Capture his heart

Capture his heart

L.Hunter

My hands were stinging, in the bitterly cold morning air, where the skin had broken from too much hand labor in the garden and fields. But winter was coming soon and there was no time to worry about the vanity of one's hands when food and survival were on the line. Our lives were dependant upon the preparations we made now...

"Aloisia!"One would have expected me to flinch but after more than a decade of abusive owners, I had learned to simply not care about it as much.

It was about getting out.

It was always about getting out.

In a few months, I would be eighteen and no longer need to be under the care of Bart and Larka whom I was sold to after my parents died.

I was about to climb down from the tree where I hid some of my private belongings in the hollow before I got back to the vegetable garden when I spotted two men at the front door of the old wooden house through the branches. Not any two men; but giants, dressed in the royal guard uniform of the Imperium, clad in blue and gold.

That couldn't be good. Royal guards were never good. I watched as they handed Larka something and she called my name again.

What was going on? Why were the royal guards of the Imperium looking for me?

My mind flashed back to a few months before when I stole a loaf of bread in the market for a poor hungry boy. Not that I was less hungry at the time but I could do other things than beg on the street for money. I could hunt.

The problem was, with the imperium ruling Eahuthia and their corrupted and harsh way of governing, even something as pathetic as stealing bread resulted in a death penalty, for the humans that is. Our laws were set apart from those of the aristocrats and royals, all Imperium. All-powerful and corrupted and ruthless against our kind.

This could be my chance. My chance to get away though I had no clue as to where I would go. I could hunt, yes, but there were things in the Eahuthian forest beyond one's worst nightmares. At least that's what I'd heard.

Then again, I could take my chances with the mythical forest or with the royal guards and face certain death. So... the forest it was. I jumped down from the trees, my knees burning from the impact as they hit the ground and then I ran.

It wasn't long after however that I was clutched between the hands of two giants, being carried with my feet in the air. Turned out my slightly shorter legs weren't quite as fast as the giant ones.

I screamed and tried to bite them but it was to no avail.

That was until they put me down in front of a carriage beautiful and white with gold linings and horses that almost gleamed silver in front.

It didn't make sense. Prisoners didn't ride in fancy carriages. Certainly not ones being put to death.

"What's going on? Where are you taking me?"

"Get in." One of the giants huffed so deeply you could barely hear it before he shoved me in the carriage. I sat through the whole ride in confusion as the guards took me through woods and past grassy fields and rivers. We were quite a ride away from the Royal Imperium palace which was made with pure glass and gold on the inside. Just by looking at it, how proud it stood atop a mountain, everyone inside so filthy rich that they didn't know what to do with themselves, while my people were down here, starving.

If they were to bring me to the king, I was going to spit in his face.

What difference would it make? I was a dead girl walking anyway. When we got to the palace grounds, I was dragged past the courtyard, clearly standing out in my rags. Imperium were all around as well as the giants keeping patrol and the few odd nymphs here and there, tending to the gardens and teaching the small group of school children.