Ruma sat silently in her dark corner of the open 'room' as she watched her hooded captor meet with two other men.
"Garrett"
Her captor, Garrett apparently, nodded and mumbled his greeting. "Have they arrived yet?" The shorter man, to the right of him, shook his head "No the pussy's wanted to be fashionably late" The group laughed "And I thought Mordad was bad"
A second later, the sound of horses filled the room "I suppose we should get into position" One of the men said. Garrett stood his ground, in the middle of the room, while the shorter one grabbed Ruma and dragged her behind the two other men.
She could've struggled, but she knew that the overwhelming sound of horses, meant a royal was coming.
Ruma nearly fainted when her Father walked through the door, accompanied by a few other loyal soldiers. She guessed that she was wrong, maybe her Father did care.
The two groups faced off in complete silence for what seemed a lifetime. She wanted to scream and tell someone to make a move, that she was still in a quite compromising position and this machoistic bull was not helping anyone.
The taller man beside Garrett was the first to speak "Have you come with our payment?"
Her Father bristled as his guards dropped a massive bag in front of the masked men. The taller man, opened the bag to reveal a pile of light metals. Enough to create enough weapons and armor for an army. Once there used to be paper, but that was all destroyed when Radiation hit, now trade was a bartering system.
Now, unless you had something that was important to someone else, you weren't worth anything.
This was one of the ways that kingdoms had formed. Families who had been preparing for Radiation, had become leaders because they knew how to live and they had the resources everyone wanted and needed. These families came into power as they bartered their resources for allegiance and the skills provided by the others who had managed to survive.
From what it looked like, Garrett and his group had demanded enough metals to supply whatever coo they were probably conjuring.
The taller man stepped back and whispered something in Garrett's ear. Garrett nodded then stepped forward "Where's the rest"
One of the soldiers stepped forward to speak but was quickly interrupted by the King's outraged voice "That is More than what is deserved! Especially for the likes of you!"
Garrett calmly stepped forward, standing directly in the King's face "I thought that a King of the 'accepting' territory of Deloria would be much wiser with his words to 'the likes of us" The King swallowed "We may Tolerate you radiation soaked mutations, but don't think for a second that we Accept any of you"
Ruma swallowed, he was going to get her killed.
Instead, Garrett chuckled "You mean mutants like your daughter?" Her Father bristled while Ruma tried to keep her emotions in check "This is enough to either have her back or keep us quiet about her, not both"
Her Father's face turned smug "Keep her, I will have to tell Javier you killed her, but I don't care what you do with the rat" Garrett's form stiffened while the other men looked as if they were trying to keep themselves from strangling the man. Ruma fought her tears and the burning anger building within her. She had known her Father resented her, but she never wanted to witness his brutality.
"We don't kill our own. If you don't want her you will be paying us to take her as with any trade. Either way, it will cost you"
Her Father nearly growled "You should be the one's paying me! If you want her as a wh-" Garrett cut him off "I would evaluate your next words if you want to keep you tongue" The soldiers drew their weapons, ready to defend their pig of a King "And if you expect us to keep the woman, rid you of your burden, and keep us quiet about the Princess's gifts you will have to pay us more than what you have offered."
The King grit his teeth "What do you want?"
"If Mordad goes to war, or any other of your allies, against the Araidia or it's cohorts you will not lift a finger"
"Araidia is not even a territory or nation"
"You may be surprised"
Her Father seethed "Araidia is the glorified name for the pit of hell that your kind are supposed to be dying in. The wastelands. Hell. Even if the 'gifted' and unwanted mutations fought for something in the semblance of a nation, you would be crushed like the miniscule insects you are. With or without Deloria"
"So you agree to our terms"
"I agree to remain an isolated territory, neutral in this issue, if you take her and keep you mouth's shut."
"Those are our terms"
Her Father glowered at him "Fine"
"It is done then" Blindingly fast, Garrett took his knife cut his palm, then her Father's palm, and enclosed their hands in a firm grip. After a moment of tension, Garrett let go and stepped back into the shadows with his small group of men.
It took moments for Ruma's Father and his men to file out of the room and stampede away on their horses.
The group circled a few feet away from her, discussing what had just happened, leaving Ruma standing, lost, in the middle of the room.
Her Father had just sold her to this group of men. Now she knew they were most likely activists for the mutated... The unwanted... the gifted... people like her who had not been 'fortunate' enough to inherit her status. But he had no idea who they had been, the type of people they were. Mutated or not, they could be sadistic murders, cannibals, rapists. Men who would do vile things to her and prostitute her.
He had no idea if he was giving her away to good men. Decent men unaffected by the urge to do anything to survive or do anything for another day of pleasure as their existence in this irradiated world held no guarantee of another day.
He had just thrown her away. Asked them to kill her. Inconvenienced their nation to just to keep their Princess's terrible secret and get rid of her.
