A Lifetime Ago

Chapter 5

Lying unconscious on the banks of river Pethus, was a woman with her face down, against the loamy soils. 

She coughed as she began to stir awake from her soporific state. She perked up, looking around her and found herself amidst the woods.  

The day was calm with crystal blue sky and no traces of clouds on it. The water in the river was rippling as it rolled over rocks and gravels. A crew of sparrows, fluttered their delicate wings above the dense forest, chirping through the tranquility within the woods.  The horizon over the river, was covered in a blanket of thick mist as if hiding a secret, deep within it.  

She had no sense of time nor space as she looked alone and lost in those deserted forests.  

She stood up, her whole body was soaked in water and mud. Her wet hair was sticking all over her face, neck and shoulders. She brushed them to her right shoulder before twisting and squeezing them to get rid of the wetness. She did the same to her black dress and straightened it.  

Even with the Sun shining brightly overhead, the winds were as chill as a winter night, sending shivers down her spine. She removed her single long, pointed footwear and inverted it to pour out the water from it.  She looked around for the other one but when she couldn't find it, she held the one in her hand and started walking deep into the forest.  

She did not remember how she reached this place, nor did she know where she was going, but she made her way along a narrow trail, which indicated that the pathway was used by someone before her.  

"Hello..." she kept calling out loud and heard nothing other than her own voice, as it reflected within the silence of the forest. As she strode further into the thickness of the forest, the tall trees created a canopy above her, blocking the sun's rays to penetrate through them. The auburn leaves looked like they were dying to fall off the trees to join the forest floor, carpeted with dried yellow leaves. 

"Help.. Somebody.. Please help.." She was becoming hysterical as she kept wandering until the sky grew darker above her and bright twinkling stars started appearing against the black background. 

She could hear the wolves howling from afar and she looked around her, feeling frightened. Her hearted pounded loudly against her chest and sweat dripped off her forehead as she thought she heard a frightful screech of an animal nearby. She dropped the footwear while raising both her hands and covered her ears with her palms before, sliding her back against the trunk of a large tree. She curled into a small ball on the ground and did not know when she fell into a deep slumber due to exhaustion from walking such long distance.  

Walking along the same narrowed trail, a soldier unexpectedly encountered a woman lying motionless along their path.  

"Hey, you may want to see this." He called out to his fellow soldiers, bringing his fired torch near her face to have a closer and clearer look at her. "There is a woman lying over here."  

The soldiers rushed behind him, one of them quickly pulled out his double edged sword from his waist and pointed it towards the woman. He nudged at her hand with his leg to wake her up.  

They heard her groan before startling her up from her nap. She stood up hurriedly and looked in between the three men who were clothed in short sleeved, knee length woolen tunics and leather skin-tight trousers.  

"Lady.. Who are you? And what are you doing here?" A man with dirty blonde hair and sunken eyes asked her. He looked up and down at the woman's weirdly clothed body.  She was wearing a black sleeveless gown that was hugging the curves of her body like another skin, unlike the woman from his country.  

With just a single glance at her, the men knew she was not from their land.  

"Answer him." Another one of the three men threatened her with his sword. He was huge compared to the other two.  

"I.. I am.." She stammered and looked around her. She did not know what she had to answer. She felt like she had no idea of her own identity and looked lost.  

"Look here.." the other one roared at her, making her jump out of fear. "What is your name, lady? And why are you here?" He interrogated, roughly pushing her against the tree.  

"I don't... know.." She panicked. "I don't know.." she looked like a scared pup.   

“She says, she doesn’t know her name.” They all roared in laughter. “Perhaps, she doesn’t have a name.”

"Hey nameless, how did you come here?" Asked the one, holding the torch.  

"I don't know..." She repeated. She closed her eyes tightly, trying hard to think about who she was or how she ended up there.  

As she closed her eyelids, all she could see was, water. She was surrounded by water. All of a sudden, she began to hyperventilate and choke as if she was struggling to get out of the water.  

"Hey.. Hey" She was pulled out of her wild imagination by the man standing in front of her.  

"This b***h is definitely hiding something. Let's take her to the village." The one with the sword spoke, turning her around and tying her hands with a rope that he had hung on one of his shoulders.  

He started dragging her behind them like a chained animal and she had a hard time matching with the speed that they were marching.  

