The Blood in Our Veins

Chapter Eleven - Life with an Assassin

By the time I was able to move without muscle failure, three days had passed and my 'guide' had managed to get us halfway home. We took almost no breaks and kept moving during the day and most of the night. It turned out that Farnoff had ten or eleven more assassins on his team.  I was watched constantly, as my skills were no secret among the men. Every two days or so, I was tossed some tough meat and stale bread. They were slowly weakening me, knowing that the closer we got to the palace, the bigger a fight I would put up.

If my old home was a cage, as I often compared it to, I had to admit it was an attractive one. It was really no more than that. An attractive cage. My ancles had been chained together and my wrists were shackled to the inside of a covered wagon. For the thousandth time, I pulled at my restraints in an attempt to free myself. Again I failed. I was kind of glad they had gone to so much trouble to keep me from escaping. Because of this, I knew they recognized me as a threat. They feared me, as all who believe they own the world do.

"When are you just going to give in? You can't keep resisting us forever." Farnoff reminded me. I groaned.

"Yes, I can. It's a free world." I retorted.

"Someday you'll realize that you can't keep this up." he said. I knew he felt that this was inevitable. Idiot.

"Yeah, and someday you'll realize you're an ass." I mumbled. The man next to me stifled a laugh. Farnoff looked furious, so, naturally, I decided to push my boundaries. "In fact, I recently developed a new power. I can read the future!" I cried. This was a complete lie, but they didn't know that... yet. "I see that in the next few weeks, your first and ONLY successful captive will escape, you will be aching all over after I kick you in places you never knew you had, and you will finally accept that you can never, ever, in the name of Maldein, EVER attract the interest of a female." All the men laughed harder.

Farnoff smirked. "That may be true, but a guy can try." He stood and inched closer to me. I instinctively backed away. He grabbed my shoulder and yanked me to my feet. With a single swipe of his blade, the chains binding me to the wagon were cut. I looked to Farnoff, shocked, then attempted to run. His arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me to his chest. "I don't think so." he whispered. Some of the assassins gave eachother knowing looks. I was dragged into the woods, alone with my kidnapper.

Without warning, Farnoff grabbed my throat and slammed me against a tree. He slid me upwards until I was eyelevel with him. He placed his knee between my legs, limiting my ability to struggle. My airways were cut off. He pressed his lips against mine, passionatley and desperatley. I would have puked, had my throat been able to let anything pass. His hand slackened, making me gasp for air. He took this as an open invitation into my mouth. His tongue moved against mine, and disgust finally gave me the stregnth I needed to shove him away. I fell to the ground, coughing and sputtering. Just as I thought I would, I retched over his boots. I would have laughed at the expression on his face, but lack of oxygen wouldn't allow it.

I composed myself and stood slowly. I stormed back into camp and sat on the ground by the fire. Farnoff walked calmly into camp with a smug expression clearly shown on his facial features. A man began to lead me back to the accursed shackles. I stopped him. I walked over to Farnoff, wrapped my hands around his neck and pressed my lips against his. When he began to kiss me back, I brought my knee sharply into his groin. He fell to his knees. I slapped him across the face.

"That's what you're missing out on." I said seriously. I waved off those who came to help him and walked back to the place I had been sitting for the past three days. I lifted each of the shackles in turn and locked them back on myself, despite the fact that they were useless due to the fact the chains had been cut in two. 

With the help of a comrade, Farnoff got to his feet and smirked. "I told you that you couldn't resist forever." 

"Shut up." I crossed my arms over my chest and pouted. a few minutes later, after the men had once again gathered around the fire for a drink, the one called Markus gave Farnoff a puzzled look.

"What in the name of Maldein is on your boots?" he questioned, disgusted. My captor glared at me. I laughed. He remained silent, but I was more than happy to answer. Everyone turned to me, confused.

"After Farnoff the Weak so rudely invaded my personal space, I lost my lunch over his feet. Which, trust me, was not easy to do. I barely eat anymore, thanks to you lot." Snickers erupted around me. 

"Farnoff the Weak?" one man laughed.

"Maybe she can read the future. If what you did can make her do that in these conditions, you certainly are cursed!" All the others, including myself, laughed harder. Farnoff got to his feet and calmly walked over to me. Uh-oh. Not good.

He snapped his fingers and all laughter stopped immediately. Two men hesitantly stood and made their way to me. I slowly moved back until the wagon blocked my way. The assassins yanked me to my feet and dragged me out into the open, where all could see me. Each man took an arm and pulled on them until my shoulders ached.

Farnoff launched his fist roughly into my stomach making me double over. The pair at my wrists tugged again, forcing me to straighten. His foot connected with my knee and I heard a sharp snap. I screamed, and my torturer's comrades looked to me in horror. I was pulled to my feet once again. Farnoff's knuckles slammed into countless areas of my body, before there was a brief pause.

The sound of wagon wheels and horses hooves could be heard. An infant's sobbs could be heard along with it. I knew that sound better than anything. "Lani!" I cried. The wagon stopped. While this had gone on, the fire had been doused and the wagon pulled into the woods. The rumbling of wheels began again, faster this time. I was pulled into the forest and a hand clamped over my mouth, muffling my shouts.   

The source of the crying we had heard finally came into view. Dimitri was steering the horses as he had during our journey. Grace and the children sat in the back, searching their surroundings with hope-filled eyes. Tristan sat up, his eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep and face swollen from countless tears. They were only a few meters away, painstakingly close to where we stood. I struggled more. After a moment, my twin's eyes locked with mine, but he saw nothing.

"She's here." he said with conviction. "I'm sure of it."

Dimitri sighed. "No. No she's not. If she was, we would have seen her. None of us need her anyway. Sindri was a burden. She is worth nothing to us."

"She is everything! Without her to lead, the Resistance will fall!" Tristan yelled. The wagon began moving again. The argument faded into the distance and I was flipped around to face Farnoff.

"Lani. What a pretty name. You'll have to tell me all about her when you wake up." My brows furrowed. In an instant, the hand holding my voice inside me left and a sweet-smelling cloth took its place. I held my breath for what felt like hours before my lungs betrayed me. I inhaled deeply and immediatley regretted it. My vision blurred and my head spun. I felt my body going slack and falling into Farnoff.

"Sweet dreams, Princess." he laughed. I slipped into a dark, dreamless sleep.

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Aw. Now I feel sad. They were so close, and yet so far! Now I hate Dimitri. I'm going to have fun kicking his soon-to-be-sorry a$$. In case you didn't notice, my notes are a lot funnier than the story. Since most of you don't bother to read this far into them, I congratulate you that is. HINT: THE LAST WORD OF MY NOTES ARE ALWAYS RANDOM! See you all later!

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