They have been walking now for the whole day. There was only a short break of about 30 minutes. Lenja got a small wheat bread and a new bag of water. They told her that this bag had to be enough for the day. She would not get another one.
A large section of the riders had left them after the break. One of the women had fallen in the morning and broke her ankles. After exmining her the slave hunters killed her and threw her into the woods. Lenja had never met people so cruel like these men.
After the break this caravan of the despaired moved on to the east. When dawn broke they had come up between the last hills of the empire. The path in front of them lead softly downwards. The vision was free far to the east. On the other side of the hills the vegetation became quite less and about half a day walk to the east the desert began. The temperature had risen since yesterday. In front of the kidnapped villagers lies a blue heaven with no clouds. The road became stony and less visible. Eventually there was no road anymore. They would walk through the desert and only the knowledge and experience of their kidnappers would lead them to water und finally in the city where they will be sold.
Lenja had looked into her back at least every 5 minutes in hope of hearing the advancing knights of the empire. But they hadn´t come. Once they will enter the desert and can not be seen from the hills anymore, it would be difficult, almost impossible, for the knights to find them. The caravan leaders did not tolerate any delay. They rather kill the trouble maker and go on instead off loosing time. Most certainly they feared the arrival of the imperial knights and thus kept up such a high speed. Lenja wondered how long their march to the city of slaves will be.
The slavers seem to consist of two factions. When they rested for the scarce lunch, most of the armed riders gathered around a carriage. Their leader was a weather tanned desert dweller of about 50 years. They owed him a lot of respect. When he talked everybody was quiet and listened.
On the other hand there was a quite pompous fashioned man with pale skin who commands the carriages and the overseers. He had constantly two other men in dark blue long robes at his side. Their faces were all over scratched by arcane runes. They must be mages. But other like old Ranik or the Battlemages that Lenja had seen in the past, these two spell casters looked fierce, aggressive and bad mooded. They were feared by everyone. Only the leader of the caravan was easy with them.
Now they were resting for the night. They had gathered the slaves in small groups of 12 around a small campire. In the evening some of the riders had returned to the caravan. They surrounded their prisoners . The camps of the imperial people were in a valley besides the hills. They could not see the carriages. Most certainly they were hiding them somewhere else since the pathway to the valley was not passable for these heavy loads.
Early in the evening, when Lenja sat on the ground, stared into the fire and watched the nightsky the caravan leader came to her camp with one of his special guards. They both went to each of the women. They mustered the woman, raised their head to look into their eyes. Then discussed with each other and Lenja felt it was like on a cattle market. Obviously they checked the worth of each and the qualities that they bring.
Then it was her turn. She looked at them and tried not to understand them as enemies. Until the knights would free them she had to make the best out of her new life. Most certainly she would not get the best out of it if she acts weird, angry or ignorant. So she looked at them with curious eyes. They were totally other people and maybe there was also alot to learn from them. If she could not change her fate then she had to see its benefits.
When these two men mustered her and talked with each other, she asked: "Pardon, but what are you looking for?" The mage looked furious at her, but the caravan leader hold him back. He looked down upon her. "We just see who is the most worthless of you imperial scum." Lenja looked to the ground: "Oh really? You know when I go outside the village to search for herbs, I look for them because we do not have them in the village and they are valuable. If I would have to kill a wolf to get them, they would be even more valuable. Don´t you think?" The caravan leader laughed and hit the mage on his shoulder who also showed signs of a grin.
The man crouched and asked with a weird dialect:" What is your name Reshka?"
"Is Reshka the word for a girl? Am I Reshka ? My name is Lenja."
The two men looked at each other and the mage crouched down also and put his hand under her chin. She didn´t do anything and just looked him straight into the eyes. He nodded slowly, and while holding her chin, faced the caravan leader, saying some words in the foreign language. Lenja was sure that Reshka again was used. He was talking about her. She decided to learn this foreign language.
The caravan leader asked: "Who were your parents? Did you receive any education?"
"My father had been the best baker for hundred kilometeres in any direction. I learned some history, behaviour and akzentum. I love to learn languages. Maybe you can teach me more of yours? It can only be for the better of both of us if we understand each other."
Again she was asked a question: "How old are you?"
"I am eleven years since 2 month. I have lived all my life in Auenfries."
The caravan leader rised and said some words to his fellow. Then they went on to the next woman. But they did not talk with her. She looked away from the slavers and even turned the shoulder in their direction. The caravan leader hit her with his short 3 tailed whip on the back. She yelled in pain and laid down to the ground. Lenja felt sorry about her. When the two men had left she crouched to her and turned her around. The woman stared at her with aggressiv eyes:" How can you talk with those heathen bastards? Do you know what they did to me yesterday?" She pulled of her loosely bound blouse and showed her large battered and bruised breasts. "You can just be happy that you are so young. Don´t think that you are something special. They are animals. Bastards and heathens. The curse of the seven will hit them. If you ally with them it will hit you too!" Then she spit to the ground and turned away from Lenja.
Lenja was shocked. She could not move and her mind was busy with the talk of the woman. Was she betraying her people? Would disgust and stubborness be more appropriate? Maybe the woman was right. What if those men had injured her? She felt sorry for the women. For all the women in this train of sorrow. But she had to live on. The fate of them was not neccessarily her fate.
She remembered the words when she found herself in chains for the first moment. If she had no worth for the slavers, if she was a pain to be with and if she was ugly the slavers maybe would just kill her to not waste food and water on her. On the other hand, a cooperative, beautiful and maybe even talking a bit of the native language girl might earn a high price. If so they would care a lot for her and also treat her well to not reduce her value. Even though they all came from Auenfries - most certainly everyone of them would end with a diffrent master. They were all on their own. To hate them out of loyality and destroy her own future would be stupid. Maybe she would be able to help her people once she was living for a time at her new master.
These and other thoughts brought sleep over Lenja at the border to the desert.