Trapped In Silence

Lucian

I awaken to the faint sound of muttering and mumbling outside of the carriage.

While I was asleep, it seems the other children were taken out.

It was just me left.

Attempting to think of ways to escape would be useless. While I asleep, they seemed to have tied my arms together along with my legs.

They moved my blindfold down over my mouth, allowing me to see, but now I can't speak, making any effort useless.

I was able to make out a few shadows through the thin sheet. They were spread around a campfire, some holding drinks. They were chatting, however I could barely make out anything they were saying. 

Moving up, I dragged my body over to the edge, allowing me to set my ear firmly on the tarp, trying to gauge the conversation.

"How much you think he'll fetch us?"

"Who knows."

"—off our hands, it'll be great."

They talked like this for what seemed like forever before one of them split out from the group to go take a piss.

I tried to stay close to the tarp, inspecting their every move.

There had be some sort of window.

Minutes passed where nothing had changed. The man still hadn't came back from the bathroom yet, which seemed to have raise suspicion for the other bandits.

One of them seemed to have lost their patience, shouting into the forests.

"Hey! You're wasting our time!"

After a moment, there was no answer, which appears to have enraged the man. He threw his empty glass over into the bushes before running off where the man originally went. As he went farther away, I could hear him whisper to himself.

"Damn piss break taking up all of our time. If were late, he's paying for it."

As he faded into the tall and cluttered trees, silence ushered over the makeshift campsite. That was, until just a moment later, where screams echoed through the forest.

The last man jolted up, pulling a sword from its sheathe. He trembled in fear as he watched the bushes rumble in the distance.

"If this is some sick joke, I'll kill both of you I swear," he retorted, clearly upset—however, he could not hide his fear. Both his arms and legs trembled, barely able to maintain balance. Whatever was coming was feared.

Not even a minute later, what appeared to be a dagger hurling through the air directly impacted the bandit in his chest. He choked up blood before clenching his stomach, as he tumbled backwards before tripping over a log, falling to the floor.

The culprit seemed to have stepped out of the bushes, as a shadowy figure taller than anyone that was in the camp stood.

Whoever it was appeared to be a male, one with a killer physique.

He wore tall boots with a torn cloak that seemed to fade down over his sides, and held a cigarette in his hand, still burning from the tip.

The man looked over at me, or—the carriage, I imagine. There was no way he could see me.

After staring directly at where I was, he began walking over, making his way to the back of carriage before stopping.

He unbuckled the latch that appeared to be weighing the tarp down over us before slinging the tarp back and away, revealing the man.

My vision was blurred as I barely made out the man.

I was tired, hungry—thirsty, everything.

After not even being able to properly observe the man, I passed out.

***

As my eyes began to open again, I notice something laying in front of me.

Clearing my vision, I rub my eyes before coming to my senses. It was one of the dead bandits, laying beside me, as his blood was still leaking.

Startling me, I let out a gasp before leaping back.

"Calm down there boy, he's dead. He won't bite, I promise."

I looked over at the man, who appeared to be on the older side, staring at me. His face was expressionless, but he seemed to mean well, which definitely made me feel better about the whole situation.

Staring at the man, I was unsure of what to say or do. My heart was still racing from everything that had happened.

It was all so new... it was so thrilling.

I raised my hand up to instinctively scratch my neck, which is when I had realized he had freed me.

"Don't worry, I don't wont kill you," the man quipped.

Looking back over at the dead body, than back over at him, I felt very weird. He could kill me, could sell me, or anything about now. While I could manipulate the spirit energy, I would stand no match. My body was still too young.

I finally decided to speak up.

"What's your name, if you don't mind saying? And why did you save me?"

The man smirked.

"Name is Draven. Draven Valtier. And about me saving you, well, it was entirely coincidental I suppose," stopping for just a moment before continuing.

"They had stolen some of my belongings in the raid and had vanished before I had arrived. Chased them down to here."

There seemed like a bit more to his story, however I didn't bother.

Whatever 'belongings' he is referring to doesn't seem to affect me at all.

"Well my name's Lucian, I do thank you for saving me." I always hated formalities, however in this case it just... felt right I guess.

Draven reached into his bag, rummaging through it. He dragged his hand back out after grabbing something, and then tossing it at me. It had appeared to be some sort of bread, however I couldn't quite tell. The cuisine here was interesting at best.

"Probably hungry, all yours."

I thanked him with a polite nod before shoving the bread down my mouth as fast as possible. I had ate like I've never had a meal in my entire life, or lives I suppose?

"Woah slow down there," he joked, before pulling out a bottle that seemed to have belonged to one of the bandits. He knocked off the cap as he proceeded to take a sip—oh wait, not a sip. He's still going.

And... the bottle is now emptying before my own eyes. And I thought I had seen people down alcohol in my day, talk about an alcoholic.

I let out a chuckle, bread still in my mouth. "Woah slow down there."

Draven kept drinking till the bottle ran empty, tossing it away. "Don't worry, I know my limits. When things start to get blurry and I can't walk straight—I know I had enough!"

"So," Draven looked up at me. "Got any family? Any place to go back to?"

"Nah. The only family I know of was killed in the attack," I began, no tears coming out. After all, I've witnessed more than a thousand iterations of my parents die before my own eyes at this point.

"Condolences, kid."

"Save them," I replied. "No use drowning in the past."

Draven continued to look at me, his brows now furrowed. "You look no older than 10. What creepy dictionary did you steal?"

"Actually, I'm 7. And none, I guess I'm just smarter than the average kid," meeting his gaze, I gave him a creepy smile, which made him let out a laugh.

It seems he actually has a sense of humor. That's good, at least.

The old man seemed to appreciate a good laugh, as it took him a second to calm down. "You get more strange by the second, kid."

***

At least a few hours had passed.

Both me and the old man, Draven, had chatted for a while. We talked about the town, our families, and about our lives in general—or his, specifically.

We had both prepared to go to sleep, using the tarps and other items that the bandits had carried with them through the carriages, some of them stained in blood. However, I was used to this kind of thing. I was just excited to get some sleep at this point.

"Hey, kid," Draven shot out.

"Yeah?"

"I'm heading over to the city of Vorrak, on the west side. You are, of course, welcome to join me if you'd like. I can help you get situated there."

"Well, I don't really have another place to go, so yeah," I shot back.

"Works for me," he replied, before giving me a smile as he turned away to sleep.

"Goodnight," I shouted, although he didn't reply.

Maybe there will be something cool in this life after all.

Yeah.

Something cool.