The Outskirts: The Sky Raiders (Jace x OC)

Part 8

I swallowed my nervousness and tried to sound confident as I said, "Let me guess, we become slaves."
"My vote was to take away your hands and feet as an example. Slavers can't have people swiping their merchandise. Bad for business. But . . . princess, you caught me in a good mood. How often do that happen, fellas?" Ansel said.
All the men found somewhere else to look.
Ansel took a step closer to me. "Notice how they don't answer? Well that's your answer. But we made a final haul tonight, best we've had in a while. So I'm going to grant your wish and take you as slaves." He raised his voice to a yell.
"Sécha? Tag them! They'll walk behind the rear wagon tomorrow. No food or water. We'll let them keep their extremities, but that don't mean we got to coddle them. Shows over. Now let's get settled again. We start our march in the morning."
Ansel retreated several paces, boots shuffling on the dry earth. The women who had eaten the cockroach approached us with a lantern of her own. She held it out to me. "Your the one that swung your bag at the lantern." I nodded. She gave me a penetrating stare. I looked away.
"Look me in the eye, young lady." I looked back at her, feeling uncomfortable. She leaned in close. Never breaking eye contact. Her fingers contorted into weird positions. Then she examined my hands front and back.
"You have shaping ability, it's weak but there.
You wont be much use to the High King." She then moved onto Cole. Her finger contorting before she examined his hands.
"Worst of the lot," she said. "No shaping potential at all. The High King wouldn't pay a lead ringer for this one."
Ansel shook his head. "Had I known that, I would have made and example out of them."
"Still could." said Secha.
"Nah, I already passed judgement. Following the wagon will suffice." Ansel walked off.
"Be glad I'm not in charge," Secha said. "I would have fed you to Carnag."
"What's Carnag?" I asked.
The men guarding us laughed at our ignorance.
Secha frowned. "Depends on who you ask. The reports are mixed. But consensus is that Carnag is a monster like we've never seen in all of the five kingdoms. People are scared. We're not to far from Sambria, where the monster has been prowling."
"Your right," Cole said. "I'm glad your not in charge."
"Let's get this bond mark on so you can turn in."
Secha said. "Hold out your hand."
I went first and extended my left hand. Secha produced a drawstring bag and dipped her middle finger, which had a longer nail than the rest of her fingers, in the bag.
"Hold still," she told me. "Help her." She ordered the men. One slaver grabbed my arm just below the elbow, the other braced himself behind me.
When her finger nail touched my wrist, it felt extremely hot and cold at the same time. I clenched my jaw and gritted my teeth to avoid crying out. I wanted to yank my hand away, but the slaver held my arm in place. Secha moved her lips as she traced a simple pattern with her fingernail. Then she backed away. The bondmark she had drawn glowed an angry red. It still felt hot and cold, though not as intense.
"Try not to touch it," Secha advised. "You'll slow down the healing."
She moved onto Cole, who cried out in pain.
When she was done, the redhead marched us over to the rear of one of the cages.
"Not a sound." He threatened. "We will reorganize slaves by value in the morning. The best go up front. You'll walk behind the last wagon."
He chained us with a tight manicle on our unmarked wrists, then walked away. I didn't know any of the kids in this wagon. They were pretending to be asleep, but I saw a few peek at us.
"I suppose we should try to get some sleep."
Cole said. I nodded. We got down on the ground. The earth was hard and lumpy. The chains weren't long enough to let our hands rest in the ground, so they hung a few inches up off the ground. I couldn't see Dalton or Jenna.
Their wagons were covered but shadows. The night grew quiet, and I listened to the pops and crackles of the campfire as I drifted into sleep.

~Timeskip~

The next day go worse with every step. We were chained to the rear of the last wagon. We had to deal with more dust than anyone. The kids in the cages got dusty as well, but at least they could turn their backs to it. I found that staying really close to the wagon, squinting my eyes, and covering my nose and mouth with my unchained hand, and keeping my head down helped a little. Most of the time, me and Cole had to maintain a fast walking pace to keep up with the wagon. The mounted guards wouldn't let them hold onto the bars, but we stayed close enough to tough them. Up inclines the wagon went slower, and on declines it went faster. The land remain more or less level, with no major hills or valleys.
By the time the stopped for lunch, I had felt hungrier and thirstier than I ever had before, and I could tell Cole felt the same. My shirt and shorts had turned brown from the dust. My mouth tasted like it tried to eat the prairie.
The wagon formed a loose circle while they ate.
Me and Cole sat together, not talking because of how dry our mouths were. I dusted of my shirt, the brown turning back to grey.
Most of the kids in the wagon avoided contact with us. Nobody tried to toss us any food, because they didn't want to end up with us, chained to the wagon. I didn't blame them.
Dalton and Jenna were in the furthest wagons, I knew they would toss us food if they had been closer. I tried to smile when they would look at us, but I'm pretty sure it looked more like a grimace.
The wagon started rolling again, and my legs felt stiff and cramped. Maybe resting hadn't been the best idea.
When the wagon started moving, I didn't look at the guards. I didn't watch the kids in the cage. I didn't check the sun. I just kept my head down and trudged forward.
The afternoon grew warmer, and I was glad I got a tee shirt and shorts. Cole must have been roasting. He had pulled all the straw and arrows off his costume, but kept his hat because it kept the sun off of his face and neck.
At one point, Cole tripped and let the chain drag him for a while, but the guards yelled at him, so he had started walking again. The manacle on my wrist hurt terribly, and I was sweating.
When the sun started to set, my head was pounding painfully, and my tongue felt swollen.
When the wagon stopped, Cole collapsed and promptly passed out. I collapsed to the ground as well, but managed to stay awake. Ham gave me a small canteen of water, and a small roll of bread. The water was warm and metallic tasting, and the bread was stale, but it still tasted heavenly. Ham grabbed another canteen and started trickling water into Cole's mouth, followed by a little piece of bread.
"Learn your lesson yet?" Ham asked.
Cole nodded, clearly to exhausted to speak.
"What about you, princess?" I nodded, shoving small pieces of bread into my mouth.
"Want to join the rest of the slaves in the wagon?"
"Yes please," I said, and Cole nodded.
"Boss asked after you," said Ham. "Told him you probably wouldn't last another day on foot."
Me and Cole both nodded. He was probably right.
"Boss never goes easy on slaves. But you only tried. You never got away with nothin'. And you're his now. I expect he'll load you into a wagon."
Cole nodded feebly. "Hope so."
"You'll sleep here tonight. Try to get some shut-eye."
As Ham walked away, I whispered. "You okay?"
Cole looked at me, slightly smiling. "Never better." He said giving me a shaky thumbs up.
We laid down. The ground was lumpy. The camp was noisy. But falling asleep was no problem.