this 'un. If he weren't so beat up, I bet he'd be a pretty strong bastard."

The first man, James, knelt down as well and took the laces that held together the front of Lloyd's vest, untying them and pulling the leather carefully away from his skin to expose the gaping puncture wound in the middle of his chest. He sucked in his breath in a hiss. "Shit, that had to hurt. Wonder what happened to 'im?"

"Who knows?" the second man shrugged. "Tell you one thing, he's a fine-looking specimen. I think he'd be worth the time to get him fixed up."

"Yeah, you're right. Let's get him loaded up," James muttered, heading back to the wagon.

Loaded up...? Lloyd thought in confusion. Where would they be taking me? What are they going to want from me?
The second man slipped his arms underneath Lloyd's knees, the other behind his shoulders, and hefted him up with a grunt. This was not an easy task, with Lloyd being as tall as he was. He shifted slightly in the man's arms, attempting to get back down, and the man tightened his grip. "Hold still, damn it! It's hard enough with you being dead weight."

With a sigh, Lloyd held still and tried to make his eyes focus on the man's face. Those crimson eyes couldn't see much. Just a blur, mostly. Keeping his eyes open was giving him a headache, so he closed them again.

He felt himself being laid down on a hard surface, his vest stripped off. Someone was taking a wet cloth and was carefully cleaning away the blood from the wound in the center of his chest. He flinched slightly as the cloth passed over open flesh, and a female voice admonished him to hold still.

Something pierced into his skin, and his eyes snapped open as he tried to pull away. "Hold still!" the feminine voice commanded him again. "I'm trying to sew up the wound, but it's not going to happen if you keep moving around!"

Lloyd did as he was told, trying to get his eyes to focus on the woman. "Who are you?" he asked weakly, his blurred vision tainted with black around the edges. He didn't think he could stay conscious much longer.

The woman glanced back up at him before returning to stitching up his skin. "I'm called Lily," she replied a touch more gently than her previous words.

"Lily..." Lloyd repeated slowly, before he drifted into unconsciousness.

Lily watched as the silver-haired man passed out, then returned to her nursing. The wagon gave a lurch as it started on again, and she gave a silent curse as she caught herself. When she finished patching him up, she called for Nathaniel, the man who had carried Lloyd into the wagon. Nathaniel came in, nodded over her handiwork, and proceeded to take the valuables off of Lloyd. He pulled off the finger-less gloves and the silver bracelets around his wrists, examining the quality and whistling lowly. The bracelets were pure silver. He then took off Lloyd's boots and the intricate belt he wore, again admiring the quality of the items. He fished around in the comatose Wingly's pants and emerged with the two Dragoon Spirits and a small bag of gold, setting them aside. Lastly, he reached around the remove the choker from around Lloyd's neck... then looked in confusion as he could feel no clasp. Indeed, there wasn't any clasp on the necklace. It was as if it was melded on.

Frowning, he left it there for now and stashed away the items along with the sword Lloyd had sheathed at his side. It was fortunate that they did not get the Dragon Buster, which Lloyd could summon at will. James came in next and proceeded to clasp Lloyd's wrists and ankles together with a strange pair of shackles that didn't look like human work. Inspecting his handiwork, he then turned and made his way back to the front of the wagon.

Lily looked back down at Lloyd once James and Nathaniel had finished and shook her head slowly. The way the Wingly male had looked at her, so lost and confused, stayed fresh in her mind. She hated it when they looked at her like that. It made her job all the harder. If only the Wingly knew what would happen to him... Well, he would find out soon enough.