Drakkon

Chapter Eight

    My eyes fluttered open and I was momentarily blinded by the blaring sun. Squeezing my eyes shut, I realized much too soon the situation I was in. I had been kidnapped by two men and there was a huge chance that I would lose my virtue and die pathetically. The back of my eyes burned as my body trembled in fear. There was bumping and constant moving all around me and it took me a second to realize that I was stuck inside of a wagon.

    Sitting upright, I noticed that I was bound by the hands and ankles, a loose cloth hanging around my neck—most likely the one that was used to bind my mouth before someone had loosened it. I glanced around me and instantly paled when I took not of the dozen or so men around the wagon-carriage. Dirty men that reminded me of bandits and some normal looking men with weapons, were walking casually as a horse pulled the carriage I was in.

    One of the men, a man with a row of yellowed teeth and deep brown eyes, nudged one of his comrades and jerked a thumb at me. "Look here, the Dragon's whore is awake."

    Instantly, a couple of the men glanced over at me, a few snickering while others looked mildly interested. A few were even shooting me lecherous looks.

    "She's as pretty as they say she is," another man said as he walked next to the carriage. He had a giant scar riddled across the side of his face, running through his mouth and twisting the side of his face. He leaned forward and grabbed my chin with rough hands, his dark eyes glowing with malice. He turned my face and grinned widely. "A beauty worth remembering, is what they said, didn't they? No wonder that damned Dragon chose her."

    My eyes were wide and my mouth was too dry to speak, my entire existence rattled to the bone at these dangerous men around me.

    "Feisty too, look here," the man said as he let go of my face. He pulled Meilin's dagger out from his belt and held it up, the black of the blade glimmering beautifully in the light. He tilted the blade and the others stared at it in awe. It was such a beautiful and dangerous looking dagger. "She was flailing this thing around trying to cut me last night. It's a beauty, isn't it? It'll catch a high price."

    I paled. That was Meilin's prized dagger, the one that was important to him. Even though I had gotten kidnapped, wouldn't it have been better if his dagger wasn't involved in this mess? I couldn't help but feel bad for not taking care of his cherished weapon.

    "Pretty little thing, Akio, but do you think that's the Dragon's dagger?" one of the men asked. "Doesn't he carry around a black blade?"

    The man that had been touching me, Akio, inspected the dagger before shrugging. "Doesn't matter, I'll be keeping it. If it is the Dragon's dagger," he grinned widely, his teeth bared, "then that's even better, considering I'm planning on taking everything he holds dear." He twisted around to look at me, his eyes glowing with malicious intent as he reached forward and grabbed my hair, tugging at it and smiling wider when I yelped in pain. "Including the Dragon's little whore."

    He held my long hair in his hand and pulled me until I was leaning against the carriage, almost about to topple off of it if he yanked me any harder. He brought his face close to mine and a smile twisted his already scarred face. "You see this scar here, little miss?" He let go of me and ran a finger down his scar. "The damned Dragon gave it to me at the Battle of Blood, the last battle during the war. He didn't even look at me as he did it, calmly shoving me aside for dead and moving onto the next soldier. He's a monster."

    I swallowed. The Battle of Blood was the last battle of the war and it was said that Meilin, along with his generals and commanders, took down the army mercilessly and it wasn't until the second time the enemy surrendered that Meilin accepted their defeat and marched forward to claim the throne.