The creak sound of the wood jolted Bella from slumber. With eyes wide open, she remembered how she was dragged back into the pit. A deep sigh left her lips as she sat up and stared out the sky through the small opening from the pit to see the beauty of the moon.
Glancing hard at it, strange liquid took over her eyes. It must be the beauty of the moon, she thought, before lowering her eyes with a deep sigh.
"I wish I could just be like the moon," she thought out loud with tears streaming down her face. But she doesn't have a name worth knowing. No one here does. They all have always been addressed as slaves because that's who they truly are. And now, she's going to be in much hell than this if she ends up being at the King's palace... that she knew too well.
Her mind shifted toward Ariana who had always had her back. She wished something could just happen soon so that she'll be free... be free as a bird. And she wished Ariana would be with her. How fun would our world be?
As she thought on, her mind went to how Ariana had gotten her name. She was the happiest person on earth when she found out that she now has a name which was given to her by her first and last buyer before she was returned to the Garrison. And it was a miracle the boss did not care that she was brought back and didn't even bother calling her the name her last master gave her. But she does. She likes the name so well. It is much preferable to being called a slave.
Pulling her tired body up, she decided to walk around the pit as she always did whenever she was in a deep thought. And that was when she heard that same creak sound, the same one that had jolted her from slumber.
Closing her eyes, she focused on the wind, and she could notice a change in the air.
"Who would have come all the way here at this time," she thought. And just as she had questioned, an unexpected answer came in when a rope was thrown over to her through the top of the pit. A gasp left her lips as she saw the rope dangling side by side waiting to be held by her. Fear crept into her heart as she looked at the long way out of the pit. If she missed a slight step or got tired, she wouldn't be alive to tell the story if she dropped back into the pit.
Her thoughts were everywhere knowing it wasn't the guards who came to pick her up. Walking closer to the center of the pit she held on rope to give whoever it was a signal and on instinct the rope was drawn like a pail out of the well as she held tightly on it.
Her stomach grumbled as she climbed, reminding her of its concern toward food. But she ignored it and continued climbing on the rope. She must have been counting as minutes passed by swiftly, and the air grew thicker with each climb. The pain in her hand intensified, but she knew giving up wasn't an option. Whoever had thrown the rope must really have a plan to even try this. Therefore, she shouldn't be the one to mess things up. She can't be the one as she has a lot at stake, especially not when she was almost halfway to the top.
Thick sweat formed up all over her body, and her heartbeat was like someone put on suspense. Her limbs grew tired with each climb, but her will was stronger. After more minutes of climbing, she got pulled by a familiar hand. "No... No..." Her mind yelled. "It can't be..."
"Aria.."
"Shhh," the voice said, pulling her closer.
"Is she crazy?" Bella thought as she stared at her, waiting for any sort of information on what she plans on doing.
She knew they once spoke about running away. Every sane person must have felt the same, but they never had the plan to carry it out until now.
She felt Ariana's tight hold on her hand as she tiptoed hurriedly past the familiar buildings. Seeing Ariana wasn't giving her an answer, she cleared her thoughts and moved her legs as fast as she could.
They moved together, unnoticed by the sleepy guards as a smirk found its way to her lip. No one will expect this. Escaping is never a thing at the Garrison. It was deemed impossible, but now, with Ariana, she was not so sure of that.
Moving her legs further with Ariana still holding on to her like a mother protecting her child, they walked straight to the open forest, and the moment their legs touched the wet grass, a race began.
A new sort of hope and determination filled Bella's heart as she ran. However, the direction of the wind changed, and so did their escape plan when a familiar face caught up with them.
"The intruder!" Her heart screamed. "Oh, no!"
She could still remember his face, even in the dark. It was like she had known him forever, and her heart leapt.
"Is he here to stop them," she thought as they halted in front of him as Ariana pushed her back, creating a protection barrier.
Sinking her legs into the sand, she took a stance before launching an attack at the intruder who didn't even move an inch.
He didn't even flinch as he held tight on Ariana's two hands before shoving her far away to the forest ground.
Seeing this, Bella sprang into action to rescue Ariana but was held by the intruder who took her hand and inserted a ring into her third left finger. He stared hard at her finger as if he expected a miracle, and so did Bella. She stared at her finger too so as not to miss whatever he expected.
But after some long minutes of their staring contest, nothing happened, so he tried to take off the ring, but it didn't budge. Lifting his head up, he sighed before pushing her back toward the Garrison.
However, Bella wasn't having that as she pushed him back, stepped on him, even bit hard on his skin, which really hurt her teeth, but he did not even budge. He just turned around and grabbed Ariana like he had heard her coming. What is he? she wondered.
After trying different techniques on him and still wasn't able to get to him. She did something she never thought she would ever do.
She sobbed. Yes, she cried hard and even begged him to let them leave, but before he could say a word, soldiers filed in from different directions.
She saw the same man with the scar again, and the look he gave her could melt a mountain. Closing her eyes, she opened it and stared at Ariana and then at the intruder with a pleading eye, but that ended when she was shoved down by a rough hand.
"The two of them will be in my custody before we leave..."
Whatever was to finish the First in command sentence died in his throat when the intruder stared at him.
"Pick them up and tie them outside where we can monitor them. We still have some hours until dawn..." the intruder said clearly as he moved away.
