The sly flower and the bored butterfly

Rotting floor boards

" Be careful with that woman. Our Lord has- ........."
" Yes, if we ............afsdfdg............"

I heard some faint voices but I couldn't understand what they meant.
———————
　　" She looks like a wealthy woman, is it okay to take her?" I heard a voice.
" Why do you ask so many questions, you punk? Quick,move her to the boat." A loud voice shouted. My eyelids felt very heavy. I tried moving my head, I couldn't move it. It felt like a huge log. I tried opening my eyes, bad decision. My eyes hurt. I still felt a sting on my shoulders.My arms were sore and they were tied behind my back. My feet were also bound together. With much effort, I opened my eyes. Ugh, it's bright in here.

　　My throat was dry and my mouth was tightly covered with a cloth. I slowly raised my head, next to me was a frail looking man. His clothes were worn and dirty. There were several other people like him in this place. Weak, haggard looking people. All of them had their hands tied. Men and women cramped up.But they didn't have clothes covering their mouth. There were children as well. They didn't look any better. There were some men who looked strong. They were holding huge knives. They were the guards here.

　　I observed my surroundings, dark small room with no windows, floor boars that were beginning to rot. A damp, musty smell had filled the room. Soon, I saw familiar faces.The first face gave me a tiny ray of hope. The second face however,..... why is he here? I saw general Liu first. She had dressed up like an ordinary woman. She blended in the crowd with her clever disguise but I could still see through it.I saw his majesty next.He was dressed in rags like a beggar but I had seen him enough to know that it was him.

　　Our eyes met.His eyes widened and there was clear surprise on his face. He nudged general liu and made her look towards me. She also had the same surprised and confused expression." Look at these filthy low lives, they reek of poverty." One of the guards kicked a man. The man whimpered. The guard spat on him. The other guards jeered.I looked at general liu and his majesty. Shouldn't we do something? But they looked calm. He shook his head. ' Don't do anything.'

　　I understood that this was intentional. General liu and his majesty were here for some business. For a while, the beatings continued. No one protested. They seemed used to it. I looked at the faces of other people. They were not criminals. They were slaves.The practice of selling humans was abolished by our previous emperor. It is against our rules to keep slaves. His majesty must have came to investigate this case. Since he personally came here, how serious is this issue? For how long has this been going on? Since how long have they been suffering?

　　As soon as all of them left, his majesty and general liu scooted over to where I was.
" How did you come here my lady?" General Liu whispered. " Do you know that man?" His majesty shooed her. " Do you have any injuries?" I shook my head in response.He whispered again. " That's good. I cannot untie you. You will have to wait for some time." I nodded my head to show that I understood. I think I will be fine for now. No one noticed us. The guards came once in a while. They did not see that there were two others next to me. In their eyes, all the slaves looked same.

———————————————————

　　Three guards came in. " Stand up." One of them yanked a woman. " Keep your heads down." Another came and untied my legs. He eyed me first and then pushed me back. His majesty stood in front of me and General liu behind me. All of us crawled out and started moving." A noble will come to buy slaves. Once he comes here, the shadow guards will surround his men and take control of this area." A low voice whispered. " Hide among the masses." I nodded. That was what I wanted to do anyways. I had no reason to jump out.

　　I felt General liu tense behind me. " Here, these are the new slaves. They are illiterate and don't have family members." I heard a somewhat familiar voice. The owner of the voice appeared. He had a large scar on his arms.He was the gambling boss I had messed with. I tried gambling with him but he was cheating. When I exposed him, he tried to capture me. Fortunately, I was saved by uncle zhao. Uncle zhao had also injured his men. His sickly sweet voice kept on ringing. If he sees me now, things won't go smoothly.

　　The boss was trying to earn someone's favor. I saw a middle aged man wearing silk robes and carrying a sword. He was the noble. But his greedy look didn't make him look different from an ordinary thief. " They look strong enough. Have you made sure that there are no weaklings?" He glared at the chief. " Those sickly bastards caused me a fortune last time." The chief started fawning on him again, " No of course not my lord, they are perfectly healthy and can carry ten elephants at once." The noble gave out a dissatisfied humph.

　　They unlocked the jail and pulled us outside. We stood in a small group. One of the guards yanked me out. I fell flat on my face. He said, " Have a look at this one, boss." I was pulled up. The noble man told me to raise my head. I didn't. The boss came infront of me. " You—aren't you that, why yes you are. Since things have come to this I will extract my revenge you wench." He had already gestured his men to surround me. But general liu was faster. " We will start now, don't get startled." General liu leaned close to me. She made a quick gesture while raising her hands.

　　Before anyone said anything, arrows rained from the sky. People screamed and ran in different directions. I took that chance and went to the corner. The guards took out their swords and tried deflecting the arrows. However they were competing against the finest army of the empire. They did not last. Seeing that his men were injured, the noble man shouted, " What are you doing?! Protect me you fools."He unsheathed his sword and waved it in the air like a senile. The noble man was still waving his sword.I felt someone slip by me. " How dare you try to escape?" General liu roared. She had detained the noble man.

　　But she forgot about that wretched boss. He was approaching her from the back, he had a huge piece of wood. Dear lords, please protect that woman, I- " General liu look behind you!!!!" I bellowed. I charged towards her direction. But someone clutched my wrist." The Lieutenant General is here. He will save the day." His majesty said, clearly happy at how things had progressed. The Lieutenant General came down with his archers. He kicked the boss and landed punches on him.His archers clad in black uniform.They detained the noble man and the chief. All the slaves had been brought back.

　　" Lieutenant General Qin, greets your majesties." He immediately payed his respects. His majesty was already holding him by the arm. " Get up now, forget the courtesy." He stood up. General liu joined us. They exchanged pleasantries. " We should return back." Lieutenant General Qin said. " May your majesty decide the punishment after we return." His majesty gave a nod of approval. There was nothing else to be done here so we decided to go back. As I had predicted, his majesty had already made preparations for going back.

　　The hour of ram is about end. I'm not behind the time today. I was successful.
　　

.............................................

Hellooo!!!! How's it going? If anyone is confused about the time, I'm using the Chinese zodiac hours.

Thank you for reading ~~