She was hungry, thirsty and worn out after walking for a good long while.  "I'm thirsty, please give me some water." She begged, falling on the ground, not able to move an inch forward.  

"Shut up and keep moving." She did not know who said that since she had no energy left to look up at his face.  

"I want water." She replied defiantly.  

"b***h. You think of talking back at me." He lifted his foot off the ground and kicked her harshly on her chest, making her groan in pain.  

"Now get your ass up woman and start walking." He ordered, pulling at the rope.  

The kick had caused her to bruise her elbows painfully.  

She got up on her legs, wobbling and started following them. She didn't know how long they walked through the thick forests, before she noticed a group of tiny flickering lights which signified their close proximity to the village.  

She was glad that they had come to a stop since her legs could no longer move. She slumped on the ground with a thump as they reached the crowded area of what looked like a market.  

“Let’s take her to the slave house for auction.” Suggested the one, who was quiet for the whole while. He was a lean and tall young man, probably in his late teens.

The other two turned towards him and thought for a while. It seemed like a better idea to them to sell the woman at the slave house. At least by that way they could fill their pockets with some money.

They dragged her to the auction house. She kept fighting them all along the way while they continued to hit and kick her, inhumanely.  She did not know what they were going to do with her.

Reaching the auction house, they stood among the crowd and waited for their chance to sell their item to the lords. There were many other women, waiting to be sold to rich lords and nobles.

“Nameless, you are next, go ahead.” He shoved her towards a raised platform, where the lords where seated.

The noble men laid their eyes on the foreign woman standing in front of her. She looked exotic and too mesmerising to be a servant. Suddenly, every one of them wanted her for their s****l urge that the bidding price for the woman soared up strongly.

A rich noble, belonging to the drylands finally owned her for five hundred gold coins. The three guards were delighted by the fact that they had made so much money out of nowhere. The nameless woman, sure was their lucky charm.

The noble man got hold of her and put a collar around her slender neck which had a tag with his family name on it, indicating that the slave woman belonged to him. He dragged her out of the auction house towards the stable and got on his horse. As he was busy untying the horse from a post, she quickly grabbed the chance to escape. Her hands were still tied at the back and she had a collar around her neck but luckily her legs were free from any restrains.

The noble man turned around only after hearing her heavy footsteps as she began running into the streets of the village. He cursed loudly, before quickly getting on his horse and rode as fast as he could, determine to get her back, regardless of the outcome. Five hundred gold coins were nothing to him but the woman, she was irresistible and he wanted a taste of her beauty.

Chasing after her through several streets of the village, he caught her when she finally gave up due to exhaustion. He wanted to punish her for that crazy stunt that she pulled. He got hold of a fistful of her hair and dragged her harshly through the quiet streets.

"Leave me alone.’ She spat at him, giving a challenging look.  

Without warning, he pulled out his whip and lashed at her back, causing her to whimper loudly.  

He mercilessly whipped her, which caught the attention of the people present over there. They flocked around the cacophonous scene of horror, as a result of the woman's ear-splitting cries but no one dared to come for her rescue.  

Everyone was aware that he was a Noble, from the way he was dressed and nobody wanted to get on their bad side.  

The woman's skin began to tear apart from the severe beatings she was receiving, that it started bleeding profusely.  

Out of the blue, the crowd heard the wild marches of guards and whinny of the royal horses. They started bowing their heads one by one to the royal guards who were on an unannounced inspection.

"What is going on here?" echoed a deep, masculine voice from behind them. The man was so involved in torturing the poor woman that he had missed to notice their arrival.  

He still had his hand raised up, gripping the whip before he froze to the familiarity of that voice. He cringed and turned around slowly.  

"My prince!" He bowed down, making everyone repeat his action. 

The man he just called prince, stared down at the woman who looked more like a ragged piece of cloth, lying on the dusty roads of the village. He walked closer to her and noticed how she was struggling to keep her eyes open. She looked frail and dirty yet she looked beautiful to his eyes.  He bent down and with one hard pull, he got rid of the collar around her slender neck

He lifted her carefully in his robust arms which made her whimper lowly. He tried hard not to touch the wounded skin at her back and started walking away from the crowd.  

"Arrest the bastard and punish him with five hundred whips." He commanded before mounting on his stallion, with the mysterious woman in his arms.