Chapter Seven: The Rogue Attack
It was like Deja Vu to Olivia.
An arrow whizzed past her, missing her ear by just a little gap and burying itself into the chest of a slave who had turned upon hearing strange shouts.
The young girl fell to the ground with a thud and she was soon covered in blood as more arrows flew into her chest. Instinctively, Olivia ducked and then lay flat on the floor, knowing that arrows could not be shot in the direction of the ground.
The only thing she had to pray for was that she was not trampled upon by people who were running helter skelter.
"Stop shooting!" A voice boomed and after a few minutes the arrows seemed to stop. "We have to capture as many before reinforcement comes!" He screamed. "Make sure you target the slaves from the pack house and the women, they will be the most useful for us."
Tears brimmed at the corner of Olivia's eyes knowing that she had no hope. She raised her head just a little to look about fit Cassandra but she was no where to be seen.
"You there!" A man roared, walking towards her. He had a mask on so he could not see his face but his body was very muscular that it sent shivers down her spine. He looked burly like some of the men who had tortured her earlier on that day. "Get up!"
With shaky feet, Olivia stood up from the ground. She knew there was no point in fighting or resisting as the probability that he would beat her up or just carry her away, was high.
"I am not sure I might be of help to you sir," Olivia stammered. "Maybe you should just leave me here to rot anyways. I won't be of any use."
"Stop blabbering," the man hissed, dragging her towards where an extremely long cart was waiting with a couple of people.
"The chain is not long enough sir," a man whispered.
"Squeeze her in," the man said. "This one is weak, she does not seem to have stamina."
"But sir..."
"Don't you know that the more people we sell as slaves, the more money we get?"
"As you wish."
She stared at the men and she noticed a small incision on the sides of their faces where their masks did not cover.
The rogues!
That was what these people were called. She has heard several stories of them and their brutal treatment of their people and how they sold people off as sex slaves, maids and the likes. She did not dare to image what was going to happen to her.
Before Olivia could process what was happening, she was shoved into a cart that had girls lined on in rows and columns. Their hands and legs were chained in such a way that if one of them moved, the rest of them would suffer for it painfully as the metal cuffs already has a sharp edge that was cutting their skin just a little.
She was made to sit very close to the door as it was the only free space. She looked round the girls and the few boys that had been collected by this men and was disappointed not to see Cassandra, however she told herself it was for the best while she hoped Cassandra had not been taken by these men.
As the carriage bumped steadily along the road, Olivia's head continually hit the carriage door. It hurt so she tries to adjust her position but as she shifted her position to a more comfortable one, the door of the carriage opened and she tumbled out.
The wounds on her back hurt painfully as she landed. She had been so scared of the fall that she thought she was going to break her neck and die.
She rolled down the little hill the carriage was on and coughed up the dirt that has gotten into her mouth and nostrils.
She lay on the ground for a while, feeling weak and exhausted all the while hoping that the men from the carriage would not have noticed her.
She groaned in agony, tears streaming down her eyes. She could barely see anything around her or take notice of her surroundings as pain overwhelmed her senses.
After more than two hours, Olivia picked her self up to a sitting position, sniffling. She wiped her eyes and then got up from the ground.
She was glad that the men had not noticed her— if they had, perhaps they did not see her significance.
She looked about her and realized she was most likely close to the top of a hilly mound. She looked ahead to see that the road ahead was deserted and dusty. It was the same thing all around her so she decided to go to the too of the hill to see if there was any path she could take.
Her throat was dry and her lips parched, while her body ached incessantly. She knew that it was not long before dark and that she had no place to sleep so her only option was to keep moving.
As she got to what seemed to be the peak of the hill, she saw the footprints of a horse leading in the eastern direction. On the north direction she faced, she saw the trails left by the cart so she knew that the best place to follow was whatever direction moving Eastward went.
After what seemed like an eternity, she came to what seemed like a sparsely dense forest so she walked into it, hoping that it would lead her to settlement that had really kind people.
The woods did not necessarily welcome her, she could feel a slight drizzle and the chatter of birds were like a nuisance because she had a bad headache. Nonetheless, she kept traveling because she could perceive the odour of her kind.
From a distance, she could see the figure of a lone wolf standing atop of a small rock. It snarled upon sighting her— it seemed to say "what are you doing on these lands" but from gauging it, she knew that if this was a pack, the wolf was definitely not the Alpha. He just had to be someone powerful.
That thought however was lost in her mind when it charged towards her with full speed.