Chapter 6: Chapter 5 – Ambush

"Who is that young girl you're loading into the criminal cages, Captain Callum?"
"L-Lord Jasper! Good to see you again my lord! This scum here is nothing to worry about. She and her father were attacked on the way to our village, and one of our local veterans was nice enough to take her in and treat her like she was one of his own, but it turns out she's the one who killed her Father. She's the apprentice of Lord Steward, the one he told us about before. It must have been some sick test, you know how he is. Even that wasn't enough for them though, they went on to kill the family she was staying with too, that's why his carriage isn't to the side waiting to join you. I was planning on coming to you after locking her in, to inform you that Lord Steward has gone rogue."
"He went rogue...?"
'Lord' Jasper's face was filled with doubt as he looked up at me. I'm surprised he's even allowing his dainty eyes to look in my direction. I must look horrible right now. I haven't bathed since 2 days before the fight with Steward, which feels like ages ago at this point.
I wanted to take this chance to mock the Captain in front of this noble, but my mouth has been locked shut by some other type of iron contraption. It smells horrible... Not that my breath is any better. I am really missing the mage that would clean our mouths out at the compound. She would give us a cup full of water that we swished around in our mouths for about 15 seconds. After spitting it out, my mouth would feel perfectly clean. Villagers don't get that kind of treatment I guess, or prisoners for that matter.
Speaking of which, this cage is annoyingly small. I'm sitting down with my legs stretched out with my back against one side of the cage and my feet against the other side. Plus my head is almost hitting the top of it. I'm one cage of about 15 it looks like? Only 6 of them have prisoners, with one of them looking absolutely miserable. The only other girl is sitting just like me in a cage the same size as mine, with all but one of the men having bigger cages to accommodate them. They purposely jammed him into a smaller one that he can barely fit into, I can see he has red bandages wrapped around a stump where his right hand should be.
"Yes, we believe her to be a mage of some caliber. There was wood at both scenes that showed signs of melting, plus it is well known around the village that she hated the family caring for her. The villagers also suspected she had become crazy after her head wound that she sustained during the attack on her father. It's likely this is her real personality, and that's why Steward chose her as his apprentice."
"Crazy in what way?" Lord Jasper was still wearing a face like he wasn't convinced. Why does he even care? Trying to drive the price down for a future purchase? Apparently the Captain was also taken aback, because he seemed to be thinking over his words a bit more now.
"Her actions and words were very different and erratic compared to her previous visits to the village. On several occasions, she was found to be harassing other law-abiding citizens of the village. She truly was a different person. We are thinking she decided to drop the act now that she was with her master, and they were planning on leaving the village anyways. We found her sleeping peacefully in the home where the family was murdered."
"So Steward who's known for his well planned methodology, decided to let her sleep and get captured in that very home?" Jasper was clearly not buying it. Judging by the annoyed look on the Captains face, this was yet another reaction he wasn't expecting. On some level I began to wonder if this 'Jasper' was actually an interesting Noble. But my experience in the compound taught me that they don't exist. My sisters lover might have proven otherwise, if given the chance... but that's a what-if scenario I'll never know the answer to now. Oh wait, I could find him while I'm traveling couldn't I? I am curious to see what kind of man he really is.
"Sir we have other laws that were broken that required us to pull her in regardless. The courts will have to decide on her involvement with Steward. If you must know, she tried to court one of the married women of the village on several occasions. You see? Her personality fits perfectly with Steward."
Ahh there it is... Jasper's face turned pretty fast at that last part. While same sex attraction is frowned upon everywhere outside of the Kitsunes capital, it's still legal. But going after a married woman? That's enough to get a permanent stay in the dungeons of the Holy Kingdoms capital, Viseux. Well, if you're a nobody like me anyways. The married noble lady who bought Yurie obviously didn't have any barriers to overcome, so long as she keeps it quiet, the church and noble society will pretend she's not breaking one of the holy vow's...... I'm honestly worried when I think about Yurie, we only talked a few times, but she was a good friend of my sisters (and unbelievably beautiful, I'm so jealous of that noble). She's literally all that's left from my compound days.... Well, of the people I want to be okay and don't plan on eating. I'll have to figure out where Yurie is, if only to ease my conscience. I'll feel way better knowing she's alive and well. In only a few seconds I've added 2 more people I need to find to my list, seems like I really can't die yet.
Captain Asshole (Jasper said his name but I've already forgot it) is already looking way better after that reaction. The other female prisoner is looking at me now, I'd blow a kiss at her if I could... I'll just wink for now.
"I see, that alone is enough for her to be in one of these cages, but the rest is still a bit... unbelievable. I'll need to reserve judgement for now regarding Steward. I hope you have some evidence to backup your claims, the counsel will be calling for you after they get word of this."
It seems Lord Jasper didn't plan on continuing this anymore, he immediately turned around and left towards the center of the caravan. Oh right, I didn't even think about that till now, but we're on the last carriage.
How very clever of them... If they hear screams or monster noises, well, they'll be eating the evil prisoners that nobody will be missing anyways. Nice little alarm system they got going here. I'm at the back left of this damn thing too, so I'll probably be first on the menu. Well no, it'll probably be the bloody stump guy 2 cages to my right, but I'm not going to risk it, at the first sign of trouble I'm transforming and getting the hell out of here. While in the jail when they were all asleep (including the guy who was supposed to be watching me) I was able to test it out, I can still transform with these bracelets on. They're made of ether so I'm not really sure how that works... I really need a teacher. I don't know how I'll get one though with this body, but I can't continue like this just fumbling everywhere.

