The trench led them to a wall created by dense bushes and vines hanging down. The mountains appeared to abruptly end, as if someone intentionally carved them out. The place they arrived had enough space for four of them to stand up. Arav stepped forward and held one of the vines, he looked up and found a large tree with dense leaves.
“We are close..” He said while turning towards the three warriors, who appeared exhausted from the constant traveling.
“You,...how are you not tired?..” Yaksh said while panting;
“I was, but I recovered..”
“Huh?..”
“We don’t have time to waste..” Arav moved forward and went past the bushes. He found hundreds of sheep grazing around them, with trees placed in a perfect pattern. Arav’s ears caught the faint sound of a bell ringing and people chatting in the distance.
“What’s that?” Yaksh asked while pointing towards a huge structure made of gold, a long distance away from them.
“The human that killed the dragon lord,..” Arav replied with a smirk,
“Tch..that story is just a rumor, dragon lord could never lose to a mere human.” Yashi angrily shouted while stomping on the ground.
“Let’s move..” Arav forwarded while his eyes rapidly looked around. After a few moments, they could see a group of houses built extremely close to each other, as they stood on high ground at the right of the town. A terrible smell suddenly moved towards them with the flow of air coming from the town;
“Ugh..what is this?” Yaksh said while covering his nose, he looked at Arav while expecting an answer. Arav stayed silent, while staring at something.
“Wha…” He glanced at Yashi and Drishti and found both of them silently staring in the same direction as Arav,
“Ah..haha..what hap…” With a confused chuckle, he turned towards the same direction. His eyes widened, he saw a fat man with bald head, riding a horse, with five elf girls getting dragged with their hands tied with a rope held in the man’s hand. Yaksh’s blood boiled, and intense rage made him shiver. He quickly took out his bow and tried to move forward.
“Stop..” Arav grabbed him by his shoulder, Yaksh looked at him with eyes filled with rage,
“Let me go..” He said while gritting his teeth, but Arav’s grip got tighter in response.
“I SAID LET ME GO DAMMIT!” Yaksh moved his hand and struck at Arav’s chest, causing him to move a few steps backwards.
“Fine, go, go and save those four elves. But be prepared to face the consequences as a result, your entire town will get slaughtered by the humans, along with the elves you’re trying to save.” Arav said while holding his chest,
“WHAT SHOULD I DO THEN? LET HIM GO? BECAUSE IF THAT’S WHAT YOU WANT THEN SORRY TO DISAPPOINT BUT I’LL HAVE THAT FUCKERS HEAD!” Yaksh angrily stepped towards Arav and looked him directly in the eyes.
Arav clenched his fist behind his back, only seen by Drishti, with no apparent change in his usual calm expression.
“You will kill him, and will have his head, but this is not the correct time. We must find out other’s locations first, just contain your anger for a little longer.” Arav calmly said, while his clenched fist caused his nails to pierce in his palm, resulting in him bleeding.
Drishti, who saw both sides of Arav’s behavior got anxious, and stepped forward, pushing Yaksh away from him. She stood between them while facing Yaksh;
“Brother, we are not any less enraged as you are. But, I’m sure, if you ask those five elves whether they would like to get rescued by sacrificing hundreds of others, they will refuse. Are you truly willing to do this?” Drishti’s calm words had an effect, Yaksh's previous rage-filled behavior slowly began disappearing.
“Fine,..but make the quickest plan possible.” Yaksh turned away from them.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“Let’s move.” Arav said as he began forwarding towards the golden statue.
“This place is on the same side as the white castle..”
“Why do you think that?” Yashi curiously asked while her eyes stayed on the man dragging the elves.
“Don’t get distracted, and as for your question, look at the sun.”
Yashi and Drishti followed his words and looked at the sky, then found the sun slightly towards the west.
“This castle is built extremely close to the mountains surrounding this city. It means we moved through the mountains, past the castle and arrived in this place.” Arav continued explaining with the three of them listening carefully;
“But, what is this place..” Yaksh asked, as he saw children running with tattered clothes and dirty hair while looking as thin as a stick.
“I don’t know the name, but from the looks of it, this is an extremely poor part of the city, perfect for crime.” Arav responded, as they arrived on a road leading directly towards the group of houses.
“So are all the elves here?” Drishti asked while increasing her pace and matching Arav’s movements.
“No, there is a prison somewhere in the center of the city, many are kept there.”
“...You know an awful lot about these things…” Yaksh said with a hint of doubt towards Arav,
“A soldier told me.”
“Where is that said soldier?”
“I forced him to bite his own tongue, then burnt his corpse.”
“.....”
“Why did you do that?”
“He pissed on my burning house.”
“.....”
The three of them reached the town, with the terrible stench intensifying. The houses were mostly made of wood, with their color turned black.
All three elves got forced to cover their noses, they all saw countless flies inhabiting the place, with the people paying no mind to them.
