As he entered the dark house, he got chills. The others already went inside, he, still waiting outside, scared by the chills he got. When he finally stepped inside, after a few minutes of standing right outside of the door, carrying the unconscious girl, he finally stepped inside. When he put his leg firmly on the wooden planks that made the floor, they creaked loudly.
“Are you coming?” – He heard his friend shouting from further inside the house, interrupting his observation of the dark room
“Y-yeah.” – He yelled back at his friend, starting to walk further in.
As he was walking into the house, he had to go down a spiral staircase. The stairs were uneven and squeaky. He carefully stepped down each stair with the girl on his back. When he finally reached the bottom of the stairs after a few minutes going down, he was welcomed by a bright torch shining light on a big room with tables around the wall and in the middle, each with different things on it. Some had potions, others had machines and gadgets for making potion and casting spells. Everything looked interesting. He saw his friend and the mysterious man talking quietly.
“I’m here.” – He said loud enough to get the attention of the two people. “Where can I put her because I’m getting kinda tired from dragging her around on my back.”
“You can put her here.” – The cloaked figure said and pointed at an empty place with shackles on the wall.
“Alright.” – He walked over to the empty place near the wall and put her down carefully on the ground.
The hooded figure walked over to the girl and crouched next to her grabbing her hand and putting her wrist in one of the shackles and locked it, doing the same with her other arm. The swordsman was resting against one of the tables with his arms crossed.
“So, what’s the plan?” – The swordsman asked impatiently.
“The plan is simple. We let this girl grow up for a few months and then start experimenting on her with prototypes of the spell” – the hooded man shortly and quickly explained, removing the hood from his head, revealing a middle aged man, with wild light brown hair, crushed by the weight of his hood, and beautiful and grabbing turquoise eyes, a gruesome scar going down his right cheek, enhancing his battle worn looks. He put down his cloak on an empty table, revealing a slim but fit and powerful-looking body, covered by a thin shirt and pants. His shoulders and chest covered by thick but flexible leather plates, serving as protection.
“So, do you have a name?” – The swordsman asked.
“As long as it’s concerning you, no, I don’t have a name but you can call me Sgarath for now…” – the mysterious man said.
Sgarath opened a scroll with some text on it and grabbed a feather and a jar of ink and started thinking of ways to perfect the spell, tapping the feather against his chin.
“You still haven’t told us what this spell is for.” – The warrior wondered
“I’m going to tell you and your bowman friend once I know it will work. For now, you need to know it’s connected with time and age.” – Sgarath said sharply, tired from the constant questions he has received. “Anyways what is your name?” – Finally, he asked a question
“I go by the name Rogantis Agat.” – He said confidently
“And I am called Diameil” – The bowman said, still standing near the girl, checking if she is alright. – “She is still unconscious. She should’ve started waking up by now… Her breathing looks fine and her heartrate is good, but she isn’t waking up.” – Diameil said while placing a finger on her warm and fluffy neck to check for her pulse.
“Do you know the girl’s name?” – Sgarath asked Agat and Diameil.
“No! Why are we supposed to know a maned wolf’s name? We just broke into a house and kidnapped the child.” – Agat answered sharply.
“Chill out. He asked politely, you should answer him politely too.” – Diameil cut off Rogantis. – “Both of you should be more worried about the girl not waking. I told you it was too concentrated for a pup” – He said while looking angrily at Agat – “I will have to keep look on her for a few days. If… the man has any needs you will have to go and do them on your own. Before that I will need you to find a special herb and a bucket of water so we can boil the herb. It’s going to irritate her senses and hopefully make her wake up faster” – He remained crouched next to her, checking her pulse every so often.
“And what exactly does the herb look like?” – Agat questioned Diameil.
“It looks like a small tree with very unique leaves. They look like a star with 5 different shades of green. It’s usually around the height of your hips” – the bowman said clumsily
“Alright, do they grow in a special region or in other words where to find them?”
“I think this area has some. You are gonna have to search for it though. Here is a lot of tall vegetation and as I said the herb aren’t high plants.” – Diameil warned the swordsman
He groaned and started walking towards the spiral staircase that leads to the surface to go on a boring but needed search for the herbs. He walked up the stairs and went outside, looking around, wondering in which direction to go. His decision was to walk just forwards from the entrance of the house, so he doesn’t get lost.
Diameil decided to stretch the female wolf’s legs so they don’t get sore from all the staying still, sleeping. He grabbed her leg, putting one hand under the knee and one holding her paw, and pushed her leg towards her body, stretching out her muscles. He repeated the same action with the other leg but it was harder to do with the arms shackled and resting in air, held by them. He decided that he would help her stretch out once she wakes up and is friendly enough. But then again, she is just a puppy. She won’t be able to do much, right?
* * *
Agat was walking for a few minutes now, searching for that herb, finding nothing. He started thinking he would be able to ride to the nearest village and search for a trader that sells herbs but he wasn’t sure if there would be any. He needed water as well, so his decision to go to town was risky but worth the try.
* * *
Diameil was closely monitoring the maned she-wolf, looking at her breathing and checking her pulse every so often, keeping her vitals in mind. Everything was normal for now so he decided to get up and walk around since he has been crouching next to her for a lot of time and needed to stretch out his limbs.
“Is she going to be fine?” – Sgarath questioned.
“Why are you asking? She is just a test subject.” – Diameil said.
“I’m asking because I care about her… totally. Not because I will have to send you to get another specimen for me if this one dies. That’s totally not the reason” – he replied sarcastically
”That… is a good reason indeed” – Diameil nodded with agreement.