She knew he didn't care for her, that he even despised her. She knew that sending her off just before he killed her mother hadn't been for her sake, or the sake of their nation, but for his. In hopes that if she had more to lose, more on the line that she would disappear and continue to hide herself.
Just as he told her.
Just as her mother instructed.
But she didn't think he would got to these lengths.
Ruma sank to the ground, holding her head, curling into a ball under the thin light streaming in from the gaps in the ceiling.
Her Father wished she never existed, basically told strange men to kill her or do whatever they wanted to her.
Tears poured down her cheeks while a ball of tension curled inside of her, crushing the air in her lungs and thickening her throat.
He was going to tell her brother, the only person she truly loved, that she was gone forever. If she passed him now, he would simply think he saw her ghost. She would never get to say goodbye.
Pain coursed through her as tears poured from her grey eyes and the fire of her anger blazed deep in her stomach causing the tight pressure in her chest to grow.
She gasped for air, unable to breathe. Unable to hear anything else besides the blood rushing past her ears. Unable to see anything through her tears.
Unable to feel anything besides the consuming fire that burnt through her.
"Princess?"
Her hands and feet felt as though they were pressed against coals while the smell of burnt cloth filled the air around her.
She screamed as pain filled her and fire burned its way through her veins.
"Princessa, calm down" it felt as if ice had scalded her flesh as a pair of hands settled on her. She jerked back, crawling further away from the cold.
All she could feel was the fire, its pain, its warmth, its anger...
She grabbed her head as it pounded and doubled over as waves of heat blazed through her, bundling itself at her center, thrashing angrily back and forth
Then...
It stopped....
And everything went white.
************************************
"Hermosa, open your eyes, come on Princessa just once"
The voice was husky and deep, just as she remembered. It begged for her to open her eyes, wake up, open her eyes. Just as demanding as she remembered too.
She wanted to slap him and tell him to shut up, she was sleeping, it was warm, why couldn't he just leave her alone for once.
"If you don't get your beautiful ass up right now, I'll pick you up, throw you over my shoulder and toss you into a river"
Ruma rolled her eyes, and finally opened her tired eyes.
"Thank the stars" Garrett sighed
She looked up at him to see that he was covered in soot and angry red burns. She squinted her eyes, he was also shirtless. "Where's your shirt?"
He cocked a brow and reached to pull at the loose clothing covering her, she was too busy watching his muscled chest to notice as he motioned to the clothing she was wearing "Seeing as you burnt everything in this room to a crisp, you're lucky I had a shirt to give you to begin with.
"What?"
She sat up and looked around the room to see that the stone walls were now blackened while the ground was no longer covered in greenery, but ash.
She sat back as she remembered what had happened "Oh Fuck"
Garrett nodded, laughing "I think that other than the day we met, that's the most emotion I've seen from you yet"
She punched him in the arm, ignoring the sparks within her, "Shut up and help me"
He grinned "Yes my lady" He stood and helped her to her feet. She watched as he greedily took in her near nakedness, shivering as his darkened hazel pools took in every inch of her.
She coughed "What's going to happen now?"
He shook his head and helped her outside to the cart and into the clear air "Well there are a few things we could do."
She tilted her head as he helped her find her seat on the cart "Like?"
He shrugged "Technically, we're supposed to be keeping an eye on you since we aren't going to kill you. We have to uphold the accord, at least for now" His hazel eyes looked devilish "Otherwise, you are free. A wanderer like the rest of us. I doubt you could go back to Deloria but I'm sure you could find a place in one of the villages as long as you stay on the down-low"
Ruma rolled her eyes "I don't think that will be a problem"
Garrett just looked at her "Look, that wasn't just the result of your Father being a Jackass. I'm sure he has been the majority of his life. That was the product of you losing your grip out of what, eighteen years of holding your gifts at bay? If you try to do that again, and you lose control, you won't have your family to fall back on, and you sure as hell won't be lucky enough go off and send everything bursting into flames without anyone noticing again."
She shifted uncomfortably "That's all I've really been taught to do... I wasn't even really sure that That could happen. I don't know if I can really control it..."
Garrett shifted closer to her "Then come with us, not to the wastelands, stay with us here and we can help you and maybe you can learn about people like you."
She looked up at him "Are there other's who can do what I do?"
He laughed nervously "You mean set everything on fire? Well, probably not, there are only ever four elementals alive at one time... But control is something anyone can teach you."
She looked at him with a confused expression "Elementals?"
He shook his head "Let's just say if you come with us, you'll know more than how to be a mouthy Princess"
She rolled her eyes "I could probably do more than you could ever do"
He laughed "You can't even defend yourself!"
She punched him "There"
He rolled his eyes "Ow that hurt"
She sighed "Fine, I'll go with you and your stupid group."
He grinned "Wonderful"
This was going to be a long ride.