I finally had some time in jail to think about everything that happened and what to do from here on out. Barely anyone was ever in there, so it was surprisingly peaceful. The only sounds were the captain shuffling papers around pretending he was busy, while his son would talk to me sometimes. Feeling bad for what happened to me I guess, but feeling bad doesn't mean anything kid. If Eris was still... Eris, then there would be nothing she could do in this situation. But hey, at least you feel bad about watching your father pin a crime on me (even though I really am the culprit). But with that free time I was able to conclude that going to the capital to get revenge is pretty stupid idea right now. I have no money, so no clothes, food, inn and caravan costs... I could keep going like that for awhile. Not to mention I still don't understand what happened back there with Steward, or anything about these demon-like appendages. I really really need help... but how?
There is one other thing that's odd to me (as if there wasn't enough already), but my invisibility... it's way too easy to cast. Magic is brutal, and extremely difficult to learn. Most of the nobles in the compound were there from the massive amounts of stress because of their magic training. The first thing they need to do is create a mental world in whatever image they prefer, because if you just wing it, you are going to rebound. Rebound from practicing magic is all over the place, but generally it ends in amputation or death. So creating your own mental world you can meditate into, is the first and most important step. Inside there you can slowly learn all the mechanics of whatever spell you're trying to cast, without risk of death. Of course you still need to understand what makes up your spell in the real world with one hundred percent accuracy, because your mental world is built off the foundations of your own understanding. If you learn a spell inside of your own little world, and bring it out to the real world with a completely different set of rules governing that spell, well... losing your hands is probably the best case scenario.

Yet here I am casting invisibility, one of the most difficult spells on the rarest element, with ease. I'm once again reminded of how impressive Steward was, for an evil asshole anyways. I'd love to try creating my own mental world since I already know how to mold ether, but it's too risky and these bracelets won't allow me to. But it's probably for the best that I can't right now. The mental world is also a really dangerous ability that people only use in places where they feel absolutely safe. After all, once you enter your own mind world, it takes a lot more training to be able to get sound from your body to enter that world. It's something you leave voluntarily, or through someone shaking your head. When your brain is being shook around you'll know something is wrong. Unfortunately, I have no such allies who will watch over my body for me. Again, I'm back to the fact that I need help.