“Be on guard..” Arav spoke as he walked towards a group of men standing in front of them. The men looked at Arav, then noticed the two girls behind him. Their eyes glimmered;
“Uh..hello respected elders, could you please show us the right way to the city?” Arav asked with a bright smile while respectfully joining both of his hands, the men got taken aback by the sudden respect, but soon a smirk appeared on their faces. They appeared quite confident upon seeing Arav’s weak body.
One of them smiled and walked a little forward, and leaned towards Arav;
“Hey, little man, who are the beauties behind you?” Arav quickly moved his hand behind his back,
“They are just accompanying me .” Arav responded with a smile. Suddenly, the man’s face brightened, as he placed his hand on Arav’s shoulder;
“So, you don’t know them?” The man asked while moving closer to Arav;
“Uh haha, I know them as we have been traveling together for some time..”
A bright smile appeared on the man’s face,
“Hey, how about a deal?”
“Yes?”
“We can both help each other out, if you know what I mean, you can have a go on them after us..What do you say?” The man spoke again, with his tongue sticking out of his mouth. Arav clenched his fist hidden from the man,
“S..sir..I suggest we move a little away from this crowd,...we won’t be able to deal with you here right?” Arav spoke with his smile constantly covering his face.
“Ho?..You are one smart lad, I get that, if a man won’t understand another man’s desires who will, right?” The man spoke loudly while moving back towards the other men standing, he whispered in their ears for a moment and smiled at the both girls.
“Let’s move, I know just the place..” The man said while waving his hand and stepping forward, Arav’s serious look returned as soon as the men turned away from them.
“We will be entering the city soon” Arav spoke as they began following the men.
They all traveled past the slum, while witnessing dozens of men staring at the girls, adding fuel to Yaksh’s anger with every passing moment. After a few minutes, they entered what appeared as the main city, filled with countless luxurious looking buildings with roads and people wearing clean expensive clothes.
The men took them past a large market and entered a quiet alley, finally inside a large mansion.
They signaled towards them to stop, while one of the men went inside a large room.
“WHAT? FOR REAL?” A woman came storming outside while looking utterly surprised, she went past Arav and stopped in front of the girls, she looked at both of them from top to bottom. Her eyes glimmered, as she turned towards Arav and held his shoulders.
“You are the best customer I ever had, I would finally be able to compete with those elf dealers, what fine material you have brought for me.” She spoke while enthusiastically shaking Arav’s shoulders.
“Hey, we should be the first customers.” The man came forward with an annoyed look,
“You consider yourself a woman?” Arav spoke in a serious tone, with the woman’s smile disappearing.
“What do you me..”
“Kneel” Arav’s voice vibrated, the men along the woman and the soldiers inside the mansion knelt in unison, with their knees breaking through the floor due to the sheer force applied on them.
“Who…wh..”
“Shut your mouth” Arav’s voice echoed again, the men closed their mouth with such a force that their teeth broke and pierced dozens of parts of their mouth causing blood to gush out.
The woman kneeling in front of Arav began shivering, with her previous happiness turning in utter horror.
“Yaksh, you were angry right? kill them..” Arav spoke as he turned towards the three, they stood while frozen with their eyes filled with disbelief.
“Did you not hear me?” Arav spoke again, causing Yaksh to get startled, he quickly took out his bow and began shooting at the men, piercing their necks one by one. The woman witnessed their death, with her eyes shivering, she turned towards Arav.
“P..please…let me live..what do you want?..Money?..Take the entire brothel..I won’t re…”
“Who allowed you to speak?” Arav spoke while coldly staring at her,
“Repent” His voice vibrated once again,
[CRACK..CRR…SPLURT]
The woman’s limbs twisted instantly, with blood gushing out of her nose and mouth. Overcome with intense pain and the fear of death, she began pleading for life;
“PLEASE..LET ME LIVE..I’LL DO ANYTHING FOR YOU..PLEASE..”
“Fine…I will not kill you, tell me everything you know about the elves..” Arav said while looking down at her, the woman’s eyes sparkled with the hope of survival;
“The….elves..prince Digvijay is the owner of the entire business, with hundreds of small distributors..”
[THUD]
“A..and..their main center is under the GAURAV STAMBH,...” She stopped momentarily, as she heard the mean falling one by one, dying by the arrows of Yaksh, who kept increasing his pace of killing.
“Th..they are imprisoned there…and are exported upon order…and…a new merchant has arrived..from somewhere out of this city…he…he is paying hefty amount to get his hands…on as many elves as possible…it..caused a turmoil in the marked,..many previous distributors lost their stock….A large…patch will be moved in seven days..that’s all I know…now please….please..let me go..”
“What do you know about the prince?” Arav began walking away from her towards the soldiers kneeling near the entrance, and asked after stopping in front of one soldier.
“Prince…Vijay or…Digvijay?...”
“The third one.”
“I…don’t know much…he had silver hair,..” The woman began thinking as to what she should say next,
“All of you soldiers listen, the one who gives that woman the worst injury will be spared.”
[Chapter 8: END]