Lilika tiptoed slowly through the forest, counting on silence rather than speed to get her out of there. Unfortunately, she was still wearing her dancing costume, which had many little silver disks and bells sewed onto it. It was also pure white. Lilika cursed silently, realizing she probably stuck out like a sore thumb. This isn't fair. Why did we have to split up? She knelt behind a thick patch of bushes and began ripping the bells and disks off. I know nothing about surviving in the wilderness, or hiding, or anything! She sighed. Why didn't we pay more attention to the guards? They always knew what they were doing. She listened for a second, but didn't hear any noise. Guess I managed to lose them somehow... She looked up at the sky. Amard was just to the north of here...so I guess I should head north... She searched the night sky for the stars that would lead her in the right direction. She took two or three steps before the slaver grabbed her.
"Thought you'd lost us precious?" The slaver sneered. Lilika was just as tall as the slaver was, but the slaver had a few hundred pounds of muscles more than the gypsy.
Lilika tried to force her panicked mind to think straight. Amar...he told me something about fighting...he told me... She tried to break his grasp...and the slaver twisted both her arms around behind her back...hard. Lilika screamed.
The slaver laughed and held both her hands in one of his. He began forcing her back to the slaver camp. Lilika struggled and fought, but there was no way she was getting away.
The man who was holding her laughed. "Hey!" He called out to another slaver that must have been nearby. "Let her go. We've got one."
"Alright." The other slaver called back. "She was a shrimpy, homely-looking little wherry anyways."
Roza! Lilika realized, knowing her friend wouldn't be happy with the comparision. Please, She begged silently as the slaver continued dragging her. Please, let her just go. Let her just leave.
The slaver dragged Lilika into the middle of the small camp. Three wagons stood to one side, filled with other gypsies who'd been caught this night and others who'd obviously been there longer. A giant bonfire blazed in the centre of the camp, and for a minute Lilika was blinded. She pulled back, blinking rapidly trying to get her eyes to adjust. The slaver quickly dragged her beside one of the wagons and chained her wrists to a metal stake. For an instant she wondered why she wasn't being put in one of the wagons, but she figured it out when the slaver started grinned expectantly at her. Like I'm letting you touch me you big, ugly, stupid... Lilika glared at the slaver, but didn't dare say anything. A couple of the slavers friends gathered around, obviously stating that they were interested in the gypsy too, one of them even tried to kiss her. Lilika bit the man's lip as hard as she could and tasted blood. The man swore and hit her across the side of the face, very hard.
Lilika collapsed to the ground, dazed from the blow and in a lot of pain. To her relief the slavers decided to return to their drinking and dinner instead of continuing to harrass her. She laid on the cold ground in between two of the wagons and tried not to cry.
"Lilika...psst...over here." The voice snapped Lilika back to reality quickly. She snapped her head up and saw Roza crouched in the shadows ten feet in front of her.
"Roza! Get out of here! Now!" Lilika whispered urgently to her friend. She saw Roza cringe and realized that her face must look something awful after the blow the slaver delt her.
"No." Roza crept closer. "Not without you. Move your hands so I can see them. Do I need a key?"
Lilika opened her mouth to tell Roza to scram again, but she hesitated. If we keep making noise the slavers will find her... The chained girl stole a glance at the slavers to make sure they weren't paying attention. Luckily for them they were all on their way to a gigantic hangover the next morning. Lilika faked a yawn for the benefit of anyone who might look her way, and stretched her hands out towards Roza. "You'll need either a key or something to spring the lock."
The other gypsy nodded and began searching for something to pick the lock with, eventually pulling the wire out of her hair clasp and bending it as she crept even closer. She stuck the lockpick in the lock and twisted.
Nothing happened. The singer held her breath and kept trying. Please... Lilika closed her eyes. Let us get out of this alive...
Unfortunately, that was not meant to be. "Hey!" The man Lilika had bit jumped up and pointed right at the two gypsy girls. "Stop that!" The other slavers turned there heads. Those who weren't intoxicated or were only minorly incapacitated stood up and rushed them.
"Go!" Lilika yelled. "Now!"
"No!" Roza continued to fiddle with the lock.
