It was hard to distinguish between night and day when they were stuck in such a dark carriage. But there was a small slit between the wooden palings that let in light. Kui peered out at the dark surroundings. 'It's nighttime… they will stop to rest nearby. That will be our chance to escape.'
He quickly hopped over the corpses and got to the barrel. "Kid, hey… come up here. I need to test something."
Kui quickly removed his shirt and dunked it into the barrel.
The young mer pushed his hand away as if he was offended by the smell.
"Sorry, it kinda stinks, but you have to tolerate this. I'm only testing a theory, okay?" He soaked his shirt completely in water and moved it close to the boy's neck. "I'm going to cover your gills with this cloth. I want you to move up out of the water. Can you do that?"
He gently touched the kid's soft cheeks. "Nod if you understand me?"
The child nodded albeit hesitantly.
"Good boy," he covered the child's gills with the damp cloth. "Now come up."
The child poked his head out of the barrel. In the darkness, he was only able to see his shining blue eyes that sparkled like little gems. 'I don't understand why they wanted to kidnap this kid. His eyes are too pretty.' Clearing his throat, he kept the cloth to his neck. "Can you breathe? Nod if you can?"
The child nodded softly.
"Good! We have found a way to transport you. All I need is a damp cloth… but what if it dries out? We need to find a water source after we escape." He muttered to himself. "What about his tail? Will it dry out too?"
The mer boy shook his head slightly.
"Oh, that's great. I can just carry you over my shoulders or on my back. Better, I can tie you to my back and run off." Kui smiled brightly. His plan to escape was coming together very fast.
Now all he needed was the door to be opened.
These kidnappers did not seem inclined to feeding them.
That means he would have to lure these men to open the door.
'How can I do that? Should I act like I'm dying? No… they don't seem to care about me that much...'
His eyes then fell on the barrel and the shining blue eyes that seemed to be peering at him intently. "They seem to want to keep you alive... what if we can act out a ruse that you are dying? Hmm, that can work." He stood close to the barrel, gently cupping the boy's face. "You have to listen to me. When I tell you to act, I want you to pretend to be suffocating and let out loud wheezing sounds."
The mer did not move.
"Nod if you understand?"
The boy did not nod.
"Did he not understand me? He is a child; maybe he has only caught basic human language. What now… I can't bear to hurt the child. Tsk, looks like I'm going to have to do the voice acting…" he mumbled to himself and sat on the blood-soaked ground.
Mi Aok gazed down at him with his eyes narrowed. He understood every single word, but he was not so sure about this guy's intentions. No one was kidnapped for no reason. This guy might also be a kidnapper trying to take him away for his own benefit. 'Humans are all so cruel.' He sunk back into the barrel. That wet cloth was still around his neck. 'Stupid human, he thought I was just a naïve child that can be easily fooled.' He flung the dirty wet shirt out.
He heard a subtle plop.
The man stood up with the wet shirt on his head. "You have a great aim, that's for sure." Smiling, the man paced the shirt around his neck again. "Don't throw it. We have to use it to escape. I'm not sure how many minutes I will have to escape out of here. Every second counts; I want you to concentrate, okay?"
Mi Aok rolled his eyes. 'Liar.' The man simply smiled and gently pinched his cheeks. "tsk its too dark to see your face. I imagine you look like a chubby little radish."
Aok bit his offending hands. No one had ever treated him so badly like this. This man kept touching him as he liked! If he was in his kingdom, he would have had his head for assaulting him. 'Tsk, now I have to tolerate so much of this shit.'
Later at night, the carriage came to a stop.
"Let's camp for the night here. Do not light up a campfire. We don't want to lure any bandits to us."
"But boss, we can deal with them ourselves."
"We shouldn't risk our ware like that. The mer is precious."
Kui keenly listened with a grin. 'As I suspected. They care for the mer too much. I can definitely use this as an opportunity.'
He quickly went to the barrel and lifted the child out.
The mer twitched and twisted weakly in his arms.
"Shh, it's time." Kui laid him down gently and went to another corpse. "I'm so sorry for doing this, but I need it." This corpse was the only one who had any semblance of clothing on him. It was just a sarong. He untied it carefully. "I'll light some jossticks. Please don't be angry at me for this."
He crawled over to the child. "We are going to leave this place. We will be safe."