Which even her father had seemed nervous talking about. Her father who had always comforted her and her brothers when they were upset about something. Who had always helped her understand the pain her mother was going through and why she shouldn't take anything her mother said to her to heart.
Yet, as she fell back asleep, curled up against her sister, she couldn't help but feel like this was the last time she'd be able to be around anyone from her family. The last time she'd feel like she had somewhere that she belonged.
_
The light of the rising sun woke Charlie up. She didn't understand why she had fallen asleep where that would happen, especially since she'd always fallen asleep in her tent with Beth.
However, as she opened her eyes, what greeted her was much more unexpected than she could have imagined. Not only was she completely naked, except for the pendant Alex had given her, but she was in a wagon with a cage around it. She wasn't alone in the wagon, but it was clear that none of them were there of their own choice.
Her first instinct was to try and cover herself up, but the only thing that would work in any manner were other people, and she wasn't going to do that. For one thing, it would defeat the purpose in her mind. Then there was the fact that everyone in the cage portion of the wagon didn't have any clothing on in any sense of the word.
Rather than complaining about being there, she reached out with her magic to probe the mind of the person driving the wagon as she sat up. She couldn't say if these people were her enemies exactly, but she could definitely say that they weren't her friends. At best, they were merely strangers who were giving her a ride, and she was quite sure that the chance of that happening was very low.
At first she wasn't able to get anything, and she briefly thought that she'd reached a barrier that wouldn't allow her to read his thoughts without him being alerted that it was happening, but a moment later she was through. She could only assume it was from having just woken up, but didn't worry too much about it. Instead, she looked at what she could learn from them.
What she saw was that she'd been found asleep behind a tree near the road that this caravan was traveling along, where they decided to add her to the slaves they were taking to the next market. What caught Charlie's attention most was the fact that she didn't have anything of her things with her, nor was she wearing anything at that time. Which meant that for some reason she'd been naked then.
She also couldn't help but notice that there was a thought about how she didn't have anything valuable on her, and apparently they hadn't even noticed her necklace.
She wasn't going to complain about it, but she did wonder about if it would be important or not. It merely highlighted more of what she really didn't understand about what was going on.
She was about to pull out of the driver's mind when she caught another thought that made her catch her breath in her throat. That they would test her to see if she had magic by making her say something in front of their mage who could detect if someone had access to magic or not.
Charlie felt a cold bead of sweat travel down her bare back, as she followed that line of thought. She pressed further into that thought and saw that they would put something on her that would prevent her from using her magic if they didn't want her to if they found she could use magic. Only, it hinged on if they could detect it when she spoke.
Which meant if she didn't want them to know about that, she would need to find a way to make it so she couldn't speak. She felt like she should do something about that, but nothing was coming to her mind right then.
She saw at least twenty other people in the wagon with her. She suspected there might be more, but with the little light she had, as well as how most seemed to still be asleep, she couldn't say how many there really were. Some even seemed to be on top of another. The ages seemed to be all over the spectrum, some looking like they might be three while others looked like they should be in a retirement home.
What stunned her the most is how none of them had a stitch of clothing on them. It also looked like the older they were, for the most part, the more scars they had on them. Although, some did seem to have more than others, though Charlie couldn't tell if there was any particular reason one way or another for that difference.
The more she looked around her and the more light the dawn gave, the more her stomach twisted inside her. She felt like she was going to be sick, though the nausea was slighter than she would have expected. Though, as her stomach growled at her, she suspected that it might have to more with her not having anything to eat for who knew how long.
Besides, no matter how she felt about it, she was now stuck in whatever situation this was. She couldn't say what might happen or how she might be able to get out of this, but she had a feeling it wasn't going to be easy for her to get out.
Especially if she didn't have access to her magic. The most important thing for her to take care of right now would be to figure out how to keep them from detecting her magic. All they would need to do was make her speak. Even a simple 'ow!' would probably suffice for what they were looking for. As far as she knew, they hadn't heard her say anything, so she might be able to pull off an act that she couldn't talk, but if they did something to make her speak involuntarily, then she might not be able to maintain that act.
If only she had some way to seal that part of her up, she might be-
Charlie stopped as she thought about the thought that she had just had. If she could seal her voice, then she wouldn't have to worry about any involuntary talking, or any equivalent of it. The only real downside was that she'd have a hard time communicating with others for anything.
While she could use her magic to talk, doing so would defeat the purpose of sealing her voice, so it wasn't like she'd be able to plan on doing that. However difficult it might be, it would at least make it easier for her to find opportunities to get out of this situation that she found herself in.
