Her efforts had proven that Azura couldn't escape the bag. She was also badly battered from the ordeal so far and needed to rest.
What if I play dead? Deciding to kill two birds with one stone, Azura lay down. She made sure she was as far from the thigh side of the bag as possible, not wanting to be thrown around further. If they thought her dead, they would probably give her an opportunity to escape. Her death wouldn't be completely unexpected given the treatment she had been subjected to so far. This was the only strategy she could think of, but it just might work...
Between the thumping of the bag on the turbulent journey, Azura contemplated her situation. Her captor didn't seem to expect to find her, so she was probably a mystery to him. The bag supported that, clearly far too large to contain someone her size. She imagined most people wouldn't know what to think when they saw a two-inch tall singer. Where was she being taken? His home? He could be a bandit from another world for all she knew. More importantly, how would she get away? She would just have to be patient. The sheer number of unknowns she faced made it difficult to plan. She would just have to see how things were and react accordingly.
After a considerable length of time, the movement seemed to stop. Azura closed her eyes, enacting her plan. She let her body go as limp as she could to lend credibility to her trick. Suddenly she felt like she was moving upwards, before landing on a hard, flat surface. Since she could still feel the fabric of the bag, she guessed that her container must have been placed on a surface of some kind.
"Back already?" The voice of a woman. So the man wasn't acting alone. That would make escape a bit more difficult, Azura noted.
"Yeah," the man grunted.
There was a pause. "Doesn't look like you found much food," the woman commented.
"I found something better," The man said.
Azura heard the sound of the bag unfurling. She felt the slight warmth of light on her body, resisting the urge to open her eyes. She had to hold back a gasp as she felt the pinch of a finger and thumb over her waist. Remaining limp, she allowed her body to be lifted into the air without resistance. She could feel the rough grip slipping, fearing a drop, but she was soon deposited onto what felt like a giant palm.
Landing on her back, Azura remained still.
"What is that?" the woman asked.
"A woman," the man answered. Azura felt the same grip once again, and her body being lifted even higher into the air. She suppressed a flinch as she felt the breath of a giant on her body. Realizing her breathing would give her away, she held her breath, hoping her act would be convincing enough to the hostile giants.
"That's a woman?" the other voice asked. Azura could almost feel her leaning in for a look. She was glad her eyes were shut, she imagined the sight of the giant faces peering down at her tiny form would be frightening.
The man didn't answer. Was he silently inspecting his prize? Azura suddenly felt an impact on her abdomen, like being nudged by a log. Though she was taken by surprise, she resisted every urge to react.
This might work! Azura thought as she heard an irritated tut moments later.
Without warning, she was thumped in the same place, but much harder. Unable to hold back, Azura cried out when she was hit, gasping for air.
"Nice try," The man sneered. Opening her eyes, Azura leaned forward in the man's grip, her face twisted in pain. It must have just been a prod, but it felt much stronger to the tiny woman, like a strong punch.
"She's alive?" the other person asked.
"Seems like she was just playing dead," the man confirmed. Azura grimaced, she had paid a painful price for her failed trick.
Azura screamed as she was let go, falling. She landed on her back, in the palm of her captor's accomplice. Azura looked up at her, seeing little of the woman behind similar garb to the man who had found her. She could see a few strands of blonde hair, poking out of the cloth wrapped around her head.
"Incredible..." the woman marveled. The shrunken songstress flinched as fingers gently probed her body, seemingly out of curiosity. She tried to bat away the fingers, but she couldn't do much with her tiny arms.
"Where did you find her?" the woman asked.
"There was a temple through the Outrealm portal," the man said. His utterance was short, but it revealed much to his tiny captive.
We're in a different world? She hadn't noticed an Outrealm portal, but she was trapped in a bag throughout the journey. Could this possibly be the world I'm from?
"Has she always been small or was she once like us?" the woman asked.
"No idea," The man replied, "ask her yourself, she speaks our language."
"Well, dear?" The woman cooed, "were you born tiny?"
Azura gasped. She hadn't considered that these people might be at a different scale to her own normal size, though they seemed to be a similar size to Corrin. She was fairly sure; she'd been two inches tall for quite a while now and had time to adapt.
"I don't see why I should tell you," Azura answered, calmly staring up into her enemy's eyes. They might find a way to use anything she told them against her, after all.
"A furtive one, aren't you?" the woman teased, "a shame, you have such a lovely voice."
"She does indeed. She was singing when I found her," The man said.
"Interesting. Calling out to her allies, perhaps?" the woman pondered. She was right, but Azura didn't say anything for fear of revealing more.
"Maybe we need to extract the information from her," The main suggested. Azura was terrified of the implication of his words but tried not to let it show. She did everything she could to keep her tiny body from trembling in fear.
"I don't think we need to do anything," The woman said. "that hair, those eyes... I reckon she's royalty. Do you know what that means?"
The man's eyes widened, as if hearing a major revelation. "You don't mean..." he uttered. Azura could only guess why he reacted that way. Was he going to use her for ransom? Azura took this opportunity to speak, to try and change the subject.
"Who are you people?" she asked.
"Why should we tell you?" the man barked. Azura winced, the volume of his voice overwhelming. "You've told us nothing!"
"There's no harm in telling her," The woman interjected, "what could she possibly do to us at her size?"
The man huffed but did not comment.
"We're just a group of people trying to make a living," The woman explained, "we travel through the portals that appear around here, gathering what food and money we can."
Azura gulped. Are these people bandits? If they were, then she had much less chance of escaping alive. But why was she being told all of this? A trick to get her to open up more?
"Are there many of you?" Azura asked.
"About thirty of us," The woman answered.
"Kate, what are you doing?" the man butted in, "why did you tell her that?"
"She's got no chance against even one of us, what's the harm?" she responded.
Azura was in shock. Thirty? How could she possibly evade so many eyes? She would need a plan, a very good one...
The tiny singer was knocked out of her trance by a prod to her shoulder. Flinching from the impact, she looked back up to the giant woman.
"So we've told you something." Kate reasoned, "now it's your turn. And don't go clamming up now, otherwise we'll have to talk to you in a different way."
The same implication again. Azura had little choice.
"Very well. I am indeed a royal," She chose her words very carefully, hoping she could get them to reveal their intentions, "but you won't get any money holding me to ransom."
The giant laughed. "Money? There's something we need more than money..."
"Oh?" Azura uttered. What could she possibly mean?
Before the huge woman could answer, there was a shout from outside.
"We're under attack!" A man shouted. Dozens of footfalls filled the air, the sound of many people scrambling outside.
"Darn, we'll have to pick this up later," Kate said, dropping Azura back into the bag. Azura yelped as her prison was fastened once again.
As the mysterious raiders hurried outside the tent to join their friends, Azura wondered what could possibly be attacking them.