It's still so weird to me that I was just a weaver not too long ago, although I did start to believe that I could eat people with my tail right before everything happened. Was I naturally going to end up like this, or did that gigantic Raven do this to me? The thoughts were there before he showed up though.
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My whole body is aching from being in this damn cage bouncing all over the place for 3 days now. The caravan has stopped a few times since we began our journey, they let us out to use the bathroom and eat (hard bread over and over) during those stops, but not for long. It really was unbelievable seeing how dead this moon is now. I remember vibrant colors and tall grass, the sounds of birds everywhere (I loved that sound).

But now... as if the blackout and thick clouds everywhere weren't bad enough, all the trees I've seen so far are dead. Sometimes I saw grass but my god, what happened for things to get this bad? I wonder how they're growing crops, especially with it freezing and snowing during the blackout. They must be growing food somewhere.
"Ho~, so this is her?"
"It may be the other girl my lord. They both have blonde hair and petite bodies."
"No... This is her."
I can only assume this is more nobles coming to gawk at the evil commoner. However, this man gives off a very different aura from the other nobles I've met till now. Pure white hair and mutton chops, so he's clearly not in his prime, and yet... Dear god look at that build. He's almost eye level with me up on this cart, so he's probably 6'5 at least? Enough muscles in his forearm alone to crush me like a grape, it's painfully obvious that I wouldn't stand a chance against this man as I am now. Hell, probably not for years to come either.
"If I may ask my lord, how do you know? They look nearly identical to me with that creepy mask on." His pet is asking a good question, how does he know it's me? The knife wound is hidden right now and the other wounds have already healed. I guess that Jasper guy could've told him exactly which cage I was in, but that's not the vibe I get from the way he's looking at me.
"Tell Jasper we're sending him back to the basics!!! How could he not see this is no normal girl?!"
What?!
"WONDERFUL! ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!"
Now he's just yelling randomly, some part of me is already liking him, but what he just said is really worrying. The squire had a grimace on his face before, but now it looks like he's about to have a full blown panic.
"S-Sire, perhaps you would like to visit the school in Valheim? I'm sure we can find a more suitable candidate for you..."
Oh? I didn't even notice the other man here. He was literally hidden behind this mountain of a grandpa. I've never heard the word 'Sire' before... I wonder what it means. It has to be another form of the 'My Lord' I've heard a million times in the compound, but is it greater or lesser?
"NONSENSE! I have decided and that is final. At the next town you shall remove her from this cage and get her cleaned up. Afterwards I shall have a long talk with her to see if she will be a nice fit."
"Yes... Sire."
I don't know what he plans on using me for, or why he wants some killer commoner girl from the outer villages, but this could be a good chance for me. Grandpa here is clearly powerful, but what are the odds the reason he wants me involves magic training? Very slim... I can always flee, but I'm really leaning towards waiting to see what he wants with me.

... How long has the situation been like this? I need to stop getting lost in my own head. I'm just now realizing its deathly silent, neither the caravan nor the woods are making any sound at all. Looking over I see the super grandpa and his followers have drawn their weapons, keeping an eye on different parts of the woods.
Wait, what is this smell? There is a weird feeling all over my body too, I'm getting the same alarmed feeling when the Wendigo spotted me. I'm trying to block my mouth and nose with my garments but this stupid mask is in the way!! I can see the grandpa looking at me sideways for a few seconds before closing his eyes and putting his hands together in some weird triangle pose. About 5 seconds later his eyes bolt open and a look of rage spreads over his face.
"ACTIVATE THE CRYSTALS!!! FULL DOMES!" Grandpa bellows out loud enough that people from 5 miles away probably heard that.
I don't know what crystals are, but men dressed in the same high quality red robe all ran in unison to the middle of each wagon (not including ours), opening up a small compartment I can barely see, before putting their hands on -what I assume-, is the 'crystal'. Immediately in quick succession, different colored domes pop up around each caravan, blocking out all sound and sight from inside. Whether they can see out or not I have no idea, and I have no time to consider it, my eyes are already closing... So it was sleeping gas. It wasn't monsters that came for the caravan...
Hahaha... It seems I was preparing to run from the wrong monster.....

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