My sword belt was taken away from me and I was patted down for any other weapons. My hopes that they wouldn’t find my dagger in my boot was not realized. They were very good at finding weapons. Glaring at the person’s back who had taken my weapons as they walked away, I heard some soft chuckles from people around me. Sending an icy stare in the direction that I thought they had come from, I lifted my head up and tried to exude confidence. It is better for your captives to think that you are braver than you actually are. Plus if you fake confidence well enough you can actually become braver in that moment. The chuckles around me were silenced and the strangers did seem to look at me in a different way. My guide started leading me along again. Scanning the faces around me I tried to see if anyone I knew was near. Right now it seemed that they were keeping us as separate as possible though since I saw no one. Not even a guard whose face I vaguely recognized. Marching through the crowd of watching strangers, I began searching for anyone with violet eyes. There was no way they breached our wall without any presences.

As of yet, I hadn’t seen any. It just didn’t make sense. How long have they been planning this attack to pull it off so smoothly? Why attack this place? How did they climb the wall? I had so many questions and no answers. And the only people who had answers weren’t talking. Figuring it wouldn’t hurt to ask them a question or two to see if they were feeling talkative, I tapped the shoulder of my guide to get his attention. He spared a glance behind me to show that he was listening, but then kept looking ahead of him. “How did you climb the wall? Do you have someone with a presence?” Stares came from people all around me like they couldn’t believe that I had the audacity to ask them questions. None of them said anything back to me and I sighed. Seemed they weren’t in a talkative mood. I resolved to not ask anymore questions until I came to someone who either looked like they wanted to talk to me, or someone who was in charge. When my guide started down the stairs to get off the wall I wondered where we were going. I had thought that they were taking me to someone of a higher rank than themselves. Maybe their leader was down in the village looking around their new home.

Catching sight of Casey I started to wave and call out to him to show him where I was, but a stranger to the side of me grabbed me and placed a hand over my mouth. Not giving up, I slammed my heel down on the arch of his foot and he gasped in pain. Unable to help it, he released me and bent down to grab his foot. He was in so much pain that tears were gathering in his eyes. Facing where Casey had been I searched desperately for him. He had disappeared while I had been distracted. Huffing in disappointment, I was not surprised when I was grabbed by several strangers who began dragging me after my guide who hadn’t even slowed down. Not resisting anymore, I didn’t have any reason to, I kept my feet under me so I wasn’t dragged on the ground and looked ahead to see where we were going. Seeing that we were heading towards Brendon’s house, I laughed. Getting looks from the people around me that questioned my sanity, I toned down my laughter. While I didn’t care what they thought about me, it was important that I had some respect otherwise they could count me as someone who will do anything. I would rather be seen as someone strong instead of someone weak.

Shaking off the many hands holding onto me, I walked into the building of my own accord. Not seeing anyone new inside I wondered what we were doing here. “Are we here to meet someone?” My guide looked at me, and then looked away. Continuing to stand there in silence, I fidgeted a little in boredom. While I could be patient when I wanted to, right now adrenaline was still slightly coursing through my veins from the fight not that long ago and I wanted to move or talk or do something. Containing myself from blurting something random out, I forced myself to wait. Taking deep, slow breaths to calm myself down and get all my adrenaline out, I closed my eyes to focus better on it. A soft squeaking noise startled me and my eyes opened. Two strangers were wheeling in a small cot like bed. On that bed lay a frail looking older man whose eyes were closed. For a moment I thought he was dead. Then I saw the slightest rise and fall of his chest that showed he was breathing, but just barely. Not sure what to think of this new development, I watched as they kept wheeling the old man in my direction. Taking the smallest step back, I bit my lip to help me stay where I was. Something about this old man seemed off. Like he wasn’t always this way, or that he wasn’t supposed to be this way.

