Chapter 3

Elara's body was growing more rigid and painful to move. She was already tired and sore before this psychopath showed up, and now she hurt in places she didn't even know existed. Her hand gingerly felt up her arm, noting where it was more tender and where any touch was excruciating. Her arm was already a mix of purple and red. She guessed that her arm was damn near close to breaking, if not already suffering from minor stress fractures. Then she touched her face. Her cheek felt bruised from being slammed into the table. She wondered if the rest of her face was okay. Her finger dipped as if to duck under her frames, but she was met with no resistance. A reminder that she no longer needed them. As far as she knew, she could hear and smell better than the man, based on what he said earlier. Otherwise, there'd have been no reason for him not to be more specific.

' Fu-- ' it was less of a word and more of an exasperated sound, but she was met with a stinging pain behind her ear, and that familiar dryness in her mouth reappeared, erasing the last bit of the phrase from her mouth. 

"Ha! That's more of a word than I've heard out of a sparrow in decades!" The man's hand swung back and clapped hard against her back. 

She winced again. Her body screamed in continued pain; all she wanted to do was lie down and die already. She stood there frozen for a second, and then she heard it. It was the sound of more footsteps in the grass. She looked over at the man who hadn't seemed to have heard it yet. As far as Elara could tell, it sounded like one man with similar footsteps to the man next to her. She waved her hand to get the man's attention. If she believed the man, whatever is coming is probably not her knight in shining armor. 

The man's expression dropped, and he swung open his robe. A weapon that Elara had never seen before was attached to his pants. Ha! So he was wearing pants under the robe! She wasn't sure, but part of her assumed that the psychopath was wearing a dress like the mages and wizards from books and movies. The weapon looked sort of like a gun, but it had a screen on it. More futuristic than the old '80s sci-fi movies, but she could see where the props department would get their ideas from. "How many?" The man whispered. 

Elara held up one finger. She was pretty happy that this action was not met with pain. She felt herself smile, which she knew was inappropriate, but after all the pain that had been inflicted upon her recently, it felt amazing not to be hurt this once. The footsteps sounded closer, and off to her left. Elara turned her attention to where the noise was coming from and held her finger to her lips. Just then, she heard another sound from above. Elara looked up, her finger following her gaze as she pointed. In the distance, she could make out something in the air. It was flying! 

The man pushed Elara down onto the ground and whipped out his weapon. A movement she would have found heroic if it weren't for the fact that she wouldn't be here if not for him. The flying creature was not humanoid at all. The closest thing Elara could relate it to was a lizard, or a dragon if she wanted to get crazy with it. But it was too small to be a dragon. Maybe a dinosaur? No, lizard. Definitely a lizard, a red one that was holding a similarly shaped weapon to the man in one of its claws. Like a gecko? It wasn't important; what was important was that the creature also had a gun, and more footsteps were closing in on them. She wanted to scream in fear and frustration, but she could only muster a yelp. Thankfully, she was only met with the dryness that was becoming the usual state of her mouth at the moment. 

The man shot at the flying gecko-lizard type thing, plucking it out of the air. Easy enough, thought Elara, though unsure if the creature would get up or not. Maybe it was set to stun? Elara stood up to move away from the sound of the impending footsteps. Looking behind her, she saw it was someone wearing a similar robe to the man next to her, though the pattern was slightly different in the trim. She raised her brow and looked back at the man, and then pointed in the distance to where the second man was running to them, and then back at the man, flattening her palm when she had no idea how to relay the information. She went back to pointing in the second man's direction. 

"I know little sparrow. Rest a second, this fight's going to take more than a single shot to deal with." The bald man winked before taking a moment to stretch. "He's part of the mage's caste. Probably wants you for himself." He paused. "Once you're registered, you're no longer fair game. This is the only way to get a sparrow or any other slave without going through the proper channels. Trying to cut out the dealers..." he leaned down, stretching fully with a grunt before grabbing his gun again. "It just isn't right." 

Soon, the mage was upon them. "Greetings, dealer." The mage faced the man, who didn't care at all that the man was standing there, gun in hand. 

"Greetings, Mage. So you heard about the acquisition?" The man nudged the gun in Elara's direction. The mage nodded and looked her over, the feeling forcing her to cower. 

"I did." Nodded the mage. "How much?" 

"I like a mage who knows what he wants." The man smiled and turned towards Elara. "The sparrow is quick-witted, fit, can take a beating, and not bad on the eyes. Initial price is 6,500 wan, but for you, I can do 8,000." 

"8,000?! That's absurd!" The mage stepped closer to Elara. Her eyes lifted to the man as she took a step backward, feeling uneasy. "I will pay 4,500 wan and I'll let you keep all your limbs. A fair a trade as ever, dealer." 

"Fair enough." The man took off the ring and held out his hand. "Do you have the credit here?" The man's eyes shifted around the meadow. 

It finally registered to Elara that the man had just sold her to the mage. What in the absolute fuck?! She stamped her foot in protest, waving her arms frantically. But the man saw none of it. Instead, the man and the mage exchanged something between the two, and the man set off in a different direction, leaving her alone with the mage. For a second time that day, her heart sank. 

The mage pulled down his hood, revealing a man much younger looking than the man who captured her. His features were softer, almost handsome in a way. He was taller and broader than the man too, if that were even possible. Elara barely stood to his waist. A frightening realization crossed her mind, and she scampered back. 

"The names Fenrick." He smiled charmingly. "But you can call me..." he paused. "Nothing, I guess. You can't talk, can you?" he laughed, bending down to look at her. "Well, you should know, most slaves 'round her tend to call their owners, 'Master'. Not that that matters to you." He knelt and took her hand. "Now, let us go get you registered before someone else tries to rob me more than that dealer." His smile broadened. Elara looked down at Fenrick's hand, and the ring she had seen the man wearing before was on Fenrick's finger. She reached out with her other hand to touch it, but Fenrick pulled his hand away. "Oh! You clever sparrow! You spotted your leash already, didn't you. Now, it is known that sparrows cannot fly further than 10,000 feet away from their owner's ring without their mark going off. Unlucky for you - " Fenrick pulled off the ring and dropped it into Elara's hand, the mark behind her ear hissing as though reignited by the ring itself. Elara fell to the ground in pain, dropping the ring into the grass as she held her hand to her mark. 

"Yep, you can't touch it without it doing that. It's to keep you all under lock and key. You'll feel that too if you wander too far. A few sparrows lose their lives due to a forgetful mage wearing the ring and teleporting off, torturing the sparrow to death." Fenrick's eyes darkened as though that were a thought he didn't take lightly. His frown quickly picked up and he smiled down at Elara, offering her a hand that did not possess the ring. "Shall we go?"