Of Winds And Quakes

9. The Scars

Year of the Lilies
Torrid Season
Unknown Road
Unknown Place

Mavli

MY EYES OPEN SLOWLY and I immediately wish it hadn't. I want to sleep this nightmare away. I wish I'll woke up in the hut beside my sister like I did yesterday.

Yesterday feels like another lifetime. It's funny how I took the simple bliss of being at home, of being with my mother and father and sister for granted. I'd give anything to be with them right now. I wish I can turn back the hands of time.

The huge cart moves beneath me almost fluidly, its rhythm is almost comforting. I can hear the cantering hooves of the horses that pull me further away from the only life I've ever known.

The sound of hooves are almost like a lullaby. Almost. Nothing can comfort me in this state of grief. I'm nothing but a girl in a cage being carried to my death. My head is throbbing, my lips are cracked, my throat is dry and my body is aching. My back is burning like I'm being suspended over a raging fire. I try to feel for the arrow that was lodged there but I feel nothing. I'm sure I've broken a couple of ribs. The arrow was pulled out, but if the arrow was pulled out I'm supposed to be dead. Pulling out an arrow would cause me to bleed to death.

I try to feel for it again when I realize that a thick cloth has been tied around my waist, the cloth reeks of a stench I identify as a healing herb. So the masked demons have a heart, I'm duly surprised. Who are they anyway? Why the raid? Why would a human being subject another human being to this kind of torture?

In a short distance away, I hear animals hoot, bark, crow and neigh. Sounds of the morning. I wish I could be with them, I wish I could transform into a tiny bird and fly out of this cage that holds me prisoner.

The sun is rising at the horizon,  it spills pink and golden colours. Its light is too bright, I shield my eyes with my hands. If I wasn't in so much excruciating pain and confined in a cage, the sunrise would have been a sight to behold but not today. Not now that I'm a captive, lessened to the level of a lowly beast. My dignity has been snatched away and ripped into shreds.

I can't cry. Tears have evaded me. I've got no tears left, I've shed all I could.

Besides, I don't want to seem weak because that will make my captors glad. I don't want them to be satisfied when they gaze upon my swollen tearful eyes.

Surrounding me are other cages holding people. We are tightly placed together three cages high and five cages wide. I'm at the edge of the cart so I can see our surroundings.

I glance around to see if there is any face I can recognize, but all the faces are mutilated by grief and pain which makes them unrecognizable. The people don't look back at me or even utter a word. Some are asleep, or dead. The ones I suspect are dead are too still, they don't move; their chest doesn't rise and fall to show they are breathing.

A cage is above mine but I can't raise my head to see, my neck - and every other part of my body is stiff and protests with every move I try to make. Beside me is a girl, unlike me who is fully clothed, she's naked. Her body is filled with cuts and scrapes and all of them are leaking blood. Her arm is bandaged too with the thick cloth that is damp with the pungent smelling herb and stained with blood. There is dried blood mixed with dirt all over her body. Her hair has been ripped out from several places on her head and it too is coated with dirt and blood. The sight of her makes tears wall up my eyes, I tear my gaze away. She is no older than I am. In her eyes are pain, too much pain that she shouldn't have to suffer.

The air is thick with the foul odour of dirt and blood and sweat and urine and hopelessness.

I try to keep my eyes trained so it won't wonder off to more heartbreaking sights but my eyes won't obey. In the cage in front of me is a shrivelling bony frame, the shaking body is a sight for pity. Immediately, my own pain becomes unimportant as I stare at the half-dress boy.

His face is scarred with deep slashes and cuts which has disfigured him beyond recognition. His eyes are swollen shut and is face is covered in dried blood. A warm tear rolls down my cheek, I sniff and wipe it off with the back of my hand. My hand stings in response and I examine it; my hand is covered with thin cuts and shallow bruises. I don't remember sustaining such injuries but it's nothing compared to my predicament.

The only thing that makes me convinced that the thin boy is still alive is the periodical rise and fall of his chest which is made out of  nothing but his ribcage and the shuffling of his feet. I can only imagine the pain he is going through. Looking down at his stick legs, I spot the deep wounds on his shin - about three of them. Why wasn't his leg bandaged? Did they expect them to die so they didn't bother to waste their cloth on him? If I just stretch out my arms, I'd touch him. I want to touch him, to comfort him but my body is defiant, rebelling and doesn't belong to me anymore.

I rest my heavy head on the back of my cage and try to calm my fears but to no avail. There is no way I can deny that we are nothing but spoils of a raid. We would be sold off to the highest bidder as slaves for the rest of our pathetic lives. I'll never see my parents again, I don't even know if Cirok is alive, I don't know if Alysia escaped or got captured.

Alysia.

Fury builds inside me. I'll never get to see my Alysia again. Warm tears roll my cheeks in narrow paths, I would have never thought I'd regret what I said to her. I'd never forget the hurt in her face when I called her a witch, the image is planted firmly in my head. I had provoked her into causing the storm, I had pushed her to the wall. I'm such an evil person. I doubt that I'll ever forgive myself. The only way to redeem myself from the grievous sin I've committed is to find her. I need to find my Alysia, my sister, my confidante, my best friend.

I was mean and disrespectful. I had put myself first and never gave her a listening ear. I was so consumed with the desire to be married to Cirok that I didn't give a thought of what she was telling me.

My thirst and pain are nothing compared to the agony in my heart for hurting my sister. I'd give anything to be reunited with her.

My sniffs and cry becomes so loud that the naked girl beside me turns to me with wild but pained eyes.

"We'll be comforted".

I wish I could believe her.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It made me tear up a bit. Up next is Alysia's POV, I know you are anxious to see how she's faring...

Thanks for all your comments and votes. If you'd like to continue this journey with me, add this book to your reading list.

Cheers.

Your tearful author, Lixxie.