It was summer and I could hear the chirping of the birds and the warm breeze of the noon as I swirled around in the courtyard. The shadow that danced with me was my only companion. I was forbidden to make friends. But it didn't matter too much. My time went by drowned in words and wars.

"I would like you to meet someone, Lia." My father said and I looked at him shocked at his words.

Why was I meeting someone?

Nevertheless, I followed him hiding my dirty hands behind me in case I got a scolding for being a princess that played with the stones in the garden hitting a target on the back wall.

"Meet Prince Henley." My father introduced to me another seven years old and I couldn't help but cower away.

I seldom made contact with the outside world and now he was introducing me to a child who gave me a toothy grin.

But it took me exactly seventeen minutes as Henley likes to remind me again and again, to play hide and seek with him as the little prince and princess developed a friendship for ages.

****

My dream ended when my head hit the rod in front of me. I was in a moving carriage and as I tried my move, severe nausea hit me. I had a concussion from the previous hit on my head.

In front of me, two other girls were unconscious both from our palace because I can recognise the little crest on their dresses. My eyes watered as the reality hit me and I saw the dead body of my father and Gerald.

I gulped back cries building in my throat as I tried to remain strong through this. I can't behave this way. My father trusted me to be better than this. But my brain was being fickle and I kept seeing the painful images of them dying and our beautiful Kingdom perishing right in front of my eyes. I clutched my chest as a sharp pain hit me and I sobbed feeling the hollowness pull me in.

At that moment I had no one.

Suddenly the carriage came to a halt and I tried to peep out from the crack of the bamboo mat over us. The sun was shining too brightly for the kind of dark day it was. I could hear the loud chatter of the crowd and rhythmic tone of the sellers and vendors in the market. I had been to the bazaars before, annually held to honour the farmers and the handcrafters. But most of the time I was inside the royal carriage and just waved to the people around barely looking up fulfilling my role of the coy princess that I was.

But this sounded nothing like the annual bazaar. People were too loud and used crass language. I could hear drunken men laughing hysterically and everything even from the sound of the crowd was making me cringe. I saw a shadow approaching me and I squeezed my eyes shut pretending to be unconscious as other girls were. To fight back I needed to know what I was up against.

The approaching shadow belonged to a man who splashed water on our faces. I woke up pretending to be shocked while other girls screamed. He pulled us out roughly and harsh sunlight hit my face as I lifted my hand to shield myself from it.

"Keep your feet moving." He yelled threatening us by showing us a knife he was holding which was nothing I can't handle.

But I kept moving, I needed to case the surrounding and make sure even if I did manage to escape where will I be going from this direction. My eyes scanned the market and it started sinking in slowly as I saw the dirty surroundings, the crude language being used and the half drunk and corrupt nobles. I was here to be sold as a house slave. And that was the refined word used for girls being sold in the families.

I have only heard about how the kingdom that lost and males killed in fights, their wives and daughters were sold in this market. I was now living the nightmare. Fear ran through me as I realised my chances were close to nil to escape as this bazaar is hidden far from the main city and kingdom. Also if I did kill people present here and escape, I could not leave these poor girls that came with me alone.

It was my duty as a princess to save them. But right now I was being pushed inside a huge cottage with women with sadness so deep in their eyes that even I felt like I was drowning and suffocating in the most depressive phase of life. Women who rebelled were beaten and were dragged along pulled by their hair as their scream echoed through the dingy hallway of the cottage that reeked of despair and liquor.

There were no men inside just new girls and other older women who looked like their soul was long gone and this was just a shell that was surviving counting their breath till it ends.

"These filthy whores need to clean up fast." One woman said who had a bottle of wine in her hand.

Her lips were painted in a dark maroon shade, her eyes covered in kohl that was three times more than it should be. Her eyes were sunken and surrounded by shadows of all the sleepless night of crying and pain.

And yet she smiled the vilest smile as she saw us being dragged to being put to the same kind of torture that she once went through herself.

