Two Graves - The Song of Nephiah and Brelyna

Chapter 7: The Girl Who Wasn't There

Darkness. The heavy door swung open, filling the empty room with weak light from the torches in the corridor. The giant Nord effortlessly threw Nephiah in. She crash landed on the rough wooden floor. It hurt a lot for her hands were tied behind her back and she couldn't use them to break the fall. She cried, she was hurting all over and just wanted to go home and see her parents. The fact that that is something she would never be able to do again had not yet taken hold. Then a Bosmer boy was thrown in after her.

The man turned to his side. "Hey, Siegalf! What are we supposed to do with them.", he said in a deep voice. Another man was standing behind him, examining the contents of a coin purse he held. "I don't know. The boss thinks there's people who will pay good coin for slaves. We made away with months worth of food from that raid, I don't think this is worth the hassle." "Let's go ask him then." The door was shut and locked, darkness again. Darkness, filled only with the crying of children.

The heavy door swung open. Both Nephiah and the boy shielded their eyes from the sudden light that they hadn't seen in hours. A bearded man in a hooded robe stood in the doorway, his face shrouded in shadow. "Just those two?", he inquired. The two men from earlier were standing behind them. "You said to take the children and kill everybody else." "Adults are just infinitely harder to train. There will be more." "Train them?", the giant said, "Not even my dog will listen to me." The hooded man turned to him. "Yes, my simple friend, we shall leave that to minds more suited to the task. Send Frokwulf to my room, will you." He turned away and left. "Frokwulf...", the giant shuddered, "...that sadistic bastard." He let go of the door he was holding open which then fell into its lock on its own. Nephiah could still make out what they were saying. "You know what he did yesterday? He hacked off a farmer's hands and feet and had him crawl to his wife. Only to slit her throat shortly before he arrived." "Yes, he has always been creative when it came to killing. Just stay clear of him." "You're supposed to run them through or take their head off, this is just not right..." Then they had moved too far away to be understood.

"Are you there?", the boy whispered. "Yes." "What's your name?" "Nephiah." "I am Arlan. What do you think they'll do?" "Something terrible..." "My mother told me that all life is connected and that if you hurt someone, you only hurt yourself." "Where is your mother now?" Then silence.

The heavy door swung open. A man holding a torch entered and began walking along the walls and lighting dry torches, illuminating the room. The children curled up and squeezed their eyes shut. He kneeled down, grabbed Nephiah's chin and ungently turned her face towards him. "Pretty eyes.", he said in an unsettling way. He stood back up and walked back to the door. The hooded man had entered behind him. In the light his long black beard could be seen. "I'll train them for you. But I want that one for myself." He pointed at Nephiah. "That's an Elf. Those are particularly valuable." the hooded man replied. "I know. I will train her as an example. Then I will show you what I can do. Then I will train any others you bring me. And I keep that one for myself." The hooded man looked over to Nephiah, a curled up ball of despair. "How about you show me what you can do, and then we'll talk again." "Sounds like we have a deal." The hooded man left the room. "My name is Frokwulf. We are going to get to know each other very well." With that he left as well, slamming the door shut behind him.

The children looked at each other with fearful eyes. Their hands were still tied behind their backs. "What should we do?", Arlan whispered. Nephiah scanned the room. There was a pile of straw in one corner and an empty bucket in the other, the room was practically empty. She shoved herself over and turned so her back was facing him. "Can you reach those ropes?", she asked. Arlan immediately rolled over so their hands touched. He worked his way up until he found the binds.