CHAPTER 6- SHIT HAPPENS

Adriana sat hugging her knees at the bank of a small river a little distance from the market. Picking up a handful of stones, she stood up and paced. ''Bren you stupid...!" she sighed. "This water is your face Bren. And this..." she said raising up a stone. "...is what I'd like to do to it, right now." Adriana threw a stone into the water with force. Then she threw another, and another. Faster and faster, until all the stones were finished. Sighting more stones to her left, Adriana picked up the largest stone she could see and threw it smack into the river. It was so big it made a great splash! Wetting the toes of her shoes a little.

By now, Adriana's chest was heaving as she seethed with silent anger. But then, she pondered something. Why exactly did she feel this way? It wasn't like she was jealous of that alluring blonde that kissed Bren in the market...or was she? That was absurd! Came a voice in her head. Bren might've been a little more... okay, a great deal more attractive than the averagely handsome man, but he was still a stranger whom she barely knew.

Suddenly, she heard a rustle. Someone else was here! She stood up immediately, alarmed. "Who's there?" she called out. "Bren?... Gaius?" Suddenly the two slavers came out on either side of her. Immediately she seized a stick from the ground. "Who are you? What do you want from me?" she asked. "Calm down pretty little miss." said the black head as they drew closer. "All we want to do is talk." said the red head in his sweetest voice.

While the red head kept her occupied with a few words, the black head produced a small rag that stunk of alamanda mary gold. He inched closer to her as nimbly as a monkey and was about to cover her face with it, when she spun around and whacked him heavily in the groin. There was a loud yelp from the man, and with that as a distraction, Adriana broke into a sprint.

Unfortunately, before she could reach the market they overtook her, they being two men much faster than she. The two slavers dragged Adriana back to the river. "Let me go!" Adriana yelled as she struggled. Then she began to scream. "Help! Bren! Gaius! Anyone! Please help me!"

"Shut her up Jim! Shut her up!" yelled the black head pinning Adriana's hands behind her back. The red head covered her nose with the drugged rag, and her screaming instantly turned to a whimper as she passed out immediately. The black head then lifted her on to his shoulder and they trudged off with their booty.

However, oblivious to them, a noticeable part of her gown had torn off during the struggle and the shimmering pink material could not be missed in the wet brown mud .

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I was still sulking a little bit over what happened between Adriana and I when I got to the kiosk of the woman selling sweets. There was already a large crowd there. These things must be damn good! I thought to myself. Gaius squeezed himself out of the crowd holding a small parcel wrapped in porcelain.

There was still a small smile on his face which faded once he saw me. "Why are you here alone? Where's the Lady?" He said as soon as he made his way towards me. "She said you were taking too long, and asked me to come look for you." He looked over my shoulder as if expecting to see something. "Okay, then where is she?" He asked keenly weighing the bag of sweets he held in his hand. "I'm sure she'll love these ones. I picked them specially for her!" he said to no one in particular.

"Well, I don't know where she is." I replied expecting him to rain thunder storms on my head. "What did you just say?" he asked. "When she asked me to go after you, she didn't exactly tell me where I would meet her." I replied scratching my hair. I held my breath, expecting Gaius to burst into a fit of rage, but instead he shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh really?" He simply said. "Well she can be quite evasive at times."

Gaius tucked the sweets into his front pocket, then he started walking away from me. I blinked a few times in confusion before I regained myself and yelled "Where are you going?!" "We split up and look for her." He replied without turning back.

"Yeah, sure. That makes sense!" I muttered as I walked towards the pathway where I last saw Adriana before we separated. Back in Valeria, I was a skilled hunter, and anytime I played hide and seek, I never lost to anyone. I bent down, and examined some peculiar footprints in the sand. In the middle of the sole, were the initials 'Ad' . From what I concluded, only the rich in this town could have the time and money to design their initials on their shoes. Ad .... Adriana? Judging from Adriana's height and weight, there was a ninety percent chance that these footprints were hers, I thought. I felt all my tracking senses come alive in an excited swirl as I quickly began to follow the footprints.