All of a sudden Torbjørn collapsed to the ground.
“Torbjørn?” Twulai cried out in surprise as he walked towards him. Moments before Twulai reached Torbjørn, Ilioc collapsed onto the ground. Twulai and Asil too fell to the ground unconscious. Pacha fell onto the ground in shock and hid behind Twulai’s body as a man approached. He was tall and slim with a youthful face, but his powerful posture, calculated movements and the long sword, which he held in his right hand, reflected his true brutality. She knew the look of a hunter from the times she had spent with Heli. This look was reflected in the eyes of the man who approached. He had the eyes of a ruthless killer. Not even a thought of mercy crossed this man as he walked up to Asil and crouched to her unconscious body looked her up and down. His gaze moved and fixed on each of the Giants, one at a time.
“Venor! Varun! Get them onto the boats,” The man shouted in a harsh deep voice, which was as raw and rough as his body. He stood and looked back towards the shore while he let his sword hang down, letting its tip touch the ground. From the shore came two men, their faces were dark, stern and fixed on the man by Asil. They struck terror into Pacha. As the two men approached Pacha saw that they were holding a large, dense object with a wire trailing out the back of it. As they came towards Asil, Pacha realised that the object was a net made from metal and at least 10ft wide and 30ft long. She watched as they dumped it down onto Asil and worked until it engulfed her whole body. One man then ran back to the boats where he left Pacha’s sight.
“Venor! Bring her in!” The man with the curved sword shouted. Within a matter of seconds, Asil’s body jolted and the wire that the net was attached to began to move. Pacha watched in horror as the net dragged Asil towards the shoreline. Pacha knew instantly that Asil was being taken to the Northern Territories.
“Twulai. Twulai, wake up,” Pacha whispered with urgency as she shook Twulai, “Twulai!” Her whisper quickly subsided as she heard the hunters move to Torbjørn. Once again the net laid out so that it engulfed Torbjørn and violently pulled him towards the shore.
They must be loading them onto boats, Pacha thought. She desperately tried to wake Twulai up but nothing worked. She looked over at Ilioc lying on the grass. There was nothing she could do.
At this moment, from behind her one of the men swung the butt end of his sword and knocked her out causing her to collapse onto the ground, unconscious.
The first thing Pacha felt was the hard wooden boards, on which she lay. Next, she became aware of the rocking. Water had soaked into her clothing and she was cold, very cold. To her surprise, her scarf was still firmly wrapped around her dress. She looked up and saw the ship on which she lay. It was a mixture of metal and wood which had seemingly been chaotically thrown together, yet the way the ship moved suggested that it had been created by a great craftsman. By its prow stood a figure with the recognisable long sword resting on his back. It was now that Pacha felt the heavy chains. Shackles were tightly attached to her wrists and ankles, with each being around an inch in width and half an inch in depth. Attached to these shackles were chains, which were fixed onto metal plates on the ship’s deck. On hearing the metal chains rattling the man turned his head slightly.
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“We usually strip the women we find,” The rattling of the chains stopped at this and he continued. “We have spared you this as you will make a fair price as you are. You may also wish to say goodbye to your friends, you won’t be with them much longer.”
Looking around the ship Pacha saw Twulai unconscious and lying on top of Asil. The dragon hide from both of the Giants’ torsos had been removed and had been dumped in a pile. The dragon hide which covered the Giants from the waist down had been left. The Giants’ were also wrapped in 5 metal chains that would hinder any attempt at movement. Pacha took in the scene with tears in her eyes. She looked to the side and saw another ship, on which lay Ilioc and Torbjørn in a similar circumstance.
“What have you done to them?!” Pacha screamed out in anger at the man on her ship.
“Nothing of much concern. We shot them with a bullet, coated with poison from the poison dart frogs in Taka. Your friends are unconscious and paralysed but nothing more, they’ll be awake soon and they’ll be very weak.”
Pacha turned, “Asil,” She cried out with tears in her eyes.
“Pacha?” Came a weak voice. Pacha looked up and saw Twulai desperately trying to open his eyes.
“Don’t try to move,” Pacha told him. “Please Twulai just,” Pacha began but she couldn't continue. reassured him.
“Alvar! We’re coming up to Cirrom. Three ships coming our way.” A man called from the other ship. Pacha looked out to the sea in front of her. In the distance, she could see a city that was hidden behind a layer of sea-mist. Before her lay a channel between two large pieces of land. She saw three ships coming towards them that were identical to theirs laden with chains, weapons, crew members and nets. As one passed she saw the men aboard it. They were large and had savage appearances that made Pacha cower from their vicious gazes. She caught a glimpse of what the metal nets were attached to. It was a heavy-duty winch with thick cogs and a solid metal handle.
“Venor, Alvar! A good catch I see and a pretty woman!” One man sneered from the boat and at this, the whole crew burst into shrieking laughter. “I would love to get my hands on that tonight!”
The boat passed them and Alvar stood deadly still on the boat’s prow. Pacha didn’t know what fate awaited her but she knew that it wasn’t going to be good.