Artur recalled the events of the previous night.
When he tried to attack Duncan. He got beat up pretty badly and was put out of commission. He watched Duncan's men kill the rest the rest of his father's knights. Lily was still breathing, but barely. He crawled over to her side in tears and pain, asking her to hold on until he got help but unfortunately, he lost her too.
He was prepared to die too but to his surprise, Duncan ordered them not kill him. His words were:
"Just tie up the kid and bring him along. I love the look in his eyes"
He had no idea what Duncan meant, but it could not be good in any way.
He was coffled to a yoke like a slave along with many others from his father's barony and some, he had not seen anywhere before. His captors did not care for his broken leg or bleeding head. He was forced to walk that way. His legs gave out a few times and he affected the rest of the people who were with him on the same yoke.
Even at the moment he felt like they were going to give out again, which they did.
The party was taking a mountain path with was sloppy and rough, making it difficult to traverse. Artur was about to fall off but with the combined strength of the rest he was pulled back up. He knew he had finally done it when he noticed one of the guards coming to him.
"Hey you, why the hell are you holding up everyone?!" The guard yelled.
He had a whip which was accessorized with metallic shards. Probably for scourging, how brutal. Artur got up and continued without saying a word.
'I already have enough on my plate as is. Let's not get into more trouble'
The guard was not satisfied with just silence and proceeded to pull Artur back. He took him by the shoulder and raised the whip "I asked you a question and I demand you answer me"
Artur stared at him first, then he narrowed his eyes and replied "From the looks of it, we are all going to be slaves at your base. I'm injured as is, if you beat me up and I'm unable to work are you going to replace me?"
"You little-"
"Leave him alone. That boy is a special order from Duncan. Besides, his leg is hurt pretty badly" One of the guards riding a horse said.
The guard turned to his superior who just spoke with surprise "B-B-But he needs to be taught manners"
"Just as he said, if you beat him and he can't work because of it are you going to replace him?"
The guard fell silent "Forgive my impudence"
'Freaking hypocrite. If you really wanted to help me, you'd ask me to get on your horse'
Artur gave the guard a bad look and continued with the rest of the group. From the looks of it, it was every man for himself as no one even attempted to help him when the guard came at him. If that was the case, then he had no problem with it. Because when he was escaping from wherever they were taking him he had no intention of bringing anyone along.
His bleeding leg ached a lot and he was not sure how much more he could endure. Silently he prayed that they were close to their destination or would at least be allowed to rest. The cold wind which slapped against him sent shivers down his spine and assisted in adding to his agony.
They had gone through the mountain path when Artur's legs finally gave out. Anymore and he was sure he would never be able to use that leg ever again. The guard came at him again and this time someone stepped in. It was a boy, one who looked a bit older than Artur, probably a four-year difference. He was not coffled like the rest.
"Hey, what the hell do you think you are doing?"
The boy stopped the guarding by standing close enough to him that the guard was not able to raise the whip. He looked the guard straight in the eyes and took a step to make him back away.
"You little scum, do you think I won't whip you too?!" The guard raised the whip and tried to flog the boy but the boy dodged it and kicked him in the knee. It hurt so bad that he clenched his knee
"Even if you are just freaking degenerates can't you at least cut him some slack. His leg is in bad shape thanks to you and he has been walking the whole time without complaining once, show some empathy you bastard"
The guard raised his head and looked at this other boy. "You little shit. I'm going to kill you"
The superior soldier came to the source of the commotion and saw the guard about to hit Artur's savior with the whip. Luckily for the boy, the man stopped the guard just in time or he would have been thinking about getting stitches.
The soldier felt some sympathy for Artur, and finally ordered for him to be put in one of the carts. His wounds were neglected though, he had a vague feeling that it was his problem, not theirs. The boy who had just saved him stood beside the cart as they moved and smiled at him. Artur did not smile back; he was still feeling too hollow to even force a smile. He simply turned away from the boy.
"Come on mate, don't be like that. My name's Eustace, Eustace Stone and I'm eleven years old. Nice to meet ya"
The mention of 'eleven years old' got Artur and he raised his head to check out this guy one more time.
'Eleven? You? You like you're at least fifteen' Artur thought.
"What? Are you surprised? People usually are when they hear my age, I can't blame them"
Artur turned his head away "Don't bother me"
"Ok I won't" The boy replied "For now"
Artur scoffed and moved slightly away from him.
The convoy moved for a while more before Artur's nose began to pick up the scent of blood, which wasn't his, smoke, and coupled with that was a little bit of noise.
His eyes darted around, looking and scanning the surroundings to see if they were under attack but there was nothing, the convoy was fine and the smell and noise seemed to come from one direction.
As they moved further the smell became thicker and the noise, louder.
Artur was sure, they were no longer within the borders of his kingdom, Evershire. The slave convoy made it out of the thick cluster of trees and finally Artur saw it. The source of the noise and smell. Down the mountain, probably like a kilometer and half away from it. He did not know if it was a civilization or an overpopulated dukedom but the castles and tents which contrasted each other told and the flame torches, people everywhere told him one thing.
'A war camp?'