When the cot was about a step away from me, the strangers stopped wheeling it. Stepping back and bowing to the cot, they then left me alone with the old man. Even my guide left. Shaken a little by their trust that I wouldn’t hurt the old man, I leaned over him a little to try and guess what I was supposed to do now. A low sound had me glancing around the room to see where it came from. As it came again, I was surprised to note that it had come from the old man. He was trying to talk to me. “What did you say? Is there any way you can speak up?” My voice was gentle. Even if this man was with my enemies, he was an old man and I had been trained to respect the elderly. Plus there was no way that this old man could hurt anyone. I mean, he could barely speak.

He managed to speak loud enough for me to hear and understand him this time. “Are we alone?”

I nodded and then registered the fact that his eyes were still closed. “Yes we are alone in here. If you want however, I can go get someone.” I had just turned away from him to do just that when he spoke again.

“No. I want to speak to you alone.” Facing him I stayed silent to let him know I was listening. The old man’s eyes opened and I gasped. His eyes were dark violet. In fact, they were the darkest that I had ever seen. Even my eyes weren’t that dark. “Hello dear. You can call me the Master.” I shook my head. No matter how much respect you are supposed to give to the elderly, there was no way that I was going to call him Master. “Then you will not speak to me.” Choosing not to reply to that to show that I would honor that command, as long as I could at least, I gestured for him to continue. A small smile graced his wrinkled lips and a small shudder ran through me. I respected my elders, but that didn’t mean that I had to like old people. Their wrinkled and weak bodies freaked me out a little. It was scary to think that would be me one day. I didn’t want to get to the point where I couldn’t even walk on my own. There were still too many things I wanted to do. Focusing only on his eyes since they were kind of familiar to me, after all I saw almost the same thing whenever I looked in the mirror or at Darius.

“Your name is Princess Ariana Esma correct?” I nodded in his view so I didn’t have to speak. “Why did you come here? I guess you may speak to me when I ask you a question, but otherwise don’t talk to me.”

Grateful that I didn’t have to try to act it out, I spoke. “I came here to this village because Darius and I want to prove that our lands aren’t so bad. The people there are just like the people here. We were brought here to eastern lands by Crown Prince Milo Bullara to help them start trading with our lands and bring our people together. Or at least closer so we don’t attack each other and have a better understanding of what the other land is like.” The old man seemed to be thinking this over. Meanwhile I peered around the room I was in. I had never been in Brendon’s house before. Just seen it from the outside. It seemed like the guest house. The only difference was how it was furnished. The furniture and decorations were very sparse. It appeared that Brendon preferred simple things. That made me respect him even more. Leaders who liked expensive and tons of things made me feel mad. They normally stole money from their people to pay for those things and were very unfair rulers. I hadn’t met one like that who was a good person.

Bringing my attention back to the old man when he began talking again, I leaned a little closer to hear him better. “I guess that your explanation makes sense, but I think it would be for the best for everyone if you went back to your own lands. We are happy here in the east and don’t need anything from your lands. Plus I am sure that your family misses you.”

Not able to help myself I blurted out, “Do you think that it was my idea to come here? The only reason that I am here is because I was kidnapped. Otherwise I would still be in my lands. However I am glad that I came here. Now I know that the people in the east are not the savages that everyone thinks they are. You are normal people, you just live differently than other lands. Which isn’t a bad thing. In fact I think your way of life might even be better than the way of life in the other lands.” Catching myself now, I shut up and lowered my eyes. While I may be trying to stay on his good side, I didn’t regret what I said and I wouldn’t take it back. The old man could take it anyway that he wanted. The old man seemed caught off guard. His eyes stared at me in a way that was different than before, but in what way I couldn’t tell. Did he appreciate my words, or was he thinking of a way to punish my impertinence?

Several minutes passed as I stood there in silence. I was so tempted to break the silence to explain more about why I stayed now or something, but resisted. There was no need to make more trouble between us than there already was. Grateful when the old man finally looked at me again, I held my breath for his next words. “After my initial reaction of anger for you talking to me in that way, especially after I told you not to talk to me at all, I have calmed down some. Considering your words in my mind I was pretty shocked. Crown Prince Milo kidnapped you? He is such a kind person and I couldn’t imagine him doing anything like that. It seems I will have to rethink my opinion of him.” Instantly shaking my head, I still kept silent. There was no way I was interrupting him right now when it seemed that I was in his good graces. “You disagree? Please share what you are thinking.”