She looked around her, including outside the wagon, wondering when she might be able to expect that they'd stop to do that check. She didn't see many people, but wouldn't be surprised if they stopped shortly so whoever was in charge would be able to get something to eat.
Which would make sense for them to do that check then. Which also meant that she wouldn't have much time to figure out how to seal her voice. Not that that realization did much to calm her nerves. She wasn't sure what she would need to do it, but she didn't plan on doing nothing So, she closed her eyes and tried to remember what she knew about seals.
She remembered about the seals involved with the gates and how the Heart of the Forest had opened the gates. Though she really didn't get a chance to really take a look at those seals, she could at least remember the seal on herself and on her friends. While she had help undoing those seals, she remembered the way the magic had seemed like threads woven into a pattern.
She then took a deep breath and pulled on her magic through her necklace. Then she poured her magic like it was a molten substance and imagined it turning into threads that moved into the same kind of pattern she remembered that had covered her magic. However, this pattern she placed over her vocal chords.
She wasn't sure how exactly to get it to prevent her from talking, but she was confident that she'd be able to get it to work. What she tried as to think about the seal only preventing her vocal chords from allowing her to talk. She certainly didn't want to prevent herself from breathing. Just talking.
As she felt it settle in place, she suddenly felt like something was squeezing her throat closed. She gagged, trying to calm herself down, even as her mind was starting to panic. She could feel herself still breathing, but at the same time it felt like she couldn't breathe at all. She had a feeling that this was what was coming, regardless of how she did the seal, but that didn't make it any less unpleasant.
While she didn't think she'd made any noise in her actions, it seemed to have alerted the driver to her being awake. The driver called out to someone and Charlie felt like she should be able to identify more details of the driver, aside from the straw hat they were wearing, the tunic they were wearing, though she couldn't make out any colors on it in the early light, yet she couldn't even tell if it was a man or woman.
The voice made the driver sound more like a man to Charlie, but their hips looked more feminine to Charlie. It didn't make any sense to her, but she couldn't think of why. Part of her was screaming at her that that's how things always had been and it was normal, while another part was telling herself that things were strange, if not outright weird.
As Charlie tried to listen to the part of her that felt that things had always been that way, she felt a massive headache come on and she nearly blacked out. Or if she did, it wasn't long enough for her to have fallen over. When she stopped trying to focus on that part of herself, the pain stopped as if it hadn't been there in the first place.
What's wrong with me? she asked herself, feeling like something had changed, even if she didn't know what it was. However, the sounds of a lock opening drew her attention to the side of the wagon where she saw two bearded women who were wearing tunics that looked like they might be the same color as the driver's opening the door to the cage.
One of the women entered while the other remained at the door. The one who entered had blonde hair and emerald eyes and she made a beeline straight for Charlie. Charlie wasn't sure if she would like what happened when the woman reached her, but she also couldn't see what option she had.
However, she had a feeling that it would be best to pretend like she didn't realize why the woman was coming over to her. Maybe they'd think she wasn't as intelligent and she'd find more opportunities to escape.
When the woman reached Charlie, she didn't say anything, but merely grabbed Charlie's head, opened her mouth and looked inside.
What's the hell? Charlie asked herself, wanting to scream at the woman, but only an odd kind of angry moan came out of Charlie's mouth.
The woman looked at Charlie oddly, and Charlie couldn't help but feel embarrassed at how it sounded. Almost like it was her friends who heard that.
When the woman finished looking in Charlie's mouth, she the grabbed the back of Charlie's neck and pulled her forward. Charlie complied, mostly so she wouldn't find out what the woman did to those who weren't so compliant. The feel of the hand on her neck felt like it could snap it if the woman was so inclined.
The woman began pulling Charlie forward, though she tried to avoid stepping on others, but most often was unsuccessful, but she didn't have anyone glare or yell at her, though they all did wake up each time. Charlie had a feeling it had more to who was with Charlie than Charlie herself. When they reached the door, the woman blocking the exit moved to the side and Charlie was pushed out before the woman who'd dragged her over. That woman had dark blue hair and bright blue eyes.
Charlie grabbed a hold of the cage as she left the wagon, doing her best to avoid falling down. It might be only around five feet to the ground, but she was pretty sure if she landed wrong it would hurt, in more ways than one too.
When she was on the ground, her bare feet let her know they weren't happy with this development, as the ground was incredibly rocky and had bit of grass or something that was poking the bottom of her feet, making this ordeal even more uncomfortable.
The woman who had pulled Charlie out of the cage hopped down on the ground in front of her and looked at Charlie again. This time, however it was almost like she saw something that she found confusing.
"What'd you find?" the woman who had kept watch over the door asked as she relocked the door.
