Journey

A carriage carried Dahlia to the outskirts of the kingdom, the last bit of chivalry Draco had the decency to supply her with.

By the time the carriage arrived, it was dark out and another wooden carriage was approaching her. It was nothing similar to a royal carriage albeit larger and it looked sturdier.

Dahlia clutched the hem of her dress and took shallow breaths to calm herself. Regardless of how much she managed to control her emotions and prepare herself for this moment, the fear of what would happen next felt suffocating for her.

Once the carriage stopped in front of her, a scrawny-looking man got down and examined her from top to bottom. "Is she another one?" The man asked.

"Yes. She was sold directly by the king." The chaperone who accompanied her there spoke.

Dahlia knew Draco was the one who sent the chaperon with her, not because he was worried for her safety but so he could make sure she didn't escape her fate as a slave. Till the end, he was meticulous in making her life miserable.

"Raise your arms." The man ordered.

Dahlia didn't put up a fight and obediently raised her arms, unsure of why she was doing so but careful not to voice out her queries.

The man took a few steps toward her until they were inches apart. He then began to search her body and the pockets of her dress presumably to ensure she had no weapons or anything remotely dangerous on her.

While searching for anything dangerous on her body, the man didn't shy away from feeling the curves of her body and touching her inappropriately. He even threw in a few perverted glances here and there but Dhalia made sure to avoid it.

'What a gentleman.' She sarcastically thought to herself.

He did more of touching her than searching for weapons.

'I could have snuck in a dagger and this fool wouldn't even notice it.'

"Get inside the carriage." The man said to Dahlia once he was done exploring her body.

There was no ounce of respect in his tone but to be frank, Dahlia wasn't expecting any, she was no longer a woman deserving of any respect after all.

Doing as she was told, Dahlia got into the back of the wooden carriage. Inside she counted six other young girls like her.

None of the girls raised their heads as she got in, each of them was trapped in their minds with some even looking lifeless and hopeless.

Dahlia quietly took her sit on the far end of the wooden bench closer to the outside. A rather disadvantageous choice since it was a chilly night and she had no cloak to provide her with extra warmth.

Within a few minutes, the carriage started moving and Dahlia watched as her kingdom slowly went out of her view not knowing whether she would ever step foot there again.

The forest they passed by was as quiet as a graveyard, the only sound that could be heard was the sound of the carriage wheels rolling on rocks and leaves. Through the gap in the tarp covering the carriage, Dahlia could see a grove of trees in the dense forest they rode through.

The branches and barks of the tree covered by a thick layer of fog created a scary aura in the forest. It looked like there was something or someone ominous lurking in the dark, staring right at them, waiting for the proper moment to strike.

Not wanting to scare herself with her overactive imagination, Dahlia peeled her eyes away from the hypnotic forest and focused on the interior of the carriage. Some of the girls were asleep while others were fighting the urge to sleep. They had been riding for over two hours without uttering a word to anyone so the urge to sleep was getting stronger with each passing second.

Regardless of how tired her body was, Dahlia kept her eyes and mind on high alert. She didn't want to be caught off guard in case anything happened.

Occasionally, the carriage would stop when the men needed to ease themselves or take a water break. The girls also used that opportunity to stretch their legs and ease themselves too but as usual, none of them said a word to each other.

Dahlia used that time to observe her surroundings, it was nearly sunrise and the forest wasn't as dark but it was still too early to consider it safe. There were three large men with them, each having daggers hanging decoratively on the waist belts and in their boots.

The scars on their bodies were a silent declaration of how strong they were and how frequently they fought.

She considered running away but it was clear that the men would catch up to her and kill her in no time if she dared do that and if they didn't, then whatever was lurking in the forest would probably get to her first and the prospects of that was scarier.

While all the girls were sitting in the carriage, feeling cold and hungry, the men lit a fire outside and used it to keep themselves warm and roast a rabbit they caught earlier.

They even had the luxury of drinking water from a stream not too far away from where they were while ignoring the starving girls in the carriage.

After having their fill and replenishing their strength, the men returned and continued the ride.

The journey went on for a week and in that time, while the men were treating themselves well, the girls only had a few sips of water and three slices of stale bread wrapped in a cloth a day. None of them could even take a shower and as a result of that, the carriage had an uncomfortable odor.

It also didn't help that in those seven days, none of the girls said a word to each other. They were all slowly losing their minds from not having proper conversations with other people for a whole week.