Woooooow I'm a good person! It's only been a week, and this is close to 3000 words! (which is really, really impressive for me...) I've been absolutely astounded by the support for this story and the amount of love out there for Esha and Edmund, it's truly wonderful to know that so many people appreciate this story! Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, there were quite a few of you! Please review again, or if you don't normally, then DO IT! Enjoy!
Edmund sprinted after the cart, unable to get up enough speed to match it or even follow it closely. He hoped his desperation would force his legs to move faster, but it seemed physically impossible; his legs were a blur and each foot seemed to barely touch the ground before the other had taken its place. He had no weapon, and though he knew it was hopeless he kept running, sweat pouring off his body from the fighting and running in extreme heat.
He simply couldn't believe this was happening.
He was so tired he barely heard the cart drawing up alongside him. It slowed slightly and Edmund realised it was Caspian at the reins.
"Get in." The King cried, slowing the horses even more and darting his gaze between Edmund and the road.
Edmund fell back and dived into the open back, catching hold of the side when he nearly fell out again as Caspian whipped the horses back to their top speed.
He rested for a moment, catching his breath before climbing over the cart and sitting down in the front next to Caspian, still breathing heavily.
The cart ahead of them was considerably closer now, but when the two followed it around a corner they discovered it had disappeared either right or left down a winding road.
"Which way?" Caspian shouted above the sound of the horses hooves cantering.
"I don't know!" Edmund replied, trying to keep a clear head.
Caspian pulled on the reins and the horses slowed, sliding to a halt amid a small cloud of dust.
"You go that way, I'll go this way." Edmund said, jumping out of the cart and beginning to run down the left road.
Esha's legs were released and she was allowed to walk into the house for herself, though a slave kept his arms firmly through hers, pulling them behind her back and completely preventing her from using them.
"Darius!" Her buyer cried in a deep, overpowering voice as soon as he walked through the door.
Esha had one last go at escaping, stamping on the slaves right foot she twisted, almost wrenching her arms out of their sockets in the process as the slave still held on firmly, a yell of pain being all that he allowed to escape.
Finally she gave up, feeling the ribbon in her hair slide out and trying to calm herself as the slave propelled her through the open door and fear washed through her body. She caught sight of her ribbon lying among the dust as the door closed behind them and her breath hitched in fright as she realised she was well and truly trapped now; her ribbon was all that remained to indicate she was here.
Finally a figure appeared in the gloom to Esha's left. "There you are, Father! I have been waiting for you! We must discuss-"
"-I have a present for you, my son." The buyer boomed again in a voice almost as loud as earlier.
Esha could see Darius now; he was young, perhaps a year older than Caspian, and he was exceedingly handsome – tall and well-built like his father he had floppy dark hair that fell over his face, concealing one of his bright blue eyes. His features were refined and sharp, giving him a structured and intelligent face.
But as he turned to look at Esha she was sure she detected hints of cruelty in his features.
"Look at her, isn't she beautiful?" The father asked; catching hold of Esha's chin roughly and holding her face up.
She jumped at the contact and wrenched her jaw out of his grip, straining her neck in her effort. She stayed with her head to the right, drooping so that her hair dropped forwards and covered her face.
"I cannot tell, Father."
Her buyer let out a chuckle of laughter. "She's feisty this one. She's been trying to escape ever since I got her...note Amos' nose; the handiwork of her well-aimed foot. And; in her own words; she is Narnian nobility and protected by the King...there is only one thing this slave would be good for..." He implied.
Darius laughed a little and Esha heard and felt him walk over and stop in front of her, but she refused to look up or acknowledge him.
After a moment he did the same as his father and forced her head up with his hand. Having seen her reaction to his father's touch he was ready; his grip was harder, firmer. Unable to pull out of his strong grip she instead stared into his assessing eyes defiantly.
One corner of his lips curled up in amusement and he finally let her go, watching as she now refused to break his gaze; determined to outstare him.
