The Sacrifice of Young Hearts - Part 3

   Luciana found herself outside, sitting on the floor next to the entrance of the tent with her arms wrapped around her knees, with the guard orc who was grabbing the hilt of his scimitar at her slightest movement.

   She sighed, distraught, her eyes swollen with tears. She was sorry for Aralyn as she was alone with the elf inside the tent. The child was wondering what he was doing with her. And not only that. She was terribly upset by what had happened. That magician was dead because of her. Not that she felt the slightest remorse for the life of the magician, who was no more than a subordinate of the evil elf. But mostly because she was quite aware that Vondel was capable of anything, just to get what he wanted.

   He was wicked, heartless. And terribly dangerous. Luciana shuddered at the thought that it would not be easy to escape.

   Perhaps the thing that hurt her most, at that moment, was to know that the only person, who had shown her some affection and a minimum of human warmth, now was fearing and considering her nothing more than a monster.

   Luciana just wanted to run away, get as far as possible. Why couldn't she be left alone? She wanted nothing more than some quiet. She had never hurt anyone...

   No. She had to find a way. She couldn't let herself to give up, nor allow Vondel to destroy her determination. She would run away from there. She would find a way.

   She began to look around, under the suspicious gaze of the guard ogre. Vondel's tent allowed a good view of the whole camp. However, sitting down on the ground, the visibility was quite small. She slowly began to rise. But she didn't have time to start moving, that the ogre took up the sword.

   Luciana glared at him. "My legs hurt. I just want to stand up..."

   "If you do just one step, I'll know the taste of your flesh," roared the orc, without taking his hand off the hilt.

   Luciana snorted and being careful not to move too much, began to look around.

   In addition to Vondel's tent, there was another one, bigger, from which some magicians where continuously exiting and entering. Two orcs were at the door, on guard. Next to the tent many horses were secured. Then, in front of the tent, in the larger space, there was the main army. Groups of orcs and goblins were camped around several fires, wildly disposed throughout the area. Others groups were training loudly, others sharpening their weapons. The field was full of heavily armed orcs and quarrelsome goblins. Luciana wrinkled her nose and turned her gaze on the opposite side of the magicians' tent. There she saw in the distance another big black tent. Nearby later, the transport wagons were parked and finally, even more unfounded and bound with strong chains, there were enormous winged monsters. Luciana's eyes widened. She had never seen anything like that. The monsters had a squat body, covered with black scales and equipped with a long reptilian tail. They had three pairs of squat and massive legs, with long, tapering, clawed fingers. They were harnessed with bulky leather saddles, reinforced by a wooden structure and held firmly with straps and laces. They had a thick neck, short and wide, which supported an enormous head, wedge-shaped, pointed, with a large mouth from which sprouted small but sharp teeth. These disturbing creatures were also equipped with large bat-like wings. Then, Luciana saw two Kam'Ra exit the black tent, moving to the winged creatures, freeing them by the heavy chains and, with a too agile leap considering the enormity of the beasts, they went up on their back. With a roar that almost made the ground tremble, the creatures took flight. In that precise moment, the tent flap opened and Vondel came out quickly, nodding to the ogre.

   "Bring the girl inside." He ordered, moving away quickly.

   Once again Luciana was caught in a bad way and tugged. She could barely see out of the corner of her eyes the two Kam'Ra's steeds disappearing over the horizon, before being shoved into the tent. She had no idea how she would have succeeded, but she decided that those creatures would be her way to escape.

   Once inside, she searched Aralyn with her eyes. The girl, slumped to the ground, instinctively grabbed the dress she was wearing just before to cover her nakedness. Her eyes were red from crying and seemed to have been deprived of all strength. The ogre ensured Luciana to the chain and then went out.

   The little girl could not look away from Aralyn that, with a huge effort, resumed her seat leaving visible the blood stain on the ground where she had been lying until a moment before. Luciana felt her stomach tighten and suddenly it was clear what Aralyn had to endure.

   Luciana's eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry..." whispered, crying. "I'm so sorry you have to put up with this."

   Aralyn stared at her with her empty eyes, but suspicious at the same time. Luciana shook her head vigorously.

   "No, I swear! I'm not a monster ... Don't trust him!" she sobbed. "At least you... Please... Don't trust him!"

   Aralyn closed her eyes and stood motionless for a moment, before opening her arms, ready to welcome the embrace. Luciana smiled sadly and fell on her neck, squeezing as hard as she could. Even Aralyn squeezed vigorously. And in this embrace, both of them could find a bit of relief from their pain. The embrace awakened in them the consciousness that in the midst of all that bad, it was still possible to find a little comfort and warmth. It was still possible to hope.

   "We will go away from here." Luciana promised.


   Three days passed and Luciana found herself becoming more and more agitated. She knew if she didn't find an escape route soon, Vondel would return her to her father, or do something worse to her. Luciana managed to be compliable with Vondel's orders, taking the blood offered to her each night, even though she never agreed with the evil elf and when she was alone with Aralyn, she kept to herself thinking of possible escapes of how and when. She had even thought of attacking him once again, to try and make him weak. But it all seemed impossible. Luciana found herself mixed with desperate emotions, sadness and anxiety.

   Luciana hadn't spoken much at all to Aralyn, having thought of nothing to lighten the mood. Aralyn watched Luciana and stayed by her side as much as she could. She wanted to ask what she was thinking having seen that puzzled and look of contemplation on the young girl's face many a time.

   The girls managed to sleep rather peacefully throughout the day without any interruption from the wicked Vondel or his army, until darkness came. Thunder rumbled in the skies not far from the encampment and then, once again, loud enough to startle the girls both awake. Luciana had thought it was black powder exploding, until she felt dampness in the air. Rain started to pour down from the sky; she could hear it pelting down upon the fabric of the tent.

