Opening my eyes, I blink, wincing at the setting sun as its light passes my eyes. A sky of amber and purple hues greet me and I take in my surroundings, the dense woodland reminding me of the events that just happened.


    “G-guys?” I whimper out, attempting to push myself up to no avail. I sigh, thinking this is what I get for being a 23 year old woman playing tag in the woods with her friends, god forbid a woman have hobbies. I wince feeling stings to my arms, I bring them in front of my face to inspect and I see a deep gash from the tumble, mixed with a trail of scratches and earthly debris littering them. Gathering my strength once again, I hold my breath and with a large heave, slowly and steadily do I bring myself up to an upright position.


    What the hell?


    I question myself looking around a dense forest a lot denser than the one I knew before. It was plagued with bioluminescent lights sprinkling into the crisp air creating a deep blue hue within the woodland. The glowing of the lights becomes stronger with the slow descent of the sun. In a daze of the beauty, I momentarily forget my predicament as I slowly push myself up, creating a trail of soft lights in my movements in doing so. Moving forward I push past overgrown hedges and thick windy trees, looking for any opening into a familiar view.


    Haven’t I seen that tree before? Or not? A forest has lots of trees…No, no..i’m pretty sure that’s the same tree as before. I mean how many trees look like they have a phallus.


    I sigh in defeat and lean against the very male looking tree, holding in the overwhelming feelings of embarrassment and despair of getting lost in a woods I was so familiar with. My mumbling of scrutiny to myself is interrupted by the sounds of chains, weights and heavy footsteps. A symphony of sounds that plagues me with anxiety for some reason, despite all reasonable explanations telling me that it could be a search party sent out for me. But I don’t move, my instincts telling me to stay still and quiet.


    I cover my mouth, still leaning against the tree and attempt to hold my breath. The sounds become louder, and the distinct noise of wagons, carts and horses are made evident.


    Why can’t I turn around? It’s probably a company of rescuers who’ve heard of my disappearance, so why can’t I turn around?


    Yet the feeling of ominosity remained, a feeling so threatening that my mind screamed that if I moved, I''d perish…


    As the sound of wagons get closer, the distinct smell of mud made by the movement of these mobile structures sweep over the ground towards me. I continue to hold my breath, hoping that my silence hasn''t given away my position to those only a few steps ahead of me. I listen as the sound of grit and mud being moved becomes distant, I unconsciously let out a breath of relief as I felt the sense of danger die down.


    A few bird whistles are called out, and suddenly a hand clasps my mouth pushing me from the tree to an unknown person’s back.


    "Keep your position. Move one step and I''ll cut you down." A breathy threat snarls in my ear, accompanied by a prominent feeling of cold metal on my throat causing my body to freeze instantly, as if it knew this would be the moment I could die.


    The hand of the unknown man grabs the scruff of my neck and pushes me forward to face the once noisy commotion of movement. I stare in shock at the long line of men on horses, wagons and on foot. The sight looked morbid. Grime, dirt and blood covered the men, as if they had just paved their way through a merciless war and was showered with the outcome. The view in its entirety was so bizarrely out of place that I couldn’t even attempt to utter a word of my presence or to even question what I was seeing. To me, there was no way for my 20st century mind to even comprehend the sight before me. The sheer stench of men unbathed by travel and war was too strong to even compare to any smell I had come across in my life. And their looks of grief stained by combat and bloodshed was too surreal to even counter with a modern explanation.


    There was no way these men had come from a movie set, some real life roleplay of fantasy characters or even a possible convention. No, these men had truly faced a tale of horrific feats and survived to tell the story of it.


    "It''s a woman." The man still holding me, bellows to the men on horses in the troop.


    Keeping my mouth clamped shut, I watch as the men look between themselves as if to decide the proper course of action. A man wearing an outfit similar to a Teutonic knight comes forth leaping down from his horse, holding the shaft of his sword steady as if ready for an unexpected attack. He grabs my arms and looks at the scratches.


    “Just a woman, she is of no use to us.” The knight speaks from his helmet as he looks at the man holding me, then proceeds to squint in thought. “Yet alone in the sacred forest...Bring her, the lord will need to question her whereabouts”.