The politeness in his voice was unexpected and it threw me off for a second. Taking a second to gather my thoughts, I took a deep breath. “Crown Prince Milo is a very good person. The only reason he kidnapped me is because he wanted to do what was best for his people. He wanted to start trading with us and make us rethink our opinions of the eastern people because he cares so deeply for you. He wants to give you the option to live your life the way you want to. That includes moving to other lands if you wanted to. Right now if easterners are found in other lands they are practically killed on sight. I am so sorry, but it is the truth. You are only savages in their eyes and I am sad to say that is how I pictured you as well. Now that Crown Prince Darius and I know the truth we can help our kingdoms know what we know and change their views of you. Then we can make all the lands better places and be fair towards everyone.”

The old man appraised me with admiration in his eyes. “You really do care about the eastern people now. Including Milo. Is there more than friendship there?” My mouth dropped open in shock and the old man chuckled. “I guess not. You must be in love with Crown Prince Darius then.” A blush came into my cheeks without my permission. “I knew it. You act like a woman with someone to lose. That is why you are fighting so hard to be nice to me even when I am being difficult.”

“Is it really that obvious? I thought that people could only tell that I was in love when I was around Darius. I won’t lie and say this isn’t concerning to me. Love can be used against you and I would prefer it if no one knew that I was in love. Can you keep it to yourself? I will work on making it less obvious.”

He laughed. “I am fine with keeping it a secret, but I can assure you right now that we are not going to use that knowledge against you. While you may be our captives, we are not planning on hurting you.” I cocked my head to the side and studied his face to see if he was lying to me. I was getting pretty good at seeing if people were lying to me, but it appeared that he was being honest.

I nodded slowly. “Alright. I will believe you until you give me reason not to.”

The old man smiled. “And I will let you speak to me without calling me Master as long as I like you.” Laughing I nodded in agreement. It seemed fair to me even though the limits were very unclear. At least I could speak to him. “It was very nice speaking to you Ariana, and we will have to speak another time soon. Can you summon my guards so they can wheel me to my new room? I need to rest. After all, I am an old man.”

“May I ask you a question before I summon your guards?” I had been wanting to ask this question since I had seen his eyes, but we had been too busy talking about other things. He nodded his head. “Were you the reason that your people were able to run and climb up the walls to get into the village? You are the only person that I see who has violet eyes.

The old man gave me a proud smile. It seemed I was right, but he wasn’t about to tell me that. “Now that you have asked your question, you can summon my guards. You never asked if I would answer it.” Amused by his smart answer, I nodded and called out for his guards. They burst into the room quickly and grabbed onto his bed. Gently wheeling the old man away, I waved goodbye to him even though he couldn’t see it. My guide took hold of my arm and took me from the room as well. Maybe I would be reunited with my friends now. That hope was dashed when I was taken to a hastily put together cage. There were several cages all around the village, however my friends were still not in sight. Sighing, I climbed in, and turned to watch as he closed the door behind me. Seeing the strangers running all around I assumed they were trying to figure out where to put all of us and still have room for them. A younger looking stranger came over and stood right outside of my cage. Staring at me for a moment, he appeared to be examining my eyes more than the rest of me.

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Raising my eyebrows I waited for him to stop staring. He blushed when he realized that he had been staring at me for several seconds straight and whipped around. From the way he was standing he was my guard. Pleased that they thought me dangerous enough to have a guard even when I didn’t have a weapon, I wondered if they knew what my presence was. Spinning in a slow circle to see everyone around me, I spotted someone I knew finally. “Sophia.” My shout turned many heads including the one that I had meant to turn. Sophia saw me and attempted to come closer to me, but her guards kept pushing her away from me. She shouted something back at me. However everyone around me had raised their voices as well. And I couldn’t make out what she had said. Meeting the eyes of one of the strangers who had raised their voices, I realized that they had done that on purpose. They must have instructions to not let us talk or see each other.