"Well, she's healthy, but its strange. She looks like she's fit, and maybe has had some gladiatorial training, but her feet are too soft for that. Like she lived a pampered life. When I checked her teeth, she clearly wasn't happy, but didn't say anything. She just moaned at me," the first woman answered thoughtfully. "Then there's the fact that we found her by the road. She either was transported with magic or had been dropped off there by someone. Otherwise her feet would show signs of either being toughened up or would be bleeding."
"There's always the chance she can use magic. If she can, then it wouldn't be surprising that she'd be able to heal her feet, so it wouldn't look like shed been traveling so far on her own like she is," the second woman replied.
"But at the same time, who would let go of a girl like this? Even if she wasn't a slave previously, I couldn't imagine a family throwing away such a prize, even if she can't speak. There's so many things that could be done with her. Who knows, maybe she could be a star as a gladiator or even someone might take a fancy to her as a pleasure slave. She won't need to speak for either of those possibilities."
"True, but lets first get her tested. You know the captain doesn't like it when we leave them untested for too long. The last time it happened we had to recruit a new driver."
Charlie felt her stomach twist more and more the more she heard the two women talk. She didn't like the idea of being a slave, but it was clear that's what happened to her. Although, it did at least explain the cage.
She was pulled out of her thoughts as she was roughly pulled forward towards another wagon that was slowly moving along. Charlie glanced back briefly to the wagon she'd come out of and realized that it hadn't stopped and was already a good distance away from her.
"Stop gawking and move," the first woman ordered, putting her hand back on Charlie's neck, making Charlie briefly forget about her feet and their discomfort and started walking fast, wincing as she felt some of the plants poke rather forcefully into her feet.
She couldn't look, down at her feet with the woman's hand on her neck, but she wouldn't be surprised if she was bleeding from her feet at the moment. She wished she could get this woman to stop moving her around like she was a puppy who piddled on the carpet, but she knew if she did anything with her magic, she'd be kissing any chance of escape goodbye.
As they reached a wagon that looked more like a small house on wheels, the second woman knocked on the door. After a minute, Charlie didn't hear anything, but the woman opened the door and Charlie was force marched into the wagon.
Inside the floor was smoothed wood and so much more comfortable than the ground outside. Which Charlie allowed herself to take a moment to relish before the first woman moved her forward, nearly causing Charlie to lose her balance as she tried to step quickly to keep that from happening.
Then suddenly they stopped and Charlie felt the woman's grip on the back of her neck almost choking her when her body kept moving with the inertia. Which she suspected that aside from the damage to her feet, she suspected that she might develop bruises on her neck.
When she was sure that she wasn't going to be moved again for the moment, she looked around her, while trying not to be obvious about it, just in case the woman whose hand remained on her neck, objected to it.
There was what looked like a small bunk that had a curtain drawn over it and a table with two chairs a little distance away. Charlie had a feeling that someone lived in this wagon, though she couldn't say if they were more important than the woman who was moving Charlie around like she was a toy.
Suddenly the curtain was opened like whoever was inside heard Charlie's thoughts and had to see who had disturbed them. While she suspected that this was whom she was supposed to be checked for magic by. It was another woman, though this one had bright purple hair that was merely cut to her shoulders and eyes a fiery red that looked like it might try to consume everything around them if they so felt like it.
"She's finally awake huh?" the woman asked as she lay on the bed making no movements to indicate that she was starting to get up, her voice rather deep. Much deeper than Charlie would have expected.
"She's here now. Check her out and we can get going," the woman who was still holding Charlie's neck said, sounding rather irritated.
"No need to be so testy," the purple haired woman remarked. "I'll get to it when I feel like it. You know the captain doesn't want this rushed. Even if you are supposed to bring her here, if you make me go through this and deal with your shit this early in the morning, then we're going to have a problem. And not because of a slave having magic untested is around."
"Whatever," the woman holding Charlie said, sounding a little annoyed.
Charlie wasn't sure what to expect but then she felt a hard slap on her bottom, and let out a cry of surprise, which came out as a burst of sound. No words.
The purple haired woman looked closely at Charlie, but her eyes gave Charlie the sense that she was able to see more than Charlie would like.
"Huh. That's weird," the woman said, her eyes looking like they were getting ready to consume Charlie in a pillar of flames. "I can tell she has magic, but she can't talk." The woman paused, clearly thinking about what to say. "Which means that while she has magic, she won't be able to do anything with it. I don't know why she's unable to talk, but that's more your problem."
Then before Charlie could do anything the woman had closed the curtain hiding herself and her bed from view again. While that was over, Charlie couldn't help but feel like her ordeal was just barely beginning.