Horror shocked my brain as I saw women in the cruellest conditions waiting for death or worse, a life of slavery.

~~~

The new girls were all being sent to bath in one big bathing tub, half of whom were trembling with fear. I noticed the girl next to me and judged her by the fire in her eyes that she was still ready to fight.

"Where is this place?" I asked her.

She looked at me with curiosity and I stared back desperately trying to convey my good intentions to her.

"A place where you will find your true worth." The vile looking woman answered.

I waited for her to elaborate.

"You will be sold to the highest bidder." She said with a smirk that clearly meant that she was enjoying this painful process.

Her eyes filled with greed as she twirled the gold chain around her finger and she mentally calculated the profits that a new lot of girls could bring her.

I was scrubbed clean till my skin was red and burning and then roughly dragged to stand in a line merely a white cloth covering our body. I felt tears welling in my eyes as I have never been this disgraced but I couldn't just let these girls suffer while I tried to escape. I gulped down the disgust and miserable feeling rising in my throat and concentrated on getting weapons and counting the corridor exits.

Obviously, girls previously might have tried escaping from the place, so there were numerous well-built guards with a sword and daggers with them.

"Go in and get dressed. We are to going to the market in half in an hour." The woman bellowed as she threw dresses at us.

I picked up whatever I saw first, a dress too tight made out of velvet and decorated with jewels so much that it was unpleasant to eyes. It had a vulgar neckline and my hand reached out to cover my overly exposed chest. The dress was barely letting me breathe.

But I did manage to gather some hairpins and dress string to tie it all up in a weapon. I needed a blade or something like a small dagger to start the plan in my head. And I had to do it before we set out for market place so that I can save as many girls as possible.

In my head, I knew that the plan was overambitious but this was a matter of life and death and I needed to do something. I spotted the most energetic looking girl out of the lot to help me out with some distraction.

"Hi, what's your name?" I started with a casual conversation.

"Tahira." She said with a voice laced with fear.

"Tahira I have an escape plan but I need your help."

She nodded eagerly though I could see her hands visibly shaking in fear. I explained to her to distract the two guards' right outside the door while I sneak past the room to get an idea of the whole building and how many people I needed to help.

The plan was so far so good, Tahira did a good job of playing the seductress and damsel in distress while the guards fell into her trap. I sneaked past as they carried her to the infirmary. I was quick on my feet as I struck down a guard on the stairs silently and covered myself in his robes. I had as much time as much as it will take others to find his unconscious body.

Walking passed I saw nine exits but only two of them as possible for the girls I had to help and escape. Since now I had guards' weapon on me, I did the silent job of slitting some throats and clearing down the hallway.

But everything went awry when a guard fell down with a heavy thud and seeing the blood ooze from his neck a girl screamed. I tried to tell her that I was here to help but the screaming did the damage. They hurried over to look for the reason for chaos and I tried to run away as fast possible. At that moment, my first priority was to escape from hell. I parried blocked and killed as I have never done before. I have gone with Gerald on undercover hunts and missions before but this time I had no open space to exit.

The alleys were narrow and panic struck girls were not sure if I was a helper or another killer since I still had the guards outfit and only my eyes peeped back from the mask that covered my face. My back hurt because of the times I hit it on the wall as I tried to tackle the enemies coming my way.

Fighting my way through the narrow corridors I ended up the large open hall right before the main gate. I can run alone because fighting these guards will be easy. They were not fast or even intelligent, they were just bulky and terrifying. My heart throbbed with indecision as I looked at the girls with lacklustre eyes and bruised bodies.

I was surrounded by guards in the hall and it was way past our time to be in the market to be sold and this irked the owner of the brothel, the bloody red lips woman who hissed at the very sight of me.

"Don't kill her, I want to torture her myself." She yelled.

As if I would let that happen. I had weapons on me that I have trained with longer that I trained to act like a princess.

And more than dozen guards charged at me and for a fleeting moment I felt panic but the next instant I saw the lifeless bodies of Gerald and my father in my eyes and it filled me with immense pain as I charged. I was blinded by hate and I was ready to kill at that moment. No demeanour, no rules I was just attacking. I didn't soften my blow to give my opponent the mercy of surviving.

One by one the guard fell and I felt hopeful of the success of escaping this place with other girls. As I moved backed and gauged my remaining two targets, I felt the pain of several cuts on my body but adrenaline kept the pain numb as I charged ahead.

But suddenly everything got cold, the place went dark and I felt goosebumps all over me. I have felt this before, the uneasy feeling, the fear. I could hear the gasps in the pitch darkness but my hearing was on high alert to make sure I can block any attack coming my way. But I heard no movement. I heard a few screams and I felt terrified. All my adrenaline was gone and the injuries hit me hard as I staggered back in excruciating pain. As much as I was trained to fight, I was a princess and never had been in such harsh battles before, Gerald and the army were always there to protect me.

I had skills but it still took a toll on my body so face so much at once.

My hands reached out to the side my waist where the pain was sharpest and the touch made me gasp.

I felt the air around me prickle with metal and I almost raised my dagger to block the heavy blow in darkness.

"You again." The voice said and fear came crashing as I felt weak in knees and almost fell back.

But a pair of strong arms encircled my waist.

I could feel his warm breath of my face in the darkness. The utter silence was disturbing in a place filled with people but it was like he had the power to quiet them all.

" Bretrarum" I whispered back unable to hide the fear and hate in my voice.

It was because of him I was here, I had no family and no Kingdom.

I struggled in his grip trying to find a way to stab the dagger in his heart and see him die suffering from the pain that my father did.

"Don't you dare love." He said and I flinched at his fake endearment.

The way he said made it sound like a dangerous warning.

"Let me go," I said burning with rage.

"Can't." He said and darkness shifted to dim lights and I saw everyone else scared to death.

No one dared move and I saw the silhouette in front of me, even though he was right in front of me. He was still just a shadow.

"She is coming with me," He just declared.

"I am not going anywhere; I am not leaving these girls behind," I yelled surprised at my courage even though my instincts told me how dangerous he was.

He just chuckled and the little light vanished making it pitch black again, "No love, I just bought you."

Dread filled my whole body with his words. 

------------------------

As promised, UPDATE :)

I mean come on, it was not easy escaping. And she needed this for her charactr growth. She still had a sheltered life and she is in process of becoming a warrior that she was trained to be. Let me know your thoughts, they are precious to me I swear :)

And for you guys:

UPDATE schedule: Every Monday and Friday.