Annoyed by that, I tried to find something to occupy my mind. Unfortunately for me, there was literally nothing in the cage I was in other than me. There were things going on outside of my cage, but nothing of particular interest. Tapping my guard on the shoulder I was pleasantly surprised when he jumped in shock. He was a jumpy fellow which could help me if I decided to escape. “Sorry to catch you off guard. I was just hoping to ask you a few questions. If you don’t mind me asking them of course.” Glancing quickly around us to see if anyone was watching us, they weren’t, he nodded and I asked my first question. “Why did you all decide to come to this village and take it over? Did the villagers here do something to you?”

Seeing the young man’s eyes glaze over a little, I could tell that he was mentally debating whether or not to tell me. When his eyes cleared, he spoke. “I will tell you, but only because I don’t think it will do any harm. We took over this village because some other people took over our village and were killing anyone who stayed and fought. We had to come here otherwise we most likely would have died in the wilderness.”

“Where are your women and children then? Are they coming here?” If they had to flee their village or die then I hope that they women and children were going to meet them here.

Touched by my apparent concern, he beamed at me. “Yes, they are going to meet us here in the next day or so. We didn’t want them to already be here when we first started to attack this village just in case the attack didn’t go so well.” Their story was coming together now in my mind, and I began to feel bad for them. They had been forced to come here or perish in the wilderness. There were too many things in the wilderness that were much more dangerous than any humans. Though there were some humans that lived in the wilderness, they weren’t fully human. All the stories that I had heard about them, just from the people here in the east, were horrifying. They were what I thought the word savage came from. Holding back a shudder, I focused back on the conversation.

“Are you sure that they are safe on their own out there?” I was sure that they had taken precautions to make sure that nothing happened to them, but I had to make sure.

He nodded vigorously. “I am completely positive. We took so many precautions and did everything we could think of to make sure that they got here safely.” I let my breath out in relief. They might be our enemy right now, but that didn’t change the fact that I didn’t want anyone getting hurt. They had taken special care not to injure anyone more than needed when they had taken over this village and they had made sure that we were at least semi comfortable. They hadn’t stuck us all in the same cage at least.

“How long are we staying in these cages? Also when will I get to be with my friends? Are you planning on keeping us apart forever?” A trace of worry crept into my voice.

I could tell that he wanted to reassure me that I would be back with my friends soon, but I could also tell that he wasn’t sure that was going to happen. Finally he admitted what I already knew. “I don’t know what the plan is for you or for your friends. I wish I could say that you will be with them soon, but I don’t know that.” I nodded.

“That is alright. I knew that you didn’t know the plan for me when I saw your face after I asked the question.”

“I will have to get better at hiding my feelings.” Excitement lit up his face and I raised my eyebrows in a question. “Speaking of hiding things, will you reveal what your presence is? Right now the answer is hidden from me so that works. Doesn’t it?” His excitement gave way to nervousness as he contemplated whether it worked or not.

I stifled my laughter for his sake. “Yes I think that works. However I am afraid that I am not going to answer that question. Not because of the way you asked it or anything, I just don’t want to give away that secret. Once you know what my presence is you could tell the old man and then he would try to do something to prevent me from using it to escape.” His expression was crestfallen, but his eyes showed understanding. Which showed me that had been his plan this whole time. “That was your plan the whole time wasn’t it? It was a pretty good plan, however I don’t think most people in my situation are going to give away their secret.” As he was about to answer he happened to glance at the people around us. Some of them were starting to look at us and curiosity was on quite a few of their faces. He clammed up immediately and spun around so that his back was to me. When I tried to engage him in another conversation he refused to respond to me. Seemed that since he couldn’t get what he wanted, he had decided that it was not worth the risk of talking to me anymore. Shrugging I tried to think of something to do. My situation was now as boring as it had been before I had begun talking to the young guard. Sitting down to relax my legs a little, I realized that it was slightly difficult to stay awake while sitting down.