After that the room fell quiet with awkward silence.
Good thing there was someone to break the silence. The she-wolf moved one of her legs making sound and alerting the humans. They looked over to her and walked over to her. They, now standing in front of her and waiting for her to open eyes, crouched so they don’t appear as big hoping they don’t scare her much more. Yeah, they are more intelligent than primal animals but that doesn’t mean their primal instincts don’t come out when they are needed, right?
She started moving her whole body meaning she is almost fully awakened. After a second or two, she slowly lifted one of her eyelids, coated with soft orange fur and then the other, revealing beautiful and catching royal purple eyes.
When she finally managed to focus her eyes on the two humans crouching in front of her, she got a frightened and pushed herself against the wall with her bent, inhumane, animal-like legs, then trying to use her arms for self-defense, realizing they are locked up when she tries to swing at the humans with her sharp claws.
“Woah!” – Diameil backed off a bit from that abrupt and impulsive reaction of hers – “Calm down!” – he said a bit freaked out, noticeable in his tone of voice – “Calm down.” – it sounded like he was telling that to himself and not to the annorot in front of him, as he slowly calmed down.
Sgarath just remained still not even moving a bit, as he is used to sudden and instinctive movements.
“Where tHE FUCK AM I!?” – the wolf shouted angrily, growling and showing her sharp and long dogteeth, while trying to stand up, failing a few times before finally stepping on her legs firmly and pressing herself against the wall for support, the chains not allowing her arms to contract at all, she unable to get her hands near her chest, leaving it open for attacks. Realizing that, she crouched down lightly so she could use her arms to protect her most vital organs.
“Wha-wat? They can talk so young?” – Diameil said quietly, under his nose, looking wide-eyed in amazement – “Calm down, you are in a safe place. Err-your house caught fire while you were sleeping and we saved you from the fire” – he made up a quick lie hoping the young she-wolf buys it and doesn’t question it.
She looked down at the ground confused, questioning if what the human in front of her said is true – “Where are mom and dad then?! Why aren’t they with me?!” – she lashes out, pulling on the metal chains, trying to free herself from them with brute force, a few tears forming in her eyes from the realization that they might not be on this world anymore. – “An-and why am I shackled if you supposedly saved me?!” – she threw a thousand more questions not giving any time for the bowman to answer all of them.
Diameil, overwhelmed by all the questions, didn’t know what to say. – “Yo-you w-were very irritated and if-if-if…” – he was stumbling in his own words, while looking at her, on the verge to cry in sadness, hopelessly pulling on the sturdy metal chains with her little, weak body.
Sgarath, tired of looking at his hopeless attempt to calm the animal down, stood up and swiftly but aggressively managed to get a firm hold of the its muzzle, closing it, violently pushing it backwards, its body unwillingly follows, slamming its head against the wall – “If you don’t stop throwing a tantrum, something much worse will happen to you…” – he whispered quietly into the wolf’s ear – “…so you better behave like a good dog.” – he finished his sentence.
She didn’t have time to even react. This calm and quiet person so fast and strong she didn’t expect it, pinned her to the wall with his hand holding on her muzzle, silencing and hurting her. He held onto her snout so hard, she couldn’t even scream out in pain. She heard what he said and decided to listen, fearing of what more he has hidden. The she-wolf calmed down and slowly let her body slide against the wall until she was sitting on the ground.
Sgarath decided to release the animal’s mouth, seeing as it has given up on fighting his firm grip, thinking the she-wolf has calmed down. – “You better behave like that while you are here… and that will be a long time.” – he said as he was walking towards his hood, which he left on one of the tables in the middle, back turned towards the wolf, expecting it would use the chance to try something while not looking at it… but nothing happened… it just sat there… scared. Exactly what he wanted.
Diameil, scared by the sudden aggressive reaction of Sgarath jumped backwards to keep a safe distance in case a bigger fight bursts out so he doesn’t become a part of collateral damage. Once he saw he walked away he went closer to the she-wolf and tried to approach her, she didn’t even turn her look towards him. She just sat there motionless, her snout glued to her shoulder, trying to soothe the pain, he guesses. He lightly petted her cheek and then went to get a napkin soaked with cold I to place on her muzzle. – “Hey…” – Diameil said as he carefully held her snout and pointed it at him, placing the napkin around her muzzle – “…here”.
She groaned quietly as he put the napkin over her face, feeling the pain go away a little – “…thanks…” – she quietly said. She returned to her original position, pressing her snout lightly against her shoulder.
“Do you have a name?” – he asked the young maned wolf.
“Why do you care...?” – she answered, through a few sniffles and a few tears running down her cheek.
“I dunno. You tell me.” – Diameil said while slowly standing up. -
“Does it even matter what my name is if I’m going to die soon…” – the maned wolf said, saddened.
“It only matters what you do that will decide whether you die sooner or later. We will be keeping you alive for the time being.” – he said quickly
When she heard that, she felt something break inside, she started crying quietly, tears quickly dropping down her checks and dropping on her shoulder and legs, she tried to cover her face with her hands and wipe off the tears, but she forgot about the shackles and helplessly pulled on them until she gave up and let the tears rain down on her body in despair. – “Ester…” – she said with a trembling voice, through quiet hiccups and raining tears. - “...my name is Ester Kareati…” – she continued.
Diameil remained silent while the girl next to him was crying her eyes out.
She didn’t say anything, just quietly sobbed, down on the ground, locked up, unable to wipe those tears away, her snout still hurting from the grasp of Sgarath.
Little did she know, it was the start of months of suffering that followed that night.
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