You're getting out of this alive if I have to kill you! Lilika called on a reserve of strength she didn't know she had. Fear for her friend forced tired muscles to find just a little bit more energy. The skinny girl stood up and flung Roza backwards. She turned to face the first slaver. "Run!!" She yelled again. "There's no sense in us both getting caught!" As the man charged her, Lilika lifted her arms up and wrapped the chains around his neck. "Roza!" She pleaded, feeling this wonderful new strength already starting to wane, "Run!!! Please!!!"
Roza had been paralized by shock of her friend's actions, but Lilika's pleading gaze snapped her back into reality. She began backing away slowly, watching the slaver's face turn blue. Lilika turned her attention back to the man in the grasp, counting on Roza's common sense and instincts to get her out of here. She didn't hear the man approaching from behind, she didn't hear him pick up a large sturdy branch and she didn't hear Roza's astonished gasp as the slaver swung the branch with skull-cracking force at the back of her head.She did, however, feel it. The dancer's entire body went limp as a pain beyond comprehension flooded all of Lilika's senses. She couldn't register any logical thought as she watched Roza's reaction. She didn't even recognize her friend. It was getting harder and harder to breathe and unconsiousness was beginning to take her. The lithe girl fought it for as long as she could, but crumpled to the ground only a few instants after she'd been hit. It felt like an eternity.
As darkness quickly consumed her, Lilika heard Roza's pain-filled voice cry out at the slavers. "You killed her!"
The dancer couldn't feel the ground beneath her, the air around her or anything else but the pain. She did miraculously manage to register that comment though. So this is death... The darkness overtook her and the pain finally stopped.
* * * "She's alive?!?" An astonished female voice pierced Lilika's comfortable rest. "How can this be?!?"
I'm not alive... Lilika attempted thought. I'm dead. Roza said so.
"She must be a lot stronger than she looks." Another voice answered the first.
"Yes." The first sounded sad. "It's truely a shame. She's a very pretty girl, but there has to be damage."
The second voice grunted an agreement. "She'll be next to worthless. They'll probably just kill her."
I'm already dead! Lilika tried to tell the women that, but the words came out garbled. Also, her vision refused to clear. Maybe they're not people after all...maybe they're angels...like in the old Terran stories Mother used to tell...
"We could just let her go..." The first voice was sad and sympathetic. "A little bit of poppy juice and she'll be free. It'll beat whatever life the slavers give her."
Lilika heard a smacking sound and sometime later realized the second must have slapped the first. "We'll do no such thing! There must be some reason the girl managed to survive this. There must be some reason for her continued existance. She'll live. I'll make sure of it."
You're too late...I'm dead... With that Lilika slipped back into unconsiousness.
* * * "C'mon. Let's take her to the recover room and let her gain consiousness before we give her back to those devils." The second voice was talking again and Lilika felt herself being carried away.
"I still thing you're wasting your time. When the slavers find out what's wrong with her they'll leave her to the wolves and wildcats." The first voice was still for putting Lilika out of her misery.
"We'll find out what's wrong with her first. Then we'll tell them. If they don't want her, I'm willing to buy her."
"She could just be a vegetable! Brain-dead forever! It's not just like a bump on the head, forget a few days! She has serious problems!"
Yeah, Lilika agreed, feeling amazingly drowzy and a little bit of pain. I'm dead.
* * * "What do you mean she's not awake yet?" A very agitated male voice filled Lilika's aching skull.
She moaned softly, the pain becoming blinding as she slowly regained consiousness.
"There!" The man was snug. "She's waking up. She just needed a little persuation."
"You'll leave her here for a few more days." The kind second voice obviously showed no love for the slavers.
"I'll do whatever I want!" The man grabbed Lilika's shoulder's and forced her upright.
Lilika forced her eyes open, but she couldn't see anything but a bright white light. Nothing made sense to her, but the pain. She whimpered and felt herself loosing her grasp on consiousness.
"Look!" The first voice protested. "You've sent her back under."
* * * Lilika dreamt.
The fact that she was dreaming lead the gypsy to finally acknowledge the fact that maybe she wasn't dead...she only wished she was.