Since sleeping was probably my best and most productive course of action as of now, I laid down on the floor, not caring that it was dirt, and quickly fell into a deep sleep. A low noise roused me from my sleep. Not moving so as to not give away the fact that I was now awake, I waited for the intruder to get closer to me. They moved quietly and I wondered if they were here to hurt me. That didn’t make sense though since the old man had said that no harm would befall me. I had no reason to doubt his word yet so I figured this person must be here for another reason. The instant that the person’s hand touched my shoulder I grabbed it and stood in one fluid motion. Yanking their arm behind their back into an awkward position I now spoke. “If I push your arm any further it will break.” A voice interrupted me before I could say anything else.

“Wait. He wasn’t going to hurt you or anything. He was just going to wake you up so he could take you to your new home. The living situation was finally figured out.” Seeing that it was my younger guard friend who had spoken, I reluctantly released my captive. He fell forward onto his knees with a groan. Shaking out his arm to see if it was fine, he seemed satisfied with its condition.

“That was a really good move. Call me impressed.” He stood up from his kneeling position and turned to face me. Curtseying to exaggerate my thanks for his words, I gestured for him to lead the way out of the cage. A smile crossed his face and he walked out of the cage. Standing directly on the outside of the cage door, he now gestured for me to go ahead of him. Raising an eyebrow at him, I shook my head in amusement and went with it. As I walked slightly ahead of my new guide, I trusted him to guide me to my new prison. While my former young guard had called it my new home, I knew that it couldn’t really be a home as long as I was forced to stay there. Tapping one of my shoulders lightly to tell me when to turn and which way, I was surprised when he told me to stop in front of the guest house where I had been staying before.

“This is going to be where I will be staying for the duration of my stay?” The incredulous tone in my voice made my guide hesitate a little in his answer.

“At least for the time being. Do you have a problem with that?” It sounded like if it was a problem for me he would find a way to help me out. Interesting. I wondered what everyone’s instructions were concerning my friends and me.

“No, I am fine staying here. It just surprised me because I was staying here before you all showed up.” He laughed in relief. Sauntering into the house, I hesitated a little when I glimpsed the shape of someone’s outline standing in one of the shadows in the corner of the house. Feeling like more than one person was watching me, I peered over my shoulder and saw that my guide had already left. That meant that the person in the shadows wasn’t the only person in this house and both of them were watching me. “Hello to everyone watching me. My name is Ariana, and I didn’t come to hurt anyone.” A familiar voice called out for everyone to stop. Unfortunately, they heard too late. Movement to the side of me had me turning my head to face it, but I couldn’t move fast enough. Hands went around me and I was tackled to the ground. Rolling in the air to land on top of my attacker I drove the air out of their lungs. Once I heard them wheezing for air, I stood up and shook off their hands. Struggling to see their face in the darkness of the house, I was blinded by a sudden source of light. Blinking to try and clear my vision faster, I stumbled backwards to avoid being attacked while I was vulnerable.

When I could see again I quickly looked around me, expecting someone to attack me. Not seeing anyone close to me, I rubbed my eyes to try and stop them from tearing up. Now that my eyes were drier I gazed around the room and saw that the person who had attacked me was Darius’s guard Ethan. “What a way to welcome me Ethan.” Sarcasm was obvious in my voice and he grinned.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got you.” He even gave me a thumbs up. Rolling my eyes at him, I looked towards the light source in my peripheral vision.

“Darius, are you the one over there?” The light extinguishing was my only warning. Arms went around me in an embrace and his lips captured my own. Letting myself fall into the kiss, I thought of nothing else for the several seconds that we spent in that position. My hands linked around his neck and when he pulled away I was so dazed that I felt like I was about to pass out. Clinging to him for support, I tried to catch my breath. It took me some time to catch my breath. As soon as I had it back I let go of his neck and swiveled so that I could still see Darius behind me, but I could also see everyone else in the room. It seemed like all of Darius’s guards were in here and that was it. “Do you know where everyone else is Darius?”