   "It's Rain..." Luciana whispered out loud and shifted herself to peer through the open flaps of the tent. She noticed the sky was dark, even more than the night was usually. A slight smile crossed her thin lips. "That is it!" The girl turned to Aralyn catching her attention, "We can escape tonight... the storm can be a distraction to them. You must come with me. We can try to find somewhere to be happy."

   Aralyn tried to stop Luciana from talking and moved her fingers to the girls lips before shaking her head 'no.' Luciana stared at the fear in Aralyn's eyes, but she was determined now, even though she knew it would be dangerous. "I know... but if we can get far away, then we will be safe... We can do this Aralyn, we must!"

   Aralyn just stared at Luciana, confused and in disbelief. Luciana frowned and sighed, sitting back and closing her eyes, bowing her head slightly in concentration, visioning the entire camp in her mind and the storm over above. She could feel as the time went by the storm was becoming more and more strong, thunder was continuing to rumble through the encampment and the horses became startled, yet none of it could break Luciana's concentration. She saw the lightening in her mind and directed it towards a tent to the far end of the encampment. One strike hit the ground, a second strike of lightening hit the tent setting it alight.

   Luciana gasped and opened her eyes, startled as she couldn't believe what she had just done. She didn't know the extent of her power and how she could control it like she did but managed to get it done. She could hear the many voices rushing around the camp and towards the burning tent as the fire spread from that tent to another.

   "We can do this Aralyn." Luciana spoke with determination and furrowed her eyebrows and rattled at the chains around their wrists. The girl gritted her teeth together and pulled at the chains to break them with the strength she could muster.

   The girl found her wrists free and glanced down towards Aralyn, whose expression was starkly different to Luciana's determination; Luciana just saw fear in Aralyn's eyes. The girl got up off the ground, rolling her foot around, feeling the bandage move along with it. Good thing that the ankle didn't bother her as much anymore. Now was the time she needed it. Luciana moved to the flap and peered outside to see that most of the army was gathering on the opposite end to control the fire and that there was almost no one monitoring their end.

   Luciana hadn't said much in her plans to Aralyn, even up to now she had no time to second think anything. She was anxious for freedom. Luciana moved back to Aralyn and took her hand into hers, trying to pull Aralyn off the ground. "Please Aralyn we have to go! Now! We have to run away!"

   Aralyn was still unsure until a few moments later when she saw the young girl's courage and determination. She realized now that the girl was right, they might have a chance. With another pull from Luciana on Aralyn. "Come on Aralyn... let's go!" Aralyn found herself up right on her legs... They both moved towards the flap of the tent before Luciana paused and remembered something on the table nearby. She went back to take the dagger and moved back to Aralyn and the flap and looked outside. The girl pointed out to the black winged creatures to Aralyn.

   The girls took their hands together and exited the tent, keeping an eye out for anyone or anything who may be watching. In silence, they ran from the tent and over to the one of the smaller winged creatures. Luciana glanced towards the muzzle around the snout of the creature and then to the thick heavy chains tying the beast down before climbing onto it's back with Aralyn behind her.

   Luciana took the reins to her hands. For a moment she closed her eyes and concentrated on breaking the large thick heavy chains from tying the creature down. With a sharp pull on the reins, the beast shocked itself to unfurl its wings and flap sending itself into the air.

   The girls were both in awe that the creature would actually get them off ground. Luciana glanced down towards the fire and the camp as they went higher and higher, unsure of how she even managed to control the creature beneath them. She figured it would be somewhat like riding a horse, but still she had limited experience.

   Luciana squinted her eyes testing the creature with moving the reins from side to side, smiling lightly as the creature followed her movement before going back to steady flying straight angle. The creature was flying fast, the rain continued to pour down onto them forcing tears to swell in their eyes from the sting of the water and cold.

   For as long as possible, they continued to fly well into the night and the rain soon passed allowing them to have a clear full view of the ground beneath them. A few hours past, Luciana fell tired working and guiding the flying creature beneath them, slumping forward so Aralyn took over, taking her arms around the small girl in front of her to the reins, helping Luciana guide the creature.

   In the distance, over the horizon, the sky began to have hints of orange, pink and red from the morning sun. Still they continued to fly onwards as the sun slowly began to rise. Luciana groaned lightly and opened her eyes, to see the sunlight appear. "Was I asleep for that long?" she murmured softly.

   Aralyn glanced down towards her young companion noticing she had awoken and smiled a little, allowing the girl to take the reins of the creature again. "We must find somewhere to stay, before the sun rises." Luciana glanced around the landscape, seeing an abandoned farmhouse. She pointed it out to Aralyn. With getting a nod from Aralyn, Luciana guided the creature down to make its landing not far from it.

   With the creature's feet firmly against the ground, the girls both slipped from its back. Luciana glanced towards the sunrise rising in the distance and gasped, she didn't have much time before the sun completely rose and she would burn from it's deadly rays. She let go of the creature's reins, staring up at it as it just stared back at her with almost hungry eyes. "Leave us. You are free. GO!" she slapped a hand against it's side to jolt it into flying off.

   The two girls then made their way into the farmhouse and glanced around the two rooms, noticing there was nothing there but a few old furniture pieces and blankets. Luciana glanced up towards Aralyn, "We should probably rest here... then tomorrow night gets moving again?" Aralyn nodded once again.

   Luciana watched as Aralyn fell wobbly against the old bed. She helped her sit against upon it. Aralyn wrapped a blanket around herself and another around Luciana to warm themselves up from the previous night's cold.