Sold To The Dragon Kingdom

NINE

Hungrily, I munched down on the porridge and swallowed as fast as I could, almost choking myself in the process. I had already changed into the white gown I was given; I did so at the back of the tent where no one was watching.

"Do you need more?" I heard Lord Zorro asked, causing me to stop as I looked up at him and innocently shook my head up and down, batting my eyelashes. He smiled a little at that and then he stood up and delicately set down the book he was reading on the chair almost as though it were a very precious and fragile something. While it was just an old looking book with a worn-out cover.

"Let me have the plate," he requested kindly. I quickly gave him the plate and watched him strolled out of the tent.

I wondered why he was very nice to me. This was in contrast to what I knew about any normal Master-Servant relationship. His smile was beginning to become bothersome to my heart. Why does he act the way he does?

A few minutes passed before a woman walked into the tent with a silver plate in her hand. I recognized she was one of the four women from before. She came up to me and dropped the plate before me. "Here, eat up," she said, gently. "Master Zorro has an urgent matter to tend to, so he asked me to take care of you instead."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course you can."

"Is your Master usually this kind to everyone?"

"Why? Do you find him uncomfortable?"

"No. I mean... Maybe a little?"

"Master Zorro is always like that with his servants. He is a natural empath who believes in what he does. He buy helpless women from the slave traders and train them in the area of healing so they can have something to do when they leave in their later age. That is his philosophy."

"And why does he do that?"

"Its his philosophy like I said. I'll tell you more about him when we go back home. I hope you will not think of running away from this place just because the idea of being a slave sound unsettling to you. As you can see, I'm also one of his, and all I can say is that my life is so much better than before I was brought here. I doubt if you can ever find a man out there who is as kind hearted as our Master Zorro. And by the way, you can call me Benita, or Bonny, whichever is easier for your pronunciation."

"Okay Bonny. Thank you for being nice to me and explaining things. I will make sure to return the favor someday." I tried to at least smile at her in return for her kindness.

Bonny smiled too. "Okay eat up and come out for some fresh air. The others are eager to meet you. We are in the other tent."

And with that said, she stood up and left.

It took me a moment to think about what Bonny had said regarding Lord Zorro's philosophy. He does looked like a man of principle, a knowledgeable and a decent person I could trust.

After I was done eating, I stood up from the mat and proceeded to where Lord Zorro had left the book he was reading. I picked the book and glanced over at the page. It was written in some strange characters which I'd never seen before so I instantly lost interest in the book and dropped it back.

Nothing else in the tent was worthy of attention so I decided to leave and visit the other tent where Bonny had invited me to.

As I stepped out of the tent, I felt a drop of liquid on my arm, then another on my eyelid. Before I knew it, a sudden downpour began to drench my hair wet, which instantly brought a genuine smile to my lips. I had missed the rain. I had missed my childhood, growing up on the mountain. I had missed my best friend Milan Archer.

I stretched out my arms both sides as I raised my head upward, feeling the heavy downpour on my face. I was enjoying the moment when someone snatched my hand and began to pull me towards the tent on the opposite side. From the woman's wavy brown locks, I could tell she was Bonny.

"You're going to get sick if you stand like that in the rain." Bonny said, as soon as we were inside the tent. My gaze fell on the three women sitting in a circle at the middle. They stopped doing whatever they were doing and fixed their eyes on me.

"Urm... I don't get sick in the rain because I'm used to it." I replied to Bonny while I kept my eyes on the women, switching glances from one face to another.

"Come and sit with us," One of them said; the one with a toothy smile. "Bonny bring her here lets get to know more about her."

Bonny pulled me further and I followed her and sat down where they had created a space for two more.

"I'll handle the introduction part." The woman with the toothy smile began. "This is Lucy, Stacy, Bonny and I, Sally, the youngest and most beautiful of all. Or maybe not the youngest. Well, depending on your age. So how old are you, Eli?"

Apparently, Sally wasn't the 'most beautiful of them all'. At least to me, the woman Lucy was, from what I observed. Her eyes were so big and so blue, and her skin was glassy and spotless. I had always considered blue eyed people as the most beautiful human species. To top it all, her hair was blonde, bubbly and short. It was perfect. She was perfect. Perhaps that was my own prejudice against women who aren't blonde with blue eyes. Sally might still be the most beautiful in her beholder's eyes.

"Eli?"

"Oh... urh, sorry I'm Elysie, not Eli." I corrected, after returning back to my sense. I didn't exactly knew why I still had to use Elysie's name in a place where our existence didn't even matter. But just in case, to be on the safer side, I decided I was going to continue borrowing Elysie's identity. "And I'm nineteen." I added with a smile.

I watched as Sally's signature toothy smile instantly disappeared. "Bonnyyyy, what have you done, you said her name is Eli." She said in a tone that was very confusing. It sounded as though she was scolding Bonny at the same time whining like a child. She rolled her eyes before turning her face to look at me wearing the signature toothy smile again. "I'm nineteen too, so I'll keep my position as the youngest, if that's okay with you?"

"Ah, yes. Sure." I replied. Her smile was very weird. She probably didn't know the impact it was going to have on other people. I suspected she might be a little unstable in the mind due to her strange shift in behavior.

"Our Master said we don't have to study today, so we decided to play witch and wizard." Sally explained.

"What's witch and wizard?" I asked, truly confused.

"Watch and learn if you want to." Stacy replied instead of Sally. Her voice held a little hint of meanness. Even her attitude and aura stood out from the others who seemed to be naturally kind to me.

I could tell that she didn't liked me as the others.

I was about to say something a little bit mean to her too, when we heard a loud sound that caused my heart to jump from its original position. My ears became deafened by the sound.

**********

Helios and his men had only left the river half an hour ago when the rain started pouring heavily. Sir Lancelot had suggested that they stop to take shelter somewhere around in the forest, but Helios had ordered them to continue riding.

That was when the four had noticed the passing of the dragon. It was headed towards the same direction as them, so they rode after it.

Helios would usually lead the ride in the front, but because the second smaller horse was slowing down his beast, it was Randell who had the grace to lead the ride ahead. Lancelot was second to Randell, Helios was third, while Dojhan was the last, kicking and getting furious at his horse for lagging behind the others.

When they were out of the forest, Helios saw that the dragon was too fast, its vast wings looked stretched to its limit, proudly balancing into the sky. It was obviously unbothered by the heavy downpour unlike most of the dragons Helios had known and seen.

Well, he was a half dragon himself. One who tend to have troubles with shifting. Sir Randell and Sir Dojhan were also half dragons, while Sir Lancelot was a complete human.

"I think its heading towards the village of the white quills." Dojhan shouted loudly so the others would hear him. He was sure that Sir Helios and Sir Lancelot have heard him, if Sir Randell hadn't. However, none of them responded.

Helios pulled the reins and slowed down his beast the moment his eyes caught the struck of the lightening which was followed by a thunderous sound. The other three also witnessed the moment when the dragon made the last flap with its wings before the lightning struck it, sending it crashing down somewhere into the distance.