"I'll take her home straight away and ensure she knows her place...I'm sure the tenant business can wait till tomorrow, Father?" He asked, breaking his gaze with Esha and looking to his father instead. Esha breathed out a small sigh of relief, her eyes beginning to flick from side to side in search of an escape route or something to help her escape the clutches of the slave.
"Of course, make sure you have fun!" Her buyer boomed with a deep chuckle.
"Give her to me." Darius ordered the slave who stood aside, his grip still on Esha's arms. As soon as he began to move Esha twisted, putting all of her weight behind her action she wrenched her arms from the slave's grip before Darius had the chance to grasp hold of her.
She stumbled a little but recovered quickly, adrenaline aiding her in every way possible as she ran through the open door Darius had just come through amid shouts from the men. She slammed it shut behind her and ran straight through what appeared to be a small library and through the next open door, ending up in a lounge. She slammed this door shut too and immediately began to heave a heavy arm chair in front of it.
The door was pushed open before she was finished, but the chair was in place enough to prevent Darius from pushing his way through or fitting through the small crack that he could open the door.
She finished pushing the arm chair in place and now began to push the small desk; aware that Darius and the slaves would soon force their way through.
She was panting from her struggles, but she put every ounce of strength into moving the desk, forcing herself to push just a little harder when she heard Darius ordering the slaves to push at the same time as him.
With the table half in place she abandoned her efforts and ran through the next door and into the kitchen where a woman dropped a bowl in surprise.
Esha flinched as it smashed but still carried on, beginning to push the large table that was used for preparing food in front of the door.
"What do you think you're doing? Stop that or - " The woman started to protest, skirting around the edge of the broken pottery.
"Please help me!" Esha said, suddenly stopping in her job and trying to make the woman understand. "I have been bought as a slave but the Narnian Kings will be here any moment to save me; I just need to hold these men off long enough for them to get here!" The woman looked disbelieving and Esha began to beg her frantically, convinced that Darius and the slaves were just on the other side of the door now. "Please! Help me and you too will be freed; if you fear your Masters wrath then once this has been moved I'll tie you up and pretend you tried to stop me!" The woman now merely looked uncertain, but she still showed no indication of wanting to help Esha. "Please help me or I will serve Darius' bed!" Esha cried, almost in tears. Finally the woman understood and began to push at the table too. With two of them working at it the table slid across the floor quickly, thumping against the door just as Darius' voice became audible.
"Now quickly, tie my hands and go out the back!" The woman said, holding her hands out behind her back with the ties of her apron in her hands.
Esha quickly tied them with a double knot, thanking the woman as she charged into the back door. She blinked rapidly for a moment before realising that the door was locked and far too solid for Esha to break down on her own.
"It's locked! Where's the key?" She asked, frantically trying to rattling the knob.
"Only Master has it! Ok, go out the window!" The woman said, thinking quickly and with a clear head.
But both of those were locked too. Esha began to panic, her heart thumping heavily in her chest as though reminding her that if she did not escape within the next few seconds she would lose everything she loved.
She ran a hand through her hair and searched desperately for something heavy enough to smash the thick windows. She jumped and gave a small scream of fright as Darius began to bang against the kitchen door.
The slave stopped trying to help her and instead crumpled in a corner, too afraid of being punished to help Esha escape.
Esha could feel her breath hitching from fear at being caught; now that she'd tried and almost had escaped she'd be punished as well.
The table began to move along the floor, slowly jolting backwards a few centimetres each time Darius put his shoulder to it. Esha froze in fear, watching with horror as the door inched open. Suddenly it stopped; one of the table legs had caught on an uneven patch of the floor and required more force.
It jolted Esha out of her helplessness and finally she picked up a stool.
"Help me you useless things!" Darius yelled at the slaves. After a moment the door began to gradually open with much greater speed and Esha heaved the heavy stool at the nearest window.
She could hear grunting from the other side of the door, but after a deafening bang as the stool feel to the floor she screamed in frustration as she realised it had only cracked the window.
