Returning home, Gabriel saw bloodstains on the ground and a trail of footprints leading up to the house. Panic rising, he hurried, his heart pounding. When he reached the doorway, he froze in horror. A bandit was standing over his mother, blade in hand, ready to strike. Water began to
run from Gabriel's eyes as he took in the
scene.
"Leave my mother alone!" he shouted,
rushing forward with his farming knife.
The bandit sneered, dodging Gabriel's
attack, and struck him hard in the face.
Gabriel stumbled back, falling to the
ground, and before he could react, the
bandit kicked him hard in the side.
"Oi!" another voice called out. "Don't
rough him up too much. This one looks
like he's worth a few gold coins."
Gabriel started crawling toward his
mother, his vision blurry with tears. Her
body lay lifeless on the ground, and his
heart twisted with pain.
A thought suddenly came to him -
Where's Mia?
"Where's my sister?" Gabriel managed to
ask, looking up at the bandit.
"So,you've got a sister?" The bandit
leader said with a twisted smile. "We
didn't meet her, but maybe we'lll see her
next time." With that. he brouaht his fist
down on Gabriel's head, and everything
went dark.
Gabriel woke up to the rumbling of a
carriage. When he opened his eyes, he
saw other children around him, all tied
up like he was. Some of them were
young, crying and calling out for their
parents.
He turned to an older girl nearby and
whispered, "Where are they taking us?"
"The auction house," the girl replied
quietly.
Gabriel frowned. "What's an auction
house?"
"It's a place where they'll sell us to rich
nobles as slaves, " she said.
"S-slaves?" Gabriel stuttered. "How do you know all this?"
The girl sighed. "Because I was a slave
once. I ran away, but they caught me,
and now lIm back to being a slave." She
looked at him. "My name is Mona, by the
way."
"I'm Gabriel... Gabe for short."
After traveling for nearly a week, they
finally reached the city of June. The
carriage stopped at the city entrance,
where the guards inspected the
merchant's papers.
"Let him in!" one of the guards shouted.
The merchant and his cargo of slaves
entered the city. After a few minutes,
the carriage stopped again, and Gabriel
and the other children were ordered out
and led into a small, dimly lit room.
"Don't move or try anything," the
merchant barked, locking the door
behind them.
Meanwhile, on the west side of the city
a special guest was dining in the most
famous restaurant, the streets lined
with quards at every corner.
"Do you really need this many guards
when you're escorting me, Arthur?"
the young lady asked, her voice laced with slight annoyance.
"It's a must, my lady'" Arthur replied.
"Your father would be furious if anything were to happened to you."
"Waiter, the bill," the young lady said, her voice carrying an ominous edge.
"Ye-yes, my lady. Here's your bill," the waiter stammered, quickly handing it to her.
She wrote a check and handed it to him. "Arthur, I'm ready to leave."
"Yes, at once, Lady Isabella," Arthur replied.
The guards moved to open the restaurant doors, standing at ease. Arthur held Isabella's hand as she stepped into her carriage. At the same time, a man handing out flyers approached.
"Where do you think you're going?" one of the knights demanded, blocking the flyer boy's path.
The boy stopped in his tracks, fear in his eyes. "I just wanted to hand out these flyers..."
"Turn around and leave, boy," Arthur said, his tone dark and foreboding.
"Arthur, I want to see what the flyer's about," Isabella interrupted. Arthur took a flyer from the boy, who quickly ran off, glancing back in fear.
Arthur climbed into the carriage and sat across from Isabella. She took the flyer from his hand, her eyes scanning it.
"Interesting..." Isabella murmured.
"What is it?" Arthur asked. She handed him the flyer.
"Slave auction," Arthur muttered.
"We're going to the auction house," Isabella ordered. "And that's final."
Arthur sighed, leaning out to inform the carriage driver. The carriage set off, fifty knights trailing behind.