Through the bars of the cage, I could see the leader of the soldiers looking down at me. There was a man beside him. The man had a mask covering most of his face. The mask was red and had the shape of a bird. The man also had bright red hair that reached down his shoulders. His leather armor was black on the lower half, and gray from the stomach up.

He looked down at me for a few seconds, I'm guessing he’s assessing me. "A nice find indeed. We could sell it for quite a lot to the crown. Get it out of the animal box." said the man, not moving an inch. "Yes sir." replied the leader, taking out some keys from the shoulder bag that he was apparently wearing. The keys were brown and very simple looking.

The leader of the small group of soldiers that apprehended me put the key inside a keyhole that was situated on the outside front of the cage, and turned it around. There was a click, and the bars started sliding away as if they were a door being opened.

The leader looked down at me, seeing my reluctance to come out. "Out." he said in a commanding tone. I looked at him, still apprehensive. I didn't want to go out, but I have a feeling that if I don't obey, something bad will happen. It always happens in stories. It's best to follow the directions of your captives then not to. At least until help arrives. I hope help arrives.

After thinking about it for a few more moments, I nodded my head and got out of the 'animal box'. The leader took me harshly by the arm and led me after the masked man who was already walking away.

I looked behind me out of curiosity, wanting to see how the cage was carried with me in it. And indeed, my guess was right. The cage was being dragged by the horse with the help of a rope. I am glad that the cage was small enough that I didn't fly around everywhere from being rattled like that.

I was pulled forward by the leader, making me stumble a bit before catching my footing. It seems I was to lost in thought.

After walking absentmindedly for a bit, looking down on the floor, I looked to my side for a second, noticing that there are a lot of tents bunched up together. It seems like this is a military camp of some sort. I then looked forward and saw that we were being led to a large wagon.

The wagon had a cage attached to it. There were a few animals growling at each other inside. There was a generic-looking pup bloodhound, a kitten which looked a lot like a black panther, and a small purple boar.

"Put it in." the masked man told the leader. The leader looked at me for a second before fishing another key out of his bag with his one useable arm. After that, he led me right in front of the cage.

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The animals obviously noticed us already and we're now looking at me, their mouth opened. The leader was apparently disinterested in this situation, as he opened the cage and threw me right in. When I was inside, he closed the cage, having finished his job.

I looked at the animals inside my new temporary home. They were all growling at me.

"Hey! Hey… hey.. no need to be so aggressive!” I whispered yelled, waving my arms around in a panic. The animals appeared to be even angrier at my little outburst and took a step towards me. The cage was not that big, which means if they took another two steps with their small stature then they will be right in front of me.

I crouched down, having heard somewhere that if you do this, you could frighten animals off. And surprisingly, it worked. The animals stopped advancing.

I breathed out a sigh of relief before I started thinking about the happenings of today. I was kidnapped by a group of soldiers from a video game. Fucking hell. This is bad. They also said something about selling me to the crown. Not only that, but they were talking about me as if I was some kind of animal.

Now, the question is, how do I proceed from here on out? I need to escape somehow. I looked out of the cage and saw all the tents. The only person I saw there was the leader, who was sitting on a wooden chair, scanning the surroundings. It looks like he’s keeping watch while everyone else is either in the tents or out and about in another area.

I sighed again. This is not helping. I can not ask the leader to be released. He would not listen to me. How can I escape? maybe I could find a way to bre-

“FUCK!”

I looked down at my right arm, seeing a long gash going through the length of it, blood seeping out. The one who injured me is the panther kitten. Sneaky bastard. But shit! This fucking hurts.

I looked at the little panther and saw him eyeing my leg. Behind him, the boar and the hound were coming closer as well.

I don’t think this is normal behavior to animals, but fuck it. I don’t need their bullshit right now. I stood up abruptly, making the panther jump back and hitting the hound. Both small animals lost their footing and dropped down on the floor, thrashing about. The boar looked at me in horror as I lifted my leg off the ground.

I stomped it down, making the now untangled panther and hound, as well as the boar, to jump up and freeze. Now that ought to make them understand. I won’t tolerate them scratching me. What if I got some illness from the panther? That is going to suck.

I sighed once again. “Great.. Now I have some unruly kids to discipline on the trip to wherever our destination is going to be.” I muttered as I looked at the ‘unruly kids’. I never liked animals.