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    The man pushes me forward towards a man filled wagon near the end of the troop of men. Grasping my waist he hoists me up onto the edge of the wagon, as if I weighed less than a bag of rice to him, and I’ll let you know I definitely weigh more than a bag of rice . He holds his hands out in a noiseless request for me to display my wrists, and in no position to protest, I put my wrists out to him and he quickly ties a rope around them. Moving away from the wagon, he ushers me to move down so that I''d be sat abreast to the tied up dubious men within. I slowly scooch myself into the wagon, being careful to avoid the crooked looking man beside me. The wagon is closed up, containing the men and I inside the wooden cart and with no roof I take to looking at the sky, to idle my time as we slowly start moving again.


    What just happened…?


    I stare blankly at the dark night clouds, irritated by my lack of willpower to do literally anything other than just standing there, like a child who has been caught doing something mischievous or naughty. I suddenly grasp my head in thought; Why didn''t I say anything?!? I can’t believe I''ve just let myself be kidnapped so easily!


    “Arak ka laverki na!” The man next to me laughs, causing the other men on the wagon to glance over to me and breathe out a chuff.


    A large man in the corner of the wagon opposite me, tilts his head to the murky looking man beside me, adding onto his conversation. “Peveraki ka naveriki na.” He eerily sneers, looking at me. I follow his line of sight to discover he was looking at my exposed calves, I pull my skirt down over them and all the men in the wagon laugh. A soldier on a horse riding next to us smacked the head of the grimy man next to me.


    “Shut up you Eivan criminal. Or you’ll be walking the length to Arrton.” The assault causes the stingy man to sneer, turning his head to spit out of the wagon in disrespect to the soldier.


    I hope this isn’t hell.


    cxxx{}::::::::::::::::::::::::::::>


    The droning silence among all the men in the troop persists, as they watch onto the vast scenery as we travel to our unknown destination. Yet it was unexpectedly halted by the fast clomping of a soldier in chainmail on an auburn coated horse galloping towards us. He rides up to the knight at the front of our travelling troop to deliver his message.


    “Sir, we have set up camp a ways ahead on the great plains before Arrton. The marker for the camp is etched onto a large slanted stone.” The well dressed knight nods in acknowledgement, replying to the man to follow alongside them.


    “Eiman, go to the troop behind and relay the message.”


    “Yes Sir!” The soldier yells in compliance to the knight, and turns his horse away from the group and rides back into the direction we came from.


    There’s more of them? I question myself staring behind us to see if I could make out the sight of any troops following us, but upon seeing nothing in the distance I turn to the sky and rest my eyes once more praying this long jolty journey would come to a swift end.


    Upon opening my eyes again, I was hoping to be greeted by the sight of at least a humble camping setup of a few tents, at least a fire, but instead I was met with the glorious sight of…Nothing? In front of us just laid a boundless landscape of sweeping long grass and blissful silence within the dark star lit night.


    We tread forward to the aforementioned slanted stone. Trotting past it everyone takes an involuntary breath, as if their bodies were swept by an invisible wave. Though I could barely notice as my eyes were focused on the fact the view had suddenly changed from a vast waving greenland, to a bustling campsite where at least a thousand soldiers roamed.


    I think I''m losing my mind...Did I blink? How could I miss this massive campsite?!


    I close my unhinged jaw, when I see the unphased boredom of the men inside the wagon, a look to tell me that what I saw was completely normal. Using my eyes I scan the large camp, where there were makeshift horse stables, black smiths and leather workers and rows of bell tents. Three large tents stuck out however, as their colour was bold and their size larger than the rest, signifying importance within this place. A chance, a hope for me to negotiate my being and hopefully be set free.


    “Sir Leiman, I will tell the lord of your arrival.” A young lad says to the well dressed knight in charge of our troop. The knight responds by taking off his helmet and handing it to the lad, scruffing his hair in appreciation. With his helmet off, I could finally see the appearance of the knight in charge of the troop. He had blonde hair shaped into a french chop, a trimmed short beard and sharp features, nothing short of attractive.


    “No need, the reconnaissance mission was successful, I will see the lord myself with the intelligence we collected.” He turns to look at the wagon with a scrutinising glare.


    “Archer, collect them.” The familiar face of the man who grabbed me in the woods appears and unlatches the wagon, he ushers for me to come to his way. Scooting to the end, he helps me get off the cart by grabbing my waist and hoisting me to the floor, a move similar to when he got me on the damn thing. These people are way to handsy. I think to myself, but in a state of fear I dare not complain. I stand to the side and watch as the men on the wagon stand and jump off the vehicle, orders given to them by the archer and another soldier. Once we were all collected on the ground, the soldier tied us all together to a single long rope, beating the men that did not comply to being strung. Now I''m glad I didn’t complain…