For 22 years, young Emily Dawson has been traveling the world until she settles in a village by the mountains in China. Life seems to finally be going right for her, until the Hun army invades, and she falls into the clutches of their ruthless leade...
I sat silently in the back of the rickshaw, gazing at the horizon in front of me. It was difficult to see if the village was visible due to the rider on the rickshaw's bike obstructing my view. The canopy above also prevented me from looking at the sky, which I could only make out pieces of pale blue. It could be late afternoon by now.
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I could glimpse the Himalayas though, they were small but growing larger with each passing second. Definitely larger than the Alps, that was for sure, that was all I could see at the moment, and the warm wind from the South gently blew in notifying me that we were still a long way from the village. I was told by our guide that it would get cooler once we arrived there due to it being at the foot of the mountains.
I was also told that there was a pass through the mountains not far from the village. Going through it would be treacherous from it being so cold, but it was a shortcut to the Imperial city. I wanted to live there instead when we came to this country, but the merchant insisted that we start somewhere smaller to get his business running again, and with more success. That had been his goal since the incident in the Middle East.
My nomadic life began when my parents were murdered when war broke out Western Europe on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, where I was born. Their dying wishes were that I would be taken care of by somebody who would teach me to be independent. Someone who would teach me to defy the roles women were given now: Cook, clean, marry, and have children. That wasn't the life I wanted.
I had inherited my mother's auburn hair; only it came out redder, medium length with bangs and natural waves. I also had her nose: round and also middle-sized. People would look at me right away and ask why I did not have a husband yet because of my appearance. My cute hazel eyes, soft pink lips, fair smooth skin that men would give anything to feel underneath my clothes, and round shapely breasts that were not too large nor too small. I was thin and just the right height for my age, but the one thing I loved about my appearance the most, was my hair from it being my mother's.
I was a pretty face, but that did not make me desire to live the woman's life. When it came to personality that was what I inherited from my father. He was always chasing his dreams and wanting to travel the world. He believed that I would be given that chance someday, unlike him, as before his untimely death, he became crippled thus no longer being able to travel. But inside, he still wanted me to experience what he never could, so that's why he decided who my guardian would be when the time came.
All of my belongings were in the carriage behind me, as well as the head merchant who drove. He kept all his valuables in two carriages whenever we traveled, one for personal, and the other for the things he wanted to sell.
Carl Biffen was his name, and he had been my father's business partner since before I was born. He was a kind man at first who taught me how to take care of myself, but there were times when he would try to get me to be a more typical woman my age. It was like he never made up his mind about whether he wanted me to get married, or live as an independent woman no matter what people said. That irritated me, but I was happy he looked after me. Someone else could have taken me in, but it was him, and his occupation was a traveling merchant. Every place we moved to, he would try to start his portable mini-market. As a child, I would help him run it, but by the time I got to my teen years, I started to consider a different life; however, it would still be one that involved traveling, as I never imagined settling anywhere.
