Nereyda

Chapter 6 || The Beginning of the End

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Chapter 6 - The Beginning of the End

The changeling girl cowered against the wall as Kai tightened his grip. Bubbles of anger popped in his veins. He hated them. He hated them all.

"P-please," her breath of air would have been unintelligible to him had it not been for his heightened hearing.

"Drop the act," he shouted. Everything about her screamed 'evil whore'. He refused to carelessly lose his people to the Five Nation's brutal slave trade.

He'd never seen an 'ensnarer' on this side of the sea, but that didn't mean he was blind. Beauty rushed in torrents from the girl, and the damsel in distress story she pulled was just far too coincidental. Plus, the Anellian clothes she wore gave her away entirely.

"How long have you been recruiting?" He hissed, loosening his grip slightly for fear that she would pass out. Then again, Anellian's hadn't exactly been known for their interest in keeping slaves.

"I-don't-you," she choked out incoherently.

His anger would have had him strangle her there against the wall but the logical part of his mind continued to whirr as always. He needed information from the girl more than he needed to kill her right that second. Fucking siren.

In a flash he spun her so she was facing the wall and a split second later, her hands were tied uncomfortably behind her back.

Kai stepped back and tried to pull the white haired girl along but she went limp and collapsed into him. He caught her reflexively, looking to the skies and wondering how his day had taken such a turn. An ensnarer in Craine City? This was insane.

Sighing with resignation, he hoisted the unconscious girl onto his shoulder. Perhaps she was an Omarian in disguise. But that couldn't be right either. Her skin was the creamiest of whites, glossed over with a light caramel tan. Nothing like the burnt chocolate of the sand people.

He walked as he thought. Perhaps she was an escaped slave... the thought made him feel bad about his actions. He grabbed her limp forearm to check for a serial number, systematically going through all her fingers. The draping of white skin over bones remained unmarred by black numbers.

Kai immediately stopped feeling bad about his actions. Slaves hadn't escaped this way in years. But then, ensnarers hadn't been here either.

His head spun at the puzzle. What Anellian had white hair anyway? He could count the number of people he'd met with hair that blonde on one hand, and they were all part of the same family. Perhaps she was a witch? It was possible, she had the look of one.

Whatever she was; ensnarer, witch or lost human, there was no way Kai could turn her in to Nefasu. She could be a serious danger to Craine. Especially if he was right and she was here to kidnap his people.

+++++

Her whole body pulsed steadily. Beating, beating, throbbing pain. What she thought were her eyes wouldn't open. She tried again. There we were. The grime which had been gluing them shut separated.

There was an dark orange glow to her right but she daren't look in that direction before having a better grasp of her surroundings. The ceiling above her seemed fairly low from where she lay, the creamy colour splashed with bleeding pieces of brown and black. In places the paint even dangled completely free of the plaster. It reminded her of the hastily painted suburbs in Paladu. Oh gods she missed home.

"You're awake," a rumbling male voice spoke from the direction of the light.

Nereyda hesitantly shifted her head to face the right. The events of the previous night grew vivid with the sight of the blonde man. He sat on a simple stool next to the light, hands clasped and elbows resting on his knees. A knife sat on the table beside him.