The dream was the same thing, over and over...the night of the accident...it seemed like a forever ago...the pain...she felt herself loosing consiousness....and then she saw Roza...her best friend, her sister....she saw Roza in a brilliant flash of light coming to save her....the pain left....she was free...and then she saw Roza....leave.
The pain returned, stronger than before, and the dream repeated.
* * * "..she'll wake up soon I think." The first voice mumbled. "Her pulse is a lot more regular now."
"Good." The second voice came from farther off. "We need to find out how badly she's injured."
I've had enough of this coming in in the middle of conversations. Lilika moaned and turned slightly, pain shooting through her skull and back.
"Healer! She's awake!"
"Oh?" The second voice rushed over to Lilika and when the gypsy finally opened her eyes she was greeted with the face of a concerned, aging woman, who was, presumably, a healer.
Lilika moved her mouth...but no sound came forth. She cleared her throat and tried again. Nothing.
"Don't worry. Your voice is just tired. It hasn't been used in a while. I'm Tela, a healer. This is my assistant, Erala." Lilika finally met the owners of the two voices she'd heard so often over her recovery.
She tried to ask how long she'd been asleep, but once again no sound came forth.
Tela smiled and seemed to understand. "You've been asleep for almost six months. We've been caring for you as you recovered. Do you still feel any pain?"
Lilika nodded slowly, the simple action adding to the aforementioned ache.
The healer frowned. "Erala, get some numbweed. I think it should help." She sighed and whisped to her assistant. "If it's still hurting now, marks say it will be a continuious ache."
Erala nodded and began to massage Lilika's neck and head with numbweed as Tela continued talking. "We want to make sure you've made a full recovery, so answer my questions to the best of your ability, okay?"
The healer spoke in a soft, patronizing voice and Lilika began to worry. Does she think I've gone daft? But I'm not...am I? "uh...uh...ah...oh..." She stuttered over sylables that refused to form complete words.
The healer nodded to Erala. "Speech impediment."
"NO!" Lilika finally managed. "I-it's no-not tha-that..." She felt the connection between her mouth and brain slipping. Everything began going fuzzy. "Th-the wo-words...are...not.....th-there."
Tela turned back to her and gave her another patronizing smile. "Where are they then?"
Lilika was staring blankly off into nothingness, barely aware of the question or her surroundings anymore. "They-they're th-there....I j-just...ca-can-can't fi-find the-them..." She took a deep breath and tried to focus on getting the words out clear. "Everything....everything is... foggy....I've lost the words..."
Tela waved her hand in front of Lilika's blurry, unfocused eyes. The girl was gone. Erala sadly shook her head and stood up. "As we expected. She's received serious trauma. She can't form logical thought."
"No." The healer disagreed. "She can form logical thought. She's just dazed right now. We'll give her a couple more days."
* * * "Where am I?" Lilika was very confused. She remembered something about a rose...but everything else was foggy.
"You're still with us, honey." Tela's voice was soft and comforting. "Do you remember?"
Memories of the last few days flooded back to Lilika. "Oh yeah." She remembered the therapy and the diagnosis. She would make a near perfect recovery, amazing for someone injured so badly. She'd only have slight problems with memory and speech sometimes as well as these horrible spells where she'd go completely out of it for hours. She sighed. Near perfect...amazing recovery...
"Lilika." Tela was obviously uncomfortable. "I have some bad news."
"Wha..what?" Her voice always left her when she got uncomfortable or nervous.
"The slavers who captured you have returned. They're demanding you back. I offered to buy you but..."
Lilika stared stupidly at the woman. "Wh..wh...what?" No! Her eyes pleaded. You said you'd take care of me! You said you'd watch over me! You said..
The sound of a door opening caught Lilika's attention. She turned to see a man, obviously the previously mentioned slaver. She began to shake all over. She turned hatefully to Tela. "S-s-some .... wa-warn-warning!" She shut her eyes tightly over tears. The man nodded to Tela and grabbed Lilika's arm, leading her out of the comfortable room and into one of their horrid wagons. Lilika collapsed on the wagon floor, shaking and slowly entering into one of her spells. She left me....she left me...just like everyone else...
Lilika with the slavers...
* * *
Background from Myrror Images.