Her hands fumbled on the stool whilst the door opened more and more until it was finally enough for Darius to squeeze through.
Esha threw the stool at the window again, breaking a small section of it, but still it did not shatter as she had hoped it would, and now Darius was almost in the room.
Esha abandoned her efforts and instead picked up a nearby short vegetable knife and a carving knife, brandishing them at Darius who had struggled through the small gap he had created.
"Don't come any closer!" She yelled at him, trying to calm her breathing and remember her training. She took her stance, half turned to him with her feet wide apart to help her balance. She flicked her hair back and stood with the knives out in front of her, ready for him to come closer.
He had stopped, watching her a little warily now that she was not as helpless as she had been only moments ago.
"Don't be foolish, girl. You're only making things worse for yourself." He said, bending down slowly and drawing a dagger from his boot. "Stop this now and I'll only punish you lightly. I may even stretch so far as to not punish you at all." He was slowly walking towards her, but Esha lowered the points of the knives at him menacingly and he stopped, seeing that she meant business.
"You really want to fight this out? Why? The outcome will be exactly the same, only this way you'll be injured too.."
"The King himself has trained me." She hissed, gradually getting her breath back and preparing herself mentally for what lay ahead.
"That means nothing to me. I serve no King." He said, darting forward neatly and trying to dislodge one of her knives with an unnecessarily complicated move.
Esha responded with a basic deflection, twisting her own knife round his she spun around and kicked him hard in the hip, disarming him whilst he stumbled.
She kicked the fallen dagger behind her, hearing it hit the wall out of his reach with a satisfying thud.
"I see you've received the most basic training." He said, recovering quickly and backing away from her a little with a far more cautious expression.
"You got her yet? Get those knives off her!" The sudden exclamation from behind her made Esha jump and whirl around in fright. It was the booming voice of her buyer who stood peering through the small section of broken glass from outside.
She screamed when she felt Darius clap his arms around her, pinning her arms to her side. The knives flailed in her hands as she tried to bring them into contact with any of his skin but only succeeded in brushing his arms.
He propelled them forwards and into the sideboard, trapping her hands between her abdomen and the wood.
Esha suddenly stopped struggling as pain enveloped her middle.
She knew what had happened but she could not say it, and though surprised at her sudden passiveness Darius was not going to move until he knew she would not attack again.
"I'm going to enjoy taming you down." He hissed in her ear.
He frowned when she didn't reply; expecting her to fight for herself. Realising something was wrong he pulled her away from the sideboard and realised that only one knife clattered to the floor.
The other; the small vegetable knife, was buried in her midriff, it's end sticking out of her green dress and looking as out of place as Eustace did amongst the Narnian crew.
Darius gave a sigh of annoyance and spun her around, getting a good look at it.
Esha could barely breathe for the pain; it was taking everything she had not to scream and cry at it; even now she refused to appear weak in this man's eyes.
He looked into her shocked eyes and shook his head at her as though she were a child. "I told you you'd end up injured. This one's now useless, Father, a waste of your money!" He said loudly, turning her around so that her buyer could see the knife sticking out of her through the broken window.
"Oh...what a shame! Well...you could stop by the physicians on the way home and see if he could stitch her up..."
"Yes. I suppose it's always worth a try." Darius replied, beginning to propel Esha towards the door which had been gradually opened by the slaves, but she was not going to make this easy for him.
She tried to fight but instead found that she had no energy left and simply collapsed to the floor, putting everything she had into not screaming.
He sighed again and lifted her up far more easily than Edmund ever had, carrying her past the tired slaves. Esha would have liked to have struggled, to have fought him, but all she could do was loll her head against his shoulder and press her hands against her stomach in pain, fighting back tears.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Father." Darius called over his shoulder, going back through all of the doors Esha had struggled to barricade.
Darius put her in the back of his cart; he had no need to chain her down for she was in no fit state to escape. Blood was beginning to seep through her dress now; she could feel how quickly it turned from wonderfully warm to ice cold; how quickly she could feel her life draining away.