The relentless throbbing pain in her head made her brows knit together in a tight frown. Her eyelashes fluttered as she felt as if a merciless drill was boring a hole into her skull, each pulse amplifying the pressure and intensity.
Despite the sharp, nagging pain coursing through her body, she willed her heavy eyelids to open. Gradually, the shadows of unconsciousness receded, and she began registering her surroundings.
The rhythmic pounding of hooves echoed like the beat of a drum, resonating against the hard earth, while the muffled sounds of suppressed sobs and soft whimpers wrapped around her like a shroud, intensifying her disorientation.
Was she in hell? But how could it be? She hasn't even started on her vendetta yet.
She remembered that she was in a sedan with her family on their way to the capital for a new start. A truck was supposed to hit their sedan at a calculated velocity, enough to push their car on the crossroad where the general and his entourage were supposed to pass.
The passenger seat was well protected with airbags. The collision was expected to result in slight injuries only.
Who would have thought that a military truck escorting the general would appear out of nowhere at a fast speed and collide with the sedan?
The old sedan was pushed a few meters off the road and spun around before it flipped and landed on its roof.
Lara's last memory was of immense pain in her head, and all parts of her body before the darkness claimed her.
The smell of sweat and body odor permeated the air. The nauseating scent, coupled with the incessant sobs of the child on her left and the coughing of another girl, each sound felt charged with a heavy urgency, pulled her further into an unsettling reality.
She was not dead, but instead, she was inside a cramped vehicle.
What just happened? Did the people who her father assigned to monitor the ambush take her away? But why was she not in the hospital, and why was she with other children?
"Miss, you are finally awake! I thought ... I thought..." the teenager burst into tears.
A young, delicate girl with fair skin, about twelve years old, frowned when the acne-laden face of a dark-skinned teenager hovered over her.
Her eyes glinted with coldness when she realized she was lying on the lap of a strange woman. Because of the cramped space, her knees bent at an awkward angle.
She raised her hands to push the dark-skinned girl away.
"Please, Miss, don't move," the dark-haired teenager implored, her voice barely above a whisper. Anxiety laced her words as she glanced nervously at the people nearby, fearing they might overhear. Her brow was furrowed, and her squinted eyes were filled with genuine concern.
Lara's movement froze, not because of what the girl said but because she noticed something unusual about her. Her hands trembled.
She closed her eyes, counted one to three, and opened them again. Her gaze was fixed on the small hand in front of her.
It was not hers but that of a girl. She remembered that was how her hand looked when she was twelve.
"Miss Lara, are you alright?" the dark-skinned teenager asked, her voice filled with concern. She quickly rummaged through a gray cloth bag, pulling out a small clay jar snugly wrapped to protect it. Carefully, she removed the cork that sealed the jar. Gently, she helped Lara into a sitting position, bringing the jar closer to her lips.
"Here, please drink some water. I saved a little bit for you," she urged, her eyes full of worry.
Lara heaved a sigh of relief. She heard the girl call her Lara. Did that mean she was one of her father's people?
She accepted the odd-looking jar and greedily drank the water from it, which was not much. She wondered why the dark-skinned girl used an old-fashioned clay jar instead of the disposable water bottle, which was much lighter.
"Thank you." She murmured, then struggled to move away from the teen.
A sudden dizziness caused her to pause. Once she regained her bearing, she studied herself and her surroundings.
Indeed, her hands had shrunk to the size when she was twelve years old. She was oddly dressed in a long, colorful skirt that covered the entirety of her feet. She was wearing straw sandals instead of black rubber shoes. The sleeves of her blouse reached up to her elbow.
A crease appeared on her smooth forehead. She was baffled by her current situation.
They were in a closed van made of wood. The door was in front, and small windows were on both sides of the wall. At least eighteen to twenty girls were cramped in the small space, about two meters by one meter. They were all sitting on the floor.
Judging by the speed they were moving and the sound of hooves outside, the vehicle was being drawn by horses.
The line between Lara's brows further deepened. She could not fathom her current situation.
She furtively glanced at the dark-skinned woman to her right. Judging by her actions, she should know what happened.
"Uhmm, I can't seem to remember anything. Probably it's because I hurt my head. Can you tell me what happened? Who am I, and where are we going?"
The dark-skinned teenager gasped, and then she stifled a sob.
"Miss, did you lose your memory? That vicious Mira might have hit you hard."
"Mira, who is she?" Lara asked, getting more confused.
"Miss, your name is Lara Norse, the only daughter of General Odin Norse. You have six older brothers. Three days ago, your elder cousin Mira invited you to stay at her house to play with your two younger cousins. Then she asked you to accompany her to the market, but along the way, her two servants hit us, and we lost consciousness."
"However, I regained consciousness but pretended to be still unconscious. It was then, when I heard that she sold us to the human traffickers, and this is how we came into this situation. But don't worry, Miss, your father and brothers will surely rescue us." The teen spoke the last sentence with confidence.
Lara's brain seemed to have short-circuited. She was looking at the dark-skinned teenager as if she had grown two heads.
What the hell was she talking about? Who was General Odin? When did she have six brothers? She only had a younger brother and a younger sister, who were fraternal twins.
"What nonsense are you babbling about?" she asked angrily as she pushed the girl away.
"Miss Lara?"