A high-pitched scream, sharp and ragged, tore through the air.
It was cut short.
Masculine laughter followed. They sounded low, amused and unhurried.
The sound dragged Zhu into full consciousness, but she did not open her eyes.
She lay still.
Daylight pressed faintly against her closed lids, warm and intrusive. The air around her was alive with movement. Boots scuffed against packed earth. Metal clinked. Canvas snapped softly in a lazy breeze. Voices overlapped in careless conversation, punctuated by the occasional barked order.
Servants, she realized.
They moved quickly, but not freely. Their steps were lighter, hesitant. She could hear the difference between command and obedience in the rhythm of their footfalls.
A pot clattered somewhere nearby, followed by a curse and more laughter.
The smell reached her next.
Smoke from a campfire hung thick in the air, heavy with the scent of burning wood and roasting meat. Beneath it lingered the sour stench of unwashed bodies. Sweat soaked into leather. Damp wool. Old blood. The metallic tang of iron. Animal musk.
Captured animals.
She could hear them now that she was focused. The restless shifting of hooves. The scrape of horn against wood. The rattle of chains. Low, distressed whimpers. A cage door slammed, and something inside thrashed violently before settling into exhausted breathing.
The ground beneath her was cold despite the daylight. Hard-packed soil with scattered grit that pressed into her cheek. One arm lay twisted beneath her, tingling faintly from the weight of her own body. Her wrists felt heavy. Restrained, it must be a rope she felt the rough fibers bit into her skin.
A fly landed near her ear. She resisted the urge to twitch.
Close by, a man spat onto the ground.
Zhu kept her breathing slow and measured. She tried hard to breathe in through her nose then out through parted lips.
Her mouth tasted like ash and copper. Her throat was dry. Her body ached in deep, bruised places. The medical paste within her system hummed faintly under her skin, knitting damage she could not see, leaving a dull internal heat in its wake.
She reached for the voice "Faral are you there?" but was distressed when nothing happened. "Faral!" had tried again.
Unknowingly she had become reliant on this voice, it had been with her almost since the start of this nightmare. He was her best friend at this point and she felt bereft without hearing him answer her.
She also felt weak like she was before they made a contract and that sent terror rocketing through her blood stream.
A shadow passed over her face.
She felt it before she saw it. The shift in warmth. The sense of someone standing over her.
Leather creaked as the figure crouched.
"Pretty thing," a male voice murmured near her ear.
His breath smelled of stale meat and smoke.
A finger brushed her jaw, tilting her face slightly.
She forced her muscles to remain slack, to fake being unconscious.
The man huffed. "Still out."
Boots moved away.
Across the camp, something heavy was dragged over earth. Wood against soil. A muffled protest. Then another scream. This one lower. Hoarse. It dissolved into sobbing.
The camp did not quiet for it.
It continued its rhythm. Fire crackling. Metal clanking. Servants moving. Animals shifting.
Zhu felt the sun climb higher. The chill of the ground began to seep away, replaced by warmth pressing against her back. Sweat gathered at the nape of her neck.
Inside her mind, there was only faint static.
"Faral," she whispered internally. "You damn voice!"
Nothing answered. She was alone. Zhu kept her eyes closed.
Suddenly she heard footsteps near her head and then someone pulled on her hair. "Bring the bitch closer" a nasty nasal voice said.
There was no value to keeping her eyes closed so she opened them to look at the camp.
She could see large and small tents lined up facing each other. A fire pit was in the center and torches that kept the shadows of the forest at bay. Even though it was day time still massive trees blocked on the sunrays keeping the clearing they were in dark.
The pull on her hair made her eyes sting as she grabbed onto the hands that were pulling her across the rough landscape of the camp. It was all she could do to try to ease the vise-like grip on her hair. The pain was immense. She felt sharp rocks scrap against her skin but she didn't scream.
