A/N: 2 things: 1, sorry no quote this chapter, couldn't find a good one. 2, I know things have been going pretty slowly, but in this chapter things really start to heat up, maybe with the appearance of an aforementioned character? ;)
I left a while after dawn, promising to repay Avery and Nick eventually. I don't usually have much to do, so some days, when I know Jeb is at the market and the slaves are working, I play with some stray cats that live in the bushes surrounding his land. When I get there a little after sun high, a tiny gray one runs up to me, his white-spotted litter mate trailing closely behind.
"Hey, little guys." I pull out a bit of rabbit that Avery gave me to last a little while. Wentz and Hurley, that's what I call the kittens, eat it up eagerly at first, but Hurley, the girl, snorts at it and stops eating. Wentz eats Hurley's and his own, then snuggles up to me. I scratch his head, and Hurley blinks at me a couple times before chasing a falling leaf around. Autumn. My favorite season.
I tense when I hear a horse. Jeb. I grab Wentz and Hurley, because he doesn't like them on his land either, and dive into a thick bush. As Jeb walks past, holding his horse's lead, I think we're in the clear, until Wentz struggles out of my hands and leaps out at the horse's hoof. I bite my lip, the horse whinnies and she kicks her leg. Wentz falls to the ground, unhurt.
"Huh?" Jeb looks around and sees the kitten playing in the dust. He walks over, scoops up Wentz, and looks at him. "Now where did you come from?" He says. Then he turns swiftly to the bush I'm in and yells; "Who are you!?" I shakily step out of the bush, Hurley in hand.
"Hi-hi, Jeb." I say.
"You." He says. He grabs my wrists, and I accidentally drop Hurley.
"Hurley!" I say.
"Get on the horse." Jeb removes the bags, and yells at the nearest slave to put them in his house. He ties my wrists and forces me on his horse, and once I'm up there, I see all the slaves and the overseer are watching, including Melvin. He runs over.
"Sir, may I ask where you're taking her?" He says.
"Shut up, Melvin." Jeb says. I'm getting really scared about what's going to happen. Jeb starts walking us towards the city, bringing a slave with us, and I wonder why we're going to the marketplace. Only thing is, when we get to the marketplace, we continue going. Towards the prison, and the courthouse, and the building where whoever the leader of this place lives and has meetings. Four guards stand at the entrance, but he says something to one that allows us in, but the horse has to stay outside. The slave helps me down, and one of the guards walks us in. The room is blasting harsh music even louder than the marketplace, and both Jeb and his slave, neither used to loud music, cover their ears. The room is large and almost completely black, with a detailed, dark, chair at the end, black carpet as a floor, black walls with windows shaped like X's, and, next to the chair, a brown table, the only non-black thing, with simple wooden chairs surrounding it. In the big chair sits a woman with dark black eyes and long, straight hair. She stands as we're walked in.
"Who is this?" She speaks with a strange accent.
"He claims he has the one we're searching for." The guard says. The woman walks over, and I see she's wearing spiked heels.
"Music off!" She yells. The music is shut off abruptly, and she stares at me. "This is not her."
"What?" Jeb says.
"He said this was Rayna Klaga." The guard says. Suddenly, we're not in a grand, black room. We're in a small house, I think in the suburbs. It's raining, and there's...there's motorcycle's outside, and blood. Someone is crying...it's me.
"Daniel don't you understand that if Klaga finds us, we're dead!?"
Klaga.
"Snap out of it!" I open my eyes to find the slave is shaking me, and I'm crouched on the ground with my hands over my ears. The guard, the woman, Jeb, and the slave are all staring at me.
"What is your name?" The woman asks me.
"N-Norma." I say as I shakily stand.
"Last name?" She asks.
"I..." I trail off. "I think it's...Haish." It's the first time I've ever said the word, but it's not foreign and it's definitely my last name.
"Listen, ma'am," Jeb says.
"Call me Gorgol, slave keeper." Gorgol crosses her arms.
"I honestly thought she was the girl you're looking for." Jeb says.
"I won't throw you to the rats, just yet, Mr. Indie." Gorgol says. "But if you bring me another false girl, I WILL." Jeb hurriedly drags me and his slave out, but just before we leave, I catch one last sentence from Gorgol to her guard; "This rebellion will never be stopped if the daughter of Klaga is still free!"