"Kiera, I have no choice! You have to do this! He chose you out of the million girls that were there! Just do it and don't make me punish you!"
"You'd beat your own daughter? A daughter who can beat you back?" My voice was low and menacing, reminding Robin of how much he'd actually taught me. No wonder this is hell for her! She wants to fight back, her instincts tell her to fight back, but I won't let her. Robin's guilt was enough to drive him to turn and walk away.
Behind him he heard, "Son of a bitch. You can't even stand up to your own daughter. I should have known."
This drove Robin off the edge. Grabbing his dagger, he whipped around and brought the dagger to my throat. I didn't move. my throat didn't close up, I just smiled. There was no fear in my voice when I said, "Go ahead. Kill me, Robin. You'd save me the trouble."
Robin scowled at me. Knowing he would feel worse after he killed me. Letting me go, he said, "Don't try anything I wouldn't do." Which wasn't saying much.
My smile broadened. "What you wouldn't do. Good job, Robin, you've given me a chance."
I was packing when L.J. came looking for me.
"You made your father really angry."
"I'm calling him Robin from now on. I'm unwilling to refer to him as father any longer. A father doesn't do this kind of thing to an unwilling daughter."
"He wants you to have supper with him." L.J.'s voice was quiet. He was afraid of my rage.
"Well, tell him that I am God damned disinclined to acquits to his request!" I was yelling now. "Since I obviously have no place here, I am going elsewhere. A small village on the other side of the forest is in need of a weapons trainer and I intend to help them. If you have a problem with that go tell it to a tree!" I screamed this last part in L.J.'s face before stalking out of the now empty tent and starting to pack it up, with L.J. still in it.
With my pack, provisions, possessions, and tent, I stalked to the stable to ready my horse. Archeren was aware of my rage, and pinned me to the side of the stall and glared at me. I smiled at my amazingly intelligent horse, my rage only half forgotten.
We rode out of the stable and onto the dirt road. Walking along at a snails pace, I consulted my horse on where we would go. "East or west, Archeren, because in the western kingdoms they train young girls as assassins, or the Queen's personal guard. I would probably make a good assassin, with my seven senses. And I would make lots of money. Most likely, more than enough for the two of us.
"Or we could go to the east, to the Academy. That's the place I told you about, where they train young people, such as myself, to fight, among other things. We could definitely go either way, but I can't go both ways so we'll pick one. So, east or west, Archeren?"
"Neither. You're coming with us." A slimy voice said from behind me. Someone grabbed my feet, which were still in the stirrups. My mind wanted to get off the horse and fight, but something told me just to whistle to Archeren and gallop away, which still didn't do me much good, since the men who were holding my ankles were on horseback.
"Why has fate turned against me?" I screamed at the heavens as I was pulled off my horse and was blindfolded and gagged.
It was night. The night was made darker by the blind fold, but at least they took the gag out. I was in a covered wagon, tied tightly and stuffed into the back. I licked my lips and tried to breathe deeply, but was stopped by the cords cutting into my flesh.
The smell of mold was heavy in the wagon. There was another smell in the wagon that took me longer to identify. Other people. At first I thought it was just clothes, but no, there were definitely other living people in there with me. This made me suspect that my kidnappers were going to sell me as a slave.
Swallowing my fear I whispered, "Is anyone else here?" Immediately after I spoke I heard movement.
"Y-Y-Yes." A child's voice whispered back.
"Where are you? Are you wearing a blindfold, too?"
"N-No."
"Will you come untie me, then? Please?" there was more movement. Shuffling feet coming closer. The cords that were wrapped around me loosened, then came off altogether. Then small hands removed my blindfold.
There was barely any light in the wagon, but I could tell that there were at least seven other people in the wagon with me. There were two children, huddling together next to a young woman, about thirty. She was sewing.
There was an elderly man sitting on a trunk in the farthest corner. I couldn't tell what he was doing. Then there was a young man about the woman's age, maybe younger, sitting beside the older man. The last person I saw was an ancient lady with withered hands and thin, gray hair. She was knitting socks and sweaters, sitting on a wooden bench, looking very uncomfortable. There went the slave idea. No one would buy an old, decrepit woman.
I sat up slowly, knowing that pain would come eventually. My lower back was already on fire.
"Does anyone know why we're here?" I asked the miserable looking people, wishing there were something I could do to help them.
"We're being taken to the palace." The mother of the children spoke softly, almost so softly that I couldn't hear her.
All I could say was, "Dammit."