She was released or more accurately thrown her view spin until she landed face first in the dirt. She choked on the dust and laughter was heard from that same nasal voice.
"This is a lively one" She heard him say. "Where did you find these delicacies in this cursed forest."
Zhu raised her head to see a big muscular man with a huge belly sitting on a chair that looked more like a throne. The man was sitting in the middle of a woman half dressed or naked. He had a full beard, rings on each finger and dark tattoos all over his body.
"She was with the cubs master," someone behind her answered. "The hounds sniffed her out and hunted her down. The cubs seemed to have contracted with her."
While the man was giving his report, Zhu frantically searched around for her babies. She found them on the other side of the fire pit knocking into the cage they were in.
Seeing them panic ignited in her heart and she tried to crawl to them. She felt their hurt through the bond.
All of a sudden the master raised a foot and kicked at Zhu, catching her on the cheek. Pain erupted in her jaw and she groaned, clutching her cheek. Before she could react he gave an order
"Hold her up boys."
Strong hands gripped Zhu and raised her from the ground.
"Bitch you see these dogs" her head was pushed to the side where she saw enormous hunting dogs sitting still like state's, red eyes glowing sharp fangs exposed in a deadly grin.
"They are ready to bite your head off on command so answer my questions nicely. Okay who are you?"
Zhu did not answer not in defiance but just not knowing what to say or where to start. Her delay cost her dearly.
Guild master Brian snapped his finger, one of the men holding her right shifted his hand and a crack was heard. Zhu screamed as her hand fell lip at her side bones protruding.
"I don't have time to waste, answer the question." Guild master Brian said with impatient and disdain.
Weak and in extreme pain she answered "I'm…i…i'm the forster daughter for the Wangs from Willit community."
Guild master Brian thought a bit "The wangs… I've never heard of them. A nobody, a cockroach. How did you get into a forest cockroach?"
"They sold me to another family on the way, there was an accident on the Fareway Bridge and I accidentally fell into river and got washed into the forest" Zhu lied with a straight face.
She remained coherent despite the pain radiating from her broken arm. She knew telling them about Faral would be a bad idea.
"And as a weak cockroach how did you survive?" Master Brain accepted her story confident that she wouldn't dare lie.
"I was chased by a wendle and fell off a cliff. I survived and then crawled under a tree. I crawled until I found the cub's den. I stayed there for days until I got hungry. Then I was chased up a plant when I tried to get some berries from"
For some reason Guild master Brian started laughing uncontrollably. "Did you hear that Grant she survived just like a cockroach would"
The man still holding her up laughed and the rest joined in.
"And look at the fierce little monsters, trying to defend her just like they would for the mother Nyxari." Spit flew from Guild master brian's mouth as he hit the chair hand. In his humor.
He smiled baring his teeth to the clubs "your mother was like that you know. " he gestured to the head of the beast on a spike. Seeing this the cubs lost it and rushed at guild master brian, ribs themselves trying to escape the cage.
"No!" Zhu screams, struggling to escape from the clutches of her captor. The guard
"Settle them down Ferguson." The master commanded. The guard pressed a bottom and the callers the cubs got on sparked.
They whined in pain but stopped hitting the cage.
Callous to the pain he inflicted on the cubs and Zhu, Guild master Brain chuckled in delight. "This has been a fruitful hunt, boys, worth the risk of coming this far into the forest."
Suddenly she was dropped on the ground though she began to crawl to the cages.
Guild master Brian laughed heartily seeing her behaviour. "Grant looked like a little worm." A meaty hand stroked his beard. "What should I do with this worm?" He thought out loud.
"I know Grant, you can have it." He got a look of disgust on his face. "It's too skinny for me." Grant bowed respectively. "Thank you master."
Zhu had gotten to one of the cages leaving a trail of blood behind her and was grabbed by her hair this time she screamed the pain of her broken arm excruciating. She was dragged into one of the tents.
"He…he…he, don't worry little worm you will enjoy it"