He shook his head in disappointment. “No. We were all brought in here at around the same time. Since then you are the only person to come in here. Sorry that we attacked you, but we had assumed that the next person to come in here would be one of our captors. Apparently we shouldn’t assume anymore.” A chorus of laughter went around the room. Getting serious now, I asked them what they knew about our captors. They only knew things that I knew. When I told them everything I had learned and who I had talked to, everyone’s mouths dropped.

“You talked to their leader and he was just an old man? I guess that we don’t have to worry about him then. Even with a super powerful presence he can’t do much with it in his state.” Kane sounded so matter of fact and relieved that it made me sad to argue with him.

“I think that you are wrong in guessing that.” Looking at me curiously, he waved his hand at me to tell me to keep going. “I think that his presence can affect other people. We have no idea how our captors managed to climb our wall right? Well what if their boss used his presence to give them extra physical abilities that made it possible for them to climb that wall. None of the others that I have seen around have violet eyes and it is the only theory that I can think of. It would explain at least partially why he is still their leader.”

Ethan seemed the most convinced by my argument. “I think I will have to agree with you. I have heard of people with presences who can do things like that and it would definitely clear some things up that I have been thinking about.” Smiling gratefully at Ethan, I hadn’t thought that anyone would agree with me, I now moved the conversation on to the next topic. There was nothing more we could discuss about their boss and his presence without more information.

“How are we planning on escaping from this place? Especially since we are unsure what their leader’s presence is exactly.” Frowns appeared on everyone’s faces. Silence came over the house as we tried to think of a way to escape. When Kane’s face lit up with an idea I became excited. That emotion quickly died off as I heard something that didn’t belong. Holding up my hand to stop Kane from saying what he was planning on saying, I scanned the room that we were in. Nothing seemed to not belong, however I knew that I had heard something out of place. Looking up at Darius I opened my mouth to explain about the noise, but a flicker of movement above his head caught my eye. Moving him slightly to the side so I could see the roof better, I groaned when I saw people running along the beams lining the roof. Pointing them out to everyone else, all of our shoulders slumped. If they had been up there the whole time then they had seen Darius use his presence and half of our weapons were not as effective. Frantically searching my brain to see if we had said anything about what my presence was, I couldn’t think of anything. Rotating in a circle to ask each person if they could remember saying anything about what my presence was, I was very relieved when everyone said no.

The people above us spotted us looking at them and froze where they were. It was kind of impressive how fast they stopped moving and some of them stopped moving in really awkward positions that made me think they were about to fall over. A mad scramble to get out of sight occurred after several seconds of staring at each other. In seconds they were all gone and I wondered if they were out of hearing. Not wanting to risk them hearing our plans, I gathered everyone into a small huddle and spoke in a whisper. “Do you have a plan Kane? I saw your face light up and am really hoping that you have one because I don’t have one.”

From the hopeful looks on the others’ faces I knew that they didn’t have any ideas either. Kane nodded though which made everyone give silent cheers. “I do have a plan, however I am not sure if it is going to work.” We shrugged.

“Even if it doesn’t work, we could just keep adjusting your plan until it might actually work.”

Kane bobbed his head in agreement. “That makes sense. Recall that it is a half baked plan though. Not refined in any way.” Giving him encouraging gestures to show him that we understood, Kane continued. “My plan was to use your two presences in a surprise attack against our captors and while Darius gives us space to move and work, Ari would go and free all of the villagers and our friends. Then we would basically just walk out the front gate with Darius and Ari leading the way. Hopefully we could steal at least some weapons on the way out to help us in the wilderness because we will not be able to use Darius’s presence unless we want a fire that could kill us all.” As everyone thought this plan over, the sound of careful feet sounded above us. A quick glance up showed that about double the amount of people were now on the beams. Curious as to what they were planning on doing, I watched them closely. From their body positions it seemed like they were going to come down to join us but their motivations were unclear. Why break up our huddle now? Was it because they were worried about what we were talking about or was there something more?