The Girl with Red Hair and Sapphire Eyes

She sat on a large boulder just at the edge of the forest on her property which shared borders with her friend Lycius' compound. The smell of night was beginning to enter the air, as the sun began to dip below the horizon turning the sky into a magnificent scene of reds, oranges, and pinks.

The cacaphony of bull frogs, crickets and owls echoed all around her. The sun's last evening rays glinted off Xalay's long poker straight red hair that reached down to the small of her back. She wore a soft silk empire dress with matching slippers, pearl in color and both edged in silver ribbon. She pulled her knees up, wrapping her arms around them and resting her chin. It wouldn't be long before everything was bathed in darkness and the only light left would be that of the moon.

She sat and waited...

Barum and Ceras, both dressed in head to toe with black garments and face masks moved through the trees like panthers. Camoflaged to be invisible, they moved as fast and silently as the animal they sought to mimic. They only had a few minutes left to make it to the dock. If they weren't prompt the dealer would leave and their master would be very angry and in the mood to punish failure. It was out of the question. They broke through the edge of the forest and ran down the beach toward the dock. They could see the lamp lights burning. Was the ship just now docking or had they been too late in leaving and it was now pulling away? They were too far away to tell. They both picked up speed.

As they reached the end of the dock they realized they had indeed missed the ship and its cargo. The ship was already more than a hundred yards away. Both hung their heads and swore. Ceras looked at Barum, "Now what do we do?" Barum said, "If we don't go back, you know he'll hunt us down and pay any price to find us." Ceras replied, "But if we go back empty handed we'll be locked up for a week, and beaten to a pulp. I'm not really game for that."

Barum had been staring at something just over Ceras' shoulder. "What in the hell are you looking at?" Barum smiled, "A resolution to our predicament." He grabbed Ceras' shoulder and slowly spun him around so that his line of sight matched his own. Ceras chuckled, "Surely the gods have smiled upon us tonight. Let's go."

What the two had seen was a young red haired woman sitting alone in the forest. Exactly the cargo they were supposed to purchase that evening from the docking ship. Again, in stealth they moved into the forest. Now that the sun had dropped, darkness and the screaming sounds of the night hid their movements and the sound. She would have no clue that they were upon her until it was too late. Each man carried a satchel on his back. One pulled out a set of ropes, and the other pulled a piece of cloth and a small flask. Within moments they had hidden behind two trees that were to her backside, and they had managed to achieve those positions unnoticed. Because of the incredibly good luck this appeared to be for them, neither of them stopped to question what was a young woman doing sitting on a boulder in the middle of the forest by herself?

They had one chance at this. One chance to ensure they could make their master happy and escape being beaten or put in the dungeon as punishment for disobeying and being careless. This would buy them freedom for another week. And further more, once they captured this girl, and brought her back to the master, they could keep the money and split it between the two of them. The deal just seemed to get better and better in each of their minds. But now was the time to focus. Focus on capturing the girl. And hope to the gods above that she was pretty enough that the master would like her.

Xalay looked up at the sky, staring at the moon. her eyes traced the features of its face. It always looked as though it had just stumbled and was surprised by the fact that although it wasn't upright, it wasn't landing on the surface of the earth either, smashing into pieces. Suddenly she heard a rustling noise which startled her. It wasn't leaves but the sound of fabric. She turned towards the sound and was bombarded by two people. With a thud they toppled onto her, knocking her down from her perch on the boulder. The three of them rolled around on the ground as she began to struggle.

She threw punches, and kicks, and dug her nails into whatever flesh she could find. But it wasn't any good. There were two of them and they were larger and stronger than her. One placed his full weight on top of her and placed a strange smelling rag over her mouth and nose. She started panicking and tried to flail more. But the other one now had her legs, and was sitting on them, tying them together. She tried to roll from one side to the other anything to gain an advantage that she might break free. But it wasn't working, and then she began to feel strange. Wooziness came over her, she became weak, her limbs refused to move, and her eyes rolled back in her head. She began to fall into darkness and could find nothing to grab onto to stop the sensation. The rag was removed from her mouth, she gave one last attempt to scream, but it came out as nothing more than a slight mumble; she was unconscious.

Ceras sat back leaning against the boulder, rubbing his jaw. Barum had clamped his hand over the side of his neck; he was bleeding. Ceras scoffed, "Who the hell would have thought she'd fight that fricking hard?" Barum spit out, "Stupid bitch." Ceras reached behind his back, grabbing his bag. He pulled out a few strips of cloth. The first he tied around the girl's head, gagging her so that she couldn't scream when she woke up. The second and third strips he wrapped around Barum's bleeding wound-4 large gashes the woman had carved out with her fingernail. Ceras wound the strips around Barum's neck, and then over his shoulder, under his armpit and then back around his neck again. Ceras reached into the bag one more time, and pulled out a length of rope. He scooted over to the woman, rolled her over onto her stomach, grabbed each of her wrists and began tying them. When he was satisfied with the knots he picked her up and leaned her against the rock.

Ceras looked at Barum and smiled. Barum said, "What the hell are you smiling about?" Ceras responded, "this," and promptly slapped her across the face. Her body slumped to one side, and they could both see her lip had begun to bleed. They laughed. Ceras said, "We can't go back with her looking better than us." Barum considered, "I suppose you're right." Forgetting about his bleeding neck he stood up and walked over to her. He picked up her limp body and laid her back on the boulder. For a moment the two of them stared at her. In the moonlight, she had the perfect outline.

Ceras looked at Barum, "What'd you have in mind? There's no way this one isn't a virgin. We do anything, he'll know." Barum said, "You're right. But that doesn't mean we can't look." Ceras laughed, "Indeed!"

Barum walked up to her and gripped the neck of her dress. With one swift yank the fabric ripped revealing her breasts and torso. The two of them stepped back in awe. They hadn't noticed how incredibly pale her skin was, in fact it was a lot like porcelain. Ceras' voice trembled as he stammered, "Never seen anybody so white." Barum said, "You know what, it's getting late. We need to get her to the compound." Ceras agreed, "Yeah, you're right."

Ceras picked up their bags and handed them to Barum, and then he walked over to the boulder, pulled her dress closed and lifted her off the rock. Like a sack of potatoes he threw her over his shoulder and they began to head back to Lycius' compound.

To be continued....

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