A few weeks before the Demon Lord's forces ruthlessly attacked the Shadow Hunter Pack, Meera honored Shakira's request to secretly smuggle her infant daughter far away. There were a few reasons why Meera was willing to risk disciplinary punishment from the Supreme Covenant and the Great World Council for disregarding orders given not to intervene in this affair, which could even involve banishment from the Starfall Coven ... not to mention a possible death sentence from the Demon Lord if he discovered her involvement in saving the child.
First and foremost, Meera and Shakira have been dear friends since childhood; Meera's family always had close ties with the Shadow Hunter Pack for generations. Then, there's the fact that Meera always had a strong sense for justice and a disdain for any unfairness or wrongdoing; and she was totally against and furious at the Great World Council's decision not to aid the Shadow Hunter Pack in their time of need, and also extremely disappointed in her own Supreme Covenant for agreeing uphold said decision ... even if, truth be told, every supernatural beings' governing parties are obliged to follow the Great World Council's ruling, for it's the governing party that oversees all of the allied races; comprised of high-ranking officials from all of the supernatural being races.
Her last reason for being so willing to carry out Shakira's request, and the reason why Meera's family always had close ties with the Shadow Hunter Pack, is that even though the pack always says that they don't owe them anything, Meera and her family have felt indebted to them for rescuing an ancestor of theirs centuries ago ... Meera's great-great-great-great grandmother to be exact.
Romania ... a little over 300 years ago...
In the woods near a remote farming village close to the Carpathian Mountain chain...
A small envoy of gypsies had set up an encampment for the night. They temporarily parted ways from the main caravan to carry out a nefarious task; to take their captive abductee to a specified isolated location to sell off.
Although there's a huge, bright harvest moon illuminating the night sky above, because of the thick, densely intertwined treetop canopy the forest itself remains nearly pitch black. So, the gypsies had pitched several standing torches into the ground around the perimeter of the encampment and dug out a large pit to accommodate a blazing campfire near the envoy's wagons as their only source of lighting to carry them throughout the long hours of night ahead.
Since shortly after sunset, the gypsies have been partaking in a carefree merriment of feasting and drinking; but now, most of the party has turned in for the night. Only two gypsies remain awake to take the first shift of watch. The burly one of the two continues imbibing wine, gulping it down directly from a large ceramic jug; looking as if he was trying to quench an insatiable thirst. The other gypsy, who possesses a tall, lanky stature scrapes out the crusty burnt layer of stew stuck to the bottom of a cast iron pot into a dirty bowl; then adds the remaining scraps of food left behind from all the used bowls. An impish grimace emerges upon his visage...
"I suppose we should feed our honored guest now; right?"
"Better hurry up, we can't have her go starving on us now; can we?" The burly gypsy swallows down a large gulp of wine from the jug before emphasizing, "After all, that little witch is going to fetch us a nice hefty sum ... fifty large gold coins to be exact."
"Yeah, who knew that selling off witches could be so profitable. ... Still, I have to admit, I'm kind of surprised that Hildara is okay with all this; I mean, with her being a witch and all herself."
"Ah. I wouldn't worry about that. Besides, if you asked her yourself, Hildara considers herself as being a gypsy first before a witch, so it doesn't surprise me a bit that she's all for it; remember, we're talking fifty large gold coins here..." he takes in another gulp of wine from the jug before concluding, "Face it, for that much money that old hag would even sell her mother if she were alive ... along with yours and mine."
The tall, lanky gypsy laughs, "Yeah, you're right; she would, wouldn't she?" He takes a brief pause, looking as if he were mulling over something, then says with a more serious tone, "But still, I've heard rumors that it was demons who are buying these witches. What do you suppose they're doing with them?"
"Frankly; don't know, don't care. As long as I get my fair cut of the profit, they could gut 'em, cut 'em up, and fricassee 'em; doesn't matter to me." The burly gypsy goes to take in another gulp, but the jug's empty. "Hmph ... all gone already? Now that does matter to me." He tosses the jug aside to the ground. "I'm going to get me some more wine. You go and feed that witch already, will you ... they probably won't pay as good if she starves to death."
Being a bit intoxicated, the burly gypsy sporadically stumbles along his way back to the supply wagon. Meanwhile, the tall, lanky gypsy heads over to the wagon the witch is confined in. Once there he unlocks the large iron padlock and removes it from the hasp, then opens the door.
Huddled on the floor in the back corner of the wagon, the eighteen-year-old captive remains securely bound in specially enchanted chains created by Hildara herself, designed to keep her from using witchcraft as long as she remains shackled. Her name is Ariel, a young witch from the Starfall Coven.
He tosses the wooden bowl in at her, and its contents spill out all over in front of her after the bowl hits and bounces off the floor.
"Eat up, witch; we need you to keep up your strength over the next couple of days ... or at least not go dying on us."
He starts to close the door, and Ariel meekly calls out, "I don't understand; what do you people want from me?"
He smirks. "You have it all wrong, it's not what we want from you; it's what we're going to get for you. Those demons are willing to pay a hefty price for witches these days." He laughs as he taunts, "That should boost your self-worth a bit now, doesn't it? Take pride in yourself, little witch; you're actually worth a lot more than you probably thought you were."
Suddenly, a lecherous look falls upon his countenance, and the gypsy begins to scrutinizingly ogle over the bound captive.
"It's a shame though, because you're not that bad looking; for a witch that is. You got that little taut body ... perky breasts ... nice ass. I hate to imagine what sort of disgustingly nasty things those demons are probably going to do to a sweet little thing like you."
He climbs up into the wagon and slowly approaches Ariel, who scoots herself back further into the corner, cowering with a look of trepidation on her face. The gypsy kneels down in front of her, slowly reaches out and takes a handful of her hair in his hand, then starts twirling it through his fingers.
"Who knows, maybe it would be more profitable in the long run for us to hold onto you and whore you out. I know I wouldn't mind paying for a night in bed with you."
Ariel presses her back even further into the corner, as an even more pronounced look of trepidation becomes etched on her face. Noticing this immediately amuses the gypsy; he laughs and releases her hair. He gets up and exits the wagon; then looks back in at her and laughs again.
"Relax; Hildara has her mind set on selling you off, and once Hildara sets her mind on something there's no changing it. ... Although..." That lecherous look returns, and he odiously smirks. "We still do have a few more days of travel before meeting up with the buyer. Maybe if you're lucky, I'll pay you a visit, or two, and let you experience what it's like to be a real woman before the exchange. Who knows, it might be your last chance to have intercourse with a man."
Now, an expression of utter revulsion mixes in with that look of trepidation already etched upon her visage. He begins laughing again, but the laughter immediately ceases after receiving a sharp smack to the back of his head.
"Ow!! What the..."
He rapidly spins around, finding the burly gypsy angrily staring at him with rebuking eyes. He sternly admonishes the tall, lanky gypsy.